Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10.

Chapter 71: Moral Deadlock.

New Cover Art By: DMChumble.

...

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

The two ten-year-old heroes thrust into the future were sound asleep in the guest room they had initially been introduced to, or at the very least, one of them was. After waking from his sedation, Ben realized exactly what had happened, and even though he'd been told he was completely fine after being treated for his injury… something was different. He stared up at the ceiling in the dark; flashes of explosions, Gwen being tackled off his shoulder in a flicker of memory, for some reason she was cuddling awfully close to him at the moment but, he, for yet another unknown reason, didn't mind it. He was too busy staring pensively up into the darkness of the room to care about her lazily linking her arm with his. He kept repeating the scenario in his head over-and-over, looping different ways he himself could have kept her safe but, there were none. Had it not been for his future-self's intervention, she would be dead right now; he narrowed his eyes, shifted to the side, and stepped off the bed as quietly as possible.

He made his way to the exit where he slid his hand over the node on the doorframe, opening the sliding doors to the room which, as they closed behind him, stirred Gwen from her sleep where she reached out onto the bed looking for his presence but, finding no one, "Ben?" she whispered, looking around at the room drenched in shadow.

It took her a few minutes after sitting up to realize he wasn't in the bathroom, and had left the bedroom entirely, slowly rubbing her left-eye from the gunk of sleep as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, standing up with a yawn. She exited the room, skulking down the eerily quiet futuristic-halls, "Ben?" her voice echoed through either side, left and right, though she wasn't certain which direction she should go in.

She stepped a bit further out into the hall, unsure of which direction to take and finding it colder than she realized hugging her arms tight, turning as she heard the feint sound of a television or radio of some kind in the distance. She followed the sound further down the hall to the left, her bare feet freezing against the metallic-flooring, she was only in a pair of periwinkle-colored short-sleeved pajamas after all, and totally barefoot finding it odd that no-staff was around to ask for directions, though she quickly recalled the war and the time, the fact that it was well passed midnight.

Gwen continued walking until she came across a familiar room, the one Jennifer had taken them to before the attack on the dome, with its lights off along with the long line of televisions on the wall, all turned off aside from one in the center. Prompting her to step closer, she leaned against the doorframe, peaking her head in to look closer finding her Ben standing, staring up at the screen displaying the national news, "-doing the best they can with the resources given to the National Guard by the executive order from President Braydan earlier this evening, now I think there's a real question to be asked here Mark," the female newscaster stated, referring to the other man on the screen in one box with her in the other and in the center was a box displaying the carnage in New York in graphic detail, "eight-hundred confirmed deaths, over two-thousand reported missing… the real question, Mark, is 'where was Ben Ten Thousand' today? He claims to be here to protect not just aliens but, humanity as well yet, he was no where to be seen as the human civilians of New York were terrorized." The screen in the center showed dozens of filled body-bags, entire buildings laid to waste, fires being doused, injured women and children being treated by EMT services, some injured old-man was being treated for a missing-arm and the blood of the brief scene made Gwen cringe but, not Ben, "His team, however, were seen struggling to pick up the pieces as…" her voice trailed off as he was no longer paying attention to her, staring off at the destruction, seeing Gwen nearly die on loop in his minds-eye, the pain he felt from the injury to his shoulder wasn't close to what he felt in his heart seeing all those people hurt and dead because he, future or otherwise, failed to be the hero he thought he was. Something snapped inside of Ben as he watched this broadcast, something that wasn't intended to snap for several more years but, this perspective wasn't something he could ignore. A feeling of brutal responsibility washed over him like a wave, it was as if everything he said about leaving Grandpa and Gwen at the hospital to keep them safe after Rojo's attack was true only, leaving wasn't the right solution. He needed to fight harder.

Gwen watched his fists tighten at his side as he silently stood there, alone in the room, staring up at the screen with the blue-light from the television illuminating his facial features; she could tell he was too tuned into whatever he was thinking to notice she was there. She ducked out of the way and managed to hide behind a trash-bin as Ben turned around and made his way out of the room but, not back towards their bedroom.

