I don't own Ben 10 or any of the characters therein. I also don't own X-Men: Evolution or any of the characters therein. This Fanfic is for entertainment purposes only. NONPROFIT YOU READ ME! Also as an added note this fic is a continuation of my 'Ben Prime' one shot so you might want to read it first to understand how this story starts off if you're not familiar with my work.

Chapter 1

A cold wind swept mercilessly across the frigid glacial wastelands of the arctic, scattering snow powdering the ice, the flakes glittering like specks of silver under the luminescent glow of the northern lights in the otherwise clear starry night sky.

While the unforgiving winds continued to blow a lone polar bear came crashing through a thin patch of ice as it quickly emerged from the watery subzero depths, carrying the freshly dead carcass of a large seal in its mouth.

Immune to its surroundings, the massive white beast shook the freezing water from its fur as it began trudging on its way with its dinner, barely even noticing the icy edge of the razor sharp winds.

It was at that moment that a black creature unlike any it had ever seen before flew across the night sky, howling a cry greater than that the worst snowstorm and fiercer than a starving wolf.

Instinctively it crouched warily to ground, so as to better allow itself to blend in with its surroundings to watch as the strange creature overhead swiftly flew past and into the distance.

With the strange beast now gone the bear once again rose to its paws, pausing before continuing on its way it wisely glanced over its shoulder, making sure the unknown creature was truly well and gone.

Fully assured it was now alone, the polar bear continued on its way, occasionally sampling bites of its catch as it went, it instantly stopped dead in its tracks, its higher senses detecting something… a sudden change in the air, a kind of ominous charge of heightened electricity unlike anything it had ever felt before.

Immediately the bear dropped its food, quickly bearing its teeth as it unleashed a fearsome roar of warning as it searched its surroundings for this invisible unseen disturbance, thinking it to be some creature seeking to take its meal.

Again it gave another fierce roar that carried across the frozen north tundra's winds like a devastating crash of thunder, daring the unseen presence to reveal itself so that the bear could feast on its flesh.

It was then, as if on cue the bear's reply came.

Instantly the heaven's above were torn asunder as the very fabric of reality itself was ripped open with a thunderous detonating boom. The cause; an enormous white energy vortex, glowing with such radiant intensity that the very night sky around it was turned from night to day as its presence was suddenly unleashed into being.

Wildly enormous bolts of energy violently surged from the raging white vortex, mercilessly strafing the surrounding area, the bear instinctively seized its dinner with its mouth and swiftly ran for its life as fast its powerful legs could flee, knowing it to be no match for this force of nature.

Quickly, the terrified creature disappeared amidst the smokescreen of snow and ice kicked up by the sudden tumultuous winds while the vortex continued to rage on. Like a storm possessed it continued with its destructive onslaught, rampantly unleashing its lightning malevolently raking the land below, its wrath seemingly unyielding in its destructive ferocity.

It was then however, that the sudden anomalous inter-dimensional vortex seemed to give pause from wreaking its malevolent havoc, subsiding from its destructive assault if only for a moment of brief silence.

This silence however, was but a mere prelude. A fleeting ominous intermission which within mere moments would end as the swirling vortex quickly delivered onto the unsuspecting Earth two travelers from a far distant place, two travelers whose arrival would herald a new age of great change, the likes of which the very universe could scarcely imagine.

As the swirling white energy vortex filling the night sky continued to churn twisting and contorting the very boundaries of existence, the eye of this impossible storm suddenly detonated in a massive eruption of raw primordial power as it spewed out two figures into existence as the vortex imploded, suddenly collapsing in on itself before just as suddenly detonating outwards in a supernova that outshined the unparalleled savage ferocity of a nuclear explosion.

Lashing out in all directions, the shockwave struck hard and without mercy, sweeping the two falling alien strangers in its brutal swell and sending the strange duo impacting into the earth below at unimagined mach speeds as the concussive wave of the vortex's detonation swelled far across the arctic landscape leveling all that stood in its destructive path.

Soon, after several minutes had passed, the thunderous roar of the explosion echoing across the horizon began to fade away, giving way once again to the silence of the desolate arctic plains, leaving behind a fifty mile wide crater to be contended to by the prevailing elements.

In the wake of the malevolent blast, the calm of nature began setting to work, reclaiming the peace of the northern arctic's solitude as its whisking winds gently carried the scattered flurries of snow kicked up the destructive vortex across the frozen plains, almost as though the arctic itself were in the state of healing itself of the massive gaping wound of a pit now deeply etched in it landscape.

However, despite the restorative calm reclaiming the night, all was not as it should have been. As previously stated the vortex had left more in its wake than simply a mere crater.

Deep within the epicenter of the pit, the snow and ice had begun to stir. Churning and shifting, quickly giving way as a large hulking black and green alien vessel burst out from under the pit, ascending high up into the air as residual ice, slush and snow loosely crumbled from its metallic alien frame. "Shhhhiiiiiiiiip!" it weary exhaled with an annoyed groan.

Not more than a few feet from where the living alien craft had arisen, a tinted green black hand glowing with neon emerald energy suddenly erupted from the frigid glacial soil as a humanoid being with green eyes and hair of flowing florescent emerald energy, quickly crawled his way to the surface.

Slowly but surely the Anodite alien hero Manafest – aka Benjamin Kirby Tennyson – staggered to his feet as his Galvanic Mechamorph friend, sidekick, and compatriot named Ship quickly descended down to his side, hoping to be of some help if needed.

"That is it!" thundered the alien hero in exasperation, angrily brushing away bits of dirt and slush sticking to his person. "Next time I see Hex I am going Ultimate Way Big and stomping his spellbinding ass into the ground!" He then gave pause before cringing with an audible shudder as he shook his head in mortified disbelief. "'Spellbinding ass'? Ooookaaay… I think I am just going to go chalk that one up to a possible concussion, because that sounded a lot different out loud than it did in my head."

"Ship?" his presently not so mini mechamorph friend asked, confused.

Manafest merely waved the question off. "Just don't ask Ship," he replied. "That was one of those 'you really don't want to know' type moments."

"Ship," his friend replied, deciding from experience it was best to just take his friend's word for it.

Upon at last noticing their surroundings, Manafest arched a nervous eyebrow. "Hmmm… really big giant smoking ice crater…" he observed, making obvious note of the surrounding ruination. "Reeeaaallly hoping now that this didn't used to be Bellwood."

"Ship," the transformed floating mechamorph wholeheartedly agree.

Quickly Manafest enveloped himself in a glowing aura of emerald green mana and swiftly flew up into the freezing night air, high above the devastation.

Much to Manafest's annoyance as he swiftly rose hundreds of feet above the crater below, any view of his new surroundings and the horizon beyond had become blotted from view by far reaching clouds of debris of snow and ice left in the wake of the vortex's self destruction, which aside from telling it was apparently cold, was less than helpful in saying where they were.

