Anti-Ben 10 ch9: A small problem
They were finally here, the one place they were looking forward to the most in the summer trip, the one place Ben and Gwen could call a truce and truly enjoy themselves.
But to be allowed in side Ben had to promise no fighting to Max, he had to swear that he wouldn't pick, cause, start or make fights with anyone as long as they were there. Gwen had to be on good behavior as well but with her it meant not using people to buy her food and drinks, not to mention wear something appropriate.
In short they both had to behave as if their lives depending on it and with the look Max had given them, they believed it was.
It wasn't so much the water park that got Gwen and Ben to act like normal kids for a day, it wasn't the town or the people, it was the water slide it had. Not A water slide, The water slide. It had twists and turns that would confuse a person and disorientate them as they slide at 25 mph before being spat out at the end and belly flopping into a pool where if you got the most distance you got a picture taken and a record kept until someone broke it.
Ben specialized in breaking things.
-Break-
"What do you mean I'm too short?" Ben shouted as he measured himself against the height board "its not even half an inch"
"That's what she said" Gwen mumbled as she tried with little effort to keep a gloating smile off her face
"Sorry dude rules are rules, and I can't like, break them, for some kid" the employee had a spaced out look on his face that told Ben he wasn't on earth anymore, he doubted if he was in the solar system "my boss says I can't screw up again or else I get fired, it's harsh having your girlfriend as your boss, she tells me what to do at work and home. What was we talking about? Oh yeah, sorry bro too short"
"Don't worry Ben" Gwen patted Ben on the head as she measured herself against the height board "I hear the baby banana boats are fun on the smaller set"
Gwen laughed as she joined the line, Ben grumbled to himself as hid behind the large mast that had been set up on the ship-looking area
"They'll all feel small when Ripjaws turns up for a dip" Ben was about to press the button when he remembered what Max had said about causing trouble, then he saw the problem with his plan. If any of his aliens turned up and people saw them they'd go running and screaming and the place would be shut down and police would try to take him down. But that was only if they saw his alien, thinking about it Ben realized he had an alien that was easy to hide and ignore.
Pressing the button Ben smiled as he turned to Greymatter and tried slamming the screen down but it jammed not moving at all, he tried slamming it down again but still nothing. "Come on work you stupid advanced piece of alien junk" getting frustrated Ben swung his arm as hard as he could against the mast slamming the watch into it and forcing the screen to go down and after a bright flash of light Greymatter stood where Ben was previously.
"It's no fun being a micro-munchkin" he sighed as he looked around the now giant world "but it does have its advantages."
Looking around in case anyone was looking at him Ben ran as fast as the little body let him, hiding behind various objects just in case. As he ran towards the slide he saw a tall and thin man in a life jacket talking to the stoner.
"So if you could get someone from upper management down here I can start collecting soil samples" the skinny man said to the stoner who's name tag said Brad
"Uh what was your name again dude?"
"Howell Wainwright, I'm a researcher" he said proudly
"Whatever dude, my boss girlfriend ain't gonna let you do that. Plus if I call her up now I'll just get shouted at, she's just gonna call us both stupid. Next in line little dudes" Brad shouted as Gwen pushed her way past Howell.
As she did Howell looked down as her as she passed him, but he also saw Greymatter running across the floor as well.
"There did you see that? An alien" Howell pointed to where Greymatter had been, as Brad looked down he saw nothing "it maybe a remnant of that fateful crash"
Ben panted as he hid behind a mast, he could hear Howell talking and hoped Brad didn't believe him, as Greymatter he wasn't exactly built for quick escapes.
"Bro what are you on and where can I get some?" Brad asked as he turned back to Howell.
Sighing with relief Ben dashed out from his hiding spot and ran to where Gwen was just sitting down on the slide
"Hey, race you to the bottom large butt" Ben shout at Gwen as he jumped on to the slide and dived into the water and let it push him down the slide.
