The Training Series
Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 and/or Ben 10: Alien Force and/or Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and/or any and/or all concepts and/or characters. They are copyrighted to Man of Action and Cartoon Network Studios. I am a mere Fanfiction author. With far too much time on her hands and no social life.
Rated: T
Part One: Testing, Testing; One, Two, Three
He paced the hallway outside the testing chambers anxiously, hands clasped behind his back and head bowed slightly and silently. The testing room was soundproofed, even against alien ears.
This was stupid. He was stupid. He had been put through the same exact course and tests; she would be carted out on a stretcher, with multiple fractures, bruises, and cuts.
He had promised her parents, when he had revealed his secret to them, that he would keep her safe from his world. And now he was letting her dive in headfirst.
He could not interrupt the testing of new recruits, it was a cardinal rule and breaking it would cost a Plumber their badge, so he could only hope and pray that she would fail.
The heavy wooden door creaked open slowly, to reveal an exhausted but smiling Julie walking out under her own power.
"I earned my first scar," she spoke softly and he scanned her before seeing it. Her right eye was swollen shut and a thin, deep cut ran from her eyebrow, into her upper eyelid, down into her lower eyelid before ending a couple centimeters beneath the eye itself.
He grabbed her tightly, looking the rest of her over, before saying firmly, "I'm taking you down to Sickbay, get that fixed. Maybe next time—"
"What are you talking about?" she asked bemusedly, pulling a bundle of papers from her pocket, and saying, "I passed; I'm supposed to go get my Bleu Badge… I've been assigned you three as my mentors…"
He grinned, taking her hand in his, "Then let's go get it."
He led her expertly through the maze of headquarters to the Badge Issuing Room.
The Bleu Badge was in fact yellow, instead of green, because she was on probation and had what amounted to parental locks encoded into it, severely limiting her access to the Organization. In case she went rogue.