Chapter Text
Ben jerks in his seat, eyes scanning the room rapidly, only to find that he… isn't where he should be. Not even close. He's back in class at Bellwood Elementary, and his teacher is talking about Summer School, and-
And Ben should be on Xenon. No, Ben should be DEAD. Azmuth refused to fix the Omnitrix and the timer just… ticked down. Ben practically threw the watch at Vilgax, yelling that if Vilgax just takes it at least he might get to see the explosion.
And Gwen… Gwen didn't even get that far…
Ben jerks in his seat, again, startled by the bell for the end of class. He looks around as his classmates file out the door, before stuffing his notebook in his backpack and booking it.
He keeps going over what should have been his last moments in his mind. His last failure. All he can do is kick himself mentally as he moves down the hall on autopilot.
“Hey, Ben!”
“Gyah!” Ben shouts, taking a defensive posture as he locks eyes with Cash. ‘Oh no,’ Ben thinks, ‘I do not have the energy for his crap right now!’ Ben drops the defensive pose to tell Cash off, but before he can, Cash continues.
“You okay, dude? You look really lost in thought. Thinking about your awesome summer vacation?” He asks with an open, honest, friendly smile, like he and Ben had been friends for years. Ben blinks rapidly, before shaking his head and coughing in his hand.
“Uh. Y-yeah! I'm going on a cross country road trip with my Grandpa, all summer!” He says, not sure what to make of this. Is he dreaming? Is this the afterlife? Why is Cash of all people being nice???
“That's pretty awesome, dude! Better than being stuck here in boring old Bellwood like me and JT, that's for sure,” Cash replies with a shrug and a friendly punch to the shoulder. Ben winces, and rubs the back of his head.
Wait, why is his hair so long…? Ben shakes his head again. “There's always Baseball,” He offers, and Cash nods in agreement. “Actually, speaking of JT…” Ben trails off, looking around.
Cash laughs, and starts walking away, motioning for Ben to follow. “He's meeting up with a buddy from Chess Club. I know where they are, c'mon.”
Ben follows him to the front of school, and finds JT and a kid who just screams Chess Club getting threatened by… is that the kid Ben tried to save at the start of summer? This is getting way too weird for Ben’s liking, but he's never been one to back down when someone's in trouble. Even though he's a Failure.
Failure.
FAILURE.
FAILURE!
Ben jolts as the kid punches JT, and he rushes in to stop him from doing it again. “Hey, man, not cool!” He shouts, blocking a punch and a kick aimed at him. He prepares to block more strikes before, after a moment, realizing that everyone is staring at him.
He feels his hackles raise, wondering what's wrong, before the bully clicks his tongue and says, “Whatever. It's the last day of school so I'm feeling generous anyway. Keep your pocket change, nerds,” before walking off. Ben slowly lets himself relax, and jerks when JT claps him on the shoulder.
“Dude,” he wheezes, still reeling from the punch to the gut he took, “thanks for the save. That was… AWESOME! Where did you learn to do that?” Cash, JT, and JT’s friend are all looking at him like some kind of superhero. It’s a familiar sight, but it can only remind him how badly he dropped the ball. Ben grimaces, rubbing his arm, and tries to come up with a satisfactory answer.
“Uh…” He looks to the side, rolling his shoulders. “I uh, I got shown a few moves. When I mentioned the bullies. To my cousin…” And suddenly he’s not on Earth anymore.
He’s on Xenon, in that cave, at the moment when his cousin, his brave, intelligent, clever, heroic cousin, was taken under the earth. When those raking green claws pulled her below. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t do this, she didn’t deserve this. She never would have set off the self destruct. She never would have been so arrogant. She should have gotten the watch. He should have died. It should have been him. It should have been him. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN-
“Ben!” He hears his Grandpa call out, but that can’t be right, because Grandpa was still on Earth. He’d stayed behind, to watch after Gwen, not knowing she’d stowed away. Where- “Ben?” He calls again, and Ben sees him in his old RV, the Rustbucket, idling on the street next to the school. The school. The school isn’t on Xenon. Where-
Ben jerks, remembering where he is. Shaking his head, he rubs the back of his head, laughing nervously. “Uh, coming, Grandpa!” He shouts, and then turns back to the boys standing next to him. “Uh, sorry guys, gotta go. I’ll see you around!” He says, before turning and running to the old RV.
“Seeya, Ben!” Cash calls out.
“Thanks again!” JT’s Chess Club friend shouts after, as Ben reaches the door, pausing to wave at them, before rushing into the Rustbucket.
Sue him, the kid’s excited. Not just because of the amazing road trip he gets to go on all over again, but because here, now, Grandpa Max is safe, and alive. And Gwen! Gwen. She’s safe. She’s not being ripped apart by plant alien monsters on a planet a million lightyears from home, never to see her family again. She’s here, and she’s wonderful, and she’s even beautiful if Ben lets himself get a bit sappy because she’s alive and-
Ben pauses as he takes her in, blinking twice. He’s spent three months with his favorite Dweeb and he’s pretty sure her hair isn’t that long, or in a ponytail, and he’s also pretty damn sure her shirt was blue, not red. Then again, Cash and JT were being nice, so this is really nothing in comparison. “Nice ponytail, Dweeb,” He says, choking down his emotions with a thumbs up, and turning to his grandpa while she scoffs.
Grandpa Max, too, is a little different, but it’s just his shirt, really. Ben’s never seen this one, hot pink with light pink hearts. Still, it’s fitting. It’s a Hawai’ian shirt, and Max was always a pretty loving guy, if you ask Ben. “So, finally joined us, eh, Ben?” Max chuckles, smiling warmly at him, and Ben beams back.
“Yeah, I just had to say bye to my friends first. I see Gwen is joining the party,” He mentions conversationally, sliding into the booth opposite her at the little table, tapping his fingers on the surface. She looks at him a little oddly, and he looks back at her questioningly.
