Kevin furiously wiped at his face with water, trying his best to get this ever persistent memory out of his head.
It had become a pretty bad habit for him to suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, the sound of a blaster echoing through his head for hours on end.
Something had to be done about Morgg. He never knew what became of the prison after he left, and part of him hadn't ever wanted to find out after he had gotten out. But if there was a chance he could do what was right... rid himself of this memory that had bothered him for so long...
"You alright?" someone asked, and Kevin turned to see it was Harvey standing there in night clothes. The sight of his stepfather immediately got Kevin to suck down whatever emotions he was feeling, shaking his hands free of water.
"I'm fine," Kevin said gruffly, moving to head out of the bathroom. But Harvey didn't move aside. "Get out of the way."
"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" the older man asked.
"No. And even if I did, I wouldn't want to talk about it with you," Kevin said, narrowing his eyes.
"We've had this problem before," Harvey said.
"And we're going to keep having it. Whatever my mom decides to do is her business, but that doesn't mean I have to like you," Kevin told him.
"No. It doesn't. But that doesn't mean we can't at least act neutral around each other," Harvey said.
"I don't like being around you, so I don't whenever possible. That's as neutral as it's gonna get. But if you don't move from the doorway, it's gonna get hostile real quick," Kevin said.
Harvey sighed before adjusting his body to the side, letting Kevin pass. The Osmosian knew it was likely too late to bother Gwen and Ben with the idea he had, so it could wait until morning.
"Can you do it?" Gwen asked, her arms crossed.
"With just stuff I've got lying around? No. There's no material on Earth that could let me build a machine that lets me tamper with other alien powers," Cooper said, making Gwen sigh.
"I was afraid you'd say that. Do you have any ideas as to what you need?" she asked.
"Well..." Cooper rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "..,if there was some sort of device that could remove and store energy, then I could use that and potentially make a device to remove Aggregor's powerset and release it. That could help. Otherwise, I'm pretty short on ideas."
"I'll see if I can find anything in the texts I picked up from Hex and Charmcaster's place. There's got to be some sort of artifact that could help us," Gwen said thoughtfully, giving Cooper a second glance. "You're secure here, right? There isn't any chance Aggregor's goons could just break in here?"
"Even if they could get in, it wouldn't be before I could contact you or Ben. And the two of you can just teleport here," Cooper said.
"Good point. Thanks for your help with this Cooper," Gwen told him in a grateful tone.
"I'm always glad to help you guys out," Cooper said, his face turning a bright red.
"And we appreciate it," Gwen said before bringing up the time on her Plumber's badge. "It's still pretty early. Ben's likely still debating with Alien X, and Kevin's probably off doing something else. I can put some time into seeing if the artifact we need really exists."
"Wait," Cooper said suddenly as Gwen was about to teleport away. Then he immediately looked embarrassed when she turned her curious gaze onto him. "I-I just thought I should let you know that that there's a rumor floating around about you."
"Me?" Gwen questioned thoughtfully. "Normally Ben's the one who gets all the rumors started on him."
"Well, that's cause the rumor concerns Ben as much as it does you. Some people are saying you two are dating, and... well, it spread. Fast," Cooper told her.
"Uh-huh." Cooper was surprised to see Gwen smile at his words. "Well, I'm not worried about it."
"You're not?" Copper questioned.
"No. It's uh... actually true," Gwen said, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.
"It's... what?" Cooper asked, looking perplexed at the statement.
"It's still not a well known fact cause we haven't exactly shouted it to the world, but... yeah. I'm dating Ben," Gwen said before giving Cooper a wary look. "Please tell me you aren't gonna freak out about that."
"I'm thinking about it," Cooper said, his voice full of shock before he sat down.
"This is always awkward to explain to people that I know," Gwen said, twiddling her thumbs nervously. "It's going to be even worse once everyone finds out that the rumor isn't actually a rumor."
"Well... how did it happen?" Cooper asked.
"You really want to know? I mean, I'm going to be a little blunt here and say that I know you liked me at some point," Gwen said, making Cooper flush deeply. "Sorry, too much?"
"That is blunt," he said, and Gwen shook her head with a chuckle. "But, uh... no. I actually did still think you were great."
