So I'm going to need everyone to pretend Clockwork doesn't exist. Or that Ben lost it somehow or something. Because forget Alien X, Clockwork is the real OP alien. At least Alien X has a ton of limitations. I don't care if Clockwork's body is weak, he can manipulate time and can create holograms of past events he didn't witness. If Ben has regular access to this alien, he should be able to instantly solve almost any mystery. Other than the body weakness, I don't remember any real weakness or limitations to this alien and I think the show tried to mostly ignore it too because otherwise there are tone of situations Ben could have used it. So just pretend Clockwork isn't a thing. Or if you know of a reason why Ben can't constantly use Clockwork to learn about the past, tell me in the comments because I don't remember ever getting an explanation. I know I could say the omnitrix just wasn't letting him turn into Clockwork at the time, but I subscribe to the omnitrix gives Ben what he needs not what he wants theory and I don't see a reason it wouldn't give him clockwork in this situation.

Ben was still kinda in shock.

He'd been fighting Acidbreath since he was ten, having him gone now was- weird. He wasn't sad that Acidbreath was dead. The guy had been evil. Still, he would rather have sent him to jail than have him die. Killing was always a last resort. Acidbreath was enough of a small fry that arresting him shouldn't have been a problem.

Rook was processing Frightwig, leaving him and Gwen free to get back to Ken. Ben was walking a bit slowly through the base's hallways, so he had time to puzzle things out before meeting up with his older cousin. He didn't want Ken to hear the details about this. Ken worried a lot.

Glancing over at Gwen, he couldn't tell what she was thinking. She was probably at least a little upset. Seeing a guy slicing in half wasn't a pleasant sight whether you liked the guy or not.

"I just don't understand how it happened," he repeated for the third time, frustrated.

Gwen shrugged. "It looked like he did it to himself." She didn't sound 100% confident.

"But what was he doing up there?" Ben pondered. He hadn't survived his superhero lifestyle this long by ignoring dangerous things that didn't add up. "Last I saw him, you threw him to my right on ground level. So what was he doing on the opposite side on top of a three story building? And how did he manage to get cut by the sign? He would have had to be spewing gas for a while to get the sign melted enough to fall, it was attached to the ceiling by multiple support beams. Why was he using his gas up there at all? How did he not realize and move away or stop in time? Why was the wall damaged? Was it already like that?"

Gwen shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe he hit his head and was having trouble turning his powers off, so he was trying to run away?" Her eyes were still troubled, but her voice became more confident. "I'll admit it is weird, but I don't think someone else killed him. And Frightwig confessed their plan once she found out he was dead." The creepy clown girl had been upset by the news but not sad. Ben wasn't surprised the creeps hadn't gotten along.

"So what you're saying is you don't think it matters?" Ben surmised. He kinda had to agree. It was all a little weird, but he didn't think it meant anything bad for them. Still…

His cousin nodded. "Unless there's a recording somewhere of what happened, I doubt we'll ever find out. We found everything we could already. I don't think there's anything else to this."

She was right. She was usually right about this stuff. Usually. Crossing his hands behind his head, he sighed in agreement. "Yeah."

Suddenly, Gwen snapped to glare at him and what the heck? He hadn't done anything! She had no right to be giving him the evil eye.

"Don't tell Ken we saw a corpse cut in half," she warned/threatened. "It'll just upset him."

Rolling his eyes hard, Ben said, "I know that." Geez, he wasn't that stupid.

Gwen pulled out her phone and scrolled through some screens. "Ken says he's in the briefing room."

Huh, weird. They switched directions so they were walking towards the briefing room. Ken must be there with Grandpa. Hopefully, they'd gone for breakfast without them. But Ken would totally be willing to go hungry for a while to wait for them. At least if they hadn't gone, it had only taken a couple hours to wrap up the clowns. They hadn't been waiting long.

"Did he and Grandpa eat already?" He could text Ken himself, but Gwen was already chatting him.

As Gwen typed out the question, Ben's mind might begin to wander. Mostly it wandered towards pancakes. How tasty they were. The different kinds he'd had. How he'd once almost eaten a spinach pancake and how that was a crime against nature and good food.

Oh, wait, Gwen was frowning down at her phone. Had he missed her saying something? No, he was 80% sure he hadn't. "What's up?"

"They haven't found Grandpa Max yet," she told him, eyebrows furrowing.

"They?" He could understand Ken maybe having trouble tracking the man down, he wasn't familiar with the base or its schedules, but had no one else been able to find him either? Who else was looking?

"A third of the base is looking for him now apparently," Gwen reported, concerned. "He missed all his meetings and check-ins, and his badge has gone dark."

"What?!" Ben startled, worry starting to creep in. "What was his last known location?"

Gwen shook her head. "He says to just come and talk to them directly. He doesn't think he can explain it right without knowing how it all works."

That made sense. Talking in person would be better anyways. He sped up and Gwen sped up to match him. "You don't think Frightwig was lying, do you?" he asked. "Maybe they kidnapped Grandpa Max?" But besides timing, nothing else matched up. If they had Grandpa since possibly this morning, why not use that as a bargaining point? Could she be keeping quiet out of spite for Acidebreath's death?

"It didn't seem like it," Gwen replied, "but I don't know. Let's wait until we have some clue about what's happening before we make any wild speculations."

