"Dear Mr. Ben 10, I don't have a home now. I have to work double-time at the factory. And it's all your fault. I finally found something I hate more than war. You."
Probity recorded her farewell message for her once-beloved hero as she strode along a former battlefield, hoping to find something valuable among the ruins. Her little pet, Grotto, was diligently following her, as he always did.
She wasn't sure if Ben 10 would even see this message, but she was hoping he would. He had to know how awful he was. Probity had been dreaming of a peaceful Lursit ever since she was born, and after Ben 10's visit, that seemed impossible.
"Hey, what's this?" – she asked herself as she saw something in a crater up ahead. It looked like a chest. Maybe there would be provisions inside. She climbed down, and Grotto followed her. But as she opened the box, even her wildest dreams were exceeded.
The box was filled to the brim with valuables. Precious jewelry, coins, even taydenite… She had heard of taydenite as money from beyond the stars, but never actually thought she would ever be holding any in her hand. She was so happy that she couldn't help but let it all out by the only way a child could.
Probity laughed and laughed as she ran her hands through the valuables, picking them up and letting them pour back into the box from her fingers, throwing them up into the air where they landed all around her in the crater…
Probity was overjoyed. She couldn't even remember when was the last time she had even laughed, because there was nothing in her life that would warrant laughing. She lost her parents a couple months ago, and now, she had lost her home. She had a single meal on good days, and went hungry the rest. The only nice thing in her life was Grotto, and he usually went hungry just like she did.
But now, all of that would change. For them, and for everyone in her city. She wouldn't have to work at the factory anymore. With all this money, everyone she knew would afford food and clothes and warmth.
But not the Major. She mustn't let him find out about the treasure. If he did, him and his stupid monocle would just spend it all on weapons and other things for war. And she hated war, no matter what.
So, she spent the entire day burying that chest in the crater she found it in, so that she'd be the only one that could find it, and not the Major or any of the soldiers. She'd take it with her, little by little. As she kept working her hands, burying the box in the dirt, she could already imagine how much she'd be able to eat tonight. But she had to think of others, too. Grotto understood what she was doing and helped her dig the ground with his stubby legs.
"Thanks, Grotto. Come on." – she said as she pet him, and he rubbed his head against her hand. She hid a purse of coins and a couple jewels in her clothes and went back to the city, exhausted. As she did, she looked up to the skies, where Ben 10 had descended from, and where he had returned. If only she hadn't sent that message to him. All he did was make matters worse. The Red and Blue Majors called a temporary truce to drive him off the planet, but after he left, the war was worse than ever, and her people were suffering like never before. But not tonight.
"Come on, Albedo, we need to keep moving!"
"Easy for you to say, Tennyson! You're not the one stuck with these stubby little fat feet!"
"Yeah, well, at least you're not carrying an unconscious person with you, are you?"
"If only Universe had transformed into something more useful, we wouldn't need to be running away.
"Prrrrr… I'm the one that put Probity to sleep, Albedo."
"And now she's dead weight. Terrific plan from you two."
"Shut up, Albedo, Pesky Dust was the way to go. She's not some evil bad guy we need to punch out, she's obviously just… misguided by the war that tore the planet apart."
"Well, what in the name of Galvan Prime is taking her so long?"
"She's reliving who she was and… mmrrrrrr… how she came to be like this, Albedo. I want to get through to her."
"Gee, and where was this lenience on me when you and Azmuth threw me into Incarcecon?"
"YOU TRIED TO TAKE OVER AZMUTH'S BRAIN AND GALVAN PRIME!"
"You know how it is. No coin, no soup. I'm sorry." – the line cook told an old man. That was the harsh reality – a lot of the impoverished civilians no longer had a source of income, so they were just counting down days until they ran out of money. This old man just had his, and now could only hope on the kindness of others to not starve. He looked at the pot full of cheap soup with saddened eyes.
"You know I can't be giving out freebies, Doran. I barely have anything left over to feed my own family." – the line cook told him. And the old man just hung his head low and turned away.
This was it. This was Probity's chance to help someone. To help everyone. "Stop!" – she yelled as she ran up to the line cook. "I'll pay for his." – she said as she triumphantly pulled out a jewel from her sleeve and gave it to the line cook.
That came as quite a shocker to everyone standing behind her, too. They started eyeing her, and the jewel.
The line cook examined it closely. "Where did you get this, Probity?"
"Does it matter?" – she asked him, waiting if he'd accept it.
"Hm… I'm going to be honest with you, I don't even have enough money to give you your change." – he then told her.
"Well, that's okay. I'll use it to buy for everyone!" – she joyfully told him. She looked behind her, and they all had happy looks about them, too.
"If you say so… But Probity…" – the cook lowered his voice so only she could hear. "You should hold onto the money for yourself. You could eat for days. You wouldn't have to work the extra hours." – he reminded her to look after herself.
"Don't worry about me, worry about everyone else here!" – Probity simply answered. Other people started joining the line, too, when they heard what was going on.
