Ben had absorbed a part of Hera. There was uncertainty when it came to whether or not Celestialsapiens could absorb other of their kind. It was strange and right after transforming into Alien X, Ben could not comprehend what happened after that time.
Between slamming down the Omnitrix and waking up in the woods covered in black bile was a huge black hole that swallowed up all memory of what had happened.
It's been a week since that time. But it felt a lot longer for everyone involved. As if it had been years. But after what seemed like ages the story could finally conclude and end. Ben sure hoped so.
...
"What can you recall?" the Magistrata leaned back and regarded the brunette. They'd been playing that game for a whole week. After she stopped screaming until her throat turned hoarse and she could barely make a sound anymore.
Ben sighed and sunk further into her chair, leaning her head back. "There's nothing. I'm sorry, I can't remember a thing. I just pushed the Omnitrix. Not even I am sure what happened. I think this orb that Paradox gave me must have messed with my Omnitrix."
The magistrata perked up: "The time walker gave you an orb?".
"He said it was the most powerful artifact he owned. Can I go home now?".
The supreme leader of the Plumbers looked thoughtfully at Ben. "You've been at the headquarters for a week now. I would like to check with the medical staff first to see if you can get out. We cannot risk such an occurrence to happen again."
Ben stood up from her seat and stretched. "I've seen it. How I looked at that day. And what I did to myself, to Alien X. It's- I can't really put it words. I swear I have no idea what happened. But I understand that after all I did you're still unsure about trusting me. Well, I am still on my sabbatical. So I am going to use that time and- learn more magic from my cousin. Just say the word and I am out of the HQ.".
The magistrata looked at Ben from the side, "I've heard you are trying to get to the edge of the universe.".
Ben froze in her movement and sat back down on the seat.
"You know what I'm trying to do?"
"I think it is foolish to seek out a Celestialsapien by yourself. You really think you can find anyone who'd be willing to change you back?"
Ben grinned, "I am still the greatest hero of the universe.". After a pause she looked down at her Omnitrix, "And after what I did to myself, people seem terrified of me."
The magistrata looked down at her file, "We are still concerned about your mental health. I think you should go to Galvan Prime and talk to Azmuth,"
Ben stood back up again, "May I go Magistrata?".
The green skinned alien hesitated for a moment. "You are free to go but please stay at the HQ.".
Ben nodded and as she walked out she came across the main surveillance room. For a moment she wondered if it was okay to pop in and say 'Hello'. But she was not officially a member of the Plumbers anymore, not for a whole year.
As she walked she accidentally walked into Tack who jumped back and let a few folders fall on the ground. She held up her hands.
"I am sorry.". Her hands fell back to her sides as Tack took a few steps back and laughed it off.
"No it's fine.", he leaned down to pick up the folders. As Ben went and tried to help him she froze as she could hear his words: "Please don't help me.". Her shoulders slumped and she withdrew her hand from the folder she was about to pick up.
As the stood up again, facing each other she swallowed the lump in her throat, "Tack, can I ask you something?".
It was obvious that he tried to evade her, "Is this about what happened one week ago?".
"Can you please try to remember? Did I say anything? Or do anything? Besides screaming?".
He sighed and closed his eyes, then he shook his head, "I keep telling you, there was nothing you said."
"Did I wear a necklace? With a green glowing orb?".
Tack took a deep breath, "Ben- I keep telling you there was nothing there. We found nothing resembling what you described. Maybe you just lost it?". To find an excuse he looked down at his folders, "Please excuse me, I have to bring those to Magister Gunther.".
She looked after him, she wanted to say something but her voice died down in her throat.
It was terrible to be stuck in the headquarters when she knew that there were so many more things to do. Instead the plumbers tried to keep her under close scrutiny. For crying out loud, even if they had dealt with Lord Transyl, there were still a lot of other dangerous subjects at large and they'd teamed up! Well, at least now Ben was absolutely sure she was the last Vladat in the universe.
Ben was just so tired. Maybe after getting back to her berth in the medical bay and getting a little bit of sleep she'd finally have some peace of mind.
It was close to midnight anyways.
…
Raff frowned, "I am sorry my queen, I haven't gotten your request you want to do- what?". The Syllonoid was blinking at her in confusion.
She glared at him, "You know our alliance is broken. With our broken alliance and Chadwick's weird ideology I don't want to stay on this planet any longer than I have to. We'll get to Attea. After everything we still know where she is.".
