Hey there! It's been an embarrassingly long amount of time since the last update hit. Never fear, however; I will see this story through. I hope you enjoy!
Cruising around on Kevin's ride has been a favorite activity of Ben's ever since Kevin and Grandpa Max got it street legal. It's not just because Arcadia is tiny, and often boring - there's really not a lot to do, especially for a teenager; you go grab a bite or you go to the movies, and rinse and repeat until you run out of restaurants and movies - but also because Ben gets to bask a bit in the shared passion between Kevin and his guardian.
It's...been a while since they last had the chance to just ride around. Fortunately, Kevin's improved mood via escapade, and the task at hand provide the perfect opportunity.
"There's that sound again." -Kevin notes, narrowing his eyes. "You catch it?"
Ben shakes his head, amused. "I'm telling you, I don't hear anything."
"You just don't have an ear for it." -Kevin shrugs. "When I was on my way back from Charlie's, I accidentally ran a nasty road bump, and there's been a...rattle, since. Something probably got loose."
The Omnitrix's bearer tries to listen for the sound again for a minute or two, but comes up empty. "Yeah, I don't hear it."
Kevin shrugs. "Max and I were supposed to replace the gas pump and perform an oil change soon-ish, so I'll just give everything a once-over. See if I can't figure out what broke."
Ben hums, and checks the map for any changes on their quarry's location. The blip hasn't moved since they started looking, so they're closing fast. "Take the next left." -Ben says. "What do you think we'll find?"
"Not sure. Probably not your bounty hunter, though."
"Oh?"
"This 'Sixsix' character has to lay low for a while. If I were him, I probably wouldn't stay put for too long. Maiming Julie when she wasn't his target? Huge no-no in the bounty hunter community. Doing it within Kree jurisdiction is practically a death sentence."
Ben crosses his arms. "Right. Abigail mentioned that."
Kevin nods at the badge Ben is holding. "If you'd read the files on that thing, you'd know for yourself. Max left a ton of useful information on those things. I spent most of my time out of town figuring the Plumber badges out, and they're no joke; it's like a swiss army knife on alien steroids."
Ben stares at the object with newfound interest. "So you've said, yeah. What else can it do?"
"Well, besides the alien tracking and massive data storage, it can be used to guarantee safe passage across most civilized star systems, enhance compatible technology, request aid from other Plumbers, bypass most security systems, translate pretty much any language without the need for an implant...the list goes on, but I think you get the point."
He whistles. "So they definitely shouldn't be in the hands of teenagers, huh?"
"Nope. But y'know, neither should the Omnitrix, or a military grade alien prosthetic."
Ben chuckles as their tracking dot practically converges on their target's. "We're here." -he says. Kevin drives a little past their target location, parking the car in as surreptitious a location as a vintage muscle car painted black and neon green can possibly achieve. The badge leads them to a rather narrow side alley that seems...familiar, for some reason. There's nothing out of the ordinary around, though, not that they can tell.
"How accurate is this?" -Ben asks, frowning, as he studies the three-dimensional map.
"...let's go with very. Why?"
Ben looks around for onlookers, and pops up the Omnitrix's dial when he sees none. "Whatever it is, it's under us." -he says, and twists the dial until he finds the alien he's looking for.
Big Chill, a moth-like humanoid wrapped, poncho-style, in their own massive wings, materializes with a flash of green, and a gust of frigid air accompanying their whispered moniker. Kevin raises an eyebrow. "The mothman? Why?"
The teen-turned-alien lets their abilities speak for themselves, turning their head and upper torso intangible, and plunging their head straight into the ground. What they find is shocking, to say the least.
Beneath the alleyway - and, presumably, the entire block - is what looks to be a bunker of sorts; it's a very large storage area filled with all sorts of tech, both human and alien in origin, the centerpiece of it all being what can only be described as a stereotypical flying saucer. Big Chill resurfaces, and stares at Kevin. "Alien...basement." -they say.
