I was an adult, not a kid. For years I was responsible for myself, capable of taking care of my needs and understanding what my limits were. Lately that had been put into some question, but with the most powerful device in the galaxy strapped to my wrist and nearly a dozen different powers at my command I was more than capable.
So it should have been no trouble convincing Max that I was ok enough for a short walk through the city.
"I'm not sick just a little banged up." I focused on the conversation, managing to distract my senses from the sorry excuse of breakfast we had in the Rust Bucket. Max only had the room for one full night, and I had slept through them checking us out on top of another night in the RV.
"Banged up?!" Gwen was appalled by my description. "Ben you had aliens kidnap you and try to kill you!"
"Gwen is right." Max was washing his cookware at the sink, humoring my argument to show that he cared for my opinion but wasn't budging. "You should count yourself lucky you didn't just make it out alive but without needing a stitch."
Speaking of injuries, glancing to my right hand that was in a brace and feeling the thickly woven bindings around half of my joints, I ignored the stinging pain that sparked with every movement after the pain medication. I'll admit while I've had my fair share of bruises and other injuries this was the most I've ever incurred at once.
"I agree, I am very lucky." I admitted setting my fork down. "But Vilgax is taken care of, my injuries aren't bad enough to keep me bedridden-"
"You passed out the moment you got here." Gwen reached over, daring to poke me in the ribs eliciting a hiss from my mouth. "Plus you're still hurt."
"It's not restrictive." I tried to convince them, fighting through the aches in my body at every movement. "Plus it's good to get in some light walking, something I haven't done after sleeping for sixteen hours straight."
"I don't know Ben." Max seemed to consider it briefly. "Walking through a city like this isn't exactly easy on the joints."
"It's not like I want to see all the sights anyways." I quickly added on, realizing I might actually have a chance to enjoy New York city. I don't know if I would ever be back here again, especially if the crime rates rise at the same rate they did in my world. "I would be content to just sit in the Rust Bucket as we drive by a lot of it."
"Hmmmm." Max hummed as he came over to our table, glancing over my condition and trying to reassess my capability. I mean, I beat Vilgax, a stroll through New York was nothing compared to that. "I don't know, we could always come back when you're healed up."
"You're really considering this?" Gwen gestured to my face, with Vilgax had targeted multiple times on top of the blows I had gotten from the bounty hunters. "Look at him!"
"What about you Gwen?" I immediately jumped the conversation over towards her. "If we stay in New York for one more day you can get to go to some of the places you wanted. You don't want to miss out on those right?"
"Who cares about that?!" She shouted back at me. "You should be taken to a hospital!"
"You know they would ask too many questions about how I got these injuries or put in a tip to the police." I shot back before Max could remind her. "Even if they didn't, they could immediately notice that my 'watch' was fused to my arm."
"Ok ok." Gwen folded her arms, leaning away from her picked at meal. "You're impossible."
I tried to take it as a compliment, even if the context and the tone said otherwise.
"Still…" The final decision lingered at the tip of the older man's tongue, and I struck quickly with a very reasonable offer.
"How about this." I began with the confidence of a well experienced car dealer. "I'll get rest, hang out in the RV for most of the day. Just, let me tag along for three spots."
Please take the offer, I really didn't want to beg just to be carted around in a wheelchair.
After another deep hum emanated from Max, he leaned against the counter as he rolled over the idea in his mind. I gauged his facial expression at the edge of my seat, attempting to predict what his next decision would be.
"Ok." He said with a reserved smile before addressing me more seriously. "But if you start struggling to keep up I'm bringing you right back."
As a joyous shout nearly leapt up my throat, I recognized that I was much more invested in this trip than before. It could be several reasons, I was happy to have made it out alive, I no longer had to keep an eye over my shoulder, I had scored a victory against one of Ben's most dangerous villains, or….I was starting to forget I wasn't supposed to be here.
How could I forget that? Sometimes I didn't think about it but never had it left my mind.
The realization grounded whatever happiness I had in the moment, but didn't fully diminish. I was still alive, and now that there wasn't something actively tracking the use of the omnitrix I could begin to use it more generously.
Ideas that I had shelved all summer, were all being dusted off as I contemplated all of what I could do. Yeah, circumstances could be better but how could someone not be excited to explore the abilities of the omnitrix?
The day was hot, humid, crowded, noisy, all of it I could handle as a healthy tall adult but I was none of those things at the moment. I was too short to see over anyone, and they were too tall to see me until they bumped into me and exacerbated my injuries. Max did his best to pave a clear path, but not even he could move a stubborn local and oblivious tourists. I could tolerate the weather on a normal day but between the many bodies and my less than ok condition it was hell.
