"If you bounce that ball one more time," Rook said through clenched teeth, eyebrow twitching, "I will be forced to take it from you." His grip on the pen was so tight that Rook's knuckles were aching and the pen itself was groaning in protest. How it hadn't snapped yet was beyond Rook.

Ben paused the steady bouncing. He was surprised, but only for a moment, as he looked his partner dead in the eye, smirked, and bounced the ball hard against the wall again.

Whoever had given that ball to him was ruined, but not nearly as much as Ben was about to be.

In a split second, Rook was on his feet, dropping his notebook and pen on the bed to swipe the ball from midair when Ben went to bounce it again. "It really was not a request," he stated with a pointed look at his unimpressed partner. "You may have this back once I am finished detailing our report. Is there anything else you would like for me to write down?"

Folding his arms over his chest, Ben made a show of pouting as he stuck his tongue out at Rook childishly. "Yeah. Write that Rook is a jerk who won't let his partner have fun, even though this room is literally the most boring place I've ever been stuck." He kicked his legs up, falling back on the peranite bed dramatically.

Of course, the bed was crystal, and the pillow provided didn't do much to shield his head from the feeling of impact. Rook bit back a small chuckle as Ben grumbled in pain, rubbing the forming bump. Karma was sweet.

Rook put the ball down next to his things, satisfied with the peace and quiet settling over them. The room might have been boring, what with only featuring two colors, but Rook thought that it was the ideal place to work. They were only on Petropia for a job, after all, as much as Ben liked to ignore that little detail.

"Here. I have written down what I can remember from our visit to the middle-class city, Circe. Feel free to add what you like." Carefully, Rook tore that page from his notepad, offering it and a second pen to Ben before sitting back down on his own bed.

The grumbling stopped and Ben sat up, running a hand through his hair wearily as his eyes barely skimmed Rook's neat, prim handwriting. "What, you mean that second city we visited? Before Terces? But that place was so boring!" His voice tilted up in a high-pitched whine as he fell back against the bed again, clearly not having learned his lesson if his involuntary wince was any indication. "Why do we have to be so detailed, anyway? Can't we just give the Plumbers a thumbs up or green light or something? We could be doing a million things other than writing a report, Rook. We're on another planet. Why not leave the homework for later?"

"If I do," Rook replied without looking up from his notes, "I may forget something crucial. I want the full report to be as complete as possible, which means that I require your input. It will not kill you to spend a few minutes writing."

More unhappy grumbling came from his partner, but Ben made himself comfortable and started filling out the page. It gave Rook about two minutes of blissful silence before Ben crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it back over to him. It caught Rook's on the cheek, rebounding to rest neatly at the foot of his bed. He sent a displeased glare towards Ben, but the human had already closed his eyes and folded his hands behind his head, relaxing into the perfect picture of spurious serenity. Ben held himself still, only allowing a faint smirk as he heard Rook sigh in defeat and open the paper.

At the top of the torn page, there was Rook's writing: Describe what you learned from Terces, he had asked.

If nothing else, Ben had provided, in the form of a cramped, sloppily-written list:

– propaganda of me, prob spread thx to head honcho
– ppl are rly easily spooked™
– not allowed to have credit, just food stamps
– ppl r def. being snapped by the illuminaughty
– talked to a guy who lowkey lost his lil bro (was vry sad)
– also old woman w/ lived thro a kidnapping n escaped
– disappearances tie in with some sort of sick?
– maybe more, but i dont remember (shrug emoji)

A grimace was on Rook's face the entire time that he spent reading through that. He had learned something very valuable that day: that Ben wrote the same way that he texted and also, that both were equally unintelligible. Assuming that any of the cameras Argyle had in the room could make out what had been written and that a Plumber on the planet could read English, they would never be able to understand it. Rook barely grasped it, and his comprehension was only possible because he had been forced to suffer through Ben's slang and unfunny jokes and bad grammar and poor spelling for over a year.

"I see," Rook said aloud once he'd finally digested the information. Ben cracked an eye open, glancing at him with a supremely smug smirk. "Very illuminating. I will make sure that Magister Tennyson hears of this once all of the paperwork is filled."

