I don't own Ben 10.
Omnitrix City Suburbs; South Dakota; December 12th, 2036; 7:46AM
The atmosphere had been thick with smog for so many years, it was almost impossible to imagine the days where it had been bright blue like Kenneth recalled in his early childhood. The twilight of the sun was barely visible, soon it would be almost as dark as the night, only there were no stars visible in the sky… no hope in sight even amongst the heavens. Life on the planet had been all but snuffed out, every blade of grass sapped of its hydration when the air was scorched by nuclear fire. Even so, humans traveled underground for refuge, those that were left, leaving only the few left brave enough to fight back on the surface. It was all in vein as even the heroes of other worlds could not contend with what came from beyond the stars.
A white suited hand reached out from beneath a pillar of rock, pulling along with it an armored young man, dressed in cybernetically enhanced white and green armor that covered his entire body and face, his visor scanned the vast deserted wasteland for signs of life but, found only a number of drones roaming the desert. What was once a large bustling city, was now only a crater and a memory, Kenneth led a group of four others tagged with the same white armor only each of them were branded a different color to identify themselves: blue, red, yellow, and black across the outline of the highly advanced nanomechanical suits.
Kenneth stared out at the environment, just to absorb the destruction, the center of his Father's legacy now a desolate crater surrounded by rubble and ash. He could see a glimmer through the thick darkened clouds above him but, it gave off little heat and only grew darker as the war waged on.
Being that his particular armor was integrated with an Omnitrix he received before the invasion, Kenneth was elected leader of a black ops squad as part of the resistance against the Vilgaxian invasion. This was a vital mission that was top secret and crucial to the survival of humanity itself, the members of the resistance dwindled by the day, soon the entirety of mankind would fall and the only thing populating Earth's surface would be machines and slaves.
It seemed too quiet, not a drone in sight suddenly, the blue armored male stepped forwards beside Kenneth, Although they were trained to not be attached to one another, they forbid even the exchanging of names but, the blue armored man was a different story. Chester Daniels had been his best friend since his youth, since before… all of this. He was the son of the smartest Technopath on Earth, however; the young man was now the only Technopath on Earth as he was forced to watch his Father fall in battle during the invasion. Something they shared and formed a kinship out of, "I scanned the area, no signs of any mechanical forces…" Chester placed his hand on Ken's shoulder as he stared out at the large, abandoned building through his helmet, it was a bunker beneath the crater that was once Tennyson Tower. "Are you sure you're up for this?"
Kenneth turned to look at him, staring into his own reflection from their helmeted visors, "I'm fine, are you positive you can integrate the chrono-displacement tech into my cybernetics before the droids arrive?" he suppressed his emotions of that fateful day and choked down a gulp as his squad silently surrounded them forming a perimeter, like the trained soldiers they had to become. All under the age of eighteen. Chester and Kenneth were the oldest among the resistance fighters.
"I can do it almost instantly, I just need to get the device in my hands," Chester held his arm out as a hard-light construct summoned a highly advanced energy rifle into his hands, holding it by his side at the ready.
The soldier outlined in yellow announced herself after turning back to face her leader, "The area is all clear, our scanners say-" she was interrupted when a heated crimson blade slipped through her armored back and out her chest in one smooth motion from behind. "R-Run!" she shouted this time with no regard for stealth. Toppling over revealed a blade being held seemingly by telekinesis, the reality is that one of the droids now using retroreflective plating to seemingly camouflage themselves, made it appear to be floating. At least until Kenneth and Chester took a closer look.
"It's an ambush!"
The black and maroon humanoid droids suddenly appeared in numbers the entire squad hadn't prepared for. As her bloodied corpse was tossed aside in a heap, over two dozen droids surrounded the group of now four soldiers all summoning hard-light energy weapons of their own. Each unique to themselves. The solider armored in black trim wielded a blade of energy he used to quickly slash down on the droid that murdered their comrade. While shocked, they didn't know each other personally so, there was no instant heart-breaking tears to shed… as the drone fell apart it dropped its scorching blade which he quickly picked up, wielding both weapons at once. "Go, now! Finish the mission! We'll hold them off!" he quickly turned and bisected another drone down the middle while it attempted to sneak up behind him.
Ken took a few steps back as he nodded, quickly popping the dial to his Omnitrix, and twisting the faceplate as fast as he could, ignoring the blood that had splattered across his helmet and suit. He quickly enough slammed the dial and emerged as a Kinceleran, grabbing Chester at the speed of sound, and dashing across the crater and into the abandoned lab. XLR8 stopped for a microsecond to put his passenger down before searching the entire bunker in seconds, stopping with a micro-chip the size of any ordinary motherboard. However, it was made entirely of nanomachines allowing Chester to do what needed to be done; they both turned their heads at the sound of an agonizing shriek as another of their comrades fell outside the compound.
"Do it now!" Kenneth shouted, handing over the motherboard as he activated his own cybernetics, shrouding his Kinceleran form in slick metallic armor even more durable than the suit his human form donned. Chester closed his eyes for only a second before reopening them with a bright blue light and glowing circuitry running through the veins in his pupils. Visible even through the tinted visor of his helmet.
An explosion went off blowing the wall in as the entire bunker shook almost apart but, he never lost his focus on the task at hand. The drones marched in at the same instant in which the motherboard in the palm of Chester's hands turned to dust which floated into the air at his command. A cloud of nanomechanical particles crossed the few feet between them, attaching themselves to the back of XLR8's armor, forming into a powerfully advanced thruster pack. "You know what to do now!" Chester shouted turning on a dime and forming his own energy blaster out of the same advanced hard-light tech, firing at the incoming droids that seemed to have called for reinforcements. Massive airships descended from the dark sky above, shining spotlights down on them and deploying dozens of hovering disc-like drones. Using claw like extensions to fire beams of crimson lasers down at and through the building's roof, attempting to cut through from above.
