Chapter 2: Pressure Points

"How's Ben doing?" Max asked, approaching the nearby Plumber Agent. Rook jumped back and threw the food he carried into the air, quickly recovering and catching it. Noticing what he had done, he had added a quick apology.

"It is fine. And Ben is fine as well. He is still asleep in his room, though I was thinking about bringing him a real meal for breakfast. He has not eaten anything 'good' in a while," He explained, trying to shift around the food in his arms. It consisted of a couple of fruits, a pitcher of capped orange juice, freshly made pancakes and some syrup covered with a lid.

He raised a brow, "That's for Ben? You don't think you're going a bit overboard?"

"I am not jumping off a ship but I wanted Ben to be at the best shape. I think it is only fair to wake him with a proper meal in the morning," Rook waved up and glanced towards the food in his arms, "Now if you will excuse me, I must hurry back before this food gets cold."

Shrugging it off, Max walked away, leaving Rook to tend to the food he had collected for his partner. The trip to Ben's temporary room was a long distance away and he slowly felt his arms give away slowly. The ache killed him but he held himself, thinking about Ben's face when he found all the food when he awoke.

He soon arrived in the kitchen and laid the food across the table, sighing when he felt his arms relax from all the stress. He glanced at all the food and organized it, dividing it into fruits, pancakes and juice. He heard small rustling coming from the other room and he quickly rushed over to the TV, turning it on so it seemed that he hadn't set up the food moments ago.

Rook saw a flash of green and found Ben strolling over to the kitchen, eyeing the food and realizing that Rook was there awaiting him. "This is all for me?"

He nodded, "Of course. I was not sure on what you preferred so I guessed that pancakes would be a suitable dish for breakfast. Later on we can get smoothies, if you would like."

"Sure," Ben grinned and picked up the plate of pancakes, pouring syrup all over it and starting to devour it hungrily. He looked like a pig, the way he just ate the food without utensils for assistance. But he didn't say anything, not wanting to ruin any mood that the boy seemed to be in.

Afterwards, he joined the Revonnahgander for some friendly TV and glanced over at him, "I didn't know you could wear anything other than that Proto-Armor you always wear."

He chuckled at the boy's small humor, "Of course. I was not born with it unfortunately. Though that may have come in handy in the past."

Ben rolled his eyes, "On what? Defeating those rodents that steal your crops?"

"Indeed. I cannot believe you actually remember that."

"What? How could I forget? Missing for a couple years actually shows what you take for granted. Never forgot about you once partner," He replied sarcastically. "Actually never forgot everyone.. The only thing keeping me sane was thinking of you guys. If I ever got out, I'd never take you guys for granted again. I'd try to live up to my hero expectations.. though I don't think anyone needs a hero since I've been gone for so long."

"Ben, it has been a reckless couple of years without your presence. All the villains thought, after you disappeared, that we would be weak and defenseless against them. And it turns out, they were mostly right. We have been struggling without your help for years. We almost had to shut down the Plumbers because of the lack of equipment left. But that goodness you have returned. Everything will return to normal once everyone knows you have arrived again," Rook sighed.

Ben raised his brow, "Wow. Was I really that important?"

"More than you know," He agreed sadly.

"Wha-.. Gwen? Kevin?" Ben rubbed his head, groaning in pain. His eyes widened when the days events flashed through his mind. He shot up and went towards the door, pounding on it desperately, "Rook? Someone!?"

Not getting a response, he walked to the opposite end of the wall, trying to make sense of what happened. He had been kidnapped.. right? When? He moaned at the thought of trying to recollect his jumbled up memories. Collapsing on the floor, he crossed his arms with dissatisfaction. What bad luck. Nobody knew where he was..

His watch! He glanced down at the familiar green glow on his watch and dialed his grandpa. "Grandpa? It's me Ben. I got kidnapped.. I think. I'm in this abandoned ship.. Can you tr-"

"Error. Omnitrix has reached unknown signal. Prepare to reconnect to server.. error, omnitrix unable to connect. Disabling omnitrix uses.. Disconnected."

Ben stared at horror at his watch, which miraculously shut down. He had no way to contact his family now.. and apparently it seemed that he couldn't even change to help himself. Way to go Azmuth.

"Great," He muttered and released a loud sigh, "At least things can't get any worse."

And only to had to his bad luck, foreign aliens arrived, each equipped with a gun of their own. The cell door opened with a hiss and Ben automatically trailed back, not wanting to know the reason for their presence.

"Benjamin Tennyson, you're wanted in sector 6 for processing," Someone noted, lifelessly.

