Free at Long Last
Ben backed away from the creature slowly, which took a good deal of effort since he was sprawled awkwardly on the ground where he had just fallen. Even though the beast hovered in the shade made from a nearby tree, Ben could see all of its features visibly thanks to the lone trickle of sunlight which illuminated the monster's face.
"I don't get it, you can't be me… I'm me!" Ben said, pointing to himself in a mix of confusion and horror.
"I was never you! An Ectornourite's consciousness exists in even a single strand of DNA. When the sample for the Omnitrix was taken, I was trapped inside!" the creature formerly known as Ghostfreak snarled at Ben.
"Why...why did you let them take a sample then?" Ben studered out not wanting to anger the monstrosity before him.
"FOOL! I did not! I was taking control of another being at the time to try and find out more about the Omnitrix. I had planned to take it for myself once it was completed, but that halfwit Vilgax ruined everything!"
Ben swallowed out of terror. He took a fleeting look at his wrist, trying not to make it obvious to the creature who was slithering around the air in anger as he spoke, almost radiating hatred with every word it spoke. No good, it's still red.
He needed to buy more time. "What does Vilgax have to do with this?" Ben asked, trying to stall the conversation, keep it going long enough for the watch to recharge.
"Everything! That wretch hunted the Omnitrix across the galaxy! I had wanted to board the ship that the Omnitrix was on when it neared Anur Phaetos but Vilgax's constant pursuit thwarted me. I sensed as much when I was trapped as you. No matter how hard I tried, I could not break free , but now…" - what appeared to bea twisted smile began to break out on the inverted skull as he spoke - "…now I can finish what I started by taking control of your body. Let's see how YOU enjoy being trapped as me!"
The creature lunged at him and Ben stumbled back, reaching for the watch as he tumbled out from the shade of the large tree. ghostfreak leaped from the shadows into the sunlight and let out a scream of pain.
"Aghh!" Ghostfreak wailed, and quickly disappeared into the ground below, clutching his smoking hand with the other limb.
I've gotta get outta here before he resurfaces." Ben thought, and quickly turned around, got to his feet and proceeded to sprint as fast as he could out of the forest he was in.
Out of hope
Hope cautiously approached the nearby town. Ever since she first came here she had been accused of being a witch after one of the townspeople saw her summon her friends. Right now she had no choice but to risk it in order to get more power - even her two current friends wouldn't be enough to stop Animo and Steel.
"Once we're out of here we'll need to stay within range of any kind of power and always keep some in reserve. Or else Steel and his soldiers could catch us easily. Mike had said when they had been fighting off soldiers at Area 51. He'd joked about it a bit at the time, about how they'd have to duke it out the old-fashioned way. Charismatic as ever, even in his final moments with her.
Thinking of Mike made Hope want to lay down and cry; she still remembered the explosion that hit him square in the face. Mike's gone now, I need to focus, she told herself.She tried to be strong just like she had been at Area 51 with Mike's help. He'd have wanted her to carry on rather than thinking of him.
Her friends approached her quietly, One of them turned their head to the side; confused at why they had stopped. The other knelt in front of Hope and patted her on the head.
"You know how I feel?" She murmured to her friend.
Her friend simply stared blankly at her, but something about its expression made Hope wonder if it really could understand her.
"I wish you could come with me but I'm worried about Steel showing up if you do. Or worse, Animo and his freaky bug pals."
Her friend kept on staring blankly at her while it knelt before her while her other friend continued shooting her his confused head tilted expression. She could swear she saw something of defiance on their faces but that was impossible unless… Can you actually hear my thoughts?
There was no response from the creatures but the one kneeling raised his head and her other friend stopped with an almost nonplussed expression on its face. Ordinarily her friends acted more like dogs once she summoned them. Well, trained dogs sure, but still just dogs. Animals. Capable of emotion but not to the depth and complexity of a human being. Some of them even attacked people whom they detected hostility from, like a dog would do. Yet these friends of hers felt different. They seemed to understand and care for her instead of just blindly following her instructions. It reminded her of how Michael had treated her. There was one thing she was certain of however: they didn't want to let her go into town without them.
"Alright fine you can come, but we need to move quickly before Animo or Steel show up."
Her friend that had been kneeling stood up and the other one strode closer towards her. I was right, they can understand me, Hope thought in amazement. She strode out of the forest with her two friends patrolling her on either side and made her way down into the small town.
For the most part there weren't many out, and the few whom she could see were busy farming, oblivious to her presence. Hope had managed to get far away from Area 51 and hid out in a rural stretch somewhere in Arizona. Exactly where, she couldn't care less, the most important thing was that she had put distance between herself and Steel. At first she had just been running aimlessly desperately trying to escape her captors before she remembered Mike's words to her.
We have two options once we're free: we hide somewhere with a lot of people so that we can lay low and can't be spotted by Animo or Steel. Or we could go to a rural area or village where there's barely anyone around, an area which doesn't alert suspicion.
Hope had opted for the latter. she had already had to grow up homeless on the streets of New York before and she wasn't eager to repeat the experience. She had originally wanted to go with Mike so that she wouldn't have to be alone like before but after what happened…
Stop thinking about that!
Hope violently shook her head to try and block out the pain she felt at remembering what had happened to Michael. She walked through the town which was illuminated by the stars above, searching for some power lines that would lead her to the local power grid. "Always have an escape plan, Hope. No matter where you go, you'll need to use it sooner or later. Trust me you'll need one." Michael's voice echoed through her head, causing it to fill up with grief once more.
"Hey it's the witch!"
Hope snapped back to reality, jerked her head towards the direction of the voice and saw a portly man pointing at her. All of a sudden, the farming town which was dark and quiet only a few minutes prior blazed to life with people lighting lanterns and coming out of their houses.
"Get outta here freak, you ain't welcome in these parts." Another man to Hope's left had said that. He was much leaner and taller than the previous one, but wore an identical expression of contempt for her. Hope's two friends moved out of the shadows into view, crossing their hands over their chests, almost daring anyone else to come and yell at Hope. Hope turned her head and nodded in gratitude to them. Once again even though their faces didn't change Hope could tell they were pleased with themselves. She wasn't alone.
Hope recomposed herself and her voice cracked out of nervousness as she spoke, "Listen everyone I won't stay long I just need-"
A loud crackbroke through the air and cut her off mid sentence. Her friends leaped in front of her immediately, before she even registered what had happened until she saw one of their shoulders break off into small pieces of rock and quickly realized what had happened.
Someone shot at me! Hope was shocked at the revelation. She was used to being treated with scorn by people who saw her on the streets. The best she could ever hope for was being ignored and not given a second look, but never in her entire life had she been attacked like this.
"Take that ya freak!" an angry voice yelled. The other townsfolk began roaring their approval. Hope's shock quickly turned to fear of all the enraged people around her. Her friends stood still as if waiting for her signal to attack. She saw more angry folk walk out of their houses and unfortunately for her they weren't carrying pitchforks, which would be simple enough to deal with. Most seemed to be carrying shotguns of some sort, and pointed them straight at Hope's friends who were the only barrier between the mob and herself. Hope may have been special, but even her abilities would do little against a barrage of bullets.
"We're giving ya one last chance witch, get outta here or else." The portly man pumped his shotgun at the end of his sentence and the town roared with him.
