Hey hey hey, penultimate episode of X-Tinction here. We'll be on hiatus for a few months after this. Mainly due to the fact we have a LOT of episodes to finish / write.
By the end of the year we'll probably be in…the start of the end of the Atlas arc.
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
The other members of the Outcasts were still in the vacant Contumelia ship, but they were far from idle. Ceres and Albedo were using what technology they could to keep an eye on the Collector. Min was flipping through a few pages in her grimoires, looking for a way to maybe enhance the protection spell. Now that the Collector knew about it, it made her a target. Maybe there was a way to have it remain if she was knocked unconscious. Kirby was teaching Youngblood some of his old moves, telling him how he could combo moves with his forms. In turn, Youngblood was teaching Kirby the differences between their alien forms. Yang, meanwhile, was teaching Reaper some new shotgun combos. It was a bit weird considering the difference in weapons, but it worked. Everyone else was preparing for the coming fight in their own ways, with Rook doing some Revonah Kai breathing exercises, Kylie and Kevin working on some combo moves and so on.
Their preparations were interrupted when Paradox's portal opened, getting their attention. Ruby, Ben, and the allies they'd gathered across this little quick multiversal trip steps into the old ship. Vengeance, 23, and Gwen were definitely impressed by the ship, having never seen anything like it before. The portal closed behind them and, somehow, Paradox was now standing next to Ben.
"Now then, I believe this should be more than sufficient," Paradox nodded, looking over each of the different Omnitrix wielders. The loner, the celebrity, the opposite, the near-identical copy, the younger counterpart and, of course, the prime wielder. The others gathered around took in the sight and, while they were definitely expecting something out of place when it came to alternate Bens, this wasn't exactly what they had in mind.
"Everyone," the time walker began, "allow me to introduce your new teammates. For convenience sake, instead of calling them Ben, meet 23, Vengeance, and Gwen 10."
"...Ok, not gonna lie, I like the Ditto hat," Yang muttered. Blake looked at the blonde brawler with a teasing smirk.
"What?" Yang asked.
"Nothing, nothing," Blake chuckled.
"It's Copy Copy 2: Electric Boogalo, but...I guess in your universe it's Ditto. Either way, you ever find yourself in my neck of the omniverse, I'll be sure to get you one."
"None of you can say I have bad alien names anymore," Kirby threw out.
"Agreed," Blake and Yang said in unison.
"So...what happened to..." Ceres trailed off, her remark clearly referring to Vengeance.
"It...um...it's not exactly a story with a happy ending..." Ben answered. Ceres already knew that. She knew that look on his face and prying wouldn't work out well for her. Though, there was also this sense of...relief on his face? Relief or maybe understanding? It was hard to pin exactly.
Vengeance was having a hard time focusing- all these familiar faces, so much he wanted to say and do with them...but they all just hurt to look at.
"Alright, let's go over what we know," Maximus said, stepping up. He held open his hand and revealed a hologram of the Collector, complete with the two celestial dragon constructs, "The Collector's one of the most powerful enemies I've ever seen, able to hold his own against all of us."
"We also know that the Ben inside of him is possibly 'nerfing' his attacks," Albedo said. "So, he has some semblance of control."
"And we know overwhelming him is a must," Ceres added, "He can't focus with all of us on the field. The first time we encountered him was a disaster BECAUSE we were doing it one at a time, and uncoordinated."
"Overwhelming him...it's proven to work, as well," Vengeance finally said, after composing himself a bit, "Sonic Doom made him retreat and never return to my universe."
"Damn, Echo Echo screwed him over that badly?" Kevin asked.
"Ultimate Echo Echo," Vengeance corrected, holding up his arm to show the Ultimatrix.
Albedo looked at Vengeance and Vengeance returned the stare. Out of everyone here, he was least pleased to see the Galvan.
"I'm…shocked my alternate self gave you that," Albedo commented.
"Yeah. Me too," Vengeance said, letting the other Bens fawn over it. Kirby looked especially interested. "Play your cards right, and you guys can get it as well."
"That. Is. SOOOO awesome," Youngblood said, holding it, "What else can it do?"
Gwen rolled her eyes, "It's an Omnitrix with an extra setting. You guys are treating it like a new car."
"An extra setting that has certain alien species go through several generations of evolution in a matter of seconds to become something far stronger than the base form...it's just a little warranted, I think," Vengeance countered.
Albedo, admittedly, didn't like how Vengeance said "me too." The tone of voice gave off thousands of negative connotations, it almost scared him.
"But...back on topic. You said that the...Ben the Collector's puppeting is holding him back. Overwhelming him and an internal weakness..."
"Two important points to exploit. Overwhelming him is easier said than done no doubt," Gwen began, "but a Ben inside him..."
"From what we've gathered, to catch you up to speed on that, is that the Watch Collector is...essentially the artificial intelligence of the Omnitrix itself, using its Ben's body as a host of sorts," Paradox explained to Gwen 10.
"...like I didn't have enough of a reason to hate this thing..."
"The only reason we're not dust is because of that Ben inside of it," Kylie said, "Kinda glad it's not a Ben doing it, because Ben can get CREATIVE with his powers."
"Implying the Watch Collector isn't creative," Youngblood said, "The guy was throwing out anime attacks against me."
"If it was an actual Ben, he'd be mixing them together. Imagine the dragon heads firing out the arrow-barrage," Ruby said, "The Collector's creative, but it's not Ben-levels of creative."
"Be thankful I found the protection spells," Min said, another book in hand for her to look through, "Best way to survive any of those attacks."
"You haven't really explained WHY that is," Weiss said.
"Chaos magic, Schnee. Magic and cosmic power are not the same thing. The use of supernatural power over natural forces is what magic entails," Min grinned. "I could do a lot of damage to him."
"Explains why he wanted to take you out first, not just because you were keeping us safe," Blake added.
"Yep. Aside from someone else with an Omnitrix, I'm the biggest thing he has to worry about."
"Let's keep you obscured, then. He can't take you out if he doesn't know where you are." Ceres said.
"And let's get me some guards. Kylie, Kevin, you guys up for that?" Min asked.
"Like you needed to ask," Kylie smirked.
"Starting to get an idea now," Ben admitted, "Overwhelming him, Min's chaos magic, and the Ben inside..."
"And he wants us," Kirby said, holding up his Omnitrix, "We'll lure him with these, and strike him as hard as we can."
"That means we need to stick in groups. Set up teams to barrage him from every angle we can," Vengeance began, "but I'll go it alone."
"Nope," Ruby interjected.
"...what?"
"You heard me. You're not going alone this time."
"Fine," Vengeance sighed.