Ben wasn't able to tell who had said it but he honestly didn't care. 'Processing?' he asked himself with confusion but he couldn't think about it further until something cold snapped around his neck. His hands instinctively went to touch the collar but he couldn't even touch it until cuffs went around his wrists and ankle.

"Huh?" He managed to say before they grabbed him harshly and started walking to their destination on another part of the ship. He honestly couldn't further why they wanted him and what they wanted to do to him. Ben could only wrap his mind around the other alien species they had bypassed there. Each one was exactly in the same condition as himself. They each wore a collar around their neck, metal looking and very thick. They each trembled in their cell, some huddled in groups for protection.

Many eyed him with curiosity and some with fear. But at one time he saw an alien stare at him with pure shock, probably from the back that the famous Ben Tennyson had been captured the same as they did.

The trip didn't take long and as soon as they arrived, they threw him in the center of the room, crowding around the exit as guards.

Ben managed to pull himself up, sitting on his butt and glancing around pathetically. The room was entirely empty except for the guards in the corner. They didn't move a muscle and glanced at the ceiling as if they were forced to.

"Benjamin Tennyson.. It's nice to see the galaxy's greatest hero in my presence," A voice mocked, appearing from the shadows.

The teen whipped around, coming face to face with the mastermind of the ship. "W-Who are you? What do you want?"

"Does it matter what I want you for? If I called for you to arrive here, there must be a reason but I don't dare give away my secrets.. it's just not how I work," It shrugged. "And for the sake of my identity? I can address that at a later time."

"Why not now? What're you hiding?" Ben furthered, trying to hopefully waste time.

"Nothing small.. though you won't like it at the end.. none of my subjects do," The figure said nonchalantly, moving over to a small red X on the ground. "That's partially why I stopped explaining everything to them. They never understood.. and because it gives me amusement."

He frowned, "Nice try. You don't scare me though. I've been in worse situations.. and just because my omnitrix doesn't work, doesn't mean I can't kick your butt."

When he heard the sinister laugh from the hooded figure, shivers ran down his spine and he felt his blood run cold. "As if I hadn't seen that coming. Benjamin, I love your wittiness but you should know that this.. isn't a battle you're able to achieve victory. I own you now; you're my property. And if that isn't enough to pursue you.."

Electricity traveled down his body and into the other parts of his body, earning a large scream from his throat. When the pain diminished he felt his throat go raw and itchy. He found himself, face against the cold floor and back in the air.

"That's what will happen if you try to escape or try and continue to be the hero. You aren't the hero anymore. You're just a prisoner. Get used to it."

Ben tried to gather himself to get up but his energy was depleted. He felt like a ragdoll, completely at the alien's control and just dead to the world. He couldn't escape. He couldn't contact anyone. He couldn't save himself.

"Get the table. It's time to pry that little weapon of his stupid wrist."

And that's when everything collapsed around him. A table appeared and he was soon set up against it, not bothering to fight. Well not like he could; his wrists, ankles, and neck were soon bounded to the table's metal cuffs and he was trapped helplessly. He couldn't move a single muscle..

His omnitrix stood brightly against his pale skin and the alien grinned, selecting a saw looking device from the table of surgical supplies. "This is going to be fun.. well not entirely for you."

He didn't even have time to look away before the saw dug into his wrist. Pain surged through his arm and into his body, filling it with unbearable coldness. Flashes covered his eye sight but he couldn't look away from what became of his arm. He could see all the blood.. staining his clothes.. the table.. even the saw.. It sickened him and he felt breakfast slowly make a reappearance in his throat.

Ben couldn't even scream.. he didn't hear anything from his mouth.. so that probably meant bad news.

Time went on buy and he still was continuing to stare at the mess of blood.. his wrist had gotten worse.. and he couldn't pass out.. until..

"Omnitrix breach. Preparing defenses."

Electricity burst out of the watch, aiming it for the alien who backed away. He shrieked and fell to the ground, glancing up at the cursed watch. Picking up the saw once again, he prepared to return to cutting it off when..

"Omnitrix breach. Preparing defenses."

He yelped again and dropped the device, staring with hatred at the omntrix. His eyes strolled to the boy's pain-filled face, who had tears leaking out of his eyes. "Tell me how to deactivate the defenses.. Now!" He hissed, grabbing the boy's restricted neck in a tight hold.

Ben whimpered at the new touch and his eyes managed to open slightly, "I.. don't know.. please stop.. p-please."