After he'd left the room, Gwen had somehow managed to lose track of Ben in her attempts to both follow him and stay hidden, though he seemed too pensively preoccupied to even turn around to check if someone was following him. She'd checked their guest-room which they'd taken residence in these last two days and he was nowhere to be found.

Gwen skulked through the dimly-lit halls and corridors of the unfamiliar tower, her bare-feet against the cold metallic flooring, walking aimlessly until she heard muffled explosions as if coming from a television once again, however; she was wrong, coming across the familiar room Jennifer had allowed them to use during their little challenge. A state of the art virtual-reality hard light simulation room capable of rendering any number of battle scenarios.

She entered the initial control-room which had indestructible one-way glass allowing a person within to see out into the massive training room while from the interior one wouldn't be able to tell the room was even there, melding in with the simulation. She stepped in and had to stand on her toes to look out the window but, when she did she realized the simulation was an exact one-to-one replication of the scenario they'd just gone through.

Fourarms was defending against drone after drone in succession with a virtual-replica of Gwen on his shoulder where she had been during battle; she watched him become more and more frustrated as each scenario ended with the same result. He was only looping that one single minute or two long moment before she was due to be vaporized and saved by Ben Ten Thousand so, she watched this go on for ten minutes of failure after failure. Her virtual duplicate being blasted apart into hard-light pixels repeatedly, at one point Fourarms was simply on his knees in the middle of the street after the battle had ended and the simulation was due to restart.

Gwen's replica approached from behind and prepared to jump onto his shoulder, just as she had done in battle that afternoon only, Fourarms turned and wrapped all four of his beefy-arms around the hard-light duplicate, his eyes closed and his head down but, he wasn't crying. This wasn't sadness, it was shame. The copy simply stared stoically out at nothing as it was embraced tightly but, not tightly enough to destroy it and restart the simulation.

Gwen watched him break down holding the duplicate in his arms lovingly, no tears in sight as his body exploded in an emerald flash of light returning him to his normal form, still embracing the duplicate. She felt a bit guilty watching him in a moment of such privacy, she knew that she would freak out on him if he'd been spying on her during a moment this intimate. Though, part of her was curious, and maybe even slightly concerned about what he was about to do with this duplicate at his disposal, something embarrassing, she figured.

Instead, he pulled away with his arms still on either of the virtual-duplicate's hard light shoulders, still completely identical to his Gwen but, her expression was completely blank and emotionless which, probably made what he said next easier for him, "I can't do this without you here… just don't leave… I can't be a hero without my Gwen…" he pulled her back in for another hug, throwing his chin over her shoulder but, she simply stood there not reciprocating. Gwen's entire face turned beet-red, flushing with heat after what she'd heard through the clear-as-day speakers filtering sound and voices from the room into the control booth; she quickly backed out, realizing that she'd essentially just read his diary times a thousand, exiting the room she quickly made her way back to the guest-bedroom to plant her head on a pillow. Intending to pretend what she'd heard was just a bad nightmare… or possibly ponder it like a pleasant dream?

…

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

Meanwhile, Ben scratched his rough-beard slowly, glancing out at all the familiar faces surrounding him, speaking up although great-minds do think alike… they accidentally spoke in unison, with Twenty-Three, Ben, and Benji all coming to the same conclusion at the same time.

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

Albedo facepalmed and Twenty-Three raised his brow, glancing back at Timeless who didn't give a response, only a shrug back at him as if it were bound to have happened at some-point. He scoffed, returning to his original point, "I meant you should have seen his face," Twenty-Three emphasized independently, looking back towards his two alternate counterparts and Albedo, "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 his beloved wife, who could see the longing in his stare at the door knowing he should find her and apologize to at least attempt to 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?" Ben settled on his choice, turning his attention firmly to the group of relatively identical men and twin women, gathering around in a small circle of the seven of them.

