Welcome Ultras to the latest chapter of The Ultra 10 Chronicles!
Alright, so I've started college again, meaning that my schedule is semi-predictable. Meaning that I can actually squeeze more time into writing. Plus I spent about five or so hours this week updating/adding details into my outline for the story going forward, so I'm feeling pretty pumped about the next several arcs.
Trigger warnings: There are several instances of strong language in this chapter. The first one is in the paragraph which reads, "I'm going to start shooting..." The second is in the paragraph following the one which reads, "You heard Ultra, let's move it!" The third is in the paragraph following the one which reads, "That'll teach them..." The fourth is in the paragraph following the one which reads, "In a red flash of light, he detransformed back into his human form..." The last one is in the paragraph following the one which reads, "Thanks, I needed that..."
The soundtrack for this chapter is "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)" by Lost Prophets. I think it well conveys the struggle broiling inside of Ben, which this chapter focuses on. You can listen to the song by going to /watch?v=EWoh-BekPCY.
Enjoy the chapter!
The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 3: Gathering Storms
Chapter 68: Old Habits
Suburbs of Rapid City, South Dakota, two week later
"Now this is interesting," Xam spoke as he couched over the computer, his PLUMMER suit still plugged into the console.
"What's that?" Newg asked.
"There appears to be a multi-frequency antenna built into the suit's instrument cluster," Xam replied. "With a little tweaking, I can probably get it to focus in on any available frequencies."
"What's that mean?" Newg asked.
"It means that if I can isolate whatever energy Neb's watch uses, I can probably trace it. And finding him would be as simple as following a GPS," Xam replied.
"How are you planning on isolating the energy?" Newg asked. "Further than that, you don't even know if it puts out a frequency that your suit can pick up."
"If my theory is correct, Neb's counterpart's watch uses the same energy," Max explained. "If we can lure him nearby and avoid being caught, I might be able to isolate it. Then we've just got to sort the difference between two identical frequencies."
"Neb's watch and Ben's," Newg put together. She stood up from her seat on the side of the table, stretching her back. "It's risky, and that's if everything goes according to plan."
"Do you have any better ideas?" Xam asked. "Any mystical spells you can cast to track Neb?"
"Not any that won't confuse Neb with Ben," Newg admitted. "Which is the same problem that we've got with your plan. Such a spell would probably alert my own counterpart to our location as well."
"Like I've said," Xam reiterated. "This is our best bet at finding Neb before that brat Ben does. Risky or not, we've got to take it. If we know which one is Ben's, then the one that's at a different location has to be Neb's. Then it's just getting to him, and the three of us can vanish for good."
"You want to just hide?" Newg asked.
"We don't belong here," Xam replied. "For the time being, hiding means surviving. We fooled those PLUMMERs once, I'd rather not try to fool them again, not to mention Ben's team of wanna-be heroes."
Jason's Jewelers, downtown Bellwood
"I'm only going to say this once," the masked figure shouted to the room full of cowering civilians. "Anyone tries to move, or decides to be a hero, and I'll put a bullet in ya!" Behind him, two of his masked colleagues muttered under their breaths to each other.
"How long until a silent alarm goes off?" The taller, lankier one asked.
"We've gotten twelve minutes, twenty five seconds," his partner replied. "After that, Team Ultra and those PLUMMERs are going to be on us like white on rice." He dropped a pipe wrench from his sleeve, gripping it like a club. Hurriedly, he ran over to the cabinet full of silver and diamond jewelry and gave it a swing. The glass shattered. An alarm started blaring. Several of the hostages covered their ears at the sound.
"You sure you cut the network?" The taller burglar asked.
"Yeah," he replied over the noise. "Nothing's getting sent out, it's just noise." With that, he started shoveling the jewelry into his pockets. The taller burglar nodded, walking towards the group of hostages.
"Where's the manager here?" He asked as threateningly as he could. For a moment, no one answered or stood up.