"I can't just leave you here! I won't!" Kenneth shouted as he was prepared to transform again, he reached for the dial on his chest but, didn't reach it before Chester stopped him, grabbing his reptilian forearm. They were the closest thing to brothers they'd ever known; their bond was forbidden by the generals that led the resistance but, they didn't care.
His helmet dematerialized, showing off an Asian-American young man with dirty-blonde hair that hung down passed his ears and freckles that he could only have gotten from his Father, "This was your plan, it'll work, you have to go now! I believe in you!" without a second thought, he turned and fired an energy bullet directly through the head of an incoming droid. The hole in its metallic head smoked as the red-hot energy dissipated, "GO!"
He was going to refuse but, that's when he heard it, the sound of a massive wrecking ball tearing through the rubble of the destroyed city; it's trademark spikes and size was obvious that it was his personal transport. "No… No, No, No!" Kenneth shouted, glancing back at Chester who rematerialized his helmet and was fighting off the droids well. There was a chance he might have escaped with his life but, there was no stopping the metaphorical force of nature that tore through what was left of the buildings like they were made of tissue paper.
"I'm sorry! I'm so… s-so sorry!" XLR8 wept with literal tears as he dashed from the scene leaving particles of his sadness behind in the air; his best and only friend behind to undoubtedly die at the hands of the man who murdered his parents. He was enraged, he was furious but also, the turmoil within him forced the tears out of his alien eyes beneath the armored helmet and visor. Not waiting to reach an ocean, he bypassed the speed of light after as he ran across the country, his speed cracked open the Earth beneath his run with raw friction, finally the thrusters kicked in with a single thought firing up a bright blue ionic energy that boosted his speed by over ten times, shattering the laws of physics as his body's vibrational frequency was thrown into flux, generating bolts of bright blue lightning which cascaded over the ground until…
…
Omnitrix City Suburbs; South Dakota; February 16th, 2018; 9:06AM
Kenneth gasped, shooting up in bed with a cold sweat shivering across his body, tears fell down his cheeks as he stared at the guest bedroom in his parent's loft, still in the past. He laid back down, his head hitting the pillow but, only staring up at the ceiling and facing the memory of his friend being surrounded by the enemy… and all he could do was run away. He glanced down to his Omnitrix in shame, he didn't deserve this power if he couldn't even protect those he cared about most. Why did he run?
"I'm so sorry, Chester," he whispered to himself as another tear ran down the side of his face, blinking it away as best he could. He wasn't an incredibly powerful empath but, what abilities in that area he did have should be enough to suppress his true intentions around his parents. Only it would go south if he broke down to them about how hard all of this has been, to them alive again, to see Chester's father before-
Suddenly, Kenneth sat up at the smell of something strange, something very unfamiliar… he quickly dressed himself and even put on deodorant before approaching the door in the same blue hoodie and jeans he arrived in. He was surprised they'd washed it so quickly for him; it would usually take half a day to do laundry without running water when he came from. Slowly creaking open the door, he realized the strange smell was edible food not out of a can or dehydrated rations. He slowly stepped out to take a look at first, noticing a table littered with delicious breakfast foods; scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, pancakes with syrup, different cereals with different flavored milks, hashbrowns, sausages, and even waffles infused with fruits he hadn't tried since he was a child.
His mouth salivated but, he kept his composure solid as he stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him, alerting the couple in the kitchen that he was awake. "Hey!" Gwendolyn was the first to announce herself as Ben turned around as well to face him. They were already dressed in their day-to-day outfits, he wondered why, since they were millionaires and could buy and wear whatever they wanted.
"Do you guys always eat this much food in the morning?" Kenneth asked not taking his eyes off the still steaming eggs and bacon, glancing between the feast and his parents suspiciously.
Gwendolyn turned back at her fiancé subtlety before answering, "We weren't sure what type of food you would like so…" she allowed her sentence to trail off.
"You made everything? For me?" he finished scanning the feast laid out before him, looking up at them almost for permission to sit down and eat.
Ben shrugged and motioned down for him to sit across from him, "I didn't mind, plus I've got super-speed so, that helps," he chuckled and grabbed a plate, loading it with whatever he wanted, prompting Ken to mimic the action and grab a plate of his own only a little too quickly. Noticing this, Gwendolyn spoke up.
She crossed the room and put a hand on his shoulder, pulling a chair out for him to sit in with his still empty plate, "You don't have to worry, whatever war you were fighting, you aren't fighting it here… you don't need hesitate to eat with us," it reminded him so much of how she used to be, how he remembered her in the inklings of his memories before the attack. A tear formed in the back of his eyes, glimmering off the lights from the ceiling but, he turned his head to hide it from her as he sat down. Kenneth focused on the food and hesitantly took sausage and eggs out of their large bowls, piling it on to his plate.
"Here let me-" As Gwendolyn reached across his plate to grab one of the set knives, Kenneth flinched visibly, accidently hitting the table slightly with his knee. He let out a small gasp simultaneously, he was now being stared at by both Mother and Father, the former of which could sense no emotional disruption yet, it was clear as day that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress. "I was just going to cut your waffle into fours, so you can eat it easier…?" it was an innocent gesture and something she always thought about doing when becoming a mother along with the myriad of other joys.
