Legit, I think next week's chapter is gonna be a three parter. Good. So, it'd release Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
This was a weird way to hold a bunch of hostages. A nice boat. Like, a nice boat ride down the river. Ben blinked, as Vulkanus poured himself a pint.
"You ever have the beer here? Great stuff." Vulkanus said. "You guys are of age, right?
EightEight was still as professional as ever, her rifle resting across her lap as she sat next to Kai and Wes. A nice and quick way to ensure compliance if things went south. SixSix was driving the boat and SevenSeven was also enjoying a drink, using what was basically a high-tech straw to enjoy it without removing his helmet. Really dedicated to the look, that one.
"...traveling in style, I see." Ruby said. "I had an enemy you would've gotten along with swimmingly."
"Who was it? Might've known him, might've mourned him if he bit it." Vulkanus said, refilling his mug.
"More like it bit him." Ceres whispered.
Ruby had to stifle a laugh. Morbid, but true.
EightEight turned to them, hand gripping her rifle just to be on the safe side and-despite the helmet-Ruby and Ceres could tell she just wanted to ask what the hell THAT meant.
"Uh...so, did you know...Roman Torchwick?" Ruby asked nervously.
"Who do you think left me the boat in this will? And, by left me this boat, I mean, I totally stole it." Vulkanus said with a cheeky grin.
"...should we tell her when we get back? Well, if the boat doesn't get blown up somehow?" Ben asked.
"Mmmmmm…maybe. He might be behind bars again when this is all over," Ruby mused.
"Tell who?" Vulkanus asked.
"Enough of that." Kai frowned. "What makes you think you can even pull the sword out of the stone? You're CLEARLY not worthy of it."
"You actually think I BELIEVE in that crap?" the crime lord scoffed, "If the damn thing is stuck, I'll just rip out. You DO see the exosuit right?"
"Even with that, you're still a lazy, hedonistic and prideful shell of a man." Kai said coldly. "If you're willing to kidnap, steal and kill...you're just a stupid, corrupt businessman in pursuit of NOTHING. What moral gain will you get, Vulkanus?"
"I'm in it for the monetary gain, big difference. Even if it's just an old sword, some antique collector is gonna empty their POCKETS for the thing! It'll be enough to start back up the criminal empire that THOSE TWO," he pointed to Ruby and Ben, "helped Rex destroy in a matter of hours!"
"I don't know who Rex is to begin with, but I'd thank them for taking down your shit." Kai smirked.
"Of course you would," the crime lord sneered, "SixSix, how close are we?" he turned back to look at the bounty hunter.
The bounty hunter snarled a few things, as Ben looked around. "Why are we even going to the Big Ben? What, are we gonna get a clue from there?"
"You didn't see it did you? Back when we were in the cemetery? What was that first clue again?" Vulkanus asked mockingly.
"...no. Because you hauled us off while you got it." Ceres frowned.
"Well before we left, turns out that 'between Hall and Wall' there was something left behind by whoever set this whole elaborate thing Up. SevenSeven there managed to find these before we left," SevenSeven held out his hand and showed two small devices, each one look like some of sort steampunk magnifying glass with multiple circular lenses.
"...huh, those are kinda cool." Ben said. "What are they used for, though?"
"They will reveal the location of the sword." Wes frowned.
"Exactly. But there's a reason there's two of them," Vulkanus thought something over, "not letting those two go together...Kai and Rose. EightEight, when we get there, you take them up into position and we wait."
EightEight simply grunted in affirmation.
"What other position is there besides the Big Ben?" Ben scoffed.
"...Queen Victoria Tower." Wes said.
"...Oh."
SixSix suddenly brought the boat to a stop once they had reached a dock. EightEight grabbed her rifle and shoved Kai and Ruby to get up. With a nod of her head, the bounty hunter motioned for both of them to go first as she grabbed the device from her brother. SevenSeven finished the last of his drink and put the glass down, joining his sister for the job.
Wes looked up at the tower and slightly grinned. "Follow my lead." Wes whispered, to the two.
Kai followed her grandfather's gaze before looking back at him and nodding. EightEight pushed her as a means to say keep moving.
Ben frowned. "Welp. That just leaves us. What's the plan?" Ben whispered to Ceres.
"You know," Ceres said as the boat started moving again, "I get the feeling Wes has something in mind."
Ruby, Wes and Kai walked up the stairs of the Big Ben, guns pointed to their backs. Ruby was silent, but definitely questioning what Wes had planned.
EightEight shoved Ruby further ahead as they ascended. SevenSeven tinkered was looking over his photon destabilizer, as a means to intimidate the others. He'd always wondered what this would do to a human. The silence was soon broken when they reached the top, after what felt like hours. EightEight motioned for Kai to go first.
At the Big Ben, Ceres and Ben also reached the of Queen Victoria Tower. Ben felt like he shouldn't be up here. And yeah, he was always somewhere he shouldn't be. But this one...this one especially felt off.
"Alright, everything's in position on our end," Vulkanus said into his wrist comm, "EightEight, SevenSeven, you ready?" The bounty hunters' reply came in that garbled alien language the trio of hunters were known for.
"Good. And we have plenty of time to spare."
"For what, exactly? How are we gonna use these telescope things to find where the location of the sword is?" Ruby asked.
"You know, I was wondering who'd ask first. Thank you for volunteering!" the crime lord chuckled over the comms as EightEight grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and pushed her into position. At one point, Ruby was almost certain she was gonna try and throw her over the side. Instead, she just stopped her right at a specific spot and then put the telescope in her hands. She then made a gesture with her hands like she was holding a pistol, intending for Ruby to mirror her.
