Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10

Chapter 51: Perplexed

Perplexahedron; Deep Space; April 1st, 2024.

Each of them phased through the side of the ship and out into the darkness of space, so quiet and empty, it was almost deafening; there was no moon nor a sun in any direction for light years, it was just a random object floating through obscure space. They reached the edge of the Perplexahedron and slowly made their way in, melding through the paper-white walls one by one.

Ghostfreak exploded in a flash of emerald light leaving Ben to look around at the blank and empty room they'd made their way in to, "Well, maybe this is just one of the back rooms?" while the room was quite large, there was nothing else to it, simply four flat surfaces with no doors or exits.

Negative Big Chill landed and cloaked himself in his own wings before a bright crimson shimmer engulfed him and returned him to normal, "I hope we do not have to punch our way through each and every wall," he noted.

"We'll figure it out, hopefully Aggregor is having a harder time with his piece of the map than we are," Ben responded, walking forwards, and advancing into the middle of the empty room.

Sunny and Gwendolyn slowly passed through the wall like phantoms, landing on their feet before the latter closed her eyes and deactivated the spell with a long exhale, regaining her density before observing the white-voided room around her.

The four of them slowly made their way across the room approaching the wall adjacent to the one they'd arrived through, "Should we phase through this one too?" Sunny questioned, looking over towards their leader who caressed the scruff of his thin beard.

Before Ben could form a response, their proximity walking towards it triggered a panel to slide open revealing yet another identically blank room on the other side, "I guess we don't have to?" all four of them walked through the doorway where they found the same space aside from an already open panel across the room.

Albedo folded his arms as he walked, "So, our plan is to walk aimlessly until we somehow discover the piece of the map?"

Hearing the question and agreeing with the sentiment, Gwendolyn looked over to Ben who was staring off in pensive thought, "For now, I think that's all we can do," as they approached the open door it suddenly slid downwards shut in front of them, closing off the pathway. "Or could do," Ben joked stoically.

Sunny intertwined her fingers together before outstretching her arms cracking the joints in her knuckles to loosen a bit of tension, "Allow me," she stepped forth in front of the group and held out a single hand palm open, an orb of hot-pink mana energy cackled with lightning of the same color. She fired a powerful beam that should have easily torn through the wall in question along with several more but, instead it singed the white material and bounced off the wall doing no significant damage. "That's insane, I put enough power into that to level a city-block, how could it just-" Sunny stopped when Gwendolyn placed a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to turn around.

"Clearly this place is meant for people like us, people with abilities, we cant cheat our way through… we have to go through the doors until we can think of a better plan," Gwen gave Sunny a reassuring smile, prompting her to smile in return.

Suddenly though, before they could finish their conversation, the wall Sunny struck began to light up with neon blue outlines leading up to a tile which extended itself out to reveal a set of laser cannons aimed downward, "What the hell?"

"You made the door angry," Ben joked as he backed away with his gaze aimed upwards, bracing himself as the two cylindrical nodes pultruding from the panel fired bright red lasers down at the group. Each of them stepping around to avoid their slow crawl across the room, scarring the floor with blackened scorch marks.

Sunny darted up into the air though, the beams simply followed her and attempted to shoot her down, "You think if I apologize?!" she shouted as she aimed her open palms at the array firing at her and blasted it with a bolt of mana, destroying the panel completely. However, three other identical panels opened up on each of the other walls, firing down the same laser-array as the first trap.

Gwendolyn was trying to track the beams to ensure none of them would hit her but, clearly she missed one considering Ben dashed across the room to tackle her out of the way of a beam that would have bisected her at the waist, "T-Thanks," she said looking up at him from the ground, his body pressed against hers before he managed to get his hands on the floor beside her head, pushing himself up to look her in the eyes.

"You never have to thank me," he gave her a kiss on the cheek before tucking and rolling off of her, exploding in a bright flash of emerald light. She sat up in time to watch Diamondhead gracefully and expertly swing his arms quickly a single time, launching shards of crystal into each of the panels, not missing a single one. Each of them exploded as Diamondhead stood up right and dusted off his hands from the metaphorical dust, considering it a job well done, "See? This'll be a piece of cake."

Gwendolyn approached from his side and wrapped her hand in his, intertwining her hand with his thick, crystalline fingers, "Piece of cake," she repeated, showing her support for his enthusiastic optimism. Ben transformed with a flash of emerald light, his hand fitting perfectly now in his wife's grasp.

Just as she said this, the door opened for them once again, leading to yet another blank and empty room void of any doors or windows; Sunny, Ben, Gwendolyn, and Albedo all walked through into the room in that order but, as the former Galvan stepped in, a single door opened across the room.

"I guess we're going that way," Sunny uttered the obvious as they each walked over to the opening with no obstructions, entering yet another of the same identical empty rooms.

"Interesting," Albedo muttered to himself though nobody heard him, looking down and around at the room before continuing.

As they trekked through each identical space, going through each door that opened for them, not having much trouble with traps as they were few and far between, it seemed the only one picking up on the pattern was the former Galvan. The group collectively walked in through one of the entrances which slid open for them, however, as they approached the exit on the far side of the identically blank room, another trap reared its ugly head.

