Welcome, Ultras, to the last and final chapter to Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs! It is action-packed, and I think is one of the better chapters I've written yet! So please let me know what you think in a review!
Trigger warnings this chapter: There are quite a number of instances of choice language, as well as some graphic violence scattered throughout the big battle towards the end of the chapter. The first instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "You know that we'd never get command..." The second instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "All of a sudden, Phil felt..." The third instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "They'll see that your arms are free..."
The fourth instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "I can't lock it from the inside..." The fifth instance of choice language is in the next paragraph. And the sixth instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "Making sure that I have no idea..." The seventh instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "Hello! A friendly voice said..."
The eighth instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "Haha! She snorted..." The ninth instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "Sure you are, Neb mocked..." The tenth instance of choice language is in the paragraph which reads, "Yo! Kevin shouted..." The eleventh instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "No, I'm not loosing to him!" The last instance of choice language is in the paragraph which immediately follows the one which reads, "Make me! Neb shouted..."
The violence is pretty intense from "You're faster than you appear..." but is the worst in the paragraph following that phrase, as well as the last twelve paragraphs of the chapter.
The soundtrack for this chapter is "Blow Me Away," by Breaking Benjamin, which I think is a great soundtrack for the battle. The after-credits/chapter song is "Inner Demons" by Julia Brennan. I thought that this song was the bitter accompaniment for Ben's final fight with Neb. You can listen to both of the songs on youtube. For the first one, you can go to youtube dot com/watch?v=5yHuuBZgif0. For the second one, you can go to youtube dot com/watch?v=Cj_GWIsVmtA.
Enjoy the chapter!
The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs
Chapter 65: A Simple Time-Space Paradox
The next day, outside PLUMMER high-security prison, underneath Mount Rushmore
"Get those prisoners secured inside the prison," Agent 12 commanded his team. More than one of his agents acknowledge his order as the transport vehicle holding Newg arrived at the base of the mountain. There were a series of scans that they'd have to wait for before they were permitted inside the base, so it was going to be a while just sitting around. Not that it mattered to much. Newg was contained within a hyper-cube crammed into the transport.
Hyper-cubes weren't much more than a high-tech cage with a lot of locks on them, but they were designed to prevent just about any threat from escaping. Unfortunately, they were too small to leave a prisoner in indefinitely, and significantly less than humane for sure, but if they did the job, Phil didn't have any problem with using them. It was just the bleeding heart currently in charge of the PLUMMERs that told him no.
"Alright, I've got it from here," a familiar voice startled Phil from his musings.
"Max, you gave me a scare," Phil replied, turning around to face his old friend. "I thought you were in charge of Alex's transport?"
"Relax, the kid is still knocked out cold," Max replied. "And there's no way that he could escape. Not even Ultra 10 could escape those!"
"I agree with you there!" Phil chuckled. "I think that we'd all be much safer if we stuck him in one, just for good measure!"
"You know that we'd never get command to approve of that, not unless he's a threat again…"
"Damn right," Phil responded. "Such a pity too. Still, you had better get back to your own transport. If one of your agents reported to Albright…"
"They report to me first," Max reassured him. "And on top of that, they're loyal to me. There's no way that any one of them would snitch…"
"Uh, you alright, Max?" Phil asked him.
"I feel fine at the moment," Max responded. "Why do you ask?"
"Just… you're not usually this… open to breaking the rules."
"We're not breaking them," Max replied, perhaps only slightly too quickly. "We're only bending them a little. You're still in charge of your transport, and I'm in charge of mine. I was just offering you a few extra minutes to take a breather. You're getting up there in years, you know…"
"Yeah, and so are you," Phil responded. "How come you don't just take a break yourself?"
"I've got two grandchildren to keep me on my toes," Max replied. "And trust me, I'd rather take down Alex alone before I tried to fight with those two!" The two old friends shared a laugh for a moment.
"You know, I think that this whole 'keep them alive' thing is a little ridiculous, you know?" Phil let out. "Like they're doing a bit more than jaywalking or robbing the Seven-Eleven… Every guy we catch is a hardened criminal, and they'd all probably be better off dead."
"I hear ya," Max responded. "When do you say that enough is enough, you know?"
"My point exactly," Phil agreed. "I mean, the PLUMMERs are supposed to be protecting the planet, not running around on clean-up duty for a group of teenage wanna-be heroes…"
"You think that Team Ultra ought to be locked up in here too?" Max asked.
"Albright definitely doesn't," Phil replied. "And I just think that she might be trusting them too easily. I mean, they're still kids! Not accountable to anyone, or anything! They could change their minds about being 'heroes' anytime! We should be locking them up, to protect the planet!"
"I agree with you," Max said. "Team Ultra needs to be taken down sooner rather than later."
"I mean, they're a liability!" Phil continued. "How many people are going to get hurt, just so that we don't have to fight a couple of kids? Remember New York? That was that Ultra 10's fault!" Max looked solemn for a moment, and Phil wondered if he were overstepping his bounds.
"I mean, I was there on clean-up, you know?" Phil asked. "I saw the destruction myself… It's hard not to take it a bit personal…"
"Don't worry," Max reassured him. "I agree with you, it was all Ultra 10's fault."