I need to do something! Hope spun her head around frantically before resting her eyes on the power pole nearby. As a plan formed in her brain her friends synchronized with her thoughts, and immediately got to work. One grabbed the portly man and threw him at the crowd causing them to quickly scatter out of the way. Her other friends slammed his fists into the ground and sent out a shockwave which knocked the townsfolk to the ground. Hope quickly picked herself and raced towards the pole, the ground near her beginning to crumble as the few townsfolk still standing shot at her. She felt a rough hand shove her and made her stumble. Hope took a glance back to see a person with a rifle trained on her. In the nick of time, one of her friends grabbed the gun from his hands and slammed it on his knee, breaking it into pieces and then grabbed the man and mercilessly tossed him to the few people in the crowd who had regained their footing after the shockwave.
Hope lunged at the pole and once she had a grip, opened up her body to absorb as much energy as possible. The lightning poured into her body; energizing her every muscle and sinew. She always felt the thrill whenever energy coursed through her. She could do it all day if she wanted to. It was exhilarating, it made her forget that she was just some weak little girl and made her feel powerful like she could beat up the entire townsfolk with one arm behind her back. But she didn't have time for that.
Hope let go of the pole and sent the energy out in a large purple wave. Rocks began piling up all around her and the now-battlefield of a town. The rocks all had a series of cracks running through them which emitted the same mystical purple power which she had just released. They slowly morphed themselves into small doglike creatures that instantly attacked any villager on sight and kept them away from her. In mere moments all the villagers lay unconscious as her army of friends returned. Hope fell to the ground out of exhaustion. She had never summoned so many at once, nor had she ever drained that much before. The comparative dullness after exhausting all of her absorbed power brought out the worst of fatigue - the closest thing to it was when she absorbed the power at Area 51.
Hope looked up to see her two larger friends approach her. She sensed their warm intent and allowed one of them to pick her weak body up and put her on his shoulder. Her gaze drifted across the field where all her smaller dog-like friends were sitting on the perimeter, waiting for her.
"We need to find the nearest power plant quickly." Hope said out loud. Her dog-like friends turned their heads to the side in confusion, clearly not comprehending what she had just said. Her other larger friend, the one whose shoulder she wasn't currently sitting on, walked over to the group. Hope wasn't sure what they had communicated but suddenly it felt like the creatures finally understood, and as if a switch had been flicked, they all began bounding in one direction. The power plant. Her larger friends began lumbering along , led by her quicker dog-like friends. It can't have been more than half an hour but it felt like an eternity to Hope, still weak from the battle. Yet at last, her and the little army of twenty dog-like friends had found the power plant. Her two larger friends approached the front and set her down. After two near-stumbles, she stood up straight with a determined gaze at the entrance. Perfect, now I can collect enough energy to summon even more of these guys and send them after Animo and Steel while I escape. It was almost too good to be true.
A whirring sound from above caught Hope's attention, and she looked up to see three jets soaring through the air above her. Before Hope even realized what was happening, each jet launched a missile towards the power plant. Her two large friends immediately threw her back, away from the plant as they took the brunt of the impact.
"NO!" she screamed but it was already too late. The power plant exploded, sending Hope soaring backwards into the air.
When she finally hit the ground she felt a massive surge of pain coarse throughout her entire body. Her eyes began to flutter closed, but just before she blacked out she saw an odd green contraption (a helicopter? Or was it an enormous bug?) landing in front of her. The unmistakable scrawny figure of Dr. Animo stepped down from it, and her heart sank.
"I have eyes on Subject 4 Steel." His raspy voice echoed within Hope's head as she fell unconscious, but even with her dazed perception of reality she knew that her fantasy of freedom was over. She was going back into isolation. Back to being nothing but a test subject, a freak in a prison. There was no hope left for her.
The vengeance of Zs'Skayr
"Then he tried to possess me! But when he went out into the light his arm started burning and he ran away." Ben finished, slumping down in his seat in exhaustion. He was still shaken inside from the encounter.
He had run all the way to the Rust Bucket and immediately told Grandpa Max everything in an incoherent mess of words, and good old Grandpa was surprisingly calm as ever about all the things that Ben had said. The same couldn't be said of Gwen, who screamed in shock after a pale-faced Ben had run into her room and grabbed her arm immediately after returning to the Rust Bucket. "He's never been that freaked out before!" she told Max. Max had never seen Gwen so worried about how Ben was feeling. Ben was one of the bravest people that both of them knew. He wouldn't be in this state if something serious had happened.
"Hmm…" said Grandpa "from what you've just told me it sounds like he had a weakness to light, but as far as I remember whenever you used Ghostfreak you were fine in sunlight." Ben hadn't even realized that light was what had hurt Ghostfreak; he thought it had something to do with him breaking out of the Omnitrix. His thoughts were still permeated with that voice full of hatred and malice. Before he could reply to Grandpa Max, Gwen broke into the conversation
"Ben, what about Julie? She knows you can transform and it won't take her long to realize that you could be related to the weird monsters running around on the news."
Ben turned his head towards Gwen and back to Grandpa Max, unsure of where to even start fixing all the problems he had caused in such a short time. This is all my fault, if I hadn't been so angry Ghostfreak couldn't have taken over.
As Ben pondered over what to do Grandpa Max spoke up. "One problem at a time kiddo. Let's find our missing Ghostfreak first, then we'll worry about what Julie may or may not know." Grandpa Max put his arm on Ben's shoulder but even this act of reassurance didn't make Ben feel any better. "Grandpa, what are we going to do? Even if we find him and beat him, we can't exactly just lock him in prison, since he's, you know, a ghost." muttered Ben.
It was a good point that left even Grandpa Max momentarily stumped as he slowly stroked his chin trying to work up a solution. "Maybe we could put him back inside the watch somehow." Grandpa Max finally said after mulling it over for a few seconds.
"No way Grandpa, I don't want that freak anywhere near me anymore, especially not in the Omnitrix." Ben replied fiercely. "This watch is a part of me."
"Of course, but whatever we're gonna do, we have to do it quickly before the sun goes down." Grandpa Max stated, as he turned his head towards the window in worry, watching the last streaks of sunlight begin to slowly fade into the horizon.
The three Tennysons left the Rustbucket armed with flashlights and wandered through the town, but an hour or more passed and none of them could find a single trace of the rogue escapee. They searched everywhere they could but to no avail. The trio met back up outside a closed-down shop near the edge of the town's reach.
"The sun's already gone down Grandpa, what do we do now?" Gwen asked. She sounded calm but Ben could detect a slight wavering in her voice. Gwen didn't get frightened easily either, and she hadn't even seen the monstrosity yet.
"I think he's just hiding out until the sun sets completely." declared Grandpa grimly. "The only thing we can do now is-"
Before Grandpa Max could finish his sentence another voice rose from the darkness.
"Hey Ben, are you ready to play?"
The trio staggered in shock as Ben turned his flashlight towards the voice, making sure to hold it in a way that kept his fingers near the Omnitrix. The light revealed a lanky figure standing before them: it was Alan Albright.
"Oh Alan it's you" said Ben with a slight sigh of relief. "Listen uh…I got some stuff I need to help my Grandpa with so I'm not gonna be able to play soccer with you tonight… sorry man. Maybe some other time?"
Alan remained silent and still, and the hairs on the back of Ben's neck started rising.
"Alan, you ok man?" Ben asked tentatively. Alan stepped closer into the light at these words, which revealed the piercing jet black eyes with large purple irises within. "Oh I'm fine, and trust me, this game is going to be deadly fun."
