Hello one and all! Thank you all so much for your patience throughout this hiatus of my "Avengers of the Multiverse" series, I wasn't sure if I was ever gonna continue this series. But I am pleased that I have found a co-writer who is willing to do the bulk of the writing, while I do all the editing. Speaking of, here's a word from my co-writer UltraPhantom…
"Hey everyone! UltraPhantom here, I am happy to write my first ever chapter for the Avengers of the Multiverse series! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as this will be an interesting one to say the least. Sorry, this took so long to make, had to deal with family stuff as well as my life being a mess as well as college. But now I'm back and happy to bring this to you!"
As my new partner said, it is good to have this series back. But of course, as he's handling all the writing, and he has his own personal life and his own stories to work on, the updates for this series may not be as frequent as all my other works, but I'm just glad that it is continuing, nonetheless.
Thanks, once again, for all your patience and support. And now, without further delay, let's begin!
Disclaimer: All franchises belong to Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Disney
Season 2, Episode 2: The Ghost of the Machine
After the recent tumultuous events involving Vortex and Undergrowth, Ben suggested that the Avengers team should take a break and head back to his Earth. The objective was to relax, rejuvenate and devise a plan for their next move. Almost everyone in the team welcomed the idea, and after bidding an emotional farewell to the Fenton Family, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie, they traveled between universes once more, leaving Danny's world for Ben's.
As the Avengers entered Ben's world, they were greeted with a magnificent sight. The Plumber HQ, a technological marvel, stood tall before them, boasting gear that was beyond anything they had ever seen before. They even got the opportunity to meet Ben's partner in the Plumbers, Rook, and his grandfather, Max. Ben, their host, encouraged them to take some time to explore the facilities while he went to quench his thirst with a refreshing smoothie. He had been craving one for ages! Four of his teammates; Jake, Rex, Ron, and Rufus, eagerly joined him on his quest to find the perfect smoothie. Ron and Rufus hopped into Ben's car, while Jake and Rex decided to use their own means of transportation. With excitement and anticipation, they set out on their adventure.
As the sun was slowly dipping beneath the horizon outside, Kim and Rook were still engaged in a fierce sparring match inside Plumber HQ's training room Both of them were evenly matched, having each won a round in their previous bouts. They were both determined to emerge as the winner this time. Kim stood in her fighting stance, exuding confidence as she expertly positioned her arms and legs in perfect form.
Rook smiled, analyzing her movements closely as he adopted his own fighting stance. Kim made the first move, unleashing a powerful right hook aimed at Rook, but he was quick to dodge it with nimble footwork. He then tried to grab her by the arm, but this move left his left side exposed, which Kim immediately seized upon. As he reached out to grab her, she swiftly pivoted to her right, using Rook's momentum against him. She grabbed him by the left side and expertly tripped him, causing him to fall flat on his stomach. It was a quick and decisive move, and Kim had once again emerged victorious in their sparring match.
The training room was illuminated by a bright red light as the floor beneath them blinked with the same color. "Rook, Failed!" a voice boomed from the speakers.
Kim Possible extended her hand to help the Revonnahgander warrior up from the floor. "Good job, Rook. I don't think I've sparred with anyone as skilled as you, except for Shego," she complimented.
Rook smiled, his respect for Kim's fighting abilities evident in his expression. "Thank you, Ms. Possible. You are an excellent sparring partner yourself," he replied, acknowledging her praise. "It's clear to see that you are an experienced fighter."
"Well, I was in cheerleading most of my life before saving the world, over and over again." Kim said. "Now I'm saving the multiverse from things I couldn't even imagine, and that's saying a lot given all the things I've seen in my life."
"I suppose we're both green in that sort of regard." Rook said. "I trained on my home planet of Revonnah, mostly fending off Muroids. And while those rodents can certainly be troublesome, there is still a far cry difference between wildlife and dangerous criminals who are actively trying to end my life."
"Yeah, that does seem like a big leap." Kim replied. "But hey, we're both learning. So, what do you say we keep on learning and getting better?" She offered her hand to shake.
Rook smiled as he accepted her handshake. "I would be honored to learn alongside you, Miss Possible."
"Please, call me Kim. So, up for another round?" She took a combative stance with an eager smile.
"Of course." Rook took one of his own, smiling himself before re-engaging her.
