[60] Divine Intervention

Chapter 60: Divine Intervention

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The mana storm raged around Gwen like a pink hurricane. Chunks of stone lifted into the air and disintegrated into streams of pure energy. The temperature had dropped to near absolute zero in some spots, while others burned hotter than the sun. Reality was having a bad day, and my cousin was the cause.

I didn't let myself think about what I was about to do. “Benjamin, stay away! It’s too dangerous!” Even as the Ancient One shouted at me to stop, I didn’t listen. Thinking would mean acknowledging how insanely dangerous this was. Instead, I just moved, my new form surprisingly agile despite its lanky build.

I reached Gwen just as another wave of power pulsed out. “I’m here, Gwen!” My voice buzzed with electricity, and my earplugs found her shoulders where I jammed them in.

The sensation was indescribable.

Raw mana, the fundamental force that Anodites were made of, flooded into me. It should have killed me instantly. Should have overloaded every blood vessel, fried every synapse. But I wasn’t human. I was Feedback! Feedback wasn't just built to absorb energy, he was built to absorb any energy.

To take it, process it, amplify it, and redirect it.

My body lit up like a Christmas tree, making me scream. There was no pain however, just excitement. Black and white patterns now traced with veins of gold and pink. My single eye blazed brighter than ever as impossible amounts of power coursed through me. I could feel everything, every electron in the air, every photon bouncing off the walls, the bioelectric fields of everyone in the room.

But it wasn’t enough. Gwen was fighting back against my absorption. “Gwen!” I shouted, “Don’t resist!” I watched her growl with her eyes white. For a moment, I wondered if she could even hear me.

Then the resistance began to fade, and her glow dimmed as I drained her, her Anodite form flickering like a TV with bad reception. The pink energy swirled through my antennae, cycling through my body, being converted and contained. The cracks in her skin vanished, and she let out a soft gasp, eyes rolling back as the transformation reversed.

I caught her as she fell, fully human again. Carefully, gently, I laid her next to Grandpa Max. She was breathing. Alive. Human. Grandpa… wasn’t.

I gently placed a hand on his chest. Then, I let a trickle of electricity enter his heart. I had no hope. I didn’t know what I was doing. Yet… Grandpa gasped. I swallowed as many pairs of eyes observed me. Grandpa’s heart pumped, and he shot awake, although his eyes closed again. But he was breathing now. He’d be alright.

"Sleep tight, you two," I whispered, standing up.

Then I turned to face Selene. The immortal sorceress had paused in her battle with the Ancient One, watching my display with something between shock, relief, and calculation. "I’m glad you saved Max. What manner of creature are you?"

"You’re the one who attacked him, you have no right to say that,” I said, rolling my shoulders as a grin began to form on my lips despite the situation. “And the name's Feedback, lady." I couldn't stop the grin. It was an odd sensation because I felt my personality get amplified by the electricity. I felt cocky, energetic, ready to throw down. "And let me tell you, I'm positively buzzing to destroy you."

She sneered at the pun. "Another child with a fancy toy. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you're Max’s grandson. You think absorbing one little girl's tantrum makes you my equal?"

"Only one way to find out!"

All the mana I’d absorbed had turned into electricity, ready to be used. I kicked the ground, shooting the ground with electricity from my fingers as I blitzed toward Selene. She raised her hand, dark magic coalescing into a spear of pure destruction. The same kind of entropy that had taken down Grandpa concentrated into a killing blow. She hurled it at me with contemptuous ease.

I raised one hand, plugs extended.

The entropy hit my conductors and stopped. The dark magic sparked and crackled as it was drawn into my form, converted from destruction to pure electrical potential. My eyes twitched as I processed what I'd just absorbed.

"Ooh, that tickles!" I laughed electrically, antennae twitching with excess energy. "Got anything with more kick?"

Selene's perfect composure cracked. "Impossible. You can't just—"

"Can't?" I interrupted, raising both hands as electricity danced between my plugs. "I can do anything, lady! I’m a walking impossibility. Now, let me show you what your own power looks like with a Feedback twist!"

I fired.

The blast was everything she'd thrown at me and more. Dark magic converted to pure electrical force, amplified by the mana I'd absorbed from Gwen, shaped by alien biology into something that bypassed conventional defenses.

A massive cannon blast of emerald and pink lightning that lit up the chamber like a second sun.

Selene barely got a shield up in time. Even so, the impact sent her flying backward into a pillar. Ancient stone cracked under the impact, and for the first time since we'd met her, the immortal sorceress looked genuinely shocked.

"You dare—"

"Oh, I do." I was already moving, electricity crackling around me in wild arcs. "I dare all day long and twice on Sundays. Today is Sunday, lady! You’re up for a shock."