"I'm going to start shooting all of you, one by one until the manager or a damn employee stands up!" With that he fired into the ceiling, causing the hostages to scream in fright.
"Do not mess around with us!" The first burglar emphasized his friend's threat, waiving his rifle at the group. Finally, an older man in a suit stood up.
"I-I'm the manager," he said, putting his hands over his head. The pistol-wielding man walked up, grabbing him gruffly by the arm and shoving him towards the check-out counter.
"Open the registers," he demanded. The manager nodded, stepping up to the register and pressing a button.
"Hey, we've got only five minutes before the silent alarm goes off," the third burglar announced, having filled his pockets full of all the gold and silver jewelry he could fit. Outside, several cars screeched to a stop. The sound of it froze all three burglars for an instant.
"I thought you said we had five minutes?" The rifle-wielding burglar asked in a panicked tone.
"We still do!" He replied. "There's no sirens on those cars!"
"No way do we get our gig stolen by some amateur thugs!" Pistol said. He focused back on the manager in front of him. "Hurry up, or you'll get a bullet in the back of the head!" The manager opened the register, raising his hands up and stepping back.
"Get back with the other hostages!" Pistol demanded. The manager nodded, carefully stepping back towards the group of hostages in the corner. Pistol started shoving the bills into his pocket, keeping his gun and eyes trained on the hostages. Outside, several footsteps were heard thudding on the stone steps up into the bank.
"Deputies of Ultra!" A man shouted. "Come out now, or you will be shot!" Rifle burglar glanced uneasily at one of his partners.
"They're bluffing, there's no way they'll shoot with hostages," he said, sounding like he was reassuring himself of his safety. You, blue jacket! Up!" The woman in the denim jacket stood up cautiously, tears falling down her already soaked cheeks.
The burglar grabbed her roughly, standing behind her. With her, the other two burglars quickly made their way towards the hostage group. They each grabbed a hostage to use as a human shield, backing up behind a counter to use as cover.
Just then, a dozen heavily-armed men in black clothing broke into the room, firing bullets high into the walls. It wasn't an offensive fire, but a psychological one, one to give them enough of a window to get into the room.
"We have hostages," one of the men spoke into his walkie talkie.
"Get them out of there," the reply came.
"All of you, get out!" The man shouted, causing the hostages to scream as they bolted towards the door. All of a sudden, a shot rang out, a bullet hitting one of the men in black. With a grunt, he felt to the ground, blood stating to come from his fresh wound in his arm. The other men opened fire, firing at the counter where the single shot had come from.
"Flank him!" One of the men in black shouted, and his soldiers split up, going around the sides of the room. The burglar with the pipe wrench lost his cool, dropping it and standing up.
"I-I surrender!" He shouted, raising his arms above his head. His human shield continued sobbing, now huddling on the floor where he'd let go of her. A shot sent the burglar to the ground, instantly dead from the shot to the head. The woman screamed in terror.
"One threat down," the man who'd shot him said. They continued making their way around the counter.
"Don't shoot!" The second burglar said, standing up with his hostage. He had his gun pressed to his head. The third burglar did the same, pressing his rifle into his own hostage's back. The two burglars inched closer together, trying to cover their blindspots and keep themselves covered. "We'll come quietly, j-just don't shoot."
From behind, a ghostly figure phased in through the wall, materializing only inches behind the would-be robbers. A wave of frigid air made them shiver involuntarily. Ultra 10 grabbed the burglars, one in each hand, lifting them up off of the floor. Surprised, they forgot about the hostages, giving the man and woman time to scurry away. GhostFreak turned the two around, staring at them with his one, ghastly eye. The one with the pistol remembered that he had a gun, and shot at Ultra, the bullet passing through him. Angrily, GhostFreak turned him intangible, putting him halfway into the wall, before turning him tangible again.
"Agh!" The man shouted in pain. He tried to pull himself out of the plaster wall, as if he could force it by sheer will. Ignoring the man, GhostFreak turned his attention to the other burglar, who promptly dropped his rifle.
