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.

6. Chapter 153: Static Shock: Part 2

Chapter 153: Static Shock: Part Two

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 Three!

* A little housekeeping to take care of first. In the last chapter, you may recall that I mentioned something about a project coming up regarding Bride To Be. I still can't say anything about it, but expect a reveal sometime in early December. That's all that I can say about that.

* This chapter is going to be pretty plot heavy, so hopefully you guys will pay attention to this one.

* Anyway, with that being said, let's get right into the chapter!

Earth-Prime

Monday, March 11th, 2019

Downtown Bellwood

Ben

The first thing I heard upon coming to was the ringing in my ears. As my vision focused after waking up and the ringing in my ears faded, I heard a quiet beeping sound coming from somewhere.

"Ugh, wha—?" I asked as I tried to sit up, only to fail.

I couldn't remember what happened, but all I knew was that my entire body hurt. It was excruciating pain. I couldn't even really remember what had happened nor did I remember how I got here. It took a while, but eventually I remembered. I recalled being electrocuted and was sent flying into an alley, the same alley that I was lying in now.

That's when that quiet beeping sound came back to me. I managed to sit up this time and looked in the direction of the beeping sound. In the dim light of the alley, I eventually deduced that the beeping was coming from the Omnitrix. Not only that, but it was glowing yellow, the ring was up and it was spinning in circles on its own.

What the hell?

As I sat up, the Omnitrix made a different beeping sound, stopped spinning and turned green once again. However, the ring was still up and the hourglass symbol changed so that I saw an alien's silhouette. But this was a silhouette that I hadn't seen before. It looked somewhat like Greymatter, but the head was a little too big. Actually, the hands and feet seemed a little too big, as well.

"What the hell happened?" I asked myself, not expecting to get a response.

When you lost consciousness, I briefly shut down to perform maintenance, I heard the Omnitrix echo in my head.

"Maintenance, huh?" I asked. "Anything new?"

This time, I didn't get a response.

"I said, anything—"

No.

"Wow, you're such a buzzkill." I spoke as I looked at the silhouette fade, before the ring retracted due to inactivity. "Anyway, what happened with you? Why were you spinning on your own when I woke up?"

I detected a foreign DNA sample. I went ahead and added it to the database for future use.

"Detected a foreign DNA sample? Does that mean I got a new alien?"

Of course, I didn't get a response.

"Why would I get a new alien now of all times, if that's the case?"

That's when the image of that electric figure zapping me flashed in my mind.

What if the Omnitrix responded to me being electrocuted?

I finally worked up the energy to stand up and I groaned with pain as I did so. I looked up at the evening sky and that's when I realized it. Evening sky. I had missed the rest of school and had laid there in the alley, unconscious for hours.

Fuck, I've been out for hours and not only did that thing probably get away, but no one has any idea where I was at.

I reflected for a moment on how quickly and how easily I was defeated by that thing.

I wonder if there's any way that Cooper can insulate my suit, kind of like that Electro-Proof suit that Spider-Man wore in the comics for a bit.

I rubbed the back of my head, trying to figure out what I should do. It was probably too late to go to Cooper tonight. The sun was setting already and with him dating Julie, he doesn't spend much time in the warehouse anymore. So, that option was probably out for the time being. The only other option that I saw was going to Nathan for advice, knew probably knew that I was headed this way, anyway. I looked up at the sky again.

Might as well get moving now, before it gets any later, I thought.

An Hour or So Later

Nathan Black's House – The Country Outside of Bellwood

I had arrived at Nathan's house and by now, the sun had fully gone down. I had to return home to get changed and get my car. Gwen and Sunny were curious as to what happened, but I just told them not to worry. They seemed to worry about me regardless. Anyway, I got into a change of clothes and after telling Mom that I would be gone for a couple hours, I got into my car and headed toward Nathan's House.

I stepped out of my car with a sigh. I didn't exactly what to come up here this late, but I didn't know what else to do or where else to turn. I began my approach to the door and once I got there, I knocked. What I didn't expect however was for Nathan not to answer the door, but a woman possibly in her early forties who was still quite beautiful for her age. She was also very much in shape. I was a bit dumbfounded, not having expected this, but I tried to quickly recover.

"Ma'am," I said with a polite gesture. "I didn't mean to disturb you, I'm a friend of your son's. Is uh, he in?"

"Aye, Nathaniel is home. He's currently working out, so if you need to see him soon, just politely knock on the door first. It's downstairs, first door on the left on the wall facing you." she said politely.

That won't be necessary, I can wait. I don't want to interrupt him and make him angry.

I could immediately tell where Nathan got his accent from. Olivia, if I recalled her name correctly, had a strong Scottish accent, one that hadn't been dulled in the slightest by living in Bellwood. As I just stood there, she spoke again, this time fishing for my name.

"Would you like anything to drink...?" she asked, leaving the question open as she waited for me to give my name.

"Ben," I replied. "Ben Tennyson."

After introducing myself, I stood there for a second, just pondering her question. I recalled how I had been electrocuted earlier in the day and how foolish I had been not to drink something when I stopped at home. I had been severely dehydrated since the fact, so getting something to drink probably wasn't a bad idea.

"Um, just some water would be nice, if you could manage."

She smiled at me, before opening the door fully and letting me walk inside.

