If you see a guy wearing all black with sunglasses tell him that I don't own Ben 10...and that I skipped town.
A/N: this chapter has nothing to do with thermodynamics. Though if you would like to know more about the strange phenomenon known as "Maxwell's Demon" you can look it up on wikipedia
Opposing Sides
Act 2
Chapter 23
"What was all the commotion about." Max Tennyson said as the four children entered The RV.
"Its nothing grandpa." both Ben and Gwen said at the same time. "there was a slight altercation, but its been taken care of." the children all sat down at the table inside the vehicle. Gwen continued the explanation.
"So what did you find out." Gwendolyn interrupted, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"well I found your mirror. It appears to be in the same museum that you originally stole it from in your world. Which I still don't approve of by the way. However the name is different, though It matches the appearance you described." the older man said starting the RV.
"Whats it called here." Benjamin interrupted out of curiosity.
"Here its called the looking glass of Bizel." Max said in an offhand manner. "thats about the only difference as far as I can tell." he said turning out into the street. "I was just wondering how were going to use the mirror. We cant steal it." he said with finality.
"We could sneak into the museum and use it once we get the Null Void Projector." Ben said suddenly, at which point everyone looked at him.
"thats not a bad idea, for once you had a good idea." Gwen said, both proudly and mockingly at the same time.
"Gwen..dolyn, can use her sleep spell to put out the guards and one of us." Benjamin pointed between himself and his younger variant. "can turn into upgrade or Graymatter and take down the security system. Then we use the mirror and nobody is the wiser." he said summing up.
"Well that plans well and good but the Hard part of this is going to be getting a Null Void Projector." Max said from the front seat. "it turns out that none of the Ex-plumbers I know has one, or knows a base where we could get one." he explained.
"So then how are we supposed to help these two get back home." Gwen said starting to get a little frustrated. "so we have a step two but no step one, thats useless." she slouched a little in her seat.
"Now, Gwen I didn't say I had no information, but it is next to useless." Max said with all honesty. "there was a Rogue Plumber in the organization, he stole a lot of alien technology before he was caught and thrown out of the plumbers. Among the things he took were some last generation Null Void projectors." the Ex-plumber said while trying to keep his eyes on the road and his mind on the situation at hand. "But no one I talked to seemed to know where he could be found." he shrugged and left it at that. Until Benjamin spoke up.
"You mean Driscoll" he said waiting for his...well not his grandfather, to answer.
"Yes...but how did you know that." Max said sounding confused. Benjamin crossed his arms, and a look of annoyance crossed his face.
"Because I've fought with him before." he said sounding like he was the victor of the encounters. "The only problem is I don't know exactly where to find him...though I do know a good place to start our search." he stopped and waited for a moment, as everyone waited for his response. It looked like he was going to wait a little longer for suspense until Gwendolyn gently punched his shoulder.
"Well... spit it out." she said, impatient for the answer.
"You may have know him as Driscoll, plumber extraordinar. But I know him as something else altogether." he almost paused again but when he saw the look on both Gwens faces he decided to forgo the showmanship. "I know him as the "Forever King" leader of the forever knights." He said trying to sound dramatic.
"your kidding right." everyone but Gwendolyn said at the same time. All she had to say was.
"Who are the Forever knights?"
Maxwell Tennyson was almost at wits end. It had been about a week since his grandsons disappearance , and he was running out of places to look and excuses to tell the boys parents. After he had been released from his room in the hospital he began looking for Ben.
The first place he had tried was inside the same hospital. For children with injuries who were brought in within the last few days. However none of the children admitted matched Ben's description. Over the next couple of days he tried checking other hospitals withing a fifty mile radius of the factory. Again he came up empty handed.
He had gone to the police station and had a missing persons report filed on him, after two days. So far he had yet to hear from them. For the life of him, Max couldn't figure out where his grandson had gone, so he began to try the less reliable forms of finding out information.
He began to go to fortune tellers psychics and even a shamen or two. None seemed to give him a satisfactory answer. A few told him that he was dead outright...which he refused to believe. A couple told him that he had left willingly..again impossible. One mystic he had gone to had told him something strange. He couldn't remember there exact words, but what he gathered they meant was this.
"there was a disturbance in the flow of reality, and as a result a hole was opened between the worlds." so he assumed they were trying to say Ben was in another world, which he was almost ready to believe.
He cursed himself for not being the responsible adult he knew he should be. However he had fallen victim to his demon. All people have a demon, or vice if you will. Some people smoke, some do drugs or alcohol, some people cheat on there spouses. Its an Demon that needs to be fed from time to time, or the person will go through withdrawal.
Maxwell's demon, was his thirst for adventure. The adrenalin rush he got from his heroic deeds. He hadn't felt that in over twenty years, until two years ago when his grandson had found the omnitrix. His blood boiled with excitement, though he didn't often show it outwardly. He knew that he should have tried harder to keep his grandson out of danger, but he just couldn't help himself. Though Ben was capable enough to handle most situations...after a fashion, it seemed that he should have put a stop to things when he had the chance.
As he lay in his bed in the RV, he wondered if he would ever see his grandson again.