Chapter 41: Ben Is Spotted, The "Blind" Galactic Volunteers
"Galactic Enforcers! Move out!"
The three figures who had just materialized out of thin air struck a synchronized, dramatic pose. To anyone else watching, the exaggerated stances looked painfully awkward, but the trio seemed completely oblivious, radiating absolute self-confidence.
"By the public authority vested in me by the Galactic Enforcers'Code, I command you to surr—" The leader, an alien dressed in a spandex suit that practically screamed'discount superhero,' puffed out his chest. He pointed a heroic finger toward the massive crater left behind by Mochana and Kraab. His booming voice faltered as he blinked at the empty dirt. "Hmm? Where did they go?"
The crater was completely empty. Mochana and Kraab hadn't stuck around to watch the impromptu superhero landing. Taking full advantage of the flashy distraction the Enforcers had provided, the two bounty hunters had already slipped away into the shadows.
The trio of self-proclaimed heroes slowly lowered their arms, the realization dawning on them that their grand entrance had been the exact thing that allowed their targets to escape.
"They ran away," Gwen pointed out dryly, crossing her arms. Her deadpan delivery was the final nail in the coffin, making the three Enforcers stiffen in visible embarrassment.
"Ahem!" The Superman lookalike cleared his throat loudly, desperately trying to salvage the situation and change the subject. "Hello, citizens. I am Ultimos, and these are my comrades, Synaptak and Tini." He puffed his chest back out, introducing his team to Lodestar and the rest of the group.
Grandpa Max stepped forward, opening his mouth to speak. However, Ultimos clearly had zero interest in making small talk with 'ordinary civilians.' The caped alien completely ignored the older man, his gaze locking onto Lodestar with professional interest. Unfortunately for Ultimos, Lodestar didn't give him an ounce of respect, completely ignoring the hero's expectant look.
While Ultimos was left standing there in awkward silence, things were playing out very differently on the other side of the crater.
Tini, the towering Tetramand of the Enforcers, marched straight up to Four Arms. She slung a massive, muscular arm around his shoulder, pulling him close. "How did a strong, handsome warrior like you end up on such a remote, backwater mudball?" she purred, her extra eyes fluttering. "I saw your fight just now. You are incredibly mighty! Don't you think we make a perfect match?" To cap it off, she shot Four Arms an exaggerated, flirtatious wink.
Four Arms stiffened, a cold sweat breaking out across his red brow. He awkwardly tried to lean away from the overly enthusiastic Tetramand woman, his eyes darting around for an escape route.
Just as panic began to set in, a familiar, high-pitched beeping echoed from his chest badge. It was a sound Ben usually despised, but right now, it was the sweetest melody in the universe. 'Awesome! That timeout just saved my life!'
A brilliant flash of crimson light engulfed him, and the towering four-armed behemoth shrank back down into the scrawny form of Ben Tennyson.
"Hey!" Tini blinked, her arms suddenly empty. She stared down at the ten-year-old boy in sheer bewilderment. "How did you get so tiny?"
"Uh... I'm just a normal Earth kid," Ben stammered, taking a few quick steps backward. Tini's overwhelming enthusiasm was way too much for him to handle. "It's just that, you know, sometimes I grow two extra arms and get really tall. Normal stuff."
"So the rumors are true. The legendary Omnitrix really did fall into the hands of a mere human child." Synaptak floated closer, his massive brain pulsing inside its clear dome as he examined Ben with clinical surprise. "I had heard that your species' mental capacity was severely lacking... No offense."
The floating brain alien blurted out the insult almost subconsciously. Seeing Ben's face instantly twist into a scowl, Synaptak quickly backpedaled. "Ah, apologies. I meant no disrespect."
Watching the chaotic scene unfold, Lodestar seemed to realize something. A deep blue light flared, washing over the magnetic alien's metallic body. In an instant, the towering figure dissolved, leaving Klein standing casually in his place. He shoved his hands into his pockets, an amused smirk playing on his lips as he took in the utterly shell-shocked expressions of the three Galactic Enforcers.
Ben quickly brushed off Synaptak's backhanded insult, his eyes sparkling with absolute awe. "Matching uniforms! Superpowers! You guys are so cool!" He practically vibrated with excitement. "I finally have real superhero friends to hang out with!"
In Ben's mind, Klein was definitely a hero, but his lazy, trollish cousin was absolutely nothing like the flashy, cape-wearing comic book heroes he idolized.
Ultimos noticed the shift in the atmosphere. The previous awkwardness of their botched entrance had faded, replaced by the Dweeb's starry-eyed admiration. Seeing that at least one of the locals was friendly, the caped leader puffed out his chest again and spoke with practiced authority. "I am now formally requesting permission for airspace entry into your planet's atmosphere."
Klein rolled his eyes, sighing internally. 'Apparently, in the eyes of the Galactic Enforcers, any random ten-year-old kid standing in a crater has the political authority to represent an entire planet. Brilliant protocol.'
"Uh... sure? Okay," Ben agreed readily, completely oblivious to the diplomatic weight of the formal request.
"Excellent. Regarding the fugitives Mochana and Kraab, we need to hold a formal briefing to discuss our next course of action," Ultimos announced, addressing Klein and the rest of the group.
Without waiting for a response, Ultimos tapped the glowing shield-shaped emblem on his belt. Instantly, rings of brilliant blue light materialized beneath everyone's feet. The energy flared upward, enveloping them in solid columns of azure light before shooting straight up into the night sky, defying gravity.
High in outer space, holding a steady orbit above Earth, a massive silver-white battleship hovered silently against the backdrop of stars. The teleportation beams pierced the hull, depositing the group directly into the ship's sleek interior.
"Whoa! So cool!" Ben gasped, his eyes darting wildly around the high-tech corridors.
