MY HERO ACADEMIA DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. I TRIED TRAVELING THE MULTIVERSE LAST WEEK, BUT I COULDN'T EVEN GET PAST MINNESOTA.

It's time for the next round of the multiversal scavenger hunt!

My Alien Academia

Chapter 47

Crisis of Resolve

"Ben, get down!"

Ben, as Four Arms, turned what had been a headlong charge into a roll, just in time to avoid a claw that would have blindsided him. Before he could retaliate, a spinning wheel of water sliced the monster's arm off; it had already been badly burned, and that final injury was just enough to kill it.

"Thanks for the save, Korra!" he called out, even as he punched another monstrosity.

The current Avatar tried to laugh at how nonchalant he was, but they'd been fighting these things—monsters that made the worst spirits look like baby turtle-ducks—for days. She was exhausted, everyone was, but they had no choice but to keep fighting.

Most of Republic City had been destroyed, and no one was willing to give up the rest.

"You know, this is almost normal for me," Ben said, and then turned into Heatblast; he blasted one abomination with fire from one hand, and then tossed more to Korra with his other to boost her firebending.

"The entire world is coming to an end, how is this normal!?"

Ben shrugged. "That happened at least every other month back home. Just roll with it, and you won't get grey hair before you're twenty."

This time, Korra's laugh was more genuine. "Yeah, or I'd be bald, like Tenzin."

"I'm shaven, and you darn well know that!" Korra's airbending teacher shouted indignantly.

There was a collective flinch from the defenders as the wound in the sky tore open further, and more monsters fell towards them. This time, it looked like several thousand—the worst wave yet.

"We're not getting out of this, are we?" Korra asked, oddly serene in the face of certain death.

Ben sighed. "Not without a miracle. We just have to hold out until then."

Korra nodded wearily; then her eyes began to glow with the power of the Avatar State. "Then we fight, and we hope. Let's do this."

Jen and Kevin didn't so much 'arrive' at their destination as they splashed into it. Kevin in particular landed face-first into the saltwater; he coughed and spluttered as he got to his feet.

"Well, that sucked," he complained.

"Could have been worse," Jen said, even as she shook water out of her hair. "It could have been deeper than six inches, and you would have drowned."

Kevin gave her the flattest stare in history, relative to several universes. "Tell me you didn't just tempt fate."

Jen sighed. "Yeah, okay, when things go wrong, you can blame me."

"I already am." Kevin pointed to the crack in the sky; he knew from experience that it was only a matter of time before Vilgax's army poured into this universe. "Does your Ben ever do stuff like that?"

"Mom says he doesn't do it as much as he used to, but Dad's about thirty years older than your Ben, so he's had time to learn."

Kevin laughed. "And it only took him thirty years. Good for him. Hey, is he still wearing that jacket?"

"I think he gets a new one every five years, but he's got the original in a box somewhere in the attic."

"Of course he does."

"Hey, it was a gift, of course he held onto it!"

"Right." Kevin looked around, and raised an eyebrow. "Three guesses where we're supposed to go, and the first two don't count."

The duo had landed in front of a large city, ringed by massive walls; the entire city was decorated with coral, shells, and statues of sea life and amphibians.

"This place is kinda cool," Jen said. "Reminds me of Atlantis, but it isn't underwater… just soggy."

Kevin blinked. "Atlantis is real?"

"On my Earth, yeah; I commuted there for a while when I was dating Aquagirl."

"I thought you were dating someone named Bonfire."

"Now I'm dating Bonfire. Aquagirl got married six months ago to Lagoon Boy."

Kevin rubbed his eyes. "I feel like I need to start writing all these names down."

"Don't worry about it too much; if we pull this off, you can go home and pretend none of this ever happened."

"Will that work?"

"Probably not, so I suggest looking up a good therapist." Jen started walking to the gate of the city. "Come on, let's get this done before the world ends."

It took longer than Kevin would have liked to walk to the city's entrance, simply because the water and silt kept pulling at his feet, but he managed to make it without losing more of his dignity. Jen drew back one fist, and banged on the gate with the force of an unenthusiastic battering ram.

"Am I wrong to hope we don't run into a bunch of fish-people?" Kevin asked.

"Hey, I happen to know several fish-people, and only two of them ever tried to kill me," Jen said. "By Tennyson reckoning, that's an all-time record."

"I'd say you were joking, but I know you're right." Kevin heard something rumble. "I think the door's opening."

Sure enough, the massive door slowly opened, and a hooded figure stepped out, their features hidden by a long cloak.

"Greetings, visitors," the person said, "to New—wait a second, you're human!"

Kevin and Jen both jumped a little when the figure threw back her hood, revealing a human girl that couldn't have been older than thirteen. Her black hair was cut short, and her grin threatened to split her face.

"This is awesome!" the girl shouted, and held out her hand. "I thought only my friends and I had been transported to Amphibia! Hi, I'm Marcy Wu! Does this mean there are other ways to get from Earth to here? Did you find another magic music box? Hey, have you found my friends? We've been separated for months."

"Er…" Jen floundered for a moment, even as she shook Marcy's hand. "I honestly don't know if I can answer all of those questions. To keep it short, we were sent here from another universe to deal with… that."

Marcy followed Jen's pointing finger to the crack in the sky. "Oh, yeah, a lot of folks were getting nervous about that." She looked Jen up and down. "Cool outfit, are you a superhero?"

"Actually, yeah." Jen smiled. "People call me Ultragirl."

Impossibly, Marcy's smile grew wider. "That is so cool! I thought this would be a cool fantasy roleplaying setting, but now we've got a whole multiverse that includes superheroes? That's awesome! Hey, is that guy a superhero too?"

Jen smirked at Kevin. "Nah, he's a part-timer at best." She gestured to the city. "Anyway, we have a mission?"

