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Season 2: Epilogue

Chapter 41: The Hatchet

5 Months Later

Omnitrix City; Tennyson Tower; September 16th, 2018; 4:32PM

"You should quit while you're ahead, pal, this won't end well for you," Ben announced to the assailant who blatantly attacked the tower behind Diamondhead who was trying to calm down the man who seemed oddly terrified, "Just lower your hands and we can talk about this," the Petrosapien kept his hands where the man could see them.

The Caucasian man was sweating bullets, looking around at the CCTV cameras that had been lined across the street a few months ago; "You don't get it! Nobody would understand! They said I could make money d-doing an experiment but, I never wanted this!" he obviously just a middle-class working man who had no idea what was going on.

"Then just ease up, pal; if you explain everything to us, I can make sure you see your family tonight," Diamondhead took a step forwards apprehensively, not wanting to trigger him again. "You want to see them again, don't you, Jake?" he tried appealing to his love for his family, the man blinked rapidly.

"Y-Yes, I do," he seemed as if he was going to surrender but, shook his head with tears streaming down his eyes, glancing up at the cameras once more, "But, that's the reason I'm doing this in the first place… if I don't they'll-" he cut himself off as he realized he'd said too much.

"They'll what? Who's they?" but before he could get an answer the man shut his eyes and thrusted his hands forwards, palms out. He somehow released a Sonorosian sonic-boom which blew back Diamondhead through the shattered doors to his tower; this blast also knocked the police cruisers that surrounded him on their sides.

Gwendolyn watched from the control-deck on floor fifty, a hand placed lazily on the much larger baby-bump growing in her uterus; she hated being on the sidelines but, no spell in the Universe could protect her child at this stage of her pregnancy. She felt the building shake as she watched Ben disappear into the building he was knocked into, she wasn't worried. They were getting closer to discovering who exactly was creating and sending these alien-powered super-humans.

An explosion of green light engulfed lobby of Tennyson Tower; suddenly, a stream of sentient water slithered through the air from within the lobby. As he touched down on the cracked apart asphalt, he reformed into a fifteen-foot tall almost humanoid form of water, the only discernable features that told anyone that it was alive was the wooden mask over what must have been its face along with the Omnitrix symbol floating within his chest.

Overflow stood tall looking down on the frightened man, trying his best not to hurt him, he used his liquid appendages in an attempt to freeze his hands together but, Jake simply clapped his hands out of fear sending an omnidirectional boom of concussive force. This time, Overflow was hardly effected by the sound-based attack, using the seconds Jake spent recovering wrap his entire body in water from the neck down, freezing it solid.

Plumbers arrived on the scene just in time, two military equipped vehicles pulled up to the debris littered street; nearly thirty-floors of glass had been completely blown out as well as severe damage to the tower's entrance. Plumbers quickly went to work, using brand new devices developed by Billions Corporation acting as collars that neutralize the abilities of any alien-powered super-human. Considering they were popping up by the half-dozen every month for the last half year, the Plumbers couldn't find any reason to say no.

High atop a tower just slightly taller than Tennyson Tower, Billy Billions watched with a high-powered scope analyzing the action and the stability of the powers he was granting these new super-villains. He was standing on a balcony with a beautiful view of the nearly complete city, and of course, Billy had to have his tower built just a few blocks from Ben's. As he watched the Plumber's take away his latest experiment, a woman from behind approached holding a silver tray with a drink in a short glass along with a small snack of crackers.

"Thank you, Mazuma; I was thinking of calling this one 'Sonic Boom," he grabbed the glass of whisky on the rocks from the tray, "What do you think?" the ice clinked in the drink as he took a sip.

"Perhaps, Concussion would be less on the nose?" the tall, blonde woman, Mazuma, was Billy's personal assistant that did everything he needed done herself. She cleaned, cooked, booked his appointments, handled his schedule, and even acted as his bodyguard mastering Tai-Quan-Do, Jiu-Jitsu, Karate, Krav Maga, and Chinese Kenpo to name a few.

Billy swirled his drink, looking into his reflection with a smile, "You're probably right, one word is way more marketable."

