What DNA can tell us, part II


Ben


A few minutes ago, Verdona's house.

"Gwen, you don't have to go," Ben said, very worried. Yes, he wanted to confront Albedo, but he didn't want Gwen to risk herself by coming with him.

Gwen cupped his face in her hands, and began to gently rub her fingers on his cheeks. Her touch was so soft and gentle ... "I will not abandon you, Doofus. Not now, not ever," Gwen said in a sweet but firm voice. "If you don't want me to go, fine, but you won't go either. We can go to my house, watch Netflix, eat popcorn, and leave Albedo and Sunny for S.E.C.T. to take care of. It's your decision, baby cuz."

Now it was he who was almost giving up the idea of going to fight Albedo and Sunny. Spending some time with that gorgeous green-eyed redhead alone at her house - since her parents were at work - seemed so much better than facing supervillains...

"I-I ... I th-think..." And then he realized it. "Hey! You're doing it on purpose! You're flirting with me so I give up on fighting!" Ben took a step back.

Gwen giggled. "I'm just trying to keep you safe, cuz. You almost died yesterday. I really think you should sit this one out. I was just using my feminine charms in my favor," She said with a mischievous smirk.

"You know, I think Charmcaster and Verdona are terrible influences on you." Ben looked at the two other witches.

"If you want to go, that's fine, but I'm your partner and I'll be there watching your back." Gwen was very determined.

Ben knew that this discussion was going nowhere, and whoever S.E.C.T. had sent to face Albedo's team could be in trouble, the sooner he got there, the better.

"Okay, okay, Dweeb. We will do this together." Ben slammed the Omnitrix and turned into Diamondhead. He would need a very powerful alien to face Albedo.

Gwen used her spell to change her appearance and dress in her Lucky Girl costume, while Verdona conjured the portal.

Diamondhead took a quick glance around after crossing the portal. That place used to be a mansion back in the day, but now, it had turned into a war zone.

There was a fat Tetramand lying on the floor, moaning in pain. There was a dead Yeti with his head melted. Some kind of humanoid porcupine was curled under a table, clearly hiding from the fight. There was a Werewolf biting a man's arm, and swinging him around like a ragdoll. Ben's first instinct was to help the man, but he soon realized that his skin was too pale, his ears too pointy, and his canine teeth too sharp. The man was a vampire. So Ben decided not to get involved in that.

Then he saw who he was looking for. Sunny, in her evolved energy form, the huge ogre Antonio and an alien that resembled Diamondhead, but magenta-colored and not as bulky. This alien certainly was Albedo. The trio was cornering a young man who probably wasn't much older than Ben. "I DON'T NEED THEM!" The boy shouted, "I AM KEVIN FREAKING ELEVEN, AND I CAN DESTROY AN ENTIRE ARMY SINGLE-HANDED!" Despite his confidence, Ben knew that 'Kevin' guy would need help.

"It's time for round two, Albedo!" Diamondhead shouted, drawing Albedo's attention to himself.

Diamondhead noticed a smile on the evolved alien's face. Albedo flew in his direction. "Freak. This evolved Diamondhead can fly."

"How fitting it is that you are using the alien form of a Petrosapien, child," the villain laughed, "meet Chromastone, the ultimate Petrosapien."

Diamondhead was nervous. Very nervous. But he had a plan. He tried to appear confident. "Ultimate? Don't make me laugh. Your device is broken. This alien is nothing but an anorexic Diamondhead."

Chromastone stretched his arm in Diamondhead's direction. His hands lit up in a rainbow colored light, firing a powerful blast. Diamondhead barely managed to create a crystal shield to defend himself against the attack. But pissing off Albedo was part of the plan.

Lucky Girl looked at him in concern, but Diamondhead nodded at her in an "it's all under control" way, trying to look far more confident than he really was. After all, he didn't want to appear afraid in front of his opponent nor in front of the girl he liked.


Kevin


Kevin was sure he could take on those three alone. He had been through worse. Even so, he wouldn't complain about the unexpected and sudden help from a Petrosapien and a girl.

