Chapter 18: Chase Me
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters. I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015
Disclaimer: This Series/Story Has Nothing To Do With The Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Cartoon Series. Any Similarities That May Pop Up Aren't Intentional
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter Eighteen!
* So, this chapter will pick up right where the last chapter left off. I won't say anything so I don't prematurely spoil anything for anyone.
* Anyway, I don't have anything else to say. Let's get right into the chapter!
Earth-6101
Wednesday, October 18th, 2017
Madison High School
Ben
As I stood among the flames and debris, with the figure in front of me staring me down, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. The figure itself didn't seem to move, but I could tell—or at the very least I thought—that it was staring right at me. As I looked it over, I saw that there were two sixes on the figure's left side of the upper chest.
Sixty six? Six-six?
I finally worked up the courage to say something to the figure in front of me.
"Um, can I help you?"
He just continued standing there, motionless. I was about to move or do anything else, when the figure finally reacted. It lifted up its left arm, pointed it at me and I suddenly felt like it wasn't safe to be around this thing. And I was right. I dove out of the way as it fired some kind of energy-based weapon from a mounted projectile on its arm. I hissed with pain as I landed on my shoulder on the tile floor. I scrambled to get back up, just as it fired another shot, which thankfully missed me.
"Hey, come on now! That's a fire hazard, pal!"
I dove once again to the side, turned myself so that I hit the wall of lockers feet first and then used my feet to push off towards the threat. Once I reached it, I punched it in the face. Almost immediately after, I felt a wave of pain go through my hand and up my arm. I hissed with more pain as I recovered, picking myself up off the floor. As I recovered, it began to shoot those energy blasts and I kept avoiding them somehow.
Why did I try to attack?! That armor has to be made of some kind of metal!
I continued dodging attacks as I spoke.
"Hey, I know that the spaghetti here sucks, but that doesn't give you the right to try to blow the place up!"
Dodged another energy blast.
"I mean, come on man! Trying to blow up a school? That's lower than being a politician!"
More jumping around to avoid attacks. I came to a stop down the hall from the aggressor and turned to face it.
"What did anyone in this school do to you, anyway?!"
It surprised me by raising its other arm and fired a cable of some kind, which wrapped itself around my right ankle. I looked down at my ankle and then back at the figure ahead of me, seconds before it pulled on the cable, causing me to fall over backwards as it began to drag me across the tile floor.
I let out a cry of pain as I fell onto the floor back first. I expected that it was dragging me in its direction so that it could attack again, but that didn't seem to be the case. As I got closer, it turned and fired another energy blast at the ceiling.
Nathan
It had been a couple minutes since that masked figure had entered the school and nothing had happened since then. There had been a couple of odd sounds that came from the school, but other than that, nothing. No police had come yet, not even a fire truck. As we continued standing out in the lot, we were all surprised when a beam of some sort of energy ripped right through the roof.
Just seconds after that, a figure clad in purple and black armor soared out of the building through the hole that was now in the roof. I immediately noticed that the figure was dragging the masked vigilante behind him, holding him by some sort of cable. As all of this was happening, Gwen eventually spoke.
"The armored guy's 'entrance' was good, but his wasbetter."
I knew that she was referring to the masked vigilante that we had read about in the paper, but I was so focused on what was happening currently, that what she said barely registered with me. As we continued standing there, I saw her turn to me out of the corner of my eye.
"The difference? Showmanship."
This time I gave an ever-so-slight chuckle in response, but was still focused on the two figures fading in the distance.
Ben
The figure began to fly out of the school and into the sky, with me still attached to it by a cable. Let me tell you that hanging upside down, while flying at a high speed could make a person pretty nauseous. Eventually after maybe minute, I honestly couldn't tell if it had been that long, the figure retracted the cable and dropped me, while we were still high above the ground. It took me barely a second to react to the fact that I was now falling toward the ground.
