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Racing through the streets, warm wind whipping away at your featureless face, you continued your relentless pursuit of the creature who stole your and Wendy’s life savings. With luck, you could catch them before they had a chance to spend it.

“Wait! Will you stop running for two goddamn seconds!?” Wendy shouted after you, panting heavily while vaulting over obstacles and pushing past pedestrians.

If you were to be brutally honest, this whole thing would go a whole lot quicker if you didn’t have to wait for Wendy to catch up. But she insisted on benign there when you busted the creep for stealing from her. And you honestly couldn’t blame her for feeling that way.

Suddenly, the scent trail became more vivid in color and aroma. You were getting closer. Much closer.

Picking up the pace, you roared at a group of overly curious onlookers, forcing them to jump out of the way. It became an effort to ignore their shouts and screams along the way with your amplified senses.

And right as you rounded the next corner, you leapt high into the air, springing off of a nearby wall, and swinging off a protruding street light, before landing directly in front of the perpetrator.

The man before you seemed to be an insectoid alien with bulbous eyeballs that protruded from four rigid eyestalks. He barely stopped himself from slipping and falling onto his back as he scrambled away from you and started running in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately for him, Wendy was there to cut him off, panting heavily from the marathon that she was forced to run. Despite being out of breath, she was more than enough to take this creep out single handedly.

“Now, let’s talk…” she said, cracking her knuckles menacingly.

With the thief distracted, you were able to snatch him up with your teeth, holding him off the ground by the back of his hoodie as he flailed around wildly.

You were attracting quite the crowd at this point. It’d be best to find a quiet alleyway to conduct your business.

---------

After finding a relatively deserted area, you timed out in a flash of crimson light, returning to your human form once more.

Wendy didn’t bother asking about the Omnitrix. Not while she was imagining all the different ways to torture the poor fool that dared to break into your home and steal your valuables.

“What do you think we should do with him?” she asked, tilting her head towards the insectoid alien, who was currently shaking in his boots and begging for mercy. “I think he’s got one too many eyestalks. Maybe we should take a few as souvenirs.” she said, flashing an amused smile at the bug cowering before her.

(Cont.)

What do you say?

>”Do what you want with him. Meet me at that restaurant over there when you’re done.”
>”I think it’s only fair that we receive some sort of compensation for our troubles. See what he’s got on him.”
>”Let’s just report him to security and get out of here. We’ve already got our money back.”
>”We might need to make an example out of him. Just to make sure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”
>”I think he’s learned his lesson. Let him go.”
>Write-in.

>>4916901
>”I think it’s only fair that we receive some sort of compensation for our troubles. See what he’s got on him.”
>”We might need to make an example out of him. Just to make sure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”

By that i mean beat him up good, but not lethally.

>>4916901
>”I think it’s only fair that we receive some sort of compensation for our troubles. See what he’s got on him.”
>”We might need to make an example out of him. Just to make sure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”

>>4916898
Supporting >>4917238

>>4917238
>>4917783
>>4917905
Writing...

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You glance over at the shivering insect, a crooked grin flashing across your face. “I think it’s only fair that we receive some sort of compensation for our troubles.” you propose, while leaning up against the wall that your thief is currently pressed against. You can see him sinking lower and lower as you and Wendy get closer and closer. “Let’s see what he’s got on him.”

Despite the thief’s protesting and squirming, you and Wendy manage to find a decent amount of cash and gear that he’d stashed in secret compartments within his jacket and pants. They consisted of a tiny blaster, a spare power pack, some stims and about 3 Tayden clusters. That should more than make up for your losses today.

Once you’d pilfered his goods, the insect began chittering once more, but this time it was vaguely intelligible. Well, as intelligible as his alien language could be, you guess. At least he wasn’t blubbering and sobbing anymore.

“He wants us to let him go.” Wendy translated, smirking back at you with a wicked grin.

“No dice.” you said, shaking your head. “In fact, we might have to make an example out of him. Just to make sure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.” you suggest.

Wendy’s grin grew wider. “Ha! Now you’re speaking my language.” she agreed, seemingly satisfied by your answer. And before the thief could protest any further, Wendy drove her fist straight into his stomach, causing him to double over in pain.

You joined in, stomping on his head and sending it crashing against the wall. The sound and feeling of chitin cracking against the heel of your boot was simultaneously satisfying and sickening. Wendy didn’t seem to mind, though. She unleashed all her pent up fury and frustration on the poor pickpocket without a hint of remorse.

And while you shared in her sentiment, you weren’t nearly as livid as she was. In fact, the only reason you were still here was to make sure that she didn’t kill the poor bastard in the process of kicking his teeth in. However, that’s not to say that you weren’t enjoying the act of putting this bug back in his place.

In the past, you would’ve considered Wendy to be a bad influence on you. But now, you’re absolutely certain that your mutual association breeds something similar to negative reinforcement.

--------

After you were done teaching him a lesson, you were forced to pull Wendy back and make her realize that he’d had enough. It took her a moment to calm down again, but she managed to do so without you walking her through the breathing exercises.

(Cont.)

You then pulled him back onto his feet, dragged him out into the open and made a show of tossing his limp figure out into the street. This obviously attracted a great deal of attention, but that was the point after all. Anyone that got one look at this filthy little thief would soon find out what happened to people that crossed the two of you. Hopefully, the message would make its way back to the Caiman. But some part of you knew that he would need a more “hands-on” lesson in order to get the message through that thick skull of his.

And while you were stashing your pilfered goods into your pack, Wendy went ahead and asked the obvious question that had no doubt been burning in the back of her head.

“So,” she began. “What is that thing? And how’d you get your hands on it?”

You knew this was coming eventually. How will you answer?

>”It’s a...family heirloom. I’ve had it for a while now.”
>”Something that I promised myself I’d never put back on. Let’s just leave it at that.”
>”A super powerful, and super dangerous weapon. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll keep it a secret.”
>”It’s our ticket to a better life. I’m tired of getting bossed around.”
>”Advanced Galvan tech. It allows me to transform into a bunch of different aliens for a limited amount of time.”
>Write-in.

>>4917975
>>”Something that I promised myself I’d never put back on. Let’s just leave it at that.”
>”A super powerful, and super dangerous weapon. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll keep it a secret.”

>>4917975
>>”Something that I promised myself I’d never put back on. Let’s just leave it at that.”
>”A super powerful, and super dangerous weapon. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll keep it a secret.”

>>4917975
>”A super powerful, and super dangerous weapon. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll keep it a secret.”
>"Listen, there is some time travel bull going on, so we gotta try to keep low despite trouble coming for us, alright?"
>"I could explain more, but you won't believe me anyway."

I don't see why we shouldn't do this, and it baits her into asking more about it.

>>4917979
>>4919442
Writing...

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“Something that I promised myself that I’d never put back on.” you say, sighing deeply and lifting your wrist to examine the device. “Let’s just leave it at that.”

As the words flowed from your mouth, you felt a lump forming in your throat. You tasted the bitter regret of words left unspoken, and words that should have remained unspoken.

Even after all this time, your mistakes were still haunting you like an Ectonurite.

“Are you kidding?” Wendy scoffed. “Why wouldn’t you want to wear that thing all the time? Can you turn into any other aliens? Is there a time limit, or-”

“Wendy!” you shouted back, breaking up her bombardment of questions all of a sudden. “This thing is super powerful, and super dangerous. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll keep it a secret.” you say, pleading with your eyes.

She pursed her lips and just stared at you for a few moments. You could tell from her gaze that she was assessing you, weighing your words, as well as the risks that they implied. Until, finally, she spoke again.

“Okay. I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Wendy replied. “But that doesn’t mean that you can hold out on me forever. I want answers, and I want them soon.” she continued.

You nodded, with a faint smile spreading across your lips, all while slipping the Omnitrix off of your wrist and placing it back inside the containment cube. You weren’t sure of how much you should be telling Wendy. You’ve no doubt created a branching timeline from your presence alone. And what were you thinking, revealing the Omnitrix to someone who had no business knowing about it in the first place? How stupid could you be!?

Banishing the thought, you return to the present and carefully plan for your next actions. What you do from here could possibly decide the course of this timeline’s history going forward. No pressure...

---------

For the next couple of weeks, things started to go back to normal. Wendy didn’t insist on you abusing the Omnitrix’s power, and she didn’t pry into your personal life. You respected her for that. For all her flaws, the girl not only acknowledged your need for a healthy distance between others, but she respected it.

As strange as it sounded, this was the foundation of your relationship. Acknowledging each other’s pain, agreeing to steer clear of it, and suffering in silence. Neither of your wounds were healing properly, but you were both content with slapping a bandage over them until they were almost imperceptible. And this continued to work for some time.

That is, until the bounty hunters started showing up.

(Cont.)

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-------

It started slow, with two-bit mercs showing up searching for a vaguely described trinket. They, of course, found nothing and reported as such to their bosses. But after a few more weeks, more and more started appearing. Some of them you’d recognized from rumors on the Extranet, and others simply permeated the air with a general sense of dread and unease.

Their questions became more precise, and so did the net that they cast over the mining planet. At that point, it became abundantly clear of what exactly it was that they were looking for.

These guys were hunting for the most powerful weapon in the entire galaxy. And you were the poor sap that was hiding it under his pillow.

How did you react?

>You acted normal and kept going about your business. Any suspicious movements might incriminate you.
>You went underground and laid low for a while, until you got a chance to hire a smuggler to get you off world.
>You carefully crafted a replica and sent it out as bait so that they would leave the planet.
>You tried desperately to repair your Chrono and contact Paradox for an extraction.
>Write-in.

>>4920743
>You acted normal and kept going about your business. Any suspicious movements might incriminate you.

>>4920743
You acted normal and kept going about your business. Any suspicious movements might incriminate you.

>>4920846
>>4922993
Writing...

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Despite your undying urge to cut your ties and flee from this backwater mining planet, you decided that your best move was to act normal and pretend that you were unaware of their intentions.

It was easy enough. Like usual, you went to work, stopped by one of the local bars and then went straight home to rest, just so you could repeat the process all over again. Wendy was good at hiding her unease. Good enough to make it blend in with the general unease that had settled in right alongside your new bounty hunting neighbors.

Eventually, the lack of progress discouraged some of the more inexperienced bounty hunters, as well as the experienced ones that knew this particular job wasn’t worth wasting any more of their precious time and resources.

You saw many groups and factions passing through the area. Even Highbreed Inquisitors. But the only ones who stayed were the deranged, desperate and paranoid. And while they were undoubtedly dangerous, you were feeling more comfortable with your chances against their dwindling forces, should it come to a violent altercation.

However, there was just one thing that you weren’t counting on. Out of everyone on this planet, there was only one other person that had seen you transform. And that particular creature had gone blabbing about it to local security. Of course, most people shrugged it off as the deranged ramblings of a sore and overly concussed loser. But this was enough to cause some rumors to start spreading. Rumors with descriptions that sounded a little too similar to one of the very few human residents on this planet.

Your window was getting smaller. If you were going to do something, you’d best do it soon.

But first things first, you needed to get back home and reconvene with Wendy. She would know what to do in situations like these.

---------

After your shift ended, you booked it straight home, only to find your front door hanging open again.

You swear, if it was that slimy bug coming back for seconds, you weren’t gonna let him off with just a warning this time…

Busting through your front door, you found Wendy pressed up against the wall, hovering in mid-air. And standing across the room from her was an alien with green skin, two long tails streaming off either ends of her head, and one protruding from the small of her back.

“So glad that you could join us.” she said, cool and calm as her three purple eyes burrowed deep into your soul. All three of them were glowing at this point. A similar color to the aura that surrounded Wendy’s levitating body,as well as the various objects that were flying around the room.

She was clearly searching for something. And it wasn’t hard for you to figure out what exactly that “something” was.

“Just give me the Omnitrix, and no one has to get hurt.” she said, narrowing her eyes at you.

(Cont.)

What do you do?

>”Omni-what?”
>”Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”
>”Get out of my house before I call security on your ass.”
>”Please. You don’t want to do this. Just put her down and walk away before things get ugly.”
>”Go get your own. This one’s mine.”
>Snatch the cube out of the air when it flies by and slap on the Omnitrix.
>Write-in.

>>4923250
>>”Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”
>”Please. You don’t want to do this. Just put her down and walk away before things get ugly.”

>>4923250
>”Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”
>”Please. You don’t want to do this. Just put her down and walk away before things get ugly.”

>>4923290
>>4923351
Writing...

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“Let her go.” you plead, cautiously inching towards the green alien with a hand outstretched to both her and Wendy. “She has nothing to do with this.”

A smirk formed on the alien’s face. “Last time I tried that, she attempted to gouge one of my eyes out with a rusty fork.”

Wendy’s jaw clenched and her eyes went wide. Both were most likely being held in place by some kind of telekinesis. But at least she wasn’t using it against you yet. Perhaps she was just waiting for you to give her a reason to hold you captive.

Either she was bound by a moral code, or she simply didn’t recognize you as a threat. Both could be used to your advantage. You just had to figure out the right words necessary for diffusing this situation.

“Please, you don’t want to do this.” you continued. “Just put her down and walk away before things get ugly.”

Xylene narrowed her eyes once more. “Is that a threat?” she asked. Her voice was cool and measured. She knew exactly how much control she had over the situation, and so did you. If she wished it, she could snap both your necks in an instant. The thought caused an icy chill to run up your spine.

“No,” you responded, your mouth feeling incredibly dry all of a sudden. “It’s a promis-”

But before you could get the words out, you found yourself being thrown off your feet by a powerful shockwave. The walls and ceiling of your shack were blown apart in a brilliant flash of light, and your skin was sizzled from the incredible burst of heat that followed immediately afterward.

Suddenly, all three of you were on the floor, struggling to regain your senses and clambering to your feet. Despite the green alien’s feet being bent backwards at an awkward angle, she didn’t seem to have much trouble.

Outside your domicile, you heard the heavy footfalls of a large creature stomping its way towards you. But the noises that it created aside from that were completely foreign to you. Some alien language that consisted of squeals and burbles that varied in range and pitch. That was, until the Galvan Universal Translator kicked in.

“Thanks for leading me to the prize, Xylene.” it said, the Basic words almost overlapping, with its native language lagging behind ever so slightly. “But if you know what’s good for you, you’d do best to stay down.”

With that last threat, the creature came into view. And it was quite a sight to behold.

You recognized the alien as a Protost, due to its gelatinous, amorphous physiology. It almost resembled a three-eyed slug at times, but that was only when they were in their relaxed state. As far as you knew, Protosts were effectively immortal, with prolonged exposure to electricity being their only weakness.

But considering the material and thickness of his protective suit, you feel like this particular Protost has enough built-in insulation to withstand such attacks.

9Cont.)

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“Holy shit…” Wendy gasped, her mouth gaping open as she stared at the towering Protost in awe. “It’s Sluggmo…”

Sluggmo? You had no idea who he was, but it must be impressive for her to freeze up like this. Even without a reputation to go off of, the hulking colossus stood at a staggering seven and a half feet tall. Equipped with both a multi-layered armored containment suit and a devastating modded blaster pistol that was slightly bigger than your head, you were in no mood to find out just how tough this guy was. Not without...your Omnitrix!