Marcy slapped her forehead. "Right, sorry, got excited. Come on, I can introduce you to King Andrias; if anyone can help you, he can."

"Hey, that's perfect," Kevin interjected. "We were told to find a king to help us."

Marcy grinned. "Oh, then you met the right girl! I just so happen to be a ranger in the Newtopian Guard, and a personal friend to the king. Not to brag, but I can get you a meeting without all the courtly proceedings."

"Yeah, we don't really have time for that." Jen looked up when the crack in the sky got just a little bit bigger.

"Then let's get this show on the road!" Marcy led them into the city at a brisk jog. "Welcome to the world of Amphibia, and the city of Newtopia!"

Jen quickly followed after her, but Kevin lagged behind so that he could empty the water from his shoes.

"Nice place," he commented, and blinked when he saw the humanoid newts walking the streets. "Okay, I kinda figured from the name, but this is a little weird."

Jen raised an eyebrow. "I know the kinds of aliens you met, Kevin; giant newts shouldn't be too surprising."

Marcy gasped. "Aliens!? You mean you've been to outer space!?"

"Well, yeah," Jen admitted. "Actually, we're both half-alien. My mom's a Kryptonian."

"And my dad was an Osmosian," Kevin added.

Marcy's jaw dropped. "This is the coolest day of my life!"

Jen kept Marcy busy by answering her rapid-fire questions, while Kevin kept a wary eye on their surroundings. As much as he regretted how he'd obtained them, his skills as a criminal helped him plot out the best ways to escape, should things go wrong. So far, things seemed relatively easy, but Kevin had learned early on to never take things at face value.

Marcy guided them to the palace at the center of Newtopia. Kevin wasn't surprised to see that every single door was huge; no matter the universe, palaces always seemed to have gigantic doors. What did surprise him was the small number of people he saw as Marcy led them inside; there were guards, in heavy armor and holding halberds, but only a handful of hooded newts going about their business.

"So, is something going on?" Kevin asked. "I kinda figured that a palace would be busier."

"Actually, today is busy," Marcy said. "Most of the advisors are in the libraries, trying to figure out what's going on. Still, the palace is usually on the empty side. King Andrias sends people all over Amphibia to fix whatever problems come up, and there are a lot of problems, like the giant snakes that try to eat people."

Jen considered that. "Okay, yeah, that sounds like something that would keep a government busy."

"I know, right?" Marcy grinned. "At least it's always exciting, like an MMORPG with new content every week!"

"I, uh, wouldn't know," Jen admitted. "My life is already crazier than any game."

Marcy laughed. "Yeah, superhero stuff, I get it." She turned a corner and stopped. "Okay, here we are! The throne room is just past this door." Marcy waved at the two armored newt guards, who pushed the door open. "All right, let's get this show on the road!"

Jen and Kevin were about to follow her, when Marcy abruptly tripped on nothing and fell face-first into the floor. Neither of the guards reacted with surprise, and the way Marcy quickly brushed herself off suggested she did that often.

"How has this kid survived this long?" Kevin whispered.

"I'm guessing she needs constant supervision," Jen whispered back.

Marcy led the way into the throne room, where a giant of a newt, easily twenty feet tall, sat on his throne. He had blue skin and a grey beard, with purple armor over most of his body; on top of his head was a crown that looked to be made of coral.

"Living crown," Jen muttered.

"Looks like we've found it," Kevin said quietly, "but how do we get it from him?"

"King Andrias!" Marcy bowed. "May I introduce Jen and Kevin; they might be able to help us with that big crack in the sky."

The enormous newt rose from his throne and stepped towards them; each footstep shook the room. He loomed over them, his face impassive… and then leaned in close with a cheerful grin.

"Hello there!" he boomed, his deep voice rattling even Jen's bones. "I can't say I was expecting more humans today, but I suppose with everything going on, I should expect the unexpected!"

Marcy started bouncing on her toes. "King Andrias, these guys are from Earth, but not the one I'm from! How cool is that?"

Andrias leaned back and put his hands on his hips. "Just like that multiverse thing you talked about, right? Now, that's interesting!" He locked eyes with Jen. "I'd love to be more hospitable, but that weird thing in the sky is causing more than a little worry. Is Marcy right, and you know what's going on?"

"Actually, we're working on that with a few other people," Jen said. "To keep things short and sweet, an old enemy of my dad's broke out of his prison, gained a scary amount of power, and is trying to destroy the entire multiverse."

Andrias blinked. "That sounds… not good."

"It really isn't." Jen gave her best smile. "But we think we know how to stop it. We've got teams going to different universes, looking for artifacts that we can use to stop the bad guy and undo all the damage."

"And you think one of those artifacts is here, on Amphibia?" Andrias stroked his beard thoughtfully. "My ancestors did dabble in exploring other worlds, though that method has since become lost to us, but it's possible they brought back something without knowing its true worth." He tilted his head. "Do you have any idea what you're looking for?"

"An emperor's mask, but some of our friends are already getting that one, something called 'time unbound', and a living crown." Jen stared pointedly at Andrias' head. "We were sent here for that last one."

Andrias raised an eyebrow. "I see."

The first breath Midoriya took sent him into a coughing fit; the air was dirty and stale, like the entire planet was dead. Then again, going by the ruins and smog everywhere, maybe it was. It also didn't help that there were skeletons everywhere; more than a few still wore bulky armor and carried oversized weapons, as if they had died fighting.

"I told you it was hyper-industrialized," Luthor chided. "You should have transformed into something with more durable lungs."

Midoriya glared at him. "You don't have anything keeping this stuff out, how come you aren't choking?"

Luthor smirked and tapped at his head; instead of touching his face, his finger stopped an inch away. "I have a shield around my head that filters out anything harmful."

"And I bet it stops you from getting punched in the face," Julie commented, safely within her own armor.

