A Reflection

by Wolfal_E_Hinsley

Summary:

While chasing after Ben 10 with Eon, Albedo finds himself caught in an explosion that sends him and Ben flying across multiverses. Trapped together in a universe full of heroes, the look alikes must set aside their differences and work together if they ever want to get home.

Or, I wanted to give Albedo a redemption arc because I thought he deserved better... and somehow I wound up writing a Crossover.

(Updates every Saturday depending on author's schedule)

Chapter 1: The Unfortunate Destruction of Store 23.

It was a bargain he couldn’t say no to.

Helping in catching Ben Tennyson in exchange for being aged back up, freed from Galvan Prime, and another shot at getting his hands on the Omnitrix. Then again that’s all it seemed to be for him these days. The next best convict offering up the next best bargain. It was getting tiresome and even mind numbing. He didn’t have much choice. He couldn’t stay human. It was practically the death sentence for him.

So here he was again, chasing after Tennyson. Albedo had taken extra care to shut down the boy’s comms so that Rook Blonko couldn’t come barreling to Tennyson’s rescue. Eon hired Albedo to corner him. To keep him from transforming and detain him long enough without Paradox showing up so that Eon could step in and take Ben Prime himself at long last. In exchange, a moment with the Omnitrix, and he’d be right back to his old self again. Whatever happened to Ben or the timeline next was none of Albedo’s concern as long as he stayed alive and was a Galvan again and Ben and Azmuth were out of his hair.

Forcing the watch into a time out and shutting the comms down without alerting Tennyson had been tricky, but Albedo managed it. Now, with the stun gun in hand and Tennyson more than aware that Eon was not far behind Albedo, Tennyson was on the run. Albedo kept hot on his tail, weaving through the alleys and doing his best to corral the boy away from any Plumber safe points.

Albedo spotted Ben as he ducked into a smoothie shop.

“Odd… that Mr. Smoothie isn’t on my map…” Albedo muttered, but he didn’t let himself be lulled by the temptation of the delicious drink as he closed in on that location, knowing Tennyson likely had very few options left. Albedo burst into the smoothie shop, ordering the cashier, who was oddly enough, an alien in a top hat, out of the store. Albedo wasn’t phased by the cashier being alien. In Bellwood, alien human relations had actually gotten to a great point thanks to Undertown’s existence. Aliens walked and worked in Bellwood just like any human did.

The cashier was quick to leave the store and point Albedo to where Tennyson had fled, aka, the kitchen. Albedo followed in hot pursuit. He crept inside just as he heard Tennyson calling on his watch for help. Seemed the boy was still trying to fix his comms. They’d be back up in an hour, Albedo knew, but that was an hour Tennyson did not have.

"Um, Rook? You there? I’m kinda in a sticky situation here. I’m at store 23, Eon and Albedo are right at my tail. Um, Albedo is somehow sixteen again and Eon wants to do the normal… make me one of his little lackies. Take over all timelines and whatnot. Is aligned with Albedo currently, he just forced my watch to time out. I am a sitting duck until I get it back online. If you’re there, please send back up. Please and thank you Rook!”

“Yeah, I disabled it completely, Tennyson. That wasn’t just a normal time out. I thought having it offline for a few hours would be enough for us to get to you.” Tennyson swerved his head over towards Albedo, who was now standing next to one of the supply shelves with a wild grin plastered on his face and his stunner leveled in Tennyson’s direction, “No one is going to be coming to your rescue this time. Now, before Eon shows up, let's see about getting a hold of that Omnitrix.” Tennyson, of course, didn’t seem keen on sitting still and waiting for Albedo to knock him out. Because that nuisance of a child couldn’t make anything easy.

Before Albedo even had time to pull the trigger, he had darted to the side, grabbing a hold of the shelving and pulling down. Albedo yelped, rolling out of the way as tons of smoothie supplies and the metal shelving smashed into the ground. Tennyson made a dash towards the door, only to discover that Albedo had thought ahead and had jammed it. He helplessly pulled at the handle, trying to get it free. Albedo took his time standing and shook himself off.

He, again, leveled his weapon

“Nowhere left to run.” Albedo muttered. Before firing. Tennyson dodged. Honestly Albedo had forgotten how fast and slippery Tennyson could be when he was stuck in his human form. He watched Tennyson sprint for another shelf, toppling it behind him and ducking behind some machinery. Albedo fired rapidly after him before pausing upon hearing a warning alarm of some kind go off.

“What the…” Albedo climbed carefully over the shelving so he could get a better look at the machinery he’d accidentally shot. Albedo’s expression went slack. To his absolute confusion and horror, he realized he was staring at a misfiring, malfunctioning dimensional displacing field generator. And Albedo had just shot off the regulator.

“Why the heck is this in a smoothie shop!?” Albedo cried out, before frantically searching for where Tennyson was hiding, now more than desperate to find the kid and get the heck out of there. He spotted some green and lunged, just barely grabbing the collar of Tennyson’s jacket. The kid went to ditch the jacket, but Albedo didn’t let him, pulling him in close and dragging the kid back towards the door.

“Stop fighting you idiot!” Albedo managed, “I doubt either of us want to be in here when that thing blows.” Tennyson stilled at that.

“It’s going to blow up?”

“No thanks to you!” Albedo hissed.

“You’re the one who shot it!”

“Well if you had just sat still for a few seconds!” The alarms really started blaring and the lookalikes were snapped out of their arguments. Albedo let go of Tennyson and for a moment they seemed to call a silent truce as they scrambled for the jammed door, both trying to get it unjammed.
The alarms got even louder and Albedo felt the air around them charge. He realized, much to his horror, that the door wasn’t going to budge in time, and he raced for some possible solution.

“The Omnitrix, of course!” Albedo realized. He grabbed Tennyson again, pulling the boy in front of him. Tennyson immediately fought back, but Albedo hissed for him to stop.

“If you want to live, you’ll stay still!” Albedo growled, his hands flying for Tennyson’s Omnitrix as he turned the dial rapidly, trying to key in the correct combination before they ran out of time. Just as the generator blew, there was a flash of green, and everything went dark.

There were a few moments where all Albedo registered was the ringing in his ears and the form of Tennyson slumping into his arms. Then when his vision cleared and his senses returned, Albedo realized they were outside, standing in the pouring rain. Tennyson was out cold. Albedo lay the boy down, quickly checking his pulse. The boy was lucky. He was alive, but with the Omnitrix taking the brunt of the blast, he had been knocked out almost instantly.

Albedo decided to act before Tennyson woke up. He dragged the boy into the nearest building, which happened to be some sort of abandoned warehouse littered with graffiti. He set to work tying him firmly to a support beam inside. Albedo replaced his weapon and went for the dead Ultimatrix on his wrist, twisting it to verify his location with Eon. He stopped when his map told him he was nowhere near Bellwood. His frown deepened as he expanded his map, and discovered the constellations, though similar to the ones he was used to, were slightly variant. And many of the systems he recognized and knew were completely gone. New systems where in places they had no business being.

Horror settled in the pit of Albedo’s stomach, and he found himself sliding down, sitting with his back pressed against some crates as exhaustion and a new, terrible reality settled on him.

“No…”

Chapter 2: An Uneasy Alliance.

When Ben came to, his ears were still ringing from the sound of the explosion. It took several minutes to blink away the spots dancing in his eyes before he realized he was no longer in Store 23. Instead, he was in some sort of abandoned warehouse. His hands were bound to a support beam, preventing him from reaching or even using the Omnitrix. Ben looked around frantically, trying to recall exactly when he had been captured and attempting to determine if he was in Undertown, Bellwood, or someplace entirely different.

“Well, it looks like someone finally is awake. You took the blunt of the blast. The Omnitrix reacted pretty poorly to being flung into another multiverse, though that is what saved our miserable lives.” Ben looked over to see Albedo standing there with a cross expression. He was wearing the green contacts and brown wig again, hiding away his red eyes and snowy hair. That’s when Ben remembered the explosion and the fight.

“Eon!” Ben gasped, instantly struggling.

“Cannot find us here.” Albedo said calmly, “This is not another dimension, from what I’ve gathered so far, but instead, completely separate reality with it’s own multiverse that is completely separate from the Omniverse, which is where we come from.” Ben paused, staring at Albedo in confusion before letting out a loud groan.

“Not again! Being sent to alternate realities is the worst! At least in other dimensions there’s another Ben Tennyson and Plumbers to help us out, but in an alternate reality, unless someone happens to have a Null Void projector handy…” Ben started.

“...We are on our own.” Albedo concluded, “I figured as much. Thankfully, it seems we’ve landed on an alternate Earth, meaning we will blend in with the natives. Though that is problematic, considering Earth has always had a poor excuse for technology at their disposal. I doubt they would have a machine for traveling realities that would bring us back to our multiverse without difficulty. This means I must resort to creating a means of returning us myself while also ensuring you do not gain any bright ideas of escape while I also begin on the difficult task of removing the Omnitrix from your wrist. Not that there is any place for you to escape to, considering I am your only hope of returning us to the Omniverse.”

Ben went to object, but he realized Albedo was right. Out of the two of them, Albedo was the only one intelligent enough to have any hope of constructing a device capable of getting them home. That meant Ben was stuck with Albedo unless he found his own way to get home, which was very unlikely with his luck.

“Fine.” Ben said with an angry huff, “I won’t try to escape, but you have to be crazy if you think I’m letting you get your hands on the Omnitrix. Maybe you should worry more about getting us home, Albedo, instead of wasting your time on something that’s never going to happen. The Omnitrix is mine.” Albedo just clicked his tongue in a chatising manner.

“You act as if I’m giving a choice on the matter. By the end of this, that device will be mine and I will be restored to my true form once more. And you, Tennyson, will be obsolete. Be grateful I am even considering helping you return to the Omniverse. I have half a mind to remove the Omnitrix and strand you here so that you may never bother me or anyone else again.” Albedo replied, clearly pleased to be in a position where he could decide what happened to Ben. It was a position Ben really was not enjoying at the moment.

“Our universe needs me, Albedo. Do you really think Viligax or Eon or the Forever Knights are going to stop causing trouble just because I don’t have the Omnitrix anymore?”

“Well, it would certainly eradicate the Vilgax problem, since it seems the only reason he comes to Earth anymore is for that device. The Forever Knights… I am sure the Plumbers will handle and really, Eon just wants to use you. With you gone, his purposes for coming to our dimension are gone. As you can plainly see, you having the Omnitrix does not mean a thing in the grand scheme of things. It belongs in the hands of someone who can make a true difference and use it in a responsible manner that you, thus far, have failed to display. You, Ben Tennyson, are but a small piece that can easily be discarded once deemed useless.” Albedo said in a scolding tone. Ben just glared at him.

“Oh, I’ll show you useless.” He growled, immediately pulling at his wrists to get free. Albedo rolled his eyes, turning away. Ben quickly discovered that Albedo was good at knot work. He found himself slumping back against the beam and resorting to glaring.

“Even after all this time with the weight of the universe on your shoulders, you are still an immature child who has no place wielding the most powerful device in the Omniverse. Clearly, I waste my time with you.” Albedo drawled as he walked over to several crates he had seemingly converted into a work space. It was littered with brown packaging paper which was covered in equations that Ben could barely understand. After a few minutes of trying to break free, Ben began to look around the warehouse they were in and realized it, though seemingly abandoned, was still stocked with old, empty crates. Papers and old, run down equipment littered the place. Then Ben’s eyes settled on an area that had been cleared out on the back wall. It was covered in graffiti and spray paint. Ben immediately recognized the kind of place Albedo had taken them.

“How long have we been in here? Is this where we appeared?” Ben asked cautiously.

“We appeared outside.” Albedo replied, “But it was raining and cold. You humans have a lower tolerance of water that we Galvans do, so I assumed remaining outside would likely end in us both becoming ill. That was several hours ago. This morning, I believe.”

“We can’t stay here.” Ben said, nodding towards the graffiti, “I think it might be some gang hideout of some sort, or at least a meeting place. It’s not safe. We need to find somewhere where no one will bother us.”

“And where, Tennyson, do you suggest we go?” Albedo questioned, “It is cold and wet outside and because this is not our world, you have no home, no resources, no allies, no money, and no food to count on. We are alone here. There is no such place as a safe place anymore. Only sufficient shelter.” Well, wasn’t that a bleak view of their situation? Ben had always figured Albedo to be a pessimist, but that was just depressing. This guy needed serious help.

“We could locate the local authorities. Maybe even see if they have a group in this world that specializes with these kinds of situations. Last time I wound up in an alternate reality, I met this group called Providence who had the tech to send me home.”

“What if the group that specializes in our cases turns out to be like those Forever Knights and tries to take the Omnitrix core and the Ultimatrix stabilizer for themselves? What if such a group doesn’t exist in this world at all? You cannot trust anything or anyone in these sorts of situations. Tennyson, once a group discovers you are not knowledgeable about the territory in which you dwell and recognize that you have something they could want, they always take advantage. Trust me, Tennyson, I have been dealing with such things for quite some time. Not that you would know a thing about that since you actually have a home to return to after we go back.” Whatever retort Ben had ready for Albedo vanished as soon as the former Galvan finished speaking. He felt his face go a little slack.

He hadn’t really thought about how Albedo didn’t really have a home. The Galvan scientist pretty much drifted from super villain to super villian offering his services in hopes to get close to his goals, only for his intellect to be taken advantage of over and over again. After the main bad guy was normally defeated, Albedo was often reprimanded by Azmuth and sent to prison, or escaped into the streets of Undertown or Bellwood. Ben heaved a sigh, willing to sympathize just that once if it meant getting both of them to safety.

“Look, I get it. You hate the Plumbers and every alliance you’ve made since becoming human has been a total bust, but right now, we kinda have to take a few risks. Just hiding out in this dump until some gang comes along and kills us both or until you somehow manage to build us a way out, which I doubt you can do with what’s in here right now, is just plain stupid. We need to come up with a plan. If we work together-” Albedo looked up from his equations, snickering a little.

“I am sorry, but did you just have the gull to suggest an alliance with me?” Albedo asked in amusement, “I am not your friend, Tennyson.”

“And I’m not yours, but if this is really about surviving until you can build us a way out, and preferably soon considering people are going to notice the Omnitrix is missing, we have to come to some sort of compromise, or we are both going to get ourselves killed in this world.” Albedo arched an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side.

“And what sort of compromise would you have me consider?” Albedo asked. Ben looked down, thinking it over. He knew Albedo didn’t trust him. Heck, Ben didn’t trust Albedo at all. The man was after Ben’s Omnitrix and had already threatened to leave Ben stranded in that universe. Still, Albedo was his best bet and Ben was Albedo’s greatest weapon against any threats that would likely get in their way. An alliance was probably the only way.

“Untie me.” Ben started. Immediately Albedo scoffed, going back to his equations.

“Will you hear me out?” Ben asked. Albedo just ignored him. Ben huffed, deciding to continue with his proposal whether Albedo was listening or not.

“You’ll need to let me go so I can use my aliens. I’m literally an arsenal of resources that we can use any way we need them. I won’t give you the Omnitrix, but I will let you choose what we do with it… to a point. I won’t commit any crimes. Especially if those crimes could hurt people, but if you need something, I can use my aliens to get it for you. I’ll also protect you. When we go out into this world, and we will, my aliens are our best bet if we find out the locals are hostile. I’ll keep you safe long enough for you to make our way back home. When you finish, we go back to the Omniverse and to our own dimension, and I’ll allow you to walk. I’ll even give you the money you need to live on your own so you don’t end up living on the streets again. You and I can go our separate ways and we’ll never have to see or hear from each other again.” Albedo paused in his work, sending Ben a death glare.

“What sort of fool do you take me for? With all the crimes I have committed in my life, do you really think Azmuth and the Plumbers will simply allow me to walk once I have returned us to our world?”

“Kevin walked.” Ben said simply. Albedo went silent for a moment before shaking his head.

“I am not that Osmoisian fool.” Albedo said, “And I do not plan on, ‘reforming’ any time soon. Mostly because I do not feel as if I am in need of reformation. As far as I am concerned, all of my deeds these past few years were justified. Azmuth is just a hypocrite who seems inclined to punish those who defy his will.”

“Well, I mean, when you go on a rampage and attack people while committing crimes, yeah, you are going to get punished. I know Azmuth is a pain in the neck, you know, considering I have his prized invention strapped to my wrist, but I don’t go around blaming him for all of my mistakes or go committing crimes to prove a point, Albedo.” Ben argued. Albedo scowled darkly, spinning to face Ben fully as he glared down at the teenager. Ben braced himself for a monologue. Albedo just had that look in his eyes that screamed he was going to monologue again.

“I would not expect you to understand, Tennyson, you are but a young human child who barely has come to grasp the weight Azmuth has foolishly placed on your shoulders.” Albedo growled, “You misuse the Omnitrix time and time again and are beyond arrogant. You are reckless and you never seem to think before you do anything. You destroy everything in your path anytime you engage in battle and you attract the attention of the worst this galaxy has to offer. I told Azmuth the Omnitrix did not belong in the hands of a mere child the moment I realized a ten year old had the universe’s most powerful weapon, but he refused to listen. It was all just a game to him. Another experiment. I thought I would take matters into my own hands. Prove to him he was wrong and that action needed to be taken and what I got in return was this!” Albedo stood, motioning to his human form. Anger flashed in his eyes as he ranted angrily about the injustice that had been done to him. Ben fought the urge to yell right back at the Galvan. He wanted to talk about arrogance?! The whole reason he was stuck as a human was because of his own stupid arrogance. He wanted to talk about being a child? This guy was far from the person who should be preaching to Ben about this.

“Do you really think I don’t know what Azmuth gave me?” Ben asked, “He gave me a tool. A tool to make the universe a better place. To bring peace and end wars with. To protect innocents and save worlds with. To help people, no matter who they are, become better and stronger. He literally gave me the weight of the universe to hold, and I have been holding it for the past six freaking years! I’ve saved it countless times and I’ve done all in my power to survive whatever comes my way. I’ve won and lost countless battles. I’ve seen things no normal teenage kid should ever have to witness, and every time I go to bed, I am kept awake by the nightmares of what would happen if I failed. So, if there is anyone in this room who doesn’t understand, Albedo, it’s not me, it’s you.” Albedo laughed bitterly.

“Oh, yes, that is rich. The great Ben Tennyson actually understands what he has strapped to his wrist. How stupid do you think I am? You are the most obnoxious, selfish, arrogant person in this universe. You know nothing of the responsibilities you’ve been entrusted with.”

“That’s not true!” Ben didn’t get this guy. He literally ranted about Ben not being worthy of the Omnitrix, when clearly, he wasn’t exactly cut out for using it himself. He seriously had no room to talk, “Every time the universe is in jeopardy, everyone looks to me to fix it. Why? Because of this watch! And if you really don’t think I get it, Albedo, then ask Azmuth the next time you see him we the heck Ben Tennyson just… vanished for a little while after I turned thirteen.”

“Well, I never noticed Ben Tennyson vanishing. All I ever heard of were the stories of how ‘great’ the child was!” Albedo snapped.

“I took the Omnitrix off when I was thirteen.” Ben growled, “I quit.” Albedo froze in his pacing, stopping long enough to gawk at Ben. Clearly, Ben had caught him off guard. Clearly, Azmuth hadn’t told him about Ben’s first and only attempt at retirement before the High Breed War pulled him back into the universe saving business. Albedo just stared at Ben for the longest time before huffing, grabbing a box cutter off of the crates and walking back over to Ben.

“Very well. You have made your point, Tennyson.” Albedo said, “I will agree… to an alliance, but I am in charge until we return to our Omniverse. You do as I say, or there is no chance of us returning. When we return, I walk. We go our separate ways.”

“Deal.”

Chapter 3: A Day at the Gotham Library.

The city they had appeared in was apparently called Gotham. Albedo surged through the city, glancing back every so often to make sure Tennyson was still trailing after him and hadn’t tried to make a run for it. Thankfully, the teen seemed to be a person of his word. Following quietly after Albedo. Honestly, it was a bit odd having Tennyson so close by, but not hearing him blabber on or make snarky remarks as they went.

Albedo did have to note that everytime he looked back and caught a glimpse of the green clad teen, Tennyson was almost always wearing a wary expression on his face. His eyes flickering over the dangerous city they had apparently found themselves in. While he kept his hands in his pocket, his shoulders relaxed, and his general posture unconcerned as he lazily followed Albedo, Albedo realized slowly but surely that Tennyson was way more attentive to the dangerous place than he had first realized.

“Now, if anyone asks, Tennyson, you and I are twins. As long as I wear these contacts and the wig, we look completely identical. It is the best way to keep attention off of us.”

“Though, if that’s going to be the cover, should you actually start calling me Ben and not Tennyson? Brother’s don’t normally address each other by their last name.”

“You are on thin ice, right now, Tennyson. If you ever wish to leave this wretched place, you will do as I say without question.” Albedo did not miss the teenager’s exaggerated eye roll at this response. He chose to ignore that and the fact that the boy made a point. Brothers did not address one another in such a matter. It would be odd for Albedo to call him by his last name. Ben Tennyson wouldn’t work. And he certainly wasn’t calling the boy Ben 10. Just Ben would likely be fine, but Albedo didn’t feel like giving the child the satisfaction of being right. Besides, calling the bane of his very existence ‘just Ben’ was weird.

“Ah, here, this should do.” Albedo stopped in front of an old, run down building that was labeled ‘Public Library’ in cracked, worn lettering. The place did not look much like a library, but like an abandoned prison without bars on the windows. It fit right in with the city’s depressing name and gloomy personality. Even Undertown, which was overrun by sketchy alien criminals, felt more welcoming than the human city they’d found themselves in. Everyone they passed seemed to eye Albedo and Tennyson like they were prey. Albedo did not miss the few times Tennyson squared his shoulders and glared at some particularly worrisome strangers until the nasty customers scampered off, leaving the odd duo be. How the seemingly scrawny Tennyson was able to ward off muggers when Albedo struggled to accomplish the very same task in his time living on the streets, he had no idea.

Albedo entered the library, Tennyson in presuit, whose nose was slightly wrinkled from the sight of the dusty and run down place. Albedo ignored his lookalike and marched to the counters.

“I would like access to this facility’s computers. Where would I find them?”

“Jeesh, do you have to talk like you're reading out of a ‘how to give a proper speech’ handbook just to ask where the computers are, Albes?” Albedo resisted the urge to throttle Tennyson for the remark.

“Are you a card holder? Only card holders can have access to the computers here… due to incidents…” The librarian replied.

“May I become a card holder?”

“Drivers license or identification, name, and current address are required to hold a card here.” Albedo stared at her, stumped. He had a name… but no identification papers to present. And he was very much homeless. He heard Tennyson snicker behind him. Albedo didn’t find the situation amusing, but was surprised when Tennyson shoved him out of the way and approached the lady as he unfolded his wallet.

“Ben and Albedo Tennyson. Here’s my driver’s license. My brother doesn’t have one. He failed all of his permit tests. Word of advice, if he ever gets one, stay clear of the roads.” Tennyson said as he winked at the lady and slid the card over. The woman actually had the gull to laugh and glanced once at the card before handing him a paper. Benjamin then promptly began to scribble on it without consulting him first. Seconds later, the lady took the paper, and set to work making them official library cards. She handed them to him and he slipped both into his wallet before saying goodbye and dragging Albedo away.

“But… We have no home here.” Albedo found himself hissing towards Tennyson.

“Doesn’t matter. If you act like you do, fake your way through the form, they won’t care and probably won’t check today. Jeesh, Albedo. It’s a library, not a bank. Nobody steals books… Well, Gwen might, but nobody normally steals them on purpose. And if we don’t check anything out and just use the computer lab, they won’t check.”

“How can you be so sure that-”

“Just get in the computer lab! Jeesh, I’ve gotta teach you more about being human and Earth culture if this whole partner thing is going to work. You look the part, but, man, you act like a walking textbook or some sort of stiff.” Albedo simply scowled at him as Tennyson held open the door to the computer and let him walk inside.

“I’ll have you know, I’ve been human for almost two years now, so I know how they act.”

“Clearly, you don’t.” Tennyson deadpanned, “Especially when you just walk around acting like this on a constant basis. In all the time you’ve been stuck with my body, have you even at least attempted trying out being a human, or do you just know how to complain about it all the time?” Albedo had no idea what that was supposed to mean. He had clearly attempted to be a human. Considering he was stuck as a human, he had no other choice but to be one. Tennyson’s question both made no sense and somewhat annoyed him. Rather than instigating another pointless argument with the child and ruin an already miserable morning further, Albedo selectively chose to ignore the question.

He settled at one of the computers. Entered his card number, and logged on. The first thing he did was make sure the computer didn’t have any programs running in the background that monitored what he was doing. Then he set to work crafting legitimate identities for Benjamin and Albedo Tennyson in that multiverse. He faked school records, borrowed Tennyson’s phone and used the images on it to make social media pages and used an algorithm to make the pages seem like they were a few years old. He made sure his own education was clearly better than Tennyson’s.

Tennyson in turn, spouted out a few of his interests and ended up being an athlete at some school near where Albedo ‘went to school’. Apparently, Tennyson used to be very involved in something called soccer. Albedo recalled reading something about it when he’d hacked into Tennyson’s plumber files a long while back, but he wasn’t entirely sure what the sport was or why Tennyson enjoyed it.

“Yeah, that could work. You’re the nerdy branic twin and I’m the sport loving, fun twin that people actually want to be friends with.” Tennyson said with a cheerful smirk. Albedo resisted the urge to smack the boy.

“Make yourself useful or do something so you aren’t bothering me. Only stay close in case I have a question for you.”

“No problem, Albedo.” Tennyson plopped down at a computer next to him, logging on. He went pretty quiet after that, thankfully. Albedo wrapped up their new identities with a few… less than legal transactions. He was careful to cover all his tracks before moving on to the second reason for coming there. Aka, research.
He quickly learned that the Multiverse was the home to a number of ‘heroes’ that made a much larger group called the Justice League. He printed out some information on a few of the heroes along with the local heroes of that area of the world. He then moved on to double check the legal system and go over the most recent new articles for differences in what was acceptable behavior on that Earth. Thankfully, the laws seemed pretty much the same, which was more good for Tennyson than Albedo. Albedo apparently still had several corners he would need to cut just to get them home.

Finally, he found the most well known places on Earth for technological advancements. Places like LexCorp, StarLabs, and Wayne Enterprises appeared on Albedo’s radar. Just Albedo’s luck, it turned out that Wayne Enterprises applied science division had four main facilities in America. One right there in Gotham City where Wayne Enterprise proper could be found, a facility in Jump City, a facility in New York, and one in Washington D.C. With this new found information, Albedo hacked into the facility of Wayne Technology’s webpage, looking for job openings he could use to try and get a lab for himself to work in.

He was pleased to find there was one, and looked over the interviewee schedule, discovering quickly that a Henry Roberts was scheduled to come in for an interview that evening at five, but had to cancel at the last minute. Aledo seized the opportunity, making up a quick, but impressive resume for himself and submitting it, using back channels to push it to the front of the company’s interview files and using the fake credentials he’d created not even hours before, to make up a proper portfolio.

Once that was done, he rigorously worked up a few scholarly articles about biogenetic studies, and advancements in various areas of technology. Honestly, that part was child's play and he only needed to skim through the articles once before posting them and adjusting the dates so they didn’t seem like they’d all been created that day. He printed out a few he didn’t post to take with him and finally snatched up the empty interview spot for himself. After printing out a few ‘proofs of address’ to appease the people there, Albedo finally logged off of the computer and glanced over at what Tennyson was doing.

He was actually slightly surprised by what he saw. The boy had opened two browsers and had them side by side. One was an article about the local heroes of that Earth. The other was some sort of game that Tennyson was actively playing and winning without any trouble despite the fact that most of his attention was very clearly focused on the article.

“Benjamin.” Albedo called, testing the boy’s full first name out on his lips. It wasn’t Tennyson. It wasn’t Ben. Rather, a seemingly perfect compromise between the two. Benjamin hummed at the sound of his name, but clearly was not fully diverting his attention to Albedo yet.

“We need to go. We need to be across town within and hour, and since we have no money physically on us-”

“I have, like, a hundred bucks on me and fifteen taydens, dude. We can take a cab. Unless you think we need the money for something else… food probably. I could always go for food. But the good food, aka, fast food, won’t cost a full hundred.” Albedo paused. He had… forgotten that Benjamin wasn’t usually homeless and likely always carried around money for when he needed it on patrols.

“Well then, we need to be at Wayne Enterprises before five. You have to come with me because I still do not technically have proper identification.” Albedo explained.

“Sure, one sec. Gotta kill this boss…”

“Now, Benjamin.”

Benjamin huffed, letting the character die and closing the browsers. He logged off of the computer and then eyed the papers that Albedo held close to his chest. His eyes sparkled with honest curiosity as he tilted his head to the side.

“So… What exactly is your plan for all of… that? Also, what are we going to this enterprise place for?”

“They have an applied science division-”

“No robbing the place, Albedo. I’m not gonna help you do that.” Albedo took a deep, annoyed breath. This was going to get annoying.

“If I was planning on robbing the place, I would’ve told you to use the Omnitrix to get there. Right now, it is in our best interest to be inconspicuous, which, may I remind you, your aliens are not.”

“So then why are we going there?”

“I intend to integrate myself into the Wayne company by gaining a position there.” Benjamin stared at Albedo for a long moment, squinting as if he was puzzling out the simple explanation.

“...You… signed up for a job interview?” Benjamin questioned.

“Precisely.”

“At five.” Ben deadpanned. He squinted further, before looking over Albedo with a small frown. Albedo wished the boy would spit out his words instead of looking at him funny.

“Scratch that. We don’t have enough for a cab and maybe not even food… And this thing is, like, in an hour? Did you see where the nearest thrift store was?”

“Why is this relevant?” Albedo asked. Benjamin proceeded to motion to Albedo. Albedo glanced down at himself, not seeing the problem at all.

“People don’t show up to job interviews dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, and some old jacket. If you try and get a job here in that, buddy, you won’t be getting hired. Trust me. Now, let's find a thrift store fast, buy cheap clothes, and get you there before we run out of time.” Before Albedo could ask why on Earth anyone would refuse to hire him on account of his clothing, Benjamin was pushing him out of the library and back into the city.

Chapter 4: A Very Important Interview.

Abledo had no idea how humans tolerated this.

Lucky for them, there had been such a store as Benjamin described close by. Benjamin grabbed the first thing that looked like it would fit them, threw it on Albedo, and then bought the outfit along with a few accessories, a hairbrush, and something called deodorant.

“Clearly learning human hygiene is something else I’ve got to teach you. I’m not the best at it, but you don’t shower enough. I get the struggle. Without a Gwen or Rook to remind a person, hygiene is hard.”

“It’s not like I don’t want to keep myself clean!” Albedo hissed, “I can hardly understand how you humans stand the smell of yourselves! But not all of us have a house, Benjamin!” Albedo did not miss the way Benjamin winced at the retort as he finished brushing and fixing the brown wig Albedo wore and adjusting the crimson tie that was nearly strangling him.

Benjamin had dressed him in something called a dress shirt, which was pink and seemed to make Benjamin snicker way too much. Albedo was also forced into brown slacks and dress shoes.

“Man, the last time I helped someone clean up like this was when Kevin asked Gwen… Er, well Gwen made Kevin ask her to this dance. I was having these weird blackouts and-”

“We don’t have time for random stories, Benjamin.” Albedo snapped. Benjamin rolled his eyes and finished, “There, and we have thirty minutes to spare.”

“What about you?” Albedo asked.

“It’s not my interview. Why would I need to-”

“I’m bringing you with me. You should dress accordingly as well, should you not?” Benjamin froze, as if the thought had not crossed his mind. The boy swore under his breath.

“We don’t have enough money to get me something. Also, we still do need to eat and take a cab the rest of the way, it’s your interview. You looking nice is just going to have to be enough. Sorry, man.”

“Benjamin, we need access to this technology if we are-”

“Going to get home. Yeah, I figured.” Benjamin huffed, “I don’t know what to tell you. I can just wait in the lobby. It’ll be fine.” Albedo scowled, but resigned himself to just hope that Benjamin was right. He didn’t know nor care enough about Earth culture to think much more about it and he hoped Benjamin had the common sense not to mislead him and ruin his chances at getting home. Sabotage was in the teen’s best interests.
Benjamin gave up a large sum of their small budget to get them a cab that took them closer to the heart of the city, before they got out and walked the rest of the way, getting there with ten minutes to spare.

Benjamin marched right up to the lady at the desk in the building and gave her a sickly sweet smile not unlike the one he’d offered the librarian.

“Benjamin and Albedo Tennyson. My brother has the five o’ clock interview for the applied science position?” The lady narrowed her eyes on him, then looked past the glasses perched on her nose at Albedo, who found himself fidgeting with the cuffs of his shirt. It was largely uncomfortable.

“How old are you two exactly?” Albedo parted his lips to respond, but Benjamin beat him to it.

“We’re both sixteen, nearly seventeen.” Benjamin explained, “Albes is kinda a prodigy in his field.” Albedo decided to take the reins quickly at that point.

“I sent in my resume a week ago? I got a call this morning that I was moved up on the interview list and was supposed to come in today? Is that not correct?” The lady stared at them for a moment more before squinting down at her computer and clicking away at the keyboard.

“Albedo Tennyson, five o’ clock.” She confirmed, “Do you boys have ID?” Benjamin offered his driver’s license.

“He doesn’t have one. Failed the test one too many times… Great with science… not so great a driving. But, well, we’re identical twins, so we figured-”

“Yes, well. I suppose this will do.” The lady confirmed, “You’ll need to go to the seventh floor, down the south wing, and into the technology’s offices department. Suite 705. Mr. Fox and Mr. Wayne will be conducting the interview themselves. Mr. Wayne sometimes likes to pop in on the process and check on the workers in his company. Mr. Fox is the head of applied sciences and the one offering the position. Would Mr. Wayne watching your interview be a problem or would you like to reschedule for a day he’s not in? You’re young and I know-”

“I am not worried. He may watch.” Albedo confirmed. The lady hummed again before sliding two visitors passed over to them.

“Just wait for them to call you into Mr. Fox’s office. And please, have a good day.”

“You too, Ms. Garret!” Benjamin replied cheerfully. For a moment, Albedo wondered how on Earth Benjamin knew the woman’s name… before realizing it was both on her desk and on a little name-tag she wore. The woman seemed pleased by Benjamin’s response and waved the two boys off. They slid the passes on and made their way to the location described. Benjamin insisted on whistling the elevator tune all the way there, but for the most part, didn’t nag Albedo.
Soon they were seated in chairs of yet another lobby waiting to be called in.

“You know what’s always bothered me about the Omnitrix?” Benjamin suddenly asked as he waited.

“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

“It doesn’t tell time.”

“...Why would it need to?” Albedo asked, “Time is counted differently from location in the galaxy to location in the galaxy. Therefore, installing a clock would be silly.”

“But it can translate every language in the galaxy with ease?” Benjamin asked, “Pft. That makes sense. It’s a watch. Azmuth knows human watches are made to tell time. So why doesn’t the ultimate watch have a clock on it?”

“I don’t know.”

“But I thought you helped build it.”

“I did.”

“Then why don’t you know-”

“Albedo Tennyson?” Albedo looked up to see a dark toned man in a nicer outfit than his own standing outside the office they were waiting for. An older gentleman was shuffling out, looking very distraught. Another man waited just inside, with intelligent blue eyes, dark hair, and an even nicer outfit, though much more comfortable looking on him, than the one the dark toned man wore.

“That would be me.” Albedo said, getting to his feet, thankful that they’d come in time to interrupt Benjamin’s rambling. The older man scurried away, sending Albedo an annoyed glare.

“Good luck, kid, but that spot’s mine.” He grunted, before vanishing out of the door. Albedo ignored him, walking over and offering the dark toned man a hand to shake.

“I’m Albedo Tennyson.” He introduced.

“Lucius Fox.” The man replied, before looking past Albedo, “Who’s your doppelganger?”

“Oh… Uh, this is my brother, Benjamin. He brought me here.”

“Hello, Benjamin.” Fox said with a slight nod and a little twinkle in his eyes.

“Just Ben is fine. Albedo’s kinda extra.” Benjamin laughed.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Albedo, would you step into my office. Ben, you can join us if staying out here is too lonesome, unless your brother objects. Mr. Wayne wouldn’t mind the company.” Albedo was tempted to say no and to just leave Benjamin out there, but he didn’t trust the boy to stay out of trouble. Letting Benjamin out of his sight at such a critical moment was a stupid idea.

“I don’t mind.” Albedo waved for Benjamin to follow. Benjamin grinned, standing and following them inside. He sat down at a chair near the entrance to the office. Mr. Wayne, the dark haired man, stood from his seat and greeted Albedo.

“Albedo is an interesting name, young man. Especially for a young scientist.” Wayne noted, “Because it’s the term for-”

“Light or radiation reflecting off of a surface, typically a planet or moon. It’s a term in thermodynamics and it’s formula is typically used to measure how well a surface reflects solar energy.” Albedo finished. Benjamin looked surprised. Clearly he hadn’t known that Albedo was named after a scientific phenomenon. But considering the child and his cousins were literally named to rhyme with the number ten, the child had no room to say anything.

He still decided to say something.

“Er, our parents used to be really big nerds. I was named after Benjamin Franklin.” Benjamin said. Albedo had no idea if that was true or if the child was making things up for the sake of their cover.

“So, which of you is the older twin? Do you know?” Wayne asked, looking slightly amused.

“Albedo.” Benjamin replied without a second of hesitation, “Trust me, it shows. He’s got the brains to prove it. Albedo is one of the smartest guys I know.” Fox hummed, sitting down at his desk and Mr. Wayne retook his own seat. Fox motioned towards the seat in front of the desk.

“Well then, Mr. Tennyson, let's see if that mind of yours is Wayne Enterprise material. First, where would your legal guardian be? I’m not against offering the position to someone your age, especially with the resume you submitted, so long as you prove yourself responsible and prove to have good work ethic, however, there is some paperwork your guardians would need to fill out should we offer you the position.”

“Our parents have passed on.” Albedo explained, “We are emancipated. I can fill out my own legal paperwork.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Mr. Tennyson. My condolences to you both.” Fox said with a small nod. Albedo did not miss the way Benjamin ducked his head, fiddling unconsciously with the watch as he shifted in his seat. Albedo remained unaffected, only glancing back at the boy’s slight movement.

“It is fine.” Albedo replied before setting the portfolio he’d compiled onto the desk.

“Now, it says here you’ve already graduated… with a doctorate? At fourteen?” Fox looked up, his expression slightly more impressed as he did a double take of Albedo,

“You specialize in biogenetics and inventive technologies. You mention a brief internship with a man named Azmuth… but no number is listed for contacting him. May I ask why?”

“He was older.” Albedo replied, “And passed away last year. He gave me hands-on experience in a lab that not even the college could provide.”

“Could you provide some examples of your work?”

“I’ve brought some articles I’ve been working on.” Albedo said simply, “I did not bring any inventions of mine here, however. We just moved to Gotham and most of my work is still in storage at Azmuth’s lab.”

“Do you have any other work experience outside of the internship? Recently, I mean.”

“I’ve been a freelancer for the past few years… And I had to slow down on my studies when our parents died so I could take care of Benjamin. I’ve been supporting us for the past year by working at a restaurant.”

“With your qualifications?” Fox asked, clearly surprised. Albedo offered a meek nod.

“People tend to underestimate me upon seeing my age and appearance.”

“What about that watch you’re wearing? I don’t recognize the brand, but you both have one.” Albedo glanced over at Mr. Wayne, surprised the man had spoken up. Albedo rubbed the Ultimatrix uncomfortably.

“Um, this is a failed invention. But we’ve taken to wearing them so people can tell the difference between the two of us. He wears the green one and I wear the red.”

“What was it supposed to do?” Fox asked. Albedo swallowed. This was a very, very dangerous topic.

“Oh, not much. Mostly just scan DNA. Make it easier to collect DNA without contaminating it. Not much. It does have good AI in it that I’ve become rather fond of though, even if the original function didn’t work quite as I had hoped. Here, allow me you show you.” Albedo reached for the watch. He didn’t miss how Ben flinched at the movement. His eyes narrowed dangerously and in warning at the small action. Albedo didn’t know why. The boy knew Azmuth had removed the stabilizer and core from the thing. Not to mention the old fool took the time to ensure Albedo couldn’t transform at all anymore, not even with all of Albedo’s experiments. The watch was completely dead as far as transforming went. It was now a glorified supercomputer that he couldn’t take off of his wrist.

Albedo twisted it, and started showing off it’s functions. Explaining the translation function and the map function and a few other functions for it. He launched into a mini lecture about the fundamentals of programming the device, never going into full detail since he knew the technology was far beyond their reach.
They then asked him about his studies in genetics. Albedo began to explain other basic concepts on the topics that were mere child’s science to a Galvan, but rocket science to a human. Not that rocket science was hard at all.

“What makes you think you’re good for this position?” Mr. Wayne asked, cutting off one of the tiny lectures.

“My work ethic, persistence, and ability to explore what has not been tried before.” Fox hummed, looking over some of the articles Albedo had set in front of him, clearly impressed.

“How would you describe yourself?”

“Determined. Bright.”

“Say I deemed a project you poured effort into, say, unsafe, and decided it needed to be shut down? What would your response be?” Fox asked. Albedo felt himself go stiff. Suddenly, he felt like he was in a conversation with Azmuth, not a random human scientist who likely thought he was smarter than Albedo.

‘You are not to work on the Omnitrix project anymore.’

‘You will not be creating one of your own. If I find more evidence of you doing so, you will be expelled from this laboratory and sent to work for tech support.’

‘Albedo, you fool! I warned what would happen if you persisted with this!’

Naturally, Albedo knew he’d be outraged.

He couldn’t tell them that. They didn’t realize he truly was the superior mind in the room. They didn’t know that the project he was tasked with completing would be dangerous. And he would be persistent in completing it, regardless of their interference.

“I would understand. Some things simply aren’t ready to be discovered, sadly.” Fox wrote a few things down after that. They asked him several more questions, and both looked over some of the articles Albedo brought along, before finally deciding to conclude the interview.

“I think we’ve seen enough, Mr. Tennyson.” Fox decided. Then his eyes sparkled with slight amusement, “I think Ben might agree.” Albedo noticed that the child had fallen asleep during the discussion and was slumped back in the chair, with his arms crossed and his head resting against his chest, which moved slightly up and down with a slow rhythmic pattern.

“He… Is not as into the scientific community as I am.” Albedo admitted, “My brother is more of an athletic person.”

“Does he have a favorite sport?” Wayne asked.

“He played soccer.” Albedo responded. Wayne nodded, smiling at the answer.

“Sounds like a fun time. Well, Mr. Fox, I think you and I are pretty much in agreement here, unless I was reading your ‘subtle’ expressions wrong?”

“No. I agree.” Fox replied, “Mr. Tennyson, I believe you would make a fine addition to the Wayne Team… however, the position you’ve applied for doesn’t exactly gear towards working all of your skill sets to their fullest potential. That being said, the job is yours if you truly want it, but I think Mr. Wayne and I have a secondary option for you, should you really want it, but it would involve leaving the city in a few weeks. I know you just moved here but seeing as it is summer, this might be the ideal time to figure out where you and your brother would want to be located permanently.”

“...I’m listening…” Albedo decided.

“I have a think tank for more inventive minds such as yourself with new ideas set up at my facility in Washington.” Mr. Wayne explained, “And currently they have a few open slots. The job would pay just as well, if not better than the position here pays. I’ve been looking with people with new, fresh ideas, and a young, ambitious boy your age is perfect for the job. We’d be happy to fly you and Ben down there ourselves and those a part of the project live in apartments not too far from or facilities about a mile away and within walking distance, since I know driving might be a problem for you. Trust me, you aren’t the only one. I pay for those a part of the project to live in those apartments. It would be a good opportunity, but I understand if you and Ben want to stay here. You’re young and moving around so much is-”

“What exactly are the parameters for this job?” Albedo asked. Mr. Fox paused, before going through some files and pulling out an application with the job description and details described fully on it. Much to Albedo’s delight, it was exactly what he needed. A job where he could work freely on a way back to the Omniverse and be provided resources for doing so, so long as he was able to explain what he was working on with a board and get it approved by Wayne and Fox.

“...This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I accept, if you are offering.” Albedo said, “Though there are a few projects I’ve been desperate to work on in the meantime.” Mr. Wayne laughed.

“Well, fill out that form, and our secretary will get the rest of the paperwork for you. I’ll give you access to the labs here for the first week so Mr. Fox can see you in action. If you don’t mind moving on Independence Day week, my son and I will be going down to Washington D.C. for a gymnastics contest he’s made nationals with. We can bring you down with us then.” Mr. Wayne offered. Albedo nodded.

“That would work wonderfully.” Albedo agreed. Wayne laughed.

“I’m glad. Welcome to Wayne Enterprises, Dr. Tennyson.”

Chapter 5: In Which Ben Learns About Multiverses.

The next few days were a blur. Albedo somehow managed to get them an apartment to stay in while they waited for Wayne to send them down to D.C. Ben unwillingly took the couch and tried his best to stay as close to Albedo as much as possible, much to the Galvan's annoyance. Call Ben paranoid, but he still didn’t really trust the convict. Right now, Ben knew he was only being tolerated because Albedo needed to keep him close. Ben had promised the guy could walk, and Ben wasn’t lying about that. Even so, Ben still had that funny feeling that Albedo was planning on trying to remove the Omnitrix the second they got back to the Omniverse and Albedo had access to the tools for it again. Sadly, Ben still had no choice but to stay close to Albedo in turn. The albino nerd was his ticket home.

Albedo began working on something called a genetic enhancement project with Wayne Tech. Ben had no idea what it was supposed to be. All he could gather from a few glances of Albedo’s blueprints and formulas was that the Galvan was making some sort of uniform meant to enhance the abilities of something called a metahuman to a certain degree.

What Ben did know was that enhancing metahumans was not going to get him home. Ben just hoped that the Galvan was just using that project as a cover and he’d work on the actual project once they were in Washington and not being watched so carefully by Wayne and Fox. Eventually, the day before they were supposed to go down to D.C., Ben found himself snapping at Albedo about it over chili fries.

“How long exactly is this plan to get us home of yours supposed to take, Albedo?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Albedo asked as he eyed Ben’s own fries greedily, having already scarfed down his own dinner.

“I mean, it’s been almost a week!” Ben huffed, “And why would knowing how to enhance a meta be useful to getting home at all?”

“Benjamin, you realize you are a meta… Well, technically speaking.”

“How, exactly?” Ben asked.

“A meta is a person with enhanced genetics. The Omniverse term for it is an Osmosian.”

“Yeah, but Kevin and, I dunno, Copper, are Osmosians. I don’t have powers outside the watch, Albedo.”

“We both know that’s not true.” Albed grunted, before tapping Ben’s chest impatiently. “Your cousin figured out as much as a ten year old. You’re just too attached to my former mentor’s invention to actually consider the possibilities embedded within your genetic code. I however, no longer have access to my transformative abilities and we both know this planet is severely lacking in the technology, I need to correct that issue. Therefore, in defense of myself, I’ve decided to exploit our shared genetic code for my benefit.”

“What? Anodite magic? Pft. Albes. I wasn’t born with the spark. I don’t have that. Also, you’re a Galvan. The heck is a Galvan gonna do with magic? Doesn’t that go completely against the man of science thing you’ve got going on? Also, why the heck do you need access to mana of all things? How does that help us at all?” Albedo frowned, looking legitimately disappointed when Ben finished off his fries and didn’t offer Albedo any.

“As a means of protecting myself.”

“Dude, it’s my job to protect you. Omnitrix, remember?” Ben huffed.

“Benjamin, I do not think you realize how difficult the task we’ve been presented with is, or how long it will take to reach our goal?” Ben had to go silent for several moments. The mention of it taking awhile to get home made Ben’s heart hammer. He had hoped that 'a long time' meant only a week or two, but the look in Albedo’s eyes made Ben shrink a little in his seat.

“...What are you talking about?”

“Wayne Tech only had level three technology.” Albedo explained, “None of the stuff there was advanced enough to even attempt to use as a means of getting home.”

“...But… When I got stranded in Rex’s Multiverse-” Ben began, “I mean, a Null Void projector isn’t that hard for a guy like you to make, right?”

“No. That’s child’s play.” Albedo scoffed. Ben found himself squinting at the man, wondering why on Earth they weren’t home yet. Albedo wasn’t keeping them there on purpose was he? This wasn’t another scheme of his to get rid of Ben and get the Omnitrix, was it?

“Then… Why…”

“We were sent to this reality due to a number of random factors. The blowing up of the interdimensional generator combined with the energy of the Omnitrix sent us flying out of our Multiverse into this one… Oh, why do I even bother trying to explain this to a simpleton like yourself?” Ben found himself growling, getting to his feet and grabbing Albedo’s arm angrily.

“Because this simpleton has a family still waiting for him and I would like to know why I’m not with them right now, Albedo.” Albedo and Ben had a long, long staring contest before Galvan finally relented, slumping back in his chair and jerking his arm from Ben’s grasp.

“When you returned from Rex’s dimension using the Null Void, you got lucky. Very, very, very lucky. There was a one in three trillion chance that Rex’s Multiverse would connect to our own in any manner.”

“Okay, so why is that? How is jumping a Multiverse different than jumping a dimension? Clearly, jumping dimensions is easy.” Ben grumped.

“Well, one. The Null Void doesn’t exist in this Multiverse.” Albedo began, “They have a place called the Phantom Zone that apparently exists and is like the Null Void, but after careful research, I was able to conclude that it isn’t a path home and isn’t connected to our Null Void at all. Secondly, dimensions are drastically different from other Multiverses. Drastically.” Albedo stopped. Ben could tell he was weighing how to best explain the concept to Ben. Ben just wanted the guy to be snappy and answer his question.

“Paradox has explained to you how a Multiverse is a set timeline with multiple branches, correct?” Albedo questioned.

“Yeah, like a tree.” Ben remembered, “And the trunk is one sepcific event that sets off a bunch of endless possibilities, creating the many different dimensions and timelines.”

“Precisely. Our Multiverse, I’ve discovered, revolves around events that surround that watch secured to your wrist. It is all a part of the same tree, and moving from branch to branch is very simple. Now, adding in another Multiverse to the factor is like adding another tree. Or rather, adding a full forest of trees.” Albedo explained,

“Each multiverse revolves around a completely different timeline and set events that occurred. Each tree was planted randomly and in different, random locations, and has vastly different trunks. The trunk of this Multiverse, I’ve discovered, are the activities of this Justice League that serves this planet. Their actions affect the Multiverse just about as much as the Omnitrix affects ours. It’s not surprising, considering the League as a whole is able to make up for the lack of an Omnitrix. Unfortunately, that difference is plenty enough to make this Multiverse be a completely different tree as opposed to a branch, and Benjamin, getting to a branch in a tree you are already in is much easier than getting from one tree to another.”

“Okay… I’m kinda following so far… So we need to build a way to get from this tree back to our tree?”

“Correct. The problem is, because of the random nature of our coming here, we’ve literally been plucked from our tree and placed into a random tree far from our own. Trying to get back is much harder, because the chances of getting lost are very, very great.” Albedo explained, “Not to mention, as far as Multiverses goes, the people in them are only supposed to interact with that multiverse and the reality that exists within it. Leaving it is supposed to be completely impossible. We can explore the time stream. Move throughout the branches. Move throughout the various versions of our universe, but we aren’t supposed to be able to leave our tree… at all. The Null Void, in the Rex Universe, seemed to have acted as a bridge meant to contect out two Multiverses and make that more possible. It made finding your Multiverse easy.”

“I’m sensing a but.”

“But.” Albedo agreed, “Normally that is not the case. It’s not the case here either. So, in order for me to get us home, I could try to recreate the event that brought us here, which would have no guarantee at all of getting us back and will likely leave us more lost than before, I could try to figure out how to create a path much like the Null Void to the Omniverse, a feat that took hundreds of Galvans and Azmuth to complete, or I must design a machine that can recreate the incident, locate our Multiverse, and fire us directly back to it without conflict. A feat that has never, and I repeat, never been completed by any Galvan, not even Azumth. A feat that would require level nineteen technology that this planet simply does not have.”

Ben let this information sink in.

“And… So… you’re trying to get access to Mana because…”

“It could help.” Albedo shrugged, “I admit, as a Galvan, it seems like a poor choice to resort to magic, but learning to use such power could benefit the cause. Not to mention, there is alien activity in this world. Illegal activity, I might add. Such activity always leads to the discovery of higher level technology that I can use to our advantage.”

“So, like, kicking the butts of evil alien baddies and stealing their tech Forever Knight style in order to repurpose it?”

“You’re not as dimwitted as I thought.”

“Hey!” Ben objected, before hesitating and swallowing hard, “So… then… when… when will we get to go home?”

“I am stuck trying to replicate the impossible on purpose in a fashion that would tear through multiverses and bring us to a specific one without destroying all known multiverses in the process. It is a task no Galvan has ever attempted before. Not even Azmuth. It could take months, maybe longer. I am still working on simply creating a device that will figure out which reality is our own.”

“Months…” Ben said in a faltering voice, “We could be stuck here for months?”

“Sadly, with how it has been going, we could be trapped here far longer than a few months.” Albedo replied. Ben instantly got a sad expression on his face as he thought about all his friends at home he wouldn’t see for a very, very long time. His grandpa, Gwen, Kevin, Rook, his parents, Ester, Kai, Julie, Copper, Helen, Manny, Blukic, Driba, Patelliday, his aunt and uncle, and so many others. His fear for their reality grew too. Ben knew there were multiple dimensions with multiple Bens to protect it. Still, he was supposed to be the hero that saved the universe. Ben was already imagining all the terrible things that could happen while he was gone.
Ben’s eyes met his feet and he slumped back in his chair.

“Did you leave anyone behind in the Omniverse?” Ben asked. Albedo scoffed.

“Of course not. I had no family. My friends… Hugh and the rest, I had to sever ties with months ago because my criminal activities would have made them accessories. What I did leave behind is my only chance at being normal again. The Galvan technology needed to create a core for the Ultimatrix.”

“Oh.” Was all Ben said. Albedo looked Ben over with mild interest.

“We will get you back to your family, Benjamin.” Albedo vowed. Ben was surprised to hear the sincerity in Albedo’s voice. He looked over at his Galvan counterpart, shocked to even see a hint of compassion after a full week of Albedo insulting and down talking Ben. However, the Galvan teen was already diving deep into his work as if he hadn’t said anything at all. Ben managed a small smile.

Maybe being stuck with Albedo wouldn’t be so bad.

Chapter 6: The First Flight to Washington DC.

The flight to D.C. was pretty awesome. Mr. Wayne must’ve been the most generous guy in the world, because he let them fly on his private plane. His adoptive son, Richard Grayson, flew with them up to the Capitol of America. Wayne’s son was almost as cool as his dad, being a really, really smart kid who did gymnastics and enjoyed comic books just as much as Ben did. Richard bombarded the identical boys with a lot of questions during the ride, all mostly about what it was like to have a brother who looked exactly like him.

Albedo ignored Richard, for the most part, and kept his eyes glued to a computer screen. Ben entertained the excitable thirteen year old by making up random stories about when Albedo and Ben were kids. Some stories were true, but substituted Gwen with Albedo. Apparently Mr. Wayne was sending Richard up to D.C. for a national contest of some sort for his summer gymnastics program. It was just in time, since Richard claimed that Bruce was taking Richard to work on the fourth. For some reason that was beyond Ben’s understanding, Richard seemed more excited about going to his adoptive dad’s boring business office than to D.C. for a national contest.

“Your dad is taking you to work on the fourth of July?” Ben scoffed, “Isn’t that a national holiday?”

“It’s kind of in celebration of the holiday.” Richard said with a shrug, “Though I am not actually from America, I was born in Romania. I just traveled around with my parents a lot as a little kid. They were in the circus. As a guy who lives in America and is now a citizen here, I really, really appreciate Independence Day.”

“You grew up in the circus?” Ben asked, wrinkling his nose a little.

“Is there something wrong with that?” Richard asked.

“I hated the circus growing up. Especially after the really bad experience Albedo and I had at this one circus with this clown named Zombozo.” Albedo snickered from his spot.

“Right, I forget that your two greatest fears are peacocks and clowns.” Albedo laughed. Ben glared over at his doppelganger, his face flushing bright red.

“Dude, I figured everyone knew about the clown thing at this point… but how on Earth did you know about the peacocks?”

“Benjamin, I make it my business to know those sorts of things, all things considered.” Albedo said. Richard looked like he was going to burst into laughter at that remark.

“Stalker.” Ben huffed, “You’re worse than Rook.” This caused Richard to double over and start cackling like a mad man. Once the younger teen finished laughing and drying his tears, he sat straight and offered them a wild grin.

“Yep. You two are twins all right.” He chuckled. Ben glanced over to Albedo, who now looked incredibly irritated. Despite the fact that they looked alike and that Albedo had been the one who suggested they pretend to be brothers, it was obvious Albedo was annoyed that people were actually buying it.

“So… who’s Rook anyways?” Richard asked.

“Oh, he was this foreign exchange student back home. Decided to hang out with me all the time since we had similar interests, but the guy had this habit of knowing everything about everyone, even stuff that people never told him… like middle names. Apparently he didn’t want to offend people, so he did research to figure out what people did and didn’t like, resulting in him knowing the weirdest stuff about pretty much everyone in our school.”

“Yeah, I know a few guys that are nosy like that.” Richard said thoughtfully.

“Oh, no, Rook was never nosy, he just didn’t understand respecting people’s private lives at all.” Ben laughed, “But he was a pretty cool guy to hang with. Really intelligent, but awkward or rigid in a lot of situations. Man, I miss that guy.”

“Yes, unlike you, Rook Blonko was actually a tolerable and intelligent individual.” Albedo agreed thoughtfully, earning a glare from Ben. Ben was kept from arguing when suddenly the light on the plane indicating descent flipped on. Ben decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and settled down in his chair, rebuckling himself and warning Albedo to turn the computer off.

When they landed, Richard and his butler, who had apparently been flying the plane, helped the boys to the complex where the workers of Wayne Enterprises D.C. division typically lived. To say it was a vast improvement from where they’d been staying in Gotham was an understatement. Ben was pleased to learn there was room for them both and that he wouldn’t be forced to sleep on some old couch.

Ben blissfully made comments about what he had experienced the last time he had been in D.C. never going into any real detail around Richard because Albedo had insisted on keeping all locals in the dark about who they really were, no matter how nice the people seemed. Ben was slowly learning more and more about Albedo’s character. He was rigid, and everything Albedo said sounded like a textbook.

A very condescending textbook.

He was easily irritated and was still not entirely used to his human form, even after two years. He struggled to overcome basic human instincts, like the need to eat food whenever he came across it, especially chili fries, and he hated anytime anyone corrected him on his odd behavior. In fact, like most Galvans, Albedo seemed to be insulted anytime he was corrected at all. But the thing that Ben had learned most about Albedo was that Albedo did not trust anyone. Not even Ben. Especially not Ben.

Though the past week had forced the two foes to be more open towards one another, Ben knew Albedo still expected Ben to stab him in the back just like every villain and Azmuth had supposedly done to him before. Trusting in Mr. Wayne and his adopted son was pretty much the same. He would keep telling Ben to watch his words. Keep coming up with lies and mistruths to keep Wayne and Grayson from knowing anything about Ben and Albedo’s true past and where they had come from. Ben had eventually given up on trying to get any direct help from the locals for the fear that Albedo would run the instant Ben started telling the truth, thus leaving Ben stranded there forever.

It was a little sad.

Had Ben known that Albedo was in such disarray, he would have tried to get the skittish Galvan help a lot sooner. As far as Ben could tell, Albedo had never set out to become evil. The poor Galvan just thought he was right, tried proving it, and stubbornly resisted when Azmuth told him he was wrong. From there it had been a downward spiral to the vengeful teenage human he had become.

“And if you guys need anything, call, I’ll fly right over!” Richard said happily as he finished helping Albedo and Ben find their apartment, pulling Ben from his thoughts.Ben waved goodbye to the spirited thirteen year old boy.

“Tell us how you did in your contest when it’s over, okay Richard?” Ben asked.

“I will. And please, my friends call me Dick. Richard is way too formal.” He corrected. Ben nodded.

“Will do. See you around.”

Chapter 7: The Conception of Deka and Reflect.

“They call it Cadmus.” Albedo said calmly, “From what I have researched, it is a genetic laboratory. However, I have been looking at this building’s structure and everything about it seems… well off. As far as I can tell, there is something more down there. It reminds me of the bunkers from Area 51. Also, the funding of the place is done by LexCorp, a man who has advocated against aliens since the appearance of Superman, one of the local heroes. From what I gather, whatever is done there is most likely alien in origin. Likely Luthor’s way of preparing against any invasion, and where there are aliens, Tennyson, there is almost always technology to be taken.”

“So, what? We bust into this place, look for any aliens, bust them out and confiscate any tech we find down there that could help us? Why… why does half of that sound like we’ve just become Forever Knights?” Ben asked. Albedo scoffed.

“Not you. Me. Mr. Wayne has arranged for me and a few others from Wayne Enterprises D.C. to meet with the head researcher there. You, Tennyson, are not exactly the most subtle in your approaches to situations as… ah… delicate as this. Besides, you weren’t invited. You would find the entire experience rather boring, despite your dual mission to protect the DNA stored within that watch.”

“But it could be dangerous!” Ben argued, “If this Luthor guy is even remotely like the Forever Knights, even thinking you could be an alien is a bad thing, and let’s face it Albedo, human form or not, you are still an alien.”

“I am glad you care so deeply, but I do not wish to make the locals of this Multiverse aware of our presence just yet. I certainly do not want people to know I am traveling with a person with the most powerful device in the universe strapped to his wrist. As of right now in my grand plan, your reckless nature and usage of the Omnitrix will certainly work against us and draw unwanted attention.” Ben huffed. Albedo made a point. Ben made a lot of enemies by flaunting off his abilities. Even so, no one had beaten Ben yet. That wouldn’t change even in a new multiverse.

After only a day in Washington, Albedo had come to the conclusion that they needed to investigate a local project owned by some major company called LexCorp that was called Project Cadmus. Lex was apparently extremely anti-alien or something, and Albedo had a theory that the man might try and pull a forever knight's scheme to eradicate them. Ben saw Albedo’s logic and agreed, Luthor was well worth investigating, as was project Cadmus. However, the Galvan then immediately told Ben that he wasn’t allowed to come with him to investigate the place.

Albedo’s plan was to go as a member of Wayne Tech that just so happened to be interested in the genetic research done at the facilities. They scheduled a tour for him that evening and everything. Ben, unfortunately, was not invited, and his tagging along was frowned upon by Albedo, who was scared that Ben would make a scene.
It was a great plan except for the whole ‘leave Ben, aka, the muscle of the two out of it’ part.

“Dude, what if they turn out to be something dangerous? What if you get into trouble? I’m supposed to keep you from getting killed! You… You know, because getting killed means I don’t go home?”

“I highly doubt they’ll suspect me of anything. I’ve gotten very good at gleaning information and technology without drawing attention to myself. I cannot say the same for you, savior of the universe.”

“Come on! That wasn’t even my fault! Jimmy exposed me!”

“He wouldn’t have done so had you been more subtle!” Albedo bit back, “Besides, if you’re that worried, I am bringing my genetic project along and will be wearing it under my clothes to insure my protection.”

“Dude, that’s an experimental piece of tech that messes with mana. Mana! Everyone knows mana and tech don’t mix!”

“Yes, but I’m a Galvan. I know how to get around that.” Ben found himself desperately running his fingers through his hair. Albedo was insane if he thought Ben was just going to let this slide and let the guy do something so completely stupid. And Albedo called Ben an idiot! Jeesh!

“Yeah, well, drawing attention to the Omnitrix isn’t as bad as letting you get yourself killed! You are literally an alien in a human body walking into a facility built by an anti-alien advocate! That’s the definition of stupid.”

“Said the boy that can become every alien in the Omniverse.” Ben snapped his mouth shut and glowered at the albino, who was still getting things together for the ‘mission.’ Albedo double checked that his stun gun was charged and then hid it in his bag. Watched as he pulled a black t-shirt over the sci-fi looking uniform and the red jacket over that.

“Okay, but what about security? In a place like this they do checks.”

“I know how to bypass that. They won’t detect the uniform, watch, or the weapon.”

“This is insanity. I swear, if you get yourself killed and I can’t go home because of you, I’m going to kill you.”

“I’ll have the communicator on my watch. If I need you, I will call you. I’m not an idiot.” Albedo huffed, “And for the record, if you call me over the comms, address me as Reflect. We do not wish for anyone to trace our underground hunt for alien technology back to us. It could be problematic.”

“Um, okay, so then who am I?” Ben asked.

“Your code name is Deka.”

“...Why?”

“It’s Greek for ten.”

“...I can work with that… But! Wait! If we just, you know, made up a superhero persona or something, then we wouldn’t need to leave me behind! I could just show up and save the day in the nick of time and no one would be the wiser!”

“No, Benjamin. Stay here unless I need you.” Albedo grunted, before pulling his bag on and going for the door. Ben raced for some sort of argument to keep him there. The Galvan was almost halfway out when Ben got an idea.

“Dude, it’s July 4! July 4! Think of all the smoothie stands and the vendors selling chili fries this week! And it’s D.C.! There is literally no cooler place to be on the 4th than in D.C.”

“I do not care what you do.” Albedo said, “Just so long as you refrain from wreaking havoc unless I instruct it… did you just say chili fries?” Ben grinned, happy to have caught his counterpart’s interest.

“The greasiest and spiciest in the U.S. I guarantee, but you’ll miss out if you go on this mission all by yourself. If I come with you, maybe you’ll finish faster and we can grab some before the night is through and the vendors shut down for the fireworks.” Albedo hesitated.

“While the offer of chili fries is as alluring as it sounds revolting, I must decline for tonight. I am sure there are plenty of vendors that will offer me some tomorrow.” Albedo said, “Now, wait for my order, otherwise, stay away from Cadmus.”

The Galvan left completely, slamming the door behind him. Ben scowled. He retreated back into his room to grab some money. It had only been a week with Wayne, and a day or so in Washington, but already they had made enough to get them clothes and have a little extra cash on the side. Ben decided to just buy his doppleganger’s dinner now and store it in the fridge for later. As an insurance that the guy would come back. Ben stopped halfway through ruffling through his dresser upon coming across a green bandanna.

He stared at it for a moment, before deciding to do something new. Ben found the green soccer jersey he’d found at a thrift shop that had the number ten printed on it. It was the Jersey for some froiegn country but it was perfect as Ben pulled it out and threw it onto his bed. He grabbed up a black undershirt, some green and white goalie gloves, and the soccer pads they’d bought to help with the ex-soccer player story.

He strapped the shin guards onto his legs and pulled on his cargo pants and tennis shoes. He pulled on elbow pads and secured the gloves over his hands. He tested out the gloves, making sure they were snug enough for his fingers to move correctly, before tying the bandanna around his face like a bandit. It wasn’t the coolest disguise ever, but it was better than just running around in his normal green jacket or t-shirt and hoping no one would connect the dots.

“Deka the changeling is ready for action!” Ben chuckled, posing dramatically before cracking up over how over the top that was. Once he sobered himself, Ben found the extra stun gun Albedo had made for emergencies and hooked it to his belt, just in case the Omnitrix wigged out, because it just loved to do that.

Then, being the Tennyson he was, Ben left the apartment to defy a certain Galvan’s orders.

Notes:

So, as ya'll might've noticed, it's been about two weeks since my last update. This is because I was moving cities and had expected the Wifi at my new home to be set up and ready to go BEFORE the day I normally update. Obviously, that did not go as planned, seeing as the Wifi company couldn't initially get our Wifi to work. It took us two whole weeks to get it running. Since I didn't have Wifi, and my cell service is spotty, I was completely unable to upload or post any notifications about the issue. We've finally got it worked out, and I will be returning to our regular Thursdays (At some Random Time) uploads starting today. Next time, I'll do my best to give a warning if I can't post.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you all for your patience.

Chapter 8: Reflect Invades Project Cadmus.

Notes:

'This conveys telepathy' because using italics on this website is a whole process...
"This is normal talking" This remains true for the rest of the series unless updated.

Albedo hadn’t realized he could be bored by science.

But when the science was so stupidly simple and easy for a Galvan to understand, well, he got bored.

It was like that for Cadmus, who’s tour guide drawled to the Wayne Tech scientists about genetic splicing… a concept Albedo was very, very familiar with. He did his best not to look bored by their stupidity, but it wasn’t working. He knew he couldn’t afford to look stupid, even if he wasn’t the dumb one.

He could still remember the day before, when Mr. Wayne introduced Albedo to his new co-workers. A few had actually snickered, called him kid, and ruffled his hair. Albedo had to readjust the wig he wore countless times and made a mental note to himself to invest in something that would make his hair look brown while at work that wouldn’t be knocked off of his head.

However, from that one day, Albedo learned that the humans there thought him beneath them. They had no idea who they were offending by thinking this, and as much as he wanted to show them, he refrained himself for the sake of his cover and the sake of his and Benjamin’s survival in that multiverse.

‘You’re different from the others.’ Albedo found himself blinking, stopping in the middle of the tour as he looked around the room at who had spoken.

“Who…” He breathed.

‘Worry not, I am a friend.’ The voice urged, ‘Please, I am in need of your help. You seek answers. A means of helping your brother. I too seek the same thing. Come to the elevators once you can slip away.’ Albedo realized the voice was in his head. The Galvan scowled, but backed from the group, mumbling something to the tour guide about needing to use the restroom. The Galvan found the restroom, and pulled off the clothes he was wearing over his uniform and shoved them into his backpack. He put a white mask on his face and grabbed his stun gun from the bag, hooking it onto his uniform. He then set to work on removing the wig and contacts, slipping those into his bag next and then storing the bag on the ceiling tile. He then crept to the elevator, going inside, and squinting upon finding it was an express elevator.

“Tell me, friend. Who are you and what is this?” Albedo called.

‘We will meet below. Now hurry. My distraction will not last long. You must find Project Kr.’

“What distrac-” Albedo let out a startled cry as the elevator shuttered and began going down on it’s own just as he began to smell smoke in the air. Albedo fumbled for the railing, barely catching himself and pulling himself upright after nearly falling with the sudden moment. He grit his teeth under the makeshift mask.

“Whoever you are, I request you explain yourself immediately. I am not one to make bargains with strange men whose faces I have not encountered. What is your query with me and what is this project you’ve mentioned?” There was no response, the elevator kept dropping. It was really shaking as it did so too. Albedo grunted, and grabbed his gun, firing rapidly at the elevator’s control and the machine shuttered, screeching to a halt at a sub-level 42. Albedo went to the doors and struggled to try and pry them open with no luck. Frustrated, Albedo activated the genetic function of the Reflect suit and directed it to the door. A flash of red light later, and the door slid open. Albedo stumbled out, and his eyes went wide at the world he found outside. Tunnels that didn’t look human made wove their way in front of him. Alien-like creatures buzzed about, like workers in a factory.

Albedo back up, back into the elevator.

“By Galvan.” He breathed. He waited for a moment, but none of the creatures seemed to notice or care about him being there. He decided to be on the safe side, and dashed out of the elevator and down the hall with the smallest number of the creatures. Almost immediately, he stumbled upon what seemed like a human built lab. No one was in it, and there were gene collection tubes of some kind lining the walls. Curiosity buzzed inside of Albedo, and he found a computer in the room, and set to work on hacking into the system.

“Project Kr… Project Kr… Ah… here.” Albedo found the data that the voice had mentioned and pulled it up on the screen, “Kryptonian clone… is that not what that one local hero is? Superman? But… Why would humans have access to alien splicing components and have technology for cloning? This is level five technology! Not that I’m complaining. I can use this to my advantage. The DNA processors alone in these collection tubes are perfect…” Albedo abandoned the dash and approached one of the tubes, carefully peeling back one of the panels and examining the compliments inside. His red eyes flickered greedily over them as he wondered if there was a way to re-purpose them to re-trigger his transformative abilities. Then he wouldn’t need Tennyson!

‘But you promised to send him back to his family.’ The voice noted.

“Perhaps, but he’s a gullible fool.” Albedo huffed.

‘But he’s the only partner you’ve had so far who seems sincere in keeping his word. And if you really think about it, is your current state of being actually his fault?’

“It’s both of theirs!” Albedo huffed. The voice shut up and Albedo began to start disconnecting wires and removing pieces. He worked in relative silence when suddenly, Albedo heard a man’s voice directly behind him.

“And just what do you think you’re doing here?” Albedo flinched, spinning around and coming face to face with a human male in a lab coat who was flanked by a man in a golden helmet and several of the little alien-like creatures.

“Um… maintenance?” Albedo offered.

“Take him.” The scientist growled. The little creatures lunged and Albedo activated his uniform again. Washes of red light blocked them from reaching him and he scrambled to his feet. Albedo ducked under the scientist’s arms, which went to grab him, and sprinted down the hall back for the elevator.

‘But Project Kr.’ The voice nagged.

“Forget about Kr!”

‘Trust me! Please!’

“I don’t even know who you are!’ Albedo reached the elevator, only for two very large creatures to get in the way. Albedo skidded to a stop, looking behind himself to see more of the little creatures coming up behind him. Albedo grabbed his weapon and began to fire.

“Reflect to Deka.” He called to his watch as he stunned the little creatures, “If you would like to come, you are very welcome to do so.”

“Error. Communications blocked.” His watch replied. Albedo’s expression went slack.

“Azmuth, please just kill me now...” And then, all at once, the monsters lunged, and Albedo knew no more.

Notes:

Sorry for any errors in this chapter, I had a lot of school work today and not much time in the day for editing.

Chapter 9: A Painful Interview With a Sub-Intellect.

‘Wake up!’ Albedo’s eyes flew open. He tried to jerk forwards, realizing he was upright, only to be held back. Instantly panic rushed through him as he raced through his thoughts, trying to sort through them. Who had employed him last? Vilgax? No… That wasn’t right. Wait… No… He hadn’t been hired. He’d been with-

“Ah, our young visitor is awake it would seem.” Albedo collected his thoughts and he focused on where he was. He was tied to the wall, inside a lab he didn’t know with a human male with a lab coat was staring at him with a wild smile.

Albedo glared down at the man.

“We’ve got a few things to discuss, boy. Of course, the first matter would be how you discovered this location and what you're breaking in. The next question being why you set the Cadmus building on fire? The third being why my telepath seems to struggle fishing information from your head. And who were you trying to contact before we apprehended you?” The scientist drawled before his tone shifted, “But those questions I’m sure I’ll have the answer to shortly. I’m more interested in this.” The man spun on his heels, reaching for a screen mounted above a lab table behind him. It flickered to life. And a chart of a person shimmered into existence.

“As you can see, immense energy seems to be generating from you. It’s mingled in your DNA, and likely, I theorize, somehow in correlation with the lack of pigmentation in your hair, eyes, and skin. Of course, that could just be the standard albinism mutation… Furthermore, upon inspection of your DNA… it’s slightly damaged with signs of alteration as well as this.” The screen shifted, and Albedo’s eyes narrowed at the scans they’d pulled of blank-genome fragments. Left-over blank coding particles that would forever exist in both his and Benjamin’s genetic code that assisted in transformations… but were essentially useless without an Omnitrix core, the alien DNA, and a safe stabilizer. Aka, two level twenty pieces of technology and samples of millions of aliens.

“Interesting that a person would have genome fragments like this just… floating around their cellular nucleus.” The scientist purred, “Would you like me to translate? You look confused.”

“I understand your inquiry completely, sir, I would simply like to know who in Azmuth’s name you are and know what business you have restraining me and lecturing me about humanoid genome functions.” Albedo spat out, his tone clearly bitter and frustrated. The scientist’s eyes widened slightly.

“...A smart young man, aren’t you?” He questioned. Smart… yes. Young? Well, youth was relative. Compared to this fool, however, no.

“I consider myself well informed.” Albedo replied, “Now, shall we trade names or must I keep calling you ‘the foolish scientist who clearly can’t understand advanced meta-mutation like a well rounded genetic specialist?’” The scientist snorted at Albedo’s snappy reply.

“I am Dr. Mark Desmond.”

“Reflect.” Albedo offered, recalling the code name he’d assigned himself for such scenarios.

“A persona. Amusing. What is your real name, Reflect? Or should I just remove the mask or run my DNA samples through the system in search of a match?”

“My DNA would have to be in your system for that and my face would have to be a lot more well known for you to learn much from it.” Albedo countered, “So, Reflect is what you’ll call me.”

“Well, then, Reflect. What exactly are these fragments? What is their purpose? If you understand the science behind this, then clearly you’re brilliant enough to explain it? Or would you prefer to skip the science talk for now and jump to the more boring parts of this little interrogation?”

Albedo lowered his glare towards Desmond. Letting his opinion on the situation be blatantly known. Desmond sighed, moving across the room.

“Well, it's to the important questions then. Who do you work for and why did you break into Cadmus?” Albedo pressed his lips together as his scowl deepened. Desmond shrugged. Instantly, Albedo felt a surge of pain and electrical charges shoot through his body and he spasmed, letting out an alarmed shout. The charges stopped, and Albedo slumped forwards, mind already racing for a proper response. In all reality, he worked for no one. Benjamin didn’t count. Something told Albedo that Desmond wouldn’t believe that.

Desmond went to start the electrical flow again and Albedo blurted out, “Plumbers!” Immediately, he felt red flush across his face. Stooping to the point of pretending to work for his enemy. As if the alliance with Benjamin wasn’t bad enough. Did his humiliation have no end?

“...Plumbers?” Desmond asked, “I’ve never heard of them. You don’t mean men who come to clean the sink, I’m assuming?”

“...It’s… Like the intergalactic black ops.” Albedo bit out, “One that came to Earth in the age of the Revolutionary War but was founded by the forigen alien race called the Galvans. It’s been inactive for a long while, but the increased activity of the Justice League and the former Justice Society. We ‘plug up the leaks’ that society isn’t supposed to know about yet. For a long while, metas and aliens were hidden by my organization, but as you can see, our efforts were unsuccessful.”

“Hmm… For ‘the intergalactic black ops’ you sure are mouthy. You talk easy, Mario.” Desmond teased, to which Albedo squinted… who the heck was Mario?

“Clearly, I’m not a combat operative. I’m a scientist.” Albedo said, “I don’t have the proper training for field work. If I did, I likely wouldn’t have been captured in the first place.”

“Which still begs the question, why are you here?” Desmond asked, “I’ve never heard of these Plumbers, but assuming that they do exist, it makes little sense to send a man with no field training into the lion's den that is my Cadmus.” Once more Albedo raced for an answer. There really was no good reason for a man with literally no training in the field to be snooping in a place like Cadmus. He started debating about the voice… when suddenly it rang in his head again.

‘Your brother is coming, friend.’

He froze.

Benjamin was coming? After he’d specifically ordered against it? Had the boy somehow gotten his distress signal… or was Benjamin really that reckless?

‘A distraction is on it’s way.’ The voice promised, ‘Stay strong a little longer. Once alone, use your red power to free yourself. Project Kr awaits you.’

‘And what if I refuse to investigate this Project Kr?’ Albedo snapped mentally. Immediately, Albedo was flooded with a barrage of mental images regarding a boy trapped under mind control. Imprisoned and completely at Cadmus’s mercy. The mental images stopped only when more electricity buzzed through him and he cried out in alarm once more.

He slumped again the second it ended.

“Perhaps you weren’t supposed to come down here alone at all.” Desmond purred, “Perhaps you aren’t alone. And you were signaling your escort upon realizing you were going to be detained. So, where is your partner, Reflect?” Albedo kept his mouth shut. Blabbering on about the Plumbers, aka, a group that didn’t even exist in that multiverse (He’d triple checked that) was one thing, but it was something else to double cross his very real and alive partner while Albedo still needed him. The voice promised a distraction. He could be patient. As painful as this was, he’d been through far worse.

‘I know you are a bitter spirit, Albedo.’ The voice begged, ‘And that the concerns of Project Kr do not align with your own, but he is being used, just as you have been used. At the very least, you can sympathize with that and have a desire to provide Kr with some sort of relief?’
Albedo found himself glaring at the floor, ignoring Desmond who was now rattling questions off and hovering his hands over the on switch. The voice compared Albedo to a clone. A stupid child who was so easily swayed by the control of telepaths.

A clone being used for his strength as everyone else used Albedo time and time again for his intellect.

“This is stupid.” He hissed under his breath.

“What was that?” Desmond questioned, moving close.

‘I will handle your Project Kr. In trade, I need information.’

‘What do you need to know? Does this concern fixing your Ultimatrix?’ The voice asked. Albedo paused, glancing up at the watch still strapped on his wrist. He grimaced.

‘Do you have anything with high level alien genetic transmutation?’ Albedo asked.

‘We have some…’ The voice confirmed, wary now. Albedo hesitated, his temptation great. But then for some stupid reason, his mind flashed to Tennyson. To how that fool was apparently coming to save him.

‘...I need to know more about the group employing and helping with Project Cadmus. About what other advanced technologies they may possess… particularly concerning multi-dimensional travel.’

‘I don’t know much about that-’

‘Please! You’re a telepath!’

‘...I will see what I can offer. You will be given the knowledge you seek upon Kr’s escape.’ The voice promised. Albedo lowered his head.

‘Deal.’

“Answer me!” Desmond snarled, snapping Albedo back into reality. The man had grown hostile now. Aggressive and angry. Apparently, Albedo’s continued silence annoyed him. Albedo went to open his mouth and give some sort of answer to serve as a red herring, but he was interrupted when a man with two horns and blue skin entered the lab.

“Dr. Desmond!” He called, and Albedo inhaled, recognizing the voice immediately, “We have other intruders!” Desmond laughed, his tone low and amused as he wagged a finger in front of Albedo’s face.

“You thought you could protect your friends.” Desmond cackled, “Well, let's see how quickly we can resolve that issue.”

“You’re no match for him.” Albedo replied, his tone firm.

“We’ll see.” Desmond replied, turning and leaving Albedo alone with the blue man.

“He’ll be hostile when you wake him. I need time to eradicate the current genome programming inside of him. I can get you undetected to Kr, but you must follow my directions completely. Your friends will keep them busy long enough for Kr to come aware, but your medical and scientific genius should be enough to wake him properly without the genome influence.”

“Just follow your boss, telepath.” The blue, two horned man nodded, leaving Albedo alone. Albedo took a shaky breath, before focusing on his Reflect uniform.
Energy. He needed energy.

Once more, the room flashed red, and suddenly he was collapsing as the restraints released. He grinned to himself.

“Thank you, Deka, for your contribution of an anodite heritage. I should’ve dabbled with this disgusting form’s more… unique genetic perks a long time ago.” And with that, he rose and began to leave the blasted lab, only to pause, an odd realization striking him.

“...I’m sorry… but did he say friends? As in… plural?”

Chapter 10: Deka Makes Some Very Important Friends.

He flew through the flaming building, very distressed about the whole ‘building that Albedo was in being on fire’ thing. Of course the Galvan teenager would instantly get into trouble the second Ben wasn’t around. And Albedo called him the reckless one! As far as Ben was concerned, Albedo likely got into more trouble than Ben. The guy was a wanted criminal in the Omniverse for a reason.

He stopped in his survey of the flaming building, having put out flames left and right with the only sign of Albedo being the backpack he’d not-so-subtly shoved into the bathroom ceiling tiles. Then Ben found the elevator. Fearful that some moron had forgotten how emergency exits were supposed to work, he phased inside in search for Albedo… or any stragglers. Much to his alarm and dismay, the elevator was gone. And the leftover was a long, much too deep shaft that had no place existing inside of a two story building.

He swooped down until he reached where the elevator itself was located and phased inside. His worry was apparent upon discovering a broken open door… faint traces of mana still lingering in the air, and signs of laser fire on the control panel. He looked out the door… to find quite the interesting scenery.

With a twist of his insignia, he shifted from Big Chill to Chamalien, turning invisible the second the transformation was complete. As fun as picking a fight with who Ben assumed were Albedo’s kidnappers sounded, he also really, really did not want to find out what ugly alien had constructed the underground labyrinth until after he found Albedo. Once Albedo was taken care of, it was free reign as far as Ben was concerned. There was no way anything about the place was legal. He didn’t need Rook there pounding the rulebook into his head for that to be obvious. In fact… the entire place worryingly reminded him of the Highbreed hideouts from the war.

He only stopped in his search at the sound of voices. Forgetting he was camouflaged for a short moment, he ducked out of the main hall into a side area… only to turn and look up, his entire body going completely stiff as his invisibility dropped for a moment. Rows and rows of alien-like creatures were trapped in giant glass tubes lining the entire wall. Yeah… this definitely wasn’t legal.

Not thinking, he dropped the transformation completely and walked forward, holding his arm out to check and see if the watch would respond and scan them. It remained green and gave no response.

“These ones are either non-intelligent, synthesized from multiple intelligent sources or…” He muttered before the voices he’d heard earlier suddenly returned. He moved fast, ducking behind one of the glass tubes, keeping his hands posed over the watch, ready to fight if they got too close.
The voices became clearer… and they sounded… strangely teenagerish. Ben dared to peak around the corner. His heart leapt… this time with excitement.

“The real Cadmus isn’t on the grid. It generates its own power with these…things. Must be what they’re bred for.” Came the worried tone of a familiar red haired speedster Ben had been reading about online in his free-time.

“Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth.” Came the more regal, even and Rook-like tone of an Atlantean hero.

“And this Cadmus creates new life too. Let’s find out why. They call them Genomorphs. Whoa, look at the stats on these things. Super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons.”

“An army.” Ben muttered under his breath, a terrible realization, “Could it be another Highbreed War?”

“They’re engineering an army, but for who?” The speedster said, somehow agreeing with Ben without realizing it. What the heck had Albedo accidently stumbled onto? Was it just in the Tennyson DNA to randomly come across stuff like this or was that just Ben and Albedo’s shared luck?

“Wait, there’s something else. Project Kr. Ugh! The files are triple-encrypted. I can’t-”

“Triple?” Definitely something that Albedo would enjoy cracking. Looked like Ben knew where he was looking. He’d worry about the teen superheroes later but for the moment Albedo was kinda the priority. Being MIA in a place that was apparently prepping for war was not a good thing.
Well… the superheroes weren’t his concern right up until the point where a guy called for them to stop where they were.

Oh, they’d been spotted. Great.

Looked like it was Hero time for Ben.

He moved to step out and stop the guy, only for the young heroes to identify and know who the guy was immediately. He… Worked for the Justice League? Weren’t those the good guys? Why would the good guys need a place so freaky?

“You think the League’s gonna approve of you breeding weapons?” Kid Flash objected, and Ben grew even more confused.

“Weapons? What are you...What have I...Ugh. My head.” Helmet dude didn’t know. How the heck did the helmet dude not know? The helmet guy grew suddenly stiff. The weird alien things behind him mimicking his movements.

“Take them down hard. he tells the Genomorphs. No mercy.”

“That’s my cue.” He dialed at random and lunged out from where he was as the teen heroes backed up in alarm.

“XLR8!” He zipped forwards, instantly dancing around the creatures and slamming into the helmet guy and grabbing Robin by the collar of his uniform, dragging him away. Kid Flash seemed to follow his lead, grabbing at Aqualad and taking him away from the weird creatures. Ben slowed halfway through, and was quickly cut off by an annoyed Kid Flash.

“What the heck and who the heck are you!? And let go of Robin!” Ben let go of Robin and grabbed the dail to twist it to normal. He shifted back to his normal human self.

“Good guy, I swear.” He promised, raising his hands in mock surrender, “Name’s Deka. I’m a shapeshifter. I saw those guys attack you and thought I’d swoop in and save the day! You guys are superheroes, yeah? Me too!” He pointed proudly to the ten on his shirt.

“...Er, no offense, but superheroes don’t wear… soccer jerseys.” Kid Flash scoffed.

“Hey, this is a good team, also, all those fancy suits and stuff mesh really weird with the transformations. I’ll stick to normal clothes, though those costumes are really cool, especially up close. I’ve always wanted to meet more fellow heroes.”

“What the heck are you doing here?” Robin asked, “You’re not in the League Database and I’ve never heard of Deka.”

“I’m intergalactic. It’s been a sec since I’ve operated on Earth, but my partner noticed this Cadmus place and thought it was sketchy, so I’m here to check it out. Turns out, he was right… and um, he’s also missing. He was down here first and I haven’t seen him in hours. You three wouldn’t have happened to? You can’t miss him. He’s albino and in red, black, and white.”

“Your partner is missing?” Aqualad asked, concerned. Ben nodded before growing stiff at the sound of more of those creatures.

“...Yeah, this isn’t the best place to discuss. I can hold these guys off easy, but, um, I really need to find Reflect, that’s his name. Can’t leave until I locate him and all that.”

“And clue where he might be?” Aquald asked.

“...Knowing Reflect? Near anything involving genetic stuff or something sciency and geney like that or at the most high level, hard to get to place in this death trap.” Ben replied as they made a dash for the elevator, “That’s his weapon’s fire on the paneling and he definitely broke these doors.”

“Jeesh, how strong is he?” Kid Flash whistled.

“Must be at Project Kr. That’s way too obscure and weird not to investigate. We need to go to sub-level 52.” Ben nodded, slamming on his watch and morphing into Upgrade.

“Wait!” Aqualad called before Ben could merge with the elevator, “We need to contact the League. We’ve got to regroup. This is a stranger… with clearly even stranger abilities. This could be a trap.” Ben didn’t wait for the teen heroes to make up their mind, he merged immediately with the elevator as the creatures got way too close for comfort to the elevator. The elevator dropped and the heroes had to catch themselves, alarmed by the sudden movement.

“What the? What kind of shapeshifter can do that?!” Kid Flash asked.
“...I have the powers of any form I take…. And I can take the form of any alien I want to, just as long as I’ve got their DNA. Galvanic Mechmorph’s like Upgrade here can merge and manipulate technology. Super awesome.”

“...Any alien?!” Kid Flash gasped, “Do you know how many aliens there are? Or how crazy dangerous that’s gotta be?!”

“Millions, actually, though I currently only am allowed to use, like, sixty. Azmuth says I have to wait ‘till I’m eighteen to unlock any more’. He’s a real piece of work sometimes. Also, obviously I know it’s dangerous, Kid. I’m running around a weird bozo tunnel system with a bunch of supers being chased by a bunch of weird monster things. You think I do this stuff and don't know it’s dangerous? Relax! I’ve been at this since I was ten. A total expert. Bet you ten bucks the big bad is some nerd working for some crazy obscure group or invasion task force that we’ve gotta beat up… Well, you guys are heroes. I’m sure you get that.”

“...I’m sorry what?!” Kid Flash sputtered.

“No?” Ben questioned, “Well, this whole thing got harder. Just follow my lead, and I’m sure things will work out! They usually do!” It was at that moment he heard the Omnitrix start to power down… right… recharging. That was a thing. He was spat out of the elevator as he was forced back into his human form. He huffed, tapping the watch in aggravation.

“Stupid piece of junk.”

“That’s fine.” Robin noted, “We’re here anyways.”

“This is a bad idea.” Aqualad muttered under his breath. Kid Flash collected himself before shrugging as Robin exited.

“...Well, we’re already here and Mr. Ten kinda seems like he knows what he’s doing. Are we really going to leave a person down here and wait for backup?” Aqualad sighed, but followed Ben and his comrades out of the elevator. It was even more bizarre and alien-like on that sub-level. Ben seriously had to wonder who had gone and built the place.

They came to the crossroads.

“Which way now, Mr. Follow My Lead?” Kid Flash asked Ben. Ben’s eyes narrowed and he glanced down at the Omnitrix.

“Yeah, bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?” Robin agreed.

“What, didn’t pull a map when you hacked this place?” Ben asked Robin.

“You came here without one?” Aqualad questioned, “You said you knew where he’d be.”

“I said I had a good idea.” Ben replied, “And besides, Reflect’s the hacker in our duo, I’m the muscle. He would have a map. I thought maybe Robin might too. It’s not like I’ve been able to contact him since he came down here.”

“Ehem!” Ben jerked his head up, just noticing the strange blue alien in the hall with two horns and several boxes floating around him. He had no clue how long the guy had been there, but he looked mildly annoyed, “I said halt.” Ben glanced at his watch, which was still in the red. Looked like it was time to improvise. The young heroes looked ready to move and attack the blue horned alien, but Ben just lazily threw his hands up in the air.

“Oh no! A telekinetic alien!”

“...Wait? I’m not a-”

“Guess I’ve got to surrender!”

“Deka, what the heck?! move!” Ben stared the creature down. He could hear the clatter of more of the creatures from up stairs coming down the right, meaning left was probably the way to go. If they were coming from the right, then clearly there was some sort of back entrance there and nothing important was really stored on that side. Important stuff wasn’t supposed to be easy to access. That’s just how it worked.

“You three go left, I’ll catch up.” Ben promised. They hesitated, but then blue attacked. Ben sprung forwards, and the three teens moved out of the way, running to the left.

Say what Rook would say about Ben, but Ben actually was really good at operating outside of his transformations. He’d been the wielder of the Omnitrix for almost half of his life. Of course Ben knew how to fight in all forms he possessed, human included. He just wasn’t as good at it as his ninth degree black-belt cousin, or his vertan grandfather, or the martial arts obsessed Rook. It didn’t come as naturally fighting in human form as in his aliens. After all, the aliens came equipped with their natural instincts and built in self-defense. But the default form… His human form did not. That meant it took a lot of time and work and energy that Ben didn’t always have or didn’t always want to put in to be a good fighter in human form.

That didn’t mean he was completely useless.

He’d mastered the art of dodging, slipping free, and causing general havoc as early as ten.

He couldn’t aim to save his life with a gun or a blaster, but he could avoid the enemy. That was precisely what his plan was.

He dodged the flying objects, moving fast towards the telekinetic creature. He had to get close so he knew he wouldn’t miss.

“Boy, wait!” The creature objected as Ben drew close, but Ben was already in motion. He grabbed his stunner, firing, and knocking out the blue guy in one hit. He heard the sounds of the monsters getting closer and checked his watch.

Still red. He turned to face the music head on.

Into view came a scientist and several of the creatures along with a helmet guy from before. They skidded to a halt upon seeing Ben standing at the crossroads.

“...Who the heck is this guy?” Helmet said. Under his bandana, Ben smirked.

“Deka’s the name. Distraction’s the game!” He called making jazz hands in their directions.

“...It must be the other one’s partner.” The scientist muttered. Other one? Albedo. They must’ve caught him. Well, that was an easy fix. Ben charged. The scientist ordered his creatures to attack. Once more, he did his best to dodge, constantly checking his watch. He really needed the green.

“Gah!” One of the little guys launched itself onto his back, clinging on like a wild monkey of some kind. He tried to twist to rip him off, only for another to lunge and grab his leg. He tumbled, albit, a graceful one. His weapon flew from his hands and more of the little guys kicked it away from him. He went to tear them off only for a large shadow to stop him.

“Deka.” The scientist said, “Ten? What, does your organization just number their agents? That Reflect child wore the number one on his uniform.”

“Yeah, he’s one. I’m ten. But weirdly enough, that's a coincidence. Plumbers don’t actually number their operatives.” Ben replied. At least, he assumed that’s what the man meant by organization. If not, Ben was totally going to roll with that anyways. Better to claim to work for a group that didn’t exist than to make the clearly crazy man more crazy.

“Knock him out, put him with his partner. We still need to locate the young sidekicks.”

“Oh, them?” Ben said, “Sent them above. Should be contacting their superiors now.” Ben lied, “Clearly had no clue what they were doing so I booted them before they got themselves hurt. I’m such a considerate dude, right?” The crazy scientist’s nostrils flared in anger.

“...You did what?!” He snarled.

“Yeah, old fake out elevator trick. I took the elevator. They climbed up the shaft. They’re probably already out!” The man growled in rage. The little creatures chattered in irritation with him. He turned to helmet guy.

“Guardian, Go up top immediately. Cut them off and bring them back!”

“But sir, they’re just kids I-”

“Do it!” The horns on the creature that was on the helmet dude’s shoulder lit up, and the helmet dude, now dubbed Guardian, doubled back the way he came. One of the shoulder creatures landed on Ben’s shoulder, and instantly, he heard the thing’s telekinetic voice trying to give him orders.

‘Stand up. Walk.’ It instructed. Ben resisted the urge to chuckle. Probably should’ve told the crazy scientist that telepathy was completely usable on Ben… but mind control using telepathy was blocked by the Omnitrix signal. Apparently Azmuth didn’t want it’s user brainwashed into taking it off or using it for evil or something.

Still the little creatures got off of him and he was allowed to stand. He decided to go with it. He’d lead the creatures away from the young heroes, giving them a chance to check out that Kr thing they were interested in, and would follow the idiot scientist to where Albedo was being held.

‘Don’t worry, bro, I’m coming for you.’

Notes:

As a note, I know Nyancy Chan (Crazy Cat Lady from Omniverse) Has managed to mind control Ben before along with a few others... but never with telepathy. Azmuth's a bit crazy with his fail safes (Considering one of them could literally destroy the universe, so I don't think it's too out of the box that he'd try to keep whoever has the Omnitrix from getting mind controlled into wrecking havoc. I've seen this head-cannon before... But I'm still not totally sure if it's a real thing or not.

Chapter 11: Project KR and the Galvan Teen.

Shortly after the alarms went off, the telepath, who’d finally named himself as a G-Gnome called Dubblix, told him how to access Project Kr without being detected while his ‘brother’ distracted the enemy. Getting down to the sub-level while on lock-down was surprisingly much too easy for a secret compound. Hacking into, and bypassing the security locks on Project Kr was even easier.

He found himself sliding into the main room where the Kr Clone was being kept not even ten minutes after the alarms went off. Immediately, he noted the teen inside of the pod, found the computer, and set to work. A deal was a deal. He just hoped the telepath would keep his word… and that Benjamin had some sort of realistic extraction plan for getting them both out, because Albedo was very aware that he was in the belly of the beast.

Once Desmond realized that Albedo had powers and had also used said powers to escape, he knew those G-Gnomes would be out for his blood. Dubblix promised that project Kr and Benjamin would have a way out. He prayed this wasn’t another trick and that he wasn’t on the path to getting betrayed and left for dead… again.

“Okay, let's see what these G-Gnomes are telling you, Krytonian.” He attached his Ulitmatrix shell to the computer, already working to sort through the intel on the boy and putting in the programming Dubblix claimed would remove any Cadmus loyal programming. Basically, leaving in the present, teenager knowledge, and removing the drive to serve Cadmus at all cost along with any code words, control triggers, and other such mental programming out of him. Albedo double and tripled checked Dubblix’s recommendations, making sure it wasn’t a ploy. A trick of the G-gnome telepath that would result in Dubblix taking control of the clone and Albedo dead. He was not going to be double-crossed. He was NOT.

Satisfied, he let the Ulitamtrix shell feed the information into the clone’s assigned G-gnomes. Their horns glew red as they did as Albedo instructed. It was at that very moment. It was at that moment that the door behind him opened and Albedo flinched, summoning red energy to his non-Ultimatrix arm and glaring at the door, ready to fight until the clone was ready to be freed. In theory, since Albedo was his rescuer, the clone would side with him without the extra programming clouding his judgement.

Three persons darted into the room, shutting the door behind them. Albedo reacted, thrusting the energy outward so it slammed into the one in red with the cape. The other two, who’d been behind him, were able to move in time, proving to have inhuman speed that the boy had not possessed.

“Gah!”

“I’ve got him!”

“Kid Flash! Wait!” Called the man with webbed fingers, tattoos, and no shoes. The boy in yellow froze, having, at a speed faster than Albedo had been able to register, stopped directly in front of Albedo. Albedo tried to summon more of the energy, but his body wouldn’t go for it. He was tired, and his Reflect suit could only do so much without him actually studying the Anodite heritage of the Tennyson family further.

“Dude, he attacked Robin!” Kid Flash objected.

“That’s Reflect.” Robin, apparently, said, getting back up as he held where Albedo had struck. Albedo froze at the sound of his code name.

“...who told you that name?”

“Deka, your partner. He’s getting the guys after us off of our back right now, but he was really worried about you.” Robin explained, “He told me, Aqualad, and Kid Flash to go this way and find Kr.” Albedo pressed his lips. Of course Benjamin made friends. He wouldn’t be the great Ben 10 if he didn’t randomly show up with a group of strange heroic teenagers.

“Well, welcome to Kr. Here he is.” Albedo gestured over to the clone. The teen heroes seemed to freeze in horror as they noticed the slumbering clone.

“...Kr. The elemental symbol for Krypton.”

“Aka, Superman’s clone.” Albedo agreed, “I was drawn down here by a voice urging me to investigate this particular experiment. Was told I’m here to free him. I, in all reality, have no interest in the teen, but the information this compound likely houses is of extreme value to me. If you would like, once I am finished, you may take the child off of my hands. I’ve already got one annoying teenager roommate to throttle for not listening to orders. I don’t need another.”

“What are you doing to him?” Aqualad asked, his brows narrowed, his expression dangerous.

“I’m getting rid of Cadmus programming. I was warned that, should I wake him without removing this, he’d attack immediately and with absolute hostility. I’m going to take out anything that Cadmus could use to turn him against us. Once this is complete, I will wake him and he’ll be a free man… assuming I can figure out how to remove him from this facility.” Albedo motioned to the two creatures sitting above the clone, “Those are called G-Gnomes. They run Cadmus. This particular brand of G-Gnome operates as a hive mind. All connected through telepathy. Anyone they come into contact with they can automatically subdue telepathically and implant their own programming into. I’m rewriting what these two are telling this boy in order to prevent Cadmus from controlling him.”

“That’s what happened to the Guardian.” Kid Flash said as he whirled away from Albedo towards the others, “They’re controlling him.”

“No duh.” Robin agreed, “And we can get you, Deka, and Super… Boy?” Superboy out of here. We’ve been trained by the best.”

“Excellent.” Albedo praised, “I’m no warrior, and my partner…. Oh, how do I put this, lacks the common sense and reason to function like a serious professional. He’s an embarrassment to me at best.”

“...He seemed like he knew what he was doing though.” Kid Flash noted. Aqualad seemed to agree with Kid Flash, which annoyed Albedo.

“He is correct. Deka expressed a confidence that I’ve only seen in the most experienced heroes, despite being young.”

“Tch.” Albedo refocused on what he was doing. Most of Cadmus’s files on Kr were to be looked at later. He was less interested in the boy’s creation, since cloning was a process he considered quite simple, being a Galvan, and more interested in the organization that had created him to begin with.

“...Superboy, made to replace Superman should he fall… and destroy him should he turn from the Light.” Albedo read aloud, “...Why is Light capitalized?” Of course, the young heroes seemed to have no clue. He wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d stumbled onto Cadmus purely by accident with how random their presence seemed to be. They likely held no useful information. It didn’t matter. What mattered was waking Kr.

“Be ready.” He warned, and he allowed the boy to wake. Two bright blue eyes snapped open. The young heroes tensed. The boy stepped down, not groggy or even a little disoriented as he came out of the pod. It was like a machine.
Then, once out of the pod fully and away from the G-Gnomes, he blinked, and a dazed expression twisted his features from the strong, powerful puppet Cadmus had created… into the face of a confused young human boy. Albedo would deny that his heart danced with a twang of sympathy at the change, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand.

“What? Where… Cadmus… I’m at Cadmus… But… I don’t understand… How did… What was I…” Albedo disconnected his Ultimatrix shell from the computer as Aqualad moved forwards to reassure the clone. Speaking softly as he explained the situation.

“We’ll get you out of here. We’re gonna free you.” Kid Flash added.

“Free.” Superboy muttered. Albedo decided to cut in.

“They don’t control you anymore. You aren’t their puppet. You are free to choose on your own now. Cadmus cannot use you for their agenda.” Albedo explained,
“Unless you allow them to do so. These gentlemen wish to remove you from this place. I would recommend going with them.” The clone tilted his head as if considering.

“Cadmus is… All I know…” The boy admitted. Albedo shrugged. He tried. Of course, for the young heroes, that apparently wasn’t enough.

“That is a pod, Superboy. And this place? It’s a living nightmare! It might be all you know, but there’s a whole world out there like… Like…” Kid Flash ranted.

“The sun?” Superboy questioned, sounding curious.

“Right, the sun.” Kid Flash agreed before pausing, “Though I’m pretty sure it’s night by now, so we can show you the moon?” Superboy considered before nodding.

“Okay. Let's go then.” Albedo rolled his eyes.

“Excellent, If that’s resolved, let's go find my partner. I have some choice words for him once we locate him.” Albedo concluded.

Notes:

Sorry for any mistakes here, my summer classes got a lot of momentum all of a sudden so this week's been pretty packed. Thankfully, this chapter was already written, but my editing on it is sparse, so there may be a few flaws here and there.

Chapter 12: Deka Makes a Marvelous Distraction.

“Sir, there are no signs of the sidekicks up top.” The Guardian reported, “And I just received a report. Project Kr was just activated. Also, the prisoner is gone.” The scientist, who was apparently called Desmond, snarled in aggravation. He spun towards Ben.

“He lied to us!” Ben glanced at his watch, which had gone green a while ago. If Albedo was free and Kr was taken care of, then there was no reason to act anymore.

“Well, duh, I lied to you. What part of ‘Deka’s the name, distractions the game’ did you not understand, Dr. Dofus?” Ben said in a casual sarcastic tone. Desmond went stiff, his eyes growing big.

“...What the-” He started.

“Just a note for the future, mind control really isn’t my speed. A for effort though.” Ben chuckled. Desmond’s eyes grew bigger still before his expression morphed into unbridled fury. He pointed at Ben. Ben reacted before words could get out and he twisted his watch. He slammed his hand down on it, and the whole area washed with green light.

“Spidermonkey!” Desmond could only gawk as Ben shot forwards, attacking the creatures that surrounded him and Desmond and wrapping them up. He overcame his alarm quickly just as Ben darted away and down the hall, cackling like a madman.
He flicked the comm on his Omnitrix on as he darted.

“Deka to Reflect, are you able to hear me yet?” He called, “On sub-level 32, gonna try and keep their attention a little longer, then I think I’ll head up and see if you made it out or something. I dunno. I really have no plan here.” He continued through the base, the sound of more of those geo whatever creatures bounding after him.

He did his best to lose the creatures, leading them away from any exits before switching from Spidermonkey to Ditto, knowing fully that Ditto would cause even more trouble and Chaos for the scientist guy.

“Ditto!” He announced, and as he saw a couple Dittos off to distract from his trail. Original Ditto moved away from them, keeping track of the copies the best he could in the back of his head. Sure enough, it was absolute chaos for the guy in charge of the place.

Cackling to himself, the original Ditto made his way back towards the elevator shaft, only to stop at the sound of voices. Ditto split into three more, ready to react, only for him to recognize his own voice. That had to be Albedo. Albedo’s voice matched his exact save for the weird textbook speech patterns Albedo had.

He got rid of the extra Dittos, going forwards to where the elevators were. Sure enough, there was Albedo, completely in uniform and scrambling away from the elevator shaft where multiple of the creatures had gathered. With him were those teen heroes… and a new guy. A bigger kid with dark hair and bright blue eyes. Ben was delighted to have finally found Albedo… but he also figured they needed a hand and chose to throttle his idiot doppelganger later for the mess they were in.
He copied himself a few more times, having his original hang back at a safe distance while the other Dittos went on the attack, clearly alarming the heroes and the creatures both.

“The heck!?” Kid Flash yelped.

“Deka!” Albedo growled through gritted teeth. The original Ditto snickered, before focusing his attention on one of the copies.

“Heya, Reflect. I’ve been causing some general mayhem, as you can see. Glad to see you’re safe. I’d say I was worried about you, but that's silly since you’re kinda a jerk.” The copy relayed with a bright grin.

“You transformed in front of the enemy?! This is a genetic research facility. An illegal genetic research facility! Do you realize-”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve gotta target on my back and all that jazz. Jeesh, you act like I’m a total newb, bro. That’s just the perk of being me.”

“You are absolutely infuriating.” Albedo replied.

“Hey, what are little brothers for?”

“...You are brothers?” Robin asked, clearly curious. Albedo growled again, before glancing at the creatures that Ben’s other Dittos were holding back.

“Unfortunately, and no, I will not expand. We don’t have time for this. Deka, where is the exit?”

“Um, up the elevator, duh.” Ben replied, “Though the Dittos have got a pretty good look at this place. It’s a pretty big hideout. Lots of confusing tunnels. Yadda, yadda. The elevator shaft… seems to be shut and out of commission. Science dude, Desmond, is close to an aneurysm trying to find the real me. He’s sealed that exit and all of the others.

“That’s wonderful.” Albedo huffed.

“But we’ve got a Kryptonian with us.” Robin countered, “He can get us past the blocks if you can just find us one with the lowest number of Genomes.”

“Gnomes? That’s what they’re called. That’s stupid.” Ben remarked, “Also… A what?”

“Kryptonian. A kind of alien, brother.” Albedo explained, “Superman’s clone, to be more precise.”

“Oh, a clone? Cool! Hi, I’m Deka! Er, well, actually right now I’m Ditto, but my human form is called Deka!” Ben introduced. The new guy just stared down at the Ditto copy like it was insane.

“...Hi… I guess.” The new guy noted. The copy just beamed.

“Follow me, then. The elevator’s a no go, I can guarantee that, yes, siree!”

“Somehow, Ditto is more annoying than you as a human.” Albedo deadpanned.

“Heh, yeah, our cousin says that too.” Ben agreed. The copy moved away from the elevator shaft and the bizarre Ditto-Genome fight. The young heroes and Albedo followed quickly after the copy and the original himself trailed after them cautiously.

“What exactly are you right now?” Kid Flash asked, “And why are there, like dozens of you?”

“I’m a Ditto. As a survival instinct, Dittos can copy themselves and distract predators. But once you get the original, it's game over.”

“The correct term is a Splixsonsare from planet Hathor.” Albedo called in clear aggravation as they continued running down the halls.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What matters is the baddies are distracted, so it’s our chance to skedaddle.” The copy stopped in front of a ventilation shaft, “Can you fit in here?” Robin snickered, flipping a screwdriver from nowhere and easily opening the vents. Into the vents they went. Superboy and Aqualad were a bit big inside the vents, but they managed, and while the Ditto copy led, the Ditto original traveled carefully behind.

“I’m hacking the motion sensors. Even with Deka’s distraction, they might notice a bunch of lifeforms using the vents.” Robin announced proudly as they crawled forwards. Ben had no clue how he could crawl and hack at once, but the guy was the tiniest, and likely the youngest in their group and was weirdly way too happy to be stuck inside of a vent with his friends and three strangers.

“Good planning, that way the exit will be clear once we climb out of here.” Aqualad agreed. That’s when a beeping echoed through the vents. Ben swore.

“Um…” Kid Flash noticed, “What’s-”

“Deka’s out of time. Our distractions are about to be gone. The Omnitrix has a time limit.” Albedo hissed, “How long have you been Transformed, Deka?”

“...About ten minutes.” Ben admitted, and suddenly everything flashed green and Ben yelped in alarm as suddenly the space in the vent became a lot smaller and all of his focus snapped back into one body.

“Well, good news. Motion sensors are hacked. We’ll be in the clear for…. Eh, two minutes. Let's move!” They shuffled forwards, coming to another vent and letting Robin kick the cover out. Kid was strong for his size. Ben was starting to like that guy.

“Which way now?” Aqualad demanded as Kid Flash helped Ben out, his voice was urgent. After all, they had limited time. Ben nodded, and began to run. Without hesitation, the team of heroes and Ben’s ‘brother’ followed. Ben stopped in front of the stairwell doors, which had a metal door blocking it.

“Supes you think you can-”

“No problem.” Superboy grunted. He cracked his knuckles and punched at the door. Ben watched in awe as the door bent in and Superboy began to bend the door like it was butter.

“Jeesh… I need Kryptonian in my watch. That’s awesome.” Ben breathed. That’s when he squinted down at the watch. Why wasn’t the watch going into scan mode for Superboy? Sure, he was a clone, but he was the clone of an alien. Surely there was a good DNA sample for him to use.

He didn’t have very much time to think about that, because the exit was open and they had to move. Instead of using the stairs like normal people, Ben found himself uncharacteristically scooped up by Superboy, whom he’d been standing a little too close to. Robin grabbed Albedo, much to Galvan's objections, while Kid Flash grabbed Aqualad. Superboy jumped, and suddenly Ben and the alien clone were soaring up the stairwell. Kid Flash had already zipped to the top, and Robin grappled his way up without any trouble at all… even with Albedo squirming and swearing in Galvanic the whole way up.
And then suddenly Superboy was falling. Ben reacted, reaching out and grabbing the railing fast while straining to catch Superboy.

“Gah! How much do you weigh, guy!?” Ben yelped. Aqualad was quick to rush over and help both boys up onto the last landing. Superboy, his feet firmly planted on the ground, stared down into the stairwell in alarm.

“...I.. I can’t fly? Superman can fly! Why can’t I?”

“It’s your DNA.” Albedo was blunt as he walked towards the door, pushing it open, “According to the information I pulled from your file, there are some imperfections… placed there purposefully to keep you from losing your mind. Humans haven’t quite perfected the cloning process when it comes to aliens, it seems. Thank Azmuth, too. No offense, boy, but humans armed with people like you is a recipe for disaster if I ever saw one.” Superboy clearly looked like he didn’t know how to take that information. Ben didn’t really let him process it ethier. He instead pushed the kid forwards. Escaping now… pondering the clone’s existential crisis on a later date. They broke out of the stairwell, moving fast through the empty and not yet blocked halls of sub-level one towards the elevator shaft, aka, the only way up and out of the sub-levels.

They were stopped by the helmet dude from before… Guardian.

However, now he didn’t have one of the evil shoulder gnomes babysitting. Ben relaxed a little.

“Kids, we’ve gotta get you out of here. One of the genomes-”

“Dubblix.” Albedo stated, already storming past Guardian.

“How did you-” Guardian stammered

“He’s the one who employed me down here to begin with. I take it he freed your mind as well. He made his objective clear. Free the Kyrptionian child. However I very much doubt Desmond will stand for this. Or whomever is employing him, which is why you wish us to leave now.” Guardian swallowed and seemed ready to explain the situation to the teens further, but stopped short when footsteps clattered in the hall behind him… coming from where they were going.

The group watched as Dr. Desomnd the jerk himself came strolling onto the scene. His eyes were wild with anger and hate. His smile was wonky and unconcerned.

“There you are.” He said, his voice on edge. He then zeroed in on Ben specifically as the whole group tensed. Ready to pounce at the drop of a pin, “The key to making a new…. Better Cadmus. All ready to take. Superboy was my greatest experiment… but you’ll be even better. I wonder just how many powerful samples I can squeeze out of a person like you.”

“That’s creepy as heck.” Ben decided as he glanced at his watch. Red again. Still recovering from his Ditto stunt. Ben decided, to heck with it, Desmond was just a normal guy. A crazy normal guy, yeah, but normal and likely very punchable. He stepped forwards, fully prepared to ignore Desmond the get and get himself and his new friends out of there before the guy’s cavalry showed up while they were distracted.

That’s when the man did something entirely unexpected. In a swift movement, he was grabbing something out of his lab coat, a vial, Ben recognized much too late, and tilting his head back as the cork came off. Blue liquid traveled down his throat and he threw the vial to the side, it’s glass shattering as he staggered forwards.

“First, however, let's restore order to Cadmus.”

“...Move.” Ben said, his voice dead serious now. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. The teens didn’t even hesitate. All of them surged forwards, past the objective Guardian to intercept the man. It was too late. Ben backed up, watching as the guy grew several times his original size and broke through the ceiling into the first floor of Cadmus.

“Well, that’s just fantastic.”

Notes:

Sorry about not uploading in a while. I got a new job and my summer classes are wrapping up.

Plus, this chapter, despite being in Ben's POV, had some overhaul done to it to adjust to the Albedo half of the story line a little better, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. However the introduction part of this story (Aka, episodes one and two of YJ) is almost through. Just a few more chapters and we should be getting further into the actual show and plot.

Next week I hope to be back to my regular Thursday upload schedule.

Thank you for your patience!

Chapter 13: Blockbuster Versus Team Sidekicks.

It was the little things that annoyed Albedo.

Like when people questioned his ability. Or when someone spoke too loud when he was working. Things like that. Today, the little thing that was really getting on his nerves was the red light blinking on Benjamin’s Omnitrix. After all, such a little thing posed a massive problem for everyone. By massive, Albedo meant the large, now blue, and mindless Dr. Desmond. He instantly charged at Benjamin. Despite knowing nothing about Anodites and being out of energy not even an hour before, Albedo found himself moving forwards without thought or reason, raising his hands, and allowing the Reflect uniform to activate. Red energy sprang to life just as Benjamin and Albedo flinched back. The new Desmond found himself slamming hard into a red barrier. Benjamin’s eyes went big.

“...Dude! Reflect, you got your mana spark to work? That’s awesome. And Grandma said only Lucky Girl had the spark! Ha!” Benjamin’s voice was borderline bragging… and also very distracting considering Albedo had literally never used the Anodite heritage before. This was technically the Reflect Uniform’s first test run. Instantly the energy barrier before them began to crack and Albedo trembled. The teen heroes reacted quickly. Superboy, with a mighty roar, tackled Desmond off of Albedo. Albedo immediately lowered his hands, his head spinning. Aqualad’s tattoos started to glow as he summoned strange glowing weapons made from… water?

Albedo chose to investigate that bizarre ability on a later date. It was likely bioelectricity or something of that matter, but he really didn’t have the mind for thinking about it at the moment. He nearly lashed out when someone grabbed onto him to steady him, before he realized it was just Benjamin.

“Hang back. I’m going to help these guys. That took way too much out of you for your first go.” Benjamin informed him.

“But… The Omnitrix…” Albedo objected. Benjamin ignored the objection, rushing into battle, despite the red watch and the overwhelmingly strong enemy he was faced with. It was… completely illogical. He’d managed to align himself with four others completely capable of defeating the enemy without him. Why did he feel the need to charge so recklessly?
Benjamin began to bob and weave, moving up from sub-level one to floor one as he climbed over the bebris and led Desmond away from Albedo.

“...He’s targeting Deka.” Albedo said in realization, “And Deka knows it.” Desmond ravaged like a mindless beast, tearing through the building recklessly. However, it was painfully clear that his last sane thoughts, aka, to capture the ultimate specimen and restore order to his precious Project Cadmus by stopping the child heroes, was not entirely lost. The Omnitrix made Benjamin the perfect target for a group like Cadmus… Hence Albedo’s initial insistence that the boy stay away. And the children who’d aided in KR’s rescue would be stopped, no matter the price.

Well, no one was taking the Omntrix from Benjamin but Albedo himself. Not if Albedo had any say on it.

Desmond was going to just have to accept that.

Albedo scrambled to find his way up to the first floor without getting crushed.

“Jeesh! This guy is strong!” He heard Kid Flash remark over the yelling, “Anyone has a plan? He’s not really going down easy.” Albedo climbed up the debris, echoing Ben’s former path. Halfway up his eyes caught the support beams all over the building that the heroes were fighting around.

“...Deka… The supports!” Albedo called.

“...Support… Right!” Robin said, having been closer and having heard Albedo better, “Guys, let's bring the house down!”

“Oh, absolutely!” Benjamin chirped a little too cheerfully for a teen who was trying not to get crushed, “I’ll keep his attention. Kid, give me a lift. Supes, supports. Aqualad and Robin, help them. Rob, you got a good idea of which ones need to go?”

“I’ll mark them out.” Robin agreed, “Superboy, Kid, Aqualad, get ready to get us out of here when the building goes.”

“On it!” Kid Flash agreed while Aqualad and Superboy switched their targets. Robin began to move about the room like a tiny Spidermonkey, spray painting pillars, avoiding Desmond’s punches, and embedding explosives randomly. Kid Flash grabbed Benjamin, and he started zipping the teen around the room. Benjamin proceeded to taunt and mock the villain, while Superboy gave Desmond a good few blows to off balance and position him as Aqualad took out any supports Robin missed. Soon, Desmond was in the center of the room. Exactly in place.

Automatically, the children broke away from him. Robin swung out the building Superboy lunged for Albedo, grabbing him and rushing to get out of the way while Kid Flash took care of Benjamin and Aqualad got Guardian out and away.

Then explosions rocked the building before Desmond could refocus himself. Immediately, two stories of concrete crashed down violently onto the man while Superboy fiercely shielded Albedo from the falling debris.

And then, after the rocketing sound of the building collapsing, there was an eerie silence that spread over the area. Dust swam in the air like smoke and Albedo choked on some of it, coughing in irritation. Superboy shrugged his shoulders, allowing debris to fall from his back and let Albedo go.
Albedo staggered out of the boy’s reach, climbing onto the building he’d just told a bunch of teenagers to implode.

Cadmus, at least, it’s front, was gone.

He scanned frantically, not really sure why he was so desperate to spy Benjamin, nor entirely certain about the sigh of relief that left his lips upon seeing him laughing like a mad-man and punching the air regardless of the dust that clung to his clothes.

“Dude, that was epic! If you guys plan on imploding a building again anytime soon, please invite me!” Benjamin declared. Kid Flash laughed along with him, but he seemed more surprised that the plan, which had been Albedo’s idea to start with, and thus, brillant, had worked. His laughter was more relieved than excited.

“We won.” Robin said, his voice small, but filled with pride. Aqualad rose up as well, grinning.

“We did.” Then suddenly Kid Flash was next to Albedo and Superboy.

“And look, there. The moon as promised!” He pointed up. Albedo followed the gesture, staring at the cold, full moon of Earth… whose own albedo of the Earth’s sun was allowing it to glow like a heavenly light.

It was… actually one of the nicer parts about being on Earth. Galvan Prime had a lot of monsoon rains and dry seasons. Galvans loved the rain, but it was always dry or not. Never an in between. So most of the time, the sky was covered. And their moons were all synthetically made. Unnatural as the planet they’d created for themselves. It was lovely at night, but not in the way nights were on Earth. He could hate everything about being human, but never really hate the weather and celestial bodies that came with their world.

And then suddenly something was blocking his view of the moon.

He squinted, suddenly wary as that something gave way to multiple things. He heard the Omnitrix respond.

“Multiple unknown lifeforms detected. Deactivating transformations for DNA Scans. Will resume normal functions in approximately ten minutes.”

“Not good.” Benjamin immediately said as he began to fidget with the watch to try and abort the DNA Scan, clearly assuming, as Albedo had, that the approaching figures could be a threat. He was by Benjamin’s side immediately, grabbing his Omnitrix wrist and wrestling with the controls himself, ignoring the alarmed sound that escaped Benjamin’s lips. Then he stilled, and Albedo realized he was staring at whatever they’d seen in the sky.

It was those heroes that protected that Earth.

The Justice League.

Immediately Benjamin jerked his arm from Albedo’s hold, hiding it behind his back as if it wasn’t going on the fritz and scanning the DNA of all of the aliens that were now floating and standing in front of the teen heroes. Kid Flash looked suddenly very nervous for some reason as he gestured towards one with the same insinga on his chest as Superboy.

“Look, Superman! Do we keep our promises or what?” Superman’s eyes narrowed on Superboy.

“Is that what I think it is?” Superboy immediately brustled, and Benjamin, being a person who clearly needed to learn to mind his own business, got in front of Superboy.

“Hey, that’s not very nice. He’s not an it. Don’t call him that.” Benjamin scolded as if he were talking to a child and not a full grown adult. Albedo facepalmed. There went any chance of slipping away from the newfound situation unnoticed.

“I’m not sure I know who you are.” Superman said through gritted teeth. Benjamin, clearly not thinking, extended his right hand as if offering to shake the man’s hand.

“Deka. Just so you know, this guy saved me and my brother’s hide today, so I’d watch your tone.” Benjamin declared, “Him and these guys. Real heroes. No doubt about it.”

“Deka, get back here.” Albedo hissed, grabbing Benjamin back.

The one dressed as a bat, Batman, Albedo guessed, narrowed his eyes on the young Robin.

“Explain, now.”

Chapter 14: Deka and Reflect Meet the Justice League.

“Well, when we got down there, we ran into Deka, who told us his partner/brother had gone missing down here. We had to help him get Reflect out.”

“Not that I needed it.” Albedo grumbled under his breath, “Look, I was down there due to an informant who desired I do something about Project KR. I did just that… though… I will admit that the young heroes were very helpful in getting away from Dr. Desmond. He was a pain and an insult to his practice.” He then spun towards Benjamin, “But you! I told you to stay home! Desmond immediately went after you the second the nature of your abilities! Of all the reckless-”

“I couldn’t just let you get hurt, Reflect.” Benjamin cut off. Immediately Albedo found himself going quiet. He had no idea why that shut him up, but it did and Albedo was left ducking his head and keeping from making eye contact with Benjamin.

‘It’s been awhile since someone cared, hasn’t it?’ Albedo snapped his head up, looking around. He spied Dubblix. The Leaguers cleaning up had got him and a few more of the more sentient Genomes out of the lower levels. He was staring directly at Albedo.

‘Get out of my head.’

‘I’m just paying you what you asked. Cadmus was genetic research only. But it’s also a piece of a bigger picture. I won’t tell anyone of your or Benjamin’s secret, but I will help how I can because you helped us. Find the ones behind Cadmus, and you’ll find exactly what you need to return. Be warned. The ones who built Cadmus will loathe a person such as Benjamin and will take advantage of a person such as yourself. I never met them myself and I heard scarcely of who they were, but I know they have influence and they exist to be a foil to the League. If you wish to return, do not let their promises and lies tempt you, bitter one.’

‘...Thank you.’ Albedo reluctantly decided. For all his efforts, it was barely any information at all. Just vague warnings from a telepath who was getting on his nerves and the promise that something bigger than Cadmus did exist.

“Reflect!”

“Huh?” Albedo realized Benjamin was snapping his fingers in front of his eyes, “Oh, sorry. I was considering some variables.”

“Well, try and stay with the rest of us, Einstein.” Benjamin said with an eyeroll. Albedo sighed, his hands subconsciously starting to fidget with his Ulitmatrix shell. He’d not really been around this many officials without being immediately placed in handcuffs in a long time. He was not really comfortable where they were at all. When Batman zeroed in on the watch he was messing with, Albedo tensed.

Batman’s eyes narrowed.

“So… you’re brothers… but only one of you possess abilities?” Batman said, his voice carefully.

“Reflect has powers.” Robin cut in, “Nailed me really good when we first found him. Awesome reflex, really. It’s like this weird energy stuff… looks a lot like what Green Lanterns use, but red.” That caught the attention of one of the guys in a green uniform with a glowing green aura.

“...A red lantern?” He challenged, his tone dangerous. Albedo shrank, and Benjamin was quick to salvage the situation.

“What? No! His powers are natural. It’s called Mana. It’s life energy. Aka, magic. We inherited it from our Grandma, but until Reflect started studying it recently, only our cousins really knew how to use it. I sure as heck can’t. I haven’t tried, but I also don’t really need it.”

“Mana… Magic?” The Green Lantern questioned.

“...The correct term is life energy. My brother confuses it for magic because our cousin parades herself as a sorceress. A person such as me becoming interested in magic is sacrilegious. It’s a genetically inherited trait. One, that our Grandmother’s particular race is very saturated with. We’re human and from Earth, but our heritage has some alien traces.”

“It’s magic.” Benjamin insisted. Albedo let out a deep, aggravated sigh.

“Yes, let's let our grandmother’s race be ruled out as a race of literal space sorcerers. That is logical.”

“Sweet!”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“I know!”

“So… Reflect uses this life energy.” Batman’s voice was patient and reasonable. Albedo was thankful for that, “And Deka does what exactly?” Albedo immediately clamped a hand over Benjamin’s mouth.

“All of this is irrelevant. It is unfortunate that my YOUNGER brother and I disrupted your pupils' operation, but we gathered the intel we needed and we must be on our way.”

He made an attempt to back out right then and there, but then the child, Robin, had to ruin it.

“He’s a shapeshifter. But not like Martian Manhunter. His watch collects alien DNA and lets him turn into them at will.” Robin reported. Albedo scowled. The eyes of all of the heroes that had been questioning them were on Ben. Many were wide with alarm. The Omnitrix was out of scan mode by that point, but the damage was likely done. Someone as dangerous as Benjamin wasn’t typically allowed to walk away from people like them.

Benjamin sheepishly brought his Omnitrix arm out from behind his back. Batman glared at it for a good several minutes.

“Interesting design. I’ve never seen a watch like this before. Yet you and Reflect share similar devices? Does Reflect’s do the same?”

“...Not anymore.” Albedo grumbled, “It was disabled several months ago due to… some complications. Some of which resulted in… the alteration of my overall appearance and some genetic damage… mostly showing up as pigmentation depletion.”

“Is Deka’s at the same risk?”

“No. His is the perfected design.” Albedo pressed, “The perfect instrument of peacekeeping. Exactly as our mentor envisioned it would be.”

“And your mentor didn’t consider it would be dangerous to give these weapons to two teenagers?” Superman asked sharply.

“...I was ten when I got mine.” Ben said, his voice small in contrast to Superman’s sharp tone, “That’s where my name comes from.” The heroes looked rightfully alarmed.

“And you?” Aquaman demanded of Albedo. Albedo looked away.

“I created mine based on my mentor’s design. I was fifteen.”

“Where is your mentor now?” Flash asked, “And how old are you two exactly?”

“We’re sixteen. And Azmuth’s dead.” Benjamin answered.

“Sixteen? Both of you?” Flash looked between the two boys, understanding dawned on his face, “You’re twins. How long has this… Azmuth been dead?”

“Since the Highbreed war.” Wow… had Benjamin always been this good at lying? “Last year. The year Reflect used the Ulitmatrix. The war nearly ended the Earth. We lost our family and basically all of the group we worked for. You probably never even heard about it. I stopped it personally. Made sure it never got out. We’ve been scrambling for information on how to find and reach what’s left of our people for almost a year now. We’ve just about given up, but then Reflect heard about some weird things happening at Cadmus that he didn’t think you guys knew about. He had to investigate. We had to know. But… It was another dead end.” As Benjamin described the ‘tragedy’ of a war that had actually ended quite peacefully, the harsh expressions worn on the hero’s faces softened. Benjamin looked clearly distressed, emerald eyes ablaze with very real hurt.

“Our mentor made the Omnitrix as the Universe’s last hope. A way to walk in the shoes of people like the Highbreed. A way to stop wars and prevent the worst. A way to make peace when it seems impossible.” Benjamin went on, “And it’s what saved Earth and ended that war, but it couldn’t save everything Reflect and I had… we’d hoped that maybe...” Batman raised a hand, stopping Benjamin from launching into a full on sob story, likely with tears and everything. The boy was very animated.

“Can the Omnitrix be removed?”

“Not even if a person tried to kill me.” Benjamin agreed, his voice firm, “Azmuth made sure. It’s permanently a part of me. Has to be. It wouldn’t work otherwise. Plus, there’s like, a dozen failsafes. Azmuth was paranoid.” Too paranoid for his own good.

“I’ve heard enough then.” Batman decided, he then turned to his group, “Cadmus will be investigated. I’m sure Reflect and Deka are both grateful for your assistance, but there’s one thing I am going to make very, very clear.”

“You should have called.” Flash cut in with firm agreement. The softness they’d expressed towards Benjamin vanished as they went to ridicule their pupils for their reckless actions.

“End results aside, we're not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again.” Something about the way he scolded them irked Albedo. He really was not pleased that he’d been accidentally caught up in the dramatic rebellion of the young heroes. However the whole thing felt weirdly familiar and he did not know why at all. Nor did he like the direction of the conversation.
That’s when Aqualad stepped forwards and something incomprehensible happened.

"I am sorry, but we will."

"Aqualad, stand down." Aquaman spoke with authority.

"Apologies, my king," Aqualad was swift to speak against it, "But no." A silence fell over the adult heroes. Albedo waited for just one to ridicule the teenager for speaking so bluntly. For being so very defiant. For questioning their judgement.

They didn’t.

They waited for him to speak his mind.

"We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together on our own we forged something powerful, important." Aqualad insisted. He motioned plainly to the fake brothers then towards Superboy. Then he motioned to himself and his friends.

“If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you-” Flash began.

“The four of us, and it's not." Kid Flash said.

“Batman, we're ready to do what you taught us, or why teach us at all?" Robin’s voice was soft. But there was strength in his words. The silence returned briefly before Superboy turned to go, clearly frustrated, “Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way."

Batman stared. Then a slight nod.

“Give us a week.” He decided. Those four words let Albedo’s jaw drop. He was going along with their demands? He was going to let them… let them stand like this? What sort of mentor just let such things slide? Batman turned from the heroes, “Will you be joining them?” Albedo looked over at Benjamin, who clearly wanted to. His eyes lept towards the young heroes. Eager and ready. But then they met Albedo’s and fell. Likely already sensing what Albedo’s gut response was.

No.

This was a terrible idea.

The League was a dangerous organization. If any one of them learned the truth about what Albedo was… their cause would be lost.

“We need to find out what happened to our family.” Albedo stated, his voice dry. Benjamin recoiled immediately, face falling and his eyes dropping to his feet. Albedo wasn’t sure why. After all, it was Benjamin who had a family waiting on him, not Albedo.

But then Albedo thought about it longer.

Another person or group ran Cadmus.

And heroes like these came across impossible technology regularly.

They likely had resources.

Resources that could get them to the Omniverse quicker. Resources that could find the people behind Cadmus. It was a serious risk. But what if it was worth it? So long as no one ever found out about their past… they’d be safe. He’d have to go back over their falsified records and adjust. He’d have to do some extra, ah, research on the League. But… if they could pull it off...

“But… Perhaps we’ve been at it alone too long. We’d be pleased to work with your pupils.” Albedo found himself saying before he could stop himself.

“Wait, really?” Benjamin blurted without meaning. Albedo nodded.

“They could be good to work with.” Albedo repeated, “If they’d have us.”

“Are you kidding!? Implode a building with some guys, and that’s friendship forever!” Kid Flash declared, high-fiving Benjamin. Batman pulled something out of his belt, handing it to Albedo. It was a communicator of some kind.

“We’ll see you both next week then.”

Notes:

Sorry for any grammar errors, it's been a weird day and editing this chapter was a craze. I actually wasn't sure it I was going to be able to upload today. Huge storm blew through my town and knocked the wifi out for the entire area. (That's also why I'm uploading it so late in the day). Hopefully by next week my wifi problem will be resolved.

Chapter 15: The One Where Albedo Blackmailed Bruce Wayne.

Albedo had spent all night researching and patching up any possible hole that he could find in their story. He also dismantled and tripled checked the communicator he’d been given, before reassembling it… noting that it was Wayne Tech disguised as if it wasn’t. Using his X-Protocol programming, he’d gotten what he needed to know about the current threat to his mission: the League.

All of which lead him to the outside of the Wayne Enterprises DC building where Mr. Wayne and his adopted son were conveniently operating from due to the mentioned gymnastics contest the young Richard Grayson had been participating in for the holiday.

He swiped his Wayne Tech card and entered the building, easily bypassing the secretary woman and going up to find the room Wayne was operating from. Benjamin didn’t know he was there. Well, he did. But he didn’t know why. And if Albedo was careful, he never would. Something told Albedo that Benjamin wouldn’t approve of subtle blackmail.

Aka, the, ‘I know who you are, so you better not betray me’ sort of blackmail.

A playing card that Albedo had not had with any of his prior partnerships. Possessing insurance was rather delightful after so long of being forced to risk everything on his back.

He knocked on the door and the chirpy, ‘Come in’ of Bruce Wayne’s voice reached his ears. A voice so unlike the man he’d spoken with on Independence Day. Albedo opened the door. Richard was in the room. He likely already knew the truth. After all, Batman had been especially interested in Deka and Reflect’s watches… and not solely because of what they were made to do.

“Dr. Tennyson!” Bruce said, sounding delighted, “What a surprise! I wasn’t expecting to see you today, how have you and your brother been settling here in DC?”

“Quite well, actually. Benjamin has made friends, it would seem. Which is why I decided to drop by.” Albedo replied, his own tone equally as cheerful, he glanced over at Richard, who had frozen in his place. Albedo sat across from Bruce and leaned forwards.

“Let's make a few things plain…. Are there cameras in here?”

“...They’re off.” Bruce said, detecting what was going on fairly fast. Albedo nodded, leaning back.

“My greatest concern is protecting my brother and myself. I’ve heard a great deal about your Justice League, but Mr. Wayne, I’m not one to solely trust based on reputation alone. Not when Benjamin and I are at stake. Not when the Omnitrix is at stake.”

“I can see why. A device like that in the wrong hands-”

“Could spell the end of the universe.” Albedo emphasized the point, “Frankly, I would agree that Azmuth was foolish to let my brother have it as a ten year old child, but now that he has it, it’s his and my responsibility to ensure its safety. Not even my replica was as dangerous as the one he wears is. I was there when it was built.”

“You helped someone make his watch… when you were likely less than ten?” Bruce asked in bewilderment. Albedo swallowed hard. Of course, that wasn’t the case. That would’ve been ridiculous. No human child could have kept up with Azmuth, no matter how brilliant. No actual ten year old Galvan would have managed. Albedo helped Azmuth with the Omnitrix only a little under a hundred years ago… but he wasn’t going to tell Bruce that.

“I graduated with my doctorate at fourteen. It’s not unfathomable that I learned quick at a young age. Azmuth advanced my education far quicker and more efficiently more than any human school could. He saw my potential and took me as his pupil. And he chose Benjamin to be a genuine pig in his Omnitrix experiment while I acted as an extra, calculated variable intended to step in when needed. By the time of my graduation, I had surpassed most human adults, while Benjamin had successfully defended the Omnitrix for a good number of four years… all while attending that… horrible excuse for an education system called public school.”

Albedo then moved on. He wanted to establish a few things. Clarify and make sure there was no question of who he and Benjamin were.

“When the Highbreed war happened… Well, that really pulled the rug out from Azmuth’s experiment and tested its limits. They attacked in secret. Using nanite technology to hide among the human race. Believed themselves to be the superior, only true intelligent race of the galaxy and regarded all other lifeforms as null. Because it was an attack made in secret, it was a war fought in secret. One fought by our family and the group Azmuth created, the Plumbers, for a good part of a year. It… severely affected my brother. He speaks often of how he misses our cousin… or makes remarks about things our parents used to do. He was supposed to be the one to save them all.”

“And he didn’t.” Bruce remarked. Albedo nodded. That sounded right. The one who held the Omnitrix was supposed to stop threats like the High breed. In a world where Benjamin failed to do so… Well, based on what Albedo knew of Benjamin’s passion and his love for his friends and family, it would’ve devastated the child.

“So, you can plainly see my concern.” Albedo remarked, “He is a liability and eager to trust. I only pray he’s not making a mistake in trusting you and your pupil.” Albedo nodded his head towards Richard.

“I’m curious. I’m sure you know how I’ve figured you out, Reflect.” Bruce said, “But how exactly did you come to the same conclusions about me?”

“I’m not an idiot. I know Wayne Tech when I see it.” Albedo pulled the communicator from his pocket, placing it onto the desk. Bruce looked impressed.

“You’re good.”

“The best.” Albedo agreed.

“So then you likely have an idea of what I’m going to ask next.” Bruce prompted.

“Why did I apply to work under your company?” Albedo asked, “Well, it wasn’t because you’re Batman. That was a recent discovery. Put simply. I am a sixteen year old, emancipated boy who just got done with a war and has been trying to support my still in school twin on a minimum wage salary despite possessing doctorate qualifications. It’s not really that hard to figure out, Mr. Wayne.”

“For the money.”

“And the opportunity. What I told you and Mr. Fox is true. I want to improve the world. Make my mark on the universe. One separate from Azmuth and Benjamin. To do that, I have to start somewhere.” Albedo then folded his hands as he leaned forwards once more towards Bruce, “But let's make this as clear as day. Now that we are both aware of our nightly positions, clearly, we do not wish for this information to become widespread. I have no intentions whatsoever of divulging your name to the public, but if the Omnitrix, Benjamin, or myself are at risk, I will do what I must for the greater good of the Universe, regardless of the consequences to Gotham. One city does not take priority over the Universe. In a perfect world, that wouldn’t be a choice I’d be forced to make, but as you can see…” Albedo leaned back, carefully removing his contacts as he spoke, once his red eyes were visible, he stared Bruce dead in the face, “The Universe is far from perfect.”

“So, it’s blackmail, then.” Bruce noted, “Does your brother know you’re here?”

“He’d kill me if he knew. But I haven’t even told him about you and Richard and he’ll likely never piece it together on his own. He misses things like that fairly easily. I don’t intend to tell him either. Think of this as… ah, a big brother defending the younger, and less of me trying to actually threaten you. I think you are a good man. I think we’ll work well together and get along famously. But it’s always good to have a, ah, contingency in place.”

“...Oh my gosh Bruce, he’s a mini you with powers.” Albedo heard Richard breathe from the side of the room. It was ignored as Bruce and Albedo stared each other down. Harsh red eyes against startling blues. Finally, Bruce relented.

“You’re not too bad.” Bruce decided, “It’ll be interesting working with you, doctor.” He extended a hand, offering it to Albedo. Albedo smiled, satisfied as he took it and shook it. Albedo then stood.

“Now, concerning the clone.”

“Superboy.” Richard corrected. Albedo hummed, dismissing the correction, “And Cadmus. I only investigated Cadmus as far as I did because Wayne Industries was looking into it themselves. I assume this was no accident?”

“I’ve been watching them for a while and have been meaning to investigate myself.”

“Well, it’s a good thing your boy did.” Albedo agreed, “And I suspect, based on yesterday’s reaction, that the donor for the KR Clone is not boding well with this information?”

“He… can be a stubborn man.” Bruce admitted.

“And how is Luthor taking it? Forgetting the Kryptonian.” Immediately Bruce looked extremely interested in what Albedo had to say. Richard got up and moved closer to the two.

“What are you talking about? You mean that Luthor is behind this?”

“Well of course, Cadmus was his company. But that’s not what I was referring to.” Albedo said. He then paused for effect. Waiting for them to piece something… Anything together. They were, after all, the Earth’s greatest detectives… but… perhaps a little push would be in Albedo’s favor.

“No? Was this information not recovered in your ongoing investigation of Cadmus? There’s a surprise.” Albedo pulled a flash drive from his pocket. The one with a copy of details he’d saved about KR before Desmond, or Cadmus’s employers, had gotten the chance to likely go in and alter or delete them. He slid it across the desk and turned to leave.

“I’m sure you’ll find that useful and enlightening.” He grabbed the shades that hung from his shirt. Walking in broad daylight with red eyes could be such a pain. He pushed them onto his face, “I’ll have updates on the meta-human advancement project on your desk in Gotham within the week. I say yesterday’s test run was rather successful. I’ll be running another project with my supervisor in the near future. Thank you for your time on such a short notice. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go make sure my brother hasn’t burned anything down in my absence. With my luck… he probably has.”

Notes:

Writing this chapter essentially made me think 'what do you get when you put two overly paranoid, traumatized geniuses with double lives in the same room?' Apparently, the answer is that they both do 'research' and try to make contingencies and keep a close eye on each other all while keeping up their act.

So... Yeah, this should be fun...

Chapter 16: Introducing Team Young Justice.

“So apparently, those green lantern guys they compared your mana to are like the Plumbers of this Multiverse. Weird right? I could totally beat one of them in a fight.” Ben explained.

“What’s this obsession with beating people that are on your side in fights?”

“It’s a thing nerds do where they take two heroes they really like and have them fight to see which ones are better. Like when they did the Ishiyama versus Kanchi fight in Sumo Slammers Evolution IV. Of course, I bet my money on Ishiyama. I was totally right too. But here, I was thinking, if the Plumbers are the equivalent to the Lanterns, and I work for the Plumbers, then clearly it’d be cool to see them fight, and since the Plumbers have moi, aka the most powerful guy in the Universe, then clearly, we’d win by a landslide. It’s not even a question.”

“Benjamin, why do you insist on wasting your thoughts on such imbecile and meaningless topics?” Albedo asked, “And what about these topics didn’t automatically tell Azmuth that you having the Omnitrix was a poor choice?” 

“...No, this isn’t just a me thing. It’s just a thing people do. Like beating on, I dunno, the lottery or something dumb like that. Only the stakes are way higher, because it’s our pride!”

“...Ah… So it is a stupid human why of proving superiority and showing off strength. I can see why I’m not amused by it. Any Galvan knows that true strength is not founded on such meaningless-”

“Says the guy who’s entire race measures their superiority by competing to see how fast they can learn rocket science. Talk about boring.” Albedo was left sputtering and Ben hugged his sides as he began to laugh at Albedo’s reaction. He was clearly insulted, but Ben had not counted on how insulted the guy would get about that.

“Dude, I’m not wrong. Your race is so stupid smart, but you can be so stupid petty because you’re so stupid smart. You would not believe the things I’ve seen Azmuth act petty over. Or Bluic. Or Driba. Or Chadzmuth.”

“I hate Chadzmuth.” Albedo grumbled.

“No one likes sketchy lawyers, dude, it’s cool.”  Ben agreed. 

“Galvans are not petty.”

“You’re being petty right now.” 

“You're acting like a fool.”

“Heh, whatever you need to tell yourself to feel better.” Ben wasn’t really sure how they’d gotten to this rabbit trail of a conversation about the petty endeavors of the Galvan race. Or where the conversation about the Lanterns had even stemmed from. All he knew was that he was abuzz with excitement. Today was the day the League and the teen heroes were going to meet up with Ben and Albedo and try to figure out what to do from where they’d left off on Independence day. 

Ben considered himself many things. 

An athlete, aka, the best defense and goal keeper on any soccer field. 

A Plumber, aka, the grandson of one of the best out there.

A hero, aka, the savior of the Omniverse.

But at the end of the day, he was also a nerd. The biggest one, though he’d never admit it to Gwen or Kevin, of all time. He tried explaining the concept to Rook once… the guy was likely a bigger nerd than Ben, so he didn’t think it'd be hard. He’d been wrong, unfortunately. But he loved his Sumo Slammers. He loved his comic books and Manga. He loved his anime. 

And when Ben, despite being the Savior of an entire other Multiverse, met a bunch of real life, what he’d always wanted to be as a kid, superheroes in person, he’d been automatically transported into his nostalgic, ten year old self. Sitting in his living room, TV set to Kaptain Kangaroo. Bouncing up and down and yelling out the cheesy sound effects while pumping his fists as they appeared on the screen. 

He, of course, kept his cool. Stayed perfectly professional.

But come on! He was in a world where Superheroes were normal and nobody laughed too hard at their quippy catchphrases and geeky costumes like what Gwen had done when Ben was still in elementary school and running around in a home-made cape.

He had to let himself be a little excited about the whole thing. Especially with the news that he was going to be on a teen superhero team. 

...Of course, Albedo was also going to be on said team, and the guy was neither a hero nor a teenager... but still!

“Here we are.” Albedo noted, stopping right in front of a phone booth. 

“This is… a phone booth. Dude? People still use these?” Confused, Ben opened the phone booth a little. He heard machinery whirring inside and a scanner sprung to life.

“Gah!” Ben backed out immediately, “Nope. That’s not a phone booth. This must be a front, like our old Max’s Plumbing set up back home… which, er, is gone now for reasons. And no, you’re not getting the new entrance location.” 

“You use teleportation now.” Albedo grunted as he examined the phone booth more carefully, “The pad for it is in Undertown. Trust me, Benjamin, I pay more attention than you realize. I’d say the Plumbers needed to up their security, but… Honestly I couldn’t expect Blukic and Driba of all people to make proper firewalls for keeping a student of Azmuth out.”

“That’s… fair.” Before a sudden realization struck him, “Wait! That’s how you know about the peacock thing?!” Albedo actually snorted at Ben’s response before suddenly grabbing him and shoving him into the phone booth. Ben didn’t even have time to think before that weird scanner thing flashed red and a machine called out: Recognized, Deka, B10. And the world spun and shifted around him as the all too familiar feeling of being teleported pulsed through him. 

He staggered forwards, realizing pretty quickly that he was NOT in the phone booth anymore.

“Recognized, Reflect, B07.” Ben spun around ready to pounce Albedo for that one. The jerk. 

He didn’t get the chance because someone was slinging an arm around Ben’s shoulder, doing the same with Albedo. It took Ben a second to register that it was Kid Flash… just out of uniform. Unless there was some other red haired kid running around at that speed with that exact lopsided grin. 

“Deka and Reflect! Welcome! Er… Wait…” Kid Flash released the pseudo brothers, “Wow… without those masks… you two ARE identical! Which one is which?” Albedo, much to Ben’s surprise, had actually agreed to let Ben go maskless and by his real name around the Leaguers and the teen heroes.

'With Batman, they’ll find out anyway. This is your fault for not being careful.' Had been Albedo’s logic. Ben, of course, had been overjoyed. He took it as a sign that Albedo was trusting Ben more. Albedo had assured Ben that was not the case. Ben wasn’t exactly convinced. 

As a result of this, they’d gone to the location Batman gave them completely in civics. That included Albedo in his wig and contacts. Kid clearly didn’t know the two of them liked to stay color coordinated. Ben because he was nostalgic and Albedo because… well, he was salty and wore red to be the opposite of Ben. Also… they wore their watches on opposite hands… but ironically, that had initially been a complete accident since Ben, and thus Albedo, was ambidextrous. 

Ben seized the opportunity to mess with Kid Flash.

“I’m Reflect.” He said, mimicking Albedo’s tone exactly. Albedo looked briefly confused, but Kid Flash didn’t notice at all.

“So you’re Deka then! Awesome!” 

“...I’m Reflect…” Albedo muttered. Kid Flash looked then very confused. He looked between the two, clearly baffled. 

“Okay, wow… I really can’t tell.” 

“Deka is just being a pain right now.” Ben insisted, still mimicking Albedo’s tone exactly. 

“But I’m not… Wait… Benjamin! Cut that out this instant!” Albedo seemed to catch on pretty quick and Ben couldn’t help but smirk. He pat Kid Flash on the shoulder.

“I’m just messing with you, Kid. You can tell by our colors. Reflect’s always in red and I’m in green. Also, watches. Mine’s on the left hand. His is on the right. We can't remove them, so the location doesn’t change. We’ve been color cordanting since we were kids for our dad's sake.” Immediately Kid Flash began to laugh.

“Oh, okay!”

“Anyways, I’m actually called Ben. He’s called Albedo.”

“...The guy named Reflect is named after a spectromony term for light refraction and reflection?” Kid Flash asked in bewilderment. Ben was surprised. Ben hadn’t known that’s where Albedo had gotten his name until the Galvan said something about it and then gave him a whole lecture on the importance of planetary light reflection. It had been a boring conversation. Kid Flash had gotten that, like, immediately.

“Our parents had weird tastes.” Albedo said, not even seeming to pick up on how weird it was that Kid Flash understood the name’s origin almost immediately. Then again, Ben guessed the Galvan had literally no frame of reference of what was normal for a teenaged human. Considering his only real references were himself, his magic slinging cousin, and the dropout, absorbing ex-convict Kevin E. Levin, Ben shouldn’t have been surprised.

Then it occurred to Ben... that could be a problem.

Albedo didn’t know how to act like a teenager beyond the weird food addictions. Ben could probably shrug it off as the guy being trained by a super-intelligent alien scientist, but he got the strangest feeling that the excuse was not going to account for every weird thing Albedo did.

“Yeah, I mean, our last name is also Tennyson, so my name is literally Ben Ten.” Ben joked as if the realization about how weird Albedo was going to act had not just struck Ben. Kid Flash snorted at that.

“Oh man, that’s hilarious. So your hero names are also references to your real names. Clever! Mine’s not like that at all. I’m Wally, Wally West The other guys are over there. Batman told me to grab you and bring the two of you over.” He stuck his thumb behind him. Ben gestured dramatically.

“Lead the way, Wally West.” Wally grinned and spun around, they went out of the main teleportation area into a more open part of the room, where, sure enough, others were gathered.

“...Unknown DNA sample detected. Stand by for scan.” The watch suddenly announced. Ben stopped, instantly glaring down at the device, which had gone yellow once more.

“Sometimes this thing likes to mess with me.” He decided, “What aliens are here?”

“Um, well, I think it's just some Martians.” Wally admitted.

“I’ve already got that.” Ben complained. Albedo frowned, leaning over and looking at it.

“It’ll remain that way for about five minutes, I believe. If it goes into further lock down, inform me. I’ll remove the lock.” Ben was surprised. Albedo could do that?

“Er, right. Yeah, I forgot about that.” That issue resolved, they approached the group. It consisted of a blonde woman that Ben identified as Black Canary from the news articles he’d binged when obsessing over the whole ‘I’m stranded on a version of Earth with a bunch of superheroes’ thing. There was als Batman, Martian Manhunter, Superboy, Aqualad, Robin, and a girl Ben didn’t recognize.

Though seeing her made him stop in his tracks and have to do a double take.

Because she looked a little bit like Gwen.

Of course, the similarities weren’t exact at all. Her nose was too small, her eyes much wider. Her jaw-line was the wrong shape. Also she had fewer freckles. But it was still so close to Gwen, that Ben almost thought she’d had been looking for him… and somehow had found him.

There was the whole, the girl had completely green skin and had golden eyes, not the Tennyson green eyes thing. It kinda threw the whole comparison out the window. 

She did have red hair though. Bright red. Almost the exact same shade Gwen had.

Wally followed his gaze.

“I know right?” He said, nudging Ben playfully, “She’s from Mars. Manhunter’s niece, apparently. She’s gonna be on our team too!” 

“...Benjamin?” Albedo asked, looking at the girl and likely noticing what Ben had immediately.

“...Er, yeah. I’m good.” Ben said, his voice strangely small, “Just kinda caught me off guard.” Wally didn’t seem to get that there was something off. He just continued forwards.

“Miss. M, meet Deka and Reflect. They’re twins. Deka can shape shift too!” Wally said proudly, motioning to Ben.

“You can shape shift?” The Martian, Miss. M, asked. 

“Uh, kinda?” Ben rubbed the back of his neck, not meaning to avoid eye contact… to avoid looking into those not-Tennyson green eyes, “I can turn into any intelligent lifeform that is catalogued in my Omnitrix.”

“...Oh! Well, I do a kind of shape-shifting called mimicking. I think that’s a little different.” Miss. M said with a laugh.

“Oh, like my second cousin Lucy! She’s a sludge puppy, er, that’s a kind of alien… we’re only cousins by marriage. No blood relation. They can mimic too.” 

“I’ve never heard of sludge puppies.”

“Yeah, they used to be at war with a lot of people, but when my aunt and uncle got married it kinda established a private peace treaty with Earth. Weird wedding, let me tell you. They don’t really hang out on Earth that much though, which is why you’ve probably never heard of them. Used to give my Grandpa Max a pain in the neck back in his golden age.”

“Huh, you two are identical.” Robin then said, popping up out of literally nowhere, “How does Reflect hide the albino thing? Holograph?”

“Wig and contacts.” Albedo deadpanned, “Not everything has to be complicated.”

“Said Albedo Tennyson.” Ben snorted, taking the distraction Robin provided as an opportunity to stop focusing on the Martian girl. 

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“I’d tell you… But it’d go over your head.” Albedo’s expression flashed with irritation and he seemed ready to strangle Ben for the remark. Aqualad was the saving grace. 

“Albedo? Interesting name.” Aqualad noted, “You must be Reflect, if he is Deka.” 

“Jeesh, you and Rob figured that out way quicker than I did.” Wally laughed, “They get here, and the first thing Ben, er, apparently that’s Deka’s real name, tells me is that he’s Reflect. Straight faced. Completely deadpanned and serious when he tells me too.” 

“They’re color coordinated.” Superboy pointed out. Wally flushed red before throwing his hands up.

“Hey! I didn’t want to assume anything!” Batman chose this opportunity to clear his throat. Attention was immediately taken from the brothers and focused on the Dark Knight.

“As I was explaining, this team will be handled by the League. You’ll work covert operations. Missions not out in the open using a team that can work on the sly and investigate our enemy so that incidents like Project Cadmus don’t catch us off guard again.” Batman explained. Ben ignored the slight laugh that left Albedo’s lips upon hearing the word ‘covert.’ Ben wasn’t sure if he was trying to be offensive or not (Sometimes Ben honestly couldn’t tell. He could be very rude on a constant basis and just not realize it… and other times be purposefully rude because he just didn’t like Ben). Ben did, however, feel a little hurt that Albedo didn’t think Ben could pull off covert. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

Especially with such a neat group of real, live superheroes like himself. 

The whole team thing was going to be a piece of cake.

Aqualad smiled at the information being explained, crossing his arms and looking over at his friends with clear pride twinkling in his eyes.

“Today’s the day.”

Notes:

A drawing of Ben and Albedo I made randomly today. Thought I'd share it with today's post.
Also, yes, I was making fun of the old Green Lantern Death Battle video with Ben from two years ago…. I have no regrets. Sorry Hal Jordan fans… I like Green Lantern, but that was… an interesting death battle.... Of course, against the WHOLE Lantern Corps, even with the Plumbers (who are way underpowered compared to the Lanterns) Ben would totally be in trouble, but in a 1 v. 1, he’d at least put up a much better fight. Also, I debated on if I should just give Ben the B-10 zeta slot, and ultimately decided Ben would pester someone until he got it because he’s THAT nostalgic about that stuff.) Yeah... you can tell I think too much about these things.

Chapter 17: Cookies and Team Bonding.

“I swear you younglings are far too consumed with the idea of going on a mission.” Albedo said dryly from his spot on the sofa as the teens walked in from the mission room, where they had just been told by Red Tornado that there were no new missions. The Galvan teen had some sort of device in his hands and he was fiddling with it restlessly, using various tools to pry it to pieces.

“Good morning to you too, Albedo.” Robin said in aggravation, “And what is it with you calling us younglings?”

“Albedo studied most of his childhood with super smart aliens.” Ben said quickly, “He means teenagers.”

“Yes, precisely.” Albedo agreed, not really paying attention to the group, “Anyways, while you six were off doing who knows what, I have actually tried to stay productive. You would do well to follow my example.”

“M’gann is giving us a tour of the place. You want to join us?” Ben offered

“I have already memorized the cave’s schematics and blueprints. I have no need for a tour. Besides, I am busy, Benjamin.” Albedo huffed, “Now if you would leave me to do my work, I would greatly appreciate it.” Ben rolled his eyes, going over to Albedo and yanking the device out of the Galvan’s hands, much to the boy’s objections, and setting it on the counter.

“Nope. You’re coming with us. No more being anti-social, come on.” Ben said proudly, dragging the snarling Albedo up to his feet and forcing him towards the others. Albedo seethed when Robin started to snicker at the occurrence and began to swear pretty violently in Galvanic. Ben was impressed to learn the Galvan could have such violent and rude language.

“Dude, what the heck?” Kid Flash asked in alarm, “What was that?”

“Alien.” Albedo grumbled, “Ben understood, I am certain.”

“And I’m also a bit horrified. Azmuth would be ashamed.” Ben said in a scolding tone. This comment led to more death threats in Galvanic.

“Well, it’s nice to see Superboy isn’t the only moody teen here.” Kid Flash muttered with a slight chuckle.

“I am not a moody teenager!” Albedo objected, which only encouraged Kid Flash, Robin, and Ben to laugh harder.

“Come on, Reflect. A little exercise won’t kill you.” Robin pointed out. Albedo just shot Ben a hateful glare and followed in behind their group as Miss. M showed them around the compound. Eventually they got all the way to the back of the compound.

“And this would be our back door. The cave is actually the entire mountain.” Miss. M said proudly.

“It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League.” Kid Flash explained proudly.

“Eh, I’ve seen cooler.” Ben shrugged, thinking about Mount Rushmore in the Omniverse, “Why would they abandon it?”

“The cave’s secret location was… compromised.” Aqualad explained. Miss. M got a fearful expression on her face.

“If the Bad Guys know of the cave, then we must be on constant alert!” She said in fear, flying ahead of the group as she waved her hands to empathize the danger. Robin made a motion for her to relax.

“The Bad Guys know we know they know about the place.” Robin explained, “So they’d never think to look here.”

“We are hiding in plain sight.” Albedo deadpanned.

“Ah, that is much clearer.” Miss. M said, calming down. Offering Albedo and Robin a grateful smile as she let herself relax again. Ben smiled for a moment before frowning when he smelled the distinct smell of burning baked goods.

“Is it just me, or do I smell smoke?” Ben asked, looking around in confusion. Miss. M gasped, flying towards the living quarters to the kitchen.

“My cookies!” She cried, flying into the kitchen and snatching a pan out of the oven as quickly as possible with telekinesis. She set them down, lamenting over the now burnt cookies.

“I was trying to make Grammy Jones’ recipe from episode 17 of-” She paused, “Er, nevermind.”

“Extranet?” Ben asked with a raised eyebrow.

“...Something like that.” Miss. M admitted with a bright blush. Ben nodded in understanding.

“Don’t worry, I know lots of aliens into that kind of stuff. It’s not as weird as you would think.” He said with an encouraging smile. She grinned at him before sadly looking down at her cookies, only to find Kid Flash was eating them like they had come out fresh and well done.

He paused halfway through his seventh, still clutching a few cookies in his hands and offered M’gann a sheepish grin.

“I have a serious metabolism.” He admitted, “Comes with the speed powers.”

“I’ll… make… more?” She said in confusion. Kid Flash swallowed, offering her a thumbs up. Albedo examined the burnt cookies seriously, taking one into his hands and eating it himself.

“They are fine.” He declared.

“Don’t trust him, he eats crickets. Remember the weird cravings thing I mentioned that he has?” Ben warned, “Though it was a nice thought for you to make us any… even if they got burnt and Albedo and Kid Flash ate them all before we could try.”

“Thanks, Deka.” Miss. M said quickly.

“Actually, you can call me Ben, remember?” Ben offered, “And he’s Albedo.”

“And I’m Kaldur’ahm, though my friends call me Kaldur.” Aqualad offered.

“And I’m Wally. See, Rob? I’m already trusting them with my secret ID, unlike you, Mr. Dark Glasses.” Wally said, nudging at Robin, “Bats won’t let Boy Wonder tell anyone his real name.”

“And for that, he is wise.” Albedo commented, “Unlike one youngling I know.” Albedo shot a death glare at Ben, who rubbed his neck sheepishly. Albedo just huffed and turned away, cramming the last of his cookies into his mouth so Wally couldn’t steal them.

“Well, mine isn’t a secret. It’s M’gann M’orzz, but you can call me Megan. It’s an Earth name. I’m on Earth now.” Miss. M, now dubbed M’gann said. Ben noted the excitement in her voice as if she still couldn’t believe that little detail. Albedo made a noise of disgust.

“Earth name? Now why on Earth would anyone need an Earth name?” He questioned, “Honestly, changing your name just to fit in on a planet, that is preposterous! Terrans have no true regard for alien diplomacy, do they?”

“That’s never been a thing here… no…” Robin admitted, “Though we do have the League and the Lantern Corps, which pretty much handles that kind of stuff.” Albedo scoffed, waving that detail off.

“No, no. Not in that manner. Not at all! I mean the local governments of this planet have not yet begun for the preparation of the chance that aliens will wish to live here as legal, law abiding citizens as well as young Osmosian children?” Albedo asked in annoyance, “When I studied under Azmuth, he wouldn’t stop ranting about the importance of planets having such systems in place! Otherwise we end up with dozens of vigilante and mercenary aliens such as yourself, and a very, very hostile public towards extraterrestrials. And when the real hostiles show up, the planet is always next to defenceless against them because they drove off the only aliens willing to help and protect them.”

“We… never really thought about it like that. The League usually…” Aqualad started.

“Bah, the League this and that! Honestly, they are not so impressive.” Albedo grumbled, “No offense.”

“How is that not offensive?” Robin asked.

“What are Osmosians?” Wally asked in confusion.

“...Um, you?” Ben asked in confusion, “You know, a human with superpowers?”

“You mean a meta human?” Wally asked, “Dude, where are you two getting your terms from?”

“...It’s a really long story.” Ben admitted.

“Well, to answer your question, Albedo, yeah, they do have something in place for the aliens and Metas. It’s called the Meta Human Rights Act. It makes it illegal to experiment on or imprison a meta human or alien and requires said aliens and metas to follow certain laws.” Robin interrupted.

“Laws like making up an Earth name?” Albedo asked.

“No, some aliens just do that.” Wally said, “To blend in better and stuff.”

“So, the public is still unaware of aliens living among them?”

“No. They know aliens live here, they just… don’t know who is and isn’t an alien or meta. It’s more for the alien and meta’s protection, since, although there are laws against experimenting on them, bad organizations still do it regardless of the laws.” Robin explained, “Like Cadmus.” Albedo’s deep frown lightened a little at this explanation as he allowed that information to sink in. Ben didn’t like to hear this information either. It reminded him of the cruelty of the Forever Knights or of the injustices that had been committed at Area 51. Two groups that hunted down, experimented on, and exploited aliens for their own purposes, not even caring that the aliens were living, feeling, thinking creatures.

“The Plumbers should be here.” Albedo growled a little, “They should be on Earth. These sorts of things should not be happening. If Earth had the Plumbers, there wouldn’t be any problems with corrupt organizations trying to harm aliens, and then Megan wouldn’t need to change her name or become a vigilante to remain here.”

“I’m pretty sure she chose the superhero thing, bud.” Ben corrected quickly.

“Yes, that was a choice of my own. As is the Earth name.” M’gann insisted, “I’ve always admired the Earth name Megan.” Albedo didn’t look anymore satisfied by the answer. He looked ready to say more on the matter, so Ben decided to change the subject. Albedo was probably so hung up on that world not having a legal process for the aliens because he was secretly an alien himself that came from the race that had established the Plumbers. It was still a little weird to see Albedo, a wanted criminal from the Omniverse, get worked up over how another reality didn’t follow the same rules.

“Anyways, what’s your favorite Extranet show, Miss. M?” Ben asked cheerfully. M’gann instantly brightened.

“Oh, I am really into the old Earth shows they play. Since Mars is so close to Earth, the Extranet picks up a lot of those sort of things. I especially enjoy the old sitcoms… they are so funny and playful!” She said cheerfully. Ben resisted the urge to gag.

“Eh, not much of a sitcom guy. I was really into this one sumo wrestling show for a while, but it was cancelled about the time I had to come back to Earth for my freshmen year.”

“Not much into action.” M’gann admitted, “But I guess that sort of stuff was cool to watch too...” She seemed to be trailing off at this point, looking over at Superboy with a warm expression. The Kryptonian teen seemed to be attempting to slink away from the group, a thing that Ben was surprised Albedo hadn’t attempted himself several minutes ago. The moment she made eye contact with him, he flinched in fear, backing up for a moment before slamming his hands onto his ears in alarm.

“Get out of my head.” He growled. Ben’s eyes went wide. M’gann was telepathic… and Superboy had just escaped a prison where he was controlled and force fed knowledge by telepaths.

“M’gann, stop.” Ben said cautiously, “Please don’t do that here.” She looked at him with a puzzled expression.

‘I don’t understand?’ She said in his head, ‘Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.’

‘Yes, but humans and Krytonians don’t do that.’ Ben explained, ‘Most consider such things as an invasion of privacy. Especially him. He was controlled by telepaths for the first sixteen months of his existence, telepathy really will set him off. I get that certain aliens prefer this method of communication, but Terrans do not. It’s smart to warn a person first and to try and not read people’s minds when they don’t want you in their head. I, personally, don’t mind telepathy, but I’m used to working with aliens who have it. Still, even I have personal boundaries and I would like you to ask me before entering. If it is an emergency, if we establish beforehand this is the best way to communicate, or if it’s the mind of a bad guy you are reading, it’s okay. Otherwise, ask, and always be wary of how far you dive, because some people keep secrets for very good reasons.’

“Oh.” M’gann said aloud, “I was not aware of this. I am so new to Earth and so used to communicating with my fellow Martians I didn’t realise… I’m sorry Superboy. I didn’t mean to bother you. I was just trying to be friendly. I didn’t see anything, I swear. Ben was kind enough to explain my mistake.” Superboy just addressed her with an angry glare.

“Just stay out.” He warned. Wally looked in between the three of them in confusion.

“What just happened?” He asked.

“Miss. M tried to psychically link Superboy like she does to the Martians back home.” Ben explained, “I kindly informed her of the cultural difference. It’s cool now.”

“Ah, a telepath.” Albedo said with interest, “I really do need to study Martians more. Your species is really full of surprises.”

“That’s actually common knowledge.” Robin said in confusion, “Considering there’s one in the League.”

“He was busy studying with aliens, Rob. And he never watches the news anymore. Give him some slack.” Ben suggested.

“Oh, right.” It was at that moment M’gann looked like she had the best idea ever as she flew a little bit off the ground and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand in a universal, ‘of course!’ gesture.

“Hello, Megan!” She said in a happy voice, “I know what we can do! Follow me!” She took off down the hall again, forcing the group of teens to jog in order to keep up with her. Superboy didn’t seem willing to follow. Ben just walked over to the guy.

“She didn’t mean anything by it, supes. She’s just as new to Earth as you are. Granted, you are a bit newer, but she grew up in a place where that was normal. She’s adjusting. We all are.” Ben reminded him. Superboy looked down in aggravation, but followed after the group. M’gann led them into a large ship hangar where a strange oblong shape floated in the air.

“This is my Martian Bioship.” She presented.

“Cute.” Wally said, “Not aerodynamic, but cute.” M’gann just giggled, flying over to it and resting her hand on it.

“It’s at rest, silly. I’ll wake it.” She explained. The ship instantly transformed into a really cool looking spaceship and stairs leading to the inside could be found. Albedo walked over to the ship examining it curiously.

“Fascinating, a living ship. I have not seen a craft like this one in a long time.” He admitted.

“And you didn’t want to hang with us.” Ben teased, following M’gann aboard. Albedo scowled.

“Silence, Benjamin. Your tease is noted, but not appreciated.” He scolded. They got fully into the ship and the inside morphed to accommodate the seven of them. Ben gladly took his seat. Albedo sat as far from Ben as possible, opting to glare angrily at the window. Ben swore Albedo could give Superboy lessons on being a moody teen, and technically, Albedo wasn’t even mentally a teenager.

“Strap in for launch.” M’gann announced. The ship reacted, moving everyone's seats until they were secured.

“Huh. This reminds me of my ex’s Galvanic Mechamorph pet, Ship. She trained it to turn into a spaceship by accident.” Ben said thoughtfully, “But Ship’s species isn’t biologically based. They are an artificially sytheished lifeforms.”

“Ah, yes, I forgot about that obnoxious Mechamorph.” Albedo grumbled.

“Honestly, same. I like dogs as much as the next person, but I swear Ship was out to get me.” Ben admitted. Wally looked like he wanted to strangle the look-alikes.

“Do you guys ever have any normal conversations? Also, ex? You had a girlfriend?”

“Hmm… a few actually. I also think I accidently got engaged a couple times due to cultural misunderstandings. I blame Kevin.” Ben said thoughtfully, “It’s always Kevin’s fault.” Wally frowned, offering Ben a deadpan expression.

“Really, dude?” Ben just shrugged. It really wasn’t that surprising. Kevin was a jerk who liked to pin war princesses onto Ben so he didn’t have to get married and break up with Gwen. He was just glad Julie got him out of that little mess.

“Red Tornado, please, open the bay doors.” M’gann ordered, ignoring Ben’s comparison between Ship and the Bioship. Red Tornado allowed the doors to open and they took off. They watched in awe as they whizzed through Happy Harbor. M’gann skillfully flew the Bioship doing fancy barrel rolls and upward flights. She even got close to the crystal clear waters of the beach the cave was next to before zipping back to main land and into the city.

“This is incredible!” Robin cheered, clearly impressed with M’gann’s piloting skills. Wally leaned forwards, staring at M’gann thoughtfully.

“She sure is.” He said before flashing bright red, “I… I mean the ship, which like all ships, is a she.”

“My ex’s Ship was a boy.” Ben said, earning a glare from Wally. Robin cackled at his friend’s expense.

“Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth.” Robin cackled harder at his friend’s embarrassment. Ben himself snickered a bit. Wally definitely had that one coming to him. Next to Wally, Aqualad started to talk to Superboy about the telepathic incident from before. Ben realized the clone probably felt bad about reacting so poorly to something that was just a simple cultural misunderstanding. Superboy just chose to ignore Aqualad’s words, looking out the window with a blank expression. Next to him, Albedo was doing similarly. The white haired Galvan had a thoughtful, almost philosophical look on his face as he watched the world pass by below them.

“Miss. Martian.” Albedo said in a thoughtful voice, “To what extent do your shapeshifter abilities go?” M’gann looked a little surprised by the question, but she gladly put the ship in auto pilot, standing to face the group.

“Well, Martians mostly mimic other species or people they are around, camouflaging themselves to their environment. But our abilities never change the way Ben’s do.”

“But you are able to keep up one form for a very long period of time?” Albedo asked, tilting his head.

“Well, yeah. I suppose so.” M’gann said, “I could show you some mimicking if you’d like.” She said, instantly changing into a female version of Albedo, to which Ben burst into laughter before he realized she technically looked like a female version of him. She
did one for Robin too before noticing Wally smirking wildly at his friend in a teasing manner. She shifted herself to look like him. Wally let out a low whistle.

“Is it wrong to think I’m hot?” Wally asked.

“Yes.” Albedo said at the same time Ben said no, to which the look-alikes glared at each other.

“That’s impressive, but you aren’t going to fool anyone with those.” Robin admitted. She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, turning back into herself and sitting down.

“Mimicking boys is a lot harder.” M’gann admitted.

“And the clothes?” Albedo questioned.

“Organic, like the ship.” She explained, tugging on her jacket to show it off, “They respond to my mental commands.”

“As long as they are the only ones.” Superboy said in a hostile voice. M’gann’s expression fell. Wally was quick to catch her attention again.

“Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?” Wally asked. M’gann cocked her head to the side.

“Density shifting?” M’gann asked, “No, it’s a very advanced technique.” She still didn’t smile, instead looking even more sad about Superboy’s ongoing hostility towards her. Robin tried to help by once more embarrassing Wally in front of her.

“Flash can vibrate his molecules through walls, but everytime he tries it, he has a bloody nose.” Robin said, patting his hand on his friend’s shoulder with a proud smirk. Wally turned crimson, turning to slug the guy for the comment.

“Dude!” He said in a high pitched, annoying voice. M’gann chuckled a little before finally getting a bright look on her face.

“Oh! Here’s something I can do!” She said, waving her hand to turn the entire ship transparent, “Camouflage mode.” The instant the ship was out of view, Red Tornado’s mechanical voice tore through the comms.

“Red Tornado to Miss. Martian.” He said, “An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I’m sending coordinates.” M’gann turned her attention back to the ship’s controls.

“Received, adjusting course.” She announced. Robin got an agitated expression and folded his arms, leaning back in his seat with aggravation.

“Tornado’s keeping us busy again.” He decided with a scoff. M’gann just kept a bright smile on her face.

“Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert.” And with that, they redirected their course to Happy Harbor Power Plant.

Chapter 18: Mr. Twister in Happy Harbor.

“I feel as if this is obvious… but tornadoes should not be occurring in this section of the planet.” Albedo noted as he watched the twister fly towards that. Benjamin was unbuckling and dialing on the Omnitrix before M’gann could warn against it.

“No joke, bro.” Benjamin agreed, and then there was a flash of green.

“Dude, a giant turtle? Really? Is this really the time?” Wally questioned. Benjamin had no time to explain himself as the twister grabbed the bioship with it’s winds and it was sent flying across the area. Albedo grit his teeth and clung to the seat he was in for dear life. It was bad enough Benjamin forced him to come out on this pointless escape. Now they were being attacked by impossible weather patterns.

As M’gann managed to guide the ship to a rough landing, Albedo snapped at Benjamin.

“Brother, expunge tha tornado this instant before it does more harm, if you would please!” He growled. Benjamin moved quickly, leaving the bio-ship before anyone could stop him and using Terraspin and an actually clever manner, as he reversed the wind direction to remove the tornado from the equation. As the rest of the so-called ‘team’ stumbled out just as Benjamin returned to a human form and stared up at the flying figure above them.

“Well, you’re original.” Benjamin deadpanned as he crossed his arms and knit his eyebrows in mock annoyance, “What’s your villain name? Tornado Man? Tornado King? Twister? Nah, Mr. Twister. That’s gotta be it right.”

“That is… correct.” Mr. Twister admitted. Benjamin clicked his tongue in disapproval, looking the man over.

“You get a three out of ten for the super villain name. Five out of ten for power. Two out of ten for impressiveness. Over all. Four out of ten. Dude, you need to up your game. Attacking a power plant? Really?” Benjamin questioned.

“Brother, do not mock the areokentic foe.” Albedo advised. Mr. Twister grunted.

“Children.” He scoffed, clearly unaffected as the team took ready stances, ““Have you no adult supervision?” Before Albedo could blink, the man’s hands waved in his direction, and a whirlwind slammed into him. Wally was quick on his feet, snatching Albedo out of harm's way before Albedo could take a hard fall. Benjamin wrinkled his nose.

“Reflect is our adult supervisor, thank you very much.” Benjamin said, “Would you be kind not to kill him for me? I like my doppelganger alive.”

“...Reflect is my age…” Wally muttered under his breath and Albedo’s mind raced to recall when he’d ever volunteered to supervise all of these reckless teenagers. He’d only said he’d care for one reckless teen. The obnoxious doppelganger that he was forced to live with.

“I do not.” Albedo decided, “Please, by all means, save me the trouble. Kill Deka for me.”

“Not cool, dude.” Benjamin grumbled.

“Sibling rivalries, later. Bad guy, now.” Robin scolded as he threw smoke pellets at Mr. Twister to draw the man’s attention. The group attacked, leaving Albedo on the sidelines as his eyes scanned over the enemy, searching for weaknesses.

His eyes were instantly drawn to the jerky and familiar movement he seemed to have despite being a villain themed for the wind. A thought crossed Albedo’s mind and he scrambled back towards the bio-ship, twisting the dial on his dead ultimatrix.

“Scan area for lifeforms.” He ordered.

“This function is disabled.” It replied stubbornly, “Stabilizer or omnitrix core required.” He grit his teeth, spinning it some more before reaching into his pocket, sliding out a thin tool, and working on getting the cover of the device off. A moment later, and he was keying in the program for scanning lifeforms by hand. The device accepted the code, and although such a program simply could not transform him without an omnitrix core, it would serve his needs for the moment. He inated a scan of the battle, excluding himself and M’gann’s living ship.

“Deka, it’s not human!” Albedo concluded, “That mechanical suit is just that: a suit. Use the Planchaküle.”

“The what?” Benjamin called back.

“The, oh, profound it all! Jury Rigg! Use Jury Rigg!” Albedo called, “It’s a- Gah!” Albedo tried to get out of the way as the blasted machine seemed to deem him a threat and high winds went spiraling towards him. Benjamin rushed to help him, pounding the watch and transforming mid air into AmpFibian. He allowed the winds to pass through him before diving for Albedo and catching him. He flew around helping the others up as quickly as possible causing Mr. Twister to snarl in disgust. Wally began to try and distract him.

“I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now.” Twister mocked, going to swipe Wally away.

“What do you want?” Aqualad demanded.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m waiting for a real hero!” Mr. Twister mocked. Benjamin turned to face him.

“Well, you're in luck, bud.” Benjamin said, diving at him and charging himself up with electricity.
Aqualad ordered for Miss. M to read the villain's mind.

“Nothing.” She said quickly, “I’m getting nothing. Hello, Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He’s inorganic. How many androids do we know that can generate tornadoes?” Immediately the teens began to grumble and complain. Apparently they thought it was another test. Albedo saw Benjamin’s alien eyes narrow as he continued to charge at the machine, even though the rest of them had pulled back. Albedo got the strangest sense that Benjamin was not happy.

“We know who you are and what you want.” Robin yelled.

“So, let’s end this.” Aqualad growled. Mr. Twister took his attention off of Benjamin, raising his hands to destroy them. Benjamin blasted the guy to mess up his aim.
The android's winds instead were directed to the sky, making a massive twister. Electricity and waves of wind flew off of the villain in waves. The team’s resolve weakened, as they all quickly realized this man was not Red Tornado.

“Go Jury Rigg!” Albedo called out again.
This time Benjamin didn’t hesitate to go and change into the Planchaküle, but his Omnitrix suddenly let out a familiar and annoying beeping noise. Seconds later, he was plummeting towards the ground below, yelling at the top of his lungs. Thankfully, Wally was fast to catch him.

“Why’d you go back?” Wally asked.

“The watch is cursed.” Benjamin grumbled. Before they could do anything else, Mr. Twister sent another bolt of electricity down, this time it almost fried them all. Benjamin yelled out in pain as a few sparks of energy surged through him, leaving Superboy as the only one standing strong. Mr. Twister fired more electricity at Superboy, causing him to faulture. M’gann recovered, instantly realizing the dilemma the group was in. She mentally contacted the Bioship to hide them from view. Mr. Twister paused in confusion as they all seemingly vanished, before Mr. Twister spoke.

“Fine then, I will not deny you children have power, but playing hide and seek with you will not help me achieve my objective. So, stay concealed, if you confront me again, I will show no mercy.” He threatened, letting the lightning in the area dispel and turning to leave. Only when the android was gone did Albedo sit up and let out an aggravated growl.

“I told you to use Jury Rigg, Benjamin.”

“Oh, shut it.” Benjamin grumbled, “This isn’t only my fault you know.”

“Of course it is.” Albedo scolded, “I have seen you challenge and defeat Vilgax the conqueror on your own and you were unable to deal with a simple android?” Benjamin shot Albedo a warning glare.

“This isn’t his fault.” Kaldur said in a warning tone.

“If anything, it’s her and Reflect’s fault.” Superboy growled, “You both tricked us into thinking Twister he was Red Tornado!”

“I never said he was!” Albedo growled in frustration, close to pulling his hair out.

“It was an accident.” M’gann said softly, looking down in shame.

“It was a rookie mistake. We shouldn’t have listened.” Robin admitted.

“You and Albedo are pretty inexperienced it seems.” Wally said, making M’gann look like she was ready to go invisible right then and there. If Wally agreed, then she knew she messed up. Benjamin scowled.

“Okay, that is enough.” Benjamin said, his voice going dead serious as he lost his normal playfulness. Albedo actually had to reel back as he did a double take of the boy. His face was scary dark, and his eyes burned with aggravation and frustration. Albedo didn’t even know it was possible to get this much on the great Ben Tennyson’s nerves, though he had little clue as to what set the reaction off. All he knew was that he should take a step back. His memories of an angered Benjamin told him it was time to tread lightly. For the sake of the other children, he hoped they would follow his example.

“You six are ridiculous. So what if there was an off chance it could have just been a test? There’s always that chance that it isn’t. And in those circumstances, if you are wrong, you could very well be risking everything to prove your point and it’s not worth it. That’s how people die, do you hear me? So what if this was another test? So what if you’re flipping tired of your mentor’s testing you and double checking to make sure you’re ready? It’s better to ace the test than to fail at a real mission and get everyone killed, do you guys understand?” Benjamin growled. The group stared at Benjamin in bewilderment.

“But-” Robin began to object.

“But what? There was no reason. None whatsoever that you should have ditched me there. If you guys want to make a team work then you’ve got to get off your high horses and do your freaking job and stop acting like little kids. The only person with a plausible excuse for not doing anything was Albedo because he can’t fight very well and his arsonal isn’t on him. Grow up and act like a team, or you all might as well go back to calling yourselves sidekicks. And don't blame M’gann or Albedo or anyone for your screw up. You are the more experienced heroes, you should know better.” Benjamin cut off, “Am I clear?” They regarded Benjamin with miserable, aggravated expressions, but they mumbled their agreements.

Benjamin got to his feet and dusted himself off.

“So, the bad guy won. No use in arguing, since we are all still alive to try again. Now’s not the time to place blame. It’s time to get off your lazy butts and try this thing again, the right way this time, got it?” Everyone glanced around hesitantly before getting to their feet, determined this time.

“I take it you have a plan?” Albedo asked.

“Why yes. But we’ll need Miss. M’s help. Superboy, do you mind if we use her telepathic powers as a comm’s system since none of us have actual communicator’s right now?” Benjamin asked. Superboy scowled, sending a glare towards M’gann before nodding slightly.

“But only for communication. She dives any deeper and I’ll-” He started.

“I won’t.” She promised.

“Albedo, without your uniform, you are vulnerable, but you being good with machines will be useful. Stay safe, but keep a close eye out for any notable weak spots. Superboy, Aqualad, Robin? Twister said he had some sort of objective. Find out what that is. M’gann, stay by me and keep the comms up until I give the order. Wally, use your speed to disornatate the bad guy. Keep your teammates safe and keep them from being swept off by a tornado, got it?” Benjamin continued. Albedo’s jaw slackened, and he tried to hide his surprise. Was he actually impressed by Benjamin’s ability to take charge? No, of course not. That would be ridiculous. Albedo had always had a faint idea of Benjamin’s flexibility in a team setting, seeing as he’d worked with his own variety of groups, partners, and teams over the years. Expecting anything less than what Benjamin was displaying would be foolish.

“Good. So, then, let’s do this before he destroys the town? Shall we?” Benjamin questioned. They all nodded, getting back to their feet and preparing for a fight. Twister hadn’t gotten far from where they were, but he was approaching the town now. Clearly, the town’s destruction was not in their best interest. M’gann established a telepathic link with the others. Then, together, they charged after the rampaging robot.

“Get back here, gears for brains! We aren’t done yet!” Wally yelled as he zipped in front of the android. Benjamin hung back, emerald eyes regarding the machine with a mad glint in them as he twisted and messed with the watch in his wrist.

“Immaterial and insufficient!” Twister proclaimed, “You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate.” He moved to attack Wally, but Robin moved in, launching smoke pellets off of him and distracting Twister long enough for Wally to move. Kaldur unhooked his water barriers, directing the water from the nearby ocean into long swords. He charged head first from the front. Superboy came from behind.

“He seems to bear similarities in design to Red Tornado.” Albedo noted as he watched the teens battle the android, “And likely has similar weak points.”

“Yeah, but why is he attacking? He’s trying to get attention, but who’s?” Benjamin agreed. Then the boy’s eyes narrowed further.

“M’gann, how much time do you need to turn into Red Tornado?”

“It will take a moment. I told you, males are harder.” M’gann admitted.

“That’s fine. Reflect… don’t let the tornados grab her. I’m going Jury Rigg and I’ll try to take that thing down, but we’ll need a serious distraction for me to get close. When you're ready, move in.” Benjamin ordered. M’gann nodded timibly, slinking back behind the cover of a semi with Albedo. M’gann began attempting to turn into the android Red Tornado. The sounds of the battle on the other side of the semi grew concerningly close the longer she tried.

“...You are thinking about it far too much, M’gann.”

“...It’s Megan.” M’gann corrected as she made another attempt, “And how would you know, you’ve never been a Martian… Um, you haven’t, have you?”

“I have not.” Albedo deadpanned, “But I have been many other aliens before. This camouflage ability you possess is a natural ability. One you and your kind clearly equipped as a survival instinct. Focusing too much on making such instincts, which should come naturally, work, is pointless.” He sized her up, “So, and this may sound odd, coming from me, you should not be thinking too much about it.” M’gann’s expression got thoughtful, the exact opposite of Albedo’s advice, and Albedo heard the sounds of the battle getting out of hand. Benjamin likely did not have much time in his alien form with how fast it powered down before. The Martian had to be quicker.

Suddenly, she shifted into a near perfect copy of Red Tornado. Over her mind link with them, she declared that she’d pulled it off. Benjamin ordered, much to the team’s confusion, for them to back off on their attacks once M’gann came into Twister’s sight. Curious as to what was going through his doppleganger’s mind, Albedo peered around the truck, watching as the disguised M’gann flew at the android.

“Hit the showers, boys.” M’gann said in a mechanical voice that matched Tornado’s perfectly, “I was hoping you could handle this, but clearly, you cannot.” Robin immediately objected.

“But we have a plan now! We’re winning!”

“The subject is not up for debate.” M’gann said in a warning voice as Albedo spotted Benjamin circling around as Jury Rigg. He looked ready to pounce on the android as he began to direct his attention to the disguised M’gann. The team frowned, but did not object as they started to leave. Twister seemed pleased.

“I was beginning to think you’d never show up.” He told the disguised M’gann.

“I’m here now.” She said, pretending to go and make a twister. Twister began to unleash a series of attacks on the Martian. Benjamin seemed to see his opportunity and lunged, landing right on Mr, Twister without any trouble at all. The android went rigid as Benjamin set to work, Jury Rigg’s personality melding with his while he cackled and tore madly into the machine. Seconds later, Twister stuttered and began to fall to pieces. Benjamin dove away from Mr. Twister, reverting back mid-air and ducking into a roll, before coming back onto his feet.

“And that’s how you beat a tornado robot.” Ben said proudly.

“Okay, that.” Wally said, coming up and wrapping an arm around Benjamin’s shoulder, “Was awesome dude!” Albedo dared to come out at that point, walking timidly to the now broken android. He slid his tool for meddling with the Ulitmatrix shell out of its place and kneeled over the remains, inspecting it carefully for anything useful and silently hating himself for stooping to the point of scavenging for resources like a vulture. Albedo opened it up, grunting in aggravation at the human android inside, likely built to trick the heroes if the machine were caught. Albedo cut his power quickly, not caring about the loud objections the team instantly directed towards him.

“Guys! Relax. Albedo knew he was an android. See. The guy is completely mechanical, I couldn’t sense him, remember?” M’gann called stopping the young heroes from calling him out for murder. Because killing a pre-programmed android was such a crime. The only thing about such an act that could even be considered a crime was if the machine was clearly self-aware and intelligent. He wasn’t. Even if he had been, cutting the power wouldn’t kill him.

Heroes and their obnoxious codes of ethics.

“I think it is safe to say this Android was likely built by the one who created Red Tornado.” Albedo finally declared after determining there was nothing of use within the machine.

“You think?” Wally questioned, picking up the head.

“It is of similar design. Do you doubt my expertise? If so, I can assure you that is unwise. I am of superior intellect and have worked with machines far more complex than this one.” Albedo said.

“No… I just thought the guy who built Red was, you know, dead.” Wally admitted. Albedo just hummed at that fact as if it were unimportant.

“Whatever the case, it was certainly created to find and sabotage Red Tornado. Now, if you will excuse me.” Albedo reached down and began taking the android apart even more, already having a field day with it’s ‘cheap and pathetic’ technology.

“We did good work today. Now, who’s up for some smoothies and chili fries?” Benjamin questioned.

Chapter 19: Albedo Discovers Sitcoms.

“Hey.” Albedo jerked his head up, expecting to see Benjamin in the doorway. Much to his surprise, it was not. It was M’gann. Albedo set down his tools regarding her with clear irritation.

“What do you want, M'gann? I need to finish this report on the android and ensure he is properly taken care of and I also have several reports and projects I need to work on for Wayne Enterprises.”

“You work for Wayne Enterprises?” M’gann asked, flying over to where Albedo was working with a curious smile.

“The job is new. I rather enjoy it. Mr. Wayne has checked on my progress a few times now. He is sickenly pleasant and a bit too disruptive for my taste. Also, he stays in Gotham. I’m certain, at this point, he only checks in on me so much because of my age.”

“So… You’re really a doctor like Wally told me?”

“Correct.” Albedo huffed, “Any other pointless questions, or may I return to my work?”

“You’ve been in here for six hours, Abedo. Everyone has gone home but you and Ben.” M’gann chuckled, “And he’s a little bit on the chaotic side when he’s bored. You should go home and get some sleep. The android will still be here tomorrow. You disabled any trackers and dangerous parts, right?”

“Do you think I'm daft? That was the first thing I did.”

“Then this can wait. I’m sure Batman won’t complain if you don’t get the lab work completely done immediately.” M’gann urged. Albedo didn’t get why she was so insistent. She lived in the cave and now so did Superboy and Red Tornado. She had nowhere to be and was not waiting on him. If anything, Benjamin should’ve been the one giving this speech, considering the child likely preferred to be no longer bored.

