"Searched it from top to bottom. Not a trace of alien tech to be found," Kevin told him.
All of his other teammates sounded off on the exact same thing, and he hadn't found anything else himself either. But in retrospect, it made sense. Area 51 was the most secure military base out of all of them. It was extremely unlikely that they would hold anything relating to aliens anywhere else. Still, he wasn't going to take any chance - no matter what Rozum or his higher ups told him. But it was somewhat of a relief to be wrong nonetheless.
"Good. I figured Area 51 would be the only real case, but I wasn't going to take the chance. While it's quiet..." Ben's Ultimatrix went off at that exact moment, and he let out a sigh.
"For all of thirty seconds," Manny said with a grin as Ben brought up the Ultimatrix.
"Tennyson," he said.
"Magister Tennyson? There's a new incident that requires your attention," the Plumber on the other end said.
Ben was still not used to having a full team of Plumbers outside of field work. But it was really efficient to have an around the clock team that could keep them informed - even deal with small time threats. Not to mention an actually competent team of Plumbers looking after their families. Though that team had never been needed since Nemesis, thankfully.
"What's the issue?" Ben asked.
"There's a large corrodium signature out in the middle of a desert in Arizona," the Plumber told him.
"Corrodium? That's not very common," Kevin said.
"We'll be there shortly. Try and have it pinned down when we arrive," Ben said before turning off the call. "And no. No it's not. Haven't seen corrodium since I was ten."
"What's corrodium?" Pierce asked.
"Radioactive power source. Most planets stopped using it a long time ago, and for good reason. No protection, and you're gonna wind up as a mutated version of your old self. At least if you're under it too long," Kevin explained.
"Wonder what it's doing here," Gwen said in a curious tone.
"I'm willing to bet a smoothie on it being nothing good," Helen said.
"That is not a bet worth taking for anyone who works here," Aurra said in a dry tone, and everyone smirked in a knowing fashion. Except for Ben.
"Let's head over to the base and find out what's going on. I don't much like the idea of corrodium just appearing out of nowhere," Ben said before opening a portal to the base and walking through. Everyone frowned at him before immediately looking at each other.
"Ah, I'm sure he'll snap out of it once things go good," Kevin said in an easy going tone before following in the portal.
"Big if," Aurra thought with a frown.
"You've been quiet these past few days. Something the matter?" Max asked, looking at Verdona while keep his fork upright.
Verdona looked up at him, a small frown accompanying her thoughtful expression.
"Max... have you ever wished you hadn't learned something sometimes even though it was important?" she asked.
"Plenty of times. Though once realized how important it was, I knew there was nothing I could do but just deal with it," Max said before leaning back. "Is that what you're dealing with?"
"While the kids were vacationing, they met an Anodite there who we learned was one the first ones to ever exist," Verdona said.
"Trust the kids to find someone like that in only a week," Max said, momentarily smiling before his expression straightened out. "But I'm guessing he explained something involving your history?"
"How'd you guess?" Verdona said in a wry tone.
"History is often like that. Most races don't have the fortune of having a completely perfect timeline as far as morality goes. I know if I had learned Earth's past all at once like you did, I wouldn't like it at all," Max said.
"It's bothering me to no end. And I still don't know how to move on from it," Verdona said with a frown.
"There's only thing to do. You have to find a way to come to terms with it and rise above it. It doesn't matter what happened before, but what you choose to do here and now does," Max said before the phone started to ring. Verdona looked to be deep in thought as Max answered the phone.
"Tennyson here," Max said.
"Max! Thank goodness," a familiar voice said in an urgent tone, and Max quickly turned serious.
"Wes? What happened?" he asked. He hadn't heard from Wes in a while, and he didn't sound like he was calling to catch up.
"Take 'bad,' and multiply it several times over. The werewolf from before brought an entire pack with him to Arizona, and they've been laying waste all throughout our town," Wes said.
That was a surprise. None of them had known what happened to the Loboan that worked for Ghostfreak, and had assumed he'd died or left. Guess that wasn't the case.
"I'll call Ben and the others," Max told him.
"Please hurry. We're about thirty miles southwest from my town," Wes said before the line clicked.
"Trouble again?" Verdona asked.
