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And Then There Were Ten [Worm Cross]

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Professor Default, Nov 23, 2022.

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  1. Threadmarks: Chapter 1
    Professor Default

    Professor Default Getting out there.

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    Summary: Get powers, become a hero, then ship yourself with a canon character. Sounds like a fun time, but is really just too much effort. Let me build something neat, then watch the fireworks. Oh shit this isn’t canon.



    Log in.
    Standard.
    Randomized power chosen: Tinker.
    Specialty assigned.

    Transportation completed.


    Confusion. Intrigue. #\?%.


    Befuddlement. Ignore current argument and discuss. Continuity at risk…Universe not meeting requirements. Await confirmation. Patience.



    He was a pioneer of genetic engineering. A philanthropist. A man who went to cure cancer and make the treatment viable within ten years of his introduction to the field. He came out of nowhere with barely any credentials and made everyone quickly clamor to peer review his work.

    He cheated, just a bit. His power made things like cancer trivial to deal with, but very difficult to reverse engineer. That took a month to mess around with.

    He was a cape, or rather a parahuman. Specifically a tinker, and definitely not hero material. Being a hero didn’t suit him at all, no matter how fun wearing spandex and parkouring along rooftops while fighting crime would be. He wasn’t about that, not in a past life and not in this one-but he did enjoy creating things that would break the world he now lived in. He did his part to cement himself, now it was time to see how his indirect presence is felt through the world.

    Sigma spun on his chair as he pushed himself across his lab, grabbing a vial before pushing himself back to his terminal. Connected to his computer was a mishmash of wires connecting to a cylindrical trinket, code and data being transferred over to it as he began the final preparations of his long standing dream.

    His shard gave him a nostalgia bait on a stick, but Sigma was damned if he couldn’t make this thing without his powers. He had a working prototype in the basement that broke the year before, but he was finally putting the finishing touches on what he would call his magnum opus. Not tinkertech, yet above what humanity could currently create. It was a thin tightrope to use his power just enough without going into a fugue and coming out onto the other side with shard tech, but he did it.

    Connecting the vial to a bastardized centrifuge, the green contents were spun and quickly drained away, a tube connecting to a wristband slowly being filled up with the culmination of years’ worth of DNA manipulation.

    Taking a sip of hot chocolate, Sigma rubbed his eyes as the computer window finally showed an <Execute?> command.

    Pressing enter, he spun around once more before he attached the cylinder to the wristband, green energy flowing through the white tubes before the hourglass on the dial atop of the watch glowed a bright green. Taking a moment to mess with the controls for a moment, Sigma nodded in satisfaction as he ignored his shard telling him how imperfect the tech was. How all he needed was to input a few modifications to allow for easier shifting, then create a template for permanent changes. Apply template to live subjects. Create species. Mutate.

    It was a hard impulse to ignore, but he refused to let something like shard bullshit touch his magnum opus. By completing this, without the help of his powers, would make him the smartest being in five galaxies, or three worlds he supposed. It didn’t mean much when the world was going to end but he needed have his fun somehow.

    It didn’t take long for Sigma to clean his workbench before he finally placed the watch down in front of him, his childhood dreams finally realized.

    Pressing the green button, the familiar dial popped up, that consistent beeping that was heard as the hourglass shifted into a diamond to showcase a silhouette.

    It was ready.

    Sigma Kane wasn’t a hero. He was just a scientist turned tinker living like a hermit and inventing things he liked. DNA manipulation was a niche of a power but it opened several avenues of fun chicanery. If he wanted, he could be a more humane version of Cauldron, except far more hands off. Considering he would rather not have a bullet to the head, he’ll keep to himself for now.

    What he truly wanted, was chaos. Creating ripples into the world with just one device; it was too good to pass up.

    Placing the omnitrix into a pod, he saw the pod close automatically before he carried the admittedly heavy ball into a chute on the wall of his lab.

    Pressing a button, the chute closed and, within a moment, was shot out into the sky-hopefully into space if his math was right.

    Taking another sip from his cup, Sigma smiled as he took a glance at the computer as he sat down onto the spinning chair-gazing at the projected destination of the pod.