"And I think that we should have just given the little twerp over to Vilgax, and have kissed our problems away right there and then!" Phil said. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again.
"You remember when we took down SixSix? Locked him up in a prison just like this one," Phil continued. "But that didn't stop Vilgax from breaking him out, and destroying the base at the same time. We should have just killed SixSix, and then Vilgax wouldn't have had anything to come get. And, as much as I hate to say it, that one was a PLUMMER mistake. We lost a lot of good agents taking him down."
"Only to let him get away," Max finished. There was another moment of silence between them.
"Do… you think that we should take some initiative?" Max asked cautiously. Phil glanced over to him.
"What do you mean, initiative?" He asked cautiously.
"What if something were to happen, and both Alex and Newg had to be put down to keep them from escaping?" Max asked. Phil habitually reached up and stroked his chin, which was beginning to grow a thick layer of stubble.
"That could work," Phil finally responded after a moment of silence. "I know that there's more than one PLUMMER that agrees with us. But we'd need to move quickly, once they're scanned inside the base, I don't think that there's any way of… killing them."
"My transport arrived after yours did. We'd be safest if we attacked your first, and hit Alex's right after," Max suggested. Phil nodded.
"Let's go." Phil activated his gauntlet, bypassing several screens before he typed a code in. "That should give us the opening we need. But we still don't have long." The two men made their way towards Newg's transport, which by now had been docked, and was preparing to transfer her container into the actual base.
"We'll have to open up the container if we want to get to the girl," Phil stated.
"Shouldn't be a problem," Max replied. "They should still be unconscious."
"You sure?" Phil asked, stopping for a moment. "I would have thought that they would have been awake most of the ride?"
"I checked her vitals while we made our way down here," Max replied. "She's out cold." Phil nodded as he began the process of powering down the container.
"Well, even if she is unconscious," he said. "You'd better get your weapon out. She's going to be a danger the instant that she wakes up, so you're going to want to be prepared."
"I'm counting on it," Max replied as he drew out his pistol. The container beeped in front of them, and the locks clicked, indicating that they were powered down.
All of a sudden, Phil felt a sharp pain crack him in the base of the skull, sending him to the ground instantly. He let out a grunt of pain as his hands went to the place where he'd been hit.
"What the hell, Max?" He exclaimed in shock and pain. "What was that for?"
"First off, I'm not Max," Xam said. "And secondly, I'm breaking my granddaughter out of here." He pressed the final release button on the container, which opened up the cage. From inside, Newg walked out, her hands still handcuffed together behind her back, and her mouth gagged with a restraint.
"You're one of those imposters, aren't you?" Phil exclaimed, reaching for his holstered pistol.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Xam said, pointing his gun at Phil's forehead. "In fact, I think that I'll be taking it off of your hands." Phil slowly drew the gun out and placed it onto the ground beside him, shoving it over towards Xam's feet.
"Your gauntlet too," Xam said. "I can't be having you calling for help before we've been allowed to escape." Begrudgingly, Phil twisted the gauntlet, disconnecting it from the power source before sliding it off of his wrist, and shoving it over to Xam as well.
"Now release my granddaughter's restraints," Xam commanded, "And be quick about it." Newg walked over to Phil, who stood up off of the ground, and typed in the code to deactivate the handcuffs. With her hands free, Newg reached up and pulled off the muzzle that was over her mouth and tossed it inside the container.
"Ahh, much better," she said as she stretched her arms. "Those were starting to really irritate me!"
"Pick up the pistol and gauntlet," Xam told her. "We've got to get out of here. As for you Phil, get inside that container."
"You're just going to leave me here?" Phil asked. "The PLUMMERs will know instantly that I'm not Newg."
"They'll see that your arms are free, and think that you're Newg who charmed herself to look like a PLUMMER agent," Xam said. "They wouldn't want to risk opening up the container while your hands are free, so you're going to be in there for a while… that is, unless you want to come with us?"
"And why the hell would I ever do that?" Phil asked indignantly. "I'm not a traitor!"
"We're going to take Ultra 10 down for good," Xam said. "Just what you were telling me you wanted to do. Other than that, we've got no problems with the PLUMMERs. You wouldn't even really be betraying the PLUMMERs… Just doing what that bleeding heart Albright doesn't have the guts to do." Xam finally lowered his gun from Phil's head.
"So that's the plan, then?" Phil asked. "Talk me into releasing Newg, and turn me against the PLUMMERs?"
"No, the plan was to talk you into releasing Newg, and then the two of us escape," he said, holstering his pistol. Newg picked up the gauntlet and Phil's pistol. "You're extra. Either on our side or on Ultra 10's side. Makes no difference to me, though we could use your help."
"Just lock me in already," Phil said.
"It's a shame," Xam said as he shut the door. "We could really use you." After the door shut, he turned to Newg. "Come on, let's get out of here." The two of them quickly ran off, quickly making their way out of the holding bay and out of the base, quickly loosing themselves in the maze of trees and other foliage. Phil sighed.