"Sweet," acknowledged Ben with a tilt of the head. He sat up, grabbing the edge of the bed and swinging his legs over the side. While he talked, he kicked them gently back and forth. "You can take a break now, right? I think that we're getting our breakfast rations soon. I mean, assuming that Warden Mantle remembers we're here. Plus, I wanted your help with something before he got here."

Now, why couldn't he have put that on the paper instead of incomprehensible garbage? Rook bit back a sigh, begrudgingly folding his report away to be completed later. Likely, when Ben went to sleep. "Is it anything serious?"

Ben paused with his hand in his pocket, hesitating. "Uh, maybe? I'm not sure if it's important or not, but..." He drew out the water bottle from the day before, holding it up for Rook to get a good look. "I've been trying to open it, see?" He pointed to the top as if trying to highlight burn marks or scratches, but the peranite looked as pristine as ever. "But," Ben continued, oblivious, "I guess I'm not strong enough. I heard from some of the locals that the water isn't… great quality and I wanted you to scan it with your Proto-Tool and see what's in it. Because unless this planet has issues with smog and pollution, it should be pure H2O, right?"

Considering it, Rook was silent, but he soon nodded and stood up. "That is sound logic. I should be able to open it, if I may?" He held his hand out and caught the bottle when Ben tossed it.

Rook grabbed his Proto-Tool from where it rested against his bed, having been taken apart and thoroughly cleaned the night before, the way that he always cared for it. It clicked snugly into place against his back, shifting into a blaster that rested daintily on Rook's shoulder. He adjusted the settings on the side, increasing the intensity and longevity of the blast and narrowing it to a single focus point. Now with a defacto laser ready to fire, Rook gestured for Ben to scoot closer to the wall as he held the bottle up towards the far wall. Just in case this went horribly wrong, he would prefer that Ben not be caught in the blast, what with his flammable clothes being the only viable thing in the room that flames could use as fuel.

With a neat shift of his torso, the laser fired and sliced smoothly through the top of the bottle. The good news was that peranite conducted neither heat nor electricity. The water inside had begun to boil from the heat, but Rook didn't feel it. Unfortunately, his little trial had left a part of their wall melted, but that was a problem for another day.

"Voilà!" Rook announced with a grin, turning to Ben as he neatly slid the severed top of the bottle off.

His partner chuckled, leaning forward to grab both pieces. "Wow, I'm impressed. You actually used that phrase correctly," he joked. Ben ran his thumb over the lip of the broken bottle, absently feeling the grooves that had formed when the melted material quickly hardened. "You do have a scanner in your Proto-Tool, right? I don't want to drink this and then find out after that it's toxic to humans."

The notion that Ben would have even considered drinking water that he received from a stranger in a city reputable for housing criminals was almost surprising to Rook. Almost. But then he glanced over his partner and decided that, yes, Ben Tennyson would most definitely do that if he had no other way to measure the water quality.

Once the Proto-Tool had finished cooling itself off, Rook detached it from his shoulder plate and easily transformed it into a scanner. "Of course I do," he replied matter-of-factly. "No Plumber should ever be without one." That made Ben roll his eyes, but he remained silent. Rook held the scanner up over the opened bottle, pulling it back once he had a good reading.

The results took a minute, but the analytics made Rook frown. "Interesting," he remarked, although the proper adjective was closer to, 'concerning.' "This says that while the contents are 99% H2O, there is an unknown chemical component. I have never scanned it, so I could not say what it is, but…" He trailed off.

"But we should definitely find out," Ben finished. His expression had gone from playful to severe at a snap of the fingers. "Can we ask Mantle? I mean, maybe the scanners in the lab here can give us a better report. If it's from this planet, they've probably seen it before."

"A good idea. But I thought that we were not supposed to confide in Mantle for things like this." He gestured to the results on his scanner for emphasis. "I am not convinced that he will even agree. Regardless, you can be certain that Argyle will hear of this. Whatever this is, at any rate." Rook shrugged helplessly.

The statement, truthful though it made be, made Ben's face crease with displeasure. "Well, yeah, I just… what other option do we really have? Those results are a jumble of numbers and letters. We need something to translate it into English for us since your scanner can't. And besides…" Ben narrowed his eyes, gaze turning dark. "I'm willing to bet that Argyle is already well-aware of… this."