From the floor, platforms rose up a foot or two revealing slots which spewed bright green oozing slime which seared the tile ground at their feet, "It's acid!" Ben shouted as he and Gwendolyn individually floated upwards followed by Albedo placing a hand gently on Sunny's arm as they drifted upwards to safety still making eye contact.

While the love birds were distracted, Ben transformed mid-air into a bright red stingray like alien with a long, sharpened tail and the Omnitrix symbol emblazoned on his chest. Jetray fired individual bright green neuro-shock beams, more powerful ones than he could muster in his human form, from his eyes and tail successfully destroying the units filling the room with acid. The explosions snapped the Anodite and Galvan out of their lovestruck stupor, separating with sheepish expressions on their faces.

"C'mon, we have to keep going," Gwendolyn spoke up, gathering their attention as they floated upwards through the door on the ceiling, finding their equilibrium completely altered one-eight degrees. Inverting their position and landing on what was a wall now acting as their ground floor.

"Artificial gravity," Ben muttered to himself as Gwen landed beside him.

"How can you tell?"

Ben chuckled looking out at the room for a moment before he started walking, "Call it instinct."

In the span of an hour, they must have gone through ten more of these rooms before the former Galvan spoke up, announcing what he'd been analyzing, "Stop," he said even as they made their way towards an already opened pathway.

Ben pulled on his hand still laced together with his wife's, halting her as he questioned the resident genius of their group, "Why? What's up?"

Albedo looked up at the ceiling before turning back to the door that closed behind them after they'd just walked through it, "I believe these rooms are shifting from one slot to another like one massive puzzle cube," he could feel the vibrations, however subtle, rumbling under their feet as the structure switched from one room to the next.

"That's impossible," Sunny exclaimed, looking around as she felt absolutely no movement beneath her own feet, "And if that is the case, how are we supposed to find this piece?"

Albedo closed his eyes as he did the math in his head, even with the limited capacity of a human brain, his Galvan DNA and experience made him the smartest man in the room, "There is a pattern."

Ben, Gwen, and Sunny gathered around him to hear what he has to say, "Each of these doors simply open for us, however, the doors which spawn these guardians and elaborate traps…" he trailed off hoping someone would pick up what he was putting down.

Gwendolyn snapped her fingers, "They wouldn't need guardians unless we were going somewhere we aren't supposed to be."

"Like towards the piece of the map!" Sunny exclaimed.

"Precisely," Albedo confirmed, glancing back out around at the empty room, "The traps indicate a defense against what this place was meant to protect, which means-"

Ben took a step forwards, passing the group and cracking his knuckles, "We ignore any doors that open for us, and we only go through doors that have traps set up, that's as good a plan as any."

Using this method, Ben and his team sprinted through the room, a door opened for them on the far right but, they proceeded forwards towards one of the doors that made up the wall. Albedo recoiled still in his human form, reeling his fist back, and striking the door with all his strength. Enough strength to punch through brick walls as though they were made of paper mâché. Instead of punching through, or even denting it for that matter, the wall melted and reformed into a ten-foot-tall humanoid android-esque creature. It was completely paper-white just like the walls of the Perplexahedron, he had no face but, he did have a head and both arms and legs.

Sunny groaned aloud so everyone could hear her boredom, "Not this asshole again, this is like the third one so far!" the android lunged at Albedo who was closest but, never made it to its target, being lifted off the ground by a thick mana-tendril. Ben floated up to eye level with the android now trapped in a coil of hot-pink mana restricting his arms.

"I'm getting really sick of this," Ben's eyes flashed bright green firing an emerald blast of omni-energy from his eyes directly through the androids head. The energy pierced his synthetic skull and struck the way behind him, scorching the white tile wall. Once disabled, it melted into a white ooze which slipped through Sunny's mana trap and dripped into a puddle at Gwendolyn's feet.

"Ew," she muttered, stepping over the puddle as they all advanced through the room and into the next, also identically bland, and empty. As each of them entered the room one by one, Albedo was the last to enter before the entrance shut as well as the exit on the far side of the room; with this development came two cylindrical tubes opening up from the ground spewing hundreds of gallons of water a minute, slowly flooding the room.

"What's the plan this time?!" Sunny shouted as the water reached her ankles quicker than she expected, floating a few feet off the ground.

Ben groaned as he looked around, examining the room they were in, and trying to figure an out to this unique trap; by the time he had come up with the only plan that could work, the water was up to their waist and they'd soon be treading water. Ben ducked his head underwater, disappearing from sight leaving Gwen to wonder if he would be okay or if she should go after him.

A bright emerald explosion ignited from beneath the water now only ten or so feet from the ceiling, Sunny formed an orb of air around her and Albedo but, Gwendolyn was on the other side of the room and the Anodite was too focused on keeping her construct solid to assist. It wouldn't be an issue, Overflow took control of the body of water flooding their would-be cell, forcing the waters back down the drain leaving only enough for a fifteen-foot tall humanoid creature made entirely of water.

