Chapter 2: Kevin Makes His Debut
Saw the series finale for Ultimate Alien. I have to say Man of Action did a pretty good job of it, considering the Ben 10 franchise is supposed to be for kids. I loved the flashback scene; very touching. But they all forgot about Vilgax. I mean, seriously? He's the evil overlord that tried to kill Ben for years. How do you forget someone like that? And I don't know about you, but I am not looking forward to Ben 10: Omniverse. The story line kind of sucks. But, knowing me, I'll watch it anyway.
Anyway, I own nothing except the plot. So there.
"What do you think he means by Slayers? Like vampire slayers?" Gwen asked after seeing Max's transmission. Ben had showered, changed, and ridden to his cousin's karate lessons just as she was about to leave and showed her the message. They were now sitting on the bleachers, contemplating their next course of action.
"I seriously don't think vampires exist. And Grandpa said that their Plumbers, but they don't get along with the Plumbers we know." Ben furrowed his brow. He really didn't understand it that well. All he knew was that Grandpa Max needed his help with an alien problem and that he needed to contact an unfriendly batch of Plumbers.
"But why make you where the Omnitrix again? You know how difficult it was to get it off." Gwen glared at Ben. She had been pissed when she found out that Ben just threw away his normal life without talking to her first.
"How did I get the Omnitrix off in the first place, Gwen?"
"God, you're a dweeb. You can't even remember…" Gwen trailed off. She narrowed her eyes, as if she was trying to remember something. "You know what? I can't remember either."
"Who's the dweeb now?"
"Be serious for once. You took off the Omnitrix when your dad got angry about that last mission. What happened with that?" Gwen asked, grabbing Ben's arm and examining the Omnitrix. It didn't look like it had separated from Ben's wrist…
"That's just it, Gwen. I don't remember a thing about that. And if you don't…" Ben shook his head. "Do you think these Slayer people have any idea?" Ben cradled the transmitter in his palm.
"What makes you think the Slayers have anything to do with it?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow. Where was he going with this?
"I'm just grasping at straws here, but I thought that maybe we teamed up with a group of Slayers back when we were kids and that maybe they know what happened."
"Not a bad train of thought, but what makes you think we teamed up with any other group?"
"I just told you, moron. I was grasping at straws." The two cousins glared at each other, each tiring of their years of rivalry. Gwen broke the staring contest first with a sigh. "What?" Ben asked.
"I was just wondering how we were going to help Grandpa, that's all." Gwen pushed a lock of red hair behind her ear. She had changed out of her karate uniform and into a white dress shirt under a blue sweater, a black skirt, black tights, and high-heeled shoes. She was tired from the karate lesson and she just wanted to go home and sleep.
"I don't know, Gwen. Maybe there'll be a lead somewhere in the communication network." Ben started playing with his Omnitrix. "Maybe I can use the Omnitrix-"
Suddenly the back door banged open, and a man encased in shadow walked through. "The Omnitrix ain't for you, kid," the man said as he started walking to the two teens.
"Oh, yeah? Who says?" Ben threatened.
"This is no time to be an idiot," Gwen scolded him. They both jumped off the bleachers and started running to the side door, only to find it locked.
"Fan-tucking-fastic," Ben remarked sarcastically as he hopelessly tried to open it.
The man was slowly walking closer to them, but now he was brandishing a gun. "Dammit!" Ben swore as he turned around to face the enigmatic man.
"I don't know how you got the Omnitrix, but if you don't give it back…" The man warned, pointing the gun at Ben.
"Too late, creep! I already put it on! And how do you know about the Omnitrix?" Ben demanded. He waved a hand over the dial, threatening to turn into… well, anything that would help.
In response, the man took off his disguise. He glowed blue for a second when he took off the mask, and then he showed his true form: a brown fish face with yellow eyes, and his body was encased in a white suit, with a glass helmet protecting his head.
"That's disgusting," was Ben's ingenious comment. He tried to pick an alien from the Omnitrix, only to have Fish Face shoot him with a gun. The beam was infrared; alien technology, probably standard Plumber issue. Luckily the beam was aimed near the feet, so Ben wasn't hurt.
