I apologize for this chapter being late, I really do. But keep this in mind: constantly pestering me about it isn't going to make these chapters come out any faster. Contrary to popular belief, I do have a life and I do like to do other things besides this.
At an abandoned warehouse (not the one where the Light Twins were staying at) the Omni-Team was deep in the heat of battle with a large robot. Pink and red explosions rang throughout the warehouse and everybody avoided the blasts, especially the armored Kevin as Omni-Pink and Lucky Girl created force fields to block the laser blasts that were fired towards them as Omni-Green dived out of the way and blasted his own green laser blasts outwards that blasted into the machine with a shout.
Matter Girl was blasted by a shot that cracked her stony armor as she glared.
"You okay?" Huntress asked her dodging a shot.
"I've been better," she groaned.
Lucky Girl blasted out mana blasts and fireballs towards the giant mech as it blasted at her and her cousin with a shout of effort as she dodged on mana platforms and leaped forwards with a glare.
"Remember Grandma's lessons yesterday?" Lucky Girl asked Omni-Pink as she nodded and they both blasted out mana waves towards the creature, blowing it backwards with a shout as the samurai-like mech blasted red lasers outwards with its finger lasers and they both backflipped downwards and hit the ground with a grunt as Omni-Pink generated her energy swords and sliced through the blasts along with her brother.
"We're in trouble," Huntress said.
"You think?"
"How long before you two can change?" Kevin asked.
"I don't know," Omni-Green said. "Firefox and Jetray did nothing to this guy."
"We still need a few seconds," Omni-Pink rapidly fiddled with her Omnitrix as everyone leaped away to avoid the fists and blasts towards them with a shout of effort.
"Hold on! I'll see what I can do!" Lucky Girl said as her eyes glowed pink and she shouted out, remembering the trick that her grandmother daughter her as she fired out five walls, boxing the mech inside the mana box. This didn't work too well as the robot smashed through the walls like they were made of paper and Lucky Girl flew back with a glare.
"Ben! Jen! A little help here!" Huntress shouted as she fired her arrows into each of the robots fingers, causing a bit of a blow back as it flew into the wall. "Any time!"
"Almost," Ben glared as he and his sister adjusted their Omnitrixes
The Levins ran forwards as Matter Girl used her hammer arms and slammed the robot away before it grabbed her leg and slammed her into her brother, causing both of their armors to crack and they groaned in pain.
"Let them go!" Huntress shouted as she ran in with her extremely sharp machete and sliced the robot's hand off with a shout, causing it to drop Allison and she fell on the ground with a glare as the robot's head crest started to glow red with anger. "I... may have just made things worse..."
"It's okay. We're back in business," Ben said as he and Jen shifted through their playlists with a glare as Ben stopped on Humungousaur and Jen stopped on Rockette.
"Hey, guys? You know who would be perfect for this job?"
"Gee, the suspense is killing me," Kevin said as the twins slammed the cores down.
Ben's entire skeletal structure started to deteriorate and melt down into a puddle of green goo on the floor before an anti-gravity device floated by him and formed him upwards into a more humanoid form.
"Goop!" he shouted.
Blue fur and grey sprouted from Jen's form and she grew a long prehensile tail and two extra arms grew from her sides and she grew two more eyes below her main pair as the irises turned pink. The pink Omnitrix symbol rested on her chest as she kicked out her primate like foot and she backflipped with a hoot.
"Spidermonkey!"
Everyone looked at Goop with a groan.
"Ew..."
"You know this is cool," Goop slurred with a smirk as he used his anti-gravity device to float over towards the robot that swatted down towards the creature as Spidermonkey swung over and slammed into the robot's hand as its head crest glowed red and the robot swatted as she swiftly avoided and webbed a large crate and swung it over with a shout and slammed it into the robot as it slammed its hand onto Goop, only for him to ooze through the mechanical hand and then reform even after it blasted its lasers through his form.
