Ebola in Bellwood

What does the town of Bellwood do when one of its famous members is stricken by the dreaded Ebola virus?

Tennyson Residence

Benjamin Kirby Tennyson woke up with severe stomach pain and vomited over the side of the bed, right on his favorite Sumo-Slammer action figure. "Oh great, not Kenko! I just got him like yesterday!" he groaned.

"Mom! I feel ill. Can I skip school today?" he yelled to his mom Sandra, who was downstairs vacuuming the den.

"What honey? I can't hear you over all this noise!"

"I said, can I stay home today? I have barf all over my bedroom!"

"Did you say you farted in your bedroom? Of course you can't stay home for that and you know it!"

"No mom, I barfed in my bedroom! B-A-R-F."

"Can you come down and tell me what you're trying to say?"

"Turn off the vacuum. Then we can talk normally."

"You know I can't do that. I like to multitask. Turn into one of your aliens and yell it if you're so lazy you can't get out of bed!"

Ben turned into Echo-Echo. "I feel really sick. Can you come up here and see what's wrong with me?" he screeched.

" Fine, I'll come up when I'm finished!" Sandra yelled back as she covered her ears to block out the noise.

"I'm dying here!"

"No you're not. You're still talking to me just fine!"

"I'm getting a headache too!"

"Ok, I'm coming up. You better not be lying or else…" Ben heard his mom drop the vacuum and hurry up the stairs to his room.

"All right, where does it hurt, Ben."

"Everywhere."

"Ok, I'll just take your temperature then. Hold on, I'll get a thermometer." Sandra left the room and returned with the instrument. She stuck it in Echo-Echo's mouth.

"Hey! Try giving a little warning next time?" Echo-Echo yelled as he managed to hit the Omnitrix and transform back to Ben.

"Good lord! You read 103.6! We must get you to the hospital immediately!"

"I can get there myself."

"Oh no you're not! You're coming in the car with me." A minute later, Ben was sitting in the car with his mom for the ten minute drive to the hospital.

"Just stay calm, Ben. Everything's going to be just fine."

"Every time you say that, it freaks me out!"

Ben then had another vomit attack, this time on the windshield, causing Sandra to lose control of the car and slam into a semi. Luckily no one was hurt because Ben managed to transform into Clockwork and reverse the time- flow so the accident never happened. The memory, however, was.

"Whew, Ben. That was quick thinking on your part, but try not to do that again will you?" Sandra complained.

"Sorry! I can't control this stomach of mine!" The driver of the semi stomped over.

"Hey lady! You almost rear-ended me back there! What were you thinking?!" he yelled, in a classic example of road-rage.

"Don't you talk to my mother like that!"

"So, it's the famous Ben Tennyson. I've heard of you, but that doesn't mean your mother's gonna get off easy."

"How about if I give you some money and we forget this whole thing ever happened?" Sandra asked.

"I like that idea, but where is it?" the driver asked, perplexed.

"Right here!" Ben transformed into DinoDinero and gave the guy so much money that he almost drowned in it.

"Arrgh! I didn't realize you'd give me this much!" yelled the driver as he flailed his arms around like a Magikarp out of water.

"You should be careful what you wish for next time!" DinoDinero roared as Sandra gunned the engine and sped off towards the hospital. Once they got there, she told Ben to stay in the car while she ran to find help.

Bellwood Hospital

"Help! My son is very sick. He needs medical attention right away or he's going to die!" she yelled to the first doctor she could grab.

"Calm down lady. It's probably not as serious as you might think," the doctor replied as he walked with Ben's mom to the car and took out another thermometer to read Ben's temperature.

"Wow! I've never seen a temperature this high before! He's reading 113!"

"What do we do then, doctor? Is he going to die?"

"Almost certainly. Why don't you take him home and let him rest comfortably until that time comes?"

"Absolutely not! If you won't treat him, I'll just have to find someone who will!"

"Haha! Good one. No one in this hospital's going to treat him once they find out what he's got!"