The laboratory of Plumbers' HQ was a marvel of advanced technology not seen anywhere on this Earth, filled with an impressive collection of cutting-edge gadgets that would leave any tech enthusiast in complete awe. However, the lab is also in a constant state of disarray, making it difficult to navigate. The reason for this was that it is also the workplace of Blukic and Driba, two Galvin scientists and Plumbers who are certainly brilliant but notoriously messy, and are somehow able to thrive in chaos.
Despite their superior intelligence, the two Galvins often dismiss the opinions and suggestions of others, believing that their intelligence trumps all, including each other. While Driba was more sensible than Blukic, their combined lack of common sense often lands them in trouble. It's worth noting that Driba and Blukic's intelligence falls significantly short when compared to the average Galvin.
Blukic is a peculiar character with an unmistakable rustic charm that is hard to miss. He has an amiable demeanor, but he tends to contradict his partner Driba on just about everything. Blukic believes unwaveringly in his own intelligence as a Galvan, which can sometimes lead him and Driba to dismiss the valid opinions of others. This combination of overconfidence and arrogance is a defining trait of Blukic's personality that sets him apart from others.
In said laboratory, Octus, in his Newton disguise stood among several computers while Breach and Zak engage in a lively conversation with Blukic and Driba at a nearby table. The group appears to be deeply engrossed in understanding the inner workings of Breach's unique powers, exchanging insights and theories with each other. The atmosphere is one of intellectual curiosity and collaboration as they delve into the intricacies of Breach's abilities.
Zak looked curious about Breach's powers as she held one of her red portals in the palm of one of her larger hands. "I'm still having trouble trying to understand… Your nanites are the source of your powers, but you don't really understand how they work."
"Van Kleiss didn't seem all that interested in explaining it to me, and I probably wouldn't understand it myself" She responded.
"What about Paradox?" Zak asked. "I mean, you spent five years with him?"
"He helped me to straighten my mind out and explained it in a way that I can understand. But I think he understood that I'm not exactly PhD material, so he thought to save me the headache." A smile formed on her face. "But I know my powers well, and I can control them and use them to help you. That's all I need." She expanded the portal in her hand to create an even larger portal.
"Woah!" Driba looked in awe and amazement. After a moment of silence, Driba looked around, finding it odd that he didn't hear any contradicting remarks. "Oh, it looks like I can get some peace and quiet for once." The door then opened as Blukic entered the room. "Ah nuts."
"Sorry, I'm late. Had to fix the pipes in the bathroom." Blukic said.
"Shouldn't they have called a plumber for that?" Zak asked.
"They did." Blukic answered.
Breach giggled at that while Zak's eyelids lowered, realizing what he had said. "I stepped right into that one, didn't I?"
Newton observed Breach with fascination as she decreased the size of her portal. "Intriguing," he murmured. "The energy readings suggest that you possess the ability to manipulate not just the dimensional energies of the multiverse, but also that of space itself. This explains how you can create portals to other universes and effortlessly travel to any specific location you desire."
Breach listened to Netwon, despite what she had previously said, she did pick up a few things from her time with Paradox to at least get a basic understanding of what he had said. "Yeah...just like you said."
"That's what I was thinking," Blukic said, as if he has a complete understanding of how Breach's powers function.
"No way! You have no idea!" Diba countered.
"Yes, I do! We work with the Null Void Projector all the time. It's the same principle." Blukic said.
"No, it's not!" Driba argued. "The Null Void Projector only creates a means to and from the Null Void, not other dimensions!"
"Yes, it can!" Blukic argued back. "Ben used it to travel back to our dimension after visiting the one this lady is from." He pointed to Breach for emphasis.
"Only because that human idiot from that same dimension had accidentally connected to the Null Void with his own dimensional gun, thinking it was just an empty space!" Driba countered. "And it wasn't!"
As the two Galvan scientists argued with each other, with Zak, Netwon, and Breach looking back and forth between the two small scientists, Fiskerton, Zon, and Komodo hung more around the corner. Fiskerton had a notebook in his hands, trying to write down everything he was hearing… but all he wrote down were scribbles and cartoonish drawings of Blukic and Driba arguing with one another.
Zon was sleeping in the corner, while Komodo looked to the two small, bickering aliens, silently debating whether he should eat them or not.
At the same time; Danny, Illana, and Lance had joined Max Tennyson in Plumber's Central Command, alongside a pair of his fellow Plumbers, Molly and Patelliday. Molly was a human with short light brown hair and blue eyes, and wore a red Plumber's suit; while Patelliday was a male Piscciss Volann wearing a white suit.
