Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10.
Whether You Like It Or Not
Omnitrix City; South Dakota; February 15th, 2018; 6:01PM
After the sudden arrival of their alleged son from the future, the Tennyson couple had more than just a few questions that needed to be answered, beginning with confirming the identity of the apparently sixteen-year-old boy claiming to be a time traveling tourist who had made some sort of big mistake while traversing the fabric of space and time. While they still cut the party short, the entirety of Team Ten Thousand was already gathered in their apartment so, Gwendolyn was forced to pull her soon-to-be husband aside from the crowd of friends and apparently family in their living room.
Gwen being a bit nervous, held her arms tightly against her chest by the elbows, hugging herself as she tried her best not to glance back at the boy talking to their friends, "Are we sure about this? Do we even know if this is possible?" staring at the back of his head, she couldn't help but notice his hair being only a slightly darker shade than her own.
Ben rubbed the back of his neck, giving the questions a pensive thought, "Well, we know time travel by one means or another, is possible… I mean, I've been letting my future-self haunt me for the better part of the last decade," he pointed out.
Gwendolyn gasped a bit, "I can't be dealing with all of this, right now, Ben! We're supposed to go shopping tomorrow morning!" her anxiety immediately went into overdrive.
"Shopping?" Ben questioned as he had no clue what she was talking about or how it could be more important than their current dilemma.
Folding her arms in subtle disappointment while giving him her standard glare he'd gotten since they were ten, "Wedding shopping; we need to pick out the flowers, the color schemes, the venue, the food!" As she counted each of her points off with her fingers, Ben finally remembered through all of the chaos these past three weeks had thrown at him that he was in fact engaged now. He interrupted her by grabbing her hand with one of his and taking her by the chin gently with the other, pulling her gaze up to meet his reassuring glowing pupils, and the cocky smile that was almost teasing her.
"I was joking," he feigned to her, "Gwendolyn, I remembered but, I just don't know how we'll get all of that stuff done if we're dealing with a house guest from the future," Ben and Gwen paused, standing in silence, and giving the subject some thought as they listened to the inane questions about the future their friends were bombarding Kenneth with.
Lucy, having no stomach to speak of, was able to sober up at a whim as her biology processed the alcohol at her command; though somehow she still seemed as hyper as ever, "So, are there flying cars in the future? I mean- here on Earth because there are a ton of hover cars outside this Solar System but-" she was going to continue rambling but, was interrupted.
Kenneth gave an insincere chuckle before returning to a deadpan as he focused on listening to his parent's conversation, "Yes," he dismissed as politely as possible.
Ben took both of her hands in both of his now, pulling Gwendolyn's attention back to him, "Wait, don't you have like three binders labeled 'wedding' around here somewhere?" he peeked around the room while still holding her hands, using enhanced vision to glance around for it.
Gwen simply smiled and scoffed, "Pfft, of course I do; I organized, laminated, and color coded my dream wedding into a perfect two-hundred-and-six paged masterpiece, and I was rereading them a few nights ago on the command deck back at Tennyson Tower," Ben couldn't help but take a moment to look over his fiancé and her excited features, never finding her more adorable than when she was nerding out like this over something as simple as a party. "What?" she finally asked as he stared like something were on her face, she raised a brow.
"Nothing," he smiled down at her, "I just remembered how adorably nerdy you could be, that's all," this left her cheeks flushed with crimson embarrassment, as a smile curved over her lips; "Okay, let's do this, first things first, we need to bring Ken back to the Tower and run some tests to make sure he's on the up-and-up, Gwendolyn can give her empath mojo thing while she gets her wedding binders," Ben stepped forwards placing a reassuring hand on her back with a slow caress. "Sound good?"
Gwendolyn nodded her head in gleeful agreement, looking down at her team briefly before returning her gaze to his emerald eyes that beamed with optimism, "Alright but, if Ken is our son, do you think he used magic to time travel or an alien maybe?"
Ben scratched the back of his head before returning his hand to her back, "We can ask him that question ourselves, I think we should figure this out for certain, I'm not a hundred-percent convinced he's our son just yet," he stepped around her pulling his hands from her gently and approaching the group of curious heroes surrounding the alleged time-traveler. "I think we should pick this up in Tennyson Tower, we have equipment there that can confirm a few things for us."
Kenneth allowed a quickly composed smile to cross his face when he heard this, "Cool, haven't been home in a while," he mentioned nonchalantly just as Gwendolyn was preparing her spell with golden sparks of light zipping over her fingers. Ben watched as the Kenneth held his right arm out, palm open with the sparks of golden light needing no time to concentrate before he summoned a spinning portal of Bezelian light energy floating out in front of his outstretched fingers. A light gust of wind was coupled with the spell being activated; they were all just as shocked as his parents standing behind him. Not only an Omnitrix but, the ability to cast spells and draw on the mana of the Universe? What were the odds that this wasn't there biological son?
Ben's eyes widened as he watched the boy use magic even more fluidly than his mage fiancé standing next to him, the mystical golden lightning ceased its crawl over her fingers as she dismissed her own attempt and gawked at the portal even more stable than her own. "H-He can use magic," she stated bluntly. "And he did it perfectly…" she muttered where only Ben could hear her.
"Yup," Ben blinked at the boy before regaining his composure and clapping his hands together, "So, anybody who wants to know what the future's like should come along, I guess," he approached the portal as Kenneth stepped through casually proving it to be safe, Ben stepped through immediately after followed by Gwen, Lucy, and Cooper.