“I’m not tired.” Albedo grunted.

“You have bags under your eyes. When’s the last time you got a full night of sleep?” M’gann laughed. Albedo paused, squinting as he tried to recall how much sleep humans required. He knew it was quite a bit more than Galvans, who’s minds only need short recharges and processed and stored information at a far quicker rate than humans did. He was, however, not entirely sure how much humans slept on average. Really, humans had barely interested him at all with the exception of the Tennysons when he’d been a Galvan. And after he’d been turned into one… well… he’d expected to be reverted to a Galvan again almost two years ago. Since his transformation into the disgusting form, he had not taken a moment's rest. He couldn’t really afford it. And time spent on human research was sparse, and just enough to survive in that form.

“...How much sleep do humans require again?” Albedo asked. M’gann stifled a laugh.

“Albedo! Seven to eight hours!” M’gann laughed. Albedo paused, expression slackening. Huh. That explained so much. Why had Benjamin not informed him of this fact? Also… why that long? That was four more hours than the average Galvan slept. Far too much time wasted!

“Oh, hey, it’s okay. Not everyone knows that. Apparently teenagers like you and Ben and all the other guys in our team, don’t sleep much themselves. Apparently, it’s recommended to sleep that much, but teenagers are stubborn and typically… don’t.” M’gann explained, “Clearly you’re one of them. I should’ve known. Ben seems like the kind of person who would spend a full day sleeping and you seem like a go-getter kind of person.”

Ah, so that’s why Benjamin never noticed.

“You know a lot about humans.” Albedo noted. M’gann blushed.

“I did my research.” She admitted, “I was so excited about coming to Earth, you know? And I love it here so far! I can’t wait to see what it's really like in Earth schools and Earth stores and-”

“But why?” Albedo asked. M’gann faltered in her rambling, looking very confused.

“What?”

“Why do you have this fascination for Earth and it’s humans? They are not particularly interesting and the human race, as a whole, is very much considered a lesser species. This planet is not well taken care of. The politics here are worse than the ones in space. The food here is atrocious. And the general function of the human body is disgusting and using one is complete misery. Not to mention they are entirely too large and clumsy and only a minimal amount possible unique, notable qualities that would place them on an even playing field with… say, someone like yourself.”

M’gann blinked, staring at him for a long time. At first, worry flickered across her face. Then a look of understanding.

“Ben says you used to have the same powers as him… and you studied with an alien, were… were you in human form when you did that?”

“...Human is the default function on those devices.” Albedo deadpanned, “When the watches time out, and they do time out, I always return to a human again.” Albedo then hesitated, “But… my work there was much easier in a certain alien form I had gotten accustomed to using. The race that my mentor was. His kind was perfect for machine work and research.”

“Albedo… do… Do you like that alien form more than this one?” M’gann asked in a cautious tone. Albedo looked away, deciding he would much rather not be having that discussion with a Martian girl he had basically just met. He dove back into his work, ignoring her completely. A hand was rested against his shoulder, likely meaning to be reassuring.

“Don’t worry. I get it.” M’gann promised in a gentle voice. Empathy seemed to roll off the girl in waves, “On Mars, I… I wasn’t liked very well by my siblings. So… I found Earth media and stuff like that… and I just dove into it. Now all I want to be is like any other human teenager, like in those shows and stuff. When Uncle Jon came here and brought me with him, well, it was a dream come true.”

“A foolish dream. Being human is terrible.” Albedo grumped.

“So far I’m learning that being human has its perks.” M’gann offered with a cheerful grin, before Albedo knew what was happening, she’d pulled him from his seat and work. His tools were left abandoned on the table as she dragged him out of the lab and down the hall to where the dorms were located.

“M’gann! What are you doing!?” Albedo screeched, trying to break free from her strong grip. Apparently Martians were stronger than humans too. Was there no end to how useless the human form was?

She plopped him down in a chair at a desk in her room, starting up a computer.

“We’re just going to watch one episode, then it's off to bed with you and Ben! We’ll make this our little secret, okay.” Episode?

Instantly Albedo’s mind jumped to those stupid shows and radio programs that bounced around the extranet. He tried to get up, seriously not wanting to be conned into watching such mind numbing filth. But she telekinetically held him down as she found whatever she had been wanting to show him. He stilled, eyes going wide when the actress, a woman identical to M’gann with the expectation of the skin color, appeared on screen.

Did all red haired humans strike such a close resemblance to Benjamin’s cousin?

“This is the show that introduced me to Earth culture!” M’gann said cheerfully, as she started the blasted thing. Very quickly, Albedo slackened, forgetting that he was being held against his will and brainwashed by a clearly deranged Martian child, and watched. Eyes scanned the screen in a certain fascination. Surely this was not how humans actually behaved? This was utter nonsense! And did none of them possess an ounce of common sense? If this was supposed to make him feel better about being trapped as a human for the rest of his life, it was certainly failing.

Finally, he was freed from the torture at the sound of the ending music and the sight of rolling credits.

“Well?” M’gann asked.

“...” Albedo stared in daze at the dark screen, “What did I just witness?”

“It’s something called a sitcom.” M’gann explained.

“Everyone is a moron!” Albedo sputtered, “How is this supposed to do anything for me?”

“Well, yeah, it’s a sitcom.” M’gann laughed, “But did you like it?”

“...I mean, I didn’t hate it and it was rather amusing, but still! That’s besides the point! Are all humans that dull?”

“...I really don’t know. Apparently the show is a little dated, but I don’t care! I’m still excited to see how accurate it is!”

“I’d rather not.” Albedo countered.

“Oh, come on! Besides the parts were people were acting really… dumb.” M’gann pressed, “What did you think?”

“...Well…” Albedo had no idea why he was even putting up with this kidnapping. Superboy had super hearing, didn’t he? If he yelled loud enough, would the child rescue him from the nightmarish situation? Albedo tried to avoid looking into her wide, curious eyes.

“...Oh, confound it all! I enjoyed it. I was amused because the humans were so completely foolish. Besides that… I was… intrigued by their capacity for forgiveness and their more emotional aspects… things I’ve only really observed in Benjamin and our family before.”

“You liked it?” M’gann repeated.

“For the love of- yes. I enjoyed the human sitcom, M’gann, now can I please be released?”

“...I’m not using telekinesis on you anymore. I stopped after I pressed play.” Albedo processed this information. That sly Martian! He was going to kill her. He got up, storming to the exit.

“You win. I’m going home.” Albedo declared, “Happy now?”

“Oh, very!” M’gann said cheerfully. Albedo scowled further and began to storm off.

“Oh, and Albedo?” The galvan teen paused, sending one last glare toward her.

“What?”

“Thanks for the advice with Mr. Twister and my mimicking.” She said, “That really helped and I never got the chance to thank you.”

“It was crucial for the situation at hand. I need not your thanks.”

“Still, that was really awesome of you.” M’gann said, “You seem so grumpy, but don’t worry, I won’t tell your brother you're actually a big softy.” M'gann gave him a knowing grin, “Though something tells me he’s figured that out.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Albedo hissed, “Goodnight, M’gann.”

“Goodnight, Albedo.” M’gann called, “...Watch the next episode with me tomorrow?”

“If you tell Benjamin about this kidnapping I swear!”

“Well?”

“...Yes, I will watch the next episode with you tomorrow.”

Notes:

FYI, I plan on making these two have a sibling relationship too. I know it's a bit out there that she shows him 'Hello Megan' so early on, but the Galvan is sworn to secrecy and likely wouldn't tell anyways (For the sake of his pride) And she knows that, so I thought I'd just go right ahead and have him know about her Sitcom obsession. Alien friends (Even if she doesn't know he's alien) Got to stick together, am I right?

Chapter 20: Disagreements in Santa Prisca.

It was a week after the Mr. Twister incident before they got another mission.

During this time, he would jokingly lament about missing Burger Shack and Mr. Smoothies to Albedo, but in truth, the longer Ben was stuck doing nothing in that reality, the more anxious he got. He wasn’t used to being unable to do something or having to place all his trust in one of his worst enemies in order to escape. He was Ben 10, wielder of the Omnitrix. He needed to be out there doing something, whether it be helping people, bashing bad guys, or finding a way back home. Unfortunately, most of the crime in D.C. was taken care of, considering a lot of Leaguers hung around the area. Using his powers for simple tasks like rescuing cats was off limits, according to Albedo, since it drew way too much attention to them. And not even Grey Matter was as smart or as equipped as Albedo was with the task of getting them home. So, Ben was beyond relieved when his communicator went off declaring to Ben that they had a new mission from Batman.

They would be going to an island called Santa Prisca where some sort of drug called venom could be found. Apparently the shipments of the venom had been suddenly cut off, despite the factories working at full capacity. Batman wanted the team to find out why. A simple stealth mission. Go in, find out the problem, get out. Albedo had, of course, laughed when Batman said it was covert only, claiming that something was bound to go south. The Team, of course, took great offense to that. Ben secretly knew Albedo was right. Nothing ever went right when Ben went on missions.

When Batman was asked by an overly eager Robin about who would be in charge, Batman told them to work it out, which only further prompted Albedo’s sarcasm and insults, though the quick glance the red eyed teen had sent to Ben at the mention of a leader did not go unnoticed.

They were in the Bioship. Aqualad had just gone down to Drop Zone A to clear the way for their team. Albedo was shifting nervously in his seat. This would be the Galvan’s first true test of his abilities outside of intelligence. Batman had insisted they take the reluctant boy along since his tech would be useful for recon. Upon learning he would be on the mission, Albedo had spent the entire ride to Santa Prisca tweaking and updating his uniform. Upgrading it for the mission and preparing to protect him at all costs from any threat. Ben had only seen Albedo wear the suit once, at Cadmus.

In normal mode, the base of the suit was a black color that seemed to be made out of a really complex nanite technology. It was accented red in various places. On each arm there was a red patch that had the bold number’s 01 displayed on them. Around Albedo’s waist was a white utility belt of some sort, but it looked really high tech with glowing red Galvan insignas all around it. He also had on white gauntlets and boots with red accents. Over his shoulders he wore armor similar to standard issue plumbers. In stealth mode, however, the glowing areas were dimmed, the red was maroon, the white was turned dark grey and his white hair was hidden under a black hood.

Ben had to admit, Albedo looked pretty awesome. Ben almost wished he got cool armor to fight in, but then he remembered that armor didn’t work well with his aliens and went back to appreciating his soccer jersey and cargo pants. Albedo, fiddled with the Ultimatrix on his wrist, which he somehow had gotten the uniform to morph around. As far as Ben could tell, the Ultimatrix was humming along as if it worked still, faintly glowing and beeping as Albedo messed with it.

“Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in.” Aqualad said over his com, alerting the team. Albedo looked up from his work, setting down the small tool he’d been using to mess with the Ultimatrix and glancing over at the others, who were all switching to stealth mode to make the drop. Albedo opened up the Ultimatrix, and much to Ben’s surprise, there was some sort of power core inside, though it was certainly not an Omnitrix core. He turned it, activating stealth mode with his watch.

“I can not believe we are doing this.” He muttered under his breath, “Why did I allow you to talk me into helping in such a reckless and mundane task?”

“Don’t worry, this will be fun.” Ben assured him. Albedo’s narrowed eyes told Ben everything. The Galvan did not approve.

“That is what frightens me.” He huffed. He followed Ben over to the ship’s center reading himself for the drop off.

“He supey and 10, it’s not too late to put on the new stealth tech.” Wally suggested.

“Nah, my aliens don’t work too well with armor and stuff like that.” Ben said, “Normal clothes do the job well enough.”

“No capes, no tights, no offense.” Superboy agreed, offering Wally a cross look. Across from him M’gann blushed.

“It totally works for you.” She said bashfully before her blush grew as she realized what she had said, “In that, you can totally do good work in those clothes.” She corrected. Ben snickered a little at the Martian’s attempt while Albedo rolled his eyes.

“Why me?” He mumbled. They then all attached their lines and jumped from the bioship. Superboy, however, ignored the line and simply jumped from the ship, shaking the entire area with a mini earthquake and creating a crater right next to them. Albedo whirled around to glare at Superboy. His condescending crimson eyes made it a glare that rivaled Batman’s.

“What part of covert do you not understand, youngling?” Albedo hissed.

“All of it.” Ben said helpfully, leading to Ben receiving the glare, “...And shutting up now.”

“I didn’t need a line.” Superboy said confidently.

“You are worse than Deka.” Albedo decided. Miss. M and the other’s just shot Superboy their own condescending glares before M’gann contacted Aqualad.

“Drop B is a go.” She announced. Aqualad’s voice rang through the comm.

“Head to the factory, I’ll track your GSP and meet you ASAP.” He replied.

“Roger that.” Robin said, already pulling up a map of the island. They all began their trek through the forest after the boy wonder. Ben kept glancing around for any signs of danger while Albedo, following next to him, was back to fiddling with the Ultimatrix. The distracted Galvan nearly tripped several times and was barely paying attention to where he was walking. Ben got used to catching Albedo and steering him away from anything that would trip him. Ben wanted to make a snide comment about how Albedo wasn’t taking the mission seriously, but Ben knew the Galvan had been nervous about going on a mission in a human form without the power to transform, especially since his last mission had led to him being captured. The Galvan tried to hide it, but Albedo’s coping mechanisms were a lot easier to figure out than he realised, allowing himself to get more and more engulfed in his work to avoid confronting his emotions, which was something Ben understood all too well.
Robin led them around several traps and mines set up to keep intruders out as they went deeper into the dark forest and towards the compound. They only stopped when Superboy suddenly stiffened, looking around with a wary expression.

“Did you hear that?” He questioned.

“Uh, no?” Ben said, cocking his head to the side in a questioning manner.

“Wait, is this a super hearing thing?” Wally questioned. Ben arched his eyebrows in surprise. Superboy had super hearing? Ben made a mental note not to talk about Albedo’s past as a criminal in the cave, for fear that Albedo would be kicked off the team or have his projects confiscated before he could get them home again. Plus… Ben had promised he would let Albedo walk when they returned to the Omniverse. Getting Albedo in trouble and in prison in that world would be kinda cruel and would require Ben to orchestrate a prison break just to keep his word.

“You do have great ears.” Miss. M said shyly, once more blushing brightly. Albedo snarled in disgust before looking to speak with Robin.

“Okay, Robin what is-” Albedo stopped when he noticed Robin had vanished. Ben shook his head.

“Not cool ditching your team, dude. Albedo, check to see if we’re being tracked.” Ben ordered. Albedo nodded, looking down at the Ultimatrix again.

“There are two squads, but they are heading towards each other. It is unlikely they will find us before this happens. I suggest we make ourselves scarce until they pass by and avoid drawing attention to ourselves-” Albedo began before he was cut off by the sounds of gunfire. Immediately the Glavan flinched, reaching for his belt and allowing the red Galvan writing to light up. Ben’s eyes widened in fascination as he watched the tips of his gloves light up with the markings. He quickly regained his focus as the gunfire continued.

“We need to avoid those guys. Must be some kind of turf war. We’ll swing wide and avoid them.” Ben instructed. Wally nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Rob.” He promised as he vaulted over a log and began to rush towards the chaos. Ben reached to pull him back, but it was too late. The speedster was off and rushing about looking for the missing Boy Wonder. He almost immediately lost his footing as he slipped in the mud and stumbled right into the middle of the fire fight.

Ben swore under his breath, dialing up his aliens.

“Dagnabbit, Kid and Rob! Why’d you have to go and make a simple recon mission difficult?”

“Is something wrong?” Kaldur asked on the comms.

“We have been spotted.” Albedo replied immediately. Ben sprung into action, turning into Wildvine as Superboy and M’gann flew to Wally’s rescue. Sure enough, there seemed to be two different groups of people fighting each other. One appeared to be the typical group of rough crooks and evil dudes. The other, however, was a group of men dressed up in snake-like hoods. Superboy grabbed ahold of the apparent leader of the gang guys and threw him to the side while Wally ran to avoid the bullets being fired at him. M’gann used her telekinesis to start disarming guys and Ben let his vines grow around the assailants, capturing them in his constricting grip. As the fight went on. Robin came down from the tree tops, using his Birdrangs and fists to take out as many guys as possible.

“What’s wrong with you guys?” He asked as he dove into the frey, “Remember covert? Why didn’t you follow my lead? Vanish into the jungle?” Wally got an annoyed look on his face.

“Is that what you were doing?!” He cried, “Fill us in, we’re not mind readers you know.” Wally then sheepishly glances at M’gann who was using her telekinesis to launch a guy into a tree.

“Er, I’m not anyways.” He said sheepishly.

“You said I could only read the bad guy’s minds.” M’gann defended as their attention was drawn towards one of the fleeing soldiers. Before anyone could intercept him, Kaldur dropped in, zapping the fleeing soldier with his Atlantean tattoos. The soldier fell down unconscious from the shock, ending the battle.
Albedo stepped shyly out of the shadows, looking over the men the others had attacked with a fearful look in his eyes. The tips of his gloves were glowing bright red along with the Galvan symbols.

“Well, at least the situation is partially contained.” He deadpanned. Ben just nodded, using his vines to bind the unconscious bad guys to the trees. Once this work was complete, he reverted to his human form again, offering Wally and Robin a pointed look.

“You can’t just run off like that. Both of you! You could have gotten yourself killed! You two are worse than I was when I was a ten year old kid!” He scolded.

“We aren’t children.” Robin growled.

“Then don’t make rookie mistakes.” Ben replied, “New team, new rules, Robin. Batman might be the ‘Dark Knight’ and ‘master of disappearing’ but we aren’t. You can’t act like everyone here knows what you’re going to do next! We need to stick close to each other and warn each other before running off!”

“I’m the most experienced one here. If you guys would have paid more attention-” Robin object.

“Dude, you aren’t.” Ben deadpanned, “I’ve been at this for six years. What just happened, happened because of miscommunication, not lack of attention. I was paying attention. We all were. We were paying attention to the possible threat. You, Robin, were not a threat, but a catalyst for this mess!” Ben waved his hand towards the men all tied up around them. Was this what Grandpa Max felt like when dealing with Ben? Jeesh, he was starting to get why the man had so many headaches.

“Catalyst. Big word from you.” Albedo remarked. Robin looked down, balling up his fist a little in anger.

“Look.” Ben huffed, running his fingers through his hair in frustration, “This doesn’t matter right now. We can talk about this after the mission is done. Just try not to do something like this again, or we are all going to get ourselves killed. That goes for you too, Kid. If Robin vanishes like that again, do not break from your task, we’ll just have Miss. M mentally scan for his location.”

“Invasion of privacy much?” Wally asked with a worried voice.

“Well, if that’s the only way to keep people from blowing our cover, then yes, invasion of privacy.” Ben said, “In fact, M, would you be so kind as to link all of us once we start our way towards the compound?” M’gann nodded.

“Who made you the leader?” Robin asked in a hostile voice.

“I’m not trying to lead anything!” Ben objected, “I’m trying not to get us killed! This is exactly like the Twister fiasco! You aren’t working together, and it’s gonna get us killed. Ugh, why is dealing with alien politics always easier than covert ops? It seems the universe hates me when I go on them!”

“I highly doubt it is the universe.” Albedo said thoughtfully, “You have been known for your arrogance.” Ben shot Albedo a glare.

“Not helping, Reflect.” Ben grumbled.

Aqualad decided to step in.

“That is enough.” Kaldur scolded, “Deka is right, this is childish and a distraction. Miss. M will be establishing a link from now on and there will be no objections. Of course, she is barred from reading innermost thoughts, but if we are struggling to communicate amongst ourselves, then clearly, her telepathy is the best solution.” Robin glared over at Aqualad for a moment before huffing.

“Fine. Well do the link, but first…” Robin turned towards their prisoners, “These guys wear uniforms from the Cult of the Kobra.” Aqualad frowned, looking the men over with a new interest.

“I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca’s Venom operation.”

“Agreed.” Robin said, “And since there’s no love lost between the cultist and these goons, I’m betting they came in and tossed them out. That’s why normal supply lines have been cut off.”

“Kobra wanted super cultists.” Ben said with an eye roll, “Mission complete, let’s go home.” Robin spun to face Ben, looking even more annoyed than before.

“Seriously? You want to leave just like that? On our first official mission?” Robin asked, “Especially since the Kobra cultists aren’t even on the venom? They’re hoarding the stuff! We can’t leave until I know why.” Robin motioned angrily towards the unconscious cultists. While Robin was right about the cultists not being on venom, and about the fact that something big was likely going on, Ben wasn’t sure if they should risk it. Twice now, Ben had seen the team get into trouble because they didn’t know how to work together. Charging in with a dysfunctional Team would be dangerous. As far as Ben was aware, it was time for him to take the reins and deal with the problem at hand. The others would get hurt if they stuck around too long, that was, unless they managed to do something that would convince him they were a good team.

“Yes.” Ben said sternly, “It’s too dangerous.”

“This is the kind of stuff I’ve been training for since I was little.” Robin argued, “I can handle it.”

“And there lies the problem.” Aqualad spoke up, getting Robin to look over at Kaldur in confusion, “There is no ‘I’ in team.”

“Yeah, that’s the cheesiest phrase ever.” Ben noted, “But he’s right.” Robin faltered, looking a little less bold than he had a few seconds ago.

“This is rich, coming from you.” Albedo scoffed, drawing all of their attention, “How many times did you get yourself in trouble for doing the exact same thing to your cousin, that Osmosian, and your partner?”

“Too many.” Ben said darkly, “Which is exactly the point.”

“Oh, Please, Deka. I know you well enough to know you will try and investigate this matter on your own. You are way too nosy for your own good. You are the most powerful person in the universe and stronger than this entire Justice League and yet you stoop to help children into a pointless crusade. You could have taken this entire island alone and been finished long before this mission had even begun, but you hold yourself back.” Albedo scoffed, “You always have.”

Wally growled, zooming up to Albedo and sticking an accusing finger in the Galvan’s face.

“Oh, and what the heck have you done? Huh? Why the heck do you get to call us younglings and children and act like you’re above all of us when you haven’t done literally anything! Can you even fight?! Why the heck are you even here?” Wally demanded. Albedo remained unflinching in his place.

“I cannot fight.” He said quickly, “I am not used to such things, but that does not mean you are above me. Nor does that make us equals. You know nothing of me or of what I have done. If you did, you would not be so bold as to speak to me in this manner. I, youngling, am likely one of the most intelligent beings you will ever encounter in your lifetime. I only tolerate you for the sake of my pride and my brother. He and I are at an agreement, and therefore, I benefit from fighting alongside him.”

“What the heck does that even mean?!” Wally demanded.

Before Albedo could respond, there was a low chuckle that arose from behind the group, alerting the team that the leader of the gang, Bane, had woken up and was listening to them argue along with a few other gang members.

“Such clever Niños.” He said with a smile, “But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest and get you into my factory, via, my secret entrance.” Miss. M flew to Bane, reading his mind immediately.

“There is a secret entrance.” She admitted, “But he is also hiding something…” Bane smirked at her.

“Ah, ah, ah, chica. Bane is not that easy.” He told her smuggly. Miss. M tried harder to read into Bane’s mind before letting out a scoff of aggravation as she rubbed her head.

“Ugh, he’s mentally reciting football scores en Español.” She announced, “This could take awhile.” Bane just offered her a mocking smile. Ben didn’t like the guy at all.
He gave him a bad feeling.

“Football?” Ben asked, giving Bane an interested look, “Like international football, as in, American soccer, or are we talking American football?”

“...Does it matter?” Robin asked, the annoyance returning to his voice.

“Eh, kinda.” Ben shrugged, “I’ve been following the international teams all summer. I’m betting on the Barcelonas winning the world cup this year.” Bane looked genuinely interested in Ben now.

“Truly? I was not so confident they would pull through.” Bane admitted.

“Are you kidding? It's gonna be a landslide! No competition whatsoever. It’s their strongest line up yet! And seeing as I’m an on and off goalkeeper myself, I’m seriously rooting for Valdés’ performance.” Bane chuckled.

“Oh, I like you, Niños.” He decided.

“Thank you, I have yet to form an opinion of you… Bane was it?”

“Si.” Bane agreed before regarding the team skeptically, “I can show you the secret entrance, Niños. After all, el enemigo de mi enemigo es mi amigo.”

“Uh, what?” Ben asked, blinking.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Albedo translated for him, “Turn your universal translator on if they're going to speak Spanish.”

“Er, right.”

“Well, I’m not going to hang back when there’s still stuff clearly going on here.” Robin huffed, shooting Ben an annoyed glare, “We’re finishing the mission, Mr. Most Powerful Guy in the Universe, and we’re taking Bane with us.”

Chapter 21: Deka Takes the Reigns.

The team trudged quietly behind Bane. Red alarm bells were ringing in the back of Ben’s mind with every step they took towards the factory. He tried to ignore the glares the team kept sending his way, as he fell into step beside Aqualad, watching Bane carefully and checking constantly to make sure Albedo was still close by.

He wished Albedo hadn’t basically told the team that they were nowhere near Albedo and Ben’s levels. They were having a hard enough time proving to their own mentors they were ready to try harder tasks without having a super genius and an alien shift shaper around to show them up every mission and prove Batman was right about them, because Ben knew Batman had been wrong. These kids had what it took, but they were so unused to working on a team together, that it was holding them back and sabotaging their efforts. Ben had only wanted to pull out so quickly because he wanted to make sure they had a better understanding of how they worked together, but, well, apparently that wasn’t the plan.

To heck with it all. He learned to work with Grandpa and Gwen, Kevin and Gwendolyn, and Rook. He was sure he could learn to work with these guys and they would learn to work together. Had to eventually if they really wanted to prove Batman wrong.
Ben knew what it was like. Always thinking you could do everything alone. Always acting as if you knew what was best for everyone else without ever truly asking. Pretending you knew exactly what you were doing even if you were just faking it in order to look stronger. Frustrating your teammates just because you had to prove a point or you had to be the hero. Letting the fame and the pride get to the head and becoming arrogant, nearly getting yourself killed in the process.

These kids were basically him in many ways. They had so much potential for greatness; they just needed a push in the right direction. If Ben’s interference was what it took, he was glad to offer his services, but it would only work if they selected the right guy to lead and learned to communicate and operate as a team.

It didn’t take long for the supposed team to reach the secret entrance Bane had mentioned and came to the place that overlooked the operation Kobra was running. The team was startled to discover forklifts moving around boxes of the product and preparing to ship it off to who knows where.

“Look at all that product.” Robin said, looking through some binoculars for a closer look, “A buy is going down…. But if Kobra’s not selling to the usual suspects, then-”

“We need to identify the buyer.” Kaldur concluded.

“Ah, no.” Albedo said from behind Ben. Ben looked behind to see his doppleganger had stopped Bane from going too far from them, “You stay close.” Bane grunted and waited impatiently for the team to finish looking at the operation below before joining Bane at the entrance, which was covered by a rock that he promptly moved, revealing an old mine.

“Answers are this way.” He promised. Then he started down the tunnel.

“So, now el Luchador is our leader.” Wally said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Robin slugged Wally for the remark before pulling out a small light to see with. They traveled through the mine to a metal door that Bane unlocked with his fingerprints. Sure enough, it led right into the factory.

Robin looked ahead as M’gann established the link, excluding Bane from the link due to Reflect’s paranoia, Ben had to stop Robin from running off again and disappearing, telling the boy to wait for instructions and to go for information with someone who could watch his back. Robin wasn’t too pleased by being ‘slowed’ down, but Albedo gladly volunteered to go with Robin since he knew technology and chemistry better than even Kid Flash did. They waited for Albedo to mentally tell the group that they had access to the main computer before moving in closer to the shipment, trying to understand more about what was going on.

The venom shipments weren’t really being touched, much to the team’s confusion, that was, until they heard the sound of a helicopter. Meanwhile, over the link, Albedo, in a grave, but ever condescending tone, explained what the untouched shipment was in a complex way that Wally had to break down for the team since Albedo didn’t know how to English correctly when it came to explaining science to highschoolers.

In short, somehow, Kobra had gotten ahold of the Project Blockbuster they’d encountered in Cadmus and was mixing it into the venom for a more permanent and dangerous result. Ben decided that had to be the reason for separating the venom and he theorized that whoever was in the helicopter was likely some sort of buyer who was making a deal with Kobra. Sure enough, the helicopter landed and a weird buyer in a hockey mask came out to examine the product.

“Lord Kobra.”

“Sportsmaster.” Kobra returned, motioning for a girl holding a box of the tampered venom to step forwards, “The shipment is ready.” Hockey mask guy, aka, Sportsmaster, took a vial and examined it with mild interest.

“The new Kobra-Venom?” He asked curiously.

“A complete success. Our friends will not be disappointed.” Ben frowned from his hiding spot, making a mental note of that. Friends. This wasn’t just a deal. This was likely a part of something a bit bigger. Something they had barely scratched the surface of. Sportsmaster was probably working for someone who was aligned with Kobra. Who? Ben wasn’t entirely sure. As much as Ben hated research, this exchange prompted Ben to look into the two criminal’s backgrounds a little more for answers… or at least prompt Robin into doing that research for him.

“This is a game-changer.” Sportsmaster decided proudly, “Finally, we can go mano-a-mano with the Justice League.”

‘Albedo, Robin, work on contacting Batman. No is not an option here. We know the buyer and the gest of what’s going on. Time to relay the info.’ Ben mentally ordered. Once more, Robin went to complain, but Aqualad was quick to put an end to that, much to Ben’s relief. He was really starting to like Aqualad. Guy was probably as grounded as Rook.

Robin clearly wanted to handle the entire situation on his own. Unfortunately, if the Kobra-Venom was as strong as Sportsmaster had claimed, then they would need help.

‘Comms are jammed.’ Robin said in annoyance.

‘Reflect?’ Ben asked.

‘Understood. I will attempt to restore communications. Stand by.’

‘Why are we calling the League anyways? We can handle this. These guys clearly don’t want the Kobra-Vemon for themselves, seeing as it is permanent. Whoever Sportmaster is working for, though I am going to guess the Shadows, likely wants it for an army or something like that. It’s just like the Cadmus situation. This guy is acting like he’s preparing for a war. Against the League, more than likely. We can stop the buy from happening an conficate or destroy the venom to prevent further production. I already have the files to this whole thing downloaded to my systems. I can delete what they have and destroy their research if we need to. We can clearly handle this on our own.’ Robin prompted. Ben looked over at Aqualad for his input on the matter, considering he seemed to be the one that Wally and Robin listened to the most out of anyone in that group and he also seemed the most level-headed.

‘Kaludar?’ Ben prompted, ‘what do you recommend?’ Aqualad’s eyes narrowed on the scene they were observing.

‘Make sure all of their research is copied into your holo-glove and then wipe their systems. As for the product already here? I agree that it must be destroyed and samples need to be taken for further examination. If we cannot gain contact with the League in a timely manner, we may be forced to take action.’

‘Then we need to be smart about this.’ Ben decided, earning a ‘Sweet this is going to be awesome!’ From both Wally and Robin.

‘Are you sure about this?’ M’gann asked. Ben nodded, but then remembered he put her on surveillance and she couldn’t see him.

‘Rob is right. We can’t let the shipment leave and we can’t let whoever Sportmaster is working for to get ahold of the venom. On the other hand, we do need to collect evidence and data so that we can try and figure out the connection between this and Cadmus, since clearly, there is one. We also need to try and figure out which group Sportsmaster is representing today.’

‘So much for covert.’ Superboy said sarcastically, causing Albedo to chuckle over the link. Clearly, the Galvan had predicted something like this would happen.

‘But again, we need to be smart about this. Work as a team and put an end to the buy effectively, without getting ourselves killed in the process or losing any of the formula. Also, we need to look epic doing so. That is a mandatory thing in every mission where we break protocol from now on.’

‘Um, duh.’ Wally said, chuckling next to him.

“What are you Niños talking about?” Bane asked in frustration, realising that the team was conversing without his knowing.

“Coming up with a plan of attack.” Ben replied, “I’m sure you’ll be fine if we take out the bad guys over there, correct?” Ben stuck his thumb towards the buyer and the cultist. Bane just scowled, but didn’t respond.

‘Okay, Rob. I need you to, once you’ve finished the download, to go and do your magic on that helicopter. Disable it. Make sure the bad guys can’t leave. Supes. You’re pretty strong. You could probably match Blockbuster, but brute strength may not be the answer here. You need to keep him disoriented. So… Ether Aqualad’s water barriers or Wally’s speed. I would go with Aqualad, because he is strong too and pretty agile and we’ll need Wally’s speed to take out the little guys and their guns. I’ve got Kobra, because my resources should equip me to challenge a guy like him. He seems to me like a dollar store cheap and easy to beat version of Vilgax, so he shouldn’t be a problem. Reflect, work on reinstating the normal comms and clearing their system. Make sure they don’t have any back ups. Try and figure out who conducted this research while you are at it. It might help you uncover more about who these guys are working for. Watch your back, you will be vulnerable for a bit, so you’ll need to be ready to defend yourself. M’gann, keep an eye on the battlefield. I would try handling Sportsmaster. Rob, you help her once you’re done with your task. Try and get your hands on that sample, destroy the rest.’

‘And what about Bane? He is a liability.’ Albedo pointed out, ‘Once we deal with the ones who invaded his island, it is certain he and his own men will attempt to… ah… exterminate our interference.’

‘We’ll pull out once we’ve dealt with Kobra and Sportsmaster and have made contact with Bats. We did say we would get Bane his island back, so he can have it. Batman can handle the fallout.’ Ben decided, ‘We can’t exactly drive this guy out of this area, since it is technically his. Frustrating, yeah, but true. There’s a reason the League hasn’t ended venom production yet. Just have the Bioship ready for a retreat.’

‘You’ve got it, boss.’ Wally joked, causing the entire team to go silent for a moment.

‘Wait… are we going to elect Ben as the leader? Especially after what just happened outside?’ Robin asked in slight irritation.

‘He has been taking charge since the Cadmus incident.’ Aqualad pointed out, ‘And is the most experienced as well as used to leading a team.’ Robin was silent for a moment but finally responded.

‘Then I guess that’s settled. Now, how about we do this thing?’ Ben nodded before looking at Bane.

“We’ve got a plan. Give us a second to get into position. If you want your base back, try to make yourself useful. We’ll handle the big bad guys and such, you just try to deal with their guys, got it?”

Bane nodded, bawling his fists as he prepared to launch himself into battle with the team. Ben shifted through his aliens, looking for the one that would do best in combating Kobra. He decided that agility, power, and the ability to restrain the man would be useful and selected Spider Monkey. He looked to his teammates, checking to see if they were ready, knowing that his transformation was probably going to attract some bad guy attention. They all confirmed they were ready. Ben slammed down onto the Omnitrix, and there was a flash of green.

Ben moved quickly, hoping to keep the element of surprise by attacking Kobra head on as soon as he transformed. The bad guys didn’t even get a chance to register what the bright light meant before Ben was swinging up and over the group and sending webs rapidly at Kobra and company. After that, everything broke loose. Superboy and Aqualad challenged Blockbuster and Robin made his way towards the helicopter to make sure it didn’t leave. Wally covered everyone by handling all of the crooks in the area and quickly disarming them. M’gann, from her place in the sky, threw crates towards Sportsmaster and did her best to keep him occupied while Robin did his job. Bane pretty much ran around causing trouble and helped M’gann out with distracting and fighting Sportsmaster.

Kobra kept insulting Ben, claiming that Ben was beneath him. Ben just ignored his insults and traded quips and he fought against Kobra and Shimmer.

“If you’re a god, then I’m disappointed.” Ben teased, “I’ve dealt with tougher nutcases than you.”

‘Benjamin must you act like a moron in every battle?’ Albedo huffed over the link.

‘M! Albedo is abusing his telepathic mind link privileges to insult me while I’m fighting again!’ Ben complained.

“Is this really the time you two?” Wally called, zipping past Ben, “We are fighting. I get that you two like to insult each other, but really?”

‘What’s a good fight without comedic timing?’ Ben asked mentally as he used his four arms to shove Shimmer aside and his webs to stick her to the side of a crate. He then refocused on Kobra, who looked visibly irritated by the fact that Ben was actually proving to be a threat. Ben raised his hands and made the motion for Kobra to ‘come at him.’ Kobra obliged. The two engaged in a battle. Kobra proved to be a pretty good fighter. Good enough to challenge Ben, but not quite fast enough to react to Spider Monkey’s amazing agility and extra hands. Of course, if Ben had been in human form, he would have mopped the floor with Ben, but his aliens always seemed to have the best reflexes and instincts of their kind. It didn’t take long for Kobra to decide to ‘tactically’ retreat into the forest.

One by one, his teammates accomplished their tasks. Robin disabled the helicopter, so when Sportmaster tried to take his leave, the helicopter failed to start and he was forced to flee as well. After the two big bads were driven off, the rest of the cultists were pretty easy to handle. The shipment? Even easier to destroy though Bane did try to stop Robin from blowing it all up and pocketing the sample he stole from Sportsmaster. When all was said and done, the team finished victorious and looked as awesome as he had imagined they would.

Ben transformed into his human self and contacted Albedo via telepathic link.

‘How’s the comms?’

‘I had them up a few minutes ago. I have been relaying the intel between here and the cave for the past several minutes. I have destroyed all back ups and already traced for the origins of this data and have a few suspects in mind. Most were, in fact, reported to have been involved with Cadmus, but a lot of the lab work for this particular serum was done on the mainland near here. I’ve already handled that data as well. You are welcome, Benjamin.’

‘Good work, Reflect.’ Aqualad replied, ‘Kid will come and bring you to the rendezvous point. Assuming Bane will allow us to retreat without a fight, that is.’ It was at that moment, the team’s attention was drawn towards Bane, who’s men were free and already arming themselves. Ben decided that wasn’t going to be allowed and dialed up Gravattack. He transformed and used the planet-like alien to lift Bane and his men off the ground and separate them from their weapons.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Bane growled in aggravation. Ben just smirked.

“You know, making sure our end of this little bargain is upheld. Reflect isn’t good at trusting people and for once, his advice seems pretty sound.” Ben replied smuggly, “M? Have you contacted the Bioship?” M’gann nodded.

“She’s on her way.” M’gann said proudly, “...I think this went rather well.”

“Bat’s going to kill us for breaking protocol though.” Robin admitted.

“...That was your idea.” Superboy pointed out. Robin shrugged.

“So? That doesn’t mean anything. He would kill me for a lot of crazy stuff I do, if only to get rid of the headaches I give him and Agent A.” Robin admitted, “But we picked a good guy to lead, even if he gets into petty telepathic arguments with his twin brother in the middle of fight and even if he gets extremely uptight!”

“...I’m not uptight!” Ben said, only to hear someone laughing their head off. Ben shot an annoyed glare towards Albedo, who had returned with Wally and was doubled over in a fit of laughter.

“Dude, you are not helpful at all.” Ben huffed.

“But he assumed that you, Deka, were uptight! The irony of this whole thing is just so ridiculous I cannot help but laugh at your expense.” Ben rolled his eyes before spinning to face Aqualad, offering him the best nod of respect a giant planet alien his size could give. The two shared knowing looks. It was apparent that Ben would have never gotten control of the team without Aqualad’s level headed nature and ability to reign in the two experienced heroes. Aqualad was just as much a leader as Ben was, just in a different way. Ben knew if they were going to make the team thing work, he was going to need to rely on Aqualad’s input from then on the way he used to rely on Max and Rook’s advice in the worst situations.

From there, the Bioship came down. Ben waited until the entire team was onboard before going human again, dropping Bane and his guys, and offering them a wave.

“Thanks for all the help and the soccer talk, see you guys never again, hopefully! Later!” He called before getting on the ship just as Bane tried to shoot at him.

For a first official mission, Ben thought it went relatively well, all things considered.

Notes:

Not gonna lie, I've rewritten these past two chapters a gazillion times, and I still don't know how I feel about them. Just can't get them right, you know? This episode's pretty cool in the show, but recreating it is kinda not easy and feels redundant (Even with some tweaking and the minor changes, I do hope to avoid as much redundancy in the future chapters as things start to change more). Especially action/fighting sequences. At this point it feels like I just wrote what I could on this episode and am ready to move on with this story.

Oh, well.

Anyways, on a less borderline writer's block note:

I was wondering about people's opinion on concept art? I've put up some of my art for this story in here already, but I was wondering if, for the future, people would like a separate book dedicated to the concept art I sketched up and came up with for this story? I kinda draw freakish amount and thought they'd be fun to share. So, Yay or nay?

Anywho, happy Thursday, and I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Chapter 22: Nightmares and Smoothies.

Notes:

Random Recommendation: Rewatch the Night of the Living Nightmare episode from Ben 10: Ultimate Alien after you read this chapter. (It can be done before too, but I still recommend it be rewatched.) It kinda adds a LOT of context to this chapter.

“No… No… Those calculations don’t make sense at all!” He growled, grabbing the paper and tearing it up, “Ugh! I'm Galvan, for pete’s sake, I should be able to create a formula for locating alternate multiverses!” He raked fingers through white hair, ready to tear some of it out before steadying his breathing and going towards the kitchen area. He needed to calm down.

Locating already made smoothies in the fridge, Albedo grabbed the one specifically labeled Ben 10, and took a swing. He then took a moment to glare at the cup in his hand and the messy handwriting.

Benjamin once aways seemed so reckless and stupid… But the longer he was stuck with the ioditic child, the less he was seeing that. It made absolutely no sense and it was contradicting the things he already knew. His taking control of the team so easily? His managing to pull off complex missions that other heroes his age apparently struggled with?

Acting completely confident, despite very clearly not knowing what on Earth he was doing. And it wasn’t in a reckless manner, like Albedo had come to expect. Nor was it arrogant.

It was the behavior of a child who’d been acting as an adult for much, much too long.

He had no clue what to make of that.

Albedo’s eyes narrowed on his drink. He wasn’t sure if he was angered by the child’s behavior or simply bothered for some unknown reason. Something about it seemed to nag at him. But why? What was it that bothered him so much that even math was hard to reason out at unholy hours of the night?

Albedo was torn from his frustration by a sound. He froze, wide eyed and alarmed as a thud caught his attention. He wondered if Benjamin had fallen out of his bed or something. The child apparently liked to toss in his sleep a lot, and in the place they stayed for the first week, he’d fallen off the couch twice, yet still insisted that Albedo should have the bed.

He listened longer, hoping that was all that he’d heard and wondering if he needed to check and make sure that was all. Losing the Omnitrix holder because he’d shrugged off a strange bump in the night was not preferable for his plans.

“Bedo!” A small cry came from that direction. Albedo was on his feet, a stunner in hand and running to the room in an instant. He threw the door open, completely expecting a criminal or someone who’d somehow made their identities to be there, with Benjamin in tow.

But Benjamin was alone.

Albedo lowered the weapon.

The child had, in fact, fallen out of bed.

He was still fully dressed, tangled in blankets and tossing with his entire form trembling and his face beaded with sweat.

“No!” Benjamin whimpered, “Leave.. I can’t… Almost…Albes…” The words were jumbled and made no sense to Albedo at all. Was the child ill? Albedo holstered his weapon, leaning down to check the boy’s temperature, only for Benjamin to move before Albedo could react. The next thing he knew, he was pinned to the wall, wild, frantic green eyes staring down at him, clearly disoriented. Albedo yelped, struggling instantly.

“Tennyson! Snap out of it!”

Benjamin blinked. His grip on Albedo loosened.

“What… Oh… Right.” He let go entirely, “Sorry, you startled me. Reflexes.”

“What on Earth was that display!?” Albedo growled.

“Um… Sleeping?”

“Humans are not supposed to sleep like that!” Albedo stated, “That was an inconsistent sleep cycle… M’gann informed me about human sleep differences and I did some research on the topic.”

“It was just a weird dream I guess.” Benjamin mumbled as he gathered the blankets back up and repiled them onto the bed, “Happens.” Albedo watched with narrowed eyes for a moment before a vague memory danced in his head.

Bad dreams?

Was that a constant issue with this one?

Perhaps that’s why he tossed so much.

His eye twitched. He couldn’t believe he was about to do this. He grasped Benjamin’s arm, jerking him out of the room and scoped up one of the blankets from the bed, pulling him into the main room of their little apartment and making him sit on the love seat. He grabbed what was left of the smoothie and shoved it into Benjamin’s hands before settling down awkwardly next to the child.

“Um, Albes?” Benjamin asked, his voice confused as he snuggled into the blanket Albedo draped around his shoulders.

“Nightmares are no laughing matter.” Albedo responded simply, before hiestating, “...The night I broke into your house…” He trailed off, before shaking his head, going to stand. It was much too weird. Benjamin, though an ally at the moment, was meant to be his enemy in the grand scheme of everything. “Forget it. Simply drink that and return to bed.” Albedo stopped when Benjamin grabbed Albedo’s hand, grasping it as if it were a lifeline. Albedo frowned, glancing the hand grasping his so tightly, then up at the boy it belonged to. It was hard to see in the dark, but his face seemed almost as pale as Albedo’s. His eyes were desperate.

“No… What happened that night? I don’t mind listening.” Benjamin said, an almost too urgent tone in his voice. Albedo raised an eyebrow at the particular gesture.

“You were talking in your sleep like that that night as well.” Albedo grumbled, “And I believe you spoke a few times some of the other nights we’ve stayed together, but tonight may have been the worst and loudest I’ve witnessed. How common are these bad dreams?”

“I dunno.” He averted his eyes from Albedo’s. So, common then. It was not good for humans to have poor sleep schedules, not that he was one to talk. M’gann was likely going to be disappointed in him for not sleeping immediately after returning home.

“I need more data if we are going to resolve this issue. I cannot have any more false alarms like this. What if one of these times you are in actual need of aid, and I ignore you, shrugging the whole matter off as nothing more than a ‘bad dream’ you are having? If you are removed from my supervision, the Omnitrix is lost to me.” This caused the boy to grimace and suddenly go from strangely shaken to unusually stoic.

“Nevermind then. Don’t drink the smoothies with my name on them anymore.” Benjamin shoved the now empty cup into Albedo’s hands and went to return to his room. Albedo chewed on his lip.

“Ben, wait.” Benjamin paused, looking back.

“...You called me Ben.” Albedo swallowed, fighting off a scowl at the remark.

“Sit down, Benjamin. I’ll tell you about that night.” Albedo decided, “If you’ll tell me, in response, how long this ridiculous affliction has been hindering you.”

“That’s not really how-” Benjamin was forced back down. Albedo settled next to him, pulling a portion of the blanket over his shoulder. They sat there, silent, as Albedo worked up the courage to talk about the night he’d been trapped within the nightmare of the Dreameater.

‘If it’s my bad dream, why is it all stuff you’re scared of?’ He could hear Benjamin's mocking voice even then.

It was really none of Benjamin’s business, but he decided that he would tell the child regardless.

“Do you know what I dreamt of on that night?” Albedo asked.

“Never really thought to ask. I know the stupid parasite keeps you in a perpetial nightmare until you can get it off. The Galvan we got to get it off of you said you were lucky. Most people, much less humans, aren’t able to survive something like that.” Benjamin said before his eyes softened, “I can only imagine what you saw in there.”
He contemplated further. This REALLY wasn’t any of Benjamin’s business. Letting the subject drop was likely a better course of action. Clearly this was a miscalculation and bringing it up was a…

“In that nightmare, I dreamt that I was you.” Albedo mentally yelled at himself, tearing his eyes instantly from Benjamin’s suddenly bewildered expression.

“...You… Dreamt that…” Benjamin whispered, clearly baffled.

“I dreamt that I was you. I woke up, and Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson were missing. All of Bellwood was completely missing… except your greatest foes. One by one, the nightmare sent challengers for Ben 10 to face. One by one, Ben 10 won like he always does.” Albedo told himself to stop there. But his mouth kept moving as if it had a mind of its own, “And the more he… I… the more you won, the more afraid and angry I became. Eventually, I was fighting myself… then the dream shifted, and I was no longer you. I was no longer on the winning side… and then you killed me. You and all of your aliens killed me.” He kept to the sparse version, leaving out the oddly detailed parts that seemed to reinforce the fact that he was Benjamin in that terrible dream. Leaving out the parts about Kevin and Gwendolyn. Their declarations that he was unworthy. Leaving out Ben's mocking.

‘Change into whatever you want. I’ll just keep beating you… forever and ever.’

Benjamin just stared at him, mouth slightly agape. Albedo finally let his eyes settle on the cursed dead watch on his wrist.

“When I awoke… I was in prison. They told me that you’d gotten me medical attention just in time. I had nearly lost my life.” Albedo’s hands were trembling as they gripped the folds of the blanket with anger and hate. He scowled at the memory of that disturbing and nearly life ending nightmare. Even worse, he’d now told Benjamin himself about it. Albedo dared to look up, catching his reflection in the television screen sitting before him before grimacing.

The imperfect reflection of Ben Ten.

Albedo barely noticed as Benjamin’s hand moved to settle on his shoulder, before pulling Albedo closer as if to comfort him. He just stared dully at his reflection. Hating it more than anything in the world.

“My dreams are about losing.” Benjamin said, looking away from Albedo with the guiltiest expression on his face, “About every bad thing that could possibly happen if I were to lose. I’ve been having them for years. I’ve had them since the first night I got the Omnitrix, almost seven years ago. Normally someone dies in the dream, typically someone I love. Typically in the worst ways possible. Sometimes I dream that I am the aliens, and that something goes wrong, and their home world is lost. Sometimes I think I'm just barely there… I was just inches away from saving the day, only for me to mess it all up and lose it all.”

Benjamin’s arm left Albedo’s shoulder as he buried his face into his hands, as if ashamed by the confession. Albedo could only stare.

Albedo dreamt about Benjamin winning. Benjamin dreamt about losing.

Weren’t they the pair?

“Everyone knows I have nightmares. Kev stopped teasing me about it a while ago. Gwen never dared. Grandpa never mentions it, thank Azmuth. Rook tries to get me to tell him about them, but I never can. I can’t. When you’re the hero, you aren’t allowed to be afraid of anything. You aren’t allowed to lose. Because if you do… well…” He trailed, his eyes distant, “... I try not to think about that. It’s better to leave all that nonsense in my dreams. I’m the most powerful guy in the Universe, I’m not afraid of anything.”

‘Not afraid of anything.’

‘You aren’t allowed to lose.’

The hero who always won.

Features Albedo had never seen on the child flickered across his face. He couldn’t very well decipher the expressions. Mostly, however, he seemed so very exhausted.

‘I took the Omnitrix off when I was thirteen. I quit.’

Albedo blinked, shaking his head. No. He couldn’t get distracted. He was just a foolish boy. The enemy. There was a mission at hand. Once they were home…

‘You don’t have to be alone.’

Albedo swallowed hard, closing his eyes and pulling away.

“Not afraid of anything except for peacocks and clowns?”

“Dude, I’m not scared of those.”

“Not what your files say.” The two look-alikes sat in silence for a very, very long time after that.

“I have work tomorrow, along with several projects I must accomplish, and the meeting we have arranged with the Team, so if you will excuse me.” He turned to retreat to his room. Benjamin watched him go.

“Albedo?” The Galvan froze.

“Thanks.” Benjamin said simply. An unexplained emotion pulsed through his chest. Not wanting to understand said emotion, he selectively chose to ignore.

“I do not know what you mean.” He replied before disappearing into his room and locking the door behind him.

 

 

Notes:

So, the Night of the Living Nightmare episode from Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.... Yeah... I've re-watched that episode SO many times for research. It gets weirder to think about and pick apart every time. When I first watched it, and everyone else was probably with me on this one, I DID NOT pick up on the fact that it wasn't Ben's dream at all. Not until Albedo tripped in the dream world and it revealed it was his dream all along. After all, Ben's character in the dream is painfully accurate, and the fears seemed to, initially, match up with stuff Ben might actually struggle with it.

However, once I KNEW it was Albedo's dream and re-watched it, it became both the freakiest and saddest Albedo centered episode they've got out there. I would seriously recommend watching it to see what I mean after you read this chapter. I'm hoping I did a good justification of the fear Albedo probably felt in that dream, but the whole episode is just so... weird and off putting. It actually suprises me that an episode like the Night of the Living Nightmare can exist and can show off a supervilian's fears like that... But then the show writers never even consider redeeming that villain like they randomly did with other villains out of literally nowhere. (For example, I feel like Charmcaster would have much more redeeming qualities that her uncle Hex, yet Charmcaster ends up a villian an Hex a good guy for some reason. I could've missed something... Sometimes I do... But I don't think so.)

Mini rant about the episode this chapter is based on aside. I've decided to try out having some concept art in the actual story for a little bit based on what some of your comments were advising me to do. I will NOT be posting concept art every chapter, and I'm not going to make a huge habit out of regularly posting pictures in the main story simply because I'm afraid it'll take too much focus off of whatever chapter I've decided to pair concept art with.

That being said, here's the concept art for Reflect's Uniform that was mentioned... I think two chapters ago? I hope you all like it.

Thank you so much for the responses over the last two chapters. You guys have great feedback and advice on writing action scenes that I might try and use in the future. It was really encouraging to get that feedback and I hope it'll help improve the quality of this story. So thank you guys so much for that.

If you reached the end of this stupidly long author's note, thanks for reading, and happy Thursday!

Chapter 23: Bored in the Cave.

Ben honestly couldn’t believe he told Albedo about all that stuff.

In his defense, it’d been late, and Albedo seemed like he wanted to talk to someone too, but… It was still super weird to think about.

He never talked about that stuff before. Not really. It’s not like he didn’t want to (Though if he had a choice, he’d never talk about things like his bad dreams. Those were his problems. No one else's.) The thing was, he knew he wasn’t meant to talk about things like bad dreams. Ben 10 was the freaking savior of the universe. Word got out that he was ‘scared’ and people would turn that against him. That was just how it worked. He’d basically accepted that annoying fact ages ago.

Not to mention the whole Dreameater conversation thing.

Ben shuttered.

That nightmare sounded brutal. He knew Albedo had been trying to stick him into the nightmare that night, but now he almost wished the guy had managed to do it. Ben could handle a bad dream, but that nightmare Albedo described?

Once more Ben shuttered.

He wouldn’t wish that kind of hurt on even his worst enemies, much less Albedo, who he had at this point, deemed not really an enemy at all.

“Ben?” Ben looked up, delighted to find Kaldur was watching him with confusion. Ben had actually come to the cave to try and test out some of the new aliens and maybe even name them, since he could do that there much more safely than he could in the middle of the nation’s capital. Of course, per the usual, Ben got distracted and had decided he just had to know what sort of games a high tech computer like the cave’s would have.

His thoughts about the night before kinda distracted him further.

“Oh, hi, Kaldur.” Ben chirped cheerfully. Kaldur looked at what Ben was doing on the computer and raised an eyebrow. Judging on how he’d been reigning in Robin and Wally on the mission the other day, Ben got the weirdest feeling he was about to be scolded for misusing the computer or something.

“The games are going to be under the files labeled Rob’s Awesome Experience. Robin does online gaming from League computers regularly since they give him competitive advantages. He set up a considerable number of firewalls and such to prevent hackers. They are likely the safest and most ‘lag free’ servers you’ll find in the world, according to him. He’s had me try a few, but those sort of games were never my… Ah... forte.” Kaldur advised. Well, that’s not what Ben had been expecting him to say at all.

“Sweet, thank you!”

“Is your brother at work?” Kaldur asked.

“Yep… I think so, at least. Didn’t see him this morning.” Ben was eighty percent sure Albedo was now avoiding him. Ben didn’t really mind, considering it had been an… interesting night. He just texted the guy to check to see if he wasn’t dead. Got a little, ‘leave me alone’ message, and decided Albedo was probably fine before going about his day, “You need him for something?”

“I was just curious.” Kaldur said, “Do you have a day job as well?” Ben winced at the question before shaking his head.

“Nah, I don’t have Albes' brains, and honestly, me in retail is a nightmare. I’ve considered fast food, but I don’t think I want to know what goes into my food and a LOT of places use peanut oil, so I tend to avoid them. Usually I find the best, ‘non-peanut oil using’ joints, and find what's good and become a lifelong customer.”

“Ah, yes. I remember you freaking out on M’gann yesterday for trying to give Albedo a peanut butter cookie… Do you both share the allergy?” Ben hummed in agreement.

“Pretty sure it’s a weird twin thing.” Ben replied, “Crazy, huh? Most powerful guy in the universe, and I can be killed by peanuts. Well, kinda. Watch would probably help keep it from going too far, but it still sucks.”

“Well, Superman is weakened by a rock.” Kaldur pointed out. Ben nodded.

“Yeah, that’s fair I guess.” Ben flipped through the games Robin had downloaded, trying to find one that he’d be able to spend the day on, “You’ve probably noticed, but our apartment back home is boring as heck. This place is cooler, but everyone but M’gann and Superboy are gone all day. If that doesn’t scream, ‘I’m spending my summer vacation the wrong way’ I don’t know what does. Summer started out so awesome too…” Ben thought about how, at the start of the summer he, Gwendolyn, Kevin, and Rook were planning a Universal road trip. Reminiscent of the original roadtrip where he’d gotten the original Omnitrix. Kevin had these awesome plans for a Rustbucket Five that he and Rook were working on that would be able to function like a second home for the trip.

Big enough for Ben and friends, plus anyone else they knew that might’ve wanted to tag along.

Ben had actually wanted to try and get his dad or cousin Ken or someone like that to go. Maybe make a whole bonding thing out of it. Maybe get a chance to catch up and hang with people he didn’t really get to be with as much due to his hero responsibilities.
But then Ben had gotten the alert that Albedo had been spotted in Bellwood, and his summer plans were basically reduced whatever this adventure was supposed to be.

Ben’s shoulders sank a little as he thought about that.

‘Maybe next summer, if I’m lucky.’

“Ben?” Kaldur sounded worried and Ben realized a second too late that his disappointment had actually made it to his face. He replaced it with a cheerful smile.

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just got distracted… What are you up to? Do you need the computer? I’m not in your way, am I?”

“I’m here to train.” Kaldur explained. Ben beamed, shutting off the computer immediately.

“Wanna test your mettle against the Justice League?” Ben asked, waving to his Omnitrix, “You can help me name the new guys while we spar.” Kaldur looked interested, leaning forwards to look at the selection screen on Ben’s watch.

“That… Actually would not be a bad idea for training sessions. It would allow us to learn how to fight against a vast array of enemies with different abilities. How many forms do you have?”

“Um…” Ben fiddled for a section, finding the selector that gave him the number he’d unlocked and had access to, “Seventy three… But, uh, I think five of those guys are on my ‘Only use in emergencies and need special access codes to use’ list. So… About sixty eight options?”

“That’s amazing.” Kaldur noted, “Have you used all of them?”

“All but the new ones.” Ben agreed, “And I name them all. There’s actually, like, millions more in here, but it slowly gives me access. I don’t know what determines why I get a new guy at this point… But I think Azmuth just wanted to keep me guessing. That, and the lifeline and randomizing functions are sometimes a pain. Not that I’ll complain about how fantastically useful a lifeline function is.”

“Randomizer? Lifeline?”

“Er, well, sometimes it’ll randomly choose a guy for me, and I just have to roll with it. Other times, the lifeline function will kick in and it’ll turn me into whatever guy I need to survive. Keeps me from dying.”

“Sounds useful.”

“You've got no idea.” Ben said with a light laugh, “So, spar?”

“Why not? Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Notes:

Bit of a later post today.

Essentially, it's midterms at my College so I'm a bit in a frazzle (Ha, that's a fun word) and my humor is a little broken, but that's okay. I did pre-write this chapter a while ago. It is a tad on the shorter side, but if the editing and grammar's a little off in places, it's because it's midterms and my mind is only a quarter focused on writing, and three quarters stressed about studying.

Also, random thought. So, Ben's Peanut allergy, right? I kinda assumed this was a canon thing since Ulitmate Alien (I think), but it was apparently only really canonized in Omniverse (Aka, the show of questionable recons) and there's people who a apparently debate about it (Something about smoothie flavors? IDK, I'm a huge Ben 10 fan, but I'm not THAT invested in the food he apparently likes.) I personally like the idea of Ben having such a common allergy. It's even crazier when you think about the fact that if Ben has the allergy, then Albedo probably does too. But what are your guy's thoughts, out of curiousty?

Anywho, have a good Thursday everyone.

Chapter 24: M’gann and Albedo Talk About Ben.

“The point of this little rant is… am I crazy?” Albedo concluded. M’gann pressed her lips.

“Albedo, there’s nothing wrong with caring about your brother.”

“Care?” Albedo huffed, not liking the idea at all, “He may be a natural leader, but he’s a selfish arrogant fool and the fact that I can enter a room now and not immediately feel like he’s trying to best me is… is unfathomable.”

“Well, Ben is an athlete, it makes sense he’s competitive… But it’s a little silly to compare yourself like that to him. I mean, he’s like the jock from our show-”

“Conner.” Albedo recalled. M’gann nodded.

“And you’re more of a Stanlee Crackle. I mean, you both look alike, but does that really mean you're the same person? Obviously not.” M’gann concluded, “And besides, being competitive with siblings is a normal Earth thing. Remember episode five?” Albedo nodded begrudgingly. Only, Benjamin wasn’t his brother. This whole conversation was probably pointless. Especially since M’gann was missing crucial context!

“I think this conversation is getting cluttered and confused, M’gann.” Albedo sighed as he examined his newest project. M’gann leaned over it.

“I don’t think so, but I can’t really say. I never had the best relationships with my siblings on Mars. Martians and humans go about having siblings differently, so, you know…” She arched her eyebrow, “What exactly is this project? It’s not the lab work for your last mission or that transporter thingamabobber you showed me.”

“Oh, this? This is for the Waynes.” Albedo said, “It’s an alteration of the Reflect suit. Currently the Waynes have me working with enhancing and improving meta-genetics. I’m almost done with this prototype. Should be able to take it out for a test drive later this evening if nothing comes up. Still have to add a few aesthetics to it.”

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be awesome!” M’gann chimed before her expression shifted a little, “Speaking of your brother though… Do you think Superboy and Ben are avoiding me?” Albedo glanced up from his work arching an eyebrow.

“You seem like the person that Benjamin would get along with famously.” Albedo noted. M’gann shrugged.

“Well, yeah, but it’s just me, Ben, and Superboy here most days. Everyone else is usually off with their mentors doing sidekick stuff all day, or at work like you. But Ben barely holds a conversation with me… Is this because of the peanut butter cookie thing?” She sounded genuinely worried that she’d somehow offended Benjamin, “I mean I get why Superboy’s wary. He’s not exactly stoked to be around a telepath, but Ben-”

“It’s not the peanut butter thing.” Albedo cut off, glancing away, he actually already had a faint idea of the problem. Benjamin and him weren’t exactly close, but on day one of meeting M’gann, he noticed Benjamin had a wary reaction to her. He was still rather friendly and seemed to work well with her on missions, but Albedo hadn’t really been around during the day and hadn’t gotten to observe past missions and ‘team bonding’ as Red Tornado had put it. That didn’t mean Benjamin’s reasons for being wary weren’t apparent.

“Benjamin just suffered through many recent losses… You… Remind me of someone we once knew very well.” He motioned towards her, “It’s mainly the hair. He’ll get over it. That boy is far too sociable for his own good. It’s actually quite annoying.” M’gann’s fingers flew self-consciously to her bright red hair.

“Oh! Well, I can change it! I didn’t know I don’t want to-”

“Do not.” Albedo said quickly, “It suits you. Do not change yourself because another person cannot get over himself. He’ll warm up to you. He’s what Wally said was a ‘people person.’ Don’t worry yourself about it.” A strange look passed over M’gann’s face.

“...Though I do find it strange how you seem to resemble more than one person.” Albedo noted, “Like the girl from the show?”

“Oh! Um, well, that’s why I started watching it, actually. One of my siblings on Mars noticed how alike I looked compared to that human girl, and bam! I was hooked.” M’gann stammered. He stared, clearly unconvinced, at her, but refrained from asking further questions. As far as he was aware, it was the truth. For a while, humans did look pretty similar in appearance to him. It took him a long time to master the art of picking them apart. He was bound to be mistaken every so often. Besides, it didn’t seem like his business.

“I do wish Superboy at least would talk or something.” M’gann muttered. Abedo observed the flush that spread across her face. He knew of humans, from the sit-coms and his observations of Gwendolyn Tennyson and Kevin Levin, that such a flush when a human was not ill or embarrassed, typically indicated attraction. M’gann was decidedly NOT human, but her behavior and emotional reactions seemed comparable.

“Well then, he’s due back from Metropolis soon, yes?” Albedo asked, setting the tools down, “Let us greet him.” She let out a little squeak as he grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him out of the lab. Most of the team had already arrived for the afternoon. Benjamin was playing some sort of game with Aqualad and Wally. Wally standing to the side, urging Aqualad to take vengeance… thus indicating Wally had lost against Benjamin at some point, with Robin merely observing, watching as Benjamin excelled at the game with seamless effort.

“Score! Once again, Ben Ten is the Air Hockey king!” Benjamin cheered as Aqualad frowned at his defeat and Wally dramatically died before riffling out what suspiciously appeared to be money to Robin. Albedo wasn’t sure if they’d walked into a gambling match or what it was… He was not familiar with the game ‘air hockey.’

As if on cue, the Zeta Tube called out Superboy’s designation. The clone came storming into the area, a dark expression on his face.

“Hi, Superboy!” M’gann chirped in a far too cheerful tune, “How was Metropolis?” He grunted, ignoring her. Her face immediately fell.

“Oh, sorry.” She noted.

“Are clones really such an uncommon thing in this world that it warrants such a disgraceful response?” Albedo scoffed and Superboy froze, his expression going completely blank as he glanced back at Albedo. He heard the others stop their game and realized that all eyes were on him.

“Uh, Al-” Benjamin started, picking up on the tension that Albedo had already noted.

“I mean that in your favor, boy.” Albedo insisted, “I’ve been to many worlds outside of Earth. This one is not the first to practice cloning. This reaction that man has had towards you, a lad who had just as little say in the process as he did, is disgraceful, and by no means, should be tolerated. If you would like, I could remedy this issue quite easily.”

Superboy’s face hardened.

“I’m fine.” He grunted. Albedo’s eyes merely narrowed. Well then. If the donor was going to be stubborn and the clone was going to be stubborn, then they would both learn just how far the stubbornness of an agitated Galvan with the League Database downloaded into his watch would go.

The tension was cut by the Zeta Tube announcing the arrivals of Canary and Martian Manhunter. Immediately, M’gann’s expression brightened as Superboy’s soured. She flew to the Zeta, embracing her uncle with a bright cheer. He lost interest in that exchange immediately, more drawn by Black Canary, who intrigued Albedo, for he recalled Batman assigning her as the team’s trainer.

“Ready for training everyone?” Canary got in front of the group, activating the training floor before standing on it. Superboy glared at M’gann and her uncle for a second before quickly turning to go.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going, supes?” Benjamin called, “If I’m gonna be forced to train today, I’m dragging this whole team down with me. Come on, everyone has to do this, even him!” Benjamin stuck his thumb towards Albedo who shot Benjamin a nasty look. He was just as skeptical as Superboy about the idea of training, but for very different reasons.

“I do not think that-” Albedo started to object, but Black Canary interrupted him.

“Stick around.” She ordered, “Class is in session, I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I’ll throw you everything I’ve learned from my own mentors. And my own bruises.” She started to remove the jacket she wore over her uniform, but winced in pain halfway through the task. Albedo’s eyes zeroed in on the apparent injury she’d suffered, no doubt while fighting crime.

“What happened?” M’gann asked in concern.

“The job.” Was all Canary said before she straightened, facing the group as she threw the jacket away, “Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting... I’ll need a sparring partner.” She examined the teenagers before her, looking for her first volunteer. Albedo flinched back. Doing his best to look unnoticed. Over the years, Albedo had managed to figure out how to move about in the human body he was trapped in, and for the most part, was okay at protecting himself…. But… Realistically speaking, humans were the default for the Omnitrix. Any fighting ability that might’ve been programmed into that form was lost when it took on Benjamin’s DNA. Therefore, he only knew how to fight as well as Benjamin had known as a ten year old.

And that wasn’t much at all.

Not to mention, Albedo still, despite having gotten used to the human body, was awkward in the much larger, much more clumsy form. Training like this? It was going to be a living nightmare.

Thankfully, Wally doomed himself before she could pick any of them by having the gall to volunteer to go first.

“Right here. Yeah!” He said, throwing a banana he’d been eating to the side. He instantly started flirting with Black Canary. To the side of Benjamin, Robin was snickering like he was watching a comedy on a big screen. It didn’t talk long for Canary to ‘mop the floor’ with Wally. After being properly humiliated, the speedster got up and returned to his teammates, looking completely red in the face.

“Deka, would you like to go?” Canary asked. Benjamin instantly moaned. He walked to the room’s center, falling into a front stance as he automatically trained his attention on Canary.

“Well, this ought to be interesting.” Albedo muttered, encouraging Robin’s laughter. She launched herself at him. He immediately reacted, blocking her first few jabs and pivoting to avoid a kick. He dropped his center, going to knock her off balance and take control of the battle, as she had advised. Robin went silent and Albedo actually straightened in alarm.

Benjamin was actually competent in his human form?

Albedo had gotten some sense that Benjamin was more capable than the child let on, with him being slippery and hard to catch when in his human and most vulnerable forms. Not to mention with the way he carried himself, even without the Omnitrix to back him up, but… He had never imagined that…

Canary made her attempt to take control of the fight, but Benjamin was clearly in the mood to win. He blocked, jabbed, avoided her strikes clearly testing her and looking for a weak point. The next thing Albedo knew, Benjamin had found an opening. Without even hesitating, he took advantage of it, knocking Canary off balance and shoving her back, causing the Leaguer to fall. She recovered immediately, of course, but the training room’s computer had already registered the simple misstep.

“Black Canary, Fail.” It announced. Benjamin folded his arms, sending the no longer laughing Robin a smug look.

“Six to seven years worth of fighting aliens, Robin, with a watch that malfunctions all the time. I know how to fight.” He bragged. Albedo blinked. He was baffled. Rook Blonko always made it seem like Benjamin required more training and Benjamin always seemed to heavily rely on his powers. But as Albedo’s mind scrambled, he realized that the boy was more prepared than he looked. A slippery, hard to catch human form that always seemed to get the upper hand at the last possible second.

How long had Benjamin been toying with him and his enemies in such a way?

“Well done.” She said in a pleased voice, “It seems you already understand the object of today’s lesson, which means you won’t mind extra training later to try and fine tune some of those skills. You’re rusty in some places.” Benjamin’s wild smirk instantly faltered at the mention of having to do more training. Robin’s laughter returned.

“Uh… Oh, man.” He grumbled, walking off of the training deck.

“Are you volunteering yourself, Robin?” Canary asked. Immediately, Robin cut it out. He scanned the young heroes once more, her eyes now settling on the very reluctant Albedo and annoyed Superboy.

“Reflect?” She called. Albedo shook his head immediately.

“I do not believe-”

“Everyone has to complete training if they want to go on the field.” She said patiently. Albedo growled lowly, stalking up onto the deck and falling into the best stance he could manage. If Robin was anything to go by, Albedo was not starting out very well. Canary attacked and he went to clumsily block, only for her to catch his arm and throw him over her shoulder. He landed with a loud thud, yelling in aggravation.

“Reflect, Fail.” The computer announced. Robin’s chuckling picked up again. Albedo got to his feet, going to trot off of the training deck as Wally and Benjamin had done, but Canary stopped him.

“You need to widen your stance, stand firm. Your block was weak, and you need more confidence.” She said firmly, “Don’t be afraid to take control of the situation. Be confident in your actions and be ready to not only react, but to act upon what your enemy is doing. Try again.” She offered. Albedo clenched his fists, turning slowly and once more falling into a stance. He widened it, like she recommended, preparing himself for her strike. Once more she attacked, his block was much better and he did his best to anticipate her actions and move accordingly, only to stumble over his own to feet mid-pivot and fall flat on his face.

He let out a low growl, and he picked himself up, balling his fist in frustration.

“Wow…” Wally muttered next to him, “For some reason I thought this would go better after watching Ben. Didn’t realize Albedo was clumsy.” Of course, despite the fact that Wally hadn’t obviously meant to say that outloud, Albedo heard him and snapped his head towards the speedster. Next to Wally, Robin was laughing at Albedo’s fail. Albedo snarled, ignoring Canary’s request for him to stay as he stormed off.

He found the living area, and he began to scan quickly for cooking supplies, rummaging through the cupboards. He gave up rather quickly on finding anything and glumly sat down at the counter, glaring hatefully at his too big human hands.

“Albedo?” Albedo’s head jerked up. When had Benjamin gotten behind him?

“Go away Benjamin.” Abledo grumbled.

“Dude, you’ll get better. It just takes time, no one gets that good that fast.” Ben said.

“No one but you.” Albedo remarked dryly. Benjamin winced at that statement.

“That’s not true I-”

“Yes, it is.” Albedo said angrily, “Everything just comes to you. You are good at everything and you play it all off as if it’s nothing and then I-” Albedo motioned to himself angrily, “-I cannot even figure out how to use this human body without tripping over myself and looking like an absolute fool! How does anyone even function or protect oneself with such a large and clumsy form? If I had the Ultimatrix operational, I would not require such training. I would have defeated her with ease!”

“I’m not good at everything. Have you seen my grades?” Benjamin defended. Albedo stopped midway through his fuming. M’gann’s words from before echoed through his head.

‘You both look alike, but does that really mean you're the same person? Obviously not.’

“...I suppose that is true. You are an absolute idiot.”

“That’s the spirit. Now come on, there’s training to be done.” Albedo rolled his eyes but reluctantly came with Benjamin back to the training area, only the training floor was off now, replaced with a computer hologram. The hologram showed Batman.

That meant one thing: there was a new mission.

Notes:

One, I still stand by Ben NOT being an idiot. That being said, Albedo still thinks of Ben as one and Ben does still have bad grades, generally speaking. (He's smart, but not much good in a school environment.)

Two, in regards to Albedo's fighting abilities: That part is more head-cannoned. Yeah, in some video games, Al displays a pretty good fighting ability and he's even gone an entire episode (The Ultimate Heist, Omniverse S4E7) where he faced off some of Ben's enemies completely human. Thing is, I've liked the head-cannon that Albedo actually had to adjust to the new form, because it makes Albedo's frustrations with being human make even more sense (Outside of the general annoyance of being stuck permanently in a body that isn't his.) That being said, while Albedo does possess a lot of Ben's athletic ability, I have it so that when the knock off Omnitrix defaulted, it defaulted a lot of the settings that went along with the human forms.

This means Albedo, as a general rule, is a lot more clumsy than Ben is because he's not one hundred percent used to the much larger, much stronger human form he's stuck in. (It probably took him weeks to be able to start working with delicate tech again, by these rules).

Chapter 25: Readying the Transport.

“Five hours ago a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers and abilities of it’s opponents.” Batman began, “Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant.”

“Woah, one guy with the powers of the League. That’s insane.” Wally noted and Ben just snorted.

“Yeah, totally.” To which Wally glanced back at Ben and flushed.

“Oh, right. Shapeshifting powers…” Ben just winked at him with a wiry grin.
Batman cleared his throat, drawing their attention again.

“In the end it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android.”

“An android.” Albedo noted his eyes narrowing as he seemed to study the figure in the footage Batman was showing them more carefully.

“Dude, I’ve totally fought something like this before.” Ben reminisced, “That one looks way less advanced though.” He realized, a full second later, that Batman was staring him down.

“Explain. Now.” Batman demanded.

“Oh, uh, it was level twenty plus tech from a high plane of existence… The seventh dimension, I think? I dunno. Me, my cousin and this guy I used to hang with ran into it. Mimicked all of my aliens… Had a hard time with magic though… But it did eventually adapt.”

“Benjamin, the Omnitrix is level twenty. That’s supposed to be the highest level. You’ve encountered something worse?” Albedo asked in alarm. Ben just shrugged.

“It’s gone now. And like I said, that guy is totally not as bad.” Ben motioned to the android on the screen.”

“But who the heck made it? T.O. Morrow?” Robin guessed.

“Good guess, but Red Tornado doesn’t think so.”

“The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo.” Martian Manhunter clarified.

“Ivo?” Kaldur asked in disbelief, and Ben began to wonder who the heck the Ivo guy was… He really needed to read the villain files more, “But Ivo’s dead.”

“We all thought.” Canary agreed, “Or hoped…”

“To ensure this threat is permanently neutralized we’re sending two trucks carrying the android’s parts to two separate star lab facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We’ll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion and in case Ivo, or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks.”

“Yes!” Wally cheered, “Road trip!”

“So now we take out your trash?” Superboy growled.

“You have something better to do?” Batman challenged.

“I have a question.” Albedo held up his hand as his eyes continued to flicker over the data, “Can I see the remains before they are sent off?” Ben paused. No… Albedo wasn’t planning on trying to hijack parts from the weird copy-cat android too, was he? The League was totally going to notice that.

“Actually… Until you’ve got a better grasp of your powers outside of uniform or, alternatively, a better understanding of how to defend yourself, I don’t think you should go on civic missions.” Canary offered in a gentle voice. Albedo’s eye twitched, and Ben expected the Galvan turned teen to get angry or something. But he remained surprisingly calm.

“Yes… I suppose that makes sense.” Albedo noted, “But I still should examine the parts before they are sent off. With someone as unpredictable as Ivo… It’s best to be safe.” Batman, on screen, nodded.

“Some with your expertise on sight would be beneficial.” Batman agreed, “You’ll Zeta back to the cave afterwards to examine the information you pulled. And with that agreed on, the coordinates for the meet up point flashed on the communicator in Ben’s Omnitrix.

“We’ll be right over there.” Ben promised. Batman simply grunted in confirmation, and the computer shut off. A quick change into motorcycle clothing, aka, a helmet, green and black jacket with a ten on the back, and gloves, and they were off to the mission location. Batman was waiting for them there. Albedo was given a moment with the parts, during which Ben was pulled aside with him.

“There are trackers on this.” Albedo declared immediately, making Ben frown in concern.

“Oh, that’s not good.” Ben noted. Albedo nodded as he crouched over the parts, pulling out one of his tools, “I’m going to make sure it stays shut down for good. But I’m leaving them on.” Now this confused Ben. If the bad guy was tracking the android, why would they let the bad guy know where the android was?

Unless…

“Bait for Ivo?” Ben guessed. Albedo nodded in agreement.

“Inform Robin and Aqualad… But I would probably keep the Leaguers in the dark. Don’t want to give away that I found the trackers. Then Ivo won’t spring for it. My recommendation would be to continue with the operation as planned, and be prepared to go off script.”

“Sounds like a plan to me… Um, anything useful here?” Albedo seemed to hesitate, glancing down at the parts before looking behind himself, eyes narrowing on the Kryptonian Leaguer who was moving the other half of the parts that Albedo had already examined into the other truck.

Then Albedo’s eye twitched.

“No.”

The guy wasn’t even trying to pretend like he wasn’t lying. Ben grabbed his Omnitrix, twisting it to access the translator function before switching to Galvanic.

“You sure?” He asked in Galvan's native language.

“Do not worry about it, brother, I already have it handled.” Albedo replied in the same tongue. Ben found himself smiling a little… Because there was really no reason for Albedo to call him brother when they weren’t speaking English.

“Are you warming up to me?” He teased as before he switched the language settings back. The Galvan merely scowled and closed the compartment containing the android pieces.

“Be safe, Benjamin.” And he turned sharply away and left Ben for the ship that would take him to the nearest Zeta Tube. Well, that left Ben feeling all warm inside. The guy was really starting to loosen up. He’d almost thought the nightmare conversation had completely scared him away.

“I don’t get your brother sometimes.” Ben nearly jumped out of his skin as Robin was suddenly right next to him, watching Albedo walk off.

“Dude! Don’t do that!” Ben huffed. Robin just snickered before sobering himself up quickly.

“...I mean, the guy’s dangerous… I don’t doubt that at all… But he’s a klutz… and he also is totally fine with breaking protocol basically all the time despite completely giving me this vibe that he’s a rule stickler.” Robin noted.

“You really shouldn’t eavesdrop as much as you do.”

“Already gave Kal the updates. This will be fun.” Robin replied with a cheeky smile.

“And for the record, Al’s only a klutz because up until the war, he wasn’t a fighter at all. He was a scientist, whole heartedly. Give my brother some slack, will you? He’s had a rough few years. All the magic, and the near constant life-and-death scenarios aren’t his typical forte. He’s the best in his field, but he didn’t want to be a hero.” Ben scolded, still a tad miffed about how rude Robin had been about Albedo not being good at fighting during training before. Ben knew exactly how hard it was to adjust to a new form and learn how to win in horrible situations. Albedo stuck trying to fight in the default, which was absolutely nowhere like a Galvan form, probably sucked a lot.

In fact, Ben was pretty sure Albedo didn’t fight very much when he’d still been a Galvan. They did have Galvan warriors, and despite their tiny size, they were pretty fierce. Complete experts in their field… As most Galvans tended to be. But Albedo was a lab Galvan. He worked in the labs and didn’t study self defense or battle strategy or anything.

Robin sobered up a little, his head actually dipping some as he winced like a kid being scolded for stealing candy or something.

“...Oh… I didn’t think about that… I forgot about the war thing.” Robin admitted. Ben simply shook his head.

“Just lay off on him, okay? He’ll learn.” Before he gestured toward the motorcycles, “On a less scolding note, ready to head out?” Robin nodded.

“Me, you, and supes in group one. M, Aqualad, and Kid Flash in group two. Kal says his guys are ready to head out.” Ben glanced over at the still annoyed Superboy, who looked ready to attack something out of anger at the drop of the pin.

Oh, boy…

This was going to be one of those days, wasn’t it?

Notes:

Happy Early Halloween everyone!

Sorry for the late update and the short chapter. I'm prepping some stuff for a Halloween activity I'm participating in with my family, while also trying to prep for Writing Month (November is writer's month. I'm gonna be trying to do an Original piece for the Nanowrimo challenge with 50,000 words or more this November). As a result, I'm posting late and this week's chapter is short and sweet. Next week should be back on schedule and with a better chapter, promise.

Also, next week, as a heads up, I will be uploading some of the concept art I have for Deka/Ben.

Chapter 26: Introducing Red X.

“If dislike is the opposite of like, then is aster the opposite of disaster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right!”

“You sir, are a man of brilliance.” Ben declared. Superboy just scowled angrily at the road ahead.

“Well, clearly he’s not feeling the aster.” Robin noted, “What’s up?”

“Canary.” Superboy growled, “I mean what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with superstrength?”

“Uh, taking down stronger guys is part of the gig. Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman, and well, me.” Robin noted. Immediately, Superboy revved his engine and pulled up ahead of Ben and Robin. Robin scoffed.

“Jeesh, he’s in a real mood today.”

“Totally get where he’s coming from though.” Ben countered, “It’s easy to get used to being the strongest guy in the room, when you're indestructible, you feel unstoppable… He is aware that I have an alien on dial that could beat him in a fight, right?” Robin made a small snorting noise.

“I forgot you’ve got Kryptonian DNA.” He recalled.

“Well, yeah, but basically any alien I’ve got on dial from a red sun world, and he’s in trouble.” Ben agreed before he looked at the Kryptonian boy driving ahead of him, because something told him it wasn’t JUST Canary, if the encounter Superboy had with Albedo before their mission said anything.

“Hey, Rob, weird question about my brother, BTW, is it just me, or has he been insulting people a lot less lately? I swear, he’s helped M’gann bake, like, a different recipe everyday. And he’s been friendly in his own way to Superboy… And I think he even let Wally touch his lab equipment yesterday.”

“Not gonna lie, dude, if Reflect is more friendly around us than around you, it’s probably because he’s your brother. I’ve heard sibling rivalries are harsh.” Robin said with a laugh. Ben frowned, staring forwards, because the other night kept nagging at the back of his head. And just earlier…

‘Be safe Benjamin.’

“Dude, we’ve got a problem.” Ben snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that in fact, there was a problem. Several mechanical monkeys had come out of the corn fields and were launching themselves at the truck.

“Hey, would you look at that, Reflect’s prediction was right!” Ben declared.

“Aqualad to Deka, our truck’s being attacked.” Aqualad informed them over the comms.

“Same here.” Robin relayed.

“I HATE monkeys.” Superboy declared. Robin just laughed.

“Robot monkeys, totally Ivo’s style!” Meaning supposedly dead scientist wasn’t dead. The clichés probably weren’t going to end there, but Ben selectively decided not to bring it up. Mostly because as Robin was switching to battle mode… Just as Superboy was angrily launching himself at the vehicle. Ben barely had time to grab his watch and transform before the Kryptonain’s motorcycle slammed into him.

“Pesky Dust!” Ben trilled in aggravation, hovering above the wreckage, Pesky Dust was literally useless against machines! Echo Echo or Ditto would’ve been way better against the monkeys. Or Upgrade. Not having time to dwell on it, he flew fast after the truck anyways, barely avoiding the grabby hands of the monkeys who’d seemingly taken notice of him. Robin grappled onto the truck just as the monkeys blew Superboy off.

“Dude, what the heck?” Robin asked.

“Mistransformation, prr…” Ben replied miserably, “Cover me a second?” Robin nodded, getting his grounds on top of the truck as Ben fiddled uselessly with the dial. Robin slid his escrima sticks into his hands, charging the monkeys as Ben tried to work with the Omnitrix while also avoiding the grabby monkeys’ mitts. Superboy suddenly landed on top of the truck, shaking the entire truck and unbalancing Robin. That was about the moment a monkey straight up tackled Ben.

“Ergh! Get, prr, off!” He punched angrily at the stupid thing as it tried grabbing him up. Unexpectedly, the monkey blew up, and Ben was flung back into the truck, the watch deciding to corporate right at that moment as he landed hard onto the back of the truck in human form.

“Ugh,” he groaned. “Deka, move!” Robin called, panicked. Ben had just enough time to move out of the way before he was nearly impaled by a red shrunken. Red Shrukens did NOT match the green robot monkeys at all. A whine emitted from the shuriken, and suddenly every single robot monkey seized up and collapsed. Unfortanately, the sound of the truck’s engine shutting down could be heard as the vehicle jerked to the side. Ben jumped off the side immediately and he barely tucked and rolled, his jacket taking its share of damage. That was going to bruise a lot later…. And would suck a lot in the morning. He didn’t dwell, instead getting up quickly to check on Robin, who he realized had gotten the driver out and clear of the wreckage. That was… Good. But he was also very focused on the figure walking out of the wreckage, the crate containing the parts in tow.

“The heck? Is that one of Ivo’s?” Robin asked in confusion.

“Why would Ivo sabotage his own monkeys?” Ben pointed out. Superboy just growled, not even hesitating to charge at the figure. The figure abandoned the crate, moving fast. A strangled yell of pain and alarm reached Ben’s ears, and Ben didn’t think he was sprung forwards and transforming as Superboy collapsed.

“You’re not as strong as you think, kid.” Reached Ben’s ears just as Spidermonkey landed where the figure had been. He found himself face to face with a person in a completely black uniform with a torn, ruined cape flapping behind him. A white, skull shaped mask covered the stranger’s face, a crimson x was slashed over the mask’s eye.

“What’d you just do to him?” Ben demanded.

“He’ll be fine. Besides, you should be thanking me, kid. I, uh… I totally saved you back there.” Skull mask remarked, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got some cargo I need to move.” He pointed a thumb back towards the crate.

“Not happening.” Robin declared, and together, he and Ben attacked. The guy was inhumanly fast. Moving out of the way of Spidermonkey and Robin’s insane reflexes faster than any normal person should’ve been able as a red rope sprung from the man’s gauntlet and slammed into Ben. Robin continued the assault, and the man ducked and wove back. Ben’s watch timed out again…. In retrospect, trying to transform right after he’d just jumped off of a moving truck and expecting it to hold was a bad idea… But he still detransformed freakishly fast. And his watch was in the red already! Ben went to complain about it, but froze.

Because the air felt wrong.

Like it was charged, or energized by some sort of energy.

Something that made Ben’s insides buzz and the hairs on his neck stand on end.

“Dude! Help me! I can’t nail this guy!” Robin complained. Ben snapped out of his trance right as another red, x-shaped shuriken nearly took him out. He forgot the stupid watch, grabbing his secondary, the stunner that he still needed to get better at aiming and tried to get in close. While Ben had been distracted, skull face had managed to get the crate open, despite Robin doing all in his power to keep skull face away from the crate.

“Hey, skull face, I don’t believe we’ve met! What's your name? The Skull King? Red X? X-Marks the Spot!? Jolly Roger?!” Ben taunted, deciding to act distracting.

“Funny, kid.” Skull face noted, “Why don’t you tell your little friend here to back down? I can tell you exactly where Ivo is in exchange.”

Robin faltered, his escrima sticks still raised to attack, but more wary now as skull face held up his hands.

“Who are you?” Robin demanded.

“A connoisseur of technology.” Skull face replied dramatically, “And correct me if I’m wrong, but your comms, along with the trackers the access to those trackers your techie friend with the white hair put on those parts are all down, yes?” Ben checked, realizing that yes, along with the monkeys and truck going down... their comms and trackers had as well. An EMP if Ben had to guess, which made Ben wonder what on Earth was powering skull face's tech and why it was unaffected. It wasn't like a ton of people on that planet had access to the technology or energy sources needed to make EMP safe technology, like Ben's Omnitrix.

“Have you been following us?” Ben asked incredulously.

“Perhaps.” Ben could hear a grin on the guy’s stupid disguised voice, “But I want Ivo out of the game. So we’ve got mutual cause. I tell you where your teammates traced him, and I get a peek at the merchandise.” Skull face gestured towards the crate.

“Not gonna happen.” Robin stated. Skull face shrugged.

“Shame. And you two seemed so reasonable too!” A flash of red light, and he was behind Robin. Standing over the crate, one of the parts in hand. How the heck?!

“Well, this will do! Hope to see you two later, tah!” Another flash, and the guy was just… gone. Teleported, Ben recognized. And that weird energy he’d felt was gone.

“Who the heck was that?” Robin asked, “And how’d he take out Superboy?”

“...I don’t know…” Ben noted, his eyes narrowing at where Skull Face had been, “But I’ll give him props… He’s got a dramatic flare AND style. Eight out of ten, all the way.”

Notes:

So, my Sketchbook with my concept art for this book went MIA. It's somewhere in my dorm... But I, being a design major, have a gazillion sketchbooks, so it'll take me a bit before I find it again. That being said, Ben's concept art was NOT included in this weeks post. Hope this photoshop painting I did of Albedo and M'gann makes up for it. (I drew Albes' hand backwards, but don't worry about it!)

Also, sorry if the chapters as of late come out a little slower or later. School and work have had me a little worn out and I'm also trying to work on my own original story in the background. This doesn't mean I won't be posting weekly, but chapters might come out on Fridays every so often instead of the regular Thursdays (Since I have more time on Fridays and weekends) and I might miss some more spelling and such than usual when editing. I'm going to do my best to keep the spelling tidy, but I do miss things every so often. Actions scenes will still lack extra detail for a little bit while I try to get some more time to edit and update an polish off my style in writing action so that the quality is better. Hopefully, with this chapter, however, I made a little more progress in the action side of things... I honestly don't know.

Also, if you can't tell... This is kinda the point in the story where thing start to serious take a sharp turn from how it goes in YJ canon. I do still follow the episodes from this point on, to a degree, but it's right about here where I ah, take some liberties with the DC universe and the fact that there are two new players in it. Take that as you will... I am genuinely interested in your theories on this chapter and about Red X being introduced (Though I think I've been a bit obvious, but I never know. I'm not trying to be clever here at all, promise).

Happy Thursday, and keep an eye out for the Ben concept art, because once I find that sketchbook, I will upload it.

Chapter 27: Dessert With Bruce Wayne.

Albedo staggered as he regained his bearings. He was at the midway point and already he could feel the exhaustion in his bones. He was gonna have to Zeta the rest of the way to the cave, no doubt.

He’d seen Gwendolyn Tennyson pull off that move before, so why was it that when he tried replicating teleportation with the improved mana uniform, did it leave him so extremely worn out? Did Gwendolyn have the same difficulties? He moved fast to get off of the streets and out of plain view before peeling the skull-like mask off of his face.

Basically, he’d had some free time that afternoon. His assignments for Wayne Enterprises couldn’t be continued until his supervisor approved. A Galvan like him went stir crazy when left with nothing to do. So, he went back to project one, aka, figuring out how in Azmuth’s name to get himself and Benjamin back to the Omniverse.

Part of his current solution came in the form of an upgraded, completely redesigned version of the Reflect suit that he’d simply referred to as Suit X. Suit X used the mana in his genetic code to its fullest potential, using some to help ‘improve’ his fighting capabilities and also help him access powers and aspects of his borrowed Anodite heritage that he simply was not able to figure out on his own.

Problem was, it was absolutely exhausting to use. The Reflect uniform took less of his energy since it required some of his own skills to operate. Suit X just kept him alive until he was drained of everything he had. Reflect was definitely more useful for the foolish missions with the young heroes, but Suit X was going to work well enough for the dual purpose he’d built it for to begin with.

Aka, breaking the law.

If he’d learned anything from project Cadmus, it was that the villains of that world had the most access to higher level technology. Not even Wayne enterprises could get him what he needed. He also learned that he could not, under any circumstances, trust the villains of that world. Dubblix’s warnings concerning that had not left the back of his mind. Shadow organizations were a no go. Teaming up with known villains was one thing. But if you didn’t know your partner, then you were setting yourself up for failure. He knew the League, even if it was a group of do-gooders. Staying ‘friends’ with them was beneficial, even if they didn’t have exactly what he needed.

Plus, Benjamin would kill him if he thought he was ‘relapsing’ or breaking any laws.
‘There’s nothing wrong with caring about your brother.’ M’gann had said. And while he’d been so quick to deny it that afternoon when she suggested it… the interaction he’d had with Benjamin not even twelve minutes after that conversation had proven, at the very least, that Benjamin had developed a fondness towards him.

And for some blasted reason Albedo somewhat started to return the feeling.

Albedo shook his head.

He really had to focus.

What mattered was that he realized he needed a way to work outside of both the League and the law without Benjamin knowing. It was literally the only way to get the technology he needed to send them both home again.

That’s where Suit X came into play.

A third persona.

A mercenary outside of the law and apart from the League. Someone who could swiftly and quickly steal anything he needed. Someone who was ‘shady’ enough that the shadow organizations wouldn’t even bat an eye when he tried infiltrating and taking from them. Someone who no one would likely ever discover the true identity of, which would make the persona perfect for dealing with people Albedo couldn’t trust or didn’t know.

The mission he’d been held back from presented an excellent opportunity for a test run.

That android mentioned in the debriefing had been powered by quite the source, and it was exactly the sort of thing he was aiming to steal for the main project. Aka, the powersource he had tucked under his arm as he glanced about the alleyway for a place to remove the suit.

The suit had originally just been black with the red x’s on it to mark it as Suit X in case he attempted another version that worked better in the future. The skull mask had been a last minute adjustment. One he’d made after confessing to Benjamin about the Dream Eater dream. It was modeled after the Dream Eater and the shape it took when claiming a human host.

He had no clue why he felt the need to add such an obscure detail to the uniform after he’d worked so hard on completing it… But after confessing that dream. After telling Benjamin just how frighting it was to be his dark, imperfect reflection, the mask seemed to simply fit. It looked good with the dark uniform too, so he did not complain about his odd, last minute adjustment.

A persona born from a nightmare.

One where he’d been Benjamin.

Fitting, considering he had to pour all of his acquired acting skills into imitating Benjamin’s personality. In order to draw attention away from himself, his new persona had to be the exact opposite of Albedo. The opposite of Albedo was Benjamin. So the new persona was basically Benjamin, but evil. Which was great.

What had Benjamin called him?

Red X?

X was the numeral for ten.

So… red ten… That would work. He’d keep it.

He finally felt safe enough to take the uniform off. With a click, the entire outfit retracted, leaving him in his civics, minus his red jacket, and with a white mask. He pocketed the little box with the android piece he’d stolen and hid the mask in its pouch before coming out of the alley, glancing around for some way to hide his mess of white hair and red eyes.

He made a mental note to himself. Keep the wig on while in the Suit X uniform. It was likely going to be really hot, but he now knew he just didn’t have the energy in him to teleport directly back every time he went out.

He found a random dinner nearby and identified that he was in Metropolis. Deciding that a nearly empty diner was preferable to the open streets, and also feeling extremely hungry after having used up most of his energy with the test run, Albedo ducked inside. He was shouldered by a big man with dark hair and bright blue eyes as he walked in. He stopped, looking back and doing a double take as he realized it was Clark Kent, aka, the civilian persona of Superman he'd just bumped into. It was clear Clark had not noticed him at all as he stormed off down the road. Brooding and wearing a scowl that matched Superboy’s default expression to the very last detail. He clearly had a lot on his mind, because Albedo stuck out like a sore thumb without his wig and contacts and the guy didn’t even recognize him.

“What are you doing here?” Albedo spun around, noticing that another familiar face sat in the booth next to the door.

“Mr. Wayne? Huh… What a coincidence. Why are you in Metropolis? I was testing out one of my side projects here, I wasn’t expecting to see anyone I knew. I must swear… That man looks almost exactly like-”

“Sit down, Albedo.” Wayne deadpanned. Albedo obeyed immediately.

“Weren’t you supposed to be working on data entries this afternoon?” Bruce asked. Albedo shrugged.

“I finished the data entry and have reviewed everything you asked of me. I had some free time and came here purely by accident because of some tinkering I was doing with my meta enhancer… Apparently Anodites can teleport. Which… Is so exhausting.” To prove his point he laid his head on the table, actually tired, “I think I could eat a whole chain’s worth of chili fries right about now, which is a horrific thought.”
Bruce snorted. He did not catch on to anything, which was spectacular.

“Guess that explains your hair and eyes right now.”

“I’ve made a note. Always have those on me.” Albedo grunted, “This will hopefully not occur in the future.”

“Considering it could compromise your identity as Reflect, I would probably try to avoid random teleportation in the future.” Bruce agreed. Azmuth, the guy was much less brooding and dark when his mask was off. Albedo wasn’t sure if that was just a default for him, seeing as he was a master at balancing personas, but it was interesting to know both sides of the man, nevertheless.

“What do they serve at this miserable diner?” Albedo asked, peeling himself off of the table.

“Well, I was going to have dessert with a friend, but he left so if you would like-”

“Absolutely!” He burst without meaning before flushing bright red and smacking a hand over his mouth as he sank in his booth.

“Er, sorry. Hunger tends to draw out my more teenaged instincts.” Albedo admitted. Bruce simply laughed.

“Nothing to apologize for, you’re still a growing kid after all. Dick has an appetite that rivals a professional football player’s. Add his night activities and acrobats to the list and the boy gives my butler quite the amount of work.” Albedo hated that he was being compared to a thirteen year old human, but he dismissed that aggravation quickly since it was neither the time nor place.

“Was that man your friend? He was Superman, was he not?” Bruce winced.

“He’s not going to be happy you’ve made his identity.”

“Well, considering I know yours, figuring his out is likely not that difficult.” Albedo deadpanned.

“...True.” Bruce agreed reluctantly before offering Albedo a menu, “Dessert’s on me.”

“Much appreciated. Why were you discussing with him anyways? He seemed rather upset just then.” Bruce let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing his brow.

“The kid.” Bruce replied. Albedo glanced up from the menu, understanding flickering on his features.

“The boy did seem rather aggravated today when I encountered him.”

“He’s stubborn, that’s all, but I’m sure he’ll come around eventually. It’s just going to take time.”

“Hmm.” Albedo wasn’t particularly interested in the conflict between Superboy and Superman, but M’gann cared about it. So, naturally, he’d decided he’d care about as well considering he rather enjoyed M’gann’s company, “What measures have you taken exactly to resolve said conflict?”

“I’ve talked to him-”

“Bah, what good will that do? He’s stubborn, yes? He reminds me somewhat of my brother. Cheerful face, but much, much too stubborn. Emotional appeal is apparently the way to go for whatever ridiculous reason.” Albedo rolled his eyes, “Apparently that’s the only way people that don’t always use common sense and logic resolve issues.”

“You take joy in insulting people, don’t you?” Bruce noted.

“Oh, most certainly. I’ve mastered the art of it.” Albedo agreed.

“So, then, what would you do?” Bruce asked, “I’m genuinely interested.”

“Well, I have some ideas.” Albedo replied, “I’m admittedly no, I’m not an expert on human emotion… Though our friend isn’t exactly human, is he? Honestly… I’d stick Benjamin on him.”

“Your brother.” Bruce deadpanned. Albedo just shrugged. Really, if anyone would know what having an evil and/or ‘made to destroy you’ clone running about… It would be Benjamin. Plus, the child was admittedly personable… And would get along famously with someone with the cheerful persona Superman seemed to use in all of the footage Albedo had reviewed on him.

“Benjamin is a people person.” Albedo said, as if that explained it. Obviously, he didn’t want to expand on his reasoning further, “And if Benjamin can’t help you achieve your goal, then I will not confirm nor deny any exploitation that occurs afterwards…”

“...Noted.”

“And speaking of the clone, you’ve reviewed the intel I’ve sent you, yes?”

“You want to investigate further.” Bruce deadpanned.

“I’m a curious man.” Albedo said with a shrug, “But also careful… to a certain degree.”

“That’s what worries me. You’re still just a kid, Albedo, no matter how smart you are. If you get into trouble again like what happened the first time you dove into Cadmus…” Bruce pressed. Albedo scowled to himself, looking down at his too big hands. Right. He was a human teeanger. And developing the technology to fully access his borrowed Anodite heritage simply would not protect him well enough with all of the minor setbacks he’d been having. Even with the Red X suit, he was severely limited.

‘But Dubblix already has a grasp of who I am.’ Albedo blinked.

Now that was a thought.

“It wouldn’t be like last time, Bruce. Last time, I went in as Reflect. But we both know at this point that my specialty is, in fact, not fighting, but intel and resource gathering. I live in the Washington area. A scientist such as Dr. Tennyson who specializes in genetics and experimental technology taking an interest in Cadmus is not outside of the realm of possibilities. And with the code I use, they’d never even trace what I’ve taken back to me. Heck, they wouldn’t even realize until it’s too late… Besides, I may have a way in. A contact.” He then glared up at Bruce, “I appreciate your caution, but I’ve been handling my own dilemmas with Benjamin and responsibilities before I met you. I don’t necessarily need your permission to try… I was simply hoping to have your approval. I do respect you as an individual, seeing as you are a very intelligent man. You know from what I’ve given you that there is more to Cadmus than what we encountered on Independence Day. Besides, the trouble you worry about is what my brother is here for. I’m the mind, he’s the muscle. That’s how it’s always been.”

And why he’d initially kept Benjamin around to begin with instead of keeping him captive until he gathered the resources he needed. Granted, that line of reasoning was slowly starting to change… But regardless, Benjamin would come for him if anything went awry. He’d come even if Albedo had literally stabbed him in the back one day and then got kidnapped the next. He had a hero complex that was going to get him killed one day. And against the most powerful person in the Multiverse… What chance did Cadmus’s creators actually stand?

“It’s still a huge risk.” Bruce insisted.

“And that’s out of the ordinary for you? I’ll report my findings to you weekly, if that eases your conscience.” Bruce contemplated, clearly weighing the concept mentally.

“I’d like to meet this supposed contact. Then we’ll talk.”

That wasn’t a no. Wayne’s funding of his endeavors was going to play a huge role in his plans. If he could somehow track down and convenience Dubblix to meet with and persuade Bruce, then he’d be set.

“Very well. I’ll have something arranged by the week’s end.”

Chapter 28: A Very Lackluster Mission Report.

The Amazo mission ended dully… Aka, both whatever Albedo had done to the robot before the mission had even started, plus the missing parts that Skull Face had prevented Ivo from getting had basically kept Amazo from being reformed, which was absolutely fantastic. Aqualad, Miss. Martian, and Kid Flash tracked the monkeys down to some school in Gotham, before facing off against Ivo and the monkeys… Only for Ivo to STILL manage to get away somewhere in the fight. Ben and Robin showed up late, on account of comms going down due to skull face, and Superboy not waking up for a full hour after the crash. They got back to the cave last because of the comms problem.

Superboy was understandably annoyed. Having been taken down by a complete stranger with practically no effort. Ben had to say though, he could tell it was slightly humbling on the guy, as he returned to the cave, still very moody, but less angry about the training thing with Canary.

“I just don’t get how that guy nailed you though.” Robin huffed as they walked out of the Zetas, “There’s literally no way he could’ve. Not without kryptonite or something like that.”

“You didn’t feel woozy or anything before he knocked you out, did you?” Superboy huffed.

“Not really. Just… Suddenly I felt… Human…” Superboy noted, “...That’s the only way I can describe it. Not weak… just not me.”

“What else weakens Kryptonians?” Ben asked.

“Red sunlight?” Robin offered.

“How would you even get that?” Ben scoffed.

“Some people have the technology to stimulate red sunlight. And with the tech that guy was tossing around…”

“Dude, if it was that easy to get ahold of something like that, everyone would go after Superman.” Ben pointed out. Robin seemed to consider this and also seemed to realize that Ben had a point. Tech like that was likely very, very hard to make and actually use effectively. That meant it was very hard to come by.

“Maybe it wasn’t the thief.” Superboy grumbled as he seemed to brood over the topic, “Reflect said when he found me that my genetic code had imperfections.”

“...That’s… Probably not it.” Ben said in a strained voice at the suggestion. He remembered Albedo pointing that out when Superboy figured out he couldn’t fly. Ben was pretty sure no one really wanted to know what the implications of THAT information meant. He also was pretty sure that if Superboy believed there could be problems with his powers if he wasn’t careful… The guy would actually train.

Was he a bad leader for letting Superboy think that even if Ben had no idea if it was true or not? Probably… But Ben would be leaving it at that. If Superboy had questions about his powers, then maybe he'd turn the guy towards Albedo for explanation.

“Well, we can have Albes check you over, and maybe he’ll know what happened.” Robin looked around the training room for a second.

“Speaking of your albino doppelganger… Where is your brother anyways? Wasn’t he supposed to meet up with you here when the mission was over?” Robin asked. As if on cue, the Zeta Tubes came to life, announcing the arrival of Reflect and Batman. Albedo was carrying a to-go box, trailing behind the Dark Knight with a wild smile plastered on his face.

He immediately thrust the box into Ben’s hands, startling the teen.

“I’ve discovered something as amazing as chili fries.” Albedo declared.

“Dude, where were you?” Ben asked, bewildered. Albedo simply pushed the box further into his hands. Ben snorted a little and opened it. Inside was chocolate, devil's food cake. Yep. Should’ve guessed… Chocolate, unlike chili fries, was designed to be addictive. He was bound to discover the treat and grow unnecessarily addicted to it eventually. The dude really needed to learn how to control his human cravings. Ben probably wasn’t the one to talk, though.
If Albedo wanted to obsess over chocolate food now… There was no way Ben was going to stop him, so long as the guy shared.

“Dude, this is surprisingly nice.” Ben noted.

“Oh, no, you don’t get to keep it.” Albedo declared, “The rest is for M’gann, I must convince her to make more!” Ben didn’t even get to try it before Albedo was grabbing the box away from Ben and was hurrying off to find the Martian. Immediately, Robin burst into laughter.

“I have never… Heh, seen him… Ha, act like that before!” Robin cackled.

“Albedo takes his food very seriously, as he should. It’s literally the only thing we agree on.” Ben replied, not totally surprised. Ben and Albedo would be at each other’s throats, but still take five minutes out of a fight or argument for chili fries and/or smoothies. Snack and meal times were sacred in the Tennyson Twin household, “Just don’t let him bake crickets into your food… Azmuth, his mentor, was a race that ate bugs and stuff, and Al picked up the habit. He will put crickets in your smoothies if you don’t tell him not to first.”

“That is weird on so many levels.” Robin snickered.

“As far as alien cuisines go, that’s pretty tame, actually.” Ben countered, “I would rather drink a cricket smoothie Albedo made than literally anything my grandpa used to make. Grandpa was an intergalactic soldier… So everything he ate and cooked was alien. Traumatized me for life. Between that and our parents attempting and failing to raise us as vegans… I’m so glad Albedo can cook.”

“Your parents were vegan?!” Robin wheezed.

“Yep! And pacifists.” Ben agreed, “We took after grandpa and grandma more than mom and dad.”

“That’s hilarious.”

“I think I’m gonna get him an apron when our birthday rolls around.” It was still really up in the air if they’d still be stuck in that Multiverse for Ben’s seventeenth birthday, but he’d made up his mind. In the Heroverse or the Omniverse, Ben was getting Albedo a chef’s apron. That was a promise.

“...Wait, did you buy my brother food?” Ben realized suddenly as he looked over at the Dark Knight. The guy remained as passive as ever. Ben decided to shake that thought away, imagining Batman walking into a cafe or something, fully costumed with an albino sixteen year old at his side to order cake was way too weird.

“What happened? All three of your comms were dead for over an hour.” Batman asked, ignoring the fact that he totally did buy a literal chocolate cake for Ben’s evil twin.

“We were attacked by a maniac with an EMP and a skull mask.” Ben deadpanned, before pointing his thumb towards the still brooding Superboy, “Knocked him clean out and he would respond to anything for like the longest time. That, paired with the Omnitrix going weird, the truck crashing, and our comms getting fried by that EMP-”

“We were not feeling the aster.” Robin agreed, “Our rides were trashed in the whole thing too. We had to wait for the Omnitrix to recharge, and it stayed powered down forever. Whatever the skull-faced dude did to Ben really messed with it.”

“Not to mention knocking a Kryptionian out.” Superboy grunted, “That shouldn’t have been possible.”

“How often does the Omnitrix malfunction like that?” Batman pressed. Ben flushed, before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Er, well, it’s experimental technology. This one’s the completed version but-”

“There are more versions?!” Superboy asked in alarm. Ben raced to correct himself quickly.

“There were. Not anymore. I blew the last one up, Al had another version, but it had to be disabled, and any other copies were destroyed by Azmuth. I’ve got the only one, don’t worry.” If one didn’t count the nemetrix, that was. Not that it mattered in that Multiverse, “But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s experimental. It bugs out on me a lot. I’ve learned to fight with the bugs and all. But this was different from the normal glitches. Well… Not the Pesky Dust transformation, that’s a pretty standard, but the complete power down for an hour?”

“Not normal.” Batman said with a nod. Ben hummed in agreement, his mind racing back to the watch powering down. The weird energy in the air.

“...When I went human again, I could feel the energy the guy was using to power his tech.” Ben recalled. Robin looked at Ben in confusion, clearly surprised by this information.

“I didn’t feel anything.”

“Don’t look at me, I was unconscious.” Superboy immediately injected.

“Dude, it was really distracting though, I could feel it… Right here.” Ben pressed his hand above his chest.

“Well… The guy was fast.” Robin noted, “I don’t know if he was a meta or if it was just the uniform he was using. Like we said. High tech. Wasn’t affected by the EMP he used at all. I could barely get a hit on him. And right when I thought I was about to nail the guy.”

Ben snapped his fingers.

“Gone.” Ben concluded.

Batman’s eyes narrowed. Ben never knew what to think when Batman’s eyes narrowed.

“It's late. Robin, with me. Deka… Make sure your brother doesn’t stay up late.” Batman noted. Robin’s shoulders slumped at the mention of going home and likely to sleep. Ben just arched his eyebrows, now really baffled by the Dark Knight.

The guy buys Albedo chocolate cake and then tells Ben to get Albedo home and to bed on time?

“...Dude, what is he? Batdad or something?” Ben asked with a snort the second the two had Zetaed away, “Jeesh, ten bucks right now, Supes, Bats is a softy under the cowl.”

“I am not making that bet.”

“...You are literally no fun, Superboy.”

Notes:

Fun fact of the day about the Author… I don’t actually know what chocolate tastes like… (Haven’t eaten it in about twelve years. Same with caffeine in general). I’ve heard it tastes amazing though and I felt like Albedo needed it in his life. (How I function as a college student without things like coffee and chocolate? I honestly don’t know…) Also, yes, this chapter was mostly centered around food and isn’t as plot progressing as the previous ones… But it was worth it if it let Albes discover chocolate.

Chapter 29: Registering For School.

Summary:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Robin was obsessed with finding the Red X persona that had messed up the Amazo mission. And Albedo, in turn, discovered a new fun, if not slightly sadistic, pass time. It was called messing with the youngest member of their team by further falsifying information. He’d made up some random energy, called it Xenothium, and told Robin that he suspected that was what made the suit, before making a whole fake thing online talking about the properties of Xenothium, complete with multiple research articles and companies that supposedly were studying it.

Albedo was admittedly having way too much fun with the entire thing. He thought that insulting Benjamin and messing with him was delightful… But Robin had way more volatile reactions than Benjamin ever did and it was fantastic.

Was it a little immature and unbecoming of him as an esteemed Galvan mind to bother a thirteen year old human so? Perhaps… But he needed to drive the young detective away from the truth anyway, so he might as well get some enjoyment from it.

His scheming was rudely interrupted when Benjamin suddenly sat down right in front of Albedo, an expression of stress written across his features. Surely, he wasn’t obsessing with Red X too, was he?

“I don’t want to go to school this fall.” Benjamin grumbled as he lay his head on top of the desk, moping.

“Would a better education not be beneficial to you, brother?”

“...Albes, I’m a highschool dropout.” Benjamin replied, “But Canary says I’ve got to register for a school in our area, or I can’t do missions. I’m a full year behind everyone my age, which means I have to take sophomore year… I was supposed to be a junior this year, Al! And it’s not like I wanted to drop out! It’s just… the Plumber thing became a full time job and I couldn’t focus on school anymore and…” Benjamin was starting to ramble. He actually looked extremely worried about the school thing. As if this going to school issue was a greater threat to the Great Ben Tennyson than Vilgax the Conqueror.

“And schools suck on Earth.” Benjamin just kept going, meaning Albedo wasn’t going to get rid of the child unless he responded in some meaningful way.

“Did your-” He raced to correct himself, recalling that they were in the cave, and thus, he needed to speak more carefully, “-Our grandfather not do anything in the way of helping you with your education?”

“The guy is… Was an intergalactic officer who was dealing with a bunch of other issues… I loved the man, but he didn’t always think about stuff like that. And Mom and Dad had basically given up on making me go after a few… um, incidents. The teachers were a pain, and wouldn't work with them or me at all. Not to mention the kids always trying to get a picture of me. That was cool and all, but it makes school ten times more distracting. And apparently saving the Universe isn’t a good excuse for failing math tests… Or a good excuse for getting my teachers to recommend a tutor.” Albedo’s blood seemed to go cold with this response. His teachers neglected to ensure he had a good education and to help him understand his work?

For some reason, Albedo suddenly felt guilty, of all things, that he had called Benjamin an idiot so much.

“Your teachers neglected to aid in your educational struggles and help you mature intellectually because of your responsibilities with the Omnitrix?” He asked in an appalled voice. Benjamin just shrugged.

“I have bad luck. I’ve never been any good at this school thing. Not that I need to know how to use the quadratic formula in order to save the world or anything.” Benjamin grumbled. Albedo gave Benjamin one of those looks.

“What?” Benjamin asked, “I don’t, do I?”

“In this profession? You never do know.” Albedo pointed out. Benjamin stopped, considering that statement for a moment before letting out a dramatic moan, sinking back in his chair.

“Why are you right?” Benjamin asked.

“Because I am obviously smarter than you.” Albedo said.

“Well, I need to find an education before the semester starts or Canary isn’t going to let me stick with the team.” Benjamin complained, “But I just can’t go back to school, Albes. Those places are the places where nightmares are born.” Albedo considered Benjamin’s dilemma. It truly was unfair to the boy that he’d apparently had such incompetent teachers who weren’t willing to work on bettering the boy’s education. And even Albedo had to admit, it was not fair to the child to suffer so much intellectually because he had to protect others for a living.

“Well, if you ask nicely, Tennyson, I am certain I can help you finish your education so long as you aid me in these horrible training routines Canary has prepared for me.” Albedo offered quickly before immediately directing his attention back towards his work. Benjamin gawked at Albedo like he had just spoken to Benjamin in Galvanic.

“...Are you being nice to me?” Benjamin teased. Albedo wrinkled his nose.

“It is a logical agreement. You are lacking in the intelligence to operate as a proper soldier and I am lacking in physical coordination. Clearly, it is beneficial to us both to aid one another moving forwards, as is our original agreement. I will aid you in bettering yourself intellectually in exchange for your combative prowess. Though you are not the most skilled warrior I know, you and I share a body, meaning you know what I would need to grow better as a fighter.” Albedo replied. Benjamin was clearly stunned by those words.

“Albes… I don’t know what to say… I mean, that’s seriously nice of you.” Benjamin insisted.

“Well, if there’s anything I take seriously, it's intelligence.” Albedo stood up, putting the pieces he was working on down before shutting down the work-table, “We’ll enroll you today, if you’d like… And I can tutor you.”

“What about your job with Wayne Enterprises and the project?” Benjamin asked, “And, you know, the team. Will you even have time? You’re busy as it is. I just needed someone to rant to… You don’t actually have to-”

“It would be an insult to us both if I didn’t. It’s not a matter of me being friendly to you. It's a matter of principle. If we are going to be seen together, you must possess some grasp of intellect.” Albedo countered sharply. Benjamin snapped his mouth shut and seemed to stare holes into his shoes.

“Come along.” Albedo ordered, “I already have schools near our apartments written down. I hadn’t realized you had dropped out…”

“...Wait, you were preparing to register me for school already?” Benjamin asked. Albedo just smirked. Of course he had. Anything to get Benjamin out of the house. The child was a hundred times more annoying when he’d been left by himself for a full day. It was as if he craved human attention. Albedo did not get it at all.

Albedo pulled his wig on and grabbed his sunglasses.

“Come along.” Abledo repeated. Benjamin huffed, before following Albedo to the Zetas. Benjamin waved a quick goodbye to Kaldur and Superboy, who were manning the missions room, before they zetaed back to Virginia.

Once away from listening ears, Albedo decided to elaborate on his reasoning further.

“In Galvanic culture, Galvans do not learn in a classroom setting. They learn through internships and apprenticeships. Classrooms… do exist, but the Galvans who wished to become the most accomplished learned from more than simply books and lectures. They learned from being allowed to explore the world around them. Interacting with technology and science in such a way that can allow one to grow and grasp the concepts they were taught. After all, our ancestors did not learn in classrooms. We were kept as mere pets, and yet we arose as the superior intelligence simply by observing and exploring the universe around us and making it better. If I were to enroll you into school, but take you under my wing as a student-”

“You said tutoring…” Benjamin trailed, Understandably, Albedo ignored the interruption.

“And help you advance in your studying, then I can allow you more hands-on experience with the knowledge your educators are attempting to implement… Which I feel, from my observations thus far, might help you grasp the topics they will instruct you in far quicker. You’ll work as my assistant at the lab, and study with me then after school hours, thus following the Galvanic way of learning… Just as I had once learned from Azmuth and my father.”

“Your… You know I never noticed, but you never talk about your dad.” Benjamin pointed out. Albedo stopped speaking entirely. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, having not realized that he’d accidentally brought his father up.

“He is dead.” Albedo replied dryly, “He was over eighty thousand years old and lived in the age when the Galvan race was considered a lesser species. Died in pursuit of his goals… I knew him a little… I’d barely gotten my wisdom feet when he passed. There’s not much to say in regards to my father.”

“And your mom?” Benjamin asked. Albedo shrugged.

“I do not possess one… At least, I do not know of her. Father had no time for relationships. I was born as many Galvan children with too busy parents are… Genetically induced and raised to the age of my wisdom feet in a lab. He only invested in a child because he was old and he needed someone obligated to continue his work. A common occurrence on Galvan Prime, actually.”

“...Dude… That’s actually a little messed up…” Benjamin noted.

“In what way?” Albedo asked, confused, “We live to better the universe. To learn and explore. Me being born to carry out my father’s legacy is an honor. One I stand by proudly.” An honor he’d lost because of Azmuth and the Omnitrix.

“Well, I mean… It doesn’t bother you at all that you basically were told who you had to be from the day you were born?” Benjamin asked. Not really. No. But Albedo could see why Benjamin wouldn’t understand.

“You live in a largely individualistic culture, Benjamin. Galvans do not share such ideals. We strive all our lives to do what is best for the many, and not solely for ourselves. Our intellect is a gift that we must use to benefit the masses… No matter our own personal preferences. We live for a long time and possess so much… It’s practically required.” Albedo countered, “I don’t regret following my father’s footsteps. No Galvan would. As I said, it’s an honor.”

“Okay, so, the whole super villain thing-” Benjamin gestured uselessly, “Was that for the greater good?”

“I stand by the idea that it is.” Albedo replied, “The Omnitrix has the potential to do great harm or good. Believe it or not, Azmuth’s choice to let a random ten year old child that he never intended to pass the Omntrix to, keep it, was a foolish decision. But Azmuth does not listen to his assistants. I was willing to do what it took to make sure the Omnitrix was not abused.”

“Was?” Benjamin asked, his eyebrow arching. Albedo mulled for a moment before his eyes softened and his shoulders sank.

“...Alas, it only takes a single mistake on a planet full of intellectuals to cause catastrophe. And recovering from such a mistake… Is never an easy task.” Albedo rubbed the dead ultimatrix on his wrist unconsciously. Benjamin smiled, throwing an arm around Albedo’s shoulder.

“Only if you do it alone, bro.” Benjamin declared, “Only if you do it alone.” Albedo wasn’t able to hide his smile this time. He’d given up on trying.

“Benjamin?”

“Yep?”

‘...I’m sorry.’

“...We really should get back to the apartment fast and figure out where you’ll be enrolling. The sooner we’ve signed you up, the better.” Albedo said instead.

“Right.” Benjamin’s complaining tone returned, “School.”

“We’ll make an intellectual out of you yet, little brother.”

Notes:

A brief explanation. In Omniverse Ben stops showing any signs of attending school at all. Plus, with his newfound fame, school likely got ten times harder to attend. In UA, the kid was shown out of school a few times, fighting, instead of in it like Gwen was. This heavily implies that Ben could’ve been forced to drop out and pursue his job as a Plumber full-time, despite being sixteen.

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Chapter 30: A Day At The Beach.

It was official.

Albedo was getting nicer, and Ben wasn’t crazy.

The guy went out of his way to find a good school with a great fall-time soccer team for Ben. And Ben was ninety percent certain Albedo still didn’t really know what soccer was.

He baked a devil’s food cake with M’gann and donated it to the entire team… Making an extra one to deter Wally’s hunger. His projects at Wayne were still largely focused on getting Ben and him home, from what Ben understood when the Galvan sat down and explained his progress, but he also overheard Albedo explaining some of the other projects he’d been working on to M’gann. They sounded like they would help a lot of people. He was also pretty sure Albedo was trying to set M’gann and Superboy up. It was absolutely hilarious to see a Galvan turned teen try and play matchmaker.

Ben had no clue where he was getting his reference for some of the stunts he was pulling in regards to M’gann and Superboy, but they largely reminded Ben of, like, a dozen Hallmark/Sitcom dramas.

He let Wally hang around his lab area in the cave more and more. Wally would just gush on and on about the stuff he and Albedo were doing in the lab, from random experiments that had absolutely no point to them… To stuff that Wayne Enterprises had commissioned him to work on. Even Kaldur and Robin were on the receiving end of Albedo’s nicer side, with practical and any pranks that Robin was plotting against Ben or Wally becoming suddenly way more elaborate and Kaldur taking a new interest in Albedo’s homemade smoothies.

He still insulted people constantly and clearly needed to work on his people skills… But Ben honestly believed that Albedo was happy. He smiled and laughed more. Was way less pessimistic, and he seemed intent on helping everyone he could.

And Ben was glad for the guy, because from what Ben had gathered, Albedo hadn’t been happy in a very long time.

Today was a good example.

Because the albino stood, red faced, at the edge of the surf as Robin teased Albedo for his choice in outdoor attire.

Ben wasn’t sure when, but the guy had bought himself a large sun hat, long sleeved swimming shirts and leggings, swim trunks, and an inordinate amount of sunscreen to fend the ‘wicked and terrible’ sun off. He looked so ridiculous, hiding under the shade of that dumb hat as he presented his overly elaborate sand replica of a Forever Knight’s castle to the group, but he was smiling.

And to think, the guy had called beach day a bad idea.

“I don’t have the supplies to improve on it further.” Albedo concluded, “And Red Tornado stated that incorporating a laser defense grid was probably unnecessary.”

“Dude, when you commit, you go all the way, don’t you!” Robin laughed as he took in the sandcastle, “Miss. M, look at this thing!”

“Oh my gosh! That’s amazing!” M’gann cheered, “There’s so much detail!”

“Dude, I remember that castle!” Ben noted, “I think a knight tried to cut my arm off in there.” Ben knelt down, doing his best to look in the little opening into the inside.

“Cut your arm off?” Kaldur asked, clearly concerned.

“It was a fun day.” Ben agreed, “Jeesh, this takes me back.”

“It's one of the ones I raided.” Albedo replied, “I don’t know if this is the one where they tried to cut your arm off. They all look the same.” Ben hummed in agreement.

“Yeah, true. See one castle loosely based on the medieval area with a tribe of techno knights inside… You’ve seen them all.”

“We seriously need to have conversations about the things you both used to do for fun.” Superboy noted.

“You stare at blank television screens.” Ben countered, “Leave Al and I alone.”

“I haven't done that in a while.” Superboy grumbled.

“I will admit, I wasn’t entirely sure what the appeal of this… Beach day was supposed to be… But it is a good day.” Albedo decided, “I wish Wallace could have enjoyed it.”

“A moment of silence for the fallen comrade.” Robin declared dramatically. Wally wasn’t dead, but his school started way earlier than the rest of theirs, so the poor guy had to skip out on the end of the summer beach thing. They would’ve scheduled for a different day, but Wally didn’t mention to anyone when his classes started up until the very last minute. He said he’d still come, but he was going to be pretty late and Ben could never guarantee there wasn’t going to be a mission or something of the sorts that afternoon. Batman didn’t exactly give them the heads up. There was a pretty big chance that they wouldn’t be able to include Wally at all.

“Anyways.” Albedo destroyed the perfectly good moment of silence, “I think I might go inside. I’ve been out here all morning… And the sunlight still is bothering me.” Yeah, that probably sucked a lot.

He didn’t notice just how much Albedo avoided walking outside in the daytime until he’d been forced to live with the guy. He walked to work with his stupid sunhat equipped and still would burn some. It seriously made Ben wish that Albedo hadn’t gone and accidentally damaged his human form, because living like that all the time sounded miserable. Albedo already had to deal with being a human… Add albism and avoiding the sun to the mix, and Ben guessed that it was a straight up nightmare for the guy.

“I’ll go with you, then, I guess.” Ben decided he completely expected Albedo to object or to scold him for following, but the Galvan teen just shrugged and motioned for Ben to follow along.

“You guys can stay here. Don’t worry about us.” Ben told the others, and they promptly agreed by declaring a water war that looked super fun and tempting. Ben resisted the urge to join in, following Albedo into the cave and to the locker room to change into their uniforms for the evening. Ben was pulling on his soccer jersey as Albedo was rifling around in his locker, searching for his uniform. Ben still didn’t know how Albedo got his technology so compact sometimes. He figured at that point it was probably just a Galvan specialty or something.

“You put it in the bag on the top hook. Back pocket.” Ben called, recalling Albedo tucking it away the night before. Albedo nodded gratefully as he pulled the uniform off and began to change out of his wet clothes. Ben’s eyes narrowed on Albedo’s arms instantly and went dark.

“Dude, the heck happened?!”

Albedo flinched as Ben was suddenly across the room, catching the guy by the arm.

Albedo wore his jacket all the time… That or a lab coat because of the whole albism thing. And at night, when he was in t-shirts and stuff, it was never really bright enough to see him properly, but Ben suddenly realized he’d never really gotten a good look at the guy since he’d turned albino.

But Albedo was littered with scars. Most could be found on his Ulitmatrix side. They were scattered basically everywhere else too, going across his chest and etching along his other arm.
Burns, electrical, scratches. The works.

And for a guy who was walking around in a form that was technically a little less than two years old, that was not a good thing.

“A few lab incidents. Nothing serious.” Albedo pulled free as he grabbed up his uniform again, activating it and letting the Reflect Uniform wrap up on him.

Nothing serious? Ben had his scars. Plenty of them, in fact. He was a hero and in possession of the most powerful device in the universe. Shapeshifter or not, you did not live the life Ben led without a few scars. However, Ben had been doing the Heroes and Villains things a significant amount of time LONGER than Albedo, and he did NOT have that many.

A few lab incidents?

Did Albedo think he was that stupid? Sure, Ben was an average student, but he wasn’t that dim. He’d seen Albedo in a lab. The guy might’ve had his trouble in the past, but as a general rule, he took his handiwork in any lab very, very seriously. It was the Galvan way.

“Albedo, who on Earth-”

“What makes you presume someone lifted a finger against me?” Albedo asked, suddenly looking extremely defensive.

“Please don’t tell me you did that to yourself? I know you aren’t exactly… Fond of the whole… Um… Albism thing.” Aka, code for ‘getting stuck as a human’. It was better to refer to Albedo’s albino mutation over his human form whenever they were in the cave, but Ben knew Albedo got the gist of what Ben was saying, “But you seriously didn’t test on yourself so much that… Unless it wasn’t just tests… Dude, are you okay?!”
Albedo looked taken aback.

Genuinely baffled by the worry in Ben’s voice by the look of it.

“...What?!! No! Of course not! I may not be fond of my… Albism… But I would never go so far as to purposefully harm myself! If I get myself killed because I was trying to... cure albinism… Then what would be the point?”

Aka, ‘why would I purposefully hurt myself if I was trying to fix myself?’

Ben could think of a dozen emotional reasons… But Albedo was annoyingly logic based. He hated giving into his stronger human emotions and all the physical whiplashes that came along with them. That didn’t mean Albedo wouldn’t have let his frustrations at being human spiral too far or…

But…

Albedo sounded surprised, almost appalled that Ben would think that.

“Who hurt you?” Ben asked, his tone low and dangerous now. It had to have been someone in the Omniverse. If it was a Plumber, Ben was going to make sure that Plumber would never claw their way out of the Null Void. Same if it wasn’t. Villain or not, no one deserved to be-

“No one.” Albedo insisted. There was a finality in his voice. The authoritative, ‘drop the subject tone’ people like Ben’s grandpa liked to use whenever Ben got a little too curious for his own good. Not that the tone ever actually worked on Ben.

“Al.” Ben insisted.

“Benjamin, please.” Albedo replied, “There were a few mishaps in my lab back home. I’m honestly fine.”

“Some of those look intentional.” Ben insisted, “I swear, I will knock whoever’s responsible right into the sun if you’d like.” Whatever argument Albedo had prepared had melted as Albedo quirked an eyebrow, looking even more puzzled by Ben’s response.

“...I’m sorry… You are not angry with me?”

“...The heck? No, dude. Torture is like totally not okay.” Ben replied, “And, you know, you’re like my big brother and stuff. Whoever hurt you, I’m with you, buddy.”

Albedo stared at Ben, his expression just completely stunned. Ben got the weirdest feeling that he’d just blown Albedo’s mind or something.

And then suddenly Ben realized Albedo’s arms were wrapped around him, holding him tight like a lifeline. Ben instantly froze up, completely not expecting it from Albedo of all people. Ben felt like he was back in their apartment, staring at a blank television screen and talking about stupid bad dreams all over again.

Ben got over his shock and returned the embrace. The second Ben did, Albedo tensed, as if realizing what it was he was doing. He pulled away fast, moving quickly like a cat jumping from water to the other end of the bench and letting his expression become dangerously stoic.

“Uh… Human… Instincts are… Rather hard to resist. I apologise for that.” He excused. Ben fought down a smile and shoved any sort of tease he had brewing away. Al was new to the whole ‘physical affection’ thing, it seemed. Best not to tease the dude on his first actual hug.

“Of course.” Ben agreed.

There was a heartbeat of awkward silence where Albedo avoided eye contact.

Then Albedo’s head dipped.

“Another day.” Albedo promised, “I’ll tell you what happened. But… I just…” He trailed off before his face screwed up in confliction, “Benjamin… What… Why are you… Blasted, how do I phrase this?”

“Take your time.” Ben urged. Albedo bit his lip.

“...I don’t know if I want to be…Well, put simply... We aren’t meant to be friends…”

Oh.

So the guy was stubborn.

Ever since the Dreameater thing, Albedo had been way nicer to everyone, Ben included. But he’d still been extremely distant and awkward around Ben.

Well, if Albedo was having trouble wrapping his head around the idea of him and Ben actually being friends, then Ben would give him a hint. Because obviously, Ben had been basically waiting for the guy to figure it out since they got the apartment together and Ben decided he actually liked having the Supervillian around.

“...Funny thing, the Omnitrix.” Ben noted, as he glanced down and began finicking with his watch, “It lets you walk a mile in other people’s shoes. Helps you see things in a whole new way, you know? I guess the Ultimatrix did the same, yeah?”

“I suppose.”

“...So, what’d you learn about being human?” Ben asked. Albedo fell dead quiet. Ben let the guy work it out. He wasn’t going to push too hard. Something told Ben that he’d lose a friend if he did that. Albedo’s lips loosened after what felt like hours.

But whatever response the Galvan had was cut off by the computer announcing arrivals at the cave. Ben and Albedo both perked up, alert when Green Arrow and Batman’s names were called off. They both tensed further when a new, non-leaguer number was called.

“Recognized: Artemis. B07.”

Notes:

For those who don't know, people with albinism are extremely sensitive to sunlight. (I have Albedo in hats a lot in this story, if anyone was wondering). That's also why he carries around sunglasses everywhere. I know the show doesn't really address this, but he also doesn't really turn up in the show in really sunny areas (Galvan Prime being the exception), so my headcanon is that (Realistically speaking) Sunlight does in fact bother him and he's learned to counter it in various ways.

Also, Albedo's first hug. That calls for some kind of toast I'm sure... Even if it came about in an angsty way. But hey, that's what angst is (Sometimes) for.

Anyways, happy Thursday to all. Quick note, Finals season is fast approaching, but I do intend to post next week and my finals week also. However, there will be a week near the end of December (I'll give you all a heads up before) Where I will NOT update, as I will be traveling and likely won't have much time for editing and updating. That being said, depending on how stressful Finals will be, the Chapter's length and the editing may or may not vary, but we'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I just wanted to warn everyone ahead of time.

Chapter 31: Meeting Artemis and Red Arrow.

She was a blonde in a green uniform, looking more like a Green Arrow fanatic than anything else.

Ben had never heard of Artemis, but seeing as he wasn’t from that reality, he guessed he probably just missed her in his ‘skim’ of the files. (He’d missed a few other things too due to boredom, but that's besides the point). He was a little confused as he came up to where Batman, Red Tornado, and Green Arrow were debriefing her. Because he was, like, seventy three percent sure Green Arrow only had one prodigy… And he apparently declared independence or something. She was definitely not him.

Ben had never actually met Speedy, or Red Arrow, or whatever his name was, but Robin gushed on an ond on about him as if he was the poster for what young heroes like them were supposed to be. Kaldur, he knew, held Red Arrow with great regard. And Wally thought Red Arrow was amazing. They talked about him inside conversations every once and a while, but Ben didn’t really pay attention to them, because he really didn’t know the guy at all.
Though from what he did know, he wondered if Red Arrow would be that happy to know that apparently Green Arrow had a new partner.

“Well, I don’t believe I know this one!” Ben said cheerfully as he approached the newcomer, ignoring how Albedo seemed to trail behind in an almost shy manner. His eyes watching the stranger with a level of wariness, but clear curiosity.

“Deka, I thought you’d be out with the others.” Green Arrow observed.

“Well, Reflect isn’t much of a sunshine guy and I decided to keep him company since he needed to come inside.” Ben stuck his thumb towards Albedo who said nothing. He just kept watching the girl.

“Well, don’t be shy, bro.” Ben laughed. Albedo swallowed before nodding.

“Er, right. Sorry. Yes, I am Reflect. This is my younger brother Deka. You are called Artemis?” The girl smiled, putting her hands on her hips.

“That’s right.”

“Dude, stop introducing me as younger!” Ben said with a tease, “We’re twins.”

“Pay my little brother no attention.” Albedo insisted, a small smile on his lips. It was actually a little surreal, because Ben realized the guy was teasing him… But for once it wasn’t to actually be mean or anything. It somewhat reminded Ben of how Kevin used to mess with him, the way Albedo spoke.

Artemis let out a small snort.

“I didn’t know identical twins could look like that, not gonna lie. Are one of you wearing contacts or-”

“I damaged my DNA in an accident.” Albedo replied, “And it destroyed the pigmentation in my body, leaving me albino. I was born a green eyed brunette, as Deka was, but I now no longer have those characteristics.”

“Well, what do the twins do then?” She asked.

“Oh, well, I’m a shapeshifter. He’s a magician.”

“It’s not magic, Deka, for the last time!”

“Grandma said it was.”

“Anodites are cheeky, Benjamin, you took her seriously?” Albedo countered. Yeah, they were a little… Odd, but Verdona had been serious when she’d explained things more thoroughly to Gwen. Essentially, Anodites, at their core, were energy beings made from the essence of life itself. And manipulating the essence of life was essentially the core of the magic of the Ledger Domain. So, yes, their genetic code was passed along in the form of alien energy that Grandma always called the ‘Spark’ But once a person with said spark figured out how to tap into it, magic was often the result. Anodites were scientifically speaking, beings made from energy, but mystically speaking, creatures made from life itself.

“Denial is not gonna help you, bro.” Ben countered.

“Artemis is going to be joining the team.” Green Arrow interrupted before the two could spiral into a mini argument in front of the complete stranger, “She’s an archer, like me.” Yeah, Ben guessed that much from the bow and quiver she had strapped to her back, plus the archery reference name she had.

“I didn’t know you had two prodigies, Greeny.” Ben said, now deciding to be extra dramatic about looking Artemis over, “Is she any good?”

“She’s an amazing shot.” Green Arrow said with a confident laugh. Well then, that settled it.

“Glad to have you. I’m the team leader, if you were curious. The others are outside… Ah… Bonding. You know, the typical team building stuff.” Ben pretended to check his watch before tapping the watch uselessly, “Er, right, this thing ironically can’t tell time.”

“They’ll be in soon.” Albedo volunteered.

“You can meet the rest of the guys in a little bit then… And I think Kid Flash will be out of school around that time too.” Ben summarized before glancing over at Batman for any further input on the plan.

“Green Arrow, Red Tornado, and I have some intel to sort through. Converse amongst yourselves until the team is fully here.” He agreed.

“You got it, Bats, come on, Arty.” The blonde shrugged and followed after the two as they moved closer to the zetas and away from the adults.

“So, do you two argue often?” She immediately jabbed.

“Yes.” They both chimed in unison, before Albedo chuckled softly, “We are exact opposites.”

“How does one of you end up with shift shaping powers and the other with magic?” She asked.

“Oh, it’s a long story.” Ben said with a smile, “But it all kinda boils down to… I just never had an interest in learning magic…”

“It’s not actually-” Albedo tried, but failed to cut in.

“...And I happened to be the one who got a freaky alien contraption that lets me change species whenever I want strapped to his wrist as a ten year old.” He gestured to his watch, “Essentially, I can turn into any alien that’s on my playlist and has DNA or some form of genetic code stored in my watch. Or… Heh, as Wally’s been calling it since our training sessions, the Justice League in a box.”

Artemis’s smirk disappeared as she stared at Ben with wide, alarmed eyes.

“I’m sorry, what? That’s way OP to be true. There can’t seriously be a teenager running around with the powers of the Justice League at his disposal. I know I would’ve heard something about that on the news or something.” Artemis immediately argued.

“He mostly stuck to intergalactic affairs before he joined the team. Didn’t operate on Earth that much, which would be why you’ve never heard of him or me.” Albedo explained, “And the League has been trying to keep Deka and I on the down low, due to him being the leader of their covert team. We don’t really do very many public operations.” Artemis seemed to look over Ben for a second time, this time, her eyes lingering on his watch a little longer than before. She nodded, crossing her arms.

“Okay… That might as well be a thing, I guess.” She decided.

“Story of my life.” Ben laughed. She smirked at that remark.

“So, your real name’s Benjamin? And he’s called Al?”

“My name is Albedo. I don’t like it when he shortens it.” Albedo scoffed.

“And I’m called Ben. He’s just taking his revenge upon me by calling me Benjamin. Trust me, he’s literally the only person who actually calls me that.” Ben glanced over, noticing Superboy and Robin coming their direction, both still with wet, messy hair from the beach, with Kaldur not too far behind, looking strangely smug for a normally humble guy. If Ben had to guess, they guy won the water fight. Had no clue what Robin or Superboy thought they were doing if they thought they could beat an Atlantean in the ocean in a ‘friendly’ splash battle.

“We heard the cave call a new name and came to check them out!” Robin said cheerfully, before stopping short, his eyes landing on Artemis and narrowing a little. They flicked over her, before zeroing in on her bow. Brief confusion flickered across his face as he glanced between her and where Green Arrow was speaking to Batman. Her frowned for only a moment before coming closer and holding out his hand with a bright smile.

“I’m Robin. This is Superboy and Aqualad.”

“And I’m Megan!” M’gann seemingly came out of nowhere, popping up at Albedo’s side with a really excited expression on her face, “Are you joining the team? It’ll be so cool if another girl joins the team!”

“Yep! Green Arrow talked about you guys and thought I should see about joining.” Artemis admitted.

“So you are Green Arrow’s protege.” Kauldar asked. His tone was flat. Almost matching the tone Rook took when he was reprimanding Ben for a stupid stunt. Unlike Robin, he wasn’t so fast to pull his clear conflict with this information out of his voice. He was probably the most level-headed in the group… But clearly Robin was a better actor. Ben knew exactly what conclusions both teen heroes were jumping to, “When was this established?”

“I’ve been shadowing him.” Artemis clarified, “Is this all of you? Or was there one more?”

“Well, yeah, Kid Flash he-”

“Recognized: Kid Flash. B04.” The Zeta called out and Wally materialized, dressed for the beach. Ben instantly felt sorry for the guy. Artemis showing up definitely cut the beach day short. He was seriously decked out, with a beach umbrella, a boom box, of all things, and a beach ball in tow. Poor guy had been looking forward to the beach thing.

“The Wall-Man is here! Now let's get this party started!” He proceeded to trip, clearly not taking in the room as he fell and his beach ball rolled away, bouncing past the unamused Red Tornado and Batman. Ben winced, immediately walking over to help the guy up.

“...Yeah… I should’ve called or texted you. But I don’t have a watch that tells time so I didn’t know if you were still in class over in that part of the country.” Ben said with a little laugh.

“Wall-Man, huh? Wow, love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?” Artemis asked in a very snarky voice. Wally, now on his feet, seemed to just notice her.

“Uh, who’s this?”

“Artemis.” Ben offered unhelpfully.

“Your new teammate.” She said with a bigger smile. Wally just kept up his easy going smile.

“Kid Flash, never heard of you.”

“Um, she’s my new protege.” Green Arrow explained as he stepped forwards and put a hand on her shoulder. His expression went dark… And Ben could tell that Wally wasn’t going to bite his tongue like Robin and Kaldur did. Confusion and disbelief settled in in the span of milliseconds before objections came right out.

“But… But what about your old one?!” Wally stammered.

Once more, as if fate liked messing with them, which Ben was entirely convinced it did, the Zeta went off again.

“Recognized: Speedy. B06.” It declared.

Ben watched the Zeta, seriously interested about what was likely about to go down as a red haired man that was several inches taller than Ben walked into the room, bow and quiver strapped to his back and a scowl painted across his expression.

Well, he looked like fun.

“Well, for starters, he doesn’t go by Speedy anymore.” The red archer declared. Ben was in front of the guy before he realized his feet had started moving, “Call me Red Arrow.”

“Hi! I’m Deka. You’re friends told me about you and I-”

“Don’t care.” Red Arrow grouched, shoving past Ben immediately.

“Hey! Rude!”

He approached Green Arrow, who spoke up immediately.

“Roy, you look-”

“Replaceable.” Red Arrow growled.

“It's not like that.” Green Arrow raced to explain, “You told me you were going solo.”

“So why waste time finding a sub?” Red Arrow asked, “Can she even use that bow?” Artemis stepped up, looking proud and defiant.

“Yes, she can.” She declared.

“Who are you?!” Wally stammered. Oh, this was going to be a literal train wreck. As much as Ben had been wanting to meet Red Arrow, why’d he have to finally come by to say hello when a new archer showed up and when Wally was already in a clearly lousy mood?

“I’m his niece.” She replied at the same time Green Arrow declared that, “She’s my niece.”

“Another niece?” Robin asked with a way too big grin as he seemed to glance briefly over at M’gann, it was hard to tell with the white lenses, really.

“She is not your replacement.” Kaldur declared.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s like Grandpa Max always said, why have one archer when you can have two?” Ben cut in with a big smile. Albedo frowned.

“I do not believe Grandfather has ever said that.”

“I mean, would it be unrealistic if he did?”

“...No.”

“Even if we could only have one, you know who we’d choose.” Wally cut in, missing the whole point in Ben piping up to begin with.

“Oh, whatever, Baywatch. I’m here to stay.” Artemis decided. Kaldur ignored Wally and Artemis, stepping forwards.

“You came to us for a reason.” Red Arrow nodded, walking to the computer.

“Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette.” Robin immediately pulled her up on his hologlove.

“Nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City- vanished two weeks ago.” Robin relayed.

“Nanorobotics? Claytronics?” Albedo asked in amusement, “Child’s play. Why Azmuth and I were developing and improving such technology years ago.”

“...Anyways, she was taken by the League of Shadows.”

“Woah!” Robin said in awe, “You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?” The entire team seemed to perk up with this news.

“Hard-core.” Wally agreed in excitement. Meanwhile, Ben was racking his mind, trying to remember anything about the League of Shadows. He had gone over the files Batman had sent him and all that, but being him, his attention span only allowed for some light skimming.

“I already rescued her.” Red Arrow said quickly, offering the younger heroes a tentative look, “Only one problem.” Red Arrow used the Cave’s computer to pull up data on some sort of weapon, “The Shadows had already coerced her into a weapon. Doc calls it the Fog, composed of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path- concrete, steel, flesh, bone.- but it’s true purpose isn’t mere destruction. It’s theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen data to the Shadows.”

“Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech.” Robin realized.

“Perfect for extortion, manipulation, and power broking.” Artemis said in an annoyed voice, “Yep. Sounds like shadows.”

“Like you’d know anything about shadows.” Wally scoffed, only for Artemis to smirk at him knowingly, “Who are you?!”

Albedo rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking over the research in determination.

“What do you make of it, bro?”

“Give me a day and a good set up, and I could shut it down, simple. But with a fellow Doctor’s help, I could easily have it down in an hour or so.” He replied, making Red Arrow pause and finally do a double take on the brothers.

“...I’m sorry, who are you?” Red Arrow asked.

“I’m Reflect.” Albedo said, “And possibly one of the most intelligent people you’ll ever meet. Nanorobotics are something I once dabbled with when I was still in school.”

For Albedo… That probably meant a long, long time ago. Meaning the guy likely knew his stuff. That’s usually how it went when Albedo randomly declared that he was an expert in a topic.

“Being smart and using alien energy is his whole gig.” Wally volunteered.

“Well, Reflect, if you and the doctor can shut this thing down, that’ll solve a number of my problems right now.” Red Arrow replied. Ben was slightly offended. He addressed Albedo… But not the guy who was actually in charge of the team? What did Robin and Wally and Kaldur not explain who their teammates were to the guy?

“I will be glad to provide assistance.” Albedo replied, “But with some form of support. My defenses are not the best and I would be vulnerable.”

“So where is the good doctor now?” Robin asked. It was at this point Red Arrow spun to fully face the group and started making his way towards the Zeta Tubes again.

“I stashed her at the local high school’s computer lab.” He replied. Everyone regarded Red Arrow with alarmed expressions at this point.

“You left her alone?” Albedo asked in horror, “This woman is capable of disarming a nanite biased superweapon that a shadow organization has stolen and is using, and you left her alone?!”

“She’s safe enough for now.” He defended in an uncaring tone. Ben couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Sure, he was known for his irresponsible and stupid actions, but everyone knew you didn’t leave the person who was being targeted alone, even for a chili fry run. (Not that he had to learn that from an incident where the ambassador of some planet nearly got assassinated because Ben had a craving for fries and smoothies at three in the morning.)

“Then let's you and I keep her that way.” Green Arrow offered, clearly trying to show his former prodigy he did care.

“You and I?” Red Arrow waved towards Artemis, “Don’t you mean you and your new prodigy?” Green Arrow instantly looked like Red Arrow had straight up punched him in the gut at that comment. He went to say something in reply, but Batman stepped in, placing a firm hand in Green Arrow’s shoulder and giving Green Arrow a hard look. Green Arrow swallowed hard and responded.

“You brought this to the Team. It’s their mission, which means it’s hers now, too.” Green Arrow said in a calm, restrained tone. Red Arrow just grunted, finishing his final strides towards the Zeta Tubes.

“Then my job’s done.” He decided. The Zeta Tube began to announce him as Speedy, but he was quick to change it.

“Update, Red Arrow, B06.” He said, before vanishing into the transporter. Ben’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, he was fun.” He said drily.

“He wouldn’t have been so grumpy if she hadn’t been here.” Wally hissed as he stuck his thumb in Artemis’s direction. She just rolled her eyes.

“We can talk about this later. What matters right now is protecting Dr. Serling Roquette from the shadows.” She said confidently, “And that, my team, is exactly what we’re going to be doing tonight.”

Notes:

So, Kaldur's name is hard to spell. I keep second guessing myself whenever I write it. If it's spelt wrong anywhere in this story just... don't hate me for it. I get the A's and the U's in his name confused and I have no idea why.

Sorry for the late post, as I said last chapter, it's almost Finals and all the end of the semester projects and such are due, plus the studying. Just bear with me.

Happy Thursday!

Chapter 32: Ben’s Soccer Tryouts.

Notes:

Happy New Years!

‘So what did you learn about being human?’

Albedo knew he should’ve been putting his whole mind into stopping the fog as he twisted wires and replaced mother boards on the much too slow high school computers that Dr. Sterling had been complaining about having to use. He considered having Benjamin use an upgrade to speed them up, but quickly vetoed the idea, knowing that the Omnitrix was unpredictable in how long they’d have and Benjamin needed to be ready to defend the two scientists at a moment’s notice. So, as a compromise, Albedo offered to make the upgrade himself, having the skills needed to do so.

‘What did you learn about being human?’

Such a simple question. Such a simple, simple question. He should’ve been wholly focused on the mission. However, his mind kept falling back onto that question.

What had he learned about being human?

And just like that, his mind was snapped back to when he’d been enrolling Benjamin for school. One of the things they’d had to do was try Benjamin out for the school’s soccer team, since the bracket was already almost full and they apparently held tryouts for the team in the spring so that they’d have the team ready to go for the fall. Benjamin had apparently missed something called a soccer camp and many other rituals that went along with the sport over the summer. The coach, called Coach Mcall, wanted Benjamin to do a private tryout to see if he was still in shape and if he would be a good fit on the team.

Albedo still had no clue what the sport was or why Benjamin loved it so much.

“Have you ever seen your brother play in the past, Al?” The coach asked as Benjamin spoke enthusiastically with the team captain.with the team captain.

“Of course. He loves it. He was the goalie at his old school.” Albedo replied, remembering that much.

“Is he any good?”

“He seems to believe he is.” Albedo replied with a shrug. The coach nodded, before blowing his shrill whistle and getting the attention of Benjamin and the team captain.

“Okay, here’s how this is going to go.” Coach Mcall barked out, “We’re going to start with a few simple drills, then I wanna see how good you block. After that, I want to time you. Check your speed. If you do well… We’ll talk about letting you on the team.”

Benjamin offered the coach his famous lopsided smile. The one that he gave his enemies when challenged. Albedo knew it well. It was confident. It was cocky. It was proud. Something told Albedo that Benjamin wasn’t lying when he claimed that he was good at the sport. If that were the case, then Albedo knew without a doubt that Benjamin would do well.

“Let's get started then.” And with the blow of the whistle, the action began.

Immediately, Albedo knew precisely why Benjamin was good at soccer as he watched the boy move across the field, drilling hard and moving fast against the captain. He’d seen Benjamin move like that before. It was never in a game, but in life or death battles where playing keep away was essential for his very survival. He wove and bobbed, twisted and feinted. He did all he could to keep the ball away from the captain as he moved across the field.

Clearly, Coach Mcall and the captain both were pleasantly surprised with how quick Benjamin was. He called out orders to his captain, telling him to ‘up his game’ and give Benjamin a real, ‘run for his money.’

Albedo could only watch in fascination as Benjamin overcame every challenge one by one. Impressing his audience.

Before him was the famed Ben Ten, the hero that never lost. However, unlike the Benjamin he was used to, his smile seemed somehow far bigger and brighter. His energy was even more playful than Albedo had grown accustomed to seeing on the battlefield. When lives weren’t on the line, Albedo supposed Benjamin had much, much more room to truly enjoy himself.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, watching as Benjamin simply enjoyed himself when the stakes weren’t so grave.

‘Maybe that’s what it means to be human?’

“How are we coming on that upgrade, Reflect?” Albedo was snapped back to the present and he realized he’d actually finished without thinking about it at all. He wasn’t completely surprised, since rewiring and upgrading such a simple computer was child’s play.

“It should work much faster now.” He reported, and Dr. Sterling let out a surprised sound.

“Woah, the RAMs on this… What did you do, kid?” She asked in surprise delight. Albedo merely smiled. It was nothing more than the Galvanic touch.

“My secret. Now, will you begin?” Albedo asked, “I’ll help you in any way you need.”

“Why do you know so much about my research anyways?” Dr. Sterling asked.

Try random childhood interests. Granted, that’d been thousands of years ago, but a Galvan never forgot what they learned. It simply was not in their nature. And even if he was human now, he would still never let himself forget.

“I read a lot.” Albedo replied, settling down next to her at the computer. They both dove into their work. She was clearly struggling to work with the telepathic voices dancing around them. He’d learned how to keep telepaths from bothering his thoughts ages ago. So, as he fell into his typical rhythm again, he let his mind wander back to that ever pressing question.

‘What did you learn about being human?’

“It’s not set in stone yet, son, but I think we might be looking at our newest teammate.” Coach Mcall said as he held out his hand to shake Benjamin’s. The boy was beaming, drenched in that horrible sweat, but still grinning with the most genuine smile he’d ever seen on Benjamin’s face.

“Thank you! I’m super excited!” He then laughed, glancing over to Albedo, “Hear that Albedo, I’m actually excited for school to start!”

“Of course, you’ve gotta keep your grades up, or you won’t be allowed to stay on the team.” Coach Mcall informed him. Albedo stepped up.

“Oh, not to worry. I will ensure he does not put off his school work, Coach Mcall.” Albedo assured him.

“And you’re going to be attending here this fall too,, right?” Albedo laughed, shaking his head.

“I graduated years ago, sir. I have a doctor’s degree.” Albedo countered, “So no, I will not. But I will be around, seeing as Benjamin will.” The Coach once more looked surprised.

“Wow. Doctor at sixteen? That’s seriously impressive.” Benjamin grinned, throwing a sweaty, smelly arm over Albedo’s shoulder that Albedo wanted to shove off immediately.

“Yeah, Al’s super awesome. He’s one of the coolest guys I know.” Benjamin paused for a full second.

“Hey, Al, want me to show you how to dribble?”

“...I don’t think… Benjamin, I am very clumsy.” Benjamin scoffed, waving that small objection off.

“It’s just for fun bro. I can use the field, right coach?”

“Fine by me.” Coach Mcall laughed, and before Albedo could object, he was being dragged towards the soccer balls and onto the field.

“You’ve gotta drive it by the side of the foot, not by the toe. Light taps, close like this to keep control. Easy as that.”

“Nothing about what you just said sounds simple.” Albedo deadpanned.

“Dude, like I said, it’s just for fun. Don’t over think it.” Before Albedo was even ready, the soccer ball was passed to him.

“Now, keep it away from me.” Benjamin cheered. Albedo yelped, moving with the stupid ball at his feet as Benjamin seemed near ready to tackle him. The adrenaline kicked in before he could think much about it. He was moving, laughing, and finding a competitive spirit so unlike the hateful desire to win he was so used to.
It felt… Good.

Well, right up to the point he tripped, nearly fell on his face, and had to scramble to keep his hat and wig from falling off.

“Agh!”

Benjamin’s laughter reached his ears and he looked up to find the boy holding a hand out to help him back to his feet. He flushed.

“Sorry. I failed.”

“Jeesh, it’s not a test, dude. Plus you’re not in cleats. I’m not terribly surprised?”

“So you were setting me up for failure then?”

“Nah, can’t I just want to have fun with my big bro?” Benjamin grinned, “Not everything’s gotta be perfect, dude. Come on. Wanna try again?”

‘Not everything has to be perfect.’ What a bizarre idea.

Albedo found himself smiling at the strange but recent memory, as something seemed to click. Albedo finished helping Sterling code in the last piece needed to counter the fog just as he heard Benjamin announce that they had company.

Notes:

Final's week his harder that I had anticipated, and the holidays were a crazy, so I'm two weeks and a day later on this post. Merry late Christmas to all and Happy New Years!

I want to give a quick shout out to TataliTat for helping me come up with some of the stuff for this chapter. I also wanted to give the link for art they made for this story as I thought it looked absolutely fantastic. https://twitter.com/tat_tatali/status/1474075541967937541?s=21

I should be getting back to my regular schedule now that the holidays and finals season is over.

Chapter 33: Protecting the Doctor.

Ben had never been the best with kids. Not with his own kids, who he and Kevin would’ve spoiled rotten if Gwendolyn wasn’t usually there to tell them no. Not with the neighbor's kids, like that one time Mrs. Ganice had to step out for the afternoon and he was strong-armed by his mom to ‘take more responsibility’ and watch them.

And he definitely wasn’t good at working with superheroes that acted like little kids. Acting like a kid while on the clock was supposed to be his occupation, but there Wally and Artemis were, making his own antics look mature. Wally had been snappy towards her all night. Robin, aka, the youngest, was handling the new archer way better than Wally.

Wally kept jabbing at her. She kept trying to challenge everyone in the telepathic link, starting by flirting with Conner, before chiding Wally, then asking why Ben was in charge, before proceeding to tease Aqualad. Meanwhile, Albedo was clearly too absorbed into his work and thoughts to put his two-sense in, which was an absolute blessing. Albedo was just way too creative with his insults to be let into the tension. Plus, he was likely the only reason Dr. Crabby hadn’t blown a gasket while she was listening to their bickering.

He should’ve known that an assassin was going to get past the patrol Kaldur set up. Not because Kaldur made a bad call or anything. No, it was because everyone was bickering too much to pay attention.

He would yell at them for it… But he’d done that before and also he couldn’t say he’d never let an assassin through because he was busy arguing with Rook or Kevin.

“Reflect, look out!” He shouted as a black haired, green clad assassin in a cat-like kabuki mask burst into the room, throwing shurikens right at Albedo and the doctor.

Albedo looked up from the computers just in time to throw his hands up. Dr. Sterling inhaled sharply, flinching back just as a red barrier formed around the two scientists.

“Keep working doctor.” He ordered. Sterling nodded and returned to her work as Albedo strengthened his barriers.

Satisfied that Albedo would keep her safe, Ben directed his attention to the assassin who seemed to regard the barrier now protecting Dr. Sterling.

“Well, you’re a new player.” She noted.

Ben twisted the Omnitrix as the assassin seemingly switched targets, zeroing in on him instead. A flash of green later, and four arms stood in his place, her shurikens bounced uselessly off of him. He grinned, cracking his knuckles.

“Sorry, lady, but you are not gonna win this one.”

“...And you’re a surprise as well.” She lunged, drawing two sais. She clearly didn’t seem to care that they weren’t going to do very much against four arms. She dove skillfully under Four Arm’s swinging fists, slamming her sai’s down hard into Albedo’s mana barrier. The galvan teen winced and his hands began to tremble. Cracks started to form in the defense. Ben had to remind himself that the Reflect uniform was only going to be able to keep a defense like that up for so long.

He was seriously gonna have to help Albedo actually learn how to use magic, because the short bursts of magic he was getting from using that uniform… Yeah, they weren’t gonna cut it.

“Oh no you don’t!” Ben swat at the assassin and she danced out of the way and backed off from the barrier.

She seemed to reassess and was clearly going to try and go in for another attack on the barrier when the door burst open. Kaldur stormed in with his tattoos blazing and his water barriers drawn.

The assassin slowed in her advance.

“Well… This is getting interesting.” She noted just as M’gann, Artemis, and Wally came in from the other side. The assassin became a lot more defensive in her posture.

“Too interesting.” She raised her hand, slamming it down. Everyone staggered back, covering their eyes at the bright flash and the sudden mess of smoke in the air.

She had freaking smoke bombs! Like an actual ninja! Jeesh, if she wasn’t trying to kill the doctor, Ben would’ve thought that was so cool. Especially since when the smoke cleared, the assassin was gone.

As Ben transformed, Albedo dropped his barrier. The Gavlanic teen panted for a moment before recomposing himself.

“...So… Did… Did Robin and Superboy get to the location in time?” He asked, “Are we finished here?”

“No.” Robin called over the comms, “We got there… And the labs they were targeting are gone. The fog too. We were too late.”

“And you let the assassin get away. Some heroes you are!” Dr. Sterling coughed, slightly annoying him. Well, they really didn’t have to save her life. They had Albedo, master hacker and Galvan-born genius.

“Okay… That’s cool, that’s cool. Let's relocate and try again.”

“We need a means of speeding this process up while also giving the doctor the protection she needs to finish.” Kaldur cut in, “They responded to her location far too quickly and much faster than we were able to respond to them.”

“Any ideas then?” Ben asked.

“Um, aren’t you supposed to be the leader here?” Artemis scoffed. Ben shrugged.

“Over the years, I’ve learned that I don’t have all the answers… Just, you know, most of them.” Ben joked. She rolled her eyes, clearly not in a joking mood.

“...I do actually have a plan.” Kaldur admitted, “Reflect, stay with the doctor. I will protect both of you. Miss. Martin… Deka… I may require both of your shift-shaping abilities. Reflect, would you be able to bounce the signal they're using to track us off of something else?”

“Of course.”

“Artemis and Kid Flash, I will need you both to protect Miss. Martian and Deka.”

“Wait, what?” Kid Flash immediately objected, “Me work with the replacement? And can’t Deka and Miss. M take care of themselves?” Albedo’s eyes narrowed as if he had picked up on what Kaldur was getting at before Ben had.

“Brother… You have Martian on your Omnitrix!” He realized, “You can become a Martian! I can lock you in that form until this mission is over and…” The Glavan teen grinned, “We can lay the bait.”

Holy crap, that wasn’t a terrible idea.

“But we’re, like, identical twins, why can’t I just-”

“No time.” Kaldur pointed out, “We need to move now. Robin just sent in another update. The fog’s on the move.” Right, yeah. Martian was the faster route.

“You kids get going then.” Ben told the others, “I’ll catch up.”

Miss. M nodded before flying off with an annoyed Artemis and Wally. He held out his watch for Albedo to adjust.

He couldn’t help but eternally laugh at the gesture. A month ago, and Ben would have never willingly let Albedo touch his Omnitrix arm, yet here they were.

“There.” Albedo said, “Give it a test.”

Ben smirked, slamming down on the watch. He was a little surprised to look down and find he looked absolutely nothing like Martian Manhunter or M’gann. He still looked wicked cool, but not like the two Martians he knew. Kaldur clearly was surprised, but Albedo seemed more caught off guard than both of them. He noticed the way Albedo stared with wide, bewildered eyes.

But it was Martian alright. He could hear the thoughts of others just fine and already he found the shift shaping instinct. He was probably gonna ask M’gann about it later.

“Don’t.” Albedo warned. Ben was a little surprised by it too, “We leave this alone. They didn’t tell us for a reason. It's none of our business. Now, go to the others and assume a different form. Preferably mine. And for the love of Azmuth, don’t give this one a stupid name.”

‘Ah! But I have so many ideas!’

“Just finish the mission, Aqulad and I will be fine, but if they get to our decoy and find that Reflect isn’t there, then we won’t have the time needed to stop the fog.” Albedo reminded him.

‘Er, right.’

Ben shifted so that he looked like Albedo, right down to the attire before flying off to catch up with the others.

Chapter 34: Fending Off Clever Assassins Gone Wrong.

‘I can’t believe you two are identical twins, but we decided that having you turn into an alien that looks like your brother is easier than dressing up like him.’

‘Dude, he carries around the stuff for dressing up like me, but I don’t have stuff for dressing like him. Plus, there’s really no time to change outfits.’ Ben pointed out. Albedo was albino. Ben wasn’t. He had no clue why this was a hard thing for Wally to put together.

‘When this one’s over, we’ve got to get you a white wig and some red contacts.’ Wally decided.

‘Um, why? this works just fine.’ Ben said with a small shrug.

‘Yeah, but you’re locked in that form right? So what if you need to turn into something else? Having a Reflect disguise would be an awesome way to get the jump on people.’

‘I know how to disable the DNA lock. We just use this for extended undercover missions. It takes less power and lets the Omnitrix keep me this way as long as I need to be. In normal mode, the Omnitrix would just power down after a little bit and blow my cover because it needs to recharge.’ Ben countered, ‘Though, yeah, having the jump on people is not a bad idea. We can get disguise supplies after if you really want to.’

‘Sweet!’ Wally cheered before his mood seemed to shift. Ben didn’t have to have the new telepath power to know why.

‘Dude, leave Artemis alone.’ Ben scolded.

‘She’s replacing Red Arrow. How am I supposed to just leave that?’ Wally spat back. Ben rubbed his temples before pretending to work again, ignoring the odd look the disguised M’gann shot him. She was likely having her own conversation with Artemis via a separate mindlink. He sensed she was ready to merge the two links at a moment's notice, just like he was, but the two had been bickering so much that they’d broken the link into two. Ben connected to Wally and M’gann to Artemis.

‘Kid’s belly-aching again.’ Ben informed his fellow Martian. M’gann just nodded.

‘These two really are silly, aren’t they?’ M’gann asked with a cheerful laugh in her voice. Ben just rolled his eyes. For some reason, talking to M’gann was a thousand times easier when she looked like the crabby doctor they were protecting and not like the red head, Gwen look-alike. Granted, her default didn’t look exactly like Gwendolyn, but it was close enough to bother Ben for some reason. Ben really didn’t know why, since he was going to see Gwen again with Albedo’s help, but it still felt weird to him.

Only… that wasn’t her default. And Ben knew it. She obviously didn’t know he knew that, but for some weird reason, Albedo had sounded almost desperate for Ben to keep that particular knowledge to himself. He had a lot of questions for the Martian girl, but Albedo’s order to drop the subject and leave it alone was stern enough for Ben to think twice about it.

‘Yeah.. hilarious.’ Ben said with an eye roll, ‘Any updates, M?’

‘Artemis has given no reports from her permenter.’

‘Kid hasn’t either.’ Ben agreed, ‘But they’ll be here soon. Rob messaged me. Him and Supes are closing in on the fog. We’re close now.’

‘Which means they’ll be closer.’ M’gann agreed solemnly. Ben managed a curt nod. They ‘worked’ in a mockery of silence for a few minutes longer while Ben listened to Wally’s rant about why Green Arrow replacing Speedy had been crossing a line and M’gann’s expressions kept changing as if Artemis was telling her something.

‘This is cool, I guess…’ She suddenly said, ‘You and I are hanging out, I mean. We’ve not really gotten a chance to hang like this since I joined the team. Reflect tells me you’re really big into sports, right? I like watching human sports. I want to be one of those cheerleaders one day, I think.’

‘Erm, that’s cool?’ Ben replied. Ben wouldn’t call sitting around listening to Wally rant while M’gann tried to awkwardly have a conversation with him hanging out.

‘He told me you tried out for a soccer team.’ M’gann continued, ‘Could I come and watch you play too? It’d let me practice my cheering skills.’

‘Soccer… Doesn’t really have cheerleading.’ Ben admitted. That was always more of a football or basketball thing. Yeah, there were some soccer-centric cheer teams, but his new school didn’t really have that.

‘Oh, well that’s okay. I’ll just be your big fan. After Reflect of course!’

‘M?’

‘Yeah?’

‘This is really awkward.’ He admitted and instantly, M’gann blushed bright red.

‘Oh! Sorry! I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable! I was just trying to make small talk since I figured anything had to be better than letting Wally yell in your head! Plus it’s super cool that you can be a Martian like me! And you’ve got such a good handle on your powers and-’

‘Well, yeah I’ve got a handle on my powers. Every form but the default form comes with the knowledge, instincts, and skill I need to fight and survive. It just takes a few minutes to get used to the shift, but after that, I’m usually totally in control.’

‘Wow that’s really-’

‘Deka, we’ve got company.’ Wally cut Ben off and he went stiff right around the time M’gann did. She likely had gotten the same message from Artemis. That meant their trap had been sprung. He and M’gann had to be ready to act.

‘Linking us all up.’ She reported, and immediately, Artemis’s telepathic shouts rattled in Ben’s skull. She was clearly already fighting.

‘Kid, what are we looking at?’ Ben ordered.

‘One spider-dude.’ Wally reported before yelping, ‘And hook hand.’

‘Cheshire… Er, the cat-mask lady.’ Artemis called. So. Three then. Clearly they learned from last time. Ben could work with that.

‘Should we help them?’ M’gann asked in concern. Ben glanced down at the computer and Robin’s update. They were so close. They just needed to buy a little more time.

‘No. Stay with me. Kid and Artemis, how long can you hold them off?’

‘No sweat.’ Wally promised, ‘We’ve got this… But, um, maybe tell Rob to hurry up?’

‘They’re almost there.’ Ben replied. As if on cue a hook handed man crashed into the building. Wally was hot on his trail. A spider dude followed immediately after. Ben flinched back and got ready to take a stance as he fell into his Albedo persona. After scaring the death out of new recruits a few times too many, Ben was actually a master at pretending to be Albedo… Even if the Galvan didn’t know it.

“Doctor, keep working. I will defend you.” He called out loud. Of course, he couldn’t do magic, but he’d been hanging out with Gwen for a long time. With Martian powers, he absolutely knew how to fake it.

He yelled out one of Gwen’s protection spells in latin, letting his eyes shine a brighter red as he extended his fingers and using telekinesis to ‘summon’ a locker in front of him and M’gann just as Cheshire’s crossbow bolt thunked into it. She leapt into the room, a frustrated growl on her lips. He glanced down at the computer. They were so close. Just a few more minutes.

Artemis jumped down behind Cheshire, launching arrows at the assassin who, in turn, nimbly avoided in attempts to get closer to M’gann. Artemis shot in front of the assassin, making the woman back off in her advance.

Meanwhile, Wally was trying to use his speed to his advantage, turning around the more clunky hook handed man while actively avoiding the webs of the quicker, and more acrobatic spider. Both were more distracted in trying to knock the speedster out than in going for M’gann. They’d likely been brought along to take care of the heroes while Cheshire went in for the actual kill.

With that in mind, Ben refocused on Cheshire just in time for her to vault herself over the locker, barely doging Artemis’s arrows with an impressive level of control, before landing on Ben. Ben dropped the locker with a muffled shout of surprise and M’gann gasped, keeping up her act as a terrified doctor. She staggered back in attempts to get away from Cheshire.

“Where’s your changeling brother, magician?” Cheshire purred.

“Well… That is the question, isn’t it?” Ben said with a coy smile before yelling something else in Latin and using the telekinesis to fling Cheshire off of him before she could even think about burying one of those sai’s into him. She twisted and caught herself, landing very much like a cat on her feet. Unfortunately, he’d accidentally thrown her closer towards M’gann, who was now scrambling away with wide, terrified eyes. Ben couldn’t help but be impressed with her acting skills.

Ben glanced up at the computer.

They were so close.

“Oh no you don’t!” Artemis called, shooting fast so that Cheshire was forced to back step towards Ben, who took advantage. He muttered in Latin again, and used his telekinesis to rip the floorboards up in hopes to off balance her. It did the trick because this time, the arrows reached their mark… Only to be cut out of the air but Cheshire’s sword.

Jeesh! This girl really was the definition of a ninja!

“Artemis, look out!” The archer had to forget Cheshire as the Spider guy broke away from hook dude and Wally failed to stop him. Artemis was forced to move to avoid being pinned by webs just as Cheshire took advantage and pounced on M’gann. She raised her blade, ready to strike.

Ben moved without thinking, flying forwards and telekinetically pulling backwards, yanking Cheshire back. The women gasped and threw a shuriken in retaliation, and Ben staggered as it hit him in the shoulder.

Immediately, he felt drowsy.

Poison.

Of course it was poisoned.

His knees buckled and he dropped her. He already felt exhausted. Whatever the poison was, it worked fast. Sure, he had aliens he could use to counter it, but at the moment, the mission thing came first. He’d switch once he got the message from Robin that the fog was disabled.

The assassin paused looking back at Ben as if she’d realized something. Ben looked over, realizing that he was bleeding green. That… was probably a dead giveaway on the whole alien thing.

“You’re the Martian. This is a trick.” She said in a dangerous voice

“Close.” M’gann called and Cheshire barely had time to react as M’gann telepathically threw several heavy looking objects at the woman. Ben really didn’t know. All he knew was that the place where he’d been hit burned. He clamped his fingers over it as his vision swam and his stomach seemed to lurch.

“Deka!” M’gann called in alarm when he crumbled entirely.

It was at that moment the computer let out a chime, signaling that Robin had reached and neutralized the fog. Cheshire let out a small growl before throwing down one of her smoke pellets. Ben didn’t think twice, he grabbed the watch on his arm, twisting it to turn off the DNA lock and fully activating the lifeline function again.

The Omnitrix wasted no time in finding exactly what he needed and shifting him.

“Huh…” He wheezed, “AmpFibian. It’s been awhile since I’ve been AmpFibian.”

“You let them get away!” Ben got up as he shook the poison out of his system. Wally was yelling at Artemis.

“Oh my gosh, Deka, what did she do?” M’gann said, flying next to him with clear worry.

“Meh, just a little poison. This form can handle it though. I’ll be fine.” He replied before narrowing his eyes on Wally and Artemis, “Will you two shut up! I almost died here! I’ve been dealing with you two trying to kill each other all night, I think I’m done dealing with it now. The fog’s disabled, so that means Sterling is safe now. Let's just get her into proper protective custody and call it a night… I think I need a nap.”

“I can’t take you seriously when you look and sound like that, Deka.” Wally noted. Ben just signed heavily. How on Earth did Grandpa do this stuff.

“Let’s just get the others and go home.” Ben huffed.

Chapter 35: A Talk With Dubbilex.

Benjamin was benched for the remainder of the afternoon and for the entirety of the next morning as Batman wanted to watch him in case he was affected by any lingering poison. Albedo had not been happy. Benjamin was going to be the death of him. How hard was it for the changeling teen to simply not almost die whenever Albedo wasn’t there to watch him?

Apparently, it's extremely hard.

He’d scolded Benjamin for his recklessness when the mission was over, only for M’gann to pull him aside and explain it’d been something of an accident. Benjamin had been protecting her and the assassin had been startled. The cut from the shuriken hadn’t even been that deep. The poison had just been really potent.

Of course, when Benjamin started teasing Albedo about caring, Albedo knew he’d overstepped some sort of boundary, and he found himself abandoning the Cave entirely in favor of walking down the roads of Washington D.C.

Granted, Benjamin teasing him or no, he would’ve ended up there anyways. The missions of recent plus his work with Wayne had taken up a lot of his time. Time that he needed for a long overdue meeting.

He stopped in front of the new Cadmus building.

He took a shaky breath, recalling what had happened the last time he’d stepped onto Cadmus property.

He pushed that out of his mind before climbing the steps to enter the building as he schooled his expression. Of course, Guardian waited for him, fully expecting the visit.

“Ah, you must be Dr. Tennyson! Wayne called ahead and told us you’d be coming. You're the man he said specialized in genetic micro-evolution?” Guardian’s eyes flickered over Albedo, “You’re younger than I thought. Dr. Spence said you would be, but still…” Albedo merely tapped his foot, displaying his impatience.

“Right. You’ll want to meet with the Doctor. Come on in.” Albedo followed. He removed his hat upon entering the compound and slipped his sunglasses off as he glanced around at the projects buzzing around him. His eyes studying the charts and lab stations, narrowing further as he recognized that his battle to understand Cadmus had only just begun.

“Dr. Tennyson!” Albedo’s eyes met the eyes of a younger, dark skinned woman with glasses perched on her nose, “You’re late.”

“Dr. Spence.” Albedo nodded, “I apologize, my little brother was under the weather, I was dealing with him.” Her harsh expression lightened only briefly before her eyes narrowed again.

“When Mr. Wayne asked to have one of his scientists work with this project, I expected a man with more professionalism. Not sure what I expected, considering he also told me his specialist was a sixteen year old for some unfathomable reason.”
Albedo fought the urge to glare. He hated when human doctors pointed out his physical age. It was so belittling to be called a child by doctors he knew were both younger and not as intelligent as him.

“Now, now, doctor. We both know Cadmus has been on very thin ice after the incident in July.” Albedo countered immediately, “Accepting my help, and by extension, Mr. Wayne’s is the only way you’ll really be able to bounce back, at least, in the public eye, from that disaster. I’m sure LexCorp had been scrambling with damage control, but for once, Luthor seems to understand the steepness of what would occur if unethical genetic cloning ever got out to the public.”

“Cadmus doesn’t do that anymore.” Dr. Spencer immediately countered. Albedo rolled his eyes.

“Good, because you were doing it wrong anyways.” Albedo replied. Clearly, Dr. Spencer had no idea how to respond to that as Albedo hung up his hat and took off his jacket, replacing it with a provided lab coat.

“Are you saying you’d know how to clone a man better than Dr. Desmond, the former expert, could?” She finally asked. Albedo merely hummed and the woman snorted.

“You are very arrogant, kid.” She decided, “Prodigy or not, a sixteen year old can’t possibly have-”

“You’d be honestly surprised.” Albedo interrupted, “Now, I’d like to see the Genomorph experiment called Dubbilex. I think I’ll focus on him for my primary research, seeing as he seems to be the most aware and complex of the recovered Genomorphs. Therefore, it is an excellent subject for my study. I hope that my research might benefit your cause greatly.” Dr. Spencer looked visibly irritated, but she really had no say in the matter. They both knew that. After what the Team had done to Cadmus, they were on thin ice. She’d let him meddle for a little while until he was satisfied and then they’d likely pick up their research exactly where they started.

Not that he cared.

They wouldn’t get very far with their research once he was done with them, that was just a fact.

“Right. He’s in lab-34. He’s expecting you.” She replied. She gestured to the hall. Of course he was accepting Albedo. The grubby telepath had no boundaries, unlike M’gann. He was going to have to make it extremely clear to that Genomorph that Galvans did not take telepathic invaders lightly by any means. To steal information from a Galvan mind was essentially to steal from a Galvan.

He left Dr. Spencer behind. Guardian followed closely, likely making sure Albedo was going the right way. He wouldn’t have been the slightest bit surprised if the man was still caught by whatever spell Cadmus had put him under. One almost had to question how Guardian became so acquainted with Cadmus to begin with.

Albedo made a mental note to look through the Justice League databases for information about the supposed hero on a later date.

He found the mentioned lab and ordered Guardian to wait outside. He opened the door, reaching into his jean pockets as he clicked on the device he’d stored in them. Any bugs in the room were immediately nullified. There waiting for him was the two horned telepath himself.

“Son of Thallus.” Dubbilex greeted.

“Son of Sandra and Carl Tennyson, actually.” Albedo corrected immediately, maintaining his cover, just in case he made any sort of oversight, “I’m Doctor Albedo Tennyson. I’ve been assigned to work with you.” Understanding donned on Dubbilex’s face and Albedo moved to the counter, locating the requested materials he needed to study the genome. He waited for the telepath to link to him, taking his sweet time in triple checking what instruments he had as if he were being extra cautious.

‘You’ve been linking to another telepath.’ Dubbilex called out mentally.

‘And you will respect my boundaries.’ Albedo replied, ‘You, thus far, are the only person aside from my brother who are aware of my true identity and my true intentions. I’ve no choice but to work with you on this front, and I believe, though I could be mistaken, we may have an equal cause to work against.’

‘The shadow organization.’ Dubbilex said with a nod, ‘The one that created Cadmus.’ Albedo simply hummed in return before speaking out loud.

“I need to take your vitals. I want to get a better sense of what’s healthy for you. They’ve given me their findings, but I’d like to know for myself. If I might take your blood pressure?”

“Of course.” Dubbilex offered Albedo his arm and Albedo set to work at busing himself and making himself appear as any other doctor did.

‘I will help you get your brother home to the best of my abilities.’ Dubbilex admitted, ‘But even I don’t know the full extent of their reach or if the people who created Cadmus even have what you’re looking for.’

‘If not, it's at least a start.’ Albedo countered.

‘...True.’ Then Dubbilex paused, hesitating as if he was considering asking a difficult question, ‘On that front, however, I do need a favor. I know I am in no position to ask for your help after all you’ve done thus far to aid me and my brethren, but… I’ve the sense that you might be more open to my proposal than you were when I first found you in Cadmus. Your heart… Is much softer than when I met you.’ Albedo shot him an aggravated glare. Of course the telepath had conditions for his help.

‘What do you want? Go on. Spit it out!’

‘...I want to build a city.’ Albedo had to do a double take, because that had not at all been what Albedo expected the telepath to say.

‘What?’

‘I’ve seen a city… In your mind. One much like the one I’ve decided I want to build. One where metas, humans, and aliens all live together. I want to recreate it… But here.’

‘...You want to make a Heroverse equivalent to Undertown?’ The telepath merely nodded.

‘Let me explain and plead my cause, at the very least.’

‘I do not need you to plead a cause, Dubbilex.’ Albedo countered, ‘I approve.’ Dubbilex paused as if he’d not expected Albedo to agree so readily.

‘If building a city breaks you from the grasps of Camdus and keeps you from falling into the hands of the heroes or those called villains, then a city is what I will build. I am Galvan, friend. We were born to create such things.’ Albedo quickly explained, ‘I may be at odd ends with my mentor, but I will never forget my roots.’ He saw the joy in Dubbilex’s expression. The telepath was excited that Albedo agreed. However, Albedo could see that he had no idea how hard pulling something like that off without Cadmus finding out would be.

‘But! There are conditions. Rules we’ll need to abide by. And you must keep up your end of the bargain. What do you know about Cadmus that the League was unable to recover? This is the price I ask before I agree to lay a foundation for a city. For such a risky experiment to work, Genomorphs alone can not be the only inhabitants of the city. Overtime… Aliens will have to be implemented as well… Then metas… Until finally-’

‘Humans.’ Dubbilex agreed eagerly.

‘I can only start such a project, with my own Multiverse still out of reach, but drawing closer daily. However, I will work diligently to craft a city that is safe, independent. And wholly capable of accomplishing that vision. Corrupt groups will no doubt seek to destroy or manipulate it once it is known to the world, I will try to, before I go, sow the seeds needed to prevent such a tragedy.’ Albedo decided, ‘I’ll also work on building a much more legal group that is capable of defending and preventing groups like Cadmus from doing your people harm that will be akin to the Plumbers that my race helped to establish, only much more local to this world.’

‘Is the League not sufficient?’

‘Absolutely not! The League defends the world. And each hero protects their own city. But at the end of the day, they are warriors, not officers. They do not abide by a standard set of rules simply because they should not follow such rules. It’s not practical for them to... we must have rouges such as them to prevent the corruption of a system. But we must not allow them to become the standard, as they currently are, because they do not follow a select set of rules. They are, in a way, like how Azmuth created the Omnitrix to have an outside means of creating peace. However, by establishing a standard apart from the League, we can craft order out of the currently chaotic means of handling the Metas and aliens on Earth, hence people like the Plumbers being an absolute necessity.’

‘...You speak highly of a group you fight against.’ Dubbilex noted. Albedo scowled.

‘I know why the Plumbers exist, Dubbilex. But they are my enemy because Azmuth is my enemy. While I understand his reasoning for creating both the Omnitrix and the Plumbers, I cannot agree with his methods of execution. They are reckless, foolhardy, and overall, negligent. He’s a shame to the race that worships him so greatly, and they don’t even notice. After all, what sort of person gives something like the Omnitrix to a ten year old human boy?’

‘Hmm… I see your concern.’ Dubbilex agreed, ‘Though you don’t believe your brother is a bad wielder.’ Albedo glowered at Dubbilex for the remark. The Genomorph shrugged helplessly. Albedo just rubbed his brow and let out a deep sigh.

‘Regardless of my former mentor’s foolish endeavors, this system I am suggesting is the best possible way to fix the meta-genomorph-alien relationships with the humans. Slow introduction, starting with a secure, limited number and then slowly expanding, using the League as an outside, lawless third party, and a police force intended to regulate, protect, and prevent another Cadmus.’ Albedo concluded, ‘It’s a system that has worked countless times on many worlds that are adjusting to changes like the ones this Earth is undergoing.’

‘Wonderful, how do we start?’ Dubbilex asked.

‘First, you would need to declare leadership, how you do that is wholly up to you and the Genomorphs. You are clearly their advocate, if they wish you to continue as their leader, then you must make it official. You must create structure amongst yourselves and organize a governmental system to be recognized as a functioning city.’ Albedo grabbed up some paper from the desk and a pin, scrawling his number across it.

‘I will want you to contact me with this number… no more telepathic messages, stay out of my head… once you’ve begun laying the framework for this. I will look over what you’ve done and determine if any adjustments need to be made. I’ll clear a time to meet with you next week as well in order to discuss construction and to survey the area you believe would suffice for the city. Is Thursday at two good?’ Dubbilex nodded eagerly. He looked like a Galvan child he’d just been told he’d gotten an audience with the First Thinker himself… Not that Albedo knew what such an expression looked like.

‘Now, for the information I need.’ Albedo pressed. Dubbilex was pulled out of his excitement, clearly needing that little reminder that the deal went two ways.

‘Yes. Of course. For one, Kryptionians are only the fourth part of the project Kr. They needed to master cloning. The project had been going for many, many years, starting with animal subjects, then moving to humans, then to metas, and finally to aliens.’ Dubbilex explained quickly, ‘They still have the original DNA stored with some of the more hostile and dangerous Genomorphs. I cannot yet access them. But a person who would know the intricate details about the project would be the founder of the company himself.’ Right. He’d been hoping he wouldn’t need to investigate on that front, but Dubbilex confirmed that he had no choice.

‘Luthor.’ He decided, ‘I need to investigate Alexander Luthor.’

Notes:

So, I'm going to be changing my update day from Thursdays weekly to Fridays weekly due to my schedule changing for the spring semester. If an update is delayed, it's likely because of school and I'll probably upload the next week, so don't worry.

Also, we've got a Galvan turned teenager finally investigating Cadmus. What will he uncover!?

Chapter 36: A Thief At LexCorp.

Benjamin informed Albedo via texts that he’d be at the Cave playing video games with Wally and Robin. Albedo was fine if he ‘worked’ late. Which was good, since Albedo needed the extra time that afternoon to enact his dangerous plot. After realizing that investigating Luthor would be completely unavoidable, he fell back on the plan he’d been hoping to not use at all.

He’d already had it set in place, with maps and blueprints memorized and each step he needed to take written in place.

Yet as he slipped into the window of the LexCorp building, he couldn’t help but be extremely tense.

This wasn’t his first time breaking in and stealing information. He’d been forced to pull such jobs many times in the past simply because he had the ability to hack into any computer without being traced. Perks of being Galvan in mind, after all. But the events of Independece Day really had frayed his nerves. That’d been the first time he’d been caught by someone who was decidedly NOT the famous Ben Tennyson.

Call Albedo clumsy and uncoordinated all he wanted, but not even Robin was as meticulously careful as Albedo when it came to gathering intel. Being a warrior or an accomplished detective was one thing. But being a Galvan was something entirely different.

‘No one knows you’re here.’ Some small part of his mind warned him. And yes, he was painfully aware of that fact. At least in the failure that had been the July Fourth raid, Benjamin had known where he was going. This time, he was truly alone in his endeavor as he examined the wide and opened office.

His gloved hands traced the walls faintly, knowing fully well that the innocent computer sitting on the desk would only yield so much. Luthor had to keep the data he needed close… But it had to be more secure than some easy to grab computer. The blueprints had suggested that…

Ah, he’d found it. His fingers brushed over the siding of a panel of sorts and he knelt, focusing the mana and pulsing it into the panel. There was a click, and the panel slid open with ease. He checked quickly for any failsafes. And sort of alarm before reaching forwards and grasping the tiny drive stored within the hidden panel.

He uncovered his Ultimatrix wrist carefully and shifted its ports to easily become compatible with human drives. He inserted the drive, tapping quickly on the dead Ultimatrix’s dail as he began to sort quickly for information. He needed to get what he needed and he needed to get the heck out of there. The longer he stood there, the more eerie it all felt.

A soft chime from his watch alerted him that the data had been secured, and Albedo quickly replaced the drive in its spot before shutting the panel. He then turned to the computer, sliding his black gauntlet back over the watch as he approached.

He powered it up.

While he doubted Luthor would keep many secrets on the computer, he knew that some information of value could’ve passed through it. Contrary to what some people thought, code and data on any device was never truly deleted. There were always faint traces and imprints of its existence, often lying hidden underneath the code that had replaced it.

Besides, he needed to set up the Galvanic spyware and send it through the LexCorp servers. What better computer to do it from than the computer of the CEO himself?

He easily bypassed the password. Humans were so painfully hilarious in their meek attempts to keep a person such as Albedo out of their systems. He set to work, installing his code and hiding it with ease under layers and into dark corners that no one would check. Each line programmed in his native tongue since he was positive no human or alien in this multiverse would be able to read and combat it. He was the only one able since he was the only Galvan.

He was nearing completion when a soft click made his body go rigid.

His head swiveled towards the door, which had just been unlocked. Under his skull-shaped mask, his eyes widened at the knob starting to turn.
He swallowed his panic, quickly logging off the computer and nestling into the CEO’s chair, trying to settle into the Red X persona.

The door swung open and the lights flicked on.

Albedo’s eyes met the eyes of Luthor himself, who stood for only a moment, with clear alarm.

Then his hands flew to his waist and a gun was taken from its place and pointed directly at Albedo.

“Who are you?” The CEO snarled. He called on the acting skills that he’d earned when he’d been in the theater. Ben’s persona took over his own with ease, despite his Galvanic dignity.

“Lex Luthor!” He cheered in a very, very Ben-like manner, clapping his hands together as he sat up, “An honor to meet you! I’m Red X! I’ve been wanting to talk to you for, like, quite a while now!”

“I have no clue who you are.” Luthor deadpanned, still sounding pretty aggravated with the masked stranger in his office.

“Yeah, well, I’m kinda new.” Albedo admitted, “Not that I’m not experienced, Mr. Luthor! Oh, no! Not at all! I’m the best in my field. You’ll not find a guy any better, I can promise you that. I was told by a little bird that you were working on something big and were needing some, ah, underlings to help out, if you catch my drift.” He was making a shot in the dark. He had absolutely no clue how deep Luhtor’s involvement in the whole Cadmus thing actually was. For all Albedo knew, Luthor was ignorant of the happenings of Cadmus until the Team revealed the truth. But… Judging from what Albedo had read on Luthor, he doubted that was the case.

“What bird?” Luthor asked. Albedo swallowed, his mind racing. His head immediately thought of Cheshire, the assassin who’d poisoned his little brother.

“Oh, you know, shadows.” Albedo leaned back in the seat, never taking his eyes off of Luthor. Luthor scowled, but lowered his weapon. Albedo kept himself from letting out a breath of relief.

“What does Ras want?” He growled, clearly annoyed. Albedo filed away that Luthor apparently was connected to the shadows somehow.

“Oh, I just heard from the Shadows.” Albedo replied, “I don’t actually work for them. I’m a solo act. But depending on the price...” Albedo rubbed his fingers together, “Well, I was told you’d find my skill set useful, so here I am!” He rose from his seat suddenly, offering a dramatic bow.

