Yo. Hope everyone's doing alright. Here's the next chapter, and the end of part 1 of Chimera Rising. When next we meet, we'll be starting part 2. Which will be a bit more exciting. This whole part was mostly just to set the tone. And with that outta the way, we'll start the more exciting bits.

I do not own Ben ten or Worm, you know this.

Enjoy.

X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X

Brockton Bay

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

8:32 AM EST

(Six Hours After Chimera's Rampage)

'Yo it's Aisha, sorry I missed your call, unless I ignored it in which case, not sorry! Leave a message and I'll hit you up later, or not!' *Beep*

"Aisha it's Brian, call or text me to let me know you're alright."

He hung up and cursed under his breath. He had called nine times before he gave up and just decided to leave a message. Hopefully she was just asleep or had her phone off.

He sat alone in the middle of the living room of the base, the others having gone to sleep when it was clear the disaster was over. He couldn't help staying awake though, a nagging feeling in his gut kept him restless, and Aisha not answering her phone was only making it worse.

Rubbing his tired eyes, he glanced back at the tv, the news showing footage of some of the more damaged buildings and roads and internally wincing at how utterly devastated a part of the city had become. He had been in a fair share of cape fights, had his own scars to prove it-thanks for that ShadowStalker you crazy bitch-but this...this was something else. This went way past just putting on a costume and duking it out in the streets. This wasn't part of the game of cops and robbers. This touched A, maybe even S class levels of destruction. And it had come to his city.

'Wonderful.'He thought dryly. This was gonna cause some issues. He'd have to talk to Lisa about it later.

The sound of a door opening from the hall made him turn his head. A few padded footsteps sounded off as someone walked through the doorway.

'Speak of the devil.'

Lisa, clothed in a pair of green and black pajamas, groggily walked past him with her slippered feet softly hitting the floor. She looked pale, her hair unkempt, and had a small sheen of sweat glistening on her forehead. He raised an eyebrow at her haggard appearance. He listened to her rummage around in the kitchen, the creak of the cupboards, the hiss of the faucet running, and the dull thuds of the fridge opening and closing. Soon she was coming back out, a box of ritz crackers under her arm and a tall glass of ice water in her hand.

She sat down in the chair to his left, put down the glass, and opened the box of crackers. He opened his mouth to speak before she held up her hand to stop him. He watched as she dug out a few crackers, sliding two into her mouth and chewing carefully. She did this a few more times before putting down the box and pulling out a small pill bottle from her pocket. She shook out two, popped them into her mouth then reached down for her glass to gulp down the pills. She sighed loudly after draining the glass of half its contents. Slumping back into the chair, she placed the perspiring glass to her forehead and closed her eyes.

He stared.

"Thinker headache."She said, answering his unasked question. He ahhed in understanding.

"From earlier?"He inquired,referring to when she had left to her own room to 'go think'. She grunted in affirmation.

"Tried to use my power to see what the hell I was looking at. Turned out to be a bad idea."She supplied.

"How so?"He asked.

"It was like my power just decided to projectile vomit information all over my brain." He grimaced at the description.

"Was there anything useful at least?"

Her free hand rose up to massage her temple. "That thing is impossible."She muttered.

"Huh?"

"That thing,"She said a bit louder,"Chimera, he's literally impossible. His biology, from what I saw, should not be possible. I don't know how to explain it, it's like his body shouldn't be able to work but it just...does."

"How so?"He said, leaning back into the couch and crossing his arms.

"You saw his left arm? The one on fire."

"Yeah."

"Pretty sure he has gills."

He blinked,"Wait, what?"

"He has gills. Meaning he's meant to breathe underwater. Yet for some reason has a limb made of molten rock. The arm would be rendered almost useless underwater and with how hot it was burning, on land it would dry him out, making breathing difficult. But he functions just fine. Same with his wings. They look like bug wings. They'd be pretty useless if they got wet."

She turned her head to look at him. "His body is a walking contradiction, but at the same time, it's not."

She sighed. "I'd pay good money to see Panacea give him a physical."

They sat in a comfortable silence, Lisa resting and waiting for the pills to kick in, and Brian contemplating everything she told him. Eventually, he turned to her and asked,"So what do we do?"

"In terms of?"She drawled.

"The Undersiders. With all this going on, we could probably do a few jobs and not have to worry about any attention for a while."

