Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. You guys keep me going.
Not doing a disclaimer this time. If Kevin Feige wants to sue me, too bad for him.
Onwards!
CHAPTER 3:
The More Things Things Change...
To say Ben had a lot on his mind was indeed, an understatement. His former team disbanded, his first solo mission turning out to be a glorified SHIELD interview for a job he'd never want to take in a million years. Fury's new proposal, however, had gotten his full attention.
The Avengers Initiative. The New Age had brought with it new heroes, and Fury was pulling all the stops to ensuring that he had a hand in bringing them together. For a purpose he claimed, was greater than all of them.
As his car zoomed across the urban environment, Ben's thoughts drifted to his (former) team. What would Gwen do? Probably chew Fury's ass out for the robot ambush, and that would be BEFORE one of her lengthy lectures on ethics and "etiquette". Kevin would definitely try and get his grubby hands on Fury's SHIELD tech robots, and promptly get locked up much to his (and Ben's) chagrin.
Ben sighed, he was tired and he needed to cool down. Taking the detour, he set his GPS coordinates to find the nearest Mr Smoothies. Pulling into the driveway, he was greeted to the familiar sign: an anthropomorphic Smoothie with a grin, holding a smaller smoothie.
Over the years, Bellwood had become ground zero for alien immigrations, due to the efforts of the local Plumbers and much to the displeasure of SHIELD authorities. Tensions between the two agencies mounted, and a parlay of sorts had been reached: alien activity would remain within the borders of the town. A monitoring barricade of highly advanced tech drones had been set up by SHIELD, but Ben wouldn't put it past them to also deploy spies and agents within the town itself. Bellwood was a small quiet town, and Ben preferred it that way.
The Smoothie shops had become local hotspots for alien tourists (partly thanks to Ben and his over-enthusiasm for the cold beverage), and Ben wasn't surprised to find several alien customers lounging within the shop. A Florauna here, a Pisces Volann there, and even a band of Gourmands were playing some rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song, using their burps as instruments.
Ben chuckled to himself before sliding into the front counter, ordering the usual: whatever new flavor they were serving. To his right, an alien was nursing several unconventional larvae smoothies, and to his left was a hooded figure enjoying a simple fruit flavored beverage.
The door opened again, only this time the new clientele didn't seem so friendly.
Three individuals had just walked into the restaurant. "Barged in" was the more accurate term. An odd trio indeed; the first was a pink caterpillar-like alien wearing a silvery armor that seemed to also act as life support. The second was even more bizarre, his appearance very chicken-like, having feathers and a beak while wearing silver armguards and two bandoleers connecting together on his chest. The third was a humanoid pink alien in a red and black power armor.
The mood of the store had dramatically changed, its current patrons becoming visibly uneasy. The Gourmands had even stopped their (admittedly amusing) performance, scampering off to safety via the back exit.
The leader, the caterpillar like alien, marched towards the counter, brushing past Ben without noticing the teen hero's presence. The teen could hear the hiss of the otherworldly vapours steaming around its bubble-like helmet, along with the raspy breathing of its owner.
"Yo, Mr Baumann! Want a word with ya!", he bellowed, smacking his mechanized fist on the counter. It dented, causing Ben to raise an eyebrow. Mr Smoothies was his sanctuary, and anyone threatening its sanctity was going to be on the receiving end of Humungosaur real quickly.
" Calm down, Ben," he reasoned, "gotta observe the situation first. Bad guy beat down comes later".
Ben noticed the other two assailants were setting up some kind of device. By this point, most of the clientele had evacuated in a fit of panic, leaving the alien trio, Ben and the hooded stranger within the Smoothie shop. The manager, Mr Baumann, stepped out, trying to resolve the situation as amicably as he could. Ben couldn't help but wonder if he had some business with the intruders, and the nature of said business.
"Doesn't matter", he thought, "its hero time!!"
Standing up from his seat, Ben marched towards the alien leader and the manager, who were still bickering.
"I already told your boss, I'll pay you thugs LATER!", the shop's manager was exasperated, gesturing wildly to the caterpillar-like alien.
"The boss says yer late on your payments, Mr Baumann, says ya need ta be taught a lesson", the leader apparently wasn't having it.
"Ahem! Is there a problem here, gentlemen?", Ben announced his presence by stepping in between the two.
"Nope! Nonono, there's no problem here! Just doing some business!", Mr Baumann blurted, "these fine gentlemen were just leaving! No need to get involved, Ben!"
