I had a raccoon ruin about $1k of my parent's cushions yesterday! I didn't see the carnage but i sure as fuck smelt it
That's my author's note for this chapter lol
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Ben hated waiting more than anything in the world. He hated waiting for the bus back home. He hated waiting for the Omnitrix needing that stupid recharge before he could hop back into action. And he especially hated waiting in lines. Ask him about the Avengers line accident. He would go on a full fledged rant about why that Ultron cosplayer deserved it.
So, why bring up something so trivial, in a story about aliens and action?
Because Ben was waiting in a line. A new Sumo Slammers graphic novel had come out today, so he went with Kylie and Blake to go get it because, hey, they were gonna sift through some of the clearance stuff.
...and Rex invited himself because that's what Rex did best. He just wanted to chill at the cafe, because they sold some good stuff.
Ben tapped his foot as he looked around at the packed crowd. "Why even is there a stupid line?" He grumbled.
"I dunno, maybe they're also here for those Samurai Smashers thing," Rex joked.
Ben grabbed Rex by the collar, "Let me tell you something, Rex Salazar...They're called Sumo Slammers," he said in a low, hushed voice, "You got that?"
Rex blinked, surprised that Ben could channel a more threatening Rath than the real deal.
"A-alright, man, jeez," the nanite-using operative surrendered. With his point across, Ben let go of the Ace-Op's collar and turned back to Blake.
"You're usually on the know in 'book stuff'. Any idea what this line is for?" the Omnitrix-user asked as if nothing had happened.
"They're just here for the Darkfall book signing," Blake said.
"...Darkfall?"
"A rip off of a rip off of an original idea marred by the shitty story telling of a so-called author," Kylie rambled, her voice filled with spite, "It's basically Twilight but with Hunters. Somehow this one is worse, because...uh, which Faunus story is it a rip off of, Blake?"
"The Judgement of the Faunus," the ninja of team RWBY frowned, "The myth is basically the Tower of Babel but with the humans being shifted into Faunus by a God. In the books, the main lead is a victim of a vengeful curse by some...vampire God during a fight between vampires. It's pretty bad."
"Sounds gross," Ben gagged.
"Oh, yeah, isn't Darkfall the movie series with Jennifer Nocturne?" Rex asked, "Noah and I gagged during one of the trailers when it played in the theaters."
"Yep. She's gonna be signing books she probably hasn't even read in full," Kylie sighed, "She's not gonna be happy when she finds out that she dies in the last book...Hey, Rex. 20$ if you tell Jennifer she dies."
Rex put his hand forward, "Show me the green."
"She's here!" Someone from the crowd gasped. A black limo pulled up to the front of the building and stopped in front of a cheesy red carpet. Two men in black suits opened the door to the limo, letting a young woman, presumably Jennifer Nocturne, step out. She had long blond hair and beautiful blue eyes and wore a purple cutaway dress shirt with black at the center, with silver ring bracelets and a crescent moon necklace. People began to cheer as she made her way down the carpet and into the store. Cameras flashed incessantly, but Ben just grumbled impatiently.
"Hurry it up! I need to see how the comic lines up with canon!" Ben huffed. Kylie and Blake both shot Ben a strange look.
"What? I have hobbies," Ben defended.
Jennifer stopped in the middle of the way to wave and address her adoring fans.
"Thank you all for coming~!" the actress beamed, in a voice sweeter than honey. "I know you must've been waiting a long time-"
"And I'm still fucking waiting," Ben grumbled to himself.
"So, let's get right to business!" she announced.
Suddenly, two gunshots rang out, suddenly turning all those cheers to screams. The two bodyguards around Jennifer collapsed on the ground, twitching in pain from the electrocution. Jennifer let out a blood curdling scream as two men in white uniforms jumped down from the top of the building, holding some fancy firearms, undeniably Atlas tech. Both the gunmen wore a Grimm-like mask over their eyes and forehead and identical outfits, consisting of a white sleeveless jacket with three, stylized slash marks on the top left, a sleeveless black hood and black pants. They also sported black fingerless gloves, metal foot guards and boots. A cool logo of what looked like an aggressive, scowling wolf decorated their backs, with three bloody claw marks behind it.
