Ah, got this chapter finished a lot quicker than the previous ones! :P Anyways, enjoy and let me know how you feel about this chapter. Cheers!
CHAPTER 10
If there was any doubt about Ben's mood, the first Humongousaurical fist that actually connected dissipated them swiftly. The resulting shockwave from the reptilian alien's titanic fist connecting with the Vilgaxian earth knocked out hundreds of DNAliens in one go.
"Dude," Kevin literally screamed, "watch where your blows land! Some of us happen to be on your side, if you did not notice!"
Humongousaur turned back just for a slight moment. "Thanks for the heads up!" The gruff voice reeked of ungraciousness before the sixty feet behemoth turned again to face the DNAliens. Ragnarok, Sixsix and Tini were making short work of the DNAliens even before the trio joined in the curb stomp battle. It became more of a question of when the second, stronger wave would arrive when Ben, Gwen and Kevin joined the fight.
"Forty two and counting!" Kevin smirked in the direction of Sixsix as they waited for the second wave to arrive, and Sixsix answered through hisses and illegible grunts. From what little Kevin knew about Sotoraggian, it either meant 'The food was good' or 'We will see about that'.
"Incoming!" Ultimo shouted just as heavier artillery began to bombard at their positions. While Vilgax, Ultimo and Synaptak flew around the projectiles, Gwen conjured a barrier to shield the seven of them on ground.
"Ben, shrink! I can't conjure a big enough shield to cover you." Gwen shouted, and this time Ben obliged.
"Wait for it!" Vilgax began to bark orders from air, causing Humongousaur to scowl at him.
"Now we have to take orders from him as well? What next?" To his surprise, Kevin shot a warning look at him, causing Ben to feel astounded that his friends were following the lead, of all people, Vilgax.
Just when it seemed the artillery might overwhelm Gwen's shield, Vilgax roared, "Now!"
Ben had to wonder if that command came a tad too late. Transports had already landed and was spewing anthropomorphic frogs the size of twelve year olds and the trio's dreaded Highbreeds.
"Engage all Incurseans as hostiles." Luriv's voice spoke in Gwen's earpiece.
"Copy that."
What followed could only be described as Pandemonium. There was no point in holding back when the whole galaxy's fate was at stake, and each of the members of Rogue were overtaking the other in terms of ruthlessness and ferocity. In between shots flashing from the muzzle of Sixsix's gun, red beams from Ultimo's eyes cutting through a whole school of Incursean drones, and two ribbons of pure mana emanating from Gwen's hands that swatted aside Incursean grunts aside like rag dolls, an unstoppable eighteen meter juggernaut ploughed through the invading land force with alarming speed. Humongousaur had already gotten behind the Incursean land forces while the his comrades on foot were still busy fighting them off. Even the intimidating horde of Highbreed grunts at the rear lines did not deter him from his rampage.
When Ben had last fought a Highbreed, he barely could keep up with him one on one. This time, even the numbers were against him, but he did not stop to even acknowledge his disadvantage. Courtesy to him already running, Ben had the advantage of momentum. As he ran to close the distance between the Highbreed ranks, with energy blasts harmlessly bouncing off his hide, he curled to get into a Cannonball-esque roll.
Even the sturdy Highbreed rank did not stand a chance against a seventeen ton spiked wrecking ball crashing into their front lines at high speed. Humongousaur recovered quickly and with gigantic fists began to sweep the Highbreeds still standing off their feet. His mind, driven by frenzy, began operating with lethal simplicity: swat, dodge, punch, ram, swat.
The rest of the Rogues were making good progress as well. Vilgax and Ultimo, aided by the Plumber forces, were now going toe to toe with invasion fleet with relative ease. Although the foot soldiers seemed to come in endless numbers, so did Ben's tenacity. Kevin was the first to reach him, looking completely unscathed.
"Makes me wonder how we used to struggle against those guys one on one." Kevin snuck in some trash talk while backhanding a Highbreed behind him.
"Hmph!" was all Humongousaur said in the way of response. The Omnitrix suddenly started to beep ominously. Ben only mustered enough time for mentally shouting 'I'm screwed!' before reverting to human form.
