Woof! Struggled with this one, haha. To be honest, it wasn't that bad of a writer's block - I just had a couple of tiring weeks at work that drained my will to do anything but flop onto my couch and watch Youtube videos. Fortunately, things have stabilized for the moment, and I was able to put the finishing touches in time for this week's update. I hope you enjoy!
A very, very small part of Aja regrets never plugging into her Astronautics classes.
In her defense, Krel has always been the tech expert; while he shirked his own duties in learning how to wield a Serrator beyond the very basics, he consumed everything there was to learn about the technology that marks the Akiridion Empire as second only to Xandar itself in terms of advancement within the Nova territories. Krel knows how to build and fix things, and Aja knows how to break them – and in so doing, they cover for each other's shortcomings as heirs to the throne, as they always have.
Still, she'd appreciate knowing what the hell is going on, as they all but tumble out of Warp Space, the Mothership lurching from the damage sustained during their harrowing escape.
"Mother, where are we?" –Krel demands, trying to make sense of the barrage of telemetry data thrown his way.
"Our semi-randomized warp path has delivered us on the southern edge of Kree Imperial territory. We are in the Sol system, locked in an unstable approach to Kree-designated planet C-53, homeworld of the Human race." –the AI informs them.
Krel scoffs, crossing his lower arms as he attempts to stabilize their flight path. "Terra? Could we have possibly found a more primitive settled planet? Its inhabitants named it after dirt."
The viewport on the bridge displays their forcible destination, growing larger as they hurtle towards it; it's a relatively small rocky world, covered in water and vegetation, roiling white clouds spreading all over the surface of the planet. Aja finds it oddly...beautiful, and from her understanding, so do many others out in the galaxy – even if its inhabitants have only just learned how to split the atom, their home planet is known to be among the more aesthetically pleasing homeworlds, and it's noted by many xeno-biologists and geologists as having one of the most wildly diverse biospheres and environments in the known galaxy. Sol as a system, too, is something of an outlier; the average star system in the galaxy has only two or three planets, while Sol has nine, plus two asteroid belts, and several sizable planetoids spread throughout.
"I thought the whole Sol system was a Kree Exclusion Zone." –Aja finds herself saying. "How come we aren't getting shot by the local Accuser's fleet?"
"The previously existing Exclusion Zone appears to have been recently dismantled, Princess. I detect no significant Kree military presence – the Kree Empire seems to hold no current claim over this planet or star system."
Varvatos narrows all four of his eyes. "What of the Nova Corps? Varvatos Vex would relish the chance to punish the bucket-heads for their abdication of duty to stop Morando's coup!"
"Negative. I detect no Nova presence in the system. There is only one extant claim on Terra made by the Great Diamond Authority, but it appears to have been inactive for nearly five-thousand keltons. The Kree obviously considered the planet to have been relinquished, in order to have set up an Exclusion Zone in the first place."
Aja purses her lips at the mention of Gems, turning to her younger sibling. "Do you think this is our best bet, little brother?"
"More like our only bet. It's not like Homeworld, or the Kree for that matter, to give up a planet..." –Krel mutters. "...but we'll have to risk it, oxygen-plagued atmosphere and all. The Mothership has sustained far too much damage; we won't even be able to limp to this world's satellite."
"Frankly, King-in-Waiting, we should count ourselves lucky to survive a crash-landing upon Terra's surface." –Mother corrects. "This planet's atmospheric density will almost certainly cause further damage to our propulsion and maneuvering systems."
"But the Mothership's practically built to survive crash-landings, no?" –Aja wonders.
"Controlled ones, yes." –Krel says. "If we are unable to decelerate past the atmospheric burn...I don't like our odds."
"Intercept vectors detected." –the AI announces, as Terra completely fills the viewscreen. "Two starfighter class vessels inbound. No match on record."
Krel brings up the image, showing two vaguely avian-shaped vessels speeding towards them. To Aja, they look kinda bulky and awkward, compared to the sleek V-Stryker-class she's used to. "Terran fighters? I didn't think they'd even broken atmosphere yet." –Krel huffs.
