Ben X Chapter 25
Treasure Hunt Arc
Secret Plots Revealed
Ben waited impatiently in the dusty warehouse. His newly dubbed alien form, NightQuill, was meant to impersonate Argit. As such he had to wear the smaller alien's clothing. The plan was for him to pretend to be Argit and make the swap with whatever representative of the Syndicate that would show up. From there he would try to get more information about the organization or their plans, whether through charm or just a good old fashioned interrogation. The meeting was supposed to take place this afternoon, but so far no one had shown up. Ben had little choice but to lean against one of the many boxes that filled the warehouse and simply wait. He opened up the box containing the component that the client was waiting for. It's purpose eluded Ben, although he probably could have figured it out if he were in one of his more intelligent forms. Ben sighed, the boredom and restlessness starting to get to him.
"How much longer?" He whispered into his barely visible ear piece.
"Chill out dude. It's only been a half an hour." Kevin replied back. He was currently stationed in the floor above them, peering out through the sole window at the street below, waiting for someone to approach.
"I still better get my money after this." Argit complained from beside him.
"You're lucky we didn't just let those plumbers take care of you." Kevin retorted. He glanced back out the window. "Wait, I see someone coming, two someones." Kevin said.
Ben straightened up as he heard the door open and close. Two figures emerged from the shadow into the dusty orange light beams shining through the windows. The first was tall and lithe while the second was shorter but seemed to have a more muscular frame. Both of their bodies were obscured by large oversized brown cloaks. The taller of the figures stepped towards Ben and dropped his hood to reveal a Methanosian. The second figure stood off to the side, leaning against a box. Ben narrowed his eyes at the situation.
"Took you guys long enough." Ben complained in his best impression of Argit's high pitched voice.
"Do you have it?" The Methanosian asked, straight to the point.
"Yeah, I've got the goods." Ben showed off the small black container holding the component. "Do you have the payment?" He asked.
"Of course." The plant-like alien responded and nodded to his associate. The other figure produced a briefcase from under his cloak. He stepped forward and set it atop a smaller box before backing away again. Ben stepped forward and made a show of inspecting the contents. He actually was surprised by the amount of money in the case. Argit clearly wasn't lying when he said these people were big spenders. Ben placed the box with the component down and picked up the briefcase, backing away.
The Methanosian picked up the box and inspected the component. His eyes studied the piece intensely. He turned it over in his hands, eyeing it like one would a precious diamond. Finally a sinister smile alighted on his face. He began to chuckle to himself until it grew louder and reached full blown laughter. Perturbed by the alien's actions, Ben decided to speak up.
"So uh, what exactly is that thing anyway? What are you gonna use it for?" NightQuill asked. The Methanosian looked back at the little alien.
"This, is a transformational matrix stabilizer." The plant-like alien answered. NightQuill's face scrunched up in confusion.
"Uh, who with the what now?" He asked. The Methanosian simply scowled.
"It means, you dull-minded simpleton, that I will finally be able to return to my true form!" The alien shouted before throwing off his cloak. Ben gasped as he spotted a red omnitrix symbol on the alien's chest. Before he could say anything the methanosian pressed on the omnitrix symbol causing the device to open up. He inserted the component into the Omnitrix. The device beeped and blinked for a second before the once tall creature transformed in a flash of bright red light. When the light faded it revealed a small gray alien with red eyes and a red suit.
"Albedo!" Ben called out. The small Galvan looked up at Ben who still was wearing Argit's disguise.
"Uh, sorry, do you know me?" Albedo replied. Ben responded by ripping off the orange clothing to reveal his green jumpsuit underneath and the symbol of the Omnitrix displayed prominently on his chest. Albedo growled and narrowed his eyes.
"Tennyson! What are you doing here?!" He asked angrily.
"You're the one behind the Syndicate? Are you looking for the Demiurge Tablet as well?" He accused.
"Of course, why else would I come to a backwater city such as this?" He explained.
"So what's with the crime Syndicate? That's not usually your style?" Ben asked.
"It was a simple matter of gathering enough forces and weapons to storm the Plumber Tower. The best part is that these oafish excuses for Plumbers totally looked the other way so long as I paid them off." He bragged.