Now it was Rook's turn to grimace. Despite the evidence, he still didn't like the idea of Argyle being the perpetrator in all of this. He was a Magister, after all, a very well-respected rank for a Plumber. Rook didn't like accepting that someone who shared the same title as he could also be so corrupt and vile. Ben had mentioned an illness affecting the people, and if this chemical turned out to be something dangerous, it had already been consumed by every citizen of Terces. More, depending on how far the bottling company distributed rations. This, as they were calling it, could quickly become a disaster on a global level.

Unwittingly, Rook gave a curt nod. "Right. There is not much point in pretending when we should be fixing this catastrophe."

That got him a smile from Ben as the hero climbed to his feet. "That's the spirit," he joked, clapping Rook on the shoulder with his free hand. "C'mon. We passed the lab during the tour. Let's see if we can find it." He gestured for Rook to follow, already starting towards the door.

"Were we not planning to wait for Mantle?" Rook protested though he had already trailed along after Ben.

The human shrugged dismissively, a familiar smirk replacing his downtrodden look. Rook didn't want to admit how much that relieved him. "Doesn't matter. He'll find us as long as we're still inside the base. It's not like they can actually keep us here." He held the Omnitrix up to the room's scanner and the door slid open with a smooth whir. If it were possible, Ben's grin widened. "See? C'mon, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get our answers."

Their partnership was rubbing off on Rook in all the wrong ways. His concerns vanished as easily as flicking his wrist and he found himself, albeit only slightly, sharing Ben's smile. "Lead on then, 'Hero of Heroes.'"

Hearing one of his many superfluous titles, Ben rolled his eyes good-naturedly. He slipped out the door, with Rook closing it behind them. It might buy them an extra second, which they could need if Mantle wasn't feeling very cooperative. Especially after Ben's outing in Terces the day before.

Finding the lab didn't take as long as Rook had been expecting. As it turned out, Ben's strategy of "follow the people with lab coats and a look of superiority," worked fairly well. Before long, they were rounding a corner to find pristine, glass-like sliding doors, the room beyond filled with to the brim with sterile white and steel.

"We found it," announced Rook, stating the obvious. "Now what?"

Ben paused, glancing behind him as though expecting Mantle to barrel down the hallway going full speed at any moment. "I'm not sure. To be honest, I didn't think we'd get this far," he admitted. "But how hard can it be? Just act like you belong and they won't question you."

Deadpan, all Rook could muster was a raised eyebrow. "You are Ben 10," he remarked dryly. "I imagine that there will be many questions, regardless of your behavior."

But Ben had already started forward, tuning his partner out. He tried the Omnitrix on the door's scanner and, to the surprise of both of them, it slid open with a barely audible click. Ben grinned, shooting Rook a thumbs up before starting inside. The Revonnahgander could do little more than sigh and shake his head before following after.

As predicted, Ben hasn't taken more than five steps before someone moved to block their path. "Excuse me," the woman said condescendingly as she adjusted a thin pair of spectacles. "Do you have permission to be in here, sirs? We're very busy and we don't need any unforeseeable mishaps to interrupt our delicate work." The evident note of disdain in her expression said that she was well aware of Ben's "less than by the books" reputation when it came to safety.

"Of course I've got permission." Ben rolled his eyes playfully, holding his wrist out to display the Omnitrix. "Permission to do what I want, right?" It was supposed to be a joke, but his smile fell when the Petrosapien only narrowed her eyes.

She laughed mockingly, reaching out to gently force Ben's hand back down to his side. Abruptly, the laughter stopped. "Not universally. For the lab, I'm afraid that you need real authorization. You understand." Firmly, she gestured for them to step back, towards the doors that they had come through a few seconds ago.

"They have permission," a voice interrupted them. All three focused on the newcomer. Igneous stood there with a look of exasperation on his face. "Corporal Mantle has given them access to the lab, so long as an authorized individual can keep an eye on them." He managed a tight smile. "So, here I am. Don't worry, Constanite, I'll make sure they don't wander into the test areas or something."

There was a pause, then she let out an unimpressed huff. "I'm on my shift, cadet. It's Professor." But she had a smile on her face, giving Igneous a meaningful look before adjusting her glasses once more and turning back to her job. "So long as nothing breaks, I won't refuse the Corporal."