“Wasn’t my idea, Doofus,” She responds defensively, “Somebody convinced my mom that going camping for the summer would be a good experience for me.” She nods her head in Max’s direction as she says that, frowning.
Ben smiles at her, but before he can say he’s happy to have her there, Max chimes in, “I thought it would be fun if your cousin came along with us this summer.” He pauses to look at them both. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not for me!” Ben responds quickly, flashing her a smile. Gwen squints at him suspiciously, like she’s anticipating a prank of some kind. In her defense, that wouldn't be unlike Ben, so he gives her a devious grin to cover up his weird behavior.
“Well… no,” Gwen replies, still giving him a suspicious look. Max accepts that, and sits down on the driver's seat to head on down the road. Ben just keeps smiling. It's a better look on her than the last one he saw on her face, after all.
As Max goes on down the road, Ben just tries to ignore the echo of her screams in his ears.
“So… what did you have planned this summer?” Ben asks, just to break the silence as they go down the road. Half an hour had passed, and he still hasn't looked away from Gwen, though he's tried to keep it subtle, like he's looking off into the distance behind her.
If he looks away, she might not be there when he looks back.
Gwen squints at him, clearly expecting some kind of insult, but pulls out her calendar. Oh god, how could Ben have forgotten the color coded schedule. He stifles a laugh before it can bubble up. It was such a Dweeb thing to do.
“I had my whole vacation planned out. Each activity is color coded so I never do the same thing two days in a row,” She informs him, pointing at the different colors. He can't really read the schedule at this distance, but he doesn't need to. The color coding tells him everything he needs to know; that being that she's a-
“Neeeerd!” He jeers, grinning at her smugly. “Good news: you're on the fun vacation now. Landmarks, festivals, and exploration galore, Dweeb.” He laughs, spreading his arms wide.
“This is fun, Doofus. Just because I can plan ahead and you can't doesn't mean I don't have fun,” She bites back, and Ben puts his hands up placatingly.
“Sure, sure,” He laughs, but leans on the table with his forearm. “I'll have you know I can plan, though. Watch this:” Ben checks his Omni- …his left wrist, and purses his lips together and nods, satisfied.
“In a few weeks, we will fight a wizard,” He announces, like it's nothing special. Gwen crumples up her schedule, useless now because of the change in plans leading to her being here, and bounces it off his head.
“Yeah, sure, and I'm going to take his staff to become the mightiest witch of all time,” She snarks, to which Ben nods in response.
“Yes, but not until the second rematch,” He declares with a shrug, grabbing the crumpled schedule and uncrumpling it to give it a proper look over. “...Mathletes? Trust me, you're gonna enjoy the wizard way more.”
Gwen just scoffs, and leans back along the booth. Ben shrugs, and does the same. The campsite isn't far. He can wait.
And he can keep Gwen's hand just in the corner of his eye. Just in case.
Gradually approaching the Earth, two vessels, massively disparate in size, exchange laser fire. One, a small, curvy, green vessel with hoop-like structures jutting out of the body at the back, dodges and weaves through the aggressive rapid fire from many turrets coming from the much, much larger form of the Chimeran Hammer. The bulky beast of a battleship is shaped like a dark brown tuning fork with red bulbous masses popping out of the sides like tumors.
It fires thousands of laser rounds, but the central cannon that makes up the majority of the ship remains cold. The cargo of the green ship is too precious to risk destroying unless there is no other choice. At the helm, the captain, a massive green alien with a chin made of tentacles, curses loudly as she recognizes the planet they’ve come across. The black claws of her intimidating, spiky armor dig into the armrest of the captains chair as she leans forward.
“We cannot let her make planetfall! If that bastard gets the Chaquetrix, she might as well have delivered it straight to Plumber HQ!”
By the time they reach the campsite, Ben has come to a decision. He needs to get the Omnitrix.
Failure he may be, he won't make that last fatal mistake again. And it would be better to get it to Gwen or Max, but he may not have that kind of time. Just go with the motions, wait for s'mores, go on a walk, alone, and find the watch. If Vilgax gets the watch, he may as well have set the Self Destruct off again for all the good it would do the universe.
Ben sits on the bench, looking at the bowl of marinated mealworms Max places on the table. He's not as grossed out as he was the first time, but it's still…
“Is that fishing bait?” Gwen asks, at a complete loss for why Max would put a bowl of worms on the table.
“Marinated mealworms,” Max corrects, “They're real hard to get in the states. You know, they're considered a delicacy in some parts of the world.”
“And totally gross in others,” Gwen replies, looking sick. Max goes to say something about an adventure for their taste buds, if Ben remembers correctly, but something else bugs him enough for him to ask first.
“Are you sure they're marinated? They look pretty pale. And alive,” He grimaces as they squirm. Max, however, chuckles.
“I'm sure,” he assures the two, “But, if this isn't to your taste, I've got some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge.”
“What about a burger?” Ben asks, although he's already resigned to the answer. Max chuckles, smiling warmly.
“Nonsense, I want this vacation to be an adventure for your taste buds as well. I'll get the tongue.” With that, Max turns and goes into the Rustbucket to get the tongue.
Gwen looks at Ben, desperation in her eyes. Just like- “Ben, please tell me you have some normal food. I have some rice cakes and hard candy?” She begs, cutting off his flashback before it can really start.
Ben grimaces, trying to remember. It was so long ago, but he definitely had… “I know I have a candy bar, but I don't remember what else I might have stashed. I don't think it's gonna last us the whole summer.”
Gwen lets out a pathetic whine, and Ben grimaces in sympathy as she lets her head fall to the tabletop. Ben pats her back comfortingly, and she turns her head to glare at him halfheartedly, so he backs away, hands up. “Don't ‘there, there’ me…” She mumbles.
Max opens the door, carrying the sheep's tongue on a small platter with a wide smile on his face. Ben just decides to take comfort in the fact that the tongue was, after the summer he's had, at least edible.