"Looks like it," Max said before grabbing his communicator.
"If you need to go, I..."
"I stepped back from the position of Magister for a reason. Besides, there's nothing that team Ben has built up can't handle," Max said before pinging Ben's Ultimatrix.
"Emergency?" Ben asked in a brusque tone.
"Yup. This time in Arizona," Max said.
"No need. We already got an alert about it - something about a large corrodium signature coming from a small town in the desert," Ben said.
"Corrodium? I heard it was a pack of Loboans from Wes," Max said, feeling a rock drop in his stomach.
"Well, they are immune to the effects of the stuff. No doubt that they're connected. We need to try and get this done as fast as possible before anyone out there turns into a permanent freakshow attraction," Ben deduced.
"Go get Wes first. He said he was about thirty miles southwest from the town," Max told him.
"Got it," Ben said before disconnecting the call. He looked to the Plumber on the computer. "See if you can get eyes in that base before I get back."
"Yes, Magister Tennyson," the Plumber said before focusing on the screen.
"And us?" Kevin asked.
"Stay here. I won't be long," Ben said shortly.
Then he was gone. Kevin looked away back to the computer, his brows furrowed in annoyance.
"Guy gets a week off, and then he immediately has to suffer for it. Whoever's to blame for this is a shitty comedian," Kevin thought before looking at the computer screen.
"Wes?" Ben called, appearing in the desert in a flash of green light. He looked around, and saw a truck parked a few yards away.
"Is that you, Ben?" Wes asked.
"It's me," Ben confirmed before looking in the driver's seat. He raised an eyebrow. "Kai?"
"Glad to see you remember me," the girl said with a smirk and wave. Though she was a bit surprised that his expression hadn't moved in the slightest beyond a little surprise.
"How'd you get here?" Wes asked.
"I teleported. Question is, do you care whether or not I leave the truck here?" Ben asked, looking at the vehicle in question.
"Doesn't matter," Wes said, and they were gone in a flash of light.
"How'd you do that?" Kai asked.
"I'm an Anodite," Ben said, revealing purple skin on his hand to her before showing it to the Plumbers guarding the base along with the Ultimatrix. They readied weapons when they saw Ben was with two new people. "They're with me. Stand down."
The Plumbers immediately complied, and Kai couldn't deny if she wasn't a bit impressed as to how Ben had grown up. Not only in looks, but he carried himself with an impressive amount of confidence.
"You've risen in the ranks," Wes said in an impressed tone.
"I'm the new Senior Magister of the Milky Way galaxy. Kinda comes with the role," Ben said before gesturing them to follow him.
"Your grandfather isn't anymore?" Wes said in a surprised tone.
"He never was. The previous one was killed, and then I was eventually given the job," Ben said in a short tone before leading them to the control center where the rest of the team was. Both Wes and Kai wouldn't deny being surprised by how frank Ben was about something like that. Had he really changed so much in six years?
"A minute, Tennyson? You're getting kind of slow," Kevin said with a smirk.
"It gave you time to look into what happened," Ben said, crossing his arms. Any amount of humor Kevin had died immediately, and Ben felt the mood shift. "Sorry. What have you found out?"
"Well, it's not something that's easy to describe," the Plumber at the console said before bringing up their satellite feed.
The Plumber had zoomed into a picture of the Loboans that were attacking Wes' city and was a pink substance coming from their mouths instead of saliva and pink veins spreading throughout their body.
"It's some sort of infection," Gwen said.
"Looks like. Question is, how did corrodium cause this? As far as I know, you could put corrodium in front of them for years, and it would do nothing to them," Ben said thoughtfully.
"And something on this scale? It would've taken a long time," Kevin added.
"How many of them did you see before you left?" Gwen asked Wes.
"When I first laid eyes on them, I only saw three of them. But when I went to get Kai, suddenly there were over a dozen of them," Wes told her.
"It is possible they managed to modify corrodium to where it turns people into Loboans?" Gwen questioned.
"I wouldn't have the slightest clue how. Corrodium's dangerous because of how uncontrollable it is. Everyone's who's tried to use it for something other than a power source has done more harm to themselves than anyone else," Kevin said.
