Dark Light Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Ben 10 parody: Patreon Reward

Chapter 2 

Chapter 3 One More Job

Argit found himself strung up into the air, upside down, held by mana. “Benny, Benny, please I can explain, this is a total misunderstanding.” He sweats.

“Uh huh…” Kevin crossed his arms. Argit shot him a look, cocking a brow.

“You guys on a job together, why wasn’t I invited?” Argit asked, and Kevin got in his face.

“Because you are a rat that only cares about himself, and would sell us out at the drop of a hat.” Kevin pointed accusingly at him.

“Pot calling the kettle black huh Kevin?” Kevin growled at Argit. “And here I thought it was because you are jealousy that I’m a better lay than you!”

“That’s it!” Kevin went to punch him, but Ben stopped him.

“Easy Kevin.” Argit smirked.

“See Kev, Benny loves me.” He shot Ben a wink.

“I care about you Argit, but you make it so difficult.” Ben and Kevin’s relationship with Argit was difficult, because of the alien’s self serving nature. Sometimes Argit and Kevin were the best of friends and made a lot of money together, but other times they were ready to kill each other. “The Highbreed Argit, the DNAliens, why are you helping them?” The Forever Knights was one thing, they still had money.

“Look...I was just brokering the deal.” He did look ashamed.

“Bet they offered you some kind of protection.” Kevin pointed out. Not far from the truth.

“They are vicious genocidal aliens who see all other aliens as vermin.” Gwen said, and Argit finally looked towards Gwen and Labrid.

“Makes no difference to me, everyone treats me like vermin.”  He glared at them.

“I haven’t.” Argit looked to Ben and his eyes softened. “I’ve always been good to you Argit.”

“Despite not deserving it.” Kevin added.

“Argit, even if this is the case, as a Lenopan I’ve faced many issues. The Highbreed won’t stop until the entire universe is cleansed or enslaved.” Argit gulped.

“Fine what do you want?” Ben let him down.

“Your help in stopping these guys.”

“Are you crazy, they’ll kill me!” He squeaked.

“Argit this is serious, you are in big trouble this time. The Highbreed are invading Earth, posing as humans, trading alien tech to Forever Nuts to get cash and revenue so they can continue to blend in and keep their plans on the down low.” Argit gulped. Ben’s eyes were glowing green, he was pissed. “You have punishment waiting for you, but you can ease it by helping us.”

It came down to who did Argit fear more Ben or the Highbreed. Gwen protested, as did Labrid, no surprise there, but even Cooper and Kevin weren’t sure. “It’ll be fine.” Ben drew a rune on Argit’s hand. “Argit, betray us on this and you’ll face the worst punishment, you’ll be turned to stone instantly.”

“Benny, would I ever betray you?” He batted his eyes at him.

“Me? Maybe, but since this is a team effort I need to be sure you are on your best behavior. Do a good job I’ll cut you in on the reward.”

“You have me at reward.” Ben used a cleansing spell on the DNAliens left behind and they stole their ID Masks. Cooper was able to scan the tech and recreate them.

Using his tracker they found the DNAlien’s base. Deefus shapeshifted perfectly into a DNAlien while the others used ID Masks to fake it. “Any sign of Grandpa Max?” Gwen asked Ben.

His eyes glowed and he scanned the whole ship. “I sense his mana, but its faded, at least a week old.”

“We should bail.” Kevin said.

“Not an option!” Labrid snapped, causing the two to have a glare down.

“Shouldn’t you call in back up or something?” Cooper suggested.

“I’ve put in a request but it’ll take some time before they arrive.” He made a jab saying this was a back water world.

“So it’s just us. Let’s do this.” Ben got his boys ready.

“We need a plan!” Gwen snapped at him.

They had a plan. Argit used his quills to stun the guards. Ben used his magic to cleanse the xenocites from them. Ben had Labrid moving the civilians away from danger, it was his job, plus his attitude was only slowing them down. They moved into the hideout, knocking out the DNAliens they came across, replacing them as they could. Gwen used a mining cart to move the cured people out of the hideout.

“Miss Tennyson, I don’t like relying on these criminals.”

“I’m with you, but we are clearing out the hideout and saving lies while reducing their numbers. It’s working.” She could tell by his face he wasn’t as sure.

“Do you actually trust them?”

“No, but if things go wrong I’ll handle it.” He huffed. He took the next batch of rescued people off to a secure location. Ben’s rock creatures were standing guard over them.

‘And if you can’t handle it, I’ll make sure they won’t escape.’ He placed another call to their back up giving them additional orders.

-x-

Ben’s plan was working as they cleared out the hideout as they moved closer and closer to the ship. They slipped onto the ship and it was freezing. Ben conjured some stone bats and sent them through the ship to map the place out.

