B10 pt. 2
"So there we were; me, Gwen and Kevin against about three dozen Forever Knights" said Ben as he drove his black and green car. "We were completely surrounded and it seemed hopeless when…"
"Let me guess, you Ben Tennyson, saviour of the universe, totally saved the day" said Julie with a fond smile.
"That's right." Ben's grin widened. "I turned into Lodestar and magnetised their armour so that they all stuck together in one big ball."
"Cool."
"Yeah. What can I say? I'm just that awesome."
Julie laughed softly, amused by his egotism. Some girls might be put off by it but it was part of Ben and she loved every part of him, flaws and all. "Oh here we are" she said.
Ben pulled the car smoothly to a halt in the parking lot of Mr Smoothy. They got out and went up to the counter.
"I'll have peanut butter seaweed" said Ben. "Julie?"
"Chocolate for me please" she replied.
"Coming right up" said the guy at the counter.
His true appearance concealed by an ID mask, Sardu fought off an urge to grin with glee as he fetched the drinks. Taking care to ensure that no-one saw him, he discreetly produced a small ampoule filled with colourless liquid from his pocket. He snapped off the neck and carefully poured it into Ben's smoothy.
"Here you are" he said as he handed over the drinks with a broad smile.
"Thanks" said Ben as he and Julie went over to a table. Ben too a sip of his smoothy and frowned slightly.
"Is something wrong?" asked Julie.
"My smoothy tastes a little funny" he replied. "Kind of salty."
That will be the preservative Sarduthought as he listened to their conversation. He waited a few moments until he was satisfied Ben had drank enough of the smoothy and then he again reached into his pocket and hit a button on a device, sending out a coded message.
A few moments later as Ben and Julie were walking across the parking lot both of them heard what sounded like jet engines.
A robot flew over the parking lot, unfolded six insect-like mechanical legs and touched down. It was made of dark grey metal and consisted of a saucer with a dome on top. Two yellow optic sensors glowed. A hatch opened on its underside and a laser cannon emerged. The robot fired red beams that blasted two cars, causing them to explode in a pair of fireballs.
"Julie, take cover. I'll handle this" said Ben. He dropped his mostly empty smoothy cup, taking no notice as it rolled away, and began dialling the Ultimatrix.
"Be careful Ben" she replied.
He slammed his hand down and transformed in a flash of green light. "Swampfire!" he exclaimed.
As the plant-like alien ran forwards the robot swivelled and began firing lasers at him. He easily dodged and blasted it with two streams of flame. The robot reeled back slightly but stayed standing. Swampfire charged and followed his fire attack with a powerful punch that lifted the robot off the ground. It sailed backwards and crashed into the ground where it lay in a mangled heap with pieces breaking off of it.
Ben de-transformed. "Well that was easy" he said as he looked over the wreckage. "But then that's hardly a surprise given who it was fighting."
Julie smiled softly as she came up to him. She knew Ben could look after himself but a part of her couldn't help worrying whenever he went into danger. She was always glad to see for herself that he was all right.
Just then Ben brought his hands up to his face as he sneezed loudly.
"Bless you" said Julie.
"Thanks" he replied as he wiped his nose. "I hope I'm not coming down with something. That could put a damper on the whole hero business."
Neither of them noticed the grin on the counter guy's face as he watched them. "You don't know the half of it" he whispered.
In his laboratory, surrounded by high-tech equipment, Azmuth, the tiny Galvan scientist who had created the Ultimatrix and its predecessor the Omnitrix was entering the results of his latest experiment into a computer when a sudden beeping caught his attention.
An automated voice called out, "alert, alert. Codon Stream integrity has been compromised."
"What?"
As fast as his small legs could go, Azmuth ran over to a nearby monitor and activated it. An image appeared on screen showing the inside of the volcano-like DNA processing plant.
At first he saw nothing amiss. But then as he watched something began to happen to the glowing green rivers that made up the Codon Stream. The brilliant glow faded and the vibrant green colour of the rivers dimmed to a dull grey-black. The effect spread outwards through the rivers like a wave.
Azmuth stared at the screen in horror. "No" he breathed.