"I'll be right back, and remember, knock on the door first if it's urgent." She said as she went into the kitchen, leaving me alone at the door.

"Thank you, Ma'am." I said as I walked into the house.

I shut the door behind me, not wanting to let anymore of the chilly outside air in. As I stood in the foyer for a while, Mrs. Black eventually came back with a glass of water for me, which I drank. She once again told me where Nathan was and to knock if it was urgent. Seeing as I might as well go see him now, even though I didn't want to, I followed her directions to his location.

I knocked on the door and I could hear Nathan tell me to come in from the other side. I walked into the room to see Nathan laying down on a bench pushing up some weights. And they weren't small weights, either. There were six plates on each side and all of them looked like they weighed at least fifty pounds. I came to a stop as I saw this.

Wait a second, I thought. How is he doing that? That's got to be at least two hundred pounds that he's lifting. Is there something that he's not telling me?

He put the bar on the rack once he saw me.

"Tennyson! I didn't know you were coming over."

He sat up straight, grabbing a nearby towel and wiping off his forehead before getting up off the bench and turning off the music he was listening to.

"What can I do you for?"

I decided not to mention my confusion with him lifting so much weight.

"Sorry about that. I should have called first, but it slipped my mind and I had been indisposed for the last several hours."

"Busy with life at home, I'm guessing. So, did you find someone to talk about those secrets with yet, or you still looking?" Nathan asked as he poured himself a glass of water from the large plastic pitcher filled with ice water on a table nearby.

I was a bit confused as to what he said, but I eventually realized that he was referencing a conversation from a few weeks back.

"Um, not quite, for both of your assumptions. And I have a feeling that I won't have time to find someone to talk to for a while."

"Alright, well we can talk upstairs, unless this is pertaining to your other life. In which case here will work just fine for a private conversation." Nathan said before draining the glass of water in a few seconds.

I scratched the back of my neck.

"Um, it's kind of about my other life. I need some advice."

"What with? Normally you get advice from your girl, don't you?" Nathan asked as he leaned against the wall.

"My girl"? I don't like that. She has a name.

"I'm not sure that she can help me with much. And I honestly think that she wouldn't let me leave the house if she knew what happened to me earlier today."

"That bad, eh? Alright, well I'll try to be as helpful as I can. So who or what kicked your ass?"

"You remember that news thing that Gwen played for us at school today?" I asked. "The one that talked about a man made of electricity?"

"The news report about Discount Electro? Yeah, I saw it. Let me guess, he handed you your ass on a silver platter?"

I've decided that I don't really like how he talks to me sometimes. It feels like he's talking down to me!

I sighed.

"I got electrocuted and was knocked out for several hours."

Nathan raised his eyebrows in surprise before holding out two fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding up right now? If you got hit that hard, your nerves would take the most damage. Your eyes in particular. Frankly I'm amazed you're still alive, let alone walking around like nothing happened to you."

"You're holding up two fingers, Nathan. I don't know how I'm alive, but something tells me it has to do with the Omnitrix. It had an interesting reaction to me being electrocuted."

"We'll be thankful you had it, without it you'd have been killed quite horrifically. Just take it from me, don't watch footage of someone dying via the electric chair, it's not a pretty sight. But what kind of reaction did your watch have to being zapped with likely a few thousand watts of electricity?"

"Upon waking back up, it told me that when I lost consciousness, it shut itself down to perform maintenance. I don't remember if I told you, but the Omnitrix is sentient enough to think for itself and it communicates with me via a voice in my head. It said that it had detected a foreign DNA sample and added it to its database for future use."

"Is it possible that shock also unlocked some other features you didn't know about? Check to see what you got exactly, you might have something more than what Discount Electro gave you." Nathan said as he walked over to look at the disguised Omnitrix.

"That's what I need help with. Right now, I don't have any ideas on how to approach this. How do I fight someone that's made of electricity?"

"There are four ways that I know of, first is to ground him, physically get him on the ground where he hopefully won't be as strong thanks to his electricity being bled into the ground beneath him. Second is to get his ass in a large body of water, it'll disperse his charge immensely if you can get him into salt water, but fresh water should also work. Third is to be made of rubber, it's the best method of insulation against electricity, and so in theory if you were made of rubber, his attacks would have much less of an effect, and you could definitely hit him. Fourth way that I think could work is to fight fire with fire: Hit him with a bigger electrical charge, overload him to the point that he breaks, a busted battery can't hold a charge and will bleed power really quickly. That's largely theoretical, but it has the possibility to work."

I put my hand on my chin.

"I was thinking if I could get Cooper to insulate my suit, but I don't think he'd have time to do it. Besides, he doesn't spend a lot of time in his warehouse anymore."

"That and the amount of insulation that you'd need to not get knocked out again in a single blow would likely need to be at least four inches thick. Maybe one of your aliens can help you. If you survived the first shock, it likely means that one of those aliens in your watch is naturally insulated against electrical charges."

Knocked out again in a single blow? It was electricity! What the hell do you think would happen?

