After a lot of traffic, yelling and nearly running over someone who decided to just cross the streets of New York, the Tennyson's and their unrelated guest had parked the mobile home right outside the entrance of this towering yet beautifully built 4 star hotel.
Alex sniffed the air and immediately noticed a change in how it usually was, smelled like lemons. He noticed couples and families entering elevators exictedly. "This hotel has everything! Indoor pool, full day spa, a salon, a buffet-", Gwen had picked up a pamflet and read through what they had.
"Dont get used to it, we're only here for one night.", Max had enough money in his account saved up thankfully to at least get them an ideal room for all four of them.
"Eh, we get the rest of the day to do somethings at least.", Alex patted Gwen's back lightly once he noticed the disappointment on her face.
Ben on the other hand was completely disinterested in all of this, quickly glancing at a Sumo Slammer-brand kiosk installed. "Woah! The new Sumo Slammer video game's in there!"
Ben quickly jogged over to it before skidding to a halt as the secuirty guard stepped in front of the entrance. "Got a pass?"
Ben rummaged around his pockets quickly, pretending to act as if he lost something before shrugging. "Must've left it inside, but actually I'm one of the game pros testing out the system."
"Then scram, VIP's only.", the security guard ststed bluntly and harshly as Ben slumped over and walked back to the other three.
Max immediately noticed his demeanor, looked at the kiosk then back at Ben. "Dont even think about it, Ben.", he said furrowing his brow.
"I won't!", Ben exclaimed almost offended at the sheer implication of him doing something like that, with Max nodding he and Gwen went to the elevator, before Alex could go he grabbed the older boy by his shoulder. "Dude, go Parapparition and possess that guy so I can play that Sumo Slammer game.", he says very casually but in whisper.
"The one that won't be out till Christmas?", Alex asked as Ben nodded eagerly thinking Alex was going to help him. "No. Dude you can just get it on your birthday."
"Yeah but I wanna play it right now.", Ben whined just like someone would expect a child like him would. "C'mon I don't ask for anything!"
Alex looked at him blankly remembering all the times Ben had asked him to use Pointdexter to hack his game so he could win at online matches, or just asked him to buy stuff. "Nah.", he shrugged before walking away to the elevator.
Ben let out an annoyed huff as he turned around, the security guard tapped the botton of his radio before walking off quickly to another area in a hurry. Which sparked an idea, an amazingly devious idea.
Despite just how highly rated the hotel was, two of the three available elevators were out of order for the time being, meaning the three were waiting for the only working elevator to descend. "Taking a real long time for this elevator.", Max muttered as he opened up a compartment in his arm and pulled out what looked like some kind of jerkey and started eating one.
"Jerkey?", Gwen looked at her grandfather knowing how his taste is.
"Squirrel jerkey, helps calms the nerves but makes for a nice snack.", Max explained as he looked at Alex and handed him one, who just ate it casually... then he finally did a headcount. "Wheres Ben...?"
"Yes! New high score!", Ben exclaimed proudly as the screen before him had displayed a new score of 500,000 which seemed to be written like Kanji in a way. That was when he felt a large hand grab his shoulder, Ben looked up to see an annoyed security guard, different from the other one but still.
"Got anythin to say for yourself kid?", the guard asked sternly and angrily as Ben chuckled nervously after being caught.
And of course, before they could even sit down in their nice room that Max had wasted a lot of his own money on. They were escorted out of the building with their bags tossed onto the sidewalk.
"I told you not to sneak back there, Ben.", Max looked at him infuriated by his decision. "I thought you were better than that."
"Well... its not technically sneaking in if there wasn't a security guard there.", Ben muttered in an attempt to justify his accent.
"I never even got to take an actual shower for the first time in like, weeks!", Gwen growled at her cousin with an enraged look. "I really wanted to go check out that spa too! Nice going, doofus."
"Does a secuirty guard even have the authority to do all that?", Alex tilted his head as he fiddled with his drawstrings.
Max quickly led them into the RV, trying to contain his anger as best as he could considering Ben was only a child. Silently closing the door he looked at Ben. "You did such a selfless thing for your cousin when she got taken by Zombozo and tried to help Alex out whenever you can, then you just... do such an irresponsible thing like that?!"
"Well, I did help out, why cant I just do something for me for once? Besides, its no big deal.", Ben crossed his arm, beginning to get more and more annoyed by this.
"To you. It was no big deal to you, and thats all you care about!", Max exclaimed as he immediately knew of a punishment. "So no more Sumo Slammer stuff for two weeks, no comics, no trading cards-"
"Thats not fair!", Ben immediately shot up as he felt his heart drop.
Max quickly leaned on the table. "Neither is getting booted from a four star hotel that I already paid for!"
Ben sat down, crossing his arms again. "Fine, take it out my allowance then.", Gwen was going to chime in but she glanced at Alex who looked at her with wide eyes and shook his head rapidly, to which she sat back down. "This is my summer vacation too, you cant always tell me what to do! You're not my dad!"
Alex slowly turned away as Gwen just slowly got up and joined him in the back as Max looked at him, both stunned and very hurt. "Well, if I was I...", he trailed off before letting out a defeated sigh. "I'm going back to the hotel and see if I can get at least some of my money back. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Ben brushed past Max, stomping to the very back of the RV and quickly closed the curtain. "Don't hurry!"