Still, I was having fun.
The Statue of Liberty was definitely a popular attraction, and one that I also wanted to see in person. Luckily I didn't have to do much walking as the ferry ride over allowed me to sit for most of the time. While the idea of actually going inside was even better, between the large line outside of it and the thought of me trying to get up all those stairs quickly deterred all of us.
I briefly considered if there might have been another purpose behind it at one point if Mt. Rushmore served as a Plumber base.
Times Square, I decided to sit out. It was good enough for us to drive through the roads and get a good look around but shopping for me didn't seem appealing. I didn't want to use Max's money, and I had very little funds for what was technically Ben's money he saved up for this. Gwen seemed excited though, and I left a little advice of looking at everything before deciding on what to buy.
Besides, shops in the heart of a multinational attraction were way overpriced.
The Empire State Building, didn't require much walking either except for getting from the parking lot to the building itself. Stairs were easily circumvented by elevators, and we got to be in an airconditioned structure on our way up to the observation deck.
In addition, it let me get a good look at the city I spent so much time running around in various spider-man games.
"It's amazing what people managed to do at the time given the circumstances." Gwen was looking over the pamphlet filled with the rich history of the building. I doubt she needed it, but she wasn't one to turn down freely given knowledge.
"Yeah." I agreed as the elevator let out a short ding upon reaching the top. "I find it crazy how many of the construction workers were just ok walking around on steel beams with nothing to tether them."
"Seriously!" Gwen shouted as we exited the box, coming out onto the observation deck. "Did anyone stop to think that was too dangerous?"
"Well Gwen." Max began to supply his own words of wisdom. "I'm sure they did, but money was hard to come by and there were mouths to feed. Lots of them probably were just trying to take care of their families."
"It was the Great Depression." I was adding on as we were brought to a larger open section, plenty of railing to keep anyone from mimicking the risks of the employees back then. "There was a lot of risk, danger, and I'm sure it wasn't easy but someone had to do it so others could have a chance at life."
My attempts at being subtle about it probably failed given their notable glances over my injuries or the omnitrix.
Gwen and Max were being extremely cautious with me, and so far we never managed to have a good conversation about my involvement with otherworldly threats. Now that Vilgax was gone, I still questioned whether or not I should have them involved in facing off against super powered villains.
I had help against Vilgax I admit, but it was very brief. Honestly besides Kevin getting my restraints off everything else probably would have happened the same. Vilgax was the worst of the worst, and if I only needed a fraction of assistance to take care of him then there was a good chance that I could handle everything else.
Would I though? I'm still blurry on the details of several events that will probably come to pass, and by the end of the show they demonstrated feats that were oftentimes equal to what Ben could contribute.
At the very least, I needed to make sure that if anything else came our way they had the means of self defense. I'm not sure if Max has any of his old gear stored away in the Rust Bucket or if we needed to go to Mt. Rushmore to get it. Gwen's pursuit of magic had yet to happen in earnest, but didn't that happen much later in the show as well?
Without talking to them fully, I had no idea what steps needed to be taken, and I'm sure they were itching to lay into my actions of acting recklessly.
"Here." Max handed a couple of quarters out to the two of us. "I'm sure you'll get a better look of the city with those."
Following where he was pointing, we spotted an opening at one of the several tower viewers. Grabbing the change, I didn't hesitate to go over with Gwen to see the wide expanse of several skyscrapers. From the Chrysler building, to other two towers that…..hold on a second.
Was that the freaking World Trade Center?!
Without a doubt, I was gob smacked at seeing the twin towers standing tall in the city that never sleeps. Did September eleventh never happen here?!
Once again, I was reminded that besides the episodic adventures with monsters and aliens, I was in fact in a world that did not have the exact same history as my own.
Or maybe I really did need to get some more sleep.
As we left New York city, I stared aimlessly out the window with headphones plugged into my ears and a mechanical pencil in my hand tapping away at the empty notebook before me. It was all so bizarre now that I fully thought about it. The differences that existed between my world and this one, what I could potentially do with the omnitrix, events that were brewing on the horizon, and how I would handle them alongside Gwen and Max.
Thinking of them, I looked across from me to see Gwen's eyes dart back to her laptop.
With no idea what I should be using my time for, I tried to settle what was in front of me. "What's up?"
"Nothing." She quickly retorted, ducking her face a little more behind her screen.
Ok…Glancing over to Max, I caught his gaze in the rear view mirror before he suddenly focused back on the road. Nope, I'm not going another day with some awkward silence hanging over me.
"I think we need to talk about what happened." I spoke aloud to interrupt whatever they were keeping to themselves. "Are you guys upset I went off on my own?"
