Ben 10 and Monster High belong to their rightful owners
Grammar issues ahead
AN ALIEN JUST LIKE IN THE MOVIES
The sound of silverware scraping against china could be heard from the kitchen. It was a little after quarter past seven in the morning and the four young monsters, accompanied by Frankie's parents were eating breakfast. Upgrade could hear them talking as they ate, he heard Frankie's mother, whose name he discovered was Viveka, was talking to Draculaura about the evening, apparently, she and her husband had had a date the night before, the vampire was excited, or at least he deduced that since he heard her ask a lot of questions about it.
At that moment Upgrade was fused to Cleo's ICoffin, all at the request of the girls, who explained to him that they could not let anyone see him. He already knew that, but acted as if he didn't, all to maintain his alien facade, lying to them was not something he wanted, but he saw no other solution at that moment. Needless to say, Cleo was not happy that he was still attached to her ICoffin.
Being fused to Cleo's ICoffin allowed Upgrade to peruse the local news pages. He had been searching for some time for information about what happened the night before, he feared that his ship had already been dug up and taken to some top-secret location. It was almost like a race against time for him. To his bad luck, that page hadn't updated anything after posting the base news "Meteorite impact". This was beginning to frustrate him. He needed to come up with some clue as to what they were going to do with the proto truck. Standard procedures for situations like that were that first the wreckage should be taken to a depot under strict supervision and then federal agents, the Men in Black according to him, would show up and take the wreckage away, possibly to area 51, and he had no desire to infiltrate there to retrieve his belongings that were in the glove compartment of the vehicle, he would hate for some military personnel to see the search history on his phone.
He opted for a change of focus. If the news portals had nothing useful, then he would go for the forums and pages dedicated exclusively to conspiracies or simple gossip. An event like the one that happened would certainly attract the attention of those people. And yellow journalism was a constant among the universes.
He searched and searched until he finally stumbled upon a particular page, which was about gossip.
"Ghostly Gossip?" he mentally read the name. The page was quite simple and with a "scary" design, which consisted of ghost stickers drawn in a very adorable way which reminded him of the ghosts in a certain game with a green-clothed and very cowardly plumber. "Someone likes King Boo." He pushed those thoughts aside and returned his attention to the last post. It was a video of just over ten seconds, there you could see the impact site, but from a high place, as if the person responsible had climbed a tree to record it.
The video was taken at the same time he went to that location as the alert whistle blown by that werewolf policeman was heard and forced the cameraman to flee, fearing he had been caught.
Attached to that video was a short text of no more than two lines, but only one sentence was what stood out the most.
That thing is not a meteorite - it's a freaking alien spaceship!
Upgrade read the comments that corresponded to that publication. The discussion in that section was very active and even then the comments were being updated, increasing in number. Some were speculating what that thing could be, they were saying it was a satellite, passing for a new ship and some even agreed that it could be a UFO. People for and against every idea were present, along with the typical troublemakers who only commented to cause even more chaos. He decided to ignore those comments and reloaded the page, it was possible that the person behind the post would make another one that would give him some clue, but there was nothing.
Resigned, he put that search aside and began to think about his current situation. He was trapped in a new world and one that, despite having similarities, was unfamiliar to him for the most part. He wasn't sure how things worked there or if that world had any superheroes running around. There were monsters, maybe some made use of their powers to do some good. Other than that, he wasn't sure how long he would be there, his inter-dimensional adventures usually took him little more than a day or two and he always knew how it was that he got there in the first place and almost at the same time his goal to accomplish became present.
This occasion was very different from the previous ones.
The only thing he could remember before he encountered those girls snooping around the ship, was that endless void of bright colors and meaninglessness, anything before that was unknown to him, he was definitely suffering from short-term amnesia due to a stroke.
"I'd better do some research..." thought Upgrade. Without wasting any time, he entered the "Boogle" search engine and started browsing once again.
The ability to improve and his mind being a techno-biological supercomputer allowed the alien to greatly accelerate the process of searching and learning. First, he searched for anything he was familiar with, it would be important to know how they differed so as not to make a mistake. The pop culture of both realities was almost the same, with slight changes, for example. In his home reality, Spider-man was the alter ego of Peter Parker, but in this new reality, the alter ego was one Miles Morales, which intrigued him.
His search took him from one place to another, the algorithm gradually taught him more and more things as he searched, giving him varied results. Both realities shared a lot of pop culture, like the child of the 90's that he was, this excited him and made him feel more familiar with the environment. The differences also excited him, he saw things he never knew before. For example, a strange movie that mixed Twilight with Die Hard called TwiHard.
After a few minutes, he was forced to stop. He could hear that breakfast was already over which meant that Frankie's parents would be passing through the living room before going up to his room, so he ceased his search.
"We'll go rest now, if you need anything just give us a call." Viveka said as she advanced across the room next to her husband.
"Thank you for breakfast Mrs. S." thanked Clawdeen as she munched away from Draculaura's sight on a piece of bacon.
"Clawdeen, call me Viveka." said the woman. As she crossed next to the larger couch, she sensed something strange and stopped. Her gaze swept around the room until it landed on Cleo's black and green ICoffin.
The woman looked at the device with slight confusion, for some reason, she felt that it possessed what the monsters called "The Spark". In itself, this "Spark" was not something physical, but neither was it something spiritual, rather it was like a tingling that the monsters felt when they encountered another. It was a passive ability they all had to identify others and each species of monster developed it differently. In her case and that of her family, except for her daughter since she was not yet old enough to develop such an ability, they could feel the electric fields emitted by the nervous system of individuals and for some reason, that device was emitting this same electricity, but in a way, she never felt. She observed the object a little more but did not notice anything strange, so she dismissed the idea, maybe she was just exhausted and was already hallucinating.
What Viveka did not see as she continued on her way was that the ICoffin screen showed Upgrade's eye, which followed her until she disappeared up the stairs.
The alien let out a "sigh", for a second he thought he had been discovered, that woman had been strangely staring at him, but it was not possible to be discovered, his disguise was perfect.
After that strange event, the girls gathered around him, they were all curious about him, after all, he was an alien, and as he proved to be friendly, they responded in kind, except for Cleo, who demanded her ICoffin, which he did not return and instead showed her a mocking emoticon, a yellow face sticking out its tongue.
The mummy growled at this and was ready to force him out, but was stopped by her friends. After some kind words from Frankie, Upgrade exited the ICoffin and handed it back to Cleo, which left him incommunicado once again.
