A few days had passed since taking Keira home and killing the abusive asshole that was her step-dad.
As Ben had predicted, the following day after the death of the asshole, a DI showed up and Keira's house. It was just part of the normal routine for an investigation, because the death was so obviously a suicide based on CCTV footage and testimonials. So, Ben's cover story wasn't all that necessary, but it did provide a good reason.
Still, Ben and the other two stuck around just incase something unexpected happened.
Ben spent 3 days doing his workout mission and some questionable things out of his family's sights. Truthfully, his and Max's relationship had been somewhat strained from what he had done, not that there was much of a relationship to begin with, given how little Max was in his or Gwen's life. Anyways, apparently, killing aliens was tolerable, but humans isn't okay in Max's book. The hypocrisy in this aggravated Ben to no end.
To occupy himself, Ben had decided to go take out some gangs and criminal organisations, stealing money, weapons and drugs in the process. The greatest part was that he would constantly set the scene to look like it was gang conflict, this got him some decent exp. He even hacked into the bosses bank accounts and drained whatever money was in them, making it untraceable and donating most of it to charities. Most of the money was in cash and he had no bank account, so it wasn't a big deal.
In regards to Gwen and Keira, they had become good friends. They had been getting to know each other more and spent most of their time with one another. They had both been worrying about Ben, with how he had been disappearing and all that.
As for Max, he had spent most of his time talking with Keira's mother, aka Laura Levin. Keira had asked if she could join the trip and after discussing it, both Max and Laura had agreed.
When Ben discovered this, he was glad, but it was also gave him an idea. After coming back from another gang destruction, he decided to go to Laura with a proposition, which has just started.
Laura - "What did you want to talk about?"
Ben - "I was wondering if you'd be interested in moving to Bellwood? If you did, it would mean that Keira could see us even after summer break."
Laura - "That's a lovely idea, but I don't think I could afford to do that."
Ben - "And if money isn't an issue?"
Laura - "... Then I would do it."
Ben nodded and picked up a case that he had with him, put it in front of her and opened it. Laura's eyes widened as she saw the contents.
Ben - "There's 20,000 dollars. That should help."
Laura looked back and forth between him and the money with shock.
Laura - "Where did you get this."
Ben - "It's not important, just take it. You can look for a place to live while we are on our trip."
He then stood up and left. Without a doubt, doing this kind of stuff will raise suspicion, but he was kind of tired of pretending to be so childish all the time. When there are events like this, the ones that need his maturity and require him to kill, he will become his truest self.
The rest of the time, he will continue the act.
- The next day -
Today was the day they would all set off. Right now, Keira was hugging her mother and saying goodbye. When she was done, she picked up her bag and ran into the RV.
Keira - "Let's go!"
Max - "Hahaha, I see you're excited. Take a seat and we'll be on our way."
Keira - "Okay."
She put her bag at the back and went over to the table, taking a seat beside Gwen.
For some unknown reason, Max was taking the them to New Orleans. Why? Who the fuck knows... It's a 20 hour trip give or take, so they will be stopping at Kentucky on the way.
Because he had nothing better to do, Ben decided to spend his time drawing and talking with the girls.
- 10 Hours later -
They had arrived at a nice town in Kentucky and because Max saw a poster for a circus, they were now going to their seat after buying tickets.
Ben - 'I guess things are a bit off track, but it's not too bad.'
Not long after sitting down, the show started and a creepy ass clown came out with a laugh.
Zombozo - "He-He-Heya folks! Are ya ready to laugh?"
The crowd shouted in excitement as Zombozo below with a big smile. This included Max and Gwen.
Ben rolled his eyes and scoffed, thinking about how they are playing into Zombozo hands. There was only one other person that wasn't laughing.
Ben - "What's up, Keira?"
Keira was sitting with her head resting on her hand and sneering at the show below.
Keira - "I just don't like circuses."
Ben - "I'm guessing it's because people are laughing at "freaks"."
He lifted his hands and did air quotes.
Keira - "Yeah..."
Ben - "Do you want to leave?"
She nodded in response, so he stood up and turned to Max.
Ben - "Grandpa, Keira isn't comfortable here, so we're gonna wait outside."
Max held his stomach from laughter as he wiped tears from the corner of his eyes.
Max - "Okay, Ben. Stay safe."
He then went straight back to laughing.
Ben shrugged and started walking away, with Keira following behind. He went and bought them some drinks and snacks, then they just sat down and talked until they ran out of things to talk about.