"I think there's more to this thing than I know. Maybe I should step back for a bit and do some research on this thing. I never actually fully read my copy of all the data that Cooper pulled from Enoch's mainframe, I only skimmed through it all. I just wanted a break from the Forever Knights after I knew that they were gone, so I decided I'd go back to the data later. Maybe this thing is a runaway experiment of theirs? We've already found out about the splinter faction in Scotland, so who's to say that 'Discount Electro', as you call him, is one of their failed experiments that was left to rot?"

"What, you really think he got that far looking like that? Nah, they wouldn't leave even a failed experiment that powerful to rot, they'd harvest the body to see what they could improve, examine the failure and see if they can turn the next experiment into a success. But I doubt that watch is a Forever Knight experiment, it's way too high tech, even for them. I mean it took your DNA and not only created a clone of you, but an entirely new Omnitrix at the same damn time. It's capable of turning you into a range of aliens that have likely never been on this planet, let alone in this galaxy. That device is something akin to a nuclear device, and you're wearing it on your wrist so casually that it might as well be considered a harmless, ordinary watch."

He momentarily paused before continuing.

"I do agree, you should do some research on it, but you should see what exactly that watch can do in its full capacity, because I get the feeling what you have access to is literally just a drop in the bucket compared to what's hidden away in whatever acts as a storage system in that thing. If it did maintenance, maybe it also unlocked a few new aliens for you to use, who knows man. But when you have a rematch with sparky, make sure that you're aiming to knock him out as quickly as possible so you minimize collateral damage."

I let out a sigh.

"Well, as of right now, I don't have anything else to work with. I can't go to S.E.C.T. about this, Director Steel's reached the point where he's not going to give me free favors anymore. So, they're out. But my Grandpa Max is a S.E.C.T. veteran, I think he mentioned something about mentoring Steel many years ago. Maybe he can help me out, he seemed to know a lot about the Omnitrix, after all."

"Maybe your grandfather has had previous experience with tech like that. S.E.C.T. is supposed to monitor extraterrestrial life as well, right? Maybe he's had an encounter with something based off of your Omnitrix in the hands of some alien, or possibly a prototype made by S.E.C.T. themselves in an attempt to create a new Omnitrix. But considering I've not seen anyone else turning into various aliens besides you and your brother, it's probably safe to say any prototypes made didn't exactly work out well."

"Funny you should mention prototypes. Back in the day when my parents and Steel were just agents, they assaulted the Forever Knights' tower with a prototype of the Omnitrix. During the chaos, Steel activated the prototype, but instead of transforming him into one alien, it turned him into an amalgamation of all ten aliens. So, you're right. It didn't end well."

"Well when you're trying to copy technology centuries to millennia ahead of what you possess, bad things are going to happen. But if you need more advice about how to deal with sparky, why not ask your grandfather? Sounds like he's been dealing with this kind of stuff a lot longer than I have, so he might have a better possible solution than the ones I gave you. And he might be the one to talk to about your secrets as well."

"I'll talk to him about it tomorrow. I'm thinking about skipping school to take in as much information as I can about this thing. And maybe you're right. Maybe if I talk to him about my secrets, but I can't tell anyone about what happened to Ken, especially not family. I'll take that secret to my grave if I have to."

"I don't know, Tennyson, a secret like that may not give you a choice. I have a feeling that sooner or later, you'll be forced to tell someone about Ken, whether you like it or not. Stuff like that can't be kept silent forever, it always finds a way to reveal itself. And if you plan on skipping school, remember that there will be Hell to pay with your family, friends, and girlfriend. Anyways, if that's everything, I can give you some baked goods for the road, if you'd like."

Hell to pay with my family sure, but why would it cause problems with my friends and Gwen? Besides, Sunny is taking the day off of school tomorrow to get Albedo to his surgery. Why would my friends be bothered with me not showing up to school? And Gwen knows what kind of stuff that I'm up against, she understands!

Despite being confused with what he said, I decided to just let it go.

"I'll consider that. And that's alright, I can get by without them. I should probably be getting home, it's getting late and I need to get some rest."

"No, really I need to give you some, they're going to go bad or stale in the next two weeks, and my mother and I won't be able to finish them off ourselves, so please take some."

Then don't bake so many! Also, don't make it seem like I have a choice!

I managed to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying something that I would regret.

"Sorry for thinking I had a choice in the matter. Fine, I'll take them. My Dad told me that he really enjoyed your baked goods while he was in the hospital, so I know that someone will like them."

"Thank you, I'll put them in a bag for you, and that's good to hear that someone besides my mom and I like my baking."

Nathan went upstairs, I assume to bag up the baked goods, before coming back with them in a shopping bag made of burlap.

"Here you are, that's about everything that's going to go bad or stale in around two odd weeks. And careful behind the wheel, Tennyson, you might seem fine, but you might want to get yourself checked out anyways just in case."

"I'll consider it." I repeated as I took the bag from him. "Now, I think I should be going. Like I said, it's late and I need to get some sleep."

"Yeah, you watch yourself Tennyson." Nathan said before ushering me out the door, leaving me with my thoughts.

Later That Night

The Tennyson House

When I got home that night, it was late, past eleven. Once I walked through the door, I wasn't surprised to see Mom waiting for me out on the couch in the living room.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I went to go talk to Nathan." I replied. "I needed some advice."

I saw her nod ever so slightly, not saying a word. I walked past her into the kitchen.

"He left us a bag of baked goods." I replied as I placed the bag on the table.

