Chapter Ten: Discovered and Disrupted
Ben and Gwen shivered and looked at Max and Xylene as fear ran through both of them the following night as the four of them rode along the highway in silence. Max looked at the children with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong, Gwen?" Max asked. She was about to answer when a van rocketed past them. Xylene glared at the van. "What's the problem with humans obeying their own laws?" She asked the trio in confusion. Gwen and Ben sighed. "Money talks." They said in sync as Xylene looked on more confused as she tried to figure out the expression. Gwen smiled and nodded at Ben as she made a ramp out the asphalt with a spell. Their vehicle flew up into the air. Ben smiled, went Diamondhead, and caught the van in a giant crystal hand. The van came to a halt instantly, but momentum threw the crooks into the window. If the window wasn't reinforced to be bulletproof, they would have smashed through the window and been crushed once they hit the pavement. Even so, the would-be robbers turned the window into a spider web.
To say the cops that were nonplused were they came upon the crooks in their unusual predicament was an understatement. One guy got out of his squad car and stared up at the armored bank truck in the palm of a massive crystal humanoid hand. "Uh…Dispatch we have a rescue situation in the middle of I-60. Call in a ladder truck, please." He looked back to see an RV pull up behind the car. The cop glared at the occupants. "Excuse me," He called out nervously. "Exit the vehicle, please." The people in the RV complied, but the cop's eyes were drawn to the crystal humanoid thing. The creature went to step toward him but stopped when a fiery redheaded ten year old girl held up a hand and said, "Stop it, Ben. You're freaking him out!" The girl said as she glared lightly at the creature. The creature, apparently called "Ben", nodded and reached up. The patrolman stood in shock as he watched the giant hand respond to the smaller one and copy its motions as the hand shrank back into the ground until even the fingers of the colossal hand disappeared and left only holes in the asphalt to show that it had even existed. "They are all yours, officer." Ben said as the officer's jaw tried to meet the ground. "Dispatch, cancel that ladder truck." He said with a calm smile. He was still leery of Ben, but if the alien wouldn't hurt the girl, it was safe to assume he wasn't a threat. "Thanks for the assist." The officer said before he packed the back of the cruiser up with the crooks and took off for downtown.
As the police pulled away from the scene, Gwen smiled at Ben. "Who's your hero?!" She whispered to Ben in his ear as the boy chuckled and shook his head. "That's the way of Ben 10K, Gwen." Ben reminded her with a sigh as he kissed her. They walked inside the RV, and out of curiosity, Ben turned on the TV. What came on wasn't that surprising. The newscaster had a finger in her ear as she looked down from a chopper that overlooked the chaos Ben and the others had just left. "It seems there was a helping hand in the streets of San Francisco just a few moments ago that assisted in the capture of a ring of bank robbers. Sources say that this benevolent protector travels with a young girl and an older man…" Ben shut the TV off and looked at Max and Xylene worriedly. "I hope certain people don't see this." Ben said kinda scared as he gripped Gwen's hand in an effort to calm himself down. "If my parents see this, what are they going to do. Ben?" She smiled and kissed him. "The worst they could do is call me back home." She said as she looked at him with calm eyes. "That's what worries me, Gwen," Ben said calmly. "If any of our enemies heard about the team splitting up, they would be stupid not to take the opportunity and take us out one at a time."
Gwen gave him a small smile. Sometimes she hated helping Ben embrace his smarter side. "Ben, if my parent's call, how will the bad guys be able to find out where I live?" Ben just shook his head. "Even our dumbest enemy built a mutation ray out of spare parts." He said calmly. "I don't think a phone trace would be too much trouble for any of them." Xylene looked at them and frowned. "I don't mean to worry you Gwen, but phone taps into human communication networks are fairly simple for aliens." She said calmly as Max nodded in agreement. Max began to work on a communication bug that would alert him through the detection network built into the RV and released the program into the phone network. "Gwen, if anyone taps your mother and father's phones, I'll know about it." Grandpa Max told her calmly with a comforting tone.
Gwen was not soothed by her grandfather's comforting words. Ben could see that much as she went to her bunk and sat down without a word or book in her hand. He did not want her to feel that she was alone, so he went and sat by her. Gwen seemed to brighten slightly as she became aware that Ben sat beside her. Ben looked at her face and put his hand on her cheek. "Everything will be okay, Gwen." He said as he pulled her into a gentle hug. "I won't let them get hurt. I promise." Ben smiled at Gwen with a kind and gentle tone. Gwen returned the smile and kissed him gently, comforted with the knowledge that Ben was willing to protect her Mom and Dad in spite of the fact they would probably hate what Ben was once they found out. As Gwen snuggled into Ben's slightly furry and warm chest, Max smiled at that scene as he watched in the rearview. You're learning, Ben. Max thought as Xylene reached over from the passenger seat and slapped him.
