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March 28, 2019; Bellwood

“So nice to see you all again!” the man named Paradox said to the group in a cheerful sing-songy voice. “Looks like I've caught you at the perfect time! What with you just laying around.”

“You know, there are some days where I just really don't like you,” the metal man groaned to the Professor.

“That is completely fair,” the Professor smiled in response.

The group slowly began to stand back up, getting off of one another and rubbing their bruises. The Assassins put away their weapons, while the metal man dissolved his metal armor off and the creature clones fused back into one being. They all turned to face the newcomer.

“Ah I see,” the Professor said. “Had a bit of a brawl did you? Not exactly how I would greet my new partners but I suppose whatever suits you best is fine.”

“Partners?” the entire group shouted in confusion.

“I could really use an explanation right now…” Jess said.

“That's usually his job,” the creature said, pointing to Paradox.

“Yes, partners!” the Professor exclaimed. “Had no one told you yet?”

“We were literally just driving down the road doing our patrols,” the redhead explained. “Then suddenly there was this weird light and we ended up getting chased by these guys and fighting them.”

“They busted up my ride,” the once-metal man growled, fixing Ruby with a dirty look. She simply shrugged and smiled.

“Hmm… I suppose this whole thing could've gone a little smoother,” the Professor said, putting a finger on his chin. “Ah but no matter! The important thing is that we're all here in one dimension now. I suggest you all start playing nice by making some formal introductions, hmm?”

The two groups looked at one another, at first with suspicion and hesitance. But then the redhead looked over at Paradox, and her face softened. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, offering a handshake to Ava and smiling. “I'm Gwen,” she said. “Gwen Tennyson. Sorry about all that. Didn't know we were supposed to get chased down by you.”

After a couple moments of hesitation, Ava slowly reached her own hand out and shook Gwen's. “Ava Arlie. I'm uh… sorry too. Didn't know we were supposed to chase you down either.”

Slowly the tension began to die down. The others slowly began to reveal their names as well.

“I'm Ruby,” Ruby said as she stepped to Ava’s side. “Tech geek, top fighter, and professional awesome person.”

“You're also the person who's gonna pay for my ride, right?” the metal man asked, now jokingly as he smiled. He offered a handshake too. “I'm Kevin,” he said. Ruby smirked and shook his hand. Ava turned to face their other three friends. “This is Catherine, Jess, and Chelsea,” she said. “We’re the dream team I guess.”

“Team Thunderbird!” Ruby chimed in.

“We are not calling ourselves Team Thunderbird,” Jess told her.

“Aww.”

Chelsea looked down at the little white sound monster with the hourglass symbol on its chest. It stood tall despite its size, as it it needed no introduction.

“How about you, loudmouth?” she asked it. “Gonna tell us who and/or what you are?”

The creature suddenly pulled a slightly confused face. “You don't know me already?” it asked.

“I feel like I would remember seeing something like you,” Catherine joked.

“How are there still people that don't know me? I'm a world-famous superhero!”

“Oh is that all?” Ava asked.

The creature looked up at them all, and then brought its hand up to the hourglass symbol on its chest. There was another blinding flash of intense green light. The Assassins shielded their eyes, and once the light faded and the uncovered their eyes, what was standing in the place of the monster was not a monster at all.

He was just an average looking teen, about the same height as Gwen, topped off with a green motorcycle jacket and a head of brown hair above his green eyes. “I'm Ben Tennyson!” he told the Assassins, as if that in itself was enough clarification. They gave him blank looks.

“You know…” he said. “Ben Ten? The superhero? I saved the entire universe once?”

“Okay,” Ruby said. “Well so did we, so like…”

“Seriously…?”

“You said we're all in one dimension now…” Gwen suddenly said to Paradox, putting a thoughtful finger on her chin. “Does that mean we've crossed over into another universe?”

“Indeed, my dear Gwendolyn!” the Professor confirmed.

“Wait seriously?” Cheslea asked.

“You don't seem that surprised,” Kevin observed.

“I mean we kinda had some cross-dimensional experiences a couple years ago,” Carter explained. “It's nothing too new at this point.”

Kevin shrugged. “Eh, fair enough,” he said.

“Why did we get brought to another dimension though?” Ben asked Paradox.

“It's a bit of a long story, I'm afraid. Shall we step inside?” He pointed to the warehouse that they had been fighting in front of. The group all exchanged looks with one another, and then they shrugged. They all began to make their way into the building, breaking the lock to the front door in order to get inside. Ava felt around for a light switch, and once her hand brushed up against one, the entire room lit up. The group all let out a collective gasp at what they saw. The room was completely furnished, complete with furniture and technology that wasn't unlike the Assassin hideout back in Indianapolis, albeit with more of a 1940s sort of look to it all.

“Yes,” the Professor said in response to their gasps. “I figured I'd tidy the place up for you while we carry out this little adventure of ours.”

“What adventure?” Jess asked.

“You all should sit down for this, especially you three.” He pointed to Ben, Gwen, and Kevin.

“Why? What's wrong Professor?” Gwen asked.

“I'm afraid our situation is a dire one, my friends. Eon has made his return.”

------------

“So you're saying Eon’s still alive?” Ben gasped once the group had all sat down and listened to what Paradox had to tell them.

“I thought we blew that guy into time chunks?” Kevin asked.

