Ben X Chapter 26
Treasure Hunt Arc
Triple Threat
We find ourselves in the interior of a decrepit building. The walls are cracked and faded. Trash litters the broken floorboards. Addwaitya sits in the center of the room. He levitates above the ground, arms and legs folded into a meditative position. His eyes are closed and expression empty as he floats gently up and down. On the floor below him is an intricately designed circle made with some kind of white material marked upon the ground. Candles of varying lengths are placed about the room and in strategic points in the circle. The light of the candles is all that illuminates the otherwise empty room in the dead of night. Addwaitya chants in a low voice, the constant litany of syllables spilling forth like a river. The air in the room is charged with a low humming energy. Tiny motes of purple light float along in the air. The circle beneath Addwaitya begins to glow slightly.
Addwaitya begins to cast his spell. The magic opening up his senses to the world around him. He can see things beyond him and hidden from him. He can feel flows of energy and power and people surrounding him. He spreads his mind and awareness out, casting an invisible net over the city. The searching spell is difficult to maintain, but Addwaitya has centuries worth of experience and power. His will cannot be denied. The scrying spell will lead him to his goal and with it he will regain his former power and rule once more. But such thoughts are fleeting to him. His mind is focused on nothing but the spell. His mastery of magic is unparalleled. He will turn this city upside down if he has to, so great is his desire. The power spreads out and contracts like a spider drawing in her prey. As he concentrates more and more he feels the object of his desires on the edges of his periphery. It's location becomes clear to him. Addwaitya smiles sinisterly.
Dawn broke several hours ago over Crater City. Ordinarily by this point the mid-morning rush of traffic and citizens would be well underway. Hundreds of aliens would be travelling to and from their jobs, eating breakfast or selling wares on the street. However, today was not like those normal days. The residents of Crater City stayed cowering in their homes, fearful of the brutality of the Plumbers who have placed the city under martial law. The curfew from yesterday night was still well in effect. Those few who still dared to walk around were subjected to searches and harassment. Worse yet, no one was allowed to leave, under guise of aiding and abetting criminals. All communication with the greater galaxy was closely monitored. The city was in the grips of fear. And the question on everyone's lips was: where are the supposed heroes who caused all this?
The pictures of Ben and his compatriots were hung all over town yet no-one had seemed to spot them or know of their whereabouts. Little did the Plumbers know that Ben and his friends were closer than they thought. In fact, at the moment, Ben and Julie were trying to sneak their way into Plumber Tower unnoticed. They were the obvious choice for the mission. Ben transformed into Big Chill while Julie had her stealth mode armor courtesy of her pal Ship. Kevin, Gwen and Zed had little choice but to wait near the tower in disguise while Ben and Julie attempted to bypass the security and sneak in. The plan was simple in theory. All they had to do was make their way through the tower to the Rust Bucket. Once on board they could contact Grandpa Max and inform him of everything that was going on. Then they simply needed to sit back and wait for reinforcements to arrive. But while simple in principle, the actual process of getting in would be more difficult than they anticipated.
Ben flew the pair of them through the walls and into the upper floors of the Plumber Tower. Both Big Chill and Julie landed with their invisibility still intact. Julie swallowed nervously as she saw just how many plumbers were still walking through the halls. With the city on high alert every active officer that wasn't out patrolling was centered in the headquarters. Naturally they couldn't speak to each other but Ben grabbed her hand and directed her forward. They navigated through the long corridors and complex hallways. Their expedition was hampered by the fact that neither of them knew their way around the base very well. Luckily however, both Trixie and Ship were able to link to a terminal and download schematics of the facility. With a newly acquired map to their destination, the pair were able to quickly find their way to the hangar. After that they were able to see the Rust Bucket fairly easily. Unsurprisingly, the ship was surrounded by armed Plumber guards. No doubt they expected the group to try and make their way to the ship again. But they weren't prepared for them to sneak aboard. Ben phased them through the ship's hull and into the cockpit.
"Quick, activate the communication array." Ben whispered as he began pressing buttons on the dashboard. Next to him Julie dropped her invisibility and interfaced with the Rust Bucket's controls. A few minutes passed by in tense silence as they waited for the call to connect. Thankfully Max's face soon popped up on screen. However he was immediately concerned by what he saw on the other end.
"Ben? Julie? What's going on?" He asked.
"Grandpa! The Crater City Plumbers are rotten!" Ben said immediately.
"What?" Max responded incredulously.