Probity was overjoyed. She was helping people now. And she went on to do it several times over. The food lines weren't the only places she was generous at. She made back and forth trips every day to bring more money, and she had all day for it now, since she no longer had to work at the factory. She gave some coins to a homeless mother and child. She bought medicine for a sickly man who was worried that he would lose his job at the factory if he turned in sick, but couldn't afford a doctor. She saw a kid her age freezing outside, wearing rags made from old bags, and gave him money to buy normal clothes. All this before she even bought a pair of shoes for herself. She did all of these good things that the war could never accomplish, that wouldn't need to be done if the war had never started in the first place.
But her charity didn't go by unnoticed.
"So…" – Major Blue said, twiddling his mustache. Probity was sitting in his office, and looking around. It was like they were worlds apart. The office was decorated with gilded decanters and goblets. The furniture around her was expensive and comfortable. Everything was clean and tidy, even the Major's clothes. And in the middle of it was Probity, filthy, barefoot and wearing what barely counted as clothing to begin with. Grotto was curled up under her chair, warily looking at the Major.
"…Word out in the Capitol is that you've been helping people, Probity." – the Major said and adjusted his monocle. "That you've been paying for their food, clothes, medicine."
"Yeah." – Probity hesitantly nodded.
"Look here." – he said as he struggled to pick up a thick, heavy book, and brought it in front of her, open to a specific page. "I want you to read this part right here."
"I… I can't read, sir." – Probity admitted.
"How come?" – Major Blue inquired.
"The school was bombed last year and you still haven't rebuilt it." – she told him.
"Yes, well… you know how hard it is, with the war and everything…" – the Major shifted the topic. "This is the Great Book of Zavin. You know of Zavin, of course?"
"Yes." – she nodded. Everyone knew Zavin. His statue towered over the desert, visible from both cities… it used to, until Ben Tennyson came to visit.
"Well, these are Zavin's Fifty Laws. They are the principles by which we must lead our lives, as people and as citizens." – the Major went on. "And Law 47 states that when a citizen comes across something that could help the state, it is their duty to do so."
"But I have! I've been giving it all away!" – Probity pointed out.
"Yes, yes, but… You've been doing it wrong."
"I have?"
"Don't get me wrong, it was incredibly generous of you to hand the money out, but there are others that need it more. Do you have any idea how much that money could have helped us in the war? The weapons we could make, the soldiers we could feed? It could have been the very push we needed to finally get an upper hand on those Red ingrades!"
"I… see." – Probity hung her head low. She had been right all along.
"Glad that you do. I hope you'll understand if I ask you of whatever it is that you have left? Of course, we won't let you or your, uh, pet here go hungry, and you'd be doing your country a great service."
"I'm sorry, but this is all that I had left." – Probity told him as she took a pouch half-full of coins and put it on his desk. "I gave the rest of it away."
The Major immediately grabbed the pouch and greedily looked into it. "That's it, is it? I expected more. Well, if that's all… you can go now." – he dismissed her. "Wait!" – he then said, making her turn back. "You haven't… contacted Ben Tennyson again, have you?"
"Why would I? He's the worst!" – Probity said. She had no reason to call for him. Not when she could do good herself.
"Good girl." – he told her.
The next few days, Probity didn't go to her stash of money. She knew that the Major had someone following her to see if she lied about giving all of it away. If he had any idea… Well, she had to go hungry those days, not even being able to afford food for herself of Grotto, but eventually, she noticed that the soldier that would tail her was gone. He was probably more needed on the battlefield, anyway.
But Probity still didn't dare resume what she did before. The Major had caught onto her, and next time he would take all of it. She was sitting on a box of money and couldn't use it to help her own people. Maybe she should hand it over to the Major after all… but what would that achieve? Fund the never-ending war? Killing more Reds? Bombing more schools? She didn't even know what was so wrong with The Reds anyway, no matter what the Major said. She had seen them from up close during the very brief ceasefire that Ben Tennyson had managed to bring, and they didn't seem all that different from the Blues. They didn't look like they wanted to fight, either. It was probably Major Red that forced them to.
And then she had an idea. If she couldn't help the Blues with her money under Major Blue's nose, the least she could do was go over to the other side and help the Reds. They were also starving and sick and homeless, weren't they? They had to be. She didn't consider it abandoning her own people, because to her, any lursitvel was her own people. That was the point of a peaceful Lursit, wasn't it?
"Alright, I got exactly what you need. That is, if a kid like you can actually pay. And this stuff's not cheap, either." – the off-worlder told him.
Probity showed him a jeweled necklace. "Is this enough?"
"Boy, is it!" – he said as he greedily grabbed it. "Consider yourself a Red. You, and your weird little thing." – he said about Grotto.
She had seen him before – he would usually gather up whatever he could get his hands on, then resell them from one side to another. And he was a friend of Ben 10's, too. He had nothing to do with Lursit or its war, except for the money that was in it. And to Probity, that made him no better than either of the Majors. But he was the person she could turn to.
"Okay, I got a Red set of clothes, even though they might be a bit big for you, and I can get you a fake citizen's card no problem. But what you're gonna need is this." – Argit showed her a can full of a red substance. He put his thumb in it, then rubbed a little bit it on Probity's face. "Well, aren't you the cutest?" – he asked as he pinched his cheek. Probity just stared at him and didn't respond.