“Much as I wish that were the case, I'm afraid he was merely knocked out of the timeline when Ben destroyed the Hands of Armageddon,” Paradox said grimly.

“So… anyone gonna explain who Eon is and why we need to be worried about him still being alive?” Ava asked them.

“Eon is someone that we've had to deal with in the past,” Gwen started explaining to the Assassins. “He's… complicated to say the least. He's basically a psychopath with the power to traverse time and space at will. The kind of guy who's set on either taking over the world or destroying it.”

“Sounds like our area of expertise then,” Ruby laughed, prompting a smile from Gwen.

“But if Eon is still alive… what does he want?” Ben asked the Professor.

“The same as he always has,” Paradox told them. “Complete dominion over the space time continuum. And he sees this universe as a new jumping off point for his scheme. A universe where the likes of you or even the Plumbers do not exist. No alien technology on Earth to stand in his way.”

Ava sat in confusion beside her friends as she watched these four bizarre strangers had their conversation about things they didn't understand. Plumbers? Alien technology? Time traveling psychopaths? Grand it, they had all had their fair share of weird adventures while fighting Lucifer, but still.

“Wait… if we don't exist in this dimension, and there's no alien tech, then what does Eon see in this universe that makes it his perfect jumping off point?” Gwen asked.

Suddenly Paradox turned towards Ava and her friends. “Ah, this is where they come in,” he said. “Ms. Arlie, I assume you're best qualified to explain the powerful potential of the Pieces of Eden to your dear guests?”

Ava's eyes widened a little, suddenly on the spotlight with an extreme subject. “The Pieces of Eden are extremely powerful artifacts from a civilization that went extinct a long time ago,” she explained. “They're technologies with all sorts of powers. Mind control, healing any wound, mechanical wings, you name it. Some—most—are capable of leveling entire cities.”

“Sounds like classic case of alien tech to me,” Kevin interjected. “You sure we've got the right universe, Paradox?”

“It's rather rude to interrupt, dear boy,” Paradox joked, prompting in Kevin pulling a face. “But yes, I am sure. The isu race evolved here on this Earth, not another world. Their technology is comparable with many alien craftwork, but the resemblance is coincidental.”

“So what macguffin is Eon after then?” Ben asked.

“A very powerful device known as the Apple of Eden.”

“Poetic,” Gwen quipped.

“Apples of Eden are the worst…” Jess said. “They're small, but they have the power to bend people's minds to any user's will. Get enough of that willpower energy in one place, and they can even start to warp reality itself.”

“That… doesn't sound good,” Ben said.

“Indeed,” Paradox agreed. “Which is why you all must work to locate the Apple that Eon seeks before it is too late. If he is able to get his hands on the Apple, then God only knows what terrible fate will befall us all.”

“Wait, let me guess,” Ava said, holding up her hands for dramatic effect. “In order to find this Apple, you're gonna want one of us to hop into an Animus and do some genetic surfing?”

That prompted a smile from Paradox. “Been through these situations a lot, have you?” he asked. Ava simply responded with a smirk. Paradox chuckled. “Indeed, dear Ava,” he confirmed. “Indeed. Your ancestors give you quite the useful lineage.”

“Great, so this is another rodeo for me then.”

“Um… what's an… Animus?” Ben suddenly asked.

“That,” Paradox said, suddenly pointing to the other end of the room. The group all turned around to look, and low and behold, there it was. Sitting shining and beeping in front of the computer monitors, was the chair and machine. Ruby's eyes widened, and she gasped at the sight. “Hey that's our tech!” she said. “How did you do that? I left that thing behind in Indianapolis!”

“In our experience, the more you question Paradox, the more of a headache you get,” Ben joked.

“That's the Animus?” Kevin asked. “Just looks like a fancy recliner to me.”

“Hey, I paid top dollar for this recliner,” Ruby defended.

“Didn't you say you stole that from a garage sale?” Chelsea said.

“Shoosh!”

Chelsea smirked. The group then stood up, huddling around the machine as they continued their conversation.

“So what does it do?” Gwen asked.

“The Animus is a sort of VR device,” Ava explained. “It reads the genetic code of the user and from that it finds the code of your ancestors in the form of genetic memories. Then it projects those memories into your brain, and you essentially relive their lives in your head.”

“Trippy, but cool!” Ben said. “How rad would it be to go back and relive Grandpa Max's glory days, Gwen?”

“I don't know how comfortable Grandpa would be with us digging around in his private memories,” Gwen laughed.

“Speaking of grandpas,” Ruby said as she started to fiddle with the machine. “Which of Ava’s ancestors am I programming in?”

“You'll want to access the memories of her great grandfather,” Paradox told her. “A man named Bromden Arnolds.”

“Gotchya. Time frame?”

“1947 to 1969.”

“Wait…” Ava suddenly interjected. “That's not gonna be possible then. Bromden was my Grandma Wanbli’s dad. She was born in 1950.”

“What's wrong with that?” Kevin asked.

“The Animus works backwards through your DNA,” Catherine told him. “So if you're reliving the lives of an ancestor, and that ancestor… uh… passes on their genetic information, then the viewpoint switches away from that ancestor.”

“Is there a way around that?” Gwen asked.

“I'd need a DNA sample from the guy to manually program in,” Ruby said. “Is he still alive, Ava?”

“I… I don't know,” Ava said. “My grandma said he disappeared when she was 13. She never heard from him again.”