After a few seconds of silence Raff for what seemed like the first time in his life, grew a spine, "My queen, can you please reconsider? I know you've been at this for a long time but right now shouldn't we think about getting back to the Incursean Empire? It's been over a week, since the hero Ben has been taken in by the Plumbers and even longer since Attea disappeared. If we stay any longer on this planet awa-"
"Shut up, Raff." Polema interrupted him and massaged her brow, "We'll go where I want. I know the Incurseans are probably going at each others throats right now until the last one croaks but I have no interest in ruling them.".
Raff stared at her and tried to open his mouth, but was shut up again by her falling into his word: "Besides, we're not Incurseans. If I'd only be half as scary as I am you could be sure that they'd tried to get rid of me ages ago. And they kind of did. They just didn't have it in them to kill me. I have no idea why.".
Raff looked away. He knew why, because he had begged Milleous to not press the switch which would have jettisoned her cryo-chamber into the sun they'd come across. He had gotten on his hands and knees because he had been hard coded to follow her and be loyal to Polema. Something that had been programmed into him from roughly twenty years ago when he first came into existence. But besides the hard coded loyalty his programming also conflicted at times with his allegiance to the Incursean empire.
While Milleous had made sure that Polema's toy followed the Incursean empire Polema had made herself sure that even then she'd always have a backdoor to ensure her survival. Of course it wasn't her who programmed him, but it was done by her wish. Sometimes Raff wondered what happened to his programmer, but knowing her he could imagine.
All this time as long as Polema was the queen of the Incurseans, even though she was not an Incursean herself, he could follow her without trouble and stay superficially loyal to the Incursean cause.
As of right now, even if logic dictated differently all he could do was nod and follow her. Curse his robotic nature.
….
Attea was antsy and walked up and down her small room, no cell. After having been relocated once again to another part of the plumbers HQ, she grew more and more restless. Damn those Plumbers. She put a hand on her mouth, thinking to her missing tongue. Not all of her tongue was gone but even so the tongue was one of the things most important to an Incursean. They were a tool, necessary for surviving in her world. To lose something so important was crippling to her. Her hate for the person who put her into this world just grew. Her father may have been in Plumber custody but she wanted to just go back to her empty throne and rule over the empire that was rightfully hers again.
She perked up as she heard a red alarm sounding. As soon as she heard steps outside her room she ran out. Her hand grabbed the next best person and she managed to grab Tack. "What's happening?".
Tack pressed his gun to his chest, "They declared emergency level red, someone broke into the headquarters. You should-"
Attea shoved him back roughly and ran after the other Plumbers.
"-back." Tack finished his sentence staring after Attea. It didn't seem like anyone was really taking him seriously.
…
Ben woke up, still a little groggy as she heard the alarm screaming. She struggled to get up and jumped out of the medical bay, ignoring Blukic and Driba. She knew that sound, someone broke into the Plumbers HQ. Who cared if she wasn't a Plumber anymore, or if she was on a sabbatical, she was still a hero and she was going to fight whatever had managed to break into their home.
She followed the rest of the Plumbers.
….
This is a dumb idea, this a suicidal idea. Raff was trying to hide behind the other three. He wanted to go home. There were so many things he wanted to call the queen: insane, dumb, suicidal, a lot of other things his hard coded programming didn't allow him to say. And yer here he was. And then there was Khyber and Sunder who also thought this was a good idea?
Was he the only sane person on this entire planet? From day one he knew teaming up like this was a dumb plan. All of those teammates were crazy in some way shape or form.
Chadwick was a crazy alien-hating human supremacist, Khyber only cared about hunting, Zombozo wanted energy, Charmcaster was obsessed with getting more power, Fistrick had some problem with starting a single sentence without saying 'Bro', Rojo was just a violent thug, Animo was just- just crazy, and then there were all those other unpleasant criminals he was forced to meet. It made him miss being back to a pack of boxes with assembly instructions.
He was not made for direct confrontation. His position as a commander was due to his tactical thinking. But there were no tactics in Polema's brain, only slash, kill and destroy. Lowly animal instincts. And here he was, because he had been programmed that way: when the queen says something you'll do it, no matter what.
….
Attea could hear a sharp whistling sound traveling through the air. She must be close to where the others were. And just as she rounded the corner she met face to face with a Plumber thrown her way.
She shoved him off, and nursed the part of her head that had met with the white, heavy armor.