"God awful stupid device!" Ben yelled in frustration just as a pink shield enveloped him.
"Ironic, isn't it? A watch having no sense of time?" Gwen asked softly. The firing and explosions had subsided to a minimal stray shot here and there. Ben looked up to see the the Vilgaxian sun appearing on the horizon in a faint smear of bluish yellow and the invading fleet in full pursuit.
"We did it Ben!" Gwen and Kevin both shouted joyously, as if not daring to believe that victory came there way so easily.
"Why are they retreating? More than half of their troops were untouched!" Ben was completely bewildered.
"I don't care," Kevin snorted. "I am seek of this planet already. Home beckons."
(-)
"You're not going anywhere till the Highbreed threat has been completely neutralized."
Azmuth's curt words very nearly caused an outburst in Ben, but he forced himself to keep calm. "What else can we do now except sitting tight and waiting for the next Highbreed armada to pop?"
"We have prisoners." Luriv interjected. "Maybe we can try to find out why the Highbreed have suddenly decided to go on a galaxy wide rampage, and also what are they planning to do next. Our scouts barely managed to inform us of the invasion of Vilgaxia in time. We could really use some information."
"So we are having us do the dirty work of beating them within inches of their deaths and then wheedling secrets from them then?" Gwen said. Ben and Kevin raised eyebrows; she was the least rebellious of the three, and they had never heard her sounding so unflustered and yet firm while addressing individuals of authority
"The whole fate of the galaxy is at stake here, young lady." Azmuth answered this time. "If you can't look at the bigger picture.."
"So on one side we have Highbreed who despise other races as beneath them, and then we have the Plumbers, who think a few Highbreed are perfectly expendable. Can't see the difference between the two of them."
"Let's see what they have to say anyways. If they don't talk, we'll have to go the hard way."
Another unexpected line, this time coming from Ben, caused his cousin to gasp. "You do not mean it!"
Ben was nonchalant. "Let's go."
(-)
"Have they budged yet?" Luriv asked one of the Plumber officer in charge of interrogation when they got to the holding cells.
"No, sir. This bunch is a hard nut to crack. When one of them even feels like answering the big one over there," The officer raised his hand to his right, "growls and they get too afraid to talk. I am guessing he is the highest ranking officer among the prisoners here."
"So this is what the Plumbers have come to now? Pathetic." Vilgax grunted. "No wonder you are in tatters."
Luriv looked at him coldly, "If you want to question him personally then go ahead."
Vilgax wasted no time in getting inside the cell and knocking its occupant down once the lock to the Highbreed officer's cell was opened.
"Talk now, scum. What is it going to take to stop your barbaric invasion of my realms?"
"Such finesse," Gwen remarked as Luriv winced slightly at Vilgax's last words, both standing with the others outside the cell and observing with interest how Vilgax's interrogation would go.
The Highbreed, in the manner of answering, spat after turning his face away from Vilgax.
"You do not know what the noble Highbreed are capable of. You would not understand if I did explain even. The tainted blood that runs in your veins makes you incapable of comprehending what grand plans we have in store for this sinkhole of a galaxy."
Kevin rolled his eyes out, "So much ham. My ears bleed." He promptly got irritated stares from both the Tennyson cousins.
"I will crush you like a slab of moondust with one hand. You will tell me what your insignificant race has planned to do with my realms, and then I will rip your skull and let your blood flow all over this place."
The Highbreed snorted in defiance, "Try me."
Vilgax threw around the Highbreed a few times within the cell in hopes of softening up, but the officer was as good as his word. Ultimately, he got frustrated and admitting defeat, lumbered out of the holding cell.
"You were really good back out there, Vilgie. We could all see it." Kevin did not let the opportunity of sneaking in a snide comment go to waste. Vilgax roared magnificently and stomped off.
"May I try, Magister?" Ben offered.
Magister Luriv looked around himself, and after deciding that Ben's chances of success were as good as any others', gave in.