"Look. With this dye you'll look indistinguishable from a Red." – Argit said as he showed her her face in a hand mirror. The part where he pinched her was painted red. "This is the stuff the Blues use to spy on the Red side. Don't worry, it doesn't wash off in water, so your secret won't be revealed when it starts raining."
"If it doesn't wash off, how do am I supposed to get it off?" – Probity said as she rubbed her own cheek to see how it felt. It was like the substance had seeped into her skin.
"For that, you'll need this." – Argit told her as he pulled out a tiny flask from a drawer. He dabbed a tiny bit on his hand and pinched her cheek again, rubbing it in. This substance had a very strong, very unpleasant smell to it, making her grimace.
While they weren't talking, the sounds of gunfire and explosions were faintly heard from outside Argit's bunker. Though, Probity was so used to it that it got filtered out as white noise.
"Voila, you're blue again." – Argit showed her her face. Her cheek was even bluer from how hard Argit had pinched her.
"Thank you." – she told him and held her hand out for the flask, but Argit drew his back.
"Ah!" – he said, shaking his head. "This little bottle isn't a part of our deal. It costs extra." She had to have more valuables on her. He knew it.
Probity groaned as she gave him a pouch of coins.
"Pleasure doing business with ya!" – Argit carelessly tossed the flask to her, which Probity struggled to catch. "Hey, by the way, kid…" – the then asked suspiciously. "Where did you get this thing?" – he asked while eyeing the necklace. It looked familiar. He was sure of it. He never, ever forgot anything valuable that had passed through his hands.
"Um… Ben 10 and his friends gave it to me!" – she told him. She had to come up with a reason that wouldn't make him want to pursue her. And she didn't realize that this technically wasn't even a lie.
"Is that right? Was it the big one, the one that looks like someone put the periodic table in a churn and cranked the dial up to 11?"
"Uh-hum." – she nodded. She had no idea what that meant.
"Levin…" – Argit said angrily as he gripped the necklace. "Well, what are you still waiting for, go on out!" – he told her as he handed her all her stuff.
Now, Probity's life began as a Red. At first, she was anxious. There was a bunch of stuff that she had heard about them and how much worse they were, stuff like how they ate pets like Grotto or how they beat up little girls. But she knew that was just the Major lying so that the Blues would hate the Reds, to keep the never-ending war going.
Her first day living among the Reds was less eventful than she realized. She used some of her money to buy a single-room house so that she could have her privacy whenever she wasn't pretending to be a Red, but beyond that, all of her money was dedicated to helping people.
But she couldn't do it the way she did in the Blue Capitol. Major Red would do the same thing the Blue one did. No, she had a plan.
She still remembered her days working at the clothing factory. There were a lot of poor people there, just like her, that had to do heavy labor in order to not starve. And even then, they would barely get anything unless they worked a double shift. That was why Probity's hands would hurt constantly, too. But that terrible time also gave her an idea on what to do next.
If she had her own factory, she would have an entire group of workers that she could help. She'd be giving them money so they could live better, and the Major wouldn't be able to do anything about it. It was probably unheard of for a child of her age to own her own factory, but if she paid for it, they'd allow her. And she wouldn't have any problem running it. She's worked every station at the clothing factory, and probably knew how it worked better than her old boss.
The problem was to find out where would a little girl even go about with buying a factory. It's not like there was an open market for them. And for that, she had to turn back to one of her least favorite people.
"You want a WHAT?" – Argit said, surprised. He gave her a suspicious eye. "How do you have enough money for THAT?"
"Can you do it or no?"
"Yeah. Yeah, for a finder's fee, I can do anything." – he told her, but eyed her down suspiciously. "But you're gonna have to tell me where it comes from."
Probity was worried. He could follow her to the money and take it from her if he knew that she was all alone. She had to tell a lie that was so bold that even Argit would turn away.
"I'm a spy, okay?" – she finally told him. "For the Blues. Nobody would expect a little girl like me to be a spy, right? But if you tell my secret, the Major will get you!" – she intimidatingly told him. Or, at least, tried to.
"Aw, you're cute when you're threatening." – he said, smiling. But she could tell that the threat worked, too. Now he wouldn't question where she got her money.
"Okay, we're safe in here." – Ben said as the three, well, four if you included an unconscious Probity, locked themselves in a large room with a thick metal wall. It didn't seem to have any other entrances and could lock from inside. Ben put Probity down as she curled up sleeping, troubled by the ghosts of her past, still under the effect of Steven's Pesky Dust transformation.
"Hurry up! We don't have until the heat death of the universe!" – Albedo yelled at Steven.
"Albedo, calm down!"
"Easy for you to say. When they shoot at you, you can conjure a shield or a bubble to protect yourself. I have no such luxuries. I can't even use my ability to transform because of Azmuth's infernal inhibitor!"
"You're literally in Steven's body. You should also have all the powers Steven has!" – Ben pointed out.
"I…" – Albedo stuttered, then the realization hit him. He pulled his shirt up to see his belly button gem, which in Albedo's case was crimson red.
"Okay, shield!" – Albedo yelled, trying to summon it. "Come on!" – he said while straining. "At least give me a bubble!"
"Is that what you were like at that age?" – Ben whispered to Steven while Albedo kept making faces like he was trying to pass gas.