"You tell every low life and every piece of scum you see that I mean business," Ultra 10 hissed with venom in his raspy voice. "This is my town, and anyone wanting to cause any trouble is going to answer personally to me, you hear?"
"Y-yes, s-sir," the terrified man stuttered. "I-I'll tell every-body I-I know!" He glanced terrified at his friend, who was still struggling to claw his way out of the wall with the one arm that was free. His other arm up to the shoulder and his leg was now indistinguishable from the plaster. GhostFreak floated through the ceiling, onto the top of the jewelry store, shoving the terrified man down onto the roof.
"And just to make sure the message sinks in," Ultra 10 intoned as he grabbed ahold of his chest. With a quick movement, he ripped it open, revealing the nightmarish tentacles and other hideous things within him. The man screamed like a child, hiding his face with his arms, as if that would protect him from the terror.
"Don't. Ever. Steal. Again." GhostFreak breathed out the command before sinking through the ceiling, back into the jewelry store. His Omnitrix beeped, exploding him in a crimson light, back into his human form.
"You let him live?" One of his black-dressed men asked.
"He's going to spread the word," Ultra 10 replied, striding towards the exit from the store.
"And you're sure he got the message?" The man asked a second question.
"Oh yeah, he got the message loud and clear," Ultra 10 replied. "You know the drill, get outta here before the police show up. You've probably only got a couple of minutes max." With that, He raised his wrist, exploding into his Kinecelerian form and took off, speeding down the road in a blur of black and blue.
"You heard Ultra, let's move it!" The man in black shouted to his colleagues, who piled out the front door, back into the SUV's they'd arrived in. After a minute, police sirens wailed as several cop vehicles skid to a stop in front of the store.
"Damn it," the cop swore as he got out of his cruiser. "Looks like those new guys got here first. Again!" Holstering his weapon, he and several other officers made it inside the store, seeing the carnage that they'd left for them. One man dead on the floor and another still merged with the wall, still struggling to free himself.
"Officers!" He shouted, seeing the police. "I can't feel my arm or leg! Please! Get me out of here!"
"Make a call for a jackhammer," the officer told his junior partner. "If it's like the guy two days ago, he's already lost his limbs." The officer nodded his head, making his way out to the squad cruiser to make the request.
The next day, onboard the Guardian
"Ben, you know that this rampage has got to stop," Gwen chastised her cousin.
"Why? It's clearing up the streets finally," Ben replied nonchalantly.
"You put a man in the hospital yesterday!" Gwen shouted. "And you left half of him merged into a wall! He's never going to walk again!"
"That'll teach him not to live a life of crime," Ben replied, walking past his cousin and into the lounge area. Gwen's blood boiled with frustration. A tendril of mana whipped out, smacking Ben on the head with a noisy smack. Ben turned around, fire in his eyes, and glared at his cousin.
"What the hell was that for?" He shouted.
"You know exactly what it was for!" She shouted back.
"You're on some mighty thin ice here," Ben warned her. "Family or not, I have to protect the city. And if you keep getting in my way, I'll take you out too."
"Is that a threat?" Gwen bit back.
"No, that's a promise," Ben growled. "Stay away from me!" With a flash of green light, he transformed into Accelerate and zoomed past her, heading down some hallway, far from her. Gwen stood there, halfway fuming, halfway terrified for her cousin. After a moment, she calmed down enough to hear her thoughts over her emotions, and she headed into her quarters.
Ben stopped in the hangar of the Guardian, where Cooper and Kevin were working on the skeleton of one of Vilgax's fighters. A distance away, Sam sat in a computer chair, studying the NESS on a computer console. Ben decided to get to business first.
"Any sign of Neb?" Ben asked, to which Sam shook his head.
"You said you saw him escape into the Null Void. What makes you think he can even escape, let alone has?" Sam asked. "There's been no sign of him anywhere on the NESS, and I'm starting to think he's still in the Void."