"But it would be possible if someone's smart enough. Ghostfreak managed to modify the stuff into a giant radiation beam that blocked out the sun. If he can do that, someone could probably do this," Gwen said.
"We're gonna need to find a way to cure them of it," Ben said.
"These readings are far too intense for there to be none of it in the town," Kevin said, seeing that the scanners from the satellite were near maxed.
"There's no giant machine that seems to be channeling it either," Gwen added, causing Pierce to frown thoughtfully.
"I have an idea," he said, causing Ben to look towards him.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
"You said that these aliens are immune to this corrodium stuff, right?" Pierce asked. Ben nodded. "Well, if that's true, maybe they found a way to use it themselves. Spread the effects to other people by attacking them - could be where all that pink stuff is coming from."
"That's an idea," Kevin agreed with a nod. "But it would've definitely been a feat - it wouldn't have been easy to do something like that."
"So this just isn't a rag tag group of Loboans. We'll need to study one of them," Ben said.
"That's going to need some serious care. If Pierce is right, then these things will walking corrodium packages. The three of us have options to block its effects, but not everyone," Kevin said as Ben tapped into the base's speaker system.
"All Plumbers on base need to wear level 10 hazmat suits. Corrodium subject soon to arrive on base," the Anodite said, and there was an instant shuffle of moving as everyone went to get their suits on.
"You don't mess around," Kai said in an impressed tone.
"If I do, that's a bigger chance for your entire town to be stuck as a mad werewolf for the rest of their lives," Ben said before looking to Gwen. Kai for one, was surprised he hadn't cracked some sort of joke. "Contact me when the entire base has secured themselves. I'm going to scout the town out. Pierce and Alan, you're gonna have to stay in the base."
"Yeah, my body would just poke holes in the suit," Pierce admitted.
"And I'd just burn it away if I tried to use my powers," Alan said.
"You gonna be ok?" Kai asked Ben before transforming into Ultimate Lodestar.
"I'll be fine. It's not like corrodium can do anything to me like this," he said before tossing Kevin a chunk of metal from his body. "There you go. Shouldn't take me long."
Ben teleported away, and Kai was left staring at the spot where Ben was standing for a good length of time.
"Don't even think about it," Gwen said as she moved to the console.
"What?" Kai questioned.
"I saw that look you gave him," Gwen told her, not even taking her eyes off the screen as she moved to get a view on Ben's position.
Kai eyed Gwen strangely. Was she was still upset about something that happened six years ago? Honestly, if she acted like this around other girls, then it's no wonder they had strange rumors floating around them.
"What's your deal?" Kai questioned, putting a hand on her hip.
"This isn't the time for this," Aurra interjected, putting a hand on Gwen's shoulder to interrupt her.
"You're right. It's not," Gwen said before turning around as the Plumber brought the camera around to Ben's position, who was positioned behind a barely intact house.
A second Plumber soon came by to give each of the humans a hazmat suit, and they quickly put the things on.
"We're all accounted for," one of the lead Plumbers said after a few minutes.
"You're clear, Magister," Aurra said quickly, not trusting Gwen's ability to not say anything given the current situation.
"Showtime then," Ultimate Lodestar said before flying from behind the rock and immediately socking a mutated Loboan in the face hard enough to send him spinning.
Ben had grabbed him with a tendril before he even hit the ground and teleported away, appearing outside of the base with a tendril holding its mouth with an iron grip. That forced it to start lashing out with its arms, and he was still flailing even as he dragged the creature in.
"Aurra?" Ben questioned.
The sorceress nodded before casting a spell that instantly put it to sleep. Ben then moved the Loboan over to the medbay, the others following right behind him.
"Keep him secure in case he wakes up faster than expected. The restraints built into this table aren't going to be enough," Ben told Gwen, who nodded and held his limbs down with four tendrils each.
He then immediately transformed into Ultimate Brainstorm, who was a bipedal cyborg rather than a crab. Though he boasted an ability to eject many extra cybernetic limbs that would be useful in the examination.
And he immediately put those limbs to work, injecting one of his tendrils into the Loboan's arm. It wasn't a very pretty sight, given how blood spurted out from the gesture.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Kevin questioned with wide eyes.