Illana scrolled through the criminal files and stopped at a mugshot of a man with a white hair and a mad smile. "How about this guy?" She asked, taking a look over his files. "Seems like he's been a problem for you for years and… what's this… experimenting on animals?"
Molly shifted her attention to the monitor, which displayed a live feed of the detention center below. "No, Animo is locked up and all his equipment has been confiscated." The monitor showed footage of Doctor Animo, who paced back-and-forth in his cell.
Lance was scrolling through different screens when he came across Rojo, one of Ben's old foes. He turned to Max and asked. "What of this woman? Dealing with alien technology on the black market could give the Cabal an influence on the streets and get them access to other forms of technology as well. It also seems like she has a history with one of its members.
Max gave a nonchalant shrug and replied. "If by history, you mean she was turned into a cyborg against her will, then yes. But I doubt it. Rojo might be willing to work with others, but there are other ways for Viglax and the rest of the Cabal to get their hands on alien tech without using the black market."
Danny was scrolling through images of the Plumbers tablets when he suddenly came across a picture of a certain clown. The sight of it immediately put him in an even worse mood than he was earlier. He couldn't help but express his annoyance. "Great, you guys have evil clowns in this universe too," Danny said in a sarcastic tone as he pulled up an image of Zombozo.
Patelliday, who was standing next to him, agreed. "Yeah, that's a creepy fellow there. He was human before, but then he started to feed off human emotions and his body undergo certain changes. Not to mention he's pretty handy with all his crazy clown tools. Confetti bombs, acid seltzer, you name it."
"I'm guessing you have someone like that in your universe?" Max asked.
"Yeah, he was the head of a gothic circus and was obsessed with ghosts." Danny said. "I can see him being involved the Cabal to if he gets the chance. But what about this Zombozo-guy?"
"Him and all his pals are all under lock and key." Patelliday informed as he held his own tablet to show footage of Zombozo and his trio of circus freaks in their respective cells.
Frightwig, who had her hair restraint by a metallic hairnet, laid back on her bed with a bored expression. Thumbs tried for the millionth time to smash his way through the cell door, but was unable to do so. Acid Breath sat in the corner with a muzzle over his mouth. And finally, Zombozo, was in the corner of his own cell, who backed away to reveal a bloody smile he had painted on the wall, his own thumb bleeding as a result form biting it, before turning towards the camera and bowing with a sadistic smile.
Danny shivered slightly. "And I thought Freakshow was creepy."
Lance too skimmed over the Plumbers' criminal files on the Plumbers' tablet he had while sitting back on a chair, but an annoyed expression soon formed on his face. "You'd think Ben would be here to help. This is his world, and these are his enemies."
"Lance, he said he was taking Rex and the others on a break, and they'd be back soon." Illana told him. "So let them rest for a bit. We literally just yesterday fought off Undergrowth and Vortex, I think we're all due."
The Galalunian soldier gave a sigh, both seeing Illana's point and already understanding that he could never win an argument with her, and he has tried. At the same time, he couldn't also help but worry. Any time they'd take a break was also an ideal time for their own enemies to strike. But without knowing who else was aligned with them, meant they were virtually unprepared, and that made him uneasy.
Meanwhile, Ben sat at a table outside of his favorite joint, Mr. Smoothies with Rex, Jake, and Ron, Rufus standing on his owner's shoulder. Ben had been quite excited for this. It had been a long time since he had one of his favorite frozen drinks. But more importantly, he was finally introducing his friends to it. They were all dressed in casual, civilian clothes, and were thoroughly enjoying their refreshing treats. For the four universe hoppers, it was a rare luxury to indulge in such delights, but they were savoring every sip and slurp.
Rex gave an audible sigh after taking a long slurp of his smoothy. "Okay, gotta admit, I could get used to this place."
"See? Toldya." Ben said.
Jake stopped slurping with a contented expression on his face. "Nothing beats the classic strawberry banana."
"Got that right. Blueberry blast for me Rex nodded his head in agreement, taking another sip of his drink
"Yummy," Rufus commented with a smile, standing on the edge of his cup and slurping from the straw. "Mango!" He said before giving a loud burp.
