ZET-MAN! (Re-Imagined)

~Omniscient Pov~

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As the sun dipped below the horizon, the Tennyson household was lit with the kind of energy that only an unplanned reunion could spark... Max had prepared a quick but hearty dinner while Carter stepped out to take a call, leaving the kids to their own devices. The challenge Ben had thrown down lingered in the air, a sign that things were about to get interesting.

"So, Alex," Ben began, leaning against the kitchen counter with a sly grin. "You think you're ready to put those muscles and that speed to the test?"

Gwen rolled her eyes, sipping a glass of water from the table. "Ben, must you always turn everything into a competition? He's only been here for a few hours. Give him a break."

Alex chuckled, leaning back casually against the wall. "Hey, I don't mind. I could use a little excitement. What's the challenge?"

Ben's grin widened. "Simple. There's this little course out back that Grandpa set up for training. We time each other on it sometimes. You, me, head-to-head—winner gets bragging rights."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "And what does the loser get?"

"Mocked mercilessly," Gwen interjected dryly, setting her glass down. "For weeks, at least."

"Hey!" Ben protested, but the way he smirked betrayed his agreement. "Anyway, what do you say?"

Alex glanced between them, noting Gwen's exasperated expression and Ben's eager challenge. "Alright," he said finally, a confident smile tugging at his lips. "You're on."

~Outside – Training Grounds~

The backyard, being dimly lit by string lights Max had hung up years ago, was spacious and bordered by tall trees. Max and Carter had joined them, the older men standing off to the side as the three teens approached a course marked by hurdles, balance beams, and a zip line leading to a finish flag.

"Alright, here's the deal," Ben said, cracking his knuckles. "We start at the same time. First to the flag wins. No powers, no tricks, just good old-fashioned speed and skill."

Alex smirked, he knew he would have to hold back himself quite a bit to make this little competition even remotely fair, plus; this whole thing had him feeling his competitive side flare to life. "Oh?~ You sure about that? I don't want you crying when I win."

Ben scoffed. "Pfft, as if you'd win. Just try to keep up."

Gwen stepped forward with a whistle in hand, her gaze flicking between the two boys. "Alright, boys, save it for the course. I'll start you off." She held the whistle to her lips, her eyes narrowing playfully. "Ready?"

Alex crouched slightly, muscles coiled. Ben mirrored him, his trademark grin in place.

"Set…"

The whistle blew, and they were off.

From the very first step, Alex felt his legs respond with a speed that nearly startled even him a little. He surged forward, his movements fluid and precise as he navigated the hurdles Infront of him. Ben wasn't far behind, leaping over each obstacle with the practiced ease of someone who had run this course dozens of times.

The balance beams were next. Alex's agility carried him across in smooth, no, perfect strides, his arms held slightly yet perfectly out for balance. He glanced to the side, catching a glimpse of Ben closing the gap with impressive speed...

Gwen on the other hand took note of the level of Alex's agility, and was genuinely impressed with it.

"Not bad, Tennyson," Alex called out over his shoulder, grinning.

"Don't get cocky!" Ben shot back, vaulting over a low barrier with ease.

As they approached the zip line, Alex reached it a fraction of a second before Ben, grabbing hold and sliding down with a rush of wind whipping past his face. Ben was right behind him, gripping the line tightly as the two raced toward the ground.

The moment Alex's feet touched the earth, he broke into a sprint for the flag, his heart pounding slightly in his chest. Ben was hot on his heels, and for a split second, it was anyone's race.

But Alex's training kicked in, and with one last burst of speed, he crossed the finish line just a step ahead of Ben.

Grinning, Alex bent over, completely unbothered by the race he had been through, while Ben stumbled to a stop beside him.

"Not bad, Alex," Ben admitted between breaths, his grin never faltering. "For a rookie."

Alex straightened, his chest heaving as he smirked at Ben. "Rookie? Dude, I just whopped you're butt."

Max and Carter clapped from the sidelines, their laughter carrying over the cool night air. Gwen approached with an amused shake of her head. "You two are ridiculous," she said, though her smile betrayed her fondness for the spectacle.

"Don't worry, Ben," Alex said, slapping his shoulder lightly. "You'll get 'em next time. Maybe."

Ben groaned dramatically, but the spark in his eyes said he'd already started planning their rematch.

As the group headed back toward the house, Both Max and Carter stood there for a moment... Giving each other 'the look'.

~FlashBack~

"What? I don't understand..." Max halted for a moment, catching his breath a little.

"I know, I found it a bit surprising too... When I was experimenting with the kid's blood, I realized it was adapting, and quickly too...

Max stared at Carter for a moment, his brow furrowing as the weight of the info he was receiving settled in. "Adapting? Like... mutating?" He added, trying to understand it.

Carter simply nodded, his expression a bit grim. "Precisely. But it's not just mutating. It's... almost selective in a sense. Purposeful even. When I exposed the kid's blood to various stimuli, the blood cells didn't just adapt passively—they actively sought, what I could describe as a state of equilibrium."

Max frowned, his brain already trying connect the dots. "Alright, slow down... What kind of stimuli are we talking about to start?"