Mazuma placed the tray down beside Billy who took a cracker and bit down on it, "Are you sure it was a good idea to use a random civilian for this experiment, should he talk to the poli-" she was interrupted when he suddenly launched the drink off the balcony and turned to face her, almost scaring her.

"He's not going to say shit and you're gonna make sure of that, because if you don't… it's you who kills his family, not me," Billy made himself perfectly clear, grabbing a cracker from the plate as Mazuma glanced down to her heels in shame, being one of the most gifted fighters in the world didn't help with her personal insecurities.

"Y-Yes sir," she muttered as he walked away, twiddling her thumbs with her head down in shame.

…

Omnitrix City; Tennyson Tower; September 16th, 2018; 5:09PM

Ben didn't wait for the Plumbers to finish their job securing Concussion before deactivating his nano-tech suit and walking through the destroyed entrance to his building. These last nearly six months had been the hardest to deal with emotionally, Ken was gone, Eon escaped to who knows when, and the entire team still mourned the loss of their former teammates slaughtered by Prometheus.

His combat boots crunched the broken glass as he walked towards the elevator, still finding himself occasionally with a thousand-yard stare. He pressed the button to the elevator and as he waited he could see Ken's horrified expression, "Da-" the way his body simply drifted away in the wind before he could even call out his name. It haunted him every single night, he hadn't slept in nearly three days and considering how well that went last time, it was about time he went up to the loft to relax with his fiancé.

Suddenly, there was a petite hand waving itself in front of his face, "Ah, what?" he turned to find Julie with her arms folded, staring at an empty elevator waiting for him to get in.

"Are you okay?" she asked as they both walked in and the doors slid shut in front of them. She didn't receive an answer, only a somber glance before staring back at the holographic keys he pushed to make his way up, "It's been five months since Project Oblivion, don't you think it's time you talked to someone about what you saw? Maybe even just Gwendolyn?"

As the highspeed elevator stopped at the fiftieth level, the doors opened and without a word, Ben walked out leaving Julie to follow behind him with a somber expression. Cooper noticed him walk in and right by him without saying a word, glancing at his girlfriend who only shrugged in response.

Cooper sighed and gripped the armrests of his chair but, before he stood, Ben spoke up, "Sit back down, Coop, I'm not in the mood," he activated the holodeck and began scrolling through the super-humans they'd faced this month alone, attempting to look for a pattern. The technopath rolled his eyes, super-hearing was a bitch and a half when you could even hear the squeak of a chair move from thirty-feet away.

Cooper instead stood, walking over towards Ben, and placing his hand flat on the controls for the holographic settings, using his power over technology to shut off the holodeck. "Listen to me, we don't just work for you, we're you're friends. Whatever happened during Project Oblivion clearly traumatized you; you won't talk, you don't eat, you hardly sleep, and when you do you have nightmares!" Ben glanced up at him for the first time, having kept his head down during Cooper's rant.

"Are you done? Gwendolyn had no right to share that with you, none of you understand what happened, none of you could even if I told you," Ben brushed passed Cooper rather roughly, pushing against him purposefully as he headed back to the elevator, his head down once he entered, "And I don't plan to," he said as the doors shut once again in front of him, if he couldn't work without being berated for answers by his teammates, than he would go up to the top level and spend time with his fiancé.

After everything that happened with Kenneth, they agreed to postpone the wedding until they were emotionally ready; they had already picked everything out and it sounded beautiful on paper, all they had left to do was pick the date.

Entering the loft where Gwendolyn spent most of her time these days, the apartment downtown reminded her too much of what she'd lost, she likely wouldn't go back until the baby was delivered. Ben walked in on her looking down on the bustling city which had progressed significantly in the last half-year or so; towers littered the skyline, the suburbs were complete, and families were buying real estate in the city by the hundreds every single day.

He came from behind, gently wrapping his hands around her baby-bump, kissing her neck as he very lightly pulled up the weight of the baby. This was something that forced a sigh of relief from her lips, he let go just as gently and rubbed her arms from behind.

"Why did you tell Cooper about the nightmares?"

Gwen closed her eyes, "Because, what happened during Project Oblivion was devastating and you need to talk to someone about it, anyone, just…" she turned around to look into his eyes, "Just stop walking around with all of this bottled-up anger a-and sadness, I can feel it flowing off you in waves and it breaks my heart," a single tear slipped down her right cheek, feeling a squeeze on his own heart, he reached out and wiped it away with his thumb.