There it was! Just lying on the floor between both Xylene and this Sluggmo guy. But you don’t think either of them has noticed yet. Not with the way they’re staring each other down.

Should you try to grab the cube and make a break for it? Would either you or Wendy make it out of here alive if you moved an inch? Maybe pitting these two against each other would be the better play.

What do you do?

>”You might as well fly home, Xylene. Sluggmo’s got this bounty in the bag.”
>”Both of you are too late. The prize got swiped by somebody else a few days ago.”
>”Be careful, Sluggmo! She could probably splatter you with only a thought.”
>”Fine. If you both want the Omnitrix so bad, then just take it. It’s in that lockbox.”(Lie)
>Signal Wendy to dive for the tiny blaster and stun Xylene with it.
>Stay silent and wait for an opportunity to swipe the Omnitrix.
>Write-in.

>>4923823
>Fine. If you both want the Omnitrix so bad, then just take it. It’s in that lockbox.”(Lie)

>>4923823
>>”Fine. If you both want the Omnitrix so bad, then just take it. It’s in that lockbox.”(Lie)
>Stay silent and wait for an opportunity to swipe the Omnitrix. Do it in a calm way though, the more inplace it looks the less suspicion it'll incure

>>4923823
>”Fine. If you both want the Omnitrix so bad, then just take it. It’s in that lockbox.”(Lie)
>Stay silent and wait for an opportunity to swipe the Omnitrix. Do it in a calm way though, the more inplace it looks the less suspicion it'll incure

>>4924909
>>4926729
Writing...

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“Fine.” you interrupt, drawing everyone’s attention to you. “If you both want the Omnitrix, just take it. It’s in that lockbox over there.” you say pointing to a box in the corner of the room. It was where you and Wendy kept your money before you got robbed by that insectoid scumbag.

Then, without warning, Xylene reached out towards the lockbox with her hand, latching onto it with her mind and drawing it closer to her. And out of the corner of your eye, you catch a blur of motion from Sluggmo, followed by a heavy plasma bolt being fired at Xylene!

Using reflexes that you hadn’t expected from the scrawny alien, she used her other hand to lift up a piece of warped metal from the ground before her, deflecting the blaster bolt and sending her flying in the opposite direction as a result of the impact. The whole exchange was so brief that you were sure that it only occurred within the period of a handful of heartbeats. You barely got the chance to breathe during all that, let alone reach for the Omnitrix.

Sitting absolutely still, you and Wendy watched and waited to see whether Xylene had survived the attack, or at least managed to maintain consciousness. Sluggmo, however, was in no mood for such niceties.

Opening a port on the palm of his gauntlet, a torrent of red slime poured out of his suit, splattering across the floor and completely enveloping the lockbox.

“Jackpot!” he laughed. But before he got the chance to reel in his prize, his arm went stiff all of a sudden. Then, his amorphous appendage began to twist and writhe, splitting apart and breaking into chunks, making it impossible to maintain his grasp on the lockbox.

And out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Xylene stretching her hand out to the Protost bounty hunter, her eyes glowing fiercely once more.

Seeing as they were both distracted, you made a subtle nod to Wendy and began inching towards the Omnitrix, under the pretense of making it seem like you were trying to distance yourself from the bounty hunter’s battle. She seemed to get your hint.

As their heated exchange continued, you found yourself feeling grateful that both these scoundrels were considerably tough. If they hadn’t been, then you would’ve never gotten this chance at all.

Crawling backwards, keeping a close eye on Xylene and Sluggmo, your hand finally found the containment cube that you spotted earlier. And in one smooth, fluent movement, you picked yourself up, slipped the cube into your sleeve and stumbled out of the ruined shack. Wendy split off in a separate direction, but you both knew where to meet up.

And if those two actually bought your act, then you and Wendy would be home free before either of them realized.

----------

(Cont.)

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Racing through the docking yard, you linked back up with Wendy and scanned the area for any undefended ships that she could easily break into. Neither of you could afford your own yet, and neither could you afford the outrageous docking fees. What you could afford, however, was an easily concealable lock breaker that Wendy kept in her artificial hand.

“How about that one?” Wendy asked, pointing at a slightly rusted light freighter with refitted sub-light engines. It had definitely seen better days, but you weren’t exactly in a position to be picky.

“It’ll have to do.” you agree, vaulting over a crate that had been improperly placed. “Let’s get the door open and-”

The words were barely out of your mouth, before a rush of wind hit you square in the face. Clearly confused and disoriented by the unnatural event, your eyes began to follow the trail of shouts and screams that had begun to fill the docking yard. And what you saw made you freeze in place.

A single ship, circling above the cramped space in the docking yard rotated towards you, raised its guns and let loose a volley of turbolaser fire at the ship that you were approaching! Without any deflective shields active to protect it, the ship exploded with a shattering boom, knocking you and Wendy off your feet and sending you flying backwards.

Ears ringing and stomach churning, you stared at the flaming pile of superheated junk that used to be your ticket out of here. And with that ship hovering over you now, there was no escape. Not unless you were in the mood to be blasted to pieces.

“Kenny…” Wendy grunted. “Lizard...bitch…” she continued, pointing at something that you couldn’t see in the distance.

Still feeling dizzy from the explosion, your eyes followed the line that her hand traced. And then, your eyes went wide.

It was Xylene! Somehow in one piece, and somehow flying towards you as if she herself were rocket propelled. Her rage was palpable, and between her and this ship, you weren’t sure of which one you’d prefer to face.

Was this perhaps her ship? Had she installed a highly advanced slave circuit of some sort and issued a mental command to fire on sight? Or was she working with an accomplice on this mission?

Either way, you were royally screwed. Unless…

Your eyes drifted to the containment cube. You had to use the Omnitrix. It was the only way that you could possibly conceive of. And no matter how much you hated the idea, you had to do it for Wendy’s sake.

But before you even got the chance to slip the device from its containment cube, a brilliant burst of white light flooded your vision. Time slowed to a crawl, but your perception remained at a normal speed. Behind you, a swirling portal of bluish white color began to pull you in, molecule by molecule.

“No…” you thought.

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You stared in awe as the temporal phenomenon ate away at your body, transporting you through time and space without your consent.

“No! Not yet…!” you screamed internally.

This must be Paradox’s doing! You can’t leave yet! Wendy needs you! There’s still so much that you need to tell her. So much that you need to thank her for.

Making one final futile effort, you reached out to Wendy, failing to even draw her attention before disappearing completely.

Sounding like a sharp intake of air, the portal closed, and Wendy turned to find herself alone on the landing pad.

“Kenny…?” she called out, helpless and confused.

All of a sudden, you felt like you could interpret Wendy’s thought process with a great deal of accuracy.

She was wondering if Kenny had somehow been vaporized by the turbolaser, or if he’d been crushed by the debris. Or maybe he hadn’t been hit at all, and was in fact circling around to get the jump on Xylene.

All that was somehow more believable than the thought that Kenny had abandoned her to her fate.

And in her search, Wendy spotted something that yanked her out of her negative thought process.

Oozing out of the wrecked ship, was a lone Galvanic Mechamorph, sporting an unusual yellow and black color pattern. From the way it was behaving, Wendy was sure that it was most likely an infant.

If she could somehow get over there and grab that Mechamorph, she might be able to use it to her advantage. But if she was going to do something, then she figured that it had better be soon.

Who's perspective were you experiencing this from now? And more importantly...

What did she do upon merging with the Mechamorph?

>She adapted a laser rifle out of her arm and fired at Xylene!
>She launched it at Xylene’s ship and ordered it to override her controls.
>Waited until Xylene got close, and then slugged her with an enlarged fist!
>She ordered it to merge with the station’s defense turrets and lay waste to any bounty hunter that it detected in the area.
>Write-in.

>>4926807
>Waited until Xylene got close, and then slugged her with an enlarged fist!

>>4926807
>Waited until Xylene got close, and then slugged her with an enlarged fist!
The classic "shoot when you see the white of their eyes" tactic.
(Or whatever color their eyes are)

>>4926815
>>4929413
Writing...

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Struggling to catch her breath, Wendy willed herself to move towards the collapsed form of the Mechamorph. She didn’t have the time to befriend it or explain the situation. All she could do was make contact and pray that it latched on and played along with her plan without arguing.

Touching her artificial hand to the cool, viscous metallic surface of the creature, she nearly flinched back out of sheer reflex when it started crawling up her arm. It was an uncomfortable feeling for sure. Like some sort of sentient syrup was inching its way through her veins, in the hope of possessing her body.

Well, at least it was integrating into her prosthetic without issue. That showed signs of acceptance and unabashed curiosity. Or perhaps the creature had been fully aware of the situation that was unfolding, and had been acting out of sheer survival instinct.

Either way, Wendy didn’t care. So long as he played his part, both of them would make it out of this alive. And as to how she knew that it was a “he”, Wendy had no answer. It was possible that the Mechamorph might have worked his way to the chip implanted in her brain. If that were the case, then they would be bonded on a much deeper, and more intimate level than Wendy would have preferred.

Just then, a faint whooshing sound filled Wendy’s ears, followed by delicate footfalls approaching her with caution.

“Give it up. There’s nowhere left for you to run.” Xylene proposed. “Did you and that Anodite really think that you could steal the most powerful weapon in the galaxy and get away with it?”

Wendy cocked an eyebrow and turned her head slightly.

“Anodite”? Wendy didn’t know any Andoites on a personal level. If she did, then she sure wouldn’t be stuck in this shitty situation.

“If you hand it over now, I won’t press any charges.” Xylene proclaimed. That’s funny coming from the crazy lizard bitch that just blew up half of a spaceport. “And,” she continued. “Proper medical attention.”

It was then that Wendy noticed she’d been clutching her artificial arm rather tightly. That was in part due to the discomfort she felt from merging with the Mechamorph, but apparently, Xylene hadn’t noticed either.

“Please,” she pleaded, inching closer to Wendy and hovering a hand over her shoulder. “Let me help you.”

This was it. She wasn’t going to get any closer than this.

Sending a mental command to the Mechamorph through the chip in your brain, Wendy jumped up and spun around on her heels, swinging her fist towards the Uxorite.

Xylene wasn’t as surprised as she would’ve liked, her arms already held up to deliver a telekinetic burst. But she was in no way prepared for your sister to team up with a Galvanic Mechamorph that she’d literally just found oozing out of a ship that she destroyed. The irony was too great to bear! It was karma at its finest.

(Cont.)

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And in the blink of an eye, Wendy’s arm exponentially increased in size, seemingly growing new parts out of nowhere as the Mechamorph made a few last minute modifications. The arm was now comparable to one of Rex’s Smack Hands, growing to be at least as tall as Wendy and twice as wide.

Xylene attempted to deflect the attack with a hastily crafted energy barrier, but it proved to be no match against Wendy’s fist, as it punched straight through the bubble and sent the Uxorite flying!

Her bones cracking under the sheer weight of the attack, Xylene flew into a nearby pile of crates, becoming buried within them as they toppled and cracked open.

It took Wendy a few seconds to realize that a crowd was gathering around the docking yard now. She could barely hear the murmurs over the sound of her own shuddering breaths and pounding heartbeat. Sensing her inner turmoil, the Mechamorph returned her arm to a normal size and popped its head out to inquire about her condition. To Wendy, it sounded like a series of dull chirps and beeps. But somehow, she understood exactly what it said. It must have been a product of their newfound symbiotic relationship.

“Yeah, just peachy…” she sarcastically retorted, immediately feeling bad for mouthing off to her savior. “But...that was pretty kick-ass.” she admitted with a wry grin.

The Mechamorph responded with another series of unintelligible chirps and beeps. It was almost like talking with Ship. You had no idea how Julie could manage it.

Suddenly, a rift was torn open right next to you, revealing two glowing figures moving around on the other side. And when they emerged...you were relieved to see that it was Wendy and Verdona! The real ones this time!

“Holy shit…” Wendy gasped, struggling to catch her breath. “What the hell just happened…!?”

Not giving her any chance to make sense of the situation, you pulled them both into a deep hug, taking them by surprise.

“O-oh my!” Verdona exclaimed, returning the hug enthusiastically. “Someone’s rather cheerful for having been thrown through space and time.”

“Alright, already!” Wendy groaned, weakly trying to pull you away. “Enough with the mushy shit. I feel like my astral projection is about to hurl.”

Despite her protests, you could hear the relief in her voice, as well as the corners of her lips slowly curling into a smile.

“Anyway,” she continued. “What’d I miss?”

How do you respond?

>”Some guy called ‘Kenny’ showed up and I started experiencing his memories instead.”
>”That depends on what you remember.”
>”I think you were visited by a time traveler or something.”
>”You just beat up Xylene and met Killa-Byte, I think.”
>”Where were you this whole time?”
>Write-in.

>>4929462
>>>”Some guy called ‘Kenny’ showed up and I started experiencing his memories instead.”

>>4929462
>”Some guy called ‘Kenny’ showed up and I started experiencing his memories instead.”
>”Where were you this whole time?”

>>4929705
>>4930370
Taking these and combining...

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“Some guy called ‘Kenny’ showed up and I started experiencing his memories instead.” you explain, eliciting a bewildered expression from Wendy.

“No,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “That’s not right. I remember him being there back then, but at the same time…” she trailed off, seemingly mulling something over in her head.

“The initial confusion will pass eventually.” Verdona reassured her. “I had to reconstruct your psyche, along with your memories. What you’re experiencing now is a major conflict in your memories as the events of two separate timelines are popping up side by side.”

“You mean...she remembers both versions of her past?” you ask, almost hesitantly.

“With perfect clarity, yes.” Verdona nodded. If that were the case, then Wendy should be experiencing something similar to what you were going through when you were transported to that alternate future.

“It’s like watching two different versions of the same movie at the same time.” Wendy grimaced, her expression growing into one of discomfort as she hunched over slightly. “It’s hard to tell which one is real and which isn’t.”

“Both are very real.” Verdona continued. “One is simply more relevant to the current version of history that this timeline is currently following.”

Wendy inhaled slightly, letting out a sharp hiss through her teeth. “Time travel is such bullshit.” she groaned.

“I want to say that you’ll get used to it, but I’m still working on that part.” you say, in an effort to comfort her.

She corrected her posture and made an effort to conceal the pained expression on her face. “So, what? You’re saying that Kenny was from the future or some shit?” she asked no one in particular. “Then why’d he stick around for so long?”

“It’s likely that he was unable to return to his own time.” Verdona theorized.

“Either that, or he wasn’t ready to go home just yet.” you add. “There were some powerful emotions tied to that Omnitrix of his.”

“Uh-huh.” Wendy said, staring at a younger version of herself. “And why do you think he had an Omnitrix in the first place?” she asked. “I doubt that they’re that common, even in the future.”