"I got them to make me a taco and nacho smoothie!" Ron announced Jake and Rex's faces twisted in disgust at the thought of such a concoction. "Had to explain the whole thing to them, but I mean how hard can it be? Put in a taco with nacho chips into the blender with vanilla ice cream. I mean, come on, it's not rocket science."
As he went on, Rex and Jake shared disgusted looks with one another. "Bleh!" Even Rufus spat in disgust.
"Well, looks like we got a new dish to add to the menu." Ben said. "As for me, nothing beats a good old meat smoothie!" He said before slurping his own drink, much to his friends' further disgust.
"Okay, that is gross." Rex said in a straightforward and blunt manner.
"Yeah, isn't that basically baby food?" Jake questioned.
After a second or two of processing it all, the five of them quickly burst into a fit of laughter. Despite the obvious disgust that half of them had felt towards their friends' choice of a frozen drink, they were indeed enjoying themselves.
"Hey Tennyson." A voice calls out. "Heard you were back in town." Kevin said as he walked onto the scene with Gwen right by his side.
"Trying to get your new friends addicted to Mr. Smoothies' huh?" Gwen asked in a teasing manner.
"Well, we've had one success so far." Ben said.
"The nacho smoothie is coming to Mr. Smoothies, baby!" Ron cheered.
However, there was a third person who had also arrived onto the scene. She was a girl of Asian-American descent with a plain white shirt underneath a pink hoodie with a white skirt and white tennis shoes, while also carrying a gym-bag.
But what really caught the attention of Ben's friends was what was in the girl's bag. It looked like a smaller version of one of Ben's own aliens, specifically Upgrade. "Ship!" It gave a light call almost like a puppy dog bark.
"Julie, hey!" Ben greeted as he stood up from his spot and gave her a peck on the lips. "Miss me?"
"Nope." She smirked playfully as Ben patted the puppy alien on the head.
"Guys, this is my girlfriend, Julie." He introduced her to his teammates. "And her pet, Ship."
"Ship!" The alien pet jumped out of Julie's bag and onto the table, prompting Rufus to climb down from his smoothie cup and look at the alien pet with curiosity, sniffing him for a bit.
"Hello." Rufus said as he and Ship began to circle each other.
"So, you're the Avengers I've heard about. Nice to meet you all." Julie said before turning to one specifically. "And you must be that Rex guy I've heard about?"
"Really? What did he say about this action-hero?" Rex put on a cool act.
"Only that you got your butt kicked by both him and some evil nanite robot thing." Julie teased back.
"Oh yeah? Well, I had to do most of the work at that time, cause his fancy watch was glitching up." Rex put in, pointing toward Ben. "And for the record, I was the one kicking his ass."
Ben just smirked back at him. "Sorry, dude, but I was the one winning that fight."
"Hey uh… quick question. Is this supposed to be like a mini-Upgrade or…?" Jake pointed down at Ship, who had jumped off the table to transform into a toy monster truck, with Rufus jumping into the driver's seat, prompting Ship to drive around the table in circles.
"Oh, that's Ship." Julie said. "He was kinda 'reproduced'…" She didn't quite know any other way to explain it. "…From someone else from Upgrade's species and decided to stick around."
"Don't let the size fool ya, that little guy's a walking arsenal." Kevin said.
Back at the Plumbers' headquarters, the group in the command center's discussion had come to a halt just as Danny's ghost sense had gone off, much to their surprise.
"What's wrong?" Max asked.
"There's a ghost here!" Danny stated, putting Illana and Lance on alert.
That's when the giant monitor on the wall in front of them turned to static as well as every other monitor in the command center, including the tablets that Molly and Patelliday both had. The tablets began to glow green as they hovered in the air before all the screens in the entire room changed to reveal the laughing face of a ghost that Danny recognized in an instant.
"Hello ghost child!" Technus greeted with a sinister smile.
"Technus!" Danny had already transformed into his superhero alter ego while Illana and Lance had donned their respective armors. "Should have known it was you. My ghost sense reeked of the 70s. What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, not spilling my plans this time!" Technics spoke from all the screens. "But I can tell you that the Cabal sends their regards." He said with a grin before his green ghostly aura quickly spread throughout the entire command center, and throughout the rest of Plumbers' HQ.
"Don't make us guess! What are we dealing with?!" Max questioned as he and his fellow Plumbers had their guns drawn.
"A ghost that can control anything electronic!" Danny summed up. "And it looks like he's already taken over the whole base!"