"You won't get away with this. I'll stop you right here!" Ben exclaimed
"Hah! Good luck, it's two against one." Albedo threatened as his compatriot began to step forward. Suddenly a large crash was heard from above. Kevin dropped down from the ceiling in a superhero pose, followed shortly by Zed and Argit.
"I'd say it's an even fight!" Kevin called, pumping his fist. The four individuals squared off against each other, staring one another down.
"I don't know who you are dude, but if you're working with Albedo then you're no good." Ben said.
"Oh, you have no idea!" The mysterious figure responded. Suddenly he threw away his cloak revealing himself as the villainous Aggregor.
"Aggregor?! You're working with Albedo?" Ben exclaimed shocked.
"Only for the time being. And now that I have you in my sights, my revenge is at hand!" Aggregor yelled before charging forwards. Ben dodged out of the way as Aggregor struck with his electrified pitchfork.
"Kevin! I've got Aggregor! You stop Albedo!" Ben called out.
"Hah! I'd like to see you best me human!" Albedo shouted as he pressed on his Ultimatrix. A flash of red light and the once small Galvan transformed into an enormous dinosaur like alien. In a moment Kevin was face to face with Ultimate Humongosaur. The hyper-evolved alien lifted his fist. Kevin watched as the alien's fist transformed into a rocket launcher. A salvo of missiles fired from Albedo's hand and rocketed straight towards Kevin. The Osmosian grabbed Zed and jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the ensuing explosion. The heat from the blast still washed over him. Kevin absorbed nearby steel and rushed back into battle.
Nearby, Ben faced off with the newly revealed Aggregor. The Osmosian used his metallic spear to strike at Ben. Electricity sparked dangerously off the tip of the spear which Aggregor wielded expertly. Ben, still in his Night Quill form shot out his poisoned barbs. The sharp quills flew at Aggregor as he deftly deflected them with his staff. The pair chased each other across the warehouse floor. Aggregor tried to close the gap and strike at Ben up close with his spear. Ben on the other hand was desperate to keep the distance between them. He continued to try and shoot Aggregor with his barbs and knock the alien out cold. Ben hopped around from crate to crate, shooting Aggregor from multiple different angles to get through his defenses. Eventually a few of the barbs hit their mark and impaled into Aggregor's flesh. He sagged as he resisted the poison, still shooting arcs of lightining from the point of his weapon. Ben continued to circle around him, flinging his quills at every opening he could find. He had been impaled by at least twenty of the poisoned darts, yet still he resisted. Eventually however, the poison began to overwhelm him and Aggregor began to sink to the ground.
Ben inched closer cautiously as he watched Aggregor begin to falter. But he was surprised when the Osmosian looked up at him with a feral grin on his face. He stabbed his spear into the ground next to him, slicing open a power cable that had laid at his feet. The exposed wires began to spark with electricity. Aggregor grabbed onto the exposed power line with his bare hands. Ben could only watch as the power surged through Aggregor, causing the embedded quills to shoot back out. Aggregor stood, re-energized and the poison burned from his system.
"Hahaha!" He laughed. "You cannot defeat me that easily!" Aggregor taunted. Ben narrowed his eyes. It seemed he would need a more powerful alien form to tackle Aggregor. He pressed down on the omnitrix symbol. An instant later he had transformed into DiamondHead. The crystalline alien shot forth pointed shards of diamond at his enemy. But just like the quills, Aggregor was able to easily deflect them with his spear. But it was a diversion, as Ben came rushing up to him and delivered a savage uppercut to Aggregor's chin. He stumbled backwards from the force of the blow before quickly regaining his footing. The pair then began trading blows. But Aggregor was at a disadvantage. Diamondhead's rock solid body made him impervious to his punches and kicks. Even worse, his electrical powers simply bounced off of the alien's gem-like body. Aggregor growled in frustration, knowing that Ben had the upper hand. Suddenly, Aggregor grabbed Diamondhead's face, his fingers trapping his opponent in place.