Max let out a sigh as Alex lightly patted his back. "We'll keep an eye on him.", he says as Max nodded and exited the Rust Bucket.
It didnt take long for Alex and Gwen to start hearing Ben thrashing and throwing stuff around in anger. "Not fair! NOT FAIR! TOTALLY NOT FAIR!", he yelled out.
"Glad to see hes taking it so maturely.", Gwen sarcastically stated as Alex scratched the back of his head.
"I really wanna go home.", Alex thought to himself feeling a bit awkward being a third party in family issues. "He'll... probably get over it.", Gwen looked at him before lightly patting him as well.
"You expect too much from him.", Gwen said shaking her head.
Ben suddenly tore right through the curtains and stomped towards the door of the RV. "Uh, where do you think you're going?", Gwen looked at him baffled.
"Where does it look like? Out!", Ben snapped as he agressively opened the door to the RV and just stepped out.
"Wha- hey! Get back here.", Gwen quickly hopped out as Alex let out an extended and already exhausted sigh as he slumped over and followed her, closing the door to the Rust Bucket as he hopped out. "You're gonna be so grounded for this!"
"Sorry, I dont speak doofus!", Ben shouted back mockingly.
Gwen let out a groan as she followed after her cousin, Alex just wordlessly trailed after them knowing Max wouldnt exactly be thrilled by this. It didnt take long until they reached an arcade with bold red letters labeling it Total Zone. "Next summer, I'm going to sleepaway camp."
Alex just shrugged. "Im surprised you didn't go in the first place."
"Grandpa convinced my mom.", Gwen states as she realized she had never told him that, not that it was necessary but it was a detail that Alex nodded to as he pushed her inside.
Being the fan of Baseball that he was, Ben immediately booted up a yet to be occupied Baseball Batting game. He inserted a token and waited for a breif second as he was met with a POV shot of a digitial pitcher throwing a baseball, before be could press a button the screen immediately turned black and flashed the words GAME OVER!.
"Already?! I just started!", Ben looked towards an employee that was passing by. "This thing ate my token!"
"Read the sign kid, play at your own risk.", the teenage employee sneered as he just walked away casually.
"This place is a ripoff, you know that?", Ben snapped as another, darker haired kid watched on nearby.
"You're right, the games here stink.", the darker haired kid chimed in. He was relatively scrawny and thin young man with shoulder-length black hair, pale skin with two scars on both of his arms, and dark brown eyes with black-discolored marks around them. He wore a torn black T-shirt, a black armband on his right and a torn fingerless glove on his left, brown cargo shorts, black boots, and a padlock necklace.
"Yeah, but not as bad as his breath! Major case of sewer mouth!", Ben jokingly said as he waved his hand over his face.
The dark haired kid chuckled at this. "You're funny! Here, you owe me one.", the kid placed his gloved hand over the arcade machine he leaned over. Blue electricity surged from his hand and into the machine and causes it to fritz out resulting in it spitting out a mountain of gold tokens.
"Woah! How'd you do that?", Ben looked at him in amazement. He had powers! Cool looking ones st that.
"I got some skills.", the dark haired kid said simply.
Ben excitedly digs into the moutain of coins just as Gwen finds him with an angered look. "You can't just take those, they aren't ours!"
Ben paid no mind to this and just shrugged. "Well they are now.", he stood up with a handful of tokens and looked at the kid. "Thanks! I'm Ben.", Ben introduced.
"Kevin.", the kid in turn introduced himself as well.
"Wanna play some air hockey?", Ben offered.
Kevin looked over with wide eyes as he saw two thuggish looking young men appear and spot him. "Nah, I gotta bail."
"He's total trouble." Gwen said judgingly.
"He seemed OK to me." Ben defended his new friend. The two thuggish kids walked forward, agressively pushing Ben and Gwen aside much to their annoyancez
As they followed Kevin, a half-bald kid and a strong-armed kid blocked Kevin's way, surprising him. "Long time, no see. Where you going, freak? Home to recharge your batteries?", a half-bald kid taunted with a grating voice.
Kevin backed away before being caught by the two behind him, who grab him by the arms. Ben felt that exact same urge from when he saw two of his bullies ganging up on a classmate of his and stepped forward. "Need some help?"
"Hes gonna need a lot more than you, get lost shrimp.", the bald kid snorted and pushed Ben hard onto the floor.
"Ben!", Gwen quickly walked over and helped him stand up, looking around for where Alex could possibly be.
"Like I can take some bald guy seriously, I mean c'mon, you really think going bald and putting on some goggles make you look cool?", Ben taunted as he got back up with a grin on his face.
"You really wanna get me mad, you little shit?", the bald kid walked up to Ben and grabbed him by the shirt and picked him up, quickly kicking away Gwen who tried to intervene. "You really wanna die for this freak?"
"Are you still mad about me trashing your hangout? I think it looks way better like that.", Kevin commented with a smug look.
"Oh you shut- huh?", the bald kid felt a gush of wind appear and suddenly, Ben was placed away from him as TopGear looked at him. The alien himself wasnt very tall but standing straight, the bald kid only reached his chest.
"What the fuck is-", the bald kid was immediately flung into the air by a vortex being created by TopGear, he let out a scream of terror as he was sent faling onto an air hockey table.
