Hey hey! Look at this, a chapter that ISN'T written by me!

That's right, this chapter was all done by someone else, a very talented friend of mine named Captain Zeus! Hope you all enjoy, and PLEASE leave reviews!


The case sounded simple on paper. A minor arms-dealer was trying to fill the newly vacant power vacuum in the Hong Kong underworld. With Vulkanus behind bars, there were plenty of people eager to become the next big kingpin. One of those people was an alien that once worked under Vulkanus. Loyalty clearly wasn't high on this guy's priority list. Now, this guy wasn't one of the heaviest hitting species, but he had the perfect, built-in escape plan. According to Atlas' intel, partnered with the records the Plumbers had shared with Atlas, and Ben's and Ceres' own knowledge, the dealer was a Merlinisapien (Ben had named his Merlinisapien form Chamalien). The dealer would be able to turn invisible at a moment's notice and slip away, or he would if it weren't for the thermal scanner goggles the team had been provided with.

Again, simple on paper. Not in execution.

The warehouse that the arms-dealer had taken over was by the docks of the city. Ships sailed into port on a steady basis, completely unaware of what was happening. In fact, everything seemed normal.

And then Vine was sent crashing through a window.

The Ace-Op skidded across the concrete before coming to a halt. His Aura actually flickered from the hit, but it still held strong. He looked up back at the warehouse when he heard metal crunching and tearing. His opponent wasn't done with him yet. Tearing its way through the metal walls of the warehouse was a massive fifteen foot tall war machine. The robot had a round, black head with a red sensor serving as its eye. Above the sensor was a pair of grey horn-like additions, giving the robot the appearance of a samurai helmet. Most of the lower head was hidden by a massive armored collar. Silver and black armor covered the rest of the robot's form. It stomped out of the door it had made for itself, the sounds of the ongoing fight echoing out behind it.

Vine quickly brought out Thorn, the three blades on the throwing star unfolding simultaneously. Yellow Aura formed around Vine's arm in preparation for what was coming. The robot then raised its hand at Vine, which suddenly retracted into the rest of its arm and revealed a plasma cannon. Energy built up in the barrel before the machine let off a shot. Vine threw out his Aura whip to a nearby lamppost, pulling himself out of the way of the energy blast that shattered the ground. Vine swung around the post and tossed Thorn at the machine. It quickly brought up its arm and the throwing star bounced off of its armor, simply scratching it. Another shot rang out, blasting through the pole Vine was using for momentum.

The Ace-Op fell to the ground, managing to land on his feet and stretched out his Aura-arm to retrieve his weapon. The machine tried to stomp down on the projection, but Vine was faster. As the machine was about ready to take another shot, an explosion rocked the area, making the robot stumble forward. A quick slam to its back knocked it forward fully, sending it crashing into the ground. Elm, with Timber in hand, raced over to Vine and around the downed warbot.

"You good?" she asked.

"Fine. The armor's tougher than expected," Vine replied. The machine started to get back up, pistons whirring as it turned to them. If a robot like this could express anger, it would be glaring daggers at the two.

"Easy fix then," Elm said with a flourish of Timber, "go for the joints." With that she rushed back in at the robot. Right as she reached it, she rooted herself in place with her Semblance and landed a good swing at the war machine's side. The armor didn't even dent, but that didn't stop Elm. She unleashed a flurry of blows, each one banging against the silver armor. The robot suddenly reached out and took a hold of Elm's hammer. It looked down at her and was ready to disarm her. A sudden slash rang out and, when the robot pulled its arm back...it had nothing. Its hand still held onto Timber firmly, but it was no longer attached to its arm. Thorn flew in the air as an Aura-projection grabbed it mid-flight and brought it back to Vine.

Elm smirked and took another swing, uppercutting into the machine's head and knocking it off its feet; the robot landed on its back with a thud. It didn't even get up fully, using its stump of an arm to support itself while the other converted into a cannon. It began taking shots at the two Ace-Ops, both of them dodging and rolling out of the way of the plasma shots.

Back inside the warehouse, Ruby sped around energy blasts and tackled one of the dealer's thugs to the ground. It was another one of Psyphon's old crew, a large, worm-like alien inside of an exo-suit with a prominent round helmet.

"You guys really need to stop taking bad gigs," Ruby said as she bound Bubble-Helmet's hands behind his back with a gravity bola.

"And you and your boyfriend need to stop ruining my jobs!" the alien gangster shot back.

Three more alien criminals were then pinned to the walls of the warehouse, courtesy of Diamondhead.

"That's the goons taken care of," Ben said, "now, where's Houdini?"


Clover was moving through the back of the warehouse, thermal goggles on and Kingfisher at the ready. When the firefight started, he saw the Merlinisapien bolt and gave chase. The only problem was that the dealer wasn't showing up on any sweeps he did.

The arms-dealer looked down at Clover from his hiding spot. He wasn't sure what the goggles were supposed to detect, but he didn't want to take the chance. The chameleon alien checked the weapon he managed to grab before he took off. It was an odd weapon; it had the build of a rifle but it somewhat resembled a metal detector. The part that would be close to the ground was blue with a hexagonal pattern on it. The reptilian alien checked the ammo for the weapon, four energy cells with a full charge each. Perfect, he thought, putting the cells back into the weapon after checking them. This should be more than enough to deal with one cop, right? The guy wasn't even using a real weapon. This was gonna be easy.

The Merlinisapien, still under the effects of his camouflage, slithered down from his spot and started to sneak up on Clover. The alien got into the perfect position and pulled the trigger to freeze Clover solid.

Click. Nothing happened.

The arms-dealer got a little worried, so he tried pulling the trigger again.

Click. Again, nothing.

"Oh, come on," the Merlinisapien muttered to himself, slamming his hand against the weapon. Was it jammed? Did he put one of the cells in wrong?

His focus was suddenly broken when he heard someone clear their throat. The chameleon alien looked up and froze when he saw Clover looking at him. And if the goggles didn't give the alien away, the floating freeze ray did. A Merlinisapien's camouflage only covers their body, after all, not anything they carry.

"Uhhh...would you believe me if I told you I just found this?" the alien nervously chuckled.

"No," Clover smirked. He cast Kingfisher's line out, wrapping it around the slender staff-like portion of the alien weapon. The Merlinisapien tried to hold onto it, but the weapon was thrown from his hands, clattering against a stack of nearby crates. Dropping the camouflage, the alien arms-dealer scurried forward and lunged at Clover. Clover wasted no time and threw the alien's own weapon back into him, as the line was still tied around the freeze ray. Merlinisapiens are not a sturdy folk, especially when one crashes into metal crates because of a rather heavy weapon.

Clover untangled the line from the weapon and brought out the gravity bolas. He bound the arms-dealer's hands up and tossed the unconscious reptile over his shoulder. Once he did, he felt the warehouse shake again, like an explosion went off. He knew who could've caused it, but it was 50/50 on who it actually was. He raised the goggles and quickly raced back to the front.


Vine leapt over a sweeping strike from the warbot, landing perfectly back by Elm and tossing out Thorn again. The throwing star sliced at the armor, getting the bot's attention while Elm went in to land a hammer swing at the back of the machine's leg. It fell to its knees before looking at its stump of a right arm. The Ace-Ops watched in shock as they saw a metal framework appear from the stump. It was like new, metal bones had appeared for the machine as it seemed to be making a new hand for itself on the spot.

"Really? The ROBOT has a healing factor?!" Elm yelled before taking another swing at the machine. The hammer met with the back of the robot's hand and it punched Elm in the chest, sending her flying back and bouncing off the outer wall of the warehouse. Her Aura flickered and cracked from that, even if the hand was just newly recreated. The Ace-Op shook her head after the hit and heard the familiar sound of a fresh clip being loaded into a weapon.

"We're all done inside," Ruby said, offering a hand to Elm to help her up. The Ace-Op took it and pulled herself back to her feet. Though, it was a bit awkward since she was easily taller than Ruby.

"The hell IS that?" Ben asked as he morphed his hand into a blade.

"No idea," Elm said, rolling her shoulders, "Big, durable, and it can regenerate."

"...of all the things I thought we'd be fighting tonight, robot Wolverine was not on the list."

"Wait...so you DID damage it?" Ruby asked.

Elm smirked and showed the severed robot-hand still clutching Timber.

"...Oh I've got an idea," Ben smirked, "Just uh...when I give the signal, you might wanna take cover."

Ben slammed down the Omnitrix and shifted from Diamondhead to Goop.

"Which arm is that?" Ben asked in a warbly voice.

"Right," Elm said.