"Oh, how nice of him."

"Let Dad know in the morning."

"I will make sure to do that. Now, you need to get to bed, young man. You have a big day ahead of you."

Yeah, I do, I thought.

I doubted that she was thinking what I was thinking, but what she said had some truth in it. I nodded at her.

"Okay. Good night, Mom." I said as I walked back into the living room toward the hall. "Love you."

"I love you, too."

I walked to the bedroom and opened the door, where I was surprised to see that Gwen was still up, sitting crossed legged, wearing pajama pants and a short sleeved shirt, with Snowball lying in her lap. As I entered, she looked up at me.

"Finally, you're home!" she spoke as she got up.

When she began to move, Snowball woke up from having been asleep and jumped from her lap, before darting out the door. She got up and took my hands in hers.

"Where were you?"

"I went to go talk to Nathan. I needed some advice."

"Was it about what happened today? What exactly happened today, with that electric guy?"

As she stared into my eyes waiting for my answer, I knew that I couldn't tell her the truth.

"It doesn't matter." I said with a sigh as I let go of her hands and moved past her. "What matters is that I'm okay."

"That's not fair, Ben! Tell me what happened today!"

I came to a stop at the dresser and pulled open the drawer where I kept my pajama pants. I pulled out a pair, closed the drawer and dropped them on the bed as I moved to the closet that we both shared.

"I don't want to talk about it."

This is the part where I expected to her to demand telling me what happened anyway. But I had underestimated her.

"Oh, okay." She spoke in a disappointed voice as I pulled a long sleeved shirt from the closet. "I can't force you to talk about it if you don't want to."

I let out a sigh, before walking over to Gwen as I dropped the shirt that I had gotten from the closet on the bed. I gently put my hands on her shoulders.

"Look, it just didn't go well. And I don't feel like talking about it, okay?"

She let out an uneasy breath.

"I understand." She replied.

I smiled at her in return.

"Thanks. Now, I want to get changed so I can go to sleep. I'm tired."

I got changed and once I turned back to her, I saw that she was sitting on the edge of the bed and not lying down.

"Is something wrong?"

She shook her head with a small smile on her face.

"Of course not. Now lie down, I'm going to spoon you tonight."

"Um, why?"

"Because I want to hold you while we fall asleep. Now, get in the bed."

I decided not to keep her waiting and attempted to lay down on my side of the bed ushering her over as I did. That's where she stopped me.

"On my side of the bed, honey. I want us to be facing the wall."

"Why?" I repeated my question.

"Because I said so."

I let out a sigh once I realized that there was no fighting her on this. And so, I laid down on her side of the bed and rolled over onto my side, facing the wall. Gwen then laid down on her side next to me and draped a quilt over us. She then wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged herself against my back.

"There we go." She whispered in a soothing voice. "Good night, honey. Get a good night's sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

I was confused.

"You, too?"

"Wait, what?"

Now she sounded confused.

"I was talking about taking the day off of school to go with Sunny and Albedo to his surgery appointment. What were you talking about?"

"I was talking about taking the day off of school too, but I'm not going with you guys. I have to do as much research on this electric thing as I can."

"But isn't your brother important to you?"

Honestly, after the way he's been treating me as of late, he's not as important as he would be normally.

"Yes, he is, but this thing is important, too. I need to find a way to stop it before anyone else gets hurt."

She was silent about it for a few seconds.

"Okay, then. Good night."

The Next Morning – Tuesday, March 12th, 2019

So, morning had come and Gwen, Sunny and Albedo were headed off to his surgery appointment, while I stayed home for the day. Only, neither Mom nor Dad knew that I had planned to skip school today. As my three housemates left through the front door, with Mom standing there to see them out, I tried to sneak past to the basement stairs, to go start doing my research there. However, as I was moving, Mom spoke.

"If you're not going with them to Albedo's appointment, then shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

I came to a stop as I heard her voice. I turned to look at her to see that she was tapping her foot on the floor, as if she were impatient.

"Um, actually, I was planning on skipping school today." I replied.

In response, she gave me a disapproving look.

"You are not. You are two months away from graduation and you need to be there. Your education is important."

"I know, I know! But this electric person thing is more important! I have to figure out a way to beat it before it hurts anyone or worse!"

She just stood there for a second, before she began walking closer to me and that's when I knew that I was in trouble.

"Benjamin, if you fail to graduate at the end of the semester, then I swear to God, you are grounded for the entire summer! You will be in this house, all summer long and you won't be going anywhere! No going to talk to Nathan, no going to do whatever it is you do and no dates with your girlfriend!"

What is with people calling her my girlfriend?! She has a fucking name, so use it!

"Fine, then. We don't have to go on dates. We can do stuff here."

That only made Mom angrier.

"Then I'll send her home for the summer! You aren't meant to have fun with punishment!"

"But that's not fair to her! You can't do that!"

"Well, I guess you should better start praying that you end up graduating at the end of May, huh?"

I felt a chill go down my spine in response to that. She gestured toward the basement stairs.

"Go do your thing." She replied in a calmer tone, yet still containing hostile undertones. "And hope that you don't flunk your senior year."

I decided to get out of her way before she changed her mind. I quickly made my way downstairs with my laptop in hand, in hopes that I would find something that I had missed in my initial run through of the data from the Forever Knights HQ.