"A more detailed examination of this creature's blood would allow me to make a more concrete idea as to how to cure this affliction," Ultimate Brainstorm said with his eyes closed. Then his eyes opened almost immediately, eyes darting to the creature on the table.
"Hmm..." Ultimate Brainstorm said thoughtfully, processing the implications of the blood sample.
"'Hmm' good or 'hmm' bad?" Alan asked.
"'Hmm' as in this is a layered problem," Ultimate Brainstorm said. "This Loboan was once human - likely one of the villagers that was attacked when the first Loboans showed up."
"This was one of us?" Wes asked, looking at the Loboan with a concerned expression.
"Don't worry - it won't be permanent. Long as we're quick," Ben assured him, removing his tendril from the mutated Loboan's arm.
"Ok, so they turned the rest of the village into Loboans. But how did they do that without anyone knowing?" Kevin said with a frown before looking to Wes. "Was anyone missing before all of this went down?"
"I doubt it. Look at this," Ultimate Brainstorm said with a point. On the Loboan's neck was a large bite mark that resembled that of a wolf, though each teeth mark was shown through a corrodium colored glow.
"So they turned everyone into these things like a regular werewolf?" Kai questioned as Gwen healed the giant puncture mark.
"Seems like it. Question is, how do we fix it?" Pierce asked.
"Water," Ultimate Brainstorm said simply, and his answer caught everyone off guard.
"I'm sorry, what?" Kai questioned in a baffled tone.
"This method of transformation gave this person just about everything a Loboan has. Everything except their extremely powerful neurological system, which contributes to their immunity to many forms of radiation. It's why they've basically become walking corrodium packages themselves," Ultimate Brainstorm told them.
"And... water is going to help with that?" Aurra questioned as Ben transformed into Ghostfreak.
"Yes, but quite a bit of it. Which is where this next part comes into play. Aurra, Gwen. You both know water spells, right?" Ben questioned.
"Yes/Yeah..." both of them trailed.
"The question is why are you Ghostfreak?" Gwen asked in a baffled tone.
"Well... as much as I hate the idea, these things are not going to drink willingly, and they need a lot of water to filter out their neurological system. So, I'm going to possess him long enough for them drink all the water necessary," Ben told them.
"Is that the only option we have?" Gwen questioned.
"It's either that, wake him up and force feed him, or stuff it down his throat and hope he doesn't drown," Ben told them, and Gwen sighed. Without another word, Ben entered the body of the mutated Loboan and got him to sit up while opening his mouth.
Both Gwen and Aurra cast a water spell, sending two streams of water into the Loboan's mouth. Ben forced the Loboan to swallow every bit of the water.
This went on for a straight two minutes before Ben immediately started to bolt away. The moment everyone could hear water hitting water, everyone laughed despite the situation.
"Have a good piss, Tennyson?" Kevin questioned.
"You'd have to piss like a racehorse too if you drunk that much water," Ben said in an amused tone as he exited the Loboan's body. "Besides, I'd rather not leave a pool of alien piss for someone to clean up."
"Aren't you the good Samaritan?" Kevin said with a smirk before looking back over at the body on the table.
The moment Ben left the body of the mutated wolf, the effects of the corrodium started to wear off, transforming them back into a regular person.
"And it works," Ben said with a sigh of relief.
"Ok, so we got a cure. How are we going to do this?" Kevin asked.
"Me and Gwen are fine due to the fact that we're immune to the stuff," Ben said as he and Gwen changed into her Anodite bodies. Then he looked to Aurra. "You think you'll be alright out there?"
"As long as I can keep myself out of their attack range, I'll be fine," Aurra assured him with a nod.
"Four out of six isn't bad for this operation. Though our goal is mostly to subdue until we time to cure everyone," Ben said.
"Busting heads it is," Kevin said, punching an open fist.
"I assume you want us to stay behind as well?" Wes asked.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you'd just get in the way," Ben said with a sympathetic shrug.
Then in a flash of light, he teleported the four of them outside of the city. And right in front of the Loboan pack that was seemingly about to move their way out of the city.
