Ben again continued his journey of visiting different Universes. Each Universe he visited has a different story, different result. Since not all Universes have many adventures, he didn't stay there.
Like in Universe 3490, here Tony Stark was never born. Instead there is Natasha Stark, and she has also gotten married to Steve, so in this Universe, Civil War has never happened. Because of this, this Universe Avengers stood together, and they tackled all of the problems easily.
In Universe 8107, there was not any sign of Avengers or X-Men, instead in this Universe stood three different superheroes together. It was the collaboration of Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman. Together they had thwarted every plan of different - different villains. Still, this Universe was not so liked by Ben, so he also didn't stay here.
In Universe 92131, mutants and Spider-Man fight against the villains. Here, the Avengers played a less role, rarely stepping out to provide assistance.
Ben continuously passed many Universes, which didn't interest him, till he arrived in the Universe 11052. He decided to stay there, and experience the adventure here.
Following his previous routine, Ben exchanged currency, buying a lavish mansion near New York's Hudson River. He parked his Interstellar Harley there, and took the rest all of the night.
The next morning, as sunlight spilled over the Hudson, Ben leaned against the balcony railing, watching the river's gentle flow. Looking towards the river, suddenly an idea came to him.
"Why not explore different universes... together this time?" he whispered to himself.
It wasn't a new idea, he had already left his clone back in Universe 606 and Universe 125. They possessed his fraction —one ten-thousandth—of his real power, they were not so much stronger.
So this time, Ben decided to go through the same approach, but instead of dividing his powers 10000 times, he decided to divide into a thousand times.
Using Echo-Echo's abilities, Ben split himself into a thousand distinct versions. But this time, they weren't just clones—they were individuals, each with a unique personality, attitude, and power set.
Some were bursting with joy, while others carried the weight of sorrow. A few exuded pride, while others embodied humility. Among them, some were consumed by greed, and others glowed with generosity. There were versions that were constantly hungry, some that were furious at everything, and more than a few that were just... incredibly lazy.
In terms of powers, some controlled the icy elements of Big Chill, cloaking themselves in mist and frost. Others channeled the overwhelming, near-omnipotent energy of Alien X. A few wielded the time-altering abilities of Clockwork, and while each version was different, all of them retained a faint echo of Echo-Echo's sound-based powers.
Among these countless personalities, Ben choses one to stay here. He decided to call him Rude Ben. He called him the Rude Ben, because this Ben personality is bluntly rude, shameless, lustful, and naturally dominant, he also had a caring heart.
Rude Ben possessed Clockwork's powers, making time his playground. With a gesture, he could pause time, freezing everything and everyone around him. Anyone stopped by him, their bodies will be halted mid-motion, but their minds will be still active. They were trapped in a surreal stasis where they could think and see everything, but can't control it.
Ben could even rewind time for a few precious minutes or hours. And others can feel and understand that time around them has reversed, but they can't do anything, only experience it.
But time manipulation had its cost.
Time Pause, when overused, left him drained, often needing hours to recover. And Time Reverse was even more brutal—pushing his body and mind to the edge, sometimes rendering him unconscious, requiring days of deep recovery.
Luckily, there was a safety net.
Because all these Bens—Rude Ben included—were still connected to the main Ben, a kind of core self holding them together across dimensions. When Rude Ben re-established this link, the backlash vanished, the strain lifted as if it had never happened. But this connection wasn't permanent—it required conscious synchronization.
And if the link was ever broken, Rude Ben would have to endure the full effect of the backlash alone—sometimes needing a month or even a year just to recover fully.
Rude Ben embraced his identity with a smirk, then he used his powers and mixed with the new students, who were recently enrolled at Bayville High, blending in with ease as just another 16-year-old teenager.
He arrived near the playing ground, where a football game was going on.
Most of the Bayville High students were watching this competition.
Ben leaned lazily against a nearby tree, arms crossed, his eyes scanning the field with a glint of curiosity.
Among the crowd, a flash of red hair caught his attention. Jean Grey—younger, vibrant, yet already carrying herself with that calm, radiant energy. She wasn't shouting or cheering like the others. Instead, she stood slightly apart, camera in hand, capturing candid shots of the players.
