Sorry for the scare of taking Hero High: Sphinx Academy down; glad to see so many reviewers still enjoy reading my story. So to make up for it, I made this chapter longer then any of my Hero High chapters so far. Hope you all enjoyed it and hope to read your reviews.

PS: I accept non-logged in reviews; that is the reason I took off the "Must Log In" review option. Also if you can't review because you have already done a log-in review for chapter 10, just log out and review.

Chapter 10: Training time

The young orange haired Bless couldn't help but go straight to her room and lock the door behind her; where once the door closed the teenaged girl couldn't stop the burning water from pouring down her cheeks.

Why, Gwen kept on cursing why she ever had these feelings for him in the first place. Telling herself over and over again, focusing her full attention on studying and training with her powers and martial arts but no matter what she did or what she told herself she couldn't help but still have feelings for him, for the boy who went by the name Alexander Sovereign the Third.

Gwen remembered once she started to develop over the year she noticed she was to becoming more popular with the males of her species; getting at least one confession a week. However no matter what they did she could never ever say yes to anyone of them, always remembering the first time she met him when they asked.

All these memories that once brought her nothing but happiness now seemed to only bring her pain; yet she just couldn't let them go, still relying on the faint hope that somehow somewhere the boy that meant so much to her still existed.

Although even will these horrible feelings, she had to put up a tough front to get the work that had to be done, done. Walking over to her desk, lighting some of her scented candles to help her relax as she pulled open her desk drawer; seeing the item she hasn't had the heart to throw out, the last letter she got from Alex before he left Bellwood.

All that was written in the middle of this small piece of paper was we will meet again, someday. She didn't know why she would hold onto this large paper that reminded her of when he disappeared from her life and was revealed to be a programmed personality. Feeling like the first step of finally getting over him would be to destroy this letter once and for all.

Quickly grabbing it she held it only a few inches away from the fire of her candle, yet her hand wouldn't stop shaking. Feeling as this would be a good first step towards finally getting over him but she just couldn't gather the strength to do so; the heat caressing the back of her twitching fingers.

However, she couldn't believe what was happening before her eyes as more words started to form on that piece of paper. How could she have been so blind? Remembering that the nurse stated Alex asked for only an orange, forgetting that the citrus acid in oranges could be used as invisible ink; feeling that after everything that happened that week she must have just completely overlooked it. Shocked yet glad that the message has lasted so long, reading it as it finally completely revealed itself.

Dear Gwen, I don't know why I am in the hospital as the last thing I can remember was seeing your beautiful face with a sever pain in my back. I was told that I protected you from a mugging and got stabbed yet I wonder why I can't remember anything before that. However, I was told by my dad that we are moving out of Bellwood immediately to a top secret location; being over-protective about the mugging I guess. I felt depressed that I might not be able to see you before I leave and wrote this message without his knowledge. I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye in person but just know, I still care for you very deeply and I hope soon, where the messaged linked up with the only part she could read before, we will meet again, someday.

Resting her head on her arm, Gwen couldn't help but use her sleeve to soak up a new flood of tears. Was he really still there, somewhere deep in the catacombs of Pharaoh's twisted mind?

Benjamin Tennyson made his way straight over to the Project's House. After seeing that message from their President he knew he could no longer sit idly by and hope the House could somehow take care of Sphinx Corp.

He might have been a bad guy butt kicker, yet with this unusual normal life he got from being a student of Sphinx Academy combined with wanting nothing more than to keep Ren safe, he would admit the thought of taking off the Omnitrix and living like a normal teenager with her has crossed his mind a few times, before and after being introduced to the House.

But now from what he saw Pharaoh was capable of doing single handedly the House was going to need all the help it could get. He wanted nothing more to protect Ren like he should have done before, so he needed to get to know the whole situation inside and out. Therefore who better then talking to the head of their Taskforce, Fredi Heat?

For some reason, according to Michael and Jack of wanting to take their chances with the Sins, they stayed behind at his house playing video games as he knocked on the door of this seemingly innocent home. Watching as the door creaked open like one of those houses in his favorite horror films, feeling more interesting when he was watching it happen on TV than in real life.

Slowly making his way into the home of the Projects, he kept calling out. "Hey Fredi, are you here?" as he made his way through the large house. It seemed as if the house was empty at the moment, giving himself a short tour as he waited to speak with the head of the Taskforce about finally taking down Pharaoh and his insane plan for World War III.

At the moment, it seemed like no one was home as he made his way upstairs just to be sure. Standing before the only door that was closed, believing from what he saw in the other rooms this was probably Fredi's. He would have never guessed that Kristen liked to go clothes shopping.

However, the sudden sensation of pure and utter fear came over Ben's body once he grasped on that golden door handle. His body dropping in temperature while all the hairs on his body stood up on end; how was it possible that he was so scared from standing in front of the door to where his body wouldn't stop shivering.

Swallowing what felt like a baseball down his throat, the alien hero gathered all of what was remaining of his courage to twist that door handle and open the door; startled by what he saw in that room.