After taking a single shot of tequila, Rook was more intoxicated than even Lucy anticipated, not that she didn't find it absolutely adorable, however; Wes insisted that he could take care of the Revonnahgander and make sure he gets to his quarters safely. Lucy attempted to invite him but, he only gave her a wink and admitted his days of adventuring like this were over, letting her know that he would be available if they need Plumber support.
Lucy gave a shout goodbye before hopping through the portal just as it closed behind her, Wes sighed as he shook Rook's shoulder, whom was face down on Ben's kitchen counter, "C'mon, let's get you out of here…" as he recalled his glory days fighting alongside Max and Phil, he battled ghosts, aliens, ghouls, and even an assortment of demons but, time travel? It was more than a bit out of his wheelhouse.
…
Omnitrix City Tennyson Tower; South Dakota; February 15th, 2018; 6:12PM
After arriving Ben immediately used his newfound super-speed and dashed for the elevator leaving a blur in his wake, traveling up to the medical bay where he caught Julie just in the nick-of-time, packing up and ready to go home for the evening, she grabbed a thick binder littered with multi-colored tabs organizing its contents and made her way towards the elevator with her purse slung over her shoulder. Pressing in on the button labeled with a down arrow, she traced her forehead, brushing a strand of her shoulder length black hair behind her ear as she reached for her phone in her purse. Glancing at the time as the screen lit up, she hardly noticed the person standing in the elevator when the doors split open for her.
Stepping into the cylindrical lift, the descent was slow at first before picking up speed, however; she glanced up from her phone recalling that she hadn't selected a floor yet. "Gah!" she shouted as Ben cleared his throat behind her, announcing his presence to the distracted medical professional.
"Hey, Jules… nice day," he chuckled as she spun around and slapped her binder loudly against his chest out of shock, prompting him to put his hands up in fake surrender.
"Don't do that! You scared the life out of me!" Julie responded in a loud whisper, tucking her binder back under her arm and adjusting her white lab coat, "What are you still doing here? I thought you left after the press conference earlier," she knew something was wrong when he reached behind his head with one hand and rubbed his neck sheepishly.
"It's a little hard to explain, and your discretion would be fantastic too but, I kind of need your help with a… sensitive issue downstairs," while Ben was referring to his unique time traveling enigma on floor ten below them, Julie glanced at his 'downstairs area' below the waist with a raised brow.
"Y-You need an STD test or something?" with her judgmental brow raised, she awaited an answer.
Ben scoffed and placed his hands on his hips, forgetting discretion as telling the truth had to be better than whatever she was assuming, "What?! No, I need a DNA test done on someone downstairs claiming to be my son from the future," he covered his eyes in slight embarrassment. "I can't believe I live in a world where it's easier to say that than to just ask for help," Julie giggled as he repeatedly pressed the level ten button on the elevator keypad spite already being on their way down.
…
Kenneth glanced around at the command center, admiring all of the old school technology compared to the advancements in his own time; it was a familiar room with a lot of unfamiliar aspects that was a bit too surreal for his taste.
Wes remained with the boy while, on the other side of the room, Lucy, Rook, and Gwendolyn discussed the new developments that came to light with the arrival of this supposed future son. "So, if you're from the future, what year did you come from?" the Plumber asked as politely as possible, giving Ken a genuine smile as he did.
"Can't say," Kenneth responded bluntly, glancing around the sterilized command deck in awe at the living history around him, noticing all the differences that were in place of his childhood memories, "In my time, all of this stuff has been replaced by hard-light technology and holograms, I can't believe I'm staring at Holodeck Mk One," he rounded the circular table with a sheet of glass and an energy projector beneath to display holographic images, tracing his index finger over the edge with a smile.
"How old are you?" Lucy asked from across the room, still giddy with excitement at being called 'Aunt Lucy'.
"Can't really say that either," Kenneth responded, rubbing the back of his neck mimicking Ben's mannerisms without even meaning to.
Gwendolyn took a deep breath and approached Cooper who had immediately sat at his desk, lying his head back in the office chair leisurely facing up at the ceiling but keeping his eyes closed, "Coop is there any way you can tell if his Omnitrix is legit?" she asked as he opened one eye to look up at her standing over him, hands on her hips.
Cooper gave a loud exasperated sigh, spinning the chair around to sit up and look over at the boy conversing with Wes about the future, "It's got an identical um…" he snapped his fingers several times and burped lightly into his other hand, "Omni-thing signature but, Albedo's did too so," he trailed off without finishing as he hoped the message was clear enough already, going back to leaning in his chair.
"We need a more reliable way of knowing if he's telling the truth," Gwendolyn surmised, turning around noticing Ben was missing just in time for the pearl white elevator to ding and split open allowing Julie to step through along with the hero in question. "Julie, it's nice to see you again," the women gave each other a quick hug, smiling all the while, before separating but, not letting go of the other's arms to continue speaking.
Julie glanced behind her to the boy with light auburn hair, hiding his hands within his hoodie pockets, his eyes darting around the room in awe, "Is, uhm, is that him?" she pointed with her eyes.
Gwendolyn just barely turned over her shoulder to also peek at him before returning her gaze to the Asian nurse in front of her, "Yea, that would be him," she had a solemn look on her face but, still kept an optimistic attitude.