"Oh." Gwen sighed before looking Cooper dead in the face. "Listen, if you makes you feel any better, I doubt I would've gone out with anyone that wasn't Ben. I'm pretty particular when it comes to most stuff."
"That I've noticed. But now I really feel like I have to know. Why Ben? Out of potentially anyone else?" Cooper asked.
"The simplest way I can put it is that... he's just Ben. The reasons would take too long to list," Gwen said before giving Cooper a reassuring smile. "You're an amazing guy Cooper, but I'm not the girl for you. Even considering your major growth spurt."
"I actually thought it'd get you to notice me a little more," Cooper admitted with a nervous smile.
"It did. Just not in the way you were hoping. So while I can't be the girl of your dreams, I can give you some advice," Gwen said, and Cooper tilted his head in curiosity. "Do yourself a favor. Work those nerdy charms on a girl that isn't me. It wouldn't hurt to add the fact that you save lives for a living. Plumbers aren't well known to the public, but we aren't necessarily secret."
"None of those girls are you, though," Cooper said, and Gwen gave him a kind smile.
"No, but I'm taken. And there are plenty of women in this galaxy that would be into a guy as sweet as you," the Anodite said, giving him a reassuring smile. "It's never a good idea to waste your time waiting for something that might never come. Because life certainly isn't going to wait for you. Believe me. I know."
And on that note, Gwen teleported away.
"Now we bring to the table motion eighty million and three - Saving the dinosaurs from extinction."
Ben was floating in midair while his body was positioned as if he were reclining in a chair. Ever since yesterday morning, he had been sitting here deliberating with Bellicus and Serena. He figured he would try and get some of Alien X's workload out of the way as a way to make it potentially easier to convince them, but this was getting ridiculous.
At least his third vote and sound reasoning behind everything helped the debates last no longer than a few minutes. Plus he didn't really get tired, thankfully. Though bored was an entirely different story.
"He's against it," Serena told Ben.
"Just listen. I'm sure I can win you over," Bellicus said with an assured smirk on his face.
"Don't have to. I'm also against," Ben said.
"But why? You would undo the complete annihilation of a species lost to the world," Serena said.
"Ben just sees it the way I do. They all got bombed to pieces for a reason," Bellicus said.
"You're being obstinate again," Serena said.
"Am not," Bellicus said stubbornly.
"We're not doing this again guys. Come on. Let's stay focused on actually solving stuff," Ben said, keeping his tone level and patient.
"Yes. Agreed. In any case, the dinosaurs aren't coming back," Bellicus said.
"What is your reasoning?" Serena asked.
"Because if we were to reverse what happened to the dinosaurs, two things could happen as a result. One, dinosaurs could probably wipe out most of, if not all of the people that would arrive in the future. That alone could have a bunch of negative results for the present that I for one, definitely don't want."
"Or, by the time people start living on Earth, they learn how to hunt and kill dinosaurs until they're either extinct anyway or just an endangered species. We have a habit of doing that with a lot of animals," Ben finished.
"Very valid points," Serena said. "You think very long term."
"It's what's best for events like these. And trying to reverse anything that's already happened a long time ago tends to do more harm than good. I mean, us as Alien X can do pretty much anything, but we don't know the consequences of making those actions. So we have no idea how harmful our decisions can be to humans and aliens alike until we actually do it," Ben explained. "In that way, I'd argue that trying to reverse stuff that's already happened isn't worth as much of our time."
"This is similar that current events thing you brought up on our first congregation, yes?" Bellicus asked.
"Similar to that, yeah. More current events have consequences that are a lot easier to predict, and typically have good effects. Like when we stopped Aggregor from absorbing the powers of a baby Celestialsapien," Ben said, not even paying attention to the way Bellicus' and Serena's eyes widened in surprise. "We stopped a madman from taking over the universe. Simple as that. No negative consequences."
"This Aggregor went to the Forge of Creation?!" Bellicus roared, and Ben wasn't expecting the outburst. He said that so he could casually transition into the conversation, but it looked as if that was unnecessary.
"Well, we stopped him before he got the chance to, but.."
"Regardless, the fact that he even made the attempt deserves nothing short of a heinous punishment," Bellicus said, the corner of his mouth twitching in furious rage.
