"Stop struggling this instant!" snarled Warp. Icon was regaining his senses despite the array of lights that were present in the tunnel that had been made in the fabrics of space and time.

"L-let go of me!" retorted Icon.

"If I lose my grip on you before we reach my destination—NO DON'T!" Warp shouted when the Omnitrix made contact with the device on his chest. A burst of energy pulsed between the two devices, sending both Warp and Icon off of the tunnel's path.

The array of lights vanished and Icon felt himself hit solid ground. Icon scrambled to his feet as he quickly tried to gain his bearings. He looked around to see that they had somehow ended up in an open desert. Well, no time like the present to try and get away from that crazy armored collector. Icon looked at the watch on his left wrist, he cringed. The Omnitrix or whatever it was, currently had a red dial and was still emitting a few blue sparks. Icon then found himself roughly seized by the arm.

"Unless you wish to suffer the most dire of consequences," Warp's expression was dangerous, "I advise that you—"

"Hemhem…"

Icon stopped struggling as Warp's face slackened. They were not alone.

"Actually, Warp, you could do with a little piece of advice yourself: Time travel is for immortals and fools," said a voice with a well-educated accent. Warp and Icon both turned their heads to see a complete stranger. The man appeared to be middle-aged; he had graying black hair, and was adorned in a white lab coat.

Warp's face darkened as he pulled Icon closer to him and drew out one of his wrist launchers. Whoever this stranger was, he could easily be another thief, and Warp was not willing to give the Omnitrix up without a fight. "Who do you think you are and—What do you mean by for immortals and fools?"

The corner of the stranger's mouth twitched. "I am a time traveler much like yourself, except I'm the only immortal around here…"

Warp responded by firing his weapon, seemingly vaporizing the stranger on the spot. "Now," Warp smirked. "You're the only one who's a pile of ashes."

"On the contrary," sounded out the stranger's voice. Warp and Icon turned in amazement to see the stranger standing right behind them, completely unharmed. "I am still the only immortal around here," said the man as he reached into his coat pocket to pull out a golden pocket watch.

Warp aimed to take another shot at the stranger. "We will see about tha—" Warp completely stopped. Icon couldn't believe his eyes. Warp was frozen. He looked like he was part of a movie that had simply been put on pause or a mannequin in a store window.

"Now would be a good time to remove yourself," said the stranger, pointing to Icon's arm which was being grasped by Warp's now near lifeless fingers. Icon pried himself loose, warily observing the newcomer.

"Uh, thank you…" Icon still wasn't too sure what to make of this man. His earlier days of being on the run had made him normally cautious in the face of the unknown. When you made the decision between fight and flight on a day-to-day basis, you could only assume the worse.

"You're very welcome Lance, or better now known as the Icon…"

Icon froze in shock. "H-how do you know my—"

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Paradox, time traveler, though not the kind associated with our dear friend here," Professor Paradox motioned to Warp's frozen figure.

"What'd you do to him?" asked a very perplexed Icon.

"It's not so much as what I've done to him as what I've done with the two of us. We are now moving outside the normal flow of time," Paradox extended a hand. "I can take you back to the Titans."

Icon was hesitant at first. He had only met this man a few seconds ago. But a few looks at his surroundings reminded him that he did not have much of a choice. If he didn't go with Paradox, whom else could he rely on? Besides, hadn't this Professor Paradox just saved him from Warp?

Resigned, Icon walked towards Professor Paradox as the man pressed a button on his golden pocket watch. Icon then found himself floating along yet another tunnel of light, this time with the professor.

Icon glanced down at the device he now knew as the Omnitrix. It was still on the red dial, hopefully there wasn't any lasting damage.

"I suppose this ordeal has left you wondering about the Omnitrix," noted Professor Paradox.

"Yeah, you could say tha—WAIT! What do you know about it?" Icon was desperate for answers after hearing two different people refer to the device by name in the same day.

"It will take a small detour to explain what you need to know, for now anyways…" The moment Professor Paradox uttered the last syllable, the tunnel of light became pitch black save for a number of isolated specks.

As Icon looked around he became aware of what appeared to be a bright yellow circle in the distance. It wasn't until he spotted small a number of colored spheres that were surrounding the yellow circle that he recognized where they were. "We're in outer space!" exclaimed Icon in spite of himself. He clasped his throat. "How am I breathing?"