Kevin found the arsenal. “Your up Cooper.” The blonde worked his own magic, disassembling the guns and remaking them, turning the Laser Lances into a hand held turret gun. Cooper and Kevin got the turrets. They were modified for stun, which made it easier for Deefus to feel comfortable using one. Argit and Deefus got a simple Stun Lance.

“What’s taking you guys so long?” Gwen asked.

“Dealing with their weapons.” Ben said. She activated the omnitrix and turned into Chromastone! “Gwen wait!”

Too late, she charged up some energy and blasted the whole arsenal creating a loud explosion. “Nice going princess, be louder why don’t you?”

“It’s fine we’ll be done here before they even…”

“Rarrarrrhggghhh!” The DNAliens began to swarm in, spitting up disgusting blobs of goo.

“You were saying!” Ben erected a barrier between them.

“Let’s fight them instead of each other.” Kevin absorbed some metal before opening fire. Cooper, Argit, Deefus assisted, stunning the DNAliens and keeping them suppressed and avoiding be overrun. Gwen/Chromastone began fighting the DNAliens, blasting them with energy.

“Just keep them off me!” Those that got in close got sludged and quilled.

Ben charged up an impressive spell, his key stone and healing charm glowing in unison as Ben built up mana. “Ki-yaaahhhh!” His mana filled the room and ripped off the parasites from their hosts. Ben slumped down and Kevin and Cooper caught him and supported him.

“You okay Benji?” The brunette nodded weakly.

“I’m fine, these buggers are tough.” He tapped his bag, and out came some totems; turning into big rock creatures. The behemoths moved the civilians out of the ship.

“There could be hundreds of these guys on this ship.” Cooper said.

Ben’s eyes glowed. “There’s at least a hundred more, but there’s a strange source coming this way.”

The answer of what came swiftly as a towering figure entered the room, this was the Highbreed. “What are these creatures doing on my ship?”

“What is your ship doing on my planet?” Ben challenged.

“I do not answer lower life forms.” He waved a claw over them. “The lot of you are filthy creatures you dirty my ship with your presence.”

Ben’s boys didn’t take too kindly to that. Kevin, Cooper, Argit, and Deefus opened fire; lighting up the massive alien.

“That tickled.” He jumped down and began swatting them away. Ben erected mana cushions to help them out.

Gwen went Humungousaur to try and match the Highbreed’s size and strength. It knocked her back. Argit tried to stun it with his quills, and Deefus tried to sludge him down. The Highbreed dodged the quills, and the sludge hit but he was able to shack it off. “Filthy creatures.” He fired claw darts at the two.

Argit ducked and weaved, the darts just passed right through Deefus. Kevin tried to hit it hard and only got smacked away. When the Highbreed went after Kevin Ben grabbed it with his mana. “I don’t think so!”

“Disgusting beast!” It tried to pull Ben forward, but Ben’s mana simply snapped and cost him to lose balance. “You will not make a fool of a Highbreed commander!”

“You guys seem to like it cold, I wonder do you not like fire?” Ben’s charm glowed and he blasted the Highbreed with flames. Oh it didn’t like that at all.

“Maggot you think you can stop me!” He charged through the flames and smacked Ben.

“Ben!” The guys called out. He had been drained from healing all the DNAliens. His bag opened up and out came two rock creatures who tackled the Highbreed.

“We are getting out of here!” Kevin yelled out. Ben had lost consciousness not from the initial hit but banging his head against the wall had rattled his marbles some.

“This isn’t over!” Gwen snapped.

“Yes...it is…” Ben rubbed his head. He looked to Cooper who nodded.

“Benji!” Kevin hugged the brunette.

“My rock creatures will hold him off, we need to move now!”  The Highbreed was making quick work of his creatures. It slammed them into walls and into each other.

“Vermin you will not leave here alive, because of you discovering this location you’ve set out plans back months.” He turned the creatures to rubble. “Because of you maggots I have to move my ship and sterilize the area!”

“Sterilize?!” Gwen gasped.

“All life in a five mile area will be purged, none of you will live to tell the tale.” Gwen stayed behind to fight the Highbreed as Ben and his crew evacuated the ship.

She couldn’t slow it down much, but after biting him the Highbreed threw her off the ship. “Nice job!” Kevin quipped.

“Lay off!” She glared, reverting back to human form. “We need to move!”

The ship began to take off and Ben erected a barrier shielding them. The ship burst out of the hideout.

“What happened!?” Labrid came running in, just as Ben dropped his mana barrier. “I knew I shouldn’t have left this to criminal scum!”