The Petrosapien caught the attention of Albedo and began to fight with him. The girl ran toward Sunny, Antonio and Kevin. Her hands flashed in a blue light. Kevin recognized her from the archives of S.E.C.T. She was a witch, and her codename was Lucky Girl. She was even hotter in person.

"Lucky Girl," Sunny spoke, "last time I said that a quick death was too good for you and my sister, but since it seems that killing you is the only way to get you out of my way, that's what I'm going to do."

Kevin decided to help Lucky Girl with Sunny - obviously because helping her now would make it easy for him to sleep with her later. He charged in Sunny's direction, but before he could attack the witch he was punched away by Antonio.

"Antonio loves Sunny! Antonio will not let anyone hurt Sunny!" The ogre shouted.

Kevin spat blood. He was angry now. "If you love her so much, take some of her magic!" His hands glowed purple and he fired a blast of mana at the ogre.

Antonio grunted in pain, but didn't stop. Kevin now fired a continuous blast of mana at the ogre, but he still kept advancing toward him. Kevin intensified the blast, and Antonio's screams of pain increased, but it still wasn't enough to stop him. Antonio was able to kick Kevin's stomach, sending him flying towards a wall. Kevin vomited and spat even more blood, starting to feel groggy and in pain.

"Playtime is over," Kevin thought.

Kevin hated his father. But one thing important he had learned from him. Devin always carried a piece of steel in his pocket wherever he went, to make sure he could armor up himself at any moment, without depending on having to find some hard material nearby to absorb. Kevin had the same strategy, but in a better way of course. He carried in his pocket a small but highly radioactive stone, inside a protected box.

He took the stone out of the box and absorbed all of its radiation. "YEEEES!" He laughed maniacally as he felt the huge amount of energy flowing through his body. Kevin's hands lit up in radioactive fire. When the ogre charged at him again, Kevin jumped into the air and punched him in the face. Antonio staggered and Kevin delivered a sequence of radioactive-powered punches - miniature atomic bombs - at the ogre.

When the ogre was already groggy, a rain of quills hit him - courtesy of Argit - and Antonio finally fell to the ground unconscious.

"No need to thank me for the help, Kevin." Argit said, smirking. Of course, the cowardly porcupine only appeared when the fight was almost won.

Kevin ignored Argit and looked at the huge unconscious ogre, "I would kill you, big guy, but we're probably going to need new recruits in the Dark Squad... So welcome to the team," Kevin said with a sarcastic grin.


Gwen


Sunny, using telekinesis, started throwing various objects from the mansion at Lucky Girl. A lamp, a chair, a mirror. Lucky Girl avoided them using her agility and mana shields to protect herself when necessary.

Lucky Girl noticed that Sunny was exhausted. She seemed to be already weakened, probably from a previous fight against someone from S.E.C.T.'s team.

"I'm tired of playing cat and mouse, girl. I'll give you a fair chance," Sunny said. And then she threw a metal bracelet on the floor near Lucky Girl. "Let's fight like real women. This bracelet is what I used to evolve. Use it and fight me."

Lucky Girl grabbed the bracelet, but her instincts told her that something was wrong. Sunny didn't seem to be the kind of person who appreciated a fair fight... there had to be some trick in that. Lucky Girl put the bracelet on her belt, but she didn't use it.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You're already done for anyway. I bet you can't hold on much longer in a fight against me... Mercuto Verditis!" Lucky Girl fired her most powerful mana blast at Sunny, who tried to defend herself with a shield. But this time the shield was shattered and the blow fully hit Sunny. She fell to the floor, knocked out cold.


Ben


Running was not an option for Diamondhead, as Chromastone could easily catch him flying. Then Diamondhead had no choice but to try to protect himself, creating several crystal barriers around him, to prevent Chromastone's ultra-violet bursts from hitting him. But it wasn't enough.

Diamondhead was blasted away, broke the wall of the living room and crashed into one of the bedrooms.

"I liked this!" Chromastone grinned. "Let's do it again!" And then he fired another blast, while Diamondhead was still down, which made him break through the floor and fall into the mansion's basement.