"New motion added, given the new current events clause," Serena said furiously, and Ben hadn't ever seen the woman look angry until now. "Proposal to destroy this Aggregor and any remnant of his legacy."
"Seconded," Bellicus said.
"Wait! Wait! He also had bunch of aliens absorbed into his body! We can't release them yet! If you kill him now, they'll be gone for eternity!" Ben exclaimed.
"That isn't our problem," Bellicus said.
"Well, it is my problem," Ben said before looking to Serena. "You agree to kill him without letting those aliens free first, and you'll be murdering them too. I'm not saying to not punish him how you see fit. I just want the people he absorbed to be safe."
Alarm flashed on Serena's face after his statement, and Ben quickly took that opportunity to start speaking.
"Prior motion to destroying Aggregor: Release the aliens that are bound to him so that they survive and only he's the one destroyed," he offered.
"Seconded," Serena said, and Ben visually sagged with relief. That almost got really bad, really fast.
"Motion carried," Bellicus said before Aggregor was teleported within Alien X's consciousness.
"Tennyson?" he said, looking at the Anodite with his eyes narrowed. "What is this?"
"This is your judgement, Osmosian trespasser," Serena said before every single alien that was tied to Aggregor was released from his DNA.
Ben shook his head. Just like that. A decision was made, and something that would've been an absolute pain to cure in the real world was just done in an instant. The power of this alien really was staggering. He didn't think it was possible, but he was even more glad they managed to stop Aggregor.
"Aggregor!" P'andor said in a furious tone before holding his hand out. But he couldn't shoot anything at the Osmosian. "Why can't I do anything?"
"Because the only people who have any power here is me, Serena, and Ben Tennyson," Bellicus said in a gruff tone. "The four of you can discuss what you need to with our third voice later. But that one there is who we have business with."
"You had the powers of a Celestialsapien in that device, and you didn't think to stop me with that sooner?" Aggregor said, giving Ben a mocking smirk. "You truly are a fool with power, Tennyson."
"Shut it," Ben snapped at him.
"It doesn't matter as far as you're concerned," Bellicus said before Aggregor exploded.
And it was no small thing - like he disappeared in a poof of dust. No. This was a giant explosion of gore that was so sudden and violent, no one could have seen it coming. Though none of his remains stayed. As quickly as he was blown apart, all pieces of him disappeared just as fast.
"How did you..." Bivalvan trailed.
"Alien X has agreed it should happen. And so it did. That's all there is to it. In a unanimous vote, no less. Him exploding is just as painful of a death as we could give him that wouldn't waste a significant amount of our time," Bellicus told him with a tilt of the head that almost seemed like a shrug.
"That is a warning to all who would trespass upon the Forge without express permission," Serena said with a stern expression. Ben suddenly got why Serena was a voice in a Celestialsapien's body - she could look fierce when provoked.
"Very... messy," Gallapagus said softly.
"Yes. But those who unrightfully trespass upon the Forge get messy deaths," Bellicus said before turning to Ben. "You got business to sort out with this bunch?"
"Yeah. I do," Ben told him.
"Then go take care of it," Bellicus said, and Ben nodded immediately transforming back to his Anodite body. Thankfully, turning back was the one thing Ben didn't need permission to do anymore.
He had taken the form of Alien X while in the Plumber's headquarters, and it had given several Plumbers a nasty shock when Ben transformed back with four aliens around him.
"It's alright," he assured the Plumbers that raised weapons. "It's just me."
"You really did it?" Bivalvan said.
"I said I would, didn't I?" Ben told him with a smile. "I didn't really decide anything on the whole making Aggregor explode thing, but I can't say I'm going to miss him."
"Good riddance, I say. He should consider himself lucky that I never got my hands on him," P'andor said, tightening a fist angrily.
"What happened to Ra'ad?" Bivalvan asked.
"We managed to get him away from Aggregor's clutches. He's safe on his planet. And that's where I'm gonna get you four back to," Ben said before narrowing his eyes at P'andor. "Just don't come back to Earth causing trouble, alright?"
"Fine," P'andor said, waving a dismissive hand. "I suppose I owe you that much."
"Thank you for your help Ben Tennyson," Gallapagus said in a kind tone.
