Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                            Earth, people are working, their factory have been converted to make munitions, advanced munitions, old mines that were believed depleted have been open once more, since minerals and elemenst that terrans believe useless are actually quite valuable, of course not everything is for that purpose, Chocolate, ice cream and other good are also produced to satisfy needs of outworlders and leaving no benefit to earthlings, and some are used as slaves or are denied basic needs, specially the old and the very young, the able bodied work long shifts and get some benefits and those who are not part of the chimeran work force are either running, begging for help, part of the resistance or worse thiefs since they prey on the weak, and while mature humans lead the resistance, the grunts are the young, specially teenagers, in the town of Belwood on a bar, wich functions at the discretion of the authorotys, incredibly alcohol and cigarrettes are cheap, since they do not have value to the chimera they let the earthlings take them, and in one table on a corner there are four people talking, two are young and the other two are mature

"Come on mr. Jackson! Ms Hunt! Join us on the resistance!"

the two mature persons shake their head

"It is a lost cause!"

"I never took you for a coward!"

"I'm being reallistic!.........We don't have someone who can face Vilgax!.........The plumbers have been dispersed!.........Azmuth is in hiding!..............And most importantly Ben and Gwen Tennyson are dead! Along with the rest of their family!"

"That is what the chimera run media say! Maybe they........"

he shakes his head

"Look!............I talked with a real plumber!..............The news is real! The Tennysons are dead!"

"Even if that is true............Then the more reason to fight back!..............No one is going to come to rescue us! We have to do it by ourselves!"

"With what weapons? Powers? We can not best them with sticks and stones!"

"We can use their own weapons against them!"

he chuckles along with the woman

"Vilgax is not stupid! Their weapons stop working once they are not used by his forces! And the plumbers's arsenal were depleted after the invasion! And we can't relly on smuglers!"

"So no resistance is your solution!"

they look at each other and sigh

"We have children! They are our pryority!"

"You want them to grow up as slaves?"

"At least they'll live!"

"If it can be called living!"

they look at them

"If you survive and have kids you will understand!'

and they change subjects and discuss other matters.

                                                Next day the mature couple is walking around with their children, they seem to be searching for an address and at the same time they look alert, sometimes reacting to small noises

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Probably a rat!"

"I would feel better if the kids were at home!'

"We could not find anyone to babysit them!..............They have to look after the kids of two families!"

Sara Hunt holds back tears

"We lost our partners! My kids lost their father! Your children their mother!..........We are helping each other by pooling our sources and our chores!..........We have no choice!"

"It's okay Sara! It is our reallity now! We were friends before! That is why we have worked so well helping each other!"

"I know Paul! Our children are our pryority!.......We haven't even tried to....."

he smiles sadly

"Maybe some day we will find out if we can be...."

"Mom! Dad!"

they turn towards the voice

"Here's the number you told us to look for!"

they look at the number and nod

"Good job Johnny! Get your brothers and sisters."

"Right away!"

and he goes and rounds up the other children

"Maybe we should!.........We are their parents and they have become siblings!"

"Children are not complicated!...............But I am afraid when the hit puberty and then teenage years."

"One step at a time!"

and once they are all together they enter the building and they see a man who is looking around, Paul Jackson takes a step forward and

"Shylock?"

"Who asks?"

"The buyer!"

"I am!"

"You got the goods?"

"You got the currency?"

he gets a small bag out and makes noise with it

"Here it is!"

"Let me see! I need to be sure!"

"I should say the same!"

he chuckles

"A merchant who does not provide what he promised losses his clientele and good word and standing! I have them!"

he looks at the currency and nods

"Satisfied?"

"Yes!........Here they are!....................You better leave quickly! There are thiefs around!"

"You in cahoots with them?"

"With thieves? No! I am a merchant! I make honest dealings! So I can continue making them!"

"I uderstand!"

"Be careful!"

and he leaves as quickly as he can, Paul turns towards the others and

"We must go! Make sure no one sees us!'

they all nod and they get outside and look around and they move quickly and in a single file, and for a moment they believe they will get away when a human jumps from a door

"Yo! Stay quiet and get inside!"

"We need to get to our home! Please let us go!"

and he draws out a gun, a ray gun

"Yo! I said get inside!"

they pale and does as they are told, once inside they see three other men, one who is large with an orange mohawk and skull make-up

"Yo Corvo! Bro! What did you find?"

"Pigeons!"

the other two men surrond them, they look around and notice they have weapons, high tech, the leader walks up to them smirking

"Bros! What do you have?"

they try to hide their things but the leader is fast and strong and takes their bags away and looks inside them

"Please! We have kids!"

"And the merchandise is of good quality!......................I'll let you keep it if you tell me where Shylock went!"

"Don't you know?"

"If I knew Bro I would not ask you! He would be a good hit! I am sure he can get us better weapons! Or rather  we will take them from him!"

"I don't knoiw where he went!"

"Then we'll keep this!"

"No! Our children!"

"Keep away Old Hag!"

and she is pushed to the floor by Hoodlum

"MOM!!! Why you!"

and the eldest kid throws a punch towards him and he evades him and pushes him to the ground and he points at him with a blaster

"If you don't want your kid to suffer! Tell me where Shylock went!"

"If I knew I would tell you! But I don't!"

"Then we'll rough your kids up!"

"NO!!!!"

but he is held in place by Fistrick

"I am stronger than you think! I'll rough you up also!'

they all tense and prepare to be beaten up when a voice says

"Let them go!"

they look at the source of the voice and see a figure in the darkness with a hoodie on

"Bro! Really? Anything else?"

"Return their things to them."

Fistrick's gang smirk and

"We are four against one! You better leave now!"

"I promise I'll go easy on you!"

they all get angry at him and grabing the eldest kid

"We'll blast the brat just because you are anoying us!"

"You better lsten Bro! After we finish with the kid you're next!"

"I doubt it!"

Thug snarls and as he starts to press the trigger, there is a green flash and before he can react he notice there is no child in hiis grasp, and the other children and their parents are at the entrance with their goods

"What the fuck? Who? 

"If you want to live! Leave now!"

"Tennyson! No way Bro! You will not interfire in my businness! Shoot them!"

they do along with Fistrick but they hit a wall of crystal

"Fuck! I'll break you into a million pieces!"

Corvo runs towards the figure and activates his armor and throws a punch wich is stoped short by a red hand, he looks uo and sees a tetramand wich is larger than the previously one they had seen

"You shouldn't have done that!"

"I will put my armor on hyperdrive and beat you up!'

he does as he said and for a moment it seems he will best Fourarms as it seems he is pushing him back

"No! You are very strong!"

"You're done for!"

he is then pushed back

"Not really! I can beat you with three arms tied behind my back!"

"You wish!'

he tries once more to over power him when suddenly there is a crunching sound and a scream from Corvo as he is lifted up and from the sides he is crushed as he is hit by two fists and his torso is caved in, he is put on the ground and before he collapses the last fist hits his head wich goes inside his body and armor, and there is a lump of flesh and bone

"Who's next?"

Hoodlum and Thug look at each other and activate their armors and charge at the same time to tackle him but they are stoped cold as they are picked up by Fourarms, they hit him and he is left unfazed, they throw kicks and punches, untill they are hit on the chest and they are left with out breath and then they cough up blodd and they choke on it and finally they get still and he drops them and they do not move, he turns towards Fistrick who is shocked

"Yo Bro! You killed them!.....I'll make you pay!"

"You can try!"

"I am stronger than them! You won't know what hit you!'

he faints a charge and draws out a blaster and fires and in a flash he changes into Diamondhead and he rises a shield and the blasts are stoped, he continues fireng but he can not shatter the wall when he hears a voice by his side

"I don't think you hit me!"

he turns in shock and tries to shoot him but his blaster is encased in crystal

"Shit!.......But I can still hit you! And I should be able to shatter you!"

he swings and hits him but he hits a shield wich does nothing

"I am so scared!"

""I'm just geting started!"

and they start to exchange punches, an for a moment Fistrick sems to hold his own and he smiles as he believes he can shatter him when a punch conects he hits spikes and he scvreams, while he is stronger and more resilient than a normal human, he is not invulnerable, he looks more closely as to where to hit him when he receives a punch in the gut and geels blodd run down his abdomen, he looks at the fists and they have spikes, he tries to hit him again but he is hit on the face and feels as he loses pieces of flesh, he tries to regain his balance when he is hit multiple times and he feels his flesh ripped and feels dizzy at the loss of blodd

"Is this the point when you will begin?"

"Yo! Bro! Tennyson! Stop! Ben you are a hero!"

the petrosappiens looks at him and

"I am not Ben! Nor a hero!"

he hits him on the chest and impales him with a large crystal spike and creating claw like spikes he uppercuts him and he splits his head, and before Fistrick can fall down on the floor a giant spike protrude from the ground and impales the carcass of Fistrick and keeps him up right, he surveys his work and changes into human form and he gets out of the building.

                                              Outside they are waiting for the man who saved them, and wonder if they can help him when they see a man walking out and recognize him as the man who saved them

"Are you all right?"

he nods and

"Yes!"

"How long before the thieves try once more to steal?"

he looks back at the building

"They will never try ever again!'

Sara gasps and gets the children behind her, Paul looks at him

"Did you have to be so final?"

"They would never repent!..........And they have stolen many things! And geting weapons for the chimera! And other factions!.......They had to be stoped!"

"But you are a hero!"

"M'am! I am not a hero! I never have been!"

"But you are the Wielder! Ben 10!"

he chuckles bitterly

"I am not Ben!.............That is what killed them! Assuming I was Ben!............He is dead!"

and the man walks away and he losses himself into the ruins.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors, specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                             Two days after being saved, Peter Jackson once more walks into the bar where he met the two resistance fighters, he looks around and finds an empty table, he walks towards it and takes a seat and he looks around, he orders a beer and drinks it slowly, he observes from the corner of his eye as three persons get up and walk towards him, he recognizes one of them, the young man he talked before, a woman in her thirties and a middle aged africanamerican, bald and walks with intent and they sit at his table and stay quiet for a few moments, they study each other and finally

"You brought the experienced fighter this time around!"

"We brought him!"

the woman looks at him coldly

"He is not a perp detective Andrews!"

"You two are law enforcers?"

"We used to be!.........She is detective Andrews from the LAPD, I am sheriff Mason from Grover Mills County."

"Not far from here!................So why am I being interrogated?"

"What makes you think we are interrogating you?"

"I already told my decision to you guys and now the sheriff over there and you detective want to talk with me............if it looks like a duck......"

"We just need information mr. Jackson! That is all!'

"Acting like Perry more than a sheriff?"

he chuckles

"Something like that!.............We know that Fistrick's gang tried to rob you!.................But were viciously killed and were unable to take things away from you!"

Paul nods and ponders

"Well we...."

"Lower your voice!"

he shuts up and looks at them and then around

"What's the matter?"

"It's better if you don't know.................and say nothing of what happened, except to us of course!"

"Sara almost said the same thing!................I don't get it!..............It is not like there is interest on the deaths of humans for the authorothys to act upon."

the sheriff and the detective look at each other and then around and in a low voice

"There is not!..........But if the death has some unusual charactheristics they get involved!'

"Unusual?"

they look at him

"What did you see mr. Jackson?"

Paul puts on a poker face as good as he can do

"Nothing!"

the woman looks at him and

"You know that that is the wrong answer right?"

"What is the right answer then?"

she looks at him and sighs when he hears the sheriff say

"Another gang came and took care of the gang for a dispute of territory! In the confusion you and your family escaped!"

he looks at them

"That is what you want to hear from me?"

the sheriff looks around

"Not us!........The chimera do!'

"The chimera?.........You are agents of them?"

"No!...............We are advising you what you should answer to avoid problems."

"You sound like Sara!............We already had decided to say something similar to what you have sugested."

"So you and your wife had already decided what to say!"

"Partner!.........We are only partners!"

"Doesn't that mean?"

"She lost her husband and I my wife. We help each other with each other's children!'

"Like a family!"

"The kids are like siblings! And my kids call her mom and her children call me dad!"

"And you are only partners!"

"Uh! Yes!"

she shakes her head and rolls her eyes

"Men!"

he looks intrigued at her and the sheriff gets back on track

"Anyway if you are interrogated by the chimera, you saw a fight between gangs and managed to get away!"

"Got it!........Is that all?"

"We need you to tell us what really happened."

Paul looks at them

"How can I be sure you are trying to trick me to say something to arrest me?"

they look at him and Mason chuckles

"Good! Do not trust anyone!..............We will tell you why we are recomending you what to answer and what we want to know."

and Paul puts attention and prepares to listen.

                                              On a deserted place, wich has been filled with lab equipment, Dr. Animo is looking up results, he is relaxed, he gives the quimera some new information on genetic manipulation, he is ecstatctic since now he does not to hide from plumbers and other law enforcement agencies, and most importantly the Tennysons, he wished he could have klilled them himself, but he is not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, still he wishes he could have seen the death of Ben, he is pondering that he doesn't notice a hooded figure enter his territory, the figure moves carefully and avoids traps and sensors, Animo continues absorbed on his studies

"Yes this amalgamation will create powerful beasts!..............I may test them against the chimera! If I create a strong enough mutates I will drive them of earth and them proclaim myself king of the world!..................ME! King Animo!.........................No better! Emperor Animo!................No one will be able to stop me!........................Huh? What is that?................An intruder?"

and he starts to move dials and tries to locate the figure, meanwhile the figure walks avoiding as best he can

"There are a lot of cameras! But they can hardly move! Mister genius should give better maintenence!..........Specially with all the mutant animals he has!...........Of course this makes infiltration easier!"

inside Animo is geting frustrated

"Shit! Many of the cameras are not working at peak efficience!......Maybe if I......Fuck it! The last sighting was around sector..........Twentysix!        Go my pets and bring the mangled body of the intruder!"

and Animo smiles, the figure meanwhile moves slowly but deliberatly and then he tenses

"It has gotten quiet! Too quiet! Shit! I better get ready!"

and he looks around and watches as a shadows starts to fall on him, it seems a cross between a frog and a leopard, he changes into an arachnichimp and avoids the attack and then he avoids another and another till he finally determines there are three mutant frogs and he hears

"I don't know who you are but my pets are hungry! They are the reason thieves can not get anything! You can try to run away but you will not reach safety! Just give up!'

"Yeah right!"

and he concentrates on the closest frog near him and he uses his webbing on it, at first to glue it to the ground and then to Animo's surprise he webs the mouth and nose, the frog starts to move desperatly, he then he does the same to the other frogs and once webbed they strrugle  but their movements become slowler and finally still, Animo howls

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!MY BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!!!!"

and Spidermonkey sees as almost all the mutants come to attack him, he grins and in a green flash Spidermonkey disapears and a pyronite apears and as the mutants aproach him his flames grow brighter and soon all of the mutant animals are burning and some of them are incinerated

"Are they all?"