The alien sighed and released his neck, turning to the bloody mess on the table. "I guess your price will be lowered.. since I can't get that stupid watch off. But you're still pretty high I guess.. You're lucky Tennyson. You get to keep that watch of yours.. but you've endured enough for today." He turned to the guards, "Clean him up and send him back to his room. We'll deal with him later."

Before the alien actually left, it turned back towards Ben and gave him a sick grin, "Oh and by the way.. the names Magent."

He left and as soon as the doors slammed shut, the guards went to his side and started cleaning off the blood, which was honestly pointless since more blood leaked out of his wound. He felt himself get light headed, probably from the blood loss and he just felt everything go by fast. They had bandaged his wrist, which was honestly just a bandage wrapped around it repeatedly. Blood continued to seep through it but at least it seemed slightly better.

They carried him away on a guard's shoulder and he hung pathetically like a doll. He could only make out small shapes from the cells, some waiting his arrival and some backed away in the corner. He saw a couple aliens horrified, probably from the large bandage that had blood.

He was soon throw into his cell, along with a spare blanket and pillow.

"Night Tennyson. Don't let the bed bugs bite.. literally."

It was soon sealed shut, leaving Ben exactly the way he was an hour ago.. but with more knowledge on what was happening.. and a sore body. He couldn't even move to adjust himself on the floor, but instead accepted it and decided to take a peace filled slumber. Maybe he could escape this insanity just for a while..

His green eyes slid shut and he felt everything go black.

Ben jerked awake, grabbing his chest in pain. The memories from the ship when he had just arrived there.. he had stopped getting those memories a year after the incident. He hadn't gotten those memories since a year ago.. what had awoke it?

He jumped from bed and started the walk to the kitchen for a glass of water. Maybe that would calm him a little.

Cold shivers traveled up his spine as he tried to examine his state. His wrist throbbed.. wait throbbed? It hadn't done that in months.. What was happening to him? Had it been from coming back home from that cursed ship? Wasn't that suppose to be a good thing?

He poured himself a cup of water, gulping it down in record time before pouring another glass. He felt himself relax a little bit and he sighed thankfully. He didn't need a dream like that following him around all night.. he probably would forget in the morning anyways.

His green eyes eyed the clock and he stared wide eyed at the time, "3 pm?" He glanced towards his omntrix, which read the same time, "Why'd nobody wake me up?"

"Because no one wanted to bother you," Rook answered from a seat, closing a nearby newspaper. "We wanted to give you enough time to adapt again."

"Adapt? I'm fine. Honestly, you guys could have woken me up. I gotta be a Plumber again right?" He argued, knowing that he had won this argument.

The Revonnahgander rolled his eyes, "Yes of course, but we only wanted you to be used to.. this again. It is not good to rush you back into normality."

"Whatever," Ben waved off and touched his stomach lightly, "Can we eat something fulling? I haven't ate.. since forever."

"Agreed, I have not eaten lunch or breakfast as well. I have only been waiting for you to awaken before doing anything else," He agreed, rising from the recliner. "Where would you like to dine? Mr. Smoothy's or perhaps the Burger Shack would be good enough for lunch."

He shrugged, "Whatever you want, I just need to eat something!"

He nodded, "Let us go then. If I remember correctly, it takes precisely 8 minutes for our food to arrive."

"Race ya."

After hitting the Burger Shack, the Plumbers returned to base in Rook's Proto-TRUK. Ben had sighed, touching everything lightly, almost forgetting on how the vehicle looked before he had been kidnapped. That lead to the question of where his own car was located.

"It is in the garage in Plumber Base. We had found it beside the road and towed it back here. Magister Tennyson was not sure on what to do with it, so we decided to leave it here for safe keeping. It has been kept in vigorous condition by myself," Rook grinned proudly, patting his chest. He went inside HQ but instead of stopping at their usual parking spot, they went on a detour underground.

"Where are you going?"

"On earth, I know it is a secret to keep surprises hidden."

"Oh no. Rook..?"

They arrived at a circular garage, the doors pulled down and locked for protection. These were where the best tanks the Plumbers had were kept. Rook pulled out a pair of keys and handed it to Ben with a smirk, "Go ahead and see for yourself."

He shakily grabbed the keys and glanced down at them, finding a large red button which was new. Beside them were his keys.. "Rook?"

"Open it Ben-dude."

He pressed down on the button and watched as one of the garages acted, it's door being hoisted up. And Ben stared mouth gaped at his car, which was shining brightly inside. The normal dents in his car had been beaten out and his car had gotten a brand new paint job. The color was a faded green last time he had remembered..

"No way. You actually took care of it?"

