Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10.

Chapter 70: Compromise

The Name Of Eon's True Flagship Is The 'Lux Eternia' Like Vilgax's Is Canonically The 'Chimera Hammer'.

Omnitrix City; Tennyson Tower; December 23rd, 2025; 3:35PM.

The team of heroes returned to their head-quarters, leaving behind a squad of Plumbers led by the former hit-squad turned certified agents of the law; Manny, Helene, Alan, and Pierce assisted the military and National Guard in restoring order and eliminating any straggling drones left behind after Super Ultimate Way Big annihilated the enemy flag-ships from above. Jennifer used her Kinetica form to pickup the younger version of her parents, rushing them across the country back to South Dakota where she set them down on one of the lower levels in Tennyson Tower where trained professionals with advanced alien medical-technology would treat his wound, not giving Gwen time to ask any questions before dashing off. She turned back to her cousin, his Omnitrix had already healed some of the injury upon transforming back as far as she could tell but, he was still unconscious as the nurses dressed in white placed him on a hovering cot, taking him into the medical bay as she furrowed her brows and followed Jennifer nervously. Sunny, Gwendolyn, Albedo, and Ben all returned to the command-center on floor fifty-five instantly via an emerald portal of swirling temporal energy, the hero of heroes immediately noticing his tech-expert was missing but, was far too distracted to prioritize it. Ben sighed with relief as he settled against one of the support beams, the rest of the team filed in and practically exhaled themselves, finally being out of the battlefield and back to a familiar setting.

Albedo approached Sunny from behind, tapping her shoulder, she had long since shifted into her human-form, which was sometimes a bit unsettling, however; she had also long since distinguished herself from Gwendolyn so, for the most part even though she was identical to her, he only ever saw Sunny. She turned around with her long raven-black hair swaying to the side as she looked into his crimson eyes, "Oh hey, you did a good job out there," for some reason that he didn't fully understand, her face was heating up just on sight of him, he was far from well versed in romantic-relations so, he wasn't entirely sure if this was normal, "Thanks for the support, not a lot of warriors would have tried to help me like that… I could have handled it though," having traveled the stars, Sunny had plenty of experience with powerful fighters and self-proclaimed heroes but, this team here on Earth was something entirely different.

"I simply acted on instinct however, I'm always going to show concern for you," Albedo expressed taking a step closer to her.

Sunny smiled, realizing how inexperienced with flirting he was, she took the opportunity to tease him, finding it adorable, "Are you saying you don't think I could have handled it?" she raised a brow, still smiling mischievously.

Albedo panicked a bit, throwing his hands up in mock-surrender, "Not at all! I believe you're one of the most powerful and most intelligent members of this team…" Sunny blinked, reeling her head just a bit as her face flushed and he continued, "I just believe you've been alone for so long, you don't yet realize how helpful teammates can be," she wasn't expecting him to be so sincere so suddenly, though it was her own fault which she realized too late.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," Sunny responded, giggling through her sentence nervously, unwilling to admit it was true.

Albedo placed a hand on her shoulder with a passive smile, "It's okay, If you ever want to talk, I'm here for you," the gleam in his blood-red iris, it told her just how serious he was without uttering a single word more. She was speechless, they way his tone was so soft and comforting, had her heart just skipped a beat?

"I do!" she blurted out, quickly taking steps to do damage control, "I mean I do want to talk… of course I do, you're the only reason I came back to Earth, dumbass…" she gave him a playful nudge and received a heartfelt smile in return.

"I'm certainly glad you returned then," they shared an extra long gaze between them for a moment.

At the same time, Gwendolyn refused to leave Ben's side though he didn't need her help to stand anymore, the concern in her voice and in every move she made was obvious to him especially since he learned to read micro-expressions and behavioral movements. She still had her arms wrapped around his left arm, looking up into his identical emerald eyes as soon as they were through the portal, "Are you sure you're okay?" putting emphasis on her words to make sure he knew how much it meant to her that he not feign strength for the sake of his pride or image but, her did his best to douse that flame.

"I'm fine, I promise, whatever Albedo did, it worked!" he practically shouted enthusiastically, swinging his arms out to his side, "I just need a little rest after we go over a few things."

"We could both use a nap, the last thirty-six hours have felt like six-weeks," Gwendolyn placed a hand on his chest, leaning in closer to place her ear against his broad-tight pectoral, listening to his heartbeat. She closed her eyes for a few seconds feeling his arms wrap gently around her waist and behind her neck, embracing her, "Where is Jennifer?" she asked, looking up at her husband who glanced upwards, sensing out the power of Omnitrix core.

"Her Omnitrix is downstairs but, I think she's heading up from the medical bay, I guess that means younger me didn't die… so that's good news," Ben tried to be as blunt as possible but, it wasn't appreciated by his wife who slapped his shoulder.

