Ben 10: Bride To Be: Volume Three

by WebofSpideyguy7245698

Following a raid on The Forever Knights, Ben and his family try to adjust to a new life, with unforeseen complications just over the horizon. Expect some new characters, villains and a stronger focus on story arcs. Sequel to Volumes One and Two. Rated M for mature language, mature situations and violence.

3. Chapter 150: Aftershock: Part 3

Chapter 150: Aftershock: Part Three

Resolution

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters. I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter One Hundred and Fifty!

* Like I said in the last chapter, this will be a big chapter as well and probably a long one, too. I've said it before and I may say it again, this may be the longest chapter I've written to date. That's all I have to say on the matter.

* With that said, let's get into this chapter!

Earth-Prime

Four Weeks Ago – Wednesday, February 6th, 2019

The Forever Knights' Main Headquarters

Ben

Albedo fell to the floor, having lost consciousness after sustaining a gunshot wound. My entire world was a blur around me. My ears rang as I ran over to where he had fallen over, with Sunny right behind me. I came to a stop where he laid and got down onto my knee. I pulled his head up and into my lap, where I saw his damaged face again. My breath quickened as I felt hyperventilation begin to set in.

No, no! Not him, too! Please God, don't tell me I'm going to lose him, too!

I looked up at Sunny, who returned my look with the same look on her face that I did.

"Sunny," I spoke in a shaky voice. "Please kill him."

She unsheathed one of her Sais, turned on her heel and full on sprinted over to her target now that she was off of her leash. Seconds later, Doctor Animo laid dead on the floor, with a stab wound from her Sai his right eye socket. He didn't transform afterwards, nor did Enoch try do anything to prevent his death. I'm glad that she didn't misunderstand me and attack Leon.

While I was sort of angry at Leon, because he had pulled a gun, if he hadn't, this wouldn't have happened. But later I'd be angrier with myself. If I hadn't thrown off his aim, Albedo would have been fine. Sunny disregarded that Enoch still stood next to Animo's dead body and ran back to me, where I still held his body. Once she got back to me, Nathan was with us, as well. While all of this was happening, I noticed Enoch kneeling over Animo's corpse, grabbing something that resembled a pad or a remote from his lab coat pocket. But with everything that was going on, I dismissed it for the time being.

"How's he doing?" she asked in the same shaky voice that I had upon getting back.

I was too shaken up to answer.

"Ben?" she called out to me.

When I didn't answer again, Nathan spoke up for me.

"Remain calm, both of you. Albedo is still breathing, that's the good news. But he won't be breathing for much longer if we don't do something."

"Okay." Sunny said in a slightly steadier voice. "Ben, do you think Julie can do anything for him?"

The concept of that thought sent me off into another one of my flashbacks.

The scenery changed so that I was in Julie's apartment, before Cooper had moved in with her. She guided me into her kitchen and I followed her. There, lying on her kitchen table, was Albedo's body.

"Just tell me!" I had exclaimed. "Tell me that he'll be okay!"

She didn't answer for a few seconds, but when she finally did, it wasn't in an optimistic tone.

"He's taken too much trauma to the head, Ben." she had said as she shook her head. "I wish I could put it in softer words, but there's just no way."

I let out a light grunt.

"What?" I asked with disbelief.

"I don't think he'll ever wake up after what you told he went through. I don't even think a brain surgeon could help him."

I pulled up my sleeve and pointed at my arm.

"Then take some of my blood! If he needs blood, take it!" I yelled at her. "He's a clone of me and I know we have the same blood type!"

I looked at Albedo. She was right. I could hardly recognize his face. Ghostfreak had fucked him up that bad.

"But—"

"There's nothing I can do for him. I'm sorry."

"Ben? Can you hear me?" Sunny's voice brought me out of my flashback.

I snapped out of it and looked at Sunny, who looked concerned. I took a short breath before I spoke.

"No, I don't think there's anything she can do for him. What he needs is a hospital."

Sunny looked at Nathan as she began to take Albedo into her arms.

"Can I—"

He interrupted her.

"Golden Locks, get your boyfriend out of here now, get him to a hospital so he can be patched up!"

Nathan

Sunny definitely didn't like me calling her "Golden Locks", but she wasn't about to argue with me at the moment, not with how I was right now, and not with Albedo currently in shell shock after losing an eye. Sunny ran past me, towards the door which we had all entered through, with Albedo still in her arms. I turned to Ben.

"Form up on me, we're about to have company."

I didn't call for Rojo and Cooper, they'd only be a hindrance for right now. Best they stay where they are until the fighting's done. I then turned to Leon with unforgiving eyes. I knew what he had done. It only took me a glance to piece together what had likely just happened. I spoke, my voice like a low rolling thunder.

"As for you, you run and you never come back."

In that moment, Leon's helmet formed back over his head and he slammed into Ben before bolting. Not even a minute later and heavily armed security piled into the room, forcing us to take cover so we wouldn't be turned into melted Swiss. I still had one flashbang left, and I used to good effect, managing to blind a couple of them, long enough to eliminate them before having to get back into cover, laser blasts whizzing past my head as I ducked down.

"I'm giving you boys once chance to back down, otherwise you'll end up like your friends on the ground." I called out as I swapped my spent magazine for a new one, more laser blasts giving me their answer.

I could hear them slowly getting closer, and I waited for one of their guns to stick out before I grabbed it, using my free hand to empty multiple rounds into the guy's chest, and I could tell that I had just hit both his lungs and his heart, as he dropped dead immediately afterwards. I had to perform a tactical roll to avoid being hit directly, though it hadn't worked as well as I had hoped, as the rightmost guard managed to land a shot on my upper left arm, and I had to grit my teeth to avoid letting out a cry of pain.

In response, I incapacitated him with two shots to each leg, dropping him to his knees as I pulled my sidearm and put a round through each of the remaining guards, dropping them instantly before I shouldered my rifle and holstered my sidearm, walking up to the last guard before brutally snapping his neck, letting his lifeless corpse drop to the ground, the head twisted in grotesque fashion.

"Lucky Girl, Alien Guy, get up, and detain him before he can run off again!" I exclaimed as I pointed towards Mr. Enoch, who was currently making a miserable attempt to hide in the shadows at the back of the room.

I went and began checking the bodies for a pair of handcuffs, luckily there were two sets, and I grabbed one and began walking toward Mr. Enoch, but before I could react a massive needle sunk into my neck and immediately retracted. I dropped to my knees, coughing up blood as I saw that needle was attached to some kind of synthetic tubing, which was moving in a defensive way in front of Mr. Enoch, who grabbed a vial of blood from the machine that the needle and tubing was part of. I realized it was my blood and rose to my feet, about ready to transform and rip this bastard's head off, before reigning in my anger and fury.

"Nathan!" Ben called to me. "Are you okay?!"

I waved off his concern and focused on the matter at hand. It was at this moment that the machine got up, and it was revealed to be a rather large robot, looking insectoid in nature as it moved to protect Mr. Enoch, who took this opportunity to escape through a door that was hidden in the wall, the outline not even appearing until he approached it.

"Enoch"

After I ran through the secret door with the blood vial in hand, the door shut behind me. I turned around and interacted the data pad that was attached to the wall right of the door.

There, now the door's locked from the other side and the only way for them to unlock is if they hacked into the security system.

Knowing that I was now safe for the time being, I took a deep breath. Then I looked at the blood vial, before erupting into laughter.

"I finally have it!" I cried in a crazed voice. "It's mine! All mine!"

I continued laughing before I reached up and pulled the black toupee that I had been wearing off of my head. I then pulled off the false skin that I had worn, revealing my true face underneath. I looked back at the blood vial before I started moving again.

"I wonder what amazing things I can create with this." I said with a low chuckle.

Nathan

After Mr. Enoch ran through the door, it sealed behind him, leaving myself, Gwen, and Ben to deal with the giant needle happy robot.

"I saw Enoch pull a remote of some kind out of the pocket on Animo's lab coat!" Ben called out amongst everything happening around us. "He probably used it to initiate the robot's start up sequence and made it target you!"

I considered it and spat blood out of my mouth as the hole in my neck had now closed, and I could breathe normally.

"I'm going to enjoy breaking you down, bolt by bolt." I said with a bloody smile as I tossed one of the guard's blasters to Ben, who managed to catch it.

"Your batons aren't going to do a damn thing to this scrap heap, just try not to hit myself or your girl by accident, yeah?" I said as I watched the robot fully reveal itself, looking much like a scorpion, though one glaring difference was the huge laser cannon that emerged from its back, and I immediately dove for cover.

"We need to disable that cannon, spread out and hit it from multiple angles, force it to keep changing targets!" I shouted as I unslung the M16 chambered in .300 Blackout, cocking it before rolling out of cover and placing two shots on it, one in the optical sensors on its face, if you could call it that, and another in the laser cannon, which caused it to rear back as it let out a terrible mechanical shriek.

