Disclaimer: No, I don't own the rights to Ben 10 or the Marvel Universe...but you know that, right?

Darkness.

The world I found myself in elicited only this feeling from me. Not a friendly one, I assure you. Not normal either. Certainly a far cry home sweet home; Bellwood, I mean.

But then again, when has my life ever been normal?

The answer is: never. Azmuth, the greatest genius in three galaxies, arguably, five galaxies, created a device that is capable of changing your DNA alignment and turn you into something else, entirely, while allowing you to 'mostly' keep your mind. It is probably the only level 20 technology that exists, currently. And did he bother to add a basic safety protocol to it, which might ensure it found it's intended wielder?

NO!

So, you get me; a ten year boy, with the only goal in his mind being relaxation and enjoyment, being sucked into a crazy world, full of aliens, monsters and living myths. It was fun in the beginning, you see; killing monsters, defeating villains, saving the world; just your everyday stuff. Finally, one day I met a boy with a power even stranger than mine. He, by initiating physical contact, could absorb all kinds of energy and matter, and gain their properties. Later, I learned that even he was an alien, or at least a part-alien; an Osmosian.

Anybody else see the pun? Honestly, was their whole species a joke?

You see, I was forced to grow up very early. From the supposed death of my grandfather, the abduction of my parents, imminent destruction of solar systems, being mocked and feared in public once my secret came out and also being lauded in entire galaxies, I was slowly turning into something else; something destructive.

I often wonder why Azmuth trusted me so much. If I went round the bend, I could make Vilgax look like a tiny baby with the powers that I wield. I wonder why I didn't. Oh, there were a lot of friends, for sure; Rook was always more like a brother to me than a partner. Add Kevin, Cooper, Reinrassic the III, Julie, Ester, Eunice, Jimmy (yeah, I forgave him eventually; he did save my life twice.), and you have quite some friends. But the closest one was always her; Gwen. She always kept me grounded; never let my fame get the best of me. Without her, I would have honestly been lost. Even while mocking her and fighting with her, I knew she was the closest friend I could ever have.

It all came to a head that day, you see. Kevin had always been a bit impulsive, but I didn't reckon he would try absorbing the energy of the Omnitrix again; didn't he learn his lesson earlier? Being turned into a mutant twice wasn't enough? The more energy they absorb, they hungrier they become, and this drives them insane. Add that to the fact that the 'safety device' was built by Argit, and shouldn't you get a little suspicious? He didn't. And the consequences were bad. I tried to stop him again, you see. Diplomacy has never been one of my strengths, but for such a friend, who incidentally was also dating Gwen, I could try.

It didn't go down well. All over the world, no, the Universe, there was public outcry. There were people screaming for his death. The Plumbers were desperately diverting their resources trying to bring him in. They were being censured, sure, but I had to suffer easily the worst of the storm. And I somehow knew that this time Kevin had crossed a bridge from whence he couldn't return. After all, none of my future selves had ever made any mention of Kevin, nor had Professor Paradox predicted his fate. Of course, the future was always subject to change, but still... I voiced my suspicions to Gwen, and slowly she started distancing herself from me. The arguments over his cure resumed, only this time it was much worse than when he had absorbed the Ultimatrix's energy to stop Aggregor. However, it still had some chance of improving, when Kevin did something truly unforgivable.

He killed Grandpa Max.

At that moment, I knew that this was no mere insanity. Kevin had always strove to be the best, and to defeat me in one sphere or the other. Too bad that I was best at what I did. But, to think that he would try for revenge this way was unthinkable.

And unforgivable.

He challenged me to a fight not much later, you see. I gladly accepted. He probably thought that he would see a man just fighting to set it all right; the same Ben Tennyson who had spared him years ago.

Little did he know how close I had come that day to killing him. And, this time I didn't hesitate to unleash the full power of the Omnitrix on him. Oh, woe is he who tries to stand against the raw power. It isn't the most dangerous device in galaxy for nothing. The battle was disappointingly short; 9.884646 seconds, to be exact.

Gwen didn't like that too much, you see. Actually, she almost slipped into her Anodite form on a couple of occasions and tried to extract revenge. Finally, aunt Lily and Grandma Verdona calmed her down. She also forgave me, but her emotions were running wild. She was a danger to earth until she learned to control her powers. She left for Anodyne, and I was left on this earth...alone. My mom and dad were never really a part of my world; they couldn't understand it, honestly.

I fought for justice, brought in criminals, but the charm was lost. It was never about me; without a team, I couldn't function. Rook had taught me that much. I yearned for a little excitement back in my life again.

This morning (I follow G.M.T. time, for your information), my wish was fulfilled. And I really wish it wasn't.