Twisting and turning Ben was thrown in every direction as he slide dow. The slide, shouting his enjoyment as he slide off the sides and splashed back into the water before suddenly being thrown out and landing in the end pool
"Now that rocked" Ben laughed as he broke the surface and spat out some water, suddenly a large shadow covered him, looking up he saw Gwen about to land on top of him "AAGH, Butt-zilla" he screamed as he swam as fast as he could as Gwen slammed into the water, the suction pulling Ben down as well.
Both of them broke the surface of the water at the same time and, after wiping the water off her face, Gwen look at the miniature Ben. "Grandpa's not going to like you going alien just to sneak on a ride, you promised not to cause any trouble"
"That's why I chose Greymatter, hard to see and easy to sneak. In a few minutes I'll turn back to normal and he'll never know, will he?" Ben glared at Gwen as if daring her to tell Max, but she knew that if she told Max her own day at the water park would be cut short
"We've got to towel off, or in your case, napkin off" turning Gwen swept some water at Ben with her hand, to Ben it seemed like a small wave and forced him backwards as some water got into his mouth.
"Cunt" Ben spluttered as he spat the water out, behind him Howell slowly raised himself out of the water without Ben realising he was there.
Grabbing with his hands from under water Howell raised Ben up to his face, Ben struggling to get out of the man's grip "there you are my little alien ticket to fame" Howell smiled
As he struggled Ben knew he wouldn't break the mans grip, Greymatter was too physically weak to do anything, that just left him one option and he hated it
"GWEN" Ben shouted at the top of his lungs hoping she would hear him, luckily even though she was drying her hair she heard his voice. Looking over to where it was coming from she saw Howell holding Ben
"Hey let him go, or I'll break you nose four eyes" Gwen threatened as she threw down the towel.
Not giving her a chance to make good on her threat Howell ran as fast as he could in the water and pulled himself out of the pool, Gwen closely following behind him but now there wasn't anything slowing him down Howell quickly made a gap between them, his long legs allowing him to stay ahead of Gwen's shorter legs.
As he passed an unattended cooler Howell dropped Ben in it and closed the lid, picking it up he ran as fast as he could to the exit narrowly missing Max and nearly running into him and making him drop the food and drink he was holding.
"Grandpa, that creep's got Ben" Gwen shouted as she ran past him, dropping the food and drink into a bin Max charged after Gwen, quickly passing her and closing in on the stranger who had Ben. Expertly dodging around people could see the man and just hear Ben over the murmur of the crowd, suddenly his lungs were on fire, his heart was pounding and his legs wouldn't hold his weight anymore
"I keep forgetting I'm not so young anymore" Max panted as Gwen joined him
"Don't worry, I'll get him" leaving Max behind Gwen ran between the exiting crowd and managed to get outside the water park just in time to see Howell get into his car and drive away, grandpa joining her as Gwen tried to read the licence plate, his face flushed.
"Don't worry we'll find him, somehow" Max panted resisting the urge to light a cigar, knowing it wouldn't help in in this situation.
-Break-
Across town Howell pulled into the garage of his home, as he did a motion-sensitive camera locked onto him following as he stepped out the car and to the boot where Ben was being held.
As Howell entered his home, even though he couldn't see them, knew there were motion lasers crisscrossing all around the hallway "security system off" he said as he walked, his shoes squelching squeezing out water onto his carpet. As he walked small motorized machines sucked up the dirt and water quickly then disappeared again into some holes in the walls
As he walked into the kitchen and placed the cooler onto the counter he spoke to the house again "lights: on, prepare: dinner"
The room illuminated itself and in the corner the microwave started up, cooking the partially defrosted meal-for-one.
A white furred cat jumped on to the counter and sniffed at the cooler picking up Ben's scent, it started scratching and pushing the cooler meowing loudly telling its owner it wanted whatever was in the large box.
"No no Ridley Scott, this one is all mine" Howell smiled as he picked up the cooler, raising it up out of the cats reach
-Break-
"If Ben is Greymatter now then he'll turn back to normal, then go Four-Arms and escape. Or smash the guys home to pieces. He might not even go alien that guy looked nerdy and wimpy to me, Ben shouldn't have any problem dealing with him" Gwen sat back in the passenger seat as Max sped down the road the scenery zooming by in a blur
"But if he went alien when you say he did, Ben should have turned back before he was taken" Max pointed out as he resisted pulling out a cigar, he knew he needed to cut back but after twenty years of heavy-duty smoking it's not so easy to quit just like that. He'd need to pick up some gum and patches when they had time, super strong ones.