Ben heard Gwen's voice behind him screaming for him to back away, sensing what Ben was already certain of. Alan's unconscious body fell to the ground as a tendril of smoke crept out of it and formed into the monster.
"Well what do you say Ben, wanna play?" Ghostfreak's mouth curled into a freakish grin.
Ben hit the small button on the Omnitrix and twisted the dial until he landed on the silhouette of Heatblast. Heatblast should give me enough light to fry this freak away. He slammed the faceplate down and felt the familiar surge of energy envelop him as two arms protruded out of his body and his skin became a thick crimson red fur coat. The green light shimmered away to reveal a four armed monstrosity in place of Ben.
Gwen started, "Ben I don't think that Four Arms is going to be much help here-"
"-I know, I know, I was trying to get Heatblast to create enough light to burn away Ghostfreak, but the watch gave me the wrong alien, again."
"Ben, Ghostfreak can just possess you, Maybe going Upgrade and merging with the flashlight could've protected you from being merged with." Grandpa Max chided as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and Gwen nodded.
"Oh yeah..that would have been pretty smart huh" Ben replied awkwardly in the low growl of Four Arms' voice.
"Guess I still have a few things left to learn"
"Excellent point Max now Let's get to the fun." The three turned their heads towards Ghosfreak, who had become a smoky mist once more and glided into Four Arms' chest. They both began wrestling for control of his body. In a panic Ben grabbed the ectoplasm trying to infiltrate his body and flung it into the air. The greying mist reformed into Ghostfreak who let out a roar of frustration.
"No! It seems I cannot merge with your alien forms. No matter, time is on my side, for you will be human again soon enough." Ghostfreak said, quickly regaining his self-control and levitating back down near the Tennysons.
"Right, like I'm just gonna wait for that to happen." Ben lunged at Ghostfreak, throwing a two-armed punch at the creature. Ghostfreak's body matter quickly became intangible, causing Ben to fall through where the body was and for the punches to collide with the ground. Craters formed around the impact points of his fists. Just as Ben dug his arms out he felt a razor sharp pain in his back, causing him to stumble forwards again and fall to his knees.
"Nice try Ben." Ghostfreak laughed with his deep raspy voice, which was somehow even more unnerving than his scream. Ben saw the gashes on his back caused by Ghostfreak's claws. Gotta be careful, even Four Arms can't stand up to that kind of pain for long.
Ben rose back up. "I'm just getting warmed up." he said. He feinted a punch to the left and then executed a spinning backhand with his right arms, a move Grandpa Max had taught him during their training sessions together as Four Arms. This attack landed clean on the unprepared Ghostfreak and flung him backwards. "Good one Ben!" Grandpa Max yelled approvingly.
Not wanting to lose momentum Ben ran forwards, arms raised and delivered a series of blows to Ghostfreak before he could regain the composure to go intangible again. Ben then clasped two of his upper hands together and slammed Ghostfreak into the road so hard that a network of cracks appeared and debris scattered everywhere. As the dust settled Ben strode to the crater, which was empty.
"Looking for me Ben?"
Ben turned and saw Ghostfreak reform himself in midair. Ben slammed his hands together sending out a shockwave towards Ghostfreak. The surface of his own body rippled from the effort and pulled back as if it were in front of a large blow drier. Ghostfreak didn't move, nor did he seem fazed by the attack.
"Tick tock, our game is nearly done." he rasped.
Ben knew that Ghostfreak was right and that time was running out. With more urgency he bounded towards Ghostfreak again, releasing a two-armed punch. Once again Ghostfreak went intangible, but this time he flew backwards and became solid again. The second he materialised, Ben threw another punch only for Ghostfreak to do the exact same thing. He's just toying with me. I need to figure out some kind of plan to catch him out. Ben tried to think of what to do but his mind went blank. While there were streetlights nearby, Ghostfreak didn't seem to be concerned by them at all, and no matter how many punches Ben threw Ghostfreak could just turn intangible and avoid being hit. What was he supposed to do? He was fighting an enemy with no obvious physical weakness other than sunlight, which there was none of.
"What's the matter, Ben giving up already? I must admit I expected better from you. Or are you just too scared?." Ghostfreak mocked. Frustrated at this Ben jumped up only a few feet instead of the usual fifty, and slammed all four of his arms down on Ghostfreak, sending him crashing into the ground. Against all odds, the alien's smoky form rose up from the ground unharmed and formed back into a solid figure in front of him.
Ben took a step back, beginning to breathe heavily as his exhaustion began to set in. It took a second before he heard that his breathing was punctuated by a familiar set of beeps from the Omnitrix symbol on his shoulder.
"Game over." Ghostfreak said in an amused tone. Ben felt tiredness wash throughout his body as he changed back into his human self.
Ben opened his eyes and looked up to see the monstrous clawed hands of Ghostfreak reaching towards him. Ben scampered away on his hands and knees to avoid being caught, but Ghostfreak kept in pursuit, twisting and turning in flight to corner him. Ben didn't get far before he stumbled and rolled over onto his back. Ghostfreak loomed above him, that single eye glinting with victory with Ben in its sights.
It was then when a blinding white beam pierced the darkness of the avenue. Ben shielded his eyes as the full brightness of the light hit Ghostfreak.
"ARGHHH!" the phantom alien screamed. He promptly flew away from the light and phased away into the darkness
"Thanks Grandpa." Ben murmured as he picked himself off the floor but as he got up he saw that the person holding the bright flashlight was not Grandpa Max, or Gwen. It was Julie.
"What's going on here? What did you do?" she asked accusingly, pointing the light at him. Ben averted his eyes, not just because he didn't want to look at the light, but because he couldn't bring himself to look at the expression of loathing which Julie wore for him.
"Ahh look Julie, you may not believe me but I didn't do anything. It was Ghostfreak, not me!" Ben pleaded, still shielding his eyes from the light.
"Ghostfreak? That's what you called yourself when you attacked poor Cash and JT, right? Are you trying to play dumb with me?" she asked. Her tone was growing increasingly hostile.
"Ok technically but... wait did you just say poor Cash and JT? Listen Julie, if anyone deserved to get attacked it was them. Not that it was me who attacked them, it was actually…" - Ben's eyes went wide as his mind was pulled back from this argument back into the reality of the situation- "Wait, why am I explaining this to you here! You need to leave, your life is in danger, get out of here now!"
A large bang went off and Ben felt little pieces of rock sent flying from the ground, scratching his face. He looked down and saw a neat, bullet-sized hole in the ground near his feet. "Julie what the-"
"Shut up! I know what you are. Just stand still with your hands in the air or I will shoot you." Ben's eyes finally adjusted enough for him to see the gun in Julie's hand.
"Julie, wait!" Gwen's voice called out.
Ben turned his head and saw Gwen and Grandpa Max running towards them. Farther away than Ben remembered, likely hiding from ghostfreak while Ben had fought him for fear of getting caught in the crossfire or worse.
"Gwen what're you doing here?" Julie asked momentarily, taking her eyes off Ben before realizing her mistake and snapping her gaze back onto him.
"Listen Julie: I know why you're here. I don't know how you found us but you've got to listen to me. Ben didn't do the things you thought he did."
Julie kept her focus on Ben as she spoke to Gwen who stood next to Ben on one side, while Grandpa Max stood on the other.
