Infinity Crisis Aftermath: Double Date
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their owners, this is just purely for fun.
Phoenix, Arizona. Earth-199596
A stunning woman stood at the door of the restaurant. She was Latina, her long brown hair was pulled up into a high ponytail. She wore a red dress that hugged her curvaceous frame, long red opera gloves, and a black choker around her neck. Slung on her shoulder was a small red purse. She tapped her foot, which was covered by a black high-heeled shoe.
"I hope he's alright..." Aliyah Salazar muttered to herself in worry. It's coming up on seven. He said he'd be here. It's not like him to be late...unless something has occupied him... She saw a dark green and black car drive up to the front of the restaurant. Emerging from it was a handsome brunet man with a well-trimmed mustache and beard. He wore a green suit with a white shirt and black tie. He took off his sunglasses and smiled at her.
"Hey there, babe." Ben Tennyson greeted.
"About time. I was getting hungry." Aliyah said as she walked up to Ben and kissed him.
"Same here." The brown-haired man grinned. "So, shall we go in and eat?"
"Please." The Latina woman mock begged. The two laughed as they walked inside and waited in line. The two then found themselves behind a familiar couple.
"Oh God! Ben!" The woman said. She and her male companion were both blond, her hair teased in a high ponytail, and clad in a black one-shoulder dress with a purple belt, and a high slit on one side. She was carrying a small purple purse. Her wrists were decorated by golden bracelets. The man's own hair was in a ponytail as well. He wore a black suit with a purple shirt and blue bowtie.
"Oh, hey guys." Ben recognized the two as Jack and Cerina Hollister, aka Skysurfers One and Two, respectively.
"Hi, Ben." Jack and Cerina greeted.
"Well...this is awkward." Aliyah said, rubbing her arm.
"We heard good things about this place from Lena, so we thought we'd try it out for date night." Cerina said.
"...how...how is Selena doing?" Aliyah asked.
"She's doing great." Jack said. "She can't wait to join you for your mother's birthday next month."
"Yeah..." Aliyah sighed.
"Ali, that wasn't your fault." Ben put his hand on her shoulder empathically. "You had no idea that Dr. Five-Eyes would turn her into a Bio-Borg."
"I know, it's just...I still feel lousy about it."
"How about we go in and have some food?" Jack offered.
"You mean make this a double date, hun?" Cerina smirked in amusement.
Jack shrugged. "Sure, why not? We're all here anyway, and I'm hankerin' to try that lasagna."
"Hankerin'?" Ben snickered. "You are such a cornball, Hollister."
"Yeah, he is. But he is my cornball." Cerina kissed Jack's cheek. The four then went further into the restaurant, and ordered some food. The four engaged in some small talk. They were unknowingly being watched. The observer was a Latino man, with short curly hair, and his hands covered by dark blue gloves. He wore a dark blue suit with a green shirt and red tie.
Yes, that's them, alright. The man thought as he watched the four talk and eat. He glanced at the Hollisters. Oh yeah, those two really define the term 'cute couple'... He smirked in amusement, then sipped his coffee.
"...you're still feeling a bit down about your sister?" Cerina asked.
"I admit, I know it wasn't my fault, but..." Aliyah sighed. "Maybe if I had agreed with her when she was arguing with Mama, she wouldn't have ran away, and then..." She shook her head.
"You had no idea that would happen." Jack told her. "I know we haven't been able to make Selena completely human again, but at least we managed to restore her mind." Cerina looked down. Aliyah looked at the blonde ex-villainess.
"...thanks again for helping the Skysurfers find her."
"...you all know some of the Bio-Borgs were human, right?" Cerina reminded.
"I know Abracon was." Ben recalled. "Fatima's faced him a few times. His 'magic tricks' were techno-illusions at first, but then he started picking up real magic..."
"Replicon, Lazerette, Zachariah Easel, Dr. Five-Eyes...they were all human beings once. The difference between them and Hot Streak was...they were all adults that agreed to be transformed into Bio-Borgs. They all had their reasons." Cerina said. "Replicon and Easel were frustrated artists who wanted to be respected."
Easel's rage towards the art community is what ultimately caused the Tuscon Incident. Jack recalled.
"Lazerette wanted revenge and power." Cerina continued on. "Dr. Five-Eyes wanted to experiment without being held back by ethics. But Selena..." She shook her head. "Poor Selena was only a kid, never got the choice."
"That was when you finally had enough of your father." Jack recalled.
"I thought I was being a good daughter going along with Cybron." Cerina said. "I had been questioning him for a while..." She smirked and jerked her thumb at Jack. "Thanks to this cornball and his sexiness." Ben and Aliyah chuckled, and Jack smiled. "But seeing what Five-Eyes did to Selena..." She shook her head. "It was...it was enough." The rest was history. Cerina had contacted the Skysurfers to help rescue the runaway-turned-Bio-Borg. As part of her transformation, Selena had been brainwashed. Cerina and the Skysurfers were able to free her mind, but the teenager would remain a cyborg for the rest of her life. Selena and Cerina would join the Skysurfers as Hot Streak and Skysurfer Two respectively. "What amazed me was that Jack had Skysurfer gear made out for me."