"Which means there's something wrong with the watch, damn it I bet you every cent I've made this summer Ben broke it somehow, we told him not to mess around with it" Gwen sighed, she missed Ben really badly at the moment, she really need to punch and kick him for being a major idiot. "Well at least as Greymatter he's smart, he'll think of something"
-Break-
Ben slammed himself into the side of the glass container that was holding but with the added weight of the dictionary on top of it the container didn't even shake, he tried punching it as hard as he could but nothing happened except the bruising of his knuckles. What annoyed Ben the most wasn't that he'd been kidnapped or put in a glass container, it was that Howell watched him with eexcessive interest.
"So what's the name of your species? And what part of the galaxy do you come from? What's the name of your home planet?" Howell asked as he watched Greymatter try headbutting his way out of the container to no avail
"My species is called Fuck You, the part of the galaxy I come from is Up yours and my home planet is called I'm Going to Rip your Tongue Out Through Your Ear" Ben panted as he went back to punching the glass, Greymatter's head wasn't exactly designed for smashing against stuff.
"Amazing how a species so small can be so aggressive" Howell leaned in to get a closer look at Ben who turned his back on him, only for Howell to turn the container around so Greymatter was facing him again "are you the dominant species on your planet? Do you have any abilities?"
"Sure, let me out of here and I'll show you" Ben tried, hitting the glass wasn't working so his only option was to try different tactics. Only Howell didn't do anything but continue to stare at him annoying Ben even more. "Take a picture, they last longer" he spat as he flipped Howell off with both fingers.
"My thought exactly" Howell smiled happily as he pulled out his phone and chose the camera function, taking several pictures of Ben and his multiple rude gestures that had gotten him thrown out of his school classroom on several occasions. "Once they see these pictures they'll have to come and get us." Howell spoke more to himself than to Ben as he turned and left the room
"Hey get back here asshole and let me out" Ben shouted as Howell walked away "fight me man to... alien." Sighing Ben lent against the side of the glass container, even though Greymatter was his smartest alien he couldn't see anyway of getting away by himself. "Great, a thousand people at the water park and the UFO freak spots me."
Hearing a loud meow Ben saw the cat enter the room and lock its eyes on him, it sitting down when it decided it was close enough, a look in its eyes telling Ben it wasn't going anywhere soon.
"Stupid thing" Ben grumbled to himself, suddenly it hit him, he wasn't able to get out by himself and now here was something stupid enough he could use. "This could work" he smiled to himself "here kitty-kitty, I taste just like chicken"
The cat leapt up onto the desk and pushed itself against the container, over balancing it and knocking it onto it side, the book falling off and the container rolling over the edge of the desk and smashing on the floor.
"FREE" Ben shouted in victory "now he will rue the day he messed with Greymatter, nothing will stop my vengeance"
Hearing a loud sucking noise Ben turned around and saw a large self-moving, automated cleaning machine heading straight for him and the broken glass. Turning to run away from it Ben saw the cat land in front of him blocking his escape.
Looking from one to another Ben decided to go the route that didn't have sharp claws and teeth that could kill him. Leaping over the cleaning drones Ben ran as fast as he could as he heard the car cry out as the drone rammed into it giving Ben a head start, but the drones turned and gave chase following Ben out of the room and down the hall as Howell exited his study with an even larger grin on his face than before.
"Howell Wainwright, Alien Discoverer" he said out loud while imagining his name in various prints on several newspapers and shows "let the fame and fortune begin" as he entered the room that previously held Ben he saw the container, and Ben was missing. Crying out "NOOO" that could be heard by Ben as he ran into the kitchen with the cleaning drones.
As the lead drone closed in Ben panted hard as he ran as fast as the small body would let him, he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun it his alien brain told him the sensor alignment put in the category of an object small enough to be considered rubbish.