"What the hell-?" Blake gasped.
"What, what's wrong?" Rex asked.
"Those...those are White Fang members," Blake said, almost lost for words, "What the hell are they doing here?"
"Wait, as in, the terrorist White Fang guys?" Ben said.
"What other White Fang group would there be, Ben!?" Kylie frowned.
One of the White Fang members put Jennifer in a headlock, as a few more jumped down, each one sporting some kind of visible animal trait, be it a tail, a second pair of ears, or so on. Ben's eyes were locked on what was presumably the leader when he landed, a significantly bigger individual than the others, definitely giving off a more intimidating presence.
Aside from the same pants, boots, and gloves of the grunts, the leader sported a sleeveless vest with no buttons and a raised collar. His face was entirely covered by a special Grimm mask, almost resembling overlapping armor red markings decorated each plate, giving it a very distinct to sell the image more, a massive weapon rested on his shoulder, a modified drill crossed with an assault rifle of some kind.
"Listen up!" the man spoke, his voice gruff sounding and kinda forced, "We want ten million lien in one hour! Or it's vampire nighty night for Jennifer Nocturne."
Blake's eyes narrowed, just taking in the bizarre sight.
"This...this isn't like them," Blake muttered, "Normally we'd have more to bargain with, give a reasonable time for a ransom. This just seems…petty."
"Petty and stupid," Ben said, as he hopped out of line to leap into action.
"Hey, kid! Don't move!" one of the White Fang members, a bear Faunus if his ears were any indication, pointed a weapon at Ben, called out.
"Get back into line if you know what's good for you," the gunman threatened, his finger hovering above the trigger.
"Or you'll what?" Ben smirked, hoping to catch the thug off guard.
"Okay, fine! Demonstration," the criminal announced as he pointed his weapon at a nearby car. He pulled the trigger and the rifle fired off a beam of pure plasma, striking and detonating the car. Shrapnel rained down as Ben's eyes widened in mock shock.
"Same thing'll happen to everyone here if we see any officers or Hunters show! Willing to comply now, kid?" the gunman asked with a confident smirk.
"Hmmmm," Ben hummed for a minute before pausing, just for effect, "No!" With that, he slapped down on the Omnitrix and Spidermonkey took his place. The man dropped his weapon in utter shock as he realized just who he was dealing with. The monkey-like alien only smirked mischievously before he launched himself towards the bear Faunus and landed a somersaulting kick to the triggerman's jaw.
"Should we help?" Kylie asked.
"Nahhhh," Rex said, "Sounded like he's got some pent up frustrations. I say, let him vent. These guys are gonna be catharsis for him."
Ben quickly jumped from the bear Faunus and smashed into the chest of another poor thug, knocking the wind out of her system and sending her to the ground. A quick string of webbing disarmed another White Fang goon, before his hands and arms were webbed together.
The last grunt, the one keeping Jennifer restrained, shakily held his gun towards the alien simian. Spidermonkey just hissed at him, revealing his pincers. Even the actress recoiled a bit from the display.
"I…nobody said anything about purple monkeys! I'm outta here!" the thug yelled. He pushed Jennifer to the ground and made a break for it, much to his boss's frustration. Ben rushed over to help Jennifer. The bad guy was getting away, and the leader of the group was moving in to try and land a cheap hit on the distracted Ben. He raised his drill-rifle above his head, ready to try and impale the hero then and there. Blake, Kylie, and Rex all began to pull out their weapons to help.
And then he leapt in.
From the top of a nearby building, someone flew down and blasted the ground in front of the White Fang member. Ben looked up to see what looked like an Atlesian version of an Iron Man suit. The armor itself was orange and black, with the chest having silver on the sides, and orange and silver gauntlets. The helmet was the same orange color, but with black lining and yellow square patterning. The man piloting it had short black hair, a pencil-thin mustache, and fair skin.
The weirdest thing was the music playing from his suit. There was a time and place for music, but this…this was weird.
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazin' sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be your man in motion, all I need's this pair of wheels
"Have no fear, citizens! Captain Nemesis is here!"