"Indeed, much to Ultragirl's disappointment."

Julie patted Midoriya on the back when he coughed again. "Maybe you should transform."

"Maybe, but I only have an hour to stay as an alien," Midoriya said. "I might need to make every minute count."

Julie frowned. "Hang on, let me try something."

A portion of her shoulder disassembled and reassembled into a rectangular shape, with a tube extending from one side. On the other end of the tube was a facemask.

"Put that on," Julie said. "My armor is recycling my air, but I built that to do the same for you."

Midoriya hesitated, then put on the mask when he felt another cough building up. After a few deep breaths, he felt clean air passing through his lungs.

"Just don't go too far away," Julie added. "I can't stretch the machine very far."

"If I do, I'll just transform," Midoriya promised, his voice muffled.

"Now that that's settled, we should be on our way." Luthor headed towards a distant building, the only one that had lights on.

"What happened here?" Midoriya asked, if only because the dead silence was unnerving.

"I didn't study this world very much," Luthor admitted. "It was dead, and its technology wasn't that much different from my world's—in some areas, it was far more primitive. What I did learn was that this world was named Sera, not Earth, and its human inhabitants often went to war—first with each other, and then some other species that attacked them. That last one ended in their mutual destruction."

"Sounds like you studied it more than a little," Julie observed.

Luthor scoffed. "There was nobody left to stop my probe from downloading history files off their computers. I read a brief overview, and didn't go further. I only spouted that much because I have a photographic memory."

Julie flinched, and Midoriya looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"Ben had a photographic memory," she said quietly. "He was bragging about it a few hours before… before everything went wrong."

"Then I pity him," Luthor said gruffly. "Being able to relive the worst moments of your life with perfect clarity is not a quality to be desired."

"Something you're familiar with?" Julie asked.

"Yes, but it wasn't until recently that I was troubled by my past actions." Luthor actually looked shamefaced for a moment. "It's hard to justify causing so much suffering when you have nothing to show for it. The few times I came close to getting what I wanted, I ended up losing it in the end."

"And that's why you agreed to help us?" Midoriya raised an eyebrow. "A guilty conscience?"

Luthor chuckled. "Nothing so bland. I'm known across my Earth for terrible things, and I'll be executed for my crimes. If I'm going to be remembered for the harm I caused, then I should also be remembered for the time I saved the entire multiverse. That's my best revenge against the people determined to see me vilified for all time."

"Ah, so this is all for your image." Julie shook her head. "I think I'm starting to see why Jen hates you so much."

"Oh, that's because I killed her brother," Luthor dismissed. "She really needs to get over that."

Julie glowered, and her arms morphed into cannons. Luthor responded with a pair of cannons that curved over his shoulders.

"Okay, enough!" Midoriya glared at them. "We need to focus on this mission, and you two aren't helping! This needs to be done fast—we go in, see how much damage we can do to slow Vilgax's operations, and then we leave. We can't do that if everything either of you says starts a fight."

Luthor sneered, but backed down first. "Very well, boy. You lead the way."

Midoriya would have, but he was still connected to Julie's armor, and she was still glaring at the old man. "Julie, we need to go. If we don't pull this off, we might not have a multiverse to restore, and that means we can't bring back your Earth."

He hated manipulating Julie like that, but he needed to keep everyone focused. Half the team was only willing to fight because they were still looking for a way to save their loved ones. If Midoriya couldn't keep them in line, none of them would have families to get back to.

"All right," Julie said quietly. "Let's get this done."

The entire time they'd been speaking, Kevin had been watching Andrias carefully. Years spent among hardened criminals—and being one himself—had made him aware of all the signs of a con artist. Andrias was lying about something, and he was doing a good job of hiding it—his interest in their cause seemed genuine, as did his desire to end the threat, but there was a calculating gleam in his eyes. Kevin recognized it from many of his former associates; whatever Andrias was doing, he was determined to be the one with the most to gain by the end of things.

But there was also a limit to what he would play along with.

"No." Gone was the jolly tone and curiosity; instead, there was a dark and threatening voice with glaring, bitter eyes. "There's a lot I'll do, but my crown is not something I'll part with."

Marcy was taken aback. "King Andrias, what if—"

"They may be from another world, but I know thieves when I see them." Andrias crossed his arms. "That crack in the sky might very well be an elaborate ruse, an illusion to help them trick us into doing what they want. Impressive, to be sure, but fooling an entire city to make off with a king's crown is just petty."

Kevin sighed. "So, you're not gonna hand it over."

"Not on your life, kid."

Jen pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, let the record show that we tried diplomacy, but we are now out of time." She pointed at Andrias. "Last chance. Hand over the fancy hat, or we take it by force."

Andrias sneered. "Are you threatening me, little girl?"

Jen raised an eyebrow, and then grew to several feet taller than Andrias. "Who's little now?"

Andrias responded with a wicked right hook to Jen's face; the strength of the blow was considerable, and shook the entire throne room. It also barely made Jen turn her head.

"Please tell me that's not all you've got," Jen said. "I didn't come all this way because I thought it would be easy."

Kevin started to move to help Jen—not that she seemed to need it—when he heard a click behind him. He turned, and saw Marcy aiming an arm-mounted crossbow at him.

"What are you doing?"

Marcy grimaced. "Look, I don't know what's really going on, but Andrias is my friend. He's wise and strong, and I trust him. Maybe he's overreacting, but I'm not going to let you take something important from him."

Kevin sighed. "You need better friends."

Marcy fired her crossbow, but Kevin ducked under the bolt and placed his hand on the stone floor; in a moment, he was covered in the same stone, just in time for another bolt to deflect off his head. He sighed again, and then charged at Marcy; she flinched and raised her arms to protect herself from Kevin's punch—

Clang!