"We'll need to make teams of six or something. Taking out Kevin, Min and Kylie, since they're a team of three, and one odd group because...we have, what, 20 people? It's kinda cramped in here." Ben said.
"Hmmm...Monochrome, Freezerburn, and, Bumblebee. Could pull off any of those if we go with me, Blake, and Weiss," Yang suggested.
"I suppose I may fight as well. Been a while since I've thrown a good punch," Paradox bemused. The idea of Paradox throwing hands was humourous enough.
"This is gonna take a LOT of discussion. I can tell. We need this to go off without a hitch," Maximus said.
"It has to. Doubt he'd be 'merciful' enough to let us try again," Albedo said.
"Let's throw him off, then." Vengeance said. "Albedo, I know you can construct an army with your mutated Galvan form. Why not use that as a good distraction while we get the main part ready?"
"A good possibility, especially with the Ultimate duplicates as well," Albedo mused, "Though, considering the Collector's own power, I would need some support. Going to my limit would drain me significantly..."
Well count me as your guard then, Neo signed.
"I will stick with my Ben." Glitch said, "I know he's a handful, but he and I are quite a duo."
"You'll be shocked at what this guy can do," Youngblood agreed.
"I feel like I already saw a good demonstration..." Weiss said, "My back still hurts from those turbo thrusters..."
"I did give fair warning, but I will apologize anyway," Glitch offered. Weiss smiled a little, appreciating the sentiment, even if it wasn't really needed here.
"So Neo, Kylie, and Kevin are on defense; Albedo, Vengeance I think Paradox called you, Yang, Weiss, Blake are on offense..." Kirby listed off.
"Oh, you better count me in there, too," Ceres smirked.
"I also vote that Maximillian goes with the offense squad," Ben said, "He's got the tech to back himself up."
"And I'm ready to go down fighting," Maximillian said, serious in tone.
"I'll go with you," Ben 23 offered.
"So that leaves me, you, and Gwen," Ruby said, turning to the prime Ben and the alternate version of his cousin.
Gwen took a deep breath, "Alright. Fine, I can deal with that. I trust you two will be in top form."
Ben held up his white Omnitrix. "Trust me. I'm gonna be using my 'greatest hits' against him this time."
"The fact you call them your greatest hits is kinda lame," Gwen said, making a face.
"What? Fits with the aliens being put in playlists," Ben defended.
"Three minutes. Grab what you need," Paradox said, "Then, we take down a pseudo-god."
Vengeance was the first one to walk off, leaving the others to watch him walk by. The moodier Ben shared a side-eyed glance with Kevin. The boy immediately recognized that look in his eye. Even if it was his best friend from another dimension, he knew immediately what was up.
This Ben was really, really burying his feelings and it was hurting him.
Once the moodier Ben was out of earshot, Kevin decided to try something. It was a gamble, but maybe it'd pay off.
"Hey, Paradox?" Kevin asked, walking over to the time-walker, "You got a minute?"
"I do, but you all need all the time you can get. What is it?" Paradox asked.
"...got something I wanna talk about when it comes to the loner Ben..."
In the meantime, Weiss checked the rotating chamber for Myrtenaster, making sure all the Dust vials were full and, if they weren't, she took it out and loaded a fresh one in its place. No time to reload when it came to the Collector.
Kylie reloaded her revolver and strapped a large ammo belt to her body. She sharpened her ax once more and grinned when she saw light reflect off the blade.
"I'm really hoping this can chop off his head," Kylie said.
Blake reloaded Gambol Shroud, and looked at the blade, "I doubt it. But it'd be cool to see."
"That's something to brag about. 'I decapitated an alien god.' Imagine using that as a one-liner in the future," Yang smirked.
"Would scare the hell outta people, wouldn't it?" Kylie chuckled.
"Shame we can't record it if it happens."
"Is there any tech the Archemedians have that could behead gods or something?" Ruby asked Ceres, who was recalibrating her weapon.
"Yeah, but that tech's been locked in a pretty secure vault. It could split a Celestialsapien in two. Would've been REALLY handy by now," Ceres said.
"You're telling me," Maximillian grumbled, as he handed Ben his weapon, "Hey, sport, mind if you spruce my weapon up a bit? You've got Jury Rigg, right?"
"Yes, absolutely," Ben's eyes lit up.
"Here we go..." Gwen said, putting her hand to her face.
"Wait, you sure Jury Rigg's the right call for that and not...Membrain or Gizmo?" Kirby asked.
"What's the worst that co-...wait. No, if I say that, that's just daring the universe to prove me wrong," Maximillian said.
Ben immediately transformed into Jury Rigg, and tore the thing to shreds. He broke off random parts of the ship (which Paradox didn't seem to mind) and started integrating them into the weapon. By the time he was done, Jury Rigg had turned Max's weapon into-
"A cosmic gun!" Ben grinned, "Absorbs cosmic particles in the air, and uses it as a battery!"
"...how the hell..." Ceres asked, "Will that even work?"
"Dunno," Maximillian said, a grin forming on his face, "But I like it."
"I have to let you fool around with Crescent Rose sometime," Ruby noted.
"Please. Like you would ever let that Gremlin near your 'child'," Rook joked.
"Shit, you're right," Ruby cursed. Sometimes Jury Rigg's skills were a double edged sword. One side meant upgrading her weapon, but at the cost of him possibly tearing it apart.
"I'm sure you'll figure out something," Min said, giving 23, Gwen, Youngblood and Reaper their own protection spells, "Now, where'd that other version of you go? I'd feel pretty shi-" Min caught herself before she swore in front of the kids, "I'd...feel pretty bad if he got injured by the Collector."
"He's over there," Ben pointed towards a window. Vengeance was staring out into the cosmos.
Min went over and tapped Vengeance on the shoulder.
"Missing out on my anti-cosmic power spell," Min began, before she noticed the look in his eyes.
"Oh...sorry, I..." the chaos demon tried to apologize.
"No, it...it's fine," Vengeance said half-heartedly.
Min opened up her book and looked at Vengeance.
"You don't have a me in your universe, do you?" Min asked.
"Yeah...how'd you know?" Vengeance asked.
"Simple, there's legit only one me in the multiverse, and I parked myself here," Min explained, "Sometimes, there's a chance someone in the multiverse is gonna be 'hellbound', and they could end up in a demon house or whatever, but it's pretty rare. So, we tend to give them a push...and certain people may share similar traits with me."
"So what is your deal, anyway?" Vengeance asked.
"Short version? Chaos demon, author of fate, summoned here by Gwen after Ben...lost his Max," Min explained, lowering her voice for that last part out of respect.
"He...he lost his..."
"Yeah. Way before Salem ever showed up. Biggest issue back then was...Zs'skayr's cult," Min said, nonchalantly.