"Captain…who now?" Ben said, raising an eyebrow.
Nemesis blasted some sort of energy bola around the retreating White Fang member, causing him to fall to the ground and wriggle around. The leader growled, turning to face the armored hero and aiming his rifle at the guy. He fired off a few shots, but Captain Nemesis simply held out his hand and blocked them with a hardlight Dust-powered shield. The captain landed on the ground and made a bee-line for the still standing boss. With a battle cry, the leader of this band of Fang brought down his drill-rifle like an oversized greatsword, but the Atlesian hero was able to grab it and easily wrench it from the Faunus' grip. Using the enhanced strength the suit gave him, Captain Nemesis bent the drill and rifle barrel.
The Faunus criminal held us hands up in surrender, getting a cocky smirk from the captain.
Blake frowned at the sight. This whole thing just seemed…off to her.
"Now, anyone ELSE want a piece of-" he spun around heroically, ready to fight on. Only to pause, seeing the other two White Fang members had been taken care of.
"...oh," Nemesis muttered.
"Uhh, yeah…kinda took care of them-" Ben explained after he reverted back to human.
"My HERO~!" a familiar voice called out.
Ben barely registered what happened next, but Jennifer had pulled him into a kiss. Not a kiss on the cheek, on the lips. Ben's eyes shrank in shock, before he pushed the woman off of him.
Ben looked utterly horrified and so did everyone else.
Save for Nemesis, who looked very frustrated.
Ruby rubbed Ben's head as he leaned on her shoulder.
"Hey, hey. It's fine. We're here," the red-hooded reaper comforted, "That was messed up what she did, you hear me?"
"Y-yeah," Ben said, more affected by the kiss than he thought he'd be, "J-just, God."
"Ease up," Ironwood said, handing him a glass of water, "We need to talk about something."
Ironwood had called everyone into his office after the bookstore incident. Ben and Ruby were on their way back when it was happening, so Ben had to remain strong for a few more minutes.
"That guy in the suit…who was he?" Blake asked.
"He calls himself 'Captain Nemesis,'" Ironwood explained, "Real name is Carl Nesmith."
"His name is CARL?" Ruby said, a bit awestruck, "Wow, our names look so much cooler in comparison."
"Carl Nesmith..." Weiss hummed, "Isn't he that billionaire that produces some of Atlas' finest weapons?"
"The very same," Ironwood nodded, "Recently, he's been trying out something interesting, a suit of armor that could be powered purely by electromagnetics."
Several holographic screens had appeared above the main console in Ironwood's office, showing the man behind the armor in a simple business suit, waving to some press, and the armor itself.
"He was never one for theatrics. Rather grounded. Wonder what changed..." Winter said, looking at his gaudy armor.
"Can we talk about the 'Captain Nemesis' part? That's a stupid name," Kevin commented, "Why call himself something stupid like that?"
"According to his official webpage, his moniker comes from the idea that he is the nemesis of criminals," Ceres said, looking at her tablet, "...that just makes it worse."
"He has an official webpage?" Ben asked.
"Of course. People are profiting off of his name like crazy. They're using the secret advertising tool: If you're making an ad, don't try to sell your product. Just show it off, and people are gonna buy it."
"Capitalism is a disease," Albedo frowned.
"Just look at this crap," Kylie said, scrolling through the page, "A podcast, fully illustrated comic book stories about him at the Battle of Beacon and Battle of Haven...hell, there's one of him fighting Salem...who's...portrayed as..." Kylie blushed, as she stared at a rather sexualized Salem in a skimpy outfit. Like she would EVER wear that.
"Portrayed as what?" Oscar asked.
"...Oscar, for the betterment of your mind, I'm gonna ask that you NOT look at my screen," Kylie said, "Blonko, shield his innocent boy eyes."
"Will do," Blonko quickly covered Oscar's eyes.
"Why even go through all this?" Yang asked, "What, is this just a massive ad campaign for the armor? More compact version of a Paladin?"
"...I don't think it's just that," Blake sighed, looking at Ceres' tablet, "Mind if we play a video?"
