Welcome, Ultras to Chapter 35 of The Ultra 10 Chronicles! In this chapter, there is two major events that happen, and I am so grateful for your patience waiting an extra week so that I could do proper justice to the scenes! I sincerely hope it was worth the wait!

As for the next chapter, no promises, but I hope to have it out by next Thursday. (A week and a half, instead of two weeks I promised.) Sorry, but that's just how my schedule is working out right now. But it won't last forever! In a little more than a month, I should be able to return to my normal schedule, as work begins to slow again.

On a related note, I'm thinking of perhaps starting a facebook profile, or a twitter profile, just to be able to keep you readers up to date in the case that the unforeseen happens. (FanFiction goes down for a while, sudden changes to my update schedule, etc.) It would also make it easier to get into touch with me for collaborations, post concept art, (although I am by no means an artist,) and throw out some ideas that I'm working on for future/side stories, to see if they are worth the effort to flush out. Leave a review if you would be interested in following me, if I do end up making a facebook or twitter profile. (One or the other, probably not both.)

Trigger warnings: There are two this chapter. The first one is some description of blood, starting in the paragraph starting with, "NO! Carl shouted," and continues six paragraphs. There is an instance of choice language too. It comes after the paragraph that starts with, "Onscuro, Gwen said..."

Several soundtracks for this chapter. The first one is going to be "Blow Me Away" by Avenged Sevenfold. The feeling of the song I thought went well with Alex's attack, as well as the aftermath.

The second soundtrack is going to be "Incomplete" by the Backstreet Boys. This song is for the hospital scene, up until Ben leaves the hospital.

The last soundtrack for the chapter is going to be "I Hate Myself For Loving You" by Joan Jett. This should be obvious, but it is the soundtrack for the "Big Reveal" towards the end of the chapter.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the chapter!

The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs

Chapter 35: Consequences

An undisclosed location

Alex pressed a button on his computer, the screen flicking to a bird-mounted camera focusing on the Tennyson house. Through the kitchen window, Sandra could be seen making dinner. Completely oblivious to being watched, she seemed to be in a pleasant mood as she worked. In the driveway, only her car was parked, indicating that Carl was still at work, or at least not at the house at the moment. A perfect opportunity.

Alex flipped several switches attached to his desk, and typed a series of buttons on his computer, a short series of codes. On the screen flashed a message. "ENGAGED," the screen read as it flashed. Alex smiled to himself as he leaned back into his chair. However, despite his outward expression, he felt some amount of conflict within himself. He was trying to convince himself of the necessity of his action.

"Benjamin is bringing this on himself," Alex thought. "I wouldn't be forced to take this action if he would only play my game… Besides his parents are just as responsible for Dad's death as Benjamin is…" He tried to convince himself, and dispel the uneasy feeling in his gut.

"I still don't like stooping so low, like that fool Animo," Alex said out loud. "He was evil and deserved to die. But this should just send a very loud message to Ultra 10." Clicking a button on his computer, Alex watched the screen flick to a map of the city, watching a beeping red dot move across the sky towards its destination: the Tennyson house. He watched the dot get closer and closer. Deciding that he'd rather watch the show, he punched another button on the computer, again switching to view the house.

"Wait a moment," Alex gasped. He saw that a white pickup truck had pulled up into the driveway. The door opened, Carl stepping out. He was right in the blast zone.

"This isn't what I planned on!" Alex exclaimed as he instantly started to punch in codes, trying to alter the flightpath of the rocket. If he could direct it deeper into the house, he could still avoid injuring or killing either parent. However, it was too little too late. The rocket just started adjusting its path when it arrived at its destination, slamming into the wall of the house and exploding on impact.

The force sent Carl to the ground, as the glass from his truck shattered and rained down onto him. Flames erupted from the house, as all of the windows exploded outward, sending glass shards throughout the yard and into the street. Alex only watched in shock at the explosion. His stomach spun in circles as he watched flames start leaking out of the windows.

Recovering from the force, Carl looked up, shards of glass having cut his face and hands, and his clothes shredded. With blood dripping down his face and all over his hands, he looked like he'd just gotten out of a particularly bad fight. But he was oblivious to his own condition. Horror was evident as he shouted, the sound being lost in the video feed.