After this, Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura were asking him questions, they were interested in knowing more about him, which was reciprocated. He also wanted to know more. Not exactly about them, but about that world and his status as an "alien" was going to help him get new information. The girls introduced him to a game they called "Twenty Curses", which was the monster version of the game "Twenty Questions". Which he found curious. Why were they making those monster-themed puns? Was it colloquial or some kind of inside joke? Because he was starting to like it.
The inability to speak English led to Frankie handing him a sheet of paper and a pencil so he could communicate. That inability to speak a language he already knew was strange, he began to wonder if his mechamorph form had been damaged in some way when he ended up there, the Omnitrix detected electromagnetic damage and the mechamorph species was very weak to that kind of attack being techno-organic. Had the damage affected the computerized mind? It was possible, but he wasn't sure.
The girls asked him some questions and he answered, omitting things like that he was not a real alien, but a human who could change forms and came from another dimension. He was more than sure that they were not going to believe him and there was still no real trust, so saying something like that would translate into him being taken as a lunatic.
After the questions, he asked to turn the TV back on, he wanted to check the local news in case they were reporting on his ship. Frankie allowed him to do it.
"The official report has not yet been released, but there is speculation that what happened in the early hours of this morning was an unfortunate accident while testing a new class of aircraft." Were the words spoken by the news anchor, which this time was a pale-skinned, fanged middle-aged man was there. The man narrated the events that occurred during the early morning and how the city was visited by some very strange characters dressed in black suits.
While he listened intently to the news. Draculaura, Clawdeen, and Frankie were reviewing the things they learned from him.
"Let's see what we have so far." Frankie had a notebook in her hands, in which he had written down many things about the new member of their group, from his height, the not inconsiderable height of two meters ten centimeters. Apart from this, there were other data that they got by asking him. Among them, his name, the name of his species, and his age.
"He's a teenager, that explains a few things." Clawdeen commented as he read the number written there. "So, you need to be seventeen to get your license to fly spaceships?"
The comment caused Upgrade to turn to her and look at her with a frown, he detected the sarcasm and mockery in her words.
"Stop bothering him, you're fifteen and still can't drive." Scolded Draculaura.
"Stop acting like you're still my babysitter." She replied with mild annoyance, but then returned her attention to the notebook. "You wrote down his likes and dislikes?" she questioned in confusion.
"He was flipping channels for quite a while, I thought I might as well take advantage of it and find out what he liked, so I could understand him better and we could get along." Explained Frankie, she was doing her best to be able to understand the alien, this entailed taking notes, lots and lots of notes. And to her bad luck, her magazines didn't explain how to deal with such a situation.
"He likes action shows, comedy, and cartoons." Two columns were written there, that was the first, Clawdeen then focused on the second. "He doesn't like romantic shows, or fashion shows. Wow, sounds like my brother Clawd."
"If your brother were a metallic slime from space." Cleo added. The girl was typing on her phone intently, she was having a chat with her boyfriend. Deuce. The boy was asking her how she was doing. Cleo's heart couldn't help but pound as she read each message, but she knew how to hide it.
"Stop being so cold with him, he hasn't done anything wrong." Frankie shut her mouth when she saw the look on Cleo's face, who wasted no time in correcting her.
"He didn't do anything wrong? We heard it on the news, an unidentified object destroyed a satellite and we just happen to have a destroyed ship in the middle of the forest and its driver right here." Cleo pointed at Upgrade and her friends turned to look at him. The space teen was deep in concentration watching... Sesame Street?
"Intriguing...they have it here too." He commented in his own language. With every moment, he was discovering more and more similarities before his home reality and this one.
Back to the three girls. They looked at him with complicated expressions, not knowing what it could be that had caught their attention in such away.
"Maybe he's just an idiot who decided to play racing and ended up crashing here. Human teenagers are like that." With her explanation given, the mummy returned her attention to her phone.
"Only he's not a human." Frankie hastened to correct. The girl let out an exhausted sigh, dealing with her friend's bad attitude was infuriating for her, fortunately, Clawdeen was there to support her.
"Why are you watching Sesame Street?" questioned the wolf woman completely perplexed at the alien's choice of programming.
Frankie chose not to question that and continued to look at her notes. Some things did not match. He claimed to be a place called Galvan B, which is very, very far away from earth, but he knew many common things about the planet, like the gestures used by teenagers or the use of a TV. It was strange as if he was already familiar with all those things, this made Frankie question if he was someone who visited earth at some point in the past. He was looking for a "Ben Tennyson", it was obvious that he was an earthling and possibly a human. Was that human the one who taught him everything? And if that was the case, what happened to him and why was Upgrade looking for him?
A cybernetic sound, similar to a groan of annoyance was heard and Frankie turned her attention to the alien. He had turned back to the news channel, there a live feed was showing, a press conference was taking place, it all seemed to be quite impromptu as it was on the street.
Upgrade paid attention to this and his eye narrowed as he recognized some people, that pair of officers he saw inspecting his ship was there, along with that officer with the bushy mustache and that woman in black. This time he could see her better. She was a young woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, black hair with a strange blue sheen, her skin was white and pale and she had black glasses covering her eyes.
"And there we have Agent Smith." Upgrade commented sarcastically but fell silent as they began to give the official briefing.
The man with the bushy mustache, who was identified as Sheriff Gordon, stepped forward and began to speak.
"The unfortunate incident last night was due to a new military-grade aircraft being tested over our airspace."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Clawdeen upon hearing that. "I told you they were going to cover it up like in the movies!"
"Who knew, the movies were right." Cleo commented with little interest. Though slightly impressed that her friend's prediction had come true.
The sheriff gave a long explanation, assuring that there was no danger and emphasizing that the pilot of the aircraft had been ejected and was the one who contacted the accompanying agents to recover the aircraft.
"We'll take the remains to the police station and put them in storage to await Agent Smith's colleagues to come and pick it up." The sheriff pointed to the woman in the glasses.
Upgrade, he blinked at that.
"You've got to be kidding, her name is Smith?" he commented in surprise.
The press conference continued, several questions were answered, even a bold reporter questioned if this aircraft was not something out of this world and they were not covering it up, but this was quickly denied by Agent Smith.
Upgrade cared little and nothing about all that, he now possessed the information of where they would take the proto truck and he was going to need to go there.
His computerized mind began to plot a plan of action, he needed to sneak into a police headquarters, which would usually lead to a lot of trouble. Of course, he had the skills to get in, but he didn't know where that place was, and going blindly through the city was not a good idea, much less if those federal agents were aware that a cop had seen him, which was highly likely to be the case.
The girls noticed that Upgrade had something that they identified as his thoughtful manner. Lego looked up at the TV and quickly put the pieces together.