Within the House of Tempus, Spec Masters made his way to the one he serve's office holding a small silver tray with Lady Karen's evening snack: composed of a glass of orange juice, assorted fruits and a small piece of white chocolate cake with a frosting flower, her favorite. Remembering that she always had a bit of a sweet tooth since she was a little girl, how Sir Alex would always cut his desert in half and give her the bigger piece.

After that announcement from the President it felt like ever member of the Family were working overtime; unsure of what Sphinx Corp. was up to after Sir Alex had South America, North America and Canada changed to Alexandria. So all he could do now was to proudly help Lady Karen anyway he possibly could with any little task that could be a distraction from her important work.

However, once the teen with a silver face-plate as a mask reached her office door, before he could introduce his presences like a good servant should, he could clearly hear the one he personally served muffled crying.

This only reminded him of the day that Sir Alex was banished from the House. Spec had to be as emotionless as the one he once served to hold his Lady back, screaming even after her little throat was ripped and sore while she watched her only brother being lead out of the House. Her pure tears did not stop falling from her innocent eyes for a least a whole month.

Spec sometimes wondered if his Lady was fit to one day succeed as the next Head of the House. It was not because of any negative views but he believed that she was far too kind and sincere to do what the House needed to do day-by-day. Yet it seemed because of those exact traits that it seemed she would one day be a wonderful Head; always caring about others above her own, believing deeply about the people who served her, and always thinking of better ways the House could help this world. Not only was he proud to be serving her as it was a high honor for how he was so young to serve the next Head, but because he wishes to do what ever possible to see that she becomes the Head.

If only, that her own older brother was not the one that she had to be calling their enemy; believing it might be just too much for Lady Karen to bear on her oversized heart. Spec put on his best face… appearance, before knocking on the white door thrice. "Lady Karen, I have your evening snack."

Able to easily hear her straighten her desk through the thin wooden door, wishing from time-to-time that the one he served would not keep bottling up all of those troubling emotions. Wondering to himself why Sir Alex is doing such things, where the CEO to Sphinx Corp. possibly knew full well that his actions was causing his sister such pain; seemingly just too delicate for the world they live in. "Please… come in."

Ben was a little shocked to what he saw in what he believed to be Fredi's room. It was practically empty: no posters, no clothes on the ground, no signs this guy was even human let alone a teenager. The room recently painted from the walls to the ceiling in a depressing shade of dark blue, the window replaced with a wall, and the only pieces of furniture was a table holding his computer station, a wooden dresser practically camouflaged to the wall and an old ratty spring bed with no sheets.

Taking a step into the room, he could feel the temperature drop at least thirty degrees from the hallway; shivering as this teen wondered how anyone could call this place a room. The alien hero didn't know why but just being in this place made himself feel… low.

While gazing in the room, something caught his attention that he must have overlooked earlier. He noticed the only thing that seemed to have any color in this desolate room… desolate, where was he getting these words?

Right next to the keyboard of Fredi's computer, was a small red rose vacuum sealed in plastic; making this once energetic teen wonder why such a cold hearted guy would have such a thing, maybe an old girlfriend? Ben couldn't help but chuckle softly to the sight of him acting nice to anyone.

But before he could get a better look, he felt someone roughly grab him from the back of the collar and thrown hard out of the room; only stopping when he created a creator in the wall just outside of the room. He was too afraid to breathe; those multicolored eyes burrowing deep inside his body along with feeling something just as cold pressed against his neck; looking down to see Fredi's arm incased in ice in the form of a jagged-like blade. Could his fifteen years of life be over just because he walked into this guy's room? "Calm down dude," he couldn't help but panic when he spoke, feeling as this guy was seriously overreacting, "it's me Ben!"

"I know who you are." Where Ben could have sworn he saw Fredi's breath from that freezing tone, only to feel the blade being pressed closer to his neck. Was Fredi really going to kill him just like that? "You could be one of my teammates, the President of the United States or the furless wolf the Head herself; no one and I mean no one is allowed in my room. Got that?"

Fredi didn't even need to raise his voice to render Ben speechless; feeling as if his body was frozen in ice before this teen that was supposedly on the same team. Slowly nodding in agreement before being thrown down the hallway like a piece of garbage. "So besides wanting to rush to an early grave, why are you here?"

There was no time for dealing how his body was reacting to the teen before him; Ben wanted to be one hundred percent onboard for what the Taskforce was doing to take down Pharaoh. Doing what ever he could possible do, hoping to find some way to keep Ren away from such a dangerous mission. "I can't sit by any longer; we are both employed by the House to take down Sphinx Corp. once and for all before Pharaoh can go forth with his plan. Therefore, I want to help anyway I can and know everything you and the Project's know."

"You already have your mission given to you. You are to stay low until called forth or if the Sins try anything in this school," the teen cold enough to freeze lava with a simple glare stated to the weakling before him; a want-a-be hero's only use was to fight or be a decoy, "so enjoy every last minute you have of what you can call a normal life with Ren. I know that's what you've wanted for some time now so I've let you do so; live a normal life for as long as you can for your own good."