"I hate to admit it, but… rrrrrrrr… pretty much." – Steven's Pesky Dust replied. "I don't think I had unlocked my abilities at that age." – he added.
"Then how am I supposed to do it?" – Albedo-Steven whined.
"If you keep saying you're smarter than us, you figure it out!" – Ben snapped.
"Well, my powers arrrrrre tied to my emotions… and I learned to conjurrrrrrre the shield and the bubble when I was trying to protect others, not myself." – Steven explained.
"Yeah, he's doomed." – Ben shook his head.
"Well, this place hasn't turned me a profit in three years, so are you sure you'll take it? You're just a kid, anyway. How do you plan to do it?"
"I've worked in one all my life. I know pretty much all there is to it."
"How to work the machines, maybe. But can you even count past 5?"
"I can count for your payment, that should be enough for you."
"Yeah, yeah. You're the one that'll drive it into the ground instead of me now. Unless those Blue monkeys blow it the hell up, anyway." – he commented.
Ignoring the last part, he had a point. She needed an education. School was out of the question, now that she had a factory to run. She would have to get textbooks and study up on her own.
The next day, she saw it all put into motion. People started clocking in. And they were working for her. She was going to have to introduce herself to them. She knew that working for a little girl was going to be crazy for them, so she prepared for it by wearing boosted shoes to make her seem taller and a fume-protecting mask to hide her face.
"Everyone." – she stepped out into the main area. She felt like a different person altogether. Everyone in the building was now working for her. At her disposal. That had never happened to her before. She had gotten used to being powerless. But now, everyone was looking up to her, willing to do what she told them, and in turn, she would have to provide them with money. "I'm the owner now. I'll make sure you're all looked after. First thing I'm doing is increasing your pay."
"How much?" – one of the workers asked.
"I, um… I haven't decided yet."
With that, everyone went back to work, having little care for novelties. There was work to be done if they wanted to see that money. She knew the frantic hurry that they were in.
The factory's owner was right. There was much more to running a factory than just knowing how the machines work. Now she had to figure out how to manage money. And actually manage, not just throw it around. After she bought the place, and all the other expenses she had until now, her trunk was already half empty. And promising to increase payment at a factory that apparently already couldn't profit felt good in the moment, but she realized would not be possible in the long run. She spent her entire days looking over all the documents the previous owner had left off. Expenses, worker salaries. She had to learn addition and subtraction of large numbers.
The first two weeks rolled around, and they were not kind to Probity's business. One of the supply trucks got blown up as it was shipping out product. A worker fell ill and couldn't come in for a week. A normal boss would have fired and replaced her by then, but Probity knew she was providing for three children and gave her paid leave, even if that decreased productivity. And the promised raises… The previous owner was right. The factory wasn't turning a profit. And with all the extra expenses Probity was racking up, she was paying for out of her pocket. She was convinced that with more money, the workers would start working harder, too, but that would be a long process. She didn't mind, of course, that's what her money was there for, but if she kept this up, she'd run out real soon, and wouldn't be able to support the factory, its workers, or even just Grotto, who had started growing.
And it was then when Probity came across the concept of "investing" during her self-education. She realized she had been going about the business the wrong way. If she spent money to improve the capabilities of the factory, it would start making more money. It was that simple!
So, she started making improvements. Expansion of the factory. New machinery that was less prone to breakdowns or accidents. Even more new workers for her to feed. And her chest full of money slowly draining before her plan started working… She needed a new plan if she were to break even. And soon enough, she found out that her expansion had attracted some unexpected attention.
"I'll be clear with you, Miss…"
"Virtue." – Probity stated her fake name.
"Virtue, yes. Your clothing factory has been the only one that's been making steps forward while all the other ones are downsizing and closing. Especially in these trying times." – Major Red told her. He was standing in front of her, like the Blue one months before, but in very different circumstances. Before, she was a dirty street urchin. And now, she was clean and wore fresh clothes, as it was becoming of a factory owner. Grotto stayed in her backyard since he was too big to fit into buildings anymore.
"Well, you see…" – Probity tried to explain herself, as her success was very thinly veiled, but the Major wasn't listening.
"I don't know how you pulled it off and frankly, I don't care. But I need your help."
"Oh?"
"I need more combat gear. Helmets, vests, boots, masks. The last factory I had contracted shut down. I need a reliable, successful company that isn't afraid to take steps forward. I need your factory."
"Oh."
Immediately, Probity hated the prospect. Working for one of the Majors? Actually helping his war efforts? That was unthinkable. It was against everything she set out to do. Against the image of a peaceful Lursit in her head.
But then, she considered what would that mean for her factory. She had eighty people on staff, and she could see that number increasing greatly. Over a hundred people that she could provide with livelihood. Ones that wouldn't have to suffer excruciating hours in other factories, ones that were taken after properly, and that would work harder accordingly. Ones that would be left unemployed if the clock on her factory ran out. And if the Major's money was the thing that would help her break even… Wouldn't that be worth it? And it wasn't like this contract would do anyone harm. If anything, she'd be making protective gear. She'd be saving lives with it.
"How do we start?" was her answer for the Major.