You shrug your shoulders and glance back at Wendy’s memory construct. “Your guess is as good as mine.” you say. “What I really want to know is where you’ve been this whole time.”

Wendy’s eyes tightened visibly. “Where do you think?” she asked in an impatient tone. “I was hurtling through space and time, cycling through some pretty shitty memories for God knows how long.”

(Cont.)

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The way she explained it was rather matter-of-fact, but you could tell that she was hiding some pretty painful experiences from you by brushing it aside. You suspected that the action didn’t stem from a lack of trust, but rather a tendency to shoulder a great deal of emotional turmoil by herself.

So instead of digging any further, you simply nodded and let the moment pass. From the way her expression softened, you could tell that she appreciated the gesture.

“So, what happened after this?” you asked, looking back at her memory construct.

“The rest is kinda obvious.” Wendy shrugged. “I took Killa-Byte and stole another ship, where we took advantage of some Black Market contacts to gather information on the Omnitrix. And eventually, that led me to Psychobos.” she explained, giving you a stern glare. And the rest is history.”

“Not for me it isn’t.” Verdona cut in. “I was hoping to get the full story from this little expedition of ours.”

Wendy sucked her teeth and crossed her arms. “You want the full story, grandma?” she asked, a hint of that impatience from earlier seeping back into her voice. “I’ll gladly fill you in if you can get me the fuck out of here.”

And that’s when it finally struck Verdona. Wendy wasn’t angry, sad or terrified. She was just tired. Tired of reliving her mistakes and wallowing in the misery of her past circumstances. And who could blame her?

Upon having finally realized this, Verdona nodded. “Alright. I’ll have to hold you to that.” she said, extending both her hands to you and Wendy. You carefully took them, and in an instant, you were jettisoned into open space once more, hurtling through the cosmos at a speed that would normally tear the flesh from your bones. At a certain point you blacked out, with only the impression of countless stars blurring into white line sticking fresh in your mind as you closed your eyes.

-------

When you awoke, you found yourself sitting in the booth of the same restaurant you’d been in before you began the journey. Sitting beside you, in a similarly dazed state was your sister Wendy. And sitting across from you was none other than the disguised Anodite form of your old friend Verdona.

“Now then,” Verdona said, breaking the silence. “I hope everyone had fun.”

You and Wendy exchanged glances, feeling as if that question didn’t deserve a response. You weren’t sure if that experience gave Wendy the closure that she needed, and frankly, you were a little scared to bring it up in conversation after everything that happened.

So for the time being, you called the waitress and told her that you were finally ready to order. At the very least, the three of you could enjoy a decent meal before heading home.

--------

(Cont.)

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After finishing your meal and footing the bill, the three of you took to the streets and went on a short walk. That is, until Verdona declared that she had some very urgent business to attend to on the other side of the galaxy. And so, she left as soon as she came. But not before exchanging contact information with Wendy. Which, in her case, was simply a matter of memorizing her mana imprint so that she could find her anytime that she wanted.

You and Wendy just stood there and watched her fly up and away into the night sky, when, to your surprise, Wendy was the one to break the silence this time.

“Today did not go the way that I expected it to,” she sighed. “But...I’m glad that you were there for it.” she admitted with a hint of embarrassment.

“I’m glad I was too.” you reassured her.

“I had a feeling you’d say some cheesy shit like that.” she laughed meekly. “But seriously,” she continued, a more significant expression on her face now. “You’ve taken all my bullshit, seen me at my lowest, and for some reason, you’re still here.”

You remained quiet for a while, wondering where Wendy was going with this topic.

“No one’s ever done anything like this for me, or treated me this way.” she admitted, seeming more vulnerable than you’ve ever seen her. “I guess what I’m trying to say is...thanks. I...like you.” she said, with great difficulty you might admit. “I like you a lot.”

Her face was practically beet red at this point. You don’t think you’ve ever seen your sister being this honest, open or in touch with her own emotions.

How do you respond.

>”Yeah, I love you too.”
>”Whatever happens, now and in the future, I’ll always be there for you.”
>”Don’t sweat it. You would’ve done the same for me.”
>”Wow. That must’ve been hard for you. Do you need to lie down for a few minutes?”
>”Did you get the closure that you needed from this little excursion of ours?”
>Hold her hand.
>Write-in.

>>4932525
>>”Don’t sweat it. You would’ve done the same for me. It's what families for.”

>>4932525
>”Don’t sweat it. You would’ve done the same for me.”

>>4932525
>>”Don’t sweat it. You would’ve done the same for me.”

>>4933108
>>4933217
Writing...

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“Don’t sweat it.” you casually shrug, hoping to avoid embarrassing her any further. “You would’ve done the same for me.”

“Damn straight.” Wendy agreed, loudly clearing her throat, almost as if she were forcibly clearing the air of awkwardness that she’d been sensing. “You know I’ve got your back, bro.” she said with a playful nudge, reverting back to her normal aloof, tomboyish self.

You have no doubt that Wendy’s trust in you has grown much deeper due to Verdona’s efforts.

“Now,” she continued. “Take me home. I’m mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted from this highly traumatic experience.” Wendy requested in a lighthearted tone.

Without argument, you complied. But not before checking your phone for messages. And to your surprise, there were quite a few waiting for you.

The first was from K8-E where she wished you good luck, good health and a safe return. Bless her soul.

The second was a redirected message from Steel, saying that he had some important matters to discuss with “X”. No doubt having something to do with Sublimino and D’Traxus being unaccounted for in your city.

The third was yet another redirected message from Kilik. It contained a report from his investigation on the complete and utter destruction of the Roman Charges’ base of operations. You had to admit, you were incredibly curious as to the specifics of the group that did your job for you and busted up these deranged human trafficking Earth weebs. Maybe Kilik’s report might shed some light on that mystery.

And the rest were just a bunch of memes that Trixy had sent to you. She apparently got worried when you weren’t responding fast enough, and took that as an opportunity to gauge your taste by sending you all sorts of images that she’d been gathering during her deep dive into the realm of social media. You’re curious as to how this might affect her personality. Interacting with the wrong kind of people might cause her to develop bad habits or improper mannerisms. You’ll just have to watch her closely if that’s the case.

----------

Upon returning to your home in Bellwood, you were surprised to see that it was Gwen, Olivia’s pet cat, and Olumar who were watching your kids, instead of Olivia.

EN and ML-E ran up to give you a big hug, nearly toppling you over in the process, while N8 was his usual impassive self, glued to his phone. You still greeted him all the same. A gesture that earned you a fleeting glance away from his phone’s screen, a slight nod and an unenthusiastic grunt.

“I’m gonna go crash in the guest room for a bit.” Wendy announced with a yawn as she pulled her boots off, tossed them aside and disappeared behind a wall, where Slate had been resting peacefully. You just hoped that your sister’s rest would be anywhere near as peaceful as your dog’s.

(Cont.)

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From the looks of it, K8-E wasn’t home yet. She must be putting in some extra work with her sister’s wedding preparations. Likewise, Trixy was nowhere to be found.

“If you’re looking for your cousin, she’s out back running through some spellcasting drills that I gave her.” Gwen said, inclining her head towards the door leading out towards the backyard. “I think your robot pal might’ve joined her out there at some point.” she shrugged.

“The cat lady said that you could use magic too.” ML-E cut in. “Is that true!?”

“Can you shoot fireballs from your hands!?” EN jumped in. “What about thunder balls?”

ML-E shook her head in disappointment. “They’re called ‘thunderbolts’, doofus.” she said with a frown.

“Do you have to prepare spell slots like in D&D?” N8 asked with uncharacteristic interest in the topic. You never knew that he played tabletops.

“Uh, I don’t think so.” you admit with a shrug. “I just cast spells until I get tired.”

N8’s expression didn’t tell you whether he was satisfied by your answer or not, but you feel like he was impressed by your ability to use magic at all. Perhaps it was more rare among aliens than you’d initially assumed.

“From what I’ve seen, he only knows how to use pyromancy and arcane magic, but in its most basic form.” Gwen explained unnecessarily.

In fact, the only spellcasting alien that you’ve heard of so far was probably this “Adwaita” character that Kree told you about.

“All right, children. Settle down.” Olumar instructed them. “The Master must be tired from his journey, and should be allowed to relax.”

And with a wave of her blue finger, the younger of the kids dispersed and went back to their earlier activities, leaving you with room to move about your own home unimpeded. You had to admit, Olumar was doing a phenomenal job reigning in your rambunctious little rascals. It almost made you wish that she accepted any form of currency as payment for her services.

What will you do with the rest of the evening?

>Join Olivia outside for some magic practice.
>Set up a meeting with Steel. You’re curious to see what he has to say.
>Review Kilik’s detailed report on the Roman Charges’ case.
>Call K8-E and ask if she needs any help wrapping up.
>Take Slate on a walk around your neighborhood with Olumar.
>Write-in.

>>4933384
>Take Slate on a walk around your neighborhood with Olumar.

>>4933384
>>Take Slate on a walk around your neighborhood with Olumar.
>Set up a meeting with Steel. You’re curious to see what he has to say.
>Review Kilik’s detailed report on the Roman Charges’ case.

>>4933384
>Take Slate on a walk around your neighborhood with Olumar.
>Set up a meeting with Steel. You’re curious to see what he has to say.
>Review Kilik’s detailed report on the Roman Charges’ case.

>>4934323
>>4935749
Writing...

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You’ve still got quite a few things left on your plate, but you’ll have to take them on one at a time. Overextending yourself any further could lead to you agitating your sore muscles, and collapsing from exhaustion at worst. And if that happened, you aren’t even sure if Thriller Whale’s soothing melodies would be enough to get you out of the dog house.

And speaking of dog’s…

You glanced over at Slate, who seemed to stir ever so slightly upon noticing your attention on him. Out of everyone that you’d been neglecting after you’d gotten busy with hero work, Slate was at the top of the list.

Sure, you gave him a scratch behind the ear or the occasional treat, but the kids were the ones who’d been putting in the legwork to take care of him lately. While he was one of your closest companions back when you used to live with your parents, your new responsibilities as head of the family and protector of, well, the entire Earth and a good chunk of the galaxy, you simply hadn’t found the time to devote to the little guy.

But all of that was about to change. You were starting a new chapter in your life, where you have time to devote to the ones you hold dear, all while maintaining control of this chaotic galaxy. And while you were at it, you’d reconnect with the big blue being that held the second spot on that list.

“Hey Olumar,” you said, turning to your djinn nanny. “Wanna come with me to take Slate on a walk?”

And as soon as the words “Slate” and “walk” came out of your mouth in the same sentence, your golem familiar leaped to his feet and began running circles around you. Secretly, you were glad that he didn’t try to jump on your leg, since you’re almost certain that his added weight would’ve put an unnecessary amount of strain on your joints.

Olumar flashed you a dazzling smile, revealing her sharp canines. “Why, of course, Master!” she enthusiastically replied. “Nothing would please me more.”

“Cool.” you said with a nod, before turning to face Gwen, who was sitting precariously on the edge of the couch. “Hey Gwen, do you mind watching the kids for me until we get back?”

Her eyebrows raised slightly, and she opened her mouth to reply. But before she could, a stray flash lit up the room, accompanied by a crackle of lightning zig-zagging past the window leading out towards the backyard. The next sound you heard was a triumphant cry from your cousin, but it quickly transformed into one of horror and shock.

Gwen sighed. “You mean all four of them?” she asked sarcastically, no doubt counting Olivia among them. “Sure thing. Maybe I’ll train the big one to do something other than look at a screen all day.” she said, briefly glancing over at N8, who was trying his best to ignore her.

(Cont.)

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And with that confirmation, you raised a hand and created a thin ribbon of mana. At first, it dangled just below your knees, limp and lifeless. But all of a sudden, as if i had a mind of its own, the ribbon lashed out, wrapping itself around Slate’s neck several times over, and acting as an impromptu leash.

He really didn’t need one, being as undyingly loyal as he was. But it was pretty much required in this neighborhood, and it made your neighbors feel more comfortable around him. Not that you really minded what they thought of you, so long as they didn’t discover your secret identity.

With Slate’s leash in hand, you grabbed Olumar’s lamp, placed it in your backpack with the top open, and headed out the front door.

----------

“Aww,” a young blonde woman mewled as she knelt down to get a better look at Slate. “He’s so cute! What breed is he?” she readily asked. You made an effort to hide the expression of bewilderment spreading across your face.

“He’s a, uh, quadrupedal rock golem.” you explain, as simply, and succinctly as you possibly can.

“I’ve never heard of that one. Is it french or something?” she asked, tapping the side of her face.

You heard a chortle slip from Olumar’s lips, but she quickly fought it down, masking the strained effort by pretending to clear her throat.

“Yeah, sure…” you lazily answered back, suddenly losing all interest in the conversation.

Seemingly missing all of these social cues, she reached a hand out to pat the top of Slate’s head, but stopped just short. “Does he bite?”

“So long as you aren’t an intruder or a deranged lunatic trying to cause harm to my Master,” Olumar explained with a smile. “Then no. He doesn’t bite.”

You tried to fix her with a glare, but with the small grin forming on your face, it wasn’t very convincing.

“Do forgive me, Master.” she said with a curt bow, still smiling from your silent exchange from earlier. “It’s not often that I get the opportunity to spend my spare time relaxing with you.”

A sudden pang of guilt stabbed at your heart upon hearing those words. And from the sympathetic look on Olumar’s face, she recognized it immediately.

“Try not to take it to heart, Master. I didn’t mean it like that.” she said, her smile shrinking back ever so slightly. “I was simply savoring the moment. I had no intention of adding to your already significant feelings of guilt.”

“Yeah,” you shrugged with a downcast expression. “I guess I’ve got enough of that to go around.”

(Cont.)

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“Now now,” Olumar shook her head. “I won’t have you putting yourself down, either.” she said while crossing her arms. “Your intentions were pure, and you acted out of the interests of your loved ones, as well as the innocent citizens of Earth. But your one misstep was not trusting those very same loved ones to protect you in turn.” she explained. “Although, with the circumstances being what they were, trust was a rather rare commodity at the time.” she shrugged.

Eventually, the young woman got tired of playing with Slate and left, waving goodbye all the while.

“Despite what your children might say, I am a very patient woman, Master.” Olumar continued, still waving and facing the woman from before. “I have lived a very long life, and as such, the passing of seasons come and go in the blink of an eye.” she said, sounding wistful all of a sudden. “As precious as our time together might be, it is equally as fleeting. So, if I might make a bit of a selfish request,” she continued, becoming somewhat quiet and bashful now. “I was hoping that you could spend a bit more of that time with me. Whenever possible, of course.” she quickly amended.

You smiled. “That’s not selfish at all, Olumar. You shouldn’t even have to ask that.” you said, taking her hand in yours. “You’re part of our family too, you know.”

Olumar was practically beaming from ear to ear at this point. And while she opened her mouth to reply, she was quickly interrupted by a sharp whistle from across the street.

It was one of your neighbors. Scott, you think his name was. Stalking the streets with all the grace, style and swagger of a middle aged college prep student.