"Don't make me use this on you," Fish Face warned, the barrel of his gun steaming.
Gwen decided to take action. She was up in the air, on a pink energy step, her hands glowing. "I'll take it from here," Gwen said, and fired an orb of-what else? - pink energy at the fish alien. It crashed into him, and the sound of breaking glass could be heard, but it was just from Gwen's spell. While Fish Face was disoriented, Gwen gestured to the wall, and a sheet of energy glided to the fazed alien, wrapping him in a lock. Gwen lifted him into the air with her hand while he struggled.
"When did you get so good?" Ben asked as he walked up to his cousin.
"Just because you had a normal life doesn't mean I did," Gwen answered, keeping an eye on the struggling alien.
Ben turned to him. "I want answers, now. Let's start with the usual: who are you?"
"I'm a Plumber. I'm part of the intergalactic law enforcement organization known as the Plumbers."
"I know who they are. My Grandpa Max used to be an active one a while back."
A look of realization spread on the alien's face. "You're Max's grandkid?"
"Correction: grandkids," Gwen said. "I'm Gwen, and he's Ben." She pointed to him.
"Ben Tennyson?" the alien asked, getting his first good look at the boy. "I thought you disappeared."
"I kind of did for a while," Ben shrugged, and then turned serious. "How do you know my grandfather?"
"I was working the same case with him. I'm Magister Labrid. If you let me down, I can explain more about the mission." Gwen and Ben looked at each other.
"I think he's telling the truth," Gwen thought out loud. She gently put the Magister on the ground before the energy lock fizzled out.
"Did Max go missing?" Ben asked immediately. Labrid looked surprised.
"Yes, during the mission. Did he contact you?" Ben held out the transmitter.
"He left me a message. He said something about the High Breeds who were creating weather towers around here."
"That's a lot to put in just a message," Labrid mused. "What he said is true, though. A lot of top agents have died because of these guys. They've been cloaking their weather towers and turning the climate cold in secret. They also have a bunch of lackeys to do the dirty work for them, but I don't know what to call them."
"What do they look like?" Gwen asked.
"Ugly octopus-like things that shoot green blobs from their mouths." Labrid shuddered. "Nasty pieces of work. Did he tell you anything else?" The Magister pointed to the transmitter.
"He told me to team up with the Slayers, whoever they are." Labrid closed his eyes and shook his head.
"That idiot," he hissed to himself.
"No one talks about my grandpa that way!" Ben said angrily. He was prepared to go full alien on his ass, but Gwen stopped him.
"No turning alien! Do you want to wreck the place?" She glared at the two of them. "Why are these Slayers so bad?" Gwen asked Magister Labrid, who had recovered from the shock.
"They're not bad per se. They usually work the same cases as normal Plumbers, finding new threats and stopping them. Their success rate is off the charts. But…"
"But…" Ben wanted to get on with this.
Labrid swallowed before continuing. "Simply put, they're vigilantes. If they believe that someone has escaped justice, they will make it their mission to murder them in the quickest way possible. Normal Plumbers don't do that; we believe in fair trial for the accused. Another thing… is that if they are allowed to work normal Plumber missions, they tend to play hard cop, giving the interrogated severe mental and physical scarring." The Magister looked around nervously, like he was afraid of being overheard.
Ben was having a hard time absorbing all of this. The Slayers played hard ball, sure, but they didn't sound totally horrible. Well, except maybe for the interrogation and murder part, but still… "Are they really that bad?" he asked.
"Consider yourself lucky that you've never seen them in action." Labrid continued examining the place; Gwen and Ben exchanged looks.
"Why are you so worried?" Gwen asked.
"The Slayers have a tendency of always knowing what's going on in the universe. If something freaky happens, they're always the first to know." Labrid looked at Ben. "Are you curious to see the aliens who probably took your grandfather?"