"Want us to distract it?" Ruby asked, making sure she had the clip of lightning Dust loaded.

"As much as you can!" Ben said, racing off to get into position. Elm and Ruby raced back into the fight as well. Just in time too, Vine wasn't doing much damage on his own. A rocket from Elm almost knocked the machine forward again, scorching the armor. The machine looked back, only to get a bullet right in the "eye", courtesy of Ruby. The sensor shattered and lightning surged through the robot's body.

"Ben, now!" Ruby called out.

"Get behind something!" Ben called out. As he raced towards the machine, he dropped his humanoid form and Goop's slime-like body began to surge INTO the open wound of the robot. Once Goop was completely inside the machine, he began to enlarge himself. The metal creaked and bolts began to fly off of the warbot. Armor plates were getting pushed apart and Goop's slime was starting to leak through the cracks.

Vine raced over to Elm and Ruby, creating a shield that encased all three of them with his Aura arms. At the same time, Clover had found his way back to the front of the warehouse, the arms-dealer still slung over his shoulder. Right as he did though, the pressure inside the machine became too much until finally…

BOOM!

Metal scraps and globs of green slime scattered all over the place. And, unfortunately for Clover, some of that slime covered him and the Merlinisapien. He blinked a few times after all of the metal had settled across the ground, smoke rising up from the blast site. Miraculously, Goop's saucer had survived. It quickly zoomed around the place, collecting all the pieces and reforming them into Goop's body. Clover had wiped off some of the slime from his face before the saucer got to him.

"Maybe give out a louder warning next time?" the usually lucky Ace-Op said with a smirk.

Once he was back together, Ben reverted back to normal and chuckled nervously.

"Sorry. Only idea that came to mind," Ben said.

"Guessing that was our new friend's 'big investment'."

"Think so. Not really sure what it was."

"Hmm...would it be wise to bring back what we could? On the off chance we encounter another in the future?" Vine suggested.

"It would. I'll call up a tech clean-up squad," Clover said, "Who wants to take this guy off me for a bit? Elm?"

"Oh, sure." Elm said as Clover tossed the unconscious alien over to her. She easily caught the guy one handed before Clover walked off to call in a clean-up crew.


It was only a short time before a prison ship arrived along with the salvage crew and an airship to take the team home. The moon was still high in the sky but Ruby yawned as she got onboard the ship. Elm had tossed the last criminal into the back of the prison ship. She dusted her hands off after closing the ship's doors behind the prisoners. Vine had already gotten aboard the ship so this worked out well for her.

Elm was thinking back on some of her talks with Kylie: about lightening up, not being so tied to the job, and even about that small argument with Harriet a while back. Now, normally, Atlesian military protocol was not to take items from a battlefield unless authorized. Usually that made sense, but what she had in mind, well it would probably be best if no one saw her. That robot hand that still clung to her hammer? She was going to take it as a trophy. She already checked, no wires or anything on the inside. A bit weird, but she thought nothing of it. She did one last check to make sure no one saw her and, when she was sure, she managed to hide the gauntlet in one of the spare duffle bags the clean up crew had brought with them.

Elm was the last to board the ship, everyone else settling in for the long trip back. Vine was meditating as he usually was on trips back from missions. Ben and Ruby were already fast asleep, the latter leaning on her boyfriend's shoulder. Elm smirked a little at the sight. Clover was up in the cockpit, taking up the co-pilot's chair. Elm took a seat next to Vine, making sure to keep her little keepsake a secret. Marrow probably wouldn't tell anyone if he ever found it. If Harriet discovered it? She didn't want to imagine what that reaction would be like. Either way, once she got back, she'd need to find a place to properly hide it.

Shortly after the team had departed, the clean-up crew had begun their work. Honestly, there wasn't too much still intact from the warbot's destruction. Its head somehow miraculously survived and was carefully placed with other odds and ends that survived the explosion. It was all organized in such a manner that it could be easily transported via crate back to Ceres' lab for examination.

The lid was placed on the crate that contained the head and was moved aboard the airship, ready for transport.

After the transport was loaded and the crew had filed back onto the ship a few hours later, the soldiers started to make small talk as they flew back to Atlas.

None of them even knew that the eye of the warbot's head had turned on again.


By the time the team had arrived back in Atlas, the sun had started to rise. The only one who was still awake by the time they landed was the pilot. The prisoner transport had arrived with them. A mixed group of Atlesian soldiers and drones, along with Clover, escorted the prisoners to the brig.

"You think this is gonna work?" the Merlinisapien arms-dealer shouted out to the team, "You think this is my first time in the slammer?! I'll get out, just watch! I'll be out in a week's time and when I am, my little operation's gonna get bigger than ANYTHING Vulkanus ever had!"

Rex and Marrow had walked into the hangar just in time to hear the arms-dealer's rant. They shared a knowing look with each other before heading over to check on their friends. The team had gotten off the ship by now, Elm having managed to grab the duffle bag with her little memento hidden inside it.

"Can this guy get any more," Ruby started before being interrupted by her own yawn, "cliche?"

"Guy must have watched too many bad crime dramas," Ben chuckled.

"Yeah, we'll see how well that goes for him," Marrow said.

"Give him like...ten minutes, he'll be a model prisoner," Rex said.

"Why do I doubt that?" Ruby asked.

"Well, that's cause you guys don't know who's gonna be in the cell next to him."

"Do I wanna know?"

"Maybe," Rex smirked, "but after you guys see Ironwood-"

"We are falling back asleep," Ben said.

"The stakeout lasted five hours, toss in an extra hour of being stealthy, and then add a giant death-bot to the mix," Ruby listed off.

"...y'know what, that's fair," Rex conceded.

"So guys," Marrow asked Elm and Vine, "you free after your meeting with the general?"

"Mostly yes. Though I plan to either spar with Harriet or meditate. Why?" Vine asked.

"Oh...no reason. I just thought, you know...maybe we could take a break just for a while?"

"I-" Vine began before Elm cut him off.

"Don't see a problem with it. We got some time to kill after that. No other missions lined up right?" Elm asked.

"Well...not that I'm aware of?"

"Then we're good! How about that nice officer's bar in the city? Get a few drinks?"

"Uh...sure," Marrow said, surprised. He...hadn't exactly expected either of them to say yes. Neither was Rex, honestly. He couldn't help but overhear the conversation.

Holy shit, Elm was actually going to be acting like a normal person. Maybe there was hope for the rest of the Ace-Ops. Except, maybe Harriet. Neither Rex nor Marrow even knew if it was possible for her to get divorced from her military duties.


The Merlinisapien was brought into the Atlesian prison and somewhat pushed into his cell by the guards.

"I wouldn't try anything. Cell's overseen by thermal cameras," Clover said, "Oh, and don't get too comfortable, we'll set up an interview for you soon."

The alien tried to lunge out at Clover in rage, only to slam into the Hard-Light Dust barrier that formed the bars of his new home. The reptilian alien bounced off the door, letting out a pained yelp and rubbing his nose. With that, Clover and the guards walked off, leaving the prisoner to his own devices for now.

"Son of a-!" the arms-dealer shouted, "Swear to god, I'm tearing this place down when I get out! That'll teach you to make a fool of the next Vulkanus!"

"The next Vulkanus?" a voice called out from the cell next to him.

"Lemme guess, human?" the alien huffed, "probably never even heard the name."

"No...I've heard the name before. I'm sure as HELL not human. But now I'm curious. Tell me, how are YOU gonna be the next Vulkanus?"

"Pfft, well easily! For one, I got this nice contract all set up! See, used to work for that fancy meathead and he had me set it up. After I heard the guy got tossed into the slammer, I figured, 'hey it's there, I can use this. Guy left a hole, so why not fill it myself?'"

"So...you figured on using one of my contracts to get your own fortune? Which one? I'm curious," the voice said, his tone shifting to one of stone cold anger.

"Easy, the one wi-...wait YOUR contract? The hell are you-" and then it clicked. The Merlinisapien's pride, which was practically radiating off him before, was shattered. The arms-dealer began slowly dying on the inside as he realized who he was talking to.

"Also…'fancy meathead?'" Vulkanus asked, "Keep going. Tell me how you REALLY felt working for me, Tesik."

"...I'm gonna die in here," Tesik, the Merlinisapien, deadpanned.


Elm made a quick stop at her quarters before joining up with Marrow again. Luckily, she had managed to sneak past anyone who might have discovered her trophy. When she got to her room and closed the door behind her, she let out a sigh of relief she didn't even know she was holding.