Guessing he had about eight minutes before his Anodite form's power began overwhelming his mind and stripping him of his humanity and all things awesome and Ben Tennyson, Manafest decided it probably best to clear the air, so to speak.

As Ship quickly ascended to his side, Manafest extended his right arm, outstretching his hand as he concentrated and began tapping into his present form's natural mastery over its tremendous abundance of mana energy. In truth the arm thing wasn't necessary, but he found it made the mana magic thing look so much cooler. "Vente tur-bo eradico!" he exclaimed, his tone laden with mana.

No sooner had the incantation been uttered, than an enormous swirling sphere of twisting glowing emerald energy appeared before the pair, howling like a tornado possessed.

Manafest and Ship then watched at their leisure, waiting patiently as the haze of debris veiling the surrounding horizon was than rapidly pulled from the very air and swiftly funneled into the confines of the spinning sphere, clearing the arctic skies to their former starry crystal clarity within the brief span of a few passing seconds.

As the sphere then lowered itself downwards into the crater while slowly dissipating away and somewhat fill the hole, its initial task having been completed, Manafest and Ship began to survey the area. "Hmm… so not Bellwood then," he guessed in relief, noting the snow, ice and aurora borealis in the night sky.

"Ship ship," agreed Ship absently as he gazed in awe at the beauty of the northern lights.

"Well at least we're still on earth, I think," Manafest said in relief noting several familiar constellations in the sky. "What do you think, north or south pole? I want to lean towards north because you know, the whole Las Vegas light show in the sky thing. I mean do you know if the south pole even has one those?"

Not knowing the answer Ship merely shrugged, or rather the spaceship equivalent to a shrug, considering he was still in his 'big' mode and all. "Ship ship ship," he answered having no clue.

Manafest sighed, shaking his head. "So wishing I paid more attention to my geography teacher right now," he muttered in frustration. "Or would that be more of a sciencey type thing? Not that it matters, that class didn't go so well either."

"Ship ship ship," mumbled his friend with a roll of his eye.

"Oh, now don't you start!" Manafest exclaimed irritably. "Gwen's still riding me about that school junk is bad enough, thank you very much. I mean it's not like graduating on a B plus average is the end of the world or anything."

"Ship ship ship," the transformed mechmorph pointed out.

"Hey, you brought it up," defended the Anodite hero. "I'm just trying to make decent conversation here."

"Ship ship!" Ship again reminded.

"Okay okay," Manafest replied with a sigh, somewhat consenting that he was getting a smidge off the topic at hand. "Just give me a second, okay? Yeesh already!"

Exhaling a calming breath, the Anodite hero closed his eyes and crossed his legs into the lotus position, clearing his mind as he assumed a more Zen posture. A little trick Gwen had taught him to help focus his mind when scanning for the mana of local wildlife. Although his geography wasn't as up to par as most, he was still sixty five percent sure that penguins were from the south pole and polar bears the north... maybe, stupid confusing Coke commercials and their geographic wildlife inaccuracies.

Concentrating his mind reached out far into the distance, far beyond the outskirts of the crater, extending several miles beyond until at last he came across a source of mana, albeit a rapidly dwindling one.

Emerald eyes instantly snapping open in dismay, Manafest was instantly enveloped in sudden burst of emerald light, vanishing without a trace.

"Ship!?" the floating transformed mechamorph exclaimed, frantically veering about searching for his friend.

Upon seeing a similar flash of light suddenly appearing in the far distance, Ship breathed a sigh of relief as he focused his optics in on the light to find his friend kneeling beside something lying in the snow.

Firing up his engines, Ship immediately blasted off into the distance after Manafest and within seconds quickly caught up with his friend.

"Ship ship shi-!" he irritably griped as he made his descent, before stopping short in mid sentence when he caught of the gruesome scene below.

Lying in a twitching convulsing heap before the bearer of the Ultimatrix was the bloody and broken body of a certain unfortunate polar bear, the lone casualty of the vortex's self destruction.

Without a moment's hesitation, Ship landed and transformed back into his usual diminutive self, quickly rushing to his friend's side. "Ship ship ship ship?" he asked, worriedly looking up to the Anodite.

Manafast looked over the wounded bear, uncertain. "I'll try," was all he could offer his mechamorph companion. The bear's life energy was fading rapidly with each passing second, and while he could heal its body there was no guarantee there was enough time to keep its 'spark' lit.

Extending his hands, Manafest focused his thoughts and unleashed his full power, sending pure mana flooding out from his palms in a blinding bright surge and into the awaiting body of the polar bear, restoring what the explosion had wrought.

Nearly instantly, bones were mended, wounds healed, and tissues were restored as new life was breathed into the body of the creature, but whether or not Manafest had made it there in time still remained to be seen.

It was then however that the bear began to stir, slowly rising upright as it staggered back onto its paws, its rescue an apparent success.

Unsure of what was going on, it quickly turned about in confusion, only to discover it was no longer alone.

"Ship!" the smaller of the two happily greeted with a bark as he merrily hopped up and down, glad to see the bear fully healed.

The second and taller of the two strange creatures, gulped as it greeted the bear with nervous grin as it slowly backed away, noting the stare of hazy confusion in its eyes. "Uh hi, glad to see you up and about. Um… please don't eat slash kill us?"

Dazed, confused, and the memory of a certain explosion breaking just about every bone it had still fresh in its bear's mind, instinctively the beast panicked and savagely lashed out at the larger of the two strange creatures, reared back onto its hind legs, and let loose a ferocious mighty roar as it viciously swung its right paw, brutally cleaving its claws through the glowing haired alien's chest as he was sent flying.

Soaring through the air Manafest exhaled an annoyed groan, somehow less than surprised and very much relived that Anodites weren't big on the little things in life… like blood… or intestines. "Now what did I just say?" he griped before he came crashing into a mound of snow. "Especially with that slash part!"

While Manafest lay still in the nearby snow bank playing dead, Ship instantly transformed himself back into his 'big' mode and hovered over the now smaller animal menacingly, opting for a much less passive approach unlike his friend. "SHIP!" the not so mini mechamorph angrily roared, quickly bearing his own 'teeth', which in his case equated to more firepower than either the state of Texas or any middle eastern country one could name starting with an 'I'.

As the transformed mechamorph then fired off a sizeable warning shot, the polar bear – swiftly realizing it to be no longer be at the top of the food chain – quickly dropped back onto its front paws and fled, preferring not to be made a meal.

Huffing his frustration at the bear's lack of gratitude, Ship withdrew his armaments and quickly floated over to his fallen friend, who – due to presently being an energy being – was thankfully far from being in mortal danger.

"'Carebears' my ass!" Manafest grumbled under his breath, begrudgingly rising back to his feet as the gaping wound torn into his torso speedily began closing, instantaneously healing itself shut as though it had never been. "I say next time Yogi's on his own."

"Ship ship ship ship," the hovering mechamorph playfully chided.

"The heck I don't mean that," Manafest retorted gingerly. "You try and get gutted by some bear claws and see how cheerful you are. And no, I don't mean the doughnuts!"

