I do not own Ben 10 Alien Force or any of the characters.
Theft
"Your friends don't trust me," Simian said, gesturing to Kevin and the other Gwen.
"That's fine," Ben said.
"We're not sure we do either," Gwen said.
Simian's face fell, but he nodded. "I give you my word, I'm not lying to you."
Ben nodded, not feeling like pointing out that if he was lying, his word wasn't worth anything already, even before the second lie. A few minutes later, they had all put on a pressurized suit that Simian had on board and left his ship. As they walked to the crater where the fortress was located, Ben tied the suit's extra sleeves in front of his chest, both Gwens and Kevin all doing the same.
"These drones are the first line of defense," Simian said, pointing down into the crater at a dozen or so red drones floating around. "When their radar spots something moving, they make a beeline for it and explode on contact. I could probably dodge them."
"Kevin couldn't," Ben said, glancing at him.
"My powers are useless unless I can touch something," Kevin said. "And when I'm in this suit, I can't."
"Anodite powers it is, then," Ben's Gwen said.
They all slid down the slope into the crater. The drones took off toward them instantly, but the two Gwens quickly blasted them all, stopping at the door as reinforcements began to round the corner, only to instantly be blasted as well.
"Go," Ben's Gwen said.
"We've got this," the other Gwen said.
Ben nodded and ran into the facility with Kevin and Simian. Ben sealed the door, but as Simian moved to open the next door, pain spiked through Ben's head. Flashes of images flickered behind his eyes. A destroyed, scorched world. Highbreed ships. A swarm of DNAliens. He shook his head, running over to the wheel Simian and Kevin were struggling to turn, grunting in effort as he helped turn it, the next door hissing open. They stepped into the airlock and the door closed, the room pressurizing. They all took their suits off and Kevin sighed.
"Nice to be out of this monkey suit," Kevin said, then stopped as Simian stared at him. "Uh, no offense."
They continued into the next hallway, but as they opened they door, they found a swarm of drones waiting. They hurriedly sealed the door again and Ben sighed.
"What now?" Simian asked.
"Me," Kevin said, absorbing the metal of the wheel.
They opened the door again and Kevin charged instantly, smashing his way through the drones before sprinting down a hallway off to the side.
"I've got it, go!" Kevin shouted back at them.
They paused just past the drones as Kevin tore them apart quickly.
"Kevin, phone!" Simian shouted, tossing one of the two he had in his hands to him.
Kevin grinned, catching it in his right hand before smashing a drone into another with a back-fist. "No roaming charges?"
Simian tossed the other to Ben before beginning to run and Kevin pointed at Ben, then Simian. Ben nodded. Simian obviously needed help breaking in, but something was definitely not adding up. He ran after Simian, but just as they reached an intersection, massive metal walls began to slam down along all three paths, including behind them, each wall flush to the one before it and a foot thick, leaving nowhere for them to hide from being crushed flat. Then, as the walls reached the room they were in, the ceiling of the room began to descend. Ben formed several mana struts instantly, holding it up, machinery groaning and grinding above them.
"They won't hold long," Ben said, shoving his hand into his pocket and pulling out the red ball with a tube sticking out of one end, the thing filled with acid.
Kevin had warned him what was in it when he'd given it to him and he hadn't done anything with it since. He quickly sprayed some on the floor, making a hole, and both of them dropped through just before the mana supports faded, allowing the ceiling to crash to the floor.
"Where are we?" Ben asked.
"This wasn't in the blueprints," Simian said. "But, a leader leads. Let's try this way." He started down one direction of the maintenance tunnel they were in, the walls lined with pipes. "By the way, where'd you get the DNAlien Ear Cleaner?"
Ben glanced at him. "Long story."
Simian merely nodded. As they continued to walk, Simian stepped over a laser tripwire. Ben briefly weighed his options before also stepping over it before forming a mana rod and waving it through. When nothing happened, he let the mana rod fade and caught up to Simian.
"Hello?" a voice suddenly said from a speaker above them. "Testing. One, two, three. Testing. One, two, three. Hello?" His voice cut out as feedback began to shriek at them, making them cover their ears. "Whoever you are, you have to leave. Right now! I...uh...I'm serious!"
"He sounds scared, doesn't he?" Ben asked.
"You...uh...You shouldn't be in here!"
Simian shot webbing up onto the speaker and ripped it off the ceiling, smashing it on the floor.
"Hey!" the voice said from other speakers further away. "I have to fix that! You can't-"
The voice stopped as they kept walking, and Ben shrugged. They'd be seeing whoever it was later.
After a little ways further, Simian opened a hatch in the roof of the corridor and they climbed through, finding themselves at a massive door.
"I doubt we can open this thing," Simian said.
"I can," Ben said, sending a mana spike through it before the spike split in half, spreading. Ben grunted in effort, ripping a hole in the door large enough for them to slip through before letting the mana fade. "Open Sesame."