She threw the duffle bag on her bed as she started looking for a good place to hide the robot's gauntlet. Some places were too obvious and wouldn't work. There had to be someplace good she could hide this thing. She went over to the desk that was present in all the higher-ups' personal quarters and opened up one of the drawers. She hadn't really used the desk that much outside of writing up after-mission reports, so no one really had any reason to check it. Add to that she never even considered using it for storage and it ended up being perfect.

She went back over to and unzipped the duffle bag, pulling out the hand. She looked it over again because something seemed...off about it? Maybe it was just her imagination but it seemed smaller. She shrugged it off and hid the hand in the bottom drawer of the desk, closing the drawer behind it.

She nodded to herself and then left the room, locking the door behind her.

It took her a few minutes, but eventually Elm made her way up to a bar out in Atlas, a little place for some of the officers favored to unwind at the end of the day, so the place got a decent amount of business. It was a rather decently sized bar, with tons of liquor and alcohol displayed on the large wall behind the bar. Elm couldn't even make out all the brands they had, but...they were sure expensive.

Marrow was already down there, having taken a seat at the bar itself. Elm smirked and walked up behind him, patting him on the back to announce herself. Marrow fell forward a bit, but he smirked.

"Was wondering when you'd show," Marrow smirked.

"Sorry, sorry...had to take care of something real quick." Elm sighed, as she sat down.

"Finished up the report for the Hong Kong mission?"

"...yeah, let's go with that." Elm said, as she began to look at the wall.

"Elm...I might not be the best at this, but you're not the best at hiding it either," Marrow said, "What's up?"

"...so, you know that...weird mecha we fought?" Elm said.

"Heard about it, yeah. The one with the healing factor?"

"Yeah...that one."

"What about it?"

"...I kinda took a piece." Elm said. "As a...souvenir."

"...why?"

"...thought it'd be a cool trophy."

"Guessing no one else knows?"

"Of course not. If Hare knew, she'd want me relieved of duty at best. You know her and breaking protocol..."

"Oh, yeah...she yelled at me for having a single stain on my uniform a few days ago. It was so unnoticeable..." Marrow sighed. "She drives me crazy..."

"Honestly, that's kinda why I did it," Elm admitted. She decided to enjoy this and ordered up a drink before she continued talking.

"You know Kylie, right?"

"Yeah, the curly haired girl that hangs around Weiss, right? What about her?" Marrow asked.

"She and I talked and...it got me thinking. When was the last time you and...hell, just for the sake of it, Clover just talked? Not where he's your CO, but it's just a normal conversation?"

"...I...don't know if I've ever had a normal conversation with him. Sure, he's friendly but I still know next to nothing about him."

"Right? Same thing goes with Hare, or Vine, or, hell even me! We've been teammates for how long now without knowing ANYTHING about the others?"

Marrow sighed. "I don't even know why I'm here. Yeah, I'm good, but...I'm not THAT good."

"Well...I decided to listen to her. Try to...be a person, not JUST a soldier. Y'know?"

"...is that why you took me up on this offer?" Marrow asked.

"A bit, yeah. Out of all of us...you and Rex are the ones who are the most..." Elm paused to try and think of the best way to describe it.

"Normal?" Marrow suggested.

"Yeah. Well, as normal as we can get, fighting monsters, aliens and Salem, right?" Elm tried lightening the mood there, but she wasn't sure if it worked.

"Honestly, I never saw myself as a soldier..." Marrow chuckled. "I just saw myself as a guy, doing his best...and, that sounds better than 'soldier.'"

"It does but...well, this is an army. Can't just have people 'do their best' if you believe the sergeants from the whole course to get INTO the Ace Ops..."

"Who says I ever believed in the army's strength?" Marrow said.

"I mean, fair. But...ok, lemme ask you this. Why did you join up instead of going freelance? Aside from the whole 'it's better if you enlist here', you could've gone anywhere. Vale, Vacuo, Mistral. But you stayed."

"I didn't really get a choice there. I was drafted after I finished Atlas Academy. Ironwood said he saw something in me, but...never understood why," Marrow said, "I took it because...honestly? I didn't think of anything else for my future."

"Nothing? Didn't even see yourself being a full blown Huntsman?" Elm asked. By then, their drinks had arrived. Nothing too strong to keep them hungover come morning, but just enough to enjoy this little break from the day-to-day goings on.

"Well, of course...yeah, being a Hunter. But never got past the whole 'living' situation thing. Or finances," Marrow went on.

"Ah...makes sense, I guess. Maybe...maybe when all of this is over, I'll...well retire might not be the right word. Resign? Maybe?" Elm sighed a bit before she took a drink of her beer.

"Once we take care of the big fish, I'm traveling. That's MY plan." Marrow said. "Heard good things about Europe..."

"Really? Huh...room for one more on that trip?"

"...you'd seriously wanna come with?"

"I might. I mean, when was the last time we went somewhere that WASN'T for a mission?"

"...that's true." Marrow chuckled.

"It'd be nice to see the world WITHOUT having to worry about monsters and alien gangsters, right?"

"Oh, totally. I'd like to see Venice, heard they got some great margarita pizza there..." Marrow joked.

"Venice, India, Hawaii," Elm listed off, "World just seems a lot bigger when you look at it outside the military." She smirked at that. Honestly, this whole thing felt...good. She needed to listen to Kylie's advice more often.

From there, Elm and Marrow ended up spending a few more hours just talking. Yeah, they enjoyed a drink or two, but it was mostly just them talking. They were actually getting to know each other. They both swapped stories about different times in their lives, like how Marrow unlocked his Semblance out in the forest of Mistral, saving one of his friends from a charging Boarbatusk, or how, if Elm didn't become an Ace-Op, she probably would've gone pro as a volleyball player. It was nice, unwinding like this, leaving their military duties at the door.


It was around eleven-forty now and Elm was fast asleep. It was a good thing that this wasn't a shared room, honestly. Vine had actually requested separate rooms when they were both accepted into the Ace-Ops. There was no way in hell he was dealing with Elm's snoring on a nightly basis.

As Elm slept, though, she didn't notice the drawer on her desk push itself open. The hand that Elm took as a souvenir of the mission crawled its way out of the drawer and up Elm's desk, reaching her computer. It extended a finger, disconnecting part of it to reveal something like a USB connector. The hand plugged into Elm's computer, turning it on in the process, and it began to hack the system, searching for and through certain files. First, it looked up the other members of the team that had been there on the mission. Second, it scoured the records for its other component parts. It found them in the manifest, to be shipped out to Ceres, Dr. Weller, and Dr. Polendina for analysis. But the hand found this unacceptable after reading the list of pieces. There was hardly enough left for its plans. It needed to start from scratch.

It disconnected itself for a moment and turned towards the sleeping Ace-Op. It then turned back and reconnected to the computer, looking up everything it could on Elm Ederne. Medical records, mostly. No signs of physical or mental illness, peak physical form, unique Semblance. It wasn't entirely sure what that last part meant, but it was satisfied. The living gauntlet hid its intrusion into the files and cut the connection. It then skittered over to Elm, climbing up her bed and reaching her arm. It moved the covers off of her slightly before forcibly putting itself on Elm's hand. Though it seemed empty, wires emerged from within the gauntlet and connected to Elm's arm. Earlier, Elm had thought the gauntlet had shrunk...and she was right. It had shifted in size to where it would be easily worn by anyone. Once it was connected, the gauntlet managed to turn itself invisible. No one would be the wiser unless they felt it.

The next day, Elm was back working out in her free time. She didn't say it, but she felt...different. Stronger. She certainly wasn't complaining, though. She felt good right now. She stopped lifting the weights she was using and checked the time. The daily briefing was in ten minutes, she could make it.

Finishing up her workout and grabbing a drink of water, she made her way over to the briefing room. The door slid open after she reached it...and Vine, Marrow and Harriet walked out. Clover was still in the room, getting together his own reports and documents for the general.

"You're late," Harriet said.

"Sorry...must've lost track of time," Elm said.

"Right," the speedster Ace-Op said before starting to walk off.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Ex..cuse me?" Harriet stopped dead in her tracks, turning back to Elm.

"That's your 'I don't believe you' tone," Elm crossed her arms.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Marrow muttered.

"Elm, what the hell are you talking about?" Harriet asked.

"Oh, don't give me that. You think I skipped the briefing," Elm said.

"...Marrow...you said you and Elm went out drinking last night, correct?" Vine asked.

"Well...I mean...her idea, I just wanted a break from the usual routine," Marrow admitted.

"Ah...Elm is...irritable when she has hangovers. More so than usual."

"...how do you…"

"Perhaps I'll explain later."