“Hey Wade, who’s the smoking hot babe on your shoulder?” he asked, pulling down his sunglasses to flash a wink and a smile.

“She’s my-”

“I’m his mistress!” Olumar replied in your stead, hugging you from behind and wrapping her arms around your neck.

“Whoa, seriously!?” Scott asked in disbelief. “My mistake, bro. I forgot you had a thing for blue chicks. Cute dog, by the way.”

And without waiting for you to clear up the misunderstanding, Scott continued down the street, most likely intending to terrorize the innocent young woman that had just been petting Slate.

“I thought I told you, Olumar.” you gasped, struggling to breathe in her tight grasp. “There’s no infidelity allowed in the Wakeman house!”

And even as you said it, your mind flashed back to those uncomfortable moments between you and Charmy.

“And I thought I told you, Master.” Olumar giggled. “I’m a very patient woman.”

With a sigh, you resolved yourself to pry Olumar’s arm from your neck. Right after you got that squirrel out of Slate’s mouth.

----------

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After bringing both Olumar and Slate back home, you grabbed your armor cube and went back out the door under the pretense of going to the grocery store.

Somewhere deeper into the city, you suited up in an alleyway and transformed into Big Chill, allowing you to fly over bustling city streets without attracting any attention from onlookers or security cameras.

Your transformation should last you just long enough to make it to the rendezvous point that you and Steel agreed upon. You just hope that he at least has some good news to tell you.

--------

Waiting patiently with his arms crossed and his back turned to you, you spotted Steel standing near the edge of a rooftop, quietly overlooking the café that you took your parents to a few weeks back. Maybe he was getting hungry while waiting for you.

Hearing the telltale beep of your Omnitrix, you brought yourself out of your intangible state, folded your wings and cancelled your transformation a little early. Steel turned around just in time to be temporarily blinded by the flash, not really noticing as you nearly stumbled on the landing. It’s been a while since you’ve moved around this much.

“X. It’s good to see you.” Steel greeted you with a stiff smile. “We were getting worried when you didn’t show up for a few days.”

>”I’m fine. Just taking a bit of a break from all of this.”
>”It’s good to see you too, Captain. What have you got for me?”
>”I think we’re both long overdue for some vacations.”
>”And you look like you haven’t eaten or slept in days. Wanna go grab a bite?”
>”And not a single ‘Get Well Soon’ card in my mailbox? I’m hurt! Wounded even!”
>”Any updates on D’Traxus or Sublimino?”
>Write-in.

>>4936331
>”I’m fine. Just taking a bit of a break from all of this.” I think we’re both long overdue for some vacations.”
>”It’s good to see you too, Captain. What have you got for me?”

>>4936331
>>”I’m fine. Just taking a bit of a break from all of this. I think we’re both long overdue for some vacations.”
>>”It’s good to see you too, Captain. What have you got for me?”
>”Any updates on D’Traxus or Sublimino?”

>>4936331
>”I’m fine. Just taking a bit of a break from all of this.” I think we’re both long overdue for some vacations.”
>”It’s good to see you too, Captain. What have you got for me?”

>>4936442
>>4937674
Writing...

>>4936331
>”I’m fine. Just taking a bit of a break from all of this. I think we’re both long overdue for some vacations.”
>>”It’s good to see you too, Captain. What have you got for me?”
>”Any updates on D’Traxus or Sublimino?”

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“I’m fine.” you declare, trying to hide the disruption in your breathing rhythm. “Just taking a bit of a break from all of this. I think we’re both long overdue for some vacations.” you laugh, groaning as you make an effort to rotate your shoulder.

Steel’s grin became slightly wider this time. “Ha. You know full well that guys like us don’t get vacations.” he said, crossing his arms.

As much as you hate to admit it, you figured that out a long time ago.

“It’s good to see you too, Captain.” you continue, now working a knot out of your neck. “What have you got for me?”

All of a sudden, Steel’s smile dropped away, now replaced by a determined glare that looked far more fitting for a man of his stature and reputation. “Right. Onto business, then.” he shrugged, placing his hands behind his back. “I want to make you an offer, X. An offer that I hope you won’t be able to refuse.”

“That depends on what it is.” you say, returning his shrug.

“I want to get you deputized, son.” he replied, without a hint of sarcasm.

You remained silent for a long while, studying his face to find any traces of a smile or a joke that you were missing here. But nonetheless, his face remained stony as ever.

“Y-you can’t be serious…” you breathed, still in disbelief over his proposal. You could understand being an agent for the Plumbers, where your friends and family could support you and protect your identity. But a marshall? That’d be insane! You just couldn’t wrap your head around it.

“No, I’m not.” Steel assured you, shaking his head. “Over these past few months, you’ve shown me that you have our best interests in mind. And when push comes to shove, you always come through.” he continued, pointing at your chest.

“Yeah, but I can’t exactly get on a payroll, Captain.” you declare, subconsciously taking a few steps back in the process. “They won’t let me work for them unless they can hold me accountable in some way.”

And that would mean revealing your identity, giving them your home address, phone number, and eventually your SSN. And there’s no way that you’d ever be okay with exposing your family to that kind of danger.

“That’s what they said too.” Steel nodded, still maintaining that piercing gaze of his. “So I made a different proposal,” he continued. “You’d report to me, and I’d be something of a liaison for you and your Super Friends. And in return for intel and mutual cooperation, I’ll grant you the authority to operate wherever you please.”

“There’s no way they’d agree to that. Not without getting us to register.” you argued.

(Cont.)

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“I can’t lie,” Steel sighed. “They’ve been pushing for supers to register for a while now, and all this Sublimino nonsense has only been fanning the flames.” he said, turning away from you slightly. “Chances are, they’ll be cracking down on that soon. But they’ve agreed to make an exception for you and your associates.”

“Exception?” you blurted out in sheer disbelief. “Why?”

Steel turned to face you again, an even more ferocious intensity burning in that telltale glower of his. “Because I’m putting my own career on the line here,” he proclaimed, a shadow falling over his face for a brief moment. “And if they ever feel like you’re swinging hard and loose with that belt of yours, then it’ll be my neck that they come for.”

The rooftop fell silent for a long while, the only sound being the wind brushing against your helmet. He couldn’t be serious, could he?

“Why would you-?” you began to ask.

“Because this is the only way that we could ever possibly get this damn planet under control.” he snapped back, putting some fire in his voice again. “Some yahoo with a shiny pocket watch nearly tore this country apart, and from what I’m hearing, he wasn’t even one of the heavy hitters!”

You wanted to deny it, but after fighting people like Blast Shadow and Shiva, you couldn’t bring yourself to do so. Sublimino wasn’t particularly special, but he did represent a massive oversight in global security. The little guy that slipped past everyone’s defenses and nearly swept the rug out from underneath you with a rather nasty gambit.

“We’re getting stronger everyday,” Steel resumed. “But so are our enemies. And frankly, I’m of the opinion that we’ve been getting our asses kicked out there. And on our own home turf, no less.” he growled.

Once again, you couldn’t come up with a decent counter-argument.

Taking a moment to regain his composure, Steel inhaled deeply before speaking again. “Look,” he began, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You don’t have to make any decisions right at this very moment. I just want you to consider it for a little while.”

You offered him a brief nod. “I’ll give it some thought.” you promised. “But for now, fill me in on the search for D’Traxus and Sublimino.”

Steel closed his eyes and straightened his shoulders. “Right. Of course.” he nodded. “The big friendly dinosaur was spotted leaving the planet sometime during that planetary siege in a stolen Plumber ship.” he explained. “We honestly thought about shooting it down, but then we decided that that would be an even worse decision than letting him leave.”

“Good choice.” you said with a snap of your fingers. “You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry...or sad, or happy for that matter.”

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You had a feeling that he’d gotten away. Mostly because no one ever sat you down and told you formally, as they felt that it was likely the obvious outcome if no one had managed to catch him after all this time.

For a brief second, the corner of Steel’s mouth curled upwards into a smirk, but it quickly faded as he continued to run through his debriefing procedure. “And as for Sublimino,” Steel began. “Providence reported his death last night. They said that he gave them no choice…” Steel sighed.

All of a sudden, you felt a large weight lifting from your shoulders upon hearing news of Sublimino’s death. You were ashamed to admit it to yourself, but some part of you was actually happy that you wouldn’t be forced to hunt him down. And you could tell that Steel felt the same.

There were no humane or conventional methods for detaining someone with his specific skill set. Cooper was already hard enough to deal with, but this guy really took the cake. You had no doubt that he would’ve caused you a galaxy’s worth of trouble if he were left alive.

But still, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth to hear that Providence is putting down criminals without a second thought. Things were never this bad when Rex was around.

“That being said,” Steel said, not stopping to let you catch your breath. “Measures are being taken to reverse the effects of his hypnosis. But...that presents us with a different problem entirely.” he groaned.

“Did Six’s gun stop working?” you asked, trying not to panic from the possibility of having killed Sublimino without knowing how to reverse his hypnosis.

Steel shook his head.

“Nope.” he replied. “We’re offering it as a free public service, but some people are refusing to get dosed with Providence’s anti-hypnotic beam. They say that it’s ‘unconstitutional’ and are afraid that it’ll cause more damage.”

“That’s insane!” you scoff. “Why would people think that the government’s trying to brainwash them-?”

And before you could finish the sentence, you quickly realized how stupid it sounded coming out of your mouth. Of course these people would be paranoid. Especially after there had been two attempts at a full-scale alien invasion and a literal hypnotist trying to take over the world.

“These people don’t trust us anymore, X.” he continued. “And they’re not sure if they trust you, either. Which is a big part of why I made my offer in the first place.” he said, pointing a finger at you again.

Of course. The “Mandela Effect''.

With their memories overwritten, they now think that you’re some sort of criminal menace that can’t be trusted. And as a bizarre side effect, the people affected seem to forget any prior knowledge of your secret identity. People like Rojo. People that you’ve fought alongside...or fought with.

(Cont.)

Maybe this was for the best. The less people that know your identity, the better.

Abruptly, Steel loudly cleared his throat, forcing you to realize that you’d been very silent for an uncomfortable amount of time.

What do you say?

>”About your earlier offer, I think I’ll take you up on it.”
>”I’m sorry, Steel. But I don’t think I can trust Earth’s governments to make the right choices in a pinch. I can’t operate with someone breathing down my neck.”
>”Theoretically, what happens if I reject your offer?”
>”What if we subtly injected the anti-hypnosis beam into some public broadcast and sent it out globally?”
>”If you're hurting for extra manpower, then there are quite a few aliens down there that would love to enlist. You just have to give them the chance."
>”Thanks for the progress report. I’ll think about what you told me and get back to you later.”
>Write-in.

>>4937753
>>”About your earlier offer, I think I’ll take you up on it.”
>”If you're hurting for extra manpower, then there are quite a few aliens down there that would love to enlist. You just have to give them the chance."

>>4937753
>”About your earlier offer, I think I’ll take you up on it.”
> I also found that if people get evidence that disproves their hypnotized beliefs it's enough to snap at least some of them out of it.

>>4938165
>>4938827
Writing and combining...

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While there might certainly be some drawbacks to working for the government, you can’t deny that having someone like Steel in your corner would be invaluable in the days to come. Especially if they start expecting vigilantes and superheroes to register their identities. You imagine that that would cause a great deal of friction among the community.

“About your earlier offer,” you began, breaking the silence. “I think I’ll take you up on it.”

“Great!” Steel declared, nodding in approval as he extended a hand to you. “You’re doing the right thing here, X. I promise you won’t regret it.”

You took his hand and gripped it tightly, mentally crossing your fingers and hoping that the Captain was right about that hunch of his.

“I’ll contact you about the details sometime later. For now, I’ll send you a message from a private frequency that only I, and a few other people know.” he said, pulling out his communicator and fiddling with it. Within a few seconds, you get a message from a previously unknown comm frequency.

“Sounds good.” you confirm, saving the channel and logging it under your private contacts. And among those messages, you spot an unread one that was sent to you rather recently.

A chill ran up your spine upon noticing the ID of the sender. It was Pyth0n. The very same ex-con that you gave a job to, and was unwittingly used to break through your suit’s firewalls.

And while you were curious about the contents of the message, you couldn’t completely deny the possibility that it might contain a virus of some sort. You would just have to ask Trixy to give it a thorough scan when you got home. But for now, you’d better get back to the conversation at hand.

“You know,” you continued. “If you’re hurting for extra manpower, then there are quite a few aliens down there that would love to enlist. You just have to give them the chance.”

Unexpectedly, Steel flashed a warm smile. “I know.” he proclaimed. “Someone else made that very same suggestion to me a while back. Me and the rest of my men are making preparations to welcome them into our ranks as we speak.”

So he really had been listening to you back at that parade. Things might have started out rocky between the two of you, but as it turned out, you were simply two different men with two different approaches to accomplishing the same goal.

“I’m glad to hear it. Let me know if you ever need any help with that.” you promise, nodding approvingly to your new partner.

“Thanks.” Steel replied. “I could use all the help I can get.”

(Cont.)

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Accommodating for the diets, sleep cycles and the diverse biological peculiarities that most aliens were known for wouldn’t be an easy undertaking, but you had faith that Steel would follow through with his promise to include aliens and mutants in his operations. And if anything that Albedo said to you is true, then you won’t be able to afford excluding anyone in the effort to defend the Earth from whatever new threat rears its ugly head.

“Well, it’s been fun,” you say, turning around to leave as you brandish your collapsed hoverboard from your belt. “But I’ve gotta-”

But before you could finish your sentence, it occurred to you that you may have forgotten to include a bit of crucial information during your conversation with Steel.

“Oh, and one more thing.” you suggest. “I found out that you can bring Sublimino’s victims back to their senses if you disprove their falsified beliefs. We might be able to snap them out of it if we present evidence contrary to what they think they know.”

Steel rubbed his chin briefly, mulling over this new piece of information that you’d given him. “That should be useful in the future, but I wouldn’t bet on it being that effective in the long run.” he said.

“What do you mean?” you asked, turning back around slightly.

“That method is entirely dependent on people doing their own research into the matter, which most people won’t. And any news reports or interviews that we publish would look like a conspiracy or corrupt influence to our more paranoid viewers.” Steel concluded. “There are far too many people that are comfortable dwelling in ignorance and going off of word of mouth and crackpot theories. I mean, for Chrissakes X, there are still people that still believe that the Earth is flat!”

And all of a sudden, you found yourself unable to counter his argument. You know well the power of ignorance and mistrust. No matter what you did or said, your reputation will likely remain permanently damaged by this event. Olumar’s words begin echoing in the back of your mind. You are always at the mercy of the people’s opinion. And, like it or not, there will be times where you’ll have to deal with being Public Enemy #1.

“Yeah,” you sigh. “I guess you’re right.”

You take a step forward, posing yourself to lunge over the rooftop’s edge. “But that’s okay. I’m not in it for the fame.” you say, right before diving off the ledge and bringing your hoverboard beneath your feet.

