The Problem with Portals, The First Arc

by Albedo - 917

The basic summary of events that changed the life of Albedo, turning him from an unrespected and looked down upon villain, to an interdimensional hero and a friend one could wish for. Well, the first part of that tale that is.

12. Prison Break

Chapter 12: Prison Break

Rex's Room, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

'I totally did not expect our reunion to be like this...'

Rex has been lying awake on his bed in his own customized room for a while now. It was the morning of Albedo's disappearance during the previous night and since the boy chose to turn in early, he awoke in accordance to that. All that silence and peace inside his own impossible room left him with plenty of time to think, and mull over his current situation. He knew where he was, that at least comforted him to some degree yet he could not help but feel uneasy. He was in the world of a friend he unexpectedly made a while back, that much was clear... yet the same questions circled around in his mind. 'Why does it feel so weird?' he asked himself again, 'I get that they are just as surprised by all that is happening as me, but... It seems out of left field. If these Plumber guys were supposed to be the de-facto peace force... than how could they allow a coup to so easily take place?' his thoughts wondered, 'There must be at least someone... no maybe in this world it would be something backing them, this seems to elaborate for a simple coup to me. Am I just overthinking all of this..? Even then, there's still the other matter.' as his thoughts progressed he felt himself sigh deeply, probably for the umpteenth time now, 'When exactly did I get here?'

Indeed, that question was one he could not help but ask continuously ever since things have calmed down enough to allow him to think. His last memory before arriving in this world was returning to Providence HQ from a dispatch he had gotten regarding some crime he could not even recall now, that much was fine... But the next thing was that some weird portal opened up next to them and on instinct he punched that Psyphon guy he saw on the other side, which in turn ended up helping Albedo and 'Ben' out. That was also fine. And yet... 'That was all in a simulation in the end... And once Albedo ended that I actually woke up in a test tube thing...' he thought back, 'That means I obviously was put into that simulation, yet I do not remember it at all. Did I pass out when I arrived here, then those Plumber guys just took me in? That seems way too convenient. How long have I been in this world? Did we actually contact Holiday and the others back then? We had to have! They were a lot more worried than if someone was just gone for a couple hours... Oh god, they were really worried... Just how long-'

"Aaargh!" he angrily snapped as he ruffled his own hair in frustration. "I don't like this one bit." he sat up and put on his shoes ready to exit the room as he looked back at it, that little control panel allowed him to customize it anyway and in any size he would have wanted, even Albedo himself was unsure of what technology allowed this to happen... But that at least gave Rex the peace of mind as he tried to recreate his room back at Providence, albeit with a bit more of his flair added into the mix. "...So, this will be my place for the time being... Better get used to it."

He thought about the slight reactions he got from Ben's relatives when they first met during that escape. Even if they did not voice their opinions Rex could feel that if it was anything positive they looked at him with intrigue. In the heat of the moment, and with adrenaline pumping it was hard to think about but the more he thought back on those moments the more he felt like he truly did not belong in the world he was in. "I just hope my nanites are not contagious anymore... That would be just the cherry on top of all this..."

The Lounge, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

Following yet another deep sigh, he exited through the rather futuristic sliding door and made his way towards his right, towards the living room where they all met that strange Professor yesterday. 'Time travel, huh? Really does not seem so unreal now.' Arriving at the large room, he was greeted by Ben melancholically looking at the table in the middle, in complete silence, his hands folded over one another as he seemed to be contemplating something. The machine manipulator was about to greet his friend before the person in question noticed him walking closer and with a gentle smile and a finger to his lips as if saying 'Quietly!' beckoned him to come over. With a raised eyebrow, Rex compliantly walked over, soon noticing the reason. On one of the couches, that was blocked by the angle with which he looked upon the room, lay a visibly worn out Charmcaster. Sleeping soundly, her hands close by to her face, crawled up on the couch with a small blanket draped over her, she seemed quite exasperated. Her long ponytail hung down the side as the only sound she made came from her quiet breathing.

"I woke up to find her leaning on the table." Ben explained in a faint whisper as he noticed Rex's concerned expression, "She really does not want to show it but she's probably the most worried right now. I... I really don't know what the two of them have been through up to this point, but it's pretty obvious they are close to each other."

"She's really knocked out." Rex agreed with a slight nod, "Has she been up all night?"

Ben let out a small but lengthy sigh, "I can only assume. I turned in before her after all of you but that could easily mean anything. If she was waiting all this time for him to come back..." Ben put both his hands to his face, hiding his eyes clearly, "I don't even know if he can come back from wherever he is. Paradox seemed sure of himself, and I really wanna trust him but I... I don't know anymore. I don't know who to trust, or who I even know at this point or even what I'm supposed to think."

Rex stood up and walked over to Ben, placing a comforting hand on his shoulders, "Even if the whole world goes bad, you still got us Monster Guy." he grinned as he whispered his best attempt at a cheer up response.

Ben smiled as a response, "Thanks Rex, but if anyone, it's you to whom I really should apologize in the first place."

"Huh?"

"You were brought into the mess of our world totally involuntarily and now can't even go back... It feels like that's on me you know?"

"Now hold up! Remember what you said to me a year ago bud? 'This may not be my Earth, but it's still Earth!' Like hell I'm gonna allow some turncoats to get away with all of this." the boy growled quietly, "I had enough of good groups turning back for a life."

"Ah right, when I went over there, Providence..." Ben seemed to catch on. "...Thanks, that really helps me right now. But you know, with almost all of my rivals or close enemies becoming my friends as of late whilst the people I have fought on the same side with are turning into a criminal group... I really don't know what to do." he let out yet another sigh, "You don't know the half of it, but Albedo used to be really, and I mean really bad. It took a while for me even just now to warm up to the thought that... he changed. That he could change." he let out a short chuckle, "After Kevin switched sides, I thought I could have accepted it sooner, but... He was different, we could never talk it out, not to mention he looked down on humans."

"That guy?" Rex's eyes widened in surprise, "I heard how he used to be but... That bad huh?"

"Oh yeah." Ben nodded in response, "And yet, I decide to take a year long trip around our universe and when I come back, the Plumbers turn all evil whilst the one person I least expected it is having an existential crisis. And then when I get captured outright, he shows up all cheerful to help." Ben buried his head in his hands. "Man, I said some things back then I can't take back. Even just the way I acted, I only saw how he used to be and did not want to admit it."

"I think you're overcomplicating it in your head." Rex declared, causing Ben to look at him in disbelief, "Look, I don't even want to pretend to know what you're going through, I can't or more like don't want to feel that, and hollow reassurances like that are worthless, but I know one thing. You need to talk it out, not just what happened in your collective pasts, but rather what you guys should do moving forward. I, heard Charmcaster tell Albedo about your past in that recording we saw, losing someone important to you changes you... I know that, but for their sakes as much as yours you can't let them keep you in stuck in the past. I'm gonna be frank with you here, compared to how you were when you came over, you are a melancholic mess." Ben's green eyes went wide at the statement, "You keep worrying about things that are beyond your control, and when you can't do jack to change it you blame yourself. That's not the you I came to know, the Ben I know is reckless but thoughtful, and when you are not annoying the life out of me you can be kind too." Rex chuckled, Ben soon after followed him in doing so, "Point is, as you know, things change. Nothing is going to constantly be the same, and as I have come to realize this is only one potential reality for us."

"Yeah, there might even be one where we never even met in the first place... After that Mad Max style dystopia I wouldn't throw it out the window." Rex raised an eyebrow at Ben's example, "Long story, I'll tell you later. Thanks for the pep talk though."

"Yeah. Anytime brother." Rex grinned, "Still, we have to be there for Albedo too... We will not be around forever unlike..."

Ben was hit by realization like a truck, "Oh how the hell could I forget that?" he asked himself with a groan rather than his previous reactions, "He probably would have out lived me anyway, but the dude became immortal right under my nose, what's up with that?!"

"I don't think either of us really realizes what that entails in the long run." Rex sighed. He looked over to the sleeping girl on the couch next to them, "That reminds me, how did you guys become friends anyhow?"

"After I became 15, we kind of had an on and off relationship. She sometimes helped us, other times we fought. It was really weird. My cousin, Gwen, wanted to really become friends with her, but not too long ago she got kinda corrupted by some sort of ancient magic or something like that. Gwen was forced to turn her into this little totem thing that sealed her powers... Then she ended up in a magic purse."

Rex visibly cringed at the nutshell summary, "Yeesh, it's a wonder she doesn't hate your guts even more."

"Well, during that trip I mentioned? The pouch ended up coming with us, and along the way Charmcaster came back out, but not as a totem. But seeing as we were on a space ship in practically the middle of nowhere in space... We were stuck together. That's when Gwen finally broke the ice and got her to talk. The two of them, as I expected, ended up hitting it off quite fast, we bonded right after. That lasted even after we came back, and in that one week peace period before we got captured, Gwen and Hope stayed in contact with one another."

"You keep calling her Hope."

"That's her name?" Ben chuckled at Rex's confused face, "Charmcaster is more so a sorcerer moniker, she prefers to go by it for personal reasons, but if she allows you to call her by that name, consider it an honor."

"I'll keep that in mind." Rex nodded with a smile, "Still this is one heck of a timeline then if all these changes happened."

"Timeline?"

"Think about it, this whole world is your timeline!" Rex spread his arms wide as if pointing at the whole world, "The only reality where these specific events happened! Holiday would have a field day here!"

"Wow. You're really optimistic." Ben chuckled before nodding, "I bet she totally would though."

"Right?" Rex grinned, which soon turned into a small chuckle that the brown-haired boy followed suit, "Besides like I said, from the world you told me about, this is a far cry. There's no Gwen and Kevin with you, your grandfather was apparently captured and the Plumbers are the polar opposites of what they should be. Things are looking pretty grim right now, but you can always turn things around. Albedo seems crazy enough for me to come up with a similarly crazy plan that will make good of his promise to help your gramps out. You have a whole bunch of friendly faces with you, even if half of them isn't from this world. And when your grandpa gets back here safely then he'll just needs to recover. Once we do that the next step is leaving the barrier so we can get to some sort of high command I would assume this sci-fi type world to have for these kind of things, and then we go from there." he smiled before it vanished as he looked straight ahead at the rising sun, "Maybe I can figure out how long I have been away actually."

"You really thought far ahead." Ben chuckled before he returned back to the last sentence of his other worldly friend, "Hold on, what exactly do you mean?" Rex heard Ben ask, as he recounted his worries from before to him too. "So, you think you got here much earlier than what your 'arrival' would suggest?"