"It's true! They've been taking bribes and running extortion scams all over the city. They put the whole city under martial law after I confronted them about it. And what's worse is that they were being paid off by Albedo and Aggregor. Even Addwaitya's in the city somewhere. They're all looking for the tablet and we have reason to believe that the Plumbers have been hiding it somewhere in their headquarters." Ben explained frantically. Max's face hardened as he listened to Ben.
"I'll send reinforcements right away. Be careful you two." Max cautioned before signing off. Ben and Julie shared a collective sigh of relief. They had succeeded in their mission. Now they simply had to wait for backup.
"Freeze!" Shouted a voice from behind them. The pair turned around in shock to see a Plumber officer pointing his blaster at them. Ben and Julie slowly raised their hands. It seemed that they were caught red-handed. The three of them stared each other down, the plumber obviously debating between calling it in or disposing of them himself.
Suddenly a large boom was heard from the other end of the tower. The explosion rattled the entire building and the guard was momentarily distracted. Thinking quickly, Big Chill let out a breath of icy cold air. The guard jumped in surprise as he felt the cold mist envelop him and freeze him in place. He was so shocked that he dropped his blaster. Soon the dirty plumber was encased in ice everywhere except his hands and head.
"Stick around and chill out for a while." Ben hissed as he flew past him, Julie following in hot pursuit. The pair ran to the nearest set of windows. Far far below them they could see a crowd of people exchanging blaster fire. But they were so high above them they looked to be nothing more than ants.
"Guys, what's going on?" Ben asked through his communicator.
"There's a bunch of thugs facing off against Plumber forces down here." Gwen explained over the communicator.
"They're probably just meant to keep the Plumbers busy while Aggregor and Albedo go for the real prize." Ben surmised.
"Speaking of which I can spot him climbing the tower, he's on the opposite side." Gwen responded. Ben turned to Julie.
"Come on, we've got to stop him." Ben told her. Julie nodded resolutely. The pair raced to the opposite side of the tower. They arrived just in time to watch the wall explode inwards in blast of flames and crystals. The pair watched as Aggregror flew in on twin jets of flame. His mutations from earlier still present. Diamondhead's crystal spreading across his face and hands. Heatblast's alien DNA caused him to set his hair aflame. Shortly behind him Albedo crawled in through the gaping hole as Ultimate Spidermonkey.
"Guys, we need you up here now!" Ben called out. But just as he finished speaking Albedo shot a glob of web at him. Big Chill phased through it easily before pressing his Omnitrix symbol. In an instant he had transformed into Bloxx. Ben turned to Julie and spoke to her in a gruff voice.
"Try to keep your distance from Aggregor. Just give me some back up." He ordered. Julie nodded before Ship's armor transformed into her large battle mode. She fired off a multitude of missiles at Aggregor while Ben charged towards Albedo. Bloxx formed a large solid wall between Aggregor, Albedo, and the rest of the base. He effectively isolated them inside this part of the headquarters. He transformed his arm into a cannon and began firing pieces of himself at high speed towards Ultimate Spidermonkey. The evolved alien crossed his arms in front of his face warding off the projectiles. He jumped around the space until landing on the walls. Albedo scaled the walls quickly, continuing to dodge more projectiles that Ben shot at him. Albedo turned his head and spat another glob of webbing at Ben. Ben dodged the shots and moved around the room. The pair exchanged fire like that for several minutes, shooting at each other from floor to ceiling. Finally Albedo got lucky with a few shots. His thick silk globbed up Ben's cannon. Albedo suddenly dropped abruptly from the ceiling continuing to fire webs at Ben. He slammed onto the ground with several of his gorilla like arms. He body slammed into Ben, breaking some of his segmented body parts in the process. Albedo continued to wrap Ben up in thick webbing until he was completely covered. He smiled evilly to himself before quirking an eyebrow in confusion.
A flash of light erupted from within the large silk cocoon. Suddenly the cocoon twisted and stretched. A second later an orange alien form jumped out from the mess of webs. "Top Spin!" Ben shouted as he emerged. His new alien form was orange in color wearing nothing but black briefs. His head was conical in shape and he had wild yellow eyes with spirals for pupils. At each of his joints was a black ball allowing him to rotate his limbs 360 degrees. His fingers and toes ended in sharp claws. His torso and abdomen consisted of overlaping layers and his omnitrix symbol was placed perfectly in his abdomen. Top spin laughed maniacally before his arms began to rotate rapidly. Soon his arms became perfect cyclones of orange causing a great gust of wind to issue forth and blow Albedo backwards so he collided with the wall in a thud. Top spin then twisted his whole body, becoming a fearsome orange tornado which sped directly towards Albedo. His rapidly rotating form impacted against Ultimate Spidermonkey's chest causing him to cry out in pain. He kicked back against the offendor and sent Ben spiralling away. But Ben simply bounced around the room like a top before aiming right back at Albedo.
