š Chapter 35: Broken Mirrors
The next day, the Watchtower was quietā¦ too quiet. No one spoke much. Everyone was busy trying to understand what had happenedāand bracing for what was to come.
In the containment room, Cyborg was restrained by green energy systems crafted by Green Lantern. Rings surrounded him, forming shields that blocked all frequencies from entering or leaving. But even in complete isolation, he would sometimes whisper in a doubled voiceā¦ a voice that wasn't his.
> "The core is expandingā¦ between past and futureā¦ and Ben Tennyson is my shattered reflection."
**
Elsewhere, Ben sat alone in the chamber of remaining crystals retrieved from the Crossing Mission. He stared at one in particular, the only one that hadn't yet activatedāor at least, hadn't fully manifested.
Supergirl quietly approached and sat beside him, saying nothing.
Ben finally spoke: "Every time I get closer to the truthā¦ I feel further from myself."
Supergirl looked at him with eyes full of sympathy. "Just because you were created in a strange way doesn't mean you've become a stranger."
Ben responded slowly: "But maybeā¦ I wasn't created at all. Maybeā¦ I'm just the result of a broken equation."
Suddenly, the crystal before him began to glow on its own. It lifted off the pedestal and started to vibrate.
Thenā¦ it cracked open.
From within came an intense light, flooding the room in shades of violet and gray. Before their eyes stood a "reflection" of Ben himselfābut with distorted features, fused with crystalline particles.
The reflection spoke in a faint voice:
> "You didn't choose thisā¦ we chose you."
Supergirl gasped, but Ben didn't move.
"I'veā¦ seen this beforeā¦ in my dreams."
The reflection continued:
> "Kairos wasn't born to destroyā¦ he tried to reclaim order through us. And we had to exist."
> "When Azmuth extracted a core from Kairos's awareness and fused it into the Omnitrixā¦ the rest of that awareness gathered, and became what I am."
Ben asked, his tone angry: "What do you want from me?"
The reflection replied:
> "I want my other halfā¦ and that's you. Because the coreā¦ is incomplete."
Suddenly, the light returned to the crystal, and it shut itself downāas if nothing had happened.
Supergirl whispered: "He's trying to merge youā¦ like he's merging the rest of the worlds."
Ben stood slowly and replied: "He won't. Even if I'm part of himā¦ I'm not a copy. I'm a personā¦ and I chose to be that."
But deep in his heart, a quiet fear grewā¦
What if that choice was never truly his to begin with?
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