—that did nothing but deflect off the armored gauntlet that blocked him. Standing between him and Marcy was a female newt with pink skin and blonde hair. Her silver armor was ornate, and decorated with medals, and her psychotic grin was unnerving for Kevin.

"Thanks for the save, General," Marcy said. "We need to beat these guys and help the king!"

"No problem, Marcy." The newt raised her hands, and a pair of hooked claws popped out of each vambrace. "Now, intruder, you face General Yunan! Scourge of the Sand Wars, defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, and the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the Newtopian army! Name yourself, so I know what to label your head after I put it on my wall!"

Kevin cracked his knuckles. "Kevin Levin."

Yunan blinked. "That's it? Come on, kid, I gave my own epic introduction and everything!"

"What do you want? I never even finished high school." Kevin's fists transformed into hammers. "Now come on. I don't have all day."

By then, Marcy had reloaded her crossbow, but the second bolt was as ineffective as the first. Yunan was fast, far faster than Kevin, and avoided his heavy swings; she slashed him across the chest, and her sharp claws sliced through his stone shell, but it managed to keep his skin from getting cut.

"Nice claws," Kevin said, and got in close so he could grab Yunan's wrist. "I hope that armor is just as good."

By the time Yunan figured out what he was talking about, Kevin had absorbed her armor. Now, he looked like a silver statue of himself.

"Oh, crud," Marcy breathed.

Kevin hurled Yunan across the throne room, but before he could get to Marcy, he was nearly crushed when Andrias landed next to him.

"Easy, Jen!" Kevin shouted.

"Hey, I missed, didn't I?" Jen shrank down to her normal size. "Just grab the crown and let's get the heck out of here."

Kevin reached for the king's head, but Marcy stood in front of him, arms outstretched. "Kid, you really need to get out of the way."

"I'm not going to let you rob the king of Amphibia!"

Jen sighed, and plucked off one of her earrings. "You don't have a choice. Sorry about this."

Jen flicked the earring at Marcy's feet, and the seed sprouted into large vines that quickly had Marcy trapped.

"One down," Jen said. "Take care of yours, and we'll go."

Kevin's eyes went wide. "Look—"

That was the only warning Jen had before Andrias smashed her aside with his tail. She flew into the opposite wall with enough force to shatter the stone. Andrias rose to his full height and drew what looked like the hilt of a sword.

"You really know how to annoy me, don't you?" With a flick of Andrias' wrist, the hilt sprouted a blade of orange energy. "But I haven't had a chance to use this thing in a long time, so I guess there really is a silver lining, huh?"

Kevin's hands transformed into curved blades. "I really hope the others are having a better time than we are."

"So, of all the worlds in the multiverse, why did Vilgax come here?" Julie asked.

Luthor shrugged. "From what I understand, he was extremely cautious after escaping the Phantom Zone, even with his power. This world was already dead, which meant no one was likely to look for him here, at least for a while, and this planet had enough materials lying around for him to get started on his plans. Stealing the materials, or building his own facilities from scratch, might have drawn unwanted attention, but it's far harder to detect the modification of such places that already exist."

"You say that like you've done this before," Midoriya said, his tone slightly accusatory.

Luthor raised an eyebrow at him. "I spent most of my life committing crimes and not getting caught. They'll be finding evidence years after I'm gone. Compared to me, Vilgax is as subtle as a drunken ox."

"That's not as endearing as you might think," Julie said.

"It wasn't meant to be; I can admit that I've done terrible things to achieve my goals, just as I can admit that I will do terrible things to save the multiverse."

"Um, guys?" Midoriya pointed. "The doors are opening."

The trio ducked behind the burned-out remains of a tank as the doors to the facility ground open. A skittering thing with too many joints and not enough muscle crawled out and began inspecting several human skeletons. It picked up a skull and rotated it in three hands, then tossed it away with a screech; it held up another skull, but this one was more to its liking, and it tucked it into a bag. Apparently satisfied, the creature began crawling back to the doorway.

"That guy seems to know where he's going," Julie commented. "Maybe we should follow him."

Midoriya nodded. "At least until we get through the door."

The three quickly but quietly followed after the creature, and managed to slip inside the facility before the doors closed. As soon as he was inside, Midoriya noticed a change in the atmosphere; the air felt cleaner before he even tried to breathe. He pulled off the breathing mask and inhaled deeply.

"It's a lot nicer in here," he whispered.

"I imagine so," Luthor said. "If you plan to create living creatures, even the abominations we've seen, you need a clean environment to get the desired results."

Julie shrugged. "Makes sense. Where do we go now?"

"I'll need access to a computer. If I can get into their systems, assuming Vilgax has a linked network, I should be able to find everything we need." Luthor raised an eyebrow. "After that, I assume it will be a simple matter of destroying everything we can find. You can manage that, yes?"

One of Julie's hands morphed into a pneumatic hammer. "I think we can handle it."

Midoriya turned into Diamondhead. "I'll take point; Julie, watch our backs. Luthor, you know what we're looking for, so you stay between us to stay safe."

Luthor actually seemed a little bemused. "All right, if you insist."

"Just make sure you know where we're going." Diamondhead's arms became curved blades as he looked at the winding corridors. "This place looks like a maze, and we might not have time to get this done if we get lost."

Luthor nodded, and a holographic screen appeared in front of his face; a moment later, he pointed to his left. "I'm picking up higher levels of energy that way. That would be our best bet to finding a computer."

Diamondhead remained tense every step of the way. The tall, shadowy corridors reminded him of every scary movie Tokoyami had tried to get him and his class to watch; usually, Midoriya gave up after the first couple of murders.

I just hope things don't end up like those movies, he thought.

The trio stuck to the shadows, but their caution was unwarranted; despite how busy it had seemed from the outside, there was no one to stop them.

"How long have we been here?" Julie whispered as they walked.

"Only twenty minutes," Luthor answered calmly.