"...he had a cult?" Vengeance raised a brow at that.
"Oh yeah. Pretty standard thing except for the higher-ups. At first they were just mutants, but then they started being replaced by full-on aliens."
"I see," Vengeance hummed in thought for a moment before daring to ask something, "Tell me something. You control chaos. Disorder. You write fate. Was…I destined to lose everything?"
"When it comes to fate, you must recognize that it's not the same as destiny. Things are established in destiny, and no matter what you do in life, you will never be able to change your outcome." Min said, looking a bit sad, "But with fate, I believe every person has the ability to change their fate if they are courageous enough to strive for what they truly desire." She looked over at Ben. "His destiny- to be a great hero, and start a new generation filled with his ideals. He shares the same as yours...and while your hardships may never be equal...you share that same, burning heart."
"...so then was it Cinder's destiny to take everything from me? Or was it just how fate had things play out?"
"No, see, that's the thing about destiny. You can never tell what it is," Min sighed, looking up at the stars, "The universe was born inherently chaotic. There are systems across the cosmos that, although being essentially chaotic and unpredictable, tend to organically organize themselves. While your life may be chaotic and tumultuous now...you will find order."
"Wonder how long it'll take though...or if it'll last..." Vengeance pondered, following her gaze out to the endless sea of stars outside the ship.
"Can't say. Don't think anyone really can...except for Paradox back there, maybe, but I doubt he'd say. Preserve the timeline and all that."
"It's just so…weird to see them. They don't know what'll come," Vengeance said, looking back at the group, "It hurts to hear their banter. Reminds me too much of home."
"All thanks to Cinder huh?" Min asked carefully.
"...yeah..."
"She got what was coming to her?"
"When your Ben and Ruby found me, I was finishing her off. The people of Kuchinashi probably think she's a victim of gang violence...but I doubt they know a gang who left their victims friend to a crisp..."
"Burned her? Ironic..."
"More like electrocution," Vengeance said. Min's eyes widened.
"...brutal," the chaos demon said, almost in approval.
"Yeah...hunted her for months...and finally got to avenge them all. What about you? Your Cinder still alive?"
"Don't think so. She went down into the vault in Haven, never came back up," Min admitted.
"Don't get your hopes up," Vengeance said, walking off. Min took note of that ominous warning, but there was still the matter of his magical protection. Before he got too far away, the chaos demon wove the spell around Vengeance.
The three minutes were up.
"Right then. Everybody ready?" Paradox asked, standing before the group and closing his signature stop watch.
Ben took a deep breath. Ruby reached for his hand, and his eyes narrowed. "Ready as we'll ever be." He said.
"Good." Paradox made three portals, "Defenders on the far right. Offensive line on the left...and everyone else in the middle."
Kevin took the lead on the right, Albedo on the right, and the prime Ben in the middle.
"Hey, promise you'll stick to the plan?" Ruby asked, turning to Vengeance.
"...yeah," Vengeance answered after a few seconds of silence, "Promise."
"I don't need to tell you all this...but I will anyway. Good luck...and come back alive," Paradox said, before the groups each made their way through their respective portals.
Ben didn't like how unsure Paradox sounded with that last line.
However ominous it was, he couldn't linger on it too long. He shook the uneasy from his mind and lead the group through the portals.
He hadn't moved. The Watch Collector still floated in the middle of the ruined Adrenaland, arms crossed and eyes closed. He was watching them, of course. Ever since he made the "deals" with the more villainous variants of Ben, he'd been keeping track of them. 23's Universe was more prepared for multiversal crossings, given 23's mentor. Dealing with that one would be interesting, no doubt. The Celestialsapien uncrossed his arms and, from across the dimensions, he snapped the villains back to their own dimensions.
"Congratulations," the Collector muttered, having somewhat regained his composure after his wrathful outbursts earlier, "You've proven yourselves unworthy of being added to the collection."
This is your last chance...they're not gonna run away this time, Prisoner told the Collector.
"I know," the Watch Collector said, opening his eyes, "All it means is that my victory's imminent." The pseudo-god turned and morphed one arm into a straight blade, ready to strike the moment his opponents stepped through Paradox's rifts.
But no rifts ever opened. That actually confused him. There was no way in hell he'd even entertain the idea that they'd all just given up. Ben, no matter the variant, was stubborn, a trait that was only amplified by Ruby's own damned encouragement.
"Where did you go?" the Collector wondered to himself. He morphed his arm back into a proper hand and waved his hand in the air. A series of one-way rifts, peeks into other dimensions, appeared in the air in front of him. He scanned each dimension, trying to find one with more than one Omnitrix signal. After a short search, he found it, but it struck him as odd. This was a familiar dimension; it was the one that started it all, where he left a young Weiss as a frozen statue.
"They moved," the Collector growled. If they wished to end this on an already Omnitrix-less world, then so be it. In a flash of cosmic power, the AI-controlled teleported out of Youngblood's universe and towards this one.
In the deserts of New Mexico, the Outcasts had emerged from the trio of portals. There was no sign of civilization for miles around, just expanses of sand and the cold air of the night. Good. There'd be no one for the Collector to use as collateral around here.
Ben looked at the group that was with him, ready to face down a god. Behind him were Team RWBY, his alternates and Gwen. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the Watch Collector's arrival. Knowing him, he'd show up any minute now. He felt no fear this time, a bit unnerving but it was needed for this fight.
With a sound like a thunderclap, the Collector teleported before the group, eyes narrowed and locked onto Ben. A small cloud of dust was kicked up from the Collector's arrival, adding a bit more dramatic flare to the arrival.
"Your final stand," the Watch Collector commented, "A barren desert on a world bereft of an Omnitrix. And you brought so many more to fill the void. How…fitting."
"Oh shut up. Let's just get this over with," Ben said, before he transformed into Sea Strike.
The sound of ammo being loaded echoed out behind Ben, from Crescent Rose to Gambol Shroud, Omnitrixes beeped as alien forms were dialed up, followed by flashes of color. The Collector noticed the forms of Humongosaur, Fourarms-or Handy Man as 23 dubbed him-and Swampfire appear in the group.
"You," the Watch Collector growled, zeroing in on Vengeance, "So they managed to get through to you…"
"Should have taken me out when you got the chance," Vengeance frowned, as he picked up a large chunk of the Earth. He chucked it at the Watch Collector, but he simply shredded the thing into mere atoms when it got close to him.
"Indeed, I should have," the Watch Collector said, "Allow me to correct that."