Seeing the handles on the doors Ben lept as hard as he could, which was a good distance for such a small body, and climbed up the door handles and on top of the counter well out-of-the-way of the cleaning drones. Looking down he saw the three drones zoom across the floor trying to find the trash object but quickly gave up, going back into the wall.
"That's one problem down, now to get out of here" Ben panted as he looked around the room, seeing a cordless telephone.
-Break-
Gwen sat quietly, and with a very bored look on her face, as Max drove the R.V, suddenly her phone rang. Quickly pulling it out of her pocket she answered it putting it on loud-speaker.
"Hello?"
"Gwen, it's me" Greymatter spoke into the phone
"Ben? You're still Greymatter?"
"Yeah, the stupid watch won't work and I'm too small to seriously punch the guy that kidnapped, I mean alien-napped me. You've got to find me and break his nose for me"
"That doesn't matter right now, where are you?" Gwen asked through the phone, looking around Ben saw a window. Picking up the phone and set it near it as he leapt up onto the window to get the best view he could
"Uh, there appears to be a mountain peak 13.2 miles due West at a vertical angle of 45 degrees"
"Brainiac, how about a street name?" Gwen shouted through the phone breaking Ben's connection to Greymatter's smart brain
"Oh yeah, it's Ripley" leaning on the window and squinting Ben tried to get a better read of it, suddenly alarms blared through the house and red light started flashing. A shutter started to slam itself downwards making Ben leap out of its way or become a grey stain to be cleaned up, unfortunately Ben slammed into the phone as he landed knocking it over the edge of the counter smashing into the floor. As Ben looked down at it he could see the various parts scattered over the floor.
Suddenly the alarm stopped blaring and the red light turned off, looking up Ben saw Howell standing in the doorway, he charged forwards and tried to grabbed Ben who leapt up on to his arm and ran up into Howell's short sleeved shirt and crawled around making Howell cry out as Ben pinched and bit him as hard as he could.
Crawling out the back of the neck Ben leapt and landed on the floor, running as fast as he could while Howell was still trying to find him in his shirt. Turning a corner Ben saw a ventilation grate with gaps in its pattern just big enough to squeeze through, as Ben got to his feet in the vent he heard the cover being removed and turned to a large hand getting closer and grabbing him
"Hand off Dickwad" Ben shout as he bit in the knuckle of Howell's thumb.
-Break-
Gwen pulled up a map on her phone showing her all the streets in the area with the name Ripley and it didn't look good.
"Ripley Street, Ripley Avenue, Ripley Lane, Ripley Drive. We don't have time to check them all out" Gwen zoomed out of the map, the only good thing was they were all back to back in a small area instead of being spread out.
"Do we have a choice?" Max asked as he gave into temptation and pulled out a cigar and quickly lit it, feeling the smoke fill his lungs Max started to feel his nerves calm and think a bit clearer.
-Break-
"Come on you stupid watch, what's your malfunction?" Ben groaned as he climbed up the ventilation shaft. Greymatter had his uses and not only in the brains department, his had a frog-like anatomy that allowed him to leap good distances and climb up things by sticking to them. "Probably something stupid like the DNA splicing replicator copying a fragmented amino-acid sequence"
Stopping Ben realized something, he hadn't just sounded or said something smart, he'd just something out-of-this-world smart "so this what it's like to be smart" he smiled as he continued climbing.
As he got to the top of the vent Ben heard something, the fan started to spin slowly at first but it quickly picked up speed.
"I'll teach you to blow me off" Howell said as he turned setting to high, listening as he heard Ben fly through the vents banging his way along it.
Seeing an opening Ben twisted as best he could and grabbed the grate, kicking the lock it dropped open showing Ben he was back in the kitchen. Taking a deep breath Ben looked around and saw Howell holding a broom.
"Gotcha" Howell swung the broom as hard as he could aiming for Ben, who leapt at the last second dodging it and shouting
"Think again cock-fag"
As he landed on a counter, before Howell could try to swat him again Ben jumped as hard as he could and landed on a cupboard door and crawled up it and into the sink, sliding down it and down the drain.