"Take this seriously, if we hadn't saved him you could have been wiped from the timeline and all of history would be ruined," Gwendolyn scolded before pausing and looking up at that stupid, goofy smile of his prompting her to laugh, "You big doofus!" she responded hitting him once or twice more playfully.

Ben cleared his throat, looking across the room at his younger variant, "Before any of us can rest, first we have to at least find out what Timeless knows about the Potis Altaire," just as he said this, Sunny and Albedo finished their conversation as they were interrupted by Timeless stepping forward, placing his hands on the safety-rail encircling the holodeck in the center of the room, quickly the sound of creaking from the aluminum pipe warping at his grip echoed through the now silent room. He closed his vibrantly glowing eyes, and sighed audibly which caught the attention of everyone in the tense room, "This is all my fault… I provoked Eon into starting a war and now nothing I do can stop him," his grip bent the bar, threatening to tear it off its bolted status.

"What do you mean you provoked him?" Ben gently placed his hand on Gwendolyn's shoulder as she treated a scrape on his arm from one of the drones that struck him while he was Jetray, moving her to the side, and stepping toward him.

Timeless noticed all of them staring at him, waiting for a response; he put his head down in shame, his glowing eyes closed, and his grip on the railing loosened in surrender, "I caught Eon hiding in the echoes of time beyond the Edge of Oblivion, healing from your battle, and in my hubris I thought…" he choked on his own words before regaining his composure, glancing up at all of the heroes in the room, "I thought I could defeat him; I was wrong all I did was start an unstoppable war that will rage for millennia," after a few seconds of staring at the ground, Timeless glanced up at the group of heroes staring at him.

Ben specifically approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, looking down into his shining eyes, it was difficult to figure out that, regardless of his age, he was still incredibly inexperienced relative to what he was doing. Being variants of one another it was impossible for Ben not to see himself in the young time-lord's expression, "Eon, Prometheus, whatever that creep calls himself; he was going to come after me no matter what, I always knew that… this is a bit bigger than I expected but, not unstoppable. Haven't you heard?" he raised his brow as Timeless looked up into Ben's eyes and shook his head, his confused expression giving his answer without speaking, "We're Ben Tennyson, we can do anything," he patted him on the shoulder and stepped back.

Timeless cracked a small-smile, turning his attention to Albedo who stepped to Ben's side, asking a more prudent question, "Now that formalities are out of the way, what do you know of the Potis Altaire? What relevancy to the war does it have?" he cut right down to the important part, not wasting any time which they apparently didn't have. So much had already happened in the span of a two days.

Timeless stood up straight and smiled, nodding at him, and fixing the collar to his long cloak, "Right," he slapped his hand against the holodeck in front of him, the bright-blue glass energy turned emerald, green at his touch, hijacking the system to project a massive hologram of the planet Earth, "Ben Ten Million did most of the work for us, he compiled a key list of places on this planet the Potis Altaire could be hidden," just as he finished, Sunny spoke up.

"Well, it fell to Earth like, millions of years ago, there's no way to tell…" she trailed off as dozens of red-dots suddenly appeared littering locations all across the spinning emerald holographic globe, "Oh, right," she glanced up and noticed Albedo hadn't looked at her, had he not heard her stupid question? It was a dumb question, why would she ask that when she knew that was the whole point of this guys presentation? Did he think it was too dumb to acknowledge? And why in the name of Bezel did she care so much about his opinion all of a sudden, he was supposed to be her boy-toy, what were these feelings? Thoughts the Anodite had never considered before flooded her mind at the worst possible moment, she decided it would be best to just observe for the time being.

Ben approached Timeless, staring down into his own eyes, biologically youthful but, the age in his stare was clear, "You told me in my vision that the battle for the Potis Altaire was lost and it was taken by the Chroni-mph" he was slightly startled by Timeless quickly lunging forwards, clasping his hand over the hero's mouth before he could continue.

"Don't speak, don't utter another word… I haven't told you anything yet about a battle for the Potis Altaire which means the version of me who gave you that information is from the future, my future," Timeless slowly released his grip on Ben's face, lowering his arms, "Beings who graze through time, their very essence bends the temporal field… meaning it would take vast knowledge and power to interact with my own past or future without shattering the whole of space and time, Paradox could do it but-"

"You aren't Paradox… right," Benji spoke for the first time, glaring at Timeless after watching Ultimate Ben die due to a plan he had to fix a mistake he made; this glare didn't go unnoticed which left dejected and regretful, however, he couldn't deny that losing a battle doesn't lose the war, and there are still trillions of lives at stake. Putting aside that guilt for the time being.

Suddenly, the doors to the room split open automatically upon the arrival of a steaming angry Jennifer who apparently walked all the way up in her human form without using her powers, so furious that she had to work up the nerve to get what was on her chest off.