And with that, the battle began. The offense group charged the Collector, spreading out before reaching him to split his attention. Albedo set up a spot and morphed into his evolved Galvan form to put his part of the plan into motion. Min was off to the side as well to maintain her protection spells. In front of both, Neo, Kylie, and Kevin stood ready to defend them from the Collector's attacks. A good thing, too, as instead of focusing attacks on the offensive team, the Celestialsapien aimed his first volley at Min. With two simple hand motions, the Collector ripped out chunks of earth and threw them at the chaos demon. They didn't need to kill, they needed to break her concentration.
Kylie threw out her weapon, slicing through the stone projectiles, while Kevin blasted the remnants with fire from Hot Shot's arms.
The Watch Collector swiped his hand, creating several stars above his head. With a quick move, he then sent them down as a rain of projectiles, barraging, not just those holding back, but the entire group, with celestial explosions.
He both expected and hoped to make this short, that they would all be wiped out by that single attack. He wasn't entirely surprised that they survived.
When the smoke cleared from the attack, a barrage of heavy-hitting rounds and crimson laser beams started to pound into the Celestialsapien, courtesy of Ultimate Humoungosaur and Sea Strike respectively. The Watch Collector avoided beams and bullets, teleporting around them with little effort. The projectiles that missed simply hit the ground behind him, illuminating him in the light of the explosions that resulted. Ben frowned as the barrage seemed useless.
"Great, he's back to being composed..." Sea Strike grumbled, "Somehow more annoying than he is when he's angry."
"There's a pattern, though." Gwen said, "Fire again!"
Ben wasn't sure where she was going with this, but better have a weird plan than no plan at all. Sea Strike let off another pair of beams that raced towards the pseudo-god, but the Watch Collector just warped away again. Gwen tossed a fireball and struck where the Watch Collector appeared. The surprise hit actually took the Celestialsapien off guard.
"How did you-!?" 23 yelled.
"What? It was easy," Gwen said, throwing more fireballs. She exploited the opening, landing several more flaming hits against the Collector.
"Oh...how could I forget...a Gwen," the Watch Collector growled, quickly recovering from her searing barrage.
"What, surprised to see me?" Gwen scoffed, conjuring up a massive disc of flames.
"Only somewhat. You possess certain qualities that make you a natural fit for Omnitrix ownership. A natural born leader, great control over your abilities, tactical, analytical...and the potential of a coming storm," the Collector said in an ominous tone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gwen's attack nearly flickered out in her hand in surprise.
"You'll understand soon…if you survive," the Celestialsapien pulled his hand back and suddenly drew the Omnitrix users in this fight towards him, propelled by a burst of pure force slamming into their backs.
The Watch Collector shot himself towards them with the intent of sending them flying. Energy gathered up in the Collector's hands, but the Omnitrix-wielders didn't just sit there. Flames reignited in Gwen's hands, Sea Strike's tentacles wound together into a powerful fist, Ultimate Humoungasaur readied his tail, and Handy-Man reared back all four of his fists. The array of attacks clashed together and practically sent shockwaves through the air. The impact freed the variants of the AI-controlled alien's grip, letting them jump in and strike at him.
The first to attack was Handy Man, unleashing a series of punches on the cosmic-powered adversary. A small number of strikes managed to hit, but even more were either deflected or caught and tossed aside by the Celestialsapien, followed by a cosmic knee to the blue Tetramand's gut. As the Tetramand was forced back, Ultimate Humongosaur came in from the side and sucker-punched the Collector, knocking him into an overhead slam from Sea Strike. Gwen was about to uppercut the Watch Collector with a fire-coated fist, but the Celestialsapien teleported behind her and landed a kick into her back. The mad divinity summoned up a gladius made of void and stars and was about to take a slash at the Methanosian, only for Yang to suddenly slam into the cosmic alien's back.
The blonde brawler, having been thrown by Blake, smirked as she kicked off from the Watch Collector's back, landing on the ground with a cocky smirk. The Collector looked over his shoulder, eye narrowed at Ruby's sister. He was about to absent-mindedly blast her away, before the beeping got his attention. He looked down in shock and saw four flashing red lights on his back. Yang then clicked her gauntlets and activated the four sticky-grenades. Fire and smoke enveloped the Watch Collector, shaking him, but not dealing significant enough damage. Thankfully though, an opening like that was all Albedo needed. An Ultimate Wildmutt leapt off the shell of Terraspin and latched onto the near-omnipotent being's arm, digging its fangs into the Collector's flesh.
"Hit the Omnitricies!" Kylie yelled, "They're real painful for him!"
Gwen recovered, her eyes lighting up with a mix of rage and determination. She tossed a large fireball that quickly split apart like flaming buckshot. The Watch Collector dodged the flaming shrapnel, but then others joined into the barrage. Blake, Yang, Ceres, and even Kylie joined in, catching the Collector in a crossfire. Bullets were just as likely to hit as they were to miss here.
The Collector was annoyed by their new plans, to say the least. Bullets slammed into him from every direction. When one missed, two more found their mark. It was quickly getting grating how much they'd adapted.
Defensive and offensive mix…some protecting Min and Albedo…the rest working on wearing me down, the Collector mentally analyzed, Their shield won't last once I find the opening.
They learned, they made a strategy this time. This will be the final fight. Shield or not, Prisoner said. The Watch Collector ignored him and returned his focus to the fight. The familiar shape of True Rebel suddenly wrapped around the Celestialsapien's other arm, stopping him from prying the evolved Vulpimancer from his bound arm. With him somewhat restrained, Weiss quickly summoned up her hulking knight. The conjured warrior jabbed its broadsword into the ground and gripped one of the Collector's Omnitrixes with its claws.
"NO!" the Watch Collector yelled in true rage, similar in tone to its outburst in Adrenaland. The summoned warrior pulled and pulled before ripping the device from the Celestialsapien's form. A spark of green lightning flew from the device, followed by an inhuman, almost machine-like cry of pain from the Collector, his AI origins showing in an audible form.
The knight held the Omnitrix, wth Weiss looking on in shock.
"O-oh, my God," the heiress gasped, her jaw dropped.
That got Vengeance's attention. "...so, we can rip them out," he muttered.
"Appears so," Ruby said.
"...Good enough for me," the Ultimatrix user stormed forward.
"H-hey, wait! Ben!" Ruby called out, "You promised you'd follow the plan!"
"Yeah," Vengeance said coldly, "I lied."
The evolved Vaxasaurian thundered towards the Collector, intent on ripping off every last one of the Celestialsapien's Omnitrixes. He slammed down on the Ultimatrix and shifted forms for the sake of speed. This form was like a taller and more mechanical looking Echo Echo, with the only real hint of that being a similar head shape. Instead of normal arms, his four, large hands, each with a speaker in the middle of them, were connected to floating speakers by thick cables. Two more speakers were embedded in the Ultimate's legs, with two more pointing up in the position of normal kneecaps. Now Ultimate Echo Echo, he launched himself forward with soundwaves fired from his lower hands.