"Oh no, you don't!" I yelled as I felt the adrenaline run through my veins.
I looked at the figure above me, quickly took aim and fired a line toward it. Thankfully, the line caught onto the figure's foot and I jerked about as my descent came to a stop. I was going to breathe a sigh of relief, but I didn't have time to, as the figure didn't seem to like what I did. It let out a metallic shriek as it looked down at me, before it took off flying through the air. I braced myself as the figure carried me along with it.
The saying "hold on tight" has never been more appropriate!
A Few Minutes Later
Downtown Bellwood
The figure had been carrying me along for a few minutes now and something had just occurred to me.
I have no idea how long these lines can last! For all I know they could dissolve after a few minutes and if that happens, there's no way that I'll be lucky enough to be able to catch on again!
Anyway, we had moved out of the suburbs and into Downtown Bellwood, having just passed the Blue Cross Pharmaceuticals building. I was currently getting tired of my predicament.
This is what I get for trying to be considerate, huh?
I was beginning to wonder what this thing's game was, but it seemed like things were about to change. The figure began to fly downwards, toward a rooftop. I just barely blinked under my mask.
Is it going to try to ram us into the rooftop?
My question was answered as we got closer. There was a utility room on the roof, with the outside walls made of brick and the figure swerved to avoid it, but waved its legs to redirect me toward the wall. I ended up hitting the wall back first, which caused the line that had kept us attached to snap. I fell to the rooftop floor and stayed there on my stomach, unmoving for a few seconds.
I'm going to feel that in my back in the morning!
I began to push myself back up and stood up as the figure came to a landing on the rooftop, a few feet away from me.
"Hey!" I challenged my aggressor. "What did I ever do to you?!"
As usual, the figure didn't answer. All it did was lift its arm again and fired another burst of energy, while I dodged again.
"Not much of a talker, are ya? That's fine. I can do all of the talking for both of us!"
I dove to attack him with my fists again, but I quickly recalled how punching the figure's face had hurt my fist. I swerved off course so that I would miss, tripping over myself and landing next to it.
I should have remembered that this thing's suit is made of some kind of metal. Or steel, whatever.
I made sure to get up and get away from the figure before it could grab me or something. The way I figured it, I was in over my head. Luckily, I had help. I activated the alien watch on my wrist and turned the ring until I saw the silhouette of the form that I used that fateful night. I pressed down onto the ring and transformed once again. Once the green haze faded, I spoke.
"Alright, Crystal Man will take care of you!"
As soon as I said that, I momentarily took a moment and reflected on past events.
"You got a name that you want to be recognized by?"
"Crystal Man."
He then lowered his glasses just a bit to give me a serious look.
"Is that really the best you could come up with?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"It sucks. It fucking sucks, man."
I let out a sigh as I sprang forward.
Geez, I've got to come up with better names for these things.
Unfortunately for me, the figure quickly moved to the right and avoided my attack, causing me to land on the rooftop floor on my stomach.
I have a lot to learn, I thought to myself.
As I looked up at my attacker, I saw him levitating slightly above the rooftop, some kind of energy flowing from the underside of its feet. I had a good feeling that it was about to take off. I scrambled to my feet.
"Not without me, you aren't!"
I leaped upwards and grabbed onto one of the figure's legs as it took off, taking me with it. I felt the heat of the energy that its boots were giving off on my stomach.
If I were in human form right now, I'd be toast!
I began doing my best to crawl up the figure's frame, toward its back. Once I was practically on its back, I wrapped one of my arms around its side and formed my free hand into a razor sharp diamond shard. I then jabbed the shard in between the thing's shoulder blades and managed to break through the armor. Now the back armor plating was partly displaced and I could see wires and circuitry beneath.
Now I might be able to take this guy down!
"I wonder what this does?" I pondered out loud as I grabbed one of the wires and pulled.
