Another addition, though a tad late, is in! Sorry, my internet has been out for ever! I would jabber on, but the story must go on! Read, Review, and Flame On!
"This is… amazing," Holiday finally managed to get out. She, Rex, and the three newcomers were in Providence lab, the teenagers waiting for Holiday to finish studying the test results. On the jet, Been Gwen and Kevin had outright refused to be treated like science projects. But when they entered the lab, the guys were too busy ogling the doctor to say no. Of course this ended in two very painful slaps to their skulls from Gwen. And as for Gwen, she took to Holiday right off. Holiday was a smart, competent, strong woman in a position of authority. Even by looking at the two you could see similarities. And speaking of the doc, let's check up on her, shall we?
Holiday was astounded at what she was seeing. First off, the DNA of the girl, Gwen, wasn't even entirely human. And the parts that weren't seemed to radiate a type of energy, so concentrated it was almost plasma. Then there was the taller boy named Kevin. He wasn't exactly human either, but she also found some extra traces of iron in his blood; along with rubber, copper, gold, wood, steel, diamond, granite, and a whole mess of other foreign particles. By all logic he should have died from half of the stuff in his system. As for the one named Ben, he only thing odd about him was the watch he was wearing. But that was enough. The metal wasn't terrestrial, for one thing. And taking a closer look, Holiday found evidence of a huge number of foreign DNA signatures. When she ran one against the Providence database, there was no record of it. She was willing to bet the rest of them would turn out the same result. Of course, the teens knew nothing of the impact they were having.
"Alright, Rex, you owe us some answers," Gwen said. Rex sighed exasperatedly.
"Fine, fine," he said, hands up. "Let's start with the basics."
"Over five years ago, there was an explosion. Huge! No one knew exactly how it happened, but it caused these little nanoscopic machines called nanites to get into every living thing. Now, they are usually harmless. But once in a while, they completely freak out. And whatever host they're inside mutates into who-knows-what."
"Like that guy we saw earlier," Kevin interrupted.
"Exactly. We call them EVO's. Providence- that's these guys- takes down any EVOs that are a big enough threat. I work for Providence."
"That explains why you jumped out of the jet," added Ben.
"Exactly. See, I'm an EVO too. But instead of my nanites making me go insane, I can control them; tell them what to do." And as a demonstration, he built out a Smackhand, missing Kevin by an inch. "Now it's your turn. What's your story?"
Ben was more than happy to give him an answer. "We're a part of an intergalactic police division called the Plummers."
Rex stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope," Kevin answered blandly. The EVO shook his head in disbelief.
"Then what about the whole 'Humungo-whatever' thing back in Philly?" Ben glanced at the rest of his group. His cousin finally sighed in defeat.
"Fine, Ben. Go ahead and show off."
The teen sprang from his seat, and immediately began fiddling with the watch on his left wrist. Rex was about to ask what he was doing, but without warning he slammed his palm on the device, causing a blast of green light to shine. As the light dimmed, Ben was no longer Ben. He was humanoid, and perhaps a foot taller than earlier. He appeared to be made of a deep purple stone, covered in pink crystals, the largest being on his forehead. To complete the transformation, Ben gave a loud cry of "Chromostone!" startling the concentration of Dr. Holiday.
Though it was hard to tell by looking, Ben had a smug grin plastered on his face. He missed the looks people gave when they first saw him go hero. Ever since his secret went global, instances like this were few and far between. Unfortunately, this instance would be cut even shorter than he had expected.
"You never could miss an opportunity, could you Ben?" a voice behind them stated. Five heads turned, and three jaws nearly hit the ground. They must have known him, seeing as he wasn't a very impressive sight to begin with; worn lab coat over shirt and tie, old science goggles, and a face already showing the wears of middle-age. He smiled knowingly, and it annoyed Rex. It was almost like the guy thought he knew everything. Rex had a special place in his mind for people like that, next to annoyingly snobby businessmen and rabbits. Don't ask, unless you already know.
Gwen was the first to recover, standing from her chair. "Professor Paradox?" she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Before the professor could respond, Kevin butted in to the conversation. "Probably here to fix the mistake Ben made to get us here." He crossed his arms and stared at the time-traveler expectantly. "Alright, make with the teleporting already."
"Oh no, I have no intention of that right now," he said, much to the surprise of the whole group (Rex still out of the loop). "And as for young Ben, don't blame him for that mistake. It was me." The calm smile on his face only made the expressions on the rest of them that much more entertaining. Of course Rex, being Rex, decided now was a good time to join the reunion, in his usual subtle way.
"All right, either I get some answers from him or he sees the business end of a Smackhand. First, who is he?"
Ben walked up to Rex, powering down his omnitrix. "Professor Paradox is a time-traveler from our world. He can pretty much go anywhere and any when he wants."
Paradox smiled. "Quite right, Ben. Again, apologies for sending you here so unexpectedly, but the scenario always worked best in this manner. And now to why I—and the rest of you—are here." He paused, letting the situation take hold.
"Mere minutes before you were sent here, there was an explosion within a null-void storage area. The resulting energy forced a rift between two worlds; yours, and Rex's. Only one item was lost. Unfortunately, that item was an experimental project commissioned by Asmoth, and is of extreme danger, here or in any other dimension."
"What was it?" asked Gwen, more than a little worried.
"Essentially, the machine was built as a DNA scrambler, automatically infusing anyone inside the chamber with a wide variety of alien DNA, in essence creating a new species."
"That doesn't seem like such a big deal," Rex pointed out.
"Not such a big deal?" Holiday quipped. The teens jumped; they had almost forgotten Holiday was there. She continued. "That technology would likely allow us to find a cure to EVO's besides you."
"That, my dear Doctor, is precisely the problem. The machine was not designed to handle nanites. The unique power signature radiating from them would cause it to overload, becoming, to put it simply, a DNA bomb. It would mutate any living being within the blast. The effects would be felt for at least a one-thousand-mile radius, as well as residual radiation almost globally. This won't happen until the machine is activated, thank goodness, but it can only be shut down permanently by eliminating the DNA storages, which is quite simple if you happen to have the omnitrix plastered on your wrist."
Ben grinned madly. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go do something about it! Where is the thing?"
Paradox's face was grim, knowing they would not like the answer. He said one word only;
"Abyssus."
Ten thousand apologies to the patient followers of this story. It was a terror to write, but it is finally done. I encourage Flames, as well as the peaceful reviews. Until next time.
Sincerely,
Mr. Luke Bones