"Hey what are you doing?! Ahhh!" Ben shouted in pain as he felt the energy drain from him. Sparks travelled up Aggregor's arms as he began to absorb Ben's alien DNA. Ben grit his teeth desperately trying to throw Aggregor off of him, but his grip was too strong. Ben clenched his fists and in another second a large crystal spike emerged from his chest. The spike dislodged Aggregor from his grip and sent him flying backwards several feet. When he rose from the ground Ben was shocked by his transformation. Green crystal had spread across half of his face and both of his hands had transformed to resemble that of Diamondhead. Aggregor bent down to touch the floor, causing a surge of crystals to erupt from the ground and slam into Ben. The giant diamond formations knocked Ben through the brick walls and onto the street.
The citizens nearby stared in shock as they witnessed Diamondhead skid to a stop against a nearby building. When Aggregor emerged partially transformed the crowd ran away screaming. Ben rubbed his head as he stood, only to witness Aggregor punch him straight in the face with club like crystal limbs. The beatdown began to create cracks in Diamondhead's body before Ben kicked Aggregor away from him. He fired another burst of crystals but Aggregor brought up a shield in front of him. The crystals bounced harmlessly off the shield and when Aggregor looked back he was confused to see that his adversary had disappeared. Aggregor looked around him but could see no sign of Ben.
Suddenly he felt an intense pain as a white hot ball of heat impacted into his side. He jumped back and peered up to see Heatblast peering down at him with a ball of fire held in his hands. Ben threw another fireball and jumped down to street level. Ben continued to mercilessly pummel Aggregor with fiery projectiles. But the Osmosian soon figured out how to erect a wall of solid crystal between him and the endless barrage of fire. He peaked out around the corner and shot off a flurry of crystals at Ben. The crysals thudded into his chest causing him to stumble backwards. His arms went wide and sent a stray gout of flame burning into a nearby building. It soon ignited into a firestorm.
"Crap! Too much potential for collateral damage here. Gotta get this fire back under control." He said to himself. He thrust his hands out and concentrated. The fire soon began to be sucked back towards him before disappearing completely. Ben looked at the destruction he caused, the building appeared badly damaged but thankfully no-one seemed to be inside. But before he could relax too much he felt Aggregor put him in a headlock. Ben thrashed, trying to get the Osmosian to relinquish his grip. Soon he could feel the tell-tale signs of him beginning to absorb his energy. In a burst of heat, Ben dislodged the intruder but it was already too late. Ben turned back to see Aggregor's hair had ignited on fire and his feet had transformed into those of Heatblast's. He laughed maniacally as twin jets of flames from his feet propelled him into the air and he flew off. Ben transformed once again into Cannonbolt and took chase after him.
Back in the warehouse, Kevin and Albedo were still battling it out. Kevin's steel covered body had morphed his hands into large hammers. He swung at Ultimate Humongosaur, deflecting his missiles in mid air. The missiles veered off course, exploding as they impacted the walls of the warehouse. The brick walls began to crumble, the building wouldn't be able to take much more of this. Kevin turned back to his faithful companion, who hid behind a large crate next to a cowering Argit.
"Zed! Get Argit out of here!" Kevin commanded. The alien hound barked before grabbing Argit by the back of his shirt.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" He struggled as Zed dragged him out the gaping hole in the wall.
Once they were out of harm's way Kevin turned his attention back to Albedo. His eyes widened in surprise as he watched Albedo swing his clublike tail at him. Kevin had barely enough time to cross his arms and defend against the brunt of the blow. He skidded backwards before jumping back into the fray. He sliced at Albedo with razor sharpened limbs. But his transformation's thick scaly skin was too tough to damage. Albedo backhanded Kevin and the force sent him crashing into a stack of boxes. Kevin groaned, he felt like he had been hit by a truck. He opened his eyes just in time to see Albedo slam both his fists down on top of him. But luckily Kevin was able to roll out of the way and dodge the attack.
Kevin rebounded and went on the offensive again. With Albedo bent over he was able to jump atop the taller alien's shoulders and had access to his head. Kevin savagely gripped at Ultimate Humongosaur's head with one hand, and with the other he began beating on his skull with a large hammer. Albedo cried out in pain as Kevin continued to wail against his head. The powerful blows were starting to cause bruises. Kevin smiled, he was close to winning. But suddenly Albedo gripped him and tossed him off his body. Kevin landed with a thud on the ground. Before he even had the chance to recover Albedo had kicked him across the room again. He tumbled before managing to regain his footing. He stood clutching his bruised ribs and watched shocked as Albedo rushed him. Albedo delivered a brutal punch that sent Kevin flying straight backwards. He collided with a metal column, bending it into an unnatural position.