"I-I didn't mean to kill them," Alex stuttered. "They weren't part of the plan." Then a cold feeling washed over his body. His shock faded into determination.

"They supported Benjamin. They were bad people too. They enabled Ultra 10 to terrorize the civilians, and so, although it wasn't necessary, they are nothing more than unfortunate casualties. Casualties caused by Ultra 10's refusal to put the suit back on."

Tennyson residence, Carl's perspective, moments before

Carl pulled up into the driveway and put his truck into park before turning it off. On the passenger seat beside him was a bouquet of flowers. It wasn't a particularly large bouquet, but it had still cost a fair amount of money. In his pocket he had a printed-out reservation to one of the nicer theaters in town, as well as a reservation confirmation for a fancy restaurant downtown.

"She's going to love it," Carl spoke to himself. "And she probably thought I forgot about today…" Grabbing the bouquet, Carl slipped the folded papers into the flower stems, and opened up the car door. Stepping out, Carl hid the bouquet behind his back. He was going to surprise his Sandy-Bear with dinner at her favorite restaurant and a show to a romantic comedy. Ben was at Frank's house, and would be staying there until they got back, so no worries about him.

Carl hummed to himself as he took a few steps up to the house, excited to see the surprise on his wife's face when she saw what he was carrying. Just then, Carl saw something in the sky above him.

"What in the-" Carl started to ask when whatever it was slammed into the side of the house, right outside of the kitchen. Immediately, Carl was hit with a tremendous force, sending him onto his back, hitting his head onto the concrete as he did so. Glass shattered all around him, raining down and cutting him up, as an explosion nearly burst his ears. In utter shock, Carl instinctively curled up into the fetal position, trying to protect his face from the sharp shards of glass.

After a moment, the glass stopped raining down, and the ringing in his ears dimmed slightly. Carl looked up towards the house, seeing flames coming out of the windows and crumbled wall fragment.

"NO!" Carl shouted, though the entire world seemed deaf to him, drowned out by the still prominent ringing. His head hurt, his whole body ached from the force that had hit him. His vision started to redden as blood dripped down from cuts all over his face. Carl stood up, trying to wipe the red liquid away with his equally bloody hands, as he started to run inside, all thoughts about his anniversary gifts forgotten in an instant. His only concern was for his wife, now stuck inside the burning house.

Still wiping the blood from his eyes with his sleeve as he ran, Carl rushed towards the hole where the side of the house had just been. The fire was already dying down, having burned away all of the flammable substances contained within the rocket. Still, the crumbling wall and counter were scalding, forcing Carl to be careful as he made his way into the house.

"Sandra!" Carl shouted, the ringing in his ears subsiding now just enough to hear his own shout. It sounded desperate and hoarse, not like his own. Although the fire was mostly out, there were still billows of smoke rising out of the room, the acid gas burning Carl's eyes and throat.

Carl surveyed the kitchen, looking for his wife. Electricity sparked from the wiring in the blown up wall, and water sprayed from the damaged sink, mixing with the smoke and dust to form some kind of sludge that was spread across the floor and counters. Carl took another couple of steps into the hazy room. He wiped his eyes again with his sleeve, trying to keep his vision from being flooded by his own blood. Carl was starting to really feel the aches and sores from the explosion, as well as the hundreds of cuts all over his body from the glass. And his head felt tight, like it was shrinking around his brain.

"Sandra!" Carl shouted a second time before he saw her. She was lying sprawled out on the floor of the kitchen, her clothes burned, dirtied and wet, but more or less intact. Less could be said about Sandra herself.

Her face and body were red with blood, sections of her exposed arms and face having the skin completely shredded and torn off. Protruding from her abdomen was a jagged beam of wood. A puddle of dark red blood pooled around the wound, darkening her shirt and oozing onto the floor, mixing with the dust and water. Carl gasped when he saw her.

"Sandra!" Carl exclaimed as he rushed over to her, dropping to his knees as he cradled her face. He wiped the matted strands of her hair out of her face.

"C-Carl?" She whispered faintly. She drew her hand up to Carl's face, caressing the face of her husband.

"I'm here, Sandy," Carl stuttered. "Everything's going to be okay." Sandra coughed a wet cough. The sound was sickening with anxiety.

"Wh-where's Ben?" She asked. "I want to see…." She coughed again.