(-)
No sooner had Ben stepped inside the holding cell, the Highbreed officer let loose a stream of verbal insults.
"So it is the skin changer, huh? The one who turns into abominations. If they were thinking that sending the so called bearer of the most powerful device in the galaxy would make me talk, forget it."
Ben took in the comments without any apparent change in his demeanor, but on the inside he was seething with absolute rage. The creature before him came from the same race which was responsible for exterminating almost half of all the sentient life forms within the galaxy. The race which had destroyed the planet that used to be home, the race that took away the six billion lives of his own race, including his parents. He had never felt rage so strongly and intensely as he did at that moment while standing inside the holding cell."
"Okay, let's try to be a little nice to each other. I am Ben. Ben Tennyson." Ben extended his hand towards the Highbreed, who predictably did not do likewise.
"Corine Reinrassic III." The Highbreed spoke, to Ben's surprise, sometime after Ben's introduction. "Seventh son of the noble Highbreed house of Dirassa, direct descendant of the High Order of Raseckt. Heir to the throne of the principality of Raseckt."
"Woah. Pleased to meet you too."
"I derive no pleasure in getting acquainted with filth like you, Ben Ben Tennyson!"
Ben would have surely lashed out in anger but for the weird way in which the Highbreed addresses him.
"Oh please. I get you are the most ancient species in the galaxy. That does not make it your birth right to be rude to the others."
The Highbreed pouted (if 'hmph' and staying quiet could be described as such since the Highbreed did not possess prominent cheeks) and Ben found himself liking the Highbreed even less with each passing moment. He did not actually start off liking the Highbreed that much anyway, but the one in front of him was trying his patience through sheer annoying pompousness.
"Tell me. Why do you want so badly to purge the galaxy of life? You might think us as beneath you, but surely you don't have go to the troubles of killing us all?"
"You would not understand."
"Obviously. We are not blessed with the blood of the 'noble' Highbreed." Ben made no attempt to make his sarcastic jibe subtle.
"I would not be talked to like that, in such an insolent tone. Stay far away from me. I would not want to be affected by your species' filth."
"Enough with your cleanliness and nobility!" Ben snapped. "For all your talk of nobility, you had to destroy trillions of innocent and peaceful lives who had absolutely nothing to do with you. You have all of these deaths hanging on your heads. And you call this royalty? Noblity?"
"A lesser species cannot be allowed to survive when the purest of all people are facing extinction."
Ben inhaled sharply. Finally the Highbreed had given up all the mental tenacity and was spilling his beans. He deliberately fueled the argument, so as to make the Highbreed more angry and give up more information. "You are facing extinction? And I am supposed to keep a straight face to that absurd statement?"
"Silence! You have no idea how long the shadow of doom had hung over our heads. After all these years, what he had dreaded all along was finally becoming true. Our species are no longer able to propagate for further generations. We are the last to survive. And to think that the grandest of all will vanish while the insignificant rabble will continue to live on, that is not fair! And you stand here, daring…."
Before Ben knew it, he was at the Higbreed's throat, his voice having changed abruptly to Humongousaur's. He realized later that in a flash of fury, he had autonomously slammed his right hand on the Omnitrix.
"I saw in front of my very eyes my planet being blown up to million bits. Almost everyone died. Do you want to know what would be fair? If I went out back in the space, hunted every last Highbreed down and remove them from existence. An eye for an eye. Then we would be even. And you are making it seem very tempting to me. So help yourself, and help me by telling me whatever you know about your master plans. Cause if I make my mind up, nothing is going to stop me from making my words as good as reality, I promise you that. And your race will face extinction a lot faster than they are already now. So make your mind up really fast." He tossed back Reinrassic III down on the floor.
"I am done with being nice here." He transformed back and walked out of the cell quickly, to the shocked faces of everyone outside.
(-)
The cousins were gazing out of one of the massive space station windows. "Are you okay Ben?" Gwen's voice wavered slightly as she asked the question. Ben understood that he had made quite an impression with his good cop suddenly turned bad cop interrogation. He only wished it had as much of an impact on the Highbreed as it had on his cousin.
