HeroVerse

Chapter 3

"Prison Break"

A/N: I think I'm gonna be sticking with the same canon. But I did decide to change the name to "HeroVerse" as I think it fits a little bit more. Anyways, on to the show.

"And I thought Providence had a sick base!" Rex said. "But your base definitely takes the cake, Ben." Rex was so focused on everything around him, the Plumbers of various species, the various high tech weaponry and equipment they toted. Providence definitely couldn't hold a candle to all of this.

"Eh, you get used to it." Ben shrugged. "How you holding up? Seems like Alpha gave you a beating."

"I'll be okay. He's not at his full strength right now, so he isn't hitting as hard as he could be." Rex replied, he gave his right arm a crank to work out a knot. "My Nanites will heal me up in time for the next fight, I'm sure."

Rex and Ben found themselves in the main control room of the Plumbers base. Several large monitors depicted scenes across the planet and diagrams that Rex didn't really understand. Standing at the center of it all was an old man in a red Hawaiian shirt. The man reminded Rex of a much more lax version of White Knight. The old man turned and greeted Ben with a big hug.

"Ben!" Max said happily, squeezing his grandson. "When Mister Smoothy took their monthly check a little early from us, I figured you had to be involved."

"Monthly check?" Rex raised an eyebrow.

"Mister Smoothy usually gets wrecked at least every other month because of someone trying to kill me." Ben said. "The Plumbers decided it was just easier to pay Mister Smoothy once a month for any damages."

"Got it." Rex said, with a chuckle.

"Right. Grandpa, this is Rex. He helped me get back to our universe after I disappeared a few years back." Ben said, gesturing to the red jacket-clad hero.

"Rex, it's nice to finally meet you." Max extended his hand out to Rex. "Ben told me a lot about you."

Rex returned the gesture, meeting Max's hand with a solid grip. "It's nice to meet you, abuelo. Ben told me a couple things about you as well."

"All terrible, I trust." Max let out a light belly laugh. "We can exchange those stories later. I'm a little more interested in our current story."

"Like how Alpha escaped the Null Void and tore a hole into my universe." Ben suggested.

"Welp, after you left Ben, I continued to take on my own rogues gallery of villanos." Rex began. "I was able to neutralize every nanite on the planet, besides my own. Six months after that, Null Void portals started opening up all around the world." Rex took a breath, and then sat down on a nearby chair. "Out of these portals came monsters we could only assume were EVOs. But it became very clear they weren't when I would try to cure them. They actually reminded me of Ben's aliens."

"Sounds like the Null Void was being opened up and alien convicts were escaping to wreak havoc. They were probably expecting to come into our universe." Max said.

"Exactamundo, abuelo." Rex pointed at Max with a snap. "I couldn't keep up with the amount of aliens getting through, so Providence launched an exhibition into the Null Void."

"I can list fifty reasons off the top of my head why that's a bad idea." Ben said as he started to count on his fingers.

"Yeah well, we didn't have a lot of choices here." Rex shrugged. "A team of Providence agents and I went in. That's when we were ambushed by Alpha and a bunch of his alien goons. I was separated from the team as Alpha and I fought. A portal happened to open as we fought, next thing I know, I'm here."

"Null Void portals may be opening up as the multiversal boundaries become more and more unstable from Eon's universe hopping." Max suggested.

"That doesn't explain how Alpha broke free." Ben said. "He was trapped in a super dense sphere of nanites that would've taken him AGES to escape on his own."

"Then perhaps he wasn't on his own." Max scratched at his chin.

Danny sat in a dorm room within the Plumber Base. The situation had gotten to him. This all started as a routine ghost sighting. Now he was universe hopping and fighting nanite monsters and time travelling aliens. Honestly, he just wanted to go back home and bust a few ghosts. He didn't really feel cut out to be fighting multiversal monsters.

A chill ran down Danny's spine and then a cold breath escaped from his lungs. "A ghost? Here?!" Danny looked around wildly, very confused. Did ghosts exist in this universe? Were they even the same kind of ghosts that Danny was used to? Danny did his best to focus as he prepared to transform.

But before he could get the chance, the base began to shake violently as deathly wailing rose from the depths. It was quickly followed by waves of ecto energy that ravaged the base. Electronics were destroyed. Various equipment came crashing down. Alarms blared. It was chaos. Confusion erupted and Plumbers panicked and rushed to battle stations, still unaware of who they were being attacked by.