Max looked ather with a stunned look. "What I'd do?" He whispered Xylene just shook her head. "You shouldn't praise Ben for doing what comes naturally as if it had to be learned." Xylene told him calmly with a slight glare. Max looked at his love with a perplexed expression. "Loboans are very affectionate toward their mates, Max. You truly have been out of the game too long if you've forgotten that." Xylene said calmly. "It wasn't that, Xylene…" Xylene smiled at Max. "My people are telepaths. We only communicate verbally for the benefit of other species." That brought a pale look to Max's face. "Do you think I would intrude deeper into your thoughts unless invited?" Xylene couldn't cry; her reptilian physiology made such an action impossible. Nonetheless, the sadness the accusation that she would betray Max's trust made her feel was evident in her face. "Max, you must know I would never do such a thing." She said as she used her powers to keep the RV in its lane and kissed Max softly.
About an hour later as Xylene was getting up to get something to eat, Gwen's emergency phone rang. Because she was soundly asleep lying on Ben's chest with him sitting and because he did not want to wake her, Ben gently picked it up. "Hello?" He asked in a whisper. "Ben, where's Gwen, and why do you have her phone?!" Ben tried to control himself, so he wouldn't scream at Lilly and wake Gwen in the process. "She's asleep, and I didn't want to wake her." Ben could almost see the fire in the woman's eyes over the phone as she posed the next question. "That's from chasing down bank robbers, I suppose?" Ben felt a growl form in his throat. Something about Lilly's tone made the boy furious. "Listen here and now. If I find you laid a finger on Gwen because of this…" Lilly's tone showed how shocked she was at Ben's response, but fed up with the woman, Ben gave the phone to Grandpa Max before he could hear her response.
Max looked over as Ben quickly handed him the phone. Max noted Ben's annoyed, almost irate, expression and prepared himself. "…how dare you talk to me like that, young man! I have a good mind to-" Max cleared his throat to let Lilly know who she was talking to. "I understand, Lilly," Max told her calmly. "We'll be back as soon as possible." He told her. He was about to hang up when Lilly stopped him. "When Gwen wakes up, can you tell her that her Biology teacher stopped by." As Lilly stopped talking, Max was able to hear a familiar voice in the background. Max's tone became serious as soon as he registered the voice. "Lilly…what does Gwen's Biology teacher look like?" Max's tone became serious to the point that it almost sounded angry when she rattled off Doctor Animo's description. "We'll be right there, Lilly!"
Ben was able to hear most of the conversation and was already covering the RV as Upgrade when Max hung up. "Hold onto your butts!" Ben said calmly as he pushed the Upgraded hyperjets in the RV to their limit. During the blindingly fast trip, Gwen woke up and asked what was going on. "Animo found your Mom and Dad, Gwen." Ben told her as they flew up to Gwen's street and coasted into her driveway. The four of them jumped out of the Rustbucket and quickly cased the house. Ben could see clearly into the living room and saw Frank and Lilly bound and gagged in the middle of the floor.
Quickly, Ben thought up a plan. "Xylene, cloak me, Grandpa, and Gwen with your powers. Once we're inside, Gwen will cast that spell on Animo that she put on me to make me into a human chew toy." When everyone gave him an odd look because he referred to himself as human, Ben rolled his eyes and said, "You know what I mean." Ben then continued. "Gwen's distraction will buy Grandpa enough time to free Gwen's parents. Then, I'll deal with Animo." They all nodded in agreement. Gwen, out of the three who hadn't thought up the plan, was the most impressed with it. You've come a long way, Doofus. Gwen thought to herself as she mumbled the spell. Once the neighborhood dogs swarmed Animo, the disoriented mad doctor was an easy take down. Animo didn't stand a chance. Ben leaped at him, dug in with his claws as Animo screamed, and whispered as if he was talking to child, "You now know not to mess with my family. Don't you?" Animo nodded slowly. "Good boy." Ben cooed before he threw Animo out the window.
When Frank and Lilly saw Xylene after everything had cooled down, things went nuts. "Who is she Dad?" Frank yelled. "I don't care about that! What is she?!" Ben felt a growl form in his throat and let his Loboan form out. Franks eyes went wide as he watched his supposed nephew turn into a biped wolf. Max used the stunned silence as a cue, and started to explain the basics of his double life to his daughter-in-law and son. Once Max was done with that, Frank noticed his daughter was a little too close to Ben. "Let me guess. You two are together." Frank meant this sarcastically. When Ben nodded and Gwen looked at Ben with a beaming smile, the man fainted.
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