"No, Gwen, he has done something wrong. I saw him tear apart Cash and JT's car and run off after he scared them. He was laughing like a madman when he did it. He's a monster."
Ben couldn't help but take that to heart. She saw what happened and she hates me. I don't blame her; if I were in her position I'd feel the exact same way.
Grandpa Max slowly stepped forwards with his arms raised "Now listen…Julie was it? My grandson's done nothing wrong. I'm sure there's a logical explanation as to what happened to those kids' cars. So just put the gun down and we'll all try and-"
''No! I saw what he did. He became one of those aliens on the news; he's some kind of freak! I can't let him get away with what he's done."
Grandpa Max did a good job of keeping his calm and replied "Come on kid, don't be ridiculous. How on earth would he even do something like that?"
It was a convincing act but Julie wasn't fooled, she didn't lower her gaze, or her gun. "I know what I saw" she said quietly "now please get away from him, Mr Tennyson. I don't wanna hurt you."
Gwen quickly stepped in front of Ben, hands raised outward to shield him.
"Gwen what are you-"
"-Saving your life. Now be quiet." Gwen swiftly whispered to Ben, before he could tell her to get out of the way.
With all pretense dropped, Gwen began to speak "Listen Julie, you're right, Ben's different. He has this ability to change his form into aliens, like the ones you've seen on the news," - Julie's expression hardened, "but believe me when I say that he didn't mean to hurt Cash and JT. I know this must be really confusing trust me I understand but if you just put the gun down I promise I can explain everything."
Julie's resolve seemed to waver at that. She still kept her eyes and flashlight on Ben. "Alright Gwen, I trust you." She slowly lowered the gun to the ground. Ben exhaled slowly. Thank goodness for his cousin and her smart mouth. All sense of relief vanished quickly when he noticed a smoky mist rise from the ground behind julie. "Julie, look out!" He screamed
Julie spun around and came face to face with Ghostfreak. She let out a scream of terror and pointed her gun at him and fired. The bullet bounced right off Ghostfreak's skull.
"Julie, point your flashlight at him!" Ben yelled, but it was too late. Ghostfreak quickly took possession of her. His smoky form entered her body and for a brief second it looked to them as if Julie was trying to vomit into the air. Her body then convulsed which loosened her grip on her flashlight, causing it to fly out of her grip and land a few feet in front of her. Then she went limp with her head down, as if she were a puppet. Her head raised a few seconds later to reveal the jet black eyes and purple irises that they'd seen before.
"All right, nobody moves." Ghostfreak said with Julie's voice, as he raised her arm to point the gun at the Tennysons.
"Get out of her!" Ben roared at him.
"All in good time dear boy. First you will come here and destroy this flashlight. Then you will submit to me so that I may possess you and receive the full power of the Omnitrix." Ghostfreak said, his voice sounding so unnatural coming from Julie's mouth.
Grandpa Max interjected before Ben or Gwen could speak "Or what?" Ghostfreak turned the gun and pointed it at his, or rather, Julie's head. "Or else, this girl suffers the consequences Max." Ghostfreak twisted Julie's mouth into a smile. The three Tennysons were stunned, none of them had expected that. Gwen began to open her mouth, but even she didn't have anything to say to make the situation better. She looked helplessly at Ben, and he turned his head away so as not to meet her gaze. He looked at Grandpa Max, who had a rare look of fear evidently displayed on his face…and something else too. He looked almost melancholy, regretful. His mind seemed to be somewhere else right then…the past?
"Alright...I'll do it." Ben said after a long moment of silence passed among the Tennysons.
"Excellent, come on now, no need to be shy Ben." Ghostfreak taunted. He was clearly enjoying this.
Ben walked away from Gwen and Grandpa and stood in front of Julie's body. He knew what was going to happen, and he couldn't let Julie get hurt. She had no part in this. She had no responsibility in this mess. Ben did, and he couldn't let her die, especially for something that was totally his fault.
"Break the flashlight now!"
Ben picked up the bright flashlight that was still on and threw it towards the ground, shattering it. "You know you could've done that yourself." Ben muttered.
The artificial grin on Julie's face widened "I know, but I thought it would be more fun if you were the one who ensured your own demise." He then proceeded to erupt into hysterical laughter causing Julie's body to spasm violently.
"Stop it, you're hurting her!" Ben yelled. Suddenly Julie's body snapped straight.
"You're right, perhaps I should put her out of her misery." Once again he twisted Julie's mouth into that sinister grin.
"We had a deal you Halloween reject, let her go now!" Ben screamed angrily hoping it would be enough to convince ghostfreak to let Julie live.
Julie's body fell to the ground as smoke rose upwards and formed into the nightmarish body of Ghostfreak.
"No need to be so rude about it." Ghostfreak grabbed Ben's right arm and began to transfer his consciousness from Julie's body to Ben's.
Ben began to cry in agony. He felt as if there were walls coming down around his mind, shutting off his thoughts and trapping him in an enclosed box away from everyone else. He could begin to feel the hate flowing through the being trying to become one with him. The thoughts of Ghostfreak were clear in his mind. He could feel the rage yet simultaneous triumph in his/Ghostfreak's body, and the lust for the power of the Omnitrix - the ultimate weapon in Ghostfreak's opinion. Here and there, Ben also saw images briefly flashing through his mind. Other aliens of Ghostfreak's species in a congregation. A planet of darkness where the laws of physics did not seem to apply. And most frequently of all, visions from behind Ben's own eyes, the feeling of helplessness at being trapped, with a body utilized at the simple will of a human teenager.
Through all of that though, Ben began to feel a pulsing sensation on his wrist back in the physical world.
The Omnitrix started to glow, and burst with green energy spilling out in all directions around Ben. The faceplate turned from green to red and popped out. At this moment Ben felt his free will surge back into him again, and without a second's hesitation he slammed down the faceplate. He felt the surge of energy once more, turning the coating of his skin into rock and searing magma, enveloping him in heat and fire. The green light faded, leaving Ben as the radiant figure of Heatblast. He saw Ghostfreak sprawled on the floor a meter or two away from him. The alien's body was smoking and he was hissing in pain, clutching his chest. His head swiveled round to Heatblast and his eye widened in its socket.
"What? No! How did you change? The Omnitrix was out of power!" Ghostfreak questioned in dismay and panic.
Ben didn't bother with a response; he put his hands together and started forming a huge sphere of fire. Grandpa Max had worked with him a lot on how to control his pyrokinesis, particularly in the form of fireballs which could either be used offensively, or as a light source. The key was to focus on either the heat or the magnitude of the fire depending on whether you wanted to use it offensively, or as light. Ben needed a huge source light to burn Ghostfreak away, so he focused on enlarging the fireball.
Ben drew the oxygen from the air around him to swell the fireball into an enormous ball of light. The larger it got, the more Ghostfreak began to tremble and weaken. He tried to swoop away, but was met by torchlight wielding Gwen and Max who forced him in his weakened state back towards Ben. The fireball had grown giant, bigger than the size of a double-decker bus. It slowly rose into the air, throwing out light as if it were a miniature sun and illuminating the entirety of downtown, leaving no escape.
"NOOOO!" Ghostfreak screamed as his body slowly hardened into what appeared to be grey stone to Ben. After his body was fully turned into stone, he hung suspended in the air for a few seconds, before beginning to flake away in a sustained flash of bright light. His residual scream hung around for a few seconds more than he did. Only once he had fully disintegrated did Ben extinguish the fireball . The Omnitrix began flashing red, and reverted him back to human again.