With the support beam crumpled, the entire warehouse shook. Albedo looked around to survey the damage and realized it would soon collapse. He looked over to his opponent. Kevin was seemingly unconscious. Albedo smiled to himself before spitting towards him. He exited out of one of the many large holes in the wall they had created. He turned back with a wicked smile. He twisted around and used his tail to smash the remainder of the brick wall. The action caused the unstable building to finally give in and collapse on top of Kevin. The brick and wood crumbled and sent dust flying into the air. Albedo chuckled to himself as he walked away.
A few blocks away Ben and Aggregor continued their battle. Aggregor continued to fly around in the air with his newfound fire powers. From above he threw balls of fire at Ben who rolled around dodging as Cannonbolt. The rotund alien bounced around trying to get elevation to ram into Aggregor. But the Osmosian continually hovered just out of reach. Finally Ben spotted a large cloth banner that hung above a market stall. He rolled forward jumping into the banner and using it as a trampoline. He slammed into Aggregor at full speed and the pair of them were sent crashing down into an apartment building. Ben uncurled himself and walked over to Aggregor who laid stunned. But Aggregor shot a blast of crystal before running off. Momentarily blinded by the darts Ben chased after him. Aggregor ran down the hallway, with Ben rolling along after him.
Aggregor stopped and turned, erecting a large wall of crystal between him and Ben. But Cannonbolt's speed and mass were too great. He crashed through the makeshift barrier and rolled the alien warlord over. The pair of them were sent crashing through another wall and back down to the street below. Aggregor twisted in midair to land on his feet, while Ben landed a few yards away. The pair stared each other down before Aggregor growled and began throwing gouts of flame and volleys of crystal at Ben. Cannonbolt rolled up again, dodging between the blasts and rolling along the sides of buildings. He raced towards Aggregor who was frantically trying to throw up barriers and impede Ben's onslaught.
But he wasn't strong enough, Ben rolled over him, knocking the alien to the ground. Aggregor struggled to regain his footing but each time he was about to stand Ben would knock into him and send him sprawling to the ground again. Aggregor growled in frustration, about to release a massive surge of power. However Ben reached him first. He bounced into the air and landed directly atop Aggregor. The osmosian was slammed back first into the ground. Ben bounced down on him again, deepening the crater. Aggregor blearily looked up into the air to see Ben coming down for a third and final strike. But just before he could land a volley of rockets impacted Cannonbolt. He was sent crashing into a nearby building. Aggregor stood and looked over to see Albedo still in humongosaur form walking out of an alley with his rocket launcher arm raised.
"I don't need your help!" He asserted angrily. Albedo scoffed.
"Please, you were clearly not in control of the situation." Albedo retorted.
"Well now that we have the upper hand I will destroy Tennyson once and for all!" Aggregor said. But Albedo held him in place with one large hand.
"Forget it. We've gotten what we came for. Soon, we'll find the tablet and then with the hammer we can erase Tennyson. Besides, the plumbers will be here soon, and I don't have enough to pay off a situation this large." Albedo tried to reason. Aggregor turned back with a scowl at Ben who was just sitting up. He clenched his fists but relented. The pair of them soon ran off, leaving Ben behind in the midst of destruction.
By the time Ben finally crawled out from underneath the broken debris both Albedo and Aggregor were long gone. Ben looked around him taking in the destruction that the duo of villains left in their wake, and which he had partially caused. Ben sighed in defeat. At least nothing else was on fire. Suddenly Ben remembered that he had left Kevin back at the warehouse. Concern filled him as he realized that if Albedo had gotten away, then Kevin might be in danger. Without a second thought Ben rolled up and navigated his way back to the warehouse. When he arrived he was shocked to see the warehouse collapsed. There was a crowd forming around the debris, but the first thing Ben noticed was a familiar animal pawing at the pile of rubble. Zed was whining and sniffing around the debris pile, scratching at the broken steel and brick.
