"Why, that only took a little bit of brain power," I stated matter-o-factly, pinching my claws together. Rogue-Chill flew back a bit, as if it couldn't believe its eyes. "I say, it does feel good to be able to transform again." The alien snarled at me, unfurling his wings. My eyes narrowed, "Please refrain yourself from behaving so crudely while I whoop your behind." The shell over my large cranium opened up and I unleashed an electric hell upon Rogue-Chill. It tried going intangible but it was useless against my superior capabilities. The alien screeched before becoming nothing but a thin sheet of fried, black goop that sunk to the bottom of the space. Again, I snapped my claws, "This is why you must pick your battles better, pitiful infection, for you see, your corrupted version of my transformation is powerless against me and my intelligence."

"Stop rambling, brainiac."

I gasped before spinning around, staring at Zeke as she returned her sword to her cloak. "And don't drop my sword again, okay? I don't care if you've gone alien or not. I've only got the one." I came closer to her, the Omnitrix changing me back on its own, while I only continued to stare, like I couldn't believe my eyes. No longer an alien, it was clear what I was thinking through my facial expressions. Zeke raised an eyebrow, "You okay? You're kinda pale." First, I tugged on the edges of her cloak, then the edges of her hood, finally pulling gently on the ends of her hair. My mouth opened and closed dumbly but I couldn't form any words or sounds. She took my hands, watching me with concern, "Ben, are you okay? You're shaking..."

"I..."

Only able to formulate that one word, I hugged her tightly, "T-that was scary..." I choked out eventually, "Seeing... Seeing one of my closest friends..." Had it been Kevin or Gwen, I would've reacted in the same way. Zeke returned the embrace, looking up at me, "I'm okay," she assured me, "Nothing happened to me."

"You... It looked like you had been deleted..."

"I thought I had been, too," she admitted, "I was in a dark place for a while, surrounded by loose strands of numbers. Then, I saw Azmuth. I guess I was floating through the hole in the firewall before waking up again."

"And he sent you back here..?" I asked, looking down at her. Zeke drummed her fingers against my back, "Not exactly... He said I should recover from the shock of being forced through the firewall and back into the world, but I made him send me back."

"Why?"

"You should've seen it... The computer monitoring your brainwaves was going nuts."

"Because I changed into Brainstorm..."

"No, this was right when I was passing through the security."

We pulled apart a bit, but continued holding on. Once again, she took the lead, flying us in the supposed direction of the center. "What were you thinking so much about?" Zeke asked. I shook my head lightly, the panic and anxiety that had constricted my chest now fading with every breath, "Just about Rogue-Chill... He hesitated a lot when he should've been attacking. I tried communicating and he seemed to respond. I was deciding whether or not to trust him, how to fight him, and if you were okay." She patted my head, ruffling my brown hair a bit, "Well, Benny Boy, as you can see, I'm just fine." I nodded, separating further so that we had room to wander, still holding hands. "I'm just glad I figured out to use the Omnitrix in this situation," I told her. Zeke nodded, "Yeah. I was relieved to see a normal Brainstorm, and not some infected thing." My gaze traveled to the dial on my chest. "Though, I don't remember it being there earlier."

"Me neither. Strange, huh?"

The Omnitrix's walls were still black and red, and the shrieks continued to echo, but we weren't attacked again for a while. I looked at Zeke, "I have a question..."

"Ask away."

"Azmuth said you were forced through the firewall?"

She looked over at me, "Yeah, why?"

"What forced you through? You couldn't have forced yourself because you didn't know what was happening."

She scratched her cheek, "Azmuth and I came up with something of a theory..." I raised an eyebrow, "You're collaborating with the greatest mind? What'd you come up with?"

"You're the default for the Omnitrix, right? And the Omnitrix won't hurt you because you and your DNA is a part of it. Plus, you're the bearer of the watch, so, maybe, because you didn't want me to get deleted, the Omnitrix forced me back."

We were both silent for a while. "At least, that's what we think," she concluded. I stared ahead for a bit, before responding, "If that's the case, then I'm glad. I was really scared after you left."

"Though it pisses me off."

I blinked before looking at her with a quizzical expression, "What does?"

"Fire got beaten by ice. That's a load of crap."