The Ancient One took advantage of the distraction, golden chains manifesting around Selene's limbs. The immortal shattered them with a gesture, but it cost her precious seconds. Seconds I used to close the distance.

What followed was the weirdest fight of my life. And considering I'd punched two gamma-irradiated monsters in Harlem, that was saying something.

Selene would attack with spells that had probably toppled kingdoms across human history. I'd absorb them, convert them, fire them back with interest. She'd dodge, counter with something new, and the cycle would repeat. Every exchange left the chamber more damaged, reality wearing thin from the abuse.

If not for whatever magic reinforced this place, half the forest might have been destroyed by now. Thankfully, the Ancient One proceeded to help Gwen, Grandpa, and Charmcaster after seeing me handle my own.

"...What species are you? You're not just absorbing magic," Selene realized, ducking under an arc of electricity. "You're absorbing the conceptual energy behind it. This is incredible and fascinating."

"Aren’t I full of surprises?" I shot back, using my tail to redirect one of her attacks into the ceiling. "Want to see my impression of a Tesla coil?"

Charmcaster took Gwen and Grandpa outside. The Ancient One joined the assault with me, weaving spells that complemented my electrical attacks. Where I was chaos and adaptation, she was precision and experience. Together, we were actually pushing Selene back.

The pyramid groaned around us. Cracks spread through the ancient stone, widening with each magical impact. Dust rained from above as the structure protested the abuse.

"The seal!" Charmcaster shouted from outside the pyramid, her voice carried in through magic. "The pyramid's collapse will break the binding completely!"

As if in response to her words, the Avatar let out a sound that wasn't quite a roar. More like reality itself screaming. The chains holding it were starting to fray, weakened by the magical combat tearing the chamber apart.

This was bad. We were winning against Selene, but if the Avatar got free...

A flicker of terrible understanding crossed Selene’s blood-streaked face. She looked from the struggling Avatar to me, who the Ancient One was now shielding. She saw the frantic energy we were expending not to destroy, but to contain.

"You fight so hard to preserve this prison," she hissed, a bloody, triumphant smirk spreading across her lips. "How tragic it would be if it all came crashing down."

Her power, which had been a focused lance, exploded outward into an uncontrolled storm. She stopped holding back. The shadows around her boiled, the air screamed, and she began to draw on the life force of the jungle outside, blackened veins of corruption spreading from the pyramid's base. The entire structure groaned, stone beginning to crack and splinter under the sheer, oppressive weight of her magic.

I was wondering why this fight felt so easy. Unlike what she said, she was going easy on me. Not because I was Max Tennyson’s grandson, but because she too didn’t want to destroy the pyramid. At least, not until right now.

"Ben Tennyson, you wanted a fight? Let's see if your little toy can handle this!"

Selene Gallio.

One of the ten Immortal Externals. For reference, En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse, was one of these ten. Apocalypse was an Avengers-level threat, and Selene wasn’t quite inferior to him in any sector. She was far too dangerous.

But I didn't have a choice. I had to fight her. Matching her was the only way to prevent that wave of death from washing over everything. The mana I'd absorbed from Gwen, the chaotic magic I'd siphoned from Selene, it all surged to the surface. My single green eye blazed with the light of a dying star.

"You want it?" My voice crackled, full of ecstatic, electric fury. "YOU GOT IT!"

The energy erupted from me. A torrent of emerald and pink lightning, perhaps a star's worth of raw mana converted into pure, crackling potential. Electricity so intense it became lightning.

The two forces met in the center of the chamber.

It wasn't a sound, no, it was the frequency of reality giving way. A silent, concussive wave of pure power that blew the chamber apart. The pyramid didn't just crumble, it unraveled. The ceiling collapsed, ancient stone turning to dust under the strain.

I let out a stupid whistle. Even half a mile out of this pyramid must be getting turned to ashes right now. This is crazy. My arms shot forward to meet the brunt of the blast, my conductive plugs glowing white-hot as they absorbed what they could. My two whip-like antennae shot upward, intercepting and redirecting falling debris with lightning, while my tail braced against the floor to keep me from being blown away.

In the split second before total collapse, I saw a golden shimmer envelop the Ancient One. I got worried for a moment when my electric senses couldn’t find the bioelectric aura of Gwen, Max, and Charmcaster outside. But the Ancient One must have pulled into the safety of the Mirror Dimension.

Then, Selene and my energy clashed as if it were the end of the world. All I could see was blue clashing with purple, nothing else, as the world became a humming buzz for who knew how long

I had no idea how long that clash went for. It could have been minutes or even hours, I could never tell. But it finally ended. Selene didn’t have endless energy, after all, and even if she did, she didn’t want to destroy the entirety of Mexico. I didn’t have much energy on my own, but I could absorb and redirect anything she threw, so when she stopped, I had to stop too.