"Yeah, I don't really see any other way." Rex sighed, "I've hit a block with that. If I remember coming from my world in the simulation, that must mean that I was somehow in suspended animation or something. Like what I mean is that my two memories connect immediately without a lapse in events, when I came from my world I punched simulated Psyphon in the face with the Smack Hands... But when that all collapsed, I woke up in your Plumber base thing... It's as if they were somehow..."

"Expecting you." Ben declared what Rex was more than likely thinking, "Which means the Plumbers, either the traitors or the actual force, knew about this rogue portal thing way before and would not be taking chances. As soon as you arrived you probably did not even have a chance to realize you were in this world before they caught you... And then they just put you into that simulation to test what you were capable of in a world generated from your memories. Or I assume that was the plan as Albedo seemed to royally mess that up when you two actually met up inside."

"Yeah..." Rex sighed. "That also explains how they found us so easily when Ace and his buds showed up."

"But hey, that's still somewhat a good thing!" Ben smiled reassuringly.

"I would appreciate if you'd fill me in how." Rex declared with an expecting look.

"If you could meet Albedo when you awoke in the simulation, that means that it all happened after the Plumbers' change in direction, as in it happened no longer than two weeks ago. Whilst yes that is a long ass time and it's not really reassuring, compared to what it could have been it's relatively short."

"No wonder Holiday was so worried..." Rex looked to his side seeing Ben raise an eyebrow, "You see..."

"So you still somehow managed to contact your world from the simulated Bellwood?"

"That's the thing Ben, I don't even know if that was real or if it was just constructed from what my brain probably would have liked to think would have happened."

"Rex..." Ben sighed, "This all just made me realize that you have even more things to worry about than the rest of us." he then added, "And that you also seem to really overthink things."

"Touché. But don't sweat it. Plus, you might be right, it's just when you have time to think you come up with the weirdest possibilities you know?" Rex said with supporting smile, "It might be my first time in an alternate world, but I had to deal with a lot of stuff in the past too, I'm sure I can pull through."

"Huh, at least we have that in common." Ben chuckled, causing Rex to follow suit.

"C'mon, that's not the only thing." Rex grinned, still laughing. The sound of their laughter however was soon broken by some light groans coming from the next couch. "Oh, sorry! Did we wake you?" Rex asked as the two of them looked at Charmcaster slowly picking herself up from the couch, wiping her eyes gently.

"No... No... When did I even fall asleep?" she asked numbly, "I don't... remember."

"It's no surprise, you looked quite worn out." Ben smiled as he put a hand to the sorceress' shoulder, "I just got you a blanket from my room is all, didn't really want to move you. You were sleeping so soundly." his smile then turned into a frown, "You really shouldn't allow yourself to get to this point you know. I get that you're worried, but I'm pretty sure he's gonna be fine. He proved himself more than capable too, and as much as I wouldn't like to admit it in the past, he's really great to have around."

"Yeah... It's just... He's my only friend other than you thr-"

"And now you're just hurting my feelings." Rex mock pouted, though with quite the flair getting a chuckle out of his conversation partners. "Am I not good enough?!"

Charmcaster smiled wholeheartedly, "I just really don't know what to do with the sudden surge of friends I have been getting, sorry." she chuckled, putting a hand to her mouth.

"S'good, just pulling your leg. I get that you and Albedo are like the absolutely antisocial couple, but I didn't think it was this bad."

"Hey! We're not that bad!"

"Oh yeah?" Rex put his hands on his hips with a raised eyebrow before he broke out into a laughter, "Pssht, not like I'm in a position to judge any of you, I don't have too many of those myself."

"Either way, what we have is those we can put our trust in I would like to think." Charmcaster declared with a smile, "At that point we're more like a family."

"I like the sound of that." they heard Ben say, yet when they turned to face him, he was quite dumbfounded.

"I didn't sa-" in that moment it clicked in all of their minds as they turned towards the sound of the voice, coming from the direction of the kitchen quite surprisingly.

"I am home!" Albedo grinned widely as he comically kissed the ground, "I never knew how much I missed this old place!"

"We were gone for less than a day." Death chipped in with a roll of their eyes.

"Oh, you shut up now! I do not want to experience that trauma in the near future ever again."

"Albedo!" Ben smiled from his spot on the sofa.

"You're back!" Charmcaster grinned.

"Yes, I have just said that?" Albedo raised an eyebrow in question, "Did I not shout it enough?" he teased.

"Should I even ask where you ended up..?" Ben's face filled with worry as he just remembered the reaction he entered the corridor with.

"You would not believe me without proof." Albedo shook his head.

"I wouldn't be too-"

"Which is precisely why I brought proof with me!" he declared triumphantly, cutting off Ben completely.

"Holdonasecondwhat?" Ben hastily declared at the eerily confident smile plastered on his body double's face. The kitchen doors opened and with quite a lean a tall creature stepped through them, Ben's eyes would have been kissing the floor by now had this been a cartoon, as the tall suited being appeared before them. Ben recognized the creature of course, it was the cause of a few of his nightmares a year or so back... Still it standing before him in all its glory, yet still... fidgeting? drove home the point of different dimensions other than all the alternate timelines he experienced were a thing.

'...Greetings...' an ethereal voice resounded in all of their heads.

"I present to you, the Slenderman!" Albedo chuckled, "Let me tell you the last 13 hours have been a weird point in my life."

"I can tell." Charmcaster nodded as he picked herself off the couch.

"What?" Ben finally managed to say, "Butisnthe?"

"Leave it to this version of me to find a version of Slenderman that is friendly to everyone! This one is such a nice person it hurts to see our world's game about that whole place now."

"Are you going to tell me you went through the Arrival's story line?" Rex asked with both his eyes half closed, as if the being standing there was not enough proof.

"Well more of an aftermath where I fixed everything like a Deus Ex Machina." Albedo clarified.

"Fixed..?" Ben asked as he remembered bits and pieces from the story, "Wasn't Carl dead? How did you..?" his eyes went wide, "Did you abuse your Reaper powers?!" he dramatically asked only for Albedo to look at him incredulously.

"No." he bluntly declared before making a thinking motions, "Hold on, we could have done that?"

"I mean, it is within my authority..."

"Why did you not tell me that exactly then?!"

"You were so into it, I did not want to ruin your groove." Death chuckled, "In the end it all turned out fine right?" he then added, "And whilst yes I do have the authority, I really should not 'abuse' the powers as Benjamin mentioned."

"Fair point."

"Wait if not that, how exactly did you 'fix' things?"

"An evolved Chronosapien does wonders Mr. Tennyson." Albedo laughed, "Thankfully it worked."

"You evolved Clockwork?! You gotta let me see!" Ben ecstatically asked.

"Hold your horses Benny, if in that world it wasn't our tall friend here who was the big baddie then who-" Rex asked before Albedo and Slenderman answered in a perfect unison.

"The forest."

"The forest?" Charmcaster asked, "How could a forest..?"

"I do not know the specifics as I was more focused on burning it to the ground, but it appeared to have a will of its own both in abducting its victims and gaining pawns to do the work for it, if it was some sort of a creature I truly hope I do not have the luck to encounter it in the future."

"You just jinxed it." Ben sighed audibly.

"Normally, I would dismiss that as utter nonsense, but with our experiences so far and Charmcaster sitting on the couch in front of me... I think I actually might have." Albedo sighed himself, "Thanks for that Ben."

"Hey what did I do?!"

"You reminded me of the possibility." he then turned over to the Slenderman next to him, "And you, what are you fidgeting about my friend? I told you it will be fine! Other than the initial shock, nothing will happen."

'It just... sounded too good to be true. I am just enjoying the fact that it was true.'

"Eh, in the long run we have all seen weirder things." Rex and Ben sighed at the Latino's statement.

'Yes... Albedo has told me stories.' Slenderman 'smiled', 'I also hear you have your fair share of troubles as of late.'

"Oh man, you don't know the half of it." Ben sighed.

With all the commotion happening outside his room, Ace awoke quite groggily. Haphazardly dressing up to an outgoing condition, he made his way over to his room to exit and greet everyone else already up. Leo has spent the night in Ace's room as the two seemed to have found a connection. The little lion awoke himself as he floated to station himself atop Ace's head as the two prepared to head outside. Yet as soon as Ace turned right upon exiting his room, he fainted in shock at the sight of the tall man not too far away from him leaving Leo to yelp in surprise as they fell to the ground, catching everyone's attention.

'Other than the initial shock..?' Slenderman seemed to be upset as he turned towards Albedo.

"Yes, what of it~?" he playfully asked, trying his damndest to avoid the piercing 'gaze'. "I am quite sure that was a terrible wake up call, but the young man will be fine."

"Back on topic, if this forest was the one manipulating people and controlling them, how come you didn't lose control." Charmcaster asked with a raised index finger.

"I do believe I have never said that I did not?" Albedo pointed out. "I started losing consciousness in the mines, as Death maneuvered us out using a neat little trick we found."

"A trick?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow, as four pale purple spider legs protruded from Albedo's back, causing Ben to look on in wonder, "Woah."

"Partial transformation into an evolved Arachnichimp. I have found that whilst in combat it would likely be less effective, it uses less of my own powers to make this transformation last, and it does not come with a lasting headache. Plus, it is handy."

"You have headaches?" Ben asked, slightly concerned.

"Unlike you dear Benjamin, I do not have a device that controls my transformations, I do them from my own will. However as such I can stay in a different form indefinitely, or until I am able to concentrate or am conscious. I have experienced mild headaches in longer duration transformations, whilst quite a lasting migraine has also popped up when I was forced to remain transformed for more than a day, I would rather not go into details for that. So back on topic, as we made it out of the mines I eventually still collapsed by the strain the effects of the whole place has put on my mind. One could assume what would have happened next."

"Buuut... You're still normal though." Rex pointed out.

"Indeed." Albedo however let the silence hang. A couple minutes of awkward silence later Charmcaster snapped her fingers as she also pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Oh gods, you died again didn't you?" the statement alone caused the other two's eyes to widen. Albedo however suddenly disappeared from in front of them as his voice just as suddenly sparked up behind them.

"I might have, yes."

"And you can teleport now... This is getting weirder and weirder." Charmcaster continued,

"Tell me about it." Ben nodded, "So you... died, and came back with these powers..?"

"Ah, you might not know! I seem to copy the abilities or skills, at least one that is, of the one who ended my, be it a person, an item or natural phenomena."