“And what exactly would those be?” Luthor asked. Albedo grinned wickedly under his mask before summoning a mana, X-shaped shurkin. Luthor eyed the weapon as Albedo twirled it between his fingers.

“Why, state of the art technology. I’m a thief, Lex. A good one at that. Any tech you need. Any intel you want uncovered, and it’s yours.” Albedo replied, “And as I’ve already stated, I’m the best in my field. There’s a reason you have no clue who I am. Not to brag, but I’m kinda awesome. I think the fact that you didn’t even know I was in here until you opened the door basically proves it.”

“Well, I want you out.” Luthor deadpanned. Albedo shrugged.

“Your loss, dude.” Albedo hated that the word dude had left his lips, but it was what Benjamin would’ve said. He reached into his utility belt and Luthor tensed. Albedo simply pulled out a little card with the number to a burner phone scribbled across it. The Red X insignia painted boldly on the front in crimson ink.

“Well, if you need a thief, you’ll know who to call. My card.” And then with a little nod, he focused on teleporting, and with a flash of red, he was out of Luthor’s office.

He staggered immediately with exhaustion as he reappeared at street level. It wasn’t nearly as far as he had attempted last time, but the Red X suit still managed to really drain him as he stumbled to the nearest ally and disabled the suit entirely.

He collapsed against the wall of the alleyway, panting a little. He could already feel a migraine coming on. Even so, he pushed through it. He was just relieved that Luthor hadn’t shot him and was excited that he’d likely had made some sort of impression on the man by teleporting out like that.

He glanced down at the watch on his wrist before putting his fingers onto the screen and going to look at some of the stolen intel. There were, thankfully, some Cadmus files he knew he’d not gotten ahold of before stored on it. That meant the trip had been successful, at the very least. He continued to gloss over the information, promising to scrooge through it properly once he was safe in his and Benjamin’s apartment.

His breathing hitched as he came across one of the files.

[Project 10]

No. That was just a coincidence. Ten was just a number. Sure, it was Benjamin’s lucky number, but that didn’t mean anything. It was a common number that humans liked to use for things. Ten fingers. Ten dollars. Ten times ten. The freaking metric system. Besides, while Benjamin had been actively using his powers for missions, he’d barely made enough appearance to catch too many eyes, right?

Right!?

He opened the files.

Immediately, he felt a dangerous sort of rage.

Inside were images of Benjamin’s various alien forms from each individual mission they’d been on.

Big Chill. Ditto. Wildvine. Gravattack. The new Martian form that Benjamin had annoyingly called MarTen, but disguised as Albedo. AmpFibian. Upgrade. Pesky Dust. Four Arms. Terra Spin. Spider Monkey. Jury Rigg.

The images were blurred, with random notes and observations about the various forms, some noting that the forms were unknown.

At the bottom was a little disclaimer.

‘First witnessed at the Cadmus raid working with a partner called Reflect who seems to wield some sort of magic. Supposedly, according to the report, is an agent of an unknown organization called the Plumbers and a dangerous warrior. Marked as a potential assist, Deka possesses changeling abilities that go beyond all known technological advancements. All transformations are linked to the watch he wears and the hourglass symbol on his chest, though they seem random. Was originally theorized to have merely ten forms, as his name suggests, but has now been noted by our source to have at least twelve. Each form is random and seemingly unrelated to the other. Subject Deka is wanted alive for further study. His partner, though showing potential, is obsolete.’

Someone was watching their battles.

That, or every fight they’d engaged in since coming to the Heroverse possessed some dangerous connection. His first thought had been to suspect a mole of some sort within their ranks, but he immediately knew that made no sense. A mole would’ve known Benjamin had way more than twelve aliens. A mole would’ve known what the Omnitrix was. But the document had almost no information on that.

Which left either their group having a stalker who somehow knew whenever they were going on a mission, likely a traitor in the League’s ranks, or something similar… Or the shadow organization that ran Cadmus had a much, much further reach than Albedo had suspected.

“Wanted alive.” He growled under his breath, recognizing quite suddenly that his rage was unlike any rage he’d known before. Not a hunger for vengeance or a rage born of betrayal. This… this was something deeper. Something far more violent.

“Wanted alive for further study.”

They wanted Benjamin. Of course the organization wanted Benjamin. The child was a living weapon so long as he had the Omnitrix. He snarled, his exhaustion suddenly lost as his emotions flared. He didn’t notice the crimson glow that blazed regardless of the contacts he wore in his eyes. Nor the mana that flared around him despite the Red X suit being deactivated.

“Anyone who even thinks about touching my brother.” He growled with a conviction he didn’t even know he possessed, “Will die by my hands. Regardless of what everyone here thinks, I’m no goody-to-shoes hero. I will kill them if they lay a finger on Benjamin.” His words caught up to him, almost like a whiplash, it seemed to pull him from his rage as the red glow dissipated from his fingers and eyes.

“...My… Brother.”

‘You know, you’re like my big brother and stuff.’

‘We aren’t meant to be friends.’

‘You don’t believe your brother is a bad wielder.’

There really was no denying it anymore, was there? He’d, like a fool, gone and let himself grow fond of Benjamin. It wasn’t about getting the Omnitrix anymore, was it? It hadn’t been since the night they’d talked about their nightmares. As much as he hated to admit it… Azmuth… Had chosen well.

But that still didn’t mean Azmuth was right.

Albedo took a shaky breath, letting this new revelation settle in before he nodded. A certain determination blossomed in his chest as he glanced back down at the dead Ultimatrix with the information he needed.

He had made a promise to get Benjamin home to his family, safe and sound.

He intended fully to keep his word and no one would stand in his way.

Chapter 37: Learning to Find A Spark.

“I want to learn magic.” Albedo declared as he set a stack of heavy books down on the coffee table just as Ben was finishing making their morning smoothies. They were in the living area of the Cave.

“I thought you didn’t think it was called magic. Are you caving?”

“It does not matter what I know mana is.” Albedo countered, “It matters only that you know the key to using it and I do not.” Ben looked at the clearly convicted Galvan with confusion. Why on Earth would Albedo ask him of all people for help with magic stuff? There were people in the League who would probably be better. Sure, Ben was Verdona’s grandson too, but he was no Gwen Tennyson. Magic had never been his forte. With the Omnitrix, he’d simply been too weary to try messing with magic after a few childhood mishaps he’d had with Gwen’s magic and his watch. Magic and technology did not mix. How Albedo was managing to pull it off… He had no clue. But, considering the guy was a Galvan in an Anodite-hybrid body, it wasn’t surprising that Albedo had been managing to pull it off.

Sure, Albedo had gone and proven that Ben could use magic.

But Ben had never once used his personal knowledge of the art form to do hero work.

“You’d be better off asking our cousin or grandma, or, I dunno. since those two aren’t really around anymore, Zatara? He’s pretty good at that stuff I’ve heard.” Ben suggested, “I believe in magic and I’ve got it, same as you, but I don’t use it.”

Albedo rolled his eyes.

“Please.” He scoffed, “You don’t spend most of your childhood with cousin Gwendolyn and NOT pick up on how she uses our heritage to fight. You must’ve learned something from fighting alongside her. You pay more attention than people realize.” That was… A strangely nice accusation from Albedo. Ben wasn’t going to complain. He simply sighed and set the drinks down on the table, leaning over to look at the books Albedo had brought.

“Um, where the heck did you get these?”

“I’ve been doing extensive research on human’s beliefs regarding the realm of magic, as they perceive it. I was hoping to understand the principles-” Albedo began. Ben immediately raised his hand.

“Yeah, I’m gonna shut you up right there. You’re thinking about all of this way too much. Yeah, a huge part of magic is memorizing the right spells and mastering techniques and all that boring stuff, but magic’s basically like making art. It's A: different for everyone. And B. emotional, not always logical. You have got to stop thinking about this stuff like a Galvan would. You’re never gonna get better at it if you do.”

“...But did our cousin not read and do extensive research to become a better sorceress?” Albedo questioned.

“I mean, she did.” Ben shrugged, “But that’s not the point. She explained it to me once. See, anyone can memorize a bunch of spells and history and all that stuff, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be good at magic. We’re anodite hybrids. Our magic doesn’t come from research. It comes from a spark.” Ben pressed his fingers to his chest, “An emotional, free-feeling, and energetic spark that is drawn to adventure, wandering, and excitement. Grandma’s race lives to have fun and to use their emotions and spark to create and manipulate the life-energy that’s around them. That’s not something you learn, Albes. That’s something you have to be born with.”

Albedo’s crimson eyes narrowed and he parted his lips to say more when suddenly M’gann flew into the room.

“Come on, you two! Red Tornado has a mission for us!” She chirped excitedly before flying immediately out.

“What is she doing, Al? Weren’t they training in the other room… And since when does Red give out missions?”

“Honestly… I’ve not the slightest clue.” Albedo said with a small laugh, “Let's find out, yes?” The brothers got up and went in the direction that M’gann had gone in. She was already at the bioship, clearly very excited as the rest of the team, minus Robin who was off doing Batman things with Batman, already boarded.

“...You seem… chipper.” Ben noted. She grinned.

“Red Tornado just wants us to check up on his friend, Kent Nelson.” She replied, “This isn’t anything official, but I thought you two should tag along with us since there might be magic and Albedo does magic!” Ben racked his head, wondering who on Earth Kent Nelson was, before Albedo spoke up.

“Doctor Fate. Sorcerer Supreme.” Albedo supplied, “Former member of the Justice Society of America… The group that came before the Justice League. I thought he’d retired.” Where Albedo sometimes got his infinite knowledge of the people in that Multiverse, Ben would probably never know. Sometimes, he realized, he just didn’t want to know at all.

“Shouldn’t we grab our uniforms-” Albedo continued. But Ben just grinned, throwing an arm around Albedo who visibly flinched at the sudden contact.

“Nah, M is right. This’ll be good for you. You were saying you wanted to know more about magic. A sorcerer is just what the doctor ordered. Maybe he’ll help you dabble in magic without the Reflect suit acting like a crutch.”

“...I suppose so…” Albedo agreed reluctantly, and he boarded the Bioship with no further objections. As expected, he found that Wally and Artemis were already arguing about something pointless.

“Just admit you think this stuff is fake to M’gann before you get us in trouble.” She hissed at him.

“What do you mean, I’ve loved magic since I was knee high, Arty.” Wally teased with a wily smirk. She looked visibly annoyed. And Ben knew for certain that he did not want to deal with those two getting into a spat over magic. So, he plopped himself down between Artemis and Wally as M’gann took off, grinning.

“Artemis! Now that I’m not benched due to poison watch, I think it’s time I got to know our newest teammate better!” He declared, startling Wally and making the blonde girl smirk. Ben felt his eye twitch, because for some weird reason, the way she was grinning seriously reminded Ben of someone, but he had absolutely no idea who she reminded him of.

“Not much to learn, Tennyson.” She replied with a laugh, “I’m a pretty cool archer with a mysterious backstory. You know how it is.”

“True, true.” Ben nodded with understanding. She wanted to keep her personal life personal, so he wouldn’t press. He’d been in the hero business a long time. He knew how that sort of thing worked.

“What I’m more interested in is how Wally got into the mystic arts.” She said, saying Wally’s name with a force and bite in it, “When did you realize your HONEST affinity for sorcery?” Ben frowned. Last he remembered, Wally was right there with Albedo, denying that mana was basically just magic and stating that magic didn’t exist. Did… Did Ben miss something important? Were all of the scientist types in their group suddenly changing their opinions for a reason, or was Ben just dumb?

“Well, I don’t like to brag.” Wally puffed out his chest, “But before I became Kid Flash, I seriously considered becoming a wizard.”

Ah. So Ben was just stupid. Wally was being an idiot. Ben knew for certain that wasn’t true. Something told him that Artemis knew that too with how annoyed she looked after Wally answered. Ben leaned back in his chair, smirking. He wasn’t going to pass this one up. Sure he was getting annoyed that Wally and Artemis argued so much (Although why it irked him so much, Ben had no clue), but he couldn’t pass up the chance to mess with Wally. They were friends, after all. Messing with his friends was part of his charm.

“Well, I’ll brag! My grandma is literally made of magic, so I think I’ve got you beat buddy.” Artemis paused, as if this were news to her. Granted, she was new to the team. Though she knew Albedo had magic and Ben had mentioned his grandma before, he was pretty sure she hadn’t thought about it until that moment.

“Dude, Albedo told me she was just an energy being.” Wally countered before he even thought about the words coming out of his mouth. There was a moment of blissful silence from him before he swore lightly, then scrambled to correct himself, “Er, I mean, yeah. Ben gets it. He’s a descendant of a race of magical aliens!”

“Right, I keep forgetting about you and Albedo both being potential magic users.” M’gann called from the front at Wally, flushed bright red. Ben’s eyes danced from Wally to M’gann. He frowned.

He was seriously missing something here.

“So, Mr. Wizard.” Ben continued, still confused, but committed to the joke, “If you know about magic, then you know the basic principles of alchemy and spellbinding and the spell for something, like, I dunno, blindness is a piece of cake to master, yeah?” Wally sputtered for a moment before gaining a confident grin.

“Oh, yeah, that one’s easy!” Wally chirped. Artemis just scoffed.

“Oh, really, then use it. Make Ben go blind or something.”

“I’ll make you go blind!”

“No one is making anyone go blind.” Kaldur called, “Ben, please stop encouraging this.”

“You’re no fun sometimes, you know that?” Ben snorted. Kaldur just rolled his eyes, but Ben didn’t miss the little smirk on his lips. Gosh, the guy even had the same sense of humor as Rook sometimes. Ben loved it.

“...You can make someone go blind?” Albedo asked.

“Ugh, yeah. Our cousin used that one on me once.” Ben moaned, “Spell trapped her diary. Most annoying week of my life.”

“I thought diaries were meant to be personal… Why were you trying to read it?” Albedo asked.

“Kevin.” Ben replied simply. Albedo hummed in response.

“Ah, I see.” Albedo decided, “Research for the Osmiosian male.”

“I… What?” Wally asked, and the look alikes broke into laughter. No context, that probably sounded really bizarre, didn’t it?

“He’s talking about the dude she was dating.” Ben clarified, “But the point is, I’m from a family of magic. There’s literally no way to one up me, Wally. I’m just that awesome!” Wally was back to sputtering. Artemis looked absolutely delighted. Once more, something about her strangely reminded Ben of someone. It was driving him nuts that he couldn’t connect the dots.

“Ben’s family aside, we’re here.” M’gann announced.

“Already?” Ben asked. Jeesh, he forgot how fast the Bioship could go when M’gann was excited. She hummed happily with confirmation as she settled the ship down for a landing. They disembarked and Superboy was quick to point out that there was nothing there.

“Yes there is.” Both him and Albedo said at the exact same time, though Ben had no idea where he’d gotten to that conclusion, nor did Albedo, based on the look on his face. Wally eyed the two warily.

“This isn’t some weird twin thing, is it?” He questioned.

“No. I’m pretty sure this is, my grandma is a magical alien being thing.” Ben replied and he stepped forwards toward the seemingly empty clearing they’d landed the Bioship next to. Immediately, the illusion of nothing being there shimmered until a door was in front of them.

“What do you think?” Artemis asked Wally, “Adaptive micro-optoelectronics combine phase shifting?”

“Absolutely! Er…” He glanced over at M’gann, “I mean, no. Clearly mystic powers are at work here.” Albedo looked over the once invisible door himself and scoffed.

“No. Artemis was correct. That is how they disguised this door.” He declared, “I might feel something amiss about this place, but there is definitely technology that's been used here to try and hide whatever it is I’m sensing.”

“Makes sense. Magic users have a harder time feeling things through technology. It’s a good way to disguise it.” Ben agreed, “But you knew that, didn’t you, Wall-man?”

“Er, right. Totally!” Artemis snorted. Ben still had no clue why Wally was pretending to like magic, but it was getting more and more funny to watch by the second.
Kaldur stepped forwards, a strange key in hand. He pushed the key into the door’s lock and the door swung open to reveal a large, dungeon-like interior. Ben let out a low whistle. He had to hand it to the Nelson guy, he knew how to do magic right. Ben stepped in before anyone else could, his eyes dancing around the room.

He suddenly felt incredibly energetic. Like he’d been given a little too much coffee… Even if all coffee ever seemed to do was calm him down.

“Dude, wait up!” Wally called. The others filed in after him and just as the last one, the reluctant Albedo, stepped inside, the door slammed shut and vanished completely. Superboy looked back, alarmed.

“Um, where’d the door go?”

“Benjamin Tennyson.” Everyone froze as a holograph-like image of Kent Nelson appeared before Ben.

“...Er, you know my name?” Ben asked, bewildered.

“Verdona’s second grandson.” Nelson’s holograph replied, “Cousin to the Sorceress Supreme of the Omniverse. The laws of the universe might separate and prevent you from seeing them, but your fate will forever be linked to those of that reality. Thus is the fate of the Hero of the Omnitrix.”

“...Um, what the heck is he talking about?” Artemis asked. Ben managed a nervous chuckle.

“Oh, er, magic stuff, don’t think too much about it. Realms realities and all that jazz. Really blends together when you’ve meddled with it enough and uh, well, grandma and my cousin meddled a lot, if you get what I mean.” Thankfully, they seemed to drop the subject as Nelson’s hologram continued, “But we do not recognize the young mage you bring with you or this company. Why have you brought them here, descendant of Verdona Tennyson?”

He saw Albedo go very stiff at the mention of a mage.

Ben swallowed before pulling Albedo closer.

“Well, ah, we just wanted to check on you, Mr. Nelson. Red Tornado was worried. Plus, I thought you’d like to meet my twin brother. Albedo Tennyson! He’s interested in magic, you see!” The holograph’s eyes flickered over Albedo, and Nelson frowned.

“I was not aware that Verdona had three grandsons.” He stated.

“Well, she does.” Ben insisted through a very, very forced smile. He could feel the eyes staring at him. He knew the whole thing looked as sketchy as it came. Maybe if he pretended like there was some sort of misunderstanding, the team would move on and forget about it?

“...Very well, mage.” Nelson declared, “If you wish to access this tower, then you must prove your worth.” Ben let out a small sigh of relief.

And… That was the point that the hologram vanished and the floor gave out from under them.

Chapter 38: Denial Ain’t Just A River.

The floor giving out wouldn’t have been an issue at all if the Omnitrix had not decided to go red for absolutely no reason at all in that exact moment.

He instinctively grabbed Albedo close out of the air and tried to transform, only for it to fail. Artemis used her bow to catch herself and Kaldur while M’gann barely managed to catch Wally. Superboy grappled the walls, trying to slow his descent.
Ben’s eyes widened at the boiling lava they were plummeting towards and he scrambled.

“Al, shields now!”

“I can’t-”

“Now!” He insisted. Albedo didn’t debate further, throwing his hand out desperately. A platform flickering to life, barely catching them. Albedo trembled in Ben’s hold, and almost instantly, the platform gave away. Ben couldn’t help but swear again, and this time, he tried to summon a platform.

He’d never once used his grandmother’s spark. Yet, in that moment he reached inside himself and begged for it to work. He opened his eyes to find a stable green shield had caught them. Mana flickered uncertainly at the tips of his non-Omnitrix hand. He held his doppelganger closer, as they were just above the lava. The heat was unbearably hot, and a human was only going to be able to stand that kind of heat for so long.

“Albes…” He croaked, the energy seeming to seep from him the longer he held them up, “I need you to cast a spell.”

“I don’t know how to.” Albedo stammered. His eyes were blown wide. He was terrified. He was clearly aware of how close they’d both just come to death. He didn’t even flinch out of Ben’s grasp, instead huddling closer, holding fast like he was a lifeline.

“I can’t do it.” Ben insisted as he forced a calmness into his tone, “I’ll talk you through it. We don’t have much time.”

Albedo timidly nodded.

“Repeat after me… And channel all of your fear into the lava. Frigidus et refrigescant.”

“...F…Frigidus et refrigescant…” He stammered out. Nothing happened and Albedo’s breathing quickened as he seemed to panic.

“Hey. hey. Try again.” Ben said patiently, “All your emotions. Into the lava. Be confident.”

“And, um, maybe hurry?” Artemis called, “I don’t think M’gann and Kaldur can stand this for very long.”

“Frigidus et refrigescant!” Albedo bit out, and this time, his entire body flared red as mana burst out of him and funneled into the lava. Instantly, ice seemed to spread across the entire cavern and the lava cooled rapidly, until the floor was stone.

The second the spell was cast, Ben let go, collapsing onto the newly created floor despite Wally objecting that it would still be ‘Way too hot to touch.’

The floor was fine.

This was magic after all. Breaking the rules was kinda what magic was for. The others came down after. Ben took a moment to pant a little before going and catching his breath. He pulled himself to his knees helping Albedo sit up too.

“Good job!” M’gann said cheerfully, “You guys did it! That was so cool!”

“I have literally never done that in my life.” Ben declared, “That felt extremely weird.”

“So, what, you’re the descendant of a magical alien warlock lady… and you’ve never used magic before?” Artemis scoffed.

“He shouldn’t be using mana at all.” Albedo said as he grit his teeth and rubbed his temples, “It’s dangerous. If the Omnitrix is overloaded with mana, it could have disastrous consequences.”

“...That I did know.” Ben agreed before shuttering, “Never again.”

“...Then why give it to the guy who’s part alien energy to begin with?” Wally asked before glancing over at M’gann, “Er, I mean, to the magic kid?”

“It wasn’t intended for him.” A new voice interrupted. They looked over, and there stood Kent Nelson’s holograph, “But Fate dictated that he be its protector regardless of the wishes of the creator.”

“You tried to kill us!” Superboy growled, launching himself at the hologram even though that made absolutely no sense. The image vanished, and Superboy ran right into a door left in his wake with a thud.
Ben got fully to his feet, helping Albedo up. Kaldur moved past the now annoyed Superboy and grasped the door handle, going to open it.

“Wait! The backdraft from the lava-” Wally started, but the door was jerked open before he could finish. Confidently, Kaldur strode inside. M’gann flew in with excitement and gasped in delight upon enticing.

“Snow!” This prompted the rest to follow and quickly discover that they were now on a mountain covered in snow.

Ben shivered, and Albedo huddled closer to him. Neither of them were dressed for snow. Actually, none of them were dressed for snow. Wally and Artemis seemed too distracted with their little spat to notice. M’gann was a Martian, so it didn’t matter, and Conner was Kryptionian. Kaldur seemed to be the only guy mildly bothered, hunching some as he held his arms, but the guy was used to the deep seas, so it probably wasn’t too miserable.

“We are in a pocket dimension. It’s just string theory!”

“So you don’t believe this is a magical mountain!?” Artemis growled.

“Of course, not! That wouldn’t make sense!” M’gann suddenly looked less excited and more confused.

“You don’t believe?” She tilted her head to the side as if this revelation was actually a surprise to her. Clearly, she’d missed out on the context clues that Wally was being an idiot. Wally’s eyes widened and he scrambled to correct himself.

“Er, no! That’s not what I-”

“Enough!” Artemis interrupted, “I am getting so sick of your impress Megan at all cost game! Clearly, there is very real magic going on, and if you keep acting like an idiot, you’re gonna get everyone here killed!”

“What are you talking about? I believe, right Ben? Back me up here!”

“...Actually, I agree with Artemis. I almost died. And I believe in magic. Magicians aren’t exactly nice to non-believers… and they are even meaner to people who pretend. Best to just come clean now dude while we're in the heart of the beast.” He motioned to the icy tundra that they were trapped in. Wally fumed before growling back towards Artemis.

“Fine! I don’t believe in magic. It’s a sham! Everything that you people think is magic can be explained by science. Right Albedo?” Wally prompted Ben’s doppelganger, who dropped his head looking almost ashamed.

“...Yes… Most things have complex sciences to them.” He agreed, “Even the magic that Benjamin claims he and I were born with.”

“I studied for a year at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis. It’s where I got the skin icons that let me control water.” Kaldur argued, “Are you insisting that I imagined that?”

“Bioelectricity.” Wally immediately replied.

“Oh, for the love of… That’s so close minded for the moron who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers!” Artemis growled.

“That’s science. I recreated Flash’s experiment!” Wally argued, “So here I am! Everything can be explained by science and-” Ben felt the tug at his gut the same time Albedo did. He was positive, because both jerked their attention away from the argument just as a burst of golden light illuminated the air and a staff descended down to meet them. Ben could feel the mana enveloping the entrancing artifact as it settled in front of the twins, almost in expectation.

Ben reached out as Albedo flinched back, grabbing Ben’s arm as if to stop him. Artemis noticed the relic too, and interested, reached for it as well just as Wally used his speed to go for the relic.

“What’s this? His magic wand?” Wally asked sarcastically just as Kaldur’s eyes went big.

“Wait, don’t-” But Wally, Artemis, and Ben had grabbed the staff, and before anything could be said, it zipped upwards, dragging the three, plus a very alarmed Albedo, along. Albedo yelped and grasped Ben tighter, once more trying not to fall. There was another flash of gold, and they found themselves on a platform overlooking what looked like some kind of maze.

A man in a stupid looking magician’s get up was there, tormenting who Ben assumed was the real Kent Nelson and a kid that was stroking a cat. M’gann, Superboy, and Kaldur were nowhere to be found.

“Abra Kadabra.” Wally growled out. So… Wally knew the bad guy. That was probably going to be helpful.

“Well, would you look at that?” Kent laughed. The staff flew from their hands, colliding with Kent’s palm. Almost instantly, the restraints he was bound by fell off. He waved the staff and a door appeared. Kent ducked in, motioning for them to follow. Wally and Artemis wasted no time in obeying.

“In here! Quick!” The door slid close just as Ben dragged Albedo in. Apparently, it was an elevator. Neat. There was a moment of awkward silence before Ben chose to speak up.

“Nelson, how can you know about my grandma? Or Cousin Gwen? They’re… Gone.” He asked. Nelson looked at Ben with a fond smile, clearly noticing why Ben was being so vague.

“Because of Fate. It was Fate that we’d meet, Ben Tennyson. Just as it's Fate that you got the Omnitrix. Don’t ever lose your faith, Ben Tennyson… You’ll see them again.” As he said that he pulled up a locket, smiling fondly down at whatever picture it contained, “Like how I’ll see my spitfire again one day. Magic’s a funny thing, just like Fate is… But there’s little time to truly explain. We are up against an opponent of tremendous power and I am afraid your Omnitrix will be of little use against him. We need a magician. A mage. Not a changeling.” Kent’s eyes shifted towards Albedo who shrank under his gaze.

“Who? Kadabra?” Wally scoffed, “Flash proved that he uses futuristic technology to simulate magic. The guy’s all trick, no biz.” Artemis went to correct Wally again, but Kent spoke up before she could reprimand him.

“He’s right.”

“He is?” All three chimed in confusion.

“Kadabra’s a charlton, but Klarion, the kid with the cat, is a Lord of Chaos. The ultimate enemy of the Lord of Order, Doctor Fate.” Kent explained. Oh, so it was one of those clashes of the two balancing powers things then? Ben could totally work with that. How was he going to do that without the Omnitrix, Ben didn’t know, but he’d figure it out. He always did. He WAS Ben Ten after all.

“Right.” Wally huffed, “You're a Lord of Order.”

“Oh, not me. I’m just an old coat Dr. Fate used to put on. Until my wife Inza convinced me there was more to life. She was a real pistol, that Inza.” He looked away from the picture in his hands, his focus entirely on Albedo now, “You’ve lost your ability to trust. You possess little faith, don’t you? Doesn’t it get exhausting, crimson mage, trying to explain what can never be explained? Trying to understand something you can never make sense of? You’ve been hurt deeply. You want to make sense of why. But without faith, mage, you’ll never have what it takes to overcome.” Wally wrinkled his nose, glancing between the two in confusion. Ben couldn’t help but bite down his own worry. Albedo’s eyes found his feet as he pulled from Ben’s hold, fiddling with the broken watch on his wrist. A pained expression flickered across his features.

‘Lost your ability to trust?’

‘Hurt deeply?’

Ben knew that albedo had serious trust issues because of his many failed alliances, but the way Kent spoke, it was as if he was referencing something way more personal than a few bad deals. Maybe the thing with Azmuth?

“Sometimes… A little faith goes a long way.” He then focused on the door as the elevator seemed to slow, “Anywho, Klarion’s after the helmet. If he gets his sticky mitts on it, he’ll turn this whole world into a playground of pandemonium.” The elevator dung, letting them out onto a platform atop of a large bell tower. Stairs lead up and around the platform that the bell itself hung over.

They were nearly to the top when the ceiling opened, and M’gann, Superboy, and Kaldur were dumped unceremoniously out of the opening. Artemis ran to help them immediately.

“Friends of yours?” Kent asked. As if on cue, Klarion and Kadabra appeared in a flash of lightning behind them. Kadabra went to attack the others, and not thinking, Ben pulled away from Albedo, going to shelter them with what little control he had over his own mana. A shield flickered to life, deflecting the blow of electricity Kadabra had sent their way.

He glanced back, seeing Wally, Kent, and Albedo disappear into the bell, before the path inside closed behind them. Klarion was nowhere to be seen.

“Well… It’s up to them now.” He decided as he turned to take on Kadabra with the remainder of the team. He ignored the fact that Kent was going to take on a Lord of chaos with the two members in their group that didn’t believe in magic. He was pretty sure it was going to work out.

Because Ben had faith in Albedo.

Chapter 39: Learning to Have Faith.

‘Hello, Albedo. My name is Azmuth. I’m here to take you away now that your wisdom feet have grown. You are to learn from me… In my workshop.’

‘Azmuth? The First Thinker! I get to learn from THE First Thinker? But… Wait… What happened to my father?’

‘...Albedo, Thallus is dead. I did everything I could, but he firmly believed it was his time to go. He was very old… And he was very tired. But he did request that I become your teacher. And for an old friend like Thallus? Well, how could I say no?’

‘Why am I just now learning this?!’

‘No one wanted to disturb you. You’ve been determined to finish your primary studies before your wisdom feet came… I tried to-’

‘Tried? My father is dead, and no one told me! I was supposed to learn from him! This was supposed to be him!’

‘Albedo… I am truly sorry. I do promise, however, to take care of you and teach him in his stead. I’ve seen your talent. You will make Thallus proud. I swear it.’

Albedo was never really sure why Azmuth had believed him. People all over the Universe spoke so highly of Azmuth. Albedo, of course, knew that Thallus and Azmuth had been friends. Who on Galvan Prime didn’t know that?

The lesser known fact was that Thallus had a son.

A son called Albedo.

The mere reflection of someone who was once great.

What did Nelson know? Speaking of faith and trust? Speaking of overcoming hardship? Speaking of pain and betrayal? What did he know? His little holograph hadn’t even recognized who Albedo was. What did Nelson know? And he did trust people! He trusted Benjamin with his entire life. That much he was certain of. He was fairly certain he trusted M’gann. He loved her after all. She was like a sister if Benjamin was supposed to be his brother. Like his own version of Gwendolyn.

Of course, Albedo hadn’t exactly told M’gann he was an alien like her. It wasn’t like the idea hadn’t crossed his mind; he was just afraid that…

‘You will remain in this body. Trapped in a prison of your own making.’

‘You were supposed to make Thallus proud. Now all of Galvan strives to forget that he ever had a son.’

The realization almost stung, as if it had slapped him across the face.

He really did forget what it meant to have faith, hadn’t he?

“Albedo! Move!” There was a moment of pain as something slammed into him and he rolled to the side. He found himself staring, dazed, at polished shoes.

“What are you supposed to be?” Albedo’s clouded thoughts snapped him back to reality.

Right.

The Helmet of Fate. The tower. Magic. Why was focusing on such things so hard? Was it really so difficult to pay attention when he was in the middle of trying to survive?

‘You’re a Galvan in mind and spirit. Thinking is just in your nature.’ Albedo looked up, red eyes meeting red. The teen standing over him regarded him with a sadistic smile.

“I can practically feel the magic burning in you! An old mind trapped inside of a young body. What fun! You’re gonna be just like me one day, aren’t you kid?” That stung more than the first revelation he’d had that evening. That he’d lost his faith. Losing hope and accepting his wrong doings against Benjamin was one thing. But allowing himself to be compared to what was clearly a monster? That he would not let slide.

“I am nothing like you.” He bit out. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nelson grasping his helmet, Wally close behind. They were taking advantage of Klarion’s momentary distraction. Formed a plan. Keep Klarion’s focus until Nelson and Wally could retaliate, “And I’m no child.”

“Hah! Funny! I’m not either! You’re on the wrong side, Mage! I could see you growing up to be a great Lord of Chaos if you wanted. Your magic is neutral right now, but it’s got room for improvement! You could be so much stronger if you just-”

“Don’t listen to him, kid.” Nelson called. Albedo’s attention snapped to the old man and he inhaled sharply, realizing that Klarion had noticed Nelson too.

‘Put the helmet on, you fool!’ Albedo mentally snarled. But Nelson took no such action. In fact, he merely raised his hand to cast a protection spell to keep himself and Wally from getting hurt but the onslaught of magic Klarion threw at them. A golden barrier surrounded the two and Nelson immediately collapsed, the helm tumbling uselessly out of his hands.

“Nelson!” Wally cried out and he raised to the old man’s side, taking a pulse before immediately attempting to resuscitate the man.

Azmuth, that spell had killed him!

“No! No! No!” Klarion fussed and he sent wave after wave of dark magic into the golden barrier in attempts to break it, “I want it! I want it! I want it!”

For someone who wasn’t a child, he was certainly childish. Albedo noticed the fractures slowly webbing on the shield. With Nelson… Incapacitated, the magic in the spell was fading. Wally didn’t have long before Klarion would break through, likely kill him, and then take the Helmet.

Which meant it was up to Albedo.

Even if he was useless at magic without his technology to boost him.

‘Without faith, mage, you’ll never have what it takes to overcome.’

It seemed impossible, without his technology. Without his crutch, to trust that alien energy… That magic would do him any good. But… Albedo had seen it work before. With Gwendolyn. And with Benjamin, not even moments before. And with himself. He’d felt the rush. The burst of power when he’d cooled that lava. It had been less draining than it normally was.

Logically, nothing about that should’ve worked.

But it did.

“Oh, profound it all.” Albedo huffed, and he caved, throwing his Galvanic logic out the window entirely and he rose to his feet, sliding into position as he raised his hands and felt for the spark of Veradona. He focused on those far too human emotions that caused him so much trouble and distress.

His fear for Wally’s life. His care and compassion for Benjamin. His hurt and anger at Azmuth. His love for M’gann. His joy in creating and learning new things. His friendship with Wayne and Dubbilex. That strange, but good emotion he felt whenever he allowed himself to forget his dignity and just have fun with the teenagers he’d aligned himself with, seemingly by chance. Above all, he focused on what it meant to be human. What it meant to feel and to error, but to ultimately learn from it.

“Klarion.” He growled out, “Leave them be. Your fight is with me now.” He called. Klarion stopped looking back at Albedo with an amused grin.

“Oh, really?” Klarion purred. Albedo took the taunt as it was and charged, his hands immediately lighting ablaze with crimson mana as he struck out at Klarion. Klarion laughed, calmly dancing out of the way before flicking his wrists and calling out a spell. The ground beneath Albedo trembled and the bricks were torn from the ground, launching themselves at him. He summoned a shield, waving them off and even went as far as to attempt and redirect them.

He thrust his hands out in attempts to mimic a trapping spell Gwendolyn used on him once. Klarion wasn’t even phased, flicking the mana that latched onto him with practice ease.

“Oh, I like you!” Klarion said with glee, “You’ve clearly never done this before, but you’re doing such a good job! But you’re in the way, so I can’t play with you right now. Maybe later?” Albedo did not like being ignored when he was supposed to be center stage. He really had no clue if that was the actor in him or his stubborn Galvan pride.

“No. Now.” He decided, attempting to use yet another combative spell Gwendolyn had once used against him. Discs of mana were flung usually into Klarion’s waiting shield. The Chaos Lord yawned dramatically.

“I’m bored. This will be much more fun after I get the helmet.” And then he clapped his hands. Albedo yelped as he was suddenly tangled in glowing red chains, which faded into actual chains. Surprised, he fell with a loud, ‘Oof!’ and was rendered useless.

“Now… For that helmet.” Klarion declared rubbing his hands together. He paused, his face paling and the chains on Albedo evaporating with Klarion’s shock. Albedo craned his neck, and his expression shifted to match Klarion’s.

It was Dr. Fate in his full glory. He stepped forwards, his gaze shifting from Klarion to the cat that stood not even a foot away from him. Klarion followed the Lord of Order’s eyes and his expression went dark.

“Don’t you dare! I was having such a good time! Why’d you go and spoil everything, old man?”

Fate said absolutely nothing as he attacked, going, not after Klarion, but the cat. Klarion was quick to engage, attempting to depend on the feline as if his life depended on it. Scrambled back, knowing he wasn’t good enough with magic yet to get caught in the crossfire between the two masters. He searched for Wally, hoping to observe from the sidelines.

Wally was nowhere to be found.

And Nelson’s body still lay dejected where Albedo had last seen it.

If Nelson wasn’t Fate then who was…

Albedo looked back to Dr. Fate.

Azmuth! It was Wally! Wally had donned the Helmet of Fate! He was using magic, same as Albedo had been. The absolute irony! He knew the timing was terrible, but a dark laughter escaped his lips. The fact that the two scientists in their group, the two people who struggled to grasp what magic was, would be the ones to wield it was nothing short of ironic. Nelson had been right. Fate was a funny thing.

He ceased his laughter at the sound of the cat yowling, and then both Klarion and his pet vanished entirely. Just like that, the battle was won. Albedo got to his feet, going to address Wally. He stopped when he realized Wally had fixed his gaze onto Albedo.

“Galvan.” He called.

“...Wally?” Albedo asked.

“It should have been you.” The sorcerer declared, “But I am patient. You may have your friend back.”

There was a flash of bright light as Wally pulled the helmet off and was left in his normal clothes. A haunted look was on his expression. Whatever had happened… It clearly had changed Wally just as much as it had changed Albedo.

“Nelson.” Wally croaked after a long bout of silence. Albedo noted the old man. His eyes having been shut, likely by Wally. His chest was unmoving.

“...We have to tell Red Tornado he’s dead.” Albedo realized, “And we must take him to be buried as it is accustomed for…” For humans. Humans buried their dead. Albedo knew that. He’d seen their graveyards. He knew the custom existed. Wally grimaced, nodding grimly.

“You figured out your grandma’s powers.” Wally noticed, “Nice.”

“All it took was faith, I suppose. It’s fascinating what one can do when you suspend your disbelief and decide to attempt what is impossible.” Albedo admitted.

“Yeah, fascinating… Um, Albedo? Nabu…” Wally swallowed, “The voice in the helmet said some pretty interesting things about you while I was in there.”
Albedo felt his heart as it leapt into his throat. Had Dr. Fate told him the truth about Benjamin and Albedo? Nelson clearly had a clue about what was going on. Why wouldn’t Fate? And neither seemed to care very much to keep Albedo’s secrets.

But… Why did he care? He was supposed to trust these kids right? That’s what Nelson had been trying to tell him, after all.

But there were so many unknown elements! So many things he had to consider! He was a criminal for Azmuth’s sake! He could never be honest with the teens. They were good. They were heroes. Just like Benjamin, they were everything Albedo could never hope to be.

“Um… Just that… He wanted you to be the one to use his helmet. And Nelson’s spirit… It was there too… And he refused to let you have it. And… And when I went to take it off… Nabu told me to trust Ben, but not to trust you. ” Wally admitted. Albedo didn’t know why he exhaled with relief upon realizing that Nabu had kept his mouth shut. He covered it up by tilting his head to the side in confusion.

“Now.” He started, “Why would he say a thing like that?”

“I dunno. It was weird, but Fate was like… Super paranoid. Maybe because he knew more about your brother then he knew about you?” Wally decided.

“That must be it.” Albedo agreed, “Because I don’t intend any ill will towards you.” Wally laughed in agreement, but Albedo could tell he was wary. Still shaken by the events that had just transpired. Just like Benjamin, he laughed as if nothing was wrong.

“Why don’t we find the others and get a hold of Red Tornado about Nelson?”

“Yeah. Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter 40: Superboy Gains a Name.

“M’gann! Look what Benjamin showed me!” Albedo said gleefully as he ran up to the red-head and summoned a crystal-like barrier, “He says it’s a far more protective shield spell. It takes more energy, but he thinks it'll be really good in emergencies.” Ben was happy that Albedo was enjoying learning magic as much as he was.

Considering the first experiences he’d had with it would’ve been nothing short of traumatic for most. An old man dying. Nearly being killed by a Chaos Lord. That was some pretty crazy stuff.

Ben had no clue if it was the Tennyson in him or the Galvan, but instead of hating magic more because of the whole Tower of Fate thing, Albedo had decided out of the blue that he loved the idea of it. He described it as something new to understand. A new discovery. A new art form waiting to be tapped into.

Ben was glad Albedo had taken up such an interest. With the Ulitmatrix permanently out of commission and the Reflect suit not always being available, it made Ben rest a little easier knowing Albedo had some way of protecting himself. Ben was more than happy to explain what he knew about magic from Gwen to Albedo. Albedo drank up every word.

“That’s amazing!” M’gann cheered as Ben caught up with the excited Galvanic teen. Albedo just beamed. His eyes bounced down to Superboy, who was working on one of his bikes.

“Oh, what are you working on?”

Ben internally winced at the picture.

Three friends.

Two crushing on each other hard and the third being something of a middle man.

The jockey gear-head that seemed intimidating at first, but could be soft, if you got past the tough guy act. The intelligent, red haired girl who was the most empathetic and supportive person in the world. And then Albedo, Ben’s spitting image. Very different in personality, but still somehow serving the same role Ben once served.

‘I’m going away to college.’

‘Now? Why didn’t you tell me? Never mind, at least I’ll have Kevin. He and I-’

‘Actually, dude…’

“Something wrong, Ben?” Ben noticed the concerned look on M’gann’s expression. Ben hadn’t realized he’d been scowling. He cleaned up his expression with practiced ease as he smiled.

“Oh, no! I’m doing great. Um, I was actually here because Red said something about you two registering for the local highschool this semester? He was gonna come down and ask for Supes' civilian name… And, um, yeah…” Ben said quickly. Superboy set his tools down and grabbed a rag as he cleaned the oil off of his hands.

“...Why do I need school? Cadmus taught me everything I needed to know.” He pointed out.

“I would not rely totally on your programing for information, Supes.” Ben chuckled as he shook his head, “Look, if I have to do school, me, the former drop out, then you’ve gotta do it too. Bats rules apparently.”

“You were due for a real name anyways. Superboy is more of a code name than a real name.” M’gann teased as she ruffled his hair in an almost playful manner, “Oh! Hello, Megan! I’ve got a good name!”

“Okay, fire away.” Superboy noted.

“Conner!” M’gann chirped. Albedo offered M’gann a strange sideways glance and the two seemed to have a silent conversation before Albedo nodded.

“Oh, yes. Conner is a fantastic name.” He agreed, almost robotically, “And your surname can be Kent.” A strange delight danced in Albedo’s eyes as if he’d just come up with a great joke. Ben… did not get the joke at all. Were these three that good of friends that they already had inside jokes!?

“Ah, yes! Kent like Kent Nelson! In honor of the late Dr. Fate!”

“Yes. That was what I am referring to. No other reason for that suggestion.” Albedo said in clear sarcasm. Once more. Ben did not get the joke.

Superboy mulled over the name before shrugging.

"Conner Kent. It’s simple enough. I like it.”

“Great. I’ll go tell Red.” Ben declared, rushing off immediately and leaving those three to hang out. He did not want to get in the way of their fun, so he left them alone. He rushed quickly down the hall, slamming, due to him not entirely paying attention, right into Robin.

“Gah! Ben! Look where you’re walking!” Robin laughed as he backed up, rubbing his head. He then paused, “Oh, Ben, you cool? You seem kinda out of it?” Ben smiled again, waving the concern off.

“Stayed up late playing that game you lent me. I’m cool. Just tired. Totally worth it, by the way.”

“Oui, we talking Galaxy Slayers Four?” Wally called poking his head into the doorway as if he’d been summoned by his inner fanboy. Ben could respect that.

“Dude, it was so awesome. Level seven though?” Ben shook his head as he clicked his tongue.

“I know right?” Wally complained, “No reason for that stupid boss attack pattern! I call foul!”

“Eh, I dunno what you two are complaining about! That was my favorite level!” Robin teased. Ben rolled his eyes, throwing his hands in the air.

“Of course YOU liked level seven, you maniac child! I’ve been a hardcore gamer my entire life, but you are worse than Wally and I combined!” Robin merely cackled. Ben felt himself relax some. He hadn’t realized he’d been so stressed.

“Well, I’m totally up for a co-op session if you guys are in the mood?” He offered. Robin and Wally chimed in their agreements.

“I’ll set up.” Wally called, and he was off down the hall before Robin or Ben could blink.

“I’m gonna run these over to Superboy really quick. He gestured to the box of parts under his arm, “And I’ll meet you two in front of the television.”

“Well, I need to run and tell Red something, so I’ll be there in a second.” Robin gave a little nod before going off towards the garage. Ben continued his trek to the mission room where Red Tornado had been. He halted upon reaching the room when he saw Red, Canary, and Batman all standing there. His heart sank.

“I guess this means no video games? What’s the mission?”

“No mission.” Batman grunted, “What did Superboy pick for his civilian name?”

“Oh, er, Conner. Conner Kent. M’gann and Albes came up with it. Said it suits him I guess.” Ben shrugged. Batman looked at Ben like he’d grown a third eye, which… had happened before due to a transformation. He patted his forehead to make sure. But no. He only had two eyes.

“Albedo.” He deadpanned, “Named him.”

“And M’gann.” Ben agreed.

“Okay. Well. You start your classes in two days, right?” Ben shuttered at the thought of school before nodding in agreement.

“Coach already has us running drills and stuff in preparation for the season.” Ben agreed. Batman looked over at Canary, who cleared her throat.

“Tomorrow, Martian Manhunter is going to don his civilian identity and take M’gann and Conner to their orientation and enrollment. Aqualad is on a personal trip under the ocean. Robin will not be in the cave. Artemis is doing some one on one training with Green Arrow. Same with Kid Flash and Flash. Your brother is going to be at work.”

“...So, what? I’m gonna be the only one in the cave until practice tomorrow?” Ben huffed. That was going to be really boring.

“Not quite. We actually needed to have a meeting with a certain person while… Um…” Canary looked around warily, as if she thought the room was being bugged.

“With who?”

“Superman.” Red Tornado said, having no tact. Ben’s eyes went very big. Superman was coming to the cave? Not good. THinking fast, Ben switched the Omnitrix to Galvanic and configured it with several twists to extend to the people in the room.

“You can talk now. The Omnitrix is scrambling what we sound like to anyone not in this room. Conner can’t understand us.” Ben explained.

“It can do that?” Canary asked, curious. Ben shrugged.

“Dude, it’s a peacekeeping device. Like, half of peacekeeping is learning how to talk in other languages. It’s got, like, dozens of translation functions. And it’s got every language that’s ever been spoken cataloged in it.”

“That is really useful.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s nifty. Now why the heck is Big Supes coming here? You know Conner and him aren’t exactly… Getting along.”

“Your brother had some concerns in that regard, actually.” Red Tornado explained, “For some reason, he refuses to acknowledge his clone.” Well, yeah. Ben had noticed that much. And as a person who literally had an evil twin, he didn’t totally blame the guy for being a little hesitant about Conner. But… Ben got the feeling that was the problem.

“We were hoping to have you, as the team leader, to give a progress report about him to maybe… ah, reassure Superman about some concerns he might have.”

“Dude, if you want me to talk to the guy just say it.” Ben huffed as he crossed his arms, “No, seriously. He’s upset about finding out about the kid who was literally designed to be a weapon that kills him. He’s got some issues with it? What am I doing? Reality check or a pat on the back and a little ‘there there?’” Canary’s lips parted like she wasn’t expecting Ben to react that way.

“Ben, we aren't asking that from you. We just need the reports.” Canary said. Ben rolled his eyes.

“Dude, the diplomacy thing, though not my favorite, is also a part of wielder of the Omnitrix job, and clearly, you people have this idea that Superman needs to be talked to because he’s bothered by Conner. I like Conner. He’s a great kid and yes, he deserves a chance to be seen right by Superman. I think I know how I can make him see things right, but I need to know if it’s a ‘there there’ or a reality check.”

A few more moments of stunned silence.

“Reality check.” Batman finally replied.

“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Now, if you’ll excuse me, if there isn’t a mission, I’m going to go fight aliens in a rated M video game with Kid Flash and Robin.” Ben declared as he switched the translator off.

And then he marched off to do just that, not giving any of them room to object.

Notes:

So, I thought I'd address some things because there have been some questions in the comments about it:

Do the people in the Heroverse suspect Ben and Albedo aren't from that multiverse?

Put simply, because this story was purposefully written from only two POVs, there are sides of the story that aren't immediately revealed to you, the reader. Just because it seems like Batman or Robin don't think the brothers are hiding something doesn't mean they actually don't. It's Batman. Of course he knows something's up and has his theories. but in his eyes, Ben and Albedo are good kids. And since they work for him both in costume and out, he is basically able to keep an eye on them on the off chance that they aren't friendly. Secrets are extremely common in the hero world, so not everyone is going to question some of the things Ben or Albedo says, but that doesn't mean it won't become obvious who thinks Ben and Albedo are lying in the future. Just at the moment, it's not really important and Ben and Albedo themselves haven't noticed anyone eyeing them the wrong way.

Will I be using other POVs like the villains?

No. Ben and Al are the only two POVs in this story. Like I said, this is purposeful. The original version of this book was written solely from Ben's POV, but I added in Albedo's whenever I realized I want to see more of Albedo's inner dialogue, and not just the outward changes he makes. I want to try and write this story in only two POVs as a challenge. From time to time, this means there is going to be some unreliable narration, like with the whole 'Does anyone suspect them' issue.

Albedo's getting a whole redemption arc, but what is Ben's character arc?

Well! This chapter is one of the many chapters that hints at Ben's arc. His might not be a dramatic change of perspective like Albedo's but that doesn't mean he doesn't have one. After all, even old-time heroes have things they can learn!

Is there going to be angst in this story?

This is an older question, but the answer is this: I like to write angst as much as the next author, but I also won't make this story just angst. It is present in many of my original drafts and my final draft, but the story itself is not wholly angst centric. It's a redemption/found family story. So angst needs to be handled with a certain precision.

Will the story break from original cannon?

That's the plan.

Will I do season 2 of young justice?

No. This story is exclusively season one. Writing in season 2 and forcing Ben to stay in the Heroverse for five years would be a disaster.

Will there be other crossovers in this story?

No. This story will be exclusively Young Justice (With the exception of the introduction of Red X) and Ben 10 centered.

And this one isn't a question that's been asked, but I feel like I'll throw it in the ring:

No. I will not be writing ships in this book. If the ship isn't already canon to Ben 10 or Young Justice, then I will not be writing it. What does this mean? It means Albedo will not be shipped with anyone, and all canon ships in both shows are canon here. This is mostly because I don't really feel like spending time writing a romantic subplot when there are other things I want to focus on. Also, it seemed wrong to try and ship Albedo (a literal alien trapped in a human body) with anyone. Plus, getting into the whole, 'who should Ben be shipped with' debate is a whole can of worms I don't want to open in this book and shipping him with someone from the Heroverse just isn't plausible.

Anyways, I hope this note clears some questions up! Have a happy Friday and a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 41: Ben Talks to Superman.

Notes:

So, this one's mostly dialogue. Also, here's the Superman and Ben chat you all have been waiting for... I hope I did it justice.

Ben was glad that M’gann and Conner were out for the afternoon. Conner would likely have freaked out if he overheard what they were doing. And Superman wouldn’t have come to the Cave at all if he knew Conner was skulking around the area.

If he had to be honest, he couldn’t believe he was about to give Superman a reality check. He’d been basically content with waiting for Superman to come to his own senses on the matter and realize what an actual idiot he was being. But… He knew why waiting for something like that to happen was probably not for the best.

Superman would’ve come around eventually.

But at the end of the day, Ben had to ask what cost it’d take for him to stop being stupid.

“I’m glad the area is secure.” Superman said, clearly trying to figure out why Batman had called him there as the Dark Knight listed off the Cave’s security protocols, using the useless report as some sort of lame excuse for why Superman had been dragged there in the first place.

Canary loomed near the dining table of the living area, watching the two interact as Ben carefully prepared a smoothie for himself, watching as Bats bored the life out of poor Superman.

“Bats, subtlety was never your strong suit.” Ben finally cut in as he decided he was not going to watch the trainwreck of the conversation continue, “Supes Senior, this is what we’d like to call an intervention or something.” Ben grabbed up his smoothie cup, raising it up towards Superman in a mockery of a toast.

Superman stilled, his eyes large at first, before narrowing in clear annoyance.

Ben didn’t even blame the poor guy.

“Batman, we’ve talked about this.” Superman immediately said in a strangely calm, collected tone as he adjusted his glare towards the Dark Knight. Batman didn’t seem so pleased that Ben jumped right to the point, but hey, when talking to a boy scout as distractible as Superman, getting to the point was kinda better than whatever the heck Batman and Canary were trying.

“He’s got a name now, you know?” Ben called, “Conner Kent. And he’s got a crush on the Martin chick, apparently. I don’t know all the details. My brother, weirdly enough, is way more involved in that fiasco than I’ll ever be. He even picked out the guy’s name. And his temper’s been getting better. Less, ‘Superboy Smash!’ all the time. He’s really coming along for a guy who is less than a year old.”

“I’m not talking about this.” Superman immediately declared. Ben just shrugged.

“Well, you’ve gotta talk about it sometime. Don’t ignore the Way Big in the room, my dude.” Ben replied.

“Batman.” Superman still seemed to refuse to actually look at Ben or acknowledge what he was saying, “I consider you a very good friend, but this is taking it too far. He’s got you and Canary to help him. He’s got peers his age. He doesn’t need me.”

“You know, Big Supes… You can’t ignore him forever.” Ben noted. The older Kryptonian bristled and immediately made for the Zetas. Ben saw Batman’s expression somehow harden further as his eyes narrowed. Canary’s eyes knitted in concern.

But they likely didn’t get why Superman was reluctant at all.

“Have I ever told you the one about how I became a mom?” Ben asked as he stirred the smoothie in his hands, a small smile flickering across his face. Immediately, Superman stopped, glancing back at Ben like he was insane. Clearly, it was not what Batman or Canary had expected Ben to say either.

“The aliens I turn into… I don’t just turn into them. I become them. I get their instincts. Their skills. Everything. I’m them… They're just as much a part of me as I’m a part of them…” Ben found himself settling at the counter completely as he considered how to tell the story.

“When I was fifteen, right in the middle of a war, mind you, I started to have these blackouts whenever I transformed. I would wake up… And find metal in my teeth and have weird cravings. The whole works. Was way too affectionate and motherly to Kevin all the time… Pretty sure I was babying the guy without realizing it… He didn’t notice. He was stressing about other stuff. But I was getting worried.” Ben frowned, “See… When I was ten… I had blackouts too… And one of the aliens on my watch had leached out. Gained consciousness and went wild. We had to remove his DNA from the database entirely. I was scared that I was going through it again. That one of my alien’s instincts took over and that I was losing control. But as I said… The others were busy. So I only really told my girlfriend at the time, and she tried figuring it out.”

“I blacked out about two to three more times after that. She apparently followed me. Took notes. My Necrofriggian form had basically lost it and was eating all the metal it could get its hands on with no explanation. Big Chill attacked a few people and was really snappy towards Julie… That was the girl’s name, but overall, more cranky than anything. Fourth time I woke up from a blackout… I think... Kevin, Gwen, and Albes were there with Julie. Kevin was grinning like an idiot.” Ben snorted, “Apparently, the sample of Necrofriggian that Azmuth put in the watch was on a certain cycle where it reproduces. Happens once every eighty years, and I was unlucky enough to be the guy who turned into a Necrofriggian on it’s cycle. They’re asexual, so it’s not like I needed a partner or anything.”

“...What’s their name?” Superman asked, his voice soft, “The kid, I mean.”

“Kids.” Ben corrected, “I had fourteen.” Ben grabbed out his wallet, flipped it open and retrieved a family photo, “Ren, Len, Ben jr., Blonko Jr., Quen, Kev, Maxie, Glen, Winn, Sven, Spren, Jen, and Carl Jr… Kevin hated that I named most of them to rhyme with my lucky number. Told me it was cursed or something. Appreciated Kev’s name though.” He presented the picture to Superman, who took it and stared down at the picture of the kids bustling beside Ben. Not one human, yet all the children of Benjamin Kirby Tennyson.

“After it happened I uh, I didn’t take it well, actually.” Ben admitted as his face flushed with shame, “Kev kept teasing me and I was freaking out, because heck, I’m fifteen, fighting a war, and now I’ve got fourteen offspring running about in the Universe to worry about and I’ve not even gotten out of High School. So… When they left their nest… Seeing as Necrofriggians are basically independent at birth, I just… Sorta… Let myself forget about the little guys.”

Ben hung his head.

“I never even told my parents about it. Avoided the topic for months. It was just… Too weird to think about.” Ben closed his eyes, “It took something really bad happening for me to snap out of it. I was patrolling this section of space with… My old partner… And we came across an alien smuggling ring. They were hunting Necrofriggian children. Apparently their wings are worth a bunch. My kids were their target.” Ben found himself clenching his fist, “At the end of the day, I was left with only thirteen. The smallest of them… Didn’t make it… They were self-sufficient… and while they technically didn’t need me… If I had been better…”

Ben felt a hand on his shoulder, and realized that Canary had come up behind him. He didn’t mind the comfort at all. Losing Lil’ Chill had been a pretty crappy day for Ben. It would never not suck to think about.

“After that, I built a place.” Ben resolved, “A place where they’d be safe. I used to visit them all the time. And anytime they needed me… I was there.”

“I had no idea.” Superman admitted.

“Heh, well, yeah. I don’t tell people about them very much. I’ve got a weapon that half the galaxy would kill for strapped to my wrist. You think I’m gonna go blabbing about the kids I’ve been protecting to the whole universe?”

“...I suppose you wouldn’t.” Superman agreed.

“...Anyways, the point is… I get it. You’ve ended up with a clone of you running about… And you never asked for him. It’s weird, cos’ he was made to replace you… And someone had to steal something very personal to you in order to make Conner. It’s messed up. It’s weird. But at the end of the day, you can’t ignore it forever. He’s here now. He needs someone who understands his powers. Who knows what it’s like. And he wants that someone to be you because, Superman, Conner looks up to you. Why wouldn’t he? Without you, he wouldn’t exist. But if you ignore it too long, Superman, you could lose something that has so much potential for being great.”

“But I-”

“You don’t have to be his dad, Superman. You’re right, he’s got a family already. His team.” Ben said with an eye roll, “But you shouldn’t blame him for what he can’t control. You also shouldn’t blame yourself. That doesn’t mean you can keep pretending like what you say and do around Conner doesn’t at least matter, because it does… Really, Supes, no sane person asks to be a hero. At least, no sane person who actually knows what being a hero is like. And no one asks to be stuck with the kind of responsibilities we deal with every freakin’ day.”

“But we’re heroes. Superman. It doesn’t matter if we didn’t ask for it. We are heroes, and everything we do, even something a stupid as saying hello to Conner every once and a while, matters.” Ben declared, “The world is watching you, hero. Conner is watching you. You can’t afford to mess this up. So stop being an absolute moron before you make a mistake you won’t be able to take back.”

He stood, grabbing the wallet from Superman’s hands and discarding his smoothie cup.

“Thanks for the fruit for my smoothie, Bats. But it’s getting late and I have soccer practice.” When Ben left the cave that night, he would never forget the thoughtful, mulling expression he’d left on the man of steel’s face.

Notes:

So, last week was my midterms and I was doing a lot of paperwork that Friday. My beta reader was traveling, so I decided I wasn't gonna post last week. Sorry for the delay.

Concerning the Superman and Ben conversation, Ben and Superman are alike in many ways, as I quickly discovered when writing this chapter. They both are stubborn, iconic heroes that try their best to carry everything they can on their shoulders with a smile.

At the same time, they handle things like Conner or the Little Chills poorly. This being said, Ben stopped paying attention to the Little Chills almost immediately after they hatched, and they are only mentioned once more in the story. While the show seems to shrug it off as something Ben forgot about, I like to think it's something he couldn't or didn't want to think about and avoided. This is why something so drastic is what it took to change Ben's mind in this story.

Ben's warning to Superman is to make sure the Man of Steel doesn't let his own stubbornness or negligence go as far as Ben let it go. He understands WHY Superman has reacted the way he has, but he also knows Superman can't afford to let his own conflicted feelings keep him from doing the right thing forever.

Anyways, on a less heavy note: happy Friday to all, and happy late St. Patrick's Day!

Chapter 42: The Merging of Two Memories.

Notes:

(Key: Spanner = Robin, Rook = Aqualad, Kai = Artemis, Ken = Wally, Gwen = M’gann, and Kevin = Conner. Trust me, this key makes more sense as you read the chapter.)

[Telepathic Assault Registered. Telepathic Shielding Engaged. Only 64% successful. User Benjamin Kirby Tennyson at risk. Please contact a telepathy expert immediately.]

Ben groaned as the familiar voice of the Omnitrix woke him up. Instantly he winced, holding his head with a low wine while jumbled information seemed to get even more scrambled up in his mind. He remembered there was something going on with Albedo?

A mission?

No… No… Cadmus. What was Cadmus? What was that name?

It couldn’t be a mission, because he didn’t get a notice from Rook or Grandpa. No… Wait? Was it Grandpa or that bat guy he kept remembering?

“Don’t move.” Ben froze, a young, but strangely familiar voice jerked him from his thoughts. He opened his eyes, ignoring the horrible headache and how muddled his mind felt as he took in his surroundings. The air was dry and hot. The sun was setting over a desert wilderness. He was on some sedimentary rocks that overlooked the area. Someone was behind him. He glanced back, spying a young, masked face.

Spanner was the first name that popped into his head, even though Ben was certain this kid was older than Spanner and also that the kid was decidedly not wearing Spanner’s colors. But he knew this kid. He was with the bat guy. Ben couldn’t remember how he knew the bat guy or the kid, but he knew him. He just couldn’t place his name.

“Relax, Spanner, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Ben declared, raising his hands in surrender.

“Who’s Spanner?” The kid asked. So… Not Spanner. What was this kid’s name supposed to be again?

“You are?” He said dumbly, knowing at the back of his head that wasn’t right but also positive that this kid was familiar. He knew him. He recognized him. They’d met that July, right? No wait… It wasn’t July, was it? It was still spring! No, it was winter? Wait, that wasn’t right-

“Who are you?” The kid demanded.

“...Um, you don’t know who I am?” Ben asked with a small gasp, “Dude, I’m the great, one and only Ben Ten. Wielder of the Omnitrix, Hero of Heroes. Savior of the Universe!”

“I’ve literally never heard of you in my life.” Ben went to respond with something snarky, but something in the back of his head warned him not to.

“Really, because I can swear I know you. I think I work with you and your bat friend… But I can’t remember your name for some reason, so I’ve elected to call you Spanner. Or… Do you work with the Plumbers? For my grandpa?”

“...Who’s your grandpa?”

“Um, Max Tennyson?”

“Never heard of him either.” Well, that one wasn’t nearly as surprising, considering grandpa was good at keeping a semi-low profile.

“...Look… Ben?” Not-Spanner asked, “What’s the last thing you remember?” Ben started to think about it but that headache from before came immediately back. He winced and his hands flew to his temples as his knees nearly buckled.

[Telepathic assault 46% successful. Telepathic shielding 64% successful. Seek telepathic aid. User in danger.] The Omnitrix insisted. Names and faces became even more confused and he realized he couldn’t place the last thing he remembered. It was like all of his memories had been rearranged or overlapped by accident. Timelines were blurring together. People are getting mixed up. And he couldn’t… Sort it… Out.

“Woah, Ben.” Not-Spanner kept him from collapsing, “Dude, are you okay?”

“I think someone messed with my head, Spanner.” Ben grumbled.

“Once more, not Spanner. I’m Robin.” Of course, Ben knew the guy wasn’t Spanner. He was supposed to be with that bat guy and he was older and dressed completely different, but his head was being weird.

“Well, my watch is supposed to shield from that kind of stuff.” Ben continued, “But I must’ve let someone telepathic inside my head if it was able to jumble up all my memories like this. Everything’s out of order!”

“Well, I can’t remember the last six months, if that helps.” Robin said helpfully. That was interesting. There was probably a connection there. His head hurt too much to think too much about it.

“Look, we need to move. See over there?” Not-Spanner pointed, and Ben followed his finger, seeing the military set up not far from where they were perched, “We’re in Baylia. Those are some of their soldiers. I remember Batman ordering radio silence, but that’s pretty much it. Whatever messed with our heads, it might have to do with that place.”

Ben squinted, his mind racing.

Yeah… He remembered some sort of mission, though he didn’t remember that country or who ordered it. Apparently it was the bat guy? Not Grandpa Max.

“Yeah… That sounds familiar… There were others with us?”

“Do you know who?” Not-Spanner questioned. Ben’s headache returned as he tried to sort it out.

“Mmm… Rook Blonko. Gwen. Ugh, I think Kai was with us? Kevin… Albedo for some weird reason. You. And my cousin Ken… Which I don’t get, because Ken isn’t a Plumber. But, okay I guess?”

“I don’t know any of those names.” Robin deadpanned. Ben shrugged helplessly.

“Could you describe them?” Ben squinted, but everything was all meshed together. He absolutely could not describe them. He just knew that those names sounded right.

“Uhhh…” He shook his head, “Look, right now, my head’s a mess. It’s like I’m trying to clash two worlds and two things together… Have you ever jumped a timeline and gotten that whiplash of two timelines competing with each other in your head?”

“I’ve literally never done that.”

“Well, it’s like that, only it’s not different timelines. Its groups of people, plus events being all mixed up. Like… I’m positive you aren’t Spanner, but like, there’s something in my head that insists that you must be. I recognize you, and you look nothing like my friend, but I can’t explain why you don’t? And every time I think too hard about it, I get this headache and the watch freaks out on me.” He held up his wrist. Robin scowled at the watch.

“Then take the watch off. That’s probably what’s doing this… It looks super alien, dude. It’s probably what caused this mess!” Not-Spanner declared. Ben immediately pulled the Omnitrix back protectively.

“No! It’s not! Well, not exactly. It’s got this feature that’s meant to protect me from telepathic assaults. Keep me from being brainwashed or mind controlled or something stupid like that. But it keeps telling me the shields didn’t work all the way, which makes me think we were attacked by a telepath trying to erase our memories, but because of my shielding…”

“It didn’t erase your memories, it scrambled them up.” Robin realized.

“To the point where I am completely confused.” Ben agreed, “I do remember one name completely right though. Which is weird, considering the last clear memory I have of the guy was… Not good. Albedo. He’s my doppelganger, only albino…. I think… I think he’s in trouble. I really don’t feel like saving the guy’s hide. He’s super obnoxious, but it’d be totally messed up for me to leave him if he’s actually in trouble.”

“I don’t know that name. Are you sure you aren’t mixing him up with someone else too?” Ben hummed, closing his eyes and tilting his head, the headache subsiding as he thought about Albedo, which was the only consistency. Which was weird, why would he have been working with Albedo of all people?

“Nope. He’s the only constant.” Ben said. Not-Spanner nodded.

“Okay. So we came here with a group. Then that means we need to regroup. Do you think you know enough about our group to help me track them down?” Ben hummed in agreement. Nodding slightly. Ben opened his mouth to elaborate further, but was cut off by the sounds of gunfire. Not-Spanner and Ben both whipped their heads towards the racket.

“Those our guys?” Ben asked.

“Probably.”

“Great, hang on.”

“Wha-” Not-Spanner started, but Ben had activated the Omnitrix already, turning into Jetray and grabbing up the traffic-light dressed teen.

“Okay, so this is a thing.” Not-Spanner grumbled as he clung to Jetray’s arms. Ben expertly dodged the bullets that were immediately sent towards the flying alien, doing his best to protect his cargo while scanning the bleak wasteland for anyone who looked even a little familiar.

He saw a streak of black and red, which automatically made him think, ‘Ken.’ He dived, diving into the dunes. He let Not-Spanner go, allowing the boy to land before landing himself and turning human again. They found themselves standing in front of a red haired boy in a black suit and a blonde girl in green, who gawked at Ben like he was the weirdest thing he’d ever seen.

“Hah! Kai and Ken. What’d I tell you, Spanner?”

“Not Spanner.” Not-Spanner huffed, “Jeesh, we've gotta get that fixed, how long have you been able to-”

Ben heard movement behind them and turned quickly, dialing the watch and shifting into Bloxx, making a shield around the group just as bullets peppered the area.

“What the heck?!?” Kai yelped as she scrambled back, staring at Ben with horror on her expression.

“Woah, it’s okay, Artemis.” Ken said quickly, taking her hand as if to calm her down, “I think he’s friendly. I know that he’s friendly, Robin. Artemis. Artemis. Robin.”

“Hey, Kid. Memory loss?” Robin asked, fist bumping Ken.

“Six months.” Ken laughed, “Same with the living wall?”

“Scrambled memories. And the living wall does not like getting shot at. Can we move locations please and talk later?” Ben grunted.

“On it.” Not-Spanner agreed as he pulled several discs from his belt, “Make a back exit. Kid Flash, divert attention.” Ken and Not-Spanner jumped through the openings Ben made without a moment of hesitation, seconds later, there was laughter, and explosion, then silence. Ben took that as his que to turn human again. Just in time too… Those bullets had really been taking a number on Bloxx, and by extension, Ben’s ability to stay transformed.

He panted for a moment as the other two returned.

“Dude, that is a sick power. What do you call that?” Ken laughed.

“Shape-shifting?” Ben asked, “You know I’m the wielder of the Omnitrix, Ken.” Ken blinked at him, clearly bewildered.

“...That… Is nowhere near my name dude. What the heck is the Omnitrix?”

“You people seriously live under rocks.” Ben decided, “I mean, I know you’ve lost six months, but still. Look, Ken or no Ken, we’ve got… four more guys out there we need to find that probably have no clue where they are or how they got here. Gwen, Kevin, Rook, and Albedo.”

“He still has memories?” Kai asked Not-Spanner. Not-Spanner just looked Ben over grimly before shaking his head.

“No. His memories are scrambled. That thing on his wrist was supposed to protect him, but it mixed up his memories instead. He thinks we’re someone else… Which is why he’s using the wrong names. But I think he’s right about the number of people we need to find.”

“Rook first.” Ben said seriously, Rook didn’t do well in the heat. He overheated quickly. They needed to find him, “He’ll die from heatstroke if we don’t find him first. He doesn’t have human anatomy.”

“Okay, we’ll find Rook first then.” Ken said, offering Ben a big smile.

‘Hello? Is anyone out there?’ Ben hissed as his headache flared and the sound of a girl’s voice rang in his head. Everyone else reacted similarly.

“...Or… Maybe we figure out whatever the heck that was.” Ben huffed, “Because I think that was part of our problem.”

Notes:

So, I decided to tinker and experiment with this episode. And when I say tinker, I mean, I’m tinkering a LOT with this episode. As many people have probably guessed, this episode is pivotal in the story. I won’t clarify what that means yet (Nor will I confirm any guesses on how this is going to change the story… that would be telling), but let's just say, I’ve rewritten it, like, a gazillion times now because I want to get this part of the story right.

Now, the choice to make Ben have scrambled memories, and not completely wiped out memories, is completely for a reason. Also, it made sense in the long run, since the Omnitrix is supposed to have fail safes for stuff like this. Albedo, however, does not have a working Omnitrix to partially shield him. Do with that what you will.

Sorry for any pain caused with the Little Chills in the last chapter. I was really caught off guard by the responses in the last chapter, which, I mean I knew there would be some response, but wow... So this is why people write so much angst.

Any who, happy Friday, and have a great weekend everyone!

Chapter 43: Awaking in A Desert Wilderness.

“Look at that! It’s Tennyson!” Albedo flinched back, fiddling uselessly with the Ulitmatrix, which was on recharge as the Undertowners drew close.

“You sure, boss? Tennyson doesn’t have white hair.”

“He turns into different aliens, he’s got a fancy watch. It’s him.” Albedo shrank at the dark grin on their face, “And I think he’d be worth quite a bit on the market, don’t you agree?” Albedo flinched back as they lunged.

Everything went dark as his ears rang.

And then he was sitting up, decidedly not tied down, coughing up sand and tasting dry air. He was half buried in the stuff, having been left dejected under a vast starry sky that had Earth-like constellations… And yet, there was something slightly forgien to him about them.

Albedo stifled down the panic he was feeling, pulling himself quickly out of the sand and scrambling backwards. He stared, terrified at where he’d been and wondered if he was in the midst of some sick game someone was playing with him.

No longer was he cornered in the bowels of Undertown.

But left, seemingly for dead, in the midst of a hot, waterless wilderness.

He smothered the panic quickly. Panic would do him no good. He needed to think logically. What did he know about his situation? What did he know about his attackers?

They had been common thugs. Poachers, if he had to bargain, based upon their desire to illegally bargain him off. They had mistaken him for that blasted human child. He’d been in Undertown, on Earth. The constellations he was under resymboled Earth, but were slightly different. He was in the desert.

He could see someone like Khyber setting up a place like the desert he was in. Faking constellations and using them to trick his prey. However, Khyber also knew who Albedo was. They were friends. He was the one ally Albedo knew he could depend on. Khyber was a hunter who honored his word. He would not hunt Albedo. His target was Tennyson.

So not Khyber. Maybe someone similar? Someone new that Albedo was unfamiliar with? Some idiot fool who had the gull, the absolute nerve to confuse him and that pitiful boy?

Well, whoever the offender was, they would learn not to mistake him for Tennyson again. Albedo reached for the Ulitmatrix, before freezing, the panic returning once more as he found that the design of the watch was different. And he did not recall putting one the uniform he was garbed in. It made his skin crawl. If there was one thing he’d quickly learned about humans, it was that they, much like Galvans, desired their decency and privacy.

The concept of someone changing Albedo’s attire while he was unconscious?

It was horrific, even if he wasn’t in his proper body.

He swore in Galvanic, staggering back before fumbling frantically to activate the Ulitmatrix. His fingers faltered when it opened… And the core was nowhere to be found. His swears increased, and his hands left the watch and found his head, combing frantically through white tangles. Someone had stolen it! Someone had been clever enough, smart enough, to somehow wrench the core out of the Ultimatrix!

He HAD been left out there for dead.

And in the body he was in now, he hadn’t a clue on how to best survive in such a harsh and dangerous environment. Which meant finding a way to singal some means of help was required. But… Who to call? Khyber? Yes… Yes, Khyber would do. He would help him.

Albedo reached for his watch, but was halted by the buzz of what seemed like a distant memory in his head.

“Maintain radio silence at all times.” A deep voice demanded. Albedo let go of the watch, baffled by the memory.

Was… Was he not out there alone?

As if answering his question, the sound of vehicles moving reached his ears. Light flooded his vision and he raised a hand to cover his eyes as a military human car of some kind pulled up directly in front of him and stopped.

Angry voices yelled at him in a language he didn’t know, so he went to turn on his translator. That led to the sound of gunfire and bullets just barely peppering the ground beside him. He yelped and froze, staying totally still as human soldiers in unfamiliar uniforms got out of their truck.

They yelled at him some more.

“I don’t understand, let me turn on my translator I-” Two came up and roughly grabbed him, pulling his arms behind his back. The click of handcuffs being secured reached his ears, and he was shoved forwards.

He let them.

After all, prisoner or not, going with the strange soldiers was his only hope of survival. As long as there was civilization, he could make a plan to escape and get back to Undertown. So, he allowed them to drag him into the back of the truck, and mulled in silence, his head lowered in compliance as they took him to who knew where.

‘Make yourself seem harmless. Don’t appear as a threat. If they underestimate you, you can get away easier.’ Albedo recited these things. With the Ulitmatrix, he would’ve probably been able to make out with a ‘tough guy’ persona. In fact, he would’ve likely been home free had it been working. But without, he was a useless human with a Galvan mind. He had to keep his head down.

He hated that he knew such things. Life truly had not been kind to him.

The truck came to a stop. Albedo clenched his fists, fingernails digging harshly into the gloves he was wearing as he braced himself for trouble. He was roughly escorted out, finding that they’d brought him to a large tent. A mobile lab of sorts, from what Albedo could see. A few of the soldiers conversed, some pointing in his direction. He avoided eye contact.

Then he was led quickly into the tent.

He forgot his worries as he stopped to behold the project within.

It was no Galvan invention, but it was a masterpiece of its own. At first glance, it looked like a sphere. A useless, several ton metal ball. But Albedo had the expert eyes of a Galvan. He saw the intercay that any untrained human would miss. The complexity of the creature he beheld.

Albedo saw that it was beautiful.

“Fascinating.” He breathed in awe.

“You know what it is?” A voice asked. Albedo glanced over, bewildered to see a hybrid sort of man, with a visible brain and sunken eyes. He grinned sharply in Albedo’s direction.

“I’m not familiar with the race that designed it… But the potential of such technology is, well, limitless. It’s no Omnitrix, but I must commend whoever created it.”

“...Omnitrix?” The man asked. Albedo nodded, before frowning, “You are unfamiliar with the Omnitrix?”

“I’ve never heard of it. Please, tell me about it, friend.” Something was wrong. Albedo could feel it. He didn’t know what the Omnitrix was?

“...How could that be? Are you not the ones who stole my Ultimatrix? Or are you the unfortunate souls who happened to find me before you could take it?” Albedo spat out.

“Reflect, we’ve stolen nothing from you. You’ve entered our territory without the explicit permission of the Queen. She will want to make an example out of you, boy. That is, unless you can prove yourself of some value? I’ve heard rumors about you and the Changeling you call brother. You’re something of a prodigy, are you not?” Albedo narrowed his eyes. Did he just… Did he just…

“Brother?” Albedo’s voice dropped from annoyed to ice cold, “Did you just call that… That mongrel of a juvenile my brother?!” Psimon stared at Albedo, he looked as if he had not expected the reaction he was getting at all. But if the man knew who Ben Tennyson was, then why in Azmuth's name would he think that he and Albedo were brothers? Everyone knew Tennyson was an only child! It was public knowledge! And what sort of moron knew about Tennyson, but not the freaking Omntrix?

“Hostility. Not… Unexpected, though… The target of your aggravation is not expected at all. Are you and Deka not brothers?”

Deka?

Why was Tennyson going by Deka now? Weren’t code names somewhat pointless at this point of the boy’s life?

“He’s going by Deka now?” Albedo bit out, “What, is he trying to pull some sort of stunt or is this some stupid idea he has for ‘bettering his public image?’ Hah! A joke if you asked me.”

“....Does he have another name?” Albedo almost answered that question, but then things started to click.

…This man… Didn’t know who Ben Tennyson was, did he? He knew Deka. He Knew Deka transformed. But he didn’t know how. He thought Albedo was Deka’s brother.

“...Where am I?” Albedo asked carefully.

“Baylia. Though, I don’t blame you for being confused, Reflect. A nasty Martian telepath has erased some vital pieces of your memories.” Reflect. Was that his name? And… Martians were extinct. What was this man prattling about? Also, the race of Mars never once had telepathy as an ability. What a strange claim… And Baylia… That…. That didn’t exist.

The constellations being slightly off suddenly made a thousand times more sense.

He swore in Galvanic.

“What did that idiot do?! I’m going to kill that child! I am going to kill him! And then I’m going to rip his arm off and take the Omnitrix core from that! When I see him, oh, he’s going to regret putting me in this miserable, miserable position!”

“You are extremely hostile towards your brother. It simply doesn’t make sense.” The stranger continued, “Maybe a deeper look inside is-”

“Don’t.” Albedo growled, his tone dangerous as he quickly threw up as many mental barriers as he could around his mind. He was no telepath, but he knew how to redirect one if he was aware of them trying to get in. Every Galvan did. It did Galvans no good to have their secrets stolen by outsiders in such a way. The man had mentioned telepaths. Albedo had a fantastic guess as to what his little mutation with his mind had done to the man.

He could not be trusted.

“Stay out, I do not allow such meddling.” He continued, “And cease referring to this… this Deka, as my brother. I want no such association with the fool.” The man stopped talking, blinking with surprise as he tilted his head.

“...How very, very interesting. I’ve not met a human with a mind so strong in a very, very long time. You’ll take time to crack, now that you’ve raised your defenses, but I will break in eventually… That is… Unless you wish to bargain with me.”

Albedo perked up at this.

A bargain?

Oh, Albedo could work with that.

“What sort?”

“You very clearly want Deka dealt with. It doesn’t take a mind reader to know that. We want him stopped as well. We have a common ground.” They probably wanted to know the source of his powers. They didn’t know the Omnitrix, but that did not mean Ben Tennyson didn’t foolishly flaunt his abilities for unwanted eyes to see.

They didn’t know what the Omnitrix was. They didn’t know how it worked. How to remove it. Nothing. They likely had tools Albedo could use or makeshift into removing it. If he could get the core out and into his empty Ulitmatrix shell, Albedo would finally be free. They wouldn’t even know. He could lie. He could pretend like he was merely disabling a communicator. Make implications that the transformations came from Ben Tennyson, and not the watch.

He finally had the upper hand in a bargain.

“He’s come to our country with a team. We need that team dealt with. My men are searching through the desert to find them as we speak, but the Queen has her eyes set on catching Deka. The problem is…”

“No one here is even close to being equipped to stop him.” Albedo said with a nod, “He’s the most powerful person in the entire universe. What hope do you have?”

“Well… I wouldn’t say that. His shapeshifting abilities are unique but no one could be-”

“You have no idea who it is you're trying to defeat.” Albedo cut in with an exaggerated eye roll, “Or rather, what it is you’re trying to defeat. Your measly soldiers stand no chance… But, you’re right. I do know his weaknesses. I know how to bring him down.” The man offered Albedo an ear to ear grin as he nodded to the two soldiers next to Albedo.

A click, and his restraints were removed. Albedo rubbed his wrists before noticing the stranger was holding out his hand, offering to shake.

“Psimon.” He introduced at long last. Albedo hiestated, knowing now that Ben Tennyson likely kept his name secret for a very good reason. It was actually ingenious in a foriegn world.

“...Thallus.” Albedo replied, “Thallus of the Galvan.”

“Well, Thallus. This will be the start of a wonderful partnership!” Albedo could only smirk, knowing that for once, him knowing more than the enemy was actually going to pay off.

“Wonderful, indeed.”

Notes:

If I spell Khyber's name wrong anywhere in this chapter, I apologize. Even when I look it up, his name is really weird to spell.

Chapter 44: Ben is Only Further Confused.

Notes:

As a reminder: Spanner= Robin, Gwen= M'gann, Kevin= Conner, Ken= Wally, Kai= Artemis, Rook= Kaldur.

“Gwen!” The green girl hovering over the desert met eyes with Ben, and immediately, Ben knew something was off.

Gwen wasn’t supposed to be green. And her eyes weren’t supposed to be yellow. But yet, out of all of the people Ben was getting mixed up, the line between Gwen and who this girl was actually supposed to be was the blurriest. Despite the difference in skin and eyes, she looked so painfully similar to his cousin, he couldn’t help but wonder if in the memory scramble, he’d lost a bit of information where Gwen’s skin mutated to be green or something crazy like that.
It was totally possible.

“Woah, a Martian.” Not-Spanner said, looking awed. Said Martian’s eyes lit up with joy as she flew down as if to greet them, her arms opened wide with delight.

“I found you! I knew you guys had to be close!” She said cheerfully. Ben couldn’t resist. As soon as she was within reach, he nearly tackled her with a hug.

“Gwen, thank goodness you’re okay!” He breathed out as a sudden wave of emotions seemed to roll in his stomach.

He missed Gwen so much.

The girl went stiff, her eyes widening in surprise at the motion.

“You know this girl?” Not-Kai asked, eyeing Gwen skeptically. Ben nodded eagerly as he pulled free and gestured to her.

“Yeah, the great Gwendolyn Tennyson, sorceress supreme. One of the best magicians in the universe… And my cousin.” Ben beamed proudly. The green girl’s face flushed a deeper shade of green.

“Oh, um, that’s flattering, but… My name’s M’gann, not Gwen.”

“Sure it is.” Ben laughed, “Right, Ken. Come on, cos, I’m not stupid.” Not-Ken frowned in clear concern.

“I’m supposed to know who she is?”

“Um, yeah, she’s your sister, Ken.” Ben replied with an eyeroll, to wish Not-Ken immediately cringed and looked beat red for some weird reason. Not-Spanner put a hand on Ben’s shoulder.

“Um, Ben… Your memories are scrambled, remember? Wally and the Martian aren’t your cousins.” Ben’s headache returned as he processed the information. Right… Not-Spanner was right. They were, they were on Ben’s team. But then… Where was Gwen again?

“You’ve lost your memories too.” The Martian said with a nod, “I did too, but I’ve been getting them back. Using my telepathy to patch myself up. I realized I had a team, and I’ve been looking for you.

“Correction.” Not-Spanner gestured to himself and the others, “We’ve lost the past six months of our memories. Ben’s memories are completely switched around. He remembers all of us, but he’s also confusing us for different people.”

“Like his cousins, apparently… And whoever the heck Kai and Spanner are.” Not-Kai deadpanned.

“Oh, Spanner’s a time traveler. Kai’s this obnoxious know-it-all archaeologist plumber chick.” Ben provided helpfully.

“...You think I’m a time traveler?” Not-Spanner snorted.

“...You think I’m obnoxious?” Not-Kai deadpanned. Ben swallowed hard.

“Um, well, Kai’s actually been a lot more tolerable than normal.” Gwen giggled in a very un-Gwen-like way before letting her feet meet the sand.

“That’s fine. I can help you guys. I’m a telepath and a friend. I can go into your heads and fix your memories, if you’ll let me.” She could do that? Sweet! He knew Gwen could do some magic aura related stuff that was kinda related to empathy, but he hadn’t realized she was a fully developed telepath now. Then again, she wasn’t normally green…

“You, rummage through our heads?” Not-Kai said in alarm as she took a timid step back. Not-Ken put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“We need to know what happened to us, beautiful.” Not-Ken insisted. She still didn’t look fully convinced, but she relaxed a little. She parted her lips as if to say more when a loud boom caught their attention. All of them went to attention, Ben reaching for his watch as a large plume of sand and dust rose in the dunes near them and the sound of more gunfire could be heard.

“Superboy.” Gwen said, breathing in alarm.

“...You mean Kevin?” Ben realized.

“Forget that, we need to move and recollect.” Not-Spanner cut in, “If the Martian can help fix our memories we can figure out what the heck is going on and fix it way sooner.” Andangry growl came from the direction of the commotion. Ben’s expression went slack.

Kevin was angry.

Kevin was out of control.

“No, no, no, no…” Ben staggered back, “Gwen, you’ve gotta talk some sense into Kevin. He’ll snap out of it for you. He listens to you. We need to find Rook and Albedo. We can fix the memories once we know everyone’s safe. This isn’t a good spot to do this. We’re gonna lose teammates!”

“Snap out of it?” Not-Kai asked in bewilderment.

“When Kevin uses his powers too much, he loses his mind.” Ben helpfully provided, “But Gwen has helped him before. He’s in love with her, remember?”

“But!” Ken objected.

“We don’t have time to argue. Rook is gonna die if we don’t find him soon.” Ben snapped, “Kevin’s basically unstoppable like he is. It’s too dangerous. Only Gwen should go after him. We need to find Rook. Find the team first. Memories second.” Gwen blinked, clearly baffled.

“He’s… He’s right actually. I need time to fix our memories. It’ll be faster if we regroup. I think he’s talking about Aqualad. Aqualad will die of dehydration or heat stroke if we can’t get to him soon.” Gwen agreed. Not-Ken and Not-Spanner exchanged knowing, worried looks. Apparently, they knew the other name that Gwen had provided better than they knew the name Rook.

“Can you locate him?” Not-Spanner asked Gwen. Gwen nodded, motioning to the north, the opposite direction of the commotion to the side of them.

“Okay. Then, Kid Flash, Artemis, and I will get Aqualad. Ben and M’gann… You stop… Kevin. Then we find this Albedo guy, right?” Not-Spanner suggested. Ben hummed in agreement. That could work.

“See you in a flash!” Not-Ken called, linking arms with Not-Kai and Not-Spanner before disappearing in a blur. Ben was left with Gwen.

“Just like old times, right, dofus?” Ben teased. Gwen gave him a strange look.

“Um, sure?” Weird answer, but Ben went with it as he selected at random on his watch.

“Oh, forget it. Let's calm Kevin down.” A flash of green later, and Ben realized he had turned into what seemed like an adult form of a human, with black hair sweeping in front of his face and a weird green uniform that kinda reminded Ben of a mix between classic heroes from his favorite comics and Ben 10,000.

“Um…” He gawked at his bigger body, not knowing at all what to make of it.

“...Did… Did you just TURN into Superman?!” Gwen squeaked.

“Who?”

“He’s a Kryptonian. A humanoid alien that is basically unstoppable.” Gwen provided.

“Oh, this is an alien? I didn’t know some aliens looked this human. Oh well. Let's see what this guy can do!” Ben smirked as he searched for his instincts, and found himself zipping across the desert and towards where the commotion was. Gwen flew after him, and they came up on a bunch of tanks attacking a teenaged boy with black hair that seemed intent on taking the machine on with nothing but brute force.

And he was actually doing a fantastic job at it.

“Kevin.” He flew at the teen, tackling him to the ground and bracing for impact as several bullets peppered them both. Ben had no clue why, but he’d instinctively known that the bullets would be harmless. The teen went completely still, as rage seemed to dissipate from the boy’s eyes, replaced, oddly enough, by slight recognition. Then the eyes rolled to the back of his head. He slumped in Ben’s arms, though he didn't think he tackled the kid that bad.

He’d not been meaning to knock Kevin out, but that worked.

“Gwen, I’ve got him I-” More bullets slammed into him and Ben spun around, glaring harshly at the tanks and the attackers. He shot forwards, moving at incredible speed as he burst into their ranks, grabbing and breaking guns, destroying tanks, and causing as much mayhem as he could in the span of a few seconds.

‘Ben, behind you!’ Gwen’s voice called in alarm. Ben turned, ready to intercept, only for something to slam into the Omnitrix core on his chest, and for the world to flash bright green.

He stumbled backwards, completely human with a red Omnitrix. Standing in front of him was a person in a high-tech, black, red, and gray uniform with a hood over a mess of white hair. All too familiar red eyes glared hatefully at him. He was wearing a mask, just like Ben, and dressed all wrong. However, Ben didn’t doubt for a second who was looking at.

“Al-”

“Thallus.” Albedo interrupted, “And you are Deka.” Ben blinked. He… Was going by the name of the Galvan that helped found Galvan Prime? Why? He knew Albedo had an ego, but that was just strange. Ben heard several clicks, and he glanced over his shoulder, noticing several of the bad guys had their weapons trained on him. He looked down at his watch.

Red. Albedo must’ve shut it off when he hit Ben. He grinned at Ben smugly.

“I suggest you surrender.” He purred. Ben swallowed hard, looking around for Gwen, before raising his hands in surrender.

‘Ben, don’t worry. I’m going to get the others to help you and Superboy.’ Gwen called. Albedo flinched at the sound, and Ben realized that Albedo could hear her too.

‘Gwen, pull him from the link, he can hear us.’ Ben said frantically.

‘He’s… Linked? But, he’s attacking you, what’s-’

‘Break the link!’ Ben insisted. Her voice fell quiet.

“Another telepath.” Albedo noted, “And your cousin is here as well?” Albedo turned from Ben as a few soldiers came from behind grabbing Ben and pinning his hands behind his back, “Tell me, Deka, what is going on?”

“We’ve lost our memories… Er, at least, Gwen and Kevin have. A telepath attacked us. They scrambled mine and I think they got to you too.” Albedo immediately scoffed.

“I would never be caught off guard by a telepath so easily. I’m Galvan, remember? We don’t like our secrets being stolen.” Albedo challenged.

“Normally, I’d agree, but you were in the link with us. That means a telepath was in your head, dude.” Ben insisted.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s desperate for a distraction, his friends can’t be too far. How about we take this little interrogation somewhere else?” A new voice cut in. A dude pulled down his hood, revealing a see-through skull where Ben could see his brain.

“No, Al, er, Thallus, listen to me! What is the last thing you remember? Doesn’t anything about this seem off to you? Do you even remember how you got in that outfit? Or how you got out here? Or… I dunno, why is the Ulitmatrix broken?”

Albedo flinched at that last one.

But then he scowled darkly.

“Knock him out. He’s less dangerous when he’s unconscious.” Albedo ordered. Ben opened his mouth to object further, but then something slammed into the side of his head, hard, and everything went black.

Chapter 45: At The Hands Of His Brother.

‘What is the last thing you remember?’ Tennyson’s question rattled through Albedo’s mind. The last thing he remembered was getting captured by alien smugglers. The last he remembered, the Ultimatrix worked. The last he remembered, he was in his own universe on the version of Earth he’d been growing accustomed to living on. Last he remembered, he’d been in a ratty black t-shirt, grimy jeans, with a nearly in tatters red jacket, not in some high tech uniform that Albedo hadn’t had the time or energy to test and understand.

But that didn’t matter.

Because he had Tennyson.

They strapped the Kryptionian teenager to a table, while Albedo loomed over Ben Tennyson’s unconscious form.

“How’d you know how to pull him out of his Kryptioian form?” Psimon questioned. Albedo grimaced.

“I was a part of the team that made Deka the way he is.” Albedo replied, “There are certain ways to get him to revert to his human form… I don’t plan on sharing. It’s a trade secret.”

“You created him.” Psimon noted, “Why are you against him then?”

“Heh, I don’t think I want to tell my life story to a telepath I barely trust.” Albedo retorted, “But, in short, the man behind the project, Azmuth, made a grave error in selecting Deka as his champion. I intend to correct the mistake Azmuth made.” Albedo moved hair away from Tennyson’s face. He was wearing a mask, but even with the mask, Albedo could see hints of the similarities between his own face and Tennyson’s. It was degrading.

“What is a Galvan anyways?” Psimon asked, “You mentioned that being Galvan helped you against telepaths?”

Albedo chose to tread carefully. They didn’t know about his native race. They thought he was human. It was better that way, even if Albedo hated it.

“In short, it’s referencing my degree of intellect.” Albedo replied, “It's an intergalactic term. It means I’m intelligent to the extent that should I choose to resist someone like you, I can. That does not mean I’m immune to telepathy, not like Deka is, but it does mean I won’t be letting you rummage in my mind anytime soon.” And if he let his guard down around one and got too comfortable with one, then theoretically, losing his memory to one was impossible. But no sane Galvan would be so close and trusting towards a telepath to let that happen.

“How does he fight my powers?”

“Azmuth didn’t want his champion easily mind controlled. So, he isn’t. If you want to control Deka, there are multiple hoops you’d have to jump through.”

“Well, what would be a good method?” Psimon asked. Albedo considered for a moment before shrugging.

“Hormones and instincts.” Albedo admitted, “Azmuth blocked telepathy, but anything natural to a specific form he left untouched for safety reasons. Of course, hormones would only work on specific forms. Forcing him into his instincts works, but yet again, only in specific forms. Hypnotism used to work, but in the recent upgrades to his abilities, that issue was completely eradicated.”

“So, nothing can control him completely?”

“The experiment would be pointless if something could take control of him.” Albedo replied with an eye roll. He was hyper aware of the watch on Tennyson’s arm, but selectively chose to ignore that, running basic scans and doing a routine check up on his vitals while Psimon was watching. He’d mess with the Omnitrix further when Psimon wasn’t looming so close. When it was safer.

Speaking of the telepath…

Albedo grabbed the man’s arm before it could grab the corner of Tennyson’s mask. He narrowed a glare at the man.

“Leave it.”

“Oh, but knowing his identity is such good leverage against someone with so much power.” Psimon pointed out. So… Tennyson did keep his identity a secret in this world. How long had Tennyson been in that world if these people knew him and that he’d taken on a persona?

“His identity is linked to mine.” Albedo replied. He wasn’t sure why, but something in the back of his mind knew that was true. It had been that way back in their universe. It had to be the same in this one. No one looked at Albedo and didn’t associate him with Tennyson. Tennyson had been mistaken for Albedo many times before, “I’m not the sharing type, Psimon.”

“So, you two really are identical under those masks… And yet, you aren’t brothers? Is he your clone?” Psimon asked before gesturing to the Kryptionian teen strapped to the other table, “The boy over there is a clone… Or is it the other way around?”

“I am no one’s clone. And Deka is no clone.” Albedo growled, annoyed that anyone would even think that, “It’s… Complicated.” He then shot an irritated glare Psimon’s way, “Anyways, if you want me to work effectively, perhaps you should not crowd me.” Psimon backed up with an apologetic grin.

“Right, of course. I didn’t mean to bother. Please continue. I must tend to the main project anyways.” Psimon nodded toward the sphere. Albedo winced as it made a disparate whirring sound. Such a marvelous creature being subjected to the poor practices of human scientists. They were going to likely destroy it before they ever learned anything useful from it. Such was the error of being human.

It really couldn’t be helped. It wasn’t like Albedo was strong enough to do anything about it on his own. But… With the Omnitrix core… Albedo refocused on Tennyson and glanced over at the tools they’d set aside for him to work with. He grimaced.

For a research facility, his options were pitiful.

Removing the core without Azmuth was a daunting task, but Albedo had to get it before they realized what it was.

He picked up a slender tool and moved closer to the watch. He popped the cover off, and twisted the dial gently, moving through the alien lists, and then switching to the basic controls. He turned off the speaker so that the Omnitrix would remain silent. He shut down all communications and trackers in it.

Everything else, unfortunately, would be much, much more difficult to work around. He tinkered for a second before it flashed at him angrily, not liking that it was being messed with. Albedo froze, his hands trembling because he shouldn't have done that. But he has slipped in the delicate process. Too large and too clumsy hands once more being his undoing.

Frustration built in his stomach. If he had a few days, he could get it out, but he had to get it out before Psimon noticed the Omnitrix’s importance. He was rushing delicate work, and it was going to backfire. Albedo knew it would backfire. Why wouldn’t it?

It wouldn’t even have been so bad if it hadn’t been a newer model that was less familiar to Albedo than the one from Tennyson’s youth. Albedo had helped create the original and he had perfected the Ultimatrix. He had not, however, done any worthwhile work on the newest model. Azmuth was getting more paranoid, it seemed, because the safeguards were somehow worse than Albedo remembered.

Tennyson groaned, making Albedo stop. Albedo growled, pulling from the Omnitrix entirely as Tennyson tried to move his arm to no avail. His eyes fluttered open, confused.

“Grandpa?”

“Don’t move.” Albedo hissed. Tennyson blinked dumbly before finally focusing on Albedo. He squinted for a moment before he finally seemed to recall what had happened.

“Al-”

“Thallus.” Albedo inserted quickly as he looked warily over to where Psimon was overseeing the sphere and the Kryptionian teen. As if sensing Albedo’s gaze, Psimon looked over, grinning in Albedo direction. The very action sent a shiver down his spine. Albedo quickly looked away.

“...Thallus…” Tennyson tried out the name before speaking in a hushed whisper, “Who the heck are these people?”

“I don’t know, nor do I really care. They wanted you out of the way and I was gracious enough to help them.” Albedo replied, “Now stay still. I will have you sedated if you don’t.” Tennyson’s eyes flickered nervously to the watch.

“Al… Thallus, please don’t.” He said, “This isn’t you.” Begging? This was… So unlike him. If Albedo had learned anything, Tennyson did NOT beg. He was too stubborn.

“You don’t know me.”

“...I think I do.” Tennyson insisted, “My memories are a jumbled mess, but I know you’re in trouble. These people are dangerous. Al, er, Thallus, I can help you I can-”

“You want to help?” Albedo growled, louder than he meant, “Stay still!” Surprisingly, Tennyson complied.

“...Why call yourself Thallus,” Ben whispered, “If you’re going to betray his people further?” Oh, so Tennyson had heard of Thallus. Not many people remembered him. Azmuth outshone Thallus as far as Galvanic legends went. They taught about Thallus in Plumber schools, but people of all races had the annoying tendency to forget information that didn’t apply to them. Azmuth was relevant to everyone. Thallus was merely important to Galvans.

“I’m surprised you recognized the name.”

“Of course I know who he is. Azmuth drilled it into my head.” Tennyson replied.

“If you must know, it’s my father’s name.” Albedo replied. Tennyson went completely silent. He could see the gears turning in his head. Pieces clicking into place.

“Azmuth never-”

“Why would he?” Albedo spat out, “Why would anyone say anything about me at all. I’m a traitor, aren’t I?”

“...I’m sorry.”

Albedo froze at those two simple words. It felt strange, hearing them come from Tennyson’s lips. He was the last person Albedo expected to apologize to him with such sincerity. Albedo wasn’t sure what to do with it. Emotions he didn’t understand danced in his chest and Albedo put his tool down and turned away from Tennyson quickly, not wanting to meet his eyes. Psimon, ever watching, noticed immediately. He was across the room within seconds.

“Perhaps you should help us with the main project. Deka will still be available for you to work with at any time now that we have him. But this technology…” Psimon motioned towards the sphere, “Is very complex. A set of fresh eyes from a man of your expertise?”

“You can’t understand a living machine. That thing is as complex as an organism. One does not simply hack into it to understand its complexities and its strengths and weaknesses.” Albedo replied immediately without thinking. He didn’t notice some of the looks he was getting from a few of the eavesdropping scientists.

“Well, then, how does one understand a living machine?” Psimon asked. Albedo raised his arm, uncovering the Ultimatrix as he adjusted the translator to account for the sphere. It recalibrated.

And then Albedo heard its pleas and cries.

He instantly flinched, covering his ears as it begged to be set free. It was in pain. These people, in their crude and unrefined experimentation, were destroying a creature without really learning much from it. It was so… Disgusting. It left a bad taste in Albedo’s mouth. These people were a mockery to science. He wasn’t sure how much he could stand it.

“Whatever experiment you're conducting as of now must cease. It’s not bearing fruit and it is placing the creature under unnecessary stress.” Albedo reported.

“What did you do exactly?” Psimon pressed, clearly interested in his response.

“Turned on my universal translator.” Albedo replied before his eyes narrowing, “What exactly are you hoping to achieve here?”

“It’s a powerful machine. Something we can reverse engineer and weaponize, should we come to understand it.”

“What planet is it even from? How did you-” Albedo’s question was cut off by an angry growl. He looked to find that the Kryptionian boy was finally awake and struggling angrily against his reinforced bindings.

“Kevin.” Tennyson called. Albedo’s eyebrows shot up as something seemed to click. Tennyson… Tennyson thought that the Kryptionian was his osmosian friend.

‘They scrambled mine.’ Albedo’s eyes narrowed.

“Agent Eleven is not here, Deka.” Albedo said carefully.

“What are you talking about, he’s right there.” Tennyson insisted. He nodded uselessly towards the Kryptionian.

“That’s not Agent Eleven. Agent Eleven has brown eyes, Deka. This boy has blue. Agent Eleven is osmosian. This boy is Kryptionian.” Albedo reasoned. Tennyson looked extremely confused. Albedo watched his expression carefully. The confusion quickly turned to something painful and he flinched, as if thinking about the differences pained him somehow.

Tennyson had been telling the truth. Someone had meddled with his memories. That was supposed to be impossible with all of the Omnitrix’s safe guards. The only way it would’ve even been remotely possible was if he’d trusted a telepath enough to let them through the Omnitrix’s safe guards.

The red haired girl with the green skin.

The one who’d spoken into both of their minds.

Which meant… Albedo had let someone into his head, and his memories had likely been altered as well. Anger stirred within him. Dark and bitter as he realized someone had played him for a fool. He had two very good guesses as to whom. The first being the telepath standing in front of him, and the second being the red haired girl.

“Thallus, calm down.” Psimon said suddenly. Albedo looked up and he realized red energy was dancing through the tent, screwing with the technology around them. Albedo’s face went slack as the rage was completely replaced with bewilderment.

“...Anodite energy?” He whispered before looking at an equally baffled Tennyson, “You’ve discovered your spark, Deka?”

“That wasn’t me.” Tennyson said softly, “I’m not allowed to use magic. But I think you were dabbling with it, if I remember right.” Tennyson looked down, and Albedo followed his gaze. His eyes widened when he realized his hands were blazing with energy.

“What in Azmuth’s name-” Albedo started, but he was cut off by the sound of gunfire outside the tent.

Notes:

So, I was informed last week that the one year anniversary for this story was this week. It was in fact, yesterday on Thursday the 14th upon further inspection. So, in celebration, I wrote a one shot to go along with this story that can be found here https://archiveofourown.org/works/38406403 or if you click over on the Reflect Series arrow.

Also, Happy Easter and happy Good Friday to everyone!

Chapter 46: A Breakthrough.

Not-Spanner burst into the tent, with Not-Ken close behind, using his superspeed to snatch the weapons from many of the bad guy’s hands before they could be fired. The brain guy, who Ben had just decided to call Servantis 2.0, moved forwards, as if ready to do something to them, but froze when his eyes locked onto Not-Gwen, who flew into the tent.

Albedo tensed, as he raised his fists in anticipation of a fight.

“Reflect, Deka!” Not-Spanner said with a grin, “You two are okay!”

“Who in Azmuth’s name are you?!” Albedo growled.

“I’m Robin. We’re here to save you guys.”

“Rook?” Ben asked.

“Back at the ship. Aqualad’s gonna be fine, Deka. Artemis drew the troops away, we’re here for you three. Last ones on the ‘fix memories’ list now.” Not-Ken replied. Good, that was good. He relaxed a little as Not-Spanner came forwards to help cut him free.

Albedo growled, getting in the way.

“Not a step closer, child.” He snarled dangerously. The red mana from before was back, flaring at his hands. Ben had strange memories of him using magic before, but Ben had the sense that Albedo had forgotten he knew magic.

Ben was kinda curious why he could use it when he hadn’t even known he had it. Maybe the suit he was wearing?

Well, whatever the case was, the flare of magic was enough to get Not-Spanner to stop in his approach as he raised his hands in surrender, likely in an attempt to make himself seem friendly.

“Reflect, we’re friendly. We’re gonna fix your and Deka’s memories and get you two home, okay?”

“Home… Do you… Do you even hear yourself boy?!” Albedo laughed as he shook his head, his anger radiated off of him in waves of crimson, making Robin take a wary step back, “I can’t go home! What fool do you take me for! A sub-intellect such as yourself…Why! And here you are attempting to convince me, likely the most intelligent being you’ll ever meet, that you can send me home?!”

Ben squinted, confused. What was he on about?

“Leave.” Albedo said, his tone darkening into something dangerous, “It's touching that you apparently thought I needed rescue, children, but I am fine. Take your… Pet…” He nodded towards Kevin, who was fighting his restraints angrily in the chaos, “And leave me and Deka alone.”

“Reflect, what the heck.” Not-Ken deadpanned, having finished disarming and tying down the bad guys. Not-Gwen and Servantis 2.0 were still very much engaged in a weird staring contest and the living sphere was whining weakly at the events unfolding.

“Don’t call me that.” Albedo spat, “Reflect!? Did I name myself that? Azmuth, what had I been thinking?”

“We’re just here to help. Miss. M can fix your memories. You’re confused. We get it, okay. She can help you. From what we figured, this guy-” Not-Spanner motioned towards Psimon, “Hijacked our telepathic link and messed with our heads. Trust me. We’re friends. We aren’t going to hurt you or Deka.” Albedo narrowed his eyes, studying them before glancing down at the crimson flickering from his hands.

“Well, that’s a shame. Because I have no qualms about hurting you.” He decided.

“Reflect, wait!” Not-Spanner called, but Albedo thrust his hand down and the world erupted in red. He felt something cut him free only for his hands to be immediately jerked behind his back and secured with handcuffs.

Ben’s head spun and his ears rang as the sensation of him being shoved roughly seemed to be the only grounding factor.

When the red finally left his vision, he realized Albedo had somehow managed to cast a confusion spell, even without having any real training, and had gotten Ben out of the tent and away from the others.

His fingers dug into Ben’s shoulders as he pushed him towards one of the surviving trucks.

“Reflect, stop!” Not-Kai’s voice cut through the desert. Albedo snarled, throwing his free hand out and throwing mana towards the green clad archer. She rolled out of the way.

“Reflect, what the heck are you doing?! Snap out of it!” She growled before she charged in an attack. He shoved Ben to the side, falling into a stance, one of the best Ben had ever seen him assume, in front of Ben.

“Kai, no. It’s fine. I’ll be fine.” Ben said quickly, not sure why he was stopping her, “Let us go.” She slowed in her attack as she watched him uncertainty.

“Deka…”

“Let us go.” Ben repeated, “We’ll be okay.” She nodded, her eyes trusting despite Ben not entirely knowing why. He thought Kai hated his guts.

“Okay.”

Albedo grabbed his shoulder.

“Get in.” He hissed, motioning to the vehicle. Ben compiled without objection. Albedo got into the driver's seat just as the others rushed out of the tent. Not-Kevin looked… No longer mindless and was being trailed by the sphere thing. Not-Spanner and Not-Ken looked borderline terrified by the whole thing, watching as Albedo finished twisting wires and as he started the truck. Not-Gwen was nowhere to be found.

Albedo wasted no time in flooring it. Ben winced at the guy; who was driving like the maniac he was acting like. Ben tried to not be launched through the windshield by Albedo’s reckless and inexperienced driving.

Guy could fly a spaceship and hotwire a vehicle that was alien to him, but he still hadn’t tried to drive a human car before… Had he?

Jeesh. Albedo had so much to learn.

Ben had to pause internally at that lingering thought.

“Who are those people?” Albedo asked, “Are they this world’s Plumbers?” Albedo demanded as he drove.

“This world? Dude, yes they’re Plumbers… I… Um… Think?” Ben winced, his headache returning. Albedo huffed irritability.

“Right, you’re about as useful when it comes to getting intel as an actual ape at the moment. No matter. I don’t need you for your memories. Just your watch.”

“Look… Al.” Albedo grimaced at the nickname version of his name, “I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but… I have some genuinely good memories between you and I… Last I remembered, you were in trouble. You’d been captured.”

“Good memories? What, are you mistaking me for one of your cousins?!” Albedo laughed, though there was no humor in it.

“I… Don’t think so?” Ben winced, “It’s all confusing. Everything is kinda out of order… But… I know we aren’t supposed to be fighting like this. Albes, you’re scaring them.”

“I don’t even know those people.” Albedo growled, “They’re irrelevant. If it weren’t for the Omnitrix, you would be too.”

“Al, please-”

“Shut up!” Albedo snarled and Ben clamped his mouth shut, shrinking in his seat.

It wasn’t that he was scared of Albedo. Actually, he was more scared for him. Something was really, really wrong. And Ben, for once in his life, had no idea if he could fix it. He hated not being able to help him. It was driving him insane.

There was a thud behind them of something hitting the truck. A string of very, very rude Galvanic swears left Albedo’s lips as the truck came to an abrupt halt.

Something seemed to telepathically tear through the truck, and Ben found himself falling. He landed in the sand, staring up at the desert sky in complete confusion. Not-Gwen shimmered into existence above him. The truck tossed aside like a toy, its occupants beneath her, unharmed.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to help you two.” She explained.

“Leave, Martian.” Albedo growled.

She didn’t do that. Instead she floated herself down to the ground as Ben sat up, landing in front of Albedo. Albedo scrambled back.

Hurt flashed across her face.

“Albedo please.” She whispered, “You know me.”

“I’ve never seen you in my life.” He denied. Her pained expression became even more distressed as she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

Then her face lit up as if she had an idea.

“...School and boys and parents. A whole lot to juggle for Miss You-Know-Who.” Was she… Singing? What the heck was going on? Albedo stared at her, his own jaw slightly dropped in bewilderment.

“What are you…” Ben stammered.

“This cheerleader knows the score. Center of attention and so much more!” Albedo seemed relaxed, his surprise shifting to something akin to recognition. Not-Gwen dared to move closer. Albedo didn’t move. In fact, he seemed more interested in the apparently familiar song she was singing than her movement or… Well, anything else.

“A little bit distractible, but never too intractable. She's really quite attractable. Okay, a lot distractible!”

“...Hello Megan?” Albedo whispered. Not-Gwen nodded, smiling.

“Hey, Albes.” The recognition twisted, turning into something frightened. Something confused. His anger was gone.

He looked like almost looked like a terrified kid.

“...M’gann… Help…” He sounded so… Broken, “Help me. I… I don’t understand…” She was close enough to touch her forehead against his… And she did exactly that. His eyes flashed green for a small moment before horror stretched over his face.

He clung to her, tears forming in his eyes as he trembled, then broke into a heartbroken sob. She embraced him, clearly not expecting the emotional reaction to her powers.

“...I’m sorry.” He managed, “I’m sorry.”

Chapter 47: The Mission Failed.

“What happened?”

Ben had never really been scared of Batman, and Ben knew Batman scared a lot of people. However, at that moment, Ben couldn’t help but shrink under the Dark Knight’s stare. It was a simple question.

But Ben had absolutely no idea how to answer it.

“Ben.” Canary prompted, “The team won’t say a word. The most we know is that you’ve had an encounter with Psimon. Do you realize how dangerous-”

“I think we figured out how dangerous Psimon is.” Ben cut in, “He took the past six months from basically all of us and M’gann had to fix what he messed with. Six months ago, Conner didn’t exist, and Albedo and I were involved in an underground war. Artemis didn’t know most of us, same with M’gann. All of us woke up in an unfamiliar, hostile environment. So, you know, I think you can pretty much figure out why the team isn’t in the talking mood right now. Things went south really fast… And a few of us made some mistakes we wouldn’t normally make. Said things we wouldn’t normally say. M’gann’s assured all of us that Psimon’s meddling isn’t going to be a problem anymore… But the mission was a bust. I think we just need to recover some… It was a pretty stressful night, okay?”

He didn’t look up, but he could feel the Dark Knight’s eyes narrowing. Batman had questions. This wasn’t going to be something he let go of so easily. Ben… Didn’t tell the team to keep quiet about how Albedo had freaked out… But for some weird reason they were.

Ben wasn’t going to complain, but he also knew it made the mission look even more suspicious than it would’ve had they just come clean and thrown Albedo under the bus.

Albedo hadn’t said a word to anyone since his memories got fixed. He’d flown the whole trip home, half in tears, half panicking, leaning into Ben while M’gann kept assuring him he was going to be fine. He dried his tears for the debriefing, but ignored all questions directed towards him as Batman had attempted to figure out what went wrong.

The team followed the albino’s lead, with M’gann only disclosing that they’d had an encounter with Psimon.

Ben had asked M’gann and Conner to take Albedo back to their apartment so that he could finish filling out the mission report. He didn’t really want to leave Albedo alone, so when M’gann said she’d watch him for Ben, he hadn’t hesitated to give her the keys to the apartment and the number of their Zeta Tube.

Wally, Artemis, and Robin were eventually sent home. Aqualad was still in medbay, getting checked out by Red Tornado. That left Ben to damage control.

Ben found himself fiddling with the Omnitrix, a pang of hurt stretching across his chest. It had been coming and going since M’gann had literally stitched his memories back in place. He’d nearly broken into tears himself when he remembered the differences between his friends in the Omniverse and his friends in the Heroverse.

But Ben Ten doesn’t cry.

So Ben crammed that instinct down quickly and took the best control he could over the situation, ordering Artemis to fly them home, since Albedo didn’t seem to want M’gann to leave his side.

They brought along a hitchhiker, the sphere robot thing that Conner apparently liked. It or she, as Conner insisted, was down in the garage. Conner asked Ben if he could ‘Keep her’ in the most Kevin-like way too…

“...Ben?” Ben jerked his head up, eyes locking with Canary’s concerned ones, “Ben?”

“Could you repeat the question?”

“...Ben, I think you should go home now.” Canary said, her tone gentle.

“No, no. What was the question? I was just a little distracted, that’s all.”

“Ben, I didn’t ask any questions. You’re tired. Maybe you should take your own advice and get some rest. We can discuss this tomorrow after the Team’s had some downtime to recover.” Canary informed him. He parted his lips to argue. But he found he couldn’t.

Ben couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so exhausted.

“Okay.”

She moved out of the way so that he could reach Zeta, a thousand thoughts and emotions still twisting through him like a roller coaster.

The way Wally and Artemis argued… No wonder he thought she was Kai.

Or how Ben could totally see Wally buying a car, despite his superspeed, and calling it the ‘Awesome mobile.’ Cousin Ken had been someone Ben adored when he was younger. He did always regret growing apart from his older cousin, but in Ken’s teenage years, before he went off to college, he’d been a lot like Wally.

And Aqualad was so loyal and acted so Rook-like…

“Recognized: Deka B-10.” Ben’s stomach did a little somersault as he was teleported out of the cave and found himself in the phone booth just outside the Wayne apartment complexes he and Albedo lived in.

Wary, he began his walk towards the apartment, doing his best to cram the comparisons away. He felt pretty crappy as it was from the memory scramble thing. He didn’t need those little similarities that barely tied his world with theirs to keep nagging at him.

It was bad enough that M’gann looked just a little too much like Gwen. He didn’t need the whole team reminding him of the Omniverse.

He came to the apartment, knocking twice on the door. It swung open, Kevin… No… Conner waited on the other side. Ben winced.

Right.

He told Conner and M’gann to watch Albedo.

“How’d it go?” Conner asked, “What’d you tell him?”

“I told him we all got our memories mixed, but M’gann solved the issue.” Ben replied, “Bats still obviously has questions, but he seemed like he was gonna give us some space.” He wasn’t a telepath, but he could practically hear the questions behind Conner’s eyes. They went unasked. Ben was grateful as he pushed past Conner and went inside. He ignored the fretting M’gann who was at the counter and how she perked up at his arrival and went to Albedo’s room.

He opened the door slightly, finding his doppleganger sound asleep.

Ben sighed in relief.

Good. He needed rest.

“Thanks for looking out for him, M.” Ben muttered as he closed the door and moved to go to his own bedroom, “I’m sorry for causing you guys so much trouble today. You guys can head back and go to bed if you want. I’ll watch him.”

“...Ben… What is he?” M’gann asked, her voice soft and careful. Ben froze, his hand hovering over the knob of his bedroom door.

“What are you-”

“When I fixed his memories… I realized… His first language isn’t English… But something completely extraterrestrial. I’ve had my suspicions for a while… He’s about as clueless about humans and Earth culture as I am… But…”

Ben let out a heavy, tired sigh.

“He’s my big brother, M’gann.” Ben replied, “The rest of that really isn’t your business.”

“Ben, he’s in so much pain.” M’gann replied, “I just want to help him. To help both of you. I don’t… I don’t know what happened to you two, but from what I figured out, and what I noticed from the whole memory thing, and from the theories Robin and Wally have-”

“...Theories?” Ben asked in bewilderment. M’gann nodded, her face red with shame.

“Ben, we just want to help.” M’gann insisted. Ben found himself looking away from her and turning his head up towards the ceiling. There was a long moment of silence.

“I know.” He admitted, “I know you guys want to help us. You would’ve told Batman about Albedo’s freak out if you didn’t. You guys care about him. I’ve noticed. Unlike him, I do pick up on social cues from time to time. Like how he and Wally can nerd out for hours. How he and Robin egg each other on and are constantly trying to play ‘who’s the better detective.’ How you’re practically his sister at this point and how he gets along with Conner. How he enjoys having times of quiet around Kaldur and his curiosity of Artemis. Azmuth, M’gann I know.”

“Then… If something is wrong with him… Why hasn’t he come to us?” M’gann asked.

“Because I know… But, M’gann, he doesn’t.” Ben ignored Conner as he came back into the main area, sitting down next to M’gann at the counter.

“What do you mean he doesn’t?” M’gann asked, “I thought…”

“His life has been very hard.” Ben replied, “I’m the first person he’s trusted in a long, long time… The last person he really let in… That he really cared about… Gave up on him. Decided he wasn’t worth trying to save.” Ben wasn’t going to pretend like Albedo hadn’t been wrong in betraying Azmuth.

But after all this time with Albedo, Ben also knew Azmuth could be called a traitor himself.

“So he doesn’t know.” Ben replied, “He’s figuring it out… Slowly… But… I’m not gonna force him to talk about something he isn’t ready to talk about. That’s not fair. He loves you guys. I know he does… But when the last person he loved like that left him, he got a lot more cautious. He doesn’t know how to trust people anymore… Frankly, I don’t blame him.”

“...I had no idea.” M’gann said softly.

“He never said anything. Why would you?” Ben replied, and he turned back towards his bedroom, “Now, you two should go home and get some rest.”

“Ben?” Conner’s voice made him pause.

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry about your family.” He said, “...About the real Kevin and Gwen I mean. You seemed to care about them a lot.”

“...I miss them.” Ben whispered as his face fell.

“Well… If you ever want to… Um… Hang out? We’re here, okay?” Conner said awkwardly. Ben hummed in acknowledgement before waving for them to go. They stood to leave, before Conner stopped, lingering near the exit.

“Um… And thanks… I guess… For talking to Superman.”

“...Goodbye Conner.”

Chapter 48: And They Were Brothers.

“Look at that! It’s Tennyson!”

“You sure, boss? Tennyson doesn’t have white hair.”

“He turns into different aliens, he’s got a fancy watch. It’s him. And I think he’d be worth quite a bit on the market, don’t you agree?”

“Albedo!” The Galvan tore his gaze away from the thugs surrounding him looking down to lock eyes with the grumpy old Galvan that had raised him. He trembled.

“Help me, Azmuth!” Albedo hissed. The old Galvan just regarded him like he was another one of his experiments. Another gone wrong project that he was waiting to take apart.

‘You created your own prison, Albedo. Made your own mistakes. Now you face the consequences.’ Azmuth didn’t speak but his voice seemed to rattle in his head as the smugglers advanced and his former mentor watched coldly.

“Azmuth please!” He was roughly grabbed and a fist connected with his stomach causing him to crumble into hostile arms. He thrashed to no avail.

“Albedo!”

Albedo gasped as he shot up, his eyes flying open and the nightmare abruptly ending. He launched forward from where he was laying. He didn’t expect arms to catch him or the sound of Benjamin’s voice.

“You’re okay, you’re okay, just breathe.”

Albedo exhaled slowly as reality caught up to him.

He wasn’t in Undertown. Azmuth was a whole multiverse away.

He was safe.

He was in his bed in the apartment he and Benjamin shared. He was the hero Reflect. The mercenary Red X. The Crimson Mage. Ben Tennyson’s older brother.

Benjamin was holding him, rubbing circles in his back.

“Benja…”

“Just breathe man. You’ve been through a lot. Nightmares are a pain. I totally get it.” Benjamin told him. Albedo nodded, closing his mouth as he focused on his breathing.

“...You’re supposed to be in school.” Albedo finally managed.

“Called in sick. Also called your work and told them you were taking the day off.” Benjamin replied, “Last night was kinda exhausting.”

“...I… I attacked you.” Albedo recalled.

“Meh. You wouldn’t be the first friend of mine who’s done that. It’s cool.” Ben shrugged as he let go of Albedo and moved back to where he was sitting at Albedo’s bedside.

“...How bad?”

“Hmm?”

“How much damage has this done?” Albedo questioned, “Is Batman-”

“Bats hasn’t heard the details of the mission yet. The Team’s keeping their mouths shut… They’re protecting you. They’re waiting for you to recover before really asking anything… And I don’t think Batman will find out so long as Robin has a say in it.” Albedo swallowed.

That… That didn’t make any sense.

He’d proven to be a threat. He’d lashed out. He’d hurt Benjamin and they all watched him do it. He’d shown them what he really was. He should’ve been locked up the second they got back to America.

But… He hadn’t been.

“I think M’gann knows you’re an alien though.” Benjamin continued, “She did ask me about that. I shut that conversation down. You can talk to her about that on your own terms if you want, but otherwise, she said she won’t bother you about it.”

“...Why?” Albedo asked, his voice sounded so weak, “Why would they not say anything?”

“What happened wasn’t your fault, Albedo.” Benjamin replied, “You got your memories messed up and then you were tricked by a bad dude who knew you were in a rough place mentally. Yeah, I know six months ago you would’ve been ecstatic to have my Omnitrix at your disposal, but you can’t blame yourself for what happened last night, okay? Because you wouldn’t hurt me now, and that’s what matters.”

“But how could you know that?” Albedo bit out, “I could be pretending. This could all be a ruse. A plot to make you let your guard down.”

“Pretty convincing ruse, if you asked me.” Benjamin chuckled, which made Albedo fume as he turned away from Benjamin entirely.

“You trust too easily.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Azmuth, you are annoying, Benjamin.” Albedo growled.

“So I’ve been told.”

“You should be furious at me. I hurt you.” Albedo insisted.

“If I got angry at everyone who lashed out on me like that, I’d never get the chance to laugh and enjoy things like, I dunno, smoothies.” Benjamin insisted. Albedo felt like he was on the verge of tearing his hair out.

“Why do you care so much!?” Albedo growled.

“Because you’re my big brother Al.” Benjamin concluded, “And I love you. We’re family, by birth or not, we are brothers. And if there’s anything you learn from being a Tennyson Albedo, it’s this: family doesn’t give up on each other.” All aggravation dissipated and he felt a sob crawl up his throat. He quickly crammed it down.

“...Heh, tell that to Azmuth.” Albedo found himself grumbling as he did his best not to cry again in front of Tennyson.

“I’ll be sure to annoy the life out of him the next time I see him for you… You know, right before I make him fix you.” Benjamin chuckled. Albedo hitched a breath with those words.

“...You… You’d do that for me?”

“Wow, you really aren’t grasping the family thing, are you?” Benjamin teased lightly, “What, you think that we’d get back to the Omniverse and I’d just leave you? I said you’d walk. I want to make sure you thrive.”

“And then what? Go back to Azmuth?”

“Well, you don’t have to work for him, Al.” Benjamin pointed out, “You could stay with me on Earth if you want. I don’t mind. Make a name for yourself.”

“...And what if I don’t wish to go back at all?” Albedo asked. He wasn’t sure why he was asking it. He’d been pouring so much of his time and effort into getting them back home, that he hadn’t really taken the time to consider what came after they got home. Yet as Benjamin, who clearly had been thinking about this, brought it up, he found himself spitting out a question that he didn’t quite understand.

“You wouldn’t be a Galvan if you stayed here.” Benjamin pointed out carefully. Albedo felt his shoulders drop.

Right.

“...Albedo, what do you think of the team?” He still had that careful edge in his voice. Albedo curled in his fists, nails brushing dangerously over his palms.

“They're all juvenile.” Albedo grumbled.

“But… Do you trust them?”

“It doesn’t matter if I do.”

“We both know that’s not true, Al.” Albedo bit his lip. He knew Benjamin was right.

“I want to.” He admitted.

“You’re scared.”

“I don’t want to be. I feel so foolish… And human bodies have the annoying habit of making every emotion extremely apparent. It’s aggravating.” Benjamin half-laughed and half-scoffed at that statement.

“You’re telling me.”

“Do you think I should trust them?” Albedo asked.

“I won’t tell you who you should trust, Al.” Benjamin admitted, “But I will tell you that you should give them a chance. Working with these kids… It’s been good for us both, I think.”

“I think I can trust them if you do.” Albedo admitted, “And you do, right?”

“Yeah.”

“...Then I want to talk to them.” Albedo decided, “Preferably in a way that won’t land me in prison before I can finish the machine that will take us home.

“You know… we can make some mean chili fries and sub sandwiches and we’ve had this place for months now and have had basically no one over, right?” Benjamin said, a coy smile gracing his face. Albedo couldn’t help but stare at him in bewilderment at the absurd observation. Benjamin couldn’t have been serious!

“...Are you suggesting we invite the team… For dinner?” Albedo asked.

“Human tradition, inviting your friends over for dinner. A rite of passage, really.”

“Hmmm. That checks out with episode twelve.” Albedo muttered as he put a hand to his chin and pondered the idea.

“...Episode twelve?” Benjamin asked in bewilderment. Albedo waved the question off.

“Never mind that. I approve of this plan. Tomorrow is a good day… Though I will have to catch up with much of the work I missed from today.”

“They’ll have a lot of questions, Al.”

“I’m very aware, brother.” Albedo agreed before he thought even longer and found himself swallowing hard.

“There’s one other thing… I wanted to tell you.” Albedo said. Benjamin cocked his head to the side, waiting in expectation as Albedo worked up the courage.

“...I’m sorry.”

“For last night?” Benjamin asked, “Dude, I told you I’m not mad about that.”

“No.” Albedo cut in, “I’m sorry for everything. For getting you stranded here. For misjudging you. For attacking and treating you as an enemy. For taking my anger out on you over and over and over. You didn’t deserve it… And… I know I’ve never formally apologized.”

“...Heh, I may have deserved a little bit of that. I’ve been told I’m annoying.” Benjamin quipped.

“Benjamin.” Albedo deadpanned, “I’m serious.”

“Me too.” Benjamin insisted, “It’s in the past. Forgiven. We were both idiots. And now we’re older and wiser and a little bit less stupid. Still dumb, at least, I am, but we’re learning because that’s-”

“Part of being human.” Albedo said, a small smile spreading across his face.

“Well, yeah. And part of being alive. Forgive and forget. It’s behind us dude. I’m not mad about it. I get that you were going through something really hard… That you’re still dealing with some pretty hard stuff. But we’re friends now. I’m going to make sure you aren’t facing anything like that alone again. I promise.”

“How did I ever think you weren’t worthy of the Omnitrix?” Albedo laughed.

“Well, to be fair, I am just a kid.”

“And a smart one at that.” Albedo agreed, “Since we apparently have the afternoon free… Would you be willing to help me get some supplies for dinner tomorrow?”

“Chili fry supply run? Dude, I’m so in.”

“Great. I’ll just get changed and we can go.” Benjamin leapt up from his spot and went for the door.

“I’ll get our wallets.” Before he could fully leave Albedo found himself up, out of bed, and grabbing the boy’s arm. The boy froze.

“Benjamin?” Albedo whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.” Benjamin grinned.

“Heh. I don’t know what you mean.”

Chapter 49: Inviting The Team For Dinner.

Notes:

Sorry for getting this chapter out a day later. I had it ready to go yesterday, but the date completely slipped my mind. I've just moved home for the summer and was thrown seriously off schedule. I realized this morning that I forgot to upload, and went to set it up. However, I had to help work the graduation ceremony at my college, and wasn't able to get it to you until now.

However, as an apology for getting this up later than normal, I'll post the next chapter later this afternoon, since I have it ready as well.

“Not gonna lie, Tennysons.” Wally laughed, “I knew Al worked from Wayne, but for two sixteen year olds living on their own, this isn’t too bad.”

“Wayne pays well and he likes to ensure those involved in the Washington Think Tank have good living spaces. This whole complex is just Wayne employees that work at the Washington lab and their families.” Albedo explained.

“Dr. Regina, the nice lady in the apartment downstairs, makes a mean crepe.” Ben added helpfully.

“She’s a biologist.” Albedo agreed, “Loves to discuss meta-genetic theory with me.”

“Thank you for having us.” Kaldur said respectfully with a little nod. Ben gestured dramatically.

“Our casa is your casa, so to speak. Make yourselves at home… Seriously. Al and I actually cleaned up this place so you guys could hang out with us tonight.”

“Dreadful experience.” Albedo agreed, though they both had to admit, the living room and dining room looked much nicer without Albedo’s messy inventions strewn all over the place or Ben’s comics or soccer gear crowding every open spot, “...Don’t go into our bedrooms.”

“Fair enough.” Artemis laughed with an eye roll, “Boys.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wally scoffed. That set the two off into a little argument, and for once, it didn’t irk Ben so much that Wally and Artemis quarreled so much. Thanks to Psimon, annoyingly, he kinda got why they argued so much.

“I’m glad you two are doing better now.” M’gann said sweetly, “We were all pretty worried.”

“Huge understatement.” Robin agreed as he plopped unceremoniously down onto the couch, “So, any reason you wanted to hang out here instead of the Mountain? I mean, don’t get me wrong, this is a great place, but it’s kinda a two person apartment and a little more cramped than the huge secret base.” Albedo and Ben exchanged knowing looks. Immediately, Albedo tore from Ben’s gaze as he busied himself with heating up the food they’d prepared the night before. Gosh, Ben only hoped they made enough to at least satisfy Wally.

“Thought that talking about what happened the other night here was probably better than in the cave… No offense to Bats or Canary or Tornado… But the other night was kinda much.” Ben admitted.

“Once more, understatement.” Robin agreed as he leaned forwards resting his chin on his hands in a contemplative manner.

“You don’t have to tell us something you two aren’t comfortable sharing with us yet.” Kaldur cut in before much more could be said. Even the reasonable one, Kaldur. Ben could feel the curiosity abuzz in the air, but Kaldur was quick to step in regardless, “We knew upon meeting you that you both possessed unknown backgrounds and have been dealing with recent changes in your lives. We’re superheroes, Ben. We understand having secrets.”

“Yes, but our secrets negatively affected the Team in our last mission.” Albedo spoke up, “I… I am not exactly fond of the concept of laying my secrets bare to you, but I did hurt my brother. And I frightened many of you. I’ve had all of yesterday to talk myself out of this conversation… But I’ve come to realize Benjamin is correct… I haven’t been the best with trust. There are some things I need to be honest about… For the safety of the team.”

Albedo stepped away from the stove, having fully slid the food into the oven to warm. He dusted his hands off before glancing at the worried faces watching him.

“What happened to you?” Conner asked bluntly. He was right to the point. Ripping the bandaid off. Albedo’s expression twisted into something unsettled. Something haunted as his eyes seemed to drift back to another time.

“I know I wasn’t in the best place myself, having literally lost my mind and all that, but I remember how you were acting. You were confused… But you were also… Cruel to… To Ben. I don’t know why.” Conner continued.

“The story behind those interactions you witnessed… Is not a good one.” Albedo agreed, “You might’ve guessed… But six months ago, I was not in a good place. Frankly, I don’t know if I’m much better now, but I’ve learned, at the very least, that being bitter and angry as a constant is such a miserable way to exist.”

“Well, we have all night… We can listen.” M’gann said with an encouraging smile.

“...Benjamin, watch the oven.”

“No problem.” Ben agreed as he settled next to the counter and Albedo moved into the main living room, grabbing a chair from the table and sitting down in it in front of Albedo.

“This story, realistically, began a little over seven thousand years ago.” Albedo explained, “With two aliens from a species called the Galvan-”

“Psimon mentioned Galvans. You called yourself one.” Conner interrupted. Albedo nodded.

“Yes. I did. And the two Galvans I speak of now were a Galvan called Azmuth… And a Galvan called Thallus.”

“Dr. Fate called you the son of Thallus.” Wally recalled. He had? When? Ben knew that Dr. Fate had recognized Ben, but there’d been no indtaction that Nelson or Fate knew who Albedo was.

Unless Fate had known something he didn’t tell Nelson?

“Hmm, well, Thallus was an old Galvan. He’d strided and bound to create peace in the universe, but in the end, wound up helping found the group that would become the Plumber Benjamin and I once worked for, and founding Galvan Prime… The homeworld of the Galvanic species. Azmuth was still young in the days Thallus lived, but he was a rising scientist. People had begun calling him the first thinker. The one who’d bring peace to the Universe. Thallus believed in Azmuth’s ability and thus, requested that his only son study and learn from Azmuth.”

Albedo lowered his head.

“That was his dying wish. That his son would become Azmuth’s student. Azmuth’s assistant… And so, Albedo son of Thallus became Azmuth’s right hand assistant.”

“...I’m so lost right now.” Wally admitted before gesturing to Ben, “You and him are twins. Why do you have the same name as some alien dude who probably died thousands of years ago?” Ben couldn’t help but snort at that response, because, fair. The twin thing was way more plausible than the actual story. Ben turned away from the conversation as the timer beeped, making Albedo jump a little. Ben swiftly pulled out the fries and sandwiches as he spoke up.

“Galvans have really, really long life spans, Wally. Like, I think a middle aged Galvan is what… fifty to fifty-five thousand years old? I know Thallus was around eighty thousand when he passed away. History books and all that. His kid was only a couple centuries old if I remember right. Albedo, son of Thallus, is still alive. Albedo dead! And I thought I had fun jokes!”

They all looked a thousand times more lost than before… well most of them. Conner and M’gann looked like they kinda had an idea of where the story was going. M’gann did kinda already guess the truth, after all. Ben wasn’t surprised.

“Yes, well, about three to four centuries ago, Azmuth began vanishing and coming back with bits and pieces of his newest project for his many assistants to work on… Though there were two assistants he pulled the most into this project. His top two assistants, Albedo and a Chimera Sui Generis named Myaxx. This project was top secret. One of the most dangerous inventions he would ever create. A weapon, a tool, or however it should properly be described, that he believed was the key to bringing peace to the universe.”

“The Omnitrix.” Robin noted, nodding to Ben. Ben flashed Robin a wily smile.

“Congrats. You win a sub sandwich!”

“Sweet!”

“Benjamin, is this really the time?”

“Sorry, habit.” Ben said with a shrug. Albedo rolled his eyes, but he seemed a little more relaxed.

“Six years ago, Azmuth selected the champion he believed worthy to receive the Omnitrix.” Albedo continued.

“Let me guess? Ben?” Conner asked. Ben instantly snorted as Albedo grimaced, looking slightly mortified by the suggestion.

“Heavens no! Maxwell Tennyson!” Albedo said in exasperation, “What kind of super genius looks at a ten year old human and thinks, gee, this child looks like he would
be responsible with a level twenty superweapon?”

“...Well, when you put it like that…” Artemis drawled, “...Who’s Maxwell again?”

“Our grandpa.” Ben helpfully provided, “Aka, the guy who mentored me. One of the greatest Plumbers to ever go down in history.”

“Problem was, the alien tasked with delivering it to Max was attacked, and thus forced to send it, while crash landing, to Earth and hoped it landed close enough to Max that it attached itself to him. Instead, it ended up terrifying the daylights out of his ten year old grandson, whom he was out camping with at the time, and mistaking Benjamin for his grandfather due to how similar their DNA was.”

“Wait.” Conner said slowly.

“You mean to tell us.” Wally agreed.

“That the most powerful weapon in the Universe.” Robin agreed.

“Was given to Ben by accident?” Kaldur finished in horror.

“Eh, technically no. Time travel proves that I was basically fated to end up with the stupid thing… But Azmuth himself was totally trying to give it to Grandpa, if that’s the question.”

“That’s insane.” Artemis gasped. Ben just shrugged.

“Meh.” He waved for Albedo to continue. Albedo nodded.

“Well, Albedo found out about it. He was not happy.” Albedo said, “He found out a little bit after Azmuth had declared Benjamin the sole user of the Omnitrix after deciding Benjamin was worthy of it. To say Albedo was not happy that someone so juvenile wound up with a weapon he worked so hard to help create… Well, it would be an understatement. Albedo was furious.”

“So, he took it into his own hands.” Ben encouraged, knowing fully well that they were reaching the part where things became a little more dangerous to talk about. They were approaching the part where Albedo lost everything.

“...Albedo, he… I made a second Omnitrix.” Albedo’s voice wavered dangerously, “To try and prove to Azmuth that I could do the job better. To show him why a child shouldn’t have it. It took me many years, but I perfected it. I was going to try to use it… But he found out.” Albedo’s entire body trembled. Ben found himself at Albedo’s side, putting a hand on Albedo’s shoulder. He glanced up at Ben, who gave him a reassuring nod.

Albedo swallowed hard as he continued.

“He told me there could only be one Omnitrix. I was snappish. I didn’t understand why he let Benjamin, a human child, continue in such a way. Why was he so insistent on there being one? I demanded an explanation, but he would not grant it. He removed me from the project… And I just… I lost it. I got angry, and I put my Omnitrix on.”

Albedo squeezed his hands, his head lowering in shame as his face flushed red.

“Then my Omnitrix synced with Benjamins and defaulted. When the dust cleared… I was no longer a Galvan. I was a human-anodite hybrid. I was Benjamin.”

“...Oh my…” Artemis’s finger’s flew to her mouth, covering it. Everyone but M’gann and Conner had wide eyes… Well, Ben was pretty sure Robin had wide eyes. It was hard to tell with the sunglasses, but he looked pretty shocked.

“I couldn’t let him find out.” Albedo was speaking quickly now as his breathing picked up, “I had to fix the mistake before Azmuth realized. The only way to do that was to fix the default on the original. So, I ran from Galvan Prime and I found Benjamin. I attacked him, attempting to get ahold of his watch and fix it. But our watches synced further, and there was a blast… My entire DNA was damaged and… Azmuth… Azmuth sensed the event from lightyears away. And then he… He…”

Albedo stopped talking, clearing trying to catch his breath. Ben went to calm him down as Kaldur spoke up.

“...Maybe… It would be a good time to eat? I think you two need a break.”

Ben gave Kaldur a grateful look.

“I think that sounds like a good idea.”

Notes:

For those wondering how much Ben and Albedo are going to reveal, this is obviously the start of it, and likely, the hardest part for Albedo to talk about. I know there's been a lot of questions about how much the Team actually notices and the Team's actual response to Albedo and Ben will be in the next chapter.

I really debated on ripping the band-aid off for this chapter, but ultimately, though Ben's relationship with the team is more distant, Albedo's isn't. I thought that him taking this first step in trusting the team, with Ben's encouragement, would overall be the best route. Obviously, there are many secrets left to be revealed.

Chapter 50: The Acquisition of A Family.

Notes:

The promised second post.

In the safety of Benjamin’s bedroom, Albedo felt his breathing even out. He’d ranted and monologued so many times about his oh so tragic backstory and about the injustice he’d felt done against him, but never once had it caused him to lose his composure in such an… embarrassing way.

He hated how physically humans reacted to emotions! He absolutely hated it!

“I just… I just told them that I'm not really…”

“Yeah. Tough pill to swallow.” Benjamin agreed. He was doing that thing he’d done the day before where he rubbed circles into Albedo’s back. Albedo found himself leaning into Benjamin, because it was helping.

“We haven’t even reached the hardest parts.” Albedo whispered, “I haven’t even told them…”

“You don’t have to tell them everything.” Benjamin cut in, “Kaldur wasn’t lying about that. This was a huge leap for us… Well, more for you than anything. You don’t have to be specific. You can, I dunno, let them know about the criminal record thing, but not go into detail. This particular group probably won’t kill you over it.”

“How do you know?”

“...Wanna know one of the first things Kevin did when he partnered with us?”

“...Do I?” Albedo asked in uncertainty, with Levin, some things were probably best left unknown. Even Albedo knew that.

“He stole my grandpa's RV and sold it to Argit.” Benjamin laughed, “I watched him do it too. No shame, that guy.”

“...What does this have to do with me?”

“You picked good friends, Al.” Ben said, “I think you’re gonna be okay. And if they try to hurt you over all of this… Well, I did say I’d protect you when we started this whole thing, remember?”

“You also said you wouldn’t break the law… Aiding a criminal constitutes as breaking the law.” Albedo pointed out.

“Well then, call me guilty.”

“I will likely never understand you.”

“Great. I thrive off of confusing people.” Albedo couldn’t help but laugh at that. His little brother was so foolish sometimes. It was enduring… At least in that instance.

“Are you calm now?”

“I think so?”

“Wanna go out and talk some more?”

“Not particularly.”

“I can talk for you if you’d like? Sum things up and we can leave it there?”

“...I’d appreciate that, yes.” With that resolution in mind, Albedo shoved away from Ben’s side, getting unsteadily to his feet.

Benjamin followed Albedo back out into the living room where Wally was cramming as many chili fries into his mouth as possible, at the encouragement of Robin, while Artemis, M’gann, and Conner watched in a mix of morbid fascination and disgust. Kaldur seemed impassive of the whole thing. Probably knew Wally and Robin long enough to be used to their odd behavior.

Kaldur’s head snapped upon seeing Albedo re-enter. He gestured for him to have a seat. Someone had made him a plate… And as terrible as he felt, chili fries would never not sound delicious.

“Wally, for the love of all things holy, cut it out!” Artemis huffed, “Kaldur, this is a nightmare, do you see this?!”

“I’ve seen him consume far worse.” Kaldur replied coolly, “And regardless… Albedo and Ben aren’t bad cooks, it would seem.”

“I’m going to need that chili recipe.” M’gann agreed as she examined her empty plate, “Al and Ben have been holding out on me.” Albedo flushed at the compliment to their cooking abilities. Really… Before Benjamin, he scavaged for food a lot. Benjamin had taught him how to prepare human food in a way that would be less hazardous to them. Albedo and him had been attempting to replicate Burger Shack’s fries when they’d concocted the recipe together.

“Hey, you grow up in a vegan household with your grandpa also trying to poison you with alien food while also dealing with a severe food allergy like freaking peanuts, and you too can become an amazing cook.” Benjamin bragged.

“Heh, fair enough.” Robin chuckled before looking over at Albedo, who shrank, “You better?”

“Yes. I don’t know what came over me.” Albedo said, his face burning further.

“You were recounting a difficult experience you went through, likely for the first time, in front of people you haven’t been accustomed to sharing with. It’s an understandable response.” Kaldur assured him.

“It’s not like you’re the first alien on our team dude.” Wally said after swallowing a handful of food, “It’s cool. Not at all what Rob and I bet on, but still cool.”

“Bet?”

“I thought you were a reformed red lantern.” Wally admitted.

“I said that made no sense.” Robin argued, “My theory? Alternate timeline or something like that… Still could be possible, actually, but now there’s this added bonus that one of you guys was secretly an alien.” Albedo blinked. They… Suspected Albedo and Benjamin’s deception? Why had this just now come to his attention? He’d been so careful though! What else had they likely tried figuring out about him and Benjamin?

Albedo felt the panicked breathing return.

Robin’s confident grin morphed into a frown.

“Woah, woah! It’s fine! I mean, you two aren’t exactly subtle about certain things, but you made a pretty convincing human, and that’s what counts, right?”
Hardly, but that's besides the point. The him being an alien thing was just one of many webs of lies he’d spun and dragged Benjamin into.

“Well… Not exactly…” M’gann cut in with a weak smile. Albedo’s heart dropped. M’gann knew?! Yeah, Benjamin had mentioned that she suspected, but had she fully known?

“...Albedo’s been coming to me for tips on human culture for a while now… I’ve got lots of notes.” M’gann admitted, “We’ve bonded over it. I didn’t exactly know he was an alien, but… I kinda suspected he might’ve been. He acts a lot like I did when I first started learning about Earth.”

“Is that why you’ve been so… Welcome to me?” Albedo asked her skeptically. The unspoken, ‘And why you introduced me to sitcoms’ was pretty clear in his tone.

“It’s nice.” M’gann admitted, “Hanging out with someone who knows what it’s like to be on their own in a whole new world.” Albedo couldn’t even be upset about that because admittedly… It was nice. Much nicer than being left to tough it out on his own like he had been doing before Benjamin.

“...I suppose it is.” He agreed reluctantly.

“Jeesh, I just realized why Ben got all defensive about you being clumsy now.” Robin realized, “How different is this body from your old one?” Albedo shifted uncomfortably at the question.

“Um… Galvans are frog-like beings, not very large, that evolved to be able to handle more delicate objects with their hands. We are extremely intelligent beings, known for being mechanical in our work… Human bodies are much larger and much stronger than Galvan bodies. We have tough skin compared to humans… But we are not as strong or as big.”

“I can’t even imagine.” Artemis said as she shook her head.

“I can.” Conner said bluntly, causing eyes to turn towards him, “Being too strong, I mean. Everything on Earth is so breakable. I jump, and an entire room shakes. Looks like clumsiness, when it’s not. Add being bigger than you're used to, and it’s probably ten times harder to do things like fighting the way Canary shows us.”

“Huh.” Wally rubbed his chin in thought, “I never thought of it that way… Ben, do you have the same problem with your aliens when you transform?”

“... Not that much actually. Human-Anodite Hybrid is the default. But the not defaults are all programmed so that I basically know how to maneuver in them from the get go. I’ll sometimes forget and do something human, but that’s typically, like, when I first use a guy. Albedo didn’t get that luxury.”

“So… If you two are friends… Why is he still in your body Ben?” Artemis asked, voicing the question Albedo dreaded answering. Albedo buried his head into his hands, avoiding the questioning eyes. He very much hated this.

“Things didn’t go so hot after Azmuth showed up again.” Benjamin said carefully, “He and Al got into a short yelling match, then Azmuth decided to punish Albedo for going against his orders and for then deciding to attack me and my friends… He… Um, he kinda told Albedo he was gonna be left in this body permanently.” Albedo didn’t know silence could be so deafening. Nor that a human’s face could grow so uncomfortably hot on its own.

“That’s seriously messed up, dude.” Wally said before anything else could be. Albedo jerked his head up in surprise just as Artemis wacked him in the back of the head and scolded him for being insensitive.

“What?! I’m not wrong! Even if Albedo does get used to this body, it’s still not his! And Ben just told us Galvans live for thousands upon thousands of years, and us humans live for what, sixty to eighty years? That’s freaking messed up. So Albedo made a mistake, in what world is just leaving the guy like that okay? That’s like, I dunno, turning a human into a fly and leaving that way.”

“I did more than just attack Benjamin though… I… I have a record because of all of this.”

“Acquired because he made several bad deals in trying to become Galvan I might add.” Benjamin cut in before Albedo could expand further.

“Yeah! Like, seriously, Al, how old are you? Give it to us straight.” Wally insisted.

“...Um, 7,234 Earth years?” Albedo replied meekly.

Robin let out a low whistle. Wally ignored his friend, merely nodding along.

“Okay, now, compared to a Galvan, how old does that make you?”

“...Um, probably around nineteen to twenty-two.” Albedo admitted. This response was followed by even more silence.

“...This is messed up.” Artemis declared.

“Right?” Wally agreed.

“Well, I’m sorry my response didn’t meet expectations.” Albedo found himself huffing. M’gann spoke up quickly.

“No, no! They aren’t saying that about you. Just about the situation you're in… Al… But those numbers… If Azmuth leaves you in this body… You’re going to die young for a Galvan. That’s not okay. You made a mistake, but that’s not a good reason to leave you like this.”

“I went against the First Thinker.” Albedo objected again.

“Still kinda messed up, dude.” Robin insisted. Albedo… He couldn’t believe his ears. They… They were on his side? But… He’d made such a terrible mistake. Clearly they all knew Benjamin was worthy of the Omnitrix as he now understood. He’d just confessed to being a criminal too! They were supposed to reprimand him! Arrest him! Anything of that nature! But they were.. They were defending him?

He felt his eyes tear up.

Quickly, he attempted to wipe them away.

“Curse these blasted physical reactions.” He grumbled.

Silently, Benjamin offered the plate of chili fries he’d somehow forgotten. Albedo accepted it readily and began to dig in. It kept his attention, so he was glad for them.

“You guys can’t tell anyone about this.” Ben said seriously, “Albedo’s native species is one of the most intelligent species in the galaxy. People finding out he’s smarter than literally every person on this planet would be like, seriously bad. Bad people have used him for his intelligence upon realizing he was in a body he wasn’t used to before, and who knows what the enemy would do with this information if it ever got out.”

“No kidding.” Artemis agreed, “One of our teammates is actively getting used to a human body? That’s just screaming for the wrong people to come in and hurt him. Seriously, no wonder you two waited so long to tell us.”

“Not to mention how fast Psimon was to prey on his confusion the other day.” Robin agreed, “No wonder you two are pretending to be twins. It’s probably safer for everyone to think he’s human than to think he’s alien. Smart move, actually. This can’t get out. Not until we know Al’s more combat ready and until we’ve made sure something like what Psimon did isn’t gonna happen again.”

“So then, it’s agreed upon.” Kaldur cut in, “That no one outside this room learns of this secret until Albedo thinks he is ready?”

“One hundred percent.” Wally agreed.

“Yep.” Conner said quickly.

“Most definitely.” Artemis agreed.

“Yes.” M’gann replied.

“Yes sir!” Robin replied with a dramatic salute. Albedo found himself shaking his head, still completely baffled.

“...But… Why? Why would you agree to such a thing? I deceived you… I continue to deceive you and I’ve done so many things wrong that if you only knew-”

“Because, Albedo.” M’gann interrupted with a soft smile , “We’re a team. We’re a family. That means we protect each other. And we keep each other’s secrets.”

‘Family doesn’t give up on each other.’

A warm feeling flickered in Albedo’s chest.

It felt good.

“I… I don’t know what to say.” Albedo whispered. M’gann laughed, moving across the room to ruffle his hair.

“Don’t say anything big brother.” She said with a smile, before hugging him. He melted into her arms, bewildered.

“Just accept it, Albes. You’re stuck with us.” Robin agreed.

And really… Was that such a bad thing?

Chapter 51: Albedo Bakes A Cake.

“You really are better at baking.” M’gann laughed as Albedo carefully removed the cake from the oven, “Being a scientist and all that.”

“Well, it is a wonder what understanding what is acceptable for humans to eat can do to one’s culinary advancement.” Albedo replied as he magically waved the eggs over the bowl and opened them, dropping the yolks and whites into the bowl, “You seem to love it quite a bit, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. You’ve practiced far more than I have at this art form.”

“Well, yeah.” M’gann telekinetically retrieved the chocolate powder from the cupboards, having finished copping up the chips, “But you’re a natural! You pick up on things so fast!”

“That, my dear M’gann, would be the Galvan in me.” He grinned as he knelt to unbury the mixer from the cupboard under the counter, “We love learning new things.”

“I want to meet another Galvan one day.” M’gann decided, “Are they all as smart as you?”

“Well, they’re known for their intellect. It’s the crowning gem of the race after all… But no. I was… A prodigy, even by Galvanic standards. I was no Azmuth, but many believed I was on the path to becoming the next Thinker.”

He noticed the way she flinched at the word ‘was’, likely acknowledging what he’d begun to come to terms with. He would never reach that position. Even if he became Galvan again, his mistake with the Omnitrix would bar him from becoming a full Thinker.

“But never mind the Galvan.” Albedo said excitedly as he plugged the mixer in, “We have a chocolate dessert to create!” M’gann grinned and he started the machine up, blending the wet ingredients together as M’gann set to work on mixing the dry ones. He grabbed their bowl of sugar, slowly pouring some in as the mix blended.

“What are you guys so busy making?” Albedo didn’t look up at the call of Artemis’s amused voice from over the mixer.

“Well, Batman bought Albedo this really good cake called devil's food cake a while back. We’ve finally found the perfect recipe for recreating it.” M’gann cheerfully.

“Batman.” Artemis deadpanned with a snort, “Bought Al cake?”

“Robin claims he is aiming to adopt me.” Albedo informed her, making Artemis laugh again before circling the counter to stand next to them. She peered over his shoulder at the bowl of ingredients.

“I’ve got nothing to do.” She decided, “Put me to work. What do you need?”

“Frosting duty.” Albedo said nonchalantly. There’s a card with instructions next to the sink.”

“...A double batch?” Artemis asked, taking the mentioned card into her hand.

“Wally.” Albedo and M’gann replied in unison.

“Ah.”

“Don’t worry. The grasshoppers are only going in his cake.” Albedo joked, making Artemis sputter.

“You eat insects?”

“Galvans are insectivores.” Albedo replied, “...But no. Not in cake. Smoothies, sometimes… Never steal my drink. Also, humans have pretty good salted insects you can buy online that are safe for consumption. It’s not the same as when I was actually a Galvan, but it’s nice to know my sense of good taste hasn’t been replaced by chili fries entirely.”

“...And you’re putting them into Wally’s food why? Not that I’d complain!”

“I was joking.” Albedo said with an eyeroll.

“Though I think he’d eat it anyways, if we’re being honest.” M’gann inserted, making everyone in the room laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Speaking of the devil, Wally walked into the kitchen, Robin trailing not too far behind.

“Grasshoppers.” Artemis replied, offering no further explanation. Wally didn’t ask for clarification as he plopped down at the bar stool as he watched Albedo, M’gann, and Artemis work in clear interest.

“You’re sharing whatever this is, right?”

“That was the plan.” M’gann agreed cheerfully as she brought the flour mixture over for Albedo to blend into the main mix. Albedo accepted the bowl, pouring it slowly as he mixed. She flew off to make sure the oven was preheated.

“They’re making a whole cake for you, apparently.” Artemis informed him.

“Good. I was not giving him my piece.” Robin declared, making Wally pout, “Where’s Ben by the way?”

“Hmm? Oh, practice. He has a big game this Thursday.”

“What sport does he play? I’ve forgotten.” Kaldur had appeared, joining the conversation. Conner was trailing close behind. Both looked sweaty. They had likely been sparring before Conner overheard talk of possible food.

“Soccer.” Albedo replied. M’gann got a big smile on her face at that. That smile only went to Albedo: she had an idea.

“We should go. My school doesn’t play any games until Friday. If there are no missions, we should all totally go out and give Ben our support!”

“Azmuth no!” Albedo scoffed, “You’ll inflate his ego. That is a dreadful plot. He knows he is good at the sport. He doesn’t need a team of heroes to brag about it to.” He passed the thoroughly mixed bowl to M’gann, who began pouring the batter into the two waiting pans.

“I think it’d be a fun team building exercise.” Albedo did not miss the subtle coy tone Kaldur’s voice took at the suggestion. Albedo’s eye twitched in response. They had some nerves!

“I’m sure Ben would love the crowd.” Robin agreed readily, grinning. Albedo groaned.

“That’s the entire problem, boy!” Albedo ranted, “He’ll talk all of our ears off about the game, no matter how it goes, should you randomly show up! I will not permit this!”

“Too late.” Artemis chuckled, “It has been decided. Soccer game on Thursday, assuming there are no missions.”

“I’ll find a mission.” Albedo threatened. Albedo went to say more before there was the beep of a text in his pocket. He paused, frowning as he dug his burner out. Dubbilex knew that he was with people at that time in the afternoon why would he-

Albedo froze, realizing that he did not know the number.

“Excuse me. This is for work, I need to step out. M’gann, don’t let Artemis ruin the frosting. And Wally, I swear, if Benjamin and I are not left a slice each, I will end your miserable existence.” Albedo threatened. Wally raised his hands in mock surrender while Robin hooked an arm around his shoulder.

“I’ll keep him in check. Bird’s honor.”

Albedo nodded before scrambling out of the kitchen and making a beeline for the counseling room. It was sound proof, and therefore, a safe place for a not so safe conversation.

An uneasy feeling churned in his stomach as he stared down at the number and the message.

‘Still want a job? Call me.’

He stared at it for a long time as that unsettled feeling twisted to guilt. Working with Dubbilex to get what he needed to send himself and Benjamin home was one thing. Especially since working with Dubbilex would benefit the man and his genomorph brethren in the long run. However… His other means of gathering technology and resources was very much not approved by Batman. He didn’t even, as far as Albedo was aware, know about his third persona.

After all, Red X was illegal.

A month ago, Albedo didn’t care about breaking the law a little bit or about robbing villains blind, however, things had changed. He now knew the Team believed him to be family. They accepted him as he was, and they trusted him regardless of his clearly troubled past. Who was he to break that trust?

But then again… Red X, despite being illegal, was the better way of getting the information and technology he needed. Dubbilex could only help so much. The League and Star Labs and Wayne Tech could only help so much.

Luthor with his secrets and stashes of banned and secret alien technology, however?

It was the missing piece to his and Benjamin’s main problem.

He swallowed his guilt.

He knew he was taking advantage of their trust, but he had no choice. He had to push forwards with the Red X persona. He had to dig deeper into LexCorp and into Cadmus.

Not for his own sake, but for Benjamin’s.

He promised Benjamin, after all.

He flicked his voice changer on and called the mystery number.

“Well, you respond quickly.” Luthor said coolly the second he picked up.

“What can I say? I’m a curious guy, Lex.” Albedo purred as he brought out the Red X persona, “There’s money involved, correct?”

“Of course.” Luthor replied, “Tell me, Red X, what do you know about the conflict between North and South Rhelasia?”

“...I’m listening.”

Notes:

IMPORTANT AN: I will be traveling a lot without my laptop in the upcoming week. As a result, there will be no update Friday the 27th. My next update will not be until June 3rd. I just thought I’d give a heads up, since this time, I actually know that I won’t be posting ahead of time.

Also, random note, salted crickets are weird, but they don't taste awful. (I got to try them once at this nature trip thing my school had when I was younger.)

Anyways, happy Friday, and have a good two weeks!

Chapter 52: Coming Back From Soccer Practice.

“Good practice boys! Same time tomorrow! This Thursday, we are going to decimate those Eagles!” Coach Mcall called before setting a hand on Ben’s shoulder, stopping the teen from clearing the field.

“Not you Tennyson. We need to talk.”

“Yes, sir.” Ben watched as the others on the team cleared the field, not entirely sure why Coach had held him back.

“What’s up, coach?” Ben chirped.

“I mostly wanted to check in on you. You seemed a little distracted today. I know it’s just you and your twin at home, so I was checking-”

“Oh, everything’s great!” Ben interrupted, “Al’s been making leaps and bounds in one of the project’s he keeps telling me about, so work’s been good for him and he’s been making a lot of friends. School’s not been so bad for me, and Al’s tutoring actually helps. So, you know, I’ve been great, thanks for asking!”

“Well, I’m glad. So the move to Virginia hasn’t been too difficult?”

“We’ve been here most of the summer! We’ve been moved in!” Ben laughed, “Look, coach, I appreciate you checking on us, but Albes and I are doing fine. I’ll try to do better next practice.” Mcall nodded, but there was skepticism in his expression.

“Ben, you’re new to the team, but you’re already one of my best players. But you are distracted. I’m not gonna try to get into your business. You’re a smart kid. Mature. But as your coach I want to make sure you’re doing well.” Ben mulled for a moment. He was pretty sure he’d been spot on during practice, so he had no clue at what point the coach decided he was distracted.

“I was just…” He scrambled for some believable excuse for why he might’ve been supposedly distracted before blurting, “I miss my parents.”

Yeah… He did not mean to say that.

Mcall’s stare softened as he nodded.

“How long have they been gone?”

“...Not long.” Ben admitted, “Not sure how that should affect me playing soccer, but not long.”

“Have you and your brother talked about it since they died?”

“Not really. Al’s not the type.” Plus, it wasn’t like he knew Ben’s mom or dad. And Ben’s cousin and Kevin were all Albedo’s old foes. The only family that guy had in the Omniverse was Azmuth, from what Ben knew, and Albedo and Azmuth hadn’t been on talking terms since, well, since Albedo turned human.

“You boys lost your parents.” Mcall informed him, “I’m sure if your brother knew you needed to talk about it, he’d talk. I’ve met him. He cares about you, Ben.”

“I know.”

“...Head home, Ben. Talk to your brother. Get a good night’s rest. And remember, you can talk to me about anything.” Mcall advised. Ben bobbed his head in agreement.

“Thanks for the advice, coach.” Ben grumbled, “Night.” Ben shrugged the coach off and walked away from the field, beginning his walk from the school and towards the apartments. Aggravated, he found himself shoving his hands into his pockets.

He had NOT meant to say that. It wasn’t like he was mourning his parents dying or anything. Last he checked, they were still okay. He just missed them a little. Even that was ridiculous, since he’d gone months before without them. Like when he’d traveled the country with his grandpa for a summer as a ten year old. He’d been getting distant from them. They’d pretty much gotten used to his place at the dinner table being empty. Him blurting out to his soccer coach of all things that he missed his parents was literally out of nowhere.

Sure, he wondered if they were okay. Sure he still worried about them, but he wasn’t a little kid anymore. They knew that and they’d let him do his thing. They’d let him be a hero, even if they didn’t immediately understand why it had to be him.

He could go half a year to a year without mommy and daddy. That’s basically what college was. Sure, he could call them if he’d actually been at college and not in another multiverse, but the principal was the same. He was gone for a little while. He’d go back soon. Albedo was working hard to get them home. He’d be back with his family. He’d get to hug Gwen and mess around with Kevin. He’d get to patrol with Rook again. Annoy his grandpa with his antics. He’d let his mom and dad know that he was okay.

Everything was going to be okay. Things always worked out, after all.

“Benjamin?” Ben looked up, having not realized he’d made it to the apartment. Albedo was behind him. He was likely coming back from the Mountain. A tupperware container was in his hands.

“Oh, hey, Al!” Ben said with a grin, “Nice day, right? What’s in the box?”

“Cake. M’gann and I spent the afternoon on it. The rest of the team got involved. It got pretty messy, but I have still achieved a culinary masterpiece. I saved this for you.” Albedo explained.

“I’m glad you and the team are getting along.” Ben laughed as he took the container and pulled the top off to find a very good looking slice of cake. Albedo nodded, smiling thinly.

“I… I think telling them about myself was a good thing. You were right.” Albedo agreed, “Who’d think I of all people would take a liking to a handful of teenagers.”

“Hey, you might be a really, really smart Galvan, but comparatively, you’re still in your twenties. It’s not weird for college aged kids to hang out with high schoolers sometimes you know. You know there's always that one cool older brother figure in every friend group. In mine, that friend was Kevin, then later Rook. Rook’s several years older than me, you know?”

“Human friendship dynamics are strange.” Albedo decided, “Come on, let's go inside and get you a fork. I worked very hard to perfect this recipe with M’gann, so it would be rude to refuse.”

“...Erm, I have a really, really stupid question and you can tell me its stupid when I’m done asking it, but-”

“You’re rambling.”

“...Do you ever miss Azmuth?” Ben asked. Albedo froze, before raising an eyebrow. Obviously, this was not a question Albedo was expecting.

“What does it matter? I’ll never go back to him. We both know this.” He replied.

“I mean… I know he wasn’t exactly the best boss in the world, but you considered him like your dad for a little while and I know…”

“You’re rambling.”

“Look, I just… I had a weird conversation with my coach and I think my head might be a little fuzzy still after the mind scramble thing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Conversation? About what? Is this about the upcoming game?”

“It’s nothing! Like you said, we should go inside. This looks delicious. I can’t wait to try it.”

“You mistook the team for your family when Psimon messed with our heads.” Albedo called, making Ben falture in grabbing the keys from his pocket, “You helped me after that incident and the team’s been helping each other… But… No one’s helped you. You’re very good at smiling through difficulty, I’ve noticed.”

Albedo reached forwards, placing his hand on his shoulder the way Mcall had. Ben went very stiff at the gesture.

“Sorry it took so long for me to notice that by the way.”

“Don’t be.” Ben cut in, “What’s there to notice?” Albedo pondered that question for a moment as if he were puzzling out an equation. He even went so far as to put his hand to his chin and look up at the sky.

“I’m not the best at understanding humans. I will admit. I am a scientist, but I still have a lot to learn. Mostly about being human. But I’ve learned that humans require that familial unit far more than the Galvan’s typically do. You may have the Omnitrix, Benjamin, but you're still human.”

“I know.” Ben agreed, “But I’m okay, Al. You’re getting closer to our goal every day-”

“I’ll probably be done by the year’s end, yes.” Albedo agreed.

“I can hold on until then.” Albedo shook his head in response.

“You told me I should tell them about my past. It helped. Maybe… We should tell them about you. About where we came from. You said a long time ago that we could get help from the people here. Maybe if they knew, you’d get help too, and-”

“No.” Ben cut him off, stopping him before he could keep going.

“...Ben?” Ben ignored the fact that Albedo didn’t call him Benjamin.

“The team could help us get home faster, yeah, but letting people know we aren’t even from this dimension… You weren’t wrong about that. Yeah, you adjusting to being human is a liability, but us not even being from this multiverse is an even bigger one. We both know that. The team can help you adjust to being human. But if the wrong person finds out there’s another multiverse waiting for us…”

“It could prove disastrous.” Albedo agreed before frowning, “...Brother, why would you change your mind on this?”

“What can I say? You’re a smart guy.” Ben grinned, “Now that that’s sorted, let's try this cake you guys made, okay?” He noticed the way Albedo scowled as Ben unlocked the door and let them in the apartment.

Ben ignored it.

Notes:

I was really hoping to post last week, but I got super jet lagged from my trip (The time zones were extremely different). As a result, I didn't end up posting at all on the 3rd. But! Now that my trip is over and I am sufficently NOT jet lagged, I should be right back on schedule! Thanks everyone for having patience with me! Happy Friday (Or early Saturady depending) to all!

Chapter 53: Red Arrow and Red X.

“Red Arrow is an asset in this situation, so leave him be.” Luthor explained as the limo drew near the Peace Summit, “Word on the street is he’s been tracking the assassin that will be targeting the North and South Rhelasia leaders.” Albedo eyed the image of Cheshire.

It wasn’t totally out of the League of Shadows MO to attack the leaders of such groups while they were vulnerable, but why did it have to be the woman who poisoned his brother that they were sending to kill the Prime Minister and General? Sure, his magic had gotten way better and the Red X suit would help him fight her, even if he himself didn’t actually know how to fight, but the last time he’d seen her, she’d nearly killed both of the Tennysons.

“Word on the street? What, you keep tabs on all the heroes?” Albedo asked in a cheeky voice as he crammed down his nervousness. The first break in without backup was nerve racking. This mission was three steps away from leaving him in a panic attack. This mission had him very publicly fighting for and working with Lex Luthor as Red X. If anything went wrong, Albedo was dead. Simple as that.

“I like to know what those who could threaten my company are doing. Is that really so wrong?” Luthor replied with a shrug. Under his mask, Albedo narrowed his eyes.

That wasn’t a concerning statement at all, considering what he knew about Luthor’s people and their spying.

“Fair enough.” He laughed, “Preying on the conflict between North and South Rhelasia… Not a bad move, Lex. I’m sure if you could pull it off, you’d make billions more than you’ve already got.”

“Don’t worry, you’re getting paid well for protecting me here.” Luthor chuckled, “Though I know Red Arrow will likely do it for free.”

“Meh, Red Arrow is way less adaptable! I’m good for every odd job! A jack of all trades if you will… Say, when’d he start going by Red Arrow? Wasn’t he called kid- something?”

“You’re referring to Kid Flash, not Red Arrow, and his name was Speedy.” Luthor replied, “I’m not sure when he changed it or why, but my reports on him suggest that is what he’s going by now.”

The vehicle suddenly halted, there was a lot of commotion outside. Luthor smiled at Albedo.

“Looks like it’s show time, Red X.” He motioned towards the door. Right. It was now or never. He focused his mana, and suddenly he was on top of the vehicle not in it. He spotted Cheshire, discarding a massive rocket launcher, which didn’t exactly seem like her style, as Red Arrow chased after her. The guards around the limo reacted to his sudden appearance, pulling out their weapons to fire. He ignored them, summoning x-shaped mana shurikens before launching himself at Cheshire.

The woman landed amongst the crowd, attacking Luthor’s guards. Albedo wasted no time in thrusting his shurikens and pinning her down by the fabric of her sleeves.

He was actually surprised by how easy it was, considering he knew from first hand experience how talented Cheshire was at her job.

“You’re new.” Cheshire purred, “The juniors get a new hero?”

“Not quite.” Albedo replied. She shrugged, tearing from the shurikens and spinning two sai into her hands. His suit did the work of dodging her attacks. While he noticed Red Arrow coming down and approaching from the side.

“If by the juniors, you mean those sidekicks, I barely know those idiots. Plus, I think I’m a little too old to be messing around with some teenagers.” Albedo continued as he summoned more mana shurikens, “Too goodie two shoes for my tastes.”

“Fair enough.” Cheshire chuckled as she avoided a slash from his magically created weapons.

There was the sound of an arrow releasing. Cheshire twisted, slashing a net arrow out of the air before it could pin her. Seemed Red Arrow had finally decided to join him.

“Who the heck are you?” Red Arrow questioned.

“Red X.” Albedo informed him, “I’m the arbitrator's security.” Red Arrow grunted in agreement. Pulling another arrow back and firing so that she abandoned the limo’s roof entirely. Red X went to give chase, but several of the soldiers and guards were suddenly in the area, weapons trained on Red Arrow, Cheshire, and Albedo. Albedo brought his hands together, creating a layer of mana over his body to shield him, deflecting the oncoming fire with ease. A few of the soldiers took Cheshire down, cuffing her, whilst Red Arrow held his hands up in surrender.

“Hold your fire. This one’s mine.” Albedo realized that Luthor had stepped out of the building.

“...Heya, boss.” Albedo mock saluted the way he’d seen Benjamin do before, his mana flickering out.

“...You work for Lex Luthor?” Red Arrow asked incredulously. Albedo simply shrugged. Just like that it was publicly official: Red X was an associate of Lex Luthor. Step one of his plans complete. Now he just had to keep Luthor alive to complete the rest of his plans.

Since they had Cheshire now, he could probably pull that off.

“Good work, Red X.” Luthor chirped, “Your technology really does astound me. Let him go, he’s not here to hurt me.” Luthor motioned towards Red Arrow, “Walk with us, my boy.” Red Arrow growled, but complied as the archer fell in line behind Luthor. Mutely, Albedo trailed behind both with Luthor’s bodyguard lady, Mercy, at his side.

“I don’t need favors from you.” Red Arrow bit out.

“I’d be happy to allow you to join the young lady behind bars.” Luthor countered immediately, “But I find that would be counter intuitive.”

“You may have everyone here fooled, but I know what you are.” Red Arrow shot back.

“I don’t pretend to be an angel. It just happens that this time, I’m on the side of the angels. Luthor gestured as they got fully inside to the two arguing leaders of North and South Rhelasia. Red Arrow scowled darkly, before shooting a skeptical glare in Luthor’s direction.

“Why should either side trust you?” He questioned.

“Because Lexcorp is a company founded on peaceful enterprise for all humanity.” Albedo resisted the urge to scoff under his mask at the response. Building a secret army, via Cadmus, was not in any way a peaceful enterprise. Luthor talked of peace, but Albedo had caught a glimpse behind the curtain. He wasn’t stupid. There were larger things at play. Things that went beyond the extra money Luthor would make from ending the war.

Clearly, Red Arrow agreed, because he scoffed for Albedo.

“Cut the act Luthor. I’ve got intel linking Lexcorp shell companies to the sale of weapons in both Rhelasias. You’re profiting off this war, so what’s your angle?”

“War income is pocket change compared to the billions to be made from a united, peaceful Rhelasia… And isn’t peacetime better even if that scoundrel Lex Luthor benefits from it?”

“That scoundrel may not survive to profit, not even with mister x back here.” Red Arrow motioned to Albedo.

“Mister X can hear you talking… And trust me, I know how to do my job.” Albedo retorted immediately. He needed Luthor alive just as much as the Rhelasians. Getting Luthor to rely on and trust him would put him one step closer to his goals… Not that bringing peace to Rhelasians wasn’t important.

“Cheshire might’ve failed.” Red Arrow countered glaring at Albedo, “But the League of Shadows won’t stop until the contract is fulfilled.”

“Which begs the question, who hired the League?” Luthor agreed. Albedo frowned. He was really happy he’d designed his skull mask to cover his entire face, because he recognized something wrong with Luthor’s words immediately. Luthor had already known the League of Shadows was going to target him. That’s why he’d hired Red X. Did he not know why they were after him as well? Or which side of the war had hired them?

Something wasn’t adding up.

“...And were you really the target, or is your death a convenient way to sabotage the summit?” Red Arrow muttered.

“Allow me to hire you to find out. X can keep his eyes on the summit, but a hero like you digging up on who’s sabotaging my efforts? Well, it can’t hurt.”

“Your money has blood on it, and unlike X, I’m not here to make a buck.” Luthor just chuckled at the response.

“So you’ll provide your services, but for free?” Luthor rolled his eyes, “I can live with that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a hemisphere to save. Mercy, X, follow.” Albedo followed, leaving behind a contemplative Red Arrow in their wake as Luthor approached the Rhelasians with a wide smile.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen, shall we attempt some smiles for the cameras?”

This… Was going to be a long day, wasn’t it?

Notes:

Sorry everyone for missing last week, I was fixing my hours at work for the summer (I will continue to upload on Fridays, for all interested). And I also agreed to watch and drive around my younger siblings while my parents were out of town for the weekend and that took a lot of my free time last week. Thank you all for your patience! See you next Friday!

Chapter 54: Learning About The Mole.

Human politics were… Strange to say the least. Albedo really wasn’t one to judge, considering his own situation was one born from a petty disagreement between two proud Galvans, but the violence and disagreements between the bordering nations of North and South Rhelasia seemed… Trivial. Pointless. A war with little sense or reason behind it. Granted, he didn’t know the finer details of the war outside of the brief research he did before accepting the mission, but after listening to them squabble for hours before Luthor suggested they take a break… Albedo had some basis for their reasoning.

Apparently they used to be one nation, once upon a time, but the Earth’s second World War (Which apparently happened in the Heroverse too. The World Wars seemed to be a multiversal constant for the people of Earth.) Divided the nation into two. After the World War, the tensions were high and the North and South halves refused to reunify, starting up yet another war that had yet to end. Reunification was often discussed over the years, but the North and South considered themselves too proud and too different from their once brothers to ever find peace.

An all too familiar tale.

He was startled into reality by the ringing of his cell phone. He looked over towards where the other guards were posted, double checking that the area was secure before glancing at the phone.

It was Benjamin’s number. Right. He’d told Benjamin that he’d be out of town for two days, not giving full details, instead lying and saying it was for Wayne Enterprises… And he’d told Bruce that he was working with Cadmus for the week, asking Dubbilex to cover for him there. Thankfully, Bruce was respectful of their boundaries… To a point considering his alter-ego, and didn’t spend every hour of the day checking on them. He was a busy man who lived in a dangerous city after all.

But Albedo knew lying to Bruce and Benjamin both about his location was a risk.

He just hoped Luthor brought peace to the nations or Red Arrow stopped the assasination attempts before Thursday. He was not missing that soccer game.

He ignored the call, sending his younger brother a quick text telling him he was in a last minute meeting and that he’d call when able.

“You're a popular man.” Albedo jerked his head up, before tilting it in Luthor’s direction.

“Just an ally of mine checking in. Nothing to worry about… Though I would very much like an update from that archer kid about the assassin. Any news on that front?It’s not like I’ve got Red Arrow’s contact info.” Albedo deflected quickly. Luthor grimaced.

“I just got word. Cheshire got out. She has an accomplice.” Luthor informed him.

“News received right when we were going to pick up the debate again. Excellent.” Albedo said, rolling his eyes under the mask, “They do not make my job easy, do they?”

“Remember what’s at stake here. Your technology is perfect for not only a thief’s work… But also for protecting assets. It's the reason I asked you to be here to begin with. You’ve got a lot of potential, Red X. Between you and Mercy… Well… I’d say this debate is nearly over.”

Well… Albedo wasn’t sure what to make from that. Luthor was planning to… Take advantage of Albedo’s tech to… Solve the problem between two nations. Luthor did recognize that his Red X suit was made for fighting… Right? Albedo was positive Luthor figured that out.

“Meh, whatever you say. Just look pretty for the cameras. Don’t even worry about the assassins. I’ve got you covered, Lex.” Albedo patted the man good naturedly on the shoulder, as he did another once over of the area, confirming it was secure, “We’re good to start again.”

Luthor let Mercy lead him to the main conference where the other diplomats were taking their seats again. Albedo quickly silenced his phone, burying it in his utility belt before taking position. Luthor had requested he keep an eye on the reporters observing the summit. So, he paced the summit room, extending his mana to sense each and every life form in the room.

Since finding Verdona’s spark in the tower of fate, magic came so much easier to him. It was less draining, and he didn’t need the Red X or the Reflect suits to boost it. However, using it and the Red X suit’s auto-fighting capabilities in tandem really did give people the illusion that he was a trained fighter and not an overly clumsy Galvan trapped in a human’s body.

He’d heard that technology and magic didn’t mix, but honestly, Albedo was kinda having fun making them work together. Sure, he had magic now… But that didn’t mean he needed to abandon his roots just to study the mystic arts. He was not going to shun technology to embrace his magic. He’d firmly and stubbornly decided he was going to become the best of both worlds. It was truly a challenge that was worthy of a Galvan like himself.

“Red Arrow is in the building.” Albedo heard one of the security details mutter to him as he made his rounds. This really didn’t surprise Albedo. He merely glanced up, picking out the man’s perch and then frowned when he realized the red clad archer wasn’t alone. Dressed in casuals was Kaldur. Albedo knew the Atlantean wasn’t assigned to a mission there, which meant he was solo. He was here off the books.

“Well… That makes this so much more interesting.” He decided as he watched the Atlantean move through the crowd, scanning the reporters and diplomats for threats as Albedo had been doing. He’d not met Aqualad as Red X. Robin, Superboy, and Deka, yes. Aqualad, no. But he did know that Kaldur knew who Red X was, unlike Red Arrow.

“Gentlemen, that is mere rhetoric. Despite your differences, you still share an appreciation of many things such as the exquisite art of the Rhelasian Tea ceremony.” Luthor called from the stand, making the argument between the general and the prime minister falter.

Albedo seems to spy the threat the same time Kaldur did. A female waitress out of place. Albedo was gone from his spot in a flash of red, appearing on the main table anyone could blink. Kaldur’s water barriers were out, and he himself stepped in front.

“Red X, what are you doing?” Luthor demanded, but Kaldur helpfully answered Luthor’s question for Albedo.

“Stop where you are, Cheshire!” Kaldur ordered. The dark haired waitress grinned, shoving the cart she was pushing forwards towards Kaldur, Albedo, and most importantly: Luthor and the Rhelasian leaders. Albedo summoned shurikens, launching them quickly at the cart as Kaldur summoned water in the room to shield the occupants of the summit.

His shurikens made contact, and the entire room shook as an explosion erupted in front of them.

“Stop the assassins!” Albedo’s ultimatrix translated the Prime Minister's words. His own security detail moved into action as the smoke cleared. The General followed his counterpart’s lead, ordering his detail to assist Aqualad against the assassin. Sportsmaster was there now, likely her backup. Red Arrow fell down from his perch, attacking Cheshire as Kaldur recovered from deflecting the explosion.

“Well done.” Luthor praised, “You know what to do.” Albedo nodded.

“Whatever you say, boss.” He teleported off of the table, landing in front of Sportsmaster.

“Don’t take this personally, but the boss says I’ve gotta beat you up.” He informed Sportsmaster. The man just snorted and pulled out a nightstick. Swinging at Albedo, who redirected his mana into the Red X suit and allowed it to help him dodge and avoid Sportsmaster’s swings as if he were a trained fighter. Kaldur attacked from the side, pushing a stream of water into Sportsmaster, while the security detail assisted Red Arrow with Cheshire from the left.

“Red X.” Kaldur greeted with a nod.

“I thought Red Arrow ditched the sidekick thing. What brings water boy to the mainland?” Albedo teased.

“You harassed my teammates. Stole from the Justice League.” Kaldur deadpanned as he narrowly avoided.

“‘Harassed’ is a strong term, Aqualad. Sure, boy wonder wasn’t happy, from the looks of things, but I was fair.” Aqualad scowled, but kept his focus on the fight. Clearly, he wasn’t happy to be working with a guy who’d robbed the League, but that wasn’t a fight he needed to pick right now. Red X was on Aqualad’s side at that moment.

“Not bad, kid!” Sportsmaster complimented a difficult hit Kaldur tried to make against him, “Much better than your team did in Biayla.” The second those words left Sportsmaster’s mouth, Albedo stiffened, forgetting that he was in a fight. He’d known the Team was being watched but… He’d learned that from snooping in LexCorp. He hadn’t learned that from snooping around the League of Shadows.

Which meant… The League of Shadows and LexCorp were connected.

“How did you-” Kaldur started.

“Let’s just say I have an inside source. Very inside.” Sportsmaster taunted. Aqualad snarled, charging, his water barriers shifting into a wave. Albedo followed his lead, but before they could make their mark, Cheshire was landing in front of Sportsmaster. Red Arrow was closing in from the side, so that she and Sportsmaster were surrounded. She threw down pellets, allowing smoke to cover the area. Thankfully, Albedo’s mask filtered that sort of thing… But Aqualad had no mask and Red Arrow’s didn’t cover his mouth. The teens were left in a coughing fit as Albedo spotted movement of the two assassins charging to attack Luthor.

He lunged, his suit calculating what it would take to throw a perfect x-shurkin at the attackers.

“Mercy.” He heard Luthor order. His bodyguard reacted, stepping up on the table, her arm shifting from hand to gun. Albedo slowed to a stop, eyeing the technology as lasers fired at the approaching assassins, forcing them to back away. Forcing them right into Albedo.

He attacked, and more smoke pellets were thrown. When the smoke cleared, Sportsmaster and Cheshire were gone.

“She and X give a new meaning to the arms race, don’t they?” Luthor said with a grin to the Rhealasian leaders.

“That is the most impressive technology, Luthor.” General Li noted. The Prime Minister sighed in relief.

“We owe you our lives sir.” He expressed. Luthor just smiled.

“Ready to talk now?”

Albedo’s eyes narrowed under the mask as a few pieces clicked.

Clever man. Very clever indeed.

Notes:

Sorry for missing last week's update. That was a combo of me struggling to comb through this chapter (Since action scenes will always be difficult) and also me not being up to writing last Friday (Short explaination of that, I'm in the MC fandom; I've just never written for that fandom. The MC fandom got some pretty tragic news last Friday and I just did not feel up to writing for, like, two days afterwards. I'm better now, but frankly, it had kinda shocked me.)

I then wanted to upload on Wednesday (As a personal celebration. I just had a birthday, so, you know, I wanted to celebrate.) But then I was pretty busy that day and never got around to it.

Thanks for everyone's patience, and have a great weekend!

Chapter 55: Conner Asks For Advice.

“We’re apparently going to your soccer game tomorrow.” Ben jerked his head up from his phone upon Conner sitting down next to him, “Albedo mentioned you were having one and now we’re going… M’gann wanted to surprise you, but I’ve got this feeling you don’t want to be surprised like that right now, right?”

Ben raised an eyebrow.

Technically, Conner wasn’t wrong. He loved surprises as much as the next guy, but he was certain the entire team showing up at his game unexpectedly would’ve thrown him off. Coach had already pointed out he’d been having trouble focusing. He didn’t need any sudden surprises right before he was about to play.

“Thanks for the heads up, man.” Ben replied, “What motivated you people to want to watch anyways? I know for certain Albedo didn’t encourage that.”

“M’gann.” Conner explained. Ah. That explained that.

“Speaking of M’gann… I kinda need advice and apparently you're the only person on this team who’s ever… Um…” Conner looked very uncomfortable.

“Ever what?”

“You know… Dated? I mean, Robin claims he’s this ladies man, but he’s thirteen. And Wally’s a no go, obviously. I was worried about Albedo and M’gann hitting it off, but he assured me that it’s a plantionic family-like thing… Which I had to look up.”

“...Are you asking me for relationship advice?” Ben asked before pausing, “Wait, since when were you two dating?”

“...Since right before Bialya?”

“Okay, so what’s the problem exactly?”

“Well… Obviously dating wasn’t written in the Cadmus curriculum. I’d ask Superman… But we aren’t there yet. We’re better. Training together and stuff, but…”

“It’s still awkward?” Ben guessed. Conner nodded, looking more and more uncomfortable the longer he talked. He wasn’t a feelings guy. Much like Kevin, he was the tough guy, and suddenly he had a girlfriend. His main role model figure was still not entirely close enough to him to offer any good advice.

“Well, if I start craving metal and pickles after you just asked me for advice on girls of all things, I’m blaming you.” Ben deadpanned. Conner squinted, his discomfort vanishing and quickly replaced by bewilderment.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Long story.” Ben leaned back, “Not sure why I’m who you’re asking. Sure I’ve dated people… But I’ve got a terrible track record. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you two, but maybe Canary? She’s a girl. Usually girls give better advice than guys.” Immediately Conner looked very uncomfortable. Ben sighed, cramming the parallels between Conner and Kevin to the side.

“Don’t pretend to be anything you aren’t. Be yourself. That’s like, rule number one. She’s a superhero, like you, so I guess you won’t have to deal with some of the… Erm, difficulties I did. When she talks to you, listen and try doing stuff she wants… No matter how boring it might be. She can handle herself. Speaking from a guy who’s both been a Martian and a Kryptionian, you both are super tough. Don’t be all overprotective of her just because you two are a thing all of a sudden. Girls are nice, but they can pack a punch. They don’t need you fighting their battles unless they want you to… Usually it’s obvious when they want you to… Sometimes it’s not. When it’s not, ask another female for advice, for me that was Gwen, because usually they can tell the difference. Also… Girls talk in code. You’ll get what I mean the longer you two are a thing. They’ll say one thing, but almost always mean something else. I don’t know why. I will never know why. It’ll forever be a mystery amongst guys as to why girls do this.”

“This sounds… Really complicated.”

“Well, yeah. It’s a relationship, dude.” Ben said with an eye roll, “Which just brings you back to rule number one. Be yourself. She fell for you for a reason, Supes.”

“...When she told Albedo we were dating he threatened to kill me if I broke her heart.” Conner said in worry, “I can’t mess this up. If anyone could figure out how to kill a guy with unbreakable skin, it’s one hundred percent going to be your brother.” Ben paused at that before bursting into a peal of laughter. He knew Albedo had been acting like a big brother to not only Ben, but also most of the Team. However that, that statement right there just radiated with big brother energy.

“Yeah, that’s what big brothers do.” Ben said as he wiped the tears from his eyes, “I would tell you know to worry, but if anyone was going to actually go through with killing someone for something like that on this team-”

“It’d be him.” Conner mused, “Where is he right now, actually?”

“Meh, something for work. I tried calling to check in on him, but he’s apparently swamped with meetings. Says he’ll be back by tomorrow for the game though.

“Thank goodness.” Conner breathed, much more tension left his shoulders upon realizing that Albedo would not randomly walk in to interrupt the lovely conversation they were having.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Just don’t mess it up, and everything will work out. How’d Wally react, anyways?” Conner furrowed his eyebrows.

“...We were supposed to tell Wally? Why?”

“Oh, I just thought you two were making it official by telling people, that’s all.” Ben waved the question off.

“Not really. M’gann tells Albedo everything and your the only person I’ve mentioned it to.”

“I’ve noticed you guys get along well with him.” Ben mused, his mind once more wandering to that image of the three of them in the garage, hanging out like old friends. The Gwen, Ben, and Kevin of the Heroverse. His heart panged and Ben drove the comparison away, “I’m glad you guys are cool with him. I think he really needed this team.”

“I think we all needed it to be honest.” Conner agreed before frowning, “M’gann says she wishes you’d come and hang out with us instead of watching all the time though.” Wow. Blunt, wasn’t he? He hung out! Mostly he played video games with Wally and Robin or talked about missions with Kaldur, but he still hung around.

“Not much of a mechanic, sorry.” Ben shrugged.

“She thinks you’re avoiding her because of that Gwen girl you mistook her for.” Conner insisted. He knew that Cadmus programming left Conner a little… Socially unaware in some areas, but he didn’t realize he had less of a filter than Wally!

“You don’t pull back your punches, Supes, do you?”

“I personally don’t care.” Conner admitted, “If you’ve got some issues you don’t want to talk to M’gann about, it’s none of my business.”

“But?”

“But you worry her. Therefore, I have to be worried too, or she gives me this… Look.”

“She’s nosy, that’s all. Er, no offense. She’s a telepath, so it’s only natural.” Ben huffed, “But you’re right, it's none of your business. Not her business either.”

“Which is what I told her.” Conner reasoned, “But then I got the look.” Ben couldn’t help but laugh again as he pat Conner on the back.

“Conner, I think you’re going to be just fine.” And… he was back to looking confused. Ben laughed once more, getting to his feet to go to the kitchen area to make himself lunch. He paused, glancing back at the puzzled Superboy, before rolling his eyes.

“Oh, what the heck?” He muttered, “Conner, want a smoothie?”

“Erm, maybe?”

“Follow me, boy of steel, and I’ll teach you the ways of the master then.” He gestured for Conner to follow him to the kitchen warily. Ben was already grabbing out fruits and a blender by the time Conner entered the area and watched him, standing stiffly next to the counter.