Timeless groaned, looking directly into the holographic globe as he spoke, narrowing his eyes at the area of land between Africa and Asia, "Eon needs the Potis Altaire to power his weapon, that means, if we can't beat him directly…" he trailed off that last part recalling his experience being beaten within an inch of his life in their first encounter, and not fairing much better in their last; Timeless was in no hurry to confront Eon again. Despite the physical wounds healing, he would never admit how terrified he was of death, and how close Eon had brought him to it.

Benji spoke up for one of the first times, adding his rare two-cents, "What if we split into two teams?" keeping one hand on the hilt to his blade, which he revealed to Timeless and Twenty-Three in passing he'd dubbed it the Excalitrix, he gestured loosely toward the holographic map with his other hand, "While one team attempts to sneak aboard the Lux Eternia and sabotage this gene-bomb, another will investigate these pyramids, hopefully recovering the item we seek," he didn't want to admit that spite being said repeatedly, he wasn't sure he could remember the name of the device they were after and pronounce it correctly.

"Eon is powerful but, even he can't split himself between two moments in time; he would be leaving at least one of those locations relatively unprotected," Timeless confirmed the limits of Eon's current abilities, glancing between the heroes as they continued to brainstorm.

Gwendolyn was in awe, four of the same man, the man she loved through-out her entire life, just doing what he did best, saving the Universe; she gladly stood back, hands clasped behind her back, admiring the way he and his alternate selves worked the problem. She also noticed Sunny constantly giving unnoticed side-eye glances towards Albedo, and the way she was talking earlier, it was actually quite adorable how innocent someone usually so bold and vulgar could be when they were falling in love.

Gwendolyn watched as her husband took a slight shuffle forwards, "If he knew where the power-source was he would have said so, and probably would have had it by now, which means it's more likely Eon will be on his ship personally near the machine," Ben glanced around at a lot of similar faces and identical eyes, trying to be as inspiring as he could be, "I say Benji, Timeless, Twenty-Three, and I board the Lux Eternia to destroy the machine, and if we can manage it, take Eon out, ending this war," he turned to face everyone as he spoke, "Sunny, Gwendolyn, and Albedo can head to the pyramids and investigate the Potis," it wasn't as if his plan didn't make sense but, how much merit did it truly have?

Twenty-Three nodded his head in approval, crossing his arms, "Solid plan, I'm in," he agreed before glancing to the left, "How bout' you?" he questioned Benji.

"While I am certainly the best choice to join a company on the flagship, due to my experience aboard one of these ships and with Cosmian forces, I am not certain that simply destroying the problem is the best solution," It was surprising that Benji was only sixteen years-old, he seemed incredibly reasonable and mature for his age. "I also believe we should expect Eon to be plotting against us just as we plot against him."

They all heard a wise grown-man speaking from the lips of a sixteen-year-old, and he wasn't even the immortal one, his world must certainly have been different; Ben looked down, recalling Jennifer's outburst.

'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…'

"Wait, he's right," Ben announced, putting his hand up without looking amongst them for a moment, gesturing for everything to stop representing his epiphany, "Through out every encounter I've ever had with Prometheus, with Eon, he's used the way I think against me… because he is me, he's all of us, and he spent decades hunting alternate version's of us, studying them," he pointed out a very good observation, as they all glanced among one another quietly, realizing what had just happened minutes ago, announcing the same thing at the same time.

Timeless spoke up but, only to mutter a single jointed sentence, "He may have made himself a living-paradox but, he still has all of his memories as Prometheus…"

"Told you guys the name didn't matter," Ben jokingly pointed out.

Twenty-Three Thousand's brows furrowed, folding his arms over his vest, "All he'd have to do is consider our options, figure out what his first instinct would be, and then plan to stop it."

"Nobody ever claimed this Eon was any fool, however, that still leaves the issue of devising a plan in which he can't possibly anticipate," Albedo called attention these facts, stepping into the circle of identical heroes with his question with his arms crossed over his crimson-shirt with its black stripe down the middle.

