3A request for my good friend newbienovelistRD. I hope you enjoy and sorry it took so long to post! To make up for it, this turned out extra long. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characters.
I do not own the Grant Mansion, which belongs to GoldenGuardian2418.
I do however own Katrina, as she is an original OC of mine.
The Proto-truck screeched to a halt as its occupants flew from their seats. It was a normal day for Rook Blonko and Ben Tennyson, both enjoying a bit of downtime between patrols at Mr. Smoothie. However, that was ruined by a call from Plumber Headquarters about a robbery at a high security laboratory. Therefore, being the heroes and Plumbers that they are, they were quick to jump into action.
The duo dashed into the building, weaving through the mass of scientists and workers racing past. Ben was the first to break through into the building, finding himself in a corridor. He looked in both directions, attempting to determine which was the correct way. Rook soon joined him in the corridor, frowning at their predicament.
"Perhaps I can radio-"
"No, by the time we get a response, it may be too late," Ben explained, looking left and right one last time. "Let's split up; whoever finds our criminal first calls the other." Before Rook could agree, or disagree, Ben was running down the left hall. The Revonnahgander sighed, but quickly turned right and hurried down the hall, silently hoping Ben would be alright.
Soon, Ben found himself inside a high tech lab, catching sight of a large figure looming over a gadget covered table.
"Freeze!" he shouted, preparing to hit the Omnitrix when the figure turned around, revealing just who was stealing the tech. "No, it-it can't be..."
The figure's shoulders shook as he laughed, the evil cackle echoing in Ben's ears. He came further into the light, revealing the stone cold face of...
"Aggregor, how did you escape the Null Void?!" Ben gasped, stepping back slightly from the shock of it all.
"That isn't important," Aggregor drawled, smirking at the teen hero. "It's for me to know, and for you to never find out!" The Osmosian raised his original weapon of choice, his silver spear, sending a blast of red energy towards Ben. The teen thought fast and jumped out of the way, slamming his hand onto the Omnitrix as he did so. There was a flash of green light and Ben now stood as XLR8. Aggregor simply smirked coldly and continued firing, never stopping, even after each time Ben dodged.
In between blasts, Ben sped towards Aggregor, using his high velocity to allow him to deliver an extremely fast and powerful punch to the villain's jaw. Aggregor went flying back, hitting the ground with a loud crash. Ben slowed to a stop, his visor slipping up to allow his smirking face to be seen. "Ready to give up?"
Aggregor sat up without even a wince, his smirk still in tacked. "Not even close, Tennyson."
They resumed fighting, the loud sounds echoing through the halls, while attracting the attention of others in the building.
A young woman with curly red hair held back in a simple pony tail and glasses slowly slunk her way into the room. She was outfitted in a lab coat over a lavender blouse and black pencil skirt. Her black ballet flats made no noise as she crept towards a workstation that was out of range of the battle currently going on. She bit her lip as she searched the counter, green eyes growing wide as she kept searching for a certain item that was misplaced.
"Where is it?" she muttered frantically, her eyes roving over the counter for the tenth time. "It has to be here!"
Despite all her efforts to avoid detection, Aggregor still spotted her through the midst of his battle with Tennyson. His smirk deepened and turned much more sadistic as he dodged all of Ben's attacks. "Let's check your priorities, shall we Tennyson? Do you keep trying to be the hero that captures the villain or..." Aggregor shot a blast of energy at the ceiling, specifically, the ceiling above the young scientist. "The hero that rescues the helpless damsel in distress?"
Ben didn't even think.
He sped towards the girl, who screamed as bits of the ceiling began to rain down on her, shielding her head in a weak attempt at protecting herself. Ben then scooped her up and ran towards the exit, bent on saving the young woman's life.
"Just what I thought, Tennyson!" Aggregor called as the blue blur sped away. "Your sentiment makes you weak and predictable!" The villain slowly sauntered out of the room, removing a small piece of tech from a pocket from within his red tunic. "Soon, the Plumbers will regret ever sending me into the Null Void and I can get my vengeance fully on Ben Tennyson, once and for all!" The villain laughed as he fled from the crumbling building, having no guilt as hundreds of inventions that could help humanity were being buried underneath tons of rubble, along with their blueprints, destroying most chance of any replicas being made. All that mattered was that he got what he wanted; after all, the end always justifies the means.