"It would take too long to explain," shrugged Paradox. "Now, observe." The professor pointed to two objects in the distance. Icon found himself surprised for the umpteenth time that day. Paradox was pointing to two vehicles, spaceships!

One vessel was compact and was equipped with black and green armor. Pursuing that vessel was a much larger brown armored ship. "Not too long ago, or at least not too long ago for you, an intergalactic warlord was seeking to obtain a most precious cargo," Paradox motioned to the larger ship. "Shall we take a closer look?"

"Can't see why not," shrugged Icon. The scenery changed again, and Icon found himself standing in what appeared to be a control room. Operating the various control panels were a number of orange, black, and red insect-like robots. Icon froze at the sight of them. He recognized them, their design. It was all too familiar. It was the same design as his alien mechanical pursuers. These robots were associated with his hunters!

"No need to worry, they can't do anything to you," assured Paradox.

"Like in a Christmas Carol?" asked Icon tentatively.

"Precisely," responded Paradox.

"Prepare to board!" boomed a sinister voice. Icon turned to see seated in a chair, a monstrous figure. It had a humanoid body plan, but at the same time it was nothing like a human. Its skin was green, it had two blood red eyes, its body was extraordinarily lean and well built, tentacles were trailing from its stout head like a beard, and each of its limbs ended in a clawed hand or foot. "I want the Omnitrix NOW!"

Icon turned to the direction of the direction of the creature's attention to see that the smaller spaceship was coming within reach. Suddenly, a green flash of light fired from the smaller spaceship.

"WHOA!" Icon reflexively shielded himself.

The control room around Icon burst into flames as the green light made contact with the warlord's ship. Oddly enough, he did not feel a single thing. Icon uncovered his arms and opened his eyes to see that he was floating in space again. He looked to see a large piece of black and green metal. Icon's eyes widened. The smaller ship had taken some damage as well…

Two pods ejected themselves from what was left of the wreckage. At first, the capsules appeared to be traveling side by side, but then their paths diverged. The two pods then broke apart, each revealing a much smaller spherical capsule. Icon's eyes widened as he recognized the capsules and the blue and green planet that they were plummeting to below.

"I believe you know what becomes of one of those two capsules," said Paradox.

"Two!" Icon was reminded about something: the other bearer. "Professor Paradox, do you know about anyone named Tennyson?"

"A Ben Tennyson?" questioned Paradox, quirking an eyebrow.

Icon's pulse quickened. "Who is he? Wh-where is he? Is he still—"

The scene changed again and this time Icon and Paradox were standing in a deciduous forest. In front of them was an old RV with various items in front of it that suggested that someone was here for recreational camping

Icon froze at the sight that lay before him. Running before him was a ten year-old boy. He had messy chestnut-brown hair and green eyes. He was clad in a black and white shirt as well as baggy olive green pants. The thing that caught Icon's eye the most was what was on the boy's wrist; it was a large watch with a green hourglass symbol. "So that's Ben…" Icon managed to find his voice.

He turned to see that Ben was pursuing a girl who appeared to be about Ben's age. She had short red hair and was wearing a blue shirt and white pants. The girl also had a set of green eyes that were the same shade as Ben's. Was this girl a relative of Ben? She was wearing a very satisfied expression as an aggravated Ben pursued her. From this, Icon could only assume that the two probably were related somehow.

Icon actually took a step forward to follow them before he looked to Paradox. "Can we—" he began.

"No, we cannot interact with them," Paradox wore an understanding look.

"Oh," Icon was actually a little downtrodden. He then watched as both Ben and the girl stopped their chase only to head to a wooden picnic table that had been placed for visitors. At the picnic table setting up a dinner, was a gray-haired man who was dressed in a red Hawaiian shirt. "Looks like he got luckier than I did…" noted Icon with a small smile on his face.

"He is fortunate," agreed Paradox. A ten-year old would probably not have been able to survive what Icon had been through. "Ben Tennyson, an elementary school student of Bellwood who is now traveling on a cross-country excursion with his cousin Gwen Tennyson and his grandfather Max Tennyson. "

Icon observed, much to his surprise and amusement, that Max Tennyson was serving his two disgusted grandchildren what appeared to platefuls of mealworms.