"I've got a pretty good idea, actually, you guys said you used it on the last big-bad while I was in space, I figure it'll work against Eon too…" Ben said confidently, looking directly into Albedo's crimson-eyes with a smile as Gwendolyn caught on, a few of the others also realized what they were planning but, stayed quiet as the looked to him.

"What?" Albedo muttered, looking around at the staring audience, "Why are you all staring at me?"

…

Egypt; Giza; December 23rd, 2025; 6:30PM.

After putting their plan of action together, the groups split into two with Sunny, Albedo, and Gwendolyn exploring the interior of the Great Pyramid in search of the Potis Altiare; using Sunny's teleportation to hop across the planet directly into the interior of one of the world's greatest wonders. The entrance was quite narrow, almost as if it were built for much smaller beings, though the opening was tall enough for them all to step through comfortably though there wasn't enough room to even walk side-by-side. The three of them traversed down the pathway single file in silence, not even Sunny had anything to say at the moment, almost as if she wanted to be on the other team; it quickly became dark, encompassing them in shadows as Sunny quickly and effortlessly shifted into her pure-energy form, the aura she gave off illuminating their path with ease.

Gwendolyn glanced back with a thankful nod but, still said nothing as they continued for several minutes until they came across a large, empty tomb… or the rest of the world would be led to believe it was one at least. Gwen noticed through Sunny's glow that there were torch-mounts on the wall across the room, the mage snapped her fingers, igniting each of the torches to totally light up the room for them. This larger room, easily the size of an ordinary one-room apartment, was completely empty save for some hieroglyphic writings carved onto the far wall facing them, otherwise there was nothing but dust, and stale air.

"Well, this was a fuckin' bust," Sunny folded her arms over her glowing, pure-energy bust, "It's a dead-end already?"

Albedo pulled out a device from his pants pocket, it was the size of an ordinary brick made of bright-blue metal with a miniature satellite extending from the head, "Not really, hold up," he held the device up to the wall, a flash of green light slowly slid over the writings on the wall, scanning each hieroglyph and ancient carving where they were translated on screen, in real time, "These writings, they're telling a story, it says that thousands of years ago, the ancient Galvan despised the relationship this one Galvan named Azoth and that Celestialsapein Ben mentioned," Gwendolyn giggled at the way he emphasized the name as he continued reading the scanner, "So they stole it from them and used advanced technology to hide it from even her cosmic-sight… and they hid it here."

"Okay, so how do we un-hide it? If this technology is so advanced," Sunny scoffed at the idea, strolling across the room lazily, "Should we just wait for something lucky to happen or?"

Albedo glanced around with his crimson-pupils, recalling all of the mummy movies he watched, turning in a circle slowly before looking down at the scanner, he quickly fiddled with a few buttons before holding it back up to where it rescanned the room, highlighting a single brick close to the ground on the right wall. With a thought, he transformed with a single flash of crimson-light nearly blinding Gwendolyn who commented as she rubbed her eyes, "Kinda preferred the green."

Greymatter sprinted his tiny-amphibious feet across the room, standing at the exact same height as the highlighted block; Gwendolyn and Sunny watched as he placed his four fingers against it and pushed with a bit of effort.

Suddenly an artificial voice sounded, 'Galvan DNA Recognized.'

The entire wall in which the highlighted brick was placed vanished as if it were never there to begin with, revealing a gleaming silver laboratory twice the size of the original chamber; every surface was lit up by artificial bulbs coming to life above them as they slowly stepped through. "It was a hard-light projection which deactivated once it recognized Galvan DNA… fascinating," Greymatter mentioned as he transformed back into his human-state in a crimson flash of light, now behind the ladies which stepped further into the laboratory.

Against the wall was a four-foot tall circular arch with steps leading up to it, and a rotating dial of stone symbols connected to it, the star-gate in which whoever owned this lab truly came and went through, the wall being just a clever way to hide its presence.