Sunny lowered her shielding as Ben transformed quickly with a flash of light, rushing over to comfort a soaking wet Gwen, he looked her over and held a hand to her forehead, "Are you okay?" he asked with a concern in his voice she'd almost forgotten the sound of, it made her giddy to know that with all of these missions and hero business, he was still her Ben at the end of the day.

Gwendolyn shook her soaking wet hair, splashing him in the face with water droplets, he wiped his face only to find her adorable little mischievous smile. "I'm okay, let's keep moving," she got on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek before passing by him.

Ben's cheeks turned a light shade of red as he relished in the feeling for a moment, smiling as he turned around to face the door which slid upwards opening once they defeated the trap.

"Watch out!" Sunny shouted seconds too late.

Without warning this time an identical, faceless, pure-white android stomped through the entrance grappling with Ben who skated back on his heels trying to match its strength, "Hrgh!" they were locked with Ben tightly gripping its forearms even as it pushed against him. His eyes lit up with a bright emerald luminosity consuming his pupils and sclera, firing optic beams into the android's chest which pushed it back a few dozen feet, tumbling into the room they were trying to enter.

It attempted to defend the room once again by charging at the would be intruders who hadn't even stepped foot in said room yet, Gwendolyn stepped between them this time as she held her palms out, "Constringere Vites!" her spell illuminated the ground a few feet away in front of them, once the android stomped on it, thick green vines sprouted from the ground without soil or light. They wrapped themselves around the arms, legs, and neck of the android and with a single swipe of her hand, the vines crushed the droid, tearing it limb from limb.

"Nice one!" Sunny exclaimed with a giddy response.

Gwendolyn only gave a small smile, not satisfied with her success when they were still trapped in this endless maze that felt as though they'd never escape; the next door opened for them, only there was another guardian of the same pale-android variety already waiting at the entrance to the next room.

"Here we go again," she mumbled under her breath.

…

Ledger Domain; Unknown; Unknown.

Aggregor took a little longer than he expected to find his way into this dimension but, he was anything but a quitter so he, he found a way; absorbing Gwendolyn's magic when they first met was more than enough to summon a portal to this new world, which he was sure he'd one day rule. First though, the Universe would kneel before his cosmic might.

As the amalgam approached what seemed to be a recently rebuilt castle, a horde of Golems powered by pink and golden mana energy coursing through them marched against the oncoming threat. Ultimate Aggregor was unstoppable, hundreds of stone Golems attacking at once and they never even scathed him.

"You can't defeat me with these pitiful-" he was interrupted by two stampeding Pallorfangs headbutting and tackling the enemy off balance, both beasts surrounded the amalgam as he got his footing balanced.

Both Pallorfangs unleashed waves of unusually hot flames, bombarding Aggregor from two different angles; soon enough though, he countered with thick torrents of highly-pressurized water spewing from the palms of his clawed hands. The combination created a thick screen of humidity and steam, shrouding the battlefield.

From the mist, the ten-foot beast lunged at Aggregor with sharpened teeth that could crush rocks like a human would chew peanuts, the amalgam used his armored hands to grab hold of the top and bottom of the beasts jaw. He was pushed through the dirt but the Pallorfang wasn't finished, now that its mouth was forcibly wide open, it unleashed a thick torrent of fire in the Osmosion's face.

"I've had enough of these games!" he shouted through the fire, quickly snapping the Pallorfang's neck as the beast collapsed in a heap. The second Pallorfang charged from behind only, Aggregor saw this coming and turned acutely with his fist reeled back, he punched down on the creatures head. Stopping its momentum and shattering its brain, killing it with one shot; "Come out and face me, the ultimate prize awaits!"

Suddenly, before him two figures materialized from thin air, yet another form of sorcery; a man garbed in all black, golden trim accentuating the long dark beard and hooded aesthetic. The second figure was a woman, she was wearing hot-pink body armor and black flex-tight pants.

Charmcaster was not only alive but, had been training since her dive off the deep end while being influenced by the Darkhold, after Bezel returned to find his castle in ruin, he took pity on Hope and tried to help rehabilitate her, both mind and body. So far the mission was a success and it seemed she was regaining her sanity at an alarming rate.

Aggregor snorted steam from his nose as turquoise electricity cackled across his head and claws, "Do you two truly believe you can stop me?" he stated with his confident, smug smile.

Bezel stepped forwards, stroking his beard, "You came for my wand?" he asked simply, not brandishing it just yet.

He stepped forwards with each hulking stomp, "Not for the wand itself, but what it could be," the sinister grin on Aggregor's face was a major red flag, Bezel knowing he could never relinquish it to someone with such evil in their heart.

"I'm afraid I can't let you have it," Bezel asserted, keeping his hand eerily close to his wand strapped to his belt but, hidden by his robe; after returning, Charmcaster crafted her own wand and returned the one she was leant to Bezel.

Aggregor groaned, taking a step forwards, "I suppose that would be too easy…" he was silent for a moment, the entire room fell quiet.