Gwen and Klein also glanced around, genuinely intrigued by the advanced extraterrestrial architecture. Grandpa Max, however, remained entirely unfazed. The old man kept his hands casually in his pockets; he had personally piloted more alien spacecraft in his youth than everyone else in the room had ever seen combined.
"Uh... what are your designations?" Ultimos looked at Klein and the others, a flash of awkwardness crossing his chiseled face as he realized he had just beamed a group of complete strangers onto his highly classified command ship.
"I'm Ben Tennyson!" Ben practically shouted, puffing out his chest.
Klein stared at his cousin, utterly speechless. A group of heavily armed aliens in spandex show up, claim to be heroes, and the Dweeb just blindly trusts them? Klein rubbed his temples, a quiet sigh escaping his lips. He had a sinking feeling that his idiot cousin was going to get himself sold to an intergalactic sweatshop one of these days.
"I'll be honest," Klein drawled, his tone flat and unimpressed. "I've never heard of the 'Galactic Enforcers.' The only intergalactic law enforcement I know of are the Plumbers."
Ultimos noted Klein's cold, dismissive attitude. Deciding not to push the issue, the caped alien maintained his professional composure and formally invited Klein to attend the briefing anyway.
In truth, Klein's hostility stemmed entirely from the fact that these self-righteous aliens had blatantly disrespected his grandfather and Gwen down in the crater. He didn't care that Ultimos and his team were just hopelessly rigid, blindly adhering to the bureaucratic nightmare known as the Galactic Enforcers' Code. Disrespecting his family was a quick way to get on Klein's bad side.
As Grandpa Max and Gwen stepped forward to follow the group down the corridor, Ultimos suddenly held up a hand, blocking their path. "Halt. According to Article 34, Section 12 of the Galactic Enforcers' Code, ordinary civilians lacking superhuman abilities or advanced combat clearance are strictly prohibited from participating in classified tactical briefings."
Gwen's eyes narrowed. Her expression instantly soured at being called an 'ordinary civilian.' Without a word, she tapped into her mana. A brilliant, blinding wave of pink energy erupted from her body, her human flesh melting away to reveal her true Anodite form. She hovered off the deck, her hair flaring like ethereal magenta flames as she glared down at the stunned Enforcer.
Ultimos blinked, taking a slow step back from the glowing entity of pure energy. "Alright... you may enter." He lowered his arm for Gwen, but immediately raised it again to block Grandpa Max. "But you still cannot."
Seeing the blatant disrespect happening again, Klein's eyes cooled. He stepped right into Ultimos's personal space, his voice dropping to a dangerously quiet pitch. "Max Tennyson. Have you heard the name?"
"Of course," Ultimos replied automatically, his chin raised. "The legendary Plumber's reputation has spread throughout the entire universe. His tactical brilliance is—"
The caped alien froze mid-sentence. His eyes widened to comical proportions as the realization hit him like a physical blow. He slowly turned his head, staring at the old man in the Hawaiian shirt with absolute shock. "You mean...!"
Klein gave a single, sharp nod. "That's right. He is."
"Magister Max Tennyson!" Ultimos practically snapped to attention, saluting with rigid precision. "It is an absolute honor! I have studied your combat logs extensively!"
The sudden, intense shift in attitude made Grandpa Max shift a little uncomfortably, but the veteran Plumber offered a polite, practiced smile in return.
With the clearance issues finally resolved, the entire group relocated to the ship's central conference room.
The sleek, circular chamber hummed with advanced technology. Standing at the head of a holographic table, Ultimos began a detailed, highly technical presentation on Mochana and Kraab's criminal history. Ben, Gwen, and Max leaned in, listening intently to the tactical breakdown. Klein, on the other hand, leaned back in his chair, his eyes glazed over. He was completely lost in his own thoughts, utterly uninterested in the bureaucratic rambling.
The briefing dragged on until Ultimos brought up the core threat. "Mochana recently infiltrated a secure facility and stole a volatile compound known as Element X. Intelligence suggests they have come to Earth to locate a rare substance called Baisinion alloy. When combined, they will create a bomb with catastrophic explosive power."
Gwen leaned closer to the table, her eyes scanning the glowing blue virtual projection of the Baisinion alloy's molecular structure. She tilted her head, a frown creasing her forehead. "This... looks a bit familiar."
Hearing the word 'familiar,' Klein finally snapped out of his daydream. He blinked, leaning forward to inspect the floating holographic diagram. He stared at the atomic arrangement for a few seconds before letting out a dry scoff. "Isn't this stuff just... iron?"
Klein shook his head. Aliens really loved giving grand, overly dramatic names to the most basic elements in the universe. However, while Klein was busy critiquing extraterrestrial naming conventions, the rest of the room was focused on the actual tactical advantage. They finally had a solid clue to track the bounty hunters.
Ultimos immediately stepped up to the main console, his fingers flying across the glowing interface. He tapped a final command, and the massive silver-white battleship deployed a swarm of sleek, drone-sized detectors from its lower launch bays. The tiny machines scattered into the Earth's atmosphere like a flock of metallic birds.
"The drones are scanning the planetary grid for high concentrations of the alloy," Ultimos explained, turning back to Klein and the others. "If the detectors find anything, they will notify us immediately."
He had barely finished his sentence when the console let out a sharp, rhythmic ping. The detectors had already found a match.
Klein raised an eyebrow. The Enforcers' technology was undeniably impressive—or perhaps it was just that tracking massive deposits of basic iron on Earth wasn't exactly a difficult task. Either way, Klein didn't bother looking at the coordinates flashing on the screen. He leaned back in his chair, a faint, lazy smirk returning to his face. After all, if he bothered to memorize every little detail beforehand, where would the fun be?
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