Before one of the remaining three backed up as two of them were flung into arcade machines or rocketed back by some kind of punch. "Nice hair.", the green haired kid quickly turned around shaking as he was face to face with TopGear, his orange eyes burning through him as he quickly raised up his fist and caused the only concious member to scream and run away.
"Thanks man!", Ben gave a thumbs up as TopGear smiled and gave him a thumbs up in response before zipping away. Kevin looking at both with wide eyes as a smile grew on his face.
A few minutes had went by, Gwen had dragged her brunette cousin out of the Total Zone arcade and waited outside for Alex hoping he'd have another one of his shorter transformations so they could drag Ben back to the rust bucket.
"I can't believe you actually tried fighting those guys by yourself, I mean what would've happened if Alex wasn't here?", Gwen snapped at her slightly shorter cousin.
"He helped me, so I helped him. You wouldn't get it! And neither would Grandpa. THAT'S the problem!", Ben insisted.
"You cant even use that, its not like you have any powers.", Gwen scoffed.
"Dude!", Kevin walked out after contemplation whether or not he should follow them out but he had joined them. "Did you see what that speed guy did to those losers?", he asked.
"Oh yeah, thats TopGear. He and I are pretty tight.", Ben confidently said, he wasn't exactly lying this time at least.
Kevin couldn't exactly argue with that, the blue guy did seem to be particularly friendly towards Ben, so he shrugged. "Cool! Hey, want a tour of New York?" Kevin offered.
"You keep Grandpa waiting any longer, he's going to pop another gasket! We gotta go? Like now, Ben!" Gwen insisted.
"Don't you mean you have to go?" Ben brushed her off.
Gwen was hesitant for a moment, before giving up. "...You're on your own." She said and walked away.
"Good, that's the way I want it!" Ben snapped, the two boys walked down the streets together. Thats when Ben suddenly remembered something. "Hey, wait, how'd you get your powers anyway?"
"I was born with it! I'm like an energy sponge. Motors, air conditioners, lights, batteries, whatever!" Kevin explained. "Soak it up, then dish it out when I have to... or want to." The dark-haired boy declared.
"Cool! Can you absorb other stuff?", Ben asked out of curiosity.
"I dunno, I haven't tried it yet.", Kevin shrugged. "C'mon I'll show you my hangout!"
Gwen finally made it back to the RV, still genuinely wondering where Alex had went but saw him standing outside the Rust Bucket. "And where have you been?"
"Oh I was just sitting around picking flowers, the hell do you think I was doing.", Alex said sarcastically before letting out a groan. "Anyways, what happened to Ben? Where'd he run off to?"
"Went off with that kid with black hair, whatever, not like I care.", Gwen opened the door to the RV snd entered only to see a very angry Max waiting for her.
"Where's Ben?", he demanded.
"Uhhh... about that.", Gwen nervously chuckled as Alex looked at his Omnitrix.
"He's went off with some kid he met an arcade nearby.", Alex said as he entered the rust bucket, Max looked at him with a furrowed brow. "Yeah, I probably should've stopped him but I can't transform back in public."
"Ugh, of all the things!", Max snapped as he let out sigh. "I thought he'd be better than that, and I was so proud of him."
"He's ten, hes gonna make mistakes like that.", Alex reassured, Gwen nodding at this as Max looked at the teenager in deep thought. "Look, whats the worst he can do anyways? I'll just go out there, use some aliens to find him and bring him back."
Max thought hard about it before nodding. "Okay. But you WILL call me when you find where he is.", Alex nodded at this as he looked at Gwen. "Gwen, give him your phone number so he can-", thats when Max remembered a glaring issue, her phone had long since been destroyed...
The boys arrived at an abandoned subway station. A few TVs and game consoles sat on the floor, an ATM sat next to the abandoned ticket booth and a tattered Sumo Slammers poster hung on the wall.
"Woah, you live here?", Ben asked, it was pretty cool... but not at all what he expected.
"Yeah, all by myself!", Kevin exclaimed proudly.
"What about your family?" Ben asked.
"Long gone! They weren't too thrilled having a 'freak' for a son, but it just means I don't answer to nobody!" Kevin explained, though everytime he tried to remember it... it was a little fuzzy everytime.
"Sounds good to me!" Ben said with a smile. "So, why was that gang after you?" He asked.
"I kinda trashed their hangout under the 39th Street bridge." Kevin admitted in embarrassment. "Oh, what about you? Sounds like your grandpa's pretty steamed at you." He asked.
"Like usual. And all I did was sneak in and play the new Sumo Slammer video game!" Ben complained, completely omitting the fact he got them kicked out of a hotel.
"You mean the one that wont be out until Christmas?", Kevin asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yup.", Ben nodded in confirmation. That was when Kevin got an idea, an amazingly devious idea.
As the sun had set and night started to settle in, Kevin took this opportunity with Ben and led him down by the docks and to the entrance of a warehouse. "I got a tip a new shipment just came in.", Kevin explained as he placed his hand over the door's keypad and pulsed electricity into it, overloading it and leaving it smoking. "Help me kick in the door."
With their combined efforts, they had knocked down the door but didnt notice a sensor was quietly beeping higher up into the corner. Kevin turned on the lights and Ben was amazed to see hundreds of stacked wooden crates, all marked "Sumo Slammers". "Wooooooah...!" The younger boy exclaimed in awe.