Ben didn't know what to say after being confronted with that, he could have sworn he kept that a secret even from Ren. "Just come when you're called, fight the good fight, then you can return to playing what you call hero all you want. Besides using your head as a door rammer do you have any useful skills? I already have a team handpicked by me that are highly skilled in their fields."

Even though Fredi was right, he didn't have any skills besides fighting, after all he could barely keep up with the studies this school gave him. But that was a low blow; he made it sound like he was just a little kid playing cops and robbers with the neighborhood children. "Now hold on," finally feeling his back bone thawing out, "I put a lot of hard work into being a hero!"

"You mean catching those dime-store crooks or beating up an alien that is doing some property damage?" Fredi shot back, the harsh ice storm of a tone unchanged. "You think that matters? Stuff like that could easily be handled by the police or the army. You know in some ways you are just like Alex, the only difference is Alex is making an effort into make this world a better place."

Now that was the last straw, how could he possibly be in any resemblance to that madman? Wanting to change into Chromastone and pounding that tone out of him once and for all. However, before this rage induced teen could even make a move, he found himself surrounded by jagged ice spikes coming from the floor, walls and ceilings around him; he couldn't even have the chance to think of changing or he would look like Swiss cheese the moment he did.

"Settle down already," Fredi replied in his all too famous icy tone, with Ben wondering if the guy's throat was made of ice, "to answer how you are no different from Alex is that you are both criminals that believe the ends justify the means."

"You are calling me a criminal?!" Ben couldn't believe his ears, he has done nothing but the right thing to protect the people he cares about, how was he a criminal?

"Yes because you are a vigilante which is a crime; to catch those so-called criminals you cause federal crimes like mass property damage, and sooner or later you will even cause death. Your ends justify your means and in that way you are the same as Alex. All it takes is for the media to focus on what you cause compared to what you do and all your fans will turn on you."

Now that Fredi mentioned it; he remembered how fast he became Most Wanted in his home town because of Sphinx Corp. making that broadcast. So after all he has done, saving and protecting the people he was nothing more than a criminal? "So, why do you want to get more involved than with what you need to do?"

He knew what he was doing was right, and even if he was branded a criminal for doing so he was going to bring Pharaoh down before he can cause so much innocent bloodshed with his ridicules war. Ben was determined, as long as he was able to protect his friends, his family, and most of all, Ren. "Because I know if I want to protect who I hold dear I need to get stronger and more involved in this Taskforce; and if anyone could get me up there it would be you, the top agent of the Secret Intelligence Division to the House."

Fredi might have thought… oh who was he kidding he had no doubts that this teen before him was nothing more then a show off with a fancy wrist watch. Yet if the slacker showed this much initiative in talking with him face-to-face and still wanting to protect the people he held most dear while surrounded by his ice; there might be some hope for him after all. He already had more guts than most of the rookie agents at the S.I.D., as they would prefer drinking battery acid than to talk with him; commenting they have a better chance at coming out alive from that.

Ben was a little shocked to see the ice just vanish from around him; where Fredi turned his back to him. "If you meant any of what you just said follow me, but if you aren't one hundred percent sure of this I will be more than happy to throw you out."

There was no reason to turn back now, following the cold hearted leader of their Taskforce down the hall to the hall closet. Where Fredi opened it, he revealed to the teen an empty room with a large strange light blue silver disk on the floor. "What is this?"

"Alien-Tech, able to transport us to any location we choose after I program the coordinates, then with a small device that I have on me we can teleport back." Slamming his dark indigo jacket left arm against the wall, dropping a hidden panel as Ben watched him put some complex code into it. Where as he closed it the pads lit up, making this alien hero hope that he knew what he was fully getting into. "Now just step on the pad, so the sooner I can have you wishing you didn't do this."

Getting really ticked off on how Fredi kept treating him like he had no idea what he was doing: going into deep space, taking Vilgax head on, and many other powerful villains over the year he has had this device on his arm. Stepping on the transport pad mainly out of spite to show this cold blooded teen that he could take care of himself in any situation he was put in.

Watching as the slacker disappeared before him, Fredi wondered why Lady Karen sought to drag those Tennysons into this war. Not only could he and his team handle it themselves; but personally he would have let them live without having to go through all of this and lived somewhat normally for the rest of their lives. He was going to have to ask her later after he made this kid regret what he was getting into.

These teens weren't meant for this kind of life and if it wasn't for Alex not allowing any other senior member of the S.I.D. besides himself he wouldn't have pulled these rookies into this. "Alex, I might think very similar to you and agree with everything you stand for, but I still can't figure out what you are leading us around like this."

Ben looked around the place he was transported to. It looked like a normal city: there were tall buildings, streets, but there was something that wasn't here, people. No matter how much he looked around there wasn't a single person in the streets, in the businesses, or anywhere. The only sound was that was going though this deserted city was the desert wind blowing through.