“...She was your cousin, right?” Conner suddenly asked mid-way through Ben ranting about the proper fruit proportions needed for the best flavor. Ben froze, before shooting Conner a dangerous look. The kryptonian raised his hands defensively.

“Sorry… I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“Thought you and I agreed that wasn’t your business.” Ben huffed, “And that you didn’t care.” He started the blender, filling the ensuing awkward silence with the sound of fruits being blended together. When he flicked it off, Conner swallowed.

“I’m not sure if it’s that I don’t care… Or that I don’t get it honestly.” Conner stated before Ben could turn the blender back on again to cut him off.

“What’s there not to get. She’s not here.” Ben snapped, “Therefore, I don’t like talking about her.”

“Considering I am a clone, and my only genetic family is Superman… A lot actually.” Conner pointed out. And… Honestly, that made sense. Conner did have a family though, even if he was still learning how it worked. He had M’gann. He had the Team. It wasn’t one forged by blood. It was one that had been created.

“Dude, I think you get it way more than you realize.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… If something happened to me… Or anyone on the Team… And then someone new came in and tried to replace them?” Ben asked. He knew M’gann wasn’t trying to replace Gwen, but it didn’t matter. The way she kept prying and that face and red hair of hers… it still felt like it. Ben didn’t know why it bothered him so much, but it did.

“I guess I wouldn’t like that very much.” Conner concluded after a long, thoughtful pause.

“Great, then we’re at an understanding so shut up about it and enjoy the drink I so lovingly created for you.” Ben drawled as he dumped the contents of the blender into a cup and shoved it into Conner’s hands.

“Could you at least say something to her so she doesn’t keep bothering me about it?” A suffering groan left Ben’s lips as he rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, I’ll talk to her after the game tomorrow if she’s really giving you that much trouble over it.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

Chapter 56: Ben’s Soccer Game.

Ben had missed this. He couldn’t help but get reminded of that every time he got on the field again. A rush of adrenaline and the pressure to win without the life or death stakes. Dropping out of high school wouldn’t have been so bad… Had it not also meant he had to give up soccer and team sports. Granted, he got plenty of exercise on missions and with the Plumbers, but there was a difference between playing a game and fighting a war.

He wasn’t the goalie this game, being positioned as a defender. He would take the goalie position if anything happened to James, but since he was new to the team, he was not exactly first pick for the job which was fine.

He was a great defender anyways. Defense was something Ben would forever be the expert at.

“Sometimes I wonder if your brother is a vampire, dude.” One of the benched attackers, Henry chuckled as he nodded towards the stands where Ben’s superhero teammates were watching while Ben took a drink. They were at the halfway point of the team. They were down by three. They had to catch up with only half a game left. They had a good goalie.

It was weird seeing M’gann not green or Kaldur in civics. And of course, there was Albedo’s insistence to wear ridiculous hats to help protect his paler skin from the much too bright sun. But he was used to that by then. He was all for the cheerleading vibes they were giving off. He could tell it was helping his soccer teammates’ morale.

“He’s not.” Ben snorted, “He’s just not an outside person. Every coin’s got two sides you know?”

“No kidding. Is he really a full blown doctor?” Henry asked.

“Not the medical kind, but yeah. Coolest big brother ever.” Ben bragged.

“And those kids?”

“He’s got a fun friend group- Just because he’s out of high school early doesn’t mean he’s friendless and doomed to possess an army of cats.”

“Gonna make him proud?” Henry teased.

“Gonna try.” Ben chuckled as the coach called him up to the front.

“Tennyson, Burberry is off the attack, which means we’re falling back on you. Burberry, swap with Tennyson. I think it’s time to see what the new kid can do.” Mcall ordered. Henry and Ben exchanged surprised looks. It wasn’t that he wasn’t able to place offensive, it’s just the team had always practiced with him on defense. They were switching tactics due to Henry getting benched.

“Attacker?” Ben questioned, tilting his head.

“That a problem?” Mcall questioned. Ben just offered the coach a sharp grin.

“Not at all, coach.”

“Good. Now, Finley and Speer, they’ve been favoring their left midfielder. Tennyson, you’ve played goalie in the past. You think you can get around theirs?”

“Absolutely.” Ben nodded just as the ref blew his whistle, signaling the end of their break. They broke, lining up on the field. He spotted Albedo. His expression was harder to read with the sunglasses perched on his nose, but Ben knew his own face enough to recognize that the Galvan was confused by Ben’s placement change. He just offered him a grin before facing the other team’s attackers head on.

The whistle blew and the clock started as Ben’s team took the offense immediately. They crossed the halfway line, approaching the penalty arc. Their defense came to intercept. Finley swivered, passing to the middle, aka, Speer. Ben ran following the ball as Speer dribbled it down the middle, he narrowly avoided the defender attempting to block him. He needed to get open. He feint left before getting open so that Speer could do an indirect kick to Ben, Ben intercepted the ease, approaching the penalty to wind up for the direct hit into the goal. He feinted left once more, confusing the goalie enough to switch to the right and deliver. The ball went in, no trouble at all.

Ben’s hero team, from the stands, went wild, and he couldn’t help the swell of pride in his chest as he backed off, returning to the mid as the ref retrieved the ball and giving it to the other team. The adrenaline returned. His team was going to win this. It didn’t matter if they were now two behind. They would catch up, and they would keep the lead. He was in the mood to win. He got the sense that his teammates were too.

Like clockwork, the team switched to defense, working to retrieve the ball and take offense again. Like Mcall had predicted, they’d been favoring their left fielders. They preyed on that, striking from the right. The second time they scored, their coach switched players. They began to defend their rights better. They were paying better attention and Ben’s team was still one down. The other team just needed to keep their defense, maybe score once or twice more to secure their victory.

They had to rethink their attack. They told Ben to take the ball, they passed it back and forth between mid and front, confusing the others. Speers drove the ball and it was blocked. They tried a second go at it, this time passing to Finley, who drove the ball, and this time, they scored. They tied up, the second half was running down. Someone else had to score or they'd go into overtime.

It was Finley who made the final goal, with mid assisting.

And just like that, the game was won, the team exploding in excitement as Finley was celebrated for the last two winning goals. It kinda had been his game after all.

“You played well, Tennyson.” Mcall noted, “Glad you’re flexible.” Ben opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Wally suddenly there, pounding him on the back.

“Dude, you and I have to go one on one someday, that was awesome!”

“No, he’ll cheat.” Robin interrupted, “Remember, Kid’s fast on his feet. Good game though.” His team was leading him away from the coach, not entirely surprising considering they likely wanted to talk freely. Ben ducked away from Wally, brushing the speedster off.

“I’ve gotta hit the showers, I’ll be out in a few and we can hang out then, guys, okay?” He locked eyes with Conner who nodded towards M’gann in expectation.

“Right, but, like this explains so much of how you move when you fight. You’re a natural at keep away, aren’t you, Ben?” Artemis teased. Ben rolled his eyes, waving his Omnitrix arm, the watch itself safely hidden by his soccer gloves.

“My entire life is keep away, Arty, now, be back soon!” He waved them off, going to join his soccer team in the locker room and slowing his pace upon realizing that M’gann was trailing behind him.

He sighed.

He did promise Conner after all.

“Well, seeing as you can’t follow me inside.” He turned to face her, his prideful smile having morphed into something of a grimace.

“I’m not trying to bother you.” She said innocently, making Ben roll his eyes, “Really, I just wanted to check on you. I know I remind you of your cousin and I know she’s gone and what happened in Bialya probably didn’t help and-”

“Look, M, I’m sorry if I’m being a little awkward around you because of Bialya. That’s not fair and it’s not your fault that Gwen’s gone. It isn’t anything you're doing. These past few weeks have just been a little rough on everyone. Bialya was a disaster. I know.”

“But it’s been hardest on you and Albedo.” M’gann agreed, “We all lost our memories… But I know that what happened in Bialya dragged up a lot of trauma that both of you had been avoiding. Between Albedo being dragged back to his past and you getting forced to compare us with people who you’ve lost… Ben, you should talk to someone. We were told to ask Canary for help for a reason, Ben. Albedo… mentioned that you were worrying about your parents the other day and-” He knew she thought his family was dead, but the way she was talking… As if trying to console a person who’d lost everything, made his stomach churn. He broke eye contact and she seemed to take a hint, going quiet immediately. There was a moment of silence.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been recommended to see a therapist before.” He decided. It was actually surreal. One would think he would’ve been with all the crazy stuff he’d been through, but no one ever seemed to notice when Ben wasn’t on his game. He didn’t blame his family in the Omniverse for that. He made sure they wouldn’t notice.

He had to be strong, for the Universe’s sake.

“I’m not saying you’re crazy or anything! I’m just saying I want to help. I want us to be friends, family even, not just teammates. But I don’t want to be Gwen. I’m not your cousin. Even if I look like her. But that doesn’t mean I don’t… That WE don’t care, Ben.”

“I know.”

“So… You’ll talk to Canary?”

“I’ll think about it.” Ben replied, before waving her off to go shower.

Notes:

So, I played soccer when I was in middle school for like, a year. I barely remember anything from my days playing soccer, only that you kick with the side of your foot, not the toe to dribble and drive. Also that you have to throw an out of bounds ball back in. So if there are any people who watch/actually play soccer, sorry if I got some things wrong, it's been a long, long time since middle school.

That being said, have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 57: Discussing The Mole Problem.

“I need to talk to you, Ben.” The last person Ben expected to say those words to him was Kaldur. Sure, M’gann he expected. Maybe Albedo. Not Kaldur. From the expression on Kaldur’s face, and from the fact that he’d waited to approach him until M’gann and Conner were out of the cave on a mission, aka the telepath and the boy with super hearing, meant it was personal… Or something Kaldur didn’t want the Team to know about. Both weren’t exactly conversations that Ben was in the mood for.

“Shoot. What you got for me. Kal?” Ben chirped as the Altantian shifted uncomfortably, as if trying to figure out how to next explain himself.

“I think we have a mole.” He finally said after clear consideration. Ben tilted his head, the reasoning for waiting until M’gann and Conner were gone was a lot clearer.

“On what grounds?”

“A few days before the game.” Kaldur explained, “The day before actually, I went on a mission with Red Arrow. You probably saw the news?”

“I don’t really watch the news.” Ben remarked. Which was true. Since he’d started school, he didn’t have time. Summer had been a summer of nothing to do but missions. However, the second school had started, he was going to soccer practice, constantly nagging Albedo for help with schoolwork, and working with Batman and Aqualad on the whole superhero team thing. Honestly, Ben barely understood how Albedo managed being a superhero, a scientist, a studying mage, and also trying to make a scientific breakthrough that not even Amzuth had pulled off yet. Life was crazy. Who had time to watch the news?

“Well, Red X was, according to Red Arrow, paid to protect Lex Luthor from the League of assassins while he was helping North and South Rhelasia discuss the possibility of a peace treaty. Cheshire and Sportsmaster attacked the event. In the ensuing fight, Sportsmaster made… A remark that concerned me, and subsequently, Red Arrow.”

“Red X?” Ben questioned. Red X, as in the weird tech thief that knocked Conner out and ambushed their escort mission? The one that Robin could not figure out?

“Skull mask? Black suit with x’s on it? Uses constructs made from what your brother suggests is the element Zynothium?”

“Yep. That’s the same guy I remember. Nice to know he’s embraced the name I gave him.” Ben declared. Kaldur looked confused.

“You assigned him his name? Your report-”

“I called him many names, Kal, but I guess he picked one and ran with it. I’m pretty sure the Amazo escort job was his first real run.”

“What makes you think that? He took your team out with basically no effort. The mercenary fights well.”

“From my experience, there’s a difference between a guy who is good at fighting, and a guy who is experienced at fighting. Like… Take me and you, for example. I’ve been doing this hero thing much longer. However, you're better at fighting than me, hands down. It’s blaringly obvious too. You're by the book. You’ll take risks, but…”

“None as bold as yours.” Kaldur mused, “He’s new. Inexperienced… The way he talked, and the way Luthor was treating him… I had not picked up on that. How did you?”

“Gut feeling. Plus, Robin couldn’t find anything on the guy and this Zynothium element that Albedo says he is using was only recently reported missing. Red X is a new player. He’s only shown up twice. At our mission and with Luthor. He’s playing it safe.” Ben explained, “Not sure what he wants or what he thinks working with Luthor of all people is going to get him, but he is new.”

“That is a good thing to keep in mind. Inexperience is a dangerous weakness.” Kaldur agreed, before he took in a deep, steadying breath, “But seeing as he and I were on mutual terms, seeing as Luthor dying at a peace event was a bad thing, no matter if he’s on the Justice League’s bad side, he was the least of my concern. I was more concerned with Sportsmaster.”

“And what he said to you.” Ben agreed, “Hence you coming to me off all people while the people who might eavesdrop on us are out, about a possible mole problem.”

“You’re the elected leader.” Kaldur agreed, “I debated, however, if telling you about this was the best course of action. I mentioned the situation to Batman. He believed you should at least be informed that there may be an issue, considering your position.”

“Tell me what Sportsmaster said exactly… And if there really is a problem, why haven’t we gone to the team about it?”

“He knows what happened in Bialya.” Kaldur replied. Immediately Ben froze, before drawing out a long, suffering sigh. The incident in Bialya just wasn’t going to leave Ben alone, was it?

“How much?” Ben asked, a seriousness bleeding into his tone.

“Can’t say. He just told me he knew it’d been a failure. He gave no indication of knowing about-”

“Al?” Ben cut in. Kaldur nodded in confirmation.

“And you waited to tell me this why, exactly?” Ben asked, “How much does Bats know about Bialya? How much has the team talked?”

“As far as I was concerned, the events surrounding that incident stayed in Bialya. Sportsmaster remark caught me off guard. The report Batman received from you only indicated that the mission was a failure due to an unfortunate incident with Psimon. I reviewed it further, and there are absolutely no details to be found in it from your report.”

“Which means one of two things. Sportsmaster got a tip from someone that something went wrong, either from our team or from the people we fought at Bialya, or, in contrast, he’s trying to rile you up and cast suspicions in our ranks.”

“The same conclusion I came to, yes. I realized that if it were the latter, informing the team could be dangerous. However, if it’s the former, tipping off a mole that we know about them…” Ben found himself pacing, fidgeting with the Omnitrix as he mused over Kaldur’s words. Crazily enough, this was not the first time he’d encountered a possible mole situation. Every so often, the Plumbers would have a problem where the wrong guy got information and then sold it or someone bought off a corrupt Plumber to spy on the organization.

This time felt different.

The Plumbers were massive. New people and new players came in and out everyday. Sure, there were regulars, but the Plumbers were basically an intergalactic police organization. They weren’t like the Justice League. The Justice League was more exclusive. Teams were more tightly knit. Secrets more tightly guarded. Relationships were more closely protected. A mole in the League was a whole different issue than a mole in the Plumbers.

“Okay.” Ben nodded, turning to face Kaldur, “Okay. We’ll need to call a team meeting after Conner and M’gann get back. We’ll host it at Al and I’s apartment. We’ll have more privacy there. We’ll ask around. Figure out who said what to whom about Bialya. Make our intentions clear. Make sure that we aren’t interrogating them.”

“You want to tip the mole off?” Kaldur asked, sounding incredulous.

“If Sportsmaster tipped you off, and if there is a mole, then the mole already knows we know, so there’s no ‘tipping’ anyone off here.” Ben pointed out.

“And if there isn’t a mole and this is just an attempt to break the team?” Kaldur asked. Right. Yeah, that was the problem, wasn’t it? Once more, that difference between the Plumber’s and the League was glaringly obvious. Ben’s greatest concern was how Albedo was going to react. The Team and Ben were the first people Albedo had really trusted in a very, very long time. If he thought that someone on their team was planning to stab them in the back, all of Albedo’s progress would be lost.

Ben hated seeing Albedo so paranoid. He had hated knowing that Albedo had been holding onto so much hate and bitterness for so long. Ben didn’t want to be the reason he went back. Albedo had been so happy. Sure, Ben was disillusioned by Albedo’s friendship with Conner and M’gann, but he was happy with them. Ben didn’t want to break that.

But lying to Albedo and the Team?

Pretending like everything was fine, even if something wasn’t? That was going to backfire a whole lot more than if Kaldur and Ben came clean about the possible problem.

“It’ll backfire a whole lot more if we don’t figure out the truth now. They find out we kept something like this from them, and they won’t trust us, Kal. We’re the leaders. Which means if something goes wrong because we didn’t say anything, it’s on us.”

“As a leader, I feel that is right. It is our responsibility to protect this team.” Kaldur agreed, “Which is why I’m suggesting we wait until we know more, at the very least. Batman agrees with me. He’s running an investigation. He’ll be able to figure out if what Sportsmaster said has any merit to it or not. No use in causing a conflict when there may not be one. If there is a problem… Well, I am willing to take the fall for the team.”

“And what if you aren’t the one who falls for it?” Ben asked. Kaldur looked puzzled, as if he didn’t understand the question.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if someone gets hurt because the Team wasn’t given the facts as they are, that falls on me and you, Kal. But someone still gets hurt. And there’s no guarantee ever that it's going to be me and you. If there is a mole, it could affect everyone on this team, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not risking their safety. Not when one of us could be waiting to turn on everyone else. There’s a huge chance that there isn’t, but on the slim chance that there is a traitor, Kal, do you want to stake our friend’s lives on it without them knowing to be careful?”

Kaldur considered Ben’s words.

“I hadn’t considered that.” He admitted.

“I don’t really blame you.” Ben agreed, “It’s a tough situation and this is a terrible group to be having mole problems with, trust me.”

“I still think we should wait.” Kaldur pressed. Ben raised an eyebrow before motioning for Kaldur to make his case.

“I understand your qualms with keeping this information, but I know you understand my argument for waiting. In the next few days, Batman will have more information on the problem. If there is a problem, we can confront the team. If there isn’t…”

“Then no harm no foul.” Ben concluded, “Kaldur, that’s risky.”

“I thought the experienced leader knew all about risks.” Kaldur challenged.

“I take risks because I know I can.” Ben countered, “Because of experience. There’s a difference.”

“And do you think this is a risk worth taking?” Kaldur pressed. Ben rubbed his chin in thought before letting out a huff and shaking his head.

“Three days after Conner and M'gann return.” He decided, “If we don’t know more in that time, we will go to the team. If we find out there is merit to Sportsmaster’s claim before those three days are up-”

“We go to the team.” Kaldur agreed. Ben nodded.

“Glad we can compromise, buddy.” And that was the end of that conversation.

Chapter 58: The Attack of the Reds.

“There!” Dubbliex called, and Albedo released his spell, the bracer falling into place. Dubbliex released his own telekinesis. An electric type genomorph moved to fuse the pieces into place. Albedo lowered his hands, somewhat exhausted from the extra heavy lifting, however, the way he saw it, helping Dubbliex move things around and helping him lay the supports for Genotown was a good way to exercise and strengthen his powers.

“The progress on this project has been phenomenal!” Dubbliex declared. Albedo just hummed in agreement. The combination of the recruited Genomorph’s abilities was really making the progress of building Genotown a lot smoother. Dubbliex had been delighted with the location Albedo had selected, and after getting a secure Zeta Tube in place, moving things had been a thousand times easier.

“Speaking of progress, how has figuring out multiversal travel been going, friend?” Dubbliex pressed as Albedo grabbed up a bottle of water and poured the liquid down his throat.

“Steady.” He said after a moment, “Working with Luthor has been helping. The job with Relasia has gotten me closer. Pooling resources from the League, Star Labs, Wayne, Cadmus, and LexCorp has significantly increased my accessibility in the scientific community. As I told Benjamin… It’s not done, but I think I’ll be able to make a stable breach by New Years.”

“That is fantastic!” Dubbliex cheered, “You are a very good ally to have. Clever man. Very clever.” Albedo didn’t even try to act modest, instead chuckling in response.

“The evening’s nearing an end. You and your genomorphs need to return to the main compound sooner than later before they arouse suspicions. I think we can go a little longer without them noticing, but sooner or later they will. We need to have moved the inactives by then.” Albedo advised.

“Of course! Rest well, Albedo, son of Thallus. You’ve done good work for my people. A long week awaits you.” Dubbliex advised, ruffling Albedo’s hair, much to the Galvan teen’s annoyance. Albedo swat the telepath away, but once more didn’t argue. It was late. His human body wasn’t used to the workload a Galvan normally tackled, and he had been working himself to the bone. Between ‘helping’ Luthor with his tech as Red X, working with Wayne Enterprises, the team, building Genotown, and of course helping Benjamin with school, he needed a nap. Preferably a long one.

Problem was, the week wasn’t going to slow down. He had several official meetings with his coworkers at Wayne Enterprises concerning a genetic project they were working on, and he was subsequently being told to help with. The Team had no missions scheduled, but that meant little to nothing. Luthor wanted him to pull a few jobs as Red X, and he was still debating on what risks he wanted to take with his mercenary persona. And he had way too much stolen data he needed to wade through from his work with Luthor. He was glad that the Genomorphs were as self-sustaining as they were, otherwise they would’ve made his workload way heavier than it already was.

M’gann was back from her mission with Conner though. Which meant they were going to continue their show that afternoon. Albedo was stoked. He’d been too busy initially to greet her after returning from the mission, only two days ago. He promised they’d watch more Hello Megan the second he had a break. Now was the time, and frankly, he was excited. The last episode had been a two parter. Conner had just asked Megan to the school dance that was called ‘Prom.’ And she had yet to deliver her response. It was the show’s finale. M’gann was going to show him another show once Hello Megan was over. He was pretty sad that there was only one season of Hello Megan, but M’gann insisted that humans loved to rewatch shows, so it wasn’t over.

“See you later, Dubbliex.” Albedo said as he went to the homemade zeta and let it take him to the zeta next to his apartment. Albedo was doing his best to keep the location of Genotown a secret, so he always went to it from a different location each time, making certain that the Justice League’s zeta system didn’t pick up on his jumps between Genotown, Cadmus, and Wayne’s. He figured out he could hide it even better if he used his home Zeta, aka, the one near his apartment, as a reset area. He took a few moments to cover his trail before keying in the cave to zeta there to hang out with M’gann.

He really needed to know how that show ended.

He got out of the Zeta and was met with a silent cave, which he didn’t think too much about. He merely began walking towards where the living quarters were, seeking out M’gann’s room. He reached her door, knocking thrice sharply and awaiting her response.There were several moments of silence, before knocking again

“M’gann? Are you in there?” He called. There was no response and he frowned, wondering if perhaps she went down to the garage to hang out with Conner.

He turned to retrace his steps when the door to the hall suddenly clicked shut. Bewildered, Albedo approached it, grabbing the handle and rattling it. It was locked. What, was this another one of Robin’s ‘pranks?’ It wasn’t very clever. Who tried to lock a magician up? A small spell was all it took for the lock to release and he pulled the door open, finding no one behind it.

Wally perhaps?

Then he noticed the water. The ground was soaked. It was seeping into his tennis shoes and his socks didn’t appreciate it at all. A Glavan would’ve loved the humidity, but human Albedo was not very excited about the water pooling at his feet.

He knelt down, realizing that the water was steadily rising.

“What in Azmuth’s name?” He muttered.Something was wrong. Something was dreadfully wrong. He was back on his feet, running for the main computer when the sound of Red Tornado’s voice made him stop in his tracks.

“Halt!”

“Tornado? What the heck is going on? Where-” A wave of water slammed into him out of literally nowhere the moment he turned to face the origin of the voice. He was given no chance to use a spell or put up a shield as he was slammed violently into the far wall. The water receded, Albedo crumpled.

“Oof!” He propped himself up, raising his eyes to see a red android that was decidedly NOT Red Tornado. Markings for water were painted across his chest. And he was extending his hand. Aledo didn’t think, he moved, rolling out of the way and throwing up a mana shield in time to block another wave of water. His shield immediately cracked under the pressure, so Albedo called out a deflection spell, and took off running for the exit the second the water was redirected.

He was cut up by a sudden stream of flames blocking his path and encircling the area around him. He panted.
He was tired. He did not have the energy to deal with killer robots today! And where were his teammates? Weren’t they supposed to be there today? Why did the cave seem abandoned?

He put up another shield as he dove through the flames and struck out towards their origins, a female modeled robot with flame markings. The robotic woman didn’t seem to like his mana surging through it as it paused, fizzling in confusion while the flames died for a moment. They were back with vigor seconds later, but by then, Albedo was running again.

He fumbled for his watch going to open his comms, only to find static. Someone was cutting the cave off from the adults. If any of Albedo’s teammates came, they’d be stuck there with him until Albedo took down the stupid robots.

Luck for him, untailored machines did not do well with an overload of mana. If he played keep away long enough, he could corral them and-

“Gah!” He was pulled out of his thoughts as something snagged his ankle, and he tumbled. There was a click, and whatever had snagged him latched into place. He felt his connection to his mana evaporate.

He got up immediately, spying what it’d been. Someone, the robots, he suspected, had set up some kind of trap using the cave’s own security measures. A trap they’d corralled him into. Secured around his ankle was a power cuff of some kind. It was blocking all access to his Anodite half.

That was bad. That was very, very bad. Water was already pooling around him, and the clanking of the androids approaching the trap snapped Albedo into reality. He spied a vent, not unlike the ones Robin often hid in to set up his pranks. Albedo pried the panel open, climbing inside, before shutting it behind him and crawling as fast as he could.

After several minutes, he slowed, before stopping entirely to let out a shaky breath. He was wet. He was cold. His powers were shut down. He had no clue where anyone was.

In short, he was miserable.

Notes:

Sorry for the slightly late chapter this week. Was sick for most of the week (I'm better now, so don't worry!) And therefore entirely unmotivated to do any work. When I got better I had to go back to work and do, like, five different projects that had to be pushed back becuase of me being sick. I was going to upload earlier this morning when I realized that I wasn't going to get the chapter in on Friday, but then I had to help my little sister buy a car, so we're doing a Saturday afternoon upload. (At least, it's afternoon where I live). Sorry for the short wait!

Chapter 59: Reflect’s Performance.

He just needed to reach the lab. That’s where his tools were. Tools meant he could get the stupid cuff off. Getting it off meant he could get mana, and thus, stop the robotic duo. Multiple times he’d been cut off by them. He had the worst feeling they were trying to corner him again. He had absolutely no clue what they wanted from him or how they even got into the cave, but their resemblance to Red Tornado raised many concerns.

All indicators suggested that they’d been constructed by Red Tornado’s creator. This begged the question, were they here because Red Tornado had been forced to betray them? Or was Red Tornado a target, as he had been with the last evil elemental android they’d faced?

He stopped in his crawl through the vents at the sound of hushed voices.

His heart nearly leapt up his throat until he realized he recognized them.

Artemis. Robin.

He moved quickly to catch up with them, coming to a vent that led to the cave’s library. He kicked the cover off and dropped down directly behind the two. That… probably wasn’t the best plan as he wound up with an arrow and a birdarang being shoved into his face. He backed up, eyes wide and hands in the air.

“It’s just me!” He hissed, “You two need to take cover, now!”

“Reflect.” The relief in Artemis’s voice was apparent, “You’re okay.”

“I’m relieved to see you both are fine as well.” Albedo agreed, “But this is hardly the place to discuss, come on.” Albedo found the emergency access panel in the library, throwing it open and shoving both in just as the sound of roaring flames reached his ears.

He closed the panel before the fire could reach them, exhaling in relief.

“...Dude, you don't look traught.” Robin remarked.

“I’ve been handicapped. My anodite half is unavailable. I need access to the lab, and they seem to know this. They’ve blocked every route. They somehow knew my powers needed to be deactivated immediately, lest I destroy them. I’ve yet to learn the fates of those who were in the cave before I arrived… I hadn’t even realized you two were well and alive.”

“Who are you talking about? What’s been attacking us?”

“Androids.” Albedo replied as he began to trek through the tunnels, “Element controlling androids similar to Red Tornado in speech pattern and appearance.” There was a mechanical whir and the intercoms flared to life.

“Attention, Artemis. Attention, Robin. Attention, Reflect. You have exactly ten minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished.” The three heroes froze at that, all wearing the same startled expression.

“They have the others.” Albedo recognized.

“We saw something attack the others on the security cams before they went dead. They were ambushed from inside the cave.” Robin explained.

“M’gann’s weakness is fire… Kaldur’s too. They have a fire android.” Albedo agreed.

“And get a jump on Ben before he can transform and stop Wally before he can run, and you can knock those two out, easily.” Robin agreed.

“...Then it’s just a matter of finding a way to keep Conner down.” Robin concluded.

“We’re bait.” Albedo recognized as he rubbed his chin, “They aren’t killing us, they’re taking hostages… This is a trap of some kind.”

“Well, no duh it’s a trap, genius!” Artemis growled.

“Not for us!” Albedo growled, “They knew precisely what was needed to take down and inhibit each of the powered members of our team, but have made no actions to kill them. That Mr. Twister villain was after the Red Tornado. Who's to say he isn’t the target again? Take out the team he’s meant to be watching over, and he will have to intervene.”

“Mr. Twister?”

“Fought him before you joined.” Robin said dismissively, “But how the heck do they know all of our teammate’s weaknesses? I mean Ben is super off the grid. You too. Yet they got the jump on both of you. Knew exactly how to take you out! And as far as our enemies know, you two don’t have obvious weaknesses. You’ve not been public enough with them for people to know them.”

Albedo felt his stomach roll. He tried not to pale, but it was fruitless. Artemis noticed. Her eyebrows furrowed.

“You know something.” She accused.

“I… Have a theory.” He admitted, “This is hardly the time nor the place.” As if to back this statement, the robotic voice was calling out over the speaker again.

“Eight minutes.” Shoot. They didn’t have time for this. They needed a plan.

“I need access to my mana. Machines and mana don’t mix well.” Albedo declared, “We need to get to the lab. Shutting the androids down is our first concern. We shut them down, then we save the team.” Albedo looked to Robin, who contemplated.

“I might know a short-cut or two. But they're in the cave’s system. Al, I’ll need you to cover our tracks. Stay here, where they can’t get to you. Artemis and I will get what we need to take them down. We’ll rendezvous here and locate the copy cat Reds. Take them down. Save the Team. Easy as cake!”

“Yeah, a real walk in the park, except for the part where Reflect can’t fight without his powers and our other super-powered teammates are being held hostage by killer robots!” Artemis growled.

“Won’t be able to kill Benjamin.” Albedo said, making Artemis glare at him.

“The lifeline function would kick in before they could effectively do so.” Albedo continued thoughtfully even though he was absolutely certain he needed to stop talking, “Not that this is helpful information, considering the rest of the Team would die and…”

“Al, just, stop talking.” Robin laughed, though the laugh held no humor to it. He pulled out a communicator birdrang, pushing it into Albedo’s hands, “Sit tight, stay traught, Arty and I will be back before you know it.” Albedo clamped his mouth shut and nodded. He pulled up the cave’s systems onto his watch, and set to work on covering Artemis and Robin’s tracks.

He knew very well that Robin was a skilled enough hacker to cover his own tracks, even in the midst of a fight. However if Robin could focus on reaching the lab, without having to actively keep the machines from finding them, he would be more successful.

Their true locations blinked up at him as he displayed false occasions for the androids to see.

“Six minutes.” The intercom announced. Albedo growled.

“Reflect to Robin. Forget the parts. I won’t be able to deactivate the machines before they kill our friends in time if we try breaking the cuff stopping my powers. You won’t have time to double back. You’ll have to go for the full attack. Something that will deactivate the machines in one push.”

“Duh! An electromagnetic pulse!” Robin called.

“Brilliant.” Albedo agreed with a grin.

“Fresh out of those.” Artemis called sarcastically, “No more EMP arrows, so unless Robin’s got one on his belt-”

“Nope.” Robin chirped.

“No need. Keep en route to the lab.” Albedo countered.

“We’re here.” Robin called.

“Good. X-ray machine. Vacuum tube. It’s small. Side panel. Can’t miss it.”

“Got it.”

“Good. Connect your hologlove to it. We can reprogram it to function as an EMP. That piece converts energy pulses, so it can be easily repurposed. Hook it to the cave’s generator, complete the circuit, one of Artemis’s arrows should help with that, and every machine save for the Omnitrix and my Broken Ulitmatrix will shut down. Androids included. I can call the League once whatever's been jamming our communications out has been stopped.”

“Done and done.” Robin confirmed, “Artemis and I are on our way… Do we know where the androids are?”

“Um…” Albedo’s eyes flicked over the holographic display of the cave he was watching. There was a lot of motion in the garage… Which was problematic.

“Unless they are standing completely still at the moment, which is always a possibility, in the garage.”

“Where’s the generator?” Artemis questioned.

“...Also in the garage.” Albedo admitted.

This got her swearing. Albedo would likely never understand Terran swears. They sounded so dull compared to the more potent, precise, and colorful Galvanic ones he liked. And none compared to using Azmuth’s name as a swear. That was just a delight.

“I’ll draw their attention and try to buy some time. Complete the circuit.” Albedo decided.

“Wait, Reflect, you can’t fight them without your magic-” Albedo ignored Robin’s sputtered protests, rising, and following his map towards the garage, and hopefully towards the others. Of course, Albedo knew he couldn’t fight them head on. But even before he learned mana, Albedo was an expert at misdirection. An expert at outwitting. Machines were clever, yes, but no machine was comparable to a Galvan.

Especially not a Galvan under a lot of pressure, with a lot at stake, and a lot of experience at what Benjamin called ‘being a theater kid.’

He found the vent leading to the garage area, kicking it out and crawling out into very open territory. He managed to roll out of the way of a stream of flames sent his direction before coming to his feet, raising his hands with an easily contained smile.

His eyes scanned the room.

Conner and Wally were encased in some sort of rock-like substance. Interesting. Somehow it contained Wally’s insane speed and Conner’s intense strength. Kaldur and M’gann were in bad condition. M’gann was out like a light. Green skin is clammy with sweat. Kaldur looked mere moments from fainting, sheer will being likely the only thing keeping him conscious. A cage of flames contained them.

And Benjamin.

Azmuth, Benjamin.

Albedo knew the best method for taking down Benjamin was a surprise attack. If the boy couldn’t get to his watch in time, then the boy could be defeated. Albedo knew there was no guarantee even that was enough. As Albedo had learned, Benjamin was far more clever than he made himself out to be.

Seemed the machines guessed or knew as much, for they took no chances. Benjamin was out like a light. Pinned to the wall, both hands are cased in the same substance holding Conner and Wally in place. His head was limp, hanging above a shallowly breathing chest. His hair was matted, wet, but not from the water slowly polling in the room, licking at the ribs of the people stuck on the ground level.

They’d taken him out with a nasty blow to the head. Albedo did his best to keep his breathing even. Head wounds on humans bled a lot. Benjamin probably only had a concussion. If it were something worse, he would’ve been forced into a transformation to protect him. But the fact that he was unconscious or that he was bleeding at all was enough to make Albedo’s blood boil.

“Are you surrendering?” The water Red called, landing in front of Albedo, who tore his eyes from his twin, and up to the android.

“I’m a humble man.” Albedo drawled, “I know when a match is met. Unfortunately, I don’t know where the other two humans are, at least I’d tell you. But I will not risk my little brother’s life on the account of a grudge between you two and Red Tornado.” The female, fire based Red moved towards him. He stepped back, his hands still raised, but his wariness with the situation clearly conveyed.

“Look, stop the clock.” Albedo continued, “I can get you directly to Red Tornado. All of this is for him, right?” Albedo made a tiny, as non-threatening as he could manage, gesture towards his captured comrades. Wally and Conner were the only one awake and aware enough to witness the exchange. Kaldur was still awake… But the man looked completely dazed. His eyes fluttered as if he was trying to blink the consciousness back into his body. Wally and Conner were watching him like he was insane.

“Where are the other two?”

“What part of I don’t know escapes you. Honestly, for machines, you are quite simple and dull-witted. You shut down my abilities. I’ve barely managed to avoid you myself, and I didn’t even know they were here, and alive, until you informed me of this information in your little announcement. Your impatience betrays you. You want them caught before the League discovers your take over. Red Tornado might return soon, but we both know there is a chance he could’ve been called away for something more long term.”

“Our information does not indicate-”

“Well, he was. But he probably hasn’t gotten far from Earth.” Albedo lied with ease, letting nothing in his expression give away the truth.

“How might we convey our position and draw him here without informing the League?” Water Red questioned. His tone was as monotone as ever, yet Albedo knew machines like this enough to recognize that it was interested. They were distracted.

And that’s when Robin and Artemis made their move.

Albedo spotted a blur of red up above, working on the generator. Artemis was in the other cover, covering him with two arrows. One on her bow, one in the quiver. Odd… She’d had only one before. Perhaps she recovered one of her lost ones? Whatever the case, it was aimed for the generator, ready to shoot once Robin gave the signal.

Good.

“Well, you two are very capable, intelligent individuals, being bright enough to stop a full team of heroes.” Albedo drawled, “Have you really not drawn the same conclusions as I have?”

“We do not wish to play games, human.” The fire Red informed him, “How might we convey this information?”

“If I move my hand, will you attack me? I’m really quite harmless without my powers.” They seemed to calculate the risk.

“Why?” Fire Red challenged.

“I need access to my watch. It’s got a computer on it. I can use it to bring Red, and only Red right here.”

“Too much of a risk. You might contact the League.” Water Red concluded.

“Calculate that risk versus the risk of the League discovering this little attack?” Albedo insisted, “Run the numbers. You know this doesn’t turn out well with this new, unaccounted for variable. I know I have. In fact, I’m sure your initial information suggested that he was still supposed to be here until he disappeared well over an hour ago. You attacked now, assuming it was a short-term leave. Assuming he would be back soon. He won’t be back for months without my help.”

Another moment of hesitation. Albedo did his best not to look at the green and red clad heroes, keeping his eyes trained on Water Red.

“You may access your watch.” Red Fire decided. Albedo flashed a smile, lowering his hands.

“Artemis, now!” Robin called, and there was the sound of an arrow being released just as the two androids clocked that Robin and Artemis were there.

Then the machines suddenly crumpled, the lights gave out, and the emergency lights kicked in. Albedo’s grin only grew.

“Would you look at that?” He chuckled, as he knelt over the crumpled Water Red, “I can perform so well, even machines mistake me for genuine.”

Notes:

Sorry for lack of post last week. I was finishing up my summer course and getting ready to start up school again. As a result, I had a lot of final homework for the summer to work on and finish, and didn't have time to work on this story. But I'm back, and here's a new chapter!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Chapter 60: A Truth is Revealed.

“I hate this.” Benjamin grumbled as Albedo finished checking him over.

“I’m just amazed that you’re already upright.” Albedo replied, “They did not hold back when knocking you out, Benjamin.”

“Meh.” He mumbled, “I’ve been hit by a truck before, so this is probably okay…”

“As a human?”

“Well no, but it left a bad knot on my head when I turned human again.”

“You sound half awake.” Robin chuckled. Benjamin just hummed in response and held his head now that Albedo wasn’t in his face. Wally had taken it upon himself to make sure Kaldur and M’gann were okay, getting them both water and making sure they were both hydrated and not suffering from after effects from such long exposure to the flames. They were simpler fixes for Wally to handle, since, while Albedo wasn’t an expert on humans, he was getting to understand the biology a lot better as time went by. Martians and Atlantians, however, were something he was still studying since they were newer to him.

The more critical teammates handled, Albedo turned to the robotic siblings, which Conner had helpfully pulled down to where Albedo was for examination. They were evidence of something Albedo had already suspected. They had information within their code that Albedo simply needed to know.

“So Red Tornado was their target, huh?” Robin noticed as Albedo found an access panel on the water one, who was apparently named Red Torpedo, and magically opened it to access the inner mechanisms.

“Would seem so. I assumed as much. The coincidence suggested there could be no other reason for their presence.” Albedo agreed, “Mr. Twister appears in Happy Harbor, and these two show up just as Red Tornado leaves the planet for Watchtower duties, and thus, is untraceable via traditional satellite technology… Well, I have come to assume that our Den Mother is being tracked by an outside party. Either his creator or someone who has access to his creator’s work.”

“Could this tracker… Listen in on us?” Kaldur asked, looking much better now, but sounding strangely uncertain about something, which was not normal for Kaldur.

“Theoretically, yes. But I don’t think it was. I’ll have to look at Red Tornado myself and locate whatever they’re using to trace him and I can confirm if this is the case or not… There was a camera watching us in Mr. Twister, but M’gann destroyed it so…”

“So someone could’ve been spying on us.” Kaldur recognized. Yeah, Albedo’s mind had gone there too. However one thing kept him from believing Red Tornado had more than just a tracer on his person.

“I don’t believe this is the case. They believed me when I told them Red Tornado was on a long term mission. If someone were watching his every move, even if the satellite interference messed up tracking him… They would still know that Red Tornado had in fact, NOT been sent on a long term mission.”

“So then how did they know how to take down you and Ben? Your powers are completely unique to the League and our team. A new thing. Even if Albedo is magic and stuff, his magic is different, functionally, than some of the other magic based Leaguers. But they went for Ben first, and stopped Albedo’s powers as if it were obvious. As if someone told them how to react.” Artemis pointed out, “You know something about that, don’t you, Albedo?” Albedo winced, avoiding eye contact with her as he mulled on what to say to that.

“...As far as I know, our enemies were still having difficulty pinpointing that Benjamin’s watch is the source of his powers. We’ve done what we could to ensure this was not obvious. I’ve not used magic enough on the field yet to warrant such consideration. They shouldn’t know I’ve gotten better. Or that I’ve gotten stronger with my powers.”

“Exactly!” Artemis huffed as she crossed her arms, glaring dangerously at everyone.

“...What are you suggesting, Arty?” Wally asked in a half-hearted, nervous laugh.

“That we are being watched.” Albedo explained, “Someone within the team or League’s ranks is watching us and letting such information as our weaknesses become more commonly known.”

“A mole.” Robin realized.

That’s when Benjamin swore dangerously under his breath in Galvan.

“Brother?” Albedo asked, losing his focus on the machine in front of him and staring at his concussed twin, “Are you okay?”

“I knew it.” He growled, “I should’ve known! Azmuth, this is my fault!”

“What are you talking about?” M’gann asked softly.

“I knew this was going to freaking happen. If I had said something…” He began to mutter angrily in Galvanic again, saying something about how he could’ve prevented the attack. As if somehow, him knowing about the apparent mole somehow could’ve stopped the Reds.
Conner growled, and suddenly, he was pinning Benjamin to the wall.

“What do you mean you knew?!” He snarled. Albedo was on his feet in moments, magically pulling Conner off of him.

“Don’t jostle him, he’s concussed!” Albedo warned, “He’s just a little delusional right now, leave him be.”

“M’gann almost died because of those things!” Conner growled as he motioned towards the robots, “If he knew something that could’ve stopped this attack, then why the heck were we not informed?!” Benjamin looked honestly ashamed, his face flushed red as he hung his head to avoid eye contact with the group.

That’s when Kaldur stepped up.

“Don’t be angry with him.” Kaldur requested, “He only withheld information because I requested that he do so.”

“What?” Wally’s voice sounded small.

“What are you talking about?” Robin agreed, sounding just upset as Connor, only his anger was veiled under a dangerously even tone.

“...A few days ago, before M’gann and Conner did the Belle Rev mission, I helped Red Arrow on a case involving Lex Luthor and the Rhelasians.”

“The one with Red X, you told me about that.” Robin nodded.

“Well… Sportmaster said something… Regarding the mission in Baylia, and how he knew that something had gone wrong. He suggested after I questioned him about it… That we had enemies within our ranks.” Kaldur explained, “I consulted Batman… And then I came to Ben, as he is our elected leader, and asked what he recommended. He told me it was safer to inform the team that there could be a threat. I was worried that Sportsmaster was bluffing and that his words were a ploy to hurt our team. I wanted to investigate further before presenting this before the Team. Ben… Was not entirely on board with this decision, but allotted me and Batman a few days to search for some merit behind this accusation before he would inform you.”

“I shouldn’t have listened.” Benjamin said, his tone unusually dark, “I knew better.”

“So, both of you knew that there’s a mole spying on us.” Artemis cut in, “And you both decided not to say a word. Am I getting this right?” Kaldur nodded, but still stood tall, where Benjamin seemed to wince again at her words. It was so… Unlike him. Benjamin never let mistakes get the better of him. He always bounced right back. That’s what made him Benjamin Tennyson.

He looked… Weary.

“You’ve got it to the tee.” Benjamin agreed.

“This really isn’t the best time for this discussion…” Albedo cut in as he returned his attention to the wiring inside Red Torpedo, “Benjamin is injured and Kaldur is still recovering from the attack. We are all stressed.”

“Did you know?!” Wally snapped. Albedo had known for a while, but there had really been any way for him to bring the topic up. Red X knew about the mole because he hacked LexCorp. Albedo wasn’t supposed to have access to information from LexCorp. He really had no clue how to answer the question without making it obvious he was lying.

“I never informed him of my suspicion. I don’t believe Ben told him.” Kaldur reported.

“Thought about it. But I didn’t.” Benjamin mumbled.

“Then why doesn’t any of this seem to surprise you?” Artemis asked. Albedo’s mind scrambled and he found a lie.

“I’ve just gotten used to traitors, I suppose.” He shrugged, and that somehow shut them all up.

“When is Red Tornado going to get back?” M’gann asked softly.

“Now.” Everyone looked up to see the android walking in. Despite all knowing he was on their side, they tensed.

“I need to inspect you for trackers.” Albedo said automatically, rising and oh so grateful for a distraction.

“What has occurred?” Tornado asked.

“Your siblings tried to kill us.” Wally deadpanned.

“I wasn’t aware I had any siblings.” He noted. Albedo immediately put shields up, blocking Tornado from reaching him.

“They were after you. I’d keep my distance until my examinations have concluded.” He warned. Red Tornado, thankfully, took his advice, standing down. Unfortunately, that’s when Conner’s Sphere started beeping and whirring from the other side of the room, sounding very much reactivated. The emergency lights shut off as the actual lights switched on.

The fire android, who was apparently named Red Inferno, sat up. Albedo swore and the team backed off, with Conner ushering M’gann, Ben, and Kaldur behind him, despite his initial anger towards the latter two, and the others falling into tense stances. Red Torpedo creaked under Albedo, its access panel suddenly snapped shut as the machine itself shot its hand up and caught Albedo by the neck.

A strangled cry tore from his lips, his mana shield shuttered out of existence with his surprise.

“Stop them!” Robin yelled, attacking without a second thought.

Red Tornado flew at the other robots, seemingly set on protecting his charges.

“Wait, don’t-” He gasped, but it was too late. Red Inferno had seen him and, ignoring Robin’s attack, shot past Torpedo and Albedo to grab Tornado.

The two machines went dangerously still as they locked eyes.

The next thing Albedo knew, he couldn’t breathe. Not because of Torpedo, for he had let Albedo go. But because, as if a switch had been flipped, Tornado had turned against him.

There wasn’t even a chance to fight back before his vision tunneled, and the world went dark.

Chapter 61: Deka and Batman Have A Talk.

“I take full blame for this incident.” Kaldur insisted, “As I was the one who thought it unnecessary to inform the team about a probable mole in the League or Team’s ranks. Reflect has already begun his efforts in attempting to track-”

“Aqualad, that is unnecessary.” Batman cut in just before Ben was about to jump in and take the blame himself. He’d dealt with moles and traitors among the Plumbers enough to know better. This was Aqualad’s first experience.

“But, sir, if the team had been aware of the probable danger, they might have been better prepared for the threat that Red Tornado’s relatives posed.”

“No one would have predicted this attack.” Batman countered, “And according to the data Reflect has presented to me on the situation, I don’t think he is the mole Sportsmaster was tipping you off about. However, the data they did know does prove his claim true. Now that we know for sure, we can be better prepared for any future internal attacks.”

“We could’ve been prepared a lot sooner.” Ben cut in, “Keeping information that could affect the entirety of a team secret is never a good idea. I agreed to keep this from them solely because I know the team is close and I didn’t want them to argue. But, ugh, I should’ve known this would happen. My grandpa and I used to have to deal with stuff like this all the time!”

“What’s done is done.” Batman countered, “This isn’t on either of you. As I said, this was something no one anticipated. There were no casualties. Canary will be helping with the recovery. The League will handle Red Tornado’s case. We’re working on the Den Mother situation and a temporary system until we can determine further information concerning the Red Tornado situation.”

“Reflect’s already got a pretty good head start. We can-” Kaldur started, but Batman held up a hand to silence him.

“Red Tornado is Justice League’s case. Reflect must turn all information he has regarding the incident to us. We’ll come to him for consel, if needed. However, Red Tornado was a League member. Therefore, finding him is our responsibility. The team is off of his case.” Ben and Kaldur met eyes at that moment. A silent message conveyed between them.

The team was not going to like that.

They were already peeved at Ben and Kaldur for hiding the mole thing from them.

But the team wanted to be on the Red Tornado case. That much had been clear before Batman pulled Ben and Kaldur to be debriefed on the attack. They wanted to know who’d been behind the attack. They wanted to stop the person behind Red Tornado’s disappearance. Red Tornado was a League member… But he was their Den Mother, even if he mostly kept to himself when he was there, or watched them curiously from the sidelines in attempt to understand human/alien adolescents.

“That’s literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Ben huffed as he folded his arms, “You put him in charge of us. His siblings attacked us. They used us as bait to get to him. I’m sorry, but there is nowhere in all of that that suggests what happened to him isn’t our business, Bats.”

He scowled deeper the more he thought about it. His headache from the concussion was finally receding and he was thinking a whole lot more clearly, it seemed. So naturally, he wanted to put his full two senses in, “And ‘what’s done is done?’ The heck, Bats? Two of our team were literally dying. The rest of them nearly drowned. I get you’ve got this need to protect us, cos’ we’re young and all that, but withholding information about the guy who’s siblings nearly killed us and suggesting that Aqualad and I say nothing about a mole?! That isn't protecting anyone! It’s doing more harm than good. I understand people having secrets. I understand that not everything is on the need to know. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. But these kids aren’t toddlers. And a mole and Red Tornado’s situation is very much on the need to know. My team could’ve been killed! And for what? Us being cautious because we don’t want them to jump to conclusions or to start pointing fingers? Is preventing that worth any of their lives?”

“Deka, I understand that you don’t agree-” Batman started, but Ben cut him off.

“Do you? Do you really, Batman?” Ben asked, “They put me in charge. They are my responsibility. And that’s why I know they aren’t going to stand for you telling them no about Red Tornado. They aren’t going to care. I know it. You know it. So why even act like we both don’t know how this is going to go down?”

“The team agreed-”

“They only agreed because they thought this was their chance to finally prove themselves. Because they thought if they did this together, you’d actually trust them.” Ben countered, “So far, it’s been fine. But the second we’re presented with something that could cause conflict within the team, we don’t trust them to work it out and overcome it. Do you see the problem here? If you’re gonna investigate Red Tornado, at least let the team get involved somehow. Because if they’re anything like me, and trust me, they are, they aren’t going to wait for your approval before trying to take it into their own hands.”

There was a very, very long stretch of silence after that. Batman narrowed his eyes in Ben’s direction. Ben merely glared right back. He wasn’t backing down on this one. He wasn’t letting them down again. He made a mistake in hiding the mole from them. He wasn’t going to let Batman take their chance at solving the mystery of their missing Den Mother.
Batman caved first.

“Fine.” He tore his gaze away from Ben, “Reflect and Robin can continue their investigation into the Red Tornado case. But everything the team uncovers has to be logged, and reported directly to me. You are not to act on anything you find until you are given express permission.”

“We can do that.” Kaldur agreed, “I can make sure of it.”

“Good.” Batman nodded, “You are dismissed. Both of you. Get some rest.”

“Yes, sir.” Kaldur nodded.

“Ditto.” Ben agreed with a mock salute, before he spun on his heel, following Kaldur out of the mission room and into the living area where the rest of the team waited. Most of their mentors were there, checking up on their protegee after the attack. Ben couldn’t help but meet eyes with Conner, who had one of Superman’s hands on his shoulder.

And something told Ben that Conner had overheard the entire conversation. From the looks the rest of the team gave Ben when they entered the room, it seemed like Conner had been in the sharing mood. Probably telling M’gann, who told the rest.

Ben had no clue what to make of the expressions they wore.

“Al, come on. My head still hurts. I want to go home.” Ben walked directly to Albedo, pulling him off the couch. His nose had been buried in the data he was sorting through, “And Azmuth knows you won’t sleep tonight if I don’t make you.”

“Just a moment longer, I think I can-”

“Now, Al.” Ben sighed, “I’m tired.” Albedo looked up from the data. He seemed to study Ben for a moment, before he nodded. He turned off the computer on his watch.

“Right, sorry. I got distracted.”

‘Ben.’ Ben glanced at M’gann, an eyebrow raised.

‘Don’t be so hard on yourself.’ She encouraged, ‘You’re a good leader. You stood up for us.’

‘I’m fine. M’gann.’

‘I just wanted you to know. We were arguing pretty badly back there.’ She insisted. Ben looked away, tugging at Albedo’s arm again to go.

As they approached the Zeta Tubes, he hesitated, before thinking a simple, ‘Thanks.’

Notes:

Another shorter chapter this week, as I am now back in school full time and figuring out my new schedule. (I'm on my last year of school for this degree, so I expect these next two semesters to be a little crazy.) But, you know, another change to canon! So, you know, progress.

Chapter 62: Klarion Is A Nuisance.

“Look at that! It’s Tennyson!” Albedo could help but snarl at the voice resounding in his head. This was the millionth time that memory had relayed itself in his dreams since the Bialya incident. He wanted it to stop. He really, really wanted it to stop.

“You sure, boss? Tennyson doesn’t have white hair.”
He spun around, growling angrily.

“I’m not Benjamin. For Azmuth’s sake, leave me alone!” He informed the foolish memories. It was as if M’gann had paused a scene from an episode as the two poachers froze in their place.

“What are you doing here?” Albedo turned, confused as he looked from place to place for the source of the voice. He knew it. He knew it from somewhere, but he had no clue where.

“It’s a memory. I must just be having another bad dream.” Albedo grumbled in response, “Must’ve fallen asleep while working on the displacer… I was up late last night because of the Red Tornado incident… Yes…” He nodded, certain of this response. He wasn’t usually aware in his nightmares, but this time he was confident. He was asleep. The poachers from the bad memory were in prison somewhere in the Omniverse. He was safe. He knew that.

“I’m not talking about the dream, mage guy.” Albedo turned again, and he came face to face with cruel black eyes.

“Klarion.” Albedo gasped as he stumbled back. The Lord of Chaos grinned, moving closer to Albedo with a cruel smile.

“I found you!” The Chaos Lord laughed, “Oh, you are a good hider, you know that? After the Tower of Fate, I just had to find the boy with the ancient soul! I just had to! You’re playing tricks and games! Tricks and games! Tell me, what’d your little team of brats think about the traitor? What do you think, hmm?”

“...I already knew.” Albedo found himself admitting before he scowled, burying his hands in his pockets. He knew Klarion was aware of what he looked like outside of costume because of the whole Tower of Fate debacle, but that didn’t mean he liked it, “You can’t be here. Get out of my head.”

“Oh, but you didn’t answer my question!”

“I think I did. And if you don’t leave, I’ll show you exactly how much I’ve grown in my magic.”

“This isn’t the physical plane, mage!” Klarion cackled, “I can do what I want here. I’m stronger than you here.”

“And I have a brother who’s stronger than you even here.” Albedo growled.

“Besides, you didn’t answer my question, silly. I asked why…” Klarion motioned to the scene frozen in front of them, “Are you here?”

“It’s a bad memory. People have them.” Albedo grunted, “Are you done pestering me?”

“Memory. Memory. Memory.” Klarion played with the word with his voice, “...Hmm. You are a worry wart. You know that? So stuck in the boring past. It’s the past. How interesting can that be? I’m more interested in the future. You should be too… Considering you don’t have one.” Albedo’s glare turned sharp.

“Is that a threat?”

“An observation.” Klarion shrugged with a knowing smile, “Did you know, everyone in the multiverse’s magical community can’t wait to get their hands on you? A being made from pure magic that isn’t chaos or order magic? Oh, it’s all so exciting! Oh, but you want to go back to the boring past.” Klarion waved once more at the dreamscape they were in, “A person stuck in the past has no future. I know it. That old fart Nabu knows it. You know it. That’s why you keep coming here, right? Oh, come on! You don’t have to die to have no future, silly!”

His sharp glare grew only more intense.

Was… Was this Klarion’s attempt at pitching something to Albedo?

“Oh, but forget I mentioned Nabu, mage!” Klarion laced a cold arm around Albedo’s shoulder, much to Albedo’s discomfort and dismay, “I’ve seen what you’ve been doing. And I like it. You’re chaos material. I’d say the same of you’re bratty brother… But he’s boring. Nabu can have him. I don’t care. Actively avoids using magic. I mean, how dumb can he be? I’ll cut you a deal, mage. I can teach you some fun tricks. We can have so much fun together! I haven’t had a fun playmate in eons! Nabu doesn’t count. Like I said, he’s boring. I’ve been so nice to you. I keep your little secrets after all. It’d be funny if Luthor knew Reflect was actually Dr. Tennyson, don’t you think?”

“I think you should leave.” Albedo growled.

“I kid! I kid!” Klarion let go, backing up as he raised his arms as if in surrender, “I think what you’re doing is much too interesting to mess with you like that. I’m no snitch!” He made a motion over his lips, indicating he planned on keeping his mouth shut, “But think about me, mage. When you have to choose a side. Order or Chaos. Think about how generous I am. How nice I can be! How much fun we could have.”

“Get out.” Albedo repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. Klarion just grinned, and the world faded to black.

Albedo felt the sensation of Benjamin shaking his shoulders.

“You fell asleep in the Cave’s lab again, Al.” Benjamin chuckled, “Come on. You really have to fix that terrible sleeping schedule you’ve got going.”

“What do you want?” Albedo grumbled as he shook his head, trying to focus on the real world. The dream had been so vivid… And he was almost positive it wasn’t just some dream.

Was… Was he supposed to tell Benjamin that an evil Lord of Chaos just hijacked his dream for a ‘join the dark side’ sales pitch? That seemed like something he should tell someone about.

“The new Den Mother is here, they’re doing a rotation thing until we can find Red Tornado, apparently. Also, Batman wants to meet with us. Apparently, he’s got a new mission.” Benjamin explained. Albedo took a moment, once the grogginess left his eyes, to look Benjamin over. The boy had been up late the night before too, after all.

He’d been worrying Albedo more and more. He was more than aware of M’gann’s many attempts to get him to open up about what happened in Bialya, as Albedo had done. However, the more she pressed, the more irritable he seemed.

And then the whole thing with there being a mole came into light, and Benjamin had started acting… different. More mature, but with more frequent jokes and puns. A tight, almost genuine smile traced his lips. But there were bags under his eyes. Anyone in the Omniverse would’ve been fooled.

But Albedo had been living with Benjamin long enough to know better.

“Have you talked to the Team about the mole problem? Has there been any discussion at all about our proceedings with the Red Tornado case?” Albedo asked instead of remarking on the bags under Benjamin’s eyes.

“Figured we’d discuss it while we’re all here and awake… I know there’s some tension… I think Conner’s still annoyed at Kaldur and me.”

“...And your concussion?” Albedo reached forwards two where the bandages had been, but no longer rested.

“I recover fast. Don’t worry about it.” Ben waved the question off. Huh… Must’ve been because of his anodite side. Anodites were the essence of life, so that did make sense. Still, one could never be too careful.

“I’ll check you over before the mission Batman has, just to be certain… But we should get to the debrief, I suppose.”

“Right!” Benjamin chirped. Albedo stood up, before hesitating as he thought about the very strange dream he’d just had.

‘No future.’

He shook his head.

Klarion was a nuisance. An enemy. And if what Albedo theorized about Luthor and the mole was accurate, then Klarion likely also had a pretty good idea of the fact that Albedo used to be a villain. Anyone involved with Baylia probably suspected as much. Albedo certainly hadn’t behaved like a hero. A person with that sort of background would most certainly make someone like Kalrion interested in him… Even if Albedo really did not want that.

“Dude, you coming?” Ben asked.

“Er, sorry. Still waking up.” Albedo admitted as he followed his brother out the door.

They walked together in comfortable silence to the mission room.

There, standing beside Batman in a red suit, with a flowing white cape and a lighting bolt insignia was a person Albedo had only read about in the files he ‘borrowed’ from the Justice League database.

“...Oh, wow!” Captain Marvel said with a laugh, his eyes darting between Benjamin and Albedo, “They really are identical! But the eyes and the hair… Wow… That’s cool!” Albedo had to back up as Marvel flew very close to get a better look at his eyes. A small laugh left Benjamin’s lips.

“Captain, this is my twin brother Dr. Albedo Tennyson, aka, Reflect: The Crimson Mage. Al, this is Captain Marvel. He’s our Den Mother this week.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Doctor Reflect Sir!” Marvel said with a grin as he grabbed Albedo’s hand and shook it. The man’s smile was very contagious and he couldn’t help but laugh himself as he jerked his hand away and backed up.

“The honor is mine, captain.”

“Ben, tell Batman we don’t need a babysitter.” Artemis said, getting Albedo's attention. She looked annoyed. In fact, most of the team looked slightly agitated by… something. Well, Kaldur didn’t. But he was a master at keeping his expression neutral, so that meant nothing.

“What?” Benjamin looked at Batman.

“Captain Marvel has requested to come with the team on this mission.” Batman replied, “I agreed to allow it.”

“...What exactly is the mission?” Albedo requested. Batman nodded, motioning for Albedo to approach the holoscreen. He showed off a report of gorilla attacks in India.

“...Huh.” Albedo decided, “That’s… Different.”

“It’s a joke mission, with a babysitter.” Wally huffed, folding his arms.

‘He doesn’t trust us.’ Conner agreed telepathically, ‘The mole issue bothers him too… He probably thinks it’s one of us.’ Albedo… Had not realized M’gann had already linked him into the mind link so soon after arriving.

‘Probably blames us for it.’ Robin agreed. Benjamin’s signature smile faltered, but only slightly.

“No! I just really wanted to go!” Captain Marvel said with all the glee of a human adolescent, “It’s gonna be a blast!”

‘Guys… Just… Let the older heroes have this one. They’re already letting us work the Red Tornado case… Maybe just… Don’t push this.’ Benjamin’s telepathic voice sounded way more tired than his actual voice.

“I think it’s a good idea.” He said aloud, “Lets us learn new things from the pros. I don’t mind if he tags along at all.” Marvel buzzed with excitement.

The team didn’t object to his tagging along any further after that.

Notes:

Long story short, our internet went down and my youngest sister decided to have a birthday, so no post last week.

Also, I've written the word Bialya, like, ten thousand times in this book, and I always spell it wrong in the rough draft... So, that's a thing. (It's a made up country, so it's not exactly ingrained into my head).

Captain Marvel's here, and I couldn't be happier (No, I will not call him Shazam. This Captain Marvel will always be the true Captain Marvel in my heart.)

With that, I hope ya'll have a great weekend!

Chapter 63: Not An Animo Chapter.

“So you are twins, but you don’t have the same powers?” Marvel asked in bewilderment.

“Em, well… We used to both do the shapeshifting thing, but several… incidents made it so that Reflect couldn’t do that anymore. And technically, I could do magic, but it’s really not recommended with the whole shapeshifting thing.” Ben explained easily.

“That’s so cool!” Marvel cheered, “So why’s he got white hair and you don’t?”

“He accidentally damaged his DNA… That happened in… One of the incidents.” Ben had been stuck with Marvel and Aqualad, seeing as none of the Team wanted to stick with their ‘babysitter’ while doing a basic recon mission like investigating rouge gorilla attacks. They were obviously annoyed with the whole mole thing still, but Conner apparently overhearing Ben arguing with Batman over it made them less upset at Ben.

Conner was still mildly annoyed. Shooting Ben and Kaldur looks anytime one of them gave orders. Honestly, he was acting the way Kevin acted when Gwen got hurt doing anything, so Ben decided to just let the kryptonian boy be moody about it for a while. As long as it didn’t cause trouble on mission and as long as he listened when Ben was trying to rally the team, he’d let Conner be miffed. M’gann had almost died, after all. Azmuth knew Ben would’ve been the same way towards his grandpa if Max had put him and Gwen in a similar situation.

After establishing comms, despite everyone wanting to ditch their Leaguer buddy right off the get go, they fanned out to canvas the area. Kaldur had advised they pair up in a way that’d diversify their skill sets. With Robin getting put with M’gann. Superboy with Artemis. Wally with Albedo. Ben and Kaldur together and left to deal with Captain Marvel.

“We don’t know why the animals are behaving like they are in this area.” Kaldur had explained, “So diversifying the scouting groups will help counter any issue we are presented with.”
Speaking of the animals.

If it had been the Omniverse, Ben would’ve totally declared the second Batman mentioned the oddly behaving animals to be the fault of one Dr. Animo.

Azmuth, he wished it were Animo. As annoying as the guy was, Animo was predictable. Someone he knew. Someone from home…

Since when had Ben started missing Dr. Animo of all people?

“And he’s a doctor?” Marvel asked.

“One of the smartest doctors out there.”

“That’s really cool. I didn’t know kids could be doctors.” Marvel was practically bouncing in his steps. Nearly skipping as he followed Ben and Kaldur through the forest. Ben made a face at that remark. Wasn’t… Wasn’t Marvel, like a full grown man? Didn’t this guy know by his age that some people just excelled faster than other people.

“He’s a fast learner.” Ben concluded just as Kaldur stopped to kneel over several tracks coming from monkeys on the ground.

“...Oh, this must be where the mayor’s monkey business happened.” Kaldur just hummed in agreement, his expression distant.

“You okay, dude? You seem distracted.” Ben asked. Kaldur ducked his head.

“...Just… I am plagued by doubts. I am the one who insisted that we keep the mole a secret… And I just wonder if I had listened to your advice, Deka…” Whatever Kaldur had been about to say next was interrupted by the sounds of rustling in the trees. The thudding of something big coming their way had Ben snapping his attention away from Kaldur as he twisted his Omnitrix, prepping to transform at the first sign of a threat. A large, clearly mutated elephant burst through the bushes, to which Marvel reacted by charging to keep it from mowing Ben and Kaldur into the dirt.

What, had Animo managed to, in all of his lameness, somehow fumble his way into the Heroverse just to mess with Ben?

Another one came from the right of them. Ben slammed on his watch, letting a green light envelop him.

He was Blitzwolfer in the next instant. He grappled the front of the elephant, looking at the actual animal to see if there was something on it that was making it so weird. (That happened sometimes with Animo). Spying a collar, Ben didn’t hesitate to swipe at it with his claws to destroy it while Kaldur and Marvel dealt with two more mutant elephants that crashed into the clearing.

‘Under attack by mutant elephants. Are wearing collars of some kind.’ Ben called in the link.

‘Vultures.’ Robin reported for him and M’gann.

‘Alligator!’ Wally reported.

‘Wolf.’ Conner declared plainly.

The collar Ben destroyed fell off of the elephant. It didn’t shrink back to normal, but Ben noted how it immediately lost interest. It wasn’t the thing making them mutants then. It was just the thing controlling them.

‘Removing the collar should help make them less hostile. Something is controlling these things.’ Ben decided as Marvel got the collar of his elephant and Kaldur sliced the collar off of the last one. All three immediately turned, crashing back into the jungle as if they hadn’t been trying to kill the three heroes moments before.

‘My scans are indicating that the mutations are caused by the same serum we discovered on Santa Prisca.’ Albedo reported. Ben couldn’t help but pause at that. Santa Prisca? Jeesh, that had been so long ago. Like, their first official mission long ago.

‘Plus the collars indicate intelligence behind the attacks. Clearly, the monkey incident isn’t as harmless of an issue as we had initially thought.’ Kaldur agreed.

‘What, are they just mass producing the stuff?’ Wally asked incredulously.

‘I wasn’t there for that mission.’ Artemis butt in, so Robin was quick to explain.

‘Basically, Kobra-Venom super serum… But I thought we stopped that from getting out?’

‘Nah. If it were as easy as busting one attempt at selling a suped up super serum, life would be way more boring.’ Ben countered, ‘But it being this far from Santa Prisca is…’

‘Worrisome? Is this Sportsmaster again?’ Kaldur theorized. Artemis scoffed and Ben could practically see her eyes rolling at the suggestion.

‘It better not be.’

“Oh! Tiger!” Captain Marvel suddenly said, as he perked up, spying, apparently, a tiger in the jungle. Before Ben or Kaldur could blink, the man was gone, chasing after it at Wally speed.

“Captain wait don’t-” Kaldur began to object before sighing in defeat. He shook his head and chuckled softly, “Speed of Mercury.”

“I’ve got you.” Ben switched with a twist of the Omnitrix from Blitzwolfer to Stinkfly. He snatched Kaldur up, pulling him into the air to fly after Marvel.

‘Everyone else, we need to regroup. Reflect, pick up on my and Aqualad’s locations on your watch and rally everyone to us. We need to figure out where these animal mutants are coming from.’

‘On it.’ Albedo agreed. There was silence as Ben landed with Kaldur near where Marvel was wrestling a tiger. The guy seemed to have it under control, so Ben detransformed, watching with some amusement. For such a big guy, Marvel acted like a little kid, laughing as he pinned the creature and went to grab off its collar to free it. It was kinda like watching a kid play with their pet more than watching a grown man fight a wild mutant animal.

Oddly enough, it also reminded Ben of some of the fights he’d had against Animo's mutants when he first got to Omnitrix.

“Concerning the mole issue.” Kaldur said, drawing Ben’s attention away from the fight, “You were right, in that we should’ve gone to the team about it. Because of my mistake… I feel as if I have failed the team.”

“You didn’t fail the team, and we both made the same mistake. I didn’t tell them either.”

“At my request.”

“Which you were recommended to do by Batman.” Ben agreed, “We shouldn’t have listened to him, but it isn’t just your fault what happened, Aqualad. As annoyed as I got with Bats the other day… He wasn’t wrong about the attack with Red Tornado being something we couldn’t have predicted. Reflect essentially confirmed that Red’s not our guy.”

“But if the team had been warned of a possible internal threat…”

“We could’ve been ready, I know.” Ben agreed, “Azmuth, Aqualad, I get it. But we can’t think about that. It’s been a few days… We just need to push on. Isn't good getting all distracted on the field about something that went wrong a few days ago.”

“I suppose that is true…” Kaldur agreed, “But now it is confirmed that there is a mole… What…”

“I trust our team, Aqualad.” Ben cut in before Kaldur could go down a rabbit trail of thoughts that wouldn’t do anyone any good so soon after the Red Tornado incident.

“I do as well.” Kaldur agreed.

“So then be cautious, man.” Ben shrugged, “But don’t start pointing fingers. Sportmaster probably tipped you off because he knew it’d hurt our team. The mole might be real… But letting that get to our heads and divide us is just as bad as letting the mole stab us in the back, got it?”

“Which is why I was so reluctant to say anything to start.” Kaldur said, suddenly confused. Ben was going to explain further, but he spotted movement in the jungle, not far from where Marvel was now stroking the freed tiger as if it were an oversized house cat.

“Marvel, look out!” Ben yelled, lunging forwards to warn the man without even thinking. There was a click, and something triggered.

“Deka! Captain!”

Notes:

Sorry for missing last weekend. Frankly, I don't really remember why I didn't upload last Friday But I think it might've been Minecraft related. (Basically, me being lazy and also forgetting what day of the week it was... Then not having time to upload later). But, homework is caught up, my long-term minecraft build is finished, and I have time to update, so yay!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 64: The Brain and His Gorilla.

‘Guys, Deka and Marvel were just abducted by a gorilla with a machine gun.’ Kaldar stated in a much too calm voice.

‘You’re joking… Right?’ Wally asked in bewilderment.

‘Marvel accidentally sprung a trap that seemingly paralyzed him and Deka.’ Kaldur explained, ‘And when I tried to intervene, a gorilla with a machine gun drove me off. Tracking them now.’ Wally looked over at Albedo, as if expecting the Galvan teen to have an explanation for any of that. Albedo merely shrugged. If Kaldur said Benjamin and Marvel had been abducted by a gorilla with a machine gun, then that was what had happened.

“I’ve met some rather intelligent monkeys and apes in my much longer lifetime… Through none equal to Galvans, of course. This is not entirely unexpected given the mission at hand. Don’t worry, we can track them.” Albedo pulled up Benjamin’s Omnitrix on his own watch, finding his location himself, “Seems to be north of us, deeper into the forest.” Wally’s eyes flickered over the location, taking note.

“Okay hold on then.” Before Albedo could object, Wally had scooped Albedo up and they were speeding through the forest. Albedo didn’t mind the speed, as he’d been a Kineceleran before, but he had not expected to be picked up and flailed in alarm for an instant before he regained his senses and held on.

Wally stopped short of a buzzing wire fence.

“...And that’s electric.” Wally noted as he very gracefully dropped Albedo.

“Oof! Watch it!” Albedo huffed as he stood and dusted himself off, “I can deal with this.”

“It’s a shield, Reflect… We need to shut it down we can…”

“Not really.” Albedo shrugged as M’gann, Robin, and Kaldur caught up.

‘Superboy? Artemis?’ Kaldur called.

‘Busy, call back later!’ Conner replied.

‘Wolves.’ Artemis agreed.

“Okay then, we go in without I suppose. We can shut the shield off from the inside.” Albedo decided as he raised his hands and prepared himself mentally and physically for the planned spell. His eyes flashed a brighter red and his hands lit up just as Wally went to ask what the heck Albedo was planning.

A flash of red later, and they were all standing on the other side of the force field.

“...The heck, since when could you do that?” Since he made the Red X suit to force it, but outside of the Red X suit? Only a few days.

“More advanced moves.” Albedo said with a shrug before staggering, “I might need a minute.” Robin made a small sound of objection before pointing up.

“You might not get one.” Up in the trees staring down at them was a monkey in a collar. It snarled down at them, before throwing its head back and letting out a horrible howl. Albedo and the rest covered their ears. The entire area began to flood with monkeys. Actual alarms went off as the creatures descended on the group of heroes.

Kaldur summoned his water barriers, taking the lead in Benjamin’s absence.

“Reflect, Kid Flash, find Deka and Captain Marvel. We’ll deal with this.” He ordered. Albedo nodded, grabbing Wally and teleporting again, away from the danger. Wally stumbled in surprise as they appeared right in front of the doors of a compound. Benjamin’s mana was right inside, and he could hear the boy sassing. Because why wouldn’t he be?

“Warning!” Wally huffed.

“Could say the same about randomly speeding your teammates places.” Albedo countered. Wally flushed, laughing a little.

“That’s fair.” Albedo couldn’t help but chuckle himself as he yanked the doors open with his mana, throwing them to the side. Wally yelped, grabbing Albedo and pulling him out of the way of a lot of bullets. Albedo registered the issue, which was, in fact, a gorilla with a machine gun.

His shields went up to block the oncoming bullets.

“He doesn’t have a collar.” Wally noticed. Which was true, but Albedo was fine with that.

“I’ll cover you. Figure out what on Earth Deka is mocking in there.” Albedo requested. Wally nodded and saluted. Albedo took that as his cue to attack, charging forwards at the gorilla as he reinforced his shields until he got in close enough. He then slashed downwards, slicing right though the weapon with his mana. The ensuing explosion made the gorilla stumble back, stunned, but not nearly as phased or unconscious as he should have been.

Albedo didn’t wait to let it get refocused though, casting a confusion spell onto the gorilla so that it began to stumble blindly off to who knew where. He looked behind himself, finding that the others had freed the guard monkeys and were coming to join him.

He got a nod from Kaldur and took that as his go ahead to continue forwards.

Inside of the compound, Captain Marvel was strapped to an operation table, Benjamin was fine, though he had one of those collars on and was sitting limp, and very annoyed, off to the side. Seeing as this was likely the second time he’d been sidelined and captured on a mission (If the Red’s attack counted as a mission), Albedo did not blame him. Wally was occupied. On the ground, strange field that seemed to be paralyzing.

“And then comes the brother.” An accented voice called smoothly, “The brains of twins… Now that’s fascinating.”

“Hi, Reflect.” Benjamin called, still not moving from where he’d been left.

“Deka.” Albedo said with a nod whilst he searched for the sound of the voice. A strange machine with a human-like brain wired into it. Albedo wasn’t sure what had motivated someone to do that to themselves. Especially a human. But he didn’t know the backstory, so he was not going to question it too much.

“You shall be simple enough to handle.” The machine declared, and then it started shooting lasers at Albedo… Only for a tiger to flat out attack the machine thing, despite the collar on its neck.

Benjamin laughed loudly, clearly having expected that even less than Albedo had been. The rest of the team burst in, surrounding the machine thing. Conner and Artemis broke in on the right, a giant white wolf by their side.

“Calvary.” Artemis called, “Is that a brain?”

“The Brain.” Wally called, “Known for his experiments on animals.”

“No!” The Brain cried, “You serve me!” The tiger did not seem to care that much. Behind Albedo, there was the roar of a gorilla, he glanced back, and the gorilla from before was trying to charge at Conner who merely growled.

“Try it, I hate monkeys.” He challenged.

“No, Mallah! This will not be our Waterloo!” The Brain’s mechiantics whirred, as a large laser looking device (Though Albedo didn’t actually see any weaponized components on it, which was odd) came out of it’s chest.

And then the lights went out.

When they came back on, The Brain and the Gorilla were gone.

“...That was a light switch?” Wally said, sounding dumbfounded as M’gann helped him to his feet. Albedo ignored him, breaking the collar off of Benjamin’s neck with his mana as Conner helped Captain Marvel get free.

Immediately, Benjamin was up, shaking his arms as it to get feeling back into them.

“Did not like that. Nope. Why are all animal obsessed crazies weird old guys that eventually wind up with exposed brains? Can someone explain that to me? I really need to know.”

“Dude, is that a wolf?” Wally asked, noting the white wolf next to Conner. Conner smiled a little, looking over at M’gann.

“The rest of its pack left… Can we keep it?” M’gann laughed in response.

“Well, he doesn’t seem to want to leave you. I don’t see why not.”

“First the Sphere, now a Wolf. Wow, you like collecting strays.” Wally scoffed. M’gann just smiled.

“Maybe since he’s such a stray himself.” They seemed to have their own mental conversation after that, so Albedo decided to approach the wolf, who immediately pushed its head into Albedo’s hand after one sniff. He couldn’t help the delighted laugh.

“Didn’t know you were an animal guy, Reflect.” Robin noted.

“I don’t think I was aware of this myself.” He agreed as he began to pet the oversized canine, “He needs a name.”

“What’s wrong with Wolf?” Conner asked.

“Generic, but acceptable.” Wally decided.

“...Well… This has been a fun adventure.” Captain Marvel suddenly cut in, “But I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” All heads snapped over to the now hovering hero.

“What? Aren’t you going back to the cave with us?” Artemis asked. Marvel shook his head.

“Nah. Gotta fly!” And then he was gone.

“...Well okay then.” Benjamin declared after a long moment of silence, “...This was a weird mission, guys.”

Notes:

Apparently, it was midterms week...

How I did not know that until it happened, I have no clue. I guess sometimes I just miss things like that. Frankly, I'm just surprised it's been half a semester at my college already. My tests went great, so, you know, can't complain. Time flies by apparently.

Anyways, I'm going to be on fall break from my school for the week, and I'm going to be posting on Wednesday and Friday this week. We're going to really be getting into the fun stuff these next few weeks and I'm getting excited.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 65: What Makes A Leader Great.

Ben could feel Kaldur lurking. He was used to Albedo or M’gann being the one to lurk nearby, not Kaldur, but Ben couldn’t say he was surprised as he stared at the waves.

“I don’t bite, you know.” Ben said, and he patted the sand next to him. Kaldur reluctantly came out, and settled down next to Ben.

“I want to talk to you.”

“About the Reds.” Ben guessed.

“And about what you said on our mission to India the other night.” Kaldur agreed, “I told you not to say anything. That was the wrong call. You said it is both of our faults. We cannot dwell. But I fear the trouble this information about the mole will continue to cause within the team. I trust our team… But I must face the reality that one of them may very well not be trustworthy.”

“Yep.” Ben agreed, “Such is life.” Kaldur just stared at Ben. Ben heaved a sigh.

“If there’s anyone who knows what it’s like having to work with someone you aren’t totally sure you can trust, it’s me, Kaldur. I’ve fought alongside Highbreed. Kevin. Vilgax. The Incursions. Heck, I’ve fought alongside Albedo! He’s tried to kill me dozens of times, and yet I trust him with my life these days. Was the same thing happened with Kevin. And Kevin and Al? They weren’t bad guys, Kaldur. Jerks, yeah. Ex-convicts? Absolutely. But they got a lousy hand.”

“Why even make such a habit? If there are so many people who might very well betray you?”

“Hmm. I dunno.” Ben admitted, “Albes says me trusting people like that is gonna get me killed someday, but I’m not that easy to dupe. Well, heh, most of the time. Really though, I’ve been living my whole life as this hunted prize because of the Omnitrix. I should be expecting someone to try and take me out every second of the day… But I figure that’s not a very nice way to live, you know? Sometimes… You’ve gotta have a little faith, despite the risks involved.” Kaldur nodded as he considered these words.

“I suppose that makes sense. We cannot let our fear of who could be against us drive us to hurt those around us, even in the case of there being a potential mole.” Kaldur reasoned. Ben grinned, gesturing in response.

“Exactly! It’s fine to be cautious when there is a mole. In fact, Grandpa Max used to encourage us to be extra careful with information when there is a potential leak in the plumbing, if you catch my drift. Doesn’t mean you’ve gotta treat all of your friends like garbage just because you think they’re spying on you. Just means you need to be a little more careful than you were being before. There’s an art to it. A balance, if you will.”

“Your grandfather sounds like he was a very wise man.” Kaldur noted.

“Heh, he helped me become the guy I am today. Learned a lot from that old man.” Ben agreed, “He’s been dealing with intergalactic emergencies for a long time.” Ben’s smile wavered as his head lowered. That pang of homesickness tugged at his gut.

“You miss him.” Kaldur observed.

“I’m fine.” Ben said immediately. Kaldur pressed his lips into a thin line.

“No. You are not.” Ben jerked his head up, surprised that Kaldur would be so bold.

“That is fine though.” Kaldur continued, “I understand. I miss my home… My friends from Atlantis as well. It is not the same as losing one’s family in something as tragic as war, but it does cause conflict and inner turmoil.” Ben stared at Kaldur for a very, very long time in stunned silence after that, before tearing his eyes away and staring at the sea, aka, the place where Kaldur had come from.

‘Talk to someone.’ M’gann had kept insisting.

Well…

“I’ve failed this team two times in a row, Kal.” Ben decided, “Knocked out and partially responsible for the Red incident. Straight up kidnapped by the Brain and paralyzed for the majority of the mission. I’m not supposed to fail.”

“You said we should trust our team.” Kaldur replied, “Is it not the purpose of a team to help support? To help one another when one of us has failed?”

“Hmm, but a chain’s only as strong as its weakest link.” Ben found himself tracing meaningless lines in the sand, “I think I’m too stuck in another time… Another place to be any good of a leader for you guys. I’ve got the experience. I’ve led before… But…” His voice went dry and he shook his head, “Forget it. I’m bothering you with nothing. Just my head being stupid, that’s all.”

“I think you do well.” Kaldur countered, “We all respect you… You’ve been handling this mole situation far better than I would’ve known how. You defend us. You reprimand us when we make mistakes. You’ve helped all of us learn. Yet you think you have fallen short? You’ve not failed at all, Ben. Even if you had, I do not think there is anything wrong with failing. Not everyone is meant to wield the burden of leadership… But that is not a bad thing.”

“Even in a life or death situation?” Ben questioned, “Cos’ I tend to screw up the most when those are going on.”

“...Have you spoken with Canary about your concerns? She gives good advice.” Kaldur asked.

“M’gann says I should.” Ben huffed, “She took forever to leave me alone after I called everyone the wrong names during the Bialya incident.”

“...Hmm, you kept calling me… Brook? Correct? I was not conscious for most of that event.”

“Rook.” Ben corrected with a shrug, “Rook Blonko. He was my partner. A type of alien called a Revonnahgander. They’ve got fur, and overheat easily and all basically have the same speech pattern you like to use except they don’t use contractions at all. Honest mistake, really. He was fascinated with learning about human culture. We annoyed each other, but we were thick as thieves. We had each other’s backs.”

“He sounds like he was a good man.”

“...He was.” The use of the past tense word felt wrong in Ben’s mouth, because last Ben knew, Rook and the rest of his loved ones were actually alive. He prayed that hadn’t changed. He hoped and wished with all his might, that when he finally could go home again, they would all be there, waiting for him.

Not knowing really sucked.

What if he got back, and they were all gone? Because Ben wasn’t there? What if that explosion at Store 23 had somehow sealed their fates? What if he’d failed his family and friends for the very last time.

“This is a real downer conversation, Kal.” Ben decided and he stood quickly, startling Kaldur a little, “Let's say we head inside and see what the others are up to?”

“I think that would be best, yes.” Kaldur paused,”Thank you for this. I feel much more reassured about the mole situation. You’ve done well to clarify for me… I know you doubt yourself, but try not to be so harsh. Know I will always be willing to help this team if you feel unable.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ben smiled at the Atlantian teen, “You’d make a great leader, you know.”

“You think so? Even after the mistake I made concerning the mole?”

“You’ve got the makings of it. You made a tough call.” Ben shrugged.

“Even if that call failed the team?” Kaldur asked, knowing smugness in the boy’s voice. Ben faltered. He then laughed, patting Kaldur playfully on the back.

“Touché, Kal. Touché.”

“Well then, I’m glad we understand one another.” Kaldur chuckled, and the two went inside, leaving the ocean behind them.

Notes:

Short and sweet bonus chapter! See ya'll Friday!

Chapter 66: Albedo Discovers Video Games.

“You need to take a break. Both of you. I’ve decided.” Wally suddenly declared, forcing both Albedo and Robin to look up from the files that they were reviewing for the Red Tornado case.

“Wally, we’ve got to finish getting through these files on Red Tornado that Al and I found. We have so many leads we want to look into for tracking him down and-”

“Guys, you two are like, seriously the worst at taking breaks. I caught Al here working on what I think is supposed to be an alternate reality machine of some kind that he brought to the cave, from work, for no good reason. And I saw you obsessing over those reports of the Red X burglaries at Wayne Enterprises from the other day. And now I’m finding both of you here, obsessing over Red Tornado. And, yeah, I want to find him too, but neither of you look like you know the definition of sleep and I know M’gann would kill both of you if she found out you’re pulling all nighters. So, as Robin’s official best friend and a fellow science geek like Al, I’m stepping in and holding an intervention. You're welcome. Come on guys. We’re playing video games. Is Ben around? He’ll probably want to join.”

“He and Kaldur are doing something I think.” Albedo replied.

“Fair enough. Come on you two.” Wally grabbed Robin’s cape, jerking him back, and off of the stool he’d been sitting on. Albedo eyed Wally for a moment, trying to gauge if this was actually what Wally wanted and not some sort of joke.

…And then suddenly Wally had hosted Albedo up by the back of his jacket, much like Albedo had once witnessed a mother feline doing with its young.

“You too, Al. Video games. Now.”

“I don’t even play those sorts of things.” Albedo objected as Wally practically dragged the two red clad heroes down the hall, to which Wally scoffed.

“Nonsense, you’re a total nerd. You’ll love this kinda think. Plus, I get serious competitive vibes from you, like, all the time. This is gonna be fun.”

“Wait, you're a video game noob?” Robin snickered, finally seeming to give into Wally’s insistence.

“If by, noob, you mean I’ve never played them before… Yes, that is accurate. Galvans don’t do that sort of thing. Such games are… Pointless.”

“You know, what, Wally, you’re right on this one. We should play video games. Let's play Combat Fighter III. That’s the perfect way to introduce Albedo to the art of gaming.”

“Oh, but of course!” Wally cackled, “You’ve watched us play against Ben in that one, right?”

“I’ve seen… Some of this activity, yes. But I still don’t see the point.” Albedo countered as they reached the living area. Wally just dismissed Albedo's response and rummaged through the discs on the mantle of the television set. Robin settled comfortably onto the couch. Albedo decided to just go along with Wally’s scheme, and settled down next to him.

“Are the others around? I know Artemis has already played this game, but this could be the golden opportunity to teach Conner and M’gann about video games…. We’ve already indoctrinated Kaldur. He’s not the biggest fan of them, but the guy play video games like a military commander, and it’s hilarious to watch.”

“Conner is with Superman. M’gann is…” Albedo hiestating, knowing with absolute certainty that she was probably in her room, scanning the extranet and internet for a new sitcom for him and her to watch, since they’d finally finished ‘Hello Megan!’, “...Otherwise occupied.”

“Oh, Conner and Supes are doing team ups more? That’s good! That’s progress. I noticed Superman seemed to be coming around to him.”

“Benjamin had a talk with Superman.” Albedo supplied, making both Wally and Robin look up from what they were doing, to stare at Albedo.

“Benjamin had a talk with Superman… Dude, the heck did he say to the Man of Steel himself to get him to be nicer to Conner. I love the guy, but he can be so stubborn sometimes.” Robin asked.

“I have no clue what Benjamin did. I wasn’t present. I just know that I told Batman he could persuade Superman to give Conner a chance, and a little while later, Benjamin comes to me and says he had a very productive conversation with Superman. Afterwards, Superman and Conner start getting along. Clearly my assessment that Benjamin could manage to repair the situation had been correct. He tends to be an expert at diplomacy… Strangely enough.”

“Ben.” Wally snorted as he finished plugging in the controllers, “Diplomatic? Dude, your brother is basically on my wavelength a lot of the time. A kindred spirit if you will. I can please a crowd and make people smile, but jeesh if I’m gonna be thrown into a freaking moderator's position, you know there’s gonna be a hundred misunderstandings and near war going on.”

“Frankly, before moving in with him, I’d agree with you. For that has happened before.” Albedo said as he accepted the controller, “I always found him reckless and foolhardy in his approaches. But… I’ve heard him talk about how he’s handled some of the wars he had to deal with, and I realized that he actually is better at it than you’d expect. I mean, he helped me see the light after all.” Albedo shrugged, “I mean, take the Highbreed war for example.”

“The one that… Er… destroyed the Plumbers?” Robin said carefully, clearly trying not to mention the part where the mentioned war supposedly ‘killed’ the other Tennysons. Albedo kept forgetting Benjamin, for reasons Albedo was still confused about, insisted on keeping that cover story in place. Even if Albedo knew at this point that it was more useful for the team to know the truth.

“Yes.” Albedo with a nod, “Benjamin ended that war… But not in a fight. According to him, they ‘had a little chat.’ He made the right friends, and found a compromise.”

“That’s… Actually insane.” Wally admitted as the game powered up, “Anyways, moving on from Ben, let's show you the ropes, Al. Pick your character.” Albedo squinted at the screen, flashy, animated characters were on a grid, with the character his cursor was on showing up on the top, complete with statistics.

He had seen Benjamin play against the redhead and boy wonder enough to know that statistics varied from player to player along with attacks. He mused as he began to mentally try and compare the people on his screen. He had no clue what sort of player would suit him and assure him victory. He’d never played before, so he had no margin of what his strengths and weaknesses were in such a scenario.

“...Oh, do Slayer Night. He’s fantastic!” Wally pipped, suddenly ripping the controller from Albedo’s hands and selecting for Albedo, much to Albedo’s dismay.

“I was figuring it out!” He snapped, grabbing the controller back.

“You were staring at the screen like you were trying to solve an unsolvable equation dude. I’m just hurrying the process along. Don’t worry. Slayer Night is a good one. You’ll like him.” With a huff, Albedo accepted that he would be playing as Slayer Night.

“Okay, so the premise of the game is to beat the other player, which is Robin this time.” Wally explained.

“I’ve gathered as much.” Albedo mused while Robin selected Stealth Ninja. The character had an on the nose name, with a silly ninja costume to accompany it.

“Good luck.” Wally sang, as if he completely expected Albedo to lose.

‘Begin!’ flashed across the screen, and Albedo set to work, keying in the combinations as fast as he could as he charged Robin’s character. A small laugh of surprise tore from Robin’s lips as Slayer Night clashed with Silent Ninja. The red health meters began to teter as Robin and Albedo both went very quiet with focused determination.

“Oh my gosh.” Wally exhaled, his eyebrows shooting up in shock whilst Robin hollered in a mix of anger, surprise, and confusion, the remote in his hands dropping onto his lap.

[K.O. Slayer Night Wins!]

“The heck dude! Rob’s like a video game guru! I thought you said you’ve never played! That was awesome!” Wally cheered.

“You totally hustled me!” Robin sounded genuinely hurt and torn by the defeat and immediately, Albedo flinched, wondering if his defeating Robin was the incorrect approach. Had he just ruined their friendship with his competitive approach?

“I’m sorry.” He said quickly, “I merely memorized the combinations for the fighter Wally selected. Was that incorrect? I wasn’t trying to-”

“Dude, you memorized those that fast?!” Robin said with a laugh, which was much more light hearted than his previous tone. This confused Albedo, but he went along with it, “We’ve gotta try you out on the other characters. I think we just found ourselves a new gaming buddy. Wall-man, you take the next round. I wanna see you go against him.” Robin tossed the remote to Wally. The teenager grinned, selecting a character called Swift Ranger, which Albedo realized was a faster character merely by their design.

Reluctantly, Albedo picked someone new at random.

And then Wally and Albedo fought, with very much the same results. By this point, Wally and Robin were hollering and freaking out to a concerning degree. Albedo couldn’t help but shrink in confusion as they went from being very angry that they lost, to outright congratulating him.

Robin then stopped, looking at Albedo strangely.

“Dude, are you okay?”

“...Um… I’m a little confused.” He admitted, “Are you upset at my winning? I know being competitive can sometimes be detrimental on friendships. Azmuth knows I’ve dealt with this time and time again but…”

“Dude, it’s just a game.” Wally chuckled, “We’re not mad at you for winning… We just really want to kick your butt at this. Because, like, you’re a natural. Born with a gift for gaming. Rob and I are amazing at this game. Winning is a challenge… But, like, not in real life or anything. Just in the game. We aren’t gonna get actually angry at you for winning in a game. That’s dumb.”

“I… Okay?” Albedo tilted his head, “So this competitive banter remains only within this game.”

“Exactly, see, becoming a pro already. Now, try Beast Killer.”

“The developers really need to work on these names.” Robin chuckled. Albedo didn’t see a problem with the names. They were on the nose. Which meant they were practical.

“Very well then.” Albedo selected the suggested character, flicked his eyes over the combinations, and he dueled Robin again. This repeated until Albedo had managed to fight with every character in the game without much trouble. The entire time, Robin and Wally were whooping and hollering as if they’d made scientific breakthroughs.

After a while, he couldn’t help the smile that bloomed across his face as he played. The different characters each somewhat reminded him of using different aliens. Each character needed a different approach for defeating his enemy, but, when given ample time, he almost always worked out how to do so.

It was fun and very much a good exercise, despite his initial reluctance.

‘No future.’ Albedo recalled Klarion’s words very suddenly as he decimated Wally’s character, ‘A person stuck in the past has no future.’ He wasn’t sure what about the game between himself and Robin and Wally possessed him to think about those words, until it hit him.

This was his future.

Klarion had been wrong and right all at once.

The very idea of it scared him for some reason.

And then suddenly, Kaldur’s voice was pulling Albedo’s head from the video games and the random revelations in his head.

“Robin, are you going to train with me?” Kaldur said, “You were supposed to meet me in the training room an hour ago.” Albedo, Robin, and Wally all exchanged surprised looks. They’d been playing for that long?

“Oh, Kaldur, sorry! We just got caught up in this game! Albedo’s a natural! You’re right. We should all probably get suited up and prep for training.” Robin agreed as he put the remote in his hands down. Wally turned the television off. Albedo merely stared at the dark screen before him.

“Al… You good man?” Wally was waving a hand in front of his face. Albedo smiled.

“To be honest…” Albedo said with a small laugh, “I don’t think I’ve ever been better.”

“Just checking, Kaldur and Rob are already up and at it.” Wally said.

“I was just thinking.” Wally raised an eyebrow, folding his arms.

“Well, penny for your thoughts?” He requested.

“I think maybe making up with my brother… And breaking into Cadmus to meet all of you… Might’ve been the best things that have ever happened to me. I don’t think I want to lose this.” Wally looked somewhat concerned.

“What, do you think something bad’s gonna happen?” Albedo bit his lip, thinking about that dream with Klarion. Thinking about all of the things Luthor was needing from Red X.

“I’m not sure.” He admitted, “I had this dream…” He shook his head, waving it off.

“It’s probably nothing.” Albedo decided, “Just know, you’re appreciated.”

“Ah! Thanks man! But seriously… We should suit up. We are way late for training!”

“Right, yes. We probably should!”

Notes:

Injustice League Arc Starting Next Week! Happy Friday everyone and have a good weekend!

Chapter 67: Attack of the Mutant Plants.

He was running so late. 

The bell was set to ring at 8:15, and it was 8:05. He was nowhere near the school. He was extremely tempted to just use his watch to get there quicker, but he did not want to risk Albedo finding out. Albedo would not be pleased if Ben did that… Not that something like one of his family members not recommending transforming had ever stopped Ben before.

He was sprinting like his life depended on it, when the earthquake started, off balancing Ben and making him screech to a grinding halt as he spun his head in the direction of people’s screams. 

Ben’s eyes widened when he realized he was near the Hall of Justice… And in the middle of Washington D.C. proper was the biggest, most obnoxiously and unfortunately placed weed Ben had ever seen in his life. 

“Seriously?!” He whined a little, “I’m late already! What the heck is this supposed to be?”  

The earthquakes worsened, and Ben couldn’t help but notice the people freaking out in that area and the buildings being toppled.

“...Surely Albes won’t mind me transforming for this… Right?” He asked himself out loud before nodding to himself. Yeah, that was probably fine. Albedo totally would get Ben transforming in an emergency as extreme as this! Besides, if Ben HAD to be late for school, he might as well be late for a really, really good reason.

Ben dashed in the fleeing crowds of people, tactically avoiding the police that were already pulling into the area and ushering people out. He ducked quickly into an already half destroyed store and threw his bag off of his back, pulling his heroing clothes out of the bag and pulling them on as fast as he could.

As great as it was to have a secret identity again, Ben had to complain about how absolutely ridiculous it was that he had to do a full on costume change before he could do anything without Batman or Albedo getting on his case about it. Ben missed the simpler days where no mask was required. Just his classic green jacket and the understanding that the people of Earth had likely not considered that one human teenager could turn into ten different aliens. 

Man, that’d been the life. 

As he finished securing his mask, Ben spun his watch, figuring he’d try and fight fire with fire. 

A moment later, he was Wildvine, and he was swinging into action towards the giant obstruction blocking the regular morning traffic of the District of Columbia. He immediately regretted the choice when he felt a pull to the plant and realized that there was something controlling it. It wasn’t just some randomly planted (pun intended) attack. 

He redialed as fast as he possibly could. Switching to Heatblast. 

He ignored the confused shout from below as he free fell towards the plant thing, shooting a stream of fire into the writhing vines. They got much more agitated as many layers of it were incinerated. 

Heatblast growled when he realized that, despite the burns, the plant was growing back.

“Hey! What happened to a good old fashioned slash and burn!” Heatblast complained. 

As if the plant had understood him, its vines moved to try and swat him out of the air. Heatblast dodged, burning the vines as he did so. Another vine lashed out, this time not at Heatblast. Instead, Heatblast noted the teenager on the sidewalk, phone in hand, that was watching the whole thing unfold. 

Heatblast dove, blasting the vines before it could reach the guy and landing in front of him.

“Get out of here.” Heatblast ordered, “Not safe. Turn that thing off! Are ya crazy?” The teen parted his lips to reply, before yelling. Another vine was attacking them. Heatblast fell into a stance, ready to blast it to kingdom come. 

He didn’t get the chance. 

A streak of red light slammed into the plant instead, slicing the vines off so that they landed just shy of Heatblast and the teenager.

“I could ask you the same, brother.” And wow, Reflect looked very much not happy. His hood was drawn over his white hair. His eyes and hands were blazing furiously with mana.

“Oh, hi Reflect.” Ben said with a small wave. 

“What part of covert do you not understand, Deka?” Reflect asked immediately.

“I mean, you’re out here too…”

“Because I saw you fighting that thing on the news!” Reflect huffed, “Batman’s gonna kill us for this!” 

“Nah, I think it’ll be fine. Mind lending a hand?” Albedo glowered for a second, before having to throw up a shield to keep another vine from grabbing at them.

“What do you need?” He grumbled as he widened his stance to strengthen his shield. 

“I need to take that thing out.” Heatblast explained quickly, “But people like Mr. I-Can-Put-This-On-Youtube, aren’t getting out of the way.” Heatblast stuck a flaming thumb towards the teen.

“Hey!” The kid said in a genuinely offended voice.

“Oh, you know it’s true! I’d totally do that too if I were you.”

“Damage control? I can do that. It's not like they haven’t seen us by now. Might as well do something I suppose. Make this quick. I had to get off work for this and I know you have places to be.” 

“I’ll do my best, Mr. Mage!” Heatblast laughed with a mock salute and he gathered the fire he needed for a take off. Albedo dropped the shields he’d formed long enough to let Ben fly at the vines again, incenerating them as he passed by. He let himself be hyper aware of where Reflect was working to shoo people off and throw up barriers to prevent the plants from destroying any more buildings. 

But, Ben had bigger fish to fry. No use in trying to minimize damages if the thing causing all the trouble was still going on a full rampage. 

He dove for the center of the plant, figuring he could probably do the most damage there. 

The vines attempted to stop him, but he bobbed and weaved, burning anything that got too close. 

He noticed the budding fruits near the middle just as multiple burst. And he was left coughing.

“Shoot! Reflect, how big can you make those shields!” He yelled.

“I’ve gotten better at forming them.” Reflect called back, “But a large one won’t be as strong!”

“Don’t care! Put one up over this thing!” 

“Right!” Reflect’s red barriers expanded, encasing the entire plant. 

Heatblast twisted the watch, having recognized that Heatblast wasn’t gonna stop the thing quick enough. He needed more fire power. 

A flash of green, and Atomix was in Heatblast’s place. Ben wasted no time in attacking, driving a fist into the tangle of vines just where the weird fruits were. 

Fwoosh! 

Atomix’s blast brightened the entire city, leaving behind a blackened plant that immediately crumbled. Reflect seemed to get the idea of what Atmoix was thinking, and seconds later, the black mess of ash had vanished in a flash of mana, leaving behind a very, very big crater where the plant had once been.

Ben detransformed. 

“...That was seriously random…” Ben muttered as Reflect ran up next to Ben and knelt to look at the plant residue left over.

“I don’t think so… Scans indicate that these had cobra venom in them.”

“Cobra venom?” Ben said, surprised, “Again? What are the odds? What, is that like the cheapest superweapon on the market now or something?” 

Reflect opened his mouth to respond. 

He was stopped by the officers in the area approaching, a few reporters with rolling cameras trailing behind.

Shoot… Right. Ben forgot about the press.

Albedo took a wary step back, clearly not at all appreciating the flashing lights of the camera’s pointing at him. Ben gladly got in front of him, painting a smile on his face.

“Situation’s fixed, officers.” He said joyfully.

“That was insane…” One of the approaching officers with a badge labeling him as Serg. McKenneth muttered, “Any idea what that was?” 

“No clue.” Ben said with a shrug, “I’m sure the League will help with the investigation." He held out his hand for the officer to shake, “Deka, the Changeling. This is my brother, Reflect the Crimson Mage. We’re with the League.”

“Didn’t know the League had teenagers in their group.”

“We aren’t official members.” Reflect offered a bit more quietly, “Just associates that happened to be in the area.” 

“Thank goodness you were… I think the rest of the League is busy.” The Sergeant informed them.

“With what?” Ben asked incredulously. Now that he thought about it… Why had Reflect been the only one to also respond to the D.C. plant attack? They were only a few blocks from the Hall of Justice. It wasn’t like it was that hard to respond. Unless Batman just assumed Ben and Albedo had it covered? 

“Um, Deka… You might want to see this.” 

Ben looked back at Reflect, who held his watch arm up to show off holographic footage of news from all across the world. D.C. wasn’t the only place under attack… And from the looks of it? The other heroes weren’t having as much luck as the Tennyson twins. 

“Shoot, we’ve gotta go.” Ben declared.

“Way ahead of you.” Reflect agreed. In a flash of red, the brothers were gone.

Notes:

Don't mind this update, just fixing errors on this chapter that I couldn't repair while I was traveling this weekend... (Thanks to The_Weapon_2000 for pointing out errors in this chapter, editing and traveling is hard...) See you all this next Friday and Happy Halloween!

Chapter 68: The Injustice League.

“Recognized: Reflect B-07. Deka B-10.” Most of the team seemed to already be there. They were training with Zatara, a magician that Albedo had borrowed more than a few books from, but hadn’t actually gotten to talk to extensively like he desired. He was supposed to be their Den Mother that week, but Luthor and Wayne had kept him too busy to interact with him. Captain Marvel lingered on the side, watching the training with a juvenile curiosity in his eyes.

“Batman: 0-2.” The Zeta announced just as everyone looked up in surprise, having not expected Batman to appear that day. How the Team wasn’t yet aware of the literal giant plant attack across the world, Albedo didn’t know.

Perhaps their schools had decided it wasn’t important enough to show in class, as such attacks were a normal in that Multiverse, and they didn’t live in one of the attacked cities like Benjamin and Albedo did.

“Computer, national news.” He instructed Zatara. The man wasted no time in doing what Batman requested. On the news, a reporter was talking about the attacks, showing footage of battles all across the world, explaining how it’d begun in Metropolis, and the League was not having a good time trying to keep the plants down. Atomix’s uncanny ability to just completely incinerate the plant in D.C. to the point where it couldn’t grow back easily had been the only exception.

And the news reflected this as it switched to footage of Benjamin, as Atomix, destroying the weed in one go.

“So far, there had been very little success, with only one of the attacked cities fully fending off the strange plant. New heroes in association with the League, a changeling called Deka and his twin, a magician called Reflect successfully took down one out of dozens. So far, it seems there is not an end in sight. However, with this initial success, we have reason to believe the situation is not entirely hopeless.”

Albedo felt his face go red as their teammates glanced back at Benjamin and Albedo. Albedo ducked his head.

“I will preface whatever lecture you have by saying I was going to leave this matter to the adults… But Deka was there before I could stop him.”

“No regrets.” Benjamin said with a shrug.

“No lecture.” Batman grunted, “Your introduction to the public is not preferred… But it wasn’t going to be avoided forever. The situation is dire and we needed someone to cover that area anyways. From now on, however, you both need to stay out of the main fight.”

“But I can get the other ones. Atomix clearly has the juice to take them down.” Benjamin, understandably, objected immediately.

“I’m more concerned with destroying the root of the problem than these vines. Kill the root, and we won’t need to exhaust your resources to destroy every single plant.” Batman explained. Benjamin frowned before nodding, he thought that made sense.

“Albedo said it’s got Kobra-Venom in it.”

“He would be correct.” Batman agreed as he pulled up the formula onto the screen, “I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis. Cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra-Venom variant. This is not the first time we’ve encountered this substance in such a coordinated fashion.”

“It’s not a coincidence.” Albedo muttered, as he considered the many things he kept finding with Luthor’s company.

“You’re right, all of this very clearly suggests that criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide.”

Albedo’s mind wandered way back, to the day they’d invaded Cadmus. To how Dubbilex constantly alluded to the existence of a group behind Cadmus, despite not knowing enough himself to expose it to Albedo. He considered Superboy’s initial purpose given to him by Cadmus.

‘Superboy, made to replace Superman should he fall and destroy him should he turn from the Light.’ Light was capitalized. Just like in a lot of Luthor’s more encrypted documents.

Albedo opened his mouth to say something on the matter but was interrupted by the news feed suddenly cutting and going black.

“Dude!” Wally complained to Robin who was going through the footage they were watching in search for clues.

“It's not me.” Robin said, as he tried to get the computer back, “Someone's cutting in the satellite signal. All satellite signals.”

Then, the static vanished and Benjamin let out a small sound alarm, backing directly into Albedo. It was a man with skin as white as paper with wild eyes and green hair. He wore a purple suit and lots of clown make-up.

“The Joker.” Batman said in a low growl.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement from the entire Injustice League.” Another man with blonde hair and green robes stepped forward. Albedo recalled from the files that this was Count Vertigo.

“We are responsible for the attacks on your cities.” Count Vertigo stated, “If you wish to save them, a ransom of 10 billion American Dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit. But the longer your governments wait…”

“The more we get to have our… jollies.” The Joker agreed, as they showed off all the members of the Injustice League. With that, the screen went static again before returning the computer to normal.

The… Injustice League? But none of his research had even begun to mention or suggested the involvement of an Injustice League. This was an outlier. An unexpected wrench in all of his plots. A ransom as well? On the Earth? That seemed… so bizarre. If it were for something like the Omnitrix, Albedo would’ve understood the appeal, but ransoming for wealth seemed so luxurious considering how much likely had gone into executing such a devious plan. It made no logical sense. From Joker’s case file, an illogical plan was to be expected… not so much from the likes of Count Vertigo or Ultra-Humanite who was also pictured. Well, Count Vertigo for military purposes maybe, but Ultra-Humanite he doubted. And what would a magician or man like Wotan or Black Adam need with ten billion dollars?

“...Well… I did not need that jumpscare.” Ben muttered, pulling Albedo out of his trail of thought.

“What are you…” Albedo stared before noticing the expression on Benjamin’s face, “Oh… I forgot about your-”

“Aaand, let’s move on.” Benjamin said, “This doesn’t make any sense. They attack the world with giant mega plants… and they want ten billion dollars for it? That’s stupid.” He was a little surprised that Benjamin had come to that conclusion without all of Albedo’s research, then again, the boy was extremely experienced with plots like the one they were facing.

“But it could very well be the secret conspiracy we have just uncovered.” Kaldur pointed out. Benjamin scowled, looking as doubtful as Albedo felt.

“Roger that, Aquaman.” Batman said rather suddenly into his communicator “The UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback, but it won't come to that.”

“Count Vertigo, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra-Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Atom, Wotan. Seven heavy hitters. Probably behind nearly everything and everyone we've faced.” Robin said, an excited edge in his voice.

“The Justice League will handle the plants.” Batman declared before anyone could even suggest fighting them with the League. “I have a different job for this team.” Wally deflated a little, looking upset, Artemis slugged him for it.

“With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it.” Batman continued, making Benjamin’s eyes widen slightly in fear as he glanced at the Joker’s face on the hologram Robin was displaying.

“You realize what you're really asking them to do?” Zatara asked. Batman gave Zatara a firm nod.

“They’re ready.” He declared.

“Ready? Ready for what?” Wally asked, which caused Artemis to punch him in the arm again “Ow! Will you cut that-”

“Hello, Wally.” Artemis said, as she mimicked M’gann’s signature phrase, “If the big guns are fighting plants, who do you think we'll be fighting?” She then pointed towards the pictures of the criminals.

“I don't know. I guess we’ll… Ohh…” Wally’s eyes became like saucers.

“Well, Batman, I trust you're correct.” Zatara decided.

“I trust you can locate the enemy.” Batman replied. Zatara pulled up a map of the world with that statement.

“Indeed. Wotan's involvement suggests sorcery is part of how the plants are controlled. I'll search for signs of concentrated sorcerer activity.” Zatara replied, he raised his hand, performing a tracking spell. Albedo watched and did his best to set to memory how Zatara did it. On the map, a red dot appeared, revealing the coordinates of the bad guys.

“There. That is where you will find the Injustice League’s central control system.” Zatara announced.

“Coordinates locked in. The Louisiana Bayou.” Robin told the team. Albedo found himself staring at the magician on the screen and about Klarion. About that weird dream and about that fight he’d had with the agent of chaos on top of the Tower of Fate. If Albedo merely distracting Klarion could even be called a fight. He’d gotten a lot better with his magic… But he had no clue if he would be able to go against another sorcerer like Wotan yet. Not after his last magic on magic fight had gone the way it had. Albedo had no frame of reference for any of that.

Not to mention, the Omnitrix was notorious for going haywire around too much magic…

“...I’ll meet you on the bio-ship.” Albedo said quickly to Benjamin, “I need to go get something… Just in case we need it.”

“Be fast.” Benjamin instructed. Albedo nodded, and he dashed, as fast as his legs could carry, for the souvenir room.

Chapter 69: A Desperate Battle.

“So, what did you bring in the bag?” Ben asked, noting that Albedo’s backpack was slung over his shoulder. He'd returned from wherever he was getting supplies with the bag, and Ben had been eyeing it suspiciously the entire flight to Louisiana. 

Knowing Albedo, it could’ve been any number of things, ranging from a new invention that could help settle the odds in a tight spot to a random magical artifact he found in his deep dive research of magic that he wanted to test out. Whatever it was, it was making Ben twitchy pondering about it.

“Just a back up plan in case anything goes awry.” Which didn’t at all answer Ben’s question. Ben wanted to ask for further clarification, when Miss. Martian suddenly slumped forward a little in her place at the pilot’s seat. She suddenly didn’t look so alert, and looked almost sick by her expression.

“Ugh…” 

“Are you all right?” Superboy asked. 

“Dizzy.” Miss. Martian muttered.

“Can Martians get airsick?” Robin asked, looking concerned. 

“She does look greener than usual.” Kid agreed, making Miss. Martian shake her head profusely.

“Not me. Her.” 

“I feel fine…” Artemis said with confusion, as she was the only other female on the ship. Once more, Miss. Martian shook her head.

“No. Not you. The Bioship it’s shielding us from something… It’s-” Ben’s eyes widened in alarm as the entire ship shuttered and Miss. Martian cried out, her hands clasping over her ears as if she believed it would help while the entire ship groaned and creaked painfully.

“They're hurting her!” The ship lurched and Ben was out of his seat immediately. The rest of the team seemed willing to follow this example, while the ship plummeted right into the swampy marshes of the Louisiana Bayou. Water began to flood the ship and everyone scrambled for their rebreathers. Ben transformed immediately into Ripjaws, not thinking as he grabbed hold of the first two people he could reach, Albedo and Robin, and dove into the murk.

The Bioship screeched, but opened up to let him out. M’gann seemed in close pursuit behind him, followed by Aqualad, Kid, Superboy, and Artemis. They broke the water, realizing that vines had been what was pulling them under. Black Adam was standing over the wreck, having attempted to tear a hole into the Bioship’s roof. 

“We need to move.” Ripjaws growled, “Into the forest, now.” 

No one objected, all going to make for the cover of the forest, but they were interrupted by a terrible dizzy spell hitting all of them at once like a tidal wave. Out of the forest came a man in green clothes. Count Vertigo, if he remembered right. 

“Vertigo.” Kid confirmed through gritted teeth. 

“That’s Count Vertigo to you, peasant.” Vertigo countered in a very accented voice. Superboy took control, pushing through the pain as he pulled himself up and lunged at the man. Black Adam swooped down from above, slamming into him.

Ben’s head screamed and he hated the nausea in his stomach, so Ben twisted the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, seeking out a new form at random. He shifted into Chamalien. That didn’t really help with the headache, but he gladly camouflaged the second he could. 

“Deka, Reflect, Robin, Miss. Martian. Disappear.” Aqualad hissed upon realizing what Ben had done, "We’ll hold them off.” Aqualad somehow managed to push himself up and charged with his water bearers, while Kid went out from Vertigo’s line of sight, speeding to try and take him from the side. Ben didn’t need to be told twice as he scrambled into the forest, following silently after Robin. 

Albedo managed his teleportation spell, and was gone in a flash. M’gann camouflaged and trailed behind Chamalien and Robin. Chamalien felt Miss. Martian’s presence settle in the back of his mind. After several minutes she said something. 

‘I’ve been cut off from the others.’ She informed them, ‘I had to block them because of Vertigo. Should we-’

‘That’s not the gig.’ Robin cut in, ‘This is.’ He pointed through the foliage as they came to a clearing where a giant plant could be found, ‘The InJustice Central Control system. That one looks like it controls the plants worldwide. Take that out, and we’ve won.’

‘I have something that could work.’ Chamalien offered, ‘But I’ll need serious cover. Just have plan b ready if I’m forced to detransform, got it? Reflect, where are you?’

‘Close.’ Albedo replied, ‘I have your back.’

‘We still have the rest of the InJustice League to account for we need to-’ Robin started, but he was cut off as vines suddenly yanked his feet out from under himself. Several twisted around Miss. Martian and Chamalien as well. 

“Hello.” A woman with green skin was there. Ivy. Ultra-Humanite was with her, a gun in hand with a massive smile on his face. What was it with stupid smart monkeys having guns in that world?

“Yeah, nope.” Ben turned the dial, shrinking almost immediately into Nanomech and flying quickly as Miss. Martian deflected Ultra-Humanite’s gunfire to free herself and Robin. Robin took off one way, Ivy giving chase with no consideration whatsoever. Ultra-Humanite focused on Miss. Martian, clearly not certain as to where Ben had gone. 

Nanomech didn’t do so well with telepathy, so as he flew past Miss. Martian he called quickly, “I’m gonna find Reflect and get the plant, you think you and Rob can cover?” Miss. Martian merely hummed in response and Nanomech took that as a ‘go ahead.’ 

Nanomech found Albedo pretty quickly. He destransformed upon noticing the Galvan teen in a tree, observing the two villains guarding the main plant. Joker and Atomic Skull. 

“You don’t have many transformations left in that.” Albedo noted, “That was your third one in the span of ten minutes. You need to cool off.” 

“I’m well aware.” Ben replied, “No time though. M's got the monkey. Robin’s dealing with Ivy. The others were with Vertigo, Wotan, and Black Adam. These two could be annoying though.” 

“Whatever you’re going to do, you’ll need to do it fast enough to take the plant out before you time out. Don’t concern yourself with those two.” Albedo insisted, “I’ll hold the line. If we can take that plant out, we might be able to stall long enough to gain back up.” 

“Figured as much. Be careful.”

“Likewise.” Albedo agreed. 

Ben brought his watch arm up, and he turned the dial, finding the alien he needed for this plan of his. Albedo raised an eyebrow, but didn’t object as Ben slammed down on the dial. He just got the heck out the way, knowing that Ben was gonna need some room.

Moments later, Way Big was towering over the big plant grinning down at a very, very surprised Atomic Skull and Joker.

“Well.” Joker declared, “That’s just not fair, now is it?” Way Big ignored, reaching down and breaking through the protective glass around their massive plant to try and grab and unroot the stupid thing. He got a hold. Atomic Skull unhappily and uselessly attacked Way Big’s leg. Way Big just ignored, and started to pull. Reflect, as promised, was below doing his very best to shield and protect Way Big from onslaughts from Atomic Skull and deflected as many vines as he could manage. 

Way Big noticed Wotan a little too late.

The man had been initially using a mana cage to transport the captured Superboy, Artemis, Kid Flash, and Aqualad. But the Bioship had foiled that, making him drop the heroes, who were now rushing to Relfect’s aid. Vertigo and Black Adam had made their reappearance, and Miss. Martian and Robin’s battles had made their way into the clearing as well. 

With no prisoners in tow, Wotan had been freed up to deal with the big threat to their plot.

Reflect barely had time to call, “Watch out, Deka!” When a blast of mana slammed directly into the Omnitrix, forcing it into the red. 

The next thing Ben knew, he was plummeting towards the ground below.

Notes:

We now have chapter titles!

Out of curiosity, is there a faster way to edit multiple chapters at once without having to back in and out a bunch? Because entering chapter titles took much longer than it took to actually come up with a bunch of chapter titles...

One of my readers pointed out that back reading over certain chapters was getting hard, and I had to agree, being a person who has to reread this story a lot. So, now we've got chapter titles.

Hope ya'll have a great weekend!

Chapter 70: The Dangerous Gamble of Albedo Tennyson.

Albedo barely managed to move away from Atomic Skull long enough to encase Deka in magic to save him. He rushed quickly to his brother’s side, throwing up a shield just in time to stop attacks from both Atomic Skull and Wotan. Kid Flash, seeming to notice the issue, zipped in to distract Atomic Skull.

 The sorcerer in front of him slowed in his attacks immediately, tilting his head as he examined Albedo. 

“What are you?” Wotan asked in alarm, “That you would radiate so much power and possess such an ancient soul?” 

Hey! By Galvan standards he was young! Klarion had said something similar. That didn’t make it any less rude.

Albedo didn’t respond, instead chanting quickly as he threw mana from his shield at Wotan.

“Ugh.” Deka sat up behind him, “That was not fun.”

“You need to retreat and recharge.” Albedo informed him.

“...Right… Cover me I’ll-” He was cut off by the sound of the plant behind them just flat out exploding.

“Huh… Looks like Robin pulled through on plan b.” Deka noted. Yes, good for Robin.  He’d likely planted those explosives whilst the villains had been distracted by the giant To’Kustar trying to uproot their plot in the most literal sense. Never mind that Benjamin was vulnerable and in the red in the middle of a battlefield while a sorcerer actively attempted to breach his shields.

“Children?!” Joker called in anger, “Children foiled our plans? Inconceivable! Unacceptable! Retributionable! That last one might not be a word…” 

“Kill them! Kill them all!” Vertigo snarled.

And the villains began a full throttle attack, this time not even trying to capture. 

“...I’ve got slap happy.” Deka told Albedo, “Take care of Wotan.”

“You hate clowns.” Albedo pointed out.

“Yeah, this’ll be therapeutic for sure.” Deka agreed, and he was darting out of Albedo’s bubble of protection. Albedo decided there was nothing to be done in that regard. Benjamin would probably be fine, regardless of his being in the red and his odd phobia. He was notorious for being hard to kill, even in human form. Albedo of all people knew that to be true.

So he focused on Wotan. He dropped his shield, attacking directly. Wotan seemed pleased and flew forwards to meet him. 

“You are untrained.” Wotan noted as he attempted, but failed, to snag Albedo with chains. Albedo merely grunted, deflecting with crimson chains of his own, which snaked in a futile effort to pull Wotan out of the sky. Why could all the other magicians fly? Albedo didn’t know how to fly! He could only do platforms… He was going to have to research levitation on a further date. 

“I study quick.” 

“You do not have magic that is light or dark. Chaos or order.” Wotan continued, “A neutral magician with such raw talent. It’s truly fascinating.” Suddenly, Wotan’s expression sharpened, as if he was alarmed by something. Albedo realized very quickly that Wotan was trying to grab at the backpack that was still somehow secured to Albedo’s back.

“No… It can’t be.” Wotan muttered, “...But that aura is not coming from the boy.” Albedo realized exactly what Wotan was detecting and knew for certain that he would not let the other sorcerer lay his mitts on it. 

“Wotan, please subdue these teenagers!” Count Vertigo growled angrily, “You can mess with the mage boy later!” Wotan snapped his attention away from Albedo and nodded, Albedo attacked with blazing hands as he heard the other sorcerer mutter a stunning spell under his breath. Alarmed, Albedo raised his shields again before a beam of mystical lightning could collide into him.

His comrades, who were all mid-battle, were not so lucky. Each crumbled the second they came in contact with the dark magic. Even Deka, who was in the unfortunate predicament, alongside Robin, of being cornered by Ivy and Joker. 

“Very good! Keep that up. I’ll get the mage brat.” Vertigo called, and Albedo realized the Count was going to use that awful dizzying spell on Albedo. Albedo teleported the heck out of the way, reappearing behind Aqualad, who was faring better than the others at pushing through the magic. Vertigo did not seem to like that Albedo had vanished so easily. 

Albedo took note of his options. The entire team was down for the count because of Wotan’s spell, and he had absolutely no idea how to counter it. He was a magic user… But he had only been using it for a few months, so he wasn’t a total expert yet. His original scheme had been to hold the line until ethier Benjamin got out of the red or the League could come to give back up. Whichever came close. 

Albedo absolutely could not hold the line against seven villains. His friends would be dead before the League got to them.

He hesitated. 

There was his backup plan. But he didn’t want to use his backup plan unless he was positive there was no other way he could save his friends. 

“Over there.” Ivy snarled, pulling Albedo out of his musing, “Kill him!” Albedo slashed quickly at the vines she tried to snare him with and was fast to deflect the bullets Ultra-Humanite sent in his direction. 

Exhaustion seeped into his bones.

Then he noticed Joker approaching Ben and Robin. A knife in hands and a wicked, sadistic glint in his eyes. 

Albedo realized the choice was already made. He brought up another shield, weakly holding it in place with one hand as he reached in his bag with the other.

He brought out the Helmet of Fate. Instantly, he heard Wally’s yell of pain from Waton’s attack morph into one of very real terror. Wotan actually faltered in his attack, a greedy look glinted in his eyes at the sight of the golden helm. Albedo didn’t give the man a chance to even try stealing the helmet from him. In one swift movement, Albedo dropped his shields, and forced the helmet onto his head. 

The world exploded in bright gold, until Albedo was standing in an empty white space in the middle of nowhere, peering uselessly out into the world outside. 

“At long last!” Albedo heard and felt his own voice say, “A form worthy of Dr. Fate!” The villains could only gape in bewilderment as Albedo…. No… Nabu shot forwards and attacked Wotan headfirst with a magical insight that Albedo could only dream of gaining. 

In a burst of gold, Wotan was gone. Moments later, before Albedo could even process what was going on, all of the villains remaining were getting taken down with steady ease by Fate’s magic. Joker attempted to counter using one of his poisons, but Nabu was quick to put an end to that trickery, knocking the clown out.

And then they were safe.

Albedo’s friends were safe. It was okay. Nabu had done it.

Albedo exhaled in relief. He glanced down at himself, surprised that he was a Galvan in appearance, not a human.

‘In this realm, you appear as who you truly are.’ Nabu supplied to Albedo, ‘You will make an excellent host, Albedo, Son of Thallus. Though, you are untrustworthy. You have done many wicked and evil things, and for that, you may not have the leniency I had given Kent Nelson.’

‘I… I need to finish my machine. For Benjamin.’ Albedo whispered, ‘He needs to go home. Will you at least grant me that?’ 

‘You can do so even in this form. We have no need to separate.’ Nabu concluded, ‘You are mine. Ben Tennyson has his fate. You, however, have no fate within the Omniverse. You forfeited your life the moment you betrayed Azmuth.’

‘I know.’ Albedo agreed, ‘Just… as long as he can go home to his loved ones. Just as long as my friends… my family is safe.’

‘You do not resist.’ Nabu realized, ‘Many do.’ 

‘I knew the risk.’ Albedo lowered his head, looking down at the real world where Wally was on his feet, begging and pleading with Nabu to let Albedo go. Benjamin was watching from the side, his eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint in them as he seemed to size Dr. Fate up. Albedo had the strangest feeling that Benjamin was going to try to fight Dr. Fate and that it would not go very well. 

‘I know my fate.’ Albedo whispered. 

Notes:

:)

Chapter 71: Deka Versus Dr. Fate.

“Let him go!” Wally growled, he was now pounding on Dr. Fate’s chest, rage in his eyes, “Let him go! This isn’t fair! You can’t have our friend!” His arm was clearly hurt from the fight, but he also didn't seem to care that much.

Dr. Fate remained very clearly unamused by Wally’s actions, staring down at him as if he were watching a child throwing a tantrum. Ben bit back his own rage as everything seemed to click. Fate’s helmet… It was like when Ben became HIM. Albedo couldn’t control it. He couldn’t go back to his normal self unless Nabu allowed it. 

“I was right to desire this body.” Dr. Fate said after watching Wally freak out a moment longer, “An anodite’s magic is unique, For they are beings of pure life and mana. They are strong with their magic. For they are made from magic. This body will serve me well. I will not surrender it.” 

Ben laughed immediately, making Wally fall quiet and causing everyone to stare at him like he’d lost it.

He didn’t stop laughing. He was angry. He was mad at Albedo for being so stupid… And angry at Fate for thinking he had any right. 

But it was still funny that Fate thought he was actually going to get away with taking Albedo from Ben. 

“Step aside, Kid. Let me barter with the guy. I’ve got experience with stubborn control freaks.” Ben ordered between chuckles. Wally blinked, but backed off as Ben moved to stand in front of Dr. Fate.

“You’re going to take that helmet off, Nabu.” Ben informed him, “Because as great as an anodite’s body is for magic, Reflect’s mind is way more valuable than any spells or tricks he can come up with. Sure, you’re better at magic, but Reflect’s mind? It’s worth more than any of your spells, Nabu. I don’t care how powerful you are.”

“The world needs Fate. It does not need another ambitious scientist with many dark secrets and many lingering mistakes. Reflect is a dangerous man. Untrustworthy to bear my helm out of his own free will. He has hurt you before, Deka. I know he has. Why must you defend this one? The one who has no Fate?” 

“He’s my big brother, dude.” Ben laughed, “You’re joking, right?”

“Precisely as I thought. Your juvenile belief in this kinship you’ve formed with Reflect has clouded your judgment, Wielder of the Omnitrix. This world needs Fate. You, boy, know absolutely nothing of-”

“Nothing of what?!” Ben said, his tone suddenly snappy, “Nothing about Fate? For some reason you seem to know a lot about me and about my past and where I come from, Nabu. Which makes me wonder just how stupid you’ve gotta be to be getting on MY bad side right now. Go on. Challenge me then. We both know who’d win.” 

“You could barely handle seven rogues.” Dr. Fate pointed out. 

“I wasn’t able to pull all my cards out right then, but I can for you. Don’t underestimate me, I’ve defeated Vilgax the Conqueror. I ended the Highbreed War and the Incursion War. I defeated Diagon the Destroyer. I wielded and destroyed Ascalon. I’ve traveled to the future and I’ve seen MY fate. I’ve been to the past, and I’ve held the stuff of the universe in the palms of my hands.” Ben growled, “I was there in the beginning. I’ve seen the end. And yet, here you are blabbing on and on about how you know what’s best for everyone. About how you are Fate! How the world needs you! You’re preaching to the wrong person, Nabu.” 

Ben noticed Leaguers were arriving, but none of them intervened. Most just stared, horrified to see Dr. Fate there as they seemed to put the pieces of what had happened together. Ben did his best to ignore them.

“One more chance.” Ben insisted, “Let my brother go, or I will make you.” 

“Deka, stand down.” Ben wasn’t surprised that Batman was not only there, but the first to speak out, “Fate is dangerous, he’ll-.” 

“I know who you are, Deka.” Dr. Fate declared suddenly, “You are needed. Reflect, however, is not. He forfeited his fate the second he turned his back on Azmuth. The second he attacked you, Deka. In a way, this is a mercy. Azmuth would’ve never heeded your pleas to help him.” Dr. Fate turned away from Ben and started to walk towards the unconscious Wotan to deal with the man, “Don’t be so hasty in picking your fights, changeling. This is for the better.” 

Ben huffed, and he pulled up his watch, and twisted.

Well, he gave the guy the easy way out.

“Unlock safety locks on Alien X-10, 32-B. Celestialsapien, aka, Codename: Alien X. Bypass keycode: B-10-0, G-10-1, K-11-2, R-04-3.” Ben ordered. 

[User Recognized. Keycode accepted.] The Omitrix chirped, [Engage?]. Dr. Fate halted, his red eyes widened as he spun back towards Ben.

“What are you-”

“Engage.” 

The world flashed bright green, and Ben found himself floating in the mind of Alien X. Its personalities bickered in the background, but quickly stopped upon noticing Ben was there.

“For the last time, kid, we aren’t letting you jump home with this body. We’re still ticked off about the last time you made us break the rules.” Bellicus huffed. 

“I don’t think that’s why he’s here.” Serena purred, sounding strangely delighted, “Look, he’s trying to save his brother!”

“Eh, that magic Galvan kid with the white hair?” Bellicus grunted, “I like that kid. What’s up with him?”

“Nabu wants to control his body.” Ben informed the both, “I want Nabu out of Albedo’s head. Is that something we can do?” 

“It is.” Serena agreed.

“But Nabu ain’t wrong. This world needs him as much as your world needs you.” Bellicus huffed, “You always come here with the most annoying problems.” 

“But does it have to be Albedo?” Ben asked, “Isn’t there something better we can do?” Serena and Bellicus exchanged knowing looks. Before nodding in agreement. Ben was surprised they came to one so quickly. Then again, they both had expressed how much they liked Albedo many times before. Bellicus liked how grumpy and scrappy Albedo could be. Serena insisted he was a cinnamon roll in need of protection.

Ben focused on the real world, he hadn’t even realized they’d already reached forward and had grabbed Dr. Fate, who was struggling to pry himself from Alien X’s grasp. 

“We need to have a talk, Nabu.” Ben called aloud in his, Serena, and Bellicus’s voices, “Face to face.” 

They reached for the helmet. Dr. Fate tried to twist away.

They pulled up, and the helmet gave way with ease, and Albedo immediately collapsed to the ground, the helmet left in Alien X’s out-stretched hand. 

Alien X then moved the helmet to put it on its own head.

There was a flash of gold.

And everyone’s vision cleared, Ben was gone.

Notes:

This chapter was inspired by The Purge episode of Ben 10.

Anyways, now Ben's got the helmet... And is also totally MIA. The League just overheard some things they weren't supposed to and likely have questions. Alien X will NOT help Ben go home. An very baffled and confused Albedo is left in the wake. So, yeah. Do with that what you will.

Anyways, Happy Bleated Thanksgiving to y'all! See you next week.

Chapter 72: In Waiting.

“Do you know where he went?” Superman asked.

“Does it look like I would know that?” Albedo huffed.

“What was that thing he turned into?” Zatara questioned, “Nothing should’ve been able to puff off the Helmet of Fate.”

“Well, tell that to the Celestialsapien and the fact that Azmuth apparently thought it was a brilliant idea to add that to Benjamin’s arsenal. I’ve always considered the Omnitrix to be the most powerful device in the universe… But now… I do not feel there is any doubt.”

“A… What?” Flash asked.

“Celestialsapien… A race of omnipotent beings that can bend time, space, and the very fabric of reality to their will on a whim.” Albedo summarized, “Very, very dangerous creatures.”

“And he just… Had that on his watch playlist?” Green Lantern said in dismay.

“Apparently!” Albedo replied as he threw his hands up in exasperation, “He seemed to have had it locked behind several safety codes, but that does not negate the danger of it being in the Omnitrix! I had no idea that was even an option until just last night! Azmuth never liked to tell me anything!”  He paced the medical bay they had brought him to, nearly tearing his hair out as he walked, “I didn’t expect him to actually have a means of removing the helm! I thought he was going to lose that fight. He doesn’t do as well against magic, usually.” 

“Let me get this right.” Canary said, cutting in before any of the Leaguers could ask any other questions, “You put on the Helmet of Fate fully knowing that you would not be able to take it off and also knowing that Ben probably didn’t have a way to get it off either?” Albedo went quiet as he stopped his pacing, folded his arms, and avoided eye contact.

“Albedo?” She prompted carefully.

“That would be correct.” He muttered, “The Omnitrix was down and we would’ve been killed otherwise.” 

“Do you know what Deka was talking about when we arrived on the scene?” Batman questioned, “About the beginning and the end and of the universe?” Albedo shook his head.

“He mentioned the Highbreed and Incursion Wars… I remember those. I had some word of Diagon, but I wasn’t there. Vilgax is this alien that hunted Benjamin for the Omnitrix when he was a child. I know he’s time traveled some. I’ve done some of my own… But that last part is entirely news to me. I’ve never heard of any of what he was describing. I’d say he was being dramatic to scare Nabu… But… Nabu…Believed him. He just didn’t care. That leads me to conclude that it wasn’t just him bragging or being dramatic for the sake of the situation. That may have been the most serious I’ve seen Benjamin in my life.” 

“We’ll just have to ask him when we find him.” Batman decided. Green Lantern frowned, looking displeased by Albedo’s response.

“Well, it’s actually really important we know what he meant by that phrasing. He has to have an exact explanation to what he meant by seeing the beginning and the end.” Green Lantern explained. 

“Why does it matter?” Albedo asked.

“It is forbidden, by the Lantern Corps, for anyone to witness the beginning of time.” Green Lantern explained, “Because people who witness time’s beginning can very easily alter the course of the entire universe and the timestream.” Albedo paled some at that. He had theorized that such a thing as altering the trajectory of a Multiverse was possible by interrupting and altering the creation of said Multiverse. However, he’d never once considered that someone, much less Benjamin, could’ve likely traveled so far back, that time wasn’t even a construct, in order to see this creation. The implications of Benjamin's words were absolutely harrowing. 

“Can we trace him?” Flash asked, looking at Batman.

“All trackers on Deka are offline. Reflect tried to track his Omnitrix signal earlier, but we can’t seem to locate it. It’s as if he doesn’t want to be found.”

“He did say he wanted to talk to Nabu.” Zatara pointed out, “Who knows how long a conversation between two powerful entities like this alien he is and Nabu might take. From my experience, beings like Nabu don’t have the best sense of time when they don’t focus on the real world.”

“It is the same case for Celestialsapiens.” Albedo agreed, “They barely pay time any attention. If they are too late to act on something, they merely go back. They have two personalities, from what research there has been of them, one of rage and aggression, and one of love and compassion. They are direct counterparts with one another and they will spend ages debating with one another about each and every action they make… Which does significantly reduce their danger, but not by much. I assume Benjamin’s transformation adds his own personality to the mix, making it far simpler to break arguments and act, which is why the Celestialsapien was so quick to act when removing the Helmet of Fate.” Albedo paused and a terrible, terrible thought wormed its way into Albedo’s mind. 

He gasped, his fingers flying over his mouth as he tried to calm himself with reasoning. After all, that was a ludicrous theory. Surely Benjamin wouldn’t have taken such a risk!

“What?” Batman asked.

“He put on the Helmet of Fate as the Celestialsapien.” Albedo recognized, “Nabu doesn’t want Benjamin… But what if the personalities do? There must be a reason Benjamin doesn’t use the celestialsapien more often. The number of locks he had on there suggests he is extremely paranoid of accidently turning into him. Benjamin being there means more settled arguments. More choices made. More action. Add Nabu to the mix… And it’s back to a tie. They are stuck in an eternal debate all over again with a chance that they will tie over and over again until a choice can be made.” 

“Won’t the watch just time out before that becomes a problem?” Canary asked, “He has time limits.”

“Probably, not with this one.” Albedo shook his head, “If a Celestialsapien doesn’t want something… Then it doesn’t happen. If the personalities don’t want him to turn back, then he won’t.” 

“In short, he might’ve just taken your place.” Batman realized. Albedo nodded as he did his best to assure himself that, surely not. Surely Benjamin would be back soon. Surely it was just taking so long for him to return because Nabu was being stubborn. Surely Benjamin had a way of leaving the Celestialsapien form. The boy surely had a plan in the works.

Azmuth, if Albedo was wrong! And Benjamin wasn’t coming back?!

What was he going to tell Benjamin’s real family? To tell his cousins and grandfather and parents? To tell his partner? He promised to get Benjamin home! It was taking a while, but little by little, every morning at Wayne’s he was getting closer and closer to it.

And now Benjamin might not even return?

Would it even be worth going back and telling them that he was lost forever? 

They probably would want closure, Albedo supposed. However, was it worth making their hearts ache? Would they even believe him? He was a criminal and a villian to them, after all!

No… No it wasn’t worth going back. 

“Albedo, breathe.” Albedo was pulled back into reality. Canary was kneeling beside him. He hadn’t even realized he’d sunk to his knees. Nor had he realized his breaths had gone shallow as pinpricks of tears watered the corners of his eyes.

“We’ll keep looking for him, okay?” She said, a small, hopeful smile on her face, “We’ll find him and get him out of that form. But you’ve had a long night, and this morning has been stressful, so you should probably head home and rest, okay?” Albedo didn’t really want to go back to the Tennyson apartment though. Not without Benjamin. 

“I’ll go find Conner and M’gann.” He muttered instead and he pulled from her, ignoring the Leaguers that watched him with questions in their eyes. He ignored them, trudging out despite their stares. 

He didn’t have to go far to find the team, they were right in the living quarters, looking all for the world like they were trying not to look like they hadn’t had Conner listen in on the conversation, likely to make sure they weren’t chewing Albedo out and also because Benjamin had very much spooked all of them with the things he had said. It was natural that they wanted answers. 

Albedo sank down into an empty spot they left for him on the couch. 

“You okay, man?” Wally asked carefully.

Albedo had to note that Wally was thoroughly in a cast and sling to mend an army injury he likely had acquired at the Injustice League event. Albedo hadn’t even realized that had happened. There had been so much going on the day before. They all looked tired and worse for wear. 

“We don’t know when Benjamin will be back.” 

When. Not if.

When.

“Do you need a hug?” M’gann asked. 

“...I’d like that.” She nodded, standing up and crossing the room to sit next to him and embrace him. He leaned into her embrace. He’d been so uncertain when Benjamin first hugged him, but he was starting to get why humans liked them so much. They were nice. Especially when the day was rough. 

“He’ll come back.” Robin insisted as Albedo pulled from the hug.

“You think?” Wally loud whispered, earning him a sharp elbow to the ribs from Artemis. 

“He’ll come back.” Artemis reaffirmed.

“How can we even be so sure?” Albedo muttered.

“Because.” Kaldur said plainly, “He’s Ben… And we need him to come back. If we need him, then he will come.” Albedo mused on those words.

‘Ben Ten never loses.’ He thought to himself.

“Right.” He said with a small nod, “He’ll be back. We just have to wait a little while.” 

“I don’t think you should be home all by yourself. Wanna have a sleepover tonight?” M’gann asked, offering him a big smile. Albedo smiled back.

“I was hoping you’d ask.” 

Notes:

Wow, this has been a crazy week! We're wrapping the year up at my school and I can't believe I'm about to have only one semester left! It's surreal!

Well, at least I still had time to upload today. Any mistakes in this chapter will be because I've been working on all of my final projects, putting together a portfolio for my graphic design internship project, and attending a bunch of rehearsals for the Christmas orchestra concert I'm performing in tonight. So, if you see something, let me know and I'll fix it whenever I'm able.

A little DC lore for those who are not familiar with Green Lantern/DC in general, the law Green Lantern (This one is Hal Jordan) mentions is a real thing in the comics. They legend is that no one can. However, in the DC animated universe, Justice League Unlimited, Green Lantern (John Stewart) and Batman did see the beginning of time.

Krona, a renegade member of the Guardians of the Universe (The people who give out the rings) also witnessed it and turned the Universe into a Multiverse (Which is something Hal stated could happen within this chapter) Through his actions. The creation story in DC is vastly different from the one in Omniverse, however, both universes do seem to state that if you can get to the beginning of the time, before the creation of the universe, and tweak it even slightly, you can change the entirety of that Universe, it's multiverse, and all of the timelines within it. So that's fun.

Also, Mountain Chickens are Frogs. No joke. The more you know, I guess. (Can you tell I've had a crazy week?)

Chapter 73: The Lords of Order

Ben couldn’t help but snort in amusement as Nabu spun around looking very, very confused at the starry void he was now in.

“What… What did you do?!” He demanded, sounding strangely miffed for a guy who seemed so sure of himself not that long ago. This just prompted Ben to chuckle some more and shake his head as he stretched out his arms. 

“Welcome to the mind of Alien X.” Ben said with a grin, “This is Serena and that is Bellicus. You know me, Benjamin Tennyson the one and only, and we’ll be your hosts for the next little while. Pull up a chair, take a seat! We might be here awhile… But that’s entirely up to you how long this takes. I’ve already got a deal with Serena and Bellicus, I can leave whenever, but we don’t detransform until I say. And I won’t say until you cooperate, are we clear on that?” 

“You have no clue who you’re tampering with!” Nabu growled and stalked to meet him. He towered over Ben, but Ben didn’t flinch at his approach, “You will release me this instant! You had no right to separate me from my chosen host.” 

“Hmm.” Ben tilted his head, arching an eyebrow as he stared up at Nabu, “I don’t think I’m the clueless one here. You didn’t know I had this ace up my sleeve, did you? You know, you’re not as scary when you’re all whiny like this. You’re like ten year old me, begging mommy to try and get ungrounded.”

“How dare you-”

“News flash, you don’t get ungrounded until you start to behave, Nabu.” Ben cut in, making Nabu fume. 

“I am a Lord of Order! Your grievances are beneath me.” Nabu growled, “I know you hold great significance in your reality, but you have no authority here. You shouldn’t even be here!”

“Yeah, that’s the other thing. How in Azmuth’s name do you know about all that?” Ben mused, “Albes and I have done our absolute best to keep the alternate multiverse thing under wraps, and yet you keep going around blabbing all about it. It’s annoying.”  

“I sensed it.” Nabu explained, “The arrival of a would-be Lord of Order and a neutral being of abundant magic.” This made Ben pause as he glanced back at Serena and Bellicus, who normally would’ve been squabbling by now, but seemed like they were content in watching the show. If they had hands, something told him that Bellicus would’ve had a huge bucket of popcorn in them. 

“Lord of Order?” Ben questioned. 

“He means your Anodite heritage, dear.” Serena said helpfully, “Your magic spark is very similar to the magic found within a Lord of Order. Anodites are funny little beings, their genetic code is passed down through this strange spark, and yet, because of its nature, it also develops to reflect the heart of whoever possesses said spark.”

“Meaning?”

“As disastrous as you are a kid, you fight to keep peace. Your spark reflects that.” Bellicus explained, “Coming to this multiverse made it seem like a budding Lord of Order had arrived, even though we don’t have those back home and you don’t use magic. You have a strong enough sense of justice to make it seem like it, and Anodites are stronger than any human magician you’ll find on this planet. If your cousin, for example, came here with all of her training, she would be mistaken for a fully fledged Lord of Order, especially whenever she goes fully Anodite.”

“However, Albedo.” Serena said, there was a fondness in her voice as she spoke of the Galvan turned teen, “Is different. He’s not evil nor does he crave the chaos that Lords of Chaos seek for…”

“But his sense of justice and his understanding of right and wrong are vastly different from your own. This makes his spark neutral. He leans neither towards chaos nor order, but can be either one at a whim’s notice. I suspect that his existence is causing quite the fuss in the magical realms of this world. Everyone, including Nabu here, will want to get their hands on him to mold him.” Bellicus concluded, “Him putting on that helmet was going to be inevitable at one point or the other. Whether he chose it or someone else made him.” 

Ben mused on this for a moment before turning back to Nabu.

“Okay, so you mistook me for a Lord of Order? When I showed up in this Multiverse?"

“A foolish mistake.” Nabu agreed, “You are not. Lords of Order do not tend to keep a physical form as you do, nor are they as weak and inexperienced in their art. If you were to become a true anodite… My mistake would’ve been much more understandable. Nevertheless, your appearance forced myself and Kent Nelson to investigate who you were. We discovered a rift in the multiverse, made by yourself and that Galvan traitor, that was uncrossable and already healing. We learned who you were. When you brought Albedo to my tower, I investigated him as well before the healing was complete.” 

This was VERY interesting information to Ben. There were traces left behind from Ben and Albedo making the jump? 

It made sense that there would be, but Albedo had been trying for months to properly locate the way they got in. Ben knew he was making progress on developing the machinery needed to get them back, but that was pointless if they didn’t know the way to get home. 

“I concluded that you were needed in your multiverse. Your so-called brother, however, is not. He has no fate in that world. He is destined only for failure. Therefore, I decided he would make a good host. He seemed to have come to the same conclusion and had accepted his new fate. But then you decided to intervene in matters you don’t understand.” 

“Hmm, well, from my perspective, it looked to me like you wanted to use a guy, against his will, as your puppet, all so he could save his friends. You know, you talked about having a right to Albedo, but that’s just a bunch of crap. You don’t have a right to anyone.”

“He lost his right to choose his fate when he betrayed his mentor and went rogue.” Nabu argued, “He is a loose end, and me taking control would’ve tied it while also giving me the strongest human form I’ve possessed since the ancient days.”

“So you, a guy who has nothing to do with anything that happened in my Multiverse, are judging my brother, some dude who made a few mistakes that were, if you need reminded, mainly AGAINST ME, and have decided he needs to essentially be enslaved to you for the rest of his life. Am I getting all of this correctly?”

“That does seem to be what he is saying.” Bellicus offered helpfully, “He was going to take Albedo from us. That’s not allowed.” 

“Dr. Fate must return.” Nabu argued, “The Lords of Chaos are getting more and more bold. The battles between order and chaos are reaching a peak and I must exist in the mortal plane to contain it. You encountered Klarion. You experienced Wotan’s strength! The enemy is growing restless and bold. I must intervene and your childish love for this traitor I’ve given the honor of hosting me has done more harm than good.”

“There’s nothing childish about loving my brother, Nabu.” Ben growled, “What’s childish is you thinking you’ve got the right to another person when you absolutely do not. And now you’re in my head, throwing a fit because I didn’t let you take Albedo. You’re a real mature guy, Nabu.” 

“I do not think I’ve made the risks clear enough to you. Fate must exist!” 

“We are aware of that, dear.” Serena cut in, “We did not make the choice to take you from Albedo without telling Benny of the risks. But we love Albedo. We’ve decided you cannot have him, therefore, you will never have him.” 

“And when we agree on something.” Bellicus mused, “It goes.” 

“You have no idea what you are doing!” Nabu growled. Ben was actually getting annoyed, because he was starting to sound like a broken record and clearly, he wasn’t listening. Sure, Ben didn’t quite understand everything that was going on, but Serena and Bellicus did, and they had voted. Three votes in favor to do whatever it took to save Albedo without risking the Heroverse’s safety. They wouldn’t go against a unanimous vote. That meant they knew exactly what they were doing, keeping Nabu here like this. Unfortunately, Nabu couldn’t seem to get that through to his thick skull.

Were all Lords of Order so one-tracked in their thinking?

Jeesh, that would be annoying if that was true. 

“We can help you.” Serena said, true sympathy in her voice, it was harder for her to stay angry at Nabu for trying to take Albedo. It wasn’t in her nature. From Bellicus’s scowl, though, Ben knew that Alien X was not totally over the whole thing. Nabu just didn’t seem to get why what he’d tried doing to Albedo was wrong.

Granted, he didn’t think Serena or Bellicus fully understood ethier, since they’d attempted to keep Ben there numerous times until Ben finally struck a deal with them. However, they knew Ben believed there was something wrong with Nabu’s actions. They also know they liked Albedo and that they’d both be sad if he was taken from Ben against his will. Therefore, Bellicus was still mad that Nabu had even tried. 

That was the problem with these god-types. They just didn’t get the struggles of mortals. There was a reason Ben still didn’t prefer becoming Alien X, even after striking the deal. The god-like powers were cool… But watching Serena and Bellicus argue when lives were at stake? Not so much. They only cared because Ben cared, otherwise, he had a feeling they wouldn’t give mortal people any attention at all. 

“But before we can help you, you’ve gotta make Ben happy.” Bellicus grunted, “We voted that that was the condition for letting you go and detransforming. He’s still not happy.” 

“So Fate and the battle between order and Chaos…. Depends on me making a human-anodite child happy?!” Nabu growled angrily. Ben just smirked, crossing his arms as he sized Nabu up.

“Yep.” Ben said chirpily, “So far, you’ve done a fantastic job of ticking me off more. Congrats!”

“This is beneath me!”

“Maybe.” Ben shrugged, “But that’s kinda the point.”  

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when everything’s beneath you… Why even care about people?” Ben asked with a shrug, “Why care about the balance of chaos and order to begin with? It’s not like anything REALLY important is going to be affected if you lose. After all, people aren't important, so why even worry? Why does winning that fight even matter? Sure it’s the greater good, but does the greater good matter all that much when everything else is beneath you and no one else’s issues are important to you? It’s not like you're fighting for anything that will last very long, you know? Everyone dies, even if the Lords of Order and Chaos don’t.”

“That’s not what I mean by that. I cannot concern myself with the selfish desires of humans when it inhibits the success of Order.”

“And is that such a bad thing?” Ben asked.

“What-”

“You know, I once had the opportunity to destroy all evil in my Multiverse. Was really tempted to do it too. But I didn’t.  Wanna know why?” 

“Enlighten me.” Nabu fumed. 

“Because mortals, all of them, are flawed and messy and chaotic. They all can be good and they all can be evil. So in a way, wanting total order and total goodness means that mortals can’t exist.” Ben pointed out, “If I had caved, I would’ve failed the Universe. All because I wouldn’t have cared enough about the selfish desires of people. Heck, I’ve messed up so much too and yet you accidentally thought I was a Lord of Order of all things!”

 “I… Never considered this factor.”

“Yeah, because you’re so bent on fighting chaos that you’ve put mortals beneath you, idiot.” Ben huffed, “See the delmina? Chaos isn’t always a bad thing. Order’s not always a good thing either. Anyone who’s played D and D knows that! Correct me if I’m wrong, but magicians who consider themselves and are seen by mortals as good have gone against the Lords of order before in the past, yeah?”

“...They have.”

“And it never occurred to you once to ask why that would be the case?” 

“I merely assumed the Lords of Chaos corrupted them.” Nabu replied.

“I doubt it.” Ben said, “They were probably just trying to protect themselves… From you.” Nabu considered all of this in silence. 

“I think you’ve confused him, Benny.” Serena said sweetly.

“Confused him, what about us? I’m lost!” Bellicus huffed, “This was entertaining at first, but now I’m bored.” Ben waved his hand nonchalantly towards Bellicus in hopes that he’d the guy would give a second to think. 

“...What is it that you have in mind for my dilemma?” Nabu asked after several moments of consideration. 

Ben just smiled.

Notes:

About Lords of Order: Most of them have been around for a very long time. Some comics even suggest they are the first race. So Ben's anodite spark tricking them into thinking that there might be a new one in existence is a big deal.

There was a story line where the Lords of Order blamed magic for the evils of the world, I don't remember the exact details of this story line, but the Justice League Dark did have to work with Lords of Chaos to stop the Lords of Order if my memory serves correctly. From what I can tell, they are control freaks.

They almost never have physical bodies and empower or use mortal agents to do things (Hence Doctor Fate). But the Lord of Order Amethyst does have a physical form (Though she is the only truly human Lord to my knowledge, anyone more versed in this can correct me if I'm wrong. Same with the stuff about Justice League Dark since I don't remember the details to that story line very well.)

Nabu, in particular, did once assume a human form, but he is one of the original Lords that came into existence after the creation of the Universe. He assumed this form when he was sent to Earth.

Now, Nabu, in the past, does show seem to understand humanity and all that, but he seems to put fate of the majority over anything else. In Young Justice, this seems to be shown by him putting his position as a Lord of Order over the needs of Zatara. From what I can tell, this is his greatest flaw. He seems set on protecting humanity, but he doesn't seem sympathize enough with humanity in Young Justice to care about the position he is placing Zatara and Zatanna in. (Once more, if anyone knows more about all of this, since I'm rusty with this knowledge, feel free to add your two sense. Also, feel free to point out flaws in the chapter, it was finals week, so there might be some.)

Have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 74: In Geno-Town.

Albedo threw himself into his work. His work as an employee of Wayne Enterprises as well as his job working as Red X under Luthor. Luthor kept having him do the most random stunts and jobs, likely to prove that Albedo was serious about working for him. It was testing the little patience he had left. 

Thankfully, there weren’t many missions directly after the InJustice League attack, so Albedo was given ample time to focus on his Red X work without making the team suspicious. He was also visiting Dubbilex everyday, looking over Geno-Town’s progress and examining the stolen reports about the many subjects of Cadmus that Dubbilex kept providing. 

It had been nearly a week since Benjamin had disappeared, and Albedo was trying not to think about it as he flipped through the newest list of Cadmus subjects Dubbilex had managed to smuggle out of Cadmus proper.

Albedo couldn’t help but pause as he looked over the files for one subject that apparently NOT been created by Cadmus.

“...Human DNA?” Albedo asked Dubbilex in bewilderment as he looked up at the Genomorph’s elected leader. 

“That was the earlier stages of their cloning projects.” Dubbilex said simply, “A lot of the source DNA for their beginning projects was from a Human sample they kept on ice. They were more familiar with working with Human DNA, so they used his DNA first before they moved onto creating beings like myself… Or creating your friend Superboy.” 

“On ice? As in, cryostasis? Is their human sample a person? A still living, breathing person?” Dubbilex grimaced, but nodded.

“He’s been on ice for years. We wish to wake him, but we fear the consequences of trying. Being in stasis for so long can have very dangerous consequences on the human body that we are not equipped to handle.”

“I’ve been researching human biology more thoroughly in my free time. Let me see the sample. I will see what I can do.” 

Dubbilex nodded, and gestured for Albedo to follow him through Geno-Town. Albedo’s little side project was really taking off. The Geno-Morphs did most of the work anyways, but Albedo’s help had essentially given them a means to escape without the people in Cadmus noticing right away. 

One more set of highly illegal activities he needed to add to his list of things to explain to Benjamin one day. (Assuming that Benjamin ever came back, but Albedo refused to think like that.) 

He was brought to where Dubbilex had been keeping the cryopods of the still sleeping Cadmus subjects. This wasn’t the first time Dubbilex had requested Albedo be there before they opened one up. Albedo being knowledgeable in DNA really helped with stabilizing the unstable geno-morphs and helping the stable ones gain control of their strange abilities without having to brainwash them. 

This was just his first time being asked to help with someone that was fully human and that wasn’t genetically altered. They came to the cryopod in question, and Albedo brushed off the condensation on the outside of the glass to peer inside.

It was a child.

A human child sleeping within the chamber.

“He’s young. A human boy.” Albedo said, a worry in his voice.

“We couldn't find more files than what you have already on him. He was buried very deep into Cadmus’s reports. They did not want anyone to find him, it would seem.” Dubbilex reported. Albedo pressed a palm against the chilly glass. 

“He seems familiar…” Albedo muttered, “But I have trouble telling human faces apart. Especially if they have similar traits, like red hair. It took me ages to realize that one of my friends did, in fact, look like a doppelganger of a character in this human sit-comm we’ve been watching… How old is he, exactly?

“He appears to be fifteen years of age. The pod is preventing me from accessing his memories. I would like to open it and learn more, but as I stated I do not know if it is safe for a human to have been in stasis for so long.” 

“His arm is missing.” Albedo noted.

“It took a few tries for them to perfect their project, from what I could tell.” Albedo was not sure he wanted to know the implications of that.

“He should be fine to thaw.” Albedo said carefully, “But as I’ve been learning more and more about the human race, I’ve come to realize that an adolescent such as this one will not handle a new environment in a predictable way. I’m a doctor… But not a psychological one. Perhaps we should keep him under even after he thaws, until we can locate where he came from and wake him when we are ready to start the integration process. Still, you are right. There are some consequences to overextended cryostasis. You’ll need to keep a careful eye on him. You are familiar enough with this technology and with human lifeforms to know if something is wrong. If you suspect there is a problem, contact me immediately. I’ll do my best to respond as soon as I am able.”

“Of course.” 

“Let’s get him out of there.” Albedo walked up to the machine, having gotten accustomed to deactivating Cadmus technology by that point. He went through the motions of safely powering it down. Moments later, the pod was sliding open and Albedo was catching the teen as he fell down and out of it. Obviously, the boy was freezing to the touch.

Dubbliex was ready with blankets and he took the teen from Albedo, bundling him up. Albedo watched as the Genomorphs all set into action in preparing the teen for a long stay in their newly built city. 

He jumped when his phone rang.

He grabbed out, relieved that it wasn’t his burner phone, because that would mean Luthor wanted Albedo’s help... Again.

It was Bruce.

“Hey, Mr. Wayne, do you need something?” Albedo asked as he picked up the phone. Dubbilex paused in his work, watching Albedo with a tilted head. He was clearly curious. 

“Ben’s back.” Bruce said. Those two words were enough to take Albedo’s attention away from everything that was going on. He glanced at Dubbilex, who waved for Albedo to go.

‘We’ll take care of this.’ Dubbilex promised. Albedo was running for the exit and the nearest Zeta Tube as fast as his feet could carry. It took him a few minutes, since the nearest one was close to his and Benjamin’s apartment, but Albedo could run very fast when truly motivated. 

“When did he get back?” Albedo demanded as he ran, “Is he okay? What happened to the helmet?” 

“He just appeared in the cave not even five minutes ago.” Bruce relayed, and Albedo processed that Bruce, despite using the more gentle, businessman tone of his civilian persona, was likely in the cave at that very moment in his Batman uniform. 

“And Fate?”

“I think it might be better if you see yourself. How far out are you?”

“Just getting to the Zeta. I was downtown, not too terribly far.” Albedo replied, “I’ll see you there in a moment.” He hung up without a goodbye, since it seemed pointless to say goodbye to someone he was about to be face to face with.

He yanked open the phone booth the second he reached it and barreled inside. The Zeta wasted no time in scanning and sending him through. In a blink of an eye, Albedo was in the cave.

True to word, there stood Benjamin, talking and laughing with the team. They all seemed just as ecstatic about Benjamin’s return as Albedo was. Albedo didn’t think, launching himself at his brother the second their eyes met. Benjamin yelped as he was wrapped into a tight hug, for Albedo was truly mastering the human practice of hugging as a show of affection.

“Woah! Albedo!” Benjamin said in delight, “Glad to see you too!”

“You are an idiot!” Albedo scolded.

“You’ve got no room to talk, genius.” Benjamin replied within a heartbeat. Albedo didn’t even argue, because there was no arguing that. 

“I thought you would be gone forever.” Albedo told him.

“Nah. The personalities and I have a deal. It was cool. I knew what I was doing.” Benjamin said. As comforting as that was to hear, it didn’t change the fact that Benjamin had scared the life out of everyone with his trick. 

Someone cleared their throat and Albedo pulled free, looking over, expecting one of the Team or Batman.

Instead, Albedo found himself gawking at the shimmering form of a cyan-blue Anodite wearing a familiar golden helmet and a shimmering golden cloak. 

“Benjamin, what in Azmuth’s name did you do?” 

Notes:

Well, I'm two days late for updating.

Whoops.

Yeah, in short, I got really invested in working on this original book that I've been trying to write since high School, then I started gaming more (I am a serious gamer and don't get much time to work on my more time consuming games during the school year), since I'm on break. Also, since I don't have to check the calendar everyday whilst on break, I lost track of the days. About three in the morning in my time on Friday night, (Aka, Saturday morning), it occurred to me that 'Oh shoot, it's Friday and I DID NOT upload. But, naturally, it was three in the morning. So I didn't really feel like uploading.

Woke up Saturday determined to make things right, only to reread over this chapter and decided that I needed to be certain about a few things before I posted. So, now here we are today, Sunday, uploading. This next Friday (Right before Christmas Eve), I will update back on schedule. I'll have a MUCH better idea of when Friday is when half the week is focused on prepping for Christmas.

(In all, when I'm thrown off schedule by something like school and work getting out, I tend to forget the most random things).

Apology aside, this a little glimpse into what Albedo's been doing with Dubbilex and in his freetime. (Award to the most annoying name to spell in this book goes to Dubbilex, btw. I have to triple check it every time I use it!)

I think it's becoming pretty obvious that the further we go into YJ Season 1, the more and more Ben and Albeo being there is just going to outright change the outcome of the show simply by Ben and Albedo being Ben and Albedo (Ben's Hero Complex driving him to help Nabu, and Albedo's curiosity and nack for getting into the craziest situations leading him to helping Dubbilex and this chapter).

This chapter is but the start of a whole lot more canon divergence as I prep for the next arcs. Do with that what you will.

Chapter 75: Batman has Several Questions.

“Why in Azmuth’s name is Nabu an Anodite, Benjamin?!” Albedo asked in bewilderment.

“...That’s an Anodite? But I thought you guys were Anodites?” Wally, in typical Wally fashion, asked as he looked in between Benjamin and Albedo, and then to Nabu. 

“We’re one fourth Anodite, Kid. We have human bodies. This is what their true forms look like. Trust me, I was taken a little off guard by it too when my grandma visited me and Gwendolyn once, peeled off her skin like it was clothing, and then tried to show us what the ‘true might of an anodite’ was in a magenta pink energy body.” Ben sad with a shrug, “Oddly enough though, I think the Anodite thing is the least weird part of our family tree, and by that, I mean it made so much sense to me at the time that I think I just now realized how weird that is...”

“Your grandma did what?” Artemis wrinkled her nose at the description of the events surrounding Ben’s introduction to his Grandma. Ben waved that off.

“Anyways, so yeah, according to Serena and Bellicus, those are the personalities in Alien X, manipulating magical beings is a bit iffy for Celestialsapiens. Though they are very capable when it comes to it when you motivate them right. They were more familiar with Anodite forms, since I’m one fourth Anodite.” Ben explained, “Plus, the magical energy of a Lord of Order, though more powerful than an Anodites, is similar enough as far as auras and stuff go to work as a temporary solution to the whole ‘I don’t have a body’ problem he was having. Plus, it’s not wholly tethered to the physical realm, meaning he can sustain and use this form way longer than he would’ve lasted possessing a human for a little while. So, after a very, very progressive discussion about why it’s rude to force people to become your host for the sake of Universal Order, we had a four out of four vote, and viola! Anodite Dr. Fate!” 

Ben made a grand presenting gesture towards Nabu, who just kinda floated there while everyone stared at Ben and Nabu like Ben had just lost his mind. Ben decided to move on.

“Of course, there are some conditions he had to agree to. Right, Nabu?” Ben grinned at the Lord of Order sharply. He didn’t know it was possible for the man to look agitated with that helmet on, but his body language said everything as he crossed his arms.

“This is demeaning.” He muttered.

“Yeah, well. So is forcing a guy to spend the rest of their lives as a living puppet. So, you know, deal with it. You agreed.” Ben insisted, “I mean, I can call Alien X back if you don’t want to go along with this deal. Take backs are allowed!” Ben hovered his fingers over the Omnitrix and the Lord of Order visibly flinched before clearly caving as he turned to Albedo and ducked his head.

“I apologize.” He muttered. It was barely coherent, but it was a start.

Albedo blinked dumbly at the Lord, clearly confused.

“...What?” 

“I apologize for claiming you as my host without giving you the ability to consent to the agreement. I apologize for deciding it was my place to punish you for the wrong doing you committed against your… Brother.” The word brother seemed to sound odd in Nabu’s mouth, “Your quarrels with Benjamin are not my business and I was insensitive to your mortal needs and emotions. Benjamin has suggested that as an immortal Lord of Order, I have lost sight of the purpose of my existence and the struggles of the mortals I was born to defend. Therefore, he has requested I learn more about those I am attempting to restore Order for so that I may better perform my duty as the Lord of Order watching over this planet. If the League will have me once more, I would like to use my interactions with them to gain such an understanding.”

Ben smiled, pounding the newly formed Anodite on the back.

“Now, was that so hard, Nabu?”

“Do not push my patience, Benjamin Tennyson.” Nabu retorted immediately. Benjamin just shrugged.

“Well then, you can go do your Lord of Order thingy or whatever. Always happy to talk some sense into immortals. It’s what I do best!” Nabu vanished in a flash of blue before Ben was able to tease him anymore. 

“...Did… Did you just get THE Dr. Fate to apologize for trying to possess Albedo?!” Wally asked in amazement. 

“That was pretty sick. Not gonna lie.” Robin agreed with a laugh.

“Are you able to turn into the starry Celestial alien all the time if you’ve made a deal with the personality things?” M’gann asked, and it was a good question. However, them bringing it up made Ben wince immediately at the thought of the Team trying to get Ben to make Alien X his go to. 

“I’ve been able to for a while… But… There’s a reason I don’t use him unless I absolutely have to. That much power is dangerous, and I’m like, almost seventeen. You want me to just constantly have the ability to reshape reality however the heck I want it? If that’s the case, I can totally get Serena and Bellicus to help me make all the ice cream healthy and tasty for everyone! The consequences of messing with reality to make that happen can’t be that bad, right?”

“You make a good point.” Conner said after they all kinda thought about it for a moment.

“Exactly. So this was probably a one time thing. I’ve got safety locks on him, so don’t expect me to transform into Alien X like that anytime soon.” 

“I’m sure you all want to ask Deka several questions.” Batman drawled, “But I need to debrief him and Canary is supposed to arrive here shortly for training. All of you need to change into your uniforms. You should get on that.” From the way he said it, it was clearly not up for debate. They all still complained about it, but Albedo and Kaldur were quick to step up and usher the Team away. Ben did not miss the sympathetic smile Albedo sent in Ben’s direction as they all filed out.

Ben kinda did have a few things to explain, didn’t he?

“How long has that form been available to you?” Batman immediately started, “And what exactly have you been using it for aside from apparently scaring a Lord of Order into apologizing for his actions?”

“Right into the meat of it, huh?” Ben said as he folded his arms, “Almost two years ago. Stumbled onto it by total accident. I won’t rehash the details, but Earth was being threatened by an alien warmonger and I got stuck in that form while my cousin and her boyfriend had to take over the debates. It sucked, all I could do was listen to the personalities argue while watching some jerk threaten to destroy my planet. Not a fun day. Since then, I think I’ve used him, like, less than a dozen times, if you don’t count the times I transform into Alien X to keep my deal with Serena and Bellicus. Usually, he’s only really been used in like, end of the world or universe situations. The real big ones that none of my aliens can solve. After the first time I turned into him, we went to Azmuth and made the dude put a safety lock on it to keep me from turning into him outside of said extreme circumstances.” 

“And was the Highbreed War not one of them?” Batman asked. Immediately, Ben scowled, finding the ground with his eyes.

“They wouldn’t agree to raise people from the dead just because I feel sad. A handful of people are nothing in the eyes of a god, apparently… And there are always lingering consequences to messing with things like the timeline or bringing people back from the dead or stuff like that. If it’s not necessary for the survival of the entire Universe… Then they won’t agree to it. I do have full combat control now though. Which means in a fighting scenario, I have full control of the alien body. I made them agree to that, since after the whole warmonger incident, I was NOT keen on letting myself just be frozen in place like that until they made up their mind. However, when it comes to stuff like what you’re talking about, like ending the Highbreed War, or raising the dead, and all that, I can’t use him without their vote.” 

“And what about what you did for your brother?” Batman asked.

“They really like my brother, Batman.” Ben said, “And there was no way I was gonna take Nabu in a fight. Absolutely not. Clearly, he needed to be around, but the constant possessing people and the whole disregard for humanity’s ‘selfish desires’ thing he had going was going to bite everyone in the butt sooner than later. Trust me.” 

“When you were confronting Nabu before you turned into Alien X, you mentioned seeing the beginning and the end. Mind expanding?” Batman asked. Ben opened his mouth to explain but thought better of it. Something in his gut told him he shouldn’t. Besides, he was referencing the beginning and end of the Omniverse, not the Heroverse. This was treading on dangerous ground, if the tone Batman was using said anything.

“No.” He said after a moment, “I don’t think I should expand more.” Batman’s eyes narrowed. Ben had heard stories about people who were put under Batman’s scrutiny. About how he’d pick and pull and prod and search until the truth was uncovered.

“I don’t think you understand the severity of what those statements imply.” Batman said.

“I think I’ve got some idea.” Ben replied, “So, I don’t think I should .” Batman and Ben stared at each other for a moment, before Batman broke away.

“What was Fate talking about, when he mentioned the falling out between yourself and Albedo. This isn’t the first time it’s come up. I know you and the Team have been tight lipped about what happened in Bialya, but from the context I’ve been given, it had something to do with Reflect losing his memories.”  

“Albedo had to quit working for Azmuth not very long ago.” Ben said truthfully, “Azmuth was… A stubborn man. I don’t think it was good for him and Albedo to be around each other anymore. The whole thing was pretty hard on Albedo. That’s what Nabu was referencing. He had no idea what he was talking about.” 

“You’re not telling me everything.” Batman noticed.

“Should I have to? I trust Albedo.” Ben said, “And that’s not just because he’s my brother. What happened between Albedo and Azmuth is personal. It’s no one else’s business. People have disagreements. Falling outs happen. That doesn’t make Albedo a bad person. Just makes him human.” 

“Only he’s not just human.” Batman noted, “Is he?” Ben couldn’t help but go very stiff at those words. 

“What the heck do you mean? You mean like his Anodite heritage? Dude, he’s still human, even if grandma is alien.” 

“I mean he used to wield a version of the Omnitrix, just like you.” Batman nodded to the watch on Ben’s wrist, “How human are you after using that thing too much? Do you even know what the long term side effects of restructuring your DNA over and over again the way you do? What are the risks? You’ve stated you have a defense against mind control, but people still can control you if they use the correct tactics. What is your plan for countering that should the enemy take advantage? And with aliens like Alien X at your beck and call, what’s to stop you from going too far?” 

“Azmuth used to make me do check ups to learn about any long term side effects. I’ve been using this thing for years. And I am still human, even when I transform a bunch one day. Human is my default, and it’s what makes me who I am. As for the defense against mind control?” Ben asked, he smirked, “Ask Albedo if that ever happens. Trust me, he’s the only person in this universe who could take me down when I’m like that. And if he thinks I need to be taken down, trust me, the guy will not hold back. Albedo never goes halfway. Any more questions, or can I go train with my brother and friends?” 

“You can go.” Ben spun to go get ready for training, all too aware of the eyes that followed him as he left.

Notes:

Though Batman doesn't know it yet, he's starting to ask some of the right questions (Too bad he's also asking enough of the wrong ones.)

We all know this man is seriously considering some contingencies for the event that Ben needs to be stopped.

Anyways, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Safe travels for those of you traveling. Stay warm for those of you in cold areas.

Chapter 76: A New Prospect.

Ben was actually surprised to learn how uneventful the week he’d been gone had been. Albedo had covered for Ben telling his coach and school that he’d gotten very sick, but had apparently been debating on whether to tell the school if he was returning or not. He’d been under the impression that Alien X might not ever let Ben go. Ben hadn’t meant to make Albedo think that, but he was also really surprised that Albedo hadn’t heard of Alien X before, since the trial with Alien X had been broadcasted all throughout the Universe. When Ben asked Albedo about it, the galvan teen turned away, a strange look in his eyes, before telling Ben he’d been very distracted on the day that trial had occurred.

It was a little concerning, but Ben figured Albedo didn’t want Ben to push the topic further. So Ben didn’t.

Annoyingly, he was left with a TON of make up work. So while Robin, Kaldur, Wally, Artemis, and Albedo crowded around the cave’s console to review some information they’d dug up over the past week on the Red Tornado incident and on the Red X burglaries that had gotten more frequent around Metropolis, Ben was stuck yelling for one of them to come over an explain something to him on his homework as he combed through a week’s work of school work. 

He was very lucky that Robin, Wally, and Albedo were all stupid smart, because if they hadn’t been, Ben was certain he would’ve failed all of his classes. He wasn’t the only one who seemed grateful, with M’gann and Conner sitting not far from him, studying for a test at their school.  Canary, that week’s Den mother, had apparently wanted to do a training session with the Team that afternoon, however, one look at the pile of papers Ben helplessly lugged into the cave and the insertion on how M’gann and Conner had a test coming up… And training was postponed for another hour. 

“So, did yelling at Dr. Fate really take a whole week?” Wally asked quite suddenly, making the others look up from their files and M’gann and Conner look up from their schoolwork. The speedster had been (smartly in Ben’s opinion) milking his injured arm for all that it was worth. He was helping, but he also was sipping on a drink that Captain Marvel had fetched for him at some point. The Justice Leaguer kept popping up, trying to help Wally ‘get better.’ It was kinda funny to watch.

“No, to me it felt like a few hours at most.” Ben admitted, “The whole process felt like a few hours. Even the Anodite part. That’s one of the drawbacks of Alien X, I guess. When I pay attention to the world outside of his head, it’s not as much an issue. But when I’m debating… Hours sometimes seem like seconds. Days seem like hours. Months feel like a week. It’s a dangerous form. I have to be very careful to focus on the world outside when I’m using him. Wasn’t careful enough this time, apparently.” 

“So you didn’t mean to leave us high and dry?” Artemis asked.

“I was hoping it was only going to take an hour or so. I was wrong, apparently.” Ben smiled sheepishly, “Sorry.” 

“Make it up to us when we find Red Tornado.” Robin cut in, “Kid’s got an idea. A stupid one, but it is an idea.” Ben lowered the clipboard in his hands and tilted his head. He felt like he was gonna explode if he had to work on homework for a moment longer. Training was soon, but a possible mission was a welcomed distraction. 

Wally opened his mouth to explain the idea, but was cut off by the Zeta Tube going off.

[Recognized: Zatara 1-1]. All of their eyes flew to the transporter as Zatara appeared. He turned to the Zeta’s console, typing at it while Canary moved from where she was observing their odd little study session as if she’d been expecting Zatara to come.

[Access Granted: Zatanna Zatara A-0-3; Authorization: Zatara 1-1]. 

A flash of the Zeta later, and a girl, around thirteen to fourteen, wearing a school uniform with long black hair and Zatara’s eyes came waltzing into the cave. 

Yeah, homework could wait a little longer; this was probably going to be interesting.

“Zatanna, this is the team. Team, this is my daughter, Zatanna.” Zatara introduced. His voice sounded proud, but at the same time a little worried. M’gann seemed to agree with Ben’s conclusion that homework could wait, because she was up, flying to greet the newcomer in an instant. She wasn’t the only one.

“Hello, I’m-!”

“Robin!” The boy wonder didn’t have super-speed, and yet he was across the room fast enough to jump in front of M’gann to offer the new girl a big smile and his hand. He then seemed to realize what he did, winced back and his smile turned sheepish, “Er, I mean, I’m Robin. This is M’gann. That’s Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Conner, and those are the twins, Albedo and Ben.” 

“Are you here to join the team?” Albedo asked, his curiosity clear. Ben didn’t blame him. Two magicians on the team? That would make things pretty interesting and Ben didn’t doubt Zatanna and Albedo could learn a lot from each other. 

“Ah, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves.” Zatara smiled, that nervous edge still there as he smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, “This is just a visit. I see training hasn’t begun yet.”

“We postponed it for school work.” Ben said with a smile, “But we were going to start training pretty soon.”

“Are you here as a prospect for joining?” Albedo asked, “I wouldn’t mind another magician on the team.”

“Just a visit.” Zatara insisted, “She’s still learning.”

‘Are we still on probation with Zatara?’ M’gann asked telepathically, clearly confused by how the man was acting.

‘Not just him, why is Marvel still hanging around?’ Conner grumbled. 

‘Because we like him?’ Wally scoffed.

‘You like him! He’s been waiting on your hand and foot!’ Artemis countered.

‘Can’t blame him. Wally’s just being smart.’ Ben quipped.

‘I like having Marvel around.’ Albedo’s telepathic voice softly added, making Ben snort a little.

‘Look, guys, I don’t think it’s us he’s putting on probation.’ Ben said as he nodded towards the young magician girl who seemed to be picking up on their prolonged silence.

“Are… You guys having a psychic conversation? Because if you are, I can’t tell if that’s cool or rude…” Zatanna pointed out, making Canary and Zatara give the team questioning looks while a few of them flushed at being noticed.

“Sorry, habit.” Albedo admitted, “We’ve been spending a lot of this evening working on the Red Tornado case and the Red X burglaries and we’ve been alternating between telepathy and speaking out loud. We did not mean to offend. Welcome to Mount Justice.”

“...Well…” Zatara cut in, “Why don’t you all take her on a… Tour of the cave?” M’gann’s eyes lit up in excitement, and Ben knew for a fact that homework hour was totally over. 

“A tour!?” Marvel had appeared, and he’d apparently had gone off to fetch nachos for Wally, because he had some in his hands, “Cool!”

“Actually, could you take Wolf for a walk?” Conner cut in. It didn’t take a genius to realize that he was trying to keep the man from tagging along. 

Marvel was eager enough to agree.

“Wha, but my nachos!” Wally objected weakly. Conner rolled his eyes, grabbing Wally’s shirt to drag him off with the rest of the team, which was already heading towards the living area. As they walked, Ben noticed a shift in Zatanna’s clothing, and when they reached the kitchen. Artemis noticed only when they got there, her lips parting in surprise.

“When did you…”

“We aren’t really going on a tour, are we?” Zatanna asked with an innocent smile. Ben caught on. After all, they had been talking about a plan to track Red Tornado down only moments before Zatara showed up. Batman had given them permission to work the case, but Ben had a feeling that Zatara hadn’t given Zatanna that permission. 

“We’re hunting down that robot.” Connor informed her.

“Duh.” Robin agreed.

“But, what about the new girl?” Artemis asked, “Doubt her dad would let us, and technically, we’re supposed to run this by Batman before we go into action.” 

“She won’t tell.” Robin insisted.

“Yeah, but we can’t just leave Zatanna here. That’s just rude.” Ben pointed out.

“Oh, I won’t say a word, and it won’t even be a problem… At least, not if you kidnap me.” Zatanna said, mischief in her voice. There was a small pause, and Artemis turned to the rest of the team with a grin.

“Oh, she’ll fit in great.”

Notes:

I regretfully must inform everyone that this will be the last update for this year. I will not post again until next year...

That being said...

HAPPY EARLY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! Have a wonderful weekend! See you next year!

Chapter 77: Wally's Idea

Zatara had been… Less than excited when he and Canary called asking why the Team had taken the bioship and it was revealed that they were following a hunch on the Red Tornado case that Wally had. In fact, he demanded to know when he’d given permission to let them take his daughter out on any missions. Canary, thankfully, had intervened and assured Zatara that they were a good team, whilst Robin enthusiastically insisted it would be a good learning experience.

As long as they kept Canary posted, it was fine. Zatara hadn’t seemed to agree. At least, that’s what Albedo had gathered.

Albedo hadn’t exactly been paying attention to the whole ordeal, and had been somewhat stuck in his own head for the majority of the flight to the destination Wally had assigned to M’gann. 

There were a lot of things to think about, after all. Between the excitement of another magician being on the ship, to the boy that Dubbilex kept sending him updates on, to the whole thing with Benjamin being gone a week due to his short transformation into a celestialsapien. 

The boy wasn’t exactly taking too well to being kept under while Albedo went through files to try and understand his origins. Albedo was probably going to have to go visit him and wake him up fully so that the poor child didn’t wake to alien-like creatures that would likely scare him half to death. (The irony of Albedo being the human presence in that situation was NOT lost to him.) He knew the boy’s name was Roy and that the name Roy was familiar. Benjamin suddenly returning had gotten him sidetracked before he could quite recall who Roy was supposed to be. 

Albedo really needed to get better at telling people apart. Information in a file could only help so much if you couldn’t actually look at people with similar traits and not get them confused. 

On top of the Roy thing, Albedo was constantly covering his tail as Robin had gotten increasingly more interested in the Red X incidents that kept popping up all over. Albedo did not want to have the curious teen prying into that can until after Albedo had finished with the role. 

“...You want us to visit Belle Reve?” Superboy spoke up, alerting Albedo to the fact that they were at the place Wally had been thinking of, “Why?”

“Ivo.” Was Kid Flash’s response and Albedo couldn’t help but hum at that. From the outside, it seemed like a random idea. However, Albedo knew from personal experience and from his work as Red X that criminals did talk. If a set of villains, like Ivo and Morrow, had similar skill sets, it was almost a guarantee that they either rivaled each other and knew the other’s move at any given moment, were best friends, or, had been made to work with one another on any number of projects.

Albedo still wanted to stab Dr. Psychobos, even if Albedo was reformed.

Galvans would always be superior. He didn’t care what that overgrown crab thought.

“What are the chances that Ivo of all people would know anything about Morrow?” Robin asked in bewilderment.

 “More likely than you think.” Albedo inserted, “Ivo will want to watch his competition, after all.” This caused Artemis to smirk, folding her arms as she did so.

“You speak from experience, doc?” She teased. Albedo allowed a dramatic groan of exasperation.

“You have no idea. The stupid crustacean does not know when to shut up, and his insults all are the exact same. I use the term ‘insult’ loosely.” Albedo complained as he mocked Psychobos’ accent and immediately, Benjamin burst into a peal of laughter, nearly doubling over in his chair. 

“Wow, you’ve still got those acting skills, because you nailed him exactly!” Benjamin laughed.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll join a theater troupe whenever I have a more clear schedule. Too busy right now for that though.”

“Am I… missing something?” Zatanna asked. Kid Flash waved it off with a laugh.

“No, the twins have been through some weird adventures together and have a ton of inside jokes. Trust me, you learn not to question some of the jokes they make.” 

“If they’re identical twins how come-” She started to point towards Albedo, likely in reference to the stark white hair and crimson eyes he had.

“Genetic damage.” The entire team said at once, and the entire ship burst into a fit of laughter as M’gann landed the ship in the lot next to Belle Reve. 

“Wait here one second.” M’gann said to the team as she rose, “Superboy and I are going to talk to the warden. He and I helped with stopping a prison break here a little while ago, so the warden owes us a favor. I’ll ask him for a meeting with Ivo. We’ll come get you once he’s agreed to it.” She practically yoinked Superboy out of the ship before anyone could point out that they could still go with her when she asked for that favor. 

Albedo rolled his eyes at her and Conner’s antics. If sitcoms had taught him anything… It was to just leave it alone, otherwise there would be a mess of easily avoidable confusion. Albedo decided to get up from his seat instead, going to where Robin had already launched into a conversation with Zatanna. 

“...How long have you been practicing magic, exactly?” Albedo asked her. She looked away from Robin, looking at Albedo in surprise.

“Oh, my dad did say there was a mage in training on the Team… But… Aren’t you the scientist guy?” 

“He’s both.” Robin declared as he swung an arm proudly around Albedo’s shoulder, “Reflect here is the smartest man on this planet as well as being the next up and coming magician extraordinaire! Isn’t that right, Albes?”

“...Hey, only I call him that!” Benjamin objected from where he and Kid were messing with Artemis. She did NOT look happy to have been left to converse with the two more rambunctious members of the group. Aqualad was seemingly torn between bailing her out of whatever bizarre conversation they’d pulled her into and just letting the whole thing play out. 

“Well, that is a new one.” Zatanna said, “Most scientists are skeptics. They aren’t as prone to believing as others.”

“Well, Kent Nelson did a fairly decent job setting me straight. It’s in the Tennyson blood, magic. But before Nelson, I’d merely assumed my powers were energy based. Ever since I’ve discovered the strength I have with magic, well, I’ve been doing my best to learn all that I can. I am a very quick study. However, reading words and actually doing…”

“Yeah, I get what you mean.” Zatanna agreed, “Studying is half the battle. The other half is learning to actually perform the spells. It’s a lot of work and focus. And it’s almost always better to try in a controlled environment or watch someone like my dad try it first than to read gibberish out of a book.” 

“Perhaps we could… Trade notes? Your whole reason for visiting was to learn, yes?”

“It’d be ideal if I could actually join.” Zatanna said and she flushed some. Embarrassed, Albedo realized, “I’m not as good as my dad. I’m still learning. He’s afraid I’ll get hurt.” 

“Benjamin gathered as much.” Albedo said, “He’s more perceptive about these things. He’s where I’ve been getting most of my advice on magic from outside of those books your father leads me and the library. Our cousin was a sorceress before she died and he was around her a lot.”

“Heh, it really does run in your family, huh?” Zatanna laughed, “I get that. The Zatara family is descendants of the Leonardo Da Vinci, who was secretly a master of True magic and are descendants of the Homo magi, a human sub-race with magical abilities.”

“We’re Anodite descendants.” Albedo explained, “It’s an alien race with magical abilities.”

“In short, this guy.” Robin declared, “Is a genuine space wizard.” 

“Is that so?”

Albedo just shrugged in agreement just as M’gann came flying back in the ship, a proud smile on her face.

“We’ve got five minutes with him!” She declared, “Come on, everyone! Let’s get this lead!”

Notes:

Yeah... I was sick with a low fever and migraines all week last week, hence the delay in posting. (It is very hard for me to focus on writing, editing, or literally anything creative whilst I am sick) If this chapter is a mess in some places, this is why. (Don't worry, ya'll, I am totally better now! The migraines are gone and I am inspired!)

I also was kinda worried I wouldn't be able to post today, as AO3 kept going down for maintenance (Talk about Friday the 13th luck). I knew that they were working on some stuff this week but I kept checking and it was not working for a bit.

That, and my cat kept vying for attention. He's been extra needy since everyone started going back to school again. (Fun fact about author: My cat is actually named Bruce Wayne! It's true! Even as I'm typing this AN, the feline menace is attempting to attack my keyboard.) He's also the reason this is technically uploading really, really early Saturday morning where I am, and not at midnight.

I also kinda wanted this chapter to be a better introduction between Albedo and Zatanna, since these two are gonna be magician buddies, and no one can stop me. I wouldn't call this chapter totally filler, since it does bring up some important information, but eh.

We'll be going deeper into this episode in the next few chapters. Expect some changes!

I'm kinda tinkering with the Zatara family backstory, as there are multiple (Due to the multiple timelines, medias in which Zatara is featured, and so on). But I liked the whole concept of Da Vinci being related to those two (Though the more significant part of their origins has more to do with the homo magi thing in the main timeline). I don't know how much I'll explore this family tree though, since it's kinda tangent.

Question of the day. Would Charmcaster's people be considered Homo Magi like Zatara's bloodline? (Or, at least, the Omniverse equivalent). As I was brushing up on my Zatara lore, I couldn't help but wonder since I don't know if it was ever confirmed why her people were so in tune to magic and why they were even in the Ledger Domain to begin with. (I'm pretty sure Charmcaster is just a magic using human, but this has never been one hundred percent clarified since canon changes a lot in Ben 10). I'm curious to know all of your thoughts!

Chapter 78: Interrogations.

“I’m sure you can understand our hesitation for allowing many outside weapons into the facility.” Dr. Strange said as he eyed the bow and quiver on Artemis’s back. Never mind that Robin was wearing a utility belt that Ben knew for a fact would not be coming off for any reason Hugo gave them. 

“Trust me, I’ve got a handle on them.” Artemis scoffed, and Hugo nodded before glancing over and zeroing in on the watch on Ben’s wrist.

“That technology could also be dangerous around the prisoner.” 

“Yeah… No. This is fused to me.” Ben deadpanned, “It’s stuck there permanently. Unless you want to risk blowing this prison to kingdom come to get it off of me, it stays on.” Ben didn't miss the way Hugo Strange’s eyebrows shot right up with this information. 

“Mine as well.” Albedo agreed, “Do not worry, Doctor. We are fully capable of preventing the prisoner from taking advantage of our visit. Between the nine of us, he doesn’t stand much of a chance and he’s already got guards watching him for this.” Strange let out another sigh, clearly not stoked about the idea of M’gann using her favor to come into his prison and harass his prisoner, but clearly willing to comply. 

“Follow the guards, I’ll monitor the conversation.” He instructed, before disappearing down the hall without another word. The guards ushered them past the security checkpoint. As they walked down the hall, Kid Flash looked over and asked Ben a very important question.

“So… If the watch is like, permanently fused to your skin and all that… How the heck do you get through airport security? There’s no way those guys are just like ‘Ah, yes. A kid fused a watch to his DNA. We should let him on a plane.’”

Ben blinked at that question slowly in his walk towards the interrogation cell. He’d never once in his life encountered this issue. His grandpa had always known a guy with a plane or Ben would ride with Kevin and friends on the Rustbucket 3 and all of that stuff, so Ben hadn’t been forced to deal with airport security properly since he got the watch. 

“...I’ve never been through airport security, Kid.” Ben admitted, “I always sorta knew a guy with a plane. It’s never come up.” 

“Really?” Kid asked, “Okay, well, now I’m curious.”

“No.” Ben immediately told him. 

“Oh, but it’d be funny!” Ben was not gonna go deal with the horrors of airport security for the sake of Wally’s curiosity. That was where Ben drew a line.

“No.” Kid huffed, but left it at that. They were let into the interrogation room. Not even a few moments later, Ivo was led in by his own set of guards and promptly forced to sit in front of them. His eyebrows shot up with clear confusion as he stared at the teenagers.

“Now, why in the world are all of you here?” 

“Warden Strange gave us five minutes with you since he owed us a favor for stopping a prison break last month.” M’gann offered helpfully, and Ben stepped forwards, smirking at the crazed inventor.

“We need to know about T.O. Morrow.” Ben offered. Ivo’s confusion only seemed to grow as he knitted his eyes and seemed to be trying to gauge if Ben was joking or not.