Carter exhaled before speaking once again, "Everything I could actually think of, at least that was in my disposal..." he said, running a hand through his hair. "Temperature extremes, oxidative stress, ion imbalance, even radiation. Every time, the cells not only survived but developed mechanisms to thrive. When I increased the temperature, they synthesized heat shock proteins within seconds and not just that, it progressively got faster the more I did it, and far faster than any known mammalian cell. When I induced oxidative stress with hydrogen peroxide, they counteracted it with glutathione levels I didn't think were biologically possible. And don't get me started on the radiation..."

Max's eyes widened. "Wait—radiation? What did you use?" Slightly disappointed in his colleague to use such a thing.

"Relax, it was just a small gamma source," Carter admitted. "Just enough to observe effects under a microscope. Instead of DNA fragmentation like you'd expect, the cells seemed to... Just, repair themselves in real-time. I caught it on video, Max. The strands of DNA knitting themselves back together like they were following masterfully crafted blueprint."

Max's mouth went dry. "That's impossible. The energy required for that level of repair—"

"Shouldn't be available to a human body; nay, a living creature's body... I know," Carter interrupted. "But it was, and terrifyingly so. These cells aren't following the rules set in stone, Max. They're constantly bending them, rewriting them as they go. And here's the kicker—when I stopped stressing the cells, they didn't revert to their baseline state, or what they were prior to the experiment... They stayed optimized."

Max paced, his hands on his hips. "So... you're saying Alex's could potentially evolve in response to stressors... and keep those adaptations?"

"Exactly. Epigenetics is the closest parallel to this, but I'm not even sure what I even saw to be honest... But still, this isn't methylation or histone modification from what I could tell. It's something far, far beyond that. I'm calling it, at least in lay man's terms 'persistent adaptive plasticity.'"

Max sighed, "I'm guessing these were the reason for the massive changes in those months?" He stated calmly.

Carter nodded, "Yup. They're responding to stress in ways I've never seen before. Not just surviving under pressure—they're thriving. And when I took a closer look at Alex's recent physical changes. The way he's been growing—It's way faster than normal, even for his age. His muscle density is off the charts for a kid who's never touched a weight. And his strength..."

Max nodded slowly. He had noticed. Over the past few months, Alex had gone from a lanky teenager to someone who could potentially take down opponents twice or thrice his size. The way he seemed to recover from injuries overnight. How he'd suddenly outpaced Ben in agility and stamina.

"I initially thought it was just a growth spurt," Max admitted.

"That's what I thought at first too," Carter said. "But it's more than that. His blood—his cells—are driving it. They're optimizing themselves in like I mentioned earlier, real-time. When I tested for metabolic markers, his ATP production was at levels I'd only expect to see in elite athletes after years, if not decades of training. And his myosin and actin fibers? They're denser than anything I've seen in human tissue samples."

Max's mouth fell open slightly. "That's impossible. Those adaptations would take years to develop. And even then, they're limited by genetics."

"Not for him," Carter countered. "Like I said, it's as if his body isn't limited by the usual constraints... It's like his cells are rewriting the rulebook, I'm tellin' ya. They're responding to environmental demands and then locking in those changes without strain."

Max leaned against a tree, his head spinning. "You're saying Alex's strength, his growth... it's all because of his blood?"

Carter nodded. "Yes. And not just that. When I looked at his skeletal structure under imaging, I found signs of micro-reinforcement. His bones are denser and stronger than they should be for his age. It's like his body is preparing itself for... something."

"Preparing for what?" Max asked, his voice tinged with unease.

Carter hesitated. "That's the question, isn't it? I've been running simulations based on his blood samples, but the results are... alarming. If his body keeps evolving at this rate, he won't just be stronger or faster—he'll be fundamentally different. Something beyond a normal human."

Max straightened, his jaw tightening, his face going slightly pale. "Carter, this isn't just biology anymore. This is... this is bioengineering on a scale we've only theorized about... No, dreamed of... Do you have any idea what this could mean?"

Carter hesitated, his voice lowering as he leaned in slightly. "It means the kid's not just adapting to survive the threat. He's adapting to win. Every. Single. Time. And if someone else finds out..."

Max looked away, his thoughts were in a swirl. His mind replayed the evening's events—the way Alex had shrugged off the cut on his arm, how the blood had clotted instantly, almost unnaturally. At the time, Max had thought it was just adrenaline or luck. But now...

"Carter," Max said slowly, "If the wrong people find out about this, Alex won't be an abnormal kid anymore. He'll be a target. Potentially on the scale comparable to the Omnitrix itself..."

"I know," Carter said, his voice somber. "But we might already be too late. That's the other thing I needed to tell you."

Max turned to him sharply. "What do you mean?"

Carter glanced around the clearing, his eyes scanning the darkness. "When I was running the experiments, the lab system flagged an external ping on the network. Someone tried to access my data remotely. They didn't get through, but it wasn't a random attack, Max. Someone knew exactly what they were looking for."

Max felt the ground shift beneath him, metaphorically if not literally. "And you're just telling me this now?"

"I didn't want to jump to conclusions without proof," Carter said defensively. "But after what I've seen... I don't think we can afford to wait."

Max clenched his fists, his mind racing. "We have to protect him. Whatever's going on in him, it's not his fault. He doesn't even know, does he?"

Carter shook his head. "No, maybe not... The kid's smart... But it's probably better if it stays that way—for now. But if his body keeps evolving at this rate..." He trailed off, the implications too big to voice...

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END