All credit goes to Magiccatprincess for the idea!
Oh, Babies Where Art Thou?
"I'll take your son!" Ma Vreedle cried as she stomped on the ground for emphasis. The entire station rattled as items were thrown off the tables and more debris fell off the walls.
Holding onto Rook for support, Ben frowned. "My son?"
"Don't try to lie to me boy. I know all about your little Necrofriggian children in outer space. I'll find them and destroy them!" She hissed.
"You wouldn't dare!" The teen yelled. "You wouldn't dare touch someone else's kids."
"Try me," She smirked daringly.
He opened his mouth to counter her but closed it realizing it was Ma Vreedle. She wasn't a person to make reason with. He crossed his arms and sighed, "Fine, we'll fine your kid. But if you touch mine at all, you'll regret it."
"Done deal. Now if you Plumbers would kindly move out of my way, I'll be on my way.. And if I don't get my Pretty Boy before the sun sets, you'll suffer my consequences!" She warned before heading back up the elevator.
Ben wailed as he slammed his fist against a console. "We need to find her stupid kids before she can find mine."
"I was not aware you had children Ben." Rook said as he failed to keep in a smile.
The teen turned and glared at his partner, who just allowed the smile to fade as the situation got tense. Grandpa Max came and placed a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find her son before she does anything regrettable."
"Why did I tell her about my kids in the first place?" He shook his head in desperation as he reminiscenced the past of when they had last seen Ma Vreedle. He had told a truthful story about his children, which he hadn't thought would be any use in the future. Apparently he had been wrong. "Gosh, I'm such an idiot."
"Don't worry Ben. We'll be keeping a close eye on Ma Vreedle in case she does anything suspicious." Patelliday assured.
Ben nodded sadly and walked towards the Proto-Truk, his head handing down. Before Rook could follow his partner, he was yanked back by Max, who whispered, "Watch Ben carefully. And don't put too much pressure on him about his kids. He doesn't like talking about them alot. He barely would talk to me about them."
Rook sighed but nodded, rushing after Ben. When he had boarded the truck, he found Ben curled up, his face dug up in his knees. He could feel the slight depressionish feeling around the room and started up the vehicle, eyes aimed at his partner. The car drive around Bellwood was a very silent one since Ben hadn't moved since he boarded the truck and Rook was half agreeing to ask about the baby Necrofriggians. But the way Ben was right now, he highly doubted he would get a single answer.
He swallowed and glanced over at Ben's still form. "Ben? Would you like to talk about it?"
No answer. As he had expected.
"Why have you never told me you had children?"
Silence.
"Ben, pleas-"
"I don't want to talk about them. How am I suppose to talk about them? I lost control of my Big Chill form and then went on a rampage around town, eating all the metal in sight. Oh let's not forget the best part, I managed to get pregnant asexually and have 14 Nectrofriggian kids somewhere in outer space." Ben explained, his eyes narrowing ahead. "There's nothing to say."
Rook frowned. "It was never on your file about your alien children. Do you not like them?"
"I-Of course I love them. They're my kids for crying out loud! It's just I miss them.. you know as a parent, you miss your kids all the time. It's one of my fears to see them get hurt. I hate to think that Ma Vreedle would try and hurt my own kids. And I told Grandpa Max to get it off my file, since I don't want anyone realizing I have kids since it could get them hurt. It could cause everything to be difficult," Ben mumbled.
"Yes, I would understand." Rook agreed with a nod, shivering when he thought if Vilgax ever got his hands on Ben's kids.
Once they had finished their little fight against the Vreedle Brothers, Rook and Ben headed off towards Undertown. Everything seemed alright at first until Rook began noticing the unease in Ben's voice and actions. It was until a call from HQ, did Ben become more concerned then ever.
"We've spotted Ma Vreedle, heading towards a private sector of Undertown. We've suspected that as her hideout and we've also managed to get some calls from her 'phone' towards off earth aliens. Considering the situation, we think she contacted some alien bounty hunters to find your kids." Grandpa Max sighed. "We're sending some Plumbers to find the other end of the call and arrest them. Nobody will hurt your kids, I promise."
Ben shook his head sadly and continued to dig his head deeper into his knees. Then suddenly his phone rang. Without looking, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and clicked the answer button. It wasn't even a second before his head shot up and he glared at Rook. "Stop the truck now!" The alien did so immediately and watched as his partner bolted out of the car and switched to one of his fastest aliens, XLR8, automatically headed towards a specified location.
Rook, his mouth agape, glanced down at the green phone he left behind and placed it in his ear. "Hello?"
"You're not Tennyson.. which means he's coming." A crackle of laughter then, "You'd better find my boy or else I'll be forced to do something I won't probably regret." Then the line turned to static.
He didn't even have to think before he knew who it was. He turned the truck around and headed after his partner. He had driven for at least a minute before he failed to stop and slammed into something large enough to cover his entire windshield.
Once he had pulled to a stop, it revealed to be Rhomboid Vreedle that he had run over. The large alien seemed to be stuck on the shield, trying to pull himself off. His brother was also assisting along with-
"Pretty boy!"