Kevin snorts. "Think his mom lives upstairs?"
"Let's...ask."
Big Chill phases into the building at his right, above which the likely entrance to the underground section was located, and quickly regrets it: they know this place. Had a job interview in this tiny, cramped electronics store.
Ben's boss, Stuart, stares in shock at their translucent form. Big Chill immediately raises their arms, in order to pose as little a threat as possible, but Kevin kinda ruins the effect when he barrels into the store, metal skin and fists ready for a fight.
"Stuart?" -Kevin wonders, suddenly baffled.
"K-Kevin!?" -Stuart chokes out, seemingly terrified. He glances back and forth between the teenaged Enhanced and the Necrofriggian, growing increasingly pale, before he reaches into his robe's left pocket, pulls out a couple tiny, black pellets, and throws them at the ground, yelling: "Smokescreen!"
The resulting detonation generates less of a smokescreen, and more of an explosion of instant darkness, which immediately fills the room and leaves the teens blind. Kevin tries to lunge for the presumably alien fugitive - though why the badge thought he was underground is a mystery - but only succeeds in slamming into a shelf filled to the brim with vintage electronics. Big Chill, whose enhanced vision allows them to more or less see Stuart fleeing through the back of the store, extends their massive wings and blasts everything around them with a small gust of frigid wind, swiftly getting rid of the strange black powder permeating the room.
Kevin rises, already pissed off. "I'll get the car."
Big Chill's mouth doesn't allow for a smirk, but they still get the attitude across. "You...do that."
The Necrofriggian phases through the ceiling of the store, wincing at the harsh, summer sunlight. They instinctively know that their species is much more comfortable in the near-endless void of deep space, lit only by distant stars and galaxies. Still, Big Chill manages to track Stuart's path - he's already gunning it down the street, bystanders looking befuddled at the sight of Arcadia's most famous - and, uh, only - food truck speeding down 12th street like it's in a Fast and the Furious movie.
Big Chill turns intangible again, and follows the vehicle at a considerable distance and height, trying their best not to be seen by the populace below. They also spot Kevin's car, lagging quite a bit behind. Stuart seems to be headed out of town, which is fine by them, but their mad scramble causes a major issue, soon enough - Arcadia's finest have taken notice, and they're starting a chase.
Deciding human intervention is the last thing this situation needs, Big Chill dives in and takes on the cop cars. They fly alongside the closest one, and breathe frost onto the pavement just ahead of the vehicle, causing the surprised driver to instantly spin out of the road. Big Chill then zooms towards the next squad car, and dives through the engine, which instantly freezes and breaks down, leaving the now powerless car broken down by the side of the road.
There's only one police cruiser left - Arcadia's police force isn't exactly the best equipped in the nation - but the cops in this one decide to stop and assist their defeated compatriots, so Big Chill focuses instead on Stuart's burrito truck. Their boss is already out of Arcadia's urban area, and headed southeast, towards the desert. Fortunately for the Omnitrix-bound warriors, Stuart is also headed right towards the scrapyard, and thus, Max and Kevin's home. Kevin must be thinking the same thing, because he guns it, quickly catching up to the truck, speeding alongside it down the road. Big Chill waits a couple beats for the moment to strike, and then dives again, this time phasing through the passenger door, grabbing Stuart - whom, justifiably, yelps in surprise - and then phasing them both through the driver's door, before depositing the terrified man into the back of Kevin's Challenger.
Big Chill then proceeds to phase back into the runaway truck, wings folding back into poncho-like wrappings, and takes the wheel, pulling up behind Kevin's ride, and towards their...hideout? Base of operations? Either or.