"...huh?" Ruby blinked.
Wes huffed. "That's not how it works. At all."
Vulkanus groaned. "Seriously? Then how, pray tell, does it work?"
"Did you not notice the latches on the bottom?" Kai asked.
"...the what?" Vulkanus asked.
"The latch-oh, just give it here," Wes said.
"...if one of them tries something," the crime lord began, "shoot the other. Don't care if it's the old man or the girl. Whichever one starts it, the other pays for it."
EightEight nodded and then handed the device off to Wes. Her brother shifted his hands into blasters and aimed them at both Kai and Wes, just to be safe.
Wes walked around the deck, looking for the location. "I believe it was a few steps this way...and..." Wes smiled. "Gotcha."
EightEight followed him closely, actually somewhat intrigued by this.
Wes looked back up at the clock- the second hand was ticking away, seconds from hitting 10:00 PM...and chiming the bells.
"No, wait..." Wes said, walking a few more steps over. "I think...this would be easier if you hadn't left my notes on the boat, Vulkanus."
"Oh for," Vulkanus facepalmed, "Did any of you take scans of the bloody things?"
SixSix shook his head no while SevenSeven nodded and brought them up, holding his arm out and demorphing one arm so Wes could look at them, as if to say 'This better?'
Wes frowned- honestly, he hoped one of them would jet over to the boat and grab it. But...he could still stall a little longer.
"Wrong scan. Show me all that you have."
SevenSeven was practically rolling his eyes behind his helmet and started swiping through the scans.
"Nope...nope..." Wes would occasionally look back up at the clock. 5 seconds. 4 seconds. 3 seconds...
Vulkanus groaned. "Ugh, can you just-"
The bells chimed loudly.
SevenSeven suddenly jerked back, bringing both demorphed hands to his head, covering his ears. EightEight did the same, the ringing echoing in her helmet. Over on Big Ben, SixSix, and Vulkanus did the same. None of them had actually prepared for that.
Ben grinned, as he took full advantage of the noise. "And that must be Wes' distraction." Ben activated the Omnitrix, scrolling to a random alien.
In a flash of green, Ben's form had been replaced with a slightly taller, more canine-like bipedal form. Blue fur now covered his entire body. His face had become more dog-like, elongating into a snout, though there was a subtle dividing line running its length on the top and bottom of the snout. His green eyes opened, seeing his hands now ending in razor-sharp, black claws.
"B-blitzwolfer!? Now!?" Ben yelled, as he snapped the cuffs off of him.
The bells chimed again and...oh no. Blitzwolfer's hearing was enhanced and he was standing right next to the bells.
"GAHHHH!" Ben yelled, as he fell to the ground.
"So, you thought you could-!?" Vulkanus yelled. "GAH! JUST KILL THEM! AND GIMME THE STUPID NOTES!"
SixSix shook his head and took aim at Ben with his blaster. Ceres kicked his arm up, making him fire into the air. She slammed her shoulder into the bounty hunter to knock him over so she could work on getting the cuffs off.
Ben groaned. "Lemme get those for you." Ben quickly snapped his jaw down, biting the cuffs in half.
SixSix quickly got to his feet and started firing at the two again, one hand still covering his ear from just how LOUD that ringing was.
Blitzwolfer grinned, as his teeth became coated in metal. "Don't like loud noises, huh? Let's see how you deal with this!" Ben let loose a loud howl, boosted by the metal plates in his throat.
SixSix dropped his pistol and just holds his head in pain. That sound-boosted howl made it feel like his head was about to explode.
Ceres grinned. "Let's put him out of commission." Ceres put on her gauntlets, and uppercut SixSix right in the jaw.
Ceres could hear metal crunch and bone crack even under the bell chiming. SixSix was thrown back from the hit, his helmet smacking into the railing with a metallic thud.
"...did we actually kill him?" Ben asked.
"I dunno. Maybe?" Ceres shrugged.
"I'm kinda hoping no...because those two don't look happy." Ben said, pointing over at SevenSeven and EightEight.
EightEight used her scope to look over at the other tower and managed to spot SixSix getting hit by Ceres. She turned back to SevenSeven who turned on the photon destabilizer. The female hunter started to activate her thrusts to fly over to the other tower, only for Ruby to slam into her from behind and toss off her balance. She almost dropped her rifle which gave Ruby just enough time to land a kick into the alien's back.
"I could honestly break free from these cuffs at any time." Ruby said, using her semblance to free her hands. "But...figured it'd be fun to see how Wes' plan turned out."
EightEight growled as she grabbed her rifle and swung it like a bat at Ruby. She knew it wouldn't break but it would be useful as a surprise attack. SevenSeven meanwhile, activated the destabilizer and rushed at Ruby from behind, ready to slash her with it.
Kai growled, as she shoulder bashed SevenSeven from behind, activating his jetpack.
SevenSeven jerked forwards a bit and growled. He turned, ready to stab Kai with the jetpack...only for him to suddenly hear the jetpack power on. In a panic, he tried to turn off but he was too late. With the thrusts activated, SevenSeven flew off into the sky leaving behind a trail of smoke.
Kai grinned. "Buh bye."
Ruby dodged a few more attacks from EightEight, as she looked over to Kai. "Hey, how big a drop would you say it is from here to the boat?"
Kai gave her a weird look. "I'm a history buff, not a trig buff. Why?"
"Just a question."