"Information on recent Terran developments is limited. Any sufficiently comprehensive data is several dozen keltons out of date." –Mother supplies. "The presumed Terran vessels are attempting to hail us."
"Should we even talk to them?" –Aja questions. "What if they betray us to Morando?"
"Regardless of whether or not we should, we can't." –Krel says, sarcastically. "Our comms array was rendered offline during the escape."
Aja frowns. "Then how do we even know they're trying to talk to us if the communications are down?"
Krel sighs, long-suffering. "By 'comms are down', I meant 'while signal reception is online, our decodification and transmission equipment has been too damaged to operate', sister. We can hear them, but we can't understand or respond to their messages."
The technological savant turns to the control banks. "Mother, is there any indication of hostile intent?"
"Negative. The vessels' energy levels are spiking, but the yield is too low to harm standard starship armor plating, let alone Akiridion hull alloys." –she says, almost haughty. "However, I am detecting gravitational anomalies."
"Tractor beams?" –Krel asks no one, shaking his head in surprise. "Consider me a tiny bit impressed, Terrans."
The constant rocking of their flight, caused by misfiring maneuvering thrusters, is somewhat lessened as the gravitational fields envelop the Mothership and the starfighters attempt to stabilize their erratic path; Aja wishes to take this as a sign that the Terrans' intentions are benevolent, but a part of her points out that they might just be trying to capture them. She groans. "Can we really not communicate with them?"
"Not unless Varvatos gets out and holds a sign over his head in…whatever passes for Terran Common." –Krel shrugs. "I doubt they know GCL."
"Varvatos Vex fears no vacuum!"
"You're an inorganic, silicon-based lifeform, it wouldn't make sense if you did." –Krel says, deadpan. "The atmospheric burn, on the other hand, you would most definitely not survive. Speaking of which..."
The Mothership jolts, as it begins to make contact with the outermost layers of Terra's atmosphere. Krel falls silent, all four of his hands a blur as he frantically attempts to keep the starship together. The readout on their trajectory is clear; their course is too perpendicular, more of a fall than a controlled descent, only slightly helped by the Terran vessels attempting to reduce their speed via surprisingly robust tractor beams. It doesn't help that the Mothership isn't really meant to fly in-atmosphere for any extended periods of time, having to rely on damaged maneuvering thrusters and a struggling anti-gravity engine to compensate for its terrible aerodynamics.
Terra's atmosphere thickens, rattling the ship and enveloping them in blazing heat. Luug jumps into her arms, fearful, and she braces against Varvatos' massive torso. She tries to force herself to think about anything other than her potentially impending doom – how interesting she finds the fact that Terra only has the one moon, compared to her homeworld's nine, for example, or the mystery of how human hybrids spread so far and wide when, by all accounts, only a handful of Terrans have ever left the Sol system, all of them in recent memory.
"Terran vessels breaking off." –Mother says, and almost immediately, the fall gets thrice as turbulent.
"They'd probably break apart if they continued." –Krel begrudgingly acknowledges. "Really didn't do enough, however!"
A powerful explosion rocks the Mothership, and the power on the bridge briefly flickers. "Daxial Array offline. Switching to secondary fusion reactor."
Krel looks back at her, fear in his eyes; the fusion reactor should be able to generate enough power to sustain the maneuvering thrusters, but it'll take time to spin up – and judging by Krel's expression, it won't be able to slow them down in time for the crash. Death may not be a certainty, but it's certainly a possibility now, and so she grabs her sibling's hand, and holds on tight to Varvatos, bracing for the inevitable impact.
It comes moments later, and much more swiftly than anticipated, as they crash into a flying Terran.
Compared to holding up half of the Chimeran Hammer's weight, this Akiridion Mothership barely registers.
Well, not entirely true, of course. The weight is definitely noticeable, though impossible for her to calculate without a good frame of reference. Power Girl spreads her arms and legs over the smooth, white metal as much as possible so she doesn't just punch through the hull, willing her intrinsic leverage against the mighty force of the falling spacecraft.
"The trajectory's looking good." –Julie says, over the little black and green earbud she provided her. "Maybe five degrees further north?"