As Kim and Rook engaged in their training session, the air was filled with the sounds of their grunts and the clanging of their weapons, causing them to stop their training sesion as they looked to one another in confusion. Suddenly, the room's electronics began to flicker and spark, causing the lights to dim. They then turned a dark and eerie green as multiple doors along the walls began to open, revealing multiple humanoid robots as their optics turned green.
"What's going on?" One of two Plumbers at the training room's command station questioned. "Who activated the training drones?!"
"I don't know! Something's overridden the controls! I can't shut it down!" The second Plumber pressed at every button on the panel before an electric charge came out of the panel to shock both Plumbers and knock them out, right before Technus emerged with his usual laugh.
"Training room, eh? How's about some real life-or-death training for these kids?" He laughed as he flew back into the control pannel, causing it to surge even more with his power.
Kim and Rook were now on the back foot, dodging and weaving as they fought back against the relentless machines. Just as they thought they had the situation under control, the doors slammed shut and locked in place. The room was now a deadly trap, and they were the prey.
"That is not good!" Rook stated the obvious. "Someone has taken control of the room's combat drones!"
"Gee, I hadn't noticed!" Kim replied irritably as she backflipped to avoid the punch of one robot before leaping upward to land on that robot's shoulders, wrap her legs around its head and sent it tumbling into several more. But despite that, the robots advanced as they appeared to have Kim and Rook surrounded, forcing the pair to come back-to-back.
Despite the danger, Rook and Kim remained calm and collected. They turned to each other with a small smile on their faces, knowing that they had each other's back. They were ready to face whatever came their way, and they were determined to emerge victorious.
"I'll take the left side, you take the right side?" Kim offered
Rook's face lit up with a matching grin. "Kim, it is as if you read my mind."
With that, the pair had split into opposite directions to engage their respective aversaries. Kim charged head on toward a group of combat drones. One of them charged towards her, but she effortlessly executed a roundhouse kick, and the robot went flying. Another robot tried to attack her with a blast of laser fire, but Kim dodged it with ease before closing in to deliver a kick to break off the robot's laser hand. She then quickly grabbed said hand and fired point blank in that robot's face to blast its head off. She then turned towards the other robots and fired her newly acquired weapon, hitting them with deadly accuracy and knocking them down one by one.
As she fought, another robot made a desperate charge at her, but Kim grabbed it and used her own strength, combining it with the robot's momentum throw it over her shoulder and into a group of other robots, causing them all to tumble down in before jumping over them to blast them all while they were down. But as she landed, a few were already standing up and closing in, forcing Kim to use her weapon to block their attacks, all while striking out with punches and kicks of her own.
Meanwhile, as Rook charged towards one of the robots that he faced, he moved with swift and calculated movements, expertly dodging the incoming attacks. With a quick movement, he knocked down the robot before using his Proto-Tool to blast its head into pieces.
He continued his assault with impressive agility, running up to one robot and punching it from the left, then ducking behind another before punching it from the right, sending both crashing to the ground. Rook then leapt high, stomping on a robot's head before firing a powerful blast at another robot that was struggling to stand up.
As he ran, Rook encountered a much larger robot, but he remained unfazed. He charged towards it, attempting to kick it, but the robot was too strong, and Rook was sent tumbling to the ground. The robot tried to stomp on him, but Rook managed to roll out of the way just in time.
With the realization that he needed to end this quickly, Rook transformed his Proto-Tool into a bow and fired a single shot at the giant robot. The arrow that he fired transformed into a bolo, wrapping around the robot's body with the arrow still embedded in its chest. Seizing the opportunity, Rook charged forward, delivering a swift sidekick that sent the arrow deeper into the robot's chest, electrifying it and causing it to finally shut off.
At the same time, Blukic and Driba's lab was just as chaotic as the rest of the base, and even more chaotic than the usual mess this lab was always in. Multiple pieces of equipment had been taken over by Technus' power and were blasting at the group. Breach had manged to open a pair of portals on both sides to act as shields and give the rest a chance to run, find cover, and take out the seemingly malfunctioning machines. One experimental laser, which was glowing green like every other piece of equipment in the base, had lifted itself from a table and appeared to aim at the pair of Galvan scientists.
"Hey, that blaster is still in the experimental phase!" Driba pointed.
"Yeah, and it's ours!" Blukic added.
The laser had opened fire, but fortunately, Octus had enveloped his transparent body around the two Galvan to shield them from the energy blast before retaliating with a blast of his own to destroy it.
