S01E01: And Then There Were 10 - When 15yr old Ben Tennyson discovers the Omnitrix in his Grandpa Max's shop, a whole world of trouble is unleashed on him when the vengeful Dr. Animo arrives in Bellwood, intent on claimung the device as his own.
5 Years Ago
Bauman's Bar
2 miles out from Yosemite Park, California
Bauman's Bar was a dump. Mob enforcers, tattooed up to the eyeballs, would glare threateningly at each other over pints of vodka. Scantily clad women paraded up and down the bar, leaning unnecessarily far down when serving their customer's drinks. In each corner sat a different gang, all trying to arrange hits on one another.
It was a seedy bar, but it was far from the worst establishment Max Tennyson had found himself in. He chuckled gutturally at this thought; all the men in here with their muscles and tattoos, all brandishing a bravado to anyone who would care to listen. They never gave Max a second thought, just another aging man in a Hawaiian shirt trying to have a quiet drink in a rough neighbourhood. They didn't know that Max could take them all out in a matter of seconds and still have enough energy to knock out a game of Billiards.
"I'll have what he's having," a man took the stool next to Max and nodded at the barman. Max recognised that throaty voice instantly.
"Aloysius," he said, not caring to look up from his drink.
"That's Doctor Animo to you, Tennyson," spat out the newcomer.
Max sipped his drink, slowly and deliberately. "I wouldn't expect to find you out here, Aloysius."
Animo winced at the use of his first name. He hoped Max hadn't noticed. He did.
"In a backwater town like this, I wouldn't expect to find you either, Tennyson. Funny how happen, isn't it?"
The barman strode over and slid a whisky in front of them. Animo forced his twitching hand onto the table and clasped the glass in his bony hand. It shook with the rest of his body as he raised it to his lips and took a cautious sip. Max looked at his drinking partner, a good hard look. It wasn't just the ticks that Animo had to be worried about; his skin was rotting, or at least, that's what it looked like. It was yellowing and patchy and it looked as if half of his cheek had been torn off. He had clearly tried to obscure it with his long, fraying, silver hair but even the dimly lit room could not do enough to obscure the foul sight before him
"Are you oka-"
"I'm fine!" snapped Animo. "I'm fine."
"You've got no one to blame but yourself."
"Do you not think I know that, Tennyson?" he said, half bitterly, half melancholically. "But what's done is done."
"It is." Max said, raising his glass in a mock toast.
"And the Plumbers are done, Max," he said. "I hope you've grown to understand that."
"Of course I have, Aloysius," Max tuned to face the doctor. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Animo said, waving his hand dismissively. "It's just, some of my scanners picked up some unusual readings from Yosemite Park. And then I heard rumours of a meteorite crashing down in that area. Curious, isn't it. Reminds me of the old days. I'm just hoping that you weren't sticking your nose in. You know, like you used to."
"I liked the old days," said Max. "But they were just that. The old days. When we were still young men and we had the universe at our feet."
"Ah, but we never did have the universe at our feet, Max."
"But we thought we did, and that's what matters." Max knocked back the rest of his drink and went to stand up.
"But we could have, if we'd had the Omnitrix."
Max stopped. Gingerly, he eased himself back onto his seat. "You know the Omnitrix was just an idea, don't you Animo? He never actually made it."
Animo guffawed. "Nah, he didn't. Of course he didn't. But if he did, just imagine if he did. It would have been magnificent."
"It would have been a bloodbath," said Max through gritted teeth.
"They're not incompatible notions," said Animo. The amount of pleasure he took in each word made a shiver go through Max's spine. As did the glint in his eye at the word 'bloodbath'. "But, it's all just theoretical, isn't it?"
"Indeed is it." Max nodded. "And don't you forget it."
He didn't wait for a response. Instead, Max Tennyson pushed himself up onto his feet and strode out of the bar, his hands bawled in a fist. The patrons of the bar eyed him up as he made his exit, each silently wondering to themselves what the strange old man in the Hawaiian t-shirt was doing in a dump like Bauman's. Those who had been sitting close enough to him to eavesdrop wondered what the Omnitrix was. And Doctor Animo just sat back on his stool, smirking. He was glad he had taken the time to brag before going and retrieving the Omnitrix from Yosemite Park.
In fact, Animo was so self-assured that that would be the night he would find the prize he so desperately needed, he never paid attention to the leather bag Max had been clutching as he'd left the bar. A leather bag with a bulge in its side. A bulge that was glowing bright green.
What neither Animo nor Max noticed, was perhaps far more curious. A man in a lab coat watched from a window as events unfurled. He smiled, a sad smile. His peered and his pocket watch and was stirred by what he saw. Both of the hands were almost at the number 10. That meant something interesting was about to happen. Or perhaps it already had happened. Tenses could be so confusing sometimes.
The man in the lab coat rounded a corner and disappeared in a flash of green.
And the hands both hit 10.