Once they were outside, Ben set the young woman gently on her feet, right before his Omnitrix timed out and he was reverted back to his human self.
"Are you okay?" he inquired, gazing over her for any injuries.
She shook her head, attempting to fix her wind swept locks, even as her hands shook along with the rest of her. "Fine, perfectly fine. I'm A-Okay, rearing to go! Nothing the matter, not a scratch or wound; zip, nada, zilch-"
"Okay, I get it," Ben cut her off, annoyance beginning to set in. His expression then started to harden as his thoughts strayed towards Aggregor's taunts, and the fact that he got away. "Why were you in the lab anyway? There was an evacuation before my partner and I even got here."
"Uh, there is a very good reason for that, which also has a some very bad news attached to it..."
"What-"
"Ben!" The two turned at the sound of Rook's voice. "Are you alright? I could hear the sounds of fighting, but by the time I was able to locate your position, the building was coming down!"
Ben sighed. "I'm fine. The collapsing building was Aggregor's escape plan, which raises the question..."
"What was he after?" Rook finished, a sigh accompanying the question. "Well, despite the building's collapse, there were only minor casualties, and no deaths."
"Yeah, that's good..." Ben muttered, still caught up in the fact he didn't catch Aggregor when he had the chance, and it was all because of-
The young woman cleared her throat, gaining the duos attention. "I believe I know the reason behind Aggregor's attack, and what he stole before escaping the collapse of the facility." She abruptly turned, heading toward what they presumed was her car. From it, she sifted through a bag before exiting the car with a tablet in hand. "Recently, I was working on a new project...for the Plumbers."
"What?" Ben asked incredulously. "All tech is made through the scientists solely affiliated with the Plumbers, except for very few exceptions. Why would they allow you to design any of their tech?"
"Why does it surprise you?" she demanded right back, glaring at the teen as she looked up from her tablet screen. "Because I'm a woman? Maybe because I'm a young woman? Hate to break it to you, but many women happen to be integrating into male dominated fields, especially with S.T.E.M careers, in this era." Her attention then returned to her tablet as she continued to type quickly. "Now, as a shortened answer to your question, I was hired to improve your Null Void projectors." She handed Rook her tablet, which showed schematics of the projector that was commonly used by Plumbers. "My goal was to build off these designs, giving them various new features to help the Plumbers, from DNA scanners so that specific projectors work for one specific Plumber to different settings ranging from energy restraints to sending criminals straight to the Null Void. I returned to the lab to retrieve my prototype before it could be destroyed, or worse...stolen."
"And you believe Aggregor stole it?" Rook questioned, handing the woman back her tablet.
"I'm nearly positive."
"But why would he want that?" Ben sneered slightly. "Plumbers already have them, even if they don't have the fancy tidbits you were adding..."
She growled lowly. "Except I've also added an extreme failsafe that is only meant to be used in the most dire of consequences...if activated, the projector won't just take one person to the Null Void. It will take hundreds, creating a vortex strong enough to suck an entire building into the other dimension...hence the reason I was trying grab it before the psycho villain stole it...why didn't I put a safety on it?" She shook her head. "No, focus now, berate later."
Rook's eyes widened, ignoring the young woman's mutterings. "We must alert the other Plumbers; catching Aggregor must be our highest priority until he is apprehended and the technology is relinquished from his possession." He looked back at the scientist. "Thank you, Miss...?"
The young woman blinked in confusion, before shaking her head again. "Oh, sorry...I'm Katrina. Katrina Wailer."
"Thank you, Miss Wailer. Now, I need to know everything you can tell me about your prototype, and anything I can use to disable it if worse comes to worse..."
"Of course."
While they talked, Ben began to stalk off, anger radiating off of him as Aggregor's words echoed in his mind.
"Just what I thought, Tennyson! Your sentiment makes you weak and predictable!"
He let his mind get clouded by distractions when he should have been focusing on the mission at hand, not...not collateral damage.
Next time, I won't lose my focus, he vowed silently, slipping into a cold persona that would aid him in accomplishing his goal.
Katrina paused, watching as the young man stalked off. "Is your partner okay?"