Animo pales and

"Tennyson! You are suposed to be dead!............Never mind! I'll kill you myself!"

but he sees as Heatblast starts flying towards his laboratory at incredible speed, he closes the door and believes it can withstand a tetramand strenght but as Heatblast lands outside the door and changes into Atomix and with a blast the door explodes and he goes inside, Animo sends his last remaining mutants against him but they are obliterated almost instantly

"What else do you have?"

Animo looks around and he tries to make new mutants when the door of his lab is destroyed and Atomix enters

"So Tennyson! You have decided to use your powers to the fullest! You are no longer a hero! Ben Tennyson can be considered a hero no more!"

Atomix looks at him and

"I am not Ben!......And I have never been a hero!"

Animo feels himself fill with fear and gets pale

"You can rule the world! I can help you!"

he scoffs

"You think I want that? You have no idea what I want!"

Animo takes some steps backward but he suddenly pulls a mutant gun but before he can fire a green flash Atomix dispaears and Big Chill apears and freezes his gun along with his hand

"No! It hurts!"

and Animo looks in horror as his hand along with his gun break off and shatter as it hits the ground, he looks at the alien and knows that it will continue to freeze him completly. he then hears

"Ready?"

"No! I am to be ruler of the world! Use every living creature as my subject!"

"No you won't!"

and he is frozen in place, he feels cold and soon he feels sleepy

"No! It can't end this way! I must rule the..............."

and Animo freezes completly, his temperature drops to near zero and he shatters into a million pieces, Big chill freezes the pieces again and after that he changes into Upgrade and he merges into the computer and after a few minutes he leaves the computer and soon there an activation on some rays from the antenna and stays that way, meanwhile the man looks around and then he stops picks up some components, he inspects them and takes them, when he hears

"<Five minutes to completion of tasks......Once done self-destruct will occur ten minutes later!>"

he nods and he leaves as he changes into XLR8, fifteeen minutes later there is a mini sun where the laboratory  was and soon a new crater is in that place.

                                              At the bar Paul Jackson is waiting for the explanation and finally he receives it

"This is not the first attack of its kind!"

"It isn't?"

"No! It's not!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,There have been diferent attacks during the previous years."

"But I haven't heard anything!"

"The chimera don't want people to know there is........"

"Ben Tennyson? Is he not dead?"

"He is! According to the boss! He was witness to his death!"

"Then who?"

"We don't know!...............But whoever it is he has the same abilities as Ben Tennyson!"

"Maybe he can defeat Vilgax!"

"Since we don't know who it is.......We can not know for sure!"

"The bosses want to trap him or her! Does he have the Omnitrix? Why doesn't he or her help the plumbers or resistance?  What is the plan?"

"That is from the plumber's perspective! And the chimera?"

"Vilgax presentation card is the fact he killed the Wielder! If there is someone being the Wielder then he did not kill the Wielder and has no access to the Omnitrix!"

"And also if people learned there is a Wielder............The flames of rebellion will spread all over the chimera empire! It could topple them!"

"So that is why they have not revealed the attacks! It will weaken Vilgax's reputation!"

"And the empire also!"

"Maybe Ben did survive!"

"No!..........The bosses know he died! And they don't want anyone smearing his legacy!"

"You want to help cover the truth?"

"No!........We want you and your family to survive! And hopefully create a feint to distract the chimera!'

Paul nods

"We will do so!'

and they continue talking and change subjects as to not be caught, and wonder how to top the chimera.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                             One week later sheriff Mason is walking along the streets of Belwood, he seems lost on his thoughts but in reallity he is looking around making sure he is not being followed and looking at the cameras and hoping he can also detect listening devices, so he walks towards a park and an artificial lake wich has a bridge crossing a portion of it, he looks from the handrail and a few minutes later he is joined by a female

"Sheriff Mason! I didn't take you for the romantic type!'

he chuckles

"I'm not! You can ask my wife!"

she chuckles back and for a moment they seem like a couple of friends telling each other jokes, they make small talk and finally get to the heart of the matter

"So it was our unknown friend?"

Mason stays silent for a few minutes

"We assume so!.........Unless you have more information about..........."

she shakes her head

"The same one as you!.......Alysious Animo was your typical mad scientest! Obsessed with gene splicing and creating new species from current ones, he had no moral qualms, he looked at other people as test subjects and wanted to rule the world."

"Like any comic book supervillain or B-Movie or saturday serial!.............He went to the deep end when he saw Tennyson using the Omnitrix! For a narcisist mad man it must have been a blow to discover a device who could do what he wanted so easily so he focused on Tennyson!"

"Even the times he tried to avoid Tennyson he would be found out!"

"But transfering his head to a white gorilla's body! He was beyond mad or had read too many comic books! Superman comic books a copy of the Ultra-Humanite!"

Andrews sighs

"I was not into comic books! That is why I can not follow your referrences!"

Mason looks at her and chuckles

"Not even Archie comics?.........You are too young to have read romance comics!"

"There were?"

he chuckles and nods

"Yes!..........Animo was a collaberator!"

"Yes!...........But would have tried to betray Vilgax! According to some profilers."

"You don't need to study to know that would happen!"

"True!........We believe that he provided information and knowledge to the chimera so he would be left alone to do his research!"

"Could they have killed him for trying to betray them?"

she shakes her head

"No!............The chimera would have not killed the mutant animals! They would have taken them and use them!...........The fact that they were killed means it was someone else!"

"Our friend!"

"Most likely!"

"But why?"

"................We have not found a common thread!............At least not yet!"

"But he is killing former enemies of Ben Tennyson!"

"That we can not explain!"

"And with the chimera keeping thing quiet................Ben's other enemies do not know what is in store for them!"

"I can't say I am sorry!.................They are still criminals who still comit criminal acts."

he nods

"But untill we know who he or she is we can not put trust on this wielder"

"How much worse could it be?"

"Better not find out!"

they stay quiet for a few minutes

"I heard you had a disagreement with your superior!'

Mason glares at her

"She is not my superior!.............She coordinates this region!"

she chuckles

"And you say she is not your superior?"

he sighs

"Let me keep some of my pride."

she nods and grins

"They are very eficient!"

"I know!"

and they make once more small talk.

                                        On an abandoned section of the town in the docks, on abandoned wharehouses a group of young people are looking over some abandoned crates when one of them whistles, wich make the others look at him and he points to the crates in front of him, they all converge on him and with a crowbar they open one of the crates, and they find a blaster and they inspect it and they nod

"Shylock came through!"

"What about the magazines?"

they open another crate and they find the magazines and confirm they are completly charged

"We will make good use of these!"

they are startled when they hear

"We decomise those weapons in the name of the Forever Knights!"

"Forever Knights? You still around?..........Last we heard you were down to your last handfull!"

"With these weapons we will rise again!............Give them to us!.................Only we deserve them!"

the resistance fighters look at each other and nod

"You can have them!..............After we empty them on you!"

and for the next few minutes there is the screech of blasters and then silence as they are at a stand-off

"You have more weapons!............But you must not have many! We will outlast you! Give them to us!'

"Not a chance!     They are right! But we will bluff ourselves out of this!"

under the mask of the leader he grins

"We will take them!"

the fighters tense and discretly look around when

"Drop your weapons!"

"Who?......How did you?"

"Our forever ninja can move easily undetected!................And now get on your knees! We will end this quickly!'

some pale and others glare, untill the leader says

"We will not ride quietly into the sunset!"

"Foolish bravado! You are dead!"

"I doubt that!"

they turn towards the voice and see a hooded figure, his features obscured, but it apears he has a beard, the leader of the Forever Knights

"A misplaced hero with a sense of misguided justice! Leave! Or suffer the consequences wich will be lethal!"

"I could say the same to you!"

under his mask the leader frows and glares at him

"We are the last Knights because we are the strongest! We will not have mercy! And to show these kids!...........Kill him first!"

two knights walk towards him drawing their swords but before they can strike there is a green flash and a tetramand is in front of them and before they can react they are hit and are flying backwatds and hit the floor hard

"You have two options: Leave now and live or stay and fight and die!"

as the other knights help their comrades get up

"Tennyson! You are suposed to be dead! Still blighting our planet with alien presence and that infernal device!.............No matter we will avenge our fallen founder George!'

and they raise their lances and fire, not everybody manages to hit the target, but some do and Fourarms takes some steps backward but in another green flash he changes into Diamondhead and creates a shield wich covers him, the knights collect themselves and aim better but he makes his shield bigger, the knights prepare a lance like a bazooka and load it and prepare to fire but as they are squeezing the trigger the muzzle is pluged by a crystal shard and the bazooka explodes, to most knights it is nothing thanks to hteir armor, but the shooter is not so lucky, one of the knights pushes a button on his lance and a sound starts and throws it at the shield and it shatters it along with the arm and part of the torso, Diamondhead falls on one knee, the other knights push buttons on their lances and surround him, Diamondhead concentrates and his torso and limb grow up again, he looks at the knights and he changes into Lodestar and the lances go flying away and are dismantled in the air and they fall to the ground, but the Knights are unfazed as Lodestar tries to rip them apart, they fire at him but they hit a force field but one blast passes and destroys his head, but before the Knights can celebrate the head reforms itself

"Don't celebrate too quickly!"

"Neither should you!..............Our armors are non-magnetic! We will stop you permanently!'

Lodestar concentrates and iron pieces fly towards him and form a shield wich stops the Forever Ninja

"Too slow!"

"We will kill you!"

he looks at them and what seems a smirk he changes into Gravattack

"You armor may protect you from magnetism! But not gravity!'

the Knights and Ninja try once more to fire their weapons but are soon paralyzed

"What are you?................"

the fighters watch as in the middle of the bodies they seem to converge, the Ninja tries to send an explosive towards Gravattack when he is paralyzed and in diferent parts of his body start to implode as do the Knights, if they are screaming there is no sound coming from them, soon their bodies are imploding on themselves into little spheres wich fall to the ground and their treath is ended, Gravattack sems to relax and in a red flash the human figure apears, he seems queazy and looks at the fighters

"Are you all right?"

a female voice answers

"Yes we are Ben!"

he shakes his head

"I am not Ben!"

and he looks around and he picks up some of the Knights surviving tech

"Then,,,,,,,Who are you?"

the figure says nothing, he finishes geting the tech, and he starts to walk away but they notice he is walking almost staggering and finally falls, the fighter aproach him and look at him

"Who is he?"

"He's Ben!"

"He said he isn't!......How can you be so sure?"

"Look at his left wrist!"

the leader looks and

"It's the Omnitrix!...............But it looks diferent!"

"Whatever! We must go! If the patrols catch us we will be executed!"

"We can't leave him!"

Why not? We must survive!"

"He risked his life for us! We must help him!"

"He is hurt! Maybe dying! He'll drag us down!"

"He is hurt! But he is not in danger! if we help him!"

"Are you sure?"

"As much as I can be!"

"He'll slow us down!"

"The moment we start acting like the chimera we are trully defeated!"

"You really think you can heal him Twerp?"

"I should!"

"But he will....."

"I won't order anyone!.......I will ask for volunteers!"

and they all raise their hands

"You are fools!"

"You are outvoted bro! We'll take him with us!"

and before he can complain he is glared by the others and he stays quiet, they use a strecher for the Wielder and they put the crates on transports and leave the wharehouse before they are found out by the chimera, and meanwhile the coreman takes care of the injured man.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                            The hideout of the regional resistance, despite the brutallity of the chimera, they are not as opresive as one would expect or as some suspect they don't believe that the resistance is not worth the chimera's time, still they hide as best they can and are very careful, on the quarters of the regional comander a man lays while three persons talk among themselves

"We took a big risk bringing him here!"

"You are still on that?'

he glares back

"I don't know why he is considered such a treath........He barely bested the Forever Knights!"

"Because he was defending us!"

"You have always been partial to him!"

sighing is heard

"You want to think that she would go out with you if he was not around........She was older than you and would have fallen for someone else, she was nice and did not brush you off..........But she would never have gone out with you!..........It is time you grew up and acepted reallity!"

he looks at her in anger and  turns around and walks away

"That was harsh!"

she sighs again

"He needed to hear that! He has to move on!..............And acept him! We may be working together after all!"

he nods and

"He is not Ben!"

"Because he said so!"

and iluminating him

"And this!.............He is a redhead!"

she aproaches him

"Are you sure?..............You're right! He is a redhead!"

"He is not Ben!............Who is he?"

"I should know this!"

they stop talking as they hear a low moan and the man gets up slowly and looks around

"Where am I?"

they look at him and

"You are at the hideout of the maquis!"

"The resistance?.............How long have I been out?"

"Two days!"

"Matt!"

"How does that hurt us?"

"Thanks for your attention! But I must leave!"

"You are not going anywhere!'

"I must continue on my....unh!"

the young man and woman go to his side and help him back on the bed

"You have some bruised ribs!...........It will be dificult for you to breath!"

"But I still need to do things!'

"You won't be able to get very far!........In one week you should be able to!.............I hope!"

"Can't you acelerate the proccess doc?"

"If he were a real doctor maybe!.......But he is not even a medic!"

"Gee thanks sis!"

"You have a lot of experience! But did not learn oin a course or college!"

"You know I am making you targets right?"

"We already are targets Ben!"

he shakes his head

"I am not Ben!..........I never have been or claimed to be!"

the woman looks at him and her eyes widen

"I know who you are!............You are Crazy Girl's older brother! Ken! You're Ken Tennyson!'

"Crazy?............You're Michelle! Michelle Hallan! Gwen told me about you!"

"And she told me about you!"

"One of the things she told me was that you hated military lifestyle!..........And now?"

she chuckles sadly

"That was before the invasion! When we did not have to fight for our lives and our planet!"

"I was out of it but it seems you are in a position of authoroty!"

"We armed forces brats moved up quickly through the ranks!............I hated learning to fire and self-defense classes!............But it became essential to fight off!"

Ken nods

"I understand!"

she looks at him and

"Ken!.........What happened to Ben and Gwen? Why haven't you fought more on the open?"

he sullens

"Both answers are related!"

"Please tell me-us!'

and Ken looks out on the distance.

                                            A few minutes later he is still lost in thought, Michelle wants to ask once more but her brother stops her and shakes his head, she looks frustrated and finally nods, when suddenly Ken starts talking

"More than three years ago I was geting out of a gig with the band I played bass with!"

"Ben played guitar! You had the start of a band!"