Sometime Later

Nothing. I have picked up nothing from my research. The only thing that could possibly be of interest was a name that I had picked up from the data. In the data, I saw something mentioning a nightclub that Enoch had frequented, called "The Black Burlesque". Not only that, but apparently he had also acquired ownership of the club. I don't know why it was relevant, but it had to be in the data for some reason.

So, I looked into it. I did a Google search and what do you know? About four and a half weeks ago, The Black Burlesque had been closed down and now it was condemned. That was the same general time period that we raided Enoch's tower. There was no way that was just a coincidence. I told myself that I would check the place out later, I couldn't do it now during the day, after all.

So, I had basically learned nothing from the going over the data for real this time. That left me with only one other option: Grandpa Max. I had a feeling that he'd be able to help me with the recent change in the Omnitrix. The only question was: Would he be disappointed in seeing me skipping out on a school day? Well, there was only one way to find out and I wasn't gaining anything by just sitting here. Time to head out.

Thirty Minutes Later

Grandpa Max's House

Once I got to Grandpa Max's House, I'll admit that I was feeling a little nervous about talking to him. Part of me wanted to turn around and go back home, but I had to do this. I stepped up to the stoop and nervously knocked on the door. I waited and eventually after a few seconds, the door opened and out stepped Grandpa Max. Once he saw me, a confused look came onto his face.

"Ben?" he asked with confusion. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Yes, but—"

"No buts." He replied as he walked back inside the house. "I'm getting my keys and I'm taking you to school."

I followed him into the house to protest.

"No, Grandpa! This is more important than school!"

He turned to look at me, with a look of confusion still on his face. He let out a sigh and walked back over to me.

"Okay, I'll bite. What could be more important than going to school?"

I didn't want to waste any time, so I started explaining immediately.

"The city is being threatened by a being supposedly made of electricity. Have you heard about it?"

He nodded.

"Of course. I watch the evening news. What about it?"

I let out a sigh before I spoke again.

"Before I tell you the rest, I need you to promise that you won't tell my Mom, Dad, or Gwen."

He arched an eyebrow in response, but replied, nonetheless.

"Well, it's not like this is the first time you've made me promise not to tell anyone about something. Well, out with it. What have you got to tell me?"

I let out a nervous breathe before speaking.

"Well, I tried to go take care of this 'Electric Man' in the middle of the day yesterday. And as a result, I was electrocuted."

Grandpa Max's eyes widened with concern.

"You were what?!" he exclaimed.

I let out a nervous chuckle.

"Um, electrocuted." I replied.

"This isn't something to joke about, Ben. You were electrocuted?! I... I have to tell your parents."

I reached out to him.

"Grandpa, wait! You promised!"

He turned back to look at me with annoyance.

"You're lucky that I honor a promise, even if it's not right to keep your parents out of the loop. Fine, what is this about?"

Once again, I didn't waste time.

"When I was electrocuted and knocked out, after I woke back up, the Omnitrix had a weird reaction." I said as I dialed it up. "It glowed yellow and started spinning on its own and... and, well, I think I unlocked a new alien."

I rotated the ring until I saw the same silhouette from last night, then I showed him the silhouette.

"It also said that it had detected a foreign DNA sample and added it to its database for future use."

Grandpa leaned forward to look at the Omnitrix as he tapped his chin.

"Hmm." He murmured. "That looks like a Nosedeenian."

I gave him a confused look.

"What's that?"

"Nosedeenians. They're an alien race who are natural conduits for electricity."

"Huh. No kidding?"

He began walking away from me, taking a second to respond.

"Come with me. I might be able to help you get more information on what you're dealing with."

I didn't hesitate and followed him as he told me to. We walked down the hallway away from the foyer and arrived at the end of the hall, where there was a door on the right side of the wall. He opened the door, stepped inside and turned on the light inside the room. There was a desk in the middle of the room and a couple of bookshelves against one wall, bookshelves that had drawers on the lowest shelf. The room looked like an office.

"I took a lot of S.E.C.T. files with me once I finally retired from the organization." Grandpa Max spoke as he walked over to the desk. "I'm not even sure if they know what I took, but that doesn't matter now."

He opened up a drawer once he walked around to the other side of the desk and began going through it. It took a minute or so, but eventually he handed me a file.

"Here. The information inside this file should help you."

I opened up the file and looked through it as he continued speaking.

"Like I told you before, the Nosedeenians are natural conduits for electricity and they come from their home planet of Nosedeen Quasar."

"What kind of planet name is—"

"Focus!" Grandpa Max cut me off. "They're body colors consist mainly of yellow, black and white, or green, black, and white, depending on which race you're dealing with. The Nosedeenians exist solely to cause chaos, creating trouble wherever they go."

I nodded along, doing my best to pay attention.

"However, Nosedeenians aren't inherently evil, nor do they go out of their way to be hostile. In their eyes, they're just having fun. They have sociopathic tendencies and in our experience with them, they only attack when they're provoked."

"Do they speak English or have their own language?"

He shook his head.

"No English. From our observations, they communicate with each other using a series of high-pitched squeals and chirps."

He cleared his throat before continuing.