"I am fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Why the hell does everybody think…." Ben suddenly realized he was definitely not fine.
"He got to me Gwen. I fought that thought in the back of my head, but he was too much for me. That demon got to me." He mumbled darkly. Gwen put an arm around her cousin reassuringly, and drew a smile.
"I will be fine Gwen. I have got a feeling that the Highbreed is going to talk."
"There you two are!" Kevin was out of breath as he neared the Ben and Gwen, with Azmuth just behind him. "You doing fine kid?"
"Alright." Ben forced a smile to appear on his face. Not surprisingly, it felt quite hard for him.
"See Gwen? I told you so when you gasped so dramatically and put your hand on your mouth when Humongousaur did a Jack Bauer."
Gwen narrowed her eyes, causing a sheepish smile to appear on Kevin's face.
"If you children are done bantering in trivial matters, I have got some news to break. We are taking the prisoners to another secured prison facility, at one of the moons of the planet Arburia."
"Good. And let me guess: Rogue operatives are to act as bodyguards and escorts during the transfer."
"I thought Arburia was destroyed more than five years ago?" Gwen asked.
"Yes it was. The Plumbers, however, wanted a base there because of the strategic value it holds. So they had their best engineers planet in the form of a space station, though it is almost minuscule compared to the facility we are on now." Azmuth was as usual ready with an answer. "As for your question Ben Tennyson, it is going to happen as planned, regardless of whether you like it or not. Besides being more secure than the main HQ, the facility's position is important strategically, as I mentioned before. We will be able to coordinate our defenses better from there."
Ben looked at his friends and then turned to Azmuth. "Guys, can you give Azmuth and me some space?"
Taking the clue, Gwen and Kevin slipped away quietly.
(-)
Once both his friends were out of earshot, Ben started talking.
"I know what you are going to say when I tell you this Azmuth. I don't like the plan. Didn't you once mention that the facility is very close to the borders of the Incursean empire?"
"Exactly. They won't be expecting us to sit right in front of their noses." Azmuth answered without any fuss.
Ben grimaced inwardly; no matter what he threw, the wily Galvan always managed to wiggle out an answer. "Alright. Just do me a small favor, ok? Get my friends back to the safety of Terran."
Azmuth shook his head. "As I said, we need every help we can get. Your friends are powerful fighters in their own rights."
"So basically what you are saying is that, you will have them risk their lives for some Incurseans and Highbreed demons?" Ben started to feel a sudden surge of heat flow into his face; the same thing had happened to him back during the interrogation."
"I have made myself clear, yes."
"So now you want my friends to die as well?" Ben suddenly raised his voice, forgetting the fact that he was trying to hide this particular conversation from Gwen and Kevin. "Don't you think enough human blood has been spilt."
Even Azmuth was alarmed by Ben's abrupt change in demeanor. "I didn't say…"
"SHUT UP!" Ben screamed at the top of his voice. Thankfully, only Gwen and Kevin were in the vicinity, which saved him a lot of embarrassment. Even so, both of them almost hurried to him, panicked. "You self righteous schemer of a frog face! Always have an excuse ready, don't you? You never , ever cared about saving lives! All you care about is to boss around people and manipulate them for your narcissistic pleasure. You…. you are worse than Vilgax!"
Azmuth was not certainly the one who was going to back down from a fight "How dare you! Like you are the only one to have suffered seeing the genocide of your own people? I could have stayed back in my planet, like you wanted, but I instead chose to offer my help for the greater good of the galaxy, and not just lick my own wounds!"
"Easy for you to say." Ben spat, his voice dripping sarcasm. "As if you have any wounds to lick. You have already got everything planned even now. Whoever that is going to die, it won't be you. After all, you are an indispensable asset to the Plumbers! Never mind that others are going to die, because it will for the greater good of the galaxy!"
He spun around before Azmuth could even answer. Only then he realized that his raised voice had caused Gwen and Kevin to come to his side.
"You do know we are never going to let you go alone on this mission Ben?" Gwen asked. "Wherever you are going, we will go with you."