Ken's eyes were fixated on the knife in her hands, gulping down a dry breath, "Sorry," Kenneth tore his gaze back down to his food and heard the screams of the men and women who died to get him here, eating as though everything was fine, how could he be so selfish? He felt threatened by everything and now, he was getting too comfortable, "I'm actually not hungry, I-I have to go," he pushed the chair out and stepped away from it, approaching the door but realized the mistake in his mannerisms. He trained for this, dammit. He plastered a convincing fake smile over his face and turned back around, "Thank you for the food it all looks really amazing, there's just… something I need to do first."
Ben felt a tad disappointed watching his future son walk out the door without even touching any of the food he cooked, not that it was hard or that it took more than five minutes at super speeds but, it meant something was still haunting him. The thing he couldn't tell them about, He looked up at Gwendolyn who was still standing with the knife in her hand, slowly lowering it to her side as she looked to stare back at him.
Ben stuffed his face with a bit more off the scrambled eggs, "He's really freaked out about whatever he escaped to get here," he motioned back to Gwendolyn for her response.
"We still have questions, how do we ask them without either damaging the timeline or damaging our relationship with him," She said as he didn't hesitate to continue his meal, shoveling eggs into his mouth right after proposing the issue. She scowled at him a bit for both eating like this after what just happened and for talking with his mouth full.
Gwendolyn shook that off and narrowed her eyes at the door he'd left out of, "I'm just not sure, something is off… I think he might be an empath too, like I am," she finally turned to look Ben seriously in the eyes, prompting him to stop his rapid eating, "He's clearly in distress but, it's as though he's projecting a feeling at me on purpose to hide something."
Ben sighed and suddenly, Gwen watched as he used his Kinceleran abilities to finish his meal in a blur of speed before rushing passed her, clearing the table off and doing the all the dishes in a matter of seconds. She huffed and waited until he'd finished with a burst of air drafting through her hair when he stopped suddenly in front of her, "Look, obviously when he said he'd been fighting since he was eleven, he meant it. Whatever terrible future he's from, I'm sure he's just a little spooked to be somewhere so inviting with parents he never met."
Gwendolyn leaned into his chest, placing her head against his pectoral, closing her eyes, and listening to his heartbeat, "I guess you're right; I shouldn't worry so much, his emotional spectrum is probably a tangled knot right now."
He placed a gentle hand on her head, petting her hair just a bit as he too looked back at the door their son had walked out, "Exactly, he probably just needs time to adjust."
Gwendolyn nodded and looked back at the table now cleared of food, she could still smell it as her stomach curled, doing flips in her intestines; she turned around projectile vomited over the hardwood prompting Ben to take a step back until she was finished. Coughing and lowering herself almost to her knees, Ben sped close and caught her, keeping her stable, "Are you okay?!"
Gwendolyn wiped her lips and gasped for breath a few times, "I'm fine, I think I might already be getting morning sickness…" she looked down at her navy-blue blouse and sighed, "Ugh, I love this top… now I have to change."
"Morning sickness so soon? It's only been two weeks since, ya know…" Ben tried doing the math in his head but, he didn't know so much about pregnancy or how the female body reacted to it.
Gwendolyn pulled the hem of her now ruined blouse up above her head removing it completely, wearing nothing but a white bra underneath, "I'm sure it's fine, it isn't totally unusual, I am in my first trimester technically," she turned passed him towards their bedroom where she tossed the blouse in the laundry bin and searched her walk-in closet for another.
"I still think you should go see Julie, with all of the craziness with my powers and yours, a second opinion couldn't hurt," Ben announced from the dining room as he waited on her, hearing the sink running as she brushed her teeth for the second time this morning.
Reentering the room in a black blouse with a blue trim along the hemline, she approached Ben and wrapped a hand around his neck looking up into his eyes, "If it'll make you feel better, I'll go see her later today."
"It would and thank you," Ben responded as he pulled her in for a quick minty fresh kiss brushing his lips against hers, feeling her grip on his neck tighten a bit before separating. They slowly opened their eyes as they placed their foreheads together, "This is a lot to handle right now, isn't it?"
"Of course it is, I'm surprised we've handled it as well as we have so far…" Gwen bit her lip, thinking pensively on whether it would be the right call to bring this up, "Maybe you were right, maybe we don't have the time to plan a wedding right now."
Ben pulled away a few inches, shaking his head, "I-I never said that exactly."
"I can feel it in your emotions, plus it's pretty obvious we're juggling too much to begin with, I'll just cancel shopping with Lucy and go see Julie to make sure the baby is safe…" Gwen reasoned pretty logically but, Ben would have none of that, gripping her shoulders lightly and pulling back to get a better look at her.
"No, I'm the one being paranoid; Ken is proof that the baby in you is alive and safe and eventually grows up to travel back to this moment," he took a few seconds to go over that in his head as Gwendolyn couldn't stop a giggle from slipping through her lips, "Yea that tracks, so, invite Julie and Lucy and go shop till you drop," he geared his attention to the pile of vomit still on the floor beside them, "Well, maybe not literally."
…
Kenneth didn't hesitate to pop the dial and subsequently transform himself into a younger, navy-blue shaded moth alien; Big Chill's wings spread open quickly as he flapped them and ascended into the air. He tried to ignore the traumatic memories of the day prior, just moments before he arrived on his Father's doorstep, but he still had a mission to complete, and he wasn't going to sit around enjoying a feast while the future was still in shambles. Flying off and up into the atmosphere, the Necrofrigian glided through the air at close to a hundred miles an hour, dashing into the freezing cold clouds. It felt like as refreshing as a steaming hot bath would for a human, allowing the frozen water particles to stream against his insectoid-like skin.
