Chapter 177 - A Place for the Plumbers

Chapter 177: Chapter 177 - A Place for the Plumbers

Jack pulled up a holographic image of a massive skull, with an entire settlement built around and inside it.

"This is the place I had in mind for our temporary HQ. Knowhere," Jack said, showing them the image. ℴ

Gwen studied it, doubt clear on her face. "Isn’t this the place we heard about on the news? Full of illegal activity, criminals everywhere. Won’t going there just make things harder for us?"

"And what about the local authorities?" Zeyara asked. "If there’s no government there, who actually controls the place?"

Everyone turned to Jack, waiting to hear his reasoning. He changed the holographic display to bring up information about Knowhere.

"Knowhere is different. It isn’t a planet, it’s actually the severed head of a Celestial. A lot of people come here to mine parts of it and make a fortune off them. There’s heavy traffic through this place too. Aliens from all over the galaxy pass through constantly, and it’s crawling with every kind of person you can imagine."

Jack paused for a moment.

"There’s no real planetary government here, but that doesn’t mean there’s no power structure, just not the conventional kind. That’s one of the risks. But it’s also one of the reasons I chose it. Information, technology, resources, and people from all over the galaxy pass through Knowhere."

"So you want us to operate where everyone else is going?" Zeyara asked.

"Exactly. We don’t need our temporary headquarters sitting in the middle of nowhere. We need a place where the universe comes to us," Jack said.

Everyone seemed to consider his words.

"What exactly is a Celestial?" Zeyara asked, voicing what everyone was clearly wondering. None of them had heard the term before, and they all stared at the massive severed head.

Jack thought it over for a second before answering with what he remembered.

"Celestials are ancient cosmic beings. Among the oldest and most powerful beings in the universe. They travel through space and have had a hand in shaping life on countless worlds."

"So they’re gods?" Gwen asked.

"Not exactly," Jack said. "But powerful enough that most civilizations out there would probably treat them like one anyway."

Hearing about beings on that level left everyone a little stunned. It broadened their understanding of just how vast the universe really was.

"For a skull that size, that Celestial must’ve been enormous. I have no idea how something like that could even die," Gwen said, awe in her voice.

"That’s the thing. I don’t know. Something capable of killing a Celestial is probably far beyond anything we’re ready to deal with," Jack said. "There’s still a lot about them that even I don’t know."

That answer only made everyone more curious, but Jack didn’t go any further.

He then moved on to explaining the rest of the plan for the Plumbers going forward.

"Our first priority will be taking on legitimate jobs from different civilizations. Security, escort work, rescue operations, investigations, recovery missions, things like that. Anything that helps people while also bringing in enough money to keep the organization running and growing."

Jack looked around at everyone.

"We’re not mercenaries. We don’t take a job just because someone offers enough money. If a job goes against what the Plumbers stand for, we walk away."

Everyone nodded, understanding the point.

"There are other things we need to work on too. As we travel from planet to planet, keep an eye out for orphans and children who have lost their families because of wars, disasters, or criminal activity. If we can give them a safe home and an education, we should."

Jack paused before continuing.

"Not every child we find has to become a Plumber. If they eventually want to join us, that’s their choice. But giving them a better life is enough of a reason to help them."

"That will also give us a chance to build our own ranks from the ground up," Jack added. "If some of them choose to become Plumbers later, they’ll already know what the organization stands for."

"Alright, that’s everything for now. Zeyara, choose two members to stay behind on Xandar. Have them maintain our contact with the Nova Corps, keep gathering intel, and stay updated on the news. They can also keep an eye out for anyone who might be interested in joining the Plumbers."

Zeyara nodded.

"Get everything else in order according to the plan. We leave tomorrow morning," Jack said, wrapping up the meeting.

Everyone filed out except Gwen.

Seeing Jack lost in thought, she started massaging his temples.

"Headache from managing the whole team?" she asked.

"Mm, didn’t really feel it at first, but the more I think about how to actually grow this organization, and how to keep it running smoothly after we eventually leave for the future, the more it wears me out," Jack admitted.

"Don’t overthink it too much. Even if some of these decisions turn out wrong, we can always fix them later," Gwen said, trying to ease his mind.

"Hope so. Oh, and Gwen, Red Queen thinks she’s found Earth’s location after cross-referencing the new star maps."

Gwen’s expression brightened instantly.

"You found Earth?"

"Not completely confirmed yet, but Red Queen is confident enough to give us a probable location," Jack said.

Once the organization was settled here, the next step was finally heading to Earth to find Emma and Morgan.

"If everything goes smoothly, we could be on Earth within a month," Jack said.

Just as Gwen was about to head out, she paused and turned back to him, giving him a knowing look.

"The real reason you picked Knowhere is to get your hands on Celestial DNA, isn’t it? Can you even pull that off from just a skull?" she asked, eyes narrowed. She knew him too well to miss it.

"Ha, caught me. Honestly, no idea if I can even transform into one," Jack admitted.

The idea had crossed his mind the second he’d heard about the place, but even he wasn’t sure it would work. Celestials were a mystery even to him, with barely any information to go on.

That night, after wrapping up the rest of his work, Jack remembered he’d never actually gone back to check the Omnitrix after muting all those earlier notifications.

Scrolling through the log, he found only nine new aliens had actually been saved.

Only nine got copied? I’m pretty sure I passed by more than twenty species today.

Then it clicked. The Omnitrix needed both time and proximity to properly scan and store a sample. He must’ve kept walking past people before it could finish each scan.

Still, not bad.

Let’s see.

Species: Xandarian

Homeworld: Xandar

Status: DNA Sample Stored

Scrolling through, most of the entries were fairly standard humanoid aliens, nothing that would actually be useful to him in a fight.

But then, one of the notifications caught his attention.

Jack’s eyes widened slightly as he read it.

A smile slowly appeared on his face.

[Congratulations!]

[You have discovered 10 new alien species that were not present in the Omnitrix’s original database.]

[Special Reward: Gift Package]

Jack stared at the notification for a moment.

Another gift package?

He really didn’t expect the System to have this hidden mechanism.

Good.

Author Note

Hey guys, just a small note about the Omnitrix scanning.

Since the Omnitrix has the function to scan alien DNA, I didn’t want to make some stupid logic just to stop it from scanning every alien it comes across. At the same time, I obviously can’t write every single alien that Jack sees or add every Marvel alien to the status system.

So don’t mind it if I don’t show every alien that Jack scans or every Marvel alien name in the status system. That would be impossible to keep track of. I will only mention the aliens that are actually important to the story.

Also, I don’t really plan to create a bunch of completely new OC aliens myself. Most of the aliens Jack gets will come from the Ben 10 and Marvel universes.

And about the Celestial...

I do have plans for that.

Jack getting a Celestial form isn’t going to be something he can just casually use whenever he wants. I plan to write an arc where using that form gets the attention of the Celestials, and Jack ends up being given a mission.

Because of that, Jack won’t be using the Celestial form often. It won’t be because the Omnitrix suddenly says, "You can’t use this alien." Instead, there will be consequences and responsibilities attached to using it.

I think that makes more sense for the story and also gives me a chance to explore the Celestials later.

But if you guys have a different idea, feel free to suggest it. If I like an idea, I might use it.

Honestly, I always have this doubt after each Chapter: Is the story going in the right direction, or did I mess something up somewhere?

I’ve already seen some comments saying that the time-travel part was a downfall of the story, so if you guys have better ideas or suggestions about anything, feel free to tell me. I’m always open to hearing them.

And if you’re enjoying the story and think everything is going fine, leaving a vote also helps me know that you guys are enjoying it.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hope you guys enjoy the story!