Clearly it was rather pissed by what I had just done, and I was more than okay with that. By what Tennyson said next he clearly saw that, as well.

"I think you just pissed it off!"

"Noted!" I responded.

Ben took a couple of potshots at it from the left, though his accuracy could have been better, as a few shots went wide and slammed into the wall instead of their intended targets. Though he did at least manage to draw it's attention away from myself and Gwen, who took this opportunity to send a few bolts of hot pink energy into its metal body, which caused it to emit another metallic shriek, before it literally leaped backwards, now crawling along the wall like a damn spider as it fired multiple shots from its cannon, forcing us to keep on the move to avoid being hit.

Once I had a moment, I let off three rounds, two striking a leg, another hitting the base of the tail, and that definitely did something as the shriek it let out this time wavered, as though its internal electronics were overheating and shorting out.

"Keep up the pressure, it's starting to lose steam!" I shouted before having to dodge, just avoiding the robot as it leapt at me, cracking the floor as it slammed two massive claws into the ground to try to and turn me to paste.

A volley of more pink bolts and a few blaster bolts forced it to turn around to focus on the others, giving me the opportunity to leap onto its back. It tried to get me off, moving erratically and swing its tail at me, but I wasn't about to let go that easily. I grabbed the tail the next time it came my way, and with a roar of exertion, I drove it straight into the robot itself. It immediately started sparking and sputtering, sounding like a truck engine on its last legs as I forced the cannon to aim downwards as it tried to fire a blast at Ben and Gwen, instead the blast tore through the robot, melting internal circuitry and frying whatever processors kept it going, as it collapsed after the blast went through it. I hopped off the now scrapped robot and let out a sigh.

"Well, I never want to do that again, I don't think I'm quite cut out for riding giant scorpions." I said with a chuckle before realizing that I was covered in my own blood.

"Ah, well that's not going to come out easily." I said with a small frown before myself and the others backed up as roboscorpion came back to life, for approximately five seconds before I slammed a booted heal down on the head, crumpling the metal and causing a few final death spasms before the thing went still and silent. "Damn robot bug."

After the commotion had finally ceased, Gwen spoke up.

"Are you going to be alright?"

I looked over to her and flashed her a reassuring grin before I spoke.

"Aye. Don't worry yourself, Lucky Girl. I'll be fine."

I looked over to Ben, who just stood there next to Gwen in silence. I couldn't see the look on his face with his mask on, but going off of how quiet he had been for some time now, I had a good feeling that watching his brother getting his eye shot out had fucked him up. I couldn't think of anything to say to him that could improve his spirits. I didn't have time to stand around and debate if he was holding up okay or not, as I motioned towards the only other door in the room besides the one we had entered through.

"That door will get us to the stairwell up to Enoch's private office. I'm sure he's sitting up there right now, thinking that he's given us the slip. Let's go."

I activated the radio on my chest.

"Cooper, you and Rojo can come up now. And try not to fanboy over what's in here, please. There's more pressing priorities."

I let go of the button, the radio crackling to life as Cooper gave affirmation, though it was clear he was curious about what he said. A minute or two later, Cooper and Rojo were now in the room, and Cooper's eyes went wide as he saw the giant robot scorpion, now destroyed but still rather intact.

"Cooper, no. We don't have the time for you to examine it, we also have no way of getting it out of here. You can take some parts from it to examine later, once we're out of here."

He opened his mouth to protest and again I told him no, he was clearly disappointed that he didn't get to take more than what he was capable of carrying in the duffel bag. Rojo was more concerned with the amount of blood on me.

"I'm going to tell you what I told Gwen. I'm fine, let's just go, alright? Enoch is just ahead, once he's been dealt with, we quickly leave after inputting the codes."

I turned to Ben.

"You still got the codes, right Tennyson?"

He finally did something other than just stand there, bobbing his head and went to grab them, but after a few seconds, he started patting his costume, before he looked up at me.

"They're gone." He said.

"Gone? How the Hell are—" I stopped midsentence as I remembered Leon slamming into Ben as he ran, and I realized he could've swiped the codes from him in that moment. "Damn it! We've got less time, Leon has the codes, and he's probably on his way to use them right fucking now!"

I went over to the robot scorpion and ripped off one of the legs before handing it to Cooper.

"There's your part."

I then looked over to Animo's corpse. I walked over to it and put two rounds through his head. I turned back to the others and made my way back to them.

"I'm not going to take chances. I'd rather ensure he's not going to be getting back up, or can't be brought back, provided they don't have any cloning tech, of course. Now let's move!" I said as we headed for the stairwell, not knowing what lay ahead of us, but none of it was going to be good.

Ben

Madison High School

Present Day – Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

It was a typical lunch session at school today. All of us met up at our table like we usually do, although all of us didn't arrive at the same time. Gwen and Sunny arrived first, followed by me. Barely a minute later, Nathan arrived at the table and when he did, he was quiet just like the rest of us. It was a few minutes before I decided to break the silence.

"Nathan," I said after clearing my throat. "Are you ready to talk about how quickly you recovered from the wound you sustained that night four weeks ago?"

Nathan looked at me with a faint frown (this wasn't the first time I had asked, the third or fourth time actually).

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, you'll know when it's time. I'm not comfortable bringing that up, alright? Now, how are the rest of you doing in general?" he said as he looked at those of us currently at the table.

"Sunny and I have been going shopping together on the weekends." Gwen replied.

"I would assume for girl things. What exactly? I do not know, I'm just going to guess items from a broad range of products for women."

"Girl things is going to be the best you'll get out of us, Nathan." Sunny replied.

Nathan let out a short bark of laughter at her response, before waving at Cash and J.T. as they approached the table.

"Hey fellas. Don't mind us, we were just chatting."

They sat down at the table and began talking amongst themselves as I spoke next.

"I um, seeing a therapist again." I said in a glum tone.

Nathan nodded at me.

"I understand why, good idea to lay it all out and deal with it rather than keeping it all bottled up."

"Yeah." I said in a glum tone.

Not to mention that night four weeks ago really fucked me up!

It was true, though. A week or so ago, for the first time in a while, I had a session with Doc Nocturne. As I sat there thinking to myself for a few minutes, eventually Kai strolled by our table, before sitting down.

"Hey Kai, how're you doing?" Nathan asked in a polite tone of voice.

"I'm doing okay, I suppose. I hung out at Ben's clubhouse over the weekend and played video games with him and Gwen. It felt kind of awkward, seeing as I used to date him and now she's his girlfriend, but we made it work. Sometimes there'd be an awkward tension in the air between Ben and I, but Gwen would break the tension by starting up a conversation while we were playing or what have you."

"And Tennyson's okay with that?"

"Actually, it was Gwen who reached out to me and planned the whole thing. She even came to pick me up and dropped me off at home once we were done. I think she wanted me to feel involved in at least something with them, seeing as I'm trying to do away with any bad blood that used to manifest between all of us."

"Well that's good to hear. Myself? I'm mainly just helping around at home with chores and the like, tidying up the place, making sure it's presentable, that sort of thing."

As Nathan said that, something piqued my interest.

"Your pad is pretty big, how does the upkeep process go, given that? Like do said chores take a while because of how big the house is and what are the expenses, utilities and such like?"

"I mean, it's not that difficult, house has been well maintained by previous occupants, and it's still a modern home, albeit a fair bit bigger than your cookie cutter houses. Takes maybe eight hours to deep clean the house if it gets that bad, though it usually only takes me three to clean the entire place. Only real issue comes with water, we have a finite supply, as we have to keep the underground cistern filled, but asides from that it's more that it costs time, rather than money. Our heating and electricity are still supplied by the city, though we can run off a diesel generator if the power goes out, though it's generally just for emergencies that we need to do that. As for total cost? I'd say around three to four hundred dollars a month in taxes, seeing as we have about three months' worth of water in the cistern once we fill it, and the only running costs are the electricity and heating."

After that we all went silent for a few minutes, before Kai spoke up.

"Is Albedo coming back anytime soon?" she asked me.

I shook my head.

"No, he can't even look himself in the mirror. And he doesn't want anyone to see him like this."

"What did you say he did to his eye?" J.T. asked.

I sighed.

That's the big question that everyone wanted to know: what did Albedo do to his eye?

Well, I definitely couldn't tell him that he had gotten his eye shot out while on a super hero mission thing, so I had to come up with an excuse.

"So, we used to have this wooden table with a glass centerpiece. And four weeks ago, he tripped while he was running into the living room and fell head first into the centerpiece. One of the glass shards went right into his eye."

J.T. and Cash, who had both heard this story before, both visibly winced in reaction to the story. Kai just looked on with sympathy, along with an uncomfortable gaze in her eyes.

(If you want Nathan to say something, that'll go here)

After a minute or so of more silence, I spoke up to Nathan.

