Chapter 11: Original Aliens

"Don't panic," Raphael's voice echoed calmly in Nathan's mind, steady and absolute even as the creeping stone reached his fingers. "Activating Order Dragon's Breathing Technique."

Nathan felt it then—not a rush of power, but a stillness. Like a divine hand pulling the scattered threads of his existence back into alignment. The chaotic reality around him dulled, the petrification slowed, and in its place he felt something… pure. Structured. A rhythm beneath reality itself.

Order.

[Status: Reality Affliction Detected. Skill Countermeasure Engaged.]

Raphael continued, analytical and composed. 

[The technique elevates your internal Order, aligning your body and spirit with natural law. Chaos-based skills—like Gorgon's petrification—will struggle to overwrite that structure. However, resistance is proportional to practice. Current duration: 14 hours, 36 minutes. . Full immunity: 45 Days]

"So we grit our teeth," Nathan muttered, their shared body twitching as the grey began to recede, flaking from his arms and chest.

Jessica's surface thoughts hit him like a wave of stunned relief: It's fading? What is this guy?

She clenched their fists together, her voice shaky but fierce. "Then let's kill him before it comes back."

The fight resumed in earnest. Gorgon—eyes unveiled—moved like a predator, his blade humming with inhuman precision. Stone tried to crawl back up their legs with every near glance. Jessica ducked and weaved, fast and lethal, while Nathan braced the joints and unleashed Anti-Venom's signature spikes whenever Gorgon overreached.

He almost got them once—blade grazing their shoulder—but Nathan turned their flesh liquid for half a second and flowed around it. A shared shudder echoed between them.

Then Raphael chimed again.

[Warning: H-Omnitrix countdown—00:02:43 remaining.]

Nathan's heart clenched. "Jess," he said aloud, pushing the thought through their link, "I need to take the lead."

She hesitated. "Why?"

"Because I can see it." His magic sense pulsed, catching the divine rhythm in Gorgon's movement—tiny imperfections in his stance, invisible to normal eyes. "I know where to strike."

Another pause. Then, silent trust. She withdrew, not completely, but enough.

Nathan stepped in, their movements tighter, more surgical. Gorgon brought down his sword—Nathan slid under it, cracked his wrist at the tendon. Elbowed his ribs. Struck his knee.

Each blow found a weakness. Each movement broke the pattern.

And then—final strike—Anti-Venom's claws pierced Gorgon's throat. 

The swordsman collapsed, blood shooting out of his throat.

[H-Omnitrix cooldown initiated. Reverting form.]

White tendrils slid off Jessica, retracting from her skin like molten snow. In a moment, she was free—and Nathan was human, shirtless, breathless, and lying atop her.

Their eyes met.

Her heartbeat was thunderous—but her face remained composed, eerily trained. Yet something behind her eyes wavered. Not from embarrassment. From the absence of power.

She felt empty.

Nathan swallowed. "You okay?"

She nodded once. "Yeah."

But her thoughts betrayed her: It's too quiet now.

"So it was true. I saw it in your memories—you can turn into different forms and stuff with that watch?" Jess asked him.

"Well, yeah. I've got ten different ones," he replied.

Hey, Raph? Could she have seen anything in my memories that I wouldn't want her to?

[Negative. I isolated all sensitive memories. She only saw what she'll eventually find out.]

Nathan sighed. It wasn't that he couldn't trust people, but things like this world being fictional—or the Shop—weren't things he wanted to expose. They'd only bring trouble. As for Raphael… she was his trump card. His perfect partner. He wouldn't expose her either.

[...]

Wipe that smirk, Raph.

[It is your imagination.]

"So, Jess, can we rest now, or do you think someone else might come after us?" Nathan asked, glancing around cautiously.

"No idea," she replied, brushing hair from her eyes. "But there shouldn't be many left. The upper floors mostly had low-level scientists and a few Hydra-trained soldiers. Still... we can probably rest here for a bit."

And so they did.

Thankfully, no interruptions came. The silence felt almost surreal.

During that time, Nathan kept the conversation light. Nothing heavy—just small talk. Mundane, harmless things. He didn't push. If Jessica ever wanted to share something deeper, she would do it on her own terms.

About half an hour later, the H-Omnitrix pulsed softly—its cooldown finished.

He considered turning into Anti-Venom again, but the 24-hour cooldown after each use made him hesitate. Cyborg came to mind too—especially with all the surrounding tech—but that form was also still on cooldown.