"It feels like longer."

"Your mind is playing tricks on you. Think rationally, and you'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say," Julie muttered.

Luthor shrugged. "I've faced death more times than I care to remember. A dark house is nothing compared to Darkseid."

Diamondhead frowned. "Isn't that the guy who killed Ken?"

"Twice, if you count the time travel." Luthor sighed. "Yes, he did, and though his family may never forgive me, I do regret the role I played in his death. Like I said to the girl, I have rules, and I broke them in service to worse people than me."

"Is this you being repentant?" Julie asked. "Because you're not doing a good job."

Luthor smirked. "Oh, I'm not repentant. I just don't want the world to remember me solely as a villain. If anything, I'll go to my execution with a smile, knowing that all my enemies owe their continued existence to me."

"It's nice to know that Jen's opinion of you is justified," Julie said with a glare. "You really are awful."

"Focus," Diamondhead warned. "We can't save anyone if we keep this up."

Julie fumed, but Luthor nodded in approval. The tense moment abruptly ended when they rounded the next corner, and saw a massive door before them. It was open, and an eerie orange light punched through the shadows around the entrance.

"I think we found it," Diamondhead said.

"Yeah." Julie looked at Luthor. "Now what do we do?"

"First, I access a computer, and you two make sure nothing happens to me." Luthor paused. "Or the computer I'm using. I can't do my part if you heroes smash it apart."

Julie rolled her eyes, but didn't retaliate. "All right, Ben, let's do this."

Diamondhead blinked. "Did you just call me—"

"Izuku," Julie said forcefully. "I said Izuku, let's do this."

Julie didn't allow for any further comments, and pushed ahead into the lab. Diamondhead and Luthor followed, and the former nearly froze at the disturbing sight before him. Each wall of the lab was lined with large pods of transparent material, and inside each pod was a monster of Vilgax's creation. The monsters grew at an impossible rate, going from lumps of flesh to fully-grown abominations in a matter of minutes; when they were finished, the pods moved through an open portal in the floor, and a new row took their place, filled with fluid and grey material.

"This is… really gross," Diamondhead muttered.

Julie nodded shakily. "Yeah, I don't think I'm going eat tonight. Or ever."

Luthor barely raised an eyebrow at the sight. "Not bad. The process is efficient, but the end product clearly needs work."

"They seemed pretty tough when we fought them," Diamondhead said.

"But you still prevailed, which means they aren't good enough." Luthor pointed. "There's a computer terminal over there. I shouldn't have any trouble breaking the encryption… assuming you two don't wake the children from their nap."

"You're the one who clanks when he walks," Julie hissed; still, she carefully followed after Luthor, and took up a protective posture behind him.

Diamondhead cautiously approached one of the pods, but didn't dare touch it; he'd seen enough movies to know that that was a bad idea. Still, he couldn't help but stare as the occupant grew from a fist-size lump of organic material into a familiar monster.

"How are they being made so fast?" he asked.

"They were designed for fast growth," Luthor said absently. "From these files, it seems that whoever Vilgax has working for him crafted the DNA to grow as quickly as possible, and the material was then given a hyper-cocktail of nutrients and steroids. It's a good thing they don't feel pain, because growing that fast would be agonizing."

Julie glanced at him. "What are you looking for in their systems?"

"The best way to sabotage their efforts; this facility is too large to outright destroy, but maybe… aha!"

Diamondhead hurried over. "What? Did you find something?"

Luthor smirked triumphantly. "I thought as much. Creatures like these have to be exactingly crafted. Even the smallest alteration to their growth formula will destabilize them, and I now know where that formula is created. The system is automated, so all we have to do is reprogram it, and it could take weeks before anyone discovers the reason for why Vilgax's army has become a giant puddle."

"Can you do that here?" Diamondhead asked.

"No, the systems are separated." Luthor tapped the terminal in front of him. "This is for final review and deployment, but it can lead us to where we need to go next."

Julie smiled. "Wow. This is easier than I thought it would be."

"This is harder than I thought it would be," Jen admitted, even as she punched Andrias in the face again.

"Oh, really?" Kevin grabbed a newt guard by the helmet and threw him into wall. "I couldn't tell by the army of guys trying to kill us!"

"Complaining isn't helping." Jen sidestepped Andrias' next swing of his sword. "And would you stop that already?"

"Not on your life, kid," Andrias growled.

"How about your life?" Jen shrank back to her normal size, rolled behind Andrias, and punched the back of his knee. "Because if we don't get that crown, we're all gonna die!"

Andrias fell to one knee, panting heavily. "If you think… I'll believe that nonsense… you're even crazier than I thought."

"Says the giant newt." Jen drew back her fist, but paused when she heard what sounded like tearing fabric. "What was that?"

As if in answer, several of the two-armed abominations burst through the wall to the throne room, shrieking as they charged.

Marcy, who had been struggling to escape Jen's vines for the last few minutes, went wide-eyed. "What the heck are those!?"

"What we were trying to stop!" Kevin shouted, and tackled one monster; he punched it in the face, but was then grabbed and hurled aside.

Jen didn't give it a chance to finish him off; she activated her Ultimatrix, and all but vaporized it with her heat vision. She then slammed another's head between her hands with enough force to change its state of matter from a solid to a liquid, and threw its remains at a third. Kevin used the opportunity to finish it by cutting its head off with an arm-turned-sword.

"We need to go," Kevin said. "If those things are here, then there's nothing we can do to save this world in time."

"Hey!" Marcy looked more than a little sick. "You just beat those things, why can't you help us!?"

Jen looked at Kevin for an answer, though she didn't expect to like it.

"We beat three of them," he said. "Imagine a few million—they never stop, they never show mercy, and they're always angry. My Earth had lots of powerful tech, and one of the best heroes I've ever met, and we didn't even last a full day. You guys won't last an hour."