Her lens followed Duncan Matthews, the school's golden boy.
He kept his gaze on Jean, and couldn't help but stroke his dragon, "I can't help but want to throw her on the bed and pierced her Sacred and Nether Region. I want to make her mine, and take her virginity, but I have so much time to slowly catch her in my net."
Ben noticed something strange. While everyone else was watching the football game, Todd Tolansky was sneaking into the locker room and stealing money from the players.
Curious, Ben followed him.
As he reached the locker room, he saw Todd was in trouble. Todd had stolen from Duncan Matthews, and now Duncan and his friends had caught him. They had cornered him.
Todd, looking towards them, nervously said, "I can explain! Please forgive me this time."
But Duncan didn't care. He pushed Todd against the wall.
One of his friends said, "Todd, you had made a grave mistake by stealing our money, now even your mom will beg me to forgive you. Instead of forgiving you, I will fucked you, till your eyes will popped out."
Just then, Scott Summers showed up. He saw what was about to happen and stepped in to stop it.
As Duncan raised his fist to hit Todd, Scott grabbed him. "That's enough, now spare him," Scott said. With a quick move, Scott pushed Duncan back into his two football friends.
Duncan got angry and charged at Scott. "Who do you fucking think, you are. How dare you fucking meddle in my business."
Just when Scott was going to dodge again.
Right then, Jean Grey arrived. "Scott, stop!" she shouted.
Hearing it, Scott turned for just a second—and that's when Duncan punched him. The hit knocked Scott's glasses off.
Without the glasses, Scott's optic blast fired on its own. It hit Duncan and also struck a nearby propane tank, causing a big explosion.
The blast knocked Duncan out cold. Medics rushed in. And others wanted to know what happened here. But Duncan had a concussion that he didn't remember what happened.
Later, Jean comforted Scott. "It wasn't your fault," she said. "But you should leave from here. Now." Hearing it, Scott nodded.
Ben approached them and Jean, who was attentively tending to Duncan. Seeing Jean was taking care of them, he commented, "It's okay, buddy. These things happen. You're lucky to have Jean Grey taking care of you."
Hearing it, a blush painted both Duncan and Jean's cheeks.
Ben noticed Todd approached Scott, and thanked him for rescuing him from Duncan's clutches.
However, Scott didn't notice him, his attention fully focused on Jean. Seeing this, a mischievous thought appeared inside Ben. He handshake with Jean while murmuring inside, "Well, let's see who will win her over first."
Later Ben wanted to ask Jean for a tea date, but before he could make his move, Jean and Scott departed from there.
Ben was about to leave for his manor when he noticed Todd sneaking away. Something about him caught Ben's attention.
Out of curiosity, Ben followed—and that's when he saw something strange. Todd caught a fly with his long tongue and swallowed it in one gulp.
Ben cringed. "Gross," he muttered, feeling disgusted. His usual rude attitude kicked in, and for a moment, he even thought about punching Todd just for being so weird.
———
Meanwhile, across the grounds of the Xavier Institute, Professor Charles Xavier was dealing with the fallout from Scott's accident during the football game. He wanted to talk things through with Kurt Wagner, a new student, and called Ororo Munroe to help him.
As they scanned the crowds outside, Xavier pointed out a few people who looked like Kurt—but weren't. Then he spotted the real Kurt, hiding under layers of coats to stay unnoticed.
———
The next morning, back at the Institute, Scott Summers knocked on the bathroom door.
"Jean, hurry up! We're gonna be late for school!"
Before they could leave, Professor Xavier stopped them in the hallway.
"Scott and Jean. Meet Kurt Wagner, your new teammate." He introduces them to Kurt.
"Good to meet you," Scott said, reaching out to shake hands—but he paused for a second when he saw Kurt's blue skin and three fingers.
Xavier smiled and explained, "Scott's a strong student. He can fire optic blasts from his eyes. Here, you'll learn how to control powers like his."
Jean turned to Kurt. "What about you? What can you do?"
Kurt gave a small grin, then bamf—he teleported to the other side of the room in a flash of blue smoke.
Jean and Scott looked at each other, wide-eyed.
"That's… pretty cool."