Spidermonkey glared and swung over with a shout as she punched and kicked towards him... right before it stuck its palm outwards towards her and the others and she deadpanned.
"Oh, webs," she said as it charged up its palm and blasted everybody away from the creature, sending everyone flying through the warehouse wall in a fiery explosion, as well as the severed gauntlet.
Goop splattered in a heap on the ground next to his sister as the anti-gravity device floated over towards him and caused him to reform as Spidermonkey got up next to him... right as the robot jumped through the hole and grabbed her tail, swatting her into Goop's anti-gravity device, causing them to both roll into a heap at Kevin's car.
Everyone looked as they saw the robot trying to reform its hand from the socket.
"Okay, that's not happening," Goop's voice rang out from the anti-gravity device as he floated over and reformed the slime into the socket, oozing all throughout the robot's systems as Spidermonkey looked on and gulped.
"She's gonna blow!" she shouted as everybody ran to take cover from the impending doom. "Save yourselves!"
They all looked as Goop just oozed throughout the robot's circuitry and they shouted out as goo started to ooze through the sockets in the robot's frame before it exploded outwards and sent Goop's body raining down throughout the area and onto our heroes with a shout.
"Ben, get off of us!" Huntress shouted as the anti-gravity device flew over everybody.
"Sorry."
The ooze then floated over everybody and reformed throughout the area, scooping up all of his gooey body and reformed before he and Spidermonkey transformed back and everyone deactivated their super suits.
"That was pretty cool though. Feels like the old days."
"I don't recall the old days ever being this disgusting," Jen groaned.
"Whatever," Kevin said, picking up the gauntlet as he opened the trunk to his car and it inside. "As long as we took care of this thing for good."
What he didn't notice was that the gauntlet's fingers started moving as soon as he laced it inside his trunk.
Allison groaned as she got onto her bike and the others all filed into Kevin's car.
"You guys want to hit up Mr. Smoothie's?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" the rest of the group all muttered as they all drove off to said teen hangout.
Soon after they parked outside Mr. Smoothie's, Ben got the six smoothies for him and his friends as Kevin tuned up his car and Allison cleaned off her bike.
"I swear there's still Tennyson goo on here," Kevin said, wiping off his taillights.
"No there isn't," Gwen sighed.
"Nectarine smoothies for everybody," Ben said as he walked up, only for his smoothies to get slammed upwards, splattering all over his jacket and shirt. "Hey! This is a brand new jacket!"
The school bullies, Cash and J.T. were both laughing hard at Ben's misfortune as Jen walked up and glared daggers at them.
"Hey, J.T.! Looks like somebody had an accident!" Cash laughed.
"Yeah, look at that mess, Cash! Need me to get you a sippy cup, Ben?!" J.T. laughed. "Or maybe a diaper?"
The two laughed in hysterics as Gwen, Becky, Kevin and Allison threatened to walk over until Jen stopped them.
"We've got this," she mouthed to them and Becky nodded.
"Okay, you got me," Ben said. "Good one."
"So? What are you going to do about it?" Cash asked, pushing Kevin back... and leaving his handprint in the smoothie mess before he wiped it off as the kids all laughed at his expense. "Now look what you made me do!"
Jen glared hatefully at him as her eyes flashed pink and she brought her hand to her Omnitrix with a glare before her brother laid a hand on her shoulder and she nodded to him.
"You know what? You two aren't worth it," she said.
"Huh?" Cash asked.
"Come on, guys. This is ridiculous," Ben said as he got some napkins and wiped off the smoothie from his jacket and shirt.
"The least you two could do is be original for a change," Jen said. "You've been trying the same old bullying routine since the second grade Cash. It's tired."
"I mean, spilling my drink? Seriously? I can't believe I used to be afraid of you," Ben sighed. "Look around you, Cash? We've all grown up. But you're still the same pathetic loser who has to torment others just to feel good about himself."
