After finally reaching Manhattan on Kineceleran bioliths, Ben was forced to revert back to human form once the Omnitrix made it clear its power reserves had been extremely taxed over the last few days.
*OMNITRIX POWER RESERVE DEPLETED, CYCLING OVER TO RECHARGE MODE*
"Yeah yeah I know!" Ben grumbled. In truth, he couldn't blame the device for needing some time to refresh. While Azmuth had managed to improve energy efficiency with the new model, there were still limits to how much he could push the thing before it needed to recharge. Luckily the Omnitrix would only need about 10 minutes to recharge, at most an hour in the event of a critical power drain.
"Come on, there should still be enough power to keep the map on!" He reasoned. "Omnitrix, redirect secondary power reserve to map function, hone in on communication terminal PJ3!" He commanded.
*PJ3 LOCATED*
From the Omnitrix sprang a dim holographic map with a single point leading to an apartment building near Queensboro bridge.
"Bingo!" Ben thought. "It's not even that far from here! Then again, nothing is really too far away in New York."
Suddenly thunder boomed. Ben had noticed the weather getting progressively worse since he left Camp Half-Blood. He looked up towards the Empire State Building and squinted, almost expecting to see a floating mountain top. But unsurprisingly, nothing but swirling storm clouds appeared above the building.
"I need to get going." He chastised himself. Focusing once more on the Omnitrix projection he proceeded to navigate the streets of New York, occasionally having to cover his wrist to prevent people from seeing the hologram shooting out of it.
Eventually he stood in front of the apartment building indicated on the map.
Despite himself, he hesitated. How did he know for sure he found the right place?
At that moment the Omnitrix chimed again.
*MATRIX CORE DETECTED IN RANGE, VERSION CODE: ULTIMATRIX*
"Well there's my confirmation!" Ben huffed. Wasting no time he entered the building and ran through the entrance hall without the doorman noticing. Once he got to the elevator, he had to make an educated guess about the floor he needed to reach in order to get to what the Omnitrix indicated as the right apartment.
After knocking, he was answered by a kind looking lady with brown hair streaked with gray.
"Hello, you must be Percy's new friend, he mentioned you would be here."
"I'm guessing you're…"
"His mother? Yes. Come right this way dear." She beckoned.
Ben complied, following her into the apartment.
"I'm guessing you're here for our other visitor." Percy's mother stated, more like a statement than a question.
"Well, yes… in fact-"
*MATRIX CORE DETECTED IN RANGE, VERSION CODE: ULTIMATRIX*
Percy's mother looked taken aback by the sudden voice from Ben's watch.
"I know, not now!" Ben hissed. "Deactivate secondary power!"
*OMNITRIX CYCLING OVER TO RECHARGE MODE*
Ben coughed. "Now where were we?"
"Ben? You're here!" Said the voice of Percy who came out of his room to greet the shapeshifter.
"Where is he?" Ben deadpanned, wanting to get straight to business.
Percy nodded his head in understanding. "Right over here!" He said pointing to the guest room.
"It was nice meeting you Mrs. Jackson!" Ben said politely.
"It was nice meeting you as well, Ben." Responded Sally, who was always happy when her son made new friends.
Entering the guest room. Ben was immediately greeted by a look of fury on his doppelganger's face. Albedo was restrained in a chair while Annabeth was treating a person Ben had never met with mild burns.
"YOU!" The former Galvan shouted. Drawing the attention of the other two people in the room towards Ben and Percy.
"Yes, me! What are you doing here? Last I checked, you still had the Cassiopeian Dream EaterTM stuck to your face!"
Percy looked at Annabeth and Nico who were equally confused by that statement but didn't say anything.
"I eventually escaped and began plotting my revenge on you! Which would have eventually come to pass had some delinquent not damaged the Ultimatrix!" He directed that last part towards the bedridden son of Hades.
"Wait, you damaged the Ultimatrix?" Ben asked the demigod in question.
"You mean that gauntlet thing? Yeah, I stabbed it with my sword while it was on his chest!" The boy said matter-of-factly.
"Dude, that's so cool! Is that how you got burned?" Ben asked.
Nico squirmed as if the sudden attention made him uncomfortable. "No, he turned into this plant creature and ignited some kind of gas earlier in our fight. I was only able to beat him because he wouldn't stop bragging about how 'superior' he is."