"I don't know what a degree means in this context, Jules!" –Power Girl yells, over the howling winds.
"Just push a little bit more to the right, it's fine."
"Your right or my right!?"
"Yours, definitely. I think."
Power Girl does her best to follow suit, grunting with effort as she struggles for purchase against the smooth, curved hull, pushing the ship as Julie instructed. It seems to be going well, which is exactly why it's entirely unsurprising when she's suddenly crushed against a handful of trees and then the ground itself, buried under a couple thousand tons of alien metal.
It smarts, admittedly. It can't compare with the sheer, muscle-tearing pain of lifting the Chimeran Hammer, but it does noticeably hurt – kinda like falling straight on your back, the wind knocked out of you. She takes a moment to adjust to the complete darkness and claustrophobia-inducing feeling of being completely surrounded by hot dirt, braces herself against the packed soil, and lifts.
"I can't believe we've been on Terra for all of two mekrons and we already killed someone!" –Aja laments.
"Agreed! We could've killed more had the strange, flying Terran female not curbed our path from that small residential area!" –Varvatos shakes his head in disappointment. "Varvatos would've preferred a stronger first impression!"
Krel narrows his eyes. "I worry about you sometimes, Varvatos." –he says, deadpan. "Well, we'll have plenty of time to mourn that Terran. I'm afraid the Mothership will not be moving for the foreseeable future."
The King-in-Waiting is immediately contradicted, as the vessel suddenly shifts, almost sending them tumbling to the floor of the bridge. "Mother, what was that?" –Krel wonders, scanning the fizzling readout for misfiring thrusters or some sort of muted explosion below deck.
"It would seem the Terran female survived the crash. They appear to be lifting the ship."
"Seklos and Gaylen..." –Varvatos balks, as they tilt slightly before dropping again, the aforementioned female floating up to their viewfinder and knocking on the transparent material.
"Anybody home?" –the Terran asks. Aja can't understand the language, but they don't even sound frazzled by the ordeal, even nonchalantly brushing the soil out of their short brown hair. They look like a human, but the last thing Aja knew, humans couldn't levitate or fly unaided, much less survive being crushed underneath thousands of tons of Akiridion machinery and subsequently lift it overhead.
Their pale, ever so slightly rosy skin looks just as frail as ever, but they're completely unharmed, and clad in an outfit that might make a Krylorian raise an eyebrow – a one-piece black and white jumpsuit that covers their hips, torso, and arms, leaving their legs, and a rather conspicuous area of their ample chest, which a great many species (not just mammalian ones, either) are typically drawn to strangely uncovered.
That's not the most interesting thing about their attire, though; it's the ancient Galvan symbol emblazoned on their left shoulder, which Aja only recognizes because she's obsessively studied many of the most powerful weapons in the history of the galaxy, a couple of which the long extinct Galvan were responsible for creating. It's a very rare sight these days, even though they left such a huge legacy with the creation of the Warp Network alone – the only places you'll see it these days are amidst the ruins of Galvan Prime, and on the uniform of those Nova Spec-Ops troopers that fell into obscurity before she was born.
"Be on your guard, my Royals." –Varvatos warns, pawing at his dual Serrator. "This Terran is clearly not quite as squishy as the rest of their kind."
"I can see you guys are alive, so I'll just, uh...wait out here." –the Terran says, floating away and landing a fair distance from the ship, crossing their arms.
Krel turns to his slightly flickering monitors. "Mother, what is the Terran saying?"
"Apologies, King-in-Waiting; the Terran's language has not been downloaded to my databanks, and we have no connection to the Galvan Translation Matrix."
Her brother huffs. "What a surprise." –he drawls. "How are the levels on Mama and Papa's regeneration pods?"
Mother displays a hologram with the requested data. "Levels are low, but holding steady. Warning: it is not recommended to utilize this regeneration rate for an extended period of time. The King and Queen's bodies may not develop properly without the power levels provided by the ship's defunct Daxial Array."
"Do we not have enough parts to repair or replace it?" –she asks.
"We should've, but the ship was slated for a retrofit that was never completed." –Krel explains. "Considering Morando gave the order, I have to assume this was part of his plan."