"Nathan, can you stick around for a few minutes after lunch? There are a couple things that I want to talk to you about."

"Aye, I can do that."

Sometime Later

After the lunch bell rang, Nathan stayed at the table just like I asked him to. I got right to the point, as not to waste his time.

"Sorry that it took me a while to ask, it's just that night in question was hell and I've been trying to forget that it happened. But were you ever able to track down Lisa Parnell and give her the note from her husband?"

"Aye. She was none the wiser I was there, I left the note at her door and rang the bell before vanishing, better that way. Last thing I need is a woman questioning why a teenager was at her door handing her the last note written by her husband before he took his own life. She was devastated, but better she gets closure rather than thinking he abandoned her or something like that."

"I suppose I can understand your point of view. But I can't help but get the feeling that she'll wonder how his suicide note ended up on her doorstep. But you're probably right. Her getting closure is what mattered, you didn't need to be involved in that process, by giving her the note or otherwise."

"She'll wonder, but I don't think she'll try and find out who gave it to her, I think she'll just be thankful someone did give it to her."

"You're right. Better that than countless sleepless nights wondering what happened to her husband. I'm sure my opinion doesn't much matter to you, but I think the way that you did it was the right way to go."

"Your opinion matters more than you realize to me, but less than you think, to be brutally honest. But thank you anyways."

I didn't exactly know what he meant by that, but I didn't try to dwell on it for too long.

"You're welcome."

I let out a sigh before I spoke again.

"Well, that's all I needed to talk to you about. I have to get back to class. See you later, Nathan."

I got up from the lunch table.

"Later, Tennyson."

We departed there and I began walking toward the exit of the cafeteria. As I was nearing one of the doors out of the cafeteria, I noticed that Kai was standing there, by herself. I almost came to a stop right then and there.

It's almost like she's waiting for me!

As I approached her standing next to the door, she spoke and confirmed my suspicions.

"Ben, can I talk to you for a second?"

This time I stopped in my tracks for real.

"What do you need?" I asked.

I expected her to face grow a bit red and for her to stall a little bit, and while she did do that, it didn't last as long as it normally did.

"Can you walk home with me?"

Walk home with you? Why?

I took a breath, trying to decide what to do. I had a feeling that it wasn't about her wanting me to walk her home. Maybe she just wanted to talk to me about something that she couldn't bring up at the lunch table. And you know what? I was curious.

"Sure. I'll walk with you, I've got nothing better to do anyway."

The look on her face brightened as I saw that.

"Okay, thanks! Will you meet me outside the main entrance after classes let out today, then?"

I nodded.

"I will."

"Okay, see you later!"

"See you later."

I then walked out of the cafeteria and back to my class.

Mr. Smith

The Forever Knights' Main Headquarters

Four Weeks Ago – Wednesday, February 6th, 2019

I came to after losing consciousness, finding myself in a cold sweat. I was still kicking and right about now, I was having second thoughts about remaining here. I willed myself to move and started to stand, albeit slowly. Even moving at this speed sent waves of pain through my stomach. As I finally was able to stand on my feet, I stood there, panting from all of the force that I had exerted on myself. I stared at the door with determination, before I slowly began to walk.

"I won't die here." I muttered to myself. "I won't."

Ben

The Suburbs

Present Day – Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

I was walking Kai home as she requested, even though I still thought that there was more to it than "she just wanted me to walk her home". We were just making small talk before she finally changed the subject.

"So, about your brother—" she replied.

Ah, there it is.

"What about him?" I asked.

"You said on multiple occasions that he lost his eye because of "blank". There's something more to it, isn't there?"

I turned to look at her, but said nothing. She narrowed her eyes. I let out a sigh as I came to a stop.

"Kai, it was my fault that Albedo lost his eye."

"No—" she said in a tone of disbelief.

I came to a stop a few feet ahead of her. I just stood there in silence.

"Ben?" she called out to me.

I summoned the most serious look that I could make and turned to look at her. She saw the look on my face. She covered her mouth with both of her hands.

"Oh my God. You're being serious, aren't you?"

I said nothing and that confirmed it for her.

"How? Why do you think it's your fault?"

I finally worked up the courage to speak again.

"Well, my excuse is just that: an excuse. It was really super hero antics that caused it. Do me a favor and don't tell Nathan that I told you this. But he, as did Nathan, and I led an assault on the base of a group called the Forever Knights, about four weeks ago now. Well, I say that we led, but I didn't do any leading, really. He did more work than I did. All I did was sit around and whine the whole time."

"I don't believe that. I can't believe that you didn't have a role in leading your guys' group."

I breathed sharply through my nose.

"It's the truth, Kai. I feel like if I wasn't involved with the mission at all, then nothing would have changed."

"Um, okay... So, about your brother... Wait, hold on. I never recalled you having a brother when we were initially dating. So, what's up with that?"

"You know about the device I wear on my wrist, right? The Omnitrix?"

"Mm-hmm."

"The best way I can describe Albedo's existence is that one day, the Omnitrix purged some of my DNA from itself. And when it did, it purged the DNA in the form of Albedo: a sort of clone of me."

"That's... interesting, to say the least."

I nodded.

"Even I don't understand Albedo's existence. It's not a simple explanation, like how Sunny is just a clone of Gwen that the Forever Knights bred to do work for them."

"Wait, Sunny is a clone, too? I thought that she was Gwen's twin sister."

I shook my head.

"No. Gwen doesn't have a twin sister, at least not in the traditional sense."

"The traditional sense?"

"Can we get back to the point, please?"

"Oh, right. But about your brother?"

I sighed again.

"There was a man there during the mission, named Aloysius Animo. Or at least, I thought so. This man cloned the family of one of my former enemies, Sixsix or his real name, Leon Jones. Originally, Leon thought that he had put down his wife and son after Animo mutated them into monsters. But that night, Animo spilled the beans. The family he had put down were just clones, while the real things were still alive and well."

"What does this have to do with Albedo?"

"I'm getting there. After learning that he had essentially thrown his life away to exterminate criminals in the city, Leon was reasonably pissed and he wanted to kill Animo. However, I stepped in and tried to throw off his aim. Because of that, when he fired, instead of hitting Animo, he shot Albedo in the eye. It's my fault that he was shot."

Kai was silent for a moment.

"I don't think I can believe that, Ben."

"It's nothing but the truth, Kai. It was my fault that he was shot and even Albedo himself thinks so. He's only spoken to me once since then and he didn't exactly say kind words to me."

"So, you insist that the event was your fault. Why don't you want Nathan to know?"

"I don't want Nathan to know because of one simple fact: There are certain things that he can forgive and forget. And I fear that my involvement with what happened to Albedo is one case where he can't do either. I'm afraid to think of what he'd do if he ever found out the truth."

Once again, she was silent for some time.

"I see." She said at last.

After that, we remained quiet for the rest of our walk.

Nathan

Four Weeks Ago – Wednesday, February 6th, 2019

The Forever Knights' Main Headquarters

After we finished up in the Science Bay, we sent Cooper downstairs to the server room, as well as Lucky Girl to escort him, while the rest of us continued up through the tower towards Enoch's office. Myself and the remainder of the two teams made their way up. On our way to Enoch's office, a television screen ahead blinked on, revealing Enoch's smug face.

Ben

"You might as well go home, Tennyson." Enoch said over the television screen. "There's no stopping what's next."

"So glad that you're confident with your plan." I replied as I stopped in my tracks to look at the screen. "Cooper, where are you at?"

Cooper's voice rang loud and clear in my ear through an earpiece that he had given me before he departed with Lucky Girl.

"I'm in. And... got it! Processing the request, erasing the footage and done! It's gone forever!"

I let out a much needed sigh of relief.

Crisis averted, I thought.

"Cooper, you are a lifesaver."

"No problem, man."

I looked back to Enoch on the screen, to see that his pleased look had turned to one of anger and annoyance.

"Damn you." he muttered.

"What's the matter, Enoch? Did I just ruin your masterplan?"

He stood up from his desk and burst with anger.

"Do you really think you've just won?! I have lots more to throw at you, kid! You'll rue the day that you were conceived! You will! I swear on—"

I let out a sigh of anger. I turned to Nathan and Rojo.

"Nathan, Rojo, will you please shut him up?"

"Already done." Nathan said as he pulled his sidearm and fired off two quick shots into the screen, Rojo also firing off two shots into it.

"Long winded asshole. Always going into the gloating monologues when they think they've won, it honestly gets real fucking old after the first three monologues." He said as he placed his pistol back into its holster.

Nathan

After that was done, we moved ahead, eventually reaching the top floor, not counting the roof.

"Alright, now as I said before, we're blind here, we don't know his defences, or whatever else he has in store, so proceed with caution." I said before taking point, moving ahead slowly as the rest of the group followed a little ways behind me, it wasn't until we got somewhat close to the doors that I heard a faint sound of mechanical clicking and whirring, and I immediately took cover.