"Still cool how you were able to beat him, I'm Ben Tennyson." He introduced himself.
"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades." He did the same.
"Don't you dare pretend I'm not here Tennyson!"
"I'll get to you in a moment!" Ben said dismissively.
He turned to Percy and Annabeth: "I'm sorry if he's caused you any trouble, Albedo is an old enemy of mine."
"We noticed." The daughter of Athena deadpanned.
"So wait, why does he look like you?" Asked Percy.
"Because I was betrayed!" Albedo exclaimed.
"Albedo, you did this to yourself!" Ben retorted. He turned back to the demigods. "Albedo here used to be a Galvan, the same species as the creator of the Omnitrix, Azmuth. In fact, he was actually Azmuth's assistant when he was making the Prototype. Albedo never agreed with Azmuth allowing me to continue wielding the Omnitrix-"
"The most powerful device in the universe should never have been trusted to a 10 year old!" Albedo argued.
"We both know it wasn't just that, Albedo. You were jealous that Azmuth considered me a better user than you, so you tried to make your own Omnitrix. Then when your duplicate synced with mine, my DNA became the default on both devices."
Ben took a breath before continuing his explanation. "At first, he was an exact clone of me. Once he realized he needed the original Omnitrix to reverse his condition. He came to Earth and tried to take it from me. We fought, our Omnitrix cores briefly fused, and his form became damaged in the process."
"Hence why he looks like a version of you that has never seen the sun before in his life." Percy remarked.
They all briefly chuckled at that, except Albedo of course. Then Ben realized something.
"Why do you even need an Ultimatrix? I thought you gave yourself the ability to transform without one?" Ben asked, still confused at this latest development.
"If you must know, that ability was sadly temporary, so I took advantage of allies I still have on Galvan Prime to steal the Ultimatrix before Azmuth could disassemble it."
Ben looked at Albedo's wrist, the Ultimatrix looked mostly the same as when he used it, but had returned to its original red coloring. Not only that, but the dial itself was busted with a large crack across the interface where the intergalactic peace symbol should have been.
"Yeesh what could have done that?" Ben said.
"Stygian Iron." Nico stated. "My sword's made of the stuff."
"Ah, that makes sense." Ben said, remembering with guilt that the kid had been injured fighting his enemy.
"How are your burns?" He asked, concerned.
"Nothing that Ambrosia won't fix… in a couple of days… and with significant scarring" He said glumly.
It was at that moment that the Omnitrix chose to inform Ben that it was fully recharged.
*POWER RESERVES REPLENISHED, ALL FUNCTIONS NOW AVAILABLE*
"Maybe I can use the repair mode? Surely it's not just limited to genetic damage. But wait, what if it can't avoid leaving scars?" Ben debated mentally.
Then he got a better idea.
"Okay, I might be able to do something to help you Nico! But I make no promises!"
This got everyone's attention, Nico looked at Ben incredulously.
"What're you going to do?"
"I think it's better if I just show you!" Ben said as he activated the Omnitrix. After turning the dial a few times, he slammed down on the core and felt the usual rush of transformation overtake his body until he became a large biomechanical alien with a spinning key on his head and what appeared to be gears in his abdomen.
"CLOCKWORK!" The chronosapien shouted.
At the noise, Sally Jackson came running into the room.
"What's going on? Is someone hur-" She noticed the large robotic alien in the room and froze, scared.
"Sup?" The clock-like alien waved a biomechanical arm.
Percy went to comfort his mother. "Mom it's okay, it's just Ben!"
"Wait, how do you intend to help Nico with this?" Annabeth asked, confused.
Albedo snorted, "Isn't it obvious, human?" Earning a glare from the daughter of Athena.
"Watch and observe!" Clockwork exclaimed. "Luckily for you, I've figured out how to do this without affecting memories!"
"Do what without affecting memories?" Nico asked, dumbfounded.
"This!" The Chronosapien said as he created a temporal field around the son of Hades. Once formed, the key on his head began to spin and what happened next took everyone by surprise.
Nico's wounds began to reverse in time. At first reopening as a result of the Ambrosia being backtracked but eventually closing and disappearing completely as if they were never there.
