When we got to New York, we immediately checked into the hotel Grandpa Max booked for a few nights. As we waited for Grandpa Max to get us checked in, Gwen nudged my shoulder. "I'm surprised you're not trying to sneak a peak at the Sumo Slammer game testing here."

"Not worth potentially getting thrown out. Besides. It's the Beta. There's always too many glitches to work out before they can release the full game." 'Case in point, a naggy A.I. who won't shut up about how I use her casing.'

"I'm naggy?!" shouted Aoi in my head. I blasted an electric guitar riff in my head, making her cringe and yell out in surprise and pain. I looked at Gwen.

"If you need me, call my phone. I'm going out for a walk."

"You know Grandpa expects us to be in his sight while we're here!"

"What's the worst that's going to happen?"

"Don't ask that, Doofus!" I moved my hand in a 'yeah, yeah' fashion and stepped out of the hotel lobby. 'Aoi. Do you have a map of New York?'

"Yes, but I'm not showing it to you."

'It's just in case we get lost.'

"You mean if you get lost."

'And you're on my wrist. So who gets lost with me?' I grinned as I heard her huff in frustration and walked around. I made my way to an arcade. 'Man I miss these things. Back in my world, in my hometown, pretty much all normal arcades not connected to a pizzeria or a children's playhouse is shut down.'

"You know those things are rigged, right?"

'Does it seem like I care? It's the fun of playing one of these cabinets that I love." I started playing one of the cabinets with the usable guns, only to die two minutes in because of the faulty gun. 'And I remember why they shut down in the first place. No equipment maintenance.' I tried fishing out my change and growled when I didn't get any back. "Hey," I said to the arcade manager. "Your broken game ate my change!"

"Tough luck, kid." I glared at him as a boy walked over to me. "Bites, huh?" I turned to him. 'Kevin Ethan Levin. Forgot this was when I was supposed to meet him. Maybe I can change his fate.' I turned to him.

"Yeah. It's jerks like him that'll shut these places down. Wish we could get back at him, somehow."

"Oh, we definitely can." I watched him look around before placing his hand on the machine and short circuit it, making it throw up coins like a kid after Halloween. He grinned and pocketed a few quarters before bolting. I picked up my change only and followed after him. He led me to an alley and grinned at me. "How much did you get?"

"Just my change. I don't over indulge."

"Why not?"

"Restraint is a lesson I need to learn. Especially with what I can do."

"And what's that?"

"Trade secret, sorry."

"Ah, you're no fun."

"I'm loads of fun. Just people find me irritating."

"I'll bet."

"Well, well, well. Look what we got here, boys," said a voice from behind us. We turned around and saw a gang grinning at us. "It's the freak!"

"Oh no," said Kevin. I looked above us.

"Can you short out that light?" Kevin looked beside him and saw a fuse box. The gang looked at us and saw my sadistic grin.

"What the hell are you grinning about, freak?"

"How much pain you're going to be in." I brought my bandana up around the lower half of my face just as Kevin shorted out the light. I charged at them and sent one to the ground with a swift kick to his stomach. I pulled out my rope and wrapped it around one of their arms, making him clothesline his friend who tried charging at Kevin. I kicked a rock at the second downed gang member, hitting him in the head and knocking him out. The one with my rope on his wrist tried moving it off frantically, only for me to use his arm as a springboard, jump over him and land on his face, knocking him out just as the light came back on. The one still conscious looked up at me as I stood on his buddy. I turned to him and grinned. "I know, I promised pain. And I'm a man of my word." I reached beneath me and took a pocket knife from his friend. I flipped it open and held it to his face.

Kevin laughed as he pissed his pants and passed out from fear. "Oh, man! I can't believe he pissed his pants!"

"And that's why I need to show restraint. I could've killed them but didn't."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because they didn't deserve it. They're just a bunch of punks with nothing better to do." I stopped him from kicking one of them while they were down. "They just got beat by a ten-year-old. They've been humiliated enough. Besides, we gotta go. A squad car is more than likely going to come any second now."

"Right. Follow me." I followed him with Aoi mapping where we've been so we can find our way back to the hotel. We were almost at his hideout when an explosion caught our attention. "What the hell…?"

"Dude, come on!" I raced for the explosion.

"What?! Oh, man!" Kevin raced after me as I came to an intersection. We spotted a few drones attacking cars and civilians. 'Vilgax never attacked New York while Ben was here. What the fuck is going on?!'