"Ok...but...she didn't even get drunk last night."

Elm was about to continue when Clover finally walked over.

"There a problem?" the Ace-Ops' leader asked.

"No, sir," Harriet said, "just a misunderstanding."

Elm...it was hard to tell if Elm accepted that or not. She still felt angry as hell for...some reason. Wait...why WAS she angry? Looking back, Harriet wasn't accusing her, she was just brushing it off. But for some reason, that set her off?

Elm shook her head, clearing her mind. Elm was about to apologize, but Harriet had already continued on her way.

"Elm?" Marrow asked, "You good?"

"Uh...yeah. I'm...I'm fine," Elm lied.

"Then mind explaining what that was about?"

"What that...y-yeah, uh...I don't really do hangovers well. So, uh...I'll catch up with you guys later!"

Before Marrow could repeat what he told Vine or even ask where she was going, Elm quickly walked off.

Elm, once she was a good distance away from Marrow and Vine, brought a hand to her head, mentally asking herself 'what the fuck was that?! I don't just explode like that! May just need to blow off steam. Sparring session might work…'


It was certainly something to see three of Atlas' greatest minds in the same lab together. Rufus hadn't seen Ceres and Pietro for a while now, most of their focus being directed at finishing up their special project. It took every ounce of willpower he had to not tell the others about it. Right now though, the good doctor was a bit...disappointed in the sample he was working with.

"They could've left us with a LITTLE more," Dr. Weller huffed as he started looking over some of the scraps of armor.

"...it was an alien warbot programmed to kill them," Ceres deadpanned.

"Well...yes, but they couldn't have bisected it? Left it more...intact?" The doctor began scanning the scraps he had, wanting to see what this thing was made of. Dr. Polendina was looking into the coding of this thing, scanning the contents of one of the still intact circuit boards.

"Certainly well made," Pietro said, "whoever coded this…"

"Knew what they were doing," Ceres said, picking up the seemingly deactivated head of the warbot and looking it over.

"Yeah, it's one of their works," the Archimedian confirmed.

"One of theirs?" Rufus asked.

"Techadon Weapon Masters. What we've got here is a Level 12 Techadon Combat Robot."

"Why do I feel like I'm not going to like these... 'Weapon Masters?'"

"They're some of the best weapon designers in the galaxy. Dissipators, plasma-throwers, grenades. Whatever weapon you can think of, they've got at least five prototype plans drawn up in their heads," Ceres said, placing the head on a table.

"Sounds like a more warmongering version of the Galvans," Weller said, getting back to his scans, "Fascinating...what is this? Tungsten alloy?"

"Mixed with some alien metals to give it extra durability," Ceres said, "honestly though, you're not wrong on that 'warmongering Galvans' thing. The Galvans are still better than the Weapon Masters, and they hate that. Sometimes, they'll go out of their way to make themselves look superior. Pretty petty, honestly."

Elm had gotten back to the sparring chamber with Timber in hand. No one else was around so she decided to just boot up a hard-light program. The best thing about these training rooms was the variety of holographic training programs they could run. After...whatever that outburst was, she set up a program that sent some holographic Grimm at her. Several parts of the training room floor rose up to form platforms and change up the arena. The creatures the program brought into existence with a shimmer of light were Sabyrs, Grimm that resembled the ancient Smilodon, a saber toothed cat. Patches of ice had formed on their usually jet black bodies, evidence of real Sabyrs living out in the tundra for so long. Small bone plates adorned their shoulders and hips, while a series of bone spines ran down the length of their back. A small, bony tail swayed behind them and several exposed and ice-coated ribs curved up on their sides.

She was able to take them out pretty easily, grabbing one of the hardlight Grimm by the throat after it pounced at her. She snapped its neck and tossed it aside before it shattered. She swung Timber around, slamming into any of the holo-Grimm that tried to get close to her. She smirked as another holo-Sabyr leapt at her from on top of one of the raised platforms. Before it could land on her, she rooted herself in place and held her hands out. She caught the Grimm and, using its own momentum, tossed the holo-Grimm into the wall. She then cut her Semblance and walked over to the dazed monster. She then started to smash the hologram, slamming her hammer into the monster over and over.

The monster had shattered a while ago, so the continued swings just dented the training room floor. Elm eventually came out of her combat haze and took a step back, seeing the damage she just made.

"What the fuck…" Elm muttered to herself, "Freeze...freeze program!" The last remaining holo-Grimm froze as it paced around Elm. Something...something was wrong. She knew it...so then why did she think she didn't need help? Wait, where the hell did that thought even come from? Maybe a doctor would help...no, a doctor wouldn't understand. They'd give her some crap about anger management or stress issues. Wait, no they wouldn't…

Elm tried to make sense of her own thoughts now. Whenever she thought of one thing, she'd instantly get another thought for the opposite. Talk to someone about this? No, keep it secret. Calm down? No, get angrier.

Why was she thinking like this? She heard someone knock on the door to the training room suddenly, bringing her back to reality. She almost jumped on the spot when she heard the loud metallic thuds.

"Uh...one sec!" Elm shouted back at the door, "Resume program." She took one last swing at the now unfrozen saber-cat and broke it, shattering it into hard-light pieces. She sighed and had Timber retract into its compact form.

"Alright, you're good," Elm said.

The door to the training room slid open to show Kylie.

"Hey Elm," Kylie smiled, "Deja vu, huh?"

"Huh? Oh...y-yeah," Elm said.

"You ok? Seem kinda…"

"Yeah...I'm fine. Just uh...just working off some stress," Elm chuckled nervously.

"Alright. Well...how about a match?" Kylie suggested.

"A match? You sure? Last time you wanted a volleyball match instead," Elm smirked, forgetting about her problem and relaxing for a minute.

"Yeah, and that went well for me," the Osmosian rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"Ok, fair point. Normal fight then?"

"Yeah, normal fight."

Elm nodded and had Timber return to its normal hammer form, while Kylie set down some things outside and grabbed True Rebel. She quickly shifted it into its battleaxe mode and got into a combat stance.

Elm sighed, steadying herself before she did the same. She was hoping she wasn't making things too obvious here. Kylie made the first move, rushing in and taking a swing with her axe. Elm blocked with the shaft of her hammer and pushed Kylie back. She took her own swing at Kylie, which simply passed through the Osmosian as she had turned into a gas form.

"Oh we're going that route huh?" Elm said. Kylie just shrugged and quickly went back on the offensive. Metal clanged against metal. Elm took a few swings and managed to stagger Kylie a bit, catching her off guard between gas form shifts. Kylie turned to gas again, letting another one of Elm's strikes pass through her as she moved back. She then swung out True Rebel's "chain" and used it to wrap around Timber's middle. Kylie tried to disarm Elm, but the Ace-Op turned on her Semblance to give herself a better anchor.

But then a thought gets into her head...and she decides to listen to it.

Elm gave a little leeway to Kylie, one hand letting go of her hammer. She then reared her fist back and threw a punch.

And fired a crimson laser.

The red beam of energy slammed into Kylie, knocking her into a wall hard. She dropped her weapon and her Aura...actually SHATTERED from the direct hit.

Elm looked in shock at her hand for a minute, smoke still rising up from her fist. She pushed her questions aside before dropping Timber and rushing over to Kylie.

"KYLIE!" Elm shouted as she ran over. The Ace-Op helped the Osmosian up, the latter moaned in pain as Elm helped her up.

"What...was that?" Kylie asked.

"I...I don't...I don't know...I…" Elm was panicking. What the FUCK was happening to her?! She helped Kylie out of the training room. The Osmosian turned to look at Elm, and it was obvious something was wrong.

"Elm…?" Kylie started.

"I...I'm...I need to go," Elm quickly said before running off. She didn't even remember to pick up Timber, leaving the weapon with Kylie. The Osmosian looked at Elm worriedly as she ran off, but she couldn't give chase. Not yet. Whatever she got hit with...that HURT.


Elm opened and locked the door to her quarters behind her. She raced into the bathroom and held the edges of the sink. She turned on the faucet and let the water flow, cupping her hands and splashing water in her face. She looked up into the mirror and saw her panicked reflection. She needed to calm down. Whatever was happening to her, she could figure this out.

No...she didn't want to figure this out. This is what she needed...

There it is again. Those contradictory thoughts. It was like there was someone else in her head and every time she wanted to make a sensible decision...there was just someone who made her think the opposite.