"Ship," Ship replied with a roll of his eye.

"Whatever," Manafest sighed as he once again lit up with an aura of emerald mana and rose back up into the air. "At least now we know what side of the planet we're on. And that being said I say get the puck out of this oversized ice rink and back to Bellwood for hot chocolate smoothies and one made to order Hex butt kicking. And yes, I know I said Ultimate Way Big before, but now I'm leaning more towards Rath, just because he'll be more creative about it. What do you think Ship? Good idea? Bad idea?"

Just then the thunderous roar of an explosion loudly boomed in the distance, quickly drawing the alien duo's attention.

"Ship?" the hovering mechamorph asked, looking to the Anodite questioningly.

"What?" the aforementioned Anodite replied defensively. "Don't look at me buddy, I thought that one was all you."

Again another boom resonated in the distance, this time rapidly accompanied by the sound of several more explosions, and once again drawing their attention.

"Mira au-dessus mira," Manafest commanded, his voice again fueled with mana.

No sooner had the words been spoken then a mirage of bizarre imagery was revealed before them, divulging the illusionary image of the source of the distant explosions. Needless to say it more than caused the heroic alien pair to each arch an interested eyebrow.

Displayed before them, was the image of a bizarre floating mountain with mechanical structures randomly protruding from various sections, which from the looks of its overall design, had seemingly been built from the inside out.

Needless it a sight neither had quite expected to see.

"…huh…" Manafest at last noted after a long quiet pause, now extremely intrigued. "A giant floating mountain fortress… um, 'thing'. Now you see that would have been my third guess- actually you know what, make that my fourth. Either way, can't say we get to see that every day. Okay, every other day maybe. We are us after all, but definitely not every day."

"Ship," Ship half heartedly concurred with a nod, not sure if that was a fact to be proud of.

As they watched on, parts of the strange unknown floating structure's outer 'hull' began to detonate as it began to tilt while pieces began breaking away and falling to the ground far below. Whatever it was, clearly it was becoming unstable.

"Well I'm definitely thinking the word 'investigate' now," said Manafest as he made the strange display before them disappear with a wave of his hand. "Well, that and of course the ever classic phrase 'hero time'. How about you?"

"Ship!" the transformed mechmorph eagerly replied, nodding in full agreement.

"Race you," he laughed, suddenly shooting off into the distance like a comet streaking across the night sky.

"Ship SHIP!" Ship playfully cried out in mock protest as he swiftly ignited his thrusters and went rocketing into the horizon after his friend.

The entire area shook vehemently as another explosion detonated, rocking Asteroid M with the magnitude of an earthquake.

Standing inside the door of the Blackbird, Jean Grey, barely noticing the thunderous roar of its engines suddenly igniting to life, fearfully staring off towards the crumbling entryway, worried beyond belief as she silently pleading to any higher power that would listen for friends to be alright while frantically waiting in the firm hope they would appear safe and unharmed.

While the others secured themselves in their seats, readying for takeoff, behind her, Professor Charles Xavier quietly rolled himself next to her, not needing to be a psychic to know just what must have been going through her mind at that moment. "Jean come inside," he said sadly. "We must leave now before this place falls apart completely."

"Please professor, just another minute," she begged. "They're coming, I know it. Please just one more minute."

"I'm sorry Jean but I cannot risk it any longer," he replied, shaking his head grimly.

Fraught with regret, Jean turned pleadingly to the crumbling flying base, silently begging in desperation for the two mutant teens to appear. "We have to-!"

"Jean listen to me!" he interrupted, grabbing her hand. "There was nothing any of us could have done. They've simply become too powerful."

Knowing the professor was right, Jean lowered her head with a heavy sigh, choking back tears as she turned from the scene, unable to bear a second more.

"Hey wait up!" came a sudden cry from behind.

With an elated gasp, Jean whirled around to be greeted by the sight of Scott Summers and his newly found brother Alex running towards them as they fled from the collapsing station.

As the two enhanced mutant teens ran down the drag strip, Jean couldn't help but give a exhilarated laugh. "Here they come!" she practically cheered in relief as a heavy weight she hadn't even realized she had been carrying was suddenly released. At last, despite everything that had happened, it was all going to be okay.

At that moment however, fate did not seem to be so likeminded.

In a sudden eruption of catastrophe, it was then that another explosion mightier than any that had come before suddenly detonated from above.

In the flash of an instant, all hope seem to come undone as the ensuing colossal tremors violently ripped through the flying station, rending the platform asunder while the Blackbird was barraged by massive chunks of rock and steel crashing down from above.

In the cockpit of the bombarded craft, Wolverine exhaled a strained grunt, desperately pulling on the controls as the platform quickly fell out from under them, sending the jet quickly plummeting after. "Hang on people," he shouted to the other passengers as he fought to regain control of the jet amidst the surrounding deluge of debris. "Were in for a bumpy flight."

No sooner had the words been breathed from his mouth, than they were proved true as an enormous chunk of Asteroid M suddenly came crashing down on them, impacting the left side of the ship and cleaving away its wing as though it were made of tissue paper.

"Argh!" Wolverine snarled, angrily slamming his against the console. "Well so much for that idea. Time for plan B people!"

"Aw man, we're all going to die!" Toad screamed.

Quickly unlatched himself from his seat Wolverine swiftly made his way to the others. "Not if we can help it stink boy," he grunted. "Red! Storm! Get on keeping Magneto's clubhouse from caving in on what's left of-!"

Suddenly he was interrupted as the sound of a loud 'THUNK!' shook the Blackbird before it swiftly lurched into a tailspin and went into an out of control nosedive towards the ground, almost as though something big had suddenly latched onto the jet.

Desperately Wolverine seized the controls, fighting the fall with every ounce of strength he possessed in a frantic bid to reclaim control of the plummeting aircraft.

"Come on dammit! Come on!" he growled through gritted teeth as he mightily pulled back on the controls to no avail. "Dammit! Give me something!"

Almost as if answering to Wolverine's desperate plea, before anyone had the chance to react, what could only be described as a black and green metallic goo suddenly began seeping in through every nook and cranny as it rapidly spread throughout the vessel, expanding with near instantaneous speed as it quickly merged with the Blackbird.

"SHIP!" a loud voice boomed throughout the transformed jet.

The stunned mutants aboard were then given about a millisecond's time to gawk in shock at their new surroundings before their backs were all suddenly slammed against into their seats by the explosive propulsive force of the engines suddenly erupting to life, instantly veering the transformed black and green craft shot away from the approaching ground and sending them rocketing skywards with speeds the craft had never before been capable of.

With a thunderous roar, the vehemently shaking world around Scott and Alex suddenly caved in, sending the duo helplessly plunging amidst the debris from the collapsing Asteroid M to the world below.

As he fell, images of memories he wished could be forgotten flashed before him. The lightning storm, the sounds of thunder intermingling with exploding jet engines, the sight of the parents bidding them one last farewell as he and his brother had jumped from the plane, and most painful of all… the horrific sight of the plane exploding and his brother drifting out of sight as he had fallen.