"Shh, shh… You're going to be alright," Carl tried to comfort her. "The ambulance is coming, you're going to be alright!"

"You know that's not true," Sandra sighed.

"Don't you say that," Carl pleaded. "You'll get better!" Sandra smiled painfully.

"I… love you… both," Sandra's voice trailed off. Carl's eyes flooded again, a mixture of acidic blood and stinging tears. Carl tried to wipe it off on his shoulder. His hands were much too occupied with cradling his wife's head. Despite his protests, he felt her strength grow weaker and weaker.

"Sandy?" Carl tried again. "Sandra!" He felt her body go limp as her hand slowly dropped from his face. Carl clutched at her limp hand, desperate, as if he could, by sheer force, will her to wake up. But it was in vain. In a moment, Carl felt the sickening weight of Sandra's limp body, now nothing more than dead weight.

Carl heard the sirens of police cars arrive outside, as well as the sirens of firetrucks and ambulances. The next moment, Carl heard the sound of firefighters making their way into the house. In another moment, they were pulling Carl from cradling his wife's head, hauling him out, unwillingly, into an ambulance. The doors slammed closed, and he was whisked off to the nearest hospital.

Gwen's house

"PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: THE JEDI TEMPLE HAS BEEN SECURED! OUR NEW EMPEROR WOULD BE PROUD!" The voice of the clone narrator said, just before the screen froze, blue lettering appearing on the screen. "VICTORY". After a moment, the player statistics screen popped up, showing the kill/death ratio of every player, as well as the awards given out.

"Are you ready for the next level?" Ben asked his cousin.

"How many are there?" Gwen asked.

"We're about halfway through the campaign, but you can skip the space battles. So probably like eight or so more." Gwen looked at the clock that hung on her wall.

"It's getting close to dinner, wanna go see what Mom's got cooking?" Gwen asked. Ben shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, it would probably be a good idea to stretch out my legs for a while anyway." The two teenagers stood up, heading for the door. Just then, Gwen felt her bracelet on her wrist vibrate.

"My communicator!" Gwen thought. "Something must have happened!"

"Actually, Ben, I just remembered that I have got to… water my water my tree!" Gwen fibbed, mentally palming her face for blurting out the first thing that came to mind. Ben must have taken it the way it sounded too.

"Um… don't guys usually only do that when they're camping?" He asked. Gwen's bracelet vibrated again, pleading with her to answer it.

"Uh, no… not that! My, uh… bonsai tree! I, uh… forgot to water it today, so I'd better go outside before it gets too dark to water it!" Gwen awkwardly darted away to the backyard before she pressed the button on her bracelet, transforming it into its communicator form.

"Lucky Girl here," Gwen spoke in a hushed tone. "What's the emergency?"

"Lucky Girl, there's been some kind of a rocket ford off in the city," Julie said in a rush. "The surveillance gird picked it up, it was heading for a house in the area!"

"I'm on my way," Gwen said. "What is the address?" As soon as Julie said the address, Gwen's blood turned to ice.

"A-are you sure?" Gwen asked, still shocked.

"Lucky Girl, what's the matter?" Julie asked. "Morph is already on his way there, and he's going to need back up from you and Steel Girl if there are any villains there!"

"Uh, right!" Gwen tried to shake off the shock. Despite it, she looked in through the window to the kitchen, seeing Ben talk with Natalie, probably offering to help her with dinner. "I'm on my way now!" She pressed a button on the communicator, slapping it back onto her wrist. She ducked behind a couple of trees, trying to quickly get the best privacy she could.

"Ostendo!" Gwen said, her clothes being replaced by her Lucky Girl suit. Having suited up, Gwen uttered another summoning spell. "Arcamada, Book of Spells, I call for you!" The familiar smoke swirled around her, materializing into the old spell book. Quickly flipping through it to one of her more-often used pages, she found the temporal displacement spell. It had taken some time to learn to do it right, but it was incredibly useful in keeping curious people from realizing how long she had been gone.

Having cast the spell, she closed the Arcamada Book, it vanishing in a puff of smoke. As soon as it was gone, Gwen sprinted down the street, heading for her cousin's house. Ever since her parents had moved into their new house, Ben's house was in walking distance. Still, it was a bit of a jog to get there, and her charm of telekinesis helped move her along, each step she took moving her about three paces.