"Smooth Tennyson," Kevin said in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh come on!" Ben said with a groan before Gwen teleported them out of the way of six sonic howls that were heading their way. "Shoulda checked the surveillance cameras."
"Too late for regrets now," Gwen said before using several tendrils from her head to grab three different leaping Loboans and slamming them down on the ground.
"Let's make this quick," Ben said as he transformed into Echo Echo and made nearly two dozen duplicates of himself.
"Wall... Of... Sound!" the Echo Echoes exclaimed, immediately forcing each Loboan to hold their ears in agony from the sound waves. He didn't even have to aim it at them - their ears were sensitive enough for it to not be necessary.
Kevin in the meantime, leaped over the soundwaves and shot several fire balls at the Loboans that forced them down to the ground.
But there were three Loboans in particular that fought through the soundwaves and leaped at several Echo Echo clones, making them disappear with several slashes.
"Them! Those are the hosts!" Gwen pointed out, noticing they lacked the corrodium drool most of the Loboans had.
"Then how about we show these hosts that their guests owe them a serious ass kicking?" Kevin said as he hit one of the with a flying jump kick then knocked it down to the floor.
The other two snarled at Kevin before leaping at him. One was knocked out of the air by a Force spell Aurra cast, and Kevin met the other in midair, punching it in the throat when it tried to bite him before tossing it down to the ground and landing on its chest.
They had bought enough time for Ben to knock the other Loboan minions unconscious, then immediately transformed into Blitzwolfer and leapt in front of one of the hosts.
It surprised Ben when it had actually backed away from him, seemingly hesitating. It was almost as if...
Ben paused before it clicked. The Loboan in front of him was practically an exact replica of Blitzwolfer. Or at least, the Loboan Ben had gotten the DNA sample from.
"This is its family," Ben thought before narrowly dodging the leap it made at him. It somehow managed to see that he wasn't Ghostfreak's lackey and now probably wanted nothing more than to tear its throat out for impersonating its... father? Brother? He didn't know Loboan ages.
The Loboan in front of him opened its jaws for a sonic howl, but Ben was already moving and hit the alien in its throat with the heel of his foot, coaxing a whine of pain out of them. Then he immediately opened his jaws and hit the creature with a sonic howl that knocked it into the air, followed by Kevin jumping at it and hitting in the head with a hammer hand.
"Set em up..." Kevin said, shooting Ben a smirk.
"...knock em down," he said, giving his friend a hesitant smile. Kevin shot him a thumbs up before moving over to help Aurra with the Loboan that was going after her.
Ben transformed back into his Anodite form and flew right over to the first werewolf, which opened its mouth for a howl. But the Anodite simply opened a portal and redirected its howls right into the Loboan Aurra was fighting, who landed a fire spell on its ass. The sorceress then managed to put it down with a lightning spell right after as it was hopping around in pain.
A loud howl came from the remaining two Loboans before they threw themselves at Kevin and Ben furiously, swiping as fast as they could. But Ben only restrained the limbs of the first with his hair tendrils while the second broke its claws on the material Kevin was made of.
"Night night," Kevin said before punching it to the ground with a grunt of effort. Then knocked it unconscious with a second punch.
"Done," Ben said as Aurra put the last one to sleep. "How could you tell they were the hosts?"
"No corrodium drool," Gwen said with a point. Sure enough, there was corrodium drool coming from each of the Loboans but the three she pointed to.
"Those three are going to need further examination," Ben said.
"The question is how they got their hands on corrodium. It's not exactly an easy material to get your hands on," Kevin said.
"I think they already had it," Ben said with a thoughtful frown.
"What makes you think that?" Aurra asked.
"Take a long look at them, and see what seems familiar Gwen," Ben said as he transformed into Blitzwolfer. Her eyes immediately lit up with recognition.
"It looks just like that alien wolf!" Gwen exclaimed before snapping her fingers. "The alien from before! It had a family."
"I assume this is another one before we partnered up?" Kevin asked.
"Uh huh. Like I mentioned before, Ghostfreak tried to block out the Earth's sun with a corrodium beam, and he had one of these things as one of his servants to help him. One of them was the Loboan I got this DNA sample from, and we never found out what happened to him," Ben explained.
