Chapter 15: Bad Sense of Déjà Vu Part 1
On the other side of the galaxy, 76,000 lightyears away from the quirk infested world of Earth, stood the homeworld of the Galvans.
A magnificent planet, with villages of simple hollowed-out mushroom houses and the contrasting cities with technology unparalleled by most in the galaxy.
In the middle of all this stood… The lab of the First Thinker: Azmuth.
As the Galvan stepped out of the portal and Ben followed, he opened up his arms in a deadpan state. "Welcome to Galvan Prime."
It was mostly an empty observatory, with windows surrounding it in all directions except for the door at the back. A symbol of the Omnitrix was plastered onto the floor which covered the mechanics and circuitry going under it.
But, Ben had remembered it a little differently.
"Hey Azmuth, what happened to all the inventions around here?"
"They have all been completed and moved down to the vaults." He brushed it aside and then pressed on a control panel. "Don't waste time with trivialities."
An operating table, with a complicated-looking device attached to the left arm section, surfaced from the ground. "If you would…"
Ben didn't need another word. He laid down and inserted the Omnitrix into the said device.
Azmuth walked up a couple steps and started looking into a screen as several mechanical arms descended from the ceiling to assist him.
"So, what's the situation?" Ben said, breaking the brief silence. "You wouldn't exactly call me here, unless something big was going down."
"Actually, now that I think about it, you never call me here."
"Yes…the times really are dire." Azmuth replies, with an already exhausted tone. "Initially I intended to keep this matter to myself, but the situation has forced my hand."
"Forced your hand?" Ben asked. It wasn't common for the smartest being in the whole galaxy to do something he didn't want to.
"How'd that happen?"
Azmuth sighed. If it were anyone else, they would have paused for suspense, but…
"You've met them." he replied.
Ben was puzzled. "I've met–?"
He didn't quite get it at first, but then his eyes widened. "Those squids…"
"They weren't just after me?" He asks, trying his best to keep a cool head.
However, his voice still couldn't help but come across as stern.
"You said that the situation wasn't 'as optimistic as Earth being in trouble'…" He turned his head towards the creator and looked him in the eye.
"They're threatening the universe?"
Azmuth nods, with his attention still on the panel in front of him. "Well, to be accurate, not them but rather the ones creating them, the Highbreed."
Ben was intrigued and as he was about to ask. The arms that Azmuth was using retracted and the device that covered the Omnitrix opened up.
"That will take a few minutes to adjust." Azmuth said as Ben sat up straight on the operating table.
"Okay then, since we have the time…" Ben quipped without a smile and put his hands together. "Let's start with the Highbreed. Who are they? What are they doing on myplanet?"
The creator of the Omnitrix puts his hands behind his back and moves towards the window of his lab. "They are a powerful and elitist species from the planet Augstaka…"
"Elitist?" Ben says.
Azmuth turns back to face him. "Through thousands of years, it has been their 'unfounded' belief that their species held the purest DNA out of every other in the universe."
He continues. "And this kind of mentality has yielded its unsightly results very soon. As it lead to inbreeding, loss of resistance to disease and sterility..."
The images that came to Ben's mind were most disturbing and he didn't need to be told what all of these were leading to.
"They are dying out…" he said with a concerned tone.
"Exactly." he says. "I would even go so far as to say that this… is the last generation of Highbreed that will roam the universe."
On that note, Azmuth watched as Ben's stance changed to a more serious one.
He had straightened up and the tired expression around his eyes started to fade away.
"Okay, they are an alien empire and facing extinction…" Ben said. "But then, why are they on Earth?"
Azmuth shook his head.
"Since they are dying out, they see the idea of leaving the universe to these 'lower lifeforms' as insulting, hence they have chosen to go on a conquest to take every other sign of life along with them..."
Ben raises his eyebrows, he doesn't even have to hear the rest of it.
"Alien invasion…"
"On a galactic scale, yes." Azmuth nodded. "We have learned that, with their commitment to their ideals and their advanced intellect, they have been expanding their military to the limit in secret over only a couple of short years."
The elder Galvan's tone turns concerned as well.
"And now they have begun to come out of hiding, with a force that has matched us, the Galvans…"
He lowered his head and closed his eyes.
"The number of worlds that can even have a chance at fighting their respective invasions, is now…"
He took a second to find the right word. "…limited to say the least."
As Azmuth stopped talking Ben was trying to grasp the situation.
"Why wasn't this stopped before? What were the Plumbers doing? How could they leave a planet of racist aliens unchecked?" he wanted to ask, however he didn't. He knew it didn't matter much anymore.
Ben got up and walked over to the window, just like Azmuth.
The creator of the Omnitrix however, didn't wait for him to come back.
He opened his eyes back up. "As of right now, we are still ill-informed of their exact plan for this conquest, however, we have captured a small number of their agents they have planted among various societies."
"The squids..." Ben said under his breath.
"Xenocites." He corrects him and waves his hand, resulting in a hologram of them appearing right before them.
Ben hears and turns back to see the Xenocite model.
"A biologically-weaponized parasite that takes over the host and overwrites their DNA to become a drone for their Highbreed officers to control… all fitted with ID alternating masks."
He watches as the image of the small squid-like creature changes. From what he could tell now, this was supposed to be the fully infected version.
It had yellow, slimy skin with limbs that were colored black.
The Xenocite itself had completely covered the head, and keeping the exposed brain and big singular green eye from before, it had also traveled down to their torso and turned it into purple tentacles.
They weren't dangling off, but were rather just kinda tucked into his skin.
Like how you tended to tuck in your shirt whenever you had to wear a suit.
"I'm glad they didn't turn into that…" Ben muttered before something else appeared.
It was a skin-colored mask, and as it was placed on the infected person, he witnessed them transform into a full-on Galvan.
"So that they can take us out, before a battle can really begin, right?" Ben crossed his arms.
And Azmuth could only nod once again. "We suspect an additional motive, however currently lack any evidence to support the idea."
Ben however, didn't listen to that. Now that he was back into the hero biz, he was ready to get his game face on.
He palmed his fist. "So we know who we gotta punch. All we need is where we gotta go and a plan…"
He paused for a second.
"What's our plan?" He looked at Azmuth.
Azmuth didn't talk immediately and Ben put on a questioning as well as an impatient face.
"You called me here because we have a plan to fight back, right? To save the universe?"
"I did…" Azmuth said and in that moment, the Omnitrix's dial started to blink and glow.
Ben looked at the dial.
"Admin key: Recognized. Alterations to Transformation Timekeeper: Accepted. Unlock of Quick Succession Transformation Mode: Authorized. Alterations to Quick Succession Transformation Mode: Accepted."
The Omnitrix's dial rose up and then closed down.
Ben was super confused. "What did you do?"
Azmuth closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "As we are conversing at this very moment, my closest mediators are scattered to multiple planets within multiple systems, in hopes of forging a military coalition against this coming storm."
"Planets like Khoros, Appoplexia, Pyros, Encephalonus IV, Piscciss, Kylmyys… Some of which are governed by races that you have transformed into before."
Ben's head was filled with all kinds of scope. It was really breathtaking to imagine planets with Fourarms', DiamondHeads'... etc.
He continues, almost in a monologue-type manner. "We have even sent delegates to the individual planets of the Anur System. Though they are unlikely candidates for an alliance."
Ben put a smile on his face. A crossover of the ages!
They were fighting fire with fire, he liked it. He knew there was no way that the universe would go down without a fight.
"As for your contributions…" Azmuth said and Ben immediately leaned forward with excitement.
"I have only one task for you during these trying times…"
Ben couldn't help but get excited.
What would it be? Lead the charge against the main forces as Cannonbolt? Engage in space battles with Jetray? Civilization 6 in the command center with Brainstorm?
Azmuth then finished. "Keeping the Omnitrix safe, at all costs."