With nothing else to do, he decided to check his missions.
[Missions:
1. Goddamn Clowns - Do you really need an explanation? Just beat up the clown.
Reward - 300SP, Book of Illusion Magic
Failure - 1 week of forced nightmares
2. Consequences - You thought everything was easy? Hah! You wish!
Reward - Engineering Lv-5
Failure - 24 hour ban on using the Omnitrix]
Ben - 'Did the rewards get worse since I reach level 10? And the fuck is with that second mission? It tells me nothing...'
Gabriel - "Well, you got your Anodite form, so you don't need to work so hard anymore. And I have no idea what that is about."
Ben - 'You reeeally don't know?'
Gabriel - "I really don't know."
Ben - 'Hmm... If you say so.'
Both of the mission gave good rewards and the consequences were negligible, so he took both missions, figuring that he would figure out the second as he goes.
Coincidentally, the moment he took the mission, three of the circus freaks appeared and started causing trouble. Robbing jewellery stores and stuff.
Ben sighed and started going through the Omnitrix.
Ben - "Keira, go take cover for a moment. I'll take care of them."
Keira - "What!? No way! I'm gonna fight too."
With a red flash, Ben had transformed into Big Chill.
Big Chill - "Who said there was going to be a fight?"
Spreading his wings and beating them, he was raised off the ground and flew over to a big, muscular man with a thumbnail on his head, aka Thumbskull. He had just pulled an ATM out of a wall as Ben hovered over his shoulder.
Big Chill - "Hey now. That's not very cool of you."
A cold wind escaped from his mouth as he spoke.
Thumbskull turned and swung his fist at Ben in surprise. Ben went intangible and let the fist pass through him, freezing it as it continued forward and smashed into the ground.
Thumbskull shouted out in pain as the ice on his fist shattered.
Becoming tangible again, Ben grabbed hold of Thumbskull and swung him around, then threw him at a woman who was manipulating her hair and was about attack him from behind.
The woman, Frightwig, tried to catch Thumbskull, but wasn't prepared for the weight of his body and ended up getting hit by him, wrapping them both in her hair.
While the two of them were on the ground, entangled in Frightwigs hair, Ben decided to deal with the third freak. Acid Breath, an ugly fellow with a rotten mouth.
Acid Breath did what his name implies, he shot a blast of his acidic breath towards Ben. In response to the disgusting attack, Ben used his own arctic wind like breath attack and sent Acid Breath's attack back at him, along with his own.
Unable to handle his own breath, Acid Breath recoiled in disgust and held his face. He was then hit by Ben's attack and got frozen in place like a statue.
Ben wrapped his wings around himself and started to walk towards Keira.
Big Chill - "See? No fight at all-"
*Boom*
Ben was cut short when something big and heavy impacted the ground behind. He turned around to see what happened and saw a large metallic pod thing. The metal contraption start shifting, opening up and showing a dozen red lights within.
The red lights started to move and six drones flew out, then the pod started shifting again and turned into one of the large drones from the start of the summer.
Big Chill - "These things again? Whatever, it is barely a workout."
As he said that, he heard something hurling through the air, so he looked up and saw three object plummeting to the ground.
*Boom 3x*
The objects were more pods, which started shifting like the previous pod, releasing 18 more flying drones and then turning into large drones themselves.
Big Chill - "I'm just gonna stop talking..."
Ben started walking towards the drones. Upon identifying their targets, the drones aimed their weapons at him.
One of the drones started shooting, which set off a chain reaction where the rest started to shoot as well. Becoming intangible again, ignoring the laser blasts as he continued walking.
Seeing that their shots were not hitting, the drones stopped firing. One of the large drones raised its arm and fired a missile at him instead.
Big Chill - 'What the hell is that supposed to do?'
The missile was about to pass right through him, but that was when his [Danger Sense] went off, confusing him as the missile didn't seem dangerous.
Ben quickly raised his guard, looking for the source of the danger as the missile went through him and hit the ground, exploding on impact.
When the missile exploded, rather than a typical explosion, there was thick slime. The slime burst out and covered Ben, disregarding and disabling his intangibility.
Ben stopped, waving his arms up and down, trying to get the slime off, but failing. He tried to freeze the slime, but even that didn't work.
Big Chill - "Ack! This is gross. What is this stuff?"
Unfortunately, instead of an answer, he received a blast to his chest, sending him flying into a brick wall and breaking it, lying there for a moment.