The few other scientists who had been watching similarly looked away. Holding back how impressed he was, Ben turned to the cadet with his jaw unhinged "Why did you do that?" He asked, eyes big. "You didn't have to and Mantle'll have a cow when he finds out. How come you're helping us?"

Igneous shrugged. "If it's all the same with you, after the way yesterday went, I'd like to keep some secrets to myself. You don't have to trust me if you don't want to, but that'll probably only buy you five minutes until Mantle works it out and gets here. So, whatever it is you two wanted to do in the lab, I'd do it soon. I may be able to keep the ladies at bay, but I doubt my charm will have much effect on my superior." He winked at Constanite when she tried to sneak a glance at him. Her only response was to duck her face and skirt to the room over.

Before Ben could reply, Rook beat him to it. He gave a brief nod. "Thank you. We will be finished quickly." He took the open water bottle from Ben's hands, leaving Igneous waiting by the door as he crossed the room to one of the less-impressive devices in the lab.

Already familiarized with the technology, Rook took one of the clean microscope slides waiting by the side and carefully dropped a bit of water onto it. The water bottle was unceremoniously shoved back into Ben's hands as Rook busied himself with setting up the quantum scanner.

"Okay, using your Proto-Tool, I can understand," interrupted Ben, "but how do you know how to use this lab stuff? What didn't they teach you at Plumbers Academy?"

Rook hesitated. He had never admitted the truth about his training to Ben, mostly because Magister Tennyson had requested that he avoid doing so, for his grandson's peace of mind — something about not wanting Ben to know that his partner had been decided months in advance and carefully tailored to fit his unique "needs." As a result, Rook could use scanners and trackers and batons and nets and lasers and guns and much, much more than the average Plumber. All because he had been required to. Being Ben 10's partner was a full-time commitment that demanded some of the most intensive training the Plumber academy had to offer.

He said none of this out loud. To Ben, Rook's reply was, "A Plumber is well-versed in many subjects, Ben. There is a lot that you do not yet know about me."

It wasn't technically a lie. The subject was subsequently dropped. Ben went quiet, digesting this information while Rook started analyzing. The device did the work for him, as all he had to do was insert the slide and watch while it separated and spat out results for each individual molecule. The whole process took no longer than a few minutes.

"Ah, here we are." Rook relaxed. With a flick of a few buttons, the molecular strand of his choice came into crisp clarity. Words appeared off to the side in such rapid succession that it took a moment to recognize that it was all written in Petropia's language. Another moment was spent changing the language, but then the results read clear as day. Underneath his fur, Rook felt himself pale and go cold.

For Ben, confusion hit before horror. He blinked, grimacing as he muddled through the seven-syllable words. Even without the dictionary of a chemist though, the meaning was blatant. It was obvious when Ben understood because his entire body went rigid.

"That can't be right. Tell me I'm reading that wrong, Rook." The hand that his partner had on Rook's shoulders tightened until his knuckles were white and shaking. It had to hurt for Ben, but he gave no indication of it. He only stood very, very still.

All Rook could do was shake his head. "There is no use denying what we both know to be correct," he said evenly.

The chemical name was something stupidly long and complex that obviously hadn't translated smoothly, but that wasn't what had Rook tense with anger. It was a biological chemical found only on Terces and produced exclusively by Congeries sicarius. It was a name that Rook recognized faintly from Popagai's description of the Red Sleep. Evidentally, Ben did, too.

Without turning, Rook knew that the look on his partner's face would be nothing short of furious. "So what you're saying," Ben said slowly, "is that these people aren't sick, they're just being eaten from the inside out?"

Eyes wide, Rook nodded. "It does appear that way, yes."

Heavy footsteps had them turning their heads. Mantle came bursting into the lab with intention in his eyes, his usual glare only deepening as he caught sight of their hands on the machine. Like he had been burned, Rook immediately let go, but it had no effect on placating the furious corporal.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked, marching over to them like a man on a mission. "We have a very strict schedule to keep to and with this little stunt plus what happened yesterday I've just about had it with—" Mantle cut himself off, eyeing the water bottle in Ben's hand and then the machine, still quietly whirring away. "What exactly are you using the quantum analyzer for?"