The eeriness of the area was starting to get to him even on such a hot late summer evening; where it was the first time since he met Fredi he was glad to see him. "What is this place?"

"This was a city created back in the fifties to test how nuclear radiation would affect cities," where now Ben wasn't worried from the eerie silence of this empty city, but now dying of radiation poising. Unable to remember how long radiation could last in an area yet he could remember that it was a very long time, "after this place was abandon the House purchased the land, cleaned up of radiation with some Alien-Tech, and rebuilt it to help train rookie S.I.D. agents."

However, unaware to the two teens that just appeared, two other teens were watching their every movement. One of them hiding in the darkness stated, using his uplink to the nearby satellites to discover. "Two agents have appeared on the north outskirts of the city due south, from my data it is S.I.D. agent Fredi Heat and a guest."

"Agent Heat?" The second teen asked with a Romanian accent, positioning his rifle over that steel railing; knowing the perfect way to say hello to an old friend. "Well let's see if he hasn't lost his step since living as a simple student."

"So what we will be doing here…," Fredi instructed, going to make this teen train till he could no longer move. However, he knew he has probably been in this line of work way too long to be able to hear this coming, "ah danget."

Ben didn't understand what that meant. Before he could ask though, Fredi didn't hesitate to kick him hard across the street; landing on his back on the concrete sidewalk. He new he was getting trained but he saw that as completely uncalled for to attack him out of the blue like this. "What the heck was that…?"

Before he could finish that sentence, in the building behind where he stood three cannonball sized holes appeared; followed up seconds later by three large booms. "We're being sniped at; looks like we don't have this field all to ourselves."

Looking at the size of those holes, those must have been some freaken big bullets to be sniped at with; wondering if they were really being shot at by a cannon. "So if he is your teammates why is he firing at us?"

"He's saying hello," Fredi snapped back, both of the teens continuing to move as they kept getting shot at. Yet this gave him a chance to use an advance technique of the Pyronite. Closing his eyes tightly, quickly reopening them as his eyes were now only able to see heat, "he is probably hiding on the top of a building, change into one of your flying aliens and scope out the area!"

Without any ideas of his own Ben complied, changing into his all too favorite flying manta ray he called Jetray; flying high in the air while keeping his eyes open for anything out of place. Still having to dodge the fire, wondering how many bullets this guy had.

Where as Fredi was using the slacker as a decoy, he used his eyes to seek out any extra body heat in this empty city; with it already getting dark and knowing that particular team was probably training here they wouldn't have set up a heat blockers with the belief they would have this place all to themselves. And there they were, they couldn't have been more noticeable if they were using a searchlight in the dead of night. "Ben," using his Thoth 2.0 to communicate with the bat, "fire at the top room at the second tallest building on the east side, they're in there."

That didn't make since to the flying manta ray; from what he learned reading on sniper rifles, even for being a teen with a powerful watch he was still a guy after all with an interest in guns. But anyway they were at the south entrance, how could he have a clear line of fire with all the buildings in the way where they stood. "Are you sure?"

"First lesson, never question me!" Fredi shouted. "Now fire!"

Following orders, Ben used the tip of his tail to fire at the top room; blasting a hole in the side. Flying in, he was a bit shocked to see what looked like robot and Bloodlust holding the sweetest sniper rifle he has ever see over his left shoulder. "So you are the famous Ben Tennyson," speaking with that strange Dracula accent as well while noticing the Plumber badge as a belt buckle, was he somehow a double agent working for the House? "I am glad we could finally meet."

"You guys have a funny way of saying hello," Fredi rose up to the room on a floating platform of ice, glaring that freezing glare even at his teammates, "I haven't seen you guys in months and you greet me by trying to take my head off?"

"Well you have never been the type to like warm greetings," R chuckled, ever since he has been with the S.I.D. Fredi has never been one to warm up… well technically he can't recall a time where he has warmed up to anyone. Turning his attention to the grandson of the legendary Max he has heard so much about over the year, "by the way my name is R Dalv aka Agent Red, second son to the noble Dalv family and senior field agent to the Secret Intelligence Division of the House, Sniper Class. And my good man behind me is Will Sebastian aka Agent Infinity, also a member of the S.I.D., System Analyst which is mainly a fancy title for hacker."

Changing back to his human form, if Ben could recall correctly Bloodlust of the Sins was named B not R. "So you are not Bloodlust?"

"Correct, he is my elder twin brother," R was quick to reply, "and I know our names are strange. We were named after the first letter of our parent's names, my brother got my father's and I got my mother's. By the way my father knew your grandfather Max; they were both Plumbers back in the days."

"Cool, your father was a Plumber too?" now there was something else that didn't make sense; wouldn't his father be really old by now. "Wait your father?"

"Yes, Draculans age a lot slower then normal humans, to around the age of six hundred and sixty-six years of age. He just turned one hundred and six last week," shocking the Tennyson, alien structures were very interesting indeed, "but I am seventeen incase you were wondering."