"Well, I don't think this is him," Aurra said, tilting her head at the biggest Loboan. "This one's a different color of black."
Sure enough, the Loboan Aurra was pointing to was a dark shade of black than Blitzwolfer. Plus, the fur was a bit sleeker.
"Yeah, I was thinking they were probably its kids or its brother or father. Whatever. I can't tell Loboan ages," Ben said with a shake of the head.
"So there's a chance they knew where to find corrodium," Gwen said thoughtfully.
"Maybe. We can think on it more after we get all of these people back to normal," Ben said before turning into Ghostfreak.
"Done. That's more time than I ever needed to spend as Ghostfreak," Ben said, teleporting the last villager next to Wes.
"Are you ok, Ajay?" Wes questioned, putting a hand on the man's shoulder.
"Fine. Just feel really strange," the man named Ajay said.
"Looks like we got to everyone in time," Gwen said with a smile.
"That's great," Ben said with a sigh of relief. After that whole business with Rozum, it felt good to get a legitimate victory. No one died or was permanently mutated.
"Magister Tennyson," a Plumber said on the comm.
"Go ahead," Ben said, raising the Ultimatrix up to his mouth.
"We've finished the examination on the three Loboans you brought back, and as it turns out, each of them has a piece of corrodium fused with their salivary glands. This isn't something they could've done themselves," the Plumber said, making them frown.
"Are you sure?" Ben questioned.
"Positive. There have been numerous cases of Loboans repressing their more base urges and becoming far more intelligent than their average brethren, but nothing of this scale. It takes someone with knowledge of alien anatomy and surgical precision to do something like this - neither of which Loboans this savage could've been capable of," the Plumber explained.
"So someone did this to them and sent them to Earth," Gwen said with a deep frown. "That doesn't bear good tidings at all."
"No it doesn't. All Plumbers in the universe are now on watch for any traces of corrodium found in their respective sectors. We'll let you know if we find anything," the Plumber said.
"Is there any way to cure them?" Alan asked.
"Only one that we know of - removing the salivary glands," the Plumber told him.
"That's the only way?" Kevin questioned.
"As you very well know, Loboans are normally immune to the effects of corrodium. Nothing less than a direct fusion was going to give these wolves a corrodium bite. Even then, the effects this has had on its body has been minor at best. There's no going back from something that's been wired into your DNA unless you can defuse DNA from a radioactive mutagen," the Plumber explained.
"Ben?" Kevin offered, and the Anodite sighed.
"Yeah, yeah. Give me a bit. What's three more times after curing an entire town?" Ben said before teleporting away.
"Who could've done something like that?" Pierce questioned.
"No one we know of. Dr. Animo is the closest we know to a surgeon, and he focuses on animals rather than aliens," Gwen said with a frown.
"Looks like we're going to have to keep our eyes out for a mad alien surgeon," Ben said told his team as he teleported back.
"Looks like it. Another time then," Kevin said before smirking at Ben. "How does it feel to get the real hero's experience this time?"
"Fan. Tastic," Ben emphasized with a small smile. "I'm relieved. After the last mission, something deserved to go smoothly for once."
"It really did," Kevin said, giving his friend a nod. "Glad you're feeling better, Tennyson."
"Contrary to what you might think Levin, I don't exactly enjoy being moody the entire day," Ben said with a roll of the eyes.
"Coulda fooled me. Was preparing myself for your emo phase," Kevin said, and everyone besides Ben and Aurra grinned in amusement.
"Wearing all black, growing your hair out and having it cover most of your face... I could see it," Pierce said with a thoughtful expression.
"I'll be sure to warn you if he starts listening to the same depressing songs on repeat," Gwen said with a laugh.
"I'll have you all in the brig for this disrespect," Ben said with an insincere scowl. He was clearly amused at the shenanigans of his teammates, and even Aurra couldn't deny that this kind of cheerfulness suited him far better.
"Ben! Gwen!" Wes exclaimed, heading towards their direction. "And.. I'm afraid I don't know the names of your teammates."
"Kevin, Alan, Pierce, and Aurra. There are also two more, Helen and Manny, but they aren't here at this moment," Ben told him as he pointed to each individual person.