"You're not planning on getting into a police station, are you?" asked Clawdeen worriedly as she saw that Upgrade already seemed to be in full planning mode.
The alien melted and pounced on Cleo, who shrieked at that, and once again, her ICoffin was possessed by Upgrade and began to display words on the screen.
"I have to get that ship back, it is illegal for inferior species to have contact with that kind of technology." That was what was written there.
"Did he just call us inferior?" Frankie blinked at that, not sure how to feel about it, but then she went over the words the alien said. "It's illegal? Really?"
"Very. Outside of this world, in the stars, there is a system that keeps civilizations in line, as long as they are level two or lower, they cannot come into contact with other more advanced species, all in pursuit of not interfering with their development." His explanation was a little non-technical, but it was the same explanation he had been given over and over again and if in that universe there was a regulation similar to that, it could only mean that he was going to get into much bigger trouble if he didn't get the proto truck back.
The four young women looked at each other, unsure what to do about it.
For several minutes, they began to discuss what to do, Cleo insisting that Upgrade was lying and that he most likely did not wish to take responsibility for what he had done. Clawdeen opined that both were quite likely, but Upgrade seemed to be trustworthy and chose to believe her.
Frankie wasn't sure, she wanted to help the alien, but she didn't want the police to pursue her as a criminal, especially the human police.
Draculaura on the other hand had a brilliant idea.
"Upgrade, you can merge with the ICoffins, can you do the same with your ship?" the vampire asked and the ICoffin moved, gesturing in the affirmative. "What do you say we take you there, lock you out and you infiltrate and retrieve it, it'll be like one of those secret agent movies!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Clawdeen was ready to tell her that this was not a good idea when suddenly, a tune began to sound from Cleo's ICoffin.
"That's the song from mission impossible?" the wolf woman questioned perplexed. Upgrade had once again made use of the internet access, this time, to play some music.
"How does he know that song?" questioned Cleo, with each passing moment, she became more and more suspicious of him, his knowledge was too much for an entity alien to the planet. What was really going on?
"You guys can drop me off nearby, I'll infiltrate like Tom Cruise in the movies and retrieve my ship."
"Wait, how do you know Tom Cruise?" questioned Clawdeen once again.
"I like mission impossible." He replied as if it was no big deal.
What he could not know was that this simple answer aroused Clawdeen's suspicion and increased Cleo's suspicions.
For a few more minutes, they all asked him what he was planning to do, they wanted to make sure that none of them would be branded as a national public enemy or anything like that. Upgrade assured them that he was just going to go in, retrieve what was his, and get out without causing much more trouble, so they agreed to take him, but told him that they were going to need to change clothes and would need to do Frankie's makeup. He was quite confused at that. They were going on a suicide mission...ejem, they were going to look for his ship, not a fashion show. The girls didn't explain exactly why they needed so much preparation, so he could only wait in the living room while they all went to Frankie's room.
He waited fused to the ICoffin for security purposes in case one of Frankie's parents came down, so he went back online and continued to look for some things.
After about forty minutes, the girls returned to find him watching through the ICoffin an old 80's series of alien robots transforming into vehicles that he was already familiar with.
"Talking through a radio, Bumblebee is a genius." He commented to himself. Re-encountering a cartoon from his childhood gave him an idea, his mind traveled through the ICoffin software, he searched through all the lines of code and finally came up with a text reading application.
"Upgrade, we're ready." At the sound of Frankie's voice, the alien dropped what it was doing and its eye reappeared on the ICoffin's screen, followed by the small robotic legs that allowed the device to rise.
He turned his gaze toward the source of the voice and could see the four young women with a rather radical change of look.
They no longer had their pajamas on, instead, they seemed to have gone through quite a makeover.
Draculaura had an outfit that respected two colors consistently, white and pink, a pink corset fitted her figure, accompanied by a white skirt, black fishnet stockings covered her legs along with pink platform shoes.
Clawdeen had a cap on her head, hiding her wolf ears. Her attire consisted of a lilac hoodie, dark skinny jeans, and some bracelets on her left wrist, along with platform shoes with purple straps.
Frankie had a more "Normal" outfit, her whole outfit seemed to be made of wool and she looked quite uncomfortable wearing it, her t-shirt had a high collar and was covering her bolts, sports pants and lastly sneakers, she also had a lot of makeup on her face, she looked like a normal human, except for that scar on her right eye.
Finally, Cleo, had on a light blue top that revealed her navel and over it a small coat that Frankie lent her, which covered the bandages on her arms and only slightly exposed those on her neck, her legs were covered by striped leggings, and she had gold-colored platform shoes.
Upgrade was quite surprised to see that his friends seemed to be actively trying to hide their monstrous features.
He stared at them for a few seconds almost automatically. His youthful mind made him admire how beautiful they all were, but that same youthful mind made him discard those ideas and curiosity led him to ask and at the same time, test if he could imitate the adorable bumblebee.
"What's with that radical change?" the young women were surprised to hear the voice, it was a female voice native to the text reading app, but they didn't know it.
"You spoke!" exclaimed Clawdeen in shock. "And why do you sound like a woman?"
"Wait, you said your translator was damaged like you're talking about?" questioned Frankie.
"Modify the phone, as long as I'm attached to it you can understand me." He explained.
"Could you always do that? Why didn't you do it before?" asked Frankie curiously. Upgrade was about to answer but stopped himself, it hadn't occurred to him until he came across that cartoon.
Being who he was and not wishing to look bad, he strategically chose to change the subject.
"Why do you look so different?" The alien carefully inspected Frankie, who rubbed her arm ruefully.
They all looked a little uncomfortable at that question, which he noticed and began to wonder if it was something he shouldn't be questioning.
Finally, Draculaura spoke.
"You don't know this, but the monsters were hidden for many years." Draculaura answered, her voice showed the sadness she felt, something that made Upgrade feel bad for asking that question. "It was in the early two thousand that things changed, in ten years some things change, but..." she looked at her best friend, the werewolf woman rested a hand on her vampire friend's shoulder and continued for her.
"We hide our heritage so as not to draw attention to ourselves." Clawdeen said. "They won't come after us with pitchforks and torches, but they might accuse us of being up to something."
"Which, we are doing." Cleo added. "And you, space booger, you better not damage my ICoffin or I'll turn you over to the military."
Upgrade just nodded. His mind was analyzing those words he had just heard. The monsters were hidden? Only recently made themselves known? Where had he heard that before? Oh, sure. In his own reality. His eye roamed over the four young women, each was hiding their heritage to a greater or lesser extent, Cleo and Draculaura being the least to do so and Frankie the most, the girl had a lot of makeup on her face and the clothes she was wearing were obviously making her uncomfortable. He was surprised and moved, were they helping him despite the disadvantageous situation they were going through?