Rook stared after Ben with a contemplative frown. "I believe he is simply...upset that Aggregor escaped."
The young woman's shoulders drooped. "Oh..." Katrina sighed. "I should have grabbed it before I left for lunch..."
Rook set a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You could not have known Aggregor would attack...however, if he returns or anyone else comes after your technology..." He handed her a piece of paper with a set of instructions ending in what looked like a phone number. "...call this number."
Katrina nodded, exchanging farewells with the Plumber before they went their separate ways. She bit her lip, hoping the pair would catch Aggregor soon before he used her creation for evil.
A few days later, Aggregor was nowhere to be found, along with the new Null Void projector prototype. However, despite the urgency of apprehending Aggregor, crime was beginning to skyrocket, meaning that Ben and Rook, along with a few other Plumber teams, needed to get back to patrolling.
"This is ridiculous!" Ben ranted. "We should be out there, hunting down Aggregor, not sitting here doing nothing."
"Patrolling is not 'nothing', Ben. What we are doing will keep civilians safe," Rook retaliated, eyes scanning the area for any signs of danger, which conveniently allowed Ben to roll his eyes in irritation.
Maybe they should get out of the way when danger strikes, he thought bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest.
The two jumped when they heard a scream, followed by obnoxious laughter. The heroes jumped into action, heading straight for the source of the scream. They pushed their way through the circled civilians, pausing at the sight before them.
Standing in front of them was Fistrick and his gang, two of which were holding a familiar young woman in their clutches.
"Now, Doll Face, I hear you've got some nice tech...how 'bout you hand it over to me and my bros?" the buff crime lord drawled, getting into the young woman's face.
Katrina growled, head-butting the man before she stomped on one goon's foot while she elbowed the other in the throat, freeing herself. She fled into the crowd of civilians while also bringing out her cell. She had an important call to make.
Fistrick snarled as he recovered. "Not cool, bro." He glared at his gang. "Find her! We need that tech!"
"Not so fast, Fistrick!" Ben yelled as he and Rook spread out in front of the villain and his gang. "Give up now while you still can."
Fistrick laughed. "What's a pair of weaklings like you going to do to stop me?"
"We have beaten you before," Rook stated, aiming his Proto-Tool at the skull faced man. "And we can do it again."
"Unless you're too busy saving them." With a smug smirk, Fistrick and his gang aimed their laser guns at the surrounding civilians. "One step closer, and we fire...and Tennyson, touch your fancy watch, bro, and they go sky high."
Ben scowled, his resolve hardening as he began to stalk towards Fistrick. The villain looked at him wide eyed. "I'm not bluffing, bro. Get back."
"I'm not bluffing either, bro." Ben quickly hit the Omnitrix, transforming into Kickin' Hawk with a flash of green light. "I'm not falling for the same trick twice."
"Fire! Fire you idiots!" Fistrick shouted as he and his gang fired simultaneously at the civilians. Screams echoed in the air as lasers hit buildings, vehicles, and the road. "Still coming Tennyson?"
Ben jumped forward, ignoring the chaos behind him as he began to pummel Fistrick and his gang. He was ruthless as he jumped, punched, and kicked. Before he knew it, the group of criminals were laying on the ground in an unconscious, bloody heap. At last, the Omnitrix timed out, and Ben was reverted back to normal. He glared down at the criminals coldly, even as he was yanked back to face his bordering on furious partner.
"What were you thinking?!" Rook shouted. "You nearly cost dozens of people their lives! This is not how Plumbers do things!"
"I got the job done!" Ben spat right back.
"No," a cold voice stated, causing Ben to face a group of stone faced Plumbers, which included a majority of his friends from the Grant Mansion. At the head of the group was Ben's grandfather, Max Tennyson, who was the one to speak. "You endangered countless lives, and rather than apprehending the culprits, you beat them senselessly. What do think is going to happen when we take them back to Headquarters and Chadmuzth hears wind of this? They'll be back out on the street by the end of the day."
"So what?" the teen sneered. "I wasn't about to let another evil criminal get away because I was distracted with saving a few worthless lives!"
"Ben, how can you say that?!" Feedback shouted, shoving his way to the front of the group, followed by Snare-Oh and Ghostfreak.