Ben was taken aback. "Azmuth, I… What do you–"
But Azmuth didn't give him a chance to speak and continued on.
"For you see, Ben Tennyson…" he said. "In the case of our defeat…"
"The Omnitrix becomes the last hope… for all of us."
Ben raises an eyebrow and looks at the watch. "How is it supposed to—"
"I have stored within it DNA samples of every intelligent lifeform in the Milky Way galaxy."
Yeah, Ben knew that much.
"10,000 of them…" he shrugged. "I know."
Azmuth however shook his head. "As I'm continuously reminded, you know very little."
"There are over 1,000,000 samples in the Omnitrix."
Ben was stunned.
"And with it, you can revive any species that the Highbreed infects or exterminates."
"Infects?" Ben ponders and his eyes immediately fall on the device on his wrist.
"I healed them…" he marveled.
Kirishima, Jiro, Shoji, Tokoyami, Todoroki… He had saved all of them before. Was that—?
"You restored their genetic code." Azmuth detailed it
Ben put the pieces together in his head. "And I could do that for an entire planet…"
He looked back at the creator.
"If you are destroyed along with the Omnitrix, then there is no hope." Azmuth states. "Not for humanity, nor for any other race."
Ben was astounded. He couldn't help but get overwhelmed by all these revelations.
It… It was like a big reset button.
If anyone died, or got infected by the Xenocites, he could heal them, restore them, bring them back…
"No wonder, he wants me to hide." he thought, before being snapped back to reality.
The creator of the Omnitrix wasn't done.
"However, I realize that the Omnitrix's 10 minute timer for its initial purpose, interaction between species, doesn't translate well to combat or to strategies of retreat…"
Ben raises an eyebrow. Where was he going with this?
"Hence, I've conducted an upgrade."
"An upgrade?" Now that Azmuth was talking about the watch, he thought it would be best if he didn't cut him off.
Ben hesitantly but also curiously pressed on the rims and started to tweak with it.
"Your time limit has now been set as 2 hours." Azmuth walked around with his hands behind his back and he was even more floored than before.
"2 hours?!"
Azmuth nodded. "And since you seem to have experience regarding quick changes between alien forms, I have also unlocked them."
Ben raised his head and was quite literally speechless.
"Th– Thanks a ton Azmuth. I don't know what to say–"
"But…" Ben shut himself up and let Azmuth finish. "I have limited it to 4 at a time and each quick change is set to shave off 20 minutes of your remaining time."
"So that only lets 5 transformations per go around…" Ben thought.
It still gave him quick changes, however he couldn't help but point it out. "That… Isn't that just bad design…"
"It is intentional to be so." Azmuth returned the comment and tapped the side of the device. "I have initially contemplated on giving you Master Control, however, your brashness and lack of self-control gives a bad impression."
"The last thing I want is for you to chase away the Highbreed on your own."
He looked up to Ben's face and what was currently going through that teen's head was all too clear to him.
Ben didn't know what to say. A war for the fate of the universe was going to go down and he wasn't going to fight?!
How?! How could he not?!
"Then why did you give me the upgrade?!" Ben blurts out, a bit frustrated and Azmuth… shows no mercy.
"Because, I wanted you to know it really well, Ben Tennyson. That if you ever go against my wishes…"
He takes a step forward. "Make the incorrect choice…"
He takes another step. "Go after the officers of an alien empire…"
"And find yourself in their clutches?" He tilts his head.
"Know that, the Omnitrix and by extension I… will not be at fault."
"Any serious trouble that you may find yourself… is a result of your own volition."
Azmuth presses on. "So, I will tell you again… Use it responsibly."
Ben wants to say something, wants to deny what Azmuth is saying and declare that he will fight regardless…
However, someone appears to interrupt him just at the right time.
"Don't sweat it too much Ben." Another voice is heard from the door. "He will hold you responsible regardless. I should know the feeling."
Ben immediately recognizes the feminine and sarcastic tone.
As he turns around, he sees the slender figure, with red eyes, green skin and the face resembling an octopus. No offense.
"Myaxx?!"
"Hi Ben." the assistant greeted him with a tablet in her hand. "It's been a while since we talked."
"A while? Try 5 years…" he thought.
"How is it going on that backwater planet?"
Aaaaaand right out of the gate, Ben didn't know what to say.
"Oh, umm… Same old same old, I guess. Still getting into trouble."
However, some detail in the back of his head nagged at him.
Something important… in this situation.
"Oh!" he remembered. "Wait, hadn't Azmuth hired someone else for your job? What was his name…"
Myaxx continued her sly tone. "Oh, he had."
She looked over. "Quite quickly, mind you."
Azmuth just shook his head.
"That 'assistant' just showed up on his doorstep one day and apparently the two were a perfect match, because I found my termination papers right away on my desk!"
Azmuth still doesn't answer.
"However, the second he made one mistake… One small mistake by his star pupil, and the smartest being in 3 galaxies came running back to–"
"Myaxx!" Azmuth ordered. His tone was loud and strict, very unlike of him to be this commanding.
And Ben noticed it. Whatever it was, Myaxx had clearly struck a nerve…
"Can you instead tell why you have interrupted us?"
"Oh yeah.. Word came from the Galvanic Mechamorphs of Galvan B…" she moved next to Azmuth and showed him the tablet.
"I see." he said but before the assistant could continue, he stopped her. "But first and foremost, let's escort him back to his homeworld…"
"Sure." She shrugged and with a tap on the tablet, Myaxx opened the portal right next to them.
"Time for you to head home, Ben Tennyson." Azmuth said. "Some urgent business might have came up on our part, however we trust that you can keep yourself safe."
Ben, naturally, nodded. "Of course…"
However, before he stepped inside, he had one more question in mind.
"Also Azmuth…" he rolled up his sleeve. "Did you upgrade the Omnitrix while I wasn't wearing it?"
The creator of the Omnitrix looked back up to him, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought I gave you the answer several months ago, when this change first happened?"
Ben put a hand on his neck. "Yeah, well…"
"You said you never really stopped working on it and kept sending upgrades to its AI for it to implement on its own."
He looked straight at Azmuth."Then, why didn't you send this update online as well?"
Azmuth raised the other eyebrow.
The answer was obvious. He wanted to have this talk face to face and warn him himself.
"What about the new aliens?"
Ben then saw Myaxx smile. "Oh, that was my idea."
He looked back down to Azmuth. "After what happened last time… I was inclined to prevent you from developing 'a new favorite' between your host bodies."
Ben almost flinched with that. No matter the time, his last fuck up during his initial last days as a hero, would always haunt him.
"Consider it underhanded if you will…"
Ben however stopped him. "No no…
It wasn't easy to say but–
"… it was a good call." he said. "I don't mind."
Azmuth nodded and then gestured to the portal. "Now, if you don't have any more questions, you best get back to your own planet."
"Yeah…" Ben said and stepped back to his world, almost like he had just stepped through a door.
It was quite trippy.
"Oh but don't worry Ben…"
Ben turned around with Myaxx's words.
"From what I heard, you shouldn't have too much trouble with your roster." She crossed her arms. "After all, Earth is a melting pot for–"
"Wait what?"
Myaxx gets cut off however, as the gateway closes behind him.
He had heard what she said, but he didn't for sure know what she meant by that. Regardless, now that he was back in his room, there was one thing he had to do…
He took a deep breath and…
"Mom!" he yelled from his room.
He opened the door, and went over to the living room, but she wasn't here. There was also no response to his yell…
She was still at the Midoriya's.
He went back to his room and came face to face with the window yet again.
However unlike last time, his choice… was instantaneous.
"Sorry Azmuth…" he ran up, jumped through his window. "But I can't just let you make me stand by."
He hit the dial as the green flash engulfed him and Jetray soared to the skies…
"You might have an intergalactic alliance of sorts… But I doubt you gave any of the leaders or heroes here a call."
He chose a path through the seaboard, knowing that it would be better than gliding over the populated city with law enforcement.