"Hell yes! Where are they?" "They're going to be at a train yard later tonight. Probably an illegal alien tech deal or something. If we use my Plumber ship, we can get there in time to bust them up." The Magister held up a set of keys.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ben walked up to Labrid. Gwen was more skeptical. Why did the Magister shift gears like that? If he was so afraid of being overheard, then why did he tell them anything at all? But then she thought of her grandpa, healthy and safe and close by. If this Magister guy tries anything funny, Ben and I can take him, Gwen thought as she joined Ben and Labrid. I don't think he's playing us, though, Gwen continued to think as the three of them walked out of the school. But I seriously doubt these Slayer people have eyes everywhere. There's no way they know what we're doing.
Isaac and Cordelia Valentine were in their study, watching Magister Labrid's Plumber ship fly to the train yard. Labrid had been right to be worried; the Slayers' robotic trackers were top-notch when it came to spyware, letting the user hear and see-in color, no less- what was going on in the universe.
So it would be an understatement to say that the Slayers had eyes everywhere.
"What should we do?" Isaac asked his wife. Even when he was at home, he wore a black three-piece suit. Unlike most men nowadays, he actually looked comfortable in it.
"We'll send a tracker to see how it's going. If it gets really bad, we can teleport someone to help. Ben does have the Omnitrix on again, though, so I don't think we'll need to." Cordelia was also in her work clothes: a starched white dress shirt with a black form-fitting business coat with matching skirt, and black high-heeled shoes. She had her white hair loose and straight, and it was a stark contrast to her clothing choices.
The giant screen in front of them changed scenes. It showed the inside of the Plumber ship, with Ben annoying Magister Labrid and Gwen checking out the controls. Isaac, who had the remote in his hand, zoomed in on Ben's face.
"I wonder how Ventus is doing, being cooped up in his head," Isaac thought out loud.
Cordelia smirked. "Benjamin is an obnoxious child. I doubt Ventus is happy being stuck with him. I do wonder why Phineas refused to let us train him, though."
"Ben has too much power. Not only does he have the Omnitrix and Ventus, he also might have dormant Anodite powers. If Azmuth found out about it, he might take the Omnitrix away."
"In that case, we can just train Ben to use his full potential."
Isaac shook his head. "It's more complex than that. If Ben doesn't have the Omnitrix, then someone like Vilgax will take it and use it to cause war and needless bloodshed. Ben is the only person we can trust to use the Omnitrix for good, and even then it's rather a slim chance."
"Our best hope is a human," Cordelia sneered. "Who would have thought?"
"God, you're judgmental."
"If you've lived as long as I have, you would be too."
Isaac sighed and pressed the zoom out button on the remote. "Why did you plan the Pride to befriend the boy first instead of, you know, just telling him outright?"
"Well, for one thing, if we just told him without prepping him first, he wouldn't believe us. And if the kids gain his trust, then maybe he'll be more willing to help us in the future."
"And if that doesn't work? What will you do then?"
"I'll improvise."
"I swear that's your answer for everything."
"Shut up and turn up the volume."
Ben, Gwen, and Magister Labrid were hiding out behind some crates in the train yard when they saw the Forever Knights.
"What are the Forever Knights doing here?" Gwen asked quietly, since the three of them were trying to be sneaky.
"This is an alien tech deal. Obviously they want to use alien technology to wipe out all alien life forms on Earth." Ben shook his head. "Hypocrites." And then two trucks pulled up, one red, one white. A second later, a green sports car pulled up as well, and coming out of the driver's seat was the last person Ben ever expected to see.
"Kevin Levin! I thought he was in the Null Void!" Ben exclaimed.
"He did his time and got out a while back," Labrid explained. "He's probably the middle man here." The Forever Knights were cloaked in red, and one of them walked up to Kevin and handed him a suitcase.
Kevin opened it, looked inside, and told his associates, "The money's all here." They unloaded a crate, and set it on the ground. Kevin gave the money back to the guy in red and they followed him to the crate. Kevin opened one of them and got out a laser cannon of sorts.
"Just what you ordered: top of the line laser lances. It's good for thirty-five minutes of continuous fighting at point-six terawatts." Kevin walked a ways closer to a lone green truck and aimed his lance at it. He fired at it, and a red beam of pure laser burst out. The flames held for a second on the truck, and then it exploded. "Tell me, is that good, or what?"