Julie was absolutely fascinated by how he looked, the splash of orange in his light brown hair not quite as vibrant as Gwen's but, that would only make more sense with Ben's added dark brunette genes; his irises were a vibrant emerald just like the two cousins as well. He hadn't noticed her even as she looked him up and down from across the room, "That's… absolutely insane," she muttered as Ben folded his arms beside them in astonishment as well.
Cooper approached the three with a casual strut, trying his best to keep himself balanced after drinking so much at their would-be celebration just moments ago, "So, I, uh, did some tests and stuff… it looks like Len is radiating tachyon, uhm…" he burped lightly into his hand once again before continuing, "Particles, so if he were a time traveler, he would be radiating the, uh, tachyons," he casually walked passed them and approached the exit as he felt like he might need to throw up.
"His name is-"
Coop waved his hand at them with a lightly irritated tone, "Len, Ken, Shmen, whatever…" Lucy watched as Cooper bumped into the edge of the wall as the automatic doors slid open in front of him, allowing him to stumble through.
Lucy raised a brow as she asked out loud, trying to follow him so that he didn't end up hurting himself, "How much did you have to drink at Ben's in the first place?" the Lenopan had never been so happy to have nine-stomachs allowing her to process alcohol and drugs effortlessly on a whim.
"Hey!" Cooper spun around and slurred as he turned back to face her along with the others, "This was my first opportunity to relax since Prometheus; How was I supposed to knoow your future son would crash the party, huh? H-How… was I supposed to ancipitate that?" he slurred again audibly as he finally managed to exit the room with Lucy not far behind, leaving Julie in charge of the medical aspect of the examination of this mystery boy.
After Kenneth voluntarily sat and gave a blood sample as well as a full spectral analysis on his Omnitrix by Danger Alert; Julie skimmed through the data collected by the sophisticated devices running his genetic sample, "A quick analysis of his DNA shows signatures that match both Ben and Gwendolyn's; I would need to run more tests on this sample but, if I were to take a guess I would say he's definitely your son," Julie dispersed the holographic chart in front of her and looked over at Gwen who seemed a tad perplexed on how she should be reacting, "Somehow," she muttered.
Sitting up in place, the boy finally spoke up, "See? I told you," Kenneth mentioned as he pulled out the I.V in his arm and stood up, extending his hand towards Gwen, "At your service, past Mom," he seemed to be having a good time without any issues adjusting to the fact that he's traveled to before his own birth, before the two had even gotten married. She slowly grabbed his hand and shook it gently, blinking rapidly as she glanced towards Benjamin, being just as dumbfounded by all of this as she was.
Ben took a deep breath in before exhaling as he approached Ken, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Now that we know that you actually are from the future, I need you to be as careful as humanly possible… one wrong move and you could change our timeline or even your own life forever," he was being as serious as he could muster, being excited that he had a time traveling son wasn't easy when he was trying to maintain his composure. "You can't tell us anything significant about the next… however old you are years… it could change everything, even you."
The boy scoffed, waving them off and grabbing the navy-blue hoodie he arrived in and slipping it on over his head, "I know, trust me, I wouldn't have come back if I didn't at least know what I was doing, Dad," Kenneth gave Ben a smile as they both turned back around to face the others. Gwendolyn was distracting herself by collecting her wedding binders, giving one to Lucy for her to hold while she carried the other two thick books. "Mom taught me all about how to avoid messing with the timeline."
"I did?" Gwen peaked out from behind the desk with three different thick binders in her hands, she dropped her hands but, her telekinesis kept them floating in the air around her person.
Ben raised his brow, "She did? Wait, how exactly did you time travel in the first place?" he exclaimed having not asked the most obvious question.
Ken chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Well, it's a little hard to explain… there was a lot of math and science involved that I mostly didn't pay attention to," the members of the group around him gave each other unsure glances as it sounded suspiciously vague, "Okay, long story short, the implant in my spine generates armor for my transformations, giving my Kinceleran form enough speed to bypass the fabric of time," he seemed a bit shameful about admitting he was infused with cybernetics, however; it was still quite unbelievable. He took a step back with his eyes closed and his hands up, "Just… look," pulling his shirt up and partially over his head as he turned around.
He had scars which looked as though they'd come from battle, perhaps being older than they first anticipated as he was also toned and well cut, however; the more prominent feature across his lightly tanned back was its silver metallic graft over a portion of his spine. Cooper, Lucy, and Wes gathered together besides Ben and Gwendolyn all astonished at the sight. It was only a few seconds before Julie had pushed her way through to the forefront of the group, pushing Ben aside as she took a closer look. "Remarkable, I've never seen anything like it, the mechanical attachment seems symbiotically bonded to his tissue."
Kenneth stood upright and turned around, pulling his blue hoodie back over his chest as he flattened it with a few pats of his hands, "It's actually just a housing unit for nanoparticle machines that construct armor to assist my transformations," as they all stared at him in wonderment, he simply began scanning the room for something else to talk about.
"How are we supposed to handle this, I mean now that we know for a fact he's our actual son? Do I need to make space for him at the loft? Should I buy bored games? Statistically, the game Twister is supposed to be the number one in family bonding a-and," Gwen couldn't help but nearly hyperventilate, trying to imagine missing who knows how many years of development with her child she only just found out they'd conceived. Running her hands through her short pixie cut, bright auburn hair nervously, feeling her heart beating out of her chest.
