Welcome back to The Ultra 10 Chronicles, Ultras! But first, to address the elephant in the room... I missed my normal upload day yesterday. And an even bigger elephant, I'm uploading this late on Wednesday. Well, there's a long and short of it, but the short is that by Monday afternoon, I had about a hundred words written from all week long. My personal life just exploded, as well as work going nuclear. But, Monday night, I sat down and wrote until about three in the morning, and then spent a good part of today writing, and I think that the chapter is just too good to wait until Monday, or even Thursday to post. Especially since I didn't get it out by yesterday. So here it is. (I intend to keep my update schedule on Mondays and the occasional Thursday in the future, just so we're straight.)
Trigger warnings in this chapter include several instances of choice language, as well as an implied sexual violence scene. It's very indirect, and if you're not looking for it, you may overlook it. But I still had better warn you of it. It happens towards the middle-end of the chapter, where Ben is zipping around the town as Accelerate.
The first instance of choice language is in the paragraph which starts with, "So you can send me back to that..." The second instance is in the paragraph which reads, "What the **** is going on?" The third instance is in the paragraph after the one which reads, "I was in that void..."
The fourth instance is the same scene as the first, but from a different character's perspective. So it also starts with, "So you can send me back to that..." The fifth instance is two paragraphs after the one which reads, "These guys are insane..." The sixth instance is in the paragraph after the one which reads, "Ben heard the explosion go off..." The seventh and last instance of choice language is in the paragraph after the one that begins with, "Groundhog? He asked..."
The confrontation in this chapter is a variant of the one I imagined for the song, "Joker's Song (Two of a Kind)," by Miracle of Sound. you can listen to it on youtube by going to youtube dot com/watch?v=Zo5Y5cG_BxE
I really hope you enjoy this chapter!
The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs
Chapter 59: Unexpected Chaos and Help
Neb waited in the cool night air for Newg to teleport there. But the spell never appeared. Instead, Newg came flying up using her levitation spell.
"Why don't you just use your teleportation spell?" Neb asked her, confused.
"The stupid alternate universe is messing up some of my more specific spell-casting," she said with a scowl. "It's worthless until my mana finishes acclimating to this dimension."
"Can you still cast combat spells?" Neb asked, an unusual amount of care in his voice.
"Yeah, they're simple enough not to be effected," Newg replied. "But since when did you begin to care?" The question surprised Neb.
"I-I just want to know if I can rely on your spells, or if I will be forced to make more adjustments to my plan. That's all," he said with a huff. "Now to use the Null Void projector. He switched the gun on, twisting the focusing lenses as he searched for the beings he was looking for.
"So I haven't quite gotten all the details from here on out," Newg pried. "What's the plan going forward?"
"We bring in some enemies with experience fighting our counterparts," Neb replied. "Not anyone too powerful that I can't handle, but someone with a grudge against him nonetheless."
"Why don't we just go against them ourselves?" Newg asked. "Your vamps are strong enough to deal with their buddies, and we know that our counterparts would most likely be holding back. They shouldn't be too difficult to overwhelm."
"Because we don't know any of that for sure," Neb responded. "Their stupid ethics would probably hold their abilities back, sure. But by how much? And are they even on the same par as we are? Our counterparts went up against Vilgax. We haven't. So they could be more skilled then we are at fighting, even if they're holding back. So we need some people that have fought them, that can gage their skill for us."
"And that's why his previous enemies," Newg finished. "So who's it going to be?"
"Vilgax is too difficult to control," Neb said. "He's just too much of a wild card. He could turn on us, simply because of my Omnitrix. We need people with a personal hatred for Ultra 10 and Lucky Girl. Someone like Nivek."
"Who?" Newg asked.
"Well, by this universe's logic, he'd probably go by Kevin," Neb responded. "And PLUMMER records mention someone else that he fought named Alex."
"You think that the two will be enough?" Newg asked.
"From what Xam was able to get from the PLUMMERs, Alex was quite the fight for the entire team, plus several agents. He, along with Kevin and us should be more than enough to best Ultra 10's team."