"That's level five technology! This planet can only support level two!" Magister Labrid yelled out, completely blowing their cover. He jumped over the crates with his badge and gun in his hands and walked towards the criminals. With no choice, Ben and Gwen followed him and prepared to fight.
Kevin's associates all threw off their masks and revealed their octopus heads. "That's disgusting," Gwen remarked, saying exactly what Ben said earlier.
"I know, right?" For probably the first time, the two cousins actually agreed on something.
The aliens were getting closer. Labrid decided to do the only thing he could with these odds; he fired his laser at the ground, creating a line of fire. The aliens drew back, but that wouldn't stand for long.
"Where are the Knights?" Ben asked Labrid.
"Right behind us," Gwen answered for him. The Forever Knights were taking off their cloaks and were revealing their armor. Some of them held laser lances.
"Crap," was Ben's ingenious response. Already his hand was at his wrist, and he was looking for a decent alien. Of course, he only knew one. "It's hero time!" he said his catchphrase as he slammed down the dial.
Once again he was flaming plant, but that was fine. The aliens before him were shrinking back because of the stink, and with the Magister's help, he was able to subdue them with some fire blasts. They tried to get away in the white truck, but Ben lifted a crate and threw it at them, hitting them in the windshield. They truck fell on its side due to the impact, but Ben couldn't finish them off yet.
Gwen was having some problems with the Forever Knights. She was trying to shield herself from the laser lances, but they were breaking through her defenses. The Magister shot a few of them, but it wasn't enough. Ben used his plant power to ensnare them in vines, but one of them shot him, ripping off his arm. But Swampfire (that was this alien's name now) came with a few tricks. A vine grew out of the severed arm and clung to Ben, and it slowly reattached itself to the rest of the body.
"That was cool," Ben said before he was about to lay into the Forever Knights. But before he could get to them, Kevin literally swooped down from above in front of Ben.
"Hey, Tennyson. Sorry to barge in, but I got a score to settle with you." Behind him, the Forever Knights were getting away with the illegal alien tech.
"Is now really the time, Kevin?" Ben asked angrily as he watched them retreat.
"Well, considering that I don't know when I'll next see you, yeah, it really is the time."
"What do you want?"
"Revenge: you turned me into a freak, trapped me in the Null Void for all those years, and you ruined my deal today. It's time for some payback."
"Two of those you did to yourself. The third wasn't exactly my fault."
Kevin touched a hand to the train tracks in front of him and absorbed the steel. In a matter of seconds, his body was encased in steel armor. "Does it look like I care?" Before Ben could respond, he slammed his fist into his stomach, only to have his fist lodged into it. Ben slammed the sides of Kevin's head with his palms, and then he punched Kevin into a pile of crates, ripping his hand out and leaving a gaping hole in his stomach. The hole healed itself, filling in with vines.
Ben heard the sounds of a truck starting. It was the octopus aliens and the Forever Knights, taking off with the money and the alien tech. But Ben had more pressing matters to attend to, for Kevin had launched a wooden crate at him. The crate landed on top of him, crushing him with its weight. Kevin walked up to the carnage, absolutely glowing with victory. But Ben wouldn't die that quickly. Vines erupted from the soil between Kevin's feet, and almost instantaneously, Ben had been re-grown behind Kevin.
Ben punched Kevin, who staggered from the pain. Disorientated, Kevin tried to lift a truck to throw at Ben, but Ben shot a few fire balls at the truck, making the thing explode. Kevin's armor disappeared before he hit the ground, and in just a moment, he was out cold.
"Looks like Ventus hasn't made contact yet," Isaac remarked. The two of them were still in their study, but now they had a tray of delicacies and some red wine to tide them over. Even when they were eating snacks they were refined.
"Oh, he probably has, but it had to have been before Ben put on the Omnitrix," Cordelia countered, watching the screen. Magister Labrid was now putting on some energy cuffs on an unconscious Kevin to stop him from absorbing anything. "Now it's going to be much harder for him to talk to the boy."
"I don't know about that. Reports have said that Ventus had been able to contact Benjamin back when he was ten."