"If he gets away then the Organisation will come after me, or worse won't even take my calls any more. Come on Howell think" he said to himself as he tried to peer down the plug hole, looking around he saw the tap and had an idea, turning it on to full and filling the drain with water.
Unable to resist the pull and the force of the water Ben span out of control as he was washed down the drain, his little lungs not giving him a lot of time to hold his breathe and he knew he'd have to breath sooner rather than later. Seeing light shining through the water Ben looked up and knew it was a way out, and more importantly, oxygen that his body badly wanted.
Swimming as hard and fast as he could Ben could feel his lungs trying to expel the used oxygen that his body couldn't use. Breaking the surfaced Ben gasped gasped hard as he breathed out then gulped down fresh oxygen. "Finally, fresh air" Ben panted as he looked where he was, then realized he was in Howell's toilet. "This is so gross"
-Break-
Returning to his study Howell turned on his computer screens, showing the entire house through security camera's he'd put in himself.
"You can run alien, but you can't hide. This is my fortress of solitude" Howell smiled as he scanned the screens, moving the camera's backwards and forwards so they viewed the whole room and house. Out of the corner of one camera Howell saw something move, panning it around he saw Greymatter sitting on top of the fuse box and open the door. "What are you?" He asked as he watched Greymatter flip him the finger again then grabbing the main breaker switch dropped off the box, pulling the switch down with him and shutting off everything electrical in the house.
Sneaking back up into the main part of the house Ben his in a potted plant, moving a few leaves he scanned the room until he saw a cast-iron fireplace which had a chimney leading up and out of the house.
"Ah, my ticket out" Ben smiled as he made a dash for it, seeing a beam of light enter the room and travel towards him Ben quickly dived behind the couch as it passed him.
"Don't make this hard on yourself" Howell called out as he scanned the room.
Moving quickly and quietly Ben ran towards the fireplace, leaping upwards until a cover blocked his path. Pushing against it he could tell it wasn't going to move, noticing the lever to open it he pushed against that instead. It easily moved and opened the cover, soot and ash falling down as it did. Hearing the noise Howell turned the flash-light on the fireplace he saw the soot cloud, peering into it he saw Ben climbing up the chimney with his frog-like stickiness.
"I'll smoke you out if I have to" Howell shouted as he grabbed a box of matches and lit one, lighting the logs and watching as the flame spread across them.
The smoke traveled quickly up the ling thin chimney catching up and passing Ben in no time making him cough and choke. Looking up Ben saw the exit to the chimney and willed himself on, he could feel the smoke burning his lungs and making him cough viciously he tried holding his breath but it didn't help, his hadn't taken any oxygen in but all smoke and he couldn't breath anymore, he could feel his grip slipping as he coughed and wheezed until eventually he started falling towards the flames below.
-Break-
As Max and Gwen drove down the various streets they looked for anything that could give them a clue on which house was the right one. Glancing at a house Gwen did a double take as she saw a green car sitting in a drive way.
"Grandpa stop" she yelled out, Max slamming on the brakes and the Rust Bucket screeching to a halt "that's the car of the guy who took Ben" she pointed out.
"Well then this isn't time for subtly" Max turned the engine off and climbed out of his seat, the lack of his usual amount of cigars had made him short-tempered and if he rescued Ben then he'd be able to have a victory smoke, until then we was just going to send the guy that had stolen his grandson to hospital.
Charging out of the R.V Max made a straight line for the front door, charging at it and kicking it open with his full weight behind it "alright you son of a bitch" Max shouted "give me-"
He was interrupted as a dog charged and leapt at him, knocking him over as he grabbed it.
"That's it boy, take his face off" an elderly voice crowd out the house, an ancient looking women in an electric wheel chair moved into the hallway as Gwen peered into it. "I ain't givin' nothin' to him, get him boy go for the nutsack"
"This isn't the guy's house" Gwen said as she watched Max wrestle the dog, he grabbed by the throat to stop it sinking his teeth into him and held it off at arms length.
"You think?" Max struggled to stand and threw the dog at the women, Gwen slamming the door shut before either of them could recover.