"And I'm one of the only ones who know…"
He narrowed his eyes towards the roads didn't take long for him to notice the smoke cloud above the highway.
"Then, that makes me responsible."
Around these exact same hours of the night… there was yet another familiar face that chose to go out.
"Just longer, just a bit longer, clear–" His panting overtook his ability to mutter. "I have to finish the lap…
With his wheezing and just overall tired state, he couldn't help himself from falling flat on his ass to the sand.
"Come on…." He looked at the beach ahead. "Let me at least finish this…"
He raised his face to the sky, breathing in that fresh breeze from the ocean. In that moment, the glimmer of the moon shone upon him, and showcased who he was.
Rather than a jacked figure like most athletes that went on jogging like this, his physique was alarmingly skinny, only made more evident with the baggy jumpsuit and the green cargo pants as the bottom.
He could feel his yellow messy hair waving with the wind and the light that shone on him also brought out his pitch black eyes with only a hint of weary blue that could barely be considered as "pupils".
His name was Toshinori Yagi…
A teacher at the U.A. School… and the Number 1 hero of the whole country, jogging like any other person… or at least, resting like any other person for now.
"Man…" He couldn't help but put up a sad smile. "Heh, I really am not getting any younger, am I?"
He literally could feel his entire body hurting.
Toshinori then reached for his flask in his green cargo pants with the many pockets, but he didn't… He was reluctant.
"No…" he pulled his hand back. "I'll drink when I finish."
He lifted himself back up and…
…took a real look around since he came here for the night. To be honest, the weather was beautiful at this time of the night.
The light wind felt quite nice, the waves were gently crashing onto the sand next to him, and there was a mesmerizing moonlight reflecting off from the constantly wavering sea water.
He looked up to the real thing.
And the light, with the darkness that surrounded it…
Maybe it was because of the work he did and how "obsessed" that others accused him of being when it came to it, but looking at that shining orb of light, could only remind him of one thing.
His power… One for All.
"I didn't really get a chance to talk to Midoriya since the USJ..." he thought, continuing to look further at the moon. "With the teacher meetings and Tsukauchi's calls…"
"I have always had to decline his calls…"
It made him feel horrible, being neglectful towards his pupil like that.
And it wasn't only towards Midoriya either.
In his classes, everyone seemed to be doing their best, all motivated after everything that happened, to do better and improve.
But his mind just wasn't there today.
"They were probably trying to get my favor with today's exercises as well." He thought. Next time, he had to pay more attention. Not like that would make up for today, but this was the only thing he could do right now–
His thoughts had gotten interrupted as something flew over the moon, briefly blocking it!
It was no bird, the pro-hero knew that much. There was no bird that had the silhouette similar to a manta-ray.
He saw it briefly pause and look around, but he still couldn't quite make it out. Even with the light from the moon, stars and the city behind him, it was too dark to see.
And before he could get a good look, his watch beeped.
He checked out the notification and turned back to the moon but the figure was gone.
"What was–?"
Ben 10: Hero Force
Chapter 15
Bad Case of Déjà Vu Part 1
"Well, these guys had a rough night…" He flew lower on the crime scene.
From that vantage point over the coastline, he could see the smoke rising from a relatively open area.
What do you know? It was the highway.
"Smart thinking on their part." He thought.
Considering the big raid that they pulled off at the precinct, of course you would want to get out of the scene of crime as soon as possible. And you couldn't just waste time by going in between the streets with a truck, the police cars would catch you regardless of the equipment you had on deck to hold them back…
However, with the highways, there was also the chance of them being blocked ahead of time, but if you were quick enough, you could probably pass the blockade before it would be formed…
"Thankfully the police were on it…" he landed on a nearby rooftop. "Or well…"
He wouldn't really mind capturing those villains on his own anyway, but it was one less thing off his mind.
Now, for the crime scene…
From what he could tell, the truck had hit the blockade that was formed and crashed… but oddly enough, if you had just looked at the truck, you would be fair in thinking that the truck had rather been set on fire.
But then, how would the container with all the evidence be intact? He could see some officers going inside, with no real protection against heat.
Ben wanted to take a closer look and learn more.
Here was the plan. Go over the crash site, locate the police car that these crooks were being tucked into, follow the said police car back to a station, and then probably listen in as they spilled their guts over their collaborator for these Xenocites.
"Any luck, and they would give me another lead." he reassured himself.
Ben then shrugged "After that, who knows where that'll take me…"
He then eyed up the dial on his chest.
Normally he was just going to see how close he could sneak up as Jetray… But with tonight's boost…
He grinned with anticipation. "I have options…"
Not going to lie, this was so exciting, finally getting to do the mid-switching like he always wanted… minus the life-or-death situation from last time.
"I'm pretty sure I know who is most appropriate for here though…" He gripped the dial. "I just need to listen up… and listen well. Maybe even see close as well, but whatever–!"
He slammed the dial and with the green flash, he could feel his body changing and morphing yet again. The patagia under his arms fused back onto his back, fur grew on the once shagreen skin, and the flat face of his suddenly grew a longer and wider jaw, with razor-sharp teeth.
"Blitzwolfer!" he instinctively yelled, before shutting himself up to keep his voice down.
He looked at his claws. "Alright, time to get to work…"
The big bad wolf then jumped up to one of the pillars of the highway, and his claws immediately dug deep into the cement. "Good…"
He scaled up the pillar and chose a position close to the intersection of the roads. Otherwise, everyone would see the 350 pound werewolf with the classic moonlight backdrop.
"Yeah…" Ben imagined that kind of shot in the newspapers, with the signature green hue of his eyes as well as the Omnitrix. "Maybe it fits as a personal screensaver… but not for a front page scoop."
He slightly peaked his head up to see.
Immediately the sight of numerous officers, their parked cars with their lights still on, and one or two pro-heroes filled his gaze.
And then, he noticed the scent of burnt rubber and smoke filling his nose.
He looked at the vehicle. It wasn't really on fire, like he initially thought. But, he had never noticed that the tires were melted, the metal over the engine was scorched and the burn marks ran all the way through the side of the truck…
His initial glance didn't give him that much information at all.
"What kind of a heatwave flew by here?" He looked around and then his eyes caught the three villains.
"Hey bro, watch the hair! It's worth more than you!"
"Yeah bro! Way more—"
That little comment earned him a nice jab to his back. "Yeah yeah, get in the car."
He looked at the two of them. "They were the two firing back on the truck…"
Both criminals were jacked above the waist and wore similar shirts with symbols. One was of a star and the other was a skull.
Apart from that, the only thing that prevented the twins from being mistaken was their hair. Both were spiky, but one had gone with the color red, while the other had preferred white.
And speaking of their head, Ben was shocked… at the amount of mascara. The fact that they also managed to blend it together with some face paint…
"Talk about an edgy group..." he thought sarcastically. "Also what happened to that guy in the middle? A shortage of dumbbells?"
Yeah, in between the two jacked brutes, was a scrawny 17 year old or so kid.
He had the same combo of facepaint and mascara, with also a skull symbol on his black t-shirt. Adding onto the similarities, his hair was also colored, though it was just an orange streak in his usual black hair.
"Once our boss gets his hand on you–" The scrawny villain remarked, before being immediately cut off by both of his "friends".
"Shut up Corvo!"
"Yeah, shut the f–"
"Ah, so they are a gang." Ben thought. "Also, the name Corvo, noted. I wonder what's their connection to Rojo and the High–"
Ben looked at the trio again "Wait a minute, didn't Rojo also have–"
He felt a flashlight on his face and immediately ducked!
"What did you see, officer?"
"I… don't know." the officer said with the light still in his hands. "It must have been the wind, it took my attention."
"Well, you'd better keep your attention here, cadet. All that evidence these bozos spilled won't clean themselves."
"Hey!" Corvo spoke up. "You tryin to speak to us?!"