The Vreedle Brothers glanced at him and then towards their sibling, who was sucking on his lollipop with giddiness. Octogon managed to pull of his brother and they grabbed the youngling, sprinting away until Rook managed to trap them in a net. Rook managed to yank away the parts of the net from Pretty Boy and quickly cuffed him so he wouldn't get away.
"You both are in much trouble."
"Where's Tennyson gone? He scared of us?" Octogon grinned and crackled.
Rook frowned. "No, he has gone somewhere else to find something. You both are under arrest, for kidnapping a minor child."
"Us? We hadn't stolen anything!" He disagreed, impatiently.
"That is not what your mother has told us." He muttered and forced the two into the back of the truck, along with Pretty Boy who sat up front.
Rook pulled out his badge, praying that Ben left his omnitrix on so that he would be able to track him. And thankfully, he spotted Ben's omnitrix signal not too far away from them. He slammed on the breaks and headed as fast as he could towards his partner, praying it wasn't too late.
Once Ben had touched the location Ma Vreedle had said, he changed back into human and rushed towards the large figure in the distance. Once he had gotten close enough he could see a small clear holding cell, which held his Necrofriggian kids. Ma Vreedle glared at them with happiness as she spotted Ben in the distance.
"Ah, I'd knew you show up. Your stupid partner picked up the phone earlier." She smirked. "Now were's my Pretty boy?"
"I don't have him! Leave my kids alone! They have nothing to do with this!" He cried, small tears falling down his cheeks. "Don't touch my kids."
She frowned. "As much as I'd like to leave your little dumplings alone, I can't. I need mine before the price is good. And since you don't have him.. might as well do what I planned." She touched a button on the touch pad and Ben's eyes widened as the containment grew red in heat and one by one his kids fell to the bottom. "It's a rule that Necrofriggian kids can't survive in the brutal heat. That's why they hang out in space for a couple years until they're stable enough. It would be a shame if they can't keep their body heat cold enough. Oh well."
Ben wasn't sure when he started begging for Ma Vreedle to let go of his kids but by the time she shook her head, half of his kids had fallen. He wasn't sure how long it took until they.. but he sure wasn't going to waste his time.
He slammed on an alien, which ironically was Big Chill. He darted towards the containment field but was electrocuted back. He groaned in pain and his eyes focused on his children, who were pawing the clear glass containment desperately. A foot on his back grabbed his attention.
"Just sit and watch the show."
A large horn sounded and slammed into the large warehouse, skidding a couple feet away from Ben and Ma Vreedle. Rook got out and saw that his partner was being pinned down along with his kids slowly falling to the ground. It wasn't a good looking sight, but thankfully he had found what she had been looking for.
"Ma Vreedle!" He called out to her. The large mother glanced at him, the sole of her heel not faltering. "I have found Pretty boy." And at that moment, he jumped out of the truck, his expression rising when he saw his mother. Her eyes widened and she jumped off Ben and towards him.
He rushed at her as well and she grabbed him in a tight embrace. "Oh my! My Pretty boy! Where have you been? Momma's been missing you all day!"
Rook smiled before realizing that his partner was last spotted on the ground. His eyes realized that Ben had moved from the cement ground towards the containment field, blasting the machines with cold ice and purring at his kids. All of the Necrofriggians had fallen down.
"Ma Vreedle. Let go of them now!"
The mother rolled her eyes and pulled a remote out of her coat and clicked a button, the field disappearing. Ben rushed to gather all his kids and put them on the ground, blasting cold ice to help return them to normal. But none had moved from their spot. He desperately circled around them, drawing enough cold energy to lower their body temperatures and protecting them from intruders.
Rook rushed towards him to help but was immediately pushed back when Ben had hissed at him.
"Ben? What are you doing? I am trying to help."
"Don't touch them!" He growled and created a wall between them. He laid beside them and glanced at Rook with malice eyes.
The Plumbers had arrived shortly, not bothering to arrest Ma Vreedle, who had disappeared along with the Vreedle Brothers. All they're attention focused on Ben, who had contained himself and his children in a thick layer of ice; almost like an igloo.
"Why would Ben try and nearly attack me? I was trying to help him." Rook shook his head confused.
Max softly smiled. "It's a Necrofriggian's instinct to protect their offspring no matter what. From what you told me, Ben's kids had their temperatures lowered severely, which would mean he would try his best and help restore them. You can't help that Ben's doing the best he can to help his kids."
The igloo slowly disappeared as 14 small infants carefully flew into the air. Big Chill glanced at them and blew a puff of ice in their direction, helping them get a boost. Once they were perfectly able to fly, Ben flashed back to human and smiled. "It took a while but I got them back to normal. Good thing huh?"
Max patted his grandson's back. "We'll make sure the Plumbers run a full scan just to make sure they isn't any hiccups. I don't want my great-grandchildren getting hurt."
"Yeah." Ben rubbed his neck and glanced in Rook's direction, "Sorry about, you know, almost attacking you. I couldn't help it. You were too warm."
"Understandable," He shrugged. "But next time please warn me when you are leaving. You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Promise, partner. And let's not talk about this to other people.. it's kinda embarrassing."
Cute huh? :3 Thanks again to Magiccatprincess for the idea. You're amazing!