I disconnected one of the wires and it began sparking for a few seconds. After doing that, the figure began to move a bit erratically, but it didn't stop flying. I grabbed another wire, hoping that this one would do something good and pulled it out like I did the last one. After I pulled that second wire, the thrusters on the armored figure's feet, if that's what they were, began to sputter and it began to lose control of its flight ability.
In fact, we were currently rapidly descending towards the bridge that went across the Bellwood River and into the more rural areas outside of the city. We eventually touched down on the upper steel support beams of the bridge, above all the traffic. The beam that we were on gradually inclined upwards, so either of us could fall off of the bridge at any time. And I was looking to avoid that. As we both recovered, having been separated over a distance of a few feet, the figure turned to look in my direction.
"Alright you, no more Mister Nice Guy! I'm taking you down, whether you like—"
That's when I heard it, that distinct rumbling sound coming from behind us. Shortly after that, three helicopters came into few, circling from behind me so that we were made aware of them. Two of them were clearly police helicopters and the one the furthest away from us could have been a news helicopter for all I knew. One of the police helicopters got closer to us and eventually stopped, hovering in the air, where an officer opened the door from the inside, aiming a scoped rifle with laser sight at us as he did. At the same time, someone spoke to us over a megaphone.
"This is the Bellwood Police Department, we are here to take you in. Lie down on your stomachs with your hands over your heads! If you don't comply quickly and accordingly, you will be fired upon. I repeat, if you don't comply quickly and accordingly, you will be fired upon."
Are you kidding me? I'm made out of crystals! Or diamonds, whatever! Do they really think a few bullets will stop me in my current form or this guy for that matter?!
As I thought this, I noticed out of my peripheral vision that the armored figure seemed to lose interest in me. He seemed to be much more interested in the officer that currently had a gun pulled on us, having turned its attention to him instead of me. I turned just in time to see it raise its left arm and I saw the mounted projectile on its wrist begin to warm up, no doubt aimed at the officer aiming at us.
"Wait!" I cried with desperation. "Don't do it! Don't shoo—"
But it was too late. The armored figure shot an energy blast which went right toward the helicopter, where it hit the officer in the chest. He let out a cry of pain as he fell out of the helicopter, towards the traffic below. Horrified at what I had just seen, I slowly looked at the armored figure.
"What is wrong with you?!" I yelled as I charged "him".
My intention was to get my arms around the armored figure and wrestle it to the "ground". However, I underestimated just how strong it was. Even though I got my arms around it, in managed to stay upright long enough to fire another energy blast. This just made me even more angry.
"Stop trying to kill people!" I exclaimed as I punched the armored figure in the stomach.
Who am I kidding? That cop that "he" shot out of the helicopter most definitely died when he hit the bridge below us.
Nevertheless, I managed to push the armored figure down, so that I was on top of it. I began punching it with one hand, as I began sharpening my free hand again. Once my other hand had lengthened into a sharp blade, I swung it at the armored figure's arm that had the projectile device on it, without even thinking about what would happen afterwards. In the matter of just a second, I had cut off the armored figure's forearm.
However, where I had expected blood and gore, I was instead met with sparks. Sparks of bluish-purple electricity. I stood up in shock and slowly backed away from the armored figure, as it began to get up as well. Once it was back on its legs, it looked at the "stump" with sparks of electricity emitting from it, as if it were trying to comprehend what had just happened. It then looked back to me, while I was slowly piecing together the puzzle in front of me.
Now, wait a minute. The metallic shriek, the sparking electricity, not to mention the inner workings with all the wires and circuitry! Is this thing a...
"Are you... a robot?" I found myself asking the armored figure.
It stood there, unmoving. But then it cocked its head, as if it were attempting to understand me. But perhaps that was just an illusion. Almost immediately after cocking its head, it let out another metallic shriek, this one much louder than the last. So loud in fact, that even in my current form, it hurt my ears. I clapped my crystalized hands over my head in an attempt to drown out the noise. That was a big mistake. In a fashion that was much too fast for me to react, the figure's other hand changed from being a normal hand to looking like a mini rocket launcher.