"Andreas glad you saved him and friends," Andreas said, making Ben give the alien a warm smile.
"Well, you saved a bunch of people first. Figured the least we could do is return the favor. Now all that's left to do is get you a shuttle home. With no Aggregor chasing you," he told the aliens, eliciting a visible smile from Gallapagus. He could tell the other aliens were happy about it as well.
Regardless of how well things turned out in the end, Ben didn't think he would feel very comfortable running to Alien X again to fix his problems.
"You convinced them?" Gwen asked as Ben sipped on his smoothie.
"Eventually, yeah. Had to get through hours worth of debating to get there, but yeah. The aliens are on a shuttle back home," he said.
"What about Aggregor?" Gwen asked, taking a sip from her own smoothie. "Cooper called and told me he disappeared out of his cell."
"He's dead. Bellicus and Serena decided that what he did was worth being completely destroyed, and honestly? There's no way I could disagree with that conclusion. I had no input in the decision, but... that just makes it easier on my conscience," Ben said with a shrug. Then he shook his head. "I know that sounds kind of horrible to say..."
"It's not a bad thing to be glad a bad person can no longer do bad things. I doubt anyone in the universe would disagree. And a Celestialsapien deciding to kill the guy that almost murdered a baby version of their race is completely fair in of itself. It's probably what the rest of them would've done had they actually been paying attention," Gwen explained. "The decision being out of your hands regardless is better for everyone overall."
"I guess you're right about that. But let's not worry about that anymore. It's done and over with. Aggregor is dealt with, and the aliens are safe. That's mission accomplished in my book. As for you Gwendolyn Tennyson..." Ben grinned in a way that had her raising a challenging eyebrow. "You and me are due for some serious downtime."
"Oh? You do realize if that smoothie is what I think it is..." Ben put the straw in her mouth while she was talking, and she reflexively took a sip.
"Blueberry," Ben said with a grin.
"Downtime granted," Gwen said before pulling him into a kiss. After all the mess Aggregor put them through, this was just what the doctor ordered.
Not long after they locked lips, Ben could see out of the corner of his eye that there were several people looking at them with their phones held up. Their expressions were a mix between distasteful and awkward.
Gwen noticed his gaze wasn't on her during the kiss, so she put a hand under his chin to direct his vision back to her.
"Ignore them. It's already a rumor. This'll just make the whispering become full on yelling," she told him once she pulled back.
"That's not much better," Ben said.
"True. But hey. With any luck, the fact that Ben Tennyson kisses his cousin might make you a lot less desirable to other girls," Gwen said with a bright smile.
"I'll be glad for the break if so," Ben said before shaking his empty smoothie cup. "You want another?"
"Nah. I want something to eat, and this time, I'm buying. You've bought the last ten of my smoothies already," Gwen said before teleporting her wallet to her hand. "I do have money, you know."
"I know. But I do it cause I want to. Fair warning though: You might regret offering to buy for me. This body's hungry," Ben said with a smirk.
"That's cause you're always hungry - I doubt that changes no matter what body you're in," Gwen said before smoothly sliding across the hood of Ben's car to the passenger's side. Then she shot him a warm smile over her shoulder. "Let's get going hero."
"Gladly," Ben said, shamelessly staring at the redhead in front of him. But the moment he sat down in the driver's seat, the phone installed in his car started ringing. "Hey Kevin."
"You and Gwen got time?" Kevin asked.
"We got all the aliens out of Aggregor, so yeah. Plenty. Please tell me you're not calling on Plumber business," Ben asked in a tone that was almost pleading.
"Maybe. It's... look, it's personal, and I really don't want to explain it over the phone. Just meet me down at your grandpa's RV," Kevin said before disconnecting the call.
"What do you think this is about?" Ben asked.
"I don't know, but I really hope it's not a Ragnorak situation," Gwen said.
"Something tells me it just might be," Ben said before starting the car.
"What's wrong?" Ben asked as he and Gwen stepped out of the car.
"I'll explain more once we're inside. I want your grandpa's input on this too," Kevin said before moving towards the Rust Bucket.
His knuckles sharply hit the door, and from the inside, all three teens could hear two disappointed sighs. There was a flash of pink light that could be seen through the small door cracks, and the door opened.