His cybernetic heartbeat at that selfless gesture, they were good girls and very kind, he wished he could make it up to them, but that was not the time.
"Thank you, for helping me get my ship back."
"Thank us when this is all over and no one wants to imprison us." Clawdeen replied, then looked excited and looked at Upgrade with puppy dog eyes. "Can I drive your ship when you get it back?"
He started laughing when he heard that. No. He wasn't going to let her touch the proto truck.
By being fused to Cleo's phone, he was able to hear in the girl's hand and go unnoticed. This allowed him to observe the path they were on and memorize the places around Frankie's house.
The city reminded him quite a bit of his home, but with marked differences. His hometown was a more industrial place, with factories and manufacturing everywhere, Salem, and failing that New Salem, was a more natural place, from what he found out while researching online, the entire city was in a valley called "Willamette Valley" which shared the name with a river that divides the city in two.
He also found out that in recent years the city was affected by a great change, all thanks to the fact that the monsters were no longer a secret and became public knowledge.
An expansion was required, and thanks to being in the Willamette Valley, the possibility that monsters of all kinds could inhabit the place became possible.
The valley was rich in flora and fauna, along with land conducive to growing crops, not to mention that there were forests and lakes nearby, as well as being next to the Willamette River, allowing even monsters that couldn't stay too long away from water to inhabit the area.
Buildings of all kinds were commonplace, whether made by humans or monsters.
Everything was new to him, but at the same time very familiar. In his world, in his city, there was an alien city known as "Undertown", it was the place where hundreds of thousands of alien species went to live, and each inhabitant had their own reasons, from young people wishing to leave their home planets, to refugees fleeing wars in devastated star systems, to petty thieves. Comparing New Salem with Undertown was unavoidable for him.
He relived the explanation Clawdeen and Draculaura gave him. That they were forced to hide their heritage just to go to the human part of town was something he couldn't understand. They weren't even much different from an average human, in Clawdeen's case, she just possessed a lot of body hair and wolf ears, he was sure some would find that appealing. Back home, aliens were rarely attractive to the human eye and the same was true on the opposite side. Except with humanoid species. In that context, it was understandable that aliens would be forced to hide so as not to cause panic, but these girls didn't need to. Did that world suffer from an extreme problem of racism? If his previous experiences dealing with supremacist organizations told him anything, it was that fighting something like that would not be easy.
They finally reached the vicinity of the police station where they took the remains of the Proto truck and the girls hid inside an alley and behind a dumpster.
Upgrade was released from Cleo's grip and jumped to the ground. His eye scanned the surrounding area, he saw that the city was pretty normal, humans everywhere, with a really small number of adult monsters, which were constantly getting stares, but paid no attention to them. He deduced that these monsters were more than proud of their nature and were not afraid to show themselves as they were, which was admirable.
"Can I have my ICoffin back now?" the voice of Cleo brought him out of his thoughts and he hurried to answer her.
"Not yet, my normal form is too flashy, even if I transform into my slime form they'll notice me." Upgrade looked at the girls for a few moments. He was grateful that they would take such a risk to help him, he started to move forward out of the alley, but stopped before leaving and turned to look at them. "Thank you. I won't forget this."
"Just avoid getting caught and don't make wanted criminals out of all of us." Clawdeen replied with amusement. "Do you think I can add "I helped an alien steal his spaceship?" to my resume?"
"Be careful, please." asked Frankie.
He nodded and turned around. A street separated him from his belongings and he wasn't going to let anyone or anything near his phone, which was in the glove compartment of the vehicle. The things he had in there were private.
Determined to get this over with in one fell swoop. The alien advanced rapidly. The small mechanical legs that the ICoffin now possessed rattled with a metallic sound, it was like watching a six-inch tall spider speed across the street. After crossing, it wasted no time and began its infiltration.
The girls hung back, expectant of what might happen.
"We'd better get away from here, if something goes wrong we could be charged." Suggested the werewolf woman. Frankie and Draculaura were unsure of this, but she insisted. "Girls, it's not a good idea to stay much longer."
"She's right, we'd better go now before they realize we're here." Cleo seconded. "Let's go to Riverfront and wait."
Frankie turned her gaze once again in the direction Upgrade had gone. He could only hope that everything would turn out all right.
Upgrade was fast and stealthy, although he was not used to infiltration, he was used to hiding, he was a very experienced and skilled field agent, despite openly declaring himself a superhero, in reality, he could be what in the military call "squad leader". Of course, he didn't like the sound of that and preferred to be hailed as a hero.
He managed to enter through a ventilation duct, the rattling of his robotic limbs echoed through the place, which could give him away. Fortunately, that place had no monstrous police officers, only humans, so they would not be able to hear him so easily.
Moving through that metal labyrinth without knowing exactly where to go led him to several places where vents allowed him to peek fleetingly.
He watched some scenes unfold. Three policemen loitering and chatting among themselves. Then an officer reading some files and then putting them aside, then she made sure no one was looking at her and turned on her computer. Upgrade arched his eye as he saw that woman sighing in love with a monster on the screen, he identified it as a vampire but chose not to question it and continued moving forward. Finally, he came upon an interrogation where two agents were questioning what he deduced was a person with a serious pallor problem.
"Confess, you did it!" demanded the first agent.
"Guaaah..." responded the defendant.
"What did he say?"
"Sorry, I don't speak zombie." Replied the second officer. "Really this guy is the criminal mastermind? He barely and has motor skills."
"That's what he wants you to believe!"
"Have you been drinking coffee to excess again?"
"Maybe..."
Upgrade arched his eye at such a strange scene, but played it down and continued.
After a few minutes, he finally reached the warehouse and slipped through the roof, once again modifying the ICoffin and adding four extra limbs, which were magnetized and attached to the metal of the rafters.
From the top, he could see some agents, they were in a corner where there was a table with a coffee machine.
"What do you think that thing is?" questioned one, a middle-aged man with gray hair. "It doesn't look like a plane." Upgrade listened to them carefully, saw that these two were looking in the direction of an object covered by a black tarp and standing next to a car they possibly impounded.
"I don't get paid to question what it is, I get paid to commandeer cars and bring them here, I mean, look at that one." The second officer, another wheat-skinned, black-haired man, pointed to the vehicle standing there. "That Camaro I commandeered with Charlie, some fools were playing fast and furious on the north exit of town."
"Charlie? Is he a rookie?"