"Long time no see," Gwen said with a wave. The rest of his teammates also returned a friendly wave.
"Good to see you, Gwen. I'd really like to thank you and your team for your help," Wes said in a grateful tone.
"All in a good day's work, Wes," Ben said with a smile and thumbs up.
"You look better than you were before," Wes pointed out.
"Yeah. It's... I've had a rough couple of days," Ben said with a nod. And with the way he was staring out in the distance, expression all but blank, Wes believed him.
"You've certainly grown since the last time I've seen you, Magister Tennyson," he said with a friendly smile.
"Well, Grandpa always said with age comes wisdom. Apparently, a crazy good team is also part of that deal," Ben said with a smile of his own.
"Looks like it," Wes said with a nod. "Well, there's a lot to be done around here. I wish you well, Ben."
"You as well," Ben said with a respectful nod as the man walked away.
"Thanks for your help, Ben," Kai said with a wide smile. The smile disappeared when she noticed Gwen rubbing on his arm.
"Glad to help," Ben said with a nod. Gwen's arm moved further along his body, and Ben looked at her with a grin. "Can you at least wait until we're out of here?"
"Not really," Gwen said with a wide grin.
"For the love of..." Aurra trailed before creating a portal. Then she cast a summoning spell on Gwen, taking Ben with her.
"Hey!" Gwen exclaimed as they were sent through the portal. Aurra immediately closed the portal before looking at a gobsmacked Kai.
"If by some miracle you don't know, the cousins attach their lips to each other like giant alien ticks. Goodbye. I hope we never have to come back here so I don't have to suffer through this twice," Aurra said, opening a portal to leave as she ignored the girl's gobsmacked expression. Kevin, Pierce, and Alan looked at her with a surprised expression, and she gave them a flat look. "Follow, or I'm stranding you here."
None of the other Plumbers felt inclined to test her on that statement, so they immediately followed after her.
"What was that about?" Gwen asked. Aurra noticed that she didn't even look mad - just surprised. It was a bit out of character for her.
"I was not really in the mood to watch you play cat and mouse with an ex of his," Aurra told her.
"Kai is not an ex," Ben told her.
"Huh. Funny. The Magister here only goes off the deep end when it involves girls and you," Aurra said, raising an eyebrow when Gwen shot her a glare.
"She's not concerned about Kai," Ben said with a roll of the eyes. Then he actually looked at Gwen, and how she was glaring at Aurra. "Gwen..."
"I have my reasons," Gwen said defensively.
"For goodness sake, Gwen. You were there with me. You of all people should get that Kai is the last person you should have to worry about," Ben said, crossing his arms. "On both ends."
"You weren't a world-famous hero back then," Kevin pointed out.
"Even still, I doubt anyone goes from wanting you as a pet to wanting you as a partner," Ben said, which earned him several strange looks.
"Huh?" Alan questioned.
"I only really interested her because she felt like she could, and I quote, 'train me and tame me,'" Ben said, and every male grimaced. Aurra blinked in a perplexed fashion at him.
"Ugh. Could you say biggest turn off in existence?" Kevin said. "But what's with that whole pet part?"
"The Omnitrix was glitched at the time, and I had actually been stuck transforming into a Loboan at the time," Ben said.
"So she knew you were human, but actually wanted you as a pet? That makes it worse," Pierce said with a grimace.
"I don't hold it against her. People suck at ten. I sucked at ten," Ben said with a shrug before looking at his girlfriend. "Which is why I'm saying you should give her the benefit of the doubt."
"I guess that's fair," Gwen admitted.
"Honestly, you were more receptive to me than to her. And I tried to kill the both of you. What, being an asshole at ten trumps potential death?" Kevin questioned in a dry tone.
"I think that sounds about right," Aurra said.
"You know, I almost preferred it when you didn't talk as much," Gwen said, and everyone laughed.
"Oh, well then I guess I'll just sew my mouth shut. Forgive me," Aurra said in a sarcastic tone, and both Ben and Kevin snickered.
"I gotta say, I've had the chance to see this jealous side of Gwen at least twice now, but never Ben," Pierce said.