"But then how did you die?" Rex asked.

"Come now, which one of us besides me or Charmcaster is capable of teleporting in this room?" Albedo asked the question as all eyes landed on the tall man nearby. "Bingo."

'I... I was caught off guard.' he declared as he put a hand to his chest. 'People normally do not get up after being stabbed.'

"Our tall friend here was forced to put those lost out of their misery." Albedo clarified.

Ben's hands curled into a tightened fist as Rex and Charmcaster looked to the ground in response.

"I also became immune to the forest's effects as it seems, unless of course that is total immunity to mind control in which case it is quite 'broken'." Albedo sighed before he walked over to Ben, putting both his hands on his shoulders, "Nevermind that for now, Benjamin my friend!"

"Y-yes?" Ben reluctantly dared to ask.

"We now have two people who can teleport undetected by Plumber systems. I do certainly hope you realize what this means."

Ben thought for a couple seconds before his eyes lit up with excitement, "We can get Grandpa back!"

"Indeed! I knew you were a smart cookie." Albedo joked, "As it was just said, I believe it is time to mount a rescue mission on two Magisters."

"Two?" Charmcaster asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Whilst we cannot exactly bring every captured Plumber officer with us, to my dismay, I believe it would still be wise to bring back Magister Tennyson's partner as well, they would both need time to recuperate from their state, but that can be done in this base, I assure you."

Ben seemed to remember that terrible clip of memory Albedo has showed him as the images of not only his grandfather but of Magister Patelliday got recalled as well, "Poor guy definitely did not deserve that treatment." Ben nodded.

"Right, let us get right on t-" Albedo was about to say with a fist held up in the air before the TV screen next to them sparked to life with purple mana. "Oh my, hello there." he greeted whoever might have been on the other side, as an image showed up and everyone turned towards the screen. Not long after the image cleared, the faces of Gwen, Kevin, Dawn and Dex came up on the screen. "Oh! Greetings! I do hope you have got my message."

"Yes. We did." Gwen nodded in response as her mouth curled up into a small smile, "Hello everyone. It's been a bit."

"Oh yeah, a 'bit'." Ben nodded, putting sarcastic emphasis on the word of choice.

"Umm, guys, don't freak out but there's someone behind you." Kevin broke the silence, looking slightly off put by something behind them, as Albedo turned around though he turned back to the screen almost immediately after with a smile.

"Ah, yes. I do believe you have not met Slenderman yet." he chuckled.

Gwen just looked at Ben to the side who shrugged his shoulders with an awkward expression that just told Gwen she will be hearing about this in detail later. She let out a sigh before continuing as she faced Albedo, at least for now no reluctance showing on her face, "Thank you for that video... That gave us a grasp on the situation. Even though it is not pleasant what so ever."

"I am truly sorry you had to see that... I just thought it would be fair, you are related after all, and it was my inability-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there dude." Kevin cut Albedo off before he could finish, "We saw. You tried. That's enough for me." he let out a sigh as a smile crept onto his face as well, "Does Tennyson know?"

"Of course." Albedo nodded, "Everyone does in fact." he added with a smile, "Now, I do believe I offered to inform you should I have come up with measures of freeing the Magister, but it seems you have beaten me to the punch."

"You found a way?!" Gwen lit up at the chance that her grandfather could finally be able to rest.

"Now, it is not guaranteed to work, but I do hope you realized a fact that Mr. Levin has pointed out not too long ago."

The gears in Gwen's head shifted into motion almost immediately as her facial expression changed with them, this time laying eyes on the tall man awkwardly sitting on a couch in front of her. Albedo followed her eyes as a grin kept growing wider and wider across his own face. "It seems you have realized yes?" he chuckled, "Well I have additional news to add to that." he finished with a gentle smile as he suddenly without warning disappeared off the screen and thus out of Gwen's vision range, returning seconds later with the unconscious body of Ace as he lay it across the third couch.

Kevin seemed to grin from ear to ear before it abruptly disappeared, "If you can do that... I should be kinda happy I think, but I just remembered about what you said the night we talked."

"Do not worry about the gory details. Though I do appreciate the concern." Albedo waved his hands dismissively. "Point is I can teleport too, which takes me to my next point," he continued as he turned towards the tall man, "Would you mind filling me in on how your powers work exactly?"

'Of course.' the tall man nodded as he stood up from the couch and displaced himself a little behind the couch Ace was laying on, 'For a general teleport I can move myself to anywhere in a roughly 400 meter radius around me, I always seem to end up where there is enough space for me to materialize so there is no risk of accidentally displacing myself inside solid material.' Slenderman explained, 'For longer teleports however, I can only go to places I have been to once before.'

"That sounds rather specific?" Albedo questioned with a raised eyebrow.

'Well, that is more the simplified version. In truth I can go to anywhere as long as I have a clear image in mind of the location, but that obviously usually only means places I have indeed visited before in my life.' he clarified as he continued, 'As such, say I could more than likely teleport from here to the Eiffel Tower, yet that would be ill advised.'

"Indeed, whilst you are capable of doing so, arriving in the middle of the day in the epicenter of a tourist attraction would hardly help your cause... Especially considering you do not even exist in this world as much more than a game character." Albedo nodded, "I see. So for us to successfully infiltrate the Plumber base again, we would be in need of a distraction of sorts." he turned towards Ben with a slightly ominous grin as the young hero would have put it.

"Ohno." Ben quickly muttered with a gulp.

"Is Ace doing okay?" came a rather young sounding feminine voice from the screen behind him as Albedo's eerie smirk disappeared. It was Dawn, Ace's younger sister with quite a concerned expression etched onto her face. Even with her two pairs of wings folded onto her back, they took up quite the space on the screen.

"Oh of course!" Albedo nodded, "I just cannot imagine that meeting Slenderman right after waking up has not done him much good in the morning is all." he added with a chuckle. Dawn calmed down as she smiled as well.

"On that note, I suppose I ought to tell you that thanks to our trip, before we even left actually, I actually seem to have advanced a year. It seems I will be graduating in a couple of weeks..." Gwen sighed as she took in a large amount of air,"...after which they are closing the university indefinitely." the girl added hastily soon after.

"Closing?!" Ben snapped to attention, "I mean don't get me wrong I'm happy for you cous' but, why?"

"I cannot imagine that the new Plumbers spreading their name have anything to do with it Benjamin." Albedo added sarcastically.

"That seems to be the case." Gwen nodded, "It will be about two weeks as all the paperwork is taken care of as Friedkin and its immediate area is not under threat right now, after that they are evacuating everyone." the redhead let out a lengthy sigh, "I guess we are jumping straight back into this mess."

"If that is the case, I would appreciate it if you two could inform us periodically on the situation outside of Bellwood." Albedo asked, "Seeing as how we, that being all of us, cannot leave the city. I would rather not leave anyone here with potential danger around the corner." Ben stared in disbelief in Albedo's direction but tried not to show it.

"Sure. We can keep you updated. People outside seem to be getting restless enough too." Kevin nodded with a sigh. "Oh, right! Speaking of info, Rook's back!" true enough the Revonnahgander stepped up to whatever surface Gwen was using for opening the communication network and smiled at Ben and Albedo.

"Rook!" Ben smiled from ear to ear, "I hope you have some good news."

"That... Depends." Rook admitted, uncertainty reflecting from his voice.

"Go on." Albedo urged him on.

"Undertown is compromised." the alien declared after a short pause, "In its location stands what I could only assume to be Plumber property."

"Just as we feared huh?" Ben sighed.

"...What of that infuriating hedgehog and his Techadon army?" Albedo continued questioning as he put his hand to his mouth in thought as Ben himself seemed to be thinking things over.

"To my knowledge Argit has been apprehended and the Techadons dismantled. Yet I have seen no proof of either yet... It is uncertain if he is even still alive." Rook admitted, though he seemed indifferent.

"That bad huh?" Ben sighed, "So even Techadons could be easily dismantled with large numbers."

"Perhaps a team lead by Mr. Damien Clarke could be capable of that," Albedo gained a few questioning looks from those around him, "Ah, he is the one who captured us the second time, the burly bald man with the beard."

"Oh, that guy." Rex sighed, "So you got his name."

"I did." Death clarified, "Apparently the man is being blackmailed by this Clyde fellow so he could do nothing but act against his will. My guess? A relative of sorts, more than likely an offspring. His son if I had to wager an exact guess."

"What?!" Ben snapped, Rook seemed quite angry himself, "Blackmail? Over a kid?"

"Keep in mind that this is just an estimate guess, but all signs currently point to at least a close relative." Albedo sighed, "Anything else to report?"

"The prisoners that were held in the space station are on board on a transport to an undisclosed location. However I must apologize, I could not find out the exact location."

"No need Rook." Ben shook his head.

"Benjamin is perfectly right Rook, you have done more than plenty." Albedo nodded. "Still that does raise some concerns."

"Oh! I have also successfully visited Ms. Green." Rook added with a raised index finger, catching Ben's attention and Albedo's silent intrigue, "Apparently the news of Bellwood's separation from the rest of the world are starting to spread through distinct Plumber groups but so far only the close-by settlements have noticed the obvious."

"So mass panic is still overdue." Albedo sighed, "How quaint."

"Oh yeah, Hope?" Gwen spoke up again, catching the silver haired sorceress' attention.

"Yeah?"

"Your uncle sends his well wishes." Gwen smiled as he leaned closer and whispered as if they were next to each other, "And between you and me, we could barely stop him from going over there to you." the two giggled by themselves, lightening the mood slightly.

"Please tell Uncle Hex there's no need to worry. I'm fine." Charmcaster smiled gently.

"On it." Kevin nodded as he seemingly left just outside the door of wherever they were and spoke something inaudible in the background causing everyone to share a short laugh as Ace also woke up from his dazed loss of consciousness.

"We seem to be in the thick of it all, huh?" he asked as most gazes focused on him, "I heard the important bits."

"Understatement of the day dude." Rex deadpanned.

Ace and his sister engaged in a light hearted conversation as they both caught the other up to speed before Rook spoke up again, "I shall be off for now, Ben I will try going off planet to worlds where we have connections and gather information or inform them of the situation. I shall report back whenever I am back around."

"Alright man, take care of yourself." Ben nodded, his partner doing the same as he was about to leave the room leaving only Gwen and Dawn. Dex was seen in the background, out on a couch and Kevin, seemingly, was still trying to talk some sense into Hex outside their door.