"I think we're on the same page," Ironwood frowned as he pressed play on said video.
The commercial started off dark, showing a silhouette of the Atlesian skyline. "In a city shrouded in darkness, one candidate is shining bright."
A spotlight suddenly illuminated Jacque, standing tall and proud. "Hi there, I'm Jacque Gele, and I'm running for Atlas."
The camera panned to show several citizens looking bored and uninterested. Jacque continued, "Atlas has been RUINED by James Ironwood's influence." A dramatic zoom-in on Jacque's face emphasized his determination. "But fear not, because I have the solution! I present to you... 'Make Atlas Great Again!'"
Then came an over-the-top montage of construction workers hammering away at buildings, Atlas citizens rejoicing, and confetti falling from the sky. "Under my leadership, Atlas will be shinier, brighter, and schneer than ever before!"
Jacque appeared, holding a giant glittering snowflake. "For a Shinier, Brighter Atlas!" he declared, as if it were the most profound slogan ever created. "And I'm not alone. Meet my hero, Captain Nemesis!"
Captain Nemesis busted through a banner, looking confident and happy. "That's right, folks! I have a hero by his side, ready to save the day! Meet Captain Nemesis, the ultimate defender of justice!"
"I promise to protect Atlas, tooth and nail!" Captain Nemesis declared. "With my unmatched dedication and strength, I will defeat the villains of stagnation and bring prosperity back to Atlas!"
As the camera slowly panned out, Jacque looked directly into the lens, a confident smile on his face. "I'm Jacque Gele, and I approve this message."
"...what the hell was THAT?" Ruby yelled.
"He's a hero on the wrong side," Ben frowned, "Probably gonna be elected to Jacques' board to...promote more weapons or whatever. We're gonna see a soldier with the gun Jesse Ventura used in Predator."
"He's not the only person getting media attention..." Blake frowned, as Ironwood changed his monitor to a live news feed.
"-and in pop culture, actress Jennifer Nocturne was saved by the elusive 'Alien Boy' Ben Tennyson," A brightly smiling newscaster reported, "You may remember Ben Tennyson as a member of the Zeta Squad from the Vytal Festival. Back then, we never knew this kid was..." The lady blabbed on more and more.
"Hey, aren't you worried about you being a celeb?" Oscar asked, "Thought that'd generate a lot more...worry from you guys."
"What? "I'm like, Tony Hawk levels of famous. No one really recognizes me until I slap down the Omnitrix. And I'm pretty famous in space, so I'm used to it," Ben shrugged.
"It's true. He gets royalty checks," Kevin said, as they turned their focus back to the screen.
"-And as you can see here, Jennifer Nocturne thanked her hero with a kiss on the lips!" The news played footage of the kiss again. Ben cringed and everyone else could feel it, too. It was also VERY apparent on screen that Ben was NOT into that kiss whatsoever. Quite clear there was NO communication about what was going to happen. Jennifer just went ahead and did it. Ben looked a bit uncomfortable. Ruby reached for his hand and held it a bit.
"That's just wrong," Ceres frowned.
"I wish they wouldn't show that on the news..." Ben grumbled.
"That grounds for sexual misconduct, right?" Rex asked, "Why isn't anyone talking about it online?"
"She's Jennifer Nocturne. She's got a hundred vulnerable teenagers connecting with her and defending her every move. It sucks because we can't really call her out," Yang explained.
"Plus, fame and influence can sometimes shield people from criticism," Weiss chimed in, her voice laced with frustration. "But that doesn't make it right. Ben should be able to express his discomfort without fear of backlash."
Ruby tightened her grip on Ben's hand, offering him support. "If I ever see that woman in person…I will literally punch that fake blonde coloring out of her hair.
Ben nodded appreciatively, grateful for his friends' understanding and support. "Thanks, hun."
Kevin laid on his bed, scrolling through his phone absentmindedly.
"Don't you have anything more constructive to do?" Doppler sighed, "I'm pretty sure you still have laundry to do."
"Eh, I can do it later. Right now, just need a break," Kevin said.
"You've been on break for a few hours now," Doppler pointed out.