"True, but Ben is now almost an adult. And if he turns into an adult before he gets his powers…"
"Then Ventus won't be able to come back this generation," Isaac finished for her. He slowly shook his head. "So much power, and yet it must be contained in a human vessel. On the plus side, now all the gods have limitations that they have to abide by to live."
"Especially the four main gods," Cordelia smirked. Aquaria, Erda, Kirche, and Ventus: the strongest gods in Slayer mythology, forced to live in the body of children. All the minor gods were stuck in the same predicament, but they were just that; minor. It must be especially tough for the major gods.
"What do you plan for the Pride to do next, Cordelia?" Isaac asked his wife. She downed an entire glass of wine before answering.
"Have the Pride befriend the boy like before. I suspect Carter has a plan to explain the Slayer history without her having to actually talk about it. Where is she, by the way?"
"Last time I checked, she was with Evan and Sam in the training facility."
"Good. They haven't slacked on their training." Cordelia turned to the monitor just in time to see Kevin beginning to wake up. "Ooh, turn up the volume. Things are getting interesting again." She poured herself another glass of wine.
"We are horrible people," Isaac laughed.
"I know, right? Could you pass the pate? I'm famished!"
When Kevin awoke, he was staring into a pair of beautiful, emerald green eyes.
Why did it have to be Ben?
He tried to punch him, but he had energy cuffs strapped to his wrists. "Nothing for you to absorb, kid," Labrid told him. He held up a laser lance. "This is level five technology. It shouldn't even be on this planet."
"What's your point?"
"The point is that you're going back to the Null Void if you don't help us," Ben said. Gwen walked over and put a hand on Kevin's shoulder.
"A lot of people could be hurt, Kevin," she said softly. Kevin turned to her and widened his eyes. She was beautiful, to say the least, and her eyes were the loveliest shade of green he had ever seen.
"Are you going to help us find the Forever Knights or not?" Ben asked roughly. Kevin smiled and stood up, a no easy feat with bound hands.
"I would be happy to help you find those bastards. They took off without even paying me. We can ride in my car." He gestured to the left, where his green Dodge Challenger was parked. It had been miraculously spared from the fighting earlier.
"You lead," the Magister said, pointing his laser at Kevin so he wouldn't try anything funny. Still with his salesman smile plastered on his face, Kevin led the team to his car. As Magister Labrid took off the energy cuffs, Ben could hear something.
Not bad, Benjamin. A little rusty, but you prove quite adept at using the new Omnitrix.
Ben shook his head, but it didn't do any good. The voice still echoed inside his head. And then it hit him; it was the scary voice from his dream.
Scary, am I? The voice chuckled. I suppose you would think that. But you have no reason to be afraid, Ben. I am your greatest ally, even if you don't know my name yet.
"You coming, Tennyson?" Gwen asked her cousin. The three of them were already inside the car, waiting for him. In response, Ben clamored into the backseat, still reeling over the fact that he was freaking crazy.
Don't say that, Ben. You're not crazy at all.
Who are you? Ben thought directly to the voice as Kevin started the ignition.
I told you. I am your greatest ally, the one you can always rely on when you have no one else.
Can you tell me your name?
I am Ventus, lord of the sky. And then he stayed silent, with Ben freaking out. Not only did he have a voice in his head, but it called itself a lord. A freaking lord! Did it consider itself a god or something?
But Ben couldn't dwell on it. They had a mission to take care of. He would take care of the monsters in his head later.
"Looks like Ventus has made contact."
"Yes. Hopefully Ben doesn't try to pry answers out of him yet."
"Cordelia, he's bound to be curious about a voice in his head. Of course he's going to want answers."
"Ventus better not reveal too much too soon. It could be disastrous."
"Like the fall of the Roman Empire disastrous, or 'aliens taking over the world' disastrous?"
"…I actually don't know which is worse. Probably the latter."
"So you're saying the fall of the Roman Empire wasn't that bad?"
"…Shut up and eat your pate."
"That's what I thought."
Okay, I'll try to keep the chapters close to the original episodes as I can, save for a few things. Maybe I'll do a couple of filler chapters, just for fun.
Remember to read and review!