"What does my precious Ben have?"

"Quite frankly, I don't know and I don't care. All I know is that he has a 99.99% chance of dying in the next few days."

"I shall just get a second opinion on that matter, then" Sandra raged as she stormed off towards the main entrance. The doctor took out a walkie-talkie.

"Hello? Front desk? This is Doctor Brown. There's a deranged woman who seems to have just escaped out of a mental institution coming in your direction. Don't believe a word she says!"

Sandra stomped her way through the front doors and past the two security guards who tried to restrain her.

"Hello! How can I help you to- oh. You're that crazy lady who I was just warned about!" the receptionist shrieked in fear

"You can call me anything you want as long as you give my son the treatment he rightfully deserves."

"Sorry. This hospital has a policy of not listening to mentally out of touch individuals. Perhaps you and you son can get evaluated at a psychiatric institution?"

"Lady, if you don't treat my son here, I shall go to every bloody hospital in the country!"

"You do that. There are conveniently over 4,000 others you can choose from."

"Oh I will! Just watch me!" Sandra stomped out again in a huff.

"We won't be seeing them two again for quite some time, and by that time, the boy will already be dead," Dr. Brown said as he walked through the front door. Outside, Sandra got back in the car. Then she was struck by sudden inspiration.

"Ben. I know you're really sick, but could you transform into XLR8 really quick?"

"If you don't mind me vomiting all over you."

"I don't mind in the slightest."

"Just wondering, why am I doing this? I should be in a hospital bed right now!"

"I made a bet with the receptionist that I could visit every single hospital in this country. I need your help to accomplish this goal."

"And why in the world did you do that?"

"Well, the hospital won't treat you if I don't."

"I see. Ok, hop on." Ben transformed into XLR8 and his mom hopped onto his back. XLR8 then sped to Massachusetts General Hospital, the closest hospital outside of Bellwood. Sandra walked in the lobby.

MGH

"Hello, how can I be of assistance?" greeted a grey hair woman with a dark complexion.

"Oh, I don't need help. I just need a verification that I've been here."

"And why do you need that? I can clearly see you're here."

"It's a long story. Just put the hospital name here and sign your name," Sandra replied as she thrust a paper at the receptionist. The lady signed the paper, but still looked dumbfounded.

"Are you sure you don't need help? You look like someone who just came out of a mental institution!"

"Nope! I'm perfectly normal." Sandra took the paper and ran off.

"Good news, Ben! One down and only 3,999 to go!"

"Oh great! Just hop on so we can get it over with!"

Cross country

In the same fashion, the mother-son duo hit every single hospital in the United States, tallying the total number of hospitals they hit as they went. Half a day later, they finally finished.

"Oh man! I'm starving! Can I get something to eat?" Ben asked as they sped by a Burger King.

"No! You're sick and until we get you back to Bellwood, you can't eat anything."

Ben sighed and sped away from the fast food joint and back to Bellwood.

Bellwood Hospital (Again)

The doctor saw the pair approaching from a mile away. "I need hospital security to come and intercept! The deranged mama is at it again!" he squawked into the walkie-talkie. Ever single security guard in the hospital assembled at the front entrance to block the advance. Ben transformed into Cannonbolt just before he reached them.

"Halt Ben! You can't come in here!"

"I'd like to see you guys try and stop me!" Cannonbolt gathered momentum and bowled over all the guards like they were bowling pins. He then crashed through the front door, breaking the glass along the way. The receptionist screamed and dived for cover as the glass shards flew over her head. She emerged shaking.

"H-H-Hi. Can I have some proof that you've actually been to every single hospital in the country?"

"It's right here," Ben said as he unfurled the paper and showed the receptionist all 4,000 hospitals with the signatures.

"All right. I'll see to it that you receive quality treatment, Ben." The receptionist waved Dr. Brown over.

"These two," she said, pointing to Ben and Sandra, "managed to finish my challenge. We must admit Mr. Tennyson here."

