[BEN'S ROOM – NIGHT OF THE FIRST DAY AT U.A.]
After everything — the testing field, Aizawa's stare, the tension in some students' eyes… now I was here.
In my room.
The ceiling stared back at me, cracked, with that damp stain that looked like a map. The sheets stuck to my back from the sweat I hadn't washed off yet. My head was a whirlwind.
Even after winning everything, even being first place… it still felt like something inside me hadn't stopped running.
Every transformation, every second of power, every look my classmates gave me — admiration, fear, curiosity — it all mixed together. I should've felt happy, proud. But instead… I just felt alert. Like something was still about to happen.
My phone vibrated beside me, pulling me from my thoughts.
Screen lit up: Gwen.
I smiled without thinking. Answered.
"Hello ?"
"Ben !"
Her voice came in lively, way too loud for my tired ear. I sat up in bed, rubbing my neck.
"Hey, Gwen. Everything okay ?"
"You're going to explain this right now." She went straight to the point. "My mom just called freaking out because your mom told her you AWAKENED a Quirk ?!"
I let out a short, awkward laugh.
"Yeah… something like that."
"Something like that ?" she repeated, incredulous. "BENJAMIN KIRBY TENNYSON, YOU HAVE A QUIRK AND DIDN'T TELL ME ?"
"I was going to! I just… it all happened so fast. Like, REALLY fast."
"Since when ?"
"Since… a few days before the U.A. entrance exam," I admitted. "But it's not a normal Quirk, Gwen. It's just… different. Like I'm some kind of living energy core or something. Transformations. You'd lose it."
"I'm ALREADY losing it," she laughed, and I could hear her chair spinning on the other end of the line. "And I knew it. I knew you'd be special one day. It never made sense for you to be just Ben."
"'Just Ben,' huh ?" I smiled, flopping back on the bed. "You know I'm going to remember that forever, right ?"
"Oh, shut up. You know what I meant," she huffed, playfully. "I'm happy for you. Really. Finally something good happening."
"Thanks, Gwen. Seriously. You're the only one who truly gets me."
"Of course I do. I'm brilliant, remember ?"
"Also modest."
She laughed out loud.
For a few seconds, the call settled into a comfortable silence. I stared at the ceiling again, but now with a goofy grin on my face. That did me good. More than I realized.
"Oh, before I forget…" she said, breaking the silence, "Grandpa Max wanted to talk to you. My mom told him too and, well… he got excited. Said you should call him."
"Really ?"
"Really. He even cleaned up the old van," she laughed. "Call him, okay ? He'd want to hear this from you."
"I will. I'll call him."
"Promise ?"
"Promise."
"Good night, Ben."
"Good night, Gwen."
I hung up.
The room went silent again. The streetlamp light came faintly through the curtain gap. The fan made a low, steady hum.
But now, lying there, with the phone still warm in my hand and Gwen's voice echoing in my memory, I felt… a little more whole. Less lost.
I stared at the phone for a while.
The name "Grandpa Max" glowed on the contact screen, as if it were waiting for me. Funny. Even in another world, with all this Quirk craziness, aliens, reincarnations, and who knows what else… his name still brought a sense of home. Of safety.
I sighed. Tapped to call.
Two rings.
"Hello ?"
Grandpa Max's deep, calm voice came from the other end. That voice sounded like it had lived a thousand lives and was still here, firm, steady — the kind of voice that knows what to say, even when it says nothing.
"Hey, Grandpa… it's me. Ben."
"Ben ! Ah, kid…" the joy in his voice was instant. Like he'd been waiting for that call all day. "I thought you were gonna leave me out of this, huh ?"
"Leave you out ? Are you crazy ?" I smiled. "I just… needed a few minutes to process everything. It's a lot, Grandpa. A lot."
"I can imagine," he chuckled lightly. "So it's really true ?"
"Yeah. It happened. I have a… Quirk. Or, I don't know, something like one. It's not like the others. It's different, like… it awakened something that was always there, just waiting for the right moment."
"You always had something inside you, Ben," he said with the conviction of someone who truly believes. "I knew it. Always did. Sometimes the world tries to dim the light of those who are different… but you ? You were born to shine brighter."
I swallowed hard.
"Thanks, Grandpa."
"Gwen told me about the exam. Said you got first place at U.A. First place !" he sounded prouder than I had felt at the time. "Your old grandpa nearly had a heart attack from happiness. If the van were ready, I'd be at your door with a cake and a speech right now."
"Good thing it's not," I laughed. "I wouldn't survive the embarrassment."
"Oh, come on. Admit it — you miss my long stories and dinners packed with way too many beans."
"Maybe a little."