"Is Kevin under there girl?" Ben asked. Zed whimpered in response. Ben began clearing the broken chunks of wall. Using his large paws he removed the broken stone and bricks. At last he spotted Kevin's prone form lying buried underneath the rubble. Gently, he extricated his friend from his precarious situation. "Kev buddy, talk to me." He said. Kevin stirred and looked at Ben tiredly and confused. Gently he moved off of Ben to stand on his own two feet, Zed standing next to him protectively and making noises of happiness. Kevin reached down to pet her with a smile on her face.
"Sorry, they got away." Kevin said. Ben shook his head.
"Don't be. Besides, I think we're about to have a much bigger problem." Ben said pointing.
It was about this time that an enormous amount of plumbers began flooding the streets. A large helicopter hovered above, and heavily armored officers began to descend. On the ground, the officers piled in on their hover cars. They spread out methodically, apprehending any poor soul unfortunate enough to still be caught near the scene. Ben watched sickened as the officers began aggressively shoving innocent bystanders to the ground, placing them in handcuffs. Some of them started to beat any who would resist. Soon there were entire city blocks that were crawling with Plumber officers that threatened any civilians with their weapons. Ben growled under his breath, intent to shield the bystanders, but he didn't get the chance. In another second he could see Magister Bullgo stomping toward them, an expression of absolute fury on his face.
"You two!" He screamed aloud. "I should have known. I gave you one simple rule! And what do you do? Flagrantly disregard it." Bullgo screamed, his form towering over the both of them. "Now I've got 7 city blocks that are in shambles because of whatever little stunt you decided to pull!" He accused pointing with two of his arms. Cannonbolt glowered back, uninitimidated.
"We were pursuing a lead on dangerous criminals that were looking for the tablet. Those bystanders had nothing to do with the situation. Tell your officers to stand down." Ben said back sternly.
"Those witnesses are all potential suspects until proven innocent." Bullgo retorted sharply.
"That's not how it works." Ben said.
"It is in my city." Bullgo said jabbing a thumb in his chest.
"Your city? Oh we've certainly learned a lot recently about your city and the way you run things." Ben said pointing a finger. "For instance, we've learned that Albedo and the Syndicate have been paying you off to allow him to smuggle weapons into the city." Ben accused. Bullgo had the decency to look stunned by their knowledge. "I wonder how many of the other mafias have you on the take? And I wonder what the Grand Magistrata would think of all this?" Ben threatened. Bullgo was silent for a second, his four eyes narrowing dangerously. But Ben stared back, daring Bullgo to say something. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.
"She'll never find out. Because I'm placing you both under arrest." Bullgo said quickly. Then he suddenly slapped a pair of energy cuffs on both of their hands. Zed began barking dangerously at him.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Ben said. Suddenly he flashed green. Transforming from Cannonbolt into Stinkfly, Ben took to the air, his wings flapping and kicking up large amounts of dust. Bullgo shielded his eyes from the sudden cloud but was able to make out Ben picking up Kevin with his legs and Kevin grabbing Zed in his arms. The trio flew off into the air and Bullgo slammed the ground in frustration.
"After them! I want those three locked up! Priority one! In fact lock the whole city up! I want this city on lockdown! No one gets in or out without my permission! Go go go!" Bullgo ordered furiously. Ben could hear his screams even far in the distance as they flew towards the opposite hemisphere of the city. They needed to find the girls. But unfortunately, escape would not be as easy as it seemed. Kevin looked back to see several plumber vehicles giving chase to them through the air.
"Uh Ben?" Kevin said grabbing his attention. Stinkfly's eyestalks turned around to see the plumbers giving chase.
"Aw man…" He complained. Ben then began to duck and weave between buildings in an attempt to shake their pursuers. But the plumbers trailed them closely, their sirens and lights flashing. Ben shot globs of thick goo at the pursuers. He managed to hit one of the cars directly on the windshield. The vehicle spun out, taking another car with it as they spun to a stop. But three cars still pursued them. Ben turned down a narrow alley intent on escaping them. One of the cars rammed into the alley walls, stuck between the brick buildings. The remaining two cars went over the building and dived down at Ben and Kevin. Ben flew desperately trying to lose their tails but the plumbers inside began firing blasters at them from midair. Stinkfly grimaced and turned another sharp corner, disappearing from the sight of the patrol cars. The plumbers turned the sharp corner, speeding past the street looking for Stinkfly and his passengers. But as they sped down the narrow street there was no sight of him. They sped on, sure that he had managed to fly past them somehow.