"Get behind something, now!" I managed to yell out before two large multi barreled automatic turrets popped out of some false ceiling tiles and opened up on us, spewing out a torrent of hot lead meant to cut us to ribbons.

'When lasers don't work, go with the big guns' I grumbled in thought to myself as I crawled along the floor, trying to find a way around the turrets so I could flank them, but to no avail.

I had no more flashbangs, and despite the others likely having at least one among them, they wouldn't help anyways. Smoke grenades might've been helpful, but more likely than not these autoturrets have thermals of some kind that would render smoke useless as cover. I sighed, and shouldered my rifle before peeking out and putting two three round bursts into the left autoturret before immediately rolling back behind cover. I barely peeked my head around to see the left autoturret sparking and smoking, before it suddenly went haywire, causing the other one to do the same to it.

After a few seconds of this, they both shut down as they were too damaged to continue functioning. I blinked in surprise before slowly standing up and cautiously peeking more of my body around the corner, looking at the autoturrets which had been chewed up by each other, the metal warped and damaged by many rounds hitting it, the entire things sparking and sputtering as their internal systems likely tried to do something but failed because of the damage.

"Alright, it looks clear, you guys can come out now." I said as I approached the door, waiting for everyone else to get close before I nodded to them, motioning for them to stand on either side of the door.

I took a deep breath and immediately kicked the damn door in, aiming my weapon at Enoch as I advanced into the room.

"Sit down, now!" I barked at him as I got closer, him standing up in indignation as he spoke to me.

"Who do you think you are?! What the hell do you think you're—"

I got close and immediately shoved him down into his chair, my weapon trained on him at all times.

"Get in here, people!" I said loudly as I fished out a pair of handcuffs that I kept on my belt from when we were in the labs, I slapped one cuff on his wrist before affixing the other one to the chair.

I slung my rifle over my shoulder, placing my sidearm on the desk as I pulled a knife from a small sheath on my calf, "Now you're going to answer my questions, and if I don't like the answer, this is going to be a very short interrogation, understand?" I said as I looked him directly in the eye.

He nodded a little, going a bit pale as I paced in front of him.

"First question, what did you do with the vial of blood you extracted from me down in the labs?"

Enoch gave me a confused look as he spoke.

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about!"

And I shoved the knife right between his knee and femur.

"Now what did I say about what would happen if I didn't like your answer? I'm gonna pop that knee right quick like if you don't cut the bullshit and stop lying to me." I said as he cried out in pain, wailing that he didn't know what I was talking about, and I was just about to pop his knee when Tennyson took me aside.

"Nathan, maybe he really doesn't know what you're talking about." He said to me. "Is it a possibility that the person we saw was just impersonating Enoch?"

I growled as I turned to Enoch, marching over towards him as I grabbed the knife.

"New question, what's the password to bypass the firewalls protecting your servers? Either you tell the truth, or you're going to have a very hard time walking around for the remainder of your days, provided we let you live in the first place." I said as I stared him down, him remaining quiet as I smirked.

"Alright, guess you want a bum leg then." I said as I twisted the knife, the sick, wet popping sound loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room as Enoch wailed in pain, and I took the knife out of his leg and slapped his face a few times.

"Focus, Ulysses, what's the password to bypass the firewalls in your server banks? You can remain silent, of course I'll pop your other knee if you do that." I said as Enoch groaned in pain, gritting his teeth as he relented.

"Okay! The password is Archimedes! Just stop this!"

I ignored his pleas as I went over to Enoch's desk and started rifling through it until I found a sheet of blank paper, and I took the fountain pen from the top of his desk and gave them to him.

"Write it down exactly as it's supposed to be typed in, or you're losing that other knee." I said and a couple seconds later, he handed the paper back to me as I gave it to Ben, along with the radio clipped to my plate carrier.

"Radio Cooper, tell him to type in the password exactly as it's written, and if it doesn't work, I'll make sure Enoch knows what lying feels like." I said before searching the room for the hidden safe, before I eventually found it hidden behind a painting.

"Ah, the old standby hiding place for a safe." I said as I dropped the bag I was carrying and took out some plastic explosives, setting it on the lock as I wired it to the detonator, the same one responsible for blowing up the machine that had put Tennyson through Hell.

"Hey, Tennyson! We're at a safe distance now, you wanna do the honours?" I said to Ben as I waved the detonator at him.

"Absolutely."

He took the detonator and looked at Enoch before pressing down on the clacker, as the dull boom of an explosion could be heard a few floors below us, and the much larger boom of the explosives set on the safe went off real close, causing the door to slowly swing open as the locks were no longer there to keep it closed.

"Alright, once Cooper has what he needs, we wait here for Leon to make his move." I said as I grabbed my sidearm from the desk and placed it back into its holster.

Ben

After the interrogation and after the explosives had been blown, we were just kind of waiting around for Leon to initiate the self-destruct process. That's what Nathan thought was going to happen, at least. Anyway, we were waiting around, while Enoch remained cuffed to his chair at his desk. Nathan had brought up the concept of letting him live, but I'm pretty sure that he was just saying that. I didn't see Enoch being able to get out of this alive.

Alive.

Alive... Alive should be dead, a voice entered my brain. Alive? This just won't do...

Suddenly, a boiling rage came over me. I was seeing red. As the rage continued to manifest within my brain, I looked at Rojo and then at Enoch, cuffed to his office chair. I looked back at Rojo, with her back to me, holding her weapon idly. As the rage intensified, I approached Rojo and once I was in front of her, grabbed her gun that was still in her hands.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she exclaimed with surprise and anger.

She tried to pull back and resist, but I somehow managed to wrench the gun out of her hands. I then whacked her in the stomach with it to slow her down and to hopefully prevent her from trying to get her weapon back. I quickly made my way over to Enoch and after letting out a yell of fury, I swung the gun down toward his cuffed hand. The stock of the gun hit Enoch's hand as well as the arm of the chair, breaking it off from the rest of the seat and causing him to cry out with pain.

His chair tipped and he fell to the ground, where I approached him, my eyes burning with anger. I tossed the rifle aside as I let out another yell, as Enoch wailed with pain below me. However, before I could make my next move against him, Enoch spoke after he recovered, which for some reason momentarily broke through my anger.

"You're pathetic." Enoch replied as he looked up at me from his spot on the floor.

"Oh, am I?" I asked. "Because from my point of view, you're the pathetic one. To think that all of your money and all of your influences, it couldn't save you from a group of street level vigilantes and a couple of mercenaries."

Enoch sneered at me as he spoke.

"You are nothing. You will never amount to anything. Me? I'm a business man, I run a pharmaceutical company!"

I shook my head.

"A pharmaceutical company that your family stole from an honest working man."

Enoch's sneer remained present on his face.

"That bloke had it coming. Medicine isn't the way of the future! Alien technology is!"

"You forgot the part about conditioning and torturing innocent people with alien DNA. Right?"

He waved my question away and continued on with his monologue.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: you are nothing! And when the media finds out who you are, you and your family will die like nothing! You will not be remembered!"

"You seem to have forgotten that we erased all traces of that faked footage, Enoch. It's gone."

The sneer dropped from his face and for the first time, I saw something akin to dismay in his eyes. Now that I saw some weakness from him, I continued on.

"I have done things that you will never understand, Enoch. I have experienced things that you will never understand, which is funny, considering that you're the main reason I've experienced some of these things."

I thought that I had broken him down, but apparently he still had stuff to say to me.

"Your experiences are nothing compared to the hardships that my family has been through, I..."

"Hardships?" I interrupted. "The way I see it, there are no hardships. You and your family seem to have been sitting pretty ever since you took over this company, sitting on a throne, living like kings. How could there be hardships, when you're profiting off of other peoples' misery, Enoch? If anyone is going through hardships, it's your victims!"

Yet still, he persisted.

"The world is full of filth and garbage, Mr. Tennyson! Me and my company make sure that all of that—"

I felt my entire body begin to heat up, as I reached forward and grab his neck in a tight grip, cutting him off. I no longer had any interest in listening to him squeal lies.

"Oh, you're right Enoch! The world is full of filth and garbage! Garbage and filth—"

I punched him in the face and hard.

"—just like—"

I punched him in the face again.

"—you—"

And again.

"—and just like any filth and garbage—"

And again.

"—you need to be—"

And again once more.

"—disposed of!"

I punched him one last time before I gripped his throat with both hands and applied pressure. I brought him up and bashed the back of his head into the floor. As I squeezed down on his throat, I heard a familiar voice tickle the back of my neck.

Yes, that's it.

No, I urged myself.

End him!

No, I tried to resist.

Crush his windpipe and be done with it!

No, I fought back.

But it's what we want!

I said no!