Ben looks at Gwen's disgusted face, and, taking pity on her, eats a handful of the worms, swallowing them as quickly as he can before whispering to Gwen, “The tongue is better- gack! Hah!” Ben gags and splutters. “Ew, ew… Look, take my advice, take that tongue.”
Then, Ben raises his voice. “Wow those mealworms sure are filling! You and Gwen can share the tongue, I'm too full now! I'm gonna try to start the campfire!” Gwen gives Ben an incredulous look as he quickly slides off of the picnic table bench and rushes to the firepit, spitting and hacking quietly. He sits down and grabs the fire kit, fiddling with it while looking up every couple seconds at Gwen.
Max sets the tongue down on the picnic table, and turns to Ben. “Ah, Ben-” He pauses as Ben manages to light the campfire, blinking in surprise. “Uh, Ben, are you sure you don't want any tongue?”
Ben really isn't sure, but the worms killed his appetite well enough already. “I'm sure, I'm just gonna stare at the fire for now,” He says instead, too anxious to look for his game console to kill time while he waits.
Gwen soon finds herself with a cut of tongue on her plate, and, bracing herself, takes a bite. Ben was right, of course, it wasn't as bad as it looked. ‘Still pretty bad though,’ she thinks, fighting back a gag.
Finally, enough of the blizzard of laserfire has landed on the smaller ship to disable it. “Captain Vilgax!” A bronze, crablike cyborg shouts excitedly, “Plumber vessel has been disabled!” She clacks her large claw rapidly as she turns to her captain, ecstatic that the battle is finally as good as won. Her captain lets out a joyous laugh in agreement.
“Prepare to board!” She orders, standing up from her chair, and wincing as she has to pry her fingers from the metal. “Oops,” she mutters, before turning back to her cybernetically enhanced second in command. “Talk about a close call, eh, Kraab?”
“You can say that again,” Kraab sighs, shaking her head, and looking back to the viewport, only to startle as she looks at the glow of the smaller ship. “Captain!”
Before Vilgax can do anything, the smaller vessel lets out one last laser blast. Really, it shouldn’t have done anything. The shields are strong and the weakpoints of the Chimeran Hammer are so minuscule as to be practically nonexistent. And yet…
Kraab shakes her head, recovering from the one-in-a-billion hit, before turning back to where her captain stood. A pile of scrap stands there instead, stained with green blood. “Captain!” She cries, before turning on her communicator. “Medical to the bridge, NOW!” She screams, before turning back to the viewport, where she watches three pods fall to the planet below from the smaller ship. “Shit. SHIT!”
Quickly, she commands three battle drones to follow the pods to the ground. Hopefully, they’ll take care of the Plumber and retrieve the device before anything else can go wrong, or any of the locals can get hurt. She turns away from the planet to dig her hopefully still breathing captain out from the rubble.
Back on Earth, dinner is over, and Gwen sits down with her laptop, doing some research on the internet thanks to Grandpa's satellite dish. “Hmm… who wants to tell ghost stories around the campfire?” Max asks, looking between Ben and Gwen.
Ben grimaces. “Not really in the mood for a ghost story right now, Grandpa…” He mutters, fiddling with his hair. He still isn't used to it being this long. He looks down, away from the two, and-
‘Wait, why is my shirt black with white stripes…?’ He wonders, noticing for the first time that his shirt’s colors are inverted.
“How about… we roast marshmallows?” Max offers, and Ben remembers that line maybe a bit better than he should. That's the last thing Max said before he found the Omnitrix.
“I'm going for a walk,” He says, standing up stiffly, and wandering into the woods while his grandfather and cousin watch him go in confusion.
“Was it something I said?” Max muses, to which Gwen shrugs.
“He's been acting weird all day. I don't think we've had a single fight…” She mutters, frowning. “Is he okay…?”
Ben is so not okay. He sprints through the woods as fast as he can, screaming. They're all around him. He's so glad he didn't try to bring Grandpa or Gwen. If they came… then those monsters would get them!
Ben doesn't know why they're here, or how! They weren't here last time! But they're here, he knows they are, and they're closing in on him! He has to get the Omnitrix and fight them off before they find the campsite!
At least Grandpa has a couple weapons hidden away somewhere in the Rustbucket. He can take some comfort in knowing that his family at least isn't unarmed. Now he just has to find that crash before he's plant food!
He looks up at the sky, looking for the falling pod, and nearly trips, but manages to regain his balance and keep going. Whatever, he'll hear the crash when it happens, and he can make his way there after.
He just has to keep running until- “Aaaah!” Ben cries out as a shockwave picks him up and sends him flying, just barely avoiding slamming full speed into a tree. He rolls to a stop and turns around, aching, feeling a little burnt even, but alive.
“THERE IT IS!” He shrieks with joy, tears rolling down his face as he stumbles toward the crater, falling in and nearly twisting his ankle. Hissing with pain, he keeps moving toward the metal sphere, the same as he always remembered it.
As if sensing his approach, the pod splits open, and reveals the ominous, bright glow of
the
WRONG
COLOR.
But it isn't orange, so it's not self-destructing, so whatever it is, Ben can deal with it after he toasts those plants as Heatblast. He reaches in with his left arm, getting clamped down on by the hot pink glowing watch, and without much thought, quickly pops up the faceplate to dial Heatblast, and slams it down, a bright pink flash filling the area.
Ben doesn't feel like Heatblast, and looking at his hands, can see pretty clearly that he isn't Heatblast. It's busted. IT'S BUSTED! In a panic, he turns and sprints straight into a hard, hot object behind him. Grabbing his bleeding nose as he falls flat on his ass, he looks up.
And up.
“Well hello, handsome~” a lady Heatblast greets him with a wink. Her broad hips and hefty bust are covered by a long loincloth and spiky poncho, both black with white trimming, and she crouches a bit to decrease the height difference between the two.
Ben doesn't really care about any of that, though. There's fire, and it seems friendly, so… “Monsters!” He rushes to explain, “Chasing me through the forest!” The lady Heatblast's hands flare up, and her magma seems to glow brighter between her stone plates as she immediately stands up and starts looking around for the threat to her master.