"Glad that's over." Ben said out loud, sighing with relief. His legs began to wobble from exhaustion and he sat down on the road, staring at the ashes of Ghostfreak in the moonlight as Max and Gwen approached him.
The Man in The Metal Mask.Hope did her best to avoid the unflinching gaze of Lieutenant Steel, and to stay as calm as possible. The first was easy. The second was impossible because he was sitting in front of her with a gun pointed only inches away from her head.
They were being accompanied by the rest of his men who were sitting around them on benches in the enclosed space of the cargo truck, on its way back to Area 51. The vehicle had not been designed for comfort, meaning that the ride was bumpy and uncomfortable, but neither Hope nor Steel's soldiers complained for the fear of angering the temperamental lieutenant. Hope found herself looking down for most of the journey at her distorted reflection on the truck's shiny steel floor. She could see tears welling up in her reflection's eyes, but she didn't bother to stop them.
After all, crying seemed to be the only thing she could do without failing spectacularly. She'd failed to save Michael, she'd failed to get away from Steel and Animo…she felt like she'd failed at life in general, a feeling which shouldn't have been plaguing someone of her age, and yet it did relentlessly. She had her one shot at freedom, and she'd blown it through her signature combination of incompetence and bad luck.
Worst of all, the explosion from the power plant had also destroyed all of the friends she had managed to summon. They'd been wiped out while protecting Hope, and now she finally felt loneliness set over her. Not only did Hope already miss their protection, but she felt melancholy that her thoughts were now confined to her own head, and that the only people with her were those who would never understand her in the same way that her mystical companions could.
"Your crying won't make my heart bleed any more for you, girl." Steel snarled.
At this, Hope lethargically glanced up at him, a decision which she immediately regretted. Steel wasn't the ugliest person she had ever seen, but everything about his face emanated a lack of warmth, and was permanently set in an expression of contempt which detracted anyone from making eye contact with him. His eyes themselves were blue, but not the bright blue eyes which Michael had. Steel's eyes were of a darker grey-blue colour, much like that of a stormy ocean. One could almost feel the intensity which they seemed to give off.
Then there was his mouth, usually set in a frown which hid his teeth from view. Unfortunately for Hope, Steel was gritting his teeth in front of her in irritation, revealing them to be yellowing and discoloured, the bottom row crooked in a way which stuck out from his near crew cut and clean-shaven face. The cut underneath one of his eyes made his face look sharper and more defined in comparison, and the deep scar running across his right cheek indicated a man who had been through pain and survived it. Someone who was indifferent to the suffering of himself and others so long as the job was done. An admirable quality for many, but simply another mark of intimidation for Steel. Just another detail which made him seem like a man who didn't put empathy high up on his priorities when dealing with others.
For a brief moment Hope wondered if Steel had ever truly been happy in his entire life. She briefly tried to picture this gruff, muscular middle aged soldier as a younger man. Maybe he'd signed up for the army with stars in his eyes at the excitement of travel and adventure. What had transpired to turn him into this heartless veteran? Or perhaps he was now a father, and he had kids back home who idolised their father as a role model, a hero. Maybe the coldness was simply a mask which he donned in front of others, and he really was a caring human being down there, if only she could reach him.
"I said quit it freak!"
At this retort Hope abandoned her long train of thoughts and immediately sunk back into her state of despair, meekly apologizing for her tears as she put her head back down. Please, she pleaded in her mind. She didn't want to go back.
A few minutes passed before the truck abruptly came to a stop. Steel held his radio in his left hand and brought it up to his mouth and ear then he clicked the button on the side and asked "What's the hold-up Animo?"
At first, the only reply was the static, but then a voice that sounded vaguely familiar to Hope replied to Steel on the comms "I'm afraid that the good doctor is currently a little preoccupied, Lieutenant." The voice channel cut out, leaving Steel confused. Muttering broke out among the soldiers, some of whom tightened their grip on their guns.
Only seconds later, the door was torn open by what looked to everyone inside like a red four-armed monster.
Hope felt cold metal make contact with her temple.
"Stop right there! Don't come any closer, or I'll shoot her!" Steel yelled, his finger hovering around the trigger of his pistol. Hope squirmed at the contact of the gun barrel, but the handcuffs connecting her to the bench dug into her ankles and wrists, not letting her get away from Steel. The red creature displayed what appeared to be a grin at Steel's words, and without warning, its body morphed into some form of green and black goo which spread all across the inner walls and floor of the truck, immobilising the soldiers by trapping their legs within the gooey substance, and then flinging them around the interior. Barely thirty seconds had passed since the creature had entered before most of the soldiers were sprawled unconscious on the floor. A few were bleeding, and others had their arms or legs at strange angles. The few who had escaped the initial attack had dropped their weapons and fled out of the truck doors.
The Goo then formed an arm that grew from the truck floor, which reached out and grabbed Steels shoulder, making him drop the gun. Another hand, this one coming out of the ceiling, caught the lieutenant unawares and punched him in the face. It produced another 'limb' which stretched out to where Hope was and unlocked her cuffs.
"No! Get off me you freak!" Steel screamed, but his voice was drowned out as the Goo muffled him and dragged his body out of the truck's now-open doors.
Hope sat still for a moment in shock at the minute of carnage that had just unfolded around her. She wasn't sure if she should be afraid of the shape-shifting creature which had just saved her, or thankful. She was leaning more towards fear than gratitude because she'd never seen anything like it before. The way that it had subdued her captors was brutal, almost too much for her to stomach even though she didn't like them. For all Hope knew that thing posed as much of a threat to her as Steel did.
Her thoughts were once again interrupted as another figure stepped inside of the truck. Even with the lack of sunlight, Hope could make out a human silhouette at the entrance and exhaled slightly - at least she wouldn't be surprised this time.
She was proven wrong as the figure stepped closer and Hope could identify her as none other than Rojo, one of those who that had been a part of Michael's breakout from Area 51. The tall red-haired girl made sure to deliberately step on some of the fingers of the unconscious soldiers lying on the floor as she made her way over to Hope- Rojo had a slight grudge too.
"What're you doing here? What's going on?" Hope asked, shying away from Rojo. She felt faint, still not comprehending or believing what was going on.
"What does it look like kid, we're breaking you outta here. Now c'mon." Rojo reached out her hand, and this time Hope put aside her misgivings for a second and grabbed it, letting herself be led out of the truck. She felt light, as if she were hallucinating this whole series of events. Yet despite that she made the decision to trust Rojo and go along with the ensuing craziness. Even though the two had barely got to know each other during the hectic battle at Area 51, Hope knew that Rojo couldn't be as bad as Steel and Animo were. Rojo wasn't a friend so much but more of…an acquaintance. Yeah, that's the best way to describe it, thought Hope, as they both walked out into the night
They had barely made it ten paces before Animo's giant mutated frog plummeted towards where they stood and came only a few inches away from squishing them both. Rojo executed a combat roll and dodged to the left, while Hope dived in a rather more clumsy fashion to the right. Both of them got to their feet and regrouped, ready to fight, but Animo and his pet's attentions were diverted elsewhere.
