Chapter 7.5: Bloodletting

I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter 7.5 of the reboot! Yes, you read that right! This is Chapter 7.5!

* This chapter is completely original to the reboot, as in this was never in the original cut of Volume One. Well, besides the flashback scene at the start of this chapter, anyway. I will have interesting things to talk about in the Director's Commentary section, so I hope you look forward to that.

* I don't really have anything else to say in regards to this chapter, so let's get right into it!

Earth-Prime

Sunday May 27th, 2018

Grandpa Max's House

Ben

An Hour and a Half Earlier

"Plumbers? What are plumbers?" I asked. "You can't be talking about actual plumbers!"

"No, I don't mean actual plumbers." Grandpa Max replied.

"Then what are they?" I asked as I walked over to the table and sat down at the booth.

"Back in 1947, after the Roswell Incident, we started to see lots of alien activity on the planet. And eventually we saw the arrival of the universe's most brutal, unforgiving alien species on Earth. The Chimera Sui Generis, as well as the brutal and bloodthirsty leader."

"Vilgax."

Grandpa Max shook his head.

"Vilgax came later. And I wasn't even a part of the plumbers yet. Hell, the plumbers didn't even exist yet."

"Who was their leader at that time?"

Grandpa shrugged.

"I don't know. They came to Earth, for a rare element that they ran out of on their planet. They managed to find it in the Catacombs of Paris. And they started digging for more of it, making excavation sites down there. We and the French went down there, to see what was up. That caused a conflict between the two species."

"Why were they looking for this element?"

"It was an element powerful enough to provide power for their W.M.D.s."

"So, their nukes?"

He shook his head.

"Their weapons aren't nukes. Their weapons destroy entire planets."

"So, Death Stars?" I joked.

"Very funny. Anyway, we waged war from late 1947 to early 1949. There were numerous casualties on both sides, but most of those casualties were on our side. The only reason the war ended was because of a peace treaty. We weren't to go to their planet and they were supposed to leave and never come back. I'm sure that there was much interference by the American and French governments to cover the event up."

"What happened next?"

"The plumbers were created after the peace treaty and went into official service in 1952. I was born in 1950 as you know, so I didn't join until I was a year out of high school at the age of nineteen in 1969. The group is called the Special Extra-Terrestrial Containment Team. They use the term Plumbers as a codename, a cover."

Afterward I thought for a minute.

"Okay. I have another question."

"Alright, shoot."

Unknown Location

Ben

When I regained consciousness, I found myself staring up at a white ceiling. After lying there for a few seconds I tried to move around, only to find that I was restrained to a reclined slab of some kind. My arms and legs were restrained to the slab, but my head and neck weren't, so I could take a look around the room. I was in a laboratory facility of some sort. Just then, I heard the sound of doors opening and I turned my head to the right, to see a group of people entering the room through a set of metal double doors.

They were all wearing light green suits of some kind, with what looked like to be a gold and brown shield crest adorned on the upper left torso of the suit. They also had masks on, black masks with a lighter colored visor that had three red spots on them, the middle spot being smaller than the left and right.

What are they wearing? Biohazard suits?

"He's awakened." One of the figures spoke in a deep, indescribable voice. "Sedate him so that he won't interfere with the procedure."

Procedure? What the fuck is going on? Where the hell am I?

One of the figures departed from the main group to a cabinet on the left wall of the room and from there, took out a syringe and small vial of some kind. The figure filled the syringe with the liquid inside the vial, before putting the vial back into the cabinet and closing it again. The figure then turned in my direction, with the syringe in hand and began walking in my direction.

I began struggling, but with me being restrained, it didn't get me very far. There was no point in even thinking about escaping. The figure reached me and flicked my neck with his finger a couple times, searching for a vein. Once he found it, he pushed the needle through my skin and injected me with the sedative. It only took a minute or so for it to take effect and after that, everything went black again.

Scientist 1

Once the subject had lost consciousness again, we were able to proceed with our procedure. I went to retrieve another needle and a container of rubbing alcohol. Once I had the materials, I returned to the subject and pulled up his sleeve. After rubbing down his forearm and finding the vein, I injected the needle and took a blood sample. After taking the first sample, we took three more. After the samples had been taken, I handed the blood vials to another operative.

"Here." I said as he took them. "Make sure these make it to the lab upstairs."

"Of course." He replied before heading for the doors at the other end of the room.

I turned to look at another operative and pointed at him.