"Hey, that blaster was still in the experimental phase!" Driba said to Octus.
"Yeah, and it was ours!" Blukic added again.
"So, now you two seem to agree on something." Octus voiced with an audible sigh.
Fiskerton gave an audible scream as he flipped a table over to cover himself from the laser fire from all the energy guns and electric tools that had been enveloped by the ghostly green energy. Zak quickly joined Fiskerton as he took out the Claw in one hand and Fang in the other.
"Fisk, cover me!" Zak ordered, to which Fisk nodded with an affirmative grunt. Fisk held the table up and moved along with Zak, as he launched the grapplers of his dual weapons, striking several of the tools together, creating minor reality bursts that caused the tools to melt, freeze, or even turn to stone.
For those that Zak didn't hit, Komodo and Zon had leapt up or flew down to tear them apart with their claws and fangs while Breach received a communications alert from Danny via their comns and was given a brief explanation.
"Hang on everyone, I'm getting reinforcements!" Breach said before opening a portal for herself.
"You put nacho chips… in a taco… in a smoothy…?" Kevin summed up as the group continued to hang out at Mr. Smoothy.
"Yep, my own pride and joy." Ron confirmed with his usual grin, while everyone else, except Ben, cringed.
"How the hell did you even come up with that idea?" Kevin questioned.
"Boys are disgusting." Gwen rolled her eyes.
Suddenly, a red portal had opened in front of the group, much to their surprise, and even more surprising was the portals' creator tripping out of the portal with an urgent expression on her face.
"Breach!?" Rex was already by her side along with Jake as they helped her up. "What's going on?"
"Technus is back! And he's taken over Plumber HQ!" She reported.
"Ugh, that guy again?" Rex groaned, remembering that particular ghost very well.
"Technus?" Julie asked in confusion.
"A freaky ghost that can control technology. Real nasty piece of work." Ben summed up.
"Yeah, the others are holding him back, but we need help!" Breach said.
"Alright, let's go!" Julie seemed just as ready as everyone else, much to the confusion and concern of several of the present heroes.
"Whoa, hold on! I don't think that's a good idea!" Rex quickly said. "I fought that guy and he's no cakewalk!"
Jake nodded in agreement. "Yeah, no offense, but you don't seem to have any skills or powers that can help us out."
"Appreciate the offer, but best you sit this one out. Right Ben?" Ron asked, hoping Ben would be the kind of guy to keep his girlfriend away from danger. However, he and everyone else were surprised to see a knowing smirk on Ben's face, along with Gwen, Kevin, and even Julie herself
"Not really." She said before looking at Ship. "Ship, suit me up." She instructed to her pet.
"Ship! Ship!" Ship responded to the command with excitement, barking eagerly before rushing towards Julie. Upon reaching her, it began to consume her body, transforming her into a bulky armored suit that seemed to be brimming with power and readiness for any battle that may come her way.
Ron, Breach, Rufus, Jake, and Rex stood in silence, just staring blankly, clearly not expecting that. while Ben, Gwen, and Kevin maintained their smirks. "That'll work." The five said in unison.
Hundreds of energy turrets had popped out from the walls and central pillar in Plumber HQ's central command and fired in all directions at the six person team of Avengers and Plumbers as they tried to fight back anyway they could.
Danny flew up and around, avoiding all the lasers shot at him before he blasted a cyan-colored Ecto beam from his eyes up a row of turrets to freeze them solid, allowing Lance to come in with his Manus armor and obliterate them with his gatling cuffs.
Max and Patelliday ran across the floor with guns in their hands, taking cover behind a console as they returned fire to blast the turrets that shot at them.
"You know, this reminds me of the time when Animo used his Technobugs to take over the base at Mount Rushmore." Patelliday recalled, despite the chaotic situation they were in. "Of course I wasn't there, but I heard the stories so…"
"Not now, Patelliday! Focus!" Max told him as he stood up from behind the console to blast one turret, but then he spotted Molly, who was out of cover as she tried to shoot at turrets herself, but she ended up getting shot in the leg and fell over. "Molly!"
Several lasers then began to converge towards the downed Plumber. Fortunately, Illana came in with her Corus armor and projected her energy shield around herself and Molly, saving her from the deadly onslaught.
"Are you alright?" The princess asked urgently.
"I'll live… thanks for the save…" Molly smiled, but grunted in pain from the laser burn that was on her left leg.