"Steel girl, what's your ETA?" Gwen asked into her communicator.

"I'm suited up and en route," Maddisen replied. "I'll be there in about a minute."

"I'm at the address," Cooper's voice came in over the communicator. "I don't see any baddies, but it is still swarming with firefighters and police, probably trying to determine what happened."

"I got some intel on that," Julie spoke up. "The grid picked up some sort of projectile as it passed over Broadway. Soon a second camera picked it up, and the grid computed the target. But only a moment before it impacted the Tennyson house."

"Was anyone there?" Ellie asked from her communicator.

"There's a truck in the driveway with the windows blown out of it," Cooper said. "So there's a high probability that there was at least one person there." Gwen felt a pit well up in her stomach. Sandra drove a minivan, Carl drove the truck. So Carl was probably at the house, although the minivan could have been in the garage, so Sandra could just as easily have been there too.

After another little bit of running, Gwen came in sight of the scene. There was smoke rising from the house, although it didn't appear to have any fire burning. There were at least half a dozen cop cars parked all over the property, along with an ambulance and a firetruck. There appeared to be several firefighters pulling a bloody, fighting man from the hole in the wall and loading him up into the ambulance. As soon as he was inside the ambulance, the paramedics shut the doors, speeding off towards the nearest hospital.

Gwen had to bite back her tongue to avoid crying out Carl's name as she watched them put him in the ambulance. He was covered from head to toe in blood, his hair matted with cuts on every exposed piece of skin. His clothes too were shredded, as if he had lost a fight with a gang of scissors. Seeing the glass all around the property, Gwen could only conclude that he had been sprayed by the glass shards from when the explosion had shattered the windows.

"Lucky Girl," Morph greeted her as he landed beside her, several yards away from the bustle of police. Steel Girl landed beside her too.

"I just saw them take out Carl," Gwen blurted out. "Did they take anyone else?"

"I'll see what I can get from the police," Steel Girl said, as she took off towards the cops.

"I couldn't get a good reading," Morph apologized. "But my sensors didn't detect any other people inside the house. There's a good chance that the wife wasn't at home at the time of the explosion."

"Or that she is already dead…" Gwen concluded morbidly.

"You don't know that," Morph responded. "Anywhere in the house other than the kitchen and she would have been fine. Hurt maybe, but not dead. She probably ran off out of the back door, or she wasn't here to begin with. Even if she was in the kitchen, there's little chance that she would have died. The ambulance only just arrived before you did, so there hasn't been a second one yet, but they've called for it."

"Why would this have happened?" Gwen asked. "Why would someone try to bomb a random house?"

"I-uh… don't know," Cooper sounded unsure of himself. Gwen looked at him in the eyes.

"It wasn't random, was it?" Gwen demanded. Morph took a step backward, prompting Gwen to take a step forward.

"I… um…" Cooper stumbled over his words.

"If you know anything about who is behind this, or why they targeted this house, you'd better tell me right now!" Gwen shouted.

"They could be connected to Ultra 10 somehow," Cooper relented. "Maybe a confidant we don't know about, or a family member? Or it could actually be random."

"You know more than that," Gwen intimidated Cooper. "This is a matter of family, my family! And I want to know what you know now!" Even through the mask, Gwen could tell that Cooper was absolutely shocked.

"W-what did you say?" Cooper stuttered.

"You heard me! And I need to know if Vilgax or Kevin or someone else I don't even know who is attacking my family!"

"Lucky Girl!" Gwen's communicator buzzed. "Our job right now is to make sure that everyone is getting the help they need." Julie sounded firm. "Then we will find out who is behind this, and how to stop them before they strike again." Julie's stern voice snapped Gwen out of her frustration for a moment.

"You're right," Gwen relented. "Let's first see if there's anyone else that is hurt."

"Lucky Girl! Our job right now is to make sire that everyone is getting the help they need," Julie commanded with as much force as she could muster. "Then we will find out who is behind this, and how to stop them before they strike again." There was a moment of silence over the communicator.

"You're right," Lucky Girl said with bitter in her voice. "Let's first see if there's anyone else that is hurt." Julie sighed slightly as the tension went down slightly. If they were going to be saving people, they needed to be working with their heads on straight. She was about to check in with Steel Girl when her cell phone buzzed.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Is it true?" The caller urgently asked from the other side. "Was there an explosion at my house? The police just called my aunt and told her there was an explosion!"

