Chapter 75: The Hero's Burden
XLR8 glanced over his shoulder, squinting through his black visor. He could barely see a trace of his cousin on the horizon.
"Heh, can you catch up?" Young Ben taunted into the rushing wind. He had been pushing his absolute limits from the starting line. Since he couldn't outrun his older, future self, he figured he could at least salvage some pride by leaving Klein in the dust.
"Hey, where exactly is your headquarters?" A voice suddenly echoed right next to his audio receptors. "I just ran a full lap around the front and didn't see anything that looked like a base."
Klein casually decelerated, dropping back from the front to match Young Ben's pace.
Young Ben was completely dumbfounded. Though his visor hid his face, his expression underneath was undoubtedly a picture of pure, unfiltered frustration. He hadn't been leaving Klein in the dust; Klein had been lapping him.
Three distinct streaks of lightning—one green, one red, and one quiet blue—tore through the entrance of the massive underground facility, coming to a screeching halt inside the main hall.
"Whoa, is this my headquarters? This is awesome! I've gotta come here to hang out all the time." The Omnitrix symbol on his chest beeped rapidly before flashing a bright red. With a burst of crimson energy, the speedster reverted back into ten-year-old Ben.
"There is no time to play," a deep, gruff voice replied. "I am constantly patrolling the globe. I don't use this place to 'hang out'." A brilliant emerald flash illuminated the room as the towering XLR8 shifted back into the imposing, heavily muscled form of Ben 10,000.
"Wow, you must be a blast at parties," a deadpan voice chimed in. A quiet blue light washed over the metallic floors, leaving Klein standing in his usual relaxed posture. He didn't even wait for an invitation, immediately spotting a sleek, futuristic chair and slumping into it with a satisfied sigh.
Young Ben nodded vigorously, pointing an accusing finger at his older self. "I actually said 'therefore' earlier! How did I turn into such a total buzzkill?!"
"Didn't you say you wanted to talk to me? Get on with it." Ben 10,000 crossed his massive arms over his chest. He threw a sideways glance at Klein, clearly irritated by the teenager's utter lack of respect for the facility, but he kept his mouth shut.
Klein offered a slow, cryptic smile, remaining completely silent. Did this muscle-bound workaholic really expect him to admit he just wanted an excuse to beat him up? Instead, Klein shifted his gaze.
"Ben!"
He mentally pushed the responsibility onto the kid. What were little cousins for, if not to act as meat shields and problem solvers?
"Huh? Me?" Young Ben blinked, pointing at his own face. He knew that specific tone all too well. It was the exact voice Klein used right before throwing him into the line of fire.
"Uh... well, the thing is... let me think..." Young Ben rubbed the back of his neck, completely out of his depth. He had no idea how to articulate the massive philosophical divide between his ten-year-old self and this grim future version.
Ben 10,000 let out a long, heavy sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling as though he were running a daycare rather than managing a global defense network.
"Let me make this clear, Ben," the older man said, his voice dropping to a gravelly baritone. "Being a hero isn't a game. It isn't for fun. If you keep up this childish mindset—treating your transformations like pets, shouting out their names, and carelessly throwing around the most powerful weapon in the universe—you are going to regret it. One day, it will cost you everything."
It was the most serious, unfiltered piece of advice Ben 10,000 had offered since they arrived.
Young Ben opened his mouth, stung by the harsh words, but a calm voice cut through the tension.
"He won't."
Ben 10,000 frowned, his eyes narrowing at the teenager lounging in the chair. "Excuse me?"
"He won't regret it," Klein repeated, his tone lazy but carrying an absolute, unshakeable certainty. "Because I'm here." He tilted his head, locking eyes with his younger cousin. "Say whatever is on your mind, kid. I've got your back. Always."
A small, genuine smile broke through the kid's frustration. "Thanks, Cousin."
Gathering his courage, Young Ben turned his glare back to his towering future self. "You think I don't know the stakes?! Every single time I dial up an alien, I know that if I mess up, people could get hurt. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people! I know what's on the line! But I am never going to turn into you!"
The image of Grandpa Max flashed through his mind—the warm smiles, the terrible cooking, the endless summer nights in the Rustbucket. "If being a hero means cutting off your family, pushing away everyone who cares about you... then I don't want to be a hero."
