Hidden inheritance

Chapter 4: Incomplete Truth

But now Phil had been doing the same (seeking attention, asking for rewards, showing off), and he was a grown adult, not an immature 10-year old alien shapeshifter. It seemed as if the lessons Ben had been given ever since he got the watch didn't apply to Phil.

That, or there was something shady about the newcomer.

"This is only the tip of the old alien iceberg." said Phil. "You know, Ben, you'd make a great Plumber."

Ben gulped down his shrimp while looking down, not bothering to face the man. "Yeah, no thanks." he answered, making sure his tone didn't sound too cold.

"Really? You should really think about it though. With your powers, Max's experience and my instincts, we'd be an unstoppable team." Phil insisted, turning to Max. "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking what an odd coincidence for a Hyper Weasel and two Mega Mutts to turn up on the same day." Max pondered.

That came out of the blue. Ben blinked. Max was right, three aliens in the same location on the same night was a bit too unlikely, to say the least. Unless Vilgax left some animals behind when he went back to space, there was no logical reason for three bad guys Max knew about to all suddenly appear at the same time. Unless...

Someone was targeting him.

No way anyone knew about Ben's real identity, Max made sure to keep him a secret. Maybe he told Phil about it? So Phil would know who Ben really is. But if he did, why keep up the façade for that long? Why was he stalling so much instead of cutting to the chase?

Max was right. It didn't make sense for three alien monsters to appear when Phil was still nearby. It was as if they asked to be captured, as silly as that sounded. He probably left them in town so they'd kill Ben, but they were still too easily beaten, too easy to fight off to be a threat. So why did Phil even bother releasing space criminals like that when they weren't that hard to defeat?

"Aliens, Go figure." Phil shrugged.

"I need some fresh air." Max said, frowning. He walked out of the room, heading to the RV.

"Hey kids, order whatever you'd like on the room service." Phil said as he moved to follow Max.

It was like he wanted his plan to fail then, those guys seemed too unreliable to use against Ben, much less able to beat him in the first place. What purpose did Phil have in letting them attack innocents like that? He was a Plumber, he should be protecting people, not letting dangerous creatures roam around when he was supposed to eliminate an Omnitrix-wielding 10-year old.

Why did Phil even let Gwen stay with Ben, if he planned to kill the boy? She was an ally of Ben, she'd certainly be able to witness her cousin getting killed by her grandfather's old friend if he let her stay in this hotel room. Why take them in this room if it wasn't to trap Ben in a closed location? Okay, it would've been suspicious to only bring Ben in, but he could've told Gwen to go fetch something for him or some other distraction if he planned to off Ben without her around.

Come to think of it, Phil overdid it if he tried to look unsuspicious to them. He kept acting too nice and too inviting when they came in, and he showed them how much he got from capturing those alien guys. How was someone supposed to keep the galaxy safe if he was so quick to reveal what his job was? Sure, Max being around could help, but he certainly didn't need to show off to Ben and Gwen, or to the people he saved.

Ben started disliking the place he was in even more. It belonged to Phil and he got it from taking out aliens Ben got rid off for him. The guy was just making profit while on a mission to get rid of him, and Ben wondered if he was more annoyed with how the man toyed with him by asking him to join, or if it was because Phil got all of those gifts from saving people from danger he himself caused.