"What's happening?", a shadow was cast over her and she was just able to dodge a tail that came down on her. It left a crater in the floor.
She stared for a second before realizing what kind of monster this creature was. "A slamworm?". How- she evaded another tail slam in her direction.
Another whistling sound came from behind the creature and it held still for a moment. Before it turned around. It was then that Attea realized that there were broken Plumbers around her. How could this be possible? It was just a slamworm! A single slamworm against a group of highly trained men and women with energy guns!
"Finally," she heard heavy footsteps behind her, "no tricks, no running, only us, you and me.", and the reptile spread out her arms and turned her mouth into a creepy grin with a lot of scary teeth, more than Attea bothered to count right now.
…
Ben turned around the corner and arrived a bit later than Attea. She accessed the situation. A lot of Plumbers were incapacitated, Sunder and Khyber were busy fighting a few that were still standing and Attea- why was Attea there and who was that reptilian alien- she remembered, that was Polema- backing her in a corner?
Before she could finish any other thoughts she evaded a tail swing from above and stared Slamworm right in the face. No, not just a Slamworm, Khybers pet.
"I can't believe we're going through this again.", Ben turned on the Omnitrix, "As long as it isn't a Talpaedan.".
The Slamworm was showered in a green glow but still slammed down its tail only to have it caught by Diamondhead.
"Come on, do you really want to go through this again? Why don't you-" she pulled at the tail, "go back into the hole you came from?". She threw it with all her might against the wall. That should have been-
A sharp whistling sounds filled the air and the ground shook as the Slamworm turned into a Crabdozer. Diamondhead gritted her teeth and braced for impact as the four-legged stone creature rammed against her in full force pushing her back further back, inch by inch. She could feel her legs giving out as she tried to hold against it. Her eyes looked for Khyber who was somewhere. But where? Wasn't he behind- no he was gone. He wasn't behind his creature anymore. So, then where was he.
Her eyes darted upward and she barely managed to shove back the creature to avoid getting stomped by Khyber.
Once again she decided to look at the situation, right now a couple of Plumbers were putting up with Sunder, Attea fought that reptile and here she was with Khyber and his over sized pet.
"Down!", Ben knew that voice and didn't even think. She just duck as an energy beam went off over her head, causing Khyber and his pet to scram. It left a sizable hole in the hull. Magister Molly from Alpha Squad appeared behind her with a bazooka. At least it resembled one.
"How come I've never seen that one before?", Diamondhead asked, staring at the new equipment. Molly petted the hull, "New equipment from Galvan Prime. And I've just ran out of bullets for it.".
"What?That- That was one shot!" Diamondhead's head turned to Khyber and his beast who had gotten back on their legs. She put up her fists, at least it was two vs. two now.
….
Attea's eyes turned towards Ben and Molly and promptly earned a jab into her lower left. She needed space between them. A way to get away from this monster who was just pummeling her. Why, why couldn't she have some energy bazooka? Not even a small handgun. And unlike the time in Undertown she couldn't run and hide. No, she had to stay and put up a fight. She blocked a kick that came in her direction. This fight was very one-sided, with Attea being pushed into the defensive while her mother continued to assault her.
"Put up more of a fight, or it won't be fun!", she shoved a fist into Attea's chest knocking the air out of her. This was pathetic. After all that training, all her titles, her position in power and constantly fighting Ben she should have been better at this.
Then Polema launched at her. Showving herself forward on all fours and Attea managed to grab a brick and threw it against Polema's face in the last second before her teeth could make contact with the skin on her neck. She wasn't going to go like Eighteight, not if she could help it.
….
Diamondhead and Magister Gunther stood back to back. The diamond hard alien took a deep breath, "Is this a good time to feel sorry?".
Molly repressed a smile, "Leave the big words for after the fight.", she pulled out an energy blaster.
Khyber took a few steps back behind his back and whistled again.
"Molly, help Attea." Diamondhead readied herself, "I did this before I can do it again.".
The Magister nodded, ran past the hunters and aimed at Polema.
….
Khyber tried to ran after the Magister and realized he was stuck. He sneered, "A Florauna?". He must have been distracted to have failed to notice Ben changing aliens again. Something to restrict him from going after the Magister in the red armor.
"I am not going to let you get away this time.", Wildvine strengthened her grip on the huntsman and his pet. Her eye darting over to the Magister who had just reached Attea and Polema. At least to give them time.