That got the green eyed teen thinking for a second; does that mean Bloodlust is actually a Hybrid and not a FREAK. Also, even though Ben was just getting shot at by the teen in front of him, he couldn't help but admire the sweet hardware he was holding in his left hand. He has never seen such a rifle in any of the magazines and just had to ask. "Can I look at that rifle?"

R didn't see any harm in doing so; they were fellow Plumber kids after all. "Sure, catch," tossing it to the brown haired teen with his left arm, only to watch him fall over after catching it, "sorry, I should have warned you it is a bit heavy. It slips from my mind every now and again."

Nearly having his chest caved into when knocked over by this heavy rifle, Ben guessing its weight was a bit off as R was able to hold it with only his left arm; believing that meant Draculans had somewhat superhuman strength. He couldn't help but admire the weapon in his arms. While looking it over speechlessly, R explained. "You are looking at the M107 .50 caliber long range sniper rifle sold exclusively to the army. I did some personal modifications to it to fit certain aspects I required. But if you like that you're going to love what I use for close range fire power."

Ben watched as the S.I.D. agent flung out his left arm, revealing a handheld gun from the sleeve of his trench coat with a barrel so long it seemed like it could be used as a club if he ran out of bullets. The Alien Hero thought that he would have to change into Humongousaur to hold onto that thing not to mentioning the kickback would probably dislocate his arms. "Built it myself, 400mm barrel which fires my special 14mm .50 caliber bullets; able to hold eight at a time."

Feeling like that was enough of their odd bonding, Fredi broke up the conversation. "Anyway," speaking up in his all too famous freezing tone, "I was just training the runt before you used us as target practice."

"Come on you know you would be dead if I was really trying to hit you, besides I use my special bullets," going under his dark blue trench coat to pull out one of his sniper rifle's magazines. Removing one of the bullets to what Ben could guess was big enough that you could just throw it to kill someone; so that's what a fifty caliber bullet looked like up close. Yet it was strangely blood red, "my Blood Bullets, destroys non-living objects and most of the time ensnares living ones."

Where Ben remembered now with their info on Bloodlust, as Draculans could control their blood outside of their bodies; also explaining how he could control his shots like that from such a distance and a bad angle. "Well we were just heading out anyway before you and your guest appeared," Will informed, "our Lady wishes for us to do some research on that missile strike earlier today; believing Sphinx Corp. might have had a hand in doing so."

"So I'm going to need that back," R informed to the teen holding onto his rifle, unable to see the teen before him besides in an outlined form with his veins glowing red, this being one of the drawbacks of being a Draculan. As their species could control their blood they could only see the outlines of forms but living forms their veins glowed brightly from their blood; wearing one of the best inventions in the world, sunglasses, to cover up his bloodshot eyes. So to fix that problem he commonly teams up with Will so he is able to tell who the enemy is and who is a friend. Holding back his chuckles as Ben seemed to struggle with the decision of giving back his gun, but did so in the end.

Ben watched as they saluted each other before Agent Infinity opened a panel on his arm and they disappeared before his eyes. "All right enough slacking," Fredi informed, guessing he was serious this time, but it was pretty hard with how that cold scowl on Fredi's face never changed, "it's time for you to wish you were never born."

He didn't know what to think of what just happened, the last thing he remembered was he was standing in a hotel room and now he found himself falling straight towards the streets; all of the air flushed from his lungs to the feeling of something impacted his chest.

Where as fast as he fell, what happened to him flashed back before his eyes. Fredi used his right open palm, and without a word, thrusted him out the window. Was Fredi really trying to kill him after all?

Looking up only to see Fredi falling as well, speeding up closer and closer with his fist pulled back. "You're training has already started!" The cold blooded teenager shouted, seeing the best way was for some direct hand to hand combat to get the full understanding the runt has with his powers. "Are you going to give up already, slacker?!"

His brain linking back up to his body, Ben transformed into his blue six limb monkey-like alien he dubbed, Spidermonkey. In this form, he threw a web to swing to the next building like one of his famous comic book heroes. "Do you really think your going to beat me that easily?" Chuckling energetically, practically feeling like himself from years ago.

But this didn't even slow down Fredi Heat. Using his right leg, thrusted himself towards Ben with ice he slugged the morphing teen with his right bare hand across the jaw onto the rooftop of the building. "Do you really think that little stunt was enough to throw me off?" The top agent of the S.I.D. shot coldly, cracking his knuckles one after the other before the Tennyson. Alex must have gone easy on Ben for this teen for him not to be dead; a luxury he wasn't going to give this slacker. "Do you really believe you will be able to protect the ones you love with being this weak? At the moment I am your enemy, fight me like one and stop showing off these cheep antics! If not, I will not hesitate to have you pulled off this mission, I don't need jokers holding back my team."

To these words as harsh as a hail storm, Ben's primate hands squeezing tightly into fists. If Fredi wanted a fight, Benjamin Tennyson was going to give him one. "All right, but don't say you didn't ask for it!" Which Fredi has been asking for it for quite sometime. Launching thick cannonball sized balls of webs at the Taskforce leader as he cart-wheeled towards the right, needing to get Fredi in just the right spot.