So instead, he chose something new.

"Let's try Endeavour," he murmured to himself.

The transformation flared to life. Heat surged through his body. Flames crackled, licking up from his limbs, and a massive fiery moustache bloomed across his face.

Immediately, a giggle cut through the silence—followed by a full-on laugh.

"Why the hell are you growing a moustache made of fire?" Jessica choked between laughs.

"It comes with the transformation!" Nathan said defensively, though he couldn't help but grin.

Once they regained composure, they began climbing again. But something felt off.

Each floor they passed was empty—eerily so. No guards. No scientists. No signs of life.

Then they reached the ground floor—and the reason hit them like a wall.

Bodies. About a hundred of them. All lying in lines, as if they'd simply collapsed mid-formation.

The air was still. Heavy.

[Alert: Cause of death detected—airborne toxin. Trace amounts still present. You are immune to airborne poisoning. Jessica exhibits partial resistance. Advisable: She should evacuate the area promptly.]

"Jess," Nathan said quietly, "the air's still poisoned. You should head out—find a way to safety. I'll handle this."

She looked at him, unreadable. "What about you?"

"I'm immune to it," he replied simply.

After Jessica left, the silence of the Hydra facility settled like dust in the air. Nathan let it linger for a moment before speaking aloud.

"Raphael?"

A calm voice echoed inside his mind.

[Yes. There are approximately 280 fresh corpses and an estimated 6,000 decomposed bodies buried or discarded throughout the base. Would you like me to use them to purchase the Ring of Necromancy from the Shop?]

Nathan didn't hesitate. "Absolutely. But let's keep it in the notification section for now—until we find something fun to do with it."

[Done.]

He clapped his hands together, flexing his fingers. "Now then. Let's loot the place. Hydra's got to have tech, gear, probably some weird fluids too. Maybe a dulled version of super soldier serum."

Thus began the looting session.

Raphael had already mapped several vaults buried beneath the floor, hidden under reinforced tiles in the area where they'd fought Gorgon. Reaching them was easy. Opening them? Not so much.

Nathan crouched in front of a thick, matte-black steel vault embedded in the wall. The surface was unmarred by time, bullets, or scorch marks.

He punched the vault. The impact left a glowing handprint and a dent the size of a basketball.

He grunted. "Not enough."

With a flick, he reverted.

"Okay, not trying Hulk next. I'd like the building to stay upright."

For the first time since unlocking it, he selected the Ben 10: Random Alien function on the H-Omnitrix.

With a buzz and a whirl of green energy, the dial spun—and landed on Heatblast.

"HEATBLAST!"

The transformation was instantaneous. Stone plates slid over his skin as molten fire pulsed from within. His eyes flared like twin furnaces as he examined the vault.

"Great. Fire. Again. Not like I want to melt everything inside."

He sat cross-legged in front of the vault, flicking embers off his fingers, simmering in disappointment.

Ten minutes passed.

The Omnitrix blinked and chimed again.

"ARMO-DRILLO!"

His body bulked out, bones cracking into place as thick armor plating covered him in yellow-and-gray hide. Pistons hissed along his arms. The earth trembled under his feet.

"Now this I can work with."

[Observation: Random Alien Mode does not lock a single form—it cycles through a different alien approximately every ten minutes.]

Nathan grinned, flexing one massive, drill-like arm. "Even better. Unless it lands me with Walkatrout. That fish is worse than The Worst."

He reared back and drove both arms into the vault. The drills spun with a roar, concrete and steel screaming as they were torn apart. Dust and sparks exploded outward, but with Raphael's real-time guidance, he avoided destabilizing any critical supports—or triggering any traps.

Still, he made a mental note. Without Raphael, I'd have collapsed half the ceiling and buried myself in a gold-plated grave.

Because that's exactly what lay beyond the broken vault door.

Mountains of gold bars stacked like bricks, glimmering under the flickering emergency lights. Nathan whistled.

[Estimated value: $192 million USD.]

He took a few steps forward, boots echoing softly against the metal floor—when the Omnitrix blinked again.

"DITTO!"

In a flash, he shrank and split. One became two. Two became four. Soon, a dozen identical Nathans zipped around the vault.

"Oh, I like this one."

Each clone scurried with purpose. One climbed up shelves stacked with folders. Two began tugging crates out of the walls. Another started checking sealed boxes with radiation warning signs.