Lisa's eyes opened before slowly panning over to Brian's. He blinked at her stare.

"What?"He asked. She continued to stare before sighing through her nose and closing her eyes again.

"You might wanna rethink that."She said.

He waited for her to explain. When she didn't he asked how come?

"Firstly,"She started holding up a finger,"It'd be better to see what happens next. Cape fights happen, but damage like this is not normal. The Bay will get some spotlight for a while after this, and we have no idea how that'll affect things. The national guard could show up, more heroes could pass through to help with relief efforts, hell the gangs might have the same idea and then we'd probably have to fight them over a score. Personally I like jobs with less capes and trigger happy soldiers aiming their guns at me."

She held up a second finger,"Secondly, if a truce is called, we have to be a part of it. I know how much image matters to you and if all the major powers have decided to have a ceasefire til things die down, and we don't go along with it, then we'll just look like a nuisance to everyone which we very much do not want."

She lifted a final finger,"Lastly, and most importantly I feel, Chimera. He got away. But we don't know if that means he left the city. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not run the risk of running into Frankenstein's monster."

Brian thought about their options and decided that yes, maybe laying low for now was a good idea, at least until they got more intel.

"Alright,"He agreed,"We'll keep our heads down for now. Let me know if you hear anything about a meeting at Somers. If you do, we'll decide what to do afterwards."

"Yes sir."Lisa replied with a lazy salute. He rolled his eyes before standing up and stretching his back.

"I'm gonna try to get some sleep."He said making his way to his room.

"Sleep tight."She said with a tired grin. She watched him disappear down the hall.

Her smile dropped. Poor guy was worried sick. She didn't even need her powers to know that much. Hopefully his sister was okay. If not...well, she did often wonder what Brian would do if his sister was ever seriously hurt or even killed. He might seem like a calm level-headed guy on the surface, but she knew how violent he could be when he wanted to. God forbid anything happened to his sister or else Brian might set his sights on Chimera. And that wouldn't end well...for the team.

Either he'd try to take on the monster cape or he'd leave the team, since his sole purpose for being here was for his sister's sake. Both would cause a long list of problems, ones she would no doubt have to deal with. And who knows what their boss would do if push came to shove. She took a sip of her water.

The throbbing in her head had finally started to recede, soon, she'd be able to use her powers again and deal with something that had truly been nagging her for the past few hours.

She'd told Brian that Chimera himself was impossible. She hadn't been lying. But she didn't tell him entirely what she meant by that.

She could admit, very begrudgingly, that sometimes-SOMETIMES-her power wasn't always right. Most of the time she could trust the information she received, and she could use it to her and her team's advantage. But what she learned when she looked at Chimera. It just couldn't be possible. Her power must've gotten a wrong lead and gave her a bad reading.

There was no way in hell that Chimera's powers were Not the result of Parahuman abilities.

He leaned over the ledge of the roof, watching the people below as they dug through the rubble. Searching for survivors. Salvaging what they could of the broken homes around them. Perhaps even planning on how to rebuild.

Meaningless actions.

Looking over to another rooftop, he teleported, dropping a few feet from the air to land on atop a water tower. From this height, he scoured the alleys and streets.

'Go scout around the area to see if Chimera is still lurking around. If so, relay his location to me.'

He had left without a word, neither asking why nor giving confirmation that the order was even heard. Not that Lung had expected him to respond. Lung only expected results, not words.

So far however, his search was yielding nothing. All he could find was remnants of the battle that had shaken the city to its foundations. No, to call it a battle would be too generous. It was a massacre. Men, women, children. None were spared. Not even the heroes of the city were able to escape from the havoc that had been wrought by a single parahuman.

Such power...it reminded him of Lung.

Lung, at the heights of his power, stopped being a man, and became a force of nature. Little to nothing could ever stand in his way. However, this newcomer, this Chimera. He showed himself to be a worthy adversary. Someone who could possibly stand on par with Lung. This display of strength was testament enough to the fact that should he choose, Chimera could challenge all of Brockton Bay.

Such a challenge could not go unanswered. Which was why Lung wanted to find him.

Not solely for the purpose of proving he is the strongest, but because Chimera was what Lung craved the most. A worthy opponent to do battle against. And Chimera had done more than enough to prove himself worthy.

Had Lee been capable of it, he almost would have felt pity for the new cape.