"They have a range of abilities, starting with electrokinesis, technokinesis, electric—"

I got a sense that I knew what electrokinesis was, but I couldn't put my finger on the other one.

"Wait, what's technokinesis?" I interrupted him.

"Technokinesis is where the bond between being and machine is increased and developed so well, that the user can actually work through the machines by physically animating them or making them move like puppets. Now, pay attention, I'm trying to help you, here."

I nodded and continued listening as he spoke once more.

"Again, their abilities consist of electrokinesis, technokinesis, electric absorption, redirection and teleportation, electrical possession, electrokinetic flight, sonic scream, and the usual enhanced strength, agility, speed and durability. They also have the ability of self-duplication when they achieve a state of enough power, as well as having the ability to electrify Sphoeroid slime puddles, as well has having conductivity when it comes to electricity. To put it into layman's terms, they're living powerhouses of energy."

"I thought that the mitochondria was the powerhouse of the cell?" I joked.

He gave me a disapproving look.

"What did I tell you about paying attention?"

The look on my face dropped as I looked down at my feet.

"Sorry." I replied.

He got back to his lecture without acknowledging me.

"They have several known weaknesses, starting with fire. Their power can be taken away by fire or by trapping them in a non-conductive material. If you can insulate them by using a rubber-sheeted blanket that we produced, that'll work, too. And despite their enhanced durability, they can still be incapacitated by enough attacks. Of course, if you manage to depower a Nosedeenian, then it'll fall asleep."

Fall asleep? That reminds me of the DC character, Plasmus, only human when he's sleeping.

Grandpa let out a sigh as he finished.

"Besides all of those, the only other way to beat one is to just be bigger than it. If you're bigger than them, which they're small aliens, and can contain them, you should be able to beat it. Unfortunately, this thing seems to be a bit bigger than your average Nosedeenian."

Did it take you long to figure that one out?

"Is that everything?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Just about, yeah. Judging on how the Omnitrix reacted to you being electrocuted the other night, I would almost guarantee that whoever zapped you had been spliced with Nosedeenian DNA."

"Huh." I replied. "What about this file? Can I hang on to this?"

He shook his head.

"No, I can't let go of any of these files. I'll need it back."

I decided not to ask if I could get a copy of the file and just handed it back to him.

"So, anything else?" I asked as he took it back.

"I don't think so. I gave you a good bit of information on Nosedeenians, their abilities and weaknesses. But if I'm being honest, I think you might be dealing with something bigger here. Like I said, I think your 'target' was spliced with their DNA. Or, it could be something mimicking a Nosedeenian's characteristics and abilities. I know it's not much to go off of, but I think it's all I can tell you."

I let out a sigh.

"Well, it's not a hell of a whole lot to go off of, but it's something. Thanks, Grandpa."

He nodded.

"You're welcome. Like I said, I'm not sure I can give you anything else to go off of. If I were you, I would keep looking for more information elsewhere. But if you need any advice, come on back here. I'll hear you out and see what I can do. I shouldn't take up any more of your time, you probably have a lot of work to do."

"Thanks, Grandpa." I repeated.

I began walking out of his office, assuming that's what it was, and as I walked down the hall, Grandpa called out to be from behind. I turned around to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"I know that you're taking this thing seriously and that's great. But don't let yourself get obsessed with it."

I nodded.

"Don't worry, Grandpa." I replied with a small smile. "I gotta go. I'll see you later. And thanks."

"You're welcome." He said. "I love you, kid. Now, get on out of here."

I gave him a little wave.

"I love you too, Grandpa."

Later That Night

Downtown Bellwood

I needed to clear my head later that night after more unsuccessful research throughout the day, so I decided to leave the house for a while and so, I went back to the place where it all began: the Forever Knights' Main Headquarters. I exited my swing and came to a stop against the building, sticking to the wall. I crawled up the wall and entered through a broken window, finding myself in the ruined remains of Enoch's former office. I let out a sigh as I walked deeper into the mostly vacant room, except for the steel support beam that was ahead of me.

This is where Enoch died, I thought.

Of course, his body was no longer here. The day following when I dropped the info at the police department, Bellwood's police force declared Enoch's tower a crime scene and a no-entry site. So, technically I was currently trespassing, but was I really committing a crime if I wasn't planning on stealing or breaking anything? All I needed was to wander around the site for a while in hopes to clear my head or find another lead on this electric thing. Anyway, the top three floors of the tower had been left in a state of disrepair and were unsafe following the detonation of Enoch's charges.

Enoch's former office was mostly empty, except for a few empty flower pots and the large steel support beam. I shook my head, unsure of what to do at this point. I didn't even know what I was looking for. That's when I heard the voices, coming from the hall outside of Enoch's office. I hurried to the door to hide against the hall to the left of it, just in case the people I heard ended up entering Enoch's office. They didn't.

Once I had become aware that the voices had faded down the hall, I quietly left the dilapidated office to follow the people that I had heard. I could see them walking several dozen feet ahead of me in the dark and decided that if I wanted to stay out of sight, I needed to keep behind them and crawl along the ceiling. I followed them for quite a while before anything interesting happened.

Eventually I followed them into the Laboratories area and crawled up into the rafters in the ceiling, just to make sure that I was even higher up and out of sight. I saw that they had flashlights and due to light reflections, I now noticed that all three people were wearing all black material. They were inspecting technology and computer terminals in the room, which obviously had no power. And I guess they didn't notice that.