"Stop!" I exclaimed, hands still over my head.
The armored figure quickly shot another energy blast towards the helicopter, this one seeming to be bigger than the rest. The shot exploded against the steel frame of the helicopter, sending it spiraling out of control. The helicopter spiraled away from the bridge and back to the city, where it began to lose altitude. I saw it disappear behind a building, where I eventually saw the bright light of an explosion. I slowly turned back to the figure, angrier than ever.
"I swear to God, if you try to hurt anyone else, I'll—"
Phew! Phew! Phew!
I don't know how it happened. Maybe it was because I was getting so angry. As I was standing there yelling at the figure, I some how fired several crystal shards at it. All of them lodged into its chest and electricity began radiating all over the figure's body. It didn't move, it just stood there, looking at me. Eventually, it tried to take a step forward and immediately afterwards, it began to fall backwards. I reached out to it with both hands.
"No—"
It fell off of the bridge and I reached the edge of the beam just in time to watch it hit the water. It was odd. As I stood there, despite its attempts to harm me and what it did to hurt innocent bystanders, I felt an urge to try and help it. Even though a fall into water from this height would be lethal, I wanted to help if I could. The second police helicopter circled into the air space that the first one had been in and the door to the cabin opened, where another officer had a rifle pointed at me.
"I'm going to go see if I can help him!" I called out.
I shouldn't have been surprised with the response that I got.
"Get down on your stomach with your hands over your head. We're taking you in. I won't tell you again."
I stood there, suddenly realizing that trying to "help" that thing wasn't an option. And that's when my life flashed before my eyes.
I see myself surrendering myself to the police like I have no other choice. After I revert back to my normal form, I'm unmasked and revealed to just be a kid. After they peg me as being responsible for the school's destruction, I sentenced to life in a mental institution, on the account that I'm a very disturbed individual. They completely sweep the armored figure's involvement under the rug. I never see Gwen or Nathan again. Grandpa Max and Grandma Verdona lose their grandson. But worst of all, I never bring my parents' killer to justice.
I snapped back to reality as it became clear that I couldn't stay here or try to help that armored figure. I looked up at the officer in the helicopter, who still had his rifle trained on me.
"Oh my, look at the time!" I exclaimed as I got ready to jump. "I'm late for dinner!"
Trying my best not to hesitate, I jumped off of the beam and dove toward the water.
A Couple Minutes Later
I managed to swim to the shore of the river, hidden beneath the shadows of the bridge above. It seemed that I had escaped the police, as the helicopter was still circling above where we had fallen. I hadn't even tried to find the armored figure. I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if I dove too deep and reverted back to my normal form. So, I swam to shore while staying in the shadows, like a coward. I waded out of the water and did my best to quietly walk beneath the structure, trying to avoid detection.
I had to get back to school. If some of the people there weren't suspicious about the fact that I didn't evacuate with everyone else, they certainly will be now. I began to think to myself about how I could get back. I couldn't just run out to the street, there would no doubt be police presence there. I had to stay out of sight. There happened to be a pretty big industrial power plant next to the bridge. With the bushes between here and there, I should be able sneak over, cut through the plant and then take the long way around the area to get back to the school.
It'll work. Yeah, it has to!
I took a deep breath before I went on my way.
One Hour Later
Madison High School
Well, I had made it back to school. It took me half an hour to get back by traversing the side alleys and empty back roads, but I did it. I snuck around the back of the school, grabbing my pile of clothes on the way back and went in through the back entrance, which had no students out in the adjacent lot. I then made my way to my English teacher's classroom, which was close to were the explosion had occurred.
I then pulled the chalkboard off of the wall, which was a surprisingly easy task. After that, I waited to transform back to my normal self and when I did, I got dressed in my day clothes again, making sure to hide my mask, gloves and boots inside my backpack, which I had left in the room. I then lifted up the chalkboard and got underneath it, to make it look like it had fallen on me.