Ben grabbed her hands in his own and intertwined their fingers, pulling her attention to him and cutting off her sentence by instructing her to, "Breath, doofus, breath," they both took long deep inhales together for just a few seconds as he continued to speak, "As far as we know, he's just another person who needs our help, we'll do that and then we can start our lives together, the right way."
Gwendolyn smiled, huffing another breath, and nodding her head, regaining her composure before turning towards their guest together, "Alright, you said you made a big mistake… what was it and how can we help?" Ben started as Kenneth turned around as well, facing them with a half-smile.
He chuckled a bit, struggling to find the right words, "You see… hmm, okay usually when I hit around twelve or thirteen as XLR8 I manage to open the time breach which allows me to through time non-linearly but, for some reason I can barely reach seven or eight…" as he finished explaining his dilemma to his father, the young man watched him blink and nod as though he knew what he was talking about.
"I'm sorry… you need to reach twelve or thirteen… what?"
Kenneth snapped his fingers, "Oh, my bad, twelve or thirteen times faster than the speed of light… something is way wrong with my Omnitrix, or maybe my cybernetics…" he glanced back at Cooper who was still inebriated from the afore canceled party.
Prompting the technopath to speak up, "Why are you looking at me? I have no idea how that stuff works…" he declared which only seemed to prompt a chuckle in response from the young time traveler.
Kenneth took a few steps towards Coop's desk where he sat lazily now after having seen the implant up close, "Maybe not but, you're the only person who can… considering who built it," he muttered the last part by accident and immediately regretted it, cupping his right hand over his mouth.
"Are you saying Cooper built the cybernetics in your body?" Gwendolyn asked as she too stepped forward to be closer to the conversation, folding her arms across her chest.
Kenneth chuckled and backed away a bit, "No, not exactly, more like his son did…" he spoke softly waiting for the reaction.
Cooper was just as curious now as everyone else, and too drunk to have a filter, "I meet a girl and have a kid, slam dunk!"
"What year are you from?!" Lucy shouted in confusion suddenly wanting to finally get the answer to the one question that could tie everything together.
Her sudden shout from behind startled Kenneth into blurting out, "TWENTY-THIRTYSIX!" he huffed for a seconds and opened his eyes to half a dozen odd stares of people doing the math in their heads, "Fine, whatever, I'm eighteen…" he muttered aloud giving his parents and everyone else in the room a frame of reference. "The point here is I'm stuck in the wrong time, and I need to go back, I don't know who else to turn to in twenty-eighteen," he looked back at the rest of them as his stare eventually landed on his father who was uncharacteristically quiet these past few minutes.
Kenneth took several steps towards Ben who was silently observing the entire time, not vocalizing what he thought just yet, "I shouldn't be here, it was a mistake to even drop by this time and I totally missed my mark by like three weeks anyways-" as he approached him, his brow furrowed. "Mom was right, I always end up over doing it and getting way in over my head-" Ken was rambling a bit, much like his mother, and Gwendolyn had never felt so strange being referred to as a mother.
"What were you doing in twenty-eighteen in the first place anyways?" Ben asked very logically, still having his guards up, it wasn't impossible for his son to be a villain or for this to be some sort of clone.
Kenneth gulped at the question, glancing back at Gwen who only supported the question by waiting patiently for a response to the open question. Cooper and Lucy glanced between one another once before returning their ever-curious gaze to the time traveler. Ken took a deep composing breath which straightened his demeanor, as though he was about to break down crying and shut the emotion off at the last second. Gwendolyn was still an empath so, she could feel what nobody else could see, "The wedding… I came to see what your wedding looked like, lots of stories not a lot of context," he responded bluntly without even the slightest twinge in his voice. She narrowed her eyes at him but, he was talking to Ben who's turn it was to speak.
"Why would you-" Before Ben could question his story any further the Danger Alert sounded an alarm which projected a screen out in front of him as he wasn't far from the command deck in the center of the room. The screen was displaying a series of amateur and CCTV footage from Denver, Colorado where a giant mutated albino gorilla rampaged, stealing parts from a factory before trampling through the streets. Strapped to a harness on the beasts back was a thin-lanky pale man wearing a familiar tin helmet. They were an hour behind so the sun had only just begun to set and once it was dark out they would loose Animo for good, Gwendolyn took a look at the screen and remembered their conversation about splitting this responsibility both ways.
She placed her hand on his chest and patted it once or twice, looking up at him an inch or two, "Go handle Animo quickly before he escapes… again," Gwen glanced at Lucy and Cooper who nodded at her, understanding her plan, "We'll stay here and try and help out our… guest."
Ben took a step back and clapped his hand nervously, looking her in the eyes for a second, "You sure?" he responded out of surprise that she wanted to draw the short stick, because surely dealing with Animo of all villains would be easier than figuring out time travel dos-and-don'ts.
She nodded her head with a confident smile, "I'm sure, just try and take care of yourself," she insisted as Ben backed away further until an explosion of emerald light lit up the room, leaving a black and white armored velociraptor with the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.
"I'll be back as quickly as possible," XLR8 announced as his visor slid down over his face and glowing eyes, giving one last glance towards his supposed son, he dashed out of the room at massively hypersonic speeds.
Kenneth on the other hand had his attention now locked on the holographic live feed of Animo picking up a four-wheel truck over the gorilla's head and tossing it across the street, causing an explosion. The boy narrowed his eyes at the screen, Gwendolyn watched as the glint in his eyes lit up, turning to face his Mother with an excited smile.