All three of them laid eyes on the object floating in some sort of stasis field, consumed in a sphere of transparent-light, the Potis Altaire identical to the copy in Ten Million's cube was held in place four or five feet off the ground by an apparatus on the ceiling.

"There it is, that must be the field that the Galvan thought would keep a Celestialsapein from finding it, but I really don't see how," Albedo reached out to touch the field but, it zapped him on contact with his hand, "Ow! Shit that hurt!"

Sunny laughed, "Ha, don't be a baby," her glowing, purple hand of energy felt the defensive-zap from the field but, only giggled a bit in response like it just tickled her, as she grabbed the device from within its tractor-beam, yanking it out by force, "See?" she shook it lightly in her hands, "No problem, now let's get to the others because they're probably…" she started to trail off as rumbling erupted from all around them, "fighting… Eon… right now…" the shaking became even more violent as giant chunks of stone rubble fell from the ceiling, blocking their exit from the cavern.

"Sunny?" Gwen called out as the Anodite reached out with her hands, focusing on the two of them for only a second before dematerializing in a flash of hot-pink light; reappearing outside the Great Pyramid, standing in the sand, as they watched the structure crumble and implode into its own footprint.

"Okay, we've got your precious MacGuffin, can we go now?" Sunny whined, glancing between the two of them but, just as they were about to respond, an eerily familiar voice announced itself which gave Gwendolyn cold-chills that ran down her spine, she didn't dare turn around less she make this nightmare real.

"The only place you will be going, is to your collective demise," a growling, menacing voice, one which haunted her nightmares since she was just ten-years-old; the cybernetics clanked as the villain stepped through the sand, "Did you truly believe you could get rid of me so easily, child?"

Albedo's eyes narrowed, glaring at the villain with an intensity that wasn't well-founded, in fact he should know very little of their history or this villain but, as Gwendolyn slowly turned around, and though it made her heart drop on sight, she wasn't necessarily surprised to find Vilgax, armored with even more black-crimson trimmed cybernetics than the last time she'd seen him, standing in the sand beside Eon, along with a legion with dozens of bipedal, rifle wielding, androids and hovering saucer drones.

"Vilgax…" Gwendolyn muttered slowly, her fists quickly becoming engulfed in blue-flames along with the light in her pupils, "I was hoping Eon had just been using the same robots but, of course it wouldn't be that simple."

Eon chuckled, "Is it ever, Gwenny? I rejuvenated your old villain, giving him cybernetics for which he was happy to trade his services… once I told him my mission was destroy the same Ben Tennyson who killed him in the first place…" Gwendolyn looked over Vilgax and could tell that he hated taking orders from someone else but, she could also tell he was just waiting for the order to crush them, "And while your heroes are busy trying to attack me on my flagship again like dumb animals, I'll be here, taking what I want," he held out his hand, despite them being over a hundred-feet apart, as if he was going to wait for her to give it to him of her own free will, "Now hand it over and I may consider not erasing all three of you from the timeline," it was clear from the way he was speaking that he hadn't figured out Twenty-Three had spied or that the teams true mission was to destroy the gene-bomb in his possession.

Sunny took a step forward, cracking her knuckles, "Yea, we'll totally just hand it right over to the guy we're in the middle of a war with," she scoffed at him, her fists being engulfed in spheres of violent pink mana-energy, "Right…"

"It was worth a shot," Eon reasoned, his hands suddenly summoning arcs of purple-electricity, shrouding them in temporal-energy but, before he could unleash his attack, Albedo shouted at the top of his lungs, "Wait!"

Eon stopped before he could fire a beam directly at Sunny, still holding his prize, and while Anodite's were made of energy, energy is still subject to the concept of time, Albedo interrupted him as he was charging the necessary energy to accelerate her mana-essence over a billion years, sending every particle in her body into rapid-decay. The energy dissipated as Albedo walked slowly across the distance between himself and his distant-cousin, passing Gwendolyn, as he reached out and grabbed the Potis Altaire from her hand which she almost refused to let go of but, relented in the end.