"He actually has about ten years of experience, he was my first partner. He works at the New Salem police station."
"It's a monster?" questioned with some annoyance the first one. Upgrade upon hearing that stopped and redirected his attention to them. He noticed that the older one's expression had changed to one of anger. "I still can't believe they let those guys carry guns."
"Come on old man, they're not that bad, Charlie is great, but he has too much hair and a very bad habit of sticking his head out the window, that caused us some problems at first, but now, he even invited me to meet his kids." The second one's comment came accompanied by a joking tone, joking but respectful, his partner rolled his eyes, something the second policeman didn't like. "We are in the twenty-first century, you should adapt to the new world."
"You're starting to sound like my granddaughter. The kid is always on her laptop and phone, she's wasting time, not to mention now with this social media and monster stuff."
"RADs." Corrected the younger one. "Calling them monsters is offensive."
"The monsters." The older repeated the same word but remarking each syllable. "They are dangerous, I saw a gargoyle bend the bars of a cell."
"And then you wonder why they call you the grumpy old man."
Upgrade arched his eye, that conversation gave him some information, but nothing relatively important, so he continued in the direction of the ship and dropped down.
The impact of their mechanical legs against the ground caused an audible sound, which caused both policemen to put aside their conversation and search with their eyes for the origin of the sound. They looked at each other and with a gesture, the older of them pointed to one side and then the other, and his partner nodded.
Upgrade peeked behind one of the wheels of the car next to the ship, he could see that both agents were moving, alerted by the sound he made. His plan to get in and out inconspicuously was starting to go awry. His gaze then shifted to the ship, this one was hidden behind the black tarp, so, if he merged with it now, he could repair it and get the hell out. The problem was the missing parts, he had no way to activate flight mode or civilian cloaking mode, he remembered the lousy state it was in, missing parts, the bodywork unusable, and no doubt the tires would be shredded. As a mechamorph, he could temporarily replace the parts and hold the others together, but when he separated from the vehicle, everything would fall apart.
His attention then turned to the impounded car that was his cover. It was a classic car, it looked quite similar to his best friend's before he got another one. His computerized mind began to analyze the structure of the vehicle unconsciously, the 3D model popped into his head and he began to shop the plans he got from the Proto Truck with that car. Then a somewhat questionable idea occurred to him.
"I hope no one comes to claim this car." He thought as he stepped back and began to execute his new plan.
After several minutes of searching, the two policemen had not found the source of the sound, so they headed back to its origin.
"Maybe it was a rat, we should call an exterminator." Commented the younger one.
"If it's another teenage ghost I'll call an exorcist." Growled the eldest in annoyance. "I'm sick of having to put up with those supernatural brats."
"Hey calm down old man, you're going to have a stroke."
They returned to their original place and the older man poured himself a cup of coffee. Neither noticed a small black and green object moving across the floor to position itself under the table.
Upgrade looked at the legs of both police officers. He needed to get rid of both of them so they wouldn't alert the entire police station and while that action might label him as a criminal, there didn't seem to be any other options.
"If mom and dad find out about this they're going to kill me." He thought as he extended the ICoffin's mechanical legs and lifted himself towards the table, then touched it and a part of his body began to pierce the metal in the direction of the coffee machine.
In the meantime, both officers returned to their talk.
"And what do the children of that monster look like? Are they like dogs or something?"
"That was very racist, just because they're werewolves doesn't mean they're fucking wolves."
"And how they look?" the younger one was silent, which made the older one arch an eyebrow. "Well?"
"Okay, fine, yeah they're a little wolfish, but they're adorable and..." the officer turned to pour himself another cup of coffee, only to find himself face to face with the coffee maker, who was pointing what appeared to be a Taser gun at him. "What the fuck."
Before he or his partner could react, the electrical discharge was effected, leaving both officers unconscious on the ground. Upgrade wasted no time and retrieved his fragment by separating in the process from Cleo's ICoffin and picking it up.
He then took one of the chairs and used it to lock the door that gave access to the place in case someone came and headed for the proto truck.
He removed the cover that kept the ship hidden and his eye scanned the entire structure, the damage was even greater than he had imagined.
"Okay, let's do this." His body turned to jelly and he lunged towards the wreckage, starting to reassemble whatever he could, then several tendrils darted towards the car next to the ship and pulled it, thus starting to take apart piece by piece and recycle them to repair the proto truck.
In the camera room. An officer was reading the latest issue of a sports magazine, his interest in doing his job was almost nil, after all, what kind of idiot would go into a police station to steal it? His job was boring because of this.
He let out a deep yawn and got up to go get a coffee. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement in the camera in the storage area but thought nothing of it.
He was about to leave the camera room when he froze and quickly returned to the screens.
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw two of his companions lying unconscious on the ground and without wasting time he sounded the alarm.
The sound of accelerated footsteps in his direction alerted Upgrade. He managed to restore much of the ship using the parts from that car, but it wasn't enough to return the ship to its former glory, he couldn't even switch to civilian mode, if he separated from the vehicle, the parts would fall like useless scrap.
"The door is jammed! Quick! Go around the other side!" he heard someone say.
The police officers rushed to the outside of the building, the only existing exit from the warehouse area was an entrance covered by a louvered gate made of not very sturdy metal. If the mysterious invader wished to leave, that would be the only way he could go.
The police gathered there, a group of more than twelve people covered the area, the warehouse was about fifteen meters from the street and there was a toll booth there, where an officer was in charge of verifying who entered and left.
The sound of an engine could be heard, like the growl of a wild animal, followed by the sound of a vehicle's tires spinning against the ground.
From one second to the next, a black pickup truck with green lines crashed through the warehouse gate. The thin metal gate did little or nothing to stop the vehicle, which tore through it as if it were paper and out into the street.
The agents were surprised by the risky decision made by the thief.
"Stop wasting time! Go get the patrols!" shouted a senior officer.
The police rushed to deploy, the city was large and the mysterious thief was ahead of them. Five patrol cars went in pursuit of the thief, while several officers entered the warehouse area to investigate what was stolen. They came upon a rather impressive scene. The mysterious ship they were guarding had completely disappeared, while the impounded car they had there was now nothing more than a large piece of scrap metal. Everyone was shocked by this and wondered what had happened there.
A black vehicle with green lines similar to an SUV was driving at speed through the streets of Salem. Its driver was nonexistent, or, rather, the driver and the vehicle were one in those moments.
What was once the proto-truck was now a high-tech truck. The body was shaking as if the physical structure was constantly being reassembled. This was because Upgrade could not fully repair the proto truck and the parts he "borrowed" from the other car were not compatible, so he had to be modifying and reassembling them almost constantly.