"...Shut up," Kevin responded. As he kept scrolling, the door to the room opened and Min walked in. Doppler was about to say something, but then he noticed the look on her face. He'd been around long enough to know that was her 'something's bothering me' look.
Kevin looked up from his phone in surprise
. "Huh? How'd you get in?" Kevin said, setting down his phone.
"Picked the lock. I need to talk with you about something," Min said.
"What's up?" Kevin sat up in bed, focused on this entirely now.
Min looked around and spotted no visible cameras in the room. Or so she hoped. Min quietly chanted a spell, which made the whole room briefly turn black. Kevin blinked, looking around.
"Blocking out any...others who may want to look in," Min explained, "Listen, I'm suspicious of Ironwood."
"Why? Guy's been good to us ever since we started helping from Atlas. Or is this just not trusting military leaders in general?"
"After Robyn encouraged us to 'question our authorities'...well, I think she had a point there. I know it sounds bad that I'm having doubts about the guy leading an entire resistance against Salem, but…"
"You don't trust the government," Kevin finished.
"Yeah. I really, really don't," Min frowned, "Think about your government, routinely sterilizing native American women, tested several different biological weapons on and unbeknownst to the public and probably a lot of other stuff they haven't been found out for. I need to find a moment where Ironwood's distracted with something, and then investigate him a bit. The second reason I wanna look into this whole situation is because...well, I've just read stories of guys like him. And they NEVER end well. I just wanna know how severe this skeleton in his closet is."
"And on the off chance he's different? Like, yeah, he's got dirty government secrets but what if it's on par with what you'd expect? Or hell, what if he doesn't have any at all? Not saying he doesn't, but still."
"Kevin. It's the government," Min frowned, "They can cover up a death, no problem, assassinate people gaining too much power. And with how much power Atlas holds? There's not a doubt in mind Ironwood's hiding something."
"I'm just trying to be optimistic, ok?"
"And I appreciate that. But...well, you know...It's been eating at me and Blake for a long while," Min huffed.
"Blake too, huh? So, let's say you're right, Ironwood does have secrets. How are you going to find them? Doubt he just has a folder in his desk labeled 'Classified Government Secrets.'"
"That's where our surprise guest comes in," Min grinned, "Blonko agreed to help."
"Hold on, Rook? You got ROOK to help? How the hell did you manage that?"
"I don't even know. I think he was a bit annoyed at the whole...Ozpin keeping Summer's possibility of being alive and also gained a sense of suspicion? He didn't really tell us," the chaos demon shrugged.
"Oh...that. Yeah, that'd do it," Kevin sighed, "Still can't believe he decided THAT was ok to hide."
"I just...needed to tell someone. Just in case," Min said.
"If you do find something, you'll tell us, right?" Kevin asked, just to confirm it.
"Yeah...assuming we do. I'm choosing to do this right now because Ironwood's so damn panicky about Jacques and his campaign," Min said.
"Fair. You just need the right time..." Kevin trailed off, trying to think of a time when the general's attention would be divided, "If something happens that gives you that window you need, I'll let you know."
"Thank you," Min smiled, pecking him on the cheek.
A few days had passed since Captain Nemesis made his debut to the people of Atlas. Even with the ongoing Dust embargo, the docks of Atlas were still busy shipping out other goods to other destinations. It was one of the largest exporters in the world, after all. Security was amped up incredibly so there was no way anyone would be sneaking in or out.
Well, at least, that's what was THOUGHT, until there was a flash of light in one of the many storage warehouses.
One of the security guards for the company, clad in his white and gray uniform with a Schnee snowflake shoulder patch, was doing his usual, uneventful rounds when saw the flash from underneath the door. He went and opened it, thinking it was just some punk kids or petty thieves.
"The hell's going on in-" he froze for a minute upon seeing what was on the other side. It was a group of robots, most of them milling about the warehouse's interior, but one was right in front of him, seemingly unaware of his presence. The machines in question lacked proper legs, instead using a massive wheel to move around on, a round waist, an almost mushroom-cap shaped body and a circular head that sported a single, red cyclopean eye that scanned its surroundings. A trio of long arms tipped with claws hung at the sides of the mech. The mechanical pincers appeared to have a red glow surrounding them, giving them an extra layer of danger.