Angrily he quickly steeled his resolve, immediately snapping his attention back to the present and stretched his hand out towards Alex, desperately reaching for his brother as once again history had been set to repeat itself.

But as his brother in turn reached for him and at last grasped his hand, beaming a confident reassuring smile, Scott matched his brother grin for grin.

Yes, while history seemed to have been set to once again replay the tragedies of the past, this time both brothers knew fate's outcome was set to be changed. Because at last, after ten long years of being alone, they had each at last found the other again, reuniting together what little tatters remained of their destroyed family and would fight to the death to keep that.

Gripping his brother's hand tightly with newfound resolve, Scott gave his brother a brief nod, silently telling Alex what they needed to do.

As Alex both matched and returned the gesture, readily squeezing tightly onto his brother's hand, Scott couldn't help but smile as they both turned to face the fast approaching ground below.

Unlike the past, this time they had power. Power to change the cards they had had been de-

WHAM!

Without warning, the white haired duo's fall was brought to a sudden stop as they came colliding smack into a slab of solid glowing green energy, appearing instantly as if from out of nowhere.

With a groan the two brothers peeled themselves from the glowing construct, quickly rising to find that they were not alone.

Before them, standing with arms crossed and a cocky smirk on his face, stood a black humanoid figure with luminous emerald eyes and matching glowing 'hair' that looked like it was made of solid green light which shined with a near unearthly brilliance. "Hey there. Sorry to break up what I'm sure is a very touching – albeit slightly 'homoerotic' – moment between the two of you fellas, but it just seemed easier to ask for forgiveness than permission," he greeted with an overconfident tone that easily matched his beyond cocky grin. With a sigh he then shook his head in disappointment. "Sheesh, I was hoping to go for the usual hero saves the damsel in distress bit, but I guess I'll have to settle on you guys. Oh well, easy mistake to make. Am I right?"

With matching scowls, both brothers shot their apparent rescuer a heated glare, each suddenly feeling powerful the urge to punch the newcomer's lights out, quite literally in his case, especially for that homoerotic crack.

Such thoughts however, were interrupted as a series of deafening explosions detonated from Asteroid M, drawing the stranger's attention just as two metal spheres were jettisoned from the immense structure, barely escaping the blasts as they flew off into the distance.

"Hmm and not speaking of which…" the glowing newcomer trailed off as what little keeping the enormous base airborne failed and all suddenly came crashing down towards them. "Let's just see what I can do about all of that."

Exhaling a deep breath, the young human turned Anodite focused his thoughts as he the extended his right palm skywards towards the giant fortress plummeting towards them, and then, after a brief moment of centering his mind, spoke, his words laden with the very energy of life itself. "Transformashio Dedyeste!"

No sooner had the words been spoken, then the very fabric of the universe itself was ignited as suddenly the arctic tundra was set alight by the emerald green radiance of a gigantic glowing magic circle, crested with same hourglass insignia the newcomer bore on his chest.

While their savior watched on with a smirk, Scott and Alex then watched in sheer dumbstruck shock as the falling fortress began passing through the enormous circle, beholding in wonder as the circle's powers of transmutation took hold on all that passed through.

"And that should take care of that," Manafest noted in satisfaction. "Am I awesome or what?"

Before either of the brothers could even think of a reply, it was then that they were rocked by the roars of Galvanic Mechamorph enhanced engines rocketing past them. "SHIP!" boomed a familiar voice from above as the Blackbird, descended nearby.

Watching with a mischievously wide grin as the enhanced blackbird touched down – the likes of which neither Scott nor Alex were entirely sure they liked the likes of – the glowing haired alien quickly shifted his attention back to the two brothers. "Ooh, light bulb over the head moment! Let's take this party down to the ground floor shall we?"

Without warning the glowing rectangular structure beneath them suddenly expanded, rapidly curving and stretching around them, swiftly enveloping the trio in a glowing sphere. "Oh and btw, you guys might want to hold onto something," he advised with a chuckle.

And with that before either of them could react, the green sphere around them suddenly went rocketing downwards at such mach speeds, the force of which instantly sent all its occupants slamming against the sphere's ceiling. All save that was for the green eyed alien of the trio who almost comically remained where he stood, apparently blissfully unaware of the sudden plunge.

As the hum of jet engines began to fade, a more than unnerved Wolverine released his grip on the Blackbird's controls. Not that his handling them had made any difference as the newly transformed jet had apparently taken on a mind of its own.

"Okay, I am officially freaking out yo!" a panicked Toad shrieked as he frantically tried to pull himself free from the high-tech seatbelt's that had seemingly come alive and latched his torso to his seat. "Somebody get me out of this thing now!"

"Ship," a voice boomed around them.

Almost immediately the aforementioned safety belts released, freeing the craft's passengers from the abrupt confinement as they quickly receding back into the seats from whence they came.

While Toad sprang from his seat and began hysterically pulling at the doors to escape, Wolverine, naturally growing more and more anxious, warily shifted his attention back to Charles, hoping the good telepathic professor had some answers. "Chuck… any clue what's going on?"

"What's going on is we're getting out of here! Make way!" thundered Blob as he made a charge for the doors, only for them to suddenly spring wide open, leaving poor Blob to go rocketing out of the plane and landing face first into an awaiting snow drift.

As the other members of the brotherhood scrambled their way through the opened doors, the X-Men remained where they stood, pensively looking to the Professor for instruction. Unlike their temporary allies, the last thing they wanted was to do was make any sudden moves and tick whatever had taken over the Blackbird.

After a moment of focusing his mind, Charles at last exhaled a regretful sigh of resignation. "I can sense a presence of something, but as for what it is I'm afraid I'm as much in the dark as you all are," he replied.

"Same here," said Jean who had also been trying to telepathically make contact. "I keep getting a faint reading but that's it."

"Well that's just fahne and dandy," Rogue muttered.

"So what now?" Spyke asked, nervously eyeing their surroundings nervously.

As if to answer his question, it was then that said surroundings suddenly came alive, moving and shifting as the unknown entity that had seemingly possessed the Blackbird began fluidically reseeding from the vehicle, rapidly flowing into their midst while seemingly shrinking in size until at last, all that remained was a small black and green metallic blob of creature no more than at least two and a half feet in length.

As they all gazed down in mixed stare of shock an wonder it was Nightcrawler who broke the silence that had quickly spread over them. "Vell okay, zat just happened," he deadpanned. "Now does anyone know just vhat ze heck zat vas."

"Like forget that Kurt," Shadowcat exclaimed, pointing a finger at the small one eyed… thing. "What is that!?"

As the small creature returned their stares with one of his own his circle of a green eye suddenly locked onto Storm and grew wide with excitement. "SHIP!" he ecstatically cried, suddenly bounding into the white haired woman's arm, causing the unfortunate woman to fall flat on her backside as she caught him.