Streets and buildings passed like blurry blobs around him, along with the pedestrians and other drivers he encountered. It was like riding a roller coaster. Of course, if this the roller coaster was moving at one hundred and eighty kilometers per hour in the middle of a city.
The sound of the horns of other vehicles driving down the street could be heard, while Upgrade used all his concentration and skills as a driver and pilot to avoid causing a car accident. He was confident enough to take that kind of risk, besides, some action never hurt, he could only hope it wasn't that kind of action that would antagonize him. He was just taking back what was his, though.
The gearshift lever moved at the same time that the clutch and accelerator alternated with each other, changing the vehicle's gear. Upgrade's unfamiliarity with the roads worked against him, which caused him to enter an oncoming street, and if it weren't for the fact that he was attached to the truck, he would have caused an accident.
Modifying the turning range of the tires allowed the truck to recover after avoiding the cars and he continued to accelerate. With each passing moment, he became more and more lost in the unfamiliar city.
The sound of the sirens of a patrol car reached his sound receptors, he couldn't help but curse in his mind, despite the fact that he already knew they would chase him, he hoped they would take a little longer.
The four-wheeled beast accelerated, even more, beginning to gain ground on the following patrol car. The policemen inside it were with an expression of complete seriousness, some of the standard actions, such as taking the license plate, were useless, that vehicle had no such thing and, in addition, according to the registry, in the warehouse there was only a Camaro and the remains of that strange ship, where did that truck come from?
The truck's tires suddenly stopped at an intersection, causing it to make a 90-degree turn and thus avoiding a second patrol car that joined the chase. The skill displayed by the driver of the mystery vehicle began to amaze the police officers following him, it was like watching a professional driver but even they would have trouble performing such unnatural maneuvers.
Upgrade began to assess his situation. He was at a disadvantage. The city and its streets were unknown to him, but he was not going to give up, he still had some cards up his sleeve, like modifying the truck once and flying out of the place, but this could only translate to having the air force after his alien ass and that was even worse than being hunted by simple cops.
"Attention driver of a stolen vehicle, stop now!" Upgrade sped up even more when he heard that voice come over the speakers of one of the patrol cars.
"Looks like I got all six stars." Commented the alien. Despite the dire situation, he remained in good humor and faced it with his jokes as he was wont to do. "This is missing some music and it would be a movie chase." He accelerated again, the engine being part of a high-tech spacecraft allowed him to easily gain distance, but it was only a matter of time before he was caught.
His mind began to work, the nanites that coated the proto truck began to alter the vehicle once again as they disposed of the parts that were no longer useful. The pursuing patrol cars began to maneuver to avoid the scrap metal being thrown at them.
"He's heading to New Salem! Warn the others! " ordered one of the officers in pursuit of his partner.
"Attention, units seven and nine in pursuit of a suspect vehicle proceeding at high speed in the direction of New Salem, immediate backup requested, suspect is advised to be engaging in very reckless driving. Repeat."
The shrill roar of the proto-truck's engine could be heard for several seconds before it even appeared in the field of vision of the monsters on the street at that moment.
Those with sensitive hearing turned in the direction of the source of the sound, wondering what was happening.
Passersby crossing the street put on horrified expressions and jumped back onto the sidewalk as they saw a black SUV speeding towards them and followed by five patrol cars.
Upgrade grunted as he felt a patrol car hit him in the rear bumper. He was starting to get tired of how insistent these guys were, so he applied the hand brake. The tires stopped spinning and the vehicle skidded, which caused some patrol cars to pass him and the one behind him was forced to brake to avoid the collision. What the police officers could not imagine was that this was the alien's plan.
Being able to control the entire vehicle just by thinking allowed him to perform many actions, driving, upgrading, and adapting were simple things for mechamorphs.
The wheels began to spin almost instantly and the handlebars turned all the way to the right. The black and green vehicle accelerated once more, changing lanes and turning a corner.
Those seconds gave him a chance to get some distance and start planning a way to disappear. He had the pieces necessary to change the appearance of the truck, he just needed no one to be able to see him when he did it.
Upgrade's eye detected that nearby was a large space filled with vehicles, the attached parking lot of a purple building with a glass dome on top. The number of vehicles present there was enough for him to momentarily conceal himself and change the proto-truck's appearance to something more inconspicuous.
In a risky turn, the four tires skidded on the asphalt and made a 180-degree turn, the policemen, who barely managed to catch up with him, lacking driving skills comparable to those of the alien was forced to step on the brakes and greatly reduce their speed to then retake the road and follow him. In that lapse of time, Upgrade entered the sea of concrete and vehicles that was the parking lot, barely crossed next to a van that covered it completely, began to drop the useless pieces and changed its camouflage.
"Attention all units, suspect entered the New Salem Maul parking area, we need you to lock down all exits."
The patrol cars entered the parking lot, some policemen got out and split up to cover more ground, all of them looking for a black SUV with green lines. But as if it were a ghost, it had disappeared into thin air.
The sheriff of the city was not happy with this result and, in addition, some monsters began to surround the area, he was curious as to why there were so many human policemen in his part of the city. The man gave orders to his subordinates to continue searching, it was impossible for such a large van to have disappeared into thin air.
It was then that the sound of an engine caught his attention and he turned his face. He saw that a black car in its entirety, except for the front bumper and two lines that ran along the upper part of the body which was green, the vehicle was coming out of a parking lot. Despite sharing characteristics with the van they were looking for, it was completely different from it. He was able to identify it as a classic car, maybe from '69, it was a Chevrolet Camaro and did not have a license plate, he also noticed that the entire body had many modifications, but it was not something he cared about.
He drove past him at a very slow speed, it was clear that he did not want to be stopped by the police. The driver's side window was down and he could see that behind the wheel of that muscle car was a young human with brown hair and green eyes. He looked at him and for some reason smiled at him. It was a smug smile. The sheriff dismissed this as just a brat who liked to show off his car and let him go, he still had to find that truck.
He took one last look at the departing vehicle and could hear its speakers begin to blare at maximum volume.
Post my face, wanted dead or alive
Take my license, all that jive
I can't drive fifty-five!
"Sir!" A police officer approached the Sheriff, in his hands, he was holding an orange piece of metal. "We found some pieces next to some cars, but no sign of the truck or the thief."
As they left the parking lot, the "boy" inside the car began to become transparent and undulate, as if it were a hologram that was malfunctioning, and finally disappeared, the window was raised thus preventing any curious person from seeing that this car was driving itself, and it did not take long for it to drive away from the place..