Diamondhead tried to stand up, even though he was staggering. "Is this all that you got, Chromacrap?" He tried to provoke his opponent even more. Chromastone's hands flashed brightly with the colors of the rainbow, and he began punching Diamondhead mercilessly. Diamondhead tried to use his arms to defend himself, but he felt his crystaline skin melting and cracking at each new blow. And he tried to attack too, but with very little success. He wasn't going to last much longer.

Diamondhead fell to the ground again. Chromastone put a hand on Diamondhead's head and asked, "Any last words before I melt your head, you idiot?"

Then, at last, a sound of a loud beep was heard, coming from Chromastone. "No!" He shouted, but a second later, Albedo was back to his human form, a 30-year-old version of Watch Boy.

Diamondhead's plan to stall Albedo and make him waste all his energy until the Ultimatrix timed-out had worked, barely, but worked.

Diamondhead quickly stood up and kneeled Albedo's stomach, and then applied a sleeper hold on him. "You have to learn something about these alien gadgets, they tend to time-out just when we need them the most, you idiot!" Diamondhead chuckled, and Albedo fell unconscious on the floor.

Shortly thereafter, the Omnitrix also timed-out, turning Diamondhead back into 'Watch Boy'. He climbed the basement's stairs and went back to the house. The minute he opened the door, the Werewolf jumped on him, barking something that sounded like "ALBEDO!". Watch Boy barely had time to put his arm in front of his face to defend himself from the bite. Soon after, a blue blast of mana shot the werewolf away from him.

"You bastard!" Lucky Girl shouted, ready to attack the Werewolf again. Kevin held her.

"Travis, you idiot, he isn't Albedo!" Kevin said to the Werewolf. And then he addressed Lucky Girl. "It wasn't intentional. Travis is just too stupid."

The Werewolf turned to Watch Boy with an apologetic look. "That witch Sunny messed with my head, and you look so much like Albedo ... But you just have to take the anti-lupine vaccine and you won't turn into a Werewolf."

"Better to take the anti-vampiric vaccine as well," the porcupine said, laughing as if the situation were funny, "Travis' mouth was already full of vampire blood when he bit you ..."

"Crap." Ben looked at his bitten arm.

"You can let go of me now." Lucky Girl said with a scowl to Kevin, who was still holding her.

"I'm fine here." Kevin whispered in her ear, pulling her even closer to him.

Even though Ben was feeling a huge pain in his arm from the bite, he was going to break that bastard in half. Before that could happen, though, Lucky Girl elbowed Kevin's stomach. "Don't touch me!" Lucky Girl said angrily.

"If you ever touch her again, I'll kill you!" Ben shouted to Kevin.

"I'd like to see you try, Watch Boy," Kevin said, walking in Ben's direction with a murderous intent in his eyes. Then he suddenly stopped. "No, I won't, sir. Don't worry, I was just kidding, " he said, talking to someone, probably through ear commns.

"Who are you guys?" Lucky Girl asked, "You're not wearing uniforms, and I don't remember seeing anything about you anywhere. But you all are clearly acting under orders from S.E.C.T... And you..." she said, looking at Kevin, "look a lot like Director Steel. Are you two related?"

Kevin scowled, the mention of Director Steel's name clearly displeased him. But shortly after, he exhibited that stupid smirk on his face again, "You asked about my team. This information is classified, but I can still tell you some things about myself on a date. And, by the way, you're as hot as my - also witch - ex-girlfriend, Charmcaster. Are you two related?"

Ben growled in anger. Lucky Girl folded her arms. "You're Charmcaster's psycho ex-boyfriend. She told me about you. You should be in jail."

"Come on, guys," Kevin smirked, "We defeated Albedo, Sunny and Antonio together. We can be a great team ... Me, my future girlfriend and my future best friend," Kevin looked at Ben's watch like a dog eyeing a piece of meat. Ben had the feeling that the 'future best friend' Kevin was referring to was the Omnitrix, not him. "What about we call ourselves ... the Alien Force?"

"If I were a complete idiot, I would accept this idea," Ben said.