"You two are just sad," Jen said as she walked and her brother walked away, heads held high as the teens in the parking lot all cheered for them standing up to the bullies, they're friends and cousins smiling with pride.
Cash and J.T. stood stunned before walking away, Cash with a hate-filled growl.
Kevin and Allison drove away from the Mr. Smoothie's as Gwen smiled to Ben and Jen.
"I'm proud of you two," Gwen said. "You guys could've totally gone alien on that creep."
"I would've decked him," Kevin said.
"Like Jen said. He's not worth it. We would be no better than him if we did it," Ben said with a smile.
Later that night, Cash angrily kicked an empty can down the sidewalk as they walked forwards and glared as J.T. walked behind him.
"Man, they got you good, Cash. You should've seen your face when they said-" J.T. began before his friend shot into his face.
"Nobody does that to me, J.T.! Ever! Those Tennyson twins are gonna pay! I'll get 'em back. Then everybody will be laughing at them!"
J.T.'s eyes shot from side to side rapidly before he eyed something and smiled.
"Hey, it's Kevin's car."
"Yeah, so?"
"So if it was me, I'd go trash it," J.T. said as he looked inside Stratton's Ale House and spotted Ben, Jen, Gwen, Becky and Kevin sitting at a table with Allison serving them their food, clad in her chef's jacket and her hair tied into a ponytail behind her back as she smiled at them. "Leave Ben and Jen for later. You mess up Kevin's car and everybody will know you're bad. The baddest in Bellwood! They'll be talking about it for years!"
Cash smirked evilly.
Soon afterwards, the two bullies were driving the car down the street towards the hill by the woods. They groaned outwards from the effort right past the restaurant window.
Kevin and the others didn't notice as his car was wheeled away as he stuck two straws in his nostrils whistled through them, prompting Gwen to laugh... and the other three to groan from annoyance.
They pushed the machine towards the dead end by the hill and groaned outwards and pushed the car to the edge before Cash pushed it off of the cliff and it wheeled all the way down the car and crashed into a tree stump, opening the trunk and spilling out all of the contents (including the gauntlet from the fight before) and the car alarm went out, sounding all throughout the area.
"Dude, that's hardcore," J.T. said, impressed at what he and his friend had done.
"Come on," Cash said as he moved towards crash site and J.T. followed him before he slammed the front of the car, turning off the alarm.
"Look at all this weird stuff," J.T. said, examining the spilled contents of the truck. "Think we could sell it?"
"HEY!" a voice sounded and they looked up to see Kevin stare in horror as his sister and their friends filed in by him. "What did you do to my car?!"'
"Grab something!" Cash said before breaking off into a run as the others followed him in anger.
J.T. picked up the contents before he followed Cash and Kevin roared outwards.
Allison looked and saw the lights going on in the back of the car and she glared hatefully after the bullies and she punched the stump in anger.
"Kevin," Gwen said in sympathy for her friend as the twins glared and Jen twitched in anger as they activated their Omnitrixes and dialed in Jetray and AeroForce.
"We're going after them!" Ben called.
"Don't, guys," Becky said.
"Come on, guys. We can fly after them. We'll find them," Jen said.
"And then what?" Gwen asked, standing up from her crouch. "You give up your secret to them?"
"They kind of already know. Maybe they don't know that we put them back on," Jen said. "But Casey and Simone know everything. We talk about our missions on our girl talks. But they promised not to tell anyone else."
"It's like you said, Jen. They're not worth it," Allison said. "Besides, they can't hide forever. We'll get them."
The twins looked unsurely at each other before glaring after their archenemies.
In the bullies' hideout in an abandoned warehouse, Cash glared at his friend as he held up the gauntlet.
"All that cool stuff in that trunk and you grab an arm?"
Cash laid it on the table as J.T. shrugged to him.
"I think it's pretty cool," J.T. said, putting it on. "Kind of like a glove. Look, feel the awesomeness of my mighty robot arm!"