“Why would I know something like that, fairy boy?” 

“Um… What?” Zatanna asked in bewilderment. Ben found himself flushing in response to that.

“Er, we fought Ivo’s robot monkeys a while back and I accidentally transformed into Pesky Dust… This fairy alien-thing… Didn’t realize those little guys were recording…” 

“Most of the video was corrupted by whatever you kids used to destroy my machines, but the gist of the idea was pretty clear.” Ivo said with a smug grin as he leaned back in his chair.

“....Deka, Nemuinans are virtually useless against machines.” Reflect so eloquently pointed out, making Ben flush further and duck his head.

“Yeah… I know.” 

“Deka’s powers going wonky on a mission is besides the point. We didn’t come here for chit-chat. Where’s Morrow?” Superboy interrupted. 

“Now, why would I know a thing like that?” Ivo asked with pursed lips. 

“Because, and here’s a crazy thought, Morrow’s your biggest competitor in the android game. Who better to keep track of him?” Kid pointed out, making Ivo sit up a little and smirk.

“Ah, yes, I see your point.” Ivo agreed, neither denying or confirming, “I should rephrase. If I did know this information, why would I tell you how to find Morrow?”

“He knows.” Aqualad declared and Reflect looked over at M’gann.

“Miss. Martian, if you would be so kind?” Reflect requested.

“Oh, please.” Ivo scoffed, “As if I haven’t dealt with a mind reader before.” 

“Oh, well, in that case, I can totally show you what Pesky Dust is supposed to be used for.” Ben cut in and he went for his Omnitrix, smirking as he did so, “Trust me, he’s not for making people fly.” 

“Okay… Now I’m actually curious.” Robin said with a small laugh, “Show us what you got, Deka.” Ben, turned the dial of the watch to Pesky Dust and slammed down. A split second later, he was in his Nemuina form. 

He wasted no time in flying forwards, dust in hand which he threw at Ivo, who immediately slumped forwards as Pesky Dust slipped easily into the man’s dreams, thoughts of Morrow on the forefront of Ivo’s subconscious. Immediately, the grip Ivo had on the information they wanted loosened and his mental defenses were disabled. 

“Prr… Try now.” Pesky Dust said with a trill and he turned to M’gann. The Martian nodded, her eyes flashing red. She withdrew after a few moments, then nodded to Ben.

“Got it. He’s in Yellowstone. 100 meters south of Old Faithful. There’s a secret base there.” 

Ben snapped his fingers.

Ivo woke up.

“What… What on Earth was that?” Ivo sputtered in confusion. 

“Nemuinans manipulate dreamscapes.” Reflect explained simply, “Put people to sleep to avoid predators or attackers. Use the same technique to hunt. They appear non-threatening, but they are very dangerous creatures.”

Ben pressed down against the Omnitrix symbol, returning to his human form again. He clapped his hands, turning to face the group.

“So? To Yellowstone Park everyone?”

“Seems like it.” Zatanna agreed.

“Wait, before you go?” Ivo had Ben stopping to look back at the inventor. The man eyed Ben's wrist.

“Why would you use the watch to trigger your abilities?” He asked, and Ben immediately remembered that the villains probably didn’t know that much about the Omnitrix, since it wasn’t actually from that multiverse. Ben considered responding, but Albedo beat him to it.

“Just a regulator.” Reflect lied, “Like how mine regulates my energy abilities. I’m sure you can imagine, such a diverse set of abilities within one person can be difficult to control.” Ben glanced over at Reflect, who’s red eyes silently warned him to go along with the lie. Ben smiled, relaxing with practiced ease.

“Not that you’ll do much with that information. You’re locked up in here, buddy. Have a good day. We’ve got places to be. People to save.” Ben mock saluted, and he turned to the rest of the team, who all watched. They looked tense, as if Ivo’s question bothered them. Ben would unpack that later. They had a Robot mentor to find.

“Let's go, guys.” 

Notes:

Well, this has been a crazy week for me.

My classes started up again, but this semester their mostly focused on my major, plus it's the final semester before graduation, so I can't complain. Though, it does look like I'm gonna get pretty busy as the semester goes on. If I forget to post one week, it's probably due to school. (If there are any typos this chapter, it is because of this).

I always forget that DC has a villain who is a doctor with the last name Strange. (Albeit, they call Hugo Professor, not Doctor.) And then I remember, and I'm like, 'oh, yeah, that's a thing.'

The villains got their first close up look at the Omnitrix in action.

So, yeah. Have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 79: Pinocchios.

“I recommend you stay behind.” Aqualad advised Zatanna. Zatanna sent Ben a sideways look, as if trying to figure out if he was supposed to be the leader or if Aqualad was actually the one in charge. Ben shrugged.

“I mean, if you aren’t all too used to all this stuff…” Ben said.

“Is that an order?” She asked. Aqualad and Ben exchanged looks in a brief, silent conversation.

“You must do as you see fit.” Aqualad decided.

“So, no.” Ben agreed, “It’s not an order.” Zatanna smirked.

“Good.” 

“Focus, Team. Robin, scan this volcano for any signs of Morrow or the Reds, will yah?” Ben requested. Robin nodded, setting to work and bringing up a map of yellowstone on his holo-glove.

“Well, Kid Flash and Ivo were right.” He decided, “Something down there.” 

“That is not all.” Albedo added, regarding the boy’s holo-glove with an aggravated expression, “Something is wrong with the volcano.” Robin squinted at the holo-glove’s readings.

“You sure?” He asked, “I don’t see-”

“No, he’s right.” Wally agreed, “See, the core is fluctuating… slightly, but just enough to show there’s a problem. Something or someone is causing it to erupt. If we don’t do something about it-” 

“Goodbye humans.” Albedo finished, “And all other carbon based lifeforms on this planet.”

“Three guesses on who’s probably trying to get this thing to erupt.” Conner grumbled angrily. They never really got the chance to guess Morrow, because it was at that moment they were all hit by a gust of wind. Albedo summoned a mana shield, straining against the wind as M’gann established the mind link and everyone got ready for the worst.

Red Tornado landed in the clearing, his cold, robotic face was somehow even colder than it had been before. 

“...Upgrade?” Ben asked Albedo.

“Upgrade.” Albedo agreed with a grunt, “But plan first.” Ben understood what Albedo meant. Upgrade was a non-organic lifeform. He couldn’t stay in the mind-link if he turned into that one… which meant they had to have a good plan before Ben transformed, or he was going to be a little out of the loop.

‘Superboy, go left, Aqualad, you and him do maneuver seven. M and Artemis, go from behind, Kid, get out of his range. Reflect and Zatanna, give us cover. Rob, you’re with me.’ Ben ordered mentally, ‘Reflect, you have that thing you and Rob told me about?’

‘One second.’ Albedo promised. He lowered one hand and the shield flickered slightly, letting some of the wind reach them in the form of a chilly breeze. He flicked his wrist, shoving something into Ben’s hands. Ben grasped it before twisting his watch and going Upgrade.

“And go!” He said. Immediately, Albedo released the shield as Aqualad helped boost Superboy up and over Red Tornado. Wally zipped Artemis to behind Tornado, where she pulled her arrows and sent them flying from behind. M’gann used her telekinesis in a similar matter. Zatanna chanted her spells using tricks and magic to keep his attention while Albedo used his shields to protect anyone Red Tornado directed his winds towards. As Conner landed, he grabbed at the guy, trying to knock him down. Red Tornado flicked him away, and Conner rejoined Kaldur. Both began to come up with their own maniver’s to make up for the failure. 

“Hang on, Rob.” Upgrade told the Boy Wonder who had stayed behind with him as he tossed the boy the small flash drive.

“Ready for some good old fashioned hacking and giving the bad guys a taste of their own medicine?” Robin smirked.

“Holo-glove.” Robin ordered as he inserted the flash drive into his glove, “And the team will get us close.” Upgrade did as he said, merging with Robin’s holo-glove and upgrading it along with the drive. Robin ran for the android, using the team’s assault to help himself work his way past the gushing winds. As Robin closed in, Red Tornado seemed to notice, but Conner and Aqualad saved the day by charging the front. 

At the very same time, Zatanna cast a spell that turned some of the bushes nearby into ropes of some kind, which wrapped around the android, limiting its movement. Robin landed on the android, finding Red Tornado’s control panel and tearing it off. 

Granted, Ben had tried far crazier things than that, but it didn’t make it any less disorienting. He frantically attached the upgraded holo-glove to Red Tornado, and suddenly, the glove, flash drive, and Red Tornado were all merged into Upgrade’s consciousness. He and the flash drive set to work as he cleared out the code that Morrow had added that made Red Tornado attack him. As he did, Ben’s entire mind began to get really, really split. 

One on hand, he could feel Robin and Albedo’s flash drive working to free their friend of Morrow’s control, basically acting like his tether and keeping Tornado’s mind from sucking him down completely. On the other hand, he could hear four robotic voices crying out in aggravation at once. One by one, each of the Red’s appeared inside of Ben’s head. Red Torpedo, Red Inferno, and Red Tornado each shimmered in existence, looking completely blank, but clearly in great distress based on what their code was telling him. 

“Deka!” Red Tornado managed, “Our brother he-” Suddenly the connection between Ben and Robin’s holo-glove snapped. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem while Ben was Upgrade, especially since Robin had gotten Albedo’s code into the system the way they’d planned. Unfortunately, it was a rare occasion where Ben had absolutely no control of a machine as Upgrade… because as Red Tornado started to say something about his brother, firewalls were thrown up around him, trapping Ben inside of Red Tornado’s mind. A mechanical voice identical to Tornado’s cut through the darkness. A new, bigger Red with a triangle symbol on his chest formed in front of them.

“Well, well, well… If it isn’t the famous Deka. The one factor I could not entirely calculate due to the unpredictable nature of the changeling abilities you possess. Now within my grasp because he foolishly attempted to break the bond our father established between my siblings and myself." 

“Who the heck are you?” Ben demanded, already spreading Upgrade’s Galvanic code and the code Reflect and Robin had put inside Red Tornado, using them to feel through the digital trap he’d triggered, working to break through them and free Tornado as fast as humanly possible.

“I am the youngest, greatest creation of our father.” The newcomer announced, “Red Volcano!” 

“Ah, water, fire, air, and earth.” Ben said in a jokey voice, “Well, do you mind? You’re blocking my code!” 

“Don’t worry.” Red Volcano said, “By the time you breach the firewalls and take complete control of my siblings, your watch will time out and you’ll be booted out of the system. After that, you will be killed along with the rest of your friends. Now, if you would excuse me, I have some meat bags to dispose of!” With that, Red Volcano flickered out of view. Ben spun towards the Reds.

“You’re really gonna let your brother do that? Tornado! You were our Den Mother? You’re just going to let him kill them and destroy humanity? Fight back against him!” 

“I tried, Deka.” Red Tornado said, “I warned your friends on what to do after you entered my system. They are doing well, and he has yet to fight Zatanna or truly see your brother use his powers at full strength, giving them the slimmest of edges. Enough for them to have a small chance…”

“But it’s not going to be enough, is it?” Red Tornado went silent, telling Ben all he needed to know.

“How strong is he?” He asked.

“He is designed to be the best of us. The one who will destroy the Justice League… but when father activated him… well, the robot designed to act in our father’s place activated him, he turned on father and took control. He will destroy humanity.” Red Tornado informed him before turning to his siblings, “Deka, however, is correct. We must stop him.” 

“Why?” Inferno asked in a hollow voice. “We believed were human. We believed we lived. We were heroes... Now there is only Red Inferno and Red Torpedo. Why should we help save humanity when we are no longer human? We are mere Pinocchios.”

“Dude, you don’t have to be a human to care. Heck, I have a few robot friends from back in my old Plumbing days. Being an android doesn’t mean you stop caring, does it?”

“Once more, he is correct. The premise of your question is flawed. You were never human, but you were heroes.”

“Great heroes.” Ben agreed confidently, “And all three of you? You have potential to be totally awesome. So, if you two are heroes, are you really going to step back and let him do this? or are you going to help Tornado and I save the world?” The two siblings were silent, then they looked at one another. Ben couldn’t tell what they were thinking based on their faces, but as Upgrade he could feel the artificial emotions at work. They weren’t as extreme as human ones, but close enough to count. 

“Very well.” They chimed together. There was another snap, and the code Robin had put inside Red Tornado got through, doing its work on the three siblings. Upgrade guided it, adjusting their settings and getting rid of the programming Morrow had used to take control of them in the first place. Ben was then booted out of their systems and he became acutely aware of the fact that the siblings were flying down to fight Red Volcano.

He followed as fast as he could still as Upgrade, reaching the battle only to see Red Torpedo and Red Inferno try to sacrifice themselves to push their younger brother into the volcano. Ben was not really willing to let that happen. He hit the symbol on his Omnitrix, shifting to NRG, knowing that the ultra-heat resistant containment suit he wore would be perfect for pinning Red Volcano into place. 

“Back off, I’ve got zis!” NRG yelled at the other two androids as he landed atop the thrashing volcano-themed robot who’s metal, ironically, was not as resistant to the lava. Meanwhile, behind him, he could hear Kid Flash attempting to get Red Tornado’s attention.

“Tornado, listen, we’re on the verge of a Stage Three Super Volcano Eruption. There’s no turning back from that. We need to vent pressure, fast.” Kid Flash explained rapidly.

“But the ash cloud will bring on a worldwide Nuclear Winter unless you divert it.” Reflect inserted quickly. The machine in Ben’s hold went very slack under the lava and everyone could feel the second the volcano was no longer within Red Volcano’s control as the earth trembled beneath them.

“Yeah,” Kid Flash agreed, “Triangulate around the pressure locus.” Robin then pointed out the three spots needed to fix the problem. Silently, the android used his wind to vent and cool down the locations, fixing the problem. Kid Flash let out a triumphant cheer as the solution worked.

“Red, you okay?” Ben asked in worry as the Omnitrix timed out. Red Tornado remained silent, he just pointed back towards the lab he and his siblings had been in. They dragged him there, the other two silently following after

"I believe they've been damaged and Red Tornado's voice box seems to still be offline." Reflect noticed, and he was already moving to fix them up, despite Red Tornado’s silent objections.

As Albedo went to repair the other two, who needed it after getting much too close to the lava, Red Tornado decided to voice his concern.

“I do not believe I should be repaired.” He said hollowly, "While my capture was a move to attempt to protect you children from Morrow after what had occured within the cave, it does not change that I was controlled afterwards and used against you. This could very well occur again."

Superboy scowled at him.

“Why did you volunteer to become our Den Mother in the first place?” He asked. Red Tornado didn’t hesitate to respond.

“I was the pragmatic choice.” He explained, “I do not require sleep. I have no secret identity or second life to live.”

“But you do have advanced AI Programming designed to learn, adapt, evolve.” Ben interrupted, thinking of the brief conversation he had with Tornado and his siblings where he was certain they felt something.

“Hello, Megan! You wanted to become more human.” M’gann exclaimed, knocking herself in the head in her signature facepalm.

“And you couldn't do that with the League.” Artemis said with a smirk, “They’re stiffs.” 

“You're sure not going to learn emotion from Batman. Trust me.” Robin agreed fondly. Aqualad nodded in understanding.

“Then the cave was not a proving ground only for us… but for you as well.” He decided. Of course, Ben couldn’t tell what Red Tornado was thinking. He guessed he was likely puzzling over those words and what they probably meant.

“I do not know if those statements are accurate,” Tornado admitted, “but perhaps they are true. And if I understand the term correctly, I believe I have come to… care about you all.”

“Annoying, is it not?” Albedo scoffed.

“Hey, you know you love us.” Kid said, ruffling Albedo’s hair and annoying the Galvan. 

Ben couldn’t really tell, but he assumed Tornado was amused by them.

“See? Practically a meatbag already.” Conner said.

“Which reminds me…” Red Tornado said, “I must see my father… my real… not robot father. Would you children-” 

“Of course.” Ben promised, “Say no more! Next stop, Bell Reve medical ward… then we should probably get Zatanna back home before her dad kills us all. Also, we should probably phone Batman about these two.” Ben stuck a thumb towards the other two androids.

The paperwork on this one was gonna suck. Ben could tell.

Totally worth it though.

Notes:

I live! School has not killed me!

But seriously though, I was not expecting things to get as busy as they did with school as quickly as they did. First, I've been assigned four different presentations I have been working on creating, and then I have to run a gallery opening for my school, whilst filming, and editing the footage for the entire thing, plus work and orchestra... Yeah, I knew this last semester might get a little crazy, but my gosh, that was a whole lot of craziness all at once. I am debating on changing the upload day, because I've been looking more and more at the schedule for this semester, and it turns out all of the school's gallery events happen on Fridays, and as a senior, I'm expected to help run all of them to get experience within the community... (I can't go back to Thursdays due to my orchestra practices running longer than they used to. If there is a change in schedule, it will likely be to Mondays or Saturdays).

For this chapter, I'm sure you all noticed I went way, way off canon for how the fight went down. The reason being they actually got permission to go after the Red Tornado case before they went on it. Therefore, they came prepped with a plan to keep Red Tornado from getting taken over by Morrow (The Flash Drive) and were able to use that to help free Red Tornado and convince his siblings a whole lot more effectively than they did in the original show. Not sure if that makes any sense, but that is the reason for the change.

Obviously, it has been hectic on my end, so if there's any mistakes or inconsistencies in this chapter (Half of this chapter was stitched together slowly as the craziness IRL progressed), go ahead and let me know. I'll do what I can, but I am a bit behind on editing, so it might take a moment to fix anything. I also will be posting another chapter ether sometimes this evening or tomorrow night to make up for the fact that I haven't posted in two weeks (This is more of because I wanted to be further along in this story by this point more than the fact that I feel bad that I didn't post. In short, I'm stoked for the next few arcs coming up... If you know your Young Justice, then I'm sure you know why, but we won't ben diving right into the next arc right away, as the chapter I'll post later is going to focus on something else before we move into the next episode of Young Justice.)

Anywho, thank you all for your patience and support over the past two weeks and a have a splendid rest of your weekend.

Chapter 80: A Friendly Face.

Albedo had managed to get away from the Team, who were doing their best to help Red Tornado adjust to the new arrangement he had in the Cave with his two older siblings. The Team had kept insisting Albedo help Wally check and double check the machines were okay, and Batman, aka, Albedo’s actual boss, seemed to agree with their concerns, making the Reds Albedo’s priority over ALL of Albedo’s personal projects.

Honestly, Bruce couldn’t have picked a worse time to order Albedo to prioritize something. Normally, Albedo wouldn’t care, seeing as Dubbliex basically ran the Cadmus project in the background, Luthor wasn’t a stranger to Red X randomly being busy working another job, and the device Albedo was working on to link the Heroverse and Omniverse often required Albedo to take a step back and work on something else. 

However, the situation within Geno-Town was slowly evolving out of Dubbliex’s capabilities. Albedo had gotten multiple frantic texts on his burner from Dubbliex insisting that Albedo needed to come as soon as he was able. The kid needed to be woken up. There was no getting around it. 

And Dubbilex, per Albedo’s orders, was not to use his telepathy to trick the poor kid into compliance until Albedo could figure out how the heck to explain the situation to the child. 

Finally, he’d managed to use his own ‘introverted’ traits as an excuse to slip away. One mention of getting tired and needing a break from people, and Batman seemed to pick up on the fact that Albedo didn’t want to be stuck at the Cave anymore. He dismissed Albedo, but Albedo knew he wasn’t going to get the much needed recharge he’d excused himself for until after he was done dealing with the problem in Geno-Town.

As the Zeta-Tube deposited him in the proper location, Albedo found himself peeling off his Reflect mask and stalking quickly through the buzzing streets of Geno-Town. The Genomorphs were used to him at that point and parted to let him by before continuing their work on the town the second Albedo had passed. He paid them no mind as he went to the section where Dubbilex was meant to be keeping the boy. 

The boy was hooked up to medical equipment they’d managed to smuggle out of Cadmus. Dubbilex waited by the boy’s side, looking over the scanners and monitors surrounding him with his lips pressed firmly into a frown. Albedo noticed the second Dubbilex sensed his arrival as the man looked up and there was relief in his eyes.

“Dr. Tennyson, thank goodness.” Dubbilex exhaled, “I know you’re a busy man, but this could not wait.”

“I’m well aware. I’m just sorry I took so long to come back. We’ve been dealing with… New developments at my secondary workplace. The heroes had a victory, and I’ve been helping with adjustments.”

“Well, we do need to wake him… I know you are not truly human, but I truly believe that you might be the best person we have available to help with this child’s adjustment… A friendly face, if you will.” Albedo hummed in agreement and moved to start helping Dubbliex with the wake up protocols. Dubbilex, all the while, kept a dutiful eye on the boy’s vitals as they worked. 

The boy’s breathing started to shift, and the signs of consciousness began to truly show on the boy.

And then, Albedo waved for Dubbilex to back up, the telepath instantly getting the hint as he ducked out of the room entirely, silently linking to Albedo to observe from afar as blue eyes fluttered open and a soft groan left the teen’s lips. He weakly tried to sit up, using his missing arm for support, only for nothing to be there and for the boy to collapse completely back into the pillow supporting his head.

“Wha…” The grumbled.

“Take it easy.” Albedo warned, and he grabbed up an already waiting cup of water and moved next to the teen’s side. He helped support the boy’s head, and the boy, unthinking, eagerly gulped the water down.

After a moment, the boy seemed to process what he was doing, and he nearly gagged in attempts not to swallow. Albedo panicked, immediately withdrawing the water from the boy and helping the teen sit up further as he coughed and sputtered.

“I am sorry, I didn't mean to startle.” Albedo said quickly.

“Where… Who?”

“I’m Dr. Albedo Tennyson.” Albedo provided, “You are in a sanctuary I have been assisting in construction that was created to house former victims, creations, and experiments of a program known as Project Cadmus.” 

“Cadmus…” The boy, Roy, Albedo had to remind himself, slurred. 

“Yes. It was a program that worked with genetic experimentation, including, but not limited to, a cloning program, genetic splicing, and a genetic weapons engineering program… Can you tell me the last thing you remember?”

“...Luthor.” Roy grumbled. Albedo inhaled slowly and nodded. He’d known this. He’d know Luthor was involved in Project Cadmus. However, it was one thing to know and read stolen files. It was another to hear it outloud.

“What else?” Albedo prompted. 

“Green Arrow he… He told me to stay… But I saw an opening… Then… Nothing.” Roy replied. Albedo’s expression slackened as pieces went into place and he remembered why the name Roy sounded so familiar. He moved past Roy’s bed, accessing the computer next to it and quickly putting his personal drive into the port as he began to access his files from the Justice League Database. From his bed, Roy watched Albedo with clear wariness. He was still much too groggy to really try to run, but the hero in him was apparent, because he looked ready to attack at the first sign of danger, even if that was a battle he would surely lose in his current state.

“Speedy.” Albedo said simply, “You were Speedy.” 

“I am Speedy.” The boy bit out, as if frustrated that Albedo had the nerve to suggest he wasn’t the former partner or Green Arrow. Albedo inhaled slowly, doing his best to try and prepare himself for the coming conversation. 

He really did need that introvert break he was supposed to be taking.

“Well, Speedy, from what I am looking at now… And as I’m cross-referencing certain files surrounding your imprisonment at Cadmus… It would seem you were with them for… Approximately, three years within a cryogenic induced sleep, which halted your aging and preserved you, alive, for those three years for their experimentation.”

The boy stared at Albedo as if Albedo had grown a second head.

“What?” He said in disbelief. Albedo swallowed hard, and he found himself rocking back and forth on his feet.

“I suppose that is too harsh of a delivery. My apologies. I am not typically one people recommend for human-to-human interactions. My brother is better at this sort of thing, but I do speak truthfully on the matter. You were abducted by Luthor three years ago and held prisoner within the Project Cadmus base for an ongoing experiment they were conducting involving the… Cloning of various forms of DNA. You seem to have been their first human subject… Hence your, ah, lack of an arm. They kept you in stasis and so they might be able to reuse your DNA indefinitely for various projects. Well, at least, I can only presume as much. Your Cadmus files are in a section I haven’t managed to review… I’ve been dealing with a lot as of recently.”

“Three… Years…” Speedy repeated slowly, and he glanced at his missing arm, before his eyes went even sharper. He looked like a cornered animal, ready to pounce. Albedo winced, for he was failing to help the boy, it seemed, “Why didn’t anyone come looking for me?”

“Speedy, I think I might be the only person with the Justice League who knows you were missing at all.” Albedo said carefully. The boy opened and closed his mouth, processing the information.

“You… You’re with the League?”

“In a sense, yes.” Albedo agreed, “I am a member of their youth covert task-force, which they simply call ‘The Team,’ though my brother calls it ‘Young Justice.’ My code name is Reflect: The Crimson Mage. I work under Wayne Enterprises as a genetic specialist, an expert in theoretical science, and a mechanical engineer. Three qualifications that made me perfect for deconstructing, investigating, and helping reform Project Cadmus after the League discovered its existence a few months ago. However, what both the League and Mr. Wayne are both unaware of, is I have been working, in secret, with the former captives of the Cadmus program on a relocation project with the hope that we can remove Luthor and any other probable threat’s control over the captives of Cadmus, seeing a many of the experiments are in every sense of the words, living weapons.”

“You’re smuggling the survivors away from Luthor’s slimy hands.” Roy pieced together. Albedo nodded in confirmation. 

“...But why haven’t you told the League then?”

“...The citizens of this sanctuary wish to start anew. To choose their own way of life. The League can offer this, yes, but they would have to further involve Wayne Enterprises and many others to prevent Luthor from ever touching them again. They are covered by the current Meta-Human Rights acts, but because the majority of them will never look human, well, they have not been allowed to enter society for fear of the problems that would surely arise. So, they requested I help them create a society of their own in secret. A request I have honored.” 

“...And… The League doesn’t know you found me.” Speedy finished.

“This is correct.” Albedo agreed.

“But then… Why wouldn’t they know I’ve been missing?” Speedy asked. Albedo winced as he thought about Conner and Superman’s reaction to him. Only, if Albedo’s theories were correct, the boy in the bed in front of him had very real reasons to be furious with what had been going on.

“I did say you were a part of their cloning program, Mr. Harper.” Albedo said carefully, “From their perspective, they rescued you from Luthor’s grasp three years ago.” The color drained from Speedy’s face with this information. He clearly had a thousand questions buzzing in his mind, but neither one got the chance to speak before Albedo’s phone rang, startling them both.

It wasn’t his burner, and with one glance, Albedo discovered it was Benjamin. 

“My brother.” Albedo sighed, “My apologies. He doesn’t know I’m here…”

“Go ahead, I can have my existential crisis quietly.” Speedy huffed. Albedo offered the boy a grateful, but equally apologetic smile before picking up.

“Hey, bro, I thought you’d be home. Bats said he’d send you home early.” 

“I just went for a walkabout, Benjamin.” Albedo replied coolly, “I needed to clear my head. I’ve been quite busy. This development with Red Tornado and his siblings has added to the plate.”

“...Dude, you know Rob’s like, an awesome hacker and he can cover the Red situation. You don’t have to do everything. Wally and Rob can get things fixed up and we’ve got smart guys running around the League too you know. Why didn’t you say something?” Benjamin asked with a small laugh.

“Well, I was just on hand at the time.” Albedo replied, “And I do enjoy the work, really. It’s in my blood… Well, not in the most literal sense of that phrase, but you know what I mean. Humans simply are not built for the amount of work I wish to accomplish it would seem.” 

“Oh, man, I get that.” Benjamin laughed, “Where are you at? I could join you on your walk. I’ll be quiet. Promise.”

“I think it’s best you keep working on your homework, Benjamin. You’re still behind in school after that, ah, sick week you had. I just need some quiet. Given you are a people person, I see why that might be a little hard to understand.” 

“Oh! Got it! Well, get home soon then. I’ll make dinner tonight!” 

“That would be nice, thank you.” Albedo agreed, “See you tonight.” Albedo hung up and looked over towards Speedy again. Some of the tension seemed to ease from his shoulders. 

“Benjamin?” The kid asked.

“My twin.” Albedo agreed, “He’s a shapeshifter called Deka for the Team.”

“And, what, you’re the stupid smart kid that somehow became a doctor as a teenager?” Speedy asked.

“Yes.” Albedo confirmed, “As well as a Mage who studies the mystic arts on the side.”

“...Really weird combo.” Speedy said as he leaned back in his bed. Albedo could help but laugh in response.

“I’ve been told. But I tend to be a strange case in every scenario, it seems.”

“So… Going back to the being replaced by a clone thing? What the heck are we planning to do about that?”

“I… Am currently unsure.” Albedo admitted, “To be honest, I did not expect you to wake so soon, and I have been busy so I have not had time to consider a course of action. Clearly, this is an issue that must be addressed swiftly, as this clone is clearly a breach within the League’s ranks.”

“I’m sensing a but?”

“Revealing my discovery of you too soon might very well result in disaster. There are still hundred of unaccounted for members of the Cadmus Project that we’ve yet to rescue and recover from Luthor’s grasp. If I reveal to the League the true nature of your clone and how I discovered this information, we could very well risk Luthor discovering my operation within his company before we can save those last victims and creations of the project.”

“Which would be bad.” Speedy said, nodding slowly.

“On the other hand, leaving a possible rogue within the League ranks will no doubt result in disaster… It is a difficult position. My humble recommendation?” 

“Shoot.”

“We allow you to recover and catch up with the goings of the world before we take any action. I will investigate your case further and work on a suitable replacement for your, ah… Missing appendage. Once I deem you well enough, we’ll rebrand your alter-ego entirely and keep an eye on your clone in attempts to discover what his mission is, and how to stop him without the sanctuary being exposed. When the time is right, we will strike a blow against Luthor and the rest of our enemies so potent… They will find themselves exposed and scrambling to pick up the pieces with little to no avail.” Speedy smiled, a hungry glint in his eyes. A hunger for revenge. Albedo knew the look well.

“Hit them hard.” Speedy agreed, “And make them pay.” 

“...Exactly… Now, I do need to cut this meeting short. My brother is expecting me. Dubbilex… If you could?” 

The telepath entered the room the second his name was mentioned. Once more Speedy looked wary and ready to fight.

“This is Dubbilex, the elected leader of the sanctuary, or, as we’ve been calling it: Geno-Town. He will help you and answer any questions you might have while I am gone. I have to keep up appearances, but Dubbilex lives here and is always around if you need him. He’ll get you situated and give you access to a computer so you can catch yourself up on recent events… Try to be incognito online, for everyone’s sake. If you need anything, ask him. If he cannot help you, he’ll likely contact me and I can see what I can do.”

“Could you get me off of all these machines?” Speedy gestured helplessly to the equipment he was surrounded by.

“We’ve already prepared a quarters for you. We are all very excited that you have awoken and most of Geno-Town is eager to meet you, if you are willing?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, just get me out of this bed!” Speedy insisted. Dubbilex chuckled lightly before glancing towards Albedo.

“Go to your brother before he worries. Get some rest, Son of Thallus.” Dubbilex advised. Albedo smiled fondly.

“I’ll do my best… I can’t make any promises.”

Notes:

The promised bonus chapter before we go into the next arc!

Gonna be honest, I didn't expect to adore the friendship between Albedo and Dubbilex when I first set out to write this crossover as much as I have come to. Dubbilex is not a character I've seen people use very much and having Albedo be so involved with his plans for the Genomorphs has resulted in the most interesting friendship dynamic I've come up with in a long time.

Yeah, so, Real Roy's awake and wants his revenge on Luthor. That's a thing.

Albedo's many secret side projects are getting harder and harder to juggle.

Meanwhile, me: having way too much fun with this major change to the canon.

Anywho, moving on from the chapter itself. I still have no clue if I'll be changing the upload day for this story. However, if I do end up doing so, I will change the day it will be uploaded in the summary of the story, so keep your eyes peeled.

Have a good week, ya'll!

Chapter 81: When All Else Fails.

The Justice League was losing… Badly. 

And to think the day had started out promising. He’d met with Real Roy and Dubbilex for lunch. Significant progress on the multiverse machine was being made daily, the Reds had been cleared fully. Progress was being made.

However, they were called to the cave for their training, which somehow led to them staring at the many news channels running that covered the invasion of Earth. According to the reports they were looking at, the League had tried to keep the invading aliens from entering the Earth’s atmosphere with no avail. It was an evolving situation that grew concerningly worrisome the long they observed.

However, one glance at Benjamin, and Albedo could tell his twin was getting antsy. He was rocking on his feet, looking bored out of his mind as he fiddled with the Omnitrix. No doubt, the child wanted to transform and avert the situation entirely. He was carrying a device meant to serve as the Universe’s last hope. This did not surprise Albedo.

However, they had their orders. Stand by until called into action. So, they stood by.

“Celestial defenses have failed. Initiate all terrestrial measures.” Red Tornado said dully, he glanced towards his siblings, who watched with stoic interest with the rest of the team, “We will go intercept the invaders with the League’s terrestrial defense. You children stand by until we are certain of the evolving situation. Zatara, we will meet you on the field.

Zatara, who’d been wired into the cave’s communications, yet stood ready to intercept on the field, replied, “Affirmative. See you there.” Red Tornado refocused on the team again.

“We will protect the planet at all costs. But should we fail, the responsibility falls to you.” Aqualad nodded, squaring his shoulders.

“We stand ready.” He promised. 

“Are you sure you don’t need-” Benjamin started.

“Remain here, Deka.” Red Tornado said firmly, “If the League fails to stop this threat, your team is the last stand against it. The Omnitrix, being a device that can make up for the missing powers of the League, should we fail, must remain safe in the case that we cannot stop the threat.” Benjamin’s expression fell as he huffed in aggravation.

“You know, Azmuth said something similar to me once in the Highbreed war.” He pointed out, “And it still worked out. What if we could save lives by—”

“Stay.” Red Tornado repeated. Benjamin looked frustrated, but he didn’t object further, instead resorting to folding his arms and glaring down at his shoes as if they somehow betrayed him. Red Tornado took the Zeta Tube out, leaving the team alone with the news forecast and security feed that was giving them constant updates on the unfolding situation.

“Benjamin, I know in most situations like this, you are used to acting on the front lines, but remember, things are different now.” Albedo warned him. Benjamin just grunted, glaring at the news reports.

“Yeah, but in a situation like this, sacrificing the League like is really stupid when I could just-” Benjamin started.

“We get it, Mr. Most Powerful Guy In The Universe!” Kid Flash said with an eye roll, “In a re—” They were cut off by the first of many terrible news updates on the attacks.

“This is Iris West-Allen, reporting live. The extra-terrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City.” A news reporter on the screen reported as screaming and destruction could be heard in the background. An explosion and ship rocked the world around her and she and her camera-man were nearly taken out in the blast. Thankfully, Zatara and Flash swooped in to their rescue. Flash set Iris down, shooting the camera-man a nervous grin and looking back at Iris nervously.

“Hey, isn’t that your Aunt Ir-” Benjamin started to ask Wally as Flash told Iris that she’d be safe and Iris continued her report. Then, very suddenly a ship crashed into the building Flash had raced to. Iris dropped her mic in horror, tears forming in her eyes as she let out a small audible “No.” The feed from the area cut, switching back to Cat Grant, who seemed frantic.

“Iris. Iris, get out of there!” She cried before realizing it was pointless and trying to keep her composure, “I'm sorry, we're experiencing technical difficulties from our Central City feed. We take you now to a devastated Taipei. Another League contingent is having more luck.” Albedo swallowed, glancing at Kid Flash who wore an odd expression on his face.

“Er, never mind…” Benjamin muttered. On the news report, Cat Grant lowered her eyes, looking mournful.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Hawks. Other heroes reported dead or missing include Batman, Icon, Atom, and Aquaman.” The Team could only watch with unreadable expressions as the news and the Leaguers one buy one reported another one of their people dead. It was a bit disturbing to experience… almost surreal. Still, Ben kept his war face on, determined that Earth still had a chance. Finally, there was a beep of Red Tornado’s comm contacting the cave.

“Red Tornado to Cave. I fear I am all that remains of the League.” He reported. This solemn news barely reached Benjamin as he nodded, looking at his teammates in determination. It was their turn to fight.

“We are Earth's heroes now.” Kaldur proclaimed.

“So, what are we waiting for? A theme song?” Conner grunted.

“Well, now that you mention it, I wrote one a few years back for myself about how I got my powers.” Benjamin started before breaking into song, “It started when an alien device did what it did-”

“Do you ever take anything seriously?” Albedo interrupted him, a little amused but also annoyed by Benjamin’s more light-hearted antics, “The entire League just died!” Benjamin shut himself up.

“...Sorry. No, we need a strategy. Aqualad? Rob? Reflect?” Benjamin asked. Aqualad nodded.

“Earth's weapons are ineffective and it has been made tragically clear that a direct attack will not succeed.”

“Checking satellite imagery.” Robin said, working on his Holo-glove faster than Albedo had ever seen him do, “Here's where the aliens are now.”

“...Why’s one in the North Pole?” Benjamin asked.

“Did it get lost?” Superboy agreed.

“Or is Santa actually real and Gwen was lying about that to annoy me?” Benjamin countered, “And now we need to save Christmas as well as the world.”

“Benjamin, seriously? Why do you get like this?” Albedo asked. He was well aware of Benjamin’s joking habits at this point, but Benjamin was clearly in a strange mood. Benjamin shrugged helplessly. 

“It’s a mystery.” Benjamin replied. 

“It's Superman's Fortress of Solitude.” Robin interrupted.

“Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?” Superboy asked, sounding a bit offended for pretty obvious reasons, “He never told me that?” 

“Its power source must have attracted the aliens' attention, at least enough to send a scout ship to investigate.” Robin continued, ignoring the clone’s offense. Superboy grunted, turning away.

“Must be some fortress.”

“Conner, I’m sure he was going to tell you about it eventually.” M’gann said lightly. 

“No, it's okay. I guess there's a lot about Superman I'll never know.” Superboy replied as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, before pausing, looking sheepish, and adding “Uh, you know, now.”

“We will target the Christmas ship then.” Benjamin decided, “Figure out what attracted them and try to stop it. Then, we see if we can use their own tech to our advantage.”

“Yeah. Break it down. Build more. Hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo.” Kid Flash said. Artemis elbowed him.

“Martian, Galvan, Kryptonian, and shapeshifter kid in the house.” She reminded him in annoyance. He chuckled nervously.

“Not that all aliens are automatically ugly.” He corrected sheepishly. She rolled her eyes. Albedo briefly wondered how they would respond if they ever truly got to meet a Galvan?

Albedo shook that random thought away. It was time to focus.

“Just get the winter camo on and let's get down there fast, we don’t have much time.” Aqualad reminded them. No one objected. 

Now, Benjamin’s winter camo was a white hoodie with the green ten still on it. It was designed to withstand any cold weather. It was very similar to the hoodie he liked to wear in the Omniverse. Albedo’s uniform was already insulated, but the winter camo version basically bleached all the black parts of his uniform to a pale, almost white gray. He, with the rest of the team, were not slow to suit up and get on the BioShip. M’gann brought them to the Fortress as fast as she possibly could hoping that their plan would work. 

The entire ride there, Albedo couldn’t help but notice how Benjamin fidgeted more and more with the watch on his arm. He was getting antsy, and he was humming to himself more and more. Albedo knew for a fact that Benjamin was more than willing to solve the issue of the invading aliens as quickly as possible. However, that was beyond the point and Benjamin knew it.

The point was that—

“We’re here.” M’gann announced, making Albedo sit up in surprise. The ship had clearly moved fast, because he could see the white sheets of the arctic beneath them and the rising form of a glittering fortress of ice on the horizon. It felt as if no time at all had passes 

Finding the lone spaceship was not hard. It was parked right outside of Superman’s top secret hangout. 

“Cloak, now.” Benjamin ordered as he sat up quickly and let go of the watch he’d been messing with, “Kid, you're with me. We’ll try and get this thing’s attention. Superboy and Aqualad, take it out and Miss. M, I need you to scramble the communications. Rob and Reflect, stand by and figure out the weak points and Artemis… Get to cover and keep them from killing me and Kid, will you?” 

“You’ve got it.” Artemis agreed with a smirk and she slung her quiver into place, grabbing her bow in an effort to follow Benjamin and he twisted his watch, selecting the alien he would use for this battle. In a flash of green, he was a Thanagarian, his suit very contrasting to the ones Hawkman and Hawkwoman wore, as the Omnitrix seemed to recognize Benjamin’s need for a warmer outfit. He looked like Hawkman though, which basically told Albedo where Benjamin had gotten the DNA for it. 

“Scout.” Benjamin muttered under his breath, likely out of habit as he named the new form on the spot. M’gann landed the ship properly, and opened her up, allowing Kid Flash time to zip quickly out, followed by Scout, Artemis, Superboy, Wolf, and Aqualad.

Albedo stood from his seat, sliding in next to M’gann as she worked to disable the communications and began to look over the many scans the bioship was making of the alien craft in front of them.

‘The right wing, take that out,’ Albedo telepathically communicated, ‘Those are the communications, Miss. Martian, I’d advise you to help our comrades.’

‘Got it.’ M’gann agreed, already flying out of the bioship to telekinetically rip the wing off. Robin seemed to take that as his cue to act and raced to help Artemis, who was doing an excellent job at using her arrows to distract the ship anytime it looked close to hitting Scout or Kid Flash. 

‘I’ve identified the weapons and structural stress points.’ Robin telepathically communicated, ‘Aqualad, Superboy?’ 

‘On it!’ Superboy called and he launched himself at the ship, grabbing one of the places Robin had telepathically pointed out and ripping. He tore at it, and Albedo noticed a smaller refiner whirred and charged up to fire at Superboy. Immediately, Albedo raced outside of the Bioship, preparing to telepathically to call out a warning, but before he could, Superboy’s dog, Wolf, was jumping in the was taking the hit just as Albedo’s mana wrapped around the refiner in an attempts to break the thing off. 

Before everyone’s eyes, the Wolf evaporated and the refiner snapped, disabled. 

‘Wolf.’ M’gann gasped.

‘I’m sorry.’ Robin said dully, ‘There was no indication of feedback.’ Which was not an incorrect statement. Albedo had been watching the scans of the alien ship. The refiner hadn’t seemed dangerous right up until Albedo noticed it was going to kill Superboy. 

“Can't do anything for him now.” He grunted, finishing off the laser, “Let’s go.” They hauled the laser cannon to the BioShip. M’gann put her hand on the ship and spoke with it mentally as she told it what it needed to do next. 

“Rerouting systems to integrate weapons into a ship's bio-matrix. We'll need to de-camouflage for a few minutes.” She explained. Albedo’s attention was shifted from M’gann to the sky as he noticed more ships approaching. Considering they’d disabled the communications on the ship they’d been attacking, that didn’t make much sense. Then again, he could see the aliens sending scouts to investigate the failed communication.

“We may not have a few minutes.” Albedo pointed out. They all looked where he was looking and got into stances to fight. Well, most of them. Benjamin, still as Scout, didn’t hesitate, shooting upwards to take them down and expertly dodging the lasers being fired at him. It was a good idea, in theory, since drawing their fire so M’gann could make the integration was an ideal plan. However, those lasers were taking people out completely in one shot. One mistake, and Benjamin would be gone.

‘Fall, back, Benjamin!” Albedo said urgently.

‘But-’ Benjamin started.

‘Don’t risk the Omnitrix.’ Albedo growled.

 Ben let out a huff, swooping back down to join the Team.

‘Wait! Ben, look out!’ Artemis cried. One of the other ships was taking aim right at the Thanagarian form. She drew her bow, letting three arrows fly as she rushed to defend the shapeshifter, and ultimately, the Omnitrix. Scout dove out of the way as they launched their assault on him, weaving and winding as fast as he could. 

‘We need to fall back.’ Aqualad recognized, ‘Is that almost done?’

‘Yes.’ M’gann agreed, stepping back from the newly acquired weapon attached to her ship, ‘We need to go, Deka, Artemis, come back!’ They seemed distracted, and Albedo could blame them. He moved forwards, ready to summon mana shields to protect the ship as Scout and Artemis came in hot.

Kid Flash moved to grab Artemis back.

And everything seemed to slow down while a stray laser started to barrel towards the female archer. 

She vaporized instantly. 

“Artemis!” M’gann screamed in alarm. They all felt the death of their friend through the mind link, but M’gann was getting the brunt of it as she attempted to shield the team from that pain. His cry of despair rang through all of their ears. Kid Flash skidded to a halt, eyes blown wide in alarm and horror. He was standing right in the open for the aliens to shoot if they so desired. 

Scout seemed to notice quickly enough, and half tackled Kid Flash into the safety of Albedo’s barrier, dragging the stunned teenager into the cockpit of the ship. The rest of the team seemed to get over their shock long enough to follow Benjamin’s lead.

“Go!” Benjamin ordered harshly as the Omnitrix went red in that instant and he was turned back into a human. M’gann didn’t react. No one did.

So, Benjamin shoved past her, taking control off the ship. Albedo barely had time to sit before the ship was cloaking and peeling the heck out of there. He took aim at the ships behind him, firing with their newly acquired weapon and destroying them with no remorse in his eyes. 

And then all was silent as everyone seemed to truly register what had just happened.

“By Azmuth…” Albedo breathed, and M’gann looked ready to burst into tears. Superboy was by her side, holding her tight in reassurance. Robin seemed dazed. Aqualad was trying to keep his expression neutral, but it wasn’t exactly working.

And Kid Flash…

He was quaking with unbridled rage. 

“They're dead. Every single alien. If it's the last thing I do.” Wally roared. Everyone was quiet as he took out his anger and grief, seemingly ready to kill all that dared stand in his way. Benjamin’s expression hardened. A seriousness glinted in his eyes that was beyond anything Albedo had seen in his brother’s face before. 

“Training wheels off.” Benjamin grumbled, “We need to plot our next move.” 

“Are you serious?!” Wally yelled, trembling even more, “Artemis just died! She’s… She died, oh, gosh! They killed her!” 

“We can think about that later.” Benjamin said sternly, “For now, we’ve got a war to fight, and if we don’t keep going, we’ll lose Earth.” Aqualad looked like he agreed with Benjamin’s assessment. Albedo couldn’t disagree ether. Artemis was dead. However, things could still get worse if they didn’t act soon.

“Ensure Artemis' sacrifice was not in vain.” Aqualad said firmly, appealing to the Team and doing his best to help Benjamin calm Wally down.

 “Back to the Cave?” M’gann asked softly. Benjamin shook his head.

“Hall of Justice.” He corrected, “The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope.” The Team looked wary with those words, but no one objected. They all knew he was right. Because when all else failed, they were the planet’s last and only hope.

Chapter 82: Malfunction.

Ben fidgeted with the watch. 

Once M’gann had gotten a better handle on herself, not void of tears, but her head clear enough to fly, Ben let her take control of the ship again. Meanwhile, he addressed a problem that he found probably equally as pressing as the whole… everyone was dying issue. Ben was kinda trying not to think about the fact that everyone was dying. Accepting that everyone, Artemis and the League, were dead, meant accepting a failure he was not yet ready to face. 

What the team hadn’t considered was that they still had options. 

The problem was, the watch was seriously, seriously wigging out on him. It’d started to do so right around the time Artemis… well… 

The images of the aliens he could select were getting glitchy and weird and the AI had yet to actually respond to some of the command functions Azmuth had allowed him to know. Alien X was locked under a voice command sequence so that Ben didn’t accidentally turn into him at the wrong time. If the AI wasn’t working right, it was going to be a heck of a lot harder to access Alien X. 

Ben for once had absolutely no clue what was causing the wigging out. He was pretty sure he hadn’t accidentally keyed in something wrong. And he hadn’t accidentally damaged or hit the watch wrong. At least, as far as he remembered. 

“Three, up ahead!” Robin yelled, making Ben jerk his head up and watch as M’gann pulled herself together enough to engage with three alien crafts flying at them. They all held on tight as M’gann maneuvered with expert ease and used the cannon they'd taken to shoot the ships down. 

Ben looked below their ship, and realized they’d made it to Washington, D.C.. More specifically, the Hall of Justice. Absently, Ben wondered if his and Albedo’s apartment was still around, but shook the rabbit trail thought away. There was much more at stake than just some apartment. Especially since it seemed like the military was fighting for their lives down below.

“Superboy!” Ben called.

“On it.” Superboy was already at the escape hatch, having pieced together the problem below pretty quickly. He landed with a crash below and began pulling anything big, like cars and such, he could in front of the military’s hastily constructed barricade. M’gann took down the last ship, bringing the bio-ship down for a landing. 

As they got out, the cheers of the soldiers seemed to give everyone on the team a reason to smile a little. It felt like a reminder that hope was not lost. There were still people to protect. And Ben still had plan b. He just needed to fix the Omnitrix.

“See? It is Superman. I told you he wouldn't leave us out here alone.” A soldier remarked, and the team’s smiles morphed into a grimace. A look of exhaustion and wariness passed over Superboy’s face when he realized they were referring to him. They thought Superboy was Superman. But Superman was gone. They all knew that. 

“I don't know. He looks kind of young.” Another remarked, “Where's the cape?” Superboy shifted in discomfort, grimacing. 

“I’m not Superman." He said bluntly.

“I don't know who you are, son.” A general said, “And right now, I don't care. You wear the S, and you got the job done.”

“I’m not Superman.” Conner repeated helplessly. The general scoffed.

“Tell that to the enemy.” The general said before saluting, “General Wade Eiling, U.S. Air Force.”

“Hey, my grandpa was in the-” Ben started before correcting himself, “Er, Deka, Justice League. We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' cannons as possible. Then we start taking back what is ours.” The general nodded, motioning for them to follow him into the base they set up inside of the Hall of Justice. Ben noticed the Team pausing in front of the ruined statues of their mentors, looking heart broken. Ben just forged forwards, ignoring them. He didn’t cry over the time he thought he lost his grandpa in the high breed war. He didn’t cry when he learned he wasn’t going to go home. He wasn't crying now. 

He wasn’t about to get upset now where there was still hero work to be done and bad guys to be stopped. He wasn’t going to cry when there was still a chance they could fix everything. He hadn’t failed yet. He wasn’t going to fail now. He was only forced to stop walking with the general when M’gann let out a cheerful cry of joy.

“Uncle J’onn!” She cheered. Ben spun around, staring skeptically as M’gann unburied her Uncle and mentor from the rubble. He glanced down at his watch, ready to use it, only to find it was acting funny still. His eyes darted back to him and narrowed. 

“M'gann, check his mind. Make sure he is who he appears to be.” Ben ordered in a dangerous voice. Her eyes flashed for only a moment before she broke into a big grin.

“It's him. He's real. And he's alive.” 

“But we saw you get disintegrated.” Conner pointed out, hence everyone’s skepticism, “You and Superman. And everyone.”

“Yes, I remember. But… I cannot remember how I survived… or how I arrived here.” Martian Manhunter agreed. 

“Maybe you were density-shifting and the beam passed right through you.” M’gann said gleefully, overjoyed that he was still there. Ben crossed his arms, glancing over at Kid Flash and his twin.

“Well, explanations for this, brother? Kid?” He asked, motioning to the Martian. Kid Flash smacked his head like M’gann did all the time.

“Hello, Wally!”

“You are thinking what I am, I presume?” Reflect asked. 

“Obviously!” Kid said in a cheery voice. Everyone looked confused. Only moments before Wally had been very upset. He’d just lost his aunt Iris and Uncle Barry as well as Artemis, who everyone knew he’d been in denial over. He grabbed Robin’s wrist, using his holo-glove to pull up some intel while Albedo worked on some calculations on his watch.

“The beams they are-” Kid started.

“Giving off Zeta beams, which is-” Reflect interrupted.

“The same stuff that powers our Zeta Tubes.” Kid agreed.

“It is not a disintegrator. It is a teleporter. Our friends. They are all alive!” Reflect reported with glee.

“Maybe.” Ben said.

“No maybes. They are.” Robin said confidently. 

“Maybe.” Ben pressed again, “Serious Deka time, everyone. I’m gonna be honest here, there’s a chance they are alive. That’s great. But, there’s always the chance they aren’t. We gotta be careful. So… until there’s more proof saying otherwise? Maybe.” Robin scowled, looking confused.

“Oh, and you want them to be dead?” Robin asked, “Deka, you haven’t even acted like you’ve cared about what’s happening at all!” 

“Of course, I don’t want anyone dead!” Ben snapped, making Robin back up in surprise, “But we’re standing here in a very dangerous position right now and we do not have time to sit around and be sad or happy or anything about this. We need to take cover, or WE are going to die. And if we don’t take cover and regroup now, we lose.” And Ben was NOT going to lose this one. He couldn’t afford to. 

“Deka is right. We need a plan.” Aqualad decided. 

“We need to get underground.” Ben corrected, “And we need to get all of these people to safety.” He motioned to the soldiers who watched the unfolding conversation, “The aliens so far are using aerial strikes. Taking cover and getting the message out to take shelter is the first priority. Then, and only then, do we think about the attack.” 

Underground, at least, he could get Albedo to look at the Omnitrix and fix it enough for Ben to use Alien X.

“Besides, it doesn’t matter if they’re dead or not.” Ben went on, “I can bring them back. I just… I just need more time.” 

“Alien X.” Reflect breathed in realization. Ben nodded in agreement. 

“Shoot.” Kid realized, “We need to get you to cover, like, now.” Yes! That’s what he’d been saying!

“Take cover!” General Eiling called, echoing their realization, and they all noticed the small group of alien crafts flying towards them. M’gann reacted, telepathically aiming the Bioship’s guns at the attackers and taking out a few.

“Get to the Hall!” Ben ordered, while M’gann did her best to protect them. Superboy scooped up her uncle helping to carry him towards the Zeta Tubes in the heart of the Hall of Justice. Ben grabbed M’gann, dragging her towards the Zeta’s so she could focus on the Bioship. They were halfway there when M’gann let out a scream, and Ben looked back in time to see the Bioship vanish in a flash. 

“That didn't feel like-” She muttered, and that was all Ben needed to hear to know that the ships’ lasers really had killed everyone. He didn’t let her dwell, he fully grabbed her and pulled her to the Zeta’s entrance. 

“We’re trapped.” The general realized. As he looked around the area. He didn’t know about the Zeta, aka, the saving grace. 

“Give me a second.” Reflect shoved in front of the group, pulling something off of his belt and pressing it onto the control panel. He then began to work with the computer on the broken Ultimatrix.

[Total Access Granted: Reflect B-01. System control authorized. Emergency transport: allowed.]

“How did you-” Martian Manhunter asked, “You aren’t in the League and only one at a time can be authorized.” Reflect snorted.

“I like to be prepared.” Reflect explained, “Everyone go.” Reflect summoned his shields to defend the large group while they began to go inside, vanishing in a flash of light to the other side. Soon, it was just down to Ben, Reflect, and Aqualad. 

“Go, Deka.” Reflect grunted, “I’ve got this.” Ben nodded, approaching the Zeta, only to freeze when he spotted a ship flying and taking aim for Aqualad, who wasn’t fully in the safety of the shields. Ben tackled Aqualad out of the way, and Reflect cried out in alarm, switching his targets to try and shield Ben. Aqualad moved towards the Zeta as Ben went for his watch. He twisted it to turn into anything, anything at all as cracks started to form in the shields. 

The watch froze up completely.

[Malfunction detected.] The AI informed him, [Lifeline function deactivated.] Ben didn’t have time to dwell on what the heck that meant, because Albedo’s shield shattered followed by Albedo’s desperate scream for Ben to move. Ben jerked into action, sprinting for the Zeta and…

A horrific pain. 

‘I failed.’ Ben thought dumbly.

Then, there was nothing.

Notes:

I've uploaded on an actual Friday for the first time in what feels like forever!

...But in all seriousness, ya'll, I'm gonna actually be switching the upload days to Saturdays, because I just found out my Friday's are about to get SIGNIFICANTLY busier. The summary will change to reflect this new change sometime later this week.

My space bar is sticking a lot, as of recent, so if ya'll see any weird spacing or anything like that. I tried to catch most of it... But... Well... That's why if you do see it.

Service announcements over.

...I offer this statement: I'm not sorry.

And yes, the second I realized I was rewriting this episode, this was, in fact, my plan for this arc. Even in the original version of this story. So, yeah Have fun with that, everyone and have a good weekend.

Chapter 83: Another Hope.

Albedo barely registered that he was still screaming, clawing uselessly against Aqualad’s arms to reach the place where Benjamin had been standing moments before. His mind felt like it was short circuiting, because it didn’t make sense.

Ben 10 didn’t die. 

Benjamin couldn’t die! It was impossible! Azmuth would’ve made so many countermeasures! 

“Reflect, we have to move!” Aqualad’s voice felt distant as the man seemingly dragged Albedo towards the Zeta.

And then… Suddenly Albedo wasn’t being held back by Aqualad. Suddenly he was free, running forwards with an unbridled fury burning bright, burning recklessly in his chest. One he did not hold back and he roared and threw as much mana as he could possibly muster at the offending ship that had shot Benjamin. Albedo didn’t expect much from it. He was just… He was angry. 

But as his magic slammed into the ship and the thing actually exploded where it was reality smacked Albedo in the face.

And Albedo just crumbled as those outraged screams turned into uncontrollable sobbing. Aqualad was grabbing him again, this time hoisting Albedo into full on-bridal carry, which Albedo didn’t fight against. He let the oh so physical reactions of the human body he was trapped in take full control as he let himself cry. Aqualad carried him through the Zeta Tube despite this. Albedo didn’t even notice being transported and put back down onto his feet inside the cave.

He just knew there were suddenly too many voices. Too many questions.

“Reflect! Is he hurt?” Robin’s called in alarm. 

“He is unharmed.” Aqualad replied.

“Then what… Where’s Deka?” Robin seemed to piece the problem together. Aqualad went quiet, and that just made Albedo cry harder. He hated it so much. Why were human bodies so physical when they experienced extreme emotions? How could they stand it?

“Aqualad, where is his brother?” Robin asked more urgently, and Aqualad lowered his head in grief.

“He saved my life.” Aqualad whispered, “And I watched the Omnitrix malfunction just before they hit him with their ray.”

“Well that’s okay.” Kid’s voice sounded so optimistic, “He was just teleported away, right?”

“No.” Martian Manhunter cut in, “When the bioship was hit… Miss. Martian and I…”

“It didn’t feel like she’d been transported.” M’gann agreed mournfully, “Kid, they killed her.”

“Deka’s gone.” Martian Manhunter concluded, “I’m sorry.” 

“But… But he can’t be.” Kid objected, “The Omnitrix… He’s supposed to be this all powerful defender of the Universe! Unkillable, right? He was plan b! We were gonna get everyone back! We were going to get Artemis back!” 

“What if… What if we still could?” Superboy’s voice being the last Albedo expects to utter such words. 

This alone made Albedo lift his head to address the conversation occurring around him. He had almost forgotten about the soldiers they’d saved. All of them watching the exchange between the heroes with respectful remorse. It was clear from their expressions that they had absolutely no clue what was going on. They just knew someone else had died. That was enough.

“What are you talking about?” Kid Flash demanded, anger in his voice.

“Deka’s Omnitrix… It wasn’t the only copy. There were two.” Superboy explained, and he gestured towards Albedo, “Remember? Reflect had one too.”

Albedo found himself curling his fingers around the dead Ultimatrix around his wrist. In his imprisonment as a human child on Galvan Prime, Azmuth had ensured it was totally disabled. The stabilizer shot, the core yanked out. Albedo himself was genetically forced into the same form for the rest of his miserable life. It’d taken so much debating and negotiating with Eon to even regain his teenaged form. 

But…

Azmuth was still alive. 

By Anodyne, Azmuth wasn’t dead. He was safe and sound in the Omniverse. And if he found out that Benjamin had been killed… Maybe he’d restore the Ultimatrix? Just long enough to bring Benjamin back?

“I can’t fix the Ultimatrix. I lack the resources and the time. We’d all be dead before I could finish it. It’d take years. If we went underground for a while, tried to hold them off, I think perhaps I could spare a few months.” Albedo said honestly, his voice hoarse from crying, however, there was a new hope wavering in it, “But I know who can. And it’ll take a few months of engineering to reach him. I’ve already started the process, I left it in my lab in this very cave. If we could get to him he might be able to fix everything.”

“Who?” Kid demanded.

“Azmuth.” Albedo replied, a small laugh bubbled from his lips. Albedo was losing it. He was certain. All this time Albedo wanted nothing to do with the old fool, and suddenly Albedo was going to have no other choice but to face him head on if he wanted Benjamin back.

“I thought Azmuth was dead.” Robin said in clear confusion. Albedo laughed at that.

“There was a time I would have wished this to be true, but fortunately for us in this time, that is not. He’s still alive. But he is elsewhere. Beyond both mine and Deka’s reach. We only tell people he perished because he has been so far from our reach for months now. And even if he were easy to get to, I think we would still say he was dead. He is the creator of the Omnitrix, after all. Why would we want our enemies to know he lives?” 

“Please tell me he’s somewhere not being actively attacked by killer aliens.” Superboy asked. 

“He’s on Galvan Prime.” Albedo replied.

“Off world, are you crazy?” Kid scoffed, “We’d never make it and our cloaking ship was just shot out of the sky.” 

“Oh, if it were that simple, Kid, Deka and I would not have such trouble reaching him.” Albedo chuckled with the shake of his head, “Galvan Prime itself is elsewhere. On another plane entirely, if you will. We’ve been cut off from him for ages. Not that I would’ve wanted to contact him before now.” 

“Well, wherever he is right now.” Robin interrupted, “He’s gonna have to wait.” Albedo looked over to see that Robin had accessed the cave’s computer. A map of the world had shimmered into existence in the room’s center and… It didn’t look good.

“If Reflect’s right and it’s gonna take months of work to even get to Azmuth… We have to survive until then. And we can’t let Reflect die. If we lose him, even if we find some way to get rid of the aliens…”

“Everyone else will be gone for good.” Aqualad acknowledged. Robin grimaced at that comment and nodded. Aqualad moved forward to inspect the map.

“We need to make time. Give Reflect everything he needs to succeed. We’ve got some numbers. Not many, but some. We can use them to try and establish some semblance of communication. If we can locate and rally survivors, we might be able to raise forces of our own. But, before we need to try and at least take these invaders out at the source… Which I believe is here.” Aqualad pointed at a particularly big red splotch on the map, were several of the hostile forces were traveling back and forth, “Something tells me that if we can cripple them, we may be able to by Reflect the time he needs to fix all of this.” 

This was a crazy, crazy idea. Albedo wasn’t even sure if the parts he needed to finish were still available. Heck, he didn’t know if Geno-Town was still around, though it was underground, so he supposed it would be possible. Cadmus proper was basically a fortress and likely had plenty of supplies.

“Meanwhile, I need to get to Cadmus… Not the new one, the one we busted back in July.” Albedo reported, “They might still have the supplies I need to finish. We’ll need to split our resources.” Albedo glanced back at the soldiers. General Eiling seemed to understand what Albedo was suggesting and saluted.

“Just give us our orders, and we’ll do our best to help.”

“Then… Kid Flash, your intellect might be able to help Reflect. You and Eiling’s men will help Reflect raid the old Cadmus. The rest of us. We will gear up for a strike on this point.” 

“Anything to save Artemis.” Kid agreed with a nod. 

‘Anything to save Benjamin,’ Albedo silently agreed, ‘Even if it means confronting Azmuth once and for all.’ 

Chapter 84: Return to Cadmus.

“It’s gonna be weird seeing him again, isn’t it?” Kid asked as they trudged through the metro tunnels of Washington DC. They were eerily quiet. Eerily calm. The only sounds being that of their footsteps echoing the halls. The only light being the light given off by Albedo’s mana. The soldiers were tense, alert and ready to act at any given moment. 

“Azmuth?” Albedo guessed.

“I mean, yeah… You guys had a really bad falling out.”

“I’m currently trying not to think about it.” Albedo admitted, “My quarrels with Azmuth pale in comparison to our mission.” 

“Right, sorry.” Kid said sheepishly, “Just trying to make conversation.” 

“No worries, Deka does the same.” Albedo replied with a small wave, “He’ll talk for hours if I let him.” 

“Yeah, I noticed.” Kid laughed, “Why are you so familiar with these secret tunnel routes by the way? I mean, you and Deka don’t own a car, so you probably take the metro all the time but…” His eyes flickered around the abandoned tunnel they were walking through.

“The apartments we live in are actually relatively close to everything, and his school is in Virginia proper, not directly within the district. We walk. We don’t take the metro. Deka would probably get a car if not for the fact that I don’t have a driver’s license like he does.” Kid seemed confused on why that mattered. To Albedo it made perfect sense. Why invest in a vehicle when you didn’t believe you’d be living in that dimension for much longer? 

“So then… Why do you know these tunnels so well if you walk everywhere?” Albedo bit his lip, not wanting to admit that after the original Cadmus had fallen, the abandoned sectors of the metro had been converted by New Cadmus to help transport the genomorphs to the new facilities unnoticed. He didn’t want to admit that those very same tunnels were repurposed even further to smuggle the genomorphs OUT of the New Cadmus facilities and into Geno-Town. If they succeeded in reaching Azmuth, Albedo did not want to expose the genomorphs. 

“I found them in the data I pulled from the files I stole from Cadmus back in July. I’ve been mapping them out on my own… In case we needed them.” Albedo said instead, “Thank goodness too, they serve our purpose well today.” 

“If you don’t mind my asking.” Albedo glanced back as the general picked up his pace to come up next to the teen heroes, “What is the Omnitrix thing we’re trying to get to? You kids are promising it can restore the world back to how it was before the invasion, but I haven’t been filled in on how.” 

“It’s a tool.” Albedo said carefully, “Created by my former mentor, Azmuth, to protect the Universe and to be used in the event of mass extinctions. It allows the user to turn into a species of intelligent life that’s genetic code is stored within its database. One of these intelligent life forms possesses the ability to bend reality and time itself, so much to the point that if can reverse the events of this attack, ward off the invasion, and restore Earth, and everyone who lived on it to its former state.” 

“Deka, Reflect’s twin, was its user. But it got destroyed with Deka when the aliens lasered him down.” Kid added helpfully. 

“Fortunately for us… We have a copy of it called the Ultimatrix. It doesn’t work, but if we succeed at our mission, I can access the person smart enough to fix the copy and allow us to accomplish the exact same feat Deka would’ve been able to accomplish.” 

“That’s amazing… Wait… Some random teenager had something that dangerous on him?” Eiling asked in dismay.

“Technically, Deka has possessed the device since he was merely ten years old.” Albedo corrected, “He grew up wielding and defending it from those who would use it for malicious purposes. And he’s not random. His grandfather worked with Azmuth’s people in the past and had saved this planet from great disaster many times long before the Justice League was truly conceived. Our family was chosen for the mission that is defending the Omnitrix.” Whether or not it was right for Azmuth to continue letting a ten year old live with such a weight on his shoulders after realizing he’d mistakenly received the watch over Maxwell was still up for debate.

Benjamin was a perfect wielder. Albedo accepted this fact.

It still sat wrong in Albedo’s stomach that Benjamin had been ten. He was learning more and more about humanity by the day, and there was something inherently wrong with forcing a human child to defend the universe.

“Um, Reflect? This is a dead end.” Kid’s voice cut through Albedo’s thoughts and Albedo blinked, confused, up at the wall in front of them that was supposed to tunnel into the old Cadmus’s base. 

“This… wasn’t here the last time I walked this route.” Albedo noticed as he moved forwards, pressing his fingers to the wall in front of him, “No matter, Sub-level three is on the other side. Back up for a moment.” Kid got the hint and took a huge step back before ushering Eiling and his men to follow his example. Albedo took a steadying breath, raised his hands, and uttered a revealing spell.

The wall immediately crumbled into dust, revealing the tunnels of sub-level three. 

He lowered his hands, feeling strangely more tired from the spell than he expected. 

“Huh. You were right.” Kid laughed, “I hope the others are having as much luck as we are!” Immediately, Albedo hissed at those words, and glared over at Kid.

“Deka says not to say things like that. It makes the universe work against us, he says. I used to doubt his insistence on the matter, but I’ve learned slowly that this hypothesis holds some merit.” Kid froze, a slightly disturbed expression on his face from those words.

“Shoot, he’s right! Ah, what have I done?” Kid complained. Albedo rolled his eyes, but did his best to contain a small smile. Really, he was happy to have been paired with Wally for this mission over anyone else. He wasn’t Benjamin, but he and Benjamin were kindred spirits when it came to their humor. 

Albedo had somewhat needed a laugh after the day they’d been having. 

“Never mind that. We need to keep moving. The technology we need is at sub-level twenty-eight and we’re only at sub-level three.” Albedo pointed out. He summoned mana to light the area again. Without the genomorphs powering Cadmus, the entire facility was dark. Lifeless even. Almost eerie in its appearance. 

This did not seem to deter Kid Flash however, who seemed to take the distance they needed to travel as some sort of personal challenge. 

“I’ll scout ahead.” He declared, and he was off before Albedo could stop him. Albedo couldn’t help but smile at where he had been.

“Well, into the belly of the beast I suppose.” Albedo told General Eiling. The man nodded, and looked back towards his men.

“Be ready. We don’t know what’s down here.” They all went to attention, readying their weapons and falling into their formations. 

Really, Cadmus was supposed to be emptied of all life forms, even if the technology inside hadn’t been fully cleared out. He didn’t blame Eiling for his caution, however. Something about Old Cadmus would always feel… Off.

They walked in silence. With Wally gone, there was nothing to say. Only tension hung between them as they decided further and further into the darkness of the former Cadmus. Albedo brought the soldiers to the stairwell of level fourteen and pressed the door open.

And he gasped in alarm as two green eyes bore down at Albedo from the entrance. Standing in the doorframe was a large Methanosian. The symbol of Galvan blazed on his chest.

“Malfunction.” The Methanosian growled.  

“Deka?!” 

He blinked. 

And the alien was gone.

“Reflect?” Eiling’s hand was on Albedo’s shoulder, steadying Albedo as he staggered back. 

“Did you just… How was that… There was a Methanosian with the Galvan mark standing right there!” Albedo hissed. Eiling’s eyes knitted in concern.

“There’s nothing there, soldier. I didn’t see this methano… thing.”

What?!

“Reflect!” Albedo’s head snapped up, and he looked over to see Kid Flash rushing out of the door, terror in his eyes. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost. He was hugging his side, wincing as he breathed heavily.

“Kid, what happened?” Albedo asked. 

“One of those XLR8 thingy’s Deka used to turn into? I think one was down there?” Kid said quickly, “I think it just tried to kill me.” 

That was… Impossible. There were no Kinecelerans in that Multiverse. Albedo had checked!

“Show me.” Albedo ordered.

Notes:

Whelp, my midterms have concluded, which is insane.

Not as crazy as Albedo encountering the overprotectiveness that is the Omnitrix going absolutely haywire, but, eh.

Anywho, have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 85: The Ghosts.

“I swear, there was one of those thingies right here!” Kid Flash said helplessly as he gestured to the empty hall of sub-level twenty-eight, “It might’ve run off, that thing was fast. Almost as fast as me.” 

“I believe you.” Albedo mused, “I just saw a blossomed Methanosian. It didn’t try to attack me like the Kineceleran clearly attempted to attack you, but it did have the Galvan… Er, the Omnitrix symbol on its chest.”

“The problem with that.” Eiling cut in, “Is you’re the only one that saw this alien thing.” Albedo whipped his head towards the other soldiers, half believing it’d just been Eiling who missed the large, plant-based alien that had towered over Albedo. However all of them seemed equally confused. A few went as far as to shake their heads.

“Maybe it’s a ghost.” One soldier muttered. 

“There’s no such thing as ghosts.” Kid Flash scoffed, to which Albedo hesitated and made the speedster hero pale, “...Right?”

“...I mean, there are Ectonurites, a species of alien that come from a sunless system and are constructed out of a substance humans would traditionally associate with apparitions. However, those are a species. They are not formed by the death of another. Nor do they possess the ability to turn into other aliens. They can possess other aliens, sure, but if what we’d just witnessed were some form of possession, I assure you they…” Albedo gestured uselessly towards the soldiers, “Would have seen it too.”

“Seriously?!” Kid objected. Albedo shrugged helplessly.

“And while you know I am first and foremost a scientist, Kid Flash, you must remember I also have been doing extensive studies of the mystic arts and the supernatural. I know you don’t believe in those things, and once upon a time, I would stand right there with you… But… I am a mage, Kid.” Albedo said, “From some of the books Zatara lent me after the whole Red Tornado incident, the concept of a ghost being created shortly after a traumatic death is not wholly implausible, it merely isn’t the first conclusion I would go with. Like I said, I am first and foremost a scientist. I would be more inclined to explore other options before concluding it was a mere ghost. After all, if it had been a ghost, why in the world would the ghost of Deka, our friend, attack you?”

“Maybe he’s angry that we didn’t save him or something? I don’t know?” Kid mused in frustration. 

“You weren’t even there when he died.” Albedo pointed out, “I was. If he were to be upset with anyone not saving him, it’d be myself and Aqualad. We watched it happen. Which once more begs the question, if it is a ghost, why would it try to kill you and not me?” 

“Look, I don’t know, okay? I just wanted to get the parts we needed so we could get to Azmuth and bring Deka and Artemis back, okay?! We don’t have time to get ourselves freaking haunted by Deka!” Albedo exhaled slowly. Truthfully, he had no clue what was going on. He would’ve possibly suggested that the Omnitrix malfunctioned more than he realized when the aliens killed Ben, and had accidently sent multiple rogue aliens out of the watch’s mainframe. The problem with that theory once more rested with the soldier's clear inability to see the aliens. 

In fact, every explanation he had for the strange encounters was instantly shot down by the bizarre fact that the soldiers hadn’t seen the aliens, whilst Albedo and Wally had. 

“....Yes, we need those parts.” Albedo eventually concluded, “This is just a distraction. I propose we clear this floor as a unit, get what we need, and regroup with the others at the mountain before anything else goes amiss. We can investigate this on a later date. Perhaps the others have a better conclusion to draw about the situation from the facts on hand.” Kid Flash looked apprehensive at first, before letting out a defeated sigh and nodding in agreement.

“Here’s hoping I don’t get killed off by Deka’s killer ghost… What are we looking for?” 

“Right. So I’ve already constructed the majority of the hyper-dimensional locator, but ideally, I would like it to be able to transmit between the two, as being able to send messages between both is the first step to establishing travel between them.” Kid tilted his head, his eyes furrowing in bewilderment.

“Reflect, where the heck is your old mentor right now? Hyper-dimensional location? Dude, you’re dabbling with theoreticals.”

“Then I probably should mention I need to also finish the construction of a wormhole generator that must bend reality to the nth dimension in order to properly construct a stable passage between where we are and where Azmuth is. Azmuth’s location is… Rather far, Universally speaking.”

“Bro, I thought he was like in a pocket dimension or something. That’s like alternate reality and inter-multiverse travel stuff. Like, well beyond the dimension jumping and timeline hoping the League already seems to enjoy engaging in on a weekly basis.” Kid Flash recognized. Albedo pressed his lips. He knew Wally was smart. He just didn’t expect the man to understand the implications of the machinery Albedo was building. He had to give the kid props. He was a lot smarter than he made himself out to be.

“What can I say? He’s one of the most intelligent beings alive. Leave it to him to dabble in such impossible forms of travel.” Albedo said with a helpless shrug. Kid Flash shook his head, clearly still miffed by what he was being told.

“Never mind. Anything to get Artemis back. I think I know what to look for.” Kid Flash said as he went to run off again, Albedo grabbed his arm.

“No. We stay together. With apparent ghosts showing up… Who knows what’s running about this place?” Albedo pointed out. Kid Flash shuttered immediately, and yanked his arm from Albedo’s grasp. He didn’t look happy about having to slow down for Albedo and the soldiers, but he also clearly didn’t object to it. 

“Let's clear the area.” Eiling ordered his men. And they began to move throughout the sub-level. Every so often, they found themselves stopping to pull apart and disassemble various machinery. Albedo was glad for the soldiers that followed them around, because it would’ve been a lot harder to try and haul half the things Albedo needed out of the abandoned Cadmus facilities without extra hands. They would’ve needed to make several trips that Albedo knew would’ve been much too risky to make. 

Albedo was part way through scavenging for circuit boards on a useless computer console when he spotted something out of the corner of his eyes that made him go absolutely rigid. He inhaled sharply and Kid looked up from the modulator he was turning into pieces and his eyes locked onto the creature that Albedo was staring at.

One of Eilings soldiers seemed to notice the two hero’s distraction and walked over from where they were guarding their exit, looking uselessly around, but clearly seeing nothing.

“What is that, Al?” Kid whispered in alarm. It moved closer, as if examining Albedo. It seemed curious, more than anything, much like a child learning than like a ghost trying to kill him. 

Albedo inhaled, taking a shaky breath as his fingers started to tremble and the tools in his hands clattered loudly to the ground, drawing the attention of the rest of the soldiers.

“Reflect?” Kid asked, his voice suddenly more frantic, “Reflect, what is that thing?” 

The creature turned its attention to Wally at the sound of his voice, and immediately, it grew a lot more hostile.

“Malfunction.” It growled, and it lunged. A laughable thing, really, as it was far too small to do any real harm to Kid and it wasn’t armed. Still, that didn’t keep Kid Flash from yelping and scrambling back. Albedo snapped out of his panic and reacted quickly, going to summon mana to protect Kid.

And then it was gone.

“What the… Holy, what was that, Reflect? What in the world was that?!”

“You boys saw another ghost?” Eiling realized. Albedo merely nodded, trembling as he did so.

“What was it though? Deka never turned into anything like that before!” Kid insisted.

“We need to get out of here. Now. We’ve got what we need for now.” Albedo managed, “We should regroup with the others. They’ve hopefully completed their mission by now.” Albedo forced himself to his feet, and Kid grabbed his arm. 

“Reflect, you look like you’re going to faint. What was that thing? Was it dangerous? What…”

“...That…” Albedo felt his throat go dry and he lowered his voice, “Wally, that was a Galvan.”

Notes:

Guys, I'm gonna be honest, I know nothing about theoretical science apart from the random research I do on the internet for this story. So if some things really vague when it comes to the technical conversations between Wally and Albedo, that would be why. (I will refrain from over using the word quantum in an unnecessary capacity.) Good thing pseudo science has my back in these types of stories (I guess).

Now, I feel the need to state that Mr. Skeptic Wally doesn't actually think they are seeing ghosts. For the most part, Albedo agrees. These two are the most science and logic based members of the team (Even if Albedo believes in and practices magic now) so ghosts will never be their first conclusion in a situation like this. They'll just keep calling the rogue aliens ghosts because nether of them know what else to call them and it's a pretty fitting description of them, all things considered.

Also, since people seem to like knowing about this sort of thing, this arc was written/planned out in the pre-Albedo POV version of the story, but was significantly shorter and is basically the arc that made me realize I REALLY needed to add Albedo's perspective into the story since there is a lot that happens here that Ben simply isn't conscious to see. So, ya'll can thank this arc for the Albedo perspectives existing within the story as it's what really won me over to the idea.

Anywho, Wally's getting Sus about what Albedo's making, so that's a thing. Really, this entire arc is a delight to write, though, warning for future chapters, I do lean further into the creepiness of the whole situation and into some darker elements (Which, for this arc, is really not all that surprising.)

Canary is going to have her work cut out for her.

With that, I bid ya'll a good weekend!

Chapter 86: Things Get Exponentially Worse.

They seemed to arrive at the cave before the other group did. Albedo didn’t think much about it. If he did, he’d likely think of all the things that might’ve been going wrong, and this was not the place nor time for that. 

Instead, he instructed the soldiers to keep monitoring the unfolding situation with the numerous aliens still flying across the globe, and General Eiling decided to see if some of his communication specialists had the ability to use the cave’s technology to reach other possible survivors. Kid Flash followed Albedo into the labs, and watched as Albedo began laying things out.

“How can I help here?” He asked after a few moments of watching. Albedo paused, a little hesitant to let someone else put their hands on a project he’d been so carefully working on for months. However, Wally seemed to be competent. And they were running on a very short timetable. It was already going to take ages to make the device work. With the aliens actively hunting to exterminate the human species, they needed to be both fast and efficient.

“Grab the wrench, I need you to hold something in place for a moment.” Wally nodded and did as instructed while Albedo worked. Nether said much to the other, which was out of character for Wally from Albedo’s past observations. Albedo wondered if it was the ‘ghosts’ that had rattled him or… Or perhaps if it had to do with Artemis.

Albedo didn’t really understand romance. Not really. He watched sitcoms with M’gann and he realized when M’gann and Conner had started their pining and when they’d begun to date. But the feeling of romantic love… Well, it was a foreign concept to him. 

Azmuth had felt it once. Albedo had been told about that era of the Thinker’s life. It’d been brief from a Galvan’s perspective, but it had happened. They said that the old Galvan had come back grouchier than ever after she’d left him. His father, Thallus, had never had time for it. Albedo was born out of necessity, created from a lab, like many Galvans with famous DNA tended to be. 

Albedo didn’t think he would ever understand it, if he had to be honest. He was a Galvan stuck in a human body. Even if that had been the case, it didn’t appeal to him. It didn’t mean he didn’t realize there was a beauty to it. Or the pain that came from losing it. It was a universal concept shared by nearly every species. 

“Will you tell her… When you see her again?” Albedo asked as he worked.

“Tell who what?” Wally huffed, his tone snappy and annoyed. 

“I think you know what I am referring to.” Wally grimaced at the suggestion and for a moment, Albedo thought he misread the boy. Albedo wouldn’t have blamed himself. He wasn’t human born after all. And his main reference for their forms of romance was human television and a relationship between two non-humans.

“I think for now… We need to focus on getting them back.” Wally huffed. His eyes softened after a moment and he glanced over at Albedo, “I didn’t expect Galvans to look like that. I mean, you said they were small and they looked different than humans but I didn’t think they’d look that different… Um, are you okay? After, you know…”

“I’m fine. It's just… It brought some bad memories and I hadn’t expected it.” Wally nodded at that.

“Yeah, yeah, I get that.” Wally hesitated before asking, “Do you miss him?”

“Benjamin?”

“I mean, yeah, but I meant, well, Azmuth? I mean, I know you guys had a bad falling out and you both hurt each other a lot but… I dunno. If The Flash and I ever got into an argument, I think I’d miss him.” Wally chuckled to himself, “You, uh, you don’t have to answer that. I’m just thinking out loud. Being stupid. That’s all.” Albedo swallowed at the question, his mind racing to puzzle it out. His heart aching and twisting the longer he considered it.

“I do.” He finally confessed, “He was the closest thing I had to a father for the longest time.” And yet, Albedo didn’t want to face him. He couldn’t see Azmuth again. He just couldn’t. The problem was, he had to face his mentor again. For Benjamin’s sake. 

“But he threw me away. He left me to die.” Albedo whispered, and his voice trembled as the confession left his lips, “I don’t think I’m ready to see him again. I’m still angry. I know I’m the one who messed it all up, but I’m still angry and I still hate him for everything he did. It’s wrong and I know I should just move on and let it go but…” 

“Al, if Flash did to me what Azmuth did to you…” Wally cut in, “I think I’d be angry too. You messed up, but he gave up on you. He was supposed to be like your dad and… Al, family doesn’t give up on family like that. Ever.” Albedo pressed his lips together at that. Benjamin had said something similar once. 

“Are we family, Wally?” Albedo asked.

“Huh?”

“Our team? Are we a family? I… I’ve been mentally calling M’gann my sister for the longest time now. And frankly, I couldn’t imagine a life without all of you in it.” Albedo confessed, and Wally grinned at that.

“Aw, Albedo!” He cooed, “That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve heard you say!” Albedo flushed in response, and Wally reached over with one of his free hands and ruffled Albedo’s hair, “But, sure, yeah. We’re your family, Al. We’re not letting you go. Ever. You’re here to stay.” Albedo smiled at that. Hearing one of them say it outloud… It felt good. 

“And when we find Azmuth.” Wally added, “We’ll be right by your side. You’re not gonna face him alone. Not on my watch.” That helped. Knowing he wasn’t going to be alone helped. Albedo opened his mouth to thank the speedster hero, but was cut off by one of the soldiers running into the lab, a look of sheer terror in his eyes.

“Reflect. Kid Flash. You need to see this.” The two exchanged worried looks before setting their tools down and racing after the soldier and into the main room where the map of Earth waited. 

Albedo inhaled sharply. 

Somehow, the clusters had grown and multiplied several times more than what they had been mere hours ago. The entire Earth seemed to be covered in a blanket of red, blinking dots. Each one promised the destruction of humanity as they knew it. He whipped his head towards Eiling.

“Your communications officers? Have they had any luck?”

“Nothing.” Eiling reported, his expression grave, “We might very well be all there is left.” Albedo’s worry tripled when it occurred to Albedo that the other team was still out there. Unthinking, he raced to the computer and attempted to make contact with Robin or Aqualad or anyone.

“Team Alpha, this is Team Beta. Come in, Team Alpha. Come in.” Albedo called out. There was only static on the other end, “Team Alpha, come in.” Next to Albedo, Kid Flash tightened his fists, his expression screwing up as he concluded the same thing Albedo was concluding and all of the other soldiers grimaced. 

And then the Zeta Tube lit up. 

The computer announced arrivals as Robin, M’gann, and Martian Manhunter practically fell out of the machine.

Albedo waited, wide eyed, for the arrival of Superboy and Aqualad, but the Zeta Tube had fallen silent. 

“Rob, where’s Kal and Conner?” Kid Flash blurted, secret identities totally abandoned. Not that Albedo blamed him.

Robin picked himself up. He hugged his chest and winced in pain whilst M’gann clung desperately to her uncle.

“We managed to set the charges and get out in time… Somehow, but Superboy and Aqualad volunteered to distract and hold them off long enough for us to get in and out. They're our strongest and it seemed like such a good idea at the time.” Robin frowned and he hung his head, “They didn’t make it.” 

Albedo processed those words slowly, and M’gann pressed her face further into her uncle’s embrace at the mention of Superboy’s apparent death.

“Okay.” Albedo said slowly, “Okay. We’ll just need to work faster. But… I don’t understand. If you destroyed the mother ship, why…” He looked helplessly at the mostly red map.

“There were more. The mothership we confronted was just the first wave. Once we destroyed it, the others arrived.” Martian Manhunter said 

That. That was not good. 

“There’s more.” Robin cut in, “We… We think we saw Ben, er, I mean Deka.” Now, that made Albedo really pause. Because it hadn’t just been Wally and Albedo seeing the ‘ghosts’ of their friend, “Or, at least, one of his aliens. But, um, it freaked out when it saw M’gann for some reason. It was the four armed one.” 

“A Tetramand.” Albedo said with a nod, “You aren’t alone. Kid Flash and I, we-” Albedo was cut off by a sudden alarm wailing through the cave. Everyone tensed as the lights suddenly went out and all of the computers shut off. 

And then the central monitor flickered on, the symbol of Galvan blinked ominously on it. 

“What the-” Eiling whispered under his breath.

“Malfunction.” Humungousaur, aka, Benjamin’s Vaxasaurian’s menacing voice called. Albedo’s eyes widened and he turned to the team. Robin looked pale in the dim green light, like he’d seen a ghost.

“Guys, we need to run.” Robin breathed.

Notes:

Yay! Albedo's got family!

To bad they're currently dealing with what they think is the end of the world... Oh, and also the Omnitrix being it's overprotective self.

Anywho, have a good weekend ya'll!

Chapter 87: The Truth Will Set You Free.

“Al, what the heck is going on?” Robin demanded as they raced out of the mission room and into the living area of the cave, the soldiers hot on their tails despite none of them having heard the voice of the Vaxasaurian. Albedo figured the sudden power loss and the apparent hostile takeover of the Cave’s systems had been enough to convince them that the ‘ghosts’ Kid Flash and Albedo had been seeing were extremely real. 

“The Omnitrix’s aliens have been popping up all over without any rhyme or reason.” Albedo reported, “Only certain people seem able to see them, and they seem set on attacking those that can see them… The exception being myself, thus far… Unless… When you saw the Tetramand, what happened?” Albedo asked. 

“It attacked me.” Robin admitted, “But then M’gann showed up, it freaked the heck out, and vanished into thin air. It was bizarre. 

“And did it say-”

“Malfunction. Yeah.” Robin agreed. 

“Is this like a seriously bugged out Omnitrix glitch or failsafe or something?” Kid Flash asked.

“That was my first theory.” Albedo admitted, “As their repeated use of the word ‘Malfunction’ suggests it is the result of a failsafe gone wrong. The problem is, if that were the case, we…” Albedo gestured uselessly to the heroes present, “Wouldn’t be the only one seeing them.” 

“What do we know about the Omnitrix then? Like, what theories did you have before realizing we couldn’t see it.” Eiling asked.

“Well… The lifeline function quit right before Deka died and Deka had been messing with and getting seemingly frustrated with the Omntrix right before his demise, suggesting there was something wrong. Considering his first instinct was to use Alien X to reverse the damage thus far, and yet he didn’t use it, further supports the theory that something was wrong with the Omnitrix and he failed to inform us.”

“Well, what would cause the Omnitrix to suddenly start going haywire to the point where it’d get Ben killed?” Kid Flash asked. 

“That’s the thing… It has its errors and malfunctions, but the lifeline function is flawless. The most important part of the design. What’s the use of a vessel for carrying every DNA and genetic sample we could possibly need if the vessel and its carrier are able to be killed with ease? The lifeline function should never cut out. No amount of fidgeting or commands Deka could give it would’ve made it quit on him as it had. Azmuth wanted to make sure nothing could kill its user so easily. And yet… It failed. It isn’t supposed to fail.” 

“Maybe Azmuth isn’t as smart as he thinks he is?” Kid Flash suggested. 

“As much as I’d like that to be true… He is as smart as he believes himself to be.” Albedo deadpanned. 

“Why didn’t it follow us in here though?” Robin seemed to realize, “The power still works in this section and whatever that was that was following us before isn’t anymore.”

“It keeps dipping and coming back in a different form.” Kid Flash said, exasperated, “Next time, it’s gonna be something more horrifying.” 

“I think… I think it’s because it’s afraid of me.” M’gann’s voice was small, and also very tired, “It keeps trying to get close, but when I’m around, it… It keeps its distance.” 

“As nice as it would be to think that the killer aliens are scared of you M’gann, something tells me this thing is gonna keep trying until it can kill us off, regardless of you being here." Robin said.

“But… it hasn’t tried to kill Albedo once.” Kid Flash pointed out, “It’s tried to kill me twice. Tried to kill you once. But both times it showed up with Albedo around, it kinda just… stares at him.” Albedo mused on this, because it was true. A dangerous idea came to him.

“Perhaps it wants to talk with me.” Albedo mused.

“What?!” Robin said in alarm.

“I mean, perhaps I should break off from the group and try and reason with it.” Albedo said, “I think if the five of you stay here, you’ll be more likely to drive the ghost off without it managing to harm you. They seem to retreat quickly, which means there is strength in numbers. However, if it isn’t hostile to me, I might be able to reason with it and learn of its origins. Maybe even drive it off for good.”

“Absolutely not.” Martian Manhunter cut in, “We’ve already determined you are far too valuable to the overall mission of restoring Earth. If you are wrong, and this creature is hostile towards you as well, you will be risking the entirety of the human race.” 

“And if we sit here and wait for it to kill us off, we are not doing the human race any better.”

“Well, do they attack the ones who can’t see them?” Eiling asked.

“They haven’t yet.” Albedo mused, “That doesn’t mean they won’t. It merely means they haven’t had the opportunity.” Eiling squared his shoulders and nodded.

“Then, me and my men can accompany him, if that helps. And if he believes he is under attack, we will do our best to provide backup.”

The heroes seemed to consider the arrangement.

“I still don’t like this.” Robin huffed, “This is a serious risk.” 

“Unfortunately, we are at the point where risks are our best options of survival.” Albedo pointed out. 

“Then, I guess we split. Heroes stick together, make sure the alien doesn’t get a jump on any of us. And Reflect… goes with the soldiers for peace talks with a possible ghost.” Kid Flash concluded. Albedo nodded and turned back towards the darkness of the mission room. He stepped towards the darkness when someone caught his hand.

He looked back, and he realized it was M’gann, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Come back safe.” She said softly, “I can’t lose you too.” He smiled back at her.

“I’ll do my best.” He promised, before tugging from her hold and summoning light into his hand. The soldiers followed behind as he entered the darkness and left the safety of the living area. The further into the darkness they walked, the more deathly quiet it became. 

And then suddenly, there was a bright and blazing light as Heatblast stood before him. Fire poured from its fingertips and the soldiers backed up in alarm, exclaiming. They couldn’t see the alien. But they could see the results of its power as the fire formed a ring around Albedo, cutting him off from the soldiers. 

“Reflect, where is it? We’ll fire when you give the order.” Eiling called. Albedo watched the alien, who approached Albedo with caution more than hostility. 

“Hold.” Albedo ordered, “It’s not trying to harm me.” 

“Malfunction.” The alien provided.

“I know. You’ve said. State the malfunction.” Albedo ordered. The alien paused, tilted its head, and seemed to consider.

“Error. Telepathic Shielding bypassed. User: Benjamin Kirby Tennyson in distress. Vitals fluctuating. Malfunction located: Subject: Female White Martian, designation: M’gann. Conclusion: delete extra life forms. Locate malfunction and delete. Error. Unable to access the malfunction. Solution: confront Galvanic assets. Remove outliers.”

“You are the Omnitrix.” Albedo breathed in realization, “But… That doesn’t make sense… You’re experiencing a telepathic shielding malfunction? And Benjamin is dead. How could his vitals be fluctuating?”

“Incorrect. User: Benjamin Kirby Tennyson is viable. Vitals fluctuating. Conclusion: telepathy induced coma. Initial attempt at ejecting user from simulation: failed. Solution: confront Galvanic assets. Remove outliers. Delete the malfunction.” 

“What malfunction?” Albedo asked, still at a loss.

“Subject: Female White Martian, designation: M’gann.” The Omnitrix replied. And then, there was a flash of green. Albedo inhaled sharply. For in the place of the Pyronite was Benjamin himself.

Only… There was something incredibly off about him.

His eyes were totally green. His skin was etched with lines and lines of Galvanic code. He wasn’t in his Deka uniform or and any outfit Albedo had seen him in before… But rather, he was dressed in very Galvanic clothing, only fitted for a human. 

“Deka?” Albedo whispered.

“Incorrect. User: Benjamin Kirby Tennyson in distress. Vitals fluctuating.” 

“You’ve said that.” Albedo growled, “What have you done, somehow managed to take control of his body or something? I wasn’t aware your AI was capable!”

“Incorrect. User: Benjamin Kirby Tennyson in distress. Vitals fluctuating.”

“Then what is correct? What are you?”

“I am the Omntrix.” It replied, and it tilted its head, looking confused, “Does Galvanic Asset: Albedo, Son of Thallus understand the error? Is Galvanic Asset: Albedo, Son of Thallus capable of deleting the malfunction?” 

“No, I clearly don’t understand I don’t…” Albedo froze, a sudden realization creeping over him as he mentally attempted to work through everything the Omnitrix was telling him. 

And then it all clicked as a faint memory resurfaced at the back of his mind.

“The simulation is designed to get harder the longer you’re inside.” 

“This isn’t real.” Albedo breathed. He trembled and looked back through the flames, only to find the soldiers had vanished entirely. It was just Albedo and the Omnitrix. 

“Malfunction located: Subject: Female White Martian, designation: M’gann. Unable to access.” The Omnitrix provided, “Outliers must be ejected. Malfunction must be deleted.” 

“You’re trying to wake them up.” Albedo realized, “M’gann… Something went wrong with M’gann’s powers. And it’s hurting Benjamin… Hurting all of us. You’re trying to fix it. You aren’t trying to kill them. You’re trying to wake us up.” The Omnitrix nodded, smiling.

“But… But… In order to wake them up… we have to…”

“Delete the outliers. Delete the malfunction.” Albedo felt the blood drain from his face in realization.

He had to kill M’gann.

Notes:

So, although I've tried to mess around with the horror aspect of the Team getting hunted down by Ben's aliens, I also didn't want to make the Team into a bunch of stereotypical horror movie idiots. They're superheroes, for crying out loud! They know better. These guys noticed that the alien/ghost retreated quickly and they noticed that they won't hurt Albedo or go for M'gann for some reason. They're gonna use that to their advantage and they are NOT going to automatically split up without practically thinking about it first. (At least, not without third party suggesting practical reasons to split up).

Also, I wanted to write a sentient Omnitrix that, due to being a programmed lifeform, isn't exactly the best at understanding the sheer amount of emotional distress its putting the Team under and is about to put Albedo under. It just wants to protect it's user, and is going to do whatever is necessary to fulfill it's mission. So, to show that, the Omnitrix only talks in preprogrammed codes, commands, and reports. I hope I did a good job portraying that. (I might do more with the Omnitrix's AI later, who knows)

Before anyone says something. I know it's April First. I am not so cruel as to prank ya'll in the middle of such an already intense part of the story. (Also, I like, totally forgot today was going to be April Fools Day until my boss mentioned something yesterday, by then I determined it was much too late to do anything about that.) So, ya'll lucked out in that department. I might not be so lucky, I've got so many younger siblings who have way too much fun messing with me... Wish me luck everyone.

Instead of a prank story, I leave you with a bad joke (I'm sorry, my father's in the military, so that's where this comes from):
...
Before the war, the enemy had a lot of Walmarts.
...
...
Of course, now all the Walmarts are all Targets.

(Have a good weekend everyone!)

Chapter 88: Little Sister.

 

“You handle the outliers, since you can access those. I’ll focus on separating the malfunction from the outliers and removing it so we can end the simulation.” Albedo said quickly. It felt weird, using terms like ‘outlier’ and ‘malfunction’ to talk about his friends, but the Omnitrix seemed to process that better, and in a way, it helped Albedo not think too hard about what it was he was about to do.

“The speedster might be better defeated by a cryokineticist or something that can slow him down. The outlier Robin is best countered in wit, as it is his cleverness on a battlefield combined with his trained skills that have kept him alive thus far. The outlier Martian Manhunter will have the same weakness as his niece: fire. Though, I don’t know how well you’ll be able to access that outlier with your telepathy blockers disabled.” 

“Suggestion: Chronosapien. Designation: Clockwork?” The Omnitrix asked with the tilt of its head. Albedo did the best to ignore how unnatural it looked inside of Benjamin’s body like that, and instead he chose to focus on what it said. 

“Clockwork… You know, that may be perfect. Cut the potential fight out altogether, kill them before they realize they’re under attack. Quick and easy. They’ll not have to feel a thing. But… If M’gann…" Albedo hesitated, "...If the malfunction is present, how viable is such a plan?”

“Unviable.” The Omnitrix explained, “Telepathy blockers disabled. Unable to access malfunction.” Oh, boy. Albedo really hated this. From what he’d gathered, the reason the Omnitrix was ‘afraid’ of M’gann, is because her control of the simulation was keeping it from affecting her fully or even getting close to her without making the Omnitrix error out and malfunction. Nothing it did was going to be able to touch her, and she was the main crux of the issue. 

That’s why it needed Albedo.

Albedo was trapped in that nightmare just like the Omnitrix, but Albedo could get close to her. Albedo could ‘delete her’ from the simulation with less difficulty.

“Right. I’ll deal with the malfunction then.” Albedo said after a shaky breath, “Are we ready to initiate the plan then?” The Omnitrix nodded, a ghost of a smile on its lips as it almost grimaced in agreement. Albedo drew in a deep breath, before turning away from the Omntrix towards the cave’s generators and security system.

He summoned mana into his hands, and slammed it into the generator, allowing it to startle itself back to life. Instantly, all the lights turned on.

“I’ve solved the problem.” Albedo called through the intercom, “Guys, you should report to the mission room now. I’ve sent the soldiers to finish repairing the cave’s security. We need to debrief.” Albedo glanced over at the Omnitrix, and nodded for it to go. 

Before Albedo could blink, the Omnitrix was in its Chronosapien form, and then it was gone. Albedo breathed in again, focusing on his next spell, before tugging on his gut to activate his teleportation. 

In a flash of red, he was in the living area, where the Team had clearly already moved out. He didn’t dwell on that, and moved fast to catch up with them from behind. He managed an illusion spell to hide himself from the others as he came up behind in the hall. 

“M’gann.” He hissed. And the martian girl seemed to hear, as she stopped, turning and looking confused behind her. The others noticed a second too late that she had fallen behind. Albedo grabbed her arm and allowed himself to teleport once more, this time, far from the mission room, and into the garage. 

“What?” M’gann gasped as Albedo staggered next to her, a dizziness striking him in full force. Albedo wasn’t sure if it was from using so many advanced spells in quick succession, or if it was because he was next to M’gann, aka, the telepath causing all of their problems.

Albedo held his head, the migraine only worsening the longer he tried to recover.

“Albedo?” M’gann realized, and her hands were around him, trying to help him down. She had noticed he was hurting. She wanted to help him, “Albedo, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? What happened? How… How did we get over here?” 

‘This isn’t real.’ Albedo reminded himself as everything seemed to get foggy and muddled. The plan he and the Omnitrix had made seemed to leech from his head. Slowly, Albedo felt himself crumbling under her influence. 

It would be so much easier to believe he didn’t have to hurt his little sister. 

And then suddenly, clarity snapped back into Albedo like whiplash as M’gann let go of Albedo and held her own head. A horrified scream came from her lips.

“Robin! Wally! Uncle Jon!” She cried out in grief, “Albedo, something just… Something just killed them. All of them.” Albedo’s migraine subsided. His head felt so much more clear. And unfortunately, his mission became clear to him again.

He found himself reaching forwards, pulling her hands down from her head as she panicked, and crumbled to her knees. Her breathing picked up and tears were pouring down her face.

“Albedo, they're dead! Something killed them. I… I don’t know what. I don’t think we’re going to make it, Albedo!” She practically crumbled forwards into Albedo’s shoulder and clutched him tightly. 

Albedo went stiff for a moment, processing it all.

Before he found himself returning the embrace, and rubbing circles in her back, the way Benjamin had once done for him when he’d been in distress.

“It’s okay.” He promised softly, “It’s okay, M’gann. It’s going to be okay. I promise.” 

“They’re all gone!” She sobbed.

He found tears threatening to spill from his own eyes at those words. He had to remind himself that wasn’t true.

“M’gann.” His voice nearly broke, “M’gann, you know I always thought of you… As my little sister. You… You know I love you, right? You’re my family, and I promise… I promise I would never ever do anything to try and truly hurt you. You are my sister. The Team is my family. And everything… Everything I do is to protect you.” M’gann hiccupped and held onto him tighter.

“Why does this sound like a goodbye?” She whispered, “Albedo, why do you sound like you’re saying goodbye?” 

“It’s not.” Albedo promised, “M’gann, I swear it isn’t…. It’s a promise for tomorrow. When we wake up… M’gann, we should watch a movie together. Let's make a night out of it. Popcorn. Smoothies. Chilly fries. The works. Let's do that, okay? Lets… Let's watch something when we wake up, okay?” 

“When we wake up?” M’gann asked, her trembling voice was laced with confusion, “Albedo, I don’t–”

Albedo chose that moment to strike. He pulled her closer to him with his left hand, whilst summoning a dagger out of mana with his right. He aimed to make it fast, though he knew, regretfully, he didn’t have the tools available to make it fast and painless. 

He plunged his dagger down.

And he immediately shoved her away, scrambling back as she cried out in a mix of pain, hurt, and betrayal. She crumbled, and Albedo turned away.

“I love you.” He whispered, “I’ll see you soon.” He didn’t have the heart to watch her die. 

So he didn’t. 

He didn’t know if it had worked. 

He didn’t know if he had made a mistake and if the idea that the whole thing had just been a bad dream was some sort of cruel trick. He merely hugged his arms close to his chest and waited for something to happen.

Then his vision tunneled and the world fell dark.

Notes:

Happy Early Easter Ya'll!

The end of the Failsafe arc is finally here, and next week, we're going to get started on the fall out, so, that'll be fun.

Also, next week will mark the second anniversary of this book/series... Which, geesh... It's been two years and 88 chapters? I knew I liked to write long, elaborate novels, but wow! That's crazy! However, next week I do have something going on the entire day on Saturday, so the upload time for next week might vary depending on when that event gets over from between late Friday (The actual anniversary) or late Saturday. I have been working on some things that I might upload next week as celebration like I had done last year, however, I'm still experimenting a lot with what I'm going to post, and I might end up uploading multiple things if I can actually finish them in time. But that's not set in stone yet.

Anyways, that's basically it for ANs today. Happy Easter again, and I can't wait to see ya'll next week!

Chapter 89: The Awakening.

Ben’s eyes flew open, and he found himself sitting up with a gasp. His fingers flew to his chest and he rested them above his frantically beating, and very much still working heart. 

He was alive.

He didn’t know how, but he was alive. Alive and laying on an examination table.

It took him a full minute to process this information. It took another minute before he realized where he was and that he was not alone. The entire Team was there along with Captain Marvel, Batman, Red Tornado, and Martian Manhunter, and he knew they were in the cave. 

Each member of the Team was blinking, looking around in disbelief, as if they too, couldn’t believe they were alive. 

“What the heck?” Ben said after a moment. He didn’t get much time to question any further, because Albedo was quite suddenly flying across the room and yanking Ben into a tight hug. 

“You’re alive!” Albedo breathed, a strange mix of relief and hurt strained his voice. And once more, Ben slowly tried to process what the heck had just happened. The lifeline function had failed. Ben had died. He had felt himself die. How was he alive, why was the Justice League suddenly back from the dead too? And Artemis? How was she alive?

And then it all slammed into Ben like a bag full of bricks.

“The simulation is designed to get harder the longer you’re inside.”

A simulation? It… It's all been a simulation? A training exercise. Artemis hadn’t died at all. And the Justice League was fine. So was Ben. But… Ben thought they were supposed to be aware during the training exercise. Why had it… Why had it all felt so real?

“That wasn’t real.” He realized. Albedo nodded and held on tighter.

“What the heck.” Wally hissed out, “Batman, what the heck. I thought that was real. We weren’t supposed to think it was real.” His eyes darkened, “What did you guys just do to us?” 

“Training exercise?” Robin said, a haunted tone in his voice. 

“Um, it wasn’t real though?” Artemis said in confusion, “I didn’t think that was real. I am real annoyed at the alien that took me out though.” Ben looked over at the baffled Artemis, who apparently had been aware of the simulation. She didn’t seem distressed at all, but rather annoyed more than anything. 

The others?

Well, Ben couldn’t say the same about the others. Conner was grimacing. M’gann looked inches away from bursting into tears as she held a hand over her mouth and her eyes watered. Robin seemed half confused, half happy that Batman was there, waiting for them to process it all. Kaldur had a very haunted look in his eyes, as if he’d seen a ghost. And then there was Wally, who looked like he was seconds away from beating the crap out of literally anyone. 

“What happened?” Ben demanded, and Batman got a very, very tired look, and Ben didn’t know it was possible for the man to look more angry in that cowl of his. 

“The training exercise went wrong.” Martian Manhunter said, “But… I don’t know how we’ve woken up.” 

“What did happen in there?” Batman ordered the Martian. Martian Manhunter shook his head, as if he was still clearing his head of the illusion they’d all been trapped in as well.

“M’gann.” Albedo said, much to everyone’s surprise, he pushed from his embrace with Ben and faced the group, “It was M’gann.”

M’gann looked appalled by the accusation, and Conner growled, standing to get protectively in front of her.

“What are you blaming her for?!” Conner demanded, and Albedo flinched back, a pained look spread across his face. He… He actually looked like he was near tears, with how his lip trembled and his hands shook. 

“Let's not get ahead of ourselves.” Ben said, stepping in, “Bats, why the heck would you put the team through a simulation like that completely unaware? Start from the beginning.”

“But you were supposed to be aware.” Batman corrected, “Manhunter physically linked the eight of you into an artificial reality. You were all supposed to be aware. What you didn’t know, however, was that it was a train-for-failure exercise. No matter what you accomplished, the scenario was designed to get worse. You were still aware of everything going around you, though, which is why when the Justice League died, you didn’t grieve.”

…And… Ben remembered that. How Wally didn’t even flinch at the death of his aunt and uncle. How Robin seemed uncaring about how Batman was flat out dead. Kaldur was never affected by the loss of his king and Conner seemed pretty unfazed by the fact that Superman was gone. No one thought about it. They didn’t even care that Wolf, Conner’s pet, had died. They’d just accepted it as easily as one accepted losing a pet in a video game, because it hadn’t been real. 

Then Artemis died.

And everything suddenly had been. 

“Why didn’t you just stop the simulation when you realized something was wrong?” Conner demanded, “And that we didn’t know it wasn’t real? Albedo grieved. Wally grieved! Batman!” That… That was a heavy thing to hear. Albedo had grieved for Ben. Ben dying had hurt Albedo. Ben… Hadn’t meant to hurt Albedo. 

His head hung.

“Sorry, Albes.” He muttered.

“It’s not your fault.” Albedo replied. But it sorta was. He knew the Omnitrix was going haywire. He should’ve been more urgent about getting it to safety. Instead they took their sweet time because he hadn’t been firm enough right off the bat about taking cover.

“We couldn’t.” Manhunter said, as if recalling a bad dream, “Everything was fine… Until Artemis died. Though consciously, Miss. Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious failed to make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise, and her subconscious took control… Making you forget too.” 

“That’s not her fault. You should’ve stopped it right then.” Conner insisted. 

“We tried.” Martian Manhunter said, “But M’gann had a death grip on the scenario, I realized I had to wrestle her out of it from within… But even that failed. The second I entered, I forgot too.”

“...Wait, but… If you couldn’t get her to snap out of it, what woke us up?” Robin asked. Next to Ben, Albedo trembled, he looked to M’gann, guilt in his eyes.

“I’m so, so sorry, M’gann.” He whispered, “It was the only way.” She inhaled sharply, her hand flying to her mouth before she was launching herself past Conner and was pulling Albedo into a tight hug. The Galvan teenager melted into the embrace.

“It’s okay.” She whispered, her voice shaking as tears poured from her eyes, “It’s okay. You did good, Albes.” 

“...I… I’m confused, what happened?” Wally asked.

“I…” Albedo choked on his own words, “Benjamin’s Omnitrix, those ghosts. Those were projections of the Omnitrix’s A.I. It realized we were in a simulation, and that Benjamin was in trouble, so… So it decided to wake us up. The only way to do that was to… To…”

“Was to kill us.” Benjamin realized, “That’s why the lifeline failsafe quit working. It was trying to jolt me awake.” 

“But M’gann’s telepathy was keeping it from getting to her.” Albedo said, “So… So it managed to make me aware of the problem… And it told me… To… Get rid of the malfunction.” It took a long, long time for them to process those words. Conner seemed to piece it together first. 

“You killed M’gann.” Conner growled, “You killed her.” Albedo flinched, and held onto the Martian girl even tighter than before.

“I didn’t want to. I wasn’t sure if I could trust my own head. I believed the Omnitrix. I did, but...” Tears were spilling from Albedo’s eyes. The weight of what that implied was not lost to anyone. Albedo had killed, despite not entirely sure if he was right about the simulation being real or not. He had saved them all, but had sacrificed M’gann to do it. 

“I didn’t want to kill her.”

Notes:

So, this week has been absolutely nuts on my end. Apparently, I was supposed to have my senior show up and going on Monday, but no one told me, so I spent the entire week dealing with that and getting that all sorted out. Today, I have an event all day (If I'm slow with replies and stuff, that's why). In short, if there are errors in this chapter, it is because life has gotten crazy as I get closer and closer to my graduation in May.

But! There is a bright side! I have finished this chapter and I will be posting a few one shots this evening after my event in celebration of the second anniversary of this book! One, which will be called A Reaction, will take place during the arc we just finished, and is something I thought you guys might find fun coming out of the Failsafe arc. The other is called A Regret, and is once more set in the Omniverse and set with Kai (I know, weird choice) during her search for Azmuth. Once more I felt this one shot would help add to the overall main story as we go into what I've just been calling the Canary Arc.

Have a good weekend and thanks to everyone for two years of support!

Chapter 90: The Hero.

“I don’t know why I’m here.” Ben said as he slumped in his seat, “The others probably need your help way more than I could possibly need it. I was the second one to die, yeah… And yeah I was upset about Artemis. But I had a plan b. I knew we’d get her back.” 

“Everyone has to do this before the team can be cleared for combat again.” Canary said gently, “Your team went through a lot. You shouldn’t discount your own emotions about the simulation just because you don’t think you went through as much as they did.”

Ben remembered, once upon a time, the fact that Canary was supposed to be a therapist for the team. M’gann had suggested Ben talk to her, after all. 

However, Ben had never thought he’d actually be forced to go speak with Black Canary. Especially when everyone else on the team had just gone through trauma and all Ben had going for him was the fact that his Omnitrix had killed him in an attempt to save him. Really, it was a tale as old as time. Boy gets stuck in an end of the world simulation. The Omnitrix wigs out against the boy’s wishes. The Omnitrix turns out to be protecting the boy. Ben wakes up breathing and on top. 

“I’m not discounting anything.” Ben huffed, “I’m fine. I’ve been through much worse before and I’ve come out on top every time. I should’ve known the Omnitrix has my back. It always does… Even if it doesn’t always seem like it.”

“Worse than dying?” Canary asked in bewilderment, “You mean losing your family?” Ben instantly winced at the reminder that he still had no clue if his family was still okay or not. Canary seemed to realize she said the wrong thing and decided to back off.

“Sorry, I know that’s a difficult subject right now, we don’t have to work through that today if you don’t want to.” Canary informed him. Ben tried to ignore how she said ‘today’ as if she intended to force Ben into another therapy session later. 

“I’d rather not talk about it at all.” Ben huffed and Canary arched an eyebrow at his response, “Look, I don’t need therapy. I’m fine. This isn’t my first rodeo. It’s not gonna be my last. Can’t get fussy and stuff every time something remotely bad happens. That’s dumb.” 

“Ben, just because you’re used to this kind of trauma in your life doesn’t mean you haven’t experienced trauma or that you can’t be affected by it. And just because you are a hero doesn’t mean you have to deny this fact. Everyone in the League and every member of your team have been through a lot of hard stuff. We all deal with it differently, but bottling it up and pretending it isn’t there isn’t healthy.”

Wow, she was really reading into things, wasn’t she? What part of, ‘I’m fine’ did she not understand.

“I didn’t say that I had any trauma!” Ben snapped, “And stop calling it trauma. Makes it seem way worse than it is. Look, I get that you’re trying to be helpful and stuff and that it’s your job to try and read into things like this, but I’m genuinely fine, Canary. I don’t know why you think I’m not.”

“I wasn’t suggesting you weren’t fine, Ben.” Canary said with a sigh as she rubbed her temple, “Ben, I’m just trying to make sure you are as fine as you say you are. You’ve been through a lot. This simulation might not have affected you as much as the others, but this simulation isn’t the first hardship you’ve faced. You’ve admitted it yourself. Far too often, I speak with heroes who go through one event after another and they think they can take it. They think they are fine…. And then all at once the pressure becomes too much, and it starts to destroy them. People like you and me? We’re proud and we are stubborn. Sometimes, that helps us. But not usually.”

“Well, what do you expect me to do? Come up with some sob story about how my childhood was so hard or something stupid like that? Because it wasn’t. I have a great mom and dad that love me. I don’t see them enough, but that’s okay. They support me and Grandpa almost always has my back when I need him. And my life has been amazing. I wouldn’t take any bit of it back because I’ve helped people.”

“...Ben, your parents are dead.” Canary reminded, her voice went gentle as she carefully reminded him of what Ben hoped was a lie. Ben realized what he’d said a moment too late as he froze for a second, and his shoulders slumped in defeat.

“You’re right. They are.” He grumbled, “You said we weren’t going to talk about this.”

“You brought them up. We don’t have to. I just… Why do you talk about them in the present tense?” 

“It’s just a bad habit, don’t read into it.” Ben grumbled. Canary’s expression shifted to something unreadable, and Ben hated it.

“...Ben… Did they really die?” Ben felt himself go completely stiff at the suggestion and found himself laughing a little.

“Pft. What? Of course they're dead.” 

“Mhmm. Just like Azmuth was dead.” Canary pointed out. Ben stayed very still for a long time after that, before eventually exhaling loudly as he dropped his shoulders in defeat.

“...I don’t know.” Ben finally admitted, “Canary, I don’t know if they’re alive or not. I haven’t seen them in around five months.” This confession seemed to take Canary by surprise.

“I thought you said you lost them when you were fifteen.”

“Yeah, I did.” Ben admitted.

“You were born in December. Five months ago, you weren’t fifteen. You were still sixteen.” Canary pointed out.

“Congrats. You can do basic math.” Ben snapped, “I thought you said you weren’t going to pry into this. This is my personal life. You don’t have a right.” 

“Ben, I’m just trying to figure out why you would lie about–”

“Because I don’t know if they’re okay or not, and I don’t want to think about it or have people constantly asking me about it. It’s better to just pretend like they’re dead until I know or not, okay?!” Ben swallowed, and he felt suddenly sick as he thought about his family more and more, “Of course I don’t want them to be actually dead. I’m not crazy. But the longer I’m not there, the longer I can’t protect them from everything…” Understanding seemed to dawn in Canary’s eyes. Ben hated it. He wanted her to leave it all alone. 

“Ben, you know you’re still a kid right? You know you shouldn’t have to believe that everything rests on you alone. That your family’s safety depends on you being there or not, right? Parents are supposed to protect their children. You might be the one with the powers… But if your parents have been living with a superhero for a son all this time, then they might be stronger than you give them credit for.”

“They’re pacifists, Canary, what the heck are you on about?” Ben growled. 

“So, what? They wouldn’t protect you and Albedo?” Canary asked. And Ben shook his head as he thought about how his dad had forgotten his pacifistic lifestyle long enough to grab Max’s old gun and race to Ben’s rescue. And as for Albedo? Ben could see his mom adopting him within a heartbeat, no questions asked… If her weird friendship with Mother Vreedle said anything about Ben’s mother. Pacifistic or not, when that woman made up her mind, there was no stopping her. She was just as stubborn as Ben sometimes. 

“I didn’t say that. I’m saying they shouldn’t have to. I have the Omnitrix. It’s my job to protect people. Not theirs.” Canary went quiet for a moment before seeming to consider something.

“Maybe I’m trying the wrong approach here… Ben, why don’t you tell me more about where you came from? Where you and Albedo are actually from, that is. It sounds like an interesting place.” Ben sagged back into his seat at that, realizing the jig was up and Canary was way too smart for Ben’s liking. He decided to go along with it if it got her to stop pressuring him about his parents and family.

“Pft. Not really. My Earth is a lot like this one... only there's only a few superheroes. Most went south as they got older. I’m pretty much the main protector of Earth. We have the Plumbers… and aliens are becoming a normal thing you see there. They live around humans now. No one really cares too much except for a few Karens, the Forever Knights, and paranoid idiots on tv.” 

“The Plumbers? You and Albedo have mentioned them before, could you tell me about them?”

“Oh, right. They’re, erm, they’re this intergalactical peacekeeping force. Kind of like the lanterns, I guess… But, you know, they don’t get magic rings. Just cool guns and whatever abilities come with the race of aliens they are.” Ben clarified, “Grandpa Max is the head of the Plumbers in my region.”

“And he was your mentor.” Canary remembered. Ben nodded, “When I first got the Omnitrix, he was basically always there, helping me get better. Wasn’t until I was fifteen and the Highbreed War happened that I had to learn to operate without him. Gwen and Kevin had my back though. We made a great team.”

“And Albedo?” Canary prompted.

“...Albedo was doing his own thing during the war.” Ben informed her, doing his best not to expose his twin as a reformed super villain to the Justice League. 

“And Gwen is your cousin. A magician like Albedo.” Canary clarified.

“Uh, yeah. That’s correct. Kevin was my best buddy and Gwen’s boyfriend… He used to be a smuggler so he was like the guy who knew things most Plumbers didn’t. He could get us basically anything we needed for our war efforts and he has this energy and matter absorption ability that lets him encase himself in whatever material he touches like it’s armor.” 

“Would they not be able to protect your family while you're gone? Albedo’s pretty strong. If Gwen’s just a more experienced Albedo, perhaps–”

“Gwen’s supposed to be in college right now.” Ben interrupted, “She shouldn’t have to drop out to cover for mine and Albedo’s mess up.” 

“At sixteen?” Canary asked in surprise.

“She’s really smart.” Ben huffed, “Not as much as Albedo, obviously. But still really smart. Meanwhile, there’s me, the high school dropout.” He had muttered that last part to himself, half forgetting he was talking to Canary for a second as he thought about how Gwen and Kevin hadn’t even warned him before they up and left him behind for school. He shouldn’t have expected them to wait for him. It wasn’t fair for them to wait for Ben.

Didn’t mean he couldn’t wish they had.

“Why’d you drop out?” Canary prompted.

“Because of my jobs with the Plumbers and commitments to the Universe and Azmuth as the wielder of the Omnitrix, I kept getting held back and stuff. Everyone knew I was Ben Ten, Savior of the Universe. Everyone knew I had to go and had to ditch class a lot or the Universe could end… but… no one really cared. My grades sucked and I couldn’t keep up with my classes. I never really was good in public school, even before the Omnitrix. Teachers didn’t really help me or seem to care. Eventually I figured there wasn’t much point in trying.” 

“...Everyone knew?” There was a certain horror in her voice, and Ben suddenly recalled that, yeah, secret identities were important in the Heroverse. 

“Yeah, some dumb kid figured it out and uploaded it onto the internet for the world to see.” Ben agreed, “Got famous real quick after that.”

“Ben, that’s… You didn’t deserve that. I can’t even imagine…” Canary sputtered as she seemed to process this information, “No wonder you’re so concerned about your family… You likely had a target on your back at all times while you were there.”

“Meh, that’s just after Earth found out. The rest of the Universe knew I had the Omnitrix since I was ten. I got used to it.” 

“Ben, you do realize why there’s a problem with that, right?” Canary asked. 

“...Not really?” Ben admitted, “I mean, yeah, I was young and stuff, and maybe if I was older things would’ve been better, but I managed. Heck, I thrived. I always came out on top and there was almost never a fight I’d lose, so I say it all worked out.”  

“Even though you, as a ten year old, had to live with the pressure of saving the Universe?” Canary asked, “Even if you, a ten year old, had to live with the fact that you were being hunted for your watch?” 

“I mean, when you say it out loud, it sounds pretty bad.” Ben grumbled. Canary watched him for a moment after this, and Ben couldn’t help but squirm under her eyes. He hated the way she looked at him. He hated how she acted like there was something wrong.

“Ben… You do know there’s nothing wrong with admitting you need help, right?”  

“Um, duh, I know that.” Ben scoffed. 

“So then, why is it that you seem to think you’re the only one capable of saving the day?” Canary asked, “When there are so many capable people who could do it?”

“Because it’s my job, Canary.” Ben replied, “Haven’t you been listening?” 

“I have.” Canary said, “I think the real question is Ben, have you been willing to talk to anyone about any of this before now? Have you let anyone listen to you before today?” 

“I'm the team leader, of course people listen to me.” Ben countered, and Canary offered him a deadpan stare.

“Ben, you know that’s not what I mean.” Ben held her stare for only a second, before breaking away. Something in him seemed to flip as he considered what she was actually asking him.

Finally, he lowered his head in defeat.

“...No.”

Notes:

The start of the Canary Arc. We're gonna start with Ben's POV since the majority of the Failsafe Arc was stuck in Al's. We will get to Al's session soon, however, there are a few things I wanted to do with Ben before we get there.

Anywho, have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 91: He Who is Childish

“Why not?” Canary prompted. Her voice was gentle. Caring and sympathetic. It made Ben sink into his seat as he tried to avoid her eyes.

“I… I don’t really know.” Ben admitted, and he found himself hanging his head, “...I guess I just… I’m not supposed to be the one who needs help. I’m supposed to be the hero.” 

“Even heroes need help. That’s why we formed the Justice League on this Earth.” Canary prompted.

“I mean, I know that. Gwen used to drill that kind of stuff into my head all the time before she went off to college. And then after her, Rook.” Ben admitted, “I don’t… I mean, I know there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. But… I don’t have a choice. When you’re the savior of the Universe, you’ve gotta be perfect. Always smiling. Always laughing. Always the best, just like everyone expects. The second you aren’t… Bad things happen. So forgive me if I’m not all about all of this shrink stuff.” 

“Ben, I can assure you, nothing you say will leave this room.” Canary insisted, “I’m not recording. I’m not writing anything down. You don’t have to be strong. You don’t have to be perfect. Just… Why don’t you tell me more about yourself? About some of the struggles you’ve faced as a hero. Let me help you.” Ben looked up and held her gaze for a long time as he debated internally if he should trust her or not. Ben didn’t talk about these sorts of things for a reason. 

Ben wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who liked to go on long rants about his feelings, despite what some people likely thought. He kept the harder things buried deep. Locked away. Stored somewhere they could never be used against him.

But after holding Canary’s gaze for a long moment, Ben found a tiredness settling over his shoulders. 

He found himself caving.

With a small bitter laugh, he began.

“Well shrink, you asked for it. My name is Benjamin Kirby Tennyson… And it has been five years since the last time I’ve actually cried about anything.” Canary nodded for him to continue, a kind smile seemed to reassure him that she was listening. He looked away before he went on.

“I was eleven.” Ben explained, “This corrupted Mechamorph destroyed a sample of DNA in my watch that I’d gotten addicted to. He was like a second skin… Another part of me… and when the sample was destroyed, I went home and I cried long and hard about it. Azmuth came to visit me that day. I dunno, it’s just… each and every one of those forms I take… they’re a part of me… But I’m also a part of them… and when that sample was destroyed… It felt a lot like I’d died. Dying sucks, you know. That simulation? Not my first time. Probably won’t be the last.” 

Ben wrung his hands together.

“Azmuth said that I needed to learn from the loss… And I tried… I tried so hard. But overtime, it was just hard to, you know? My grades were getting worse. Every bounty hunter and warlord out there was after my head, and so… I just gave it all up. Washed out and totally retired by thirteen. Kinda sad, huh?” She thankfully made no comment.

Then again, he wasn’t quite too sure what to make of her silence. 

“People would pop up after that. Looking for the guy with the Omnitrix. Looking for help. Grandpa Max and Gwen helped them out. Kept those guys off my back for a while, but I still was pulled into a few conflicts. Between thirteen and fifteen when I took up soccer… and hand to hand.” He found himself smiling, thinking about how good Gwen was at hand to hand. He never had practice at the same time as her… and most of his combat instruction had been with his grandpa while Gwen branched out way more in her studies. It’d been clear from the day she got her hands on Charmcaster’s spellbook that Gwen wanted to be one of the best magicians in the world one day. As much as Ben excelled, Gwen always had to be the best.

”Never got to be as good as Gwendolyn, but I honestly was done being the hero at that point, so I didn’t think it mattered.” The smile faded, “I was wrong. One day Grandpa disappeared following a lead. Gwen and I followed his trail… Meeting up with Kevin along the way, and we uncovered the Highbreed Invasion.” 

“The war.”

“A war.” Ben said, shrugging, “One of the bigger ones I’ve fought in. But it was the first time I had to do it all without Grandpa. I built a team. Lead most of our missions and stings. The works. It all geared up for this big final battle… Which in reality, didn’t end as bad as me and Albes told you guys. We won… No casualties. Good, old fashioned diplomacy and me making friends with the right people won the war in the end. It was great, and I was fine with going and being an easy going kind of hero with the invasion dealt with and the need for the Omnitrix diminishing… Then my identity was leaked on the internet, and bam! There went that plan.” 

“This didn’t affect you in the best way, I can assume?” Canary noted. Ben swallowed. He knew all of his friends and family… The people who watched him on the news. They all thought he lived to be in the spotlight. An extrovert. The hero. The biggest celebrity in the Omniverse. The cool, relaxed, never losing Ben Tennyson that could win any war, no sweat.

“...I hate it.” Ben admitted as he lowered his eyes, “At first… It was awesome… I mean, everyone in the universe was finally recognizing all the stuff I was doing to keep them safe and it was fantastic! But… Then I realized that, shoot, they all know who I am. They’re all watching me… And the second I let anyone down… The second I lose my cool, I’ve failed everyone who’s ever counted on me.” Ben wrung his hands as he weighed his words. He’d never really told anyone this. Sure he’d somewhat hinted about his true thoughts concerning his fame to his cousin, to Kevin, and to Albedo before… But really… He’d never actually talked about it.

“When I was a kid… I was scared out of my mind.” Ben admitted, “I was so freaking terrified, but I didn’t want to be. I mean, my grandpa was this cool hero and I had this cool watch that let me be anyone I wanted. Let me do anything I wanted. I was ecstatic! It was like out of all of my favorite comics. I was a hero, but in real life, and it was so cool! But then it got harder, and harder. More and more guys came after me and I almost lost Gwen and Grandpa a few times that first summer. Heh, I even almost ran away, because I knew Vilgax was tracking me and I thought that I could keep them safe by going off on my own. But… I don’t know if they ever really got that I was scared. I joked so much about it all. I mean, I was a kid, Canary, joking around and pretending like I wasn’t scared was the best I could do. And then Feedback and the Malware things happened and then… Canary… I think I ruined Albedo’s life…” 

Ben didn't mean for that last part to come out. Heck, he hadn’t even realized he thought that until he’d said it just then. But in a way, it made sense. Albedo had judged Ben unfit to be the wielder of the Omnitrix because Ben was a childish eleven year old. 

“Everyone tells me to grow up. To be mature. But I don’t know how, because taking it too seriously shows people just how scary things are. I dunno, maybe if I’d just grown up and done things like I was supposed to…”

“Ben, your brother loves you. I’m sure he doesn’t think you’ve ruined his life. Is this because of the genetic damage that happened with his version of the Omnitrix?” Canary assumed. It wasn’t a far off assumption, considering a lot of what happened to Albedo involved the Ultimatrix messing with the guy’s genetic code.

“Basically.” Ben agreed, “If I’d been a better hero then maybe he wouldn’t have thought he had to–”

“Ben, you're still young, you can’t think that people expect you to be able to solve every problem.”

“But they did!” Ben growled, ““It’s always, Ben save this! Ben stop messing around and take this seriously! Ben pay attention, if you don’t get all of this intel, the Universe could blow up! It’s been like that for years. Even when I stopped using the Omnitrix for a few years, Grandpa and Gwen were always getting me to help them out with their stuff and making me train and prepare in case I had to use it again. Ten or eleven years old or not, I had a job to do and I blew it with Albedo. Me acting like a kid ruined his life!” Canary fell silent. He could tell he was worrying her, but at this point he didn’t care. She had wanted him to tell her about his problems, so she was going to just have to deal with it now. 

“And when everyone found out about me, I did it again.” Ben growled, “I messed up. My girlfriend didn’t get along with me anymore because I always had to leave and I just didn’t want to think about the stuff I was doing because it was too much. I was a jerk a lot, and I didn’t know what to do with the fact that I was famous. I couldn’t show up to her tennis matches without making a scene. I couldn’t get a second of free time to sit down and be normal, and when I took, like, an afternoon to try and play video games and take a breather, I’d apparently forgotten a date or something. Which isn’t her fault, but it still sucked. It was unfair to me. Unfair to her. And then we broke up, and I didn’t even notice because I was so stupidly distracted again. And then there was the press!” 

“I assume they were hard to handle?” 

“Heh, you’ve got no clue. They would always be there. One guy kept spinning every screw up I made into the latest news, so I just smiled and laughed it all off. And then Gwen and Kevin told me I was being childish, and I didn’t know what to do, so I pretended like I wasn’t. I just pretended and pretended and pretended and no one even noticed!” He realized then that he was shouting. He looked back, seeing the look of sympathy in her expression as he deflated.

“...No one noticed.” He repeated softly, “Why would they? All they know is I’m an arrogant, cocky hero who can do no wrong. That’s all they’ll ever know. That’s all they’ll ever think.” 

He defaulted on himself.

“And then Gwen and Kevin left me for college.” Ben summarized, “Because I think they got tired of me and all of the crap I kept pulling. Why wouldn’t they? And I tried to tell them… I really did! But… I’m terrified. And a hero can’t be scared of anything.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being scared, Ben.” Canary encouraged, “Hero or not.”

“When the whole universe is watching you, Canary, there is. You guys… You're so lucky, you know? You have this second life you can retreat to. Where you can go and cry and just let yourself be scared. But I lost that… and I can’t get it back. They’re watching me. If I look like I’m vulnerable… Even for a second, every enemy I’ve ever had tries to prey on it.”

“I can’t even imagine…”

“No, I didn’t think you could.” Ben agreed before he let his shoulders sink, “But… It’d been getting better, sorta, before I got here. See… I got this partner. His name is Rook Blonko. He’s this alien who has heard all the legends. All the stories about me and I was his hero. The reason he joined the Plumbers, even. Imagine that. I’d been a legend long enough to inspire some alien I’d never met to be a hero too. He met me… And I think he kinda idolized me, just like a lot of other people. Called me sir when we first met. Asked, like, a gazillion questions. Was as green as they came, that guy, but he could fight good. And slowly, he began to lighten up. I think he might’ve been the first to get that I wasn’t the person all the stories made me out to be. And I wasn’t exactly trying to be this obnoxious kid that my friends and family probably thought I was. I think he started to see that… At the end of the day, I was only human. It was nice working with a guy who got that.” 

“But you never spoke with him about what you really felt about everything.”

“Not extensively.” Ben admitted, “Just a comment or two… He once pressed too hard about the Feedback thing, seemed to think he was entitled to know everything about me since I was his partner for a little bit there, which, honestly, was a little crappy of him, but after a little bit he backed off and stopped asking questions. Seemed to pick up on the fact that I just didn’t want to talk about it. And I got to relax more around him after that. It was… Nice. Being able to do wherever and not have to worry that Rook would take off and leave me or anything like that. We were partners. We looked out for each other. It helped. I think after meeting him and getting used to him I relaxed a little bit, but… It still wasn’t easy.” 

“But it helped?” Ben smiled a little.

“..Yeah, some.” Then his frown returned, “But like I said, we never really ‘talked’ about it. About why I pretend. Or why I’m not the same Ben Tennyson he idolized for so long. After he stopped bringing it up entirely, we just never talked about it again. We patrolled, got smoothies, goofed off, since I was responsible for corrupting that green Plumber. We generally had a blast saving the world. When things got tough, I could really count on the guy to have my six. And this past year, Canary, things got tough a lot. Several more wars happened. I was made an official High School dropout. Juilie and I broke up. My psycho exes/the crazy princess chicks that liked me tried to freaking kill me multiple times. Kevin had a dad, then didn’t, and now no one knows if his race is real or not for some reason that I really don’t get or question anymore. I’ve time traveled so freaking much that I’ve lost track of, like, a dozen different things… And, oh yeah, I got the wonderful privilege of witnessing the destruction of the entire universe. Worst experience ever. Of course, I fixed it, but that’s not really the point.” 

“The destruction of the universe? Could we expand–”

“We will not.” Ben bit out, his voice dripped with a dangerous venom. 

“...I see.” Canary nodded, unfazed but the sudden dark edge in his tone. Ben and her sat in silence. Ben broke it by going right back into his thoughts on Rook. 

“I guess Rook was nice, because once he got over the fanboy phase, he liked being my partner because I was Ben, and not some over glorified hero. And not some favorite alien. Heh, a girl I know named Kai used to flirt with me because of my aliens, can you believe that one? Shameless about it too, and she never seemed to guess why I thought she was annoying. I don’t know. I guess in summary, I’ve just gotten so used to keeping up my hero persona… That I can’t turn it off. And barely anyone sees me. And I can’t just be me… Because people are depending on the great hero Ben Ten.”

“...Ben… You’ve clearly carried a lot on your shoulders for a very long time.” Canary said, and he winced at the sympathy in her voice.

“It’s not that I don’t like being a hero. I love it.” Ben felt the need to clarify, “I just…”

“...It’s just you don’t want to be a hero all the time.” Canary finished for him, “No one should carry something like that for that long. Everyone needs to rest. Everyone needs time to be vulnerable every so often. I’m sorry that you never felt like you could have that back in your world.” Something in Ben seemed to break at those words as he did his best to hold back tears. He managed to keep them at bay, much to Canary’s clear concern, but for that moment, Ben almost let them fall. 

“I’m tired, Canary.” Ben whispered. 

“I know, Ben.” Canary acknowledged, “But you aren’t alone.” 

Notes:

Ben: *Has never gone to therapy before this very moment.*

Also Ben: You want me to talk about myself! I'll talk about myself *Proceeds to info dump*

Canary: Ben, what the heck.

So, sorry for the delays...

Great news, though! I am officially a college grad! It's been a lot of work and took up a LOT of my free time these past two weeks. This chapter was put together during that time (Half of it had been written for a while now, but I needed to finish it) so typos and stuff like that? Probably a result of the craziness on my end.

Now I'm job searching and in transition. So, I really have no clue what my schedule is gonna be like a it's going to be randomized on which days I'm swamped and which I'm not. I'm also trying to start up an online store for my vector art and work on recording some of my Minecraft endeavors (Something I wasn't able to do until now) Nether of which are really top priority projects, but as it is summer, I'm trying to experiment with my options. Especially while I'm in between my bachelors and masters and in between jobs.

Anywho, gonna play the new Zelda game, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 92: The Villian

“Before we start, I think I should let you know that I am aware of your and Ben’s displacement problem. I also want to assure you that every word spoken between us while we are in this room, stays in this room. I do my best to keep patient confidentiality. I know in our line of work, that is more important than ever before.” Canary explained to him.

Albedo tried his best to swallow hard, before nodding quietly in agreement. He was a bundle of nerves and he knew it. He knew humans had therapists for distressing things like the failsafe, but to actually be told to speak with one? 

“I, ah, I’ve never done something like this before.” Albedo admitted after a tense quiet, “How do we begin this process?” 

“Well, where would you like to start? I know the failsafe incident was difficult on you. You went through a lot in the past few days. If you want to take time to process and talk through what you experienced, I’ll do my best to help you through that process.” Canary explained. Albedo’s eyes darkened as the thought about the failsafe incident and all of those confusing emotions that surrounded it.

“Benjamin died.” Albedo said plainly.

“He did.” Canary agreed, “We can start there if you’d like. I know losing him was difficult. He’s your brother. Losing any family in any form is hard.” Albedo tensed at the suggestion as his mind flashed to that moment where Benjamin had been there, alive, but just out of reach, and then the next moment he’d been gone. 

He then thought about the pain in M’gann’s eyes as he killed her before he had to turn away and pray that the Omnitrix had been right. That it’d all been a dream. 

He thought about Artemis, and the distress and horror of realizing that she could quite possibly be gone for good. A member of the team Albedo had declared his family. Gone. Perhaps forever. 

“That seems to be the case.” Albedo agreed, “I’ve never been close to the rest of Benjamin and I’s family. I was always too busy elsewhere… with Azmuth.” Calling Benjamin’s real family his own felt wrong, somehow. He only really had met Gwendolyn and Maxwell. But he’d never known them as friends. When Benjamin was younger, they’d been allies, but strangers. When Albedo became human, they became Albedo’s enemies. He’d never had the honor of meeting Sandra or Carl. Nor had he the chance to meet Benjamin’s aunt and uncle.

And strangely enough, Albedo had certainly never met Verdona, aka, the source of all of Albedo’s powers. 

“Why is that?” Canary prompted carefully. 

“I…” Albedo hiestated. He’d confessed his truths regarding his past to the team. He however, had never shared the information regarding his true identity with any of the actual Justice League. He was familiar with Canary. She was training him to be a better fighter, after all. However, he hadn’t developed the kinship with her that he had with the rest of the team. Confessing to something so personal, so dangerous, seemed strange. 

“I used to be a bad person.” Albedo said, as he dropped his head in defeat, “I don’t really want to clarify much, but I cut a lot of ties I had and destroyed many friendships I’d once known. I lashed out, pretty terribly, against the Tennyson family. Against Azmuth, the creator of the Omnitrix. Wally tells me my anger was justified. The team, they assure me they understand where my outrage and hate had originated. However, I am afraid to agree with the justifications, for when I did before, I had been driven to do terrible things. How Benjamin has come to forgive me so easily… I will never understand.” 

“And this has estranged you from the rest of your family?” Canary asked. Albedo hiestated, before nodding in agreement. 

“Canary, I was…” He swallowed with much difficulty, “In Benjamin and I’s world, I was a villain. I wasn’t a hero. I was a jealous, bitter person who was angry with the hand I had been dealt. I lashed out. I hurt a lot of people. Benjamin most of all. I blamed him and accused him of things he had no control over. I justified terrible deeds and horrifying alliances as correct for the sake of my own desires. The sake of my own goals. I thought myself above others. It became my downfall. And yet, Benjamin he…” Albedo felt his voice break, “...He forgave me. And he loved me. And he stood by me. And he fights for me. He brought me back from the cusp of my own self destruction and became a brother to me when he had every right to deny me of such an honor.” 

Albedo clenched his fists as he felt tears sting his face.

“And to watch him die like that. To watch him leave me after he had fought so hard for me, even when I didn’t deserve it? It broke me.” Albedo trembled, “Ever since Azmuth left me, Benjamin is all I’ve had. I don’t want to lose him.” 

“Albedo, I had no idea.” Canary said softly. Albedo found himself staring at his hands.

“I never informed the League of my past. I’ve been terrified of the idea of it. Bruce… Batman, that is, I consider him a dear friend at this point. He’s my boss, but I know of his paranoia. If he knew what I used to be… Well, I’m not sure what that might do to our relationship. All of you heroes in this League, you seem so very righteous. Much like Benjamin, you always seem to fight for what is good. What you think is the right thing. Meanwhile, I’ve fallen so far from grace, I’m surprised there was any chance that I might’ve been forgiven.” 

“Albedo, we all make mistakes. Not everyone in the League started out as heroes. Some of them had to fight long and hard to become the people they are today. I think what really matters is… Are you the person you were before? Or have you been actively working past that? Have you been getting the support you need to prevent yourself from falling back into that lifestyle again?”

“I thought I had.” Albedo admitted, “The team has been good for me. They’ve supported me and have helped me grow and change for what I believe to be the better… But I still don’t think I’m a good hero. I killed M’gann, Canary. I killed my little sister.” 

“You knew the simulation wasn’t real by that point. You were only trying to save her.” Canary pointed out, “You were protecting the team.” 

“But I didn’t know.” Albedo corrected, “The Omnitrix snapped me out of the trance, but the second I was with M’gann again, it was like my brain wanted to believe the Omnitrix had been wrong. My mind tried to trick me again into thinking I was really there. If the Omnitrix hadn’t killed the others, I don’t think I would’ve woken up enough to commit myself to that terrible deed. When I did kill her, I still wasn’t sure. I could only hope and pray and beg that I wasn’t wrong. That I hadn’t killed my sister. That I hadn’t once more been the cause of the destruction of my family.” 

“That had to be hard.” Canary said, sympathy in her voice. Albedo didn’t know how she could be sympathetic. He’d just admitted to murdering M’gann despite not being entirely certain if the sincerio he was in was real or not. It was like the Dreameater all over again. An impossible nightmare that had all ended in despair and pain. 

“I am a monster.” Albedo decided.

“That’s not true.” 

“Isn’t it? All I seem to do is hurt the people who care about me and call me their family.” Albedo insisted, “First I am not good enough for Azmuth. Then I fail to save Benjamin. And then I kill M’gann and orchestrate the deaths of Robin, Wally, and Martian Manhunter. I do it in cold blood. Is that not the mark of a monster?” 

“You keep mentioning Azmuth. In the simulation, you and Wally talked about him. He hurt you, didn’t he?” Canary said, changing the topic. Albedo wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not about the switch in conversation, considering what the new focus was. Albedo curled in on himself and hugged his chest as if it would somehow dull the aching pain he felt.

“He took everything from me. I loved him like a father… And he left me to die.” Albedo admitted in a small whisper, “I dedicated my life… Everything I had into following his footsteps. Into learning from him. And he didn’t even care. He was all I had and he threw me away because I messed up. Wally… Wally and Benjamin both say family doesn’t give up on each other so… I just don’t understand why he gave on me.” 

Albedo’s eyes watered and he choked on a sob.

“Was I really not good enough? Was I really not worthy of him? I loved him. Did he not love me back?” Albedo felt raw and exposed. It was just Canary and him, and yet he felt like an audience far greater was observing their conversation, “Was I really just another assistant for him to throw away whenever I was deemed useless? Was that really the case after nearly seven thousand years of serving him and following after him?” 

“Seven thousand?” Canary echoed, and Albedo paused, forcing himself to weakly lift his head up to meet Canary’s eyes, for he had NOT meant to admit that. Then, after a few moments of resolve, Albedo committed to the number and nodded.

“It’s a strange Multiverse, the Omniverse, where Ben Ten’s older genetic brother is well over seven thousand years old.” He confirmed, “But this is the truth. I am older than I look… But in Galvan years, I’m the equivalent to a human child who is partially through college. And the majority of the time I’ve lived, I’ve lived in service to Azmuth. Right up until I questioned him about the choice to allow a ten year old boy to wield the Omnitrix. Right up until I saw him fail to stop a sick Galvanic Mechamorph called Malware. Right up until I was shown just how flawed Azmuth could be. Right up until I tried to prove I could do better, and made an Omnitrix of my own.” Albedo held up the dead Ultimatrix on his wrist.

Understanding dawned on her face as she put the puzzle together far faster than anyone on the Team had. 

“You weren’t born human.” She recognized. Albedo broke eye contact at those words, and practically confirmed her hypothesis without saying a word. 

“I’m sorry.” She said, she sounded genuine, “It must be hard adjusting to a new world. A new body. A new lifestyle after living so long in one way. It’s probably not something most people would quite understand. The frustrations that likely arose because of it… Well, I agree with your team. They likely were justified. However, the actions you’ve mentioned, the crimes you probably committed as a result of these frustrations? Those likely were not. Lashing out because of anger and frustration rarely works well. Allowing anger and hate to consume you never leads to anything good…. But something tells me, you figured all of that out the hard way.”

That, he had.

“As I said.” Albedo huffed, “I wasn’t a good person. Frankly, I’m not too certain if I am a good person now. It’s clear that I am still capable of hurting people.” 

“What happened to M’gann wasn’t your fault Albedo.” Canary cut in, “Neither was what happened to Benjamin. Sometimes, bad things happen and there isn’t anything anyone can do. You saved your team… Even if it doesn’t feel like you did. I won’t pretend to know how far you fell or how bad it got when you were a villain. But I will say the person we witnessed in that simulation wasn’t a villain. You didn’t do the things you did to hurt your team. You did what you did because you loved them. And you were willing to sacrifice everything to save them. That’s not the sort of behavior you’ll find in a villain or a monster.” 

“But it’s also not the action of a hero.” Albedo pointed out, “A hero wouldn’t commit himself to killing an innocent girl for the sake of others.” 

“Maybe not.” Canary agreed, “But even if you didn’t act like a hero, you didn’t act like a monster. Put plainly, you acted human.” 

“To error is to be human.” Albedo recalled. 

“We are a complicated species, Albedo. I’m sure you’ve learned that.” Canary laughed, though it wasn’t to tease him. Rather, a laughter at the absurdity of the race he’d accidentally adopted. Humans truly were strange and far more complex than Albedo had first believed. 

“That we are.” Albedo agreed. He then hesitated, “That being said… There is something else that has been troubling me as of lately. Something beyond my past status as a villain and the recent event with the simulation. Seeing as you’re the only person other than Benjamin and one of my work friends who knows of the Omniverse… You might be one of the few people I can ask about it… And my work friend likely isn’t the best for advice on this front, as he has different experience than I about these sorts of things.” 

“I’m all ears.”

Notes:

Canary is just uncovering all sorts of things about the Tennyson twins through this, isn't she?

(Also, as a note, Albedo's work friend that he mentions at the end of this chapter is just Dubbilex. Felt the need to clarify, since Albedo sure as heck isn't going to and I didn't want to confuse anyone.)

Chapter 93: He Who Is Conflicted

“A little while ago… I had this dream.” Albedo began slowly, “About Klarion.” Canary’s eyebrows shot up, as if she hadn’t expected him to say that. He didn’t blame her. It was out of nowhere.

“It wasn’t just a dream, he’d broken into one of my memories about… A difficult time I’d experienced during my villainy phase of life, he wanted to recruit me in service of chaos. I am part anodite, which has the potential to become as strong as a chaos or order lord. However, my magic is strictly neutral, bending neither towards order nor chaos. Naturally, I refused his pitches and kicked him out of my mind. I’ve walked that path before. I’m actively fighting to stay away from it. However… There is something he said to me that I… I just can’t banish from my thoughts. Because they were true words.”

“What did he say?” Canary asked, her voice wary.

“I have no future.” Albedo replied, “He told me I have no future.”

“Unironically?” She said, “It wasn’t just a threat or something he said to get under your skin?”

“I thought it was a threat at first, before he clarified that one does not need to die to have no future. It was then I came to grasp what he was conveying. When I put on the helmet of Fate… I further understood the meaning behind these words. It’s not that I have no life left to live… It is that I have no path set out for me. I will go nowhere. Not if I continue the way I have been.”

“I see.” Canary nodded, “And this bothers you.”

“The Galvans are obsessed with having purpose. With using their skills to shape the Universe into a better place. To have no future is to be the least of my original race. It’s to be useless.” Albedo explained, “There is nothing worse to a Galvan than to be considered useless.”

“I don’t think you’re useless. You put a lot of work into Wayne Enterprises and your work helps people everyday. You help this team and we find you valuable.” Canary said, “And even if you didn’t, you still have value.”

“I know that.” Albedo said quickly, “I know that I’m useful here. That is my problem, Canary… I’m useful here.” He found himself stressing the words as he said them. Canary blinked, before it seemed to register to her what his problem was.

“But not in the Omniverse.” She realized.

“No. In the Omniverse, I have no future. Even if I go back and beg Azmuth for forgiveness. Even if I got my old body back. Even if I fought and clawed to be seen in a good light again… I would be useless there. I threw everything I had away in my attempts to prove Azmuth wrong. In the process, I lost every ounce of credibility and worthiness I might’ve once possessed. No Galvan will ever see me as their equal again. Even if I find a way to make myself useful while I’m there… It will never go anywhere. It will never amount to anything. But here… Here I have a clean slate. Here, I’ve something worthwhile. Here I have family to fight for. I have a life worth living. Here, I have everything I need to create a new future for myself.” 

“But Ben can’t stay here.” Canary concluded. Albedo deflated at this information and Albedo nodded.

“He cannot.” Albedo agreed, “He must go home. They need him. But… I don’t want to let him go. I don’t want to lose Benjamin. But I also don’t want to lose what I have discovered in this world. What’s more, if I never go back… I will be human for the rest of my life. I’m not even sure if I want that. I’ll die young for my species. I’ll die young for a Galvan, that is. I don’t know if I’m willing to give up my heritage… For all of this. My Galvan roots are a part of who I am. However, I do not think I can deny my humanity anymore. Nor can I deny my borrowed anodite inheritance. To surrender my Galvan nature for humanity… I cannot even fathom it. And yet, I also cannot fathom a life outside of the one I’ve created here.”  

“Then I guess you need to ask yourself what you want more… A long life that is meaningless, but you’ll be with Ben for a little while longer. Though if Galvans live as long as you say, it won’t be very much longer. But you will have your old body and life back. Or, in contrast. Live a short life where you have a purpose with the team by your side. But you’ll be stuck as a human. And you’ll lose Ben sooner than you would’ve.” Canary explained. She then paused in consideration, “I’ll be honest with you, Albedo. I’ve always been human. Something humans often are confronted with is the fact that life is short. Some try to fight it. Others accept it. Most try not to think too much about it.”

“Not exactly a concept I was ever forced to confront prior to becoming human.” Albedo mused, as he rested his head on his hands, “I’m not sure I like it.”

Albedo found himself moving his hands to his head as he rubbed his brow.

“And even then, what if I’m thinking too much into it all? What if this temptation to stay is yet another excuse to avoid what rightfully awaits me back in my own multiverse? It's just… It’s confusing. All of it is confusing, and I don’t very much like being confused.” Albedo admitted, “Not to mention, despite my best efforts, the progress on the machinery needed to send us back home is moving at a snail's pace. I’ve only just come up with the proper algorithm needed to properly locate the correct multiverse and sync the space time continuum with ours to prevent too much time slippage between the two universes. I’ve barely finished the engineering needed to create a stable interface between the two, much less a proper bridge that can transport any living, breathing creatures across it without error.” 

“Back up, a little, Albedo… You’ve been working on this project alongside your work with Wayne and your work with the Team?” Canary asked, concern in her tone. 

She didn’t even know half of it. Then again, a human as he was, he was Galvan in spirit. Galvans loved to work.

“I have to.” Albedo replied, “At the rate I’m moving, I won’t be finished until the end of this year. Around December or January according to my calculations… Benjamin’s going to be seventeen in December. I’m going to be legally seventeen in December. From what I’ve researched, seventeen isn’t a milestone to humans… But humans find the day of their births far more important than Galvans do.I think Benjamin may be homesick. To make him wait that long? To keep him from his family during such an important time in the human experience? It feels wrong. At the same time, however, I know more than most the dangers of trying to make a deadline.”

He noticed she still looked concerned and was quick to clarify, “I’m not opposed to the extra work. Don’t be mistaken. I’m a Galvan. We live for this sort of workload. I’ve even forced myself to hold back some for the sake of my human anatomy and health. My main concern isn’t the workload as much as it is knowing that despite my best efforts… I’m not going to be able to help Benjamin as quickly as I would like.”

“Is there any way the League could help?” Canary offered. 

“I am not entirely sure… I’m attempting something not even Azmuth has truly pulled off.”

“Well, if you think of something, let me know, and I’ll see how we can support you in that effort.”

“That does help to know.” Albedo admitted. Canary smiled and nodded, before reaching across and placing a comforting hand on Albedo’s shoulder.

“I’m glad… And about this conflict about your future? I can’t tell you which way to go, but I do think you should talk about it with Ben. Something tells me he’ll want to be involved in that conversation.”

“I wouldn’t want to bother–”

“Trust me. He can handle it. He’s a lot more mature than he lets on. Something tells me nothing will mean more to him than you telling him about this conflict you’ve been wrestling with. If you decide to stay, it might sting a little, but I think he’ll understand. Don’t wait until the last minute to make your choice, but don’t be hasty. Take it slow. Work it out with your brother. Something tells me you’ll figure it out. You’re a smart kid… Ah, well, maybe not a kid, but you are smart. If you give it some time and thought, you’ll figure it out. I’m confident.” 

“Truly?” He asked.

“Truly.” She agreed.

Notes:

Wow, today's been crazy! One of my little sisters graduated from high school on Thursday, and my parents invited my relatives down to our house for the weekend to celebrate both her high school graduation and my college graduation. Ended up deep cleaning the house, baking (Which I am not the best at and half of the food I make has to be gluten-free), and decorating. Also, I'm an introvert. On top of that, I'm trying to learn how to use obs properly and job searching still, so you know... It's been insane.

Anywho, have a chapter! This one's a little less heavy than the last few, but still pretty important in Albedo's journey.

Chapter 94: The Tennyson Brothers.

Ben still didn’t cry.

He’d come pretty close. Canary had assured him a thousand times that it would be fine if he did. She would keep it between them.

But years of practice stilled them before they could even fall. He’d simply thanked her, stood, and left the therapy session more uncertain than he’d been ever before.

When Albedo had left, it was clear he’d not been the same, his face long dried, but the traces still faintly staining his cheeks. He looked a lot happier than he had before, his smile still uncertain, but a lot more genuine. 

The two went home in silence, bumping into Conner as he stormed out of his session with a scowl on the way. Ben would’ve been worried, but he didn’t really have the energy for it. So, they went home, ate in silence, with Albedo’s more contempt and contemplative, and Ben’s silence born from too many thoughts. Too many words he didn’t think about much before the Heroverse. 

He went to bed that night, Canary’s words repaying over and over, his confessions raw in his mind until it wasn’t Canary he was spilling his pain to in his dreams. She had been looking down into her notebook, a curtain of blonde shielding her normally blue eyes, before looking up at him with green ones.

And it was Sandra Tennyson.

It was his mom.

That had woken him up really fast, making him stumble out of his room and out of the apartment to the little porch area that wrapped its way around the entire complex. The summer air was nice. Refreshing as he gripped the railing of the balcony as faces seemed to meld again in his mind. Red hair, and amber eyes to green ones. Blonde locks, and a cocky smile to jet black and a cross expression. Short, choppy hair and blue eyes, to a mullet and a wry grin.  Red hair and freckles, to an older face and more Tennyson greens. Warrior’s tattoos and a head held high, to Revonahgander markings and a far taller stature. 

And then suddenly there was an arm around his shoulder, pulling him into an embrace and out of his messy thoughts.

Albedo.

Ben felt himself melt into the hold, tired, but knowing fully he wasn’t going to sleep well that night. 

‘I know, but you aren’t alone.’ Canary’s words ghosted his mind as he found his breathing had started to even out. 

“I miss them.” Ben croaked, “What if I don’t get home in time? What if something happens, and I wasn’t there to save them?” 

“You’ll get there on time.” Albedo assured him, “You always do.”

“Not always.” Ben whispered. Albedo shifted in the hug to get a better look at Ben, there were several questions in his eyes.

Questions he left unasked.

“It was a few months before we came here. Someone set off an Annihilarrgh. I couldn’t stop it.” Albedo sucked in a breath. The guy most certainly knew the implications of those words.

“I fixed it.” Ben said, “But… Sometimes I wonder… Sometimes I wonder if the Universe we have is the one I grew up in. If the people I call family are even the same people I once knew… Or if it’s all just one big lie.”

“I know if what you say is true… Then I was still the same.” Albedo replied, “My memories, my life, those are almost certainly mine, no matter how much the celestials might meddle.”

“...I suppose that is a little reassuring.” Ben admitted, after all, it’s not like Rook ever confirmed or denied he was the same Rook after it all happened. Rook had flat out not believed him for the longest time, “That wasn’t the only incident though. Back when the Forever Knights got this crazy purge order on all aliens and alien hybrids I lost a lot of good people. A buddy of mine from the Highbreed Wars, even. I managed to get them to stop, but I wasn’t fast enough to stop them from hurting everyone.”

“I remember that.” Albedo muttered, “I had been chased down by multiple knights. I had to lay low for a while… And then suddenly their hostility ceased entirely. You’re saying you put an end to that madness? I hadn’t known that.”

“Right. I guess it’d make sense they’d hate you too. Even if you are a human now.” Ben mused, “My point is, I’m not… I’m not strong enough, Albes. Maybe if I had been, people like Pierce would still be alive. The Annihilarrgh wouldn’t have gone off. Maybe… Maybe… You wouldn’t be human right now. Maybe you’d still be on Galvan Prime. Making a name for yourself like you always wanted to.”

Albedo pulled from Ben entirely and studied him, his crimson eyes almost looking brown in the dark as he examined Ben.

“I didn’t know you blamed yourself for that.” Albedo said softly after what felt like ages, and then his hard gaze softened, “Don’t. I blamed you, but you were a child. You did the best you could, and I used my dissatisfaction with you and Azmuth’s choice as fuel for an anger you didn’t deserve. I shouldn’t have blamed you for my actions… Azmuth, perhaps. But not you. I’m sure there’s your fair share of things to be blamed for… I am not one of them. Nor are the things you’ve mentioned just now. You didn’t order the Forever Knights to kill those people. And I doubt anyone could’ve been fast enough to prevent a catastrophic event like an Annihilarrgh… And as for your family? They are strong, just like you. They’ll be just fine. You’ll see them.” 

“Canary said something similar.”

“She’s a wise woman.” Albedo agreed, “Smart… For a human.” This earned a snort from Ben. Albedo chuckled a little in response before his laugh died some as he looked thoughtful again.

“I’m sorry if I ever made you believe you had to carry your burdens alone. I’m sorry if Azmuth, or anyone else made you think that.” Albedo told him, “Even Azmuth needed assistants, you know. The need for support isn’t solely a human attribute, I suppose, even if we Galvans aren’t the best at admitting that.” Once more Ben snorted at the comment.

“Told you you’ve got a dramatic race, Al.” Albedo scoffed at the teasing insult before rolling his eyes and letting the it go.

“Speaking plainly, though… When you get back, find someone you can trust. Your cousin, Blonko… It matters not, as long as you can trust them. Let them know when you need help. I assure you they’ll be there. They won’t think less of you for it.” Albedo advised, “I know I wouldn’t. Not anymore.”

“...Why not you?” Ben asked. Albedo went quiet, and his red eyes avoided Ben’s as he turned to the balcony railing and tilted his head up to the stars.

“I… I don’t quite know what path is ahead of me next yet. I’m at a crossroads. Your path is set. Mine has yet to be discovered. Until then, I have no future. The future may leave us together until the end of our days, however…”

“It might not.” Ben said, and understanding dawned on Ben as he thought about how tightly Albedo had clung to M’gann and how tightly she’d held him back after he and she had woken up. For a moment he saw Gwen and himself in their place. Gwen was basically Ben’s sister, despite them being cousins. He would give the world for her, and she would do the same in turn. And if she asked him to kill her in order to save the Universe? (Well… Ben couldn’t help wondering what would’ve happened if he’d followed through when Kevin, his brother, had made the exact same request.)

A sadness settled on the look-alikes, but it wasn’t a bad one.

“Hold onto them, Al.” Ben advised, “Hold onto them tight, and never let them go.” Albedo jerked his head back down from the stars, and Ben was a little amused by how caught off guard he seemed by the answer. Ben held up a fist, smiling softly.

“But don’t forget your twin. Write lots. Come visit, yeah?” Ben said with a tease in his tone. Once more, Albedo simply stared at the offered fist, before a small smile formed on his lips as well, and he formed a fist of his own, bumping it against Ben’s.

It was quiet again as the boys looked up to watch the stars.

In that moment, everything felt like it was going to be okay.

Notes:

I LIVE!!!!

Seriously, though… Totally did not mean to leave ya’ll hanging as long as I did. [Warning: Incoming essay about what happened.]

Here’s basically what went down: I first had a scheduled medical thing that I KNEW I was going to be having done since, like, April, I want to say? Where I was gonna be put under on anesthetics, which, you know, is fine. (Don’t worry! I’m not dying or anything. It wasn’t for anything crazy like that, it mostly has to do with chronic pain and stuff that I’ve been dealing with. Nothing life threatening tho. I’m peachy and happy and good). But I was put under on a Thursday, wacked up my sleeping schedule Friday, and then on Saturday, I was just, like, totally out of it all day and there was no way anything proactive was going to be happening.

The following week (Weeks? I dunno, this process took a while), my sister who graduated High School turned eighteen and moved out. My parents moved her out of her room, and then, since my other little brother is getting married in July and half the family’s going to be in town, realized the area I’ve been staying in the basement can be used for guests, and decided to move me up into my sister’s old room. (If you guys haven’t picked up on it from all of my ANs talking about my siblings… I have a lot of younger siblings, guys. It’s kind’ve insane…). So I spent that weekend painting my sister’s old room and then dragging all of my stuff upstairs, then transforming her old closet into my graphic design studio.

Last week. I decided to take on the challenge of learning how to use Premiere Pro. (Video Editing). I already know a different software from college, but they didn’t have a good class over Premiere Pro for some reason… Which is kind’ve important for being a graphic designer, and so I set to work on recording myself playing Minecraft and recording myself reading (Why the heck do I sound like a little kid on recordings? I’m, like, a college grad now!) and making videos for Youtube so I could build my skills in Premiere Pro… While also still actively working on multiple job applications. On the bright side, there is now an audio version of this book’s first chapter out there from me practicing my audio/podcast editing skills in an unfamiliar program. The downside… Yeah, you guys didn’t get an update for the actual book…

So, yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m still alive. Sorry this chapter was a little short too. Life's been crazy.

Now, about the New Gods… Y’all, I’ve given a lot of thought on the New Gods arc and have done some research, and have only come back more confused on what the New Gods are actually meant to be more and more. I know they’re extraterrestrials, but the YJ Universe seems to lean a lot more into the fantastical side of them, up until the Mother and Fatherboxes actually become plot relevant. I’m not as familiar with season three of YJ (As season 1 & 2 were my childhood and the og). Which dives into them further than even season 2 does, if I remember right? (Ngl, i know way more about the people from Apokolips than I know about New Gods from Genesis.)

Anywho this part of the AN is basically to say, I’ve tinkered some with the New Gods concepts for Conner’s little side quest and… Yeah… It wasn’t going the way I wanted to no matter what I tried. So, while I acknowledge the fact that they are extraterrestrials, I also know that I will NOT be able to write a satisfactory version of that arc right now. (Especially with the craziness that’s been this past month and with my little brother about to get married next month). Sorry. So, like with other more YJ driven episodes like the prison arc, I will acknowledge it happens, but I obviously decided to do something else with Ben and Al, as they are going through their own little problems right now.

Chapter 95: Human Holidays.

“I would like you to open and close your fist in this manner.” Albedo ordered, as he held up his own hand and clenched and unclenched. 

“This is stupid.” Roy huffed, “It feels fine. Are all of these tests really necessary?”

“Heh, I’ve made the grave error of rushing test runs many times in the past... I think it is better to be safe than sorry. The biometrics needed to sync properly with your nervous system. Moving too quickly before your body has had time to adjust can cause an error in the syncing process and needless to say… That will not be a pleasant experience.” Albedo explained with a small smile.

He’d managed to finish an arm for Roy. Better learning about the human skeleton and constructing it had been such a simple task with all of the resources Wayne Enterprises offered. He’d been quite excited upon finishing two prototypes, one he intended to give to Wayne for a robotic prosthetic program for humans who could benefit from such technology… And the other he had kept off records and to himself. He’d stuffed the arm into a suitcase, waved his goodbyes to his co-workers, before racing as fast as he could to show it to Roy in Geno-Town.

Needless to say, the human boy was ecstatic to see the artificial limb, and despite Albedo explaining it was merely a prototype, was more than ready to try it on.

“So did you really make this thing… That quickly?” Roy asked incredulously as he flexed his fingers, “It barely feels robotic. I mean, I know you said you were a genius but this is kind of insane.” 

“Well, this seemed like a priority and Mr. Wayne truly was invested in the concept of an artificial limb that can help with amputees such as yourself. The funding and many resources needed for this came quite easily.”

“Well, it’s super sweet… Does it come with any fun tricks?”

“It’s a prototype, so, no. I didn’t have time for such efforts.” Albedo admitted, “And the project I received funding for was to help amputees… Not necessarily incapacitated vigilantes. This will, however, help you get back into the game once you’ve adjusted to it. You’ll need to retrain your archery skills to account for the extra strength this arm will possess, but with a little time, you can be back in action as if you never lost your arm to begin with.” 

“Extra strength?” Roy said as he eyed the arm, “I can work with that.”

“It does have a camouflaging function.” Albedo informed him, “For civilian purposes, it will simulate being flesh and bone with the press of a button.”

“So, I could probably go out now without the baddies noticing some guy with a missing arm that they accidentally misplaced?” Roy questioned with the tilt of his head.

“In… Theory. But I wouldn’t. They don’t know we have you. Not yet. But they do know your face and it would take the wrong person seeing you to jeopardize the safety of Geno-Town. Roy slouched a little at that, looking mildly annoyed that he was still stuck in Geno-Town. 

“We can get you a new persona, however, if you’d like. Or, if you wish, I can lend you my Red X uniform until we make you a new uniform. I think if I store enough mana in the suit you’ll be able to try out some of my tricks and imitate the persona quite convincingly… You just won’t be able to teleport or anything. Just the constructs I make. I’m part Anodite, and I struggled initially with that teleportation.” 

“...I’d like that.” Roy admitted, just as Albedo’s cell phone buzzed, informing the Galvan he had been texted. Albedo looked away from his patient and saw the text from Benjamin.

“Shoot.”

“What?”

“My brother was expecting me back at the cave soon. Apparently, it’s some holiday today where people dress as various monstrous creatures, and his soccer team invited me to go to their party celebrating the occasion. We were intending to meet the team and compare costumes or something like that. I think Benjamin and Wally made some kind of bet over it? I’m not entirely sure…” 

“...Are you talking about Halloween?” Roy asked incredulously. 

“Yes. I believe that is the name of the holiday.” Albedo agreed with a hum, and Roy squinted at Albedo with an extremely confused expression.

“Dude, how the heck do you not know what Halloween is? I know some of you science nerd types can be in your own world a lot of the time, but you’d have to be living under a rock if you don’t know about Halloween?”

“...Is it that well known of a holiday?” Albedo asked, “The concept seems so odd though? Why dress up in such odd costumes? What does it hope to achieve?”

“It’s an old superstition about scaring evil spirits… But nowadays, it’s just for the fun of it.”

“Evil spirits?” Albedo scrunched up his nose, even more confused than before. Once more, being someone who’d recently started learning magic, he couldn’t outright dismiss the theory of ghosts and evil spirits. However, he also couldn’t prove it, being a scientist first, and therefore was under the impression that they were mere stories and superstitions. 

“I mean, yeah? You're a magic guy. I’m sure you know all about that stuff.” Roy said dismissively.

“...I am also a scientist. And I wasn’t exactly…” Albedo trailed off, and Roy waited in expectation, “I wasn’t born on Earth. Or really raised here. My background in education is alien in nature. I’ve never really been familiar with the holidays here. I know the Fourth of July… They blow things up in celebration of a new nation. Labor day, where people take off work, though I don’t know why. He’s mentioned something called Thanksgiving? And people often bring up Christmas, and once more, I do not understand the purpose of a holiday dedicated to a large man in red breaking into people’s homes to steal cookies.” 

“Was Benjamin also not born on Earth? How come your twin apparently knows all of this stuff but you don’t?”

“We’re genetic twins.” Albedo corrected quickly, “Brothers by choice and on the basis of DNA. We weren’t born in the same manner or even by the same person.” Roy processed those words slowly.

“You’re a clone.” He concluded. Albedo honestly couldn’t blame him for jumping to that conclusion so quickly, considering the circumstances. 

“No. Not exactly. My situation is quite complicated, actually. I have his DNA, but not because I was the result of some villain’s scheme to clone my brother, but rather… I was something else before… And I accidentally turned myself into Benjamin’s genetic copy after a series of various rather rash and very poorly planned out mistakes.” Albedo explained. 

“...That’s… Really weird man.”

“Trust me, I am well aware.” Albedo agreed with a small laugh, “He and I have adjusted, however. He is a good brother, Benjamin. I’m glad to have him.” 

“Good for you, I guess? Though he probably is wondering why you haven’t let him know you're on your way.” Roy nodded towards the cell phone.

“The costume party thing can wait. This is important. I can tell him work held me up. I forgot about the holiday, but I’m sure he won’t–.”

“Dubbilex can finish up.” Roy cut in with a snort, “I’m not going anywhere you can check on my arm tomorrow and stuff. Go hang out with your twin.” 

“...You’re going to use this as an excuse to ditch Dubbilex in your adjustment phase and to attempt and try your new arm for really foolish stunts, aren’t you?” Albedo deadpanned. Roy had the audacity to fake offense at the accusation.

“Why would I do that? You said that was dangerous right now.” Roy huffed. Albedo merely narrowed his eyes. Roy didn’t break under Albedo’s glare, instead lifting his chin in a challenge. Finally, after a long while, Albedo caved.

“If I return and you’ve injured yourself by being stupid, I will hold no sympathy.” 

“That’s the spirit. See you tomorrow, doc.” Roy shooed Albedo off. Albedo rolled his eyes before going to the door to get Dubbilex.

“Make sure he doesn’t do something dumb while I’m out. I need to go to my brother right now. Can you finish the tests in my stead?” 

“I’ll do my best.” Dubbilex’s eyes twinkled in amusement at the request, “I wish you well.” Albedo couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the telepath’s amusement. Albedo really had picked the strangest of friends. Then again, he wasn’t much better. 

He made his way through Geno-Town towards the Zeta Tube he’d had installed and calibrated to appear as if it was the Washington Zeta on any League records, when a strange chill ran down his spine and he couldn’t help but spin around, as if he planned to spot an unknown observer. 

There was no one of interest there except for the genomes that typically hung around that area. Then, Albedo blinked, and in a flash of gold and blue he was staring at Nabu. Instinctively, Albedo took a step back, his hands raising defensively, mana flickering into place as he did so.

“What are you doing here? How the heck did you find this place?” Albedo immediately demanded.

“I’ve seen your thoughts, Crimson Mage.” Dr. Fate drawled, “Your body was once my to claim, unless you’ve forgotten?”

“Yeah, okay, so what do you want? I thought Benjamin told you off.” Albedo couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction as Fate’s pure white eyes widened quite a bit in what could only be fear at the mention of Benjamin’s name.

“He asked me to apologize, which I have done. Fret not, I do not wish to discourage the efforts in this odd town you’ve created. I’m here for another matter.” 

“Yes, well, I’m busy, so…” Albedo huffed, and he waved the Lord of Order off as he approached the Zeta Tube. Dr. Fate just teleported so he was standing in Albedo’s way.

“Klarion has been more active, and I’ve yet to pinpoint his goal, if one even exists. With the veil between spirit and mortal realms at its thinnest today, I have decided it logical to request the aid of those within the Justice League Dark to keep watch in my stead while I investigate the matter further.”

“I’m not in the Justice League, much less the Justice League Dark.” Albedo said, annoyed now, “And I’m a practicing mage, but I know absolutely nothing about… Spirit and mortal realms. I’m not sure what you want from me here?” 

“Be ready.” Dr. Fate warned, “Chaos is stirring. You're still something of an amateur in your practices, but you are a very powerful creature, underneath your human skin. I know Klarion has tried to prey on you already. Do not let your guard down. Tonight of all nights especially.”

“The warning is lovely.” Albedo deadpanned, “Will you leave and can I go see Benjamin now?” 

The blue Anodite nodded, stepping aside. 

“Best of luck, this Hallows Eve.” Dr. Fate offered, before teleporting away in a flash. Albedo huffed in aggravation, before turning to the Zeta Tube and telling it to take him to Mount Justice.

Notes:

Once more, sorry for the delays.

Some relatives came over for a week, that was a lot.

Then there's the 4th. Independence Day here in my town is, like, a whole event and I kinda forgot about it. Half the town gathers downtown for event booths, festival rides, a parade, and basically they celebrate from the moment July starts, all the way to Independence Day itself. Wound up traveling with my family to all of the events they had going on to celebrate. Then, like, two days later, I had a Birthday, which I can't remember how close that was to Saturday, but I do know I was busy most of that week due to both my Birthday and Independence Day. Working on this was the last thing on my mind. (Happy belated 4th for my fellow Americans).

Then I got a job interview, as well as a job offer from elsewhere (Still waiting for more info on that one. But it does look like I will have work by August which is great for me, not so great for the uploading.)

Then my little brother's wedding got cancelled and rescheduled to December due family emergencies on the future in-law's side that I don't know much about.

Saw AO3 went down for, like, almost 24 hours (IDK the exact time, but it was a while) which is kind of insane. I mean, I've seen it go down before, but never like THAT. Hope ya'll are doing good after that catastrophe. Glad they fixed it.

I do hope once I've gotten a job, things will even out schedule wise and I can make time to make uploads more consistent again, but that's a problem for Future Wolf, I guess. Who knew summer could be so wild?

Anywho, my ramble's over, have a good day!

Edit to the AN here: I randomly remembered that I promised to link the audio for the first chapter of this book in this AN, but with everything going on, it slipped my mind. Here it is if anyone's interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HcKPkpgtUI

Once more, I do NOT know the program I'm editing with very well, so this thing is more of a learning experience for me than anything, so... You know... If there's some problems with the audio, sorry... If you like this enough I might try and attempt Chapter 2, but it is a bit of a process to put together. It's really hit or miss with this one.

Chapter 96: The Reds and Ben.

“Your brother is often late from work.” Red Inferno noticed as she leaned over his shoulder and stared down at the text he received from Albedo.

“Yeah, that’s just because he’s addicted to working. My brother would forget to eat if people like me or M’gann weren’t there to remind him he has basic biological needs.” Ben agreed.

“You and your brother are fascinating.” Inferno decided as she seemed to settle some, “You fight, argue. You get along sometimes as well as, excuse my poor analogy, as fire and water sometimes might.”

“Fire and water seems appropriate, all things considered, Lady Red.” Ben chuckled, “You and Torpedo are fire and water.” 

“And Tornado air. Volcano was earth.” Inferno agreed, “All counters to one another.” Ben winced a little at the robot’s mention of Red Volcano. 

“Yeah. But that’s normal. No siblings are alike. You’ll look alike. Maybe talk alike. Have similar mannerisms, but that’s just because you came from the same place. You aren’t the same people at all.”

“This is acknowledged. Torpedo, Tornado, and myself are unique programs.”

Ben was a little bewildered with the robotic speech patterns of Inferno. He knew she’d learned to mimic human speaking patterns in the past, considering she’d once been in a body designed to appear human. However, since her redesign and ‘reunion’ with the android of their dad, both Torpedo and Inferno seemed to regress to more robotic tendencies, whilst Tornado was still ever seeking to understand what it was to be human. 

“Exactly.” Ben said with a small gesture, “You’re all unique. Which means you’re different in some ways. It’s like that with humans too. We’re all different. Even siblings. Heh, especially siblings. Though, sometimes I wonder if people notice the differences in siblings more because siblings can look alike, but have different personalities and interests.” 

“...So, it is not wholly probable that we might all corrupt and turn as Volcano did?” Inferno asked. 

“I mean you chose to stand up against him, Lady Red.” Ben pointed out, “I think that speaks for itself.” Inferno seemed to consider this information.

“We did stand beside him, however. For a time. We tried to be human once.”

“Trust me. You don’t have to be human to be a good guy. I told you both that already. I’ve got lots of friends all over the Universe. Most of them aren’t human. Some are machines, like you.” 

“Do good people allow their brothers to die?” Inferno asked, “Batman… He speaks of the importance of life. I know I and my brothers are machines, but he insisted we are alive. So was Torpedo and I incorrect in allowing Volcano’s destruction?” Ben shifted uncomfortably in his seat at that one.

“You didn’t kill him. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Ben corrected quickly.

“We only let go from holding him down because you warned we would perish if we did not. Our intentions were clear.” Inferno insisted. 

“It doesn’t matter. You let go of him. I didn’t. That was on me.”

“...Are you a good person if you did not let go?” Inferno asked. Ben ratted his palm against his knee as he bounced his leg. He got why Batman had the code he did. A man like that? A man outside of the rules with a chip on his shoulder and several scores unsettled? It was dangerous for him to take things too far. To get sucked into that darkness. 

The problem was, Batman and Ben weren’t at all the same. 

Ben didn’t talk about it a lot with the team… But when he and Vilgax went at each other in a fight? It was almost always both parties doing their very best to kill the other one. It’d been that way since Ben was ten years old. Heck, it’d been that way since his Grandpa was young and calling all the shots. There WAS a reason the Universe had thought Vilgax had died before Ben had even been born. 

That wasn’t even out of malice on Ben’s part. Not entirely. Sure, Ben hated the guy. Vilgax had been trying for Ben’s head since Ben was a literal child. However, Vilgax wasn’t exactly the only person who’d had it out for Ben. So had people like Animo. Or even Albedo, if Ben had to be honest. If Ben just went around killing people he didn’t like, then Ben wouldn’t be a hero. There was a reason he didn’t use the power of Ascalon to eradicate all evils in the Universe. That wasn’t his job. That wasn’t his place.

Ben wasn’t a god, even if the Omnitrix could get him pretty close. It wasn’t his job to decide who got to live. Who got to die. 

But when Ben fought Vilgax, it wasn’t about deciding that Vilgax should die. It was about protecting his home. About defending those people who had nothing to do with Vilgax’s wicked schemes. 

Vilgax pushed hard.

So Ben had to push back with equal measure, even if that meant there was a chance that one of them wouldn’t walk away.

That was just the nature of war.

Batman preached about not killing, but Ben knew even he wouldn’t scold a veteran soldier who had to kill to survive or to save a comrade in a war. (If Ben ever found out Batman had scolded some poor veteran about that, Ben would be having some choice words with the man. Ben’s parents might’ve been pacifists, but Ben was certainly NOT.) 

“If I hadn’t kept holding the Red Volcano down, humanity would have died.” Ben replied, “Someone had to keep holding him. But that someone shouldn’t have been you.” 

“Because it was wrong for us to hurt our brother.”

“...I don’t really know.” Ben admitted, “But it wouldn’t have sat right with anyone, and it would’ve killed you. Batman’s right. Life is important. But… Sometimes you can’t save everyone. Sometimes things can’t be prevented. Don’t do what Volcano did and purposefully go out and kill people ‘for the greater good.’ And never, and I mean never decide one person’s life is more important than anyone else’s… But…”

“But?” Inferno pressed.

“Don’t just let people die just because you think it’s wrong to stop a person from hurting other people. That’s not wrong. It doesn’t feel good, because that usually means you can’t save everyone. Stopping bad people from hurting good people is not wrong. That doesn’t mean it’s always easy. Doesn’t mean the ending’s always a good one. Try to use non-lethal means, but don’t think you're bad if it doesn't always work out. Does that make sense?” The robot seemed to process this information slowly as she nodded.

“It seems like a logical conclusion, yes. Thank you for helping clarify.” With that, she just walked off without a farewell. Likely in search of one of her siblings.

The timing couldn’t have been better, because the Zeta went off, announcing that Albedo was there.

“Finally.” Ben said, as a sigh of relief escaped his lips and he grabbed up the costumes he’d gotten for his bet against Wally, “He’s cutting it real close, the others are going to be here for the meet up before we all go celebrate. Wally will never let it down if he shows up and we’re NOT in costume.” 

Notes:

Ben: *Has serious conversation with robot lady about if killing is bad or not*
Ben literally seconds later: Oh, look! My brother’s here! Time to celebrate Halloween!

But in all seriousness, I wanted a chapter focusing some on the new residents in Mount Justice. I just stuck to Red Inferno for now, but I kept trying to figure out where the heck to put this chapter in the story. Seemed like in the middle of a less stressful time for the Team was a good place, all things considered. This is just how I think Ben would view all this, as it's been made clear from a few of his lines in his shows (At least from what I've notices, what with the Purge thing, him being willing to kill Kevin to protect the people Kevin loves, etc.)

Story aside, yes, it is not Saturday. Yes, I’ve not updated in… *Checks calendar* HAS IT ACTUALLY BEEN A MONTH!?

Whoops.

I’m really sorry guys, but! In good news, I’ve got a job now, and that’s partially why I’ve been not updating, so things are good on my end, in case anyone was getting worried. I’m still trying to figure out my scheduling for the next few months of this year, and that’s why I decided to update today and not three days ago when it was actually Saturday. I’m still figuring out when I’ll work on this and getting used to this job whilst preparing to start on my Masters, so if things are a bit slow, that’s why.

I’m actually gonna ask for some interaction for this next chapter though, since I thought it’d be fun to hear your guy’s suggestions on what Ben and Albedo should go for for Halloween. (Someone suggested Mario and Lugi last time, and I kind’ve laughed out loud when I remembered that those two are PLUMBERS. Kind’ve made me curious what other ideas people have.)

Also, I kind’ve promised concept art for Ben, like, ages ago… Never found my old sketches, but I’ve been working on some things in Photoshop, so look forward to some art in the near future if you guys like that sort’ve thing. (Shout out to ej-fanfics for this amazing art I just saw for the interview scene from chapter 4.)

Chapter 97: Halloween.

This was… Such a dumb tradition. 

He was glad Benjamin seemed to be having fun, but Albedo was so very lost on how costumes were meant to ‘scare off spirits’ and how collecting candy was going to contribute to anything productive.

Then again, from what Roy had said, perhaps it wasn’t meant to be productive at all. ‘Just for fun’ he’d said. Albedo was deciding not to think too hard about it as Benjamin gushed on and on about how he loved Halloween.

“My mom and I would go Trick or Treating every year! It was the best!” Ben said as he further explained the tradition, “Of course, we’re teenagers, so it’s a little weird if we went Trick or Treating, but if you want to do that instead of the soccer party thing tonight–”

“I’m good.” Albedo said with a small laugh, “I think running around and asking for sweets for strangers might be… A bit much. At least I’m familiar with your soccer teammates, I’ll have to thank them for letting me come, despite not being on your team.” Ben chuckled at Albedo's response.

“Ben… What on Earth.” Wally’s voice got the twins to jerk their heads up towards the red haired speedster, “I thought we were trying to wear scary costumes.” As if to prove his point, the boy gestured incredulously towards his costume. He looked… Basically the same to Albedo, only hairer. 

“...I mean, I can do scary things.” Benjamin said and he went for the watch on his arm, to which Wally immediately gestured wildly for Benjamin to stop.

“No! No! No! I don’t care what alien you’ve got on there, you are NOT upstaging me with some freaky alien… No offense, Al.”

“You know, I sometimes wonder if humans realize how freaky they are to the aliens.” Albedo deadpanned in response, making Wally bark out a laugh. He’d clearly not expected Albedo to talk back.

“Wow. You’re in a sassy mood today.” Wally decided.

“You aren’t even that conceiving of a Loboan if that’s what you’re attempting to imitate. They have longer snouts and are much larger with tails and–” Albedo began to list off.

“Al, he’s a werewolf, not a Wolfblitzer.” Benjamin interrupted with a chuckle.

“What’s the difference?” Albedo asked.

“Werewolves are what humans think a werewolf would be like; Loboans are what werewolves actually are like.” Benjamin explained. 

“Ah. I see.” Albedo said, offering a sage nod before he stood to show Wally his costume, “We are what humans think Plumbers are like, but not what they are actually like.” Albedo gestured to his blue overalls and Wally facepalmed in response.

“Dude. You’re Mario.”

“Yes. The famous plumber.” Albedo agreed, “But not the interplanetary police officer. Rather, the man who fixes pipes. I believe the term for this costume is ‘ironic.’”

“Holy crap, Ben, you have an uncultured twin.” Wally decided.

“He’s learning. Give him a break. Guy spent more time in space than on Earth, so you know. One thing at a time.” Benjamin laughed as he stood up. He was wearing a green version of Albedo’s outfit, with a hat branded with the letter ‘L’. 

“I assume the others are arriving for the contest?” Albedo asked.

“Yeah, Conner and M just got here from school. Artemis and Zatanna will be here soon. Rob’s not coming. You know, Gotham on Halloween and all that fun jazz. Probably the most annoying night of the year for the Bats. Aqualad doesn’t really celebrate this holiday. He’s visiting home again.” Wally rambled, “Annoyingly, Megan’s whole ‘I can mimic anything’ deal is gonna bury us for our contest.” Benjamin just got to his feet, and pat Wally on the shoulder as he went towards where the mission room was.

“Fine by me… Just as long as you don’t win the bet.” Benjamin said with a way too big smile plastered across his face, before immediately sprinting towards the mission room, cackling like a madman while Wally sputtered in dismay.

“I would feel pity for you, but making a bet concerning disguises on a team with two shiftshapers and practically two magicians was a pretty foolish move.” Albedo informed Wally.

“Seriously, did you wake up today and choose sass?” Wally said in objection to the remark. Albedo just grinned, before following after his twin while Wally grumbled behind him. Upon seeing Conner’s disguise, Albedo felt a little better about not quite understanding the holiday, since he appeared to have tried his best to imitate a Thep Khufan, but didn’t quite hit the mark. M’gann’s well dressed Ormerowon costume, on the other hand, was spot on.

“What are you two meant to be?” M’gann asked in confusion, but Albedo was prevented from explaining as Captian Marvel flew in with a less conceiving Ormerowon disguise on.

“Oh my gosh! Mario and Lugi! That’s amazing! The perfect twin costume!” Marvel rattled in excitement.

“See, he gets it. Cool zombie makeup, Captain.” Benjamin complimented. 

“Yeah, are you going to a party too?” M’gann asked with the tilt of her head.

“Well, yeah, I was going with… Well, I thought you said anyone on the team who wanted to come to yours was invited, right?” Captain Marvel asked, looking confused. M’gann grinned and nodded.

“Yes! Everyone’s going to be celebrating tonight, so you can go ahead and have fun at your party.” 

Albedo picked up on the look of confusion, then distress in Marvel’s eyes, and he prided himself for catching that Marvel was upset about her response. (He really was getting better at reading human expressions and emotions those days.) 

“He’s coming with Benjamin and I.” Albed stepped in, looping an arm with Marvel’s and pulling the other hero to Albedo’s side.

“He is? But I thought that was for Ben’s soccer team.” Wally said, bewildered. Benjamin looked equally baffled, but he glanced towards Marvel, likely spotting the sudden look of excitement on the man’s face, before nodding along.

“Oh, yeah. Coach wanted a few chaperones around, with Halloween being such a crazy night all all, and we told him that Al’s work friend doctor–”

“Er, Batson?” Marvel inserted, he was practically bouncing in excitement next to Albedo.

“Dr. Batson would be tagging along too!” Ben said, without missing a beat. 

“Oh! Well, I hope you have fun!” M’gann said cheerfully. That’s right when the Zeta announced Zatanna and Artemis’ arrival. 

Albedo was slightly confused by them, with Artemis dressed up in a professional human suit of some kind and Zatanna wearing a dress and pointed hat.

“Vampire and witch.” Ben supplied, clearly noticing Albedo’s confusion, “And no, not a Vladat.”

“I was going to ask, because Vladats are extinct.” Albedo agreed. Wally just squinted at them.

“Jeesh, how many monster-like aliens are there?” Wally asked.

“There’s a whole sunless planetary system just full of them.” Ben replied, “I’ve been a few times. It’s like, really out of the way though… So not even Azmuth had been able to get to it right off the bat to get the DNA samples for those ones. I basically had to collect them myself. It’s called the Anur system. It’s pretty sweet.” 

“Today on interesting and out of nowhere facts with the Tennysons.” Artemis laughed as she approached the group, “The Mario brothers? Really? You two are dorks.” 

“Correction. Ben is a dork.” Zatanna cut in, “I’m betting this was his idea wasn’t it?” 

“I didn’t even know about this tradition until recently… So yes. Yes it was.” Albedo agreed. 

“Well, you two look great. All of you, actually.” Zatanna nodded to the others, chuckling slightly as she seemed to notice M’gann was back to fussing over the bandages she wrapped carefully onto Conner for his costume. 

She crossed her arms, leaning towards Artemis.

“How long have those two been a couple?” And honestly, Albedo kept forgetting the relationship between M’gann and Conner wasn’t out in the open quite yet. Being M’gann’s ‘older brother’ and sitcom partner had perks, after all. 

Artemis looked miffed.

“No. M’gann and Al are–” Her eyes trailed to Albedo who shook his head instantly at the idea.

“I’m much older than her and I have no plans to engage in any romantic pursuits anytime in my near future, thank you very much. She’s my little sister.” Albedo corrected immediately. Artemis blinked at that response, baffled. His eyes trailed away from Albedo towards where M’gann was now teasing Conner. The kryptonian teen was smiling, delight in his eyes as he teased her right back.

“Oh.” Artemis sounded quite defeated with that one word. Her expression soured and she folded her arms together and turned as if to leave. 

“Artemis. I’m sorry, I thought you knew!” Zatanna said quickly. Albedo was a little lost and wanted to get clarification about why Artemis was so openly upset by the information she’d just been provided with, but he was stopped by Benjamin grabbing Albedo’s arm.

“We’ve got to get moving if we want to get there on time. Marvel’s gonna pick the costume winner, and then it’s party time!” Benjamin declared, completely oblivious to the odd exchange between himself, Zatanna, and Artemis, before leaning in, “And I double checked with coach, Marvel can tag along. We just gotta make sure he doesn’t give away that he’s the real Captain Marvel and not that he’s some guy in a zombie Captain Marvel costume.”

“Right. So… Who is the winner of our contest then?” Albedo asked, worried about Artemis, but also mildly interested in Marvel’s answer. Zatanna seemed to be taking care of Artemis, however, and that was likely for the best. 

Marvel flushed at the sudden attention directed towards him, before nodding.

