Omnitranyl (Ben 10 Alien Force)

This time it was Kevin who was in a hospital bed. But don't worry, readers, he is fine. No coma or anything more complicated, he's just recovering from his broken ribs and the injuries he got in the castle of the Forever Knights. In fact, he is only resting after much insistence from Gwen and an agreement between the two of them that he could continue working on his investigation into Albedo's plan if he promised to stay hospitalized until he recovered.

Kevin was sitting up, with the pillow on his back. Around him, on top of the covers, bundles of papers were piled up and tossed back and forth on the bed as a document, or record, or photograph, or any other detail caught his eye and helped him with his hypotheses.

The television was something else that he would not turn off for a moment. Any news could be interpreted as a clue about the Galvanic Guardians or Albedo to the most attentive ears. The news about the Central Park bombing seemed endless in the early days, with journalists bringing more and more stories questioning those involved in the case. For some almost unknown reason, the presence of the teenager who confronted the aliens had been little investigated and had already been forgotten by many viewers. Several network chiefs and newspapers received calls from authorities on the night of the event, advising them to leave the teenager out of their reports.

The sound of the TV was overtaken by Gwen's speech as she entered the room. A bandage encircled her right arm. In her left hand, a thick brown envelope and a notebook:

"I really don't know what else to do to try to help him! He knows that he shouldn't isolate himself in such a situation!"

"Who are you talking about?" Kevin looked up from his papers and fixed his eyes on the girl.

"Ben, of course!"

"Ah, I got it," looking again at the documents. "Give Tennyson some time, the kid's been through a terrible situation recently. It makes perfect sense that he would want to hide from everything and everyone like this."

"I know, Kevin, but he hasn't left his room in three days. There's no way I can't worry about him!"

"But if you keep forcing him like this, he may end up hiding inside his own head again."

"You know that's not how it works..."

"I don't know, things haven't been running their normal course for some time now."

Gwen remained silent for a few moments looking at the TV but not paying attention to what was being shown. Then she said:

"Maybe you're right, I am pushing Ben too hard...."

"Yes, I am" Kevin leaned forward to pick up a picture close to his feet.

Gwen looked at Kevin with narrowed eyes, then asked:

"And you, how are you doing?"

"Actually..." Kevin looked at the cluster of papers around him, "I didn't get anything."

"Really?"

"Really. I feel like I'm missing some detail, some information that could help me figure out the whole plan of the bastard. A little something or other connects, but it's like the solution is right in my face, but so far I can't see it..."

"Maybe this will help," Gwen took the envelope from under her arm and handed it to Kevin. I was asked to give it to you.

"Finally!" Kevin took the envelope, pulled out the thick document and began to leaf through it "I've been waiting days for this report!"

"The fight was inside a warehouse of equipment and electronic supplements of a power plant, what do you expect? To catalog everything, and only then to be able to identify what may or may not have been stolen from there takes time."

"I know, I know..." Kevin looked at the notebook in Gwen's hands. "And what's this for?"

"That? I'll try to call Grandpa's ship again. Since the day in Central Park I haven't been able to reach him. Sanmwell, in the headquarters communications office, has set up a way for me to route the connection from my computer to the headquarters satellite so that I can try to make contact whenever I want."

"Got it. Good luck."

Gwen sat down in the companion chair and propped the notebook on her lap. She lifted the screen and began her attempts to connect to her grandfather's ship. Numerous numbers and audio lines were drawn on the screen, but only squeaks and interference were received by the computer.

"Damn it," said Gwen.

"But are you already annoyed?" asked Kevin.

"Keep on with your papers, Sherlock!"

Kevin waved his hand in approval and continued thumbing through the report. Gwen, on the other hand, kept searching for a sign of connection.

As much as they had both come a long way in the last few days, when they thought about what they had achieved, they felt as if they had never left the place.