"I wouldn't entirely disagree." Max was the more courageous of the two, proving so by speaking up first with purpose. "But, I can't exactly say everything you did was wrong. You should have told us where you were going exactly and what you were doing, but you did leave us with a way to contact you. Plus, you were ambushed right? That's not your fault. I doubt you're just brushing this under the rug so all I ask is that you don't wander off too far next time in case something like this happens again."
The fact that this man can just process things like this so fast and move on emotionally was probably what made him a great Plumber. Still, despite his quick acceptance towards the situation I had doubts that he let everything off his chest.
"Yeah." I nodded in complete understanding. "Lesson learned. Speaking of which, if anything like that happens again I'm going to need to get some more practice with this thing and fighting in general."
Wait, didn't Gwen know multiple martial arts or something along those lines?
"Hey Gwen."
"Y-yeah?" She tried to keep her head down, something about the topic was hard for her. I know what she experienced back in Arizona would traumatize any ten year old, but this girl had a lot of potential. Even if I don't plan on having her fight, she needs to be ready for one just in case.
"Do you think you could teach me some hand to hand moves? The one bounty hunter pointed out how I didn't really know what I was doing and, well he was right."
The girl slowly brought her screen down, hesitant about the whole thing if her closed off demeanor was any indicator. "I, don't know if I can help you."
"You are on the jiu jitsu team in school right? I bet you could-"
"No." She declared rather firmly as she stood up, taking her laptop back over to the back of the RV and leaving the conversation hanging in the air.
That was rather different than I imagined the conversation going. I just wanted to clear whatever was in the air and get back to the way we were getting things settled. Max and Gwen had just begun to accept I was my own person who could take care of myself.
Pulling myself onto my feet, I dragged my tired heels over to collapse into the passenger seat next to Max. "Do you know what's bothering her?"
The grandfather stole a quick look through the mirror, being able to ascertain her state in a second. "I think that whatever it is, we should let her decide how to handle it first. Only if it gets noticeably worse should we try to help more directly."
I agreed, bringing up the empty notes onto my lap. Max at the very least I could still talk with, plan with, and while I wasn't closing myself off to Gwen I didn't want to forcefully close whatever distance she wanted. For now, I would come up with some basic plans on how to better utilize my aliens and their forms.
While jotting down a few more ideas on how to apply Heatblast's abilities of flight and heat generation, I glanced at the clock and saw it had been over half an hour since I began jotting down ideas. Huh, no carsickness. That's at least one benefit I had in a different body.
While scribbling down a few more potential applications for Heatblast, Max mentioned our next destination.
Niagara Falls.
Ok, I know for a fact that Kevin and Vilgax were supposed to team up to steal the omnitrix there….but neither of them are a problem right? Vilgax wasn't an issue, and Kevin is with Tetrax, or was.
Actually I don't know what happened to Kevin and I have no clue how to get a hold of the bounty hunter.
Maybe, just maybe, we could have a nice uneventful trip there. I couldn't have predicted what came next.
Once I had a full page and a half of ideas, we found a spot to camp for the night. It was incredibly tempting at first to turn into Gray Matter to see if I could come up with better ideas, but my body was still hurting and the moment my head hit the pillow I was out.
The next morning we were supposed to go to the falls, but morning came earlier than I predicted. Bright lights peeked through the blinds of the Rust Bucket windows, burning my eyes as I instinctively shielded myself further into the blankets. As much as I wanted to join the other two for another adventure, I wanted to sleep in for a little more.
At least to let me skip breakfast.
"What time is it?" Gwen's voice whined in the bunk below mine.
"Too early." I replied stiffly, stuffing the pillow around my ears as the wind began picking up.
But I could still hear Max's voice. "It's three thirty in the morning."
That woke me up.
All of us became alert, quickly throwing ourselves out of the beds to take a step outside to see what was going on. Shining lights above us were falling, a shadow of metal descending in front of us in the clearing.
I could barely make out what I was seeing, but I knew this was not something to ignore. Holding my palm over the omnitrix, my anxiety rose as I waited to see who exactly was about to step through the opening airlock.
I wasn't expecting Kevin yawning that's for sure.
"Kevin?" I lowered my hand as I took a few steps closer.
The boy wasn't alone, a familiar armored form was following closely behind him as they came towards us.
"Yo." He grumbled, clearly not happy being awake so early. "Man you look like crap. That squid freak did a number on you."
Tetrax's helmet collapsed into his suit, as the alien looked over me and confirmed my existence. "I don't know what I should be more surprised about, you being alive or Vilgax having been blown to the otherside of the galaxy."