But Danny knew. He recognized that wailing. He couldn't believe who it was. He didn't want to believe it. But deep down he knew it to be true. And everyone who was in this base was in very real danger. Danny leapt from his cot and rushed down the hallway, nearly knocking down some rushing plumbers in the process. Danny followed his Ghost Sense down the corridors of the Plumber Base. The Ghostly Wail persisted, calling to Danny. Taunting him. Danny phased through several doors blocking corridors he probably wasn't allowed to go down. Several turns and sets of stairs later, Danny arrived in what seemed like a heavily guarded area, or what would be heavily guarded.

The ghostly wail died down as Danny arrived. It had succeeded in calling him. Standing there was someone Danny never thought he'd see again. Ash black hair, flowing like fire. Glowing red eyes, staring with an evil glee as Danny arrived. "Hello, Daniel. It's nice to see you again." Dark said.

"You…how are you here!?" Danny said, clenching his fists.

"A new 'friend' of mine, helped me stage a prison break." Dark said, crossing his arms. "And to return the favor, I staged a little prison break of my own." He glanced up slightly.

Danny's eyes widened as he stared up. Above them, Danny could see hundreds of prison cells malfunctioning from the effects of the Ghostly Wail. "Oh no…"

The control room was buried in rubble and machinery. A flash of green light erupted from under the rubble, and in a moment, Four Arms emerged, pushing aside the debris. Rex and Max both stood up with him.

"Are you guys okay?" Four Arms looked to the both of them.

Rex rubbed his head. "Agh, yeah I'm fine. Just gonna have a killer headache."

"We need to secure the base, rally the Plumbers. Something incredibly powerful just hit us." Max said, gripping his shoulder in pain. He looked at the monitors as the alarms blared. "Oh no…The prisoners."

Four Arms looked at the monitors as well, and all four of his eyes widened in shock and concern. The prison doors were opening. Some of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy were kept on lock down here. And whatever had attacked had just released them all.

With another flash of green light, Ben returned to normal. "Rex, you're with me. We gotta find Danny and deal with this prison break."

"I'll send Rook after you." Max nodded. "Go, I'll be fine."

Ben nodded, and he and Rex took off running. They entered the central elevator and headed down.

The elevator opened up to a war zone. Plumbers were desperately fighting against the rabid prisoners.

"Okay Rex, hit hard. We need to put these guys down quickly." Ben said as he began selecting an alien. "Avoid killing them if you can, but if it's between their life and yours…"

"Got it." Rex nodded. He put his goggles on over his eyes. "Stay safe, mi hermano." Rex's hands burst with metal as they seemed to grow into the Smack hands. Two three-fingered fists of pure steel. Rex let out a battle cry as his legs suddenly burst with metal and formed into the giant metal boots known as the Punk busters. The sudden formation of metal around his legs launched Rex into the air. He collapsed the Punk busters as he flew head long into battle, Smack hands ready for some smackin'.

"It's Hero Time!" Ben let out his own battle cry as he slammed the face of the Omnitrix down. A green flash engulfed him as teal crystals formed across his skin and he grew about a foot taller. His features became more jagged and angular as the crystal engulfed him. Two spikes of crystal burst from his back. "Diamondhead!"

Diamondhead launched several projectiles from his arms that knocked several goons to the ground. A lot of these prisoners were low level thugs that Ben could take out easily. He was more worried about the big game that the Plumbers would surely struggle with. Diamondhead charged into the fray, knocking out several more crooks with swings from his fists. He stopped and slammed his fist into the ground, causing several crystal protrusions to erupt from the ground and send several mobs of baddies flying.

Rex crushed a group of enemies with a clap of the Smack hands and threw them away like last week's garbage. "Come on guys. I thought Ben's bad guys would be a challenge!" With a sweep of his giant fists, Rex knocked over a few more enemies. "I'm not even breaking a sweat!"

"Maybe I could provide a challenge then, boy." Said a voice with a slight accent to it. Rex couldn't place the accent, but that wasn't his main concern at the moment.

Someone struck Rex from behind with the force of a battering ram and sent him flying. His mechanical arms crumbled into pieces as he crashed into a wall, leaving a noticeable crater. Rex grunted, unsticking himself from the wall and dusting off his jacket. He noticed a giant rip in the back of it. "Aww come on, I JUST got this dry cleaned."

"Your jacket will be the least of your problems," said a giant silverback gorilla with a fish bowl on its head. "FOR I, DOCTOR ALOYSIUS JAMES ANIMOOO, WILL SEND YOU TO THE SCRAP HEAP."

"Is that….is that a FUCKING GORILLA?" Rex said, his jaw dropping. "Okay, Ben, officially got the weirdest villain ever. And he seems to give el pollo a run for it's money in the loco department."