"What the fuck is happening to me…" Elm muttered, putting a hand over her face. First an outburst at something that...wasn't even something that could be misunderstood as an insult, and now a fucking laser from her hand? Elm's thoughts were interrupted when suddenly heard something that...sounded like electricity fizzling out? Something short circuiting? She lowered her hand and jumped back in shock. In the mirror, she saw it. Seemingly...GROWING over her left arm, even over her jacket, was a metallic gauntlet, silver armor plates covering the hand with some sort of black material covering up her entire forearm. Only a very small part of her upper arm and her shoulder weren't consumed by this...this thing.

After the initial shock and panic faded-they were still there but she was starting to get better control of them-she held up the arm in front of the mirror. She looked it over and...she realized something.

It was her trophy. The gauntlet. But...she never put it on. How did this even…

Something spoke in her head...and she listened. Maybe it was the panic, but she was listening. It didn't matter how this happened. The only thing that mattered...was that she could use this. Wait...no, she shouldn't. What she did to Kylie…

Her head suddenly began pounding, like she was being trampled by Megoliaths. Her hands jolted to her head immediately. The pain was so great that she almost doubled over.

"N-no...no...get...get OUT OF MY HEAD!" Elm shouted. In pure pain and rage, she threw a punch into the mirror she was just looking at, shattering it into pieces.

The armor started to extend further, covering more of Elm's body. She wanted to rip this thing off of her...and then her head started to pound again. This gauntlet...did...did it UNDERSTAND her? She could feel this...this parasite grow more, its tendrils reaching up to her neck.

The pounding eventually stopped and Elm looked back up at her cracked reflection. Her eyes wandered over to the growing gauntlet...and she smiled.


Kylie, after recovering from what happened earlier, began looking for Elm. Or any of the Ace-Ops, really. She was carrying around the compact form of Timber, even if it was a bit heavier than she was used to it. Eventually, she came across Marrow.

"Marrow!" Kylie said, moving over to the Faunus Ace-Op.

"Kylie, right? What's-...is that Timber?" Marrow asked, turning and walking over to her.

"Yeah. You uh...you wouldn't happen to know where Elm's room is would you?"

"She just...left it?" Marrow eyed the weapon, "O...kay, stranger and stranger today…"

"Stranger?" Kylie repeated.

"Yeah...Elm missed the briefing today. Time got away from her, it happens. But when Harriet brought it up, Elm almost...exploded."

"That's...not like her," Kylie said. Now she was starting to get concerned.

"Why'd she leave her hammer though?" Marrow held out his arms so he could take it from Kylie.

"We were doing a quick match. She...managed to land a pretty good hit on me. Hit me harder than she thought, broke my Aura. She helped me out and...then ran off." There was one detail she left out, but she didn't want to say anything until she was sure.

"So uh, do you think you could-" Kylie began.

"Yeah. Honestly, I was gonna check on her myself," Marrow said, taking Timber from Kylie and hefting Timber's compact form.

"O-ok...guess there's a reason...Elm's our heavy hitter," the wolf Faunus chuckled, grunting in exertion as he carried the hulking weapon.

"So...the outburst…" Kylie began.

"Vine said Elm got irritable when she's dealing with a hangover," Marrow said, "but I don't buy it."

"She went out drinking?"

"Yeah, last night, with me. Thought I'd see if anyone wanted to go and...Elm actually said yes."

"Heh, that might be on me. I've been talking with her a bit. Getting her to be less…" Kylie didn't want to say what she was thinking of in case they ran into her.

"Like Hare?" Marrow risked.

"You said it, not me."

The two soon arrived at Elm's quarters with Kylie knocking on the door.

"Elm? You in there?"

The door slid open to reveal Elm.

"What?" Elm asked bluntly.

"Uh...you forgot your-" Kylie didn't even finish before Elm just pulled Timber free of Marrow's grasp and then shut the door behind her.

Kylie and Marrow shared a look between them. Something else was going on here.


The trio of Atlas' greatest minds were all still busy with their assignment the following day, Ceres even went ahead and did some late-night analysis on some of the digital schematics for the warbot. Everything was there, weapon systems, defenses, and...something else. She decided to bring it up to the other two the next day, and now, here she was. Rufus was still enjoying a cup of coffee when he walked into the lab.

"Please tell me you slept," Pietro said when he moved into the lab.

"Pietro, you and I have been working with her long enough to know the answer," Rufus said, taking a drink of his coffee.

"Something did come from it, though. Did some digging in the code a bit more and found something," Ceres said, bringing up the schematics for the warbot on a monitor.

"You've got your weapon systems, motor system, scanners, all the usual stuff. But THIS," Cers began, pointing to three, technically four, unknown components, "this isn't standard."

"One in each hand presumably, one in the chest and one in the head. Placement's odd…" Pietro said, "They're not connected to any other systems from what I can see."

"Exactly. I thought they were just redundant subsystems at first glance. Back-ups for back-ups or something. But Weapon Masters don't do redundant, so I took a closer look. Lo and behold, they are waaaay too complex for that. It's a custom job."

"Wait...didn't the report mention something odd?" Rufus asked, setting down his mug, "The machine had a-"

"Healing factor, yes! My thoughts exactly. My guess is, whenever the bot takes damage, one of these activate and it connects to the appropriate damaged system. Fabricates some metal and wiring, weaves it together, and then, bam, wound's healed."

"Fascinating. Nanobots?" Rufus asked.

"Kind of? I'd need to look at the systems themselves to really tell. Buuuuut, fortunately, the head survived!" Ceres said, pointing over to the Techadon robot's head.

Except there was nothing there.

"...what?" Ceres went over to the desk and looked around. No trace of it.

None of them heard the subtle clinking and scuttling sounds as something made its way to the other side of the lab.

"Did...Ironwood send someone to collect it?" Pietro asked.

"No, I would've heard the door open."

"Are...you certain? With how work-focused you get..." Rufus began.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I'm a workaholic. But, seriously, I know it was right here. Where did it-"

Ceres didn't get to finish her thought, because as soon as she said that, the emergency doors to the lab slammed shut and the security alarm started blaring.

"Security lockdown? What on-" Pietro started to say, before sections of the ceiling slid back and countermeasures deployed. Security turrets peeked down from above and locked onto the trio.

"It's days like this I wish Caliban had combat protocols!" Rufus yelled as he dove for cover. Pietro moved for cover as well, Ceres covering the two with blasts of fire as the turret began firing. The good news was that the security measures were meant to detain, not kill, so the shots were bursts of lightning Dust. Ceres conjured up low-powered fireballs in her hands and threw them at the shots, fire and electricity colliding and cancelling each other out in small explosions.

Ceres threw a table on its side to give the trio better cover as another turret appeared and started firing at them. Rufus and Pietro hid behind the table while Ceres peeked out to see the turrets.

"Ok, what the fuck is going on?!" Ceres shouted over the alarm and gunshots.

"Well clearly something triggered the emergency lockdown! If this was any other part of the facility, this table wouldn't last long!" Rufus yelled.

"Well, yeah, but what set it off?!"

"We can figure that out later! If I can get to my computer, I might be able to reboot the system!" Pietro shouted.

Ceres peeked her head around the table to see the computer Pietro needed...and her eyes widened in shock. Attached to the computer by four robotic spider-like legs and several wires...was the Techadon robot's head. The exposed scanner-eye turned and locked onto the Archimedian, with the turrets following its gaze. Ceres bolted back behind the table as soon as the turrets started firing again.

"Good news and bad news," Ceres began, "Good news, your computer's working fine AND I found the robot head! Bad news is the robot head is connected TO that computer and is making the security go nuts!"

"The head?!" Rufus asked, peeking out from behind cover and saw it as well, quickly ducking back.

"Well, I wasn't ready for a robotic scene from The Thing today!" Rufus said. The turrets then started clicking as they had run out of ammo. Ceres smirked and made a break for it, racing towards the Techadon spider. The severed head saw her coming and had the turrets above retract into the ceiling to reload. Another part opened up as a circular node lowered and powered up. Three streams of energy shot out of the node. Two of the streams missed their mark, but the third made contact with Ceres. Suddenly, she was encased and lifted off the ground in a Hard Light Dust orb.

"Ohhhh you gotta be kidding me!" Ceres growled as she pounded on the sphere.


Half an hour before hell broke loose in the lab, Kylie and Marrow were doing their best to discreetly watch Elm as she went through her routine. She had been there at the daily briefing with the rest of the Ace-Ops, but she seemed...disinterested. Like she wasn't even paying attention to Clover's words. Clover noticed it, but Marrow managed to convince him Elm was just dealing with some personal issues. He wasn't entirely sure Clover bought it, but he let it go. For now.