"-here..." he whispered, slowly reaching for both his radio and his pistol, since it looked like the machines hadn't noticed him yet. If bullets didn't outright work, he could always call for backup. No way these things were Atlas tech.
They were way too…alien.
Once the guard was sure that he was still unseen by the construct, he pulled out his gun and fired a few rounds into the towering entity. The bullets simply bounced off of the chassis in a flash of sparks. The robot's head spun around entirely before its eye turned down to look at where it was being shot, almost as if it was amused. That cyclopean optic looked back at the security guard when the bullets stopped firing, gunshots replaced by echoing clicking.
"Oh shit," the guard muttered, before he tried to call it in on his radio, warn people about whatever these things were.
"DESTROY ALL FLESH AND THE WORKS OF FLESH," the machine blared. Holy shit, this thing was LOUD.
The guard actually had to cover his ears because of its booming volume, like a fog horn blaring out right next to him. It disoriented him long enough not to notice the robot was charging up energy in its singular eye.
The guard could only beg that the afterlife would be nice and that his death would be nice and swift. He closed his eyes and just waited for the inevitable at this point.
BAM. The man opened his eyes to see the head of the robot was missing, punched off by one armored hero.
"Captain Nemesis!" the SDC employee gasped in disbelief.
The other robots turned to each other, their usually blank faces carrying a mix of shock and awe. Well, if they had any kind of facial features to emote with, anyway.
"More of these degenerate alien robots," Nesmith muttered to himself as he adjusted the gauntlet that just punched off the main bot's head, now covered in oil. "Time to get my workout music on, then…" He tapped something on his helmet, and once again, music started to play.
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane
Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane
"Stand back, citizen. I'll handle this." With a flick of the captain's wrist, the barrel of a laser rifle emerged from his arm. It charged up a shot and, once he aimed it at the second machine, a beam of golden energy burned through the machine's armor, leaving a gaping and sparking hole right in the middle of its chest.
"You...you saved my life!" the worker cheered.
"Course I did. It's what heroes do," The billionaire jumped away, leaving the man still in disbelief. Once the guard came to his senses, he made a dash for safety.
The fight wasn't over yet. Another of the machines charged up and began firing laser blasts from its eye at Nesmith. A few shots managed to connect, making him stagger a bit, but the blasts didn't seem to damage him at all.
Nesmith rolled his shoulders a bit, before he rushed in close to the machine and, when it tried to smack aside with its arm, the billionaire grabbed the silver arm and began to spin it around. He let it go and tossed it into the nearby wall, sending it flying through the warehouse and out into the nearby Atlesian streets. The robot's hull was dented all over, its eye lens cracked before it flickered out entirely.
"Who else wants a piece?" Nesmith asked, smiling. If this was a cartoon, his teeth would've sparkled a bit.
But it wasn't, so the robots just tried to bash his teeth in.
Two robots rushed in, rearing their arms back, before thrusting them forward in sync to crush the sponsored hero. The Iron Man counterpart backflipped out of the way, landing outside the warehouse, forcing the bots to come after him. The remaining mechanical minions raced out of the shipping warehouse, moving to surround the rich hero. The captain just smirked, before his fist became enveloped with the same golden energy his beams were made of.
One of the machines thrust its claw forward, aiming to impale Atlas' newest hero. With a single move, he side-stepped the attack and managed to punch through the silver arm entirely, cutting it in half, letting wires spark and oil spurt out from the gash. Several of the remaining towering drones charged up and fired off a continuous laser at their rich opponent. In a second, Nesmith brought up both arms and blocked the beam barrage, a spherical shield of golden hardlight appearing around him.
Even the guy's hardlight DUST matched his color scheme.
On the outskirts of the battle, further down the street from the docks, a camera crew was positioned to dutifully catch all the action.
"You got that, right?" the reporter asked.
"Yeah...but so did they," the cameraman pointed over to another group of reporters, cameras rolling.
"...the Atlas Eye was promised an exclusive," The reporter frowned.