"All we can do is try to finish our mission," Jen continued, more gently than Kevin. "If we succeed, we can undo everything that's happened, but we won't win if we get stuck helping every world we go to. I'm… I'm so sorry.

"Paradox, we're ready to go." Jen closed her eyes and waited… and waited. "Paradox? You, uh, turn your phone off or something?"

Kevin frowned. "Has he ever not answered when you need him?"

Jen shrugged. "Don't ask me, this is the first time I've worked with him."

"Then this is really bad."

Andrias growled as he got back to his feet, while even more of Vilgax's monsters arrived.

Jen sighed. "And it's about to get worse."

"The main laboratory is just up ahead." Luthor pointed to a massive door, decorated with a hollow gear symbol. "All we have to do is adjust the genetic algorithm, and we'll be done here."

"You make it sound so easy," Julie said. "I'm a straight-A student, and I don't even know where to start changing a genetic algorithm."

"I'd be surprised if you did," Luthor said, his voice only slightly taunting. "Even I needed a few weeks of study before I understood the process." He paused. "Also, you're only seventeen, so I'd be even more surprised if you understood."

"Can we just open the door?" Diamondhead asked. "I've only got about forty minutes left before I have to let the Omnitrix recharge."

Luthor nodded, and tapped a button the wall; just as the doors began to open, a long, spindly arm reached through and flailed about. It swatted Luthor to the floor, then grabbed Julie's arm and tossed her aside. The monster the limb belonged to staggered out; it was bigger than the ones Midoriya had faced before, and had several mechanical sockets in its body, and tubes that trailed behind it.

Diamondhead reacted immediately and charged; one hand turned into a wide blade, while the other fired a barrage of crystals into the creature's hide. The monster shrieked, more in rage than pain, and slammed Diamondhead face-first into the floor; the hand it used was then abruptly torn apart as the spikes on Diamondhead's back turned into a massive crystal cone. He rose to his feet and tackled the unbalanced abomination; it opened its mouth to scream again, but Diamondhead shoved his arm-blade into the roof of its mouth and into its skull.

"No!" a reedy voice screamed. "That was my favorite creation!"

"Wait a second," Julie said as she got to her feet. "I know that voice!"

The three of them entered the lab—it was enormous, and filled with everything from microscopes to large vats of bubbling liquid—and found a man inside; he was thin, with thinning grey hair, and he looked like he hadn't shaved in several days. He wore a ragged lab coat over equally-ragged clothes, cracked goggles, and what looked like a colander on his head.

"Dr. Animo?" Julie asked.

"You know him?" Diamondhead asked.

"He was one of Ben's first bad guys," Julie said, but she sounded uncertain. "But I don't remember him looking like a crazy hobo the last time I saw him."

Animo flinched. "Ben? As in Ben Tennyson? He's not here, is he?" He pointed at Diamondhead. "It's you, isn't it? Tennyson! You tracked me all the way to this dead world, just to ruin my work yet again!"

Luthor raised an eyebrow. "I don't think he's the person you know. Probably from another universe."

Diamondhead nodded. "Yeah, and he's terrified of Ben Tennyson."

"Good, that works out well for us." Luthor nudged him forward. "Keep him busy while I take care of things."

"S-stay back!" Animo backed up, and nearly tripped over a cable. "I'm warning you! I am not to be trifled with!"

"Yeah, you kind of are," Julie commented. "You're a C-list villain on a good day."

As pale as he was, Animo's reddening face was easy to see, even in the dim light of the lab. "You—!"

Diamondhead saw the prongs on the colander-hat start to glow, and moved; rather than shoot at them, there was a roar in the back of the lab, and a frog the size of a tank hopped over.

"That's… not what I was expecting," Diamondhead admitted.

Julie blinked. "Ben told me about the frog, but actually seeing it is really weird."

"Just deal with it," Luthor snapped, and headed to a computer. "I have work to do!"

"Right!" Diamondhead fired a few shards at the frog, which hopped over to Animo. "Julie, I'll keep them pinned, you take them down."

"Got it!" Julie's arms turned into multibarreled cannons, and she opened fire on the frog, now bearing Animo on its back.

Midoriya took a moment to analyze the situation. The mutated frog was fast enough to avoid Julie's fire, but it clearly wasn't tough, or it wouldn't need to dodge in the first place. It could hop all the way to the high ceiling, and bounced off the walls. He was reminded of Asui, though this frog was far uglier.

However, he had sparred against Asui, and he knew all her weaknesses.

He turned into Heatblast, but rather than throw waves of intense fire, he simply increased his own temperature. The metal floor directly under him began to glow and warp, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The heat quickly dried out the frog, and it collapsed in a heap; Animo tried using his helmet to force the mutant to move, but it could only manage a weak twitch before dying.

Midoriya made a mental note to apologize to Asui for inspiring him to kill a frog.

"Thanks," Julie said, and stomped over to a terrified—and slightly dehydrated—Animo. "I need to work on taking down moving targets."

"W-wait!" Animo held out his hands. "Please, don't kill me!"

Julie grimaced. "I'm not going to kill you. We're the good guys."

With a quick punch, she knocked him out.

"We're done here," she said. "Luthor, how's it going?"

"Just finishing up." Luthor stepped away from the computer and smirked. "I expect that production will resume in a few days, maybe a few weeks, but we've bought the multiverse a little more time."

Heatblast smiled. "Great, then we just need to get out of here."

"Not so fast, boy, there's still one loose end to tie up." In a swift motion, Luthor aimed one of his cannons, and shot Animo through the head.

Heatblast almost threw up… well, he wasn't sure what he would throw up, but he still managed to hold it down. As soon as that passed, he stormed over to Luthor, a fireball in one hand.

"Why did you do that!?" he demanded. "You didn't need to kill him!"