    Abusing his powers for good, amassing the wealth he needed and the prestige that he admittedly didn’t want, Sigma found himself an intricate part of Earth Bet and its scientific community.

    Watching the pod’s trajectory to Brockton Bay, Sigma smiled at the thought of whoever found themselves wielding his omnitrix and the ‘canon’ functions he tried to implement into it. He added a code for Master Control for anyone stubborn enough to try it, alongside a self-destruct sequence in case it fell in the hands of anyone he didn’t like. Even added a little something special in case an endbringer attack occurred, costing him a lot of money for probably not much payoff. Would be funny though.

    Draining his hot chocolate, Sigma leaned back as the pod finally hit the atmosphere, and was heading straight towards the city. Time to watch the fireworks.

    ….When was canon again?



    The world line breaks, its flimsy connection reaching out desperately before connecting to prime. Like a tree with an ever growing trunk, a new branch forms. Connections were then reinforced. The world was now connected to the timeline. They looked at the new connections with an alien feeling, their forms tapping on the barrier curiously before a being responded to their inquisitive confusion.

    “Oh dear, I don’t recommend touching the barrier. Weird enough to say to you, but I doubt you’ll wish to get inside there or be lost to time.”

    The professor looked upon the entities with a curious look before gesturing a bag to them.

    “Gumball?”



    The alleyway became covered in frost, ice appearing out of thin air in the autumn weather. The men were immediately turned into ice cubes, leaving her in shock as her savior appeared-its green eyes and vent-like mouth staring down at her.

    Emma Barnes found herself shivering as the giant moth flew through the air to carry her home, eliciting clouds of frost every time it breathed, tickling the top of her scalps. Whoever saved her was definitely a cape, but last she checked there weren’t any who ran around as a giant scary moth in Brockton Bay. Ugh, she wished she could take back her wish a week ago about something interesting happening to her, she already regretted ever going out tonight.

    Even after being saved by them, she still couldn’t shake off the memories of the attack. How utterly disgusted she felt as they touched her cheek, their words making her want nothing more than to hide in her room and never leave or be looked upon like that again. Really, she couldn't go home yet. She loved her parents, but she needed somewhere safe, somewhere where she could go and cry while being understood. Hesitating, she gestured to the moth to fly her somewhere else. It didn’t care at the change of direction, but she didn’t want to make her savior angry. Before long the familiar sight of the Hebert household came into view, causing Emma to become more relaxed at just being near her second home.

    Stay safe.” The moth said in its breathy voice, flying downwards before they landed at the doorstep. Dropping her off, the moth nodded before it disappeared into the night, leaving Emma to shiver as she was left alone. Ringing the doorbell, Emma nearly sobbed then and there when Taylor opened the door, looking sickly and having mucus leaking from her nose. To Emma, she didn’t care what her friend looked like at that moment. Hugging her best friend, she sobbed into Taylor’s chest.



    Sigma stretched as he turned the terminal and the lab lights off, letting the green glow of the columns of infused DNA illuminate the entirety of his admittedly messy lab.

    T-minus 2 hours on landing, but he’ll take a gander in the morning on who took it via the PHO or his tracker. Whichever really took less time to figure out.

    Yawning, he looked at his beaten journal as he made his way upstairs to his house proper, his shard creating and discarding ideas in lightning pace.

    Plan created. Can’t be achieved. Blueprint made. Nope, observation of matter made it impossible to create.

    Perhaps using some meta-physics bullshit?

    Almost but no.

    Hm, limit abilities to this world.

    Error.

    Yeah he figured. What about yoinking Bonesaw to help? Make her do the heavy lifting and try to create a human with the right parameters, then start fiddling.

    …Plan created. Dismissed.

    Sigma thought about it and threw a Hail Mary. Nearly every other DNA strand was easy to create except for a Flarauna’s; that was a bit rough to do, but…

    Hear him out-take a cauldron vial and mess with it? Maybe?

    Plan created…

    Sigma’s eyes widened. Oh shit, was it that easy?!

    Dismissed. Lack of data.

    Sigma sighed at that as his body deflated. Never mind-who knew that trying to recreate Celestial-Sapien DNA would be a bitch, and break all known terms of reality? Oh well, he tried. Can’t say he didn’t when he’s being interrogated by Contessa.