"I hope you're right about this," Newg responded. "He sounds like quite the handful." Neb finished focusing the lenses on his targets' DNA signatures, and pressed the trigger. A blinding flash of white light burned through the darkness of the night as the inter-dimensional portal opened up. Faintly, Neb saw two silhouettes shade a fraction of the light. They stepped onto the pavement, at which time, the projector burned through the charge, and the portal closed up, extinguishing the blinding light.
Neb blinked away the glare from his eyes to see Kevin and Alex standing in front of him, looking both confused, and somewhat blinded from the portal.
"Hello there," Neb greeted. "May I welcome you back-"
"I know that voice!" Alex shouted as he immediately began to change shape, growing in size as he grew orange and black striped fur. In an instant, he had pounced on Neb, his claws at his throat.
"Ventus!" Newg shouted, an enormous gust of wind hitting the tiger and pushing him several feet away, and off of Neb. Alex turned to face Newg as Neb scurried to his feet, a trace of panic or shock written on his face.
"I let you go last time," Alex snarled in the tiger's deep growl. "But perhaps I was too focused on only one prey!" With that, he let out a terrifying roar and lunged at Newg, who brought up a shield to block him. Alex scratched furiously at the shield, his claws leaving long gouges in the mana projection. Newg could feel a pinch at the base of her skull, a warning that she was already starting to strain her magic-casting abilities for the night.
"Alex, let me explain!" Neb shouted at the tiger, who reared his face at him.
"Bad move," Alex growled as he turned his attention on Neb. But his prey acted fast, activating his watch and slamming down on the face plate. He exploded in a flash of green light, only to be replaced with a blue-furred alien primate.
It was all too easy… The tiger was well used to hunting monkeys, and alien monkeys would be no more difficult. He sized up the alien, while keeping his peripherals on the witch to his side. She still was recovering from his quick and savage attack, but she'd be a threat again soon. Now was his chance. With a blood-curdling roar, Alex charged at the monkey in front of him.
And just like that, it was over. The alien monkey in front of him leapt unnaturally high into the air, right over him, and fired some sort of net over him. It was sticky, like a spider web, only large enough to completely tangle him up in it. The sticky material stuck to everything, including itself, only getting tighter the more he struggled to tear it off. It was only after he stopped struggling that he realized that the webbing had indeed come form the alien itself.
"Alex, calm down," Neb tried again.
"So you can send me back to that damned place!" Alex roared, more animal than human in his voice. "I'm not going back! That place was Hell!"
"I don't want to send you back!" Neb shouted over Alex's angry growls. "I brought you here for a purpose!" That at least calmed Alex down enough so that he could hear Neb talk.
"I'm not the Ultra 10 that you know," Neb explained.
"The Ben that I know is a villain, and a cancer on society," Alex shot back. "And you look like him!"
"An unfortunate happenstance, I can assure you," Neb continued. "But I want him dead just as much as you do! Newg does as well." After a moment of silence, Alex shrunk back down to his human form, greatly reducing the tightness of the webbing that still tied him up.
"You have my ear," Alex relented. "Whether I want to give it or not." With that somewhat of an answer, Neb continued.
"My cousin Newg and I are from an alternate dimension. Similar to this one, but also rather different. The ones who brought us here are our counterparts, the guy you want dead so badly," Neb explained. "We want back to our dimension, you see, we had it pretty good there."
"Wondering why I should care?" Alex interrupted.
"Because Ben stole that from us, and for that, we want to make him pay." Neb took a breath. "Which means that you and I have intersecting goals."
"I'm still listening," Alex prodded after Neb had ceased talking for a couple of seconds.
"So here's my proposal," Neb continued. "You help us kill Ben, we let you stay outside of the Null Void, provided that we stay out of each other's business."
"And if I refuse?" Alex asked, curious.
"Then I send you back to the Null Void right now with my mobile projector," Neb concluded. "And I go on to kill Ben anyway. You just get to rot in the Null Void."
"It sounds like we've got a deal," Alex submitted. "I'll help you kill the little brute."
"Newg?" Neb pressed his Omnitrix badge as he addressed his cousin. "Could you release our friend here?" She nodded, closing her eyes to shade them from the flash of red light that engulfed Neb for a split moment.
"Caesa," she whispered. The web-like netting that held Alex captive was cut, falling down around Alex's feet.