Laughing, I nodded, "It is. You'll just have to try again sometime."

"I hear a challenge."

"When we get out of here, we'll fight it out - Big Chill versus the Ninja."

We slowed down as, almost carefully, we floated into an open area, black goo floating around with us. "Let's try us versus Addex first," she muttered, her free hand reaching into her cloak. I nodded, putting my hand over the dial on my chest, "Agreed." The goo was alive, and the forms flying at us were excited. We had reached the center, and the virus was all around us.

(Switched P.O.V.)

Gwen was reading her book as she sat in the chair by Kevin's Camaro. Kevin, of course, was working on it. The two were silent in the garage, not saying a word. Gwen sighed and Kevin rolled out from underneath his car. They looked at each other for a moment. Kevin stood up, cleaning his hands off on a rag, "What's up?" he asked, knowing very well that there was something on her mind. She closed her book, "Where's Ben? Where's Ze?"

"Do I look like a doofus' keeper?"

"Kevin," she said sternly. He put his hands up in defense, "Hey, you asked." Gwen placed the book down on the foldable table, "I'm serious. We saw them earlier today, and they said they were going to study." Kevin snorted, "Right, 'study'."

"We both know that they actually study, and not do whatever is going through your head."

"Gwen, they're both grown up," he said sarcastically, "We've gotta let 'em go." She gave him a cold look, her arms crossed over her chest. Quick footsteps, growing louder with each step, alerted the two. They turned to look at the person stomping towards the garage. Gwen smiled, "Hi, Julie, what brings you here so late?" The girl put her hands on her hips, "Where's Ben?" she asked with a frown. Kevin looked at Gwen, who shrugged, "We don't know either. In fact, we were just talking about that." The glare on Julie's face suddenly vanished, "Wait... You don't know? Didn't he go home?"

"Go home?" Kevin asked with a raised eyebrow, "He is at home, studying with Zeke." Her eyes widened, "You guys don't know..?"

"Know what?" Gwen and Kevin asked in unison, taking a step closer. So Julie explained what had happened with the Omnitrix and Azmuth's request. "But, Ship came back an hour and a half ago all by himself," Julie continued, watching the their expressions closely, "He seemed a little uncomfortable about something, but I didn't think anything of it." She looked down at her hands positioned neatly in front of her, "I called Ben a few times a while ago, but he never answered." By the time she finished, Kevin had pulled out his Plumber's badge. Gwen looked at it, "Can it reach him from here?"

"Plumbers need a way to reach each other, even when they're on different planets, right? Of course it'll reach him."

Once he had a lock on Ben's Omnitrix, he tried calling. "Tennyson," he said, "Earth to Tennyson, do you copy?" No response. Kevin looked at Gwen who was staring intently at the badge. He tried again, "Ben, can you hear me?" This time around, a message popped up on the badge, over Ben's signal;

"Signal lost..?" Julie read. Gwen grabbed Kevin's arm, squeezing tightly, "Call Zeke!" she ordered, clearly worried about her cousin. Kevin located Zeke's badge, "Her's is right where Ben's was."

"Zeke is a Plumber..?" Julie asked, "But I thought she just helped you guys out sometimes." Gwen nodded, "She's helped us out a lot more than you'd think." Kevin cleared his throat, "Yo, Ze! What's happening?" Gwen shook her head, "So professional, Kevin..." He put a finger to his lips to quiet her before continuing, "Zeke, can you hear me? How's everything? Did something happen?" There was suddenly a burst of static and then a response. But not from Zeke. "Who is this?" questioned the familiar voice. Kevin looked at Gwen then Julie before back down at the badge again, "It's Kevin. Where's Zeke? And Tennyson?" In the background, high pitched beeping and alarms could be faintly heard. "They're both inside the Omnitrix, and I just lost all remaining connection with them." Julie gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. Kevin scratched his head, "That doesn't sound good..." Gwen snatched the badge from him, "What do you mean you lost connections?!"

"They're both lost in the Omnitrix - I can't give them any more support from here."

"What does that even mean!?" she demanded, a sense of dread rooting itself in her chest. Azmuth sighed heavily, "I can't help them anymore. I can't view their vitals anymore and I can hardly keep the system firewall accessed for much longer. They're completely lost to the virus."