"You. You're going to remove the Omnitrix from the subject and disassemble it as you were told to do. Put together a schematic of it and be careful while you're doing it. It needs to be put back together exactly the way it was after you're done."

He nodded at me and approached the subject. After he had removed the Omnitrix, I spoke to him again as he headed toward the doors.

"While you're doing that, I'll stay here to sedate him in case he awakens again."

He didn't say a word to me as he went.

Scientist 2

One Hour Later

After some time had passed, I had managed to carefully disassemble the Omnitrix and thoroughly study its parts. What came next was to draw a schematic of the Omnitrix and its parts, thoroughly detailing how the parts fit together and worked together as a whole. And finally, what came after that was to put the Omnitrix back together, just the way it had been before.

Scientist 3

After the Omnitrix had been put back together and returned to the subject, I went to brief Mr. Enoch on the status of the Omnitrix and the subject's blood. I knocked on the door, now out of my containment suit, and waited.

"Enter." I heard a voice from the other side of the door.

I opened the door and entered Mr. Enoch's private office. I shut the door behind me and approached his desk.

"Leave us alone for a minute." He said before I could reach his desk.

I thought that he might have been talking to me for a second, but I turned around to see the two guards standing on either side of the double doors exiting the room. I turned to look back at Mr. Enoch once they were gone.

"Well, don't leave me in suspense. Give me your update, Chief."

"The blood samples have finished processing. Their clean."

"Good. And the Omnitrix?"

"The schematic has been crafted. We've identified all the parts and what we need to make an equivalent to it. We already have some of the parts and—"

"—And Vilgax has provided us with the parts that we believed we didn't have, right."

I stood there for a second after he interrupted me.

"Right." I spoke as I cleared my throat.

"Is that all, Chief?"

I nodded.

"Then you may leave now."

I stood there for a few seconds, before I turned around and left Mr. Enoch, where he leaned back in his chair, having his feet up on his desk, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Mr. Enoch

The Previous Day

I stood in my office before the two armored soldiers that had been sent to talk to me on the behalf of an alien being called "Vilgax", one of them having a heavy looking case in their hand.

"So sorry that our boss couldn't make it today, Mr. Enoch." One of the drones spoke in a robotic voice. "He sent us to speak for him in this deal that you've proposed."

"That's alright. As long as we can work something out that both of our parties can benefit from, I don't have a preference on who I talk to."

"Very well. Shall we get on with this, then?"

"Of course."

After I said that, we commenced with the meeting, the drone being the one to start off speaking first.

"So, you made it clear to our leader that you need parts for a project of yours."

"That is correct. I want to build my own version of a device called the Omnitrix using the schematics of the real thing."

"Our leader was very surprised to find out that a human knows what the Omnitrix is. And he'd very much like to know how it is you know of its existence."

"Sorry, that's for me to know and as far as I can tell, that information has no relevance to this meeting."

"You can keep your secrets. We'll give you the parts that you need, but on one condition."

"Oh? And what would that condition be?"

"Our leader demands that once you get ahold of the Omnitrix and you have made your schematics that you will use in your project, you hand over the Omnitrix and dispose of the subject who had been wearing it."

"Of course, of course. Anything to get done what I need to be done."

The drone who had been speaking looked at his companion and nodded. The second drone approached me and once he reached me, handed me the case. The case was heavy, I was right about that. I lifted it up and used my free hand to open the case, revealing a variation of spare alien tech parts inside.

"Do we have a deal?"

I shut the case and switched it so that I was holding it in my other hand.

"We do." I said with a nod.

"Splendid. Remember what I said about keeping the Omnitrix for our leader. Once it is in your possession, you give it to us."

"Of course, of course. You can trust me."

"Well, we shall take our leave, then. Our leader will be awaiting contact from you."

"Alright, then. Good day to you, gentlemen."

After they left my office, I just stood there in silence. Then, I started chuckling to myself.

"I have no intention of honoring my side of the bargain." I whispered to myself.

Scientist 1

Present Day

"Alright, now that the Omnitrix has been returned to the subject, it's been requested that he is returned to where he was collected. I don't know why Mr. Enoch would want to let the subject go, he's a gold mine of information as far as I'm concerned."

"Mr. Enoch said that the subject may be of use to us sometime later down the line." One of my colleagues replied.

"Whatever. Just get him out of here and onto the transport, so that he can be returned to where he was found like Mr. Enoch wants."