"Because he's like me, and I know that there's nothing that could keep me locked away in the Null Void," Ben replied. "Especially if there's an unfinished fight to be had here." Sam looked at his friend.
"You sure you're alright?" He asked. "You sound like you're obsessed with beating him."
"Peachy," Ben answered curtly. "Contact me the instant you get any sign of him. Understand?"
"Dude, I know how to do this," Sam replied. "You don't have to micromanage me." He gave an annoyed sigh. "I'll let you know if the NESS picks up anything." With that, Ben made his way over to the other two guys in the hangar.
"Kevin, I'm going on patrol," Ben announce.
"Tennyson, you've been on patrol twice already today," Kevin replied. "And it's only eight. Give it a rest for a day."
"I wasn't asking permission," Ben growled back. "Are you coming or not?" Underneath the ship, Kevin and Cooper gave each other uneasy glances.
"Yeah, I'll come," Kevin replied. "Just give me a moment to finish up what I'm doing here."
"Five minutes," Ben said menacingly as he strode away. As soon as he'd left, Kevin eased his way out from under the ship, Cooper giving him a hand up.
"You're right, he's not acting like himself again," Kevin replied to Cooper.
"It doesn't seem to be the Omnitrix," Cooper said. "At least, nothing I could detect. It could finally be that the stress is getting to him, you know? Something that a psychologist could help him with."
"Its not that," Kevin said. "It was like a switch was flipped. One day he's determined to find Neb, and the next, he's outright ready to murder him. Along with anyone who he deems a criminal."
"You'd better go with him," Cooper relented. "But keep an eye on him. Something's not right about this, and we've got to figure it out." To that Kevin nodded, exiting the hangar after Ben.
"I'm tellin' ya man, there's nothing happening tonight," Kevin complained from the rooftop overlooking the downtown district. "That thug you scared straight the other day must've told every lowlife criminal in the city to stay away."
"There has to be something," Ultra 10 muttered. "There has to be something going down."
"Dude, isn't the point of fighting crime to make it so that there's no more crime to fight?" Kevin asked. "You've been treating it like some kind of addiction." Ultra 10 spun around, anger in his eyes.
"So what if I'm finally getting used to the hero business? At least I'm taking it seriously!" Kevin raised his hands in a mock surrender.
"Let's just head back to the Guardian," he offered. "It's been raining for over an hour now, and there's no sign of it letting up. If something happens, either the NESS or the your deputies will let you know." In response, Ben scowled even deeper, still peering off the roof into the night.
"You go, I'm staying until something happens," he finally replied. "Even if it takes all night."
"Fine, I'm going to get a smoothie," Kevin said. "You want one?" To that, Ben shook his head. Shrugging, Kevin climbed off the roof, heading towards the nearest Mr. Smoothie's.
"Stop it," a voice pled inside of Ultra's head. "You're not doing anything useful, and you're not even really looking for Neb!"
"Shut up, Ben!" Ultra growled. "You gave me control, and I have no intention to give it back anytime soon! I'm done sitting down while you make a mess of things! Once this town respects my authority and order, then you can have the reigns!" To that, the mental protests inside his head quieted down. Out of the corner of an alley, Ultra 10 saw a man emerge from the darkness, following a young woman as she made her way out of a diner.
"Bingo," Ultra muttered, transforming in a flash of light. "TailWhip!" In the scorpion-like alien, Ultra 10 scurried off the ceiling, crawling across the wall and onto the sidewalk several yards behind where the hooded man was walking behind the woman. Quietly, he scurried up behind him. With a movement faster than a blink of an eye, Ultra trained his bladed tail on the man's throat, the sharp bone blade only centimeters from slicing the startled man's skin wide open.
"You chose the wrong city to fool around in," Ultra said in the creature's raspy voice. The shock on both the man and woman's face was apparent. Still as a statue, the man refused to even blink an eye, afraid of the movement. The woman on the other hand let out a frightened gasp, turning to run away.