"Yes, Ben, it's true," Julie answered him. "Lucky Girl and Morph are there right now trying to assess the situation."

"This is all my fault," Ben said. "If I hadn't given up being Ultra 10, I could have stopped this…"

"You can't blame yourself for this," Julie said. "We don't know who is behind this, or even if it was targeted at you or if it was completely random." Ben sighed exasperated.

"I'm heading over to the hospital with some cops. My dad's just got checked in there, but there's still no word from my mom."

"We'll look for her, Ben," Julie assured him. "I'll let you know the instant we know anything about her."

"Thanks, Julie. You're a good friend… You all are," Ben hung up the phone, leaving Julie feeling awful about the situation. He was only fourteen, he didn't deserve any of this. But she couldn't help that now, she had to try to find his mom.

The ride to the hospital was a long, torturous one. Knowing that he could have been there in a matter of seconds had he used the watch wrecked havoc on his mind. And wondering what happened to his mother just made it all the worse. He didn't know if she were already at the hospital, or at a different one, or even if she were hurt at all. She could have died, and Ben wouldn't know any better. If she were at the house, the sight might break him. But if she weren't at the house, then Ben could spend hours searching the city for her, and that was just about as bad.

All he could do was wait. Wait for the cops to speed to the hospital so that he could visit his father, who he had been told was still alive, though he wasn't sure how badly he had been hurt. Not knowing was chewing away at his nerves.

"You can use the watch," the voice spoke inside his head. "Be gone and back before the police even notice that you left the cab. At least stop wondering about him."

"Shut up," Ben muttered in a low whisper. He didn't need the cops thinking he were crazy, not after his parents were just hurt the was they were. Finally they got to the hospital, where he was permitted to see his father.

The nurses had sedated him, and cleaned up nearly all of the blood from his numerous cuts. However, they said that the bleeding and the shock was only half the battle.

"Ben, your father has hit his head hard, giving him some serious blunt-force trauma. We're preparing him for a CT scan, so we know what kind of injury his brain might have suffered," the doctor told him. Ben only nodded. There was little he could do otherwise. The doctor turned and walked away, off to see to his father. In his pocket, Ben's phone rang.

"Hello?" Ben answered the call.

"Ben? It's Julie. The ambulance is taking away your mother, they found her inside the house," Julie told him.

"Is she alive?" Ben asked urgently, anxiety heavy in his voice.

"Yes, she is. At least for now. The paramedics are taking her to the hospital right now. If she were dead, they'd be taking her to the morgue. But I have no idea how critical her condition is," Julie responded.

"Thanks, Julie," Ben said. "I really appreciate what you guys are doing." At that moment, Ben saw his Grandpa Max barrel into the lobby of the hospital, looking like he'd just sped all the way from whatever plumbing job he'd been called on.

"Ben!" He called out as soon as he saw his grandson. As he charged towards Ben, nothing and nobody dared to stand in his way. Reaching him, he engulfed him in a hug only he could give, and held him tight. Ben could feel himself begin to breakdown inside. Like floodgates, his walls and barriers he'd put up over the last four years burst open in his grandfather's embrace. His eyes started to fill with tears as he finally felt safety to his vulnerabilities with his grandfather there.

"Why did this happen to him?" Ben asked, his face still buried into Max's shoulder.

"Who knows why terrorists do things like this," Max responded. "They just do, and it's unfair to everyone involved."

"I… I could have prevented it," Ben confessed. Max looked Ben in the eyes.

"DO NOT blame yourself for this, do you hear me?" Max said sternly. His abrupt change in demeanor startled Ben somewhat. "You cannot blame yourself for the actions of another, do you understand me?" Ben nodded his head, too startled to say anything.

"Now, let's go see your father, shall we?" Max said.

"They, uh… said that he was getting prepared for a CT scan," Ben informed his grandfather.

"That's going to take a while, let's get something from the cafeteria while we wait then," Grandpa Max said, putting his arm around Ben and walking with him towards the cafeteria.

Part way through their lunch, Max excused himself to visit the men's room. While he was gone, some nurse stopped by the table.