"I always knew you were the smartest, being a Galvan and all," Eon spoke up as Vilgax was uncharacteristically quiet, still waiting to kill them all, likely miffed that this was the one time the hero he knew wasn't fighting back right away.

Albedo crossed the distance between them slowly, stopping fifteen-feet away from Eon, holding his hand out at the emerald-device, thousands of years old without a day of ware, gleaming in the setting sun-light as it floated six-inches over his palm, "You clearly have us out numbered…" he mentioned, waiting for the villain to take it from him.

"Indeed I do," Eon reached out and was about to set his grip on the one thing he'd been searching for through-out time and space, through out the Multiverse, the one item who could bring all of his plans to fruition, just inches from his fingers when, suddenly, a white and blue blur of motion zipped passed, snatching the Potis Altaire from Albedo's hands with an odd, accompanied voice shouting 'yoink' as it blew passed them, disappearing entirely from the battlefield. "What?! That isn't possible!" he raised his palm outward and fired a quick blast of temporal-energy but, Albedo saw this coming and dashed out of the way at mach three, picking up a small trail of dust as he zipped back beside Gwendolyn, putting his arm around her waist.

"You didn't really think you could outsmart me twice, did you? I mean maybe one of me but, four of me? Not a chance," Albedo reached up and pulled two-crimson contact lenses out of his eyes, revealing bright emerald pupils hidden behind them.

"It's been the child this entire time!" Vilgax shouted, stomping his metallic-foot into the sand out of frustration, firing his twin-blasts of crimson lasers at the hero, he stood confidently as Sunny effortlessly threw up a pink mana-shield between them.

The furious war-lord growled as the shield refused to waver, ceasing his attack instead as Eon spoke up, "I can see that, you fool! But, if he's here than where is-" his eyes widened beneath the silhouette of his helmet, "Kill them!" he ordered as the time-lord turned around, tossing a bright purple energy into the air casually which formed a vortex allowing Eon to step through.

Sunny darted off the ground with so much force, the sheer speed burned the sand and left a molten-glass streak in her wake as she flew after Eon, passing through the vortex as it closed within the span of a picosecond.

…

Outside of the Solar System; Hidden Behind Earth's Sun; Lux-Eternia.

Meanwhile, the true Albedo was on his knees in front of the device they were currently dubbing the gene-bomb, a large wall of advanced machinery, using his accelerated intelligence to alter the device in the only way he could think to, wires hanging about and loose screws at his feet, the Galvan trapped in human form reworked the device in remarkable time. His body-guard, Benji, held his Excalitrix at the ready with his blade already slicked in the blood of two Cosmian soldiers who attempted to apprehend them when they first teleported aboard. Their bodies were in multiple cleanly-cut pieces and the crimson-liquid was pooling up around them, as Albedo continued to work on repurposing the machine, another figure stepped into the room, not noticing Benji as he slipped into the shadowy-corner.

Suddenly, Albedo was startled by a crimson feather-blade being launched through the air, striking the wall next to the machine, the attacker careful not to damage it, "Step away from the device, foolish-insects," Queen Natalia, her vibrant blood-red wings spread and flaring at the intruder with intimidation as she prepared another blade. Albedo slowly stood from his knees with his hands up, he could have used the Master Control to change right then and there to battle her but, there was no time for that. He trusted his partner, Benji, who appeared from the corner behind Natalia like an agent of stealth, swinging his blade around her neck threatening to slit her throat at the slightest twitch.

"I have her, continue your objective," Benji reassured as the Queen slowly raised her hands above her head in surrender, her wings lowering themselves as well, lifting her chin to avoid being sliced by the ultra-thin, ultra-durable Ascalon blade.