"Ok. Mrs. Tennyson, we're going to admit Ben to hospital."

"What did I tell you? He was sick all along!"

"Right. Come along now, Ben. We have to run a few tests on you." Dr. Brown led Ben into his office and gave him a bucket.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Ben asked, confused.

"You already have the high fever, so now we have to see what your vomit looks like. I'd like you to vomit in that bucket for me. Can you do that?"

"Not without stimulation, I can't."

"Ok. You got it!" The doctor left and returned moment later with a rotten chicken.

"This should help you cough up a few samples," the doctor said cheerfully.

Ben took one look at the maggot-infested chicken with the gutted inner organs and vomited into the bucket.

"Nice job, Ben! I knew you could do it!"

"Can I go now? I feel really tired."

"No. Not until the lab results on your pile of vomit comes back. We have to test it to see what exactly you have."

"Can you hurry then? I don't have all day to just stand around."

The doctor took one look at Ben's vomit with all the fresh blood floating on top and vomited himself.

"No! You just contaminated the sample!" Ben screamed.

"Not to worry, my dear boy. We can just centrifuge it at the lab." He hurried out of the office.

Two hours later

Ben drummed his fingers together absentmindedly on the bed. Dr. Brown came back in.

"Ben," he said, "I have some bad news to tell you."

"What is it doc?"

"I don't know how to break it to you, buy you have Ebola."

"What's that, some kind of cheap lunch meat?"

"No. It's quite serious and all indications are that you're going to die sometime very soon. You see, this strain has a 90% mortality rate."

"Holy crap! I can't die now! I'm too young to die!"

"Yes, that's very unfortunate…"

"Any hope at all that I might happen to survive?"

"Well, we're going to have to quarantine you in the isolation ward while you ride out this ghastly disease. Then we shall see." He wheeled Ben to the isolation ward.

"Now, you're going to have to stay here until you either die or recover. Any alien that you have that might contain the virus would be helpful."

"Right you are." Ben transformed into NRG who conveniently had a full body radiation suit.

"Excellent! Now all I have to do is tell your mother the news and send in the best doctors on this planet… or off of it." Dr. Brown left the room to go back to the main lobby.

"How is he, doctor?" Sandra asked the moment she heard the doctor approaching.

"Not very good. His prognosis is extremely bleak. He's got a highly aggressive strain of Ebola virus. This strain is nearly always fatal."

"My baby's going to die?!"

"Don't worry. We've got the best doctors on the planet here taking care of your son right now. Don't you worry about a thing!"

Ebola Ward

"Do I get anything to eat here? I'm starving!" Ben shouted through the closed door.

"Did someone order room service?" asked a small figure.

"Who's there?"

"Yo Ben, what's up?" said a grey alien with a southern drawl.

"Blukic?"

"The one and only."

"Don't forget his vastly superior partner, Driba!"

"You are not more intelligent than me!"

"Yes I am!"

"Don't insult me in front of Ben, Driba!"

"Why don't you stop insulting me?"

"You want a fight little freak?"

"Who're you calling little? We're both the same size!"

"That does it!" Blukic screamed a death cry and launched himself at his partner. Ben yanked them apart before they could actually come in contact with each other.

"Whoa! Hold on you two! What are you guys doing here?"

"I was sent by Magister Tennyson to assist you with your health crisis," stated Driba, proudly.

"Correction: I was sent…"

"No! Magister Tennyson clearly meant me!"

"Shut-up both of you! I don't care who sent you guys. Just help me out here, will you?"

"Hmm. Let's see. I say you have the common cold. Just look at you sneezing all over the place!"

"Driba, it's obviously a bad case of diarrhea. I've seen that bloody vomit of his."

"I sense something much worse. You've got AIDS, Ben!"

"Don't give me that bs! I haven't had any romantic relationships yet!"

"Really? I can name a few!"

"Don't listen to him, Ben. You clearly have tuberculosis. See, you're having trouble breathing!"