Kylie had watched Elm train during one of her training fights. She was...different. She fought more...ruthlessly. Like before, Elm had set up a fight with a pack of four holographic Grimm, minor Ursai this time. The holo-Grimm didn't stand a chance. Elm went for more brutal tactics, breaking legs and even the back of one, to paralyze them. She even grabbed one of their heads in her hands and crushed it. Elm was strong, but this seemed...different. Enhanced. Kylie was looking out for one thing in particular though.

Elm must've thought she was alone, because she showed exactly what Kylie was waiting for. The last Ursa rushed Elm, taking a swing at her. The Ace-Op blocked the strike with Timber, before holding her fist to the monster's gut and firing a bright, red laser right through it. The holo-Grimm shattered after a minute staggering with a giant hole in its gut.

Kylie left before Elm finished up; she saw what she needed to. She didn't like spying on Elm like this, but she needed to. Something just wasn't right here. Elm got the feeling she was being watched and, when she left the training room, she looked around outside. Kylie was...fairly certain Elm didn't see her.

Marrow and Kylie met up with each other fifteen minutes before the lab became a warzone.

"Notice anything?" Marrow asked.

"It's like I thought. Elm can shoot lasers now," Kylie said after making sure no one would overhear them, especially Elm.

"O...kay. So, alien stuff then?"

"Probably. But how did Elm get a hold of something like this?"

"Get a hold of what?" a familiar voice asked, making Kylie and Marrow both jump.

"Ben! The hell, man?! Don't sneak up on people like that!" Marrow said.

"Ok, ok, sorry. I was headed to check up on Ceres, but overheard."

"Do...you wanna tell him or should I?" Kylie asked.

"I'll tell him. Look...Elm's been acting...weird since yesterday," Marrow said.

"Weird...how?" Ben asked.

"Angrier, more stand-offish, oh and she can shoot lasers from her hand now," Kylie said, "We think it's alien."

Marrow, Kylie, and Ben started to walk towards Ceres' lab, continuing the conversation.

"So...what? Mind control, Ectonurite possession, lab-grown clone?" Ben asked.

"We...we don't know. We were hoping to get a clue by...well…"

"Spying on her."

"Yeah...that's how we got to the alien idea."

"So, one of Atlas' top agents might be under alien control for some hidden agenda. Kinda sounds like a movie plot."

"A little, I admit," Kylie said, "but in all seriousness...we gotta figure this out."

Ben was about to say something when the alarms started blaring throughout the base.

"Uh...Marrow? There wasn't a drill schedule for today was there?" Kylie turned to the wolf Faunus, hoping for an explanation.

"Security Breach: R&D Lab 61. Security Breach: R&D Lab 61," a voice droned from over the intercom system.

"Ohhh that's not good. That's no drill," Marrow said.

"Wait, 61? That's Ceres' lab!" Ben said.

The trio wasted no time and raced off to the R&D labs. They weren't the only ones either, as Harriet, Winter, and a squad of Atlesian soldiers met up with them on the way.

"If this is another one of Rufus' experiments gone wrong," Harriet muttered. The group reached the door to the lab and could hear the alarms blaring within, accompanied by gunshots from the now reloaded turrets.

"Does that sound like one of his experiments?" Winter chastised, shooting a glance at Harriet.

"No. Apologies, commander."

"Onto business then. Can we override the lockdown from out here?"

"Not enough time," one of the soldier's said, bringing up their wrist-pad to check something.

"Hard-Light Detainment Countermeasures have been activated. In a few minutes, the sphere's gonna start shrinking."

"Stand back then, I got this!" Ben said, dialing up an alien and slamming down the Omnitrix. In a flash of green, Ben's form had been replaced with that of Diamondhead. Ben morphed his arm into a blade and stabbed it into the door, slicing through the metal like it was paper. A few more slashes weakened the door and Harriet, bringing out the Fast Knuckles, punched the door down.

No one was ready to see the two doctors hiding behind a desk that was battered with shockblast marks and Ceres held above ground in a Hard-Light orb. They were ESPECIALLY not ready to see a robotic head with spider legs working the controls for the lab's security.

"...did we walk into a robotic version of The Thing?" Ben asked.

"My thoughts exactly!" Rufus yelled over the gunfire, "Could one of you maybe deal with the head-crab over there?!"

"Harriet, get that...spider. Ben, free Ceres. I've got the turrets," Winter said, drawing her saber.

"Understood," Harriet said, getting into a running stance, her weapons folding over her hands. Ben morphed his blade into a collection of shards that could be fired out like bullets. The three of them rushed in to deal with their different targets.

Winter summoned up some protection glyphs around the table which the shock blasts bounced off of harmlessly. Two more turrets appeared from the ceiling and took aim at Winter. The specialist simply brought up a glyph in front of her and unleashed a swarm of small Nevermores at the defenses. The glowing summons started to pick apart the turrets, giving Pietro and Rufus their opening to get out of there.

Ben and Harriet rushed over in the same direction, the former stopping and seeing the node that held Ceres in the air. He took aim and was about to fire, but he had to roll out of the way as another stream of Hard Light energy fired out from the node and tried to capture him. The stream lashed out at him like a snake, probably thanks to the manipulation of the helmet.

While Ben was dealing with that, Harriet dashed in, avoiding shots from newly deployed turrets above. She'd manage to close the distance enough to where she could almost grab the skittering machine...only to be stopped. Another node had appeared from the ceiling and fired out three streams of Hard-Light energy. Harriet hadn't even noticed, so it was easy for the energy to encase her in a sphere too.

The orb lifted her off the ground and held her in the air...and began to shrank, along with Ceres' own sphere.

"No pressure or anything, but maybe you could deal with this before this gets WAY too cramped?!" Ceres asked, feeling the sphere get smaller ever so slightly.

And then Ben got an idea.

Ben slammed the Omnitrix symbol and changed forms into the small red gremlin that was Juryrigg.

"Really, Tennyson? A space gremlin?!" Harriet yelled, punching at the hard-light sphere.

"Hey, that's an extremely talented ENGINEER space gremlin, thank you very much!" Ben shot back, "Besides, who said this was it?"

Ben smirked and adjusted the dial on Juryrigg's belt. His outfit began to change into something out of a Tron movie. Instead of an aviator outfit, his outfit had changed into a black motorcycle suit that covered his entire body. Fluorescent green energy streaked across the suit in perfect lines down his arms, his legs, even his back, with all of them converging on his chest. The only parts of the suit that weren't black were the tail and helmet. The tail was covered by a white material, similar to the rest of the black suit, while a helmet that seemed specifically designed for Juryrigg's species covered his head. Two pixelated green eyes appeared on the visor of the helmet and blinked every so often like real eyes.

With the transformation complete, Ben pressed a few buttons on the wrist of his suit and several blips went off in his visor. The turrets, the nodes, and other bits of metal were highlighted for him. Ben scurried around, grabbing all the metal he could. When he came to the turrets and security nodes, he disassembled them in record time. With the nodes gone, the spheres containing and shrinking around them vanished and Harriet and Ceres fell to the floor.

But Ben wasn't done yet.

Using some unknown power or engineer prowess, Ben ended up making a mech suit out of all the scraps and pieces. Its right arm was made up of the barrels and components of the shock turrets, while the left was made up of the security nodes. Ben climbed into the, what could only be described as scrap-punk, mech and took aim at the spider-like helmet. Energy arced between the node projectors and he fired a stream of hard-light energy, catching the Techadon spider in its own Dust-created bubble. The head scurried around in a panic, trying to find a way out. And, in a way, it did. Ben used the bubble like a flail, spinning it around before slamming it into the floor so hard, the head was crushed on impact.

"Ok...I'm LIKING this one!" Ben cheered, looking over the mech.

"So would someone like to explain THAT?" Harriet asked, dusting herself off.

"Long story short? The damn thing can regenerate as long as the head, chest, or both hands are still intact," Ceres began.

Marrow and Kylie heard that...and then it clicked.

"We need to find Elm. Now!" Kylie shouted.

"What? Why?" Winter asked, about to sheathe her sword.

"She has one of the hands!" Marrow called out.

"SHE WHAT?!" the group, save for Marrow and the soldiers, shouted in unison. The soldiers stayed behind with the doctors while Ceres raced back into the lab. She needed to check on something, especially if this was going the way she thought it would. The rest of the group started racing off, trying to find Elm.

"Where was she when you last saw her?" Winter asked.

"She had just finished a sparring match where she fired a laser into a holo-Grimm's stomach and she was heading to...her quarters! We need to try there!" Kylie suggested.