He then imitated lasers firing before an actual laser blasted through the roof, creating a hole and they looked outwardly in awe at what just happened.
The two then smiled to each other in wordless agreement.
Later, with some empty bottles on a shelf, J.T. aimed the gauntlet at them with a glare and blasted the glass bottles with the lasers from his finger and they were instantly destroyed.
"Alright!" Cash said. "Give it!"
"I found it," J.T. protested as his so-called friend moved forward and then pushed on his face.
"So?"
"So it's my turn! Ow, ow, ow!"
Cash finally after a few minutes managed to pry the gauntlet off of J.T., causing him to fall to the floor and into the mannequins.
"It ain't finders keepers, J.T." Cash said, pointing at a mannequin and firing a large laser through it and straight through the wall.
Impressed, Cash laughed maniacally and blasted through the bottles and mannequins like crazy.
"Cash, you okay?"
"Oh, yeah. This'll scare the juice out of those Tennyson twins. That'll be the last time they ever talk smack to me."
"Ha, yeah," J.T. chuckled nervously. "That'll be hilarious.
Cash only smirked evilly at him.
"You're not joking."
Later, when Cash was fast asleep in a chair, the gauntlet still on his hand, J.T. snuck through the darkness in the factory as he tried to look towards the gauntlet. He was about to reach for it to take it off when Cash opened his eyes, glowing red as J.T. stumbled back and fell to the floor.
Cash stood up from the chair and glared at his friend, who looked at him, scared.
"I said it's mine."
The next morning, at the Levin's apartment with a built-in garage, Kevin was on his work bench, working on the underside of his car, trying to fix the damage done to it, mumbling to himself.
Gwen was asleep in the chair nearby with Becky standing by her and Allison leaned on the opposite wall, listening to heavy metal music on her Android as Kevin mumbled angrily to himself.
"I can't believe those punks touched my car," Kevin mumbled. "What did they do to you, you-"
Ben and Jen walked in with a tray of smoothies and Ben looked to see Kevin as Allison shrugged.
"Kevin," Ben asked. "Have you been working on that thing all night?"
"And I'm not leaving until my ride is cherry."
"Need some help?" Jen asked as she passed a smoothie to her best friend with a smile.
"You want to help me? Go away."
"Kevin!" Allison scolded.
"No, it's cool. His loss," Ben said as he walked off and Jen shrugged.
"So sorry about your car, dude," she said as she took a smoothie and walked away as Gwen woke up.
"She's right. We're sorry about your car, Kevin," Gwen said. "But that doesn't mean that you have to be such a jerk to the twins."
Kevin sipped at one of the remaining smoothies and groaned out.
"Ugh. I think I got some kind of fruit bone in mine."
Becky glared as she took the smoothie out of his hand and he sighed.
"Fine. I'll got get them."
However, just as he was walking out of the garage, J.T. suddenly ran up, panting as he looked to the four.
"Where's Ben and Jen? I gotta warn them. Something's wrong with Cash."
"You mean the guy who messed with my brother's car?" Allison glared, pounding her fist into her hand. "And weren't you there with him?!"
"It was his idea, really!" J.T. lied.
"Uh-huh," Becky said, totally unconvinced.
"Cash is looking for Ben and Jen! Says he's going to teach them a lesson they'll never forget."
"I wouldn't worry about the twins, J.T." Kevin said as he wiped the grease from his face. "I'd worry about your friend first. Where is he?"
"At the old mannequin factory downtown. We hang there sometimes. Okay, all the time."
"Got it."
And just like that, Kevin broke off into a pace as he ran out of the garage towards the mannequin factory as Allison sighed and walked over to her motorcycle and turned the keys in the ignition.
"I'm going after him, guys," she said. "I've got to make sure my little bro doesn't do anything stupid."