But Fredi didn't even use his power as he continued to dodge the barrage of attacks, being in the S.I.D. for six years something like dodging some bullets was child's play; even without his powers. Running to his right as well, he knew there was no chance that Ben was going to win this match but he needed to make Ben's life feel threatened, and see for himself how creative this Morph can be with these ten forms.

There, Ben finally got Fredi stuck in his web as a blob hit his shoes. With this advantage he turned into his intelligent crab he called Brainstorm. This cyclodorippoidea structure was quite distinctive where with the quadruped for movement, these diminutive pincers that didn't appear to serve any particular purpose, but it was the oversized cranium which is its most noticeable and essential feature. "Experience the full force that is, Brainstorm!" Opening his massive brain with the opening to two flaps of exoskeleton; discharging vast quantities of voltage at the target. If Mr. Heat was to be seen as the antagonist he was going to treat him as such.

(AN: it is really hard to write in Brainstorm's language)

However, from the data Fredi had on this Morph's aliens, he was already prepared. Freezing the web into brittle glass and using a thin spike of ice he created from the ground to redirect the attack. Now running out of the path, he watched as Ben formed a force field around himself; but it was far too late for him to have set that up. Slamming his right foot on the ground, he summoned an ice pillar from the roof right below the teen and launched him flying off. Where with each step he takes with his right foot he creates a small ice patch right below the surface, giving him not only the element of surprise but control over the field; the patches of ice could grow bigger for the longer he stays standing in one spot and so cold they could last for days.

Incapable to sustain his equilibrium in this ungainly form, Benjamin abruptly altered into his cerulean mothman variety extraterrestrial, Big Chill. Breathing cold vapors from his jail door shaped mouth, yet he oddly felt very cold from Fredi's glare. "Tell me slacker, there is a weapon in this universe that is stronger then any other no matter how much technology advances. Do you at least know that that is?"

A strong sensation of déjà vu quickly came over the fly ice moth; remembering that was nearly word for word what Pharaoh asked him nearly a year ago. Could this guy really be a double agent to the House? This only seemed to add to his suspicion along with how many times Fredi has threatened his life just today. "Kn-Knowledge?"

Well it looks like he really did face off against Alex, he was starting to get the feeling that the white skinned demon lied to him, again. "You got something right, first time for everything it seems. But it isn't just the knowledge of your opponent that makes it powerful, it is the knowledge of what you are capable of. You have ten aliens and so far it only seems like you use them as nothing more than muscle-bound morons."

He really hated agreeing with the teen that probably had ice running through his veins long before he got that power, but he was right. All he had done with these aliens is head on attacks. Obviously now brute power wasn't going to take down Fredi, so he had to get more, creative.

But through his match, he noticed Fredi hasn't used his left side at all; his fire side. "Why aren't you using your left side? Isn't that where the fire half of your Pyronite abilities are?"

Fredi looked into the palm of his left hand, squeezing it tightly into a fist. "Because you are years too inexperienced for me to use this side." Fredi calmly yet coldly explained. "Besides, fire takes no skill to use. I could burn that entire Sphinx Academy to the ground in a matter of minutes if I wanted to. I think that's what makes the two legged black widow shake in her dress that I can destroy the House if I felt like it."

Even if this guy was the best agent of the Secret Intelligence Division of the House, how could Lady Karen trust this guy; he almost made it sound like he was thinking of burning the House of Tempus to the ground with the Family still inside. "Tell me before I continue our fight Fredi," wanting to get these feelings of suspicion either removed or proven to him with this question, "are you loyal to the House?"

"My loyalty is to Lady Karen and only Lady Karen, either than that I couldn't care less what happens to the House." Fredi's icily but sincere words replied to the blue moth's questions. It wasn't the answer Ben was expecting but it would have to do with the sun nearly vanished from the sky… for now anyway. "Now that waste of time is over with come and fight me; and please tell me you plan on changing out of that alien against me, who uses ice to fight."

He did have a point there, this particular alien didn't seem like a smart move to use on a guy that not only controlled ice but fire as well. Changing into his small metal UFO form, trailing a big glob a green jell-like substance he dubbed Goop.

Not using this new form to launch himself at Fredi this time, instead using the goop to get under the roof from the cracks made by Fredi's ice. Where once deep inside and below Fredi's current position, Ben broke up the floor and launched the cold hearted leader of the Taskforce into the air; believing so would ruin him using any of his underground sneak attacks.

Getting Fredi off his footing, the brown haired teen quickly changed into his alien that seemed to be the combination of Gray Matter's size in some kind of weird skin tight white suit, Dittos copying ability without feeling what each one was feeling, and Benwolf's roar to a much more destructive degree; the alien he dubbed Echo Echo. Cursing himself for playing with the Omnitrix which now got his other twenty aliens replaced with only these ten. Where in this form, he created twenty copies of himself surrounding his 'enemy', took in a deep breathe and unleashed their sonic furry.

