Of Fires, Feral Mutations, and Foiled Schemes

Ben's heart raced as he sat in the dim light of his secret lair, his supercomputer humming softly. The Omnitrix communicator suddenly vibrated with an urgent alert from Gideon.

"Alert: Fire detected at Oscorp research facility," Gideon reported calmly.

Ben frowned, leaning forward. "Is it just a normal fire, or is something else going on?"

Gideon's voice remained steady as it continued, "The fire is not ordinary. Along with the blaze, multiple reports indicate the presence of giant mutated animals—specifically, a colossal crow, a giant hamster, and an oversized frog are on the loose."

Ben's eyes narrowed. "Not a simple fire then. Get me more details, Gideon."

After a brief pause, Gideon's data continued streaming in, describing the chaos unfolding at Oscorp. Ben took a deep breath and activated the Omnitrix, morphing into XLR8. He sped out of his secret lair in Queens, leaving behind the quiet of his base as he zipped toward Manhattan. In a matter of minutes, he was approaching Oscorp's main building—a sprawling structure now shrouded in smoke and emergency lights.

Upon arriving at the scene, Ben's adrenaline spiked as he surveyed the situation. Massive creatures roamed the area: a giant crow soared overhead, a giant hamster barreled down the street, and a giant frog lurched about with destructive force. But it wasn't just the animals that caught his attention. Perched on top of the crow was a man—a normal human, yet his appearance was unforgettable. This man wore a mechanical headpiece and a chestplate designed to manipulate and control mutated animals. His skin was a pale, almost ghostly green, his eyes a striking yellow, and his shoulder-length white hair framed his face in an unkempt manner. This, Ben realized, was Doctor Animo.

Without wasting a moment, Ben shifted his focus back to the immediate threat. As the giant hamster thundered towards a crowded area, a sudden commotion erupted—a piece of rubble began to fall toward a young child and his distraught mother near the building entrance. With his lightning speed, he intercepted the falling debris, grabbing the child and guiding the mother out of harm's way.

"Everyone, clear out!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos. Simultaneously, he commanded, "Gideon, scan Oscorp's cameras and sensors for any civilians still trapped inside."

"Scanning now," came the quick reply. "Preliminary results show several individuals may be stranded on lower floors. I'm compiling the data."

Ben's heart pounded with urgency. He sped towards the entrance of Oscorp. With XLR8's unmatched agility, he burst through the doors and navigated the labyrinthine corridors of the building. Within seconds, he rescued a group of frightened civilians from a smoke-filled corridor, ushering them to safety outside. Each life he saved was a small victory against the chaos that had engulfed Oscorp.

Once the civilians were evacuated, Ben's attention returned to the mutated creatures. The giant hamster roared down a deserted street. As XLR8, he raced towards it, determined to put an end to the rampage. Just as he was about to crash into the creature, he transformed—switching to Big Chill. His form shifted to a translucent, icy version of himself. In that moment, he phased through the massive rodent, encasing it in a sudden burst of arctic cold. Within seconds, the giant hamster was immobilized, trapped in a thick block of ice.

Not wasting any time, Ben turned his focus to the giant frog. Approaching it steadily, he exhaled a chilling breath that froze the creature solid, stopping its destructive leaps mid-stride. The immediate threats on the street were now neutralized, thanks to his rapid interventions.

Ben's gaze then returned to the man on the crow. Doctor Animo, as Ben knew him from old encounters, now stood as a clear figure against the smoky sky. The man's pale green skin, yellowish eyes, and shoulder-length white hair were unmistakable. Rather than a menacing, shadowy figure, Animo appeared determined—a mad scientist with a dangerous tool at his disposal: a machine mounted on his head and chest, which allowed him to mutate and control animals at will.

For a moment, Ben's mind churned with the implications: if Doctor Animo existed here, then some of his old adversaries might also have crossed into this universe. But there was no time for speculation; action was paramount.

Ben decided to neutralize Animo's immediate threat. He activated his invisibility and slipped silently behind the mad scientist. Slipping silently behind Doctor Animo, he focused his mind and began to channel his innate magical abilities. With a subtle yet potent burst of mental magic, he made the mad scientist's eyes flutter and his body slump—Doctor Animo was rendered unconscious on the spot. Simultaneously, Ben cast the same spell on the giant crow, knocking it out of the air so that it too became harmless.

With Animo temporarily neutralized, Ben transformed into Brainstorm. He quickly approached the strange device on Doctor Animo's head—the machine responsible for enlarging the animals. Using his superior technical expertise, Ben carefully reprogrammed the contraption, effectively reversing its effects and returning the mutated creatures to their normal sizes. Then using the electrokinesis inherent to his transformation, he fried the machine. 

With the threat from the creatures mitigated, Ben turned his attention back to the greater danger: Doctor Animo himself. His mind raced; if Animo retained the knowledge of his animal mutation experiments, he could wreak havoc again. Especially if this knowledge spread to agencies like Shield or worse, Hydra. Ben had to ensure that the mad scientist would be unable to share or even recall his dangerous research for the foreseeable future. With a few concentrated words—a spell honed through years of training—Ben cast a powerful enchantment that would erase Doctor Animo's memory of his animal mutation research. The spell was simple but effective: it locked away the knowledge, ensuring that Animo would forget all about his experiments on animal mutations for years to come, even though the potential for relearning was always there.

Having secured the crisis, Ben took a moment to assess the scene. The building, the rescued civilians, and the subdued threat of Doctor Animo all signaled that this was merely one episode in a much larger, more complex situation. With Oscorp now in a precarious state, and with hints of deeper conspiracies lurking in the background, Ben knew his work was far from over.

He took a deep breath, a mix of adrenaline and determination flooding his veins. With a final glance at the subdued chaos and a lingering thought about the unsettling familiarity of it all, he activated his final transformation into Ghostfreak and vanished into the night.

As the chapter closed on this tumultuous night, the ominous echoes of Doctor Animo's suppressed research lingered—a chilling reminder that Ben's battles were only just beginning.

To be continued...