The officer shook his head. "Come on cadet…"
As the two walked away, Ben popped his head out again and sighed. "Quite the close call…"
Since it was so sudden, he had to let himself slide down a bit before sticking all of his claws into the concrete as hard as possible.
"Yeah, there are just too many of them…" he thought. "There is no way, they'll let me do a little investigating on my own."
"Wait…" his glance fell at the center of the road. "Is that… Tsukauchi?"
Yep, the detective from a few days ago was in the middle of the road, talking to two fire-themed heroes next to a car…
One was a young woman, having big red-orange eyes, pointy teeth and… green, flaming hair?
And as for her outfit, he saw a light-gray mini dress with orange and black lining and slits on both sides of the skirt, with other accessories like belt and wrist guards being black as a complement to the colors.
The other however… honestly reminded him a bit of a Heatblast and Rath fusion.
He was a sturdy-built, muscular, 6'5 tall man with short spiky crimson hair, right in front of her. His hero costume was a tight, navy blue bodysuit with white braces around his arms.
Other than that, the most prominent attribute of his was his flames as he employed them in streaks through his costume, had them completely engulf his mustache as well as beard, and manifested them in the form of a mask.
However, despite all this fire that surrounded him… his tone was anything but warm or familiar. Hell, he looked like he could kill you with his glare if he could.
"I'm still not missing this." he quipped and ducked his head back down.
Making sure to not fall and make a lot of noise, Ben crawled onto the other side of the highway. He made sure to get as close as he could, while also keeping within the shadows.
"I think…" he put his ear to the cement. "Yeah, I'm right below them."
"Detective…" the larger figured hero said. "Give these men to my agency and we'll get whatever info they're trying to hide."
Ben could hear Tsukauchi respond extremely clearly. "I hear you Endeavor, and we're all thankful for your assistance, however we can't take that kind of a drastic measure immediately."
"His hero name is Endeavor..." Ben thought, raising an eyebrow. "Noted, I guess?.."
He hadn't really known much about this guy. To be fair, he hadn't really been keeping tabs on heroes of Japan, period.
It was mostly just whatever Midoriya mentioned to him.
"Speaking on Midoriya actually, maybe he knows some stuff about him."
He felt Tsukauchi waver from his position.
The detective put his hands on his hip and exhaled, before replying: "We must walk them through the usual process, despite our personal feelings."
Burnin noticed the agitation in his voice. "... Like what you're doing right now?"
Tsukauchi looked at her and Burnin shrugged. "I'm just saying, if you wanna crack something, you have to add pressure."
The detective shook his head, however as he was about to speak, one of the officers arrived next to them.
"Detective, we finished a full sweep of the truck."
"Oh good…" Tsukauchi takes a deep breath. "So, what's been stolen?"
"Let's see…" The officer opens up his clipboard and starts reading through his notes…
…Stuff that Ben was really not interested in. "Come on dude, get to it already…"
Though he had to give credit where it was due, they really made good use of the space in that truck.
"What about my recent cases?" Tsukauchi forwarded the report along. "We already saw that one of the gauntlets has been stolen, what else?"
The officer straightened up. "Right."
He skipped a few pages. "Um… Aside from the gauntlet, our men have also found the entire armor we've confiscated from the female villain. The seal of the evidence of the box was also recorded as 'not broken'."
Tsukauchi smiled. "Now that's good news…"
"The gauntlet that you've also spoken off has been secured in an evidence box as well, though it also seems like the power that was fired on us is depleted."
"Make sure that box passes over to the lab team." Tsukauchi says. "I want a few more tests done on it, now that we know it can still be operational."
"Anything else?"
Officer checks the page, then checks the one after that… and then checks the one more towards the end. "Yep, that was all that was gone in terms of recent cases."
Even though Endeavor and Burnin couldn't see it, both Ben and Tsukauchi had raised their eyebrows.
"What about barrels?" The detective didn't lose any time in asking about it. "Was there a barrel in the stolen objects?"
The officer, with a fully clueless expression, sorted through his clipboard again. "No… No detective, it has not been reported in the debris."
"It has not been stolen."
Tsukauchi… was skeptical. Something nagged at his head. This was not right.
Everything else regarding the USJ was stolen, then why wasn't this?
As he was stuck in thought, an alarm from his phone went off.
"Oh, this was today…" Tsukauchi turned it off.
"Endeavor, can I leave things here to you?"
Endeavor, in response, looked at Burnin, and as the two made eye contact…
She stepped forward.
"Yeah, I will keep an eye on the clean up, Detective." the female sidekick replied. "We don't mind helping out whenever we come across like this, but, as he would tell you himself, the boss has more important things to attend to than this."
Tsukauchi looked at Endeavor and the pro-hero solemnly nodded.
"Alright, have them prepare a more extensive report for me to read as well."
Burnin did the salute. "You can count on me!"
As the conversation went down, Endeavor's eyes drifted towards the ground.
"Endeavor?" Tsukauchi said as the number 2 immediately turned to his sidekick and gestured her to the ground.
Burnin made sure to not move, but just pay attention. Something…
Under the road… there was something crawling beneath them.
The pro-hero growled as he held up his hand and counted down starting from 3.
3…
Tsukauchi froze in his place, and waited calmly like this was normal.
2…
Burnin could hardly contain her flames.
1!
Immediately, like it was all staged, Burnin ran across the highway, to look down from the railings and Endeavor took it a step further, and jumped off from the highway!
Fire came out of his feet and he flew in mid-air.
He even intensified his flames to get more light… but there was no one in sight.
Below him, was just the usual city block, with a good number of residents out, walking on the street.
However, that didn't mean his eyes caught nothing.
It was small…
A very small greenish light, with no real source of it in sight, had fizzled out and disappeared right in front of him.
"Boss?" Burnin said. "Did you get him?"
"No…" he replied and turned around. "However, someone was there..."
Burnin came back running and as she looked to her boss, she saw what he saw…
Claw holes and marks…
"What happened?" Tsukauchi finally saw fit to move.
To which he replied: "Contact the station…"
He looked up to the detective. "Seems like we missed one of their friends…"
"How could I be so stupid?!" Ben said as he cruised on the skies as Jetray. "Of course those meatheads were bait!"
"Bait so that the police, the pro-heroes and me all follow them as they sneak away the real evidence!"
The Xenocites were the goal the entire time!
"Oh, if you think I'm going to give up like that!.." Ben refuses to despair and taps on the pedal.
As the world around him becomes more and more of a blur, he also keeps in mind to stop at the necessary time.
In a few seconds, he finds himself hovering… right over the police precinct.
Ben descends down and lands on the , he taps on the dial yet again.
As his overall size shrunk, the manta-ray skin was immediately wrapped by a yellow insect exoskeleton. A two hinged antenna grew from his head and smaller stick-like legs came out from the flexible patagia under his arms and replaced it.
"Ball Weevil!" he yelled out internally and sneaked right in through the ventilation shaft.
"If they need the police out of their offices, then it has to be taking them a good bit to get them out carefully… "
He crawled through and even though he initially had no idea on where to go, he managed to overhear another police officer mention going to the evidence office…
"Isn't that lucky?"
He chose to watch him from above, and managed to arrive at the grand prize with his guidance.
"Bingo…"
He gazed into the room from the filter.
Immediately he was greeted with a messy room, packed to the brim with shelves filled with boxes full of documents, sealed zipper bags with all kinds of contents, and etc.
Some were knocked over, some papers had clearly flown out…
However at the back… stood a barrel… alongside two police officers.
He didn't remove the filter and enter the room. Instead, he waited and watched from the slits. "What are you guys up to?-"
Without warning, one officer grabbed the barrel by its sides and lifted it up.
"Woah there…" Ben thought, with his tone becoming cynical. "Now that(!) can't be good for your back."
He then put it on a drum racker that the second officer had and the two made for the door.