"Good luck," Gwen said as her friend pulled out of the driveway and followed Kevin. "What happened to you, J.T.? Back in first grade you and Ben used to eat paste together."
"Wait, what?"
"*SHH!* You were nice. But then you started hanging out with Cash."
"Cash isn't so bad. I make him laugh and he always has my back."
"Really?" Becky asked with a heavy glare. "Both of you act like total jerks."
"Cash is Cash. What do you want from me?"
"Seems to me you have a lot of influence over him," Gwen admitted.
"Enough so I get to watch him beat people up instead of getting beat up myself."
"Yeah, sounds like the basis of a great friendship," Becky scoffed.
"I-"
"Why are you still here anyway?" Gwen asked. "If Cash is such a great guy, why don't you just go hang out with him like you always do?"
"Look, I just wanted to warn Ben and Jen-"
"Don't. It's not like when we were little, J.T. The twins can take care of themselves," Becky stated.
"But what about me? Cash is seriously bent. I mean, something's wrong. And if he finds out I told-"
"Nothing is going to happen to you, J.T.," Gwen said. "We'll make sure of that."
"Knock knock!" Kevin said as he kicked the door to the mannequin factory in as he glared outwards and Allison followed him inside as she and her brother looked around.
"Don't bother hiding, Cash," Allison said. "Your weasel friend already told us you were here."
"Levins?" Cash asked from across the room. "I don't have any beef with you two."
They looked upwards to see the hole in the ceiling and Allison zipped her lip.
"That's where we differ," Kevin said. "You trashed my car!"
Cash walked out of the shadows and the Levins' eyes widened at his appearance. The gauntlet on his right arm had expanded and was extremely muscly. The metal had also gained a vein-like structure that had spread over to the left side of his torso.
"Okay, that's a surprise," Allison deadpanned as she pressed her watch and suited up with a glare.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Cash asked. "I can also do this!"
He blasted his arm out and fired the laser from his fist, prompting the Levins to dodge as it blasted directly through the wall with a shout.
"You two were just about to leave, right?"
"No," Kevin smiled as he absorbed the concrete from the wall with a smile. "This is good. This is real good."
"What are you talking about?"
"Seeing as how you're all jacked up, I don't have to hold back."
"Kevin," Matter Girl said as she looked to him. "I don't know about this. He's clearly not the Cash from before."
"I don't care. He trashed my car."
He then shouted out and slammed his fist into the ground, sending a shockwave outwards from the ground that knocked Cash back before Matter Girl tossed a crate at him and he kicked out and destroyed it with a single kick before landing on the ground, perfectly fine.
"That didn't even hurt."
"Yeah? How bout this?!" Kevin shouted as he ran forwards and punched outwards, but Cash just dodged all of his blows and then grabbed his arm and punched upwards, sending him crashing into the wall behind him, forming a small crater.
"Kevin!" Matter Girl shouted before she absorbed the metal from the railing and ran forwards, morphing her hands into hammers, running forwards and slamming into Cash's arm before he dodged and hit her with his regular hand and knocked her back before she ducked and swept his feet with her leg, tripping him up as she panted heavily. She was just about to finish him off when she was blasted with his laser sending her flying up into the ceiling before crashing back down with a grunt of pain.
"No way," Cash said in awe.
But just as he was in awe of his own power, the ground beneath him started to split open and Kevin flew up and gave him an uppercut. He was sent stumbling backwards before he blasted him with his laser again, sending him back and causing parts of his armored skin to break. He then ran forwards and grabbed his leg before giving him a powerful toss into the ground, sending him crashing down through several levels of the building as he tried to keep himself up with everything he had.
"No," Matter Girl said as she got to her feet and then ran down the stairs to his level, not wanting to hurt herself on the way down as Cash looked down the hole.
As Kevin struggled to move, Cash blasted his laser down the hole in the floor, blasting him and breaking his armor, a sadistic smile clean on his face. Kevin then sommersaulted ahead to avoid his blasts and weakly crawled ahead to reach out and grab the metal bar from a shelf, only for Cash to jump down and blast him as he was absorbing the metal.
