Hidden inheritance

Chapter 3: Confrontation

Ben found himself turned into Upgrade.

"Aaaah! Stupid watch!" Upgrade complained. He then noticed Vilgax's robotic lieutenant standing next to its master, giving him an idea. "Hey, maybe this isn't so bad after all..."

Gwen was standing near the RV now to avoid the blasts, confused at what her cousin had in mind.

"Um, Ben? What are you doing?" asked Gwen, looking at her cousin liquefy himself before slipping all the way through the battlefield.

This was going to be tricky, he needed to sneak around without being caught for his plan to work: go to the main computer, disable the ticking bomb that the Chimerian Hammer was becoming, prevent the drones from seizing him or Max taking him away from the battle. He sighed at the situation, genuinely wishing family summer vacation had been calmer or at the very least, a notch less dramatic.

As expected, they had engaged in fighting. Hordes of drones had come at Vilgax's side, while Max's blue gun activated a shield. In an instant, a flurry of blue and red blasts appeared from both sides. Neither really moved to get closer to the other, as doing so would ensure bigger damage but bigger risk for both of them. And neither the old Plumber or the Chimera Sui Generis wished to die in front of Ben.

Upgrade easily dodged the men's as he jumped from robot to robot, easily catching both fighters' attention.

"Ben! Go away! This is between us!" shouted Max, ceasing fire.

Upgrade ignored the old man, instead focusing on limiting the damage. He went from a small bioid, to an UFO like robot, to a bigger insectoid one, disarming each of them and positioning them in front of the warlord as human (alien? robot?) shield. Vilgax may have been resistant enough to take one blow, but Upgrade didn't feel content about him potentially getting shot again. He was satisfied to see he effectively managed to tamper with the battle.

Vilgax raised a brow at Ben's plan, surprised as he saw the Galvanic Mechamorph jump next to him, merging with his main drone before running back to Max.

"Grandpa!" Ben's voice came out of the drone. "This one has control over the entire ship! Go get Gwen away while I take care of Vilgax!"

He could feel everyone staring at him for doing that.

"What?! Ben, no this is dangerous! Come with us!" said Max.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, doofus?! You're gonna get yourself killed!" shouted Gwen.

Vilgax observed curiously as the boy dealt with the Tennysons, wondering what he had in mind.

"If you stay here, you'll die too! I can hold Vilgax down with his machines, just take the Rustbucket and hurry! I'll use one of the drones to escape! Now, go!"

"But-"

"Gwen! Trust me!"

Gwen silenced herself. Ben was going crazy, there was no other explanation. But since when did he care about her opinion like this? He'd always rush in the battle on his own and get himself in problems before needing her help, and now he asked her to trust him. There was no way she'd say yes. But something seemed off about Ben.

When he spoke, he sounded... troubled, worried. Usually he'd be overconfident about a fight like this, but now he seemed... afraid, unsure. Did Vilgax do that much to hurt him? But then why didn't he hesitate to take over the drones then? He didn't back down in front of Vilgax, going to control his closest robot, then why was he worried? If he wasn't worried about himself, was it for her and Max?

She shook her head, not feeling like arguing with Ben right now.

"Gwen," said Max, "we need to-"

"Let's leave."