A/N:
" " : Speech,
' ' : Thought.
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Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA, North America, Earth.
Omniscient POV
In one of the bedrooms of a suburban house, a brown-haired, fair-skinned, teenage boy lay sprawled on a mattress, deep in slumber. A digital alarm clock rang out on his bedside table, very easily overshadowing the busy sounds of the city, and forcing him to wake up.
He lazily extended his arm and shut off the alarm clock. As the clock went silent, he turned his head to the window and sighed deeply. "Okay, Ben. It's time to get up. We can't be late for school now." He said groggily, and pushed himself off the bed with a groan.
He stretched and let out a long yawn as he walked into the bathroom. Upon getting to the sink, he used some water to clean his face and get the sleepiness out of his eyes.
He looked into the mirror, and squinted with confusion. "What the...? Did I put on green contacts and forget about it?" He said as he looked at his eyes, then moved his hand to remove what he thought were contact lenses.
But before his hand could reach his face, his mind suddenly had a massive influx of memories, which caused him to drop to his knees and hold his head in pain. He groaned in pain as the memories settled, then slowly pulled himself back upright, trying to make full sense of these memories.
The memories showed that he was a young man of 26 years old when he died. The last memory he had showed him on riding his bike up a mountain road, when he was suddenly struck by lightning, ending his life. What he couldn't remember was how he got reincarnated into this world, but sorting through the memories of this life, he could tell that he was in the main universe of Invincible.
He remembered watching it and reading its comics while waiting for the next season to drop, like with many other shows that he had watched before his demise, so he knew what was coming, and he began having a panic attack. He began hyperventilating, the hum of electricity slowly becoming muffled and his vision becoming blurry. The thoughts of the carnage to come tore at his mind as any other thoughts started to become incoherent.
But just as it seemed he would collapse from this, a female voice coming from outside his room snapped him back to reality. "Benny! Are you up yet?!" The voice which belonged to his mother, Cassandra Tennant, shouted. His body jerked as he was brought back to Earth, and after a few deep breaths to calm himself, he responded. "Yeah, Mom! I'm in the bathroom!"
"Okay, then! Just didn't want you to be late!" She shouted, and with how her volume lowered as she went through her response, he assumed that she was walking away. Letting out a small sigh, he turned his face to the mirror and looked at his eyes. Eyes which he was sure were brown, but were now green. He moved his face closer to the mirror and noticed that within his black pupils was a green, stylized double-helix – a symbol that he was very familiar with from the memories of his past life.
This was the symbol of the Omnitrix, a technological marvel of a device that gave its wielder the ability to transform into other sentient and intelligent alien species and races. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing, but since he needed some way to survive and protect his mother in this world, he was willing to suspend his disbelief for the moment.
Since he didn't have the device itself, he made the assumption that he just had the capabilities of the Omnitrix itself. To test it out, he imagined himself transforming, and with a quick green flash, he felt his body shift for a few seconds then settle. In the mirror looking back at him was a slim humanoid being with blue and black fur covering its entire body, with black tufts around its face that made it look like it was wearing a mask.
This was a Citrakayah, an alien that possessed a highly enhanced physique when compared to humans, with their most prominent ability being their superspeed. He touched his now furry face with an expression of pure shock – more amazement than fear, then burst out laughing, a great deal of relief rushing through his being. He was now sure that if nothing else, he could at least survive any attacks that would come for him.
He imagined his transformation reverting, and a second and a bright flash later, he was faced with his human body once more. He then brushed his teeth, took a bath, dressed up, and headed downstairs. In the place of the groggy boy that had just been presented with the highly likely prospect of a horrific future was a comparatively confident and well-groomed boy, sporting a green jacket, black t-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers, with a black backpack slung over his shoulders.[1]
"Hey, Mom. Good morning." He said, giving his mother a hug as she worked on her laptop. "Hey, Benny. Be careful out there, okay." She said, then gave him a small peck on his cheek. "Don't worry, Mom. Even if some supervillain is making a scene, I'll be fine." He said as he walked towards the door. "Hey! Don't even joke about that, okay?" Cassandra said, then hugged him. "Get back safe, Benny." She said in a muted tone that remained audible to him. "I will, Mom." He said, then separated the hug and headed out.