“Where?!” she asks, rapidly scanning the treeline, tall enough to see out of the crater. Ben rushes to the edge of the crater, gritting his teeth as he struggles up, and looks around as well. He doesn't see anything. Are they hiding? He thought-
He thought he was back on Xenon again, didn't he? He gently bonks his head on the crumbly earth at the edge of the crater. “...they were all in my head, weren't they…? Stupid, stupid, stupid…” He berates himself, gently bonking the earth several times with his forehead.
“Oh shit! You're hurt!” He hears the lady Heatblast gasp in surprise behind him, before picking him up, carrying him bridal style, pressing his full body against the bottom of her rack. “Where's the nearest doctor?” She asks, head whipping back and forth in a frenzy.
“Woah! Uh, m-my Grandpa knows first aid? He should be…” Ben scrunches his face up. He was in too much of a panic to remember where he was going, but the moon was in front of him while he ran, he thinks, so… “That way,” He says confidently, pointing opposite the moon.
The flaming woman rushes off in that direction, still holding him tight to her chest. It feels kinda nice, being carried by her like this. She's softer than the rocky appearance would imply, he realizes, feeling her arm against his back. He never realized that, while he was Heatblast.
Actually… “Why… why are you here?” He asks, looking up at her, and she slows down a bit to smile down at him, doing a little shake to emphasize her chest as she gives him a flirty wink.
“Can't you guess?” She purrs, and Ben’s eyes are drawn to her chest by the jiggling, and then up, by the pink glow of the badge on a collar he hadn't noticed she was wearing. A badge about the size of the faceplate on the watch. A badge with a pink heart. Ben doesn't need to look at his watch to know that his newly pink alien device has the same shape on it.
‘Heh, he can't look away,’ the flaming lady cheers in her head, mistaking the point of her master’s attention.
Ben’s mind goes into overdrive. Azmuth made the watch to foster peace and understanding. He said that himself, even if he was a jerk about it. This watch summons an alien instead of turning Ben into one. The alien heard ‘monster’ and was immediately ready for a fight. Now what kind of alien had superpowers and fought for peace and understanding?
There is only one conclusion. “You're a superhero!” Ben exclaims, incredibly wrong.
“That's right I’m- huh?” the lady nearly trips, taken back by the mistake.
“This is so cool!” Ben squeals in excitement. This means he has professionals on his side! No more guesswork about aliens! He can solve problems so much easier now! Between his knowledge of the future and her mastery over her powers, in Ben's mind at least, nobody will ever get hurt again!
“Uh- y-yeah! Not JUST a superhero, though, a superhero from SPACE!” The alien lies. Well, if her master is into superheroes, she can be a superhero. Probably. As she looks down into his excited, sparkling fuchsia eyes, she feels her resolve harden. Yeah, she can be a superhero! For- Uh… “I just realized I don't know your name, haha…”
“I'm Ben!” He introduces himself properly with a smile. “It's nice to meet you. What's your name?”
“Don't have one,” she shrugs, to Ben's shock. He immediately starts racking his brain for names to give her, immediately tossing out Heatblast. It's a really good name, of course, but it's…
It's him. She deserves a great name too, but not that one. As she continues to hug him close and carry him to the campsite, he comes up with Heartblast, but tosses that out too. If Heatblast didn't already exist, maybe, but now it just sounds like a knockoff.
This is gonna take some time.
Max pokes at the fire with a stick, sighing. “Ben's been gone a while,” he mutters, brow furrowed worriedly. Gwen laughs.
“Maybe he got eaten by a bear,” she suggests with a grin, roasting a marshmallow. Max gives her a disappointed frown, and she shrugs. “What? Can't a girl dream?”
Before Max can tell her to not be so mean about her cousin, he notices a glow out of the corner of his eye. A bright orange glow deep in the woods. He gasps. “Forest fire!”
He gets up and grabs an emergency fire extinguisher, and Gwen grabs one as well. “It seems young. If we get there, we might be able to put it out. If not, we call the Park Ranger.” Gwen nods, and follows him as he turns the corner of the RV, but stops as she watches him stop in his tracks, dropping his extinguisher.
A spike of fear races up her spine as she runs faster, rounding the corner to see Ben hurt, in the arms of a fire monster! “Hi, you're Ben's Grandpa, righ- pllblphblegh!” The monster sputters as Gwen douses it with her fire extinguisher.
“LET GO OF MY COUSIN!” she tells, getting ready to hit her with the metal part, having run out of foam.
“Ow! Quit it, Dweeb! She's a superhero! She saved me!” Ben yells, having got foam in his eye and getting his injuries jostled by the flaming woman's surprised flailing.
“A superhero?” Gwen repeats incredulously, looking the incredibly scantily clad woman up and down. “I'm not sure I believe that…”
“Um, could someone get the first aid kit? Ben's still hurt.” The fiery alien suggests, standing there awkwardly as her flames reignite. Max snaps out of his stupor, and rushes to get the first aid kit.
‘Of all the things that could have happened… Ben got his hands on the Chaquetrix?’ Max thinks, grabbing the kit from under the driver's seat. He shakes his head. ‘Never thought I'd see the completed product, and Azmuth somehow gets it on my grandson’s wrist. What are the odds?’
As he brings the kid outside, he almost stumbles and falls down the steps as he realizes her loincloth leaves nothing to the imagination from behind. ‘Azmuth, you little amphibious bastard, you're gonna be the death of me,’ He thinks, coming closer to tend to Ben's back. “Alright, I've got the kit. Now what happened?”
Ben’s story is frankly ridiculous. “So I was walking in the woods, and I thought I saw a monster, so I started running, and then I almost got hit by a meteor, and then it was actually a satellite, and when I got close, it opened up and this watch jumped on my arm,” He shows them the Chaquetrix, eliminating the last shreds of hope in Max's mind that maybe it wasn't really the Chaquetrix, “and then I messed with it and she popped out,” The pyronite woman, as Max knows her to be, waves, “and then I told her about the monster, but there wasn't a monster and I was just being stupid, and then she carried me here cuz I was hurt.”