He remembered while training with this alien over the summer he could make glass shatter without even trying; having to constantly replace the Rustbucket's which practically depleted his birthday present money from his grandfather for the next few years. So some shards of ice should be no problem to this assault.

Fredi had to admit, he didn't think the slacker could actually get a good attack on him on their first training; making him wonder if he wasn't as useless as he originally assumed. But if the Morph believed this surprise attack would be his victory he still had a lot to learn. Because the moment he landed back on the roof, he was in control of this fight once again.

So the moment his right hand hit the ground, for as long as he was standing there giving that speech to that slacker he practically had the three top levels under his control. Instantly encasing all twenty in blocks of ice and throwing them off the building before their sonic waves could free themselves.

Freeing himself from their ice prisons, the Echo Echo's joined back into one and changed into Jetray. Realizing that Fredi must have somehow introduced his ice into the roof he flew to another location; this fight wasn't over yet.

As for back into the city of Sphinx Academy, the elegant fifteen year old Ren was relaxing with a small cup of black coffee gently warming her frail soft hands. The scarlet eyed girl seeing this particular earthling beverage being quite unique, where it gave off such a relaxing scent but having such a bitter taste. This made the alien wonder if all earthling drinks had that strange effect of either having a pleasing sense of smell or taste.

Spending time in the room that was used for the relaxation periods of her other coworkers, simply contemplating on how to have the market department revise their proposal for their boss's inspection. However, that was until. "Hey there Ren!" hearing the recognizable chipper voice that was Susan Knives. Turing to see that she was wearing a suit similar to her own but, what has seemed to be quite common with this particular teenage, is custom to reveal much more than it normally would; yet strangely to Ren this seemed to be the most she has believed to have seen Susan wear as her stomach was mostly covered, "I heard you worked hear and wanted to say hi; lucky that I caught you on your break. How much longer do you have?"

Looking towards the time devise hanging on the wall and the use of pre-school mathematics; Ren was able to correctly estimate that she had but seven minutes left of her break. Her body structure wasn't completely similar to that of an earthling but even for working as long as five earth hours were at a time, was such a period of relaxation really needed to get one's energy back? Especially with all of those unusual drinks that are supposedly quick to revitalize people? "I have seven… minutes left."

"Plenty of time for us to catch up." seeing only that cheerful smile still over her energetic personality, Ren would almost assume that Susan has as much energy as Ben's female parental figure. Could someone with such extensive cheerful energy really be a bad person? "So did you have a chat with your fiancé over the… other woman?"

Unusually enough, after receiving such a warm embrace from her Potential Mate she had all but forgotten that moment in time; still feeling the warmth around her chest which in turn caused her face to heat up once again. "No I… haven't," but recalling how most earthlings seemed to see as the pure act of a relationship as nothing more than a game. Yet Ben was different, she knew it deep in her cranium that he would never be as vulgar as to attempt that, "because I… trust him."

Where Susan oddly found that as a perfect time to squeal loudly and hug her tightly; a hug that seemed to rival her own in an unconscious state, while rubbing her smooth cheek against hers. "Oh you are just too adorable!" Letting Ren go just as quickly as she latched on, looking directly into her soft scarlet eyes. "It is so rare to find such a trusting young woman in this day-n-age! It almost seems like a crime!"

Noticing that Susan's constant outbursts of energy seemed to be drawing the attention of her other coworkers; yet it didn't seem to be a problem to this girl they believed to be an agent of Pharaoh's. In some ways, Ren desired to have somewhere near the same amount of confidence as Susan; believing she might have if she had bigger horns in her earlier years.

"Well remember Ren," Susan smirked as not only was it Pharaoh's orders but what fun is true love without some jealousy spicing it up. Yet she hoped that this cute young girl wouldn't end up proving Pharaohs theory right from this; having to kill her would be such a downer on her weekend, "he is coming of age; so many hormones just waiting to burst out of him with this new girl leading him on. Even for being a young age you better claim him for yourself soon before someone else just swoops down and snatches your fiancé from you."

Ren did wish for Ben and herself to go forth with the Ritual of One Life, but the minimal age for that would be of sixteen years of physical maturity. Yet even so, recently this blue haired girl has been getting warmer inside in a different way. Just thinking of such thoughts made her stomach feel like as it was twisting into knots; however it didn't stop those thoughts from coming to her increasingly over the past few earth months. The yearning for his embracing becoming stronger and stronger the more she considered such despicable actions. "Well I better get going so you are not late for work," where this nervous scarlet eyed alien noticed she still had two minutes before needing to get back to her work, "one should always be early so to never be late after all."

Where Ben found himself pinned to a wall on the roof with icicles; holding back his movement was larger ice spikes that were inches away from his human body. He knew he wasn't going anywhere, his body nearly completely out of energy and covered in bruises; he was going to be feeling this tomorrow. Cursing that his recalibrated Omnitrix now transferred the harm he received as an alien to his actual body.