"Just a fair warning though," Alex cautioned as he stepped away from the webbing. "The animal instincts last a while after I change back, and they do not like being in a net. Do it again, and you will find yourself on my kill list."
"Stick to our deal," Neb replied, a forced edge in his voice. "And I won't be forced to tie you up again."
"Neb, didn't you release two people from the Null Void?" Newg asked, looking around as if trying to find the other person hiding behind a tree.
"Yeah, I did," Neb responded. "But it looks like Kevin may have wanted to distance himself from the fight." He looked around, trying to peer into the night.
"Kevin, you out there?" Neb shouted. "I have a proposition for you as well!" There was no reply.
"Do you want me to go find him?" Newg asked, mana glowing around her hand, ready to be cast.
"Alex should still be able to give us the edge we need," Neb relented. "And I can't imagine that Kevin would go looking for the PLUMMERs or Ultra 10 to tattle on us, not with his history. Still, we'd better either recruit him, or send him back to the Null Void."
"I'll see if I can find him," Alex said, starting to shrink down as his arms grew leathery wings. In a moment, he had assumed the form of a large bat, and took to the night sky.
"Avoid any PLUMMER agents or members of Ultra 10's team," Neb warned him. "When we fight them, we want it to be on our terms."
Minutes earlier
"Hello there," A person from out in the haze of the bright light spoke. "May I welcome you back-"
"I know that voice!" A figure next to him shouted. He dropped to his hands and knees and lunged at the figure that spoke. Between the still-blinding light and the sudden movement, he saw some kind of creature land onto the guy who had spoken, knocking him to the ground.
"What the hell is going on?" Kevin gasped as he could swear he saw a full-sized tiger pounce on his former-classmate.
"Ventus!" A female shouted off to the side, with a gigantic gust of air nearly blowing him off of his feet. Kevin had to fight to avoid blowing away.
"I let you go last time," The tiger growled. "But perhaps I was too focused on only one prey!" Immediately, Kevin dropped to his knees, his ears covering his ears as he heard the tiger let out a deafening roar.
"That's it, I'm out of here!" Kevin shouted through the roar as he turned and ran off, away from the insane fury of violence and the deafening roars, growls and shouts. Running a distance away, he ducked around a house for cover as he tried to piece together where he was, and what had just happened.
"I was in that void, and the next thing I know, I'm blinded by a bright, white light, a tiger roar, and shouts… Like I'm in the middle of a fight!" Kevin tried to slow his racing heart. All of the electricity that crackled around him was making thinking clearly more difficult than it was in the void.
"Damn, no wonder I was always so agitated here," he remarked to himself. "But where exactly is here?" He looked around the street, trying to see if there were anything that he recognized. But after several years in the void, his memories of Earth weren't the brightest.
Then, there was a moment of silence, filled with a sound that he wouldn't have been able to ignore, even if he tried. The sound of an explosion, but one of energy rather than of explosives or metal or something like that. And he felt the sudden change in energy, like the scent of a tempting drug wash over him. Even from as far away as he was, it was still difficult not to give in.
"No!" He whispered to himself, sliding down to sit of the pavement. "You can't give in like that!"
"Alex, calm down!" Spoke a voice that Kevin had likewise had found it hard to forget. The voice of his class-mate. Of Ben Tennyson.
"So you can send me back to that damned place!" The other person, apparently named Alex roared, sounding more like an animal than a human. "I'm not going back! That place was Hell!"
"Yeah it was," Kevin scoffed. Against his better judgement, he crept his way back towards the conversation. At least, it was like a conversation, if you ignored Alex's roars of anger and fear.
"Fear," Kevin thought. "I know that sound well now."
"I don't want to send you back!" Ben shouted, Kevin straining to hear over Alex's animalistic growls. "I brought you here for a purpose!"
"This might be worth listening to," Kevin carefully stepped closer.
"I'm not the Ultra 10 that you know," Ben explained as Kevin crept close enough to peer at the scene from a distance.
"The Ben that I know is a villain, and a cancer on society," Alex shot back. "And you look like him!"