Kevin opened a crate, full of copies of the new video game. "Check it out! Wait's over, dude!" He said as he tossed a copy Ben's way.
"Hee hee, yes!" Ben said giddily as he caught and looked at the game. "We need to get out of here before we get caught, like right now.", Ben had seen plenty of movies, so he became a bit paranoid at being in a warehouse... rightfully so.
Suddenly, smoke grenades came crashing through the windows of the warehouse, lights from helicopters shone through the window. The place was completely surrounded at all sides. The smoke filled the warehouse as both boys started coughing.
"What do we do?!", Ben asked as he covered his mouth with his shirt.
"We get outta here!", Kevin exclaimed as he tossed his copy away and runs towards the entrance, Ben following in kind as he quickly caught up with Kevin. A light from the helicopter shines onto them, quickly pivoting to another direction as Ben ran away, while Kevin rushes to the nearest outlet. Ben goes for another entrance, but armed SWAT soldiers burst through the door. Kevin charges himself up with electricity.
"Freeze! Put your hands in the air and come quietly!", one of the soldiers say as they looked around for the two kids who had ducked for cover quickly.
Kevin looked over at a stationary forklift and smirked, running towards it and climbing aboard. "Time to rev things up!", he said as electrical energy surged around his hand as he placed it onto the forklift. It suddenly roared to life and sped foward, Kevin quickly jumping out as it ran into one of the men, leaving him on the floor groaning.
Ben looked at the scene in shock, Kevin could've killed the guy if he was just a bit more to either the right or left. "Lets go!", Kevin urged.
Kevin and Ben run out of the last exit, facing water. Two police cars arrive, blocking both roads next to them, and a helicopter hovers in front of them. They run back into the warehouse and hide behind a box. "Great, no way out!"
"Any ideas?", Kevin asked as he looked over from behind the box. Ben... had no ideas actually, he was actually slowly panicking from the thought of going to jail. "Hey... you hear that?"
Ben took a moment and listen closely, it was the familiar sounds that Bugbreath wings make whenever hes flying! The soldiers stopped their march in as they were immediately restrained by thick, gooey sludge that smelt like a combination of pnumonia, rotten eggs and rotted meat. "Ugh this stuff is gross!", one of the soldiers yelled gagging at the smell.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!", Kevin yelped in surprise at the massive insect, that was when he was being picked up by it along with Ben as Bugbreath bolted right past the helicopter, which gave pursuit.
"What the FUCK, Ben?! How'd you even get into this situation within a couple of hours?!", Bugbreath yelled as the lower pair of his eye stalks looked down while the top pair kept looking straight.
"It's just a video game! Why is the SWAT team even here?!", Ben yelled back completely ignoring the insects justifable anger.
"Ugh, Max is gonna freak the fuck out when we get back.", BugBreath let out an exhale of annoyance.
"Woah! You know this guy too?", Kevin asked amazed at the creature but also repulsed at the same time.
"Uh, can we talk about this AFTER we escape that?", Ben asked as he nudged his head to put focus back on the helicopter chasing them.
"Oh yeah, right.", Bugbreath muttered as his eye stalks looked back quickly before snapping right back in front. "Hold on!"
"To what?!", both of the younger boys yelled out at the mere words, knowing what's coming next probably won't be safe for them. And they're 100% correct.
With not one, but two helicopters pursing them, Alex let outna deep breath as he sped towards the Statue of Liberty. As two of the soldiers began opening fire, he quickly started to move in a zig-zag pattern, manuvering in between her arms and torch to let rhe bullets quickly fly past him.
Quickly flying up more, he used the point's in between her crown to shield the two boys of the bullets as one of the helicopters followed them up. The second quickly joined and shone a spotlight at where the giant insect and the two boys should be... but they where gone.
"What? Where'd they go?", the gunman of the other helicopter looked around in confusion as the other shrugged. The helicopters quickly got back into formation, showing that Bugbreath had hitched a ride on the underside of the other helicopter.
"I can't shake em out in an open area like this, I have to get to the city.", Bugbreath said to the two boys as he immediately formed a new plan. He himself knew his time was already limited. "Gotta make it count."
Thats when the gunman in the opposite helicopter finally spotted them. "There they are!", the soldier shouted and shot at him. Quickly releasing his grip he plummeted towards the water with the two boys and flipped around before racing away like a bat out of hell.
The Helicopters chased after him as the mega insect held onto the boys tightly, zooming past a tour bus filled with terrified tourist and slowly rising into the air. Bolting past the Rust Bucket and towards Times Square, a reporter is being broadcasted to a screen when Bugbreath flies in front of her shot.
The cameraman projects Bugbreath on the screen and he stops to notice. Kevin makes a peace sign as Ben looked at Alex as he was once again looking at him angrily. The helicopters shoot at them, hitting the screen and chasing them out of the square.
Bugbreath grinned as he started making sharp turn after sharp turn, widening the distance between the helicopter's as their pilots couldn't perform those kinds of maneuvers. Thats when the helicopters both flew higher into the air to get a better view of where he could be heading... but he had just, vanished once again.