◇───────◇───────◇

Eunice entered the plumbing ship, with the access ramp rising up behind her and making the landscape of the planet Calcùnete disappear with the closing of the doors. She carried her backpack on her right shoulder, with clear signs that the bag was absurdly heavy, as her body leaned to the right as she walked towards the command bridge.

The girl passed in front of Max Tennyson's room and stopped for a few seconds to look through the window in the door. The magistrate was still sedated, with mechanical arms moving quickly but neatly around the man's head. Eunice bowed her head slightly, thinking for a few moments about everything that had happened three days ago, then walked down the corridor of the spaceship.

The doors to the command bridge opened and Eunice saw her creator, Azmuth, standing on a horizontal panel of buttons near the largest window of the ship. He watched the landscape move as the ship took off.

"I am back, Mr. Azmuth, and I hope you don't mind, but I had to improvise at some points. I couldn't find everything you asked me to find."

"How much did you improvise?"

Azmuth jumped up from where he was standing and came walking towards Eunice. The girl put her backpack on the ground and opened it, displaying several rocks of different sizes and textures.

"Don't worry, sir, I managed to find the most important ones. "

"Excellent! I've already left the tools separated on the workbenches over there to get us started."

Suddenly, the automated computer voice announced:

"Incoming call from Earth, Plumber Headquarters. Accept call?"

Eunice and Azmuth looked at each other worriedly, he then answered:

"Sure, we accept."

"Establishing connection."

Suddenly, on the main window of the spaceship, the image of a red-haired girl with a ponytail and green eyes was projected.

"Finally!" said Gwen, "Grandpa, can you hear me?"

"The magistrate is not here right now, Gwen," Eunice walked towards the screen. "He's..." The girl looked at Azmuth, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Where is Grandfather?" Gwen's projected face looked sometimes at the screen, sometimes off the screen, as if facing a third person involved in the conversation, but not visible to the camera. "Is he okay?"

"He's undergoing surgery right now," said Azmuth.

"What!? Surgery?"

Kevin burst into the camera frame, dressed in a hospital apron, and said:

"What happened?"

"This is something that I ask" said Azmuth. "Also, how could you let Max travel in this state?"

"What are you talking about? He told us he was fine." Gwen looked at Kevin with arched eyebrows and continued, "He wouldn't let us accompany him to the doctor's appointment or on the trip, so we had to rely on what he told us. How is he!"

Eunice crouched down next to Azmuth and said softly:

"Mr. Azmuth, you kind of already gave the bad news. May I explain it to them? I owe it to the magistrate."

"Please..."

Eunice stood up and stared into the eyes of the two teenagers on the other side of the screen. Then she began:

"Magistrate Tennyson arrived on Galvan Prime about a week ago on Earth. He was indeed in good health, or at least seemed to be. During the mission in which the Magistrate and I were rescuing Azmuth from prison, the Magistrate had a severe headache and fainted."

"Oh my God." said Gwen with one hand covering her mouth.

Kevin rested his hand on his forehead and kept his gaze fixed on the image. Eunice continued.

"The magistrate regained consciousness after a few minutes and was able to return to the ship. That's when he talked to you, Gwen," Eunice stared at the young redhead.

"He didn't say anything to me."

"To us too," Eunice stared at the ground. Then she continued "Right after your call, the magistrate engaged in a conversation a bit more..." Eunice looked away from Azmuth.

"We argued. Max and I had a fight," said Azmuth.

"But why? asked Kevin."

"I'm sorry, but it's not possible to explain now," said Eunice, "the point is that he was sick again, and before he got any worse, I sedated him with a dose of fentanyl."

Eunice stopped talking for a few moments, then continued:

"His pressure was 210x120 mmHg. I didn't even know it could get that high..."

"If it wasn't for her sedating Max, I don't know if he would have survived," said Azmuth.

"And what about him?" asked Gwen, her eyes watering.

"Intracranial hemorrhage," Eunice finally said. "That's when vessels rupture inside the skull."