"Have you seen yourself?" Kevin whispered to himself. "You look like the monster, and if you were in the void too, then perhaps its us that are the monsters…"
"An unfortunate happenstance, I can assure you," the guy that looked exactly like Ben Tennyson said. "But I want him dead just as much as you do! Newg does as well."
"These guys are no good," Kevin muttered. "I'd best just steer clear of them."
"You help us kill Ben, we let you stay outside of the Null Void, provided that we stay out of each other's business."
"Bad idea," Kevin commentated. "He got himself sent there just like me."
"And if I refuse?" Alex asked, curious.
"Then I send you back to the Null Void right now with my mobile projector," the Ben look-alike continued. "And I go on to kill Ben anyway. You just get to rot in the Null Void."
"These guys are insane," Kevin muttered to himself, stepping away slowly from his hidden listening spot. "Not only are they not afraid of Ultra 10, but they're straight-up looking for a fight!"
"Kevin, you out there?" The Ben look-alike shouted. "I have a proposition for you as well!"
"Shit!" Kevin whispered, trying not to stumble as he backed away, this time with a lot more motivation to get away.
"Do you want me to go find him?" The female asked, as if excited to chase down a rabbit with a pack of dogs.
"Alex should still be able to give us the edge we need," Ben look-alike relented. "And I can't imagine that Kevin would go looking for the PLUMMERs or Ultra 10 to tattle on us, not with his history. Still, we'd better either recruit him, or send him back to the Null Void."
"No way I'm going back," Kevin breathed out. "Not when your plan fails, and not because I won't go down with your ship!" With that, he crossed several backyards, trying to find someplace he could hide from these maniacs. Everywhere he stepped, he could feel the electric currents clouding his mind, like a mild drug, making it difficult for him to think and react quickly.
That had been the sole good thing about being in the void. There was no electricity anywhere at all. The emptiness had slowly drained him of the crazy energy he'd soaked up from fighting Ben all those years ago. They'd left him sane again, more sane than he had been for years.
The time spent there had given him time to think about all the destruction he'd caused, and the people he'd hurt. like an addict with no control, he'd even tried to take more of the crazy energy from Tennyson's watch. He deserved every bit of that hell he'd been banished to, even if he never wanted to step foot in it again.
The lack of food or water had nearly killed him the first few days inside the void. And he'd only survived by eating some pretty nasty stuff. Things that still made him shudder to think about. And even more and more as his energy had drained away.
But Kevin had learned how to survive in the void. How to hide from unwanted attention. When to stay breathlessly still, and when to come out swinging whatever stick or rock he could find to fight with. And it was those skills that was now keeping him undetected from whatever the heck that Alex guy was.
He hated how he had acted out and hurt people, even before he'd been high on Ben's watch energy. Stolen zaps from a battery or a light bulb now and then had clouded his mind long before touching Ben's watch. They'd made him a bully, a jerk. Always angry, always ready to bite the next person's head off who tried to talk to him.
Kevin ducked inside a backyard shed as some winged creature flew overhead, a creature that Kevin could just feel wasn't natural. Whatever it was, it had to be that Alex guy, scanning the area for him. To either force him to go insane again, or to send him back to that hell-scape. He could feel the electricity in the lightbulb above him calling out to him to use. Like hard drink to an alcoholic. Kevin just closed his eyes and held his breath, trying to let the momentary intense temptation pass.
Finally, he felt the urge die down, and he couldn't hear whatever creature it was that was looking for him flapping its wings anymore. With a cautious breath, he stepped out of the shed, glancing into the dark sky all around him to try to make sure he was really safe.
Letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, he looked around, trying to find his way out of the backyard shed, and back to the city he barely remembered. Distantly, he heard a police siren blare as the cop car sped through the neighborhood. He carefully crept towards the chaos, just glimpsing the patrol car as its lights lit up the road.
"Something more is going on tonight," Kevin muttered to himself. "That patrol car was chasing something, but I didn't see any crime in progress."
Several hours earlier
"Ben, the police just got an unknown caller," Julie warned her friend. "It sounds like someone broke into the psychiatric hospital, and broke out all of the patients." Julie scrolled through the quickly amassing police reports. "It looks like they're wrecking havoc through the entire town."
"Did they say who the caller could have been?" Ben questioned. Gwen was beside him, looking over Julie's shoulder at her laptop.