Ben left his wife's grasp to turn and approach Jennifer with a smile, not at all realizing she was angry with him, "Hey, did you get our pas-" before he could inquire about his own timeline, his daughter didn't hesitate to slap him across the face with a loud clap echoing through the room as her father's head turned from the force. The entire room was just as stunned and silent as he was.

"Where the hell were you?!" Jennifer shouted in his face, her finger up pointing firmly into his chest, "First, you stick me with two ten-year-olds who, by the way, don't know how to stop asking about the future but, to make it worse I'm supposed to keep the fact that you they're a couple some big secret!" she pointed her finger roughly into Ben's chest once again this time forcing him back a step, "Then you vanish to another planet leaving us completely alone to fend for ourselves from an alien invasion coming after you!" she poked his chest once again as she continued to back him against the wall, "And now you're acting like everything is completely fine and back to normal, again! well its not! I saw a man die today! I saw a lot of people die today, a-and you weren't there!" Jennifer began shouting as tears welled in her eyes, her brows furrowing even more, and her face turned beet-red, this time shoving him roughly with her enhanced strength, his back hitting the wall with a powerful thud denting the metal frame, full on shouting now, "You're never there! Birthdays, holidays, school-trips, WHERE WERE YOU!?" she shouted with tears running down her cheeks once again, she pushed him harder, denting the frame of the wall further just as Albedo rushed in to restrain her, wrapping an arm around hers just as she pushed him off.

"Jennifer, I-I'm sorry I…" he looked to Gwendolyn but, her expression was just one of sympathy, she had no wisdom to provide and certainly none she could give in that second.

Now that she'd gotten her sadness off her chest, it was time for her bitter hormones to show themselves, coming up with the most hurtful things she could think of, "You're sorry for… what? Never being around or abandoning us in the middle of a war?" Jennifer's tears were now overshadowed by spiteful, vindictive rage likely coming from the substance abuse that currently plagued her.

Ben tried to defend himself, "I was trying to get support for the planet so that we didn't-"

"Get invaded?!" Jennifer scoffed ironically at this, calming down, and stating very coldly, "Eon outsmarted you, again. Last time he did that half your whole team was slaughtered, or did you think I was too young to read the records?" her words cut him deeper than any stab-wound ever had, and he'd had plenty of experience with that over his years of heroism. He looked down at his boots with no verbal defense he could think to make.

"Jennifer, that's enough-" Gwendolyn tried to stop her but, the young-women was on a roll.

"No, Mom," she held her hand out behind her as a gesture for her mother to allow her to continue her rant, "How many more of us are going to die because you're a terrible fucking hero!" she shouted with every ounce of sincerity in her soul though, she was unaware of her audience in its entirety.

"Jennifer!" this time it was Sunny who shouted, which caught her furious attention, assuming she was defending him until she turned around aggressively.

"What?!" she snapped, it wasn't until she'd fully turned around that she noticed the younger ten-year-old version of her Mother standing a foot or two behind Sunny and Gwendolyn, having been noticed by them far too late. Gwen turned around with a confused gasp, sprinting out of the room as nobody bothered to even try to stop her, hearing the automatic doors slide open, Jennifer glanced around at her mother, aunt, the time-lord, and uncle, "How much of that you think she heard?" she asked stoically.

"Enough, go talk to her…" Gwendolyn asked, noticing her daughters reluctance and finishing her sentence with a pleading expression, "Please?"

Jennifer yielded and exhaled, "Fine…" she gave her father one last glare before using her enhanced speed to dash through the doors still closing behind her.

Timeless groaned, running his hand through his head of ruffled brunette hair, "We don't have time for this," he muttered to himself; a flash of emerald light consumed him but, it was too brief and dim for anyone to even notice he'd teleported away.

Suddenly, as if on cue, the doors slid open once again but, not to reveal Gwendolyn's younger-self or Jennifer but, the technopath Cooper who rushed in with a tablet in-hand and now dressed down back into a loose-fitting purple-jersey over a white long-sleeved shirt paired with jeans. He stopped in his tracks when he realized everyone in the room was staring directly at him, "I… uh, I narrowed down the location of… am I missing something?" the quiet and tension unnerved him enough to turn in a circle looking for whatever they were staring so intently at.

Ben, who had been rubbing the side of his face which had been slapped with enhanced strength seconds ago, spoke up to assure him it was fine, "You had something to say, Cooper?" he asked kindly.

"Right," the technopath regained his composure and focused his attention on the emerald holographic globe still floating above the holodeck, taking control of it as it eyes flashed with blue-light, the holograms changed color to a neon-turquoise shade to match that light. "After studying some extensive readings and extrapolating the position of the stars around the time this object supposedly fell to Earth from ancient star-maps that Wes Greene sent me, cross referenced with crashes sites and ancient craters all across the planet…" without even gesturing, Cooper looked at the globe as it bent to his will, zooming in further into the continents and countries, more specifically, Egypt on the outskirts of Cairo.