Gwen hugged Kevin and hid her face in his chest. He stroked the top of the girl's head.

Azmuth continued:

"When we re-did the scans, we saw several foci of subdural hemorrhage that were reseeping several times, which is why the headaches. There is no room for the blood to flow out, since the skull is closed, so the brain is compressed. There was a big bleeding spot near his frontal lobe."

"Maybe that's why his personality was so altered before the last crisis, isn't it, sir?" said Eunice.

"Is that so?" said Azmuth in a listless voice, and glanced at Eunice, there was guilt in the scientist's eyes.

"And where is he now?" asked Kevin.

"As I said, he is being operated on right now," said Azmuth. "Max already came with his room prepared to perform the surgery. He knew he was sick."

"It's possible that he's almost finished, if I'm not mistaken," said Eunice.

"Can we see him?" said Gwen.

"Of course!" said Eunice fondly. "I'll just check that everything is alright before I pass on the image. If you'll excuse me," and she headed for the exit."

For a few minutes the call was silent. Then Azmuth said:

"How is the Tennyson boy?"

Gwen and Kevin looked at each other. Kevin said:

"Gwen, you are more in the know about Tennyson's situation. I just got stuck here in this room. Can you explain?"

The girl ran her hands over her cheeks to dry her tears. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"To be very honest, he's not doing well at all."

◇───────◇───────◇

Gwen was sitting on the inside seat of a Plumbers ambulance. The vehicle was one of several parked in Central Park that was providing care to those injured in the mayhem. A doctor was carefully suturing the cut on Gwen's arm, however, all the care taken in performing the procedure was already irritating the girl who just wanted to get out of there desperately after her cousin.

"Are you finished, doctor?"

"I'm almost done, all that's missing is the last stitch and then the bandage."

The teenager's left leg wobbled, her knee bouncing up and down. The doctor looked away from the suture for a moment and fixed her gaze on the girl's leg. Gwen, her eyes focused on infinity, took a moment to realize what she was doing. When she noticed, she put one hand on her leg and said:

"I'm sorry, I was messing you up, wasn't I? I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, this happens to everyone who goes through a difficult situation." The doctor sutured again. "If you need it, we have brought psychologists on staff and they can talk to you if you want."

"Thank you very much."

But Gwen didn't want to talk to anyone. Ben's panicked face replayed in her memory in an endless loop. She dreaded finding him lying in the street, or hiding in an alley, suffering another anxiety attack.

"There, I'm finished."

"Thank you, Doctor." Gwen got up from her seat and jumped out of the ambulance, heading in the direction Ben had run off to earlier.

Gwen looked in all directions. How she could find her cousin in the middle of a city, she couldn't tell. She tried calling on her cell phone, but the calls kept ringing and ringing, never to be answered.

Come on, Ben, where are you? ― she thought ― Pick up!

The movement on the shopping street was already frantic on normal days. After a possible alien threat, it was simply unbearable. People were walking and running in all directions. Store owners were closing their doors, forcing even more people to crowd the sidewalks. Gwen couldn't take two steps without bumping into someone with her shoulders. Suddenly she felt her cell phone vibrate in her hand.

The girl was filled with hope. She looked at the screen and saw "Aunt Sandra" written on it. Without blinking, she answered the call and struggled to hear anything over the noise of the crowd. Then she heard the question she needed:

"Gwen, do you know what happened to Ben? He came running into the house, slammed the bedroom door, and won't let anyone in!"

"I'm coming, Auntie," and she hung up.

As soon as she arrived at her aunt's house, Gwen didn't even ring the bell. She opened the door and announced:

"Aunt Sandra, it's me, Gwen, sorry to barge in like this!"

Sandra Tennyson met the girl at the entrance to the hall of rooms. She was holding a tray of hot milk and some cookies. Her face was clothed in concern:

"I thought if I brought him something to eat, he would open the door..."

Gwen sighed and compressed her lips. Then she said:

"I'll talk with you in a moment. Let me try to talk to him."