"No," Julie said, shaking her head. "Just that the call came from the hospital itself. And less than a block away we have the doctor that was on his shift calling for a police pick up. He's worried for his life, saying that some mad person let all of the patients out."
"Sam and Cooper are already at the PLUMMER headquarters responding to their call for help," Maddi butted in. "I haven't gotten any updates from them, but I can't imagine that the PLUMMERs would take too much longer to help us out in rounding up these escapees."
"Ellie, you come with us," Ben addressed the other member of their team. "You get that doctor to safety, and then get back to the hospital. There could be other workers hurt in the jailbreak." Ellie nodded her understanding, and reached into her pocket, opening up her suit. In a matter of moments, she was encased in her armor, and blasted off into the sky towards the psychiatric hospital.
"Gwen, you and I are rounding up those patients, and taking them back to the hospital," Ben ordered her. She nodded.
"You had better be careful," Julie cautioned the duo. "Most of those patients are just going to be confused or crazy. But a couple could be a real danger to themselves or others. We don't want any more casualties than is absolutely necessary." The two teenagers nodded their understanding.
Stepping away, Ben activated his Omnitrix, scrolling through the different aliens that he could select, looking for one that would be effective, but wouldn't hurt the patients more than was necessary.
"Wrath is out, FourArms is out, HeatBlast is a bad idea," Ben muttered to himself as he flipped through the aliens. "My best bet is probably this one." With that, he slammed down on the faceplate, exposing in a flash of green light.
"Accelerate!" He shouted as he emerged as the rollerblading dinosaur. Without a moment's delay, he sped off in a blur, off to search for any patients that were running about.
"I'm starting close to the hospital first," Ben spoke into his comm link. "There's a good chance that many of the patients haven't gotten too far away yet. I'll probably be able to pick up more of them in less time."
"Good thinking," Maddi responded through his comm. "There are multiple calls for the police in the few blocks surrounding the hospital. Several robberies, as well as muggings, fights and other crimes. Most of them probably are connected to the patients in some way."
"Where are the most recent reports coming in from?" Ben asked.
"The latest one is on Rhodes street," Maddi answered. "A break into Doug's Bakery." Ben sped up, zooming towards the neighborhood. In only a matter of seconds, he stopped on Rhodes street, glancing around at the street that was in utter chaos. Down the road a ways, he saw a store that was on fire, though it wasn't enormous yet. Still, flames could be seen through the windows. He sped forward to the building, seeing it read "Doug's Bakery" on the front of it.
"Ultra 10!" A woman shouted at him. She looked frantic, and was obviously under a lot of stress and fear. "My bakery is burning!"
"What happened?" Accelerate asked as he flew up to her.
"Some guy in a hospital gown came in, swinging a pipe," she informed him in a rush. "He went right to the oven and started throwing everything in sight in!" Ben zoomed into the burning building, hardly waiting long enough for the woman to finish what she had been saying. He burst through the windows, raining a shower of glass, plastic, wood and other rubble down on the inside.
"This place feels like an oven," Ben burst out, the joke flying over his head. He glanced around the dining room, seeing flames licking at the sides of the walls. The majority of the flames were pouring out from the back of the building, where the kitchen was. He broke through the door, which was barely solid anymore after several minutes of the intense heat burning at it. Inside the kitchen was an inferno. Flames belted out the doorway he'd just broken down, heat waves blowing past him.
"Is anyone in here?" Accelerate called out the best he could in his serpentine voice. He looked around the room, realizing that his breaking down the door had released a lot of heat and pressure that had built up in the room. Inside there were a few areas that weren't entirely enflamed yet. And in the far one, nearest to the sink was a middle-aged man in a scorched hospital gown.
"Burn, fire burn!" The man shouted at the flames, just as crazy sounding as he appeared. Ben sped forward, grabbing the man and spun around, racing out the entrance he'd broken in through. But the smoke was thick and acidic. It was giving Accelerate a hard time breathing. Scarcely had he broken out of the building then he collapsed, sending the patient sprawling out on the street.
Ben coughed the smoke out of his lungs, as he gulped down the much-purer air outside the burning building. He glanced back, seeing the flames growing to engulf the entirety of the building.