Animo's gaze was fixed on a lanky figure clad in dark clothing and a mask a few metres to Hope and Rojo's left, who appeared to be launching fire from his hands at Animo and the frog, who kept trying to evade the blasts which he sent at them. It was only a matter of time before masked figure scored a direct hit on the giant frog, which proceeded to topple over, letting out a croak of pain as it was seared by the flames.
Animo jumped off and sprawled onto the ground, but before the mad scientist could even get back on his feet, the man in the mask (which Hope now saw was a reflective silver) grabbed Animo by the arm and held him in the air as if he were no more than a puppy. The giant frog got back up and attempted to save its master, but the masked man simply slapped it to one side, sending it sprawling onto the road. How is he so strong? No one from area 51 was this powerful, Hope thought, slightly in awe of this warrior.
The man in the mask examined the contraption which Animo wore on his head. "A DNA transmodulator, interesting. It's a shame that I already have a unique power source, so I have no need for this, rather fantastic, invention." He spoke with a voice Hope recognized from the radio. She was sure that she had heard it before but the identity of the person eluded her once again.
The masked man proceeded to rip off and crush Animo's invention in his hands, causing the doctor to yelp as if he was the one being crushed rather than his machine. The man in the mask then dropped him next to Steel, who was hunched over and encircled on the ground by a prison of translucent green crystals. Another set of the same color crystals emerged from the earth without warning and encased Animo as well. Animo started yelling and momentarily pounded on the crystal wall, but it was no use and after a minute he slumped into the same defeated posture as the lieutenant next to him.
The man in the mask, seemingly satisfied that his work was done, walked over to Hope and Rojo.
"What about the rest of their guys?" Rojo asked him.
"Kevin and my duplicate are taking care of them as we speak. The man in the mask then turned his head towards Hope "It's good to see you again Hope."
Hope was confused by this statement. She was certain that she had never known anybody who wore that mask before, but judging by his otherworldly powers this guy was clearly one of the subjects from Area 51 just like her and Rojo.
The man in the silver mask noticed the confusion within Hope's voice and sighed quietly. He reached his hands to his helmet and removed it, revealing an ugly burned face. "Hope it's me. Michael."
A million thoughts went scattering through Hope's head, leaving her speechless. This was impossible. Michael was dead, killed in that explosion that nobody could've survived point-blank. It couldn't be that person standing in front of her was telling the truth, but despite herself Hope now noticed his now dirty and ruffled blond hair, along with his unmistakeable piercing blue eyes which stood out like diamonds in stone. The charismatic voice which came from his mouth was unquestionable. There was absolutely no way it was Michael, and yet there was no one else this man could be.
Hope tried to speak, but her words came out as a stutter . "Mike…what happened to you? I thought…I saw you… I mean the explosion it-"
"It nearly killed me, yes. Luckily for me the grenade wasn't a fragmental one." Mike said, cutting Hope off from her stumbling speech in a polite way, just like he always did. "It was completely energy based, meaning that I was able to absorb a lot of it, but the blast still did some damage… as you can see." he raised his hands sadly to his burnt face.
Hope was starstruck; she couldn't believe it. Part of her realised that her state of mind was directly linked to Michael - when she saw him get hit by that explosion in Area 51, she had run off and escaped, too afraid to help the others once he'd gone. Was she a coward? Did that even matter anymore? To see him here and now, alive as could be just made Hope feel, well, hopeful again. She knew that with Mike back that everything was going to be okay.
"Mike…I had no idea I'm sorry I left you back then I..I-" Hope found herself struggling to find words again.
"It's ok Hope, everything is going to be alright." Michael echoed her thoughts, and reached over and hugged her which sent butterflies throughout Hope's stomach.
"Ahem…" A raspy voice said, causing Hope and Michael to turn towards the source of the words, which was a two-legged black and blue creature, its blue striped tail flowing in the wind. It somewhat resembled a velociraptor. At least, that's what Hope thought. She'd hung out in a few museums before.
"Ah Kevin, you're back, did you get him?" asked Michael enthusiastically. He let go of Hope and turned towards the creature who was apparently none other than …
"Kevin? What happened to you?" Hope asked in surprise. Everyone seemed to be getting surprise makeovers.
Kevin turned his elongated head towards her. "I got an upgrade from a guy in New York." he said. Even in a different body, Hope saw Kevins signature smirk spread across his face.
"Kevin, did you get Cooper?" Mike repeated. His voice suddenly became a bit more aggressive than he did before.
"Oh yeah of course, here he is." Kevin stepped aside and morphed back into the long-haired straggly teenager whom Hope remembered from Area 51. The transformation looked rather strenuous for a few moments judging by Kevin's grimace, but the smirk soon reappeared on his face.
Another figure stepped out from behind where Kevin had just stood. "I've got the rest of the footage ready, but there's a slight problem." The blond-haired Cooper said.
"What's the problem?" Michael asked.
Hope was confused at Mike's insistence and repeated his words. "What is the problem? We're free."
Rojo responded "Well kid, let's just say that Animo and Steel over there are going to be getting some good old-fashioned payback for what they did to us back at Area 51." Rojo pointed to the imprisoned pair as she spoke.
"The problem," Cooper continued "is that I still can't locate or contact Rosenbaum. Wherever he is…I… I'm sure that he's safe, but I'm still working on it." Cooper said, rushing the end of his sentence. Was he nervous about something?
Hope saw Michael's face twitch. She recognized the expression he wore of him being internally upset, but not wanting to show it to anyone else. He then turned and walked purposefully over to Steel and Animo who were still encased in the green crystals.
Michael crouched down to make sure that both men could hear him.
"Alright you two, I'm only going to ask this once.
Where is Rosenbaum?"
His right hand lit up in fire as he spoke those last three words, causing both Steel and Animo to go wide-eyed in fear. Despite his calm tone it was clear he wasn't playing around. Out of the corner of her eye, Hope saw Cooper muttering nervously. Even Hope was taken aback by this new vengeful side of Mike which she had never seen before, and she knew him the best out of all of them. Had everyone changed in the short time she'd been away? Had she spent too much time away from people other than her rock golem friends? Or was she still just overwhelmed by her rescue, and the fact that Mike was alive and with her?
"We don't know." Animo finally muttered in reply. From his resigned, almost disappointed tone, Hope knew that he was telling the truth.
"Even if we did, we wouldn't tell you to freak!" Steel shouted, before wilting at Mike's thunderous glance. As much as this new side of Mike scared Hope a little, a part of her derived satisfaction from seeing Steel get a taste of his own medicine after all he had done to her and the others from Area 51.
"I can get 'em to talk bro." Kevin said while stepping forward. He punched his fist into his other hand before morphing into a creature of fire, whose light illuminated the entire night sky. Steel and Animo scuttled backwards as far as they could in their enclosed
"That's a bit unnecessary Kevin. I have a much better idea for these two." Mike nodded his head towards Cooper who pulled out his laptop from his backpack and booted it up. "I think it's time we pay a visit to our old friend Ben."
Mike smirked at this which due to his scarred appearance made him look terrifying even to Hope.
Even without using his powers, Cooper's dexterity with technology was unparalleled. With a few rapid clicks, Cooper attached the remaining video footage which he had and forwarded it to all the local news websites.
"This should give him something to do before we meet again." Cooper said as he shut his laptop. An unexpected smile of malice crossed his face.
Whoever this Ben was, Hope got the sense that he was about to be in just as much trouble as Steel and Animo were right now.