Danny and Lance both continued to fly and dodge the laser fire from all the turrets, while returning fire however they could, but the sheer quantity of their opponent's arsenal made it up an hill battle to say the least.
"We're not getting anywhere like this!" Lance stated. "While we're stuck in here, Technus has probably already taken over the whole base!"
"Breach should have been back with reinforcements by now!" Danny put in.
"You called?" A familiar voice spoke up as a large red portal opened up high in the air, Breach's upper half sticking out from the top side of the portal, while the calvary all fell out from the bottom. Ben, in the form of Jetray, flew alongside Octus, Jake in his Dragon Form, Rex with his Boogie Pack, Julie with Ship's armor providing her with jet boosters on her back, and even Zon. As the quartet flew and began to blast and smash all the laser turrets with energy beams, fire blasts, or metallic fists and talons; Gwen descended closer to the ground with a pink Mana disk that also carried Kevin, Zak, Kim, Ron, Rufus, Rook, Fiskerton, Komodo, Blukic, and Driba.
Gwen was quick to create and expand a mana-barrier to provide a large shield for those around her, including her grandfather, the two Plumbers, as well as Illana, allowing those currently in the air to finish their work with the laser turrets.
"Magister Tennyson, the Avengers arrived a few moments ago." Rook summed up. "Thanks to some coordination, as well as the individual known as Breach's ability to create portals, we were able to neutralize all the compromised internal defenses and rescue all HQ personnel. There are those who are injured, but no casualties."
"That's what I like to hear." Max smirked with approval just as Danny and the other airborne fighters to destroy the turrets.
He had to admit, Max was more than impressed with Ben's new team. Not only did they have impressive abilities, but they were also coordinated enough to know how and when to use them. Honestly, they would all make outstanding Plumbers if they were to join.
Jetray's tail had blasted the out last turret. "Sorry about your base, Grandpa. We'll fix it up later."
"Don't be so sure to celebrate your victory, children!" Technus' face once again appeared on the monitor.
"Yo, we took down all your guns and bots and saved all the Plumbers in here! It's over!" Jake proclaimed.
"Yes you did. And now, here you all are together. Avengers assembled." A smirk formed on Technus' face. "Just as I planned!"
Suddenly, multiple ports all opened up across the ground as several small devices, all resembling electric prods, rose up. Each prod surged with green electricity at the tips before countless energy bolts shot in all directions, striking each and every individual in the command chamber. Every human, part-human, animal, and alien, even those protected by armor, every single one of them was struck by these bolts of energy and were quickly rendered immobile as green energy auras formed around them.
"What the heck…?!" Kevin grunted.
"I can't…. move…!" Danny grunted as well.
"My nanites…! They feel fuzzy inside…!" Rex grunted.
"My armor's locked down…! I can't get its weapons online…!" Lance reported as all his internal systems turned to static.
"Can't focus my Mana…!" Gwen grunted.
"Can't feel my monkey mojo either…!" Ron struggled with Rufus in the same position on his shoulder.
"Ship! Ship! Can you hear me?!" Julie tried to call to her pet, but even he was unresponsive, and because of that, her armor was no longer functioning.
"Octus!?" Illana also tried calling to him as well.
"System error…!" Octus buzzed in and out, his transparent form blinking in and out as his systems were also engulfed in the same kind of electrical energy. "Can't… focus…!"
"It's an internal security system built into the base…!" Max informed everyone. "In the event Plumbers HQ was breached and taken over… or we had a mass prison break out… we could neutralize all hostiles…! It forces all weapons to stall and even interferes with energy-based powers…!"
"But it was still in the development-stage…!" Driba pointed out.
"No, it wasn't!" Blukic argued. "We made the final touches!"
"Yes, it was!" Driba argued back. "We were starting not eh final touches, we didn't finish them!"
"Yes, we did!" Blukic responded.
"No, we didn't!" Driba shouted.
"Yes, we did!" Blukic exclaimed, all while everyone else's eyebrows lowered in annoyance with Komodo hissing loudly, wanting nothing more than to eat them both.
"Yeah, no. It wasn't finished." Technus said as his ghostly form materialized out of the monitor to reveal himself to all the immobile Avengers and their allies. "But I managed to finish it. And even made my own little improvements. You're welcome."
"What do you want Technus…?!" Jetray questioned as his form turned back into Ben. "What does the Cabal want with Plumber HQ….?!"