Dust and smoke were everywhere. When it began to settle, it revealed a crater where the pyramid's heart had once been. Only the pedestal holding the Sword of Ek Chuaj remained unharmed. The sky was visible above us, framed by very few remaining jagged ruins. Selene stood opposite me, her dress in tatters, bleeding from a dozen minor wounds, but her eyes burned with an immortal's fury.

A massive clearing surrounded us. The dense forest we’d come through was visible only far in the distance, the treelines appearing black.

I panted, but the grin on my face didn’t budge. Selene was glaring at me, panting too, blood trickling down her lips. I knew it now. I could understand why Ben Tennyson from the cartoon loved this stupid alien so much.

Feedback was stupidly overpowered.

“You are one tough nut to crack,” she huffed, “Tennyson.”

Now it was just Selene and me, standing in the heart of a destroyed tomb. No, we weren’t alone. The Avatar, its chains finally shattered by the blast, was slowly, painfully pushing itself to its feet.

The Ancient One reappeared in a shower of golden sparks, her face grim. By her side on the ground, I noticed Gwen and Grandpa reappeared too, with Charmcaster standing over them in a protective stance. They didn't look at me or Selene. Their attention was solely on the rising horror.

"Benjamin, take care of her!" the Sorcerer Supreme commanded, her voice cutting through the clearing. "I will handle this creature."

There were no more words. No more strategy. Just two forces of nature preparing to annihilate each other.

Selene kicked off the ground, a blur of shadow and rage. Selene had super strength, so no, this energy clash wasn’t the end of her. The fight hadn’t ended yet. I launched myself forward, a comet of lightning and righteous anger.

The jungle around us was destined to become our arena, and millions of trees and the poor tribes living here were about to witness a battle of gods. Although I doubt they’d remain to tell the tales.

That's when everything stopped.

A beam of pure, white-gold light lanced down from above, piercing through the open sky in a bright radiance. The radiance that filled the chamber was neither harsh nor blinding. It was warm, comforting, like sunlight on a perfect spring morning.

Everyone froze as if all of this were a pointless endeavor. Selene, the Ancient One, me in my Feedback form, and even the Avatar seemed to pause. No, the Avatar began to tremble in what seemed like fear. We all looked up as a figure descended within the pillar of light.

She was beauty and power given form. Iridescent feathers that shifted through every color imaginable adorned her arms and hair. Her skin seemed to glow with an inner light, and her dress was woven from what appeared to be solidified sunbeams. Gold jewelry, which probably predated human civilization, adorned her wrists and neck.

However, it was her presence that really resonated. This wasn't just some powerful being. This was divinity. Real, actual, no-kidding godhood.

She landed silently despite the chaos around her, bare feet touching the crater with impossible grace. Without acknowledging any of us, she walked straight to the pedestal where the Sword of Ek Chuaj waited.

"That's..." the Ancient One muttered.

"Yes. That’s Kukulkan," Selene finished, and for the first time, I heard actual reverence in her voice. “The Mayan Chief God.”

"I'm going by my Aztec name this season," the goddess said casually, lifting the sword and resting it on her shoulder like it weighed nothing. Which, for her, it probably didn't. "Quetzalcoatl sounds so much more dramatic, don't you think?"

She turned then, ancient eyes sweeping over our ragtag group. Mortals, mutants, mages, and whatever alien I currently was. Her gaze lingered on each of us, seeming to see straight through to our souls.

When she spoke again, her voice carried the weight of millennia. It wasn't a challenge or a threat. Just genuine curiosity mixed with what sounded like disappointment.

"I can't believe I had to come down for this..." She sighed, adjusting the sword on her shoulder. "What are you mortals fighting for, anyway? This old thing? Really?"

The question hung in the air like a physical thing. After all the chaos, all the fighting, all the near-death experiences, we were faced with something none of us had expected.

A god who wanted to know why we were making such a fuss in her backyard.

I looked around at our group. Selene, frozen mid-spell. The Ancient One, hands still glowing with golden light. Charmcaster, hope brightening her face as she stared at an actual deity. Grandpa Max and Gwen, unconscious but breathing.

And me, a walking electrical outlet in black and white, still crackling with stolen power.

Right. What were we fighting for?

“I was protecting the temple, lady Goddess,” I shouted over everyone’s shock, all ten fingers, two earplugs, and one tail pointing at Selene. “It’s this witch who tried to destroy it! Ask that Avatar over there, he can testify!”

“....”

The pyramid groaned again, more dust falling from the ceiling. The Avatar's chains creaked ominously. And Quetzalcoatl stared at me with an amused glint in her eyes, like she had all the time in the world.

Which, being an immortal goddess, she probably did.

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Author Note: With this, Marvel’s Omnitrix becomes the 4th of my stories where Quetzalcoatl is a thing.

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