Big Chill - "Yup, that was my fault."
Breathing out, the temperature started to rapidly drop as frost gathered on the windows around in the area, while he got to his feet.
Ben glared at the drones and flexed his claws, before going into a sprint. He jumped and slashed a flying drone, tearing straight through it, then breathing out an ice beam and sweeping through a portion of the drones.
The beam hit three more flying drones and one of the large drones. The flying drones became frozen chunks that fell from the air and shattered of the ground, while the large drone only got two legs frozen, making it incapable of moving, but still operable.
Five of the flying drones charged towards Ben and tried to ram into him. In response, Ben formed his hands into fists and covered both of them in an icy mist.
Punching one of the drones with a right hook, the metallic plates dented inwards and ice formed at the point of impact. Then, moving his right foot forward and forming a spearhand with his left hand, driving it up through the bottom of a second drone.
Throwing the drone away, he took a step with his left foot and used it to pivot, spin kicking one drone into another, then grabbing hold of a turret on the last one to swing it around and throwing at the frozen large drone, knocking it on to its back and destroying the smaller drone.
Jumping into the air above the drones and hovering over them. He spread his wings and flapped them once, shooting down ice spears at the drones, making them back away.
Ben folded his wings and dived down, into the middle of the three large drones, releasing a blast of ice as he hit the ground. Ice spread across the ground and up the legs of the large drones.
Launching at the closest drone, he tore into its body with his claws and ripped out the power core. Dropping down, he cut through an ice covered leg and picked it up, spearing it into the head of another, leaving only one large drone remaining.
He face the last large drone, shooting an ice beam and freezing it solid, assuming it was down for the count. Having taken out the only recognised threat, Ben decided to dispatch the rest of the flying drones and did so easily.
When he was done with the nine remaining drones, he sat down on one of the destroyed drones. He tapped the Omnitrix and reverted his transformation.
Ben - "Phew. That was a little bit of a workout I guess."
Ben took a quick look around at the destroyed and noticed that the circus freaks had escaped at some point.
Ben - "*Sigh* I'll go get them in a moment."
While Ben took a breather, the large drone that had been frozen, started to rapidly thaw out. The upper body was quickly thawed out and its blaster started to light up.
[Danger Sense] activated at a threat behind him, so Ben jumped forward and rolled, just in time to avoid being shot. He just turned around and was going to transform again, but he saw Keira right behind the drone.
Ben's eyes widened in worry.
Ben - "Keira, no! Get away from it!"
Keira ignored Ben and jumped on to the side side of the drone, placing her hands on the metal plate and using her power to absorb its energy.
She quickly drained all the power from the drone.
Keira - "See? Nothing happened. I can take care of myself-AAHHHHHH!"
As if to prove herself wrong, Keira started screaming in pain. From where her hands were connected to the drone, electricity surged out and her skin started changing into the same material as the drone.
The change started to run up her arms, changing her whole body, with wires emerging from the drone and wrapping around her. As that happened, her eyes turned completely red and looked like the drones. The wires also began to crawl across the ground and towards the other drone.
Seeing this, Ben was alarmed, so he ran towards the other three large drones and tapped them, placing them in his inventory. He then ran for the flying drones and managed to get 13 of them.
Keira and the drones merged together, forming a 50ft metal beast, with a gun for its right arm and sharp claws on its left hand. Multiple energy cells were placed on its body.
Ben looked up at the robot towering over him.
Ben - "Well, shit..."
The robot aimed its gun arm at Ben and the muzzle started to glow. In an attempt to not get a hole in his chest, Ben ran towards an ally between two buildings.
Barely avoiding a shot, he dived into the alley with a roll and stood with his back to the wall. Bringing the Omnitrix infront of him, he started quickly scrolling through, for the only alien that could deal with this. Upgrade.
Finding the Galvanic Mechamorph icon, he pressed down the dial and transformed.
Ben stood there for a moment, thinking that he wouldn't have such an easy time taking the robot down, so he jumped on to the roof of the building. Putting his hand out, he started bringing out some drones and absorbed them into himself.
Ben absorbed a large drone, as he thought it was needed and then jumped from the building, growing to the same size as his opponent. and kicking the robot, knocking it back. (Like Malware, but less top-heavy.)
Landing on the ground, Ben formed his left arm into a blade and stood ready to fight.