“I… see,” Max mutters. If it would happen to anyone it would happen to a Tennyson, he supposed.
“That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard,” Gwen deadpans, crossing her arms, then smirks, “so, yeah, that sounds like something you'd do.” Ben just laughs, rubbing the back of his head, and then winces, putting his arm back down. As Gwen looks at Ben with a pinched expression, Max finishes tending to his back, and pats him on the shoulder.
“Well, I'm just glad you're alright, Ben,” He offers with a smile, which wavers as he turns to look at the flaming woman in the tits- eyes, her eyes. “And… thank you for saving my grandson, miss…?” He trails off, not knowing what to call her.
“Oh, it's no trouble at all,” she giggles, scooting closer to Ben on the log by the campfire, her bust pressing up against his arm. As Max fights down a spark of jealousy, she continues. “Oh! And, um, I don't have a name.” She admits casually.
Gwen pokes a marshmallow on a stick and starts roasting it on the fire while giving the flaming woman a skeptical look. “Does your species not have names or something?” She asks, and gets a head shake in response.
“No, we do, it's just that I don't.” She explains, and Ben then pipes up.
“I've been thinking about it, actually, and I think I've come up with the perfect hero name! Sunstone! Whaddya think?” He asks, smiling excitedly up at the flaming woman.
“I love it!” The newly dubbed Sunstone coos, pulling Ben into a gentle hug. Max is torn between jealousy of his Grandson as his face is pressed into her barely covered cleavage, concern for his well-being at being so close to such an open woman, and a small bit of pride at his unintentional use of the classic Tennyson Charm. Gwen is not torn at all, pelting the two with marshmallows.
“Why a hero name?” She grumbles, “Why not her actual name?” To which Ben scoffs, looking her in the eye.
“Because heroes don't tell people their civilian names, Dweeb, that's hero 101!” Ben replies easily, grabbing the marshmallows, and handing one to Sunstone.
“I don't have one of those, either,” She chimes in, putting the marshmallow in her mouth. “Mmph, wow, Ben~ These taste sooo good!~” She purrs flirtily, and Gwen huffs in frustration at the sight of Ben somehow completely missing the undertones.
“Yeah, roasted marshmallows are really good!” He says, “But we should probably get you a normal name too. It's only fair.”
“I'm happy enough with Sunstone~” She purrs, caressing his cheek gently. “I should really thank you properly for such a beautiful-” a loud, repeated beeping that lowers in tone over time rings out. “Ugh. I'll see you later, handsome~” She winks, disappearing in a flash of red. Ben looks down at his watch to see the heart shaped faceplate, exactly as he expected, glowing red.
“Well, glad I don't have to watch her flirt with you anymore,” Gwen announces, before eating her roasted marshmallow. Ben frowns at her, looking away from his watch.
“Flirting? She was just being nice,” He disagrees, shaking his head. Gwen looks at him like he's lost his mind, and Max stands up, stretching.
“I'm going to go look for the crash site. You two stay here, stay safe, and don't mess with that watch,” He tells them, and Ben puts up his hands placatingly. He knows that Grandpa is right, it could be dangerous, but at the same time, he also knows that the drones are coming, sooner or later. Better that he run into them far away from the Rustbucket.
As Max disappears into the woods, Gwen turns to him with a flat look. “You're going to mess with the watch, aren't you?” She accuses him, poking him in the chest.
Ben shrugs and shows her the red faceplate. “Does it look like I can do anything with it right now?” He asks, and then grins. “That might have been a bit too much excitement for me.” He gets up with a wince, and slowly regains a proper stride as he makes his way to the door for the Rustbucket. “I gotta take a leak.”
Gwen makes a disgusted face at him, and he shrugs, going into the restroom to do exactly that. When he comes out, the watch hasn't yet recharged, so he bides his time at the campfire with Gwen, feeling more and more anxious with every second that passes, that the drones might find them, or Max, until finally, the watch chimes.
“Don't!” Gwen warns, but Ben has already summoned Wildmutt. Not-Wildmutt. Girl Wildmutt? What did Phil call these? Vulp- somethings?
Gwen groans loudly with exasperation as Ben looks the alien over, noticing just how different she looks to what he expected. She looks almost human in comparison to Wildmutt, albeit still covered in fur, with a huge, furry mane of hair and quills on her head, covering most of her face. She also has a fairly simple cropped sports top and shorts, both black with white trims, alongside a huge metal pauldron on her left shoulder and a collar with the watch’s heart symbol on it.
Ben cries out in wonder as he looks at her claws, really getting a good feel for how big and strong they actually look, having limited experience with someone else's huge Wildmutt claws. “Gwen, look at these! They look like they can rip through steel!” He gushes, knowing full well that he's actually underselling them a bit.
“She could stand some extra clothing…” Gwen groans, despairing at how scantily clad the wild woman is. She really hopes the next alien has some actual clothes on, but has a bad feeling that they won't.
The alien comes closer to Ben sniffing him as gills open on her neck, startling Gwen, who hadn't noticed them. As a chill runs down her spine at the sight, the alien starts nudging Ben's hand, and with a laugh, he starts petting her, which pulls her hair out of the way to reveal milky white eyes.
“Wait, is she blind?” Gwen asks, incredulous.
Ben, although he already knows the answer, peeks down to see her eyes. He kind of expected her to not have any, but this also makes sense. She growls inquisitively, tilting her head as Ben stops scratching.
"Okay, so, she's blind and she acts like a dog. Great. What can this mutt actually do?” Gwen scoffs, frowning at the woman, who growls frustratedly. Ben nervously moves between the two girls, hoping to stop any fight before it begins. Gwen can't win that fight. Ben can't win that fight. He can't let Gwen die. Not again. Not again. Not again. Not-
“Master?” The alien woman growls in concern, speaking with great effort on her part. She nuzzles Ben, sniffing him, trying to see what's wrong. Ben touches his face. He's crying.