Cash grinned as Matter Girl appeared from the staircase and gulped as she saw him blasting her brother to kingdom come as he groaned out in pain.
She then attempted to sneak up on him from behind and slam him in the back of the head, but he wasn't fooled by that. He then grabbed her arm and she gulped.
"Um... hi?"
"Big mistake."
He then blasted Kevin and her upwards into the top floor again and leaned upwards as Matter Girl struggled to her feet and helped her brother up on her shoulders as she wobbled weakly. He followed them upwards as he grinned at them.
"Guess this means you two aren't the coolest kids in town anymore, Levins," Cash said.
"And you are?" Kevin asked. "Not on your best day!"
The metal from the gauntlet suddenly started moving on its own, expanding towards the left side of Cash's torso to cover its entirety as he grinned out at them.
"Oh, you guys don't have to worry. This isn't about you. Ben and Jen Tennyson, that's who this is about. You guys tell them: 3:00. Mr. Smoothie parking lot. If they don't show, I'm coming for them."
Kevin and Allison looked at each other, concerned as Allison struggled and walked ahead.
"I'll go get them. You stay here."
"I'm not going anywhere," he groaned. "You're in much better shape after that than I am."
She then grunted and limped towards her bike nearby.
At the Tennyson household, Jen was smiling as she sat by the TV and watched Toy Story 3 with Emma by her side.
"This was my favorite movie when I was your age," she said to her little sister and she giggled slightly.
Ben sighed as he gulped a smoothie down as the door burst open and Gwen, Becky and J.T. walked in.
"There you two are! Do you know how long we've been looking for you?" Gwen scolded.
"Sorry. Mom and Dad are out and we had to babysit Emma," Jen said as Emma smiled.
"Hi, cousin Gwen and cousin Becky," she said as Becky felt at her chest as her heart started to seize from the cuteness overload.
"How many of those smoothies have you had today, Ben?" she asked.
"Enough to know that chocolate and carrot aren't two tastes that taste great togeth-"
"Wait," Jen said as she saw J.T. and his concerned look. "What are you doing here, J.T.?"
"Hey," he said.
"You know that our house is a no bully zone!" she said as she and Ben stepped up to him. "Take Emma to another room. This is about to get ugly."
"Right away," he said as he picked up Emma and walked up her up to her room and set her on the bed. "Sorry Emma. Your big brother and sister have business to attend to."
"Okay. Night, night, big brother," she said as she started to play with her hand-me-down dollies and Ben walked down to scold J.T.
"Why is he here, girls?" Jen asked.
"He came to warn you," Gwen explained.
"Ben, Jen! You won't believe this," she said.
"It's Cash," J.T. finished for her.
"We weren't worried at first but Kevin and Allison went after him hours ago," Becky said.
"You're worried about Kevin?" Ben asked. "He and his sister are going to concern him.
That was when they heard the all-too familiar hum of a motorcycle approaching as Allison burst into the room, gasping out for breath as she went to the twins.
"Ben, Jen, it's Kevin!" she said. "Cash beat the snot out of him and me at the mannequin factory!"
"Or not..."
"We need to go! He's still there!" Allison shouted.
"I'll show you guys," Cash said. "It's not far from here."
"I'll stay here and take over babysitting your sister," Becky said with the others nodding before they ran out and she sighed and turned on the TV to AMC, which was currently showing The Walking Dead. "Whatever happens from here on out is not my problem."
The group walked up to the abandoned Mann and Phillips factory with the holes still smoking from the laser heat.
"Whoa," Gwen said as they stopped and stared. "It's all messed up. There was a fight here."
"This place is abandoned," Ben said. "It probably always looked like this."