Elsewhere

Suddenly, a blinding white light filled my eyes and I lost all the feeling in my body. Eventually, I regained the feeling in my body and found myself standing in a dim area, which went on and on, as far as the eye could see, with no end in sight. And I wasn't alone.

Lying on the "floor" of the area, was an exact copy of me, but with black hair, pale skin as white as a sheet, with red eyes and wearing black and white shoes, black jeans, and a white shirt with a black stripe running down the middle. I knew exactly what he, or rather, what it was.

"You'll stay down if you know what's good for you." I replied.

"I don't understand." The doppelganger said to me as he tried to get up despite my warnings.

I backed up and as he stood in an attempt to get closer, I imagined him in a cell, behind bars and out of nowhere, just like that, four walls of metal bars and a roof sprang up around him, trapping him in his place. He rushed forward and grabbed the bars with a desperate look on his face.

"Let me out of here." He urged.

"No." I said with a shake of my head.

"You don't understand! I can help you!"

"Yes, you can. But you won't."

He looked back at me with confusion.

"What are—"

"You don't want to help me, you want to use me to further your own goals, whatever those could be!"

"You can't do this to me!" he exclaimed as his eyes pulsed red.

"Yes, I can. I won't be your puppet anymore. I have free will and I won't be controlled by the likes of you. So, I'm leaving you here where I know that you won't be causing me anymore trouble."

He banged his fists on the bars.

"You let me out of here, this instant!"

I turned around and began to walk away.

"Goodbye."

As I walked away, he continued yelling.

"Get back here! Let me out! Let me out, Tennyson! Let me out, now!"

Listening to him shout out angry threats, that's when I knew. I had won.

Back to Reality

I let go of Enoch's neck just as his face was turning blue and allowed him to drop back onto the floor. He began coughing as he held his throat, trying to catch his breath. As he was beginning to recover, he looked up at me with confusion.

"What are you—"

"God knows that I want to kill you, Enoch. But not even you can get me to stoop to that level."

He cast another sneer my way as he slowly began to sit back up.

"So, what will you do with me now? Let me off with a slap on the wrist?"

I gave him a light kick in the chest, knocking him over again.

"Enoch. I am a hero. Heroes don't kill, otherwise, they'd be just as bad as the villains that they face. I won't kill you. However, that doesn't mean that I have to stay here and save you, either."

He looked back at me, suddenly seeming to understand his situation.

"Leaving me here to die won't undo everything that I did to you and your family. You can't go back and prevent your father from being shot!"

Just hearing him mention my father pissed me off. But instead of the voice leading this time, it was just me. My anger was contained this time. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up.

"No. But it's a start!" I exclaimed.

I then headbutted him, knocking him unconscious. I then dropped him back onto the floor, where he remained motionless. I took a deep breath and let it out, seeing as my nightmare might just be over now. I half expected for Nathan or someone in the group to become angry with me, on the account of what just happened. And if they did would end up getting angry with me, then why?

As far as I knew, Nathan was the only person who knew about my problem with that voice in my head and he knew that I couldn't exactly control myself when it influenced me. However, none of this ended up happening. Before anyone could respond to my sudden outburst, the entire building began to shake as a few explosions went off. There were a couple that came from above us and a couple from below us.

What the hell?! That's got to be Leon! He must have initiated the self-destruct sequence for the upper floors! But why are they already going off?! Mr. Smith told us that the explosives were supposed to be on a timer! Why have some of them detonated prematurely?!

Before I could have any more thoughts and before anyone else could do anything, a steel support beam suddenly was dislodged from the ceiling, just missing Enoch's desk and landing on Enoch himself, crushing his midsection. Before any of us could react, I thought I heard Nathan growl before speaking up.

"Damn it, we don't have time to stand around here any longer! Tennyson, clear Enoch's safe so we can get out of here!"

I listened to him and walked over to the safe. I looked into the safe once I reached it and saw a few interesting items. First of all, there four stacks of one hundred dollar bills in there, which sat next to a satchel bag that rested against the right wall of the safe. I took the bag, opened it and began to put the stacks of money into it. I may not want his money, but I knew a couple of people who would be interested in having it.

Next, was a folded up stack of clothing, which I recognized to be my old costume, which I had turned in to Enoch as a bargaining chip for peace. While it was unlikely that I'd ever wear that old costume again, I did feel some sense of nostalgia for it, so I decided to take it, taking off the backpack I had on to put it in. After that, was a small-sized canister of green liquid. I recognized that as the performance enhancer that had turned Ken into the Ultimate Sixsix. I took that and stowed it in the satchel bag, too.

I can take this to S.E.C.T. and they can begin to reverse engineer it to finally synthesize a cure for Ken!

The final two things inside the safe were two files of documents, one of which had a paper on top of it, the other was kept in a blank manilla file. I picked up the blank file and opened it, to begin briefly thumbing through the documents inside. A quick go-over of the documents told me that this was probably the file of incriminating evidence that Mr. Smith had planned to use against Enoch. I closed the file and put it in the bag along with the rest. The other file was paperclipped shut, with some kind of paper fastened to the front of the file. I picked it up and read it over. After reading what looked to be a property deed, I turned my head to the left.

"Nathan, I found a piece of paper telling me that Enoch recently gained ownership of an old castle in Scotland!"

Nathan responded in an annoyed tone, although I thought I detected intrigue in his voice.

"Tennyson, I told you that we're on a time table! Let's come back to it later!"

He didn't have to tell me twice, but the curiosity was eating away at me. I had to know what was inside the file. I put the paper on top in the satchel bag and pulled off the paperclip that kept the file closed, before opening it. What I was greeted with made me feel as though my eyes had bulged from their sockets.

That symbol! That symbol was used for—

I turned the next page before I could finish that thought, to see a couple of black and white photos, of men in uniform at what I guessed was the castle in question. Before I could flip through the file any further, Nathan spoke again.

"Tennyson, we don't have time to just stand around! Let's get a move on!"

I shut the file, paperclipped it and stowed it in the satchel bag, before moving to join the rest of our group. As I moved, my thoughts ran rampant.

That symbol! And those uniforms! Anyone and their mother would recognize that symbol and those uniforms! I have to copy all of this information before I hand it over to Nathan!

However, my thoughts were cut off as I got back to the group, when the lights in the room suddenly went out. The computer and any electronics shut off as well, so I was easily able to deduce that the power had been cut to this floor, if not the entire building. Almost immediately after that, surprising most of us, flood lights right outside of the office windows suddenly kicked on, shining into the room. Following that, an intercom outside the window kicked on and I heard an all too familiar voice.

"This is Director Steel with the Extra Terrestrial Containment Team. Anyone suspected of being involved in this operation will be brought in for questioning. You have one minute to comply, friends!"

"That's not my contact, we've got company." I heard Nathan mutter.

He punched the desk nearby, which was still intact, as the steel support beam barely missed it and crushed Enoch instead. In doing so, his fist went straight through the wood and as he removed his hand, he flexed it lightly.

"Our only option of escape is through the elevator shafts. They'll likely be coming up the stairs, but if one elevator is near the ground floor, we can slide down the cables. If we're lucky, they'll still be dealing with a lot of the company's former employees down in the lobby, so we'll have an advantage there, but we have to get to the sewer entrance, otherwise we will be caught."

Mr. Smith

Sometime Later

After getting myself to the medical bay and patching myself just enough to be able to move until I got further medical attention, I made my way to Enoch's office. Once I reached his office, I entered to find that the power in the room had been cut and that Enoch himself had been pinned beneath a steel support beam, which had fallen from the ceiling. As I approached him, I realized that he was miraculously still alive. I bent down to look at Mr. Enoch as he regained consciousness, blood running from his mouth. He looked up at me and began laughing, only for his laughter to quickly transition into a coughing fit.

"Mr. Smith, tell Tennyson, tell him. Tell him that I tell him to go to hell."

Mr. Enoch began lightly chuckling as I put my hands on his head. He continued chuckling until I quickly and swiftly snapped his neck, then he was gone. I then walked over to his desk and opened one of the drawers. I took out a signal flare, God knew why he had it, but I could make some use of it. I then moved to head to the roof.

Director Steel

Sometime Later

I moved into Mr. Enoch's private office with a squad of S.E.C.T. agents following me. I saw a steel support beam resting on the floor in the middle of the room, having fallen from the ceiling. As we got as closer to the steel support beam, I realized that a body was pinned under it. Once I stood over the person's body, I saw that it was Mr. Enoch himself. He was lying still, wasn't breathing and his neck appeared to have been snapped. I pulled out my sidearm, took aim and fired one shot into his head.

"Um, sir?" one of the squad members spoke with a concerned tone.

I turned to look at them with a stern gaze.

"Have to make sure that he's actually dead." I said as I put my sidearm away. "Alright, then. Secure the body, return to base, catalogue the DNA and make sure it's the real thing, then burn the body."

"Sir?" the same agent asked.