Nearby Julie was trying her hardest to hold off Aggregor. They exchanged shots of fire, crystals, and missiles. Julie's lasers and missiles were doing a good job of holding Aggregor off but the Osmosian was more experienced than her and was able to quickly close the distance. Julie responded by taking wild swings with her heavy exoskeleton arms. But Aggregor was able to grab her easily. He smiled wickely, intent on draining her and Ship of their energy. But suddenly he was sent flying off of her by a heavy impact. He collided with the wall of Bloxx's barrier, crashing straight through it. Aggregor stood rubbing his head and glared up at Kevin who's steel body had transformed his fist into a massive hammer. Kevin smirked back at him.
They charged at each other, Aggregor wielding a crystal sword and Kevin with his hammer. But their fight was overshadowed as a large explosion rang out. On the other side of Bloxx's crumbling wall Gwen somersaulted backwards looking up to see Addwaitya fly in through the hole following her. Gwen responded by hurling bolts of energy at him. Addwaitya brought up an energy barrier, nullifying Gwen's mana blasts. He chanted a spell under his breath before raising his hands. All around him purple lances of energy began to take form. He launched them forward with a wave of his arm. The spears of energy raced down and embedded themselves in the floor, narrowly missing Gwen who dodged nimbly between them.
"You're never getting that tablet Addwaitya!" Gwen called out.
"I know that the tablet is here! I just need to get rid of you annoying pests before I claim my prize!" Addwaitya shouted back.
The battle inside the Plumber's Tower was growing large and chaotic. Ben and Albedo were still battling it out all over the upper floors. They crashed through walls with no regard, their fierceness engulfing their battle. Away from them Kevin went up against Aggregor. The pair of Osmosians duked it out wielding similar powers. But Aggregor thought he had the advantage, having absorbed some of Ben's alien energy and duplicating their powers. However, Kevin knew the truth. He knew that absorbing the Omnitrix's DNA like that would cause Aggregor to lose it. Absorbing energy inevitably made them both crazy, but Kevin had a lot more experience with the Omnitrix than Aggregor. He knew that he only had to wait for Aggregor to inevitably get sloppy and drop his guard, then he would seize his moment to attack. Gwen meanwhile, put her magical skills up against those of Addwaitya. Battling him directly she could tell there was a reason that Addwaitya was the first ruler of Ledgerdomain. His magic was powerful and he had centuries of experience on her. It was all Gwen could do to defend against his attacks, much less counterattack. A small part of her thought back to Charmcaster. Looking back it was incredible that her new-found friend was able to defeat Addwaitya by herself. Her competetive side reared its head and Gwen found a new resolve to fight against him. Their individual battles echoed throughout the building.
"What in the four suns is going on in here!" Bellowed a voice from the staircase. Julie whipped around to find Magister Bullgo standing bewildered with a retinue of Plumber officers behind his back. "You!" He called pointing at Julie. "You and your friends did this! You're all going to pay! Attack!" He commanded. The platoon of soldiers behind him spread out and began firing into the air trying to hit any of the combatants.
"Oh no you don't!" Julie said before turning and standing tall with missile launchers and lasers at the ready. Julie began blasting at the approaching plumbers. She had Ship turn down the intensity of their firepower as to not seriously hurt them. But it seemed the plumbers were not extending the same courtesy. They took aim at Ship's large armor form. However Ship's advanced intelligence allowed them to deflect or dodge their incoming fire. But it seemed that Bullgo took offense to having his men treated like little more than toys. He charged at Julie swinging his four fists wildly through the air. Julie crossed her arms in front of herself blocking the onslaught of punches. She raised cannons on her shoulders blasting Bullgo backwards from the force of the blast. She followed up with strikes of her own continuing to make him stumble backwards. She punched and kicked at the muscle bound alien. Ordinarily a Tetramand would tower over her, but with Ship's enlarged armor she stood face to face with the alien. Her punches and kicks were enhanced by the mechanical exoskeleton and caused Bullgo to grunt as he took the bruises. Finally though he had enough. He disengaged for a moment to grab four red glowing stun batons from his back. He smiled wickedly as he spun the tasers and advanced on her. Bullgo swung the batons rapidly, his extra arms giving him a strong advantage. Julie could do nothing but try to back away from the electric shocks damaging Ship's armor. Each shock made her stumble and twitch as the armor reacted painfully. But Julie grit her teeth and kicked Bullgo in the chest. She raised her arms and fired Ship's entire arsenal on Bullgo. The lasers scorched his skin. The missiles exploded in his face. The projectiles bounced agonizingly against his flesh. Soon the combined impacts overtook him and Bullgo fainted to the ground.