"Yeah kid, move along", the leader joined in. The other two intruders were moving in, abandoning their device presumably to defend their boss.
The teen shapeshifter turned to the store owner "Is there something I should know about?", he inquired.
"E-everything's fine, Ben! Please, I got this all under control! No need to worry!", Mr Baumann croaked, breaking out in a sweat. He was visibly shaking, his demeanour spoke of desperation and eagerness to end the current confrontation by any means possible.
"Ya heard the man! No need to get involved, HERO!", caterpillar-head smirked, finally recognizing the teen.
Ben wasn't a stranger to these kind of situations. He looked around, satisfied in seeing that all the customers had vacated the shop, except for the hooded figure, who remained still, while nursing their drink.
"Well, if its business you want, how about we take this outside?", Ben raised his hand to the Omnitrix, his eyes darting from the leader to his companions.
For a moment, no one moved. The air was still, and all parties were at a standoff. No one blinked.
Then all hell broke loose.
The leader moved first, his suit's arms extended like piledrivers intending to smash into Ben. The other two surged forward, intending to rush the teen hero.
Leaping to the side, the Ben activated the Omnitrix, quickly slamming the dial, engulfed by green light as he transformed.
"CANNONBOLT!"
Mr Bauman leapt behind the counter for cover, yelping as he landed in relative safety. He landed in a fetal position, his hands on his head.
WHAMMMM!!!
Now transformed, Ben raised his arms, deflecting a fist and a claw, both from the pink alien and the humanoid chicken. Thinking fast, he swivelled in the spot, curling up into a ball and rolled out of the way, dodging another attack from the leader, who procured laser guns seemingly out of nowhere.
Moving like a sentient bowling ball, Ben pivoted towards the leader only to get deflected by the pink alien, who intercepted his path. Thinking fast, he leaped, still curled up. His momentum turned gravity into a boost, allowing Cannonbolt to smash into the pink alien, before bouncing towards the humanoid chicken who dodged at the last second.
CRASH!
Ben landed in a booth, causing pieces of furniture to fly. The pink alien was already recoving, rubbing her helmet.
"Hey! Quick wrecking the place! And I said no lasers are allowed in my store!! ", Mr Bauman yelled from behind the counter.
"Mind also putting a NO VILLAINS ALLOWED sign too?! ", Ben groaned, getting up from the mess of broken furniture and tiles.
"Screw this, get the payload ready!", bellowed the leader. They activated the device, causing it to beep to life, deploying a crimson forcefield around it.
"Nononono, not the store!", Mr Bauman shrieked.
The leader signalled to his companions, and they began to retreat, running towards the door. Suddenly, the hooded figure leapt from their seat, discarding their disguise to reveal a slender readheaded lady in a black skintight suit. Her wrists had some sort of weaponized bracelets, with a red symbol on her belt, closely mirroring that of a widow spider.
She flipped across the fleeing assailants, landing in front of them in a crouch. Stunned, the trio attempted to run past her, only for the readhead to tag the pink alien with a thrown wire bolas, wrapping around the power armored alien and causing her to collapse in a heap. An EMP blast from the wiring device short circuited her armor, putting her out of action.
"Bawk?!", the humanoid avian was stunned, seeing his companion neutralised so swiftly. However, he regained his composure, charging towards the redheaded lady, trying to engage in fisticuffs.
The redhead moved like a dancer, avoiding his punches and kicks, deflecting haymakers and replying with hits of her own. He retaliated with a swipe, which she easily dodged. Using his momentum, she swung from his arm and landed on his head, her legs forming a vice grip on his rooster-like head.
Swiveling into a scissor, the lady swung her body like a hammer, sending the humanoid rooster into a spiral tumble downwards. For good measure, the woman spun vertically and delivered a downward axe kick to his throat.
Two down. In less than a minute.
Visibly shaken, the leader backed away trying to secure an exit. The redhead shot a charge from her bracelets, imobilizing his suit and causing him to stumble into a smoothie machine on display.
"Woah", Ben exclaimed. He'd transformed back and gazed on the redheaded beauty. She returned a glare, her annoyance with the situation apparent. She turned towards the device, still humming with energy behind its dome shield.
"Говно!", she cursed, before whipping out her communicator. "Agent Romanoff to SHIELD, we need tactical recon immediately. Alien device, possibly dangerous".
She turned to Ben, her eyes wary and yet had hints of curiosity.