"Deviation from original timeline. Maybe your presence has altered things drastically."

'It's never been this big of a change.' I turned to Kevin. "I need you to get the civilians out of here!"

"What are you going to do?! I doubt Kung Fu is going to do much against those things!"

"I've got more tricks up my sleeve. Sometimes, literally." I dialed up the Omnitrix and switched the face to Ignis' form. When I hit the dial, Aoi jumped in surprise and I ended up as a different form instead. I was an eyeless canine alien with white fur and what seemed like gills on the side of my head. 'Wildmutt?! Dammit Aoi!'

"I told you not to slap me down like that!" Using the vulpimancer's echolocation, I evaded a laser aimed right at me and leapt towards the nearest drone. I shredded it with my claws as Kevin watch from the sidelines. Hearing the people scream, Kevin was reminded of what I wanted him to do. Cursing, he helped a woman up who had tripped and got her away from the fight. I jumped off the exploding drone towards the other and got knocked to the ground by a laser blast. I groaned and shook my head as Kevin ran over.

"What can I do?!" I grabbed his hand and placed it on the ground and pressed a pressure point that made him absorb energy. He watched as his hand turned to concrete. "Whoa…" I pointed to his hand, then me then the drone nearby. I made my paw look like it was soaring in his gaze. "You want me to throw you?! You're too heavy, man!" I pointed to the concrete on his hand and waved to his entire body. He absorbed more concrete and felt himself get stronger. "I didn't know I could do that!" I got ready and he grinned. He grabbed my fur and tossed me at the drone as the Rustbucket screeched to a stop nearby. I slammed into the drone and brought it to the ground, roaring into it's camera before swiping it with my claws. I ripped more of its circuits out of its casing and jumped off as I changed back.

"Phoenix," called Max as I shook my head and spat at the ground. "Are you ok?!"

"Everything but my taste buds. Circuitry is nasty." I turned to Kevin. "Thanks for the assist."

"You're welcome. Names Kevin, by the way."

"Phoenix. This is my cousin, Gwen, and grandpa, Max."

"How did you know I could do that back there?"

"Seemed obvious. You can manipulate energy, figured you could absorb and alter yourself to match something you touch." 'Aoi, do you have a scanner?'

"Yes. You want me to scan him?"

'Please and thank you.' Soon enough, Aoi's voice sounded from the Omnitrix. "Partial alien DNA detected. Scanning."

"Alien," asked Kevin.

"Osmosian DNA detected. Replicating within primary database. Osmosian form unlocked."

"What did you do, Phoenix," asked Gwen.

"I didn't do anything. The watch acted on its own. I didn't touch anything."

"How did it know about my dad," asked Kevin.

"Simple, this watch is of alien origin. With it, I can change into 10 different aliens. Well, I guess it's 11 now. Those drones were after the watch. The alien after it has been gunning for me since I first got it."

"And he hasn't gotten close?"

"Not yet. Been improvising so far. Don't know what else to do other than run, hide, or fight. I keep choosing to fight." I looked at one of the destroyed drones. "Though, there are times I wish we could do away with these things once and for all."

"Why can't you take the fight to whoever is sending those things?"

"Because I can't survive in space..."

"Oh, right."

"Yeah. If it weren't for that, this guy would be dust." I looked up at the sky and glared. 'Something's not right. If Vilgax was escalating his attacks on me, he'd send drones everyday to tire us out. Something else is going on. I think one of the Freaks is here.'

"How do you know," asked Aoi.

'Vilgax is consistent. If he sees you as merely a pest, he won't escalate his attacks. Not unless someone is telling him to. Thing is, only one of them would be foolish enough to try and attack me in a heavily populated area. The Master.'

"So he's here?"

'Maybe. I'm not sure yet. We'll just have to wait.' I turned to Max. "Sorry for wandering off. I got bored."

"It's alright, just don't do it again." I nodded and looked at Kevin. "Try and stay out of trouble, Kevin."

"I make no promises." He looked at his hand and let his mind wander as he walked away. Me, Gwen and Max headed back to the hotel.

As they slept, I meditated and connected with my main consciousness to speak with Gareth. I sat up in my bed, careful not to wake my girlfriends and made sure I was dressed before making my way to the Meeting Chamber and saw the Manifestation of Life. "Hey, asshole!"

"Me dammit," muttered Gareth. "What do you want, Phoenix."