Once the last of his wounds were healed, Clockwork slapped the Omnitrix and became human again with a flash of brilliant green light.
"There! Feeling better?" He asked. Apparently not noticing the dumbfounded looks on everyone around him.
"Did…did you just reverse time?" Annabeth stammered.
"Well yeah, I had a few other options, but this was the only way I could be absolutely certain there wouldn't be any scarring, no biggie!"
"NO BIGGIE?!" Percy practically shouted. "You just manipulated time! The only other person I've seen do that was a freaking Titan!"
"How did you do that?" Said Sally, who had just regained her voice.
Ben raised his wrist. "I used the Omnitrix, it's a genetic database of alien DNA, allowing the user to become different species and understand their way of life."
"Okay, time out!" Annabeth said, not realizing the pun she just made. "Are you telling me there's an entire species of aliens out there that all evolved the ability to manipulate time?!"
"Well… yeah! They're called Chronosapiens! I don't know about evolved though… my best guess is they're an artificial species."
Albedo looked surprised. "Interesting, you actually got it right. The Chronosapiens were created by the now extinct Chronians."
"Oh right, see they're the ones who evolved the ability to manipulate time, I just turned into a guy who was built to manipulate time by the people who evolved the ability to manipulate time. Totally different!" Ben explained sagely.
Annabeth could swear she felt a blood vessel burst in her brain from the sheer stupidity of what he just said.
At that moment, Percy immediately understood why Hecate would go through the trouble of hiding Ben from the gods as well as the mortals. The fact he was so nonchalant about this one transformation implied it was far from the most impressive. He could only imagine Zeus' reaction to finding out that a mortal could, at the press of a button, access the same powers as his father, the Titan of Time.
"Wait, you turn into aliens?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, what did you think he was turning into?" Ben pointed at Albedo.
"I don't know! All he kept rambling about was some mythosphere! I was more focused on figuring out why he was following me!"
At this, Annabeth snapped out of her shock and asked: "Wait, why was he following you?"
"Why?" Ben reiterated to the former Galvan.
"Rumors started going around that Animo's research had taken a massive turn. I was confident that an alliance with him would allow me to destroy you, but he refused, so I took the knowledge directly from his brain using my Nemuina transformation." He bragged.
"Great, so add mind reading to the list!" Percy groaned.
"On it!" Replied Annabeth, who had borrowed a notepad from Sally and was scribbling notes haphazardly.
"For the record, I call that one Pesky dust!" Ben added.
"Why?" Percy asked, confused.
"Because he looks like a fairy and can put people to sleep using a special dust produced from his body."
"Hey, Annabeth can do that too, she just needs to talk about architecture!" Percy joked, receiving a death glare from his girlfriend. Wanting to avoid an argument, Percy immediately changed the subject.
"So he learned about demigods from Animo? We should really do something about that!"
Ben groaned, "I know! I was hoping the first time that people would just think he was crazy, but now Albedo knows! I didn't realize how connected my enemies are to each other. Then there's… oh no."
Annabeth's gray eyes widened, "what do you mean 'oh no'!"
Ben told them about the Genesis Knights he encountered on the way to New York. How they were a split faction from the now extinct Forever Knights that he defeated.
"An entire group of mortals that knows about the mythological world…" Annabeth said in horror. "...and who want to destroy it for their own benefit. This is bad Percy. Really bad."
All Percy could think about was the offhand thought he had weeks ago, that the fates had run out of ideas and he could finally enjoy his life. Then he found out about mad scientists and alien shapeshifters. He learned about entire species who could manipulate aspects of the universe like it was nothing and about secret organizations bent on eradicating him and his friends.
"Yeah, very bad." He said, his voice hollow.
"Not everything is lost yet, friends!" Said a man in a lab coat, who just appeared out of nowhere.
"Professor Paradox!" Ben exclaimed.
"Who?!" Everyone in the room asked at once.
"Oh great, the time-walker!" Albedo groaned.
"Professor Paradox was this scientist from the 1950s who got trapped outside of time due to a failed experiment. Now he's this ultra powerful time traveler who saves the world a lot." Ben explained.
"A wonderfully succinct explanation Ben! Beneficial in that we don't have much time, we must all be getting to Olympus immediately!"
"Wait, why are we going to Olympus?" Percy asked.