In a single instant, Bezel drew his wand and Aggregor raised his palm; a white concussive energy spell from the tip of his wooden-wand quickly met several billion joules of electricity causing a beam struggle of sorts, Charmcaster focused in on her training and everything she'd been taught by her mentor currently fighting for his life.

Bezel quickly ceased his spell, ducked under the bolt of lightning fired at him, and while knelt down the master-mage swiped his glowing wand across the ground at Aggregor's feet; this nonverbal spell summoned large stone hands to wrap around and grip the Osmosion from either side. Bezel aimed his wand upwards at the sky this time, thundering clouds began to form from a clear purple atmosphere, swinging his wand downwards summoned and directed a bolt of lightning to strike Aggregor whom released a bloodcurdling shout.

That is… until the shouts of agony turned into cackling, victorious laughter, the lightning was absorbed into his Osmosion DNA only giving him even more power. "You fools will never learn!" with this extra strength, he was easily able to flex his arms and break free of the stone restraints holding him.

Charmcaster and Bezel stood side by side, nodding to one another as they both used the same concussive energy spell, something that he couldn't absorb; as Aggregor approached he was pushed back, digging his heels even as he was forced back a few feet before regaining his footing, approaching the two wizards slowly.

Bezel began stepping back, knowing exactly what his wand was having been briefed by Paradox ages ago, he couldn't risk loosing it, "You have to hold him back, whatever the cost!" he continued to fire his concussive beam but, it had less and less effect on the enemy the longer they waited.

"Are you sure? Last time-"

Bezel put a hand on her shoulder, "We've been training for this, I believe in you, harness that anger and aim it at him!" the old mage took off back into the castle, shutting the massive doors in hope that his taking time to prepare would make the difference in stopping this enemy.

Aggregor took a breath, not that it was painful to be hit by those menial attack only tiresome at best, "Running away, is he?" the villain cackled.

Charmcaster focused her energy as her eyes flashed a bright reddish-pink with searing violet energy beginning to form an aura around her, she levitated a foot off the ground as her outfit changed with a wave of crimson energy. Unleashing her full power compromised her sanity the first time she attempted it, forcing Ben to make threats that she never even thought he was capable of making. Now though, she had more control over the energy she manipulated, floating, and staring deeply at Aggregor who only snarled in response. Her outfit was similar to the one she wore when she kidnapped Jennifer, only the nano-weaved armor was left out for obvious reasons.

"I don't think you know who you're dealing with," Hope's eyes flashed a bright hot-pink, engulfing Aggregor in the same energy constricting him as he floated off the ground in front of her, "You can't have the piece, you won't succeed, and I'll make sure of it by ending you now!" Charmcaster clenched her fists and held them closer together, forcing the energy trapping Aggregor to slowly crush him.

"E-E-Enough!" he shouted in agony as from his glowing neon-blue head, twin optic blasts of energy fired, darting through the air and striking Hope directly in the chest sending her back through the air, hitting the ground with a tumbling halt. Only barely able to shield herself in time, the force still nearly knocked her unconscious, tumbling across the dirt.

Aggregor landed on the ground, huffing in exhaustion as her power was nothing to scoff surprisingly, and in that case, "You look like you're worth my time after all, girl," Hope, barely getting up to her rear sitting on the ancient brick flooring, concentrated her energy into a single point, charging a beam of pure mana that could eradicate a Moon. The Osmosion noticed the atmosphere around them change as the air became almost denser, thicker, and the gravity pulled his already weighted body down. Charmcaster's true power came from the knowledge she swore she would never even attempt to recall but, training with Bezel changed her perspective. Some rules needed to be broken.

Hope's silver mane of hair became outlined with crimson mana energy as bolts of lightning with a similar blood-red color cackled over her body; she stood up quickly and cupped her hands together with Aggregor only feet away. "You'll go no further!" Even though it was dangerous to use the spells she memorized from the Darkhold, it was a risk she needed to take. She fired the mystical orb of raw kinetic energy massed together with enough intensity to tear Earth asunder. Instead of running or countering, Aggregor held one hand out, allowing the energetic mass of mana and kinetic energy to be absorbed through the palm of his hand. He continued his advance, even as Charmcaster unloaded her energy over him in an attempt to at least keep him at bay, until he was close enough to grab hold of her by the midsection, his large clawed hands being big enough to wrap completely around her rather petite midsection. He tightened his grip as the energy she attacked with dispersed, her aura began dying down slowly as her energy funneled through his arm turning into white electricity seeping into his torso, draining her of her current magical reserves as well as her physical stamina, hydration, and metabolism.

Once he'd drained her dry, she slumped over in his hand, Aggregor snarled and tossed her aside like a ragdoll, tumbling across the stone architecture leading up towards Bezel's castle. She tried her best to stand back up but, the strain on her body was too much with all of her physical strength syphoned, she collapsed once again unconscious.