"Think I've got a lead. That favor Gallio asked me for has brought up something. I think The Master is in the Ben 10 universe I'm in."

"Do you have any proof?"

"Just a hunch. Vilgax is behaving differently than any other variation I've heard of. He's attacking more often, and I doubt my presence in this world is changing anything too greatly, and it's just like The Master to coerce someone to attack a pest more than deemed necessary. Vilgax is prideful and finds me, as I am now, as nothing more than a pest and won't escalate his attacks until three weeks from now." I looked at him. "Can you get Tyra to check if there's been anything strange going on? I know that they've found some way to hide their traveling between worlds from her, but she mentioned the other day that she'd felt something off around one of the worlds I trained in."

"I'll have her check. What about the world I asked you to cover?"

"So far, nothing. The Daemon Sisters don't know anything, and my investigations have found nothing. I need help with this."

"We can't offer any. Tsukiko has been training with Sarah to better her magic and Denise has duties she needs to finish herself."

"What about Kurumi? I know she doesn't have anything to do besides hang around here and prank you with Alma."

"As much as I'd like to send her away. We can't order her to do anything. She has to go of her own free will. And even then. How can you trust her?"

"Well, we're sharing a soul. So, there's that."

"I still don't trust her. She was locked in the Shadow Vault for a reason."

"Only because she killed one asshole too many in another world that deserved it. She saved my life, Alma loves her as much as she loves Tsukiko and Denise. If that's not enough for me to trust her, then I don't know what is."

"You're feelings make you biased, Ingrate. I'm telling you now. If she sticks around, you're going to regret it. She will betray us. And she will break you beyond repair."

"Oh, ye of little faith. She could've betrayed us at any time and hasn't."

"Because she probably never had the right set of circumstances she needed." I glared at him.

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to you doubt her. I'm leaving."

"Good. Leave me in peace." I growled as I walked away. I punched a wall, making a sizable hole in it.

"Someone's angry," said someone behind me. I sighed and turned to face the Manifestation of Science, Gallio. "What'd Gareth do this time?"

"Other than the usual? He doubts Kurumi is on our side."

"Well, she was in the Shadow Vault."

"She didn't deserve to be there. The men she killed all deserved it. Rapists, abusers, murderers. She was…"

"Killing to gain strength. Yeah, you remember she fed on their time to try and extend her own and grow stronger, right? That's why she was probably locked up. She got too powerful for her own good. You're lucky she hasn't eaten you yet. I'm sure, in your 10'000 year gap you've done a lot of questionable things that would warrant her feeding on your time. However much that is. Hell, with your combined soul, she can probably do whatever she wants now."

"She's not like that."

"How are you sure? Each variation of her has their own motivation for what they do. Do you know hers?"

"I don't have to. I trust her. Why can't either of you?"

"Because we're not sleeping with her. You are. And she's got you wrapped around her little finger." I growled and sent arcs or electricity around me, shorting out the lights in the hall we were in. "Remind me to modify those in the future," he said offhandedly before turning to me. "And reassess how much you trust Kurumi Tokisaki, Phoenix. She may end up betraying you in the end." I returned to my body in the Ben 10 universe I was occupying and opened my eyes to see Gwen's right in front of me. I blinked in surprise as I registered what was going on. I felt her lips on mine and saw her pull away. Blushing darkly. "Uh…"

"Y-you're dreaming!"

"I don't dream, Gwen. Why...?"

"Don't worry about it!" She ran out of the room I was staying in and shut the door behind her. I could hear Aoi snickering in my head and sent another electric guitar riff her way, making her scream in pain. I checked the time and saw it was early in the morning.

"Damn. Really need to check my sense of time between worlds and the Citadel." I stood up, did my morning routine and went out into the suite's living room with a dark blue shirt with a white line running down the same spot as Ben's black line in his iconic shirt. I spotted Gwen sitting at the table, hiding her head in a book. I could barely make out her blush as Max came in from the entrance. "Please don't tell me you slept in the RV, Grandpa. I thought the whole point of renting this suite was to sleep in a normal bed for a night."

"I was checking on the brakes. When we came back after looking for you, the brakes felt weird. I think a piece of shrapnel hit the brake line."

"You can repair it, right?"

"Yeah, just need to get the right part for it."

"Well, while you're doing that, I'm going to check on Kevin. I think I know where he's been staying. Gonna try and see if he has a family and if he's going to head back to them. Something tells me he's been on his own for a bit."