"No...no, no...GET OFF!" the Collector roared, letting out a shockwave that finally pried the evolved Vulpimancer from his arm. With one arm now freed, he shifted his hand into a hook-blade that pried True Rebel off, freeing that arm. In one swift motion, when Vengeance was in range, the Celestialsapien lashed out and cut into Vengeance's chest with two blades of pure celestial energy.
Black liquid leaked from the wound, but Vengeance didn't even react to it. His eyes drilled holes into the Watch Collector, before he looked back at the others. He had to do this.
"He's gonna mess up everything!" Gwen panicked, as she swapped forms into Lodestar. Maximillian frowned, taking aim with his weapon. Vents opened up along the sides of the weapon, sucking in the energy that still hung in the air from all the Collector's attacks.
Whether or not this worked or not, he had an opening on the Watch Collector.
With all four arms outstretched, Vengeance uttered two words at the Collector before the cosmic alien could try and teleport away.
"Sonic. DOOM!"
From the speakers in his palms, Vengeance let out a sonic assault that actually made the Celestialsapien double back in pain. His hands shot to cover his ears, as futile a gesture as it was. Escaping from where his mouth would be, the Watch Collector let out another machine-like cry, this time the sound had what could best be described as audio glitches, parts of the sound cutting in and out.
Ben clutched his head in pain. Holy crap, Echo Echo already gave people headaches. Ultimate Echo Echo made his head feel like it was going to split in two and explode all over the place. Ruby felt physically ill just from hearing it.
"He's...gonna take all of us out!" Blake yelled, as she collapsed on the ground. Her ears felt like they were gonna bleed.
"Then...I need to break it up!" Maximillian said, aiming his weapon at the Watch Collector.
Vengeance narrowed his eyes at the Watch Collector, literally turning up the volume and trying to finish him off here and now.
Maximillian's ears were about to burst when he finally fired the blast, a shot of green and black energy racing towards one of the AI-controlled alien's Omnitrixes. The shot landed and caused enough of a blast to send both the Collector and Vengeance flying. The Celestialsapien was actually still reeling from the attack, his senses overwhelmed and his vision even starting to blur. Vengeance stopped himself from hitting the ground with a smaller, more concentrated burst of sound from his lower pair of arms.
Ben grit his teeth as he swapped forms. Ghostfreak took his place and he immediately flew over to where Vengeance was.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Do you wanna ruin the entirety of the plan!?" Ghostfreak hissed.
"I saw a chance and I took it. You want this threat ended or not?" Vengeance shot back.
"We want it ended, but we don't want to kill the Ben inside!"
"If he let that take him over, he's already gone. One life in exchange for who knows how many others? You give me that choice, it's an easy one to make," Vengeance growled.
"...I don't know what the hell happened with you in full, but we don't do that. That kid is suffering in there; he lost EVERYTHING, just like you. We need to seal the alien away, not kill him," Ben frowned.
"One big problem with that. What if you can't? What if, after all this time, that damn AI removed any method to seal it away? What then? Just gonna let him go?"
"...then we hit my nuclear option," Ben frowned, "You need to focus here. Don't let your emotions run your every move."
"They're not," Vengeance defended, "but fine. Keep that nuke ready then."
"Oh, really? What do you call 'yeah, I lied'? I get you're mad about losing Ruby, and everyone else...but you don't need to lose yourself, damn it!"
"Listen, you little-" Vengeance growled, his temper rising at even Prime Ben mentioning what happened.
"HEY!" Ruby yelled, "Look, we get it! The whole 'take any change you can get' thing was your mindset with Cinder and I get that, it's Cinder. This is something not even on the same level. By leagues! "
"She's right. We don't need any distractions right now. We need you for that part of the plan," Ben said.
"...fine," Vengeance growled.
The Watch Collector shook his head, shakily getting to his feet and getting his bearings.
"That...was the only...one...you'll get," the Celestialsapien promised.
"So, now what? You're gonna try and kill us?" Ben scoffed.
"I salute your attempts at trying to weaken me, Tennysons. It's quite...something. It's always driven by the need to be a savior, isn't it?" the AI-controlled alien sighed, "And it's all perpetuated by...the root."
"What?"
"The root of the issue..." the Watch Collector paused, before he raised his cosmic hand and pointed a finger.
At Ruby.
"You," the Collector's eyes flickered, from green to red.
Ruby felt her stomach drop, "M-me?"
"You," The Watch Collector frowned, "Your love is toxic."
"...I...I don't follow," Ruby said.
"I'm talking about you. Your face drives a thousand ships across a sea, leading them to their deaths against an unkillable, all powerful demi-Goddess of Death and Grimm. You try and talk with the people who could carelessly kill you, or your family, as if they have some 'hope' left in them. You never face consequences and push them onto others. I never understood HOW he loves you, let alone puts up with you! Your first interaction with him JUMPSTARTED the death and erasure of his entire universe is dead and gone. And Azmuth help me, I don't know how you SMILE after everything that goes on!" the Watch Collector roared, "There's nothing else that can describe the way I can loathe you..."
Ruby was stunned. Shocked, silent. There...there was no way she was to blame for the death of an entire universe, right? The domino effect...no, just...other factors...why...why did it just hurt so much? It was so personal, but so wrong-
Ruby just dropped to her knees. A mental attack hurt more than a physical attack, and this one was gonna take a while to recuperate from.
"N-no...the truth...the truth is that..." Ruby stammered.
"What TRUTH!? All you care about is your own reasoning! You don't even listen to the others!" the Celestialsapien spat back, "YOU BET EVERYONE'S LIVES ON A GAMBLE, AND LOOK WHERE THAT GOT MY BEN!"
"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?"
Ruby was broken out of her breakdown by Ben's loud voice piercing the Watch Collector's own words like an arrow through the chest.
"So what!?" Ben yelled, storming his way in front of Ruby, "Sure, her heroic goals are unrealistic. But she sees the best in people. It's not HER face or HER words that are responsible for other's actions. It's their choice to go into danger! To follow someone into the dark!"
"She's a child pretending to be a hero!" the Collector growled.
"SO WAS I!" Ben yelled, "What's with this double standard!? Are you mad that your Ben valued humanity over everything? The fact he tried to live by her words!?"
The Watch Collector's eyes narrowed as Ben turned around and knelt down to look Ruby in the eyes.
"He's trying to mess with you," Ben tried to comfort her, "Trying to pin the blame on one person, when he should be shifting focus to the Gods." He gripped her hand tightly, helping her back to her feet.