Aggregor split open and sent both massive double-doors leading into the castle off their hinges with a single palm thrust from one hand, he sauntered inside waiting to be ambushed by the master of the mystic arts in any reality. Quickly though, Aggregor had to turn on his heels to avoid a blast of crimson energy which would do who-knows-what if it had made contact. The wizard appeared to be standing in the doorway now, somehow behind Aggregor. Now knowing where Bezel was, Aggregor didn't hesitate to fire a pressurized blast of water which tore through what was apparently an illusion of smoke, dispersing into the air.

"Show yourself!" Aggregor demanded as he turned his head in all directions, turning three-sixty slowly as to not underestimate his opponent. Suddenly, a white glow of light shun down from above the maniac for a brief instant, summoning a massive steel anvil with the inscription '1K T' painted in white on its side. Aggregor only barely noticed it before it was dropped on top of him from the ceilings height, about forty feet.

"Why on Earth would I do that?" Bezel responded finally to the demand of the intruder, the man appeared to be in his mid-thirties although it was obvious he was much older, sporting a raven-black cloak with long dark hair hanging down passed his shoulders, "Magic is all about misdirection, haven't you heard?" the wizard stood atop the anvil which he summoned to trap his foe, reaching into his robe to fetch a small book he was reading. "I'm afraid I've been charged with protecting this relic by an old friend who is no longer with us, and to that end I will honor his final request of me," Bezel opened the book and began reading casually.

The silence didn't least very long, Bezel turned his head up, glancing down at the massive object he was sitting upon, he felt it rumble, feeling himself being lifted up. "I suppose a thousand tons wasn't enough…" he marked the page in his book and back flipped off the anvil just in time to avoid a crimson beam of nuclear energy burning upwards through the middle and out the top where the mage was sitting.

Bezel landed on his feet gracefully, tucking the book back into his robe, "And perhaps I won't be able to finish this chapter until after I've dealt with this beast," he scoffed and pulled his wand out to eye level, watching the anvil be lifted was astonishing enough but, tracking it as it was thrown in his face was unexpected. Still, Bezel was crafty enough to react in time, transmutating the entire structure into a flock of assorted butterflies.

Aggregor clenched his teeth in frustration, resolving to fire two torrents of pressurized water defended against easily by a force shield in the form of one of his Bezelian seals, leaving puddles on the ground at the mage's feet.

"You will not win, villain, fate favors the light," Bezel conducted his wand through the air, manipulating matter and transforming two adjacent stone columns into massive stone serpents, restructuring them to a point where they appeared to have been carved by the finest chisel. Both of said forty-foot snakes wrapped themselves around the amalgamated villain, tightening their stone coils over his arms, binding them to his sides.

Aggregor lowered his head as Bezel swung his wand left and right, summoning and conducting chains made of golden light to surround the Osmosion thoroughly, supporting the stone structures already pinning him, "It's over now, fiend," the wizard asserted, moments from taking a moment to check on his downed apprentice. Stopped only by the villain muttering something under his breath, "you can't lock up the darkness."

Bezel narrowed his eyes, flapping his cloak, and aiming the end of his wand directly at the trapped mutant, "What did you just say?"

Aggregor looked up now with a menacing grin and bright-glowing crimson eyes shimmering with gathered energy, "You can't lock up the darkness!" with a single flexed outstretch of his arms, one burst of strength was all it took to completely shatter his restraints, sending blocks of stone out in every direction as the golden chains dispersed. In that same instant, Aggregor dashed forth in a blur of speed, ducking under a bolt of purple mystical-lightning which appeared in slow motion for him, passing the attack ramming his fist straight through Bezel's midsection.

"No!" Hope shouted out from the demolished doorway, reaching out at the air but, unable to get to her feet in the slightest, wondering herself how she was even conscious.

Bezel's wand slipped from his fingers as his breathing suddenly quickened erratically, Aggregor slowly pulled his bloodied fist out of the mage's chest but, only to reach down for the wand, "At last!" he announced as letting go of the man's shoulder caused the now deceased wizard to collapse lifelessly onto his back. Grabbing the thin, wooden wand with his sharpened yet delicate claws, the Osmosion turned around with a psychotic smile, "One more piece and I will take my rightful place as ruler of the cosmos!" he didn't bother to address the downed Hope even as he walked passed her before taking off into the sky, dashing off towards the gate he opened to arrive in this dimension at hypersonic speeds.

…

Perplexahedron; Deep Space; April 1st, 2024.

After several hours of wandering from room to room, the group of heroes were becoming exhausted of the seemingly pointless and endless trek through the maze; after punching one of the blank-faceless android's head clean off its shoulder, they stepped through to yet another identical room. Albedo crushed said mechanical head by stomping on it during his frustrated strut through the doorway.

Sunny scoffed, looking around and waiting for something to happen, "Maybe the trap in this room is to bore us to fucking death, how long are we going to walk aimlessly around this place?" she complained.

Ben narrowed his eyes up at the ceiling, "As long as it takes…" he answered her slowly as he focused on a small opening, like a pipe aimed downward from the ceiling, "Everyone be on your toes," without warning the walls opened up revealing the same pipes Ben had spotted, spewing out thousands of robotic insects. Crawling their way into the room by the hundreds, if they didn't take action they would be overrun in a matter of minutes; and that's ignoring what the spiders may be capable of, for all the heroes knew they were loaded with a highly venomous toxin.

