Chapter 14: Framed

The group is now standing in a very long line of a video game store.

"We've been in this line for two hours and it hasn't budge an inch." Gwen complained.

"Small price to pay for Sumo Slammer 2.1" Ben countered.

"Yeah, the exact same game with only added feature of changing your character's color during the fight." Y/n teased.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"No." Y/n agreed. "But I do know what game I'm getting."

"Which one?"

"FIFA Street 2, remastered version."

"You know, there's a nice air conditioned book store over there." Max pointed at the place. "Maybe we could wait inside until this line thins out a bit?"

"And lose our place? Not an option." Ben refused.

"You two go. We'll get our games and meet you guys back in the Rv." Y/n suggested.

Max and Gwen shrugged and left the line.

"Want us to pick up anything for you boys in the bookstore?" Max offered.

"I'm on summer vacation. Why would I read anything?" Ben clarified.

"Oh, can you guys find an encyclopedia for animal biology?" Y/n requested. "It's for my research."

They nodded to his request and headed toward the bookstore.

After a lengthy wait in line, Ben and Y/n finally reached the store and bought their games. Once they returned to the Rv, they immediately started playing their new games.

"You must be a 5 and a half year old if changing colors is a new experience for you, pal." Y/n grinned.

"Oh, shut up and play your stupid soccer game." Ben snarled.

Y/n simply chuckled in response as he continued to play his gameboy. He controlled the players to pull some magnificent dribbles and goals. He's so fascinated with it when he was younger to the point he wanted to become the world best striker.

He succeed some of the skills during his practices back at school. And when he scored a goal, the sense of victory is very intoxicating to the point that he wanted score more goals.

After a couple of hours, Max and Gwen entered the vehicle.

"Are you demented?! Going alien just to get a stupid video game?!" Gwen peeved.

"What are you talking about?" Ben and Y/n looked at Gwen in confusion.

"You going Fourarms freaky in front of that store and your partner in crime let it happened! That's what I'm talking about!"

"Now, I'm sure the boys has a good explanation." Max tried to cool down the situation.

"Yeah, Ben didn't do anything. We got our games and headed back to the Rv." Y/n clarified.

"And Y/n has been by my side, so it's impossible for me to go alien." Ben added.

"If that's true, then what's that?!"

Gwen reached the remote and turned on the Tv. It showed Fourarms threw a dumpster at Max and Gwen, surprising the boys.

"That's not me!" Ben protested.

"Oh, no? I'm sure it's just another Fourarms alien going rampage in front of the video game store." Gwen stated.

"It's possible. All the alien species in the Omnitrix live out in the universe somewhere. Remember Tetrax?"

"That's true." Max agreed. "Besides, Ben wouldn't be so irresponsible with his aliens' power like that, and Y/n would never allow Ben to do those things we saw."

"Wait second." Y/n approached the Tv with a narrowed eyes. "Ben, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Ben went next to Y/n and observe the Tv screen. Then, his eyes widened in realization.

"You mean what I don't see?" Ben smirked at his partner.

"Exactly." Y/n grinned. "Come on. We got a mystery to solve."

The two watch wielders rushed out the Rv and headed to the crime scene with Max and Gwen followed behind.

"Criminals always return to the scene of the crime." Gwen pointed out.

"Gwen, I'm so disappointed in you." Y/n sighed. "You're supposed to be the brain in the team."

"Maybe her head is getting too big that she couldn't see the smallest detail." Ben joked, and the boys shared a chuckle.

"Now, what the two of you expect to find everyone else couldn't?" Max inquired. 

"Y/n?" Ben called.

The Nemetrix wielder closed his eyes and inhaled the air. From it, he sniffed a peculiar scent that guided him to the alleyway next to him. He opened his eyes and found Fourarms disappeared behind the corner.

"There!"

"I got your back, Y/n!"

The boy chased the alien through the alleyway until they spotted him on top of the U.S Mint. They continued the chase and searched the building for the alien until they came across Max and Gwen who is yelling at a Heatblast.

"Gwen!" Ben called.

