May 21, 2014

I flew through the air at immense speeds, diving through clouds, spinning over the ocean, and zipping back and forth. I loved flying as Astrodactyl. Streaming through the sky at the speed of sound, hearing nothing at all as I made the sky my own. There were serious perks to having an Omnitrix.

I just reached Greece at around the agreed training time, near the training ground, when Omnitrix flashed green without my prompting.

“...” I stared down at myself in Swampfire form. I was hundreds of feet in the air, moving at beyond the speed of sound. As a form that explicitly couldn’t fly. For a Looney Tunes moment, I kept flying forward.

“Goddamn it, Omnitrix,” I said in sheer shock.

With that, I started plummeting towards the ground. “FUUUUUCK!”

The ground was coming up fast. I mean, I was dropping towards it fast. I screamed while raising my hands high.

Okay, okay, okay! I might survive the fall, but I’d rather make sure of it. I brought my hands to point at the ground and unleashed hell.

“YAAAAH!”

Fire exploded from my palms in twin rockets. I screamed again as the ground kept getting closer. “Come on, come on, come on!”

For a moment, all that happened was that I was blasting out flame while plummeting to a squishy fate. Then, slowly, my fire started to overcome gravity. My downward tumble became a gentle fall. I pushed it further and further, until I turned it off about ten feet about the ground. I landed on my feet and placed my hands on my knees.

God. That was close. I’d almost gotten turned into mulch!

“That’s a hell of an entrance,” I said to myself. Then I looked up at the base. It was within walking distance. I stared at the Omnitrix, then tapped it. In a flash of green light, I became human again.

Dreading what came next, I raised a hand to my face and ran it across my skin, wincing immediately.

Bumps. Big old pimply bumps. Oh great. Swampfire was blossoming. Which meant I was stuck looking like the worst stereotype of all High Schoolers. God help me.

With a heavy sigh, I started walking. As I entered the base, everyone stared. The guy who took my ID hid his laugh. A young female soldier tried to take a secret picture of me, forgetting to turn off her flash. I sighed when one soldier smashed into a wall because he was staring at me.

I soon reached the section of the base where Ares and Jen were waiting, an empty part of the training grounds. Ares noticed me coming towards them, looking at me and opening his mouth. Then he closed it, blinking in surprise.

Jen didn’t notice me until I came close. When she did, she turned to look at me. Then she stared.

For a moment, Ares and Jen just looked at me. Then, slowly, Jen raised her phone. The camera flashed.

“I’m never going to live this down,” I said simply.

It wasn’t a question.

“What happened?” Jen said, stunned.

“Swampfire is blossoming,” I shook my head. “It’s like puberty. I guess, after I used him enough, it had to happen. So now I get to deal with the lovely side-effects of it.”

“So, you’re fine?” Jen asked. “This isn’t some kind of disease or something?”

“Nah, except for all this garbage I’m fine.”

“Good. Then I can laugh. Pffft, HAHAHAHAHA!” Jen lost it completely, falling to her back and busting out with laughter.

Ares poked one of the massive pink bumps on my cheek. I winced a little. “Please don’t do that.”

“Are you still able to fight?” Ares asked, still poking me.

“Only in Swampfire form,” I said with a sigh. “I’m stuck with him while he’s blossoming.”

“Then that is what you will train with,” Ares pointed at the floor. “Create a tree. As tall as a skyscraper. Then use your fire to slice it apart into two-by-fours. I expect the cuts to be clean as a whistle, and each two-by-four to be perfect in measurement.”

“Perfect!?” I said, blinking. “What, you want me to use a ruler?”

“No. I will check on your progress. Every time you do it wrong, we double the number of trees, and you lift them out of the ground before you slice them. This way we can improve your precision with your fire powers in this form, while forcing you to your mental and physical limits.”

“...Somehow, I expected it to go this way,” I said with a sigh.

Jen, still chuckling, rose to her feet. “What about me?”