My two colleagues nodded and got to work on unfastening the subject from the slab that he had been restrained to during his stay here.

Ben

Hours Later

When I finally came to again, I found myself lying back in the alley. I let out a groan as I stood up and looked around. My bike was exactly where I had left it, which was at the entrance to the alley.

Was... everything that I saw, erm, that I thought I saw, was that just a dream? But it felt so real!

I looked the alien watch, still in its camouflaged mode on my wrist and saw that it was past five in the afternoon.

Oh, shit, I thought. I've been lying here all this time unconscious and Gwen has no idea where I am. I have to get back home, now!

I ran out of the alley, finding myself to be a little bit slower and weaker than I remembered. Once I was out of the alley, I got back on my bike and started pedaling in the direction of home.

The Tennyson House

Sometime Later

When I finally got home, the time being close to six o'clock, I was surprised to find not only Grandpa Max's RV, The Rustbucket, parked by the curb, but there was also a police car in my driveway.

Oh, that's not a good sign, I thought to myself.

I ran to the front door and instead of opening it, I just knocked. I stood there and waited afterwards, and after a few seconds, Gwen answered the door. Her emerald eyes immediately lit up and she spoke as she grabbed my hand, pulling me inside the house.

"Ben! You're okay!"

"Of course, I'm okay." I assured her.

Besides Gwen, I noticed that Grandpa Max and two police officers were standing in my living room.

"This is your cousin?" one of the police officers asked.

Grandpa Max nodded and answered before Gwen could.

"Yes, that's him."

"Where have you been for the last eight hours?!" Gwen asked with worry and rightfully so.

I couldn't tell them the truth, that much was for sure. That would only make this worse. And to be honest, I don't even know if what I saw or what I thought I saw rather, was real! Maybe I was mugged, but in all reality, that didn't make sense, either. If I really was mugged, I wouldn't have woken up with all of my things in order, along with none of my personal belongings missing. I wouldn't have, would I? I had to lie to them, for my own sake and for theirs!

"I, uh, went to my friend, Kevin's house, after I left Grandpa Max's place to catch up with him for a while. I would have texted you, but my phone died since I never plugged it in last night. I'm sorry I worried you, Gwen. I didn't mean to, really."

Gwen seemed to buy it, but Grandpa Max and especially the police officers looked skeptical. But whether or not they actually believed me, they didn't say.

"Son," the other police officer said. "you need to find other means to notify your family of your whereabouts next time."

"I understand, sir. I'm sorry."

The police officer sighed after that, before his partner spoke again.

"Well, everything seems to be in order here, folks. My partner and I will be leaving now."

"Thank you so much again for coming." Gwen replied as they moved for the front door.

"Yes, thanks." Grandpa Max chimed in.

"Don't mention it, it's what we're here for. You have a nice evening, people."

"Thanks, you too." Gwen spoke as they showed themselves out.

Once they were gone, Gwen and Grandpa Max just looked at me as I moved to sit down on the couch.

"What?" I asked.

"You know damn well what, Ben!" Grandpa Max scolded. "You can't just disappear without telling people where you're going or when you'll be back!"

"Really, this again? I said I was sorry!"

"It's not about you being sorry, Ben." Gwen chimed in as she lightly punched my arm. "It's the fact that you didn't find a way to tell me where you were going, nor did you think to use Kevin's phone! You had me really worried!"

"And me, too." Grandpa Max chimed in once again.

"Okay, I'll say it again! I'm sorry! It won't happen again."

After that, things between us three seemed to cool down.

"Well, now that that's been settled, do you kids want me to stay for a while?" he asked. "Make you guys dinner?"

I recoiled at the thought of Grandpa Max's cooking. Grandpa Max had a very interesting culinary taste, to say the least. Luckily, Gwen seemed to notice that I didn't want Grandpa to cook us dinner. Either that or she knew me so well.

"No, that's alright, Grandpa, I can handle cooking dinner." She said. "You can go home, now. Thanks for coming over when I called."

"Of course. I'm just a call away if you need me."

After that, he moved for the front door to leave. Before he walked out the door, he turned to look at me one last time.

"Remember what we said, Ben." he spoke in a stern tone.

"Okay, okay! I'll remember!" I relented.

He seemed to be satisfied after that and left without another word about it.

"Bye, Gwen, Ben. Take care of yourselves."

"We will." Gwen replied. "Love you, Grandpa."