And to Ben's surprise, a third officer joined up with them.
"Is it done?" The officer with the drum racker asked.
"Yes, the camera's have been set to loop. We can leave."
"W–! Are they really now?!" Ben perked up from his spot.
Looping cameras, grabbing barrels with one arm…
"Maybe it's hero o' clock after all."
He raises his stick leg to hit the dial yet again.
But… he stops.
"I should make sure…"
He wanted to go Water Hazard and show these guys if they were really clear to leave. But…
"...your brashness and lack of self-control gives a bad impression."
After the sneaking out that he did, he couldn't stand to prove Azmuth right.
He had to keep reminding himself that this wasn't like the good old days. He needed to think things straight and prevent his hero instincts from taking over.
"Plus…"
There was another level as well.
"And then what? The fabled hero goes home?" Ball Weevil shook his head.
"No…" He needed to make the best of this situation.
He followed them to the outside of the police at them from the vents. It didn't take long before they opened the doors of a van in the garage and loaded up the barrel.
"Let's try a subtle approach."
Ball Weevil slowly removed the filter of the vents and jumped down from the building.
As the ignition turned on, he shot a line of slime, right at the rear bumper, and launched himself.
He made his landing and then crawled under the moving van.
"I hope this will be worth it…"
"I hope I make it in time..." Toshinori sprints through the halls of UA. "I can't make a bad impression on my colleagues by being late!"
As the night of school's reopening day, after the events of the USJ, dragged on, the teachers/pro-heroes had their own meetings and agendas to discuss… through a teacher assembly.
"Maybe I should have set my alarm earlier…" he thought. "Considering I also had to go back home to get dressed appropriately."
Thankfully, he didn't need to push his body to the brink, as the door finally came into range… As well as another figure.
"Tsukauchi!" he wanted to wave his hand to the detective, however the law enforcer was on the phone. He clearly looked annoyed with something.
The detective then noticed him and turned off his phone.
"All Might." he greeted. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too." Toshinori replied and then checked his watch. "I'm not late, right?"
The detective waved it aside. "No no, you're just in time."
He then put his hand on the bridge of his nose.
"Late night?" All Might asked.
"You have no idea."
"Really?" Toshinori asked. He didn't remember anything coming through in his agency… but then again, he had popped in and left in a hurry. "Want to fill me in?"
"I'll tell you inside." he answers. "Everyone is here after all."
"Oh…" All Might answered. So he WAS the last one arrived.
As Tsukauchi opened the door, Toshinori came face to face with the entire board, sitting around a U-shaped table.
Everyone was there. Principal Nezu, Present Mic, Midnight, Power Loader… Even Eraser Head was present in his bandaged state!
"Good evening, everyone…" All Might said and everyone returned the gesture as he took his place next to the Principle.
"Now that everyone is here!.." Nezu raises his paw and looks towards Tsukauchi. "Detective, you may begin."
Tsukauchi nodded politely, with papers in his hands.
"As you all know, in the last couple of days, the police force has been investigating the group who attacked the USJ a few days prior… The group who called themselves 'The League of Villains.' "
"I…" he says, stumbling on his words as his eyes read what's on the paper.
"I unfortunately have to report that we have checked the quirk registry, and there does not seem to be anyone registered with the name Shigaraki and a decaying quirk."
He looked over to All Might. "The very same goes for Kurogiri."
"Which confirms they have been using aliases." Snipe came to the point. "What else?"
Tsukauchi hesitantly read the paper…
"The evidence from the scene has also been analyzed, however the technology has proven to be difficult."
"Difficult?" Nezu asks from his seat.
Tsukauchi took out a new sheet of paper. "Our men at the labs have run a full analysis, yet all results have shown them to be unresponsive."
"Maybe they are damaged?" Power Loader asked. "After all, I remember hearing the armor having a hole in its chest when you recovered it."
"That was what we assumed as well, however…"
Many sitting around the U-shaped table leaned forward with intrigue.
"Just tonight a group of villains attempted to raid the Musutafu Police District's evidence room, and the items they had briefly stolen contained those two pieces of tech."
"Our enemies still have eyes on them then…" Power Loader swiftly assumed, but…
"That's not all." Tsukauchi said.
"As they made their escape, one of the villains wore and used the gauntlet against us… to great effect too."
All Might's ears perk up with that news. No wonder his friend was tired and irritated.
Nezu put his hands together.
"I've sent both for a second analysis…" Tsukauchi said. "I hope it's just something we've missed…"
"How about the material?" Midnight asked. "The fiber, or the metal…"
Tsukauchi shook his head. "After we did our initial investigation, they placed it under a number of stressors. However, the reactions have not matched anything..."
"Not matched anything…" Nezu repeats. "That's quite peculiar, isn't it?"
Everyone nodded… but they simply didn't have ideas.
What did Tsukauchi mean that even the material didn't have a match?!
Present Mic asks: "This is for both the armor and the gauntlet, right?"
Tsukauchi nods.
"Oh okay, I see…"
A brief silence takes hold, before the fabled detective can't help but bow his head.
"I apologize…"
Present Mic quickly took the word back. "Wait, is that it?"
He's taken aback by Tsukauchi's nod.
"That can't be it! What about– What about the 60 or so villains?"
"73." Midnight corrected him.
Tsukauchi lifted up his head. "We have questioned them. However, all of their statements and backgrounds paint a similar picture..."
He passed the papers in his hand to them.
"They are all small-timers that lurked in back-alleys and were all approached by Kurogiri over the course of several months. They have had no knowledge of the operation…"
He looks over to Toshinori. "...Other than the fact that they would have a chance at fighting you."
Toshinori, concernedly, pulls the papers closer to him. And Ectoplasm, who had been sitting next to him, manages to take a look as well.
"They have been working hard for this opportunity…"
"Yeah…" Snipe agrees. "I would like to say this is speculation, but can we all agree that the 'hole' in our security system last week was them by now?"
He took the attention of everyone else in the room.
"I mean, how else did they know where to fight All Might?" he said and pointed to Eraser Head. "That's why you and Thirteen needed to fight such a desperate battle."
Under his bandages, Eraser Head glared at the gunslinger. "Yes, it was fortunate that we pulled through."
"It is a good thing that your class reacted as well as they did, isn't it Eraser Head?" Midnight spoke out.
The Erasure Hero's gaze fell on her.
"After all the hard times you've been giving them—"
"They're good kids." Aizawa brushes it off. "I will admit that much."
"Speaking on them actually…" Tsukauchi says, as he sees other teachers looking over his papers. "How are they handling it?"
Eraser Head passes the word, with his gaze to Midnight.
"Well…" The aura of Aizawa makes her choke on her words. "They are recovering."
She puts her hands together. "In today's therapy sessions, even though I haven't even gotten to speak to half the class yet, I could see that they are feeling scared and regretful."
Present Mic asks: "Not to be pessimistic, but can they really recover from this? I mean, it hasn't been that long since they came into the school…"
He finds himself unable to continue and Midnight picks it back up.
"Thankfully, the answer to that is yes." She looks at Mic. "It makes me glad to say that even though they have had these tough times, they are still set on becoming heroes."
She puts a small, relieved smile. "They just need to finish processing and come to their own conclusions, whether it's the fact that these types of situations can take place, or it's the fact that they need to become better in case of another situation like this."
"I…"
Toshinori, who had stayed silent during the meeting, chooses this moment to speak his own mind.
He takes the word from Midnight. "If I may ask, I have heard that Tennyson was the one…"
He briefly makes eye contact with Aizawa.
"...I believe that he was one of those who had to do the fighting against Shigaraki, Kurogiri… and the other villain."
"Can I ask how he has been handling it?"
Midnight instinctively looks over to Nezu, almost like she was asking if she could do a discussion like this. But Nezu throws a nod her way and she returns the gesture, before speaking.
"As you can guess, I can't speak extensively… However, I can mention that he has been having the most difficulty."