“We fight,” Ares took his sword off his back. “I’ll polish your style, help you discover how to use your enhanced form correctly. Then, when you turn human in the course of the battle, you will carry the two-by-fours that Swampfire creates over there,” he pointed to a place nearby where construction material had been set up. “We will do this for two hours.”

“What’s the point of even doing that in human form?” Jen grumbled.

Oh right. I hadn’t told her. Or, I had told her and we both forgot.

“Jen, any working out you do in human form gives your gamma form a boost in strength,” I explained. “If you end up being only half as strong as, say, Nat, you’ll end up being even more of a powerhouse than you already are.”

“Seriously?” Jen cocked her head to the side. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“I might have? I can’t remember.”

Suddenly, a tan fist replaced Jen. Shocked, I looked at Ares.

“You are talking,” he growled. “Instead of training. START. NOW!”

“Yessir,” I pressed down on the Omnitrix without looking. Soon, I was once again green and leafy.

I looked down at my Swampfire form. It had changed. Before, my body had been relatively slim, in terms of proportions I mean. But now my chest had expanded, gaining lines across it, the leaves that made up the outside of my form looking thicker and rougher. Like I was becoming more armored. Even my fingers were clawed now. Experimentally, I created a glob of mud in my palm. It gets overshadowed by the fire and plants, but Swampfire can form mud when needed. I usually didn’t need it, but trying it now felt easier.

Blossoming. One of a few things I’d worried about dealing with. Still, this was going to benefit me in the long run. When Ben blossomed, his powers as Swampfire had become immense. I mean, regular Swampfire was already what I would consider a ‘powerhouse’ form, one that could change the nature of a conflict just from being there. Blossomed, I’d be even more useful.

But man, I was gonna look less cool. Maybe the fact I was blossoming at an older age then Ben meant I would look different?

Well. It was time to train. I created a seed pod in my hand and tossed it at the ground. It sank beneath the earth. With a raised fist, a sapling sprouted. Up and up it rose, bark becoming thicker, leaves and branches spread until I was standing before a tree three hundred feet tall and forty feet around. It took me a while to do it. When I finished, I raised a fist and surrounded it in flame. Behind me, I heard Jen roar and Ares laugh. I ignored them, focused my flames forward and began slicing.

Time to train.

------

Later, at the tower, I got exactly the response I expected from my new appearance.

“BWAHAHAHAHA!” Tony was positively giddy as he stared at my pink pimply face. I glared at him. He only laughed harder.

“This is very interesting,” Bruce measured one of the pimples. “And you say this is your body reacting to Swampfire blossoming into a new stage of its life?”

“Basically,” I said.

“You look like an overcooked pizza,” Tony said with delight. “I mean, I knew you were young, but puberty? Maybe we should be sending you to high school. Then again, this could be a new combat innovation for you. Next time we fight someone, you just need to spray them with pus.”

“Gross,” I said.

“May I?” Bruce asked me, holding a syringe. When I nodded, he wiped down a spot on my arm, took some blood, and went over to his microscope.

Tony poked one of the bumps. I slapped his arm aside. “Don’t you have better things to do than make fun of me?”

“There is nothing better than making fun of you, crater face,” Tony tried to poke my face again, only for me to slap him away again. For just a moment, Tony and I slapped at each other.

“This is fascinating!” Bruce said as he stared at my blood through his microscope. “Mahmoud, do you mind if I take more samples, possibly of the pus?”

“Gross, but it’s fine. Just remember me as your favorite experiment,” I slapped Tony in the face, then blocked another hit from him.

“What did you find?” Tony asked curiously.

“Changes to Dial’s DNA, possibly,” Bruce mentioned. “My hypothesis is that this ‘blossoming’ is affecting his own genetics, but I’d need more evidence to discover how or why.”

“Speaking of science,” I ducked under a slap and backed away from Tony. “How’s it going, sitting in on Agatha’s lessons?”

Tony and Bruce shared twin smiles.

“Unbelievable.”

“Interesting.”

I looked between them. “Is that all you guys can say?”