"A-Are those?!" Gwendolyn practically squealed, levitating off her feet to keep them away from the ground, which was quickly crowded with cybernetic arachnids, spreading out across the room.

Ben and Albedo floated up off their feet simultaneously as well, "Robot spiders, of course its robot spiders…" instinctively aiming his vision downward and firing off emerald optic-beams from his eyes, scorching the ground whilst incinerating only a few dozen of them at a time. At this rate, should they continue to spread for much longer, they would consume the entire room and everything within it, organic or otherwise.

Sunny didn't bother to even move, being in her energy form, it was almost subconscious at this point to form a mana dome around her person, looking over her nonexistent nails with boredom, "I'm gonna sit this one out, kay?" she announced as the spiders crawled around and over her shielding but, failed to pierce through it.

Ben rolled his eyes, not totally surprised by her attitude, turning his head instead to scan the room for a win scenario; it was then that he noticed that much like the acid-room they encountered, all he needed to do was destroy the units expelling the cybernetic arachnids. "Destroy the pipes!" he shouted, pointing, and firing his optic beams at one of the pipes dropping hundreds of spiders a second into the room. Though he managed to blast apart the single pipe he was aiming at, blocking off those specific hordes, there were many others still releasing venomous machines throughout the room.

Gwendolyn noticed this, regathering her confidence, and concentrating her mana as her eyes were consumed by blue-light; she summoned the Staff of Ages from thin air as it materialized into her hands, gripping it tightly and swinging it down as she dropped from her levitating position. Slamming the blunt end of her staff into the ground with her momentum and its mystic prowess sent an omnidirectional wave of telekinetic energy pushing or crushing any of the spiders in a ten-foot radius of her landing. The army of spiders now completely blanketing the ground floor aside from Gwendolyn and Sunny, the latter of whom was now sitting nonchalantly in her dome waiting for them to solve the trap. Gwen spun the Staff of Ages in her hands and aimed the skull upwards towards the ceiling, "Dilacerant Contundito!" an unbelievable gravitational force exploded outward from the staff, gripping each and every robotic spider simultaneously and crushing them into scrap. She turned with sweat beginning to drip down the side of her temple, her brow furrowed as she huffed, "Destroy the pipes now!" targeting only the spiders on the ground and not every single thing in her vicinity took more effort than she expected but, with the infestation momentarily delayed, the others could see the piped openings.

An explosion of crimson light erupted from the air where Negative Chromastone now floated in the former Galvan's place; even with only one eye, he could still see each of his targets, firing down individual blasts of rainbow-cascaded energy from both fists and the horn adorned atop his head into each of the pipes as they still spewed spiders. With the energy pumped through the source, each of the piped railings exploded spewing one last plume of fire and ash, "There," he said slowly lowering down to the ground, putting his foot down, and crushing one of left over arachnids.

Once this had been done, a door on the far-left wall slid upwards opening and revealing yet another room for them to walk through; Sunny dropped her shield and approached the group to enter the next trap beside them, "Sorry, I hate spiders…" she explained very insincerely, little concern in her tone of voice.

Gwendolyn frowned, folding her arms over her chest, "I hate them too, ya know? If you're going to be apart of this team, this family, you have to participate…" she gave her cousin the cold-shoulder as she stepped away from her, "Not just when you want to."

Sunny groaned, lowering her head, and dropping her arms much like a child, holding them behind her back innocently, "I'm sorry, okay? I've never been a part of a team before," she looked away sheepishly but, Gwendolyn only turned around when she finished her sentence, "Or a family."

Gwen surrendered to her better instincts and took pity on her wayward cousin, stopping, and hanging back to comfort the Anodite, "Look, I get it, you've been on your own for so long… but, now you have us and we'll protect you, care for you," finally prompting Sunny to glance back up into Gwendolyn's emerald iris', "All we expect is for you to do the same for us, especially when it matters most."

"I get it," Sunny nodded sincerely, wiping her face to avoid shedding a tear, "I'm sorry, I won't sit back and let you guys get hurt," just as she finished her sentence, the door they'd just walked through typically slammed shut behind them.

Everything remained quiet as they entered this next room, as the door expectedly shut behind them, they waited for the trap to begin and soon enough… the walls on either side of them began slowly pressing forwards, closing in on one another, and threatening to crush all four of them. Albedo still transformed into Negative Chromastone was the first to begin his forceful push against the hydraulics attempting to flatten them, it wasn't enough though considering after just a few seconds, Chromastone was skating back on his heels loosing traction.