She had done it. With the military industrial complex, she had become self-sustaining. No longer did she have to rely on a pile of gold found in a desert among bodies. She now had her own money in the bank. Of course, she always spent it quicker than she earned it, whether it was for renovations, for her workers, or the trickle going out to her local soup kitchen to make sure it was always free for anyone. In fact, her contract had been so successful that the Major Red even put her in change of another factory. She was moving up, and without realizing, she was growing from a child into a young woman as well. She no longer needed the boosted shoes, nor did she need to hide her face. And all the while, she was helping people in the process. Or at least, so she had thought.
One day, she had decided to visit the soup kitchen she had been financing to see how things were, with Grotto, who had grown even bigger, following at her side. And sure, an all too familiar sight was beholden to her. The sick, the poor, the elderly, lining up for the only freebie they were given. And half of the street was demolished – wrecked buildings that got bombed, with no one to clean the place up or to rebuild them, so they stayed there like a graveyard of houses, a reminder of how close to home the war hit.
Only this time, something was sticking out in the scene like a sore thumb. Something that was different from all the other times Probity witnessed a place like this. It was Probity herself. She was healthy and well-fed, wearing new, clean clothes from her own factory, and even her hair was well-groomed and washed. All the while everyone else around her was stuck in poverty.
Though, there was something else wrong with this scene. The line was much longer than she remembered them. With the soup being free, everybody wanted some, but there wasn't enough.
"Hey, Korzon, get the hell out of the line!" – someone suddenly yelled at the first person in line about to get his food. "You've got money and a job, you can afford to eat somewhere else, so leave this place to the people that actually need it! You know they don't have enough for everybody, right?"
"If you're so hungry, Lamek, why don't you eat my ass?" – that Korzon mockingly responded. The situation started escalating as those two started yelling at each other and were about to break into a fight, so Probity decided to intervene.
"Hey! This place is supposed to be for those that can't afford to eat anywhere else. Do you want to let them starve?"
"I'm not gonna take sanctimony from some rich bitch who probably never went a single day hungry in her life." – Korzon rudely responded and held his right hand out. On Lursit, offering a handshake with the right hand was the biggest insult you could give someone.
He didn't know how wrong he was, but it wasn't like anything she said would change his mind. So, Probity had to make things fair some other way.
"Here. You can eat somewhere else today." – she gave several coins to the person Korzon was arguing with, Lamek.
"Hey, why the hell does he get to have free money?" – someone in the back of the line yelled. "We deserve it, too!"
"Who the hell are you, anyway, coming in here like you own the place?" – someone backed him up. "You want some free soup, too?"
"I know her! That's Virtue! She's the one that runs the Major's factories!"
"She's the one that refused to give my son a job!" – an old lady yelled.
"I'm just trying to help people! I just…" – Probity tried to defend herself, but they were getting riled up and weren't listening. Someone started moving towards her, but immediately, Grotto stood in front of her and snarled at them. At this point, he was larger than any given lursitvel, so everyone backed out.
"Here, then! You figure out who gets to keep it!" – Probity angrily yelled while she threw her wallet full of money into the crowd and ran away, with Grotto following behind.
Despite doing everything that she could, Probity had gotten alienated from the people she was trying to help. To them, she was no longer one of them. She was the rich. The enemy. Same as the Major. If only she could make them see the difference… Though, the nagging voice of hindsight reminded her that this was the same way she felt about Ben Tennyson, who was also just trying to help and didn't deserve her wrath.
The thing that old lady said about her son was true, but he already had a job at some other factory, and even though she kept constantly expanding, there wasn't always space for everyone. It was a hard choice that he had to make, but she stood by it.
But despite all the disdain she had faced, she was still determined to help her country. She decided to move out of the slum that she had been living in ever since she arrived to the Red Capitol so as to not aggravate the people living with her, but not before donating funds to three more soup kitchens in that area so that no one would run out of free soup.
But despite everything that she did, her dream of a Lursit without war was still as far away as ever. War ran rampant, and nothing she did actually prevented any of it. To do that, she needed to somehow stop the manufacturing of weapons and bombs that were burning the planet down. She had come to the decision that she would have to get her hands dirty if she wanted to clean up Lursit.
Her next move was to buy a weapons manufacturing factory. However crazy that sounded, she had a plan. She would intentionally mismanage it and ran it to the ground. That way there would be one less factory producing death showers on an assembly line.
And so, she did exactly that. The Major was excited at the prospect at first, as she had proven herself with factory management. But soon, his happiness got soured as over the course of the month, funds were misspent, workforce was misallocated and even the machinery would be defunct at the most inconvenient of times. Of course, what he didn't know was that Probity was doing all of that intentionally, even sabotaging her own machines. And she was in his office once again.
"I am very, very disappointed in you, Virtue." – Major Red lectured her. "When I heard that you were taking over a munitions factory, I was overjoyed." – he shook his head. "So why am I hearing that you're closing it down?"
"It was a tough month, sir, and-" – Probity rolled out her pre-written response, but got interrupted.
"Excuses!" – the Major yelled. "I expect you to do better from now on. But I'll have to entrust that particular task to someone else, if you're not up to it. And by the way, I'll be seizing the assets of your factory, too. The machines, the stock, all of it."
"WHAT?!" – Probity lost her temper. If the Major was just going to repurpose the factory and open it under someone else, then what even was the point?
