Hidden inheritance

Chapter 4: Incomplete Truth

"... and then 'kablamo', no more Vilgax. Or so I thought, until today."

Ben stayed silent as he listened to Max telling his tale as a young Plumber. He had paid attention closely to what the old man said, looking for any clues about the events that happened nine years ago. He disappointedly sighed, realizing Max had stopped his story at some old rocket launching incident. He figured out hearing about his "kidnapping" would be out of the question.

After coming back to the RV, Ben had told Max and Gwen about what happened. Or at least, the version of the events he and Vilgax agreed on. He said the ruler managed to disable the auto-destruct launch sequence but still ended up under a pile of rubble after Upgrade apparently turned his entire ship against him.

Ben claimed having redirected the ship to crash far from where it was originally parked (if he could say that about an alien spaceship), leaving Vilgax to burn inside. He still had trouble believing his lie worked, even more after Max said he sent the warlord on a nuclear rocket to explode against the Chimerian Hammer. Hard to imagine that someone who survived that could not survive a simple crash. He told himself it was for the best though, not wanting to give anyone the benefit of the doubt.

If his father (he still had trouble taking that in) was presumed dead for now, the Plumbers, Max included, should feel more at ease and lower their guard down.

He still didn't understand why Max hasn't said a thing about him being taken away yet. Vilgax just came in, it was impossible for him not to spill the beans. Come on! Sure, Ben said Vilgax barely interacted with him before trying to take off the Omnitrix and bringing him to the control room, but it felt like Max was blindly trying to avoid the inevitable. He was responsible for what happened to Ben in the first place, he should try and fix it rather than leaving Ben hanging and still hiding the truth after Vilgax obviously revealed it to the boy.

He knew today had been stressful for everyone, he just wished Max made an effort to fix his mess when it got really bad. And the old man didn't, making Ben even more upset. Why would Max not tell him he was the son of an intergalactic tyrant even after meeting said tyrant?

It's not like Ben would immediately go to Vilgax's side just because they were related. He may have felt bad for the king back there, but it's because he thought he saw him die. And because, despite just having met each other, Vilgax showed softness and trust in Ben, letting him carry out his stunt back on the ship. He had told him the truth about his origins and almost didn't mention the Omnitrix after recognizing him, as if it wasn't the reason he came on Earth anymore.

He doubted that Vilgax was heartless. He felt that the alien was maybe ruthless, cruel, definitely threatening, but the fact that he took Ben out of the way, exposing himself to a potentially deadly blast, just so Ben wouldn't get harmed... He doubted anyone could call that act heartless.

Besides, if Ben and him were related, he couldn't be that bad. 'Right? Right?!' he thought to himself.

He looked back at Max, still having a hard time believing he had secretly been a cop. According to his story, he was a Plumber, in the sense he was a space cop charged of keeping the galaxy safe. Had Ben heard about it before, he would've wanted to become a Plumber too, probably even considering himself as one in training. Now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to follow that path in the future, he didn't really get a good first impression of the job.

It sounded like a good way to officially start his hero career, but if his father was enemies with them, he seriously doubted it'd be a good idea. Not to mention Ben didn't want to be the reason one of his relatives (if he knew them like he thought he did before) died, if Vilgax wasn't the only one on the list. He'd have to look for another path if he wanted to be seen as a great hero someday, and being an intergalactic warlord's son would probably not help his case if he ever thought of becoming a Plumber.