"Where'd that thing go?", one of the soldiers ask in bewilderment as they flew off to search for the large insect. Completely missing the fact that he had went under a bridge and clung onto it, once the buzzing of the helicopter blades vanished from earshot, Ben finally exhaled a breath he didnt even know he was holding.
Kevin looked around and pumped his fist. "Oh yeah!"
Bugbreath quickly flew to a lone alley as sirens were heard in the distance as he finally erupted in a flash of light. Dropping to the floor as he panted, exhausted from all that exictement. "Ugh, I hate doing that."
"Dude, that was so rad!", Kevin exclaimed as he and Ben helped Alex to his feet. "Who's this guy? How'd he even do that?"
Ben gestured to Alex. "This is Alex, Alex this is Kevin.", he quickly gestured to the watch on the eldests wrist. "And this thing is what lets him turn into ten different alien superheroes!"
Kevin took a moment to process that information, ten aliens is what got him actually. "Ten aliens? So that blue speedy guy at the arcade was you?", Alex quietly nodded. "You're the MAN! You gotta show me what other aliens you got!"
"Although I wouldn't do it in the first place, I can't do it at all right now. The thing recharges after 15 minutes... though it times out earlier than that sometimes. Its rough.", Alex raised up his left hand to show the Omnitrix was now a bright red.
"Maybe I can make it work, I'll give-", Kevin was cut off by Ben.
"Well... he can't take it off. That thing is really stuck on there.", Ben quickly stated. Alex on the other hand glared at Kevin with an angered look... something about the homeless boy reminded him of someone he knew.
Kevin on the other hand thought for a moment. "Dude, we should be partners. Between us, with what we got on us, we can basically do whatever the hell we want whenever we want! I mean, we can totally cash'in!", Kevin held out his hand. "Friends?"
Ben smiled and shook Kevin's hand. "Friends..."
"No.", Alex sharply hissed as he pulled Ben away. "I don't give a shit about whatever sob story you spilt to him, but I don't care.", thats when the blue eyed teen got an idea... another bad idea but one nontheless. "Y'know what, do whatever you want. Im outta here."
Ben frowned as Alex turned and walked out of the alley. "Lets go, there's something I've been itching do for a bit.", Kevin nudged Ben forward as they walked the opposite way of him.
That was when Alex peered behind a corner, pulling out his phone and dialing a number.
The Rust Bucket sped through the streets of New York angrily but not blindly, Max shook his head as he had a scowl on his face. "Of all the stunts Ben has pulled, THIS is the worst! Oh, when I find him...!"
Gwen sulked as she looked out the window with a frown. "I should really be enjoying this, but why aren't I?", she quietly said to herself, quiet enough so Max couldn't hear her.
Max hit his steering wheel agressively, startling Gwen. "And Alex was supposed to CALL me when he found Ben. Just what-", he was immediately cut off by a call from Alex, immediately eating his words he pressed the button and answered him. "Alex! Where's Ben?!"
["Okay so I know this sounds really bad."]
"Alex, what are you planning?", the retired Plumber did not like those string of words when put together.
{"Okay just listen really quickly. I know where Ben's going and there's just one thing I need to take care of first."}
"You mean that Kevin guy?", Gwen asked curiously, Max listening intently.
{"The kid he's hanging with has the fucking SWAT on his ass, and I don't really feel comfortable letting him roam free. So yeah, whats gonna happen might turn bad but I promise, I won't let anything happen to Ben. Okay?"}
Max let out a sigh, shaking his head. "You're exactly like your grandfather, but okay, I'll trust your word on that. Now then... where are they going?"
Speaking of those two troublemakers on the run from the law, the two hopped over the ticket checks found in subway stations and ran into an emtpy station with two tracks right in front of them.
"Check it!", Kevin looked up at a light fixture then looked at Ben. "Gimme a boost, I need to recharge!", he instructed.
Ben nodded as he stood against the pole, boosting Kevin up with his hands which gave him enough reach to touch the light fixture and absorb its energy. Quickly jumping off and leaping onto the vacant tracks, gripping the switch, he charged it with energy which made one of the rails on one track switch and connect with the other.
What are we doing?" Ben asked.
"A money train loaded with cash comes down this track, so when it crashes into the incoming passenger train? Boom! Instant - jackpot! We grab as much cash as we can and we're outta here!" Kevin instructed.
Ben was... well he was horrified at what he said, he didnt know if it was just how casual he delivered it or the thought of it, maybe both. "Y-You can't just do that! Hundrends of innocent people will be killed!", Ben yelled distressed.
"Hey, 'no pain, no gain'." The energy sponge said dismissively, almost as if that wasn't even a factor to him to begin with.
"You can't do this!" The shorter brunette insisted.
"Sure we can! I just switched the tracks!" Kevin said simply, not understanding Ben's meaning.
"I mean I'm not gonna let you do this." Ben told him.
Kevin's smile quickly dropped. "We shook... We're partners." He reminded the younger boy.
"No, this is going way too far!" Ben snapped.
"Then try and stop me, shrimp!" Kevin declared.
"You don't care about anyone else but yourself." Ben said, having a moment of realization.
"You talkin' about me?!" The energy absorber demanded.
"No, I'm talking about me!" Ben declared and charged towards Kevin, who grabbed him with inhuman strength and threw him to the ground. He was genuinely surprised that Kevin had such strength in that scrawny body.