"The war must go on. Surely you understand that by now? You'll even be compensated for those supplies." – the Major tried to win her favor back.
"Fine, then. Good luck!" – Probity said as she stormed out of the room.
Her plan had failed. Of course, it would. Unless the whole factory went up in flames, it would simply change hands and start operating again. And even if it did go up in flames, which Probity had considered for a split-second, it would take nothing for the Major to build another one.
No. As long as there was demand, and there was supply, there would be a product. And the demand for it would never stop on Lursit, no matter what she tried. Even if she snuck a laser pistol from her own factory and took it to the Major's office with her, going down as a martyr – which, she had considered as well – would just lead to someone else taking over his place.
No, if she couldn't stop the demand, and if she couldn't stop the product… There was one more spot in the pipeline she could cut off. The supply. Namely, the amount of raw materials used to produce these weapons was limited. The metals, the fuel, the explosives, they all had to be mined and refined before they were shaped into weapons of mass destruction, and there was only so much of it available every day. Though, she knew that just running the mines or the refineries to the ground would be just as useful as doing it to a factory. That would maybe cause a small setback, but amount to nothing in the long run.
It seemed like in order to clean up Lursit, she had to get deeper into the dirt.
Her final plan was to assemble an independent factory outside of both Red and Blue capitols. There, she would produce the weapons, but not for the Majors to use. She would get rid of it another way – take them off of Lursit completely by selling them to off-worlders. She remembered that Argit that came to her planet to prey on its war. As long as the raw materials used to make these weapons were taken away from the Majors, they wouldn't be able to hurt each other. And with that, peace on Lursit would finally reign.
THUNK.
"Tennyson, do something!"
"What am I supposed to do?"
THUNK.
"Universe, you do something!"
"I'm still Pesky Dust!"
"Both of you are useless!" – Albedo whined.
THRASSSSHHH.
The thick, metal wall finally gave way as a huge creature came crashing through. It was Probity's pet, the same one Ben saw with her two years ago, only back then it was the size of a puppy. Now, it was somewhere between a rhinoceros and a minivan. And it looked like it wanted Probity back.
"Okay, Tennyson, you seriously need to do something!" – Albedo yelled.
Grotto first looked at the sleeping Probity on the floor. He tried licking her face, but she didn't come to. Then it looked at Ben, Steven and Albedo. It was mad.
"You guys arrrre in trouble!" – Steven said as he floated up to avoid Grotto charging at him.
"Us?!" – Ben yelled, looking up at him.
"What am I supposed to do? I can barely keep herrrrr down under all this fighting!" – Steven tried to defend himself.
"If we get trampled, nothing's gonna stop the rest of them from pulverizing you with an anti-air missile." – Albedo remarked while him and Ben were running away. "Move, Tennyson!" – he then yelled and shouldered him to the side to avoid getting trampled.
"Albedo?" – Ben hesitantly asked. "Did you just… actually save me?"
Albedo was just as shocked as he was. "Yeah, well, I'm going to need you if I want to get out of here alive, don't I?"
"Dude, come on. Even your bubble is around us." – Ben pointed out.
Albedo frantically looked around. Tennyson was right. There was a red-tinted semi-transparent bubble around the two of them.
"You still owe me to get me out of this mess." – Albedo remarked.
"Sure, sure. Just don't turn into a rampaging Diamond kaiju." – Ben brushed it off as he got up.
"I… I can do that?" – Albedo questioned.
As Ben and Albedo got ready to face Grotto once again, they noticed him curled up, sleeping in the corner.
"Told you you could help!" – Ben yelled at Steven, who was descending from the ceiling.
Just then, something smashed through the wall.
"Well, well, well. Who do we have here?" – a figure familiar only to Ben flew in on a hoverglider. He was wielding a huge energy axe and wearing a large metal mask, and had an overjoyed grin on his face at the sight of him.
"SUNDER?! What the heck are YOU doing here of all places?" – Ben yelled in shock.
"What else? I'm here to collect the massive bounty on your head. And looks like I'm the first one to find you, too. You and some Steven Universe. I assume that's him?" – he pointed at Albedo.
"NO!" – Albedo immediately yelled.
"THAT'S him." – Ben pointed at the actual Steven.
"I'll get all three of you just to make sure." – Sunder shrugged as he swung his axe towards them.
"Steven, can't you guilt trip her dreams a little faster?"
"I'm almost therrrrre!"
"So that's 67 Level 5 decompressed ion cannons?" – Probity asked over the intercom.
"Yes. I have to ask, are they any good?" – the Emerald asked her. "The Homeworld Armada has been dismantled and I no longer have access to their equipment, but that doesn't mean I'll settle for arming my 67 elite Citrines with backwater junk."
"You have nothing to worry about. It is top of the line." – Probity assured her.
"That's a relief. Actually, just in case… make that 68." – the Emerald noted and logged off.
And with that, Probity got 68 decompressed ion cannons off of Lursit, which meant that her own people wouldn't be able to hurt each other with them anymore. What that Emerald did with them was of little concern to her. Shoot Ben Tennyson with them, with any luck.
"Ma'am… you'd better look outside." – one of the guards at her factory notified her. She saw two armies approaching her, both red and blue. Each was being led by a tank, with both of the Majors sitting in their respective ones.