Neither the teenaged human nor the Necrofriggian they became know how to drive a stick shift, but they figure momentum and a steady, clawed foot on the gas is enough to get the truck to the scrapyard in one piece. It takes a minute, but they eventually find the dirt pathway to the small, mostly empty cul-de-sac Grandpa Max's home is located at. Big Chill tries to break, but they hardly know what a clutch even is, so the vehicle dies on them, almost immediately. The truck overshoots by quite a bit, forcing them to brusquely climb the sidewalk and maneuver down the path to the Rust Bucket but Ben, having swapped back to human form, is still pretty satisfied with his piloting skills.
Kevin, obviously, beat him there. Ben dashes into the house, only to find Kevin menacingly standing before a quivering Stuart, sat at Max's favorite sofa. The mexican-american man with the oddly british accent glances at Ben, and tries to rise, but Kevin easily pushes him back down.
"Ben! Please, talk some sense into your mate for me, eh?" -he nervously says, but then he spots the reddened Omnitrix on Ben's wrist, and stops. Ben can almost see the gears in his head turning as he figures his secret out.
And then, he giggles. As in genuine, joyful, uncontrollable laughter, making Kevin and Ben stare at each other in confusion. "Seklos and Gaylen, it's you! Of course it'd be you!" -he says, amused. "'Novelty watch', my beautifully sculpted, artificially generated arse."
"Explain, bathrobe man." -Kevin gruffly demands.
"Well, that there is the Omnitrix, innit? And you, my poorly recompensed retail employee, are its Bearer!" -he asks Ben. "To think, I thought you lot were bounty hunters! A Necrofriggian and a bloody Osmosian, or...whatever you are, I guess?" -he gestures at Kevin.
Ben frowns. "Stuart, you know Kevin."
The man chortles. "Clearly, not as well as I thought, eh?"
Ben shakes his head. "You are taking this remarkably well."
"Oh, this is a bloody relief, Benji." -he confesses. "I've been tracking some rather worrying alien biorhythms in town lately - was just about ready to pack up and bounce back to Mexico - but it's been you all along, trying out those neat new shape-shifting abilities of yours! Now I know not to worry."
The teen winces. "Yeah...about that…"
Stuart falters. "...w-what is it?"
Kevin crosses his arms. "It's not just Ben, Stuart. There are bounty hunters in town."
"But they're after me, not you." -Ben clarifies, seeing his boss become agitated again. "We were trying to track them, but ran into you, instead."
"Which means you're secretly an alien." -Kevin says, pulling out the Plumber badge and holding it towards Stuart. Predictably, the badge beeps and warns of the alien presence.
Stuart chuckles nervously. "Eh...surprise?"
Ben pinches the bridge of his nose. Kevin groans, utterly annoyed. And, all the way on the other side of Arcadia, near a particularly ominous bridge and canal, a newly minted cyborg and an Anodite-human hybrid start their own chase - as their respective Plumber badges lead them to a certain Sotoraggian bounty hunter.
I love Big Chill. It's far and away my favorite alien from the Alien Force era, so they became part of Ben's initial 10 aliens. Here's the little blurb I have on them:
Big Chill:
The Omnitrix's sample of a Necrofriggian, a species thought to come from the intergalactic void. Big Chill is a highly versatile transformation; they can fly, become intangible, as well as emit bursts of incredibly frigid pressurized gas from their mouth and create ice crystals from their hands. Like most of Ben's alien forms, Big Chill is very strong and durable. Their flight is relatively slow, however, and they're generally somewhat passive in combat, rarely going blow for blow with their enemies. They also have a strange knack for snacking on steel.
Gosh, I'm glad I finally got to the more crossover-y bits of this crossover. It's only gonna get wilder from here, friends, so I hope you tune in! And yes, for the people who want more Marvel content in this fic, it's super close!
As always, thank you for your attention! Make sure to comment or message me if you have any questions about this story. Look me up on Twitter as Darthkvzn or Tumblr as darthkvznblogs if you'd like - and on Ko-fi, as Darthkvzn, if you like what I do and have a coffee's worth of money to spare. No worries if not!
Until next time!