Ken chuckles and

"Yeah!..............Anyway.........I was geting on the Awesomemobile when suddenly a drone attacked, I got out of the car since it was frozen, probably an EMP, and I saw them a group of...soldiers in alien suits and with weapons, they raised them, I managed to dodge them, some of the soldiers got near me, and with a discharge of adrenaline I knocked them out, they underestimated me, but their companions were not going to be easy and I was preparing to see how many I could take down before they shot me when they were shot by someone else and soon they were unconcious and I was breathing relieved and then I saw them a group of plumbers who inmediatly cuffed the aliens, and one of them came to me"

"Ken! Are you all right?"

"Yeah!........Who are you?"

he took off his helmet and I saw my uncle Joel

"Now you recognize me?"

"Uncle Joel!.....Of course!............But why are you here?"

he sullens

"Trouble! Come with me! We'll explain when we get there."

"Where?"

"Headquarters!"

and Ken nods and they get on a transport and soon they reach a plumber base, they land and Joel speaks with other plumbers and then they walk towards a room, Ken looks around at all the plumbers and sees some aliens, Gwen and grandpa Max had told him about this, Ben also as he sees a young blond woman walking, almost runing towards Joel

"Joel!Areyouallright?Wherewereyou?"

"Calm down Lucy! I was on a retrievel mission!"

"Who did you get?"

he looks at Ken

"Ken!"

she looks at him and then hugs him

"Ken!Ifinallymeetyou!I'mLucy!Joel'scousininlaw!"

"Lucy! Cal down!......You'll get your chance to talk to him! Come on! We are going to the debriefing!"

"You and Ken are the last ones to arrive!'

he turns towards Ken

"It was hard to find him...........He doesn't report a lot to his family!"

"Hey I'm a grown man!"

Joel chuckles

"Yes you are!..........But as cousin of the Wielder and his brother-in-law and brother of the greatest sorcerress is a target and needs some security!"

"What for? I am mostly forgotten! I can come and go!"

Joel chuckles again and then sighs

"Not this time Ken!"

Ken stays quiet and looks ahead when they reach a room and they enter it, once inside he sees Ben and Gwen who are talking among themselves, his grandfather Max, aunt Vera, uncle Gordon and his wife Betty Jean and a brunette who Ken assumes is Camille, Joel's wife, they look at them and he hears Max speak

"We're all here! Let's start!"

Ken looks around and frows

"What about my parents and Ben's?"

Vera looks at him

"I'm sorry Ken! They are the reason we are here!"

"What?"

Max clears his throat

"Ken! They were kidnaped!............Almost all of us were kidnaped! We avoided it! But not everyone did!"

"WHERE ARE THEY????!!!!!!!!"

"KEN!! Calm down!"

he looks at his sister

"You two have powers! Why haven't you found them and rescue them?"

"We know who did it and Where they are!...........But it wil not be easy!"

"WHO?!!"

"Vilgax!"

Ken looks at them and frows

"Vilgax?.......But haven't you beaten him almost daily? Why?'

Ben looks at him

"He is now playing dirty!................He kidnaped our parents and tried to do the same to the rest of the family!"

"What for?"

"I can take a guess!"

and he looks at his left wrist

"You can't let him get his tentacles on the Omnitrix Ben! It would be a catastrophy!"

"I have to save our parents!"

Gwen puts her hand on his shoulder

"We must think of a way to save them and keep the Omnitrix Doofus."

"I doubt our parents will be able to get the Omnitrix back like you did Dweeb!...........And Vilgax will be ready this time!"

then the door opens and a plumber in a blue armor enters

"We have received a comunication from Vilgax!"

Max gets the information and

"He is proposing an exchange!"

"Our parents for the Omnitrix!"

"No Kiddo!...........You for your parents!"

there is a colective gasp

"Grandpa NO! We can't do that!"

"Pumpkin! We may have to!"

"If it's the only way!"

"You won't go without Me!"

"Gwen! Please!"

"You know it's a trap!"

Ben nods

"I know!"

Gordon looks at Max

"We can't allow this to happen Max!"

he looks back at him and the rest of the family

"We won't!"

"So what's the plan?"

"Magistrate! This is a trap!"

"We know Rook!...............But we have to try something!"

"They'll be expecting something!"

"We know Vera!...............That is why we will not plan anything!"

"But uncle Max!"

"We will do a frontal attack!"

"That sounds like a Ben plan!'

"It's a good plan then!"

"No, a bad one!"

"Hey!'

"You are planing a suicide run Max!"

Max chuckles

"Vilgax is proposing a neutral site! You really think it will be that way?"

they stay quiet and shake their head

"No! You're right!"

Max nods and sullens

"Look they are my sons and daughters-in-law! I will go alone! Nobody else!"

"Grandpa! They are our parents! Besides I have to go! I have the Omnitrix!"

"Wherever the Doofus I will go grandpa!'

"But kids!"

"Don't insult us Max!............Frank and Carl along with their wives may not be plumbers but they are family! You are not leaving us behind!"

"I won't leave my cousins uncle Max!"

"We are family! Both of us will go!"

"I may not be a plumber or have powers grandpa.........but I am a Tennyson! And they are my parents! I'm going! And you can't stop me!"

Max looks at them and nods and they prepare to go.

                                             On a plumber spaceship the Tennysons travel, the tension is thick, they know they are going into a trap but also know they have no choice, they make small talk and check their weapons and look at the readings, Ken looks at them and notices they get more tense and understands they are geting near their objective and he prepares mentally and he sees a ship on the monitors and at first he has no idea of the magnitude of it, and as they get closer he sees how large the ship is and is in awe, Ben and Gwen look at him and smile

"First time in space cousin?"

"You know it is!.............I have seen sci-fi movies but the real thing is.........Awesome!"

"You haven't seen anything yet!"

they all grin and then Ben get serious

"You should have stayed behind Ken!"

Ken chuckles

"You heard our relatives Ben!............The atempts were more than once!...............I am safer with all of you!"

"Ken we are going into a battlefield!...............This may be worse than you were facing the xenocites!"

Ken nods

"And you had to rescue me that time!.............If I stayed on earth you would have to save more people!"

"I hate it when you are right!'

"Yeah well...............Not all of us will return home!"

Ben gets serious and after a few minutes

"I'll do my best to bring everybody home!"

"And I'll help!"

Ben and Gwen hug and kiss each other, Ken smiles

"Me too!.........Even if it is a small contribution!"

they smile and do a group hug and they hear the alarm

"Prepare to dock! Prepare to dock! To your weapons! To your weapons!"

and they prepare for the fight of their lives.

                                              The group advances and find the ship aparently empty, wich tenses them more, the trap has been sprung and is now too late to get out so they start to advance more quickly

"You were right Max! No plan would have worked! This is Vilgax's show! We can only see how to get out!"

"We are close! Be ready!"

and they get their weapons ready, they arrive to a door, they look at each other and nod and Max opens the door and nothing happens, so they look inside and they see a big room and see Frank, Natalie, Carl and Sandra, besides them smirking is Vilgax, they enter and Ben and Gwen take point

"Let them go Vilgax!"

"You know what you must do Tennyson!"

Ben looks at his wrist and seems to speak but stops and looks at Vilgax

"Why should I? You never keep your word!...........You will kill our parents and then us!.............So no deal!"

"So you condem your parents to death then!"

"You will kill them regardless!"

Vilgax glares at him and then laughs

"You know me well Tennyson!"

and he presses a button and the prisoners are released, Ben and Gwen look around and get on guard

"So what's your plan?"

"All out brawl!"

and he goes towards him and Ben changes into Fourarms and they clash, drones come out of the walls and the rest of the Tennysons start to fire and destroy them, meanwhile Ben and Vilgax exchange punches and for a moment Vilgax seems to take the upper hand but soon this changes as Ben is the one dominating

"Give up! My Fourarms form is stronger now!"

and punches Vilgax who falls but gets up almost inmediatly and then he gets out a gun looking weapon

"You should give up Tennyson!"

meanwhile Gwen was helping taking down the drones and she notices that she feels weak and her mana feels drained as she looks as Vilgax fires at Ben

"Fourarms can take most shells and lasers Squid-face!"

Vilgax smirks

"I am not firing at you Tennyson!"

Ben frows and looks down and he sees many rod-like projectiles on the Omnitrix and it starts to throw sparks

"What did you do?"

"Destroying the Omnitrix!"

Gwen hears this and runs towards him

"Ben! Are you all right?"

as she aproaches him there is a red flash and Ben apears and they look stuned as the Omnitrix seems to explode as the rods seem sink into it and it darkens

"The Omnitrix does not respond!"

"Don't worry! I'll take care of Vilgax!.........What?"

Vilgax chuckles

"You have not asked but I will tell you Tennyson! I made Albedo, Dr. Psychobos and Khyber work together not to stop you but to incapacitate the Omnitrix! Also we used synthroid tech to incapacitate your mate!"

Ben and Gwen tense but they take out weapons

"We know how to use weapons!"

"I know! But it is inconsequential!"

as he prepares to strike he is hit by many blasters

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!"

Vilgax presses another button and more drones are released and they start to fire with more intensity, Vilgax smirks and then he gets hit from twin blasters

"You're going down Vilgax!'

he fires at the ground at their feet and it explodes sending them back, Ben and Gwen are hurt, everybody looks at them and they fire with more determination, Ken aproaches them but Vilgax gets there first

"The Omnitrix is not completly destroyed Tennyson, but with your death I will get it and repair it and conquer the universe!"

Ben looks at him defiantly

"You will never succeed Vilgax!.........Even if I may die!............Someone else will stop you!"

"Words!"

and he shoots at them and both fall

"BEEENNNN!!!!!!!! GWEEEEENNNNNN!!!!!!!!!"

Ken gets closer

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

and a screech is heard as the Omnitrix liquifies and jumps towards Ken's wrist and gets its form back

"NO! This was my success! I will kill you!"

but Ken fires at Vilgax and surprises him but he gets enraged but before he can do something to Ken he receives blasts from the others and Max gets to Ken and pulls him away from Vilgax, but he manages to hit Max, the old man does not go down but he is hurt

"Ken! Are you all right?"

"Yes! But you grandpa!"

"I'll be fine!"

"Don't lie! I'll draw his fire!"

"NO!! You must leave!"

"What? NO!!"

"Ken! Listen! You are now the Wielder! You must survive! It will be up to you to stop Vilgax!"

"But!"

"GO! NOW!"

"Do as you are told Ken!"

"But mom!"

"We have to do this son! And you must do what is expected of you!"

"Dad! I......."

"It's all up to you now Ken! GO!!"

"I...I....I don't know what to do!"

"You'll figure it out Ken! I wish I could train you! But it will not be!.....Just remember that Ben and Gwen looked up to you! You can do this!"

Ken looks at them and stays put untill Max pushes him, he wants to return but Joel grabs him by the arm and pulls him away

"GO KEN! NOW!!!!!"

"I can't leave all of you!"

"You must! If Vilgax gets the Omnitrix ..............You can't let that happen! That is why you must go!"

and finally Ken nods and leaves, he turns and sees his parents and other relatives firing at the drones and Vilgax and they close the door, he runs holding back tears as he aproaches the space ship he looks around and enters but notices there is countdown

"Computer stop self-destruct!"

"Unable to comply! Mother ship has overriden ship's computer! Self-destruct inevitable!"

Ken curses and looks around and then he sees the diagram of the ship and believes he knows where to go, so he does and enters a lifepod

"Computer are the lifepods's computers also overriden by the mother ship?"

"Negative!"

"Eject lifepod!"

and the lifepod ejects and Ken enters coordinates and the pod gets on course and from the window he sees as the spaceship blows up and he makes sure he is far away and once he is alone he sobs and cries as he knows he is the only survivor.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                           Ken stays quiet as he seems to recolect his thoughts, while Michelle and Matt look at him with empathy and understanding, while not as exactly as with their parents, it is very similar as when col. Hallan put them in a vehicule and sent them away as soon as the invasion was confirmed, they remember as they learned how the unit was wiped out with no survivors, the depression on their mother when she learned about it along with them and soon after they were hunted and Nadia Hallan put her eldest daughter in charge of her brothers and sent them away, as the rest of the grownups went the other way, it was days later that they learned that the chimera had been exterminating soldiers and their families so there would be no resistance, they failed, while some children were killed other survived and started training civilian teenagers, and kept them on their hometowns since they know the terrain better and can hide better, so then Michelle asks

"What happened next Ken?"

he sighs

"While the lifepod was capable of faster than light travel...............it could only do short bursts...............Enough to get away but not to reach earth, so I used the star charts in it and reached the closest life sustaining planet!"

Ken manages to land the pod and get out everything useful in the pod and cursed there was not a lot of currency, he didn't know if he could afford passage to earth, but he had to try and he walked towards the nearest city, the supplies were not marked as plumber issue so he can avoid detection by that mean, as he walks around he hears a lot of accents but all words in english and he wonders if Max injected him with the microbes or was it the Omnitrix? Not that it matters he can comunicate with the natives, he then notices as around him the inhabitants walk towards what he believes is the center of town, he blends in and when he senses everybody is there, he moves around and finds a secluded place, at least as secluded as it can be, he is the last in the line and then he hears

"People of Barraxis! You now have the privilege of being subjects of the great Chimeran Empire and Vilgax the Magnificent!...........No longer will you be subject to the chaos that comes from free will! Vilgax will say what to do! And for those agents of chaos who expect help from the abominattion that is Ben Tennyson!.....HE IS DEAD!!!ALONG WITH HIS MATE AND THEIR ACURSED FAMILY!!! ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!! AND HERE ARE THE PICTURES TO PROVE IT!!!!!!!"

Ken looks on and holds back tears as he sees his parents, sister, cousin and the rest of the family all dead and bloddied, his anger makes him tremble as Vilgax uses Ben's dead body and Gwen's also to prove his triumph, he then hears as everybody start to mention options on how to rebel when they hear

"As I speak the plumbers are also being taken down, not that it matters they were never a real treath anyway!...........So now prepare to surrender all hope to obey the Mighty Vilgax!"

he can not understand the grumble from the crowd but understands and feels the anger from them and they disperse, he looks around and notices a tower and ships landing near it, so he walks towards it, he doesn't notice that he is being followed, Ken looks around and tries to orientate himself but just like in earth he has a lot of zigzaging to reach the tower and before he knows it he is in an isolated part of the city, Ken tenses and he looks around to get back to the streets with people and then he notices them, three beings, tall, humanoid with blades and smirking

"An inocent Iiiifff ready for slaughter!"

Ken gets the meaning of what is being said and puts himself in a defensive position

"I won't go without a fight!"

they chuckle as they raise their blades

"Bravaff! It will be pushpluff!"