"We're live, sir," the cameraman huffed.
"Wait we ar-OH! Uh, b-behind me, another of the strange alien incursions is being handled by Atlas' own 'golden hero', Captain Nemesis! This is the fourth of these strange robot attacks that have plagued the city over the past few days! No doubt, the captain is already close to discovering what mastermind is behind this 'rise of the machines.'"
(Somewhere, Watts felt like someone was talking about him. Eh, it was probably just his ego talking.)
"Hey…do you hear something?" the cameraman asked, "Like a Manta?"
The reporter looked up to the sky, expecting to see one of the Atlesian military gunships, maybe even a news helicopter. Instead, there was some sort of pterodactyl cutting through the starry night sky, leaving a trail of green particles in his path.
"God, why does it feel like I haven't been Astrodactyl in a while?" Ben asked himself.
Of course, considering his bird's eye view, Ben could see the small horde of these robots Nesmith was tearing through. He also noticed one of them creep up behind the golden hero, claw open and ready to cut the 'good captain' in half.
Ben's maw opened and he shot out a beam of star energy, blasting right through the robot, destroying it in an instant. Nemesis turned around when he heard the explosion, distracted for a moment before he went back into the fight, knocking over one of the remaining mechanical menaces.
"Forget Captain Nemesis, this dude is cool!" another reporter said, rushing to get a good shot of Be, as the camera man followed him, " The Lance of Liberty is proud to bring a live update to the developing robot incident! Arriving on the scene now is the mysterious alien boy, Ben Tennyson himself!"
"Hey, I'm an open book on social media!" Ben squawked, "LOOK ME UP!"
"What the?" Nesmith looked around, seeing the media's attention go to Ben. The captain was busy pushing down on the back of one of the bots, pulling its arms back as well, like he was ready to rip them free of their sockets.
"He shoots ONE rolling wreck and suddenly HE'S the star?" Nesmith scoffed, "Well, if it's fireworks they want!"
Nesmith jumped off the back of the machine and brought out his hardlight shield as the robot righted itself. It shook its head, trying to regain its senses, just in time to get a hard light uppercut so powerful it was launched into the air.
A split second later, the golden hero of Atlas brought out his energy beams and fired, pushing it higher into the sky until it exploded into a bright golden display of pyrotechnics that might make a certain Fall maiden feel inadequate. Heavy emphasis on the word might.
"Woah, Captain's going all out," Ben muttered, "Better stay out of the sky." Ben slapped down the Omnitrix, going for a more land based form.
Nesmith was feeling pretty proud of himself on that one. Let's see what the alien kid could do to top that.
And that's when he heard something hard hit the ground. A bunch of spikes raised up from the ground, stabbing some robots in the chest.
Diamondhead's eyes lit up as he turned to Nemesis.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Nesmith muttered to himself as that feeling of pride started to drop ever so slightly.
"Hey, captain. You take care of the robots, I'll evacuate!" Ben yelled.
And then it came back almost instantly. The captain gave a nod to the kid as he rushed back into the fray, punching and blasting apart these machines left and right.
"Make sure you get ALL of this!" one of the reporters said, his cameraman zooming in on Nemesis' fight.
Ben raised up a ramp of diamonds for himself and began surfing around the area, grabbing workers who were still in the crossfire.
One of the robots, one that Nesmith had actually missed from his battle, had cornered one of the more defenseless workers. Not a guard, just your average worker. He tried to grab a nearby wrench to defend himself with...even if he knew that it would do absolutely no damage to this thing.
"DESTROY ALL FLESH AND THE WORKS OF FLESH," the machine blared like one of its comrades.
Ben quickly reacted, his hands forming into blades, as he jumped up and slashed the head off the robot from behind. Ben landed before the worker and smiled.
"It's okay. You're safe now."
"H-ha, thanks!" the worker was still shaking though. He dropped the wrench and began to run for his life. Nesmith, meanwhile, was almost done with the bots. He had actually managed to rip off one of the machines' arms and closed its pincer. With some effort, he managed to throw the arm like a spear and impale two of the remaining robots.