With a snarl, six blades instinctively erupted out from Wolverine's fists, only for the man to stop short at the sight of the creature nuzzling and cuddling (and somehow licking) a laughing Storm's face. "W-well, wh-whate-ever h-he certainly i-is affectionate th-that's for sure," she exclaimed between giggle fits as she pulled the creature away from her face. "Now stop that you, that tickles."

"Ship," the mini mechamorph apologized while restraining himself from his baser impulse to cuddle the woman.

As Wolverine quickly sheathed his claws and Storm rose to her feet, carrying the metallic now contently purring creature as one might a cat, Charles could only stare at the strange thing with growing curiosity, finding to his surprise only the faintest of psychic echoes of the bizarre little creature.

"Aw, he's kind of cute," Shadowcat practically squealed as she threw whatever caution she had to the wind and hurried over to Storm to pet it, to which it's purring only grew ever louder. "You know, in totally weird metal blobby thing sort of way I mean."

"Ship!" the mini mechamorph piped proudly as he quickly nuzzled his head into the girl's stroking hand, absolutely reveling in the attention.

"Not to put a downer on the moment half pint, but shouldn't we be wondering just what the heck this thing is?" muttered Logan, reaching and snatching up the diminutive galvanic mechamorph, hoisting him up to eye level.

At first Ship merely blinked at the masked man, confused. But then he his lone glowing green ring of an eye narrowed with a menacing glare. "Ship ship ship!" he growled with a warning, not liking being snatched up from his deserved affection.

"Um, Logan maybe you shouldn't-" began Nightcrawler with a gulp.

The blue furred teleporter was immediately cut off as three blades instantly sprang from Wolverine's free hand, which he felt no qualms about menacingly displaying before Ship. He didn't know what this creature was, but he wasn't about to take any chances. "You want to start somethin' bub? Be my guest."

At this Ship casually glanced at the three claws that had suddenly jutted out from the… man's(?) fist then turned back at him, then back at the claws then back to wolverine again, and finally back over to Storm and Shadowcat arching an eyebrow. "Ship ship ship?" he asked, wondering if their friend was being serious.

"Seriously Logan, don't be a jerk," Shadowcat snapped. "The little guy saved us."

"Indeed Logan," concurred Professor Xavier while Storm rose back to her feet and brushed herself off. "And that being the case, perhaps you could at least give him the benefit of the doubt."

Wolverine merely ignored his two compatriots as he maintained a fixed steely eyed glare on the mini mechamorph, who, to his credit matched and returned the glare right back at the adamantium clawed mutant. But as their surroundings suddenly quavered with the tremors of falling debris coming crashing all around the Blackbird, Wolverine at last relented, exhaling a sigh he once again sheathed his claws. Naturally the professor was right, they had more important things to worry about right now. "Fine, we'll play it your way right now Chuck," he said tossing Ship back into Storm's arms as he made way to the exit. "Let's move people! Unless you want to be crushed in this tin can when that rock makes impact!"

Not needing to be told twice the remaining X-Men quickly followed in hot pursuit after their adamantium infused comrade, only to find themselves stopping short and gazing up at the sky in dumbstruck shock, watching as a giant glowing emerald green sigil lit up the sky overhead, shining throughout the night with the glory of a newborn star as the crumbling ruin of Asteroid M fell into its awaiting transmogrifying snare.

"Quick question; is anyone else seeing vhat I am?" Nightcrawler asked, unable to break his eyes away from the unbelievable spectacle playing out before them.

"We'll let you know as soon as one of us figures out what were looking at," Avalanche called from a few feet away as he and the rest of the brotherhood rejoined the X-Men.

"Don't suppose you guys know what's going on either?" Blob absently asked as he maintained a fixed gaze on the lightshow above, equally as lost as the rest of them in the unfolding scene.

As she gazed upwards, a cold chill suddenly ran up Jean's spine as her mind suddenly caught wind of an immense psychic presence from above. 'Professor…' she began nervously, telepathically opening a channel to her mentor.

Professor Xavier gave a mental nod. 'I know Jean. I can sense it now too,' he wordlessly replied. Not needing to be a psychic to know exactly what she was thinking. Never before had he ever felt such a psychic presence of the magnitude as the one he was sensing now.

However, whatever concerns the professor may have had were suddenly pushed to the wayside and refocused on the present as it was then, within the span of single passing moment, Asteroid M was no more, seemingly devoured whole by the mystical glowing emblem which – its work having apparently been completed – then quickly vanished from sight, leaving only its memory and a starry night sky filled by the falling cascades of crimson red all but glittering in the moonlight while they went scattering to the winds.

As newfound silence returned to the northern tundra in the wake of all the chaos, it was then that that the silence was so quickly shattered by screams of terror from above.

Yet again all eye turned skywards, just in time to see a glowing green energy sphere containing three figures rocketing towards them.

Fortunately – or unfortunately depending on how one could look at it, their break neck descent was over just as quickly as it began as the sphere instantly crashed into the midst of the assembled mutants and one mini mechamorph, cartoonishly bringing Alex and Scott – who had been almost comically stuck to the ceiling by the plummeting sphere's sheer momentous velocity – reeling back down from the construct's ceiling and smacking right back into the bottom of the glowing orb.

It was then, with a sudden burst the circular construct detonated, exploding out of existence with a dazzling flash of green light, dissipating from existence like an exploding firework, sending them plopping into the soft cold snow underneath.

"And Manafest saves the day again!" a certain alien hero triumphantly crowed to all assembled as he floated up over the mutants. "All ladies present may now feel free to swoon at their leisure!"

The unexpected proclamation – combined with the humanoid newcomer's bizarre luminous appearance – earned him a collective blank wide eyed stare from everyone around him, save that is from a certain mini mechamorph who instead exhaled a groan as he shook his head, utterly mortified by his association. "Shiiip…"

"What?" the young anodite replied to his small partner in protest as he floated back down to the ground. "I just pulled slash broke some serious laws of physics on a giant asteroid spaceship flying base… thing. You can't tell me that's not totally swoon worthy!"

Again embarrassed to be associated with the green eyed Ultimatrix wielder, Ship merely exhaled another heavy sigh and again shook his head, silently wondering if all human males were this embarrassing, although he sincerely doubted it.

While the newcomer cast an annoyed glare at his strange smaller friend, it was then that Scott – eyes burning red with both rage and restrained crimson energy just begging to be unleashed upon their so called 'rescuer' – sprang up from the ground and tackled the emerald eyed alien hero to the ground. Less than thrilled by their impromptu 'rescue' from the green eyed alien. "Are you INSANE!?" he shouted, all but strangling the newcomer around the throat.

Manafest, being a being of pure energy and therefore lacking the presence of a windpipe or even lungs for that matter, merely responded to the stranglehold around his neck with a nonchalant shrug. "Meh, at the moment I'm an energy based superhero who just saved two guys in matching outfits from a fifteen hundred foot drop slash going squish by giant falling rock. WHAT PART OF ANY OF THAT SOUNDS EVEN REMOTELY SANE?!" he replied, taking the liberty of yelling that last part with the infliction of that of a raving maniac. "So to answer your question, I'm just jim-cracking-dandy. How about you it's raining men? Oh and fyi, personal space or air space?"