You ever had the feeling that everything that could go wrong has gone wrong? You ever thought that you had seen the worst of what fate had to offer? I thought that too, until this morning. I don't know who he was, or if it even was a 'He'. For the sake of convenience, I'll take him to be a male. I didn't see much; the portal kind of just popped up in the middle of my room, right in the heart of the Bellwood base of the Plumbers, and sucked me in, only for me to meet him.

This was something different than I had experienced so far. He was a deity of some sorts, a being of unimaginable power. I have met Aggregor, Vilgax, The Great One, Zs'skyr and Adwaita without even flinching, but this being just took my breath away. He could probably boil oceans dry, planets move out of their orbits and make mountains crumble with a flick of his finger. I tried to transform, you know; it didn't even work! So far, I have never really met someone with so much powers; not even Eon, who could manipulate time as easily you could breath.

Yeah, in case you are wondering from my descriptions, I am not gay. Ask Ester if you want.

So, I was tasked with a mission. To give my life a new purpose, of sorts. He seemed quite amused while talking about it; my life had apparently lost all challenge, all thrill. According to him, the power of the Omnitrix wasn't meant to be wasted on such mundane matters. Even I couldn't really argue with that. As told before, recently my life kind of really sucked.

And so he sent me here; on a world completely different from my own. This was no mere dimensional warp. Somehow I knew that even Azmuth won't be able to reach me here. I have been given only one task, only a single name (or was it two? does a name like S.H.I.E.L.D. count?) and only one instruction. Great manual, wouldn't you agree? Some background has also been given, but I could have done without them.

I have one command; help Anthony Edward Stark.

I see the man in front of me now. Wired in his chest is a weird glowing device, which seems oddly developed; much further than the Level Three Technology in my ole' world. With tangled beard, matted hair and torn clothes, he looks set to be kicked into the insane bucket. His continuous mutterings about him being a genius might have something to do with it, either.

How do I know him? Oh yeah, 'He' showed me a vision of his face. He looks set on finishing something; is that a robot? Certainly seems like it. Not too impressive compared to some of the stuff I've seen, but, after all, this is EARTH!

Looks like I got to make this quick. I don't know how so many people can live in a cave, but there are loud shouts from outside and a whole party seems set on this direction. Something wicked this way comes...

I didn't notice the second man in there until now. He is not really important, I would guess. From the brief conversation, I gather that his name is Yinsen. He is talking about stalling them, grabbing something like a severed mechanical arm. A memory of Cash with the Techadon gauntlet comes to mind. Well, I couldn't sit quiet now. I quietly dial in my Sonorosian form and smirk as one of my plan comes to completion. That'd do for misdirection and a bit of cover from any prying eyes. I have gotten better at it than the first time; using this idea to watch a movie, fight a bunch of medieval knights in high-tech armour and a tennis match at the same time was kind of lame, anyway.

"Well, looks like you could use some help". I announce, finally stepping out from the shadows. They jump at the sudden voice and I can't help but smirk. I was a bit doubtful whether to showcase my powers in front of them, but if there's one thing I learned, it was that secrets and trust doesn't go hand-by-hand. Moreover, I didn't really need to change my form anymore; I could, if I want, but I prefer not to. So, there was no danger of ChamAlien freaking them out.

"People are coming for you." I monologue, indicating to Stark and the junk on the floor, "Was that your escape plan?"

It's probably the life-and-death situation which compels him to answer, without even a trace of curiosity at my identity. "Pretty much. It is an armoured exoskeleton suit meant for limited flight capabilities and armed with Repulsors. Only, the power connections haven't been completed. I need more time."

"No. You need an Upgrade." I smirk and turn to the other guy, "Mr. Yinsen, try not to be too awed or shocked." I dial in one of my favourite forms as the DNA of Galvanic Mechamorphs take over my one. I don't warn him, but place one hand over his suit and let my body merge with him. You see, in this form I could merge with any technology and upgrade it far beyond it's original design, hence the name. I can also control them pretty easily, which is even cooler.

"Aren't you going to step in?" The hollow metallic voice of the suit startles Tony-yeah, I'd call him that-as he finally starts sputtering, "What did you just do? I get that your body morphed into its constituent units and was capable of interacting with my armour on a molecular level, while not altering its original design, hence increasing the efficiency. But how is this possible? Even I haven't advanced that far in nanotechnology."

"Hmm...you know what, I really don't know, but I'd be happy to explain what I understand-later. But, I think we are in an emergency situation right now." I focus my senses as a concentrated laser blast-or rather, repulsor blast takes away a chunk of the stone walls. "Sweet!" I mutter.