“I'm fine,” he says. It's a lie. It can only be a lie. “I'm fine. I'm sorry.” He slowly sits down on the ground, and Gwen watches on in concern as he curls up.
“Ben?” she asks, glancing between him and the wild woman.
“I'm sorry.”
The alien rumbles low and soothingly. “Not hurt Master pack,” she says. Ben uncurls a little, looking up at her.
“I'm sorry. You-you don't have to call me Master, you know? I'm Ben. What's your name?” He asks, as the alien woman helps him back to his feet, while Gwen keeps watching in concern.
“No name, but… not Mutt,” she tells him, and he nods. No Wildmutt then. Wild-Gal? Klaww? Klaww is cool, but kinda sounds like a bad guy. Wild-Gal, though...
“How about Wild-Gal?” He asks, and the woman barks excitedly, repeating the name several times while nuzzling Ben. Ben laughs and starts petting her again, and she starts getting a little too close to Ben for Gwen's liking.
‘Is every alien in that watch a pervert?!’ she screams in her mind, walking closer to shove the woman away. Before she can get there, though, Wild-Gal’s gills open up, and she jumps away from Gwen with a snarl, taking Ben with her up into a tree.
“What-” Gwen chokes, and Ben laughs.
“Cool! Hey, how fast do you think you could swing through the woods?” He asks, and Wild-Gal grins, before sticking her tongue out at Gwen.
“Fast.” She takes off through the woods, Ben clinging to her back as she goes, and Gwen screams in frustration.
“I’m telling Grandpa you ran away into the woods with a wild woman!” She shouts after them, before clicking her tongue in frustration and going to find the shovel. She has a feeling she'll need it.
Ben whoops excitedly as Wild-Gal swings through the forest. He's done it before, sure, but it's a whole different experience when you're a passenger. Still, he tries to keep an eye out for any flying red drones, just in case they're any sneakier than the first time.
Wild-Gal makes a confused sort of growl, and drops to the forest floor, Ben dropping off her back and looking around, straining his ear for the warbling bubbly whine of the drone’s flight. He looks up at the canopy, and reminds himself firmly that the branches are not reaching down to grab him, when Wild-Gal suddenly perks up, looking into the distance and dragging Ben behind a shrub with her.
Then, he hears it. Faintly, but getting louder, the whines and blasts of repeated laser fire. But why is the drone being so loud? He cautiously peeks over the foliage to see a glint of metal in the distance, slowly coming closer.
His eyes widen as he realizes the source of the noise is not a stealthy little scout but a blueish green turtle-like tank, blasting down trees and throwing them aside as it barrels through the woods.
“I… I think that might be after us,” Ben says, unsure. This is so different from before, and this tank seems so much stronger than the drones he was expecting. Could Wild-Gal handle such a thing as her first enemy? Are the heroes even trained?
“Stay. I smash,” Wild-Gal growls as the tank comes close enough, and leaps at the barrel of the cannon, sending it spinning wildly around. She climbs up it to the main body, and tears into the shell, ripping out wires and struts and smashing some glowing metal cube, causing the tank to stutter and shut down.
Ben breathes a sigh of relief, coming out from behind the shrubbery as Wild-Gal drops down from the tank, and looks the great big machine over. Something about the color seems… really familiar, but he can't put his finger on it.
“Great job, Wild-Gal!” He praises, ruffling her hair again in excitement. Her tongue lolls out and she stomps her foot a little, like a dog would, until a chill runs up Ben’s spine as he notices the barrel of the cannon rotate toward him.
Before he can so much as scream, the damaged barrel is bent far out of the way by the swing of a shovel. Ben turns to see Gwen, bashing the cannon barrel several more times before Wild-Gal grabs them both and leaps away as the tank tries to fire, and blows itself up by mistake.
The explosion seems to shake the earth, and the two kids stare at the purple flames of the wrecked machine. “How'd you know you'd need the shovel for a robot?” Ben asks, turning to Gwen, trying to catch his breath.
Gwen looks directly at Wild-Gal with a flat glare and says, “I didn't bring it for the robot.” Wild-Gal huffs in amusement. Runt has some spirit. She still doesn't want to share if she doesn't have to, but the girl could be a good packmate.
“Well, either way, thanks for the save. I can't believe I was so careless…” Ben grumbles, and Gwen scoffs.
“You almost got hit by a satellite like half an hour ago,” She points out, and Ben laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Besides! What were you thinking? You're still injured! How were you planning to get back to camp?”
“Well I figured Wild-Gal could-” Beep! Beep! “Of course.”
Wild-Gal gives Gwen a cheeky grin, and licks Ben on the side of the face, staking her claim. “See soon!” She chuckles, vanishing in a flash of red.
“I sure hope every alien in that thing isn't like those two,” Gwen mutters, and Ben gives her a scandalized look.
“They're friendly!” He argues, looking around to try and remember the way back.
“They're flirting and I wish they'd stop,” Gwen replies, waving for him to follow her on the way back.
The two argue back and forth about it all the way back to camp, but neither manages to convince the other.
The second turtle tank finally makes its way to the wreck of its companion. It analyzes the situation and deems the power of its adversary much too high. Small tendrils poke out of the seams of its plating to pull anything salvageable off of the ruined tank.
Within minutes, the tank has upgraded its armor, cannon, and even added an extra pair of legs for stability. It should win the next fight, but instead of allowing its prey the opportunity to ambush it…
It turns north, where it senses signs of many living sapients.
It will set a trap.
“And where were you two?” Max asks as the two kids return to camp. Ben scratches the back of his head with a grimace while Gwen gives him a flat glare.