"Because Perseus, recent events have forced me to come forth to the Olympian council with everything I've been hiding." Explained Hecate who appeared by Paradox's side.
"Such as?"
"Him for one thing." She pointed at Ben. "That plus a few other revelations that even you do not know. It is of the utmost importance that all involved be taken to Olympus to straighten this out!"
"I don't see why I should!" Ben challenged. "Surely they don't think I'm a threat!"
Hecate sighed. "They know Ben."
Ben did not know why but those words sent a chill down his spine. Regardless he bit the bullet.
"They know what?"
"Everything, they know everything you've done. The alien invasions you've stopped, the threats you've subdued, as well as what you are truly capable of…"
"Which is?"
"Ah Puch, Ben, they know about Ah Puch and what you did to him!" She practically shouted.
Everyone in the room stared at Ben confused, including Albedo.
"Who's rat puke?" He muttered.
"Wait, did you say Ah Puch?" Nico asked, eyes widening. "Dad's been complaining about his disappearance forever!"
Ben just looked down. Only one thought going through his head:
"Oh Man!"
One flash of light later and the whole group minus Sally and Albedo had appeared in the throne room of Olympus. Ben briefly stumbled as his eyes struggled to adjust to the bright throne room. Once they had though, he saw before him 12 large thrones surrounding a central fireplace. Seated on each throne were 10ft beings that Ben immediately assumed were the gods. Scanning the apprehensive faces of the assembled gods who were deep in discussion, he immediately recognized Dionysus who was smiling eerily back at him.
"Gee, I wonder who told the other gods about me!" He thought sarcastically.
"Dad?" Percy spoke suddenly, shaking Ben from his internal monologue.
Ben turned to see who he was talking to, seated close to the center of the thrones was a man, no, a god who greatly resembled an older Percy holding a three pointed spear and wearing a hat saying 'Neptune's lucky fishing hat'.
"That must be Poseidon." Ben surmised. While this was happening he noticed Annabeth making eye contact with a woman who she also greatly resembled. Nico though, mostly looked uncomfortable as he stood behind Percy and Annabeth trying not to be seen.
Upon registering that they were there, the gods redirected their attention to the group, and both Hecate and Paradox stepped forward.
"Esteemed lords and ladies of Olympus…" Paradox began while Hecate rolled her eyes. "May I present Benjamin Tennyson as I have promised."
All eyes in the room were now pointed at Ben who froze, uncertain what to do, afterall it wasn't everyday you get summoned to Mount Olympus, so naturally he was not aware of any protocol.
Percy elbowed Ben: "kneel!" he muttered.
"What?" he whispered back.
"Quickly kneel, they'll consider it good manners." The son of Poseidon whispered.
Ben did as he said and quickly kneeled before the council.
After what seemed like an eternity, Zeus finally spoke: "Benjamin Tennyson, we've heard much about you."
"Hopefully all good things!" Ben joked.
"Impudent!" Hera scowled, only for Zeus to raise his hand to signal he was not done yet.
"As you can imagine, we are quite surprised at what has been transpiring under our noses the past few years." The king of the gods began.
"Well I can see why considering you're 10ft tall." Ben thought to himself.
"What remains to be seen is where your loyalties lie, it has come to our attention that you have defeated a god…"
"That was a god?!" Ben said incredulously, after which he heard a slapping noise behind him that he had a feeling was a facepalm.
Zeus glared at the Omnitrix wielder for daring to interrupt him. "Yes, that was a god, a Mayan god to be precise. What did you think it was?"
"Well I mean sure, my grandpa told me he was a god, but I just thought he was being dramatic because he was obsessed with finding this weird sword. Personally I thought he looked like some sort of weird mutated rat thing, so now I'm even more confused seeing how you all look human-ish."
"We gods can appear however we wish." Apollo interjected with amusement.
"Really? Then who in their right mind would choose to look like Master Splinter's cousin on steroids!"
"Enough!" Zeus boomed. "We have summoned you here so that we may determine whether or not you are a threat to Olympus!"
"Oh is that all?"
"IS THAT ALL?!"
"Well I'm sorry! I only found out about you guys a few weeks ago! It hasn't set in yet!" He paused before continuing. "You know, normally my cousin Gwen handles all this magical stuff, I'm the guy you call if aliens are eating your brain."