"The others were...understandably not pleased when they found out." Jack recalled. "But I always thought there was good in you, Cerina." The colorful suit-wearing man observed the four as they continued their conversation.
Yup, that's them alright. The man thought as he ate the meal he had ordered. Mmm, Swedish meatballs. Arcanna wasn't kidding when she claimed that they're a multiversal constant. I owe Stan twenty bucks.
Aliyah blinked as she felt her phone vibrate.
"Is something up?" Ben asked. Aliyah frowned as she grabbed her phone from a pocket in her dress.
"This had better be important..." She muttered to herself as she accepted the call on her small device. "Hello?" Jack, Cerina, and Ben listened with concern. "What? Oh, God...Right." She nodded. "I can get two of them right now." The Latina woman ended the call. "Skeletron's back."
"What?" Ben blinked. "But he..."
"I know." Aliyah nodded.
"Right." Jack nodded.
"Awww, and it was going so well..." Cerina sighed.
"No rest for the wicked, hun. You should know." Jack teased. The four went outside. Jack and Cerina activated a white smart-watch device they each had on their wrists. These were their Digi-Trans, devices they use to quickly switch from their civilian clothes to their Skysurfer gear. The two Skysurfers' bodies glowed white for a brief second, and then they were in their uniforms.
Jack's uniform was primarily blue, with purple accents. It had gold-and purple gauntlets and boots. The outfit had a gold utility belt with a holder that held a futuristic golden sword hilt. The belt had a buckle in the shape of a golden bird with a blue "1" on it. The helmet was purple with a translucent blue full-face visor. Over the visor was a golden crest with bird wings that went over the side of the helmet.
Carina's outfit was like Jack's, only the blue was replaced with green, and the gold replaced with silver. Her belt buckle was a silver bird with a green "2" on it. On her back was a green quiver loaded with arrows. A green bow appeared in front of her, and she grabbed it, hooking it to her lower back.
"Let's go!" Jack pressed a button on his Digi-Tran. A pair of futuristic-looking flying surfboards flew towards them out of the sky. The surfboards flew towards them, and hovered when they arrived. He and Cerina leaped on them and flew off.
"I'd better head out, too." Ben nodded. His body started to glow, and he transformed into one of his alien forms: A sleek slim black-and-blue Velociraptor-like creature with a sharp black helmet and black balls under blue feet. This was XLR8, an alien form that specialized in speed. It would allow him to keep up with the Skysurfers on the ground. "Wish me luck!"
A smile from Aliyah. "Good luck, Ben." The police officer gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ben then zipped off after the two Skysurfers. "I'd better call Lena. She'll get the others..." She dialed her younger sister up on the phone. The Latino man watched this.
I'd better give them a hand... He rubbed the back of his right hand, revealing a small hexagonal gem. The center of the gem was white, and the side bevels were red, orange, blue, green, blue, and purple. Meanwhile, the three heroes made their way through the city until they found the source of the disturbance.
The figure was a ten-foot-tall humanoid silver robot, with a head that vaguely resembled a skull with green glowing eyes.
"HUMANITY SHALL BE PUNISHED!" The robot roared, its right hand transforming into a cannon, and blasting a police car.
Blam! Blam!
A pair of explosive arrows landed on the robot's shoulders, the explosions they created knocking the robot forward. The robot turned its head and narrowed its green eyes at Skysurfers One and Two flying towards it on their skyboards. Cerina had pulled back the string on her bow, a silver energy arrow ready to be fired. Below them, Ben Tennyson was racing on the ground in his XLR8 form.
"I don't believe it." Jack muttered. "Skeletron."
"I know we destroyed him years ago." Cerina said. "How is he back?"
"Somebody rebuilt him." Jack grumbled. "Hopefully taking him apart will give us some clues." Skeletron turned his gray robotic skull-like head towards the three heroes.
"SKYSURFERS." The robot growled with a surprising rage. It looked at Cerina. "THE BETRAYER."
"Hello, Skeletron." Jack sneered, whipping out his energy sword.
"YOU KILLED THE GREAT CREATOR." Skeletron growled at the two airborne heroes and the shapeshifter. He glanced at Cerina. "AND YOU BETRAYED THE GREAT CREATOR."
"My father was a madman, Skeletron." Cerina insisted. "You need to stop this madness. Now."
"NEVER." Skeletron roared. "YOU SHALL PAY FOR KILLING THE GREAT CREATOR." The robot turned his arms into cannons and fired at them. Ben poured on the speed, and zipped up behind Skeletron. His body glowed, and he shifted into another alien form. This one was large and red with four muscular arms.
"HA!" Ben Tennyson yelled as he shoulder-checked the robot from behind in his Four Arms form. The attack caused the mad robot to fly into a building. "Remember me, Skeletron?" The big red alien smirked as he cracked his sets of knuckles.