Vex frowns. "Are you certain he was not able to track us?"
Krel nods. "I set Mother to check for tracker signals every five mekrons, and I trust that the Nova Corps would not share the tracking data from our jumps." –he says.
"So we're stuck on Terra with little power and no way to communicate with any potential allies off-world." –Aja surmises. "I think we should figure out if we can ask the strangely indestructible flying Terran for help."
"Varvatos would caution you against this, Princess." –the old soldier says. "This planet may be a backwater, but we should assume that Morando will eventually discover our location, and that he'll attempt to convince the locals to capture us, or otherwise hold us in place for him to mobilize and destroy us."
"Hold us in place? We already can't move, Varvatos." –Krel reminds him. "And this world is at least a couple of tech levels below what we'd need to repair the Mothership, so the chances our situation can change are low, at best."
"So what would you suggest?" –Aja asks.
Krel scowls. "Don't ask me. I'm far too busy trying to figure out how in Gaylen's rotten core we're gonna fix an ionic energy FTL propulsion device with nuclear-era technology to even think about the rest of our predicament, sister." –he grouses. "I'll leave that decision in your capable hands."
"You're no help, little brother." –Aja says, deadpan. The Princess turns to look at their guardian. "And you, Varvatos? What might you suggest?"
"Bloodshed." –he retorts, rather characteristically. Aja rolls her eyes, but as it turns out, he's all too serious. "Eliminate all witnesses to our arrival on Terra, camouflage the Mothership, and covertly search for a way to repair our vessel."
Aja blinks. "Varvatos, even if your plan didn't immediately break all sorts of galactic conventions, I think Akiridions would stand out just a bit among the humans of Terra. Wonderfully varied as their dermal tones are, I don't think they quite reach our shade of blue."
"The Mothership is equipped with a transduction chamber." –Varvatos says. "We should be able to adopt sufficiently inconspicuous forms."
"Not with our current energy levels, we can't." –Krel counters.
"This is not entirely true, Prince Krel. You could not maintain a long-term transformation, but temporary forms with a duration of approximately ten to twelve horvaths are achievable."
Krel shakes his head. "Too risky. Our parents' chambers are too sensitive to even minor fluctuations in the energy supply."
Aja sighs. "All I'm hearing is that my plan is still our best option. Given our King-in-Waiting has so magnanimously conceded his decision power to me, " –she says, sardonic, to Krel's multiple rude hand gestures, "I will make contact with the Terran. Varvatos, you may accompany me, but do not attack unless I tell you to, or the Terran's intentions prove unequivocally hostile."
The Akiridions take...quite a while to get out of their clearly damaged ship. She'd be concerned, but she can hear them inside – their speech is too muffled to parse, even though she's pretty sure the Omnitrix is automatically translating for her, but from their tone, she'd guess that they're deciding whether or not to trust her.
Understandable, she thinks, considering what she knows of what they've just been through.
Nevertheless, their hesitation gives Julie, Kevin, and Gwen time to arrive at the crash site, some twelve miles northeast of downtown Arcadia. Kevin didn't bring his car, oddly enough, but rather the Rust Bucket, freshly repaired from the minor damages sustained during the Vilgax crisis.
"Nice job getting squished, Tennyson." –Kevin says, sarcastic.
"You okay?" –Gwen asks.
She nods. "Just fine. Still some dirt in my hair, though." –she complains, trying to brush more of it out with her fingers.
"You're still Power Girl?" –Julie asks, raising an eyebrow.
She shrugs. "I don't wanna freak 'em out." –she says. "They saw – and crashed into – Power Girl, so they'll probably expect Power Girl."
"You sure you're not just enjoying an extended romp in the skin-tight leotard with the boob window?" –Julie teases her.
Power Girl blushes, despite herself. "Quiet, you."
"Heads up." –Kevin warns. "Think they're coming out."