Confessions.Gwen was finishing up her science homework in her room when she heard the creak of the door being opened slowly and cautiously. She could tell without looking that it was Grandpa Max; Ben couldn't go anywhere without making his presence known to everyone around.
Her grandfather walked in. Usually this would be a cue for her to excitedly regale Max with new things which she'd learned, ideas that she'd come up with. Out of the two guys, Grandpa Max was the one who enjoyed intellectual debates as much as Gwen did. She often felt proud that she'd inherited her love for knowledge, at least partly, from Max. She supposed that she'd taken after her parents too, although the memories which she had with them weren't the fondest when it came to her studies. They were always pushing and pushing, never letting Gwen simply be and sometimes well most of the times that irritated her.
As much as Gwen liked grandpa Max she wasn't excited to talk to him, today academics were not the main thing on her mind, nor anything happy for that matter. She had already argued with Ben a few hours before, and she did not want to do so again with Grandpa Max. But how else was she meant to make either of them see reason?
Gwen was tired. Tired of Ben risking his life over and over again, constantly putting not just himself, but all of them in danger. She was tired of the fact that he never seemed to think of the impact that his actions had on them. Ben wasn't selfish, no, Gwen knew that he would do anything to keep those whom he cared about safe. It just irritated her greatly that even if Ben had a chance to give up the Omnitrix, he wouldn't. He had always wanted attention, ever since they were kids. He always wanted to do something to set him apart from everyone else, and the Omnitrix gave him just that. Gwen knew that if Ben had the choice to leave this life, he'd refuse because he had such a love of playing the hero.
Even during periods of time when nothing was happening, Gwen often noticed Ben's hand drift toward his left wrist, constantly fiddling with the device on his arm as if he needed to jump into action at any moment. As if this craziness was just another video game which he needed to beat.
Max took a look around and saw how Gwen's books were sprawled out on the bed rather than being arranged in the neat and orderly way they usually were. Maybe now was not the best time to tell her what he had to do, but he couldn't hide it anymore.
"I need to talk to you about something, Pumpkin," Max said
"Don't call me that!" snapped Gwen, her face turning almost as red as her hair. Her irritation at her childhood nickname disappeared when she saw the solemn look on Max's face.
"Gwen, it's time I told you…" - his voice caught before the last two words- "the truth," Gwen was incredulous. Truth? What's he on about?
Her confusion was not cleared by what he said next. "I know that you've been afraid of everything that's gone on over these last few months but you need to understand that you can't blame Ben , it's not his fault."
Grandpa Max put an arm on Gwen's shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. It didn't work - if anything it had the opposite effect.
"Grandpa, I'm not scared or angry at Ben," said Gwen, her voice rising as she spoke. "I'm worried for him! I just hate seeing him become so addicted to that stupid watch! He had two chances to give the thing up knowing full well that he would be a magnet for trouble with it, but who is he to listen to anything sensible? I mean, what was he thinking?" she blurted out, annoyed that Grandpa Max hadn't understood what she was feeling.
Grandpa Max paused again before he continued to speak.
"Gwen I…I need you to understand that none of this is really Ben's fault, even though you may think so.". At this his eyes looked down to the ground with a different expression on his face. One which Gwen had never seen on his face before, yet it reminded Gwen uncannily of Ben's guilty look whenever he'd made a mistake and knew it.
Max reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange disc which he stared at, the expression on his face remaining the same.
"Grandpa, I don't think you get it." said Gwen, trying to take his attention away from the disc and back to her. "I can't just watch Ben put himself in danger and end up in trouble because he's trying to be a hero…it's just not right! He shouldn't have that thing!
Suddenly the disc glowed to life and Gwen saw two figures being projected. The first one was clearly Grandpa Max, but he looked about thirty years younger. His hair was brown rather than greying, he was in far better shape, and his face was completely devoid of wrinkles. He was facing some kind of small animal holding a little staff, or…was it an alien?
"Grandpa what-"
The image then began playing out in front of her like a 3D television show. Gwen fell silent as she leaned in closer to hear what was being said.
The little humanoid alien began to speak. "Max, I doubt that this scenario will ever play out, but it is important that I tell you this in case the worst comes to pass." The little alien's voice surprised Gwen, it was deeper than she expected and suggested an acquired wisdom far beyond anyone she'd met despite his body being only slightly larger than her hand.
"For whatever reason if someone tries to steal the Omnitrix and successfully sabotages its transport, I have programmed the pod which contains my invention to seek out specific DNA sequences across the universe, mine chief among them." The alien continued. "However, your genetic code will also be there as a backup just in case things go….'pear-shaped.' I believe is the saying which they use in your world. You shouldn't worry about it too much, the Omnitrix is far from being fully completed, still better to be safe than sorry." The small frog-like figure then looked up to the younger Max who nodded his head and dutifully replied.
"You can count on me Azmuth. I won't let you down." said the younger Max.
The alien gave a brief nod in response. "I know you will not Max," he said. "After defeating both Aggregor and Vilgax, I have no doubt that you are by far the bravest and most skillful Plumber agent whom I could designate this task to. I would be a fool to give it to anyone but you."
The video abruptly stopped, leaving the two in silence for a minute, save the slight whirring of the disk as it powered down.
"Grandpa are you saying…" Gwen trailed off, unable to even finish her sentence.
Grandpa Max simply nodded. "Gwen, I didn't tell you or Ben about who I am because I never thought that any of this would happen. Last I heard, the Omnitrix was supposed to be destroyed. So you can imagine my shock that night when Ben came back with that very device on his wrist. You're sharp Gwen. You must've noticed that I seemed to know just a bit more, understand just a bit more about this frankly unbelievable story, than a regular old grandpa would."
Gwen cast her mind back to that night, and now began to put two and two together about why she remembered Max behaving so strangely, but she hasn't thought much of it because she was too busy trying to understand everything herself. Maybe it was more obvious than she thought that her grandpa not only knew what was going on, but had a much larger part to play in all of it.
"Why did you hide this from us?" she asked, her voice ringing with pain. Even considering how unbelievable his story was , she never thought that Grandpa Max would hide anything from anyone.
"I was afraid, Gwen," replied Grandpa Max."I was afraid that adding another layer onto this situation would be too much for Ben and you to handle. You two are sixteen for crying out loud, you shouldn't be dealing with any of this! I wasn't sure what would happen to Ben when he started using the Omnitrix…but I think that he's learned to use it in the right way. He's not perfect, but he knows that with that device in his possession, he has a duty to help others who cannot help themselves. I doubt that I would've had the courage to do that when I was your age." He was right. No matter how obsessed Ben seemed with being a hero, there was no doubt that it came from bravery, selfless bravery. Gwen couldn't fault that.
"I was the one who dragged you into this mess, and if anyone is to blame for putting you two in danger, it's me and for that, I'm sorry." said Grandpa Max, his eyes looking at the floor again. "I thought that keeping who I was a secret would protect you guys but." - his mouth twisted into a pained smile- "I guess that even after over six decades of my life, there are still some things which I haven't learned. I'm not as straightforward as you think Gwen. You have no idea about how much I've had to hide, how much I've had to lie to my children: your fathers to try and keep them safe. I couldn't do that all over again with my grandkids."