"One moment Rook." Albedo called the Revonnahgander back to the screen.

"Yes?" Rook asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This might be too much to ask, but I would suggest you go over to the Tetramands first. If push comes to shove they will also be in opposition to the Plumbers, if that happens it would be better to have their military might on our sight rather than as a third force in this pointless bout."

"I see. I shall try to contract the emperor first." Rook nodded in agreement.

"Also... one more thing." Albedo looked to the ground with a raised finger above his head, Rook looked confused as Ben and the others looked at him as well, "If... if you happen to go over to the Galvan... Do not mention me anywhere... Please..." he added with a hefty sigh, not being able to raise his head anymore to face Rook. Ben and Charmcaster looked at him with visible concern, Rex remembered that Albedo was a Galvan, and not long after remembered that snippet from his past as he became concerned as well. Ben walked over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder as Albedo seemed to be slightly shaking.

"I... I see." Rook nodded in agreement, "I promise I will omit you if it shall come up."

"Thank you..." Albedo seemed to nod as he slowly walked away and not long after the sound of a sliding door opening and closing was heard.

"Still fresh in the mind huh..?" Ben silently asked, catching Gwen's attention even more than the conversation just now, as Rook took that as a cue to actually leave now.

"Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you guys for a bit?" she asked as she indicated to both her cousin, Charmcaster and to the person's surprise Rex as well.

"Sure." Ben nodded as Rex shrugged and Charmcaster nodded. Slenderman nodded in the background as he simply vanished, possibly thinking this belonged to them only, as Ace walked towards the kitchen, possibly intending to continue his rudely interrupted morning routine. The little lion on the other hand hastily flew after Albedo moments after he left, more than likely inside with the shaken up Galvan now. "What's the matter Gwen?"

"I believe we need to have a talk." Gwen sighed as Kevin walked back over, Hex having left just now. "All five of us."

"Me too?" Rex asked, jokingly pointing to himself, as Gwen nodded seriously causing the goggle wearing young man to tense up a bit.

"What about though?" Charmcaster asked as she sat down on a couch.

"You should start with our white-haired friend." Gwen declared, "We got a video... about grandpa Max."

"Before we left we had that talk about the past week from his perspective, which apparently was more than a month, and I kinda get the whole immortality and powers thing as well... But what was that reaction just now?" Kevin asked, "He seemed legit sorrow filled when he couldn't do jack about your grandfather, and I get it I would've been the same. But-"

"So remember how he mentioned in passing that we got stuffed into that simulation thing again after you left?" Charmcaster raised an eyebrow in question.

"Before we could meet up with him and Ace, we kinda got shown a video as well. Still don't know who wanted us to see but..." Ben continued.

"It was like a first-person perspective of the whole thing. Like from before he disappeared into that portal thingy and the other world as well." Rex continued. "It was just as he has said up until the point where he literally flipped out because that Damien guy called him a monster."

"Monster?" Gwen asked.

"Flipped out how?" Kevin added his own question.

"So, in short I guess Dawn and Dex already told you about the world they are from right?" Charmcaster asked, Gwen nodded in confirmation, "And you know what that Albedo did right? As soon as Ace saw Albedo he got all protective of Dawn and wouldn't let him get close, then he just shouted that Albedo is a monster and that caused him to freeze up. Save for when Ace actually tried to punch him and he just effortlessly caught it."

"He tensed up to the point that he did not say anything after that." Ben added, "As the video moved forward though, 'monster' seemed to be repeating in his head as it soon turned into Azmuth's voice."

"Azmuth?!" Kevin snapped, "What?"

"As it turns out... Azmuth was the adoptive father of Albedo." Ben clarified as Gwen and Kevin's eyes went wide at such a revelation, "And they even worked on the Omnitrix along with another Galvan called Rednus."

"Rednus?" Gwen asked in thought.

"I will get to it." Ben nodded. "So not long after Charmcaster forcefully put Ace to sleep did Damien and his men show up. After a brief exchange he demeaningly called Albedo 'Mr. Monster'... But it only took me a second to realize that something was wrong."

"Wrong how?"

"His face was fully of rage I have never seen before." Ben seemingly shuddered, "His voice was almost an animalistic growl as he just shouted that 'you don't get to call me that'." he repeated the word in a vain attempt at Albedo's usual way of speech even with the rather demonic after effects.

"I haven't known him for long before, that's granted, but I got freaked out." Charmcaster admitted, whilst Rex just nodded.

"Sure that was weird." Ben admitted, "But inside the simulation we soon found out why."

"You call an animalistic growl of a shout 'weird'?" Kevin raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Firsthand, it might have been." Charmcaster admitted, "But as Ben said, with the reason it all made sense." she sighed, "So as Ben said, Albedo has been on the Omnitrix project way back then. Rednus was another researcher that Albedo fell for."

"I already don't like where this story is heading."

"The feelings were mutual too. For the most of it nothing was amiss, nor were there any problems." Charmcaster recounted, "It was just Albedo and other Galvans earnestly working on the project for Azmuth, along with him of course. Albedo was always commenting in his mind that Azmuth never seemed to show any emotion, nor would he particularly care for him even though they lived together. Most was that they would sit down to eat at best."

"Wow." Kevin deadpanned, "That's one deadbeat father."

Charmcaster nodded heavily in agreement, "Don't know if anything happened in-between as the memories fast forwarded a bit to when the Omnitrix was largely finished. Albedo and Rednus seemed to be doing a routine check on all the projects as they parted ways at an intersection of sorts, Albedo continuing further ahead whilst Rednus went to the left... However before Albedo could reach the door an ear piercing scream resounded in the corridors."

"Just to give a little context before we get to the juicy bits," Rex interrupted, "Before we got to this point there was a bit of memory where Albedo was frustrated at the lack of proper containment methods or storage spaces..."

"You see, the project Rednus had to check up on was the-" Charmcaster continued.

"The Omnitrix." Gwen surmised, as Charmcaster nodded to confirm her theory.

"Which was currently stored above an active power reactor..." Ben added as an eerie silence filled the room.

"...Seriously?" Kevin asked, his expression a weird mix of confusion and anger. Charmcaster only nodded as she continued on. Describing the tall mysterious figure holding Rednus up in the air by the neck as she struggled and screamed. In their other hand seemed to be the earliest Omnitrix neatly taken out of its holding container. What followed was the struggle between the two which resulted in Rednus flying over the railing and holding onto dear life as Albedo tried to pull her up to no avail. She continued with their talk and the thief's weird monologue before he vanished, that was only seen in the corner of Albedo's eye on the footage.

"A teleporter?" Kevin raised an eyebrow, before frowning, "But Whitey shouldn't have been anything more than a random scientist back then right?"

"We've been thinking about that for a while as well..." Ben nodded, "And whilst it's anything but a fact judging by how scared he sounded upon finding out about that one of the Galvans was Albedo... He might have been from the future." he let out a sigh as he decided to continue on with the story, continuing with Rednus and Albedo's last conversation and Albedo blaming Azmuth for all of this amongst other things... and then Rednus' fall. Gwen and Kevin just silently looked towards the ground, at that point expecting that end. Ben continued with how Albedo, having not put up any resistance, was put on trial for attempted theft and murder, both of which were quite unheard of on Galvan, or at least by Galvan hands. Then soon after came the trial as Azmuth's words decided, at least as it seemed to Albedo, his fate which later on turned into what he did and how Ben and his friends came to know him.

"Man, they say it's good to have both sides of the same story but..." Kevin sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So yeah, technically the first time we met him he wasn't lying. He was the creator of the Omnitrix somewhat." Ben sighed, "But yeah, after having busted us out then seeing this it's kinda hard to hate on the guy."

"Tell me about it."

"And now I feel like a jerk." Gwen sighed.

"Do not be." came the voice of Ben with a different tone, as they realized it was Albedo who came back, "My apologies, I... I showed you something unsavory."

"Albedo, I'm sorry we..." Charmcaster started in a startled haze before Albedo simply raised a hand.

"I know dear, there is nothing to apologize for. If we can build trust by that I do not mind... But I hope you realize why I would avoid Galvan with all my might now." he sighed. "I am just... simply not ready to go back. Nor do I want to."

"Sorry about all the times I snugged ya." Kevin apologized in his own way.

"To be fair, with the way I was acting back then, getting punched a couple times seems like a fair trade." Albedo shrugged with a slight chuckle which helped to lighten the mood quite a bit. "I look forward to working with you in getting out of this mess however." he added with a slight bow.

Gwen was silent for a couple seconds before she let out a lengthy sigh as a smile formed on her lips, "Likewise." she then turned towards Rex, "Now that we have that sorted... Rex, was it?"

"Yeah."

"What's your story man?" Kevin chipped in doing some odd motions with his hands, "It's not every day you meet a dude who can turn himself into machine things... Not to mention Tennyson fricking merged with you. Like, dude."

"Yeah, Kevin?" Ben asked causing Kevin to turn towards him, "Remember almost two years ago when I mentioned that I got sucked into that portal thing into that alternate world... And you and Gwen didn't believe me, at all?"

Kevin and Gwen went wide eyed at the remark as they seemed to recall Ben's outrageous sounding story from back then as he apparently entered a parallel world and saved it along with 'Resident hero-dude Robot Boy' and then got home through the Null Void. It did not sound believable back then, and if Gwen wanted to admit it didn't even now... yet the proof was all there. As just during their escape the powers were demonstrated more than once. However what Gwen did not like was the cocky grin plastered across her cousin's face as the realization probably showed itself on her face.

"Oh, you told them about me?" Rex chuckled, "How touching."

"Alright..." Gwen sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "I guess you got me with that one."

"Well anyways, yeah, I'm Rex." Rex nodded with his introduction, "And since I don't know how long currently, I'm stuck in this world. Nice to meet you for now, though I think I like Ben's story Plumbers better." he added with a chuckle.

"We probably do too." Kevin nodded in agreement.

"For now let me thank you for the information, but I am afraid we should be off if we want to spring your grandfather out, lest he also be transported to wherever they are taking the prisoners."

"Ohnonotagain." Ben quickly muttered to himself, once again not liking the grin on Albedo's face at all.

"If we have anything we'll 'call'." Gwen nodded.

"Likewise." Charmcaster smiled, "It will probably happen soon."

"Granted what we want to do goes well that is." Albedo sighed.

"Where's your unwavering optimism dude?" Rex asked with a grin as he put an arm around Albedo's shoulders.