"You've really screwed yourself over this time," he said. Such a stupid act definitely wouldn't be overlooked by his higher-ups. He might as well play it off as if he got attacked by Xam or Neb, who then broke out Newg. It was close enough to the real thing, just without his opening the container, and trying to kill the prisoners. Walking around his small container, he leaned up against the doorway, and noticed that it creaked open.
"Woah," Phil said in surprise, stepping away. Cautiously, he pushed on the door again, seeing that it creaked open. "He left it open? There's no way he'd be that dumb!" Phil pushed the door open enough for him to take a step outside.
"I can't lock it from the inside," Phil realized. "I'd either have to be inside an unlocked cage, or be outside an empty one…"
"DAMN IT!" Phil cursed in frustration. "He played me!" Phil kicked the side of the container in frustration again.
"Fine, I'll play your little game," Phil relented. "But you'd better not be shitting with me! Because the moment you're a danger to the planet, you're no different than Ultra 10 in my book." With that, he stepped outside the cage, closing the door and locking it behind him. With a few taps on the security screen built into the container, he activated all of the security mechanisms, as if nothing had happened at all. Having covered his escape, Phil turned his attention to sneaking out of the base, just like he'd watched Xam and Newg do only minutes before.
Streets of Bellwood
Neb ran through the night. He didn't know where he was going, and he didn't care. He just had to get away. In his mind's eye, he saw the magician repeat the curse again, over and over in his mind. And no matter what he did, or what choices he made, he couldn't stop it from coming true… And that terrified him.
"From my station to your station, may this curse go… From family and friend, may evil things grow…" He could hear the sorcerer's voice in his head as he ran.
"Though through the whole universe, fortune will follow you… 'Till the Gates of Hell will open and swallow you… And all you will have made will be your shame… There will be the start of your pain…"
"It's not real," Neb shouted to himself as he stopped to take a breather. His sides were killing him. He had lost how long he'd been running. It could've been only a few minutes or hours. He didn't know, he didn't notice. He only knew that his sides felt like they were splitting apart every time he took a breath.
"It's not true, I can still change this," Neb gasped out. "I just have to stop the chain!"
"By your own hand, your win and defeat,…"
"Stop it!" Neb shouted, clutching his hands to his temples as if he could rip the memory out from his mind.
"Will together in one seal this fate!" Neb let out a scream of frustration. The effort nearly sent him to the ground as his sides erupted in a new bout of pain. After a few moments to calm down, he stood up, not even knowing how he'd sunken to his knees. Whether it was because of the memory that wouldn't abate, or his splitting rib pain. Perhaps it was a mix of the two.
"What is my fate?" Neb asked himself. "What is my win and defeat by my own hand? Could it be Ben?" Neb leaned himself up against the brick building that was nearest to where he had been running. "Is it a final defeat?" He thought a moment about that.
"If it is a final defeat, then my fate can only mean one thing… my death," Neb muttered forebodingly. "Which means that to face my fate, I only have to loose to him. And that means one thing… I can't loose to Ben."
That evening, Onboard the Guardian's command bridge
"Fascinating, truly fascinating," the strange professor continued to mutter from where he was at, alternatively typing away into his computer and scribbling in his notes.
"What is it?" Sarah asked him from where she was trying to get some of the computer consoles in the bridge to turn on again.
"I had no idea how varied that the multiverse could be," he replied. "I hadn't ever been able to adjust the chrono-syncrinicity wavelength before, I've only noted that it has shifted before… but only by osculations."
"And?" Sarah prodded.
"I don't know if it is as a result of this room's fragile state inside the chrono-syncrinicity wavelength, or if it is its cause, but almost anything is having an effect on it!" He replied with excitement. "Gravity, electricity, radiation, you name it! But it's only within this room, where the explosion happened. Out by the Rustbucket, they all have almost no effect!"
"What does that mean?" Sarah asked, again getting lost in the details.
"It means that the paradox was definitely created by the FTL system. The farther away from the initial point of explosion, the stronger the chrono-syncrinicity wavelength is. To a point where the merge couldn't take place. It means that when the FTL system exploded, it caused the interference with the timeline. It speed it up slightly," he said. "But that's not all! Just speeding it up would mean that time would progress faster, not that it would interfere with universes traveling at different speeds. There had to have been something on the other end that simultaneously slowed down their timeline. Something that aligned the two timelines up, polar opposite in their osculations."
"So it was just a fluke?" Sarah asked, somewhat disheartened. But the professor shook his head adamantly.
"If there were only a few billion universes, maybe," he said. "But with a number somewhat close to an infinite amount of universes, the odds of something happening are phenomenal!"
"Of course," Sarah said. "Because why not?"
"Well the reasons for why not are far greater than the reasons for it to happen-"
"It's a figure of speech," Sarah interrupted him.
"Oh… of course," he replied. "At any rate, the fact that it happened here, means that a lot of the vicinity are corrupted in a way. The things right around the explosion couldn't take another explosion of that type without collapsing into their anti-matter counterparts, and imploding into nothingness!"
"So the doubles? Neb? Newg?" Sarah asked. "There's no way we can send them back?"