"Of course I did," Luthor argued. "Animo was capable of creating these things in the first place. Slowing down the automated production was one thing, but if the original creator could remember his original process, all our efforts would have been in vain."

Heatblast glared. "Heroes. Don't. Kill."

"I know that, which is why I killed him." Luthor shrugged. "Look at it this way: our mission is progressing, and your hands are still clean. You should be thanking me."

"You know we won't do that," Julie said, but sighed. "Izuku, it's like you said: we don't have time to argue."

"I know." Still, Midoriya didn't back down. "Listen, Luthor, I don't care if you're vital to this mission. If you pull something like this again, I will put you back in your cell myself."

Luthor laughed, much to Midoriya's fury. "Boy, you're a few decades too early to be threatening me. Paradox, we're ready to leave."

"I can see that." Paradox stepped out of the shadows, and looked at Animo's corpse with a hint of distaste. "Quite unfortunate, but Luthor's rationale is sound. Come, we must leave; I'm afraid that my powers have weakened significantly, and I have left Jennifer and Kevin in no small amount of peril."

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous." Jen heaved another monster over her shoulder, then crushed its head with her foot. "Paradox is a time-traveler, for crying out loud; by definition, he can't be late!"

Kevin didn't reply beyond panting heavily; he was too exhausted to do more than run and carry Andrias' crown, and it fallen to Jen to do the fighting.

It had felt like hours, but it had really been less than thirty minutes since the attack on Newtopia had begun. If so many people hadn't died in that time, Jen and Kevin would have been impressed at how quickly most of the city had been destroyed. As it was, they were barely keeping their horror in check.

"Hey," Kevin said weakly. "Where's that girl? Marcy, right?"

Jen grimaced. "I don't know. I lost track of her after we left the throne room. I hope she's okay."

"You know she's not." Kevin looked around at the destruction. "This is even worse than back home."

Jen made sure there were no other monsters around, and sat down next to him. "How bad was it?"

Kevin made a noise that was somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "My house got blown up before my mom could finish calling me. We had the best tech the Plumbers could give us, all our allies… it didn't matter. Most of the planet was on fire after just one day. This world doesn't have a chance."

"Indeed, it doesn't." Paradox tried to appear composed, but he almost collapsed as he arrived in front of them, along with Midoriya, Julie and Luthor. "Our only hope is to complete our mission, and restore the worlds Vilgax has destroyed."

"Hey, cousin," Jen said, and waved at Midoriya. "Where'd you guys go?"

"Vilgax's monster factory," Midoriya answered, but he sounded rattled. "We sabotaged it, so we've bought some extra time."

Kevin rose to his feet and held up the crown. "Cool. We got our thing."

"Excellent," Paradox said. "Mirio and Gwen have also completed their part, which means we only have one piece of the puzzle left."

A deafening roar made them all tense, and a tower in the distance crumbled to dust.

Kevin thought about Marcy, and how they were leaving at least one decent person behind. Sorry, kid.

"Yeah, go team," Jen said sarcastically. "Can we celebrate back on the Watchtower?"

"Of course." Still, Paradox hesitated. "You all might want to get a little closer to me. My powers are diminishing at a rather alarming rate, and I'd rather not accidentally leave parts of you behind."

Even Luthor looked a little queasy at that notion, and huddled closer to Paradox. A moment later, they left the burning ruins of Newtopia behind, and arrived safely at the Watchtower. As soon as they did, Paradox went limp, and was only spared hitting the floor because Julie caught him.

"Is he okay?" Midoriya asked.

"I think so," Jen said. "Physically, he's human, but time-walkers follow all kinds of cosmic laws that make my brain hurt, and I think he's close to breaking a lot of them. For now, let's just find him a place to rest."

"Hey, guys!" Midoriya turned, and saw Togata and Gwen nearby. "Looks like everyone succeeded today. That's great, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Midoriya said, as Jen carried Paradox away. "We've got two of the artifacts we need, and we slowed down Vilgax."

Togata pumped a fist. "That's what I'm talking about! We're on a roll!"

Midoriya shrugged as he sat down. "Maybe, but we still need to stop all this, and we don't know what 'time unbound' is."

"I was thinking about that," Gwen said, as the rest of the team gathered. "Does anyone know about any technology that can affect time? The only time-related tech I can think of is Paradox's old lab at Los Soledad."

"On a planet that doesn't exist anymore," Julie cut in.

"The multiverse is infinite," Gwen countered. "There's got to be a version of our Earth that has a Los Soledad with a time gate."

"She's got a point," Jen said, and thought about it. "There are a few different ways to travel through time in this universe, but none of them seem like 'time unbound'. Anyone else have any ideas?"

Togata and Midoriya shrugged helplessly, as did Kevin.

"Time is a constant," Luthor said as he climbed out of his armor. "It's supposed to be an unchanging thing—it's not alive, but it exists, and it exists to do one thing, and that's to move forward. For it to be 'unbound' suggests that time somehow has a choice in what it does. My theory is that what we're looking for is no object, but a person with some control over time."

Jen chewed that over for a moment. "Well, I can't think of anything better. When Paradox wakes up, we'll run that idea by him, and maybe he'll narrow it down."

"Hey, for all we know, Paradox is time unbound," Togata suggested.

"He's a time-walker," Gwen said. "He can see time, travel through it, and even move things and people through it, but he has no power over it."

Togata ducked his head. "Oh. Sorry."

A groan caught their attention, and they turned to see Paradox sitting up on the cot Jen had put him on. "Oh, dear, that was dreadful." He looked at them. "Ah, it seems we made it back in one piece. Any developments?"

"You weren't out that long," Jen said. "We were talking about time unbound, and we think it might be a person."

Paradox tapped his chin. "Interesting… you might very well be correct. I'll look into it and see what I can find."

Luthor nodded. "And while you do that, I'll go over the files I took from Vilgax's computers."