Anger was not an emotion that Ben handled well. Before he could even open his mouth, Rook clamped a hand over his face to quiet him, forcing a smile that Mantle didn't buy for a second. "We are analyzing the water resource of Terces from the bottle which Ben acquired yesterday for our report. However, our scan showed an unusual chemical component. If you would look at it, perhaps you could explain it to us? Our report will need to detail whether it is dangerous or not."

Thankfully, Rook had appealed to Mantle's two biggest weaknesses: his ego and his need to prove himself. He puffed up like a strutting peacock, stepping between Ben and Rook and forcing the two to part as he looked at the screen. "Of course I can. But this habit of sneaking off cannot keep being excused. Anyway…" He changed the language back to one that he could read, frowning as he quickly glanced over the details.

The implications were slow to register. Mantle read over it once, twice, then blinked hard and did it a third time. His mouth opened in shock, but otherwise, there was no outward reaction. He froze.

After a moment, Ben rolled his eyes, impatient. He made a sort of annoyed gesture at Rook, who only shrugged. Biting back a sigh, the hero tapped Mantle pointedly on the shoulder. No reaction. "So, is this stuff normal in your water or what?" He asked sarcastically, already very much aware of the answer.

Coming back to himself very gradually, Mantle shook his head. "No," he replied softly. "No, it's not. This is…" He forced himself to take a deep breath, straightening up as his expression grew severe. "We need to bring this to Magister Argyle's attention right away. This could very easily become a slaughter if left unchecked." He turned sharply, starting right back out of the lab at a rapid pace. Ben and Rook hesitated for a second before following.

"The traces of that chemical are really faint," Ben remarked, having to jog to keep up with Mantle's long strides. "How long can that be in the water before it starts doing real harm?"

"Not as long as you might think." Mantle sped past his three cadets, who were waiting with Tetrax out in the non-restricted hallway. He didn't spare them so much as a nod and, confused, they trailed along after him silently. "Red Sleep venom is incredibly bad for Petrosapiens. On skin, the effect might not be so severe, but because it's in the water supply, it is absorbed into every bit of the body. Over time, likely not even a few weeks, side effects will become obvious. If enough is ingested, it can permanently cripple a Petrosapien's natural ability to manipulate peranite or even their own bodies, stunting both growth and healing. And in high amounts, a person's insides will dissolve into slush."

Ben looked properly horrified. Even Rook felt a little queasy. "That's awful," the hero breathed. "Is it reversible at all?" At that moment, it looked like he might give anything for the answer to be "yes."

For better or worse, he received no answer at all. They kept on in silence, marching up several floors and down twisting halls. The journey itself took several minutes with how big the base was, but Rook barely noticed. His thoughts were buzzing loud enough to block out all else. He only noticed how far they had traveled once they stopped and Rook realized that they were on the very top floor. That was where Argyle's office was, after all. High above everything else, lording over them like some malevolent god.

How fitting.

Here, Mantle showed the first bit of hesitance. He stopped right outside the door, fist raised to knock and paused. A frown came to his face, as though he were weighing the options. When it looked like he was going to turn around and give up, the incredulous look on Ben's face turned to one of exasperation.

"Oh, for the love of—! Move over, I'll do it." Ben squeezed around Mantle easily, shoving his Omnitrix against the door scanner. It opened immediately, sliding up to reveal a darkened, but otherwise normal-looking, office. Mantel's protests died in his throat.

Without waiting for permission, Ben stormed in. Rook had been his partner long enough to know that he ought to follow. Tetrax was right at his heels, with Mantle hurrying after and the cadets still rooted to the spot. Given Argyle's reputation, Rook didn't blame them. The door slid shut behind them with a soft whir.

It was immediately obvious that they were interrupting. Argyle had cut himself off mid-sentence once the door opened and he was soon on his feet, furious. "What is the meaning of this?" He snapped. His eyes played over each of them in turn before settling on Mantle. "I expect better from you, Corporal. You are well aware that I requested not to be disturbed for the next hour."

Mantle couldn't even make eye contact with his superior, the shame was so great. Seeing this only seemed to upset Ben further. He held no fondness for Mantle, and yet, he positioned himself between both Petrosapiens and met Argyle's glare with one of his own.