And then, I waited. Eventually I was found by a firefighter, where I was turned over to a paramedic thereafter. I was carefully escorted out of the school to the lot where the rest of the students had gathered. I immediately noticed that there was already a firetruck here, a couple of police cars and a couple of ambulances, as well. As I was escorted through the crowd of students, Gwen and Nathan eventually came into view. Once she saw me, it didn't take long for her to start running toward me.
"Ben!" she exclaimed. "You're alright!"
Once she reached me, I was surprised when she almost immediately hugged me. I felt my face heating up and found myself somewhat uncomfortable with the situation. Fortunately, I was about to me saved from my embarrassment. The paramedic gently pulled Gwen off of me.
"Easy, Ma'am." He said in a gentle, yet stern tone. "We found him pinned beneath a chalkboard. His ribs could have sustained damage, but we won't know for sure until we get him into a hospital for an X-Ray."
Who said anything about an X-Ray?
The paramedic turned to me and spoke.
"Your guardians have been called and are on their way to get you. I want to talk with them, so I'll stay close to you until they get here."
Guardians, grandparents, same difference.
"Fine." I replied, before I turned back to my friends, trying my best to pretend that we weren't being watched.
Surprisingly, Nathan and I did most of the talking. Gwen hardly said a word.
"You were trapped under a chalkboard?" he asked.
I could hear disbelief in his voice. I felt my face begin to turn red again.
"Um, I may have gone back to get my school bag? And as soon as I got in there, the chalkboard fell and pinned me to the floor."
Nathan shut his eyes and pinched his nose, as he forced a sigh. Once he opened his eyes, he regarded me with something akin to disapproval.
"Come on, Ben. You know better than that. How can anything in your bag be worth risking your life for it?"
Huh, I thought. He actually has a good point. Come on, Ben. Think of something that makes sense!
I sighed.
"You know how it is, Nathan. Or at least I think you do. After losing my parents, I had to find something to keep going. So, I used my school work as an outlet. If I lost all of my school work or even a majority of it, I don't know what I'd do."
After I said that, the look on his face softened.
"Oh, I suppose I hadn't thought of that. I'm sorry if I came off as overly stern."
Did I actually just get away with that?
"It's fine. I can't expect everyone to know what I'm going through."
"Anyway, did you see him? You know, the guy that we read about in the paper this morning? The guy that you took a picture of?"
I was surprised by the question.
"What? No. He must have gotten here after I was pinned. I didn't even know that he was here. So, what happened?"
And so, Nathan recapped the events of the last hour or so, from his point of view. Pretty interesting insights. Anyway, shortly thereafter my grandparents arrived.
"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson!" I heard my grandmother exclaim my full name.
I felt myself cringe at the mention of my middle name.
Oh no, I thought.
As Grandpa Max and Grandma Verdona approached me, Gwen spoke with a giggle.
"Your middle name is 'Kirby'? As in the Nintendo character?"
I turned to look at her with an annoyed glance.
"Ha, ha, very funny." I muttered. "And no. Not as in the Nintendo character."
She just continued giggling as my grandparents reached us.
"There you are!" Grandma Verdona exclaimed as she hugged me. "Oh, I was so worried!"
"I'm alright, Grandma." I replied.
She pulled away and looked at me with surprise and disapproval.
"You most certainly are not alright! You got caught in a burning building! You could have died! You are coming home right this instant!"
"But I'm fine! See me? Standing here? Nothing happened—"
Before I could finish speaking, the paramedic from before stepped in and interrupted me.
"Yes, well, he may seem fine, but sir? Ma'am? I suggest we get him into the hospital for an X-Ray just to make sure that he hasn't suffered extensive damage."
Extensive damage?! Oh, come on!
Apparently, Grandma liked the idea of that. And really, why wouldn't she?