With a high pitched whine, the anti-grav generators activate, lifting you back up and sending you soaring high above the city’s streets.

And with your augmented senses, you can faintly hear Steel saying “I know.” from the rooftop where you’d just been.

----------

(Cont.)

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Before heading home, you stopped by a small grocery store and picked up some milk, hoping to maintain the illusion that you were indeed resting and “doing normal human things” like everyone had asked.

On the way, you figured that you might as well check out the detailed report that Kilik sent you.

Sifting through your files and opening the folder, you found a holographic Kilik ready and waiting to guide you through the result of the investigation. This must be that experimental VI tech that Grandpa was telling you about a while back. By making a detailed imprint of the agent’s brain activity over the course of a month, a duplicate of their consciousness is then created, capable of replicating their thought processes, mannerisms and quirks.

“Hello, Brother Wade.” Kilik’s virtual intelligence greeted you. “I have compiled the data from the Roman Charge’s Assault case, and there are some interesting conclusions to draw from it.” he said, his mandibles clicking as they worked the empty air.

“First, we have witnesses confirming that a battle damaged Tetramand was spotted entering their base, one week prior to its destruction. They were never spotted leaving, but that might not mean anything.” Kilik shook his head. “Over the next few days, an influx of raw materials were shipped in and out of their known warehouses and facilities. At first, we concluded that they were being used for recreational purposes, but that possibility was quickly discarded once we’d received word of illegal weaponry and military grade armor components being smuggled into their base.” he explained.

They really did their research on this one. Special Agents really never miss a beat. You were going to miss having intel this thorough if the council really did end up cutting your funding.

“Over the next few cycles, several of their best craftsmen and arms dealers were invited inside for long periods of time. Multiple witnesses reported hearing the sound of heavy machinery and equipment being operated for equally long periods of time. But one day, their dining hall fell unusually silent. And later that night, all hell broke loose.” Kilik reported, showing you a virtual recreation of something trashing the Roman Charges’ base. It wasn’t an army, or a superweapon, but a lone Tetramand, armed to the teeth and outfitted with full body armor that looked to be heavily inspired by the Shogun of Japanese culture.

“The design was entirely their idea, I believe.” Kilik groaned. “But I do believe that this Tetramand commissioned the Roman Charges to create this suit of armor for them. And if this report is anything to go off of, I have come to a rather disturbing conclusion.” Kilik visibly gulped. “According to our records, this Tetramand’s fighting style is almost identical to that of…’The Ghost of Khoros’.”

(Cont.)

You heard that name before. Someone once said something about them being the leader of the Tetramand Uprising, The one that they created D’Traxus to squash.

How do you react?

>”Tell me more about them. Anything that you feel might be relevant.”
>"Couldn't this just be a disciple of theirs or something? Fighting styles aren't always unique."
>”Any idea of why this guy would tear their base apart? Did he just not feel like paying?”
>”Is there any chance that this guy might be on our side? He did just take out the base of a criminal empire.”
>”Why would they resurface now, after all this time?”
>”Didn’t D’Traxus kill him? How could he have possibly survived this long?”
>”Have there been any other sightings besides this one?”
>”Can we figure out the specs of that suit from the data that we pulled from the footage and shipment manifests?”
>Write-in.

>>4941659
>”Tell me more about them. Anything that you feel might be relevant.”
>”Didn’t D’Traxus kill him? How could he have possibly survived this long? Couldn't this just be a disciple of theirs or something? Fighting styles aren't always unique."
”Can we figure out the specs of that suit from the data that we pulled from the footage and shipment manifests?”

>>4941659
>>”Tell me more about them. Anything that you feel might be relevant.”
>>”Didn’t D’Traxus kill him? How could he have possibly survived this long? Couldn't this just be a disciple of theirs or something? Fighting styles aren't always unique."
>”Can we figure out the specs of that suit from the data that we pulled from the footage and shipment manifests?”

>>4941932
>>4944816
Writing...

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“Tell me more about them” you say. “Anything that you feel might be relevant.”

Kilik nodded and proceeded to explore the backstory of this legendary figure. “As you already know, The Ghost of Khoros was a rather pivotal figure in the Tetramand Uprising. She alone managed to unite the scattered clans and houses of the Tetramand homeworld, completely undermining Gar Red Wind in the process, and drawing the ire of the council.” he explained.

So the Ghost was a ‘she’. You’d heard something about female Tetramands having a higher muscle density than males for some reason or another.

“Shouldn’t that have been easy to squash, though?” you asked. “The Tetramands didn’t have nearly as many resources as the council did, with their collective military fleets and all.”

Mini-Kilik shook his head. “That should have been true. However, several members of the council felt the need to act of their own accord, going behind the backs of their fellow council members and sending warships over to Khoros in order to deal with it themselves.” he said. “As for what reason they did this,” he shrugged. “My guess would be to prove Gar Red Wind incompetent, defeating any reason to keep him on the council, and creating a vacuum of power that one of the other members could easily fill with an allied species.”

“And what happened?” you said.

“The Ghost stole the warships.” Kilik answered without a hint of humor in his tone.

“Wait.” you interrupted. “She stole the warships!? Just like that?”

It couldn’t have possibly been that simple. There’s no way that trained soldiers, or even mercenaries, would be that sloppy.

“No one’s sure how, but the Ghost managed to procure a device referenced only as ‘The Strongarm’, which she used to disable their warships and forcefully bring them down out of orbit. After that, taking command of the vessel wasn’t much of a problem for them.” Kilik said.

And if she kept repeating the process...

“She eventually stole a small fleet from multiple fleets, and took their fight to the stars.” you concluded.

Kilik nodded. From what you heard about the Galactic Council court case, “The Strongarm” was most likely an experimental weapon that was given to the Ghost by another council member, in the hope of fanning the flames of war.

“And with that small fleet, she sought to wreak havoc across the galaxy in hopes of reclaiming the former pride of the Tetramands, along with the territory that they had given up in their last Contact War.” he said. “But this wasn’t exactly an issue that they couldn’t handle. That is, until they started gaining support from other factions.”

“What kinds of factions?” you asked, narrowing your eyes.

(Cont.)

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“Powerful politicians, fringe overlords and gang leaders with a great deal of influence in the galaxy’s criminal underbelly.” Kilik responded. “This uprising started out as a small movement, but it quickly grew into a crashing tidal wave, fueled by civil unrest and the resentment of criminals who’d suffered under the council’s rule. These aliens with completely different backgrounds, personalities and goals were all brought together by the Ghost’s propagandists, and became greatly influenced by her intoxicating charisma.”

You blinked in surprise. You had no idea that this movement had turned into a full blown war, with the potential to tear the allied systems apart! It’s no wonder why they created D’Traxus to shut it all down.

“But she never succeeded.” you said in a low voice. “Because of D’Traxus’ interference.”

“Yes.” Kilik confirmed. “Once she was defeated, her movement, and the civil war that she very nearly created, died along with her. Without her leadership, neither of them prospered for very long.”

“That’s what I’m confused about.” you interrupted. “Didn’t D’Traxus kill her? How could she have possibly survived this long? What’s to say that this new Tetramand isn’t just a disciple of theirs? Fighting styles aren’t always unique-.”

Kilik put a hand up to halt your rapid stream of questions. He then cleared his throat before speaking again, a strange mannerism for a hologram.

“After going over the detailed report of their final battle, the results are fairly...inconclusive.” he said, clicking his mandibles together. “First of all, there was no body to be found. They went by D’Traxus’ word, and a severed arm belonging to a Tetramand female. So it’s entirely possible that she might have at least survived the battle.”

So they just assumed that she had been killed.

“And let me guess,” you said. “D’Traxus started acting up after that fight. The Ghost must have told him about the council’s corruption during their encounter.”

Kilik snapped his holographic fingers and pointed up at you. “That was going to be my second point. From the interrogator’s reports, D’Traxus had been strongly influenced by the Ghost’s radical views. And for that reason alone, I believe that he helped the Ghost to fake her death and retreat to a safer location.”

“Okay...I guess that’s not exactly farfetched.” you murmur, leaning your back against a stone wall as you watch various people pass you on the busy street. “And the disciple theory?”

Kilik scratched the underside of his chin and let out an inquisitive hum.

“We can’t eliminate that possibility. If this is in fact one of her warriors or assassins, then we must also consider the possibility that there may be more in hiding.” he decided.

(Cont.)

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You don’t know what’s more worrying. The thought of an ancient warlord returning from the dead, or a secret army with all of her strength and knowledge, just waiting to strike.

“We can speculate later. Let’s go over what we do know.” you said, waving the issue away for the time being. “Can we figure out the specs of that suit from the data that we pulled from the footage and shipping manifests?” you asked.

“Well, there are a few assumptions that can be made here as well.” Kilik said, waving a hand to bring an assortment of data to the center of the projection. “Given how they specified that they required highly conductive metals for the suit’s outermost layer, I assume that they’ve created a steady and sustained low-level electric current in order to prevent Galvanic Mechamorphs from sabotaging it. Similarly, the armor has been coated in a rare resinous sap, preventing any intangible being from phasing through the suit.” he continued. “The majority of her armor is composed of Techadon plates, similar to yours, allowing the suit to regenerate any type of damage that is sustained as a result of combat.”

Well that’s annoying. They’ve really thought this through. The Ghost must have wanted to make sure that no one could take her out without a fair fight. Either that, or she knows what kind of aliens you have on hand, and wants to level the playing field.

“Uh-huh." you said, almost absentmindedly. "And what about her weapons?”

“She’s been spotted using a monomolecular samurai sword, a laser flail with obvious medieval design, an electrified axe that looks to have been modeled with Earth’s Viking culture in mind, and a spear that might possibly be of Roman design. I am not entirely sure of their full capabilities, and the conflict in the weapons’ design patterns is certainly dizzying,” Kilik grumbled. “But that is all that I can infer from the data that I’ve collected. Do keep in mind that my findings are incomplete, and as such, I might have drawn upon inaccurate conclusions.” he informed you.

“Knowing that,” he continued, leaning forward slightly. “How would you wish to proceed?”

This information is highly sensitive, and you aren’t sure how people would react to the possibility of such an influential figure returning to the dead. Would it spark another civil war? Would it force her out of hiding? Maybe you can catch her before she can properly rebuild her strength and connections.

(Cont.)

What will you do?

>Go public with the report. People should know the danger they now face during these trying times.
>Contact the Omnivore and put a large bounty on the Ghost’s head. Her hunters should be invaluable in flushing her out.
>Send it to the Plumbers that you know you can trust and propose a conference.
>Get in contact with Pyth0n and see if she can help you gather info on this Tetramand.
>Keep this information to yourself for now. You might need it as leverage in case someone questions the legitimacy of the Plumbers in a court of law.
>Write-in.

>>4945090
>>Get in contact with Pyth0n and see if she can help you gather info on this Tetramand.
>Keep this information to yourself for now. You might need it as leverage in case someone questions the legitimacy of the Plumbers in a court of law.

>>4945090
>Send it to the Plumbers that you know you can trust and propose a conference.
> It might also be smart to inform several other heroes you trust, as back-up

>>4945090
>Get in contact with Pyth0n and see if she can help you gather info on this Tetramand.
>Keep this information to yourself for now. You might need it as leverage in case someone questions the legitimacy of the Plumbers in a court of law.

>>4946061
>>4947221
Writing...

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“I’ll have someone else look into it.” you declare. “But for now, let's keep this between us. We don’t want to cause panic with wild rumors, and we might end up needing this as evidence someday.”

Kilik tilted his head to the side. “Evidence?”

You nod in response. “Eventually, the Plumbers are going to be taken to court. And when that happens, we’ll need something to convince them that we’re worth keeping around.” you said, pointing to a holographic depiction of the folder icon as a whole now. “And this might just be the evidence that we’ll need to shake things up.”

Kilik grimaced, but he didn’t voice any protest. “I see...” he said in a low tone. “There is a strong possibility that we will need to prove our worth, all while competing against other teams and groups.”

“Yeah,” you said, matching Kilik’s earlier tone. “So we might as well prepare ourselves for that possibility. But for the time being, you should report our findings back to the original Kilik and let him know that we plan to keep quiet about everything.”

“Will do.” Mini-Kilik confirmed with a salute. “Good luck.”

The high tech answering machine closes the communication channel and leaves you to your thoughts.

You don’t like the idea of keeping secrets from your friends and family. Mostly because you’ve never had to lie to them before. But if that’s what it takes to keep the Plumbers alive that much longer, then you’ll use whatever is available to you. The galaxy needs them. The galaxy needs you.

------

Not wanting to seem too suspicious, you move to a new location before reading through Pyth0n’s message. To summarize, she wanted to express her deepest apologies for invading your suit’s security systems and handing Plumber access codes to Sublimino. You’d already expected that she was one of his hypnotized victims, so this didn’t come as any surprise.

However, what you didn’t expect was for her to be this genuinely penitent. It’s hard to believe that she was trying to kill you just a few weeks ago. Going legit must be making her soft.

But as amusing as this might be, you’re not about to let her quit the organization just because she feels bad about something that was out of her control. So, you decide to give her a call.

She doesn’t pick up on the first call. You try again, and this time, she answers after the third ring.

You hear a single raspy breath on the other line, along with the sound of junk being shuffled around on a metal surface. “...Yesss?” you finally hear.

“Hey, Pyth0n. Are you busy?” you ask.

Another raspy breath, followed by a sharp intake of air. “N-not particularly, no.” she confessed. “What isss it that you require?”

(Cont.)

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“I need a favor. Something that only you can do for me.” you said. You can feel Pyth0n quite literally holding her breath on the other line, impatiently waiting to hear your proposal. “There’s a Tetramand that I’m looking for, and I want you to dig up anything and everything that you can find on her.”

Pyth0n hisses over the phone. “And who isss it that I am looking for?” she curiously inquires.

“Ever hear of someone called ‘The Ghost of Khoros’?” you ask.

Another sharp intake of air. She audibly gasped. You could practically feel her tensing up from the other end of the galaxy.

“She is alive!?” Pyth0n squealed. “That isss not posssible!”

“Yeah, I don’t want to believe it either.” you sighed. “That’s why I’m asking you to look into it. If there’s anyone that can sift through old records and archived footage unimpeded, it’s you.”

Pyth0n rumbled in her throat. “You ssspeak the truth…” she admitted. “Where would you like me to ssstart?”

“Start with this.” you said, sending over a copy of the file that Kilik sent to you. “This was a fairly recent sighting from a section of the Fringes governed by the Roman Charges.”

Pyth0n let out a low hum. “I sssee…” she said, before flicking her tongue. “Give me ssseveral days. By then, I ssshould have something for you.”

“Great. You’re doing me a huge favor-”

“Wait.” Pyth0n interrupted. You stopped to listen.

“Why would you trust me with information thisss sensitive? After I betrayed you and the Plumbers as a whole…” she asked, tapering off at the end as her voice grew lower and lower. “Thisss is an awfully big rissk that you are taking.”

How do you respond?