“I want to pick the twins because I really, really like Mario.” Marvel admitted sheepishly, and Albedo was confused on how a famous human ‘plumber’ could be so interesting that a hero like Marvel would be a fan of his, “But Miss. Martian’s Zombie costume is so cool and it matches mine so well!” 

“She’s a shiftshaper. It shouldn’t count.” Wally said, “I spent so much time on this, Marvel! All that hard work, and you’re gonna just throw it out like that? Come on, man!” Marvel looked uncomfortable with those words.

“That’s a really good point. I like your werewolf costume too.”

“Don’t let him bully you.” Benjamin chastised, “Just choose who looks coolest.” Marvel bit his lip before pointing towards M’gann.

“I have to go with my fellow Zombie. Sorry, Wally.” Marvel admitted.

Wally’s devastation that day was unmatched.

Notes:

…Life’s been crazy, ya’ll. Adjusting to the new job and the Master’s program I’m in now has been quite the process, but I think I’ve worked out a stable schedule (At long last!) I will be uploading next week, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to go as deep into the Halloween episode as would’ve probably been ideal. Like I said, life’s been crazy on my end.

Special thanks to Fangirlgoddess124 for first suggesting the Mario and Luigi costumes. That was clever, and I think everyone in the comments in the last chapter agreed with you. I do want to bring up honorary costume ideas:

MM Power Rangers: Jason (Red) and Tommy(Green) (This would’ve been funny since the Red and Green rangers have opposite personalities to Ben and Al).

MHA: Deka and Bakugou (Bakugou could be albino, if you squint… Plus, I see Ben as an anime fan.)

DC: Batman and Superman (I just find this one hilarious, if I had time, I could’ve made this into a whole thing…)

DP: Danny Fenton and Phantom (I’m a phan, and this is also really clever, Al’s already got white hair, after all).

Also, as promised last time, here’s some digital art I did for this story.

Also, check out this cool artwork done by namesarehard11 on Tumblr!

Chapter 98: The Lord of Chaos.

“So, how is your brother, Dr. Tennyson? I know he’d been behind in school after that bug he caught a little bit ago.” Dr. Regina asked as she finished cleaning up her station for the day.

“I ensured he was caught up. School’s been good for my brother.” Albedo replied with a smile, “We are quite busy these days, however, with his soccer, my commitment with the Cadmus reformation project Mr. Wayne has me assisting on, and with this job.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed you boys have been in and out of the apartment a lot more. I suppose that makes sense. This deep into the fall, things are bound to get more eventful. I do want to drop some more of those cookies you liked, if you two have time this week.” 

“Oh! Yes! That’d be lovely! I wish we could repay you for your kindness but–”

“Nonsense.” Dr. Regina said with a tut while she grabbed her bag and smiled, “It’s my pleasure! There aren’t many children in those apartments, so it’s nice being able to spoil someone. Just let me know when’s a good time, and I’ll be right over with those cookies.” Albedo ducked away before she could ruffle his hair and mess up his wig.

“Well, I’m off! Have a good rest of your day, Dr. Tennyson! Don’t overwork, you hear?” 

“I know.” Albedo replied with an eyeroll. And with that she turned and left the building. Dr. Regina was always the last one out besides Albedo, who tended to lose track of time. He was certain the old woman stayed behind solely to keep an eye on him and remind him to clean up and head home. He was somewhat grateful for that as well, since he was far too busy to be too distracted by one project when there were multiple to be tended to along with his commitment to the team.

“Jeesh. She was boring.” Albedo’s entire body went rigid at the sound of a new voice, “I mean, she kept going on and on. How can you stand to even work in a boring place like this?” Albedo spun around face, his stomach dropping some as he came face to face with the Lord of Chaos himself, Klarion. Albedo inhaled sharply, before shoving his surprise away, uttering a spell that deactivated the cameras in the room, and summoning mana into his hands. 

“What do you want? I think I made my stance quite clear in our last conversation.”

“No. I remember quite clearly. You kept whining for me to go away, but you didn’t actually answer me.” Klarion pouted. 

“And the conversation will not change this time. Get out. I want nothing to do with you.” 

“Pity. You don’t get a say this time… What is this? A wig? You’ve been a magician long enough to know that a wig is a stupid disguise. Someone ought to teach you to use glamour or transformation spells. They’d come so naturally to you, you know! See, I’ll show you!” With the snap of Klarion’s fingers, Albedo’s lab coat, t-shirt, jeans, wig, and contacts seemed to vanish, replaced by his natural hair and eye color and his Reflect Uniform, “So much easier, isn’t it? You hang around that boring Zatanna girl… I’m not sure why you don’t know about this trick!”

Albedo growled, twisting his mana into knives as he rushed forwards to attack Klarion. The lord of chaos merely teleported out of reach, his cat following after. Before Albedo could stop him, Klarion was there, grabbing Albedo by his hood the way Albedo had witnessed cats on the streets of Undertown grab the scruff of their kittens.

Albedo choked in alarm as he yanked backwards, into Klarion’s hold.

“Relax, silly. I’m not going to hurt you! I just wanted to show you a cool project me and my new friends are working on! And since your boring brother decided to release the Lord of Order on us, we need a little extra… protection to hide away from him long enough to cast our spell.” 

“Forgive my lack of interest.” Albedo growled, and he forced as much mana as he could out of himself, striking Klarion with a flash of red magic. The lord of chaos let go, yelping in surprise, and Albedo was fast to turn around and summon daggers to attack Klarion’s cat. 

Albedo was yanked back again, red chains erupting from the floor as they snagged him. This didn’t deter Albedo, but spurred him more, as he shifted the daggers to orbs and threw them as hard as he could at the cursed feline.

The cat yelped, darting out of the way, and Albedo felt Klarion magic waver enough to start a teleportation spell. Klarion didn’t seem to keen on letting Albedo escape so easily, because a flash of red later, and Albedo wasn’t at Benjamin’s school where help would surely be found in the form of Benjamin himself, but rather, he was sent stumbling into a wall, coming out in a small alley between the buildings of D.C. proper. Klarion shimmered into existence behind Albedo.

“Running away? Didn’t take you for the type! But I knew you were a crafty guy, so I guess I’m not too surprised.” Albedo growled, summoning more mana and turning to full on attack. Klarion grinned, eyes wild as he raised his hands to deflect, before pushing outwards.  

Albedo was fast to block, then ducked quickly out the alley as he sprinted away from Klarion.

If the lord of chaos wasn’t going to allow him to leave and get Benjamin with magic, Albedo was going to have to signal for help in a public way. Startled cries came from groups of tourist milling around the area as he rushed away, only for Klarion to appear directly in front of Albedo. He slammed into the guy, and the lord of chaos snatched Albedo’s wrists.

“What kind of game is this?” Klarion asked with the tilt of his head, “Is this tag? It’s fun!” 

With a growl, Albedo yanked his arms back and cast a dome around the two of them, pushing the civilians back and away. 

“Leave me alone.” Albedo reiterated as he slid into a fighting stance and raised his hands, praying that he wasn’t about to be forced to duel a lord of chaos completely alone. He’d gone against Klarion before… But Albedo wasn’t sure if his past meetings with the lord of chaos could be considered ‘wins’ as it was obvious which of the two where the more experienced and more powerful magic user. Albedo knew with enough practice and time, it would be a fight he could handle alone… But he also knew he wasn’t exactly there yet.

“Oh. You’re cranky. That’s boring. I already told you I’m not going to hurt you! Why don’t you believe me?” Klarion pouted a little. 

“Because you're a chaos lord?” Albedo asked incredulously, “I’m no fool.”

“And yet you want to fight me?” Klarion laughed.

“Not particularly, but I will if I must.” Albedo replied. He resummoned his daggers as if to prove his point.

“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport, Reflect! As fun as it is to beat you, we both know that’s a dumb fight to pick. I’d win so fast, it would be more boring than fun. It’d be more fun if you just let me show you what I wanted to in the first place! I’ll let you go after, scouts honor!” 

“I’m surprised you know the word honor.” Albedo replied. 

“I mean, we can try option c. I like option c, but you’re being boring today, so I’m not sure you will.” Klarion suggested. 

“Option c?” Albedo asked, and Klarion’s teeth flashed in delight.

“I’ll show you!” 

The lord of order gestured to the ground and everything shook as Albedo’s shields shattered entirely. Around him, the civilians were yelling in alarm, backing up even further as the road became a hazard, spikes erupting from the dirt and nearly impaling a few people. Albedo spun around, fearful that someone would be hurt as he forgot Klarion in favor of damage control. 

With a stern wash of mana, he tried to force the earth to still and the streets to stop trying to attack people, but… It was so very draining to attempt. 

Klarion seemed to know that as he was suddenly directly behind Albedo, once more grabbing his wrists.

“Might not be doing that quite right. You’re getting better, for sure, but still not quite good enough.” Klarion pointed out. Albedo went to yank free again, but the exhaustion suddenly doubled as energy felt like it was being leached from his bones.

“This is taking too long. Deka will notice us and he’ll come.” Klarion rambled, “I don’t like Deka. He’s boring. We should go now, before he catches us.” Deka… Benjamin was coming. Albedo needed to stall. He needed to–

“Ah, ah! No more of that! We already established, you’d lose! Let's take a little break from fighting, huh? You seem like you need a nap. Maybe you’ll be less cranky.” Albedo couldn’t help it as the exhaustion then tripled and he crumpled into Klarion’s hold against his own wishes. 

His eyelids became heavy and the entire world spun.

“Nighty, night, Reflect!” Klarion chirped.

And everything just tunneled from there.

Chapter 99: The Missing Mage.

Ben raced as fast as XLR8 would take him, having managed to get out of soccer practice upon Wally texting him that Albedo was fighting Klarion on the news. He zoomed into the area the two had been spotted only to find a police line and a destroyed road with multiple tourists gathered around and news people rattling on about the superhero spotting.

He zipped past the line, feeling the remnants of the mana in the air the second he turned back into his human form.

“Hey, you’re Deka! From the plant attack!” Ben’s eyes snapped towards the police officer.

“Where is Reflect?” Ben asked, doing his best to keep his tone even as he addressed the officer.

“We aren’t entirely sure what happened here, actually. A few tourists got recordings of it on their phones, and the news showed up just after we did after the recordings ended up on the internet. We got the call that Reflect, he’s your twin, right? He was having some sort of stand off with another magician. There wasn’t much of a fight before the other guy attacked the civilians and Reflect tried to stop him and they just… Teleported away.” The officer shrugged. 

“How long ago was that?” Ben said, frantic, “Was there any indication where they were going?”

“He’s gone.” Ben spun around and there was a surge of excitement from the gathered crowd. 

“Is that Dr. Fate? From the old Justice Society? He looks so different!” Ben overheard a reporter announce in dismay. Sure enough, Dr. Fate floated behind Ben, distraction in his void-white eyes.

“What?!”

“I’ve been tracking Klarion's movements since Halloween, he’s been flitting around Reflect since before then, I believe, though I still cannot decipher why. I warned Reflect to be wary of the man, as I was concerned what Klarion’s intentions were.” Nabu explained.

“And he didn’t tell me?” Ben asked in frustration.

“I imagine he didn’t take it as seriously as he should have. He… Seemed rather distractible. He is quite dedicated to his work.”

“...Yeah, that seems about right… But Reflect’s got, like, a freakishly good memory. He still forgot to mention that? It’s not like anything world ending or insane has happened between now and Halloween. If you’d mentioned it to him before Halloween, I’d get him forgetting, but not after.” Ben asked.

“I see now I should’ve come to you as well.” Dr. Fate noted.

“What, no? Really?! The freakin’ lord of chaos was apparently following my twin and you decided to keep that to yourself? So, what? Klarion flat out kidnapped Reflect? Why?” 

“I already stated that I do not know. Nothing about his actions as of recent have made much sense. He is a lord of chaos. That is his nature. I hadn’t registered that his presence had returned to the mortal plane fast enough to stop him, and he hid Reflect’s aura from me the second he stepped into this plane. Reflect’s aura continues to evade me. This could be a game of his. However, I fear it might extend past his usual boredom.”

“That’s just great.” Ben huffed and he pulled up his Omnitrix, twisting it to try and access the tracking features, “And the Omnitrix can’t get a read on his Ultimatrix. Great. Look, keep an eye out for his aura or whatever, I’m going to fill Batman in and see if he’s got any theories.” 

“If Klarion is playing a sort of game, something tells me we’ll know the truth before you can reach any sort of conclusion with Batman and the others. He likes to play. Waiting is not fun for him.”

“And if this isn’t a game of his?” Ben snapped, making Nabu visibly flinch, clearly all too aware that an angry Ben was not a good Ben to be around. Ben was glad Nabu remembered that. Maybe next time, he’d give Ben a better heads up before Albedo was just randomly abducted by a lord of chaos next time. 

“If it’s something else, he might not get a choice on if he has to wait or not. He’ll be impatient. But he will wait, for whatever results he hopes to achieve with this scheme will be worth it in his eyes. I fear… With how long he waited to take Reflect, that we might be dealing with the latter.” 

“Wonderful. Well, I’ll at least want the others with me for this one. Let's pray it’s not the second one, because Azmuth, I’m not in the mood for having to implement Alien X shenanigans today.” Ben groaned, “Keep looking for the stupid aura. Tell me if you’ve got anything.” 

Nabu opened his mouth to say something further, but, as if Ben had blinked, Nabu vanished from the area entirely. Next to him, the cop who’d been basically listening in on the entire conversation disappeared as well. As did most of the crowd save for a few teenagers, a couple kids, and a now wailing infant in a stroller. 

“What the?!” Ben paced where Dr. Fate had been, grasping at the air as if he’d never been there. The intense feeling of magic in the air seemed to sharpen. A feeling of wrongness settled over Ben as the kids and teens in the area began to clamor and panic, clearly just as baffled, confused, and startled by the sudden disappearance of what seemed to be every adult in the area.

Ben’s phone began to ring.

Ben snatched it up, and Robin’s voice called out from the other end.

“Deka, you need to get to the cave right now.” Robin called.

“Robin, Dr. Fate was just here and he said–”

“Let me guess, he’s missing too?” Robin cut off.

“Every adult in the area I’m at just vanished!” Ben replied. 

“Batman, the Reds, Zatara, and Martian Manhunter just disappeared right in front of us as well.” Robin confirmed, “Did you find where Reflect and Klarion went?” 

“No. I literally just got here and met up with Fate. Fate said Klarion likely wanted Reflect for some kind of game and– Shoot, I think this is Klarion’s game. Are there any other reports of missing adults? California is on the other coast from Washington, D.C. That’s a large area if it’s everywhere in between, or is it centralized or?”

“I already started picking up on social media sites. News stations just went down, no one’s managing them… But the internet’s active. Kids from all around the world are already reporting the same thing. It’s the entire planet. You said Dr. Fate thought this was one of Klarion’s games?”

“Or some crazy plan. He’s the lord of chaos, who knows what this is. I just know it’s magic. I can tell. It’s buzzing in the air like crazy, I’ve never felt this much magic in my life. Not even when my grandma decided to randomly pop up and visit… Which is saying a lot. Apparently, the lord of chaos has been following Reflect since before Halloween and–.”

“Help! I need help!” Ben lost his focus on his conversation between himself and Robin at the sounds of a distressed yell coming from down the road.

“Nevermind, I have to go. There’s trouble. I’ll fill you in when I can. Contact every teenaged hero not on the team you know. Make videos or something keeping the kids updated on what to do, I guess we’re babysitting an entire planet until we can figure out what the heck is going on, if we can undo it, or if I need to get Alien X out and lay some rules down for the lord of chaos too.”

“Way ahead of you. Go. We’ve got this.” Robin agreed. Ben turned the phone off and he ran towards the cries, which Ben realized originated from a small traffic jam not far from the police line where many cars were blaring their alarms, fussy kids trapped in many of the vehicles. 

This was going to be a long day, wasn’t it?

Chapter 100: Albedo's Plan.

Albedo awoke groggily, his body felt drained and heavy, but he managed to prop himself up enough to realize he was crumpled next to Klarion, who was chanting. A crimson shield, which looked like one of Albedo’s own shields, shimmered around them and the weird spell Klarion was casting onto a yellow gemstone. 

The spell had something to do with… Youth, and worlds… And something else. Albedo’s brain rattled as he seemed to hear multiple voices speaking at once, and there were places where it looked like others were meant to be standing alongside Klarion around the gemstone, but Klarion was seemingly alone. 

“What? What is this?” Albedo muttered. Klarion spared a small glance at Albedo, acknowledging that he was awake, but not missing a beat in his spell as Albedo pushed himself shakily to his knees. Even so, his limbs felt like weights, falling heavily to his side as his body seemed to conclude that he couldn’t rise any further. 

He forced himself to keep his head up as he took in the runes surrounding them.

Was this supposed to be the project Klarion just had to show him? What even was it meant to be? 

Klarion finished his chant, but didn’t move from his spot, instead looking down at Albedo with an uncanny smile.

“Amazing is it not?”

“I don’t know what this is. Why’d you drag me all the way to wherever this is to show me… This?” Albedo managed to nod towards the runes.

“Right, you’re naturally talented and a faster learner… But you’re still a baby at this magic thing. That is the Ambre Jeune Perdu gem. It’s a conduit. I’m using it to take this spell… And cast it all across the globe!” Klarion said with a proud gesture.

“To do what? What is the purpose of this spell?”

“Why, to get rid of those boring, pesky adults, of course! I’ve created a world of only children!” Klarion explained. This made Albedo’s eyes widen as he glanced at the missing spots on the ground.

Adults had been there.

“But… I’m not actually a child, I don’t understand?” Albedo said.

“Oh, I know.” Klarion agreed, a sage nod as he did so, “I’m not actually a child either. Both of us are old souls! But… Our bodies are not old. We are kids, you and me.” 

“It uses physical age, not mental, to distinguish.” Albedo realized, “But… Why? What for?”

“Why not?” Klarion laughed. Albedo shuttered as Klarion cackled. His mind raced as he thought of all the repercussions of there being suddenly no adults in the world. Infants left without mothers and fathers. Sick children in hospitals without caretakers. Planes without pilots. Cars without drivers. Kids would die because of Klarion’s plot. Human children all across the world would die. 

“Why am I here?” 

“Because your brother brought Nabu back.” Klarion replied, before gesturing towards the crimson dome above them, “And I don’t want that old fart to mess with my game until I’m done playing. You’ve got the magic for holding him back. Lots of raw power and talent… Just not quite experienced enough to really use it, you know? I’m sure you feel it’s gone. I’m borrowing it for a little bit. I’ll give it back. Don’t worry. Like I said, when I’m done playing, I’ll let you go.” 

“People are going to die if they haven’t already.” Albedo snapped, “You have to stop this.”

“Why? You never cared about who got hurt before.” Klarion teased. Albedo did his best not to dwell on those words. He knew they were true. He’d accepted they were true. However, that side of Albedo seemed quite distant. Like a person from yesterday. Albedo would not let Klarion use Albedo’s ghosts against him.

“You’re right, I didn’t care before, but people change, Klarion. I don’t know what you think I am or what sort of future you think you’ve planned out for me, but I want nothing to do with that sort of destruction again.”

“But you still keep secrets!” Klarion sang, “I’ve been watching you, Reflect. You have so many fun little secrets! So many plans in the works, it’s been so fun to watch you mess around with them.” 

“Who do you mean by them?” Albedo asked, his tone kept carefully even as he continued to scan the runes. They were foreign to him, but he figured he knew enough about magic by that point to seek out a weak point while he kept Klarion talking. The gem… It was the source of the spell. However Albedo wasn’t sure if he could reach it without Klarion stopping him.

Klarion was chaotic, but he wasn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t let Albedo this close to his insane ‘project’ if Albedo had any chance of ruining it. With how exhausted Albedo was– Likely a side effect of whatever spell Klarion was using Albedo for to keep Nabu and Benjamin away– Albedo wasn’t going to go that far before Klarion snagged him back into place. 

“Oh, don’t be shy, Reflect!” Klarion giggled, “The adults are away now. We can tell secrets. There’s no one to hear. No one to interfere!”

“That doesn’t clarify much to me.” Albedo replied, his eyes still surveying the area.

“Them is everyone!” Klarion laughed, “Your hero friends. The villains. Your brother! You’ve tricked everyone! And it’s been quite the entertainment, let me tell you, Red.” Albedo stiffened some at being called ‘Red.’ Klarion’s smile only sharpened.

“You work for my enemy.” Albedo said slowly. Klarion huffed and yawned.

“‘Work for?’ Boring! I’m a lord of chaos. I don’t ‘work for’ anyone. They work with me. And I only like to work with the people who let me have my fun. Heroes are boring. They’re all the same. All do gooders who ruin the fun before it can be had. Your enemy, as you call them? They don’t ruin the fun, they fuel it! Giant plants rampaging across the world? Brillant! Complex spells that break the world in two?” Klarion gestured to the runes, “Excellerating! I’d say more, but that’d be telling, and something tells me you’d figure it out without me telling. You’re smart, like that… And that’s what makes you so fun, Reflect.” 

“I’d think someone like you wouldn’t care much for a rational thinker.” Albedo drawled.

“You would, wouldn’t you?” Klarion agreed, “But you aren’t rational. Not at all. Nothing about you is quite as it should be. A former villain, tramping around with a bunch of snot-nosed bratty heroes. Claiming the powers that should’ve belonged to a stranger turned brother. Powers, mind you, that no rational thinking scientist would even dare to consider the true potential of. All the while conspiring and schemeing. Creating traps and snares for your enemies in such a clever and unforeseen way… It gives me goosebumps!” 

Albedo’s head was jerked up as Klarion’s magic seemed to force him to look away from the runes and towards the lord of chaos.

“You are an enigma. An unknown. And that makes you dangerous. That makes you unpredictable. That makes you fun.” Klarion brought his hands together in a small clapping motion, “And as I’ve established, I like working with those that let me have fun. Your enemy would probably love to know everything I know about you. About your friends. But I keep my mouth shut tight. Telling ruins the surprise. Telling ends the battles much too quickly. If your enemy knew your secrets, then… Well… You’d be dead. And there would be no more fun to be had. So I don’t tell. I watch. I watch you scheme and plot and I watch them scheme and plot… And I wait for the show! When you and your enemy finally collide! Oh! It’ll be the most entertainment I’ve had in centuries!” 

Albedo nodded slowly as he sorted through Klarion’s words.

“I see… You want me to fight the villains… Because I undermine what they expect. It breaks the routine struggle of the forces of good and evil… And you find that entertaining.” 

“Exactly!” Klarion cheered, “I am a force of chaos. I can’t just let things always go as expected! Where’s the fun in that? Besides… I think it’s funny how mad it makes Nabu… Knowing that you run free despite who you really are. Despite what you have the potential to become. There’s a lot of reasons Nabu tried to keep you. A lot of reasons. All boring… But the most consistent one's control! He likes to control what he doesn’t understand. Everything has to be nice and neat, and just so… And you? You’re none of that.”

“Yes… I gathered as much.” Albedo muttered. And he had. He knew Nabu judged him unworthy of his own free will upon realizing Albedo’s past mistakes. He knew Nabu didn’t have the best opinion of who Albedo was and who he had been, and if not for Benjamin talking sense into the man… Well… Something told Albedo that Nabu would be a lot less kinder towards Albedo. 

“I’m glad you understand me!” Klarion chirped. Albedo’s eyes found his Ulitmatrix, and he shifted to fiddle uselessly with it. Klarion didn’t try to stop him… Or even seem to care. Albedo understood why. The watch was overloaded. Shut down from excessive mana overload. All of his comms, his trackers, his scanners, and computers were completely shut down. He’d altered the Ulitmatrix to be resistant and even powered by Albedo’s mana, but even the regulators he’d put into place to protect the broken, coreless watch hadn’t been enough. 

He was going to have to work on fixing and upgrading that aspect of the Ultimatrix later, when he wasn’t being held hostage in order to ward off the lord of order.

“Understanding and agreeing are not the same.” Albedo informed the lord of chaos as he considered for a moment, before reaching for his belt on his Reflect Uniform, half curious if everything that Albedo had installed into the costume was still there, despite Klarion being the one to put him in it.

“Well, duh. Where’s the fun in agreeing about everything?” Klarion teased. Albedo’s fingers brushed one of the hidden buttons on the uniform that he was surprised was still there. 

Problematically, it wouldn’t help him contact his team or Benjamin directly for assistance. There was no telling if it would even work. It was a gamble. One Albedo wasn’t sure it was worth waiting on when the world was split in two.

When every second that passed was another chance for a human child to perish. 

However, Nabu and Benjamin couldn’t find him. Klarion had said that.

And Klarion wasn’t lying.

Which meant it was likely the only option. 

Albedo pressed the secret button.

He hoped the message would be readily received and that its recipient didn’t mistakenly make a move they were not ready to make.

“Klarion, you must stop this. Those children don’t deserve to become a victim of the chaotic quarrels of good and evil.”

“This is barely a quarrel. This whole thing is me having my fun because they said I should have some fun.” 

This made Albedo narrow his eyes with realization.

After the stupid plant thing with the Injustice League, Albedo realized the enemy was willing to go all out to distract and misdirect the heroes. They’d used the plants and Injustice League because there were clues to a secret group that would easily be put together. 

So what did the heroes merely stumble on for them to allow Klarion to be unleashed in such a terrifying capacity?

Better yet, what was it that they were trying to cover?

It was sickening, thinking that the splitting of worlds was nothing more of a distraction despite the toll on life it would lead to, however, there was no other rational reason for the enemy to let Klarion go so far to begin with. There was little to be gained from a world split in two otherwise. Albedo could tell the spell wasn’t meant to be permanent.

“I know.” Was Albedo’s response to Klarion. The lord of chaos merely smiled.

Notes:

And we've hit 100 chapters!

Yeah... I did not mean to make this a hundred chapters, but, there we go.

Sorry for not uploading last week, I know my updates have been slightly scattered as of recently, but life's been crazy. I was helping out with some volunteers all Saturday last week and finishing my midterm projects. Sorry if the editing on this one is a bit weird, my cat kept trying to sit on my keyboard whilst I was looking it over, so... Yeah...

Anyways, hope ya'll are doing good this week!

Chapter 101: A Strange Alliance.

Ben had been hard at work most of the evening, jumping from neighborhood to neighborhood, freeing kids from cars, rushing them to high schools where the teens had set up little care centers, and dashing back out again. He’d not just covered most of D.C. No, Ben was practically scouting out the majority of the East coast in a mad attempt to save as many kids as he possibly could. 

Ben knew he wasn’t the only one, with the updates filtering in from the Team about the work they’d been doing in Happy Harbor, all the way across the country. In the midwest, Robin had kids and teen heroes like some girl called Rocket doing what they could. Teens around the world, heroes or not, were ending in updates on their socials, trying their best to keep networking the situation, all while Robin, who was really taking charge in the situation, acted as the brains behind the operations. 

And yet… Ben knew his efforts simply weren’t enough. They needed to find the source of the problem. Zatanna had apparently been trying to duplicate her dad’s tracking spell for most of the day with encouragement from Robin, in attempts to locate where Klarion was casting the enchantment, but it was little luck.

If Nabu couldn’t track Klarion moments before he and every adult had been yanked out of existence and sent to who knew where, Zatanna was going to have no luck at all. Even if Zatara had been around to cast the spell, it would’ve been pointless. Somehow, Klarion was hiding his magical footprint from the world, and it was really starting to get on Ben’s nerves. 

“Hey, kid. Mind slowing down a little?” A disguised voice called. Ben’s head was jerked from the car door he’d just ripped off of a car using Fourarms to get to a little girl’s baby brother, and he found himself staring up at the crimson menace himself: Red X. 

…Did … Did Red X shrink some since Ben last saw the guy? Granted, Ben hadn’t encountered Red X that many times, but he could’ve sworn the guy was around Ben’s height. (Maybe Ben’s mind was playing tricks. Who knew? It’d been a crazy couple of months.) 

“Who are you calling, kid?” Ben asked as he shifted from his Tetramand form back to human. He placed the little brother into his sister’s arms and shooed her off to go over to the waiting teens that would take them to shelter, “Clearly you’re not as grown up as you pretended like you are if you’ve not been evaporated from existence.” 

“Hmm. Well, if you’re going to be that way, I’ll just leave. I was going to help you out with this problem, but–.” Red X turned to leave, and Ben immediately grabbed his arm.

“Hey, no, I didn’t say that. Look. Why are you here? You’re a mercenary that works for Luthor, right?” Red X went very stiff at the mention of Lex Luthor, but seemed to recover quickly.

“Yeah, and now he’s missing. I'm down an employer and a Zynothium provider. I could, you know, rob the banks and stuff around here for some cash and supplies. No one to stop me, but, seems wrong. Even for me.” Red X shrugged, “Honor among thieves and whatnot. I’ve run into dozens of kids freaking out… I’m not saying I’m freaked out but this is just unsettling.” 

“We’ve set up a network. There’s a lot of kids who need help in the midwest, and we've not even begun to really do much internationally outside of the network–”

“I wasn’t talking about helping you save kiddies from cars, idiot.” Red X cut in, “I found the source of the displacements.” That made Ben do a double take. Ben couldn’t see Red X’s eyes with the crimson lens on the skull mask he wore, but something told Ben that Red X was rolling his eyes at him. 

“Don’t look surprised. My suit was built differently. I was able to pick up on a fluctuation. I’m willing to share.” Red X replied coolly. 

“You’re a mercenary, what’s the catch?” Ben asked.

“Information for information.” Red X replied with ease, “Favor for a favor. I’ll help you and your Junior Justice League stop this dimensional shift thingy, and you’ll owe me. I won’t hold your little team to it. They seem like they’d be more wary of making deals. Well… Maybe not Robin. But he’s been at this awhile. He knows how things work. Just like I think you do.” Ben scowled.

This whole proposal just screamed trap. 

Red X was Luthor’s lacky. A pawn for the billionaire to randomly pull out and use whenever people least expected it. The fact that Red X had turned up now, in the midst of a global disaster, asking only for a favor in return for the solution to their problem…

It was way too convenient. 

If Ben were Kevin, Ben knew there’d be no deal.

However, one glance back at the little girl and her brother who were being led off to the tossed together shelter, and Ben swallowed hard.

“Okay. I’ll call my team. What’s your information?” Ben asked. Red X chuckled before pulling a device off of his belt and tossing it to Ben. A holographic map of the planet appeared. A dot blinked on it, showing off coordinates. 

“Roanoke. Wow. Could Klarion get more cliche?” Ben said in irritation, he pulled out his phone and called Robin, “Rob, I’ve got a hit on where Klarion might be. There’s a disruption we didn’t notice on Roanoke Island.” 

“Um, hi, Deka.” Robin said, he sounded extremely distracted on his end, “Um, that sounds awesome. We should seriously investigate that but, um?”

“What is it?” Ben asked, not sure if he wanted more bad news. From the pitching in Robin’s voice, the guy was clearly freaked out by something. 

“Some kid just appeared in Mount Justice and he just claimed that he's Captain Marvel.” Robin replied. 

“...Huh.” Why in the world did that make way too much sense? He always thought Marvel acted really young… That’s kind of why he let Albedo invite Marvel to hang out at Ben’s Soccer Halloween Party, despite the risks of a well known superhero appearing at a high school party. He had a young soul in the way Albedo had an old soul.

“That’s all you’ve got to say to that?” Robin asked incredulously.

“I mean, yeah? It kind of makes sense. Look, dude. I once accidentally bathed in the waters from the fountain of youth. I turn into aliens constantly and on a whim. Let's not even get me started on my twin brother and everything going on with him. Him turning out to be…” Ben glanced at Red X, who waited with folded arms, “Well, you know. That’s not really that world shaking?” 

“You swam in what?” 

“Fountain of youth, keep up. It’s fine. I got better.”

“What does that even… You know what, never mind that. Captain Marvel says that there’s two worlds. The adults are in the other. He can jump between them.” Well. More good news.

“Well then! That makes everything easier. Tell him to tell the adults to meet us at Roanoke. If we’re going to pull the plug on this operation, it’s best to have it covered on both sides of the coin.” 

“How’d you even figure out about the disturbance? I thought the science stuff was more of Kid Flash’s and Reflect’s thing… And Kid Flash has tried looking for stuff like that too. We’ve tried everything from magic to science.” 

“Gonna be honest? I’m staring at Red X right now, and he’s telling me that’s where it is.” Ben deadpanned. 

“What?!” Ben could swear Robin’s voice cracked at that information. Heh. Sometimes Ben forgot Robin was only thirteen.

“Yeah. Not the most reliable source, I know… But he’s apparently spooked by there only being kids and his boss being gone, so, yeah.” 

“What did you pay him?” Robin asked. Yeah. Ben should’ve expected that. Robin knew how mercenaries worked. He wasn’t sure Robin was going to like hearing Ben was going to owe Red X a favor for the information.

“You… Don’t want to know.” 

“...Okay, yeah, that’s fair. That’s still such a shady source man. Red X is a total unknown. This could be a trap.”

“Almost certainly.” Ben agreed, “Which means it’s at least some sort of lead. We’ve not had anything else all day, and the situation’s just gonna get worse the longer we wait. I could get Alien X involved, but…” Ben could hear Robin cringing on the other end.

“Yeah, no. After last time? Buddy, I think you taking that risk again while there’s still a possible solution is going to give Reflect even more white hair than he’s already got… And he’s albino so…” 

“So, you’ll have him pass the message?”

“Oh, yeah. We’ll meet you at Roanoke. Confirm Red X’s intel, will you? You’re closer, but if you go at this without Alien X, you’re gonna need backup.” 

“I’ll see you there, Rob.” Ben clicked his phone off and turned to Red X.

“So? Would part of this favor you’re lending me involve offering me a little backup over on Roanoke Island?” 

“It’ll make the favor you owe me bigger.” Red X replied, “But I can arrange some support.” 

“Excellent. Let's get moving then.”

Notes:

Not gonna lie, folks. I almost forgot to upload this. (So if the editing's weird, that's why. I had it ready to go for this week, but haven't had much time for proofing and stuff). I had a group project that I had to work with people online, plus it's my youngest brother's b-day, plus I was volunteered to paint faces for a Halloween event for some kids (I'm sure follow artists out there can relate to people automatically volunteering you for crafts with kids and face paintings because you are 'an artist.') I dressed as Toph Beifong, and none of them knew who she was, which makes me very sad...

Anyways, my weird ramblings about life aside, this almost slipped my mind until I logged into my computer to sign off with my group for our project and saw the archives icon and was like, 'Oh, wait, it's Saturday!' So yeah.

Red X is here again, but slightly shorter. Wonder who he could be? (I'm not trying to be clever here. It's blatantly obvious it's just Roy.) Robin and the Team have met kid Captan Marvel. Ben likely thinks he's walking into a trap, but Roy just wants to save his friend. Good times all around!

Chapter 102: X and Deka.

Ben could feel the magic buzzing in the air as they trudged through the field towards the coordinates Red X had provided. Red X hadn’t been lying. This was the right place after all. How Zatanna, Zatara, and Nabu had all failed to track it down despite how clearly noteworthy the magic in the air was…. Ben didn’t know.

What Ben did know was that he was in a lot of trouble if he thought he was going to mess around with the Omnitrix with so much magic buzzing in the air. It was like asking for the watch to be broken. Sure, he had faith Albedo could fix it once they found him, but Ben didn’t like the idea of accidentally setting off another self-destruct sequence or something without Azmuth around. 

As grumpy as the old Galvan was, he was always the best at making the Omnitrix work correctly after Ben had done something particularly dumb. 

Trudging through the fields of an island chalked full of magic with only a potential enemy for back up while the others got ready with calvary was, in short, a stupid choice. Unfortunately, he was the closest one to Roanoke, outside of using Zetas, which meant he was the best option to scout it out before the rest of the heroes all flocked there and got caught in some elaborate trap. 

“So… What got you into the whole gun for hire trade?” Ben asked casually. 

“I’m not going to spill my life story to you, kid.” Red X replied. 

“What makes you so sure you’re older than me?” Ben asked, “Like, I thought you were at least eighteen when we first met and you kept calling my team kids, but you’re here right now, which means you’re not over eighteen like I thought.” 

“Do you always talk so much?” Red X huffed.

“I can’t help it.” Ben shrugged, “I’m a man of natural curiosity.”

“Well, it’s annoying.” Red X declared.

“Yeah, I’m told I tend to annoy people. Part of the charm, I think.” Ben agreed with a sage nod, making Red X groan.

“Most people would get themselves killed being so annoying to a guy like me.” Red X pointed out.

“Yeah… But I’m really, really hard to kill, so I think I’m good.” Ben said with a shrug. Red X just grunted in response. Ben himself perked up at the sound of a voice rattling on and on nearby, and Red X caught Ben’s shoulder.

“You should know the source of power I’ve got for this suit… Zynothium, I’m dangerously low on it. I told you. Luthor’s one of my providers. I’m not sure how much I can give you here.” Red X explained in a low voice, “I’m on my reserves right now. Which is partially why I made you fly us here over here, instead of just teleporting us to the location flat out.” 

“Okay. So your weird power source for your suit is almost spent. I’m not gonna be able to use that many aliens here… Chromastone, Feedback… Hmm. Atomix maybe? He could probably work against magic? I think Terraspin has some magic resistance. That’s fine. We can work with that. We don’t need to win. We need to stall for the others… But first we need confirmation that this is the right place.” Ben shrugged Red X’s hand off of his shoulder… Man that guy had an iron grip. Like he was made of metal or had super strength or something. 

It made Ben wonder why a guy who might’ve had super strength needed an enhancing suit like the Red X suit, or if that was a part of the suit’s features. 

They came to a clearing and crouched in the brambles and tall grass surrounding the area.

There, talking Reflect’s ears off, was Klarion.

Albedo looked unharmed, but very much like he needed to take a nap, with exhaustion in his red eyes, his shoulders sunken as if he was ready to pass out at any given moment. A bored expression on his face that was slightly obscured by his mask, but Ben had not known Albedo could even wear such a bored expression. Ben used that expression all the time when someone rambled on and on about something that Ben was too tired to understand. However, Albedo was naturally curious. He generally liked learning new things.

“That's your twin? Why’s his hair white, but not yours?” Red X grunted. It occurred to Ben that Red X and never actually met Reflect. Albedo had been off getting cake with Batman, apparently, during the mission they’d met Red X. The other time the team encountered him, it’d been with Aqualad only, and Ben hadn’t been there for that. He knew Robin was constantly tracking Red X’s movements and robberies. He popped up all the time all across America with little rhyme or reason, likely doing a job of some sort. Likely, and most often for Luthor, though Robin couldn’t always tie Red X to that. 

He was never around long enough for Robin to confront him completely, and knowing Robin prided himself for being one of the world’s greatest detectives, Ben knew it was driving Robin nuts, not being able to nail Red X.

That being said, the most Reflect had ever been involved with the Red X investigations was when he located information about the element that Red X used for his suit, Zynothium, for Robin. Beyond that, there’d been absolutely no interaction between the two. Which wasn’t too weird, since Red X was super elusive, but it was something that Ben hadn’t thought about until that moment.

“Yeah, that’s Reflect. I think the hair’s because of stress.” Ben agreed, “Smartest guy you’re ever going to meet… He’s going to be an epic, unparalleled mage one day. Unfortunately, that day’s clearly not today since, you know, Klarion kidnapped him. I still have no idea why though.” 

Ben narrowed his eyes at the crimson shield surrounding the lord of chaos and albino mage. There was a second, more orange shield protecting the rune itself… So Ben had no idea what the point of the first one was for if the spell was protected. Only that it looked like the first one was made from Albedo’s magic, which didn’t sit well with Ben.

“Well, good news. This is the right place.” Ben decided and he pulled out his phone to shoot Robin a text confirming as much, “Bad news, we’ve gotta deal with that shield. We can’t even fight Klarion and get to Reflect with the first shield in the way, not to mention the second one…”

“I think your twin’s powering the first one.” Red X noted and he paused, “You have something for that?” Ben narrowed his eyes at the shield before nodding.  

“I think I’ve got something in the works. Get my brother, I’ll keep him off of you. You’ve got super strength, right?”

“...Why would you think that?” Red X asked.

Ben motioned towards the hand Red X had put on Ben’s shoulder.

“You’ve got a grip. My old friend, Agent Eleven, had a grip like that. He’s got a strength factor…. Or is that just the suit?” Red X glanced at the arm Ben gestured to and opened and closed his hand.

“You are… Way more perceptive than I thought you’d be.” Red X said after a moment, “Yeah, I can get your brother to safety if you take care of the barrier.” 

“Okay then. Backup will be here…” Ben checked his phone, “Ten minutes. Try not to die to a lord of chaos.” 

“Ditto, kid.” Red X agreed. Ben grinned, before spinning the dial on his watch and selecting Chromastone. A flash of green, and Klarion’s unnaturally red eyes were snapping from Albedo to Chromastone, who charged headfirst towards the crimson shield. 

“Chromastone!” Ben called. 

“How’d you find me?!” Klarion screeched, “You aren’t supposed to show up yet! That’s not fair!” Chromastone just laughed, absorbing the energy from the magic dancing in the air as the outer shield began to flicker.

“Sorry to ruin your plans, Klarion.” Then Chromastone’s jovial tone took a darker edge, “But when you mess with my family, you sure as heck shouldn’t be surprised when I come knocking.” And then Chromastone plunged his hands into the barrier and laughed as the entire thing shattered.

Chapter 103: Holding the Line.

Albedo felt something lurch inside him as the crimson barrier shattered around him and instinctively, he curled in on himself, as if to shield his head. He was grateful for Benjamin’s triumphant arrival, but he would have at least preferred the boy bring the rest of the team. 

He and Albedo both knew the Omnitrix didn’t bode well with magic overloads, even while Benjamin wisely hid under his crystalsapien form to better protect the Omnitrix from an overload. Of course, if Benjamin decided that Alien X truly was needed (Albedo prayed that wasn’t the case. Not after last time. He knew Benjamin made a deal with the voices, but there was always that chance…), then it wouldn’t matter if Benjamin came alone. It had been proven quite plainly that lords of order and chaos had no merit against a celestialsapien.

That didn’t seem to be the plan, however. 

Klarion turned his focus towards Benjamin and away from Albedo, and Albedo decided to at least act. He ignored the weighty exhaustion and attempted to push himself from his knees to his feet. He staggered towards the gemstone and the runes being shielded by Klarion, but was halted when Klarion’s obnoxious cat lept in front of Albedo and grew in size. As it was now a ferocious beast, it growled dangerously at Albedo, daring the mage to take a step closer. 

“I… Did not know you could do that.” Albedo admitted. The cat just snarled again before lunging. Albedo couldn’t help the undignified yelp that elicited from his mouth as the cat instantly pinned him down to the ground, but didn’t do much else but hold him there and growl menacingly. 

Suddenly, the cat was being shoved out of the way and someone, certainly not Benjamin, was dragging Albedo upwards and away from the gemstone Albedo had been attempting to reach. Albedo was pretty sure he was going to be sick, with how fast he was suddenly moving. It took him far too long to register the familiar outfit on his rescuer.

It was only when Klarion screeched in disbelief that Albedo even thought to question it.

“How!? How is that possible!?” Albedo spared a glance back at Klarion and Benjamin, who was still pushing back against Klarion’s magic with the Crystalsapien form. However, once more, Klarion was paying way more attention to Albedo than Benjamin.

Albedo glanced back at his rescuer, expecting Robin or Superboy.

He hadn’t exactly considered that when he sent an S.O.S. to one Roy Harper that the boy would foolishly come out to fight Klarion too instead of simply delivering the message he was supposed to deliver.

However, Albedo found himself staring up at the skull-like mask of Red X he’d crafted with his own two hands, and resisted the urge to face palm. 

Teenagers.

Albedo should’ve known by now that they were terrible at following directions.

His mistake.

“Are you insane?! You were supposed to give them the coordinates and leave!” Albedo hissed. Behind them, Benjamin shot a beam of energy back at Klarion, forcing the lord of chaos to shield himself and once more forget Albedo despite the clear confusion Klarion had about Red X and Reflect being in the same place at the same time. If nothing else gave away that Klarion had been following and learning a little bit too much about Albedo, that alone was enough to prove it.

Albedo was demanding better warding spells from Zatara once this was over. He liked his privacy, and Klarion really needed to learn to mind his own business.

“I wasn’t just going to wait on the sidelines. Not this time. I can fight.” Red X insisted. 

“But you’re still in recovery. Your arm hasn’t been fully field tested for battle, you need to adjust to it still! This is dangerous.” Albedo argued, “You’re going to get hurt.” 

“I don’t care. This is my fight too, and you know it.” Red X argued, “Don’t try and stop me, Doc.”

“I wasn’t intending to. I’m just saying you're being reckless.” Albedo huffed, “Though I would be a hypocrite to stop you from trying to do something, even if it is ill advised.” 

“Good. Glad we’re on the same page, Doc.” And then Red X was shoving Albedo behind him in time to use the mana reserves in the suit to make a shield and block Klarion’s stupid, oversized cat from mauling him. Albedo knew for a fact that the suit was not fully charged. It didn’t typically need to be, considering Albedo was typically the battery. Red X was going to have to switch to his own brute strength and combat skills very shortly. 

While Albedo had confidence in Roy’s abilities as a fighter… Benjamin’s watch would surely time out very soon, and without some form of backup, all three of them would be overwhelmed by Klarion almost immediately.

Which begged the question, where the heck were the others?!

“Yawn!” Klarion called, clearly seeming to figure out that Benjamin was tiring and he was not. The lord of chaos stood idly, blocking Benjamin’s shots with one hand, “Is that really the best you’ve got?”

“Are you kidding? I’m just getting warmed up!” Benjamin called. He leapt up to the sky with a burst of energy and tried to attack from above.

Meanwhile, Red X was taking his fight with the cat way too seriously.

“If you think a stupid cat’s gonna take me down, you’ve got another thing coming, guy!” Red X roared. Seemed to be that Roy was an aggressive fighter, which mostly made sense. 

Albedo himself felt pointless just standing there watching his friend and brother fight. He wanted to do something. Anything. Anything at all before Benjamin was forced to time out. He reached desperately within himself, struggling to ignite his spark. It was so faint from Klarion’s meddling, and that really frustrated Albedo. Usually such frustration would’ve gotten some reaction from his anodite side, but not much was happening. He was too tired.

Then the telltale sign of the Omnitrix powering down reached Albedo’s ears, causing Benjamin to swear loudly in Galvanic. Albedo was really going to have to talk to his brother about where he was learning so many alien curses. He knew it couldn’t be from Azmuth or the Omnitrix translator… He suspected two dimwitted Galvans that worked at Benjamin’s Plumber base had something to do with it.

In a flash of green, Benjamin was human again, and Klarion was laughing in clear delight at the new development. 

Benjamin didn’t waste a breath to dwell on the shift in forms, rolling out of the way of magic that Klarion attempted to strike Benjamin with without even missing a beat in his maneuvers. If Albedo hadn’t seen the shift, he wouldn’t have thought Benjamin had changed forms at all, the transition was so clean.

He really was good at what he did, regardless of how clumsy he pretended to be as a human. 

“Red, swap with me for a sec! That suit of yours still has some juice?” Benjamin called.

“A little.” Red X replied, “I’m desperate for a recharge though.”

“Don’t worry. Won’t be long now, buddy.” Benjamin promised.

“And it won’t be enough.” Klarion cackled as Red X shoved Klarion’s cat away and Benjamin ran at the growling feline as if he had a death wish. Albedo made a mental note to make something to arm Benjamin whenever he was in his human form, because this was borderline reckless. Already, Albedo was puzzling out a dozen different ideas for the job, which briefly distracted Albedo from everything going on. 

That proved to be foolish as suddenly Benjamin was shouting.

“Oh, no you don’t! Leave Reflect alone, you overgrown house cat!” Albedo startled as the feline was pouncing on Albedo again, and suddenly, Klarion’s cat was being blasted out of the way again. Dazed, Albedo stared up as he realized that Benjamin was the source of the magic that had attacked the cat.

He was using mana.

Benjamin must’ve been desperate. He didn’t do that unless he was desperate. 

He stood over Albedo, his eyes blazing a brighter green than it normally did. His Non-Omntrix arm aglow with mana.

“He took your mana.” Benjamin said with a smile as he held his glowing hand out, “I’ve got some to spare. Mind helping us out?”

Azmuth, Benjamin truly could be a genius when he actually was in his element! Albedo smirked.

“Gladly, little brother.” He reached forwards and grasped Benjamin’s hand. Immediately, Albedo’s strength returned in full force. It felt exhilarating as his spark suddenly didn’t feel so dim or weak and the emerald mana shifted to blood red upon Benjamin helping Albedo to his feet.

Albedo let go of Benjamin, who staggered some at the sudden loss of energy, but didn’t crumble. 

“The others are five minutes away. We need to keep him busy for that long.” Benjamin advised. 

Albedo nodded before he turned back towards the actual conflict. Klarion’s cat had retreated to hide behind his master at the sudden introduction of mana by Benjamin. That just made things easier for Albedo. Albedo stalked towards where Klarion was slamming wave after wave of magic onto a flickering shield Red X was barely maintaining. Klarion titled his head, stopping his attack as he noticed Albedo approach and the glowing crimson glint in his eyes.

“Stealing from the changeling. I didn’t expect that at all.” Klarion recognized, “You certainly have delivered today! I’m on my toes, with how many surprises you’ve given me so far! Why– Gah!” Albedo blasted magic at the lord of chaos before the guy could keep on rambling.

“I’ve listened to you ramble all afternoon, Klarion. Will you please shut up?” Albedo asked. 

“Bold! Bold!” Klarion laughed, “You won’t win this! You’re still a baby at magic you know. You didn’t win this morning. You certainly won’t win now!” 

“I’m not so foolish as to think I will win.” Albedo drawled, “Just foolish enough to challenge you regardless of the outcome.” Klarion’s eyes sparkled with delight.

“I accept!” Klarion cheered, and before Albedo knew it, he was barely dodging and blocking strikes from Klarion’s spells. Klarion tried to chain him down and steal Albedo’s mana again, but Albedo had learned.

Klarion was defending the runes.

Klarion would not move from his position so long as the runes needed to stay in tack. Therefore, he wasn’t able to focus as much on the offense as he had just that morning. He didn’t teleport around Albedo randomly or let himself get close enough to try and borrow Albedo’s power like he had before. 

Red X seemed delightfully surprised by Albedo rising to fight. Albedo knew Roy had not really seen Albedo fight or use his powers outside of mild levitation before. So he whooped with joy as Albedo slammed a wall of mana into Klarion, off balancing the man. Klarion growled, and reinforced his runes further as Albedo scrambled for a counterspell.

“Enough!” Klarion declared, and he lifted his hands, electricity came down, and Red X tackled Albedo, just barely saving him from the strike. Benjamin cheered behind Albedo, his Omnitrix flashing green, which was surprisingly fast for it.

The teen was spinning through his playlist, and Klarion growled.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Klarion declared, “My game is not over until I say so!” Albedo scrambled to his feet, moving almost in slow motion as Klarion summoned more magic to his palms and fired for Benjamin.

The changeling looked up, green eyes wide with alarm, his hand just above his Omnitrix, his Geochelone Aerio form which would have been a perfect counter to magic.

That was, of course, if Benjamin had hit the dail before the magic struck.

Unfortunately, this was not the case at all.

Benjamin yelled as Klarion’s spell made contact, rippling through the teen, and more dangerously, the Omnitrix, with a crackle of crimson electricity. Benjamin collapsed. 

“Deka!” Albedo roared in dismay. Red X moved to Benjamin's side.

“He’s alive, doc!” He called. 

Albedo spun back towards Klarion, fury in his eyes. 

Klarion laughed.

“There we go! Fun Reflect’s here!” Klarion teased. Albedo let rage fuel him as he muttered a spell under his breath, ready to take Klarion down. Klarion's smile sharpened. His eyes flickered with excitement as he seemed to make claws with his sharp nails. His fingers posed to counter and likely deflect anything Albedo planned to throw at him.

It was going to be a losing battle, but Albedo didn’t have a choice.

He was stopped by the sound of a familiar ship descending from above. He glanced up in time to see it uncloak and for Klarion to sputter in agitation.

“No! That’s not fair! Not fair! Not fair!”

At this point, Albedo didn’t care about Klarion as much.

Because the cavalry had arrived.

Notes:

Ngl, this chapter is a patchwork of me having a lot of homework/work suddenly and me having to come back to it at random points over the past three weeks to work on it. I'm hoping it reads well, but pairing action sequences with homework and work doesn't always pan out, so it might be a bit awkward. Sorry.

Anywho, as stated above, I've been busy with work and school again. In short, I had a huge, overtime filled week with my job because of a major event my department was covering. After that, there was a lot of cramming of homework so I didn't have to worry about it as much when I went on Thanksgiving vacation and had to travel a lot with my family (Traveling often leads to questionable wifi). In theory, there shouldn't be a ton of major events I have to work with at my job and my class for this semester is winding down, so there should be less long pauses like this until around the beginning of January, when my classes will start back up again.

That being said, if you are a fellow celebrator of Thanksgiving, happy late Thanksgiving. (I hope y'all know I am thankful for your support and patience! You guys really make this story worth writing!)

PS. please feel free to yell at me if I accidentally call Klarion a Lord of Order again. My brain keeps telling me to write Order instead of Chaos, even though I know he's the Lord of Chaos... I've no one but myself to blame for that.

Chapter 104: The Cavalry.

Ben’s head hurt.

Well, everything hurt, but his head felt like the problem as the incoherent muttering of Red X above him came in and out of focus. His skull mask seemed to meld with a memory, half reminding Ben of when he’d woken up to see Albedo fighting for his life in Ben’s room, a dream eater in the shape of a skull not unlike Red X’s on Albedo’s head.

“...Al? Are you okay?” Ben muttered in confusion, causing Red X to still above him.

“Be quiet.” He ordered, “Before you say something you’re not supposed to say.” Ben was still a little dazed as the guy helped to prop Ben up, “I’m surprised you’re still conscious, that was quite the blow.” 

“I’ve had worse.” Ben grumbled, “Anyone ever tell you your mask reminds them of a  Cassiopeian Dream Eater?”

“...What?”

“It’s a parasite that latches onto your head and just kinda–” Ben made a slurping sound, “Your dreams and feeds off of nightmares like they’re a delicious smoothie. When they get stuck on a human head, they look like your mask, but pink.”

“Deka, what on earth.” Was Red X’s response.

“They aren’t from Earth.” Ben muttered, and he pushed himself up more, slowly letting his awareness return as his headache pounded. He realized his watch arm, in particular burned, and he looked down at the Omnitrix, frowning at the flashing orange.

“...That’s… Not good.” He muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Red X asked.

“It’s broken. Mana overload… I can’t transform.” Ben replied, and he began to fiddle with it, “Last time I tried during a mana overload, well, er, it didn’t go very well. Of course, that was the old model and I was a kid back then? Maybe this will be fine?”

“Can’t transform? Your powers aren’t working?” Red X asked in alarm. Ben just helplessly shrugged before clearly looking over at where Albedo stood, glowing in red as he seemed ready to take on Klarion alone. He looked angry. Likely angrier than he’d ever seen him even during his villain arc. Granted, Albedo’s eyes didn't literally glow blood red with fury when he was a villain, so there was that. Apparently, joining the good side and learning magic somehow made Albedo look more sinister than he had as a villain.

Good for him, really. 

“I need to be in the green.” Ben said with a shrug as he held up the blinking watch, “Any other color but green, and I can’t use them.” 

“What is that thing like a safety regulator or something?”

“Or something.” 

Red X tensed when Albedo stepped forward to challenge a magic user that he very well knew was going to defeat him. Ben couldn’t help but follow Red’s example. Everyone seemed to know this wasn’t going to go well. Even Albedo.

Not that the chances of something going terribly wrong were ever good at deterring Albedo when he had his mind set on something. 

The sound of the bioship’s arrival was enough to take Ben’s focus off of Albedo and turn his head up towards the sky.

“Oh, thank Azmuth.” Ben sighed, “Back up.” 

Red X, however, seemed less excited about the arrival of the others. Sure, Red X knew the others were coming, but Ben realized just as Red X probably did that the heroes and him weren’t exactly going to see eye to eye once the world popped back to how it was supposed to be. 

“You know, you could be useful to the team, Red, you don’t have to go back to being Luthor’s little errand boy.” Ben said, and Red X went extremely tense at those words, an anger Ben seemed unable to place simmered off of Red X and Ben wondered what it was that had upset him. 

He had to know Luthor was using him, right? Was money really so important for him to keep on work with someone like Luthor?

 “You have no clue what you’re talking about, kid.” Red X growled, before standing entirely.

“Just thought I’d extend the offer. You don’t seem like a bad guy, Red.” Ben replied with a shrug, “I’d get going if I were you. My friends can handle the rest.” Red X took the hint, backing off, before turning and running from the battle field just as the Young Justice team came rushing out. 

“Stop him!” Artemis called, noticing the retreating mercenary. Red X halted for a moment upon noticing her, his body language portraying something akin to surprise before he was back to getting the heck out of there. 

“Stop! He’s not the problem here!” Ben called, pulling himself to his feet as he gestured towards Klarion and Albedo. Klarion was fuming with rage, his features looking less and less human as he attacked Albedo with clear prejudice.

“On it!” Ben was a little surprised as Zatanna came barreling forwards, her spells at ready as she joined Albedo in fending Klarion off. She’d been hanging around the Team a lot, but hadn’t ever officially joined.

Superboy and M’gann joined the fray, while Klarion called for Teekl, still in his large cat form, back to attacking the heroes. This time the cat wasn’t showing the restraint it had with Albedo. Clearly, Klarion thought Albedo was too interesting to kill for some bizarre reason beyond Ben’s understanding, but the rest of Ben’s team? Fair game. Artemis got several trick arrows out and set to work at distracting the cat from the others who were struggling against Klarion’s magic.

Robin and Aqualad ran up next to where Ben stood. Ben couldn’t help but notice the ten year old who trailed behind Aqualad, looking tense and ready to fight at a moment’s notice. 

“What’s the plan, boss?” Robin asked. 

“Frankly, I’m still trying to figure out how to stop the spell. The longer it goes for the worse things will get, globally. We need the adults back. Soon.” Ben said, before holding his head, that headache from the magic blast still very much lingering.

“Well, we’ve been avoiding Alien X as a fall back, but if Klarion proves to be too much to take on without Dr. Fate who’s stuck in the other world…” Robin pointed out.

“He’s not…” Ben glanced down at the flashing watch, “...Exactly an option right now. Captain Marvel?” Ben turned from Robin and Kaldur towards the ten year old, “We’re keeping Klarion distracted on our end. I’m assuming there are other magicians in the other spots on that rune. I think Fate might be strong enough to challenge them, or at the very least, keep them busy. Zatara or Nabu might know how to counter this spell, now that they’ve seen it. Can you get that information from them?”

“No need!” Albedo called from where he was fighting, “We need to get the gem in the center and then this whole thing comes crashing down!” 

“Easier said than done!” Superboy grunted as he rolled out of the way, barely avoiding a bolt of lighting Klarion had attacked him with. 

“There’s a barrier.” Kladur observed, noting how Albedo kept randomly attempting to strike at the gemstone and breach the shield, “I think with use of my water barriers and technique, I can push through and reach the gem. I need them to continue holding Klarion’s attention and ample cover.”

“And do you think you can try for it from the other side, just in case?” Ben asked Marvel. The kid nodded.

“I think so. I think so long as one of us can knock the gemstone out of place, we can snap the world back into one and have the advantage again. The adults should already be here, last I checked, I’ll see what I can do… Shazam!”

“He comes with his own built-in catch phrase?” Ben chuckled as the boy vanished in a flash of lightning, “Fun. Rob, lend me some smoke bombs. I’ll take left, you take right. Aqualad, flank. The others will keep Klarion’s attention while Robin and I build you some cover.” 

“What, you in the red?” Robin realized as he fished some smoke bombs out and tossed them over towards Ben.

“Never mind that.” Ben said, “We can fix that after Klarion is dealt with. Are you two ready?” They nodded in response. Ben just smiled, before darting for the battle, smoke bombs in hand. He aimed for where Artemis was now wrestling with the cat, throwing a smoke bomb down at its feet and hightailing it as the cat growled and forgot about Artemis entirely. 

M’gann reconnected Ben and Albedo to her mind link as Robin relayed the plan to the group. 

Kid Flash was delighted to become distracted and began to taunt, zipping about the battlefield and purposefully aggravating both Klarion’s cat and Klarion himself whilst Ben continued to set off smoke bombs at ground levels. Superboy broke from the battle against Klarion, attacking the problematic feline with Wolf, who he'd apparently brought along, instead. 

“This could’ve been more fun!” Klarion loudly complained, “I don’t know how you contacted your boring brother and his brat friends!” He was still dead set on Albedo.

Good.

‘Keep his attention, Reflect.’ Ben conveyed over the mindlink, “Kid Flash, Miss. M, Zatanna, you’re doing great with annoying him, but he’s set on Reflect for some reason. We need to keep it that way. Aqualad, are you almost ready?’

‘Nearly in position.’

‘Good, once that shield’s breached, he’s gonna notice. We need to keep him very busy. We’ll use his obsession with Reflect to our advantage, Aqualad and Reflect should go for the gem, but I guarantee they aren’t going to grab it in time. Defend Aqualad and Reflect. We’re going to try a dummy pass maneuver, a feint, if you will. Kid Flash, once we’ve gotten past that barrier, go for the gem, be fast. If he stops you, don’t worry, I've got a plan bin case, got it? Superboy and Artemis. Teekl is his Achilles heel. He’s strong right now, but if you can knock him out, we might be able to deal with the Klarion problem altogether, keep on him.’

‘You’ve got it!’ Kid called.

‘This cat’s going down!’ Superboy grunted in agreement. 

‘Zatanna, Miss. Martian, and I have managed to damage the barrier’s integrity. We just need a definite blow to break it. Aqualad’s electrical strike should suffice, theoretically speaking.’ Albedo provided.

‘Aqualad?’

‘I’m ready to try. This smoke is providing ample cover for a strike.’ Kaldur provided. 

‘Do it.’ Ben commanded. 

There was a loud cackle of electricity, and suddenly the secondary barrier that had been protecting the runes shattered as Klarion broke through the smoke screen Robin and Ben had created. Klarion snarled, twisting away from the magicians and Martian that had been attacking from the front and targeting Aqualad almost instantly. 

The Atlantean teen had to roll out of the way to avoid being shot down by Klarion as Albedo rushed in from the front, diving for the gem. Klarion clearly expected that, which Ben figured he would, and red chains erupted from the earth, wrapping themselves around Albedo before he could make the distance. Zatanna rushed to free Albedo while Miss. Martian flew to help protect Aqualad.

Ben moved in from the left, staying just outside the runes as he threw a smoke bomb inwards. Wally took cover, making his move as he rushed for it, breaking away from the fight against Teekl so fast, it nearly gave Ben whiplash.

Klarion had not been prepared for Kid Flash’s sudden adjustment in trajectory, and he was left howling in rage as Kid Flash wrapped his fingers onto the jumpstone and pulled. The smoke allowed for enough obscurity in the area that Klarion failed to anticipate Kid Flash’s next location, and Kid Flash darted from inside the circle before anyone could blink.

Instantly, the world seemed to flicker, the forms of the other magicians, sorcerers, and warlords holding up the spell shimmered into existence, before they all collapsed from the whiplash, leaving Klarion alone.

Surrounding the circle alongside the team was Red Tornado, Torpedo, and Inferno, along with Batman, Zatara, an adult Captain Marvel, and of course, Dr. Fate himself, who glared down with an unbridled fury at Klarion. 

The lord of chaos let out a little, ‘eep!’ and flinched back, startled as the rest of them were by the two worlds suddenly snapping back together. 

He glanced round at the battlefield, signs of the fights between himself and the teens and the battle between the adults and the other magicians littering the battlefield. 

“Well, this was fun.” Klarion decided, before bowing a little towards Albedo, “We’ll have to play again sometime, Crimson Mage! Next time, don’t bring along these party crashers. They ruin everything.” Albedo just snarled in response. Dr. Fate stepped forwards, ready summoning magic to attack Klarion with. Klarion seemed to take the hint, and was gone in a flash of red, reappearing next to his cat, who had pinned Superboy.

“Come on, Teekl, time to go home!” Klarion called. Immediately, the cat shrank back to normal, ran for Klarion, and vanished with the lord of chaos upon reaching him. 

“Isn’t it your job to stop him?” Albedo snapped at Dr. Fate.

“To what end?” Dr. Fate pointed out, “Klarion is Chaos personified. He cannot be contained.” 

“Will you at the very least keep him, and yourself for that matter, as far from me as possible?! He ambushed me at work, for crying out loud!” Albedo huffed, “Honestly!” Fate had the decency to look apologetic at the remark.

“I let my guard down. I am sorry for not preventing him from hurting you.” Nabu said, which clearly surprised several people, seeing as Nabu had to be basically held at gunpoint to apologize last time. 

Albedo’s expression softened with the apology.

“He did little harm to me. My mana is quite spent, but as an Anodite, I can regain that with some rest. I’m not the one who was harmed by this entire ordeal, Nabu, and we both know that well.”

A somber silence spread over everyone as Ben himself considered all of the kids he had to fish out of dangerous situations across the world. He considered all of the kids he hadn’t managed to get to in time. He found himself shuttering.

Alien X could’ve turned it all back. He could’ve fixed everything with ease. It would’ve been so easy.

‘But I can’t play God.’ Ben thought to himself, before glancing at the orange blinking watch on his arm.

They’d won this battle.

However, no one could deny that the cost was steep.

Notes:

Just to note, the editing on this chapter was minimal. My excuse? Finals. I've been dealing with the world's most mindbogglingly boring 14 page paper for one of my classes (Hence the delay in posts.) I finished it, got a good score on the annoying thing, but I had to neglect my fanfic and creative writing for an apa paper for about two weeks, and boy, did it show when I finally got back around to this.

Papers are hard. Fanfics are much more fun to work on.

My finals are over with though, so I am out of classes for winter break officially. Also, this marks the end of the misplaced arc. This one had a lot of differences and similarities to the old one, but it also is designed to set up a lot for the next couple arcs of the story as we move towards the final episodes of the show.

For those wanting the general outline of what's to be expected without getting into spoilers, I'm going to be breaking off from some of the main episodes for a little bit for this next arc as I start to focus on what I've been calling the 'Red X arc'. After this, we'll go right into brief glimpse of Coldhearted, before diving into Images, which I've got a lot of fun ideas I've been wrestling over for. After which we'll be moving from Insecurity, to Performance, and then finally, the to the finale of the book and show, which is insane to think about. Though, seeing as it took this long to get this far, I'm figuring the ending's still got some distance before we get there.

Thank you once more for your patience! See ya'll next weekend.

Chapter 105: The Actor.

“I understand you teamed up with the young heroes during this past crisis.” Luthor said, and Albedo tensed at where he stood before Luthor.

“I didn’t know what else I could do.” Albedo said simply, “I was left alone. It’s not like I had any forewarning that every single adult was going to be wiped from existence and I was going to be left with virtually no orders. I adapted to the situation and preyed on the fact that apparently Deka’s twin was kidnapped by some crazed magician in order to force him to work with me. I think the silver lining of this is that Deka now owes me for helping him bail his big brother. I’m still thinking over the possibilities of what I can get a shape shifter like him to do to repay that debt.” 

Albedo didn’t dare bring up that Klarion’s acknowledgement that he needed to keep his mouth shut about Albedo’s extracurriculars outside of being Reflect basically confirmed to Albedo that Luthor was in on that plot.

Instead he folded his arms, showing his aggravation, “I came to work for you because I figured you’d profit me, Luthor. I’m not exactly profiting very much from a lot of kids dying and you being nowhere in sight. I’m no magic expert, so how am I supposed to know if what Klarion was doing was permanent or not? I make gadgets. Whatever that was? Way out of my league, man.” 

“I suppose I can see your dilemma.” Luthor agreed as he leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin, “You weren’t given much warning. Frankly, the fact that you’ve interacted so closely with Deka is more beneficial to me than if you’d left the heroes well enough alone. You can only learn so much about the enemy by fighting them.”

Albedo internally snorted at the irony of that statement.

“Granted, we weren’t entirely aware of your legal status as a minor, so we can’t exactly take all the blame for this mistake.” Albedo let his body stiffen, feigning surprise at Luthor’s comment. 

“You knew that was going to happen?” Albedo asked.

“It was above your paygrade.” Luthor shrugged, “You didn’t need to know… Or so I thought. Had I known you were still a teenager, I would’ve been a little more willing to give the heads up.” 

“I don’t even get what the point of that would be if you were involved.” Albedo huffed, voicing one of his frustrations out loud before remembering he wasn’t supposed to be overly interested in some of Luthor’s antics. Asking too many questions would arouse suspicions and prevent the discovery of answers.

“But, whatever, you’re right.” Albedo turned to leave, waving it off, “It’s above my paygrade. Just don’t go blabbing to other potential gigs I might like doing about how I’m a teen. I like my anonymity. Keeps the heroes off my back and the enemies I make away from my house and my stuff. Plus, I don’t like being underestimated or taken advantage of because I’m a kid. Though… I’m sure I could play my age against some of those do gooders. I’ve seen some heroes go real soft when they realize they're dealing with a kid.”

“Yes, I know what you mean.” Luthor said thoughtfully as Albedo reached the door, “Red X, wait a moment.” Albedo stilled, grinning under his mask as he turned back towards Luthor.

“What?”

“You said Deka has a debt to you.” Luthor recognized. 

“Guy’s apparently broke and desperately needed help getting to his twin, so yeah. He owes me. Said he’ll do anything, within reason, of course, in return for me helping him save Reflect. I don’t know much about Deka, but I get the impression that his twin’s the only family he’s got. Very protective of him.” Albedo provided. 

“This is very useful to know.” Luthor agreed, “We weren’t expecting Klarion to abduct Reflect. How he managed to get Reflect out in the open like that after he’s not made a public appearance since the Injustice League attacked, we don’t know, but I can’t say I’m not pleased with what we’ve learned as a result of his abduction.” Luthor stood to pace some, “Reflect is a liability to Deka. A weak point that could be leveraged against someone who has the potential to be the most powerful person on this planet. I’d originally deduced that Reflect was not worth the attention, but sometimes I forget the bond some siblings share. Forgive me for oversharing, but as you can imagine, I don’t typically have first hand experience with family caring in that manner.”

From what Albedo had read in many news articles about Luthor’s life? Albedo couldn’t say he was surprised. 

“Preaching the choir. My old man left me high and dry.” Luthor chuckled at the response before nodding to himself.

“My point is, Deka attacked Klarion alone with you in his attempt to rescue his twin, regardless of the risk. If he is willing to do that once for his brother, I think it is safe to say he will do it again with the expectation that he’ll reap the same results.”

“You want to bait this guy.” Albedo said slowly.

“His powers are the key to many scientific breakthroughs. He’s invaluable. A perfect weapon and a perfect experiment. Snaring him would mean changing the world, Red X.” Luthor explained. 

“So, he’s worth a lot.” Albedo stated. Luthor laughed again.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be paid handsomely for your involvement. However, I will need to talk with my colleagues about how much I should involve you and how much you will be paid. We can bargain once I’ve had a chance to go over it all.” Albedo flat out smirked at that, but he continued to try and keep his body language under control, mentally reciting many of his acting exercises from his theater days.

“Well, you know how to reach me. Can I go now? I’m starving and I have places to be, if you don’t mind?” Albedo asked, pointing his thumb towards the door behind him. Luthor nodded, shooing Albedo off. 

“Yes. You should probably leave, I have several meetings and your presence is not required.” Albedo nodded, before pivoting quickly and sending an nonchalant goodbye wave in Luthor’s direction as he went.

“Later, old man.” He called out, and he ignored Luthor’s sputtering at being called ‘old.’ Albedo hurried quickly out of the building and ducked into the alleyway next to LexCorp.

“Well?” Albedo glanced over to the teen in the baggy clothes, ball cap, sunglasses, and hoodie that waited for him.

“He’s taken the bait.” Albedo replied, “He’s opening up. He clarified his involvement with Klarion’s plot with ease, and he seems willing to fold me into their plans involving my twin. It isn’t an exact opening to Luthor’s secret organization and Red X’s alliance with Deka likely hindered progress at that front but it is a door we can use.” 

“Good.” Roy nodded, “The quicker he buys into the Red X thing, the quicker we can take him down for what he did to me.” 

“Don’t be too hasty.” Albedo pointed out as he pulled off his mask and began to remove the Red X suit, leaving him in his t-shirt and jeans, despite the frigid November air. Roy silently pulled out a heavier jacket from the backpack he carried, and Albedo took it with a grateful smile, “If we rush this process, we’ll expose ourselves and all of our hard work will be for naught. I’ve been playing the long game for much too long now, and as much as I want to give him a peace of mind for targeting my brother…” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Roy waved Albedo’s concern off, “You’ve been over this a thousand times, doc. Speaking of your twin… How is he after that hit Klarion got him with?” Albedo furrowed his eyes.

“That’s partially why I decided to head to Geno-Town today. I’ve many tools I needed to collect from there to help his current situation. His watch is still broken, and I’ve decided to install a better regulator to help protect it from mana overloads. That, and a few other adjustments. I suppose I should’ve expected Luthor to call in Red X for a discussion after what happened the other day.” 

“I mostly meant how he is physically. That looked painful.”  

“It likely was. If he was badly injured by it, I doubt I’ll find out immediately. He’s stubbornly good at saving face, I’ve learned.”

“What is the deal with those watches anyways?” Roy asked, “I figured yours regulated your mana stuff but I don’t get what a magic regulator has to do with him being able to change shape.”

“Roy, it’s not a regulator at all.” Albedo said with a snort, “The watch is the source of his powers. It’s called the Omnitrix, and it stores alien DNA. It also allows for complete genetic transformation within moments, thus his ability to change form. The problem is, it is Galvanic technology, and thus quite susceptible to mana overload. It’s why Benjamin isn’t a magic user despite having potential for it as I do. I used to share his powers, which is why I possess a watch as well.”

“...Huh. So why do you still have one then? Can you still transform?” Roy asked. Albedo shook his head.

“I got my transformation abilities… Removed for misuse. I can’t say I was the most responsible with those abilities and the consequences I have from them weren’t the best. I did tell you I wasn’t always human, remember?”

“Oh.”

“The watch I’ve got is a husk of my old one. Broken and unable to function as it once did. Repairing it would take a long time, a lot of resources, and effort I don’t have time to input. However, it is genetically fused to me, and I have been using the remaining AI within it for projects, and, as you pointed out, storing and regulating mana as needed. I can’t remove it. I’m sure Benjamin could, for he has the codes for that, but I’m not particularly in a rush.”

“Does… Luthor knows Deka’s powers are a part of his watch?”

“Last I checked, he suspects a connection, but as you guessed it, he also theorizes it may be a regulator. He’s still under the impression that Benjamin himself is the reason behind his powers… An interesting notion, I will say. If I were to come across a person who could do what Benjamin could completely naturally, well… I will say, I’d be just as interested as Luthor, if not more so. A living Omnitrix, the very idea!” Albedo rambled, mostly to himself. He glanced over, noticing the odd look Roy was offering him and mentally reminded himself that human teenagers weren’t typically as excited by the prospect of an intense scientific breakthrough.

He cleared his throat.

“Well, anyways, it’s not safe for you to be out and about so much. I’m glad you are adjusting well, but this little field trip alone is a risk. I think I may look into options for disguising you better for your walkabouts so you aren’t cooped up in Geno-Town so much now that you’re getting to be more active.” Albedo went on to say, “I think I might try and replicate the High Breed cloaking masks. Those tend to work well in the disguise territory, though…” Albedo trailed off as he thought about how Klarion had pointed out the flaws in his civilian disguise, “I have, under good advice, been made aware there may be magical solutions to this issue.” 

“What, you can magically make me look like someone else?” Roy scoffed. Albedo shrugged.

“Theoretically, yes. I’m going to consult Zatanna and Zatara about it once I’ve dealt with fixing my brother’s watch.” Albedo reached into his Red X mask, pulling the recording feed from the conversation out and tossing it towards Roy, “In the meantime, review the conversation I recorded of today’s meeting. If we do intend to alternate this persona, we’ll both need to know about each interaction this persona has had and adapt accordingly. I’ve noticed you’ve gone through many of my other recordings and files about it. We should make that a habit.”

“Yeah, about that… Has anyone ever told you that you are a scary good actor? You barely act like yourself when you put this thing on, it’s really weird. I mean, I’m a superhero, I understand playing different parts, but you do it to a whole different degree.” Roy asked. 

“I used to act, actually.” Albedo said, “I even wrote and directed a play.” Roy did a double take of Albedo.

“You… acted?” Roy asked, baffled, “How and when? You seem so busy with your science and hero careers, when the heck would you have taken time to write and be in a play?” 

“It’s a long story, but I did learn I love human media like plays and television. I wouldn’t mind being in another play or two, going forwards. Of course, as you so eloquently pointed out, I am far too busy at this stage in my life, so perhaps another time.” 

“Fair, I guess.” Roy huffed, “There’s something else I was wondering about?”

“Sure.” 

“That archer girl last night? In the green arrow cosplay?”

“Artemis? What about her?” Albedo asked.

“Is she… How is she related to Green Arrow?” Roy asked, causing Albedo’s expression to soften some. 

“Yeah, I should guess you’d want to know more about your mentor’s current status.” Albedo recognized, “He introduced her to the team as his niece– She’s not. I’m sure you already figured that out, but that’s what he said. After the other Roy struck out on his own, I assume he found her and decided to mentor her. I’ve not gone too deep into her files, but I do know a few things. I wanted to ensure my mole theory was absolutely accurate, so I’ve got spyware in the Justice League’s classified databases.” Roy stared at Albedo for a moment.

“You are just as bad as I remember Batman being.” He decided. 

“I just like to be absolutely certain of things. I’ve rushed and cut corners in my past, and it did not work out for me.” Albedo shrugged, “Now, we should get back to Undertown and I need to get those tools to Benjamin before he breaks the Omnitrix further.” 

“Fair enough.” 

Notes:

Merry Christmas to all!

Chapter 106: To Be Ten.

Ben was stuck inside the cave until Albedo could get back from his lab in D.C. and help him fix the Omnitrix… Something not even a year ago, Ben would not have fathomed allowing the Galvan turned human to attempt. However, despite their troubled past with one another, Ben felt really comfortable with the idea of Albedo being to one to fix it. Azmuth knew Albedo would do a better job than Blukic or Driba did. They were far smarter than humans, sure, but not for Galvans. Sometimes their bickering and contrasting arguments left Ben… Less than assured he’d have an arm at the end of the day.

He, understandably, was bored out of his wits and extremely antsy. Half the League and aloof the team were out helping with the clean up. Meanwhile, he was stuck at the cave with Red Inferno, who’d promised she’d do a medical check up after Albedo annoyingly testified Ben had been injured mildly in the Klarion fight and that his powers were offline until further notice, and he was left watching the aftermath in the stupid medbay.

“The reports on the casualties are still coming in, along with reports of numerous break-in, robberies, and exchanges that occurred during the twenty-four hour crisis. Clean up is underway, with the Justice League leading the charge.” Wally’s aunt Iris said as she talked about the clean up efforts in Central City. 

Ben found himself flicking through the different news channels; all of them had the same report. Many were listing schools that would be out in their respective areas while people took time to recover. (This included Ben’s school, which would’ve been great if he wasn’t stuck on the bench by his twin.)

His boredom was getting the best of him and he was about to call it quits, turn off the monitor, and make a smoothie, when a little girl being interviewed accidentally drew his attention. The caption of the new report was titled: [Deka’s Return! Fate of the Mysterious Reflect Still Unknown?].

“Yeah! He turned into a giant plant monster right in front of my eyes and pulled the door right off!” The girl described with wide, excited hand gestures, “He was so cool!” Ben stared at the news report, before there was the sound of someone storming through the hall outside of the medbay that was decidedly not Red Inferno. 

Ben clicked the monitor off, rising to his feet and once more ignoring the lingering migraine he was still trying to get over to peek outside the hall.

He was surprised to see Captain Marvel, in his hero form, marching away from the medbay. He looked frustrated by something. Ben didn’t have to be a Galvan to guess why.

“Marvel?” Ben called, making Captain Marvel spin around in surprise, his eyes widening upon seeing Ben.

“Oh, Deka! I forgot Bats benched you until the Omnitrix is repaired. I was just, er… Inspecting! And, look! Everything is ship-shape and good, so I’ll be going back out to help the others now!” Marvel said as he flew backwards, rubbing the back of his head while his face went warm with embarrassment.

“They sent you back, huh?” Ben deadpanned. Marvel held the false grin for a full five seconds after Ben asked the question, before his expression fell and he deflated immediately.

“Wonder Woman says it’s too dangerous and the League has to meet about me before I can do anything with them.” Marvel admitted. 

“Did she now?” Ben asked, leaning against the door frame as he considered that little nugget of information, “I’ve not really talked to Wonder Woman… Does she know you literally aren’t the first ten year old involved in hero work, right? You at least have powers. Look at Robin! The kid was nine and is only three or four years older than you, and they let him fight. Granted, he’s not in the League, but he’s still out there right now helping people just the same as they are.”

“I told her I was just the same Captain Marvel as I was back when they let me join, but she still told me to go home… And everyone else agrees with her. I think Batman’s the only one who hasn’t treated me differently since they found out.” Marvel complained. Ben crossed his arms and shrugged.

“Can’t say I blame them.” Ben nodded, “You’re young, CM. They just lost all the kids on Earth for twenty-four hours, and they try protecting kids like you. They’ve been so hesitant to let the Young Justice team push themselves farther because they know we’re all young and that all of this is really heavy stuff. They’re adults, Marvel. It’s their job to look out for kids.” Marvel winced, hanging his head as Ben explained this.

“Yeah.” He said, his tone wounded.

“Doesn’t mean they’re right about you.” Ben went on to say, making Marvel jerk his head up in surprise.

“What?” Ben smirked, motioning for Marvel to follow Ben.

“You can drop the costume, Marv. It’s just you, me, and Inferno in the cave right now. Anodyne knows some conversations are more comfortable in the right skin.” Ben winked at Marvel, “If anyone knows about that, it’s yours truly.” Marvel hesitated before nodding along and calling out his catchphrase, ‘Shazam!’ Moments later, the boy from before stood where the grown hero had been.

He followed Ben quietly to the living area where Ben proceeded to plop down onto the couch, leaning happily into the cushions and sighing in content. Tense, Marvel followed his example.

“You don’t have to call me Deka all the time, you know.” Ben pointed out, “I would call myself Ben Ten if Albedo had let me get away with that, but apparently, secret identities are super awesome things that provide privacy. But I think we’re friends enough by this point that calling me Deka when I’m not in uniform is a little odd.” Marvel blinked owlishly at Ben before smiling shyly as he nodded.

“I’m Billy. Billy Batson.” Marvel said and he offered Ben a hand, which Ben promptly shook.

“Nice to meet you Billy.” Ben said, before laughing a little, “You know, I think you are the second or third League person to get some advice from me. First Superman, then I kind of told off Batman for not trusting his kids enough, and now you! And Kevin used to say I gave bad advice! Guess it goes to show, experience goes a long way!” 

“Right, you’ve been a hero for a while, I remember Batman saying something about you being a veteran hero despite being a teenager in a League meeting. Ben hummed in agreement, his knee bouncing as he fidgeted with the batteries in the tv remote in front of him. 

“I even had this brief retirement arc and everything!” Ben agreed, “I just didn’t operate very publicly or with humans enough for people to know about me. My Grandpa Max helped set me on a good path after I got the Omnitrix. Him and my cousin Gwen. I can’t say I’d be who I am today if not for them.”

“How… Can I ask… If it’s okay, Mr. Ben, sir, um…” Billy flushed suddenly shy as he reminded Ben just how old he actually was.

“About your age.” Ben shrugged, “I was ten years old too.” Billy took a moment to process that, nodding slowly.

“Yeah, I think I heard that once.” Billy decided, “So then, you know why I’m mad?”  

“Oh, yeah.” Ben tossed aside the remote and traded it for the zipper on his jacket, “You hid your age for a reason. The less people know about this side of you, the safer you are. You also hid it because you knew people might not take you as seriously if they knew. You want to be taken seriously, because your hero side, Captain Marvel, is a part of you and a gift given to you in order to be a force of good. If people know you’re a kid, they might try and stop you from using it like that.” 

“Exactly!” Billy said, throwing his hands up, “I wasn’t trying to lie to or trick anyone! I just knew I could do so much good and I know I’m strong enough to do it! But because they know I’m a kid now, they think I’m not as strong as I was before, even though nothing has really changed about me other than the fact that they know the truth now. People need me. They count on me. I can’t just sit back and let the adults handle things when I was given my powers to help others.”

“When my parents found out about my powers, they kind of freaked too. I was grounded from fighting and they insisted it wasn’t my fight.” Ben agreed, “Tried to pry the Omnitrix off of my arm. I’m surprised they didn’t set anything off when they did that. To them, I was their precious little boy, and they had a job to make sure I was safe. To them, it didn’t matter that I was the one Azmuth chose to be his wielder. It just mattered if I was safe. I took them a bit to come around and warm up to it.”

“What did you do?” Billy asked. Ben shrugged.

“Well, I was older than you when they found out. I hid the truth from them for five years. I was fifteen and fighting a war when it happened. At first, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Tried to listen to them and explain to them why I couldn’t just quit. But the more I just let them start setting up all these rules to try and keep me from going out, the more danger I put my friends in. My friends were counting on me to be there fighting. When I stopped showing up, fights didn’t go as well anymore. Then my buddy Kevin was caught by these aliens called the Highbreed, and I knew… I had to put my foot down and show them exactly why I couldn’t just drop it. I told them no, flat out, and I went and I saved Kevin.” 

“You stood firm.” Billy nodded, “That’s… Not going to be easy. I mean, no offense to your mom and dad, but the Justice League…”

“Heh, you just don’t know what my mom was like. When she sets her mind to anything, she usually sticks to it.” Ben chuckled, “But yeah, I gotcha. The entire Justice League is no joke. That doesn’t mean you back down. You have to explain to them why you are a hero. Explain to them why it has to be you and why you won’t stop being a hero. They’re heroes themselves, so they might understand it a little better if you play your cards right. It won’t be easy though. You are younger than when I had to make my case to my mom and dad. The younger you are, the harder it is to justify… And not without reason. Like I said, they have a point. You are a kid. They’re supposed to protect kids. You can’t blame them for wanting to protect you. Be glad that they do… But you have to set your boundaries and you have to make it clear that you being a hero is non-negotiable.” 

Billy nodded, looking like a young boy playing soldier with how he straightened his shoulders and took Ben’s advice to heart. 

“I’ll do my best.” Billy said with a small salute. 

“I’m sure you will.” Ben agreed before his smile fell some as he thought about how old Billy was. As he thought about how old Ben himself had once been.

“Mr. Ben? You look sad.” Billy said, noticing Ben’s shift in expression. Ben just shook his head in response.

“I…” He tried to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say, “I’m sorry it had to be you this young. I know it’s not easy. It’s really cool and awesome being able to turn into this epic hero and you get to help a lot of people, but it’s also not easy. I wish you were older. But I guess the universe doesn’t care so much about if you’re a kid or not when the world is at stake. Not a lot of people get that.” Billy got a look of understanding, and he smiled, putting a hand on Ben’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry it had to be you that young too.” Billy said, “But I’m happy it is you, and not someone else. You’re a good hero, Mr. Ben.” Ben let go of the zipper on his jacket as he examined the kid sitting in front of him. He shoved the turmoil away and reached forwards, ruffling Billy’s hair in a playful manner like he sometimes did when Rook Ben came to visit his big brother. 

“I know. I’m the best.” Ben bragged, and he winked at Billy. He then let his smile become something softer as he leaned forwards, “Just let me know if they give you a hard time, okay?  And if you need anything, anything at all, Billy, let me know. I’ve got your back, okay?” Billy seemed to mull over the words, before he nodded in agreement.

“Okay.”

Notes:

Last chapter of 2023! Happy New Years everyone!

Chapter 107: A Few Repairs.

“Regardless, I’ve made quite a few breakthroughs when it comes to intermultiversal travel that I’m hoping will have the project done.” Albedo rambled on as Ben, his unfortunate captive, did his best not to doze off. Really, he knew he should’ve been way more interested in Albedo’s updates on the machine that would send him home. However, Ben had been cooped up most of the afternoon in the med lab with his Omnitrix arm strapped to the table while Albedo worked cautiously on repairing it. 

It was safe to say, the conversation about the intermultiversal traveling machine had been the fourth or fifth project Ben had accidently gotten Albedo to start rambling about. The guy liked to keep busy, and he tended to get extremely detailed and sciencey anytime he was allowed to gush about his projects. Ben was happy his brother was so passionate and excited about his work, but Azmuth, Ben was having trouble nodding along and keeping his eyes open.

“That’s good.”

“Are you even listening?” Albedo asked, a mix of amusement and annoyance in his tone.

“You’re making progress on your main project.” Ben recounted, before moving his palm from under his chin as he drummed his fingers impatiently and bounced his leg, “The mana overload didn’t do that much damage, did it? We’ve been here for hours!”

“No. No. I’ve fixed that already.” Albedo said dismissively. Ben sat up a little straighter, making Albedo object and pushing Ben back into his seat.

“Sit still, will you! This is delicate work!” Albedo huffed. 

“But you just said you fixed the mana overload!”

“Well obviously. That’s a simple fix for one like me!” Albedo agreed, “But I want to prevent it from being such an issue! I know all about the last time an Omnitrix core was overloaded. I intend to prevent such disasters! If we’re going to be battling magic users and you yourself are going to be dabbling in mana more as a protective measure, then obviously we need to rethink the Omnitrix’s protective measures against mana. Galvans know of mana, obviously. But we aren’t exactly prone to creating technology that works well with it. Anodites are quite problematic around technology, you see. It’s a headache to deal with, but a fatal flaw in the Omnitrix that Azmuth didn’t resolve.”

“If I’d managed to turn into Terraspin before Klarion struck me, I would’ve been okay. He’s got resistance to magic.” Ben pointed out, “Klarion just was faster, I guess.”

“Yes. I know. His reasoning for leaving this flaw is that he’d assumed the watch’s mana detection system would kick in and help you select a form resistant to it using the lifeline function. Of course, after the incident of your youth with him and his father and your destruction of the previous model, he did adjust it to be a lot more resistant. The result of Klarion’s strike didn’t spell as much disaster as when Gwendolyn struck the old model, but it did put you at risk and shut you off from the watch’s primary functions.”

“I mean, it could’ve done something crazy like last time. We don’t know. We didn’t notice right away last time.” Ben pointed out.

“It didn’t. Azmuth learned from the experience.” Albedo countered, “It’s obvious from this model’s interface. The original was intended to go to Maxwell Tennyson. A human. Not to you, a boy with alien heritage. It didn’t need as much more defense against mana and magic than the countermeasure of being able to become an alien resistant to it. After you and Gwendolyn managed to mess things up so badly, I remember him returning to Galvan Prime to muse over it. I see some of his ideas integrated into this model. They’re good ideas, yes, but now that I’ve come to understand magic and mana more than any Galvan before me has been able to… I think… For once in my life I may be able to do better at something than Azmuth.” 

“That’s… Interesting, Albes. Really.” Ben couldn’t believe that he’d managed to get Albedo to start rambling about yet another topic. Albedo laughed and rolled his eyes.

“I don’t mean to bore you. I’m merely explaining what it is I’m doing.” Albedo explained, “See… Most magicians struggle with technology because they think it is their opposite or they think magic can help them accomplish anything technology could account for. Most scientists oppose magic because they are too proud to understand it. Having opened my eyes to magic, I think I know why they call me mage these days.”

“Yeah?”

“I understand two seemingly different worlds, and yet I’ve come to understand and appreciate both. They spend so much time warring against one another… But in reality, they are both byproducts of the laws of the universe and can be used in tandem. What it takes is understanding that they aren’t always intended to counter one another, but rather be compliments of one another.” Albedo explained, “Which is something Azmuth never quite puzzled through. He understood that mana existed. But he did not understand beyond that acknowledgement. He doesn’t have the natural ability to do magic, so he never had a reason to try and understand it. Not until he attempted and failed to protect the Omnitrix against it.”

“And being an Anodite lets you understand magic when Azmuth couldn’t.” Ben said. Albedo grinned in agreement.

“Exactly.” He agreed, “Which means I can fix the greatest flaw he could never truly work out.” Ben glanced over at his Omntrix arm and the tools scattered around it while Albedo went back to work on it.

“How much longer is that going to take?” Ben asked, “I think my watch arm is falling asleep.” 

“Oh, maybe an hour or so more.” Albedo chirped cheerfully. Ben just groaned in response to that. Right on cue, there was a little knock at the door of the infirmary. Ben looked up, happy for a distraction as he realized Robin was standing in the doorway.

“Mind if I hang here for a bit? I wanted to ask Ben some stuff about what went down with Red X, Klarion, and you.” Robin asked, “I’m not going to be distracted if I do that, am I?” 

“Oh, no more than how distracting Ben was as an eleven year old when I was working on projects.” Albedo said. He offered Robin a really strange smirk, as if he’d told a joke. Ben didn’t get it, and neither did Robin, apparently, because he didn’t seem to notice or acknowledge the look on Albedo’s face. 

“Sweet.” Robin grabbed a chair from next to the door and dragged it over to sit in front of Ben like he was ready to perform an interrogation, “So, you mentioned Red X wanted something for helping you find Reflect, yeah?” 

“He wants a favor.” Ben agreed, “Didn’t say what though. Information for information. Favor for a favor.” 

“Which means he either has no idea what he wants yet, or he waited until he helped you out so that you’d be stuck in the deal and he’s gonna show up at a dumb time and demand something outrageous.” Robin decided. 

“I mean, I figured. Just how these sort’ve things go. I’m not really worried. I mean, yeah, he works for Lex, but he’s a mercenary. He’s helped our team before and I get the impression he’s not all bad.”

Albedo snorted at that response.

“Do you strive to befriend all of your enemies, Benjamin?” Albedo asked. Ben shrugged helplessly.

“I mean, if Vilgax walked in here right now, I think it’s safe to say he and I would skip the small talk and jump right to trying to kill each other… But… I dunno. He just didn’t seem like a bad guy? Just lost. Also I think he’s got super strength. He grabbed me at one point with his… Right arm I think? To stop me and listen for Klarion. It’s either him or his suit. I’m not sure. But he’s got one heck of a grip.” 

“Morally gray then.” Albedo concluded.

“Maybe… Only, when I brought up him working for Luthor he had the weirdest reaction to it. I don’t know if it was defensive or…”

“Or?” Robin pressed.

“Hate.” Ben admitted, “I told him he didn’t have to go back to Luthor and he got really mad.” 

“That’s interesting, sure.” Albedo cut in, “But it tells us little about who this person is, what his true motives are, why he is employed by Luthor… Or anything otherwise. The most we’ve confirmed is that he is likely in between Robin’s age, and the age of myself and Benjamin. He is not an adult. We’d assumed he was older because of how he addressed your group upon his debut, but the spell sorted him into the world of children, not adults.” 

“I don’t think he’s my age.” Robin mused as he considered the information, “He did act older when me and Ben first met him. He uses a voice filter, so I can’t get a read on his voice, but I dunno. He was certainly taller than me… Not that that means much.” 

“Yeah. I mean, you’re thirteen and all, but I’ve seen thirteen year olds that flat out towered over me, and I’m going to be seventeen next month.” Ben agreed, “So going on height doesn’t say too much. Besides, you say he’s tall, but he felt pretty short when I worked with him earlier. Well, pretty’s a little relative. He was a few inches smaller than me… Which is weird. I thought he was my height.”

“Granted, I’m sure your first interaction with Red X didn’t make much room for measuring yourself against him.” Albedo pointed out. Ben had to give Albedo that. It wasn’t like Ben was constantly trying to measure himself against people. It was just, well, he’d been told by so many aliens who voyaged to meet him that he was surprised he wasn’t taller, that he kind’ve took notice when he met someone new who both didn’t remark on how tall they expected Ben to be and also was smaller than him.

“Fair enough.” Ben said, “But, hey, knowing he’s a kid helps, right?” Robin hummed at that.

“Some. It’s a little harder sometimes to nail a kid when trying to figure out someone’s identity. Especially if he or she doesn’t have a record, hasn’t been reported missing, or anything like that. Kid’s leave paper trails, sure… But not as noticeable as what adults leave. You know, things like background checks, driver’s licenses and car registrations, arrests. Stuff like that. Stuff beyond social security, birth records, doctor’s visits, and information everyone has.” Robin explained, “However, seeing that Red X is Luthor’s personal thief, I can remove adult suspects from the list and look for a kid with a record of stealing. A lot of criminals tend to have previous run-ins with crime. Some start to care and or just do something impulsive or for attention, but most don’t.” 

“Okay, and what if this Red X guy was careful to start with and by eliminating all non-criminal suspects from your list, you miss the kid?” Ben asked. Robin grinned, looking excited to talk about his detective work.

“Well, of course it’s dumb to just throw out a suspect just because they’ve never stolen anything. I’m not saying I’m doing that. What I’m saying is I start by matching what I know about our mercenary’s personality, age, habits, and connections to Luthor so far, sort out the most likely suspects, starting with people who have records and are most likely to be someone like Red X, before working my way through. If it leads me to one dead end, I’m not looking at the case right, and I need to refocus.”

“Like testing a hypothesis.” Albedo suggested. Ben resisted the urge to groan at the introduction of the word ‘hypothesis’ into the conversation. If Albedo turned this conversation into another ramble about science that Ben couldn’t understand while Ben was still stuck and unable to ditch Albedo, he was going to lose it.

(Was this how Gwen always felt when Ben just started rambling for ages about Sumo Slammers?).

“Exactly.” Robin said, “Thing is, he’s gonna have a history. I know there is that small chance he could be some rando guy who needed money or discovered he was addicted to adrenaline who got hired by Luthor for the rush… But that doesn’t fit the profile I’ve got for him so far. We’ve only had a few encounters with him, but each time, he showed he was smart, resourceful, skilled, and extremely comfortable with what he’s doing. We know he’s a bit new to the masks themselves and that he’s a kid, but we also know he’s way too good at what he does to be new to doing this sort of stuff. It’s like he’s someone who’s trained to be a mercenary, but only just now went public, you know? Someone like that has history. They came from somewhere. That’s why I think Red X is a convict or some rogue who decided to make a name for himself using Luthor.”

“The art of the detective seems quite fascinating, Robin.” Albedo mused, “I’ve always understood the importance of forensics and physical evidence, but applying human knowledge of psychology and understanding of their patterns of behavior to put together a profile to help reveal such information, like how a person like Red X is likely a past criminal, is truly a feat. I do hope you find your answers.” 

“Well, jeesh, when you put it like that–” Robin flushed with pride as he puffed his chest out, “Thanks, Al.” Ben decided to inject once more into the conversation before Albedo could reply and make it so that Robin and Albedo both were nerding out about something dramatic.

“Hey, Rob, after Albedo’s done, I was hoping to challenge you to another Battlebots match.” Ben challenged. Ben smirked, happy to finally have a new form of entertainment as Robin’s expression shifted to something Ben could only assume was competitive by his smirk. With his mask on, Ben sometimes had to guess what was going on in Robin’s head.

“Oh, you are on.” Robin challenged, “I’ve been reading about this new update, and man, I’ve got some tricks I am ready to test out!” With that, the two began to chatter about a better topic: video games, and Ben’s boredom was temporarily resolved.

Notes:

Robin: Red X is likely a past offending criminal.
Albedo, the ex-convict: What makes you say that?

Yeah… This chapter is mainly Albedo being his mischievous self and talking to Robin about his and Roy’s shared alter ego… Whilst also having the time of his life nerding out about his passions. Robin is also a nerd who likes to nerd out. Ben too (Although he won’t admit to it easily). Love that for them. I too understand the love of gushing about one’s passion. (I’ve written a 200,000 word crossover about a duo of cartoons for Pete's sake!)

Anywho! Welcome to 2024 folks! It’s a leap year, for those who didn’t know. So, you know, we’ve got an extra day to look forward to in February. So, yeah, that’s pretty neat I guess.

Once more the updates came a little later than I expected.

School and work are both starting up again, plus yet another one of my younger siblings is getting married in about a month, so I’ve been busy. I’m once more considering if I need to shift the day I upload this story due to my week actually being busier on the weekends as of lately. I still am unsure on what day is best to change the schedule to, so I’ll keep you guys posted. As my sister’s wedding comes closer, I’m likely going to slow down some, as I’m in the wedding and helping with it more than I did with my brother’s. If there’s a lag in posts in the future, it’s likely due to that. Hopefully, however, when I figure out a better day for uploading, that will not be a problem.

Chapter 108: Another Cadmus Secret.

Albedo stared at his laptop with a mix of horror and disbelief as his eyes scanned over the recovered Cadmus file he had to pry and pull from the bowels of their systems. He’d known there were Cadmus projects he’d not uncovered yet. He hadn’t even known to look for Roy’s file until Dubbilex found the boy asleep within their facilities. Cadmus liked to take care to hide their darkest secrets. It was bad enough that people knew they’d illegally cloned Superman.

But this?

This was enough to make Albedo rage. It was clear that the Cadmus scientists like Dr. Desmond were brilliant by human standards, however there was a lot about the alien DNA they had begun to splice and meddle with that they did not understand. That they did not comprehend, and therefore should’ve left well enough alone until they had the capacity to understand it. 

The three words blinking in front of Albedo’s eyes only further confirmed this truth.

[Project Match: Unstable]. 

His eyes scanned over the file, which described the process of creating ‘Match’ along with all of the observations, complications, and ultimately, their reasoning behind the instability that ultimately ended the project and set their sights on KR. 

[Desmond’s Logs: It can be concluded that the Kryptonian DNA is beyond our ability to replicate without compromising the mental stability of the subject. Our telepathic gnomes have managed to keep it docile, however, once removed from their influence, it becomes akin to a mindless beast. I recommend cryo-freezing and storing Match until such a project is able to be properly revisited. I recommend restarting the Kryptonian genetics experiment using an experimental combination of human and Kryptonian DNA to help properly stabilize the subject.]

Albedo’s eyes flickered through the files upon files describing how they created Match, and he couldn’t help but wonder why they’d come to the bizarre conclusion that pure Kryptions were just insane by nature, considering Superman was pure Kryptonian and was quite sane.

It wasn’t that Match was intended to be fully Kryptonian that failed them.

It was that in attempting to create the perfect, fully Kryptonian puppet, they oversimplified the DNA sample to the point where it created a base, less developed version of a Kryptonian that was hardwired to his more animalistic instincts. Kryptonian DNA was too complex for them, so they created something slightly more simple at the cost of the poor clone’s mental state. They tossed out essential genetic fragments they didn’t think mattered and they ruined their own project because it was just ‘too hard’ to replicate.

He would’ve scoffed at their stupidity if he didn’t already know they simply didn’t have the level of technology or enough samples of variation in Kryptonians to accurately understand where they’d actually gone wrong. 

Albedo fumbled for his burner cell phone and hoped he wasn’t waking up Dubbilex, since it was quite late. A few rings in, and the genomorph leader was responding.

“Dr. Tennyson? It is quite late. Should you not be asleep?” The genomorph asked with concern.

“I was doing some late night reading… I think I found something we need to look into. Are you familiar with a Project… Match?” There was a long stretch of silence before a response.

“I remember that project, yes.” Dubbilex confirmed, “We could not restore his mind. We tried. They sent him away. We… Have located where they are storing him in the main facility, but seeing as we are attempting to avoid discovery until we are ready… We’ve left him be. It’s safer and we still do not possess the ability to help him like we wish to. Removing him from his current location would reveal us and it would force us to try and take action when we have no means of doing so.”

“Well, I agree with the risk of moving him at the moment, but as the former assistant of a leading expert on genetics, I would say insisting he is beyond our help is something of a silly thing to do.”

“...Are you implying you know a way to help?”

“It’s quite simple actually. It involves scanning the boy’s genetics for the missing fragmentations that they removed to simplify it for the replication process, creating synthetic replacements, and infusing them into the boy’s DNA. I will, of course, need an intact sample to ensure I’m replicating the correct sequencing… And I will need…” Albedo trailed off as he realized what he was going to need to properly repair the clone’s genetics. His eyes trailed up from his computer towards his brother’s bedroom door.

“Dr. Tennyson?” 

“I believe I have a viable solution to the issue, however I do not think I am ready to risk recovering Project Match until we are certain the exposure of Geno-Town will not be compromised or my side project will not be exposed to my enemy.” Albedo replied, “Cadmus still believes your kind is unable to integrate into society because of your differences and the risks they believe that come with it. They’ll try and control the situation as soon as it is discovered.”

“We do not want that sort of trouble.” Dubbilex agreed. That had been something they’d all agreed on since the start of this whole project, “Not all of us are ready… And despite the laws that are supposed to protect beings such as the genomorphs, I know the rest of this world is not ready.” Not to mention how Cadmus treated the genomorphs that lended to their continued fear of trying to fully integrate into society outside of their little colony. Even after Cadmus’s true colors were exposed, they kept the genomorphs the League knew about and had files for in their above grounds facilities to ‘protect them’ and make sure they were ‘stable.’ 

While Albedo agreed that there was a real danger to be found in genomorphs roaming the world, he knew the danger came from fear and eventual conflict that was already reflected in the fights of aliens, metas, and powerful warriors that were paraded as heroes and villains. It was a fight or be killed world for those like the genomorphs, as there would always be someone out there like Cadmus who wanted to only use them as a weapon, regardless of the meta-human rights acts.

The genomorphs were created for war.

But Albedo knew they did not wish to fight. They wanted what most people did… Lives of their own where they could be in peace. A society where they could be free to choose what they wanted to do. Entering the world above Geno-town or informing Cadmus of their place was going to take that choice away.

And yes, it would also let Luthor know that one Dr. Tennyson located the former sidekick Speedy and jeopardized many things… But that sort of thing could always be replanned out and manipulated. Losing their choice to choose what sort of lives they lead would be a far harder battle to complete. 

“We do need to, however, begin to figure out our plan of action should they begin to realize what we’ve been doing.” Albedo mused, “We can’t just avoid getting genomorphs of interest out just because someone may or may not notice forever. The more of your people we move, the more we risk. Technically, you should fall under the Meta-human acts, but we both know Cadmus does not care and considers your people theirs to command and control. They will react pretty badly when they realize.” And it was when. Based on Albedo’s calculations, they would notice much sooner than he wanted them to if they continued at the rate they had been going.

“...What do you suggest, Dr. Tennyson?”

“To be honest, we may need to slow operations for a little bit and rethink the entire process.” Albedo admitted as he rubbed his temples, “I’ve been doing my best on my end as Dr. Tennyson to redirect their interests… But I can only distract and confuse for so long before someone catches on. I need more time to execute my own operation, which theoretically may be able to help remove the threat of Cadmus to the genomorphs entirely if I can play all my cards right.”

“And help your friends and brother be safe from the threat you’ve uncovered at LexCorp.” Dubbilex noted as he pointed out the obvious motivation to Albedo. Albedo just pressed his lips in response as he hummed a little at that. He didn’t deny it. Dubbilex was a telepath, after all, and he knew all of Albedo’s motivations for his many plots.

“Frankly, I would argue that LexCorp is just as bad as Cadmus.” Albedo pointed out, “But I digress.”

“I do not disagree.” Dubbilex said, before he sighed heavily, “I will slow efforts and call a meeting about the subject. They’ll want to continue, but it is obvious we’ve taken a great risk with the human boy now that he’s become involved. Involving another Kryptonian clone so soon after will surely spell the end of Geno-Town. It pains me… But Match will be monitored, but not removed until such a time where it is safest to remove him and heal him.” 

“I’m glad we are at an agreement then.” Albedo mused.

“Yes. Unfortunately… And please, Dr. Tennyson. It is quite late. You are human now. You need your rest.” At that, Albedo chuckled a little and rolled his eyes.

“Your concern is noted. Goodnight, Dubbilex.”

“Goodnight, Dr. Tennyson.”

Chapter 109: Big Brother Deka.

Albedo seemed to be more busy than normal, and the soccer season at Ben’s school was drawing to a close as November began. Ben had a few more final games, but his team hadn’t quite made the Virginia State championships, missing by one or two losses, so things were drawing to a close. As a result, Ben needed something new to do with his extra time after school before training at the mountain, and preferably sooner than later. 

He was switching out of his soccer jersey and was thinking about this and Wally’s upcoming Birthday on Thursday, so Ben wasn’t really paying attention when he almost walked smack into a dark haired, blue-eyed kid running to meet him.

“Woah! Billy?” Ben asked, a little startled by the ten year old’s random appearance, “Why are you at my school?”

“Oh! There you are, Mr. Ben! Sorry. I just… Um, Dr. Tennyson told me that this was where you went to school and I figured I would just wait here after my school got out so I could say hi!” Billy said quickly, “Um, I wasn’t trying to be weird! I just wanted to see if I could, um, go out and… Patrol with you?” Ben blinked very, very slowly as he processed Billy’s question.

“Since when did you need someone else to patrol Fawcett with you? Not that I’m complaining. I haven’t done a patrol in ages, what with D.C. not necessarily needing an official hero with the Justice League being around all the time. I mean, I don’t mind if you want company or think you want back up for something.” 

“I mean, company is always great.” Billy rubbed the back of his head and his face went a little red, “But… Um… Actually, the League doesn’t want me patrolling very much until they can officially meet and talk about my being a child. I told them I was going to do it anyways, and they wanted to stick Superman or Wonder Woman on me like bodyguards and I don’t mind the occasional team up, but it’s so embarrassing! Superman’s at least nice about it, but Wonder Woman keeps talking to me like I’m five! So I, kinda… Told her I’d get you to go with me instead?” 

Oh. 

So that’s what this was.

“Is she still hanging around Fawcett?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think she believed me fully when I said I was going to go get you though. I don’t know why she thinks I’d lie about something like that.” Billy admitted.

“Great. Let's Zeta to Fawcett then. I just need to swing by my apartment and change, then we can go.” Ben decided. Billy’s eyes lit up in excitement. 

“Really?!”

“Yeah, sure. It’ll be fun.” Billy was clearly ecstatic to see this, and he chattered Ben’s ear off the entire way to Ben’s apartment. Then the whole way to the Zeta tube. From there, Ben kindly reminded Billy to change into Captain Marvel, and even then, the kid still talked.

He told Ben how he was apparently living with his uncle who didn’t care about his nightly activities so long as he got home by his curfew, did his homework, and ate three full meals. He talked about how he’d been in a series of foster homes and lived on the streets some before he’d even been able to live with his uncle. Billy figured Ben could relate to that too, since Ben’s parents were gone. (Ben couldn’t, but he nodded along, because he figured that background had been part of what made Billy grow up so fast. Not necessarily the superpowers thing. That came next, apparently.) 

Ben wasn’t sure if Billy’s uncle was actually related to him or not. Apparently, however, Uncle Dudley was an accomplished, but now retired, scammer. Not the best role model, but considering Ben was living with an ex-convict, galvan terrorist that had tried to kill him on several occasions, Ben figured he didn’t have room to talk unless he thought Billy was being mistreated. How they agreed to let Billy stay with his uncle, Ben wasn’t told. He didn’t ask. 

Really, the whole story made him appreciate having his mom and dad even if he didn’t always come home like he used to when he was Billy’s age. He tried not to think too hard about what they were doing at the moment. He was just glad to have had them. 

When they finally stepped out of the Zeta tube in Fawcett. Sure enough, waiting with her arms crossed was Wonder Woman herself, and jeesh… She looked hotter in person than on all the news reels and photographs. Ben instantly stopped himself from staring. He’d seen enough of her on the news to have a healthy respect for Wonder Woman. She was clearly a really good, honorable hero. She probably meant well, making sure someone was looking after Billy. 

However, Ben watched Captain Marvel’s excited expression falter some upon seeing she had waited to make sure Billy actually got the help of Deka for the afternoon. 

“You must be Deka. I’ve heard a lot about you from my comrades. It’s an honor to meet you.” Wonder Woman said as she extended her hand to shake his.

“It’s awesome to meet you too!” Ben chirped with a smile, “Why are you in Fawcett City on this fine afternoon?” 

“I was just here to check in on Billy.” Wonder Woman replied. 

“Well, he’s been checked on, what’s your next move? Gonna follow us both around all day? You know I can legally drive, right? That a teenager can watch a ten year old, right?” Ben asked as he folded his arms and flashed her a big smile. Captain Marvel shifted awkwardly at the tension that followed.

“I do not understand your hostility.” Wonder Woman admitted. 

“Now, what makes you think I’m being hostile? It’s not like I’ve just learnt that a bunch of heroes are getting way more involved in Captain Marvel’s territory and business than he’s clearly comfortable with right now despite literally none of you being his legal guardians and able to forbid him from being a hero?” Ben said with a shrug, his smile not wavering, “But hey, what do I know?”

“Billy is a member of the Justice League, and as such, until we can take have a proper discussion about his lying to the Justice League–”

“I didn’t lie, though!” Captain Marvel immediately objected, “I just didn’t clarify how old I was. No one ever asked!” Wonder Woman narrowed her eyes a little and looked past Billy entirely.

“He is our responsibility. He is putting himself in unnecessary danger and he is much too young to be doing so without some safety precautions.” Ben nodded in response.

“Right. And I’m sure you were such a normal kid yourself with a totally risk free upbringing as you lived the life of an Amazonian Warrior princess.” Ben deadpanned, causing Captain Marvel to snicker a little, “And frankly, that isn’t really your choice, in the League or not. He did just fine before you knew his identity. He will keep doing just fine. Unlike most ten year olds…” Ben gestured towards Marvel’s entire stature, “This one’s got the safety precautions pretty much built in. As a former ten year old child soldier myself, demeaning him and denying him the ability to do the job that he was chosen to do doesn’t bode well. I know you mean well, lady, but overprotectiveness isn’t going to help. It’s just going to cause people to stumble over each other and get a lot of hurt feelings.”

“You aren’t in the League. You don’t get a say in this manner. This is League business. Not yours.” Wonder Woman insisted.

“Oh, jeesh. Have some respect, will you?” Ben huffed, his smile had finally vanished as he shook his head, “This kid has saved thousands of lives and is a hero just the same as you. Yeah, he’s a child, but he’s a smart and talented kid. He knows when he’s being coddled. He knows that you guys don’t trust him. He knows you people are acting this way because you don’t have confidence in him. Frankly, it’s a little messed up. Marvel, tell me. How do you feel about the Justice League acting like this?” Captain Marvel flushed, looking down at his feet.

“Not… Great, if I have to be honest. I wasn’t trying to lie about my age. I just started saving people and Superman noticed me and recruited me without asking and it all just happened so fast I… I didn’t really think about how that mattered. I just want to help people, you know? It’s not really fun knowing you guys don’t think I can help people.” 

“This isn’t meant to just be fun, Billy.” Wonder Woman scolded, “This is a very dangerous life and it is full of very bad people who could hurt you.”

“They could hurt you too. And you can’t act like I haven’t dealt with bad people before just because I’m a child, Diana.” Marvel snapped, his flustered expression vanished as he bit the words out with an anger that seemed to surprise even him, “I’ve dealt with a lot of bad people. Before I had my powers, I had a really, really hard life. Once I got them I knew I finally had a chance to give people like me… People who others barely give a second look at… A better life. Yes, I’m ten years old. Yes, I know this is a dangerous job. I know that. We all know that! I don’t care! I was given these powers for a reason. It’s not just about me and about how old I really am anymore. You can’t pretend to protect me and try to do what’s best for me when you don’t even listen or even know anything about me other than I’m a kid! I know Batman updated the file he had on me. Are any of you even going to bother to read it, or are you just going to keep looking at me like some kicked puppy or something dumb like that?” 

Captain Marvel stood there for a moment, slowly catching his breath as he seemed to process what he’d yelled at her. Once more the flush returned to his face and he looked outright ashamed.

“Diana, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude–”  Wonder Woman held up a hand, her expression shifting to something much more neutral after the short outburst from Marvel.

“I need to get back to the tower. I’m on monitor duty tonight.” She said, her tone still very stern. She shoved past the two boys and entered the Zetatube, asking for it to take her to the Watchtower, before vanishing without another word. 

Another moment of quiet, before Marvel let out a heavy sigh.

“Well, that was pointless.” He muttered. Ben just smiled sadly, and put a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“Don’t think about that, okay, buddy?” Ben insisted, “Let’s just have some fun with this patrol tonight, okay?”

“...Okay.”

Notes:

Some context on WW. Wonder Woman is shown to be most agitated that Billy lied about his age when discussing if Billy should be in the League. Wonder Woman values honesty (As seen by the Lasso of Truth) and seemingly views Billy as a dishonest kid who shouldn't be involved in crime fighting. (She is shown to be critical of Robin even being a hero, as he is the youngest of the Team and started out the youngest as well).

Honestly, I think what I find the craziest about the meeting the League has about Billy in Agendas (if you've seen the episode) is how they all seem offended that Billy finds humor in Plastic Man possibly joining the League and they view his amusement about this as juvenile (Despite Plastic Man, despite being a former criminal, being a very goofy character). The person who points out that they need to talk about Marvel is the Flash of all people. While I know Barry Allen and Wally West have slightly different approaches to being the Flash, both Flashes tend to maintain a witty and laid back attitude to their hero personas and seeing Flash act so serious after a mildly juvenile remark from Marvel about Plastic Man of all people felt... Really weird? I dunno. I could be reading into it. (granted, I think Plastic Man and Flash do have history, so that could be why?)

I don't think Superman would be totally against Billy being there. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he even recommended Billy for the League as Superman and Marvel seem to be close friends in serval versions of Marvel's story (Likely due to their similar strength and abilities). Batman, of course, has no qualms about Billy being there.

Then there's Canary, who seems to be the most condescending about the whole thing... But I think that was more her slipping into therapist mode and attempting to talk with a young kid about a delicate subject. It still comes off as wrong and pretty condescending, as a few weeks prior, Marvel had been treated as her equal, but that is likely why she approached the matter as she did.

None of this, however, negate from the fact that I don't think any of them (Aside from Batman) realize that Billy was once a homeless/foster kid who lived on the streets of a dangerous city for an unsaid amount of time. Canary talks to Billy like he's a kid who needs protected, likely not considering Billy's seen things most kids haven't, and he likely saw them long before he ever became Captain Marvel. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman thinks of Billy as a juvenile lair who lied by omission, but if they never asked and just assumed, why would Billy think too much about it being something important to share with the group? They're all superheroes with secrets and several of them don't go around telling other people in the League their secret identity. Billy being a child is a part of his secret identity. She should already know that not all heroes on the League are going to freely offer all information about their personal lives to the group.

(Granted, Marvel being 10 is kind've an alarming and dangerous thing to hide).

All this ranting is to say, I think all of the League, with the exception of Batman, found out Billy was a kid and instantly assumed a lot of things about Billy without really talking to him, taking time to learn more about why he's a hero to begin with, and knowing his background. I think this is because they do want to genuinely protect Billy, but they do seem to forget he CAN turn into a very tall, nearly incredible god being that can fight Superman if he wanted on a whim... So... Yeah... There's that.

Chapter 110: The Assignment.

 “Welcome back, Red X.” 

“Glad to be back.” Albedo replied coolly, “What’s the occasion that you’ve called me up for this time, Mr. Luthor?” 

“A simple favor, is all.” Luthor said sweetly, “I’m sure you’ll recall our last meeting involved a lot of talk about your new friend Deka.” 

“And? It isn’t like I’ve more intel than what I’ve already told you about the guy. It isn’t like he goes out that often.” Luthor nodded at that before he turned on his computer which showed footage of some guy live streaming a Deka sighting.

Benjamin was with Captain Marvel, a smoothie cup in his own hand and an ice cream cone in Marvel’s. They were just walking the street, laughing with one another like old friends. Marvel was animatedly telling Benjamin a story of some kind, but the audio didn’t really understand what was being said. All Albedo could say about the conversation is that Benjamin, despite the mask making his features harder to decipher, seemed to be quite amused. 

“...This is live?” Albedo said in surprise, “He hasn’t been seen in public since the world split incident.”

“I’m aware. He’s mostly a covert operative for the League, from what my sources tell me. He isn’t typically in the public eye. Which is why this is such an important occasion for us. He’s been spotted helping Captain Marvel out around Fawcett for most of the afternoon.”

“And?”

“And we need more information on Deka. We need his weaknesses. We need to understand his powers better. What does it take to control them? More importantly, what does it take to control him?” Luthor explained, “And my colleagues and I have discussed it. Your partnership with him during the splitting of the world has opened up the perfect opportunity to learn more about him. We think orchestrating a rivalry between the two of you will help us gather that data.”

“And what about that favor he still owes me for helping spring his big brother in the first place?” Albedo asked with his arms crossed, “I fight this guy head on, and he might think twice about letting me cash it in. I know there’s so many cool things I can get away with if I had a shapeshifter like him in my pocket.” Albedo pointed out. 

“We already have something in mind for that.” Luthor said, to which Albedo shifted his stance and tilted his head.

“Oh, do you?” Albedo said, “I’m not going to get a say on how I use this favor?” Luthor waved the question off.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be compensated well for this.” Luthor insisted, “After all, you wish to use this advantage you have for profit. I’ll double your pay, and you’ll get a bonus when you cash the favor.” 

“You want me to purposefully rival a person who can turn into things I can only imagine for double?” Albedo asked. Luthor chuckled at the response. 

“Ever the entrepreneur, Red X. Fair enough. Triple.” Albedo unfolded his arms, and squared his shoulders.

“Fawcett, you said?” 

“Yes. Can you get there quickly for a confrontation?” Lutho asked. 

“Of course, who do you take me for?” 

“Good. Of course, you’ll need to record the battle.” Luthor nodded, and he turned to a case on his desk, unlocking it to pull out a small camera to pin to his uniform disguised as an ‘X.’

“Put on a good show. We don’t want him removed from the equation quite yet, and this isn’t a fight you’re trying to win.” Albedo pinned the X-pin to the lapel of his uniform, “Bring that back to me after you're down for review. Try to get him away from the Leaguer. As interesting as his little partnership with Captain Marvel is, it’s Deka we want to test here, not Marvel. He’ll only be a distraction.” 

“Understood.” Albedo replied with a nod.

“Of course, as useful as it is to me and my associates to have this footage analyzed, your account will be most useful. Do this well, and my associates will want to hear from your lips what your expert opinion of our changeling friend is.” This made Albedo pause, as he tilted his head.

“Pardon?” Albedo asked, “ I work for you, why would I…” Luthor laughed.

“Well, you're working in the big leagues now, Red.” Luthor pointed out, “You do good work. Your work for me has been invaluable. My colleagues also recognize that understanding Deka is a benefit for us.” 

“I see.” Albedo replied, “I’ll be sure to do a good job on my report. Now, if you don’t mind…” Albedo gestured towards the computer screen, where Deka and Captain Marvel were still laughing and talking together, “...I have a limited window to get things started.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your work. I’ll see you in a few hours with the footage.” 

Albedo just mock saluted before triggering his teleportation and leaving the room in a flash of red. 

“Doc? Doc, are you actually going to go fight your brother?” Albedo startled a little at the sound of Roy’s voice on his communicator. He forgot he’d rewired his mask to connect to Roy’s computer in Geno-Town so that Roy could have a record of all conversations involving Red X. 

Albedo glanced down at the red pin he was now wearing and tapped on it as if to convey ‘Can’t talk now. They’re watching.’ 

“A jump directly to Fawcett really isn’t the best for my power reserves. Unfortunately, with the timetable, it can't be avoided. I’ll have to recover as I look for the target. From the footage I just watched, he should be far from my current drop point.” Albedo glanced around at the corner he’d appeared at. He’d gotten better at using teleportation without totally exhausting his powers. THe Red X suit would make up for any access drain he might’ve felt. This fight was going to certainly be rough, and he’d likely need a long nap and break from work after, but that would be fine.

“Shoot, you are. You sure we can’t figure out how to swap? I know the suit helps you fight better, but we both know I’m better than even that suit makes you.”  

“Not really sure how to turn Luthor’s little camera on, so I’m going to have to hope it’s recording. Hope he doesn’t get annoyed when I return and there’s nothing. That’s gonna be on him if that’s the case. I should’ve probably asked for clarification.” Albedo went on to ramble as he stalked through the streets of Fawcett, “Thankfully, I think separating Deka and Marvel won’t be too difficult. I just need the correct diversion for the man in red. I don’t know if our past encounter involving his twin can be used to leverage the fight, but I think I can make that work. I’m still uncertain of many aspects on how his abilities function, so I’ll have to approach this with more caution than I’m used to. I think… Hmm… Fifteen minutes to twenty should be enough to get a better look at what he can do, so I’ll work on making a bail out somewhere in that time range. Possibly a teleport out, but that depends on how much charge I’ll need to spend keeping Deka at bay. Thankfully… This isn’t the first time I’ve fought him, so I’m not going in blind.” 

“Okay, sure. But if you have fought him before, how the heck are we so sure he’s not going to recognize it’s you or notice that you move differently than I was moving when we rescued you? I’m just saying, this is going to go wrong. You shouldn’t have to fight Deka. We just needed to get Luthor to trust us. Is there not a better way than just attacking your twin unprovoked and possibly getting you hurt?” That was fine. This really wasn’t his first tango with Benjamin, after all.

Albedo knew how to fight Benjamin, Roy did not. Albedo knew his weaknesses and his strengths and he knew how to throw the fight to make things as confusing as possible for Luthor and his associates. The goal was to trick Luthor into trusting him… Not to actually expose the secrets of the Omnitrix to a company that would absolutely take advantage of it.

“Good news, I think I’ve got a plan.” Albedo assured Roy, “This should go smoothly.” 

“I just hope you know what you're doing.”

Albedo always did

Notes:

Two things for this AN.

One, I will not be posting next Saturday, as the wedding I mentioned a few posts ago is occurring next Saturday and I want to give my full attention to my sister on her special day. (It kind've feels great being able to warn ya'll that I'm not posting for once instead of just not posting randomly out of the blue.)

Second, this more of has to do with commenting and is on a less lighter note. I've been randomly getting comments at various points of the story demanding (Yes, demanding, not suggesting) that I insert random Ben 10/DC characters that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

I'm sure ya'll know I do have commenting moderation turned on. I've stated this a few times in the comments sections, but this is not activated to regulate your comments. No matter what you say (Unless it is so unbelievably uncalled for and mean it can be considered outright harassment or be considered a threat) will be approved. This is because I believe you all have the right to any opinion you want to have on this story and I actively encourage debating, critiquing, and even having a completely different perspective or thoughts on canon and headcanons than I have. The sole reason moderation is on is to hold me accountable and ensure I MUST read every comment and acknowledge it. There is literally no other reason for this mode to be activated on this story.

I enjoy a good old fashioned nerd debate on how some cartoons should and should not be. I enjoy good criticism and really appreciate people taking the time to offer it, even if it sometimes does sting. I don't really enjoy hate (Which, I haven't seen on this story yet) But I understand that people are entitled to have an opinion about my story, however much I do not like it (If I couldn't take having my feelings hurt, I wouldn't post fanfiction).

What I do NOT understand is spamming demands. There is a difference between making suggestions and making demands. Suggestions typically are ideas that you the readers like to give me in hopes that it can improve my story. I can use them if I wish, but I'm not required to use them to make the story progress. I like having suggestions. They're fun and sometimes do help with the writing process (Especially in times of writer's block).

Demands are not this.

Demands are commenters telling me how to write my story and telling me who I have to put into my story. Demands, like with all other comments, will be approved, but I will NOT be writing for demands. This story is meant to be fun for me and everyone who reads it. When you demand that I (And yes, this keeps happening) introduce flipping Khyber into a story where Khyber would flat out just not appear logically, I even question if the commenter in question even read my story or if they just saw there was a Ben 10 crossover and decided to demand I write said crossover the way they want the story to go. Furthermore, spamming these demands in my inbox is just annoying and isn't going to accomplish much at all.

To those who do this. Please, I encourage you to write your own story with the characters you love and want to see interact. This is fanfiction, people. There is nothing stopping you. Even if you think you aren't a good writer (And guys, you've seen my bad spelling from time to time, not to mention some of my more cringe-wothy work from my FFN days when I was younger is still very public, so don't let the fear of writing scare you) you can learn to get better at writing by sitting down and at least trying. Fanfiction is a great way to learn to write and to receive great feedback that allows you to get better at writing. If it's time that prevents you from trying, that's fine. I update regularly because I want to and I try to schedule it into my week. Not every fanfiction writer is like that nor do they always have time to regularly update. Take all the time you need to write your own story! There's no pressure! This is meant to be fun, after all!

Sorry to everyone in the comments section who do not write demands for going on this little rant. (And no, people who make suggestions are not making demands. Once more, I encourage suggestions. DO NOT hamper on or go after people making demands or suggestions. I want to encourage a fun community where people can say whatever they want without fear of harassment). I just want to minimize the spam and try to encourage creativity the best I am able. I figure people who spam like this may not read this AN, but in case they do, I want to try and at least encourage them to go out and try and create something they can call their own that they might maybe share with the rest of this website one day.

Thank you all so much for reading this far. The Red X mini arc will finish up pretty quickly, and then we will be moving on to Coldhearted.

Chapter 111: A Challenger Approaches.

“And that’s how I met Superman.” Captain Marvel concluded as he tossed the last bite of his cone into his mouth, “Thanks for this ice cream Deka, by the way! You really didn’t have to!”

“Nah, it’s Reflect’s money anyways. Mr. Wayne pays him really well, so it’s not like he and I are ever really hurting for cash.”

“Oh, yeah. I forget your brother is a super genius sometimes.” Marvel chuckled, “Most scientists don’t really go for the magic gig, you know?” 

“I don’t, he reminds me of how smart he is all the time.” Ben said with a snort, “And even when he’s not activated bragging, usually you just kind’ve know he’s a genius based on how he is when he walks in a room. He always has that look in his eye that just screams, ‘I know everything’ even when he’s actively trying to be nonchalant… But, eh, his awkward boy genius side is something you learn to love.”

“I mean, I’ve got the Wisdom of Solomon, it’s not the same, but I think I can be smart too!” Marvel said with a brilliant smile, as if it just occurred to the kid that he had the capacity to be a genius, if he wasn’t already a genius to begin with. Ben shrugged.

“Meh, I’m not really the same. More of a jock and a gamer kid, you know? I guess if you need battle strats and random facts about aliens that I learned first hand, and I’m your guy. Otherwise, I’ve always been the lovable idiot of the family.” Marvel frowned.

“Hey, you’re not an idiot!” He objected. Ben rolled his eyes and laughed.

“I’m what you call an average guy, buddy. I guess I have the ability to be really smart too. Lucky Girl, my cousin, used to say I put my good memory to waste and stuff. But, like, academics haven’t been my forte for like, most of my life. Everyone else in my family has something brilliant about them, intelligence-wise… and, I guess by comparison it makes me look like your average joe. It’s not my thing. I don’t really care to make being a genius my thing. So long as I can actually stay in school until I graduate instead of having to drop out again because of some alien invasion or something, I think I can be happy with that. Maybe I’ll go to college. I dunno. Just depends on if I have time in my life… I’m a busy guy!” 

“I mean, I guess? I just don’t want you to think just because you aren’t as smart as your brother means you're stupid! You’re smart!” Marvel insisted. 

“Dude, seriously, I’m cool with it. Thanks for the support though. Glad to have you in my corner.” 

“Oh, no problem!” Ben opened his mouth to remark on how supportive Marvel was being, when there was a sudden loud boom in the distance that got the two heroes to jerk their heads up in alarm. They glanced once at each other before moving, with Ben selecting Jetray and Captain Marvel leaping for the skies. They got high enough to see a warehouse-like building in flames. 

“Shoot, we need to make sure that everything’s okay down there.” Marvel said in dismay, “And that no one was inside when it blew up!” Marvel flew for the building as Jetray hovered for a moment, a little confused on why some random and sort of condemned looking building just suddenly blew up. The confusion passed as he realized he should probably fly after Marvel and double check that there wasn’t some poor warehouse employee stuck inside or that a gang was in some fight. He moved to follow Marvel, when something grabbed Jetray’s leg and yanked.

He had only a fraction of a second to glance down at the glowing crimson rope tethered to him before he was crying out in alarm and being yanked downwards. Marvel halted mid-flight at Jetray’s call, glancing back in worry just as Jetray was slammed into a rooftop. 

“Ah, ah, ah.” A staticky voice piped up, and Ben realized he was staring up at one Red X.

…Had he gotten taller this time around?

“That was just the start, Marvel.” Red X purred, “Luckily, that building was condemned. No one but pigeons to bother. But the next ones aren’t going to be so lucky.” Red X flicked his wrist revealing a little detonator’s switch. Marvel growled, tensing as Red’s thumb hovered over the trigger.

“What do you want?” Captain Marvel growled.

“I want to play a game.” Red X said with a shrug, “Deka and I bonded when the world was split in two. I intend to test both of your mettles. I haven’t had a good game in years. So, here’s what I want. I want you to find the bombs I planted before the hour is up.”  He let go of the red glowy rope, and it vanished into light. Ben shifted to human again, a little baffled.

“You blew up a building to play a game? Dude, if you're bored, there are more productive ways to entertain yourself! Like this is totally classic supervillain crap! I thought you were a mercenary for Luthor, not an outright villain.” Ben pointed out with a useless gesture. 

“Oh, come on. Luthor’s so focused on achieving his goals and getting his projects done, I never get to do anything I want to do some days. And today, I’m feeling chaotic.” Red X shrugged, “Come on, kid. I know you like a good fight. So, what’ll it be? Play my game and win, or refuse and we can just get to blowing things up right now?” Ben glanced at the clearly disturbed Marvel.

“Try and locate the bombs. I’ll try and get the trigger.” He decided. That made Marvel hesitate. 

“But–” 

“Dude, we’ve got an hour!” Ben insisted. Marvel nodded quickly, and took off just as fast. Ben spun back towards Red X.

“And if this is just some way for you to get Marvel off my back to call in the favor I owe you, you didn’t have to blow up a freakin’ building! I’m not the most subtle guy, by really?! Are there even any more bombs out there or is this you messing with me, dude?” Red X tilted his head, chuckling. He dropped the fake detonator and held his hands up in mock surrender.

“Wow. People say Reflect is the smarter of you two. But they don’t give you enough credit. You pick up on things fast.”

“Let's just say I’ve had a weird life. Besides, Robin rants about your work all the time. Blowing up random buildings just isn’t your style.” Ben huffed, he crossed his arms, “What do you want? This is about a stupid favor, right?” 

“Nah.” Red X lowered his hands, “I really did just want your attention. Let's let the man in red go on his wild goose chase. I’m not keen on wasting a favor from a person with your powers that fast. I’ve seen what you can do. I’m interested in how far you can go. Think of this as an audition.”

“...Audition?” Ben said, he caught on to what Red X meant just in time to move out of the way of twin sets of crimson, x-shaped shurikens that flew past his face.

“Hey!” Ben objected, but Red X kept on attacking, summoning more of those annoying red shurikens. Ben moved to dodge and avoid as Red X began to full on attack. It was clear he wasn’t actually trying to get Ben, but he was a little confused on what the guy actually wanted.

Was this his attempt to start a fight? 

“Dude, if you just want to let off some steam right now, you just have to ask. You don’t have to distract Marvel for that!” Ben said, bemused, “Let’s fight then.” Ben twisted his watch, dialing at random, seconds later he was Goop. 

Goop charged Red X, and the mercenary raised a shield, expanding outwards. Goop just engulfed it, twisting to constrict and crack the outer layer before bursting in. Red X seemed to think fast on his feet, because instead of flinching back from Goop’s attack, he struck forwards, through the green slime and at the anti-gravity projector supporting Goop. Ben was a bit startled at the direct attack on Goop’s weak point and reacted quickly, selecting at random again.

He landed just behind Red X as Crashhopper. Red X let out a laugh of delight.

“Oh, I can already tell this will be fun .” 

Notes:

I am not dead, folks.

Nor did I intend for such a long break. It's been like, 2 months and not at all on purpose. Overall update, my sister is happily married. The wedding went well. I felt like a bodyguard, making sure the groom didn't see his lady before the big moment. It was super fun!

After the week of the wedding, everyone was pretty worn out, understandably so. Then, from there, work and school both picked up (And is going to still be pretty crazy until the end of this semester, which is next week.) This limited a lot of my usual writing time, and added to that mix, I got a really bad case of writer's block so I needed to take a little bit to step back from writing and to work on other projects. When I got my my writing groove back, I worked on other books (original stories) before circling back to this one.

I planned to post last week. Had this short 'I'm still alive' chapter all ready to go, when guest comments were, like, completely disabled. I really don't want to know what all went down to cause Ao3 to have to make that choice (I've heard rumors, but frankly, I'd rather just leave it be) so I decided to wait a week until they got turned back on so that my guest readers could comment too.

Next chapter might be next week or in two weeks depending on how finals go. My summer won't be any less busy as I have multiple online classes, so if I slow a little on posting, it's because of school. Come fall, however, I hope to be back into my posting groove and working toward maybe even tying up this story, as we've only got a few more arcs to go before the finale.

Frankly, I have no clue how much editing I got done on this chapter. I mostly am at the point where I just need to post it. If anyone has any fun suggestions for how you think the fight should go down next chapter, let me know! It might help me improve my action scenes just a little bit more!

Sorry again for the long wait. I do hope to get back into the groove, but we'll see how the upcoming summer treats me.

Chapter 112: Deka vs Red X.

Deka had started the fight strong, using a Polymorph he knew Benjamin had lovingly named ‘Goop.’ The boy hadn’t even looked at his Omnitrix when he’d selected the form, telling Albedo that he didn’t feel threatened by Red X’s attacks. He’d picked up immediately that Albedo had been bluffing about the bombs, and yet let Marvel leave anyways.

Albedo knew Benjamin well enough by now to know that this was because the boy was sympathetic towards Red X. This wasn’t wholly surprising considering Benjamin's history with people like Red X (A certain osmosian ex-convict called Kevin came to mind when Albedo considered this). 

Benjamin was happy to fight, was relaxed and amused by the idea of it, and was reacting accordingly.

It was perfect. 

Benjamin wouldn’t pull out the more dangerous aliens. He wouldn’t force the Omnitrix to hit its limits or show the more dangerous weaknesses he possessed.

Albedo took a calculated risk, attacking the anti-gravity disc immediately, but he knew Goop to be a dangerous form when fully equipped. He figured if he went for the weak point quickly, forcing Benjamin to transform again before Luthor would have a chance to really understand the capabilities Goop held, then it would be for the best. 

With how fluid and fast the switch from his Polymorph form to his Orthopterran form ‘Crashhopper’ had been, Albedo knew it would leave Luthor just a little more confused on how the transformations functioned. Not only that, but Crashhopper would be far more manageable to handle in a drawn out battle than Goop.

Good. 

This was already going remarkably well.

“Is that a freaking humanoid grasshopper?”  

Well… Except he was going to have to talk to Roy about interjecting commentary over Albedo’s comms when Albedo was in the middle of fighting someone. Especially when he knew Albedo was fully incapable of telling the boy to shut up.

Under the mask Albedo couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

Teenagers.

“Oh, I can already tell this will be fun .” Albedo said as he laughed at Benjamin’s selection. Crashhopper just laughed in return and took off upwards. Albedo summoned mana to boost himself up after him, giving way to a chase across rooftops. 

“Oh, so now you’re running? What sort of fight is that?” Albedo called in a taunt, “Stop playing chicken, Deka!” Crashhopper slowed chuckling some.

“No, this is a grasshopper.” He motioned towards himself, “And Crashhopper really likes to bounce. Gotta keep you on your toes, am I right? What, can’t keep up?”

“Obviously, I can.” Albedo motioned to himself and how he still stood on the same rooftop Crashhopper had stopped on, “But it’s barely a fight if you run.” Crashhopper just grinned, before he slammed on the Omnitrix symbol again, shifting in a flash of green to something entirely different. 

“There! Now I’m a chicken!” He bragged, “Call this one Kickin’ Hawk!”

“Doc, what the actual heck are these aliens?”  Roy objected.

Well then, that was something Albedo could fight. Albedo could work with that. Albedo lunged forwards, letting the Red X’s enhanced fighting program take the reins for the spar. Kickin’ Hawk was much taller than Albedo, so he knew from Canary’s lessons that he needed to get in close, move fast, strike with intention, and avoid getting hit. Kickin’ Hawk, startled a little by how fast Albedo lunged in for the fight, tried a strong right hook over the powerful kick that Albedo knew Benjamin preferred to use when in this particular form.

Albedo kept a steady stand, blocking quickly and striking forwards, with his own fist for his jugular. 

“Oh, nice! You’re getting good at this. No need for fancy fighting when you can go right for the jugular, am I right?” 

Kickin’ Hawk squawked in alarm, staggering back with a succession of coughs while he fumbled for the green insignia on his chest. The boy barely brushed it before he was something new… And very worrying. 

His Sonorosian form.

Echo Echo.

Albedo swore softly under his breath and backed the heck up while Echo Echo divided into many, creating a circle around Albedo.

Yeah, this did not bode well for him. 

“Say goodnight, X!” Echo Echo’s many copies chimed. Albedo moved fast, summoning a shield and cowering to quickly cover his ears as Echo Echo’s copies opened their mouths and began to shout. The comm in his ear immediately began to whine with feedback at the sudden burst of sound. Albedo growled, swiping outwards with his mana and striking in a circular motion to try and hit all of them just as his shields broke from the vibrations. 

“Goodnight.” Albedo called back when Echo Echo’s flew back, landing as one Echo Echo, which reached for the insignia again. Another flash of green, and Albedo’s concern tripled.

It hadn’t even been an hour yet, and already Benjamin seemed competitive enough to go all in.

Because now Benjamin was a freakin’ Appoplexian. 

“LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING RED X!” He roared as he barreled for Albedo, his fists bawled so his claws bared. Albedo dove, rolling out of the way just in time to avoid getting pummeled into the rooftop while Rath slammed his fist into the concrete, effectively cracking it, “RATH THINKS YOU'RE FUN TO FIGHT, BUT RATH DOESN’T LOSE!”

Right, because a feline powerhouse with anger issues was on Albedo’s list of aliens he wanted Benjamin to use in this fight. Albedo’s little mocking body language had to do a complete 180 as he summoned manna to block strikes and was left backing up and trying to avoid the brutish strength of Rath. 

His mind raced.

While it hadn’t been that long, Albedo knew Benjamin had used a wide variety of aliens in a short timeframe, which could theoretically satisfy Luthor if Albedo made the pitch that he was getting overwhelmed (which, with Rath, Albedo could pull off quite effectively). Albedo also knew the Omnitrix’s safety features would kick in soon, and the Omnitrix would force Benjamin back to human soon if he kept up with the rapid transformations. 

That was something Albedo wanted to avoid Luthor getting a good look at for as long as possible. Albedo figured the man had some idea that Benjamin had taken time to cool down before, but he wasn’t entirely sure to what extent Luthor was aware of this moment of vulnerability Benjamin was forced to possess.

“Aggressive, are we?” Albedo called in a mocking voice as he managed to narrowly avoid yet another powerful blow from Rath, “Let’s change the game a little bit then!” Albedo produced a large flash of light with his mana to blind Rath, before sprinting for the edge of the rooftop and leaping, ignoring how Rath roared in outrage.

“LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING RED X, THAT IS CHEATING!” Albedo caught himself before he could hit the ground with his mana before sprinting for the rows of warehouses they were fighting next to. He knew Benjamin was following. Rath’s roars for Red X to ‘get his butt back there and fight like a man!’ seemed to further support this knowledge. He used his mana to break the locks going into the nearest one. 

He heard the telltale sign of the Omnitrix powering down, but didn’t dare look back as he ducked in behind some of the shelving. 

“Red X? Are you here? Hey, dude, you can’t just show up and try and fight me and just dip like that! It’s rude!” Benjamin called.

Albedo summoned two x-shurikens, mentally preparing to take Benjamin off guard while his watch was powered down, when a second voice joined in.

“Deka! I couldn’t find those bombs anywhere!” Captain Marvel. 

“...Well shoot.” Abledo muttered for the sake of the camera recording everything, despite being internally grateful the younger hero had shown up in time for Benjamin’s watch to power down, “That will complicate things. Deka caught onto the ruse way too fast, he’s smarter than he looks… And Marvel figured out there weren’t bombs pretty quickly too. I didn’t get this to last as long as I wanted. I hope Luthor’s fine with a short fight. I think I got a lot of information from this. More than we had, at least. I’m gonna return to base now… Luthor if you're watching this… I better still get paid, even if it was cut short. I can’t control if other heroes show up and I’m here for Deka, not Marvel.” 

With that, Albedo used his teleportation spell to get the heck out of there.

Notes:

Hello all!

So this fight was a bit insane to write, even if it wasn't very long. Basically, it needed to be long enough for Albedo to get information for Luthor, but not so long that Albedo gave all of Ben's secrets away. Albedo and Ben both aren't really taking the fight itself seriously, tbh. So, I hope I portrayed that well. Action scenes are rough.

The next chapter will be the final bit for the Red X vs. Deka section for now before I move on the the Coldhearted episode. Coldhearted will not follow Wally West's journey, if you want to know how the episode actually goes, I suggest watching it, as Coldhearted is a really good Wally-centric episode. However, as this story is focused on Ben and Albedo, not Wally, the Coldhearted arc in this book will focus on the b plot of the episode Coldhearted, the Justice League and Young Justice team up against ice villains trying to freeze everything.

I just thought I'd clarify that in case anyone reading was expecting Ben or Al to take Wally's place or be a part of the main plot of the Coldhearted episode. They won't.

Seeing as my updates have been a tad sporadic as of lately due to school and stuff, I will clarify, there WILL be an update next week. I'm trying to get back into the weekly update schedule and avoid anymore unexpected month-long breaks from popping up (though, life can be crazy and I can't predict the future).

Chapter 113: Many Secrets Kept.

Ben got home shortly after that patrol, and the fight with Red X had left him pretty confused.

Because something had clicked in Ben’s head during the fight against Red X, however brief it had been. Something that didn’t make much sense, but had been basically confirmed when he’d turned into Echo Echo. 

Albedo was already at the apartment, making dinner off of some recipe M’gann had given him.

“How was your evening, Benjamin?” Albedo asked casually, and Ben couldn’t help but stand there and stare at Albedo, looking the guy over for a good minute. Albedo frowned at Ben’s lack of response.

“Benjamin, are you okay?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m just thinking about this fight I got into while I was helping Captain Marvel with his patrol.” Ben said as he pulled up a chair to sit at the counter across from where Albedo was working. 

“Oh? Was it a rough fight?”

“Um, not really? It was Red X.” Ben said, and he watched Albedo’s reaction. The Galvan teen slowed in cutting the vegetables he was preparing and raised an eyebrow. However there was a slight twitch in his expression. A sign Ben knew that meant Albedo was trying to hide something. Ben and Albedo DID share a face, after all.

“Oh. Did you figure anything else out for our Boy Wonder’s investigation?”

“I don’t think so. He seemed like he just wanted to fight to let off steam or entertain himself or something.” Ben said, “It was really weird.”

“Shame.” Albedo said, “Robin seems set on proving himself as a detective with the Red X case. Knowing more about him would put Robin’s mind at ease.” 

“Yeah… So, what is for dinner? I assume not chili fries, judging by the carrots?” Ben quickly switched the subject. 

“No. Sorry. I was tempted. But M’gann insists that chili fries and meatball subs are not sufficient diets for teenage boys. I told her that’s not all we eat. You are a pretty good cook yourself… She didn’t believe me. She insisted we try this recipe from… Well, no matter where she got it. It’s not an alien cuisine. Don’t worry. I won’t try and replicate alien meals for you, since I know you have an aversion to them. It’s an Earth meal… Stir fry, she called it.”

“Hmm. Fair enough… How was work?”

“Uneventful.” Albedo said, “I supposed I did make some progress on the machine you’ll be using to get home, but the genetic enhancement project I’ve been running with Dr. McNeally isn’t making much headway and a few of my biomechanical side projects are currently on hold.”

“I didn’t think you would have much trouble with a genetic enhancement project.” Ben pointed out. Albedo just shrugged.

“It’s not really a matter of if I have trouble with science or not.” Albedo admitted, “It’s a matter of if this world is ready for that sort of advancement. I assure you… it isn’t.” Right. That did make sense. There was a reason the Omniverse operated with a level system when it came to technology and scientific advancements. Earth couldn’t advance too quickly or it would destroy itself. It was the same with every planet, really. Some planets were ready for crazy leaps and breakthroughs in science, and some needed a little more time.

“The Metahuman-Rights Act protects aliens and metahumans.” Albedo went on to explain, “But the issue is this world is full of people with prejudices and those who ignore those laws in order to advance their own agenda, which is why most metas and aliens keep their powers secret or wind up acting as heroes and villains despite the laws protecting them. Further advancements in genetic science like the ones Dr. McNeally and many others hopes for shouldn’t really be achieved until the prejudice against what is unknown is not so prominent on Earth. I think, really, my greatest goal for this world is to fight that prejudice first, and then help it advance to its fullest potential.” 

“Makes sense, what with things like Cadmus popping up and guys like Luthor who seem to have vendettas against aliens.” Ben said, a little pointedly. Once more there was that flash in Albedo’s expression at the mention of Luthor and Cadmus. 

“I think Luthor is holding this world back.” Albedo agreed, “His applied sciences programs are next level. He is a brilliant man with brilliant ideas. He creates things that go beyond the science known to this world and yet… He can only see these advancements as weapons. As things he can use to benefit himself. I, of course, understand this line of reasoning. I thought similarly about the Omnitrix’s purpose for far too long.”

“But?” 

“But Luthor’s approach and Luthor’s motives and usage of the knowledge he acquires would more likely destroy this world than save it. He thinks himself the savior of the human race, it seems, and yet he’s missed the point. Earth doesn’t always need saving from alien invasions or metahumans. I won’t deny that that is the case sometimes, as you yourself know…”

“But not all aliens and metas are bad.” Ben noted.

“And not all humans are good.” Albedo agreed, “Humans can be just as much of a threat to themselves as aliens and meta-humans are. Every race can be a threat to themselves. Luthor is a good example of this. Therefore, Luthor is part of the problem I hope to one day resolve.” Albedo continued to work on the food he was making as Ben considered what Albedo was saying.

Albedo didn’t agree with Luthor.

Albedo thought Luthor was a problem.

Albedo, like the rest of his native race, liked to solve problems.

And from what Ben knew about Albedo, the Galvan wasn’t beyond taking extreme measures to prove he was right and to fix what he thought was a problem. 

Red X had known how to fight all of Benjamin’s aliens.

Red X knew how to power down the Omnitrix and knew all of the team’s weaknesses.

…And Red X had sworn in Galvanic when Ben turned into Echo Echo.

Ben had absolutely no idea who it had been with him when he went to save Albedo from Klarion, but they had been shorter than Albedo and Ben. So maybe there were two people running around as Red X? Red X did know how to find Albedo, after all. Ben wasn’t entirely sure who the other Red X would even be, but he assumed they had to be friends with Albedo and not a part of the Young Justice team. A kid. Maybe even younger than Ben. 

How Albedo knew a kid younger than Ben outside of Young Justice when the guy worked at a think-tank lab full of grown adults, Ben did not know.

Ben wanted to call Albedo out on the Red X thing right then and there.

But Ben held his tongue.

For one reason and one reason only: there was the matter of the mole.

Ben didn’t think Albedo was the mole. Maybe, and this was a maybe, Albedo could’ve leaked information way back when he first arrived in the Heroverse, and now he was covering for himself because he didn’t want to admit to it. Maybe Red X was the mole, and it was some kind of double agent thing that involved the exchange of information. Maybe Red X wasn’t the mole at all.

(Maybe Albedo was double crossing Ben… But Ben didn’t want to consider that option. Ben and Albedo were brothers. Call Ben naive and trustworthy, but he didn’t believe Albedo would betray him. Not even for a second.)

Ben didn’t want to accuse Albedo of that without proof… But he wasn’t sure if he should leave it alone. He knew better than to keep secrets from his team. The Red Tornado event was proof enough of that. However, if Albedo wasn’t the mole, and his Red X persona was intended for something else, then Benjamin could be putting Albedo in serious danger by telling the team what Albedo was up to. 

There was one thing Ben could do… But he didn’t really like it.

“Well, call me when you’re done making that. I’m gonna go get some homework done in my room.” Ben said as he slammed his hands on the counter loudly and stood up.

“I will do that. Let me know if you need any help.” Albedo requested.

Ben smiled in agreement before retreating quickly to his room. He quickly tore his room apart, looking for the communicator Batman had given them the day they raided Cadmus. He located it after much effort, before hesitating to turn it on. 

Finally, he worked up the nerve.

“...Um, Bats?” Ben said, “I think I need to meet with you privately about something. It’s not terribly urgent, but it’s kind of important. Could you let me know when a good time to meet would be?”

Initially, there was no response.

Then a beep, with a message flashing across the screen.

[Meet me tomorrow].

Notes:

As a note, next chapter WILL be the start of the Coldhearted arc. This one ends on a cliffhanger, and I intend to leave it on a cliffhanger for a little bit longer. (And I'm not sorry about it).

I debated back and forth on how long Albedo would be able to keep his triple life? (He doesn't have a double life, as this guy is living with three different identities and assisting in a Cadmus escape scheme in the background) from Ben.

I figured Ben finding out would be interesting. So, you know. Have fun with that.

Anywho, have a good week everyone.

Chapter 114: Happy Birthday Wally!

According to Benjamin, sixteen was a milestone for most normal teenagers, as it was apparently when they were permitted to get driver’s licenses. (Albedo still needed to get a license to drive, considering Benjamin would be leaving and Albedo wouldn’t always be able to walk everywhere. Sure Albedo could fly a spaceship, but he’d never actually given enough thought into driving human cars until Benjamin mentioned Wally was turning sixteen.)

“I don’t think he wants to drive though.” Benjamin had explained, “I mean, obviously, he seems to already know how to drive at least a motorcycle, since we’ve done that before. But, like, he likes running. Cars are probably pointless to a speedster.” 

Age sixteen, apparently, was also considered to be an age of transition from youth to adult in the human world. Teens sixteen and older were given more responsibilities. They often were more likely to get jobs. Go on dates. (Some humans dated younger, Albedo was told, but the common age for more serious relationships seemed to be sixteen). A human at sixteen wasn’t legally an adult yet, but they did come a little closer to being one. 

So, this surprise party they were setting up for Wally was certainly going to be an interesting experience as he would be given the honor of witnessing a human adolescent’s beginning in his path to maturity and adulthood. 

Albedo was glad for the distraction of helping M’gann, Robin, Conner, Zatanna, and Kaldur set the decorations up, because honestly? Benjamin had been acting weirder than usual around the house, and Batman had been unusually involved in training sessions stating that he was there to ‘assess their progress.’ It was a little stressful and confusing. His breaks working at the lab, helping Roy and Dubbliex around Geno-Town, or his progress on his inter-universal transporter, which he was now calling ‘Project B-10’ on all official paperwork, could only distract him so much.

Having something totally new and fresh to learn about and assist with like a sixteenth birthday party had been exactly what he needed. 

“This looks really good you guys!” Flash said with a low whistle, looking around as Artemis, Benjamin, and Flash all came into the living area, “How long did this take you?”

“Well, Al’s magic and M’gann’s telekinesis are both kind’ve great for decorating.” Robin admitted with a laugh. 

“Baking got a little messy though.” M’gann said with a sheepish smile as she glanced over at Conner. Conner flushed, likely recalling how he’d managed to get flour all over the kitchen before Kaldur had kindly volunteered to clean it up while Albedo and M’gann finished the cakes and Robin got all of the party food set up.

“Well, his school was canceled for snow.” Flash said, “So he might be here any minute. I’m glad you guys got it all done so fast.”  

“Ugh. My school refused to let out for the snow until, like, halfway through. He’s lucky.” Benjamin pouted.

“Well, I got the full day off.” Artemis admitted, “But I had to do things at home, so…” 

“That is some snowstorm, it’s covering most of America last I checked.” Robin agreed with a little nod before giving Benjamin a sympathetic smile, “Sorry your school didn’t give you the full day, man.”

“It makes walking to work rather annoying.” Albedo huffed, “I love rain… But I don’t think I prefer the snow.” Galvan was such a hot world, cooling down during the rainy season. They didn’t tend to have snow. Sure, Albedo had experienced Earth snow before in his near two years, but Undertown had acted as a safe haven from the worst weather Earth had to offer.

“Dude, you need to learn how to drive and get a solid car. With your job, you can probably get one that’s great in any weather.” Robin advised, “Walking in freezing weather can be dangerous.” Albedo grimaced.

Right.

Frostbite.

He’d heard of its horrors, but he’d never considered that he might get it… Suddenly Benjamin being all fussy about having lots of layers on in snow made sense.

“...I’ll take the suggestion into consideration.” 

[Recognized: Kid Flash, B–04. Zeta Tube network now offline due to extreme atmospheric conditions]. Shoot, that was the cue. Everyone jumped up in surprise, scrambling to turn off the lights and get quiet. 

“Um… Hello?” Wally called into the darkened base, “...Am I actually the first one here?” They waited with baited breath as Wally stepped into the living area, before M’gann telekinetically flicked the lights and…

“SURPRISE!!” Albedo winced at the sheer volume of the cheer, but Wally’s eyes shone with absolute joy as they yelled it together. His lips split into a wild smile and he spread his arms wide.

“What!? Oh, you guys! You shouldn’t have! This is for me?” He said in delight. Robin scoffed in response. 

“Well, it’s not like you’ve been hinting at it for days or anything.” He said as he crossed his arms and chuckled at his best friend.

“Albedo and I made two cakes!” M’gann offered with a big smile, gesturing towards the decorated cakes they’d prepared.

“Awesome!” Wally said in excitement, “Which one will you guys eat?” 

“We’ll split the cupcake! Make a wish!” M’gann insisted. Right, the Earth custom of blowing out the little flames to make a secret wish. Albedo didn’t quite understand it. The television shows suggested there was a magical aspect to the tradition, and yet his studies thus far hadn’t revealed much merit in the act of blowing out candles on one’s birthday. 

He’d probably ask Benjamin about it later.

“Waaaay ahead of you!” Wally promised, before leaning forwards and putting the candles out. Everyone clapped, and it seemed like the ‘party’ aspect of the whole event began as they began to talk amongst themselves, the focus on Wally not being so major as he continued to jabber on to M’gann about the wish-thing. Albedo, although not a romantic himself, picked up on the lines Wally was using in attempts to convince M’gann to kiss him. She pecked him on the forehead, a platonic gesture of friendship, before eventually breaking away to go to Conner. 

Albedo decided to approach Wally next to congratulate him.

“I’m happy you’ve reached a monumental age, Wally.” Albedo informed him, “Sixteen, I’m told, is quite a special age for us humans. The age we begin our journey towards maturity and adulthood.”

“I mean, I guess, never heard it get put like that, but yeah. I guess you’ve never really celebrated your human sixteenth birthday, did you?” Wally said. Albedo merely shrugged.

“No, I was rather occupied and I did not realize the significance. Galvans are not so invested in celebrating the day of their birth, as you can imagine. Besides…” Albedo lowered his voice some as he made sure the Reds and Flash were occupied in their conversation, “I’m not mentally sixteen so it seems a little silly to pretend otherwise. I haven’t been the mental equivalent to a sixteen year old human in a few thousand years.” 

“Fair enough, I guess. This has been a great birthday though, all things considering. There’s just one thing it’s missing.” Albedo noticed the smile he sent towards M’gann and winced.

“...I’m afraid that is a wish that cannot be made true by the strange magic of blowing out candles.” Albedo admitted, “She loves another, Wally.” Wally froze, his eyes widening as he looked back at Albedo in shock. Albedo merely nodded towards M’gann again, who’d fetched cake for Conner and was now flirting with him. The boy’s jaw dropped.

“Wait, what? Since when was that a thing?” Wally said in dismay.

“...Since a while now.” Albedo said with a shrug.

“Ah, man! I thought after you mentioned how you thought of M’gann as your little sister I had a chance, but Superboy ?” Wally objected. Off to the side, Albedo noticed Artemis shooting Albedo a pout that seemed to portray the, ‘why’d you tell him and spoil my fun’ look. Albedo was actually proud of himself for being able to pick that look apart. 

“I am sorry no one informed you, but they weren’t exactly forthright in announcing it.” Albedo pointed out, “If it is any consolation, I do not think you are entirely without hope of finding a match… Galvans… We pair up, and find one another attractive, obviously, but some of the most brilliant Galvans in the world are hopeless when it comes to romance… My father was that way. I don’t see myself ever really settling into humanity enough to love a human like that, nor am I quite Galvan enough anymore to feel in such a way about my native race anymore. At least, not for a long while. You however? You’ll likely find your way, and you’ll find someone to fight alongside you and to love you as you will surely love them. In fact, I would reckon the one for you may be closer than you know.” Wally looked confused, titling his head at that statement.

“What the heck do you mean by that, Al?” Wally scoffed. Albedo just smirked, subtly  tilting his head towards the blonde who was watching Wally’s reactions to Albedo telling Wally about Conner and M’gann. The color drained from Wally’s face, only to return in a flush of bright, burning red.

“What? No! Why the heck would you even say that?!” Wally said in dismay. Albedo merely snorted at Wally's response, and placed a hand on his shoulder, saving Wally from embarrassing himself as he moved to be in front of Wally so Artemis’s view of the conversation was obstructed. 

“Take it from the man who once tried to kill, abduct, and steal from the person I now call my little brother… We do not always understand the bonds that form within our lifetimes nor the feelings of love and kinship we find with those we did not expect. However, it is curious how beautiful and powerful such bonds can be when we do try and strengthen them. I won’t pretend to know how you feel or to even guess if my assumptions based on what little I know about human romances are correct… But I would encourage you not to dismiss what could be simply because you tell yourself it is impossible.” 

Wally gaped for a moment, clearly trying to dissect Albedo’s words before leaning back and shrugging Albedo’s hand off his shoulder in a clear attempt to appear uncaring about the conversation being had.

His response, however, was anything but uncaring.

“...I’ll think about it.” He flashed Albedo a grin, “Thanks for helping set this up, man.”

“Of course. You are my friend.” Albedo agreed with a nod. Albedo prepared to turn and ‘mingle’ as one was supposedly supposed to do at a human party, when the intercom went off, broadcasting Batman’s voice to the entire cave.

“Attention team! Suit up! Polar stealth. Mission briefing in five.” 

Albedo glanced back at Wally, sending him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, it seems the party is going to be cut short for now.”

Notes:

Wally’s B-day is November 11th. My B-Day? Today! So, I guess it's birthdays all around!

All seriousness though, Wally should’ve known something was off if there was a school-closing blizzard blowing through the midwest (which is where half of the speculations about the location of Central City tend to place it) THAT early in November. From what I can tell, the Midwest CAN get snow that early, but a blizzard that bad on a date like November 11th is pretty rare.

I’m actually glad I was able to finally post today after being prevented from posting for a while. Long story short, school got busier and I got a second job, meaning a LOT of my free time is just non-existent right now. The fourth of July holiday finally gave me the small break I needed to get this done. I’m hoping once I start getting into a rhythm with my new job and current class, I’ll be able to work out a schedule for writing and gaming and other things I tend to do in my free time, but there might be slow updates while I work that out. Honestly, this second job was something that caught me by surprise, because I applied for it, and within the week, they decided they wanted me, so it’s been one heck of an adjustment. So far I love it, but it is rather time consuming. (Being an adult, am I right?)

Happy Independence day to all the Americans out there, and Canada Day to the Canadians (Which a friend recently reminded me was July 1st).

Chapter 115: Distractions.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention.” Ben had shifted uncomfortably where he sat. The Dark Knight never felt more intimidating, and Ben wasn’t usually intimidated by him. 

“I can’t confirm anything, I just… If he’s putting himself in danger for some reason with the Red X thing…”

“I’ll look into it.”

Batman was going to look into it.

And for some reason that was making Ben extremely antsy. He and Batman didn’t always agree on everything, but Ben wasn’t so dense as to miss that Batman did actually seem to like Albedo. (The man bought Albedo chocolate cake and often checked on him and Ben after training to see if they were doing well in their apartment and with Albedo’s job. There were many reasons Ben didn’t find Batman intimating when so many other people did. The guy tried to be scary, but around younger heroes he could be such a dad.) 

Ben figured if anyone would look into the Red X ordeal well and with intentions to know the full truth without exposing Albedo to any unnecessary danger… It would be Batman. Sure, the guy was paranoid as heck and needed to dial his intensity down by like, fifty billion notches sometimes, but Ben could tell Batman did actually care. 

Batman cared about the truth. 

He cared about the team’s safety. 

He cared that Ben and Albedo were safe. 

If Albedo was getting himself into something bigger than he could handle, Batman would find out. (If Albedo was betraying them, Batman would find out. Of course, Ben, once more, refused to even consider that as an option. He knew he was kidding himself. He knew Albedo was fully capable of betraying them… Ben just didn’t want him to be.)

“Do you understand?” Ben blinked, his conflicted thoughts were interrupted by Red Inferno.

“Er, sure?” Ben said, really not sure what the orders had been. He and Albedo were broken off from the main team to work with the Reds in taking out one of the flying snow machines causing a nation-wide blizzard. 

“Good.” Red Torpedo agreed, “With luck, your and Reflect's interception of the machine while my siblings and I handle its protectors should render it useless and cease the blizzard within this region.” His brain caught up to him as he processed what the Reds were telling him.

Right.

The Reds were flashy and well suited to battle the elements of the blizzard head on with their elemental abilities. Albedo and Ben needed to take the machine down from the inside while the Reds worked on the outside. Their brother, Tornado, had gone off with Superboy and Black Canary, Robin and Aqualad were paired up with Batman, Aquaman, and Flash. Miss. Martian, Artemis, and Zatana were paired with Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter. Kid Flash was on a completely separate mission to save a girl’s heart.  

“Brother, you seem distracted.” Albedo noted.

“What makes you say that?” Ben asked with the tilt of his head, “I know the plan. This’ll be a piece of cake for an alien shapeshifter and alien mage!” Albedo furrowed his brows, looking slightly conflicted by Ben’s response.

“I don’t know exactly. You’ve seemed rather distracted for the past several days. Are you feeling okay? Is something with school bothering you?” Albedo insisted. 

“Er, just been busy this week, that’s all. Don’t worry about it. I’m ready to go for this mission.”

“Well then, I’ll relay it once more. There are turrets on all sides of the freezing machine. The Reds are taking them out. You and I are taking the machine down. Yes?”

“Yeah, yeah. We blow things up and save the day hero-style. Don’t worry, big bro. I know what we’re doing. School could never distract me that much from being an awesome hero.” To that, Albedo rolled his eyes before drawing the hood of his fully white winter-suit over his head. 

It was basically the same as his normal uniform, but more built for the cold, lacking in the black accents and with its red pieces very muted. It also came with a set of goggles and a face mask to go over his mouth and nose for wind and weather protection. Ben himself had just a normal white winter poncho on with a green 10 printed on the back. 

“Then there is no time to waste. We are nearing the drop point.” Red Inferno informed the boys, “Are you two ready?” 

“Born ready.” Ben said with a smile, and he pushed his winter glove back to access the Omnitrix.

“Then. Initiating the drop off in five. Four. three. Two. one…” Red Inferno opened the hatch to the jet’s bay, and Ben slammed down on his watch. A flash of green later, and he was Big Chill. He grabbed Albedo, and flew down, into the storm. 

The world was a blur of white, and in his arms, Albedo hissed at the stinging of the harsh winds and the bite of the snow.

“I knew Earth’s weather could be rather fierce… But this is madness!”

“Weirdly enough.” Big Chill chuckled, “Despite this being man-made, there have been worse natural blizzards in the world… Just never so big and crazy that it covered most of the world at the start of November!” 

“I dislike it. I miss having an Undertown to hide in whenever the weather got this horrible.” Albedo complained. Big Chill just chuckled as the weather machine, in all of its glory, came into view. It was the only sloth of gray in the storm of white, and yet it was pretty difficult to spot.

Albedo muttered a confusion spell and Big Chill went semi-transparent as they made their landing. Knowing the spell wouldn’t last long, Albedo was on the move quickly, dashing for the central part of the flying ice fortress, while Big Chill split off, diving into the core of the machine whilst ignoring the blazing ice all around him. 

Above, Ben heard the turrets come to life as the confusion spell dissipated and the Reds came boring down on the turrets in a blaze of flames and water. (While Red Torpedo’s water was freezing in the frigid air, Inferno’s flame allowed the ice to thaw enough for her brother to gain some leverage). 

“Okay, Deka, prepare for the detonation.” Albedo called over the comms on their watches, and man was it weird to use the omni/ultimatrix comms after so many missions with Miss. Martian, “The Reds are quite excellent distractions and are keeping the fire off of me. I’m nearly done setting up. Inform me when you are prepared to control the descent.”

Big Chill made it to the heart of the fortress. There he waited, hand over his Omnitrix symbol, in anticipation. 

“Whenever you’re ready, Reflect.” Big Chill relayed. 

There was a flash and rumble of red that shifted through the entire machine. A collection of mana overcharged enough to fry the thing. Big Chill stayed intangible to avoid most of the backlash from Albedo’s actions, which the new shielding the galvan had added to the Omnitrix providing another layer of protection. 

Then, suddenly, the entire fortress stopped.

And it began to fall in a free-fall towards the city below them. BIg Chill slammed down on the Omnitrix, shifting quickly into Upgrade, and he wove his body into the now fried mechanism of the ice fortress. Upgrade was careful to focus only on the parts that allowed for flight, and began to control the descent of the fortress. 

“Hold steady!” Albedo warned, “We’re not down yet!”

“I’ve got it, don’t worry!” Upgrade barked back. 

The descent continued, until, with a satisfying, but gentle thud, the fortress touched down safely. Upgrade detached from the fortress, reappearing on top where Albedo waited, eyeing the scorched and destroyed turrets that the Reds had taken out. The Reds themselves descended safely down, having moved when Albedo pulsed the fortress with his mana reserves. 

A small crowd of people seemed to poke their heads out of their homes, clearly excited that the blizzard machine was seemingly deactivated. Ben went human again.

“Easy as cake. That didn’t take long at all. Batman made this whole mission sound like it was gonna be a lot harder…” Ben noticed. 

“To be fair. Excessive anodite mana and a galvanic mechamorph versus a large flying machine made by humans?” Albedo pointed out with a little smirk, “Not exactly a hard battle to determine." 

“...Woah! Is that Deka and Reflect from the plant invasion!?” Someone called from below. Ben snapped his head from Albedo, distracted by the people.

“Huh. Looks like we’re getting fans.” Ben said. 

“Yes.” Albedo agreed with a curt nod, “...Be honest with me Deka, are you alright? You seem more easily distracted than usual.” Ben grimaced, confused why Albedo kept pointing that out. They’d just finished the mission in record time, had they not?

“I’m good, Reflect.”

“Because if I’ve done something wrong, I would happily rectify–.” 

“Jeesh! You’re such a mother hen when you’re worried! It’s just finals season. I’ve got homework I need to get done. Brush it off man! I’m okay!” 

“I didn’t think finals were until later this month and early December at your school… At least, that’s what the newsletter they sent to the apartment mentioned.” Albedo pointed out. Ben just waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it. Let's get going. Maybe we can help the others, since we finished early.”

Notes:

Had to rewatch Coldhearted many times to pick out the parts where the team fights the ice machines. (Presumably made by/powered by the five ice villians featured throughout the show).

I wanted to stretch the Coldhearted arc more than one chapter, but I'm still adjusting to my new schedule irl and wound up settling on one chapter focusing on this specific mission. I wouldn't call it my best chapter, but I'm glad I was able to write it. I'm hoping to post again next week, thus starting the renewal of a regular schedule! (In theory).

Chapter 116: A Wall Closing In.

Wally’s report about his mission with the young queen being the likely reason behind the attack of the ice machines was quite informative. Albedo added to his ever expanding notes on the various extreme ‘distractions’ that had been used. Splitting the world. The plant attack. Blotting out the sun. And now, an ice storm to distract from Count Vertigo’s attempt on Queen Perdita’s life. 

“...What’s all this?” Albedo startled, not expecting the Dark Knight to be looming in the shadow’s of the cave’s lab. He spun around, smiling fondly upon seeing the man.

“Well, it’s always a pleasure, Batman. If you were wondering… I was simply connecting an ongoing theory I have… Though I’ve not got much concrete evidence to back it up.” Well… That wasn’t entirely true. But he wasn’t ready to tell Batman that he was getting a lot of his information from his partnership with Lex Luthor. 

Batman’s expression hardened as he took in the holographic map of Albedo’s work on the Light project. He seemed to scowl more as he registered the red lines marking each distraction with different villains and different events that happened to occur during world-wide crises.

“This is quite the theory.” Batman said, his tone not showing a hint of his opinion on the matter, “How can you conclude each of these other crimes didn’t happen simply because someone else took advantage of a bad situation?” 

“Don’t play stupid.” Albedo said with an eye roll, “Wally admitted that Vertigo orchestrated this most recent attack. He involved the Vandal Savage and the same five ice villains involved in a near breakout M’gann and Conner prevented not so long ago. Not to mention the Blockbuster formula appearing in Santa Prisca with Bane’s Venom not too long after the liberation of Superboy from Cadmus? Which, by the way, I still haven’t finished my investigation on, if you recall that conversation.”

“We suspected an organization.” Batman reasoned, “And they revealed themselves to be the Injustice League.”

“And I think I’ve already pointed out the numerous flaws with our logic behind why they are the masterminds behind all of this.” Albedo gestured to the holograph, “Batman, I know you are a very intelligent man. I know you aren’t so easily fooled by an obvious red herring. You suspect a connection too. And now Wally’s testimony has further confirmed what I’ve discovered.” 

“...Reflect, I suggest you go home tonight and get some rest. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.” Albedo frowned, suddenly puzzled by Batman.

“What do you mean? I just have work. And I’ve made significant progress on all of my projects.” 

“Projects I’m sure your boss will want an in person update on.” Batman agreed, “One away from potential listening ears.” It took Albedo a moment to process that.

“...My supervisor knows what I’ve been working on. I update him regularly… Unless you mean…”

“I do.” Batman said sternly. 

“Oh. I see.” That did make things more interesting. What exactly did Batman have to share about his insight on Albedo’s work that made Batman want to speak to him away from where the rest of the team were? In their civilian personas, nevertheless! Or was this just his paranoia of the mole that Albedo knew was never truly in the Young Justice team, but connected enough to them to have critical information on them?

“I also wanted to talk to you about your research on one of Robin and Deka’s side projects.” Batman said, “Which is my reasoning for coming into the lab. Have you anything else to mention about the mercenary Red X’s Xenothium?” 

“Hmm? Oh that?” Albedo kept his expression uncaring despite how he felt his heart rate spike at the mention of his other alter-ego, “I made a pretty clear report in our files. I suppose I can break it down for you if you were confused by my language, but I tried to make it reasonably simple to understand.”

“Your brother mentioned he fought him again recently. The man blew up an empty warehouse to get his attention.”

“He did?” Albedo feigned surprise, “I was aware the man fought Benjamin recently. He mentioned it when he came home from patrolling with Marvel. Didn’t really dive into it. I suppose it’s too much of me to assume he made a report. That boy hardly wants to do his homework, much less paperwork.” 

“Your assumption would be correct. He didn’t make a report.” Batman agreed, “Now, Xenothium?”

“Yes, yes.” Albedo nodded, “It’s an energy source that needs special stabilization, as it incorporates the process of molecular decay to release extreme and dangerous amounts of energy. When controlled properly, it can be used to manipulate molecular placement… allowing for feats like teleportation and basic constructs like his x-shurikens he seems fond of or his shields, though likely nothing as complex as what the lanterns can pull off. From my analysis, I would say Red X is not a meta. And if he is, he has yet to reveal his true meta capabilities. Instead, I assume his employer, Luthor is his main supplier of his energy source and the technology he uses.”

Batman seemed to muse for a moment, before nodding.

“Head home for the night, Reflect. Your boss is gonna want to know if you're doing well in your new job. I don’t think baggy eyes from lack of sleep is going to help assure him.” Albedo rolled his eyes.

“You are worse than M’gann do you know that Bat–.” Albedo blinked, realizing that Batman was gone, “--Man. Okay. I don’t like that. Fine. I suppose I’ll call it a night.”

Chapter 117: When the Boss Comes Around.

The Wayne Enterprises D.C. Think Tank Division was in absolute chaos when Albedo got to work the next day. Dr. Regina was stressing over her synthetic meta-gnome acceleration simulation and was snappier than he’d ever seen the older doctor who always over-fed Benjamin and Albedo with cookies. Dr. Harold was stressing about some sort of A.I. program he had not absolutely perfected. The majority of the theoretical astronomy division was catering to insanity as they scrambled to pull projects together that made them look good. 

So, on. So forth.

Albedo watched the chaos unfold in front of him with mild bewilderment and confusion as his supervisor, Dr. Kingsdale, urgently told him to set up his workstation for a presentation, because Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne were coming in that morning to review the division in person. 

Albedo understood wishing to impress the superior minds and the leaders of the organization… But he didn’t quite realize it made humans act this odd. 

With a small sigh, Albedo just wandered to his lab stations and pulled out the various prototypes he had for the integrated biomechanical prosthetics he’d been improving on for Roy. Kingsdale noticed Albedo setting up and blanched.

“Oh, no, no, no! That’s not what I want you to tell Mr. Fox and Mr. Wayne about. We’ve sent many reports about your various genetic projects with the Cadmus gnomes and while working with Dr. Regina, and we’ve already sent them the specs for your most recent biomechanical prosthetics. That’s old news. Not as impressive.” Albedo offered his supervisor a deadpan stare.

“Should I care if it is impressive or not? The biomechanics project is meant to be a practical project that allows for the improvement of lives. Which is what Mr. Fox wants me to create. Same with my work partnering with Dr. Regina and Cadmus as we try to understand the meta-gnome better… What asinine project would I be wasting my time explaining to our employers just to look better?” Albedo huffed.

“I was hoping you’d present your little side project. Project B-10.” Kingsdale admitted, making Albedo just stare at the man in total disbelief. 

“I beg your pardon?”

“The multiverse is basically old news these days. I’ve seen a lot of your notes… You’ve been working on the theory of multiple multiverses. An infinite possibility of infinite realities even beyond the many worlds the Justice League and folks at Star Labs have managed to uncover. It could be a breakthrough that makes our little think tank the most prominent and important lab in the country.”

“And it’s based entirely in theory. There’s nothing tangible to achieve. No true evidence there’s a multiverse beyond our current multiverse.” Albedo huffed, “Hence why it is a side project and not my main focus.”

“You’re being modest.” Dr. Kingsdale said as he brushed off Albedo’s objection, “Like I said, I’ve seen some of your notes. Some of your math and the designs you’ve been making. Heck. I even noticed you’ve outlined possible multiverses beyond our own. That you might've even located one worth exploring! You are very close to even constructing a theoretical method of reaching this other multiverse. Dr. Tennyson, you may be the youngest one here, but there is no denying you are also our smartest. Why waste time showing off trivial ideas that anyone here could work on when you could achieve something way more promising?” Albedo grimaced. 

If it were anyone but Bruce Wayne coming, he would be happy to explain his work on project Ben 10 more thoroughly, but Benjamin didn’t want Batman to know where they were really from. Albedo still didn’t quite know why, but he was honoring Benjamin’s request. If he outright presented the facts to Bruce Wayne, it was certain he would connect the dots rather quickly.

“I need more time before I can go with my findings.” Albedo said quickly, “I want something more concrete. Until then, I wish to invest Wayne’s funds into projects that will benefit people here and now. I understand your ambition. But to be too hasty could spell disaster… Take this from a kid with a lot of experience with things happening far too quickly. You don’t know how easy it is for one wrong mistake to ruin one’s entire life. Presenting Project B-10 as a fully ready project worth completely funding could spell disaster. I’m still in my research stage, and therefore, I have what I need for it.” 

Of course, Albedo was pretty much done with the research part and was just trying to force stolen alien technology and human tech from Wayne and Luthor into becoming a level 20 plus piece of technology that could safely transfer someone around Multiverses… but that wasn’t actually Kingsdale’s business. Nor was the fact that Albedo was already funding all of it with the money he earned as both Red X and Dr. Tennyson. 

“Dr. Kingsdale, I–” Albedo’s rebuttal was cut off by the arrival of the secretary, who was out of breath.

“Mr. Wayne and Mr. Fox are here, waiting for everyone in the meeting room.” She said frantically, clearly flustered. 

Dr. Kingsdale paled, before looking back at Albedo.

“Present your research on project B-10. All of your other ones can be reviewed over video call and emails on a different date.” He instructed Albedo once more. With a heavy sigh, Albedo glanced over at the now neglected robotic arm on his workstation before following Kingsdale.

He’d have to apologize to Benjamin later. Who knew? Maybe this was a good thing. Albedo figured Batman could help Benjamin with some of his worries about the Omniverse. Albedo wouldn’t pretend to ignore the bad dreams Benjamin was still having about the possibilities. 

Everyone looked frazzled but excited. And the billionaire and his chief of applied sciences waited with warm smiles for everyone to come in. A stark contrast to the permanent scowl Batman wore whilst wearing his cowl. 

Bruce’s eyes actually sparkled when he laid eyes on Albedo, before rising with a big grin and crossing the room and actually wrapping Albedo in a large hug.

“Dr. Tennyson! It’s good to see you again! How’s it been going with you and your brother? Are you adjusted to the new area? Is his school going well? Dick told me he made the soccer team? Was his season good?” Albedo was a bit startled by the chipper persona, and chuckled on instinct, as he pried himself from the warm greeting.

“Yes to all. Benjamin is well. His grades are as good as they can be. A vast improvement actually.” Albedo replied politely, and he ignored all of the eyes watching the exchange as well as the whispers darting through the meeting room. 

“I’m glad. And Lucius tells me the reports you’ve been sending in about your projects show a lot of promise. Seems he and I were right to hire you, even if you aren’t exactly the age most people expect from a mad genius.” 

“Ahem.” Kingsdale interrupted, “If it’s all the same, we’d like everyone to get seated so we can begin.” 

Albedo took it as his cue to move away from Bruce and settle down in his usual spot next to Dr. Regina. The normally collected and calm woman looked like a frazzle of nerves, and she was tapping her fingers rapidly on top of her project files. Everyone settled, but didn’t look entirely calm. Albedo knew that Bruce Wayne could end the think tank program or relocate their team at a moment's notice. Albedo doubted any of that would happen.

(Albedo knew he likely wouldn’t consider relocating the think tank, as placing it in D.C. and far from Gotham, had been intentional for a number of reasons. Gotham wasn’t exactly the safest place for a bunch of polished geniuses with a lot of experimental technology and science. Half of the time, it ended in said scientists absolutely losing it, becoming a hostage, dying in a freak accident, or the central piece in some crazy person’s plot. He also knew Bruce Wayne was a pretty forgiving and understanding CEO… Unlike some CEOs who would pressure their science teams until they broke.)

They all began to update Bruce and Lucius on their various projects one by one. Slowly, Albedo began to tune it all out, a lot of their research was taught to him at a fairly young age before he’d even gotten his wisdom feet. He would never tell his coworkers that, of course. They were the brightest minds humanity had to offer, and he was impressed with their achievements. It was nice working with and helping the brightest humanity had to offer, even if he himself wound up playing dumb more than he preferred. 

“And of course, we can’t forget about Project B-10 that our own Dr. Tennyson is researching!” Kingsdale said cheerfully. Albedo was pulled from his train of thought at the mention of the project. Bruce perked up some, and looked towards Albedo. 

“B-10? Like, Benjamin Tennyson?” Bruce correctly deduced, “You named one of your projects after your twin? We’ve we not seen the reports for it yet?” Albedo let out a small suffering sigh.

“Benjamin is a grounding force in my life.” He said simply, “So, yes. I named this particular project in his honor. Though it’s all mostly just theoretics right now, hence the lack of a report. I’m attempting to breach the multiverse.” Albedo said simply.

“Oh, the folks at Star Labs have done a lot with multiverse travel and unraveling the mysteries of the infinitely possible universes that coexist alongside our own.” Lucius said in excitement, “If you wanted first-hand access to some of their research, we’d be happy to arrange–.” 

“No. Not traveling within our multiverse. Traveling outside ours. Breaching this multiverse in attempts to reach, and enter, a totally different one with a totally different base of events in which it was formed. This multiverse we live in now is shaped drastically by the metas and heroes that live within it. But this multiverse is only one possibility out of a great many infinite possibilities of what could be. There could be multiverses formed around different universes, different worlds, different timelines that have no correlation to our own. We travel this multiverse and receive visitors from neighboring universes and think we have a grasp of just how infinite the possibilities are. However, even when understanding that there are infinite possibilities… We still think too small to realize just how vast the concept of reality can be. And it is that I wish to understand further and explore.” Albedo explained. 

Lucius seemed initially taken aback, but he quickly puzzled through what Albedo was saying and nodded in agreement.

Albedo noted the way Bruce’s eyes narrowed in thought.

“He’s even located a theoretical multiverse just beyond our own!” Kingsdale said in excitement. Albedo scowled, wondering just how much of Albedo’s work on B-10 Kingsdale had looked at. The project hadn’t even been fully submitted to the think tank. He just mentioned how he was working on it in his free time because they’d asked. 

“He calls it the Omniverse. Of course, we won’t know what waits there until we find a way to reach it, but the possibilities are endless!” Kindsdale went on to explain. Albedo found himself sinking into his chair. 

“...That sounds like an interesting theory.” Bruce said with an easy-going grin, “I’d love to hear more about it… But I think it might just go over my head. What got you interested in it?” Albedo didn’t have a good answer for that question, because he was not going to admit he came from the Omniverse in front of them all. His mind raced and he grumbled out a response.

“...Benjamin was playing a silly video game… I can’t recall which, and it had me thinking about the possibility. And upon realizing just how limitless this possibility was… Well… I couldn’t help but fall into exploring further.” 

“Curiosity is a fascinating thing, is it not?” Lucius chuckled, “I can’t wait to see where you take this theory. It could very well be the next big breakthrough in theoretical and applied sciences.” 

“I suppose so.” Albedo said.

“You don’t seem so enthusiastic about discussing it.” Lucius noticed.

“I suppose I would rather discuss my more complete projects that I’ve created to benefit people than on a side project I don’t even know will actually work or even know the full dangers of.” Albedo replied. (It had better work. Benjamin’s family was counting on its success… On HIS success). 

“It’s good to be cautious.” Lucius said with a slow nod, “But don’t let your fear of failure stop you from succeeding at something truly extraordinary. Even if it takes a lifetime, if you’re passionate about this theory, I suggest you pursue it the best you can. That’s why this think tank was formed, after all. To encourage the pursuit of knowledge and advance what we know about science and technology as far as we can.” 

“Hmm. I’ll take that advice into consideration.”

Notes:

I'm in the process of moving all day today, so I didn't have much time to look over this chapter for possible edits.

Bruce is at Al's work, and he's learning more about project B-10 and what Al has been up to.

Surely, there could be no motivation for Bruce to decide to come see Albedo at work in person when he could've talked to him as Batman, right? (That's Albedo's thought process).

Chapter 118: Center Stage.

“I really am happy you are doing well here, Albedo.” Bruce said as he closed the door of the Lab, and the telltale sound of it locking sent the signal to Albedo that, now that his colleagues had been properly subdued by Lucius going around and viewing their different works (with Bruce making the excuse that he wanted to look over the specs for Albedo’s robotic arm once more), they could talk about whatever it was Bruce had actually come here to discuss.

Annoyingly, though, Albedo still wasn’t sure what it was Bruce, or rather, Batman, was after. The man pulled a little device from inside his jacket, clicking it on. To suppress and scramble any bugs that could be listening, if Albedo had to guess. Albedo muttered a spell, and instantly, the cameras were shut off. 

“What is it that we had to discuss that it wasn’t safest to do so within the cave?” Albedo asked the second he was sure it was safe.

“We still aren’t sure about the mole.” Bruce replied, his easy-going smile vanishing and replaced by a more serious, Batman-like expression, “And Superboy’s hearing and Miss Martian’s telepathy also make discussing sensitive information within the cave… Not ideal.” Albedo rolled his eyes at that.

“Miss. Martian nor Superboy are our mole. Trust me.” He declared without much thought.

“You seem pretty confident about that.” Bruce pointed out.

“Bruce, I watch sit-coms and bake constantly with M’gann. Conner and I are good friends and we have taught one another so much. I trust them. Besides, I’ve been through all of Connor’s recovered files from Cadmus as thoroughly as I can be. I know his secrets. I know his former protocols… And I know I made sure they were wiped out of his head the second I was able to do it.” Albedo pointed out, “It’s not Artemis. Her background isn’t ideal, but she’s got too much to focus on, taking care of her mother. I know for a fact she and her sister’s relationship is strenuous at best. Obviously it isn’t Robin. You would’ve known. Wally’s got absolutely no motive. Zatanna is too new. Kaldur’s also lacking motivation and is a noteworthy, loyal atlantean citizen. And I don’t even want to dive into the arrogant goodie-two-shoes nonsense that is my brother’s personality.”

“Which just leaves you.” Bruce pointed out. Albedo opened his mouth for a second, and it caught up to him what Bruce was suggesting. He was angry for a flash second, before reasoning mentally through it and realizing he really had no defense for himself. He was an ex-convict, not that Bruce knew that, and had gone on record saying he and Benjamin were separated a lot when they were younger.

“I’m not your mole.” Albedo said simply, “Though I understand I cannot create a concrete defense. I know out of all of the members of the team, I am the most likely candidate. But I will say this, I truly do love them. To even think of betraying them in such a way… It feels unfathomable. Aside from Benjamin, my family is gone. I’ve lived a lonely life, They brought joy back to it. A joy that would destroy me if I lost it.”

“Then why have you been acting as an operative for Lex Luthor for the past several months as Red X?” Bruce asked. 

Albedo froze as if he’d just been thrown into a spotlight with little to no preparation. Then he immediately moved to cover his surprise, and did what he’d gotten far too good at these days: he improvised.

“...I’m sorry, what?” He said as he attempted to shrug his shock off as disbelief and confusion towards the accusation, “Where in the world did that come from? You have never struck me as a person to tell a joke but…” 

“I’ve got a match on past footage we’ve gotten of Red X in action and was able to trace back several of the articles on Xenothium to have been back-dated using an advanced… Almost alien software. Some of the scientists listed as authors I’ve spoken to didn’t even know what Xenothium was… Including Dr. Kingsman out there.” Bruce gestured towards the door, “So I pulled some of Robin’s research and the scans of your battles and found a match for the energy Red X uses… Which just so happens to be the mana you produce naturally. You’ve put on many reports that Red X uses Xenothium, but he’s using a seamless combination of magic and technology to fake using an unknown element. A seamless combination I’ve only seen used in one person’s work… Yours. So, either you’re Red X… Or you made his suit and are trying to cover it up.” 

…Huh.

So that’s why he was called the World’s Greatest Detective.

“...Okay… That’s rather impressive.” Albedo slowly admitted.

“...You aren’t denying anything I just said.” Bruce pointed out.

“Because I’m starting to see such efforts would be in vain.” Albedo turned from Bruce, before popping open a hidden compartment under his desk, and pulling one of his Red X masks out. He set it gingerly on the desk, “There. Are you satisfied to know your presumption is correct?” Bruce’s eyes flicked down to the mask, then back to Albedo, who waited patiently for the man to do something.

“...If you intend to arrest me, at least make sure Luthor doesn’t find out why . He’ll likely kill me, and I’ve still got a lot of work left to finish.” Albedo said when Bruce took too long to say something. 

That got Bruce’s expression to shift from calculating to surprised. 

“...Most guys I confront directly fight back.” Bruce said carefully.

