Back aboard the Plumber space station, three of Earth's most brilliant minds stared at their monitoring displays in growing horror, cold sweat beading on their foreheads despite the climate-controlled environment.
"This... this isn't right," Otto whispered, his mechanical arms trembling as they adjusted and readjusted their position behind him. The normally composed scientist's voice carried an edge of barely controlled panic.
"The experimental data was perfect!" Tony's fingers flew across holographic interfaces, frantically pulling up diagnostic readouts and cross-referencing them against their theoretical models. "Every simulation, every calculation, it all checked out!" His usual cocky confidence had evaporated, replaced by the desperate intensity of a man watching his carefully constructed plans crumble.
The truth was that despite their cautious rhetoric, all three scientists had genuinely believed the experiment would proceed smoothly. The mathematics were elegant, the physics sound, the engineering flawless. Tony wouldn't have permitted Ben to volunteer as a test subject if he'd harbored any serious doubts about the system's safety.
But now their instruments told a very different story.
"We've lost contact completely!" Banner's voice cracked with strain as he paced frantically around the laboratory, his movements sharp and erratic. His breathing grew labored, and the familiar signs of an impending anxiety attack began manifesting. The guilt was crushing, once again, his scientific hubris had potentially endangered someone he cared about.
"Banner, you need to calm down!" Tony spotted the telltale blue tinge creeping across Banner's skin and immediately moved to intervene. The last thing they needed was the Hulk rampaging through their delicate equipment.
"We lost him, Tony!" Banner's hands shook as he clutched his hair. "Another experiment gone wrong because I thought I was smarter than the universe! How many times will I make the same mistake?"
Otto's mechanical arms extended toward Banner in a gesture that might have been comforting if they weren't made of cold metal. "Focus on the technical solutions, Bruce. Can your stabilization device transmit data across dimensional barriers? The specifications indicated cross-universal communication capabilities."
Banner forced himself to stop pacing and check his instruments, though his hands continued trembling. "No... no signal whatsoever. Complete communications blackout." The admission felt like swallowing broken glass.
Tony looked up from his diagnostic screens, his expression grim but determined. "Look, we don't need to panic yet. Ben isn't some helpless civilian, he's got the Omnitrix, alien knowledge, and more raw power than the three of us combined. Plus, he brought the original particle collider data back from the Spider-Verse incident. If anyone can build a return portal from scratch, it's him."
The logic was sound, and Banner felt his racing heartbeat slowly return to normal ranges. "You're right. He survived the worst. Dimensional displacement is probably just another Tuesday for him." The scientist in him reasserted control over his emotional spiral. "But we still need to understand what went wrong."
"Already working on it." Tony's expression intensified as data streams cascaded across multiple displays. "Pulling up the transit recording now, along with full spectral analysis of the dimensional breach."
Otto leaned over Tony's shoulder, his optical sensors interfacing directly with the computer systems to process information faster than human eyes could follow. "Particle collider operations are nominal... energy fluctuations from the Power Stone are within acceptable parameters... dimensional gateway formation proceeded according to mathematical models..." He paused, mechanical arms clicking in agitation. "There should have been zero margin for error."
"Wait," Banner interrupted, pointing at a specific timestamp in the recording. "Look at his wrist during transit initiation. The Omnitrix is glowing, that's not normal passive energy emission." His analytical mind latched onto the anomaly like a lifeline. "There's some kind of resonance interaction between the device and the Power Stone's energy signature."
Tony zoomed in on the relevant footage, watching as the alien watch pulsed with increasing brightness during the dimensional breach. "The Omnitrix interfered with the gateway formation? That could explain the energy spike we detected at transition completion."
"Exactly," Banner nodded, his scientific excitement overriding his anxiety. "Instead of a controlled dimensional hop within our own multiverse, the resonance cascade may have generated enough power to breach the fundamental barriers between entirely different frameworks."
Otto's mechanical arms performed complex calculations in the air, servos whining as they computed trajectories and energy differentials. "The implications are staggering. If the Omnitrix can interact with Infinity Stone energy to create these type of portals..."
"We may have accidentally discovered the key to accessing every possible multiverse," Tony finished, his expression mixing wonder with trepidation.
Banner leaned back against a workbench, overwhelmed by the scope of what they'd potentially unleashed. "We need to contact Peter. If anyone knows the full capabilities of that alien device, it would be Ben's cousin."
Meanwhile, perched on a Gothic cathedral spire that jutted from Gotham's perpetually overcast skyline, Ben studied the city spread below him with growing unease. The humid air clung to his nano-suit like a second skin, carrying the distinctive scent of urban decay mixed with industrial pollution. Everything about this place felt oppressive, as if the very atmosphere was saturated with corruption and despair.
He'd mentally prepared for the particle collider to deposit him in any number of strange Marvel alternate realities. Zombie universes, dystopian timelines, realities where cosmic entities ruled as gods, all of those possibilities had seemed reasonable. But landing in an entirely different fictional multiverse? That hadn't even registered as a possibility.
The gap between Marvel and DC cosmologies was vast enough to give him intellectual vertigo. While he'd grown up watching Marvel movies and absorbing their lore through cultural osmosis, DC remained largely foreign territory. The constant reboots and reimaginings had made him reluctant to invest time in learning their complex mythologies.