After relishing in the non-toxic air for a few minutes, Big Chill aimed his descent towards a factory district just outside of Omnitrix City limits, landing atop a warehouse district that had yet to be fully constructed or staffed. With an empty building to work with, it didn't take long for XLR8 to stock the building with the equipment he needed, or rather his guest needed. The Necrofrigian closed his wings over his body like a hooded robe, phasing through the roof and floating down into the large facility. He transformed back midair as his white armor spread from his back encasing his body in his emerald trimmed battle suit, hiding his face behind his helmet.
"You work fast," Kenneth announced first as he greeted Dr. Animo, who had gone through some severe changes in a mere sixteen or so hours. Having killed the mutated albino Gorilla the night prior himself, Animo used the opportunity to surgically decapitate himself with the help of automated drones which Ken used Upgrade on before he left the night before. Placing his head in a sustainable and nigh-unbreakable clear polycarbonate tube with a powerfully enhanced formaldehyde chemical keeping him preserved. His spinal cord was mechanically connected to wiring that led deep into the now living corpse of the mutated primate.
The giant ape turned to face the young man, the juices in his helmet swashing around with the motion, Animo grinned at him as the massive arms swung open to gesture at his new body, "You are looking at the next step in human evolution! With my intelligence and the strength of this body seamlessly-" his rant was cut short without hesitation.
"Have you built what I asked for?" Kenneth cut him off, scanning the room with the futuristic technology in his visor, he found the parts he'd stolen as a speedster compiled together, allowing his helmet to scan it.
Animo scoffed after being interrupted, "Of course I did, you didn't give me many options otherwise," the giant ape stomped across the room and placed a hand on the top of a machine that looked similar to a satellite radar system only more organic somehow, connected to a massive power source beneath the ground, "This device will mimic the nightmarish mental attacks you requested… whoever you plan to use it on, I do hope it was worth my time," Animo stepped away from the device as Kenneth approached it and also scanned it more intently, looking for any sort of trickery or deception. There was none he could find, it all seemed like it would work exactly as he planned it to.
"Your time is worth whatever I say its worth," Kenneth announced without turning around, internally shaking his head in shame that he had to employ the assistant of such a lowly criminal, "And you spent half the night turning yourself into… that."
"Next step…" before Animo could finish, he realized he never even received a name for the man holding him hostage to perform the most fun experiments he could imagine, "What did you say your name was again?" he pointed a sharpened clawed finger at him in confusion as he watched the armored man turn around.
"I didn't," Kenneth responded, thinking of a name as quicky as possible, "You can call me Chrono-Spanner, and be ready for when I get back. Don't leave this facility. I assume whatever you did to yourself means I don't need to feed you or keep you hydrated," Spanner folded his arms over his armored chest, still stained with now dried dark-brown blood.
"As I said, it is the next step in human evolution and as soon as our business is through, I plan to use this body and my genius intellect to mutate the entire world! Then the human race will be able to take its rightful place as the dominant species in the Universe all under my command, Doctor Al-"
"Enough," Kenneth interrupted and shook his head, he'd heard stories from his mother about this villain in particular but, always assumed she was exaggerating, "You really do love to hear yourself talk," as he turned to leave Animo called out to him one last time, waving his large furry arm in the air.
"You never said who you need me to target with my psyche disruptor?" it was a good question but, not one that Kenneth wanted to answer.
Spanner stopped in his tracks, turning his head over his shoulder with a guilt-ridden look of shame hidden only by his masked helmet, "Ben Ten Thousand," he sighed reluctantly.
A sinister grin grew over Animo's face as bubbles rose to the top of his head-tank, "You just become my new favorite person."
"Just make sure you utilize the device exactly when I instructed."
Animo glanced back at the device against the wall and grew a sinister grin, "With pleasure."
…
Tennyson Tower; South Dakota; February 16th, 2018; 10:14AM.
Kenneth hardly waited for the elevator doors to open, walking in with a confident strut, holding a four-person cardboard cup-holder with coffee for everyone currently in the command ops being Lucy, Cooper, Ben, and Gwendolyn; "I got everyone something to drink, extra shot of espresso for Aunt Lucy, non-fat dairy for Coop, and two iced mochas with caramel drizzle for you two since you both love the same thing," as he called their names out, the group happily approached him to grab their specified drink, prompting Ben and Gwendolyn to glance at each other once again with an unsure suspicion.
"That's super thoughtful of you but, you didn't have to do that for us," Gwendolyn expressed only for her cousin to interject without hesitation.
Lucy sipped her drink once and sighed in satisfied relief, "As long as you're buying, you can bring as many drinks as you want," while she wasn't particular about which type of drink, it hardly mattered with her physiology.
Kenneth put down the drinks on the command center beside the couple, addressing them both at the same time even as Cooper approached from behind to grab his, "I wanted to apologize for earlier this morning, you guys were so nice to me and I totally ditched you, totally not shway…" he rolled his eyes as Cooper turned back around with a raised brow before the parental figures could respond.
"I'm sorry, did you say shway?"
Prompting Ken to face him with a nonchalant smile, "Yea, in like five years it becomes the most popular way to say things are…" he paused thinking of the right words, "Vibing, cool, or sometimes excitement but, a happy excitement."
Cooper turned back around and approached his desk, putting down his drink slowly in almost a fugue state, "Wait, so if we start saying shway now, will it be because you just explained it to us? That would mean we're living in a causal nexus, wow that is trippy…" he leaned against his desk to ponder that notion further while Ben grabbed his son's attention.
"It's no worries, we just weren't sure where you could have gone off to," He noted considering he was living with them and claimed he didn't know anyone else in this time. "I don't know much about time travel but, you could step on the wrong… bug and change the entire timeline."