"Are you Ben Tennyson?" The nurse asked politely. Ben nodded. "I have a note for you. Someone dropped it off at the front desk, saying it needed to go to you." She pulled out a blank envelope and gave it to Ben, before continuing on his way. Curious, Ben opened it up and read what was written inside.

After reading, Ben crumpled up the note and looked around the cafeteria. No one he saw looked suspicious. However, he had no idea if this "Alex Animal" was even in the cafeteria. But he obviously had some way to track him, so it wasn't far fetched to think that he could be any of the people in the cafeteria. Just as he was about to give up looking around, Max came back towards the table.

Ben stood up, eager to keep his distance from Max, concerned that if he spent too much time with Max, he too could be put on Alex's hit list.

"Thanks for lunch, Grandpa! I'm feeling much better," Ben urgently said. "But I have some friends that are coming to pick me up to do homework."

"Ben," Max asked concerned. "Your parents are here in the hospital. Why don't you just forget about homework for a few days, and focus on your parents?"

"Because… If I focus on my schoolwork, it'll give me something else to worry about instead of my parents. No good worrying about them, just gotta trust in the doctors, right? Besides, the positive energy from getting caught up in school might help them heal too, you know?" Ben kind of spit out the excuses. Max looked somewhat concerned, but he shrugged.

"I guess that makes sense," Max replied. "But I'm going to have you stay with me for the next couple of days until your father wakes up. So don't stay with them too late, and call me when you need picked up."

"Alright," Ben exclaimed. "I'll see you later!" He quickly made his way out of the cafeteria, and reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell and calling Julie.

"Hello?" She answered the call.

"It wasn't random," Ben replied. "This was meant to be a message. Someone wants to fight Ultra 10. And a fight they're going to get."

"Ben, remember what happened-" Julie was cut off.

"I'm not going to take bloody revenge, I've learned that lesson. But I am going to pound someone's face repeatedly into the concrete. Nobody messes with my family and gets away scot-free. Call the team together, tell them that Ultra 10 is back, and I have some information on who's behind the attack." With that, Ben hung up the phone. He made his way out of the hospital and into a service alleyway. Looking around to make sure that no one was watching, Ben reached into his pocket, producing his suit.

"Yes! Finally you embrace me again!" The annoying voice in his head seemed to shout.

"You didn't win, I am making this choice. And I will decide if we stop being the hero again."

"We are making the choice. I'm a part of you, remember? Together, we are stronger."

"You are a voice in my head, and an annoying one too," Ben said. "And you are the violent side of me, something that I hate." Ben opened his suit, feeling the nano-mech expand over his body.

"I keep you alive, and I take down your enemies, like this Alex Animal." Ben ignored the voice, and instead activated his Omnitrix.

"Accelerate!" Ben shouted as he emerged from the green flash of light. He zoomed off toward's Cooper's garage. Entering, he saw what was left of the team, as well as two girls he didn't recognize.

"Uh, who are these two?" Ben asked, indicating the newbies.

"Maddisen Nelson, but my alter-ego is Steel Girl!" Maddi introduced herself excitedly. Her excitement caused Ben to take a step backwards.

"Um… okay, and who are you?" Ben asked the other girl.

"Ellie Pattens. I'm kind of a cheerleader for the team," Ellie said.

"Oh, that is not true!" Maddi gasped dramatically. "Cooper's making you your suit, it just isn't finished yet!"

"And why are they part of the team?" Ben asked Cooper, who was still sitting at his workbench, fidgeting with something on his computer screen.

"We voted them in. They were part of Lucky Girl's team, and now they're a part of ours," Cooper said nonchalantly.

"Where was I for any of this?" Ben protested.

"You had quit being Ultra 10," Julie said. "So you had no say in the decision." Ben huffed a little annoyedly.

"You did, however say that you had some information regarding who was behind the attack," Julie reminded him.

"Yeah, as well as why he chose that specific house to bomb," Lucky Girl said. Ben took a deep sigh.

"I guess that it's probably time to trust you guys with my identity, just in case something like this were to happen again," Ben sighed again as he reached up to remove his mask.

"The truth is…" Ben removed his mask, his suit folding up into its cargo mode. He looked up as he spoke. "My name is Benjamin Tennyson."

