Chapter 3
Lincoln was walking to school alongside his best friend, Clyde McBride, as he recounted the events of the previous day.
"So you can absorb electricity? And store it like a battery?" asked the African-American boy.
"Yeah. I don't know how or why. Lisa's doing a DNA test that she'll have the results from by tomorrow. She thinks there might be an anomaly in my genome," Lincoln answered.
"Maybe your neighbor's Corrodium mutated you?" Clyde suggested.
"Maybe. I don't think that's it, though. We won't know for sure until the test comes back." Lincoln then noticed a house down the street from his with two moving vans parked in front of it. "Hey, look! New neighbors!"
"Let's drop by after school and say hi," Clyde said, and Lincoln agreed. Looking back as they walked, Lincoln could see the people moving boxes from the trucks to the house: a four-armed male Tetramand, a female Revonnahgander, and a male human. The Tetramand wore civilian clothes, while the human and Revonnahgander both wore Plumber uniforms. Lincoln knew what Plumbers wore, because every city had a Plumber base located in or near the local police station or sheriff's office. They didn't look much older than a couple of his sisters, so they couldn't rank much higher than deputies. Turning his attention back to the sidewalk, Lincoln continued his path to school.
...
"Alright, that's the last of it!" declared Gil, setting the last box down in the living room and brushing all four of his hands together. Ken and Blanca were busy getting their bedrooms set up. Ken and Gil had been roommates back on the Plumber space station, so roommates they would remain. Ken was just placing the finishing touches on decorating his half of the room, and sighed wistfully upon picking up the final item to be placed on the display shelf: the securely locked Taydenite box containing the Omnitrix.
After Ben received the Biomnitrix Gauntlets from Azmuth, he had gifted his former Omnitrix to his only son. Ken was just as talented as his father when it came to wielding the Omnitrix, but sadly, he would not get to wield it for longer than a few years. After all, something that rearranges your DNA is hard to use when two-thirds of your body is made of metal.
...
It was a battle gone wrong that was the culprit. One of the Plumbers' most powerful and hated foes, the Ectonurite overlord Zs'Skayr, had risen once again. While fighting the ghost-like alien inside his castle on Anur Transyl, Ken got separated from his parents, Gwen, and Rook and found himself locked in a room alone with Zs'Skayr. He put up a good fight for a while as Diamondhead, but then Zs'Skayr landed a hit that both reverted Ken back to human and temporarily disabled the Omnitrix's failsafe feature, leaving Ken completely unprotected. It was heart-wrenching for Ben and Kai to listen to their son's bloodcurdling screams of pain while Rook tried to hack the electronic lock on the door. Ben finally lost patience with Rook's methods and broke the door down using Fourmungosaur, a fusion between his alien transformations Four Arms and Humungosaur.
What they found in the room horrified everyone. Ken was still alive, but barely, lying in a pool of his own blood with all four limbs severed by Zs'Skayr's scythe, as well as gaping slash and stab wounds covering both the front and back of his torso. Zs'Skayr himself had vanished to places unknown. Using Gwen's magic to keep him stable, they shipped Ken back to the Plumber Headquarters' medical bay for emergency surgery. Most of his vital organs were still intact, but his lungs and kidneys had to be replaced by bionic machines. As soon as Looma and Gil heard what had happened, they supplied the Galvan surgeons with Infinitum ingots from scrapped Tetramand engine blocks, which were then smelted to form Ken's cybernetic arms and legs.
It was Blanca who nursed Ken back to health as his body adjusted to the cybernetics and the adults combed the galaxy for Zs'Skayr, leading them to form the close romantic bond that they had now. That process hadn't been easy: on several occasions, Ken's body had almost rejected the metal implants entirely, leading to intense bouts of nausea and glitches in his replacement limbs. Those glitches caused him to trip on his own feet, grip objects too tightly and damage them as a result (the cybernetics being much stronger than his original muscles), and other instances of apparent clumsiness.
Only when Ken underwent nausea so intense that he was bedridden in the infirmary for nearly a month did Azmuth decide that drastic measures needed to be taken. Azmuth led a team of Galvans in a very long, very delicate surgical procedure. First, Ken's remaining skeletal structure was replaced with bones of solid Infinitum. After that, his blood was drained from his body and his entire supply of blood cells (both red and white) replaced with nanotechnology that would perform the exact same functions. Next, his organs relating to his blood supply and immunity (spleen, appendix, lymph system, etc.) were all removed and replaced with one artificial organ that formerly had no equivalent in the human body, an organ that would generate and monitor his new nanotech blood. A very particular blend of chemicals was injected into his skin, muscles, and remaining organs to make them more damage-resistant, even though the nanites would speed up the healing process exponentially. Finally, he was put in suspended animation and closely monitored around the clock until the computer readings showed that his body had completely adjusted without error.
The entire procedure took weeks to complete, with Azmuth and the surgeons sleeping and eating in shifts. That long, anxious waiting period paid off in the best way. When Ken finally woke up, he felt better than he ever had before, at least physically. His artificial limbs lacked nerve endings, but that was an issue he could work around. Mentally, he held some self-doubt regarding his battle with Zs'Skayr, as well as disappointment over no longer being able to wield the Omnitrix. But he wouldn't let that stop him! What he lacked in alien abilities provided by the Omnitrix, he would make up for with hand-to-hand fighting skills. He learned Judo and Karate from Gwen, Apopplexian Wrestling from a Plumber agent of that particular species, Revonnahgander fighting techniques from Blanca, and how to use a Proto-Tool from Rook.
With coaching from Blukuch and Driba, the two Galvans who served as the Plumbers' tech support, Ken modified his environment suit from his days as the time-hopping hero Chrono Spanner, making it more compatible with his new Plumber gear. The visor of his helmet could now be used as a targeting system for his Proto-Tool, and the whole ensemble was made from a combination of nanotechnology and Kevlar fabric from Earth. It was light, breathable, and would protect him well in a fight.
...
Back in the present, Ken set the Omnitrix on his shelf and pulled the black glove off of his left hand. Staring at the appendage with a mix of emotions, he slowly clenched his skeletally thin mechanical fingers into a fist and relaxed them. He did this over and over until he felt a pair of arms slither around his torso.
"Are you being troubled by memories of past events?" Blanca purred into his ear, the fur on her face tickling his cheek as she affectionately nuzzled him.
"Yeah, but I'll be fine. I always am," Ken told his girlfriend, turning around so that he could return the embrace with a deep, passionate kiss. Five seconds into the kiss, they were interrupted by Gil clearing his throat.
"Sorry if I ruined the moment, but are either of you hungry for breakfast? Maybe brunch?" he asked nervously when both lovers glared at him. Their glares intensified, and he gulped. "No? Okay, then. More for me!" Ken and Blanca rolled their eyes as Gil scurried off to the kitchen.
"Sheesh. I love the guy, but he has got to learn how to knock!" Ken said.
"Agreed."