That's the plan, Dad, "I know, I was flying the entire time, I just wanted to get some real fresh air," Kenneth explained away as he once again negated his Mother's ability to sift through his emotions, which he could actively feel happening. "And nobody saw me use my powers, I was too fast." As he said this, something clicked in the mage's head as she took a few steps forward, grabbing the drink he brought for her.
"Did you pay for these drinks?" Gwendolyn asked naggingly as she glanced at the drizzle of caramel over the whipped cream.
Kenneth gave her an awkward smile, looking back to his Father who raised his brow waiting for him to answer, "Well, when you're moving close to the speed of light, nobody even notices you, plus you guys know I don't have money," he shrugged nonchalantly and tried to turn away from the conversation.
Lucy giggled until she snorted, still sipping her drink regardless of whether it was paid for; Cooper hadn't touched his drink yet, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around 'shway' sorry," he said aloud in response to Gwendolyn looking to him for support.
Sighing, Ben took a step forward and put a hand on Kenneth's shoulder stopping him, "You can't just steal things you want because you have super-powers, I'm the richest twenty-two-year-old in America, all you had to do was ask," Ben reasoned as he folded his arms, not really scolding the boy but, letting him know that things were different. However, the look on his face said something else entirely, looking into the boy's eyes it was obvious he didn't realize anything was wrong until Gwen pointed it out, "The future doesn't have money, does it?"
"Of course it does, I mean, how could it not? We're at war that doesn't mean money went away, pfft. I just sorta thought nobody would miss a couple drinks, what's the big deal?" Kenneth covered for his plot hole with yet another lie, this one not being quite as intricate and beginning to get frustrated as his gesture wasn't being received as well as he'd hoped, "Look, I came to say I'm sorry, shouldn't that be enough?" he huffed.
"The big deal is that we're heroes and thieves are people we arrest… if you want to learn anything from us while you're in this time, you have to follow our laws, right babe?" Gwendolyn swung her hand back lightly tapping his shoulder prompting him to gulp down the iced coffee quickly.
"Mhm, yes, yea," he put the cup down as Gwen's glare seemed to be on everyone this morning, possibly hormones from being pregnant but, also just as possibly because the boy was being reckless through and through without any good reason she could think of. "Look, sometimes if you really want to enjoy life, you have to slow down and absorb the moment; the beauty is in the small moments."
Lucy chuckled as she'd found a rolling chair that spun in place, firmly planting her butt in it, and spinning around as she spoke, snorting a bit, "Yea, isn't that how that other timeline universal guy you met acted, he was always zooming around and never stopped."
Gwen nodded in Lucy's direction even as she sipped the stolen drink, referring to the future version of Ben that they'd met when they were ten years old, "She's right, oddly enough, Ben Ten Thousand in that reality spent almost every waking moment as XLR8 or Fourarms, crossing the planet and fighting crime twenty-four-seven."
"That doesn't sound horrible, actually sounds pretty shway." Kenneth responded.
Ben folded his arms with a light sigh, "Not shway," he mocked, "It turned him into a bitter, lonely, shell of a man who didn't have a life… he was more hero than he was human, and that's no life to live. Even he saw that in the end."
"Whatever, I'm sorry, happy?" his fake apology didn't sit well even as he sat at the command deck, sulking with his head down, nobody in the room knew how to respond properly to this.
"Are you sure you want us to go? It sounds a lot like you could use an extra parental hand," Gwendolyn didn't take her eyes off of the moping boy, he was still only eighteen after all.
"Yea, I'll be fine, tell Julie she can have the rest of the day off while you're at it."
Gwendolyn nodded and pecked him on the cheek, looking back once more at Kenneth before turning away to approach the elevators, disappearing behind them.
Lucy rolled over in her chair, spinning around to be seated almost right next to them as Ben approached the seated Kenneth; every time he closed his eyes he could see the deaths of his comrades, the flashes of a war fought and lost before he was even old enough to really enlist. A comforting hand from his father startled him to stand up completely in just an instant, like a jolt of electricity had shocked him. This was the second time this morning.
"Are you okay? I know you can't tell us much but, whatever's wrong, I'm sure there's someway we could help you," As Ben tried to reassure him of this, Kenneth glanced over at Cooper sitting at his desk, typing away.
"You know what to do now! Go!" Chester's voice echoed in his memory as he simply shook his head, clearing his throat quickly before forcing a smile.
"It's nothing, really…"
Ben took a step back, prompting Kenneth to look into his eyes, noticing his pupils dilating quite a bit as he knew exactly what was happening, perfect timing, Animo. Reaching a hand up to his head as if he were nursing a headache, Lucy glanced up at him as he took another step back and closed his eyes, "What's wrong?" she asked turning to look up at him fully to see the stress on his face, how his expression contorted.
Cooper also peaked to see how the hero nearly fell back, grabbing the railing to the holo-deck for support with his free hand. Everything had blurred and the voices around him from his friends became muffled, as though he were wearing large earmuffs. Suddenly, flashes of images invaded his mind even with his eyes shut with an intense ringing metaphorically slicing through the air forcing him to keep his eyes glued shut for several seconds.
Lucy stood up and turned towards Ben completely, and with the Cooper still sitting at his desk, none of them noticed Kenneth's facial expression turn from distressed back into a stoic and emotionless response. He'd seen death and torture for years, he'd fought bloodier battles than they have yet to ever know, this didn't faze him especially when he knew Animo had activated his machine.
