/A:N/ NOTE! This is part of The Hero Squad series (dumb name, I know) and that series is part of The Predators series. Basically, this is a series within a series.
Ben sat at a Mister Smoothie's table, enjoying his day off, an icy beverage in hand. The weather, while a bit on the hot side, was tolerable and made even better by the smoothie he occasionally gulped down. For the first time in a long time, he had nothing to do. No plans, no surprise encounters with his foes or a random alien, nothing. Everything was perfect.
Ben's smile fell as he felt the familiar tingle of energy rise within him, responding to the forming portal before it even entered an existing state.
"Professor Paradox, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Ben asked, of bothering to turn to face the approaching other. He should have known this was coming.
"I need a word with you, Ben." He said, a deep frown on his face.
"Can't it wait? This is literally the first day off I've gotten since Gwen left for college, and I don't see any other days like this coming up, either." Ben said, finally turning to face the elder man, surprising Paradox with the annoyance in his expression. Paradox almost took a step back, startled by the strange behavior. Of all the things he expected, this was not one of them.
Paradox calmed quickly, his expression turning to one of understanding.
"So, you know why I'm here?" He asked, sitting down beside Ben under the shade of the provided umbrella.
"Uhah." Ben hummed in response, taking a gulp of his smoothie.
"Then would you mind explaining to me why your original dimension is nothing but an empty void?" Paradox interrogated, still calm. Ben's swallowing of the swig was drawn out, as though he felt the matter to not be a pressing one. He was casual, too casual.
"If you think it was empty, then you haven't been looking through it for very long." Ben told, amused, before continuing, a bit more serious.
"It was erased, but no one else remembers that." Ben stated, sounding as though he were talking of something simple and easily comprehended. Paradox didn't like it, not one bit.
"How?!" Paradox demanded, horrified. Ben opened one eye, raising a hand and signaling for the other to be patient, for he had returned the straw to his lips. He swallowed again, setting the cup down, and set his hands overtop each other. Ben's eyes drifted to his left wrist, and he spoke.
"Can't say, I never really knew. Some weird, all-powerful erase box-thingy did it." He explained.
"I rebuilt my universe with Alien X, but no one believed me when I told them that. They think me delusional, can you believe that?" He asked, releasing a dark chuckle.
"None of them are the originals, only us. Funny, huh? We sure think so." Paradox quirked a brow at the suggested others to have made it from the first world. Well, the first version of this world.
"Us?" Paradox asked. Ben waved a dismissive hand.
"Unimportant," Ben told "what would be is your silence. None of them know, and none of them believe, after all, ignorance is bliss, my friend." Another chuckle, the likes of which a mere imitation of mirth.
Paradox frowned, though he was humoring the idea in his mind. Was this right? Should he play along?
"I won't tell them, there would be no point in doing so." Paradox ensured.
"Wise man, Paradox." Ben commented, one side of his mouth raising higher in a slight smirk. It didn't take long for Paradox to understand why.
"I didn't have a choice, eh?" Paradox questioned, sensing the tension that had accumulated in the air.
"Not really, no." Ben replied, his smirk growing.
"I don't really like what this conversation implies." Paradox said in a cautionary tone.
"Calm down, Paradox, it wasn't a threat." Ben assured, rolling his eyes at Paradox's supposed melodramatic attitude.
"It was just the only logical choice for you to have made." Ben finalized, gripping the smoothie cup in his hand loosely.
"Strange, you get smarter by the day, Benjamin." Paradox commented. Ben grinned in a seemingly triumphant way.
"Obviously" Ben stated, raising his newly empty smoothie cup and eyeing it for any remaining contents. He tossed it into a nearby trash bin, standing and signaling for Paradox to do the same.
"Want a smoothie? On me, of course."