The Ditto wearing the Space Ring flicked his wrist and began rapidly storing everything—gold, files, gadgets, sealed canisters, even the furniture.

Raphael, linked to Nathan's soul, extended her awareness through each clone. Every eye became her, every hand an instrument of data collection.

[Documents include property deeds, tech patents, offshore accounts, blackmail material—some of it political, some deeply personal. I recommend we copy it all.]

"Yeah, let's make sure none of it ever sees the light of day... unless we need it to."

Nathan watched his army of clones work.

He chuckled.

"Hydra's gonna need more than two heads after this."

Once Nathan had stuffed everything valuable into his Space Ring—gold, blackmail documents, exotic tech, and at least three suspiciously labeled vials—he decided it was time to explore deeper.

"Let's see what kind of nightmares you've got hiding in the labs, Hydra."

"CHAMALIEN!"

A shimmering ripple flowed over his skin as his body thinned and shifted, transforming into a lithe, cloaked alien. His limbs stretched into flexible lengths, fingers tipped with adhesive pads, and his skin camouflaged itself to match the cold, steel hallway walls.

Nathan tilted his head, adjusting to the new center of balance. "I was hoping for something faster."

He slid silently along the corridor, descending into the lower levels where Hydra had conducted their more "creative" experiments.

Just as he reached the reinforced blast doors of the lab, the Omnitrix blinked again.

"GREY MATTER!"

In a blink, his body compressed down to mere inches in height, bones and flesh compacting into the tiny, frog-like form of a Galvan. But unlike previous transformations, this one hit different.

Nathan's brain erupted with clarity.

He saw everything.

Formulas danced behind his eyes. Languages he never studied suddenly made sense. He could see the circuitry in the walls, calculate airflow, even predict the pattern of flickering lights by observing micro-surges in power flow.

Then—thought acceleration kicked in.

[Mental synchronization engaged. Thought Acceleration activated. I have initiated shared processing of all incoming knowledge and residual Galvan tech memory.]

Raphael's voice, usually calm, carried the edge of awe.

Their minds—AI and Galvan—intertwined into a singular processing force. Together, they became a living supercomputer.

They reviewed, dissected, and reorganized data at speeds impossible for humans. Schematics flooded their shared perception. Genetic codes decrypted in seconds. Chemical compositions analyzed themselves under theoretical models.

Their first target was obvious.

The H-Omnitrix.

But it was... frustrating.

[Warning: The H-Omnitrix requires physical interfacing for deeper analysis. External observation is insufficient to reveal internal dimensional layering, nano-field processing, or sentient code blocks.]

"Too much to chew on right now," Nathan muttered, voice high-pitched and croaky in Grey Matter's form. "We'll need time and maybe a way to operate on it without unequiping it."

Still, Raphael extracted as much insight as she could from the transformation's Galvan memories—not as deep or specialized as a true Galvan scientist, but broader, more versatile.

A jack-of-all-tech. And right now, that was enough.

So, they pivoted—to what was in front of them.

Hydra's genetic vaults. The High Evolutionary's mad science. The Super Soldier programs, failed clones, twisted hybrids.

The work of monsters. And now, the tools of progress.

Together, Nathan and Raphael began dissecting it all.

They merged the biological genius of the Galvans with Hydra's reckless ambition. Mutagenic compounds, adaptive serums, evolution triggers—all deciphered, streamlined, and improved.

And from that mountain of insanity, they forged a new formula.

The Evolutionary Serum.

A shining silver-blue liquid that pulsed with living potential.

"A serum that not only maxes out your physical attributes…" Nathan whispered, perched on a counter and staring at the vial with reflective eyes, "…but lets you adapt. In real time. Survive poisons. Grow resistance to heat, cold, trauma. Maybe even psychic attacks."

[Real-time evolution. Mutation guided by situational stressors. Potentially scalable to combat scenarios.]

But it came with a catch.

[Warning: Incompatible with Omnitrix-derived transformations. The cellular resets triggered by alien morphing would interrupt, or outright counteract, the evolutionary progression.]

"In short, if I use it while wearing this thing"—he tapped the H-Omnitrix core—"it'd reboot me every time I transform. Maybe even start fighting my changes."

[Correct. Early simulations show significant instability.]

"Then I guess it's time to find some of society's trash to test it on. Let's see what happens when you force evolution on someone with nothing left to lose."

If it worked?

Earth's defense would level up.

And so would he.