"WHAT!?" Lucky Girl exclaimed, a mixture of anger and surprise in her voice. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" Ben was shocked by her sudden outcry.

"Uh… My name is Benjamin Tennyson…" He repeated, unsure. Both Maddi and Ellie had a look of amazement on their faces, but it was nowhere near Lucky Girl's look of utter shock.

"No, no, no, you can't be Ben Tennyson," Lucky Girl continued to protest. "That's impossible! Anyone but the Doofus!"

"Hey!" Ben protested at being called a name. "Why did you just call me…" Ben stopped in his tracks as he put two and two together. Realization spread over his face.

"Gwen?" He asked, unsure.

"Onscuro," Gwen said, her Lucky Girl suit disappearing, being replaced with her street clothes. "The one and only!" There was a moment of suspenseful silence before Ben exploded.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, running around as Lucky Girl! Don't you know you could get hurt?" Ben shouted, waiving his hands in the air frantically.

"Well I could ask you the exact same question!" Gwen shouted, also waiving her hands in the air. "And you have been hurt!" The two would-be-twins continued shouting at each other.

"Calm down," Julie interjected. "This is a big reveal to us all, though I still don't see what the whole fuss is."

"Tennyson," Ben said. "Gwen is my cousin." Julie's eyes grew wide as realization dawned on her.

"You mean, that I got you to go to the dance with your cousin?" Ellie asked, clearly still in shock herself. Realization dawned on Both Ben and Gwen as to what had happened that night.

"Yuck!" Ben spat out, literally spitting on the ground. He immediately began trying to comb off his tongue, as if he could scrape off whatever was still on it. Gwen made a similar gesture.

"Hey! I live here!" Cooper protested at their spitting. He quickly got up and ran inside his house, emerging a minute later with a towel.

"I can't believe that I kissed the Doofus!" Gwen mumbled out from behind her frantic tongue-scrubbing.

"You didn't have to kiss the Dweeby Queen of Cooties!" Ben shot back. "Aw man, I can feel the cooties all over me!"

"I'm a horrible matchmaker!" Maddi wailed.

"Hey, you didn't know they were related, no one did," Ellie comforted her.

"Oh, you people need to grow up," Julie interjected. "It was an accident, and neither of you meant it. So get over it, we have bigger problems to worry about. Like, who is behind the bombing of Ultra-Ben's house?" Still wiping off his tongue on his shirt, Ben handed Julie the message that Alex had sent him. Julie read it out loud for the team to hear.

"Greetings, Ben. So good to officially meet you. First of all, let me say that I know much about you. I know where you live, I know who your family are, and I know that both of your parents were just admitted to the hospital. But that's not all… I know who you are, Ultra 10. I know about your powers, and about your team.

It is my purpose to destroy you, and your cooperation in my plan will make it painless for those around you. Do you wonder how that fool Animo died? It was my doing! But he was too much of a maverick, and like the animal he was, I had to put him down. But he still did serve his purpose. It was because of me that he found your school, and put an end to that lowlife member of your team!

Your stubbornness to pick up the cape again has now cost you your parent's health and wellbeing. Your future cooperation will ensure the safety of your team-members. I want you dead, the others can walk away alive. But, should you resist, there is no telling who else might get hurt, before I kill you. Their pain or death will be your fault.

So take up the cape again. Stay in the public eye. Your eventual death will be public, and will be a message to the world. A message that your criminal activity has come to an end, and that it was I that stopped your reign of destruction. I will be the hero, and the world will see you as the villain you are. Don't try anything, I'll be watching.

-Alex Animal"

When Julie finished the note, she looked up. Ben and Gwen had moved away from each other, to separate sides of the garage, and Cooper had stopped scrubbing with the towel, looking up at Julie in shock. The looks on Maddisen's and Ellie's faces weren't too different.

A/N:

That's where the chapter ends for today. What were your thoughts about everything that happened? A lot, I know. Sorry again for the wait, I just wanted to be able to spend the time on this chapter to make sure that it was a quality chapter. Next chapter, Team Ultra will start their search for Alex Animal. If you've been following the story from Volume 1, you might be able to guess how the team is going to start searching for him. (Hint: Cooper's going to be the main man in the search.)