"You're kidding me, right?" Gwendolyn spoke up with a slight chuckle, taking a step forward to look more closely at the floating hologram and the indicators of where they were supposed to investigate, "The Pyramids of Giza? People have been ransacking those temples for centuries, how do we know it's even still there?" she proposed a valid point.

Albedo folded his arms across his chest, looking between Gwendolyn and his doppelganger with a determined expression, "I suppose we wont know for certain until we investigate ourselves," he asserted confidently, and for some reason, somehow, just his confident-tone alone made Sunny weak in the knees standing next to him.

"Okay, Timeless, we're going to-" Ben turned to explain to his time-traveling variant but, as he looked around the pseudo-god was no-where to be found, having not noticed him teleport away, "Ugh, I hate it when they do that, it was only cool when Grandpa did it," he announced his frustration with both Paradox and Timeless and their inconsistency. Ben ran his fingers through his hair, ensuring it was properly slicked back like he did every morning but, also to soothe his nerves, "What I was going to say was that I think we need to send a team to the pyramids to, at the very least, rule it out as a potential hiding-spot."

"We're calling them hiding-spots?" Sunny raised a brow, asking with an unsure tone.

"I'm good at naming aliens, that's about as far as that stretches," Ben clapped his hands and exhaled, "Okay, Cooper, double check your math and make sure we're heading to the right place, Albedo brush up on your ancient Galvan texts, if there is a clue to the Potis' location in Egypt, it wouldn't be in Egyptian, Sunny get ready for some… some tele-," Ben held head before nearly falling over dizzy, his wife quickly rushing to his side as he saw the stars in his eyes slowly faded, "teleports…" he finished his sentence, keeping his eyes closed as Gwendolyn kept him on his feet.

"And you need at least eight hours of sleep and a hot meal, no more leading until you can stand on both feet by yourself," Gwendolyn held his buff-arm over her shoulder, keeping his weight partially supported as Albedo chimed in.

"Indeed, I may have replenished your Omni-Energy capacity to the best of my ability but, you're still clearly suffering from exhaustion due to the strain of the super-evolutionary process," Albedo spouted off the technical reasoning for why Ben should take it easy but, while not fully understanding it, he caught the gist. "Besides, you were accurate in your assumption I would need to 'brush up' on the calligraphy of my ancestors…"

"I'll help!" Sunny announced, almost a little too enthusiastically, specially when there was little she could do to help him in that, "I mean, I don't have anything better to do, so I might as well hang out with you…" she trailed off hoping someone else would start talking but, nobody did. However, her cousin Gwendolyn certainly caught the rush of embarrassment and romantic energy flowing from Sunny in waves with her empathy, taking note of it. They had always been teasing one another but, they had never taken a public step in their relationship and Gwen surmised that was the reason for this sudden emergence of emotions. She wanted more.

Ben allowed his wife to support him towards the exit to them room where they would find the nearest working elevator, since some of them were out of order due to the still not repaired hole in every floor of the building.

…

Omnitrix City; Tennyson Tower; December 23rd, 2025; 4:36PM.

Gwen was sitting on a plastic chair in the private medical room, staring down at her Ben who was still unconscious from the sedatives, and hooked up to a heart-monitor which was currently the only sound in the room. She reached out slowly, almost apprehensively, and brushed a lock of his messy brunet hair across his forehead; her thoughts were racing and the sound of the heart-monitor beeping rhythmically in the background dulled out as she pondered the facts. That the only reason he was injured in the first-place was because the enemy was trying to blast her off his shoulder. She should have been faster, smarter, she slacked on her shield-spell training when they stopped at the wind-farm in Iowa… or maybe she should have stopped them from leaving the battlefield entirely, how could she actually be as impulsive as him at a time like this? After all the times she scrutinized him for it.

"You're blaming yourself, aren't you?" a voice announced itself from behind but, Gwen could tell it was Jennifer, her apparent daughter from the future. She didn't respond, silence consumed the room filling it with tension instead, doing her best to comfort her adolescent-mother, "I mean, you do that a lot now too so, it was an educated guess but-"

"Can you just leave me alone?" Gwen snapped back at her, not tearing her head away from Ben's prone form, though Jennifer could hear the crack in her voice that sounded familiar too. The crack in her voice when her Mother forced back her emotions only, the Mother she knew was far better at hiding it.

"Well, I could but, I made a pretty big scene in there just now and it would be really awkward if I walked back in there now… I was just going to-" Jennifer was interrupted when Gwen finally turned around and knocked her chair over in the process.