"Okay, I'll talk to someone… I've been meaning to have this conversation with him for a while anyways," Ben stroked her chin, pulling her in close just so their lips could brush against one another softly, her baby-bump kept him from pulling her in too close but, he didn't mind.

…

Ibiza; September 16th, 2018; 11:56PM

XLR8 slowed his approach to the island as the run over water had begun dredging up behind him, creating a cyclone of ocean water in his wake. He arrived at a small village, there was a massive party going on through out the entire village; loud music, drugs, rich men, and women drinking expensive alcohol.

There were men and women dancing, drinking, and partying for blocks as the music was blasted loud enough for everyone to hear; XLR8 stopped on a dime at the beach, the ocean water crashing over the sand from behind. Ben could sense the presence of another Ultimatrix somewhere in the vicinity, ever since Ben Ten Million gave him the upgrade, he felt more powerful than he'd ever been.

Being so far from America and due to the party going on with confetti and strangers dancing all across the beach, he was given a woman, clearly on some form of hallucinogen, threw a lei flower necklace over his neck as he approached the village.

"Uh, thanks," he muttered as he walked up the boardwalk and followed the trail of negative Omni-Energy he could feel, though he was in his human form for some reason. That was probably for the best, allot of people could get hurt if a fight between them broke out.

After scanning the area with his enhanced vision, he switched to an infrared sightline, finding the shapeshifter sitting at a bar amidst the music and partying. Ben sighed loudly, "Here we go…" he stuffed his hands in his pockets and crossed the sandy area, pushing passed people as the music compelled people to continue partying around them.

The snow haired shapeshifter held a drink in his hand but, only stared at it not having taken a sip, "I heard a song about this place once on the radio… I took a few pills and came here but, it wasn't as fun as the song made it seem," Albedo turned and looked into Ben's eyes, bags running under them, and a serious expression that he glared at him with. "You'd risk the lives of all these people for a fight here? Now?" the former Galvan narrowed his eyes as Ben lowered his shamefully, "No, you didn't come to fight… you came for something else, talk, Tennyson."

Ben tapped his fingers on the wooden bar, "I went on a mission recently… a big mission," he started slow, recalling how everything happened so fast, "My Son from the future, Paradox, and I went to confront Eon."

Albedo almost chuckled, "You mean the Eon you basically created and then allowed to escape?" still neither making eye contact, staring down at the bar.

"That's the one; he went to the end of existence, the last plank-moments before the recreation of the next Omniverse… or something like that, Paradox is-" another somber silence fell over the conversation before he continued, "Was very complicated."

Albedo looked up from the bar to face Ben, "How do you mean 'was' when he's an immortal time-walker!?" he was flabbergasted at the simple proposal of him being dead.

Ben reached over and grabbed Albedo's drink, he pulled out a vile from a pocket in his cargo-pants, "What is that concoction?" Albedo referred to the clear liquid in a test-tube corked and in his hand.

Ben smiled, knowing he'd be interested, "This? Oh, this is something Brainstorm and Greymatter threw together, it's like ten-thousand proof super vodka. Should bypass my healing factor and hyper metabolism," he uncorked it and the smell was so potent the patrons across the bar could almost taste the scent of pure alcohol.

"I'll continue this depressing conversation with you on one condition, you share that with me tonight," Albedo was dead serious, pointing at the vile with a glare like he hadn't been inebriated in centuries. Which was entirely possible.

Ben gave him a half smile and ordered two shots of whiskey which the more than peppy bartender happily obliged, slapping two napkins down and poured the liquor into the tiny glass. Tipping the concoction over sent only two or three drops into each shot-glass, "That's it? That's all that we'll need?"

