Ben 10:Ultimate Marvel

Ben sat cross-legged on the bottom bunk, Galvan-sized and laser-focused on a tangle of wires, circuit boards, and a dusty old portable TV he'd cracked open like a walnut. The Omnitrix glowed faintly as he muttered equations and tweaked connections with his tiny fingers.

A spark jumped, and the screen flickered to life — fuzzy, but showing a channel Grandpa definitely didn't have before.

"Ha! One small step for TV, one giant leap for Galvan-kind," Ben whispered, grinning ear to ear.

From the top bunk came a groggy voice. "Are you seriously still messing with that thing?"

Gwen peered over the edge, blinking blearily down at her cousin.

Ben looked up, the glow of the TV reflecting in his large black eyes. "I'm upgrading it! You know how Grandpa only gets four channels and three of them are in Spanish?"

"Yeah, and one is just fishing shows," Gwen groaned, flopping onto her stomach. "So your TV can finally have all the news and Science channel even the Animal Chanel which is premium are you sure it's legal".

"well it will have almost every channel about it being legal Probably."

She raised an eyebrow.

Ben shifted awkwardly. "Okay, maybe not. But this? This is history in the making. I'm talking full channel access, free satellite hijack, even maybe—"

She threw a pillow at him. "You're such a nerd."

He caught it with a proud smile. "Takes one to know one."

Before Gwen could retaliate, the RV creaked as Grandpa Max opened the fridge and sighed.

"Uh-oh," Max called out. "Looks like we're low on... well, just about everything."

Gwen hopped down. "Want us to do a grocery run?"

"You sure? I've got a couple errands to—"

"We got it," Ben said, now back in human form, already sliding on his sneakers. "Might as well stretch our legs before the next mutant squid or alien jellyfish shows up."

Max chuckled and handed them a few crumpled bills. "Alright, but no candy explosions like last time."

"That was one time!" Gwen said.

"And a little awesome," Ben added under his breath.

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A few minutes later, the two rode on the bike down a sleepy main street, the kind of small town that hadn't changed much since the 90s. Early sun filtered through the trees. The breeze was nice. For once, everything felt normal.

Ben coasted a bit, glancing at Gwen. "So. Hear me out. What if I hooked the new TV rig to Grandpa's radio receiver and make him listen to international channels?"

"Then we'd get him to finally stop listening to that old music group i guess ,You're not selling it as the worst idea."

They laughed.

Arriving at the small local grocery store, they propped their bikes outside and walked in, grabbing a cart.

As they navigated the aisles, Gwen grabbed cereal and energy bars while Ben stood staring at spice jars.

"Garlic powder… cumin… ooh, smoked paprika," he mumbled, grabbing a few.

Gwen blinked. "Since when do you know how to cook?"

Ben shrugged. "well i was watching this cooking show with mom. You'd be surprised how easy it was to make food. Get the right ratio of starch to fat, and it's basically light work."

"Still weird hearing this from you," she said, tossing a bag of potatoes into the cart. "You usually burn toast."

Ben smirked. "Only on purpose."

The two cousins had just finished checking out, bags in hand and the cart now clinking with groceries — cereal, vegetables, soda, and Ben's proudly selected trio of spices — when the front of the store trembled with a distant boom.

A few people near the windows gasped. Someone dropped a soda bottle that burst open and sprayed foam.

"What the heck was that?" Gwen whispered, stepping behind Ben as they both instinctively ducked behind a checkout lane.

Then came the sound again — BOOM. BOOM-BOOM.

Ben peeked out cautiously. "Oh, come on…"

Stomping through the small town plaza — his lab coat flapping dramatically behind him — was a wide-eyed man riding something massive, wet, and green. A six-meter-tall frog lumbered forward, each leap making the pavement tremble.

Its skin was lumpy, pale with black spots, and two thick, jagged horns curved from behind its eyes. The thing's throat bulged and wobbled with every grunt. On its back, gripping a set of makeshift reins, stood none other than Dr. Animo.

Ben's Brain recalled and he was annoyed that he was here as well

Ben shook his head quickly. "wow an Freak on a big Frog what next a Frog with thors hammer"

"What's he even doing here?" Gwen asked.

They watched as Animo reached the pet section near the store — a large open corner with small enclosures full of rabbits, guinea pigs, and rats. People had already scattered, screaming. The place looked like it was hit by a tornado.