Albedo never even turned around, getting right back on his knees as he wired a single button to the detonation sequence, continuing to reposition wire after wire and remove conduits through out the innerworkings of the device, suddenly, a bright purple vortex opened up in the rather large laboratory behind the Galvan and juxtaposed to the Queen, his hands prepared to fire at the intruder working on his creation. Sunny came in after him, her momentum flying passed him, slamming into and through several work benches, holding her head as her energy form dissipated and revealed the human form she would usually take. She looked around, her true lover was there, along with the alternate version of her cousin, and the Queen of the Cosmians; the tension made her entire body shudder just as Eon aimed his hands at the shapeshifter.

Albedo held his hand up, barely noticing Sunny at all considering the weight of the moment, hovering his palm over a red-button on a silver box sitting in his opposing palm, a button that was once installed directly into the device itself but, was now clearly altered and removed, "Ah, ah, ah! Not even a single step more!" the genius insisted.

Eon stopped in his tracks, his hands remaining up and aimed at him, "You may be Galvan but, you must be an idiot if you think that button scares me…" He glanced over at Benji. who had the Queen still as his hostage, and then to Sunny who glared at him before finally lowering his glowing hands a bit but, not entirely.

Albedo smiled, almost scoffing, "Of course not, it isn't meant for you," he emphasized its target, catching his attention, "I didn't have time to reprogram the command sequence and you were very thorough on preventing this machine from overloading or self-destructing…" he raised his silver brows at the time-walker.

Eon was slowly catching on though, realizing relatively quickly why he was holding the button like a weapon, the other three in the room were still totally lost though, "So, you reworked the genetic-modifier into a genetic-disassembler…" he finished for him, trailing off as he looked up and over his great creation.

"That's right, without the power-source it wont have the range to wipe out every Cosmian across the Universe, however, it should be more than enough for the Queen, Earth-space, and any others for the surrounding light-year," Albedo's hand was shaking, his palms were sweaty, and even though he hadn't been in any physical combat, he was sweating nervously, "Now back off or watch her DNA unravel!" he shouted threateningly, "I'll do it."

Eon chuckled but, only a bit, "Would you, though? I thought you became a hero during your time on Earth. Wiping out a whole race, a whole species of life…" he glanced over to Benji and Natalia still watching with an expression of disbelief though, it was hidden behind his helmet, "Doesn't sound very heroic, does it?" he turned his head to look back at Albedo now.

Sunny was glancing between them, waiting to see how this interaction would end, she could see her love's forehead sweating, practically hear him swallowing with his dry throat, she'd never seen him like this. So… terrified, yet… holding all the power to end this standoff.

Albedo's whole body was shaking with fear, even as he held the power to end this war in his hand, the weight of it was almost too much, even for him, "I swear, I will use it! I'll exterminate them all just as I would an infestation!" Albedo was interrupted as Natalia spoke up even with he blade hanging so close to her neck.

"That device can't kill us, we're the most powerful race-" she was silenced by the blade of the Excalitrix closing in on her throat by just a millimeter, nicking her skin to where a small drop of blood emerged, trailing down her neck slowly.

Albedo looked at her quickly, still with his hand over the button wired thoroughly to the device behind him, "Would you like to test that, your highness?" he said confidently, though she didn't respond her expression told him that she really wasn't as confident as she pretended to be.

"Do it," Eon stated calmly and seriously, almost sure that he wouldn't or couldn't do what he was threatening, "I want to see him become just like me. All hail Albedo, the great exterminator."

Sunny watched him hesitate, staring down at the button nervously, he looked up at the ceiling as tears began to well in his eyes. She could see the conflict surging within him, how could anyone do something so vicious and then call themselves a hero? Albedo doubled-down on his threat, shouting this time at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking from the emotion in his scream, "I will! I swear it!" he looked between the enemy, the trapped villainous Queen, and his partner in this mission. Still unsure on the choice he should make or why he hadn't made it yet if he truly had the conviction to.