Across the street Gwen so Howell being led by two men in hats, over coats and what appeared to be full body armor from England into a classy, posh looking car. A third held a see through box and in it she saw Greymatter.
"Grandpa, that's the guy" she shouted as she pointed across the street as all five got into the car and pulled out of Howell's driveway, and driving off.
"Come on, we need to find out where they went" panting Max ran back into the R.V followed by Gwen, turning on the engine he floored the pedal sending Gwen flying backwards as he tried to catch up with the car.
-Break-
Max followed the car as closely as he dared, keeping it just in his line of sight and never letting it get too close in case they noticed the big R.V following them. As the car drove through a large pair of iron gates surrounding a large mansion he was forced to stop.
"who lives here? The queen of England?" Gwen asked as she tried to look through the iron gates to the mansion but it was too far away to get a proper view of it.
"We'll park further away and sneak in, we need to get Ben back as soon as we can" Max said as he drove away.
-Break-
Inside the mansion Howell was led in a large room which held a solitary desk in front of a large stain-glass window, sitting behind the desk was a man in a full suit of armor but instead of having a normal featureless face for a mask his was gold colored and a spikey crown.
Howell stood in front of the desk as the containment box was placed in front of the man and watched as he examined Greymatter.
"A remarkable subject" the man said as he leaned closer to Ben who glared back at him and flipped him off
"So how we doing this?" Howell asked excitedly "joint news conference? Major talk-shows?"
"We prefer to keep such discoveries private" the masked man leaned back into his chair as a surprised look ran across Howell's face
"What are you talking about?" Howell stuttered over his words "we need to tell the world about this"
"Actually, we do not. Letting the masses know there is life on this planet that is greater than our own will cause mass panic, xenophobia and mass riots. We are grateful you informed us of this life form and you will be compensated, but this is where you leave"
As the leader talked a pair of men in what looked like hazmat suit entered the room pushing a high-tech trolley and placed Ben and the containment unit on top of it.
"Where are you taking him?" Howell asked as he watched the men and trolley leave the room via a secret doorway that wasn't there a second ago
"Our scientist are going to do a few scans and tests to make sure he hasn't gotten sick or picked up any diseases whilst on our planet"
"I've never been any good at tests, or quizzes for that matter" Ben cried out as he left the room, the secret doorway closing behind him.
"I've found him he belongs to me" Howell lent against the desk and glared at the golden face mask, finding it slightly unnerving that he couldn't see his face.
"He is a living sentient being, he belongs to no one. I suggest you take your compensation, and go"
-Break-
Outside on the grounds Gwen and Max hid in the bushes as a man in a suit of armour and carrying an energy lance passed them.
"This isn't a house it's a fortress" Gwen whispered as she looked across the grounds and saw the various guards patrolling their areas. "Are they having a masquerade party or something?
"They call themselves 'The Orginisation'. A well-financed secret society dedicated to studying and helping alien life and technology" noting the confused look on Gwen's face Max quickly added "when you've been around as long as I have you pick up a few things."
"Grandpa what aren't you telling me?" Gwen asked as Max scanned the area
"Later Gwen, right now we need to get inside and get Ben. No one's looking come on, we need to climb that tree" Max brushed aside the question and ran from the bushes with Gwen quickly following him.
As they got to the tree Max helped Gwen to climb to the lower branches before climbing up after her. As they hid among the higher branches and the leaves they watched as the guards patrolled the mansion.
"You ready?" Max asked Gwen when he couldn't see anymore guards
"No, but I don't suppose it matters does it?" She asked as she followed Max and began walking across a thick tree trunk that stretched to the edge of the mansion's wall. As they got closer to the edge of the tree branch it started to creak and bend under their weight until they leapt off it and grabbed the edge of the wall, pulling themselves up and on to the walkway, Max landing roughly while Gwen landed lightly on her feet.
Hearing a clanking noise stop in front of him, Max looked up to see a guard standing in front of him "we too late for the tour?" Max asked before sweeping the guard off his feet making him drop his staff.