A day had passed since the chase occurred in the city. The news channels gave the official police report and everything was gradually forgotten. Except on the internet. The videos that were recovered from security cameras or cell phones raised a lot of buzzes, some even managed to go viral, the initial excitement would take a little longer to fade.
On the other hand, some conspiracy nuts pointed out that the police station that was robbed was the same one where they had taken that "top secret test ship" and began to say that there was a connection behind it.
The forums of many pages became a hotbed. Some took advantage of this to create more news. And the popularity of the Ghostly Gossip website was skyrocketing. The person behind it had posted a first glimpse of the mysterious craft and everyone wanted more.
But this had little and nothing to do with Frankie.
Frankenstein's young monster was currently at her school. Monster High. In a high school that had a motto that accepted everyone equally, monsters of all species were welcome. Even humans were accepted, but there was only one.
The last class period was soon to come to an end and she was doing her best not to fall asleep.
After the events of Upgrade, she and her friends had quickly escaped from the site and returned to "New Salem". None of them could believe all the chaos that a single entity could unleash and they were no longer sure what to think. Upgrade had disappeared, but not before causing chaos and chaos in the streets. The cops were still canvassing the city in case anyone saw the mysterious van. Finally, the four of them made a pact not to talk about it again and forget about what happened.
While this might be a simple thing for people like Cleo, who had that innate ability to lie, for the mummy it was almost as normal as breathing.
Frankie, on the other hand, had a harder time. She couldn't stop thinking about the alien. She felt responsible. She was the one who wanted to help him, it was all her fault.
Although it was not the actual case. It was what Frankie felt.
This deprived her of a night's sleep and that early in the morning, Clawdeen said that a mysterious black car with tinted windows and no license plate was following her all the way to school didn't help at all. Much less than the werewolf woman implanted the idea of men in black in her. Frankie didn't want her memory erased.
She looked straight ahead, her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier and it didn't help at all that everyone in the room, including the teacher, who was a bald, big-nosed human, was completely asleep.
Fortunately for her, the bell signaling the end of classes rang and she was able to leave the classroom.
She walked quickly through the halls of the school, many students, all of them young monsters of different, were gathering their things from their lockers, talking to their friends about their vacation plans or heading towards the exit of the school, which seemed to be with a very high confluence of students.
Frankie finally managed to find Clawdeen and Draculaura. Both girls were removing some things from their lockers. As classes were ending, they had to collect all their things.
After sharing a greeting, the girls began to chat about trivia. The subject of Upgrade was buried by the four of them and, although Frankie was still brooding about it, it did not come up.
"And to keep up with everything, I started following this page." Draculaura showed her friends the screen of her ICoffin, the Ghostly Gossip was there, since the chase, there were no other important updates, other than gossip and sketchy stuff about some sightings of the acclaimed Men in Black. "This way I won't miss any gossip! Oh look it just updated... Lagoona and Gil love will survive the summer? Oh my Ghoul, this is intense!"
"Great, the next update that will appear there will be about my "Clawdeen Wolf, future fashion designer mysteriously disappears!" What do you think of the headline?" the werewolf woman asked with a mixture of amusement and sarcasm. Her vampire friend rolled her eyes at that and shot her an annoyed look. "Hey, don't give me that look, I'm just saying, it's what happens in kidnapping movies. First, a mystery car shows up and then, the beautiful, charismatic girl gets kidnapped."
"Only we're not in a movie and that's a very serious issue." Frankie chided. "Are you sure it wasn't just a car driving by and that's it?"
"Uhm...let me remember that." Frankie put on a blank expression as she saw her friend bring a hand to her chin and put on a thoughtful expression. "Black car, no license plate, tinted windows and that my instincts were screaming at me that I was being watched, I would think it wasn't just a car. I just hope it wasn't the government following us for the you-know-what."
"Do you think they would do something like that?" asked Frankie, she was skeptical, but she wasn't going to rule out the possibility.
"I'd rather think about that than think I have a stalker."
The possibility that this was the case made Frankie uncomfortable, she was aware that some people were not exactly good in the world and did horrible things, the thought that one of her friends could be in danger worried her.
The topic of conversation changed, moving on to more mundane and normal things. The plans for the vacations, the gatherings of friends they would make, or the parties they would go to. Little by little the awkwardness gave way to a more pleasant atmosphere and continued like that until a notification arrived at Draculaura's ICoffin. The girl wasted no time in checking it, finding that Ghostly Gossip had just received an update.
Attention, Monster High students! You're not looking at all bad, a mysterious car has parked outside our school! Has summer passion stirred Romeo's hormones and come looking for his Juliet to run away together?
The introduction was exaggerated and very strange, but for Draculaura, it was a new piece of gossip, and she wasn't about to leave her friends in the dark.
"Girls! Look at this! A car parked in the driveway! Let's check it out!" the girl showed her two friends the screen of the device, there you could see, apart from the text, a picture of a black and green car. A car that Clawdeen recognized.
"Oh god, that's the car." The werewolf woman's voice showed her astonishment, disbelief, and discomfort. This took her friends by surprise, all of whom looked carefully at the picture of the vehicle. "It came looking for me!? I'm going to call the police."
"Clawdeen, we still don't know who is, maybe is just here by chance." Frankie tried to reason with Clawdeen, but the werewolf woman wasn't listening to reason.
"Look, uploaded another picture." The three girls once again turned their attention to the ICoffin. The person behind the Ghostly Gossip had updated the news, the strange vehicle had a driver, a brown-haired human was inside. The boy was quite young, perhaps two years older than Clawdeen. Clawdeen, who was less than happy about this.
"Great, my stalker is a human." The werewolf woman's shoulders slumped listlessly as if that news drained her of all energy. "Although if he has that car maybe he's rich."
Her friends shared a disappointed look and returned their attention to the photo. Frankie was curious about the mysterious driver, she found him cute, he didn't look at all like the guys in her magazines, but he was okay. He was maybe a seven.
"Let's go and see what he wants, if he tries anything, I'll kick his ass." Clawdeen started walking in the direction of the school exit and without waiting for her friends.
"Clawdeen, we don't even know if he's here for you, don't do anything foolish! Clawdeen!" her two friends followed her.
Outside the school, a large number of students gathered around the black and green car. The windows were up again and there appeared to be no sign of the driver in the vicinity, leaving many to wonder if he had even entered the school.
News of the Ghostly Gossip spread like wildfire and more and more students flocked to the site. The car was cool and attracted attention, that a human was the driver did too, but that it was there, raised curiosity to a new level.
Many wondered what could be going on. Except for Cleo.