"After I take care of you boy, I'll take care of Tennyson next." Animo smirked and let out a mighty gorilla roar. He charged at Rex like an oncoming train. Listen, Rex had fought a lot of monsters in his day. Giant multi-faced kaiju, cactus monsters, and even a giant bunny. But there was something primal and raw about a giant silverback gorilla running towards him. Rex let out a startled cry and rolled out of Animo's path. Rex's arm morphed and changed as it formed into the Slam Cannon. The back end of the Slam Cannon opened and expanded, ripping a chunk of metal and rock out of the floor and shaped it into a projectile.

Rex took aim, and fired at Animo's back. Animo's head swiveled in his fish tank without turning his body. He swung his arm around, deflecting the projectile and destroying it. Rex collapsed the Slam cannon, and reformed the Smack hands. He charged at Animo, who returned in kind. The two leapt into the air, fists raised. They clashed, unfortunately for Rex, Animo had the weight advantage. Rex's strike buckled under Animo and he was sent rolling across the ground. Rex righted himself as he slid across the ground. A generator formed on his back and his right arm formed into a tendril of steel. Rex rushed Animo and lashed out with the whip. Animo jumped back, surprisingly agile for a gorilla that weighed at least half a ton.

Rex and Animo played a game of cat and mouse as they danced back and forth, fighting for an opening and trying to get in reach. Rex's Blast Caster kept Animo from getting too close, but Animo was otherwise too agile to actually land a blow on. The Blast Caster collapsed as Rex's arms formed into twin glowing blue nunchucks. Better known as the Funchucks. Rex spun, walloping Animo with two devastating blows. Animo sprawled across the floor, stunned from the blow. The Funchucks collapsed, and Rex's right arm started to shift until it became a giant orange sword. The Big Fat Sword loomed over Animo menacingly.

"It's over, medíco." Rex brought the sword down on Animo.

Animo raised his arms up defensively. The effort was futile. The sword would cut straight through. But in a purple flash of light, Animo had disappeared.

"What the…?" Rex looked around in confusion as the B.F.S. collapsed. "Where'd he go?" Rex looked over his shoulder to see a mob of prisoners running towards him. "Ugh, can't you guys just stay down?" Rex formed the Smack hands and rushed into the mob.

Diamondhead clashed the heads of two goons together, cracking his neck before proceeding. He was about to knock out another ruffian before they were consumed by dark, draining energy. The ruffian quickly became emaciated before falling to the ground, presumably unconscious. Ben hoped. He turned to the source of the dark energy to find a man about his height and weight in human form. Only he was wearing all black leather, crisscrossed with belts and buckles. He wore a steel mask on his head with only slits for his eyes and mouth.

"Hello, Benjamin." Michael Morningstar, better known as Darkstar, greeted the alien hero. "You and I have some unfinished business."

Diamondhead flashed back to Ben. "Come on Darkstar, aren't you more of a Gwen villain? I got better things to do."

"You should show more respect to someone who can drain the life away from you in an instant." Darkstar said. Black energy formed around his hands in preparation for an attack.

"Jokes on you! I don't have a life!" Ben said triumphantly. "Wait…"

"How you've saved the entire universe so many times, I'll never understand." Darkstar said. He held out his hand and fired a blast of vampiric energy.

Ben lunged out of the way and slapped down the Omnitrix. A green flash stunned Darkstar as Ben began to transform. His body was coated in blue fur as his physique shrunk slightly. A second set of arms sprouted from his chest as a tail unfurled itself. The green light faded and a blue shape dodged another vampiric blast. "Spidermonkey!" He fried in a high voice.

Spidermonkey stuck to the wall and shot three wads of webbing at Darkstar, blinding him. Darkstar burned the webbing away with his dark energy, just in time to see a blue fist punch him in the face. An audible WHAM could be heard in the prison block as Spidermonkey's fist connected with Darkstar's helmet. Darkstar grunted in pain as he struggled to right himself in midair. He countered with a blast of black energy in Spidermonkey's direction, but the Arachnichimp was far too agile and experienced.

"Come on Mikey." Spidermonkey faked exasperation. "We all know how this ends. We fight. I kick your butt. You get stuck in a prison cell. Give it up now and you'll be free of the bruises and broken bones."

"Don't count me out yet Tennyson." Darkstar switched his attack pattern at the last second and hit Spidermonkey square in the chest with a blast, knocking him to the ground.

"Uuuugh, my aching back." Spidermonkey groaned. "I'm getting old ya know, gotta be gentle on these old bones."

Darkstar stood over him menacingly. "I don't think that'll be a problem much longer." He said, readying a life-draining blast.

"Oh thanks for getting closer." Spidermonkey said. "It'll hurt a whole more now when I do this."

"Wha-?" was all that Darkstar was able to say before he was blinded by a green flash and a giant fist that crushed him against the ceiling.