"I was hoping you three would have you own activities to do," Verdona said, shaking her head in exasperation.
"Er... sorry," Kevin said with an awkward look on his face. "This one's kinda on me."
"It's alright son. Though I certainly wished you had picked a more appropriate time," Max said, standing up from the makeshift loveseat Verdona had made where two bunk beds used to be.
"You're telling me..." Ben muttered before glancing at Gwen, who had also looked at him.
"I just wanted to ask you about something. And whether or not it'll be a problem," Kevin said, making everyone frown.
"What is it?" Max asked.
"The Null Void Incarcecon. What do you know about it?" Kevin asked, making Max frown.
"It's a prison deep in the Null Void - designed to hold repeat offenders from across the galaxy. It's been around for a long time too. Why do you want to know about it?" the ex-Plumber asked.
"I was there when I was a kid. And I've got some old memories there that I'd rather forget, but can't. And they're all because of one of the guards there," Kevin told him.
"Well, there aren't any people working as guards. Not since the new warden took over. He's using his own particular branch of robots as security. But the Plumbers aren't an official branch in that prison, so the warden has all of the say of who works what," Max explained, frowning in thought. "Can't really remember his name."
"Is it a scum sucking slug by the name of Morgg?" Kevin asked, his voice filled with a calm rage.
"Why do you want to know all of this? I'm not saying another word otherwise," Max told him.
"I figured you'd say that," Kevin said with a deep sigh.
"This sounds like it might take a little while, so I'll step out. I'll be back in a few minutes," Verdona said, giving Max a kiss on the cheek. Then she waved at her grandchildren, who waved back before she disappeared in a flash of light.
"This is a Ragnorak situation, isn't it?" Ben asked after a few moments of silence.
"Similar. Remember when I told you what happened with that Tetramand? First time I killed somebody?" Kevin asked, making both Ben and Gwen nod. "After that, I had a lot of anger and had no idea what to do with it. So I took it out on the rest of the prisoners. That's how I met Kwarrel."
"He took one look at me, and didn't give me a response that was angry, scared, or some arrogant bullshit. All he told me was to cool off."
"Not the kind of response you expect from just a regular prisoner," Gwen said.
"That's cause he wasn't. Kwarrel was in that place for almost twenty years before he met me. Guess that's why he was as wise as he was. And knew how to fight. Even with all the power I had, I didn't have a chance in that fight. But he kept me conscious long enough for me to hear him when said that I should come to him if I ever wanted to control my anger," Kevin explained.
"And you took him up on his offer," Max said.
"Being in the Null Void was the lowest I had ever been in my life. I accidentally killed a guy cause I took my bitterness against Tennyson out on him. I had no friends, and I had no hope of ever getting back to my family at the time. Kwarrel changed all of that for me," Kevin said, sitting down on the loveseat in the back.
"You want to know why I was a person you had any hope of redeeming? Him. Kwarrel showed me how to stop feeling so angry all the time; how to stop hating what I saw when I looked at my reflection. While helping me control my powers in the process," he said, opening and closing his fist. The look on his face was raw grief, and everyone in attendance had sympathetic expressions on their faces. "From what I understand, he did that for a lot of prisoners who had a bunch of bad times in their life."
"He sounds like a really stand up guy," Max said. He could already tell where this story was going. "If there were more prisoners like him, I'd reckon most criminals could've changed their lives around like you did."
"Maybe. Though if they're anything like Vilgax or Ragnorak, I wouldn't hold my breath," Kevin said before his gaze turned angry. "But where there's good, there's an equal amount of bad. And that bad took the form of a guard called Morgg. Everyone in the prison knew he was scum. He had no problem using his position to his advantage of other prisoners' detriment."
"I think we can figure out the rest of the story from there. You don't have to tell it if you don't want to," Ben assured him, but Kevin shook his head.
"No. I need to talk about this for once in my life," he said, and Ben nodded in understanding.
"Not long after Kwarrel helped me cure myself, he told me he had been working on a way out. He got life, so he was never getting out. And I could only assume my sentence wasn't that far off. It didn't matter. I would've followed him anywhere."