"Absolutely, we can take care of that immediately. Come along, Ben."
I felt myself being tugged along my Grandma, but I was surprised when someone else grabbed my free hand. I turned in the direction of the sensation and saw that Gwen was holding my hand. She had a worried look in her eyes and to be honest, I'm not sure how I felt about that. She didn't say anything and neither did I, but it didn't matter. Before either of us could properly react, Grandma pulled me away from her hand.
"Come along, son." She said in a stern tone.
I continued looking at Gwen and Nathan as I was pulled away. I just waved.
"I guess I'll see you guys later." I replied.
"I'll be sure to bring your backpack by your grandparents' place when I get the chance!"
I nodded my thanks as I continued waving. Nathan waved back, but Gwen just looked back, with that look in her eyes. And I still wasn't sure how I felt about that look she was giving me. But to be honest, it wasn't that concerning. I was much more concerned with what had happened earlier. I hadn't stopped thinking since I left the bridge.
I failed today. Three cops—no doubt all good men—maybe even more than that died because of my actions. If I hadn't jumped around so much and had just focused on taking down that thing, they'd still be alive. Better yet, I shouldn't have even gotten involved. I should have just evacuated with Gwen and Nathan. Everyone would be much better off if I had just done that. If I had just stayed put and not put on my costume, none of this would have happened. God, this is the fight club all over again!
Epilogue 1
Bellwood Police Station
?
I sat at my desk, doing my daily rounds of paperwork. As I worked one of my colleagues and a good friend of mine, came by.
"Hey man, did you hear about the incident that started at the high school? Madison High? Which also led to the bridge?"
He had a really interesting way of wording it, but nonetheless, I responded to him as I looked up from my work.
"Of course I have, Jimmy. Who hasn't? Anyway, what of it?"
"You know that man in the mask too, right? The one that all of the papers are talking about?"
I indeed knew about the individual he was referring to, but I was beginning to lose my patience.
"Jimmy, can you make your point please? I have a lot of paperwork to do and I don't have a lot of time to just chat."
Jimmy started scratching the back of his neck, which he typically did when he was embarrassed or when he felt bad about something.
"Right, sorry man. Anyway, I was coming to tell you that Chief Munroe wants us to start putting together a file on him. Erm, the character."
"Put together a file on him? How the hell does he expect us to do that? We don't know anything about him. He practically popped up overnight, Jimmy!"
Jimmy backed up an inch or two away from my desk.
"Hey man, take it easy. It's not like he wants you or me specifically to do this! I was just coming over here to tell you! Anyway, I think it's best that I leave and let you get back to work."
And with that, he quickly walked away from my desk before I could say anything. I found myself looking at the plaque that sat on my desk and I picked it up. I sighed.
"Reduced to a damn desk jockey, doing paperwork instead of actual fieldwork for more than half the damn job. The name Matthew Black shouldn't go on a plaque as long as I'm still breathing." I said as I put my plaque back down on the desk and returned to the reports I had to file.
Epilogue 2
Shoreline of the Bellwood River
Nightfall
Vilgax
My captors had stopped their van on the shore of the Bellwood River and after getting out, they opened the side door of the van and pulled me out of the vehicle. I fell onto the dirt, my hands still bound. One of them cut me loose as he began to speak.
"Your orders from Mr. Big are to dive to the bottom of the river and retrieve the recorded data from the remains of your robot."
"It's a drone, not a robot." I replied.
"Whatever."
I pondered my orders.
"How the hell am I supposed to get to the bottom of the river? Don't you people know how deep the river is?!"
I didn't actually know how deep the river was, but they didn't know that. Or at least, I think they don't.
"You should be careful with what you say next, friend." One of the men spoke in an unfriendly tone, before another one of the men spoke.
"Relax." He dumped out a bag of scuba gear and a wet suit onto the dirt. "You'll use these. And you'll get an oxygen tank, as well."