“Hmm… well that's… problematic.” She looked over at Paradox. “Hey, you able to work some of that magic and get me a DNA sample?”

Paradox simply smiled, reached into his coat, and from it he withdrew a little vial of liquid that he waved for dramatic effect. Ruby smiled and took it from him. “You know, I don't understand you. At all. But I'm starting to like you,” she told him.

“That is fair,” Paradox laughed. “Now, I'm afraid I must leave you all now. I shall catch up with you all when my time is right. So long friends! And happy hunting!”

He suddenly pulled out his pocket watch, which glowed a bright blue as he waved goodbye, and in a flash, he suddenly disappeared, not leaving a single trace that he was ever there.

“This is a weird day,” Chelsea said as she shook her head.

“Welcome to our world,” Ben laughed.

“Speaking of your world,” Ruby said as she fiddled with the Animus and the sample. “It's gonna take me awhile to get this setup in order. So how's about you all start explaining some of the weirdness you dragged in from… wherever it is you guys came from. Like, we're used to weird stuff. But I've never seen your kind of weird before.”

“I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult,” Kevin said, followed quickly by Gwen jabbing him in the side with her elbow, and the group chuckling.

“Where we're from, we're called the Plumbers,” Ben told the Assassins, getting comfortable on a couch. “We're basically intergalactic police officers. We keep Earth safe from any rogue alien bad guys that try to take over the planet or destroy it or whatever they usually do.”

“Aliens?” Catherine asked. “Not gonna lie, that's a bit weird even for us.”

“Your universe’s earth never had any contact with species from other planets by the sound of it,” Gwen said. “Ours is already waist deep in alien networks. And Plumbers like us are the law enforcement that keep everything running smoothly.”

“Or as smoothly as possible,” Kevin laughed, earning him another elbow in the side.

“So… all those weird powers that you all have, are those some sort of alien sci-fi tricks then?” Chelsea asked.

“Kind of,” Ben said. “Guess you could say it's in our DNA.”

“Our grandmother Verona was an alien called an Anodite,” Gwen said, motioning to herself and Ben. “They're basically beings of living energy, and they can project that energy in various shapes and forms. And I'm the one that got the genes for it down the line.”

“Dang,” Ruby said as she worked. “Wish I had DNA like that. My grandparents were just a couple of Cold War spies.”

“That's still pretty rad,” Ben smiled.

“So how about Kevin then?” Jess asked, looking over at the man in question.

“Same deal pretty much,” Kevin told her. “I got my powers from my dad though. He was an Osmosian. We have the power to absorb energy and matter.”

“Dammit now I'm getting really jealous,” Ruby laughed. Kevin smiled and shrugged.

“Alright but that doesn't explain what Ben can do then,” Catherine said. “With the whole shapeshifting thing. Can Anodites do that too?”

“Nah, I didn't inherit any powers,” Ben said. “I was born just a normal human.”

Then he reached towards his arm, and began rolling up his sleeve. He held up his forearm to show off to the room. Ava's eyes immediately went to the bizarre device clamped over it, a green gauntlet of sorts with glowing green wires in the back components. And on the area covering the wrist was a small dial-looking piece with that same glowing hourglass symbol that she had seen on all of the monsters he had shifted into.

“Then I got the Omnitrix when I was 10,” he continued, “and suddenly I had a whole bunch of powers I didn't even know were possible.”

“That's the thing that lets you turn into all those monsters?” Ava asked.

Ben nodded. “The Omnitrix was a watch that stores the DNA of every alien species in the galaxy. I just turn the dial until I get the alien I want, press it down, and suddenly I'm one of dozens of superpowered alien heroes!”

“Dammit now I'm getting jealous,” Catherine laughed. “I want one.”

“This watch here is technically an improvement from the old one,” Ben explained, looking down at his arm and fiddling with it. “This is the Ultimatrix.”

“That's not cheesy at all,” Chelsea said.

“Hey, I didn't name it,” Ben laughed.

“You would name something like that, though,” Kevin smirked.

Suddenly there was an electrical pop and Ruby reared back from her work as a plume of smoke puffed into her face. “Dammit, come on old girl…” she cursed, putting her hands on her hips. “I didn't toy with your components that much.” She looked over at Ben. “You wouldn't happen to have some sort of alien in that thing that could help me get this machine in better shape do you?”

Ben smirked in response. “Yeah, I can give it an Upgrade,” he said. He reached down to the dial on the Ultimatrix, which popped up on a little plateau filled with glowing green wires. A little cone of green light shined up from the dial, with a sort of hologram standing in the middle of it. Ben turned the dial, shifting between the different holographic figures that popped up as it spun, until he found the one he was looking for. He raised his other hand up and swiftly brought his palm slamming down onto the dial. The room was suddenly filled with that blinding flash of green light that Ava and her friends had witnessed during the fight. It shined bright, then started to fade away as soon as it had appeared. Once everyone re-opened their eyes, they looked at the new figure that was sitting in Ben's spot. Ava looked him up and down. The closest comparison she could make to how this creature looked was a big humanoid blob of mercury, but colored deep black in the back and neon green in the front, with what looked like circuit lines of each color invading the other side all around its body and forming one circular eye on the top of its blob head. The same hourglass symbol shined on his chest as all the other aliens Ava had seen.