Elm rolled her shoulders as she just finished checking on the progress of the gauntlet since last time. She heard alarms sounding earlier, but she didn't care. The alarms did die down after a while, sighing in relief when she heard that annoying blaring die down. She couldn't care less what caused it, she was just focused on this new power, this new "gift." She walked out of her quarters, not even bringing Timber with her. She was about to head out, but she stopped dead in her tracks. She heard a group approaching her.

"Oh, what now…" Elm said, turning to see...well, that's new.

Winter, Harriet, Ben, Kylie, and Marrow. And...Harriet had her...oh no.

"Elm, where is it?" Winter asked.

"Where's what?" Elm shot back.

"The gauntlet."

"Wait, how the fu-"

"Elm, I told them, but listen, you have to give it back," Marrow said quickly.

"You told them?!" Elm was furious now. Not just slightly angry, or betrayed. No, she was LIVID.

"Well, yeah! We just found ou-"

"So you're telling me, after all that talk about being actual people, not just soldiers, you just go right back around to being another Hare?"

"...what the hell is THAT supposed to mean?" Harriet interjected.

"Oh, you know exactly what it means!" Elm fired back, "You used to be different, you know? You weren't ALWAYS this uptight robot who just went through the motions, day in and day out. You used to actually be a person! But that all changed, didn't it?!"

"...don't you dare…"

"It all changed when SHE DIED!"

As soon as the words left Elm's mouth, Harriet snapped. She actually ran at Elm and threw a punch. But Elm managed to catch it. The servos in Harriet's Fast Knuckles actually creaked and groaned. Elm was strong, but the servos were meant to be durable, strong enough to survive some high-tier Grimm attacks.

And Elm was making them strain.

"See, that's what I'm talking about," Elm seethed. Her image actually flickered, like a projection. Once. Twice.

"You're ready to snap the MINUTE someone questions you, the MINUTE someone doesn't agree with you or what the general's planning! You're just his tin soldier! But guess what? You're not the only 'tin soldier' here anymore!" Elm reared her fist back and threw a punch right at Harriet's jaw. The hit actually made her Aura shimmer...and Elm's image finally shifted entirely. The assembled group could only look on in shock and horror at the extent of the gauntlet's control had reached. The Techadon machine's armor had fully "grown" over all of Elm's body, boosting her to the same height the complete robot stood. That durable silver armor covered her entirely, the only part of her that was still Elm was her head, and even then, the armor was working on correcting that. Sleek, silver, metallic tendrils were wrapping around Elm's head, covering parts of her hair. A metal frame lined the left side of her face, reaching down to her chin, with more metal snaking its way out and across Elm's cheek like circuits. One of those circuits even seemed to connect to Elm's eye, or it stopped right under it.

"Oh…" Ben began.

"Fuck," Marrow finished.

The group, save for Harriet, brought out their weapons and raced over to Harriet, ready for a fight. Elm wasn't going to just let them take her, though. She brought both hands up into the air and slammed down, making the group scatter. The impact of Elm's attack left a crater in the floor. Tiny beaks suddenly dinged against Elm's new armor, courtesy of Winter. The summoned Nevermores weren't going to get through, but that was fine. That's not what they were for. While Elm was swatting at the glowing birds, two green lights flashed in quick succession before a metal fist clanged against the augmented Ace-Op. Ben, now as Omni-Drive Grey Matter, sat in the pilot chair of his mech and readied for a prolonged fight. He didn't want to hurt Elm, none of them did(except maybe Harriet right now), but Elm wasn't going to give them that same courtesy.

"I was gonna question why you went for the little guy, but," Marrow said, gesturing to the mech.

"Yeah, Omni-Drive's a hell of a powe-" Ben started, but was cut off when a crimson laser slammed into his chest and knocked him back. Energy was still concentrated around Elm's fist, so all she needed to do was point and shoot. Marrow dodged the next shot, shifting Fetch into its bladed-boomerang form and threw it. Elm simply brought up her arm and blocked it.

"Thorn couldn't get through this armor, Marrow!" Elm shouted, "You're not getting through with something like that either!"

Marrow caught Fetch as it rebounded but...then he did a double-take. Was that supposed to be boasting? Something was off with the way she said it.

Before Marrow could figure it out, Kylie readied True Rebel and went in, going only for disabling strikes. She loaded her gun with some Ice Dust bullets and fired them at Elm's feet, freezing her in place. She rushed in and tried to get at the back of Elm's legs, but the corrupted Ace-Op was able to break free and fired another laser blast from her fist. Kylie rolled out of the way, the blast simply scorching the ground instead. Ben came back into the fight, landing a solid uppercut on Elm and knocking her off her feet. She thudded against the ground and growled as she got up. The metal frame on her face grew, covering her chin and starting to reach up the other side of her face.

"We gotta get that thing off of her!" Marrow shouted.

"Obviously! Question is how?!" Kylie asked, dodging another blast. Only this blast wasn't entirely meant to hit, it was meant to cover Elm's escape. The Techadon empowered Elm began racing off towards the hanger.

"Split up and cut her off. We are NOT letting her get out into the city!" Winter shouted, going off with Harriet. Kylie and Marrow went another way, while Ben chased down Elm. If he could keep her focus on him, the others might be able to take her by surprise.

Elm fired a few shots behind, hoping to lose Ben. The Galvan-mech was easily able to dodge the lasers, or tank them if need be. There were plenty of bystanders still in the base who could get caught in the crossfire.

As the two raced through the hallways, a glowing Manticore blindsided Elm, slamming her into a wall. Harriet raced in after the summon, getting in a few good hits on Elm's legs to try and stop her. Elm grabbed the Manticore by its horns and jerked its head to the side hard, snapping its neck and making it disintegrate into light blue particles. Now that she was free, she tried backhanding Harriet out of the way, but the Ace-Ops' speedster simply ran out of the way with some help from her Semblance. She moved back in, taking a running jump and landing a strong right hook.

Elm recoiled, but as soon as Harriet landed, Elm countered with her own right hook. Harriet managed to block the incoming with her weapons, but she was still pushed back from the sheer force behind the impact. Ben tried to get another hit in on her, but Elm was able to dodge before taking off again.

This time, it was Kylie and Marrow's turn to try and stop her. As Elm neared the hangar, Fetch flew out from behind a corner and tripped Elm. Kylie then raced out and threw True Rebel, having the axe and cord wrap around the left gauntlet. She and Marrow tried pulling the gauntlet off, but it was no good. Elm simply got up and pulled them back, slamming her fists into both of them. Their Aura shimmered, almost breaking from the hits, as they dropped to the floor. Elm smirked before she raced off to the hangar, Ben and the others still in hot pursuit. Some of the Atlesian Knights that stood guard noticed the commotion and took aim at Elm with their rifles. They didn't stand a chance as Elm just trampled them. Using lasers on them was a waste of power. She stormed into the hangar and saw one of the Mata gunships about to take off. She made a running jump for it, hoping to catch a ride. She landed on top of the gunship, making it jeer a bit but it was still able to take off.

Ben quickly swapped alien forms, going from Omni-Drive Grey Matter to the more aerodynamic Astrodactyl. His wings unfurled as his organic jetpack roared to life, and he flew off after Elm. Winter and the others commandeered a vacant Manta and started it up.

"I don't get it, Elm's always followed protocol before. Why the fuck would she break it now?" Harriet asked as she got aboard the airship.

Marrow and Kylie shared a look between each other once they were aboard.

"...What did you do?"

"Look, I didn't realize THIS was gonna happen! I just...wanted to talk to you guys. We're partners yeah, but-" Kylie began.

"There is no 'but'. We're on the same team. We start making friends, we end up making calls that could cost everything."

"Is...that what Elm was ta-"

"You start asking about that, and I will throw you in the brig myself!" Harriet snapped, catching Kylie off guard a bit.

"Enough!" Winter called out, "Harriet, if there's a problem here, I suggest you focus on getting it sorted. But do so AFTER we deal with Elm."

"Please don't say 'deal with'," Marrow said.

Winter sighed, realizing the connotations.

"We're going to bring her back in one piece, Marrow."

The Manta's engines roared to life and took off, racing after Ben and Elm. As it did, Kylie suddenly got a call from Ceres. She quickly answered the call as the ship took off.

"Ceres?" Kylie asked.

"Guessing by the alarms I heard, that hand's gone full Terminator?" Ceres asked over the scroll.

"Yeah, why?"

"Easy. I think I know how to beat it."