"No, they definitely can be sent back," the professor said. "Living organisms are constantly in a state of decay and rebuild. After a few months, there isn't an atom in your body that has remained the same. They're all replaced."
"So they'd be alright?" She asked.
"Physically, yes," the professor said again, again scribbling in his notes. "But if it happened to those individual atoms, microscopic black holes would open up and negate the positive matter with their counter anti-matter, just like I said would happen with the inorganic matter in this room."
"So don't do it in this room," Sarah summarized. "But otherwise, it's basically fine?"
"That's only the physical part," the professor continued. "But that's not all that the chrono-"
"Timeline," Sarah interrupted.
"That…" he continued. "…affects. Your mind is immaterial, meaning that there isn't anything physical that can be classified as your mind. It doesn't follow the laws of physics. But it still does the laws of time. Meaning that if such an uncontrolled chrono-sync… timeline explosion happened again, either your mind would cease to exist, or it could switch with the mind of your counterpart in the other universe you so happen to be interacting with."
"So you'd go brain-dead," Sarah started.
"Or you could become someone very different, if you didn't altogether get one of your counterparts over here," the professor finished. "But that may only happen in an uncontrolled explosion. I may be able to control it enough to spare the immaterial effects."
"How would you do that?" Sarah asked.
"Simple, I would only need to recreate the explosion, and then step out of the timeline alteration before it is altered beyond what I want it to," he said.
"Alright, and how would you do that?" Sarah asked. "I thought that was the whole problem we were dealing with.
"Remember what I said about the mind?" He asked.
"That it is immaterial?" Sarah asked.
"Well yes, but more importantly, that it doesn't abide by the laws of physics," he corrected. "If I can recreate the explosion in my mind, my mind should then be able to react to it, as if it happened in reality!"
"You'll just imagine it?" Sarah asked.
"No, nothing so easy," the professor said. "I'm not creating or imagining it happening, I'm recreating it! I can't know the outcome before it happens! It is the chrono-synchronicity wavelength, you know! It hasn't happened yet!"
"You continue to make absolutely no sense," Sarah said. "Aren't you doing this precisely because you know what happened?"
"And that's the hard part," he said. "I have to convince my mind that I don't know what will happen, even though I do!" He stood up from his work, closing his computer and gathering up his notes.
"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.
"Making sure that I have no idea about what is about to happen," he replied. "Even though I will." Walking over to where the Rustbucket was still docked, he walked halfway across the bridge and dumped the notes and laptop off, watching them fall down through the sky.
"What the hell was that for?" Sarah shouted.
"There's no going back for me," he said. "I can't risk ever seeing those notes again! Otherwise, I'll know that what I didn't know, and then knew, I knew before I didn't know it!" He walked back onto the command bridge of the ship.
"I legitimately have no idea what you are saying anymore," she muttered in frustration.
"Now Sarah, please get inside the Rustbucket, and pull a good distance away. There's going to be an explosion in here, don't you know?" He said.
"But it's all in your mind," She argued. "You said so yourself."
"Simply because it's in your mind, that doesn't mean that it's any less real," he said. "In fact, everything you do or know started first in your mind. In a sense, it is far more real than anything in reality. Now please go!" Sarah huffed in frustration.
"I'm coming back in ten minutes," she said. "If you're still here, then we go with my plan."
"And what is that, exactly?" The professor asked.
"We forget about trying to send them back," she said. "And we either lock them up here, or we put them away for good."
"I see your point," the professor said. "But don't fear, I don't know that I know that it'll work!"
"I sure hope so," Sarah said as she boarded the Rustbucket. Disengaging the autopilot, she veered away from the command bridge. She glanced back into the bridge, seeing the professor sitting cross-legged in the center of the room.
"This isn't going to work," she said. "What was I thinking, wasting time by going along with his plan?" Suddenly, in a flash of light, the professor was gone.
"Woah, what the-"
"Hello!" A friendly voice said from the passenger seat beside her. "Please no need for profanity!"
"Shit!" Sarah exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her skin.
"What did I just say?" The professor asked her.
"Sorry, but… like…" Sarah struggled to get her tongue to work.
"I know, I've rewatched it a million times," he said. "It is still breathtaking every time! I can't believe that I had a full head of hair when I was born either!"
"What?" Sarah stumbled out.
"Oh, you mean my other birth!" He said. "Yes, well I've seen it a lot of times too, but it's not quite as breathtaking as my first one!"
"But-you were-" Sarah stuttered. "I just saw-"
"Yes, I was over there, but now I am over here," he said. "Honestly, how is your spacial awareness?" He pressed his hand to Sarah's temple, as if feeling for a fever.
"What do you want?" She asked, swatting his hand away.
"Look, contrary to what most beings think, I am actually a very busy man," the professor said. "So I'm going to be rather blunt. I am the time-walker, you see? And I walk through time as simply as you stroll down the lane. But I couldn't get too close to my actual birth, or I would interact with my own creation. And if I don't become the time-walker, then the universe is in a very bad shape indeed."
"Alright, I get it, so your little experiment worked," she submitted. "What are we doing here now?"
"Well, I needed you to bring me here so that I could become the time-walker," he explained. "Beyond that? I don't know, you never did tell me why you are still waiting here."