"How could I end up with my own-!" she shouted but, choked on her words as her eyes fell onto Ben's injured form mid-sentence, "My Mom told me we aren't supposed to have feelings like that for family, everyone is supposed to know that!" her eyes flared up suddenly just like her future-self only, dimmer and contained to just her pupils, glowing with blue-mystical energy, "He's rude, obnoxious, annoying, reckless, he smells like rotting onions, and most importantly…!" she turned around to look down at him again, the energy in her eyes dissipating as she took a step closer to his hovering hospital-bed. Jennifer took a few steps closer as well during her pause, enough so that she could see the sorrow expression on the ten-year-old's face, "There's no way he'd ever like me back, not like, like me."

Jennifer wanted to snicker at her vernacular but, held herself back realizing that this was a serious matter for her, even if it wasn't for the teenage heroine, "He doesn't stay that way forever, except for maybe the reckless thing," she paused for a second before continuing, "besides… he's a boy, boys are idiots. He prolly already likes you and doesn't even know it," she tried to break her pep-talk down to a level someone her age could understand, even though biologically, this ten-year-old was older than her.

Gwen giggled for a few seconds before returning to a stoic expression, "When does it happen?" she said, more curious than she'd ever been before about her future. It wasn't like she didn't already think the adult Ben Ten Thousand that she'd seen so far was a handsome, billionaire, diplomat, of a successful hero and if they were destined through time itself to be together? Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, unlike him, Gwen was well adept with patience. All of these thoughts raced in her mind faster than she could keep up shaking her head a bit to try and physically distract herself.

Seeing this, the teenager hesitated, scratching her head for a second, "I honestly don't think I should say, ya know, on the off chance you guys keep your memories…" Jennifer chuckled, looking away, and rubbing the back of her neck nervously, "Wouldn't wanna wipe myself from history."

Gwen glanced back at Ben sleeping soundly, his breath so even and his heartbeat nearly synchronized with the heat-monitor, "Ya know, when he's not talking… or moving… he is kinda cute," Gwen's smile was short-lived but, noticed.

"Ugh, that's gross, mom."

…

Omnitrix City; Tennyson Tower; December 23rd, 2025; 9:24PM.

Ben's eyes snapped open as he suddenly shot up in bed, sitting upright, and looking around the large penthouse suite with massive bay windows overlooking the city below; Gwendolyn was lying next to him, wearing just a white spaghetti-strap top with no bra and a pair of teal-blue panties, lying on top of the covers, and she had clearly been little-spoon for some time before he turned over. She groaned as she finally came back round, "What time is it?" she asked, turning over, and throwing her arm over his rugged-bare chest, smiling on contact with his skin she just caressed the center of his torso for a few seconds trying to fall back asleep.

Ben looked at the holographic-projection of bright-blue numbers coming from the thin-device on their nightstand, "Almost nine-thirty… we need to get going, there's a war going on, after all," he reasoned, nudging her a bit rougher but, she refused to rise from within the sheets, covering her head with a blanket. "I'm warning you, if I have to help you of bed, you know what happens…" his voice sounded enthusiastically devious, her eyes shooting open just as quickly as his had but, she refused to emerge from the blanket.

"Give it your best shot, hero!" she shouted in retaliation, in her loudest whisper, refusing to back down.

Ben rolled his eyes playfully, gripping the hem to the covers, and ducking under them as the fit of giggles and struggling echoed through the large room until finally, Gwendolyn came toppling out the left side of the bed, "You're such a dweeb!" she shouted back at him while standing to her feet and stretching with the most genuine, happy smile that radiated like an early-morning sunrise whenever he laid eyes on it, "What?" her cheeks flushed crimson for a second or two but, he shook his head at her, smiling as well.

"It's nothing, you're just… I don't know how I got so lucky, you're perfect," Ben scratched the back of his ear, bending down to pick up his black-tee when she walked by him towards the bathroom, she smacked him on the rear in passing.

"You clean up pretty nicely yourself, for a dweeb," Gwendolyn winked at him with the same radiant smile before continuing, "You should get in here and shower up, no need to be grimy while we end a war, right?" Gwendolyn side-eyed, waiting for a response and understanding of what she meant when from out of sight she tossed her teal-panties onto the bed.

"I-I could go for a quick shower," Ben dashed into the bathroom in a blur leaving his shirt behind, as Gwendolyn's giggles echoed throughout the entire floor with nobody to hear their moans.

…

Outside of the Solar System; Hidden Behind Earth's Sun; Lux-Eternia; December 23rd, 2025; 4:26PM.