“Watch it, without us you wouldn’t have even found this place or been able to do anything against those DNAliens!” Kevin snapped.

“We don’t have time for this, he’s gonna blast the whole area, there’s a town nearby they’ll be wiped out.” Gwen said.

“Nope we are good, right Cooper?” Cooper smiled.

“I sabotaged their weapons system as soon as they turn them on they’ll…” Boom! “Fry their engines.”

“Nice!” Kevin high fived him.

“It was all Ben’s idea.” They’d have had time for a cleaner job but Gwen caused the ruckus and alerted them to their presence.

“While we distracted the DNAliens and the Highbreed, Cooper could mess with the ship with his powers.” The ship crash landed just in time for the plumber ships to arrive and raid it. The Highbreed was gone, and the DNAliens were arrested and taken to quarantine.

Ben stretched. “Not bad, I could use a hot bath and some wine, who’s with me?”

“Not so fast!” Labrid pulled his blaster on them.

“Magister!” Gwen snapped.

“I thought we had a deal.” Ben was cool and stood in front of his guys. “Job’s done, we walk away with a clean record.”

“Job isn’t finished, Max hasn’t been found, and the Highbreed have their eyes set on this planet. You failed to capture him, and because of your failure you allowed him to get away.” Ben’s hand balled into a fist. “You lot are too dangerous to roam around free.”

Two plumber ships arrived and aimed their weapons at the group. “This is bad!” Argit was quaking behind them.

“We can take these guys!” Kevin looked ready to fight and Labrid pointed his gun at him.

“Give me a reason son!” Ben shot Gwen a look. She couldn’t even look him in the eye, saying and doing nothing. Had she not been so impatient they could have done a better job instead of having to fight the whole dang ship.

Ben sighed. “Looks like this is it boys, sorry for dragging you into all this.”

“Enough talk, hands up!” Ben smiled and put his hands up. Labrid narrowed his eyes noticing some strange marks on Ben’s palm. “What the…?”

With a smirk Ben clapped his hands above his head and his body burst creating a flash of green light. When the light faded Ben and his crew were gone. Labrid looked to Gwen who shrugged.

-x-

“Damn it, what a waste of a body, barely even had any fun in that one.” The group was brought to a hotel suite with Ben in all his anodite glory. He looked like most anodites except he was green instead of pink, and his mana hair was tied back into two long braids that reached the small of his back.

His charms were safely in his magic bag. “Don’t think we don’t appreciate it Benji.” Kevin hugged the energy being. “Besides you still look hot to me!” The two kissed.

“Make yourself at home guys.” Argit raided the fridge, while Cooper turned on the TV. Deefus browsed Ben’s collection of wine.

“Never trust a plumber!” He said angrily before downing a glass of wine. They drank to that.

“Thanks for helping out guys. I appreciate it.” He snapped his fingers. Four briefcases appeared. “Your payment for the job.”

“What payment?” Argit looked and the briefcase was full of cash. “Holy shit!”

“Where did this come from?” Cooper asked.

“I had my rock creatures raid the knight’s treasury, and my rock bats located where the Highbreed were keeping the earth money they had collected and took it.” Kevin, Cooper, and Deefus got fifty million each, while Argit got ten million. It was still a lot of money. “You guys earned it.”

Ben took his wine and looked out the window. “Job’s not over is it?” Kevin asked.

“It is for you guys. I roped you in for one job, you helped stop the forever nuts from getting class five tech and we took out the ones dealing it.”

“But we haven’t found your Grandpa Max!” Cooper stood up.

“Quite right, and those Highbreed are still coming.” Deefus said.

“That’s why you guys should take that money and get off world. I can even arrange magical transport if need be.”

“Sounds good to me!” Argit said. Deefus smacked him. “Ow!”

“You don’t have to do this alone, let the plumbers and Gwen deal with the Highbreed.” Kevin told him.

“That’s why I have to do this alone, I can avoid my cousin and the plumbers easy enough, but I don’t wanna drag you guys into danger. One job, you did it.”

“One more job couldn’t hurt.” Kevin said and kissed the back of Ben’s hand.

“Maybe two!” Cooper said, he ran over and added his hand into the mix.

“I suppose I can put my talents to better use helping you.” Deefus put his hand in.

To everyone’s shock Argit put his hand in as well. “You must be joking?”

“What?!” Argit crossed his arms. “Benny saved our butts back there. Plus this was my biggest score in a long time, helping you guys is profitable.”

“It could be dangerous.” Ben said.

“We’ll have each others backs.”

“Looking for Grandpa, dodging the Plumbers, fighting the Highbreed, this is gonna be fun.” They were a team now.

To be continued...Crimes and Punishment