The flashes of images were of his greatest fears; Gwendolyn being murdered in dozens of different horrific fashions, his city burned to the ground as the flames were so vivid he almost felt them, and a single voice he recognized all too well. Goosebumps spread across his skin in a matter of seconds as he heard a chilled whisper.
"You didn't truly believe you could kill me, did you, boy?"
It was only in his head and as soon as it faded, as did all of the other images and terrifying sounds along with it but, it lingered with him as Ben shook his head. Now facing Lucy who had her palm lightly patting his left cheek, looking into his eyes for several seconds now, "You good, cus?" she asked.
He shrugged it off, not wanting to burden anyone with what could be nothing, he made an excuse, "I got a little lightheaded that's all, I probably need a banana or something," it didn't make too much sense but, Cooper interjected anyways to point out the obvious.
"You shouldn't be getting lightheaded anymore with your stamina and abilities," Cooper said out loud as, just then, they noticed Kenneth was no longer in the room with them; having left during the distraction without being noticed somehow. "Didn't you have a son standing there a few minutes ago?" he pointed out changing the subject entirely as both Ben and Lucy turned around to notice him gone.
As the doors to the command deck slid open suddenly, Rook Blanco stepped through in his pristine proto armor, looking much better than the night before when he had gotten too drunk. Lucy watched him enter with an amorous stare, though he only greeted her with a general nod, it didn't seem like he remembered much about the night before much to her dismay. She sighed and looked back to the ground as she took Ken's seat and sulked by putting her head down.
"Reporting for duty, sir," Rook said saluting Ben as he approached the command-deck, giving the hero an idea as he quickly discarded Gwen's hand and passed her.
Grabbing Rook by one of his arms and walking with him towards the exit, "Looks like we should go find Ken before he ends up wiping himself from the timeline, c'mon Rook," he finished his sentence as Lucy called out to him.
"Are you sure you don't want me to help?!" But, as the doors slid open for them automatically, it became clear he wanted the time without her for a specific purpose which had to be connected to whatever episode he just had in front of them. Her call falling on deaf ears, the doors slid shut behind them as Ben grabbed Rook by his shoulders.
"While I am ready for a search and rescue mission, I do have a feeling you do not intend to take this time to look for Kenneth…" Rook may not have understood contractions but, that didn't make him stupid.
Ben glanced back at the doors before leading him down the hall towards the elevators, patting him on the back the whole way, "No, we're not, not yet at least… I have something I need to check on and I need someone to stand next to me and stay quiet while I do," he stopped and pressed the down button on the wall summoning the high-speed elevator on the left to them with a ding, "Can you do that?" he asked.
"Yes sir!" Rook responded by defaulting to his training, straightening his posture, and saluting Ben who was standing less than a foot away, "Alright, take it easy," he said sarcastically, gently grabbing his wrist from atop his forehead and pulling him into the elevator as it opened for them.
…
Mount Rushmore; South Dakota; February 16th, 2018; 10:53AM.
After having been reactivated by Wes and the Magistratus of Earth's Solar System, the once monument became a well-known and highly equipped Plumber Base once again; while the upper levels were used for regular duty Plumber briefings, weapons, and gear storage, even hosting some academy lessons on occasion… the lower levels had been remodeled into a prison the likes of which no human could ever fathom let alone escape. This was where the Plumber's kept all of the technology and prisoners that humanity itself wasn't ready to be exposed to, however; the Null Void was too wild and unpredictable to use.
Ben and Rook approached the front gate on foot, where had once been an entrance to a gift shop had now been emptied and retrofitted into an entry point for members of the corps to gain access to the base itself. Approaching two armed men in white and black armor, twelve-gauge plasma rifles in hand, they greeted the famous hero with a nod as he passed them.
Once the door split open for him to walk through, Ben recalled the next area leading up to the elevator; last time he'd been there, he's gone through the back with access his Grandfather had given them but, this time he was the active agent. As they proceeded towards yet another high-speed lift that would take them deep down into the sublevels of the intergalactic bunker, Rook felt a chill running up and down his spine feeling the fur across his skin stand on edge, feeling the temperature drop severely in just seconds.
Before he could ask, spite being told not to speak, he was interrupted by a ghost phasing up from the ground; a familiar Necrofrigian floated up from below and shifted his density to appear before them more clearly.
"Nice to see you again, Magister Trinity," Ben held his gauntleted hand out for him to shake with a smile, allowing the Plumber to return the favor.
As he shook his hand, Trinity couldn't help but ask, "I haven't seen you in quite a while," he spoke with a billow of frozen air in each breath, "Who's the new guy?" he glanced to Rook who was going to introduce himself but, was interrupted swiftly.
"His name is Rook Blanco, a newbie I've been training; we're here to check sublevel Sector V," he said as a statement and certainly not a question, he was literally one of the only three people living on Earth that could access this part of the Plumber Base, and the only one who could do it without showing proper identification.
Trinity paused, glancing suspiciously between the two of them as his eyes narrowed at Ben, "Why would you want to see them?"
"I have my reasons, now can you please?" Ben motioned for him to enter his access code into the elevator so they could travel to whatever this 'Sector V' was. He could have used his Omnitrix to gain entry to the lift but, decided it would be more polite if he allowed the Necrofrigian to do his job.
Shaking his head beneath his hood, Trinity gasped another visible breath of cold air before turning around to face the wall where a holographic keypad appeared, "Whatever you say," his words were long and drawn out which only made Ben a tad antsy considering he was an older gentleman, older than his late Grandfather apparently. He tapped in a six-digit code which hummed to life as the light behind the elevator doors shun bright green. "It's only going to ruin your mood."