Ken doesn't completly understand but knows they are talking a diferent language than the other beings and assumes the micobes are adjusting to this language when one of the thieves charges at him and he sidesteps him and hits him without fazing him, he feels he hits as close as he can brick wall, so when the other two attack he evades them and flips them, the smirk disapears from their mouths, one of them glares at him and he prepares to attack, Ken raises his forearms and he sees it the Omnitrix, he presses the buttons and a hologram apears of a humanoid being with four arms, and he looks big and strong when he hears

"I WILL KILL YOU!!!!!"

he presses the tube that apears and there is a green flash, he feels his body shake and his senses overloading and he gets the sensation that the thieves get shorter and he feels dizzy but it quickly passes, the thieves seem surprised and say

"Ben Tennyson?"

 "I am not Ben Tennyson!"

"It doesn't matter!"

and the thief tries to trust a blade into his body

"Whoever you are you will die like that trash!"

Ken is shocked and gets mad and chargest at the thief

"DON'T CALL THEM THAT!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ken punches the head of the thief and he hears a snap but does not react to it, the thief falls down and lays still, the other two are paralyzed, Ken turns towards them, they look at each other and they charge towards him trying to stab him but despite making contact they can not pierce the skin, they only anger Ken who hits them back all force with karate blows and he feels as organs pulverize and they also fall and lay still, Ken surveys his work and breathes out and he hears at a sound that is similar to a countdown and in a red flash and he returns to his human form and without the adrenaline rush he regains his senses

"What have I done?...............I didn't know the alien was so much stronger!.................Also resilient!..............Although I remember Gwen telling facing a Fourarms Princess and she was bigger and stroger than Ben's..........Or rather his ten year old version! He also had gotten bigger...............I am older than Ben so my Fourarms is also larger..........And stronger!.............I better be careful! Ben knew the limits of his aliens! Not me!.................This was self-defense!.............But I better leave before the local authoroties try to arrest me and take me to Vilgax!"

and Ken walks away as fast as he can.

                                               Nearly two hours later Ken arrives at the tower, he got himself in a lot of dead ends but he finally arrives and he listens around and learns that it is a space port, and he decides to ask if he can reach earth from that place, most transports tell him no! Earth is a backward planet and also a target for Vilgax so not many will want to go there, Ken feels frustrated and scared when a being calls at him, Ken aproaches him with caution

"Do not worry! I am not a thief..............You are human!..........You want to go to your home planet yesss?"

he looks at him and nods

"I have not found a ship that will take me!"

"It is to be expected!.....Vilgax is taking over.........Nobody wants to go!"

"So I'm stuck then?"

"Not really------------he looks at him-----------------It will be an unconfortable voyage but you can return to earth!"

"How?"

the being looks around and in a lower voice

"You take cargo ships!............It will not be fast! But you will return to earth!"

"How much will it cost?'

"Free!"

"Free? Really?"

"A human on this planet?............You are a plumber! Some of us have retired due to age or injuries but we still help those who still fight"

"I am not a plumber!"

the being looks at him

"But your family is right?"

"They used to!"

the being looks at him understandly

"It is a burden!..............It may never work well again!..............But if yoiu stay here you will stand out as a sore thumb"

"Thank you!"

"You have not reached earth yet! But I believe the correct response is your welcome!"

and cautiuosly Ken follows him, it took him more than six months to reach earth and once he arrived he went into hidding and acting from time to time.

                                                Ken once more stays quiet and Michelle looks at him and

"So you took more than six months to arive?"

"Yes!"

"Why not use the Omnitrix? There must be an alien who could travel through space!"

"Yes there is!"

they are all startled as new characther joins them, he wears a blue pumber suit and Ken frows as he ponders and

"Rook Blonko!"

"Yes!........Hello Ken!"

Ken looks at him and notices the armor is no longer pristine, and not just his armor, he has scars on his faces and one of them crosses his left eye but without gouging it

"There is?"

"You have had the Omnitrix for three years and do not know how many aliens there are?"

"No I don't!'

"How many alien  have you access to?"

"Twelve maybe thirteen!"

"So little?......Why?"

Ken sighs and puts the Omnitrix on a table under a light and they see it and, there seems to be pieces missing of it, some burnt components and it is not well lit, he speaks

"As far as I can tell, I have been using it to less than 5%, the damage is too extensive and many programs are not implemented"

"Any other device functioning at that low capacity would not work, but the Omnitrix does!"

"Galvan technology! And from Azmuth!"

"So this is how the Omnitrix has been?"

"Actually it has been self-repairing! It was working at less when I got it............I only had Fourarms for the first weeks!"

Michelle looks at the Omnitrix and asks

"Can't you repair it?"

"It is beyond me!"

"I have done some work on it!"

"You have?........How?"

he signals them to aproach him and he gets out electronic components, he then gets some tweezers and a magnifying glass lamp and puts the Omnitrix under it and they see burnt components Ken then uses the tweezers and takes the burnt sections carefully and grabs them and puts them away, once he does he takes the small pieces and puts them on the face of the Omnitrix, they wait for a few seconds and they watch as the components melt and after some time more burnt section seemed to erupt and Ken once more grabs them and puts them away and he puts new components that fuse with the Omnitrix and he does this until he finishes using all the components he obtained

"I have been doing this ever since I learned how damaged it was!...............And was told what to do!"

Rook looks at the Omnitrix and him and

"So that is why you do not fight on the open!"

Ken nods

"Not all of the Omnitrix's functions work! That is why I don't have access to all aliens!"

"But doesn't taking away the burnt sections take away the Omnitrix programing?"

"Good obervation Matt!...........As far as I can tell the programing is intact, just inaccesible! I also believe it is expulsing the rods that damaged it, and uses the circuits I provide as components, even right now it is repairing itself.............It is almost alive!"

"Considering it is a creation of the First Thinker............It might be!"

"I have tried to unlock specific aliens but have been unable to do so!"

"What aliens are you trying to unlock?"

Ken tenses and answers

"Galvan, Brainstorm."

"To come up with a plan?'

"And repair faster the Omnitrix!"

Michelle looks at him and narrows her eyes but keeps her council

"It would be wise if you stayed here!"

Ken looks away

"I would put a target on this place!"

"If we work together you can help us and we can help you!"

"Let me thik about it!"

"But really do Ken! You can be a big asset!"

and he nods and Michelle hopes he will consider it seriously.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                           The next two days Ken stays put as he recuperates,as good as Matt Hallan has been, he feels overwhelmed and when a doctor comes and looks at Ken and makes some adjustments and some medications so Ken starts to get better and it is determined that he does not need surgery, and on the afternoon of the second day Rook asks

"Have you faced enemies in your human form?"

"At first since I did not know how the Omnitrix worked............and it is not functioning properly, I was in some scuffs, but not even my martial arts training helped completly!"

"You know martial arts?"

"Of course I do!.........Who do you think got Gwen interested in them?"

 She never mentioned that!"

Ken chuckles

"Of course not! It had to be her idea! Not anyone's else!"

and they both chuckle sadly and after a few minutes of silence Rook asks

"So your injuries happen during your transformations?"

Ken nods

"Yes! I get hit very hard! Some aliens are very resilient! And other have a fast healing factor so I don't resent it!...........But others do not and when I return to human form well........"

"The Omnitrix should prevent you from dying!"

"That function has not been restored!.............I can be killed!"

Michelle looks at him

"What? You should be more careful! I......we need you!..........You are a symbol!"

Ken shakes his head

"Not interested!"

"You want to get killed?"

"No!...........But I am not a symbol!..........I am not a hero!"

"You sure aren't!"

Michelle glares at him

"You would never win Gwen over treating her brother like that Elias! That is the real reason she never considered you!"

Elias glares back

"He is..."

"He could have been your brother in law! Attacking him would make you lose points with Gwen!"

Elias stays quiet as he glares at both Michelle and Ken and finally walks out

"Don't be too hard on him!......He is transfering his anger towards Ben on to me!"

"He is being childish!"

"And stubborn!"

they all chuckle and Rook says

"You are the Wielder! You are a symbol!"

Ken sullens and

"Ben was better!"

"I doubt it!......He rellied too much on luck and the fact that the Omnitrix protected him made him careless!"

Ken looks at Rook

"He did not rely on luck Rook! He made it seem that way! He played the part of the fool so he would be underestimated! But knew more than he let on!..........As for the Omnitrix protecting him from dying.............He figured out when he received this one, before that he didn't know!...............Besides not geting killed is not the same as not geting hurt!.............Or failing at saving lives!"

Rook looks embarressed

"I Know! I'm sorry!..........I just had an idealized version of him and he was very diferent!"

"The ilusion is always diferent than reallity!...........But he was still a hero!"

"Yes! He was!"

"I should have gone and helped you when you faced Vilgax!"

"You know the conditions he imposed!......He would have killed our parents instantly once he detected non-Tennyson DNA!"

"He still killed your parents!"

"At least we tried!"

"Besides Camille and Lucy Mann were not even human!"

"But they were part of the family and Vilgax asked for them!.............They knew they would be killed!......But still went!" 

"Vilgax tried to erase your family! All of it!"

"And he did!............I know the rest of the family was killed also!...........I am the last one!"

"Abandon all hope!...............That is why you need to stay with us Ken! You can rally all of the resistance!"

"And get them killed!............I know Vilgax has not reported my............Crimes so that people do not get hope! He will suppress with more brutallity!..........More people will die!"

Michelle sullens and Rook speaks

"It would be best if you stay here! So you can get more components to repair the Omnitrix!"

"I don't like to hit the same area no more than three times!"

Michelle looks at him and

"We sometimes hit wharehouses of the chimera! Or from their allies!............And Vilgax has made this the principal port! To prove his victory over Ben! You can get more components here!"

"I will put targets on your backs!'

"And if you continue this way it will take years to repair the Omnitrix!.........If you stay it may take months! And that way protect more people!"

Ken looks at her and tries to make a reply and finds none, he nods

"All right! I'll stay!'

Michelle gets a small smile while the others nod and prepare to adjust to their new member.

                                                One week later Ken is finally better and moves without pain and he starts to do his martial arts training and feeling better he soon reaches his level and starts to surpass it, after his training he is aproached by Rook and the Hallan siblings

"You seem to move freely now Ken!"

he nods and

"I had some injuries but non crippling!.................And better food I have returned to my level!"

"Maybe you should shave!"

he shakes his head

"No!.........I have scars, not big, but they are there and no ofense Rook! But people don't react well to other's scars!..............Besides it looks cool!'

and MIchelle in a low voice

"Yes it does."

"You said something sis?"

"Nothing!"

"You think you can go with a team on a wharehouse raid for medicines?"

"Of course!"

"Maybe we should call ourselves a cool name!"

Ken chuckles and Rook says

"I believe the first name was Team Tennyson!'

"Yes Rook! But it was Ben, Gwen and grandpa Max, all of them Tennysons! Later when Kevin joined they kept the name since they were majoroty! After Gwen left for college it stop being team Tennyson! Besides we are suposed to keep a low profile! Team Tennyson is too loud!"

"We'll think of a name later!"

"We better do that! Anyway......Rook what happened to Kevin Levin?"

Rook sighs and sullens and after a few moments

"Kevin Levin was a good plumber!.........But when Gwen and him broke-up he regressed to his previous form, it was decided to make him a plumber aide till he wanted to return, and then Gwen died so he...........became a criminal once more............He was responsible for the death of many plumbers! He sold his services to the highest bidder wich meant the chiumera usually, so......"

Ken nods

"I had hoped that Gwen was right about him and that he would be fighting the chimera!...........But deep down she suspected that Kevin would revert to form!"

"Yes he did!"

"How was he stoped?"

"We learned who he was going to sell and we prepared for him............He fought like a demon!-------------he puts his fingers on his eye scar---------------He gave me this scar!........I did what I had to do!..............We could not allow him to continue selling us and killing plumbers!"

"I understand............When do we go on our mission?"

"Three days from now!"

and he nods and continues training.

                                               Three days later a group of fighters move cautiously towards a wharehouse, they triple check their surroundings making sure they are not being followed and are not being monitored so they do not fall into a trap, they reach the back door and after inspecting it and making sure there are no traps and they enter, they look around and find no traps, some of them relax, but Ken, Rook andf Michelle do not

"I don't like this!"

 "Yes! Too easy!"

"I agree! What is the expression? Waiting for the other shoe to drop?"

"That is the one!"

and they continue looking around while others inspect the crates, Rook looks as they are preparing to open one when he runs towards them and he makes a more thorough inspection and he motions the team to step away, and after fiddling for some time Rook shows a detonator and the younger fighters look in awe and nod, he inpects the other crates and disarms more detonators, but after he finishes he inspects them and finds them odd and soon he tenses

"We must hurry!"

"What's wrong Rook?"

"These are not detonators!"

Ken aproaches them

"What are they?'

"Alarm Sensors!"

Elias shrugs his shoulders

"So what? They are disarmed!"

Michelle glares at him

"Disarming them, may activate them!"

"Oh shit!"

"Move it!"

the fighters move as quickly as they can as they take the provisions but before they can leave the main door opens and a group raises weapons and they bark orders, Ken frows along with most of the others since they do not understand and Rook says

"Sotoraggians!"

Ken frows and he finally says

"Bounty Hunters!"

"Yes!......Ben was able to keep them at bay...........But he had more experience!"

Ken nods and he hears some electronic buzzing

"Do you understand them?"

Rook nods

"They are saying we are under arrest by the order of the great Vilgax! And to lay down our weapons! And hope we do not!"

"Let's oblige!"

"Be careful Ken! They are not novices!"

he nods

"Understood! I may not be as experienced as Ben! But I am no slouch!"

Ken moves the dial of the Omnitrix and stops on a hologram and touches the tube and Lodestar apears and he starts to use his magnetism, the weapons and the sotoraggians tremble and suddenly they stop and they aim and fire, they all dodge except Ken who creates a magnetic force field and it resists, but they press, Ken reinforces the force field, when there are more blasts, from the resistance fighters and Ken can finally relax a little and changes into human form and hides behind some crates, Elias aproaches him

"We would apreciate some help you know!"

Ken is looking around his list of aliens

"I want to use an alien who can take them!"

"Well at least use one who will throw pebbles to them! Explosive ones!"

Ken chuckles and sees an alien he has hardly used and he chooses him and in a green flash an alien apears and Rook says

"Gutrot?"

the sotoraggians seem to laugh and aim towards him and Ken releases gas while Rook orders the fighters to put some distance from Ken and he manages to throw the gas towards them, they walk toward the cloud and for a moment they seem fine and suddenly they seem to choke and they fall to their knees and then he expels more gas but they notice it is a diferent color than the first cloud and they hear screeches as their armor start to liquefy and melt, as that happens the screeches lower and lower and finally silence, Gutrot stops expelling gas and then and after a few seconds he expells another gas wich disipates the other gas as water and salt fall to the ground, and at that point he changes into his human form and he surveys his work, Michelle aproaches him

"What did you do?"