"Whatever," she said. "I'm heading back to the PLUMMER base in Bellwood."
"That's an excellent idea! And before I go, no you're not going to," he said. "Toodle-loo!" In an instant, he was gone.
"I'm never going to get used to him, am I?" She asked herself, before realizing that the professor had already answered that question. "Gah, I'm going to hate this!"
That night, on the streets of Bellwood
Neb raised his wrist, scrolling through his aliens before slamming down on his selection, exploding in an emerald light. He emerged as one of his lesser-used forms. Not that he disliked using it, it was just because it could be hard to control. He could easily make a mistake while using it, and pay for it later.
But not this time. He was using it for one reason, and one reason only… He was going to tear Ben's heart out, and dine on his blood. And he'd need all the rage and savagery that this form possessed.
"My children, it is time," Neb said, sending his message to his army of vampires. Twilight was finally falling, and with it, this alien's powers were at full strength. "Tonight, we kill Ben, even if we have to rip the city apart. To hell with holding back!" In a moment, Neb could sense scores of his vampire underlings waking up, and responding to his call from all over the city. Neb took off into the sky, searching for Ben.
"I will not let the curse come true," Neb muttered to himself. "That sorcerer can't dictate my fate!" Almost unconsciously, Neb felt for the bump in his pocket. If nothing else, that was his back up plan. He would not loose to Ben again.
Neb flew into the downtown part of town, where, despite the time of night, there were still a number of stores open. He swooped low before landing almost on top of some random civilian, trying to get into her vehicle.
"You there!" He hissed at her. "Call the police, I have an announcement to make!"
"Aren't you Ultra 10?" The girl asked, confused.
"I AM NOT HIM!" Neb roared. "I am Neb, his rival! And you will do as I say if you want to live!" Neb barred his fangs at the girl, who shrieked in fear. Clumsily, she pulled out her cell phone, and called Nine-One-One.
"Nine-One-One, what's your emergency?" The dispatcher answered.
"Ultra!" Neb hissed. "I know that you're listening! Come and fight me! Or I will kill every single civilian I see, one by one!" Out of the dark alleyways, scores of Neb's vampires emerged, each baring their fangs and hissing at everyone they saw. Some civilians tried to run, only to learn that Neb's vampires moved almost faster than they could see. It was obvious in seconds that they were surrounded and trapped.
"You won't win this," the girl challenged Neb bravely. "Ultra 10 will beat you!"
"I seriously doubt that," Neb hissed back at her. "My vampires are each faster and stronger than most of his aliens, and they are getting stronger and stronger as the night progresses!"
"Yeah, he's taken you out before," the woman replied. "I don't see how this time is going to be any different."
"Enough of this!" Neb hissed angrily as he swiped his clawed hand at her. With surprising speed, the teenage girl jumped back, just narrowly missing getting her face clawed.
"You're faster than you appear," Neb hissed. "No matter!" With lightning speed, he shoved his clawed fist into her chest, penetrating through her backside. A look of shock was pasted over the girl's face. A sickening smile grew over Neb's face.
"I will dine on your blood first tonight," he said as he pulled his hand back out of her. However, rather than covered in crimson blood, it was covered in a purple-brownish material. Quickly, he glanced at the teenager beside him, only to see the hole in her chest rapidly shrinking and filling in with the muddy material.
"A Sludgepuppy!" Neb cursed. "I didn't know that this universe's Earth had contact with them yet!" The girl's chest finished filling in, and she stumbled back. Her skin, clothes, even hair rippled like the surface of a lake, before turning the same shade of slime that he'd ripped out from her.
"Like, ow!" The Lenopan cried. "That seriously hurt!"
"You don't know the meaning of the word!" Neb shouted as he shook the mud off of his hand and got ready to slash at her again. However, Lucy threw a thick glob at his face, making a wet smacking sound as it landed.
"Haha!" She snorted. "You've got like mud on your face!" Her body expanded out into its true form, growing to be several feet taller then before. Neb angrily clawed at the mud, clearing enough of it away for him to see and breathe.
"This bitch is mine," Neb growled to his army of the undead. "Waste the hostages! They've served their purpose!"
"Ooh!" Lucy answered. "You called me a naughty name! For that, you get a spanking!" She hardened one of her hands into a spiked mace and swung it at Neb. However, the vampire easily dodged it, and clawed again at her arm, this time severing it above the elbow.
"Stop that!" Lucy shouted. "It really hurts!" With that, she threw a glob of mud at Neb while her severed arm grew back. Neb clawed through the glob, hissing as he used his speed to zip around to Lucy's exposed backside. With his speed and fury, he quickly started tearing through her back, mud splattering all around as he did so.
"Ow! Hey, stop that!" Lucy yelled as her head twisted around, as well as her arms. She solidified her fist and punched Neb, it feeling more like a wall then mud slamming into him. He went flying off her used-to-be back, and across the floor. Quickly, he stood up again, glaring at the mud-alien.
"You're running out of mud," Neb snarled. "You'll die before too much more!" Lucy knew that he was right.