A cold rage had been planted in him, it was subtle, quiet, swimming through his veins like liquid nitrogen, slowly making his heart pound a little harder every minute. He stood with what looked like an emotional detachment at the very edge of a gathered crowd.

Random civilians crowded around a police barricade with their phones out, taking pictures or videos, trying to get a glimpse of the ruins that had been left from last night's brawl. A news reporter stood at the front trying to argue their way past the unyielding cop in the way. He heard screams of 'freedom of the press' and 'having the right to film.' Not that it did much. The officer was a stubborn one. And besides, it wasn't like they couldn't see enough already, the destruction was in plain sight for everyone to see. The sight of all the crumbled buildings only pissed him off more.

Beside him, his friend and brother in arms was a perfect contrast to him. While his own anger was cold and patient, Brad's was hot and violent. While he was a blank slate, Brad was the picture of a simmering fury that was due to boil over any second. The way he was looking over a few blacks in the crowd made him aware that the second was closer than he thought.

And while he didn't personally care about some random nigger getting chopped to bits, having it done now would not be in their best interest.

He got Brad's attention with a prod to the shoulder and gestured for them to leave. Brad huffed and followed along, leaving behind the gathered crowd and their morbid curiosity.

They made it a few blocks before Brad lost his temper.

He roared, blades ripping through his clothes as he dashed into a nearby alley and started swinging and slashing anything he could reach.

He watched as Brad's silver blades tore gouges into the brick walls, cut trash cans to ribbons, impaled a few rats, and continuously shred his leather black jacket. He kept this up for what was probably five minutes. But he couldn't tell. There was something scarily hypnotizing about the way Brad fought. There was a reason he was one of the top lieutenants in the Empire.

Finally spent, Brad huffed out heavy breaths that lingered with exhaustion and wrath. He stood in the destroyed alley, his pants and boots covered in holes, ruined, but still in one piece. His jacket and shirt however were utterly destroyed, barely anything more than tattered pieces of cloth and leather.

"You're gonna run outta jackets soon."He deadpanned.

"Fuck you!"Brad spat."How the hell are you so calm about this?! Some freak comes into our town! Our home and does shit like this! And the fucker got away! Goddamn Protectorate can't do shit right! Fuck!" He kicked the remains of a trash can across the alley.

"Me? Calm?"He said with a raised eyebrow."Thought you knew me better than that. If I look calm its cause i'm trying my best not to do something stupid. But otherwise,"A current of air started to swirl around him, getting faster and faster, picking up debris and dust, a mini cyclone raged around his body. Eventually he released it with a resounding bang, windows cracking from the sudden air pressure.

"I'm as pissed as you are."He finished. Brad merely grunted.

"We can't let this go."Brad muttered,"If that freak's still around, we have to find him and teach him a lesson."

"I agree, but, that's easier said than done."He reproached,"Finding him for one, and two, we'd need a plan. He's one cape, one cape that took on all of the heroes in the city and won. Only the head Chink has been able to do that."

Brad growled his displeasure.

They had never been able to take out Lung quick enough. Before long, he grew powerful enough to repel them easily, and they'd be forced to retreat. He remembered the first time Lung had made them run with their tail between their legs. The memory always left a bitter taste in his mouth. And it probably sickened Brad more. He was always the better fighter, and having to run away would never sit easy with him.

And now, there were two rage monsters in the city. Both equally as powerful and ruthless.

They needed a plan.

"Kaiser should be ordering a meeting soon,"He said to his angered friend,"We'll talk about what we should do then."

Brad growled back,"Don't care about what we should do. What I care about is what we will do. And I'll tell you what I'll do. When I get my hands on that freak, I'm gonna teach him that this city belongs to the Empire. And crossing us, was the last mistake he'll ever make."

Brad turned to him, the look of murder shining darkly in his eyes.

"I swear it."

This would not do.

He sat, isolated in his office underground, reading over various reports. The accumulative results were, quite frankly, horrifying.

Reading over the many hospital and field reports of last night were painting a grimm picture for the city and its inhabitants. And most urgently, for him and his endeavors.

He was a man of ambitions, he had many goals he needed to accomplish. Through years of work and planning, he had been able to get this far, but it wasn't enough. If he truly wanted to accomplish his plans, he needed to time everything perfectly. Everything. When to divert, when to strike, when to retreat. Everything had to be done on the dot. He couldn't afford a miscalculation. That's why, anything that seemed like it would become a hindrance was either removed, or added to his assets.

