1 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Ben 10 and Marvel Cinematic Universe. God I love these universes.

I remember being a kid and watching the very first episode of Ben 10. I was so excited, watching a kid become powerful aliens and using them to become a hero. I remember later watching Alien Force, seeing the older, wiser Ben, with a new suite of aliens and a new threat. After that, well... Things went kinda downhill for me personally. Ultimate aliens were cool, but as useful as all that beyond being a ploy to sell toys. As for omniverse and the reboot, not a fan.

Even so, I had mad love for the franchise, and I've always wanted to write a fic for it.

And then we have the MCU... What, am I gonna explain it? It's the MCU. All of us have our first moments realizing the insane awesomeness we were in for when we first saw Iron Man. The movies, the shows, they are often great, sometimes decent, rarely terrible.

So now, a fic. A guy gets dropped into the MCU with an Omnitrix. Have fun, and please let me know what you think.

July 15, 2018, Portland, Earth Prime Source

I was writing, late at night. Not something uncommon for me. I was working on a new story after a long day, my legs still burning from my leg workout in the afternoon. It had been a good day though. My nephew had come back from a visit to our family in California and as soon as he saw my face, started asking where his DS in that combination of adorable and annoying only a child can. He'd followed up by incessantly showing me every step he took in Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.

It was super annoying having him ask me to watch him play while I was trying to get work done, and I absolutely loved him for it. Once again, it was something only a kid you actually love can get away with.

He was asleep now. My legs burning and feeling satisfied with my day, I tapped away at the keyboard, idly sending fictional characters on fictional adventures. I'd probably sleep soon. Maybe. Probably. When I felt like it. For now, in the peaceful cool of an Oregon summer night, I was okay.

A face leaned over my shoulder. ”My, you really do need someone to teach you proper grammar, don't you?”

I jumped, spinning my chair around in shock. There, in my room, stood a man. He was tall, thin, and had a dignified age about him. He looked about as old as my dad actually. His face was unshaven, hair slicked back and white with age at the sides. He wore a brown vest over a white shirt and black tie, all covered by a lab coat. A pair of safety goggles with green goggles hung around his neck.

I stared at him for a moment. I mean, if the guy had broken in, smashed my apartment door down, I may have been able to respond in some way. I might have been angry, or scared.

As it was, all I could do was stare at this random guy who'd just shown up out of nowhere in my room.

”Well,” he said, still reading my computer monitor. ”I suppose it doesn't matter too much. You can practice later.”

As though his words were some sort of trigger, I snapped up from my chair, reflexively grabbing the nearest thing to a weapon I had close by. ”What the fuck!?”

He smiled at that. Stepping back and raising his hands up with a casual slowness that made me feel foolish, he chuckled. ”Young man, while I admire your choice of weaponry, I do believe that the Hero of Hyrule is the only one who could possibly use that weapon. Still, I admire the effort,” he said in a accent right out of those classy movies from the fifties.

I looked down at the weapon I'd chosen. I'd gotten it at comic con a few months back. It was a replica Master Sword. The edge was blunted, the point sort of sharp, the hilt made of cheap plastic with a cylindrical hilt that would prevent me from knowing where the edge of the blade was without looking. Barring it's near uselessness as a weapon, it was still in it's plastic sheath.

That said, a big metal stick in a plastic sheath is still an effective club. I tightened my grip, and stared at the guy. ”Dude... get out of my room.”

He laughed. ”Ah, 'dude'. I'm afraid I've come here for a reason. And I don't believe you will attack me. Not without a true reason for attacking me. Sad to say, but the sort of violence that would allow you to attack a man who is simply standing in your room is not a part of you my dear boy.”

”I...uh,” Once again, I felt foolish, and angry because of that feeling. The fact was, he was right. People just aren't built to attack randomly. Not if you've been raised all your life to avoid that instinct. After all, how many times had I seen street fight videos where two guys yelled at each other for four minutes before unleashing punches? It was 2018, and nobody was really ready to just unleash hell on some random person they'd met. Nobody except those trained for it, people from rough homes/neighborhoods, and insane people. Barring exceptions.

And I wasn't one of those exceptions.

”I do admire the effort however. On a basic level of course,” he sat down in my chair. Despite the fact my chair had been just behind me a moment ago.

”Wait,” I turned to see my chair was gone. I looked back at him, eyes wide. ”How did you... I don't-”

'Goddamnit,' I thought to myself. 'What is going on!?'

”Now, I wish I could explain everything,” he swung his left leg over his right, leaning back in my beat up old chair. His smile was sad now, almost pitying. ”But, sadly, the nature of my visit means I'll need to send you off as is. So, I am only here to be your, what is the word... oh yes, a ROB,” he took out a pocket watch of all things and fiddled with it. Behind me a noise filled the air as blue light filled my dark room. The noise was like a plastic cup being torn apart over and over again. ”I wish you best of luck. I suppose you won't forgive me, but it is what is needed.”

I turned, and stared in shock at the sight behind me. Instead of my desk and computer resting peacefully, there was a giant glowing blue circle hanging in the air. ”Oh shit.”

”Indeed,” A hand pressed into my back with incredible strength. I stumbled. ”My name is Paradox, by the way. Safe travels.”

”Oh shiiiii-” I fell into the glowing blue circle, and all the air in my lungs was sucked out.

'I should have hit him with my fucking sword.'