"More than likely where I left my mortality." the white haired alien quickly responded without batting an eye.

The television screen soon returned to normal and as if on cue Slenderman and Ace both appeared at the entrance to the living room, though whilst Ace exited the kitchen, Slenderman quite literally appeared out of thin air once again surprising the green haired youngster.

"Stop. Doing that." he asked through gritted teeth.

'Apologies... It seems our timing is quite impeccable.'

"Yeah, I guess."

'Have you... gotten used to my presence?'

"Oh! Sorry!" Ace apologized profusely as if he suddenly realized something terrible he might have done, "I was just startled as I have just woken up you see? I don't think there's anything to get used to with you if I'm being honest, I've seen a lot scarier things, at least to me, from where I come from."

Slenderman was sure that if he had a face he would probably be shocked right now as he glanced over to Albedo who just gave him a knowing wink, 'I... see.' he lent out a hand to the small boy in front of him, 'In that case, it is nice to meet you.'

"Yeah!" Ace grinned as he shook the large hand even though his own almost disappeared in its grasp, "Likewise!"

"Now then, I believe we best get on with our makeshift evacuation mission." Albedo declared as he clapped his hands together, "If I only need to concentrate on a place fully, then I should be able to get to the Null Void portal that houses your grandfather... But for it to go flawlessly without any obstacles, you lot will need to cause a distraction large enough for them to pay attention to. Granted if I am successful it shall be done in a matter of minutes, think you can hold out for that long?" he asked turning towards Ben and Rex who just looked at each other with a grin.

"I think we'll manage." Rex nodded.

"Splendid." Albedo nodded turning towards Slenderman, "Now since you are the only other being in this room capable of teleporting through anomalous means I was hoping I could ask you to create a separate distraction inside."

'I see.' Slenderman nodded, 'Anything I should be wary for?'

"Hm, well first of all if you can just knock them unconscious that will be enough for me, yet I think I should warn you that the Plumber troops are equipped with a highly advanced production plasma rifle. Now granted I have absolutely no idea if you can be hurt or not by normal bullets, I would still advise you avoid the projectiles." Albedo instructed, "Also, keep in mind that in this world you are only a fictional character. As such I would imagine that a lot of who you might meet will not take it seriously that you are in fact there, so you can use that for your advantage."

'Duly noted.'

"Where... where are we going to keep grandpa and Patelliday once we do get them out?" Ben asked with uncertainty filling his voice.

"Glad you have asked." Albedo smiled, "If you would follow me."

Infirmary, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

Albedo led the small group to one of the multitude of anomalous doors which bore no defining factors that would set it apart from all the other room doors on the hallway walls. However as if sensing their presence a small text appeared on the doors stating 'Infirmary' much to everyone's surprise.

"I believe this room would suffice." Albedo smiled as he got closer to the door, allowing it to open sideways like the other room doors.

Once the door fully opened the group was free to see the entirety of the Infirmary room. It was beyond what any of them expected, or at least that was the feeling Albedo got once he got a look at each of their faces, save for the tall man. It was a wide room with a tile floor colored a very pale green, similar in hue to taydenite's color but it was lighter, and on the two sides of the room sat a multitude of fully equipped hospital beds lining up a lengthy row on both sides. Separating the two rows was a wide walkway allowing for multiple people to stand beside each other with ease thus allowing quite a bit of movement. Upon first glance it was almost as if the room was never ending, once again defying the laws of everything as the space inside the door was quite a bit larger than on the outside.

"WHAT?" Ben just asked upon the sight of the room. "Dude, are you sure you just found this base?"

"Absolutely." Albedo nodded in agreement, "We stumbled upon this whole thing a good while back. I literally mean stumble as we ended up near the whole mountain range by mistake, and by yet another mistake my accomplice revealed the hidden control panel. Seeing how it appeared to be DNA locked he tried his luck to no avail, and him being quite the insistent one forced me to try as well rather than to search for a more logical solution." Albedo recounted, "It was to our surprise when the rockface opened to reveal the elevators."

"Wait, it was locked to your DNA?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I am not sure, seeing how we share a DNA it might as well have been meant for you, but nothing in this place screams even remotely that it belongs to the Plumbers or the Tennysons." Albedo sighed, "I have been wondering that for a while but never got around to answer it. Because if it was for me, then who would have built it in the present? I am nothing noteworthy, at best an A-rank villain, I do not have a positive history and I rather have infamy than fame." he added, "So I started wondering... What if it was someone from the future?" he continued, "But that just brings up a whole other mess, if it is indeed from the future, as this technology is way beyond the current me... It had to have been either built in the past, thus resulting in a possible case of time travel... Or if it was simply sent back that would mean they had to replace this entire mountain range, or at least what space the base would occupy. If that's the case then whoever did it might know me in their time and was intending to lend a helping hand... All in all it is quite the confusing situation."

"You're telling me." Rex nodded, "This place is better equipped than a hospital."

"We are going to need it if we are to nurse the Magisters back to full health." Albedo pointed out.

"Anything else you found out about this place?" Charmcaster asked as she started taking a look around the lengthy room.

"All doors lead to an anomalous space that is able to be freely customized by these panels." the white haired teen continued as he pointed at said panel on the wall, "From my understanding anything is possible to be put in these spaces, and it can take on quite differing sizes. I am sure most of you have already fiddled around with them as I instructed a couple days ago in designing your places of residence."

"Yeah, the panels are cool." Rex nodded.

"On the other hand, on the opposing wall next to the kitchen is another sliding door that leads into a large tiled room with about six or so sinks and mirrors along with three doors. Two of them lead into separate bathrooms equipped with individual showers as well. It is also separated by genders too." Albedo put a hand to his head as if to cull an impending headache, "The attention to detail is just inexplicable." he sighed as he shook his head, "The third door seems to lead to a large bath, with a scheduling notebook on the door..."

"This is like an expensive hotel." Ace noted, "A way too expensive one."

"Indeed." Albedo nodded, "Ah, at the end of the hallway that comes from the elevator the double doors lead to a large white walled room, similarly manipulatable like the living quarters. The walls seem rather sturdy as I have tried numerous forms to even damage it a little after it was deemed impossible to do so by normal means. Now I know that some of you might ask why I wanted to tear off the walls or such, but curiosity got the better of me since the material was impeccable and indestructible. The panel had some presets built into it so we deemed it a training area as it literally could not be damaged... Albeit I do wonder who or what needs that kind of training." he asked out loud with a finger at his chin as he gained raised eyebrows from everyone present in the room, "What? Did I say something inappropriate?"

"Albedo, dear, I am not sure how to remind you that you could level a building if you so wanted." Charmcaster pointed out with a gentle hand on his shoulders.

"Oh dear." Albedo sighed, "You seem to be right." he closed his eyes as he seemed to be thinking more, "Whilst I do not know if there is anything different there also appears to be a console in the Lounge area so I would assume even this place can be extended anomalously further and further."

"So we are living in an alien luxury lounge." Rex concluded, "Sounds fine to me." he added with a chuckle, "Though back on topic, how about we get your grandfather out before they do something worse to him." he asked, turning to Ben.

"A splendid idea. Once I make contact with Maxwell I shall bring him back here, same with Magister Patelliday. If any further complications occur I believe we ought to stay in contact."

"How do you propose we do that?" Ace asked.

"I have some micro communicators we can use, and if all else fails I believe our resident sorcerer can whip up a telepathy network." he declared as he turned towards the proud girl.

"Of course! Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Fabulous. Let us be off then." Albedo declared as most of the group set off towards the elevators safe for him and Slenderman. They did a short test with the communicators before the group descended down the elevator and proceeded with their preparations for the distraction. They decided to split into two groups, one being Ben and Charmcaster the other being Rex and Ace so they could divide the Plumber's attention even more. Before the two would set off themselves Albedo turned his attention towards the tall man, "I do believe I have given you an impossible task."

'You indeed seem to have.' Slenderman nodded.

"My apologies, I was caught up in the moment, however I believe we can easily mend that problem." he declared as he beckoned the tall man to lean forward. As he did so, Albedo placed a hand to the side of his head, "This may tickle a bit."

Using the same power Death helped him to use in projecting his memories to the television screen in the lounge Albedo managed to implant some of his more detailed memories about the Plumber headquarters' halls so the mysterious otherworldly being could easily appear within them.

'My... This is fascinating. Thank you.' the tall man joyously said as he stood back upright, 'So I shall just cause confusion inside this building I take it?'

"It would be much appreciated." Albedo nodded.

'Understood, I shall be off then.'

"Thanks for all the help."

'Do not mention it. You helped me all the same.' the tall man curtly nodded before he vanished into thin air.

"Now as for you my little friend..." Albedo said with a smile as he sensed the pressure of small paws on his calves, "I am afraid we will have to leave you here for a little while." he said as he picked up the small winged cub from the ground, looking him in the face.

'I will protect this place!' came its tiny voice as if he was speaking directly.

"Alone?" Albedo raised an eyebrow in a questioning smile.

'Leo is not afraid anymore! Albedo is with Leo, so he feels safe!'

"Is that so?" the white haired alien let out a short lived chuckle, "In that case I shall leave this place to you my four legged friend." with a growl of approval, Albedo set the cub down on the floor as he himself was preparing to disappear, yet found himself unable to. "Strange, I am sure I imagined the room in detail..?" he pondered for a couple seconds, "Something is not right here."

"Maybe try somewhere close by to that room, if that does not work either than you possibly did not copy the ability perfectly."

"That would be really terrible in our current predicament." Albedo cringed before sighing, "Perhaps I am missing something... Let us try-" and with that he vanished as well, much to the awe of the small white furball.

Hidden Basement, Plumber HQ - Earth, Bellwood, America, Earth, 2014 A.D.

"Huh, seems this works. What might be different about that room I wonder..." Albedo pondered aloud.

"I do believe we will soon find that out." Death added.