"Well, be careful, Phoenix." He went to his own bedroom to take a short nap since he'd been up for a few hours. I grinned as I turned to away when I spotted Gwen actually reading this time. I kissed her cheek, startling her and making her blush and splutter before heading out. I made my way to where Kevin had showed me where his hideout was, an abandoned subway terminal. I looked around after spotting him looking at his now steel hand.

"Spacious. And a bit lonely." Kevin sat up and turned to me.

"Oh, hey Phoenix."

"Don't you have a home, Kevin?"

"My mom and stepdad don't care about me."

"And why do you say that?" I turned to him, my hands in my pockets.

"They just…"

"Tell you what to do? Look out for you? Try to make sure you do the right thing? Sounds like they're acting like parents." He stayed silent. "Dude. A word of advice? All they're doing is trying to set an example. Try and make sure you don't waste your life on doing nothing but hurting others for your own benefit. Because it only takes you so far before you end up in prison, or worse." He looked at me like he wanted to punch me. "Think about the gang yesterday. Where the hell do you think they'll end up before long? And from the sounds of it, they're always beating on you. What happens when you all end up in a place where you can't run or hide? What happens then?" Kevin dropped his fist from his windup and growled softly.

"Get out of here."

"I will. Think about what I said, Kevin. And try to patch things up, at least with your mom." I walked away and found myself tackled into an alley a few blocks later. "Ow."

"Hi, Dad!" said the person on top of me. I looked up and saw my daughter, Alma. "You look weird like this."

"And you look weird in general." She pouted. "Off." She got off of me and I stood up, dusting off my clothes. "Alma, why are you here?"

"Overheard you saying to Gareth that The Master was here."

"I said I think he's here. I'm not sure yet, it's just a hunch."

"Well, I came to help, anyways."

"And how am I supposed to explain my eight-year-old daughter when this body is only ten?"

"Just say I'm a friend."

"Who just happened to find me on a cross country trip without parental supervision and is tagging along? Not a chance." Alma pouted. "And that's not going to work. If you want to help, find another world where we can go together and tell me back on the Citadel. We'll have a father-daughter trip, alright?" She grinned and disappeared. I shook my head with a smile and went to join my family back at the hotel. It was a few days after we left New York that we found ourselves near a bank robbery committed by a few women with heavy energy weapons.

"Phoenix, do something," said Gwen.

"If I get involved, we need to move fast so no one asks questions and so that no drones drop nearby."

"If you don't act, those police officers are going to get hurt." I saw the way she was looking at me and sighed. I stepped out of the RV, away from any wandering eyes. "Energy weapons, huh? Might as well try the Osmosian then. Aoi?"

"Doing it now." I transformed and found myself in my original body. Well, sort of. I was adult sized, with Osmosian features. I went over to the gang.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" One of them fired a blast at me and I held out my hand. 'Hope this works.' I absorbed the energy blast and felt it boost my strength and speed. "Oh, yeah. That could be habit forming." I grinned and charged at the girls, clotheslining one to the ground and tanking another energy blast to my back. I turned to her with a sinister grin. She dropped the weapon and ran. I turned to the last one who was aiming right at my head. "You've got three seconds to drop the weapon, pick up your friend, and go. Unless you want to deal with someone like me for an extended fight with a weapon at half charge." She glared at me but noticed Max and Gwen standing under a hanging roof. I glanced where she was looking. "Don't even think about it, bitch."

"Who you calling a bitch?!" She fired at me and actually knocked me back a bit. I groaned and glared at her. "There's more where that came from."

"Then I should stop holding back." I knelt and absorbed the concrete beneath my feet. I cracked my neck with a very heavy stone sounding pop. "Come on, Dyke! Give me your best shot!" She yelled and fired everything her weapon had at me. I tanked most of her shots before charging at her. I hit her in the gut and knocked the weapon from her hands before kicking her head. She groaned from the hit and stood on wobbly knees. "This is the part where you fall down." She collapsed with a groan. I noticed a couple of drones flying our way and pulled two slabs of concrete out of the ground before tossing them at the drones, blowing one up as the other evaded. "Oh great, a smart one." I blocked a laser blast and grabbed onto it as it flew close to try and hit me. I peered into the camera. "You watching this?! I hope so, bastard!" I smashed into the bot and ripped out several important wires and circuits. I jumped off as its navigational equipment malfunctioned and it flew into a cliffside.