Indeed, the innards of the large vessel shift and rumble, and a circular door struggles to open. Two lifeforms cautiously climb out of the askew starship; both of them are more or less humanoid, with recognizable heads, torsos, arms, and legs, but there's a great many features distinguishing them from baseline human beings. The one at the front is huge, easily over ten feet tall, with a musclebound girth to match; they have four eyes, arranged in pairs at either side of a wide, flat ridge that could only charitably be called a nose. The creature's rather top heavy, almost gorilla-like in their proportions, with massive arms ending in three-fingered hands dwarfing their comparatively small legs and feet. They wear a sort of semi-transparent, plastic-looking armor – it reminds her of those transparent PlayStation controllers – protecting their torso and arms over a sort of skin-tight dark blue jumpsuit, decorated with glowing blue lines and symbols. They don't seem to have any hair, their head instead bearing some kind of protective garment, like an open-faced helm, made of the same material as the chest armor.
The second figure is much smaller than the first, bearing an athletic, vaguely feminine profile, some seven and a half feet tall. Their skin and hair are cyan – their hair in particular seems to actively glow – and they wear a similar jumpsuit to the big guy's, albeit with some lighter shades of blue for the bottom section and no armor to speak of, revealing an interesting feature at the top of their sternum: a sort of small, transparent 'window' into the inside of their chest, a crystalline object vaguely visible inside. Unlike the big guy, this individual only has two eyes – though they both look exactly the same, with glowing blue irises and black sclera – but they have four arms where the big guy only has the two. The second pair sprouts from their sides, just a couple inches below their 'regular' arms.
"Watch." –she calls. The Omnitrix has no voice, but she knows it's listening. "Make sure we can all understand each other."
The Omnitrix's badge on her shoulder pulses twice in acknowledgement. "Hello." –she begins. "My name is Ben Tennyson, and these are my friends and partner." –she says, gesturing at the others. "We'd like to welcome you to Earth."
The smaller one steps forward. "Hello, Ben Tennyson." –they say, uncertain, their voice heavily accented – it sounds vaguely Eastern European, though it's hard to pinpoint exactly from where in that region. "I am Princess Aja of House Tarron, daughter of King Fialkov and Queen Coranda, rightful heir to the Akiridion throne." –she says, proud but notably hollow.
Aja gestures at the massive individual beside her. "And this is Varvatos Vex, loyal servant of the Throne, and Commander of the Taylon Phalanx."
"And fearless protector of the Royal heirs!" –he adds, all but snarling, almost daring them to attack. "Attempt any harm upon the young Royals, and Varvatos will fertilize the soil you've named your world after with your blood!"
"Dude, chill." –Kevin drawls. "Two sentences in, and you're already threatening to kill us? Not cool."
"Indeed! As I understand it, freshly spilled human entrails are fairly warm!"
Aja quickly steps in, motioning for her companion to calm down with her two right arms. "Commander Vex may speak hyperbole, but I won't; my little brother and I just lost everything less than two horvaths ago. Our Mothership is in desperate need of repairs, and we have to assume it's only a matter of time before General Morando sends bounty hunters, or worse, to finish what he started on our homeworld." –she admits. "If you would help us survive, your aid would be most welcome; but should you intend us harm..."
The Akiridions take some devices from their hips and ignite them, producing sizable curved blades of what appears to be glowing blue hard light. "...you will find us most capable of delivering on Varvatos' colorful threats."
Julie and Gwen glance at each other, concerned, while Kevin balls his fists, clearly not taking the threat well. "No need for any of that." –Power Girl quickly says, stepping between the two groups. "We mean you no harm; in fact, we've been asked to help you lay low on our planet."
"By whom?" –Aja asks.
"A defense organization known as S.W.O.R.D. They're the ones who helped you guys slow down."
Aja lowers the sword a bit. "Your world doesn't belong to the Nova or Kree; what do your people stand to gain from helping us?"
Power Girl shrugs. "I don't think that's how it works. You guys need help, and we can give it; as far as I'm concerned, that's as complex as this gets."
All of a sudden, a third Akiridion, so similar to Aja that they must be related, pops their head out of the ship. "Sister, Varvatos, scan them! These Terrans are not what they seem!"
Varvatos suddenly puts a hand to the side of his head. A holographic visor appears over his eyes. "As Varvatos expected!" –he says triumphantly, after a scan, turning to Aja, who merely looks uncertainly between them. "My Royal, these interlopers are not as they seem; only one of them is even human, and she's been grafted with Kree cybernetics! They must be bounty hunters, on Morando's payroll!"