“I’m tired of such things. Fighting the inevitable consequences of my actions always hurts more than it helps.” Albedo said honestly, “But know I am not the mole. Not even Luthor knows who Red X is. This is intentional. Red X was meant to be my secret to keep until my mission was complete. While it isn’t complete… I know it will be if I don’t make a scene and allow the cards to fall as they may. I wasn’t expecting to be found out so soon, but I was ready for the possibility.”

“Because you’ve got a partner.” Bruce decided, “The boy who rescued you from Klarion… What exactly is your mission if you’re not the mole?” 

“To destroy the Light.” Albedo said plainly. Bruce arched his brow.

“The Light?” 

“We discussed them last night. The intricate network of super villains I’ve uncovered that’s been operating in the shadows for quite some time now. Luthor is one of their chief members. I haven’t puzzled out all of their resources, connections, or leaders. There’s a lot of possibilities and a lot of corruption involved in the whole ordeal. The most I’ve put together thus far is Luthor, Vandal Savage, Count Vertigo, and Klarion. I know there’s more and I know they have an end goal that I wish to expose before they can accomplish it… But Red x hasn’t been fully brought into the fold of their ranks yet. I will say, we are very close.” 

“...You’re a double agent.” Bruce realized, “You’re pulling information from Luthor to take him down.” Albedo just shrugged.

“He’s an alien-hating criminal who expunges lives and property for the sake of his idea of the greater good. He wants to kidnap Benjamin for his powers, kill Reflect, get rid of the Justice League, and is willing to go through great lengths to get his way. He’s a brilliant man… One who is meddling in things he as a human should NEVER tamper with. He created Connor, after all. He created Cadmus and all of the Gnomes. He created them for war. He controlled and manipulated them. He cared not and continues to care not for the sentience his creations hold. For the free will and feelings and lives of the genomes he breed for a war. What war? I can’t be sure. For all I know, his own paranoia was the motivation behind their creation… But that would be too easy.”

“I put you in charge of looking after Cadmus.” Bruce said in realization, “Red X is for them.” 

“And for Benjamin. And the League. And the Team.” Albedo agreed with a nod, “Plus, as a part-alien mage who studied under an alien genius… I do NOT like Luthor’s attitude towards my kind.” 

“...Do you understand just how reckless this plan of yours was?!” Bruce stood so fast, he startled Albedo, “Did you even tell your brother what you were doing?”

“I will not make him responsible for my actions. Not again. He’s got a lot on his shoulders. A lot to worry about. Beside… I didn’t think he’d approve. I’ve had difficulties in the past. I know he’ll jump to the conclusion that I’ve betrayed him.. And I wouldn’t even fault him for it. Still, it’s all for his benefit that I continued with my plans even without his knowing.” 

“I don’t think you give Ben enough credit.” Bruce countered, “And at the very least, you should’ve told me. Going in on an undercover mission alone, with no back-up–”

“I have back-up. My partner is now connected to my mask’s interface and can watch everything that happens when I am Red X. Should I ever be exposed, I’ve set up protocols in which he can extract me… or if that is impossible, in which he can recover the valuable information I’ve obtained and deliver it into your hands.” Albedo countered, “My partner is as set, if not more so, as I am in orchestrating Luthor’s downfall. He’ll ensure my plans are executed the moment I am incapable of carrying them out myself. And he’s backed up as well. Not to mention, despite what Luthor thinks… He no longer controls the Cadmus army. They’ll also have an interest in his downfall.” 

“You control the Cadmus army.” Bruce huffed.

“Nonsense. I’m aligned with them, but they make their own destiny now.” Albedo said, waving that ludicrous statement away, “But my work in assisting them has made it well within their interests to ensure I am protected. You speak as if I’ve done all of this without a plan in place in the event of catastrophic failure, but you are mistaken. I’ve prepared for and accepted that such a failure could very well occur.” Bruce’s eyes flickered over Albedo as he seemed to try and gauge what he thought about the whole ordeal.

“...You went into this knowing you could get killed.” Bruce said slowly, “Knowing that your back up might not be able to help you… And you didn’t once consider that I might’ve wanted to know what you were doing to make sure that you didn’t get yourself killed? Albedo, I’ve been looking out for you and your brother for almost half a year now, and while most of that time I’m Batman, that does not mean I haven’t been actively trying to make sure both of you are safe and taken care of.” 

Albedo was… A little confused by how Bruce was reacting to this. Albedo expected to be arrested the second anyone from the League put everything together. He expected Bruce to be the first to figure it out, but hadn’t expected Bruce to put two and two together so soon. Albedo, however, had not expected Bruce to act like he was at that moment.

Albedo wasn’t even sure what to call Bruce’s behavior. The most he could compare it to was when Benjamin stressed out about Albedo getting hurt in training or during a fight. But this seemed even beyond that. It didn’t really make much sense.

“And yet you think that I wouldn’t care to know that one of the kids I’ve decided to take responsibility for is running off, pretending to be a mercenary, and walking right into enemy lines with what seems to be questionable back-up?” Bruce continued to rant, “I came here expecting the worst. Expecting you to be a traitor and having to deal with the repercussions of that . While this is a huge improvement from you being a mole, now I have to deal with you being in a very, very dangerous situation where you've made yourself the possible target of many of the most dangerous criminals and villains this world has to offer. Albedo, I’ve done a lot of reckless things and I know I’m probably the worst person to tell someone off for running off and doing things on my own, but you're sixteen .” 

Albedo didn’t know why he found himself hanging his head as he was scolded. He wasn’t actually sixteen. But it wasn’t like Bruce knew that.

“I let you guys form your team because, as Ben has pointed out many times to Batman, I can’t control what you kids do or don’t do at this point. You’ve all been trained to face the worst humanity has to offer, and you all seem to be driven to confront that evil head on. That’s something I understand, because it is a struggle I deal with every single day of my life. But you are all still young. I know when I was a young man your age, I did a lot of really stupid things and I got into a lot of really bad situations. When I first started out as Batman, I made even more mistakes, almost dying many, many times… And I’ll almost die even more, and I did it all completely knowing there was that chance I wasn’t coming back. Completely knowing that my only back-up was an elderly butler that I had ordered specifically not to come after me if things went wrong… So, you kids forming your team? A group that can look out for each other and cover each other when you make those mistakes and take those risks? I’d say it was an excellent compromise.”

“...I don’t… Am I going to be arrested or not?” Albedo asked in confusion with the tilt of his head. Bruce froze and stared at Albedo for a long moment. Without his mask and his insistence on looking as stoic as possible as Batman, it was a little easier to tell Bruce looked confused by something. Albedo wasn’t sure what though. 

“No. You’re not going to be arrested. Police do these kinds of operations themselves all the time. But usually, people know what they're doing. Usually, they have a plan b for protecting their men.” Bruce rubbed his temples as he spoke, before sighing, “Look, what I’m trying to say is I actively wanted to make sure you kids didn’t make the same mistakes I’ve made. And now I find out one of the kids under my care is trying to take on the worst this world has to offer.”

“...I think I’m lost.” Albedo admitted. He really didn’t know what Bruce wanted from him in this situation. He was clearly upset with Albedo. But he wasn’t arresting Albedo. It really didn’t make sense because Albedo had gone behind Bruce’s back. Albedo had broken the rules. In his experience, that meant being arrested and getting thrown in prison. 

Bruce rubbed his temples, further proving that he was upset with Albedo.

“I’m putting you on probation. You’re benched as Reflect until I can confirm what you're telling me you’re doing as Red X is accurate. I want you to give me all of your files that you’ve collected from Luthor and on this secret society of villains. I obviously can’t bench you as Red X because it might tip Luthor off and I don’t want to endanger your partner by making him go in without backup. I want to meet your partner, and I want everything you know about the mole.” Bruce ordered, “Also, I want you to tell your brother exactly what you just told me. If the rest of the team asks why I’ve benched you, you’re to tell them I have you working on a different assignment. Is that clear?”

“I… Yes, sir. But my partner was trying to stay anonymous until he was ready to return to the public. He’s been isolated from the rest of the world for a long time. He’s been recovering from something he went through.”

“How did you even come across someone like that?” Bruce asked with a sigh.

“...I found him while I was investigating Cadmus. He was kidnapped and used as a test subject by Lex Luthor… Bruce, Conner wasn’t the only clone. They didn’t start by cloning kryptonians. They started by cloning human DNA.” Albedo confessed, “I found the person they were using as the source for that DNA.”

“And how old is this partner of yours?” Albedo bit his lip before lowering his head.

“...He’s fifteen.” Once more Bruce seemed pretty upset by this response.

“Fifteen? Where are his parents?”

“His family doesn’t know he went missing.” Albedo explained, “Luthor had him replaced. It’s too dangerous for him to go back, because Luthor will know he’s awake. So, the best solution to his problem is taking Luthor down.” 

“Is he safe?” Bruce asked.

“As safe as I can ensure.” Albedo agreed, “The entirety of the Cadmus program is protecting him. He’s only at risk when he’s Red X. I’ve been trying to limit that… But I think you know just as much as I do how hard it is to get teenagers to wait patiently for things to happen. Red X is his only means of doing something about his situation right now.” Bruce considered all of this. Before turning to leave.

“You’re on probation.” he repeated, “If I learn that you’ve tried anything, I will hunt you down. I want those files as soon as possible. We’ll talk more about the mole and your partner once I’ve had time to review everything. Talk to Ben. Understood?”

“Yes sir.” Albedo agreed.

Notes:

Bruce (A little proud): So, let me get this straight, you're running a long-term undercover mission to take down a supervillain society?
Albedo: (Who's only father figure was Azmuth) So... Am I being arrested?
Bruce: (Mildly impressed but also really stressed because he's a dad and Albedo is running around getting himself into trouble all the time): Stop asking if you're gonna be arrested...

Yeah... I didn't really edit this one as much as I should've... I got distracted by other things.

Anyways, Bruce knows about Red X. He's got his suspicions about Project B-10. So all in all, a normal day for the Dark Knight I would say.

Chapter 119: No Matter What.

Albedo came home earlier than normal.

Ben didn’t really look up from the veggies he was cutting up, pretty set on making dinner and not really wanting to talk to Albedo at that moment. 

Albedo threw his jacket and hat onto the couch before glancing at Ben, likely expecting Ben to say hi or something. Ben just merely hummed in acknowledgement that he was there. 

“Why are you upset with me?” Albedo asked. Ben flinched at the direct question, and faltered in cutting things up before he collected himself, put on a smile, and looked up at Albedo.

“What makes you think I’m upset with you?” He asked. 

“It’s not school. It’s not the team. It’s not soccer. Unless something happened that you’re not telling me about, I assume it must be me, because you’ve been acting distant lately.” 

“I’ve just got a lot on my mind, Al.” Ben said simply and he returned his focus to chopping the veggies, “The team… I’m not gonna be able to keep leading them, you know. Aqualad’s gonna have to step in and take charge, and I’m not sure how I want to start giving things to him to control… And I know Robin’s got a lot of potential to become a leader too. Heck, I don’t even know how I’m gonna break the news that I’m leaving sometime around January! I kept a lot of that to myself because I didn’t want them acting all weird about it and stuff…” Albedo was silent for a moment, and he watched Ben work before seeming to decide he wasn’t satisfied with Ben’s response. 

He moved to the sink, washing his hands off, before coming next to Ben to help cut up the food.

“I just got benched from the Team by Batman for a few weeks. He’s redirecting me towards a different mission.” Ben stopped what he was doing, jerking his head up in surprise as Albedo calmly continued to work.

“What? But you love working with the team.” 

“I do.” Albedo agreed, “But I’ve… Made a commitment to something else for a little bit. You remember Cadmus?” 

“The group that made Conner?” Ben asked. Albedo hummed in agreement. 

“Yes. I may have… Found a few things. I’ve been actively attempting to glean more information and to relocate the Gnomorphs somewhere better, away from Luthor’s control for a few months now since we discovered them.” Albedo admitted, “Luthor doesn’t know, however, and Br–, er, Batman has expressed a few concerns. Some I understand, and some I really don’t.” 

“Jeesh. Why didn’t you tell me about that sooner?” Ben asked with a grimace. Messing with a guy like Luthor alone sounded like a terrible idea.

“Because I…” Albedo swallowed hard, “Because my initial reasons for doing anything with Luthor were less than noble. And my methods of handling him haven’t exactly been legal. Why Batman hasn’t arrested me, I don’t understand, but I’m in trouble with him now. And I know you’re probably disappointed to learn as much. Especially with how supportive you’ve been of my recent efforts to work for the law instead of against it.” Ben’s mind did a sudden screech and halt as what Albedo was explaining suddenly caught up to him, and Ben realized quite suddenly where the conversation was going.

Albedo was coming clean, wasn’t he?

“What–” Ben hesitated, “Albedo, what sort of methods are we talking about here?” Albedo’s eyes narrowed as he seemed to grow even more focused on what his hands were doing and refused to meet Ben’s eyes.

“I’m Red X.” Albedo admitted, ripping the bandaid clean off and confirming, with a dreaded finality, what Ben had already known. Ben stared at Albedo, trying to figure out how to respond. He still didn’t even quite understand why or how Albedo was Red X. He had so many theories, but he didn't know which was right or why. However, the fact that Batman had seemingly benched Albedo instead of arresting Albedo upon finding out likely meant that Albedo wasn’t the mole, which was a huge relief.

Albedo took Ben’s lack of initial response as a cue to keep going. 

“I started as Red X a little bit after we first got here because I needed more parts to build project B-10.”

“...B-10?” Ben asked softly.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been calling the multi-multiversal traveling project.” Albedo said dismissively, “I knew you wouldn’t approve of me stealing to get what we needed, so I made Red X to act as a persona I could use without you knowing. However, one of my first targets, Luthor, had many dark secrets. I already knew he was behind Cadmus… But I didn’t know he had a new target for his efforts.”

Albedo glanced over at Ben briefly, before immediately breaking eye contact as a flash of rage overtook his expression.

“Luthor wants you, Benjamin.” 

…What?

“He’s been watching you.” Albedo continued, “Most of his reports from his mole and from the various encounters his colleagues and operatives have been about what you can do. He’s studying you from afar. He and this other group. A shadow organization of villains who have decided that Deka the Changeling is the key to creating the ultimate weapons… To making a perfect army. And, I don’t really know why, but something about learning all of this really made me angry. Without a second thought, I went to Luthor as Red X and I, well, Benjamin, I’ve been spying on him.” 

Oh.

“Oh.” 

Ben’s mind raced as he processed all of this. Of course, it made sense that the guy behind something like Cadmus and making Superboy would be extremely interested in learning more about Ben and the Omnitrix. But that didn’t really get to Ben as much as it seemed to be getting to Albedo. 

Ben was used to it. 

His entire life was spent protecting the Omnitrix from bad guys who wanted to abuse it like that. It was spent getting stalked, hunted, and spied on by bad people who looked for his weaknesses and tried to exploit them. Who would send wave after wave of minions after Ben to test him and see how strong the Omnitrix actually was. Heck, Albedo used to be one of those people who routinely targeted Ben because he had the Omnitrix. 

Albedo kept his focus on what he was doing, but he was very tense, and seemed to wait for some kind of response from Ben.

“...Is that all you’ve got to say about this?” Albedo asked softly.

“...I… I’m not really sure what else to say, Al. Luthor’s not the first guy to act like that with me.” Ben admitted, “Except I kind’ve already figured you were Red X.” 

That made Albedo’s eyes blow wide open as he ripped his head away from the food and just gawked at Ben.

“What?”

“You… You’re kind’ve the only guy I know who speaks fluent Galvanic. I know a little, obviously, but you were raised speaking it. And… Like… Red X swore at me in Galvanic.” Ben admitted. 

Albedo’s face went ghost pale, and it occurred to Ben that Albedo hadn’t even realized he’d done that. Which made sense, because it was pretty easy for a non-native English speaker to slip into their first language without meaning to or realizing it. Albedo was pretty good at making it seem like English was his first language, as he only ever really switched to Galvanic to say something to Ben that he didn’t want other people to hear, or when he was startled by something. And since Albedo was the only person in that universe who knew it fluently, it wasn’t like anyone else in this Universe would pick up on the swears. Only Ben.

“How long have you–”

“Since the other day… When you attacked me and Marvel.” Ben admitted, he lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s… Kind of why I’ve been avoiding you. I didn’t really know why you were being Red X at all. So I was a little freaked out by it. But I was hoping it was for something like what you just told me.” 

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“I dunno. I was just hoping you had a good reason, and if you did, I didn’t want to put you in danger.” Ben admitted, “It freaked me out. I was scared you might be falling into bad habits again, but I was hoping for the best for you anyways. I… I told Batman to keep an eye on you. Told him you probably weren’t the mole, but that you might be getting into trouble.”

“You told him I wasn’t the mole even knowing I likely would have been?” Albedo asked in disbelief.

“I… Yeah? What else was I supposed to do? Just accept that you were?” Ben asked in confusion, “You’re my brother, Al. I’m not dumb. Of course the thought crossed my mind, but I want to believe the best of you regardless. If I just immediately decide you must be the mole because you lied to me a lot about this Red X thing, then I’m not doing a good job at giving you the benefit of the doubt, am I? I’m reckless a lot and I jump to conclusions a lot. I try not to jump to conclusions when it comes to my friends and their loyalties. You just don’t do that. I bet on Kevin through many of his mess ups. I was ready to bet on you too, and I think it paid off.” 

“But… I’m committing crimes as Red X. You should be furious. You shouldn’t–” Albedo started, but Ben quickly shut him up by grabbing the guy and pulling him into a hug. 

“I’m proud of you.” Ben said, “And I’m so thankful that you were looking out for me like that. You have no idea how much that means to me, Al.” 

“But–” Albedo objected, but Ben quickly cut him off, holding him closer.

“Being a hero doesn’t mean not breaking the law, Al.” Ben said firmly, “It’s doing the right thing, no matter what. You found out what Luthor was doing and now you’re trying to stop him. That’s the right thing to do. Sure Red X is unconventional, but it’s smart. It’s so freakin’ smart I almost fell for it. It’s probably something only you or Batman or Robin would even think to try.” Ben then pulled away from Albedo, setting him with a firm look.

“It’s smart, but it’s also so risky. You shouldn’t have gone after Luthor like that without telling me. We made a deal, you and I. When we first got here, I said I was going to protect you. It’s my job to protect you as your brother and friend. I can’t do that if you don’t tell me what you’re doing. You don’t even have to tell me everything, just enough so that I know if you’re in trouble or not and I can save you. Like what happened with Cadmus all those months ago, remember?” 

“Yes, I… I remember.” Albedo muttered.

“Okay then. If you’re going after Luthor, then keep your Ultimatrix communicator line open. If things get bad, you send me an S.O.S. no matter what, do you understand?” Ben insisted. 

“But–” Albedo started to object but Ben cut him off.

“Do you understand?” Ben repeated. Albedo opened and closed his mouth, as if he didn’t quite believe how Ben was responding to all of this.

However, eventually he managed a small nod.

“Yeah.” He promised, “I understand. If I get in trouble, I’ll call you.”

“Good.” Ben decided, “Then that’s that.”

Notes:

Wow. Life's been crazy, lol. I moved. My second job got a lot busier, and school is a constant, though I am coming up on a short break from school in a few short weeks. Plus, my wifi is, like, nonexistent in my new place, and it took a little while to set up internet via, Ethernet. So, that's what the delays the past few weeks have been.

Anywho, we are moving on to Image, and I'm actually really excited for this arc. It's gonna really do a lot of wack things for YJ canon and this story as a whole. Honestly, these next several arcs are the ending episodes of the first season, and thus, the beginning of the end for this specific story with a few short detours.

Of course, who knows how long it'll be for us to get there, lol. Like I've said time and time again, this story was meant to be like, half, if not a third the size it is now. It just keeps getting away from me, lol.

Chapter 120: Preparing the Mantle.

Batman called them in for a new mission the moment Ben got to the cave from school. With soccer season basically over for him, he’d decided to come to the cave early. He hadn’t exactly expected most of the team to already be gathered and Batman waiting for him.

“Happy for you to join us, Deka.” Batman deadpanned as Ben glanced up at the image on the holograph, which portrayed some old, important-looking dude, before taking stock of who was actually present. Albedo was at work still, not that it mattered, since the guy wasn’t going to be on missions for a little bit. However, Wally, M’gann, Conner, and Robin were present. Ben vaguely recalled Kaldur mentioning that he was going to be with his mentor, Aquaman all week this week. He wasn’t sure where Artemis was, but he wasn’t going to be surprised if she were with her mentor as well. 

“Great to be here… What’s up?”

“You’re just in time for the mission briefing.” Batman relayed. He motioned for Ben to stand with his peers. Ben just shrugged and fell in line next to Robin. Batman immediately launched into the mission briefing upon Ben looking back towards the holograph, which read: ‘President Rumaan Haarjavti and Bruce Wayne’ with Albedo’s civilian boss up there shaking the important-looking dude’s hand.

“This is the democratically elected President Rumaan Haarjavti of Qurac. He has been praised as a fair, wise leader. A humanitarian.” 

“Sure.” Wally said with a small chuckle as he elbowed Robin, “Any friend of Bruce Wayne’s.” 

“Yeah, he looks like a guy who’d be friends with Wayne.” Ben agreed, earning a slightly puzzled look from Wally.

“My brother works for Wayne, Wally.” Ben reminded him, and Wally simply nodded, accepting the explanation. 

“Five days ago.” Batman cut in, ignoring the exchange between Ben and Wally, “Haarjavti allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation of Bialya, Queen Bee.” Ben’s jaw went a little slack as the mention of the country Bialya briefly had him recalling the disastrous mission that had occurred there. 

Maybe Albedo being benched wasn’t such a bad thing. Last time something happened with Bialya that brainy telepath Psimon had been around, and that had been pretty bad for Albedo. 

Ben raked his head to recall the details about Queen Bee they’d been briefed on before their last mission into the dangerous country. Something about mind control? He couldn’t recall, but a guy randomly working with a dictator like Batman was describing? Well, Ben wouldn’t have been surprised if he was remembering correctly, and she did have something to do with mind control.

“Not a fan.” Conner scoffed at Queen Bee’s picture. Clearly, Conner knew more about the queen lady than Ben did. The woman on screen had a stern expression. She had darker skin, midnight black hair, a golden diadem on her head with a gray and black outfit. She had to be about in her thirties. She was… Admittedly beautiful. Kinda like a famous movie star. 

“Few are.” Batman agreed with Conner’s clear dislike of the woman, “But Haarjavti suddenly backs Queen Bee’s baseless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times, and has announced the countries will reunify in two days at a ceremony in Qurac.” Batman then played a video that pointed out the most concerning part of the entire situation.

Haarjavti stepped forwards onto his platform next to several very armed soldiers.

“After the ceremony, I will step down as President so that our rightful monarch, Queen Bee, may rule.” He explained. There was an uproar in the crowds in the video before it flipped over to Queen Bee’s speech.

“I laud President Haarjavti for unifying our peoples and I will gladly come to Qurac to be crowned sole leader of our nation.”  

“...So… Mind control.” Ben drawled, “No way Mr. President dude just on the dime decides to turn his country over to a tyrannical dictator.” 

“You’re right, she has the power to enthrall most men.” Robin said readily.

“...Enthrall?” Ben said, suddenly confused, “Wait, could someone tell me what that means again?”

“Enthrall. To capture the attention of.” Batman clarified, “What Robin means is: you are correct. She can control most men and some women using pheromone control and manipulating people’s attraction to her.”

Ben immediately cringed at that. 

He did not know that detail about Queen Bee’s mind control power. 

“Oh, no. We aren’t being sent to fight this lady directly, are we?”

“What’s it matter? You’re immune to mind control.” Wally said dismissively, “The Omnitrix protects you, right?” Wally then hesitated upon glancing at the grimace on Ben’s face, “Right??”

“The Omnitrix works against telepathic mind control and most other types since its recent update… It, however, cannot protect me from hormonal mind control like what this lady can apparently do. The Omnitrix can’t block the different biological functions of my different forms, Wally. That’s like, super dangerous! And, I hate to say it… This lady? She’s kinda hot. Maybe a different form might keep her from controlling me, but I honestly have no clue, man. Gotta admit it might actually be better if Zatanna, Artemis, and M’gann went if this lady’s involved.”

It was Wally’s turn to grimace.

“...Yikes.” 

“Fortunately, you will not be facing her directly.” Batman quickly countered, “Because she is not controlling Haarjavti with her abilities. They do not work over a long-distance, and we have confirmation that she hasn’t left Bialya. Something else is at work here. Your mission is to find out what, preferably before the official merging of the two nations. The people of Qurac are very aware of the brutality of Queen Bee’s regime. The press is being censored and all legitimate protests are being silenced, so it’s up to you to uncover the truth.”

“That, we can do.” Ben said with a smile before glancing towards Robin thoughtfully. This was going to probably need someone a lot better at sleuthing and detective work if they wanted to figure out what was actually behind the President’s sudden change in character. Besides, Ben needed to start working on handing the mantle of leader off to Aqualad or Robin sooner than later. After all, Ben wasn’t going to be in the Heroverse for that many months longer. It would be smart to try and see if Robin was ready to take over when Ben left.

“Say, Rob, maybe you should take the lead on this one.” Robin startled at Ben suddenly acknowledging him, and he seemed to short-circuit for a moment, “I mean, you’re the better detective on the team and this might be more suited for you to lead.” 

Batman narrowed his eyes, but didn’t at all object to the suggestion.

“Yo! Promotion! Sweet!” Wally cheered, offering the clearly baffled Robin a high-five.

“Er, but I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of–.” Robin started and Ben waved him off.

“It’ll be good. I’m sure. Great learning experience for everyone.” Ben insisted as he turned to head towards the hanger, “Besides you know more about all this political stuff than I do. You and Conner, apparently.” Ben didn’t really remind Robin that Ben himself was trained to act as a mediator and diplomat at the drop of a hat. Robin didn’t seem to remember this little detail ethier. 

Robin frowned.

“Right. Sure.” Ben was a little confused by the reluctance, considering how eager Robin had been to lead when the team first started. Ben didn’t put too much thought into it, however, because he knew Robin was capable. 

“Dude, you left me hanging.” Wally objected. Robin just turned to follow after Ben.

“Come on, guys. We’ve got a mission to do.” He said sternly. Conner and M’gann exchanged confused looks, but followed after Ben and Robin. Wally, after pouting a moment, fell in line after them.

Notes:

Right. It's been a hot second again.

While school has actually not been busy, work has, and I've been visiting my various family members a lot on the weekends. (Some of my siblings and I even went to a Ren Faire which I haven't had the chance to do since high school.) Plus, the new Zelda came out, and I got really, really sucked into playing it. Afterall, I've been wanting a Zelda centered Zelda game since middle school! (I've beaten all of the dungeons, but want to find all of the heart pieces before finishing the game.))

Anyways, my poor timekeeping aside, this arc is interesting as it introduces one of my favorite characters in the DC Universe. And jeesh, does said character have a LOT in common with Mr. Ben Tennyson here, lol.

Not to mention how important this episode is for M'gann (And Robin to some extent) in particular. Obviously this chapter is pretty similar to in the show's canon, but this arc in A Reflection will go off the rails from canon pretty fast, so you people have that to look forwards to. Also, I would say it's one of the more important arcs to both Ben and Albedo's stories, even if Albedo isn't there in person right now.

I have no clue how updating next week is gonna work. My boss is going to be out of town that weekend, meaning I'm heading the photos and videos for a huge event he would typically cover. So, if I don't post next week, that's why, though I really do want to get back on schedule with the updates.

Even if I don't post next weekend, I do want to try and at least get the week after that, so hold on!

With that, happy late Halloween to everyone, and thanks for reading!

Chapter 121: Logan’s Animal Sanctuary.

“We’re right above the Quraci-Bialyan border.” Robin announced from his place in Miss. Martian’s Bioship. Ben stared down at the several tanks mowing over the barbed wire fence below, startling lots of animals in the process. Some sort of herd of cattle if Ben had to guess? Ben wasn’t sure, it was dark and he was not an animal expert. 

“Yeah, a border they’re in the process of ignoring.” Wally complained. 

“No opposition, guess Haarjavti really is in bed with Bialya.” Conner grumbled.

“Well, I wouldn’t expect opposition here.” Robin countered, “This is an animal sanctuary.” At those words, M’gann’s expression suddenly lit up in excitement.

“The Logan Animal Sanctuary?” She was looking over Robin’s shoulder at the name of the place. The way she said it made Ben figure she actually had already known about some random animal sanctuary at the border of Qurac… Which was interesting.

“You’re familiar?” Ben said with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, yeah it’s where–” M’gann started before Wally cut her off.

“Guys, the tanks caused a stampede… With civilians in harm's way!” Wally warned. 

“I see them. A woman and a small boy.” Conner confirmed. M’gann’s eyes went wide with alarm.

“We have to help them.” She insisted.

“That’s not the mission.” Robin warned.

“Don’t worry, I can get to the civilians fast. The Baylians won’t even know.” Ben cut said as he spun his watch for Big Chill. With a flash of green, Ben was falling through the Bioship and gliding as Big Chill with his form only semi-transparent towards the aforementioned civilians.

The woman and boy were kneeling over an injured livestock, thus revealing their reasoning for NOT moving despite the oncoming danger. Ben moved quickly, sweeping the woman and boy up into his arms and ignoring their objections before depositing them at the foot of the house nearby. He swept back around, diving down to get the animal as well. It seemed a little disoriented by Big Chill suddenly snatching it up like he was some oversized bird of prey, but Ben was able to easily deposit it closer to the barn-looking structure. 

Behind him, Ben was a little confused as the bioship, still in stealth mode, fired to veer the Baylian troops off course and away from the house and barn. He figured it was better for the mother and kid, but perhaps maybe not for the whole ‘stealth and avoiding an international incident’ part of their mission.

But, hey, if this was Robin’s call, he’d go along with it. Robin was leading after all. Ben flew back next to the kid and mom as he watched Kid Flash, Robin, and the bioship all work to redirect the soldiers back towards their side of the border and away from where they would cause damage. Meanwhile, M’gann and Conner redirected the stampede away from the house and barn.

“Woah.” The boy said, bright blue eyes shone up at Ben in an eager excitement, “You’re a moth-person! Mom! A moth person saved us! Oh, oh! And is that Kid Flash and Robin?!” Ben sort’ve had to do a double take upon looking at the two people he’d rescued a little more closely, as they both had matching faces of freckles, a mess of red hair, and matching blue eyes. Of course, the weird part is the mom almost reminded Ben of his Aunt Natalie or an older Gwen in the same way that M’gann somewhat reminded Ben of Gwendolyn. The lady could have almost been M’gann’s mom if Ben didn’t know any better.

The bioship landed softly next to the house, still in cloaked mode. Ben twisted the Omnitrix dial and offered Robin a confused look as the teen walked up to the two.

“We redirected the threat. Worked fast to avoid creating a greater conflict.” Robin clarified to Ben before directing his attention to the mother and son.

“Are you two all right?” Rodin asked them as Wally, M’gann, and Conner came up behind him. M’gann was weirdly still camouflaged.

“Woah! The moth-man turned into a person… Wait… You’re that new hero who fought the Plants with his brother! Deka! Mom! Deka, Robin, and Kid Flash saved us!” 

“And Superboy and Miss. Martin.” Wally clarified.

“We diverted the Biaylans around the sanctuary, you should be safe now.” Robin told the mother. The kid’s mom frowned, glancing over at the damages and where the tanks had been moments before.

“Also, you don’t have to be camouflage anymore, Miss. M.” Ben said with a teasing tone. He almost swore M’gann blushed as she shyly took her hood off and became more visible.

“H-Hi.” She said with a nervous smile. Ben glanced between the mother and Miss. M. There wasn’t any mistake. Miss. M really did look like a younger version of that woman. Slowly, it occurred to Ben that Miss. M’s real form wasn’t even the red haired humanoid he was used to, as Ben knew what Martian’s really looked like. Ben started to wonder if M’gann knowing about the sanctuary was really that huge of a coincidence. 

Did M’gann know this lady?

“You may have made things worse.” The mother said in a somber tone, “Bialyan border crossings are a way of life here. Usually they wreck a few fences and move on. Engaging them might have made us a target.” The boy huffed at his mom’s clear concern.

“Mom.” He whined, “Uncool!” 

“Sorry.” The mother said, looking truly apologetic, “Thank you. This is my son, Garfield, and I’m–”

“Marie Logan!” M’gann said, the green flush on her face growing deeper in excitement, “I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you in person! I’ve admired your stance on animal rights for years!” She stammered like she was meeting her celebrity hero, gesturing broadly and almost bouncing in a flustered excitement. 

Ben did not know M’gann was a huge animal rights person, but, okay. Being the son of two vegan pacifists, he would’ve shrugged M’gann’s eagerness off if Conner hadn’t spoken up next.

“...Um, you’ve only been on Earth for six months?” Conner pointed out, clearly baffled by M’gann’s excitement. 

Marie, unfazed by the excited Martin, moved towards the animal that Ben had saved alongside the mother and son.

“The onyx is sick. I need to get him settled in the clinic.” She said.

“Oh, the boys can do that. You and I can fix your fences!” M’gann chipped in. 

“...Miss. M, aren’t we, I dunno? On a deadline?” Ben asked in confusion.

“Deka’s right, that’s not exactly our–” Robin started, but Miss’ M twirled around, putting her hands up in a pleading gesture at the same moment that Garfeild tugged on his mother’s arm, completely eager.

“Robin?!” She insisted.

“Please, Mom?!” He said, overjoyed by the superheroes on their property. Robin and Marie both caved quickly, and Ben was a little confused on why Robin was just going along with everything. When Robin first tried to lead, he tried getting people to go along with his way of doing things. Now he was just letting the people he was in charge of just totally derail the mission, and not even in a ‘we are going off the books, but the mission will still succeed’ kind of way. No, this was a completely random side quest with absolutely no point to it. Ben got that M’gann was happy to meet her animal rights celebrity lady but they sorta had things to do.

Ben didn’t object to Robin’s choice though. He put Robin in charge, they still had a little time. He’d give Robin some room to figure out what he was doing before he’d step in.

“Yeah, I guess it would be fine to rest for a minute before we get back on the road.” Ben said with a nonchalant shrug. Both Conner and Wally gave Ben a baffled look. Ben merely shrugged again, “Let's get this cow, goat, deer thing…”

“Onyx.” Garfield eagerly volunteered.

“Whatever, into the clinic. I already sort’ve flew it most of the way there. I’m sure Miss. M’s powers will have that fence fixed right up fast and we can be out of here in an hour?” Ben arched a brow towards Robin. Robin seemed to recognize the lifeline Ben was subtly throwing him.

“Right. We do need to move soon.” Robin agreed quickly, “An hour, and we have to go.” 

“Of course!” M’gann waved them off, and was already distractedly flying towards the fence, “Let's get this fence fixed right up, Miss. Logan!” Marie heistated, before nodding.

“I’ll get some supplies. Garfield, let the boys into the clinic, please.” 

“Sure thing, mom!” Garfield was suddenly grabbing Ben’s arm in eager excitement, “Come on! Right this way!” 

Notes:

Once more, a chapter setting things up, so not much going on. Garfield and Marie Logan have been introduced! Ngl, all of these fictional names and countries can be hard to spell right, lol! Next chapter somewhat starts showing some of the divergence.

Have a good week everyone!

Chapter 122: The Quarac Job.

Albedo was with Bruce when his burner for Red X rang. They were in the Batcave at Wayne Manor, going over a lot of the information Albedo had pulled in his undercover work when the mage froze at the familiar ring.

Bruce took in Albedo’s expression as Albedo dug out the device and stared down at it, before glancing back to Bruce.

“...Luthor.” Was all Albedo said.

“Speaker.” Bruce replied with a grunt. 

Swiftly, Albedo answered the call and put it on speaker.

“I have another job for you if you have time, Red X.” Luthor launched into business right away, per usual. Albedo fell into character quickly.

“Oh, what? No hello, boss? I know this is a working relationship, but I’d have thought we’d gotten to know each other enough to say hello when someone answers the phone.” Albedo poured Ben’s snarkiest tone into the quick response, and ignored the way Bruce’s eyebrow shot up in surprise at the complete swap in character. 

“Sorry, that was rude. Hello, X. I’m in a rush.” Luthor huffed, “We need you in Quarac in three to four hours. I have a jet on standby to take you, are you still in D.C.?” 

“Sure.” Albedo lied with ease, “Can I ask what’s the rush?”

“We think Deka may be in Quarac. There was an incident near an animal sanctuary near the Quarac and Baylian borders. Queen Bee wants to see if she can intervene.” Albedo’s eyes flickered to Bruce, who turned his attention to the Bat-computer to pull the last location his trackers on Robin had been for the ones on the Quarac mission. The map pinged.

Albedo nearly dropped the phone.

The Logan Animal Sanctuary?!

As in Marie Logan’s Animal Sanctuary?

Suddenly, Albedo was very jealous that M’gann got to go on the Quarac mission, she apparently got to meet Megan’s actress in person! As a self-made actor and a fellow enjoyer of Hello, Megan! , Albedo couldn’t help but feel a little envy.

“So, what am I doing? Fighting or being Deka’s best buddy this time around?” Albedo asked, once he got over the sudden excitement at the prospect of M’gann meeting their shared favorite actress. 

“We believe they’ll be making their way to the Quarac capital to try and prevent the unification of the Quarac and Balyian states. With the unpredictability of Deka’s power, we need you to be available to help counter, as this unification is most beneficial to my company.” Luthor explained. 

Subtext: it was beneficial to the shadow group Luthor and Queen Bee worked with. It was obvious to see why. It could truly help Queen Bee gain more power and influence.

“Right. I’ll be at the meet-up point in ten to twenty.” Albedo replied cooly, “Anything I should know going in?”

“The Martian is likely with them this time. I’d be ready for telepathic meddling.” Luthor advised.

“I have protection for that, so don't worry.” Albedo agreed. After the incidents in Baylia and the incident with the simulation, Albedo had decided to make sure he could shield himself from dangerous or hostile telepathic influences. He loved M’gann, but Albedo was not taking more chances after those incidents.

“Excellent. So glad you were ready and available on such short notice.”

“Hey, so long as the job keeps paying well.” Albedo said.

“Of course.” Luthor agreed, “See you shortly.” There was a click of Luthor hanging up, and Albedo turned his phone off, glancing over at Bruce.

“...I’m not sure how they traced the team to this sanctuary, it’s not too far from their target location, however.” Bruce muttered. 

“They probably got off track.” Albedo said with a shrug, “On the bright side, this can give us another insider perspective on what is going on in Quarac right now. I’ll need to let my partner know I’m being sent in by Luthor so he can monitor everything. I’ll give you what he’s gotten down when we’re done and not being watched so closely by Luthor and this shadow group.” Albedo promised as he grabbed his jacket off of the back of his seat.

Honestly, Albedo had been a bit surprised that Bruce had taken him into the famed ‘Batcave’ after finding out about Albedo’s side projects. Granted, Albedo already knew the location of Batman’s secret base, but it was still a tad risky on Bruce’s end. However, with Robin away on mission, it was the best place for Bruce and Albedo to talk privately and safely about Red X and what he’d uncovered thus far.

“And when will I meet your partner again?” Bruce asked with an expression of expectation. Albedo grimaced a little at that. When Albedo told Roy about Bruce being in the know, Roy had been okay with talking with the guy, but Dubbliex was pretty paranoid by the prospect of a famed billionaire getting involved. Bruce Wayne was in the spotlight, after all, which was the opposite of what the gnomes wanted for their secret abode.

“We’re working on it. It’s not safe for him in public right now, and he can’t come here with Robin around so much. Plus, the genomorphs are somewhat protective of those they call their own. My partner is no genomorphs, but he does work with and protect them as I do. They fear the ramifications of someone like Bruce Wayne or Batman getting involved.” Albedo explained.

“I’ll arrange someplace we can meet in person securely, then.” Bruce reasoned.

“Yes, that may be best. I’ll let him know.” Albedo agreed, “Alas, I need to be in D.C. and in uniform rather soon, so we’ll have to continue our work some other time… Your butler will provide cookies again next time, yes?” Alfred Pennyworth’s chocolate cookies had been better than devil’s food cake. They had been a pleasant surprise to receive upon arriving at the manor.

“I’ll let him know you liked them.” Bruce said, “Now if anything goes wrong during this job–.”

“Benjamin will already be there. He knows who I am under the mask now. I have back up this time. Don’t concern yourself. I’ll be fine.” Albedo assured Bruce. 

“Just be careful.” Bruce insisted. 

Albedo couldn’t really explain the warm feeling he got in his chest after Bruce said that, so he waved Bruce off.

“I plan to.”

Notes:

Short chapter as I set up Al's side of things. Things are in the works, and I'm not sure what people's reactions to anything I've got lined up is gonna be. Safe to say, this arc I rewrote, like, a dozen times because I second guessed, didn't like something, or decided that it didn't work for what I was going for. Mostly because this arc deals with four different main character's development and one side character's origins in such a significant way, as it affects M'gann, Robin, Ben, Albedo, and Beast Boy in very significant ways (Though not always obvious ways, as I am VERY committed to keeping the POVs limited).

Anyways, for all of my American readers, happy early Thanksgiving, I'll probably wish you a late one next weekend. I am Thankful for everyone who has stuck to this story, despite it growing to be almost three times as long as my first version of it, lol!

See Ya'll next week!

Chapter 123: The Strike.

“So, pretty weird about Miss. Martian and my mom, huh?” Garfield said as they lounged in the main house, having helped the ‘onyx’ creature into the safety of the clinic. Garfield had then proceeded to introduce them to his pet monkey, adeptly named ‘Monkey’ which was a green monkey that Conner eyed suspiciously. Monkey was eating a candy bar it stole from Wally on Garfield’s shoulder.

“I know, right.” Ben mused, “Your mom reminds me of my aunt and Miss. M of my cousin which is super weird. I do know Miss. M takes on a more human look and she seems to be a huge fan of your mom’s work, so…” 

“...Wait, seriously?” Wally said in surprise, “I did not know that.” Ben’s words caught up to him, and he flinched.

“Er, I don’t really know if that was something Miss. M was sharing with people. I only knew that because I’ve been a Martian before.” Ben admitted, “I might have to apologize to her now… Shoot. Sometimes I really put my foot in my mouth.”

“Yeah, but she looks like a green version of my mom when she was young.” Garfield corrected, “Just like how mom looked when she was a TV star on ‘Hello, Megan!’” Now this? This was news to Ben and everyone else. 

“Wait. ‘Hello, Megan!’ is a TV show ?” Wally’s tone was incredulous.

“I just thought that was something she said.” Robin agreed.

“Yeah, on the TV show.” Garfield said with an eye roll as he bent over to search through the VHS tapes to find said TV show, “Way before we were born, and it only ran for one season. I know Mom has a tape somewhere… Oh! Here! ‘Hello, Megan!’ The pilot episode.” He held the VHS up like it was a trophy, before going to the television to put it in.

“You still have VHS?” Wally asked in a teasing voice, “Where’s your eight-track?” 

Before Garfield could start the show, however, Conner stiffened.

“Wait. Aircraft are headed this way.” He announced. Ben glanced towards Robin, who went stiff as he realized Ben wanted him to make a call. He nodded and with that, the rest of the team moved to check out the possible threat. Robin then paused, glancing at Garfeild.

“Gar. Stay put.” He warned. Ben followed the others outside just as M’gann and Marie were coming back from setting up the fences, looking clearly baffled by the alarm written on Superboy’s face and the ready stances that Kid Flash, Robin, and Ben were in. Ben rested his hand on the trigger of the Omnitrix, eyes watching the skies for the threat Superboy predicted. 

“What is it?” M’gann asked in dismay, only for the sound of drones to become loud enough that not only Superboy could hear them. Ben moved quickly, spying the drones and swapping his form into Jet-Ray in a flash of green. Superboy tackled Miss. Martian and Marie, shielding them as a slew of bullets rained down onto the farm and Ben shot up into the sky to intercept the drones. 

He dove under the rain of fire raining down at him and readied his laser and hoped the others were quick to damage control below so that Marie and Garfield weren’t in more danger. There was a loud explosion below as Ben took down one aircraft and moved to shoot down the other two. 

Ben faltered upon hearing Marie’s voice scream over the roar of the drones and the flames of what had apparently been the barn getting blown up.

“Garfeild!” His eyes widened at the sight of eight year old Garfield being flung up into the air by the barn explosion. M’gann moved quickly, catching him before he could land and certainly be killed by the impact.

The sound of the two remaining drones snapped Ben’s attention away from the casualty and towards the fight at hand. He snarled and moved fast. His lasers tearing through the two drones without giving them another chance to rain fire down on the animal sanctuary again. 

He barely spared them a second glance as he zipped back down to the ground as Marie rushed her son inside.

“What happened? What was he doing over there? Why didn’t he stay inside?” Ben found himself half-growling towards Robin.

“He didn’t listen to me.” Robin replied, his tone now suddenly impassive. His expression was unreadable. Ben just huffed and darted into the house as Marie was laying her son into a bed and dragging out hospital equipment that he assumed was really meant for her animal clinic more than it was meant for an eight year old human boy. 

Ben avoided looking at the trail of blood leading to the room Garfield was in, and zeroed in on his mother bandaging his head and quickly checking his vitals. Wally stood at the entrance and Robin moved to Garfield’s bedside as if to examine the injuries better himself.

“He’s in shock. He needs a blood transfusion. Are any of you O negative?” She asked urgently.

“No.” Robin said as he checked his own vitals and Kid Flash shook his head.

“Sorry.”

“Would a universal donor work?” Ben asked, and the others turned towards him, a few expressions of bewilderment painted on their faces.

“...What?” Ben asked.

“Deka, O negative is a universal donor.” Robin said. Ben paused in consideration.

“Oh. Okay. I was just thinking how grandpa used to keep extra blood for me in stock, just in case, and he said it was cos’ I was a universal donor.” Ben explained. Marie’s eyes soften in complete relief.

“Would you help my son?” She pleaded. Ben just smiled.

“Obviously… But the mission is important, and it’s not really smart for me to transform a ton right after giving blood, unless it’s like an emergency because it makes me tired… At least, that’s what Blukic and Driba said.” Ben noticed Miss. M was looming semi-visible behind Kid Flash in the doorway, guilt painted across her expression as she took in Garfield’s condition. 

“Which means we need to keep moving.” Robin decided, “And finish the mission. We’ll get you when we’re done.” Ben nodded, before settling a hand on Robin’s shoulder.

“I wasn’t trying to be snappy at you a second ago, I just saw a kid get thrown in the air… But you’re gonna have to really take control here.” Ben informed Robin. Robin grimaced a little but nodded.

“Right.” He turned to the others, “We need to go. Deka and Marie will work on stabilizing Garfield.” Miss. M ducked her head, looking over at Marie.

“Miss. Logan, I’m sorry–.”

“Go.” Marie cut in, “You’ve got a job to do.” M’gann flinched a little, but nodded.

“Okay.”

Notes:

Once more, a short chapter. Mostly because this Thanksgiving has got me really busy, and my family's attempting to make several pounds of fudge for Christmas season, lol. I've not really had the most time for proof-reading some of this due to the festivities going on.

If you've not seen YJ proper (Which I urge everyone to at least watch the first two seasons, as they are excellent. I'm not as familiar with later season) you may have notices nether human characters originally in the show have O Negative blood. This meant Miss. Martian had to mimic a human's O Negative Blood and this was assumed to be the base for Garfield's powers in later seasons. This backstory is both similar to Beast Boy's actual origins (In that he was dying and his scientists parents did a procedure that literally turns him into a monkey that could help him fight the sickness killing him. The similar part being Garfield was dying and needed lifesaving intervention that was assumed to give him his powers, or in some versions it was just a green monkey serum that cured him) However it is also so drastically different from the original comic that it leaves a LOT of room for creative liberties.

From what I can tell, this event triggers Garfield's shapeshifting abilities, however I wouldn't say getting a Martian's blood (Remember Martians are shapeshifters, and they can mimic animals and other creatures, but they can't fully become those things like Ben or Garfield can) would give Garfield the powers he winds up with. Rather, it was part of the many triggering factors that forced his meta-gene to activate, giving him his unique abilities. Meta-genes are activated by factors like stress, so while the concept of M'gann giving Garfield powers is interesting, it may not be as deciding of a factor in Garfield getting powers as the show originally led people to believe.

You can do what you want with all of the information on Beast Boy's origins that I've provided above. I'd actually love to hear your guy's thoughts and theories on the YJ version of his origin story!

Now, of course, Ben's staying with the Logans for a little bit, and Al's on his way to fight the rest of our heroes as a part of his Red X job. Who knows where that's gonna wind up going? (Hint. I do).

Chapter 124: Setting the Board.

Well… Albedo solved the mystery of why the Quraci President had a sudden change in opinions on the Quraci-Baylian relations. 

He stood in front of Psimon, the mind controlling, memory-wiping meta-human, his arms crossed as he couldn’t help but be a little annoyed that Luthor had failed to mention this was who he would be working with. He also was glad he took precautions to block M’gann out of his head for this mission, because that also meant Psimon would not know who he was. 

“...So, I can see your brain.” He said, faking a moment of stupidity as he let himself collect his emotions after stepping off of Luthor’s jet at Dhabar, Qurac’s capitol. It was late out. Nighttime, and around 9:30pm. The stars were out, and the platform of the landing platform was lined with many guards who watched Albedo’s every move. Albedo ignored him to the best of his abilities. Red X was a friend here. Red X had no reason to fear Psimon or the army literally surrounding him.

Psimon didn’t react to Albedo’s dumb comment. President Rumaan Haarjavti stood next to Psimon. Said President almost robotically stepped forward, stretching out his hand.

“Welcome, American ambassador to our humble nation. I was pleased when I was informed that you would be arriving to help oversee the transition of power to Queen Bee.” President Haarjavti said, his accent heavy. Albedo mentally praised himself for remembering to keep his Ultimatrix translator on and reached out to shake the president’s hand, switching to Quraci with ease.

“Honor’s all mine, Mr. President.” Albedo watched carefully as both Psimon and the President reacted with the same degree of surprise at how easily Albedo switched languages. 

“So you’re Luthor’s errand boy.” Psimon drawled, “I’ve heard talk about you, Red X. You’re going to help us take down that changeling, if I’m not mistaken.”

“I mean, Deka is too fun to spar against. You never know what sort of fight you’re gonna get.” Albedo replied with a shrug, “So, what’s the current situation? I was told there might be some resistance to the upcoming union that I needed to be here to handle… Resistance that involves said changeling?” 

“He has some resistance to telepathy, from what I’ve learned.” Psimon agreed, “My powers do not affect him in the same manner as his teammates. I requested assistance in the case that he became a problem. The Martian girl, however? Well, I’ve got my own vendetta against her.” Under the mask, Albedo’s eyes narrowed as he resisted the urge to clench his fist at Psimon targeting M’gann specifically. As if Psimon hadn’t done a number on her and Albedo in their last encounter. 

Albedo considered how easy it’d be to just punch Psimon in the face for that, but he restrained himself. Red X wasn’t supposed to have a grudge against Psimon, and Red X didn’t know M’gann. This would be Red X’s first real encounter with her aside from the brief encounter world dividing fiasco, after all.

“Yeah, Luthor mentioned she was probably going to be a problem.” Albedo said instead of the many things he wanted to say, “Exactly how certain are we about them being in the area? Like, Luthor said they were close, but if we know about it, then they have got to be awful as being subtle. Hementioned something about an incident.. Do we know exactly what we are dealing with here?” 

“They were spotted at the border three hours ago.” Psimon explained, “Detoured some troops who, mind you, were crossing with Presidential permissions.” Psimon glanced at the President who nodded in response. Albedo could tell the man wasn’t fully there. 

“We are preparing movements for the transfer of power.” He replied.

“And did we get a good idea of who they’ve sent? Is it their entire little group?” Albedo prodded. He already knew the answer to this question, but he wanted to gauge how much Psimon knew. 

“We have confirmation on Miss. Martian, Deka, Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Artemis or Zatanna were close, considering they suspect Queen Bee to be a problem. We don’t know about Aqualad. It may be all of them, but we’re waiting for total confirmation. We sent a drone strike to their last location two hours ago. They were destroyed very quickly by Deka, so we didn’t learn very much.”

“Fair enough, but if they know we know their last location, they’ve likely moved. They’ll be close by this point, which means we don’t have much time to set up for them.” Albedo mused, “What’s the plan, boss?” 

“Let's lure the interlopers out, and be prepared to end this resistance before it becomes problematic.” Psimon said, before waving for Albedo to follow. The guards lining the landing platform all snapped into attention at the wave of Psimon’s hand as President Haarjavti followed in suit. Albedo grimaced at the amount of control Psimon had over the situation. He figured the majority of the guards had been sent in by Queen Bee, but who knew how rooted Psimon was into the workings of the Quraci government for them to have made a move as bold as attempting to unite Baylia and Qurac. And who knew if this was another one of the enemy’s ‘distractions’ or movements in play to set them up for their endgame goal. 

Hopefully this mission would be the push Albedo needed to finally slot all of the pieces he needed into place so he could bring this group to their knees.

Albedo followed Psimon carefully, watching how he motioned for guards to break off and take their positions in different strategic locations. Forces were moving into place at the levels of the capitol building below him. The team was in for quite the fight, but with Benjamin around, they certainly had more of an advantage than Luthor or Psimon likely realized. An army was nothing compared to the Omnitrix, and even Red X intervening would do so much. 

Assuming, of course, Psimon didn’t hijack M’gann’s mind-link again and destroy their memories like last time. If Psimon did that, Albedo was going to have to take a lot of risks to make sure the mission didn’t fail on the hero’s side without making Red X look like a traitor. 

Psimon at last brought them to President Haarjavti’s office, where a group of soldiers wearing very alien technology circled the office.

Albedo’s eyes scanned the weapons, taking stock quickly as he realized the design was very similar to Conner’s pet sphere. Mentally he figured out which each weapon did. Mostly sound-based and energy weapons. If Albedo recalled Conner’s reports on the New Gods and Apokolipian weaponry, they were strong, but Superboy could likely overcome with the combination of Deka’s adaptive abilities, Robin’s quick thinking, and Kid Flash’s super speed. They weren’t exactly the boon Psimon thought they were. 

If Albedo had to guess, Psimon was going to lure Miss. Matian, as M’gann’s powers were as devastating as Superboy and Deka’s. Psimon had already stated that he wanted to target her. Albedo was there to lure Deka. He half-wondered what Psimon’s plan was for the other three. Was it just these soldiers?

“Have a seat, Mr. President. You’ll be entertaining guests soon. You gentlemen will guard him, be ready in the outer rooms to draw in the heroes. The president, of course, will likely want to rescue his daughter… Which is where you come in, Mr. X.” Albedo paused.

…Wait, what?

“As a back-up, in case this trap fails, we’ve secured her elsewhere in the building. You’re going to act as the final deterrent to their goals. If all else fails, you know how to stop a Kryptonian and can stand against Deka. I’ll need you to take both down while the rest of you focus on erasing President Haarjavti from the equation the second they breach our lines. They cannot be allowed to rescue the President. Is that clear, Mr. X?” 

“Please, Mr. X was my father.” Albedo retorted as his mind jumped around his different options based on this new information, “Just Red is fine.” Okay. He was pretty sure he had some ideas he could work with. 

“So, Mr. President, if you would wait here.” Psimon made the President sit in his chair, “Red X and I will make sure everything is in place to take on your soon-to-be assassins.”

The President sat down and Albedo once more found himself following Psimon quietly through the halls of the building.

“...Since you took precautions to defend your mind from the Martian girl, I won’t be able to communicate with you telepathically. Luthor seems to trust your capabilities, but I’d rather know what is going on with my operatives.” Psimon said with a grin as Albedo hurried after him. The telepath reached into his pocket and pulled out a small communicator.

“Put that in place in case I need back up.” Psimon told him, “Though, I highly doubt I will. If we’re lucky, the other heroes will move to you if they break past our initial trap, and the Martian girl will be left with me.” 

Albedo’s stomach knotted, and he hoped that M’gann was able to prevent Psimon from hurting her too badly after what had happened in their last fight. Albedo knew she won that fight. He knew she was a very strong telepath.

Still, he worried for her safety.

And he really wanted to punch Psimon for how casually he spoke about hurting Albedo’s self-proclaimed little sister. If anything happened to her…

“I’ll keep my ears peeled. Don’t worry. I’ll do my best to keep those goodie-two shoes in place. You worry about the Martian girl and taking care of the President. I’m sure it’s not too much for you to handle.” Psimon shot Albedo a nasty glare at the back-handed insult.

“Watch yourself. Luthor might favor you, but Queen Bee has yet to decide if you're worth the troubles he’s been going through to incorporate you into this plan. You’re an unknown factor, Red X. Thus far, you’ve been useful to us, but that can always change.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Albedo brushed off Psimon’s threat, “You have trust issues when you can’t read people’s minds. Whatever. Can’t blame a guy for liking his privacy when we’ve got a world of metas and dangerous vigilantes and such just running around, causing everyone else way too many issues.” Psimon seemed to size Albedo up for a moment, before nodding.

“Very well. The President’s daughter is being held down that hall in the right room.” Psimon raised his hand to point the area out, “Best of luck. Don’t make us regret adding you to our ranks.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Albedo smirked under his mask, loving the irony of that statement way too much, “You won’t.”

Notes:

Albedo: *Sees Psimon*
Albedo (In his head): I want to punch this man really badly.
Psimon: *Talks about attacking M'gann*
Albedo (In his head): You're really making it hard for me to resist punching you in the face right now, that's my little sister you're trying to hurt.

So, like, random thought on this episode. when the heroes break in to save the President and stuff, he talks about how they've got his daughter, and they like... Do nothing with that. Literally the next time we see the man, she's with him.

Why and where did she come from?

Not a clue.

I've rewatched the episode a few times to try and figure that out. No dice.

I assume they saved her? The episode was so focused on M'gann, I think they forgot about her, tbh.

Anyways, in other news, next week I'm traveling to see family before the holidays. It's a toss up if I'll be able to post or not while traveling. Depends on wifi, really. So if I don't post, that's why.

Another thing.

I'm thinking about doing some Q&A about this story (Or the any of the other minor installments of Reflect Series so far), as there's a lot of questions people like to ask me about this story. So, if you all have any questions that won't try and get me to spoil how I plan to end this story, feel free to put them in the comments. I'm not the best with using socials and stuff (ironic for a graphic designer, I know) but I'd probably make a video or something answering your questions all at once. If there is interest in something like that, I can try and put something together, but only if there's an interest shown. If there's not much interest, I'll probably not bother.

Anywho, until next time!

Chapter 125: She with Many Faces

The President’s daughter was a black haired woman named Noor who glared at Albedo from the chair she was tied to. She was very vocal about how displeased she was with her predicament and kept talking about how he was ‘fighting against freedom.’ He elected to ignore  her and fiddled with mana daggers, waiting and listening to the comms as Psimon’s men reported the movements of the young heroes as they made their way to the President’s office.

“We’ve got confirmation on everyone from the drone reports but Deka.” One of the men reported.

“Keep yourselves ready. The Changeling can become basically anything. Wouldn’t be surprised if he was invisibly following them.” Albedo warned.

“No… He’s not here. He’s got resistance to my abilities… But I would’ve at the very least sensed him.” Psimon called, “But I do not.” Albedo’s entire body froze as he processed those words.

…What?

But… Benjamin was supposed to be on this mission. The Queen’s men and surveillance had CONFIRMED he was on the mission. Where in the world would he have gone in between then and now?

“We’ll have a team retrace their steps and investigate Deka’s disappearance.” The leader of Psimon’s team declared, “I’ll send a message to the Queen right away. If he’s separated from the group we can take advantage of that.”

“I can–” Albedo started, but was cut off by Psimon.

“Don’t leave your post, Red X. We need to ensure the President doesn’t make it out of this building alive.” Psimon warned. Albedo huffed, but called for confirmation.

“Understood.” 

“The heroes are on target. Engaging now.” The comms then fell quiet. Albedo flicked at the sounds of weapons firing in the distance. Fighting was happening. Behind Albedo, Noor Haarjavti stopped lecturing on freedom and stared, alarmed, at the door that Albedo was guarding.

“Hmm. Looks like your calvary is here, Miss. Haarjavti.” Albedo said, “I’ll make sure they won’t get far.” 

He shifted his daggers into X-shurikens and prepared for their enviable attempt to rescue the President’s daughter. He figured they’d be fine protecting the President, they were a capable group, after all. Benjamin’s not being there raised a lot of concerns, but if Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Miss. Martian were there, then the President would be fine.

The fighting and sounds of weapons drew closer, and Albedo fell into a stance. The door came down with a single knock from Superboy. Albedo was met with Robin, Superboy, and Kid Flash. He was thankful for the lack of the President, and assumed they stowed him safely away, because Albedo did NOT want to fake a failed assassination as Red X.

“Red X.” Robin growled, “Should’ve known Luthor’s henchman would be around.” Albedo merely hummed in response.

“I was told the Martian girl and Deka were close by. Where are they?” Albedo questioned.

“None of your business.” Kid Flash cut in, “If I were you, I’d stand down and let the President’s daughter go if I were you.” Albedo paused as if considering.

“Nah. Wouldn’t be nearly as fun.” Albedo declared before rushing forwards. Robin reacted first, moving to meet Albedo whilst Kid Flash sped around Albedo to flank from behind. Superboy darted forwards to grab Noor.

Albedo smirked, and as Robin drew close and Kid Flash prepared to grab Albedo from behind… he teleported so he was behind Noor. Kid Flash slammed directly into Robin, and Albedo threw up a shield to protect himself from being pummeled to death by a fist from Superboy. The shield instantly cracked, but it bought Albedo time as he grabbed Noor’s shoulder, then teleported again, this time, outside of the room with Noor in tow.

“Oof. Gotta be quicker than that, kids!” He called with a small laugh. They seemed a little surprised that Albedo had moved. Noor immediately fought back as she tried to hit him in the face and kick his shin. He was quick to summon mana ropes and stop her before she could really hurt him. He didn’t want her hurt, but he also didn’t feel like being injured by her.

“Kid, get the President’s daughter. Superboy and I will take care of Red X.”

“Didn’t he totally K.O. you and Superboy the last time you went completely toe-to-toe?”

“Oh, I took them down so fast.” Albedo taunted, “Probably won’t be much of a rematch this time around, now will it?” Superboy took the bait, and Albedo just smiled under his mask as the clone lunged for Albedo. Albedo merely reached for his belt, bringing out his red sun ray he’d used to knock Superboy out last time. 

This time, however, it was obvious that Robin noticed the device, and before Albedo could hope to use it, Robin was grabbing up a birdrang and throwing it.

Albedo yelped a little as the ray was easily knocked from his hands and sent flying across the room. A moment later, he was being tackled and pinned by Superboy while Kid Flash snatched Noor safely away from Albedo and vanished.

“What’s Luthor’s connections to this?” Superboy growled, “Why are you here?”

“Just helping him with a small favor.” Albedo replied, “I’m getting a good bonus for it.” He then teleported again, this time away from Superboy’s grasp and down the hall.

“Now, if you think I’m so easy to trap, I think you’re gonna need to try a little harder.” He teased before rushing down the hall.

He’d decided he wasn’t going to fight these two unless he had an audience. That way he could better prove he was following Luthor’s orders to Psimon. He rounded the corner to where Psimon was supposed to be, Superboy and Robin on his tail, and came into the theatre room of the building. He came skidding to a halt as he was met with the true form of a white martian, on her knees in front of Psimon, who smirked with a dangerous cruelty in his eyes.

M’gann.

What was he doing to her?!

He spun around in alarm as Superboy and Robin suddenly collapsed, out cold, then looked back at M’gann and Psimon, realizing one of them had likely knocked them out telepathically. 

“...Okay… I dunno what to do here… I’m just going to…” Albedo took a small step back, only for Psimon to suddenly scream. Albedo’s hands flew to his ears in alarm, and M’gann was quickly shifting back to her usual, green skinned, red haired form and spinning around towards him. She raised her hands, and he felt her telekinetic grasp wrap around him as he was yanked up into the air.

“You must be a machine.” She growled, “I can’t feel you.”

“Um, not a machine!” He said quickly, raising his hands, “Luthor said you might be here and I'm working with Psimon, it just seemed smart to protect myself from telepaths!” Azmuth, when in the world had M’gann become so scary? He’d be proud if he wasn’t the target of her current wrath. He very vividly recalled what had happened to the last human-like robot she’d encountered. Mr. Twister’s crushed pieces flashed in his mind.

“Prove it.” She growled.

There was a groan, and M’gann seemed briefly distracted as Robin seemed to stir. Albedo took his chance, teleporting away from M’gann and to where Psimon now lay in a crumpled heap. Saliva drooled out of his mouth. His eyes looked distant, almost cracked and broken.

What had she done to him?

She spun around going to use her telekinesis to restrain him again, but Albedo moved. He teleported himself and Psimon away and onto the landing pad on the roof. Several of Queen Bee’s men waited.

“The heroes got the President and his daughter. Psimon is down. We need to move.” He ordered quickly. The Queen’s men didn’t hesitate to act. With their boss, Psimon down, and the special task force that had been ‘protecting’ the President from the heroes knocked out, the authority temporarily fell on Luthor’s agent.

They rushed Psimon into a waiting helicopter and pulled Albedo on after.

“Sir, we’ve got an update on Deka.” A woman called, and Albedo spun quickly towards them.

“Is he close?”

“We’ve got confirmation he’s still at the reserve on the border.” The woman relayed.

“Are we sending a task force after him? Or shall I handle him?” Albedo asked.

“No need.” The woman said, “The Queen has everything under control.” 

Notes:

Merry Early Christmas to all, since I won't be posting again until after Christmas!

I don't have much to say on this chapter in particular. It's a good transition, I suppose. And Albedo saving Psimon from Miss. Martian certainly gives him more credibility even if seriously didn't try hard on the mission that Luthor and Psimon had actually given him.

Not that saving Psimon does Psimon much good right now, considering the number M'gann does on his psyche.

Anywho, in other news. There wasn't much feedback on if people wanted a Q&A, but I did have a little extra time while I was playing Minecraft, however, to record a video talking about some of the background stuff for The Reflect Series. I accidentally made it a little long and I am playing a video game while I'm talking, so I get distracted a few times during the video, but I figured I'd edit it a little, upload it as unlisted, and post the link to it here if anyone was interested in that sort of thing. Figured it would be a good way to celebrate Christmas and the Holiday season, even if it isn't exactly holiday themed.

The video can be found at: https://youtu.be/zVpaOhHe4y0

It discusses commonly asked questions about this series, some of my thought processes behind this series, how I actually came up with the idea for this series, and the future of the Reflect Series as a whole. It's a lot of information that I figured probably wouldn't fit in the Author's Note section of Ao3, lol. Like I said, it is a little long, so there is that... I do tend to ramble some when I'm excited about something.

Once more, Merry Christmas, and I'll see ya'll next week!

Chapter 126: The Snare.

Ben was a little tired from the blood he’d lost, but Garfield wasn’t very big, so he didn’t have to give up very much to help the kid. Still, he didn’t like waiting around doing nothing, and decided to go out to the destroyed barn-clinic and assess the damage. He just needed another hour or two before he would let himself transform again, and he’d already resolved he would do his best to clean up the mess there.

There was a lot to be done, but Ben knew that it would be nothing for his alien forms. 

He heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

“Sorry about the clinic, Miss. Logan. I’m gonna get this area cleared up for you just as soon as–” Ben started as he turned to face the clinic’s owner. He froze when his eyes found dark, deep brown eyes, black hair, and darker skin instead of bright blues, red hair, and a freckled face. Ben’s jaw went slack.

“Oh.” 

“Hello, Deka.” The newcomer pressed her hands to her hips, “I was told you might be in this area, seeing as you aren’t with your friends.” Ben didn’t know why, but it felt like his brain was short-circuiting. He was a little alarmed by the woman being there, but he didn’t really know why he should’ve been. His head felt fuzzy.

“Yeah, well, I needed to do stuff here, so I sent them ahead.” Ben replied, and he pulled his shoulders up, trying to make himself seem taller. He put an easy-going smile on his face as he tried to remember who this pretty lady was, because he knew her from somewhere, “Do I know you?”

“Oh, yes, it’s rude of me not to introduce myself.” The woman smiled, “I’m Queen Bee, ruler of Bialya.” 

“Oh, I’m B–” Ben almost gave her his actual name but something in the back of his head stopped him, “Er, I’m Deka. I’m a shapeshifter. I turn into aliens… It’s kinda a big deal.”

“Really? It sounds like it.”

Ben shrugged.

“I mean, yeah, I’ve saved the whole Universe dozens of times. I’m the Hero of Heroes, after all! The Great Savior of the Universe. Haven’t you heard, Queen Lady?” 

“No, I haven’t.” Queen Bee said with a smile, “It’s strange, you’re a remarkable mysterious person for you being the savior of the universe.” 

“Yeah, well. A lot of things have happened since I got the Omnitrix.” Ben said dismissively, “But I was lucky enough to prevent the Universe from being destroyed before it could be created. It was one of the coolest experiences in my life. You really figure out what you’re fighting for when you witness the beginning of everything.”

“...How old are you?” Queen Bee asked.

“I’m going to be seventeen next month. December 27th. I’ve just time traveled a lot.” Ben explained.

“Impressive. Perhaps you would discuss a few matters with me. I am in dire need of your assistance, Deka.” Queen Bee said. This awesome lady needed his help? That was like having a movie star ask for help… And Ben knew that feeling well, considering Jennifer Nocturne had been a fan of his before… Everything that happened with her and Captain Nemesis. 

“Oh, sure! Anything!” He said cheerfully, “B- er, Deka the Changeling is always happy to help! That’s what heroes do, after all!” She just smiled in response and beckoned him.

“Perfect, follow me then.” Ben just nodded and followed the queen away from the ruins of the barn.

“So, where are your other hero friends? Your brother? Why aren’t you with them?” Queen Bee asked.

“Oh, Reflect taking a short break from the field for a project. He’s always overworking and getting into new projects… Smartest person on this planet, I’d argue. Just not always good at balancing commitments. He’ll be back on missions once he’s got it all sorted out. The others went on, but I stayed behind because the kid who lives on this preserve got hurt and needed blood. I was the only universal donor in the group. Didn’t think it was wise to go turning into aliens on a whim when I’d just donated blood. Blukic and Driba, the Galvans who used to do a lot of my check-ups never recommended it.”

“Galvans?”

“Yeah. Type of alien. Really smart. Small, frog-like creatures.” Ben clarified, “Blukic and Driba are dumber than most Galvans, but that’s still smarter than basically any human. They’re fun. Sometimes I used to go by their lab and see if they had any projects they needed help with. Being able to turn into different aliens is surprisingly useful for helping with random projects.”

“How’d you even come by that kind of power?” Queen Bee asked. Ben just shrugged.

“Well, it started like, around six to seven years ago when I was ten, when I was out camping with my grandpa and cousin, and bam! There was a meteor in the sky that suddenly changed course and came right at where I was! It crashed, and inside was this epic watch called the Omnitrix that was made by a really old grumpy Galvan called Azumth… He’s not around anymore… And the Omnitrix let me become one of ten aliens, which is why I’m called Deka. Ten years old. Ten aliens. It’s my lucky number! Of course, the older I’ve gotten, the more aliens I’ve unlocked. I’ve got access to a couple hundred at this point.” 

“Sounds dangerous.” 

“I mean, only to my enemies. I’m a pretty chill guy.” Ben said with a shrug, “What did you need help with again?” Ben then paused as he realized she’d lead him a little ways away from the ruins of the barn and the Logan home, and to the back of a parked jet.

“Don’t worry about that. I just need you to focus on me.” Queen Bee instructed, “The Omnitrix. Can you take it off?”

“...It’s genetically fused to my arm? It doesn’t come off? Can’t cut it off. Azmuth set it to blow up if anyone tried.” Ben said quickly, his brow furrowed as he was left wondering what the heck this lady needed to know something like that for?

“Um, how does knowing how to take the Omnitrix off help exactly?” Ben asked.

“Are you going to help me or not, Deka? You’re supposed to be a hero, aren’t you?” Ben faltered, and he found himself hesitating. Yeah, he was supposed to be a hero, and this pretty lady needed his help with… Something… But he just couldn’t wrap his head around why anyone would need to know how to take off the Omnitrix to help them. He found himself unconsciously moving his hands towards the dial of the watch, and he began to fidget with it.

“I um, I want to help you. Really. But I can’t just share the secrets of the Omnitrix just because you ask. It could put you in a lot of danger.” Ben’s voice lowered, his aloof attitude quickly shifting as he leaned in close, “Look, Queen Bee, there are a lot of really bad, dangerous people out there. I’ve been protecting this thing with my life since I was ten. It’s the most dangerous device in the universe. Both a weapon and a tool for keeping the peace. I don’t think there’s any emergency you’ve got going on that’s dire enough for you to need to know how to take it off. It’d just put you in more danger knowing that sort of information.” 

“That sounds like such a heavy burden to bear.” The queen said with a small frown, and she leaned in close, placing her hands on his shoulders, “Protecting such a powerful weapon, all alone, for almost seven years? Would it really be so bad to… Perhaps remove it a little while? Long enough to finally get some well deserved rest?” Something felt wrong. And yet he felt very tired. The pretty lady made a good point. Would a little break from the Omnitrix be so bad?

“Can’t.” He mumbled, “Everyone’s counting on me. Can’t quit. Can’t lose.”  

“And what do you owe them?” Queen Bee asked, “You’re a kid, Deka. A child. And you think people expect you to be their hero? Is that fair? Just let go of that responsibility. You can trust it with me. I’ll take good care of it. I can protect myself.” 

“I like being a hero.” He grumbled, and his shoulders shrugged her hands away as he turned away, “I’m good at it.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t like being a hero, Deka. I just said you were tired.” The queen corrected kindly, “And that it would be good for you to rest a little while. Don’t you trust me? Don’t you know I just want what’s best for you?” Ben found himself hanging his head.

“Um… I… Azmuth.” Ben muttered, “Azmuth could take it off. He built it. But he’s… gone.”

“Any other way?” Queen Bee pressed. Ben’s head swam. He wanted to help this lady. Wanted to make her happy.

But he could never give the Omnitrix to anyone else. 

“No. He was the only other way. I haven’t seen him in a long time. He’s gone.” Ben lied.

“But not dead?” Queen Bee pressed.

“I don’t know.” Ben replied.

“How would you find out?” Queen Bee asked.

“...My brother.” Ben mumbled, “Was Azmuth’s assistant. He’s smart. Have I told you that? One of the smartest people I know. If anyone could reach Azmuth, it’d be him. But he and Azmuth don’t get along anymore. They had a fight. A really bad one. He wouldn’t want to find Azmuth unless he really needed to.” 

“What if it was to help you?” Queen Bee questioned.

“I…” Ben frowned, recalling some of the things the others had told him about how Albedo had acted during the simulation incident. How he’d been willing to face Azmuth to bring Ben back.

“Yeah. To help me. He’d talk to Azmuth again.” Ben agreed. 

“How do your transformations work? Do you think it, and you change?” Queen Bee asked. 

“No. I have to select the aliens manually and press the button on my watch. If the Omnitrix detects I’m in danger of dying, it’ll force a transformation. Makes me become something that can handle it. There’s Master mode, which works where you think it and transform, but Azmuth said I wasn’t ready to fully unlock it. Not until I’m eighteen.” 

“So if you can’t access the watch…”

“I stay human.” Ben finished.

“Good.” Queen Bee declared, making Ben jerk his head up in a confused surprise.

“What?” He found his hands flying back towards his Omnitrix, his fingers brushing the dial, “How’s that good?”  

“Oh, don’t be so tense, Deka.” Queen Bee said, “I need your help, remember?” 

“I, um…” He found himself backing up, suddenly unsure, “What did you need help with again?” He fidgeted with the Omnitrix. She smiled sweetly back at him.

“Don’t worry, you’ve helped me plenty.” There was a click behind him, and he turned to see what it was. He was met by a blinding pain.

Then darkness.

Notes:

And with that, I've posted the last chapter of 2024.

I give no comments on this chapter. Seems that the Image arc isn't quite over yet.

Anywho, Merry Late Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Chapter 127: Missing in Action.

Albedo burst into the mission room, heart hammering as he looked for Batman. He’d finally managed to get away from Luthor after offering a detailed report on what had happened in Baylia, and he was desperate to figure out what exactly had happened on the other side of things in Bialya that had separated Benjamin from the others.

“Have they returned from their mission?” Albedo asked, “I saw on the news they’ve reported a success.” Batman’s expression was stoney as he stared at the screen in front of him.

“No.” Batman replied, “They’ve returned to the Logan Animal Sanctuary. According to Robin, they were planning to meet up with Deka there after a civilian family got caught in an incident and Deka volunteered to stay behind and help them.” Albedo’s brows furrowed. Marie Logan’s family had been entangled in a hero-related incident? Why would that require Benjamin to stay behind? They had many members of their group capable of staying behind and Benjamin and M’gann were the least prone to the sort of mind control Psimon offered… Not that the team had initially known Psimon was the one controlling the president. They did, however, figure the president was being controlled and Benjamin and M’gann would’ve been the most equipped to handle him.

So why did Benjamin stay back?

“Are we alone in the mountain right now?” Albedo asked.

Batman just nodded once.

“Why did Benjamin stay behind?” Albedo pointed out, “Surely Superboy or Kid Flash could’ve helped this family. Benjamin’s resistance to telepathic control would’ve been very useful against Psimon and I could’ve used it as an excuse for why Red X failed to save Psimon and execute the President.” 

That really had been a pain to explain. He’d told Luthor that Psimon insisted on facing Miss. Martian in a one on one battle, and that Red X had stumbled upon the two while fighting the heroes just as she broke his mind. He’d chosen getting Psimon to safety over killing the President. While that had been exactly what had happened, Luthor still had been displeased with the answer. He ridiculed Red X for pulling out of the mission so quickly. Informed Red X that next time, Red X was to ‘do better.’ 

“A boy was wounded in the incident.” Batman relayed, “Apparently, Deka was the only person with the same blood type as the boy, and stayed back to insure the boy’s survival.” Albedo blinked, a little surprised by the answer. It was something so oddly normal that had kept the wielder of the Omnitrix at Marie Logan’s Animal Sanctuary. Humans and aliens alike donated blood all of the time for rather rudimentary yet life saving practices. It was an old fashioned way of saving a life by Galvan standards, but it did work well enough. 

“Okay, so if they’ve rendezvoused with Benjamin, why are they not at least on transit back to the mountain… M’gann didn’t decide to spend more time at the Logan Sanctuary, did she?” If she did, he hoped she at least got Marie’s autograph for him. He was already jealous she got to meet the woman in person. It was the least M’gann could do after almost pulling Albedo apart telekinetically several hours prior (not that she knew it was him she’d briefly caught). 

Albedo tried not to think too hard about how his mission with the Bialyans had ended. How they reported that the Queen would handle the Changeling who’d strayed from his team. Benjamin was powerful. He’d be able to handle whatever force she sent his way, after all. He’d probably solved it all, no issues, and Marie’s family was safe and sound. The delay was just because M’gann was fangirling over her and Albedo’s secret celebrity hero. 

Batman gave Albedo a strange look.

“Miss. Martian is not the reason for their failure to return.” Batman replied before he turned back towards the computer, “Upon their return to the Sanctuary, Marie reported that Bialyan soldiers had come to the house and kept both her and her son secured inside for approximately one hour. Deka had been outside, doing an assessment of the damage done to her barn while recovering from losing blood during the transfer. When the soldiers left, Deka was gone… With no traces of a fight left behind.” 

Albedo’s mind came to a stuttering halt as he processed that information.

Benjamin was… Missing?

“The team stayed in Qurac to conduct a search and rescue mission. We believe the soldiers leveraged Marie and her son as hostages in order to get Deka to surrender. We think he may be in Baylia at this very moment, and are working to confirm this theory.” Batman continued quickly, “With Robin leading the operation. We don’t want to react too quickly, as our presence in the area could cause an international incident, but we are trying to move as quickly as we can before anything else happens.”

No.

That wasn’t right.

Benjamin had proven before that he would surrender to protect loved ones from the enemy… But he usually put up some sort of fight first. There would’ve been signs of this. Unless…

“They weren’t using the Logans as hostages.” Albedo breathed in horror, “Marie Logan is female. They didn’t want to chance a random female civilian getting involved when they knew the heroes were probably going to come back and possibly make it into its own internal incident. Especially so soon after Haarjavti revealed he was being mind controlled and the Baylian soldiers were not actually authorized to cross into Quraci territory. Normally, in their shoes, I would’ve used her to make Benjamin cooperate, he’d initially fight to save her, but then surrendered… And then I would destroy the evidence. But your report implies she didn’t even see them take Benjamin… It doesn’t align with him surrendering.”

Batman’s eyes narrowed.

“You think Queen Bee herself intervened.” Batman noted. Albedo grimaced and nodded.

“They knew he was there. They probably figured a couple of guys with guns would be nothing for him to handle… So they tried another method in attempting to control Benjamin himself. One that is far more effective against Benjamin than telepathy. Had Benjamin been in an alien form, it wouldn’t have worked… But he’d just lost blood, making transformation risky, as his transformations reflect injuries and alterations to his physical well-being across various forms– A feature implemented to allow the strengthening and maturing of each of his forms as he ages and develops into adulthood… But the Omnitrix cannot protect him from hormonal influences and changes because of this implementation. It would hurt the development of Benjamin and ruin his ability to properly age or even indulge in something like romance.”

“Deka mentioned some of this when we explained Queen Bee’s abilities to him.” Batman recollected, “He told us her powers would influence him. He said it was dangerous… But he wasn’t quite as detailed as to why it was dangerous.”

“If I were to capture the wielder of the greatest weapon known to mankind, I would find a way to make him come to me. Find a way to control him or to remove the weapon. Mind control didn’t work. So… They try another method. They learn he’s alone, near Queen Bee’s territory, and they jump on the opportunity. They lock the civilians in their own home, preventing the civilians from seeing the Queen enter Qurac when she is not supposed to be there and so they don’t have to kill said civilians when they know heroes who will report it Haarjavti are on their way, and they realize that Benjamin can, in fact, be controlled by her thrall.” 

“And if she can control him. Then there’s a chance the enemy can control Deka completely, and they take him.” Batman concluded.

“Perhaps in an effort to learn more on how to control Deka or… To manipulate him into removing and surrendering the Omnitrix for their plans.” 

“But she can’t control him in other forms?” Batman asked.

“It depends.” Albedo admitted, “Take a necrofriggian for example. They are asexual beings. They do not have naturally occuring hormonal attractions. Some of his aliens are naturally repulsed by the idea of loving a human. Some of them would find a human attractive, but would be far less influenced by Queen Bee’s thrall. It’s very biological, after all. Since not all human females and not all human males would be drawn in by Queen Bee’s ability, it’s safe to assume that her influence on his alien forms would be far less dangerous as it would shift his biology enough to counter her powers, as it seems the slightest shift can be enough. But not Necessarily. See, Benjamin finds human females to be beautiful. Our grandfather had an interesting preference for aliens, hence his grandchildren all being one fourth alien. This preference doesn’t always change from form to form. The biology on that is not always consistent.”  

“So, getting him to transform could solve the problem.” Batman mused.

“But it’s not always guaranteed.” Albedo confirmed. Batman considered for a moment.

“This means I need to pull the team from Qurac and contact Green Arrow and Zatara about involving Artemis and Zatanna. I would request M’gann to remain in her position, as the Logan Sanctuary is a good point to start, but after Benjamin was taken, it’s proven that the location is compromised." Albedo’s eyes flickered to the monitor where the team’s location was marked on the map, then towards the Queen Bee’s image on one of the many new reports Batman had been viewing.

“No need to pull her back.” Albedo said as he glanced back at the map, mentally writing down the coordinates of the team, “I’ll retrieve Benjamin myself.” 

“Her powers will influence you, and I will not send you on a mission where you could be turned against each other like that.” Batman countered. Albedo might’ve struggled in the past to control his human impulses… But he simply couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that he was human enough to follow after Queen Bee like some lost puppy.

“I’m more in tune with my anodite side than Benjamin is.” Albedo said, “She can’t affect me the same way she affects him. My alien heritage will protect me. Besides… I’m the best option for tracking Benjamin. My Ulitmatrix is tuned into his Omnitrix’s frequency. And if that is being countered, my magic can detect his mana. Otherwise, there’s no confirming if he’s even in Baylian territory or if they sent him elsewhere. She is a part of a larger network of villains after all.” Batman seemed to hesitate.

“How sure are you about your anodite side protecting you?” He asked. Albedo glanced once more at the image of Queen Bee.

“Fairly certain.” He declared, “I just need to get him to turn into the correct form, and we can leave.” Batman considered for a long moment before nodding.

“I take it you have a method for getting there?”

“It’ll be the furthest I’ve ever teleported.” Albedo stated, but he smiled, “But for my brother, it’ll be worth it.” 

“Do it.” That was all Albedo needed to morph the air around himself as he uttered his teleportation spell, and the world blended into blackness… Before he found himself tumbling forwards, his head spinning from using so much mana.

“Reflect?!” Came Wally’s surprised voice. Albedo merely found the nearest object to steady himself, aka, a couch, before lifting his head to meet M’gann’s startled eyes.

“Miss. Martian, I need your assistance immediately… My brother and the Omnitrix may be in more danger than we realize.”

Notes:

Batman and Albedo being smart detectives together, yay!

Batman: Are you sure your anodite side can protect you from Queen Bee?
Albedo (A born Galvan, looks at Queen Bee's pic and just... Doesn't see it): Yeah, I think I'll be okay.
Batman (Knowing he's gonna regret this if Albedo get's mind controlled too):...Fine.

On the plus side, Albedo's gonna meet his theatre kid, celebrity hero, lol.

Chapter 128: In the Palace of Bialya.

Everything seemed to blur together in Ben’s head as he paced the room he’d been given. It wasn’t even a bad room. It was a nice room, even. With a comfy bed and a barred window overlooking the courtyard with a little bathroom. A television monitor hung where the mantel was. His captor had gone out of their way to make it all comfortable. 

But the Omnitrix was locked, secured tightly behind a metal brace that he’d immediately clawed and pried at upon waking up to no use. He’d been desperate enough to test the mana protection Albedo had put into the Omnitrix only for him to realize he had a meta-human collar on as well. 

Ben felt like an idiot the longer he paced the room and the more he processed how he’d even wound up in a locked, and barred room in the middle of what he was assuming was Queen Bee’s palace. The guards marching around the courtyard below in Bialyan uniforms and the Baylian flags decorating everything seemed to make that abundantly clear. 

His mind had totally gone blank when she’d turned up at the animal sanctuary, and he, like a moron, told her what she wanted to hear and followed her away from the sanctuary. He really hoped Garfeild and Miss. Logan were okay. Queen Bee wasn’t exactly known for being a kind and understanding person. He wouldn’t put it past her to kill them both to make sure she wasn’t followed after whisking Ben away. 

Ben decided he needed to not think about that. Focus more on being mad that Queen Bee had used her powers in such an awful way to lure him like she had. He wasn’t afraid to sock her in the face for it too if he didn’t already realize he probably couldn’t with her powers affecting him like that. A woman or not, luring a teenager with that sort of power was just wrong. At least Nyancy Chan was around Ben’s age when she controlled Rath into going on a crime spree. Man, that entire evening had felt like some weird fever dream that he never wanted to repeat. He felt like an idiot most of that night too.

Mostly, however, Ben was bored out of his mind. It’d been an hour since he’d woken up. The television was closed circuit, no channels, just static. He had no clue why it was there. Well, he did have no clue why it was there until it suddenly turned itself on, and a news report began to play. It was Queen Bee and Haarjavti.

“What do you mean the President won’t see me? He invited me!” She called from the outside of the capitol.

“Not out of my free will, no!” Haarjavti yelled back from a safe distance, “But now that I am free of your minion’s thrall, the Quarci people will never suffer your tyrannical rule!” Cheers erupted from the crowd surrounding the area, and the news feed suddenly blinked away, replaced by Queen Bee herself in what Ben assumed was a live recording.

“Your friends did good work. The Martian in particular I’m told was particularly ruthless.” Queen Bee called. 

“You seem to take losing better when the cameras are gone.” Ben remarked.

“That is not me in the news report.” Queen Bee replied, “It is your Martian friend. She’s quite the actor… And she has her own number of dirty little secrets.”

“Well, who doesn’t have secrets in this type of life? I know I’ve got my share.” Ben said with an eye roll, “Nice of you to set this stupid thing up so I could talk to you without my head getting all fuzzy. Can I leave now?” 

“Of course not. If I am to fail acquiring a country, I will at least settle for the ultimate weapon. I wanted a victory of some sort from this loss, and since you were so foolish as to separate yourself from your team… I couldn’t resist.”

“Not sure how useful I’ll be to you, considering you can’t control me from a distance, and I’m immune to telepathically induced mind control.” Ben pointed out, “So, you know… This is an interesting field trip, but I don’t know what you get out of it.”

“You are simply an obstacle in the way of the real prize.” Queen Bee replied, “Your brother will find the maker of your Omnitrix and when I have both the maker and the creation, I will be unstoppable.” Ben mentally thanked his past self for being at least smart enough not to spill that he could take the Omnitrix off himself if he really wanted to. Now he just had to hope Albedo was smart enough to stay the heck away from Queen Bee and Bialya until Ben could figure out how to get out of dodge.

“Fair enough.” Ben shrugged, “Not sure how successful you’ll be against the smartest being in, like, five galaxies, but okay. Azmuth’s nothing to scoff at. Plus, Azmuth is kind of a jerk. Once almost let the entire Universe get blown to bits because he wasn’t sure if he thought it was ‘worth saving.’ He’s really grumpy. There’s a reason Reflect and him stopped talking.”   

“You talk big, Deka.” Queen Bee noticed, “You’re proud. Your initial reaction to my thrall was arrogant. Quick to brag. Quick to please. It was rather amusing. But it didn’t take much to slip past those barriers. To find the tired little hero you actually are. You’ve been fighting for a long time and pretending all the while… But at the end of the day, you’re a sad, exhausted little boy who has all the power in the world at his fingertips, and yet you’re too afraid to actually use it to do what is necessary to make the world great.”

“Meh. I’m at peace with that.” Ben said with a shrug, “Made peace with that ages ago, lady. You sorta have to when you’ve been protecting this stupid thing for almost seven years.” Ben held up the restraint holding the Omnitrix and gave it a little flick, “Your weird mind manipulation stuff might work great when I’m right next to you lady, but it’s gonna take a little more convincing when we’re just talking over a video call.” 

“Then why don’t we chat face to face then?” She asked. Ben startled a little at the clicking of the lock on the door, then glanced back at the monitor offering a big smile.

“Nah, I’m good. Best kidnapping I’ve dealt with in ages. I think I’ll stay here until you realize getting help from Azmuth is a dumb idea or until I escape. Whatever comes first.” Ben shrugged. The door swung open and two big Baylian soldiers entered the room, decked out in heavy gear. Ben ignored them, continuing to smile for the camera, “Really, I’m set. I’ll just kick back here and take a nap or something. No need to be all personal about this kidnapping thing. I get it. It’s just business. I am not gonna hold a huge grudge over this thing. Nope! So, you know, just go about your evil plans and I’ll just hang here for a little while. No biggie.” 

“Nonsense.” Queen Bee’s own smile was sharp and dangerous, “So long as you’re in my house, I’ll make sure to act as a good host. I’m sure you’re hungry. I’m inviting you for dinner. It’s rude to decline.” As if on cue, Ben’s stomach elected to inform him that he was, in fact, hungry. Ben just ignored it, and kept on smiling.

“Nope. Not hungry. Just tried. Sorry, queenie. Another time, yeah?” Queen Bee didn’t budge.

“I insist.” She simply replied before the screen clicked off and the two men stepped forwards. Ben finally gave his attention to them.

“Mmkay. We’re doing this, then. Great.” And before either could react, Ben was dropping his body weight, sweeping for their legs in a swift kick before darting forwards and between the two into the hall. He was instantly met by four more guys as the two behind him yelled in alarm at how fast Ben had reacted.

He figured two things in that moment: one, he was either going down fighting or getting the heck out of there. Two, if he went down hard enough, he’d automatically transform and be able to leave without any difficulties. Ben charged with a battle-cry, fists raised and completely ignoring how these guys were strapped with guns while also being twice Ben’s size. The soldiers clearly hadn’t expected Ben to be so wild and outright reckless in how he charged them, and backed up in a moment of surprise. They then seemed to snap to their senses and remember that without the Omnitrix, Ben was literally a teenager. 

A moment of surprise was good enough for Ben as he slammed his fist into one guy's face, spun around and kicked another in the gut, and was readying to knee a third where the sun didn’t shine. He was halted by four words.

“What are you doing?” Queen Bee’s words startled him and he faltered, spun around quickly, and met her stern brown eyes. His hands fell to his sides and he realized he might’ve busted his knuckle punching that guy. It stung a little. 

Why’d he punch that guy again?

Did Queen Bee think it looked cool?

Queen Bee seemed to glide forwards to put one hand on his shoulder and wrap the other around his chin and she, very gently, made sure he was looking at her. 

“What were you doing?” She repeated. Ben opened his mouth to respond, but found he didn’t really know what he’d been doing or why. 

“...Um, I dunno.” He muttered, wishing he could break eye contact, but she made sure he wouldn’t. 

“No more of that, Deka.” Queen Bee reprimanded, and shame immediately took root in his gut, “You’re a guest in my house, and I will treat you well if you behave. You will be on your best behavior. Resistance like that will only end in people getting hurt, do you understand?” 

“Yes, Queen Bee.” He replied automatically.

“Wonderful. Now, let's have dinner. I have so much more I want to talk to you about, little hero.” She purred.

“Of course, Queen Bee.”

Notes:

I’m just gonna say it… You are not an idiot for getting manipulated by the evil chick with powers like hers, Ben. Honestly, people with powers like Queen Bee’s who use them in this really horrible way she uses them are just the worst. Spoilers for YJ season two and some of season one, but this woman literally uses the fact that she’s attractive and can control people who find her attractive to murder an innocent woman and traumatize a kid. For revenge. Against M’gann. A person who, by the way, was being briefly blackmailed by Queen Bee.

Queen Bee is very petty.

I think the worst part of villains like her and villains like, say, Parasite, for a male example, is that they are somewhat grounded in reality. There are people that are that petty, manipulative, and sleazy in the real world who hurt people without needing powers at all.

This arc isn’t going to go so dark that I need to up the rating as I’ll sometimes read the chapters to younger siblings for proofing purposes, but I figured I would address the fact that Queen Bee does use her powers like this. She does, in this book, take advantage of Ben thinking she’s attractive, despite him literally telling her he’s almost seventeen, to get him to tell her things he wouldn’t have willingly said otherwise. She does intend to keep taking advantage of that to get what she wants from Ben, and that is messed up.

However, I won’t dance around the fact that people like Queen Bee are very real and we should draw attention to this fact. Having awareness about these types of people and that type of behavior, I feel, is a good way to help people start fighting back against it. (Sorta how Mother Gothel in Tangled really shone a light on this topic and helped a lot of people, if you know anything about that).

I just felt the need to talk a little about this before we keep going with this arc.

Anyways, hope everyone is having a good week. I know there's a lot of craziness happening around the world right now between the fires and the winter storms and other things like that. Stay safe, and I'll see you all next week.

Chapter 129: Silly Little Things.

It took Albedo a moment to collect himself after such a huge jump. He’d gotten a lot better at using his mana to teleport rapidly, but it was still a little draining. Marie Logan (Albedo couldn’t believe he was in her house!) had been kind enough to get him some chocolate milk to help him get a little energy back, as the others waited in expectation for Albedo to elaborate on what he meant by ‘My brother and the Omnitrix may be in more danger than we realize.’ 

He finally set his chocolate milk down, collecting himself and his thoughts.

“Batman and I looked over the situation… And we have reason to believe Queen Bee herself took advantage of his being separated from the group to draw him into her territory.” Albedo explained, “And since it will take time to get Artemis and Zatanna back to the mountain from what they’re doing and Miss. Martian is the only female here… I teleported myself here to assist in getting him back.”

“Okay… But, you’re not a girl.” Wally pointed out. 

“...Kid Flash, you’ve seen what a Galvan looks like right?” Albedo asked. Wally nodded.

“Yeah, small. Froggy. Eyes that close sideways that are way too big for their heads.” Wally remembered.

Albedo glanced over at Marie, who was watching the conversation in her living room from the doorway. He knew he needed to choose his words carefully. Thankfully, M’gann seemed to take a hint and pulled him into the mind link.

‘Go ahead, Albedo.’ She encouraged.

‘Right. So… I am a Galvan… Mentally. And, frankly… Queen Bee is probably one of the most repulsive humans I have ever laid eyes on. Her face is way too… Smooth and weird.’ Albedo clarified, making Wally’s jaw drop as he scoffed in dismay.

“Excuse me, she’s considered one of the most beautiful humans on the planet!” He gasped out loud. Conner snorted at Wally's reaction and Albedo just shrugged helplessly.

“It’s a cultural difference in preferences, Kid Flash. I’ve not judged you for liking Miss. Martian, or for Miss. Martian for liking Superboy. Nor Robin for flirting with Zatanna. Human teenagers are often in a period of their lives where these sorts of relationships form naturally and they undergo hormonal and necessary tension needed to help them locate their human mate. It’s a lovely thing and a necessary part in the miracle of life! Granted, neither Miss. Martian, nor Superboy are human, but they do have similar hormonal physiology. While I’ve inherited some of that physiology, I’ve long since come to the conclusion that I… Just don’t feel that sort of emotional or biological draw to my fellow humans. And frankly, at this point, I don’t think I have that sort of attraction to basically any race.” 

Albedo wasn’t exactly prepared for how red (or green, in Miss. Martian’s case) in the face Robin, Kid Flash, Miss. Martian, and Superboy got at all of that.

“Dude, you don’t just talk about that stuff, like, right out like that!” Wally said, looking very scandalized. 

“...Why not? It’s a very natural and normal thing to–” Albedo began, and Robin quickly threw his hands up.

“Nope. Not having ‘the talk’ with Reflect the Crimson Mage in some retired sitcom actress’s living room whilst his less socially awkward twin is kidnapped. We are not doing that.”

“Why not?” Albedo repeated, “If anything I think it’s necessary to talk about when it comes to rescuing my brother from a woman abusing that hormonal physiology to control him.”

“It’s just… Human teenagers don’t do that.” Wally explained, “I know you’ve not been back on Earth, in like, a really long time. But human teenagers…”

“Make the impulsive choices now and avoid the awkward conversations at all costs.” Robin offered.

“Yeah. That.” Wally agreed.

“...That is literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Maybe, but no one ever said human teenagers were known for being smart.” Conner said with a small snort. Albedo raised a finger at that as he considered it, before accepting the explanation.

“Fair enough. At least that explains most of those sitcoms.”

“Wait, you watch sitcoms too? Right before you got here we found out about Miss. M here has a whole obsession with them and–.”

“I… Kinda introduced sitcoms to Reflect when I realized he was having trouble understanding and adapting back to his human body. It seemed to help him and we… Sorta bonded over them.” M’gann wilted as she ran her fingers through her hair, “I know it’s weird, that I modeled so much of my life after some Earth show I saw on TV… But… The girl on TV she… She seemed like she had a good life. Lots of friends. Problems that could be solved in half an hour. It was silly, but it was enduring and… I fell in love with it all. When I showed them to Reflect, he thought it was dumb at first but…”

“But I realized that while humans aren’t perfect… They are capable of a lot of things I’d long lost sight of. Like forgiveness. Compassion. Laughter.” Albedo explained, he glanced back towards where Marie was watching the conversation and smiled a little, “I know it’s foolish to pull that from a silly show meant for entertainment, but I’d been in a rather dark place before I came to join this team. You all know this about me. It was surprising how much of an impact simple, silly little things made in the long run when it came to accepting who I’d become and trying to learn who I can someday be. It’s… Strange how silly little things can make such an enormous impact… Which seems like an ironic realization for someone who spent my entire life working for a Galvan genius. Miss. Martian and I both came to a foreign world after our own hardships. It was something so oddly simple that we found some solace in.” 

“Mars wasn’t a happy place for me.” M’gann admitted softly, and she hung her head, “My uncle would send us broadcasts from Earth to teach us about your planet, and when I saw your show… Something just clicked. It helped me smile through a lonely childhood… And when I came to Earth and needed to adopt a human form.. I chose you.” 

“I’m honored that you both were impacted by my time acting like that… Back then, it was just a job. Something fun to do. I didn’t think too much about it and I left it behind me when I had Garfeild.” Marie admitted, “But I am honored that it managed to help you both. You can use Megan’s image as much as you want. And after what Deka did for my son, I’d say you both are family as much as he is family now.” 

“Thank you.” M’gann said as she lifted her head to show her a brilliant smile, “You don’t know what that means to me.” 

“That does beg the question… On what you really look like.” Robin pointed out. Albedo’s mind flashed back to the true Martian form she’d taken back in her fight against Psimon. 

“I think.” Albedo cut in, “It’s up to her to decide when she wants to reveal something so intimate. True forms… They’re strange things after all. To some, they may be personal.” He reached forwards, grasping her hand with a nod of understanding, “But you should know, sister, beauty is a relative thing. It’s who you are that makes you worthwhile. Take it from a man who was once able to become anything.” Conner stood up, grasping her other hand, nodding in encouragement.

“He’s right… No matter what, you’ll always be the most beautiful thing in the world to me.” Conner insisted. M’gann flushed, but pulled from Conner and Albedo.

“Thank you… But I don’t think I’m ready yet. This form I’m using is also for me.” She insisted, “Maybe one day… But not now. Not today. And not when Deka still needs us. He’s in a lot of trouble right now. Reflect and I are the only ones close enough who are able to help.” 

“Which means we need a plan.” Wally elbowed Robin, “Deka left you in charge, Rob. You can’t face Queen Bee head on like Reflect and Miss. M can, but you can strategize. You’re the best man for that job right now, since you’re the most experienced with it after Deka.” Immediately, Robin’s head dropped and his shoulders looked heavy. His expression briefly looked distressed before he seemed to mentally pick himself up as he rolled his shoulders back and gave a firm nod.

“Do you have a way to track your brother?” Robin asked, “And confirm where Queen Bee might’ve taken him?” 

“...Yes. The boy… Garfield was it?” Albedo asked Marie. Marie frowned, looking suddenly wary.

“What about him?”

“He has my brother’s blood in his veins right now. If I use a tracking spell Zatara showed me along with traces of my brother’s mana, I can confirm Deka’s location since something seems to be blocking the Omnitrix’s signal.” Albedo explained, “It won’t hurt him at all… If you and him are okay with it, that is?” Marie considered for a moment, looking clearly conflicted before she nodded a little.

“If Garfield is fine with it… yes. Deka saved my son’s life. I want to help you save him. It’s only right.”

“Right. Get confirmation on Deka’s location… Once we have that… I may have a plan in the works.” Robin declared. Albedo nodded and rose quickly to follow Marie into the other room where Garfield supposedly was.

Albedo felt a symphony of emotions upon laying eyes on a small, red-haired boy who was a few years younger than Benjamin had been when Albedo had first met him. Despite being bedridden, he clung to a book on animals, smiling at the pictures with a spark in his eyes that was so Ben 10-like it made Albedo’s heart ache. For a moment, they’d looked green and not blue. 

Albedo promised.

He would get his brother back, no matter what.

Notes:

Albedo: Uses M'gann's telepathy to try and subtly explain things to Wally while Marie's in the room.
Wally: Just starts reacting to everything out loud.
Being subtle: Gets defenestrated.
Marie: Has already decided to adopt these weird teen heroes that are using her house as a base of operations.

This one's intentionally a little lighter in tone and sort've runs alongside some of the events that happened in YJ canon. Plus, it's funny when the cultural differences between Albedo's world and the sister worlds of Earth and Mars make things comically funny.

For the record, Albedo totally gets Marie's autograph. Marie is, afterall, an actress who he respects greatly, lol.

I tried to edit this one, but my sister came over for dinner, and I had to do a lot of cleaning and cooking, so I'm a little tired, lol. The name Garfield in particular hates me. And Bialya. Bialya is annoying to spell.

Anyways. Until next week everyone!

Chapter 130: A Strong Will.

Ben found himself sinking down against the wall, his knees to his chest and his chin firmly buried on top of them. Sure, sitting on the bed she so kindly provided him because he was ‘her guest’ was probably more comfortable, but Ben was tired and would probably fall asleep.

Ben didn’t want to fall asleep. 

He felt so stupid and useless and he hated how easy it was to pull the fight out from under him. It felt like some amateur magician pulling the same stupid, obvious trick over and over again right in front of Ben’s face, all while Ben fell for it each and every time. 

She asked a lot more questions over dinner, keeping him at her right hand the entire meal and putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder or over his Omnitrix arm anytime he’d felt weird or wrong answering a question. He’d done his best to redirect her or to give her enough to make her seem happy, but the entire meal she seemed to know he was trying hard to fight the thrall and protect his secrets.

“What is your name?”

“I’m Deka.”

“Your real name?”

“I’m Deka.”

“Deka, if we’re going to be friends, isn’t it only fair you told me who you really are?” 

“...I… Maybe? But what if that puts you in danger?” 

“I think I can manage.” Ben’s name was so normal. So plain and so easy to miss… Maybe it’d be okay?

“...I… Er… Kevin. I’m Kevin.” A lie. One he’d been so ashamed to tell at the time, but now Ben was proud he’d managed it, “Kevin Levin.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah. Parents thought it’d be fun to make my first and last name rhyme. Dad’s name was the exact same. Delvin Levin was his name… Reflect was named after dad, since he was born first.” The lies had slipped out so easily. Ben was used to having to lie to people. Especially people he loved. He lied to his mom and dad for years in attempts to protect them from the dangers of his hero career. After they found out… It became so simple to lie to them about how much danger he was in. 

‘Oh, it was no big deal. Rook and I took down that gang easily!’ Nevermind Ben’s head would’ve been blown off had it not been for the Omntrix. They didn’t need to know that.

Justifying lying to protect Queen Bee had been easy. Queen Bee didn’t need to know who Deka was. That’d put her in danger. Ben didn’t want her in danger. 

“Well, Kevin. It’s good to meet you, finally. Maybe you’d be fine if I could see your face? I wanted you to take your mask off when you felt comfortable…”

“I’m good.” Ben had said, “You’ve got my name.”

“Well then, tell me, little hero, how long have you been leading this team of misfits that keeps intruding on my territory?”

“Since the old Cadmus got shut down.” Ben said, “Rob and Kid Flash and Aqualad wanted some independence from the heroes and I was looking for Reflect. We met up, found Superboy and Reflect, decided we kinda liked working together, and formed a team. Miss. M and Arty joined up a little later. We’re slowly bringing Zatanna into the fold, but her dad’s paranoid as heck. Magicians, am I right?” She’d been pleased with the quick response to that question. Ben wasn’t proud of it, but he was glad it was probably something she already knew with the mole still watching the team. Ben was assuming she worked with this secret group Albedo was so insistent on taking down.

“Tell me, what are their real names?” She pressured. And Ben had to really fight for that one. 

“...Um… Batman is paranoid… I don’t…” Ben had fallen on how Robin wasn’t allowed to give out his name and sprung on it. He was relieved now that she seemed to believe him.

“That’s okay… Tell me, little hero. Why did your brother attack you when his memories were stolen in the desert?”

This one was the easiest.

“He and Azmuth were fighting.” Ben replied, “I told you about that already. Azmuth’s a jerk, you know? Reflect didn’t always look like he does now. His fight with Azmuth… Changed him. There was damage to his genetic code. Reflect was mad. He blamed me for some of it. But, we talked. We’ve made up now. So it’s okay.”

“I see… And where are your parents, little hero?” She purred, “It’s strange, a set of twins your age seemingly on their own.” This one… Had hurt. He had dropped his head, doing his very best not to burst into tears in front of this beautiful lady. He succeeded in keeping it in, but she seemed to sense it was a sore subject for him. 

She chased it.

“Oh, you poor thing.” She purred, “All alone.”

“...I’ll find them.” He’d muttered, “Reflect says he’s close… I… I miss her. My mom. I didn’t even think I would feel so… homesick. Before they went missing, I was out of the house so much. Traveling. Saving people on distant planets. Protecting the Universe. I wasn’t home a lot. Mom always liked to try and pack me lunches… She’s vegan and her alternatives for stuff are awful. But it’s the thought that counts, you know? I don’t… I don’t even know if they're alive. Dad used to say that the Omnitrix was gonna get me killed. He hated how Grandpa and then me kept so many things from him… I dunno if he got that we were trying to protect him. He says I don’t need to. He’s grown… He can take it. He doesn’t know. He’s so normal… He’d never get it.” 

“You were distant from your parents… And now they’re missing.” She noted, “You must be worried.”

“It’s not their fault.” Ben had slumped forwards, the food on the plate in front of him hadn’t looked so appetizing then. Now Ben figured he probably should’ve eaten more, “I chose this. I needed to keep them safe. To keep everyone safe. They were good parents. They did a good job with me. It’s just… What kind of parent is ready to deal with their kid being the most powerful person in the Universe? And now I don’t even know if they’re alive, or dead, or… Or worse.”

“What happened to them?” Queen Bee pressed.

“...It was my fault.” Ben had told her, “I charged ahead without waiting for my partner. Thought I could get the bad guy, even though the Omnitrix was in the red. But Eon was close, and I didn’t think I had time. With Eon, time isn’t usually something you’ve got a lot of… Timewalkers are annoying like that, you know? Shots were fired. The displacer thingy got shot and… There was an explosion… And then they were gone. Omnitrix protected me. It always does.” 

“It seems to be good at that.” Queen Bee noticed.

“Yeah.” Ben replied glumly, “It is.” 

This sort of questioning had gone on for hours… Far longer than any normal dinner should’ve gone for. She started with questions about the team or the Omnitrix which he somehow managed to lie about or deflect, but anytime she seemed to find something she thought was particularly interesting, topics typically involving Ben’s home life, childhood, or family were things she found extremely interesting, she poked, prodded, and tried to peel back the layers. 

Like claws breeching skin in an effort to find the most vulnerable, guarded parts of her ‘guest.’ 

And it left Ben feeling stupid, tired, and useless. He was being forced to tell things he wouldn’t even tell his own parents– his own cousin, grandpa, partner, or best friend– to a total stranger who only wanted to use the things she was learning to manipulate him and hurt him. Who was planning to use those things to steal the Omnitrix from him. 

He’d fought so hard against her thrall to protect his friends and the secrets of the Omnitrix from her greedy claws, but it left Ben Tennyson himself open for her to prey upon. He hated it. 

He just wanted to go home and take a very, very long nap.

But home was too far away. 

He hadn’t seen home in months.

When he saw his mom again, he promised he'd give her the biggest hug in the world and would never complain about her vegan wraps again. He’d ask his dad if he wanted help with his car sometime. They could mess around with it together, no aliens, just them. Ben wasn’t a car junkie like Kevin and Rook, but Carl Tennyson was a handyman and liked that sort of thing. Ben knew Carl missed out on bonding over that stuff with his son.

He’d take Rook out for smoothies. Ben had decided that. He’d take him out for smoothies, and they’d talk for hours about it all. Albedo said to find someone Ben trusted to talk about it all… And Ben trusted Rook. Rook was Ben’s partner and most trusted friend, and he would understand it all a lot better than his parents would. 

He’d punch Kevin in the arm so hard, assuming the guy didn’t try and kill him for being away for so long. Kevin and Ben expressed their fondness for each other like brothers sometimes did… insults and a good fight. Ben swore he’d win that fight, just to show Kevin Ben hadn’t gotten rusty while he was gone.

And Gwen…

Ben wasn’t sure what he’d do when he’d see her again. She was, after all, one of the people he missed the most. She’d left him for college, and he thought he’d be fine with her gone. She wanted to live her own life. Find her own way. He respected that. He understood… But…

That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. She’d been like his sister ever since that fateful day he got the Omnitrix. Through his highs and lows… Gwen had been there to tease him, call him out… And to pick him up when he fell. Her and grandpa both. Without those two, Ben was pretty sure he would’ve quit a thousand more times than he’d already done. 

Ben hugged his knees tighter.

His unwavering smile faded. It didn’t matter if it was gone. He was alone now. 

He felt like an idiot.

“I want to go home.” He whispered.

No one heard it.

Notes:

Ngl, this chapter was interesting to write. Once more, going off of the AN from the last Ben POV chapter from this arc, Queen Bee is a manipulative woman who is a petty, horrible person. People like her in real life are the worst.

Chapter 131: Storming the Castle.

The plan was easy enough. Robin, Superboy, and Kid Flash couldn’t confront Queen Bee head on like Albedo and M’gann could, so M’gann and Albedo had to locate the Queen, confirm it was her, and keep her attention as long as they could. If Benjamin was with the Queen, then Albedo would have to use his acting skills while M’gann used that distraction to get Benjamin to safety. If Benjamin was elsewhere, it was up to the other guys in their group to conduct the search and rescue while M’gann and Albedo prevented Queen Bee from stopping them. 

The boys would keep any pressure off of M’gann and Albedo. M’gann and Albedo’s focus was to stay on keeping the Queen away from Benjamin and the others. The second they got confirmation that Benjamin was safely on the bioship, Albedo was to teleport them back to Marie’s house or, if the bioship hadn’t left, to the bioship.

As Albedo crawled after M’gann inside of the ventilation shaft of the Bialyan palace, Robin telepathically relayed the surveillance he was getting from the palace’s security.

‘Queen Bee seems to be in the throne room in a meeting. Ben is, in fact, with her.’ Robin explained, ‘So we're doing plan a instead of b. Kid Flash is gonna try and draw people’s attention so you two can reach her unnoticed.’’ Robin instructed.

‘Like, now?’ Wally asked.

‘No. Wait until Miss. Martian can get closer to Queen Bee. If she notices the commotion you’re causing, she might try and stop you. We need her attention to be focused on Reflect and Miss. Martian. The second any of us guys, Reflect withstanding, are even in range of her powers, it’s game over. Any one of us being controlled by Queen Bee is, like, a serious nope situation.’ 

‘Waiting is killing me.’ Wally complained.

‘Wait until Miss. M gives the go ahead.’ Robin insisted. Reflect halted as they reached a grate leading out into the hall. He scanned the area quickly for guards, before getting the grate off and pulling himself, then M’gann out. M’gann cloaked immediately as Albedo replaced the grate before he pulled his dark hood over his mess of white hair.

“I need to learn a spell for cloaking like that.” He declared as he eyed her semi-transparent form. She shrugged helplessly, and Albedo mentally put that on his list of things to research the next time he visited the Zatara household. 

‘We’re close to the throne room.’ M’gann informed Robin, and Albedo followed her quietly as she checked corners and they carefully maneuvered themselves around guards. On multiple occasions, she pushed him back, raising her cloak up for him to duck behind as several guards walked past them. Not even noticing the ripple in light that gave away the two intruders.

‘Good timing. I think the meeting is ending.’ Robin replied, ‘There’s a lot of guards. You’re gonna want to try and slip in while the doors are open and the guards are distracted by her guests leaving… Kid Flash, get ready to cause some trouble. We’re gonna need to draw people away from Miss. M and Reflect in a second.’

‘Oh, I was born ready.’ Kid Flash cheered. 

Albedo peered over M’gann shoulder as they both watched the large doors get pulled open, and two guys in military uniforms who looked rather important and decorated came out. The guards watched the two exit.

‘Kid, now.’ M’gann ordered.

M’gann flew into the room invisibly, leaving Albedo behind while Albedo watched the doors start to close. He kept his eyes glued on a spot inside even as the rest of the room became obstructed by the door.

He focused.

Before teleporting out of the hall and into the room just as the doors slammed shut. 

He froze upon finding five armed guards on each side of the throne, who instantly pulled their guns and aimed for Albedo. Queen Bee herself lounged on the throne, staring down at Albedo with a small, greedy smile. Beside her was Benjamin, his emerald eyes dazed and confused. He looked as if he hadn’t really slept once in the thirty-two hours he’d been missing. Her fingers were wrapped around his shoulder, clawing into his shirt and holding him close to her. The Omnitrix was tucked into a restraint. 

She grinned widely upon seeing Albedo and motioned for the guards to stay with the hand not actively gripping Benjamin’s shoulder. They relaxed, but didn’t lower their weapons. She rose, pulling Benjamin behind her and pushing him into the throne before throwing her arms up in a mockery of a welcome. 

“Reflect! How lovely of you to join us. I’m so glad you couldn’t resist coming to find your dear brother. Welcome to my kingdom.” She purred. 

‘...Reflect… You with me?’ M’gann telepathically asked. The worry in her voice was loud. 

‘I’m here. Her powers aren’t affecting me.’ Albedo replied quickly as the woman beckoned for Albedo to draw closer, ‘We need to take guards out and get an escape route ready. I’ll keep Queen Bee’s attention. She thinks she controls me like she’s controlling Deka.’ 

Hesitantly, Albedo moved forwards towards the Queen, who waited until he was in her arm’s reach. 

With little hesitation she gripped his chin, tilting his head as if to look him over. His skin crawled at her touch.

“You’re such a handsome young man, like your brother.” Queen Bee praised, “My little hero told me you could help me with something important.” 

Behind Queen Bee, Albedo noticed Benjamin flinch visibly as guilt flashed across his face before he was staring down at his hands. His face flushed with shame. Albedo wasn’t sure what Benjamin was ashamed of… Anything he’d said to the Queen was not going to be held against the boy. Albedo understood Queen Bee didn’t leave him any choice… But if he was still under her thrall, then what did he have to be guilty about?

It was weird.

Seeing him sit so incredibly still and stay so unnaturally quiet.

“He did?” Albedo said carefully.

“He said you were smart.” Queen Bee agreed, she pulled away from Albedo spinning a little to ruffle Benjamin’s hair. Benjamin didn’t lift his head at the action. He didn’t move at all.

“Didn’t you, my little hero?” She asked. Benjamin’s face flushed again and he nodded, almost bashfully.

“Um… Yeah. One of the smartest people I know.” He muttered. Rage bubbled under Albedo’s skin, threatening to spill out as mana at this. He ought to kill her for this. He ought to…

‘No. We can’t cause an international incident.’ M’gann mentally reminded him. The anger simmered down as he quickly reminded himself that Queen Bee was terrible, but her death would bring war. 

“He said you could get me the creator of the Omnitrix, and that the Omntrix could be removed by this person.” Once more, Benjamin seemed to be ashamed. Queen Bee didn’t notice as she refocused on Albedo.

Wow.

Okay.

So Benjamin had somehow managed to, whilst mind-controlled, convinced this lady that Azmuth was the key to the Omnitrix despite the fact that Albedo knew Benjamin had the codes for taking the Omnitrix off on his own. 

“So… Delvin, won’t you be a help and tell me how one would go about contacting the creator?” She asked. Albedo had a moment of complete confusion as his mind came to a screeching halt.

Wait.

Who the heck was Delvin?!

“Oh, don’t worry. Kevin told me.” Queen Bee said, clearly misinterpreting his confusion, and also feeding further into it. What in the world did Levin have anything to do with any of this?

“He was so scared I’d be in danger if he told me your names, but I assured him, I can handle myself. Our little hero told me all sorts of interesting things. And he needs your help, Delvin, don’t you, little hero?” 

Did… Did she think Albedo’s name was actually Delvin? What in the world had Benjamin been telling this woman?! 

“...Kevin needs my help?” Albedo said slowly, he decided to go along with it. Albedo had no idea how Benjamin managed to feed that kind of misinformation to this lady whilst under her thrall, but Albedo was honestly impressed. 

“Yes.” Queen Bee turned her lips down in a mimicry of sadness, “He’s so very tired. He needs some time to rest. We need to get the Omnitrix off, and Azmuth’s the only one who can. I know you and Azmuth are fighting, but for your brother, is it not worth speaking with him and asking for help?” Queen Bee now refocused on Benjamin, and this time she tilted the shape shifter’s head up with her fingertips so he was looking at Albedo. Now that Albedo was closer, it was easier to make out the details in Benjamin's eyes.

And…

He looked scared.

Albedo had never once seen the level of fear in Benjamin’s eyes as what he seemed to hold in that moment. There was fear, confusion, exhaustion, and grief swimming in his eyes. They kept darting up in clear uncertainty towards the Queen, then back to Albedo.

‘M’gann, if you’re going to do something about these very armed guards, do it soon. I’m going to knock the Queen out.’ Albedo told his partner in crime.

‘There’s a lot.’ M’gann admitted, ‘Ten. I need to take them out before any of them shoot you.’

‘I have my shields.’ 

‘The commotion is gonna draw other guards in here.’ M’gann warned, 'Kid Flash can only keep so many occupied.' 

‘I’ll get us out, just protect me.’ Albedo said confidently. M’gann mentally hummed a confirmation.

“So, my dearest mage?” Queen Bee asked in her sickly, honey-sweet voice, “Will you help us?” Albedo considered for a moment, before opening his mouth. She leaned in, smiling eagerly for an agreement. 

“...I’m sorry.” Albedo said plainly, “I’d like to help you out, truly, but you are frankly a repulsive human being and you hurt my little brother. So, I’ll have to decline.” Albedo watched with gleeful satisfaction as absolute shock morphed across Queen Bee’s expression. And, with another instant, he was pulling his fist back, and slamming it hard into her aforementioned repulsive face.

From there, the hall erupted into chaos.

Notes:

She's lucky Albedo had to hold back. If him taking her out wasn't going to immediately cause a lot of war, she'd be dead. Seriously.

Albedo might be Batman's friend, but his is NOT Batman.

Unfortunately, we aren't totally out of the woods yet...

Chapter 132: A Different Sort of Fear.

Notes:

I don't typically put warnings on these things (Which I think you guys are used to?), but I figured I probably should for this one.

Warning: Panic Attack.

Ben was jerked out of the hazy spell of the queen so fast it gave him horrible whiplash, and he inhaled sharply, scrambling back in a flight reaction until his body hit the back of her throne. The initial inhale suddenly was a series of gasps, and Ben couldn’t stop trying to catch his breath. 

Gunfire peppered around him as Albedo’s shields expanded to shelter the two from the fire while M’gann flew from who-knew where to fight off the guards. Yet all of that seemed very distant as his head still seemed to be playing catch-up. Queen Bee was unconscious. Albedo knocked her out with one hit, and seemed to give her a nasty looking shiner. 

She wasn’t controlling him anymore, and yet instead of jumping into the fight (Nevermind that the Omnitrix was still restrained) like he should’ve done, Ben found his body curling back and his breaths getting harder and harder to take in. 

The sounds of bullets and shouting seemed impossibly loud and he threw his hands over his ears, ducking away from it all. 

Albedo looked back when Ben’s gasps for air didn’t seem to stop.

“...Deka?” Albedo called in concern. The older boy reached with the hand not holding the shield in place for Ben, and something seemed to click in the wrong way. 

Ben flinched violently back, his back hitting the throne again as he avoided his brother’s touch. 

Hands on his shoulders, her face next to his as she leaned in from behind him.

‘It’s okay, little hero, with me you are safe. With me, you can finally rest.’ Fingers snaking down, grasping his Omnitrix wrist. ‘We’ll find your brother and bring him here. When he gets here, it’ll all be over.’ 

Why was he here? 

Why was Albedo here?

Did she get to him too? What was going on? Ben didn’t understand. Ben didn’t understand. He didn’t–

“Reflect, we have to get him out of here.” In the back of his head, Ben realized it was M’gann calling out, but he ducked his head at the new voice calling out. 

“I can’t… I think something’s wrong with him. I think he's been hurt.” 

‘You’ve been hurting for so long.’ She purred, her fingers in his hair, ‘You’ve been so very strong. I’m proud of you. But you don’t have to be strong anymore. Let go. I’ll take care of you, little hero. Trust me, and everything will be okay. I just want you to be happy.’ 

“Deka! Deka, can you hear me?” Albedo’s voice called, “Are you hurt? Where did she hurt you?”

‘You can tell me anything.’ 

“Reflect, Kid Flash says the other guards noticed our fight, we need to get him out of here.” M’gann’s voice insisted. 

“Something’s wrong!” Albedo snapped back, “He’s not snapping out of it. He’s not responding at all.  He’s not supposed to act like this.” 

“It’ll get worse if we don’t move.” M’gann pointed out. Albedo growled a little, and suddenly someone was grabbing Ben. Ben immediately attempted to fight back. He ignored the guilt and shame that burned in his chest at the action as Albedo’s voice called, “We’re trying to help you!”

‘I’m only trying to help you.’ 

Ben fought harder, gasping all the while. He wasn’t going down without a fight. He wasn’t going to let her use him to hurt his friends. 

‘The heroes left you alone.’

‘But I never will. Stop fighting. I can make everything better.’ 

She never went further than her hands on his shoulders, ruffling his hair, or grabbing his chin or wrists to make sure he was paying attention. He tried to debate her a few times, reasoning that he’d stayed behind to help Garfield willingly. That he wasn’t alone. That he wasn’t tired. He was the Savior of the Universe, and he didn’t get tired.

But she knew better.

She saw right through him and it freaked Ben out. Even when she left, it felt hard for him to puzzle out the lies from the truths. It all blurred together. He was exhausted. He was alone. He missed home. She didn’t pry at anything that wasn’t already there. She merely exposed things about himself he had wanted to keep to himself.

‘This is your home now. I’ll keep you safe.’ She promised.

He didn’t want that. He didn’t want that at all, so why did it feel so tempting? Why was her thrall so horribly confusing? And when was the last time he’d felt so scared?

Her visits blurred together. Each conversation she had with him felt so long. 

She kept leaving because she was busy, but she always came back. It might’ve been days. It might’ve only been a few hours. He couldn’t really tell even with the barred window she let him have, and he was pretty sure she knew that. He lost count of how many times she came to talk to him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know… And yet at the same time something inside of him needed to know. He knew he had yet to pass out from exhaustion, though he was on the brink. It couldn’t have been that long… Could it? 

‘You’re such a brave little hero.’

‘But why do you have to be?’

‘Don’t you ever want to stop?’

He was a selfish, arrogant hero. Why should he feel good? 

He pretended and pretended and pretended. 

He was a liar. 

A liar. 

A liar. 

“Hold on, Deka.” Albedo’s voice insisted, and the world flashed red, spinning as it went. 

“Incoming!” 

The world spun even more, and he was being quickly deposited on the ground. He scrambled back and away the second the hands holding him let go. 

“Shoot, his heart’s going way too fast.” Said a voice that sounded a lot like Conner.

“What’s wrong with him? Where’s he hurt, do you know?” Robin’s voice demanded.

“I don’t know.” Albedo said frantically. 

“Back up! Stop crowding him.” Wally’s voice called out.

“Do you know what’s wrong?” M’gann said in distress.

“You’re a telepath.” Wally said quickly, “Can’t you tell?”

“Fear.” She whispered. Someone knelt in front of Ben, cautious in their movements.

“Hey, hey, look at me. Breathe, Ben. Come on.” Wally’s voice held a strange level of softness. Ben found himself looking up and meeting Wally’s eyes.

They were green.

They weren’t brown like hers. 

“There you go, can you take a deep breath for me, Ben?” Wally asked. Ben gasped, trembling as he shook his head.

“That’s okay, just… count with me.” Wally offered, “One… Two… Three…” Ben’s eyes locked on Wally, and in between gasps, he did what he was told, counting slowly alongside Wally as his breathing evened out.

Slowly, Ben felt reality fade back into existence, and he realized he wasn’t on Queen Bee’s throne anymore. He was on the bridge of M’gann’s Bioship. Conner, Robin, and M’gann hovered just behind Wally, looking spooked. And Albedo seemed outright terrified as he watched Ben count. 

This wasn’t Queen Bee’s palace.

Albedo punched Queen Bee. He knocked her out somehow.

They’d rescued him.

She was gone.

It was going to be okay.

“...Twenty-nine …Thirty …Are you with us?” Wally seemed to notice Ben was able to breathe again. Ben mutely nodded before breaking his eyes from theirs, hating how they were all staring at him.

“Sorry. I dunno what came over me, man. That’s… That’s never happened before... Before.” 

“That’s okay. Are you hurt, man?” Wally asked.

Ben shook his head. 

“I… No? She didn’t hurt me.”

“Then what–” Albedo started in confusion. Wally hushed him quickly. 

“Did she make you do anything? Or tell you anything that might’ve been upsetting?” Wally asked. Ben shook his head again as he slowly processed it all.

 “No… No… Nothing. I… Did Albedo punch Queen Bee in the face?” That got a sudden laugh from Wally, who’d clearly not been expecting the question.

“Probably. She deserves it.” Wally said with a chuckle. Ben chuckled back, trying his best not to squirm at the many eyes staring at him.

“Miss. Logan’s okay? Her kid too?” Ben asked.

“They’re fine.” Albedo informed him. Ben just nodded at that.

“Good. I was worried she might’ve done something to them.” Ben replied. He then looked at the restraint on his arm.

“Um… Could someone…” Albedo followed his eyes and reacted quickly. He uttered a spell, and with a clank, the restraint fell to the ground. Ben pulled the Omnitrix to his chest and fumbled with the dial. Albedo proceeded to use his magic to get the meta-damper off of Ben’s neck. 

“Thanks.” Ben pulled himself to his feet, and Wally and Albedo looked ready to catch him. Ben hated the way they were all staring at him. 

So… He did what he did best, swallowed the horrible fear that had left him so weirdly vulnerable only moments before, and smiled.

“Really, thanks. That place was awful.” He said. 

“Seems like it.” Conner agreed.

“...Did you tell her your name was Kevin?” Albedo proceeded to ask. Ben internally winced at the lie, but grinned outwardly. 

“Yeah, I might have done that. Yeah.”

“Really? That’s hilarious.” Wally snorted.

“Kevin was, like, one of my best friends, man. I think he’d be honored.” Ben said defensively. There was a reluctant round of chuckles that danced around the bridge. Then a moment of awkward silence as Ben sank back down, letting the Bioship provide him a chair. 

“You good, man?” Wally asked.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Ben replied.

Notes:

We're getting closer to the Agendas Arc, and there's a lot of stuff coming to the climax that's been building up throughout the entirety of this book. I actually have a one shot I put together that is meant to be read alongside the Agendas Arc, and I'll let everyone know when I plan on releasing that. Before that, however, there's a few things that are going to shift as a result of the Images arc, so hang tight.

Now, addressing this chapter and this arc as a whole:

This arc is one of the darker parts of this story I think I've written, right there alongside the Failsafe Arc. If I wanted to be really mean to Ben, I probably could've gone even darker with the whole thing and made things stretch for a lot longer, but I didn't think that would be very good story-telling.

While no one dies, and Ben isn't physically hurt by Queen Bee, she does take advantage of his venerable mental state to really hurt him mentally, because she knows it makes her victims more dependent on her and more willing to do what she wants them to do.

Now, Ben doesn't actually have full-on anxiety in this story. I depict him as ADHD and with the lingerings of complex PTSD, but this is his first time having an anxiety/panic attack, and it was triggered by Queen Bee manipulating him for over a day without letting him have much time to rest. It is, to be put bluntly, the straw that broke the camel's back. It's not the most traumatic thing he's faced in his lifetime by any means, but it is something she made sure had a deep impact on him.

While anxiety can be a symptom of complex PTSD, before this chapter, I never write Ben as having the symptoms of it. He tends to approach his life with a carefree, things-will-work-out attitude as his means of coping with life.

People with cPTSD typically experience symptoms like feeling shame and feeling worthless, feeling like they need to be alert at all times, emotionally disconnecting from yourself, struggles with concentrating, constantly placing oneself in dangerous situations, being withdrawn from friends and family (resulting in some issues with having relationships), and they might often avoid things and people that might cause them stress (Example: Ben refusing to talk about his being stranded in another Multiverse even when it could help him).

Anxiety does often appear with this condition, but not always. This is the first time Ben's experienced it, which makes the entire experience all the more terrifying for him and the team alike.

Thank goodness Wally's got enough experience dealing with this sort of stuff as Kid Flash to realize what the heck is going on. Forgoing his struggles with getting his love life in order in this season, Kid Flash might actually be one of the more emotionally intelligent members of the team (even more than M'gann, who's ironically a telepath).

Anyways, I don't claim to be a psychologist by any means, so not everything about this depiction will be accurate. It's mostly based on my own experiences with anxiety as a person with hyper-sensitivity (I don't do well in loud spaces or around crowded areas or bright lights, and I tend to keep earplugs and sunglasses on me at all times). I do have many younger siblings with ADHD, however, cPTSD is something I have no personal experiences with. I do hope I did it some justice.

Stay safe, I suppose! I'll see you all next week.

Chapter 133: Being Okay.

He felt like a goldfish.  Ben. Robin, Conner, Wally, and M’gann all looked at Ben like he was a ticking time bomb, while Albedo seemed like he was still shifting from enraged and worried. 

Ben still couldn’t believe he’d decked Queen Bee.

Man, that had been epic.

The ride home had been annoyingly quiet and it made Ben fidget a lot. By the time the bioship landed, he was launching himself off of it and into the mountain. He ignored the surprised protests of the others and just ran until he found himself stumbling into the med-bay.

He panted a little, catching his breath, before slumping into one of the chairs and holding his head. He winced a little as the doors slid open again, and didn’t even look up to see who was standing there.

“Ben?” Ben was a little surprised that it was Robin who said, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Ben replied, “I just need a second. It’s been a long couple of days.” 

“...I’m sorry.” Robin muttered, making Ben’s head go up in surprise. The boy wonder looked rejected, his head fallen and his hand on his arm. He looked ashamed.

“You’re sorry? For what?” Ben said in disbelief. 

“Maybe if I’d taken better charge. Maybe if I made sure Garfeild didn’t run out like that and get hurt…” Robin said, “She hurt you, didn’t she?”

“She didn’t.” Ben said firmly.

“But she did.” Robin cut in. “Maybe not physically, but she got in your head. I just… I keep thinking about everything I could’ve done better. Could’ve stopped her from doing that to you.” 

“Not your fault.” Ben immediately countered, “Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna be fine, but you guys staring at me like I’ve grown a second head isn’t really helping me, okay? Just give me a sec. I need to process… All of this. Okay?” Robin grimaced, wincing.

“Right. Sorry. Do you want me to get your brother or?”

“No.” Ben sighed, “I just need to clear my head, okay? Tell him I’m okay. I just need some space for a second, okay? Unless you see Batman… Then maybe send him my way. I need to tell him something.” Robin nodded, turning to go. Ben noticed he still seemed reluctant as the boy glanced back, his eyebrow furrowed in clear distress.

Jeesh. This whole thing was weighing on the kid, wasn’t it? Ben had been kidnapped on the mission Ben wanted Robin to lead, after all. It was easy to forget that Robin was only thirteen. He acted a lot older. 

“For the record.” Ben called out, making the kid pause in the doorway, “You did good for your first go. I’ve had worse missions. I’m not exactly the world's best team leader sometimes. Don’t beat yourself up over Queen Bee being a creep. I chose to stay behind. That’s not on you. Don’t stress, okay, Rob? I’m gonna be okay.” 

“...Are you?” Robin asked, “I don’t think any of us have ever seen you so freaked. It was scary.”

“I’m okay.” Ben insisted. Robin eyed Ben skeptically, before seemingly deciding not to press further.

“Okay.” He said, before turning to leave, “We’re here if you need us.”

“Yep.” Ben agreed. Robin left without another word. Ben relaxed in the chair, exhaustion flooding his entire body in the process. He was pretty sure he hadn’t slept in almost forty-two hours at that point. He probably needed to go back to the apartment and go to bed… But he didn’t really want to move. 

He dozed off a little in the chair for maybe an hour before the door slid open again, and heavier footsteps entered.

“He’s asleep.” Batman muttered, “We should get his brother to take him home. We can debrief the mission with the rest of the team later. They all seem wiped out.” 

“I’m awake.” Ben grumbled, “Just tired.” He lifted his head, peering at the Dark Knight and Black Canary, who stared down at him, “Rob tell you I wanted to talk?”

“It can wait until tomorrow.” Batman assured him, “Albedo’s going to take you home for the night, unless you want me to get a room here ready.” Ben grumbled and pulled himself up more.

“I need to step down as team leader. I need Kaldur to take over.” Ben said immediately. Batman paused, his expression as unreadable as ever.

“We can discuss this later. When you’re more awake and you’ve gotten time to rest and recover.” Batman countered.

“I was thinking about stepping down before I went on that mission.” Ben replied, “I think my plans just got expedited by that lady.” 

Batman raised a brow.

“Why?” Was his only question.

“It’s complicated.” Was Ben’s only response as he broke eye contact, “I’ll stay here tonight. I don’t feel like going back to the apartment right now. I think I scared Al. I’m not sure I want to face that right now. I know he’s worried but I just want to sleep, really.” 

“I’ll get the Reds to get a room ready.” Batman replied quickly, “...You did good, Ben. Welcome back.” Ben hummed in acknowledgement and waved Batman off. The Dark Knight, almost mirroring Robin’s behavior, took a second glance back towards Ben before leaving.

And then it was just him and Canary. 

She didn’t say anything. Didn’t try coaxing him into telling her anything or even try asking if he was alright. She just settled down, pulling another chair up so she was facing him and waited patiently. Her arms crossed and her face relaxed. 

Ben sat there, letting the silence hang between them for a long time. Strangely grateful that she wasn’t asking him questions or trying to get him to talk.

His head fell.

He broke the silence first.

“...I don’t think I’m okay, Canary.”

Notes:

And for the rest of his time in the YJ universe, Ben decided to go to therapy.

This chapter is something I decided to insert before the next arc and is super short. Therefore, there will be a second post later today or tomorrow with chapter 134 that starts the Agendas arc.

Chapter 134: Wayne Gets A Tour.

Notes:

Don't forget to read 133 before this!

Albedo was glad that Benjamin was talking to Canary now, and he’d been going into the cave early after school for the past week to talk. Clearly, whatever had happened with Queen Bee had shaken the teenaged hero in a way that Albedo had never seen before. Considering Albedo used to be Benjamin’s enemy, that said quite a lot.

So many of Benjamin’s enemies back in the Omniverse would’ve jumped at and taken full advantage of finding Ben Ten in the throes of a terrible panic attack. It had scared the entire team, and while Benjamin had spoken to Robin, Albedo and Wally both agreed that Robin seemed to blame his failure to fully take charge at first as the reason Benjamin was taken in the first place. It was a mess. On top of it all, Kaldur was going to be officially taking over as team leader in upcoming missions.

But Benjamin was safe and physically unharmed. So things had room to get better. 

Batman would have disapproved of it and it would’ve caused an international incident but…

Albedo should’ve just killed that woman. 

Albedo didn’t really care if that’s not what the heroes of the League did, Albedo wasn’t in the League and he wasn’t exactly the most stereotypical goodie-two-shoes hero. If he ever saw her face again, he was going to make her forever regret messing with his brother. 

“You with me?” Albedo was pulled from his thoughts, and glanced over to Bruce, who offered him a raised eyebrow.

“Just thinking about…” Albedo trailed off before shrugging uselessly, “Well, you know.”

“He’s going to be okay. He’s a tough kid.” Bruce assured Albedo.

“Yeah, I know.” Albedo agreed, “I’m just worried that’s part of the problem. He isn’t one to say if he’s bothered by something. He’s a better actor than I sometimes… Anyways, I’ve got you programmed to go to the new location, Bruce.” Albedo pulled his hands away from the computer and motioned towards the jury rigged Zeta beam set-up he’d been keeping stowed in his Wayne lab to travel to Geno-Town faster.

“I’m pretty sure I should be concerned that you were so easily able to hijack out Zeta beams for your own personal projects.” Bruce mused.

“Frankly, you should be concerned with a lot of the things I spend my free time on.” Albedo admitted as he rose from the computer to stand next to Bruce, “If you weren’t, I’d have to check to make sure someone hadn’t replaced my boss and friend with an evil duplicate trying to lure me into a false sense of security.” 

“Honestly, I do not know what that says about our partnership.” Bruce chuckled.

“The way I see it? I trust you to take me down, Wayne. So long as you know I am perfectly willing to return the favor.” Albedo replied with a small laugh. 

“Fair enough. Shall we get moving?” Bruce asked.

“Yes. Lets not keep my partner-in-crime waiting. He’s been nervous about this meeting since I brought it up with him. Best we get it over sooner than later.” Albedo agreed before turning the hidden Zeta beam on.

“Recognized: Reflect B-01. Batman 02.” With a flash of light, the duo were walking out into the buzzing hub of operations in Geno-Town. Immediately, Bruce’s eyes widened in surprise, and his expression quickly looked impressed as he stepped forwards to look out the glass window at the bustling underground city below them. Genomorphs buzzed around below, working on their almost alien-like homes. Little markets and such where popped up along the south wall. On top of the cavern roof, electric and light-type Genomorphs took shifts lighting the city with an ethereal emerald glow. It was like being transported to another world.

It was like being home again.

“Welcome to Geno-Town.” Albedo said as he motioned broadly to the scene below them with his Ultimatrix arm.

“...Do you ever get a second of downtime, or are you somehow a worse workaholic than I am?” Bruce asked, sounding a little amused.

“The genomorphs did most of the construction, I’ve just been working with their leader to plan it out and to, ah, liberate the genomorphs to this place of refuge.” Albedo admitted as he then rubbed the back of his head, “But, I will confess, I do not get as much sleep as I likely ought to. I love to work. It makes me happy.”  

“I see you’ve brought our guest.” Albedo spun away from the window at the voice of Dubbilex and smiled. Bruce turned to face the horned genomorph, curiosity clearly painting his expression.

“Bruce, this is my good friend Dubbilex, a genomorph with telekinesis and telepathic abilities. He is the elected leader of Geno-Town and my fellow architect of this city.” Albedo introduced, “Dubbilex, this is my employer, Mr. Wayne.” 

“Dr. Tennyson speaks highly of you and your character, Mr. Wayne.” Dubbilex said with a small nod, “We are happy to have you. You’re the first outsider to have stepped foot in our town… We are all rather excited for your arrival and what it means for us… But of course, that’s getting ahead of ourselves. You’re here to meet with the human boy.”

“How am I the first outsider if you have a human boy here?” Bruce asked. Dubbilex made a pained expression, which Albedo deciphered easily, but he knew most humans wouldn’t have been able to interpret.   

“He is the source of the DNA for Cadmus’s human trials. He’s been with Cadmus, on ice, for a few years now. He is one of us, even if he was not born of Cadmus like the rest of us… Dr. Tennyson was also not born through Cadmus, but he is also one of us, for he has helped to build our home. This boy’s well-being is important to us, which makes this meeting all the more important.” Dubbilex explained. 

“Is he being taken care of? Albedo informed me that he’s young. Is his educational needs being met? Is he training to be able to fill in as Red X for Albedo?” Bruce questioned.  

“He’s more trained at fighting than I.” Albedo said with a chuckle, “I’ve been personally overseeing that he is getting an education. He’s in the recreational hall, waiting on us. He’s hardly the first teenager I’ve been tasked with looking out for.” 

“Take me to him, then.” Bruce ordered. Albedo and Dubbilex shared a nod, before motioning for Bruce to follow. Albedo couldn’t help but be amused by how Bruce’s eyes darted around the alien halls of the building they were in, taking everything in with a calculating look Albedo had only ever seen in his own eyes when he was looking in a mirror. 

Bruce was a kindred spirit, in some sense, to Albedo …And maybe even the rest of the Galvans. He was a hyper-intelligent human, yet possessed no inhuman abilities. Even so, he strove to make the world he was in better, even if his paranoia got in the way sometimes. He was a skilled actor as well, seemingly dizzy and dumb on all media outlets, but in reality, was one of the more intelligent humans out there. 

“Did they carve out this cavern?” He questioned.

“Some of it. Other parts we reinforced.” Albedo replied, “We had to make sure the structure of it all wouldn’t cause sinkholes and other such issues above.” 

“That would be bad.” Albedo merely hummed in agreement before they came to the double doors of the recreational area. Albedo paused, glancing back towards Bruce as he placed his hands on the door.

“...I’d brace yourself, Wayne… A lot of things will make sense when you meet my partner, but it will bring a lot of questions as well. Let's just say… You know him, and yet… He is also a stranger to you.” Albedo explained.

“I need to make sure you and this other kid aren’t putting yourselves so deep into this mission against Luthor that you’re going to get yourselves killed.” Bruce replied. Albedo and Dubbilex exchanged looks.

‘He doesn’t know what you are.’ Dubbilex noted, ‘If he is a friend, why does he not know?’

‘You know my past is complicated.’ Albedo replied, ‘He’ll learn one day, but for now, let's start with this. His is a friendship I wish to keep, after all. He is good company.’ Dubbilex didn’t say anything further, and motioned for Albedo to go inside.

The recreational area was built for community reasons. There were a lot of places scattered around Geno-Town ment for community and entertainment. This one was meant for the Genomorphs who were staying in the main building of operations. They had their own games they’d come up with that suited their different biologies. Having a space to enjoy these things was well beyond anything they’d been granted at Cadmus.

One of said games was going on when they went inside, with a set of batons being passed frantically around the room, with dodging and weaving, as the smaller Genomorphs acted as ‘thieves’ and the larger one’s took the ‘protectors’ roles and medium ones where often ‘runners’ and ‘scouts’. If Albedo recalled correctly, the object of the game was similar to the human game of capture the flag, only with multiple marks, random superpowers involved, and sometimes multiple teams on the field at the same time.

Roy was sitting, arms crossed in a pouting manner, turned away from Bruce and the rest as he glared at the battle for the batons in front of him. If Albedo had to guess, he’d been penalized for unnecessary aggression again, which when fighting Genomorphs, was honestly an impressive feat. 

Albedo moved next to him and cleared his throat.

“You’ve got a visitor, Mr. Harper.” Albedo informed the fifteen year old. Roy startled immediately, spinning to face Bruce, and his eyes widening a little at the man’s face.

“...Bruce.” Roy said quickly, “It’s been a long time.” Bruce froze, looking like a deer in headlights as he stared at Roy.

“Roy.” Bruce said slowly before he glanced at Albedo, “This is the human DNA sample you uncovered? He’s not a clone?”

“He is the original.” Dubbilex replied, “He slept for three years. His identity had been replaced by his copy.” 

“...Red Arrow.” Bruce muttered, and he buried his hands in his pockets as he considered this, “Oliver doesn’t know?”

“No.” Albedo said, “He’s too close to the issue. Red Arrow’s been a sleeper agent for three years, and if his handlers get any indication that we know he’s not the original Roy Harper…”

“Clone might get killed, and our plan to really mess Luthor up for kidnapping me, imprisoning me, stealing my arm, then cloning and icing me, goes up in smoke.” Roy said plainly, “We need the clone to continue with his mission… But only to a degree. We cannot let him ever gain full access to the Justice League. That’s what they want.”

“But we can make his handler’s think that’s where this is going.” Albedo agreed, “And keep them focused on him, while the original Roy and I…”

“Shut them down from the inside.” Roy concluded, “But if Ollie found out…”

“He would risk tipping them off that we know.” Bruce mused. Roy’s expression went pained, but he nodded in agreement.

“Once we expose the Light for what they are, it won’t matter. But right now, it’s important that this stays as quiet as possible. The Cadmus refugees know a lot about the situation, because they know who Roy is to the program. But they have just as much interest as Roy and I in stopping the enemy. The enemy wants to make them into weapons. They want to use them for their own plots. They just want to live their lives.” Albedo agreed, “You’re the first person outside of myself who isn’t from Cadmus to know about all of this. Not even Benjamin knows. He only knows about Red X. He knows I have a partner…”

“But he doesn’t know who it is.” Bruce said in understanding. Albedo nodded, before shaking his head.

“Honestly, I would tell him… I held back because I didn’t want to involve him in my escapades as Red X, but after he was taken by Queen Bee… He’s got a lot going on. A lot of things to worry about. His burden, Bruce, is one I would not wish on my worst enemies. And I fear in a short while… That burden will grow all the more heavy.” 

“We’re lucky he was able to hold back from telling her all of our secrets.” Bruce mused, “He did a very good job resisting, considering the stressful circumstances.” 

“But it adds to the point.” Albedo said, “That the more people outside that know about the Red X operation and about Roy, the more dangerous. This also brings into account another problematic factor that’s quickly growing more pressing the longer I wait to address it.”

“And what would that be?” Bruce asked.

“Project Match.” Albedo replied.

Notes:

Since I decided to upload two chapters today instead of one, I'm gonna let ya'll know you should read chapter 133 as well.

Anywho, have a good week everyone!

Chapter 135: Ben and Canary.

“I’m ready to go home.” Ben said with a small sigh as he leaned back in his seat, stirring the straw in his smoothie. 

“You said your brother’s made great progress with the device that will take you back.” Canary said with a smile, “And your team will support you until you go.” 

“No offense to the team, they’re great and everything. I care about them a lot and this whole experience has been a real breath of air after the craziness that is being Ben Ten, but I just… The idea of staying here forever kinda stresses me out. I know Al is close to being done, but I dunno. I guess I’m just scared it won’t work and I won’t see my family again, you know?” 

“Well, have you informed the team about any of this?” Canary asked.

“No.” Ben huffed, “And I told Al to keep it to himself.”

“Why?” Canary asked, “They’d easily support you and do everything they can to help you get home. A lot of them have felt loss and would do anything to save the ones they loved. Why wouldn’t they do the same for their friend?” Ben opened and closed his mouth before grimacing.

“I… Don’t know.” He muttered, “It doesn’t make sense, I know. You people deal with weird time travel and aliens and all that stuff all the time. My problem’s another Tuesday, and yet… I don’t like the idea of talking about it. With them. Or anyone really. I guess I only talk with Al about it when he’s giving progress updates, but… I dunno. I’m only talking about it now because I figured I ought to after everything that’s happened lately.” 

“You mean with Queen Bee.” Canary said carefully. Ben scowled, his eyes found the floor and he clenched his fist.

“Yeah.” He grumbled, “Her.” 

“She didn’t–” Canary’s voice was very careful.

“The most she did physically was grab my face, mess with my hair, tug on my wrist, or put her hands on my shoulders. She didn’t hurt me. I have a feeling that was kinda the point. Her whole thing is making people do what she wants them to do. It’s a lot harder to keep someone complacent if she’s starting out with hurting them. She starts small, is super hospital and soft about it, then slowly tightens the noose. I’m lucky it was only a day and a half I was with her. She’d barely gotten started.” Ben shook his head, “She mostly tried getting information out of me. Kept interrogating me and stuff. I fed her a lot of half truths and lies. I dunno how I managed to. It felt terrible to do it. But I managed. I should be fine. I protected the team from her and she didn’t actually do anything to me but… I’m not. I don’t know why I’m not. I’ve never felt this weird about anything before.”  

“Just because she didn’t actively try to hurt your person doesn’t mean she didn’t hurt you Ben.” Canary informed him, “Not all damage is physical.”

“I mean, I get that, but I’ve been through things most people would freak over and I was completely fine… Well fine is sorta relative. I won’t say I’ve been entirely unshaken by it all. I just got used to it. You know that. But then it’s this? This one kidnapping experience that makes me freak in front of literally everyone, and it’s like the dumbest thing ever and I don’t get it.”

“Is it dumb, Ben?” Canary said with a lifted brow.

“Yeah, I let her string me along like a puppet and I barely fought back.” Ben grumbled, “She didn’t hurt me. And yet I was this dumb, starstruck idiot that would’ve done whatever it took to make her happy. It’s stupid, and it’s hardly the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.” 

“Just because you’ve dealt with worse doesn’t mean how you feel about what happened this time is any less valid.” Canary pointed out, “And it isn’t dumb, Ben. You shouldn’t play off your emotions about something as dumb, or call yourself an idiot for someone else taking advantage of your affections. Emotions like love and admiration are very personal things that we humans choose to give. When people take those things and twist them against us in order to use us, it hurts.”

“I still feel like an idiot.” Ben insisted. 

“You’re not.” Canary assured him. He gave her a deadpanned look.

“I literally followed her like a lost puppy, Canary. I was an idiot.”

“She has the power to control people who are attracted to her. You aren’t an idiot. She used her powers against you. That isn’t your fault, and you shouldn’t blame yourself for her actions.” 

“I guess.” 

“I think that maybe we should think through your internal dialogue when it comes to your image of yourself.” Canary said, “You keep referring to yourself as an idiot, or as arrogant, or as a jerk. While self-introspection about your attitude as a hero can be good for growth, beating yourself down for being arrogant or for assuming you must be an idiot is not at all constructive. Instead, I want you to work on focusing on the good things, and when you tell yourself you’re an idiot for something like this, I want you to step back, and really think about everything you're doing that is good.” 

“What part of getting puppeted by an evil queen is good, Canary?”

“This goes beyond just what happened with Queen Bee.” Canary clarified, “For example, you’ve mentioned that you think highly of your cousin and brother because of how intelligent they are. But do you think at all about the areas in which you yourself are intelligent? Not all brilliance comes from reading books after all.” Ben hummed thoughtfully at that as he rubbed his palms together. He got what she was saying. But that didn’t make him feel any less stupid. Queen Bee had used him to try and get to the Omnitrix, which was nothing new for Ben… But this time felt… oddly terrible. She messed with his emotions, and it really sucked. 

“I managed to keep the team’s secrets from her.” Ben muttered. 

“Which was a very noble thing to do. Not many people in that position would have managed that. Maybe instead of focusing so much on her kidnapping and controlling you when you call yourself an idiot… Think about what you did have control of and how you were able to protect people by leveraging that. Now, this doesn’t make the trauma of what happened go away. But if you focus so much on all the things you did wrong or think you did wrong, but never on what you managed to do right, it can weigh on you and cause more problems in the long term. Sometimes thinking too much about what you could’ve done differently hurts more than it helps. Does this make sense?”

“I mean, it does, it’s just… Hard.” Ben replied honestly.

“That’s okay. Things like this are easy to say, but harder in practice. It just takes time and discipline to get out of certain habits and to replace them with new ones.” Canary agreed with an understanding nod, “On that same thought, I want you to think of ways you can remind yourself to practice this. I also want you to think hard about what you intend to do to take care of your mental well-being once you go back home.”

“It’s not gonna be as easy as calling a superhero therapist when I go back.” Ben pointed out with a sigh.

“I understand that.” Canary agreed, “But masking and bottling up emotions to the degree you’ve gotten into the practice of doing can be very bad for you. It can take a toll on your body and your health. If therapy isn’t an option for whatever reason, then seek trusted advice. Or, I like to recommend keeping a journal to use when you need to work through hard emotions.”

“A journal feels like a perfect way to create blackmail material.” Ben immediately said with the wrinkle of his nose.

“You don’t have to keep it. You can dispose of it once you’ve filled it. What’s important is getting your emotions out of your head so you can process them in a healthy manner.” Canary explained. 

“I guess that could work. I had been considering talking a little more with Rook about this stuff… He’s the most level-headed person I know. And I trust him with my life. I think he’d be able to help, you know?”

“That’s good!” Canary said with a smile, “I’m glad you’ve been thinking about this! That’s a good sign! In addition, I want you to try and be more open to conversations with your family and friends when you are having a hard time. From what you tell me, I’m sure they’d be willing to help you out, but they won’t do that unless you are willing to let them know you need it.”

“Okay, but what about the things I shouldn’t tell them. Like with my parents and stuff. They’re civilians, you know.” Ben asked.

“Yes, there are likely a lot of things you can’t talk about with certain people. That’s part of the job, after all. I’m not asking you to dump everything on them, I’m asking you to be open when you are able, and to seek help when you realize you need it. For things you can’t talk about, I want you to find a healthy way to process those emotions related to those topics.”

“Yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense.” Ben mused.

“I’m glad. I think each session, we should work towards making that easier for you to do and on figuring out how you want to work through these things.” Canary explained. 

“Yeah?”

“Do you think that’s something you’ll be able to do?” Canary asked, raising a brow. Ben just shrugged, managing a small smile.

“Well, I mean I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.” Canary smiled, nodding.

“Good. I think we should wrap up for today. We’re making good progress.” Ben found himself smiling back.
“You think?” Canary just nodded in response, standing up and beckoning for him to follow her out of the soundproof room. He followed quickly behind, only to startle a little when Albedo was outside, waiting with a strange look in his eyes. He looked relaxed as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. 

“How are you Benjamin?” He asked, with the tilt of his head.

“Much better.” Ben replied.

“...I’m glad to hear… Would you be up to helping me with a little project?” Albedo asked, “It might turn into field work.”

Ben looked at Canary who shrugged.

“If you think you feel up to doing field work, you should. I know you like mission work.” She pointed out. Ben nodded.

“Right. What do you have in mind then?”

“I’ll explain more at home.” Albedo said with a smirk, “Don’t worry, I think you’ll have a lot of fun with this.”

Notes:

And thus, Albedo's schemes start to unfold.

As a side note, I feel the need to once more point out that I am not a therapist or a psychologist... I'm a professional graphic designer. So counseling/therapy-wise, I can't really say how accurate any of Ben's conversations with Canary are to therapy. (I've been to therapy before, but it's been awhile, so the details or a few of the concepts she brings up might be off).

Chapter 136: Misdirection.

“This plan is insane.” Roy expressed as he secured the Red X mask over his face, “Like, I know we’ve been talking about rescuing and fixing Match for awhile now… But this is so… Confusing. How the heck do you come up with half the nonsense you do, Doc?” 

“Bruce and I workshopped the details together.” Albedo said with a small wave, “I’ve been working all day yesterday and most of last night on putting everything in place… Bruce can’t help oversee anything, because of his meeting with the League today, but he is trusting we don’t ruin things.”

“Bruce has the worst trust issues.” Roy scoffed, “I really doubt that’s true.”

“Nethertheless, we started stage one last night. And Luthor is calling on Red X right on cue. You play your role, I play mine. And we’ll have Match repaired all without showing our hands… I believe Zatanna explained to me that this tactic is called ‘misdirection.’ If executed well, Luthor will be none the wiser of your freedom or the location of his Genomorphs.”

“Whatever. I get to fight an angry Kryptonian, so I’m not gonna complain too much. These mana reserves are topped up?”

“With extras.” Albedo tossed Roy a back-up pack, “I’ve also installed a subpower unit that’s exclusively there to simulate my teleportation. You only get ten jumps. I programmed the coordinates to Luthor’s Cadmus office into your wristband as well as the coordinates to Geno-Town. Do not teleport to Geno-Town if Luthor places a camera on you.”

“I figured. Can I go? The bald creep is probably wondering why Red X isn’t there yet.” Roy asked as he placed the back-up pack onto his utility belt. Albedo nodded.

“We need to get this mission finished quickly, but convincingly… M’gann is expecting me to come to some dinner celebration for the November holiday.”

“...Someone has got to explain human holidays better to you, Doc. Your brother did not do a good job.” Roy said with a huff, “You better bring me leftovers after.”

“Of course. Now, remember, be aloof. That’s the key to playing Red X.” Albedo reminded him, “Red X doesn’t have a vendetta against Luthor.” Roy just grumbled.

“Yeah, yeah. Stop your fussing, Doc. I got it.” The teen pulled his gauntlet up, putting in the setting to teleport to Luthor’s office. A flash of red later, and Roy was gone. Albedo stared at where Roy had been for a moment, before pulling out an amber-colored necklace he’d gotten Zatara to teach him how to make.

“I do hope this works like he explained.” Albedo muttered before he gripped the gemstone of the necklace, pulsing his mana into it and syncing it up to him. Albedo pulled the necklace on, and watched, with a bit of fascination his white bangs shifted to brown, which would hold up a lot better in action than any wig Albedo used. Plus, it did a fantastic job at hiding the Ultimatrix from prying eyes, as his wrist seemed to be bare even when the pressure of the Ultimatrix hadn't left him.

“Perfect.” Albedo decided as he proceeded to tuck the charm into his shirt. He pulled on his hat, then unfolded his sunglasses as he glanced at the frantic messages from  Dr. Spence, who was demanding he ‘get his butt to Cadmus immediately, because there was an emergency.’ He rolled his eyes and pulled his sunglasses on, before teleporting himself to the alleyway behind the Cadmus facilities. 

He readjusted his lab coat, before walking out onto the streets as if he had all the time in the world and leisurely approaching the building. Guardian, as usual, was waiting for him just inside.

“Glad you're here Dr. Tennyson!” He said quickly, “Dr. Spence has been causing an uproar over something, and I’ve been trying to get her to calm down and…”

“You’re Dr. Tennyson?” Someone else cut in, and Albedo glanced over his shoulder as Lex Luthor, tailed by Red X and a very agitated Dr. Spence, came into the lobby, “The genetic micro-evolution expert that Mr. Wayne was sent over from his Washington think tank for accountability reasons after Cadmus’s… Troubling incidents?”  

“Troubling seems like it’s an understatement, but yes. What in blazes name could be so important that I was pulled from my festivities with my brother so abruptly?” Albedo asked as he pulled his sunglasses down. 

“There are missing genomorphs.” Dr. Spencer grouched. Albedo lifted a brow in her direction.

“Excuse me?” He said in dismay, “Missing how? The genomorphs are so vastly alien compared to the rest of this city, they don’t just go missing.” 

“That’s what we’re here to figure out. It seems someone has stolen quite a large quantity of the genomorphs within the last twenty-four hours. Some of which are capable of absolutely leveling the capitol.” 

“Excuse me?” Albedo repeated, “Once more, how? Isn’t he supposed to be making sure security is operational here?” Albedo gestured angrily towards Guardian, who startled, looking briefly surprised before scowling.

“Hey, now, wait a minute. I’ve been checking on the different genomorphs regularly. They’ve all been here up until now.”

Now, that wasn’t true… Not that Dubbilex let Guardian realize that. Albedo was going to have to get Guardian a gift basket to say sorry once everything that was actually going on came to light. The poor man really was entwined in a major conspiracy that had him getting thrown left and right and left to the wolves time and time again. 

“I’m only here once every week.” Albedo huffed, “I have other obligations. I honestly expect so little when it comes to not losing an entire group of genomorphs. They are docile now, but they can be weaponized if given to the wrong hands. Is the issue at a loss to you Guardian?” 

“Is it lost to you, Dr. Tennyson?” Dr. Spence asked as she put her hands to her hips and scowled, “I don’t know what I expected agreeing to let some kid with bad tastes in hats and terrible time management work with us on the genomorph projects.” Albedo’s sound of offense was actually real as he grasped his sun hat’s brim.

“I’ve told you. I have a skin condition. I need this for my health.” Albedo countered, “And you’re actually here all the time, did you notice anything that would indicate someone stealing the Genomorphs? Unless of course, this is the result of yet another conspiracy, and for some unfathomable reason, someone’s decided to resume the original mission of Cadmus?” 

Albedo then turned his heel so he was facing Luthor, “Don’t think I’ve not heard the rumors about you, Mr. Luthor.”

“I think we are getting carried away.” Lex immediately replied, “We want to conduct an investigation, but I think we might need more help than just a teen in a lab coat and one of my most trusted scientists and security details. I’ve called Red X in to assist, as some of these genomorphs can be very dangerous. I’ve also set on making alternate arrangements due to one project in particular that was taken last night.” 

“What project would that be?” Albedo asked.

“Project Match.” Luthor said with a smile, “And if I’ve planned this out right, our helper for securing Project Match will be here in the next few hours.” 

“The heck is Project Match?” Albedo growled, “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“You probably weren’t cleared for it, kid.” Red X popped up, and Albedo snapped his eyes towards Red X.

“My entire purpose for being here is to insure the integrity of the new Cadmus program after the old one was revealed to have unethical experimentation. I work for Wayne, not Luthor. I’m basically here to audit this group and ensure the genomorphs are treated properly and the experiments are humane. My hearing of a Project now, after the genomorphs have apparently gone missing, is very concerning. I should’ve been cleared for it.”

“Oh, what, a thirteen year old should know all about some random project?” Red X mocked.

“I’m almost seventeen.” Albedo replied and he rolled his eyes, “And yes. I might be young, but I have worked my entire life to garner respect and the knowledge to oversee complicated projects such as this one. The fact that apparently I wasn’t given vital information about something that is apparently now connected to the genomorphs disappearing doesn’t bode well. It looks really bad for Cadmus as a whole. So please, clarify to me exactly what this Project Match program is.”

“It is a discontinued Kryptonian cloning project… The results were dangerous and unstable. The fact that you don’t know of it is an oversight.” Luthor explained, “It is leftover from the old cadmus. As you may imagine, an unstable remement of a Kryptonian cloning project is not to be taken lightly.” Albedo let himself growl in irritation again. It was a little therapeutic, letting his actual emotions towards Luthor be more visible. He knew for a fact that his Cadmus operatives didn’t tell Dr. Tennyson about Match intentionally.

“A Kryptonian… Are you insane?!” Albedo demanded.

“As I stated, that was under the old Cadmus. This one seeks to remedy past mistakes.” 

Luthor was a good liar.

Albedo was a better actor. He turned quickly away from Luthor with a huff.

“So who then do you expect to correct this mistake, Mr. Luthor? Superman?” Albedo bit out. 

“Close.” Luthor said, a dangerous smile in his voice, “You’ve been sorting through Cadmus’s affairs… Which means you likely know of Project Kr.” 

Albedo’s eyebrows shot up in a mockery of surprise.

“Don’t worry, I have everything under control, Dr. Tennyson.”

Notes:

Luthor (Who assumes he's the smartest person in the room): I have a plan. I have everything under control.
Albedo (The actual smartest person in the room): Okay, but... Do you actually have everything under control?
Roy (Dressed as Red X): I'm having way too much fun messing with Luthor right now.

Also, is there a reason the Justice League had their huge meeting on Thanksgiving? Does anyone know the reasoning behind that? (I could see Alfred being real fussy about Bruce being late for Thanksgiving because the Justice League HAD to have their annual meeting on Thanksgiving. Same with the Kents about Clark being late).

I mean, I could see Luthor not caring about messing with Superboy on Thanksgiving, considering his family is a mess in many different iterations of his backstory, or just being flat out gone in other iterations. But the Justice League?

Chapter 137: Thanksgiving Morning.

It was probably a good thing he ditched the mountain pretty soon after M’gann started baking things with Zatanna, because everything smelled really, really good. Naturally, Ben had never actually had the ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving. When all of the Tennyson’s got together, it was always wild. 

Grandpa’s ‘turkey’ was always some exotic creature from somewhere. Ben’s mom was usually trying to smuggle as many vegan and healthy alternatives into the buffet line. Aunt Natalie almost always got in a war with Ben’s mom over it… Great Aunt Vera often had jello desserts that tasted suspiciously like broccoli. Uncle Frank and dad were usually trying to keep their wives from starting a war on the sort of food that ought to be cooked at a Thanksgiving meal. 

Great Uncle Gordon seemed to encourage Grandma Max’s weird cooking, urging his brother to try all sorts of bizarre dishes while Great Aunt Betty Jean would attempt to keep Cousin Lucy from trying to cause havoc amongst the grandchildren. Joel and Camille always tried to be helpful, but Camille, being an alien, didn’t always understand her husband’s bewilderment with his dad and uncle Max’s cooking. 

Poor Ken Tennyson had long learned to just stay away from the kitchen and chat it up with Ben while his sister Gwendolyn and Kevin awkwardly did damage control.

Grandma Veradona started popping in with Sunny, and things got way more out of control. Ben couldn’t remember half of his last Thanksgiving thanks to whatever the heck Grandma had been trying to do. 

So, yeah.

Ben had never had a ‘normal’ Thanksgiving. 

The smell of what seemed to be an actual normal Thanksgiving meal was both weird and strangely exciting to think about. For once, Ben knew he was getting turkey for dinner. He was way ready for that. 

Didn’t mean he wished he could enjoy the Tennyson version of Thanksgiving, just that a normal one sounded really delicious. Staying around the mountain had been making Ben really hungry, and Albedo had made it pretty clear there was work to be done back in D.C. 

So, Ben let M’gann know he and Albedo would be a little late for the dinner, expressing his condolences for not being able to stick around and help.

“Al has a project he’s trying to get done and I’m gonna do a thing back home as Deka.” Ben explained, “Trying to get some training and stuff done around the city.” Ben made sure Conner heard that Ben was already planning to be around Washington D.C. before he dipped, before he took the Zeta back ‘home’, geared up as Deka, and did a route around D.C., making sure people saw him in the area.

He was intentional in making sure he veered towards a specific park in D.C. near all of the highway bridges, East Potomac Park, after getting a text from Albedo telling Ben to be ready to go. Ben shifted from Jetray to Deka as he settled on top of one of the bridges and peered down to see Luthor and Red X themselves chatting with Conner, right on cue. 

Ben gave the group a sharp whistle, causing Luthor’s bodyguard, the scary lady with the robo arm, to snap her head up.

“Superboy! Yo! Whatcha doing in my town, man?” Ben called down, hollering through cupped hands. 

“...Deka?!” Superboy called back up. Ben shifted quickly into Spidermonkey, swinging himself down, before landing in the middle of the odd gathering.

“Jeesh, man, I’m waiting on Reflect. Wasn’t Miss. M wanting your help with dinner or something for the festivities tonight? What are you doing in D.C.?” Ben asked in confusion before he tilted his head towards the other three. 

Luthor’s teeth were gritting in clear agitation. Ben shifted back into Deka, raising a brow.

“...Um, what… Watcha got going on here, man?”

“Nothing. I was just leaving.” Superboy grumbled, “I forgot you like to roam around this area.” 

“I didn’t realize you had a specific city you protected.” Luthor said, lifting a brow.

“I mean, the League has their Hall of Justice here and stuff… I just jump in for the huge disasters in this area. I’m mostly a roamer… But I do crash around here whenever I’m bored.” Ben said quickly, “So… What is this? This looks, like, all kinds of shifty.” 

“I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m Lex Luthor.” Luthor offered Deka a hand, “The new chairman of the board at Cadmus.” Ben glanced at Luthor’s hand, then to Superboy.

“Cadmus, like…”

“Yeah.” Superboy grunted, looking agitated, “My Cadmus.”

“Oof.” Ben said with a smile of sympathy, “Well, I’m Deka. I’m a shapeshifter.” Ben reached forwards and shook Luthor’s hand, “But you seemed like you knew that already.” Ben noted how Luthor’s eyes immediately drifted from Ben’s face to the watch secured on his arm.

“Yes. It was in a report on the break-in that freed Superboy… Besides I saw you on the news during the plant incident. You and your brother took out a threat that teams of the Justice League had to work together on. Impressive, I must say.” 

“All in a day’s work… So why are you and Mr. Red X, the guy who won’t leave me alone, and Superboy getting all chummy in my town?” Ben could tell by how tall Red X was next to Superboy that it wasn’t Albedo wearing the mask. Ben wasn’t as tall as Superboy, but he wasn’t that much smaller than him. Besides, Albedo had already mentioned Red X would be played by his mysterious partner for this stunt.

“Sup, Deka.” Red X offered Ben a small wave, “Good to see you.”

“Can’t say the same unless you are planning to play nice this time instead of attacking me again.” Ben replied.

“Nah.” Red X shrugged, “I’ve got other things to do today. Maybe some other time.” 

“Look, I called Superboy here because I found something in Cadmus he might be interested in.” Luthor cut in, “It doesn’t require your assistance, I’m afraid.” Ben raised a brow, glancing towards Superboy, who scowled.

“Deka’s a friend. Whatever you think is so important… He can handle it. Besides, I already said I didn’t want anything to do with you or Cadmus.” Superboy went to grab Ben’s wrist, and Ben immediately cringed, flinching away.

“Er… Maybe don’t…” Superboy immediately winced. 

“Sorry. Forgot.” He muttered, “We’re leaving. You’re right. Miss. Martian needed help today.” 

“Cadmus found another Kryptonian clone. One they’re hiding from you and Superman.” Luthor cut in, making Superboy’s entire body go extremely rigid. Ben let his eyes widen a little.

“...What?” Superboy half exhaled, half growled.

“I know.” Luthor put on a small show, as if lamenting, “I was surprised when I uncovered the information. As was the Wayne Enterprises genetics expert, Dr. Tennyson, who’s been raving non-stop all afternoon about the whole ordeal. 

“Dr. Tennyson?” Superboy’s eyes shifted to Ben, before quickly breaking away, as if realizing it was probably not a good idea to acknowledge Deka might have a connection to the name Tennyson.

“Yes, a brilliant young mind. Before I was fully put in charge of the board, Dr. Tennyson has been, ah, auditing the program. Attempting to eradicate the unethical practices that had once been conducted there. Last night, I uncovered this sinister plot, and I called the good doctor in immediately. This morning, I called you, as I know it would be a great concern to you.” 

“And you’re sure it’s not just now being discovered because Superman’s conveniently off world today?” Superboy accused.

Luthor raised his hands in mock surrender.

“I assure you, I have the purest intentions.”

“...Show us.” Ben cut in. 

Luthor merely smiled.

Notes:

I'd imagine Thanksgiving at the Tennysons would be a hoot. I had to look up their family tree a couple times just to remember all of the random branches to it. Totally forgot Vera (Aunt Vera) and Gordon (from the big fat alien wedding episode of the original) were Max's siblings.

Ngl, almost forgot to post today. I decided to bake gluten-free blondies & lemon bars and then enjoy the nice weather... Sat down at the computer and remembered, right. It's Saturday.

That being said, I mentioned a one-shot would be coming out in a previous chapter. The one-shot is coming out today right after this chapter gets posted. Both the one-shot and this chapter haven't really been that heavily edited due to the whole 'I almost forgot to post thing' so... Yeah...

Anywho, have a good weekend ya'll!

Chapter 138: Damaged.

Superboy wasted no time in storming into the new Cadmus building, and marching up to where Guardian and some doctor lady were speaking with the double horned Genomorph Ben remembered from when they’d found Superboy at Cadmus. The telepath/telekinetic guy, if Ben remembered right.

“Where’s the other Superman clone?” Superboy demanded.

Guardian frowned and Superboy burst in.

“Welcome home, Superboy.” His eyes shifted to where Ben walked in, before he crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame to watch whatever conversation was about to happen, “Deka, good to see you.” 

Ben nodded in response.

“The other clone?” Ben asked.

“...We don’t know.” Guardian said, “Last night, a large number of our Genomorphs disappeared, including Project Match.” 

“...He’s missing?!” Superboy growled. 

“Unfortunately, yes.” Superboy startled as Albedo himself came walking out of another room, a clipboard in hand, donning a lab coat over his red sweater and sporting his brown haired, green-eyed disguise. Ben couldn’t help but notice how the Ultimatrix was seemingly not on his wrist. Albedo had mentioned taking precautions to hide it so that Luthor wouldn’t so easily connect Dr. Tennyson to Reflect and Deka. Seemed like he’d done a really good job at it.

Superboy’s expression lightened at Albedo’s appearance, before immediately going hard.

“And you are?” Ben asked, tilting his head.

“I’m Dr. Albedo Tennyson.” Albedo replied, and he lowered his clipboard to offer Superboy his hand, “I’m from Wayne Enterprises and I’m–”

“Luthor told me why you're here already.” Superboy bit out, “How in the world did you lose a Superboy clone and how long did you know about this?” 

“This just happened last night.” Guardian cut in, “We’re working to fix the issue.”

“But a missing clone like that does raise… Concerns.” Albedo agreed as he brought the clipboard up, “According to the files Mr. Luthor provided me with, Match is highly volatile… He was the first attempt at creating you… And his mind was severely affected by the intense genetic damage that he underwent in their pathetic and horribly crude methods of creating a clone. Kryptonians are complex compared to humans and Cadmus was never as equipped to create clones of them as Dr. Desmond likely wanted them to be.” 

“You keep claiming you could’ve done better.” The female doctor scoffed.

“I could’ve.” Albedo agreed, “But it’s not a question of if I can, but if I should. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Superman never did consent to have his DNA submitted for cloning, now did he, Dr. Spence?”

The lady, Dr. Spence, made a face at that. 

“That’s besides the point, and I wasn’t the one who collected it or used it to make the clones.” She huffed, “Look, Superboy, the fact of the matter is, a lot of this information is new to us as well as we’ve been conducting the investigation on Cadmus’s old bones. Several things slipped through the cracks. And now, there’s an unstable clone of Superman that needs to be found immediately.”

“...His DNA is damaged? And that’s making him crazy?” Ben asked. Albedo’s eyes shone with a glint of excitement.

“I’ve got some ideas on how to repair that damage.” Albedo said carefully, his eyes now drifting down to the Omnitrix, “Some less complicated than others.” 

“...I mean, I can fix him on the field.” This made Dr. Spencer and Superboy both completely spin around to stare at Ben.

“You.” Dr. Spencer said, “Could fix a project that Dr. Desmond deemed unsalvageable.”

“I mean, when I met Dr. Desmond, he didn’t seem that stable.” Ben shrugged, “But I’ve turned into a Kyptionian multiple times before. I’ve got a complete, undamaged copy of Superman’s DNA. If I switch to genetic repair mode, I can literally fix the clone’s unstable DNA.”

“You can do that?” Superboy said in disbelief, “But… Your brother’s DNA has genetic damage, and you’ve never repaired Reflect’s DNA.”

  “Reflect damaged his DNA by messing with the same stuff that lets me transform.” Ben said in response, “His genetic damage is literally a result of the same abilities I use to fix messed up DNA. It was a whole feedback thing. I think Reflect’s the only one who can’t be fixed by that ability… Besides… Albinism is annoying, but he has a process for living with it. It’s not like it’s driving him crazy or going to severely hurt him. Just that he’s gotta be careful with how much extra sun he’s getting.”

“I had wondered why your supposed identical twin brother was albino whilst you were not.” Albedo mused, “That’s fascinating. I must meet your brother some time. His DNA must be quite an interesting study.” 

“I’ll ask him. He likes that sciency stuff, so I think he’d like a buddy to nerd out about it with.” Ben replied.

“Well, now. A genetic repair ability sounds extremely useful for this mission.” Ben didn’t react as Luthor stepped into the room, trailed by Red X and his bodyguard. Superboy stiffened and spun towards Luthor, scowling. 

“We need to know more about the missing genomorphs.” Superboy declared, “...And about Project Match… I want to go back down to sub-level 52.” 

“I can escort you two down there.” Albedo immediately offered.

“You three.” Red X stepped forwards, tilting his head, “Sorry, Doc. But some random nerd in the bowels of Cadmus when a Krpytionian clone might be on the loose sounds like a pretty dumb idea.”

“Oh, like you’ve got the purest of intentions.” Superboy scoffed, “Didn’t you attack me and my friends literally last week?”

“It’s just business, Supes. Don’t take it too personally.” Red X said with a small wave, “Deka hasn’t.” 

“Deka also had a best friend who tried to kill me multiple times when I was ten and literally stole a ton of my grandpa’s tech to sell it to a shifty porcupine alien when I was fifteen. I’ve been told I’m not the best standard for stuff like that.” Ben admitted with a shrug.

“Besides.” Red X said, ignoring Ben’s comment, “Who knows what’s going on down there if genomorphs are going missing. You could use an extra set of hands.” 

“I’ll help as well.” Guardian said, standing up from his desk, “I don’t like the idea of the doctor going down there if there’s going to be a threat. I want to make sure he's as safe as he can be.” 

“Wonderful. It’ll be a fun adventure.” Ben said with a smile. He turned to Albedo.

“Lead the way, won’t you, Doctor T?” Albedo smirked.

“With pleasure.”

Notes:

Another short chapter setting the plot up. A lot of things have already shifted in this part of the arc alone just because Albedo's there, so there were some things Luthor couldn't lie about without Wayne's auditor noticing. Lucky for Luthor, the civilian doctor just volunteered to go down and look for a dangerous clone... Right?

...

Anywho, have a good weekend everyone!

Chapter 139: Secret Keepers.

‘Luthor is watching.’ Roy telepathically informed Albedo as they descended down into the bowels of Cadmus together, ‘Dubbilex is providing communications between me and you, but your brother is out of the loop for this.’

‘Benjamin will be fine.’ Albedo assured Roy as the elevator dinged at sub-level 52, ‘He knows his role. He’ll perform well… If Luthor asks you to betray. Do so. Benjamin and Suprboy can take it. I have my own contingencies. Guardian is one of Luthor’s assets.’

‘Just make sure they don’t uncover the true Geno-Town.’ Dubbilex reminded the red-themed duo, ‘Or the true fate of the real Roy Harper.’ Albedo steeled his expression while the twin doors slid open to the familiar halls.

He stepped forwards ahead of the others, already striding to where Superboy had once been held. 

“Jeesh, Doctor T.” Benjamin rushed forward, extending an arm in front of Albedo and halting him, “What part of investigating the disappearance of a damaged, crazed superman clone makes you think just rushing right in like that’s smart?” Albedo rolled his eyes.

“I can handle myself well enough, Deka.” He replied, “Besides, I am rather eager to find an explanation for all of the disappearances. This shouldn’t have come to my attention so late like it did. I have a lot to prove… These events as of recent do not bode well. Cadmus has a dark history, and because I was so eager to try and make good of a once terrible thing… I fear I’ve put my reputation on the line. When you’re sixteen years old and struggling to get respect amongst far older colleagues, things like this aren’t good.” 

“You didn’t have anything to do with the disappearances, though.” Guardian pointed out, not knowing the irony of the statement, “It’s not going to fall on you.”

“You say that.” Albedo sighed, doing his best to furrow his eyebrows in false concern “But it is rather easy to place the blame on those who are not as capable of defending their name. Like I said. I’m a child performing adult tasks. If I can’t fix this, who do you think Luthor is going to place the blame on first?” 

“Then we find the missing genomorphs.”” Superboy said in determination, “And Match. I won’t let Luthor get a foothold over a good scientist just because he messed up.” Red X scoffed.

“Yeah, whatever.” He declared, “Just help me find a Kryptonian I can punch so I can check it off of my bucket-list. Annoyingly, the last time Supes Jr. and I squared up, someone prevented me from doing that.” 

“I would highly recommend not doing that.” Albedo deadpanned, “Kryptonians are durable.” Albedo pushed past his brother’s arm and waved at the group to follow, “Now, if you really are concerned with my well-being, keep up.” Albedo was satisfied when his company actually fell in line after that, quietly gazing around the dimly lit tunnels as they followed the path down to where Kr… Where Conner had once slept.

Albedo reached the reinforced doors, quickly typing in the codes to let them in, before the doors slid open with ease. He motioned for the others to go inside, before following quickly after. 

“Now, I don’t know how much Kr… Er, how much Superboy’s old chamber could help with the missing genomorphs, but it might reveal something about Match. I don’t even know where Match might’ve been kept. This is all new information to me, after all.” Albedo said as they took in the empty pod in the middle of the room. Superboy’s eyes lingered on the pod for a long moment before breaking away when Benjamin lightly elbowed the boy.

“Right. Let’s look around for any information that might connect me to Match.” Superboy agreed quickly. Albedo fell in line behind Superboy while Benjamin grabbed Red X’s arm and lead him quickly away with Guardian to search the other half of the room. Superboy paused, glancing back to make sure Benjamin got the other two far enough away.

“Yo! This area looks interesting!” Benjamin loudly declared.

“Be honest, Al… How long have you known about Match?” He asked in a low voice. Albedo studied a far wall, not looking back at his friend.

“Conner, do you trust me?” He asked simply.

“We’re teammates, I’m supposed to be able to… But all of this…” Albedo looked back.

“Good answer.” He said simply, “I am sincere when I say I care about Match’s well-being and I want to fix him, but with Luthor’s eyes on the other clone… I haven’t had the chance. You deserved to know sooner. But alas… There are eyes on our team as well. Some things… Can only come to light at the right time. Don’t worry. We’ll get your brother out of here. But you need to play along, okay?” Superboy’s eyes narrowed, before he sighed, letting his shoulders relax some, and nodded.

“Fine. But you and I are going to have a long conversation about this later.” 

“This place is stupidly boring for being a super secret underground cloning facility.” Red X complained very loudly. 

“Maybe not…” Superboy muttered as he moved to punch past the wall Albedo was examining. Albedo kept himself from smirking as the boy tore down the false wall to reveal a secret doorway. Instead he let an expression of surprise flash over his face.

“This shouldn’t be here.” He noted, Benjamin, Red X, and Guardian came up behind Superboy and Albedo as Albedo pressed his fingers on top of the secret door, “Superboy, would you be so kind as to let us in? I don’t suspect I was given clearance entirely through a secret passage such as this.” Superboy didn’t need to be told twice as he pried the doors open, revealing the massive, frigid room on the other side.

“...Woah.” Benjamin breathed out. The room was lined with pods upon pods, containing various DNA ‘samples’, limbs, and lab-grown parts to the beta versions of various genomorphs. In the center was a clone pod just like the Kr pod… only with the word ‘Match’ written on the unit.

Albedo was slightly grateful the November weather had prompted to wear a sweater under his lab coat as he hugged his arms and swept his eyes over the familiar room. Superboy wasted no time in rushing for the center of the room and staring at the pod. He brushed his fingers over the frosted glass, staring at the empty space where a clone had once been.

“This isn’t supposed to be here.” Guardian said, his voice strained as he looked around the room, eyes wide.

‘...Is this?’ Roy’s voice asked Albedo in the back of his mind.

‘This is. This is where we found you.’ Albedo mentally confirmed. Red X visibly shuttered.

“This place is creepy.” Red X decided.

“The pod’s empty.” Superboy said, “Just like Luthor said. Match is missing.”

“I wonder if I can discover some clues about where he went missing to.” Albedo mused as he stepped forwards and tapped on the pod’s controls to better access it. He tapped through the controls, scanning over the data he’d read through nearly a thousand times. 

‘Everyone’s here. You can wake Match.’ Albedo called over the mindlink as he tapped the screen.

‘Initiating the plan now.’ Dubbliex called back, ‘Brace yourselves and be ready.’ There was a thunderous sound of stone cracking after that.

“What was…” Albedo said, moving back from the controls as he looked around for the source of the sound. 

He paused at the sound of Benjamin’s voice robotically calling out: [Damaged DNA detected. Switching the genetic repair mode. Transformative abilities temporarily offline. Directive: Locate damaged Krpytionian DNA and repair.] Albedo found himself flinching slightly as the image of Benjamin in Galvanic clothing with pure green eyes was brought to the forefront of Albedo’s mind.

Albedo somewhat forgot the Omntrix now shared the same voice as its holder. Albedo spun around to see Benjamin staring down at his watch, which had shifted from its normal green to white.

“Ummm… So I’ve got good news and bad news guys.” Benjamin stated. Before anyone had a chance to react, the thunderous cracking sound returned, and the room shook. 

Then, bursting out of the earth beneath them into the center of the group was a white-clad Krpytionina boy, looking bent on killing everything in his path.

“The good news is I think I found Match.” Benjamin declared.

Notes:

I will be at a comic con all day today, so if I'm a little slow on comment approvals and responses, that's the reason.

Have a good week everyone!

Chapter 140: Match.

Match was identical to Conner in every way, save for the blackened silica where white should’ve been in his eyes. If Ben had to guess, that was a side effect of the genetic damage. Red X spun around towards Ben, growling.

“What are you waiting for, Deka? Cure this guy so he doesn’t kill us!” Ben nodded. Reacting as he rushed towards the floating, angry Kryptonian hovering in the middle of the room. The white clad teen seemed to notice Ben’s rapid approach and reacted accordingly, zipping forwards at insane speeds to meet Ben. Ben yipped in alarm, moving to avoid getting his head removed by Match’s fists, and just barely managed to tap into his spark to block Match from slamming his other fist into Ben’s ribs. 

Ben was still sent flying into the far wall by the sheer impact Match made with the shield.

“Gah!” Jeesh! Ben definitely bruised something as pain blossomed across his side at the impact, “Ouch, that was dumb.” Ben picked himself up, holding his now sore, non-omnitrix arm just as Match barreled towards Red X, who summoned shields of his own, these ones holding a lot better.

“Don’t you have something for stopping Kryptonians?” Superboy called to Red X. Red X grunted in agreement.

“Hold him down and I can get my stuff for that!” He called back. Superboy growled in agreement, and launched himself at Match, grappling him away from Red X and accidently flinging them both into multiple of the test tubes with a loud crash.

Superboy grunted, straining to pin the other clone down as the clone thrashed and his eyes burned bright red.

“Shoot. He’s got laser vision.” Ben called, just as the red lasers slammed into Superboy’s face, causing Superboy to yell and let go.

“Okay, Doctor, time to move.” Guardian called as he rushed across the room and grabbed Albedo’s wrist, pulling Albedo away from the clone’s pod just as Match came barreling through the area Albedo had just been standing. Mentally, Ben was very grateful that Guardian had gotten Albedo to move the heck out of the way. Albedo could probably take care of himself, but when he was playing civilian, he wasn’t going to be able to do it as well. 

[Damaged DNA detected. Directive: Locate damaged Kryptonian DNA and repair.] The Omnitrix unhelpfully reminded Ben. 

“Working on it. Hard to keep him still when he’s trying to kill us! Now, put mana shields up to full capacity.” Ben huffed. He rolled his shoulder, ignoring how his arm objected to the action, before embracing the spark a little more. Jeesh, he hoped Albedo’s mana shields on the Omnitrix worked, because otherwise, this was going to hurt a lot.

[Mana shielding online and optimized.] The Omnitrix confirmed, [Directive: Locate damaged Kryptonian DNA and repair.] 

Superboy recovered from being blasted in the face with laser eyes as Red X dashed forwards to meet Match with a blast of red energy that Ben suspected was a fragment of Albedo’s own mana. Ben really wanted to ask Albedo later how in the world he managed to get his mana to work for a secondary user like that. 

Red X strained as the shielding quickly cracked under Matching punches. Ben threw his own, emerald mana blast into Match, immediately distracting the clone and making him focus on Ben. Match roared, eyes turning red, signaling that Ben needed shields fast. Ben barely managed to prevent himself from getting sliced in half by a weak shield, which cracked and dissipated while Ben himself dove out of the way.

Superboy tackled Match again before Match could charge Ben. 

“Got it.” Red X called, bringing out a small device, “This is gonna feel weird Supes Jr! Deka, be ready to knock Match out!” Ben hummed in agreement, pulling himself upright again to charge as Red X activated the device, sending a pulse of red light across the room. Match and Superboy instantly wilted, and Ben moved quickly towards the two clones. He grabbed Match’s head as he strained against Superboy, and with a pulse of green mana, knocked the white-clad clone unconscious. 

Superboy let go, rolling to his back and panting.

Ben ignored him and knelt next to Match, putting his Omnitrix arm onto Match’s forehead.

[Commence genetic repair?] The Omnitrix question.

“Yes. Commence.” Ben agreed. The Omnitrix chimed in response.

And suddenly Ben wasn’t kneeling in the secret room of Cadmus. 

He was floating within the consciousness of the Omnitrix. In front of him was Superman with pure, glowing green eyes, who gazed down at Ben impassively. Of course, Ben knew it wasn’t really Superman. So, he smiled up at the Kryptonian.

“Thanks, Omnitrix.” Ben said with a smile. The Omnitrix quirked its lips slightly in a ghost of a smile. 

“Genetic repair successful.” It reported.

And just like that, Ben was back in reality, staring down at the unconscious form of Match.

[Repair complete. Transformative abilities restored.] The Omnitrix beeped before shifting back to green. Ben exhaled in relief, sagging some and he held his arm.

“Done. He’s fixed.” He exhaled.

“Good.” Red X declared, and before Ben could react, Red X was grabbing Ben by the front of his shirt, and shoving him painfully against the glass of one of the tubes, “Then you and I aren’t needed here anymore.”

“Red X, stop, what are you–.” Guardian called. Ben didn’t get to hear the second half of what Guardian was going to say, as with a flash of red, Ben and Red X were being teleported out of the room. 

This sent Ben staggering back as Red X then let Ben go. Ben’s Omnitrix arm found the edge of something, keeping Ben from falling on his butt entirely. He took a moment to realize it was the corner of a desk.

Everything spun as he had to quickly remind himself that Red X was Albedo’s friend. Red X was supposed to be on Ben’s side. Red X wasn’t trying to kidnap Ben. 

That didn’t mean Ben’s mind didn’t wander to the last time he’d been kidnapped. He hated the way his breathing picked up some as he took a moment to gather his bearings. A soft, distinctly male chuckle had him snapping his head towards the owner of the desk.