"HUMUNGOUSAUR!" roared the Vaxasaurian. He released the pressure of the punch and Darkstar fell to the ground unconscious. A flash of green light returned Ben to his human form. "Gotta be careful. Never know what's gonna pop out of this thing next." Ben said, pointing to the gauntlet on his wrist. He rushed on past the unconscious Darkstar. Where the hell was Danny? Surely he'd join the fight and help them put these crooks back in their cells.

"Daniel, when will you learn, that the path you are on now, is pointless?" Dark said. He had a relatively neutral expression his face. He didn't have an evil grin or a scowl spread across his face. He was calm, cool, collected. Calculating.

"Would you shut up with the inevitable future crap!?" Danny groaned. "I'm over hearing you preach about how you're my perfect, inevitable outcome. Clockwork already told me you're nothing but an anomaly in time. You have no past, present or future. You're just a blip in the time stream that needs to be erased."

"Time can be corrected. I'll make sure I come to be, even in the current timeline, Daniel." Dark chuckled. "It all starts with working with that foolish Time Walker, Eon."

"You're working with Eon…" Danny said to himself. That explains how he had escaped from his time prison and ended up in this universe.

"Please, Daniel," Dark scoffed. "Give me a little more credit. I'm using the Time Walker as a resource until he proves more annoying than useful."

"Come on Dark, even I was able to outsmart and beat you." Danny laughed. "What makes you think you can outsmart someone like Eon?"

"I guess we'll find out." Dark nodded. "But for now, I've got what I came for." Dark pulled out a wristband of some sort and pressed a button on it. Behind him, a purple temporal portal began to open up.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny cried. "I'm Going Ghost!" A ring of white energy formed around Danny, flowing over him, transforming his clothes and body into that of Danny Phantom. The black and white armored jumpsuit formed over him as his hair went snow white. Glowing green eyes stared daggers at Dark. "I'm busting you now and stuffing you back in the Fentom Thermos!"

"Very well, Daniel." Dark nodded. "Let's see how you've improved in the last six years!"

In a flurry of motion, Dark was on Danny in an instant, grabbing him by the throat and smashing him into the wall. He flew around the room, dragging Danny along the wall. Danny formed a sphere of burning ecto-energy in his hand and smashed it in Dark's face. Danny's future self roared in pain and flung Danny across the room. Danny managed to right himself in midair and fired an ecto-beam at Dark. Dark swiped his hand across his body, calling up a shield of ectoplasm effortlessly. The blast seemed to melt into the shield as it faded. Dark split into three copies, all of whom rushed Danny. One fired a beam of ice at him. One flung a ball of fire. And the last shot an ecto-blast with both hands straight at Danny. Danny held his arms out to his side, focusing his energy. A bubble shield formed around him, nullifying all three attacks. Danny flew at Dark, hands coursing with ecto-energy. He latched onto Dark, digging his fingers into Dark's face, and let his energy run wild. He used various forms of ecto-energy. Ice. Fire. Electricity. Straight into Dark's body. Danny's older self screamed in pain. That scream suddenly turned into an ecto-energy fueled wail. Dark's ghostly wail was even more devastating up close. It threatened to rip Danny apart, and several machines nearby erupted into sparks. Danny flew back out of control and slammed into the wall, then fell to the floor, stunned.

Dark dusted himself off. "I must say, Daniel. You've definitely learned a couple new tricks. But don't think I spent the last six years sitting on my hands. I've been growing stronger too. Until next time, my younger self." Dark walked through the temporal portal, and then it closed behind him.

Danny groaned as his ghost form faded and he returned to human form. "Ugh, that was not my best performance." He held his head in hand, nursing a brutal headache.

Ben and Rex emerged from the elevator and found Danny sitting against the wall.

"What the hell happened!?" Ben asked, helping Danny up.

"It's a LONG story." Danny shook his head. "But first I'm gonna need some aspirin and a nap."

"Let's get him back upstairs." Rex nodded. "We need to check back in with your abuelo, Ben."

Ben nodded in agreement. Rex and Ben helped Danny stand and took him to the elevator, where they would head up to tend to their injuries, and report in.

Dark emerged in the pocket dimension through the temporal portal. Eon stood there, waiting patiently, joined by the future version of Doctor Animo.

"I assume your mission was a success." Eon said.

"Well, you have that mad doctor." Dark gestured to the giant gorilla. "And I got you this." From somewhere on his person, Dark pulled out a hexagonal device with what appeared to be some sort of sharp teeth design. It emanated a red light and gave off a menacing energy.

"Perfect. With the doctor here, and that device, we'll have ourselves a formidable force indeed." Eon smirked. "Now all we need to do is wait for the Alpha nanite to return from its own mission."