"Well I got enough to splatter on your face again!" Lucy taunted him. "And you'll hate to see what it does to your hair!" With that, she threw a glob at him, which he easily side-stepped. Then she threw another and another and another. But he side-stepped each one, getting closer with each one. He was toying with her, and she knew it. This was her best, and he was toying with her.
"Ugh!" Lucy grunted as she threw another projectile at him. Again, he side-stepped it easily, this time using his speed to get behind Lucy. Before Lucy could even react, he sliced off both of her arms, the mud appendages splattering as they fell to the ground.
"That's the last of it, isn't it?" Neb gloated as Lucy panted. "You can't regenerate anymore, can you?" Lucy grit her teeth, or the Lenopan equivalent to teeth. He was right, she would need time before she could absorb more mud to replenish herself. She wasn't going to give him the benefit of admitting that he won though.
"Not even close," she panted out. "I'm just getting started…"
"Sure you are," Neb mocked. "Then I'd better sever your head, and see if you'll regenerate it!" He raised his clawed hand to her neck, pulling it back.
"Like hell!" A voice shouted from the sky above, startling the both of them. Neb craned his neck to try to see who it was. Out of the sky, Morph shot an energy blast at him, landing squarely on Neb's back and scorching his skin.
"Agh!" Neb cried in pain as Cooper circled around for another shot. Lining up, he took aim, only for one of Neb's vampires to jump up onto him from behind, yanking him through the sky. Cooper's shot went off into the distance, not shooting anyone. In an instant, another vampire jumped up and latched onto his suit, forcing him down even lower. Then a third, and a fourth vampires latched on, pulling Cooper out of the sky, and finally, smashing into the ground.
"Get off of me!" Cooper shouted as he was pounced on by two more vampires, who immediately started clawing at the armor, trying to rip Cooper out of it, one piece at at time.
"Yes, my slaves!" Neb shouted, his back having regrown the skin that had been burned off by Cooper's energy shot. "Work together!" Then he turned his attention back to Lucy.
"Still no regeneration?" He mocked. "Well, well, it seems that you might not actually be able to recover from this…" He placed his clawed hand on her neck, squeezing the semi-solid mass of mud. Lucy let out a gasp of pain until he squeezed harder, closing off her air supply completely. He knew that in the state she was in, she wouldn't be able to morph her skin in order to breathe through it.
"No!" Cooper shouted from several yards away as the vampires continued to claw at his suit. "Get off me!" Above, an aerial lizard zoomed into view, firing a green laser blast at the mass of vampires, all trying to get to Cooper's adrenaline-filled blood. One vampire burst into flames, while several others screamed in pain and fury, backing off of Cooper.
"Neb!" Ben shouted as he perched on top of one of the stores. "You're fight is with us!" Behind him, several more figures appeared. Lucky Girl phased into being along with Kevin, Sam and Ellie, already in their battle gear. Kevin stooped down, touching the roof of the building they were standing on. As if it were some sort of liquid, concrete flowed up his arm and covered him from head to toe. Now in his own battle gear, he stood up, cracking his knuckles.
"Finally!" Neb growled, letting go of Lucy's neck, and standing up. Lucy gasped for breath while coughing in response. "I was beginning to think that you weren't coming!"
"You threaten my city," Ben shouted back. "And you can be sure that I'll come." Neb hissed as he rose up into the sky.
"Ellie, take care of the mud-thing," Gwen said. "It was fighting him, so it's got to be on our side. Sam? You and I focus on the vamps. Kevin, you-"
"Don't tell me what to do, princess!" Kevin said. "I'm going to bash some skulls in!" With that, he leaped off of the roof, slamming into the pavement below.
"So it begins!" Neb growled as he sped towards JetRay. In response, Ben took off into the sky, clearing away from the rest of his team. He swerved through the sky, looking for an opening to fire his neuro-laser at his opponent.
"Fine. Sam, you and I are on protection. We've got to get these civilians to safety!"
"It's not going to be easy, seeing as those vampires are sucking dry everyone that they can!" Sam shouted back.
"We'll have to trust the PLUMMERs to keep the area contained," Julie spoke from their comm link. "Maddi's using the NESS to make sure that no vampires gets past the PLUMMER's perimeter."
That's right," Maddi answered. "If any one of them make it through, we've probably gotten another vampire apocalypse on our hands."
"Then let's not let that happen," Ellie replied. She fired several energy blasts at the vampires that were still attacking Cooper. However, Ben's neuro-laser had either killed or sent most of them running to avoid getting burned to ash.
"You alright Coop?" Ellie asked as she shot at another vampire, this one trying to jump up and latch onto her.
"Yeah, thanks for the help," Cooper replied as he shot the last of the vampires off of himself. "But my suit's pretty damaged."
"You help Sam with the civilians," Ellie suggested. "I think that Lucky Girl's fire spells would be better on these vamps anyway."
Several yards away, Kevin was going to town on the vampires that he came across. He was having no qualms with literally bashing their heads in, just like he said he'd do. He bashed another vampire on the head, the skull caving in where he hit it. Noticing no more vamps near him, he scanned the scene, looking for his next target.