"Funny how the first superhero movie I ever saw was Christopher Reeve's Superman," he mused aloud, memories of childhood television viewing drifting through his mind. The image of the red-caped hero using his own body as a makeshift railroad track remained vivid decades later, a perfect encapsulation of heroic sacrifice and impossible strength.
Despite his limited DC knowledge, Ben couldn't deny the excitement building in his chest. If this universe contained Superman, and based on the Antarctic anomaly he'd detected, it almost certainly did, then he'd just stumbled onto an unprecedented opportunity.
Kryptonian genetics represented the ultimate prize for the Omnitrix. Even the weakest versions of Superman operated on cosmic power scales, and some comic iterations were essentially omnipotent. Adding that DNA template to his arsenal would be like upgrading from conventional weapons to nuclear armaments.
"Question is, which version of Superman am I dealing with?" Ben muttered, his fingers dancing across the stolen smartphone's interface as custom programs crawled through internet databases. The sheer number of Superman reboots made identification challenging, each iteration carried different power levels, personality traits, and mythological baggage.
His data mining revealed sparse information about superhuman activity. Plenty of tabloid speculation and conspiracy theories, but nothing concrete about caped crusaders or alien visitors. However, one name appeared consistently in Gotham's underground information networks: Batman.
The Dark Knight's urban legend status was well-established, complete with blurry security footage and terrified criminal testimonies. Ben grimaced at the implications. Of all the DC heroes to encounter first, Batman was perhaps the most problematic from an operational security standpoint.
Batman's paranoia and contingency planning made Tony Stark look trusting by comparison. Any display of superhuman abilities would immediately trigger threat assessment protocols, and within hours, the Dark Knight would probably have seventeen different plans for neutralizing the "alien infiltrator." Batman's track record against his own allies was frankly terrifying, the man had literally killed Superman in multiple timelines.
"Better to avoid the Bat entirely," Ben decided. "If there's no obvious superhero activity, maybe I should just cut my losses and find a way home."
But then his automated search algorithms flagged several classified military communications, and his assessment changed dramatically. Buried in encrypted government databases was intelligence about a massive artificial structure detected beneath Antarctic ice sheets. The object's dimensions and energy signatures matched perfectly with his half-remembered knowledge of Man of Steel's opening act.
"Kryptonian scout ship," he breathed, excitement overriding caution. "This is definitely the Zack Snyder universe."
That identification unlocked a flood of strategic possibilities. The Kryptonian ship contained more than just genetic material, it housed advanced technology that could revolutionize Plumber capabilities. The black combat armor worn by General Zod's forces had allowed ordinary Kryptonians to match Superman's strength through pure engineering excellence. Mass-producing similar equipment could elevate his entire organization to space-tier combat effectiveness.
Beyond the immediate tactical applications, this universe contained three artifacts that made the trip worthwhile regardless of return complications: the Mother Boxes. Ben's understanding of their function remained frustratingly vague, something about resurrection, planetary terraforming, and dimensional manipulation, but their importance to both heroes and villains suggested power comparable to Infinity Stones.
He examined the stabilization bracelet Banner had provided, noting with concern that its coordinate recording function showed error messages. The device was successfully preventing dimensional rejection syndrome, but something about the trans-fictional nature of his displacement had scrambled its navigation systems.
"Great. So returning home might not be as simple as pushing a button." Ben's jaw tightened with frustration. The accidental nature of his arrival meant replicating the dimensional breach could prove impossible without extensive research and preparation.
That complication actually simplified his decision-making process. If he was potentially stranded here for an extended period, he might as well accomplish something worthwhile. Three objectives crystallized in his mind: acquire Kryptonian genetic samples, obtain advanced Krypton combat armor, and secure at least one Mother Box for analysis.
The location of the three Mother Boxes was relatively straightforward according to his fragmentary movie memories. One remained in human custody, probably locked away in some government facility. The other two resided with the Amazons of Paradise Island and the Atlanteans, both civilizations that would eventually lose their artifacts to Steppenwolf's invasion anyway.
"If Darkseid's forces are going to steal them regardless, I might as well beat them to the punch," Ben reasoned. "At least I'm not planning to use them for universal conquest."
The human-controlled Mother Box presented an ethical dilemma. Without it, Superman's resurrection following his battle with Doomsday would become impossible, potentially dooming the universe to Steppenwolf's rule. Ben had no desire to become responsible for planetary extinction, even in a reality destined for eventual reboot.
"Two out of three should be sufficient for research purposes anyway."
His immediate priority was clear: reach Antarctica and investigate the Kryptonian scout ship. If his timing aligned with the movie's chronology, he might even encounter Clark Kent during the man's voyage of self-discovery. Meeting Superman before his public debut would provide invaluable opportunities for genetic sampling and potentially recruit assessment.
The scout ship itself represented a technological treasure trove worth extensive study, though Ben couldn't quite remember its ultimate fate in the film continuity. Had it been destroyed during Zod's invasion? Recovered by the government? Those details would need to be addressed as circumstances developed.