"Is he going to-" Lucy started as she watched Kenneth pop the dial on his Omnitrix which was illuminated in the same way Ben's once had.
"Yep."
Gwendolyn stood shocked when Ken too transformed into a Kinceleran, only the cybernetics in his back released nanomachines that formed metal plating over his slick black suited skin, razor sharp claws became gauntleted with slits of pulsating omni-energy, and a helmet that hooked on over his visor. On his back, the point where the cybernetics stemmed formed a navy-blue propulsion system appearing as a sort of jetpack.
Cooper sat up in his chair as his eyes flashed bright teal, analyzing the armor which seemed like a similar design to some of his older projects, "That… That's photon propulsion…" he was at a loss for words.
"Kenneth, where are you going?" Gwen asked as she gawked at his highly advanced armored form, seeing now he was clearly from the future.
"Don't worry, I'm just gonna watch!" his raspy Kinceleran voice was deepened by the helmet over his aerodynamic head, he didn't give her any time to argue as before she could even start a response he was already gone.
Cooper couldn't help himself but to chuckle from behind his desk, "Sorry," he said in response to the daggers Gwendolyn was giving him, "It's just… that's definitely your kid, just saying…"
Lucy covered her mouth to stop herself from giggling in response to that.
…
Denver, Colorado; February 15th, 2018; 8:57PM
XLR8 dashed through the brisk streets, feeling the remnants of the winter chill sheer over his visor as he slowed down his perception of time, he noticed a small green SUV flying overhead stopping the hero in his tracks. The Kinceleran quickly dashed to the right, up the wall of a bank just so he could propel himself forwards through the air at imperceptible speeds. He gathered the two adults and even the little girl in the back seat, stopping finally on the sidewalk with the family safe, facing away from the truck that landed on the asphalt crunching like tinfoil before igniting into a gas-fueled explosion.
XLR8 looked down at the adult man and woman whom scrambled to get their little girl back into their arms before looking up at the creature that saved their lives, "Is everyone okay?
The adults were about to hesitatingly thank the hero, still baffled by what happened, when their daughter began to cry, "M-Momma, I dropped it, I dropped me-" before she could finish her sentence, the Kinceleran vanished in a blur of black and white before reappearing only a second or two later holding something in his claws.
XLR8 knelt down and presented the pink teddy-bear to the girl whose face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw it hadn't been burned by the explosion in the slightest, "Mrs. Twinkles!" the little girl announced as she grabbed it and pulled the toy in for a big hug.
"Ben Ten Thousand!" a familiar yet maniacal voice shouted out through the streets, the stomping of his mutated monstrosity cracked the gravel at its feet while it approached them.
XLR8 lifted his visor and gave the adults of the family a stern look, "Take your daughter and get to safety, I'll handle this freak," he reassured, standing back upright to face the albino gorilla nearly four times the size of an average primate. As the mother picked up her child and the family got off the sidewalk running towards an alleyway to leave the scene, the little girl caught one last glimpse of XLR8 transforming in a blinding flash of light reappearing as a hulking crimson four-armed warrior.
"Cool!" she shouted as the parents finally turned the corner, out of sight and out of danger.
Fourarms cracked his neck with one set of hands while cracking his knuckles with the other pair, "I'll tell ya what, Animo," the Tetramand took a few hulking steps forwards before making eye contact with the mad scientist, "I'll let you pick which fist I bash your face in with first."
Animo adjusted the helmet strapped to his head, flashing his rotten teeth with a sadistic grin, "You can talk your precious 'smack' but, it will do you no good against my newest creation!" the albino ape, while being at least four or five times its natural size, it also had sharpened fangs pultruding from its mouth, and sharpened claws for offensive measures.
"Believe it or not, I've seen that thing before, I'm just surprised you still have the rest of your body in one piece," Fourarms took a few steps closer as the ape readied itself for a brawl under the mental command of Animo, that is until they heard a familiar genetic explosion go off behind them.
Only a few hundred feet behind Fourarms, Kenneth had returned to his human form, catching his father's attention by whispering in a shout, "Doc Animo! That's so shway," he chuckled as the hero threw his multiple arms up in disbelief, wondering why he followed him after being told to stay put. "Watch out!" he shouted prompting Fourarms to turn around just in time for a super-enhanced gorilla to backhand him in the chest with its muscular furry forearm.
Kenneth winced and covered his mouth, realizing immediately that it was his own fault for distracting Ben in the middle of a fight but, just as he watched Fourarms get launched nearly a block away and out of sight, his shocked demeanor fell apart into a more calculated stoic expression. He turned to stare at Animo who slowly stared back, meeting his gaze silently before backing away from the scene, "Y-You haven't heard the last of Doctor Aloysius J. Animo!" he stuttered as the sun finally set over the horizon and darkness blanketed the city in shadows, even the massive white gorilla, guided by a genius intellect, managed to escape. Even as Kenneth watched, he did nothing to stop the mad man, instead he looked down at the Omnitrix before popping the dial and pressing down on it casually.