The briefing room was bustling. All kinds of aliens were rushing around; talking to each other, looking through security feeds, pointing at holographic maps and graphs. Ken was standing by Patelliday, Blukic, and Driba, who appeared to be scrubbing through the base entrance security feed. The older boy looked worried as he listened to whatever Driba was saying. Ben silently cursed that this had happened while his cousin was visiting. Whoever had caused this was going to pay, whether Grandpa had actually been kidnapped or not.

"Patelliday, what's going on?" Ben questioned as he walked up to the group. He really hoped they had some good information. "Is Grandpa really missing?"

The Volann pushed up his glasses in a nervous tick. "I'm 'fraid so. He's missed multiple meetings now, not to mention missing meeting up with you 'oung ones. He left the base late last night and his badge went offline about an hour later. We haven't been able to piece together what happened yet."

"Tell us what you do know," Gwen prodded.

"Not much, I'm afraid," Driba said, moving the footage to the start of when Grandpa Max left the building. Other than the time, nothing appeared abnormal. There didn't seem to be any tension or urgency to Grandpa's walk, and he wasn't geared up for anything, just normal civilian clothes. "Magister Tennyson left the base at 2:23am. He seems to have walked around the city for a while until his signal vanishes in this alley here at 2:58am." The little alien scratched at his head. "He appeared to be on his way back to the base."

"That's really late," Ben commented, trying in vain to come up with an explanation. The traced path on the map didn't seem to really be going anywhere and he'd been heading back when the signal disappeared. Ben would say it had just been a normal city stroll if it hadn't been so late.

"Yeah, obviously," Gwen dipped, half rolling her eyes. "I take it he didn't mention there was something going on to you?"

"If he had, I would have said so already," Ben replied, frustrated. "What about you, Ken?" he asked, turning to his other cousin. "Do you remember Grandpa saying anything that stuck out to you? That might be related to this?" The chances were low, but he should still ask.

"No," Ken said and Ben almost felt bad for asking his cousin looked so distressed. "Nothing. But it can't have been just a walk. If he'd wanted to go on a walk, I assume he would have come with me on mine when I invited him."

Yeah, a casual walk was pretty much out the window at this point. "Did you see anything on your walk?" Ben tried. It was a longshot but they didn't have much to go on at the moment.

Ken shook his head. "No, I don't remember seeing anything strange. And the last time I saw Grandpa was about an hour before I left, I didn't see him when I came back. I was back by 10:30 so we weren't out at the same time."

Well, yeah, Ben hadn't expected Ken to be out anytime past midnight. Went without saying. A five-hour gap was pretty big though and even if something odd had been happening, a civilian with very little alien experience like Ken might not have realized it.

"We've already sent a team to investigate the area where the signal went dark," Patelliday informed them. "Nothing's turned up yet."

"We'll go look too," Ben declared. They'd definitely find something. Some sort of clue.

Ken shifted on his feet. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ben winced internally. Thankfully, Gwen answered for him. "I don't think you should go out, Ken," she told him regretfully. "We don't know what's happening right now or the motive. It's safer for you here," Ben nodded in agreement.

"Hm, yes, I agree," Driba said, rubbing his chin. "I'm sorry. I know it must feel frustrating. But we've done everything we can do from here already and the field isn't a place for an untrained human."

Ken seemed to droop further. "Oh."

"Don't worry, Ken," Ben assured, trying to cheer his cousin up. Just thinking about having to sit out while family was in danger sent jitters up Ben's spine. "I'm sure we'll find him in no time and then we can all go get pancakes together. We'll keep you updated."

"Ok," Ken accepted reluctantly. "What about our parents?" His eyes wavered between worried and angry. "Are they in danger?"

"Don't worry about that," Blukic told him, the tiny alien hopping down from his chair to the floor. "Their houses are equipped with top-of-the-line security. Honestly, you'd probably have an easier time breaking into this here base. We won't be caught unawares."

"They do?" Ken blinked, surprised. The security wasn't obvious except for a few control panels. Ken wouldn't have seen anything crazy just popping home for a visit.

"Yeah," Ben confirmed eagerly. "Super high-tech stuff. And they know how to deal with this kind of stuff." He spun around to talk to Patelliday again, so he didn't see Ken's face go strangely blank for a couple seconds before becoming worried again.

He lost track of Ken sometime during the rush to get out there and find Grandpa. Ben felt a little bad he hadn't officially said bye, but he'd be texting him good news soon. Hopefully, this wouldn't take long. Grandpa Max was tough, he'd be fine. Just a matter of finding him.

That didn't stop him from being worried though…

Elsewhere…..

Ken paced around his plumber room. His nerves were fraying. He'd only just barely rushed back in time to edit the camera footage before anyone looked, swapping his image closer to 10pm so it looked like Grandpa had left alone. The image move had been almost perfect, they'd only notice that something might look a tiny bit off if they analyzed it very closely but they had no reason to do that at the moment. He knew he should have just teleported out. He could've used a disguise or something. And now people were looking for Grandpa. His siblings were looking for Grandpa. This whole trip had fallen apart.

Why hadn't Grandpa Max just minded his own f# king business?!

He paused in his pacing, letting out a long breath. This wasn't good, but it was fixable. He could fix this. Memory spell. That was all he needed. A memory spell and a test subject so he could be sure he wouldn't wipe Grandpa's mind completely.

Triple checking his door was locked, he sat at the room's desk, summoned his spell book, and started reading.