A giant golden book with a green hourglass symbol appeared from the empty space as it opened up its pages...again.
The Forgotten Ben's: Chapter nineteen, Age of Steel.
Xxxxxxx
-USA, New York, New York City-
"AAAAAAHHH!"
"RUN AWAY!"
HONK HONK HONK!
"Hahahahahahahaha!" laughed Doctor Animo while riding the back of a massive creature with hard scaly gray and green skin, a long neck and tail studded with barbed spikes, four large red eyes, two giant bat-like wings, large elephant-like legs with sharp curved claws, large curved tusks with shark-like teeth, two long horns and a long trunk at the end of its snout as it set fire to downtown New York City. "Fear my new species! The Elephantinae Dragona!"
"ROAR!"
People screamed in the streets below as the police tried to shoot it down with their guns, but the thick hide repelled them as flames ignited the cars below.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
That was when a large truck went flying towards the monster's head, causing it to stagger as it also knocked Animo around as well.
"Who dares-"
"I dare Animo!" called out Four Arms while currently chucking another empty car at the mutant.
"ROAR!" the mutant roared before getting hit in the face, causing a tusk to break and its left eye to bleed out. "ROAR!'
"You will pay for that! Go my creation, burn him to cinders!"
Four Arms ducked from the beast's claws while trying to find a way to get it out of the city, only to see the harbor a few blocks away and got an idea as he grabbed the tail and began to spin it around and around before sending it flying.
"ROAR!"
In the wrong direction that is as it went all the way to Central Park.
"...oops." he muttered before jumping towards the park.
(Later)
-Central Park-
Beep beep beep beep.
Four Arms jumped down at the gates before changing back to Ben in an instant. "Aw man!"
Just then the mutant flew above the treeline and began to breathe fire all around the park, setting it ablaze.
"Ugh!" Ben groaned in frustration before running towards the untouched patches of grass, the omnitrix still red. "Why did it have to time out now of all places!?"
The beast set ablaze the entire park with its flames as Ben tried to fiddle with the lense.
"Come on! Come on! Work!" he yelled while it turned green. "Huh, quicker than usual, ok Animo! Face the heat of Heatblast!"
FLASH!
But to his utter horror, he turned into Ripjaws and was starting to dry up from the flames.
"Ah...ah...ah….water….water….."
The beast roared before Animo pointed his finger at the alien.
"Burn him!"
"ROAR!"
FUUUUSSSSHHHH!
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Ripjaws screamed in pain as the omnitrix tried to keep him alive with another transformation or program, but the flames were so high and powerful that it's circuits started to fry a little before shorting out, turning him back into Ben as the lense turned a dark red color. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"Animo Cataractum!"
Animo blinked before seeing a massive monster of water from the nearby ponds attacking his masterpiece with primeval savagery as it began to rip the wings off of it. "No no no!"
As this occurred, Ben faded in and out of consciousness as he thought he saw Gwen running towards him.
"Ben! Be...B…"
And like that, his mind entered the void.
(Sometime later)
Beep...beep...beep...
Within a small hospital room, we find a bed with IV's and wires hanging over the sides, a thick blanket covering the occupant as a TV was currently on the local news, reporting on a battle between three 'beasts'.
But regardless of that, we also see Gwen and Max looking out a small window, the girl filled with tears as both couldn't see the occupant at the moment…..among other things.
"Ben…" Gwen sniffled while she hugged Max for comfort. "I...I should've...helped…."
Max looked at the bed while suddenly the screen went black, only to show that it was currently night and the two had already left, the hospital hallway currently devoid of people and patients.
But as this happened, we took notice of a doctor nearby looking at his clipboard.
'To think this kid got burned so badly his own bones were carbonized.' he thought while looking at the latest patient forms. 'He's lucky that it didn't kill him...although he is hanging on a thin line. And we already tried everything to stabilize him, but this amount of bodily trauma is so unfamiliar.'
"Doctor Hazama."
He turned and saw a man in a business suit right behind him. "Um, yes? What do you need?"
He pulled out a business card with the words 'Ilmarinen Inc' on it. "I came here under direct orders to secure the patient in Room 9010."
"What?"
"His grandfather filled out the paperwork and will be transferred to one of our medical centers." He said while the doctor felt woozy for some reason, a strange blue substance filling his irises. "You do not need to worry anymore."
"I do not...need to worry...any more…" the doctor said in a monotone voice while walking away.
The man looked at the door to Room 9010 and turned to a similarly dressed man right next to him. "Make sure no one finds out what transpires tonight."
"Acknowledged."
(Many months later)
-Unknown location-
Within a dark room lit by small strobe lights, several individuals obscured by shadows sat in simple wheeled chairs, as a large TV screen sat near the wall.
A man with red hair and wearing dark sunglasses and a black business suit walked towards the screen from the left side and smiled. "Hello gentleman of the board. Thank you for joining us today."