"Nope, there was a fight," Allison said with a groan. "Between us and Cash. Totally wiped the floor with us. I haven't had my butt kicked like that for a long time. Not even when I tied with Nora Cesaire."
"She's a champion kickboxer," Jen explained.
"These holes in the wall are new," J.T. analyzed. "But the garbage has been here forever. And over there by the loading dock-"
He was cut off as he saw Ben, Jen, Gwen and Allison walk off to look inside the building and he sighed before he went off to join them.
"Kevin?" Allison asked as she saw Kevin groaning as he sat down by the hole in the wall, his clothes slightly torn from the fight. She ran over and helped Kevin up, putting his arm over her shoulders.
"I got you, little bro," she said.
"Bet you two are loving this, eh Benji, Jenny?" Kevin asked.
"Kevin, what happened?" Gwen asked. "Are you hurt?"
"It's not as bad as it looks," Kevin said.
"He went easier on me," Allison said. "Maybe it's because I'm a girl or because I'm tougher than he is, no offense."
"None taken, sis."
"Wait, Cash did that to you two?" Ben asked as Kevin glared.
The twins just couldn't help but giggle and laugh at that before stopping.
"Right, not helping. Stopping now," Jen said.
"He must have got a hold of some alien tech," Kevin said. "He kinda looks like that robot we fought yesterday."
"J.T." Gwen scolded. "Is there anything you forgot to tell us?"
"Uh, maybe..." J.T. began. "When we- I mean Cash trashed your car and all that stuff fell out, we grabbed something. A big metal glove. It shoots lasers. I tried to get it back but Cash wouldn't give it up. It's like the glove possessed him. I'm telling you, he's not himself."
"He called you two out," Allison said. "3:00, Mr. Smoothie."
"We'll be there," Ben said. "This is gonna end. Now."
"Actually, more like in about fifteen minutes," Kevin said with a cough.
"Sorry, these things don't tell time," Jen said with a chuckle. "Gwen, I don't want you helping us. This is our fight, not yours."
"Got it," Gwen said.
"Go," Allison said. "I'll take care of him back home."
"Good luck, guys," Kevin said as the group nodded and they ran off for the showdown.
J.T. hesitated as he looked back to see the Levins' glaring faces.
"Wait up!"
At the Mr. Smoothie, the teens in the parking lot were all socializing with each other when a huge explosion occurred by the building near them. They looked towards it as the smoke cleared to reveal Cash, now bulkier than before. The metal had completely coated his body up to his head, his left arm mirroring his right now as his feet were covered in metal boots and his torso was now the black of the robot from before as the metal veins snaked up to his head.
The teens all shouted in terror before running off to safety as Cash advanced towards them. Two teens tripped and fell on the sidewalk as Cash loomed over them.
"You all thought I was so funny before? Well who's laughing now?!"
"Hey!"
Cash turned his head to see the Tennyson twins approach as Jen glared hatefully at him as her eyes flashed pink and she cracked her knuckles.
"What is your problem?" Ben asked.
"You two are my problem, Tennysons! But now I've got power. And no one can stop me, not even your friends Kevin and Allison!"
Gasps were heard behind him as Cash turned back to the teens.
"That's right. I kicked Kevin and Allison Levin's butts. And you two are next, Tennysons."
"We're not gonna fight you, Cash," Jen said.
"Well then, this should be over pretty quick," Cash said, preparing his laser to blast the twins.
"Cash!"
He turned his head to see Gwen and J.T. rush in to stop him.
"Look, this is messed up. We were supposed to be having fun. This ain't you, man."
"You ratted me out!"
Cash blasted his laser towards J.T., only for it to be blocked by Gwen's mana shield as she glared at him.
"Nice friend you've got there!"
Cash leaped towards them, preparing to crush them, only to get tackled out of the way by Ben, who had transformed into Chromastone, sending him skittering back as Jen flew in in her Anodite form and blasted out several mana bolts to him, sending him skirting back some more as she floated by her brother, hands coated in mana as she glared.