"I used an acid specially designed for them! Or rather acids!"

Michelle nods and swallows hard

"That was final!"

"Yes!.........But we can't leave witnesses behind!...............And we're at war!"

Michelle nods and Rook coments

"I questioned your decision.....But I see I was wrong and you right! Good job!"

Ken sighs

"I wish it could be another way!"

"Like you said Ken!.........We are at war!"

he nods and they load the crates and they also take electronics and components so the Omnitrix can be fixed, and Michelle asks

"You can see Ken that this is better!"

Ken looks at her

"Yes! You were right!"

"Don't you forget it!'

Ken chuckles and nods, and they return with their bounty to their hideout.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from oter authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                               The team continues working together depending of the injuries or individual responsibilities of each member, but the core group is made up by Ken, Michelle and Elias, who despite his complaining is a good fighter and a betetr teamate who looks out for everybody including Ken, he still complains but Ken looks at it as his defense mechanism so he rides it along, the next few missions are easy but critical for the resistance since they get medicines, munitions and provisions, two days after their last mission there is a reunion of the leaders in the region, Michelle asks Kens to not participate but he manages to be in the reunion without being seen and he listens as the other leaders try to berate Michelle and Rook

"You know who was causing problems to the chimera and are now working with him!.............He could be a great asset for the other units!"

"I don't deny that sheriff Mason!..........But we barely convinced him to join us!.............If we ask him to go to other units..............He may strike on on his own!"

"You want to have the greater rate of success! That is why you don't want to ask him!"

Rook looks at the other comanders and

"You know full well that it is not as easy as that!..........The chimera are denying the extent and severity of the atatcks from the resistance and want our colleague!..........If anything we are a bigger target now!.........We faced the sotoraggians! And the fact that they were stoped....permantly has without a doubt alerted the chimera!............Our next mission may be our last!.......It is better this way!"

sheriff Mason nods

"Yes it is!..................................Is he Ben?"

"No! Ben Tennyson is dead!"

But he has the Omnitrix! Right?"

Rook sighs and Michelle answers

"We can not deny or confirm it!"

"But he does!"

"If he does he should face Vilgax!"

"You want him to get killed?"

"But with the Omnitrix!.........."

"He may or may not have it!............So we wait till confirmation!"

"You also aprove this right Hallan?"

she stays quiet and gather her thoughts

"I know all of you want him to go face Vilgax and are thinking that it is his duty like it would be for a soldier..........To die for his country, cause or whatever!..........But my father always told me...........A soldier's job is to make the other guy die for his country, cause or whatever!...........I will not ask him to go face Vilgax and get killed!"

there are some rumblings and

"Untill we know more we will then decide on the best course of action!..........Meeting adjourned!"

and they all leave with the exception of the home unit

"I don't know how long we'll be able to keep tham at bay Rook!"

"Me neither miss Hallan!------------and turning towards where Ken is----------------What do you say Ken?"

Ken is startled and walks into the room

"You knew I was there? I'm impressed!"

"A combination of my training and my alien physiology!............What do you think?"

he looks at his wrist

"Everybody expects me to come out and be like Ben!.............I am diferent...........and the Omnitrix is damaged!..............Not as much as when I first got it........But still damaged!"

Rook nods

"I know!.............But that information would be more damaging than confirming the existence of a wielder!"

Michelle nods

"It would enbolden the chimera and sullen the resistance!.............How long before?"

"I don't know!..........Like I said before..........I can not contact Azmuth!"

"And taking into consideration that he must hide from Vilgax!.......He may not have the tech to fully restore the Omnitrix!"

"He is the First Creator! He can restore the Omnitrix! In ways we can't even imagine!'

"You seem so sure of Azmuth!'

Ken chuckles

"From my talks with Ben and Gwen!"

they all stay silent for a few minutes

"We will continue delaying presenting you to the other units Ken!...........But at some point we will have to tell the others!"

"I understand!"

"It will be for a long time Ken!............We know how to delay!"

Ken looks at the Omnitrix

"Hopefully it will not be necessary!"

and they finish their talk and go to their quarters and duties.

                                                   Next day Rook leaves to make contact with surviving plumbers and the group goes on another round, Michelle takes lead and sends scouts to verify the wharehouses and after an hour they return and

"Slim pickings ma'am!"

"What do you mean?"

"They are mostly scrap!"

"Scrap?"

"No food or medicines! No munitions and it apears to be mostly discarded electroncs and circuitry!"

"Nothing useful!.........We're going back!"

"You go!...........Where were the electronics?"

"Uhm..............Wharehouse six..........But nothingis in working order!"

"Doesn't matter!.........I'll catch you up later!"

Michelle looks up at him

"Ken! Are you crazy? There must be security down there!"

"I need components!.........Doesn't matter if they don't work! I need the elements!"

Michelle looks and sighs

"Okay! Let's go!"

"No! Do not risk the unit for me!"

"You are part of the unit and we look for our own!"

"Lower your voice Elias!"

"Sorry!..........But I am telling the truth!"

Ken looks at them

"A small group would be better! I will only take a handfull of components!"

Michelle nods

"Elias, Baker, Smith come with us! Matt wait for us here!....If something happens return to base!"

"But!"

"Do it Matt!"

he sighs and nods

"Understood!'

and with caution they aproach the wharehouse and enter, Ken looks at the crates and inspects them and he grabs some components, he does it as fast as he can when he notices tension on his companions and he is in attention when he turns around and they see a group of guards raising their weapons, they do the same and they stand still, and Ken frows

"A mexican stadoff?............Why?............They should at least tell us..........Shit! They must be....       Lower your weapons! We'll take our leave of you!"

Michelle looks at him stuned

"Why should we?"

"Because a fight would alert the real guards and all of us be captured!"

they all look at each other and seem to ponder

"We'll leave! But you give us what you took!"

Ken looks at the one who talked figuring he is the leader

"Finders keepers!"

the leader glares back

"We thought all of this was useless!.........But it apears we were wrong! Give it to us!"

"It is useless to you! We won't!"

"Then it's valuable!"

"No! Just to me! You will not get anything of value for this!"

"We want it! Now!"

Ken looks at them and

"Come and get it!"

"Wait!......A fight will make us prisoners of the chimera!"

"Give us your treasure!"

"It is not a treasure!"

"So you say!"

Michelle sighs and

"How about this?..........One fighter from each group! Winner takes the......price?"

"Why should we agree to this?"

"To avoid detection and keeping face from both sides!"

they all nod and the leader points to one of his minnions who nods and walks towards the middle on the two groups, and before Michelle can choose her fighter Ken walks up to his oponent, he looks at Michelle and nods and she nods back, Ken puts his weapons away and gets into a defensive stance

"No weapons?"

"No weapons! We don't want the attention!"

his oponent nods and gets into a fighting stance and studying Ken and after feeling satisfied he throws a punch towards him, wich he evades easily, the other fighter throws another punch, and another, and then a kick wich Ken avoids easily, his oponent snarls and tries to tackle him and Ken finally flips him with ease, he gets angrier and throws punches wiildly and Ken stops him and finally kicks him and punches him unconcious, the leader gets enraged and ttries to attack him from behind but Ken engages him and soon he is knocked down, the other bandits look on nervously as their numbers dwindle and Michelle speaks

"Pick up your people and leave! We'll keep the price! Unless you want to be captured by the chimera!"

they look at each other and they nod and they pick up their leader and the fighter and they leave, Ken and the rest do the same but go the other way and move quickly and soon join the rest of the unit

"Everything went fine?"

Elias chuckles

"We wish! But Ken has moves! And no Omnitrix!"

"Really?"

"He fought as good as Gwen!"

"Actually she used to fight as good as me!"

"Come on!"

Ken chuckles

"I studied karate before her!"

"We'll talk at base! Let's go! I don't want to be detected!"

and they all stay quiet and return home.

                                                Later that day in his room Ken is taking burnt out parts of the Omnitrix and puting circuit parts on it and he observes as the components seem to melt and incorporate themselves into the Omnitrix, he hears a knock on the door and

"Enter!"

Michelle enters and looks at what he is doing

"You are reapairing the Omnitrix?"

"Actually the Omnitrix is repairing itself...............I just provide elements and components!"

Michelle looks at the Omnitrix and

"Yes I see! It is also more complete! And the light is brighter! Not by much! But Brighter!"

"The bits that it is expelling are probably the reamins of the rods inserted by Vilgax........and circuits burned beyond repair!"

"And the components are transformed into circuitry that can be used to help function it!"

"Exactly!.....More files can be accessed now..........More aliens!"

Michelle looks at him

"Any aliens in particular?"

"No!"

she notices that his response in in a slightly higher note but decides to wait for a better moment

"Look Ken......You can fight!"

"I trained the same as Gwen!..........And I can not rely on the Omnitrix so I go back to my martial arts training!"

Michelle nods

"I know self-defense!..........But you are better!"

"Years of training and now practicing!"

"Ken!......Can you train me?"

Ken frows and looks at her

"Are you telling me no one in the unit knows martial arts?"

"Yes they do!...........And they train the others, but you are better!"

"I have more practice! That's all!"

"That is why I am asking you!.....Please?"

Ken looks at her and nods

"i am not a sensei! So you may not learn as good as the others!"

Michelle smiles

"I'll take my chances!"

Ken smiles and

"We'll start tomorrow!"

Michelle nods and leaves the room and she smiles.

                                                Next day on the training room Ken and Michelle walk in and look around

"I expected more people!"

Michelle looks at him

"I chose an hour whenever there is no one!"

Ken frows and looks at her and

"You don't want to loose in front of your team right?"

she nods

"I have an image to protect!"

Ken nods and looks around

"You should this way!"

and Ken starts to train Michelle with the basics, and since she knows self-defense she learns quickly and they start soon katanas and the easy ones Michelle breezes through them, but when Ken starts with the harder ones she starts to get frustrated

"You are making this hard!"

he shakes his head

"No! This is the progression it must be!"

"I am not advancing!"

"You advanced quickly on the first katanas! The next level is obviously harder!"

"I am not in a better position now!"

Ken chuckles

"Let's sparr!"

she sighs and nods, soon they are facing each other and bow and they get in a defensive stance, Michelle attacks first and Ken avoids her, she gets frustrated and tries to kick him but Ken blocks her, along with her punches

"Stand still!"

"No oponent will do that!"

Michelle feels she is geting blocked easier and easier when she remembers a move and does it and manages to conect and then she is soon on her behind

"You cheated!"

"No I did not!.........You got a hit in! But not enough to tumble me! You are improving!"

"You are keeping me at a low level!"

"No! You want to learn inmediatly!.........You can not do that!"

Michelle lets her frustration take over and tackles Ken who manages to separate himself and tries to restrain her, but she manages to put her leg behind him and manages to topple him, Ken tries to roll with the fall but is unable and Michelle gets on top of him and tries to pin his arms and legs and doing it partially

"Surrender!"

"No!"

and they continue tussling and get closer and closer, soon they are face to face and they stop and after a few moments still, they kiss and roll over, they continue kissing with passion and desperation, finally Ken gets up and carries Michelle on his arms and they go to his room and close the door.

                                                  In the morning Michelle wakes up and looks at her companion in bed and sees him sleeping and she smiles and cuddles he wakes up slowly and looks at her and smiles

"Good morning!"

"Good morning!"

"Last night was amazing!"

"Yes it was!.......But you should have told me you were a virgin!"

"I was a little embarresed! You were still gentle though!'

Ken sighs

"I was also a virgin! I was unsure on how to act!"

"Crazy-Gwen told me you played bass on a band! I expected you to be experienced!"

"It wasn't like I was on a famous band!............And yes girls threw themselves to us!................But I was the responsible one! So while the other were having fun I had to take care of the business side of the band!"

"You never?"

"I made out!......But not beyond that!"

"Why did they take advantage of you?"

"Because I was the mediator in the band!..........Dealing with Gwen and Ben prepared me for that!"

Michelle chuckles

"I supose so!............I don't want a one night stand though!"

"Of course not! We work in the same place!...........How public do you want to be?"

"Not at all!..........Not so much for me! But you! We all know why you do what you do! But gossip will destroy that! And inform where you are!"

"True!........But people will notice! We better be prepared!"

she nods and they cuddle and ponder on what is next.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                         For the next five days Ken and Michelle continue training and Michelle begins to show signs of improvement and the after training is very satisfactory and they enjoy their time together, still Michelle feels that while Ken is now relaxed and laughs more around her unit, he is hiding something and she wonders when Rook arrives and mentions a mission and she puts her misgivings on the backburner and listens

"Intel reports that the chimera are bringing in a new isotope to test on the workers"

"What kind of isotope?"

"Radioactive!"

Matt curses in a low voice echoing the sentiment of the unit

"Who are the unlucky volunteers?"

"Belwood!"

"Wich section?"

"All of it!"

there is shocked silence and Ken finally speaks

"How will they deliver the isotope?"

"Through water!"

"The town reservoir!"

"Yes! Everybody drinks that water!"

"When?"

"In the next twenty-four hours!"

"We must guard the filtering plant!"

Ken shakes his head

"They most likely will drop the isotope on the lake itself! Contaminate the source!"

"They want to see how long the isotope lasts in a lake contaminating!"

Michelle ponders and shakes her head

"The unit is not big enough to cover all the lake!..........They'll pass through!"

"There are three highpoints around the lake, we'll watch from there and capture the group and get the isotope!"

"So we can use it?"

"To dispose properly!"

"We can't keep it here Elias! It may be radioactive even at great depths!"

Elias looks at Ken and nods

"Either way we lose!"

"Not if it's sent out world!"

"Get ready everybody! We leave in ten minutes!"

and the reunion ends as they go and get their gear ready for the mission.

                                              On the way over to the lake the unit was divided in four groups, on each highpoint a group, the remaining one patrols the lake's borders making sure no one gets near, Michelle chose the point near the road, she believes that it is highly unlikely they will do the deed in secret, so they should aproach in the open, she has Ken on her group, he has fast aliens, but can not stay more than twenty minutes in that form so she convinces him to wait to the last minute so he can help at the right time, she wonders if she is justifying her actions to remain near him, but knows her reasoning is sound when she hears the comunicator

"Bogeys coming down the road!"

"How far?"

"Meters or yards?"

she chuckles and

"Whatever!"

she believes she hears chuckles on the other side and

"Four football fields.....So fourhundred yards, or meters!"

"Understood!...........Everybody stay alert!...........And continue watching untill we call for you!...........They may try to pass as we are being distracted!"