"Phoenix," said Max. "Come on. We gotta go." I grabbed one of the destroyed bots and climbed back aboard the RV, closing the door behind me.

"Is it a good idea to bring that thing on the Rustbucket," asked Gwen.

"How else can Greymatter study it and try to find a better way to destroy them?"

"Greymatter?"

"The small brainy alien." I changed back as I stored the drone remains in the closet. We took off for another location Grandpa wanted to visit. I looked at Gwen as she typed on her laptop. "So… about New York." She blushed darkly and hid her face from me. I grinned and sat next to her. I decided to mess with her. "You think Kevin is going to be ok?" Her blush got under control and she looked slightly annoyed and angry when I didn't acknowledge her kissing me while I was meditating. She looked at me, trying to school her emotions.

"I don't know. He seems like just another delinquent, from what you told us about him."

"He may be. But when people were in danger, he did go out of his way to help them. He could've ignored me and run away. He could've joined the fight himself. But he didn't. He chose to get others out of the line of fire."

"He still seems like trouble to me."

"Yeah, but anyone with a good sense of fun and a healthy social life seems like trouble to you, Dweeb." She huffed and turned away from me, annoyed. I grinned and tapped her shoulder.

"What do you w…" She stopped short when I kissed her lightly. Her face turned an interesting shade of red and she squeaked slightly.

I pulled away and smiled at her. "Better than me being asleep?" She stammered and tried to reply but I moved away and let her mind go into overdrive about the kiss. About an hour later we arrived at a circus. I frowned. 'Zombozo. Psychic vampire, feeds off of joy and fear. Uses his traveling circus as a front for robberies.'

"How are you going to handle this?"

'Simple. I take out the machine he uses to store positive energy. And I can do it easily. Ben would've been paralyzed with fear. But clowns are the least scariest thing I've ever faced.'

"Didn't your daughter face the Joker from what you told me?"

'Yes. But he wasn't the clown I was talking about.' I looked at Max. "Grandpa. I'm going to try to find something to eat."

"Be careful, Phoenix. Don't wander off."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"When you say that," said Gwen. "Is when we should worry."

"Whatever you say, Dweeb." She glared but hid a slight blush, her memory still on the kiss from earlier. I wandered for a little bit before sneaking behind the big tent. I found the machine and felt a presence nearby. I pulled on my bandana and hid amidst the shadows as Zombozo came into the room. I saw the Circus Freaks enter behind him and listened to him tell them where to hit while he 'entertained' the audience. I glared and watched as he left the area. Thumbskull and Acid Breath left soon after with Frightwig staying behind and sighing.

"I need to get out of this."

"Then stay still," I said, using magic to distort my voice.

"Wha…" she said, turning around before I knocked her out. I tore up her clothes and tied her up and made it seem like she'd been assaulted by her 'co-workers'. I went to the machine and frowned.

"Need to be discreet."

"Is that really an option at this time?"

"Maybe…" I looked around and spotted a cable. "That looks important." I formed a shadow blade and cut into it. "Now to call in the police and let them know several crimes have been committed by these guys, and she was just a victim."

"Like they're gonna believe a kid."

"They won't." I turned the dial and changed into my Osmosian form. "But they'll listen to me like this."

"S-stop messing with that!"

"Sorry. Look, if you want to blame anyone, blame Azmuth for putting physical sensors on your casing. Answer me something. Is there any way to turn it off?"

"No."

"Oh well." I shrugged and went outside, making sure I wasn't seen by anyone. I found where they were hiding the stolen items and cash and saw Thumbskull leaving it just a bit open.

"Guess Lucy's blessing does work."

'Doesn't always feel like it.' Making sure to cast a minor Notice-Me-Not on me so I remain unnoticed. I pickpocketed a cell phone and called the police. Letting them know about the stolen stuff and the assaulted woman in the circus. I gave them the location of the traveling circus and slid the phone back into the person's pocket without them realizing that they'd lost it. I found a place to change back without notice, bought a tub of popcorn, idly noticing a pheromone to entice laughter and shook my head. "I knew this guy wasn't funny." I rejoined my family as the show was starting.

"You took your time," said Gwen.

"Long line." She shrugged, seeming to believe me and took some popcorn. I watched as the announcer introduced Acid Breath and Thumbskull. When Frightwig was introduced and she didn't show up, the crowd looked around, confused, when she didn't arrive. Nervously, the announcer introduced the star of the show and a small clown car rolled in and Zombozo climbed out of it. I looked around as everyone started laughing at his routine I visibly yawned, catching his attention.