Finally, more agents of S.E.C.T. arrived.


Hours later, S.E.C.T. infirmary

"How are you, partner?" Lucky Girl asked.

"Better." Watch Boy sat on the bed. "But still disappointed that I didn't get a chance to break Kevin in half. That s.o.b, hitting on you like that ..."

Lucky Girl folded her arms, "Now you know how I feel when Charmcaster is hitting on you ..."

Ben was going to say that the situation was different, but looking at Lucky Girl's unfriendly face, he chose not to start an argument about it.

A man entered the room. He was bald, had a goatee, and appeared to be in his early forties.

"Watch Boy, Lucky Girl, I'm Servantis. Thanks for the help on the apprehension of Albedo, Sunny and Antonio." He shook hands with the young heroes, "A few hours ago, you met members of our criminal rehab program, the Redemption Squad."

"Does Director Steel know Kevin is part of this Squad or even that it exists?" Lucky Girl folded her arms. Ben realized that his partner was just fishing. They were not really sure if there was any connection between Kevin and Steel. But she was assuming that, and using it to paint Servantis into a corner.

"Director Steel knows, yes. He doesn't like the idea, but Kevin himself volunteered. Anyway, I'm not subordinate to Steel. My orders come directly from the Global Security Council." Servantis smiled, very calmly.

"Never trust politicians." Ben mumbled under his breath. The Global Security Council was an international council formed of politicians from some of the world's most powerful countries to oversight and control S.E.C.T.

Lucky Girl arched her eyebrow. "Okay, so why don't you tell us more about how exactly this 'Redemption Squad' works?"

"I'm afraid this is classified information, young lady." Servantis was still smiling.

"You know what I think?" Lucky Girl said, "Putting villains to go on missions has a major potential to go terribly wrong, so this whole secrecy thing is for you and those Global Security Council jerks to use the principle of plausible deniability and save your own skins when shit happens."

"And do you know what I think?" Servantis replied, "That you are the last person who can criticize secrets, considering that you're friends with a wanted criminal like Charmcaster."

Lucky Girl was speechless. She had mentioned in front of the whole Dark Squad that Charmcaster had told her about Kevin. She shouldn't have done that.

"Let's make a deal: Take care of your own business and don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong," Servantis said, and then walked to the door. "Ah, before I leave, I have to give you two a warning. You were not allowed to get involved in the mission today, but I'm willing to be lenient about it. However, if you spread out details of what happened - including the presence of the Redemption Squad - you will be arrested for leaking confidential information. Have a nice day," he said, walking out the door.

"Son of a ..." Lucky Girl gritted her teeth. "Now I see that my grandmother has good reasons not to trust S.E.C.T."

"I hope we never see this guy again, nor his Squad. Especially Kevin," Watch Boy said, still enraged with the mutant who clearly had set his sights on Lucky Girl.

"How's your arm doing, cuz?" Lucky Girl asked.

"Great. It doesn't even look like I've been bitten." Ben stretched his arm. The teeth marks were no longer visible.

"Strange ... It should look like it. The healing process shouldn't be so fast unless..."

"Don't worry, Dweeb. I took the anti-lupine and the anti-vampiric vaccines, there's no risk of me turning into anything," Ben said confidently.


Author's notes

Thank to Aurora Nightstar for beta reading and thanks to reviewers/favoriters/followers for your support!

I like to thank every review with a PM, but since I got a couple of guest reviews in the last chapter, I'll address them here.

For the person who asked me for more updates: I'd really love to update the story more often, but, unfortunately, college prevents me from doing so.

About Albedo's ultimate aliens: Thank you very much for the suggestions, but I've only used Chromastone as Ultimate Diamondhead because they have a clear connection in the cartoon. We already saw Ultimate Grey Matter, the M.O.D.O.K.-like version of Albedo. There's also Ultimate Wildmutt in the cartoon, so I'd probably just stick with that version. About the others, I'll try to come up with original aliens when Albedo shows up next.

About the person who is writing an Albedo x Sunny fic: I'd definitely love to read an 'Albunny' story, I think it's an amazing idea.