Back at the corner however, a large blue alien suddenly materialized from thin air. Big Chill's wings unfurled from around Kevin and Zed as he dropped his invisibility. The trio looked on in the direction of the patrol cars, watching them fade out of sight.
"Looks like we lost them…" Big Chill said in his slow raspy voice. "Come on, we've got to get to Gwen and Julie." He said before taking off again.
By the time Ben and Kevin meet up with the rest of their group, night has fallen over Crater City. The entire city is on red alert, with the Plumbers having instituted martial law. A mandatory curfew has caused almost all of its residents to hide and take shelter inside. Plumbers roamed the streets on patrol, armed to the teeth. It was an unprecedented situation, the Plumbers had never been this aggressive and it had all of the city's residents on edge. What's more was that Ben and his friends were all enemy number one at the moment. Their faces were plastered on floating holographic billboards all over the city. A large reward was promised for any who could turn them in, and a threat of imprisonment for any who were caught harboring them.
It made their options for shelter severely limited. Such as it was, they found themselves in an abandoned and condemned apartment building in the north half of the city slums. The wooden floors creaked and fell away in places. The walls had large cracks running through the concrete. The ground was littered with trash and debris, no doubt from other vagrants. Team Alpha sat inside, taking shelter in what once appeared to be a bedroom. Kevin had set up a trash fire in the center of the room using discarded papers he could gather up and deposit in a steel barrel. The group sat around the fire, comparing notes from their findings. The girls of course were furious to learn that their current situation was mostly their fault, but calmed down once Ben and Kevin explained what actually happened.
"So to recap, Albedo and Aggregor have teamed up to try and get the tablet. They've been working for months under the guise of the Syndicate, a new mafia, to smuggle weapons and amass a group of mercenaries to attack the Plumber Tower. But what makes them so sure the tablet is in there? We searched the bottom of the basement and came up empty. What makes them so sure?" Gwen asked, after the boys had finished explaining.
"Don't know. But maybe the Plumbers here are hiding more than just corrupt payouts. Could be they found the tablet a long time ago and have been sitting on it." Kevin suggested.
"Actually I have my own theory on that. But I won't be able to prove anything until we get back in the tower." Ben said.
"Wait, so you're telling me we're going to have to break back in the tower?" Julie said. "You do realize that the Plumbers are all out for our blood right?" She said incredulously.
"We don't really have a choice. Albedo and Aggregor are planning to break in and we don't know when. So we have to get to the tablet before them." Ben explained.
"We've got another problem too." Gwen said. "I'm pretty sure I sensed Addwaitya's mana here in the city. Julie and I spent the whole afternoon chasing him around but we couldn't catch up to him. It was like he kept teleporting around." Gwen explained. Suddenly Trixie popped up from Ben's Omnitrix.
"It's true, I can confirm that Addwaitya is here. I found him on multiple surveillance cameras throughout the city. It seems like he's searching for the tablet as well." Trixie said. Her hologram changed to show numerous camera angles depicting Addwaitya making his way through the city.
"Man three villains at once? That's gonna be tough." Kevin observed.
"Maybe not…" Ben started. The others turned to look at him. "If we can get them to turn against each other then we might have a better shot of taking them all down." Ben suggested.
"It could work." Gwen agreed. "But how are we going to sneak into Plumber Tower ourselves?" She asked. Ben scratched his head before sighing.
"We'll… have to figure it out in the morning, right now I'm tired and my brain can't think when I'm tired." Ben said.
"It's true, he gets all grumpy hehe." Trixie giggled. Ben grunted in annoyance at the comment but otherwise said nothing.
With that Kevin extinguished the fire. He walked over to Gwen and the pair snuggled up against each other, trying to make themselves comfortable on the hard floor while Zed curled up at their feet. Ben similarly laid down on the floor but he fell asleep easily, having been used to sleeping in odd places due to his time on Hazard. Julie was lucky enough to have Ship wrap around her like a cocoon and give her a sleeping bag of sorts. The group drifted off to sleep, worried about what the coming day would bring.