Gwen wasn't even sure how to react to any of this. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again. There was something simultaneously infuriating and awesome about what she'd just learned about her Grandpa, a secret space agent. What did that frog alien call him…a Plumber? If the situation wasn't so serious Gwen would've made a witty remark about pipes and toilets, but now wasn't the time.
Max spoke. "It's alright if you still want to stay here and mull things over, but right now Ben could use your help with Julie."
Gwen perked up at Julie's name.. "Why does Julie need my help?" Gwen asked. She was still worried about Julie after the incident with Ghostfreak. However her mind kept thinking back to what Grandpa Max had just shown her, the bombshell of information which he had just dropped.
"I talked Julie into coming with us because her parents have gone on vacation for the summer and I figured that you could help her to be more at ease with us after what happened." Max then lowered his voice. "She's going through a lot, and being alone while that happens can hurt the best of us. I'm old, I doubt that I know the emotional ways of your generation. You and Ben just might be able to help her through this". At that, he turned around and started to walk out of the room.
Gwen knew Grandpa Max was right but she still had far too many questions, the main one being:
"Grandpa, did Grandma know?"
Max stopped in his tracks, hesitated for a moment, before slowly shaking his head.
This really is the craziest summer of my life was the only thought going through Gwen's head as Max walked out of the room.
Meanwhile in the Rust-Bucket…."Then Kevin and Mike tried to destroy New York! Luckily, Gwen saved me…aaaand I managed to beat them both" Ben finished, a slight hint of pride in his voice he never got a chance to talk about his crazy adventures with someone else most of the time Gwen was busy and even when she wasn't she didn't like it when Ben would bring up those memories and grandpa max just sort of shrugged and offered basic complements followed by a talk about which aliens might have worked better ."Although I never found out what Steel was up to" he added as an afterthought. Which still bothered him, but he didn't want to worry about it now. Too much to think about, thought Ben.
Julie seemed to be taking the revelations about as well as Ben could hope.
"So you're saying that you weren't the one New York trashing all those buildings and running away?" she asked.
"Exactly! Well, partially. I did have to run away from Steel, but I didn't hurt anyone on purpose." Ben responded.
His fingers tapped nervously on the wristband of the Omnitrix as he spoke, because he knew that Julie must have been skeptical of Ben after she had woken up from her state of unconsciousness to see all 3 Tennysons looking over her lying down on the couch of the Rust-Bucket. At first she accused all three of them of kidnapping her, and it was only after Grandpa max had talked to her in private had she finally calmed down enough for Ben to tell her the truth.
"What about Cash and JT? I saw you trash their car." she asked, crossing her arms. The scowl was back on her face and Ben didn't like it at all.
"Alright I'll fess up" he said resignedly. "I lost my cool, but I didn't mean to trash their car. I wasn't even going to transform into anyone! I reached for the watch out of anger and then I felt this…wave of hatred wash over me. It wasn't until later that I realized that I wasn't myself, I was being egged on by the consciousness of Ghostfreak, you know, that horror show who was chasing us and possessed you and -." Ben stopped talking immediately; that was probably not the smartest thing to say to someone who had just been possessed by a psychopathic alien phantom.
Luckily Julie seemed to be ok and nodded once again. "Well I guess that makes sense. The news always did show multiple aliens and I recognized the symbol on your watch on the ones that were defending civilians from others. Ben, I'm really sorry about what I did. I was just scared. I swear. I've never, ever taken my dad's gun like that before, he'd kill me if he knew what I'd done."
She sounded really shaken up about the ordeal making Ben realize just how strange this must all sound to a normal person. Aliens, mutants, and evil alien ghost monsters had become small talk for him at this point.
"It's alright, I'm just glad you're safe. I mean hey, now you can hang out with me and Grandpa Max in the Rust-Bucket until your parents get back home! Gwen definitely needs another girl to keep her company" said Ben, trying to lighten the mood.
Julie nodded again. She had wanted to come with them after learning everything mostly to see if Ben really was trustworthy, but she also seemed fascinated by what Ben could do. Grandpa Max noticed this immediately and confided in Ben when they had a moment.
Kiddo, we can't leave behind someone who knows who you are. Reporters or worse, Steel, could find and question her about you, and that could be incredibly dangerous for us and for her, depending on how cooperative she would be with anyone else.
The door to the Rust-Bucket opened and Grandpa Max walked inside, followed by Gwen. Ben immediately sat up straighter, his face fraught with confusion. "Gwen I thought you were staying behind for a while…you know cause-"
Gwen interrupted "I know Ben, but I changed my mind. I still don't like that you kept the watch but I know that it's not really your fault. So, we're cool." She glanced back at Grandpa Max as she spoke that last part which confused Ben. "You know, cause there's no point in arguing over this anymore." she added, her eyes back on Ben.
"Well as long as you're back." Ben replied, still a little uncertain within his cousin's sudden change of heart, there was something in her voice which threw him off. Still, it was progress.
"Looks like everything's working out huh sport." Grandpa Max said, as he made his way to the driver's seat, whistling cheerfully.
"Looks like Grandpa." Ben replied. He already felt better about all of them being back together and on the same page again. When the summer had first started he felt like everyone was drifting apart, made even worse after Ben had decided to keep the watch a second time but now they were all back together emotionally. Even if Gwen wasn't totally fine with Ben keeping the watch, at least she was there for him again. It was a good feeling.
"Hey you're on the news!" Julie shouted, pointing to the mini TV installed above. Gwen snatched up the remote and turned up the volume and Grandpa Max turned from his driver's seat to watch the screen as the familiar voice of news show host Will Harangue spoke.
"That's right folks, as if illegal immigrants weren't bad enough now there are illegal aliens romping around, but wait! Hold onto your seats folks, this is where it gets tricky. One of these aliens is capable of changing their appearance using some sort of device, and according to our sources is currently registered under the name of a high school boy from the town of Bellwood: Ben Tennyson!"
A video of Ben transforming accompanied the revelation. Ben recognized the place. It was a street in New York he had been wandering down before he saw Rojo attacking police officers and decided to stop her. The camera angle looked slightly wonky, but it was still proof enough.
"Grandpa, I'm guessing this is bad," said Ben in a low voice.
Grandpa Max didn't even pause to talk; he started the engines and buckled himself in as the Rust Bucket began to race down the streets.
"You're right Ben: this is bad." Grandpa replied quietly. Unlike his regular calm tone, his voice was shaky and Ben could tell that he was worried.
Ben glanced down at the Omnitrix on his wrist, wondering how they could never get more than a few minutes of happiness and peace. Now the entire state, country and world, now knew who Ben was. Including Lieutenant Steel and the government. All that remained to protect him was a run-down RV racing down the highway, two members of his family who only had their wit to help him, and a random girl who didn't deserve to be in this mess. Ben had never felt so helpless or fearful ever before.
"And there we go all done. What's that? It's been 6 months since I told you what happened. Oh my I seem too have arrived later than I intended my apologies for that I had to deal with another issue somewhere outside of your timeline. Anyways I believe I told you that young ben would need to learn how to confront his true fear but what was that fear? Being seen as a monster,being revealed to the public or seeing ghostfreak the very embodiment of his anger before him? Even I don't quite know the answer, which while I'm sure sounds cryptic to you, sounds rather enjoyable to me as usually Ben's fears are obvious things like spiders, clowns and a strange bird called a peacock. Anyways I'm afraid I have to leave once more not to worry I'll be sure to adjust my chrono navigator this time so I remember to come back on time by now."
