When Gwendolyn came to, Kevin and Rook were already awake and using the few scanners they still held that hadn't been snatched or destroyed by the Sotoraggian trio. They were searching for anything, from footprints in the dirt to contrails in the sky, that would point them in some sort of direction to their lost teammate.

She screamed.

Upon hearing the distressed screech resonating from his Anodite girlfriend, Kevin rushed over and rubbed soothing circles into her back. The Anodite gasped and turned her head, meeting Kevin's brown eyes with a look of terror.

"Where's Ben?" she breathed as she scrambled to her feet, despite her boyfriend's protests.

She slid herself out of the Osmosian's arms and trudged forward, peering over Rook's shoulder to oversee his attempts to locate Ben's Omnitrix through his Plumber's Badge. With each dejected beep that came from the communicator, Gwendolyn's anxiety spiked tenfold.

Sensing this, Rook tried to whisper calming, reassuring words to her. That Ben was strong. That he was Ben 10, Savior of the Universe. That this was no different than any other time and that they would find him, just as they always did.

She had none of it.

She choked back an oncoming breakdown and finally decided to, despite her weakened state, attempt to track Ben's mana. She'd done it countless times before, even when they were ten and she was completely oblivious to her Anodite heritage. Even when she had yet to tap into her innate magical potential.

She could knew Ben's mana better than anyone else's.

Closing her eyes, the girl took a deep breath and began to 'reach out', in a sense. Putting just enough of herself out into the universe, from the air around them to the ground they stood on. She strained herself to get some kind of scent of Ben, some bit of himself that stayed behind long enough for her to find him.

But after almost ten minutes of meditation, the girl finally gave up. The throbbing pain against her skull became unbearable and she pulled her knees to her chest, hopelessness bubbling in her chest.

"Babe?" the raven-haired boy's voice piped up softly.

She could feel her boyfriend's aura close in on her, chaotic and violent. The Revonnahgander was standing beside him, aura calm and sturdy with waves of distress. She lifted her head and gazed up at the two boys.

"Perhaps if we search for the entity who hired Sunder and the hunters, we will be able to locate Ben." suggested the Revonnahgander, always sweet but to the point.

Kevin nodded, "Rook and I installed a tracker into the Rustbucket in case it ever got stolen. We have enough taydenite pieces to rent a decent enough ship to catch up to them."

The corners of Gwendolyn's mouth began to twitch.

"We will find him, Gwendolyn." Rook assured her.

But what he, Kevin, and Gwendolyn knew was that the longer it took to find Ben, the longer he would be subjected to the nefarious plans of whoever called for the bounty on his head.

Diamondhead groaned.

The anesthesia was beginning to wear off.

He felt like he was dying.

This was worse than anything he endured before. From jumping into a pit of fire for the Ultimate Aliens to fighting for control over his own mind, he had no doubt that being turned into a Petrosapian diamond mine was at the top of the list. He croaked in agony and lulled his head to the side to meet the scientist's deranged smirk.

Inspector #13 approached him and began to speak, his chillingly monotonous voice echoing throughout the cell.

"Greetings, Ben Tennyson," he said as he placed the containers full of his insides into a sink. He followed Ben's eyes to the jars. "Petrosapian innards are in high demand on the intergalactic black market. I have had to... adapt to certain circumstances since our last encounter."

In a display of childish spite, Ben began to chuckle, only to result in an intense coughing fit. Tar-like fluids-

Diamondhead's blood.

- dripped from his lips, making him gargle and gag. But he didn't care.

"You mean after I kicked your butt and ruined your Techadon business?" he retorted.

The inspector scowled, "Yes. Luckily, I and a few other realized that you are a 'gold mine', as you would say."

Ben furrowed his brow in confusion before a harsh wave of pain coursed through him, making him shudder. The alien shook his head.

"In other words, we realized that we can harvest organs from your various alien forms. Consider it a payment of sorts, for destroying my business." Inspector #13 finished, finding joy in seeing the Hero frozen in terror.

The Hero could barely process what he was hearing. The pain was unbearable. But using him as a source of innards to sell to some sick fucks in the black market?

It was messed up. So, so messed up.

Hoping to appeal to the alien's sense of humanity-

Oxymoron.

- and greed, the boy responded in a rough voice, "I'll die. You'll have no source of income if you keep this up. I'll time out soon and die as a human."

Inspector #13 cackled, making Ben cringe and narrow his eyes.

"So creepy, dude."

That was when it hit him.

He should have timed out ages ago.

"As your feeble human brain failed to comprehend, I deactivated the limiter to your Omnitrix. You are now able to remain transformed for an indefinite amount of time."

Inching closer, the inspector shoved a taydenite scalpel into Diamondhead's shoulder.

Ben hissed.

"Azmuth corrected the flaws of the original Omnitrix and the Ultimatrix, correct?" the inspector asked rhetorically. "I am certain you are aware that any injuries you attain while transformed do not carry over into your human form."

The Hero shook his head in denial. This couldn't be happening.

"You belong to us now, Hero of Heroes. And you can thank our leader for arranging all of this."

Ben coughed.

"I'll be out of here in no time. I'll go for your boss and I'll kick his ass, along with your entire little organization." he vowed, shifting from within his restraints. The struggle only made him scream.

The scientist sighed.