As for Carl, he's not going to die, but how he's changed by the attack is yet to be seen. As for Sandra, I originally wrote to kill her in the explosion, but I'm having second thoughts. Should I kill her, and see what that does for both Carl and Ben, or should she be in a coma, maybe never to wake up. Of course, this means that she could potentially wake up sometime down the line and influence the story, or she may not wake up. What do you folks think should happen? I'm going to put up a poll in my profile for you guys to vote! Even if the consensus is to have her live, she's not going to show up for a while, so you'll have at least two months before I end the poll. In the case that you can't find/vote in the poll, you can leave a review, and include your opinion.

And what are your thoughts about the big reveal? Ben and Gwen are certainly weirded out by the revelation, and they're not going to be dating for a while, because it's still a bit weird to them to be dating their cousin. But never fear, this is ultimately a Bwen fiction, so they will eventually get back together. Any idea of how long it'll take for them to finally give in, or if there's going to be anything that tips that domino? Any other comments, predictions, critiques, or excitement? Leave them in a review, and don't forget to follow, favorite and vote in the poll!

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day!

Review Responses:

Darkron Draconous: Hey when will you update again?

Hey, Darkron! Thanks for joining the readers! Today, but the next chapter is going to be next Thursday (hopefully) or next Monday, just like this one did. Sorry, but I want a good story more than a quick one, and I hope you can understand that!

Amanny: Awesome chapter! I knew the Omnitrix had other features, like I have seen in the shows. Didn't know it had camouflage mode, so what other features will Ben get? Which shows from Ben 10 did you like? So will Ben get his rebooted or get the one Azmuth gave Ben at the end of Ben 10 UA?

Thanks for the review, Amanny! I'm so glad that you enjoyed the chapter! To be short in writing, Ben is going to keep this Omnitrix throughout the Chronicles. In the story, he didn't get the prototype, but the real deal. As such, he's not going to get the completed Omnitrix, like he gets for Omniverse, as he already has the completed one. However, there are a number of functions that he will unlock, some more useful than others.

For one, he has thousands, perhaps even millions of aliens locked away, he just has to figure out how to access them. There's also a camouflage mode, Master Control mode, Interchange mode, (Head-canon, but it allows him to change between forms without resorting to human, whereas master control allows him to control it with his thoughts or voice.) audio/visual screening, allowing him to be invisible and completely silent, a simple Artificial Intelligence, as well as possibly one or two more modes I've yet to decide on. However, it's going to be some time before he's got complete control over the Omnitrix. As for when it's gets rebooted and he gains access to the Alien Force aliens, He's going to unlock another 10 soon, giving him a total of 23 aliens. More will follow after that.

As for your questions, I enjoyed the original series the best. After that, I enjoyed Alien Force, Omniverse and the storyline of Ultimate Alien. (I didn't like how the Omnitrix "Upgraded" the aliens in Ultimate Alien. But the storyline was still pretty good.) Not a huge fan of the reboot series, though I have watched a few episodes that were alright.

uchihaNaruto247: I like how the robbers were quick to correct their mistakes, Ben out here changing lives without violence, it's nice to read. I'm glad he apologized, I wasn't expecting him to do it so soon. And Alex...I have no words, the kid is deranged.

Hey, Uchiha! I'm glad you enjoyed that scene. There was an undertone for that scene. There is a movement that Ultra 10 is inspiring among people, and that is going to manifest itself later on in Volume 2. (Starting in about 5 or so chapters.) But, yes, it is nice to be able to actually make a change every now and then without needing to bash faces in.

As for Alex, yeah, he's pretty messed up. This next chapter is going to build upon his character, including some flashback scenes. Hopefully it's going to bring some depth into his character. Thanks for the review!

(AbyssDragonslayer777's review of Volume 1: The Beginning of Ultra 10) AbyssDragonslayer777 posted a review on Volume 1, critiquing me about a contradiction regarding Max Tennyson's grandfather Harrison Douglas. As a result, I came across a contradiction regarding Roselyn, which I edited to be consistent. Roselyn did not take on the Tennyson name, but the name of her husband, Harrison Douglas. She was Max Tennyson's maternal grandmother, Harrison being Max's maternal grandfather. It's a minor edit, but I hope it helps the story stay contradiction-free! I really appreciated AbyssDragonslayer777 critiquing me, and welcome anyone else's critique to help the story stay consistent!