"I can't believe Dr. Brown hired you two! You guys don't have a clue what I have, do you?"

"Not in the slightest. We were close, weren't we?" asked Driba.

"I have Ebola," Ben whispered.

"Noooooooo! Not that disease!"

"You don't know how to treat it?"

"Most definitely! We're Galvan, remember?"

"Then what's the problem?"

"Driba was being sarcastic, Ben. We can treat it easily, see?" Blukic took out a bottle of ZMapp.

"Where'd you get that? Isn't it still in the experimental phase?"

"We developed it and gave your human scientists all the credit."

"Gimme that!"

"Hold it! We only have one bottle of it!"

"One bottle is all I need!" Ben cried as he yanked the bottle out of Driba's tiny hands.

"Give that back! You'll break it!"

"Not before I drink it!" As Ben and the two Galvan struggled for control of the ZMapp, it fell on the floor and smashed into a thousand tiny pieces.

"Dang it Driba, why'd you give it to him?"

"My fault is it? You're the one who took it out in the first place!"

"Ben, I'm going to have to revise my previous statement to most defiantly not."

"So I'm going to die?"

"Yup. Come Blukic, our work here is done." The two aliens hopped off the bed and disappeared. The door quickly opened and Rook, Max, Gwen and Kevin showed up.

"Ben! We have an urgent emergency that we need you to attend to," said Max.

"No can do Grandpa. I have to remain in quarantine under the doctor's orders."

"Dr. Brown said you can disobey his orders this one time."

"Awesome! What's the news?"

"It's not good, Ben. Vilgax heard of your sickness and is waiting outside the hospital to challenge you to a one-on-one fight," said Gwen.

"Only Vilgax would be so low as to attack you when you're defenseless, Ben," said Kevin.

"I'll go."

"Are you serious, Ben-dude?"

"Yeah. Today's a good a day to die as any." Ben huffed his way downstairs in his radiation suit and met Vilgax in the parking lot.

"Benjamin Tennyson," Vilgax spat, "How comforting is it to know that all the pain will soon be over when I crush you and finally claim my place as ruler of this puny planet?"

"Not gonna happen Vilgi! Not on my watch!"

"Really? You're hardly in a position to make threats. I hear you're quite ill."

"That's right."

"I was going to send you a get well card, but then I thought, how about I pay you a little personal visit?"

"How thoughtful of you."

"I'm only doing this so I can destroy you of course! Bring it on Tennyson!"

"Not only will I defeat you Vilgax, but I will make sure you can never harm anyone ever again!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Vilgax roared and ran towards NRG. NRG opened his containment suit and let the Ebola virus travel through the air and contaminate Vilgax, although the latter didn't notice it.

"Really Tennyson? That's all you're going to do? Open your radiation suit?"

"Not quite. You see, I didn't tell you that I have the Ebola virus. As we speak, the deadly disease is slowly spreading throughout your entire body, causing massive internal bleeding!"

"Ha! I think not! My internal repair mechanisms will clot the blood before I bleed to death."

"Not if I speed up the process using Clockwork!"

"No! You can't! That's inhumane!"

"How ironic. You beg for humane treatment and yet you never cared for an instant about my planet's inhabitants. No, you must receive your just deserts." Ben transformed into Clockwork.

"Any last words, Vilgax?"

"Curse you Ben Tennyson and your miserable planet!" Ben sped up time and Vilgax slowly rotted before Ben's eyes. We all that remained was bone, Ben looked up into the sky and said, "My work here is done!" He walked back into the Bellwood hospital for more testing.

"Great news! You're cured!" screamed Dr. Brown.

"I am?"

"You gave the disease to Vilgax and so you got rid of it."

"Yes! No more hospital visits!"

"Not exactly… you see, you still have to go apologize to all 4,000 of the hospitals you visited. You see, they're quite angry at you for tying up actual emergency calls!"

"Dang it Ebola! Why'd you have to do this to me?" Ben wailed.

The End