Both Max and the guard quickly got to their feet and as the guard tried to kick Max he grabbed his leg and swung him as hard as he could slamming him in to the wall. Tackling Max the guard knock onto the floor and was about to punch him when he heard someone shout
"Hey metal head"
Looking around the guard saw Gwen rushing towards him spear in hand and swung as hard as she could, slamming it against his head.
-Break-
Down in the labs of the building a man in a hazmat suit entered a code to the door to the main lab, the keypad going from locked to unlocked, when suddenly he slumped forwards unconscious. Behind him stood Howell, fire extinguisher in hand.
"Compensation huh? I'm not leaving here without my alien, and my ticket to fame and fortune" Howell dropped the fire extinguisher and dragged the unconscious man to a secluded corner where he started to remove the suit.
Once he was wearing it Howell entered the main lab where a scientist was preparing a machine positioned above a table where Ben had been strapped down.
"This is a simple bio-scan, the more you move the longer it'll take" the man said to Ben as he watched him struggle against the restraints "the sooner we get this done the sooner you can go back to your home planet"
"I'm telling you this is my home planet, I'm human" Ben cried out and even though he couldn't see the mans face, he could tell he didn't believe him at all.
Without saying a words Howell walked up behind the man and used the fire extinguisher to repeat the same move, hitting him across the side of the head. Pulling off the mask Howell dropped the extinguisher as he started fiddling with the controls.
"What are you doing here?" Ben asked as he felt his restraints loosen
"I'm not letting my ticket to fame and fortune get blasted off planet," reaching out Howell grabbed Ben before he could leap away "even my own mother laughed at me for believing in aliens, now we'll see who has the last laugh, when I'm living in my big home and with my large bank accounts."
"Dude I'm sure if you see a professional, you'll still be all the different kinds of crazy. Let me go and I won't have to hurt you, but I still might anyway" Ben threatened as he tried to pries open the fingers
"Hurt me? You can't hurt me, no one can stop me from revealing the truth to the world. And making a lot of money on the side" Howell had a crazed look on his face that worried Ben, he'd seen it before when the nerds he was bullying finally snapped and fought back, getting a lucky hit in and giving him a bloody nose. Of course he gave them a broken nose and time off school to recover from their wounds. Normally it wouldn't worry Ben but when you barely six inches tall being held by a man nearly six feet Ben had to admit he had a slightly problem.
"Hey what are you doing?" A voice shouted as two more men his hazmat suits entered the room and charged straight at Howell, forcing him to drop Ben and try to push the two men off him.
Taking to chance, and thanking which ever god or devil loved him, Ben ran out the room as fast as his little legs would let him. Entering a hallway to the main building as a secret panel started to open and, without checking around the corner to see if it was clear, ran straight into Gwen's leg.
"Ow, son of a whores tit" Gwen cursed as she grabbed her shin, looking down she saw a dazed Greymatter laying on the floor "Ben!"
"Gwen? When did you become a giant?" Ben asked in a woozy voice as Gwen scooped him up in both hands
"We'll save the family reunion till later, we have to leave" Max said as he turned back the way he and Gwen had just come from, retracing his steps to lead them outside.
Hearing the armor clanking down the hallway Max skidded to a halt, looking around he opened the nearest door and signaled for Gwen to follow him, closing the door quietly after them.
As they entered the room lights started to come on automatically showing them the various alien gadgets that had been put on display like a museum, there were signs that parts had been taken off and replaced.
"Look at all this alien tech" Ben gasped as he looked around the room, as soon as he looked at something his brain told him what it was and what it did, even if he couldn't actually say the name. "These guys have no clue what they've got here, no wonder they can't reverse engineer any of this" Ben continued to look at the alien tech as Gwen and Max walked through the displays. "Some of this stuff could fix the worlds problems, accept for that. Why they tried reverse-engineering a juicer I don't know" pointing to something that looked like an warp-engine from a sci-fi show.