"It's important," he said tensely, swallowing his frustration in an effort to be diplomatic. "I think you can afford to waste a few minutes on this."

The atmosphere was so heavy that it felt like the silence would never end. No one spoke, and Ben and Argyle refused to lessen their glares. It was only when the computer perched on Argyle's desk buzzed to life that the spell was broken.

"Argyle?" A high-pitched voice asked. "Who else is speaking? There had better not be someone else in the room. We agreed that communication between us was to be private."

With Ben as keyed up as he was, Rook wasn't surprised to see him roll his eyes. "Really, this is the oh-so-important thing that you're putting before your people? A phone call?" He snapped at Argyle. And before anyone could move to stop him, Ben reached out and grabbed the computer monitor, whirling it around so he could look at who was speaking. "What's so urgent that you can't just hang up and..." He blinked, momentarily stunned. "...call again later?"

The alien on screen was a Nemuina, the same species as the transformation that Ben called Pesky Dust. Seeing them off of their planet was rare, and seeing them deal with another species was even rarer. Nemuinas had a bit of a superiority complex, which was to be expected, given how most every being in the galaxy feared them. No one enjoyed having their minds toyed with and Nemuinas treated other beings as little more than tools for their own amusement. Even Rook couldn't hold back the surprise of seeing one on Argyle's screen.

This Nemuina was female, no doubt. She had deep pink wings, flecked with red. Maybe it was Rook's imagination, but they looked unnatural, like blood splatters. Her skin was pale lavender, her hair buzzed short and so dark that it was almost indigo. The colors were certainly unique — even the marks on her cheeks and chin were unusual, being a deep scarlet. But the thing that stood out the most was her teeth. Her mouth was filled with purposefully sharpened canines and when she smiled, there was a noticeable recoil.

"Well, lookie here," the Nemuina trilled in a way that sent shivers down Rook's spine. She leered at Ben the way that a starving man looked at steak. "Ben 10? Argyle, you've been holding out on me! I've been waiting to meet you for far too long, Tennyson. Can I call you Ben? Surely we're on a first name basis."

Ben did that funny thing that he did when he was confused and unhappy about it — furrowing his brows and holding his mouth open in a small "o" as he struggled to think of a reply. It was clear that her tone made him as uncomfortable as everyone else in the room. He never got the chance to speak, as Argyle finally snapped back into reality.

Lurching forward, he swung the monitor right back around to face himself. "It's selective disinformation, Murowa," he hissed, eyes narrowed with surprising hostility. "You didn't need to know, so I didn't tell you. Now, I will call you back later and I would appreciate it if you maintained some discretion or at least possessed a filter of some kind. Goodbye." He ended the call then and there, cutting Murowa's protests off mid-sentence.

She wasn't the first alien to want to speak to Ben, but something about her made Rook think that her intentions weren't those of a fan. And yet, she also seemed familiar. But where would Rook have seen a Nemuina before?

"So," Argyle growled out before Rook could puzzle through his thoughts, "what is it that you're interrupting me for?"

As quickly as he had been thrown off, Ben pulled himself back together. He grew serious once more. "We scanned the water that I got from Terces." Ben held up the still-open bottle, giving it a shake for emphasis. "It's laced with toxins from the Red Sleep. We thought that you should know before it — and I'm just snowballing here — causes a global death toll up into the millions." His eyes narrowed. "But if that's not important enough for you, I'm sure that your people will understand."

Argyle sneered. He, unlike Mantle, was apparently unwilling to put his disliking of Ben behind. At least now they were capable of eye-contact. "Don't be smart, kid. You're not good at it." Then, seeming to realize his position, Argyle took a deep breath and looked to Rook instead. It felt like the Revonnahgander was the only person in the room that he didn't loathe to look at. "Rest assured, the issue will be handled. I've no intention of letting my people die. Now, if that is all…" He gestured to the door, sitting back down at his desk. "I trust that you gentlemen know your way out."