More confused than angry at this point, Scott just stared down at the self proclaimed alien. "'Air space'?" he parroted, bewildered.

Without warning a sudden blast of green mana erupted out from the emerald eyed Anodite, sending the hapless white haired mutant flying up high into the sky before once again plummeting back down to the earth crashing face first into a snow bank.

"Well," a grinning Manafest began as he levitated back off the ground and dusted himself off. "I'm glad we agreed on that."

Instantly the assembled mutants were on the defensive, each taking a defensive stance should this quite possibly insane character decide to come after them next.

"Great," whined Toad. "First Magneto and now this guy yo."

Considering this being, whatever he was, was possibly the most powerful… well anything any of them had ever encountered, Professor Xavier – hoping to prevent an escalation of hostility and achieve some peaceful resolution – cleared his throat as he slowly approached the newcomer, most eager to try and make sense of just what was happening right now. "I suppose it goes without saying, but never the less I'd like to say thank you," he offered.

The young alien hero smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh trust me, it can go- nay, always go with saying," he laughed less than modestly. "But in all seriousness don't worry, it was nothing… well maybe not exactly nothing. I refer you to the aforementioned totally swoon worthy laws of physics breaking tirade."

At this point many of the X-Men found themselves instinctively joining the stranger's small friend in a united eye roll, guessing whoever this person was he had little to no sense of humility whatsoever.

"Well regardless I still feel a 'thank you' is in order," Charles continued. "You did after all save the lives of my student and his brother and your small friend the rest of our own lives."

Manafest grinned. "Yeah, we're awesome like that."

"I don't suppose then you could tell us who you both are then?" the professor asked, arching a more than curious eyebrow.

At this the green eyed anodite blinked as he stared blankly at the man in surprise. "Wait… you don't know who I am?" he asked, stunned.

"That's what the man said bub," Wolverine muttered, quickly growing more and more on edge. Whatever this guy was, he did not smell right. And if experience had taught him anything it was that he did not like that.

Again the newcomer was left staring at the mutant professor blankly. "…Seriously?"

"I am afraid you find us at a disadvantage," Charles replied regretfully.

"…Seriously!?" the alien found himself incredulously repeating. "Saved the galaxy from the Highbreed…?"

Amongst the assembled mutants, his reply was only met with confused faces blankly staring back at him.

"…the world from the Incursion invasion…?"

Yet again he was met with blank stares.

"…semi-weekly kicker of Vilgax's the Conqueror's hind quarters…?"

More blank stares.

"…the unending bane that will harangue Will Harangue…?"

Blank stares.

"…the guy who blows up Mount Rushmore on an almost biyearly basis…?"

Stares. Although notably more nervous ones now.

Exhaling a sigh the young human turned Anodite shook his head under their collective confused gaze, now eyeing him somewhat nervously for that last statement. "Wow…" he finally said. "Okay, I am so getting a new PR guy when we get back home. And maybe a publicist too." He quickly then shrugged, decided to just brush it off this little blow to the old ego and just go with it. "Well, anyway since you guys are clearly out of the loop I am-!"

And that was as far as he got before the Anodite hero instantly stopped short, the emerald glow of his eyes widening instantly as they suddenly caught sight of a certain mutant green eyed southern belle.

In a flash of green light he vanished from sight only to just as quickly reappear, teleporting into their midst and before a very startled Rogue, casting the green eyed mutant an extremely more than friendly grin. "-so totally available!" he eagerly and less than nonchalantly informed the white and auburn haired girl with a big grin. "Hi there. I don't suppose you know who I am maybe? And if not I can assure you this alien hero would be more than happy to give you a close encounter. Up close and personal of the third kind even."

"Ah don't think so," was Rogue's flat response, restraining her urge not to gag at the line.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but notice you refer to yourself as an 'alien'?" the professor couldn't help but cut in, eyes widening in surprise at the statement. Absently he then pointed upwards, absolutely flabbergasted by this new revelation. "As in…?"

"That's right Patrick Stewart," Manafest replied in annoyance, as he was forced to take his eyes off the southern beauty before him. "Alien. An honest to goodness one hundred and ten percent 'E.T.-phone-home-beam-me-up-Scottie-game-over-man-game-over-close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-no-this-isn't-one-of-those-probes-you're-always-hearing-about' alien. Now do you mind hair club for men? I'm working it over here!" Quickly he then turned back to Rogue, flashing the girl a winning million dollar smile. "So anyway I don't suppose you could give me your number?"

Not even bothering to waste her breath, rogue merely shook her head, not even in the least interested. Ever.

Nevertheless Manafest was far from undaunted. "Email?" he persisted.

Rogue's eyes narrowed, sorely growing tempted to use her powers and shut this pest up.

"Postal code?"

Really tempted.

"License and registration?"

Really really tempted.

"Aw why not?" he demanded pityingly. "At least how about your sign? Come on, you've got to at least give me that. I'm guessing its Gemini by the way, don't ask me why. Something about you just screams 'gemini'. Well, that and 'mysterious hot dark and brooding goth girl of mystery' – which again I can't really put my finger on."

This time Rogue merely glared at the stranger as she instinctively reached to pull her glove from her right hand, if for nothing else than to at least slap his annoying face.

"You know your lips may be saying 'no!' but you're eyes… well actually now that I look closer they're saying 'hell no!' but your aura… well, as a gentleman I can't even repeat that in civilized company."

"Get out of mah face!" Rogue snarled, opting to spare him one last chance before she got to know him in a way he really wouldn't want.

"Ship ship ship ship," his diminutive compatriot absently barked from the wayside as he snuggled in Storm's arms with an affectionate pur.

"Hey, she is too interested!" Manafest protested, turning to his small friend. "Admittedly at the moment it's mostly in seeing me disemboweled right now, but nobody's perfect. Plus I've totally got some major ambience working for me right now."

Both the X-Men and the Brotherhood couldn't help but note their surrounding of a freezing arctic tundra then just stared at the self proclaimed 'alien' who many – even Professor Xavier himself – were beginning to suspect to be the most delusional whack-job any of them had ever encountered, which considering the kind of circles they traveled in was really saying something.

"You are kidding with that ambience thing right?" Kurt asked, indicating their frigid surroundings.

To this Manafest merely grinned. "Just give it a second."

Many of them blinked and looked to each other in confusion, that was until just then the transmogrified crimson remains of Asteroid M began cascading with the winds from above, leisurely blanketing the snow in a gentle cascade of delicate scarlet.

Everyone couldn't help but stare in silent awe at the beauty gently raining down around them, all absolutely breathless.

It was Kitty who at last broke the silence as she curiously reached out and caught a few stray pieces of red in her palm. "Rose petals?"