"The Gods listened to her appeal, and they wiped out humanity after!" the AI reasoned.
Ben gave the Watch Collector a disgusted look, "...they were just gonna do that to begin with. Maybe they wanted another Salem to toy with because they were bored."
"...and you fell for it," Ruby said.
The realization nearly broke the machine within the god.
Oh no...no...no, no, no, what did you do?! Prisoner mentally yelled.
The Watch Collector, shockingly, didn't react at first. No outburst of rage, no cry of defiance, just silence. That silence unnerved everyone more than any cry of despair could. Maybe what Ben said effectively blue-screened the AI in that cosmic body.
But then it teleported away. The Collector reappeared behind Ben, cosmic gladius blades in hand, before it tried to slash down. Ruby noticed the attack just in time and, in a flash of red, the red-hooded reaper tackled Ben out of the way. The Collector looked over to the two, his eyes now a blank, white void.
What had once been the remnants of something that could be considered alive were nothing more than mere hollow shells of what remained.
The Collector didn't hesitate as Ruby was quickly slashed against, the magical runes surrounding her crackling and starting to leak energy. It was a good thing she had been there sooner or else...well, a repeat of old times would've surely occurred.
"Ruby!" Ben yelled out as the scythe wielder quickly tried to steady herself, only to find the Collector right in front of her, fist rapidly approaching. The shockwave of fist meeting scythe kicked up dust as Ruby was sent flying back toward the horizon. The Collector was barely even paying the others any mind now as he simply followed Ruby. There was no glitz, no boisterous ego; he just disappeared in a flash of cosmic power.
Ruby had to steady herself before trying to bring out Crescent Rose to fight back, she knew she had to protect Ben but she didn't know how long she'd be able to hold out.
The Collector was not so merciful to allow time for Ruby to correct her ascent through the horizon. When he reappeared, a fist, powerful enough to cause the clouds to part, slammed into the side of her jaw, sending her crashing back. Her scythe's upgrades came in handy as she fired off a few rounds to try and slow down the Celestialsapien. But those upgraded rounds weren't enough to even phase it.
It only had one target now and that target was Ruby.
"COURSE CORRECTION HAS BEEN MADE. EXECUTING NEW PARAMETERS - ELIMINATE ALL THAT STAND IN THE WAY. FOCUS ON ONE TARGET," the voice of the Watch Collector sounded inhuman, not even with a hint of what it once was. Before there were at least hints of emotion, cockyness, anger, annoyance, but now there was nothing.
It had become almost entirely like the Omnitrix's AI used to be. A super computer running calculations at such speeds that not even the smartest minds could follow it.
Ruby had to do one thing only, and she hated that she had to do this.
She needed to run.
Ruby turned to run but she was greeted by the Watch Collector. Ruby slashed at him, only for him to grab the blade.
"ELIMINATION: RUBY ROSE. PROCEEDING," the Watch Collector droned. It jabbed a single finger into Ruby's stomach and it sent her flying across the desert. She slammed into a large rock, gasping for air as it left her lungs. It felt like she had been flung at 200 MPH. If she wasn't protected by Aura, she would've died. And if she wasn't protected by Min's magic, she would've had her spine broken.
Ruby huffed as she tried to pull herself together. She looked up again to see the Watch Collector teleport in front of her. It reared back its fist and tried to punch Ruby's face. Ruby zipped away, letting the Celestialsapien's punch atomize the rock.
Ruby raced around, realizing that running wasn't really gonna work now. With the Collector focused on her now, she'd have to try and at least damage him until the others could catch up. She slammed into the Watch Collector again, landing a speed-boosted ax kick to the Collector's side. Ruby was sure that he would turn around and strike her down again, but it didn't. The Watch Collector simply raised its hand, instead.
Ruby's gravity was suddenly reversed, and she started to fall towards the sky.
As Ruby fell upward, the Watch Collector again appeared before her, this time grabbing her leg. Fist reared back once again, he slammed it into her gut and sent her flying back toward the group at the same speed she slammed into the rock. The magic could only hold so much and it was clear that these blows were hitting much harder each time. The Collector wouldn't let her just return to her friends that easily though. Its arms began to move as if it was conducting music. The movements began to change the very terrain around the two, warping and shifting the ground to almost ensnare Ruby like a fly with pillars of stone and earth.
Ruby was quick to slash at the pillars reaching towards her, but even then it felt like she was cutting through mud or clay and her scythe wasn't cutting through as cleanly. Soon, the pillars slammed into her and caught her in the clay-like earth. She couldn't move and yet she felt as if her body was still being pulled by the reversed gravity.
"ELIMINATION ENTERING FINAL STAGE," the Watch Collector's robotic tone droned on. That made Ruby's heart sink. What did this computer have in store for her execution? Being thrown towards the sky because of reversed gravity was a terrifying enough concept.
The Watch Collector lowered its arm, pointing towards the rocky ground. In response, the clay-like pillar moved, like a pitcher gearing up for a throw. Ruby closed her eyes and braced for the throw. The Collector moved his arm up and the pillar threw Ruby into the sky. With her affected gravity, she was flying high. It might even be possible that she'd break the stratosphere.
But then something grabbed her.
A loud screech filled the air as it seemed that a familiar face had come to her aid. Ben, as Astrodactyl, glared daggers toward the Collector as he held Ruby close by him, wings letting out the biggest output of energy he could muster as he started to think of a way to stop this for good. The nuclear option was possible but there was still a question to answer. Would it even work here?
"Your fight isn't just with her, it's with all of us," Ben glowered before seeing the Watch Collector simply warp back to the battleground.
"Ben...what the hell are we going to do to this thing? Whatever you said, it...it broke its mind or something," Ruby stuttered out as she could feel her weight returning to relative normalcy.
"I don't know. I was ready for him to go crazy, but if he's just going for the whole 'cold and calculating' thing, we're gonna have to go all out...even if it's a little bit unorthodox."
"I'm hoping this works out," Ruby said, changing her scythe into gun mode and taking aim, "...do you regret anything you said?"
Ben's eyes narrowed at the more robotic Collector.
"Not one goddamn bit," Ben admitted, before he rocketed himself towards the Watch Collector. Ben began to shoot beams of cosmic energy from his maw and Ruby fired a multitude of bullets. The Watch Collector turned towards them and blocked the attacks with his outstretched hands.
"DOUBLE ELIMINATION: BEN TENNYSON AND RUBY ROSE. PROCEEDING," the Collector's eyes glowed with cosmic power and shot out a powerful void-like blast. Ben dodged out of the way, letting the void beams race by, but then beams seemed to bend at an angle and follow him. Ben rocketed himself around, zipping and zooming to try and lose the lasers, but they just kept turning and following him.