EightEight took yet another swing at Ruby. She managed to dodged and land a solid kick to the bounty hunter's head. The impact sent her reeling, grabbing hold of the railing to support herself.
"Welp. I'm about to find out." Ruby said, as she hopped on top the ledge. "Stall for me, would you?"
"Huh?"
And Ruby jumped off the ledge.
Kai raced to the railing and looked over, watching Ruby fall in shock and horror. When EightEight composed herself, she found herself watching Ruby fall too. Did this girl have a death wish she didn't know about?
Ruby grinned, as she suddenly used her speed semblance to rocket herself, towards the ship. She needed her weapon to fight back properly. It was good to mimic Yang's hand to hand, but it wasn't really making a dent here. Silver eyes wouldn't work either. That weapon was her only choice.
In a several bursts of speed and petals, mixed in with some normal free-fall to conserve energy, Ruby was able to land on the boat below, making it rock in the water from the sudden impact. Crescent Rose was up front, safely stored away in its compact form.
Ruby grinned, as she grabbed it. Ruby also picked up Wes' work and stored it in a sachet on her back. "Now...should I sink this thing, or just let Neo do it later?"
Ruby thought it about before deciding. "I'll let her do it. Souvenir for her," she chuckled as she had Crescent Rose unfold into its full glory.
Ruby looked back over to see SevenSeven, flying back. Ruby hissed. "Shit. Looks like he's a better flier than his brother."
A better flier and a lot faster to anger, if that was possible. His arms were outstretched, hands already morphed into weapons. His helmet display had locked onto Kai and he was getting ready to fire.
Ruby gasped, as she switched her weapon into Turret mode. She quickly loaded some Earth dust rounds in her weapon, and began firing.
Rounds started flying past SevenSeven. He cursed under his breath and went into evasive maneuvers, dodging and rolling in the air and out of the way the shots. He turned his attention down to Ruby, taking aim. The barrels started to spin up and energy blasts began flying out towards the huntress.
Back atop the tower, Kai looked over at EightEight, who was still in shock from Ruby's stunt. Her eyes wandered down and noticed a dagger on the bounty hunter's thigh. she quickly and carefully drew the blade from the sheathe and ran over to Wes. It wasn't going to cut the bindings themselves, but it would screw up the projectors.
Ben frowned. "Hey, Ceres. Think I can make this jump across?"
"...20 bucks." Ceres said, hopping on his back.
Vulkanus noticed that and growled. He shifted his right hand into a mace and ran at them, intent on smashing both of them at once. Ben took a few steps back, getting into position, and took a running start. Vulkanus' mace barely missed Ben's tail.
Ceres blasted some flames at him, as Ben coated his claws in metal.
Vulkanus brought up his hands to block the flames. The fires also served to give Ben just a little extra momentum as he ran to make the jump.
Ben and Ceres landed on Victoria Tower, as Vulkanus growled. "TENNYSOOOOOON!" He yelled.
"Jeez, he's mad." Ben grinned.
"...he said that was a robotic suit, right?" Ceres said.
"Yeah?"
"...what are the chances it can fly?"
"Oh shit..." Ben muttered.
The crime lord slammed his fist into the side of the tower in rage before he entered a command into his suit. Three thrusters appeared from the ankles of the suit and soon, jets of fire spewed forth, giving him enough lift and power to start taking off.
"...kind of a lame way to fly, though." Ben said, as his throat became coated in metal.
Vulkanus roared out as, once he'd actually taken off, he raced over towards Ben and Ceres, both hands morphing into maces. It did slow him down a bit, but that's fine. So long as he could crush the skulls of these idiots.
Ben took a deep breath, and released another howl. Vulkanus was sent back a bit. He didn't have any way to really steady himself against something like that. "I don't have time for this!" the crime lord growled.
"Well, I got all the time in the world, dude!" Ben grinned, as he inhaled again...
And reverted back to human.
"...aw, fuck."
Vulkanus chuckled, "What was that, Tennyson?" He rotated his mace-hand and reared his arm back, ready to slam it back down and crush this annoyance once and for all.
Ruby suddenly sped up behind Vulkanus, and sliced that arm clean off. Vulkanus's eyes widened, as Ruby landed on a roof. She flicked liquid off of her weapon, and looked down at it...
"...huh?" Ruby stared at the orange liquid. She sniffed the air. "...is that...oil?"
"Oh great...do you have ANY idea how long it's gonna take to fix that?!" Vulkanus roared, "And I just got this thing upgraded!"
"...wait, hold on." Ruby said. "You're...wearing a power suit!?"
Ben blinked- no flesh, no blood. Just oil. What the fuck?
"I...well...uh," Vulkanus stammered.
"You were a fucking cyborg the whole time?!" Ben shouted.
"Oh, so, I'm the one you question about being a cyborg but not SevenSeven over there?!"
"Can we focus on the revelation LATER?" Kai yelled. Wes was about to cause a huge distraction, and this could be their chance to possibly snag the sword before Vulkanus.
Ben quickly brought out one of the ball bearings, he'd gotten used to carrying a few of them just in case he needed them, and kicked it at Vulkanus' head while the crime lord was still reeling from his little secret getting found out. The metal ball slammed into Vulkanus' face hard and made him stagger back. Now was the perfect chance for Wes.
Wes reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small pen- he clicked the top, and threw it up in the air.
Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh, shit!" Ruby covered her eyes with her cloak.
"Where did he even get-" Vulkanus began, bringing his hand down from where the iron ball hit...only for him to be blinded by the sudden flashbang. "MOTHERFUCKER!"