"THE METAMORPH." Skeletron growled as he emerged from the building. "YOU ARE AN ALLY OF THE ENEMIES OF THE GREAT CREATOR."
"Yeah, I am." Ben smirked. "I helped bring that ugly robot down for good, remember?"
"I PLAY IT IN MY MEMORY BANKS EVERY MOMENT." Skeletron answered.
"I wonder if it's possible to give a robot therapy?" Ben joked.
"I SHALL AVENGE THE GREAT CREATOR." Skeletron blasted at the three heroes with his arm cannons. Jack and Cerina returned fire, Jack with blasters built into his gauntlets, and Cerina by firing arrows. Ben switched into his Heatblast form and started blasting Skeletron with red-hot flames.
Alright, I'll super-heat him with Heatblast's flames, then switch to Arctiguana and super-cool him with the freeze ray. It worked to badly damage Skeletron last time around... Ben thought. He prepared to switch forms when the three heroes got more help. "What?!"
WHAM!
A construct of a giant fist made of rainbow-colored light slammed into Skeletron from above, making a crater. A man floated down towards the three heroes. His costume was a rainbow-colored affair, with a blue cowl and purple cape. The man's left side was covered in yellow, right in red, and lower torso and legs were green.
"Doctor Spectrum, I presume?" Ben asked.
"Oh yeah, Taj told us about you."
"I figured you guys could use some help." Dr. Spectrum stated.
"Any would be appreciated right now." Jack agreed. Skeletron emerged from the crater, and he looked at the extradimensional hero.
"YOU ARE AN UNKNOWN. ARE YOU AN ENEMY OF THE GREAT CREATOR?"
"He means my father." Cerina explained. "He was a supervillain."
"Got it." Dr. Spectrum nodded. He turned to Skeletron. "I am no ally of your creator."
"THEN YOU ARE AN ENEMY. I DESTROY MY ENEMIES."
"Good luck with that." Dr. Spectrum trapped Skeletron in an energy bubble. He then contracted it, crushing the robot.
"Well...that was a bit anti-climactic." Ben said.
"But effective." Jack said. "Taj said you'd be coming by to visit. Said you had a warning for us."
"Yes." Dr. Spectrum confirmed with a nod. His hood vanished, revealing he was the curly-haired Latino man that had been observing them. "My name is Jose Gonzalez-Ledger. And your world could be in grave danger. Is there somewhere else we can talk?"
Skysurfer Strike Force HQ, San Diego, California.
"You...don't seem bothered by any of this." Ledger noted after he told the Skysurfers and Ben Tennyson about the evil version of Hyperion.
"We've seen quite a bit of the really weird lately." Jack said. "We recently met a man claiming to be a 'Time Lord' and calling himself the Doctor."
"Wait...the Doctor?" Doctor Spectrum said.
"Yes." Jack confirmed.
"Huh." Spectrum muttered, putting a finger on his chin. "A man by that name visited my world, too. Old guy, and grumbly as all hell."
"Huh. The Doctor that visited us was a Scotsman with a manipulative streak accompanied by an English teenager who had a knack for blowing things up." Kim Sakai recalled. "At least, he sounded like a Scot."
"Ah." Ledger nodded. "He likely did that regeneration thing since he met my group."
"Is there any way to stop this Hyperion?" Maddie Hollister asked with a frown.
"Well, he's no more immune to magic than anyone else is." Ledger remembered.
"Oh, we'll totally have Taj whup him, then." Micky Finnegan snickered. "She can handle that."
"I feel like we're trapped in a bad comic book." Brad Wright grumbled.
"If Taj has her own problems to deal with if this wannabe Superman pops up, we'll need another way to stop him." Nate James pointed out.
"There is." Spectrum held out a red crystal in a lead box. "This is Argonite. This crystal emits radiation that is poisonous to him."
"So basically like Kryptonite to Superman." Selena Salazar realized.
"I'll see if I can find a way to duplicate it." Maddie said as she took the box. "Wouldn't hurt to do so."
"Would be handy to have some extra weaponry on hand that can hurt him." Nate agreed.
"Remember when we just used to fight evil cyborgs?" Brad groaned.
"This ain't new to us, Brad. Where have you been?" Selena frowned. "Besides, the adventure quotient just got way up! That's something to celebrate!"
"I'd take it easy on the cheerin', little lady." Maddie said. "I have a feelin' that things are goin' ta get a little crazy for a while..."
Location Unknown
A pair of figures watched the Skysurfers interacting with Doctor Spectrum. One of them, a tall bald man, turned to a brown-haired woman in a blue outfit.
"A rogue being with the power of a Superman..." He said.
"Do you think that our enemy is behind this, Monitor?" The woman asked.
"I do not know, Harbinger." The Monitor said. "It certainly is possible. But it is most...unfortunate. I have already seen our enemy destroy numerous worlds. And I fear this...Hyperion...may end up preventing the remaining worlds from uniting..."
Thanks for reading!
Abracon was from the episode "Cyber-Magic".
Skeletron is based somewhat on the character from Quasar #53 (December 1993).