"Yo!" Kevin shouted. "You vamps too chicken-shit to fight me!" He began running towards the nearest vampires, who upon seeing him, panicked, and began running away.
"Stop running!" Kevin shouted in anger. "You try to kill these innocent people, and are too big of cowards to face up to that?" He slammed his fist into the ground, pulling out several jagged chunks of the pavement. He then threw them at the vampires, hitting two of them, and stunning them. Coming up on them, he bashed their skulls in again, instantly dropping them to the ground.
In another section of the battlefield, Ben was grounded, but he finally found an opening, and shot his neuro-laser at Neb, who took the laser blast directly to the chest.
"Agh!" Neb shouted in pain as he writhed in the air. He slammed on the Omnitrix badge, exploding in a flash of light. A moment later, he was DiamondHead, refracting the laser in every direction. Of course, he began falling out of the sky. Quickly, he fired his crystal shards into the ground below him, forming it into an impromptu ramp.
Ben stopped firing his laser at Neb, and darted towards the ramp. Quickly, he slammed on his own Omnitrix, exploding in his own green light.
"Wrath!" Ben shouted as he emerged as the orange-and-black striped alien. "You listen here! You may be tough! But Wrath is gonna bring on the pain!" With that, he punched Neb's crystal ramp, shattering it. Neb was too late to create another ramp, and he slammed into the ground, creating a slight crater where he landed. Wrath decided to do a body slam, and jumped up, angling his elbow into DiamondHead's chest.
With a loud thud, Wrath made contact with his target, and started wailing on him. Neb fired several crystalline shards at Wrath, forcing him to back up to cover his eyes. Quickly, Neb changed into BuzzShock, and fired several million volts of electricity into Wrath.
"Agh!" Ben shouted in pain as his muscles spasmed. BuzzShock took a moment to charge up for another charge, which gave Ben a moment to act. He slammed down on the Omnitrix again, trying desperately to get an alien with an edge over Neb.
"LodeStar!" Ben shouted, instantly using his magnetic abilities to create an electromagnetic shield against BuzzShock's electrical attack. Neb panted, having to think on his feet and change between so many aliens was already wearing him out. In his momentary break, Ben used LodeStar's magnetic powers to lift BuzzShock up, and keep him from charging up for another attack. Angrily, Neb reached up to his Omnitrix badge, changing into another form. As Goop, he was nearly impervious to any electric or magnetic attack. Which also made him the perfect form to attack a living magnet.
With the agility that only Goop's viscous body had, he wrapped himself around LodeStar's head, both strangling him, as well as trying to pull his magnetically-suspended head from in-between his shoulders.
"You are mine, Ben," Neb said with Goop's nasally voice. "I will squeeze the life from you!" After a moment of struggling, Ben reached up and slammed his Omnitrix again.
"HeatBlast!" He shouted. As he did so, flames erupted from all over his body, singeing and burning Goop all over.
"BigChill!" Neb shouted, blowing a thick layer of ice all over HeatBlast. In response, Ben shot a column of fire back, pouring all of the heat that he could muster. But it was barely holding off Big Chill's ice ray. Going intangible, Neb flew through HeatBlast, freezing him from the inside out. For a moment, Ben was entrapped as a statue of ice.
Becoming tangible again, Neb glanced around, seeing that his vampire army weren't having any success against Team Ultra. In fact, they were quickly loosing. Still panting, he glanced at Ben, only to see that the ice around his heart had already melted, and it was growing. In a matter of seconds, he would be freed from the ice.
"No, I'm not loosing to him!" Neb shouted as he took to the sky. Below him, Ben melted through the ice, looking up to see Neb getting away. Forming a fireball in his hands, he threw it at Neb, blasting him, and sending him falling to the ground.
"Not this time, you bastard," Ben growled. "You don't escape this time!" He slammed on his Omnitrix again, emerging as StinkFly. He took off into the sky, flying towards where he shot down Neb.
Neb landed, slapping his Omnitrix badge, and reverting back to his human form. He had wanted to get farther away to get ready, but that wasn't an option he had anymore. He'd have to make do.
"He's not going to defeat me," Neb gasped as he shoved his hand into his pocket. Quickly, he brought out the Null Void projector that he had stolen. He glanced on the side of the gun.
"Three charges left," he reassured himself. "More than enough for this to work." He powered on the projector. Aiming it at the side of the nearest building, he pressed the trigger. The projector fired, opening up a portal, ready for anyone to enter through.
"If he's not here, he can't stop me," Neb muttered. He raised his wrist, twisting through the forms again before selecting the one he thought would have the best chance of shoving Ben through the portal. With a chuckle, he slammed down on the dial, emerging only a moment later as FourArms.
"You're done, Neb," Ben said in StinkFly's nasally voice.
"You're still breathing," Neb shouted back, glaring at his nemesis. "So am I!"
"We've won already," Ben shouted back. "You just won't admit it! Give up now, while we both are still breathing!"
"Make me!" Neb shouted. He tore a slab of pavement up and tossed it at StinkFly, who swerved to miss it. He fired a jet stream of goo at FourArms, trying to trip him up. However, FourArms grabbed ahold of the slime and yanked, pulling Ben towards him.