Animo leapt down from the frog's back, eyes twitching, muttering to himself in rapid-fire madness.

"Stupid X Foundation… Think they can discard me? Steal my work? Ha! I'll show them… I'll show everyone! This rat—yes, this beautiful little rodent—will prove my greatness!"

Ben and Gwen exchanged a look.

"That man needs a therapist," Gwen muttered.

Animo yanked a plump white rat from its cage, pulling out a syringe filled with glowing green fluid. Without hesitation, he injected it. The rat squealed, twitched, and then… began to grow.

Its body twisted, expanding unnaturally. Bones cracked as they reformed. Teeth jutted out into jagged fangs. Within seconds, it was the size of a large dog,Veins bulged across its fur as it thrashed against the enclosures.

Gwen turned away, gagging. "Ugh, that's horrifying."

"I know. so Fucking Gross," Ben admitted.

The monstrous frog croaked loudly, clearly ready to fight.

Ben grabbed Gwen's wrist and whispered, "We need to follow him. Quietly. Let's see where he goes."

She nodded, and they slipped out the back of the store, abandoning their cart and groceries. The frog bounced off again down the main road, with Animo cackling like a maniac on top.

Ben and Gwen hopped back on their bike and followed at a distance, weaving through alleys and across side roads to keep out of sight.

They followed him for nearly fifteen minutes.

The massive frog creature, surprisingly nimble, bounded across the countryside on a path out of town, eventually making its way up a cracked old road that led into the hills. Ben and Gwen kept up, sticking to the trees and using the brush as cover.

"That thing shouldn't even be able to move like that," Gwen muttered between breaths.

"Mutant biology," Ben replied, a bit too casually.

Gwen gave him a look, but said nothing more.

Eventually, the monster mount slowed. Animo pulled on the reins, guiding it off the road and through a metal gate that had long since rusted and fallen sideways. Beyond it was a wide clearing — and at its center stood a large, decaying villa.

It must've been grand once. Red-tiled roof, three stories, a fountain in the middle courtyard now dry and filled with weeds. Windows boarded up. The paint long peeled away. Nature had claimed most of it back.

Animo dismounted and barked commands to his frog, which squatted like a gargoyle beside the porch.

Ben and Gwen ditched their bike behind on a small ridge overlooking the property. They crawled forward, staying low.

They watched silently as Animo took the mutated rat out of a crate and set it on the cracked stone path. The creature now stood nearly six feet tall at the shoulder — its fur matted, back hunched, whiskers twitching with unnatural sensitivity.

Animo opened a heavy metal suitcase from his RV and pulled out a tall, metal canister filled with a glowing green fluid. He poured some into a shallow bowl and slid it toward the rat. The creature pounced and devoured it in seconds.

"Disgusting," Gwen whispered, covering her mouth.

Ben was taking note of it as what it did "That formula... it's accelerating growth and triggering genetic fusion. He is forcing animals to mutate".

Then the ground began to rumble again.

But not from Animo.

From the road.

Ben's head shot up. "look out there"

Coming around the bend, kicking up clouds of dust, were four matte-black armored vehicles. Sleek and reinforced — military grade. Painted on the sides of each: a bright red X Co.

The vehicles fanned out across the front of the villa like a practiced maneuver. Hatches opened. Out stepped squads of armed soldiers in black-and-grey tactical gear — visors, rifles, heavy boots.

And then, from the lead vehicle, stepped a tall figure.

A man.

Sort of.

He had thick, simian-like arms, muscular and covered with short, coarse fur. His posture was human, but the facial structure was clearly mutated — longer jaw, sharp eyes, and a low brow ridge. He wore a perfectly tailored suit, steel-gray with a red tie. Glasses perched on his snout, almost comically dignified.

Ben squinted. "...Is that a monkey in a suit?"

The mutant pulled out a small megaphone from his pocket and raised it to his mouth.

"Doctor Animo. You've caused us a lot of trouble."

Animo turned, startled. "YOU?! You monkey-faced corporate lapdog! I told your masters — I quit! You hear me?! You don't own me!"

The monkey mutant chuckled. "Oh, but we do. And you still owe us two patents and one brain scan. Let's not make this violent."

Animo's face twisted with rage.

"You want violence?! You got it!"

He snapped his fingers.

The frog leapt up.

The rat roared.