“Doofus messed with the watch and went swinging into the forest with a wild dog woman,” she grumbles, and Ben looks everywhere but at her and Grandpa. “Luckily I had the foresight to bring a shovel to defend him.” Then her expression turns far less aggressive and more frightened. “I was expecting to defend him from the alien, though, not a big turtle robot tank thing…”
Max’s eyes go wide. “A tank?!” He shouts, coming close to look them both over, noting some scrapes and dirt. “What happened?!”
“We’re fine!” Ben complains, “Wild-Gal made sure we didn’t get hurt. She tore up the tank and then Gwen bashed the cannon when she showed up and then Wild-Gal pulled us to safety when the tank was about to explode.”
“Wild…” Max shakes his head. “Ben, I told you not to mess with that watch, and now you’ve gone and gotten into trouble! You’re getting popular with that thing on your wrist, and it’s not the kind of attention you want, I promise you.” He looks down at Ben with a disappointed frown, and Ben looks away again.
“Grandpa… I think that thing was looking for me anyway. Wouldn’t it be better to run into it out in the woods instead of here at camp where it might blow up the Rustbucket or something?” Ben argues, but Max shakes his head.
“I’d much rather you have been here, and where I know where you are. I’d much rather you not be anywhere near these kinds of things in the first place.” Ben pouts, crossing his arms.
“It’s not like I want to fight big robot tanks! But if they’re going to come for me anyway, I’d rather be ready for them!”
“Well, if that thing was coming for you, it’s probably because that watch of yours belongs to someone else.”
“If they’re going to ask by blowing up the forest and attacking me, maybe they don’t deserve it back! Have they considered asking first?” Ben shouts, and before Max can give another response, the emergency radio picks up a signal.
“Mayday! Mayday! We’re under attack by, and, you’re not gonna believe this, but a giant turtle robot!” Ben’s eyes go wide at that. There was more than one robot? Again? But this one was so different! He probably should have expected something like this. This is just his luck.
Not wasting any time beating himself up, he turns back to the forest, ready to go rushing to the camp. “Where do you think you’re going?” Max shouts, startled. “Just leave it to the authorities!”
Ben turns back with a determined look on his face. “The cops? The Park Ranger? You think they’re equipped to handle a giant alien robot? With this-” Ben flashes the watch. “-I have the power to put a stop to this! And if I don’t, who will? There’s no time for hesitation! I’m going!”
As Ben begins to go as fast toward the other campsite as he can with his injuries, Max’s face twists up in frustration as he considers Ben’s words. Finally, he sighs, and comes up behind him, picking him up.
“Fine. But I’ll take you there, you shouldn’t be walking like that in your condition.” Max turns to Gwen. “Gwen, follow us. If there’s more robots, I’d rather you be with us than by yourself.”
Gwen nods, and the three make their way quickly to the other campsite.
As soon as they make it to the camp they see people running for their lives. Ben can’t help but wish they were running faster as he looks at the hulking green form of the very, very large turtle tank. “That’s bigger than the last one, by a lot,” Gwen gulps, looking up at it in fear. Ben steels himself, and pops up the faceplate to look for Diamondhea… uh… gemstone lady. Petro-something? He can’t remember what they’re called either, but before he can berate himself for forgetting something actually important (Tetrax is one too, after all) he notices one of Vilgax’s massive battle robots on the field as well.
“Two?!” He shouts, startled, and continues cycling through the aliens until he finds what he thinks is Diamondhead. As he prepares to press the faceplate down, he looks up to see the Vilgax drone move to intercept a blast aimed at a civilian. “What…?” He mutters, pressing down the plate.
With a fuchsia flash, an alien woman made of pale aquamarine crystal appears, the crystal of her head cut like a bob hairdo and a black and white leotard covering her body, although the cut of the bust is very low and the cut of the hips is very high. She wears a collar with the Chaquetrix symbol on it like the last two had. She is facing away from the robots, so her fuschia eyes immediately lock on Ben.
“Hello, mast-” She begins huskily before realizing the state he’s in. “Master, you’re hurt! What happened?!” She shouts, coming closer.
“Doesn’t matter! More people are gonna be a lot more hurt if you can’t stop that tank!” He shouts, pointing behind her. He decides to reserve judgment on the mantis-like Vilgax drone for now. If it’s protecting the campers, maybe it’s not a threat? Maybe it’s with Xylene, and Vilgax has green robots now?
She turns around, and her eyes go even wider. “Oh. Wow. Uh. Yeah, okay, I can do that, Master,” she mutters, uncertain. “Probably.”
“Just call me Ben. We’re partners, right? You’re superheroes and I’m like… your sidekick!” He exclaims, trying to hype her up, seeing her uncertainty. Max barely holds in a groan, knowing that that is absolutely not the case. Gwen groans out loud, only pretty sure that’s not the case.
The diamond woman perks up, and gives him a confident nod. “If it’s what you need… I can do it!” She asserts, charging forward. Her right hand shifts into a jagged growth of crystal, and she swings it at the barrel of the cannon that begins to swivel toward her as it registers her presence. A flurry of crystals embed themselves in and around the barrel, before expanding into large, spiky crystal bursts.
The whine of a charging laser shot pierces the air as the massive, burgundy robot jumps the tank to force it’s cannon away from the humans, before the beam goes off. The beam squeaks pitifully out of the cannon as it bounces wildly across the crystals, and the Vilgax drone jumps away, boosting its jump with rockets before the tank suddenly explodes.
The petrosapien woman blinks twice in shock before turning back to Ben, rubbing her fingers on her generous chest like she’s trying to polish her fingernails with her breasts. “I meant to do that,” she lies as the wreck of the tank collapses, burning purple behind her while small bits of green metal rain smoking down around it.
The large mantis drone lost an arm and a leg in the explosion but is otherwise fine as it crudely crawls closer, looming over the woman, who turns around, ready to fight again if she has to. The Mantis drone does not attack, though. It simply looks at her for a moment, before turning it’s blank gaze to Ben.
Ben freezes as the robot turns its attention to him. Did he misjudge it? Was it evil after all? Is it about to attack while he’s weakened and there is no other robot to interfere? Was it protecting those civilians as a trap?