Aja grimaces. "Already!? How in Seklos' name did they track us?"
"The Nova Corps must have betrayed us!" –Varvatos surmises. "First their criminal inaction, and now they share our location with the enemy! Varvatos will crumple the next golden bucket he sees – with the head still inside!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" –Power Girl holds her hands up. "I know it seems weird, but I promise there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this. Gwen's just a very precocious Anodite, Kevin is a genetically modified human, and Julie was gifted the gear by Hala the Accuser after she was hurt by a bounty hunter." –she says, pointing at each of them. "As for me, I am human, just…not all the time."
She taps the Omnitrix's faceplate, and reverts to Ben with a red flash. "See? Regular ol' Ben Tennyson, no threat to anyone." –he says, trying to appear as harmless as possible.
Unfortunately, this seems to have the opposite effect, evidenced as Varvatos assumes a defensive stance and Aja's eyes widen. "It can't be…you wield the Omnitrix?" –she gasps.
"Morando's allies are powerful indeed." –Vex says, gravely. "But Varvatos Vex will protect you, till glorious death!"
The massive alien charges forward with a war cry; with a flash, Diamondhead stands his ground, blocking the massive energy blade by crossing his arms in front of him. Tall as the Petrosapien form is, Varvatos still looms over him – almost reminiscent of facing down Vilgax, though the Akiridion is still a few feet short of his now-imprisoned nemesis, and from this improvised blade lock, not really in the same ballpark in terms of brute strength.
"I don't wanna hurt you." –Diamondhead says, forming spikes on the bottom of his feet, and using the added traction to push off the violent Commander. "There's no need for us to fight."
Varvatos isn't exactly in a listening mood, though; he roars, morphing the huge blade into an equally large spear, which he immediately thrusts towards his chest. With a flash, XLR8 sidesteps the blow, and with another, Four Arms grabs the shaft of the spear with his left hands and pushes Varvatos with his right palms, separating him from his weapon.
It's a simple victory, but a short-lived one; bolts of searing heat pelt him, shot by Aja's sibling from their vantage point. He grunts in pain, before a wall of violet light blocks any more from reaching him. Gwen's eyes glow violet, even through the glamour provided by the charm around her neck. "This is going about as well as usual." –she notes, sarcastic. "What's our next move, cuz?"
Kevin reaches for the Rust Bucket's hood, turning beige and metal. "I say we subdue 'em. Let S.W.O.R.D. figure out what to do with them after."
The group gets surprised by Varvatos, wrathfully punching Gwen's protective barrier. "Better decide fast, Ben." –Gwen says, deadpan.
Four Arms nods, and hands the circular Akiridion device to Julie. "Drop the shield on my go." –he says, and takes a defensive stance. "You get your wish, Vex." –he jeers. "I'm going to fight you, all by myself – and I'm going to beat you."
"Varvatos Vex welcomes the challenge, Terran!"
"Maybe when I'm done and he's still breathing, " –he says, ignoring the man and turning to Aja. "You'll see we really mean what we're saying, Princess."
He gives Gwen a thumbs-up, and the trio backs off, the mana wall suddenly vanishing. Red and blue clash in the middle, near-animalistic growling taking the place of civilized discussion. Four Arms punches at Vex's sides with his free arms, drawing grunts of pain from the seasoned Commander; it's that experience that momentarily provides him with the upper-hand, though, as he stops resisting and lets himself fall onto his back, using the momentum to throw Four Arms off. Ben thinks quickly, though, shifting to Big Chill in mid-air and phasing into the ground they would've slammed against, emerging from the soil and blasting a stream of cold air from their mouth – exactly at no one, as it turns out. Varvatos grabs him from behind and slams him onto the soil anyway, drawing a grunt of pain from the Necrofriggian.
A flash of emerald light later, Goop now engulfs Varvatos's forearm, quickly climbing up to his torso to immobilize him, but the Akiridion is quicker on the draw, reaching for the gravity engine and crushing it between his oversized fingers. Goop loses cohesion, but not its concentration; a moment passes and Heatblast lies on the ground, letting out a small flare that forces Vex to retreat, diving away from the deadly heat. "Had enough?" –the Pyronite asks.