The robot had staggered a little, but it soon found its barings and aimed its gun at Ben, firing three shots at him. In response, Ben put his other arm forward and formed a shield, charging through the blasts and swinging the shield at the gun, knocking it up.
Deforming the shield, Ben swung his blade at the robots legs hoping to cut its legs off. And while he managed to take off its right leg, he failed to take the other, because he was smacked with the gun barrel and sent into a nearby building.
Climbing up from the destroyed building, Ben was hit by multiple blasts and sent through the rest of the building, completely demolishing it.
Lying on the ground, hold his hand to his scorched chest, Ben's eye scrunched in annoyance. He got to his feet and glared at the robot. His eye started to glow, then a bright beam was fired out of it, hitting the robot and pushing it off the ground backwards.
When the beam stopped, the robot fell to the ground and carved through it partially. As soon as he stopped the beam, Ben charged over to the downed robot.
The robot was about to raise its gun, but Ben had arrived and stomped on the barrel, sending it back to the ground. He then stabbed through the shoulder and disconnected the whole arm, absorbing it into his own body.
Turning his left arm back into a hand, he grabbed hold of the robots head and started to integrate into it. It tried to swipe at him with its remaining hand, but he blocked with his free hand. Soon, his body completely covered the robot and merged with it, getting to the core, or rather Keira.
Upon reaching Keira and making contact with her, Ben's mind was suddenly sucked into a large, weird coloured expanse. Looking around, he saw Keira sitting, with tears on her face and legs tucked into her chest, so he ran over to her and grabbed hold of her.
Upgrade - "Keira! Are you okay!?"
Keira looked up at him and sniffled.
Keira - "*Sniff* I'm sorry, Ben, I just wanted to help..."
Ben - "It's fine. You can help, you just need to learn to use your power properly first. Now, come on, let's get out of here."
Keira nodded in response.
Ben tried to unmerge, but the space behind him was distorted and a booming voice rang out.
??? - "Listen to every word. Be afraid..."
Ben turned around and saw a large humanoid creature with a face resembling that of an octopus. He has tentacles dangling in the front of his face, like a beard. His skin is pale-green with yellowish spots on his face and tentacles. He doesn't have a nose or visible ears and he has red eyes. Ben recognised this person as Vilgax.(WIKI)
Vilgax - "You can not run. You can not hide from me. I will find you and when i do-"
Upgrade - "Will. You. Shut. Up. Why don't you go mate with a female and die, you undercooked calamari."
Ben started to completely ignore Vilgax and just separated from Keira, pulling all the drone parts off of her and putting them into his inventory.
Ben shrunk his body down to his usual Upgrade size. Carrying Keira, who was unconscious, he looked around at the destruction that was caused by his fight.
Upgrade - "Honestly... Not as bad as I thought it would be."
He then made his way to the Rustbucket and got inside, where he finally tapped the Omnitrix and undid his transformation.
Ben quickly carried Keira over to the bed area, placed her down and then ran out of the RV to go get Max and Gwen
Ben - 'I'm shocked that no one came to see the battle.'
Arriving at where the circus was, he quickly went to where they were sitting and found Max. And only Max.
This of course pissed off Ben as he spoke through gritted teeth.
Ben - "Max... Where. Is. Gwen!?"
Max spoke with lifeless laughs.
Max - "Haha... For the life of me... Hah... I can't remember..." (A/N: I don't remember the dialogue. Sorry.)
Ben - 'For fuck's sake.'
In anger, Ben used the Omnitrix and turned into XLR8, picked up Max and ran him to the RV, dumping him on the ground.
XLR8 - "Get yourself together. I'm going to get Gwen."
Closing his visor, he sped off all around the town in search of Gwen and when he didn't find her, he followed the roads out of town instead. It wasn't long before he found a van making its way opposite of the town.
Quickly checked the driver, he saw Zombozo. Ben took this as confirmation that this was where Gwen would be, so he went to the back of the van and opened the back doors, showing Gwen and some other people.
Picking Gwen up, Ben prioritised getting her out first and putting her somewhere safe, only then did he go for the others. When he had saved everyone, he went back and killed the circus freaks, along with Zombozo.
With that dealt with and the van about to go off a cliff, Ben zoomed back to Gwen, grabbed her and made his way back to the RV.
Some alerts went off while he was running, so he gave them a brief look over.