Ben and Kai had covered their eyes before the flashbang went off, but the bounty hunters they were fighting weren't so lucky. It was even worse for them due to lens flair from their helmets' visors.
Ben blinked, as he looked around. Ceres elbowed him. "Alright, they're blinded! How do we do this ritual to get the sword?"
"Gonna take a guess here. Moonlight's gonna shine through these lenses," Ben said, holding up one of the small devices, "and I wanna say they're gonna shine at the same spot. That's where the sword is."
"That…is VERY accurate!" Wes shouted over to them.
"Huh, cool."
"How did you figure that out?" Ceres asked.
"...Raiders of the Lost Ark."
"...you know what? Fair."
"Let's just hope there aren't any giant snakes down there," Ben quipped before he got into position. He adjusted the lenses and carefully held the device out, Wes doing the same on the other tower. Soon enough, beams of moonlight flowed through the lenses and shown into the river. The beams slowly moved closer together before they converged and stopped at one spot in the river.
"And there it is," Ceres said.
Kai grinned. "In the middle of the River...and we already have a way of getting there."
"Best not dillydally any further!" Wes yelled. "Take advantage of everything!"
"One thing! You wanna keep these things or are we breaking them so Vulkanus can't follow?" Ben shouted over to Wes, ready to shatter the lens if needed.
"Break them!" Wes said. "This is a secret to be kept!"
"Got it!" Ben said, breaking the staff with his leg. Ruby noticed this...and blushed a bit.
"Oh, my god..." She whispered.
Ceres shook her head and smirked. "When we're done being modern knights, you two can have some alone time with your Lancelot," Ceres whispered back.
"...that might not be the best wa-"
"First one that came to mind. Now," Ceres said so everyone could hear her, "let's go!"
The group immediately assembled and rushed to the boat- sure, they were out of breath, but Vulkanus and the others were still blind. Plenty of time to finish the job.
Wes got into the driver seat, making sure the key was still in its place before driving off to the spot in the river that was illuminated.
"You know how to drive this thing?" Ruby asked.
"Plenty of plumber training with flying class 5 cruisers. I can handle a dinky little boat." Wes grinned, as he gunned it.
Ben was already getting ready to swap to one of his many aquatic aliens so he could see what they were going to be dealing with in a few minutes.
"So, what's the room gonna be like?" Ruby asked.
"Booby trapped, probably." Kai explained. "They ALWAYS are booby trapped. It gets kinda repetitive, but there's a fun to it. I mean, if you could just walk in and grab a thing, it'd be boring."
"...uh huh." Ruby hummed. She knew Kai would hate the Relic's simplistic non-booby trapped way.
The boat soon came to a stop right above where the moonlight had shone down. Once there, Ben slapped down the Omnitrix and turned into his classic underwater alien, Ripjaws. He jumped into the water and started swimming down, looking around for some sign of a hidden entrance.
"I don't get it- we shined the lights on the location. Where's the sword?" Ceres asked.
"The structure the sword rests in takes a few moments to rise." Wes said. "We just have to wait..."
Ben swam down further until he, and everyone else on the boat, could feel the water starting to react. The boat start to rock on the waves as, below the surface, Ben saw it. He swam out of the way as he saw what looked like a stone island break the surface of the river. Ruby and the others saw it as well, a n ancient well-weathered stone island with what looked like a formation from Stonehenge situated on it. Ben broke the surface shortly, jumping up onto the formation and reverting back to human. He saw a stone ramp lead down into a long, dark stone corridor.
"It has been a while, Ruby." Wes said, as they walked down the way. "How are you doing?"
"Uh...fine, I guess." Ruby said. "Just...had a lot on the plate."
"Good to hear. Though...I take it that something...well, I know that look. Something big happened," Wes said.
"...my...mom's alive." Ruby whispered. "...I think."
Wes was expecting something big, but he wasn't expecting that. He found himself speechless for a moment, trying to figure out what to say.
"Ruby..."
"I know...this whole time...I thought she was gone...and it took someone I didn't even know for me to find out. That...that's all I really wanna say about it."
Wes took a deep breath. "I...see. If you ever need help...then, we're only a call away. I appreciate you coming."
"Thank you. It...it was the least we could do," Ruby said, trying to regain her composure.
"Of course." Wes said, taking a deep breath.
Kai, Ceres and Ben walked behind the group. "So...heard you got...stabbed in the chest?" Kai asked Ben.
"...shot with an arrow, actually," Ben corrected, "It...let's just say I got very, very lucky there."
"Really? How deep was-"
"Deep enough to land him in physical therapy for a good while." Ceres said, abruptly cutting Kai off.
"Can...we change the subject?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, sorry...that was just floating in my mind because...I just heard it from...someone..."
"It's fine...it's just...not something I like thinking about that often."
"Right, right..." Kai said. "Sorry. So used to only talking with my grandpa."
"It's fine," Ben said, trying to overcome that feeling quickly, so Kai didn't notice. Ceres certainly noticed it, though. That slight twinge of pain registered in Ben's eyes subtly, but it was there.
The group walked down in silence. It was so much awkwardness as more of a...disconnect. As social a creature a human is, there comes a point where humans will not have much in common. Ceres was an outlier in this situation, don't forget her Archemidean heritage, but she was still stuck in this funk of awkwardness.
As they walked, with Kai looking around the tomb, the would-be treasure hunter's eyes suddenly noticed something about the floor ahead of them. She suddenly held out her arms to stop the group from advancing, Ceres bumping into her arm. She was distracted, looking around the tomb as well. Something struck her about the stonework.