Ben gave his own exasperated sigh, watching as the elevator doors slowly opened revealing quite a small lift-car, "Trust me, mood's already ruined," he muttered as he passed the freezing cold man with Rook giving a salute to Trinity before stepping into the lift with the hero.
They traveled nearly two dozen miles down below the surface with a slow hum noting each sublevel one after the next, letters appearing on a small screen within the platform, getting closer to the end of the alphabet the further down they went. Once the electronic sign read 'V' the lift slowed to a gentle stop, he recalled the first time he had been down here, he'd taken the core out of his Omnitrix and stopped 'going hero' for nearly a year and he'd been accompanied by his Grandfather back then. Any time they'd placed anything to be locked down here, he'd have someone else do the grunt work.
The doors opened to reveal a long, well lit, porcelain white corridor; as Ben stepped out first, Rook followed suit behind him looking on in awe at what was kept in this secret vault. The first glass case was just an empty room with a pedestal in the center, this is where Albedo's copied Omnitrix core was kept and nullified along with a broken dimensional shifter. Up next was something that Rook had read about in his studies, a level fourteen Techadonian Tachyon Cannon capable of disrupting every individual cell in a targets body, taking the target apart on a sub-cellular level. It was wracked alongside Nuclear Fusion Grenades and what looked to be a golden level twelve Tetramandian War Hammer which could literally crack open continents if used properly. The only other thing in the room was a large Mark One Null Void projector which looked like a large cannon, gathering dust in the corner.
Ben continued his strut without looking at any of the other blocks, that was until he passed one of the final glass rooms, this time with a prisoner inside of it, "Am I hallucinating again?" a familiar voice called out as Ben passed him, the man being held in a strait jacket as well as this specific cell appearing to glow, laid out on the floor until he received an answer.
"No," Ben responded coldly as the man once known as Prometheus chuckled, standing up from his knees and approaching the glass with a smile growing across his bearded face; he glanced at Rook who he'd never truly had the honor of meeting, spite being intricate in stopping his final plan.
"Hello, you're new, the last person who was down here with him died because of him, did you know that?" the deluded man was hoping for a reaction if not from Ben than from the newcomer but, he was disappointed either way.
Rook folded his hands behind his back, speaking for the very first time which prompted Ben to stop walking and turn to face him, about to warn him not to engage, "I know who you are, variant Tennyson, Benjamin from Earth B10-6614, only now referred to as the Anti-Earth," without giving even the slightest hint of emotion that would inevitably satisfy the villain, the newbie continued, "And Magister Max Tennyson gave his life to save Earth's hero, his detonation of the Null Void projector is what brought your attention to this Earth to begin with. It is all in your file," Rook managed to impress Ben by coldly walking away after leaving Prometheus speechless, although; he did have one last thing to say.
"Your files got one thing wrong though," he announced as he backed away from the glass calmly, approaching an aluminum chair in the center of the room, which was odd considering he was on the floor when they arrived. Perhaps it was all an act? "My name isn't Ben Tennyson," he spat against the glass with disgust at the sound of that name.
"We know, Prometheus," Ben announced himself from Rook's side, backtracking to stand juxtaposed to the prisoner, folding his arms in shame at the disheveled version of himself.
Suddenly, the prisoner became visibly upset, shifting in his seat to face Ben at an angle, "No. I've outgrown what that name represents. I've been thinking about the name… Eon," with a drawn-out pause, Ben rolled his eyes in response as the variant turned to look Rook In the eyes, "Update your files with that, rolls off the tongue much easier than Prometheus too," he finally sat back in his chair as the hero walked away, prompting the Revonnahgander to follow.
After another emptied glass room, they came upon a large silver vault with many highly advanced locks sprawled over the paper-thin division between wall and door. Ben held up the Omnitrix which was also the only key in the Universe that could open said vault with one access scan. A light projecting energy quickly ran up and down the gauntlet with emerald energy, "Recognized: Ben Ten Thousand."
Once the automated voice finished announcing him, the door released a blast of pressurized steam, Ben watched as each electronic locks were undone, one by one, until the vault was finally unlocked. It ominously opened slowly, revealing a large empty metallic slab, standing upright with no space for anything else within. "A cryogenics system? But, who could possibly-" Rook stopped himself once he turned to his superior, noticing the bright shine of his now glowing emerald eyes, almost bursting with energy, "Right, I will stay quiet."
Ben's fist was balled up so tight by his side he was afraid his nails would dig into his skin and cause him to bleed but, his new-found durability matched his strength, so this didn't happen, thankfully. He took a deep breath in before exhaling with a stressed sigh, "Rook?" He announced slowly, calmly, almost scary calm. "Look to your right and press that red-button on the wall for me," he didn't look away from the empty vault, staring at the patches of ice still frozen to the upright metal table.
Rook took his tone as it came, turning, locating, and silently pressing an ordinary red button embedded on the wall beside the vault, once he had the entire facility immediately switched from ordinary florescent lights to bright red emergency lights blaring a siren through the facility. "I do not understand, who was supposed to be in this chamber?"
Ben turned around with only a single word, "Vilgax," transforming into XLR8 and dashing away in a blur of speed. Leaving Rook alone to walk back through the hall himself, Prometheus- or rather, Eon stood from his chair. Recognizing exactly what the siren was for and what it meant for Ben and the Earth, prompting the doppelgänger to start chuckling uncontrollably, "What are you laughing at?" the Plumber asked as he walked back towards the elevator.
"This is how it all ends, civilization and the Tennyson Towers come crumbling down!" As Eon approached the glass slowly, Rook felt intimidated enough to take a step back. "If he's returned… if he's found us…" he started laughing again this time whole heartedly.