"Wait, SHIELD???", Ben groaned, "aww come one! Does Fury ever give me a break? Wait, does he know you're here? Of course he does! Ole' eyepatch never misses a chance to sink his damn claws into MY business!"
"Actually, Phil sent me", the redhead stated, her gaze never leaving the teen shapeshifter.
"Wait, Coleson? The guy who looks like he got a nasty divorce with his hairline? Did he send you to spy on me?", Ben had some history with Agent Coulson, the man was basically Fury's right hand.
"Actually, I was sent as backup...",
"Backup? Since when do I need a babysitter?"
"Apparently you also need a nanny, and a cleanup crew", Natasha pointed towards the scene, which had gone from a fully functional restaurant to a crime scene, with trashed furniture and crumbling architecture.
Ben reddened, and not just from embarrassment, "I totally had it under control!"
"Sure you did, HERO"
"I AM a hero"
"Clearly, seeing as you just handled this situation", she smirked.
"Yknow, sarcasm isn't fun if I can already sense it in your voice, lady", Ben folded his arms, "I'll have you know, this isn't my first rodeo!".
Damn, he's as obnoxious as Fury said, she thought. Maybe she could still work with this. On the other hand, she was regretting not taking the Hulk recruitment mission.
"Know who they were?", Natasha gestured towards the fallen trio. Ben shrugged.
"Beats me, just looks like the average wannabe alien gangbangers," the teen turned to their incapacitated forms, "who picked the WRONG place to rob!".
"Nnn...not...robbbb...", the leader groaned, "we wuz taking our debts...", before promptly collapsing again.
"Do me a favor and can it, bugface! The adults are talking!", Ben snapped. A chunk of the ceiling collapsed nearby, as if mocking his attempts to salvage the situation, and his pride.
Natasha snorted, a wry smile creeping on her face.
The machine's humming increased in volume.
"What's that?", Natasha backed away slightly, her pretty features marred with concern.
"Uhh...no idea", Ben scratched the back of his head, "you should probably back up some more"
Unbeknownst to the duo, the fallen alien trio were slowly recovering.
"Omnitrix, can you scan the device, tell me what it is?"
"NEGATIVE, GETTING INTERFERENCE FROM CONTAINMENT ENERGY FIELD", a digitized version of Ben's voice responded from the wristbound device.
"Seems like some kind of energy well," Natasha theorized, "could be trying to cover the perimeter. The field must be some kind of protective measure. But for what?"
Ben's eyes widened.
"It's trying to draw energy IN. Which means it's eventually going to let it out".
Natasha paled. Ben activated the Omnitrix once again, turning the dial and it down.
A flash of green light, and Ben's form was replaced with that of a Crystalsapien.
"CHROMASTONE!!"
Ben quickly moved towards the energy field, before attempting to breach it. His crystalline body glowed bright, ripples of energy cascading off his form. Natasha simply stared in amazement. Chromastone pierced through the bubble like a pin, before reaching the device.
"Okay now, what next?", the transformed teen asked. Time was running out.
"You need to shut it down!", came Natasha's voice from the other side of the field, "can you disarm it?"
"I don't think so!"
"Seriously???!!!" came her exasperated reply.
"Hey its not like the bad guys left a manual or something!", speaking of which, the perpetrators had recovered and were already on the move, away from the Smoothie shop.
Ben was running out of opinions, so he simply grabbed the device and yanked it from it's position, destabilizing the field.
" Oh great, the field is down. Now, what to do with a possible nuclear bomb?!", Ben rhetorically asked. He began moving out of the shop, looking to safely dispose of the device without taking the entire block with it.
"There's an abandoned building on the edge of town, a few blocks ahead! ", Natasha was right behind him, giving directions, "take a few steps to the right and go north! Move! "
Ben moved, lugging the payload as delicately as he could, as energy periodically leaked from its core, flaring into the transformed teen as Chromastone's body diligently strive to safely discharge them.
Reaching the abandoned building, he managed to throw it far into its center before stepping back. It instantaneously triggered the device, its energy field collapsing into itself.
WHOOOOM!!!!
Stepping back, Ben watched the energy reaction consume the building before it expanded. "Not enough!", Ben grunted. The field was too unstable, and could still potentially take out a part of the block, not just the building.
Natasha watched the teen hero launch himself towards the supernova. He reached its event horizon, before stretching his hand forward attempting to redirect its energy safely. His other gestured at Natasha not to come any closer. She could only watch as he grunted with effort, his posture betraying the amount of strain his body was taking.