"No life is worthless!" Snare-Oh stated, crossing his arms.
"You should know that," Ghostfreak added. "You're a hero; a Plumber!"
"Well, not any more!" The teen turned his back on them. "If you can't deal with my prioritizing, then I'm going solo!"
"What?!" the aliens shouted, rushing to stop Ben.
"Ben, you cannot be serious!" Rook cried. "You know this is not right!"
"Stopping evil is more important than any life!" The group went silent at Ben's declaration. "So, shut up and get out of my way!" The group did nothing as he stalked away, still in a state of shock over what they had just heard.
It had been weeks since Ben went solo, and he was getting worse and worse. Every villain he came across had the pleasure of being on the receiving end of his fists time and time again. When civilians saw a fight about to break out between the teen hero and whatever criminal he was battling, they ran. They knew Ben wasn't going to protect them if the criminals attempted to hurt them; he was too focused on beating up the bad guys.
The aliens knew about Ben's worsening attitude, and finally decided enough was enough.
After defeating yet another criminal, Ben was on his way home, his expression still cold. He had no leads on where Aggregor was, or what he was planning with the tech he stole. He needed a clue, anything that would lead to the villain's capture...
His contemplations were interrupted when bandage tendrils and striped tentacles wrapped around him, trapping him in place. Ben snarled and struggled against his bindings.
"Relax, Ben. It's just us," Feedback's crackling voice assured as he and Rook came into view. "We just want to talk."
"I get it, you think I'm wrong, I've already heard it!" Ben struggled even more to free himself, even as the four aliens walked into a section of the forest, continuing until they reached a clearing. Ghostfreak and Snare-Oh set him down onto his feet while Rook and Feedback made sure the young man didn't make a break for it. "Just let me go! I'm busy-"
"No," Rook spoke firmly. He and the other three aliens had agreed earlier to allow him to take the lead on this, especially since he had known Ben the longest. "Ben, you are becoming out of control! You are disregarding the safety of others and yourself! Why?"
"I don't have to justify myself to you!"
"Yes, you do!" Rook retorted, his expression becoming stern. "You do need to justify yourself when you are allowing innocent people and yourself to be harmed, or nearly killed! Why are you doing this?"
"Stopping evil is more important than saving worthless lives! I didn't catch Aggregor because he put a civilian in danger, knowing I would rescue her instead of capturing him. What is a few lives in comparison to hundreds? Or thousands? Or even millions? The end always justifies the means!"
"Ben, don't you realize just how far you've gone?" Snare-Oh demanded.
"Yeah, you're starting to sound like Aggregor!" Feedback pointed out as the other three nodded. "He doesn't care who he puts in danger or hurts, as long as his goal is accomplished."
"I-I'm not like him!"
"Then what do you call your actions?" Ghostfreak demanded. "Because every single one seems like something he would do."
Ben shook his head violently. "Stop! That's not true!"
"Ben, every single life matters, is valuable. One is not more important than the other," Rook spoke calmly, setting his hands on the troubled teen's shoulders. "As a hero, you protect those that cannot protect themselves; you acknowledge that all life is important and valuable...you do not decide which life is ended or saved. You do your best to make sure as many people are safe as possible."
"But Aggregor will just pull the same ploy," Ben countered. "Then, he'll either get away or I catch him, but have to live with the fact that my choice got someone hurt or-or killed..."
"Aggregor is no longer a problem."
"What?"
Snare-Oh smiled. "Yeah, Alien X was finally able to locate him and capture him."
"And strip him of his powers before tossing him back into the Null Void," Feedback added with a big grin.
"And the prototype of Miss Wailer's Null Void projector was returned to her, as was Aggregor's spear, which she is dismantling and studying. She assured us she'd be able to produce special defense mechanisms for any similar weapons," Ghostfreak finished as all the aliens took in Ben's shocked face.
Rook gave Ben a gentle smile. "He won't hurt anyone ever again, Ben."
"But-how? I thought Alien X couldn't track Aggregor?" Ben asked.
"He couldn't," Snare-Oh agreed. "Until Miss Wailer provided him with a device to amplify his power for a short time."
"You see, Ben?" Rook grinned at Ben. "That one life you saved proved to be the reason we were able to catch Aggregor. We caught him because you chose to save an innocent life rather than chase after the villain."