Midoriya blinked. "When did you do that?"

"The same time I was sabotaging the manufacturing process." Luthor smirked. "I can multitask."

"Oh. Well, okay." Midoriya stood back up and brushed himself off. "Everyone, get some rest while Luthor and Paradox work. We may have to move out again soon."

Later, after Midoriya took a short nap, he'd gone to get something to eat, and ran into Jen and Julie.

"I'm surprised you saw Animo, of all people," Jen said with a short laugh. "Last time I heard about him, he was in a nursing home and couldn't even go to the bathroom without help."

"Lucky you." Julie rolled her eyes. "A few weeks ago, he tried to take over Washington with an army of giant bison."

"Sounds fun."

"For Ben, yeah, but Animo's process was unstable, and the bison… well, they pooped everywhere, and since they were thirty feet tall…"

"Oh, gross."

"Yeah, I'm just glad we didn't have to deal with the cleanup." Julie spotted Midoriya, and waved him over. "Hey, Izuku. What's up?"

"Nothing yet." Midoriya accepted the bowl of soup Jen got for him. "Did Paradox or Luthor find anything?"

"I wish." Jen scowled. "Paradox has been staring into space for the last hour, and Luthor is taking his own sweet time."

"Is there something we can do to help?"

Jen sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, there are maybe three people in the multiverse that can help Luthor, and none of them are available. As for Paradox… okay, I have no idea what's going on in that guy's head."

Now it was Midoriya's turn to sigh. "Okay."

Julie nudged him. "What's on your mind?"

"I just feel like we're so close to fixing things, and we're stuck waiting." Midoriya shrugged. "How about you? How are you doing, Julie?"

"I've been better," Julie admitted. "Hey, uh, sorry for calling you Ben before."

Jen winced. "You did that?"

"It's fine," Midoriya assured. "It's not like you've met anyone else besides Ben who has an Omnitrix, right?"

"Still… he's gone. At least for now, and I can't make mistakes like that." Julie sighed. "I feel like I'm going to have to apologize to Ben after we fix things."

"And I keep thinking you're talking about my dad," Jen muttered, and then tensed. "Luthor is on his way, and the others are with him. He sounds like he's in a hurry."

Midoriya had to wonder what Luthor's definition of hurry was, because he entered the commissary at a speed barely faster than a casual walk. Still, he was frowning, and seemed slightly concerned.

"We have a problem," Luthor said without preamble.

"You couldn't crack the files?" Jen asked.

"What? No, that took me about twenty minutes." Luthor scowled. "I now know what Vilgax is planning to end the multiverse, and it's more devious than simple destruction. We've slowed him down, but not by much, and he's already making moves to counter us."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Gwen snapped, and pink energy crackled around her glowing eye.

Luthor began to pace. "It seems that Vilgax was aware of you all, and knew that you were the multiverse's champions. He thought he could defeat us early by conquering your world before Paradox could get to you, but he failed. Now, he's planning to hamper us by continuing to attack our homes."

Jen rose to her feet. "So he's coming here?"

"No, not yet," Luthor said. "He's still scared of your father, irrational though it might be. After all, he's strong enough to kill all of us with very little effort on his part." He looked Midoriya dead in the eye. "He's sending the forces he has left to your Earth. He wants to complete his task without further interference."

For a moment, Midoriya thought the room was spinning, and then everything snapped back into focus. "Well, he's getting what he wants. I'm not going to stand by and let my home get destroyed!"

"Don't be foolish," Luthor snapped. "This is exactly what Vilgax wants!"

Togata stepped forward, One For All flickering around him. "Then we're not going to disappoint him."

"There is another reason why Vilgax wants your world destroyed," Paradox said as he slowly limped into the room. "After much deliberation, I believe that the person that embodies time unbound exists there. Attacking your home is just a bonus."

Midoriya met Luthor's gaze; his eyes were steely, and his breathing was even. "Any further complaints? No? Then let's go. We have a world to save."

Franchises visited by the champions: Amphibia, Alternate Gears of War (I really want to write a story for that universe one day)

Casualties: Literally everyone on Amphibia. Sorry.

I'd like to thank TerrorKing10 for permission to cameo their story, The Ultimate Legend, at the beginning of the chapter. I highly enjoy it, and I think it deserves a lot more support!

Amphibia is one of my favorite shows in the last few years, and it caused me physical illness to destroy the place in this story. And Animo was here, but not any canon Animo… and then he was killed, because Luthor may not be a villain anymore, but he's certainly no angel. And now, the good guys have to go back to Midoriya and Togata's Earth and try to save it.

Also, I want to apologize for taking so long to update. I hit a wall with this story, and needed a break. Also-also, I was having way too much fun with my newest story, Mass Effect: Legacy. And I work three jobs. I promise to see this story through, but adulting is hard.

As always, please consider buying my book, Alpha Sanction, by Josh Gottlieb. You can find it on my website (link in my profile), or on Amazon as an eBook or physical copy. Sales there give me the strength to continue writing the sequel!

If you want to support me in other ways, I also have a P-atreon account (link in my profile). It is my dream to get enough donations there so that I can quit one of my three jobs, and maybe update stories more than once every few weeks. I'm sure you all would like that as well, and top-tier patrons get a free PDF copy of my book!

And I'd like to thank the following patrons for supporting me all this time:

Serious Muffins: Nimrod009, Matthias Matanovic, John Collins, Red Bard, Aaron Meek, killroy225, Lokthar, Hakuryuken, Anders Lyngbye

Incredible Muffins: RaptorusMaximus, michaelb958, Crazyman844, Ben Stueckle

Ultra Muffins: RangersRoll

Next Chapter: Midoriya comes home, but he's not there for a happy reunion. The storm's about to hit, and the heroes are running out of time…

Plus Muffin!