Two Halfs, One Heart

Chapter 48- Ben 10 VS. Negative 10 PT. 2

I was looking at the top of Mount Rushmore. Seeing all of our enemies standing together made the knot in my stomach grow. "Animo, The Circus Freaks, Clancy,  Sublimino, Rojo,  Charmcaster? Oh, man!" Ben said, shocked. "Who are the metal heads?" Cooper asked. "Must be Forever Knight creeps," I said. "What's up with the horns and the cape on that one guy?" "Since we took out Enoch, maybe he's their new leader," Gwen said.

~💚~

"Or maybe Enoch was never really in charge," Max said. We escaped the Rust Bucket and made our way outside. "Better hurry before they figure out what happened." Before we could take a step, I saw the Red Knight behind us. "Too late, Max," I said. Ben appeared as Four Arms and I went to stand next to him, conjuring up fire in my hand. "Nobody likes a show-off, ninja boy!" Ben said. We made quick work of the Red Knight, throwing him into the side of the Rust Bucket. "There they are!" Charmcaster said, when she noticed us. "Meet me at the hatch! Princess, you go with them. No arguments!" Ben said.

~💚~

Gwen and I went to find Cooper and I noticed him just standing still. "Oh! Cooper? Cooper? Are you okay?" She said. "No, I'm totally freaked out," he replied. "Join the club." Soon, Animo appeared; flying on his mutant bat. "There's too many of them. Even if we can get to the entrance, by the time I find out how to open the hatch, they'll be all over us like stink on a skunk," Max said. "What do we do?" I asked, trying to think of something. "Follow me," Cooper said. "Cooper!" Gwen said, running after him.

~💚~

We came to a side of the mountain and the hatch appeared. "You found it!" I said, impressed. "He said he was good with mechanical stuff, but I didn't know he was this good." Before Cooper could faint, Gwen put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. We hurried into the base before anyone could get to us. When we got inside the base, my thoughts immediately went to Ben, "Max, we can't just leave Ben out there alone." "We're more help to him in here," Max replied. We watched Ben fight Clancy on a security camera. I desperately wanted to go help him but I knew that Max wouldn't let me.

~💚~

When the Omnitrix timed out and Ben turned back into himself, my heart sank as he was surrounded by all of our enemies. Max pulled a level and a gun appeared outside and shot at the negative ten. Then he grabbed an explosive and headed for the entrance to the chute. "Girls, a little help. It needs a push," he said. "Gallius disrupts." Gwen cast a spell and I used my telekinesis to help move the explosive faster. "Nothing will stop this little homecoming." Then a blast destroyed the security camera.

~💚~

"Phew! I'm glad that's over," Ben said. "I'm not sure it is." Max rewinded the security footage to check something out. "Nothing will stop this little homecoming." "There's something about what his highness said that makes me wonder," Max said. Then he pulled up video footage of a Plumber. "Driscoll, I.D. Number 12906." "Max, what is it?" I asked, concerned. "The Forever King is an ex-Plumber. When I was still a rookie, a scandal rocked the Plumbers. Driscoll, one of the veterans, was caught stealing high technology from alien perps, then using it for his own benefit. Eventually he was caught and thrown out of the Plumbers in disgrace. As far as anyone knew, he was never heard from again. But now it's obvious Driscoll worked his way up through the Forever Knights until he became their leader," Max explained.