Nesmith turned around, to hopefully see the cameras pasted on him. But to his dismay, this was not the case.
"Look at him..." The reporter said, camera following Ben. "Despite his strange appearance, this does not deter the workers from approaching the boy. What a strange power..."
Nesmith grabbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Again. They'd decided to focus on the boy AGAIN. Were they blind? He was the one saving them from killer alien robots!
Ben wasn't even really focused on the idea of fame, it was never really something he'd thrived on. Mostly because he was really, really worried he'd turn out like those kids in sitcoms who, once they became famous, just acted like a jerk to their friends and "lost touch with who they really were".
So, this really wasn't "hogging the spotlight", more "spread a message" of some kind, if somebody asked the boy about it.
Except Nesmith saw it exactly as a "hog the spotlight" thing. He was just aggravated at the reporters at this point. He didn't even look back to the last robot as he fired a shot through its chest, disabling it.
Ben looked around. "Think you should be good now. Looks like Nemesis took care of the rest of the robots." He said to the workers.
Nesmith started walking over the reporters, dusting off his armor. Oil still stained his gauntlets from when he punched through the machines. "Swear to god," he muttered to himself.
"Captain, captain! What do you have to say about these robots?" One of the reporters asked.
"Ah, them. I'm still looking into their origins, obviously extraterrestrial though. Just a matter of time before I figure out who's sending them out and why. If and when I found out you'll be the first to know. Oh! And before I forget, make sure you vote for Jacques Schnee for the upcoming election. That man's gonna bring the future to Atlas," he gave a small salute to the reporters as he readied the jet boosters on his armor.
"Mr. Nesmith!" Ben yelled, as he walked over, still in alien form. "I know we're on opposing sides, but...I think what you did today was great."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, you too kid," he said kind of quickly, not even turning his head back to Ben. Almost dismissively, one would say. The golden hero of Atlas then launched off into the sky with his jets.
Ben frowned a bit. "...that was a bit rude."
It took Nesmith a bit of time, a couple hours at most, but soon, he touched down back in the rich streets of Atlas. Specifically, he landed right outside of Jacques' personal manor.
It wasn't as extravagant as the illustrious Schnee Manor, though it still had an overall wintery aesthetic. He turned on his wrist comm as he walked up to the manor. "Have the team ready, I'm back. Tell Jacques we need to talk once I'm out of this damn thing."
A team quickly came out, and quickly took off Nesmith's armor. God, that thing was tight. How did people wear shit like that all day?
One of the team had actually brought Nesmith some bottled water as well. The billionaire sighed and took a drink as he walked to his benefactor's office.
Jacques was busy overlooking some paperwork for his campaign, mostly documents he didn't want going out.
"Whitley, would this look good if it got out?" Jacques asked, as he held up a report filed about awful working conditions.
"No, it wouldn't," Whitley said, shaking his head.
"Well then, you know what to do," Jacques responded dismissively, handing his son the paper. Whitley promptly put it in the shredder.
This was a weird way to bond as father and son.
Nesmith opened the doors to the office right as the shredder destroyed the evidence.
"Jacques," the Atlesian elite greeted.
"Ah, Nesmith. Good to see you back. Good deed you did, saving those workers..." Jacques said, reviewing another document, "Shame you have to meet me in such a...lackluster place."
"Only you would call a manor 'lackluster,'" Nesmith shook his head, "But about that little 'good deed'. Your reporters didn't get most of it."
"Really?" Jacques asked with a raised brow, "That's odd. I paid them good money for it."
"Yeah, well, apparently not good enough. Most of the footage they got was of the Tennyson kid. He was evacuating and I was crushing the tin cans. Of course, they focused more on the rescue than on, you know, the guy ACTUALLY taking down the threat!"
"Hmmm...troublesome,." Jacques hummed, "People aren't going to get the message if we let Tennyson take center stage."
"I tried winning back their attention with some nice pyrotechnics but fireworks only go so far when compared to a guy made of DIAMOND. I did tell them at the end to vote for you but...probably didn't carry as much weight as we'd want it to."
"Well...how about we settle your score with something more...enticing?" Jacques asked, as he handed Whitley another document to shred.