Ben 10,000 froze. The harsh lines of his face slackened for a fraction of a second. He opened his mouth, a retort dying in his throat before it could even form. Silence descended over the vast headquarters, heavy and suffocating. The two versions of Ben Tennyson locked eyes, neither willing to yield an inch.
The tension was suddenly shattered by a cheerful shout from across the room.
"Hey, Ben! Check this out, there's a sick hoverboard over here! Want to take it for a spin?"
Both Bens snapped their heads toward the source of the noise. Klein had completely abandoned his chair and was currently prying a sleek, aerodynamic hoverboard right off a high-tech display wall.
"Do not touch the equipment—" Ben 10,000 barked instinctively, his commanding tone returning in a flash. But the words caught in his throat as he watched his younger self's reaction.
Young Ben's eyes lit up like fireworks. He completely forgot the heavy argument, sprinting toward his cousin with zero hesitation. "Heck yeah! Let's race!"
By the time ten-year-old Gwen and her adult counterpart, Gwendolyn, finally walked into the main hall, they were greeted by utter chaos. Klein and Young Ben were zipping through the air on stolen hoverboards, doing reckless barrel rolls and dodging support pillars at breakneck speeds. Down below, Ben 10,000 stood rooted to the floor, staring up at the chaotic display in complete silence.
Gwendolyn nudged her younger self with an elbow. "Uh... did they actually talk it out, or did the whole thing blow up in their faces?"
Gwen crossed her arms, watching the two idiots nearly crash into a ceiling fixture. "God only knows. But it probably didn't end in a total disaster. If it had, Cousin Klein would have already punched him through a wall."
The playful atmosphere vanished in an instant. Blaring red strobe lights bathed the headquarters in a crimson glow, accompanied by a piercing, automated siren.
[Danger warning. EA Central Special Zone breached. Danger warning. EA Central Special Zone breached.]
Ben 10,000's head snapped toward the main console. "The Null Void Projector?! No!" Without wasting a single breath, he slapped the Omnitrix dial. A brilliant green flash consumed him, leaving XLR8 in his place. He tore out of the room, leaving a trail of scorched floorboards in his wake.
Klein casually hopped off his hoverboard, letting it clatter to the ground. He turned to Gwendolyn. "Where exactly is this EA Central Special Zone?"
"Sixty floors straight down," Gwendolyn replied, her hands already glowing with pink mana.
The elevator doors hadn't even fully opened before the sounds of brutal impacts echoed through the cavernous underground chamber. Klein, Gwen, and Gwendolyn stepped out just in time to witness Vilgax relentlessly pummeling Diamondhead into the reinforced floor.
"Need a hand?" Klein called out, leaning against the doorframe.
Diamondhead managed to block a devastating right hook, glancing over his crystalline shoulder. "No..." he grunted, his voice strained. He paused, absorbing another heavy blow that cracked his armor. "...Thanks."
His first instinct had been to push them away, to handle the burden alone as he always did. But something in the kid's earlier words had cracked his armor. Perhaps a small part of him missed being that ten-year-old boy. Back then, Ben Tennyson never fought his battles alone.
"Vilgax is all yours. You can handle him, right?" Klein asked, casually cracking his knuckles. He had no intention of stealing his older cousin's spotlight today, even if this heavily modified, cyborg version of Vilgax looked like a highly entertaining punching bag.
Klein shifted his gaze to Gwen and Gwendolyn. "We'll take care of Dr. Animo."
The two magic users nodded in perfect synchronization. Seeing the battle lines drawn, Klein raised his left wrist, the faceplate of the Another Omnitrix sliding open with a crisp mechanical hiss.
"Alright then. Time for a hero's entrance!"
He slammed his palm down onto the core. A blinding, quiet blue light erupted through the subterranean zone. The scent of burning methane and damp earth filled the air as Swampfire stepped out of the fading light, blue flames flickering from his muddy palms.
"Let Four Arms smash this stinky squid!" Young Ben yelled, slapping his own watch. A flash of emerald light blinded the room, but instead of a towering four-armed brawler, a massive, bulky alien with yellow armor plating appeared.
Cannonbolt blinked, looking down at his stubby claws. He let out a resigned sigh. "Alright, whatever. As long as it's not Grey Matter."