She bites her lip. "I know that I mentioned all the students I've talked with having their faith intact to us heroes…"
"I cannot say that Tennyson's faith in us is any different, but, I can say that he is the closest one out of any of them to the edge of that line."
At the end of that, she realized that she had been looking in front of her, rather than at Toshinori who had asked the question.
Toshinori however, didn't care. "Thanks. It's good to know."
He didn't quite see it, but from the opposite seat, he had managed to earn himself a curious stare from Aizawa.
Power Loader took the word. "By which makes our agenda clear…"
"Repaying the trust of our students, by tracking down and capturing the villains who have done this to them."
Meanwhile…
"Are. We. There. Yet?!" Ben screamed inside.
It had been a good while since he had hitched the ride on the police van, and he could swear that they had been driving on an empty road for… almost 45-50 minutes now.
Just where could they be going?! How far away did these guys live?!
He crawled from under the car, and stuck to its side. It was just an empty road.
There was no one around. No people. No buildings.
Ben then looked behind him. The same result. He was so far from any kind of civilization…
"I hope this was worth it." He prayed on the inside. "If all this driving is so that they can bury those failed subjects in a ditch—"
Just then, he saw an area just in the distance, encircled by barbed wire and a brief light coming from a small cabin.
"Is that?" he crawled back down under as he could feel the vehicle come to a stop.
He snuck in a peek from below. "An entrance booth?.."
It was barely, but he could catch the reflection of the human officer in the booth, throwing a solemn nod to the driver.
"Isn't there an identification that you look at?"
Maybe he couldn't see it, but… he rather just hoped that there was no list for him to check from.
"If there's a list, then there are multiple vans coming in like this…" he thought. "Just what are you guys running here…"
As the car parked and the back doors opened, Ball Weevil also jumped down and hid behind the tire of the van.
"Store these in their containers." he could hear the officer say.
"Who's asking?.." Ben said and poked his head out ever so slightly. "Oh no…"
These were the fully infected people. With the yellow skin, black claws, purple tentacles, there was no mistaking them!
"What about the bounty hunter's technology?" he heard them say as one alien on the side took the barrel away.
"They were unable to be recovered." the officer said in a deadpan tone. "The attention that was seemingly diverted for them, was too high to facilitate a complete extraction."
The alien looked back at him.
"However we've had sufficient time to destroy the communications channel."
He looked to his side. "Even if the armor is repaired, it has been rendered untraceable."
The alien nodded.
"Master is expecting a report to be filed for the incident."
The officer in response, nods back. "It shall be done."
Ball Weevil watched as the two aliens then chose to return to their usual business.
"This isn't good."
The dial on his chest started to blink!
"And that's way worse..." He had wasted too much on that ride.
Plus all those mid switches…
He had forgotten! He was about to turn back!
"Ah, screw it!"
Ball Weevil made an absolute break for it and looked around.
Piles of boxes, other cars, vehicles–!
"Good enough!"
He slid right under one of the cars there!
Once the green light around his body had finished, he raised up his head, and his hands.
"This isn't good…" he looked at his human hands. "This really isn't a good time now, shit!"
He tried pressing on the rims again, but it was no use. The Omnitrix wasn't doing anything besides beeping meaninglessly.
"Ah…" he wanted to vent out. "Couldn't you give me, like, half an hour more, Azmuth?"
He thought about it for more than half a second. "Yeah, probably not."
Azmuth honestly had already done him a huge favor with that. Without him, he couldn't even reach this far.
"Great…" he took his hand off and looked forward.
The situation looked bad. It was a Xenocite infested day camp.
With many "officers", vans and trucks going around the clock, unloading materials, checking clipboards and inspecting their performance.
As far as buildings went though, there were… honestly an odd lack of them. There were just short buildings that weren't even two stories high! With all these materials, you would think there would be somewhere to store the—
"Bingo." Ben's eyes landed on his target.
There seemed to be a hatch, a stairway down underground where all aliens seemed to be coming up from.
"Okay Ben, focus…" he regained his composure. He now had a goal, sneaking into the base to find out what this base is for, and a set location.
Now it was time for a plan.
He put his hand on his chin. "Got it."
He would go Wildvine, drill down to the base of their operations–
Then it hit him.
"Riiiiight…" Ben looked down at his wrist. "That's not an option."
He raised an eyebrow. "To be honest…"
"Without an Omnitrix like this…" A smile glimmered on his face. "It kinda feels like the combat trial."
Granted he was the villain team, and back then he had a whole Omnitrix to help, but the objective was close enough. The only difference was that he was now the hero… and that there were a whole base's worth of villains rather than just 2.
"Okay…" he tried to remember that class. "Let me see how well I can mimic them…"
He picked his chance and crawled out from under the car.
Sneaking between piles of boxes, watching out for blind spots of the guards…
"You know, never thought I would say this, but I'm surely missing having Ghostfreak right about now." He looked out from a corner. "Not the villain, but the transformation."
He waited until there was no one going in or out.
"Or Gray Matter…"
He made sure the guards were also looking the other way, before pushing forward.
"Maybe even Upgrade, right? Couldn't I hitch a ride on one of their devices?"
As he said that, he ran alongside one of those trucks that was moving, and then crouched down in between another pile.
"Who else?" he looked over and saw that he was decently close...
There was still the probability of cameras, but he couldn't really do anything about those. He was already trying his best to hide himself.
"Just gotta pick my chances…" he thought. Naturally, as the aliens came and went inside that complex, it was a relatively crowded area.
He wanted to make a move to sprint one more time to get in there…
"Duh…" he sank back down. "I'm trying to enter practically a mall through its front door, of course it won't empty out…"
He thought to himself, just what could he do…
"I could try the vents… They worked with Ball Weevil, why not me?"
He gazed around. "But the noise would echo…"
He nodded to himself. His squirming would definitely be heard and then he would be staring down countless gun barrels of DNAliens.
Yeah, it was—
It was just really tricky, and he couldn't just keep taking chances whenever he was going to move.
There was a high chance for him to be seen.
"Oh wait…" Ben put his hand on his chin. "What if—"
He held his finger up. There was something that Azmuth did mention.
It wouldn't be something that any one of his classmates tried back then. Or hell, it never came up once during the trial to begin with.
But considering the circumstances, it would fit here.
With a mischievous smile on his face, he nodded: "I have an idea…"
"You may proceed." the gatekeeper, at the booth, told the newcomer driver as he checked his own given schedule on the desk.
And with that he crossed off yet another delivery of raw materials and switched to standing perfectly still.
There was no relaxation, no relief, no moment of weakness. It was a perfectly programmed soldier, even when doing a menial task.
And his task, was to now, wait for his next arrivals and act natural in case of a surprise inspector or—
The officer felt a tap on his shoulder.
*Ahem! Ahem!*
He turned his head and saw Ben wink at him.
"Peek a boo!"
*BAM!*
Ben decked the alien in the side of his head with a fire extinguisher.
However… they didn't go down.
Ben moved to slam it again, but the alien caught it mid-swing.
"Oh, butter biscuits."
Ben tried dropping it, but the DNAlien was fast. They grabbed him right by the neck!
*HssSsSsSsSssSSsSsSS…* *RaAaAaAaAaAaaAaAa…*
Ben could see the officer's eyes looking right into his soul… with an ever so slight static twitch.
They were slightly changing… unable to fully project what was going on behind the mask.
He knew it was just a glitch in the technology, but knowing what was behind it… and only seeing it through odd cues, noises.
It was so eerie, it sent a shiver down his spine.
Ben grabbed the hand of the alien and squirmed, trying to get the alien's grip loose by pulling on his fingers.
"Let go you creepy crawly—"
However, the DNAlien wasn't eager to listen. With Ben raised up in his hand, he made his way to the radio in front of him.
"He's gonna rat me out!"
Ben, out of instinct, aimed his Omnitrix. And the dial started to glow and beep.