"That's right rose petals!" Manafest proudly bolstered with a laugh. "Just how classy slash romantic slash less-than-cost-effective is that!?" With an overly flirtatious grin then quickly turned his attention back to Rogue, much to her dismay. "So how do you like me now? Swoon worthy right. Be honest, I can take it."

"Don't tempt meh," Rogue retorted with a glare.

Defeated, Manafest exhaled a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "Well let it be never said that I couldn't take a hint, well not for lack of trying anyway… or deadly force," he said. "Just to be clear though mysterious hot dark and brooding goth girl of mystery, you and me…?"

"So never gonna happen," she clarified intensifying her glare.

"Meh, if you say so," he chuckled with a shrug. "I happen to like a challenge. But as much as I'd like to wear you down, giggity, right now we – to my unending regret – unfortunately have a prior engagement. And by that I mean one pain in the ass skull tattooed faced wacked up wizard who about to be shown how Manafest – that's me fyi – smacks down in our town."

"Ship, ship ship ship ship ship?" Ship groaned, who was just getting comfortable in Storm's very welcoming arms.

"Sorry buddy but duty calls," his greened eyed alien cohort sighed. "World to save, blah blah blah blah blah, wizard ass to kick, blah blah blah blah blah, Gwen to say I told you so for something, blah blah blah blah blah, and celebratory smoothies and chili fries to be consumed en masse, blah."

With a quick snap of his fingers, Ship vanished in a flash of green light only to instantaneously reappear in Manafest's awaiting arms as the emerald eyed Anodite hero began ascending upwards, quickly rising above the assembled mutants as he bid them a wave goodbye. "Sorry to cut and run so quick but we got to be getting back home before the universe tries and goes boom again. But first a little parting gift."

Again with another snap of his fingers what was left Blackbird was suddenly enveloped in a flash of blinding green light, causing the X-Men and the Brotherhood to quickly shield their eyes.

As the light quickly faded and the mutants lowered their hands, they were all shocked to find not only was the formerly wrecked jet whole again, looking as though it were straight off the assembly line, but it now sported a rather impressive new emerald green paint job.

Professor Xavier couldn't help but shift his gaze back up towards the floating Anodite, wordlessly arching a questioning eyebrow.

"What can I say," Manafest replied with a nonchalant shrug. "Green's the new black this season." He then bid everyone a wave goodbye as he focused his thoughts. "So until next time; we come in peace, live long and prosper, may the force be with you, these are not the droids you are looking for, to infinity and beyond, and pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Oh, and don't forget to tip your waitresses!"

And with that the two strangers – one definitely stranger than the other – seemed to explode out of existence in sudden a massive flash of green light, seemingly detonating out of existence as they were spirited away via the Anodite hero powerful mana enchantment, teleported to points unknown.

As the light quickly faded, a pregnant silence of bewilderment fell over the area while everyone merely stared up to the vacant spot where the strange self-proclaimed alien duo had resided.

Finally, at last it was an exasperated Jean who broke the silence. "Okay seriously! What the heck just happened!?"

"Aw man, that guy was some kind of freaky," Toad groaned, really wishing he had just stayed in bed that morning.

"No kidding," agreed Blob, shaking his head. "Hey Lance, think that guy was really an alien?"

Avalanche rolled his eyes with disinterest. "Aw who cares," he replied as he turned and headed back to the Blackbird. "E.T.'s gone home and the show's over for us, so I say we do the same."

"Man for once I totally agree with you guys," Spyke chimed in full agreement while he too headed for the repaired aircraft, desperate to quickly return back to the mansion and his bed, and just simply forget the weirdness that had been this whole day.

A murmur of agreement quickly arose amidst the others as they too quickly began boarding the newly recolored blackbird, all equally as eager to return home get some rest.

All save that was for Wolverine, Storm and the professor, the latter of whom had become lost in thought while he mulled the significance of these surprising new developments.

"I don't know about you two but did either of you catch that 'until next time' part?" Wolverine muttered, shaking his head. "You just know that's going to happen."

Storm couldn't help but nod. "It certainly would keep in fitting with how our luck seems to be going these days."

"Yes, it would certainly seem so," agreed Charles. "Which is all the more troubling if his other worldly claims were true."

"Well I may not know if those two were moon men or not Chuck, but I can tell you one thing they weren't human or mutant," Wolverine offered. "At least none like I ever smelled before."

"Yes, I suspected as much," replied Charles with a sigh. "I'm afraid my attempts to determine their identities were just as inconclusive. Frankly their minds are unlike anything I have ever encountered before."

"I just hope this isn't a prelude of things to come," sighed Storm. "We have enough problems with humans and mutants, I shudder to think what an extraterrestrial dynamic would bring."

"Meh, had to happen sooner or later," replied Wolverine. "Between all the weirdness that comes knocking on our doors it was really just a matter of time when you think about it."

Storm's lips couldn't help but tilt with a small smirk at the adamantium infused mutant. "I never would have take you for a 'true believer' Logan," she mused.

"Never was and never wasn't," he replied as they boarded the Blackbird. "I've just been around long enough to know just about anything can happen. Aliens included."

Given the fact that everyone aboard the blackbird – now a greenbird – were in fact impossibilities by most human consideration, Storm admittedly had to concede Wolverine his point. Even so, while she strapped herself into her seat and helped ready the jet for takeoff, she couldn't help but wonder about the ramifications of their bizarre encounter. Just what did the future now hold for herself and the others?

Although he hadn't said much since the strange duo's departure, the professor himself had also been wondering the same thing.

In all honesty, the man didn't have an answer, but whatever the case he largely suspected that whatever it was they had actually witnessed, be it truly the works of aliens or perhaps the actions of some unknown delusional mutants, he doubted they had far from seen the end of it.

He couldn't quite explain it, but there now seemed to be a strange feeling of foreboding almost looming in horizon of their future, but whether it was for good or ill he couldn't say. However one thing was certain, whatever questions there were as to what the future might bring he was certain the X-Men would always be there to face it.

And with that last thought putting his mind at ease, that only left one lingering question.

Who the devil was Patrick Stewart?

Lying on her bed, she stared up in silence at the ceiling with glazed eyes, unable to do much else while listening to the gentle soothing melody of easy listening elevator music softly flowing from the hidden speakers.

She exhaled a sigh of relief as the gentles harmony of the song reached its conclusion, at last given a fleeting reprieve of a second of silence before the next one began.

But sadly all good things must come to an end, and as the next song began – a low key jazz number – her glassy eyes narrowed in annoyed frustration while her gaze remained fixed on the ceiling of her cell.

In her mind's eye she tried imagining a starry sky overhead, perhaps a shooting star to wish upon, and fireflies flickering about while she lay on cool grass flowing with the gust of a summer night's breeze, rather than focusing on the reality of her near suffocating straight jacket or the straps constricting her unyieldingly to the bed.

However, it did her little good as the music and the meds swimming through her system seemed refuse to allow her to be anywhere else but the here and now, leaving only a dark ceiling for her to gaze upon.