"Shut up, take the shot, and lets go for a run," Ben slammed his fist on the bar, grabbed the glass, and downed the liquid, burning his throat as he gasped for air, chuckling as this made even Albedo smile, for the first time since he'd been there. As Ben coughed up a lung, he nearly fell over before catching his balance with his arms out, "I-If you're jus' gonna be a party pooper, I could just take the other shot and-"

Albedo quickly frowned, grabbing the shot, and staring into it; he did just pour the same concoction into his own drink so, it likely wasn't poison of any kind. "No, fine, if it will silence your insipid yammering," he downed the drink in one gulp and immediately felt the burn running down his esophagus until it hit his stomach almost immediately hitting his brain. Ben shouted, "WOOOH!" causing everyone around them to join in, celebrating whatever the foreigner was cheering about. He slapped the Galvan on the back excitedly

"G-Go for a rum, you said?" Albedo slurred, rubbing his eyes as it had been so long since he had been inebriated he hardly knew what it felt like. "Rum… R-Run…" he over enunciated it to get it right as the effects of the super-liquor hit almost immediately.

"Actual'y, I think I might fal' over if we try to r-run anywhere," Ben shook his head and floated off his feet, his shoes leaving the ground prompted Albedo to follow his lead, "Jus' follow me," as they both took off into the sky lazily, they couldn't hold back the laughter that erupted from their mouths while speeding up into the clouds.

…

Matterhorn Mountains; Italy; September 16th, 2018; 12:32AM

Ben and Albedo slowed their decent to just a few hundred miles an hour, cracking the rocks with their impact causing a landslide of rock to crumble down thousands of feet towards the ground. The fresh air and the flight managed to sober them up a little, just enough to maintain an actual conversation, "So, tell me what happened, human," Albedo glared a pointed area of rock and gravel, firing crimson beams of Negative Omni-Energy from his eyes to cleave it apart into a smooth surface, the insanely cold air froze it over almost instantly.

He took a seat as Ben sighed and sat beside him, staring off at the curvature of the Earth, from this height, it reminded him what being a hero was really for. The Moon light above the clouds was more than enough for the twins to see each other, but they still refused to make eye contact.

"Eon, or Prometheus I guess, became this time-lord guy almost like Paradox but, evil…" Ben looked down at his boots, the icy frost that covered them shook when he moved it, "I saw the most powerful version of myself in the entire Multiverse… he was just as much of a jerk as the first future version of myself I met."

Albedo nodded, pulling out a flask from his crimson coat pocket and handing it to Ben who reached into his cargo-pants for the vial, "I'm sensing a pattern here."

Ben dropped a single droplet of his enhanced liquor into the flask, he twisted the cap on and shook it before handing it back to the snow-haired shapeshifter, "Oh, it gets worse, you know my Son from the f-future, right? I told you about that, yea?"

"I've been unavailable, ya know, being dead as it were; but, through sheer speed time travel should be-" Albedo interrupted himself by burping loudly, which echoed into the mountain range, forcing Ben to laugh and even slap his knee at the repeated burp in the distance, "-Possible…" even the Galvan began laughing at this lightly. "You humans are entertained by the most insipid things," still chuckling he undid the cap to the flask and took a swig, feeling the burn as he handed it to Ben who allowed the laughter to die down.

"Humans are simple creatures… sure, we fight with each other, like… a lot. But, think about it this way, how many aliens' planets in the Universe are as at peace as Earth is?" Ben may have been drunk but, he wasn't totally wrong, most planets were either ruled or dictated or even worse at all out war with other neighboring planets. He took a swig from the flask and gasped, wiping his lips.

"Patting yourself on the back, are we? Humans may not be at wars with each other now," he grabbed the flask from Ben's hand quickly and continued, "But, its only a matter of time… humans in general are bad people. They litter, they steal, they murder, they manipulate governments… try to murder you and your girlfriend."

Ben lowered his eyes, looking down thousands of feet at the clouds shrouding the view of the ground from his view, not that he couldn't see through if he tried. He gave a long sigh, "It's hard to be a good person when the world is on fire."

Albedo shook his head, looking into Ben's eyes for the very first time tonight, "What exactly are you getting at?" he caught the man's attention as Ben stared back.

"All along you've been asking yourself the wrong question; it's not about whether people are inherently good or bad, it's about whether they're trying to be a better person today, than they were yesterday," Ben's metabolism had already kicked in, allowing him to be actually quite profound for a moment or two, "Not hunting you down and giving you your space, that's how I chose to be a little better today, than I was yesterday."

