Chapter 27: Lucky Girl: Part 2

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 Twenty Six of the reboot!

* Once again, this chapter will not have a segment of Director's Commentary. The only real changes that were made were just changing some dialogue around and cutting out any cringy dialogue, or dialogue that just doesn't work anymore.

* As promised, this is the second post for tonight. I don't really have anything to say in regards to this chapter, so let's get right into it!

Earth-Prime

Tuesday, June 5th, 2018

Downtown Bellwood

Ben

I looked the lady up and down, as well as ignored her question. She had asked me who my hero was, but I didn't answer.

"And who might you be?" I asked.

"I'm Lucky Girl." she said with a smile on her face.

"Okay, um, Lucky Girl. Nice to meet you. What exactly is it that you want?"

"Your help. Or at least, I'm hoping to get your help."

"Um, sorry, but you'll just have to go to the police. I may help people, but I don't help weirdos who go out of their way to track me."

"But I really need help." she insisted. "And you're the only one I could come to."

I sighed as I rested my fingers against my forehead.

"Forget everything I said." I replied. "What do you need my help with?"

"Thank you. I need help finding a missing person."

"Who?"

"Someone named Ben Tennyson. His cousin, Gwen Tennyson, hired me to find him."

This confused me a little bit.

"Wait, you know Gwen Tennyson? She asked me to find him!"

She shrugged.

"Apparently, you took too long. I've been hired in your place."

Oh, that's real nice! Well, to be fair, it's not like Alien Guy could have helped her, anyway.

"Speaking of Gwen hiring you, she told me about you."

"Oh, did she?"

She nodded.

"Yes, she did. And I can say that you look nothing like how she described to me! That's not even the outfit that she told me about!"

"Sorry about that, my current costume is being modified."

She didn't answer and when she didn't give a response, that got me thinking for a second.

Gwen must be desperate to find me if she hired someone else!

"How do you know Gwen Tennyson?" I asked.

"She came to me after Ben disappeared. She begged for my help."

"And? What's in it for you?"

"What's in it for me? I thought that it was common courtesy to help someone when they ask for it?"

"I'm not saying it's wrong to help someone when they need it. But what is in it for you?"

"What's in it for you? When you help others, what's in it for you?"

"Nothing, I guess. I do the things I do to make myself feel better."

"Then it's the same for me. Maybe a bit of an adrenaline rush, I guess."

Um, okay then. Well, now I've kind of been put into a tough spot. Helping her would be the right thing to do, but if I do that, Gwen will never find me. However, on the other hand, if I don't help, then Gwen will get more desperate and may try to get other people to help out... Ugh, I can't believe I'm doing this.

"Alright, you got me. I'll help you find him. Or in the very least, I'll help you pick up his trail."

She gave a smile in return.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet, we'll probably have a long road ahead of us. So, did Gwen give you any information about her cousin's disappearance?"

She shook her head.

"Unfortunately, she has no idea where he could be. He was just gone."

As she should, I thought to myself.

"Hmm," I spoke as I rested my chin in my hand. "that's not a good start. But 'just gone'?"

I was fishing for more information and wouldn't you know it, she ended up providing some.

"She said that when she tried his room, she found it to be locked. She searched the whole house and found nothing. She decided walked around the entire outside of the house next. She found the window to his bedroom open. He was still nowhere to be found."

"Once again, gone? Just like that?"

She nodded once again. A few seconds of silence passed between us and before the silence could last any longer, she cleared her throat as she pulled out a folded up piece of paper from her utility belt.

"So, Gwen gave me a list of places to search and people to check in with to help with the search."

"If you want my honest advice Lucky Girl, I would say that you should stop looking for him."

She began to look offended in response to this.

"But I can't!"

"Yes, you can. Now I know that if you go back to Gwen with this, she probably won't like it too much. But if you ask me, it sounds like Ben left on his own volition. He wasn't kidnapped or anything. So, maybe he doesn't want to be found. You have to respect a guy's wish. He may come back sooner or later, I can't say for sure."