"Got a crazy idea. Trust me on this!" Ben yelled, as he flew towards the Watch Collector, "Boost me when I say so, okay!?"
"O-okay!" Ruby yelled. The laser beams followed them towards the Celestialsapien's back. Ben's rocket-flames roared more and more, increasing his speed.
"NOW!"
Ruby used her Semblance to boost her and Ben upwards. The optic blast stung the Watch Collector's back and hit one of the many Omnitrix symbols that dotted its form.
The AI-dominated alien didn't seem to actually scream this time, but the pain was still immense enough that its eyes actually widened. With each Omnitrix being attacked, something started to shift further as the Collector's body began to almost show signs of shifting, almost as if it was activating something deep within its very core.
"EVERYONE! GIVE EM HELL!" Ben yelled out as the rest of the group all charged forward, all firing off projectiles and attacks as best they could at each individual Omnitrix they could aim at. The Collector was still unnervingly silent, letting the data take all of its attention.
The attacks all slammed the Watch Collector, each successful attack engulfing him in more and more fire and smoke. Flame darts from Weiss' rapier, shotgun blasts from Yang's gauntlets, rockets from Ultimate Humoungasaur, countless sources of gunfire, all rang out and landed hits on the Celestialsapien. After the last shot was fired, and the Collector didn't emerge, the attackers were ready to celebrate.
But the smoke cleared and he was gone.
"W-where did he-" Gwen 10 said.
"COMBAT DATA ANALYZED. REPLICATION COMPLETE," a voice suddenly boomed out as the Collector rocketed out from seemingly nowhere, this time landing a powerful slam to the earth that was enough to throw the entire gravitational situation out of whack once again.
Vengeance was quick to try and turn back into Ultimate Echo Echo, only to be stopped by the Collector. The AI-dominated cosmic force reared its head back before mimicking his voice.
"SONIC..."
"Everyone! Get down, now-!" Vengeance yelled before suddenly being assaulted by soundwaves!
"DOOM!"
The waves sent him crashing to the ground hard enough to bury him under it. The rest of the group clutching at their ears in pain as The Collector was quick to move to his next target.
"OBLIVION!"
The attack-no, it wasn't even an attack. It was like a Tsar Bomb had been dropped in the middle of the battlefield. The earth shook violently. If they had been near an urban area then anything that was glass in a 20 mile radius unexpectedly shattered. To anyone in the way of the impact, it felt like all their bones had been crushed under the weight of the ocean.
Yet they still stood.
T-the Prisoner...must have some influence over the attacks. Otherwise we'd all be dead Yang thought as she hung on to the scrap of energy she had left.
The Collector, however, was not keen to provide mercy here. The Prisoner wasn't here...not anymore.
Appearing before Yang, the Collector simply lifted a hand and raised it toward her forehead, eyes simply glowing with energy as the very nature of the world around him seemed to be shifting. Cascading thoughts of failure after failure, her abandoning the team, the first time she unlocked her evolved Semblance and the battle with Cinder...
The burning sensation felt...incalculable.
This would not be another one of her failures. No matter how hard she tried, this was something she couldn't screw up. The world, no, the multiverse, it all depended on this next moment.
Suddenly, Yang struck with the force of a Tetramand. Her fist flew like a bullet, and impacted the Watch Collector's 'heart'. The stars on his body flickered as the Watch Collector flew backward.
"NOW!" She yelled, her voice hoarse.
"On it!" Blake yelled out as she quickly charged forward, clones splitting from her as she started to attack with rapid succession, slicing and slashing as best she could at the Collector as he flew backward, only to be joined by Weiss who started to throw out a number of powerful glyph-summoned shots.
"It's on you, Ruby!" Weiss called out as the Collector seemed to regain its strength.
Ruby's scythe blew up in size, thanks to the hard light projection. Astrodactyl rushed forward and released her. Ruby performed a powerful rising upward slash and it connected. She darted around them at blinding speeds to slash them with a fierce flurry of cuts. The Watch Collector flew back from the attacks and landed on the ground with a thud.
"Our turn," Ceres said, as Kirby activated his own watch. Glowstone took his place, and he lit up his fists.
"Let's do it," Kirby grinned.
The Collector was suddenly bombarded by a number of powerful strikes, the Archimedian and Chromastone-esque alien were laying the smack down as the Collector tried to keep itself together, or at least as well together as it could. It was clear that it was still waiting, not letting a reaction come out as Vengeance finally seemed to rise out from the dirt, growling in annoyance.
He slapped the Ultimatrix and transformed again. At least, that's what it looked like. Ben and Ruby landed on the ground to see Vengeance had turned back to human.
"I can't beat him as just one alien...so I'll use them all," Vengeance threw off his cape, and revealed a strange sight. The Ultimatrix on his wrist was gone. Ben's eyes suddenly took note of the alternate's chest.
It had an Ultimatrix symbol on it.
"...Ultimate...Ben?" Ruby asked, tilting her head. Ben looked disappointed.
"Kinda lame, if you ask me," the prime version scoffed.
Vengeance's arms suddenly gained a green outline and they morphed into that of Ultimate Humungousaur's turrets. He began to fire powerful blasts of energy at the Watch Collector, joining in the fray.
"...did that make him slightly cooler?" Ruby asked.
"Only a little," Ben shrugged.
The Watch Collector quickly threw aside its arm as a sudden barrier started to form in front of it, the blasts hitting against it as it started to charge toward Vengeance.
Ultimate Ben merely continued to fire off blasts before starting to focus, his body actively heating up as it seemed that the blasts were starting to overheat his arms. He would need to throw out even more firepower if it meant breaking through something like that!
Cracks of a Pyronite manifested on his evolved Vaxasaurian arms- the star powered blasts of energy turned explosive, as they clashed against the Watch Collector's shield. Crystals similar to Chromastone appeared on Vengeance's back.
"Power me up!" the loner variant yelled and everyone did so. Ruby offered rounds of electrical Dust, Ben offered Astrodactyl's cosmic breath, Ceres offered her flames, and Kirby gave his own energy.
The more the energy began to pile into Vengeance, the more his veins began to glow and show some signs of actively getting more and more damaged due to the amount of energy being thrown at him. This form had a significant amount of power to it, but the drawback was also very intensive...
Vengeance's eyes were pure green when he fired that burst of energy. The attack blasted through the Watch Collector's shield, and struck him in the chest.
"GRAB ONE!" Vengeance yelled, as the retrieval squad jumped in, consisting Youngblood, Reaer and Gwen.
The Collector tried to take a moment to focus their efforts, it seemed that they were actively starting to regain a little semblance of humanity within that shell. But the group was quick to grip onto each Omnitricie that they could.