"Any last words?" Ultra 10 asked the man.
"P-please, you gotta let me go!" He stuttered. "I wasn't doing anything!"
"Your last words are going to be that pathetic of a lie?" Ultra 10 mocked.
"Let him go, man!" Kevin called out from across the street. Ben turned his eyes to focus on the teen, who was already absorbing the concrete sidewalk he was standing on.
"Stay out of this, Kevin!" Ben shouted.
"He didn't do anything, and you know it," Kevin retorted.
"If you've got a problem with my justice, why don't you come and fight me like a man?" Ultra mocked. He moved his bladed tail from the man's throat, angling it towards Kevin, like a sword gleaming in the rain. "Is it because you know you'll loose?" The man, sensing the blade no longer at his throat hurried away in a panic, trying to clear out of the oncoming fight.
"This isn't like you, man," Kevin tried talking his friend out of it. "Something's wrong with you, the whole team can feel it…"
"You don't know anything about me!" Ben angrily shouted, lashing his tail at the teen. Kevin ducked, narrowly missing the bladed tail, and somersaulted towards the alien.
"I warned you!" Kevin shouted, slamming his concrete-covered fists into TailWhip's face, striking one of his half-dozen eyes. Letting out a shout of anger, Ben clamped onto Kevin's arm with one of his pincers, the force spreading cracks through the concreted arm.
"Agh," Kevin grunted in pain, managing to force open the claw with his other hand, enough for him to slip his arm out of the vice-grip. Morphing his good hand into a large concrete hammer, Kevin took a swing at Ultra 10, landing a heavy hit on the boy's scaled side. He followed it up with a punch from his cracked fist and felt Ben's bladed tail glance off of the back of his head, the blade doing little damage to the concrete. Still, Kevin felt small cracks starting to spread through his head armor.
"I should have finished you years ago," Ben growled, lashing out with his tail again, forcing Kevin to block the attack. "Before you got sent to the Void! You should have never been allowed to escape from justice!"
"Do you even hear yourself talking?" Kevin shot back. "You're sounding like some psycho! This has to stop!" Ben attacked with his pincers again, forcing Kevin to take a step back under the quick attacks. Suddenly, he felt a blunt blow to the cracked armor in the back of his head. TailWhip had struck him with the flat of his bone blade, dazing him for a moment. In an instant, Kevin found himself lying on his back on the ground, Secured with one of Ben's pincers around his chest.
"I could do it, you know," Ultra 10 hissed. "I could squeeze enough to crack your concrete skin, and then squeeze just a bit more." With the words, Kevin grunted, feeling the pressure squeezing him.
"You know that'd make you no hero," Kevin gasped, straining to breathe. His hands were struggling to pull apart the pincer, just enough to keep him breathing. "You know this is wrong!" Ben squinted his five good eyes, green hemolymph dripping from the injured one. Then the pincer wavered, releasing tension on Kevin's chest for a moment. But Kevin seized it. Pulling apart the pincers, Kevin slipped out of Ben's grip, landing a heavy kick into the same spot where he'd punched him before. Ben hissed in pain. Kevin quickly climbed to his feet, raising his hands, ready to continue the fight. But TailWhip seemed to be paralyzed, unable to move.
In a red flash of light, he detransformed back into his human form. Even from underneath his mask, Ben wore a look that was pained and conflicted. He grunted, as if lifting an unseen weight, but still didn't make any major movements. He fell to his knees, fists clenched on the sidewalk. Kevin's eyes went wide as he saw him, stepping forward cautiously.
"What the hell's happening, man?" Kevin observed.
"Shut up!" Ben bit back, his voice equal parts anger and pain. "S-stay away from me! I-I'll take you down too!" With that, Ben collapsed on the pavement, his arms still twitching in strange spasms. Kevin pulled his comm link out from his pocket.