"Ben, why?!" Demeter internally groaned.
At this point Percy and the others were staring at Ben in horror, save for Paradox who was looking on with mild interest. The other gods were similarly squirming in their seats with some shooting the alien shapeshifter dirty looks. Demeter couldn't say she was shocked at how things were turning out. Ben never did have much tact, nor was he that attentive given that he hadn't noticed her yet.
"Tennyson… please tell me you did not just refer to the 12 most powerful gods of the pantheon as 'all this magical stuff'" Hecate said.
"If I may interject for a moment…" Paradox said.
"Please do!"
"I believe we're meandering from the point," he said to a seething Zeus. Turning back to Ben he said: "Benjamin, as we told you before coming here, the Olympians are already aware of who you are and your deeds, the point of this is to ensure that we are all on the same page. If you and Perseus could please recount the events that led to this current situation, we can go off from there."
Zeus calmed himself as he redirected his attention to the son of Poseidon before huffing: "I can see what you meant by 'befriended one of our offspring', Dionysus. The changeling is almost as annoying and insolent as Jackson!"
Percy rolled his eyes at his uncle, but said nothing.
"Very well, the both of you, recount how you two caused this crisis."
Deciding to ignore the slight, Percy and Ben once again explain how they met and the specific circumstances that led to the attack on camp half-blood. At several points during the retelling Ben and Percy would bicker about specific details to the chagrin of the council.
Eventually with prodding from Paradox, Ben explained how he encountered the Genesis Knights on his way back to New York to retrieve Albedo. Once the two were done with their story, they fell silent and waited for the gods' response.
Finally Athena spoke: "That is quite an interesting sequence of events, though we could have done without the sound effects."
"Eh, to each their own." Ben said, earning a glare from the goddess.
"These 'Genesis Knight' punks must be hunted down and eliminated!" Ares roared.
"Father, with your permission, I will lead my hunt against these rogue mortals and have them destroyed in a matter of weeks." Artemis appealed to Zeus.
"No." Was all Zeus said in response.
"But father!"
"I've already made my decision." The king of the gods once more focused on Ben. "Our guest claims you are ultimately on our side, that you are not the threat I believe, but I wish to hear this from you."
"I am only a threat to my enemies." Ben said.
Zeus' eyes narrowed. "And do you consider us your enemies, boy."
"No, I have enough of those already." Ben admitted as he flashbacked to his most dangerous enemies:
"I am Vilgax, and I have come for the Omnitrix!"
"Now let's see how you like being trapped inside someone else!"
"Our paths are intertwined, in this and every other timeline!"
"Now you will witness true ultimate power!"
Zeus did not seem to like that answer, but nevertheless continued:
"Very well, If you are truly on our side, Tennyson, you will lead the charge against these rogue mortals and destroy them. Only then will I not regard you as a threat to Olympus as your mother wishes."
Ben was confused, and seeing the confused looks on the demigods' faces only made him want to ask the next logical question all the more.
"Uh Lord Zeus, what does my mother have to do with-"
"Hello Ben." Demeter finally spoke up, drawing his attention to her as she assumed a form familiar to him.
Ben did a double take as for the first time he noticed what appeared to be Sandra Tennyson sitting with the other gods.
"M-mom! What are you doing here…"
"Ben, we have a lot to talk about." Demeter then turned to Zeus. "if we may?"
Zeus huffed. "Very well, I will allow it."
Before Ben could ask, a flash of light appeared around him and once his vision cleared he found himself in a large garden with his mother.
His mother.
"Ben, I'm sure you have a lot of questions." she began.
"I'm beginning to regret never asking about your side of the family." Was all Ben could say.
At that Demeter could only laugh.
"So let me get this straight. You're a Greek goddess."
"Yes"
"And not just any goddess but…uh."
"Demeter, goddess of agriculture."
"Right, of course! That explains all the health food!" Ben threw up his hands.
"Ben I know this must be confusing but I'm prepared to answer any questions you ha-"
"Does dad know?"
"Well yes, I would never lie to him."
"Oh, but you can lie to me." Ben said, feeling hurt.
"If I remember correctly, you weren't exactly forthcoming about that!" she pointed to Ben's wrist.
"Oh right." Now that Ben thought about it, he could not deny his hypocrisy when it came to lying.