Silence. But not a bad one. A silence full of affection. Of things that didn't need to be said out loud.
"Grandpa…" I said, a bit softer. "All of this still scares me. I know I have power now, and I'm surrounded by strong people, but… I'm still me. The kid who spent his life being called useless. Who hid because he couldn't defend himself. And now… suddenly, everyone looks at me like I'm a monster about to explode."
"Ben." His voice got more serious. "You're not going to explode. And you're not a monster. You're my grandson. And that will never change."
"But what if I lose control? What if one day I hurt someone? What if… I lose myself in all this power ?"
"Then you call me. Or Gwen. Or you just take a breath and remember who you are." He paused. "You spent your life without power, Ben. But you always had compassion, courage, intelligence. The power just revealed what was already there."
I closed my eyes. Let his words surround me. They didn't erase the doubt… but they warmed the heart.
"I'll do my best, Grandpa. I promise."
"I know you will, kid. And I'll be here. Always. If you ever need to run away, scream, or break something — there's a whole workshop behind my house just waiting for that."
"You're the best, you know that ?"
"Of course I am. But you're still better."
"Good night, Grandpa."
"Good night, hero."
I hung up.
Stared at the black screen, feeling my chest full. A kind of peace not even all the transformations in the world could bring.
"Is Grandpa a Plumber in this world too? If so, he must already know about the capsule crash. I'll explain it to him another time," I thought, getting up to take a shower.
[TENNYSON RESIDENCE – COUNTRY HOUSE / USA – MIDNIGHT]
The kettle whistled for the third time before Max remembered he'd put water on to boil.
He turned off the stove with calm, automatic movements. Poured the water into the forgotten mug on the counter, where tea leaves floated lazily. Steam rose in soft spirals, full of silence.
The same silence that filled the house. And his heart.
Ben's voice still echoed in his mind.
The boy's voice had changed. Not just the tone — it was like a new weight was behind every word, something pulsing underneath. Max knew that feeling. He'd heard it before. In soldiers. In survivors. In kids too young to carry the weight the world throws on them.
Ben had awakened a Quirk.
But Max Tennyson wasn't naïve.
He walked to the makeshift office at the back of the house, stepping over scattered tools, drone parts, and broken genetic analyzers. He powered on the old Plumber console hidden under a workbench.
The screen lit up green. A 3D map of Japan formed — and at the center, a red dot pulsed.
Impact confirmed: five blocks from the residence of young Benjamin Tennyson.
Object: Atmospheric Capsule.
Origin: Unknown.
Composition: Hybrid alien alloy, partially Galvanic.
Signs of variable energy radiation — unclassified patterns.
Max rubbed his face.
He'd known about the crash that same day. He wasn't the only one with access to the old Plumber channel, but most of his colleagues had retired, died… or vanished trying to stop things the world would never know about.
And him ? He was old. Out of the game. But not blind.
What hurt the most was the coincidence.
The capsule crashed practically in Ben's backyard… and days later, the kid who lived his whole life Quirkless suddenly developed powerful, mutable abilities no database could identify ?
It wasn't coincidence.
Max sat down, pulled open a locked drawer. From it, he took a small flash drive with the old Plumber symbol. Plugged it into the terminal.
On the screen, a single encrypted file opened:
"OMNI – CONFIDENTIAL – LEVEL 9 CLEARANCE"
"Project Omni…" he muttered, eyes fixed on the screen.
The first time he heard that name was over twenty years ago, during a Plumber mission on the dark side of Venus. One prisoner had whispered the word like a curse. Omni. The All. The End.
No one ever explained what it was.
All he knew was rumor — practically folklore. An experimental, secret project, possibly lost. Something involving genetic engineering, biological symbiosis, and adaptive transformation. They said it was Galvan work. That it had been buried by high command.
But whatever it was… it wasn't supposed to end up on Earth.
And definitely not linked to a boy like Ben.
Max took a deep breath. The tea's steam had already faded. On the screen, an image of the capsule slowly rotated. Cold. Black. Green. Alive.
He whispered, as if asking himself:
"What did you do to my grandson…?"
He stood up. Walked to the window. The night seemed to watch back. Stars hidden behind mist. A bad omen.
Max knew he couldn't tell Ben the truth yet. He couldn't go to him — not without raising suspicion. But something inside him said this was just the first piece of something much bigger.
And if Project Omni wasn't a myth…
Ben might be carrying the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy on his back.
Or… its only hope.
Max closed his eyes. Hand firm on the windowsill.
"If it's what I think… you're going to need me, kid. You're going to need all of us."
Silence.
But in the darkest corners of the galaxy, ancient enemies were stirring.
And none of them were known for ignoring old rumors.