“You seem a little roughed up, Deka. I’ll see about having a doctor look at that arm.” Luthor noted, “I was skeptical about letting you help Superboy today. But it looks like it’s worked out in my favor. That watch certainly is a useful trinket.” Instinctively, Ben grasped his Omntrix protectively, ready to transform, and totally ignoring how the sudden movement burned. 

“So jumpy.” Luthor said, folding his hands in front of him on his desk, “I simply instructed Red X to bring you back up to my office. I noticed you’d been hurt. It takes a lot of guts to charge a Kryptonian like that head first when most of your powers seemingly weren’t working. Guardian and Superboy can oversee securing Match from this point. We can resume with the investigation on the other genomorphs soon enough.” 

“Sorry.” Ben forced himself to relax, “Not a huge fan of randomly being grabbed and sent to a new location immediately after a fight with no warning.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” Luthor agreed with a nod, “Why don’t you sit down. Let's have a chat, now that I have you here.” Red X moved to pull up a chair for Ben. Ben, wary, sat down.

“It’s my understanding that you owe a debt to my employee, Red X.” Luthor purred, making Ben narrow his eyes.

“Yeah? What of it? My helping you isn’t exactly returning the favor to him, is it?” Ben pointed out, “And the Match thing doesn’t count. I’d have done that anyways. Part of what it means to be me.” Or to be the holder of the Omnitrix. 

“Yes. I suppose that’s true.” Luthor mused, “Don’t act so guarded. We’re on the same team today.” 

Yeah, right.

Ben just smiled.

“I know.” He replied.

“That being said, your Omnitrix is quite the unique asset.” Luthor noted. Ben’s grin widened.

“Strange. I never did say it was called the Omnitrix.” Ben noted. Luthor hummed in agreement.

“No. I suppose you didn’t.” Luthor agreed, “Word does get around, however. A mutual friend of ours told me all about it… Along with a few fascinating details about yourself, little hero .” Ben’s smile wavered, and he found himself visibly flinching without meaning. Luthor chuckled.

“Interesting to see that she left an impression.” Luthor said.

“What do you want?” Ben asked, already tired of dancing around the topic. 

“Your team took Superboy from Cadmus.” Luthor said simply, “He was created for the purpose of protecting this Earth. For being ready for such a time that Superman would turn from the Light. You made sure Superboy wouldn’t so easily fall under Cadmus’s control again. I’m certain you’ll do the same for Match. I think, however, that is a worthwhile trade off in exchange for the one who can emulate the abilities of the entire Justice League with the press of a button.” 

Luthor rose from his seat, “You’ve confessed to being the reason for your own family’s disappearance. It’d be a shame if something happened to your dear brother. I know Klarion knows how to find him. I’m certain he’d be eager to do so if I asked… Red X will be making a request from you in the future in order for you to repay your debt. You will follow this request to the final details, or your brother will be the price. It seems fair, considering your debt comes from Red X saving your brother.”

Ben kept himself from scoffing at the absurdity of the request. Luthor might’ve been Klarion’s ally, but Ben knew that Klarion liked Albedo. He wouldn’t follow through on a plan that would get Albedo killed. Nevermind that Dr. Fate was now keeping a distant, but careful eye on Albedo after what had happened last time. 

Instead of scoffing, Ben lowered his eyes, staring at his hands.

“Well?” Luthor prompted, “Do you understand, Deka?” 

Oh, Ben understood why Albedo did not like this guy. He was a manipulative, evil jerk.  

“I understand perfectly.” Ben huffed, “Can I go now?” Luthor nodded, motioning for the door.

“Be my guest. Nothing’s keeping you here, after all.” Ben quickly rose and moved to the exit. He paused before he left.

“...By the way, if you think about hurting my brother, I’ll make sure one even thinks to look for you.” Ben shot Luthor a dangerous look, “Because I can make it seem like you never even existed.” 

With that, Ben left.

Notes:

So, I was reminded that the 4th anniversary for this is coming up on the Fourteenth of April. I am going to try and work on something to celebrate, however, I have a pretty packed schedule the next two weeks due to a musical I joined.

For this chapter:

Luthor does wholly intend to take advantage of the leverage Red X has over Deka, the fact that Deka clearly was rattled by Queen Bee, and the fact that Klarion has an interest in Reflect.

What that means going forwards? Who knows! But it does seem like Albedo's not the only genius plotting plots.

The genetic repair scene was based on the episode "Maxed Out" of Alien Force where Ben heals his cousin Ken (Gwen's big brother).

There is more to this arc coming, so I'll see you next week with more!

Chapter 141: Superboy's Brother.

Albedo found himself scrambling forwards to grab the red sunlight emitter, quickly turning it off. Immediately, Superboy pushed himself to his knees, looking a lot less tired.

“That was weird.” He grumbled, “We need to figure out where Red X took Deka…”

“He’s just upstairs.” Guardian reported as he pressed a hand to his ear, “Apparently Deka hurt his shoulder when Match threw him, so Luthor ordered Red X to take him up to get that fixed. Why he didn’t warn me before teleporting Deka out like that is beyond me.” Superboy looked agitated by the answer, but seemed to accept it. In the back of Albedo's head, Dubbilex reassured Albedo that Guardian's statement was accurate.

The Kryptonian teen turned to Match’s unconscious body and turned the boy over so he was laying on his back. Then he just stared at him. 

“Why could he fly and use laser vision?” He muttered.

“You aren’t fully Kryptonian, so it’s not a surprise if you have some variation in abilities.” Albedo pointed out. Superboy paused, looking briefly baffled by this information. Albedo had told Conner this, hadn’t he? He’d mentioned it immediately on the day they’d met, so why was he acting as if he’d not known?

“They didn’t figure out how to sequence full Kryptonian DNA after Match failed.” Albedo said slowly, “So they spliced human and Kryptonian DNA for the second attempt.” Superboy seemed to process this information slowly, his eyes flicking back and forth between Albedo and Match.

“I want to take him with me.” Superboy decided.

“Maybe not immediately advisable.” Albedo countered, “He’s been healed, but who knows what programming Desmond was attempting to instill into Match.”

“I was fine.” Superboy grumbled.

“I won’t pretend to know your situation.” Albedo countered, “But Match’s mind has been a state of disarray for quite some time. He needs time…. But that does not mean he will not be ready to one day join you, Superboy. I know you worry for your brother, but some things cannot be rushed.” 

“How long do you think it would take for you to help him with that?” Superboy asked. Albedo paused and considered. Really, it was Dubbliex that was going to have to weed out any negative programming and make sure Match’s mental state matched the body he wore. Albedo couldn’t really gauge something like that because he wasn’t a telepath.

“That’s not really my area of expertise. I work with genetics and hypothetical sciences. Matters of the mind are… Well I leave that to those who understand the mind better. But I will try and keep you updated on his progress and try my best to let you know when he’s ready to go with you.”

Superboy looked extremely grateful to hear this information, and he nodded.

“...Thanks. Really. It’s good knowing there’s at least one good man at Cadmus these days.” Superboy decided before his eyes trailed from Match to the hole in the ground the other clone had erupted from.

“Where did he even come from?” He muttered, stepping past Match to look down into the darkness below. 

“Are you planning to venture deeper and learn?” Albedo asked as he came up beside Superboy.

“We should first probably get Match somewhere more secured. His DNA is fixed now, but the doctor is right, Match isn’t going to be adjusted like you are right away.” Guardian pointed out.

“Superboy’s pod’s in the next room.” Albedo said dismissively, “I’m sure that’ll suffice until we solve this mystery." Superboy looked up from the hole in the ground, wincing at Albedo’s suggestion.

“Is that… Really necessary?” Superboy asked. 

“It’s temporary.” Albedo assured him quickly, “Once we are certain there’s no lingering programming from Desmond’s version of Cadmus, he’ll be able to leave.” Superboy clearly looked pretty uncomfortable with the entire situation. Albedo patted his shoulder in reassurance.

“I’ll look out for him.” Albedo promised. 

Superboy’s shoulders relaxed a little, but not completely. 

“Okay, let's get him into the pod and see what's down here.” Superboy decided and he turned towards Match. He helped pick Match up, and easily transported him back with Project Kr’s pod. Albedo was quick to help secure the second clone into the machine, before locking it down behind several passkeys and phrases set by Albedo himself… To keep Luthor out. 

With the hiss of the cryosleep starting, Albedo removed his fingers from the control panel and looked at where Superboy stood, staring at the sleeping face of his newly discovered brother.

“...Someone’s gonna have to tell Superman.” Superboy muttered, “He wasn’t very happy when he learned about me, and I’m apparently only half-kryptonian. What’s he going to think about a full-blooded one with all of his powers? We… Superman and I have been working things out. But I know he wasn’t happy with me being created for a reason.” 

“...Guardian, could I have a moment to speak with Superboy?” Albedo asked. Guardian looked briefly confused.

“It’s still dangerous down here. We don’t even know who took him or why he suddenly burst in here like that. He could’ve very well been put there as a trap.”

“For who?” Albedo said with a raised eyebrow.

“Me? You? Superboy?” Guardian said, gesturing towards the two teens, “Something is up, and you aren’t safe here, doctor. I need to make sure Cadmus is in order and that your well-being is secured.” 

Albedo was certain this was true. Guardian was, after all, another cog in Luthor’s machine. Another means to the billionaire’s end. Why Guardian had fallen so deep into the conspiracy and how truly aware the man was of his actions and drive was lost to Albedo. All Albedo knew was that Guardian wasn’t to be trusted. 

“It’s just for a moment, Guardian.” Albedo said quickly, “And Superboy is strong enough to handle anything else that may be down here. Unless there’s another kryptonian clone I wasn’t told about running amuck down here, I highly doubt there’s much here he cannot handle on his own.” Guardian seemed very torn.

“We’ll be fine.” Superboy cut in, “Give us a second.” 

“...Fine, I’ll look at the area where Match was… I’ll meet up with you in five minutes.” Guardian said with a sigh. The man turned the corner and went back into the secret room where Match was kept.

“...What is it Al?” Superboy immediately asked. Albedo raised his hand, silencing him for a moment.

‘Cameras are down.’ Dubbelix’s voice assured Albedo, ‘You can speak freely. I’ve cut off all means of recording in that section.’ 

Albedo nodded.

“Luthor was watching and Guardian isn’t to be trusted.” Albedo said quickly. “I’ve just remedied that.” Superboy’s eyes widened slightly and he looked suspiciously around, as if he hadn’t thought about how they would be watched. 

“To answer your questions, I did tell you when we met that humans were not as capable of cloning your kind as they ought to be to try such ambitions. I assumed you’d understood from this that your heritage was of both worlds, but I suppose I could’ve been more clear.” Albedo said quickly, “In addition… I do know why Match and the genomorphs went missing. For their sake, I will not expand further. Luthor is searching for them. He thinks they are his. We cannot let Luthor ever gain full control of the experiments found at Cadmus again.” Albedo turned toward where Match slept.

“Your brother was too high risk. Luthor was keeping a close eye on him. I had to force his hand. Make him reveal the truth to you and Superman.”

“So you set this whole thing up to get him out of here.” Superboy said in realization. Albedo slowly nodded.  

“I wished to tell you far sooner.” Albedo said, “But this is me telling you now.” Superboy clenched his jaw, clearly working through his feelings on everything that had happened.

“Did Deka know?”

“I told Deka only yesterday about Match. There’s a lot of things he doesn’t know. Secrets he’s aware that I am withholding… But he has elected to trust me. He can be a fool sometimes, with how easily he trusts. But I am doing my best to keep his trust in good faith.” 

“And what, you’re asking me to do the same?”

“Yes, I suppose.” Albedo said with a sigh, “But I can understand if knowing that I withheld Match from you until now may have broken that trust. I am sorry.” 

“Are you kidding?” Superboy said, making Albedo look away from Match and back towards Superboy. Albedo was surprised to find a soft smile on his face, “Al, you saved my brother for me… That’s… Thank you. I don’t know why you didn’t tell me sooner. But… I know you care. Even if you have weird ways of showing it.” Superboy then looked uncertain as he turned from Albedo, “It’s just. Seeing him in my pod. Seeing him that angry. It’s like looking in a mirror. Cadmus isn’t exactly a good memory for me.”  

Oh.

So that’s why Superboy seemed to be upset.

“...Yes. I suppose that could be upsetting.” Albedo said slowly, “I didn’t even consider that. I was born in a lab under less… Unpleasant circumstances, so I suppose I didn’t think about what that means for you.” 

“You were born in space in a completely different body Al. I didn’t think you did get it.” Superboy deadpanned. Albedo couldn’t help the small laugh that left his lips. 

“Fair enough.” He agreed, “Don’t worry, I will look out for him. He’ll be by your side sooner than you can imagine. I will not allow Luthor to use your brother as a weapon. He will get to make his own choices on what to do with his life. Be allowed to make his own mistakes. Allowed to live the life he desires to live.” 

“He’s gonna need a name.” Superboy mused.

“Yes. He will.”

“Probably not after a sitcom that two alien buddies are way too addicted to.” Superboy said with a tease in his voice.

Albedo’s eyes shone with mirth.

“Well then, you best start thinking of a good name for your brother, Superboy.”

“...And what about Superman?” Superboy asked.

“Deka and I will let him know.” Albedo replied, “Don’t worry about him.” 

“...Thanks.” 

Notes:

It has been such a busy week on my end. I barely had this chapter ready for today and haven't really done as much editing on it as I'd like. But I figured I'd upload as scheduled.

Next week is going to be even busier for me because of the musical I mentioned last week. I'll be working on the story and things in my downtime, but there may be a slight delay. If that happens, I may push the next chapter to Sunday over Saturday next week.

Anyways, have a good day everyone!

Chapter 142: Uncanny and Unsolved.

It was obvious that Guardian was getting more and more frustrated the longer they searched the small hidden beneath Match’s original cryopod.

“There’s got to be something in here that points to where the other Genomorphs are disappearing.” He huffed, “All there is is another chamber for keeping Match in stasis.”

“Perhaps Desmond moved him down here from his original pod to hide him better in the case that Cadmus was discovered.” Superboy mused as Guardian combed the edges of the tiny room one more.

“You don’t hear or notice anything off?” Guardian demanded. 

“No. Nothing.” Superboy replied. 

“Doc?”

“For all intents and purposes, Superboy’s assumption about Desmond may be the truth. Truly, there may not be much connection between Match being here and the missing genomorphs at all, save for his sudden release from this place upon our investigating it.

“But that might’ve been a pre-programed thing.” Superboy mused, “Match waking up and attacking if anyone got too close.” 

“It is possible.” Albedo said as he tapped through the computers, “There’s a lot of indicators of such an event. I can’t say for sure if Match’s awakening was manually, remotely, or automatically triggered. It only indicates he awoke moments after we stepped in the room he was meant to be kept in… He likely heard us above him and broke through the floor as a result.” 

“So, what then? That’s it? This is a dead end?” Guardian huffed. 

“Inconclusive.” Albedo mused, “The data is confusing… I’ll need time to sort through it and my sister and brother are already waiting for me for dinner tonight. It is a holiday.”

“We don’t have time for stuff like that.” Guardian huffed, before he pulled his helmet off to rub his nose in frustration. Superboy froze, eyes widening a little at the man’s face and the head of red hair that’d been stored beneath the helm. 

“You look like Red Arrow.” Superboy said in surprise, and Albedo froze where he was, eyes widening slightly in realization. 

“Not surprising.” Guardian sighed, “He is my nephew.” 

A lie. 

A very quick, but oh so obvious lie that Albedo was certain Guardian did not know he was telling. Albedo had trouble sometimes telling human features apart… But even he had to see just how much Guardian looked like his ‘nephew.’ It was almost uncanny. There wasn’t just a second Kryptonian clone… There was a second human clone as well. No wonder Guardian was so deeply entwined into Cadmus. Cadmus was keeping him close to watch him. To control him. To make sure no one realized what Albedo now saw. 

“Huh.” Superboy said, “Okay.” He readily accepted the lie, likely not knowing enough about Red Arrow’s family to question it. But Albedo was quite familiar with Roy Harper’s family tree. 

Guardian didn’t know this, however, so Albedo was quick to school his expression and mask his surprise. 

“We aren’t going to find much else down here, I fear.” He said quickly, “We should go back upstairs… We waste time by trying to find something in a place we’ve only uncovered nothing. If there is anything here to be seen, we are missing it. In which case, we might need fresher eyes on this. We’ve been at this since this morning and it’s now the afternoon.” 

“I…” Guardian sighed, looking slightly defeated, “You might be right. It’s just… I don’t understand how they all vanished like this… How I didn’t even notice. Nothing makes sense! It just doesn’t add up!”

Albedo put a reassuring hand on Guardian’s shoulder.

“I understand your frustrations, but the day has been long, and we are all tired. Some rest and time to reset may do us well.” Guardian’s shoulder’s sunk.

“Yeah, maybe.” He muttered, and a tiredness seemed to take hold in his eyes, “Let’s go back up.” 

Albedo was a little concerned how easily Guardian caved. How little it took to convince a man who’d been frustrated and upset by something only moments before to calm down and change his mind. Just how long had he been controlled and manipulated by the darker forces that lurked in Cadmus?

Albedo couldn’t help but realize it’d likely been that way since the day Guardian was created. The man couldn’t be trusted… But he was in dire need of help and he likely didn’t even know it. Unfortunately, this was an issue Albedo would have to leave alone. With Cadmus on such high alert, interfering with Guardian would cause problems. Maybe once the fuss about the disappearing genomorphs died down, Albedo could do something, but for now, Albedo was simply going to have to settle with keeping an eye on Guardian as Dr. Tennyson.

Albedo considered all of these things as the three of them left that area of Cadmus and made the ride back up to the top of Cadmus where Benjamin waited for them. His shoulder had been wrapped up with compression bandages and he looked very contemplative about something as he fiddled uselessly with his Omnitrix dial. 

“Did that landing hurt you too bad, Deka?” Superboy immediately asked upon seeing Deka. Benjamin jerked his head up in surprise, having clearly not noticed them entering the room.

“It’s fine.” He said quickly, “A shoulder cont… Something. Said it’s mild. Will probably be sore for a few days, but I should just put pressure and ice on it, and I’ll be fine.” 

“Shoulder contusion.” Albedo clarified for Benjamin, “A bruised shoulder. That’s good. Much less problematic than a dislocation or a broken bone. Though, if the pain lasts longer than a few days to a week, seek a doctor’s advice… Er, a medical doctor.” 

“Where’d Red X go?”

“He’s meeting with Luthor.” Benjamin replied, his eyes darting towards the hall leading to Luthor’s office. There was something dark in his expression, “Luthor’s a bit of a jerk, I’ve noticed. Don’t like him… Did you guys find the missing Genomorphs?” 

“No.” Guardian sighed, “Match was a dead end.” 

“Sorry, man.” Benjamin said with sympathy in his tone. 

“We’ll find them just…” Guardian dipped his head in acceptance, “Maybe not today.” 

“Hmm. Well, I guess Superboy and I need to go. Reflect’s waiting up on me back home and I think Supes and Miss. Martian were planning to do things tonight to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’m sure you two had plans too.” 

“Yes.” Albedo said with a nod, “My brother, sister, and our friends and family.” 

 

“Red Arrow’s busy tonight.” Guardian mused, “I’ll keep watch here in case anything else goes missing. I’ll update you if I see anything, Dr. Tennyson.”

“I suppose it’ll do for now.” Albedo said with a heavy sigh, “All of this is quite frustrating.”

“I just don’t know how I didn’t notice anything… Something like this? Disappearances happening in such a capacity overnight without my noticing just doesn’t make sense. I can’t wrap my head around it.” Guardian mused. Albedo pat Guardian’s shoulder.

“We will get to the bottom of this issue. Something such as this cannot stand. After the problems and corruption that grew in its previous incarnation, events like this do not bode well.” Albedo said. Benjamin tilted his head.

“Has anyone ever mentioned that you do not talk like a normal teenager at all, Dr. T?” Benjamin asked. 

“...I speak properly for someone using the English language.” Albedo said in response. Benjamin just shrugged.

“I mean Reflect is the same, but he spent a lot of time with aliens.” He said quickly, “Must be a smart person thing. Power to you, I guess.” Albedo couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his brother’s antics. He seemed to be having fun despite hurting his shoulder by charging a Kryptonian clone head first. Frankly, the action had been a little reckless considering the boy’s transformations had been locked. Sure, the lifeline function would’ve still activated if something had happened, but it was still a stupid move. 

Really, Albedo couldn't expect any less from Benjamin. It could never be said that the boy wasn’t at least brave.

“Until another day.” Albedo mused, “This mystery will remain unsolved.”

Notes:

Currently uploading this in between scenes of the play I'm preforming in. I have had next to no time for editing this week, lol. I will get to comments when I can.

Anywho, back to my play!

Chapter 143: Things to be Thankful For.

“I am sorry we couldn’t help with preparing this feast.” Albedo mused as he helped to quickly place the food onto the table. Zatanna, her dad, Albedo, Conner, Billy, and Ben had already settled down as Albedo used his mana and M’gann her telekinesis to finish setting the table. The Reds loomed close by, looking uncertain at the prospect of actually sitting down at the table.

“It’s okay, apparently, you boys had a lot going on today!” M’gann said with a brilliant smile, “I’m just excited you’re all here for my first Thanksgiving… And you have to introduce me to Conner’s new baby brother when he’s awake again.” 

“...Technically, Match is older than me.” Connor said.

“Yeah, but you’ve been awake for longer, so you’re more experienced. So he’s the baby of you two!” M’gann said cheerfully, “It’s gonna be weird having two sets of twins running around.” 

“Do… Do they even count as twins? Sure they look alike, but apparently Conner’s half human.” Ben noted. 

“Close enough.” M’gann chirped before taking her place next to Conner, “This is a lot of our first Thanksgiving, right?”

“Indeed.” Red Tornado mused, “While I’ve been around for quite some time, I’ve never been asked to participate in the celebration. Nor have I had relatives to celebrate with.” 

“Not really my first.” Ben pointed out, “But the first one where the turkey was real turkey… Tennyson family reunions used to be wild.” This earned a soft chuckle around the room.

“You should sit with us, Reds.” Zatanna said cheerfully, “I know you guys aren’t big on eating, but this is really meant to be a community holiday. A time to be with loved ones and friends. To look back and see everything we’re meant to be thankful for.”

“In all honesty, it seems like a… Rather poetic and meaningful holiday. Far more so than Halloween.” Albedo declared. 

“But you get candy on Halloween.” Billy objected immediately as the Reds all sat down at the table as well. 

“Yes, but I doubt most costumes people elect to wear on Hallows Eve actually are effective against spirits.” Zatara pointed out, “They aren’t as stupid as some people think.” Billy pouted at that, crossing his arms in response.

“Whatever, can we start eating now?” Billy asked.

“Not yet.” M’gann declared with the clap of her hands, first, we need to talk about what we’re thankful for! That’s the whole point, right!” Billy groaned, but sat up enough to reply.

“Yeah, okay… I’m thankful for… Well… Mr. Ben.” Ben startled a little at that, not expecting Billy to call him out. Billy immediately flushed, “Er, I mean, I’m Thankful for my Uncle Dudley and the roof I have over my head and my super cool powers! I haven’t always had a lot of that stuff. But… I was really scared when people found out about my real age. Thought they’d treat me differently. But you helped me out a lot. And I’m really, really thankful for that, you know? A lot of stuff happened today at the League meeting and… Some of the advice you gave me really helped.”

“...I’m glad.” Ben said with a smile, “Thanks, Billy. And seriously, just ‘Ben’ is fine!” Billy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Yeah, I know.”

“...Well, I for one, am thankful for a second chance.” Red Torpedo said suddenly, “Which is also credited towards you, Deka. Me and my sister would not have stood without your assistance. We’d long forgotten what it meant to be alive. And I am thankful that we now have a chance to try and understand life once more.” 

“I concur.” Red Inferno agreed.

“And I am thankful to have my siblings.” Red Tornado agreed, “Their company has been good for me. I’ve long felt quite… alienated from others due to my inorganic features and status as a machine. While I do not desire to change what I am, it is strange being a machine amongst biological beings. Having the companionship my siblings have thus far provided has been good for all three of us, I think.” 

“I’m thankful for my basically big brother.” M’gann said, reaching over to mess with Albedo’s hair. The albino protested, smacking her hand away in good nature, “Adjusting to Earth has been really weird, but Al’s been good at helping me with that. And Conner, I’m really thankful for you as well… You both have really helped me in so many ways, you don’t even know.”

“Of course.” Albedo said with a smile, “You are worth it.”

“Agreed.” Conner said with a nod, “I’m thankful for you too, M’gann. And really, for the team. Without the Team I wouldn’t even be here… Or even have a name.” 

“Yes. This team has done much to help me as well. I was conflicted on what my place was in this world initially, but I’ve come to realize that there is family to be found in the comrades here on the surface.” Kaldur agreed, “Those we fight with can be our greatest brothers, and I would not trade the times we’ve spent together for anything else in this world.” 

“I’m thankful for my daughter.” Zatara cut in once Kaldur was done, “And for the invitation to join you in this meal. I know you guys have been good friends for my Zatanna, and I’m glad for that.” 

“Heh, guess I should say I’m thankful for my dad, even if he is super embarrassing and overprotective sometimes.” Zatanna teased.

“I am not!” Zatara immediately objected.

“Sure.” Zatanna said with a teasing chuckle, “But seriously, thanks for inviting us, and for being pretty awesome friends.” 

“I am thankful for…” Albedo paused, his eyes softening as a small smile traced his lips, “Well, I can’t even think of where to begin? My brother, who stood by me even when he probably shouldn’t have. My sister, who helped me see there is goodness in being human. My friends, who supported me in my trying times… And continues to do so, even when I sometimes feel I do not deserve the comradery and love I’ve been blessed with. I used to think so bitterly of things. But somehow, all of you managed to quell the anger that once lived in my heart and allow me to find something worthwhile. I could never be thankful enough for this.” Ben smirked, patting Albedo on the arm.

“Of course, big bro. Like you told M’gann… You’re worth it.” Ben insisted. Albedo flushed, before offering Ben a look of expectation. Ben realized he was the last one. Ben froze, having not at all thought about what he was going to say on his turn. 

“...Well… I guess I’m glad to have such an awesome brother and…” Ben looked around the room. Many of the Team were gone for their own Thanksgiving celebrations… Robin, Artemis, and Wally. Ben’s mind flitted to the Queen Bee incident. And how Wally had been able to help Ben out. They’d fought for Ben. Even when Ben’s heart was still in the Omniverse, “...I guess… I’m thankful for the ride. We’ve been through a lot together. All of us. I know… I know this place, this team, all of this is something I’m always going to remember. It’s been a huge breath of fresh air for me, you guys don’t even know. And even though some parts of it have been… Hard. I’m glad I got to go through it.” Albedo put an arm on Ben’s non-injured shoulder, showing reassurance. 

Ben then caught Kaldur’s eyes.

To say Kaldur had been a little surprised by Ben’s sudden resignation and insistence that Kaldur take Ben’s place after Queen Bee had been an understatement. 

‘Please, Kaldur… I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, actually.’

‘But why?’ Kaldur had asked.

That same question seemed to flicker in Kaldur’s eyes now from across the table. Ben got a feeling that Kaldur knew something was up. He was just glad Kaldur didn’t seem like he was planning on pressing Ben too hard about it right away.

Ben was gonna have to tell them he was leaving in a month or so soon. But there was so much to say. So much to explain. So many things he really wanted to keep to himself.

‘They’d easily support you and do everything they can to help you get home. A lot of them have felt loss and would do anything to save the ones they loved. Why wouldn’t they do the same for their friend?’ Canary’s voice echoed in Ben’s mind.

Soon, Ben decided, but not yet.

“And that’s all of us!” M’gann said cheerfully, “Let’s eat!”

Notes:

I wanted to do something for the anniversary, but my life got so busy, I have not had the time to do much. The musical I was in is over now, so I do have a little more time for things, but Graduation is coming up for my Masters in a few weeks (Technically I'm not fully graduated until after the summer, but the actual ceremony is in a few weeks for me). That might cause some scheduling changes going forwards. I don't know yet.

Anyways, while it's Thanksgiving in the Reflect Universe, in real life it's Easter. So all of you who celebrate Easter, Happy Easter!

I hope all of you have a good week.

Chapter 144: Step into the Light.

“Welcome, Red X.” Albedo had dropped the leftovers he’d gotten from the cave off with Roy, who reported that Luthor wanted to meet with Red X again the next day.

“I’ve had enough of that guy.” Roy had growled, “You deal with whatever he wants… He was a real jerk to your twin today, I hope you know that.” 

Benjamin had mentioned something about that, yes.

“I really wanted to give him a piece of my mind. Wouldn’t do the plan much good to do that though.” 

Which led to Albedo taking over as Red X for this meeting. 

Something about this meeting was different as Albedo was led from Luthor’s office into a darkened room. Albedo could help but become tense as this deviation of their normal meeting occurred. He expected the worst and was beyond ready to singal Roy or Benjamin for backup.

Instead, Albedo was greeted by the simmering holograms of people Albedo had already long connected dots to… And some people Albedo hadn’t known where involved yet. Klarion, who smirked down at Albedo with a knowing glint in his black eyes, The Brain, Black Manta, Vandal Savage, Ra's Al Ghul, and of course, the one who made Albedo tense and had to really keep himself calm over… Queen Bee.

“Luthor, what is this?” Albedo asked as he turned towards the billionaire, who simply offered Albedo a smile. 

“As you all know, I’ve been sending Red X into the field to collect data on the changeling, Deka. The information we’ve gathered just yesterday is insanely fascinating, though it cost me Project Match, who has fallen into the hands of Dr. Tennyson for the time being…”

“And what exactly would this information be?” Queen Bee purred, and Albedo clenched his teeth at her honey-sweet tone. 

“Red X, tell them about the feature the young Deka showed off to you just yesterday.” Luthor insisted. 

So this was about the genetic repair feature?

“It seems Deka’s Omnitrix has the ability to repair damaged DNA.” Albedo said slowly, “With the exception of, apparently, his own twin’s DNA. 

“That is extremely interesting.” Savage mused, “Seems the Omnitrix is even more useful than we believed.”

“Which says quite a bit, really.” Luthor agreed, “Queen Bee has in fact, confirmed there are means by which we can control Deka himself… However there are extreme complications to the methodology. We are still not certain if the Omnitrix is removable yet, however, if we can find a consistent method for keeping Deka compliant, that may not matter.” 

Oh, Albedo could already tell he wasn’t going to like whatever conversation was about to take place. 

“So why is it that you felt the need to have the mercenary himself come as an asset in giving this report?” Manta questioned. 

“Red X has been an extremely useful ally and has even developed technology for taking down Kryptonians. Not to mention, Deka owes him a favor in exchange for assisting in locating Reflect during the splitting of the worlds that Klarion conducted.” Klarion made a little face at the mention of that particular incident.

“Bah, that ruined the fun.” Klarion moped, “But no matter, there’s more fun to be had. I, for one, am glad that Red X is here for this meeting.” Albedo resisted the urge to shutter at the smirk Klarion gave him. 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Albedo said instead, “But at this point I’m more confused on what’s going on… What is this meeting meant to be exactly?”

“An introduction.” Luthor said, “You’ve been a rather useful asset. And going forwards, I think it is important for you to step forwards into the Light.” 

“Well then, introduce.” Albedo said, crossing his arms impatiently.

“He failed to finish the mission in Baylia.” Queen Bee recalled instead of 'introducing' the group to Albedo, “Though he did retrieve my servant, Psimon.”

“In my defense, I wasn’t expecting the Martian to literally break Psimon’s brain and then try and crush me.” Albedo replied dryly, “Those hero types aren’t usually so ruthless.”

“She was impressive.” Queen Bee agreed, “Though the entire event did give me an opportunity to access and learn more about Deka. He’s a sweet kid, once you get past the facade.”

Albedo hated her. He really, really hated her. 

“He was strong-willed.” Queen Bee went on to say, “I got information from him, but I am rather frustrated to have found upon investigation that some of it was fabricated… But not all.” 

“He was able to lie?” Savage asked quizzically, “To you?”

“Yes, but not typically. Only for some things he seemed to truly aim to protect, even if in some odd sense of chivalry to me. His brother is my main concern, however. His brother wasn’t affected by my powers at all.” Queen Bee agreed with a hum, “Reflect wasn’t even reported to be on that mission, and yet, he managed to appear and had no reaction to my abilities.” 

“Maybe he didn’t think you were attractive?” Albedo suggested carefully, “That’s how it works right?”

“Sometimes males can resist. But most cannot.” Queen Bee agreed, “He caught me off guard. I would’ve reacted with much more caution when I realized Reflect was on-cite if I’d known he wasn’t like his brother.”

“And that cost you Deka.” Manta huffed in aggravation.

“Yes, but we did get data… And that incident did give us more leverage against the Justice League’s young sidekicks.” Luthor countered, “At the moment we still don’t have a stable means of controlling Deka, but it was a start. We learned more from that encounter about the enemy and about what we need to do to put an end to this little covert team and to enact our plans involving the Justice League.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to fall into this, Luthor?” Albedo cut in, “No offense, but you guys seem really into the big picture stuff and I am seriously just a ‘I like to mess with tech and I like getting paid good money’ kind of guy. Messing with Deka is super fun. That fancy watch of his is extremely interesting and stuff… But whatever this is” Albedo gestured broadly, “Is a little over my head.” 

Albedo’s mind was racing as he spoke. They wanted to get rid of the team. They had plans involving the Justice League. Albedo wasn’t certain if these were all of the leaders of the shadow group, or just a small handful. But this meeting did reveal a few to Albedo that he’d not known about yet.

“Fair enough.” Luthor said with a chuckle, “And don’t worry, your part in our efforts will be handsomely rewarded… I’ve never denied you your fair cut, Red X. I suppose our current hyperfixation on Deka is somewhat confusing.” 

“Not really. He’s a kid with a powerful device. You guys want it. That’s not the part that goes over my head. I get that. I’m not an idiot. I just don’t get why all of you…” Albedo motioned towards the holograms, “Care about the rest of his little ragtag team of wanna-be heroes.”

“Let's just say they’ve meddled a little more than we’d prefer.” Ra’s Al Ghul clarified. Albedo pretended to consider the assassin’s response, hoping he’d say more, but quickly coming to the understanding that he probably wouldn’t.

“I mean, fair enough.” He shrugged, “So then, what do you guys need from me again? Luthor mentioned something about Deka repaying a favor.” 

“We just need you to take him on a little trip.” Luthor said coolly, “A boy with the power of the League on his wrist… he could get in the way, and we need him out of the way, just for a little while.” Albedo nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, okay, simple enough. And the rest of the gang of sidekicks?”  

“We’ve got them handled.” Savage replied, “Keeping Deka compliant while the plan is in motion is the number one priority.” 

“What plan exactly?” Albedo asked, “Or is that above my pay-grade?” 

“Luthor will fill you in on what’s important. The rest is need to know.” Manta said sharply. 

“Gotcha. Anything else?” Albedo asked, hoping for maybe more information on what the big plan against the League apparently was. After all, if they were plotting to deal with the team for some reason, it had to be for a higher reason. Why else would they go for such large distractions to cover for their group. This all had to have an endgame… One that would almost certainly involve the Justice League.

“Nothing else for you, no. Luthor, stay. Red X, you are dismissed until further notice… And welcome to the Light.” Vandal stated. Albedo shrugged in response, turning to leave the dark and ominous room. He was subtle about brushing the door frame as he left behind a bug of his own to transmit the rest of their meeting.

He wasn’t far from the door when Albedo tensed at the feeling of magic behind him.

“...What do you want?” Albedo immediately muttered under his breath.

“Oh, don’t be a worry-wart.” Klarion’s voice snickered in Albedo’s ear, “I just wanted to make sure you were you. That other Red X was so weird. Confused me at first. But that’s okay, I figured out your funny trick!” 

“Don’t you have a meeting?” Albedo said.

“Meh. They think I’m still in the dumb meeting.” Klarion pouted, “But they’re boring. Going over the same meticulous plan over and over and over… I much rather mess with you.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.” Albedo immediately countered.

“I’m not gonna kidnap you again.” Klarion chuckled. 

“I wasn’t intending on letting you.” Albedo huffed. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get changed, so we can blow something up!” Albedo turned, and as expected, found that Klarion wasn’t even in the room with him.

“Nabu would throw a fit.” Albedo muttered, “And I don’t like you.”

“You don’t like Nabu very much ethier.” Klarion pointed out.

“Perhaps, but your idea of ‘fun’ last time, devastated the Earth.”

“Meh, maybe a little.” Klarion agreed, “But come on! I’m being so nice, keeping my big mouth shut about you! I could… You know… say something in this boring meeting… Might make these other guys do something actually interesting for once.” Albedo grimaced at those words. 

Lovely, the Chaos Lord had leverage because he’d been magically stalking Albedo. 

“Give me twenty minutes and meet me at the dinner on fifth and main… I’ll make sure Nabu doesn’t show up and cause a scene.” 

Albedo groaned as Klarion whooped in excitement at Albedo’s agreeing.

This was going to be an annoying day, wasn’t it?

Notes:

Posting this really late for me, lol.

Sister had an event going on today, and I was busy all day as a result. I do hope this chapter turned out alright.

Anywho...

Albedo's finally gotten Luthor to introduce Red X to the Light, and Klarion is demanding a play-date with his mage 'buddy' because he's bored. All in all, a normal day all around.

Believe it or not this chapter is starting the set-up for Insecurity. We've started reaching the final four episodes everyone! We're getting close!

Chapter 145: Klarion and Albedo.

Albedo huffed impatiently, glancing at the clock that hung on the diner wall. For someone so eager to have his fun, Klarion sure took his time.

He sensed the arrival of the Lord of Chaos before he saw the boy. He came in, grinning, yet magically unnoticed by the employees and patrons of the little diner, his cat perched on his shoulders.

“Cozy!” Klarion chirped, “It could use a little pizazz though. A bit too homey. Boring, really.” 

“This is my favorite place to get sugary substances when I don’t have time to make my own, please don’t.” Albedo huffed, “A public place is a far more neutral meeting place than anywhere else. And I did not really like you surprising me at my workplace last time.” 

“Oh, so you’ve got a sweet tooth?” Klarion said with a wiry grin, “Didn’t take you for the type.”

“I’m in all physical senses, a human teenager. I have teenaged cravings and vices, even if I’m also a user of magical traits and genius intellect due to my alien heritage. I’m sure you’re aware that teenagers eat quite a substantial amount. Especially active ones. Considering I fight in my pass-time, it’s not wholly surprising that this applies to me.”

“Doesn’t mean you being a sweet tooth isn’t ridiculously funny.” Klarion teased, before settling down in the booth in front of Albedo, “You can be such a boring stiff, you know that?”

“I do.” Albedo shrugged, “Deka is quick to point out when I’ve become boring.” 

“That’s good. Someone ought to. If you weren’t so naturally talented at causing chaos and problems wherever you go, I’d have to pretend I didn’t know you. Good on you for finally figuring out glamour spells. That stupid wig you had was so tacky.” Klarion declared as he lounged back dramatically in the seat and gestured broadly.

“I pretend I don’t know you.” Albedo grumbled, “And I don’t cause problems wherever I go.” 

“Really?” Klarion snorted, “Could’ve fooled me. Didn’t we already have this conversation? Nothing about you is normal or rational. You’re a hodge podge of what I’m guessing is multiple aliens… I still can’t figure how or why that means you’re ancient while also being sixteen… Figuring that out is part of the fun of this by the way! You're a scientist who uses magic, and I know that there’s going to be chaos afoot when all of your fun, little… Activities come into light. And yet you claim you don’t cause problems! Ha! Don’t make me laugh!” Albedo glared at the table irritably, but didn’t dispute Klarion’s remarks.

Really, he was less worried about how Luthor would react to the truth of Red X, as his reaction was going to be well worth witnessing, but rather, about how the rest of his team… His family would interpret the truth. Benjamin was so understanding… But Bruce had proven that there was a wariness that came from Albedo’s secrets. Rightfully so. Albedo truly appreciated the man’s caution. So few heroic-types understood truly the danger that could come from within. 

“Fair enough, I suppose… Are you hungry? I am.” Albedo asked.

“Oh, yes! Let's get something to go! I’m so excited for this afternoon!” Klarion agreed brightly. Albedo rolled his eyes, before rising from the booth and asking the waiter for some of the chocolate cake being displayed under the ‘freshly baked’ sign along with a ‘pet-friendly’ treat they had for Teekl. She happily wrapped two slices up to go, before Albedo paid and waved for the Chaos Lord to follow him out. Klarion practically skipped after him.

Albedo hated not knowing what Klarion wanted. So far he hadn’t tried anything, but Albedo knew the ‘child’ hadn’t yet begun to dabble with his brand of fun. 

“Oh, that was nice of you, getting Teekl a snack! He’s very happy!” Klarion declared.

“I’m sure… Now, where was it that you wanted to… ‘Blow something up’ if I’m quoting you correctly?” Albedo asked with a sigh. Klarion chuckled, and snapped his fingers, swapping the scenery out from the side of the row on the outskirts of D.C. to a forest that Albedo certainly didn’t know. His glamor was gone, showing off the white hair and red eyes. Once more, Klarion had dressed Albedo up in his Reflect clothes. 

“...So I was thinking, you’d be so much less boring if you weren’t using that stupid baby magic all the time.” Klarion explained in excitement between cramming his wedge of cake into his mouth, “You’re literally made of magic, and yet all you think to do with it are boring teleports and mana constructs! I know you're running around getting advice from that Zatara guy and his preppy daughter, but they’re homo-magi, which is much less grand than whatever you are.”

“Anodite.” Albedo replied.

“Yeah, that thingy!” Klarion agreed, “And once Luthor finds out about you, oh, man, he’s gonna try and kill you!” 

“...He’ll probably try.” Albedo agreed, “Not that I think he’d succeed.”

“Oh, he’s smart too.” Klarion said, “I’m sure he’d think of something to get back at you… But I think it’ll be so much funnier if you really got his gears going… Or even better, if you got Vandal Savage to just lose his mind.” 

Albedo tilted his head at the mention of the other Light member. Albedo knew the man was immortal and incapable of ever truly dying. Evidence suggested he had his hands in shaping some aspects of this Earth’s history. Why Klarion pointed Savage out specifically out of all of the dangerous and powerful members of the Light that Albedo had thus far encountered was… Curious.

“You and Savage aren’t getting along?” Albedo asked.

“No, it’s not that.” Klarion shrugged, “We get along very well, actually! He’s a person who can take hits and always comes back for more fun! That’s how we met, actually, the guy just didn’t know how to stay dead! But that’s just it, you know? It’s been ages since I was able to have any real fun when it comes to Savage. He’s a lot like you, actually. Always thinking. Always planning to be five steps ahead. He’s had a lot of time to think about stuff, you see. Which makes his fun to fight against and fun to fight with… He’ll like me having my fun! We’ll not at first, but he always comes around! We’ve been playing this game for thousands of years! Oh, hey, did you know that fart Nabu’s actually Vandal’s kid?”

Albedo blinked, surprised by this new information.

“Really?” Albedo said in response, failing to cover up how interesting that tidbit of information was.

“Oh, yeah. It was a whole thing. Nabu doesn’t really like his old man because of gross politics or something that I can’t remember. But they’re father and son! Isn’t that wild?!”

“Extremely.” Albedo agreed, “So what, you want to hone my magic in order to create a pawn in this… Game you enjoy playing with or against Vandal Savage?” 

“Yes! Now you’ve got a big picture! You’ve got the potential to be even more ancient, just like us two. You can play the game too! In fact, you should! You’d be so good at it and have worlds of fun! I know I’ll have fun, at least!”

“And at what cost would my playing this game come at?” Albedo asked skeptically. 

“Well, eventually, you’d probably cease to be really that human, but I doubt you care about that… You don’t really seem to fit very snuggly into that body of yours anyways.”

Albedo flinched at that all too accurate statement and hugged his arms.

“I was speaking less of the cost to myself, and more on broader terms. As I’ve stated before, your fun tends to be catastrophic. And the actions of men like Nabu and Savage seem to not always take into consideration the good of those who they deem unimportant, such as mortal beings… Think what you will about me. I am ancient to a human perspective, but even before my human form, I was mortal. The fear of death, the understanding of possible consequences to those around me are concepts I am fully able to grasp, even if I am slower about it in some instances… But you?”

Albedo’s eyes scanned the Lord of Chaos over, eyeing his excited smirk critically.

“You, Vandal, and Fate… Seem to struggle with this. You have no reason to fear death. No reason to truly care about smaller things. To understand the nuance and purpose of mortal lives. Even if Nabu fights for order and you for chaos. You both play this ‘game’ on a grander scale, hence your tendencies to completely devastate. The devastation has no impact on you, so you care not for what its consequences are to those it does affect. Only that you have had your fun. For Nabu, it’s all about how to fulfill his greater purpose of order… I know not what Savage’s stakes in this game are… But I doubt they consider the smaller details as much as they could.” 

“Bleh, that’s all philosophical nonsense.” Klarion waved off, “Who cares about that stuff?”

“Considering everyone I love is a part of ‘that stuff.’ I care.” Albedo said with an eyeroll, “But I guess I can forgive you for not understanding… It doesn’t entertain you to ponder such things. How could you understand?” 

“Hmph! Rude, I could if I wanted to.” Klarion huffed, “I just don’t wanna.”

“Which makes your offer to pull me into this game all the less appealing, I must say.” Albedo pointed out, “Though not your offer to help improve my practice.” 

Klarion perked up at that.

“Oh, so you’ll play with me then?”

“For the moment, yes.” Albedo agreed with a nod, “If only for my benefit and wish to learn more… But I do not comply with the idea of joining in on your larger game.” 

“Oh, maybe not now.” Klarion declared, “But just you wait, Albedo! I’ll show you just how much fun the game can be!” 

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Too late, I’ve already decided!” Klarion said and he turned to the forest around them, and spread his arms wide, “This is going to be so much fun!” 

Albedo simply rolled his eyes in response.

Notes:

Hello!

So, two weeks ago was my Masters grad ceremony (I'm still one class away from fully getting my Masters diploma, but they only do one ceremony a year, and let me walk early). This was followed by my sister-in-law's graduation celebration.

Last week, I decided to do a 5k for a local charity event, and basically ran the race, cooled down, got some chores done, and crashed the rest of the day. So, like, no posting happened.

I almost didn't post today because I REALLY wanted cake, and if you're gluten-free, you almost always have to make the cake yourself... So the time I normally edit/write/prepare to upload was taken up by baking.

This chapter was interesting to write, as it feels like it expands a little on the conversation that Ben had with Nabu, and turns it against Klarion, who cares more about the chaos and fun of his games that he does about the little things.

It's actually a little worrying how similar Nabu and Klarion's philosophy on some of this is. To Nabu, nothing mattered more than maintaining order. To Klarion, nothing matters more than his games. Nether really pause to consider the harm in their actions, as to them, it's all seen on a much larger, more eternal playing field. Where Ben was able to point this flaw out to Nabu, it's a lot harder for Albedo to explain this to Klarion, who's more cruel in his actions and doesn't see the fun in acknowledging the consequences of his actions.

Albedo's also a lot older than Ben is, and it's a lot harder for him to really make Klarion understand, as, to some extent, human lives are barely a blimp to most Galvans. They're mortal, but they also spend their entire lives dedicated to creating a better universe as a whole... Even if they don't always think about the consequences of what their actions are. (I'm looking at you Azmuth!)

Because Albedo's experienced what it means to be human, he understands this a lot better than Klarion or even Azmuth, but it took him awhile to settle into it. He doesn't really know how to explain it in a way that Klarion wouldn't be bored by. Ben would probably have an easier time, but Klarion clearly doesn't listen to Ben.

I hope all of that makes some sense... I didn't mean for this chapter to be as insightful as it became, but it was an interesting write!

Anywho, I hope you all have a good week!

Chapter 146: Red Arrow.

“How’s the shoulder, Ben?” Wally asked as he flopped down onto the couch next to Ben.

“Oh, a little sore, but it’s like Al said, just needed to rest it up a few days.” Ben said with a smile, “Was way worse on Thanksgiving.” Ben assured Wally.

“Sweet. I know I hated waiting for my arm to heal up after what happened with the Injustice League back in October.” Wally declared, “So, whatcha up to, Ben?” Ben looked up from the laptop he was using and smirked.

“Well, it’s December now, and it’s almost Al and I’s 17th birthday, plus… It’ll be his first official Christmas a few days before. I’ve been thinking of something great to get him to celebrate.” 

“Man, I don’t pity you, having a Birthday that close to Christmas. Must suck to only get lots of presents one time out of the year.”

“Meh, my parents always saved me stuff for the birthday party. I can’t imagine trying to find a birthday and a Christmas present this time of year is pleasant though… And I had to get Gwendolyn presents for both events all the time. She was also born on the 27th.” 

“Bro, if you and Al had actually been born twins, that would’ve been one heck of a day in the Tennyson family!” Wally snickered. 

“No kidding.” Ben agreed with a chuckle before tilting his computer so Wally could see, “Anyways, you think he’d like something like this?”

“Bro, that’s hilarious.” Wally snorted, “Heck yeah. He’d unironically like that.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

“You thought what?” Ben nearly jumped as Robin seemed to materialize behind him and Wally, making the speedster turn quickly with a shout.

“Jeesh, Rob! Why do you insist on sneaking up on people like that?”

“It’s a bat thing. What can I say?” Robin said with a smile before leaning over Ben’s shoulder.

“Oh, that’s for your brother?”

“Yeah!” Ben said with a smile, “For our Birthday/Christmas… Ironically, I’m kinda using his money to buy considering I don’t exactly have a job…” 

“I mean, that’s practically how it works when I buy stuff for Batman. I get that it’s my allowance, but I get my allowance from B.” Robin said, “Granted, Batman? Not an easy guy to shop for.” Wally snorted at that understatement while Ben just snickered, before moving his purchase into the cart.

“So… What are you guys doing to celebrate your seventeenth?” Wally asked.

“Pretty sure M’gann’s planning a surprise party.” Ben replied, “To give Albedo the ‘full human Birthday experience’ but don’t tell her I’ve clocked her on that. She might be able to go all camo and stuff, but she is not subtle when she’s excited about something.” 

“Yeah, well… She’ll get better at it the longer she works here. Baby steps.” Robin joked. Wally opened his mouth to interject his own comment on M’gann’s excited tendencies when they were interrupted by two zeta tube announcements that somewhat confused Ben, but immediately had Robin and Wally shooting upwards, clearly ecstatic. 

[Recognized: Red Arrow B-06. Green Arrow 08.]

“Speedy!” Wally was flying out of the living room before Ben could blink. Robin turned to follow at a more natural speed. Ben rolled his eyes, but closed the laptop and decided to investigate the arrival alongside the other two. 

Batman was already there along with Kaldur, who was manning the main computer, seemingly looking over a case. M’gann and Conner came out of their bedrooms, both looking a little confused at the announcement.

“Robin, we have a lead on the Scarecrow case in Gotham.” Batman said simply, “We’re heading back now.”

“What’s Spe… Er, Red Arrow doing here?” Robin asked, gesturing towards the red-clad speedster. Batman’s eyes narrowed on the new arrival, as if there was something about Red Arrow that Batman was displeased with. 

“Red Arrow will be joining the team.” Batman said, “Coincidentally, Reflect’s benching as of recently for the case I was having him work is temporarily lifted.” 

“...Wait, really?!” Robin said in excitement, and there were practical stars in the boy wonder’s eyes… Well, Ben assumed there were, but the sunglasses made it a little hard to tell, “Welcome to the team man!” 

“Yes.” Ben was slightly impressed by how ominous Albedo looked as he appeared in the room in a flash of red, his eyes scanning Red Arrow in a very calculating manner, “Welcome Red Arrow. Robin, Wally, and Kaldur speak highly of you.”

“...Right. Forgot about the twins.” Red Arrow mused as he seemed to size Albedo up, “You’re good at that teleportation spell… Kinda reminds me of the Red X teleportation tech.” Ben froze, eyes widening a little at the comment. Albedo barely even flinched.

“...The mercenary? That is strange. From what I’ve gathered uses a rare element called Xenothium. Your pointing out the comparison makes me wonder about the connections to such an element and Anodite based mana… Curious. I’ll have to look into that.” 

“You’re not at all bothered by the comparison?” Red Arrow scoffed.

“Why would I be? My powers come from magic. If Xenothium has some ability to harness magic such as my own to allow people such as Red X to teleport, then I would love to study it more closely. It could be a coincidence though. I’ve not really made the correlation until you pointed it out just now.” Albedo shrugged as if he were the most innocent man in the world. Red Arrow glared, before sighing and relaxing his shoulders a little.

“Sorry for coming on a little strong, doc. That guy’s been giving me trouble lately. Couldn’t help but think of it.” Albedo seemed genuinely surprised by that information. Ben wondered if maybe it was Albedo’s partner Red Arrow had been running into if Albedo didn’t know about it. That, or Albedo really was the best actor in the world. 

“Man, it’s gonna be awesome having you on the team!” Wally cheered, ignoring the weird exchange between Albedo and Red Arrow, “Right Rob?”

“Totally.” Robin agreed with a firm nod. 

“Robin.” Batman grunted, “We need to go, now.” Robin nodded, offering Red Arrow a fist bump on the way out with Batman, which Red Arrow easily accepted. 

“Looking forward to working with you, Red.” And he and Batman were being transported back to Gotham away just like that. Red Arrow then turned his attention to Ben.

“So, Mr. Leader? What kind of a ship do you run here?” The man asked. Ben couldn’t help his wincing at the remark. Wally let out a soft hiss.

“Er, actually, Ben stepped down after… Something happened recently. It’s a long story. Aqualad’s going to be taking charge on missions.” Wally gestured to the Atlantean teen. 

“Indeed.” Aqualad agreed. Red Arrow's head moved back and forth between Ben and Kaldur.

“Congrats on the promotion, I guess.” Red Arrow decided, “Wasn’t sure why some new hero I’d never even heard of was leading this group.”

“Unknown doesn’t mean new, dude.” Ben crossed his arms, “I’ve been in the field since I was ten. The fact that this year's the first you’ve heard of me means I did a really good job.” 

“And I would not slight the leadership of Deka simply because I am not an unknown to you.” Kaldur agreed, “His stepping down was completely understandable considering the circumstances leading to the decision. This role can be a burden.” Red Arrow raised his hands in defense.

“Wasn’t trying to insult the alien guy. I’m just saying it’s good to have a friend in charge around here.” Red Arrow huffed, “Especially when there’s still a mole on your team that needs to be weeded out.” The room fell quiet at those words. 

Right… Ben could already tell this jerk was going to be a wonderful addition to the team. And being someone who was good at acting like a jerk, Ben could tell this guy had something twisting his shorts. It was probably the whole ‘being left out of the Justice League’ issue that had led to the team getting formed in the first place, but for Red Arrow to just come in and start taking names and bringing out the mole issue right off the back was wild. Who did Red Arrow even think he was? An auditor? 

He didn’t even really know half of their Team. He was only friends with Robin, Kaldur, and Wally. 

“Great start to this team thing, dude.” Ben huffed under his breath just as the Zeta flashed again, announcing Artemis’s arrival.

The blonde girl froze, mouth agape at Red Arrow standing there, looking all for the world like a deer caught in headlights. 

“Artemis!” Green Arrow’s voice cut through the silence as he spoke like a proud dad, “Look who’s finally decided to join the team!” 

“Finally!” Wally agreed as he practically bounced in excitement. 

“Sure… Team’s needed a real archer.” She huffed. There was a flash of instant concern in Wally’s face, then a split second of awkward silence. 

“...Okay people.” Green Arrow moved on, completely ignoring the tension in the room, “Listen up, while the dynamic duo is on their case in Gotham, Sportsmaster was spotted coming through Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport…”

Notes:

Red Arrow's here! Gotta be weird for Albedo, who's been taking care of Roy Harper for the past several months, lol.

Chapter 147: Loose Cannon.

“Your guy has been following Red Arrow?” Ben asked as he slid next to Albedo in the back of the bioship, eyeing Aqualad and Red Arrow as the two readied some cycles onboard for the mission. Albedo acknowledged Ben and began fiddling with the amber necklace he had started wearing.

“It would seem so.” Albedo mused, glancing carefully towards Ben, “Surprised you caught that.”

“Well, now that I know you’ve got a partner in-crime…” Ben shrugged. Zatanna had shown up around when Green Arrow had started explaining the mission– She’d been hanging around more and more as her dad got used to the idea of her growing up– And had been quick to point out that the full team for a trip tailing Sportsmaster was a bad idea.

Green Arrow had originally only been planning on sending three: Aqualad, Red Arrow, and Kid Flash, but Artemis quickly inserted herself into the mission with a fire in her eyes. Then Albedo mentioned his recent mastery of illusions, insisting it would be fine if the twins tagged along unnoticed. 

Aqualad had pointed out Ben’s powers were by no means subtle and that things would get crowded quickly if they came too… But Albedo was oddly insistent. Ben figured the Galvan knew something the rest of them didn’t, and just went with it.

“You didn’t know he’d been following Arrow.” Ben noted, lowering his voice further. Superboy might not have been there to overhear, but Red Arrow was super paranoid. 

“I did not.”

“But you’re not surprised.”

“Not particularly, no.” Albedo agreed.

“Care to share with your twin?” Ben pressed.

“No. Not at the moment. Not good company for that sort of discussion.” Abedo replied. The Galvan mage’s eyes shifted from the necklace in his hands to the red-clad archer. 

“Fair enough.”

“...It’s uncanny.” Albedo muttered.

“What, how have I managed to come across a hero who’s even ruder than I am on my worst days?” Ben scoffed.

“No.” Albedo replied, “...It’s… Well, I suppose it’s complicated. Red Arrow has an interesting temperament. A very paranoid person. Strange, really… Though not unwise in our occupation.”

“No. Just unwanted when he’s supposed to be joining a team… And not trying to break it apart.” Ben pointed out. 

“Even if one of our team was once an intergalactic war criminal?” Albedo asked with a raised brow. 

“Everyone’s gotta come from somewhere.” Ben shrugged. Albedo rolled his eyes in response and refocused on Red Arrow, watching him with an odd expression on his face. Unlike Ben, who was mostly annoyed by Red Arrow… Albedo seemed weirdly fascinated by the guy.

Red Arrow looked up from the cycle and broke in his quiet conversation with Aqualad when he met Albedo’s eyes. 

“What?” He huffed.

“Simply curious.” Albedo replied, “You are a new dynamic to our team.” 

“Okay, but do you have to keep staring at me?” Red Arrow huffed, “It’s creepy and weird.”

“Al was trained by a bunch of aliens and spent most of his childhood with them.” Ben cut in quickly, “He sometimes doesn’t realize he’s being rude. Excuse him.” Albedo made a small noise of offense.

“I’ll have you know, M’gann and I have made leaps and bounds in understanding human customs.”

“Yeah, by watching sitcoms.” Ben snorted. Red Arrow made a face, glancing between the two.

“You weren’t raised together.” He said flatly.

“Azmuth, the alien who trained me, recognized my above human intellect at a very young age. He took me to assist him on a project in his home world when I was eight… The very project that led to my brother gaining his transformative abilities. It is through my alien training I’ve achieved excellence that could never have been discovered on Earth with its present technologies.” Albedo explained, and he puffed his chest out some pridefully. If there was one thing Albedo would always be proud of… it was how smart he was.

“We’ve fought together through a lot of wars.” Ben said, “He just had a different childhood than me because his brain’s bigger. He’s always liked books and I’ve always enjoyed punching bad guys in the face.” Aqualad watched the exchange in silence before Red Arrow huffed in annoyance and turned sharply for the bridge where Artemis and Kid Flash were. 

“I take it you do not wish for him to know of your true nature.” Kaldur noted. Albedo gave a firm nod at that.

“I do not know him. I know the rest of this team, but I do not know him. Maybe in time, but not at the moment.” Albedo sighed, brushing strands of white hair out of his eyes, “I’ve not even gotten the courage to explain it all to Batman yet, and I’ve grown rather fond of the caped crusader.” 

“That is respectable. I told Artemis and Wally as much.” Kaldur agreed with a nod.

“Besides, he’s kinda… Not a team player.” Ben huffed, “I don’t know how that guy expects to join the Justice League when he can’t even go a minute without accusing everyone on the team he just joined of being ‘with the enemy.’ Do you even know how many problems a guy like that would cause if we told him Albedo used to be a bad guy?” Kaldur made a face, like he wanted to argue, but at the same time, couldn’t disagree.

“He is merely trying to look out for myself, Robin, and Wally.” Kaldur said.

“By alienating everyone else on the team?” Ben asked, “Kaldur, we’ve had this discussion before. I’ve dealt with moles. You don’t stop a mole by destroying the team yourself. You're just doing the bad guy’s job for them if you let a mole get to you like that. We agreed to let Batman handle it, because he actually knows everyone on the team, but isn’t so close to all of us that it’s going to break our team.” 

“I… I agree that his approach is already far too abrasive. He seems suspicious of Artemis.” Kaldur admitted and his eyes drifted back to the bridge. Ben huffed. 

Of course he was. 

“But Artemis is rather earnest, what would make him suspect her?” Albedo asked quizzically.

“Says she keeps too many things from the team.” Kaldur admitted.

“...We don’t even know Robin’s real name, and that’s his issue with Artemis?” Ben pointed out, “Heck, I even have things I don’t tell the team. And I know for a fact you do too.” 

Seriously? A girl like Artemis couldn’t have her own tragic backstories and secrets that she probably kept to herself because they were literally none of their business, without someone like Red Arrow randomly deciding she of all people had to be the bad guy. If secrets and untold backstories were a crime in the heroing world, then the entire team was guilty. 

Kaldur’s expression shifted again into something a little more tired.

“I don’t disagree.” Kaldur admitted, “His targeting of her and our teammates can very well have unintentional consequences… You designated me as the next leader of this team. He is now on this team. I will do my best to broach the matter with him after this mission. He is an old friend, maybe he will be receptive to my words.” 

“I hope he is.” Ben agreed, “Because if he becomes a problem for the team, and you can’t handle it… I will.” Kaldur studied Ben’s resolve, taking only a moment to nod back sharply.

“Understood.” Kaldur said firmly.

Notes:

Albedo: Wow, Roy as an adult is just as cranky as 15 year old Roy.
Red Arrow: Why do you keep staring at me?!

Ben: I don't like this guy. He's killing the vibes.
Kaldur: ...Noted.

...

This chapter felt a little shorter to me, but to be honest, I've been working literally most of this week on a totally different project. (It's not writing, it's art stuff). It turned out to be a bigger project that I expected, but I'm almost done with it! Probably finished with it tonight even! (Very exciting stuff for me, lol!)

On a much, MUCH, more serious note:

It has come to my attention that someone has been translating this story on Youtube without my permission. While they credited me in the description, I DID NOT give permission for my story to be translated or posted on YouTube.

As a Public Service Announcement: ALWAYS ASK PERMISSION. I do not have problems with people who work with authors to create translations of fics, but taking someone's work and translating it without the author's permission and posting it online is bad Fan fiction etiquette. You can't create public translations of traditionally published works without the creator/owner's permission. Therefore, why would it be acceptable within the Fanfiction world.

I am still working out if I want to take action about this, but I wanted to put it out there that I am not giving this work blanket permission to be translated unless you yourself are willing to work with me and ask permission first. I've been working on this story for literal years and it can be frustrating to find one of my readers could potentially be posting a translation on YouTube for monetization.

Anyways, I'm not super, super angry about this whole thing, just annoyed and a little frustrated because the process of taking action against looks annoying. Not to mention it feels really bad to have to take a translation away from people who might've found it useful because the person didn't ask permission first and might be trying to profit financially from it (Which is illegal to do with most fanfiction).

Please, please, please don't do this sort of thing, guys.

Breaking from the serious note:

What do you get when you have two guys who are known for being somewhat arrogant heroes?

A LOT of drama. Ben and Big Roy are fitting to have some issues, lol.

Hope you all have a good week!

Chapter 148: A Sorta Rematch.

Ben swam beside Aqualad as Ripjaws as they trailed after Sportsmaster’s speedboat down the Mississippi river of Orleans Parish. In all honesty, Ben forgot how gross the Mississippi could be… Seemed that stayed consistent, even in the Heroverse. 

The mercenary’s boat moved quickly, but not too fast for two aquatic-inclined heroes. Above, Ben could tell Red Arrow was maintaining a steady distance on his jet ski. Ben and Aqualad watched silently as the man curved the boat for the shore, parking.

“He’s stopped. Hold your positions.” Red Arrow ordered over the comms, “I’m moving in for a closer look.” Ben backed off a little into some brush near the shore to avoid drawing the man’s attention before swimming up a little to break the water. He swapped back to Deka form quickly after ensuring he was completely out of the man’s line of sight.

Sportsmaster was far enough away he didn’t notice the quick flash.

Aqualad hung back in the river, waiting in case Sportsmaster backtracked. 

No use in wasting precious time as Ripjaws if Red Arrow was going to follow closer behind on foot.

What he wouldn’t give for a more subtle transformation though…

He watched Red Arrow silently stalk after Sportsmaster, before the forest obscured Ben’s view of them. His eyes narrowed, but he waited for Red Arrow to let them know Sportsmaster’s next move.

“I’ve got eyes on Sportsmaster as well.” Albedo muttered into the comms, “He’s waiting… A drop point, or perhaps a meeting of some sorts?” 

Good. Reflect was there too. Red Arrow wouldn’t be on his own with the bad guy. 

“No signs of anyone else approaching. From where Aqualad and I are stationed.” Ben reported before a ripple in the sky caught Ben’s eye. 

The Bioship, Ben realized.

For some reason Artemis was moving it in on Red Arrow’s location. 

Was she trying to spook whoever Sportsmaster was meeting?

“Train tracks.” Reflect reported.

“...Oh, yeah. That would do it.” Kid Flash agreed, “Train’s coming too.” 

“Heya, Deka.” Ben startled, spinning around quickly, his eyes widening a little in surprise as he realized Red X was lounging against a tree by the shore. 

Albedo’s partner. 

Huh. The guy really was a little shorter than Ben and Albedo. Guess Ben hadn’t been crazy. 

Albedo’s partner moved his hand to flick the X-shaped pin on his uniform. Ben recalled Albedo mentioning that the pin indicated that Luthor or one of the bad guys were watching. Seems Red X wasn’t completely in with the evil dudes. 

The message was clear: play along.

“Standing in the water like that looks annoying. Especially in the December air.”

“A little.” Ben agreed quickly, “But Louisiana winters aren’t really as cold as the ones in DC.” 

“Clearly. Ready for a rematch? Couldn’t really fight you back at Cadmus. Orders. I’m itching to try again.” 

“Oh, you can try.” Ben said with a smirk, before twisting the Omnitrix and slamming his hand down. Ben shrunk down quickly, and watched with amusement as Red X seemed surprised. Likely not clocking where Ben had gone initially. 

“I’ve run into Red X.” Nanomech called into the comms as Ben flew low and towards Red X, “Keep your eyes peeled, Sportsmaster’s not alone.”  

Red X’s head snapped towards Ben, and he was summoning mana-powered x-shurikens in an instant.

“There you are!” He declared and he launched the shurikens at Ben. Ben reacted by dodging and weaving easily, before charging up his stinging laser and zapping at Red X.

“Ouch! Look, I get that we’re on a river, but you do not need to cosplay as a mosquito, Deka.” Red X huffed as he swapped his x-shurikens for attempting to more directly trying to slap at Ben to keep the smaller hero from stinging him. 

“More like a wasp, actually.” Ben chuckled, before twisting the Omnitrix half-way during a loop-de-loop to morph into Spidermonkey. Red X clearly hadn’t been expecting the sudden shift, and had to duck out of the way, throwing up a shield just in time to block webs from tangling him up. He expanded his shield outwards, before there was a flash, and smoke filling the air. 

Ben coughed at the sudden smoke, and barely reacted to the woosh of the air as Red X’s right arm caught Spidermonkey by his tail and pulled back with inhuman strength. Ben yipped in alarm, before he was thrown pretty roughly into a tree and out of the smoke. 

A click. Then a swoop. 

And found himself stuck against the tree, netting pinning his arms down.

“Gotcha.” Red X said with a chuckle, “Much easier this time.”

Wow.

This guy was fast. Way faster than Albedo’s Red X was. Albedo had evening ground against Ben because he was more knowledgeable about the inner workings of the Omnitrix. This guy was just better trained than Ben and Albedo. 

Ben felt himself detransform with a flash. The netting slacked a little as Ben had also lost two arms and he shrunk down some. Ben decided to try and take advantage of that slack, moving his arms, albeit with difficulty as he was a little tangled up, to reach the Omnitrix again.

Ben was stopped pretty quickly by that strong right arm of Red X’s grabbing Ben’s own right arm and pushing it back against the tree, and an x-shuriken appearing in his left, angling for Ben’s neck. Ben froze, staring down at the glowing mana construct.

“Okay. So, you’re super serious today. Got it.” Ben quipped.

“Nothing personal.” Red X replied, “How’s the shoulder?”

“Better. Just needed some rest.” 

“Glad to hear.” Red X replied, “Getting thrown by a Kryptonian has to hurt.”

“Eh. I’ve been thrown by worse.” If Red X had a reply, he didn’t get a chance to express it, as suddenly someone was slamming into the man. Ben wasted no time, as he was back to reaching for the Omnitrix the moment Red X let go of his arm. 

A flash later, and he was Diamond Head.

Ah, a classic. Ben approved.

Ben’s rescuer, Aqualad, was already drawing out water constructs to counter Red X’s mana constructs, both clashing in a wash of red and blue.

“You know, Deka, most people don’t have full conversations with their opponent.” Aqualad noted with amusement in his tone.

“Yeah, but Red X and I were bonding.” Ben quipped as he used his crystals to break through the netting, “Thanks for the save though.”

He then slammed his hands down into the Earth, before summoning more crystals. Red X was clearly alarmed when he was suddenly surrounded by the Petrosapien crystals, practically encased with the stuff. His hands sparked with mana, and Ben figured the guy would be able to free himself, assuming he didn’t use up all of the mana reserves Albedo had lent him. 

The man twitched in the prison of crystal while Aqualad lowered his water barriers.

Ben shifted back to human.

“I will give it to you. You had me that time… You moved fast, dude. Congrats.”  

Red X  merely grunted in response, before vanishing in a flash of red.

“...Huh… Red Arrow was correct. His teleportation is remarkably like Reflect’s.” Aqualad noted. 

“Yeah, it’s a little freaky, actually.” Ben agreed. He sort’ve hated that Red Arrow had decided to point that out. He wasn’t wrong. Red X relied on Albedo’s powers to teleport like that. But that didn’t mean Ben wanted people like Red Arrow making those connections. Not when he’d decided to go on a one-man mission to root out any moles on their team. 

Sure, Batman knew about Red X, so Albedo wouldn’t get in trouble with the League… But Red Arrow exposing Red X to the bad guys just because he was a little too observant was not… great.

Ben was drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of more fighting deeper in the forest.

“Get back in the river.” Ben said quickly, “We need to make sure we’ve covered our basis. Artemis brought down the Bioship for some reason… So someone’s gonna need to take the skies.”

Aqualad nodded, before bringing a hand to his comms, “Kid Flash, the train?”

“Nearly to Sportsmaster… But Red Arrow and Artemis are fighting Cheshire.”

“I’ll back them up.” Reflect called.

“Good. Kid, Stick with the train and Sportsmaster. You’ll be able to keep up.” Aqualad agreed, “Deka will cover by air. Move quickly.” The other two echoed their agreements. 

Ben turned the Omnitrix again, shifting into Stinkfly and taking off for the sky.

Notes:

Writing fighting scenes can be hard, lol.

In other news, I've managed to somewhat resolve the Youtube issue, but the statement from last week about translations and reposting still stands.

Anyways, have a good week everyone.

Chapter 149: Unstable.

“X, I need you to interfere, drop Deka.” Albedo muttered under his breath as he watched Cheshire fight against Red Arrow and Artemis from the bushes. Red Arrow suspected a connection between Red X and Reflect. Albedo needed to quickly dissolve those suspicions. Of course, Red X didn’t respond– he couldn’t with the enemy watching, but Albedo knew he got the message. 

“Kid Flash, the train?” Aqualad asked.

“Nearly to Sportsmaster… But Red Arrow and Artemis are fighting Cheshire.” Kid Flash replied. 

“I’ll back them up.” Albedo inserted.

“Good. Kid, Stick with the train and Sportsmaster. You’ll be able to keep up.” Aqualad agreed, “Deka will cover by air. Move quickly.” 

Albedo hummed in agreement before jumping from the bushes, his hands blazing as his magical camouflage faded. He paused when he realized that Cheshire had pinned Red Arrow with her sai, and Artemis was hesitating to attack.

If Albedo recalled Batman’s files on Artemis correctly, he didn’t blame her hesitation. If it had been Benjamin or M’gann attacking, Albedo would feel the same. It was a little different though, since Benjamin was definitely a good guy, and in a realistic scenario, Albedo would be the villain of the situation. Same with M’gann, really.

Cheshire's mask was off, her lips twitched in an amused smile.

Her kissing Red Arrow totally caught Albedo off guard.

Albedo wasn’t the only one as a sound of surprise came from the right of Albedo, and Albedo glanced over just as the flash of Red X teleporting into the area wore off. 

“What the heck?!” Red X sputtered in clear horror. Cheshire jerked her head up, noting the two newcomers. 

“Looks like we’ve got an audience, lover boy.” She purred. 

“Lover boy?!” Red X said in dismay, “Cheshire, what the heck?! You know what. None of my business.” The fifteen year old summoned x-shurikens into his hands, spinning them quickly as he charged for Artemis.

Albedo reacted, throwing up a shield over the green-clad archer and summoning chains of mana to easily drag Cheshire off of Red Arrow, who looked just as uncomfortable as Red X had sounded. Honestly? Albedo could not blame either of them even a little bit. 

Red Arrow reacted the second she was dragged back, and she twisted her sai’s cutting through the mana in a small spin. He got himself to his feet and was pulling out his bow just as Artemis 

“Looks like the mage is getting faster with his spells.” She teased. She twirled her sais, “Lets test how fast. X, take care of lover boy and Arty for me, will you?” 

The train reached their location at that moment with the sound of a horn. She shot forwards, as if she’d been given a signal. Albedo yelped in surprise, summoning a shield as she leapt, sais raised to strike down, they hit the shield with a resounding crack, and Albedo quickly expanded, before summoning more chains. She artfully dodged these, practically dancing as she swapped her sais for a sword she’d discarded.

“Sportsmaster grabbed a package from the train!” Kid Flash called, “Follow?”

“Follow.” Aqualad agreed, “Deka and I are behind you.” 

“Red X joined up with Cheshire.” Red Arrow grunted as the mercenary fought Artemis and Red Arrow with a skill Albedo himself very much lacked without assistance. It was clear how familiar he was with the way Red Arrow fought… And how fast he adapted to Artemis as he got in close and forced them into hand-to-hand with him, giving them little room for using their bows. 

“Keep them there.” Aqualad ordered, “We’ll figure out where Sportsmaster is taking his package. We do not want them to meet until we’ve figured out the situation better.”

Cheshire was really testing his shields with her sword whilst narrowly avoiding capture. Albedo studied her movements closely, working out patterns mentally as he kept up his attempts to snare her. 

He smirked, before manipulating the mana to block her next action and snagging her sword with chains and yanking back.

She let go, not letting herself be dragged with it, before chuckling.

“Very fast.” She decided, “Good enough for me. Come on, X, things are getting complicated.” Red X reacted accordingly, backing off of the two archers and throwing down a smoke pellet. Another flash of red, and when the smoke cleared, the two were gone. 

Albedo waited for a heartbeat.

 Then, “So… Was that kiss nonconsensual or are you in a complicated relationship with an assassin?”

Red Arrow whirled around towards Albedo so fast, Albedo wouldn’t have been surprised if he got whiplash from it. 

“We aren’t dating.” He growled very quickly. Albedo raised his hands in the air quickly.

“Hey, now. I thought I would clarify the situation.” Albedo said quickly, “We humans have strange attractions.”

“Reflect, you’ve admitted multiple times that you aren’t attracted to literally anyone or anything.” Artemis said with a huff, “Would you stop trying to figure out other teenager’s hormones?” 

“I’m a scientist.” Albedo said with a helpless shrug. Artemis gave a laugh of disbelief.

“Whatever. We need to catch up with the others.” She turned to march for the bioship, but Red Arrow stopped her.

“Not so fast. You were supposed to stay aboard the bioship.” Red Arrow growled at her. 

“I saw her sneaking up on you, and I acted.” Artemis snapped back immediately. 

“Then you radio in.” Red Arrow said impatiently.

“And if they’ve hacked our frequency?” She immediately challenged. Albedo wanted to object that he’d encrypted the comms personally with Robin, so the chances of that were not very likely, but he got a sense that wasn’t really going to go over well. So he just shrugged helplessly.

“We’ve become accustomed to telepathy, as it typically can’t be hacked… With some exceptions.” Albedo grimaced as he thought about Psimon… Not that Psimon would be hacking mind-links anytime in the near future thanks to M’gann. 

Albedo then frowned, as he noticed something off. He glanced around, before summoning mana to his hands to amplify the feeling.

“...What’s up, Reflect?” Artemis said, noticing Albedo’s sudden shift.

“Klarion.” Albedo muttered. This made her straighten her shoulder in alarm.

“Here?”

“No, but close. Ever since that incident with the world being divided into two worlds back in October, I can tell when he’s close. Nabu’s been keeping him from taking me again, but I do sometimes feel him following. He’s south right now. Probably knows I’m nearby too. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where Sportsmaster, Red X, and Cheshire are headed.”

“You're being stalked by a Chaos Lord?” Red Arrow demanded.

“Yes.” Albedo huffed, “But Nabu’s been keeping him away from me, for the most part. Even so, Klarion doesn’t understand boundaries.”

“Do you understand how suspicious that sounds… You weren’t raised with Deka… For all we know, you could’ve fallen in cahoots with Klarion during your ‘studies’ with this Azmuth character.” Red Arrow accused, making Albedo back up a little. 

What in the world?

“...What… He kidnapped me and forced me to watch him tear the world in two while using me as a living shield against the heroes?! Why would I be in ‘cahoots’ with him? If anything, I’ve gotten to tolerate him because he won’t go away, but I would never work for that maniac. Why would you even think?!” As far as Albedo was concerned, training with Klarion was a far cry from daring to agree to help with any of Klarion’s insane plots. At least training with Klarion worked to keep the Chaos Lord from attempting to kidnap him for ‘fun’ again. 

“You’re out of line.” Artemis stepped in, “You didn’t see what Klarion did to Reflect during the world-split incident. If they were working together, Klarion wouldn’t have needed to forcibly rip the magic out of Reflect to make his stupid protection spell. You don’t know anything about Reflect. So step off.” 

“You’re right. I don’t.” Red Arrow agreed, “But I’ve read the files on Reflect. You defected during a mission and went after your own brother. Clearly you’ve got a past you aren’t telling the team about.” Red Arrow then pointed towards Artemis, “And you’re just as bad. I know you aren’t telling the team everything. I know you're keeping secrets.” 

“Back off.” She growled, “If Reflect says Klarion is south, that’s where we need to go. That’s probably who Sportsmaster is working with… And for the record, we’ve already had conversations as a team on why Reflect defected during the Bialya mission. No, he doesn’t have to tell you why, and I sure as heck don’t have to explain it. Nor do I have to tell you my life story. We’re the good guys. Get that in your head, or get out.” 

Albedo couldn’t help the grateful smile he found himself giving to Artemis for defending them both to Red Arrow. 

“Are you the good guys?” Red Arrow challenged, “Because with a mole on this team, any one of you could be ready to stab the others in the back.” 

“Guess that’s just the risk you have to take when you’re on a team.” Artemis bit, “Now, are you going to keep hampering Reflect and I about being traitors, or are you going to help us stop the bad guys?” Red Arrow’s face screwed up in consideration before he ultimately huffed and let the topic drop. 

“Right, let's move and catch up with the others.” He finally decided.

Notes:

Cheshire: *Kisses Red Arrow*
Albedo: ...Okay, this is weird.
Red X: What in the actual heck?!
Artemis: Sis, why?!

In all honesty, seeing older Roy get kissed HAS got to be weird for young Roy, lol.

Sorry I didn't post last week, ya'll. It was one of my sister's birthdays PLUS I was apartment hunting for my friend and I, as I am planning a move in the middle of the summer. Then that afternoon, I lead an End Dragon fight with some friends who've never fought the dragon in Minecraft, and didn't have time to post after the battle finished.

I didn't have time to post on Saturday, and while I considered posting Sunday, I wound up spending the entire day celebrating Father's day with my dad.

My final class that I need to finally finish my Masters diploma is actually starting up this Monday, so I don't know what that looks like as far as updates go yet. I'll keep you guys posted. I suspect that since we're getting closer and closer to the end, it won't be too terrible of an issue, but between me moving apartments soon and this class, there may be a week or two where I might not be able to update, so I'm giving the heads up now.

Anyways, I hope ya'll have a good week!

Chapter 150: A New Addition.

Ben and Aqualad were perched in trees outside the warehouse that Kid Flash had reported seeing Sportsmaster enter. There was no activity outside of the building, but Kid Flash was quickly scouting alternative entry points. 

There was magic in the air.

It was pretty strong too… And it wasn’t the stuff Red X was borrowing from Albedo either. 

It felt a lot like what it was when the world split into two realities. 

“Klarion’s here.” Ben realized, earning a surprise glance from Aqualad.

“Really? Did Reflect say something?” Aqualad asked.

“No. Klarion’s being pretty obvious about it.” Ben huffed, “Just because I don’t use magic doesn’t mean I’m not sensitive to the stuff.” Aqualad made a sound of understanding.

“I forget. Reflect inherited his affinity for magic from you.” He admitted, “You are so careful not to meddle with it, that it slips my mind that you have the same potential as he does.”  

“Technically, Reflect enhanced the mana shielding on my Omnitrix, so I should be good to use it… But…”

“You’d rather not take the risk.” Aqualad said.

“Yeah. Emergencies only.” Ben agreed, “Also rather not test the mana shielding against a chaos lord. Reflect’s strong, but Klarion’s on another level right now. Reflect’s just a lot newer to it all, you know? How far out are Reflect and our archers?”

“Not far. We should act quickly. Who knows what the package Sportsmaster was carrying was meant for. The fact that Klarion may be involved makes the situation all the more concerning.” Aqualad determined. 

“Then we should move in.” Ben agreed.

“The others will be our back-up if things go south.” Aqualad agreed, before pressing his hand to the com in his ear, “Kid Flash, status.” 

“Nothing in the main room from what I can see. But these assassins are ninjas, so be careful. Weird robotic laughing coming from the back. Gonna bet that the bad guys are in there.” Kid reported immediately. 

“Good. We’re moving in.”

“Roof access to your right. I’ll see you two on the inside.” Kid Flash agreed. Ben smiled, pulling his Omnitrix arm up and dialing quickly for Jet Ray.

“Shall we?” Ben asked.

Aqualad rolled his eyes, and Ben slammed his hand down, shifting instantaneously. Aqualad patiently waited for the green light to disperse before allowing Ben to snatch him up and flying the two silently up to the access point. Said access point was apparently a roof window. A roof window that Ben promptly landed next to, before shifting human again. Aqualad and Ben both peered down into the dark building beneath them. 

He grimaced at the Mardi Gras decor that was stored inside which happened to include a skull wearing a larger jester’s hat. 

Clown decorations. Gross.

Ben moved first, pushing the window open and dropping down behind said weird skull-clown decoration. Aqualad followed quietly, pulling his Water-Bearers out in case of a fight. 

Inside, Ben confirmed that Kid Flash was correct… There was weird robotic laughter coming from the back of the warehouse. 

“Psst.” Ben looked over, finding Kid Flash peaked out from behind a tiger float. Aqualad responded with a hand signal telling Kid Flash to advance with them. 

The three converged on the door where the weird laughter was coming from, with Kid ready to spring into action, water starting to pool over Aqualad’s Water-Bearers, and Ben’s own fingers twitching over the Omnitrix dial, ready to activate. 

That’s right when a familiar red barrier shot up in front of the three, cutting them off, and down from the rafters dropped Red X.

“Let's try this again, ten.” The false-mercenary chirped, tilting his head, "Though three on one doesn’t seem too fair.” Aqualad reacted first, suddenly spinning around in time to block Cheshires sword with his Water-Bearers. Kid Flash zipped back before a javelin from Sportsmaster could turn him into a Wally-kabab. Ben spun the Omnitrix dial quickly, keying up Feedback, who Ben knew would have a pretty fun effect against Red X’s borrowed magic.

Red X shot forwards, throwing his shuriken in an effort to stop Ben from activating the Omnitrix. Ben spun out of the way, shifting in another flash of green to his Conductoid form. The red shield flickered out of existence as Ben shot his hand towards it and absorbed it, before raising his hand to absorb the mana shurikens that Red X was throwing. 

Red X startled only for a moment before readjusting, forgetting the mana, and charging, fists raised for a hand-to-hand fight. 

Really, a poor choice.

Ben would have to offer the guy an apology when they formally met outside of the masks later.

Until then, Ben shot the hand that absorbed the energy out, and arcs of electricity shot out, slamming into the other boy.

“Gah!” Red X was sent flying back into the wall, slamming into it and jolting in surprise. The guy twitched, before crumbling to the ground. He tried to immediately pick himself up again, but he spasmed some and collapsed once more. Ben couldn’t help but notice how the guy’s right arm seemed to sag awkwardly in the action.

“...Okay… Might’ve given him a little too much. Kinda forget he’s just a guy in a really high tech suit sometimes.” Ben muttered to himself, before turning toward the other two bad guys.

Kid Flash wasn’t really struggling against Sportsmaster… He moved too quickly, after all, but it was clear that Sportsmaster had adapted to fighting a far, far faster enemy, and was keeping his own. Cheshire and Aqualad were flat out in an epic sword fighting duel. 

“See what’s going on.” Kid said, “We’ve got these two!” Ben nodded, and showed the back door open, covering his eyes as he was met with more flashed or bright red light and a makeshift workshop. 

Dr. Ivo, one of his stupid monkey robot things, Mallah the machine gun wielding gorilla, the Brain, Teekl the Cat, and Klarion were crowded around a jar-looking thing. Klarion was attacking it with magic.

…What in the world was going on here?

Klarion faltered in his spells, glaring over at Ben.

“Oh. We got the changeling twin. Here I was hoping for more playtime with Reflect. I know he’s close.” Klarion grumped.

That got Ben gritting his teeth and springing into action.

“Okay, you leave my brother alone, freak.” Ben declared, and using the form he was so well-versed in, he launched himself at the gang of villains. Klarion reacted about how Ben thought he would, sending a burst of magic in Ben’s direction. Ben just stole the energy from it with his tail, spinning quickly to fire the energy right back at the group. He aim specifically for the weird jar thing they were messing with. That seemed pretty important. 

Klarion gasped, and quickly shielded it.

“Spoil sport!” He growled, and in a flash of red, he was beside Ben fingers cackling with Red electricity as he swiped for the Omnitrix symbol on Ben’s chest. Mallah grabbed his gun, hoisting it up to his shoulder whilst Ivo quickly moved to cram the jar-thingy into a suitcase. 

[Unknown alien DNA present. Entering capture mode.] The Omnitrix suddenly called.

“Wait, what?!” Ben had absolutely no time to react before the Omnitrix was flashing from green to yellow. And in a flash of yellow, Ben was shifting back to human just in time for Klarion to pounce on him. The chaos lord sent a pulse of mana shooting through Ben, and Ben yelped in surprise, his eyes gaining spotted dots for a moment.

“Wait a moment. Bring the shapeshifter over here. I would like to see something.” Called the Brain in that posh french accent of his. Ben’s vision cleared in time for Mallah to cross the room, and grab his Omnitrix arm harshly, covering the watch.

Ben yelped as he was dragged over to the table. 

“Your watch stores and replicates alien DNA, yes?” The Brain immediately demanded.

“Umm…” Ben’s eyes shifted from the robot-like villain to the jar thing now tucked into the open suitcase. Now that Ben was closer, he saw it contained a weird looking tentacle.

“...Only if it’s intelligent.” He said carefully before his eyes darted to the door and he mentally hoped the others would come help him out quickly, because Ben could absolutely NOT fight off these guys alone, even if he decided to use mana. With Klarion around, Ben using mana was like a bad joke. 

“Try this then.” Ivo said, shoving the suitcase forwards across the table with a devious smile. 

Ben stared down at the tentacle in a jar. Something was weird about it though. It was pulsing with Klarion’s magic, there were clear tech-enhancements embedded in it, and it shimmered in the light.

Whatever this thing had been, it was being experimented on and modified by the bad guys. Which meant even severed from the orginial creature, the thing in front of him was probably dangerous. 

Mallah let go of Ben’s arm. Klarion made a small giggling sound, as if he thought Brain and Ivo’s curiosity about the Omnitrix being able to scan this thing was the funniest thing in the world. Oh, great. So this was just the Brain and Ivo’s chance to nerd out over Ben’s watch. Well, it could’ve been something worse, Ben supposed. Ben couldn’t help but shudder as the thought of Queen Bee flickered in the back of his head.

“Well, go on!” Ivo urged with a wide smile, “Scan it!” 

This was weird.

This was really, really weird. 

Still…

Ben reached out, pressing his fingers against the jar-thing.

[Scanning.] The Omnitrix reported. It flashed yellow again, [Scan complete. Star Conqueror DNA acquired.] The Omnitrix shifted green, before flashing a depiction of a star-like alien on the dial. 

Jeesh, did he just get an alien starfish on his watch? Yeah, Ben wasn’t turning into that on purpose anytime soon until he could confirm it didn’t need water to breathe. Ben did not want a repeat of some incidents he’d had as Ripjaws when he was ten. 

“Fascinating.” The Brain purred, “That device truly is a work of genius!” 

“I’ll say.” Ivo eagerly agreed, “Not my usual brand of machinery, but I’ve never seen anything so advanced before!” 

Ben's focus snapped to the watch’s green color, and he shot his hand forward to turn the watch to something else. Mallah grabbed the Omnitrix arm again before Ben could reach it, and Ben found himself practically dangling in the air, his toes barely touching the floor.

Whelp, Ben clearly forgot how inconvenient it was having the bad guys know that his weakness was literally not letting him use the watch. This was going to get annoying quick, he could already tell. 

“Nope! You don’t get to ruin the fun just because you’ve got a fancy new alien now.” Klarion said, scolding Ben like a child as he wagged his finger in Ben’s face.

“We’re done here. Knock the kid out, and let’s go before the other junior heroes come to back him up.” Ivo said as he closed up the case with a resounding snap!

“Too late. Everyone, freeze.” Artemis' voice cut through the room, and Ben snapped his head up, grinning in her direction. The girl had an arrow on her bow and she looked ready to fight literally anything that attacked.

“Oh, hi Arty!” Ben said cheerfully, “Give a guy a hand?” 

Klarion moved to attack.

“Oh, why bother?” Ivo said, stopping the chaos lord, “With what we’ve created tonight?” Klarion paused in consideration, before giggling in response. 

“You’re right. We should listen to her.” Klarion chuckled. He then held his hands up in a mockery of surrender, “Freeze!” There was yet another flash of red, and Ben and Artemis watched as each and every bad guy in the room froze, literally, into sculptures of ice.

Ben immediately pulled at the ice hand that held him there, attempting to get his feet flat on the ground for more leverage. An arrow pierced the sculpture, shattering it and freeing Ben’s arm. With Mallah’s statue destroyed, the other ones followed suit, crumpling where they stood icy chucks and shards.

Ben shook his arm off, shivering some.

“Thanks, that was weird.”

“What were they doing to you, exactly?” Artemis said in bewilderment.

“Wanted me to absorb some alien?” Ben said in response, “I have no clue what just happened. Omnitrix went into alien scan mode and they had this weird jar with a chunk of a starfish in it and…”

“Starfish?” Ben and Artemis twirled around to face Aqualad, who’d entered the room with Red Arrow, Albedo, and Kid Flash.

“That’s what it looked like in the Omnitrix database.” Ben said with a shrug. Aqualad’s eyebrows furrowed, looking extremely disturbed. Judging by the guy’s expression, he knew what it was. And it was probably a good thing Ben didn’t immediately try to turn into it.

“Ivo’s supposed to be in prison.” Artemis muttered, glancing at where the Ivo statue had been, “But we know who Sportsmaster was delivering the package to.”

“And what was in the package.” Ben agreed.

“But we didn’t get the package.” Red Arrow growled, “So the mission was a bust.” 

Albedo moved forwards past Red Arrow to approach the work table. He hovered his hand over it, blanketing it with mana.

“Not necessarily.” He mused, “The enemy escaped. But not all losses are failures.” His lips twitched with a smirk, “Looks like the enemy show’d us a glimpse into what they’re up to.” He then turned and faced the group. He wore a smile Ben had long ago dubbed his ‘mad genius’ smirk. 

“I think this is a victory.” 

“Really? The bad guys getting away is a victory?” Red Arrow scoffed, “Care to enlighten us how?” 

“I’ll need to run some tests on the sample Deka’s Omnitrix took.” Albedo replied, “But trust me. The enemy slipped. And I intend to exploit that.”

Notes:

No crazy Author's Notes today, lol.

I don't know what Starro's official alien type is, as everything I've found on him just calls him a starfish-like creature or Star Conquerors. So he's just set as a Star Conqueror in the Omnitrix.

Have a good week everyone!

Chapter 151: Turning Gears.

“I can’t believe your brother electrocuted me, Doc!” Roy complained as Albedo fiddled with the prosthetic attached to Roy’s shoulder.

“He did ask me to tell you he was sorry.” Albedo said, “He wasn’t trying to hurt you that badly.”

“Ugh. It’s fine. I just did not expect him to react that fast. I pinned him so easily before.” Roy complained.

“Meh. Benjamin’s slippery. He’s not exactly known for doing the expected. Besides, that alien was his Conductoid form. Every time he’s taken the form of Feedback, he’s worn it like a second skin. I’m not surprised you weren’t able to challenge it. He’s very experienced with Feedback… Even if it was disabled for a little while. You forget, Benjamin’s been at this since he was ten, and he’ll be seventeen this month.”

“You mean you’ll both be seventeen.” Roy countered, “Any big plans?”

“Not particularly. Christmas is so close, and I’ve never celebrated Christmas before. It seems like an interesting holiday. I’ve already grown fond of the lights everywhere. Though the cold I could do without. At least it’s not as bad as when I was homeless.” 

“Right. I forgot you’ve got an alien’s brain and know nothing about Earth holidays.” 

“I was born an alien. If anything, I have a human body.” Albedo said with an eye roll before letting go of Roy’s prosthetic, “Try that.” Roy immediately flexed the arm.

“Oh, that’s better. You work fast.”

“Hmm, of course I do.” Albedo agreed with a nod, “I’m the smartest person on this planet, after all.” 

“Speaking of smart.” Roy said, “What do we have after last night?” 

“Quite a bit.” Albedo said, moving from the work-table over to the computer, which he activated, “Benjamin’s Omnitrix scanned the DNA contained within the package the Light was moving and enhancing. While I don’t have direct access to the enhancements made, I did gather some information about biomechanical enhancements from Luthor’s files and further information on the DNA found in the Omnitrix from the League’s files.”

“And?”

“Well, the species coined as the ‘Star Conquers’ happen to be the very same species that attacked Babylonia in the ancient days and was fought by a person I found in my extensive research as Marduk. According to Nabu, Marduk was his father. And according to Klarion, Vandal Savage is Nabu’s father. Both spoke truly when they told me as much.”

“Which means Marduk was another name for the guy.” Roy guessed, “An old alias Savage used.” 

“Yes. My conclusion as well.” Albedo agreed with a nod, “It was a creature that controlled minds, and to defeat it, Savage and his sons froze it into cryogenic slumber in the arctic seas. The battle destroyed Nabu’s mortal form, allowing for his ascension to a complete Lord of Order and his sealing into the Helm of Fate. Some time later, the creature was found by the Atlanteans. They’ve been studying it for quite some time and have an extensive amount of data about it stored in the League files.”

Albedo tapped on the computer, and the words [Classified: Planetary Threat]. Flashed across the screen. Albedo ignored it, bypassing.

“From what they’ve uncovered, ‘Starro’ as it’s called is an asexually reproducing creature that can latch onto and create a parasitic bond with a biological host. It can control its hosts, and the more it produces and the more hosts it controls, the stronger and more powerful it becomes. It’s from off-world, which means it has the potential to control even the heaviest hitters on the Justice League. Even the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, any of the Lanterns, Captain Marvel, Nabu, or Flash.” 

Roy’s expression slackened.

“That’s… Wow. That’s bad.” Roy said in realization. 

“Yes, I imagine it is. But I think the worst of it is that the Light is having the piece he stole from Atlantis enhanced by machinery and magic. I have no doubt that Queen Bee’s impromptu interviews with Benjamin whilst she had him was also prodding the best way to bypass the Omnitrix’s defenses as well. Imagine the wielder of the Omntrix also at their whims? Because I can very well see this experiment of theirs as a means of controlling anything or anyone they need to.” Albedo explained.

“So you think they’re targeting the League.”

“It would be the most logical assumption. They’re creating the most vertistile and adaptive mind-control technology this world will have ever seen.”

“But then… How are they gonna get the League to, you know? Get controlled? I don’t think someone like Batman’s gonna sit around and just let the villains pick off the League one by one without coming up with a plan to stop them.” Roy pointed out.

“Yes.” Albedo agreed, “They’d have to administer their technology to as many members as possible in as short of a timeframe as they are able for them to pull it off. Once the heavy hitters and larger threats are handled…”

“They’ll go for the smaller fry. Small-time heroes.” Roy said, “Until they’ve got everyone under their thumb. And with that, they’d have the world. The biggest problem would be your brother, aka, the League-in-one hero.” 

“They’ll try to isolate him. If they can’t control Benjamin with what they have now, I would not be surprised if they would continue to seek methods of trying.” Albedo figured, “I think they intend to use Red X to snare Benjamin. And they intend to use Red Arrow as some form of catalyst. I don’t know if they want to weaponize him against the team or against the League. Both would not be ideal.” 

“So, we wake up my younger-older brother.” Roy decided, “Get that programming out of his head. Pull him into this.” Roy gestured to the alien-like workroom they were inside.

“The Light’s watching Red Arrow closely.” Albedo mused, “That would be no simple task.”

“Maybe, but he’s on the team now… And you guys have a trustworthy telepath who could break their control over Red Arrow without them knowing.” Roy suggested. Albedo hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Is it wise to bring the team into this? The more people that know, the less of an element of surprise we have when we make our move. I trust the team… But I don’t know how well they’ll be able to act for the sake of the mission. I’ve perfected the art of ‘playing dumb.’ As has Benjamin and Bruce. But the team is composed of teenagers. They’re emotional.” Albedo considered, “My sister is no exception. She wears her heart on her sleeve… Though she is a Martian. They are better at playing pretend than humans… Hmm.” 

“We could lure him back to Cadmus and have Dubbilex free him.” Roy suggested. 

“But do you consider yourself a good enough actor to pretend as if nothing is wrong?” Albedo asked.

“I’m stuck in an underground city until we’ve foiled the Light, why the heck do my acting abilities matter? I’m in a mask as Red X, so it’s not like anyone notices me making faces at Luthor.” Roy said with an eyeroll. 

“Let me clarify, do you think your clone would be able to mask his true emotions once discovering the truth of what he is and what his purpose is?” Albedo asked, “I know you’ve been following him. What do you think?” 

Roy furrowed his brow as he thought about it.

“Shoot.” He grumbled, “No. He wouldn’t be able to fake it.” 

“You’re certain?” Albedo asked. Roy ducked his head in response.

“He… We… I haven’t had the best luck growing up, between my dad dying and what happened to Brave Bow. Ollie taking me in and looking out for me is probably one of the better things that happened… And that led to me getting kidnapped and cloned.” Roy said and he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “I’ve been… Angry for as long as I can remember. My brother has my memories. My experiences, plus three years. He’s older. Smarter. But he’s still angry.” 

“It’s hard to hide anger.” Albedo muttered, “Yes, I know what that’s like.”

“He’s better at hiding it than me… But he’s more paranoid than I ever was. Probably because of the Cadmus programming. But if he knew… Well, I know what I’d do to Luthor if I found out he created me like that. Probably would’ve gunned for Luthor right away after I woke up if you weren’t such a mother hen. This is going to mess Red Arrow up.”

“...Mother hen?” Albedo asked, squinting some. He didn’t know that term.

“You’re like an overprotective mom, sometimes, Doc.” Roy said in exasperation, “And now that Bruce knows I’m here, the guy won’t stop sending care packages. For two of the most emotionally stunted and brooding heroes on the planet… And this is coming from me, you both are such parents. Which is hilarious, because you look like a seventeen year old kid. Oh, and do not get me started on Dubbilex!” 

“I’m much older than seventeen.” Albedo muttered.

“Yeah, and it shows sometimes.” Roy said with an eyeroll, “Point is, you being all overprotective and cautious and stuff stopped me from doing what I would’ve liked to do to Luthor… Though what we are doing is going to be way more satisfying. I’m not sure older me’s gonna listen to you so easily once he’s aware.” 

“Then let's not make him aware.” Albedo said, “We can be subtle about removing the programming. However, we’ll need to get a far better idea of the Light’s timetables on when they intend to strike as well as how they’ve been giving Red Arrow his orders.”

“I know how they’ve been doing that.” Roy scoffed. Albedo arched a brow at that.

“...Right, you’ve been following your clone. You probably saw something.”

“What we need to do, basically, is keep him busy. Keep him focused on something that won’t put him onto the field. Keep him away from Cheshire and Sportsmaster at all costs. Once we’ve removed the stuff in his head, they’ll probably try and make contact with him again. They’ll be the first to notice their mole’s been compromised.”

Albedo winced.

“Oh… I’m going to have to give many apologies to my team when this is done.”

“...You’ve got an idea?”

“A wild moose chase.” Albedo replied, “One he’s already engaged in. He’s searching for the mole.”

“...Moose… You mean, goose, right?”

“It’s an Earth saying. I don’t know. That’s what Blonko called it, though I suppose Rook Blonko is no human..” Albedo sighed, “Regardless, if Red Arrow is more focused on the mole within the team than solo projects, Cheshire and Sportsmaster might have less opportunity to interact with him.” 

“...When your team finds out about all of this, can I be the guy in charge of planning your funeral, Doc?” Roy asked after a moment of consideration. 

“...Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

Notes:

It's been a crazy week, lol. Between a 10 page paper, packing things up, July 4th, and my birthday tomorrow, I've been busy! But I have been productive!

Anyways, there's a new YJ/Ben 10 work inspired by A Reflection that is being written by BrotherBrain. Similar concept to A Reflection, only Ben is trapped in his alien forms and cannot turn back, and I can see it going in all sorts of new directions. It is very well written, and I think ya'll would enjoy it! Go give it support! It's called Refraction and is linked through the works inspired section of this story.

Anyways, I hope ya'll have a good week!

Chapter 152: Menace.

“Come on, Roy, lighten up. We’re all getting our Christmas breaks, and you’re out here mopping while the rest of us are trying to enjoy the holiday spirit.” Wally said, elbowing the grumpy archer. 

“I know, isn’t it exciting?” M’gann agreed as she tossed yet another round of Christmas lights into the shopping cart. Albedo had been the one to casually suggest the team go out together and shop for supplies to decorate the cave as it seemed like it was a ‘part of the holiday tradition.’ That lead to the entire team… Kaldur, Robin, Wally, Artemis, Zatanna, Ben, Albedo, Roy, Conner, and M’gann… marching into the Happy Harbor market store. Each of them was equipped with a detailed list of supplies made by Albedo and M’gann of items they needed to collect.

Ben was glad his brother seemed like he was genuinely interested in the human holiday, even wearing a sweater with white snowflakes knitted in to go along with the season. Ben himself was just trying not to think about how this was going to be the first time he wasn’t going to be at the Tennyson Christmas party back in the Omniverse. 

“But there are so many other important things we could be doing outside of messing around with a ton of lights.” Roy huffed back, “Just because it’s colder doesn’t mean there aren’t bad guys out.”

“Batman doesn’t have any missions for us right now.” Robin pointed out as he deposited a mess of marshmallows and hot-chocolate supplies into the cart, “Hasn’t had any since Sportsmaster and Cheshire. We’ve been in the cave for the past week going over all of the data you guys collected from that mission alone. Honestly, I think I needed to get away from the computer, my eyes were getting crossed.” 

“Which reminds me why I didn’t want to be on the team.” Roy grumbled, “Too much waiting for someone else to tell us what to do.”

“Hey, don’t forget we still need cookie supplies… My mom used to make these killer cookies for the holidays that I want to try and recreate. Surprisingly not bad for a vegan cookie recipe.” Ben cut in, ignoring how grinchy Roy was being. 

“Have you even started on your list, Roy?” Zatanna asked as she appeared from the aisle over with all of the ingredients needed to make gingerbread houses in tow. Roy grimaced, looking down at his list. Wrapping paper and other gift wrapping supplies, if Ben remembered. Albedo had been very detailed with every list, going very methodically over even which colors were best suited for each person’s wrapping paper, which labels were the least obstructive, and how many ribbons would be needed for Roy’s list.

Sometimes, Albedo used that big brain of his for some of the most random things. At least he seemed like he was having fun. 

The fun seemed to slip out of Albedo’s posture though as he looked distractedly over his shoulder while Conner hauled a plastic tree into the area. Zatanna paused in her work of cramming the gingerbread supplies into the already overflowing cart. Ben was about to ask what their deal was, before Ben felt it too.

Chaos was in the air. 

“Who’s even paying for all of this? The League?” Conner asked as he squinted at the cart in front of him, not noticing how distracted Zatanna and Albedo suddenly seemed. 

“It’s on me. Don’t worry. Al tried to say he’d pay, but he knows Bats can afford it, so he backed down.” Robin said with a hum. 

“...Exactly how much money do you have, Rob?” Conner asked slowly.

“Oh, boy, you have no idea.” Wally snorted, “Right, Roy?” Roy just huffed in response. 

“Oh, I just love this time of year! So much magic. So much pazazz! Not sure how I feel about the ‘peace of all mankind’ aspect of the season, but there’s a lot of potential for trouble this time of year.” Ben’s mind short-circuited at Klarion’s voice popping into the conversation. He’d felt the guy nearby too, but that was extremely bold of the guy to just pop up like that. 

Everyone froze, eyes wide with alarm as the Lord of Chaos came strolling into the Christmas decor aisle, a little shopping basket in hand, his cat curled on his shoulder, and a goofy santa hat perched on his head. His basket was filled with an absurd amount of Christmas candy. 

“Klarion.” Kaldur growled.

“Relax.” Klarion chuckled, “Just getting my shopping done.” 

“You’re not supposed to be here. I’ve practically got Nabu on speed dial. I will call him.” Ben immediately informed the guy. The Chaos Lord stuck out his tongue, before spinning to face Albedo with a cheery smile.

“How are you, Reflect? Enjoying the holidays? I know this has gotta be your first year celebrating, what with you being an ancient being stuck in a human form and all!” At that, Roy went very straight, his eyes narrowing on Albedo, who shrank some in response to Klarion’s words. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Roy’s voice was flat.

“Oops! Was that supposed to be a big secret, Al? I can call you Al, right? My bad! Guess you wouldn’t want all of your boring hero friends to know about your dark past as a… Oh, well there I go, blabbing secrets again! Say, have you given what I offered you any thoughts yet? You’d make a great Lord of Chaos! You’ve already got the villain role nailed! Isn’t that right, Deka?” 

“Right, I’m calling Nabu.” Ben huffed, and he dug for his phone.

“Oh, you ruin everything, goodie-two-shoes.” Klarion pouted before raising his hands in mock surrender, “Okay, okay. I’m gone!” And just like that, Klarion vanished in a flash of red. 

“...You weren’t kidding about that guy stalking you, were you, Al?” Artemis said as she eyed where Klarion had been. Albedo heaved a heavy sigh, ducking his head a little.

“No. I wasn’t. He keeps doing that. First time he’s done that whilst everyone else was around. And typically Nabu gets involved.” Albedo replied, “The most he’s been is a menace. I think he finds it funny to mess with me. But I worry. After all, he did use me as a magic battery.” 

“What was he talking about?” Roy demanded, and he stuck his finger accusingly in Albedo’s direction, “Ancient being in a human body? Making a good Chaos Lord? Being a good villain? A dark past?” 

“I hardly see how that’s your business.” Albedo drawled.

“It’s my business when there’s a mole on the team.” Roy bit back, “Are you and Ben even brothers?” 

“We are.” Albedo countered immediately.

“Does Batman know you’re some ancient being in a human body?” Roy proceeded to ask. That question made Albedo wince. Genuine guilt seemed to flicker across his features.

“...I’ve yet to broach the subject with him. But it is on my list of things to do. He does deserve to know about my ah… Odd mental age. But this doesn’t change that Benjamin and I ARE brothers and I am a member of this team. I’m not sure what your obsession with this mole is, but I am genuinely trying to make an honest effort to help people. If my being stalked by a Chaos Lord against my will is enough for you to point fingers at me, then so be it. But Benjamin and I are brothers.” 

“Can confirm.” Ben said with a shrug, “Only a Tennyson would love smoothies and chili fries with the amount of gusto that Albedo does.”

“Forget about the mole thing, Roy.” Robin cut in, “Albedo, is there any better way to get Klarion to leave you alone? For all we know, that could be the leak we’ve been looking for. If he’s been watching you…” 

“I’ve learned to sense when he’s watching.” Albedo said, “It’s not him. And he isn’t so stupid as to follow me to the cave. He’s mostly trailing me on my way to work. I’ve yet to have him follow me on our missions. Only when he is actively involved with the villains at play does he do that.” 

“Is he still watching now?” Wally asked, looking around with paranoia in his features.

“No, he’s gone.” Zatanna confirmed, “I think he just showed up to mess with Albedo, but the threat of Nabu getting involved did a good enough job of making him go away.” 

“Good. I don’t like that guy. He’s part of the reason Kent Nelson kicked the bucket.” Wally mused.

“A good man.” Albedo agreed, “Though his time was well past. He was quite old for a human.” 

“I mean, fair. But still.” Wally shrugged uselessly. 

“...So… If he’s gone… Is it bad to ask if we’re finishing this shopping trip? Or are we calling it quits for today?” Conner asked, gesturing to their overstuffed cart.

“He’s probably not coming back today. We’ll be fine to continue.” Albedo replied. 

“Oh, good! I was really worried. We still need to get Ben’s cookie supplies after all!” M’gann cheered.

“So, we’re all going to just… Move on from the fact that he was here… And from everything he just said about Albedo?” Roy asked, looking all the more frustrated.

“Pretty much. Yeah.” Robin said with a shrug, “We can talk about it later. We’ve got one last list to finish off and a lot of work to get done today. Besides, Nabu really does need to be involved in that conversation, considering he’s supposed to be keeping Klarion out of trouble.” 

“No kidding.” Ben agreed, “I guess randomly bothering Albedo doesn’t count as trouble to the guy, even though Klarion literally has kidnapped Albedo before.” Seriously, did Nabu just ignore the red flags that riddled that entire situation? Ben got that Nabu was a busy guy, keeping the magical world in order and balanced and all of that, but Klarion was one of those beings that Nabu was supposed to be keeping under supervision. 

“It’s fine. I’ll talk with him myself.” Albedo waved off.

“Don’t you hate Nabu just as much as Klarion?” Wally asked, “You know, cos’ Nabu possessed you?”

“That was partially my choice.” Albedo pointed out, “And he is the lesser of two evils. I can tolerate a conversation if needed.”

“Okay…. Just let us know if you need back-up.” 

“Of course.”

Notes:

Albedo: *Needs to get 18-year old Roy to obsess more over the mole thing.*
Also Albedo: *Abuses the fact that Klarion keeps following him to do so.*
Klarion: *Appears because the idea of messing with Albedo is funny to him.*
Clone Roy: What the actual heck?!
Albedo: Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness.
Ben & Wally: We can beat up Klarion if he keeps stalking you, Al.
Albedo: Nah, I've got this.

We'll be headed into the performance arc! Just in time for July (when random people randomly recelebrate Christmas for some reason, lol.)

Speaking of Christmas in July, someone requested seeing a little bit of what's going on with the Omniverse right now, so I'm planning on releasing another one shot on July 25th. I will warn, it's not exactly a 'warm feeling and holiday cheer' story. It's 100% angst. So, don't say I didn't warn you.

Anywho, have a good week!

Chapter 153: What's in a Traitor?

Albedo was skimming through the newest report on Match’s progress in the kitchen of the cave, the news was on in background acting as white nose for Albedo. 

“A wave of robberies have been reported across Europe at various major technology institutes. Multiple reports of advanced weaponry and technology disappearing. Currently suspicions rest on Haly’s International Traveling Circus, which has been present in each town hit by these burglaries.” The new anchor reported.

Albedo froze, and he jerked his head up, staring in bewilderment at the screen.

“...Wait, Haly’s Circus?” He muttered, “Isn’t that–?”

“Isn’t that what?” Albedo swiveled his head and realized Red Arrow, aka, older Roy stood in the entryway, arms crossed. Albedo really needed to workshop a good way to mentally distinguish the two Roys, because young Roy and old Roy was getting a little tiresome.

Albedo clamped his mouth closed. Robin’s business was his own.

Roy’s eyes moved to the television, before narrowing.

“You know who Robin is.” He said flatly.

“...I work for his guardian.” Albedo said slowly, “It would be difficult for me not to know.”

“I don’t think he’s seen this.” Roy huffed, and he came alongside Albedo to stare at the news. Albedo, in turn, just watched Roy.

It really was weird, seeing him all grown like this. Roy noticed Albedo’s eyes.

“Why do you keep staring at me like that?!” 

“...Sorry.” Albedo quickly looked away, “You remind me of a friend.”

“Whatever… What even are you?” Roy grumbled, “If Klarion’s right, and you’re some ancient person, are you even a human? I know about the part alien wizard thing, but I’m not exactly convinced that somehow leads to you being mentally older than your twin.”

“Anodites have immortality potential… According to Benjamin, because they are made up the very essence of life, so long as their spark burns, they can survive.”  Albedo muttered. 

“Okay, but your ‘brother’ told you that. You didn’t know that.” Roy pointed out with a huff, “So that doesn’t answer how you’re apparently ancient, but also almost seventeen.” 

“I don’t think I intend to answer that question.” 

“I’m not playing games, Tennyson.” Roy bit out, “Someone on this team can’t be trusted, and out of all the people here, you’ve got the most secrets. I don’t trust it.”

“I do have many secrets.” Albedo agreed slowly, “But I don’t know you very well, so excuse my bluntness. My past is my business, not yours. I’ve neglected to inform Batman about my disconnect in age, but that’s not for any malicious reason. I do intend to tell him. I’ve just been so terribly busy.”

“Doing what, exactly?” Roy scoffed. Albedo shrugged in response.

“I work a full-time position. I am tutoring and acting like a guardian to Benjamin, my own twin. I do multiple projects for this team and I am on this team. I’ve been overseeing Conner’s brother, Match, and his recovery and progress. I’m studying magic, an entirely new field for me, and you ask me what I am busy doing?” Albedo asked. Roy paused, his mind clearly turning through this information. 

“I don’t mind the extra work– I thrive off of it. I am happy to do work. I am beside myself when I discover something new or finish a project after taxing hours of work and pressure. It makes me happy. But I do work. A lot. I’m not sure what could possibly make you believe I could be some mole, when I am just too busy to be one.” Albedo explained. Roy seemed to puzzle through this. Albedo didn’t even bring up the 15 year-old version of Roy that Albedo was taking care of. Or the spying on Luthor as Red X. Or the machine he was nearly done with that would send Benjamin back to his family. The things he’d mentioned alone would make any normal human burn out.

But Albedo was far from normal. With the mind of a Galvan and the energy of an Anodite, Albedo could go for quite some time and forget to rest. He loved being able to work as much as he used to before he’d lost his true form. Really, tapping into his borrowed heritage and becoming a mage had been such a marvelous idea, Albedo was a little upset he’d not considered the idea much sooner. 

“So then, smart guy. Who’s the most likely suspect, if you insist it’s not you?” Roy pressured.

“I wouldn’t count me out just yet.” Albedo said with an eyeroll, “I’ve had troubles in my past. This is the business of secrets and tragic backstories, after all. For example, Conner. He was initially rejected by his Kryptonian donor, because the DNA was stolen, and Conner was meant to be a weapon to use against Superman. Benjamin was so kind to sort that little issue out.” Albedo glanced down at the papers below him.

According to the report, Match was doing rather well absorbing the basic information he needed to act as a teenaged boy on Earth. Any traces of brainwashing were basically stripped, and the boy would be ready to wake and pick his own name by the New Year. 

“Superman’s human parents are rather eager to meet both Match and Conner, you know. We intend to send Match to them until he can decide if he wishes to follow in Superman and Superboy’s footsteps or not… But the fact remains, Conner was built by a villain. As was Match.”

“So, Conner then? Maybe some bad programming?” Roy mused.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You implied.” Roy huffed. Albedo rolled his eyes.

“Artemis has her own barrel of secrets. I don’t fault her for that. While I don’t completely understand her situation, I can empathize with having things I’d much rather keep to myself… Even if there is a danger to such secrets." Albedo went on to say, “M’gann, my dear sister, is not immune to the darkness. I’ve seen parts of her she’d much rather bury away. It saddens me too. She is quite a beautiful soul, but her perception of things can be wrapped up in appearances. It’s not her fault. And I understand struggling with appearances.” Albedo paused, glancing down at his large hands and letting out a sigh.

“Kladur, he left his love, his home, his people to fight alongside us. A heavy decision indeed, to sacrifice everything… What could have been and what was for people not his own. Some people think they can make such a choice, but when it comes to it… they hesitate, and turn back. I wouldn’t blame him for that. The longing for home… For the love of what was is powerful. Dangerously so.” Albedo mused.

“He’s not the mole.” Roy immediately cut in. Albedo lifted his head, raising a brow.

“And why cast suspicions of him aside simply because you’ve known him longer? The deepest betrayals, Harper, are not the ones you weed out, but the ones you never saw coming.” Albedo pointed out, “And speaking of which, my own brother. Benjamin. You wouldn’t know it… But he is not above killing for the sake of the Universe and those he loves. He’s seen more wars than most soldiers. He’s lost much. And he’s become quite adept at masking his true emotions with bravo and confidence. The pressure of an entire Universe will rest upon his shoulders until he sacrifices that burden to someone else… Or until the day that it kills him. Pressure like that can do nasty things to a person. It can destroy them. It can make them into something dangerous.” 

“Okay then. Wally. He was a normal kid who was trying to be like his uncle and recreated the incident that made the Flash. Not a sob story in sight.”

“No.” Albedo agreed, pondering, “He would be the least likely to be a traitor. But that doesn’t make him dismissible. He is a caring soul. He strives to make those around him smile. But those who care can be manipulated. Can be tricked. Can be used.” 

“Let me guess… Robin’s because of vengeance.”

“Hmm.” Albedo agreed with a hum, “He’s the youngest of us. He is ambitious, but he lost a lot when he was still so young. And I know he’s seen things. Things no boy his age should have ever witnessed.” Albedo’s eyes flickered over to the television where shots of Haly’s Circus still played over the news segment, “I agree with you. No one is above suspicion. Not me. Not Artemis. Not even Benjamin. Perhaps… Not even you.”

“I’m no mole.” Roy immediately said.

“You are new to the team. It’s less likely. And I feel Zatara would notice if his daughter was the mole. Besides, she's not around nearly enough to be considered because of her father’s paranoia. That doesn't mean she might not be acting in rebellion or something. But you?” Albedo’s eyes narrowed on Roy, “Robin and Wally tell you everything, do they not? You’re one of their closest friends, are you not? How many of our team’s secrets have they told you without thought or care?” Roy’s eye twitched and he looked outright offended that Albedo would dare suggest that Roy would betray his friends. 

“You’re doing this on purpose.” Roy said suddenly, “You’re trying to make me suspicious of everyone on purpose. You’re trying to throw me off.” 

“You asked what I thought.” Albedo said with a shrug, “I merely provided a response.” 

“It’s you. Isn’t it?” Roy accused.

“An awfully bold conclusion to draw.” Albedo replied, “I’ve provided you nothing that would prove such an outlandish and incorrect claim.” 

“You know everything though.” Roy insisted, “Even secrets that you aren’t supposed to know. Like whatever Artemis and M’gann are hiding. Who Batman and Robin are. You have secrets… But absolutely nothing in this cave is a secret from you.”

“I doubt I know everything that happens in this cave.” Albedo said, “Just most things. I like learning. And I am very good at it. This does not make me a traitor. It merely means I’m observant. If you want to find the traitor, Harper, first find more solid evidence."  Roy looked ready to argue, but was cut off by the computer announcing Robin’s arrival. 

The pair froze, before both scrambling for the remote to turn off the news report. It didn’t work very well, as Robin stalked into the living room. He spared a quick glance at the television, before getting the remote himself and shutting it off.

“...Where’s your brother and sister, Al?” Robin asked, his voice serious, his body language tense.

“M’gann and Conner are decorating the docking bay. Benjamin is sparring Artemis outside… She wanted practice with more versatile enemies.” 

“Batman just sent me with a mission. Might take a few days. Undercover. In England.” Robin said quickly, “Kaldur’s busy. Wally’s got a family thing.”

“...But Christmas is a week and a half away. How long will this take?” Albedo asked carefully.

“I don’t know. Hopefully not long. Everyone’s on break from school, so we can pull off an undercover operation before the holiday. It might cut close though. You think you and your brother can clean up your magic act? And I’ll need two archers, a strongman, and two acrobats.” 

“...The circus.” Albedo said slowly. Robin merely grimaced, managing a short, stiff nod.

“This one’s personal.” He said quickly, “Don’t tell them.”

“I didn’t plan on it.” Albedo said simply, “I’ll follow you. I understand perfectly well.” He then paused, considering, “I will say, I don’t think Benjamin is going to like this at all. He is quite adverse to the circus. Has been since he was young.”

“He doesn’t have to come if he doesn’t want to.” Robin replied quickly, “But extra hands could be nice.” 

“I’ll ask. I suppose you’ve already arranged things.” Albedo questioned.

“Yes.” Robin replied. There was a short pause. Roy moved first, coming from behind the kitchen counter.

“Then let's get moving.” Roy decided.

Notes:

Roy: Why in the world do you know so much about everyone on the team?
Albedo, who hacked the Justice League's classified files on day one and also pays attention better than most teenagers: I mean, I am a super genius.

Robin: I need help investigating the circus.
Albedo: Benjamin won't like that.
Ben (Equipped with circus trauma): I don't like that.

Once more, this Friday, the 25th of July, I will be putting out a 'Christmas in July' story taking place in Omniverse.

I will say, I do not have very much time for editing and stuff right now due to my capstone project and my moving, even if a lot of the chapters for this arc are written or already planned. Please keep that in mind. I will be a whole lot less busy after the start of August, but right now, I am extremely busy (I've not played video games in weeks, guys, lol!)

Anyways, have a good week everyone!

Chapter 154: A Perfectly Reasonable Thing to Hate.

Notes:

Danger Sibling Key:
Ben: Dare
Albedo: Day
Robin: Dan
M'gann: Dawn
Artemis: Diane
Roy: Dane
Conner: Dean

I'm also getting these names all confused. Robin really picked out some really similar code names for this mission to go along with the circus gimmick.

Ben had long gotten over the irrational fear of clowns after the whole thing with Zombozo when he was ten.

Now he just really hated them, and the hate was extremely rational. 

As he eyed the clowns riffling through their costume equipment, prepping for their leg of the show, Ben couldn’t keep himself from glaring in their direction, already convinced that the clowns should be the first people they investigate for those tech robberies. 

“Are you doing fine, Dan? You nearly fell there.” Albedo asked behind Ben. During their act, Robin who was using the name ‘Dan’ had nearly fallen. He’d been feeling off most of the day, having caught a bug that was going around. Robin was insanely good at acrobats, even when sick. Ben guessed all of those nights leaping across buildings translated really well into trapeze art. Maybe a little too well. Ben was an athlete, sure, but no acrobat. Still, he knew how to put on a show. ‘Dawn’ aka, M’gann, and ‘Dan’ were the artful acrobats with ‘Diane’ and ‘Dane’ acting as skillful archers. Superboy played the role of ‘Dean’ danger, the impossibly strong man. 

Which left Ben and Albedo, whose best skills in this sort of area really was playing into the dramatics. Ben nor Albedo were strong or skilled with a bow or any good at acrobats. Ben could fight. He could kick a ball. He could swing a bat. Those weren’t exactly circus skills. But Albedo could use magic and was an expert at show business, which made for dramatic effects that added a new layer to the show. With Ben as his double, it somewhat helped with the illusionary effects. To match the Danger naming scheme, Albedo was ‘Day’ and Ben was ‘Dare.’ 

“Just peachy, Dare. Nothing I can’t handle.”

“...I’m Day.” Albedo said slowly, “Dare’s over there sulking.” Ben raised his hand a little at the mention of his cover name in a small wave, but kept his eyes glued to the clowns.

“...Maybe we should’ve thought through stripping the twins of their trademark identifiers for this show.” Robin mumbled sheepishly. Albedo really had done a good job on the spell work  needed to hide the Omnitrix and Ulimatrix so they didn’t stick out. The subtle magic charms on their necks were not nearly as bulky and noticeable as their watches. He could still feel his watch there, but it looked like it wasn’t. In addition, they’d decided to both stick with Albedo’s look over Ben’s as it matched the red leotard's Robin and got for them. Even then, Ben was blowing seemingly white strands of hair away from the front of his face as he stared at the clowns.

“Hey, Haly, what’s with giving up our top spot to those Danger kids?” Ben jerked his eyes away from the clowns to the acrobatic brothers that typically had the spot that Haley had given them almost immediately… No questions asked. It was honestly a little strange how quickly the guy jumped onto their act. Meeting them, then introducing them as a grand act to the entire circus with a showman’s smile.

“That’s our slot.” Carlos, if Ben remembered correctly, complained. The two acrobats also happened to be twins.

“Was your spot.” Haly corrected sharply, “Until you missed that performance in Paris.” 

“Carlos was sick.” Carlos’ brother objected, “He’s better now.” 

“Plus, the Dangers are a sham. They say they’re brothers and sisters, but only those twins look even remotely related. They can’t really be siblings.” Carlos agreed.

“Meh. You just don’t like the competition.” Haly shrugged off as he shoved through the acrobatic brothers.

As if on cue, a man in a suit stepped into the walkway.  Haly immediately groaned.

“Not you again! We’re in the middle of a show!” Haly huffed.

“Then we’ll talk after.” The suited man said, “But we will talk. Another city last week. Another stop on your tour. If I prove you're responsible, I will shut you down.” 

Haly’s voice lowered further.

“I’ve got three minutes to gather props and head to the center ring.” Haley said, before shoving right past this man as well. The man huffed, before zeroing in on the disguised heroes. His eyes narrowed, and he stalked towards their group, who’d been watching the exchanges for anything suspicious. 

“Faraday. Interpol. New act?” He stated as he pulled out a badge and showed the group.

“Just joined the tour.” Robin said quickly.

“Probably clears you. But don’t get too comfortable. Haley’s going down for this.” The agent declared, before turning sharply away and leaving.

“...Yeesh.” Ben mused under his breath, “Reminds me of a few Plumbers I used to know.” 

“What does plumbing have to do with anything, Dare?” Roy asked. Right. Roy wouldn’t know about that stuff because he never got Ben’s tragic backstory like the others had.

“Long story.” Ben said with a shrug.

‘They’re some secret operations alien task force that got killed off in a war Deka was in before he joined the team.’ M’gann telepathically supplied. Roy made a face at that, but didn’t prod further.

‘We need to get to our car and change. Our leg of the show is over, so we need to get to the possible target location before whoever is responsible for the thefts beat us there. Evidence suggests these robberies are happening during the shows.’ Robin instructed. 

‘But if Interpol is covering it… Why are we here? It’s obvious there’s a connection.’ Conner complained.

‘Batman said to look into it.’ Robin clipped back. 

‘Just wish it wasn’t a circus that was our number one suspect. These places are the worst.’ Ben said with a small shutter.

‘Not a fan?’ Roy teased. While the tease was suprisingly light hearted with how intense Roy had been, Ben wasn’t really in the mood to banter. Instead, Ben scowled and folded his arms.

‘Not really, no. I… Had a few bad experiences with them as a kid, okay? If there’s really something wrong here, I want to know what it is, because I hate circuses and evil clowns, and I think I’m totally valid for that.’ 

‘As a Gotham kid… evil clowns are a hundred percent a perfectly healthy thing to dislike.’ Robin pointed out. Ben jumped on that, gesturing some.

‘See, Rob gets me.’

‘We weren’t judging.’ Artemis said, ‘Trust me, a lot of us get it.’ 

Right. That one villain. The Joker. 

Yeah, Ben was glad his only encounter with Joker was during the Injustice event. 

‘You have encounters with evil clowns often enough for it to be something you expect?’ Conner asked, sounding a little skeptical.

‘Dude. I think I traumatized the guy as a kid by accident. He was already sorta cracked, but then I scared him half to death for messing with my cousin, and bam! He’s even more nuts every other time I’d run into him. I’d be glad if I’d never see him again. Ugh… Oddly enough, he was doing something similar to what this circus might be doing when I met him… There were robberies at every stop they made.’

‘We don’t know if it’s the circus or someone taking advantage of the circus’s tour to steal things and create a scapegoat.’ Robin said, ‘Or if it is the circus, whether or not it’s a team effort, or just a few people. We don’t know. Keep an open mind, will you?’

‘I’m not accusing anyone.’ Ben huffed, before he once more glared at the clowns, ‘Yet. Just a little weird how much déja vu I’m getting here.’ Honestly, if the stupid clowns turned out to be mana leeches, like Zombozo, Ben was swearing off circuses permanently. The next time a circus related bad guy appeared, Ben was going to dump it on literally anyone else. Ben only agreed to this dumb mission because Albedo was here. Ben refused to let his twin go to a circus without someone to act if something bad happened… Because something bad always happens at circuses.  

‘Whatever, we should suit up quickly while the show’s still going. Thankfully, Haly gave us the opening slots, so we’re done for the night. We have the rest of the evening to stake out the potential target.’ Robin declared, ‘We should hurry.’

‘Thank Anodyne. I don’t know how you people wear stuff like this.’ Ben sighed, as he motioned to his Daring Danger uniform.

‘And I still can’t figure out how you are so comfortable doing hero work in casuals.’ Artemis snorted, ‘Hero clothes are built for mobility and protection. Casual outfits… Not so much.’

‘I’m just built differently.’ Ben declared. Artemis snorted out loud and shook her head.

“Sure, Dare. Let’s get back to the car and call it a night, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah. We can get a move on it.”

Notes:

Today's my official moving day so comment approval could be slow as I will be taking my computer offline immediately after posting this. (I will still have my phone, but I might not look at it very much).

The Christmas in July oneshot came out yesterday, so if you want some angst, be my guest,

Also!

While I was taking some breaks from my capstone, I did some artwork. I started with a drawing of Ben and Albedo as Dare and Day Danger and wound up drawing a couple scenes from this book. Check them out here.

This chapter is setting up the Performance Arc a little more and is slightly close to canon, but it's not going to stay close to canon for too long.

Anyways, have a good week everyone!

Chapter 155: Flames.

Stake outs were boring, but way preferred over staying at the circus. Ben lounged atop of a building, on his back with his head tilted backwards so that he was watching the warehouse where some thingabob piece of tech was being stored. He hummed to himself, thrumming his fingers on the rooftop and listening to the chatter over the mind-link.

‘So why are we so sure this specific tech is the next target, again?’ Conner questioned.

‘Reflect and I surveyed the possible locations and tech in the area… This is the most likely and the least guarded by Interpol right now.’ Robin replied simply.

‘That is if Reflect’s input can even be trusted.’ Roy commented.

‘I’m rarely wrong.’ Albedo replied.

‘Red Arrow, please. I’m already out of sorts from us being at the circus all day, do you have to bring up the mole stuff now?’ Ben asked as he heaved a heavy sigh.

‘Please, Roy. I’ve got a headache from this bug… Please don’t start a fight right now.’ Robin agreed tiredly. 

‘Should you have even come along, Robin? You should be resting. You put a lot of stress on yourself, performing while you’re still being affected by the 24-bug.’ M’gann pointed out, worry in her tone.

‘I’ll be fine.’ Robin grumped, but even over the mind-link, Robin sounded exhausted.

‘Just don’t get the rest of us sick. Jeesh.’ Ben huffed, ‘I hate doing field work when sick. Does all sorts of wack things to my alien forms.’

‘...You being sick can affect your aliens?’ Conner said in surprise.

‘Omnitrix tries to be consistent based on my default physical state. If I’m sick, the sickness often gets translated to an equivalent version for my other aliens. It’s not fun. Interesting. But it's not fun.’ 

‘Wonder what a sick Kryptionian would be like?’ Conner mused, ‘I don’t think Superman or I have ever gotten sick.’

‘No kidding. Wouldn’t want to be around for a supersneeze. Better not catch this bug, Superboy.’ Artemis decided, ‘And Deka, don’t turn into a Kryptonian if you do catch the bug.’  

‘Wasn’t planning to.’ Ben laughed, ‘It would be an interesting experiment though.’

‘Experiments are Reflect’s lane. Stay out of it. We don’t need another mad scientist on the team. It’s bad enough that Kid Flash will sometimes involve himself in whatever project Reflect's working on in the lab.’ Artemis joked. Ben pouted, despite the others not being able to see it from their own perches.

‘Speaking of Kid Flash… I’ve noticed you and him seem to be hanging out more frequently, Artemis. You’ve come by the Cave’s lab more times than usual this past week.’ Albedo pointed out. Immediately Artemis made a sound of alarm that transmitted over the mindlink.

‘Oh, no. Don’t you dare, Reflect!’ She scolded, ‘Butt out, or so help me, I will write your name on an arrow and deliver it to you!’ Ben snorted. He wasn’t the only one amused by the exchange, because everyone else seemed to chuckle over the link… Even Roy couldn’t seem to resist a small laugh. 

That’s when Ben noticed some movement below. He immediately turned himself right-side up.

‘I’ve got movement. Northeast. Dark clothing. Can’t tell the gender, age, ethnicity, or body-type from here. They just jumped the fence… Very acrobatic.’ Ben called. 

‘I see them.’ Roy reported, ‘Moving in.’

‘Copy that. I’m taking the east side.’ Artemis agreed.

‘Miss. Martian from above. Superboy, from the front. I’ll help Red Arrow flank. Deka, be our element of surprise. Reflect, be ready to intercept if they try to escape. Artemis, back-up. Be our eyes in the sky.’ Robin ordered. Ben couldn’t help a small swell of pride in his chest. With Aqualad elsewhere, and Ben having officially stepped down, Robin was doing pretty good at taking charge, even with a cold. The kid had been so worried about it after Ben’s kidnapping during the Queen Bee mission, but he really was a natural leader when he stepped into it. 

Ben quickly selected an alien, XLR8 in honor of Wally not being there, and zipped downwards towards where he’d spotted the man, ducking quickly behind the side of a building. Superboy jumped down from the front, giving chase by foot as the thief seemed to duck quickly into the warehouse Albedo where had claimed the thingamajig the guy would be after was stored. Artemis shifted her position on the rooftops, drawing her bow to aim towards said warehouse.

Meanwhile, M’gann flew down towards the skylight from above, cloaking as she reached the spot. Robin and Red Arrow took the back.

‘I see the thief.’ M’gann transmitted, ‘Exactly as Robin and Reflect suspected. They're after some sort of drive. I’m moving in.'

‘I am too.’ Superboy agreed, and he slipped in through the front entrance. Ben zipped inside after him just before the door closed. Ben wasn’t sure where Red Arrow and Robin had gone at first, until he spotted them in the rafters of the building, setting up for an ambush.

One by one they slotted into position as the thief finished getting the thingy from the crate it was being stored in.

Robin introduced their group to the man with an echoing laugh. Red Arrow drew his bow. The man whipped around, eyes widening a little at the appearance of the group.

“Caught red-handed!” Robin called down.

“Acrobatics won’t get you out of this one.” Red Arrow agreed. The thief wasted no time, in lighting a flare Ben hadn’t realized he’d had. Ben reacted, zipping from the shadows to tackle the man just as a wash of flames was sent bellowing from the flare towards the young heroes. Very reminiscent of the fire breather from the circus. 

The group backed off in surprise, M'gann gasping the loudest at the flames that were sent tumbling in their direction. Superboy was fast to shove her to the ground, shielding her from the mighty flames whilst the others ducked quickly out of the way to avoid being singed. Ben slammed into the man, who’d not been paying attention enough to see Ben coming.

The flames he’d breathed began to consume the warehouse as Ben pinned the man to the ground. The man grunted in surprise, struggling for a moment, before suddenly, the tell-tale sign of Ben’s Omnitrix powering down went off. Ben was a little confused, because he’d not been transformed long nor had he worn himself out enough to force a detransformation.

And yet, exhaustion seemed to slam into Ben as the watch timed out, and he crumpled on top of the thief. The thief wasted no time in shoving Ben off of him and scrambling upwards to run. 

“Live ammo!” Red Arrow called in an alarm. Ben didn’t initially register what had just been said, as he found himself slowly pulling himself to his knees. He held his head, which throbbed. His arms felt almost like lead.

“Deka?!” Red Arrow called out. Before Ben could react, he was being tackled himself. 

An explosion rocked the building, and if it weren’t for Red Arrow, Ben would’ve been at the heart. Thankfully, the man managed to drag Ben behind the crates, and the explosion rushed past them in a fireball of heat. 

“Deka, snap out of it! What are you doing?” Red Arrow growled. 

“...I don’t feel right.” Ben muttered.

“M’gann!” Conner called, “The flames are getting to her. We need to move.”

‘Artemis and I got eyes on the thief, are you guys okay?’ Reflect called over the mind link.

‘Tail him.’ Robin said, ‘We’re coming to…’ Whatever Robin had been saying was lost as M’gann wilted in Conner’s hold. The roaring flames around them seemed to grow more and more intense. Ben shuttered, huddling on himself despite the flames. He didn’t want to be here… He just wanted to take a nap.

“Something’s wrong with Deka, too.” Red Arrow called, “We need to get out. The flames are too intense. Tell Artemis to tail the thief, we need Reflect in here.” 

“We’ve got M’gann. You get Deka.” Robin replied before stumbling himself and crumbling to his knees with a wince.

“Forget it. I’ll call him back.” Red Arrow declared before accessing their back-up comms.

“Artemis, keep following the thief. I need Reflect teleport into the warehouse to get us out now. Three of us are incapacitated.”

“Understood.” Reflect called back.

“...The problem is, the thief is gone.” Artemis replied, “I lost track of him… He was moving pretty fast.” 

Red Arrow growled in frustration.

Ben didn’t really catch what happened next, as he bowed his head to his chest, and proceeded to pass out. 

Notes:

Roy: How in the world did I wind up having to deal with not one, but three of our team members going down against one guy?
Ben: I am tired. I'm going to sleep now.
The team: literally in a burning building.

Anyways, have a good week ya'll!

Chapter 156: The 24 Hour Bug.

“It’s cold out here. You should be wearing a jacket.” Albedo noted Artemis approaching from behind, his signature red jacket in her arms.

“I needed to get out of the car. Far too crowded, I needed to think.” Albedo muttered as he accepted the offering and pulled it on, “I… Apologize about the remark I made about you and Wally whilst we waited for the thief tonight. I was merely teasing. I suppose it was unwarrented.” 

“It’s whatever.” Artemis waved off, “Red Arrow’s throwing a fit about you just up and leaving while your brother’s on bedrest.” 

“He’s unconscious, but his vitals are steady. Not much I can help from there. I’m not a medical doctor.” Albedo mused, “But the circumstances of him contracting this illness out of the blue seem rather… Convenient for the thief.”  The thief had gotten away, and to top it off, yet another on their team had seemingly come down with the 24 hour bug that was spreading around the circus. Benjamin had already been fussed over and bundled under several blankets by M’gann, showing a lot of the symptoms Robin had been experiencing the day prior.

Benjamin himself just slept, having not stirred once since he’d apparently collapsed in the warehouse. He had a mild fever, but beyond that, nothing Albedo could really help with. If the sickness was consistent, he’d be better in twenty-four hours. He’d be awake and at least somewhat functional by the time their last show for that location needed to be performed, even if he wouldn’t be at a hundred percent.

“He caught it from Robin, probably, I don’t think it’s that complicated.” Artemis shrugged. Albedo pressed his lips together, his brow furrowing. She tilted her head in response.

“You don’t agree.”

Something about the bug bothered Albedo. Everyone dismissed it, shrugging it off as an inconvenience that the team was dealing with alongside the thief. But something in Albedo’s gut wondered if maybe there was some relevance. He decided that he needed to speak with the circus members in the morning and glean information about how they contracted the illness and when they experienced the side-effects. Perhaps there was a common cause?

“Red Arrow described him as collapsing suddenly.” Albedo muttered, “And Robin claimed he’d contracted it out of the blue. This illness. It comes suddenly, sapping its victims of all of their strength. Then, twenty-four hours later, they’re fine. As if they were never sick. It’s very odd… And if my brother hadn’t collapsed when he had, he would’ve captured our thief. We would’ve been able to go home. I’ve no solid evidence of why the sickness has any relevance. However, I can't help but wonder.” 

“We can look into it.” Artemis agreed, “If you’ve got a weird feeling about it, you’re probably onto something. You’re like the smartest person on the planet.” Albedo was satisfied with this response. He hummed to himself, looking up at the stars and the pale Earth moon above them, which reflected light down to the world below.

“...So…” Albedo started slowly, “About my remark earlier tonight…”

“Al, we are not going to talk about my love life.”

“...I was merely going to say he’s fond of you as well. Wally, that is. He wouldn’t judge you for your secrets. He didn’t for mine. He was hostile towards you because he feared you were meant to replace Speedy… but he’s since accepted that this is not the case.” Artemis paused, turning to face Albedo more directly as her eyebrows furrowed.

“...How much do you know?” She asked skeptically.

“I’ve known about your past even before you joined. I’ve read all of the files the League has to offer. Even their files on you.” Albedo replied, “I’m the last person to think poorly of you. You’re a good person. A hero. Even in spite of everything that suggested you should be like the ones who came before you. That’s honorable. Something to be proud of… Wally would be proud too.” Artemis lowered her head, her shoulders sinking as she contemplated Albedo’s words quietly. 

“Red Arrow would turn it against me. He’s convinced I’m a mole.” She muttered ruefully. 

“Why care about his opinion?” Albedo scoffed, “Red Arrow knows nothing. He’s a dog chasing his own tail, convinced that there is betrayal in places where there is none. He wouldn't know a true mole if it were right in front of him. He thinks I’m a mole as well, but that is because of Klarion’s inability to leave me alone.” 

“...You aren’t, are you?” Artemis asked slowly, “The mole, I mean?”

“I would be the most likely suspect.” Albedo said, “I’ve a past of my own.”

“But it’s not you.” Artemis concluded.

“No.” Albedo agreed.

“But you are hiding things.” Artemis pointed out, “Like why the heck Klarion cares so much about you of all people. He’s a creep. But he doesn’t seem like the type to suddenly decide some grouchy alien in a teenager’s body is worth his time.” 

“You would think he would find me boring.” Albedo replied with an unamused snort, “Your assessment is not incorrect, however. There will always be secrets in this sort of lifestyle. That does not make me a traitor. Simply a person with much to protect. I’m sure you understand that quite well.” Artemis hummed, kicking the dirt on the ground.

“Yeah. I guess so. Heck, I’m still not entirely convinced Ben’s been totally honest with us on what happened to his family during that war. He’s been dodgy talking about it since I met him. No one else on the team seems to know either. I get not wanting to talk about something so sensitive, but after you told us Azmuth’s alive, I can’t help but wonder…” 

She glanced over at him, looking like she expected him to tell Benjamin’s secrets so easily. Albedo shook his head.

“That is his secret.” Albedo sighed, “One I want to tell, but will not, as my brother wishes to keep that close to his heart. I personally think he’d benefit greatly with explaining what had occurred to the team… But alas, he bears the weight of the Universe. He’s never been so good at sharing this burden.” 

“Yeah. After the Queen Bee thing… I think we all figured that out.” Artemis agreed. 

“Yes, well… Don’t follow my brother’s example. Don’t follow my own.” Albedo said, “Your secrets are yours to keep if you desire. But some burdens are better shared. 

“I guess.” Artemis sighed, “After this… I’ll talk with Wally.” 

“Good.”

“Well, we’re about to all turn in for tonight.” Artemis said, “Don’t be out too much longer, or Red Arrow’s going to call you a mole when you get back.” 

“Noted.” Albedo agreed. She waved her goodbye, turning sharply to walk back towards the car. 

He stared back up at the sky again, a pang of homesickness ringing briefly in his chest as he considered how only one moon hung above him. One that had not been artificially manipulated to create a new form of life. At least… As far as Albedo was aware. He hadn’t had much time to check.

“...Danger! You’re out late.” Albedo startled as his blissful quiet was interrupted by the boisterous sound of one of the other members of the circus troupe. The strongman, Ray the Roustabout, if Albedo recalled.

“I needed fresh air. My brother’s fallen ill.” Albedo replied quickly, sparing Ray a sharp look.

“Oh, which one? There’s so many of you and your names all sound so alike…”

“Dare.”

“Your twin.” Ray said with a quick nod, “Don’t worry, he’ll get better.” He reached over, ruffling Albedo’s hair. Albedo immediately bristled, shaking Ray’s hand off.

“I’d rather you didn’t do that.” Albedo informed him.

“Well, aren’t you a bundle of energy?” Ray remarked with a laugh. Albedo couldn’t help the strange look that crossed his face at the remark. Was Ray being sarcastic? He didn’t seem like he was being sarcastic.

 “Are you okay, kid?” Ray proceeded to ask.

“I haven’t contracted the illness.” Albedo replied firmly. It seemed like it was Ray’s turn to give Albedo a weird look.

“Well, let me walk you back to your car. It’s late. We’ve got a show tomorrow. You should rest or you might get sick too.” Ray placed a firm hand on Albedo’s shoulder, spinning Albedo around and towards the cars.

Once more Albedo shrugged Ray’s hand away.

“Yeah. Okay.” Albedo agreed. He didn’t feel tired, but it was probably wise to get some rest. Human immune systems tended to be weaker with exhaustion. Ray and Albedo began to walk together back towards the train.

“Say, are you sure you aren’t sick? You seem pale.”

“I’m albino. I’m naturally pale.” Albedo huffed, “I don’t have good pigmentation. I feel fine. Why do you keep asking?”

“Guess I forgot albinos were pale, that’s all.” Ray said simply. They walked for a minute more in uncomfortable silence before Ray once more settled a hand on Albedo’s shoulder. This time, Albedo whirled around, thoroughly annoyed.

“Do. Not. Touch. Me.” Albedo hissed. He was surprised to meet an oddly energized Ray, who looked excited, practically bouncing on his heels and like he’d consumed an unhealthy amount of sugar and coffee. 

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m a touching kind of guy. I guess I forgot that not everyone bonds like that. Won’t happen again! You sure you being pale isn’t from being sick?”

“I’m certain!” Albedo huffed, “I can gladly escort myself back to my car. Return to yours this instant. You’re becoming a bother!”  Albedo turned sharply, moving to march away, only for Ray to catch Albedo’s arm and pull him back. 

Albedo yelped in surprise as he crashed into Ray’s waiting arms and was pinned against Ray’s chest. 

“What are you kid?” Ray muttered into Albedo’s ear.

Immediately, Albedo began to struggle, opening his mouth to yell only for hand to clamp over his mouth. 

“Show me what you actually are, kid.” Ray demanded, “Fight back.” 

How? How had Ray noticed that Albedo was an alien? That didn’t make sense?! He’d barely even interacted with this man! 

That didn’t matter. The man was attacking Albedo and he seemed like he’d made Albedo. The Galvanic teen wasted no time in trying to reach inside for his spark and use mana to free himself. 

Something went wrong.

Something inside of Albedo felt off. His spark… Had dimmed. 

Soon, Albedo found he could barely feel it there. That’s when the dizziness decided to kick in. 

“Took the side effects long enough to kick in.” Ray said with a laugh,, “Not even Superman was able to last that long against my powers. You’re chock full of energy, kid. A TON of energy. Needed way more than a few moments to lower those levels, and you're still struggling against me.” Albedo was, in fact, thrashing against Ray’s iron grip. A frantic fear settled in his chest as his thoughts started to get all groggy and muddled. 

“I’ve never met a more delicious buffet in my life! You could keep me full for ages ! Today is my lucky day!”

There was no sickness, was there?

Ray was the thief.

Albedo’s mind struggled to try and sort through who had the ability to simply steal mana like this, but it began to hurt to think, a feeling Albedo was extremely unfamiliar with. 

“Let's see. How long will it take for this to knock you out?” Ray purred.

Albedo was starting to feel light-headed now. Exhaustion began to really settle in his bones, and his struggles slowly faded until he was barely even squirming in Ray’s iron hold. 

“There we go.” Ray breathed into his ear as he felt his head droop and his eyes started to spot with black. He felt dizzy. His head hurt. Every inch of his body screamed in utter exhaustion.

The fight left him right when the spark inside him seemed to go completely dim. 

Ray released him, and the world went sideways, letting him drop into the dirt like a stone. He landed on his side, and could merely stare at the now blurry lights of the train cars where help would surely be. So close, yet much too far.

Ray knelt down in front of him, whistling lowly.

“You’re still awake!” Ray said, “And I’m fuller than I’ve ever been! Anyone else would be on death’s door or dead after that long!” His head felt so sluggish. Everything was starting to blur together.

“What… what are you… going to do… to…me?” He managed to mumble. 

“Realistically, because I’ve gone and outed myself to you, I should just drain the rest of that energy in you. Kill you or put you into a coma long enough for me to finish my job.” Ray mused, “But you replenish energy quickly. Seemed to not even notice I took any the first time I tried! It might not work.”

Ray then shook his head.

“No. Killing you would be such a waste of a wonderful meal. Why, with your powers, I could take on Superman again! I will admit I jumped the gun a little. I can be a glutton. I got a taste, and I couldn’t help myself! I’m switching up my plans. With my new speed, I’ll be leaving for Geneva tonight. And you’re coming with me. How’s a road trip sound, kid?” 

Kidnapping.

In the back of Albedo’s mind, he realized that’s what this was.

He was being kidnapped.

Albedo managed a growl that seemed to amuse Ray more than upset him. He reached forwards, once more ruffling Albedo’s hair. More mana seemed to leach out of Albedo. His vision started to tunnel.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you! You’re my ticket to the big game. Between you and Supes… Nothing will stand in my way again.” 

Notes:

Anodites and mana hungry villains really don't mix well, huh?

Anywho, have a good week everyone!

Chapter 157: An Uncomfortably Familiar Situation.

“Where’s your twin?” Ben was awoken from his sleep by Roy’s harsh tone and his shoulder being shaken. Ben stirred into reality, still a bit groggy and tired, though he was trying to process why. He slowly blinked his eyes open to find Roy’s scowling expression.

“Wha?” 

“Your brother. He’s gone. Where would he have gone?” Roy growled. 

“Roy, ease off, he’s been asleep since last night. He wouldn’t know anything.” Robin quickly cut in. Ben slowly propped himself up in his bunk, his mind still hazy. He remembered tackling their thief in that warehouse as XLR8, and then everything got really fuzzy.

“...How long…” He muttered, his limbs felt heavy. Why was he so wiped? 

“Twelve hours. You must've gotten it bad from that twenty four hour bug.” Conner offered. The entire Danger crew, minus Albedo for some reason, was crowded in their cramped little car, staring at Ben as if somehow he had the answers to the universe’s secrets, “Not even Robin was that spent when he got it.”

The… Bug?

This didn’t feel like a bug.

It felt like…

Ben’s stomach dropped as the realization hit him like a truck, and he felt adrenaline pushing him to try and get out of bed. His tired body whined in objection, but he didn’t care. 

“Where’s Al? We need to get him out of here right now before the thief realizes a mana being is in our group.”

“...Woah, slow down!” Robin was suddenly in front of him, hands on Ben’s shoulders to try and keep Ben in bed, “What are you talking about?”

“It’s not a bug!” Ben said quickly, panic blossoming in his chest, “It’s mana depletion. The thief isn’t just stealing tech, he’s stealing life energy too! That’s why everyone’s getting sick. That’s why the thief has the abilities of everyone in the circus troupe. He gets his hands on a practicing anodite mage like Al, and he could be unstoppable. This is just like with Zombozo and Darkstar…” 

“Woah, slow down.” M’gann said quickly, “What’s this about mana? You’re talking so fast!” 

“And who the heck are Zombozo and Darkstar?” Roy demanded.

“Nevermind that, where’s Al?” Ben said quickly, he still didn’t understand why he wasn’t in the train car with them.

“...Albedo stepped outside last night. I brought him a jacket and asked him to come inside because it was getting late. He didn’t seem ready to come in though…” Artemis said slowly.

“But come morning, we find out he’d never come back.” Roy snapped, “He’s abandoned the mission. Probably betraying the team as we speak.”

Ben could feel the color draining from his face with this information.

“No.” He breathed in dismay before pulling up his Omnitrix and turning it quickly, “Omnitrix, what are my mana levels?”

[User Benjamin Kirby Tennyson’s mana levels are at 56% of their normal parameters.]

“What were they twelve hours ago?” Ben said quickly.

[User Benjamin Kirby Tennyson’s mana levels were at 15% of their normal parameters approximately six hours ago.]

“Sync to the computer in Albedo’s Ultimatrix. What are his mana levels?” Ben demanded.

[ Admin A-01’s levels are currently 5% of their normal parameters. This level is highly dangerous for Anodites.] The Omnitrix replied. Ben swore in a mix of Galvan and English, ignoring how heavy his limbs still felt as he pulled himself out of the bed despite Robin trying to keep him there.

“Wait. Albedo’s mana is at 5% right now?” M’gann said in horror.

“...That’s bad, right?” Conner said slowly.

“I can’t believe this is happening again.” Ben muttered under his breath. He stumbled for where his jacket hung on the coat-rack.

“What do you mean again?” Roy asked, snatching Ben’s arm. 

“When my cousin Gwen and I were kids… She got kidnapped by this mana-eating clown named Zombozo who was using a circus as a cover for a string of robberies.” Ben explained quickly, “She wasn’t as tapped into her Anodite side at the time, but she was really interested in magic, so he could feel she was different. Couldn’t help himself. I don’t think there ever was a bug. I think some leech has been running around the circus, stealing life energy from people, and using it to commit those robberies. I feel the same way I always feel after a bad fight with Darkstar, another villain who loved the taste of mana just a little too much. Everyone has mana. It’s the essence of life. But an Anodite? That’s like a full on buffet for creeps like that.” 

“And Albedo being out by himself last night like that just served one up to our thief on a silver platter.” Conner concluded, “The thief has Albedo.” 

“So, guess he wasn’t out betraying us.” Artemis cut in, her voice ice cold as she glared at Roy, whose expression hardened in response.

“The guy had no reason to be out there like that, how was I supposed to know?”

“He’s an introvert, Red Arrow!” Artemis growled, “He needed time alone after being crammed in this car and around people all day. That’s not a crime! He was literally star gazing when I checked on him last night! Are you ever going to get it in your head that you're just being a jerk?!” 

“Are you seriously arguing about the stupid mole right now?!” Ben growled, spinning quickly towards Roy, “Someone kidnapped my big brother, and all you can think to do is go on and on about how he might be your stupid mole?! Are you serious?!” Roy flinched back, clearly alarmed by the rage in Ben’s voice.

“What was I supposed to think?” Roy said defensively.

“If a person goes freaking missing, your first instinct should not be to accuse them of betraying everyone!” Ben snapped in response, “You guys should’ve started looking for him and figured out what happened to him the second you realized he didn’t come back, instead you’re arguing about if he’s a traitor or not?”

“He’s arguing about it.” Artemis bit, “We’ve been trying to find him. We’ve searched the train. The whole circus is on the look out. Interpol is getting involved. They’ve already assumed he was kidnapped or involved in the theft.” Ben huffed in response.

“You’re never going to be worthy of the League, Roy.” Ben growled, “When you can’t even get off of your high horse long enough to help a person who’s in trouble instead immediately deciding that your own teammate must be a traitor. Al could actually die from this sort of thing, and you decided that he must be the bad guy without knowing anything! If you can’t even work with us, how in the heck do you expect to make it in the big leagues? Huh?” Roy’s expression twisted in outrage.

“I’ve worked my entire life to make the cut. And you know one of your team is feeding the enemy information. I’m trying to make sure this team isn’t going to get burned by you not caring enough about this mole.” 

“Batman is dealing with the mole problem.” Ben bit back, “I’ve told you that a thousand times.”

“Right, because we take orders from him. When are you going to grow up, Ben? He doesn’t get to dictate everything you do.” 

“You join the League, and you’ll have to listen to him there too. And what do you get on, telling me to grow up when you’re acting like a spoiled brat? I don’t need Batman’s attention or approval to be a good hero.” Ben countered, “If you're insecure about taking orders from him or letting the guy know when you think there’s a mole on the team and letting him handle it, then how the heck do you expect to work with him as an equal, Roy?”

“You don’t get it. You’ve never been in someone else’s shadow. You’ve never had to fight to get out of it.” Roy replied.

“Don’t assume you know me. You know nothing about me.” Ben hissed, “And you shouldn’t have to fight like this. Respect is earned, not taken. If you can’t become their equal by doing it the right way instead of bullying the rest of us because of your desperate desire to impress Green Arrow and Batman, then get out.” This statement was followed by stunned silence from the entire car. Roy blinked, as if he wasn’t expecting Ben to flat out tell him to leave.

“...You stepped down. You’re not in charge of this team anymore. You don’t get to tell me to leave.” Roy declared after several moments. Ben clenched his fists.

“No. But he does make a point.” Roy whipped around, clearly surprised to meet Robin’s glare.

“...Seriously, you’re on his side?”

“I get it, Roy.” Robin huffed, “I get trying to get out from under Green Arrow’s shadow. I’ve been with Batman since I was nine. I know what that’s like. But that doesn’t give you the excuse to act the way you’ve been acting towards Al and Artemis. They didn’t do anything to you. Then the second Al went missing, you decided he betrayed us. Albedo wouldn’t do that.”

“How do you know? He didn’t tell anyone Klarion was stalking him and he’s apparently an ancient being with a dark side.”

“Actually, I already know Albedo’s full backstory.” Robin cut in, “He just doesn’t trust you, because every time you’ve been in the room with him, you’ve been on his case. He’s already terrified to tell Batman some of that stuff, and Al and Batman are actually really good friends out of costume. You calling him a traitor every five seconds can’t be good for his confidence about it. He already doesn’t like talking about what happened to him.” 

“And apparently Batman and Nabu both knew Klarion’s been following him.” Artemis agreed, “He told someone. He just didn’t tell you, because it wasn’t your business.” Roy paused, clearly shocked by this information. As if it had just now occurred to the man that the reason no one on the team was alarmed by Albedo’s sketchy side was because they already knew where the guy had come from.

That didn’t really matter. 

This whole argument was wasting precious time.

“Whatever. My brother’s in trouble, and now we’re arguing when we need to rescue him. He’s still got his Ultimatrix’s AI online. Which means I can track him with the Omnitrix. But we need to move. Too much mana depletion could kill a person.” Ben decided. 

“Ben, you’re still wiped from the thief taking mana from you last night.” M’gann pointed out.” 

“I’ll be able to transform.” Ben said dismissively. 

“But you might collapse like Robin did.” Artemis countered, “Give us his location. We’ll get him.” Ben scowled. He didn’t like that idea at all.

“Ben, you’re not going to help your brother if you're a liability on the field.” Robin cut, “We now know this guy uses contact to take mana. We can prepare for that. He’ll probably have Al’s powers and XLR8’s speed. We can work with that too.” 

“Erm… I dunno if this helps…” Conner said, “But I’m pretty sure Albedo’s been stashing away extra mana in case Klarion tries to kidnap him and use him as a battery again. I’ve seen him fill one of these little tube things with a magic spell before.”

“...Storing extra mana?” Ben said. It slowly occurred to him that Red X could use mana no matter which person played the role. Ben hadn’t even questioned how Albedo was pulling that trick off.

Ben reacted accordingly, moving forwards towards Albedo’s bunk, pulling his case of belongings out from under and popping it open. He pulled the Reflect costume out of the way, and sure enough, underneath were dozens of small, glowing red canisters of pure mana.

Ben pulled several out, holding one up to his face with a smile.

“Thank Azmuth, I’ve got the world’s most over-prepared big brother.” 

Notes:

Guys, check out this art by Racerph of Reflect!

Anyways... Yeah, Ben knows how losing mana way too fast feels. He clocked what was going on the second he woke up, lol.

Hope y'all have a good week!

Chapter 158: The Glutton.

“Look at that! It’s Tennyson!” Albedo fiddled uselessly with the recharging Ultimatrix.

“You sure, boss? Tennyson doesn’t have white hair.”

“He turns into different aliens, he’s got a fancy watch. It’s him.” Albedo shrank at the dark grin on their face, “And I think he’d be worth quite a bit on the market, don’t you agree?” Albedo flinched back as they lunged. He struggled as he was pinned down, dragged painfully into the dark.

“Let me go!” He growled, “I’m not Tennyson, you fools! You’ll rue the day!” 

His yells were muffled quickly, unheard by anyone who might’ve helped. (Not that anyone would have). Albedo was a human in an alien city. The plumbers were his enemy. 

Albedo was alone.

“Let’s see if we can get that fancy watch off of his wrist.” He remembered fighting. Fighting like his life depended on it. It was all for nothing in the end. Just like every other battle Albedo fought. 

All he knew was that he didn’t want to die.

Khyber was the only person left alive, weeks later, to see Albedo’s half-manic state. A desperate, scrabbling mess. A shadow of the Glavan he had been. The huntsman had spent that time looking for him. He’d worked so hard to free Albedo from the plumbers. He was not content to let any alien lowlifes take Albedo out. 

Khyber was the only one who didn’t stab Albedo in the back. 

But in the end, that too led to nothing but failure.

…Was it weird that he missed a villain when he was supposed to be a good guy now?

“Wow… You’re waking up.” A deep voice spoke into Albedo’s muddled thoughts as the bad memories broke away to  the haziness of reality, “You’re way stronger than you look.” He was vaguely aware of something pinning his arms down and the rough feeling of ropes laced around his wrists, keeping them behind his back. He was on his side, left lying like a bag of sand. 

Albedo grimaced as he managed to pry open his heavy eyes, taking in the blurry scenery of some sort of lab. His mind slowly caught him up on what was going on. Ray was the thief. Ray could feed off of mana. Ray found out that Albedo was filled to the brim with mana, and had proceeded to abduct Albedo for fuel. 

Ray leaned over the console of a massive interface. Albedo squinted, making out what he slowly recognized as a rudimentary, human-made particle accelerator. The Large Boson Collider from Geneva, if he had to guess. 

“Morning sleeping beauty. How was the rest?” Ray teased. Albedo merely glared back, too exhausted to fight or engage with Ray’s teasing in any meaningful way. 

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” Ray said with a pout, “It hurts my feelings. I’ve gone out of my way for you, kid. Haven’t hurt a hair on your body. Sure, you’re tired, but I’m letting you have time to recover. I could just let you waste away unconscious.” 

“Not… A… Fool.” Albedo grumbled. Ray bit out a sharp laugh before returning his focus on the interface for the accelerator.

“You’ve got fight, kid. I like that. But I’d save your energy. I’m going to need it later.” Ray tapped away on the computer, “I have to say, the energy’s been great. The smarts have been quite the bonus. This whole job is a lot easier to do now. I can set this thing up to go off once I’ve gotten us out of Geneva. It’ll be quite the show to watch… From a much safer distance.”

Albedo squinted in confusion.

“What..?”
“Heh. That’s part of the deal. I take power. Life energy. And every time I steal from someone, I also retain imprints of knowledge from my victims. Lets me master skills, use powers with ease. You’re a smart kid. Probably way smarter than me. You hang with me long enough, and I might just become your equal in the brains department. Heh. Bet it hurts to think right now. Superman struggled with that too. Should’ve seen his face when I let him know I knew his real name.”  

This man knew who Superman was?

Albedo sluggishly tried to think through everything he’d read on Superman’s foes, and settled after far too long on an enemy that matched everything Ray was saying.

“Ray… mond Jensen.” Albedo muttered, “Parasite.” Ray tapped through a few more things, smirking at the sound of his name.

“Like I said. Smart kid.” 

“How much do you… Know… About…” 

“Mostly got some of your smarts. Not too much. I know there’s a well of knowledge rattling in that head of yours, waiting to be uncovered.” Ray replied, “I know you’re not actually Dare’s twin. You’re some type of alien. Taking human form for… Some reason. I didn’t get the details. Dare’s real name is Benjamin something. Your real name is Albedo, Son of Thallus. You used to be a messed up guy, from what I gathered. You’ve been trying to make penance for your mistakes. Joined up with the junior heroes. Cute. From what I’m guessing, you're that Reflect kid from that big plant attack on the news who helped ambush me last night. Which makes Benny boy your ‘brother’ Deka.”

Albedo didn’t confirm or deny anything.

“Can’t say the idea of a changeling with a whole variety of powers isn’t a tempting treat.” Ray went on to say, “But you’ll keep me full. The longer we spend together, the more I’ll know. The easier it’ll be to nab your look-alike too.”

“You're no match.” Albedo bit out. 

“Wasn’t how it felt last night. That super speed I got from him has been nice.” Benjamin hadn’t known then, but Albedo knew Benjamin was very familiar with the effects of mana exhaustion. He’d been unconscious when Parasite took Albedo, but Albedo had a feeling that when his brother woke up… He’d put things together.

Albedo still had his Ultimatrix. Theoretically, Parasite wouldn’t know to block the signal so that Benjamin couldn’t follow. Unlike Klarion, Parasite didn’t know how to keep Albedo from being tracked. (At least, for the moment, if Parasite really did retain knowledge, that could easily change). The others would find him. He just had to make sure he and Parasite stayed put long enough for them to catch up.

Parasite made a sound of satisfaction, and something red flashed across the interface. A warning. Albedo didn’t really get time to read the warning before Parasite was turning from the console and stalking towards where Albedo was laying. 

Albedo shivered as Parasite’s shadow fell over him.

“Time to skip town again, kiddo. I want to see what your powers are capable of. And I wouldn’t want to be in Geneva in the next hour.” Ray declared, “I’ve finished my job. Let’s get paid and then head for big blue, eh?” 

There was a flash of red, and Parasite’s blonde, strongman disguise was burned away, revealing the purple skin and yellow eyes of Parasite. Parasite held up a hand, summoning mana… Albedo’s mana, into his palms with a malicious smirk. The mana shifted from brilliant red to menacing purple as it seemed to reflect its new user. 

The world exploded in purple, as the familiar sensation of teleportation had them relocating. Albedo found himself latching onto and drinking up the little magic that was left lingering in the air as his vision cleared. It wasn’t enough to really pull at his spark, but he was able to at least sit himself up some and think a little more clearly as he took in the new location. It was some dark back room area. 

Albedo flinched as suddenly the door to the dark room swung open and light flooded in. A woman, with several armed men entered. They had some of those new god weapons Superboy had mentioned being associated with Intergang. The lights turned on completely, and he had to fight to adjust.

“You kidnapped one of the circus brats?” The woman hissed immediately, barely even sparing Albedo a look, “The mission’s not done yet. We paid to have Geneva wiped off the face of the planet, not for you to go grab a snack.”

“And it will be. I rigged the black-hole device to set off within the hour.” Parasite said gleefully, “And this ‘circus brat’, is actually the powerful mage Reflect. An alien in human form filled to the brim with more power than anything I’ve tasted in my life! His abilities, thanks to my own, are subdued for now, but he’s strong. Strong enough, perhaps, to even defeat Superman!” 

Azmuth, Albedo was grateful his Day Danger disguise came with a mask. It was bad enough that Parasite knew Albedo’s real name now. 

“I don’t care. This is a liability. The League will have our heads if they find one of their brats with us. I want him killed and dumped where no one will locate him.” The woman barked. At the sound of that order, Albedo flinched as several guns trained on him. Laser fire rang through the room. He squeezed his eyes shut. He expected death immediately, but a cracking sound caught his attention. When he opened his eyes again, a violet barrier was encasing Albedo, protecting him from harm. 

The purple man looked smug.

“As I said. Powerful.” 

“Still a liability.” She hissed, “Keeping him here will destroy everything we’ve worked for.”

“Which is why I’ll gladly take the full fall if this guy gets loose or the heroes come looking. My honor! But, for a price, my services and his powers are all yours. I’ll even demo for you, if you’d like. I think you’d find a use for them. I’ll try Superman himself again. See if I can pique your interest.”

“This is foolish.”

“It’s business.” There was a longer silence as the woman contemplated, before ordering her soldiers to lower their weapons.

“You’ve got twenty-four hours. Either prove the kid’s powers are useful, kill him, or get rid of him.” She turned on her heels, and the next thing Albedo knew, he was alone with his kidnapper.

“She’s right, you know.” Albedo decided to inform him, “You haven’t got the faintest idea of who’s wrath you’ll incite by keeping me captive. This is a fool’s errand.” 

“We’ll see. And if your brother does come… Well...” Parasite chuckled, “More for me.”

Notes:

So, fun fact that isn't completely explored in YJ, Parasite can actually steal knowledge from his victims. That's partially how his coming in contact with normal people translates to him obtaining the skills they have. (Like all of the skills found in Haly's circus).

In some versions of Parasite's abilities, this knowledge and intelligence is temporary, in others it's more permanent.

I can see there being a connection between stealing life energy and learning the traits of the person he steals from. The drain of life energy is also why he gains both the strengths and weaknesses of his victims.

So, you know, it's fun that he's got the smartest person on Earth right now with the powers of an Anodite with him.

Another fun fact. Khyber actually is the only person Albedo's ever partnered with that DID NOT betray Albedo in the end.

Anywho, thanks for reading, have a good week everyone!

Chapter 159: A Moment Behind.

Robin scrambled to disengage the makeshift black-hole machine that Parasite had constructed within The Large Boson Collider. 

“So this is what he was trying to do with that stolen tech,” Stated Faraday, the Interpol agent who’d been hassling Haly about the thefts only the night before. Robin scrunched his nose.

“This isn’t easy. I’m a professional hacker, but I’m not a super genius like our missing member.” 

“I can help with that.” Ben decided, shifting his Omnitrix quickly, selecting Galvan. He hesitated. Albedo wasn’t here. He wouldn’t blame Ben for choosing Galvan. An entire country was at risk of getting gobbled up by a black hole. 

Ben shifted, the idea that he could’ve turned into Brainstorm or Juryrig instead as an afterthought as he hopped up onto the console and quickly worked through the interface to disable the machine. Robin blinked in surprise.

“I’ve not seen that form yet.” He noted.

“This is Gray Matter.” Ben replied as he worked, “My Galvan form.” Robin’s eyes widened a little with realization. Ben felt Artemis, Superboy, and M’gann’s eyes burn into the alien form and take it in. Ben ignored them as he reset the collider, averting the crisis. 

The second it was averted, he was slamming his hand down on the Omnitrix again, shifting back into human form.”

“Fixed.” He declared, “We need to keep moving. We missed Parasite and Reflect by twenty minutes. Parasite figured out how to teleport with Reflect’s mana, he could be far.” Parasite’s activities had been caught on HD by the security cameras in the room. There wasn’t any audio, but it was obvious that somehow, Albedo had woken up and been talking with Parasite whilst the thief had been setting his evil plan up.

Well, really, it looked more like Parasite had been doing the most talking. 

“...I know you’ve mentioned Azmuth’s race being small…” Artemis said slowly, “But I didn’t realize Galvans were that tiny.” 

“Small but tough.” Ben agreed, “And smart. There’s not a foe they haven’t outsmarted.” 

“I just… Can’t imagine suddenly being ten times my size and then just having to… Live like that.” Robin muttered. 

“Reflect’s old mentor?” Red Arrow asked, “What does Azmuth have to do with finding Reflect now? Isn’t that guy dead or something?”

“Missing.” Superboy corrected, “And he’s also apparently a jerk. Azmuth is a Galvan. That’s what Deka just was.” Ben ignored their conversation, pulling up Reflect’s new location and vitals on his Omnitrix’s interface.

“Hmm. He’s up to 23 percent on his mana levels. He’s recovering quicker than everyone else did. Probably could get some access to his magic again at 30 percent. Not much… But it could give him leverage.” Ben muttered to himself, “That might not last, though. They’ve left Geneva. They’re back in Paris, actually… The problem is… Um… I don’t actually know how to beat an Anodite in a fight, and it looks like Parasite fully understands how to use the power he took from my brother.” 

That caused everyone in the group to balk at him in dismay.

“...What do you mean you don’t know how to defeat an Anodite?” Red Arrow practically growled, “You’re also part Anodite! Don’t you know your own weaknesses?” 

“Okay, one. I didn’t even try to access my spark until after Reflect proved he could.” Ben said quickly, “The Omnitrix and magic do not mix. Reflect’s installed shields, but I don’t want to use them unless I need to, You know that.”

“But half of your family used magic. Your cousin, your grandma, your twin. All of them are mana users.” Robin listed, “You never once wondered, gee, how could I beat them in a fight?”

“I mean… I did wonder.” Ben admitted, and he rubbed the back of his neck, “But the last time I fought my grandma, who’s a full anodite, by the way, I, um… Kinda lost. Badly.”

“What exactly are Reflect’s powers? We need to know what we’re handling.” Agent Faraday requested.

“Think Dr. Fate.” Ben huffed, “Only much, much weaker and his magic has a red glow to it. That’s essentially what they look like. Also, as a sort of primary Anodite defense thing, his spells usually involve shields, magic disks, daggers and chains of light and things like that. Essentially, a very simplified version of the lantern rings, only made from magic.” 

“Sounds… interesting.”

“Anodites are powerful creatures.” Ben stated, “But he’s only one fourth, and has only been training for a few months now in the mystic arts. His current skills are nowhere near how powerful he actually is. If Parasite can fully tap into Reflect’s Anodite heritage, there’s a huge chance that Parasite will be even stronger than most Leaguers. Pure Anodite power is unlike anything in any multiverse.” 

“Well, he’s got to have some weakness.” Red Arrow insisted.

“Gee. I guess I could just ask Reflect, or, I dunno, my dead cousin. Maybe my missing alien grandma, who only seems interested in showing up when there’s a big party or when one of my cousins is causing chaos somewhere.” Ben huffed, “I’ve got no idea. The best bet we’d have is actually calling in Dr. Fate. Magic versus magic. He’s a full Anodite now. I do know metablockers can snuff the spark, but not completely. Anodites are passionate. They generate more energy when they are emotional. Could even short-circuit some metablockers.” 

“You could use Alien X. Dr. Fate couldn’t overpower him.” Superboy pointed out. Ben made a face.

“Oh, absolutely not.” Ben declared immediately, “If Serena and Bellicus randomly decide to freeze me for some stupid argument, and Parasite actually managed to touch Alien X…”

“...Yeah, that’s a resounding no.” Robin agreed. 

“Yeah, no cosmic reality bending powers for that guy. Jeesh.” Artemis agreed.

“...But what if going full power is the wrong move.” Robin muttered, “Parasite eats power houses for breakfast. Warps their abilities into his own. We don’t know what an Anodite’s true weakness is. But we know the weaknesses of a lot of other powerful things.”

“We just need to get him a meal he can’t resist.” Artemis agreed.

“Pretty sure an Anodite is probably better than most of what we’ve got going on this planet right now.” Ben said with an unhelpful shrug.

“Maybe.” Robin said and he rubbed his chin, thinking, “But if you eat the same thing over and over again, after a while it gets old. He’s gonna want some variety. He’s also probably going to want revenge on the guy who got him locked away the first time around.”

“Superman.” Superboy declared.

“Hmm. Big Blue and I are on great terms.” Ben decided, “How fast can he get to Paris?”

“...Wait, we’re asking Superman for help?” Red Arrow immediately objected.

“Help is sorta relative. More like bait.” Robin said, offering a little so-so gesture, “Of course we could go the Mr. Twister route. You think you’d be up for that Miss. M?”

“I mean, if you think that would work…” M’gann, though she didn’t seemed thrilled by the idea.

“We’re not sacrificing Miss. Martian to Parasite.” Superboy immediately countered.

“I mean… I can also just turn into Superman.” Ben pointed out. This made agent Faraday, who’d been mostly listening to the teen hero’s scheme make a surprised sound.

“Wait, you can?!” He asked.

“Kryptonian’s on my playlist. My DNA sample is from the only full Kryptonian on Earth, aka, Superman. Some things are a little different. Clothes. My eyes are green in that form, not blue. But if you don’t look too hard, you can’t really tell? I’d either need to DNA lock myself and swap clothes or I could turn into a Martian and shift into him that way if M doesn’t want to. I can use Reflect’s mana stocks to get an instant mana charge.” 

“That can’t be good for you.” M’gann remarked.

“Yeah, I don’t like the idea of using anyone on the team as bait.” Artemis huffed in agreement, “In most situations I’d be for it… But for something like this? Feels wrong.” 

“But it is the best shot, considering we don’t exactly have an Anodite counter.” Robin pointed out. Ben considered for a moment more.

“...Well…”

“I thought you just said you don’t know how to beat one.” Red Arrow said in exasperation.

“I don’t.” Ben agreed, “I have magic resistant aliens, though. And… Well there’s this one guy I’ve got. He worked against Darkstar pretty well. This is basically the same situation as when Darkstar kidnapped Luckygirl from her school that one time and used her mana powers… but…”

“But?” Red Arrow growled. 

“I really don’t like using that guy.” Ben concluded. 

“...Why not?” Red Arrow said, “It’s your brother we’re saving.” Ben bit his lip in consideration.

“Okay.” He said, nodding firmly, “Here’s what I’m thinking…”

Notes:

Yeah, fighting mana eaters and magic users is usually Gwen's gig. Ben does it a few times in Ben 10, but most episodes related to them have to do with Gwen. That doesn't mean Ben won't do whatever it takes to protect his family from a mana eater. Nor does it mean he's without the resources needed to win when facing a magic user. We've seen him do that several times in this story alone already!

Anyways, the stand off is coming soon, don't worry!

I will be traveling next weekend. I am working on getting the next chapter queued to post while I'm on the road, but my Chromebook finally kicked the bucket, and my phone's on it's last leg, so my usual mobile means of interacting with comments are somewhat iffy right now. I do plan on making sure they get through, but I might not interact with them as much next weekend. Same goes for fixing any errors in next weeks chapter that I might missed.

Today might be slow on interacting with comments too, as I'm going to a festival in a full costume for labor day weekend and the costume uses gloves, making using touch screens a little hard.

In more fun news, I made a Ben 10 PMV (Not A Reflection one, but I figured this group would enjoy it). Not my best work in the PMV department, as I worked all of eight hours over two days on it, but it makes me happy. Definitely can tell where I get lazy tho, lol. Song is 'Two Birds.'

All that said, I hope you all have fantastic week!

Chapter 160: Baited.

Ben waited, kneeling in the shadows, watching the disguised Miss. Martian as she hovered quite publicly above Paris, drawing a lot of attention from the locals down below.

“...I’m sorry I dragged you and Al into this.” Robin muttered from where he waited next to Ben. Ben sent Robin a confused look.

“We both agreed to come, even if circuses have always been a sore spot for me… Helping other people always comes first. You couldn’t have known that a mana leech was there. It’s not your fault.” 

“Maybe.” Robin lowered his head, “But every mission I’ve tried to lead hasn’t exactly gone well. First with you and, well… That lady Al punched. Now this? This wasn’t even a Batman sanctioned mission. I just… I needed to know what was going on here. And I pulled most of the team into it. Now Reflect is with that monster. We have a solid plan for getting him back, but…” 

“Robin, you’re thirteen .” Ben said with an eyeroll, “You might be one of the most experienced guys on this team, but even you have room to learn. Being a leader isn’t supposed to be easy, and plans never go right. You just have to adapt and keep moving. The bad guys win because you roll over like a wounded animal. We take a blow… We get back up, and we hit back harder. Got it? Until you can’t keep going… You don’t stop.”

Robin scowled.

“You sound like B. Always pushing forwards. Focused on the mission. Even if it could kill him. Even if it risks everything.”

“There’s a reason he’s still breathing after facing literal gods.” Ben said with a chuckle, “The universe turns against him… He just decides to keep fighting regardless. Half of being a hero is gambling and improv. The other half is superpowers and skills.”

“...I guess…” Robin mused, “Still no sign of Parasite.”

“Yeah, Al’s not moved from where the Ultimatrix last pinged him. M’s really close to his location.”

“Faraday says that building’s being guarded.” Robin reported back, “Looks like Parasite had some friends.” 

“So, what’s your call?” Ben asked. Robin hesitated before calling over the mindlink.

‘Red Arrow. Artemis. Rally with Faraday. They’ve spotted heavily armed suspects near Reflect’s current location. Wait to strike until we’ve got eyes on Parasite. Remember, the goal is to not let him steal more energy from Reflect. We need to separate them.’ 

‘Copy that. Moving into position.’ Artemis replied.

‘I’m getting movement near the tower.’ Superboy called, ‘I think Parasite’s attention has officially been caught.’ 

Ben glanced quickly towards Robin, before grabbing the Omnitrix, swapping into Astrodactyl and grabbing the younger teen, flying quickly closer to the heart of the city and landing on a nearby building that overlooked the circle around the eiffel tower.

“So! The little brats went and got the big man himself to come get their missing space wizard?!” Ben shifted back to human, his eyes narrowing down at the purple figure marching through the circle, scaring away bystanders as he moved. M’gann lowered herself more, keeping still out of reach, but close enough to lure Parasite even closer to the target point. 

“We don’t need to cause a scene.” M’gann said carefully, imitating the famous Superman bravo with her voice, “Surrender peacefully and let the kid go.” Ben watched Parasite’s lips twitch into a sadistic, hungry smirk. He reacted accordingly, spinning the dial on his Omnitrix.

“Remember, you’ll turn back and be depleted if he touches the wrong alien… And gets that alien’s powers.” Robin quickly hissed towards Ben.

“I know.” Ben agreed, “Gotta protect M, then take him down.” Robin hummed in agreement.

“Well.” Parasite chuckled below them, “I don’t think you quite realize the League’s mistake in misplacing one of the most powerful creatures I’ve ever tasted. But I’m not really feeling like surrendering. In fact, I feel very peckish today.” 

Ben shifted just as Parasite's entire form was enveloped in a menacing purple light, and he was lifted off the ground. Ben flew forwards, phasing through M’gann and directly into Parasite’s waiting palm. 

The man paused, baffled at the sudden arrival as M’gann took the opportunity to shift from Superman back into her standard red haired form. 

“Gotcha.” Ghostfreak sneered, before flying forwards and into Parasite’s chest. Immediately Ben’s mind wrapped around Parasite’s. Parasite did not take the sudden cage around his consciousness well, immediately thrashing within the mental bonds Ben was encasing him in… And the guy was strong . 

“Did you get him?” M’gann asked, backing off with a warriness in her eyes. 

“Not for long.” Ghostfreak croaked back using Parasite’s vocal cords, “Robin, time to get involved. Get the collar on him, before I lose my grip.” Ben lowered Parasite down as Robin leapt down, metahuman collar in hand. 

Mana pulsed through Parasite in frustration. 

‘Oh, don’t you dare, Benny boy.’ Parasite mentally growled. Ben faltered, startled.

‘...What did you just call me?’ 

‘Heh, gotcha.’ Parasite echoed what Ben had said before, and the magic around parasite flared again as the mana eater mentally shoved back. Physically, he found himself barreling out of Parasite and into Robin.

“Gah!” Robin yelped at the Ectonurite suddenly slamming into him. M’gann backed off even more just as Superboy decided to react to Parasite suddenly breaking free by jumping down like he was planning to challenge him.

“Superboy, long distance only.” M’gann reminded him, making the other teen scoff in dismay, but he halted in trying to outright charge Parasite. Parasite chuckled.

“I thought I was gonna have to wait a second to get the twin.” He said with a smirk, “Oh, sorry, pretend twin. But then you show up, right on a silver platter for me to take. I’m very eager to see what delicious power you’ve got, Benny.” 

“...Uh…” Superboy squinted, “Deka how does he…”

“Does it look like I know?” Ben snapped. 

“Oh, Albedo was very chatty.” Parasite purred, “I learned a lot of interesting things from that kid… If he can even be called that.” Parasite the spread his arms, “No matter, lets take out the side dishes and reunite you with your ‘brother.’” Immediately cords of mana shot up from the Earth, twisting and charging at the teen heroes. M’gann immediately camouflaged, dodging and avoiding them as she attempted to telekinetically grasp Parasite. Robin himself attempted to acrobatically avoid being snagged, whilst Superboy merely powered through, breaking every cord that attempted to snag him. 

Ben followed M’gann’s example, shifting back to invisibility as he sunk into the ground and reemerged behind Parasite for a round two. He lunged for the guy, and a barrier of mana shimmered into existence. Ben crashed into it, finding that, frustratingly, a magical light barrier wasn’t exactly something Ghostfreak could phase through.

So Ben immediately turned invisible again, backing off to shift.

He turned quickly into Feedback, and Parasite spun around, smirking at the burst of green.

“Much better!” Parasite declared. He summoned more mana, directing them towards Ben. Feedback smirked, catching the energy the constructs gave off and pulling. Parasite’s smile shifted to alarm, and he ceased the spell as Ben redirected the energy as electricity right back at Parasite. Parasite reacted fast, summoning a shield and deflecting it. 

Robin took advantage of Parasite being distracted by Ben to draw out multiple birdrangs and attack from behind just as Parasite lowered his shields. 

Parasite seemed to notice the birdrangs at the last minute, and in a flash of purple he was gone, reappearing dangerously close to Superboy. Superboy growled, pulling from some mana and barely dodging the greedy grasp of Parasite. M’gann telekinetically pulled at Parasite’s hand, getting him to focus his attention on the camouflaged Martian. Robin grasped more birdrags ready to attack again whilst Superboy slammed his fists into the pavement just as the mana eater refocused his attention.

Feedback grabbed the Omnitrix to redial again, this time using Snare-Oh. The second the green light cleared he was lashing his bandages out as Parasite pulled himself off the ground to avoid Superboy’s shockwave. The bandages snaked around Parasite’s waist, and Snare-Oh pulled. 

Clearly the guy wasn’t expecting to be yanked from the sky and pulled down to Ben’s level. Still, he recovered quickly to try and grasp the bandages.

Something shifted in his expression when Ben didn’t detransform from the contact.

“What?!”

“Thep Khufan. From the Anur system like the Ectornurites, the Loboans, the Vladats, and the Transylians. A system with no sun or stars. No mana to steal.” Snare-Oh boosted, “Held together by threads of darkness. Collecting all five species was quite the event. Especially when I wound up going to Anur and accidentally reanimating the Vladats species.” 

Parasite simply growled in response, and in a flash of purple, was teleporting out of the bandages and directly in front of Snare-Oh. The man punched at Snare-Oh, who simply shifted so the bandages maneuvered around and resnagged Parasite. Ben moved quickly to hold him in place.

It didn’t do much, as Parasite was immediately teleporting out again. 

“He won’t stay still long enough.” Superboy complained, “How are we supposed to shut his powers off if we can’t keep him safely down long enough?” 

“Ghostfreak should’ve worked. He caught me off guard with the Benny thing.” Snare-Oh snapped back.

“Then go back to Ghost Freak.” Robin declared just as Parasite was teleporting behind him. 

“Shoot, Robin, move.” Snare-Oh warned just as Parasite's mana tendrils latched onto Robin’s middle and a shield formed around the boy wonder and Parasite.

Robin responded by immediately thrashing, attempting, not very successfully, to throw his birdrangs at the approaching supervillain just as his wrists were caught.

“Superboy, get Robin.” M’gann called. Superboy didn’t need to be told twice, barreling forwards to break the magical shield.

Ben shifted to Terraspin, ready to react when Parasite would inevitably try to grab Superboy. Parasite seemed pleased that Superboy was going for Robin, and drew Robin closer, reaching forwards to steal Robin’s mana. 

Superboy was crashing through the shields and snagging Robin free from the magical bonds before Parasite could reach. Parasite didn’t seem to care, going to bring up more mana tendrils to slow Superboy as he reached for the much too close Kryptonian. 

Ben acted, activating Terraspin’s wind abilities to off balance and blow Parasite away from Superboy, who was far more able to withstand the high winds with his strength. Superboy ducked down, covering Robin and holding tight to prevent Robin from flying off with Parasite. M’gann moved fast to get out of the way.

Parasite was sent flying back.

That’s when the dreaded beeping reached Ben’s ears.

Not good.

In a flash of red, Ben was human again. In a flash of purple, Parasite was gone from where Ben had flung him. In another flash of purple, Parasite was behind Ben.

Ben had only a moment to drop his own weight to avoid the large hands aiming to grab him. That didn’t do much as mana tendrils arose from the earth, and he found his wrists caught.

“Argg.” Superboy growled, and he let go of Robin, “Miss. Martian, get Deka.” 

Parasite pulled Ben close, leaning in next to Ben’s ear, but still didn’t touch Ben.

“If I take your power now, will you be able to change forms?” He hissed. 

“Why don’t you find out?” Ben challenged. Parasite went to do just that, only for M’gann’s telekinesis to yank Ben and Parasite apart. 

‘Fall back. Recharge. We’ll defend.’ Superboy called over the mindlink as M’gann dragged Ben safely next to Superboy and Robin. 

‘Fat chance.’ Ben said with a snort, ‘He’s teleporting a lot. That’s a huge mana waste if he’s not careful. He’s using borrowed power, remember? We just need to avoid getting grabbed until I get Ghostfreak back online. If he runs himself out of mana, we can jump him like that. Otherwise, we’ll try plan A again, and this time, succeed.’ 

‘I can’t fight from a distance as well. And he’s moving faster than Robin’s birdrangs.’ Superboy admitted.

‘Then keep him moving.’ Robin said in realization, ‘He’s teleporting to dodge. It seems like a convenient get away trick, but it’s not, is it?’

‘No. It’s a high level technique. Took Gwen years to master. Al’s a Galvan genius and he also had help by modifying his suit, so he figured it out faster and doesn’t waste mana as much. That’s why he teleports so much easier. Plus, he practices a ton. The more he does it, the less draining it is.’

‘But Parasite doesn’t have the Reflect suit. And he probably doesn’t realize it’s a mana drain.’ Robin said, ‘So we can wear him down. Make him spend the energy he stole from Reflect.’ 

‘Okay. Plan b, keep away. And if the Omnitrix recharges… Back to plan a.’ Ben decided.

‘Got it.’ M’gann, Robin, and Superboy chimed in agreement.

Notes:

As a reminder, I am traveling, so comments might be slow.

I wanted to really try and write the action in this a little better, but I am not sure how I did.

I keep trying to figure out if the Ghostfreak not having mana thing applies to other Anur citizens. From what I've seen, it does, as most of them are undead beings. However, I'd love to hear your guy's theories!

Anyways, have a good week everyone!

Notes:

Concerning the Post Schedule: I've written and planned out a lot of this story, but decided to go back and re-edit it, adding in Albedo POVs. Originally, I was just going to post and write this story solely from Ben's POV as an experiment in POV writing, but I wasn't getting the character interactions I wanted and decided to split the POVs between Albedo and Ben. Because of this, while I do have most of the story already plotted out, half of my chapters need to be revised or rewritten from Albedo's POV. This being said, I will try to keep to a good updating schedule of at least once a week on Fridays (Though in busier parts of my school year I might delay that) but this depends on how long it takes to rewrite a few of the chapters. (Also, special thanks to TataliTat for editing.)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my Reflect Series!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of The Reflect Series