The other man nodded.
"What my partner said. Now, suit up."
"I'm not stripping down and putting that thing on with you watching!"
To my surprise, the hostile one pulled a gun out and chambered a round, before pointing it at me.
"Your only options here are to cooperate or die. Do you really want to join your robot at the bottom of the river that bad?"
I resisted the urge to correct him this time. I sighed and began to suit up with them still watching, much to my disdain.
Sometime Later
The depths of the river were murky and even with the light that I had been given, it was hard to navigate. This part of the river was supposed to be about forty to fifty feet deep and I should be seeing the bottom any time now. Soon after, I found the bottom and began looking. It took a while, but I eventually found it. The Sixsix model of my drone. The first model of drone that I made overheated and blew up after only a few minutes of operation. That was many years ago now and after much trial and error, I had the first success with the fourth model.
Anyway, I approached the drone, which was stationary, of course. The first thing I noticed is that it was resting face down on the riverbed. After that, I then noticed that the drone's back plating had been partially ripped off. That could explain why it had failed to complete its mission. I decided that I should be wasting time and went to go retrieve the visual storage, which thank God, was waterproof. But that wasn't a guarantee that the footage wouldn't be damaged or inaccessible. After retrieving it, I began my slow ascent to the surface.
A Few Minutes Later
Upon getting to the surface, I was instructed to view the footage, which thankfully was accessible, before giving a report to "Mr. Big".
"So, we're going to see him in person?" I asked.
"Do you really think that you've done enough to earn that right? Of course you aren't going to see him in person. For the time being, you will be reporting to him through a live feed."
And so, they put me in the front of a van, with a tablet to a live connection to my employer.
"What were your findings, Vilgax?" he asked.
I hesitated, for some reason feeling intimidated. The man sat in the shadows, making it impossible to see his face clearly and he spoke in a deep voice. He was also smoking a decently-sized cigar.
"Vilgax, don't make me ask you again."
"Sorry, Sir. The drone seemed to have been tracking the energy signature, but I was surprised when it attacked a public high school."
"Go on."
"After the initial attack, it seemed to have taken interest in a costumed figure. It very well may have been the one that everyone in the city is talking about."
"Focus, Vilgax."
"Sorry, Sir. Eventually after some amount of attacking the figure, the drone took hold of him and dragged him across the city. The two of them ended up on a rooftop close to the bridge and after the figure transformed into some inhuman entity, before the drone frenzied. It began attempting to attack local law enforcement, before the fight reached its climax on the bridge, where the drone fell into the river after a bit of a struggle."
"So, this "costumed figure", he has my device?"
I stopped for a second or two.
"I never said that, Sir."
"You didn't have to. My device is the only way that allows such "transformations", as you said."
"In that case, do you want me to start tracking this figure?"
"Absolutely not. Thanks to your clumsiness, now he'll probably be cautious. Now we—you—need to take your time with your next move. Start work on another one of your drones, but this time you won't be getting funding from me."
"Um, Sir?"
"I want my device, Vilgax. I was promised perfection when I hired you and your gang. And as of late, you've been greatly disappointing."
"Sir, I will do better."
"I'm going to give you one last chance, Vilgax. You don't want to know what will happen if you fail me again. We'll be in touch."
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!
* So, what did you guys think of this one? What did you guys think of how Ben handled the "armored figure" and how the situation was resolved? What did you think of the epilogues? I am very curious to hear your opinions or any theories you may have, so please by all means leave them in a review.
* That's going to do it for me. I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.
Review Responses
Guest Review (Chapter 17): Do you plan on having him gain any new aliens earlier than canon
Thanks for the review. To answer your question, I don't really know. I'm trying to develop characters and storylines for this story, I'm not really worried about adding any new aliens or developing them right now. So, at this moment, the answer is probably no. Thanks for the review, as always.
Next Chapter: Ben and his friends have the rest of the week off following the attack on the school.