Eon, a figure shrouded in darkness and draped in the cloak of villainy, stood with his helmet off and placed idly on a silver-metallic storage box beside him, adjusting the settings on a large machine embedded into one of the more expansive laboratories within his flag-ship. Presiding over his colossal creation with an aura of malevolent determination. Within the depths of his clandestine laboratory, illuminated only by the eerie glow of pulsating vibrantly-purple energy, he stands as an architect of cosmic upheaval, weaving threads of chaos with the skill of a dark sorcerer. With meticulous care, Eon orchestrates the final intricacies of his diabolical apparatus, a behemoth of modern advanced machinery and ancient-arcane technology designed to wield dominion over the very fabric of existence. Each adjustment of the ethereal conduits and arcane sigils is executed with a precision born of relentless ambition and boundless malice, as he channels the raw power of the temporal-field into his insidious creation. Amidst the chorus of humming machinery and crackling energy, Eon's visage is a portrait of malevolent glee, his eyes ablaze with the fervor of a madman consumed by the pursuit of power and vengeance. All with the face of this Multiverse's greatest-hero. With every twist of a dial and every surge of energy, he inches closer to his ultimate goal – only interrupted by the metallic-doors sliding apart to reveal a crimson-winged, long-dark haired Princess, recently crowned Queen of the Cosmians, donned in platinum-white armor, trimmed with crimson matching her heavenly-wings.

Walking in without nonchalantly, she slowly approached her lover and her king, "I know you're busy, my love, though I wanted to thank you for warning our troops about the impending attack from that imposter, Ben Ten Thousand, your ability to see through time is quite useful," Queen Natalia spoke with a pleasant tone at first but, it quickly became agitated at her own mention of their enemy, and the lack of response from her soon-to-be husband, "I suggest a swift retaliation, I heard their second most populated city is somewhere called To-kio, if we wanted we could wipe out the whole puny country in one shot if-" she was interrupted by Eon turning around quickly with his cape flapping behind him with an unamused expression across his face, stepping closer to her in an intimidating manner.

"I don't care to destroy Japan or any other country, when I'm finished with my device, there will be no borders to speak of, the question will be if I let his pathetic world live or not," Eon turned around, took a step back, and inspected his device up and down, basking in his own glory, "As usual, I'm ten steps ahead of Ben Tennyson and his team, by the time he discovers my plan, it'll be far too late."

Natalia huffed and folded her arms, her metallic-wings shuttering naturally as they were tucked behind her, getting frustrated like an entitled teenager, "A plan you refuse to tell me anything about? You still haven't told me what this device is even supposed to do, is it some sort of doomsday-weapon we can use on them?" she guessed but, the way he didn't emote told her that wasn't the case.

Eon side-eyed his lover for a moment with his passively glowing violet-iris' before letting out a sigh, and turning to face her, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you in on my little plan; this, my dear," he gestured up at the device they were standing in front of with one hand and gently placed his arm over her shoulder with the other, "Is a largescale-genetic-alteration-field-emitter, though I was going to go with Gene-Bomb for simplicities sake," she glanced up at him still in awe at his own creation before turning to examine it herself.

Natalia scoffed, pulling away, and circling Eon slowly with a seductive strut before putting her hands on his shoulders from behind, "And how does this help us win the war?" he closed his eyes, he was a master of deception so this wouldn't be a difficult to answer.

Eon turned slowly to face her, looking into one another's eyes so closely they could feel each other's breath, "Because, my beloved, once this Gene-Bomb goes off, every sentient being on planet Earth, human or otherwise, will have their DNA rewritten into that of a Cosmian warrior's, along with the modifications I'm making, they'll be psychically devoted to their new King and Queen," it was clear that there were ulterior-motives behind his actions and loving demeanor, however, the new Queen was too young and love-struck to see through his masterful acting.

She relished in his rhetoric instead, "And with an army of us eight-billion strong, we could rule the entire Galaxy in a matter of a few months," Natalia noted but, Eon placed both hands on either of her face and looked into her eyes before slowly pivoting her eyes back to the machine.

"Think bigger…" he whispered to her.

After a few seconds, the Queen's eyes widened in realization, "And if we use this device on any habitable planet we come across… our forces could span the entire Universe!" Her long black hair swayed as she lunged in to embrace him, caressing the back of his head, "We will rule for thousands of years as the monarchs of this whole reality," she whispered into his ears with her chin atop his shoulder before stepping back and clapping her hands together once happily, "My Mother was a weak, soft-hearted fool… when we're done here, I will go down as the most successful and powerful Cosmian Queen's to have ever lived," at this point she was just speaking to herself but, in her own mind it all reigned true though, she was moving a bit fast.

"One step at a time, my love, we still have to find the power source needed to activate it…"

"Yea, I know, I know…" Natalia seemed rather bored of the idea, "the Poltus Altaree or whatever but, how hard could that be to find?" she purposed, checking her nails for scratches nonchalantly.

