The hero of heroes, or locally Ben Tennyson - the wielder of the Omnitrix, couldn't be happier. For the first time in what seemed like years, he was lounging on a couch in his headquarters in Black Hills, South Dakota - right next to Mount Rushmore.
Usually, he was called away at almost every minute of his life to fight some small alien invader. The people looked up to him, and were always calling for his help. He had once answered a distress call from an elderly man who locked his keys in his hover car. It was disastrous for Ben's ego.
In that moment, his television program was interrupted by an incoming local call. Rolling his eyes and sighing heavily, he answered it.
"Mr. Ten Th- I mean Tennyson..." a formally dressed black-haired woman started.
"Yes?" Ben answered, looking quite the opposite of her. He had a full-grown goatee with glossy brown hair that was cut shorter on the sides but long on the top - giving his bangs a fringe effect.
"Your sons, Kenny and Devlin, are in need of transport home."
"And why is that?"
"They have been expelled," she stated simply before looking over to the side at something unseen.
The tall man - who had been enjoying his day off on the couch - stood up and stretched. This wasn't the first time they had been suspended or kicked out from school, but expelled? That was different. It takes a lot to expel two ten-year-olds.
"Alright," he answered solemnly. "I'll be right down there."
"Thank you Mr. Tennyson."
The screen then returned to Ben's previous channel. He quickly switched it off and grabbed his black leather coat off of a nearby table. He couldn't decide whether to take his car - for the second time in five years - or to simply get them with XLR8.
"I haven't drove in a while..."
Just then red lights began to flash all around in his headquarters. Being on the twenty-second level, it probably looked like a bomb threat to any onlookers outside.
At first, Ben thought that it was the typical intruder warning, but then he counted the ones that were lit. His alarm system was based on a certain number of flashing lights for particular alerts. The amount that were lit were definitely not describing a break-in.
Quickly, Ben went over to his mainframe that was on the other side of his top room and he scanned the screen for the alerts legend.
"Eleven...eleven lights..." he said aloud in a rush. Instantly as he said that, he found what the lights represented.
"Emergency transmission? I don't-" then his mind snapped and he remembered the person - the only person - who he had given an emergency frequency number.
Ever since Gwendolyn had told him that she would be all around the galaxies dealing with aliens who were harming people, Ben had gotten nervous and worried. He never wanted to admit that she was the only one who got the frequency code. Gwendolyn believed that he had given it to a few other people as well. She was wrong.
Sweat started to build up in the man's hands. She would never...never call on this number. He tried to convince himself that it might have been an accident. Because whatever trouble Gwendolyn was in, it had to be bad - as she typically doesn't call for help. Especially not from Ben.
He tapped a receiver button on the steel computer board and watched as the large screen teemed with the life of a rough transmission.
The image of an orange-haired woman appeared on screen. She was struggling with the ship's controls and by the movement of the terrain outside her windows, Ben could see that she was spinning in sickening circles.
"Ben!" she cried out, hoping her voice would make it through to the mic in the midst of all the ship's alarms. "It didn't work...the alien, it was just so much stronger. It...I-it got my thruster and I can't..." a tear came down from her left eye - tainting the pureness of the green in it. "I'm not going to be able to make it home, and I don't think-"
Her voice was cut off and the media message ended. The last thing that Ben's eyes had witnessed was Gwendolyn's getting wide and her chest heaving upwards in a heavy breath. Almost as if...as if she was about to make impact with something.
Ben stared - open mouthed - at the scene he had just witnessed. His stomach churned with brutal and gruesome thoughts of what might of happened. Had he just witnessed his cousin die?
"No!" he cried out, in an attempt to stop his mind from thinking such bad inquiries. Not once in his life had he told her that he appreciated anything she did, or that he cared for her in any such way. If she was...killed in a crash then the only thing she would remember is how much Ben could care less about her.
The brunette man's eyes were wide as he realized the truth and the possibility of it. Quickly, he denied it all.
"No, she's alive. I know it. Gwen's a tough girl," he spoke using her pet name that he still called her. He never could get used to calling her Gwendolyn from her being "Gwen" all his childhood.
Clenching his teeth, he drastically made up his mind to go out and search for her. It was a rash decision, but it seemed like the only way he could redeem himself for being such a snob and jerk around her.
Using the computer's radio, he contacted Max - his grandfather who was still living strong.
"Grandpa, I need you to pick up the kids from school right now. They're in a bit of trouble."
Almost instantly, Ben got a response. He was glad that Max hadn't left his radio somewhere under an old component of the Rust Bucket again.
"Can do, but what's wrong? You sound a bit shaken and in a rush."
The heroine closed his eyes. Max would never allow him to just plunge out in space without making up a huge plan first. Ben never was the one to stop and think about what he might be doing, but it didn't matter to him at this point.
"I have...an errand to run. It's highly important and its priority is higher than anything right now."
"I understand," Max answered and then closed the radio channel - in case any tech-savvy people decided to listen in on the famous Ben 10,000's conversations.
Ben took a deep breath, and placed his hands on his hips. Everything was happening so fast. Gwen had been on Yvin, a rocky planet with an interesting transparent atmosphere, and that was on the other side of the Milky Way.
Luckily, thanks to Ben, scientist had been able to improve space travel tenfold. He had given them bits and pieces of alien spacecrafts until they were able to come up of something fast using the information that they had gathered. Being such a helpful person, Ben was given two Grazer X200's. They were the fastest space traveling ships available and came in a pretty metallic white. He passed one down to Gwen, and kept one for himself.
He loaded up food and cases of water into his ship. Not sure of how long the expedition would take, Ben made sure to pack as much as the ship's cooler could hold. It was about a months worth on normal standards.
During the load-up, he ran a system check on the ship. It hadn't been flown even once, but Ben had been taught how to fly it from practice runs with his cousin.
Other than a small fuel evaporation, the ship checked out OK. Space travel was one of his favorite things to do. The vacuum was so quiet and peaceful - with usually no one around. He liked the fact that he could sleep with no chance of interruptions from the world's "hero needs".
Ben put his hand on the white ship and rubbed its metallic body. "I need to give you a name." he chuckled. "How about...the Millennium Falcon?" The man laughed at his Star Wars reference.
"Maybe some other time," he finally concluded and walked into the craft - seating himself in the red leather chair of the cockpit. The ship had a large circular interior - like that of his headquarters, but in miniature size. It would be comfortable, but that wasn't why he was going into space.
Looking up at the opening ceiling door as his ship was rising to the top of his headquarters, Ben stared at the sky and made an all-out, determined promise.
"I will save you, like you have done so many times for me."