"What's wrong?" Ben asked. Kai took a step forward and knelt down, examining the tiles. To most, the tiles seemed the same. To Kai, there were slight differences she could pick out. Every slight uses in the stone used.
"Like I thought," Kai muttered, "Classic trapped tomb. The floor ahead's full of pressure plates. One wrong step, they set off...whatever trap the architects set up."
"Well, since this is your area of expertise..." Ruby hummed. "Wanna show us how it's done?"
Kai's eyes lit up. "With pleasure."
First, she needed to find a clear path. Kai's eyes darted from tile to tile, mentally making a note of which tiles were trapped and which weren't. The good news was there there were enough untrapped tiles to form a clear path. The bad news was that every tile at the end was a pressure plate from what she could see.
"Follow my lead," Kai said back to the others as she started to walk across the tiles. Her path snaked left and right and ending with a leap of faith to the safety beyond the pressure plates.
Wes went first, he was more experienced with this as well. Besides, it would help to have two people with trap knowledge on the other side in case someone missed a step.
"Alright," Wes said, "who's next?"
"...well, our methods aren't gonna be as cool." Ruby said, grabbing Ceres. She brought Ceres into her grasp, and sped the two across. Ben quickly shifted into Ghostfreak as he quietly floated across.
"...yeah, see? Not as cool." Ben said, as he floated across.
"One of you turned into a storm of rose petals, and another turned into a Ghostbusters extra. Never thought I'd hear that described as 'not as cool'," Kai smirked.
"It kinda gets normal after a while." Ben shrugged.
"Yeah. Like last week, when Ben fought an Iron Man wannabe. Kinda happened." Ceres said.
"Seriously?" Kai asked.
"It was the latest in a series of 'fuck you's' to Weiss' dad," Ben said.
"All of which he deserves!" Ruby chimed in.
"Sounds like he'd make a great politician," Wes said sarcastically.
"Worst part? He is. The Iron Man bootleg was part of his campaign," Ceres said.
"...He built Iron Man...as a fucking campaign gimmick?" Kai asked as the group continued on.
"Probably a case of too much money, not enough sense to spend it on useful things," Wes sighed.
"Yeah, fuck the rich. They've NEVER done anything of use." Ben huffed.
"Amen to that." Wes nodded, as the group continued their journey.
As they continued on, the group soon came to a large circular, central chamber, multiple pathways branching off all around. In the middle was a pedestal that caught Ceres' attention. Kai and Wes were already inspecting it and the small symbols that covered its surface.
"Weird symbols...a kind of cuneiform maybe?" Kai suggested.
"In England? In the resting place of Excalibur?" Wes tried to make a point.
"I know but...look at them. It's obviously not old English or...any European language."
"...let me see it," Ceres said.
"Huh?" Ben asked, as Ceres walked forward. She took a look at the words, and went silent.
"...everything okay?" Ruby asked.
"...you're shitting me."
"What?"
"This is Archemediean."
"It's what?" Kai asked.
"Archemedian. Well...Old Archimedian," Ceres said, reading over the words. She didn't really understand them, being more familiar with the modern version of the language. "The stonework...it should've tipped me off sooner. It's my people's craftsmanship..."
"You're telling me the Sword of Arthur may be..." Wes began.
"Alien in origin? Yeah. Makes sense. When we build something, it's made to last a VERY long time." Ceres said.
"...you guys didn't make any crazy combo-weapons did you? Like...if we flip a switch on the hilt, it's gonna turn into a laser rifle or something?" Ruby asked.
"One, we did. Two, we only did that for halberds."
"...alright. So, what do we do now?" Ben asked. "Since this is...your people's stuff, technically."
"I...I don't know," Ceres said, "Like I said, this is OLD Archimedian. You know how there's Old English and if you look at it you'd think 'what the hell am I reading?' It's like that."
"Ah, yes, Shakespeare english. The best english." Ben cringed.
Ceres turned to Kai. "Ever experience something like this before? Your expertise may come in handy once more..."
"What? Ancient alien languages?" Kai asked, her tone made it sound like the answer should be obvious.
"No. Look, I'll translate as best I can and if you can...you make sense of it."
"Alright, alright…" Kai said.
"Legend begins…with the swing of the sword, and legends ends with it becomes myth." Ceres read, squinting as she read it. "God, that's cryptic."
"Ok, nothing unusual there," Kai said, "Just a fancy way to start things off...but keeping it in mind," Kai interjected.
"Swing of the sword…" Wes hummed, looking up at the statue on the pedestal. "Pull on that sword."
Ben looked over to the statue and exhaled, getting ready to try this.
"Think I can do it without an alien?" Ben asked.
"Hmmm...if you can, you get twenty bucks," Ruby smirked.
"Deal."
Ben climbed up the pedestal, and spit in his hands. He jumped up, grabbed the sword…and pulled the arm down.
"Huh. Alright, twenty bucks coming you're way when we get back," Ruby admitted.
"...that kinda felt too easy," Ben admitted, "Like, yeah, it's meant to move...but it's still stone."
"Probably just made that way," Ceres said.
The ground started to shake as the pedestal started to move to the left- it revealed a door on the other side. The room was dark, with little light inside.
"Anyone got any flares?" Ruby asked, looking to Wes and Kai.
"Hold on. This Omnitrix has some new modes…" Ben clicked the Omnitrix a few times, and the faceplate lit up. Ben held up his wrist, and walked into the chamber.
"Huh...what can't that watch do?" Wes asked.
"Actually tell time. But it can translate anything from Cantonese to sign language," Ruby answered before following Ben into the chamber.