"Are you alright?" The frantic woman from before asked, helping Ben to his feet. Accelerate nodded.
"I need you to find some people to help you to keep the fire from spreading," Ben told her. "If it spreads to another building, a lot of people are going to be in danger." The woman nodded.
"I'll be back to help as soon as I can," he told her. "But I first have to make sure that this guy isn't going to be setting any new ones for us to deal with." With that, he sped towards the patient, who had just started to get back up to his hands and knees, and slung him over his shoulder. In a moment, he sped off to deliver the patient back to the hospital.
"Ellie, are you at the hospital yet?" Ben asked through his comm link.
"Yeah," she responded. "It looks like the hospital is the safest place around here, so I had the doctor come back here with me."
"Good," Ben replied. "I've got ourselves an arsonist to put in there. Just make sure that there's some way that you can lock them up. We can't do much good if you're getting overwhelmed too."
"I think that the security systems are still operable," Ellie said. "So putting them in their rooms shouldn't be too difficult." Over his shoulder, the arsonist began to regain his senses fully.
"No!" He protested. "I don't want to go back to my room!" He started pounding his fists on Accelerate's back, causing Ben to grunt in pain.
"Look, it's either back to your room, or it's lights out for you," Ben snapped back at the man. "You've already caused more than enough trouble for today, and I'm definitely not in the mood to play nicely!" The man continued to pout on his shoulder. Fed up with it, Ben skidded to a stop, throwing the man to the pavement in front of him.
The man grunted as he got up to his feet. But Ben moved with lightning speed as he slammed his clawed foot into him, sending him back to the ground with a gurgling sound. The man vomited from the kick, nearly knocked out cold from the force of it. But before he could, Ben scooped him up again, slinging him over his shoulder and continuing on his way.
"I told you to settle down," Ben barked back at him. "Any more complaints from you, and I'll knock you out, you hear?" The man just coughed as he continued to struggle to regain his breath. Another few seconds, and Ben sped into the lobby of the hospital, seeing Ellie and an elderly man beside her, whom had to be the doctor.
"Here's your delivery," Ben said, sliding to a stop and dropping the man on the floor in front of him.
"What did you do to him?" Ellie asked. "He looks like he's about to barf!"
"Not about to," Ben corrected. "He already did. The short of it is that he didn't want to come back, so I had to docile him." And with that, Ben sped off, back out of the hospital and into the city.
"Goodness, Ben," Ellie's voice came over his comm link. "I think you broke one of his ribs!"
"I can't worry about that now," Ben shot back. "I've got an entire city that's burning down in front of my eyes!"
"Just be gentle with them," Ellie replied. "They're not Vilgax you're fighting, they're normal people!"
"They're not normal people," Ben bit back. "They're people who are burning down buildings, robbing stores and possibly killing people."
"And they belong in a psychiatric hospital, not a prison," Ellie remarked. "Just try not to send them to a normal hospital first, please! They're like your dad!" Ben growled in annoyance.
"Leave my dad out of this," Ben snarled. "He's not like these criminals!" Ben sped down another street, looking for anything amiss. In a dark alleyway, he came across two patients who'd cornered a young woman, holding a knife to her neck. In a flash, Ben slammed into the two patients, knocking them to the ground and freeing the woman. Holding onto one patient in each hand, Accelerate sped back to the hospital, dropping the two men off in the lobby.
"These are nothing like my father," Ben remarked before he zoomed off, not even giving Ellie time to reply.
Several blocks away
"Hey, are you sure about this?" A short female asked as she shoved a stolen crowbar into the door of the car they'd found.
"The gas will burn up, and the porcupine will show up," Carl replied in his unnervingly shaky voice. "And when the porcupine knows, the world will have a show!"
"Whatever, you say," the female said as she wrenched the door open. "The fuel tank says it is nearly full."
Carl pulled out the butane blowtorch that he'd stolen from the hardware store along with his friend's crowbar. She pulled out several wires from underneath the steering column and ripped them apart, exposing the live wires. Brushing them together, a spark arced between two wires, and the car roared to life.