"I agree." The ragged man steps closer, but looks confused, "How the hell am I supposed to get in?"

"No worries." I again perform my disassemble-assemble trick and the armour is wrapped up around Tony. I decide to take a rest and let Tony drive the jet. Controlling it seems to be quite tough, much harder than controlling robots in my old world was. Maybe I need more time to acclimatize to these surroundings.

"Don't worry, Yinsen, I'll come back for you." The metallic voice rings out again, but this time Tony is the one who is doing the talking. We rush-err, fly out. It's Hero Time...with metalled man. Nah, too lame. What can I name my sidekick? Iron Man? Yeah, that sounds better.

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"Al, the occurrence has been repeated." One of the men behind the Monitor muttered, puzzled.

"You mean..."

"You are correct, Al. The unidentified energy source which we found in Afghanistan, seems to have flared once again." He shrugged his shoulders, "As I have already reported, the original was short, yet tremendous. Think about a nuclear bomb going off in a five by five room, and the magnitude somewhat matches this one. The second one was actually much smaller, but enough to warn our sensors anyway. I don't know what the hell that was, and the thing that intrigues me the most is the fact that this is happening in Afghanistan. They don't have any technology-certainly not anything which would be sufficient enough to engineer something like this."

"Didn't a terrorist group there capture Tony Stark? Could he probably be involved in this?"

"No." Another voice laced with authority rang behind them.

Both the men stood up, in full alert mode. "Director Fury." They greeted him, albeit anxiously. What could have happened to make him come to them?

"Albert, John." He curtly stated their name and put a photograph in front of them; it showed a man of twenty-five or twenty-six, wearing a green suit, walking out of a hotel with a bored expression on his face. He had a watch on his hand which, too, was green. "However, I can't be too sure about this one. Can you recognise him?"

"No sir, but the database surely will..."

"Don't bother. I have already ordered a full scan, and he doesn't show up on anything. He has no birth certificate, school records, medical history, criminal record, nothing. No nationality or family to claim him as his own. It is as if he has suddenly emerged on the face of the earth." Fury paused for a while, while the duo remained puzzled. Sure, it was very interesting, but why were they being informed about this? They were video analysts and monitored S.H.I.E.L.D. security probes; nothing beyond that.

"Now observe this." The director produced another snapshot, but it was in a multitude of colours. Yep, it surely was one which was developed after analysis by the Geirgmeter-pretty nifty piece of technology that. It could break up any negatives into different colours based of the intensity of the original image. If we were to use an analogy, it would show a power generator in bright red and an ice cube in plain blue. The science behind the technology was the fact that light rays suffer refraction when closer to intense power sources, even without really changing the medium. The Geirgmeter was the most sensitive device for that purpose, recently developed by S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.

"Impossible." John muttered, while looking at the place on the teen's wrist where the watch was supposed to be. "This count is insane. Nothing could probably hold this amount of energy. It would simultaneously explode."

"Ah, John", Al muttered, "These energy readings are pretty similar to the disturbance we have detected today."

"Precisely." Fury looked at them with a hard glance, "Agents: I want you to leave other stuff and focus all your attention on that area. Something is going on there which we don't understand, and it does not sit well with me. Use whatever resources we have, but I want results. It is Level three, you get it? I have already departed Agent Romanoff to that area. You are to assist her in every way."

"The Black Widow?" John muttered, using the nickname S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had christened her with.

He nodded and marched back, but not without a warning, "Oh, and agents? Not a word of this is to get out to anyone." He had a slightly amused expression, but that remained unseen by everyone. This was always the way to get information without security leaks. Get junior agents to investigate on a matter, who doesn't have enough clearance or knowledge to actually be a threat, and a burning desire to prove themselves, and you get to the heart of the matter. Give them the impression that they are important enough for the director, and they would pour in everything they have. None of them needed to know that twelve other units were also working on different aspects of this anomaly.

Fury's eyebrows again knitted themselves together. A message from Coluson; he was also off to investigate an anomaly in New Mexico. The message wasn't encouraging. Seriously, what was the world coming to?

A/N: Well, a brand new Ben 10/Avengers crossover for you to enjoy. As you can guess, this starts from Iron Man 1, but will have a pretty long span. Ben is roughly twenty-five or twenty-six in this story and has mastered the secrets of the Omnitrix. He also doesn't need to change his body form, like the Ben Tennyson from future in "Ben 10000 Returns". He is currently cynical of life and doesn't really believe in the abilities of other people. He is arrogant and a bit of snob. In short, he is the Ben Tennyson from dimension 23, who also lost Grandpa Max in an early age. "Store 23" was one of the main source of inspiration, anyway.

Reviews are loved, as are more ideas. Thanks for reading.