Lucky Girl said nothing for a second.

"Look, I have a job to do. So, I'm going to find him. Whether you help me or not." she finally replied.

She is very persistent, I'll give her that, I thought.

I let out another sigh as I rested my hand against my forehead.

"Oh, alright. Let's have a look at the list of tips that she gave you."

She handed it to me.

She handed it to me and I took it from her to look it over myself. There were only a few suggestions on the list. The first one suggested that we search my clubhouse. The second one suggested that we check in on my cousin Ken, as well as my friends J.T. and Cash. And the last suggestion was to go see Grandpa Max and ask him about it.

"Where do you think we should start?" I asked.

"I don't know. I guess his clubhouse." Lucky Girl replied. "Gwen told me that he may go there for shelter."

"Have you checked the clubhouse yourself?"

She nodded.

"Yes. But when I was there, it was vacant."

"Okay. It's settled, then. Let's go."

Sometime Later

Ben's Clubhouse

"Nothing?" Lucky Girl asked as we finished searching the clubhouse.

"Nothing." I agreed. "I don't think he's been here in a while."

I haven't been here for a while.

"What now?"

"Well, I guess we go talk with his Grandpa Max and check with the other three on the list in the morning. I can't see what else we could do tonight."

"Lead the way." Lucky Girl said.

I nodded as we walked outside of the clubhouse. As we did, I saw a mugging in progress across the street.

"Stay here." I said as I dialed up the alien watch. "I'll handle this."

"Do you really think that I can't handle a few thugs?"

I turned back to look at her.

"Suit yourself." I said, before transforming into XLR8. "Try not to get yourself killed."

"Please. Just watch me." Lucky Girl said as she jumped into the action with me.

I grabbed one the thugs from behind as he tried to take their victim's purse.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that stealing from other people is wrong?"

I tossed him to the side and when he tried to get back up, tripped him up with my tail. I looked over at Lucky Girl, who was fighting two of them off at the same time. One of them was about to strike her from behind.

"Lucky Girl, watch out!" I exclaimed.

She didn't even look at me nor did she react to the impending danger. She brought up her left forearm and some kind of hot pink shield just appeared over her forearm. The thug that was approaching from behind hit the shield, causing it to crack, but it didn't break.

"What the hell?" I whispered.

Her shield then disappeared and she grabbed the heads of both her attackers, bringing them together, causing both of them to butt heads with each other. Lucky Girl turned and grinned at me.

"What can I say? I have some skills."

"Apparently. What the hell was that pink stuff?"

"Sorry, trade secret. Go ahead, hit me and the same thing will happen."

"What?" I asked with confusion.

"Hit me. Or try to."

I shook my head.

"I'm not going to hit a girl."

"Hit me!" she exclaimed with anger.

I sighed and tried to hit her. However, before my fist could touch her, she waved her hand in front of herself and the same pink shield appeared, blocking my attack. She grinned as I tried to hit her again. She blocked once again.

"What the hell?" I asked.

She just laughed.

Before I could say something else, I heard a voice interrupt the silence.

"Alien Guy! What an pleasant surprise!" I heard a familiar robotic voice.

I turned and saw that thing, in the high tech black and purple armor, standing on the roof of my clubhouse.

"What do you want from me?!" I exclaimed as I saw him. "And who are you?!"

"I'm trying to figure that out myself." the figure replied. "But for now, you can call me by the name that my master gave me. You can call me Sixsix."

"You still haven't told me what you want from me."

"You and the girl are going to come with me. A few people might have to die along the way, but in the end, it'll be worth it."

I shook my head.

"No, that's not going to work for us. Instead, why don't you leave me alone. That way, we can all go home happy."

"Nope, that deal won't work for me, either. My deal is the only one that will work for you."

I turned to look at Lucky Girl, who was shaking her head. She agreed with me, there was no doubting that. I turned back to at Sixsix again.

"We are leaving. We aren't going with you."

"Okay, friend." Sixsix said as I turned around. "Plenty of ways to get you to where you're going."