Twenty-five minutes later, Benjamin Tennant was walking in the halls of Reginald Vel Johnson High School, phone in hand, as he checked the news. "Mauler Twins attack the White House? Nuts, right?" "I saw." He heard two familiar voices speak to each other. "Oh. Mark. William. So you guys also heard the news. It could have been pretty bad if Omni-Man wasn't there." He said, greeting his two best friends.
"Hey, Ben. Yeah, we heard. Glad to know someone else thinks the same as me." Mark Grayson responded. "Ugh, you two are such Omni-Maniacs." William Clockwell said with exasperation. "I mean, sure, he's hot and all," He said, before a smirk crept unto his face. "and that mustache…" Mark sighed, which William took as him being uncomfortable with homosexual behavior.
But before he could switch topics, Ben spoke up. "Not to rain on your parade, William. But he's way too old for you. I mean, he's been wearing that suit for like the past 16 years now, and he still looks the same. For all we know, he could be hundreds of years old." He said. "I know. I know. But a guy can dream." William replied. "Anyway, straight stuff. You two up for some Clash Crash tonight? I'm hoping for a level 43 chest armor." He said.
Mark and Ben sighed, showing that they would unfortunately not be able to join him. "Don't bring up that stupid job, man. Don't be that person. And Ben, I'd have expected you to be free." He said to his friends. "When's the last time you bought a comic book? Those things are expensive, and they're doing Science Dog twice a month all summer." Mark said.
"Yeah. Sorry, William. But the guitar I want isn't going to buy itself, even with my Mom helping with half the cash on that. So you're gonna have to go on without us." Ben said, genuinely sorry that he couldn't party up with his friend. As they were speaking to each other, a girl's voice suddenly tore through the hallway with annoyance.
"Knock it off, Todd!" She said loudly, drawing the attention of the few people that were in the hallway. Todd — who the trio had no particular fondness for, due to him bullying Mark for a time before Ben intervened — scoffed, uncaring for her protests. "Come on, quit playing games. I know you're crazy about me. Marcy told me." He said as she walked away from him, entirely uninterested in whatever he had to say.
"Well, you are big and strong, aren't you?" She said in a clearly derisive tone, as she turned to look at him. "You know it." He said, flexing an arm. "And you think that makes it okay for you to harass me?!" She said with a scathing tone, then turned away. "Hey, don't walk away from me." Todd said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.
"Hey, Todd." Ben said calmly, as he had sauntered up to the bully while he was harassing the blonde girl. Upon seeing Ben with a smile that didn't quite reach the eyes, Todd flinched, then grimaced. "You again! I'm not even bothering you or your stupid buddies, so mind your business." Todd said, trying to intimidate Ben.
"Yeah, that's true." Ben paused, making it seem like he just might leave Todd be. "But I remember telling you back when you brought your buddies to fight me, that you should do everyone a favor and keep your head down and stop bothering people, Todd. So which is it, early onset dementia or near-deafness? Because the only reason that I can logically think that you'd do something this stupid is that you're sick in the head." Ben said, clearly taunting Todd.
"You little…!" Todd growled as he cocked his arm back and shot his fist out, which Ben simply caught. "C'mon, Todd. We both know how that's gonna end. Or do you need a reminder?" He said, then quickly stepped forward and struck Todd's solar plexus with a strong undercut. At the same time, the blonde-haired girl that Todd was harassing kicked him in the groin.
Todd crumpled to the floor, doubled over in pain, with the only sounds coming from his mouth being wheezing and groaning. "Nice shot, Amber." Ben said with a thumbs-up. "Yeah. Thanks." She said, her face still holding a scowl directed at Todd. However, as a few more seconds passed, her face shifted into one of alarm, as she noticed that Todd's wheezing became stronger, almost as if a lung had been damaged.