"Oh you do NOT wanna make me mad!", Kevin warned as energy crackled around his hands.
"Me neither, I'm switching the tracks back!", Ben stood up defiantly as Kevin's eyes started twitching, he could've sworn he saw something spark in Kevin's eyes,
"Hah! And how're gonna do that? Not like you've actually got powers shrimp!", Kevin shouted as his lip quivered for a second. "Whatever! I dont need you, I don't need anyone!", the moment he stepped forward was the same moment a small blast of fire hit the ground.
Kevin and Ben paused before both looking at Sunburn who had hopped over the ticket check. "That's your only warning shot. Next time, I wont be nice enough to miss.", Sunburn stated as his flames erupted. "Ben, go outside, Max is coming to pick you up."
Ben quickly ran past Kevin and lifted himself onto the platform. Quickly backing away as Sunburn dropped down. "Please don't hurt him that much, he just needs help.", Ben muttered at a volume only Alex could hear before leaving the way he came.
Sunburn cracked his neck as Kevin stepped forward, he instantly raised his arm as fire built up around his fist. "I can't tell if you're cocky or just plain stupid.", the creature made of fire said as Kevin grinned.
Kevin glanced behind himself, turning and running to a generator next to the track switch. He gripped it and used it to absorb all of the electricity. Sunburn looked around as the lights around him popped out and glass shattered. This sent the entire subway station into darkness, Sunburn's flames being the only source of light in the darkness
"Smarter than he looks.", Sunburn admitted internally as he slowly walked forward cautiously, he quickly spun around to shoot at what he thought were footsteps but nothing was behind him. "Did he run off?"
His question was quickly answered by Kevin leaping on and wrapping his arms around his neck, the taller alien flailed about as he was surprised Kevin would even do something like this. Kevin tried to absorb Sunburn, as the energy traveled up his arm but so did an immense pain causing him to let out a scream. A flash of blue energy knocked both of them away from each other.
Sunburn quickly regained his barings as he looked around in concern, quickly throwing his arms in an X to block an incoming ball of yellow fire. The fire itself being absorbed into his body but the force of it caused him to slide back.
Thats when he finally got a good look at what had happened to Kevin. He did managed to absorb him after all, was predominantly in his enlarged right arm, upper shoulder to his right chest and head were affected. His flames were much more yellow and his rocks seemed almost black, with magma-like cracks forming around his relatively normal left arm.
"Sike! I guess you didn't get the memo about me being an energy sponge, huh? Sucks for you!", the mutated Kevin laughed as Sunburn attempted to tackle him into the floor but he quickly stepped out the way and unleashed a blast of yellow fire at him. Sunburn snapped his head around and unleashed a beam of fire from his mouth, the flames collided and the forced widened the distance between them.
"It's time I got what's coming to me. Nobody's calling me 'freak' anymore!" Kevin declared.
"Eh, they wouldn't be wrong for calling you a freak, freak!", Sunburn taunted as he could see Kevin twitch at the mere words. "Maybe if you, I dunno, tried not being a dumbass you wouldn't have so many people against you. Sucks to suck I guess."
Sunburn then suddenly heard a train horn to his left, seeing a passenger train come barreling down the track. Then, a second horn, to which he gasped as the cargo train came down that same track, on his right.
"Payday." The mutated human said smugly.
Quickly thinking, Sunburn shot fire at the track switch, melting it and causing the switch to short-circuit back to its first position, saving the passengers train. "No!", Kevin yelled as he was quickly throttled with a left cross from Sunburn, he tumbled to the ground before boosting himself up to knock him back into the passing train.
Sunburn bounced off the train disoriented but was immediately knocked back again after stumbling into the train opposite. To which Kevin punched him hard with his pyronite arm and blasted him back, Sunburn grabbed onto the train and blasted Kevin back onto the ground, speeding off with the train.
Kevin stumbled onto his feet before shaking his head to regain his senses, he looked around the now empty station, puzzled. "Forget the money! Time to get some priceless revenge!" The mutated human declared.
As the cargo train sped through the subway tunnels, Sunburn climbed atop of the train's roof, gripping the edge. However, his grip slipped and he tumbled down a couple cars, he managed to melt a handhold in the metal and grabbed onto it, his flames whipped about as he let out an exhausted sigh. "Maybe I should've just knocked his ass out in the alley, what the fuck was I thinkin?"
In the Rustbucket, Gwen and Max had picked up a frantic Ben who had sprinted down the streets as quickly as his legs could carry him. Max had sat him down to catch his breath so he could explain where both Alex and Kevin were at currently... good thing the radio did it for him.
["-And expect delays on the uptown subway lines near 51st Street. There have been reports of fires breaking out all over the tunnels.", The radio announcer informed the listeners.
"Grandpa?" Gwen realized.
"I know." Max confirmed, quickly sitting back at the driver seat and sped off, driving to the subway lines.
Meanwhile with the alien that was hanging on for dear life, the Omnitrix started beeping red.
"Ugh! I hate that sound!" Sunburn lamented as he absorbed the heat from the metal quickly, before he turned back into Alex. "Ugh! I should've kept my ass in Texas!"
Despite the strength he had in his regular form, he was nowhere near as strong as Sunburn, Alex struggled to hold on, as the train exited the tunnel and rode across the overhead subway lines in the city. "UUUGH! This fucking sucks!" Alex yelled himself with great strain in his voice as he was barely able to hang on.