"Yes ma'am!"

she signals to her group to stay quiet and observe and not let their guard down, a few minutes later they see a group aproaching, they walk like they don't have a care in the world, Michelle frows as does Ken, they look at each other and nod, so they wait, soon they are whitin striking distance, Michelle waits expectanttly waiting the other shoe to drop as does Ken and finally he notices it, a distortion behind the group

"Cloaking device!"

and he turns towards Michelle and points at the distortion behind the group, Michelle frows and observes and she gets a look of recognition and nods, she whispers orders to the unit and they get set and at an order from Michelle they fire at the distortion and the cloak is droped and they see an unit of chimera armed to the teeth and return fire, Ken returns fire with a blaster and he observes the two groups and finally sees on the lead group a canister like device, he looks at Michelle who follows his gaze and sees it, she nods and he goes to the chimera while moving the Omnitrix and in a green flash Cannonbolt apears, he rolls up and rolls towards the soldiers who fire at him but can not penetrate his outer skin and before they can come up with a strategy they are crushed by him, Ken increases his weight so with the speed he hits with force and the chimera don't stand a chance, they hear the crunching of bones and soon the attack force is obliterated, he stops spining and return to his human form and joins the unit

"Why didn't you take down the other group?"

"They have the isotope! And my alien is not good handliing dangerous materials!"

"Cannonbolt!"

"What?"

"Cannonbolt! That's how Ben called the alien!"

Ken nods

"Fits!"

"It is actually a torterra!..........The only one in existence! Their planet was destroyed!......Ben could have saved them since he was able to do things they could not come up with!"

"He was good that way!........And for these guys.......Diamondhead!"

"Tennyson!......You are suposed to be dead!"

"Who?"

"Have you forgotten me? I'm Psyphon! Mighty Vilgax second in comand!"

"Really?"

"Insolent whelp!........But you have gotten bigger!"

Diamomdhead smirks

"Because I am not Ben!"

"You lie! The Omnitrix only works for Ben Tennyson!"

Ken puts his hand on the ground and with the other he makes a shield wich stop most of the blasts, Psyphon barks orders and they concentrate on Ken so they do not notice when the canister is enveloped in crystal, Psyphon gives a signal and all of them get out batons, Ken frows and believes he sees them vibrating, he raises a wall in front of them and they touch it with the batons and the wall shatters, Michelle almost shouts

"What are those things?"

"Sonic weapons!............This alien may not be the best option!"

Psyphon smirks

"You should have known petrosappiens are susceptible to damage by sonic weapons! Mighty Vilgax will reward me when I bring him the Omnitrix!"

and they start to shatter Diamondhead's constructs and Psyphon gets near him

"DIE TENNYSON!!!"

and he hits Ken and he shatters

"KEN!!!!NNOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

"Kill them all! Mighty Vilgax will be pleased!"

they nod as they begin to fire at the resistance fighters, they smirk and continue firing when one of them is impaled by a crystal spike and is ripped apart, they are shocked and they look around and two more suffer the same fate, what follows is mayhem as the chimera try to escape but soon all of them are impaled and ripped apart, the last one is Psyphon who looks around and

"You thought you had killed me?"

"I shattered you!"

"Diamondhead can regenerate himself! I simply went underground as you shattered an empty husk!"

"You killed my men! You were never so bloddthirsty Ben!"

he hears a laugh

"I am not Ben!.........That is your mistake!"

and before he can beg he is impaled and ripped apart and Ken emerges in his Diamondhead form and he looks around and then the sound of counting down and in a red flash Ken apears and Michelle runs towards him and hugs him

"Don't scare me like that again!"

"I'll try!...........But I believe that now everybody knows about us!"

"I don't care!"

Rook is inspecting the canister and

"The isotope is here! "It is encased! It will be easy to carry!"

"Hey over here!"

"What is it Matt?"

"Look at all these provisions!"

they do and

"We can use part of them!.........But not all of them!"

"Why not take them to Undertown?"

they look at him

"You think it will help?"

"You know it will!"

"These things are heavy!"

"Let's use the tunnel! It will be quicker!"

they ponder and finally nod

"All right! Let's do it!"

and they take what they carry but the two heavy crates are a problem but Ken changes into Fourarms and carries them easily, he has to rest twice and once more when they reach the entrance of the tunnel, they walk and Ken catches up to them once the Omnitrix recharges and they soon reach Undertown, people look at them with distrust but when they see the provisions they come out and start thanking them, and they see the tetramand with the Onnitrix on his chest and soon they murmur and say

"Ben 10,000!"

Ken shakes his head

"I am not Ben!"

"Good ridance! Go away! You Tennysons only cause trouble!"

everybody is shocked and they see Baumann with a frow and Elias replies

"Hey Old Geezer! He risked his life to get you provisions!"

"For all the good it does! He should have been kicked off planet! He was worthless!"

the tetramand stays silent and still and Baumann smiles but before he can gloat he sees the alien move very quickly and a hand grabs him by the throath and he feels his life squezed out of him and dificulty to breath

"Then give back what you took! NOW!!!"

"Stop it Ben! Or I will tell your grandfather to......"

"HE IS DEAD! BEN IS DEAD!............You can't report me to anyone!"

"The Plumbers!"

"Will do nothing! I should break every bone in your body!"

"Drop me before you get into more troub...urkh!"

"Shut your mouth!!"

"Max would stop you!"

"He was killed protecting jerks like you!.....And if you ever say anything against him or Ben or any other Tennyson!........When I finish with you! You will beg for death!"

Baumann whimpers and he is thrown, he knows he was not thrown with force otherwise, but he mumbles

"I'll get even! You just wait and......"

Ken runs towards him and once more he grabs him and rises him higher this time

"WHAT DID YOU SAY????!!!!!!!!"

Baumann whimpers and he pees and craps himself, Ken smirks

"If you can't back up your threats don't make them!"

and this time he is thrown with more force, he gets up slower this time and he looks around but nobody supports him and he scurries away and he hears Ken once more

"If you say anything I will know and I will come and break every bone! Understood?"

he whimpers and nods and leaves, Rook looks at him and

"If you do anything to him the plumbers will have to stop you!"

"You can try!............But I will not tolerate that jerk!..........He blames the police when they save him and complains about the criminals!.........He was tolerated before but right now he should keep his mouth shut!"

Rook looks at him

"You sure are not like Ben!"

"You finally figured that out?"

Ken walks around and stops at some points and picks up things and talks to the people who gave him the things as a form of gratitude and after some time they return to their hideout and look at what they got.

                                                 Later that day Ken is supervising the Omnitrix as he takes out the burnt parts and puts in new parts, he is so focused on the work that he doesn't notice when Michelle enters and then he hears

"Is it better now?"

Ken looks startled and looks at her

"Oh! Right! It has gotten better! It is unlocking more aliens now!"

"But not the ones you want right?"

"No! Not yet!"

Michelle looks at him

"What aliens are you looking for Ken?"

Ken tenses and says

"Galvan and cerebrocrustacean!"

"Bullshit! You are lying!..........I know it!......Tell me the truth!"

Ken looks at her and he sighs

"Fine!............Not those two........chronosappiens and celestialsappiens!"

"Who?"

"Clockwork! And.......................Alien X!"

Michelle proccess the informations and

"Them?.....Why?"

Ken stays quiet for a few minutes and finally he speaks

"They are the aliens that can undo all of this!"

Michelle is stuned and

"How?"

"Clockwork travels through time! I can travel before their deaths and stop Vilgax before he can......."

"Can he?"

"He should be able! If not.......Alien X can do anything! It can undo what has happened!"

"You are sorry to be with me?"

"No!....You are the only good thing about this!"

"But you are willing to sacrifice our love...relationship for the posibility of..?"

"Your parents would return Michelle! Earth would be safe!"

Michelle nods and ponders and

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

Michelle shakes her head

"Crazy.......Gwen confided something in me Ken............remember when Kevin was an amalgam of elements?"

"Yes!...He looked like DC's Metamorpho!"

Michelle rolls her eyes

"Boys!...........Anyway Gwen searched for a cure for weeks and came upon a way to cure him!"

"How?"

"A time-traveler spell!"

"But she never used it!"

"Yes she did!...........Before she cast the spell she was visited by a time-traveler...Profesor Paradox!"

"What did he say or do?"

"He warned her that what she was trying todo should be left to inmortals or mad men!"

"He convinced her?"

"No! She cast the spell and Kevin never had the accident..............And due to that she created a timeline where she died and Charmcaster and Hex took over the world, she understood that things should not be changed!"

'She created a flashpoint?"

she rolls her eyes and

"Yes! You can say that! She stoped herself from changing the past and the timeline collapsed!..........If you do what you are planing you may make things worse!"

Ken looks at her and

"Clockwork may be able avoid that!"

"Just be sure Ken!............There is a reason why Ben and Gwen never changed the past!"

"But it may stop this from happening!"

"Or make it worse!....Just think about it!...........Maybe your galvan form can take into consideration all the factors!"

"I will!"

Michelle looks at him and worries and wonders if he will do as she says and they stay quiet and ponder on what is the best course of action.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                             Two days pass and the unit does some patroling and hit some inconsequential targets, Michelle is satisfied since they are breaking in some new recruits, and she notices as they look at Ken and whisper among themselves, specially about the Omnitrix and knows that it is adding pressure, she then sees as they arrive that Rook has returned and feels, senses problems brewing and wonders if they can avoid them, but Rook's expression tells her it will not be avoided, she signals to her senior soldiers and Ken and after seting up the defense and other catalogong what they got, they sit down and prepares for what is to come.

"Major Hallan were there any incidents during your patrol?"

"None Magistrate!"

"Good!.............Any witnesses?"

"We were far from habitated areas sir! So no!"

"I see!"

Ken has kept quiet but knows the blow up is soon so he acelerates it

"Cut the bullshit!.................What are you avoiding?"

Rook sighs and looks at him

"I can see Ben now!"

"It's the Tennyson anger and impatience Rook!......Cut to the chase!"

Rook stays quiet as he seems to order his thoughts

"Your little manhandling of Baumann has made the rounds! And when you add you were seen in your tetramand form...............There were a lot of witnesses.............It has spread all over the world!........And into the ear of the chimera!...............They can no longer deny the existence of a wielder!"

"I knew this day would come!"

"Take this more seriously Ken!.................Belwood has now become a bigger target for the chimera!...........And with confirmation of a wielder and the Omnitrix!..............Vilgax will come here to force a confrontation with you!"

"Isn't that what we want?"

Michelle looks at her brother

"The Omnitrix is not at one hundred percent! Vilgax will be!.............Going into a fight with both hands tied behind your back! We know what the result will be!"

Ken looks at Michelle and then Rook

"You knew this would happen Rook! From the moment you proposed I remain here.......You increased the odds of me being found out!...........Don't act surprised now that it has happened!"

Rook glares at him

"I had hoped you would make your presence known after you finished fixing the Omnitrix!..........This is premature!"

"I am not fixing the Omnitrix!.....It is fixing itself!...........Since I did not find what I wanted at Las Cruces I hoped I could find what I need on Belwood!"

Matt frows

"What were you looking for?"

"Alien tech! To fix the Omnitrix better and faster!"

"Alien tech on Las Cruces?"

"The Highbreed used it as a bridge for their invasion! I know it was destroyed!...........But maybe some components coud be there so..........."

Matt frows and ponders

"There are!"

"Huh? Where?"

"Undertown!"

Michelle looks at him

"Are you sure Matt?"

"He is!"

"Elias?"

both brothers look at each other and nod

"We have gone on recon missions!"

"And that has included amny of the places where alien activity ocurred!"

"The components were taken by scavangers!"

"But they were burnt out!"

"So they have been acumulating on Undertown!"

Ken looks at them and

"Are there galvan components?"

they both ponder and nod

"Yes there are!"

"How can you tell?"

"They are small devices!"

"Just by that?"

"They seem like plumber tech!"

"They are very likely Galvan!...............Can you take me there?"

"Sure!"

"Why are you so interested on Galvan tech?"

Ken looks at Rook

"More compatible with the Omnitrix."

Rook ponders and and nods in understanding

"We will wait till night and........"

"it will be too dark to look and identify the components Rook! We better go during sunlight!"

Rook is preparing to debate the idea and after a few seconds nods, Michelle nods also

"We'll leave in one hour!"

and the meeting ends as Rook is frustrated since it means more people will see Ken and create more scrutiny in the future.

                                                   Two hours later they arrive to Undertown, they did not travel in the open, so the journey was longer, at Rook's insistence they try to hide their identity to avoid detention, they do not observe increase in security so they believe that they are safe untill they hear screams, Rook tries to look away but he is unable as they look and gather and see a group of chimera hiting some of the aliens and human alike

"Answer our questions vermin!"

"We don't know! We don't know!"

the chimera smirks

"We will kill you one by one! Answer us!"

"We don't know where the wielder is!"

smiling and with satisfaction the chimera say

"We'll shoot him first! And then one by one till you answer!"

those looking know they don't want to find out, just have an excuse to kill when suddenly

"I AM HERE! AND YOU WILL NOT HARM ANOTHER BEING EVER AGAIN!!!!"

the chimera are startled and for a moment there is fear on their expressions but soon they recover and smirk

"So you say! You will not survive our attack!"

and they prepare to fire and a green flash almost blinds them

"Diamondhead!"

they fire and hit a crystal wall, they concentrate on the wall that they fail to see another green flash and he flanks them, the chimera react slowly, and by then they are being crushed by Fourarms, for the next few minutes there is only the sound of crunching of bodies and crushed weapons, Ken fails to notice as one of the chimera pushed a button, the few survivng try to fire back when Michelle's unit take care of them, Ken starts to relax but he hears footsteps, heavy ones geting neared so he turns quickly and braces himself to resist a hit from another tetramand

"I always wanted to face Ben Tennyson!"

"Who?"

"I am Maxian Lord Terra!...........I was to marry Looma Red Wind! But she obsessed over you! So now I will take you down!"

"Unh!........If I remember correctly...........You should have bested her so she would marry you!"

"It wioll be better if I take your head!"

and he hits Ken hard, he manages to hold him off barely, but gets hit, his oponent smirks and presses his attack

"I expected more from the great Ben Tennyson!"

"Sorry to disapoint!.......I am neither Ben or beaten just yet!"

"Words!"

Maxian seems to prepare the killing blow when he is hit and is pushed away, he is startled but snarls and he lurches forward and tastes dirt as he is flipped by Ken, he glares at him and notices he is in a defensive posture, he growls and tries once more but Ken sidesteps him and before he can turn and try again he receives a kick and loses air, he tries to surprise Ken but he simply grabs the arm and in a quick move he hears a cracking sound followed by intense pain as one of his arms is in an unusual angle

"I see why you wanted to avoid fighting Looma!"

"I will kill you!"

and then he receives two more hits and feels dizzy, and then Ken is behind him and grabs his head

"Give up!"