"Okay fine, so… how?" Ben gestured to his mother.
"I have many forms, a concept I'm sure you're familiar with. In this form I am Sandra Tennyson, your mother. But in this form-" She shifted into a more regal form cloaked in a long green dress with flowers in her hair. "-I am Demeter, they are not necessarily the same.
Seeing the look of confusion on Ben's face, she continued.
"When most gods have mortal relationships, they normally only stay around long enough to have the child and leave. It is against the ancient laws to intervene beyond that extent, our children are mostly raised by their mortal parents until they can be sent to camp half-blood to train."
"But you broke the rules." Ben guessed.
"Yes, unfortunately Hecate revealed my secret when Dionysus called the council together to blame her for the incident at camp."
"Right so, unlike the other gods you take responsibility?"
"I wouldn't phrase it like that in front of the others, but yes." She reached out and touched Ben's face. "I don't like being separate from my children so I create separate identities like Sandra to pose as a mortal parent, though only if the father agrees, sometimes they don't want to take the risk."
"But Dad did. Wait, how does that work with multiple families."
"Gods can be in multiple places at once and more importantly, I can divide my consciousness appropriately." A flash of green light later and right next to Demeter was "Sandra Tennyson". Both then proceeded to speak at the same time.
"We are the same and yet different all at the same time." they both said.
"I can remember every experience I've ever had and every child over the millennia." Demeter said alone.
"While I only possess the memories relevant to being your mother and mostly operate as my own person. Though I remain connected to her at all times." Sandra said after.
"Well that's not creepy at all, but I think I get what you're saying. Whenever I become Ditto or Echo echo and use their cloning powers, each clone has their own separate POV until I re-merge and have to sort through a bunch of contradictory memories.
"Yes, it is kind of like what you described with your aliens but I have more control of which of my "clones" get which specific memories.
"Remember when Ben refused to go to school for a week after a kid dressed up like a clown to scare him?" Sandra asked.
"Yes, do you remember how we felt after Persephone was kidnapped?"
Sandra shook her head. "No, I don't currently have those memories."
"How about now?" Demeter snapped her fingers
Sandra gasped: "Oh my! We were devastated. Stupid Hades!"
Ben was starting to get the idea. "Right, so there's just one thing I don't get."
"What's that?" Demeter said as she reabsorbed Sandra.
"Percy told me that Celestial bronze can only harm demigods and monsters. So if I'm your son, why does it not affect me?"
"Because of that." She gestured to the Omnitrix.
"The Omnitrix?"
"Yes, I don't know how, but each time you became an alien you lost a tiny portion of your divine side until eventually it was all gone. You're essentially a demigod in name only."
"Oh, so is that why I was never sent to camp?" Ben wondered.
"Yes, normally demigods are sent to camp when they start attracting monsters. In fact, that summer vacation with your grandfather and cousin was supposed to be your last summer before being set to camp the following year."
"Wait, so you knew about the watch from the beginning!" Ben exclaimed.
"Your father and I did, we pretended not to until the incident with the black eye gave us a good excuse to 'find out'."
"Unbelievable! You made me feel so guilty for lying! Meanwhile you two were sitting on a secret bigger than anything I could possibly…"
"How are my 14 grandchildren Ben?" Demeter asked calmly.
That took the wind out of Ben's sails. "Gulp. Oh you know about that, huh?"
Demeter just gave him a look.
"I don't know, out in space somewhere. Look, Big chill's species is naturally antisocial, family bonding is an alien concept to them. Speaking of family bonding, are all the gods related? If so, does that make everyone in camp half-blood related to me?"
Demeter wasn't exactly ready to move on from the subject of her alien grandchildren but regardless she answered Ben's question.
"Yes, the gods are all related and so everyone at camp half-blood is technically related to you."
"Technically?"
"Only in terms of the overall family tree, there is no genetic relation whatsoever between you and the campers."
"How is that possible?"
"We gods don't have DNA in our natural form, we are pure abstract thought rendered in energy."
"So how do you… you know?"
Demeter sighed: "Reproduction works differently for gods, we don't suffer the effects of inbreeding since we don't naturally have DNA, but with humans we have to be more careful. When we assume human form we briefly have DNA, this DNA is randomized each time so that none of our children are related to one another genetically. So from a genetic standpoint, inbreeding is not a problem for demigods, hence why relationships between demigods are also not a problem. The only taboo is for children of the same god since many think that would be a step too far."