"All of the technology in this room is fried and even if we did salvage it, we could never get it up and running again. They were hit with an EMP and fried, just like the rest of the tech in the building at some point during the conflict."

Wait, the technology in the tower was all hit with EMPs? Could Nathan have done that without me knowing? Or what about S.E.C.T., to make sure that Enoch's boys don't try to set up again?

"What about the terminals?"

"No. Even if they were powered on, we've checked the servers and there's nothing. They were all wiped. There's nothing left. If Li really wants us to start again, then we'll have to make do with what we have at our new facility."

I froze in place up in the rafters as I felt my jaw drop under my mask.

Li? As in Wayne Li? He must be the director of the castle facility in Scotland.

As I was thinking to myself, one of the goons below me spoke.

"There's nothing here. Let's go, boss."

"Not yet. We have to check the basement first, remember? Li tipped us off about it, so we can't just leave it."

That piqued my interest even more.

What's so special about the basement? There's nothing down there, is there? I mean, besides Abernathy's skeleton, unless it was found and recovered? Something tells me that I should follow them.

Several Minutes Later

I followed the men in black for several minutes throughout the building and eventually, they brought me to the basement, where I witnessed a surprising development. They entered a small room which had a couple of couches, a flat screen television and a bookshelf along the back wall. However, I was very surprised when I saw one of the men use a keycard on some kind of hidden scanner and after that, the shelf was pulled inward and slid to the left, revealing a secret room. My eyes widened at that revelation.

I vaguely recall seeing a blueprint of a room like this one, with an empty space right behind the wall that that bookshelf rests on. That empty space was a secret room.

The inside of the room was dark but the men quickly entered and turned on a light inside. In risk of being caught I decided to stay outside until they vacated the room. In the meantime, I listened to the conversation.

"Uh, boss, there's nothing here."

"I can see that. We stripped the room of all the cables, wires and hoses, along with the stasis unit, life support and consoles when we were here a couple weeks ago. Li probably just wanted to be thorough."

What are they talking about?

"Well, is there anything else here to collect?"

"You tell me. Do you see anything else besides the wires sticking out of the walls?"

I heard silence for a second.

"Then I guess we're leaving then."

After hearing that, I quickly hugged myself against the ceiling to stay as far out of sight as I could. A few seconds later all three men left the secret room and the small room itself that came before it. Once they were gone, I quickly dropped down to get a look at the secret room before the shelf slid shut again. It didn't get a great look inside of the room, but I got enough of an analysis.

There had definitely been machine in the room, there was a depression in the wall at the back of the room where technology had definitely been at some point in the past. I hadn't learned anything about the Electric Man, but I had learned that the splinter group in Scotland were trying to keep themselves afloat by salvaging their former location.

I wonder if Nathan knows about this? I think I should keep this one to myself. I'm inclined to think that if we let these people know that they're on to them, they'll get clumsy. I mean, they're already working with decades old technology and being clumsy will only make them more dangerous.

Sometime Later

I needed to make a phone call and I didn't think I would be getting much service in the basement, so I decided to get to the roof of the tower. I pulled out my phone, opened up my contacts, found Cooper's contact information and gave him a call. It wasn't that late, only about nine o'clock, so I imagined that he would answer. Unfortunately, I got his voicemail. I let out a sigh, before I began leaving a message.

"Hey Cooper, it's Ben. I needed to ask you something, so can you call me when you get a chance? Okay, cool. Thanks, I'll talk to you later."

I put my phone away after leaving my message and hanging up, as I took a breath of air. The only other lead that I had was to check out that abandoned club, The Black Burlesque.

Better get a move on, I thought as I jumped from the roof.

Twenty Minutes Later

Downtown Bellwood – The Black Burlesque

It took me sometime to make it to The Black Burlesque. And sure enough, the site had been condemned. But that wasn't going to stop me. I jumped the metal fence that had been put up around the premises and found a way in. Once in, I was surprised to see that the entire place was empty. Besides the furniture and bar that were bolted down, there were no tables, chairs or anything, not even as much as a disco ball on the long vacant dance floor.

So far, coming here has been a bust, I heard a voice in my head.

"Well, maybe not." I replied. "Let's check the office on the upper floor. If anything still remains here, it'll be in there."

I walked around looking for a set of stairs that would take me up to the second floor and eventually I found one. I went up the set of stairs and the path led me to the office that I was looking for. Surprisingly, the door was still open and I was able to walk right in. And just like the rest of the club, the entire office was empty. Completely empty. I took a deep breath, as I felt like my last lead had gone out the window.

"Damn it!" I exclaimed with anger.

I saw an open wall safe, with a wooden bat sitting along the same wall. I walked over to it, grabbed it and in a fit of rage, hit the safe's door as hard as I could. It swung and impacted the wall to the left of the safe, before coming back and nearly shutting. I then tossed the bat across the room and tried to cool down. When I did, I finally whispered to myself.

"I don't know why I'm surprised. It's not like I was going to—"

As I spoke, I turned to look at the wall safe, which was empty, however, I did see something shiny sitting inside.

"—anything."