Ben stood up and walked over to the Animus, and the Assassins watched with curiosity. Then suddenly, Ben lunged head-first onto the machine, and his body began to splatter and ooze across the surface of it, covering the device smoothly and perfectly across every surface, nook, and cranny until he was practically fused with the Animus.

“Admittedly, not what I was expecting,” Ruby said with wide eyes. “But cool! What now?”

“Just a sec,” Ben said, his voice sounding like it was being said through one of those electrical filters. Then suddenly the parts on the Animus began to shift and mold, taking new shapes that made the device sleeker and the control panel more accessible in its layout. “Alright. Put the vial thingy in,” he told Ruby. She stood there for a moment, highly entertained by this display of alien powers, before she finally shook herself from it and inserted the DNA vial into the slot. It clicked and beeped as the machine accepted it without hassle. All of Ruby's monitors began to light up with information notes and loading bars.

“Awesome!” she cheered, rushing over to her main laptop to start working on that. “Dude you rock, thanks!”

Ben started slithering off of the machine, reforming as the last of his blobby body dripped off the hardware and reformed into the initial humanoid shape. Then he pressed his hand against the symbol on his chest, which brought another blinding flash of light, and once it faded away he was back to being human, smiling at Ruby and shrugging. “It's what I do,” he said proudly.

“Now I just need to get these memories programmed in and loaded up and we should be good to start!” Ruby said, beginning to clack away at her keyboard.

“While you're doing that, why don't you all give us a bit of a rundown on your universe?” Gwen asked the Assassins. “Like… what're your lives like here that sets it apart from ours? Aside from the whole no alien contact thing.”

Ava was the first to take the podium. “You ever heard of the Assassins and Templars?” she asked, thinking it was as good a question to start on as any.

“Old knights and mercenaries from the Crusades right?” Kevin said. “Sure. What about them?”

“Well, put simply, they weren't just from the Crusades.” She looked down at her arm, and she flicked her wrist. Her hidden blade sprang out of its casing with a distinctive shink, allowing their guests from another world to get a full view of it. They had seen it in the fight of course, but this was the first time they were allowed an in-depth observation. “We’re way older than the Old Man of the Mountain,” Ava continued. “We're all Assassins here, carrying on the legacy left behind by the ones who were crushed by the Mongols back in the 13th century. We've been fighting the Templars all throughout the centuries.”

“The Templars were wiped out by King Philip IV back in 1314,” Gwen thought out loud. “I take it that means they also survived in your universe?”

Ava nodded. “We both got forced underground. And ever since then, there's almost no point in history that hasn't been influenced by our war against the Templars. They were the Borgias during the Renaissance and the British at Bunker Hill. They were the pirate hunters that killed Blackbeard and the French Revolutionaries that ran the guillotines. And nowadays they like to take the guise of Abstergo Industries, the biggest company in the world. And all this time, we were there to stop their plans for world domination.”

“You're killers then?” Ben asked, and Ava could detect the caution in his voice. She nodded nonetheless.

“We kill those who become too corrupt, those who spill innocent blood. We're defenders of the people and freewill, working in the dark to serve the light.”

“Everyone has big talk to back up their big actions,” Kevin said. Though he didn't say it scornfully. There was hardly any malice in his voice. He seemed to be simply stating a fact as he shrugged.

“Well hey, defenders of the innocent sound like the kind of people we would wanna be on the side of,” Gwen said. “Especially against the kind of people who use guillotines.”

“Hey, can’t blame them,” Kevin joked. “Guillotines are really effective.”

Ava smiled at the joke. She retracted her blade. “History is a fun subject,” she said, prompting a laugh from her friends.

“Speaking of history!” Ruby suddenly said, standing up and giving the Animus chair a pat for show. “1947 is all loaded up and ready for you, Champ!”

“Awesome!” Ava said, hopping over to the machine and plopping herself down in the familiar chair. Ruby immediately started adjusting Ava into the headset, pulling the visor over her eyes once it was all in place. “This is going to be a first,” Ava chuckled. “Never been a dude before.”

“Well hey, look on the bright side!” Ruby said as she started activating the commands. “At least with this ancestor, you get to keep your sexuality.”

Ava laughed at that. The inside of her visor started to light up, and she soon found herself floating in the familiar blank void of the Animus White Room. Strands of digital DNA spun around her, each broken up into the different chunks.

“Let's hope this works,” she heard Catherine say from outside.

“Yeah,” Jess laughed. “Rogue aliens from another dimension are the kind of thing where you really need things to go right.”

“I mean, we tend to find ways to get out of messy situations,” Kevin joked.

“Well, right now we just kinda need to sit and wait while Ava does her thing,” Ruby said. “You ready to start, Champ?”

“Aye aye, captain!” Ava told her.

“Alrighty then! Loading it up now. Good luck, Champ. Love you!”

“Love you too, Rubes.”

Ava looked over at one of the DNA strands as it began to blink, flashing green, ready to be selected. She smiled, and reached out for the little chunk. Then suddenly it let out a flash of blinding light, one that hit her eyes and consumed her entire vision. All of her senses suddenly went numb, like she was suspended in the softest clouds that reached into her nerves and massaged them until they began to tingle again. The light began to disappear, and he blinked. He rubbed his head and fanned his face a little. He never could get used to this heat. But nonetheless he stood from his shade, as much of that lost energy back in his body as he could get. He looked around and pulled up his hood.

Weird things were happening in Roswell, and Bromden intended to get to the bottom of it.