"I said glorious death!" –the Akiridion roars, defiant.
Power Girl replaces Heatblast. "Yeah, well. Find someone else willing to provide."
The Kryptonian surges forward, faster than Varvatos can react, and pins him down to the ground with just one hand, kicking dirt and rocks up into the air. Varvatos struggles, kicking and punching at her, but she doesn't budge an inch, completely unfazed by his blows.
"Enough, both of you!" –Aja says, the tip of her blade held between her and Varvatos. "We have enough enemies in the cosmos, Varvatos. We can't afford to make new ones – particularly not if one of them wields one of the most powerful weapons in the galaxy."
"But Princess…!"
"A Royal commands you, Varvatos." –she barks, tone broaching no argument. "Commander Vex, as heir to the Akiridion throne, I order you to cease all hostilities with the human and his entourage." –she orders, and turns to Ben, looking more tired than any vaguely teenaged alien girl ought to. "As for you…please release my friend. I…don't have many left."
Power Girl nods, releasing her hold on Varvatos' chest piece, slightly cracked under her palm. Ben stands beside Aja; if Power Girl was a foot or so shorter than the Princess, he's now dwarfed by the Akiridion heir. He holds out his hand. "Truce?"
Aja stares at the offered gesture in confusion. "Oh, right, culture barrier. It's a handshake, just a trust kinda thing on Earth."
"Oh! I'm already aware, human. Your Captain Marvel taught us the meaning." –she shrugs. "I'm just…not sure which of my hands I'm supposed to use."
Ben decides for her, reaching for her lower right hand – it's the one he can most comfortably reach, after all. He feels like slapping his face instantly, though, as the Omnitrix's faceplate turns a familiar yellow and starts spinning in place. "Ah, dang it, not again…"
Yup, that's happening again!
Before people start complaining in my PMs and reviews again, a) you're never gonna change my mind on any of this, so don't bother, and b) Ben's Akiridion transformations (yes, plural) will be sourced from two individuals; one royal (Aja in this case), and one commoner. I'm sure you can guess who that'll be. I promise I'm not doing this out of spite (though part of me wants to), I just picked Aja because I knew she'd be the more outgoing of the royal siblings and more likely to touch the Omnitrix in order for the automatic DNA scan to happen. I promise not every alien Ben scans will give him a feminine body.
Anyway, some trivia for y'all:
-If you're wondering why the Omnitrix didn't have the Akiridion genome already, considering they're a fairly prominent part of the Nova Empire, it's because they weren't 100,000 years back. In fact, biologically speaking, they barely resemble the species they were back then! We'll get into that later on in this fic.
-GCL stands for Galactic Common Language; I know it can seem like all the aliens are speaking English in my stories, but unless the Paladins of Voltron, Peter Quill, Max, or Carol are involved, you can safely assume nobody's actually speaking English.
-Some references here and there to the events of 3Below, of course; I'm not doing away with everything, but given the change in setting I did have to make some adjustments.
-Personally, I don't think Ben feels either particularly fond or repulsed by the Power Girl form, but it does feel almost indistinguishable from his human body thanks to having the same proportions, so there's not much dysphoria to speak of. Julie might imply there's something else at play, but I don't expect Ben sees it that way. Swapping bodies is just not a big thing anymore.
-If I have to pin down one, Ben's favorite form is currently Diamondhead. Just a great all-rounder with a ton of extra potential thanks to his shape-shifting crystals.
-Horvaths doesn't translate because they aren't actually identical to Earth hours; a horvath is one-hundred mekrons, and a mekron is one-hundred sektons. Each sekton is about 1.5 Earth seconds!
-I'm sure you'll have noticed that the group kinda defers to Ben in battle most of the time. Here's hoping that doesn't come back to bite them in the ass later!
That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you'd like to ask any questions (y'know, the non-entitled kind), feel free to reach out via comments/review or my ask box, over on tumblr (darthkvznblogs). Until next time!