A horn suddenly honked next to Alex. The Rustbucket was there, driving alongside the subway, swerving past cars going the other way. Max flipped a switch, which brought out the RV's side rolling tarp. But then, Max spotted a sign coming up in front of Alex.
The elderly Tennyson then swerved the RV to the other side of the road, so the tarp was closer towards Alex. They then continued honking at him, hoping to get his attention and that he would understand the plan.
Alex then looked up and saw the sign approaching. "Oh give me a break!" He frowned as
Alex swallowed his hesitation as he stood up and leap off the train just in time, the tarp catching him perfectly. "Nice catch, Grandpa!" Gwen cheered as Ben let out his own exhausted exhale from all this stress.
Of course, Max quickly found somewhere to park the Rust Bucket along with some information Alex had given as he crawled inside, Max was immediately scolding Ben once again. "Are you ever planning on listening to me? None of this would have happened if you just obeyed me from the beginning! It's all about trust!" The older Tennyson told his grandson sternly.
"I know grandpa, so just trust me that Kevin's probably misusing Sunburn's power right now!", Ben insisted.
"Grandpa, Ben's right. There's no telling what he could do now!" Gwen agreed with her cousin.
"Yeah, that's partially on me.", Alex admitted before lightly patting Ben's head. "But they're both right, he's way too dangerous right now."
"Okay...so where is he?" Max asked.
Ben thought for a moment, before remembering something Kevin told him before and snapping his fingers. "Head to the 39th street bridge! Now!", Max nodded and within moments he was in the drivers seat and sped off.
"Why there?", Alex asked curiously as he sat down in the booth with Ben.
"You know that gang you knocked around as TopGear?", Alex nodded to this as Ben continued. "Thats their hangout spot!"
"Can't call him a freak if they can't breathe, welp, here's to hopin.", Alex stretched as the omnitrix let out its chime signaling to him that it had recharged and was ready. "Perfect timing."
The Rust Bucket sped along the streets of New York smoothly for a while, but Max had encountered his worst enemy so far. New York traffic, he honked his horn as he rolled down his window. "Move it!", the elderly plumber insisted as he kept honking the horn with his prosthetic hand that started to stiffen up. "Ugh, great!"
"We don't have time for this, I'll meet you at the 39th street bridge.", Alex had primed the Omnitrix, looking directly at TopGear's icon and slammed down. As the brightflash came in went, instead of being the nimble blue speedster... he was instead the hulking red brute. "First you won't give me Deepcut and now you wont let me use TopGear? What a ripoff.", Pummel groaned as he was curled up into a ball, his back still touching the ceiling.
With Ben opening the door for him, Pummel managed to squeeze his way out of the relatively small door and leapt onto the roof of a bus before jumping away.
Ben was correct on his assumption, Kevin had went to the hideout and started laying waste in front of him without a second thought. The four kids from before pinned to the ground by a large pipe. Kevin had laughed at the fear and destruction this new power gave him as he crossed his arms in front of them. "Hah! So much for your gang!" The mutated human taunted.
But suddenly, his rocks began cracking and fading off into blue smoke, his fire came with it as he qas quickly returned into his human form. "Huh? What's going on?" The dark-haired boy could only wonder.
Thats when the sound of something heavy crashed behind him, the pressure caused by it nearly knocked him over as he turned around to see Pummel staring right at him. "Looks like you got a time limit to, makes my job a whole lot easier."
"Hah! You're funny! Unlike you I still have powers when I turn back... actually.", Kevin realized he had a lot of energy stored within his body still so he grinned maniacally, quickly turning around with twin balls of blue energy in his hands. "I still got more than enough juice to fry these losers!"
Pummel ran in and clutched Kevin, throwing off his aim just as he shot lightning from his hands as he was suspended in the air by a tight grip. But Kevin laughed as he placed his hand on Pummel's red skin and began to absorb his energy and cackled maniacally as he grew in size and grew a large arm from his shoulder, decking Pummel in the face and knocked him back.
Pummel took a second to regain his footing before being met with a piece of debris flying at him, he swatted it away but was knocked back by Kevin growing another arm from his right shoulder.
Kevin stood in his newest form, his hair and lower body remained unaltered by the DNA, but his skin was a dark red with a total of six arms growing from his body. With two massive arms with black nails making his upper arms, another two and more deformed set grew out of his chest while his original arms was directly beneath the larger upper set. Half of his face had deformed and morphed, leaving him having two eyes on the left of his face and crooked teeth. "Hahahaha, this is gonna be REAL fun!" The newly mutated Kevin laughed in a much deeper voice.
"Yeah, for me.", Pummel grinned as he got into his usual boxing stance. "Bring it, you street rat!"
Kevin grinned as he launched himself at Pummel and threw a punch with his left arm that the latter quickly batted out the way and countered with a left hook to Kevin's face right as Kevin punched him in the face. The broke off as Pummel blocked another punch from Kevin's bigger upper arm, dodging before one before delivering a gut punch to Kevin using his lower arm and knocked him back with a jab from his upper arm.
The mutated Kevin flashed his crooked teeth as his four smaller arms had tightly grabbed onto the lower arm lodged in his gut. "Im takin all your alien powers!"