"…wait, what?" Kai said.
"Question stuff later. Sword time." Ben said.
"How much have you guys been up to since we last spoke? I mean aside from...y'know, the obvious?" Kai asked, following them into the chamber. Ceres and Wes brought up the rear.
"Aaaaa lot," Ruby answered, "Short version? Few gang raids, a mutant schoolgirl, sister got forced into an alien gladiator pit."
"...yeah, no, definitely gonna ask about all of that."
"Tell her about the God we fought. Gwen's reaction was funny." Ceres said.
"...the god?" Kai asked.
"Might as well have been," Ben said.
"...thought that was just us."
"...come again?" Ceres asked.
"Yeah. We fought a god, too."
"Well, that's a twist." Ceres said, noticing a torch. She lit up the palm of her hand, and ignited the torch. The flames started to suddenly light up around the room.
"Psychopyrodendro." Ceres noted. "Wood is connected by an invisible psychic link. Ignite one piece of wood, you light all of them up."
"Wait, so there's a scientific explanation for the trope?" Ruby chuckled.
"Yep," the Archimedian smirked.
"I've learned that anything you can't explain with typical science or myth is aliens." Wes said. "Don't be shocked."
"Fair enough," Ben shrugged, looking around the new chamber.
The chamber was very medieval, with statues of powerful imposing Archemedians positioned all over the room.
"Who are they?" Kai asked.
"Legends, probably lost to time." Ceres sighed, looking at one of the statues. "It's been so long since I've seen anything from my culture…"
"That's...a little tragic," Wes admitted.
"Yeah...I mean, there are reasons for that but...still..." Ceres trailed off, looking up at one of the statues. It was almost like she could feel the statue staring down at her, like it knew her past. That gaze seemed like the statue itself would come to life any moment now and judge her past deeds and achievements, the good and the bad.
"There...there's Excalibur." Kai pointed to the center of the room. Stuck into a large stone was the mythical blade- it had a golden hilt, with what looked to be dragon scales molded on it. Kai couldn't see the blade, but there was hints of it being...chromatic.
"Anyone who holds that sword can call it to their side, and they gain invincibility and immunity to all." Kai said.
"Which is exactly why," a familiar voice growled, "I want it."
Drawing weapons, or in Ben's case, readying the Omnitrix, the group turned to see Vulkanus and his entourage. EightEight was holding a blaster to the side of Wes' head. With her mask expressionless, Kai could only imagine the smug smirk on the bounty hunter's face.
"And unless you step away from the sword right now," Vulkanus added, "EightEight will give this room a lovely new crimson paintjob. Her brothers wanted to kill you all right here and now but-"
"You wanted to be dramatic," Ben finished for him.
SevenSeven spoke in his strange, undecipherable language, which Ben could only guess was the cyborg agreeing with him.
"Shut it, Sev," Vulkanus demanded.
"You'd probably turn a profit for the sword, wouldn't you?" Ruby said.
"Yes, and no." Vulkanus said. "You see, I'm gonna take that sword to a VERY special technician, and have him reverse engineer the sword so I can mass produce it, and sell a special collection for a profit…"
"Keeping the original for yourself, right?" Wes asked.
"Which I will then use to take apart that bastard Rex!" Vulkanus added confidently.
"...not us?" Ruby asked.
"Well, yeah, you too, but Rex dragged you into that whole thing in the first place, didn't he?"
SixSix chimed in with a few alien words.
"Yes it matters, you-...no, no, we already had this conversation. Not having it again," the crime boss sighed.
Ceres lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, really… try and lift the sword from the stone, then."
Vulkanus scoffed. "Please, lady. I could do that with ease."
"...then do it," Kai smirked, seeing where Ceres was going with this.
"Alright! Fine. Jeez, you're pushy." Vulkanus stomped over to it, and rubbed his hands. "Watch me do this with ease."
Vulkanus grabbed the hilt of the sword, and attempted to pull up…
Only for the sword not to budge.
"What the...hang on," the Detrovite said, trying to put more force behind the pull. The bounty hunters watched their boss try and try to free the sword from the pedestal. SixSix and SevenSeven, while still aiming at the group, exchanged a look that just read "Is he serious right now?" (edited)
The group watched Vulkanus struggle for a while, awkwardly kicking the ground with the occasional cough. This was emasculating for him.
"S-sixsix! Get in here and you try and pull it up!"
SixSix let out a robotic sigh before he made his way over, still aiming at Ben and Ruby. When he reached the sword, he holstered his weapons and took hold of the sword's hilt. Then the other, smaller limbs clamped onto the hilt and the Sotoraggian began to pull, only for the same thing to happen. He blinked behind his helmet and continued to pull. With growls of frustration, he even fired up his jet thrusters and tried to fly up and free the sword that way.
"Why's the sword not moving?" Ben whispered to Ceres.
"The sword only responds to DNA of Archemedians." Ceres hummed. "They're wasting their time. Idiots."
SixSix, no doubt frustrated, growled and drew his weapons again. He took aim at the stone the blade was embedded in and just opened fire on it. If he couldn't pull the legendary sword free, he'd break it out.
"Is this the part where we jump them?" Kai asked.
"Yep." Ceres said, popping the p. Ben reached for the Omnitrix.
SevenSeven called out, getting the attention of his employer and brother. Right then, Ceres rushed in to take on the cyborg bounty hunter. With the opening, Ben slammed down on the Omnitrix as Ruby drew Crescent Rose.