"There was a riot that day." Kevin's voice didn't change from its flat delivery, but you could hear the emphasis put on 'that day' just because of the phrasing itself. "Me and Kwarrel took that chance to try and escape."
"But Morgg was waiting for us in the tunnel when we got in there. And he had no plans on taking us back alive. Kwarrel tackled him to the ground and wrestled with him - told me to run. When I could've just grabbed his blaster and made him give up. I didn't even have to shoot him. Just made him think that I would," Kevin said before looking away with an ashamed look on his face.
"But I didn't. I was a coward. So I ran," he said, looking up at his friends with a grim look in his eyes. "The sound of Morgg's blaster haunts me to this day. It's what woke me up in the middle of the night. It's why I'm coming forward with this now."
"It wasn't your fault Kevin. No one could fault you for being scared," Gwen said.
"I can. Because if I had the nerve to stay and fight, Kwarrel would still be alive," Kevin told her.
"Or the both of you could've gotten killed. You can't waste time brooding on what could have been or what should have been. I've been there several times, and it never got me anywhere," Ben told him.
"To answer your question, yes," Max said, passing a touchpad to him. It had an image of Morgg, and his occupation as the Null Void Incarcecon warden. "The question is what you plan on doing if you decide to go there."
"I think the answer is fairly obvious," Kevin said in a dark tone.
"Hold up Kevin," Gwen said, raising a hand.
"You actually need to think about how you want to go about this," Max said, giving the teenager a serious look. "First and foremost, you are a Plumber. You can't just go out and kill prison wardens because of something that happened years ago."
"And why not? Did you just hear what I told you?" Kevin said furiously.
"Yes I did. But you have to stop for a moment, and think," Max told him. "You had a vendetta against Ragnorak, but you pursuing that vendetta was different than pursuing this one. Guess how."
"Ragnorak was a wanted criminal," Kevin said.
"Exactly. And not only that, he destroyed stars for a living and murdered your father. So you got a pass for him - because even though Plumbers are supposed to strictly bring criminals in alive if possible, the chance that he wouldn't let himself be brought in alive gave you plausible deniability. But you killing a prison warden will not slide. Especially since you have no evidence against him as well as a history with that prison," Max explained.
"You're right," Kevin said sourly. As much as he hated to admit it, Morgg was clean as far as the Plumbers were concerned. And who would try and find justice for a criminal who was killed trying to escape?
"You and Ben both got away with killing the people you did because those criminals were notorious for being dangerous, but this would not fly - no way, no how. You'd lose your badge, and that's if they let you off easy," Max told him.
"So we have to do this by the book," Gwen said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah. The problem is that no Plumber is allowed on Incarcecon considering it's a private prison, and we don't have any authority without probable cause," Max said.
"If that in of itself isn't suspicious enough..." Gwen trailed.
"Don't worry. We'll make our own probable cause," Ben said before grabbing the touchpad. After a few moments, he smiled.
"You've got a plan," Kevin said when he saw the look on his face.
"Next trade ship for Incarcecon doesn't arrive until tomorrow. And the teleporter on Incarcecon is only one way, considering Plumbers aren't traditionally allowed on site. So if we conveniently had a reason to suspect someone might want Morgg dead..." Ben trailed.
"We'd have to stay in the prison until it arrives," Kevin said, smiling for the first time since they entered the Rust Bucket.
"You always seem to have a plan," Gwen said, making Ben smile.
"It's a gift," he said.
"Alright. If you can find anything to pin on Morgg, then you'll have the authority to arrest him. But concerning what to do with him..." Max said, looking to Kevin. "...I would do this the right way if I were you. If you can take him alive, do it. If you can't... then that's your decision to make."
"You want me to let him walk away?" Kevin asked.
"I'm asking you to be a Plumber. I won't sugar coat this regardless of what the rules say. Some people deserve to be put down due to the threat they posed to other people - plain and simple. Vilgax did. Ragnorak did. Aggregor did. But if you can't learn to let some people go when the situation calls for it, then you've got no business being a Plumber," Max told him before looking to Ben. "That goes double for you as well."
Ben nodded while Kevin looked thoughtful. Finally, he nodded mutely before standing to his feet, both Tennyson cousins following him right out of the door.