"I have. Several times in the early days of Ben's identity getting leaked. It's as entertaining as you might think," Kevin said with a wide grin. "They almost always end running away in terror cause they noticed the fact that they might've pissed off the guy who fights aliens for a living."
"Well, if my dad was right, being territorial just runs in the family," Ben said with a shrug.
"Ergo, all Tennysons turn into bloodthirsty psychopaths when they get territorial," Aurra said.
Ben and Gwen raised a finger and opened their mouth at the same time, thought about it for a few seconds, and then decided against both gestures.
"Never mind. That sounds completely right," both of them said, and Aurra rolled her eyes.
"Typical," she said with a shake of the head. Then she looked at Kevin. "And you were absolutely correct. The fact that my boss is dating his cousin is pretty much normal for me at this point."
"I told you," Kevin said with a point.
"Something tells me if you search deeper in the galaxy, you can find even weirder stuff," Alan said.
"You are likely right. And I would not like to test that theory. I'm going home. See all of you later," Aurra said with a wave before opening a portal and teleporting away.
"She's definitely talking a lot more," Alan pointed out.
"Definitely feels like she's starting to come around," Pierce agreed with a nod.
"Well, her mom did say that it might take time for her to start," Gwen said.
"You talked to her?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, when we made our way back to Earth to get to Ledgerdomain. She mentioned she hadn't had the easiest time when she was younger," Ben said.
"Makes sense then. But our sense of justice is what ties us all together, and that's what matters. Soon she'll realize that she has friends here. Even if some of them are named Kevin," Pierce said with a pointed look.
"I make a perfectly good friend, right Tennyson?" Kevin questioned then frowned when he got no answer. "Tennyson?"
"Might wanna look behind you," Alan said, and Kevin could see Ben was walking away.
"Tennyson!" Kevin exclaimed before running after him, Ben's laughs echoing throughout the Plumber base. "Get over here and back me up!"
"You see Pierce? Best of friends. Because if you haven't tried to kill your friend at least once, they're not a real friend," Alan said with a laugh.
"You know, I think that explains so much about me and Ben then," Gwen said with a thoughtful look, making Alan and Pierce laugh. "Let's see how far this chase lasts."
"I'm in," Pierce said, and Alan agreed.
A/N: Taking too damn long getting these out. I have no real explanations other than the fact that I'm very skilled at procrastination at this point.
Also, here's the full description for Ultimate Brainstorm. I got the idea from Brainiac's design in Injustice 2.
Name: Ultimate Brainstorm
Description: Evolved form of a Cerebrocrustacean. In order to adapt to more unsavory conditions, Brainstorm transferred his brain into a more durable metal shell that is solely powered by the electricity that comes from its brain and navigated through his intellect. For this Cerebrocrustacean, this metal body is the perfect vessel.
Abilities
Enhanced Electrokinesis abilities: Ultimate Brainstorm's powers of electricity are even more powerful than that of its counterpart, capable of many of the same feats as his previous counterpart on a much large scale.
Enhanced Agility and Dexterity: Ultimate Brainstorm's metal frame is as light as it is durable, allowing for robot levels of strength, but dexterity that that is near superhuman.
Metallic Tendrils: Ultimate Brainstorm can project metallic tendrils made out of nanomachines from his back and hands, allowing him to reach in places he otherwise couldn't as well as having a tip that is sharp enough to pierce through flesh. Additionally, Brainstorm can analyze various objects and liquids with the scanners built into them and process them through his brain. He can also detach and rebuild them if they prove to be more of a detriment.
Resistance to sound-based attacks: The speakers on the metallic frame that processes noises filter out unsavory sounds and frequencies, which can prevent Ultimate Brainstorm's concentration from being broken.
Durable metal frame: Brainstorm's metal frame is invulnerable to most forms of afflicting wear and tear to it, including corrosion, heat, and electricity. Additionally, the metal is unaffected by sources of electromagnetism.
Weaknesses
Crush force: As durable Ultimate Brainstorm's metal frame is, the body itself can be outmuscled by other aliens and could potentially be crushed if enough force is applied.
Mind control: While partially resistant to common forms of mind control, any momentary lapses in Ultimate Brainstorm's brain activities could lead to the entire body not moving, leaving him wide open.
Love it? Hate it? Lemme know.