"How do you know all of this?"
"I'm the goddess of Agriculture, knowledge on heredity comes naturally when breeding crops and livestock. Gregor Mendel was also a legacy of mine." Demeter bragged.
Suddenly thunder boomed, Demeter looked irritated as a larger than average eagle perched on the marble column of the garden and shrieked a message only the goddess could understand.
"What's wrong?" Ben asked.
"Zeus thinks we're taking too long, Poseidon's son is starting to irritate him again, he wants us back so that you can officially accept leadership against the Genesis knights.
"Leadership?" Ben was no stranger to the idea of being a leader, nor was he a stranger to fighting a bunch of medieval cosplayers with a genocide complex, but leading an entire camp of demigods who he put in danger in the first place was a bit outside his wheelhouse.
"To prove yourself as loyal to Olympus, you must lead the charge against the threat, only that will appease Zeus. Make no mistake Ben, no matter what happens, you are my son and I am proud of you. I don't care that you're technically not a demigod, in my opinion the Omnitrix has made you a greater hero than your demigod abilities ever could have."
"Oh wow, thanks mom." Ben looked down as he wasn't sure what to say. All he knew is that some discount Forever Knights were about to get their butts kicked real soon.
"Ben?" Demeter asked "Are you okay?"
Actually, scratch that, Ben knew exactly what to say. He looked up to his mother.
"It's hero time."
Meanwhile back in the council room.
"For the last time brother, I'm not letting you blast my son with lightning!" Poseidon yelled while wielding his trident.
"No one calls me 'a hypocritical drama queen' to my face and gets away with it!" Zeus boomed, master bolt in hand.
"Oh, but you're fine with it if I say it in casual conversation!" Percy yelled.
"Seaweed brain! Please stop talking!" Annabeth said exasperated. Nico was nervously eyeing the shadows for a possible escape route.
"Listen to the Athena spawn, son!" Poseidon warned.
"HEY!" Athena shouted in response.
"THAT'S IT!" Zeus boomed. "Dionysus! Tell the Harpies they're getting fried calamari tonight!"
"You will do no such thing, Nephew!"
All the other gods were placing bets on whether Zeus would follow through this time when Demeter and Ben reappeared.
"Uh Zeus, we're back." Demeter said as she took in the sight. Both Zeus and Poseidon were squaring off with their symbols of power crackling with energy. Percy was right behind his father with his friends while the gods were behind Zeus and either looking apprehensive or placing bets.
After a split second, Zeus relented and returned to his throne, earning a disappointed grunt from Ares who then passed several drachmas to Hermes and Apollo.
Poseidon regarded his brother wearily as he too returned to his throne, everyone else breathed a sigh of relief that WW3 had not just started.
"Have you come to a decision, Benjamin?" Paradox asked, steering the council's focus back to the matter that brought them here.
"Uh yes, I accept. If the Genesis Knights are anything like the Forever Knights, I can't just stand by and let them do whatever they want. The Forever Knights were basically the space KKK. But clearly I'll need help since I'm not familiar with this part of town so to speak." He explained.
"Don't worry Ben, we'll help you." Percy promised and the others nodded their heads. Zeus meanwhile was glaring at the son of Poseidon as if expecting his head to explode. The son of Poseidon likewise glared back. Something clearly happened while Ben was gone.
"I will also dissolve your end of the agreement to allow you to ask your mortal allies for help, but only up to a point." Hecate warned.
"Good, so Kevin and Gwen are allowed." Ben thought.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" Ben asked.
Finally, Zeus spoke. "Yes, I've reached a decision regarding Demeter's crimes. You are not to tell anyone, demigod or mortal, about your mother's… presence in your life. The last thing we need is-"
"-your children finding out it's possible for you to be both a god and a decent parent at the same time." Percy spat.
"WHY YOU-" Zeus snapped and sent a lightning bolt at the son of Poseidon that shocked everyone present. Though not as much as what happened next.
Just as the bolt was about to hit Percy, Ben ran straight in front of him while slamming the Omnitrix, producing a brilliant green light.