I walked up to the wall safe and fully opened the door once more. I reached into the safe, felt around and quickly felt something. I pulled it out and identified the shining object as a flash drive or USB drive. I found myself smiling under my mask, feeling as though I had gotten a break in my investigation.

"Bingo." I said to myself.

Sometime Later

The Tennyson House

When I got back home after returning from the abandoned club, Cooper called me back.

"Hey, Cooper." I greeted him as I answered.

"Ben, sorry that I didn't answer when you called. Julie and I went out for dinner and a movie. What can I do for you?"

"Cooper, I was wondering if you've seen the—"

I was cut off when I heard Julie talking to him from the other end.

"Is that Ben?"

"Yeah." I heard him speak in the background, away from the phone.

"If he's calling about 'business', you are to call him back later."

I was surprised and just like that, our call ended.

"Ben," Cooper spoke as he returned to the phone. "I'll have to call you back tomorrow."

And before I could say anything else, Cooper had hung up on me. I cursed in frustration as I slammed my phone down onto the table. After I calmed down a little bit, I looked at the drive that I had gotten from the club, sitting on the table next to my laptop. I sighed, realizing that it was finally time to find out what the drive had in store for me. I put it into my laptops USB port and once it was done confirming that it was safe, I opened it and saw that there were only two files on the drive: a video file and a document.

Little did I know that both files would provide me with a wealth of information. I clicked on the video file first and it was just that, a video file and with no commentary or information on it. The setting of the video was a room with some kind of restraining table. And strapped down to the table, was a older man, maybe late forties or early fifties. I immediately thought I recognized the man, but I was hoping that I had just mistaken him for someone else.

It said "Day 1" in the top left corner of the video, so I was assuming that they had this person sedated or kept under watch for several days at a time. I then noticed that an automated construct attached to the table was directing a needle to the man's left forearm. It injected some kind of substance into his veins and minutes later, although the footage was sped up, I began to see the man's veins begin glowing a golden yellow.

And that's when he started screaming in pain, as well as thrashing around on the restraining table. It was heartbreaking to watch an innocent man be subjected to such torture. As he opened his mouth to let the screams out, I saw yellow electricity arcing from the inside of his mouth. I couldn't even imagine the amount of pain that he would be in from all this. The top left switched to "Day 2" and at some point in the recording, his body began to change.

The hair on his head fully faded, leaving him bald and his clothes seemed to disintegrate as his skin slowly changed, until the skin on his body had been replaced by sparking electricity. He was now a being of pure energy. This was footage of him taken prior to him turning. As I watched he continued screaming in pain, until he tired himself out and was no longer able to scream. After another day passed, he started begging to be let out. When that didn't work, he eventually went silent and remained so for an entire week.

At the beginning of "Day 10", the subject's mood drastically changed. He began making threats, screaming that he'd murder anyone involved if he wasn't let out. As he made his threats, electricity sparked from his restrained hands and danced all of the room's walls and ceilings. Anyone caught inside the room during this time would most definitely have been killed. Over the course of four or five more days, his threats got even more vulgar and threatening, going as far to threaten the families of those involved with doing this to him.

They kept holding him for a couple more weeks and finally, on "Day 35" or "36" he was suddenly released from his restraints. Once he was released, he let out a staticky scream and sent a bolt of electricity at the camera, which is when the video file ended in static. I had gotten some information from the video file, but there was still the document on the drive. I clicked on it and once it opened, I began reading.

I identified right away that the person in charge of this experiment actually wasn't Enoch, but Wayne Li. I wasn't particularly surprised by that, given what I already knew about Li. The goal of the project was to inject a willing or unwilling subject with alien DNA and to watch the results unfold over the course of a few weeks. It also said that Li had stolen the only sample of Nosedeenian DNA that Enoch had to do the job. So, Grandpa Max was right about that. But to be honest, that wasn't much of a surprise.

Li had made a personal note, that he really wanted to experiment on someone that had a terminal disease, just to see how the already dying body would react to the changes. That sickened me. He went on to explain the subject's day to day changes, which I had already seen, so seeing that was nothing new. Once they were satisfied that he had been held for long enough, they released him to wreak havoc, as a distraction, I guess. That's when I saw Li's notes on the side effects that the victim could have:

25.6% chance of seizures

32.8% chance of long-term memory loss

95.9% chance of change in brain patterns

98.5% chance of personality shift

WARNING: If the subject is ever allowed to revert back to human form, there's a high probability that he will suffer limbic degradation and/or losing control or use of his motor functions.

Oh my God, I thought. This is bad. The fact that they could do this to a living person. I really feel sorry for them!

I scrolled down to the bottom of the page, where for some reason, all of the subject's details were listed. That's where I saw the victim's name and when my fears were confirmed:

Subject's Name: Maximilian Fargas

Author's Note:

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

* What are your thoughts on Ben possibly gaining a new alien? What did you think of the conversation between Ben and Grandpa Max? What are your thoughts on the reveal that the "electric man" is Ben's chemistry teacher, Mr. Fargas? I'm really curious about any thoughts that you could have on this chapter, so tell me anything you want to.

* With that said, I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.

Next Chapter: Following the revelation that Mr. Fargas was transformed into a being of pure energy, Ben finds out that he's building a machine of some kind and it is up to Ben to stop him.