I barely turned my head to look back at the agent.

"Kid, you're new to this squad and it shows. You don't know the proper protocol for these things. We catalogue the DNA to make sure that it's the real thing because manipulated genes and DNA are the most common traits among clones. And we have to make sure that this body is the real thing."

I sighed.

"Let's get a move on people."

Just then, I heard my communicator go off and I pulled it off of my belt.

"Steel here."

"Sir, there's a civilian that you may want to meet."

"Where's your position, agent?"

"The roof, sir."

"I'm on my way."

Nathan

Sometime Later

Away From The Tower

Nathan looked around cautiously, not wanting to say they were in the clear yet, because the universe just loved to hand out karmic justice to anyone who opened their big mouth.

"Coast is clear for now, you all need to split up and get out of here, don't stay in a group, you'll attract too much attention."

Nathan turned to Ben.

"Tennyson, you already detonated the explosives on the machine, right?"

I nodded.

"Sure did. The machine that kept me under should be nothing but scrap metal now. I'll turn in the blueprints that I retrieved for S.E.C.T. for them to archive. They can probably use it for evidence or something of his wrongdoings."

"Good, I had Cooper scrub everything once we were done, so there's no footage of us for them to find, only evidence of us being there is likely a bunch of bullet casings, which isn't much to go off of."

Nathan looked back towards the direction of the tower, spitting on the ground.

"Good riddance to that scum."

Ben

"So, what do we do now?" Cooper asked.

"Tennyson, do you mind handing over what you got from Enoch's safe?" Nathan asked me.

"Nathan, I need to make copies of the files that I found in his safe tonight. If you just give me the night and come by my place first thing in the morning, I'll give you the original copies no questions asked. I think that matters have just become more complicated and I'd like to go over the information with you at a later date."

He sighed.

"Alright, but I expect to get all of the original copies, no withholding any information. The rest of you should go home, before someone finds us and reports us to the police."

"You'll get nothing less than what I promise."

I then reached into the bag and pulled out three of the hundred dollar bills stacks, before turning back to him.

"Here, you already know that I don't want his money and hopefully you'll consider this a token of my apologies for you not being able to kill Enoch tonight."

Nathan accepted the money, tossing it from one hand to the other.

"I'll be sure to put it to good use." He said before putting it away.

I turned to Rojo and pulled out the last stack of hundreds.

"Here, Ms. Rojo. I apologize for my sudden outburst and hopefully you'll take this as an incentive to work with us again if the time comes and to keep quiet about everything that happened tonight."

She took the money from me and put it in her side bag, before having an outburst herself. She suddenly grabbed my throat, catching it in a hard grip as she slightly lifted me off my feet.

"You watch your back, kid!" she said in an aggravated tone. "I don't appreciate what you did tonight and you don't want me as your enemy! If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way in the future!"

Before I could say anything and faster than Rojo could react, Nathan had a gun against the back of her head.

"Ms. Rojo, if you value your life, you will put Tennyson down gently, otherwise the police will find your lifeless corpse in this alleyway two weeks from now. Do we have an understanding?"

Nathan said that in such a casual tone and in response, Cooper and Julie both backed away from Nathan, getting so far away from them that their back was too the wall of the alleyway. Even Lucky Girl looked frightened. Rojo herself responded by dropping me on my behind before I could say anything still and departed from our group without a word. Nathan kept his weapon trained on Rojo until she was gone, before turning to pull me to my feet.

"Fucking mercenaries." He said as he did so. "You alright, Tennyson?"

"I'm fine, thanks." I said as I got back to my feet. "Look, I know that tonight I displayed that I may not be the most trustworthy individual, but thanks for not giving me shit about it like she did."

"Regardless of your behavior tonight, what she did was uncalled for and to be completely honest, she should've been wary of me. I was prepared to kill her or Clancy at a moments notice if they decided to switch sides, so she's lucky I didn't blow the back of her head off right then and there."

As Nathan said that, Cooper and Julie both looked like they were struggling to keep as far away from him as possible and I didn't blame them.

"Besides, I know how it is, you just go see your brother, make sure he's fine." He said as he turned to Cooper. "You should go home with your girl, as for the blasters, go crazy with what you do with them."

He handed Cooper the bag containing the leg of the roboscorpion.

"And here, try to use it to make something that won't go around sticking a giant needle into people. Sounds like emergency services have been alerted, I can hear the sirens. Meaning that's our cue to leave."

He let out a sigh before continuing.

"Alright, everyone get home safe and make sure you're not followed."

Cooper and Julie left the alleyway in a hurry and Lucky Girl backed up, leaving Nathan and I as really the only two left.

"See me tomorrow, Nathan. I imagine that this isn't quite over yet."

He gave me a short nod.

"Go see your brother, Tennyson."

I returned his nod and was about to turn away, but he spoke again.

"And Tennyson? A word of warning."

I turned back to him.

"After tonight, you need to lie low. Stay out of that costume unless it's absolutely necessary."

I gave him a nod before turned and departing back down the alley to join Lucky Girl. We walked down the alley a bit further, before she spoke.

"What do we do now?"

"We turn this next corner and then get out of our costumes. We can't attract too much attention to ourselves."

I just barely saw her nod out of my peripheral.

"Okay."

Sometime Later

Bellwood General Hospital

After we changed back into civilian attire, I told Gwen to head home and try to get some rest. I wanted to go check in on Albedo and Sunny alone, as to not overwhelm them. Actually, I was more likely doing that not to overwhelm Sunny. She'd probably be a nervous wreck right about now. Anyway, before I made my way over to the hospital I stopped at the police station and left the file of incriminating evidence on their doorstep.

I then made my way to the hospital and once I got it, I was directed to a waiting area outside of a surgery ward. It was still weird, officially Albedo and Sunny didn't exist, yet we were somehow able to forge birth and medical information. After several minutes of walking, going up a few floors in an elevator and more walking, I eventually found Sunny seated on a bench just outside of the surgery room, with her head in her hands. I stopped right next to her, but didn't sit down.

"How is he doing?" I asked.

She looked up at me and that's when I saw her face, the tears running down her cheeks, her eyes red from crying.

"Ben!" she said my name as she grabbed my hand and pulled me down to sit with her. "Thank God you're here! Did everything with Enoch—"

"It's done. How is he doing?" I repeated.

She shook her head.

"I don't know. They took him in a couple of hours ago and since then, I've heard nothing. No one has come out to update me. Ben, what if he doesn't make it?"

"He'll be fine, Sunny. Just relax."

"What if I lose him? I can't live without him!"

"It won't come to that!"

She suddenly grabbed my shirt and pulled me in.

"Don't tell me that! Stop with the positivity!" she screamed in my face as she began to cry. "He was shot in the eye! The eye! You can't expect him to pull through that! How can you... how can... you..."

She stopped speaking as she pressed her face against me and began sobbing into my chest. Not knowing what else to do, I began to gently pat her back.

"It'll be okay, Sunny." I whispered to her.

I tried to believe my words, but even I was having my doubts. What if Albedo really didn't make it through this? What would I do if he didn't make it through this? What would anyone do?

Sometime Later

Eventually, a doctor or a surgeon, who knows, came out of the room that we were waiting outside of to speak with us. I got up, anticipating a bad answer, as Sunny got up with me. Fortunately, luck was on our side.

"I think he's going to pull through." He said as he lowered his face mask.

I let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, thank God." Sunny replied.

"You might want to wait to celebrate."

I gave the doctor a look.

"What? Why?"

"We don't know how much damage his brain could have sustained, if any. There's also the fact that due to trauma, we have no idea what his memory will be like."

I let out a sigh.

I hadn't thought of that. I had been so busy just hoping that he would pull through that I didn't even consider how his brain and memory would stand after all this.

"Don't worry about that right now. The important thing is that he's pulled through and that he's now stable."

I looked up at the doctor as he spoke. The look on his face changed.

"How was he shot, anyhow?"

The entire world around me came to a crashing halt.

I didn't have a cover story for this! And I couldn't tell him that we were on a top secret mission! What the hell do I do now?!

Suddenly, Sunny stepped ahead of me and spoke.

"We were walking home from studying at the Public Library when some maniac approached us with a gun. When we tried to wave him out of our way, he shot my boyfriend. After that, we rushed him here to the best of our ability."

The doctor nodded.

"Mmm-hmm. That fits with the increased crime rates this city has been experiencing in recent months. So much for those damned vigilantes supposedly helping us out."

I narrowed my eyes.

Now wait a minute!

Alas, I didn't say anything. The doctor cleared his throat before speaking again.

"Anyway, we'll start getting ready to move him to a room and then you can sit with him, if you'd like."

"Thank you." Sunny replied.

"I'll stay, too." I said.

She turned to me.

"No, you need your rest."

Before I could respond, the doctor began to walk away back towards the room he had came from, speaking as he did.