I started walking away from Sixsix and Lucky Girl followed me.

"Come on. Let's get away from this nut and find Ben's Grandpa Max."

Sometime Later

Grandpa Max's House

"I apologize," Grandpa Max spoke. "but the last time I saw Ben is when he came to visit me last Sunday."

"Last Sunday, the 3rd?" Lucky Girl asked.

"No, last Sunday, as in the 27th of May."

"That would be two Sundays ago."

Grandpa Max looked annoyed in response to this.

"Oh, whatever. You know what I mean."

"Sure, I do."

Lucky Girl then let out a sigh.

"Another dead end." she said in a sad tone.

"I'm sorry." I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.

The few times that I had spoken at this point, I made an effort to disguise my voice from Grandpa Max. I don't know why I bothered to do that, he already knew that I was Alien Guy, anyway. Frankly, I'm shocked that he didn't out me when Lucky Girl explained herself to him. I guess he respects a secret identity enough to lie for me.

"Don't apologize to me." she said. "Apologize to Gwen. She's the one who's worried sick about him."

I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her a little so I could see her face.

"You know what? Why don't you go home for the night? Wherever you call home. We'll pick this up again tomorrow. I'm in your investigation for the long haul. I want to see it finished and I'll do whatever I can to help you find Gwen's cousin."

As soon as I said that, I mentally kicked myself.

Why did I say that? I thought I was trying to deceive her, at least for long enough to get her off of my back?

After a few seconds, she nodded at me.

"Okay, I'll go." she replied as she walked towards the door of the R.V.

"Goodnight, Lucky Girl."

"Goodnight."

She left the R.V., leaving the door open. Once I knew she was gone, I went to shut the door behind her and turned back to look at Grandpa Max. Both of us looked at each other for a few seconds, before he finally spoke.

"You can cut it out with that disguising your voice bullshit, now. What are you playing at Ben?"

I took off my mask.

"What?" I asked with a shrug of my shoulders.

"You abandoned Gwen while you were supposed to be spending three weeks with her! Why would you do that?"

"I left because Alien Guy was making new enemies, along with the fact that I had gotten clumsy and because of that, some of my enemies now know my identity. So, I thought that Gwen would be safer without me in her life. Now I realize that I was wrong. And that I just need to be more careful in the future."

"So, you're going home, then?"

I nodded.

"Yes, Grandpa. First thing tomorrow morning."

"And this Lucky Girl character? What are you going to do about her?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I don't think I've thought that far ahead yet. To be honest, part of me thinks that I should just continue to work with her, while deceiving her for long enough to get her out of my life."

He chuckled.

"You really need to get better at this whole super hero thing."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Just don't be too quick about wanting to get her out of your life, okay? She could be a useful asset to help you in your work."

So, could Albedo, I thought to myself. If he's interested in working with me after I've figured out what he should do.

I nodded.

"I'll think about it."

"Good." He said with a wink. "There's no such thing as 'too much help'. Now, if you're not going home tonight, do you need a place to crash? You can sleep on one of the bunks in here, if you want."

I nodded.

"Thanks Grandpa. I'll take it."

"No problem. Now, let's get you washed up before you get to sleep? We'll get you something to eat, too."

"I'll wash up, but I already ate." I lied.

"Okay. Well, go get washed up and get some sleep, kid."

"Okay, Grandpa."

I don't know why Grandpa would've bought what I said, seeing as I was living off the grid as of right now, but somehow, he did. And to be honest, I was hungry. Just not hungry enough to have some of Grandpa's cooking.

Author's Note:

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

* What did you guys think of this one when compared to the original version of Chapter Twenty Seven? Did anything stand out to anyone? I put a lot of thought into what to do with this version of Chapter Twenty Seven, so I hope it was a good one. Give me any comments or questions that you may have in either a review or a private message, please. I am very curious on what you all thought of this chapter.

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

Next Chapter: While working on their investigation, Ben is forced to introduce Albedo and Lucky Girl to each other. Later, Ben returns home to Gwen, which creates an awkward tension between the two.