Ben was catching up with Elm's Manta, the two of them now high above the Atlesian skyscrapers. If it weren't for current circumstances, Ben would've said the view was beautiful. He was quickly reminded of what was happening when a crimson laser was fired his way. He swerved out of the way, only for Elm to start firing a barrage of them. He rolled and weaved between the shots.

Inside the Manta's cockpit, the pilot was, understandably, panicking. If he stopped, there was a crazy alien...robot? Cyborg? whatever on top of his ship. If he kept going, he might get shot down by accident. Today was supposed to be his day off for god's sake! But no, the guy who was SUPPOSED to be delivering the new shipment of gravity Dust restraints called in sick, so he gets called in instead!

And people wondered why he hated Wednesdays instead of Mondays.

Ben didn't want to, but he didn't have much of a choice. Energy charged up in his mouth and he fired a green energy beam from his mouth. Elm rolled out of the way, grabbing hold of the hull of the ship slightly to the right.

But the shot didn't miss entirely.

The green beam sliced through the Manta's left wing. In the ship's cockpit, the pilot saw warning lights flash.

"Damn it!" Ben squawked as he tried to catch up to the ship.

"No, no, no!" the pilot shouted inside the cockpit. He tried his hardest to maintain altitude. He grabbed his radio and sent out a distress call.

"Manta 6-3 to air control! Mayday, maday, I'm going down! Can no longer maintain altitude, can't control the descent!"

Elm continued to fire out blasts of energy, but Ben, even at his current speed, was easily able to roll and weave between them. He got up to the cockpit and punched his way through the glass.

"Getting you out of here!" Ben shouted over the blaring alarms, "Tell me this thing isn't gonna crash into someone's house!"

"No! Couldn't stop the descent, but I managed to steer it towards Elysium Park! Plenty of empty space! Hope the crash takes whatever hitched a ride down with the ship!"

"Well...see...problem with that. We're trying to SAVE her."

"You're what?!"

"No time! Unbuckle and hold on!"

The pilot did as he was ordered and suddenly found a green energy whip wrapped around his waist. Ben pulled him out and carried the pilot, while flying back. He shot out another energy whip from his other hand and wrapped it around Elm's ankle, pulling her off of the ship too. The augmented Ace-Op struggled against the whip, as Ben started to fly lower. He and the pilot watched the Manta crash into the park, skidding through the dirt and slamming against a tree. Thankfully, no one was caught in the way but plenty of people did start to gather around the crash site.

Bystanders were taking out their phones and Scrolls to take pictures and record videos.

As that was happening, Ben continued to fly lower, hoping to land and further bind Elm up and figure out a way to get her out of that armor. The Ace-Op growled and charged up a laser in her fist and fired it upward. Ben squawked in surprise and tried to dodge out of the way, but his arm got hit. It looks like the shot was set to low power because it didn't hurt too much. It still stung, but dismemberment wasn't Elm's goal.

With that hit, Ben recoiled and forced the energy whip around Elm's ankle to retract and she started falling. She knew the armor would protect her from the impact, knowledge probably given to her by the conversion. She plummeted to the park below and soon crashed into the ground, causing the crowd that gathered around the crashed airship to turn. Elm walked out of the dust cloud her impact caused, the metal frame having grown to frame her face entirely.

Ben landed, dropping off the pilot and got ready to fight. Winter and the others arrived shortly after, their Manta landing in the park behind Ben.

"So, any ideas on how to snap her out of this?" Ben asked.

"Ceres offered two things," Kylie said, "We can either overload the hand with electricity, but that risks breaking Elm's Aura and possibly messing up her hand, or we can weaken the connection between the two. Shock the hand enough and give Elm an out."

"I say we go for the second," Marrow said, "Back in the HQ, she told me Thorn didn't cut through the armor. The way she said it…"

"You think she was giving advice?" Ben asked.

"It's Elm. She's not gonna let a fucking alien robot take control of her...entirely."

"So, we aim for the hand. Easier said than done," Harriet said.

"Two teams then. One to distract, one to hit. Ben, Harriet?"

Ben slammed down the Omnitrix symbol and shifted again. This time, he took on a form that none of the Ace-Ops had seen before. After the light faded, Astrodactyl had been replaced by the imposing form of Sea Strike. But then, Ben slammed down on the symbol again.

Armor covered all of Sea Strike's body, even his tentacles. As armor plating appeared and slid into place over his arms, two bolts appeared on each arm and jutted out like pistons. When the plating reached his shoulders, the metal curved upward into two pairs of spikes with green lights positioned on the shoulderplates like rivets on the larger of the two; the smaller spike only had one, larger light-like rivet. Similar rivets on his now armored boots, one at the knee and two just below that. Sea Strike's head was soon covered by an intricate helmet with a glowing green visor. Green energy glowed all over the armor like accents, but the most interesting change was with the form's tentacles. The armor turned the same Omnitrix green around the middle of the tentacles and the tips turned into arrow head shapes.

"Got any spare lightning Dust?" Ben asked. Winter opened a pouch on her belt and threw him a few yellow Dust crystals. Ben caught them and slammed the crystals into the arrowheads, turning the energy yellow.

"Two in one," Ben smirked under the helmet. Harriet rolled her eyes before rushing in towards Elm, Ben racing in behind her. Winter brought out another lightning Dust Crystal as she, Marrow, and Kylie all got ready to blast the gauntlet.

Harriet rushed in, throwing a series of punches at Elm's legs, hoping to bring her down. Elm brought her hand down to crush Harriet, but the Ace-Op was too fast for her controlled teammate. The speedster dashed around and threw a punch right in Elm's back, but her fist just clanged against the metal. Elm was about to turn around to backhand Harriet, but Ben managed to get her attention. Several small, but painful zaps hit Elm in the chest simultaneously, courtesy of Sea Strike's tentacles. Ben rushed in and threw a good, lightning charged hit into Elm's chest, making her stagger back. Energy charged up in her fist and she fired out a barrage of shots, each one missing their mark as Ben managed to dodge out of the way. Ben had his tentacles shoot into the ground and burrow into the ground before shooting up and wrapping around Elm, binding her in place.

Several tendrils wrapped around Elm's left hand and forced her palm open, giving the others a clean shot.

"NOW!" Ben shouted out.

A barrage of shots flew out, lightning bullets and charged glyph blasts, and all of them struck the gauntlet. Lightning coursed through her body and Elm screamed. Kylie winced at the sound before the shots stopped and Ben retracted the tendrils.

Elm was motionless for a few seconds before she came to. The overload worked, the connection was weakened enough for Elm to be herself again.

"U-ugh...guys? What...what's going-?" Elm began, her eyes darting around the area.

"Long story short: mind control from an alien gauntlet and you need to get it off of you, stat!" Ben shouted out.

"Gaunt-...oh god," Elm realized and looked to her left arm. She grabbed hold of it and started to pull, but even with the overload the gauntlet was fighting back. Elm actually struggled to get it off of her. As she did, the frame around her face morphed into the helmet of the robot, but with her face exposed.

"It's...it's still fighting!"

"Come on, Elm! You're stronger than some piece of scrap!" Marrow called out.

"Show it why you're one of Atlas' best!" Kylie shouted.

"Elm, as Kylie said, you are one of Atlas' best Specialists. That is not an empty compliment, that is fact. You are more than just some puppet," Winter encouraged.

"...Then let...me...cut...the...STRINGS!" Elm shouted as she finally overcame the gauntlet's control, ripping it off of her arm. She threw it over to Ben, who caught and crushed the gauntlet in his tendrils like any other tin can.

Exhausted, the armor started to fall away from Elm and soon she thudded to the ground since the height boost fell apart with the armor. Still a little dazed from everything, Elm didn't even realize Harriet walked over to check on her.

"Hare? Look, I-" Elm began.

But she didn't get to finish her apology. Harriet simply got up, satisfied that Elm was ok, and walked back to the Manta, going past Kylie on purpose.

"Hey, kid? Word of advice. Don't try something like that again. Elm's an Ace-Operative, don't put whatever buddy-buddy shit you were saying into her head anymore," Harriet seethed before walking off.

Kylie was going to say something, but Harriet was well out of earshot now.


A few days later, the videos had gone viral. Alien Boy Ben 10 vs Out of Control Cyborg was just one of the many click-bait-y titles floating around social media. Each one was from a different perspective, but they all covered the same fight. Some were actually of a decent quality, while others looked like bad found-footage.

Jacques had finished watching one of the higher quality videos and got to thinking, leaning back in his chair.

"Whitley?" Jacques turned to his son, "Remind me, he never got back to me did he?"

"He did and he said he was interested," Whitley said.

"Good. Tell Mr. Nesmith it's not just theoretical anymore."