"Of course I did," Rook nodded, "One, I had told you earlier, so this should not have come to a big surprise. And two, what are partners for? I had a little help from Kevin too."

Ben jumped on his partner, giving him a large hug, "Thanks! I haven't driven for.. two years! I wonder if I can still drive?!"

"It is best not to try it out at the moment. It is currently not filled with any gasoline.. but I shall retrieve some later. Now let us go upstairs. I believe your grandfather had something to tell you," Rook interrupted with a nervous chuckle.

The boy eyed him but sighed, mumbling an 'okay' and returning back to the truck. They took the same path to reach upstairs and stopped in their spot, both of them getting out and walking towards the Command Center.

When Max spotted both of the boys in the crowd, he grinned and beckoned them to hurry towards him. Ben rubbed his eye once they passed the large amount of Plumbers, "I didn't know we hired so many Plumbers."

"Funny you should talk about them. They mostly joined after you left. We got a large amount of aliens entering the Academy, mostly for the reason of protecting innocent souls like them. Just like you did before you went missing. They were so inspired by you, they joined to make sure you didn't go down in history as nothing but a hero," Max chuckled, "It's good to see you back."

"Good to be back," He agreed with an equal smile. "So what'd ya need us for?"

He glanced towards the screen, "We've got insite of the ships that kidnapped you. Apparently there's a command center where they control all the ships and what to retrieve from each galaxy they pass by. You apparently caught there eye at the worst time and that's why they caught you. They take days to capture their prey, striking when they're most likely alone."

"That makes sense on why they left no trails for us to find you. And probably being inside that ship cut off communications," Rook summed up, rubbing his neck.

"Yes and there are more than dozens of ships that travel around galaxies. Each one, grabbing important aliens like a zoo," Max shuddered. "There has to be millions of aliens still trapped inside. We got a count of the aliens you rescued to be 560 and all those cells weren't even filled up. We have to assume there's worse in those ships.. and unfortunately.. that was a small ship that captured Ben."

He frowned, "So what? You're gonna find that place and just destroy it? What about the ships? Those are too much for all the Plumbers to take down. We're not strong enough to fight them."

"I'm aware of that," He noted, "That's just our problem. We have the equipment and the plan, just not the people to fill in the gaps."

"What about hiring humans? There are some that know of alien presences on earth," Rook volunteered.

Max thought about it slowly. Would that be a major risk? Humans involving themselves in an alien problem? Humans weren't the strongest species and this was no way close to a normal war.. But with enough humans, it could actually combat them..

"Why not?" He finally answered back, relieving the small tension between the partners. "It could work.. I'll get on that, get into human resources and see if we can do anything with them."

"Great," Ben finished, putting his fists on his hips, "Now what?"

"Now, you both connect with each other. You haven't seen each other for two years.. you both should bond more," Max said, eyeing both of them, "If we want to have a strong team to battle those ships, we've got to have a solid bond. Agreed? Go train if you'd like. Just do something together."

Rook nodded and grabbed the boy's arm, dragging him to a nearby training facility, which mainly Rook used privately. The doors slid open and Ben snapped out of his daze. "So.. what do we do?"

He tossed him a standard Plumber gun, "We practice aim. You do know how to operate a standard weapon, correct?"

"Yeah.. of course."

"That does not sound reassuring. Do you acquire some assistance?"

"No, I got it.." Ben aimed the gun toward the targets on the other room and shot, only to be thrown back because of the direction he held it. He clutched his chest with pain and managed to wheeze out, "Actually.. I think I need a little help."

Rook chuckled and helped him up, setting him on a nearby chair. "I had warned you."

"Just need some more practice, I guess," He rubbed his neck.

He woke painfully, feeling completely numb on one side of his body. The sleep he had thought would be somewhat peaceful was nothing but opposite. He groaned and clutched his arm, which throbbed uncontrollably.

His muscles felt stiff, as if he hadn't used them in months. His brain pulsing with all the information he had collected last night. He was trapped somewhere, where his family couldn't reach him. His omnitrix didn't work and there people just like him trapped as well.

But he honestly wasn't worried about that at the moment. He was worried about the condition of his hand. It looked honestly scary. The bandage wrapped around his wound, soaked with blood, barely even the color of what it used to be. Red streaks spread around his injury and he could feel it swell. He touched his head gingerly, feeling it burn on contact.

Fever? Red lines? Hadn't he read about these symptoms before somewhere?

Then his eyes widened. Blood poisoning. He had read about it during his training at the Plumbers Academy.. it could be lethal if left untreated. Oh no.

Ben pushed himself back, his back pressing against the cold metal cell. He was going to die.. he was going to die.

