Mechamorph in DC

Ethan Reed had always been an optimist, even when life didn't make it easy. At twenty-two, he had spent the past few years juggling part-time jobs while finishing his degree. He wasn't brilliant, but he was determined, and today felt like the culmination of all that effort. He had managed to land an interview for an internship with a tech startup—nothing flashy, but it was a foot in the door, a chance to do something meaningful.

Walking through the bustling city streets, Ethan adjusted his tie nervously. It wasn't often he had to dress up, and he felt both out of place and energized by the thrumming life of the metropolis around him. His mind was alight with possibilities. Maybe this was the start of something great. Maybe this was finally his break.

"All right, Ethan, don't mess this up," he muttered under his breath, running a hand through his hair. "Just make a good impression, answer their questions, and don't trip over your words. Easy enough, right?"

The air was crisp that morning, sunlight glinting off the windows of towering skyscrapers. Ethan's thoughts drifted to his family and friends, imagining their pride if he got the job. He even allowed himself a small smile. He had worked hard to get here, and for the first time in a while, he felt like things might be looking up.

"This is it," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else. "The first step to a real career. No pressure or anything." He chuckled softly, the nervous edge in his voice betraying his excitement. "They're going to like me… I think."

Then the world shattered.

A sharp, unnatural crack split the air, echoing between the glass giants above. Ethan froze, tilting his head upward in confusion. The glittering facade of a skyscraper high above had fractured, and in the next moment, a cascade of broken glass rained down like a deadly waterfall.

"What the hell?" Ethan murmured, his heart skipping a beat as his gaze locked on the sparkling shards descending toward him.

Panic erupted around him, people screaming and scattering in all directions. Ethan's instincts kicked in as he turned to run, but the chaos swallowed him. He felt a sharp, searing pain as shards of glass sliced into him, his legs giving out beneath him. The last thing he saw was the sun shining brilliantly through the falling shards before everything went black.

"This can't be happening," he gasped, his voice barely a whisper as pain overtook him. "Not like this…"

He woke with a start, but not in the cold, sterile confines of a hospital. Instead, he found himself suspended in a vast, green void. The space stretched endlessly in all directions, empty and unmarked by anything familiar. No ground beneath him, no sky above—just the strange green glow that pulsed like a heartbeat.

"Where… where am I?" Ethan murmured, his voice trembling. He reached out instinctively, but his hand met nothing. "This isn't real. It can't be real."

Ethan's head ached with confusion, panic creeping in as he tried to remember who he was and what had happened. His name… it was on the tip of his tongue, but it slipped away, elusive and distant. His mind felt… slow, as if moving through molasses, with gaping holes where memories should have been. Fragments of sensation flashed in his mind—a street, sunlight, a sharp crack, and a cascade of something glinting like crystal. He shuddered as clarity struck: he had died. Something had fallen through him, piercing his body. He didn't know how or why, but the vivid finality of it clawed at his thoughts.

"I… I died?" The words barely escaped his lips, the weight of them almost too much to bear. "That can't be right… but it feels so…" He clutched at his head, as though trying to grasp onto the fragments of his fading memory.

Yet, even that certainty felt incomplete, shrouded in a haze he couldn't lift. Who was he? Where had he come from? The answers eluded him, and the harder he tried to grasp them, the further they slipped away. A deep, unnatural silence pressed in around him, amplifying the emptiness in his chest. He felt untethered, adrift in this green void with no sense of time or self. All he knew for certain was that he died and lost a lot of memories about his life.

"What's happened to me?" he whispered, his voice trembling as it echoed faintly in the endless void. "Why can't I remember? Who… who am I?"

A low hum vibrated through the air, breaking the silence. Before him, a strange structure materialized—circular and glowing faintly with unfamiliar, shifting symbols. They pulsed softly, almost alive, yet entirely incomprehensible. As he stood there, the gaps in his memories began to fill, piece by piece.

"What… what is this?" Ethan muttered, stepping cautiously toward the strange structure. His eyes scanned the shifting symbols, but they made no sense to him. "Am I… dreaming? No, this feels too real." He clenched his fists, his gaze drawn to the hypnotic glow. "It's like it's telling me something."

A sudden realization struck him—he had been given a chance to reincarnate, though not in any way he had ever seen in the novels or mangas he used to read in his spare time. This was something entirely different, something lots of people dream of.

"This… this is reincarnation?" he said aloud, his voice trembling between awe and disbelief. "But not the usual 'start over as a swordsman' or 'magic academy' trope. No, this… this is Weirder." He ran a hand through his hair—or at least, he thought he did, though his body felt strangely distant. "What kind of second chance is this?"

In another flash of green light, a large platform appeared before him, accompanied by a small device he instantly recognized—the Omnitrix. It looked exactly as he had seen it in the shows he once watched, though its presence here seemed surreal, almost impossible.

"The Omnitrix?" he whispered, staring wide-eyed at the iconic device. "No way. This has to be a joke, right?" He glanced around the void as though expecting someone to pop out and explain. "I mean, I loved Ben 10 as a kid, but this… this can't be real." Despite his hesitation, a small grin crept onto his face. "If it is… then I might just hit the reincarnation jackpot."

Ethan hesitated for only a moment before reaching out, his fingers brushing against the smooth surface of the Omnitrix. As he turned its dial, the platform before him shimmered to life, projecting massive, life-sized holograms of aliens one by one. Each projection came with a name displayed at the bottom.

"This is insane," he breathed, staring as Heatblast appeared before him, its fiery body crackling with energy. "That's Heatblast! And XLR8, Big Chill… Ultimate Echo Echo?" He laughed shakily, cycling through familiar forms from his childhood. "This is like scrolling through my old action figures… only they're real."

He cycled through more aliens, some completely unfamiliar—forms more alien and bizarre than he ever imagined. One resembled a massive, glowing moth, its wings shimmering with radiant light. "Is that… the Radiance?" he asked, blinking in astonishment. "Okay, now we're crossing over into other universes. What is this thing?" He noticed blacked-out slots, some missing entirely. His brow furrowed. "Wait, some of these are locked. Someone's already used them?"

As Ethan explored his options, two forms caught his attention. The first was Ultimate Big Chill—a ghostly alien capable of phasing through matter, flying, and breathing fire that froze everything in its path. The second was Upgrade—a sleek, metallic alien capable of merging with, controlling, and even creating technology.

"Big Chill," he murmured, his gaze lingering on the icy specter. "Powerful, versatile, and a classic. But Upgrade…" His focus shifted to the sleek, liquid-metal figure. "The potential here is insane. Merging with tech, creating things from scratch… controlling machines." He paused, weighing his options. "Big Chill's cool—literally—but I can't pass up something this versatile. If I'm really getting a fresh start, I want the tools to survive anything."

After a moment of deliberation, he made his choice. "Upgrade it is then," he said firmly, his voice steady now with resolve.

The Omnitrix pulsed as he pressed it, selecting the alien. A blinding green light enveloped him, releasing waves of strange energy that wrapped around him, burrowing into his very being.

"What the?!" Ethan cried out as his body began to shift. His arms felt like liquid, his skin turning smooth and metallic. A steady but intense burn spread through what he thinks is his body, growing more intense with every second. "Aaaaahhh!!!!"

His thoughts became disjointed as the transformation overwhelmed him. His voice echoing strangely as it began to distort.

The burning sensation reached its peak, and Ethan's world spun. His vision darkened, the last thing he felt was a strange, alien sensation of his body completely transformed. Then mercifully, everything went black.