"You? What are you doing here?" – Major Red asked Major Blue one as they both stopped right at the gate of the large factory complex.
"I'm trying to get back supplies for my factories so that I can blow YOUR ass halfway across the galaxy!"
"Well, I'm trying to do the same thing, so shoo!"
"Gentlemen." – Probity's face appeared on a monitor at the gate. "It seems like both of you share a cause. Maybe that'll get you to see that you're no different from each other and call a treaty."
"Never on Zavin's life!" – Major Red proudly yelled.
"Don't you dare utter his name!" – Major Blue yelled at him.
"Zavin Zavin Zavin!" – Major Red kept yelling with a cheeky grin.
"I've spent enough time around you to know that neither of you actually care about whether or not Zavin was Red or Blue. You just use it as an excuse to continue with this useless war."
"Of course!" – Major Blue declared. "Without war, the people would blame all the poverty and hunger on us!"
"THERE WOULDN'T BE ANY POVERTY OR HUNGER IF NOT FOR YOU OR YOUR STUPID WAR!" – Probity lost her temper over the transmission. "Well, okay. Good luck waging it with sticks and stones. That's all you're going to get." – she promised them.
"Virtue, stop this madness. Your people need those weapons!" – Major Red tried to plead with her.
"I don't want to hear anything about "my people" coming from you after how you treat them!" – Probity told him. "And I'm not even one of "your people"!" – she said as she used the flask of smelly substance that Argit had given her and rubbed off the red coloring off her skin.
"Ha!" – Major Blue laughed, happy that the person that Major Red thought he was talking to turned out to be a Blue.
"What are you laughing at, you toothless fool, you're not getting any of it, either!" – Major Red mocked him.
"Enough of this! Either you relinquish the control of that factory to me, or I walk in there and seize it myself!" – Major Blue declared to Probity.
"Not if I claim it first!" – Major Red told him.
"Okay, let's just drive her out and we can both decide who gets what after that."
"Deal."
And with that, both of them turned towards the gate, and towards Probity's face on the screen.
"I assumed you would come to this conclusion…" – Probity said, somewhat disappointed. "Though, ironic that the last decision you're gonna make is to work together. But if you think you can simply come in here and take what I built up myself, you're gravely mistaken."
The two Majors saw something launched from the factory and coming their way.
"RUN FOR COVER!" – they both yelled as they turned their tanks away, but the missiles that Probity had launched rained down upon both of them. The tanks went up in flames, though the armies were unharmed.
Both the Reds and the Blues started looking around in confusion. They didn't know what were they supposed to do now that their leaders were gone. Should they shoot each other down to death? Siege the factory? Go home?
"It's time to stop the pointless war." – Probity declared to them. "Now that they're gone, their war can go with them. You can go home, back to your families."
"But what are we gonna do? We don't have jobs. This was the only way we could provide for them!" – one of the soldiers pointed out.
"If you still want to be a military, then you can come work for me. I always treat my workers the best I can. And it won't matter if you're Red or Blue, either. It's time to do away with that silly little race feud. All it'll do is lead to another war."
The Reds and the Blues looked at each other to think about it.
Finally, Probity had achieved exactly what she had been yearning for ever since she was a little girl. Peace on Lursit. The Red and Blue Capitols elected new Majors, and while Probity had working relationships with them in other businesses, the weapons factory complex, now named Lursit Manufacturing, was off limits to both of them. Probity kept a monopoly on it to ensure that peace would remain, because she knew that if either of them had the chance, they would jump at each other's throats. And if she closed Lursit Manufacturing down, the two new Majors would simply start their own factories again. So, she kept it operating, funded by the weapons she sold a galaxy away, in places very, very far from Lursit.
But, sometimes, the guilt of that haunted her. She would see images of alien worlds that may or may not even exist in her mind, all burning down while soldiers wielded weapons with the Lursit Manufacturing logo. Now, she knew that it was impossible to stop war entirely. All she could do was divert it and the misfortune that came with it somewhere else. In fact, she was being held hostage by her own factory of blood money that she was forced to keep operating just to stop Lursit from tearing itself apart. She had told herself that this was the only way. She had told herself that with this, she was giving people jobs, giving them livelihoods. Thanks to her, the people of Lursit were thriving. Crime and poverty were all but eradicated, and thanks to her funded research, disease was on its way. But no matter what she told herself, the guilt still ate away at her.
"Was it all worth it?" – a flying creature suddenly appeared in front of her. It was wearing a pink dress, and had a fluttering pair of wings on its back.
"Ben 10? Is that you?" – she called out.
"Well, not exactly. I'm the other one. Mrrrrrr… Steven Universe." – Steven as Pesky Dust told her.
"I don't know." – Probity answered his question. "I don't know if it was worth it. If I just took the war someplace else, did I even end up making any difference at all?"
"You still can, Prrrrrobity." – Steven comforted her.
"All this time, I hated Ben 10 for making things worse on my planet, but I became even worse than him!" – she yelled out. "I'm even worse than the Majors! At least they were brave enough to put themselves on the frontlines!"
"Hey, from what I just saw about the Majors, you were much better than both of them… mrrrrrrrrr… All they did was keep the cycle of death going between their own people. You were the only one who saw through that and tried to stop it."