They remained silent as the man continued, the screen coming to life as a spinning gold hammer illuminated the room with yellow light.
"First order of business." he said while the screen changed to show some blueprints labeled 'Project Stahliją' with drawings of human limbs and body parts encased in metal and other assorted objects of unknown origins. "Project Stahliją is in its final stages, and as a refresher for those that missed last week's meeting, Project Stahliją refers to the joint collaboration between the Weapon Masters of the Planet Techadon and Ilmarinen Inc to create a weapon capable of ending conflicts before they start, although as expected the Weapon Master's had ulterior motives such as utilizing the blueprints to create copies, but they had a 'change of heart' and full corporation will be expected in the near future."
The screen showed the picture of a male, although it was censored for some reason.
"Subject Weyland-1, our first iteration of Project Stahliją, was a failure." he said while showing a body that was crushed by a large metal press. "The bionics just didn't hold out."
The screen showed a picture of a young boy, also censored for unknown reasons.
"However, Subject Talos-2 has a more successful test run. The bionics held out and adapted to the subject's body more so than its predecessor." He said while the screen showed some blueprints and videos involving the subject's actions. "As seen in your detailed files, given to you by our science department, Subject Talos-2 has been modified from its burnt and broken remains with the latest of scientific advances, components and designs."
Several images and videos of a censored figure appeared on the screen as some of the videos were either of an arm punching through solid steel or the figure being pressed against two walls of heated metal.
"If you look at page 10 of your files, you can see the various materials and components were used in the creation of Subject Talos-2. This includes graphene coated steel reinforced bones, taydenite laced bionic organs in place of its original ones, glass eyes with a builtin communication device near the inner ears, an automated cybernetic brain in place of certain portions of the cerebellum, thalamus, hypothalamus and the medulla, grafted infinitum and varcidium skin, and a replacement heart created from the subject's personal items upon collection, which the Techadons have called in their own language as 'Galvan Filth', that are connected to ten kormite powered backup cores located near the subject's ribcage in case of a total system failure."
The screen then showed the image of a confidential file labed 'Project Stahliją: Subject Talos-2 Deployment Initiative', as another image of a highly cybernized human brain was shown along with a small black chip with a red dot on the back.
"As you all know too well, our products are known to...have unintended results. So as to prevent an 'incident', our scientists added a special emotion inhibitor chip behind the cerebellum, which when activated suppresses the emotional responses and can be detonated by one of you if the situation arises."
The figures muttered to themselves as the screen showed a video of an empty room with a figure obscured in shadows.
"Here is Subject Talos-2, the fruits of Ilmarinen Inc labors." the man said while the lights turned on in the video.
On a large metal table in the center of the room, a child with dark blue armor covering every portion of his body except his mouth, nose, and neck, white eyes with a red cross in the center of each iris, sharp claw-like extensions over each finger, pale grayish bronze skin, the etched words 'Ilmarinen Inc' on his forehead, and had a green and black hourglass lense on his right chest area which seemed to have a golden hammer etched in the middle of the faceplate, laid unmoving and seemed unresponsive.
"He will be ready for deployment in the next year, and while he can grow with age, his mental faculties will stay the same unless constant updates are made." the man said while the screen changed to an unrelated topic. "Now, for the next item on today's agenda. Please take out documents Alpha-9 and Omega-10 for further information."
The camera moved away as the lights flickered and changed to black.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Subject Talos-2/Benjamin Kirby Tennyson (Steel Ben- SBen)
Age: 10
Affiliation: Neutral
Dimension: 200222- 20 SB10
Trix/Abilities: Omnitrix (fused with his heart), cybernetic steel limbs, steel reinforced bones with a graphene coating, robotic glass eyes, automated cybernetic brain, builtin communication devices, taydenite laced bionic organs, grafted infinitum and varcidium skin, kormite powered backup cores, emotion inhibitor chip.
Aliens used: Four Arms, Ripjaws (Accidentally).
Bio: Within this particular dimension, the machinations of Animo's scientific research into DNA alterization culminates in a new creature with the traits of an elephant and a mythical dragon, but that creature was destroyed by Ben Tennyson at the cost of being horribly burned by the mutant's fiery breath. As a result, eighty percent of his body was unable to be properly healed, including bone that were carbonized from the heat, and as a last ditch effort, a team of bio-neurologists and technicians from an unknown organization called Ilmarinen Inc, rebuilt him with cybernetics and bionic parts while also placing the omnitrix's core into his heart. While this did save him from death, the company also placed an emotion inhibitor chip inside his brain that turned him into an emotionless cyborg. Currently, his mission is to protect the interests of Ilmarinen Inc and the world in general, but his real wish is to die as the pain from the hybrid was so extensive that he only has a few years to live until the bionics give out and the weight of the steel components crushes the carbonized bones that remained in his body.