>”Because unlike most ex-cons that I’ve met, you’re genuinely trying to turn your life around, and I respect that.”
>”You don’t have to feel bad about something that you had no control over. Sublimino is the one to blame here, not you.”
>”Right now, the Plumbers are spread thin, and we need all the manpower that we can muster up.”
>”I want to be prepared for whatever this problem turns out to be. I’m tired of random bad guys popping up out of nowhere.”
>” There’s no need to be modest, Pyth0n. You’re devoted to your work, and you’re damned good at it. I can’t think of anyone more qualified.”
>Write-in.

>>4947584
>>”Because unlike most ex-cons that I’ve met, you’re genuinely trying to turn your life around, and I respect that.”
>”You don’t have to feel bad about something that you had no control over. Sublimino is the one to blame here, not you.”
>” There’s no need to be modest, Pyth0n. You’re devoted to your work, and you’re damned good at it. I can’t think of anyone more qualified.”

>>4947584
Supporting >>4948107

>>4948107
>>4948403
Writing...

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“Because unlike most ex-cons, you’re genuinely trying to turn your life around, and I respect that.” you admit. “You don’t have to feel bad about something that you had no control over. Sublimino is the one to blame here, not you.”

For a while, Pyth0n is at a loss for words. You can hear her stammering on the other end of the line as she attempts to calm herself down. “Y-you flatter me far too much, X.” she says at a slightly higher octave than usual. “Sssurely there is someone better suited to thisss task than I.”

“There’s no need to be modest, Pyth0n” you say with a laugh. “You’re devoted to your work, and you’re damned good at it. I can’t think of anyone more qualified.”

There’s a faint hiss from Pyth0n’s end, followed by a satisfied hum. “In that cassse, I’d be honored to take on this assignment.” she said with an upbeat tone to her voice.

“Thanks again. You’re the best.”

Another satisfied hum can be heard over the phone. “Pyth0n out.”

And with that, she ended the call, leaving you alone with your thoughts and a carton of warm milk. You should really get this thing back home before it goes bad.

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

Considering how you weren’t that far from your house, it only took you another four minutes of jogging to get back. And as soon as you open the door, you’re greeted by the stunning sight of your girlfriend wearing a form-fitting black dress.

Compared to most human women, K8-E would be considered to be quite slender. But despite her narrow waist, you’ve come to realize that she’s far curvier than most Kinecelerans, if that means anything. It must be the side effect of giving birth to three children. But hey, you’re not complaining.

“My goodness, this is tight. My tail can barely breathe back there.” she observed, twirling around and looking over her shoulder to get a good look at her backside. “Do you think it is too tight?” she asked, now looking directly at you.

“Wow…” you remark, unconsciously letting your jaw drop as your eyes explore the contours and curves of your lover’s slender figure. “You look…” you say, pausing to find the right words to express your emotions. And after cycling through adjectives such as stunning, amazing, sexy, and beautiful, you settle for something far more sophisticated and eloquent. “Awesome!”

“Smooth…” Olivia teasingly cheered from the couch. You hadn’t noticed her until now.

Actually, there’s a lot more people in this living room than you had initially thought.

“When do you think he’ll pick his jaw up?” Wendy said, sporting the same smug grin as Olivia. “Actually, let’s start with a napkin to wipe all that drool.”

“A napkin? Let’s try a mop, first.” Gwen chuckled, swinging her fluffy tail from side to side.

(Cont.)

File: K8-E Halloween.jpg (1.88 MB, 3741x3741)

1.88 MB JPG

Man, you’re glad the kids aren’t here to join in on this.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough of that.” K8-E declares as she skates over to plant a kiss on your cheek. “Wendy tells me that you and she flew over to China?” she asked with an expression somewhere between amusement and confusion.

“Yeah, we kinda promised to help Red clean up his city.” you laugh nervously. That dress really does look great on her.

“Aww, that’s sweet of you.” K8-E said.

“Well, I also kinda helped wreck it.” you shamefully admit.

“Oh…” K8-E hissed. “Well...it’s the thought that counts.” she said, comforting you with an affectionate pat to your chest.

Seeing K8-E in her dress reminds you of how you still haven’t gone to pick up your rental tux. Or maybe you can borrow one from Grandpa Phil.

And out of the corner of your eye, you spot Trixy leaning out from behind a wall, stretching out an arm with the word “Emergency” printed on it.

You had no idea that her body had that feature.

What will you do?

>Call Grandpa Phil and see if you can borrow one of his old tux’s.
>Check on Wendy. You want to make sure she’s okay after what happened in Hong Kong.
>Offer to give K8-E a massage. You’ve had a long day, but so has she.
>Excuse yourself and respond to the 911 call with Trixy.
>Ask everyone if they want to respond to the call as a family.
>Tell Trixy to solve the issue on her own.
>Write-in.

>>4948638
>Ask everyone if they want to respond to the call as a family.

>>4948638
>Ask everyone if they want to respond to the call as a family.
>>Call Grandpa Phil and see if you can borrow one of his old tux’s.
>Offer to give K8-E a massage. You’ve had a long day, but so has she.

>>4948638
>Ask everyone if they want to respond to the call as a family.
>Call Grandpa Phil and see if you can borrow one of his old tux’s.
>Offer to give K8-E a massage. You’ve had a long day, but so has she.

>>4949475
>>4952317
Writing...

File: Olivia.jpg (667 KB, 3000x4600)

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At first, you’re compelled to make some sort of lousy excuse to run out of the house and suit up in a nearby alleyway. But then, you pause and think for a moment. You’re in a house full of alien speedsters, cloned superweapons, angelic archers and magic powerhouses. Why would you just run out there without backup? If anything, these guys could help you take them down twice as fast.

“It’s okay, Trixy. You can let everyone else know.” you say, waving her over.

Trixy blinks in surprise, but she doesn’t hesitate for long. As soon as she steps inside the living room, everyone’s gazes are drawn to the bold, flashing red lettering on her arm.

“Uh...what’s that?” Wendy asks, pointing at Trixy’s arm.

“It is a built-in crime alert, synced to various police and military radio frequencies.” Trixy explained. “If it were to be finely tuned, I am sure that we could scan alien frequencies over-”

“Wait, what kind of crime?” Olivia interrupted.

“It would appear that Sublimino’s hypnotized gang of criminals have broken free of his mind control...and their prison cells.” Trixy continued, seemingly unphased by Olivia’s interruption.

“Oh no!” K8-E exclaimed. “Is that bad?” she whispered to you, leaning over to avoid being overheard.

“Oh yeah. There were some real heavy hitters on that hitsquad.” you confirm, wondering whether you feel comfortable letting your loved ones close to someone like Blast Shadow.

Just then, Wendy shot up, flexing her muscles and cracking her neck with obvious satisfaction. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s smash some heads.” she declared, slamming a fist into her open palm.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t rest, dear?” Olumar cut in, a concerned smile on her face.

“Nah.” Wendy replies, not even bothering to look in Olumar’s direction as she lifts her sizable blaster rifle. “I really need to hit something right now.”

“I guess I’m game for a late night superhero team-up.” Olivia chimed in, her new Birdie uniform replacing her casual clothes in the blink of an eye.

“Well, I guess it’s settled, then. I’ll go get my suit!” K8-E giddily declared, practically bouncing up and down from excitement. But before you could protest, she had already run back to the bedroom, grabbed her suit, changed into it and raced back to the living room.

Guess there’s no going back now.

-----------

It took a while to grab your respective modes of transportation and reconvene in a safe area that was a reasonable distance away from your house, but it didn’t do much to slow you down. You and Wendy rode on your fusion powered motorcycle, with K8-E racing alongside you. And every now and again, Gwen would land somewhere nearby, with Olivia and Trixy riding on her back, before leaping into the air again.

(Cont.)

File: 9ef4f71fbfac65681840a3eea(...).jpg (37 KB, 564x604)

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“I think it’s so nice that you’re letting us help you, Wade.” K8-E said, her voice sounding mechanical and processed through her helmet. “This will be our first time fighting crime together as a team!”

“I’m so-!” Olivia shouted, before being cut off by Gwen taking another large stride. “Happy for you!” she continued, almost as if nothing had ever happened.

“Yeah yeah, it’s a very touching moment.” Wendy said, no doubt rolling her eyes under that helmet of hers. “Do we know who we’re dealing with here?”

“I’m not entirely sure. What do the reports say?” you ask, glancing in Trixy’s direction. Her voice crackles to life in your ear shortly afterwards.

“According to these reports, Blast Shadow appears to be leading the charge. He and several other criminals, including Tiger Moth, Loco Motion, Miss Army Man, Hell Punch, and Sunder, are currently moving through Bellwood’s subway tunnels.” she reports.

“The same ones that lead to Undertown?” Wendy asked, not truly expecting an answer.

Why would they be retreating so far underground? Normally, Blast Shadow would be making a show of such a grand escape.

“Wade?” Trixy said, breaking your train of thought. “How shall we proceed?”

>Run ahead as Monitor Lizard to track down the criminals, while your allies track you from above.
>Call Ester and inform her of this possible intrusion. You need her to be ready.
>Send in K8-E to evacuate any civilians from the subway tunnels.
>Ask Trixy and Olivia to narrow down their possible locations, and use Gravelanche to seal off their escape routes.
>Have Wendy hack into some surveillance cameras to get an idea of the situation down in the tunnels.
>Coordinate with the authorities on-site. You wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes, or vice versa.
>Write-in.

Aliens Unlocked:
https://pastebin.com/JVq4NM2t

Skills, Stats and Inventory:
https://pastebin.com/iEYrGZS1

Top 10:
>Big Chill
>Diamondhead
>Zipmunk
>Bloodrush
>XLR8
>Fourcast
>Thriller Whale
>Knuckle Duster
>Hack N’ Slash
>Snapdragon

(Apologies for the massive delay. Got kinda busy.)

>>4952570
>>Call Ester and inform her of this possible intrusion. You need her to be ready.
>Coordinate with the authorities on-site. You wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes, or vice versa.
>Send in K8-E to evacuate any civilians from the subway tunnels.

>>4952570
Supporting >>4953435
.

>>4953435
>>4953512
Just like last time, I'll be going through these votes procedurally. Once this situation is dealt with, you'll be moving onto the next one.

Writing...

File: Providence.jpg (804 KB, 1920x1080)

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You need to call Ester. If something’s about to go down in Undertown, then she’ll need to know.

“I am already working on that.” Trixy said, reminding you once again that she has access to your thoughts.

You nod towards her, before turning your attention to K8-E. “K8, I need you to swoop down there and safely evacuate as many civilians as you possibly can. If you run into trouble, just come back up and let us know.”

“Right away.” she said while nodding back. And in the blink of an eye, K8-E sped past you and ran on ahead, leaving you in the dust without so much as a warning.

“Was she just fucking power-walking the entire way here or something?” Wendy said, clearly in awe of K8-E’s rapid acceleration. She must have been holding back in order to let you keep pace with her.

Nevertheless, she’s got her job to do, and you’ve got yours.

------

Shortly afterwards, you pull up towards a group of parked Providence APC’s. To their credit, they were less startled by Gwen’s appearance than you expected them to be. The sight of your cousin riding on the back of a giant purple talking cat was becoming commonplace in Bellwood. And most people recognized Wendy from the battle you and she had with Aku in the middle of the city.

“Gimme a sitrep.” you demand, not wanting to waste any time while the lives of innocent people are in danger.

One of the female soldiers glanced over to a tall man with broad shoulders, who you assumed was her superior officer. He gave a brief nod, and the female soldier returned her attention to you.

“We rode down here expecting a high speed chase, but Blast Shadow and his posse have fled underground, and our vehicles weren’t built for-”

“I know all of that already.” you interrupted. “How did this happen?”

“We’re still trying to figure that out ourselves. These guys busted out of a Time Out facility about an hour ago, but so far, we haven’t been able to get in contact with any personnel from that sector” she said.

“That’s weird. You’d think they’d at least try to clean up their mess or chase after these guys.” Wendy considered. “I wonder what could be holding them up.”

“We’re looking into that too.” the soldier said, finally lowering her rifle a bit. “For now, we need to flush these mutants out of those tunnels.”

The emphasis with which she said the word “mutants” sounded harsh, but you tried to ignore it.

“We’ve got someone down there evacuating civilians as we speak.” you said.

“Then they’ll probably run into our guys on the way down. Just make sure that they don’t go too deep.”

“Why? Don’t you have to go down there to look for the bad guys anyway?” Olivia asked.

(Cont.)

File: 33634d8043327408069b29730(...).jpg (37 KB, 563x797)

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The soldier’s grip visibly tightened on her rifle. Not because of anything that you or Olivia did, but likely from some sort of grim memory or thought that gnawed away at the back of her mind.

“There’s something else down there with the escapees. We lost some men to it when we first went in.” she said, her breath shuddering ever so slightly.

You and Wendy exchanged glances, confirming that you both shared the same bad feeling after hearing her story. If there’s some sort of predator down there, then Blast Shadow and his group weren’t the only ones in danger.

“I have made contact with Ester.” Trixy announced, waving a hand to get your attention. “She says that she will work on sealing off the tunnels from her end.”

“That won’t keep Blast Shadow out for long.” Olivia said with a shake of her head.

“We’d better hope that it keeps out whatever these guys are so scared of.” Wendy said, pointing a thumb at the Providence agents.

What will you do now?

>”Let’s move out.” Join K8-E in the tunnels.
>Tell Providence to lock down any other subway exits that they might have access to.
>Call in an available hero to have them check on the containment facility.
>Send a beetle drone down into the tunnels. You want to get some more info on this mystery predator.
>Have someone remain topside to coordinate with Providence.(Olivia, Trixy, or Wendy)
>Write-in.

Aliens Unlocked:
https://pastebin.com/JVq4NM2t

Skills, Stats and Inventory:
https://pastebin.com/iEYrGZS1

Top 10:
>Big Chill
>Diamondhead
>Zipmunk
>Bloodrush
>XLR8
>Fourcast
>Thriller Whale
>Knuckle Duster
>Hack N’ Slash
>Snapdragon

>>4953762
>”Let’s move out.” Join K8-E in the tunnels.
>Tell Providence to lock down any other subway exits that they might have access to.

>>4953762
>”Let’s move out.” Join K8-E in the tunnels.
>Tell Providence to lock down any other subway exits that they might have access to.
>Send a beetle drone down into the tunnels. You want to get some more info on this mystery predator.

>>4954558
>>4954869
Taking these and combining...

File: Shocksquatch_OV.png (578 KB, 1091x550)

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There’s no time to waste.

“Let’s move out.” you declare, waving a hand to signal your teammates to follow you. In the same motion, you turn your head slightly to address Providence. “I need you guys to lock down any other subway tunnels that they might have access to. We don’t want them getting away without any of us knowing.”

The female agent nodded. “That sounds like a plan. Good luck.”

-------

After having a short conversation with a few more Providence agents, you and your friends got into the subway entrance with relative ease. But considering how the tunnels were otherwise deserted, you figured that K8-E must have been hard at work.