Description
March 28, 2019; Bellwood

“So nice to see you all again!” the man named Paradox said to the group in a cheerful sing-songy voice. “Looks like I've caught you at the perfect time! What with you just laying around.”

“You know, there are some days where I just really don't like you,” the metal man groaned to the Professor.

“That is completely fair,” the Professor smiled in response.

The group slowly began to stand back up, getting off of one another and rubbing their bruises. The Assassins put away their weapons, while the metal man dissolved his metal armor off and the creature clones fused back into one being. They all turned to face the newcomer.

“Ah I see,” the Professor said. “Had a bit of a brawl did you? Not exactly how I would greet my new partners but I suppose whatever suits you best is fine.”

“Partners?” the entire group shouted in confusion.

“I could really use an explanation right now…” Jess said.

“That's usually his job,” the creature said, pointing to Paradox.

“Yes, partners!” the Professor exclaimed. “Had no one told you yet?”

“We were literally just driving down the road doing our patrols,” the redhead explained. “Then suddenly there was this weird light and we ended up getting chased by these guys and fighting them.”

“They busted up my ride,” the once-metal man growled, fixing Ruby with a dirty look. She simply shrugged and smiled.

“Hmm… I suppose this whole thing could've gone a little smoother,” the Professor said, putting a finger on his chin. “Ah but no matter! The important thing is that we're all here in one dimension now. I suggest you all start playing nice by making some formal introductions, hmm?”

The two groups looked at one another, at first with suspicion and hesitance. But then the redhead looked over at Paradox, and her face softened. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, offering a handshake to Ava and smiling. “I'm Gwen,” she said. “Gwen Tennyson. Sorry about all that. Didn't know we were supposed to get chased down by you.”

After a couple moments of hesitation, Ava slowly reached her own hand out and shook Gwen's. “Ava Arlie. I'm uh… sorry too. Didn't know we were supposed to chase you down either.”

Slowly the tension began to die down. The others slowly began to reveal their names as well.

“I'm Ruby,” Ruby said as she stepped to Ava’s side. “Tech geek, top fighter, and professional awesome person.”

“You're also the person who's gonna pay for my ride, right?” the metal man asked, now jokingly as he smiled. He offered a handshake too. “I'm Kevin,” he said. Ruby smirked and shook his hand. Ava turned to face their other three friends. “This is Catherine, Jess, and Chelsea,” she said. “We’re the dream team I guess.”

“Team Thunderbird!” Ruby chimed in.

“We are not calling ourselves Team Thunderbird,” Jess told her.

“Aww.”

Chelsea looked down at the little white sound monster with the hourglass symbol on its chest. It stood tall despite its size, as it it needed no introduction.

“How about you, loudmouth?” she asked it. “Gonna tell us who and/or what you are?”

The creature suddenly pulled a slightly confused face. “You don't know me already?” it asked.

“I feel like I would remember seeing something like you,” Catherine joked.

“How are there still people that don't know me? I'm a world-famous superhero!”

“Oh is that all?” Ava asked.

The creature looked up at them all, and then brought its hand up to the hourglass symbol on its chest. There was another blinding flash of intense green light. The Assassins shielded their eyes, and once the light faded and the uncovered their eyes, what was standing in the place of the monster was not a monster at all.

He was just an average looking teen, about the same height as Gwen, topped off with a green motorcycle jacket and a head of brown hair above his green eyes. “I'm Ben Tennyson!” he told the Assassins, as if that in itself was enough clarification. They gave him blank looks.

“You know…” he said. “Ben Ten? The superhero? I saved the entire universe once?”

“Okay,” Ruby said. “Well so did we, so like…”

“Seriously…?”

“You said we're all in one dimension now…” Gwen suddenly said to Paradox, putting a thoughtful finger on her chin. “Does that mean we've crossed over into another universe?”

“Indeed, my dear Gwendolyn!” the Professor confirmed.

“Wait seriously?” Cheslea asked.

“You don't seem that surprised,” Kevin observed.

“I mean we kinda had some cross-dimensional experiences a couple years ago,” Carter explained. “It's nothing too new at this point.”

Kevin shrugged. “Eh, fair enough,” he said.

“Why did we get brought to another dimension though?” Ben asked Paradox.

“It's a bit of a long story, I'm afraid. Shall we step inside?” He pointed to the warehouse that they had been fighting in front of. The group all exchanged looks with one another, and then they shrugged. They all began to make their way into the building, breaking the lock to the front door in order to get inside. Ava felt around for a light switch, and once her hand brushed up against one, the entire room lit up. The group all let out a collective gasp at what they saw. The room was completely furnished, complete with furniture and technology that wasn't unlike the Assassin hideout back in Indianapolis, albeit with more of a 1940s sort of look to it all.

“Yes,” the Professor said in response to their gasps. “I figured I'd tidy the place up for you while we carry out this little adventure of ours.”

“What adventure?” Jess asked.

“You all should sit down for this, especially you three.” He pointed to Ben, Gwen, and Kevin.

“Why? What's wrong Professor?” Gwen asked.

“I'm afraid our situation is a dire one, my friends. Eon has made his return.”

------------

“So you're saying Eon’s still alive?” Ben gasped once the group had all sat down and listened to what Paradox had to tell them.

“I thought we blew that guy into time chunks?” Kevin asked.