"Time to drive," she said with a smirk, stepping aside to let Carl inside. Carl relished the feeling of being in control of a car again. It had been too long since he'd felt that kind of freedom. To go where he wanted, to do as he wished. With a start, he stomped on the gas pedal. The car obeyed him, tearing off into the night of the city.
"Groundhog is a mean old snake," Carl jittered as he lit the torch and dropped it on the passenger seat. "Leaves chaos in his wake. Hides in the earth all day, doesn't want to come out and play!" Carl steered the car towards the nearest gas station. Besides him, the seat had caught fire, and was quickly growing. Finally, Carl opened the car door and dove out, sending the flaming car into the gasoline pumps. Instantly, the gas fumes took to the flame. The explosion blew the pumps up, sending flames thirty feet tall into the night air.
Carl staggered to his feet, turning to watch the flames engulfing the wreck. It was only moments before the other pumps would catch fire, and then the real explosions would go off. Carl began running like mad for cover. He dove behind a car across the street right as the explosion sent shock waves that shattered all the glass nearby.
"Time to come out and play, come out to save the day!" Carl shouted gleefully. "Groundhog's soon dead, the ground will grow red!"
Ben heard the explosion go off before he even saw the flames burning several streets away.
"Shit!" He swore, glancing at the fire. "Not another damn arsonist!" He slapped his badge on his chest, causing an explosion of light. "StinkFly!" With a buzz of his wings, he took off into the sky, hoping to use this form's goo to smother the flames. But, although the explosion was a loud one, he was still shocked that anyone would be stupid enough to try to blow up a gas station.
"Ben," Maddi shouted through his communicator. "Did you hear that explosion?"
"I'm sure that you could have heard it anywhere in the city," Ben retorted. "But I'm at the scene now. Looks like someone drove a car into a gas station."
"I'll tell Lucky Girl to head over there," Maddi started.
"It doesn't look like anyone was hurt," Ben cut her off. "She's got more than her hands full where she's at. This shouldn't take me long." He swooped down towards the burning gas pumps, spitting out goo on several smaller fires, putting them out.
"Groundhog, pork chop! Gun goes pop, pop, pop!" Someone shouted from the side of the scene. The words stopped Ben dead in his tracks. They reminded him of something he'd almost forgotten.
"Groundhog?" He asked in StinkFly's nasally voice, spinning around towards the sound. But no sooner had he done so, then three loud shots rang out. He felt one or more impacts tear into his body, sending him backwards and towards the ground.
"Damn it, who shot me!" Ben shouted out. He glanced around quickly spotted someone holding a pistol. It was a hospital patient. But it was more than that.
"Dad?" Ben blurted out, in shock. Although being hit by the bullet, StinkFly was still strong enough to climb back onto his feet.
"Pig's dead, pig's dead, the ground grows red, red, red…" Carl muttered as he pointed the gun at the alien bug.
"No, stop!" Ben shouted, slapping the Omnitrix symbol. In a bright flash of red light, he resorted to his human form. The sudden transformation shocked Carl, giving Ben only a moment to act. Without a hint of hesitation, he reached up and pulled off his mask, prompting his armor to fold up into itself, leaving Ben in nothing more than his street clothes.
"Dad, it's me! It's your son, Ben!" He shouted. The image clearly shocked Carl, who dropped his arm slightly as he blinked in shock.
"Porcupine, in a mean old snake," Carl muttered, still in shock. Ben slowly got to his feet. His right hand was bleeding, probably from where the bullet had actually hit him. But other than that, he was unharmed. "He leaves chaos in his wake…"
"Dad, it's me, Ben," Ben tried again, slowly stepping forward. "Now give me the gun…"
"Snake changes its skin," Carl mumbled. "Groundhog cannot be his kin!" With that, Carl raised the gun up again, pointing it again at Ben, who took a cautious step away.
"It's actually me, Dad," Ben tried again. "You don't want to shoot me, do you?"
"My house, my wife, you took away my entire life," Carl said, tears starting to stream form his eyes. "My brain, a cripple; all I speak a riddle."
"You can heal," Ben said carefully. "But if you pull that trigger, then there's no going back." The gun shook slightly in Carl's hand, though he still didn't lower it. More tears streamed from his eyes.