"Shit!" Ben shouted as his insect body was pulled to the ground, slamming hard against the pavement.
"You're dead, bug!" Neb shouted as he prepared to slam all four of his fists into StinkFly. However, an annoying beeping started, and in a red flash of light, Neb was in his human form.
"Yes!" Ben shouted as he got ready to slime Neb again. However, his own Omnitrix powered down, leaving him in his own human form.
"Agh!" Ben shouted as Neb punched him in the face. His fist caught Ben's mask right on the edge, sending it flying off of his face. In an instant, his suit began folding up, back into its storage mode. Ben was left in his white-and-black shirt and jeans.
Neb took advantage of Ben's NanoMech suit folding up, and slammed his elbow into his face, forcing Ben to stumble back. The suit went skittering across the ground, teetering dangerously close to the Null Void portal. Neb went for another punch to the face, which Ben blocked, and countered with a punch of his own. Now Neb stumbled backwards, stepping a little closer towards the portal. In an instant, a thought passed through Neb's mind. It might just work. But the instant of distraction gave Ben another chance to punch him in the face again, before slugging him in the ribs.
"You're going to die before you try to terrorize my friends again," Ben muttered darkly. "I won't allow you to try..."
"Look at you," Neb muttered. "You're as twisted as Newg!" He quickly blocked another punch to the face, and used the chance to punch back, following it up with a kick to Ben's side.
"I'm going to kill you," Ben replied. "And then I'm going to put her down like the monster she is!"
"Who's the real monster here?" Neb asked back, dodging a blow to his side, before taking another one to his face.
"You are!" Ben shouted. He threw a punch, missing Neb's face, but followed it up with his fists squeezing tightly around Neb's neck. Neb choked, and Ben reached up with his other fist, squeezing harder. Neb raised his hands up to try to pry Ben's fingers off of his neck. He was backed right up to the portal, almost halfway inside it.
"Look at you… A killer," Neb choked through Ben's clutch. "Maybe you have… what it takes… to give… it… your… all…" Ben grit his teeth, ready to squeeze his counterpart's life from him. Behind them, the portal began to shrink in size, the structure loosing its stability, and collapsing slowly.
Just then an image passed through his mind. An image of only a few minutes ago. The image he saw of Neb.
Of Neb squeezing the life from Lucy.
Ben gasped, for only a split-second loosening his stranglehold on Neb's neck. Neb took the opportunity to knee him between the legs, forcing Ben to let go of him. He fell to his knees, groaning in pain. Neb gasped for breath, and dived into the collapsing portal. In a moment, the portal collapsed, leaving nothing but the concrete wall of the building where it had been.
Ben coughed as the pain slowly subsided. But as it subsided, his feelings overwhelmed him. He was like Neb. He was so much like him. If he'd simply used the Omnitrix for himself, Ben was sure that he'd have been no different from Neb. And that scared him.
"I have to use this to protect the innocent, not for myself," Ben told himself. "And that means that I have to stop these villains… at any cost… Even if I have to kill them..."
A/N:
That is it for Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs! What were your thoughts? Some time ago, I said that if you only briefly see someone, there is a very good chance that they'll be back in the future! And so it was with Lucy! What were your thoughts of Lucy's fight with Neb, or of Professor Paradox's creation? Are there still loose ends to tie up? (Yes, there are a LOT!) What are some of your ideas about Volume 3? What do you think will happen, which villains will Team Ultra face first? What could I have done better in writing Volume 2? I love your feedback, so leave me a review, as well as a favorite and a follow! Hope to hear from y'all in Neb and Newg's spin-off origin story, "The Heroes That Fell," and in The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 3: Storms Gathering! Thank you so much for reading, and have an awesome day!
Review Responses:
Kingpizzathe3: Thanks for the chapter!
You are very welcome! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the volume finale!
yraj2004: Why such issues?! It's obvious that the doubles are villains in their own world, just kill them!
Yeah, that seems like the obvious answer. They are horrible people, and they should get what is coming to them. But the PLUMMERs generally imprison or banish their enemies, and to murder them would seriously mess with Ben, the team, or anyone else, just like we saw at the end of this chapter. As always, it's more complicated then it looks, and certainly more complicated than it should be! Thanks for the review!
Ushindi: Amazing chapter! I'm looking forward to Volume 3 of Ultra 10 Chronicles, I have a feeling it's going to have intense chapters. I'm curious on the origins of Neb and Newg, and that title "The Heroes That Fell" implies that in their universe, they were heroes until something bad happened that changed them, and they become who they are now. I can't blame Gwen for being worried for Ben, he's close on going to the time where he was going to kill Dr Animo.
Thanks for the compliment! I'm glad you liked it! Yeah, I can't wait to start pumping out chapters for The U10C: THTF! Yeah, that's definitely what the title suggests! We'll get to see what twisted Neb's universe into the dystopian nightmare that he was so eager to get back to! And for a little teaser, that curse that was plaguing Neb is going to have a major role in his descent.
As for Ben, he's teetering on the edge of becoming like Neb. And we're going to have to see if the team can pull him back this time, or if new allegiances are going to have to be drawn! Thanks for reading!