Those words kept repeating in his head until he felt himself get dizzy. He was going to die with no word from his family, friends.. anybody. He was going to fade away to nothing.. He was going to die like a pathetic prisoner with nothing left.

Tears leaked through his eyes and he held the injury tenderly. He probably only had a couple days before the poisoning would spread to the rest of his body and eventually kill him.. He sighed, he should make the best of it. At least he'd get out of here.. right?

"Ben T-Tennyson?"

His eyes glanced over a small alien, looking at him through the opposite cell. It had greenish scales and small horns on the top of its body. It looked half the height of himself and looked pretty skinny for its species.

"You got captured too, I see."

Ben nodded sadly and glanced down, "Y-Yeah.. how long have you been here?"

"Long enough to know about you.. I've been here for a couple years unfortunately. I'd never thought they'd actually go after you," It muttered, shaking its head, "The name's Sudeth."

He forced a smile, "It's nice to see something happy in this depressing dump."

Sudeth examined for a moment before his eyes widened and pointed a shaky finger at his arm, "Did they.. That was your initiation. Wow.."

"Initiation? What do you mean?" He glanced down at his arm.

"They always do something that cuts deep into the person they kidnapped. I.. They kidnapped my sister.. I had been taking care of her for years.. and they stole me because I apparently had this hidden power.. to control minds and bodies. They killed her.. right in front of me. Then locked me up here like a sick monster. They tried to sell me on many occasions, but failed at the condition I put myself in. They want their victims to be scarred but healthy enough for profit. That's all this ships really for.. profit," He lowered his head, "They steal aliens daily. Whatever's close and well worth money."

Ben frowned, "They targeted me for my watch. They.. tried to cut my hand off.. I think I may have blood poisoning too."

"Don't worry," He waved that away, "They'll notice it and get you medicine. They don't want their highest profit going down the drain."

"Oh," He scratched his neck, "So's how life here? Is it bearable?"

Sudeth shrugged, "I guess so. They feed us if we're lucky but if we're injured, they treat us like kings. So at the moment, you might be treated like one since you're pretty beat up. You'll get like 3 course meals and medicine.. if you're hurt that bad."

He sighed in relief, "At least they won't leave me to die.."

"Yeah, they wouldn't want Ben Tennyson, savior of the Universe to die cause of some stupid blood poisoning. You're to valuable to lose," He said sarcastically with a chuckle.

Ben laughed along, "Yeah.. I guess I'm kinda lucky. When do they usually find out?"

"In a couple hours.. they'll find out. Just relax, you'll be fine."

And true to Sudeth's word, they had arrived, almost startling Ben to death. They had forcibly trapped him down and injected something into him, which was almost painful as yesterday. He groaned in pain, clutching his arm as soon as he was extricated.

And surprising as he glared at him with hatred, they quickly dropped off a large silver platter and left.

He glanced at it with curiosity, half knowing what was awaiting inside. His cautious fingers slowly opened up the lid and grinned when he saw delicious food inside. It was chili fries and smoothies, which surprising half creeped him out and half enjoyed.

He picked up the dish carefully and sniffed, making sure there weren't any dangerous chemicals he could detect around it. Deciding it was okay, he plucked off a fry and carefully bit into it.

It wasn't the best as earth made, but it was close enough to prison food. He hadn't eaten in days and any food he could get would be good enough for him. The chili fries were finished in seconds and soon after were the smoothies.

His stomach felt satisfied and he felt refreshed.. energized. He soon had noticed that his arm wasn't throbbing anymore.. no.. his hand felt.. better! He forced himself to wiggle his fingers and surprisingly it did just that. He had control of his arm again.. to an extent. They still needed to heal all the way.

But at least he felt better. Not like this morning with all the pain nearly consuming his every being.

He pushed his body against the wall and leaned back, exhaling heavily.

"I'm assuming they did what I said they would," A voice chuckled.

Ben's eyes opened and he shrugged, "At least I don't have to feel the pain anymore.. but.. I'm still scarred by what they did."

Sudeth shrugged, "It's better than the agony they put you through if you deny the medicine. They usually.. throw you into a pit of fire while you're still alive. It's not that good to hear.. you would be surprised at how many people can't accept it."

He shivered, "I don't wanna find out."

"You know everyone's scarred by what happened. You don't need to think you're alone in this. Everyone can relate to you; we've all been used to the limit by them," He reminded sadly, with a slight shake of his head. "But you're with family."

He nodded solemnly, "I know. Thanks for everything."

And with that he went back to sulking, one of the things he had been doing too much recently.