"I'll leave you two to sort things out with yourselves. You'll be notified when you're clear to see him."

We turned to watch him go, before turning back to look at each other.

"I'm staying." I stated in a firm tone.

She shook her head.

"You most certainly are not! You need to go home and rest! This night has gone on long enough, anyway."

I finally sighed, not seeing the point of arguing with her.

"Alright. I'll go home."

"Thank you. I'll let you know if he wakes up."

I nodded. Apparently, my stay was over. I turned around and walked back toward the elevators to leave.

The Tennyson House

Present Day – Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

I let out a sigh as I walked through the door and shut it behind me.

"I'm home!" I called into the house.

A few seconds later, Mom poked her head out of the kitchen.

"Welcome home." She said, before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"Where did you get off to?" I heard Gwen call from our bedroom.

I walked down the hall and into our bedroom, where Gwen sat on our bed, with Snowball asleep in her lap. I put my backpack down beside the dresser in the room.

"Kai wanted me to walk her home. I was a bit suspicious, but she turned out to have much to talk about."

"What do you mean? Is she going back to her old tricks again?"

"No, nothing like that. She wanted to talk about me and stuff that I'm dealing with right now. I just don't really feel like talking about it right now, if you understand."

"Alright, then. But I expect you to tell me at some point."

"Sure, maybe I will sometime."

Before either of us could say anything, I heard footsteps coming down the hall from the living room. A second or two later, I heard Mom speak from behind me.

"Ben, can I talk to you for a minute?"

I turned around.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's Albedo."

I sighed.

"What's his problem now?"

"I went downstairs today to try to get through to him about going back to school. And I couldn't get a single word out of him."

I grumbled to myself.

"Okay. I'll go talk to him and see if I can get anything out of him."

"Thank you."

"Mmm-hmm."

I walked past her and left the bedroom. I walked through the hallway to the basement stairs and went down the stairs themselves. I walked through the basement towards Albedo and Sunny's bedroom, where I passed Sunny herself, who was sitting on the couch watching T.V. I was walking toward their bedroom door when she stopped me.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I turned around to look at her.

"Um, I was going in there to try to talk with Albedo."

She shook her head.

"He's not in there. He's upstairs in the bathroom, trying to work up the courage to look himself in the mirror. If you really want to talk to him, then good luck."

"Thanks." I replied, before turning back around.

I suppose it made sense that he would be in the bathroom, although initially I thought it was Dad. It takes him a while to get around, with his cane, so I assumed that he was just taking his time in there. He must be in my parents' bedroom, then.

I waved my thoughts away and returned upstairs. Once I was up there, I headed toward the bathroom, surprised to see that the door was open. The light was on, so I had a good feeling that someone was in there. I walked a little further, so that I could see inside the room. Albedo stood at the sink, looking down with his hands gripping the sink so hard that his knuckles turned white. His bandage that he kept over his damaged eye socket was sitting on the edge of the sink. I cleared my throat as I worked up the courage to speak.

"You uh, changing your bandage, Albedo?"

"Yeah." I was surprised to hear him reply, in a quiet tone, but a reply, nonetheless.

Wow. That's the first time he's said anything to me in four weeks.

For some reason, maybe I was feeling nervous, I cleared my throat again.

"Mom tried to talk to you today. You need to go back to school, Albedo."

He stood there for a few seconds without answering and I was going to speak again, but he finally shook his head.

"No. I'm never going there again. I'm never going anywhere ever again."

"But why?"

That's when everything exploded.

"Why?!" he exclaimed as he began slamming his fists down onto the sink. "Why?! Why?!"

He finally turned to look at me.

"Take a look!" he screamed as he pulled his shaggy hair obscuring the right side of his face aside, so I could see his damaged eye socket. "I have a fucking hole in my head, Ben!"

As he screamed at me, I began to hear Verdona cry from her room down the hall, along with other commotions in the house.

"Albedo, chill out! You're scaring Verdona! Can't you hear her crying?"

"Why should I care?!" he continued screaming as his eye pulsed red. "She'll be able to grow up without having to know what it's like to have one eye! She won't have to get used to seeing with just one!"

Punch him! Knock him the fuck out and put him in his place!

I didn't know if that was Nathan's voice I was hearing or if it was that other voice, but I had a hunch that it was the latter. If I'm being honest, I did want to punch Albedo. I wanted to punch him and tell him to grow the hell up. But that wouldn't solve anything. I had to keep my cool and try to reason with him.

Ha, "reason with him". Like that'll ever happen.

I put up my hands.

"Albedo, please just calm down."

"Calm down?! Calm down?! Fuck you!"

He then threw a punch at me. I should have avoided it. I should have. But I didn't. I stood there and let it happen. He punched me in the face and then everything went black.

Three Weeks Ago – Saturday, February 16th, 2019

S.E.C.T. Helicarrier

"Initially, I was really angry when I learned that you were involved with that raid on the Forever Knights' HQ, but I gave it some thought."

I'm skipping that moment when I went to Albedo after he woke up for now. I'm just not comfortable with talking about it. The week after the raid, we were called in by the boys at S.E.C.T. Director Steel wanted to see us. Joy. Before we arrived at the helicarrier, Gwen told me not to say a word about Nathan to Steel. He was never with us, he wasn't involved in the operation in anyway.

I thought she was trying to be protective of him, but I saw that look in her eyes when she said it. She was wary of Nathan. In fact, she refused to sit at the lunch table with us for a full week. I suspected that it had something to do with what he pulled in the alley that night when Rojo became aggressive towards me. And honestly, I couldn't blame her for that.

Director Steel turned to look at us.

"You know what? I'm not entirely mad at you. You took your screw up and fixed it, even if it was a shotty attempt in of itself. So, good job kid."

I came to a stop as he did, while Gwen, Sunny and Albedo stopped behind me as well. I sighed as I looked at him.

"Why are we here, Director Steel?"

"Ah, there's the question I was waiting for!"

He continued walking down the hallway, which led to a dead end and we started following him again.

"I took a look at your handiwork and reviewed everything I could. There was no footage to prove that you were there, but there's no doubt in my mind that it was you. So, I decided that maybe, just maybe, you're finally ready."

"Ready? For what?"

He came to a stop at the end of the hallway and began to interact with an electronic pad on the wall. He then stepped back after he was finished and I was surprised when I saw the wall begin to rotate so that the other side of the wall faced us. Or, a compartment rather. And it had four jumpsuits inside, that were dark blue, with bright green accents on the arms, legs and sides of the abdomen.

"I think S.E.C.T. is ready to be introduced to the Delta Squadron. You will serve as an elite squadron who will handle tough situations in the city, while the rest of us can focus on our main goal."

"And what is that?"

He ignored me and continued.

"Your brother's suit comes with a robotic eye, once we fit him with it and a neural link is installed, he won't have to live his life without an eye. Of course, all of this comes after you submit yourselves to the long training time."

Training time? He actually expects to leave our normal lives behind just so that we can become S.E.C.T. agents? That makes me sick!

"Well, when will you four start with us?" he asked.

He's not even giving us an option!

I sighed.

I'm not sure I want to trade our normal lives to be their agents even if it means that Albedo will have to live with one eye.

"I'm sorry, the answer is no. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we like our normal lives and that we don't want them to change. Find someone else to be your 'elite squadron'."

Before Director Steel could respond, I felt someone kick me in the back of the leg.

"Ow, what the hell?"

I turned, to see Albedo storming away from us. I sighed again.

Great, now he has something else to be mad at me for.

I turned back to Director Steel as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine. Just remember that the very second you graduate high school, you four belong to me. So, you're just delaying the inevitable, really."

I gave him an angry look.

"You've said that twice now. What the hell does that mean?"

"Well, see, you four are illegal genetic mutations. Our doctrine dictates that you aren't allowed to exist. So, we make a compromise here. Instead of taking you in and dissecting the bunch of you to see what makes you tick, we let you work for us in exchange for continuing to live a normal, if not, restricted life."

What the fuck does that even mean?!

"Why you—"

I felt someone take my hand.

"Let it go, Ben." Gwen replied.

I sighed and did as she said.

"So, are we done here?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Yes, if you are so insistent on turning us down, then you can go. Just know that this is only temporary."

"Uh-huh. One last thing."

"And what's that?"

I stepped forward and out of my bag, I took out the canister that the performance enhancer resided in.

"This is supposedly the last remaining sample of Enoch's performance enhancer. I believe that you have a few test subjects under sedation who were exposed to the enhancer? You can use this to synthesize a cure."

Of course, I was lying through my teeth about that part, I couldn't just let it slip in front of Gwen that her brother had been exposed to the enhancer. However, Director Steel seemed to understand as he took it from me.

"Certainly, I'm sure that we can make use of this. Thank you."

"Can we go now?"

He flipped his hand.

"On your way."

I turned my back to him.

"Let's get out of here, guys."