I fell in a void of blue lights. My body stretched into infinity. But it was also small as an atom. I had infinite understanding, and knew nothing. A whole bunch of other cliché ways to describe traveling through a portal.

I'd been going through that place for a while. I wish I could say it was boring. But it wasn't.

Instead, pain filled my entire body. Knives sliced apart my skin, ripped it from muscle, left my skeleton open to chilling air. My eyes were filled with needles, bit by bit. My limbs flew off of me, wriggling in the void.

Then, in an instant, I was healed again. I knew I'd felt pain. But the memory was only brief, as though I'd read, rather than experienced it. Until happened again.

I had no sense of time, so I had no idea how long I spent in that place. But when it ended, I was still screaming.

I flew into a brick wall in a flash of light. I fell to the ground.

”Ahhhhh!” I screamed, horrified. ”Ahhhh! Oh my god, ohmygodohmygod.” I screamed and screamed, hugging myself. ”No... no. Please. I can't... I can't.”

I lay there, in that place, feeling asphalt on my cheeks, tears on my cheeks as rage, horror, and pain left me just...

I never even noticed the watch resting on my left wrist. One with a symbol of two triangles connected at their points. All in green.

The sun had been up when I arrived in the alleyway. It had gone down by the time I had calmed down. I slowly got into a sitting position, my right cheek and arm still raw from lying on the concrete. I looked around, eyes drying, my muscles clenching in my arms.

I was in an alleyway. It was disgusting, littered with garbage that ranged from simple plastic wrappers to rotten food, with a dumpster a bit away from me. It smelled pretty terrible. But compared to where I'd been, I was okay with it.

I shivered, and looked down at myself. Whereever I was, it was chilly. Not snowy or anything, but the shorts and Tardis t-shirt I was wearing was still not cutting it. Granted, my beard and long hair was protecting me a bit, but it was no replacement for a sweater.

Still shivering, I rose to my bare feet and started walking. I didn't know where I was, what the hell was happening, though I had some theories. Crazy, insane theories.

I needed to... I needed to find a phone. I could call my brother. Shit, what was his number? Who memorizes phone numbers any more? I mean, maybe I could message him on facebook.

I got to a gate at the end of the alley and found it unlocked, opening it with a squeal of noise. I tripped slightly on my way out of the alleyway, but managed to keep walking, still shivering in the cold. Without a hair tie, my hair was in a poof of curls, so I kept brushing it out of the way as I walked. I looked around the city I was in.

The street I was walking on was named W 48th Street, which meant I had no idea where I was. Most likely a big city though. There were all the signs. Trash in the streets, constant noise in the distance, a random blanket on the floor. Apartment building were rising to the sky. Cars were parked all along the street. I passed by an abandoned lot, covered in gravel and dirt.

There was more though. Lots of portions of the city had apparently been hit by some sort of attack the likes of which I couldn't understand. Buildings had great holes dug into them. Detours were set up everywhere, leaving me to avoid certain streets, but I could see men in orange vests cleaning up broken and twisted steel and concrete.

”What the hell happened here?” I stopped at one point and stared at on bit of the work being done. A guy was driving a crane, taking away some massive piece of metal the color of polished bronze. I rubbed at my arms.

”Damnit,” I walked away, trying to focus.

Thankfully, thanks to my workouts, I'm a pretty big guy now. I was actually pretty proud of it, since I'd worked so hard on it. So no one seemed willing to bother me. Which was good, because all the signs of a rough neighborhood were right there with the damaged buildings. Graffiti, guys gathered in protective groups while glaring at passersby. Still, the streets were practically empty.

I saw a park and turned to walk into it. It was forested little area, with bushes and a fence blocking it from the rest of the city. The leaves were brown, and the grass dead, but it was a park nonetheless. I strolled through, my feet burning a bit from the cold and the walking on asphalt. I got to the middle of the park, the trees around me blocking the lights of the city. A chilly wind blew some leaves past. It was actually peaceful.

Of course, that was when the whistle noise came from behind me.

I stopped in my tracks and closed my eyes. ”Oooooh, this can't end well.”

I turned to see four guys walk up to me. They were wearing jean jackets with matches sewn into them in a symbol I recognized. The guy in front of me was bald, his eyes brown and wide. His pale white skin seemed to glow in what little light there was. The other guys were white as well. This was important.

As they came closer, the patches caught my eye once more. Swastika's covered the men vests with the sort of pride the symbol did not deserve.

I don't give a damn about people talking about Holocaust conspiracies and how not all of them are bad, or how all opinions should be listened to. If you're the sort of jerk who wears a swastika and starts blaming people's race, religion, gender, or sexual preference for your problems, if you use those as a reason to hate people, you don't deserve sympathy, you don't deserve an opinion. Ignorance can be cured. But not when it's intentional ignorance.

The men walked up to me, the guy in the lead grinning. ”Well well, look at you? Forget your shoes boy?”

I frowned, slowly backing away. ”I did. I'm on my way to get them. Can you let me go?”

A knife came out. ”Nah,” he chuckled. His friends joined him in chuckling. They surrounded me. ”I think I'd rather show what happens to immigrant fucks who come to New York.”

He leaped forward, knife aimed at my stomach.

I wasn't a martial artist. I'd only been trained in some boxing and high school wrestling. Luckily, I was scared as hell.

I'd been shoved into a realm of pain, woke up in a random city, and found myself getting attacked by some of the worst kind of people in the world.