“Much as I wish that were the case, I'm afraid he was merely knocked out of the timeline when Ben destroyed the Hands of Armageddon,” Paradox said grimly.

“So… anyone gonna explain who Eon is and why we need to be worried about him still being alive?” Ava asked them.

“Eon is someone that we've had to deal with in the past,” Gwen started explaining to the Assassins. “He's… complicated to say the least. He's basically a psychopath with the power to traverse time and space at will. The kind of guy who's set on either taking over the world or destroying it.”

“Sounds like our area of expertise then,” Ruby laughed, prompting a smile from Gwen.

“But if Eon is still alive… what does he want?” Ben asked the Professor.

“The same as he always has,” Paradox told them. “Complete dominion over the space time continuum. And he sees this universe as a new jumping off point for his scheme. A universe where the likes of you or even the Plumbers do not exist. No alien technology on Earth to stand in his way.”

Ava sat in confusion beside her friends as she watched these four bizarre strangers had their conversation about things they didn't understand. Plumbers? Alien technology? Time traveling psychopaths? Grand it, they had all had their fair share of weird adventures while fighting Lucifer, but still.

“Wait… if we don't exist in this dimension, and there's no alien tech, then what does Eon see in this universe that makes it his perfect jumping off point?” Gwen asked.

Suddenly Paradox turned towards Ava and her friends. “Ah, this is where they come in,” he said. “Ms. Arlie, I assume you're best qualified to explain the powerful potential of the Pieces of Eden to your dear guests?”

Ava's eyes widened a little, suddenly on the spotlight with an extreme subject. “The Pieces of Eden are extremely powerful artifacts from a civilization that went extinct a long time ago,” she explained. “They're technologies with all sorts of powers. Mind control, healing any wound, mechanical wings, you name it. Some—most—are capable of leveling entire cities.”

“Sounds like classic case of alien tech to me,” Kevin interjected. “You sure we've got the right universe, Paradox?”

“It's rather rude to interrupt, dear boy,” Paradox joked, prompting in Kevin pulling a face. “But yes, I am sure. The isu race evolved here on this Earth, not another world. Their technology is comparable with many alien craftwork, but the resemblance is coincidental.”

“So what macguffin is Eon after then?” Ben asked.

“A very powerful device known as the Apple of Eden.”

“Poetic,” Gwen quipped.

“Apples of Eden are the worst…” Jess said. “They're small, but they have the power to bend people's minds to any user's will. Get enough of that willpower energy in one place, and they can even start to warp reality itself.”

“That… doesn't sound good,” Ben said.

“Indeed,” Paradox agreed. “Which is why you all must work to locate the Apple that Eon seeks before it is too late. If he is able to get his hands on the Apple, then God only knows what terrible fate will befall us all.”

“Wait, let me guess,” Ava said, holding up her hands for dramatic effect. “In order to find this Apple, you're gonna want one of us to hop into an Animus and do some genetic surfing?”

That prompted a smile from Paradox. “Been through these situations a lot, have you?” he asked. Ava simply responded with a smirk. Paradox chuckled. “Indeed, dear Ava,” he confirmed. “Indeed. Your ancestors give you quite the useful lineage.”

“Great, so this is another rodeo for me then.”

“Um… what's an… Animus?” Ben suddenly asked.

“That,” Paradox said, suddenly pointing to the other end of the room. The group all turned around to look, and low and behold, there it was. Sitting shining and beeping in front of the computer monitors, was the chair and machine. Ruby's eyes widened, and she gasped at the sight. “Hey that's our tech!” she said. “How did you do that? I left that thing behind in Indianapolis!”

“In our experience, the more you question Paradox, the more of a headache you get,” Ben joked.

“That's the Animus?” Kevin asked. “Just looks like a fancy recliner to me.”

“Hey, I paid top dollar for this recliner,” Ruby defended.

“Didn't you say you stole that from a garage sale?” Chelsea said.

“Shoosh!”

Chelsea smirked. The group then stood up, huddling around the machine as they continued their conversation.

“So what does it do?” Gwen asked.

“The Animus is a sort of VR device,” Ava explained. “It reads the genetic code of the user and from that it finds the code of your ancestors in the form of genetic memories. Then it projects those memories into your brain, and you essentially relive their lives in your head.”

“Trippy, but cool!” Ben said. “How rad would it be to go back and relive Grandpa Max's glory days, Gwen?”

“I don't know how comfortable Grandpa would be with us digging around in his private memories,” Gwen laughed.

“Speaking of grandpas,” Ruby said as she started to fiddle with the machine. “Which of Ava’s ancestors am I programming in?”

“You'll want to access the memories of her great grandfather,” Paradox told her. “A man named Bromden Arnolds.”

“Gotchya. Time frame?”

“1947 to 1969.”

“Wait…” Ava suddenly interjected. “That's not gonna be possible then. Bromden was my Grandma Wanbli’s dad. She was born in 1950.”

“What's wrong with that?” Kevin asked.

“The Animus works backwards through your DNA,” Catherine told him. “So if you're reliving the lives of an ancestor, and that ancestor… uh… passes on their genetic information, then the viewpoint switches away from that ancestor.”

“Is there a way around that?” Gwen asked.

“I'd need a DNA sample from the guy to manually program in,” Ruby said. “Is he still alive, Ava?”

“I… I don't know,” Ava said. “My grandma said he disappeared when she was 13. She never heard from him again.”