"So? How are you going to do this?" Ben asked.
"Even I don't know. I guess we'll find out when we get there," Kevin said before walking towards his car.
"You aren't supposed to be here" were the first words that came out of Morgg's mouth, and Ben suspected he wouldn't have liked the warden even if he met the guy on neutral terms.
"A prison isn't exactly a place we like to visit during our free time either, but we wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. We have reason to believe someone in this prison wants you dead," Gwen told him.
"Everyone in this prison wants me dead, little lady. It comes with the job," Morgg said with a smirk. "But I assure you, I am perfectly safe. Now I appreciate your concern, but I'd appreciate it even more if you'd just leave my facility."
"Alright. But don't say we didn't warn you. We'll just go back the way we came," Ben said, turning back to the teleporter.
"The teleporter's only one way. It gives criminals who managed to make it this far nowhere to go," Morgg said.
"And the only thing that comes in and out of prisons like these aside from that are the supply transport ships. When's the next one supposed to arrive?" Ben asked, looking to Morgg.
"Tomorrow," the warden said, narrowing his eyes. Ben could hardly stop himself from smirking.
"Then we'll wait," Gwen said as Morgg called a robot over.
"Show these two to temporary quarters, and keep them comfortable until the supply ship arrives," he told the robot.
"Appreciated," Ben said as the robot lead them away.
As they were walking, Ben raised an eyebrow when he saw a prisoner moving a mining cart down a hallway. There was nothing in the records about this place being a labor camp. That immediately set off a few alarm bells.
"These will be your quarters until the supply ship arrives," the robot said, pointing to a relatively clean cell. Once Ben was sure it was clear, he pulled a miniature Kevin out of his jacket pocket.
"Hearing Morgg's voice that loud was almost enough to make me jump out of your pocket," he said as Gwen returned him to his original size.
"He would've known who you were the moment he saw you, and we're trying to avoid him having have his guard up. If he really is up to no good, then us being here period is probably enough to make him wary at the least," Ben said.
"You can say that again," Gwen said as she was pulling at the door. "It's locked."
"Unfortunately for him, the door's made out of metal," Ben said before dialing the Omnitrix and transforming. "Ultimate Lodestar!"
All it took was a few twitches of his fingers, and the locks disengaged. The door swung open almost immediately due to his proximity.
"Let's get moving. I have no doubt these things will start blasting the moment they see us out of the cell," Ultimate Lodestar said.
"I'll make that easier on us," Gwen said before raising both her hands. "Invisibus!"
The three of them didn't exactly turn invisible, but their figures were faded to the point where they were basically see through. If they stood still in a spot long enough, they'd fade into the background to an untrained eye. It was enough to at least avoid being detected by the robots.
Looking down at the hallway Ben saw earlier, the three teens could see that a prisoner was pushing another mining cart down the hall, same as the last one.
"This prison isn't a mining colony. It isn't listed as any sort of labor camp. So why are they pushing mining equipment down there?" Gwen asked.
"Don't know. But all I care about is if it's enough to deal with Morgg," Kevin said before moving towards the hall.
"Well, if it is something illegal, then it's likely the reason he replaced all the guards with robots. And it has to do with whatever they're mining down here," Gwen said as they went down the mine shaft.
"It won't be a secret for long, that's for sure," Ultimate Lodestar said.
"I'm sorry to hear you say that," Morgg said from behind them, getting all three of them to turn around. "I'm even more sorry that you disobeyed my orders and that the other prisoners got to you before I could save you. How did this scum even get in here?"
"The only scum around here is you, Morgg," Kevin said, putting a hand on Ben and absorbing the metal he was made out of. Gwen dropped the invisibility spell, since Kevin's metal was giving him away anyway.
"Don't make too big a mess," Morgg said before walking away.
"You're not walking away free, scumbag! Not this time!" Kevin bellowed before charging forward.
The robots that were with Morgg started firing at them, but their shots bounced off Kevin's armor and he easily plowed through the group of them with little effort.
The warden had turned around just in time to see Kevin's fist barreling right towards his face, breaking his nose and sending him flying through the air.
"Ben, we need to..."
"Got it," Ultimate Lodestar said before holding out a hand. Immediately, the robots that were shooting at them stopped before instantly being crumpled up into a ball as if there were two giant hands squeezing them.