"Not now, dweeb!" Gwen growled. "Can you see I gotta deal with-"

Gwen stopped mid sentence when she realized that the one in front of her is not Ben. Heatblast shot a fire jet at Gwen but the boys turned to Diamondhead and Terroranchula. The spider alien spitted out a force field in front of Gwen, and the diamond alien aided her.

"Now do you believe me?" Diamondhead stated at Gwen. "You and grandpa get everyone else out of here."

Once the fire died down, Diamondhead shot a several shards at Heatblast, forcing the fire alien to back off.

Max, Gwen and the workers has escaped the building as Diamondhead and Terroranchula are trading shots with Heatblast. And after a short trades, Heatblast disappeared, but both alien heroes knew he's still around.

"I don't know who you are, but you're giving aliens a bad name." Diamondhead stated out loud.

"So why don't you cry about it? Or are you going to go run and tell on me to your grandpa Max? Or that smart mouth cousin of yours? But, naturally, you brought your precious pet Y/n along with you." Heatblast taunted.

A blast of fire hit a container hanging above the heroes, dropping all the coins inside to rain down onto them. Diamondhead quickly covered Terroranchula, but the weight from the huge amount of coins put them down. Then, Heatblast approached the two.

"Hey! it's raining money!" Heatblast joked.

"Who are you?" Diamondhead demanded.

"You still haven't figure it out yet? Maybe this will help."

Heatblast's head suddenly morphing grotesquely from different aliens until it shifted into a familiar face, shocking the two heroes.

"Kevin?" Diamondhead flabbergasted. "I don't get it. I thought you were drained of all my powers back in the subway in New York."

"That's what you get to thinking, Benji." Kevin mused. "Turns out, I absorbed enough of that weird watch energy so I could turn into any of those aliens inside if I just concentrate hard enough."

Diamondhead and Terroranchula stood up from the pile of coins and quietly, the spider alien gazed to his surrounding to find a way to catch Kevin off guard.

"Only problem is, I can only stay human for a short time." Kevin continued and glared. "You made me into this freak."

Diamondhead scoffed. "Like this is my fault?! Whose idea was it to drain out all the powers of the watch? Not mine!"

"I. Dont. Care." Kevin gritted his teeth. "Cause now it's payback time, partner. Everything 50/50. I do the crime, and you'll do the time."

Terroranchula shot his web at the container above Kevin and pulled it down. As it falling, Kevin quickly shot it mid air but got rained down by the coins inside. Diamondhead reacted by punching the ground and waves of diamond mountain emerged from below toward Kevin.

It sent Kevin across the building but before the heroes attack again, Special Alien Containment Team (SACT) busted through the windows. Kevin quickly transformed into Stinkfly and escaped. As for the boys, they are completely surrounded by the special forces with their guns trained on them.

"Sorry, rockhead!" The lieutenant of the force, Steel confronted the aliens. "No unauthorized withdrawals on my watch, especially with pet."

"You don't get it. The bad alien just got away. We're the good aliens." Diamondhead protested.

"Yeah, sure you are. Just like those alien heroes all over the news nowadays. No sell. To me, you two are just a walking chandelier."

"He's telling the truth officer." Gwen joined with Max behind. "There was another alien who-"

"I don't try them, kid. I just catch them." Steel clarified. "We'll let the boys in area 51 figure out who's naughty and who's nice. Chicago, Tallahassee, Barstow. You and your outer space pals have been keeping me real busy, but you're not getting away with it this time."

"This time?" Diamondhead echoed.

The two aliens glanced at each other and quietly shared a nod. In instant and in sync, Diamondhead jammed two gunners by shooting his shards at their guns while Terroranchula shot his webs at Steel and his men on their face.

The spider alien entrapped them with his webs and yanked their heads to the ground. Then, with his partner, they split up and made their escape by using the time limit of their watches. The boys then regrouped back with Max and Gwen, accompanied by Steel and his team.

"Nice watches." Steel eyed the Omnitrix and the Nemetrix on the boys' wrists with suspicious gaze. "Never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, it's from uh... Japan!" Ben hid his watch behind his back.