Julie had scarcely any time to enjoy her victory as the remaining plumber officers continued to swarm the tower and fire on her friends. She chased after them even as she could still hear the impacts from the other battles. A floor above her Ben continued to chase after Albedo as Top spin. Albedo had switched to the form of XLR8 but even his speed in these crowded corridors was matched by Top Spin's tornado like twisting body. Soon enough, Ben caught up with Albedo and his razor sharp buzz saw body began slicing into him painfully. Albedo dashed away clutching the tear wound. He turned around and in another second transformed into Snare-Oh. The familiar mummy like alien extended his tendrils. He purposefully let Ben's spinning form become tangled in his paper like limbs. The spinning alien was soon wrapped entirely by the bandages. Albedo raised his arms tossing Ben into the wall and causing him to crash through it. He rolled to a stop and raised his eyes. Nearby he could see Gwen shielding herself from Addwaitya's magic spells. Ben sighed, his body sore from the fight. He lifted his head to call out to Gwen.
"This one's going to be tough." He noted.
"Gee ya think?" Gwen shot back. "It's even worse that they have the advantage. They know where the Tablet is and we still don't have a clue!" She said.
"Actually, I might have a pretty good idea of where it is." Ben noted.
"You do?" Gwen asked surprised.
"Yeah, but I can't get to it as long as all of these guys are here." He complained.
"I just don't get why they haven't attacked each other. I mean only one of them can use the hammer." She said. Ben's eyes widened with an idea.
"Gwen you're a genius!" Ben shouted as he stood.
"Hmph, thanks for finally taking notice." She commented wryly.
"We just need to get them to focus on each other. I'll go let Kevin in on the plan and you get to work on Addwaitya." Ben stated. Gwen nodded her agreement as Ben sped off to go tell Kevin. He twisted over to Kevin who had just delivered a brutal right cross to Aggregor. He sent the villain flying into the white walls. Kevin cracked his steel knuckles and stalked toward Aggregor. He was paused though as Ben caught up to him. He turned to him as Ben caught his breath.
"Turn them against each other. I'll go work on Albedo." Ben offered with little explanation. But Kevin caught the gist of his plan. So he turned back towards Aggregor who was just now getting up with a groan.
"Hey chump!" He called out derisively. "What are you doing with that weakling Albedo anyway? Surely you haven't gotten that pathetic?" Kevin taunted. Albedo scowled scornfully at him.
"He said he could help me find the Demiurge. It was a simple contract. He stated he had no interest in the relic." Aggregor stated.
"Hah! And you believed him? Dude he's gonna steal that tablet right out from under your nose and leave you hung up to dry." Kevin laughed. Aggregor turned white for a second before his rage brought his face flush with red once again. He could feel his blood boiling with anger as the idea of Albedo's betrayal hit his mind. Aggregor stormed off, fire igniting from his feet as he went to chase down Albedo.
Elsewhere Ben kept Albedo busy by dodging his attacks and taunting him. "Hey Albedo! Why did you team up with Aggregor anyway? You had to have known he was going to betray you!" Ben shouted. Albedo had transformed back into Ultimate Humongosaur and paused his artillery fire.
"Ha nice try Ben." He retorted. "But my intelligence is too advanced to fall for your simple ruse. You're trying to turn us against each other. But it won't work on me!" Albedo said confidently pressing his thumb to his chest.
"Maybe it won't work on you but I have a feeling it'll work on somebody else." Ben stated smugly. Albedo raised an eyebrow in confusion before Aggregor burst through the floor beneath them.
"Traitor!" He yelled angrily. Without warning Aggregor attacked Albedo with a wild ferocity. He swung his diamond covered arms like swords trying to slice the galvan in two. Luckily Ultimate Humongasaur's skin was thick and resistant to the diamond hard edges. But the rapid attacks angered him enough to cause him to strike back with vicious intensity. The pair of villains angrily tumbled together trying to subdue one another. Ben watched the sight amused. It looked like one of those fights he would see in cartoons. But his attention was drawn as he looked back to see Addwaitya floating through the open central room. Ben smiled to himself, phase 2 of his plan was about to commence.