"NO! I WILL BEAT YOU!!"

Ken shakes his head and he moves his oponent head quickly and a snaping sound is heard and Maxian falls lifeless, the few surviving chimera tryu to run away but are fired upon and soon they are also dead and crowd starts to cheer, Ken looks around and nods, he changes into his human form

"Ben 10! Thank you!"

"I am not..."

"Wait! You ar a redhead!......You are not Ben!"

"I am not!"

"Who?"

"Does it matter?........Today we start to get our world back!.......We can do it together! It will not be easy or quick! But we will!"

"YES!!!!"

and they leave as the citizens celebrate the victory, Matt and Elias guide them towards the scrap heap and look around, or rather Ken is the one who looks around and he finds some galvan tech and he grabs it, and then he changes into his Kynecerian form and inspects the entire heap and soon he is finished and finds all galvan tech as small as it is, and some other alien tech, once he finishes the unit regroups and they return home as Ken separates what he found and prepares to add it to the Omnitrix and hope it repairs itself quicker and completly.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowlege the work from other authors, specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                           A week later there are more chimera on earth, but they are now more attacks on them, despite they trying to suppress any hint of rebellion, but the rumor has spread like wildfire, so while the chimera are busier, the hideouts are packed and with no place for more recriuts, some units are stoped easily, while others are more organized and eficient, so Rook returns and speaks to Ken

"I hope your are happy!"

"Vilgax has not been stoped! I am not happy!"

"This is no time for jokes!"

"I am not joking!"

Rook looks at him and

"So what you want is revenge! Not justice!......You do not care about the lives that have been lost and those that will be lost!"

Ken glares at him and

"We are at war Rook! And despite our best intentions and wishes there will be casualtties!"

"Ben avoided that!"

Ken chuckles

"No Rook!.........You did not face the worst of the worst.............During the Highbreed invasionb there were casualties!..........During the Aggregor case there were casualtties!...........And during Dagon's atempted invasion there were casualtties! One of them Pierce Wheels! He worked with Ben and Gwen!................Your cases were child's play in comparison!...........Specially on the body count!"

"I read about them!"

"But did not lived through them!........It is one thing to read about them..........and another to witness it!"

"Ben never mentioned it!"

Ken stays silent and pondering

"After they rescued me from the xenocites.............I talked to Ben and Gwen, and them to me!............In a way I was their therapist!.............They did not show it!............But it weighed on them!...........And they had come to terms with the price that had to be paid, from others!..............And themselves!"

Rook stays quiet for a few minutes and

"I guess we were not as close as I believed!"

Ken looks at him and chuckles

"There are things you keep to yourself Rook! Ben was like that!"

Rook nods and then Elias talks

"Look we have the chimera on edge! We may drive them out!"

Ken shakes his head

"No Elias!..............They will come with bigger force!...........We must prepare!"

"Way to kill the mood!"

"They are right Thwerp! A rebellion hurts the image of the chimera!...............And the Omnitrix has a big bull's eye!"

"That is what is most concerning!.............If Vilgax gets it!...............The entire universe is doomed!"

Matt looks at Ken

"How advanced are the repair on the Omnitrix?"

Ken raises his wrist and puts it on the table, they all lok at it and see an almost complete Omnitrix

"How did you repair it so much?"

"Like I have mentioned before! It is repairing itself! I provide components so it can repair itself quicker!"

"But now is almost complete!"

"The repairs are increasing exponiantelly!"

"Expectantly?"

Matt rolls his eyes

"Exponantially Bro!....It means the rate increases as it repairs itself!"

Elias nods

"There are still parts missing!"

"They are the most damaged parts!............It will take time anyway!"

"Vilgax may not give us the time!"

"Ken nods and ponders and

"There are many aliens unlocked now!............And the transformations last longer now! I can hold him off!"

"That is what Ben thought he could do!"

Ken glares at Rook and

"Fortunetally Vilgax will not repeat what he did to Ben and Gwen!............Since he was unable to retrieve the Omnitrix he killed Albedo, Dr. Psychobos and Khyber!"

"He may still have the device!"

Ken looks at Rook

"I am pretty sure Azmuth is making the Omnitrix inmune to the device!"

"Nobody knows where Azmuth is!"

"But he know where the Omnitrix is and I am sure he is receiving data! And has made modifications!"

"You have a lot of faith on Azmuth!"

Ken looks at the Omnitrix

"I know he can do it!........He created the Omnitrix after all!.........And he is prepares for every eventuallity!..............Even if sometimes it seems he has none!"

"You can not rely on luck! It may backfire!"

"The reason I returned to earth and this region was to get access to galvan components! And it worked! I am closer to my goals!"

Michelle looks at him with worry while the other ponder what the plans is.

                                               The unit goes on missions and are successful, specially as now Ken has more control on his transformations and can access more aliens, but not the ones he wants, still with what he has he helps a lot and resistance grows, not just on earth, since the chimera army is the one that spreads the news, still he hides his relationship with Michelle as much as he can, but the inmediate unit knows what is going on, with exception of Rook untill one day Elias talks to him

"When are you going to make it oficial Ken?"

he sighs and shakes his head

"I can't!"

"Can't or won't?"

"Come on Bro! You know he can't! Is mostly for the safety of our Sis!"

"You believe that?"

Matt looks at Elias and shakes his head

"Remember what happened to Ben and Gwen and how they did it!"

Elias sullens and nods

"You are protecting her!"

he nods and

"Yes and you also!"

Matt looks at him and

"It's just that I have never seen her so happy!"

"Yeah! She's been happy before! But not as much as now!"

"If things go right.........We should be!        I Hope they buy it!"

"The quicker that you kick Vilgax's ass...........The quicker she will be happy!"

and they nod and leave as Ken looks at the Omnitrix, and takes away the burnt up pieces, once he finishes he puts on the face of the Omnitrix components that seem to liquefy and absorbed by the cracks of the Omnitrix, wich now are smaller and geting smaller each day and he ponders

"I wonder how soon til I get Alien X and Clockwork!"

"You are on the brink of completing your goals Ken Tennyson!....You must choose wisely!"

"You must analyze what you plan to do!"

Ken is startled and turns towards the voices

"Who? Azmuth and...? 

"Profesor Paradox!"

he looks at a midle aged looking man and a galvan

"The time traveler!"

"That is me!"

Ken looks at them and ponders but before he can ask

"What you are planing Ken Tennyson is not wise and very dangerous!"

"I expected Paradox to say that!"

"I will not speak in riddles!............You may worsen things!"

"How much worse can it get?"

"Like I told your sister............Changing a timeline is for inmortals and madmen! She still did and learned how much worse it could be!"

"So you say!"

Azmuth looks at him

"She admited to her friend didn't she?................Why would she lie?"

Ken ponders and

"She still tried and did anyway!"

"Ah! Yes! Gwendolyn!"

"She changed a lot after all!"

"But she did not get what she wanted!"

"Didn't she?"

Paradox chuckles

"To a certain point. But it took years to master a spell that would work!"

"So it did work!"

"She created an alternate timeline!..........Her timeline remained intact!"

"How do you know that Azmuth?"

"He told me!"

"So you know how to change the past!"

"No!..........I usually guide, but do not change the timeline! Those are the rules!"

"I don't believe or acept that!"

"Gwendolyn created alternate timelines! And they stayed with similar events!"

"Did it happen in all of them?"

Paradox looks at him and shakes his head

"Most of them!"

"What happened on those timelines?"

"Spoilers!"

"How will it afect them for us to know?"

"They are 59 timelines away and in Shadows, the changes are still ongoing and the Bard is still working on them!.........Untill they are settled I will tell you!"

Ken huffs in frustration and Azmuth says

"You are forcing the situattion! Vilgax will come to you!"

Ken looks at the Omnitrix and nods

"I have reports that you have gotten the Omnitrix almost fixed!"

"Now that you are here you can fix it quicker and better!"

"I am traveling through time! I can not interfire!"

"What?"

they nod and Ken looks at them anoyed

"A likely story!"

"It is the truth!"

Ken ponders and

"Are you from my past or my future?"

"Does it matter?"

"You can tell me what I must do!"

"Spoilers!"

"So you can't help me!"

"We can warn you and guide you!"

"For all the good it does to me!"

"You will understand!"

"Consider what you want to do!"

and they disapear and Ken ponders on what he was told, meanwhile on a starship Vilgax is traveling towards earth and

"I thought I had killed Tennyson! Doesn't matter! I will do it right this time around!"

and Vilgax smirks feeling sure of his triumph.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                           Ken is inspecting the Omnitrix, he does so with a magnifying glass and looks carefuly and intently and he notices there are gaps, small ones on the face of the Omnitrix, the hourglass symbol is almost formed, but he believes it is not as lit as he remembers it

"It is almost completly repaired! But the information I am receiving.........no Alien X, Clockwork, Brainstorm, Juryrigg and Grey Matter! And no safety protocols yet!............It'll have to do for now!"

and Ken ponders when a person enters

"Ken! Rook is on his way here! He has the latest intel and he is not happy!"

Ken stays quiet and

"Something big is coming sooner than expected!...........We better be ready!"

"Is the Omnitrix finally repaired?"

"Not completly! I can access almost all of the aliens except a few!"

"What about?"

"No Alien X!"

"And what about?"

Ken stays quiet and

"The safety protocols are not to a hundred percent!"

there is an awkwardsilence and

"Maybe you should wait and not go into missions! You are in danger!"

"Like every other Maquis Michelle! Like your brothers!"

tears roll down her cheeks

"They are not looking to die Ken! You are!"

"You think I want to die?"

she nods

"You don't care about surviving! And you want to destroy this timeline!"

Ken walks towards her and embraces her

"I do care Michelle! But you know who I have to face in order to save earth and the universe!"

"I wish I could be like Crazy Girl!"

Ken chuckles

"You are!..............You fight by my side!"

"I worry about you!'

"Like Gwen worried about Ben!"

they stay quiet for a few moments

"I guess I now understand Gwen better!"

they chuckle and stay embraced for a while.

                                              Rook arrives an hour later and he has a grim expression, he is more curt than usual so the reunion starts as quickly as posible, once they are all together Michelle asks

"All right Rook....What's up?"

Rook ponders and sighs

"Vilgax is here! He plans to supervise the anhilittion of earth!"

they all tense and look at each other, Ken is the only one who stays calm

"What can we do?"

"The usual.....Attack installations! Sabotage their equipment!.............But we know that......."

"That it is a trap! He wants to make you come out and finish you and get the Omnitrix!"

they all stay quiet and

"Then Ken must remain behind while the rest of us do our best to slow the chimera!"

they all nod and before they can decide

"No Elias! No one will sacrifice their lives for me!.........I will face Vilgax!"

"No Ken! The Omnitrix is not completly repaired!----------------he chuckles as he sees Ken's expression---------------It is not lit as when Ben used it!"

Ken looks at him

"Perhaps!............But I have to do it!"

there is a tense silence and finally Rook says

"I know!"

and they prepare for what must be done.

                                               Next day on the Belwood station on the entrance to Undertown on the highest level Vilgax looks on, he smirks, he knows what the current wielder will do, his methods are diferent, but the actions are the same, and the motivation should be the same, he wondered who he was, he believed he had all the information on all the Tennysons, but little was known of Gwen's brother, almost like he did not exist, if not for the incident with the xenocites, he could be considered irrelevant or a figment of the imagination, but as a Tennyson he must have a hero complex and since his family was slaughtered in front of him he must be after vengaence, once more he blames his underlings for the deaths of Albedo, Dr. Psychobos and Khyber, although he wonders  if they could improve on their weapon against the Omnitrix, so he hopes that the lack of experience of Ken will help him on defeating and killing him, he confirms his orders and waits; meanwhile the maquis are taking their places, among them there is Ken, he wanted to go in alone and face Vilgax alone, but the others convinced him to infiltrate since Vilgax can not be trusted and he agreed, he hates that they are risking their lives, but if he fails then it will not matter, everybody is in their place, he looks at his side and the woman that is there, , he tried to convince her to go with another group but she refused and is by his side, he hopes that the watchs are really synchronized and when zero hour arrives he sees that they are as all attacks are on time and coordinated, inside the building Vilgax listens as the alarm sounds and the sound of explosions, he grins or the closest he can do that as he gets everything ready to face the upstart terrans, despite expecting the attack the chimera are unable to hold back the maquis, not that it matters, the highers ups know that by failling they are doing mighty Vilgax's wishes, as Michelle's unit manages to enter deep into the chimera headquarters, Ken is on high alert he knows they are walking into a trap and he makes it known

"This is too easy!"

Michelle nods

"Without a doubt! The chimera are not this incompetent!"

Elias looks around

"We are following the route that the chimera want!"

Rook nods

"We knew that it would be like this!"

"Let's not keep them waiting then!"

they all nod and after some minor squirmishses they arrive to where Vilgax is

"We finally meet face to face Tennyson!

Ken glares at him

"We have already met Vilgax!.......This time it will be diferent!"

"it will be the same!"

and he fires at Ken who changes into Diamondhead and raises a shield, Vilgax smirks and then it is his turn to take cover as Ken throws at him daggers of crystal wich are very sharp, he presses a button and blasters start to fire and concentrate their fire on Ken who changes into Chromastone and absorbs the energy and fires it back towards the blasters and also Vilgax who snarls

"I underestimated this Tennyson!.....He is adept with the aliens of tne Omnitrix!.........No matter I know what to do!"

and Vilgax comes out in the open

"Out in the open? What are you up to Vilgax?"

"Enough games! Come and face me Tennyson!"

"Definetetly someting's up!"

still he walks into the open and faces him

"We will fight one on one! Winner take all!"

"I doubt you will keep your word!"

and they start to circle each other looking for an opening, finally Vilgax strikes and Ken changes into Fourarms and blocks him, Vilgax throws punches wich are blocked by Ken and he manages to conect against Vilgax who is surprised since Ken's tetramand form is taller and stronger than Ben's and also he blocks his fists and then he kicks him

"How did you?"

"Ben's tetramand forms were according to his age! You came up as stronger than him because he was ten years old, I am a grown up so I am naturally stronger!..........And I know martial arts!"

"CURSE YOU!!!!!!!!!"

and Ken gets the upper hand soon, but Vilgax manages to push him away and he gets in a defensive posture so when Ken attacks him he sidesteps and Ken feels coldness on his side followed by pain and then there is twist and the pains mutilpies and Ken staggers backwards

"What did you?"

"I have studied the report of your activities! I know the Omnitrix does not protect you!! This attack will give me what I want!"

the others gasp and look at Ken who changes into Diamondhead and pulls out a blade with twists, he tries to regenerate but fails and he changes into Swampfire, to no efect, he looks at Vilgax who laughs

"What kind of blade was that?"