"Cash, listen to us," Chromastone warned. "You don't want to do this."
Cash blasted out his laser to Chromastone, only for the laser to phase through as he flickered in and out like a hologram as it struck the Mr. Smoothie sign, setting it ablaze. He then doubled the dose to Chromastone, only for him to shoot his arms to his sides as the laser struck his chest, causing him to absorb the energy as it flooded through his veins. He then shouted out as he blasted his hands out, sending an ultraviolet ray to Cash, sending him flying back.
Jen took her turn as she blocked all of his lasers with her force fields. She then shouted out and sent out several mana blasts from her hands and legs, sending him skittering back before she pounded the ground, sending up several mana tendrils from the ground, ensnaring Cash before she flew in and gave him a mana-charged knuckle sandwich to the jaw, sending him flying back some more to the sidewalk before Chromastone floated in front of her as she levitated.
"Grandma's training you and Gwen well," Chromastone whispered as she giggled.
"You can't beat us Cash," Jen warned. "Just quit while you're ahead."
"You two think that just because you're some freaks, I'm gonna stop? I'm never gonna stop! Ever!"
He charged forwards and smashed into Chromastone with his fists, sending him skittering back before he grabbed Jen's leg and tossed her into her brother with a shout.
He grabbed Chromastone's leg and used him as a mace, smashing him into cars, street lights, the works as Jen stood up on her knees as he flew forwards and smashed her brother into the ground as Cash ran forwards and tossed Chromastone into a truck, sending him slumping down as he advanced towards her.
"What are you going to do to me?" she asked. "I'm just a girl. How will it look to you if you hit me?"
"Come on, Jen. When have I ever cared about what others think of me?"
He then shouted out as he brought his fist down on her before she threw her gloved hands in front of her and shouted out as she felt her feet drag behind her as Cash pushed her before she shouted out and fired two mana beams from her eyes that blasted him backwards and Chromastone flew in and the two engaged in a power struggle.
"Why are you doing this?" Chromastone asked. "Why us?!"
"Why not?!"
"We'll show you why not!" Jen shouted as she created a giant mana fist and slammed Cash down as he struggled in Chromastone's grip, forcing him down to his knees as the armor sparked out.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Cash," Chromastone said.
"None of us win anything by fighting! Just stop!"
"I can't!"
"Yeah, you can!" J.T. called
"No, the machine wants to fight!" Cash said as the metal formed the crest of the robot's head around his. "Look, it's fixing itself already!"
"The Cash I know isn't going to let a pile of scrap metal tell him what to do! You're the toughest kid in school! Fight it!"
"How?"
"That thing doesn't control you. You control it!"
"Maybe," Cash contemplated as he struggled in the twins' grip.
Red energy suddenly seeped out of the machine as Cash struggled and the twins let go of their grip as Cash thrived and spasmed on the ground, the metal receding into his body until the gauntlet was just by itself again.
"Get off me!" he shouted before J.T. ran up and pulled the gauntlet off of his hand, tossing it away before helping his friend up off the ground as the twins transformed back, Jen looking concerned at Cash.
"Thanks," J.T. said to Gwen before looking to the twins. "You guys too. We should get together sometime and eat paste."
"Wait, what?" Jen asked Ben, who shrugged.
"Come on, Cash," J.T. said to his friend. "Let's go."
They walked off as Ben picked up the glove and Jen sighed.
"We have to lock that thing up where it can't take control of anyone else. And I know where that is?"
"Have the Protectors store it away on the Mystic Isles?" Gwen asked.
"You know me so well, cuz."
"Come on," Ben said. "Kevin and Allison are probably back home by now and we have to get back to watching Emma before Mom and Dad show up."
"You're right, bro," Jen said as they walked back home as Jen pulled out the communicator Scarlett gave her to call said warrior queen to pick up the glove.
Next time on Ben and Jen 10:
Paradox