Kevin threw Pummel into a building and jumped up with the intention on landing on him but was quickly met with an uppercut to his jaw and his hair being grabbed, Pummel slamming him into the ground before elbow dropping him. "I'd love to see you try, jackass!", the crimson red behemoth taunted.
As the two brutes fought, the Rust Bucket parked on the bridge as Pummel was knocked back, catching Kevin's upper arms with his upper arms and punching him again in the stomach with both lower arms to knock him back. Max, Ben and Gwen got out of the RV and quickly ran towards the four pinned underneath the pipe. Ben and Gwen struggled to loft the pipe as Max used his prosthetic arm to heave it off.
They weren't even near the fight but could still feel the force of the punches shaking the ground. "Moving day. Get out!" Max ordered. The four did not need anything else as they sprinted away from the bridge and off into the night, throughly terrified.
Pummel and Kevin collided giant red fists, the force Pummel carried quickly knocked Kevin back an inch off his feet. Quickly grabbing his shirt, Pummel cocked his fists back with Kevin mirroring these actions with his three left arms. The two punched each other hard in the face with enough force to create a shockwave.
The two didnt stop, repeatedly striking each other with increasing force and pressure. Pummel grabbed the two smaller arms with his much larger lower arm as he stiked Kevin with a corkscrew punch. Kevin gritting his teeth as he backhanded him into a cement wall and lunged at him.
"I dont have much time. I gotta finish this!", Alex screamed to himself as he focused all his strength in a right jab using his left arm. Kevin was knocked away dazed, stumbling around before Pummel quickly closed the distance again. Before Kevin could regain his balance, he was met with a haymaker that knocked him sideways before being knocked around by a barrage of strikes from all four of Pummel's arms.
Kevin tried to block but was immediately met with Pummel pulling his arms back and repeatedly beating on him viciously as the Omnitrix started beeping. For a split second, it stopped, but Kevin was immediately punched in the chest with so much force it sent him hurdling through three bridge columns.
He weakly pushed the debris off him as he struggled to get up, his eyes widening as Pummel was sprinting at him again. His nody tenses as the omnitrix beeping started to increase in volume. "C'mon! I give! I-Im sorry!", Kevin begged putting his arms up to defend himself. "Please! Just lighten up!"
"Alex wait!", Ben had ran towards them and put himself in between the two brutes, Alex quickly stomped down to stop himself as red electricity crackled from the badge. A bright red flash enveloping him as Alex stood there panting, shaking his hands in the air to somehow relieve the pain in his knuckles.
"I-Im sorry, I just started freaking out cuz of all that power. I just don't have anyone to help me out, y'know?", Kevin apologized, seeming genuinely remoreseful.
"We can still be partners. We'd just be kicking butts for good, instead of for ourselves! You could hang with us!" Ben offered, motioning to Max and Gwen, then motioning to Alex. "I mean check him out, he was a major jerk when we first got him. Now hes less of a jerk!"
"Oh fuck off.", Alex spat in retaliation to this.
Kevin looked at Ben and tilted his head. "What's in it for me?"
"For starters, people will like you!" Ben told him, offers his hand.
However, instead of taking it, Kevin backhanded Ben away sending him hurdling away as Max caught him. Alex jumped back as Kevin quickly lunged at him and lifted him up by it, pinching at the Omnitrix.
"Alex!" Max cried out as he gently placed Ben to the ground who looked mortified, running up and punching Kevin in the back with his mechanical arm in an attempt to save his Alex, but he was easily batted away.
"Hoho, man, you are so dim!" Kevin laughed. "Your mommy drop you on your head when you were a little baby?" He taunted in a cutesy tone. "Now gimme that watch!" The mutant Tetramand demanded ruthlessly.
"Look who's talking dumbass! He told you, I cant take it off!", Alex yelled out annoyed but also in pain feeling the skin that the watch was sewn onto shift in very painful ways.
As Kevin tried to pry off the Omnitrix, it suddenly glowed green and sent out a large feedback of green energy, launching Alex into Max's arms and launching Kevin into the other side of the bridge, causing it to collapse on top of him as the Tennyson's and their additional member ran to safety.
Kevin then got up, back in human form. "Noooo!" The dark-haired boy cried out in horror as he looked at his hands, before running away. Leaving the four to question what would happen to him next...
Morning had arrived ss the Rust Bucket drove through the streets and onto its next stop, Alex was laying down in the very back of the RV to take some time to calm himself down after those events. This left Ben sitting in the booth looking at his hands, not sure what to do with them anymore. "I... I'm sorry, grandpa. For everything.", Ben apologized.
"I know you are. You're my grandson and nothing will ever change that. But my trust is something you'll have to earn back." Max told him, softly but sternly.
Ben lowered his head and Gwen slumped in the passenger seat, both of them regretting the situation they found themselves in. Alex simply got up, he didn't say anything as he just sat next to Ben, something he would do with his sibling's when they got in trouble. "Figured you could use some company up here."
Max glanced at them through the rearview mirror and smiled as he looked back on the road.
Somewhere in the abandoned subway tunnels, Kevin sat by himself in the dark. "Oh, if they thought I was a freak before? Just wait!" He declared as his hand lit on fire.
He shook in excitement as he began to laugh maniacally, which echoed through the tunnels.
/End/