"Oh my, seems this place did not change at all in the last couple of days." Albedo commented with distaste as he appeared in the same room he previously found himself dissected in. Everything was in the same disarray as it has been, with various substances still dried up in a multitude of splotches on the floor... yet as he looked around and much to his surprise, Albedo saw the last person he expected to see in the room. It just so happened to be the same scientist he bumped into on the day he woke up here in the first place... currently on the ground covering in shocked fear after a loud bang, possibly him colliding with the floor, as the gears clicked in Albedo's head. "Oh, I certainly did not expect to bump into you here once again Dr. David." however the man just stopped for a second upon the sound of his apparent name before he curled up into an even smaller ball. Albedo visibly frowned at the sight, he let out a lengthy sigh and slowly walked up to the mess of the human being in front of him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder, "I really did a number on you, huh?" at the gentle touch, the man stopped shaking almost unnaturally so and looked up to lock teary blue eyes with Albedo's crimson ones, "Shall we start over properly? My name is Albedo." he added with a smile as he extended his right hand. The man took it shaking all the while, prompting Albedo to pull him back up to his feet. "I do apologize for how I acted during our first meeting, I was in a hurry to save my friends you see." the man just blankly stared at him with an expression Albedo was unable to read, "Is something amiss? I thought you would have left back then."

"...an't..."

"Pardon?"

"I... can't..." Dr. David finally let his answer escape his lift as he looked at the ground only to clench his fists.

"You cannot?" Albedo raised an eyebrow, "Ah, I suppose the barrier was put in place quite hastily after our escape." he followed up with a sigh. "I see."

"W-who even are you?!" the doctor finally snapped, "And why do you look like Ben?! I don't even know what's going on anymore!"

"My, you worked here yet never read the records? My name is Albedo, as I have told you already."

"Oh." the man's eyes suddenly seemed to glint with realization, "R-right, you did just say th- A-Albedo? From Galvan?" David's eyebrows rose as his train of thought immediately wondered off, "What is going on..? Aren't you-"

"Present in the Plumber criminal data base? I believe I should still be yes." Albedo nodded affirming the doctor's suspicions, "Now, I am sure it must be surprising to see someone who a scientist like you might have thought to be a run off the mill bad guy working with the so called 'heroes' but there are larger forces and events at play here than simply me switching sides. And I am sure you already know I am not the same as I once was." the alien smiled as he looked at the operating table he woke up on a couple days ago, the doctor following his gaze.

"E-ever since that day... I couldn't sleep at all." the doctor admitted, "Not only am I shut in here without a way out... I had to... I had to think all that time after that... H-how do you know about Jacob..? About Anna?"

Albedo let out yet another lengthy sigh as a guilty smile formed on his lips, "I am sorry I used information about your family to my advantage." he apologized, "My... friend can take a look at people and get information about important aspects of their life. I just read about your family and to my dismay actually had to use the information against you, I truly hope you can forgive me. I assure you nothing has been done to your family, as I have seen they live way outside Bellwood so they should not have been caught in all of this mess." he sighed, "Doctor David, once again I really am sorry for involving you in our mess."

"Your mess?" David raised an eyebrow, "As I came to know it was the Plumbers who are behind all of... this." he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "Where is Max when he's needed..? Or Ben? Rather, who even is in charge anymore? I have been barred from entering the main base for over a year now, and then suddenly they bring be a body to dissect and 'see if I can find out anything.' Find out what?! How am I supposed to just find out something with or from a corpse?!"

"To answer your third question, a man named Clyde is in charge of the facility as of my assuming a year ago... And he has a multitude of officers from when the Plumbers were still 'good' under his command as well as a number of new recruits. The Plumber name is apparently tainted in Bellwood by just the last three days' events, as other Plumber bases around the world have begun to suspect that things are amiss."

"Clyde..? Clyde Arysses? That asshole?! What did he do to take control?" David bursted out in visible fury before readjusting his glasses and looking at the ground, "My apologies for the outburst."

"Your choice of words leads me to believe you do not like the fellow." Albedo noted, "Not that I do not share that sentiment."

"Don't like? That man is a sadist, manipulative, piece of-" he slammed his fist into the wall to calm himself down, "His personality is worse than trash. And the man always went on and on about a world were 'Plumbers ruled everything. Wouldn't it be nice?'. I'm truly terrified about what he is capable of to achieve his twisted dreams."

"Hmph, as rotten as his voice made him out to be."

"Worst of all, he has knowledge of Chronosapien Time Bombs." David visibly shuddered as Albedo's shoulders tensed up and his face went pale, even paler than his usual complexion.

"What... did you say?" Albedo's eyes went wide, "If... If this man gets his hands on a device such as that... this whole timeline is... No... I shall not accept this!"

"I do not know if he actually has a way to obtain one," David added, "but I overheard him one time and he was obsessively mulling over his 'possibilities'... If he has truly taken over the Plumbers here..." David sighed, "I don't think the Magistrata will take kindly to this, amongst others."

"Unless of course he has some countermeasures..." Albedo sighed.

"You said that you came to save your friends last time..? Friends? Was it Ben?"

"You seem to be on rather good terms with Benjamin?" Albedo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, the little bugger would always mess around in my lab whenever they came by when he was little..." David started reminiscing with a warm smile on his face, "Not much changed as he grew up, he would still stick around, ask me to do repairs from time to time. That watch of his is one mean piece of work let me tell you."

At that casual statement, Albedo's eyes went wide as he did a double take, "Hold on, are you telling me that you are capable of repairing the Omnitrix? As in Galvan technology?"

"Yes!" David nodded enthusiastically, "One of my life's greatest achievements in fact! Understanding that device took quite a while, but with how Ben was handling it from time to time, it's no wonder that it would need some fixing up from time to time."

"My, you seem a lot more resourceful than the upper management here gives you credit for." Albedo grinned, as the doctor rather bashfully scratched the back of his head, "Still, makes me wonder why a man of your caliber is locked away alone in a hidden basement of all places."

"I wish I could tell you." David sighed, "About a year ago I just got reassigned to this post and never after that have received anything of sorts... Perhaps that was when Clyde took over, and after that I have just been locked in here. Until a couple days ago without even knowing why... My family must think I abandoned them."

"Surely you do not think that." Albedo chided the man. "They are your family, if they feel at least half the love you feel about them, they are worrying sick about you by now." he then looked at the ground, "Not that I have too much great experience with families of any kind.

"D-do you really think so?"

"I cannot be sure of course, but that is what, as they say, my gut is telling me." Albedo grinned, causing a lighthearted chuckle to force its way out of the doctor.

"Man, it's so nice speaking to someone after such a long time!"

"I can imagine." Albedo nodded, "As for the exact reason for my last visit?"

Albedo recounted all that has led up to him getting relocated to the operating table of the rather multipurpose doctor, David Carranza. How Ben and the others were shoved into a simulation for the second time now, and how he chose a rather drastic but unproven method of escaping the simulation without suspicions.

"That... That is a lot to take in at once."

"I am sure it is, sorry for springing it all on you at once."

"No, no... I appreciate that you trust me that much to tell me this."

"Of course, you could prove to be a valuable asset both as a person and as a man of science if we are to go against Clyde's Plumbers." Albedo nodded, as the doctor seemed to appreciate his words as if he was not respected before, "On that note however, I do believe you were wondering where Maxwell fits into this equation, if you would come closer for a second." Albedo instructed, and to David's surprise he complied easily. Albedo put his hands on the sides of his head and showed him the same vision he showed the Tennyson cousins not long ago. "That right there is what Clyde named a storage area... and it is currently in the Null Void no less."

Due to the shock of the imagery flashing through his mind, David took a couple steps back before evidently collapsing on the nearby chair as he held his head in pain, "All those soldiers... I..." he clenched his fists again, "Under the course of a year... How did you... even show me this?"

"My friend I mentioned..?" Albedo sighed, "Yes, well..." his eyes turned to pitch black pits of darkness as he gazed upon the angry scientist in front of him, "I am what you mortals call the Grim Reaper, or perhaps Death would be a better nickname. I apologize as well for meddling in your private informations." at that sight instead of what Albedo expected David just started chuckling.

"The Plumbers turned evil... and I just spoke to Death himself... When did my world turn so upside down?"

"I believe around the time you actually started working here." Albedo chuckled, causing the doctor to finally loosen up as he followed suit.

"Oh, right! Why did you come here now? I assume it would be important yet here I am holding you up." he bashfully looked away from Albedo, not able to face him for some reason.

"No, whilst I am here for something important you have shared some valuable information with me just now."

"Wait... why did I tell you all of this?" David suddenly seemed to be second guessing himself, he even remembered saying and Albedo admitting who he was, but with all the events that lead up to their second meeting he just could not bring himself to wonder. Obviously the being in front of him was not the same criminal in the records anymore, yet he could swear that he let go of the information he gave without any resistance as if just being in the presence of the man in front of him gave him a sense of calm.

"I am sure it had nothing to do with my abundance of charisma." Albedo joked.

"Why are you trusting me with this information then..?" David asked, unsure of the reasons, "As I said I really appreciate it, and you said that I could help, but it's just-"

"Well if you must know my awful reasoning then: You seem to know Benjamin well, and are just as confused about this situation as we are. Meaning that you could not possibly be someone Clyde considers important, as it is further evidenced by the fact that you are still down here, which is all the more reason that I should get you out of here. You just need to trust me with the location of your actual home. Your family might be in potential danger as well, and since I am in quite a hurry I advise we make it quick."

"What? How are you going to go outside that barrier?"

"Hey, I got myself in here without you noticing at first did I not?" Albedo grinned, "Now, please think about your family home and I shall tap into that, we are on borrowed time after all."

"Where would we even go after that?"

"I shall contact Gwendolyn, I am sure you know of her? You will be safe with them." Albedo suggested, "Even then that city and the nearby locations are getting evacuated as a means of protection so I am sure it will be at least a positive living condition compared to... well, this."

"Why are you going so far for someone like me?"

"First, stop berating yourself. Second, I gave you the scare of a lifetime the last time and I feel bad about it. Third, you are not at all safe here with Clyde in charge." Albedo listed, "Besides, you are a man of science, who knows what sort of knowledge you have that will come in handy later down the line, as you just said with the Omnitrix, and let me tell you if you do not think that is impressive then no offense but you are quite idiotic. You are talented and smart doctor, you just need to accept that fact. On the other hand we do need to construct a resistance after all, this shall not stand. And thanks to you I have figured out that there is more at stake than a simple hostile takeover's remnants affecting the publicity of the Plumbers. Clyde has more in plan than the simple coup and I am most certain none of us like that fact."

'I have ran into some trouble on my end, please if you can, hold out a bit more.' Albedo relayed the message at the same time to his friends, currently causing a distraction all around the city allowing him to have this calm conversation.

'Hey, no hurry. This is actually quite fun.' Rex chipped in with his thoughts, not even the least bit fazed by the sudden intrusion into his mind, which was followed by a couple other affirmations.

'I am not sure if I should be worried or not for our opponents.' Albedo thought with a light shiver. "Now come on."