"Not difficult at all, doing it before Tennyson and his meddling team discover its location is a different challenge altogether, however; I believe I've found a way to kill two birds, so to speak…" Eon chuckled loudly, before turning into full on cackling laughter, his neon-purple aura shot out around him like lightning causing Natalia to back away.

"If you singe my hair before I get to go into battle, I will end you!" she shouted playfully, holding her long raven-black hair on one side of her shoulder.

"Apologies, my dear, it was getting a tad difficult to contain myself…"

In the corner of the room, completely out of sight, a very miniscule, almost entirely microscopic, figure floated up through the air vents, escaping the room with the information he'd heard. After traversing the vents properly and reaching the air-lock, a bright aqua-blue explosion engulfed the micro-alien transforming into an Ectonurite in its base blueish-white, one-eyed, phantom form with a blue 'Hero-Watch' symbol trimmed with a golden-lining on his pasty-chest. Once the coast was clear, this mysterious hero used his Master-Control to instantly transform into an Aerophibian, Jetray's species, with dark-blue skin instead of the traditional crimson and familiar yellow-trim across his body.

He floated in space for a moment or two, a few thousand miles away from the Lux Eternia, pondering on the information he'd just witnessed, and despite over a decade of hero training since he'd met Ben Prime… he was still relieved his Hero Watch was able to audio-record because he didn't know what to make of the plan he just witnessed, only that it couldn't have been anything good. This version of Jetray was known as FishKite who darted towards the sun as he used his faster than light travel to make it back to Earth as quickly as possible to relay this information to the right people.

…

Omnitrix City; Tennyson Tower; December 24th, 2025; 12:04AM.

Ben and Gwendolyn were approaching the command-center from down the hall when they ran into Albedo and Sunny approaching from the opposing end of the hall, while Sunny was in her human form, the four them looked more identical than they'd ever really realized, "So, two-sets of twins walk into a bar, am-i-right?" Ben chuckled to himself but, none laughed as they walked passed him stoically into the command-center itself, Albedo even sighed as he passed the hero, "Everyone's a critic," he muttered as he followed after them.

As they entered the center, they realized the motion-sensor lights had gone off due to inactivity yet, there was the sound of snoring audibly sounding through the room; Cooper was at his desk with his uninjured leg propped up on his desk, leaning back in his chair, with his hands in his lap.

"Earth to Cooper!" Sunny shouted loudly in his ear, causing the technopath to awaken suddenly, collapsing backwards onto the ground comedically, "Sorry, couldn't resist," she argued with an innocent shrug as she laughed uncontrollably.

Albedo nudged her, "On Earth, they call that being rude."

"Seriously? But, it was fuckin' funny! He fell over and everyone-" she glanced around and found all three of her companions silently staring back at her, "-laughed… crap, sorry Cooper," she quickly held her hand out towards him prompting him to smile as he grabbed hold, helping himself up due to his damaged leg, there were certain angles that were difficult for his prosthesis.

"It's fine, you're learning… I think," he muttered the last part to himself as he picked his chair back up and sat down at his desk once again. Her apology did seem sincere and that was an improvement on her overall social interactions.

"Hey, guys, did anyone else realize that it's officially Christmas Eve?" Ben spoke up, having just considered the actual date for the first time in three days, looking up at the digital-projection of the time, just passed midnight.

Cooper leaned back and glanced at the time on his holo-computer, "Oh, it is, I guess we were so wrapped up in this war… we hardly noticed," he reasoned, and it was sound logic as well since so much had happened in what seemed like such a short amount of time.

"I'm sure we have at least a few minutes to talk and cherish the holiday spirit?" Gwendolyn suggested but, as if on cue, as if some great creator or writer intervened in that moment with a spinning, emerald portal which opened itself up twenty-feet behind the holodeck on the other side of the room, "I'm sorry guys, that's on me, I definitely jinxed that," she apologized to everyone in the room as they witnessed the figures silhouette on the other side.

From within it, three figures emerged but, only two of them were familiar… or rather, they were all familiar, however; only one had yet to reveal his involvement in this war. Timeless, Benji, and this third Ben Tennyson who was clearly the same age as our Ben and nearly identical in every other way aside from his attire.

This version of Ben Tennyson was wearing a navy-blue button up, long-sleeved shirt beneath a black-vest tucked into lighter-blue cargo-pants and held together by a Plumber-issue belt fitted with secured pouches along with a holster for a loaded energy-pistol along with a gold-chain around his neck; there were other differences as well such as this Omnitrix was identical to his in design, however; the plating itself were different shades of blue with golden trim lining the exterior, and a bright aqua-blue hourglass dial in the center of his gauntleted Omnitrix which consumed the majority of his left-forearm.

Albedo scratched his silver goatee as the portal closed behind them, "Interesting, you've brought yet another Ben Ten Thousand to-" he was interrupted quickly.