Ben feebly tried to smile, but his muscles would not move. He ended up nodding slowly.
(-)
Vilgax did not let any opportunity of taunting Ben go to waste during Luriv's briefing before the Rogues got on board.
"Since your planet is all but gone now, maybe you should hand over that Omnitrix to me now, punk. At least I have a planet to protect."
Several times Ben clenched his fists, only for Gwen to soothe him. "You are angry Ben. Don't do anything rash that might jeopardize this mission. Just ignore him."
Ben clenched his teeth in response. "Easy for you to say. He is not sitting next to you and talking trash." He complained.
"Alright." Magister Luriv announced, with an individual resembling him very closely and wearing an identical suit, next to him. "This is Magister Prior Gilhil. He will be in charge of the escort mission."
The only way Ben could actually differentiate between the two magisters is through their different skin colors: Luriv had a purplish-bluish complexion while Prior Gilhil's face had a slimy-greenish tinge. Prior began to call out which of the Rogue members will be going in which ship. There were eleven ships, and each of the ten Rogue members were in charge of safety for each one. The last one would be carrying Prior and Azmuth.
Ben, quite unsurprisingly for him, was to be in charge of the ship carrying the prisoners. He rolled his eyes in frustration. "This just keeps getting better and better."
(-)
Kevin took note of the blue skinned long haired bounty hunter taking his place beside him as they were getting ready to board their ships.
"Ragnarok, isn't it?" Kevin asked.
The alien merely grunted in reply. Kevin had already known by now that Ragnarok was the soft spoken type. Despite emotions running high all around him, he had barely spoken at all. Kevin had seen Ragnarok only briefly in action, emitting energy bolts from both of his fists and dexterously keeping himself away from harm's way.
"What's in it for you, old guy?" Kevin inquired again, just to keep up the conversation. This time the alien spoke.
"A reduced sentence. I was sent to the null void sixteen years ago."
"Woah! Must be something really bad that you did huh?" Kevin extended his hand to shake. "I am Kevin Levin, by the way."
It was very minimal, but Kevin was sure he saw Ragnarok do a double take as soon as he mentioned his name. The change was only there for a moment, and Ragnarok reverted to his cool, untroubled demeanor.
"Nice meeting you, Kevin Levin." He shook hands very briefly before hurrying off to the ship that had been designated to him.
"Weird." Kevin wondered. "Never thought I was that infamous to cause Plumber hardened criminals to tremble."
(-)
The prisoners had all been kept inside individual security capsules at the back of the ship. After asking the pilot, a fish faced alien, for perhaps the seventh time when they were going to land and getting an exasperated frown in return, Ben had decided go to the back of the ship and see the prisoners.
He was almost half expecting Reinrassic III to react as soon as he was within the latter's line of sight, and he was not disappointed. The Hihgbreed started marking muffled sounds the moment he saw Ben.
"I guess you want to talk." Ben spoke, mustering a bit more coldness in his voice than he expected to. He reached for the controls and made the muzzles keeping the Highbreed muffled just slack enough for the latter to speak eligibly.
"What is in it for you, human?" Reinrassic III asked. "Your planet and you people has been destroyed, and yet you come to the aid of those who did not do much more than to lift a finger to prevent that from happening."
"Have you guys got nothing to talk about except my planet?" Ben's voice was irritable. The Highbreed, to his surprise, became quiet. After a moment of silence, Ben decided to talk.
"It's simple, plain old revenge I guess. Why else should I be out here taking orders from those who did little to help me save my planet. I don't care in the least bit whether the galaxy is about to get destroyed or not."
"Spoken like true scum." The Highbreed noted. Unexpectedly, Ben did not feel like lashing out in anger at that remark. He knew he was in it for more than just revenge. The destruction of Earth and the migration to Terran had changed him in more ways than he could have ever expected. Among other things, he had learned that there were always individuals who were less fortunate than him. He knew what sticking up for others when things were looking bleak meant. He had shouted at Azmuth for being apathetic, but he deep within, he comprehended that Azmuth felt just as much responsible and guilty as he did for all the bad things that had happened in the galaxy within such a short time. And in no way he was going to back out from a fight, and certainly not while Azmuth was there in it.