    Bugman, he temporarily dubbed, had to be his best form. Flying through the streets at night whilst being intangible and invisible made for some of the best fun he ever had in his life. Saving a pretty girl by freezing some gang members, then taking her home? It made him weirdly elated, and as he stole a spoon from a restaurant he flew through and hastily ate it, it made him think.

    Being a hero was a good gig. He read comic books about it before sure, but it never seemed like a reasonable career path. Become a hero from nine to five, go home and do whatever he wants for the rest of the time. There’s recognition, there’s the money too-he did want it. But he also felt a sense of freedom of just, being free to use his newfound powers without restraint.

    Flying upwards and turning solid once more, the moth let his fingers touch across the faint clouds in the sky. He had a couple minutes left before he transformed back, and already he felt like he wanted to transform again and go around the city at night. Is this what Glory Girl got to do when she wasn’t afraid for her secret identity? It was liberating.

    Landing atop of a store, the now-familiar countdown was heard just as his feet touched the gravel roof, and in a moment he transformed back into a human.

    Finding this watch was the best thing to ever happen to Greg Veder, his body nearly vibrating as he briefly waited for the cooldown to end before the watch turned green.

    Without hesitation, he twisted the dial to the velociraptor-like silhouette and pressed the dial down, and in an explosion of green energy, he was off.


    Had this in my head for a while and decided to write it down. If it garners some interest, I’ll write more, but otherwise a one shot/exercise. SI as a side character and passively causing shenanigans from the background is a sorely small genre. Why be in plot when you can be a Coil?
     
  2. Love_Monger

    Love_Monger Getting sticky.

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    it looks interesting honestly, i wish you would continue
     
  3. Lastword855

    Lastword855 All Hail Veder!!!

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    This really is a good year to be a Greg fan seven new Greg fics in a year. This is the second Greg Ben Ten crossover i've seen and i gotta say this one is much better. What features does this version of the omnitrix have?
    Where's Alan? wasn't he with her when she was attacked?
     
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  4. Wintercat

    Wintercat Curious Lurker

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    Curious to see where you'll go with this.

    Going to be watching to see how this will develop over the first couple of chapters.
     
    KR-Nexus and Lastword855 like this.
  5. Lumagle

    Lumagle Not too sore, are you?

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    Links?
     
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  6. Lastword855

    Lastword855 All Hail Veder!!!

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    For The Greg/Ben Ten fic or all the Greg fics this year?
     
  7. Lumagle

    Lumagle Not too sore, are you?

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    Fics un this year please
     
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  8. Lastword855

    Lastword855 All Hail Veder!!!

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  9. Lumagle

    Lumagle Not too sore, are you?

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    Lastword855 likes this.
  10. Lastword855

    Lastword855 All Hail Veder!!!

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    You're welcome. You a Greg fan?
     
  11. Emiya Pendragon

    Emiya Pendragon The Boundary

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  12. Lastword855

    Lastword855 All Hail Veder!!!

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    NP loved your Greg's Pain oneshot.
     
    Emiya Pendragon likes this.
  13. KenNM

    KenNM Actually 23

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    This is an interesting premise, the SI being present and having made their impact in the background and lore, and deciding to take a stone to the pond that is canon by giving the omnitrix to someone sounds cool.

    Did Contessa get to him? I wonder what he'll make. And I highly doubt Celestialsapien DNA would've worked lol. Best I could think is Eidolon's "all the powers" mixed with Citrine's localized reality adjustment mixed with Labyrinth to ape reality warping
     
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  14. Emiya Pendragon

    Emiya Pendragon The Boundary

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    Author-san you forgot to thread mark...
     
  15. Hephaestus

    Hephaestus Know what you're doing yet?

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    Keep it up looks good
     
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  16. Lastword855

    Lastword855 All Hail Veder!!!

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    New Greg fic if anyone is interested.
     
    Emiya Pendragon likes this.
  17. Emiya Pendragon

    Emiya Pendragon The Boundary

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    Hmmm.. Watched... for now
     
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  18. AntoinetteScott

    AntoinetteScott Gone for Good

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    I love it.
     
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