Ben morphed into an unexpected choice, Humungousaur. The room was large enough for Humungousaur to fight, and easily overpower SixSix with just his thumb.
Vulkanus yelled. "Aw, WHAT?! NO FAIR USING A VAXASAURIAN!"
Ruby sped off, leaving Ben and Vulkanus behind her and aiming right for EightEight. The bounty hunter called out and threw Wes aside. She took aim and opened fire with a barrage of energy pistol shots.
Kai pulled out a grappling hook from her belt, and aimed it at Eighteight. She fired the gun, and the hook wrapped around her arm.
Kai yanked it back, pulling EightEight into Ruby's path.
Being pulled off balance let EightEight stumble in just right way so that Ruby could land a double kick to the bounty hunter's face. The alien's visor cracked from the impact before the kick knocked her off her feet.
Kai smirked. "That's for holding us hostage, AND for pointing a blaster to my grandpa's head!"
EightEight then immediately shot up and locked onto Kai. Apparently, the bounty hunter didn't take kindly to explorer's words.
"...oh shit," Kai muttered.
EightEight pulled out some alien dagger, and began to stab at Kai. Kai dodged under the attacks, and grabbed EightEight's arm. Ruby first assumed it was to disarm her...
But then Kai slammed the assassin to the ground, put her in an armbar, and PULLED on that arm.
POP.
EightEight was screaming.
SevenSeven and SixSix looked over to their sister in horror. Despite being bloodthirsty alien bounty hunters, they were still family. There's a lesson to be learned there somewhere...but it'd be best to analyze that from better examples than these siblings. Even still, SixSix took aim at Kai and tried to tackle her off his sister, jet thrusters propelling forward. Vaxasaurian be damned!
Ben put his hand in front of SixSix, and grabbed him. SixSix struggled within Humungosaur's grasp- Ben brought SixSix close, and ROARED.
The mutant bounty hunter was unphased. Several of his smaller, robotic appendages emerged from his back and began to open fire at Ben's eyes.
Ben clamped his eyes shut, and slammed SixSix on the ground like he was a bug. SixSix's body twitched, as Ben rubbed his eye.
That hurt. He thought.
The Sotoraggian struggled to get up, but at least his efforts weren't in vain. Vulkanus shifted his mechanical hand into a massive drill and tried to pierce Ben's scales. The drill itself was hard enough to mine some of the strongest materials in the galaxy, including taydonite.
Ben roared in pain- Ruby knew she had to act. She zipped over to Vulkanus' position, and cleaved through his am. Vulkanus' arm dropped to the ground, and he yelled.
"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE AND ARMS TODAY!?" Vulkanus yelled.
"I'll admit, it's weird I keep aiming for the arm," Ruby admitted, "Wonder if this is how Cinder feels."
"...YOU'VE DONE THIS TO MORE THAN ONE PERSON?! REPEATEDLY?!" Vulkanus asked.
Ruby paused to think. "Yeah, probably."
"…you people are sick! Holy shit!" Vulkanus yelled.
"Listen," Ceres said, dodging blade strikes from SevenSeven, "They earned it. One's sister nearly killed me and the rest are all wanted terrorists!" The Archimedian dodged another strike from the cyborg bounty hunter, exploiting the opening and landing a right jab into the alien's gut, making him stagger back.
Ceres' hand ignited, as she threw a powerful palm thrust at SevenSeven's chest. Her palm exploded against his chest, sending him flying backwards into a wall…
And cracking it.
SevenSeven groaned as he tried to pry himself free of the chamber wall.
"Really wanna go again?" Ceres asked.
The cracks in the wall started to widen. Ceres' face fell, suddenly remembering where they were. "…okay, we're gonna need to take the sword and run! NOW!" Ceres yelled.
Ben noticed the cracking wall and grunted, motioning towards the sword.
"...Yeah I kinda pointed Chekov's gun at myself on this one, didn't I?" Ceres sighed, racing over to the sword and grabbing hold of its hilt.
Ceres easily pulled it out of the stone and held it above her head. The blade was unworldly, even for her people's tech. The blade was chromatic, and was curved like an odachi. It was heavy, too.
"That's Excalibur?" Ruby asked. "I always thought it looked more like...a normal sword."
"If they're going to white wash history, they'll make a magnificent sword look boring." Wes frowned.
"Besides, you think anyone from the time of King Arthur would know what an odachi is?" Ceres added.
"You both have points there," Kai said, agreeing with Wes and Ceres, "But let's focus on getting out of here before we decide to go on about historical errors!"
Ben reverted back to human. "Agreed!" Ben and the others started to run for the door, as Vulkanus chased after them.
"Hold on! Don't leave me down here!" Vulkanus yelled.
"You can breathe underwater, dipshit! You'll be fine!" Ben spat back.
EightEight was the first of the bounty hunter trio to take notice of the imminent flood. She looked over to her recovering youngest brother and called out to him, while she raced over and grabbed SevenSeven. The two still conscious mercenaries fired up their thrusts before launching after Vulkanus and Ben's group.
Ceres spun around. "Oh, no you don't!" Ceres raised the blade of Excalibur above her head, and sliced the air in front of her. A wave of chromatic energy shot out from the blade, and slammed into Vulkanus. The energy slash exploded, knocking Vulkanus back into the two bounty hunters.
"Coooooooooool." Ruby grinned.
"Right, might have to keep this," Ceres admitted before continuing to run.
Ben swapped into Big Chill, and froze the doors to Excalibur shut. "That should hold them until backup arrives to arrest them." Ben guessed.
"Ben. Good idea, one problem," Kai said, "Floodwater will absolutely break that hold."