The red robot simply nods at him, then at the alien woman, before drawing its limbs back into it’s body and extending damaged fins before reigniting its thruster, flying off back into space. Ben let’s out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Whoever controlled that robot was, at least, probably not a bad guy, then.
“G-Great job!” Ben praises the alien woman as she begins to approach him again. “Easier than I though it would end up being, haha!” He laughs, feeling the energy leave his limbs as the adrenaline rush ends. The woman puffs out her chest a bit at the praise.
“But of course! I am a superhero, after all!” She proclaims, looking down at him in Max’s arms. The other campers begin to catch on to the danger being over, and coming out to see their savior. She turns around, blushing, when she hears a wolf-whistle ring out.
The men, and some of the woman, are looking the crystal woman up and down in appreciation and “appreciation”. She turns back to the Tennyson’s and then back to the crowd. “Uh…” She mutters.
“Damn!” One man cries out, “Look at those thighs! You think she crushed the tank with em?”
“O-kay, I think that’s enough,” Max says, turning away from the petrosapien and her thighs, trying hard not to let his nosebleed show as he carries Ben back to their own campground. Gwen follows, giving him a judgmental glare, not having missed how he’d been staring, nor how his nose is bleeding, while the petrosapien woman laughs nervously and dismisses herself, running off into the woods in about the same direction as the Tennysons.
“...What?” Kraab blurts out in sheer bafflement. The bronze cyborg resets her optics before rereading the report. It remains the same. “It seems Captain Vilgax was right. The Chaquetrix does have noteworthy military application.”
“Why else would she be concerned about the Plumbers getting their hands on it? What happened?” Six-Six scoffs, coming close to look at the report herself, before pausing and also rereading it. She brings up some of the attached images, and Krabb hisses in surprise.
“Tennyson?” She cries out, staring at the old man carrying the wielder of the Chaquetrix. She clacks her claw nervously. If Maxwell has access to that device… “He may have called the Plumbers!”
“He may wish to keep it to himself,” Six-six points out. “We’ve all heard the stories, after all.” Krabb shakes her head in response.
“No, he would have it on his own wrist. That… child? What do human children look like?” Krabb shakes her head again. “Irrelevant. That smaller human has the device. He may be biding his time. Perhaps Plumbers are already on their way.”
“Not like we have the resources to do anything about it at the moment. We either wait, or attack what seems to be a child.”
Krabb hisses. Six-Six is right, of course, but it’s still very frustrating. All they can do is monitor the situation with their busted equipment as best they can until repairs are finished and Captain Vilgax has regained her strength. After that… they can think more about what to do with the device and its wielder.
She continues clacking her claw in frustration as she watches the helm. She hates waiting.
By the time the diamond woman gets back to the Tennysons’ camp, Ben still hasn’t come up with a name for her. “I’m sorry, I’ll come up with something good, I promise!” He tells her, but she just smiles and nods as she times out. Ben huffs in frustration. Sure, he didn’t exactly name Diamondhead himself, but he’s usually faster at names than this.
“Ben,” Max starts hesitantly, stepping forward and pretending he hadn’t been peeking at the alien woman’s rack, “I’m not so sure about that watch still…” His face twists up in concern and uncertainty, trying to find the right words to say. “Those aliens seem to want to help, but they could still be very dangerous… Maybe you should hold off on using that thing…?”
Ben turns to him, frowning, but not quite objecting. He taps his foot, trying to find the right words as well. Max had originally been pretty supportive of using the watch, but this time he’s a lot more hesitant. What could convince him… “Well… I’m not just going to let people get hurt when there’s heroes ready to save them. And if I’m going to pick the right hero, I need to know what they can all do. And also, they’re…” He gestures uncertainly with his hands. “People? They’re people. They don’t deserve to be stuck in here all the time,” he argues, flashing the Chaquetrix.
Gwen looks like she wants to object, but even though she really doesn’t like how intimate the aliens like to get, she also can’t deny that being trapped in a watch probably sucks bad. She lets out a frustrated sigh.
Max, as well, is conflicted. He doesn’t want his grandson getting hurt, or wrapped up in alien business. He really wants to contact the Plumbers and get their help dealing with all this. He also doesn’t want his grandson losing his innocence to a ghost from 35 years in the past. Things would be so much easier if Max had found the darn thing, or if Ben had simply not.
On the other hand, Ben messing with the watch means he gets to look at hot alien women in their physical peak. Given his proclivities, that’s a much more tempting prospect than it probably should be for a responsible grandfather and authority figure. He gives a look like he’s constipated, and comes up with a compromise. There’s a lot of vacationing to do, still, and he has a long list of things to visit. He’ll just rearrange things a bit, and go to the base at Rushmore. He can get a better look at the watch there, maybe get it off Ben and take it for himse- to the Plumbers, he means.
That would be the right thing to do. Wouldn’t it? And if trouble finds them along the way, as it seems it probably will…
“Alright, Ben. For now, I guess I can’t really stop you from using the watch,” he admits, frowning. “But you need to be careful with that thing, and not treat it like a toy. One of those aliens is on fire, who knows how dangerous another one might be.” Max gives him a stern look as he delivers the warning, and Ben nods with a serious look on his face, surprising Max.
“Right. I saw one that kind of looked fishy, so she might choke if she comes out away from water. That would be really bad,” he offers as an additional risk to prove he’s paying attention to the risks. He knows the risks. He’s lived through the risks.
He’s died to the risks.
“Well, as long as you take this seriously, it shouldn’t be a problem, then.” Max nods. “Now, that was quite a lot of excitement. We should probably get to bed.” He then yawns, illustrating his point, and Ben yawns back. Gwen doesn’t yawn, but she does go into the Rustbucket ahead of them.
“I call top bunk,” she shouts, stepping into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Ben just shrugs and sits at the booth to wait his turn. He’s not going to fight with her over something like that. Not again.
Well, okay, maybe next summer.