And just as you thought of her, K8-E appeared before you, accompanied by a powerful gust of wind and an elerly man with his arm over her shoulder.

“Wa-” she nearly said, before shaking her head and starting over. “X. I’ve nearly gotten the tunnels cleared out.”

“There are still people down here?” Olivia asked.

K8-E nodded. “I believe so. But I have no way of knowing where they are. They could be anywhere in those tunnels.”

“Leave ‘em.” the old man grunted, reeling from a recent leg injury that he sustained. “I got lucky, but the rest of them probably got eaten by those things!”

“But...there’s a chance that they might still be alive, right?” Olivia said.

“I don’t know if that’s a risk we could afford to take.” Wendy said, shaking her head. “We have no idea what’s down here, and it’s not gonna be easy to fight whatever it is in these tunnels. Our best bet is to track down those goons and drag their asses back topside before we get eaten.”

“She makes a reasonable argument.” Trixy agreed. “Logic dictates that we should remain together and keep our search area as narrow as possible.”

“Ugh…” Gwen groaned. “But then we’d be here all night. Why can’t we just hunt down this mystery creature and remove the biggest threat?”

“I believe this man mentioned them as ‘things’, as in plural. There is more than one. And depending on its species, it might be capable of breeding rapidly in such an environment. We must exercise caution.” K8-E said.

All at once, everyone looks to you to make the final call, or at least throw in your two cents.

“Let me try something.” you say, before stepping away from the group and towards the platform. With a mere thought, you reshape a series of Techadon plates and circuits into one of your automated beetle drones. You give it a gentle push, signaling the robot to fly off into one of the tunnels.

Through a mounted camera, you’re able to see what it sees. And right now, all you can see is...garbage. More garbage. You don’t even want to know what that is.

(Cont.)

File: DepreyPresa2P198.png (802 KB, 1280x720)

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“You getting anything?” Wendy asked, now standing alongside you. She must’ve figured out what you were going for.

“Nothing yet.” you answer, almost absentmindedly as your eyes scan the video feed. “Just dirt, garbage and graffiti. Oh, and lots of rats.” you add.

Without warning, the camera swings to the side, sending the beetle swiveling out of control. Having its sensor data indirectly connected to your brain, you let out a sharp gasp, as if it had happened to you. Something just snatched the beetle out of the air. Not an easy feat for any creature, considering how fast it can fly.

You felt Wendy’s eyes on you, but she didn’t say anything. Not like you were paying enough attention to answer her anyway. All of your focus was directed towards righting the drone’s balance and flight path. You felt it struggle and groan against the iron grip of its assailant. It squealed in pain and-

No. The drone didn’t squeal at all. It was something else. Perhaps one of the rats that had been scuttling around nearby got spooked by the conflict. Or…

Before you could finish your train of thought, the camera feed suddenly got cut off. Its very last image was a tangle of fur, clawed feet and tails. Whatever it was that your little spy encountered in those tunnels, you’re pretty sure that it crushed your surveillance beetle like a...well, a bug. And you barely saw it happen. Whatever these things are, they’re fast.

“Can I go home now?” asked the elderly man in K8-E’s arms.

How will you proceed?

>Enter the tunnels and search for Blast Shadow’s group.
>Focus on saving any remaining civilians that you might come across.
>See if you can track down the location where your drone went down. You want to get an idea of what you’re dealing with here.
>Ask if Providence has an extermination squad that can clear out some of these creatures for you.
>Split up and delegate different jobs to your teammates.(Write-in)
>Pull out for now. There are too many unknown factors at play here, and you don’t want to risk anyone getting hurt, or worse.
>Write-in.

Aliens Unlocked:
https://pastebin.com/JVq4NM2t

Skills, Stats and Inventory:
https://pastebin.com/iEYrGZS1

Top 10:
>Big Chill
>Diamondhead
>Zipmunk
>Bloodrush
>XLR8
>Fourcast
>Thriller Whale
>Knuckle Duster
>Hack N’ Slash
>Snapdragon

>>4955033
>See if you can track down the location where your drone went down. You want to get an idea of what you’re dealing with here.
>And head there as Bloodrush, the if we can get a scent on those things we can track them down and eliminate them. Bloodrush has the speed and the senses to deal with it.

File: b2YfxD.gif (4.85 MB, 720x406)

4.85 MB GIF

While we wait for more votes, I wanted to let you guys know that I've taken some time off work.

From now until the 22nd, I'll be very available to run sessions and the like.

>>4955058
Sounds good to me

>>4955058
>>4958573
Writing...

>>4955033
Supporting>>4955058

Part of me was worried we were dealing with xenomorphs again

File: bloodrush_by_artmachband1(...).jpg (73 KB, 774x1032)

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“I’m gonna go check out what happened to that drone.” you declare, bringing up the image of Bloodrush to your mind and resolving yourself to transform without the use of your hands. The Omnitrix responds in kind, creating a burst of violet light that nearly envelops the entire room, before reshaping your body into that of a Sanguinite.

You’ve become Bloodrush!

“By yourself?” Wendy asked, unsure of whether she should try and stop you. “If you get into trouble, radio back.” she said, deciding to trust your judgement for the time being.

You nod to her, spread your leathery wings and take off into the tunnel in the blink of an eye. As the lukewarm wind whips away at your flesh, you open your nasal passages wide to accept a massive intake of air. Putrid as it may be, you’re hoping that it can give you an idea of what’s down here. Nothing in particular seems out of the ordinary. Nothing except the presence of what you can only assume is a...mineral of some sort?

Something about it seems familiar too. Like you’ve encountered before in your past. At times like this, you wish you had Wendy’s flawless memory. Maybe that’ll change once she finally gets an Omnitrix of her own. You’ll have to bug Azmuth about that sometime soon.

After about a minute, you finally reach the location of where your drone went down. Your eyes have completely adjusted to the low-light conditions of this tunnel by now, so you have no trouble spotting the shattered remains of the mechanical beetle.

You land with a soft thud, bringing your nose low to the ground, crawling on all fours as you attempt to pick up the scent of whatever did this to your drone.

It’s close! Whatever it is, hasn’t gone very far yet.

With renewed purpose, you flap your wings and take to the air, puncturing through the shroud of darkness that works to hide the evil of whatever creatures are lurking down here. But as soon as you turned a corner to follow the scent. You found yourself being pushed down by a considerable force!

With a snarl, an unseen monster forced you to the ground by putting all of its weight on top of you. It has fur and claws from what you can see. Must be a mammal.

Without hesitation, you push the blood flowing through your veins to the back of your body, creating jagged protrusions running along your spine. You couldn’t see it, but a few of them hit something solid, causing the creature to shriek in pain and jump away from you.

Now that you’ve got some distance between the two of you, you’re able to get a better look at your assailant.

There is no other way to describe its appearance in anything but the literal sense. What you now face is a BIG ASS RAT. It’s easily taller than a small child, and about as wide as EN’s wingspan. But the other thing you notice is how visibly mutated this thing is.

(Cont.)

File: Corrodium.png (371 KB, 1014x768)

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Oh shit. No, that can’t be right…

“Wade!” Wendy shouted through your communicator. “What’s going on over there?”

“It’s corrodium!” you said, squinting at the mutated rat. “There’s a large corrodium deposit down here.”

And right as the words left your mouth, you suddenly realised another crucial detail of your environment.

You were being surrounded.

What will you do?

>Tackle one of the rats and drain it of its blood.
>Spit out a massive blood web to trap the rodents.
>Wrap your wings around one of the creatures and use him as a blunt weapon to hurt the others.
>Swap to another alien.
>Retreat!
>Write-in.

Aliens Unlocked:
https://pastebin.com/JVq4NM2t

Skills, Stats and Inventory:
https://pastebin.com/iEYrGZS1

Top 10:
>Big Chill
>Diamondhead
>Zipmunk
>Bloodrush
>XLR8
>Fourcast
>Thriller Whale
>Knuckle Duster
>Hack N’ Slash
>Snapdragon

>>4958803
>>Tackle one of the rats and drain it of its blood.
>>Spit out a massive blood web to trap the rodents.

>>4958803
Not sure we should drink corrodium affected blood
>Spit out a massive blood web to trap the rodents.
>Spit out a massive blood web to trap the rodents.

>>4958803
>Spit out a massive blood web to trap the rodents.

>>4959908
>>4960150
Roll 1d100, bo3!

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>4960199

Rolled 30 (1d100)

>>4960199

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>4960199

>>4960797
>>4961197
>>4962558
Taking these. Writing...

File: Eo1BT3rXIAkAOzK.jpg (151 KB, 857x1200)

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>30

Hearing the unending chittering and screeching coming from every which direction, you bare your fangs and hiss at the few rats that you can see in front of you at this very moment. You weren’t exactly sure of how many there were in the immediate area, but you could hear their heartbeats. They pounded in your ears like war drums before a great battle. A prelude to their destruction...or yours.

And suddenly, all at once, the mindless beasts pounced!

Predictably, the rats in front moved first, clearing the distance between you with seemingly supernatural speed. If you were anyone other than Bloodrush(or XLR8), you almost certainly would’ve missed it.

But before they were on top of you, they were suddenly pushed back by a pressurized torrent of scalding hot blood spewing from your mouth. Raising or lowering the temperature of your own blood isn’t difficult at all, but this would probably be the first time you tested it out on another living being. Not that these creatures could be considered sentient by any stretch of the word.

When they landed, the mutated rats writhed in pain, their shrill screeches filling your ears, and the smell of oozing flesh filling your nostrils. To your disgust, the smell was sickeningly sweet, but not entirely unpleasant to your alien predatorial senses.

The next group to advance upon you came from the left, their high pitched war cries betraying their intentions. You repeated the act of spitting out a torrent of blood, but this time you lowered the temperature, causing the blood to coagulate mid-air. And when it hit its target, the viscous glob of blood webbed out to snare any incoming mutant rats, while simultaneously blocking off the route for any other creature that might have wanted to follow the others.

For the sake of being thorough, you webbed up the remaining passages as well, creating a slimy crimson cocoon that should keep these pesky rodents from tearing you to pieces. A few of them tried to chew through the web, but you accounted for that too. Any that attempted it were immediately rewarded by having their jaws glued shut as consequence. And the more they struggled, the more tangled they’d get. You had them right where you wanted them.

That is, until you felt a disturbance in your immediate surroundings. You didn’t see anything obviously wrong with the situation. More of a feeling than anything. A series of vibrations that sounded an awful lot like bone and keratin scraping away at-

And then, it hit you. Quite literally.

A corrodium-infected rat came barreling at you from behind, sending you hurtling towards the ground with its sheer bulk. You quickly recovered, but your eyes went wide as soon as they focused on the massive hole behind the beast. Despite being cut off from any direct method of attack by your webs, the crafty little monsters instead decided to tunnel through the walls of the subway tunnels. You must’ve been too preoccupied with maintaining your web traps to notice.

(Cont.)

File: Birdie.png (2.19 MB, 2100x5000)

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You heard the sound again, but greatly amplified now that you knew what to listen out for. More of them were coming. A lot more than you were prepared to deal with now that you were stuck in the middle of the tangle of webs that you yourself created.

This is getting bad!

“Darling? Are you still there!?” K8-E asked in a frantic tone that betrayed her usual heartwarmingly serene aura.

“Yeah, I’m here.” you confirmed in Bloodrush’s thick Romanian accent. “There are a lot more than I thought there would be!”

“Oh great.” Wendy grumbled. “Now your stupid cousin is gone too!”

“What!?” you shouted back. How could Olivia just disappear out from under their noses? Could it have been the Esoterica coming back to try again now that you’re preoccupied with this mission? Could this have been their plan all along? How could you be so stupid to leave her alone for so long!?

“Oof!” said a nearby familiar voice as they flopped down onto the ground.

Something happened. You can’t exactly explain it, but something just blinked into existence right beside you. There wasn’t a trace of any organic life approaching your position before now, so that seemed entirely impossible. Could it have been a mutant or magician with teleporting capabilities? Or maybe the corrodium managed to breed unique mutations among the subway’s ecosystem.

Either way, you wouldn’t know until you saw for yourself. And your jaw nearly dropped out of sheer disbelief.

Standing right in front of you, dusting herself off as she slipped out from behind an invisible wall, was your cousin Olivia! But she preferred to be called Birdie out in the field now.

She was wearing Gwen as a protective suit, the same way that you did when you had your battle with D’Traxus last year. A smart move, considering how you were dealing with corrodium, a highly radioactive material.

“Man, that was freaky!” she exclaimed, drawing her bow to simultaneously fire two arrows at a pair of rats that had been preparing to lunge at you. The way that she just slipped into existence...it reminded you of the way the Esoterica moved back when you first fought them. But if that were the case, then how did Olivia learn how to mimic their technique?

“How did-?”

“Ask later!” Olivia said as she sent a rat flying with a powerful twirling kick. “Fight now!”

(Cont.)

What will you do?

>Generate two blood whips and use them to fight the swarm alongside your cousin.
>Cover the walls in blood to prevent any more rats from tunneling out of your trap.
>Grab Olivia and cut a path through the web in order to escape.
>Ask Olivia if she can use the same teleportation trick to get the two of you out of there.
>Create a combo with another alien.(Write-in.)
>Swap to another alien. (Which one?)
>Write-in.

Aliens Unlocked:
https://pastebin.com/JVq4NM2t

Skills, Stats and Inventory:
https://pastebin.com/iEYrGZS1

Top 10:
>Big Chill
>Diamondhead
>Zipmunk
>Bloodrush
>XLR8
>Fourcast
>Thriller Whale
>Knuckle Duster
>Hack N’ Slash
>Snapdragon

>>4962628
> Switch to Spin Cycle. Good speed, and vision plus I want to see the effects of puberty and whether or not he is as good with Water Stance as I think he would be

>>4962628
>> Switch to Spin Cycle. Good speed, and vision plus I want to see the effects of puberty and whether or not he is as good with Water Stance as I think he would be

>>4962648
>>4962818
Writing...

File: Spin Cycle.png (207 KB, 774x1032)

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You don’t know what’s going on, but Olivia’s right. Now’s not the time to get hung up on your cousin’s newfound creepy cultist magic. Until these mutant rats are dealt with, neither of you will be going anywhere.

“Alright Trix, I sure do hope that Spin Cycle update is ready.” you say hesitantly, before willing yourself to transform into a Gyroid. And in a flash of violet light...something feels different…

As usual, your head recedes into your abdomen, your chest widens and your arms grow several times their normal size. But this time, you feel as if you have more eyes than you usually do. On your arms to be precise. All four of them…

Once the light fades, you’re able to get a better look at your newly developed alien form. And for some reason, your body is now covered in countless, shimmering ebony blades.

No, wait. These aren’t blades at all. They move every time your eyes blink, almost as if they were connected at the-

OH MY GOD! They’re eyelashes! Razor thin, razor sharp, blade-like eyelashes. These things could probably slice through steel with ease.