“Hmm… well that's… problematic.” She looked over at Paradox. “Hey, you able to work some of that magic and get me a DNA sample?”

Paradox simply smiled, reached into his coat, and from it he withdrew a little vial of liquid that he waved for dramatic effect. Ruby smiled and took it from him. “You know, I don't understand you. At all. But I'm starting to like you,” she told him.

“That is fair,” Paradox laughed. “Now, I'm afraid I must leave you all now. I shall catch up with you all when my time is right. So long friends! And happy hunting!”

He suddenly pulled out his pocket watch, which glowed a bright blue as he waved goodbye, and in a flash, he suddenly disappeared, not leaving a single trace that he was ever there.

“This is a weird day,” Chelsea said as she shook her head.

“Welcome to our world,” Ben laughed.

“Speaking of your world,” Ruby said as she fiddled with the Animus and the sample. “It's gonna take me awhile to get this setup in order. So how's about you all start explaining some of the weirdness you dragged in from… wherever it is you guys came from. Like, we're used to weird stuff. But I've never seen your kind of weird before.”

“I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult,” Kevin said, followed quickly by Gwen jabbing him in the side with her elbow, and the group chuckling.

“Where we're from, we're called the Plumbers,” Ben told the Assassins, getting comfortable on a couch. “We're basically intergalactic police officers. We keep Earth safe from any rogue alien bad guys that try to take over the planet or destroy it or whatever they usually do.”

“Aliens?” Catherine asked. “Not gonna lie, that's a bit weird even for us.”

“Your universe’s earth never had any contact with species from other planets by the sound of it,” Gwen said. “Ours is already waist deep in alien networks. And Plumbers like us are the law enforcement that keep everything running smoothly.”

“Or as smoothly as possible,” Kevin laughed, earning him another elbow in the side.

“So… all those weird powers that you all have, are those some sort of alien sci-fi tricks then?” Chelsea asked.

“Kind of,” Ben said. “Guess you could say it's in our DNA.”

“Our grandmother Verona was an alien called an Anodite,” Gwen said, motioning to herself and Ben. “They're basically beings of living energy, and they can project that energy in various shapes and forms. And I'm the one that got the genes for it down the line.”

“Dang,” Ruby said as she worked. “Wish I had DNA like that. My grandparents were just a couple of Cold War spies.”

“That's still pretty rad,” Ben smiled.

“So how about Kevin then?” Jess asked, looking over at the man in question.

“Same deal pretty much,” Kevin told her. “I got my powers from my dad though. He was an Osmosian. We have the power to absorb energy and matter.”

“Dammit now I'm getting really jealous,” Ruby laughed. Kevin smiled and shrugged.

“Alright but that doesn't explain what Ben can do then,” Catherine said. “With the whole shapeshifting thing. Can Anodites do that too?”

“Nah, I didn't inherit any powers,” Ben said. “I was born just a normal human.”

Then he reached towards his arm, and began rolling up his sleeve. He held up his forearm to show off to the room. Ava's eyes immediately went to the bizarre device clamped over it, a green gauntlet of sorts with glowing green wires in the back components. And on the area covering the wrist was a small dial-looking piece with that same glowing hourglass symbol that she had seen on all of the monsters he had shifted into.

“Then I got the Omnitrix when I was 10,” he continued, “and suddenly I had a whole bunch of powers I didn't even know were possible.”

“That's the thing that lets you turn into all those monsters?” Ava asked.

Ben nodded. “The Omnitrix was a watch that stores the DNA of every alien species in the galaxy. I just turn the dial until I get the alien I want, press it down, and suddenly I'm one of dozens of superpowered alien heroes!”

“Dammit now I'm getting jealous,” Catherine laughed. “I want one.”

“This watch here is technically an improvement from the old one,” Ben explained, looking down at his arm and fiddling with it. “This is the Ultimatrix.”

“That's not cheesy at all,” Chelsea said.

“Hey, I didn't name it,” Ben laughed.

“You would name something like that, though,” Kevin smirked.

Suddenly there was an electrical pop and Ruby reared back from her work as a plume of smoke puffed into her face. “Dammit, come on old girl…” she cursed, putting her hands on her hips. “I didn't toy with your components that much.” She looked over at Ben. “You wouldn't happen to have some sort of alien in that thing that could help me get this machine in better shape do you?”

Ben smirked in response. “Yeah, I can give it an Upgrade,” he said. He reached down to the dial on the Ultimatrix, which popped up on a little plateau filled with glowing green wires. A little cone of green light shined up from the dial, with a sort of hologram standing in the middle of it. Ben turned the dial, shifting between the different holographic figures that popped up as it spun, until he found the one he was looking for. He raised his other hand up and swiftly brought his palm slamming down onto the dial. The room was suddenly filled with that blinding flash of green light that Ava and her friends had witnessed during the fight. It shined bright, then started to fade away as soon as it had appeared. Once everyone re-opened their eyes, they looked at the new figure that was sitting in Ben's spot. Ava looked him up and down. The closest comparison she could make to how this creature looked was a big humanoid blob of mercury, but colored deep black in the back and neon green in the front, with what looked like circuit lines of each color invading the other side all around its body and forming one circular eye on the top of its blob head. The same hourglass symbol shined on his chest as all the other aliens Ava had seen.