"You too, hun. Goodbye."

"Bye, Grandpa." I replied.

After that, he was gone. Gwen turned to me as the door shut.

"Now that all of that's over, I'll get started on dinner." She said.

"Okay." I replied.

Later That Night

A few hours after dinner, we retired to our rooms for the night. Or so I thought we would, anyway. A few minutes after I went to my room, there was a knock at my door. I looked in that direction.

"Come in." I spoke out loud.

After that, the door to my room opened and there stood Gwen in my doorway, wearing her pajamas.

"What is it?" I asked. "Is everything alright?"

She nodded.

"Of course, it's just—"

"Just what, Gwen?" I asked when she cut herself off.

She looked back at me with a straight face.

"Is it alright if I sleep in your bed tonight?" she asked. "I'd feel much better knowing that your safe and sound in bed right next to me."

I thought it was a odd request, but a somewhat reasonable one at that. So, I decided I'd allow it.

"If it will help you sleep." I replied. "Come on, then."

Me saying that made the look on her face brighten.

"Thanks, Ben." she spoke as she moved to get into bed with me.

I moved over in my bed to make room for her. After she got into my bed, she snuggled up against my arm, wrapping both of hers around mine. I thought it was a little weird for her to do that, but after what I had unintentionally put her through today, I understood to a degree that holding my arm while she fell asleep may make her feel better. And whatever helped her sleep, too, I was happy to oblige.

"Ben?" Gwen said my name.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Don't ever worry me like that again."

"I won't. And I'm sorry."

Nothing else was said between us after that before we fell asleep for the night.

Epilogue

Unknown Location

Mr. Enoch

I sat in my office, taking care of some last minute things before retiring for the night. As I sat there, typing away, there was a knock at my office door.

"Enter." I replied.

After I spoke, the door opened and in stepped one of my scientists. I retracted my hands from my keyboard as I looked up at him.

"Well, what is it?"

"We've made use of one of the subject's blood samples to produce a clone of the subject. The clone is currently in the fetal stage."

I nodded with satisfaction.

"Good. And the schematic of the Omnitrix? What have you done with that?"

"Using the parts that we already had on hand and the ones that you procured from your deal with Vilgax's forces, we've crafted a replica of the Omnitrix, one with an inverted color scheme of the original."

I nodded once again. As I did that, he approached my desk with a tablet and sat it down on my desk so that I could see the screen. On the screen, I saw a live feed of the clone, in its fetal stage, floating in a chemical bath.

"Good. I'm pleased with the results. You may go now. Don't forget to take your tablet with you."

He did as I told and left me alone in my office. I thought about what I could do with the subject's clone.

Once the clone reaches maturity, it will be paired with the replica of the Omnitrix. Before we achieve our plans with him, it would need to be taught how to fight. To know how to survive on its own. And whenever it'd use the replica of the Omnitrix, its aliens would be black and white, a negative reflection of the subject's transformations, as a result of technology that we implemented into the replica.

I went back to typing on my keyboard after I got my train of thought back. I still had to record the existence of the subject's clone in our database. I opened up a blank page to enter into the database and I sat there for a minute, thinking about what I should call the clone. I thought back to how the clone looked visually. It was a bit early to tell, but it appeared to have a pale complexion. When it reached maturity, it would likely keep that pale complexion. That made me think of the word "albino". I started typing again.

Albedo, I typed out the clone's name.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!

* So, what did you guys think of this new, original chapter? How did I do with adding a little more narrative to Volume One? I am very curious on what you all are thinking in regards to Chapter 7.5, so ask me any questions that you may have.

* Anyway, that's going to do it for me. I'm going to go, so have a great day and bye.

Director's Commentary

* To start off this installment of Director's Commentary, we're going to talk about Albedo. If you've been around for a while, you may know that Albedo is a main character of this story. But you may also know that I originally introduced Albedo as an antagonist, who eventually turned anti-hero and then from there he evolved into the character that he is now. However, I am very unhappy with the way I debuted him in the original cut of Volume One.

* A few people might remember that he literally appeared out of nowhere in the original cut of Volume One. I don't like that, it's not a very realistic way of debuting a character. This time, I feel like I went with a much more realistic method of debuting him. That's pretty much all that I needed to talk about. With that said, it's time to wrap this up. Thanks for reading.

Next Chapter: After Ben's eventful day, he and Gwen go on a walk in the park, where he has to protect her from trouble.