#167 - Franklin's Problem

“I didn't expect it to be so simple.”

Franklin clung to the wing extended by Nana, secretly peeking at Francos, which was getting further and further behind him.

Even though this steel city was getting smaller, it didn't detract from its magnificence. It truly was a wonder of the world, but it's a pity there wasn't a chance to visit the inside.

If it were normal times, Franklin and Valeria might have felt regret. Influenced by Mister Fantastic, they always had a special interest in these things, but right now they had more important things to do and didn't have the extra energy to consider those things.

“I thought there would at least be a chase. I was ready for it.”

Franklin carried the modified rifle on his shoulder, and coupled with his size, he had the feeling of a boy scout going to the battlefield.

Yang Le narrowed his eyes. Even if it was a pistol, the Four Arms' gun wasn't light. Franklin effortlessly carried the gun on his shoulder, which was somewhat beyond Yang Le's expectations.

Could it be that Franklin, after years of training in the apocalypse, actually had a lean and muscular physique like Bruce Lee's, looking thin when dressed but muscular when undressed?

Or was it the seventh-day return of Franklin's vanished superpowers?

It's useless to think about these things; it's better to take action.

“Franklin,” Yang Le called out to the sight-seeing Franklin.

“Ah! What's wrong?” Franklin didn't expect Yang Le to call him and was startled. To be honest, he was still afraid of Yang Le, possibly because of Yang Le's strength, or possibly because he wasn't very familiar with Yang Le.

Kids are somewhat reserved in front of strangers.

Valeria also looked at Yang Le. She also wanted to see what Yang Le suddenly called her brother for.

“Aren't you curious about your superpowers suddenly disappearing?”

“Of course!”

Yang Le's words clearly hit Franklin's sore spot, and he almost shouted his response to Yang Le.

Then he looked at Yang Le with hopeful eyes and asked in a trembling tone, “Do you have a way to help me recover them?”

“I can't give you any guarantees, Franklin,” Yang Le squatted down beside Franklin.

“I have to check first before I can make a conclusion.”

As for how to check, of course, it was to hand it over to the Omnitrix. Although the Omnitrix wasn't a medical machine, its scanning ability for creatures was undoubtedly the strongest. There was no harm in letting it scan.

Of course, Yang Le simply wanted to see what was wrong with Franklin. After all, mutants were genetically mutated humans, and the Omnitrix wouldn't record their DNA.

“You're right.” Franklin tried to calm himself down. He took a few deep breaths and then looked at Yang Le.

“Okay, let's start.”

“No need to make it so grand,” Yang Le signaled Franklin to relax. His current posture looked like Popeye the Sailor.

“It's just a scan; you won't even feel anything.”

Franklin opened his mouth and was about to speak when he saw a white light curtain scanning his entire body from top to bottom. Just as Yang Le said, there was no feeling at all. He didn't even react.

“Almost done.”

Yang Le looked at the Omnitrix on his chest. Before they had to wait long, the Omnitrix came to a conclusion.

“Scanning complete. Target is an unknown species. Please name it.”

Whether it was an Earthling or his variant mutant, it wouldn't allow the Omnitrix to get this result. This greatly exceeded Yang Le's expectations.

“This is really getting interesting.”

“What's wrong?” Franklin asked.

Franklin and Valeria didn't know what the Omnitrix's words meant. They couldn't see anything from X-Kinn's expression, but they heard Yang Le's intriguing tone and couldn't help but ask.

“It's nothing. I need to do an experiment.”

Yang Le activated the Omnitrix, selected the new alien he had just scanned, and controlled his strength to gently press the transformation button.

After a dazzling white light, a mechanical life form with a very punk appearance, composed of circuits, mechanical parts, and cables, appeared in front of the Fantastic Twins.

“This is…” Yang Le raised his hands. This feeling was similar to becoming a Fusion Monster, and the appearance was similar, except that compared to the soft shapeshifter, this alien hero was somewhat “stiff.”

This alien was somewhat unfamiliar to Yang Le. After all, there were hundreds of Marvel characters, and he couldn't remember everyone.

But just because Yang Le didn't recognize him didn't mean the Fantastic Twins didn't. Sure enough, before Yang Le could ask, Valeria gave the answer.

“You look like Warlock now.”

“Warlock?” Yang Le heard the name and realized who he had become.

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Warlock and the shapeshifter were similar, both being mechanical life forms with similar abilities, but Warlock's race had a very perverted ability.

Warlock's race, the Techarchy, were alien mechanical life forms from an unknown world. This race had the ability to transform into any shape and size, but only as a solid.

And its other ability was to spread a virus, a mechanical virus that could transform organisms into mechanical life forms like Warlock, which could be said to be a very perverted ability.

“I see,” Yang Le muttered, then reached out and pointed to the clueless Franklin.

Suddenly, Franklin's body changed. His originally fair skin began to crack, and circuits and mechanical parts like Yang Le's appeared on Franklin's skin as he screamed.

“Wow wow wow!” Franklin was startled by the changes in his body.

“Franklin!” Valeria looked worriedly at her brother.

“What's going on!”

“I activated the machinery in you, Franklin,” Yang Le explained calmly to the panicked twins.

“I have the ability to scan and record the DNA of other creatures. Based on this, I can also transform into the aliens I've recorded. I think you should understand what I mean by now.”

As expected of the Fantastic Twins, combining Yang Le's words with Yang Le's series of actions, they immediately understood Yang Le's meaning.

“Are you saying that Franklin isn't human now, but a Techarchy?” Valeria looked incredulously at her brother, who she had grown up with.

“But that's impossible. Franklin was human during previous physical examinations.”

Because of Franklin's special nature, his father, Reed, had given him many physical examinations since he was a child, almost once a week. Valeria had also seen many of his physical examination reports, and she had memorized those parameters, but none of them detected that Franklin wasn't his biological son.

“Could it be…” Valeria thought of a possibility.

Franklin had some accidents that night when the zombie crisis broke out.