"Hey uh guys?" He called out over the clamboring of his rivals. Albedo and Aggregor paused from their grudge match to look up angrily at Tennyson. Ben pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "I think you still have some competition." He said gesturing to Addwaitya. Both of the villains turned their attention to Addwaitya and scowled. They each rose from the floor and charged into the central floor of the tower.
"Aaaaggghhh!" They both screamed as they charged the mystic alien. Addwaitya was taken by surprise from the attack. He had no time to react before he was tackled by the two other villains. From that point on it was a three way brawl to see who would reach the tablet first. Albedo shot rockets from his fist. Aggregor fired bursts of crystal and gouts of fire at his opponents. Addwaitya chanted powerful spells and threw balls of explosive mana at the other two. As the group of villains duked it out, Ben was joined by the rest of his team who stared in bewilderment. Ben turned to look at his comrades.
"Make sure they stay busy with each other, I'm gonna see if I can get that tablet." Ben ordered.
"But how do you even know where it is?" Gwen asked confused.
"Let's just say I'm following a hunch." Ben offered with little explanation. He then spun away to the center of the room. Raised above the floor in a glass display case surrounded by planters was the meteorite that formed Crater City. Ben transformed from Topspin into Armodrillo. Using his large mechanical fists he shattered the glass surrounding the large hunk of space rock. He gripped the meteorite with one hand and with the other hand began jack hammering into it. His sharp drills easily bored through the rocky exterior of the meteorite. Behind him he could just barely make out the confused and concerned voices of his friends over the sound of his drill. But Ben ignored them. He was certain he was right about this. In another minute he heard a distinct snap and he pulled away from the meteorite, his drill hands reverting to normal. Ben looked down and cleared away the rubble from his destruction. There, sitting in the center of the meteorite was a large stone stablet engraved with ancient pictographs and ancient alien language. Ben delicately picked up the stone tablet and held it over his head triumphantly.
"Guys I got it!" He shouted proudly. He revelled in the confused and flabbergasted expressions on his friends faces. Unfortunately his declaration caught the attention of his foes who paused in the midst of their battle to look up at him.
"Uh-oh…" Ben said under his breath.
"He's got the tablet! Get him you fools!" Albedo shouted. Suddenly the three villains charged forth at them. Kevin, Gwen, and Julie formed a barricade in front of Ben, intent on stopping the evil doers from reaching him. Addwaitya shot bolts of electric magic at the trio while Gwen brought up a magic shield over them. Aggregor slammed on the barrier with fists made of crystal. Albedo fired missiles from his fists which were perfectly countered by Ship's own arsenal. Kevin reached through the barrier to punch Aggregor in the face with his steel fist. The battle raged on again as the villains tried desperately to reach Ben and the tablet.
For his part Ben was torn between wanting to help his friends and the rational choice to escape with the tablet. He took a step towards them but was rebuked by Gwen. "Go get the tablet out of here! We'll hold them off!" She said. Ben clenched his fist but decided to trust his friends. He took off with the tablet gripped under one arm. His heavy footfalls echoed through the marble hallways. But his escape was not to be. Albedo saw Ben's attempt at escape and transformed into Ultimate Cannonbolt. He curled up into a ball and rapidly rolled over Ben. The hero grunted in pain as the sharp spikes of Ultimate Cannonbolt's body prodded into him. Albedo slammed into Ben causing him to lose his grip on the tablet. The stone tablet slid across the smooth metallic floor.
"Get the tablet!" Gwen called out as she watched Ben fumble to the floor. But her cry alerted their enemies as well. It suddenly became a mad dash to reach the tablet before the others. Kevin and Gwen stumbled over each other as they tried to stop Aggregor from getting past them. Julie tried firing her weapons at Addwaitya who was in the lead. But the mutated alien teleported away at the last second. In a flash he appeared over the tablet, picking it up with his clawed hands.
"Hah! The tablet is mine!" He prounounced as he studied the ancient inscriptions.
