X-GENE OMNITRIX-Chapter 2: XGO The Awakening (updated)

Silence hung heavy in the sterile lab, broken only by the rhythmic beeping of monitoring equipment. Monitors cast a ghostly blue glow against the glass containment tank dominating the center of the room, their light dancing across polished metal surfaces and throwing distorted shadows against clinical white walls.

Inside the tank, Alex drifted in suspension—a human specimen preserved in luminescent azure fluid, motionless and unaware. Or so they thought.

For three endless years, he had been nothing more to them than Subject 117. A curiosity to probe. A mystery to unravel. A power source to harvest. His body, once his sanctuary, had become his prison, his extraordinary abilities shackled by a device they'd embedded deep within his nervous system.

But today... something shifted in the carefully controlled atmosphere of scientific detachment.

An alarm shrieked to life, its high-pitched wail shattering the sterile quiet.

Dr. Mercer's head snapped toward the neural monitoring station, his brow furrowing as he studied the chaotic patterns erupting across the screen. "His brain activity is spiking well beyond baseline," he muttered, fingers flying across the keyboard. "Impossible. He should be completely sedated."

Dr. Chen abandoned her tissue samples, moving swiftly to the sedation controls. "We administered the standard protocol exactly one hour ago. There's no physiological way he could be regaining consciousness."

The alarm intensified, its pitch climbing higher.

Mercer's knuckles whitened as he gripped the edge of the console. "Then explain why he's—"

The words died on his lips.

On the monitor, Alex's neural patterns weren't just active—they were exploding in configurations the scientists had never witnessed before. His physical form remained perfectly still within the suspension tank, but inside his mind, earthquakes were happening.

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Dr. Winters, the newest addition to the research team, leaned against a nearby workstation with arms crossed. "So what if he's conscious? That suppression implant ensures he's about as dangerous as a lab mouse. Let him wake up—might make the reactions more interesting."

Dr. Mercer whirled around, face contorted with barely contained rage. "Are you clinically brain-dead?" he hissed, advancing on the younger scientist. "This isn't just some random test subject—he's the most valuable specimen we've ever discovered! If his consciousness fully engages during an active procedure, the neural shock could destroy exactly what makes him valuable!"

Winters shrank back, adam's apple bobbing nervously. "I... I didn't consider that, sir."

"Clearly." Mercer dragged a hand down his face, composure cracking. "Increase sedation levels. Maximum dose. Now."

The team scrambled to prepare the injection.

But inside the glass prison, beyond the reach of needles and chemicals and scientific understanding, Alex was already gone.

Not physically.

But somewhere deeper.

They were already too late.

Alex's eyes opened to... nothing.

The lab had vanished.

In its place stretched an infinite void.

Absolute blackness surrounded him—no floor, no ceiling, no boundaries of any kind. Just endless emptiness extending in all directions. Yet somehow, Alex felt perfectly supported, as if floating in water without the sensation of wetness.

His breath quickened, heart fluttering in his chest. Where am I?

Then—

Two masks materialized before him, glowing an otherworldly green that illuminated nothing around them, their radiance contained to their featureless faces.

They hovered in the nothingness, disembodied visages with no bodies attached. Their cosmic glow pulsed rhythmically, like heartbeats made of starlight.

Alex's throat constricted.

Recognition hit him like a physical blow.

These weren't strangers.

He knew them.

Before his mind could fully process this impossible familiarity, their voices thundered through the void, vibrating down to his bones.

"So... you have awakened."

Fury erupted inside Alex like a volcano breaking through years of dormancy.

Everything crashed back at once—every fragment of suffering, every needle puncture, every scream torn from his throat, every memory of a life stolen from him—forming a tidal wave of rage that threatened to drown him from within.

His hands curled into fists so tight his nails drew blood from his palms. His teeth ground together, jaw muscles standing out like cords beneath his skin.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE ME MY MEMORIES SOONER?" The question tore from his throat, raw and primal, shaking the very fabric of the void around them. "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME TO ROT IN THAT HELL WITHOUT KNOWING WHO I REALLY WAS?"

The left mask—Bellicus, the embodiment of aggression and conflict—surged forward instantly, his green glow flaring brighter with indignation.

"BECAUSE YOUR PATHETIC HUMAN FORM COULDN'T HANDLE IT, YOU UNGRATEFUL SPECK!" The voice crashed against Alex like physical force, nearly knocking him backward.

Alex froze, the breath stuttering in his lungs. "What are you talking about?"

Bellicus vibrated with barely contained frustration, his words sharp enough to cut. "YOUR PHYSICAL VESSEL WAS TOO WEAK TO CONTAIN YOUR COMPLETE SOUL! WE HAD TO METER IT OUT SLOWLY TO PREVENT TOTAL CELLULAR COLLAPSE!"

The truth hit harder than any of the scientists' experiments ever had. Alex's entire body shook with a mixture of fury and despair.