Albedo blinked a few times, lowering the flask before taking another sip, glancing back up at the stars in contemplation, "Ever since we met I've been nothing but a horrible person to you, I only fought by your side once and it was for my own gain and not anyone else's, how does one redeem that?"

Ben sighed loudly and shook his head, "For starters, we can stop drinkin' and let our metabolosms catch up," he grabbed the flask from Albedo's hand and tossed it off the edge of the cliff, hearing it clatter on the ground.

Albedo was silent for a moment, "The vial is still in your pock-"

"Shhh…" Ben insisted, "I need to finish my story…"

Albedo slapped his knees and changed positions to sit a bit more comfortably, "Ah, yes, the time traveling Son from the future… tell me more."

Ben rolled his eyes, "I know you're being sarcastic but, I'm going to tell you anyways," as the night went on, Ben told the entire story from the moment he was killed up until the end of Project Oblivion. Standing at the in the Forge of Creation, meeting Ben Ten Million, fighting Eon and losing Paradox, using the Ultimate function for the first time to damage Eon, and finally losing his Son right before his eyes. "I can't get the image of his scared face out of my head; I can't sleep without hearing him calling out my name."

Albedo folded his arms, crossing his legs on the smooth slab he had carved with his heat-vision, "Why come to me and not your team or your fiancé, what do I have that they don't?"

"Experience." Ben looked into his eyes and shifted closer, sitting next to him on the slab, "You lost everything when you were exiled from Galvan Prime, you tried with everything you had to match Azmuth's designs and not just because you wanted to one-up him. You wanted to go back home," Albedo lowered his head, he'd lost sight of that goal after the Omnitrix originally corrupted his mind, and then his time with Charmcaster was just yet another distraction.

"Galvan Prime isn't my home anymore, I don't know where to begin, I've been selfish and bad for the last four-hundred years," Ben placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look up into his emerald eyes that shun in the darkness of the night, this intern caused his own eyes to illuminate bright crimson in response.

"You can make a new home here; we never should have been fighting each other," Ben watched as the freezing breeze blew his twins hair sideways just as it did his own, he smiled as the lights from their eyes illuminated the spot they sat, "We should have been fighting together, as brothers."

Albedo looked away, placing his fingers over his chin, "Galvan don't usually have siblings, we're born one of hundreds and our eggs-" he was interrupted as Ben stood up and held his hand out for the Galvan to help himself up, more of a gesture of kindness than something he needed.

"TMI, my friend," Albedo took his hand and stood up, allowing the snow filled breeze blast across his face without even realizing it.

Albedo tilted his head, "What is a TMI?" he asked as though he had truly never heard the term.

"Tell ya what, I'll tell you all about Earth slang, if you tell me how you were brought back to life?" Ben narrowed his eyes, knowing that it was the question he was avoiding.

Albedo cringed at the thought but, sighed and began to explain regardless; "I was as good as dead but, Hope wouldn't let that happen… her stone golems took me into her castle where she performed a ritual to bring me back to my full mental and physical prime."

Ben interjected, "I'm sensing a huge 'but' coming," he chided.

"Indeed," Albedo turned away and looked off with the same thousand-yard stare that he saw on himself every time someone mentioned Project Oblivion. "She used dark-magic of the most forbidden practice, she is not the woman I fell in love with, trying to bring me back drove her mad."

Ben leaned back resting his head on his hands, "Awe, man; I was really hoping to get both of you back to the good side."

"Who said anything about me joining the 'good side' as you put it?"

Ben chuckled and shook his head, "Because you were never evil to begin with, and because deep down you care about helping people too," this caused Albedo to lower his head, contemplating his next words wisely.

"I'll join you're team again, for good this time… on one condition."

Ben went wide eyed, taking a step forwards with his arms gestured out, "Anything, name it."

"After your upcoming nuptials and the birth of your child, we assemble a squad and save Hope from herself," his eyes looked as determined as his own did when Gwendolyn was in trouble, they were more alike than they ever could have imagined. "She isn't a bad person, she's just lost."

"Deal," they clasped palms, shaking hands, and burying the hatchet once and for all, "But, now that I have my own Ultimatrix, I totally would have kicked your butt."