Percy opened his eyes to see a tall, black, and green creature covered in metallic discs wielding twin head tails in front of him. At the moment he was using those head tails to quickly absorb the electricity of the blast. Once the smoke cleared a static voice shouted:
"FEEDBACK!"
The conductoid then turned around, revealing a single emerald green eye and the Omnitrix symbol on its chest and said:
"You okay, Ocean Man?"
The son of Poseidon could only stammer: "y-yes!"
"Hold that thought." Feedback said as he pointed his metallic fingers at the sky and discharged the electric energy he absorbed.
Suffice it to say, the council was dumbfounded, never before had a mere mortal managed to bear the brunt of Zeus's master bolt and survive. Zeus quickly overcame his shock though.
"YOU DARE-"
Feedback slapped the Omnitrix symbol and became Ben again.
"Yes I dare! Here I am saying I'll help you guys out and then you try to kill my friend! My friend who I only just discovered is also my cousin!"
Never before had Demeter been more proud of Ben. Was she scared for him? Oh yes definitely, but also proud.
Zeus stared menacingly at the Omnitrix wielder, who responded by moving his right hand to hover over the Omnitrix. As if to say: "there's more where that came from!"
For what felt like an eternity, Ben and the king of the gods stared each other down before finally Zeus said the following through gritted teeth:
"You presume to threaten me. Who do you think you are?"
"I'm Ben Tennyson, wielder of the Omnitrix, son of Demeter, the Modern Noah, the Living Xenome, a few other names I can't remember… and I take care of my friends!"
As he said that last part he turned around to see Percy, Annabeth, and Nico looking at him in awe.
Hecate had chosen that moment to vanish and Paradox merely nodded to Ben before similarly walking through a portal.
Zeus turned and made eye contact with each of the Olympians. Before they knew it, everyone was transported to an arena. While Annabeth and Nico were seated on a lower level than the gods, Percy and Ben were placed in the arena itself.
Once the gods were in their seats, they began to clamor amongst themselves, trying to figure out what Zeus was trying to do. Poseidon, Demeter, and even Hera were at a loss, none of them knew what Zeus was trying to do. Eventually his voice boomed.
"ENOUGH!" He commanded, turning his attention back to the two would-be fighters. "Benjamin Tennyson, since you clearly believe yourself a proficient fighter, you and he shall be given the opportunity to prove it. Ares, I believe you expressed interest in fighting him."
The god of war thought for a moment before saying: "Fine, I'll fight the punk, but only if you remove Jackson. I want no distractions."
"Very well." Zeus said coolly before waving his hand and moving Percy next to Annabeth and Nico. Poseidon breathed a sigh of relief but felt guilty upon seeing the horrified look on Demeter's face.
Ares jumped down to the arena and faced the Omnitrix wielder.
"Well well punk, let's see how great that watch of yours is after all.
END CHAPTER SIX
NOTES
I'll be honest, this wasn't originally how I was going to end this chapter. My original plan was to have Ben accept the role and then continue my plot with them going to camp half blood to start the quest. But as I was writing this, things got out of hand and before I knew it, I was writing about Zeus trying to kill Percy and Ben stepping in... so on that note the next chapter's gonna be a doozy.
Also, special announcement, I have successfully cross-posted this story to AO3 and have taken the opportunity to clean up the previous chapters with minor edits.
Pedro Alonso Buby Huayanay Zam: Thank you, I hope this story continues to entertain, also in the future you can just ask whatever question you want. I'm not in the habit of updating regularly so just ask your questions.
The Disquieting One: I've taken your advice and better separated the notes from the story proper. This will be the format from now on.
GG: Okay so I may have goofed when it came to Typhon's size. I didn't know that he is canonically 2000ft tall and didn't bother looking because I didn't think there was a number. I assumed he was at least as big as the empire state building which is only 1250 feet tall, and despite Way big canonically being around 120 ft, I decided to scale him up (call it a growth spurt) because I thought it would be cool if Way big could hypothetically have a one on one kaiju fight with the Greek equivalent of Godzilla.
Mr. illegal: You bet Demeter likes Wildvine and Swampfire.
EscritorFantasma1124: Ben tiene el Omniverse Omnitrix y no tiene los supremos. Sólo Albedo los tiene. Si, nuevos alienigenas.