….
Attea was once again reduced to dodging and evading the attacks of her mother. It was then that a beam from a blaster split them apart. Attea stood on wobbly legs while Polema's eyes darted around to find where the shot came from.
"I didn't know they would actually protect you.".
Molly aimed at her again, "Don't get me wrong. Right now bringing you down is my top priority.".
The reptile grinned from non-existent ear to non-existent ear. "This is fine with me. I love a challenge.".
Even with two people trying to bring her down Polema made fighting look effortless. Molly tried aiming again and nearly dropped her weapon when she realized that in a matter of seconds the reptile had bridged the gap between them. The last thing she saw with her right eye were claws shoved inside her eyeball. For a second Molly Gunther let go of her gun and put a shaking hand on the bleeding wound. In this very second Polema raised her hand again, ready to strike once more at a place which was sure to end the Magister. In this instant she felt a heavy impact on the back of her head.
Blood was travelling down her face and for a second she was baffled. Her eyes turned towards Attea who used the moment grappling her. A have brick fell on the floor, dropping right next to Polema's feet, stained with her blood. Attea gritted her teeth as she held back her mothers arms and head who tried to shake her off.
"Move it!" Attea screamed at the Magister who was still shaking, missing one eye. Polema in a last ditch attempt to get her daughter off let herself fall back and rammed her into the metal floor. The frog-like alien kept clinging mustering the last bit of strength to hold her still.
Molly finally regained consciousness and grabbed the blaster again. There was no time for this. She couldn't focus on the pain or her missing eye. There was one thing she had to deal with first before she could think about herself. Even though her aim was shaky she pulled the trigger. It was now or never.
…
Raff shut down. He had hidden away in that hole that the Slamworm had created, he wasn't made to fight. He didn't want to fight and now Polema was gone. He stared down and went through his own programming every single line. He hoped that there was something in there that could help him in this situation. He powered down every single capacity he had available. He didn't want to face Attea.
….
Khyber gritted his teeth. Were they really at a stalemate again? His employer just lost a big part of her head. And even Sunder seemed to have gotten to the last of his capacities. The hero had turned into Terraspin. Khyber knew when he was losing. And he was able to make out footsteps coming from several directions. If back-up was coming there was no way he could win this. He whistled one final time, and what was once Crabdozer turned into Slamworm.
"What's up? Running out of ideas?", the hero mocked him.
Khyber's eyes could make out gleaming white uniforms in the distance, "The next time.".
"I am not letting you go!", Terraspin readied herself to take off and was taken by surprise as Khyber dropped a smoke bomb. She tried to blow the smoke away. Turning on her fan her timer ran out.
"No!", Ben screamed in frustration and coughed as she breathed in the smoke in the air. "Damn!".
Meanwhile Molly Gunther was moaning and groaning in pain over the wound she had received. And Attea had released the hold on what was once the queen of the Incurseans. She was covered in blood and breathing heavily. She stared up at a bunch of white armored Plumbers. Why was she so relieved about this? She really shouldn't be. She had to close her eyes for a few seconds. there was a time when she wasn't glad she faced a plate of white armor.
….
"The last time we parted we weren't on such good terms.", Ben sat down next to Molly's medical cot on a silver metal chair.
Molly held up her hand, "I should not have taken you there. In the end, I was pretty dumb to believe your Grandfather would actually allow you to go there.".
Ben was silent for a minute and finally shook her head. "There is something wrong with me. Also there is still the matter of Hera. I think she's still alive.".
"But you've fought her, you've beaten her. We've all seen it". Molly tried to suppress a shudder. The whole fight looked like something out of Lovecraft and was sure to have traumatized a lot of onlookers.
Ben frowned, "No, I know she's still there. Her Ichor is gone."
The Magister raised an eyebrow, "Ichor?".
"Blood- the black bile that was everywhere after the battle. It's gone. Went into the ground. I know she's not dead because if she was truly gone the Plumbers could have found her Ichor. It's like trying to find a corpse of a Celestialsapien. If the Ichor isn't there it means she's still alive. Somewhere and I am going to find her."
Ben stood up and flashed her usual smile at Molly, "Don't worry Magister Gunther, I'll find her and I'll get everything back to the way it was before.".
Attea hidden behind a curtain had heard everything. Good for you Ben. She sat up, as she heard a couple of Plumbers talking with each other. It was about Raff. She glared at the wall. No, she knew he was still alive.