"No!" Aggregor screamed. He suddenly launched himself forward with jets of fire from his feet. He rocketed forward and slammed into Addwaitya causing him to drop the tablet. Aggregor picked the tablet from the floor and tried running away with it. Albedo saw this and tried to stop him. He curled up into a ball and spun rapidly expecting to move forward. However he was confused as he felt himself spinning in place. Albedo uncurled and was surprised as he was enveloped in a tight bear hug. Armodrillo had kept Albedo in place and threw him against a wall. Albedo groaned as he saw Aggregor become gripped by Julie's powerful armor. Aggregor gasped in pain as she twisted his arm and caused him to drop the tablet. But he shot a powerful burst of flame from his good hand and caused Julie to retreat from him. Aggregor weighed his options. Gwen and Kevin were both at the ready while Julie had backed up with the tablet in hand. Ben was still busy with Albedo while Addwaitya had finally recovered from his attack.
"No matter…" Aggregor chuckled. "I have already seen enough of the tablet to know my next destination." He said still gripping his arm.
"As have I…" Addwaitya said before floating in the air and teleporting away.
"You're not getting away Aggregor!" Kevin said.
"Just try to stop me!" He replied and shot a wall of flame between them.
"Aggregor! We had a deal!" Albedo cried out from his prone position.
"Yes we did. And now it seems our contract is complete. Hahaha!" He laughed as he took off. Kevin tried to follow him through the flames but was too late. Albedo scowled as his traitorous partner took off but he was distracted as Ben stood over him. Armodrillo's metal fist was the last thing Albedo saw.
Several hours later the chaotic battle that had engulfed Plumber Tower was finally over. Crater City was starting to go back to normal. Reinforcements from the other Plumber bases had arrived on scene. They had apprehended any of the Syndicate's forces that remained behind. But most importantly, under Max's order, they arrested all of Crater City's plumber force, including Magister Bullgo. Ben's team stood in the hangar watching as the Tetramand was restrained and loaded onto a prisoner transport. Max stood with hands on hips in front of the group.
"Good job team! I'm proud of all of you." He said.
"But Grandpa, both Addwaitya and Aggregor got away. And they both know the location of the Hammer!" Gwen said concerned.
"True but you also took down a city wide conspiracy of corruption and captured Albedo." Max said gesturing to the Galvan who was being placed on a separate prisoner transport.
"Besides," Ben spoke up. "We're the ones holding the tablet. Those other two only got glances at it. Maybe they won't remember everything." Ben supplied hopefully.
"I still don't get it, how did you know the tablet was inside the meterorite?" Kevin asked.
"Well, once Albedo confirmed that they were after the tablet too and that they were planning on raiding the tower, I figured the tablet must have been somewhere inside. And since we thoroughly inspected the bottom of the crater and found nothing, I realized that the meteorite was the only other place that would have matched the clue." Ben said presenting his reasoning.
"Wow, Ben used his brain for once. Color me impressed." Gwen teased. Ben scoffed and simply handed her the tablet for her to read through. Gwen studied the inscriptions, taking a moment to translate the ancient language in her head. Once she finished her eyes widened nervously.
"Uh guys, we have a problem." Gwen said. The group's eyes turned to her concerned.
"What's the matter?" Ben asked. Gwen pointed to the tablet.
"According to these inscriptions, the Demiurge Hammer is located on a planet in Incursean space…" She said gravely. Max hummed thoughtfully.
"This is a pickle. We can't use official channels to request acess for the Plumbers. If the Incurseans even get a whiff of there being a superweapon in their midst then they'll stop at nothing to get at it." Max explained. "We'll have to sneak past their borders unnoticed and try to retrieve the Hammer first. That means we can't use any standard Plumber vessels." Max said. Besides him Ben sighed.
"And that means I have feeling I know who we're gonna be catching a ride with." Ben said tiredly.
Albedo sat alone inside the prisoner transport. His hands and feet were restrained and his Ultimatrix was deactivated. His only solace was that they let him keep the stabilizer for his Ultimatrix. That allowed him to keep his galvan form instead of the form of the insufferable teenage brat. He sighed before a bright light caught his attention. He turned his head to see a swirling portal and a translucent figure step through it. Albedo narrowed his eyes.
"You again. Of course, I should have seen it sooner." Albedo said.
"From what I hear, hubris has always been your biggest weakness." No-one replied. Albedo scoffed.
"So I take it you're here to get rid of me." Albedo reasoned.
"In a manner of speaking…" No-one trailed off.
"I suppose it's only my own fault. I should have seen through your ploy sooner." Albedo said standing up on the bench to face No-one.
"Yes, such a shame." No-one replied. He held a hand out and the interior of the space was filled with blinding light. When the prisoner transport finally arrived at it's destination the guards were surprised to see their prisoner had disappeared without a trace.
A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting yall. Not sure I totally like some of my writing here but it's good enough.