There would be no escape for her, not in reality, her imagination, or even her emotions as even those too were on lockdown thanks to the meds.

It had been the same since she had been a child, wake up, answer nature's call, be fed breakfast, take her meds, then read whatever book of the week they picked for her with her feet, be fed lunch, read, bathroom, dinner with meds, then elevator music until she went to sleep. All the while be under round the clock nonstop observation by her jailors.

As another song came to an end and once again the raven haired girl was graced with the sweet sound of silence, only to again be ripped away by more drudgery of more soothing elevator music.

Elevator music: yet another precaution in the onslaught to keep her calm and subdued during her evenings for over a decade.

Sweet merciful God how she hated the quote unquote music!

It wasn't bad enough to hear flavorless dreck day after day after day after day. It was hearing the same flavorless dreck day after day after day.

At this point she now knew every key, every rhythm, and every chord down to the last note and long ago had since given up hope of ever hearing anything else, as the closest her requests for such things was the cd's playlist being set for shuffle.

While she had no choice but to listen as the soft melodies continued to drone on, silently praying for the small miracle of the music to just stop, a small pang of anger echoed at the back of her mind as her thoughts couldn't help but turn to how she had come to be here, just as they always eventually did.

Memories of her pleas and screams while being dragged away by orderlies, her cries falling on the deaf ears of her despicable father and her brother.

Even in spite of all her meds, the spark of hatred couldn't be completely suppressed and still managed to burn faintly in her heart, fueled by the memories of her so called 'family'.

However such thoughts were brief. Even now the meds were already once again reclaiming their hold on her anger, quickly smothering it into submission.

As her seething emotions faded away her thoughts turned to the only ray of hope she had left anymore, the only visitor she had ever had in all the time she had come here; Professor Xavier.

She could remember the first time she'd met the man, and heard his promises of a place where she could go and be welcomed with open arms, happily accepted among people just like her.

But time and time again he had rebuked her such promises, fearing her inability to control what he had so often referred to as her 'gifts'.

Gifts.

If it wasn't for the medications censoring her emotions she might have actually laughed at that.

A gift was something good, something nice, something that made people happy and all her 'gifts' had ever done was bring nothing but misery.

No. What she had was a curse. One that would haunt her until the day she died.

As her thoughts sank further and further into depression – or at least as far as one could with the anti depressants swimming through her system – she failed to notice her eyes begin to spark with a violet flicker.

It was then that a massive flash of blinding emerald green light suddenly detonated within the cell, quickly revealing that suddenly she had company.

Now suddenly no longer alone, all she could do as the light quickly faded was stare in breath taken wide eyed shock at the luminous newcomer, who at the moment was presently standing in the middle of her cell – on the ceiling! – and looking quite eager for a fight.

"Alright Hex intermissions over! And this time I-! …suddenly realize that you're not him," the glowing haired stranger stated dumbly, green eyes staring down at the girl in bewilderment.

"Ship ship ship ship ship?" piped up the strange creature in the newcomer's arms.

"Of course I did!" the emerald eyed stranger exclaimed defensively. "…maybe."

"Ship!"

"Hey why don't you try doing Gwen's hokey spells and see how well you do!" the glowing one of the pair countered. "No? Alright then!"

The small black and green creature blew an indignant raspberry at the other – an impressive trick to be sure considering it didn't have a mouth – and sprang from his arms and onto the bed.

"Can you believe him?" he asked her incredulously. "Just because the teleportation spell doesn't work suddenly it's the caster's fault." He then turned to his smaller companion with a glare. "Especially when anyone can tell just by looking at her aura she's the one who-!"

Suddenly stopping himself short, the glowing haired stranger then blinked in sudden realization before quickly turning back to her, studying her aura with the intensity of a microscope before at last he broke his gaze with an elated glint in his glowing emerald eyes and an absolutely cheshire grin. "Well well well, look at you," he said giddily. "Can't say I've ever seen anything like you before. I think I'll keep you."

"Excuse me?" she managed to somehow groggily slur out.

"You heard me… I think," he said quickly detaching from his stance on the ceiling, rotating to a more upright position as he swiftly floated down to her bedside. "You can hear me right?"

"Ship ship ship ship?" the small creature asked flatly.

"What?" he demanded. "With all the drugs that's been pumped into her it's a pretty reasonable question. And before you ask, yes it's an aura thing." He then returned his attention back to her, pointing to his eyes with a grin. "Can't get to much past these. Seriously though, want to get out of here? Not that it matters much since you don't get a vote."

And with that he snapped his finger and to her shock her straight jacket and restraints suddenly vanished in a bright flash of emerald light.

Free at last, the raven haired girl slowly tried sitting up, only to quickly lose her balance and crumple back onto the bed, her meds apparently also working their magic on her equilibrium as well.

It was then that he reached down with a smile and picked her up in his arms. "A for effort, but how about we let me do the driving, kay?" he chuckled. "And just so you know, no you're not hallucinating. I really am this awesome up close."

"Ship," the mini mechamorph groaned, yet again finding himself rolling his eye as he hopped up and joined the raven haired girl in his compatriot's arms.

"What? When you got it flaunt it," he laughed before turning his attention back on the girl in his arms. "And speaking of 'it' do you have 'it' bright eyes? And by 'it' I mean a name."

She was silent at first. Inwardly wondering if whatever this was wasn't because someone had gotten her meds mixed up. Finally she decided on just going with it. If this was all some kind of hallucination at least it was interesting. "Wanda," she at last replied.

"Alright, nice to meet you Wanda," he greeted. "This is Ship and I am your captain speaking. And while I don't know what you might call this – call it kismet… call it fate… call it destiny… heck, call it a kidnapping – but I think I know enough to know this. That elevator music is working my last nerve. Now let's bail."

And on that final note, the trio was suddenly enveloped in a final blinding flash of emerald green light, instantly vanishing without a trace as they disappeared to parts unknown.

Author's notes.

Well, that's chapter one. Hope you enjoyed it. I, being a diehard DC fan I always wanted to try something marvel and this is it. And now I suppose I should clear a few things up.

1. Manafest is the name I gave Ben's would be Anodite form. Enjoy him while you can because he will not be appearing in this fic ever again. I needed a plot device for crossover fodder and it was him.

2. This is a continuation from my Ben Prime fic.

3. Rest assured that while I kicked this story off with the end of the first season be aware that this fic will NOT be a word for word retelling of season two onward with an extra character insertion. Ben's presence is a butterfly effect that changes the timeline as is demonstrated by Scott and his brother retaining their mutant 'upgrades' when Ben saved them rather than burning through them like in the show. Granted, there will initially be some similarities, but otherwise… well you get the picture. In other words all bets are off folks!

4. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SHOW ME SOME LOVE AND REVIEW! AND YES, I AM THIS NEEDY!

And no, I will not be crossing over with the marvel movies so don't even ask.

Codecrash out.

Love, peace and chicken grease.