"Pause, dude, that would be Ben Twenty-Three Thousand… it's trademarked so," this version of Ben seemed even more arrogant than the version they knew but, so long as he was on the side of stopping this war, they would take any help they could get.

"Twenty-Three?" Sunny chuckled, "That's a little specific…"

Ben stepped forward with a smile, holding out his hand for Twenty-Three to shake who, in response, smiled and returned the gesture, "Yep, Ben Ten Million designated us by how close we are to the canon; I'm A-195, this is A-023… guess they brought in the big guns?"

"You're telling me? Last time I did this I was thirteen, it should be cake…" Twenty-Three pulled out his phone and chuckled, "Oh right, no reception… I was totally gonna post a selfie with myself," he continued to fiddle with his phone as Gwendolyn wrapped her arm around Ben's and whispered to his ear.

"He seems a little, absent minded… you said he was the big-guns?" Gwendolyn didn't let go of his arm, even caressing it a bit, as she held him close to talk to him.

"He is trust me, he's almost as powerful as I am…" Ben reassured her but, she was unconvinced as the others spectated their conversation now.

Gwendolyn scoffed directly toward him this time, "I haven't even been able to introduce myself yet because you haven't gotten off your phone since you stepped through the portal, I'm not saying you aren't strong, I just said absent minded," she sneered at him and turned back to her Ben who raised his brow at her, realizing she was doing some kind of test.

"So, this is a Universe where I married Cousin Gwen?" Twenty-Three spoke up without being prompted, only now finally looking up from his phone, making eye contact with Ben until Gwendolyn turned back around, then looking into her eyes for only a few seconds before going back to his phone.

"How did you-"

Ben Twenty-Three Thousand showed just how far he'd come as a hero and as person since he found his 'Hero-Watch', "You're both wearing your wedding rings which I noticed as soon as I walked in, she's holding you pretty closely for just a regular family relationship, and I can see the way he looks at you… that's the way I look at my Julie," he showed effortless, remarkable attention to detail that neither of them expected, "I spent years training with Ben Prime, traveling the Multiverse, I'm not exactly an amateur…" it was his turn to scoff at her.

"Well, alright then but, you don't think it's weird that we're married?" Gwendolyn remarked, having recalled the way her own variant reacted to their marriage nearly a decade ago when they first encountered Prometheus.

Twenty-Three chuckled and placed his hands on his hips, "Are you kidding, only haters would have an issue with that, I once fought in a reality where we married a Tetramand Princess!" he aimed this part of his sentence to Ben standing beside her, "I don't think when infinite possibilities are in the conversation that I should be judging," yet another lesson he learned since first encountering 'evil-hater-aliens' was that looks can be deceiving and love can come from anywhere in any form.

Benji was still mostly quiet though, he was never really the most outspoken person even in his own Universe unlike the Ben Tennysons they were used to, he kept to himself, and listened carefully to their conversations as to not miss anything with his hand passively resting on the hilt to his blade.

"I've had Ben Twenty-Three-Thousand spying on Eon and the Queen for weeks, following them through-out their armada until he finally infiltrated Eon's flagship, the Lux Eternia," Timeless explained, gesturing towards him for further context.

"Yea, those guys are super boring, but I left when I finally figured out Eon's grand-plan," Ben Twenty-Three stepped forwards, keeping Sunny, Albedo, our Ben, Gwendolyn, and Timeless in his direct vicinity so they could hear him tell them about the Gene-Bomb in as much detail as he could spare.

Ben scratched his rough-beard and spoke up although great-minds do think alike… accidentally speaking in unison with Twenty-Three.

"I doubt that's all the Gene Bomb does."
"I doubt that's all the Gene Bomb does."

Twenty-Three raised his brow, glancing back at Timeless who didn't give a response, "I meant you should have seen his face, well, it's our face but, that's how I know he's playing her," he explained further, taking on a more serious tone, "Whatever it does do, it can do it on a planetary-scale, and it can do it more than once," he asserted, letting them all in on the gravity of the situation.

Ben sighed, rubbing the bridge between his eyes for a moment, looking back towards the exit where he knew his daughter needed consoling in another room, they hadn't talked all day since she'd confronted him earlier. He could still feel the slight sting against his face from her slap. It was a clear choice between a family and heroism that he had to make and not a single other person knew he was making it aside from perhaps Gwendolyn, who could see the longing in his stare at the door knowing he should find her and apologize and work things out. It would be so easy to step away for a moment to do just that… but, what was at stake? What world would she grow up in if he wasted time apologizing while the Multiverse crumbles? Sometimes to be the hero, to save everyone, to be what the world needed him to be, he had to deny that part of his life. Had he not, the Earth would have been gone a dozen times over but, Jennifer is too young to understand and there wasn't enough time to explain. So, he made his choice.

"What's the mission?"

…

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