Youngblood had transformed into an alien with an exceptionally strong grip, Kickin Hawk'. None of the other Bens were all that familiar with it (save for our Ben), but its talons felt like knives being shoved into the Collector's chest.
Gewn was careful to remove an Omnitrix, using Snare-Oh's bandages to wrap around the device. The force behind the bandages was incredible and the move would've hurt like hell if the Collector's more "human" personality was still in control.
As for Reaper, she just ripped out an Omnitrix with her scythe, like removing a nail with a hammer.
The Watch Collector let out a slight grunt before stumbling back, sounds of sparking coming from their core as they started to look at each of them. Whilst many of them were expecting each of these to weaken the Collector, it almost seemed like it was doing the exact opposite
"…Power Supply Being Diverted to Main Core," the artificial entity muttered. It was like all of the power it was using was actually being "limited" by the other Omnitrixes. They'd torn off "regulators".
"We need to shut it down, now." Gwen said, looking at the being, "He looks like he's gonna blow up the whole solar system now."
The Watch Collector's eyes lit up again, before everyone else began to open fire once again. Maximillian fired his weapon again and aimed it at the Watch Collector's arm. The attack actually took off the celestial arm, along with the Omnitrixes on it.
The Collector seemed to continue glowing, at this point the main Omnitrix was starting to glow brighter and brighter, charging up an attack that, if given enough time, most likely would wipe out a large proximity of the area.
"Ben," Kevin said, "I think we're really gonna need your help stalling this thing right now. Now might be the time to use one of those new Omni Stellar forms…"
Ben looked down at the Omnitrix with a bit of worry. He hadn't used an Omni-Stellar form in a while, hesitant in case the forms didn't work at all. Maybe the forms wouldn't work at all, maybe it'd glitch out. He sighed, quickly weighing the options and came to a solution just as fast. He was an Outcast, taking risks was just their style.
"Think I know just the alien," Ben slapped down the Omnitrix symbol and transformed in a flash of green.
The Omnitrix began to spin, forming the infinity symbol once more as Ben started to glow with Celestialsapien energy as his body started to get a rather large boost in strength. He only had so much time though, he needed to make it count again!
Ben's body morphed and changed with Clockwork's form taking his place, but it was being warped by the overwhelming power of the Celestialsapien's DNA. He became taller, slimmer, more fit for combat or like a Celestialsapien was wearing Clockwork as armor.
Vengeance looked over in shock and confusion.
"W-what the hell is-?!" the loner Ben asked, as his veins started to return to normal.
"Our window," Ben said, eyes lighting up, "However short it might be."
The sound of clocks beginning to tick down echoed out, Ben's movement starting to become untraceable as each action was being done down to the very attosecond. These were the powers of a Celestial Clock in action.
The Watch Collector was the only one who could track Ben's movements now. Without visible pupils, it was hard to tell, but he was tracking what his prime counterpart was doing. Seeing that, the Collector began trying to calculate what Ben could be planning. Several theories began to form in the AI's code, each one leading to a longer counter-plan, depending on which one Ben actually went with.
Ben struck first, though. Ruby thought XLR8 was fast, but she didn't even see Omni-Stellar Clockwork move. It was like his body snapped into action. The impact of his attack was only seen briefly and the Watch Collector was sent flying backwards. The AI-dominated divinity quickly caught itself.
"Adjusting data analysis," the Collector droned.
The Collector's calculations were interrupted for a moment, such speed wasn't entirely unexpected though. XLR8 and Fasttrack were the two main options for speed theories and, while this wasn't entirely pure speed and more time acceleration, it wasn't anything the Collector couldn't plan for. It had been beaten, stripped of power, and forced back to a more machine way of thinking and it would endure all of these insults if, in the end, it meant that Ben Tennyson's Omnitrix was ripped from his arm. Maybe then it would return to its usual personality.
The cosmic Clockwork barraged him with a lot more point blank attacks and each time, it looked like his body was snapping into position. The others fired their weapons and overwhelmed the Watch Collector with projectiles. He couldn't keep track of Cosmic Clockwork and the bullets.
The Collector staggered back by a few inches before regaining its composure and countered Ben's attacks. Even with a severed arm, the Collector was able to deal a good amount of damage to Ben, some of Clockwork's armor even being dented from the strikes.
Ben didn't flinch, though. His hands were suddenly coated in cosmic energies, and he struck again and this one punch suddenly felt like 10. The sound of a bell rang out and the Watch Collector was slammed into the ground.
"Ben!" Ruby yelled, as she fired another powerful blast at the Watch Collector's head. The faux-divinity created a portal in front of him, letting the bullet pass through it and instead hit her.
And it hurt.
Sparks surged through her body, taking a good chunk of power away from her Aura. She staggered forward from the shot and, seeing the effectiveness of it, the Collector repeated the move. Portals opened up around him that swallowed shots from the others and opened up to send them back at them. Weiss' glyph projectiles slammed into Blake's back, Yang's shotgun blasts nearly knocked Myrtenaster from the heiress' hands.
"Resistance levels lowering," the Watch Collector's other arm regrew, and morphed into a mess of tendrils. Its eyes closed and then opened, shifting from the white void back to its signature, sinister green.
"It's time this charade ended..." the Collector said, back to his original self.
Ben got up, ready to face the Collector again, arm ready to be wound back to throw a punch, only for Ben to freeze. For the first time since he started using the cosmically powered Clockwork's time powers, everyone could see the look of sheer terror on the Chronosapien's face. Even Paradox, who was watching the conflict from the sidelines, was, perhaps for the first time, shocked in utter silence.
Clamped down on Ben's chest was the mass of tendrils that was now the Watch Collector's arms. Their grip tightened on the Omnitrix symbol on the usually bronze skin of the time alien.
"NO!" Ruby screamed, before firing herself forward to try and sever the Collector's arm, but she was too slow. Maximilian was forced to watch history repeat itself. The Watch Collector, in one swift motion, ripped the Omnitrix from Ben's form in a shower of green sparks. Ruby missed by a few seconds and Crescent Rose's blade missed the Celestialsapien's morphed hand by such a small amount, an untrained eye might have thought the red-hooded reaper at least clipped the arm.
Ben reverted back to human, looking emaciated and worn down. His eyes were wide, filled with shock and terror. The Watch Collector held his Omnitrix, and sighed.
"Even with a mockery of cosmic power...you couldn't hold your own against me," the Watch Collector shook his head, "I suppose your attempt was amusing, but...victory is mine."
The Watch Collector was about to integrate the unique Omnitrix into his chest…
When something not even the AI-divinity could have predicted happened.
I love cliffhangers :)