But Fredi seemed to have a full tank on energy, not even breathing hard as he stood before the pinned-down semiconscious Alien Hero. "Well, you lasted ten times longer than I thought you would," still speaking in his icy tone, making the ice disappear to the sound of the brown haired teen thudding onto the hard rooftop, "now let's head back so you can rest up. You're going to need it as you are going to wish you were dead tomorrow."

Having zero energy to argue, Ben only nodded to that statement; hoping to use that Alien-Tech to teleport him to his bed as he doubt his own legs would get him back to his house.

In this late hour, Pharaoh sat alone in his large baron vacant office. The glow from his computer screen being the only light flickering like the fire from a candle, as he wasn't looking over files for some multi-million product plan, but he was watching movies.

Able to pay attention to three movies at a time, he watched these three movies in the romance genera closely. Yet seemingly no matter how long he watched these films, able to recreate every facial expression they revealed to a fault even without a hint of emotion behind them; he still couldn't understand these emotions at all.

Like this emotion of love; maybe it was just because he had no emotions that he couldn't understand them. No matter how much logic and intelligence he possessed.

So after turning off those films and rubbing his pure ocean blue eyes after turning on the lights; he called upon the person that feasted on the emotions he didn't understand. "Lord, I need to ask you something."

As right before his cold eyes, Lord appeared on the other side of his desk; seemingly still unaware to the fact he was just called upon as he was singing into what looked to be a microphone in right hand; gripped tightly between is ring finger, index finger and thumb. "I want to talk about me, I want to talk about I, I want to talk about Number 1…," now seeming to realize he was no longer, where ever he was before. "What?! Is it so wrong for a divine being to have a dream of becoming a country music star?! Not to mention at least half the songs are about me anyway; still wishing I could send that girl off a cliff who keeps praying for me to take the wheel."

"Oh and not to mention now it is just getting sad; the latest anime I watched the grim reaper was a chipper, emotional, playboy bunny style girl that turns into a plush doll. Even though she is a cute plush doll why did I ever give my people free will? Oh yeah, now I remember."

Tonight Pharaoh didn't have time to deal with Lord's comical ranting, having a reason for the dark teen to be before him at the moment. "Anyway Lord, I need to ask you a question, something that fits with your specific abilities."

Well that was all Lord had to complain about today anyway. "I am here to serve my people aren't I? Which never really made sense to me, shouldn't they be serving me who gives them life… or let's them live; is there a difference? Ah I will let my zealots debate it."

"Emotions, especially this one on love," Pharaoh pondered allowed, supposedly many people had trouble saying this four letter word but with no emotions of his own he didn't see a problem, "all I have seen is that love causes nothing but pain and heartache no matter how long people that love each other are together. It also causes people to overlook mistakes and faults, take punishment they don't deserve and perform many bizarre actions for it. I just don't see why people would wish to acquire it if it has so much more negative qualities than positive."

Lord chuckled to this sincere question; this only a teen this dry of emotions would ask something like that be described from a logical standard. "Sorry pain in white, even an all knowing all seeing being such as myself can't answer that question. That emotion is just a mystery in itself, personally making me sick to my stomach to eat; I don't like sweet things. Supposedly the pleasure released from such an emotion triumphs the negative, no matter how much it surpasses it in quantity, something like a quality than quantity thing; probably linking those pleasures with the Basic Program you whine about so much. However, I personally enjoy the emotion of love given off by incest: families completely disgusted by the idea, people constantly staring with hate in their eyes, nothing but pain is emitted by that certain love. In that certain show where they screwed up with the sequel I would have preferred her ending up with her cousin than that reformed bad boy."

Even though he was off on another unusual rant, Lord did in some way answer his question; this emotion of love just seemed to be a delusional state brought up by emotions that created pleasure that is probably mixed into the Basic Programming of mating and bearing offspring. Seemingly because of his lack of emotions he could truly never understand what it meant, but he had more than enough to know how to manipulate it.

Continuing his attention back onto his computer, Pharaoh asked the supposed being of all creation. "You know what to do tomorrow right, the Pope is about to make a statement regarding if you are the true second coming." Grinning that sadistic grin of his across his snow white face before clicking the Send button to transfer a file to Nicole's email account; seeing that this should be more than enough to get them in the right path.

Snapping out of his latest rant, the skull faced FREAK couldn't help but grin ear-to-ear under that helmet; oh if tall white and detached thought he could be a spectacle before. "Well it would be nice to finally talk to the man who speaks for me. Especially since you were so generous of setting up this meeting for me, person that has the ability to make ones bow to him."

"Ability to make ones bow to him," Pharaoh thought over how the dark teen before him described his gift; smirking to the title, "I like it."

To Be Continued

Gwen is still torn up inside, Ben is finally making an effort in his place on the Taskforce, Ren is experiencing unusual urges and Pharaoh is going to have Lord cause another spectacle. What else will happen to these teens before the grand war begins? Read and Review.