"What?" Ben sputtered, caught between being furious and being confused. "That's it? That's all you're going to say? Millions of people are at risk and you're just—!" He snapped his mouth shut as a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Ben." It was Tetrax, his expression severe. Even though Rook still distrusted him, he was a little concerned to see the look on Tetrax's face. It was as though he was in agony, eyes big and somehow managing to look pale. He had looked fine downstairs and Rook cursed himself for not paying better attention. "The decision has been made. If I were you, I would leave the issue alone. Petrosapiens are fully capable of looking out for our own."

Oddly enough, Rook had the impression that Tetrax wasn't talking about Argyle.

Maybe Ben had the same feeling. He slumped in defeat, sparing one last weak glare at Argyle's smirk before nodding. "Yeah. Sure," he mumbled unwittingly.

The four of them went back over to the door. Mantle, stiffer than diamond, was about to open it with his Plumbers badge when Argyle spoke up and he paused.

"Oh, and Corporal?" The Magister drawled, as though bored. "Please do learn to keep your charges under control — while I can still call you corporal." He let the message hang in the air before adding, "You are all excused."

The door opened and they surged out of the room in a desperate rush. Ben still had plenty to say, but he was resigned to how things had gone. That didn't stop him from kicking the closed door behind him. "Jerk…" He muttered. Then his attention turned to Mantle.

His hesitance was obvious, but Ben reached out a hand to place on the man's shoulder. "Hey, look, I know you don't really like me, but I—"

Mantle jerked his arm as though to smack Ben's hand away. At the last second, he stopped himself, dropping his hand with a sigh. "I don't need your pity, Tennyson. My superior has given his answer and his commands. We will stick to our schedule as best we can, even if you've wasted plenty of precious time." He tried to glare at Ben but it lacked the animosity that it used to. Mantle must have felt it because he quickly turned away, trying to keep any further embarrassment to a minimum. He refused to even look at his cadets. "Let's go," came his hollow order as he took off down the hall, back the way they came.

The cadets went first, but as Ben and Rook moved to follow, Tetrax chose that moment to speak up. "I won't be coming with you today," he said to Ben. Whatever had caused his change in mood, he still hadn't recovered. In fact, in the brightly lit hallway, he looked haunted. "I'll be back tomorrow, but today, I have something very important that I need to see to. Listen to your partner and stay out of trouble."

It was that last part that made Ben scowl. He crossed his arms over his chest, turning away. "I'm not a kid anymore, Tetrax. I can take care of myself without you or Grandpa Max or Rook hovering over my shoulder. Take as long as you need, what do I care if you're here or not?" He retorted bitterly.

Neither said anything for a long, long moment. Tetrax's expression gave away none of his thoughts and, after some time, he nodded. "Of course. My mistake, Ben Tennyson." And then he left — just like that. No parting words or gestures. Ben didn't even turn to look at him.

Rook felt a strange surge of pity for Tetrax and a wave of guilt towards himself. All that interaction did was remind him that Ben would never forgive Rook if he knew the specifics of their arranged partnership. He had long held the belief that honesty was the best policy, but since becoming a Plumber, Rook had been forced to grow comfortable with lies.

That didn't make him feel any less sick about it.

"Come on," he said to Ben, placing a hand on the human's shoulder. "Today we are getting a flight around the planet and a glimpse of the state of the solar system. You should enjoy what you have accomplished for these people."

And maybe stroking Ben's ego wasn't the best decision, but when he saw his partner relax and smile, Rook decided that he could tolerate a little extra bragging for that pay-off.

"You're right," Ben agreed. "Besides, I wouldn't want you to miss out on something that could go in the report." They shared a private chuckle at the joke before Ben shrugged Rook's hand off and started forward. As he was so accustomed to doing when it came to Ben, Rook gladly followed.

A/N: For this fic (like almost all of my other Ben 10 works) Ben and Rook's friendship/partnership is going to get quite a bit of focus and additional depth. That being said, if it gets a little bit "shippy" feel free to interpret it that way. I thought about bringing romance into this, but this fic already has so much shit going on that I didn't feel the need to hammer it in.

Still, the interpretation is there if you guys want to see it. I might make it a bit more obvious if the idea receives positive feedback, but don't expect any kissing or a love confession. It's not going to go there.

But, hey, if this fic ends up getting some traction, I might do a companion oneshot or an alternate ending exploring the possibility. You never know.

Chapter Eight: Into the Fire