"Severe genetic damage detected."
Ben raised his eyebrows. He knew what that meant.
He held the alien back.
"Do it!"
The Omnitrix started to glow with his process, however this alien was persistent.
The tentacles of the Xenocite, breaking the hologram, started to uncurl and made their way onto Ben's face. The host's body stopped moving as the alien unraveled.
The tentacles were disgusting. Completely disgusting but Ben didn't waver.
He gritted his teeth as he kept his eyes on the dial!
A green flash dazzled his eyes and once he opened them…
He found himself floating forth in a whole new world.
It was a big black, cylindrical void, mixed in with a pattern of morphing dots of green.
Blue electricity also cracked around him.
"Whoa." Ben exclaimed as he looked around.
"I'm… inside the Omnitrix?"
He then glanced behind him, and like it was the end, it was completely black. The memories that he had on the outside, did not wait to rush back to his head.
"And so is the creepy-crawly." He crossed his eye-brows.
Soon the full DNAlien emerged before him. It was giant, probably a hundred times larger than him currently and by the direction of his course, he was going straight for the head.
But Ben just gritted his teeth. He felt a green surge of energy all around his body.
Once he was there, with a sign of burning determination and no words out of his lips, he lifted his hand up and then grabbed the Xenocite.
He was going to pull it out and save this person once and for all.
However, the creature was fighting back.
A purple tendril broke off and started crawling up his arm!
He tried to pull his hand back, but the creature was too strong!
"Whoa!"
And it was still growing! It was growing all around him!
More tendrils emerged and as he tried to fly away and gain some distance, they were only pulling him further and further in.
Soon…
"Aaaaaaaaah!" Ben yelled as they overtook him, the tendrils managed to pull him back and sink him into the DNAlien.
The tendrils completely covered his body.
And everything… faded to black.
Once he opened his eyes, he saw that he had fallen to the ground, only to then be greeted with a sticky feeling in his hand.
He raised it up. There it was… The Xenocite…
And the person was on the ground, in front of him. A bit of an old man, gray hair, clearly suffering from baldness and wearing a brown security guard uniform… but most importantly, human.
"Phew…" he took a sigh of relief, and then looked around for a second.
He didn't see any flashlights, no alarms were going off… Huh, he was good.
Ben got up and without waiting for another second, shoved the Xenocite into a drawer on the desk.
He closed it and saw that there was a small lock on it.
"Key, key, key…" he searched the room.
His eyes landed on the cork board. "Nice!"
He grabbed it right out and locked the little bugger in, right before turning back to the officer.
"Now, I can get what we came for…" he crouched down.
"A drone for their Highbreed officers to control…" Ben recited Azmuth's words as he searched the officer's face."...all fitted…"
*Thud.*
He had raised the man up, and then Ben heard the thing fall from his belly to the ground.
He picked it up and declared.
"...with ID alternating masks."
He took a close look at it. The technology looked amazing. On one side, it was an expressionless, skin colored mask ,and on the other, it had a black matt surface with an almost-shining golden network of circuitry.
"Do I just put it on?-"
He heard someone knock on the door.
*What is going on here?* Ben could hear.
"Guess so!"He put on the mask and felt his physique change. First of all, he felt taller… his shoulders also became wider… Now, HE looked like the human officer.
"Okay got the disguise…"
He then glanced back at the officer, and immediately moved him to under the desk.
"I…" he said, hearing the knocking on the door increase and increase. "I will be back for you."
He then pulled the chair in front of him and then ran to open the door.
"Remember, no quips, just straight-laced speech."
The door opened and outside were two DNAliens, without any sort of disguise.
"We have heard noises. What has happened here?"
Ben had to fight every urge in his body to not reply with "Uhhhh…".
"Had a slight weapons malfunction." Ben replied. "It is contained now."
The two DNAliens looked at each other… or at least they would have if they were in any shape of form, normal.
"The hand-held blasters have a red tint. However, the light we observed was green."
The second DNAlien continued: "And the higher-leveled weapons, with green tinted bolts, are stored in the lower-levels.
Ben was sweating buckets under the disguise. HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!
No matter…
"You may check my post, if you do not believe me." Ben gestured to the inside. "I would be willing to show you."
The two DNAliens did not wait, as they walked inside, leaving Ben to lock the door.
The two started looking around, into the closet, into the document organizer…
All the while, Ben nudged very and very slowly to the main window.
"Come on…" he could see the rope of the shutter near the window. "Just a bit closer…"
Thankfully these worker bees were dedicated searchers.
He grabbed the rope and pulled on it, closing all ways of looking outside.
"What are you doing?" The DNAlien points his gun.
"Who is this? What's your operating number?!"
"This." Ben, keeping up his disguise, raises his arm. "Omnitrix!"
Before the officers can pull the trigger, a green flash of light goes off again!
And once it subsides, Ben finds two more humans lying on the ground, with two more separated Xenocites.
"Boring conversation anyway…" he shrugs, before repeating the process from before. Xenocites into drawers and humans behind the drawers.
"I will come back for you too. Promise." he then closes the cabinet and reopens the shutter.
"That was so close." he takes a deep breath and then recomposes."The disguise works… sorta."
He then eyed up the gun on the corner of the office, and then the fire extinguisher.
"...time to create a proper excuse."
Ben finally approached the stairs.
His disguise was still up, by which he only needed to look at his height to confirm it.
"Alright Ben… Happy thoughts."
Taking a deep breath, he took his first step and descended down.
Immediately a shiver went over his skin. This place… Someone must have left the fridge open, because it was freezing!
"I knew I should have grabbed my jacket."
Other than that, the place space felt a little cramped, and it didn't really change when he arrived at the ground floor.
Just, the countless amount of pipes, lights, light switches, buttons–
"Actually…" Ben thought. "I… don't really know where I am, do I?"
I mean, he was in a Highbreed base, sure, and some of the design of technology and equipment showed him that, like the red DNAlien blasters.
But overall, this whole structure felt like it was built right here… On Earth and by humans.
Hell, it didn't even look recent either, it just all looked like some old technology from the 80's or 90's.
"I wonder what it was, before these guys decided to settle in…"
As he walked around further, he eventually found a larger room, with a control panel… and several more DNAliens bunched together.
One of them left their station and walked up to Ben.
"What are you doing, absent from your post?"
Ben avoided putting on any sort of expression. "Show no fear."
"Show no emotion at all."
He held out his left hand and showed him his fractured blaster…
"I have come across that my blaster has been damaged." Ben said. "I have not been able to discover the reason, but I was hoping to replace it..."
He waited a bit more before the alien took a step back to the wall.
"Move along."
Ben raised his head. "Th–"
And, he almost stomped on his own foot, to stop himself. "Right, no conversation enders…"
As the glare of the DNAlien officer intensified on him, Ben fixed his posture, and walked on forward.
"I really should learn the ways of DNAlien casual talk… for future reference."
For now though, with the newfound inconspicuous stature, it was time to do a little snooping around.
"Okay…" he thought in his head and eyed up the doors on the walls to his sides. "Which door should we go with fir—"
His thoughts stopped dead in their tracks, as another DNAlien, who was passing by, approached him.
"Uh…" Ben said in his head, before he got his game face on.
"How can I help you?"
*AaAaarrRrG?*
The DNAlien growls at him… instead of speaking.
"Great, I don't speak that language…" Ben, with his officer disguise still up, looks down at his hand, and then tries the "showing the gun" tactic again.
Maybe that could get him out?
The DNAlien looked down at it. The cracks on it were very much visible like Ben had intended as well as some scratch marks that disrupted the red-silver coloring.
"Please don't start screaming, please don't start screaming, please don't start screaming…" Ben repeated inside his head. He didn't know how, but if a DNAlien saw through his disguise…
Well, all hell would break loose and he was pretty sure the Omnitrix was still recharging.
The alien's pupil then visibly scrolled up and stared at him, yet again.