"I… I'm trying," Carl muttered, a look of pain crossing his face. If not for the gun still pointed at his face, Ben would have rushed forward. "I'm trying to break out, and I fight the pain…"
"You can do it, Dad," Ben assured him. "Put the gun down, and speak to me…"
"But I look up and see the rain!" Carl gasped out, falling back into his rhymes.
"So sorry, the pain I fight, I cannot stop what's to happen tonight." With that, he made to squeeze the trigger.
But at that moment, a dark figure literally dropped in, kicking the gun away, out of Carl's hand. The gun clattered onto the pavement, the sudden action startled Ben, who stepped back in surprise.
The dark figure in front of him proceeded to kick at Carl, sending him falling on his butt, before a well-placed punch to his face knocked Carl out cold. Before Ben could even realize what had totally happened, the dark figure was running away, back into the dark night. Looking briefly back at his dad, he decided that he wasn't a danger to himself for the moment.
"Hey!" Ben shouted after the dark figure, who was rapidly disappearing into the night. Only the dim glimmer from the burning gas station illuminated the night bright enough for him to see his silhouette. "Hey, who are you?"
"You've already met me," the figure shouted out behind him. "And I'm not someone you'd want to see again, trust me!"
"Just tell me who you are!" Ben shouted, raising his arm and activating the Omnitrix. "I'll figure out one way or another!"
"You don't want to use your watch, Ben," the figure said, stopping dead in his tracks. "I won't be able to resist again." Ben stopped chasing the figure, only barely being able to make out his form in the dimness of the night.
"How do you know my name?" He asked cautiously.
"Come on, you don't recognize me?" The figure turned around slowly to glare at Ben from the shadows. "Can't say that I'd want to remember me either, but a hero's better remember his enemies…"
A/N:
Alright, that does it for the chapter! We covered a lot here! From Neb's plan to finally begin to take shape, to Kevin AND Alex Animal coming back from the Null Void, to Ben's confrontation with his father. So... What were your thoughts? What do you think of Neb and Newg teaming up with Alex to take out Ben and Team Ultra? What about Kevin, is he becoming a hero, or more of an anti-hero? Is he actually going to be trying to bring criminals to justice, or does he just not want the entire city to go to Hell in a hand-basket? Is that why he's helping Ben, or is he trying to make up for his past crimes? What did you think of Carl's riddle finally revealing itself? What do you think of Ben's growing aggressive methods, or his obvious pain surrounding Carl? That is one effect of that annoying voice inside his head, which just won't seem to go away. Where is it going to lead him?
In the Ultra 10 Chronicles, Kevin Levin is indeed an Osmosian-human hybrid. And, rather than just reacting to energy, it is like a drug to him, driving him insane as he craves more and more. His time in the Null Void was effectively detox for him, and his aggression wore off. But now that he's gain surrounded by energy, will he be slipping back into his addict-ridden criminal life, or is he actually going to be able to resist, and maintain some kind of a conscience? Leave your thoughts, critiques, comments and ideas in a review, and make sure to favorite and follow the story! Thank you so much for reading, and have an awesome day!
Review Responses:
Kingpizzathe3: Thanks for the chapter.
You are very welcome! I hope you enjoyed this one! Thank you for continuing to read and leave reviews!
yraj2004: You kinda merged zombies and vampires for a moment there dude, though you put em back on track, though why the bloodbath? Neb's Whampire's Corrupturas could have done the job as well, though if you did it as a Halloween thing, kudos on that bro.
Yeah, in retrospect, they kind of did act like zombies, didn't they? I'll try to keep the minions better distinguished in the upcoming chapters.
In the U10-verse, Whampire actually sucks blood, rather than just draining the "life energy" of other beings, like in canon, Whampire is more of a traditional vampire, actually sucking blood, and turning his victims to vampires, like himself. In such, he controls others, not with a Corrupturas, but by making them his minions. Something that only really takes hold after his minions feed themselves. And, like Ben and Gwen's bloodlust when they were infected, the temptation to tear into bloody flesh is almost overwhelming. Thanks for asking, though. The inherent, gory bloodlust that comes with Whampire is the biggest reason that Ben has used him so sparingly. But I did think that it ended up as a creepy-halloween themed chapter.