"Maybe you are right." Ben said softly. "Maybe I am acting too much like a scum." He had let the horrific memory of his planet's destruction stay too raw when the others had moved on for better, and he figured that it was about time he did it too and start looking at things from a broader point of view, for the greater good. He was not sure whether the Highbreed was suddenly taken aback by the comment, mainly because the facial structures of the Highbreeds did not show very much in the way of emotion.
Without a warning, the ship tilted suddenly and Ben toppled over and clashed with the wall facing him. A moment later, a sudden explosion rocked the entire spacecraft. Realizing what was happening, Ben recovered and ran to the cockpit as fast as he could.
"Incursean scouts?" Ben asked. The pilot nodded as he looked pointedly in the direction of the windshield while trying desperately to avoid blaster fire. Ben looked with horrified fascination as an entire fleet converged on their little escort party while bombarding with a rain of laser beams.
He immediately pressed his com-link's ear piece. "This is Ben Tennyson. Do you copy?"
"Gilhil here. I copy." Was the near immediate response.
"Permission to engage hostiles."
"Negative. We need you to stay with the cargo. Do not, I repeat, do not engage until only as a last resort. Other Rogue operatives will provide you with cover."
"Damn!" He was starting to understand that the rest of the squad was going to give him cover while he fled with the precious cargo and hopefully reached their destination. That made him angry again. Never again was he going to seat back and run away helplessly while his loved ones were being left behind to their doom.
He slapped his right hand on the Omnitrix and rushed out of the ship as Big Chill while intangible. Vilgax and Ultimo were already out in the space and trying their bit to provide as much cover as they could.
"What are you doing Ben Tennyson?" Ultimo asked, stupefied for a moment, right before Big Chill rammed into him and pushed him out of the way of a laser blast coming from behind him.
"You guys looked like you needed help. So let's do this!"
"Ben Tennyson!" The com-link began to ring with Magister Prior's angry voice. "Get back to your craft now!"
"Sorry sir. Can't hear you in this din!" Big Chill pressed the com-link to make it go dead, and then went intangible to phase through the nearest Incursean ship. When he had emerged on the other side, the ship had frozen almost completely and the thrusters had been completely incapacitated. The ship drifted, slowly but uncontrollably, into another Incursean craft and both of them blew up.
Ben had only a moment to savor this as the Incursean fleet quickly realized which ship housed the precious cargo and began to go all out on that ship. The com-link began to beep again and Ben knew it was his cue to go back to protecting his ship.
"The ship can't hold on for much longer!" The panic in the pilot's voice from the other sidewas quite apparent.
"Don't worry! Just getting the landing bay down!" The pilot did as he was told and Ben transformed into Chromastone as soon as he landed on landing bay. "Swerve right so that all the blasts have to go through me!"
"Are you sure that's a good…"
"Just do it!"
The laser blasts all were absorbed harmlessly by Chromastone's diamond hard skin. Bolts of multi colored from his hands answered the blasts from the invading ships.
Just when everything was going fine, a stray blast hit the ship's thrusters. The wailing ominous noise gave Ben all the motivation he needed to go in and wrap the pilots and the capsules containing the prisoner in a cocoon of Spidermonkey's sturdy silk and bail out of the doomed ship as Jetray, with the cocoon secured in his legs. Despite it being very big and heavy, he somehow managed to keep it from slipping while hurtling away hurriedly from the danger zone. His attraction of all the fire had given his allies the opening they needed to counterattack.
"I better get these guys to safety, or otherwise all these risks would be for nothing!" He started to accelerate until the stars around began to speed past him in a blur. Soon a planet was within his vision. Gravity started to pull him forward as he crashed with the atmospheric air. Ben hurriedly changed to Humongousaur to withstand the enormous frictional force as he held the cocoon within his tow hands, which was thankfully unharmed, and plummeted towards the planet.
The last thing he remembered before crash landing was the ever so familiarly annoying beep of the Omnitrix that indicated that it was nearly out of juice.