"And on another note," continued Paradox. "While you came into contact with the working prototype for the Omnitrix, young Ben here came across the final model."

Icon peered at Ben's Omnitrix before looking at his own. There were differences between the two devices. Ben's Omnitrix appeared to be newer and more finished while Icon's own Omnitrix was older-looking and more basic. Strange, Icon's Omnitrix had seemed so advanced before looking at Ben's. Perspective was such a funny thing.

"So," began Icon. "Can Ben do things that I can't?"

"Possibly," answered Paradox. "As the final model Ben's Omnitrix does possess more capabilities."

"Has he ever had to use it?" Icon asked tensely.

"On a number of occasions. Like you, he and his family were attacked shortly after discovering the Omnitrix by the same kind of hunting droids that would frequently pursue you. However, the droids were far less numerous and young Ben was able to fend them off. Afterwards, he encountered a number of super-powered foes. I believe you had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Animo…"

"Heh, don't remind—" Icon paused upon remembering something that had occurred that day when he met Dr. Animo. "Professor Paradox, when me and my friend Terra met Dr. Animo, we found out that someone had been spying on us. Do you know who—"

"I'm afraid that is something you will find out for yourself soon enough," Dr. Paradox looked unusually grave. "But cheer up," Paradox changed the mood upon seeing Icon's disturbed face. "You've already come this far. In a matter of weeks, Lance Rios, a promising high school student, not only came into possession of the working prototype for the Omnitrix, but was able to utilize it against onslaught after onslaught of mechanical hunting parties; single-handedly defeat the three top-graduates of the H.I.V.E academy, hold his own against a menagerie of mutated animals, and successfully face Plasmus despite a head trauma. And even after all that you still managed to find the time to develop a partialness for the Kineceleran."

"That's the blue dinosaur, right?" Icon remembered Starfire and himself conversing about his alien forms after he and Terra had become members.

"Correct," Paradox rummaged around in his coat pocket until he pulled out a small handful of colorful spheres. "Gumball?"

XXX

"Oh great!" moaned Beastboy. "Not again!" The changeling and the Titans had recovered from Warp's attack just as Warp had succeeded in pulling Icon through the time portal. This had been the second time that a team member had vanished this way.

Cyborg was just finishing in using his expertise to free Terra from the energy restraints binding her to the wall.

"Where'd they go?" Terra frantically rushed to the spot where Warp had vanished with Icon.

"Back to Warp's future," Raven had dizzily picked herself up. After Icon had been shocked in his attempt to free Terra, Warp had cut the fight between him and Raven short by unleashing a series of attacks that had left the empath quite dazed.

"Perhaps we have no reason to worry," reassured Starfire in a yet uncertain voice. "When I vanished, I reappeared after only a few moments, correct—"

A blinding flash of light filled the room and Raven felt something knock her down onto the floor. She glowered when the light faded. "Whose hand is that?" Raven's voice became dangerous.

"S-So sorry!" Icon scrambled to his feet and nearly jumped a yard backwards, flushing furiously. The other Titans watched in bewilderment as Icon began acting purely on his survival instincts to appease his angered teammate. Icon dug furiously into his pants pocket and pulled out a souvenir he had received. "Gumball?" he sheepishly offered.

XXX

"So Ben's still out there," Terra was amazed by Icon's story about his trip with Professor Paradox.

"Yeah," chimed Beastboy. "There's actually two of you…"

"I know," Icon pulled his knees to under his chin. The three were currently seated near the shoreline at the base of the tower. It was morning and the sun was still rising. None of them had actually planned on meeting there. Terra had simply come out to enjoy the open air, Beastboy had gone looking for her, and Icon just had to tell them about his personal experience.

"What are you going to do?" questioned Terra.

"I don't know," admitted Icon. "Maybe nothing for now. Ben looked like he was doing fine. I'd be a lousy team member if I just walked up and left to go try looking for someone. I have no clue where he is right now…"

"Maybe he'll come to you," mulled Beastboy.

"Guess we'll see," Icon plucked a gumball from his pocket, popped it in his mouth, and began chewing. Time would tell.

XXX

"And so there are two…" An enigmatic mastermind had resumed watching one of his new people of interest on his computer screen. "Icon, you just get more interesting by the minute."