"...Thank you. Truly."

"Do not mention it." Albedo smiled widely, "This shall not be the last time you meet me I can assure you."

Albedo put a hand around the doctor's waist and as his thoughts could easily be read, in a matter of seconds the two vanished into thin air.

Front Lawn, Carranza Residence, East of Bellwood, Murkwell, America, Earth, 2014 A.D.

'Huh, did not know the city where Gwendolyn's university resides is called Murkwell.' Albedo thought as the two of them set foot on the front lawn of the doctor's house who was suddenly overcome with understandable emotion as he slowly walked up to the door and gently pushed the bell.

"I'll get it!" came a young sounding voice from inside the house, if Albedo had to guess it would not have been older than 10 but it was clearly a boy. With how much enthusiasm Albedo saw the boy open the door, it has died down almost immediately after a simple greeting. The boy was overcome with tears as he, in a matter of seconds, jumped at the doctor and embraced him at the waist almost knocking the poor man over. They boy at that point was just audibly bawling.

The doctor could not hold back some tears of his own as he placed a gentle hand on top of his son's head, comforting him, "I'm home Jacob... I'm home." he said gently as he embraced his son, his tears not stopping their flow for a second. At the sound of their son crying, an agitated Anna arrived in the doorway hastily only to be at a loss of words a couple seconds later at the tear filled face of her husband standing in their doorway. "I'm back honey." the doctor declared in the same gentle tone of voice used before as his wife, at a loss of words, let her emotions handle the reunion.

As Albedo watched the small family reunite with a smile, he got a hold of his phone from his pocket and dialed a number Ben has given him not too long ago. After a couple of rings, a familiar feminine voice resounded from the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

"Gwendolyn, it is me." Albedo declared with a gentle smile.

"Albedo?" Gwen's tone was audibly confused, "How did you get this number? No, more importantly how exactly are you calling?"

"I am outside the barrier currently, not to far from your location actually."

"What?!" Gwen snapped at the sudden revelation, "How?!"

"I am sure you know the how part, Gwendolyn." Albedo sighed, "As for why? I am in the middle of trying to get your grandfather out, but along the way I met someone you might be familiar with. Does the name David Carranza ring any bells?"

"Dr. Carranza?!" Gwen's shocked tone gave Albedo all the confirmation he needed, "We thought he..."

"No, as far from that as possible actually, he has been confined to a basement area of the Plumber base for over a year now without any contact with the outside world. Since you have said that they are planning on evacuating the area in the near future, I would like to ask you to take care of him and his family for me alright?"

"Of course!" Gwen responded, "We owe them for a lot, it's only fair. Besides we were going to anyway. They told us to group up with familiar people before heading off towards the checkpoints they have set up." Gwen let out an audible sigh, "Things are going to get rougher and rougher out here I can just feel it."

"You are telling me." Albedo sighed, "We have to deal with the actual mess."

"Usually I would be calm and relaxed about all of this saying that 'Ben's got it!' especially with you around... but given the circumstances..."

"Yes, not exactly making me confident either, these facts." the alien clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Sorry, but I have to go now. It seems they are already letting some people through."

"Take care." he said as he vanished once again without ever saying goodbye to the doctor or his family, or ending the phone call, which simply went dead as soon as Albedo was back inside the barrier.

"H-how did you get out of that?" Anna shakingly asked as she looked at the barrier's orange glow in the distance, clearly visible even with how far it was.

"I had some help." David said with a smile as he turned around, however to his surprise no one was there anymore, causing a bit of confusion with his family, "Albedo..."

Hidden Basement, Plumber HQ - Earth, Bellwood, America, Earth, 2014 A.D.

"Alright, now all that is left is entering the Null Void and finding Maxwell and Patelliday." he silently urged himself on as he stepped outside of the small operation room and up the staircase directly in front of it... But as he was about to turn left to enter the Null Void room, he came to a shocking realization. "It is... not here?" his face went blank at the sight of a simple wall and his only possible way to go being the right way, behind him, leading into the long corridor he sped down on not too long ago, "How can a room just disappear like that?! This is abnormal!" he snapped as he punched the wall, however he did not hold back enough and a large crater formed on it, further confirming his horror that the wall in front of him was not hollow and in fact just an ordinary wall. "What do I do now?!"

"First you calm down and assess the situation." Death calmly answered as Albedo took a few large breaths, allowing him to regain control.

"I apologize, thank you."

"Secondly we should inform our friends that once more this is going to take longer."

"Agreed." Albedo reluctantly nodded, 'It is me again... I have some strange but still bad news to reveal.' in a matter of seconds he did a double take before anyone could ask anything, 'Oh! It is not concerning Maxwell's health... rather his location.'

'What do you mean by that?' Ben was the first to ask as on his end he was holding some Plumbers against a wall as a Tetramand.

'The room that lead to the Null Void's entrance... is not here.' Albedo declared waiting a couple seconds for any reactions, as he expected all he got was a consensus of 'WHAT' filling his head. 'The room itself had disappeared, in its place there is only a wall. Going through the wall yielded no hidden rooms just concrete as I have confirmed just now.' Albedo continued as he just turned back from a Necrofriggian. 'If we can assume that the room is capable of moving in space, I just wanted to update all of you on the fact that this might be longer... However the next time I contact you will be when I actually secured Maxwell and Patelliday.'

'...Take care.' Charmcaster said as their thought connection was cut.

"Right, let us get a move on." he silently hyped himself up as he began to look through the multitude of rooms on the corridor, "At least the distraction is working for the mom-" as if on cue the blaring alarm from when they broke out sounded again... this time however the message was rather different.

"ATTENTION ALL FORCERS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL! AN INTRUDER HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE LEFT WING OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT! THE INTRUDER IS A TALL FACELESS CREATURE OF UNKNOWN ORIGI- Are you stupid? Call it what it really is for Christ's sake! This is no time to be calling bluffs or ignoring this men! Our intruder is the Slenderman, I'm sure most of you know of it, I'm sure all of you also think it shouldn't exist, hell I do too, but he's here and he's wreaking havoc and we are unable to stop him! So get off your asses you sorry bunch and go after it! THAT'S AN ORDER!" the unmistakable voice of Damien Clarke took over the preset message halfway as Albedo clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Guess it was only so long till they would not believe him being here." he declared in frustration to himself, "Let us hurry up, I do not want to be in this place any longer than I need to."

West Wing, Research & Development, Plumber HQ - Earth, Bellwood, America, Earth, 2014 A.D.

'Of course I should have been more careful...' Slenderman chided himself as more men were coming his way. It took a while until he realized that whilst his main body could be severely damaged by the plasma projectiles as Albedo suggested seeing as a graze of one such projectile ripped a piece out of his suit and a bit of his arm, his tendrils however seemed to be somewhat impervious to them. He however would not take chances and with a quick tug, pulled off a couple wall panels next to him to act as makeshift shields, thus allowing him to somewhat discretely take down the opposition. 'As they say, fighting a battle whilst holding back is several times harder than going all out.' he 'sighed' as he once again knocked some people against the wall, not once moving from the space he initially arrived at to. 'I truly hope Albedo is successful after what he just told me.'

As the tall creature was pondering whilst still beating up some henchman category Plumbers, he suddenly heard heavier sounding footsteps closing in from behind him, causing him to turn around with vigor. Whilst he obviously had no run ins with the tall burly man, he could recognize that the one leading the charge against him was Damien, based on a description he got prior to entering.

"Huh, well I'll be damned." Damien couldn't help but chuckle at the eerie sight in front of him.

'I assume you are Mr. Damien?' he courteously asked, yet still readied his 'shields'. Though the question itself caused the bald man to go wide eyed.

"You know of me? Rather, you can talk?" Damien passed a hasty glance behind him at the assorted mess of Plumber soldiers, he didn't like his situation but couldn't do anything about it. He let out a small sigh before he turned back towards the strange creature in front of him. "What do you want then?" ultimately, he decided to try reasoning with the beast.

'Me? I only appeared in here randomly before what I assume to be your men started shooting at me.' Slenderman tried his best to stall, 'Is that how you treat your guests, or do you just have something against tall people?' his ethereal voice was projected into their heads as Slenderman saw a multitude of officers shudder, 'Albedo and Benjamin made this whole speech thing look so easy.' he thought as he chided himself over his quips.

"Well, I do apologize!" Damien declared as he looked behind him, "But it appears you have been taking very good care of them for me." he added with a sigh, "We don't exactly do things like that around here."

'Ah, I see. So around 'here' as you put it the customary greeting is shooting at people, and the hospitality consists of medical tables and knives I take it?' his voice deepened slightly in tone and Damien could swear the tall man was angry, and as much as he shuddered at the ide, he was agreeing with him. As he was suddenly caught in his thoughts however, just as suddenly did the tall man appear in front of him without warning, picking him up by the collars, yet still continuing to hold up his shields in case the other Plumbers would get some funny ideas. 'To your eyes I might appear as a monster, obviously so there's no denying that... But right now, in this place... Out of... the two of us... Who is the bigger... Monster..?' as the creature held him close Damien could have sworn the creature was looking at him through eye sockets with a demented sneer as his almost demonically ghostly voice echoed in his ears, yet his face was still as blank as ever. Damien instinctively looked away, and at that moment Slenderman dropped him causing him to land with a loud thud, the next thing the tall man said however chilled Damien to the bone, more so when he was the only one that seemed to hear it, 'Even for family, there must have been a better way.'

Damien looked shell shocked as he stared up at the blank face staring back down at him, 'How does he know..?' was all that he could think about. In that moment of absence as a commanding officer, a Plumber behind him took action into his own hands and fired off a shot. In a surprisingly quick show of reflexes Slenderman readied the wall panel which absorbed the shot completely... Yet this was just the start, as urged on by their fellow officer the other Plumbers began firing a volley of shots. Slenderman extended another pair of tentacles and once again created more shields for himself, as he slowly started walking forward bit by bit. 'Push them back, stall for time.' was all that kept repeating in his head.

Corridor, Somewhere above the Hidden Basement, Plumber HQ - Earth, Bellwood, America, Earth, 2014 A.D.

Albedo was aimlessly, yet hastily wandering around the corridors in hopes of finding the impossible. He had no prior experience to rooms that move in space, even as a Galvan he did not think it possible yet here he was presented with the issue, 'I am sure He would have no problems finding out the source of all this...' he angrily mumbled in his thoughts as he thought back to a certain other Galvan, 'It does not matter.' yet as he continued walking forward and as he arrived at their fourth crossroads he has had enough. In a way to alleviate his frustrations he opted to punch the wall next to him, somewhat holding back his output, even then however the wall felt the impact quite badly.