"Okay, no big deal. I'll just layer it up." Ben froze the wall a few more times. "Problem solved!"
"Ben. How much water do you think will be rushing into this chamber? From the River Thames? With the addition of a mech-suit slamming into the door?" Wes added.
"That's not holding is it?" Ben asked.
"Not for long, no."
"...okay, we should run then." Ben said, flying ahead of the group.
Ruby grabbed hold of Kai's hand before she raced off as well in a flurry of rose petals, with Ceres and Wes running behind them all.
At the door, the bounty hunters and Vulkanus had recovered and tried to break through the icy barricade. Vulkanus morphed his other hand into a drill and began to try and shatter the door that way.
"Come on! Break break break!" Vulkanus yelled, trying to break through the wall.
SixSix pulled out his weapons and took aim at the door, trying to smash it down through firepower.
"Wait, what are y-" Vulkanus yelled, but was caught off by the sound of gunfire that shook the whole chamber.
"STOP HIM!" the crime boss ordered, looking to EightEight.
His two siblings tried to stop the trigger happy bounty hunter, but the damage was done. The chamber was shaking, with pieces of debris falling from the ceiling. Vulkanus stared blankly at the three of them.
"You're not getting paid." He frowned.
EightEight turned and smacked her impulsive brother in the back of the head before the water started rushing in.
The sun was slowly rising when Kai and the others reached the top of the stairs before the water flooded the place again. The group was out of breath, and very, very tired.
"What...a night..." Kai huffed.
"Not...the craziest we've ever had," Ceres admitted.
"Hard to pin which that is," Ruby smirked, "Not the most exciting but getting to see 'Ironwood Prime' is easily up in the top five."
"Seeing Harriet's reaction to that must've been priceless," Ben chuckled.
"At some point, you guys just...need to email me summaries of all this shit," Kai said, lacking any context to that.
"We'll add you to our subscription list." Ceres quipped, looking at Excalibur. "This thing...is beautiful. Cosmically unique, some consider that a rarity in the galaxy."
"It's only fair that you keep it- it is a relic of your ancestors." Wes said.
"Keeping it...but not using it. Call it one of our aces," Ceres said as she looked over the sword, before stowing it on her belt, holding the ancient weapon as if it were held safely in a sheathe. The Archimedian, while satisfied with the outcome, could tell that this visit wasn't quite finished yet. Her eyes glanced over to Ruby, noting that air of awkwardness around her. This whole time, she'd never gotten the chance to properly talk with Kai.
So why not give it to them?
"Well, as nice as this talk's been, me and Ben," Ceres began, wrapping her arm around Ben's shoulder and pulling him close, "have to go report to Ironwood now."
"We d-?" Ben started, before Ceres elbowed him in the side.
"Actually...you're right. Maybe a joint call's in order. Atlas has a few other alien prisoners doesn't it? Maybe a transfer's in order," Wes added, "Let me come with."
Ruby's eyes looked over at Kai, who seemed confused...but she was piecing it together. "Y-yeah, you guys go do that." Kai nodded.
"It might take us a bit," Wes added, "Going to need to convince Ironwood about moving Vulkanus and other alien prisoners to more secure cells."
"Ah I'm sure he'll get it," Ceres said, turning and walking away, dragging Ben with her. Now, it was just Ruby and Kai. Alone.
In awkward silence.
Oh boy.
"...again, sorry for...being sort of a brat back then." Ruby said. Kai gave her a funny look.
"...look, I don't know what else to really say." Ruby admitted. "I've been under a lot of duress, and seeing you was something I was not prepped for."
"...yeah, we didn't really get off on the best foot last time we met did we?" Kai sighed, "I was...I was outta line too. Honestly I think I woulda reacted the same if the positions were swapped."
"You've clearly grown up, and so have I." Ruby said. "It's best to bury a hatchet, especially when we need unity. Something big could be coming soon- it's been radio silent from Salem since Haven, but I know she's gonna pull something soon."
"Yeah, her type love to wait and bide their time. It's like Finster and all his different little schemes," Kai said.
"...Finster?" Ruby asked.
"Oh. Yeah, couple of years ago me and Grandpa ended up taking a trip wth that Saturday guy and his family, ending up fighting this poacher with, I swear to you, a robotic scorpion lower body. Had a jetpack-wearing bounty hunter bodyguard too."
"So...you just have your own rogues gallery then? Just instead of aliens its...high-tech poachers?" Ruby tilted her head.
"Poachers for very exotic animals. I mean mythical."
"...weirdly enough, I feel like I know who you're talking about." Ruby said.
"He didn't just have a tail, guy was like a scorpion centaur," Kai corrected.
"I sorta fought a Cryptid Hunter...in an...alternate dimension..." Ruby coughed.
"Alternate dimension? Who was it?"
"I dunno. He was a yeti. His friend was a butler and a spider. It was weird."
"...you fought ARGOST?!"
"Who?"
"What do you mean who?! He's like my version of Salem! Smaller scale obviously but still!"
"...oh! Uh. Well, just...bring a scythe next time. He's weak to those."
"Noted."
"Still, though." Ruby said, looking up at the sky. "I'm glad we can sit down and talk about...this. We're underneath a sky on the verge of falling...and the last thing we need is petty disagreements about stuff that was nearly a decade ago."
"They'd just distract and gnaw at us. making us wonder about the 'what could've been's,' right?" Kai asked before extending her hand, "So, hatchet buried?"
"Yeah. Buried underneath a concrete grave." Ruby smiled.