"I-I guess you're right." Ben rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "I'm sorry guys, for everything. I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did. Can you guys forgive me?"
The four aliens shared devious smiles as they closed in on Ben, who widened his eyes. "We can think of a way you can make it up to us..."
"Wait! No, not that! Please, not that!"
They laughed as they pounced, each taking a turn with their favorite teen hero.
First up was Feedback, who wrapped the young man up in his antennas as he tickled Ben's underarms, which had Ben laughing right off the bat. "Tickle, tickle, Ben!"
"AHAHAHA! FEHEHEHEDBAHAHACK! STOP!" Ben laughed, squirming in the Conductoid's hold.
"My turn!" Snare-Oh announced, pinning Ben to the ground with his bandage tendrils once Feedback ducked out of the way. He sent some tendrils up Ben's pant legs to tickle the boy behind his knees and on his calves while a few others took off the boys shoes and his hands attacked Ben's ribs. "Cootchie, cootchie, coo! Who's a ticklish hero?"
Ben's laughter spiked as Snare-Oh continued to tease him, his bandaged fingers making the tickling sensation so much worse. "CUHUHUT IHIHIHT OUT! NO TEHEHEASING! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Ghostfreak laughed as he replaced Snare-Oh over Ben, whipping out his tentacles to tickle Ben's feet and worm their way to the teen's vulnerable shoulder blades. "Let's hear that cute laughter, Ben!"
Ben shrieked loudly, still struggling to escape, even as he laughed his hardest yet.
"Okay, guys, let him breathe," Rook called as he took Ghostfreak's place, but waited for Ben to catch his breath. "Feeling better Ben?"
"Yeah...just...no more," Ben pleaded through pants, a big smile on his face.
"I cannot do that Ben...it is my turn, now!"
"Rook! No! Wait! Don't-AHAHAHA!"
Ignoring his partner's pleas, Rook dived in, tickling Ben's stomach, his fuzzy fingers nearly making the young hero squeal. However, he did squeal when Rook started blowing raspberries into his stomach after lifting his shirt.
"GAH! NOHOHOHO! ROHOHOHOHK! EHEHEHEHEHEH!" Ben squealed, pushing at Rook's shoulders as he tried to kick himself away.
Rook then resumed tickling his stomach with his fingers, laughing along with the boy. "Do raspberries tickle, tickle, tickle your stomach too much?" Ben nodded rapidly, now trying to grab Rook's hands. "Well, why not try somewhere else?"
Before Ben could stop him, Rook grabbed his wrists and wedged his face into Ben's neck to blow more raspberries.
All Ben could do was squeal, giggling erratically as Rook encouraged the other aliens to join him in tickling the young hero. Rook moved to sit behind Ben, gaining a firm grip on his wrists as he continued to blow raspberries into the human's neck. Ghostfreak, Snare-Oh, and Feedback joined forces to tickle Ben's torso and legs to their greatest ability, using a mixture of tentacles, bandage tendrils, and antennas until Ben was a laughing, giggling, and squealing mess. Even when all four aliens stopped, Ben was still laughing, tears of joy spilling from his eyes as a large smile lit up his face. Gone was the cold façade, replaced by the normal, happy Ben that always strove to protect everyone he could.
And his friends would always make sure they were there to keep him that way.
And there we have it! I hope you enjoyed it, newbienovelistRD. Thank you for understanding why this had to come out so late.
Also, I'd like to take a moment to recognize all the people affected by the Orlando mass shooting. Nobody deserves to be treated in such a way. Hate is a terrible thing, and is no excuse to do something like that. Religion, sexuality, gender identification...nothing should be used to justify these kinds of violent actions. I pray for all the family and friends of those who died and of those who were injured (physically, psychologically, emotionally, or in any way), and I also pray for those that were involved in the shooting.
Hate is a monster that festers into a physical state of being. Hate is not an excuse to persecute anyone. Everyone is a human, and has rights as of such; however, they have no right to decide who lives and who dies.
Some of you may have a different opinion. I am not saying you are wrong, nor will I say it. In return, I ask the same courtesy. No flames for either the story or this author's note.
Thank you for reading.