"Are you bored, young man?"

"Let me answer your question with a question. Are you actually funny, dumb clown?"

"Well, it seems we have someone who wants to join the act."

"Shouldn't be that hard. All I have to do is make people laugh. Just gotta show them what you look like under all that make up." At this the people chuckled. Gwen and Max recognized this as me antagonizing an enemy and looked at the clown as he got angry.

"Looks like we got a comedian, folks! Say, kid. Why don't you come down here and introduce yourself."

"No thanks, I can smell that guys breath from here. Anybody got a mint?!" Acid Breath growled at me. "I'll take your laughter as a no. Sorry, Clown. You're pedophilic fantasies won't be fulfilled today." A few more laughs. I didn't notice a pair of orchid eyes watching me.

"I insist young man. Thumbskull, why don't you escort him down here so we can get his name out to the audience." The abnormal strongman walked over to me.

"Come on. Your name can't really be Thumbskull. It's demeaning. Not to mention an insult to thumbs everywhere. Come on, tell me what your real name is. Hey, Clown! What's his name?!" Thumbskull growled at me. "Oh, look out for 'Hmmhm'." And more laughter. 'I know I'm not that funny. Must be the popcorn.' I jumped over him as he barreled at me and slammed into my seat. Gwen and Max moved away from him, aware something is up. I landed on his head and looked at Zombozo who was even angrier than before but was hiding it well. "Tell me something clown. Are you actually funny or do you just lace the popcorn with some pheromones to induce laughter? Because I sure as hell ain't laughing. Then again, I'm very cynical and it takes a lot to make me laugh. Like earlier, I saw someone stub their toe on this giant cable leading to a large machine and let out some very choice words that made me chuckle." At the mention of a machine, Zombozo glared at me.

"Oh, you think you're cute!"

"Bitch," I said just as the police raided the place and surrounded him and Acid Breath. "I'm adorable."

"Sorry folks," said a police officer. "This circus has been a staging area for a series of robberies in a number of states. And these men are the perpetrators. We need you to calmly exit the tent and please proceed to your homes." The crowd soon stopped laughing as Thumbskull and Acid Breath were put in restraints and Zombozo disappeared in a cloud of confetti. As we left the tent, I saw Frightwig being helped by two women police officers, a blanket draped over her shoulders. I noticed she had smeared mascara running down her face and was shaking. I read her mind and heard her thoughts. 'Whoever attacked me gave me the out I needed. I need to play this off. Sure they ruined my clothes and roughed me up, but they made it seem like the others did this. If I ever see him again, I don't know what I'll do. Kick his ass or kiss him.' I noticed she saw my eyes briefly before she was knocked out. I sighed and made my way to the patrol car she was escorted to as the officers talked about what she probably went through.

She looked at me through the window and saw my eyes as I wrote something on a slip of paper. I pressed it against the glass, and she read 'Zombozo disappeared. Ask for witness protection in exchange for everything you know 'they' did and forced you to do. Chance at better, safer life. I suggest you take it.' She glanced at me again before I walked away and back to Gwen and Max. "What did you do," asked Gwen.

"Stopped some bad guys. Freed a damsel in distress. Usual hero stuff."

"What was that stuff you were saying about a machine, Phoenix," asked Max.

"I found this strange machine and overheard Zombozo say it keeps others positive energy for him to feed on. Makes me think he is a psychic vampire."

"Would make sense why you said he laced the popcorn. And probably the other snacks as well. Now that I think about it, none of what he did really seemed that funny."

"Why weren't you affected," asked Gwen. I shrugged. "Maybe because I was aware of it and subconsciously trying to fight it?"

"When are you going to tell them about what you really are?"

'Hopefully never. But if a Freak is here, I may need to tell them soon. More than likely during my confrontation with Vilgax, if things persist.'

"How will they react?"

'In my experience, it's always mixed reactions whenever I've revealed this. Either they feel betrayed, fully accept me, or don't know what to think. And I can't predict it because even understanding psychology, when something like the Metaverse and my powers are involved, it changes one's way of thinking drastically. I don't know how they'll react to this news.'

I followed them into the Rustbucket and thought about how best to deal with what I knew was coming next. My first encounter with Hex, and the appearance of Lucky Girl.