“Whoa…” Olivia said in awe. “Spin Cycle got an upgrade! Is that one of your Viral Forms?”

“Nah,” you shook your head, still admiring the eyelash blades all over your body. “Just puberty, I guess.”

Out of the corner of one of your eyes, you notice several more tunnels being opened in the surrounding walls. Your bladed lashes shiver in anticipation.

No really. They’re actually shivering, like chainsaws!

But as much as you’d like to see what they can do, you’re more interested in testing out another technique.

You slide your finger along the Omnitrix symbol on your arm, inputting a series of commands with a seemingly simple swipe pattern that you set up a while back.

“Releasing sword.” Trixy said through the Omnitrix’s speaker. And in a flash that seemed very similar to what you normally see during your transformations, your magic sword materialized before you in mid-air.

One of your second set of arms caught the blade by its hilt before it can hit the floor. "Let's dance." you said, your large grin stretching across your entire torso.

What will you do?

>Open up your eyelashes like fans and spin rapidly to create a devastating dust devil.[Water Stance: Veiled Trench]
>Zip around the room while spinning to slice up the corrodium mutants.[Water Stance: Rushing Rapid]
>Tell Olivia to take cover, and create a vortex that will draw every enemy in the room towards you.[Water Stance: Raging Cyclone]
>Tear the webbing off of the walls and use it to snag any remaining rats.
>Fire your lashes like quills at the incoming rats.
>Write-in.

Aliens Unlocked:
https://pastebin.com/JVq4NM2t

Skills, Stats and Inventory:
https://pastebin.com/iEYrGZS1

>>4962905
>>Tell Olivia to take cover, and create a vortex that will draw every enemy in the room towards you.[Water Stance: Raging Cyclone]

>>4962905
>Tell Olivia to take cover, and create a vortex that will draw every enemy in the room towards you.[Water Stance: Raging Cyclone]

>>4963519
>>4963816
Writing...

File: main-qimg-423773727d6e12e(...).gif (5.07 MB, 640x295)

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“Ollie, take cover! I’ve got an idea!” you shout, while using your two leftmost hands to swat away a mutant rodent.

“Oh, really? Is it at least a good one?” she grunted, cracking her bow over the head of a nearby rat with an audible crunch.

“We’re about to find out.” you say, raising your arms in a defensive position.

Sensing that you were about to act, Olivia nodded and dove behind a cracked pillar. You, on the other hand, commanded the many eyes along your body to blink a few times, just to make sure that their lashes were adjusted to their correct positions. Normally, you’d want to reduce wind resistance as much as possible. But if you were to try to push as much wind as possible along the path of your rotation, you might be able to create a vortex! One that would pull everything in the room towards you. Even these oversized, man-eating mammals.

It starts slowly, with you pushing and pulling the various fluids within your body, sending you into a sudden spin. And within the blink of an eye, you speed up the process, blurring your silhouette as you kick up the wind in your surrounding area. Spin Cycle is sort of like a living centrifuge. His actual spinning capability has almost nothing to do with how fast his legs can move. The key to his movement is the distribution of weight and balance, which his feet were specially designed for due to the nature of his people’s evolutionary process.

Soon enough, you’re rotating fast enough to create a vortex, all while maintaining a perfect view of the entire room. A majority of the mutated rats attempt to flee, only to be dragged back towards you. They crawl along the floor and burrow into tunnels, but it’s all in vain. None of them have enough strength to escape the sheer force of your vortex. Neither can they escape the raw cutting power of your magical sword.

In time, all of them are flying into you, being chopped to bits like birds flying into a helicopter propeller, and are then flung out the other end as fine purple mist. Or maybe it’d best be described as a puree.

Either way, you hated the feeling of having these vermin be cut to ribbons as they were dashed against your coarse skin. Between the natural weapons adorning your body and the unusually sharp sword in your hand, it didn’t take much effort to cut through them.

Out of the corner of one of your eyes, you spot Olivia, clinging to the pillar for dear life with the help of Gwen’s claws. Sensing that the horde had thinned down quite a bit, you start to slow down, letting the wind die down to a reasonable speed and lowering the air pressure to allow for organic beings to exist in the area without having their flesh torn from their bodies.

Looking at the carnage you caused, at the viscera coating the walls, floor and ceiling, you can’t say that you feel proud of what you’ve done here. More than anything, you feel...disgusting.

(Cont.)

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You’re pretty sure that you’re wearing the blood and guts of over half a dozen corrodium infected rats. And cleaning your sword is gonna be a pain in the ass when you get home.

Who would’ve thought that a mystical sword, blessed by the gods, created for the sole purpose of vanquishing demonic entities, would be used to stab rats in a subway tunnel. You feel real heroic.

“Ew.” Olivia said in a nasally tone, as she stepped out from behind the pillar while pinching her nose in disgust. “Couldn’t you have picked a, I don’t know, less gross method?”

“Hey, I don’t like it any more than you do. Some of that stuff got in my eyes!” you grumbled, wiping chunks of rat meat off your chest and arms. Wait a minute. What are you doing? “One sec.” you say while holding up a finger. And without warning, you spin around the corner and settle yourself behind a wall, away from Olivia’s line of sight. As soon as you deem it to be safe, you start rotating at incredible speeds!

Any viscera, grime or dirt that had originally been on your skin is now being flung out in every which direction, peeled from your flesh due to the sheer centrifugal force of your rotations. When you stop, you realise that your skin is now smoking. All that dirt and grime, it practically evaporated! You should experiment with your old aliens more often.

-----

When you come back, you’re surprised to see K8-E conversing with Olivia. When she sees you, you’re nearly bowled over when she races over to embrace you.

“Thank goodness, you’re alright!” she said, wrapping her arms around your wide waist. Out of shock, you cancel your transformation and return to your human form.

“Don’t worry, it’ll take more than a few rats to put me down.” you reassure her, grabbing her slender shoulders. “More than that, I’m worried about you. Are you sure it's safe for you to be down here?”

“Do not worry.” Trixy said, appearing out from one of the tunnels with Wendy riding on her back. You could tell at a glance that your sister was less than pleased by the whole experience. “Azmuth built that suit to withstand multiple forms of radiation, extreme changes in temperature and blunt trauma.” she explained. “My concern is for Wendy, as she is the only one among us who does not possess any form of protection for the harmful radiation in these tunnels.”

“Says you.” Wendy barked as she jumped off of Trixy’s back and pulled out a circular device from her belt. She removed her mask and placed the disk on her chest, and at the press of a button, her body became enveloped in a dark green rubbery substance. The material quickly shaped itself to fit her figure, hugging her body very closely without affecting her overall mobility. “I never leave home without a Level 12 Hazmat Suit.” she proclaimed through the hazmat suit’s clear visor.

(Cont.)

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Suddenly, Trixy’s head jerked to the side, and her eyes lit up, both figuratively and literally. “I’m picking up multiple life signatures nearby.”

“More mutant rats?” Gwen asked, her face stretched across Olivia’s chestpiece.

“Nah.” Trixy replied, to your, and everyone else’s surprise. She glanced over after noticing your reaction. “I apologize. Was that improper?” she said with a hint of embarrassment in her expression. Something you didn’t quite recognize from your faithful friend. “I have heard many of you speak informally, and it appears to be quite common on social media platforms, as well as internet forums. I thought that I would give it a try as well.”

“I don’t care if you want to use slang, gearhead.” Wendy said impatiently. “Tell us about the life signs, already.”

Trixy nodded and returned her gaze to the tunnel that she’d gotten the readings from. If she was offended by Wendy’s behavior, she didn’t show it. “Some of them are similar to the readings I received from the mutant creatures that Wade encountered, but there is also something else...”

“Bad guys?” Olivia asked with a mixture of fear and anticipation.

“Or civilians.” K8-E added.

Trixy shook her head. “I cannot tell from this distance. The range of this unit’s scanners are insufficient for recon.” she said, looking down at her hands.

“It’s enough.” you reassure her. “At least now we have something to go off of.”

What will you do now?

>Follow the obscure signal. You hope there aren’t any civilians being attacked by corrodium infected creatures down here.
>Attempt to create a device that can cure the corrodium infected creatures.
>Change of plans. Search for any traces of large deposits of corrodium.
>Zero in on Blast Shadow’s unique radiation signature and use it track down his group.
>Write-in.

Aliens Unlocked:
https://pastebin.com/JVq4NM2t

Skills, Stats and Inventory:
https://pastebin.com/iEYrGZS1

Top 10:
>Big Chill
>Diamondhead
>Zipmunk
>Bloodrush
>XLR8
>Fourcast
>Thriller Whale
>Knuckle Duster
>Hack N’ Slash
>Snapdragon

>>4963871
>>Attempt to create a device that can cure the corrodium infected creatures.
>Change of plans. Search for any traces of large deposits of corrodium.

>>4963871
Can K-8 or XLR8 quickly carry Trixie close enough to get a more accurate reading before meeting back up with the others?

>>4964971
Yes, that would be possible. So long as they mind their distance K8-E should be able to get in and out without a problem.

>>4964973
Then I vote to do that

>>4963876
>>4964971
Since there isn't a lot of traffic right now, I'll combine these two and proceed with writing the update.

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“Our priority should be finding the source of this dangerous radiation and containing it.” you proclaim. “But before that, I’d like to see if we can find out more about that weak signal that Trixie detected.”

Trixie’s eyes glittered with realization. “You wish for K8-E to bring me closer for a more accurate reading.” she said, not phrasing it as a question, but as a statement.

You nodded. Having her in your head at all times had its benefits. Saving time on explanations was one of them.

“But be careful not to get too close.” you warned them. “If you don’t think you can handle things on your own, then run straight back.”

“Got it.” K8-E nodded back, before scooping Trixie up and racing down the subway tunnel in a blur of motion. At no point during the process did Trixie express any shock or discomfort. She simply shifted her gaze from you to the Kineceleran.

With them gone, you and the others had no choice but to wait.

And wait.

And wait some more. What were they doing down there? Were they in danger? Surely, if some sort of creature lunged at either K8-E or Trixie, their superhuman reflexes were good enough to allow them to avoid any sort of preemptive attack.

Unless...it was accomplished by another speedster. The report did say that “Loco Motion” was with Blast Shadow’s group. Apart from Blindside, she had to be the fastest and most lethal of the superpowered subclass that you’d ever encountered. In fact, her prowess went so far as to allow her to cause devastating shockwaves by vibrating her molecules at incredible speeds.

You couldn’t feel or sense any such vibrations from where you were standing, and nothing peculiar was showing up on your radar.

“They’re taking too long.” Wendy said, voicing aloud the obvious conclusion that everyone had already come to by this point. “Should we go in after them?” she asked no one in particular.

“Can’t we just call and ask?” Olivia suggested.

You slowly shook your head. Earlier attempts had only been met with the frustrating crackle of static interference. Wendy told you that corrodium radiation could sometimes mess with comm signals, and it looked like now was one of those times.

“The only way to be sure would be to go in after them.” you said.

“But we don’t know how deep they went, or whether they turned into another tunnel along the way.” Gwen added. “We might just end up getting ourselves lost, or missing them entirely.”

You knew that she was right, but the anticipation was killing you. You hated not knowing whether your girlfriend and your closest friend were okay. Even now, you were having trouble feeling Trixy’s presence in your mind. She was still there, but it was faint.

File: TV_(179).png (472 KB, 1280x720)

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And right when you had decided that you were tired of standing around and waiting, a blur of motion came into view at the very edge of the tunnel, closing the distance between you and the rest of the group.

Taking up a defensive posture, you prepared yourself for two possibilities. Either it was your alien lover, returned from her scouting mission, or Loco Motion had indeed ambushed them, and was now coming to get rid of her remaining pursuers.

Luckily, the former had proven to be true. You relaxed your shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a Kineceleran in a white jumpsuit, carrying both a stone-faced blonde and an unfamiliar older woman. You didn’t even know that K8-E was strong enough to carry two people at once, without losing much speed. Either her suit was compensating from the extra load, or she was much stronger than you’d anticipated.

When she came to a full stop, K8-E placed both Trixie and the distressed woman down to catch their breath. Well, the older woman was out of breath. Trixie was just observing and mimicking the action of the organic being.

“Apologies for the delay.” K8-E said with her hands clasped together. “We found civilians deeper down through the tunnels.”

“Civilians?” you muttered, questioning her use of the plural definition of the word. K8-E’s lived on Earth long enough to avoid making a silly grammatical error like that. So that must mean that-

“This woman is the only one that made it.” Trixie explained, finishing your thought for you. “The rest were either exposed to the corrodium or were brutally-”

Olivia loudly cleared her throat, shaking her head while sliding her index finger across her slender neck, signaling Trixie to stop talking.

The android tilted her head slightly, before looking over to the sobbing woman and taking in the weight of her own blunt and callous approach to the situation. For the remainder of the conversation, she chose to remain quiet.

During all this, you noticed that the woman had a bloodied handkerchief wrapped around her finger. Was that an injury that she’d gotten from the encounter with the infected rats?

K8-E knelt down to comfort the crying woman. “We found her in a crashed train car. It looked like the tracks were damaged intentionally.” she explained. “But the strangest part of her story comes from the source of her injury. She says that her fingernail was forcefully ripped off by a ‘hispanic ruffian wearing a skimpy brown onesie’.” K8-E said, most likely matching the exact description given by the elderly woman.

Your eyes met with Olivia’s. Only one person you know matches that description.

For some reason or another, Blast Shadow’s group crashed their train, and Blast Shadow ripped off this woman’s fingernail and left her to die. But why? What could be the reason behind it?

(Cont.)

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“Hey, Speed Racer.” Wendy called out, clearly trying to grab K8-E attention. “Think you can run this lady back up to the surface. We’ve gotta get a move on.”

Olivia glared at her for her callous behavior, but she couldn’t argue with the logic behind it either. The longer you wait, the more people might get infected by the corrodium radiation, or be harmed by those already mutated by its properties. You didn’t have any time to lose.

Without having to be done twice, K8-E gently scooped the woman up and raced down the opposite tunnel, heading back from whence you came and delivering her to the Providence agents waiting at the entrance.

---------

Once she had come back, you and the rest started down the tunnel that had the strongest corrodium reading. You weren’t sure if Olivia’s magic pet cat made for a good hazmat suit, but she seemed very confident in her ability to protect your cousin, so you decided to put your faith in the little fuzzball.

In the meantime, you had pooled your efforts into creating a device that could reverse the effects of the corrodium radiation, with Trixy’s guidance of course. You had done so before, once when you had encountered that freaky Loboan and Thep Khufan in Louisiana. But if things were that simple, you wouldn’t be struggling at all. It wasn’t a matter of curing the mutation, but of keeping them from mutating in the corrodium’s presence before you could properly contain it, or at least dispose of it.

You’ve got quite a few aliens at your disposal that are reasonably suited to the task. Let’s see what you can cobble together with these few resources.

Roll 1d100+10, bo3!

Meant to write that "Loco Motion ripped off her fingernail". My bad.

Rolled 27 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>4969947

Rolled 42 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>4969947