"One that will not allow any of your aliens to heal the cut! And it will remain when you return to your human form! You are finished!"

Ken snarls and then he changes into Lodestar and he creatres a giant magnetic field and soon the weapons start to explode

"What are you?"

"Leveling the field Vilgax! Leveling it!"

"NO!"

and he tries to call his ship but Ken changes into Gravattack and soon he hears screams and alarms, he glares back at Ken

"I will destroy every ship and then you Vilgax! I will stop you permanently!"

"You have better control of that alien than your cousin! You will......"

he then pushes a button on his suit and a device apears from the wall

 "What is that?"

Rook pales

"It is the Anhilargh! It will destroy the universe in an instant!"

"And none of you can stop me!....If I can not rule the universe I will destroy it! My anti-gravity belt will only protect me for a few minutes but enough time to activate it!"

Ken tries to reach him but feels dizzy and then he hears

"<Access to all aliens available now!>"

Ken inmediatly touches it and changes into his human form and with great effort he looks for the alien he wants and in a green flash Alien X apears, Vilgax smirks but moves quickly towards the Anhilargh while Alien X stays still.

                                              Ken feels he is traveling through space and he then sees two giant heads, one male and the other female and remembers what Ben had told him about this alien as he hears

"Look Belicus! Ken Tennyson has joined us!"

"Hurmph! He seems more impatient than the others!"

"Others?..........Never mind! I need the powers of a celestialsappiens!"

"You are in a hurry!"

"We need to discuss this!"

Ken chuckles

"The universe is about to be destroyed! And I am dying! I don't have long! We need to do something!"

"There are other matters to judge!"

"Hey Batman! I don't have time!"

"Why call me that?"

"You talk and sound like Kevin Conroy! That is why! You took his voice!"

"Yes! I am vengeance!.....I am the night!.........I am BATMAN!!!..........And he will live forever in my voice!"

"Unless you can do that with every other being you will stop Vilgax!"

"The problem he is inside the field of the Anhilargh so we can not stop him!"

"No! There must be something we can do!"

"Redirect the efect to another place!"

"Let's do that!"

"But you will destroy another universe! They are inocent!"

"Is that the only thing we can do?"

"Yes!"

and Ken feels frustrated and an idea comes to him

"Can we use the Anhilargh's efect to specific targets?"

Serena and Belicus look at each other and

"What is your idea?"

and Ken explains his plan.

                                               On the three dimensional world Vigax gets closer to the box and says thriumphally

"I win!"

and as he is about to push the button

"Motion aproved! Executing!"

and he raises his hand and it apears there is a circle growing from his hand and Vilgax pushes the button and there is a white flash and Vilgax disapears, also the chimera soldiers, their weapons, ships and equipment, they are all surprised as they look around and Rook uses his comunicator and then says

"The chimera forces have disapeared all over known space! I do not understand!"

and then they hear as the Omnitrix counts down and in a red flash Ken apears, he looks pale and he falls

"KEN!!!!"

and they rush towards him, Matt looks desperatly as he tries to stop the bleeding, Michelle is crying and Elias says

"Ken hang on! A medic will come and we'll take you to a hospital!"

"It will not be fast enough!"

Rook looks at him

"What did you do?"

Ken nods and

 "I could not stop the efect of the Anhilargh!..........So I directed it to specific targets! Vilgax! His cloning facilities! Troops! Ships! Weapons! Equipment!"

"You exterminated the chimera?"

"No!..........Only the weapons! The world and the chimera live!..........They simply can not wage war! Not for a long time anyway!"

"Ingenious!"

Ken nods and he gets paler

"Ken! Don't leave me!"

"I am sorry Michelle! I regret failling you!.........And not saving them!..........Sorry.......Mom? Dad? Gwen? Ben? Grandpa?******"

and Ken breathes his last as Michelle cries and the others sullen,

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characthers, I also like to acknowledge the work from other authors specially Shadows59, Ericobard, ByteHoarder and Nate-Mihael from whom I take inspiration.

                                           A decade has passed since the last battle against the chimera, although there was some trepadition at the vaccum of power left after the desintegration of Vilgax and his forces, nothing major had happened, so there had been a peacefull time on the galaxy and others, many returned to continue or reconstruct their lives, so after the tenth celebration  honoring the unit that had faced Vilgax on that day, Michelle is on her house talking with two visitors

"So you earthlings like to celebrate big do you not?"

before Michelle can answer

"Of course Rook! It was from here that Vilgax was totally defeated! The celebration should be very big!"

Michelle chuckles

"Elias is right Rook! It was from this point that everything changed.......For the better!"

Rook nods

"I understand!.......It is just without the chimera the problem was who could fend off the incurseans, Highbreed and the rest!"

MIchelle nods and

"If one good thing came about the chimera invasion was that it was universal and had left the other powers weak so nobody had the upper hand on the others, and some were tired of war, and other just went back to old alliances!"

"Well sis without Matt here I have to say the solution of killing the patient to cure the disease is not a good one!"

they all chuckle and nod

"Speaking of Matt....Where is he?"

Michelle smiles and

"Our little brother the doctor is at work!..........He studied hard and went to college, and he graduated and with all his experience on the battlefield he knew what to do and in practices he excelled and right now he is the Intensive Care Unit chief, he helps in the EU from time to time and somehow finds time to learn surgery!"

"Overachiever!"

Michelle glarees at Elias and smirks at the same time as she shakes his head

"So Matt is what he wanted to be then?"

"Yes!"

Rook nods

"What about you Elias?"

"Major Hallan if you don't mind."

"So you remained in the military!"

"Yeah!"

Michelle shakes her head

"I wish you weren't!"

Elias chuckles

"The chimera invasion changed that you know!.............I learned I liked being a soldier!"

"I just hope Jeanette doesn't leave you!"

Elias shakes his head

"She won't! She understands why I do this!"

"I just hope you are right!"

"For the time being most plumbers will be staying on their home planets and sectors!"

Michelle frows

"Plumbers?----------------------she turns towards her brother--------------------You joined the Plumbers?"

Elias chuckles nervouslly

"Yes!.........I planed to tell you once I could talk to you alone!.............But I was able to work alongside many aliens and do it well so I was proposed to join!"

"What will Jeanette say?"

"She is happy!..........I told her inmediatly!............She is also an army brat! She gets it!"

Michelle roll her eyes

"And also a redhead!"

"Hey I wasn't looking for a redhead! I simply got lucky!"

"Yes you did!"

"Do not worry Michelle! It is peaceful right now! And it will be so for some time!"

"With you as Magistratus it should be Rook!"

"I will not be Magistratus! Maybe ViceMagistratus! I will be second in comand to the Magistrata!"

"It is the first time something like this has happened on the Plumbers right?"

"Yes!.........I really do not know what my functions will be!"

"From what I have heard.....the Magistrata kept the plumbers organized and has organized them to help with the reconstruction of the worlds and wants continuity!............You are that plumber Rook! She will train you to do the job! And you will do a very good job!"

"Thanks Elias!"

Michelle looks at her brother

"You have grown little brother!...........You will do a very good job!"

and they continue talking untill finally

"I must leave now! I have to go to headquarters and from there to Central Command! And start in my new postion!"

"Good luck Rook!"

"You'll do a good job!"

"Thank you!...........I do not know when I will be able to visit earth!"

Elias chuckles

"At the very least on the next aniversary!"

Rook nods

"Yes Of course!"

and he leaves

"Well sis I have to go too! My girl is waiting for me!"

"You better treat her well little brother!"

"I will!"

and he leaves and Michelle smiles as she goes to the study.

                                            Michelle is writing, she has writen tales of the maquis, anecdotes and more while geting history correct, she does it so people remember what happened and the price that had to be paid, and from the corner of her eye she sees a blue streak and a red flash

"You are late!"

"No I'm not!"

"You didn't say goodbye to Rook Blonko!"

"I did! Before he arrived to headquarters to board his transport to Centra Command!"

she chuckles and shakes her head

"I though it was peaceful!"

"Minor crimes endure Michelle! Also a lot of rescue work!"

she sighs

"Of course! Ken 10,000 can not stop helping people!"

Ken chuckles

"Being a hero is not just about busting bad guys heads you know!"

she embraces him and kisses him

"I know! And I wouldn't want it any other way!"

"Well dying sure helped you make more understanding!"

Michelle glares at him

"Not funny! I really thought you had died! Specially when you started to mention your family! Like you were seeing them!"

"I was! I did!"

Michelle looks at him and

"You have never talked about your experience Ken!...........What happened?"

Ken looks at her sighs and nods

"As cliché as it sounds I saw a white light and in the distance I saw my parents, my sister, grandpa and cousin Ben............"

Ken feels light and energized as he focuses on the people he is seeing, and holding back tears he starts to hug them

"MOM! DAD! GWEN! GRANDPA!.....I missed you!"

"We missed you too Ken! Me most of all!"

"Now Lilly! We all missed him!"

"Thanks dad!"

"You have been busy!"

"Yeah!"

"You have done great Kiddo!"

"It took me a long time grandpa!"

"It was an invasion big brother!.......Considering you did it in short time!"

Ken hugs his sister

"I just wish you had been with me sis! All of you!"

Carl and Sandra nod, along with Gordon, Betty Jean, Vera, Joel, Camille and Lucy

"You have done a lot on your own Ken! No one could have done better!"

Ken nods

"We'll talk about it for eternity!"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Ken is shocked and he turns towards the voice he recognizes as Ben's and he observes he is frowing and has his arms crossed

"What are you talking about? I bought it! I just hope we all go to a nice place!"

Ben glares at him

"What makes you think you can come?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

"You can't come yet Ken! You still have things to do!"

"What?...Vilgax is gone! It is over!"

Ben shakes his head

"There is reconstruction now! And the forging of alliances to keep the peace!"

"Another can do that!"

"You are now the Wielder! You are a symbol! And you defeated Vilgax! You are needed to guide cuz!"

"It should be you!"

Ben shakes his head

"It is you Ken! No one else!"

"But!..."

"He is right son! It is you!"

"You can do it bro!"

"Kiddo you will!"

"So we say all!"

"But you are the ones who know! Any of you could do better!"

Vera looks at him

"Ken you sister and cousin looked up to you! They did what they did to be like you! You can easily do this!"

"I don't know!"

"Kenneth!"

":Yes mom?"

"Remember the rules!"

"The rules?"

"You can not go out till you finish your homework!"

Ken looks at her and nods

"Yes mom!"

Natalie smiles and seems to hold back tears

"Go back Ken! You still have things to do! And I like her! The two of you can be very happy!"

"Mom!"

""You must also be happy son! Be happy!"

Ken nods and he hears

"Don't doubt yourself Ken! Trust yourself! You can do this!"

"I will Ben! I will!"

and then he starts to shake and double in pain, Ben says

"It's starting! You are going back Ken!.........We'll see you in the future Ken!"

and Ken starts to breathe fast.

"...............................................and then I fell like I was falling from a high altitude!..........I don't know what happened during the time I was unconcious!"

Michelle nods and

"You were laying on the floor and I was crying on your body while the others looked helplessly................"

the only sounds that are heard are Michelle's sobs, Rook aproaches her to separate her from Ken's body when they hear

"<Omnitrix repairs completed! Updating programs!..................Alert! Wielder has stoped breathing! Cardiac acivity has also stoped!...........Implementing life preservation program for wielder!.....................Must protect brain from hipoxia!............Incrementing body's ability to absorb oxygen through skin a 10,000% percent! Stop blodd from coagulating!.................Searching for injuries!.............Found many!.............Repairing all! More importantly with the most incompatible with life!......................................................................Keep blodd circulating!...................................................................Healing at 90%...................................95%..................................98%........99%....................................100%...............................Reanimating cardiac activity!.....Now!>"

and Ken's body bolts and jerks and he starts coughing

"Koff!....Koff!......What happened?"

"You were hut have you forgotten?"

"No!........I just don't feel pain anymore!"

Michelle looks at him and frows

"Your scars are gone!"

"What?"

"They're gone! How?"

"The Omnitrix does not allow its Wielder to die! And also heals every wound!"

"Is that why Ben was so fearless?"

"No!.......He figured it out some time later! And he could get killed if the Omnitrix was damaged or destroyed! Like it happened!"

Ken looks at the Omnitrix and nods

"I know!............And I will need it for what's next!"

"Next?"

Ken nods as he gets up

"We have a lot to repair now! And create alliances!--------------------and looking at Michelle he holds her hand-----------------------And I want you by my side!"

"YES!"

and they kiss as the others smile.

"...................................................and after that we went out and told everyone what happened!"

"I remember that!..........And all the cheering!"

"It was the greatest triumph!.............And you helped bring in this age of peace!"

"We all did!"

Michelle smiles and then chuckles Ken frows

"Sorry I was just remembering when you shaved your beard! You didn't look bad but........You look better with it!"

he chuckles

"I know!"

and as they are about to kiss two kids run in almost topple them

"MOM!! DAD!!!!"

"Well! Well! The Tornado Twins!"

"Daaaaad!"

Michelle chuckles and looks at them

"Gwen! Ben! What have we told you?"

"No running in the house!"

Ken smiles as he watches his son who has tan skin and black hair with green eyes, and his daughter less tan and a redhead, eyes like his brother

"Have you done your chores?"

"Aw man!"

"Ben!"

"I already have dad!"

"Good! Also your homework!"

Ben sighs and nods, while his sister smirks wich disapears when she hears

"I know you have done your chores and homework Gwen,,,,,,,,,,But you better not have sabotaged your brother's homework!"

"I have not....!"

"Gwen!"

"Fine!"

"If you do it one more time you will no longer go to karate classes!"

"But he sabotages me!"

"He used to!.......but now knows that if he does that he will not get an Omnitrix!..........And you better not get any ideas!"

"Oh! Great! I'll have to take care of him while he gets a big head!"

"I won't need your help!"

"Yes you will! Doofus!"

"I won't Dweeb!"

"That's enough both of you!"

Gwen scowls and when her parents are not looking at her she sticks her tongue towards her brother who does the same towards her, and Ken and Michelle look at each since they have seen them from the corner of their eyes and smile

"Go get ready for dinner!"

"Yes mom!"

and they leave the room

"Just like I remember!"

"Are they really like their namesakes?"

"You better believe it!"

she shakes her head

"I shoul be worried and angry and yet I am not!...........Will she be able to use magic?"

Ken nods

"I can't explain it! But I believe she has the spark!.........I sense it!"

"Has Profesor Paradox confirmed it or denied it?"

"No! You know he witholds future information!"

she nods and they hug

"Everything will be all right!"

"I know! We have our happy ending!"

and they kiss as they look to their children and know they are the hope for the future.

FINIS