"You're supposed to be in charge of rehabilitating the prisoners you watch over. But you just exploit them to make a quick buck. You weren't even half the man Kwarrel was," Kevin said in a vicious tone as he knocked Morgg into a wall hard enough to break some of the stone.
"You can have half the profits. All of them. Anything. Just let me go," the warden said, uneasily getting to his feet while Kevin was still approaching.
"Yeah? Can I have Kwarrel back?" the Osmosian said, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him further into the stone behind him.
But when Kevin knocked Morgg into the wall, a bunch of the blue dust lodged in the wall was floating around the impact area. Both him and Morgg caught a large whiff of it.
Kevin shook his head before looking back at Morgg, who had morphed into Ragnorak. For Morgg, Kevin had morphed into Kwarrel.
"You again," Kevin said venomously, morphing his hand into a blade. "Doesn't matter how many times you come back. I'll kill you as many times as it takes."
"Don't do it Kevin!" Ultimate Lodestar exclaimed, causing the Osmosian to turn around. And both his and Gwen's appearances had also shifted into Ragnorak.
"How'd you even survive? I vaporized you!" Morgg exclaimed angrily before Kevin dropped him unceremoniously.
"Three of you? How is this... What did you do with my friends?!" Kevin growled, and the two cousins looked shocked at the declaration.
"We are your friends!" Gwen exclaimed, but the statement fell on deaf ears before Kevin rushed at them. Ben had to take ahold of the metal on his body to stop him from trying to slice them to ribbons.
"What's wrong with him?" he questioned.
"I don't know. But you can't let him go until he's thinking straight," Gwen said as the metal dropped from Kevin's body. Then he immediately absorbed the ground underneath him before leaping at Ben, who fell backwards from his weight. Ben used his feet in order to launch the Osmosian off of him.
"Get Morgg. I'll handle Kevin," Ultimate Lodestar said before transforming into Fasttrack. "Wake up Kevin! It's me! Ben!"
"Murderer," Kevin said, and the word as well as the venom it was said with made Ben flinch as if Kevin had hit him. But it only took him a moment to recover and speed at Kevin, running circles around him fast enough to pull him in a cyclone.
After a few moments of running, Ben eventually let his friend fall to the ground with a plop. The Osmosian blinked rapidly before everything started to clear up.
Turning around, he looked over at Ben, who was looking at him warily while his fists were raised in a defensive position.
"I'm good. Thanks Ben," Kevin said while rubbing his eyes.
"What happened to you?" Fasttrack said, slamming the dial on his chest to turn back into his Anodite form.
"It was the dust in the walls. I started hallucinating - thought you were Ragnorak," Kevin said, shaking his head. Then he gave Ben an apologetic look. "I didn't mean what I said. I was..."
"It's fine. You weren't yourself. Besides, as far I'm concerned, I didn't do anything to Vilgax that he didn't deserve," Ben said before looking at Gwen, who was walking behind them with an unconscious Morgg bound and gagged on a mana platform.
"Got him. You managed to snap him out of whatever funk he was in?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah. It also helped us figure out what his business is here is," Ben said, smashing a hole in the wall with a punch and grabbing a handful of dust. "This stuff has some hallucinogenic effects, and I can only guess Morgg had the prisoners mining this stuff."
"Well, in any case, he willingly set his security drones on authorized Plumbers of the law. He's not getting a light sentence for that, much less whatever we can nail him for," Gwen said before looking to Kevin. "Unless..."
"Let him rot in jail. As far as I'm concerned, he deserves a lot more. But I won't mind if Morgg has to sit behind the same cell Kwarrel did. I think he would've preferred it this way," Kevin said, looking down in the mines.
"He would've been proud of you, you know," Ben said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. Kevin looked at Morgg before back at his hands.
"I'd like to think so too," he said before pulling out his Plumber's badge. "Now let's get someone running this prison who doesn't deserve to have the shit kicked out of them."
A/N: Yeah, I decided to mix Aggregor's death with Kevin's whole thing with Morgg. Neither of them would've made for a chapter of a length I considered decent after how short the Aggregor catch was, so I decided to mix the two.