"Vilgax has been beaten before, and Ben Ten Thousand-"
Eon stood up knocking his chair over onto the ground, "Ben Ten Thousand is as doomed as the roads he runs on, as hopeless as the city he built as a monument to his ego. I've seen it all."
"You are wrong."
Eon shifted his torso in the strait jacket that kept his arms pinned to his side, feeling the neutralizing energy of his cell as he cracked his neck, "It doesn't matter now anyways, none of it does; you've already rung the bell," Rook looked back to the button on the wall, now flashing with a crimson luminosity within it, "And they've heard it, out in the dark, amongst the stars…" his smile faded quickly enough, proving just how unstable he was, he slammed his forehead against the alien polycarbonate glass staring right into Rook's shocked eyes, whispering this time, "Ding dong… the God is alive."
Rook put the pieces together, as he now looked towards the empty vault door that still hung ajar lazily, before looking back into the psychopath's eyes for a brief second and turning, fully sprinting back towards the secure lift. Eon slammed his face against the glass as he screamed, "And the bell can't be unrung! He's coming! He's coming for us all!" as the elevator split open for him, he turned back just once to find Eon with a serious expression, and a smile so sinister it could kill.
Rook raced outside once the lift opened up, Magister Trinity had his wings spread wide as he stared up at the sky, he was already in contact through a handheld communicator with Wes Green by the time he'd reached the surface level again. Stepping out into the open, the sky was slowly littered with starships, massive automated warcrafts stopping on a dime at far beyond light speed in orbit above them. Not just a few but, an entire armada that slowly appeared one by one, their leader wasn't dead, and now they knew it for a fact.
"Contacting all Plumber's, we have a planetary threat level V, mobilize all units, and recall any off-world missions being conducted. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!" It had been nearly two decades since Trinity had needed to raise his voice, so it most definitely hurt his raspy windpipes.
"Oh, dear…" Rook mumbled, feeling more than way over his own head.
Gwendolyn and Julie were still heading back up to the command center to fetch Lucy for a day of shopping when suddenly, spite it continuing to function properly, the lights in the elevator flashed bright crimson with an alarm blaring from each floor as they passed them, "What's going on?" Julie asked, trying her best no to freak out.
"Nothing good," Gwen responded with a gulp, feeling herself getting slightly nauseous again.
…
196X Maximum Security; Earth; December 12th, 2036; 2:46PM
The ocean was calm at this time of night, the waves not roaring nearly as loudly as the massive warships that hung overhead in the Earth's atmosphere but, within the calm came a storm of lightning. Blue bolts of electricity forced open yet another warp in time creating a portal just above sea-level, and just large enough to release a speedster moving too fast to see even the blur he left behind. His speed thrashed the quiet waters below with a sonic boom eventually sounding as he slowed his velocity down and only rounded the planet's oceans once before being able to make a controlled stop just outside of the same maximum-security penitentiary that Kenneth had been visiting since he began this mission. It was never his idea to time travel let alone to use a speedster alien to somehow make it work but, that was only step one of a much larger plan that had to work. For humanities sake.
Showing no regard for the droids that replaced the destroyed ones he'd left behind the night before, there wasn't even an increase in security as Vilgax was likely not currently on Earth. Usually the tyrant remained on board one of his many flagships, just a few dozen miles above the planet's surface, allowing the speedster to simply dismantle the droids in the blink of an eye.
Dashing through the facility, he stopped in front of the only prisoner within these walls, crippled and scarred but, still of sound mind and body. He was facing the wall, clearly in deep ponderance as he calculated the moves necessary to change the past.
XLR8 transformed back into Ken's human armored state, his helmet retracting and melding into his suit via nanotechnology which came from his cybernetics, "Everything is going according to plan, Animo is reviving Vilgax, and his armada is arriving early… I just don't understand how bringing this all on now will change anything."
Eon slowly turned around with the same glowing neon purple energy flowing behind his eyes, "We've been through this before, all you have to do is do what your father was too weak to do the first time around," taking ominous steps closer to the glass that separated them, his hands behind his back politely, "Your Father…" saying those words with a bit of venom on his tongue, "Your father allowed Vilgax to take his arm and his life, two years later your poor mother followed in his footsteps trying to be the hero… but even if she had the balls," he chuckled to himself having known many versions of her, "Vilgax is too powerful, his army to numerous, the only way to change your future- this future, is to cut Vilgax down before he destroys the world."
Kenneth looked down at the dried blood still on his armor, clutching his fists tight with conviction but, still hesitating, "I'm not stupid, if I kill Vilgax… you'll be freed somehow, won't you?" he looked up for the first time to stare into the intimidating glowing energy in the iris of his eyes.
Eon smiled, putting his hands up against the glass, and leaning forwards, "You have to roll the dice, this nightmare or… a chance at a lesser one, one thing is for certain, I don't intend to do this to humanity," he reassured the young man who didn't break eye contact.
"I don't care if I have to cut Vilgax's damn head off, I will stop this invasion… and if you try to take over next…?" Kenneth approached the glass this time, "I'll cut yours off too," he didn't hesitate to explode in a massive wave of omni-energy, flashing emerald light through the halls as he dashed away as XLR8.
"Oh little runner… hasn't a clue," Eon's eyes flashed brighter as the nullification energy from the cell he was in began to hum keeping him from using his now more innate powers, "Let's play a game… just me and you."
…
I based the Chrono-Spanner armor and his squad's armor off Power Rangers because why not? Also yes the last line is a reference to The Batman 2022 which I suggest you see because it is REALLY good.
Anyways; read, like, favorite, and most importantly review your thoughts below~