Eon folded his arms across his chest, waiting for the Galvan to make his choice but, relishing in every moment he watched the man squirm, "Then prove yourself, Albedo; what are you, coward or killer?"

In the stillness of the laboratory, time ironically seemed to stand still, each passing moment stretching into eternity. Albedo looked over into Sunny's gleaming purple eyes for the first time, seeing her unspoken pleas hidden in her expression, everything he ever wanted, he saw in her; a peaceful life with someone he loved, maybe a family one day, he never truly got that life with Charmcaster but, a second chance was staring him in the eyes. Those big, beautiful eyes staring back at him, burrowing into his very soul with just her gaze, it wasn't until this moment did he realize the influence she had, and subsequently every human family held over him. He could clearly recall a time where a choice like this would be no choice at all, however, now he could only think of what Ben, Gwendolyn, Jennifer, Lucy, Rook, and all of the others he'd befriended would think of him if he did this.

As he contemplated the weight of his decision, Albedo's gaze flickered with uncertainty, his mind a tempest of conflicting emotions. The red button in his hand beckoned, promising a swift and decisive end to the present threat. Yet, in the depths of his soul, he grappled with the moral implications of such a drastic act.

Suddenly, in that timeless interlude, Albedo made his choice.

Sunny flinched slightly when the box clattered onto the ground at Albedo's feet, landing on its side where he quickly crushed it under his boot, shattering the casing, and sending tiny-parts scattered across the floor. "Coward, any day," Albedo responded with shallow breaths. In that moment, the air seemed to shift, as if exhaling a collective sigh of relief. For Albedo had chosen mercy over destruction, compassion over vengeance. And in the soft glow of the chamber's ambient light, his beloved Sunny's eyes shimmered with unspoken gratitude.

"Clearly," Eon scoffed raising his arms half-way, hands already engulfed in neon-violet temporal lightning, before being reminded of their hostage by a shout from Benji.

The Excalitrix's edge was still firmly pressed against the warm-neck of the Cosmian Queen, Natalia, "Hands by your side or I take her head!" the emerald glow in his eyes brightened as his convicted expression glared into Eon's eyes, letting him know with more than words that he was dead-serious.

Albedo's heart was racing, turning around quickly as he looked over the large wall of machinery, his stare was soon engulfed with twin crimson omni-energy beams cutting into the metal and circuit boards as sparks flew through the air, "NO!" Eon shouted in a rage.

This distraction caused Benji to faulter for only a brief moment but, that was enough for Natalia as one of her wings came up and parried the blade back long enough for her to vanish at faster-than-light speeds, leaving the room in a rush. In reality, Natalia was terrified, standing in the hall not twenty or thirty feet away, clenching her chest with one hand and slowly placing her free palm over the small cut on her neck. Her heart was beating out of her chest suddenly, it was like she couldn't breathe, was this… fear?

Eon quickly noticed her missing, firing beams of accelerated time at Albedo who just barely dodged out of the way, jumping, and landing on the floor in a sprawl at Sunny's feet as she ducked down immediately grabbing his arm to help him up; she quickly took charge of the situation. Leaving Albedo at her feet to recover, her true energy form coming out instead engulfing her skin in dark-purple mana energy, just before Eon could unleash another wave of temporal-acceleration, she acted swiftly firing a tendril which grasped his torso and pushed him across the room about a hundred feet, slamming his back into the wall before dropping him.

As the villain landed on his face, Albedo got to his feet and Benji rushed to stand next to them, holding his Excalitrix at the ready when Sunny placed her glowing hand on his shoulder, dematerializing with all three of them escaping the ship nanoseconds before a beam of neon-purple time energy streaked across where they'd been, striking the wall, and accelerating a massive hole in it leaving a circular hole between rooms.

"Damn it!" Eon had lost, he lost the Potis Altaire, and while his machine was no more, he still had plenty more in store for Ben Tennyson and his team. It was time he took this war up a notch or two.

…

Read, Review, Follow, Favorite!

…