Another explosion of emerald light revealing a transformation Ben didn't use very often but would work just as effectively in this circumstance, as a Uxorite, or the transformation he dubbed Tentalink, he wielded intense telekinetic prowess. Adorned in white armor, the six foot five tall, green skinned, humanoid alien had not one or even two but three distinct eyes on his face,

As the platforms entered their proximity, Tentalink spoke up warning the others to brace themselves, "This may cause just a little explosion," all three of his eyes illuminated with an emerald glow, forcing the platforms back against the hydraulics. Now outlined by the same emerald telekinetic aura, the platforms short circuited, causing minor sparks and explosions. Tentalink decided to test his strength with a simple gesture with his hands swiped outward, both platforms shattered the hydraulics and slammed ten-feet-away into the wall.

Once the trap was defeated the endless cycle continued, the door that seemed as if it would open melted into a humanoid form, blank and expressionless like the others, "Should you or should I?" Tentalink muttered towards Gwen standing by his side.

"I think you've earned it," she sung prompting Tentalink to blast the android with a burst of telekinetic power launching him into the empty room he was supposed to be guarding. Though the droid landed on its feet, that didn't stop another flash of emerald light to erupt from the shape-shifter.

Heatblast stood in the midst of the guard-bot now, his volcanic shoulder-blades erupting with frustration at this point, not willing to hold anything back. The android charged into a sprint towards the Pyronite, countering by side-stepping a left straight, and grabbing hold of its wrist which began to melt from the heat of his grip.

"Wanna see which of us can take the heat?"

Sunny groaned and leaned towards Gwendolyn who stood next to her as they each tried to regain their stamina, "Has his one liners always been this cheesy?"

Heatblast erupted in a furious aura of flames, melting the paper-white material acting as the androids skin even as it yanked away in an attempt to escape, it reeled back to punch the hero in the face but, his artificial arm melted before it made contact, "Yea, but I think it's kinda cute…" Gwendolyn mentioned as she watched Heatblast dispatch the android with relative ease.

An explosion of emerald light returned Ben back to normal as Negative Chromastone landed in front of them, he too transformed in a flash of light opposing the emerald shine the hero of heroes generated.

It was then that one last door opened finally, revealing not just an empty room void of anything like the others but, similar with one discrepancy. At the end of the white room against the wall stood a throne with a figure sitting patiently in it, almost as though he were expecting them.

"Who the hell are you?" Sunny exclaimed.

The man with dark-green skin adorned in bright-blue robes seemed weary and far beyond his prime, he wore a crown atop his head which seemed to glow with energy, at least at the spectrums Ben and Albedo were looking through.

He folded his hands together on his lap calmly, "I am the Sentinel, keeper of the final piece of the Map of Infinity, though judging by your lack of the other pieces, I must assume you are being pursued."

Ben nodded his head, stepping forwards and kneeling down to the elderly guardian's eye level as he still sat on his throne, "You're right, and he could be here any moment, and he is powerful enough to survive any trap we've seen thus far…" placing a hand on the elderly man's, they made eye contact for a brief second before Ben continued, "We need to final piece so we can protect it somewhere safe."

The Sentinel scoffed, "If this place was not secure enough, where in the Universe could possibly be safer?" his raspy voice was hesitant but, open minded.

"Let me worry about that, right now we have to get you out of here-" Ben was stopped when he attempted to yank the Sentinel from his throne, relinquishing the crown on his head which reformed into one quarter of the map.

"Once this place fulfills its purpose I will cease to be, go now before your luck… runs… out," he trailed off as his entire body faded from view leaving Ben with the piece of the map in hand. There was no time to mourn as he felt the entire structure beginning to collapse around them.

Gwendolyn grabbed Ben by the arm and pulled him from the scene, another life he couldn't save or, at least that's how it felt spite the cosmic way of the Universe just erasing the Sentinel from existence. It was then that they turned around only to face Ultimate Aggregor standing between them and their exit, they knew he already had pieces of the map which was likely how he got into the Perplexahedron in the first place.

"Hand over the piece and I won't disembowel your wife before your eyes," Aggregor demanded with a threat which sounded quite sincere, his sanity, however much control he thought he had, was clearly slipping. He insisted on not wanting to shed unnecessary blood but now that moral compass seems to be out the window.

Ben scoffed, cracking his neck as he gestured with his free hand for the others to step back, whispering through his comms, "Take the piece, get out of here, and make it to the ship…"

"What about you?" Sunny asked, even with a bit of concern in her voice.

An emerald explosion partially blinded her and the others surrounding him; when the light cleared, a seven-foot-tall blonde-haired angel stood before them, his heavenly glistening wings shooting out at either side. His eyes were engulfed in golden light, his shoulder length hair was illuminating with bright yellow energy, and an aura of the same color-scheme erupted around him.

Gwendolyn grabbed Sunny by the forearm as Albedo began a retreat as well, "Trust me, he can take care of himself," his wife ensured her as they made their way out of the room the two powerhouses were about to brawl in, circling one another like vultures.

Celestial cracked his knuckles as Aggregor stared him down, each of them waiting for an advance but, neither made the first move for several moments. It wasn't until Celestial dematerialized into light in an attempt to catch the amalgam off guard that he was caught by the throat. Using his Amperi DNA to send billions of joules through the Cosmian's in the form of incredibly painful electricity. Even though Aggregor attempted to let go, Celestial took hold of his arm and twisted it releasing a painful groan from his opponent, turning and flipping him onto his back. His increased weight shattered the pearl-white tile floor which was more than just a little satisfying.