"Sure, sure," and walked away to the kitchen.

Gwen approached the door to her cousin's room. She tapped twice with her knuckles and said:

"Ben? It's Gwen..."

But she wasn't sure what to say. Yes, it was Gwen, so what? What would he say next? Your cousin was not stupid. He was fully aware of what he had done in the park. There were no words that could soften or undo what had happened. He made a mistake. He made a mistake trying to do the right thing, but he was reckless. He was used to sacrifice himself for others, the problem was that this time he was not the sacrifice. And he knew it.

Gwen rested her forehead on the door. With great difficulty she could hear a muffled sound, as if she were under a cloth.

He is crying.

The girl's eyes filled with water. It wasn't supposed to be like this...

It's not fair to him.

Gwen turned and leaned her back on the door. She slowly slid down to sit on the floor.

"Ben..."

Again, the words wouldn't come out. She took a deep breath and let the air out of her lungs without resistance.

"I don't know what I can say to try to comfort you. I don't even know if you want to be comforted right now."

The girl looked sadly at her hands.

"But know this: I am here."

Gwen leaned her head on the door and stared at the dark ceiling of the corridor.

Ben was sobbing with tears.

◇───────◇───────◇

Gwen told Azmuth everything that unfolded from Hex's library to the Galvanic Guardians attack in Bellwood's Central Park. She tried to skip some information so that the story wouldn't get too long, but Ahzmuth made sure she went back and explained every minute detail of what happened.

"After he was locked in his room, I continued to visit him every day," Gwen said. "I would sit by his bedroom door for hours, waiting for his time. According to my Aunt Sandra, he opens the door sometimes, but always when no one is around and only to get the food my aunt leaves by the door."

"I see..." said Azmuth.

"When I'm not there, I try to send messages letting him know I'm available if he wants to talk," Gwen lowered her eyes, "but he never answers."

Kevin put his hand on the girl's shoulder and moved his fingers, like a light massage, in a demonstration of I admire your dedication and effort.

"I don't know what else to do?" she said.

"You're already doing a lot for him, young lady."

"There are times when I want to kick down that door, grab him by the arm and take him to a doctor so he can get the attention he needs, you know? But then I remember what I saw inside his mind and I just don't know which doctor would be able to help him?"

Azmuth ran his left hand over one of his mustache extensions and closed his eyes for a few moments. Finally he said:

"We are almost arriving in your galaxy. I will make it a point to meet you as soon as I set foot on Earth, and then..."

"And then you will remove the Omnitrix from Ben's arm," said Grandpa Max, who had just entered the command bridge.

"Max?"

"Grandpa!"

Max Tennyson was dressed in his Plumber space uniform. Eunice was right behind him, staring at the tablet she was holding.

"Hello, kids!" Grandpa Max smiled. "Miss me?"

"You have no idea!" said the girl.

"But weren't you having an operation and all?" asked Kevin.

"Yes, he was," Eunice smiled, "but luckily, by the time I entered the room, the procedure had just finished. While I was reviewing his medical condition and taking out his IVs, we were listening to his report, Gwen."

"Don't worry, Gwen," Max said, "I just called my son and talked to him and my daughter-in-law. Unfortunately I couldn't give them many details, but I tried to comfort them as much as I could and let them know that I'm coming to see my grandson."

"But that's great, Grandpa!"

Max stopped in front of Azmuth and stared at him from above. The scientist in turn reciprocated by raising his head and staring into the man's eyes. Max then said:

"I apologize for the way I acted."

"No need to apologize," Azmuth replied.

"Yes, I do. I don't know how much of it was due to the bleeding. However..." Max knelt down and spoke in a lower tone of voice, "my opinion of you and your scientific ethics have not changed. I hope you understand."

"Yes, I do."

Max stood up, keeping his gaze fixed.

"So let's make sure that both the Omnitrix and the Utimatrix don't get into anyone's hands."