Ben, now transformed back into his human state, landed in a large fountain just outside of a fancy restaurant, the patrons of the eatery stopped and gasped at his landing which splattered water over the vicinity. Ken's XLR8 dashed to the edge of the fountain where he quickly transformed back into his human form, looking incredibly remorseful, "I'm so, so, so sorry! I just wanted to watch you fight a-and-"
Ben thrashed in the water for a moment, standing up drenched and radiating a thick cloud of chlorine, blowing the water out of his lips and face, slightly embarrassed he frustratedly combed his wet hair back, even managing to appear identical to the future-self he'd met as a ten-year-old. Giving the equally regretful Kenneth a disapproving stare before he used his own super-speed to dash off without transforming.
…
Omnitrix City Suburbs; South Dakota; February 15th, 2018; 9:38PM
Ben was only capable of running two or three hundred miles-per-hour without transforming into an actual Kinceleran but, he didn't feel the need to and also wanted the time to dry off as well as think over his current circumstances. Returning to Tennyson Tower seemed pointless this late in the night, he needed o see something familiar and comforting like a loft instead of a sterilized lab/command center. It also felt like too much to travel up to his millionaire penthouse in the sky, he just needed a few moments where he could unwind in a regular upper-middle-class loft with just one story in a building shared by other residents of a condominium… like a normal person.
He sped to a quick halt in front of the door, patting himself down and thoroughly searching his pockets didn't help him to find the keys he knew he left with Gwendolyn. He sighed as a bright flash of green light engulfed him, emerging is a light blue and turquoise shaded Necrofrigian, keeping his wings maintained as a coat over his moth-like features, he simply stepped through the door as though it wasn't even there.
Huffing a long sigh of vaporized liquid nitrogen creating a freezing mist with every breath, Big Chill exploded in an emerald glow, leaving Ben to slowly drudge his way over to the comfortable armchair that decorated their living area. He took another long deep breath in before sinking into the velvet, leaning his head all the way back before diving deep into his own thoughts. He closed his eyes and focused hard on going where he wanted to go, hoping that it would work how it assumed it would.
After a few minutes of this, Ben slowly opened his eyes and found himself in an empty white void, looking around he felt at peace and yet somehow, not totally alone. He blinked a few times before turning around to find a glowing silhouette of green light, a shroud of emerald lightning bounced off her radiating skin as the female presence stood beside him. Ben smiled noticing her company and feeling more at ease now, he spoke first as they both enjoyed the silence for long enough, "I'm glad to know I can always just meditate a bit and come see you, it's like I'm never really alone."
The flaming presence turned a bit more towards him, as if to face him, "You're never truly alone, even without me…" the voice no longer had any particular familiar essence, it just was.
"Tell me about it, I have a son who came from the future just to attend our wedding which hasn't even happened yet," he scoffed and ran his fingers through his hair, spite knowing it was all in his psyche.
"I thought a human finding out their offspring matured successfully would be… happy?" Trix questioned, genuinely confused about the innerworkings of the biological mind.
Ben closed his eyes once again, his arms falling by his side, "I just thought, after everything that I've been through, that we've been through… that just maybe the Universe would let me have this one thing the normal way," his demeanor surrendered and his head fell a bit, "I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to be normal again. At least I'm wearing clothes this time…"
"I suppose that is progress, you must be getting acclimated to our bond and thusly, able to alter this space at whim," Trix was like a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on the Universe, though she seemed quite happy to be deemed as such.
Ben's eyes snapped open, and he sat up at the sound of a mystical portal spinning into the room, cutting open a hole in space with golden sparks of light forming a Bezelian seal that allowed Gwendolyn to casually step through.
Her teal blue crop-top jacket over the black strapless dress she still wore told him that she hadn't even had time to change since the press conference earlier that day; the portal closed behind her without any guests accompanying her, "Lucy took Cooper home, she said she was going to check on Rook before heading to her quarters for the night." Kicking off her heels one at a time, Gwendolyn stripped off the crop-top jacket leaving her in just the strapless dress as she sat down on the armrest of the chair Ben rested in.
"That's good, our party didn't exactly go as planned, like… at all," Ben stroked his beard as Gwendolyn could feel the stress and pressure that weighed him down, wrapping her arms around his head, gently hugging his head close to her chest where he could hear her heartbeat. Suddenly, he understood why his always seemed to comfort her in the opposing situation, just knowing she was healthy, and more over knowing there was another life dwelling deep within her. "Ya know, I never really got the chance to genuinely react to the news earlier…"
Gwendolyn pulled back and looked him in his matching emerald eyes, "What do you mean?"
Ben smiled, or rather, he grinned as a tear welled in his eye, "I'm gonna be a father…" he muttered at first causing Gwen to smile herself, "I'm gonna be a Dad!" he said louder this time, yanking her into his arms and kissing her roughly on the cheek forcing her to giggle uncontrollably. He continued to assault her over and over with smooches as they both fell over off the chair and onto the floor laughing and kissing passionately.
Ben and Gwen had their faces placed firmly on the floor, still chuckling lightly as they stared deeply into each other's eyes, "Speaking of being parents… where did Ken go?"
Ben used his Kinceleran speed to dash upright and across the room, looking around in a three-sixty angle, he realized that he'd left the boy in Denver out of frustration and, if he didn't make his way back to Tennyson Tower to see his mother, where would he have gone?
…
Denver, Colorado; February 15th, 2018; 9:48PM
A Tetramand clad in silver and white armor, specifically emerald gauntlets to enhance lifting and striking strength, strutted through a sewer line beneath the city; a discarded tinfoil helmet was crushed beneath the weight of his heel as a frail man backed into a corner, drenched in sewage and dirty water. The gorilla he enslaved had its neck broken, lying in the water behind them, he glared down on the scientist with four emerald eyes shinning through his helmeted visor.