"But I only made it so much worse!" – she whined. "Now that war has spread all over the galaxy!"
"You can still do the right thing. You can shut this place down."
"But if I do that the war will break out here again!" – she reasoned.
"You have to trrrrust your own people. Maybe this time, they'll know better. Werrrrre they at war back when Zavin was around?" – Steven asked her.
Probity shook her head.
"So they don't have to be, as long as…. rrrrrr… they have someone wise looking after them."
"You can't mean me?"
"Why not? Mrrrrr… you built yourself up from nothing. You'rrre basically running the place already. I believe in you."
With those words, Steven let go of Pesky Dust's charm, and Probity woke up. He detransformed back to Steven.
Probity looked around and saw Steven in front of her, while Ben 10 and that other person that also looked like Steven were to the side. They were standing over someone captured in an energy net. Before she had time to look at who that was, Grotto woke up and ran to her.
"Grotto!" – she joyously yelled as it tackled her to the ground and started licking her face, while she rubbed his huge head. Now that she got a chance to vent out her guilt, she felt like a child again. But, she went back to being an adult soon enough, and the first thing to do was to own up to her own actions.
"I'm sorry, Ben 10." – she said to Ben. "For everything I've done." Now that she saw how her actions played out, she viewed Ben 10 as the great hero she had once admired him as before.
"You don't have to apologize to me." – he assured her. "But, uh, those other planets that waged war with your weapons…"
"Yeah, I know." – she hung her head low.
"Do you still hate me even more than you hate war?" – Ben then asked her.
Probity's head darted back up to look at Ben.
"So, you saw that message after all?"
"Of course, I did. It's not like I didn't care about your planet." – Ben assured her. "I was just… young, and stupid…"
"Still are." – Albedo mumbled.
"…and thought that something as complex as war could be resolved over a weekend. But it's not that simple, is it? I felt guilty about it, too. If anything, I'm the one that should be apologizing to you."
"Okay, apology accepted." – Probity said, visibly relieved. "But on one condition. Promise you won't be mad?"
"Mad about what?" – Ben asked her.
"Well, when I saw you two outside, I was very angry, so, I kinda… put a hit on you on the intergalactic mercenary forums."
"Can't you cancel it?" – Steven asked her.
"That's not how it works. The money's already up for grabbing."
"Probity, how much did you offer up for me and Steven?" – Ben asked her.
She grimaced, then nervously bit her lips.
"It was twenty million taydens." – Sunder pointed out from under his own energy net.
"TWENTY MILLION?!" – Ben and Steven both yelled out in shock.
"GET ME OUT OF THIS BODY!" – Albedo yelled.
Just then, another familiar figure to Ben entered the hole in the wall that Sunder had blown through.
"Tennyson!"
"Kraab."
"More and more of them are going to arrive." – Albedo pointed out.
And he was right. SixSix, SevenSeven and EightEight also flew in, guns ready at them.
"Chotloksaaal uk!" – SixSix grunted.
"Okay, we're getting vastly outnumbered here." – Ben commented.
"What alien do I use?" – Steven asked Ben for advice.
"As far as I'm concerned, we've got all the firepower we need in this very room." – Probity pointed out. They were, in fact, in one of the storage rooms, filled with various weapons and explosives that Probity had manufactured.
"And there is one alien that knows exactly how to use that firepower." – Ben said with a sly grin.
"You can't possibly mean…"
"Pull your shirt up, Steven."
Steven sighed.
"Fine…" – he sighed, and transformed into the last alien he saw Ben use before their powers had switched. He transformed into Decagon Vreedle.
"Alright you intergalactic nimrods, we can do this the Steven way, or the Vreedle way. And I really hope you let me do this the Steven way."
SixSix and Kraab looked at each other. Probably not how they expected their reunion.
"I don't think the Steven way is going to cut with them." – Probity remarked.
Alright, you might have noticed that this chapter was extra long. In fact, it was twice as long as an average ATTR chapter, maybe more. The reason for that is that I really wanted to tell Probity's backstory that I created for her to justify her becoming the very thing she swore to destroy, but on its own, it wouldn't really work as an A Trip to Remember chapter. The story is supposed to be about Ben and Steven, isn't it? This long flashback is somewhat distanced from Ben and Steven and is the only segment in the whole thing that doesn't feature either of them at all. Besides maybe that short Attea scene way back in chapter, what, 13? 14? And so I sought to extend this chapter and resolve Probity's arc in it, too.
But this also spells new trouble for both Ben and Steven. And Albedo, too, even if he did start tapping into Pink Diamond's powers. It's gonna be interesting to see where the trip will take them now that they have every breed of bounty hunter after them.
You know, at one point, I was considering keeping Probity as evil even after this story and having her become a recurrent villain that Ben and Steven have to fight sometimes, but that really wouldn't be fair to the little girl that just wanted a world without war. I put her through enough already. And for how much I've been putting Ben and Steven through stuff where it feels like their efforts haven't mattered and a new evil pops up anytime they get anything done, they also deserved to see their efforts validated. It may not have been as "Simple" as Ben once thought, but it's nice to think that Ben did help bring about peace on that planet in the end.