"I will try to make sure that they are properly secured."

"Perfect."

Azmuth turned to the screen and said to the teenagers:

"Speaking of the Ultimatrix, where is Albedo?"

Gwen looked at Kevin and said:

"That's your department."

Kevin gave a crooked smile and replied:

"To be very honest, I have no idea!" And he shrugged his shoulders.

"What do you mean?" said Azmuth.

"He's hiding somewhere!" Kevin said, taking the computer from Gwen's hand and framed his bed full of documents on the camera "Since the beginning of this situation I've been chasing him and trying to understand his plan, but the pieces just don't fit!"

Eunice turned to Azmuth and said:

"What I don't understand, sir, is why Albedo is still on Earth?"

Eunice's question was like a spark running down a path of gunpowder inside Kevin's head. Such a simple question, but one that made perfect sense!

How could I not have thought of this before? ― thought Kevin

"Gwen, hold this for me for a moment," he handed the computer to the girl and walked towards his bed.

All that pile of documents, photos, maps, notes, information obtained from informants, began little by little to fit together.

The first time they met Albedo, since the confusion began, was at the Bellwood power station. It was not possible to find out what he was doing there, as the arrival of the trio must have disrupted his plans. It was also the first time he transformed and at one point, it seemed like there was something wrong with him. Was there something wrong with the Ultimatrix or was the ultimate-transformation too powerful for him to handle at first?

"Azmuth, was the Ultimatrix finished when it was stolen?" asked Kevin.

"No."

"What was missing?"

"The base of its operation, responsible for the ultimate-transformation was finished, however, some internal components such as the cognitive stabilizer, the retro-feedback power source and the naturo-temporal selector were probably not present. They were on my bench for final adjustments."

Kevin's head was boiling with information.

Maybe the lack of the cognitive stabilizer was responsible for his weirdness on the station! ― he thought ― I don't know what this naturo-temporal selector does, and the other missing component was-

Kevin interrupted his own thinking.

"No..." he said.

"What is it, Kevin?" Gwen asked.

"I understood the bastard's plan!"

"Then tell me!"

"In the various times we have met Albedo there has always been something that bothered me. If he had something as powerful as the Ultimatrix in hand, why didn't he ever start attacking us already ultimate-transformed into something? It was as if he was avoiding transforming!"

"Avoiding?"

"Sparing would be better!"

Max, Eunice and Azmuth kept an eye on the image of Kevin, who was pacing back and forth in the room, working out his ideas.

"He didn't always ultimate-transform," Kevin continued. "He always needed to be taken out of his mind. And not only that, at various times he could just come and fly away, smash through walls and take what he wanted, but no! He even went so far as to disguise himself as a squire to reach something in a castle that he could easily break into!"

"Are you saying that-"

"Energy!" Kevin held Gwen's shoulders "He doesn't have the rechargeable power supply, so sooner or later the Ultimatrix will shut down if he uses too much of it!"

"Makes sense..."

"That's where it gets complicated" Kevin let go of the girl's shoulders and walked back across the room "He must have tried to get power from the station and realized that it wasn't enough to power something like an Omnitrix."

"But he broke into the Plumbers' power sector and didn't even go near the reactors."

"Because it wasn't enough either! Although these reactors are made of alien technology, capable of producing much more energy, it is still not enough for an Omnitrix!"

"What does he want then?" asked Gwen.

"He wants to create his own energy source. That's why the Plumber's Sector equipment, that's why the Tadenite, that's why the Entropy Regulator!"

Eunice and Azmuth understood Kevin's reasoning and looked at each other. Eunice said:

"That means-"

"That he intends to break up the densest ore in the universe through a fission reaction and direct the energy to fuel his Ultimatrix," Kevin said.

"Fission?" said Max "You're saying that Albedo is-"

"An atomic bomb!" concluded Kevin "Albedo is going to explode an atomic bomb in Bellwood!"