Ben floated up off the ground a foot or two off the cliff, casually facing Albedo who stood up and stretched his arms, "We should do something to mark the occasion, like to celebrate, I suppose…"

Ben looked around and gained a mischievous smile, "I'll raise you back to Tennyson Tower, no transformations, go!" a burst of air pressure blew back at Albedo covering him in snow but, only for a few seconds. His crimson eyes lit up from beneath the ice melting it off his face revealing a smile.

"Bastard!" With a smile and his own burst of strength, he ruptured the mountain top pushing off with incredible force propelling him beyond the speed of sound, descending towards the ground as they both moved at relatively the same speed. Ben could see the good inside Albedo, albeit he was lost and confused, he wasn't beyond redemption. He had to believe that nobody was beyond redemption so long as they had just a sliver of good in them.

"Hey, I tracked your GPS and noticed you were right near by our latest super-human attack; how fast can you get to Genova?"

Ben listened in on Cooper giving him the perfect opportunity to test out Albedo's temperament when fighting crime, Ben slowly floated to a stop as Albedo blew passed him. Turning back slowly as he floated towards him, "Is the game over?"

"Kinda, there's another super-human attacking Italy just a few dozen miles below us, we're going to handle it so that nobody gets hurt," Ben was waiting for a protest but, the Galvan smiled which reminded him of looking in a mirror.

"Than let us thwart some villains! Lead the way!"

…

Genova, Italy; September 17th, 2018; 1:32AM

Ben and Albedo landed with intimidating stomps as their boots made imprints in the cobblestone road they touched down on; their was a man laughing as he lifted a car full of people, including two children up into the air. He seemed to have some sort of magnetic manipulation abilities but, before Ben could assess the situation, the man turned and launched the truck over the side of a cliff leading hundreds of feet down into the woods.

Ben was focused now on the villain who was clearly not like Concussion at all, "NO!" he was about to transform into XLR8 and hope the speed of light was fast enough to get them all to safety in time but, before he did, he realized he lost sight of Albedo. Assuming the worst, he nearly did a face palm when the unthinkable happened, the truck rose from below the cliff-line. Everyone within safe and sound, the kids even laughing happily as their parents prayed with their hands held together.

Albedo revealed himself to be holding up the truck with one hand, floating in mid-air keeping the two-ton truck and its inhabitants from meeting a tragic end. He landed, vanishing behind the pick-up as he set it down on all four wheels.

"Well, I'll be damned…" Ben glanced to the side, dodging a multitude of utensils from a restaurant being used as projectiles, steak knives and forks flung faster than a professional baseball pitcher didn't break skin but, it sure did sting. "Ow, ow, ow!" Ben used his Kinceleran speed to dash out of sight, reappearing behind the magnetic assaulter, "Can I get a scan, Coop?"

"His name is Butch Hartman, he's a wanted criminal who went missing from his cell three days ago; murder, attempted rape, this guy is a really bad guy…"

Ben smiled, turning Mr. Hartman around, "Good to know," he right hooked the man in the face sending him tumbling onto the ground, had he not pulled his punch, he might have taken the man's head clean off.

Albedo approached with his eyes flashing crimson, ready to dice him in two with a swing of his head, "So, now we execute him for his crimes, yes?"

Ben dashed over, standing in front of him, "No! No, no, now he goes to stand trial where we interrogate him to find out where these criminals are getting their superpowers from," he held his hands out as Albedo's eyes returned to normal.

"Oh," Albedo said nonchalantly, "That makes logical sense as well, let us deliver him to the proper authorities…"

Ben shook his head, placing his hands on his hips, "Right now, we're the proper authorities, with this guy's abilities he could tear right out of any regular prison," He grabbed the man by the waist as his Omnitrix lit up and exploded with a genetic flash of light leaving a black and white velociraptor alien in his place, "Transform and meet me back at the Mount Rushmore base, we have specialized prisons for super-humans like this guy."

Albedo nodded and lifted his wrist, watching as XLR8 dashed away leaving a cloud of dirt in his wake, coughing for a moment as he waved his hand to clear the air, "So, that's how that feels to be on the other end of that," he lifted his arm and pulled back his sleeve, dialing up a bright-red Kinceleran hologram before slapping it back down.

…

Very Short Chapter

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