[180xp for 18 Basic Drones, 120xp for 4 Large Drones, 300xp for Mega Drone, 150xp for 3 Circus Freaks, 100xp for Zombozo - received]
[Missions Complete - Book of Illusion Magic and Engineering Lv-5 Received]
XLR8 - 'Thanks, Gabriel.'
Gabriel - "No problem."
Dismissing the notifications, Ben continued on his way at steady pace.
...
When he arrived back at the RV, Ben entered inside, ignoring Max sitting at the table and putting Gwen in her bed, before going back outside.
Standing outside, he angrily slammed his hand into the side of the RV, denting it.
Gabriel - "Why are you so angry?"
With genuine confusion, Gabriel asked something that had been playing on her mind. She couldn't understand why he was angry, even though everything went well in the end.
Ben - 'I almost lost them! I underestimated the dangers and I hate that! I've always hated it...'
Gabriel - "But you didn't lose them. You shouldn't dwell on it and instead, you should make sure it doesn't happen again... Or at least teach them to defend themselves."
Ben didn't answer for quite awhile, simply standing with his eyes closed and taking deep breaths. He release one last deep breath and thought.
Ben - '... I'm going to bed.'
Turning around, he went back inside. Getting a blanket, he went to the front passenger seat and went to sleep.
- The next day -
When he woke up, Ben discovered that they were on the move. Looking to his left, he saw Max, tiredly driving.
Ben - "Grandpa, how long have you been driving for?"
Max didn't take his eyes off the road and answered.
Max - "Just a couple of hours."
Ben - "You should pull over and get some sleep, you look like you need it."
Max - "... I'll be fine."
Ben remained silent and stared at Max for a moment, before giving up and looking outside.
An uncomfortable silence ensued between them for quite awhile, until Max let out a sigh and smoke quietly to avoid waking the girls.
Max - "*Sigh* Look, Ben, we need to talk about this..."
Without looking at him, Ben nonchalantly replied.
Ben - "About what?"
Max - "About your behaviour! You can't keep killing people!"
Pressing down on the brake and stopping the RV, Max hit the steering wheel and looked at his Grandson. Ben simply turned his head and met the gaze coldly.
Ben - "I don't see a problem. Aliens, an abuser, kidnappers, murders and thieves. For every one I get rid of, several others have been avenged and many more are saved from their future actions."
Max - "That doesn't make it right. They are living beings, you don't get to decide who lives and who doesn't."
Ben - "*Scoff* Do you see the hypocrisy of what you're saying? You were a soldier, you can't tell me that you have never killed anyone in battle or out of it."
Max - "Yes, I was a soldier, you are not. You can't be doing this."
Ben - "Really? The only difference between us, is that you were paid. A soldier is a glorified mercenary, they are told where to shoot and they do it. All I'm doing is protecting my family. Wouldn't you do the same?"
Max - "..."
Remaining silent, Max watched the road.
Ben - "Look, I won't kill everyone, but I will take out the ones I should."
Getting out of his seat, Ben looked at Max one last time.
Ben - "I won't let human morality weaken me, especially when I'm part alien. I'm going to make breakfast now."
Walking away, Max was left sitting alone as he rested his head on the steering wheel.
Max - 'That boy...'
...
Gwen and Keira had woke up during the conversation between the other two. They didn't understand much, other than the fact that Ben had done something wrong.
When breakfast was done, they both got up and ate at the table with Ben, while Max continued driving. Despite saying it was only a couple of hours since he started, it had actually been the entire night and they were close to their destination.
Once they arrived at their destination, New Orleans, Max got something to eat and lay down for a nap before they would go look around.
[Status -
Name - Ben
Lv - 12 (30/1200)
Title - Wielder of the Omnitrix
State - Healthy MP - 2100
STR - 34
END - 35
AGI - 34
CHA - 32
INT - 42
LUK - 666
AP - 37 SP - 970,750
Primary Skills: CQC Lv-5, Marksmanship Lv-5, Intimidation Lv-3, Danger Sense Lv-3, Sneak Lv-2, Mana Manipulation Lv-1
Secondary Skills: Drawing Lv-3, Math Lv-3, Writing Lv-3, Running Lv-5, Driving Lv-4, Engineering Lv-5, Cooking Lv-3, Pain Tolerance Lv-8, Bioengineering Lv-5, Programming Lv-5, Torture Lv-1, Acting Lv-2
Unique Skill: Wrath, Complete Language Comprehension, Eidetic Memory, Analyse, Night Vision]
(5 Recoveries Stored)