“Well, there’s more, of course,” Tony crossed his arms. “Based on our readings, magic shares a base form of energy we can pick up, something similar to radiation. But it’s finicky as hell. Sometimes we get a clear reading, sometimes I feel like one of those ghost hunters freaking out over equipment they bought at a home depot.”

“I think it’s exciting,” Bruce came up to me with more medical equipment. “We might be on the frontier of something new. And the things they can do…”

“Are straight out impossible?” I asked while Bruce took a clipping of my hair.

Tony shook his head. “Well, it’s clearly possible. Just beyond anything I knew existed before. That mirror dimension thing is the worst one. That whole place is made to break the laws of physics in stupid ways. I spent a whole lot of time just trying to figure that out.”

“It is confusing that something that cool can be made with a wave of the hand,” I winced at the pain of skin samples being taken. “Though, I guess that speaks to the power of Agatha.”

“I’ve sent some of the information we gained to Dr. Peters. Hopefully she can put some of it in context,” Bruce made some fascinated noises as he created a hologram in the center of the room, showing off DNA strands. He did some motions I didn’t understand the purpose of, bringing up various calculations that made me squint my eyes at them.

“I have to say I…” Bruce looked between Tony and I, smiling a little. “I didn’t think I’d be able to get this kind of life back. After all that time running around, it’s nice to be doing research in peace.”

Tony and I shared a look.

“Well… No need to be a pussy about it, let’s go get burgers,” Tony said, flipping around.

I gaped at Tony. “Dude. You have all the delicacy of a bulldozer in an orphanage.”

“It’s fine,” Bruce patted me on the back. “The fact Tony doesn’t treat me like either someone to be pitied or a monster to be feared… it’s honestly one of his best points.”

“Right alongside my incredible modesty,” Tony snarked.

“Oh right. Speaking of your modesty, guess what Greek God is a fan of yours.”

We went out for burgers. Afterward, the media was full of photos of my red splotchy face sitting across from Tony and Bruce. I didn’t mind that much. Spending time with Bruce and Tony, eating cheap Burger King burgers, was a fun time. Little moments like that make life worthwhile.

------

May 22, 2014

The next day, when I woke up, the pimples hadn’t disappeared, so I decided to just continue my life as is. They didn’t hurt or impede my movement, why hide away from the world?

So in the middle of the day, after another training session with Ares where I grew and chopped down more trees than your usual rainforest, Jen, Thor, and I were hanging out on the roof while listening to a police scanner. Jen was still chuckling at the pinkness on my face.

“I’ll be honest. If this acne doesn’t disappear from your face soon, I’m going to have to break up with you.”

Jen said it with a grin, so I wasn’t TOO worried about it.

“I understand what you’re going through,” Thor said with some real compassion. “Loki once did a trick like this to me. Only it was scales and metal shavings.”

“Well this is a trick the Omnitrix is pulling on me,” I grumbled. “Seriously, I thought this was going to end a lot sooner. Look at this crap!”

Without looking, I twisted the Omnitrix and pressed down on it. The hologram showed Anklyo-Roar, the name I’d given to one of my new Saur-Lord forms.

I turned into Swampfire instead. “I can’t turn into any alien other than this. I mean, I can adjust, but half my power comes from my adaptability.”

“...Are you bigger?” Jen asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

I was. Swampfire had gained some inches, enough that I was looking down at Thor and Jen. My body had also become more ‘muscular’ in appearance.

“Bruce says that my form is becoming denser and more complex, so all this added mass is actually more than it looks like. My fire is also a lot easier to produce now,” I explained in my nasally Swampfire voice. “I’ve gained like fifty pounds from when I was last weighed in this form.”

“At least not all the side effects suck,” Jen poked at my neck, where some of the leaves were coming up into a fringe around my head, slowly growing into a collar.

“Except that this is happening long after I thought it would,” I whispered to her so Thor wouldn’t hear over the wind. “Ben had this happen to him at 16. I’m 28.”