"Lucky Girl? I'm going to need your help to bring Ben back onboard the Guardian, something's seriously wrong with him," Kevin spoke into the mic.
"I'll open a portal," Gwen's voice came back. "Just give me a minute to cast the spell." With that, Kevin pocketed the comm link.
"You… have to stop me," Ben gasped out, barely able to speak. "I… can't keep him repressed…"
"What are you talking about, man?" Kevin asked, seriously concerned for his friend.
"Back off!" Ben angrily grunted. "Don't listen to him!" Kevin reached down to pick Ultra 10 up, and was shocked to feel the heat coming off of him.
"Dude, you feel like a furnace," he said. "You're literally burning up." Just then, Gwen's portal opened up next to them. Kevin bent down, slinging Ben over his shoulders and carried him through the portal.
"What happened?" Gwen asked, seeing Kevin carrying Ben. "Don't tell me you found him?" Kevin shook his head.
"No, we didn't find Neb. Ben was acting out agin, tried to jump some random guy he thought was a criminal. Next thing you know, he's trying to fight me. We exchanged a few blows, and then he just collapsed," Kevin explained, leaning the boy up against the wall. A few footsteps sounded down the hallway, as Lucy, Sam and Julie appeared.
"What happened?" Julie asked, immediately rushing over and feeling for a pulse. "He's on fire! He's got to have a serious fever!"
"Long story, but we exchanged a few blows, and he just collapsed out of nowhere," Kevin summed up.
"This doesn't look good," Lucy remarked redundantly.
"Sam, Kevin, take him to the infirmary," Julie commanded. "I'm going to need to run some tests on him." The two boys nodded, picking Ben up between the two of them, and walking him towards the infirmary. Julie followed, pulling out a notebook and scribbling a few notes down on the paper.
"Are you okay?" Lucy asked Gwen.
"I guess I'm just confused," she replied. "He seemed fine a couple of hours ago. And whatever this is, it certainly seems bad."
"It's going to be alright," Lucy reassured Gwen. "Julie's got some serious skill. I mean, she figured out how to help me, and she didn't know anything about my biology! She's going to have Ultra 10 back to normal in no time!" Gwen smiled at Lucy's reassurance.
"Thanks, I needed that," she said. From down the hall, the two girls heard Ben shout angrily.
"Get your damn hands off of me!" He demanded. "Let me go!" Both Gwen and Lucy took off, running towards where Sam and Kevin were struggling with Ben.
"Let go! I command you to let me go!" Ben shouted, trying to wiggle out of Kevin and Sam's grip, both of which were pressing him to the ground.
"Ben, calm down!" Sam pled forcefully, unrelenting in the subduing of his friend.
"Tennyson, don't make us hurt you," Kevin added.
"You both are going to regret this!" Ben bit back. "Let me go now!"
"Somnus," Gwen said, casting the sleep spell over her cousin. Immediately, he fell unconscious.
"Thanks, Gwen," Kevin said as the two got off of Ben, once agin hoisting him up.
"Just be careful with him," Gwen asked. Julie moved past Kevin and Sam into the infirmary, pulling out a bed to lay Ben on. Gwen manifested a length of rope to secure him into the bed with. It would at least keep him secured enough to prevent him from activating the watch.
A/N:
That's where this chapter is going to end. What are your thoughts as to what is happening to Ben? Is he finally going insane, or is there something more mystical going on? How's the team going to cope with him in a state like this? What about Xam and Newg, are they going to be able to find Neb with Ben in the condition he's in? What will happen if they do manage to find Neb? Any additional thoughts, critiques of projections? Leave them in a review! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day! (or night)
Review Responses:
yraj2004: I was waiting for this for a long time now! Nice!
Yeah, sorry about the wait! It was a lot longer of a break than I intended, and a break wasn't even really intended! But I haven't given up on the story. Medical surprises, work, writer's block and simple "life" haven't combined to kill the story, and I've still got a lot more to come! Now let's see if I can post the chapters regularly again! *Laughs nervously*