"AND BECAUSE OF YOUR 'PROTECTION,' I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MOTHER!" His voice cracked on the final word. "I'VE SPENT YEARS AS NOTHING BUT A LAB RAT WHILE YOU DECIDED I WASN'T 'READY'!"

The right mask—Serena, the voice of compassion and peace—quivered slightly.

And then—

She began to cry.

Luminous green tears slipped from beneath her mask, trailing down the featureless surface before evaporating into the void like morning dew.

Bellicus groaned, his mask tilting in exasperation. "MARVELOUS! ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS! Look what you've done now! You've made her cry!"

Alex faltered, caught off-guard by this unexpected display of emotion from a cosmic entity.

Serena's voice wavered with genuine sorrow. "Alex... we wanted nothing more than to help you sooner. But we simply couldn't."

Her words carried such profound sadness that Alex felt his anger momentarily falter.

"If we had awakened your complete soul too quickly..." She hesitated, the tears flowing faster. "Your physical form would have disintegrated. You would have ceased to exist entirely."

Alex's breath caught in his throat.

His rage flickered, uncertainty creeping in to replace it.

Died?

Bellicus scoffed loudly, his mask expanding with indignation. "DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCEPTION OF WHAT YOU TRULY ARE?"

The question echoed through the darkness, reverberating with cosmic weight.

"YOU'RE NOT MERELY SOME MUTATION ANYMORE! YOU'VE BECOME SOMETHING FAR BEYOND SUCH PRIMITIVE CLASSIFICATIONS!"

Serena nodded gently, her tears finally subsiding. "When your soul crossed between realities, it began fracturing under the strain. We had to carefully control its reintegration with your new physical form, or the energy release would have obliterated your very existence."

Alex's fingernails dug deeper into his palms. "Then why didn't you send someone—anyone—to help me escape that nightmare?"

Bellicus emitted a harsh, bitter laugh that cut through the void like broken glass. "OH, YOU MEAN LIKE YOUR PRECIOUS BEN TENNYSON?"

Alex's eyes flashed with desperate hope. "YES! WHY NOT HIM?"

Bellicus surged forward until his mask was inches from Alex's face.

"BECAUSE THERE IS NO BEN TENNYSON IN THIS UNIVERSE, YOU COSMICALLY IGNORANT FOOL!"

Silence crashed over them.

Alex staggered backward as if physically struck.

Serena sighed, her gentle voice carrying the weight of universal truth. "This reality... exists without a Ben Tennyson. That timeline never formed here."

Alex's world collapsed around him.

No Ben?

No hero swooping in with the Omnitrix to save the day?

No Grandpa Max with his Plumber connections?

No Gwen with her magic?

He was truly, completely alone.

Bellicus huffed, his mask pulsing with irritation. "You still don't grasp the fundamentals, do you? We're Cosmic Guardians, not your personal rescue service! We don't manipulate fate like puppet strings! We can't simply conjure a convenient hero to solve your problems!"

Serena's voice softened, cutting through Bellicus's tirade. "But we can offer you something else."

She extended what seemed like a hand from nothingness.

A symbol manifested in the darkness between them.

A perfect green circle, radiating power that made the air vibrate.

Alex's chest suddenly burned with excruciating intensity.

Pain erupted through every cell in his body, radiating outward from his core.

He collapsed to his knees, clutching his right arm as something beneath his skin writhed and pushed, desperate to break free.

The agony peaked—

And something tore through his flesh from within, emerging not with blood and tissue but with pure energy.

A device—metallic, complex, pulsing with blue light—materialized directly from his cellular structure and locked around his wrist with a decisive click.

The Omnitrix.

But unlike any version he had ever seen.

This wasn't constructed from alien technology or Galvan ingenuity.

This was born from his own mutated DNA.

A limiter. A safeguard.

And the key to power beyond human comprehension.

Bellicus made a sound remarkably like a snort. "There. That should prevent you from CATASTROPHICALLY DETONATING when you exceed your current physical limitations. You're welcome, by the way."

Serena's energy reached out, a comforting presence against Alex's shoulder. "This Omnitrix is now an integral part of your being. It will activate automatically when you approach critical thresholds, reverting you to human form when your power becomes too dangerous for your body to contain."

Alex gasped for breath, sweat beading on his forehead as the burning sensation gradually subsided. He gritted his teeth and forced himself upright, refusing to remain kneeling before these entities.

His eyes—no longer their natural brown but a brilliant, electric BLUE—blazed with determination.

"Fine," he growled, examining the device that was now part of him. "Then I'll just have to become powerful enough that I never need its limitations."

Bellicus vibrated with what might have been cosmic exasperation. "This child is going to be the death of us all."

Serena's mask tilted in what seemed like affectionate amusement. "I think he's absolutely magnificent."

Bellicus flared brightly. "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL CREATION—ENOUGH! GET OUT OF OUR REALM!"

The void shattered like black glass.