It started to raise his claw.
"Don't make me fight here…" Ben stood his ground. He waited for the alien to do something so that he could immediately go for the counter.
However, instead of bringing it down with a full-on slash motion, the DNAlien stopped it midway and pointed to one of the rooms on the corridor behind him.
*GRaAaAaAaA* *RaaaH* *RaaaH*
Ben could, of course, put 2 and 2 together.
"Understood." he replies and walks on back. But the experience did stick with him…
The DNAalien… just helped him, didn't it?
"Do they share… some kind of link? Comradery maybe? Because we're both 'serving the same master'?" He made air quotes in his head.
But, that wouldn't make sense for a parasitic creature either. Up at the trucks, the two were practically cold and unfamiliar to one another.
So, why was this different?
He barely resisted putting a hand on the side of his head, before reaching at the door that the DNAlien pointed to.
"Do I just touch this panel?" He raised his hand to touch it, but the door then suddenly opened. "Guess not."
Inside, he saw an absolutely packed to bursting room of weaponry.
There were a number of crates that were stacked on top of one another, almost enough to completely circle the entrance. And on those piles, he caught some rifles being leaned to them, and backpacks on top. The walls were once again decorated with rifles, with some helmets hung up on them for… some reason that he didn't know yet.
He then slightly opened one of the bags.
"Bombs too?" he marveled. Inside of the bag was completely full of spherical sci-fi grenades. Considering their numbers…
"They probably have enough firepower to put up a serious fight against Japan."
Imagining that they probably already had spaceships and aerial support from them…
"Then, I wonder, what are they waiting for?"
He wondered these questions, but was very well aware that he shouldn't stall here. If they were not attacking, he had to learn the reason why.
Ben tossed his broken gun to the back of a crate pile, and picked up a brand-new one.
He also spotted a set of clips as well in one of the open boxes, so he slipped them into his pockets too, just in case, right before getting out of the room.
"If that was the armory…" he thinks as the door closes behind him. "I wonder if this section is for storage?"
It was curious. And to test that theory, he would walk to the door right opposite of him.
And once the door automatically opened like before, a completely different site had greeted him.
It was a large room, with countless liquid tanks, pipes, and valves.
Ben stepped inside. The system seemed to be fully automated, which made his job so much easier.
There was also cabinet—
"No." Ben said as he laid his hands on it. It was cold… waaaaaay colder than the air he was struggling to not shiver in.
"A freezer?" he thought. "But what can they be freezing?"
He rubbed his shoulders. "More than usual of course…"
There was a small window on the cabinet, so he tried to look inside, but it was too dark to see anything.
*Beep! Beep!*
Ben immediately turned around, with his right hand over his left!
"Who–?!"
He then looked down and saw a little droid. It seemed to be cylindrical in shape with a round head, and black and gold in terms of color. It was tall enough to be up to his waist and had a sensor…
Ben eyed up the sensor and realized that it was looking at him, and then to the gun in his right hand.
He then held the gun properly. "Yeah, I'm one of you, go away…"
And apparently the droid didn't question it, as it drove past him next to a panel. A mechanical arm came out and plugged into the system.
With that, the hatch of one of the largest tanks opened up and a new lid slid right on top of it.
A lid with holes…
Ben got closer and took a closer look. He couldn't see the bottom of it, as the color was too bright and… the tank just seemed to go on and on down into the ground—
Something rose up from the bottom.
Ben stood on his tiptoes. What was that? Where did it come from—?!
Suddenly, another came up, another, and another…
As one by one, these things rose, Ben elected to look up instead… right at the lid and only then did he notice that the holes on the lid were getting filled up one by one.
He turned to the droid. "What did stubby do?"
The lid, once it was full, detached from the tank and hovered down next to him which gave Ben the chance that he was waiting for.
"Eggs?" And not like the edible kind either.
These things were larger than Ostrich eggs. They didn't have the white hard shell either, instead they looked mushy with yellow skin and a purple crawly topside.
"Now where did I see this before?"
*Click* *Click*
*Vwwwrrppp*
Suddenly the door of one of the freezers in the wall, opened up and the hovering lid with the eggs started to move into it.
Ben however, couldn't contain his curiosity. He held up his hand. "I'm gonna regret this, won't I?"
His finger got closer and closer, the droid in the room didn't seem to mind, and when he finally touched it… he could feel every little thing.
The soft, wet, slimy little…
"You know, if the world wasn't at stake, I would hurl right now. "
But wait…
All kinds of disgust and personal feelings aside…
Why did this feel familiar?
Then suddenly, the yellow skin part of it opened up!
Ben leaned forward to see what was going on. And then–!
*EEEEEEEE!*
A screech went off in the room. The purple leftovers… were actually a Xenocite!
"Ah!" Ben can't help but yell as he jumps back, avoiding the initial leap of the bugger.
And, without hesitation, he gripped the gun and shot the Xenocite dead.
"Phew…" he sighed. "That could have been—"
He raised his eyebrows. "The droid–!"
Ben looked over, but it was fine. The droid seemed to have gone back to its post a while ago.
"Nice, it was on auto." Ben smiled, before crouching down and looking at the insta-crisp seafood he created on the ground.
"They are manufacturing them…" He thought, but his glance immediately turned back on the freezers. "No…"
Ben put his hand on his chin. "If they were created they would be shipped off. They are being stored."
He then moved to exit from the room. There was no benefit to anyone catching him with a dead Xenocite. He swept the thing behind some of the tanks using his shoe, all the while trying to reassure himself that whatever liquid that was coming out of the corpse would wash out.
He then fully left, and moved to a third room, and…
"Well, this is unique."
It was unique because there wasn't anything notable about it. There were just some metal boxes stacked inside and… that was it.
But that didn't mean Ben was convinced.
"They put this room right next to the armory and close to the Xenocites." Ben said and then gripped his blaster yet again.
Without hesitation at this point, he shot at the boxes and managed to get the cover loose.
He shot again and it was off.
Ben then pushed it aside, leaned forward and only found… a pile of white crystals.
He dove his hand in there. Yep, it was no cover-up or nothing was underneath it…
"Maybe I can look into this back home…" The hero then picked up a small one of the rocks and put it in his pocket.
And after that, he didn't really waste anymore time.
He put the cover back on. Thankfully the box didn't have any blaster marks and the part of the box wasn't broken.
It slid back on perfectly. "Finally, something is going my way…"
And as he exited and moved to his fourth door, something caught his eye…
"A custom door…"
It wasn't like those bulkhead doors that he was going around. It wasn't just slightly changed and still had the handle despite having a sensor. It looked fully constructed from the ground up…
"And if there is a door, there is a room…"
He stepped forward, but it didn't open.
"What the–"
All the doors were automatic, no?
He tried hitting the buttons on the panel this time. This was perhaps the most interesting thing he had seen, since coming here.
He HAD to know what was behind it.
And since forcing the panel wasn't working, he looked at the gun in his hand.
He checked for his surroundings. The coast looked clear.
He put the gun right over the panel, tried to put as much of his body mass on the blaster to muffle it and pulled the trigger.
A brief spark came out of the door, as it opened and a whole new room greeted him.
The room was circular once again… with stasis pods all around the walls. Apart from those, he could see that the room was empty.
So he took off his mask.
He inspected more carefully and realized that the walls were veiny and animated.
Breathing, like flesh.
"It…" Ben touched the walls and it… they really had that softness.
"What did I just walk in on?"
There was a giant, pillar-like supercomputer right in the center, with 10-15 claws all coming out of it.
He peered inside one of the pods.
There was someone in there, alongside…
"Xenocites…"
The poor unconscious man had a parasite planted firmly on his face.
Ben bit his lip and he moved to the next one. But the sight didn't change. "Him too…"
He looked into the next one. "Her as well…"
He sprinted right by them. Each subject…
Each person in there… had a Xenocite.