Ben noticed this as well and immediately picked Todd off the floor and lifted his shirt, showing a fist-sized bruise on his chest. Understanding that this could end badly if left unattended, Ben, much to his own chagrin, grabbed Todd and rushed him to the school infirmary, all the while telling Mark and William to not stress themselves over this, and told them to inform the teacher that he was in the infirmary.
Ben soon entered the infirmary with Todd hanging off his shoulder as he groaned in pain. He dropped Todd on one of the beds, all the while acting like the school nurse wasn't looking at him with reprimand. "Benjamin." He said calmly. "Yeah, Doc." Ben said nonchalantly. "Why is it that the few times you've ever been in here have all been as a result of you getting into it with someone?" The nurse, Theodore Winston, said with exasperation.
"It's not my fault, Doc. A lot of people just choose to be assholes when I'm around. And unfortunately for them, I have a low tolerance for bullshit." Ben said, looking at his own hand with a mix of confusion and contemplation. "And in my defense, Todd here was harassing someone, and when I tried to peacefully stop him, he swung at me. I just hit him before he could hit me." He said, looking at the sizable bruise on Todd's chest.
"With how much you're saying you don't like Todd or people who act like him, why did you still take the effort to bring him over here? You could have just left him on the floor wherever you hit him." Theodore said. "Because he might be an ass, but I'm not." Ben said, this time looking directly at Theodore, who was checking the extent of the damage that Ben's undercut had caused Todd.
"I see. Well, he definitely won't agree with you. How many times did you even punch him?" Theodore said, looking at Todd's midsection with morbid amazement. "I only punched him once. Even I'm surprised that I ended up causing him that much damage." Ben said, genuinely surprised by his own strength. "I see. Well, it's about time that you get back to class. Now shoo." Theodore said, dismissing Ben from the infirmary while casually waving his hand.
Ben quickly left the Infirmary and headed to class. He had missed a period dealing with the aftermath of punching Todd, but he was able to get back to Mark and William, who were headed for the AP Chemistry class that the trio shared.
Eventually the school day came to an end, and they all went their separate ways. Mark quickly headed to his part time job while William and Ben headed to their homes. Upon reaching his home, Ben stopped at the door, feeling a bit conflicted on whether he should do what he planned to do, or postpone it for a much later time. But then he thought back to the memories of his past life, and saw the way that people close to superheroes were affected by them keeping their identities secret, and he eventually shook himself of his indecision as he entered.
Cassandra had just finished setting up the table for dinner when Ben stepped into the house. "Hey, Mom." He greeted her. "Oh, Benny, you're back. How was school?" She said as she walked up and hugged her son. "It was fine, Mom…" He replied, returning the hug. After a few seconds, they released the hug, and Cassandra noticed the solemn look on Ben's face. "Benny, what's wrong?" She asked him, and he sighed.
"I… I've got something important to show you, Mom." He said, then put his backpack on the couch. "Benny? Benny, what's wrong?" She asked him with worry, as even when he got multiple bruises from his MMA training in his younger years, he didn't seem to have the grimace he had now. "It's… Hah, just… You'll have to sit down for this, Mom." He said, gently nudging her onto the couch, while he stood a few feet away.
As Ben let out a breath, he imagined himself transforming into another humanoid species. With a green flash of light, Ben's human form shifted, and in its place was what looked like a blue and black, insect-like man in a poncho – a Necrofriggian. Cassandra felt the room's temperature drop by several degrees as Ben's transformation finished, and shock ran through her very being.
"Benny?" She said, almost as if asking this being if it was still truly her son. "Yeah, Mom. It's me…" He said with a raspy voice as he helplessly spread out his arms. "Surprise?" He said, fully understanding that things would be very different from now on.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 2,471
[1] He looks like Ben 10 in the Heroes United episode of Generator Rex.