"Alright, that is enough!" he let out a lengthy sigh, "We are splitting up!" he said to no one in particular, however the actual intended recipient of the sentence responded quite soon.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Death asked through Albedo's mouth. As a response Albedo was suddenly enveloped in a red flash of light and soon in his place stood a small creature about the size of a child. It's face was white with black outlines around his eyes and the upper part of his head where the Omnitrix symbol lay. The creature had three equal size fins extending from the two sides and the top of his head. It wore a mostly red jumpsuit with some black stripes around his waist, legs and arms. It was an alien Ben referred to as Ditto, from the species Splixson. In a matter of seconds the creature divided itself into four copies.

"You two take the left and right paths, I go front, you go back, divide and do the same at the other intersections. We keep in touch with telepathy." the main body instructed as the others nodded in agreement, "Death, take control of at least one unit in each team in case you see some other life signs."

"H-hold on, this is weird." Death's voice came from the three other Splixsons in front of Albedo, "I never had so many of... Me before."

Albedo could not help but chuckle at the sight, but it soon turned back to a serious expression, "I understand, but please, the others cannot hold out forever and we took our sweet time already."

"You are right, we should set off." Death nodded as he took control of two units and sped off in their respective directions.

"Alright all of me! Find that damn portal!" one Splixson shouted as the other three's response echoed from down their corridors.

In a matter of minutes afterwards Albedo could start hearing a multitude of his own and Death's voices in his head as he and his copies kept in touch telepathically. However most of the responses that came back were negative as the basement area of this Plumber base seemed larger than Albedo initially thought, the main one himself was not having too much luck either. He went down a hallway which coincidentally had a multitude of rooms next to each other, most of them seemed to be office spaces or perhaps a relaxation area yet nothing significant. It wasn't until about ten minutes after the initial search that one of the clones reported something unusual.

'Hey me? I think I found something.'

"Elaborate."

'This room is weird. The door opened into a space that would physically merge with the neighboring room yet none of that is actually happening... I believe I may have found our desired location... Still...'

"I am listening, what is it?"

'There is a fascinating amount of holding cells of sort in this room that were not previously present. I do see the portal as well but there is something... no someone else as well.'

"Someone?" Albedo raised an eyebrow, or at least he would have if Splixsons had one.

'They appear to be female, rather tall... but I cannot tell the species. However they are definitely alien in origin.'

"Understood. We are heading there, wait a couple seconds." the main Albedo nodded as he disappeared almost instantly.

'Storage', Plumber HQ - Earth, Bellwood, America, Earth, 2014 A.D.

In a matter of seconds after their conversation ended at least 32 different Splixsons suddenly materialized in the room, soon before merging into one single unit which turned itself back to Albedo. He looked ahead of him and saw the same blue portal as a sense of dread washed over him. There were too many undecipherable factors at play here. Both this room and the base he and his accomplice found are existing spatial anomalies that are unexplainable by this world's scien- 'This world's, huh?' Albedo thought back to his first ever actual other world experience. Thanks to himself, the existence of a sort of multiverse could be proven as Naruto's world had no relation to aliens amongst other things what so ever. And this technology seemed to drive that point more and more home. This technology was something beyond Galvan understanding, Albedo could not refute that, and yet it existed and the mechanics of it were simple and understandable.

He suddenly slapped himself from both sides on the cheek as if to swash away his musings for a later date, 'That is not important right now.' he thought as his eyes fell on the certain someone his other self-reported a couple minutes ago.

"Oh my, certainly... this just proves the point even more so."

It was a creature Albedo has never seen or even heard of before. No, 'it' was quite demeaning to the poor thing. She was held tightly on a similar machine that Max was on but it resembled a table more than a cross as her arms were tucked neatly next to her body promptly not allowing any movement even if they so desired. This unknown lifeform was wearing a blue form fitting jumpsuit with dark blue accents along with a pair of combat boots in the same color scheme. Her face appeared rather canine like to Albedo, with a small but obvious snout along with two large fox like ears atop her head, all covered in a blue and white fur and what appeared to be dark blue hair. However even with all these features the one thing that stood out greatly for Albedo was the large bushy blue tail with two golden rings symmetrically occupying it and a white tuft of fur ending it. A humanoid fox, truly interesting.

"You my dear must be very far from home." Albedo sighed, "And in no condition to move either." Whilst it wasn't truly noticeable at first, the fox was more than likely kept in this room for a rather long time and judging by the fact that she was currently unconscious Albedo had good reason to take her away as well. He turned back into a Splixson and divided himself into two, "Take her back to our infirmary please, I will be along shortly."

"Understood." his clone nodded as he teleported to the other side of the glass covered holding cell and took the limp girl down from her cruel prison, taking her back to base.

"Now then, I believe it is finally time to get Maxwell and the Magister out of here." Albedo sighed, "Please tell me where they are as soon as we get in."

'I have located the Null Void portal. I am beginning extraction now so I advise you all to disappear as fast as possible our job here is done.' Albedo declared his message in his thought network for all his current teammates to hear. 'We shall meet back at base.'

West Wing, Research & Development, Plumber HQ - Earth, Bellwood, America, Earth, 2014 A.D.

Upon hearing Albedo's message, Slenderman put down the officers he was carrying and teleported a couple steps back. Damien still had not recovered from his previous shock so he lay there looking at the tall man almost mocking their incompetence, and to put a theoretical cherry on top of it all the tall man put his right hand on his chest and did a slight bow.

'Now gentlemen if you would excuse me.' and with that he was nowhere to be seen anymore, all that remained were the numerous unconscious bodies scattered around and about the corridor with some of his men shaking behind him and Damien just looking at his shaking hands.

The broken man then glanced at the rooms where Slenderman has presumably been in the past couple of minutes and remembered all that was going on in there. "I didn't agree to any of this!" he sobbed into his hands almost inaudibly, "I didn't want any of this... It's for his sake... his..."

Not long after. Dusk.

The Lounge, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

Shortly after they got the message everybody shot off like an arrow leaving only dust in their wake. They were gone just as soon as they arrived, causing a great amount of confusion to befall on the Plumber officers who were just played with like toys. Nevertheless the little group of four exited the elevator as Slenderman appeared next to them, and with almost the same speed dashed towards the infirmary.

The Infirmary, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

Upon entering the lengthy room, Ben and the others were greeted by a sight most unexpected. It was a Ditto, albeit quite red in color scheme so Ben knew who it was almost immediately, but neither his grandfather nor Magister Patelliday could be seen, only a rather interesting alien being Ben could not recognize.

"I thought you sai-"

"Relax Benjamin, other me is bringing them now." Albedo reassured much to Ben's relief.

"Who's she?" Charmcaster inquired as she walked further into the room.

"I have absolutely no idea, but she was held captive the same way as Maxwell and the others, though not in the Null Void. Also since even I cannot recognize the species I think you all know what this means."

Charmcaster and Ben nodded with a frown as Rex just sighed in annoyance. "The portal." they said in unison.

"I am afraid so..." Albedo nodded, "And it seems this is just turning into a bigger mess by the days."

At that moment two other Splixsons showed up in the room, each carrying an unconscious Max and Patelliday, "We have arrived." the two declared in unison, "Prepare a stretcher and a rebreather for Piscciss Volanns."

"Right!" Ben immediately got on it, even though he had barely any knowledge of the stuff Albedo requested, even then however the proper method of care was presented without too much trouble and Max and Patelliday were finally resting in beds instead of on a cross and in the corner of a room. As soon as that was done Albedo turned back into his human form.

"Now then, that's at least one of our troubles crossed off the list." Albedo sighed, "Please contact Gwendolyn and tell her the good news." he asked turning to the sorceress who nodded in response.

"What are you going to do?" Rex asked.

"For now, rest a bit, wait for our new arrival to awaken. You all go ahead and rest now, you did good today."

"You did most of the work bud." Rex chuckled, "Right, I'm turning in for the day, I'm beat." he added as he left towards his room.

"I think I'll go eat something then do the same." Ace nodded as he excused himself as well. All that remain in the room was the three unconscious bodies, Ben, Albedo and Slenderman. Ben was awfully quiet as he was looking over his grandfather's sleeping form.

'I have had a run it with the man called Damien.' Slenderman revealed.

"Is that right?"

'It seems you were right, he did not seem to be acting voluntarily.' the tall man added, 'In addition I might have egged him on however...'

"What do you mean?"

'I just mentioned something along the lines of: 'Even for family, there must have been a better way.' and the poor man just collapsed in shock. I overplayed my hand then.'

"You might have, but you have confirmed Death's speculations, Damien Clarke is being blackmailed into being a lapdog. You know, as time goes on I am beginning to hate Clyde more and more."

'No denying that.' Slenderman nodded. 'Now then, I shall take my leave as well, leave the poor people to rest.' without further warning the faceless creature vanished from the room, leaving only Ben and Albedo.

"...Thank you." Ben quietly said, holding his grandfather's hand close.

"Do not mention it Benjamin." Albedo smiled, "I owed you and the Magisters that much... after all that grief I have caused you in the past."

"You weren't in your right mind." Ben shook his head in denial, "Sure, the stuff you did was bad, but thankfully I was there to stop you from causing serious damage. No harm done, besides you're not the only one who tried to kill me during my life." Ben shrugged, "There's Vilgax for example." at the mention of the name however Albedo tensed up.

"Please do not mention that name. Period." Albedo asked in the calmest voice he could muster, slightly unnerving Ben but he ultimately decided to drop the subject, "Why don't you get some rest, greet your grandfather fully rested rather than a mess of emotions." Albedo offered, and Ben took that as a que to leave him for now.

"Alright, good night for you."

"To you as well..." Albedo nodded with a sigh as he faced the sleeping vixen in front of him. "What a mess..."

Finally! With only more than a month late! New chapter!

Max and Patelliday are safe, so is Doctor Carranza, and we have a new resident as well. Some crucial information has been revealed both of Damien and Clyde as well as the newly built 'Plumber' base much to Albedo's chagrin. Nevertheless, things are looking fine for now but peace never lasts long, especially in a worldline like this one. I won't really extend this AN too long so I'll let you all go from here, see you hopefully sooner than this chapter!

Also, yeah if it wasn't obvious to some people, none of the characters are my property, they all belong to their respective owners.