"So he's really gone then." Max quickly intervened, eager to have confirmation of the war lord's demise.
"Yes." Tetrax affirmed before eyeing the omnitrix. "No one could survive an explosion like that. For a moment I thought you set the omnitrix to a quick self-destruct to keep it out of his hands."
"So, wait." Gwen was still catching up, shaking off the lingering sleep around her mind. "Are you the bounty hunter that helped Ben?"
"Yes, my name is Tetrax." He greeted with a salute of some form. "And on behalf of all that is good I thank you for putting down that tyrant. Even if you ignored my orders and put yourself in needless danger."
"You almost blew us up!" Kevin joined in with a hearty laugh. "Man I wish I could have seen the look on that ugly squid face when that happened!"
As nice as it was to see them alive and well, I wished it didn't have to pull me out of bed. While I was focused on that, Max stepped in with a better state of mind.
"So what brings you back?"
"A couple of reasons." Tetrax pushed Kevin towards us. "Firstly, is returning this one back to his home planet."
"Oh come on." The boy was visibly disappointed. "At least drop me off on a better planet than this."
"At least on Earth you can conceal your abilities better." Tetrax immediately shot back with some annoyance. "Any other planet would sniff you out and turn you into a battery."
Kevin's mood darkened, the boy clenching a fist as if the threat came from the man himself. "I'd like to see them try."
The alien ignored him, returning his attention back to me. "I also wanted to confirm for myself that Vilgax didn't survive and tracked any intact technology from his ship."
"Was there anything left?" Max questioned immediately.
"Just this." Tetrax pulled something out from his pouch, it was something sharp but heavily scorched and-WAS THAT VILGAX'S FINGER?!
Before I could ask him to put it away he tossed it right at me like it was a souvenir.
"Here." The oblivious alien offered. "A trophy."
"U-uh, thank you." Being very careful not to touch where it would have connected to flesh I held it over to Max, who inspected it without any hint of disgust.
"Also." Tetrax pointed up towards the roof of the Rust Bucket. "I would double check to make sure those drones are completely wiped if you plan on keeping them."
"Drones?" Gwen questioned at the same time I mentally did. "What drones?"
"OH right!" I suddenly remembered my final escape, and that I did indeed leave my repurposed scraps on top of the RV. None of us must have looked since I arrived back to Earth. "Yeah, I'll double check. I was in a little bit of a hurry when I hijacked them."
"Ben." Our guardian gave a questioning look my way. "What did you leave up there?"
About to answer, Tetrax cut in before I could alleviate any worries. "As much as I'd love to converse with you all a little more, I have other matters to attend to. A power vacuum is about to occur so things are going to get a little busy."
"Wait!" Kevin shouted his protests. "You can't seriously dump me here! Not after being in space and seeing aliens!"
Tetrax stopped turning away, willing to look Kevin in the eyes before he departed. "Maybe one day I'll let you see more, but if that is to happen you need to put a lid on your selfish attitude."
Kevin's jaw dropped as he fumbled for some kind of reply, anything to shout to get Tetrax to come right back and take him to wherever he wanted to go. But without another word, he got back onto his starship and flew back out into the night sky.
Leaving us with Kevin.
I suddenly wondered if this was how Gwen first felt realizing that 'Ben' was supposed to be joining the summer long road trip.
Kevin is going to be sticking around for a little longer, we'll see if his time with the crew will be able to change his perspective on life if Vilgax didn't already do that. I have the next season lined up but if there are any episodes or moments in particular you would like to see more detail of let me know and I'll do my best.
No content from Alien Force, Ultimate Alien, Omniverse, or reboot will be used. That includes aliens, abilities, plot points, lore, and just about anything not seen in the OG show.
Murderleo: Glad the climactic moment lived up to the hype!
Kevin's matter absorption was first seen in Alien Force, content I will not be using for the story. As for time travel, the only thing I have thought of for that is of Ben 10,000 but I'm not sure which way to approach it.
Either the future Ben that we saw of the episode, or SI-Ben future self.
Fire turtle: Tetrax's home planet was first mentioned being destroyed in the OG Ben 10 "Secret of the Omnitrix." The six six transformation has enhanced reflexes but as for martial prowess SI-Ben will need to learn that.
You know, maybe SI-Ben could. The main issue he has to figure out is how to reach the dial on his back as Gray Matter as previously seen in the story.
Austin: We won't be touching the Ben wolf episode for a while since I'm focusing on Season 2 events at the moment but I do have something similar planned.
I have yet to decide on real Ben's entire situation.
But I assure you I won't have the dog euthanized. I wasn't even planning on any scenes with the dog at any point in the future because by the time summer is over I'm going to end this story.