"Dr. Animo… you have experience in reanimating and mutating the dead, terrestrial or otherwise," The Tetramand exploded in a flash of light revealing a young man also clad in the same metallic armor, covering his body and his face with glowing pupils behind its visor. "In ten years you finally complete your ultimate project, I unfortunately need to speed up that process," he grabbed the man by the greasy, sweat stained wife-beater and pulled him in close, "I have a job for you."
…
Omnitrix City Suburbs; South Dakota; February 15th, 2018; 10:00PM
Kenneth walked into the loft, which the couple had left unlocked purposefully, nonchalantly with two bags of greasy fast-food and a holster for three different drinks. When he shut the door behind him with a kick, he noticed Ben and Gwen both sitting at the countertop bar where they had cleared out all of the alcohol from earlier. They stared with folded arms and disapproving glares, "Look, I'm really sorry about earlier… it was just the Doc, a one and done- you guys beat him in like one try…" he realized the error in his sentence and immediately felt remorse which Gwendolyn could also feel radiating from him, "I just really wanted to see you fight for the first time-" this time he cut himself off abruptly, leaving the two cousins to give one another suspicious glances before returning their attention to Kenneth. "In your prime, to see you fight for the first time in your prime, I meant…" though it wasn't a very good save to begin with, they didn't bother addressing it as they'd already figured out why he really came back from the future.
"We already know…" Ben stated solemnly.
Kenneth's demeanor changed immediately, assuming the worst, he was tempted to reach for his Omnitrix, feeling the twinge his fingers to instinctually dial up an offensive alien. The mission had to come first, for both of their sakes whether they liked it or not.
Gwendolyn tilted her head, lending a sympathetic hand on his shoulder as she approached, "You didn't come here to see a wedding, you came here to see Ben… because you grow up without him, don't you?" she looked him in the eye as his fight-or-flight instincts faded, it wasn't what he thought it was but, still he didn't realize he'd made it that obvious.
"I… Look, I didn't just lose you… because without you, w-we lost everything," Kenneth shook his head, pushing his feelings down and suppressing his depression, "I've been a soldier since I was eleven years old, and I wanted to meet my father, is that so wrong?"
Gwendolyn took a step back, shocked at the revelation even as Kenneth threw his hands up, clutching his head seeing how this was much harder than he expected it to be, "What happens? How do we prevent Ben from being killed, so we can save your whole life?!" she nearly shouted but, out of desperation and not anger Ken could tell but, still he had no answers for them.
"If I tell you that…" it could jeopardize the entire mission and the real reason I'm here, "It could tear open the timeline like a sheet of tinfoil, fracturing this reality into several."
Ben took an authoritative step forwards, getting into close proximity to his supposed son, he looked deeply into the emerald pupils that matched more Gwendolyn's shade than his own. Suddenly, he lunged forwards gently embracing him in a hug, "I'm so sorry, whatever it is, hopefully just knowing it's coming will change things…" he suggested, pulling back to look his fully grown boy in the eyes, nearly just as tall yet still several years younger than himself.
Kenneth brushed his arms away, looking down at the throw rug over the hardwood floor, staring deeply into the patterns, "The fact that I'm still standing here means it hasn't."
"How… But, how can we help? How can we prevent this from happening?"
"You don't, you have your wedding and live your lives, trust me there are many fun years for you two b-before… everything," Ken turned away, he had been trained to suppress his emotions from the day he enlisted, seven years of hard work was going to pay off whether he liked it or not. He sucked up his breath and blinked a few times, not a single tear shed spite them welling in his eye lids, "Now that you know I guess all our cards are on the table, as it were."
Ben nodded, choking up as he tried to be as strong as his son seemed to be, "Yea…" he said reassuringly, "We have a guest room, it's, uh, it's got a minifridge and a tv and… uh, we can set you up with whatever…" he glanced back to his fiancé who took steps forwards to be beside him, "I'm sure you're welcome to stay for as long as you need to… or want to."
Kenneth sighed and gave a fake half smile, nodding to them as he pulled his hands from his blue hoodie, "Thank you, thank you… really that means a lot, I don't need much I mean, I've slept on a pile of dry wood before so… oh, another pair of clothes would be great," Kenneth glanced down to his attire being slightly ragged but, still wearable, "We don't exactly have usable currency when I come from."
Ben ran his hands through his hair and shrugged nonchalantly, being a multi-millionaire it was no skin of his back to provide for the boy, spite it still eating away at him from the inside out, "S-Sure, consider it done. Hell, I-I'll… stock the whole closet."
Kenneth grew a genuine smile across his face, hesitating on whether he should nod and walk away or do what he's really wanted to do since they met. He took a step towards the door but, quickly doubled back and wrapped his arms around his Father's torso with his face dug into his chest. It lasted nearly a minute but, Ben was completely reciprocating and happy that his son was this thrilled to meet him, "Thanks… Dad…" this time he nodded and made his way towards his new guest room which, was pretty large and even had its own bathroom.
…
2 Hours Later
After Ken took a nap and a hot shower in the guest room, he reentered the bedroom area to find his clothes washed and dried, lying on the bed for him; his parents were clearly eager to help him given his circumstances. He dressed himself as he thought, it wasn't immoral to lie out of omission if its for the greater good, right? What he's doing now could have positive ramifications that would last for decades, there's no way he could risk jeopardizing that by telling them the full truth.