"Limited edition." Y/n hid his.

Steel narrowed his eyes on the boys before one of his men returned with a report.

"No sign of the aliens, sir. It's like those things disappeared into thin air." He reported.

"And I don't suppose you four know anything about this alien?" Steel questioned Max and the kids.

"No." Max claimed. "If we did, we'll tell you."

The kids nodded in agreement, and Steel let them leave, not without a surveillance.

Back in the Rv, Ben and Y/n relayed what they had learned from the fight to Max and Gwen.

"It was Kevin in both the video game store and the mint. They were set-up." Ben informed.

"That would explain a lot." Max commented.

"But why does that alien S.W.A.T team guy think all of the aliens are bad?"

"Looks like from personal experience, Ben." Y/n stated as he and Gwen are looking for information in Gwen's computer.

"Check this out." Gwen showed news article in her computer. "Your friend has been busy and not just here in San Francisco."

"Wildmutt terrorizing Tallahassee, Ripjaws in Chicago, Ghostfreak in Barstow and so on.." Y/n continued.

"I'm gonna get blame for all that stuff, and I didn't do any of it." Ben complained.

"If Kevin has a problem on Ben, then he has a problem with me." Y/n cracked his knuckles.

A distant scream of panic and fear alerted the group. The looked outside to see a runaway cable car is being hijacked by Kevin as Upgrade.

"Anything he can upgrade, I can upgrade better." Ben transformed but into Wildmutt instead.

"Nice choice, Fiddo." Gwen joked, earning grumble from the mutt.

Y/n came out from the vehicle and quickly transformed into Hypnotick. He and Wildmutt then quickly went for a pursuit.

Hypnotick crashed on the cable car's roof and reeled back his tusks. As he's about to pierce the transportation, multiple black with green neon streak tendrils emerged from the cable car and restrained the giant moth.

"Hey, bug off!" Kevin exclaimed.

He tossed Hypnotick to an incoming truck, but the moth went intangible to phase through it. He continued the chase and Wildmutt caught up with Kevin.

"Sorry, Ben. No pets allowed!" Kevin deployed spikes.

Wildmutt evaded them and hanged on the side of the transportation. Seeing an incoming truck, the mutt headed inside the cable car. Kevin then defeated Wildmutt by catching him off guard. After that, he made his escape as the cable car is heading toward a bay with civilians inside.

Hypnotick went to the front of the transportation and pushed it with his might. Though, the steep of the street made the transportation pushing him down.

Wildmutt peeked out the window on the back and see the Rv approaching.

"Ben, attach the line on the bottom of the Rv!" Max pointed at the cable line on the cable car.

Wildmutt put the line on his jaws and jumped on the Rv. He attached the line onto the Rv, and Max hit the brakes. They abled to slow the transportation down and once the street became even, the cable car finally stopped.

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Later that night, Max parked the Rv on a random parking lot. He and Gwen came out from the vehicle and rendezvoused with Ben and Y/n.

"Freeze!"

Before they knew it, they already surrounded by SACT with guns pointing at them.

"One move and you're all Swiss cheese." Steel threatened. "You have two choices; Tell me what you have to do with these aliens, or get measured for you prison uniforms."

Ben looked down to the Omnitrix and suddenly, Steel grabbed both boys' wrists.

"It has something to do with these watches, doesn't it?" Steel continued. "Is this some kind of signal to call the alien?"

"Sir." One of his men called. "We're getting report of crystal alien rampaging on the Golden Gate. It looks like it could bring down the whole bridge if it isn't stop."

Steel released his grip on the boys and brought out his comms.

"Falcon-1, pick up on my 20." Steel ordered and glared at Max and the kids. "We're not done."

Then, a helicopter arrived and picked Steel before flying toward the scene to confront Kevin.

Somehow, Max and the kids managed to escape the SACT that surrounding them and quickly drove to the Golden Gate bridge.

"Ugh, just one more thing I'm gonna get blame for." Ben complained.

At the top of the bridge tower, Steel got battered by Kevin as Diamondhead. As Kevin is about to finish him, Drex appeared behind him.