“Well you are different people,” she pointed out while also whispering. “You can’t expect all your forms to act the same all the time. You’ve told me before that Four Arms and Jury Rigg are dressed differently from his version, right?”

True. Jury Rigg’s Black Sabbath shirt and Four Arms bracer/bodysuit combo were just some examples of how different from Ben’s Omnitrix mine was.

I liked that, honestly. Looking down at the gauntlet Omnitrix, a design entirely it’s own, the fact was that I felt happy when I thought that it was mine. Lots of Omnitrix’s in the multiverse. But mine was special even with that.

“My friends,” Thor said gravely, drawing our attention. “I wish to request your aid in something.”

Jen and I shared a look. “What’s up, big guy?” Jen asked.

“I wish to complete my courtship of Lady Jane,” he said with some trepidation. “Of late, I have begun to speak with her over the ‘video phone’. It has been challenging, but rewarding, learning to use mortal technology. Though I think Tony thinks I’m dumber than I am,” Thor smirked. “He attempted to ‘Rick Roll’ me. He doesn’t realize I am a fan of the song.”

I grinned at the thought of Thor dancing while Tony stared in despair.

“But I want to begin dating her in earnest. And I don’t know what to do.”

Jen cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. “Well, you can go simple or extravagant. You’ve got all of us helping you. What do you think she wants?”

“She’s a nerd, like all three of us,” I said immediately. Thor and Jen looked at me. “Granted, I’m a comic nerd, you,” I poked Jen in her abs. “Are a lawyer nerd. And you, Thor, are an Asgardian prince with the education that comes with it.”

“I don’t know if that counts,” Thor mumbled. “Loki was always the smart one.”

“You were raised in a literal space-age alien civilization compared to the rest of us,” I pointed out. “Don’t you have a mastery of astrophysics or something?”

“Only the basics,” Thor shrugged. “I understand how to travel through wormholes like any other person.”

“You…” Jen stared at Thor. “Are you hiding a big brain under those muscles and good looks, aren’t you?”

He gave her a dopey grin that made us chuckle. “So what do you both believe I should do?”

I thought about it. “Hm… Jen, remember where I took you on our third date?”

“The upper atmosphere?” she asked. When I nodded, she grinned. “That’s a good idea. But she’ll need a suit.”

“We can ask Tony to make one. Thor, how are you with flying in outer space?”

“Wait, wait,” Thor waved his hands to stop us. “That is too much, my friends! I think… maybe something simpler?”

“Simpler. Okay uh,” Jen hummed. “How about a planetarium visit? You guys can go around fact checking the exhibits?”

Thor stroked his chin. “That would be fun?”

“Well, yeah,” I said with a grin. “You two can go around holding hands and staring at all the cool stuff they have. I know a guy who knows a guy, I can get you a private visit.”

Thor’s eyes lit up with happiness, and he wrapped my body in a hig that tested Swampfire’s durability. “My dear friend! That would be most appreciated!”

“Can’t... talk… crushed,” I gasped.

“Ah. My apologies,” Thor let me go with a grin. “Thank you, Mahmoud. You are a good man.”

“Aw, shucks,” I said with some embarrassment. That was Thor for you. One hundred percent class.

“Hey, lovebirds, you guys gonna kiss right in front of me?” Jen teased. “Because I’ll be honest, I’ve had dreams that started that way.”

I chuckled while Thor shook his head with a smile. “Not today, Lady Jennifer.”

“My perversions are once again foiled,” Jen said sadly.

“Avengers,” X said over the comms, his voice very serious. “I have a report on an assault taking place near you.”

Thor and I immediately became serious. “Which street?”

Rather than answering, my robot buddy sent the gps coordinates to the Omnitrix, which lit up a holographic map.

Jen, Thor, and I leapt off the building. When we got to the building, three men were in the midst of attacking a man and a woman. There was something very satisfying about smashing into the room and seeing those three assholes' faces drop in fear while the man and woman they were attacking stared at us in relief.

Just another day in New York City, saving the innocent and punching the guilty.