Tucking his head down, he curled into a massive, heavily armored sphere and revved up like a runaway tire, launching himself directly at Vilgax's back.
Across the room, Dr. Animo was frantically typing at the control panel of the Null Void Projector—a massive, ring-shaped gateway crackling with unstable crimson energy.
Swampfire didn't hesitate. He raised his right hand, condensing a sphere of roaring blue fire, and hurled it straight at the mad scientist.
Did Klein care if the blast destroyed the control panel and accidentally released a horde of intergalactic criminals? Not in the slightest. If those prisoners managed to crawl out of the Null Void today, they would quickly find their life sentences permanently upgraded to the death penalty.
Boom!
The azure fireball detonated against Animo's back. The sheer kinetic force blasted the villain off his feet, sending him tumbling across the metal floor. The intense heat scorched his mutated form, turning his thick white gorilla fur into a charred, smoking black.
Gwen and Gwendolyn didn't give him a second to recover. Moving in perfect sync, both Anodites unleashed a torrent of pink mana-infused flames. The intense magical heat enveloped Animo, causing the nutrient fluid inside the glass dome protecting his exposed brain to rapidly bubble and boil. The mad scientist shrieked as his personal aquarium turned into a pressure cooker.
While Dr. Animo was being thoroughly roasted on one side of the room, the battle against Vilgax was painting a vastly different picture.
The revved-up Cannonbolt barreled toward the galactic warlord at breakneck speed. Vilgax didn't even flinch. He casually raised a single, cybernetically enhanced hand and caught the spinning alien dead in his tracks. With a brutal flex of his muscles, he hoisted Cannonbolt into the air and slammed him into the steel floor, cratering the ground.
Ben 10,000 pressed the attack. He morphed his crystalline arms into massive blades, slashing furiously. But against Vilgax's upgraded armor, Diamondhead's legendary durability was completely negated. His diamond constructs shattered like fragile glass upon impact.
Without missing a beat, the adult Ben shifted forms. A flash of green replaced the crystal with molten rock. Heatblast roared, unleashing twin pillars of white-hot fire from his palms. The inferno washed over Vilgax, melting the floorboards beneath him. But the warlord simply marched through the flames, completely unfazed, and delivered a devastating right hook that sent Heatblast flying across the room.
Mid-flight, Heatblast slapped the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. His fiery form contorted into the winged, insectoid shape of Stinkfly. He flapped his wings to stabilize, but Vilgax was faster. A specialized capture cable shot from the warlord's gauntlet, wrapping tightly around Stinkfly's thorax. With a vicious tug, Vilgax swung the alien like a massive flail, smashing him brutally into the reinforced concrete wall.
Pinned against the rubble, Stinkfly morphed again. The eerie, spectral form of Ghostfreak emerged, instantly phasing through the restrictive cables to float freely. But Vilgax had prepared for every scenario. A pressurized nozzle on the back of his hand sprayed a thick, luminescent chemical compound. The liquid coated Ghostfreak's ethereal body, instantly solidifying his form and nullifying his intangibility. Before the alien could react, Vilgax's fist buried itself in his chest, launching him backward once more.
Ghostfreak shifted mid-air, hitting the ground running as the lightning-fast XLR8. He zipped around the chamber in a blur, trying to flank the warlord. Vilgax merely scoffed. Hidden compartments on his forearms slid open, ejecting a massive cluster of micro-explosives. The wide-area carpet bombing left zero room for evasion. A chain of deafening explosions consumed the zone, catching XLR8 in the blast radius and sending him skidding across the floor.
"I have spent years analyzing every single one of your alien heroes," Vilgax sneered, his deep voice dripping with contempt. "I have modified my own biology and weaponry to counter your entire arsenal. You are no longer a threat to me, Tennyson."
He loomed over the downed speedster, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Just as Vilgax raised his fist to crush XLR8, a massive yellow blur blindsided him. Cannonbolt, having finally recovered from his earlier cratering, hit the warlord like a freight train. The sheer momentum carried them both straight through the exterior wall of the elevated platform, sending them plummeting into the dark abyss of the lower levels.
XLR8 forced himself up, tapping the Omnitrix dial one last time. Shifting back into Stinkfly, he buzzed his wings furiously and dove over the edge, plunging into the darkness to finish the fight.
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