Ben stood up and walked over to the Animus, and the Assassins watched with curiosity. Then suddenly, Ben lunged head-first onto the machine, and his body began to splatter and ooze across the surface of it, covering the device smoothly and perfectly across every surface, nook, and cranny until he was practically fused with the Animus.

“Admittedly, not what I was expecting,” Ruby said with wide eyes. “But cool! What now?”

“Just a sec,” Ben said, his voice sounding like it was being said through one of those electrical filters. Then suddenly the parts on the Animus began to shift and mold, taking new shapes that made the device sleeker and the control panel more accessible in its layout. “Alright. Put the vial thingy in,” he told Ruby. She stood there for a moment, highly entertained by this display of alien powers, before she finally shook herself from it and inserted the DNA vial into the slot. It clicked and beeped as the machine accepted it without hassle. All of Ruby's monitors began to light up with information notes and loading bars.

“Awesome!” she cheered, rushing over to her main laptop to start working on that. “Dude you rock, thanks!”

Ben started slithering off of the machine, reforming as the last of his blobby body dripped off the hardware and reformed into the initial humanoid shape. Then he pressed his hand against the symbol on his chest, which brought another blinding flash of light, and once it faded away he was back to being human, smiling at Ruby and shrugging. “It's what I do,” he said proudly.

“Now I just need to get these memories programmed in and loaded up and we should be good to start!” Ruby said, beginning to clack away at her keyboard.

“While you're doing that, why don't you all give us a bit of a rundown on your universe?” Gwen asked the Assassins. “Like… what're your lives like here that sets it apart from ours? Aside from the whole no alien contact thing.”

Ava was the first to take the podium. “You ever heard of the Assassins and Templars?” she asked, thinking it was as good a question to start on as any.

“Old knights and mercenaries from the Crusades right?” Kevin said. “Sure. What about them?”

“Well, put simply, they weren't just from the Crusades.” She looked down at her arm, and she flicked her wrist. Her hidden blade sprang out of its casing with a distinctive shink, allowing their guests from another world to get a full view of it. They had seen it in the fight of course, but this was the first time they were allowed an in-depth observation. “We’re way older than the Old Man of the Mountain,” Ava continued. “We're all Assassins here, carrying on the legacy left behind by the ones who were crushed by the Mongols back in the 13th century. We've been fighting the Templars all throughout the centuries.”

“The Templars were wiped out by King Philip IV back in 1314,” Gwen thought out loud. “I take it that means they also survived in your universe?”

Ava nodded. “We both got forced underground. And ever since then, there's almost no point in history that hasn't been influenced by our war against the Templars. They were the Borgias during the Renaissance and the British at Bunker Hill. They were the pirate hunters that killed Blackbeard and the French Revolutionaries that ran the guillotines. And nowadays they like to take the guise of Abstergo Industries, the biggest company in the world. And all this time, we were there to stop their plans for world domination.”

“You're killers then?” Ben asked, and Ava could detect the caution in his voice. She nodded nonetheless.

“We kill those who become too corrupt, those who spill innocent blood. We're defenders of the people and freewill, working in the dark to serve the light.”

“Everyone has big talk to back up their big actions,” Kevin said. Though he didn't say it scornfully. There was hardly any malice in his voice. He seemed to be simply stating a fact as he shrugged.

“Well hey, defenders of the innocent sound like the kind of people we would wanna be on the side of,” Gwen said. “Especially against the kind of people who use guillotines.”

“Hey, can’t blame them,” Kevin joked. “Guillotines are really effective.”

Ava smiled at the joke. She retracted her blade. “History is a fun subject,” she said, prompting a laugh from her friends.

“Speaking of history!” Ruby suddenly said, standing up and giving the Animus chair a pat for show. “1947 is all loaded up and ready for you, Champ!”

“Awesome!” Ava said, hopping over to the machine and plopping herself down in the familiar chair. Ruby immediately started adjusting Ava into the headset, pulling the visor over her eyes once it was all in place. “This is going to be a first,” Ava chuckled. “Never been a dude before.”

“Well hey, look on the bright side!” Ruby said as she started activating the commands. “At least with this ancestor, you get to keep your sexuality.”

Ava laughed at that. The inside of her visor started to light up, and she soon found herself floating in the familiar blank void of the Animus White Room. Strands of digital DNA spun around her, each broken up into the different chunks.

“Let's hope this works,” she heard Catherine say from outside.

“Yeah,” Jess laughed. “Rogue aliens from another dimension are the kind of thing where you really need things to go right.”

“I mean, we tend to find ways to get out of messy situations,” Kevin joked.

“Well, right now we just kinda need to sit and wait while Ava does her thing,” Ruby said. “You ready to start, Champ?”

“Aye aye, captain!” Ava told her.

“Alrighty then! Loading it up now. Good luck, Champ. Love you!”

“Love you too, Rubes.”

Ava looked over at one of the DNA strands as it began to blink, flashing green, ready to be selected. She smiled, and reached out for the little chunk. Then suddenly it let out a flash of blinding light, one that hit her eyes and consumed her entire vision. All of her senses suddenly went numb, like she was suspended in the softest clouds that reached into her nerves and massaged them until they began to tingle again. The light began to disappear, and he blinked. He rubbed his head and fanned his face a little. He never could get used to this heat. But nonetheless he stood from his shade, as much of that lost energy back in his body as he could get. He looked around and pulled up his hood.

Weird things were happening in Roswell, and Bromden intended to get to the bottom of it.