"Now I have to fix that, too!" a small green alien in a grey mechanic's overall complained, holding a wrench, his voice the same as the one from the speakers.
Ben and Simian walked onto the bridge across the room, Ben glancing down at the pit below them.
"Out of the way!" Simian ordered.
The alien narrowed his eyes. Seeing that he wasn't going to move on his own, Simian charged, avoiding a swipe of the wrench before flipping around the alien, using his tail to hurl him off the bridge.
"No!" Ben shouted, sending a beam of mana after him, managing to catch him around the chest before he could hit the floor. Ben glanced at Simian, seeing him running toward the next room, then pulled the alien back up.
"Thank you!" the alien gasped.
"I don't have long," Ben said. "What is this place?"
"It's a communications relay," the alien said. "It's so Earth can call for help if it needs it."
"And the crystal?" Ben asked.
"It's the power source for the whole facility!" the alien said.
Ben nodded. "Get back to your control room. Let me deal with Simian."
The alien nodded and Ben turned, running after the Arachichimp. After a moment, he caught up to him in a room with black floors and walls, glowing orange circuits filling the room. Simian was on a pyramid-like object on the far side, the crystal resting on top of it. However, currently, Simian was being electrocuted by a pair of tazer cannons.
"That's gotta smart," Ben said, forming mana around his hands, then pausing. "I could just...nah. Better help him out."
He sent out a mana beam to the crystal and pulling it to himself. Instantly, the top of the pyramid closed and the lights all went out, the cannons deactivating. Ben nodded to himself, slipping the crystal into his jacket pocket and pulling the jacket off, setting it off to the side before sticking the DNAlien ear cleaner in the case Kevin had brought to carry the crystal in in case it was radioactive. As the emergency lights came on, Ben walked over to Simian, kicking him lightly to wake him up.
"Ben?" Simian asked as he stirred.
"Get up," Ben said. "I'm turning you over to the Plumbers, and we're dropping this," he lifted the case, "off with that guard on the way out."
"What!?" Simian demanded.
"I told you I didn't trust you," Ben said. "That guard told me what this place really is. Now that I know you were lying about your entire story, I know you're also probably not a prince, so there shouldn't be any diplomatic problems with the Plumbers arresting you."
Simian shrieked and leapt at him instantly, only for Ben to duck under him. As Simian landed, Ben hurled a blast of mana at him. Simian leapt backward, allowing it to blast the ground before firing a strand of webbing through the smoke into Ben's face. Before Ben could react, he was suddenly airborne, swinging around the room before slamming into a wall and being knocked unconscious.
He grinned, transforming into Diamondhead just before the ship exploded into the fortress. He jumped on impact, curling into a ball and ripping through three walls and several DNAliens before finally stopping. Then, he stood, extended his arms into blades, and charged. Vermin flooded toward him, but he shredded them. One split nearly in half here. A severed arm there. A barrage of diamond shard now. A blast of mana after. He slaughtered the vermin just as fast as they appeared. And the entire time, his face remained determined but emotionless. They didn't matter. He had a job to do, and anyone who got into his way would pay dearly for their interference.
Finally, he was there. Just two hundred more feet. Vermin swarmed along both sides of the hallway toward him. Highbreeds joined them. He snorted in amusement, transforming into Swampfire and beginning to burn everything anything that survived his flames being blasted apart by mana.
"Ben!" Gwen shouted.
Ben's eyes flew opened and he gasped, then hurriedly wiped the moisture from his eyes and cheeks.
"Are you alright?" Kevin asked.
"I'm fine," Ben lied, voice scratchy from the sobbing or screaming he was obviously doing.
"Ben," Kevin's Gwen said sternly. "How long has this been going on?"
Ben sighed. "A couple weeks, but only a few of them."
"Something's seriously wrong," Kevin's Gwen said. "You need to get help."
"I'm fine," Ben said. "Did you catch Simian?"
"No," Gwen said. "I sensed you were in distress, so I teleported in here. Then Simian managed to surprise her and took off with his ship and the crystal."
"The little green dude says we can borrow his shuttle, though," Kevin said. "But without this relay station, the Earth is in big trouble."
"Jacket," Ben grunted, standing. "Left pocket."
Kevin reached into it and pulled out the crystal. "Whoa! Nice! But...wait, then, what did the monkey take?"
"The DNAlien ear cleaner," Ben said. I figured he'd manage to swipe it and get away, so I switched them."
"Nice thinking, Ben," Kevin's Gwen said.
"I'm so proud of you," Gwen smiled kissing him.
He sighed, kissing her back, knowing she was actually kissing him to help calm him from his nightmare. After a few seconds, they separated, finding the others facing away.
"We're done," Ben said, taking his jacket from Kevin and pulling it on. "Let's go give the guard the crystal back and get out of here."
Everyone nodded in agreement and they all left the room, everyone staying silent as Ben's seemingly deteriorating health weighed heavily on all of them.
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