"Which problems?" Gwen asked as she stopped in front of one the looked like a thick metal gauntlet
"Pollution, energy, food shortage, ozone layer, alternate fuel source." Ben spouted out the short list before he could stop himself "though I think the problem is this tech is beyond them, if any of these are used incorrectly the energy matrix would overload and de-stable the out-put causing an accessive build up of matter/anti-matter in the transmutater causing them to explode in a five mile radius, minimum"
"I have no idea what you just said, but a five mile explosion is always bad" Gwen stared at Ben, this wasn't the first time he'd talked about something she didn't understand, like his stupid video games or comic books, but this was the first time she didn't understand smart-talk coming from Ben.
"Hey I'm the one that said it and I don't even know what I said" Ben sighed, the brains came in handy but he was seriously bored of being Greymatter.
On the opposite side of the room a large door opened and several of the guards entered, including the golden masked leader.
"Spread out and find the alien" he ordered his men, behind him Howell was dragged into the room by two guards that restrained his arms.
Max and Gwen knelt down behind a large piece of alien tech so not to be seen as a guard clanked past them, each guard checking the ground looking for the tiny grey alien.
"Great, now what?" Gwen whispered as the room was nearly full of armored guards, each carrying a sword or spear.
Looking around Ben's brain gave him a detailed plan on the best way to escape, allowing them to easily dodge the guards, get outside and to the Rust Bucket before anyone realized they had gone. He then dismissed that plan and had another idea.
"They were going to blast me into space, now I'm going to blow up their home. Gwen grab that pulse hyper core, grandpa the dilenium capacitor." Ben pointed to the two object getting confused looks from them
"You said they'd make a five mile explosion" Gwen whispered angrily
"This is Greymatter talking, as long as I don't fully activate them I can overload the core into a controlled explosion. Now do it" Ben ordered
With worried looks on their faces Max and Gwen stayed low as the left their hiding spot and grabbed the items Ben had pointed out, as they returned to their spot Ben leapt up on to one of the pedestals that held a large piece of alien tech.
"You two need to get out of here" Ben told them
"What about you?" Gwen asked, suddenly a laser blast hit the pedestal, looking over their shoulders they saw a guard pointing a spear at them.
Before he could get another shot off or say anything Max tackled him to the ground and grabbed the spear, hitting him across the head before turning it on the other guards and firing at them, keeping them from getting closer.
"I'm going to connect these to that," Ben pointed to the large alien tech that had what looked like a small door at the base "this where small comes in handy, now go I'll meet you outside"
Nodding Gwen turned and yelled at Max to get his attention, signalling for him to follow her. Ben grabbed the capacitor and core and dropped them into the large alien tech and jumped in after them. Once inside he pushed the cube shaped capacitor into the right connection port which powered up the circuitry inside, he then turned and disconnected an important looking cable and connected it into the core, as soon as he did he could hear the energy build up around him.
"That reaction will decimate the mansion" the golden faced leader said as the alien tech started to glow and whine, spitting off small sparks of energy "everyone out now"
Waiting till everyone had left the room Ben leapt out of the overloading tech and onto the floor, as he began to run he heard a familiar beeping sound and with a bright flash of green light Ben was Ben again.
"Finally" Ben cheered as he picked up his pace and ran as fast as his now longer legs would.
-Break-
Outside Max and Gwen watched as energy started to build up around the mansion, neither could see Greymatter anywhere and were worried the little grey alien wouldn't be able to outrun the blast.
Suddenly Ben leapt through a window and rolled as he landed on the ground before racing towards them as the house began to crumble under the energy, it getting sucked up to the centre of the area before a bright light and an explosion knocked them all off their feet.
"What did I tell you? Controlled explosion" Ben laughed as he picked himself up and dusted his shirt off.
"Why did you leap through the window when there was a perfectly good door?" Gwen asked as Max helped her up
"Duh the house about to explode, it's what you do" Ben laughed
"Come on, we need to go before anyone decides to come back" Max said stopping a potential fight before it got started.
As they started walking across the grass to where the R.V had been parked. The same looking car that had picked Ben and Howell up stopped on the driveway where the mansion was moments ago, inside the golden masked leader sat in the back with a computer screen in front of him with frozen segments of security footage on them showing Max's, Gwen's and Ben's face.
"Find out all there is to know about these people"