The mummy was standing next to a boy who possessed green snakes instead of hair. The young man was tall and muscular, wearing a rather casual outfit, a vest over a red sleeveless t-shirt, and black jeans. To finish off his look, a pair of red-rimmed sunglasses were covering his eyes.
"I'd kill for one like that." Commented the boy as he admired the car. His face was reflected in the metal of the bodywork, which appeared to be polished to almost mirror-like. "Who do you think owns it?"
"Deuce, it's just a car." Cleo reproached, she couldn't understand why her boyfriend was so fascinated with that old vehicle. "There are better ones in Europe."
"Cleo, it's a classic car, it's almost collector's item." He replied, but his girlfriend just rolled her eyes. The boy walked over to the window and tried to look inside, he didn't manage to see much.
At that moment, Clawdeen, Frankie, and Draculaura arrived on the scene. The werewolf woman was frowning, the sight of the black car made her uncomfortable, but she was not going to be intimidated.
Frankie wanted to stop her, but as Clawdeen approached the vehicle, the passenger door opened, revealing that no one was inside.
Some began to murmur and the wolf woman peeked out curiously. A strange smell filled her nostrils, a metallic scent that was familiar to her for some reason. Deuce took advantage of this to lean out next to her and look inside. The entire vehicle appeared to be modified, even the steering wheel featured a unique adornment, a strange dial planned with an hourglass symbol.
The glove compartment suddenly opened, taking both of them by surprise, who recoiled, thinking they had done something. A folded leaf fell from the place and landed on the seat.
Driven by curiosity. Deuce walked over once more and picked up the piece of paper and opened it. He discovered that it was a note and read it aloud.
"To Frankie Stein. Thank you for helping me. I hope you like my gift. Sincerely yours... Your special friend?"
All eyes jumped from the mystery vehicle to the young Frankenstein's monster girl.
Frankie looked everywhere. All eyes were on her. Her three best friends watched her with confused and amazing expressions. Deuce looked at her with a mixture of envy and amazement and finally, an ICoffin being held by a spectral hand that emerged from a gargoyle took a picture of both her and the car and then disappeared.
Frankie's brain tried to process what he had just heard but only succeeded in causing her bolts to start sparking.
"What!?" shouted everyone present.
XXX
Hi guys, how are you? Chapter 3 served! Sorry for the small delay, my health was deteriorated after getting the second dose of the Covid vaccine and had me bedridden for two days. but I'm better now!
Anyway, in this chapter, as you may notice, I included things that were shown in many later chapters of the original version, such as describing the Willamette Valley. My apologies to the Salemites... Salemans? Uh... you understand. My apologies if I didn't manage to capture the location correctly, I was looking for a lot of information about it and got lost for about three hours with the Street view, I found a cool coffee shop! Plus I'm still looking for the street where Jackson lives, it's supposed to be called Radcliffe Way and it looks like Frankie and Lagoona live on the same street. At least as far as the books are concerned.
And speaking of the books, the clothes the girls wear in this chapter are a mix of their usual attire and what's in the books. Except for Frankie, god forbid she wears wool, it's suffocating.
Anyway, before I go off the deep end, explanations.
First, in this version the monsters were a secret until the 2000's as you already read, I make this change so that things in the canon make sense and so that there is more friction between humans and monsters, not all monsters are out in the open, some pretend to be humans to avoid problems, as you could see that our protagonists did. I clarify, Viktor and Viveka didn't have makeup in the previous chapter because they went to a place for monsters. And yes, it remains that they can sense other monsters, but it's more like a tingling, kind of like a spidey sense. And they are sensing Upgrade, but they don't understand why since they don't see it and don't think the ICoffin is the one giving off that sensation since it doesn't make sense to them.
With that plot hole closed, let's move on to something else.
This time I made Upgrade more practical when it comes to using his powers, he is a mechanical genius, he should be able to hack the pentagon without problems, so modifying the software of a phone to use it as his translator is not difficult. By the way, his voice would be that of SIRI. You could also say that the electromagnetic damage that damaged the Omnitrix also damaged Upgrade and that's why he doesn't speak English. No this is not a plot excuse... well maybe a little bit.
Continuing with Mr. Metal Slime. He's learning some things about the world and I decided that this time it will take him some time to follow the idea of helping them, this to make it more realistic, so that there is weight behind his actions and he is motivated by something and not just by the fact "I'm a hero it's my responsibility." By the way, yes, he still has his Omniverse personality, I like the cocky, overbearing Ben. But eventually, he will change, that remains.
Regarding their actions. Well... Believe it or not, they are not out of character. Ben is like that, if he's in trouble he improvises as he goes along, and for some reason, things work out for him. Using parts from an impounded car is not something he considers bad, he was in a bad situation and was pragmatic, we've seen him do worse.
The conversation between the two policemen is more important than it may seem at first glance, it gives an idea that many try to adapt, while others are more conservative... Am I still talking about my story? This suddenly became an allegory for reality.
Anyway, let's move on.
I took a chance with the chase scene, I wanted to do something different from the previous version, give the world the first taste of Ben Tennyson, a cause and effect that was eventually. The same for the Agents or the "men in black", Agent Smith will appear again, she is a secondary character that I got attached to for some reason, in fact, in this chapter she was going to have several scenes, but I ended up discarding them and will save them for later. She is a triple reference by the way.
The scene of the Sheriff bumping into "Ben", is a reference to Transformers, precisely to Barricade, yes, the Decepticon, and the song that Ben uses to taunt the Sheriff when he leaves, is called "I can't drive 55" and I feel it finishes off the scene perfectly. (It's also a reference to Bumblebee, sorry I'm such a fan.) This kind of thing will be repeated a lot, jokes with pop culture in between, both series do it. By the way, the car is a '69 Camaro SS, and, to no one's surprise, it's based on the first form that Bumblebee uses in the fourth movie. I'm a fan, sorry!
Regarding the differences between both realities, despite having similarities, I will be pointing out the differences, for example, that Monster High, Spider-man is Miles and not Peter. I think it gives a more marked difference to each reality.
Finally, we have that scene at the end, Upgrade was wandering around the city for a day trying to find his way to Frankie's house, but he doesn't know the streets and couldn't stop and ask and even though he still had Cleo's phone, he couldn't use the internet. When he ran into Clawdeen, he was following her to see where she was going, so he knows where Monster High is. And before anyone says it. Yeah, Spectra is going to fuck her up big time.
Before I leave, I want to know what you think of that "action" scene I was trying, testing, and experimenting to improve, I want criticism! Constructive of course, I want to improve.
I won't take up any more of your time, if you made it all the way down here, you are amazing.