"Let him go, Kevin." Drex threatened. "This is between us."

"Sounds good to me." Kevin agreed and tossed Steel onto the bridge's cable where Buglizard coincidentally is waiting.

The lizard caught Steel on mid-air and placed him onto his back. Not wanting to hurt him further, Buglizard slowly climbed down the cable and landed where the SACT team are.

They aimed their guns at him, but Buglizard is unfazed as he simply rested Steel on their vehicle. The SACT is about to shoot the alien, but Steel raised his palm to stop them.

"Let the creature go." Steel gazed Buglizard's crimson eyes. "It could handle it."

The SACT reluctantly put down their weapon by Steel's order. Buglizard nodded at Steel in acknowledgement before the alien jumped back to the cable and rushed back to the top.

Due to the overwhelm strength of Drex, Kevin unable to counter attack. Drex grabbed Kevin and slammed him onto his knee.

As Kevin laying on the ground, his neck suddenly got wrapped by Buglizard's tail. The lizard pulled his neck and tossed him onto the tower, creating a dent on it. Drex rushed at Kevin with his fist reeled back but before he could even land a hit, Kevin transformed into Heatblast and shot a jet fire at Drex.

Drex falls backed before Buglizard breathed his fog to cover him and his partner. Kevin shot another fire jet, but his targets went missing. Putting his guard up, he wandered around to find  Drex and Buglizard, not knowing that the two are actually hiding behind the pillars each.

Drex jumped on the air and slammed his fists down, bending the metal floor and sent Kevin flying. He transformed into Stinkfly mid-air and flew at Drex.

But, Buglizard jumped at the insect and caught him by biting his tail. He tossed Kevin at his partner, and Drex swung his arm at the flying insect.

Kevin fell to the ground weakly and suddenly reverted back to human. Drex approached Kevin and landed his fist next to Kevin's head.

After glaring the boy for awhile, Drex and Buglizard walked away.

"Get back here and fight!" Kevin groaned. "I'm not through with any of you yet!"

"But we're through with you." Drex stopped and gazed Kevin from his shoulder. "You're not worth it. You never were."

He continued to walk away but suddenly, Buglizard growled at Kevin in panic, alerting his partner.

Kevin suddenly lost control of his power, resulting his body turned into an amalgamation of all of his aliens as he screamed in pain.

Kevin observed his new form and tried to revert back to human but failed.

"I can't change back. I'm stuck like this." Kevin glared the aliens. "Look at what you've done!"

"Aw, man. Is there anything I'm not getting blame for today?" Drex complained.

Kevin charged the heroes and caught them off guard with his new strength and speed. He pinned them by the pillars and punched them through it. He then tossed them off the tower, but Drex grabbed hold onto the ledge and Buglizard's tail.

Kevin then pressed his foot on Drex's hand. "You'll never beat me because you're one of the good guys. And good guys never have the guts to finish guys like me."

Suddenly, Kevin got blasted away by the SACT's special cannon. The shot knocked Kevin off the bridge, and he fell into the water below.

Drex pulled Buglizard up first before the lizard pulled his partner up as well. After they made their escape, they regrouped with Max and Gwen and drove.

"Not even Kevin could've survive that blast and that fall, right?" Gwen asked unsurely.

"I doubt it." Y/n stated confidently as he updating Kevin's bio in his journal. "Kevin has 10 of Ben's aliens."

"Which mean we're going to see him again, huh?" Ben commented.

"I'm afraid so."

Seeing Steel and his team at the front, Max stopped the Rv. Steel went to the vehicle as the window reeled down.

"Now, why is it you four are always around when aliens show up?" Steel glared.

"Really? Is that a fact?" Max inquired. "Hm, we hadn't notice."

Gwen and Y/n peeked out and smiled at Steel with Ben.

"Yeah. Guess it's just a coincidence." Steel assumed. "Maybe we'll cross path again sometime."

"I hope not." Y/n whispered under his breath.

"Drive carefully. Lot of weird stuff out there." Steel warned.

"Yeah, you're telling us." Ben joked.

Steel and his team moved away as Max drove off.

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