"Like I said, I'm not shouting my plans anymore. Sorry. You'll just have to figure it out yourself when trying to find your way back." Technus gloated.
"Back…?!" Kim grunted. "Back from where…?!"
Technus snapped his fingers as a port in one of the consoles opened up, allowing a hand-held device resembling that of a gun with a projector-like extension at the top. It was something that Ben and all those from his world recognized.
"Oh no…!" He gulped.
"He has our Null Void Projector!" Patelliday exclaimed.
"That's right! As you kids say these days, Sayonara!" Technus gloated as he fired the Projector at the ground beneath the trapped heroes, opening a swirling red portal, while also deactivating the energy barrier around most of them, causing all but Breach, to fall into the portal, which closed as soon as all of them were in.
"No!" Breach exclaimed. She tried desperately to use her powers and bring them back, but she couldn't even move a finger.
"Nuh, nuh, nuh." Technus flew closer to her. "So long as you're caught in that energy field, all those fancy little nanites that you got inside ya, they're about as useless as a bunch of rocks. No nanites, no fancy portals, and no Avengers assembling anytime soon. Van Kleiss and the others have been looking forward to seeing you again."
"You tell them to go rot in Hell!" Breach glared. "I am never serving them again!"
"You better hope that's not the case." Technus warned. "Cause they told me that if I can't get you on our side, whether it be by brainwashing or willingly or anything else in-between, then you're a dead lady. If we can't have your powers, nobody can. But before we get into that nasty business… it's moving day!"
Technus then flew into a command console as he began to reintegrate himself into the base's system once again. All the monitors buzzed before a blueprint of the entire underground base was shown with multiple error and override screens popping up before they all blinked out and a countdown was shown, starting from ten with the words 'LAUNCH SEQUENCE INITIATED!' above it in all capital letters.
Ten seconds later, the entire underground base began to shake, so much so that all the recovering Plumbers fell to the floor, as did many of the prisoners in the cells below, all of whom looked in surprise and confusion as they could see and feel everything around them shaking.
On the surface, the street that housed Max's Plumbing workshop, began to crack and break apart, leading to the shop itself, and many of the other surrounding buildings collapsing as something massive began to rise out from the ground, causing all the people nearby to run away screaming in terror.
Everyone in the entire city of Bellwood stopped what they were doing as they gazed up to see what appeared to be a massive spaceship, covered in a ghostly green aura, emerging from the ground. The vessel appeared to be straightforward, having a form equivalent to that of a rocket-ship, only of alien design with a large ring near the base a trio of enormous rocket thrusters at the bottom which was providing it the necessary propulsion to escape from underground and the city altogether.
It didn't take long for the Plumbers' base, now reconfigured into a ship, to leave the Earth's orbit and travel into space, where it quickly picked up seed as the rear thrusters created an even more powerful burst of energy, causing the ship to move at incredible speeds, almost equivalent to lightspeed. As it did, the image of Technus' face appeared at the very front of the rocket as the technopathic ghost gave his signature maniacal laugh.
Done.
So, yeah, things escalated very quickly here. Technus has arrived, has taken over Plumbers' HQ and turned it into a ship as he has now departed Ben's Earth and has flown off to who-knows-where. Not only that, he's set all the Avengers and their present allies into the Null Void, save for Breach whom he has plans for.
Expect things to get very exciting in the next chapter as our heroes try to regroup and find a way to escape the Null Void and a way to fight back against Technus. But what kind of plans does he and the Cabal have in store this time? Why hijack Plumbers' base this way? We'll find out soon enough.
Oh, and yes, in this continuity, Ben is still in a relationship with Julie. One of my biggest complaints in Omnniverse was not only them breaking up, but how they broke up. Yeah, both were incredibly stupid choices. Ben and Julie had such a great dynamic as she was arguably the one who kept him grounded, and I curse Omniverse for not only breaking them up, but even pairing him up with Kai, who did not receive any character development at all since we last saw her in the original series. Okay, rant over.
I hope you guys like my decision, expect Julie to play a role in my series, and more than just Ben's girlfriend.
Once again, credit goes to UltraPhantom who wrote the bulk of this chapter, while I provided much editing. As said before, updates on this series may not be as frequent because UltraPhantom has his own stories to write and his own life to live, so I encourage everyone to be patient as we go on.
Until then, see you soon with part two.