BWEEEMMMMM
The effects of his efforts were not wasted, as the an energy beam shot from Chromastone upwards, funneling the full effect of the reaction.
"Just...a...little...MORE!!!",Ben pushed. He grit his teeth and doubled his efforts to contain the energy output from the incoming explosion.
His heels dig to the ground as he was getting pushed back. The energy field began to envelope him.
"GRAHHHHH!!!!"
BOOOMMM!!!!!
The final explosion occurred, obliterating the building in front of the duo. Ben managed to redirect the final burst of energy towards the atmosphere, as it dissipated into plasma.
Ben knelt in front of the smoldering crater, which used to be a building. Natasha was stunned, he'd just risked his life to contain an explosion the magnitude of a nuke. And succeeded.
"Heh, told you I had it under control," the Crystalsapien joked, a little out of breath. Natasha breathed a sigh of relief, a genuine smile etched on her face.
A loud crash nearby caught the attention of the duo. Apparently, the alien trio were on the run, using a nearby tunnel as an escape route.
" Aww man, I thought you took care of them!", groaned Ben, as the Omnitrix timed out, reverting his alien form to human
"My gear was designed for human targets! How was I supposed to know how long they'd stay out of commission?", the redhead responded.
Mumbling to himself about "useless SHIELD tech", Ben finally turned to the black-clad spy, "Fine, I guess I can use your help in taking them down."
"I don't take orders from you, kiddo" , she deadpanned.
"Fine! Pretty please?!! I'm kinda drained right now and I don't have a lot of options" Ben tried to negotiate. She sighed, placing her index on her temple before replying.
"Alright then, on two conditions", she raised up two fingers, "first, I'm in charge, no buts or objections, clear??!"
"Wait, wha..."
"Second, you owe me a favor now." she continued, her wry smile even more pronounced.
Ben hung his head. Dammit Fury, he inwardly lamented. He walked up to the redhead, reaching out his hand "Deal. As long as we get the bad guys and no one gets hurt. Partners?"
Her gaze bore into his. Her eyes were so beautiful and piercing, he thought.
"Partners", her hand shook his firmly.
"Oh and one more thing, the name's Natasha Romanoff"
"Ben Tennyson, at your service", came the reply.
"On that we can agree, Ben".
Ben facepalmed. This was going to be a long mission.
Nick Fury was not in a good mood. Which is saying much, as he was always never in a good mood. Considering the situation, however, his current disposition was quite understandable
After his meeting with the Tennyson kid, he'd flown straight ahead with Agent Barron to Project PEGASUS. The Tesseract had become unusually volatile, forcing a mass evacuation of the SHIELD facility. Agent Mariah Hill briefed him on the current situation, before he met with the head scientist, Dr Selvig. They'd been monitoring the Tessaract and were attempting to get it under control.
At which point, the situation hit the proverbial fan.
The Tessaract tore a rift open in the lab, and out of that rift, came an unknown invader.
"I am Loki, of Asgard. And I am burdened with great purpose"
Loki proceeded to execute the Lab's security along with the agents in Fury's detail, before using some kind of energy staff to brainwash the rest, including Barton and Selvig. Fury attempted to stall the maniac, before getting a bullet in the chest for his efforts.
"Goddamn, I hate aliens", Fury thought as he pulled out the bullet from his trench coat. Being the director of SHIELD apparently had its perks.
Despite his and Agent Hill's best efforts, Loki had gotten away with the Tesseract, and a handful of his men. Tracking them would be nigh impossible even with SHIELD resources, meanwhile the Plumbers and SHIELD avoided each other like the plague . Time to pull out all the stops.
"Coulson, get back to base. This is a level 7", the agent in question had managed to evacuate the premises before the rift collapsed.
"As of right now, we are at war".
Author's Note 2:
To be honest, I wasn't so sure writing this at first. Too many characters at first, I basically rewrote the scenes and cut out a bunch of stuff. Let me know what you think.
Response to Reviews:
Zevren: Thanks for the feedback, will take it into consideration. Although I think Ben's arrogance is both a necessary flaw and character quirk, although I'll make sure to keep it balanced
ijionclifton: Take a wild guess
Maximum Rhapsody: Sorry, friend, too many characters creates a lot of complexity in any story. I like to keep it simple and easy to follow, leave the big stuff to the pros.
rvalall7: The Mastercontrol is cool, but insanely OP. I feel Ben should only get it as a last resort, kinda like Baryon Mode in Naruto, or the Avatar State. Maybe when he's much older and has some epic battle ahead (Hint, hint)