After tying his laces up on his sneakers, Ken stood upright and popped the dial on his modified Omnitrix, flipping through silhouettes until he found the Kinceleran DNA he was looking for. He pressed down on the dial gently, unlike his father had in his youth, exploding with a flash of light, and dashing out of the room as XLR8. Using his super-speed to vibrate his molecules through the walls, his parents were none the wiser as he zipped off through the streets at three or four times the speed of sound. It wasn't until Kenneth reached the North Pacific ocean that he truly cut loose and ramped up his velocity, the cybernetic armor wrapped around him as he accelerated beyond a hundred thousand times faster than sound. His mere streak of running over the ocean created a ten-foot wave of water behind him, loud crackles of thunder growing in the expansive dark skies above. Once the armor had fully helmeted his visor and head, he activated the thrusters on his back which illuminated bright blue, igniting ionic propulsion via photon-light energy. Blue electricity began to generate as bolts of lighting conducting off his very skin and into the water, frozen by his perspective, as he could see the fabric of time and space splitting into two.
Enhanced XLR8 aimed for the space between the two concepts and with a bending of space, he was warped out of that time leaving a massive wave to follow over where he would have been had he not vanished. Had he been doing that on dry land, he could have split the continent in two, traveling at light speed was relatively harmless so long as the runner knows what they're doing. However, going faster than light, breaking a fundamental rule of the Universe, plus going twelve times that speed? The friction could crack open the Earth like an egg, it was not something that could be done casually.
…
196X Maximum Security; Earth; February 15th, 2036; 9:48AM
Space bent and twisted over the North Pacific, soon enough sparks of blue lightning opened a breach where a speedster flew out of at incomprehensible speeds, generating even greater waves here as Kenneth came to a stop and transformed into a Crystalsapien, floating above the water as he stared down at his reflection in the water. Chromastone was always one of his favorites but, he never truly got to enjoy them like his Mother told him about. How they used to have real fun with their powers and abilities, he turned to look up at the blood-red atmosphere as well as the black clouds that loomed over the impoverished city of Bellwood.
Chromastone flew at near the speed of sound, soaring through the sky as subtly as he possibly could muster to avoid the attention of the drones, he landed outside of a detention facility for maximum security prisoners. He wasn't in the mood to sneak in, dropping from the sky without regard for his weight, he cracked the concrete with his landing in front of two armed guards. The first of the two droids fired off a solid-laser beam that contained a concussive force but, it was absorbed into his shoulder as he quickly spun, and roundhouse kicked the black and orange drones head off.
It fell to its knees before falling forwards onto its stomach, twitching, and malfunctioning as Chromastone crushed its torso by stepping on it, revealing a pool of oil and a jungle of wires. The second drone took only a second to look down at its partner before aiming its blaster up at the enemy, it was too late though as his purple crystal grip had already grabbed hold of the barrel, crushing it, and tossing it aside. Letting out a bit rage, he quickly punched his fist straight through the drone's body before pulling it out silently.
Kenneth shifted his transformation into that of a Uxorite, the same species his Great Grandfather once accompanied on many intergalactic missions with; unlike Xylene, this physical prime example of the species was male and much more toned and muscular than she was. However, this transformation came with a number of different abilities, including telekinesis, telepathy, levitation, and a super-human physiology.
Sporting a black and white Plumber armored suit, the hero walked through the nigh-empty corridors, looking around at the cells that lined the hall. Some were empty, some had skeletons still lying in a locked cell, but at the furthest end of the prison was an active containment unit. It was guarded by four different drones identical to the one he faced outside, the Uxorite dubbed Mantacle did as he always had to do when visiting this villain.
His three blue eyes flashed brightly as he quickly short circuited each of them without even walking fully into the room, they all spasmed before clattering to the ground in a pile of dismembered scrap. Exploding in a flash of emerald energy, Kenneth approached the glass containment unit holding the prisoner that was helping him.
"I did what you said I should, Animo escaped, and I've got him held up somewhere safe, he swears he can do what we need him to do," Ken looked down and away from the person behind the glass, the man chuckled a bit, his eyes glowing a vibrant purple at all times, it was intimidating even for him.
"Perfect, everything is going according to plan," the man muttered in a raspy voice, scratching at his wrist where a long scar ran up his arm to his elbow. "Now, it's time for phase two…"
Ken turned around but, hesitated as he quickly spun back to face the man behind the glass, "Are you sure that this will somehow fix everything? Bring my Dad back? Stop Vilgax's takeover?"
Stepping out of the shadows revealed a doppleganger of Ben Tennyson himself only, scarred in several obvious places, once going by Prometheus but, this last decade or so he's been keen to the name- "Eon, are you listening to me?" Ken exclaimed as the variant smiled in response to the boy's insistence.
"Oh, I assure you, if you follow my lead and do exactly as I instruct in the past, you will topple the right dominoes to effectively end Vilgax's reign here in the future," the glow in Eon's eyes illuminated an even brighter purple glow, as Kenneth turned and transformed again, zipping out of the building as a speedster, the mad man muttered under his breath, "Whether you like it or not."
…
IM BACK
I dont know how long until my next update, this has been a hectic 2022, needed to get a second job, spent a month in the hospital, car keeps f**king my finances... ya know, life.
ANYWAYS... Read, Review, Follow, Favorite, and thanks for reading :)