Sometime Later

The Tennyson House

When I got back home, Mom told me that a package had come for me, which was waiting in my room for me. I walked into the bedroom and found a small container on my bed, which had a note attached to it. I plucked it off of the container and read it:

This belongs to you. If I have to take it from you again, you won't be getting it back – S.

Now being intrigued, I opened the container and was almost overjoyed to see that the Omnitrix was inside. I put it back on without hesitation. After having done so, I pushed the container aside and sat down on the bed to think.

So, I had done it. I had set out to make an accomplishment. I wanted to make Enoch pay for what he had done and with Nathan's help, our future had been secured. Sure, it may not have been done the way I wanted it to be done, but Nathan's help was invaluable. Now, I guess there was one last thing to do.

I got up and got ready to leave the house. I had a stop to make.

Sometime Later

Bellwood Cemetery

"And that's that. Enoch is gone forever and our future is now ours to have. You can finally rest now."

I placed a bouquet of flowers against the headstone.

"I suppose this was our final chapter. Goodbye, old friend."

I backed up from his headstone and even though I had expected to see him, I never did see Kevin like I had in the past. There was only his headstone, the letter that I had placed there months ago and now, the bouquet of flowers. I let out a sigh as I turned my back on the grave and departed toward the cemetery exit. As I was heading toward the exit, I noticed Nathan Black heading in the same direction. Once he got a bit closer, he came to a stop, as did I.

"Hey, Nathan. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Nor I you. Visiting a friend or family?" he said, though it was clear that he wasn't putting on a jovial façade or being rather hard and stoic. He was more somber, and appeared to be relieved.

"I was visiting the grave of a friend. Kevin Levin. I felt the need to reassure him that Enoch and his Forever Knights can't hurt anyone like they hurt him anymore."

I sighed and continued.

"If I'm being honest, part of me still feels guilty about his death. I'm sure you know of the butterfly effect?"

"Aye, make even the smallest change in the past, and the ripple effect it would have is akin to a tsunami. Starts out small, ends very big."

"Well, I can't confirm this. Obviously, there's no way to know if this is true, I know of no alternate earth in which this happens, but I'm almost positive that if I hadn't allowed him to shake my hand and absorb the Omnitrix's energy that day, that he'd still be alive."

"Maybe, maybe not. The universe seems to hinge on constants, certain events that always repeat themselves in an endless cycle. Perhaps there's an alternate reality in a different universe where that isn't the case, but if there is, we've no real way of reaching it."

I couldn't help but chuckle.

If only he knew.

I cleared my throat.

"Anyway, what's up with you?"

"Ah." Nathan rubbed the back of his head as he looked back from where he had come. "I was visiting my father's grave, in the Veterans area."

"I see. Do you visit him up here often since moving here?"

"Several times a year, at least that's the plan. My mother doesn't join me every time, only visiting his grave a couple times a year. It's harder for her, I think, because of how long they were together."

"I understand. Hey, I know you mentioned that Enoch killed your father, but do you mind me asking how it happened? I don't mean to pry, but a fella can't help being curious."

"I suppose you've a right to know. He was responsible for my father's death. David Enoch, that is. Not Ulysses. However since David was killed, and Ulysses took over the company, turning out to be just as bad if not worse than his uncle, I considered him responsible for his uncle's deeds. But David had his people arm some enemy resistance during the Iraq War, resulting in my father's unit being hit by weapons they weren't equipped to deal with. The enemy was killed, but in the chaos my father, as well as a couple other members of his squad, were killed in the firefight. I found this out about three years back, and since then I've made it my life to make his Hell. Or made I guess, seeing as he's dead now."

"I see. Well, I offer you my condolences."

"Thanks, Tennyson. I offer you mine as well."

"I appreciate it. I hope that we can continue to be good friends, Nathan. My life couldn't have gone back to normal without your help."

I offered him my hand.

"Eh, what are friends for, Tennyson? And don't hesitate if you ever need my help again."

After that, we had a brief handshake, before parting ways and leaving the cemetery.

Epilogue One

Ken Tennyson

Frank and Natalie Tennyson's House

Present Day – Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

I stood up from the couch in my parents' living room, as I began to hear something. I heard some cackling in the room, but I couldn't determine its source. I looked around me, as the cackling continued. After a few more seconds it stopped, leaving me just standing there.

What the hell was that?

"Ken, honey?" I heard Mom call from the kitchen. "It's time for dinner!"

I felt myself shudder as I moved toward the kitchen, trying my best to forget what had just happened.

"Be right there, Mom."

Epilogue Two

Mr. Smith

The Forever Knights' Main Headquarters

After I had escaped this cursed tower, I had been picked up by their rival, S.E.C.T. They patched me up and sent me on my way, before helping me out with a request of mine. And now I was back here, with a purpose. I entered the small basement room, a room with a couple of couches, a small flat screen television and a bookshelf. But only the shelf itself mattered to me.

Upon reaching it, I moved the canister into my other hand and pulled out my keycard. I slipped the keycard into the hidden scanner built into the shelf and afterward, I heard a beep coming from inside the shelf. There was then a clacking sound as the shelf was pulled into the wall and slid to the left, revealing a secret room.

The only light source in the room came from a illuminating glow, courtesy of a tank on the back wall of the room. I walked into the room and turned on the light, revealing a room full of machinery and in the tank itself, floated a clone of Mr. Enoch in a chemical bath, being kept on life support. I stopped in front of the tank.

"Mr. Enoch. Here we are again. Your last will and testament was to be brought back as a clone following the event of your death. And you just always get what you want, don't you?"

Of course, the clone couldn't respond to me. I hefted the container in my other hand and continued talking to him for some reason.

"See this? It's an experimental chemical that causes nerve damage, cell destabilization and later, degeneration."

I pressed a button that opened a panel with a direct line to his life support systems, where an agent had to be entered daily to keep the clone stable. I placed the container inside and administered the chemical.

"And now you have to answer for your crimes. All of them."

I looked up at the clone inside, however any changes from the chemical would not be shown immediately. It would take several hours and I wasn't sticking around that long.

"I bribed the assistant that kept you alive to leave for a few minutes. I'll disappear and they'll never know what I did to you."

I backed away from the tank.

"Goodbye, Ulysses. You will get your wish. You'll live again as a clone. Just know that your new life will be hell on earth. After you're reborn, your cells will destabilize and breakdown over time, along with your nerves being critically damaged. You will die a slow and painful death, before your internal organs liquefy, followed by your skeletal system, your muscles and the rest of your body itself. And after how you treated me and the rest of your employees, you deserve nothing less."

I turned and made my way to leave.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter, as well as this arc. I hope you all enjoyed.

* So, what do you think of how it wrapped up? What do you think of the twist with Enoch at the end? What do you think's going to end up happening with Ken? Is there anything else that you might be curious about that I haven't mentioned here?

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

Review Responses

Guest Review (Chapter 149): Was Albedo getting shot a reference to Carl from the Walking Dead when he got shot in the eye?

Thanks for the review. It absolutely a reference to that moment from The Walking Dead, mainly the T.V. show version, even though both versions are pretty the same on this moment. Right down to Albedo's response to getting shot. Thanks for the review, as always.

Anonymous (Chapter 7): I'm very confused since I was thinking that Gwen knew about the omnitrix like in the original series but forgot or thought Ben didn't have it anymore and when Ben asked grandpa max if he believes in aliens I got confused and now I don't know since Ben and Gwen both knew grandpa max fought aliens in the original well not at first but they did learn that (btw I only liked the original series it was the one I grew up with when I was little so)

Thanks for the review, Anon. Yeah, the way I wrote this story originally didn't do my readers any favors. I plan on going back one day and "soft-rebooting" Volume One. There's a lot of Volume One that I really don't like. Anyway, as for your question: This is not the original universe nor is it based off of the original universe. I will say that I took inspiration from the original series to write this story, but that's it.

I've changed things from canon and I'm going to keep changing things. I'm trying to tell stories that aren't just retreads of the original show. So, I don't blame you for being confused. If you got this far in this story (which if you have, thank you for sticking around, even as bad as it gets at some points), then I apologize for your confusion. Thanks for the review, as always.

primmerlee (Chapter 101): I've just read 101 chapter again and had fun doing so. now I'm looking forward to read the rest. my question is will there be any more of gwen 10 and will she get her man back

Thanks for the review, primmerlee. I'm glad that you've gone back to read that far back and had fun doings so, and that you're looking forward to reading the rest. To answer your question, I will address this further in my next chapter (this is something I should have addressed a while ago), but yes, we will see more of Gwen 10 through the main story, at some point. As for the question about her man (or her Ben), I cannot answer that at this time. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: Ben flashes back to when Albedo woke up in the hospital. After reflecting on how miserable life has been for Albedo, Ben decides to try and work out a deal with Director Steel. Following, Ben finds himself in an interesting situation.