Celestial floated upwards to look down on the enemy, whom recovered rather quickly, unexpectedly firing three individual beams of nuclear energy from the slits on the brace around his neck. Striking Celestial in the chest blew him back through the air, nearly hitting the ground before catching himself mid-air only foot or two from the ground. With one last option, Celestial darted at Aggregor with his fist reeled back, it wasn't his strongest punch but, when his fist made contact with Aggregor's armor it didn't just push him back on his heels; the amalgam glanced down at his Talpaedan torso where a crack formed across the left pectoral.

Aggregor was understandably furious at the development, rushing into close quarters with Celestial proved disastrous, only receiving several more armor cracking blows to the chest. The Osmosion finally managed to grab hold of Celestial's left wing, forcing him down onto his back, placing his foot flat on Ben's chest. "You could use stronger forms, I'm told, but you wouldn't want to risk me getting my hands on it, can you?" Aggregor punctuated his sentence by punting Celestial in the abdomen, sending him skating across the bright-white floors to the building which collapsed around them.

"Is everyone clear?" Ben spoke through the comms.

Gwendolyn, Sunny, and Albedo were all led to where they arrived from by the piece of the map now in their possession; it took only a few seconds for them to phase through the walls and make it back to the hyper-cube.

Celestial right-hooked Aggregor in the face sending him stumbling back, he attempted to follow up with a left-straight but, the amalgam caught it in his fist with equal force; the former pulled in the villain for an armor cracking knee-strike, condensing more than the force of just a single exploding planet into each blow. Aggregor stumbled back, hitting the wall, and wiping the trickle of blood from his lower lip.

A final explosion of emerald-light revealed a skintight-black hazmat suited humanoid with neon emerald nuclear energy coursing through every vein of his body, "I'm ending this whole maze, this whole game, you'll never win," though his voice was raspy and spoke through a respirator that helped his lung capacity.

Aggregor took only a second or two to realize which species Ben Ten Thousand had chosen, backing away slowly in the limited space they had in the crumbling maze, "Stay back!" he was smarter than to try and attack Atomix with water or nuclear energy.

"This whole maze, it served its purpose," Atomix muttered ominously, the outlines of his body surged with nuclear energy beginning to illuminate brighter until they shun so brightly, it nearly blinded Aggregor himself, who crossed his arms and braced for the incoming explosion. The charge built with the bright emerald energy consuming him and condensing within his body, within a single minute, Atomix charged a force of a nine-hundred-megaton nuclear bomb prepared to explode omnidirectionally. His eyes flashed first before the rest of his body was consumed with an eruption of bright emerald energy which consumed three-quarters of the Perplexahedron, the rest of which collapsed into pieces once the crown was removed the stability of the structure fell apart, drifting off in separate directions aimlessly.

Chromastone flew through the destruction and space towards the hyper-cube as fast as he could, approaching prompted Sunny to open a slot for him momentarily so he could enter through, "Go! That won't stun him for very long…" Chromastone insisted before transforming back into his human form, Ben made his way to the center of the room, "Gideon, set a course for the Andromeda Galaxy, I'll narrow down the coordinates as soon as we get a bit closer," now turning his attention to his team.

"Aye, Captain Ten Thousand, destination set. Departure in fifteen-seconds."

Gwendolyn approached Ben who was bruised above the left eye and blood was clearly trying to escape his lips, only kept in his mouth to avoid showing weakness, "Are you okay? Do you even know where we're headed?" she asked with her fingers gently caressing his arm in an attempt to calm him down.

Ben took a long deep inhale before letting the air out slowly, "The Galactic Enforcers are on a mission of their own right now but, Synaptak did suggest several deserted planets with survivable atmospheres," Ben explained as he glanced up into his wife's eyes, her glimmering emerald jewels that made him melt ever since they were in high-school, "Good places to hide and defend the artifact, we're headed to the closest one."

As Sunny and Albedo mingled behind them, Gwendolyn pulled Ben a bit closer guiding him only a few feet from the other two passengers, "Maybe we should bring Rook, Lucy, and the Plumber Helpers in on this? I mean, the four of us haven't exactly had the best luck so far," she giggled sarcastically, looking back at the piece of the map in Albedo's hand, "This is our first win since this started, shouldn't we-" he cut her off with a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Ben shook his head with his eyes closed, "Until the situation escalates, we need them on Earth, defending it while we can't," he grabbed Gwen's dainty hands and laced his fingers with hers, "I promise if things go bad, Cooper can teleport reinforcements across the Universe… I'm sure we'll figure this all out," she reassured as best she could.

"Brace for super-luminal acceleration, two, one-" before Gideon even finished her countdown, the hyper-cube darted off at nearly eight-hundred-thousand times faster than the speed of light, surprisingly without a single case of whiplash within the ship.

...

Read, Review, Follow, and Favorite!