This however was not something he was prepared to deal with.

Chimera. Brockton Bay's newest villain.

Injuring most of the city's heroes, and killing some, he has come onto the cape scene in a way most villains can only dream of. Had he not done so in his city, he would've admitted to being impressed. But now, all he can feel is wariness and paranoia.

Such a powerful cape, and one, unfortunately, very unstable. He had to wonder if he was one of...theirs. If so, why would they let such a powerful asset out of their clutches? Was it a test? A mere experiment? Was he being tested? Too many questions were being created with him here.

He hated how powerless he felt not knowing. He needed answers. He split the timeline.

In one, he continued perusing the files he acquired. In another, he made a phone call.

The phone rang for ten seconds before she answered.

"Morning boss."She drawled, her voice tired, yet light.

"I take it, you're aware of the situation."He stated, in no mood for games.

"Only me and about all of the city."She replied. He could feel the irritation start to take root. He needed to get her to focus.

"What can you tell me?"

"Nothing much."She said. Teeth were starting to grind.

"Tattletale,"He said warningly.

"I'm serious. The only thing I can tell you is that he's impossible."

"Explain."He commanded. She explained her findings to him. It took a considerable amount of self control to not take his anger out on her over the phone.

'Now there are even more questions!'He internally raged. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Anything else to report?"He asked testily.

When she didn't immediately reply, he felt his suspicions rattle.

"No."She said after a few seconds,"No, nothing else to report."

Hesitation. She was hiding something. He didn't like that.

"Are you sure?"He inquired, his voice dipping lower.

"Yes."She stammered nervously,"There's nothing else. If I did get anything else, it was just a bad lead. Nothing worth mentioning."

He stayed silent, letting her stew in her own fear.

"Okay."He finally answered."Let me know if you find out anything useful. Understood?"

"Yeah, I got it."She grumbled lightly.

"Good."

He hung up, his expression pinched, and his hand gripping the armrest tightly.

So, his little asset thinks she can keep secrets from him does she? That will not stand.

He dropped the timeline.

In the first timeline, he continued his research over the various reports and debriefings from PRT and Protectorate files. But now, he was making plans to talk to a certain employee about her unwillingness to share important information.

'That will not stand at all.'

"...and good guys never have the guts to finish guys like me."

It was hardly even a second after he said it.

Bright light, blinding, consuming. White hot pain. Burning, piercing even. He screamed, his voice echoing powerfully.

He was falling, all the while bellowing in agony, rage, hatred, anguish. All the pain he had felt in his life that led to his descent into hell.

A splash, his massive bulk causing violent ripples to spread along the surface. The light faded, as he sunk, deeper and deeper, until he was surrounded by pitch black. No stars, no moon to shine in the oppressive darkness. No comfort, just paralyzing pain and a deepening loathing for everyone who had damned him to this fate

"Nobody's innocent! They just haven't had the chance to make fun of me yet!"

His eyes snapped open and he snarled. He flexed his muscles, powerful and unyielding, and began to swim to the surface. The pain was maddening. Torturous. Yet he absorbed, letting it fuel his mania. His wrath. He became a blur in the water, shooting straight up, escaping the inky blackness of the depths and returning to the pale light of the moon.

Seeing that was the final push he needed. He broke the surface, flying out of the water at high speeds, arching over the water before he hit land.

Standing up unsteadily, he looked around. He noted confusedly that the bridge was gone, and he was surrounded by a mass of old rusted ships that had been drawn inland.

He couldn't contemplate this for long before a throb of pain made him hunch over and futilely grab his chest. With the pain came a reminder, cruel and mocking, of what had happened. What he had become. And who had been responsible.

His form tensed, sharp teeth clenched and a low growl rumbled in his throat.

He threw his head back, and with all the hate within him he roared for the entire city to hear,

"TENNNNYSSSOOOOOOONNNNN!"

X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X

And there we go. Part 1 is over. Which i'm happy for, now we can get into the real exciting stuff. Seriously, I'm all for mood and tone, but even I was getting antsy to start the next part. And now I can. Patience is a virtue.

Thanks for taking the time to read, hope you guys enjoyed it.

Review and tell me what you think and all that. Anyways, stay safe and have a good night.