Ben had only been to five star restaurants a few times in his life.
Each time had been an event held by the Plumbers for him and his grandfather in honor of the large amount of work they put in to keeping the Universe at peace.
However this time, it was because the scary homicidal sister of his friend's friend, who according to them, was a master manipulator and certified psychopath, was now taking him out to eat to find out if he knew where her brother whom she wished to kill was, which he actually KNEW but couldn't tell her.
Hurray. Talk about backfiring plans.
the scary part was that Ben had NO idea WHY he himself had been brought alone. Azula didn't know did she? Was she interested in the Omnitrix?!
He had no experience regarding this highly dangerous person that Sokka, Toph and Katara often talked about with caution and fear.
He knew that once, she had pursued Team Avatar so relentlessly that the entire party nearly went crazy from lack of sleep, which made Ben wonder if Azula herself ever slept. She had even resumed tormenting and manipulating Zuko when he had been apparently accepted back into the Fire Nation by his father.
Ben had met psychopaths. He knew a few criminals that still scared him through their sheer memory. But if half of what he heard about Azula were true, he wasn't even sure that Vilgax could intimidate her or force her under his thumb.
There were several people who Azula fell into the same category as on his friend's descriptions alone, and they were Zs' Skayr, Aggregor, Michael Morningstar and Zombozo. People who couldn't be bought or paid off and whose minds and inability to feel remorse made them far more dangerous than even their powers implied. And that was considering that some of them were already dangerous on their powers alone.
Considering all his victories over the years against these enemies, Ben sometimes wondered if he just had some sort of extreme luck. Especially considering that alien weapons, like guns, for all intents and purposes, should have counter measures against alien powers right? Shouldn't an alien rifle be designed to punch through something like Cannonbolt's armor? Perhaps there were just so many alien species with different abilities, it was just too expensive or too much work to design anything like that. That would definitely make sense at least.
After all, not every alien had super powers. But here he was getting off topic when he was sitting at a five star restaurant having lunch with a PSYCHOPATH!!
"Now." said Azula as she and Ben sat at the booth in the large restaurant filled with sweeping architecture, most notably the paintings of Dragons and Phoenixes dancing through clouds and mountain villages. "I must admit you are a strange one, simply put, you've ignited my curiosity Bob Fire."
"Have I now?" Ben asked.
"You are adopted that is apparent. I am used to being able to figure out instantly where a person is from merely from looking once. Your father is from the Southern Water Tribe. You however, I cannot place you. Where are you from?"
Finally Ben understood. His appearance must've been such an anomaly for Azula that she had become fiercely curious. He had seen many humans who had resembled certain races in this world. Katara and Sokka definitely looked like inuit people. Toph and Jin looked like they could be chinese. Azula herself seemed to look Japanese (even though it was tough to tell the difference for Ben). But he had not seen a single American-looking person or European type ethnicity the entire journey.
Ben could only speculate how weird he must look to everyone with his longer nose and his differently shaped eyes.
"You're going to have people look at you this way whether you like it or not, and it'll make it hard for you to keep your cover." Katara had once said to him. "So if you ever run into anybody who asks about this, just say-."
"I'm very mixed." Ben said. "Uhh, my mom was from the Southern Water Tribe, my Dad was from the Fire Nation, my grandpa however was an Earth Kingdom soldier."
"I see, well that's the most diverse family group I've ever come across." Azula said calmly as she took a sip of tea. "I suppose you must find it odd that I'm having this conversation with you, when it would probably be more proper to discuss business with your father."
"Yeah, I do find it weird in all honesty." said Ben. "Er.. no disrespect your general-iness. I mean as Salespeople say-."
"Oh don't give me that sludge." said Azula with a smirk. "We both know you're not a salesperson. "
Ben felt his heart beat faster as his hand inched towards the Omnitrix under his sleeve.
"You're a warrior." said Azula. "Probably a bender who has enlisted before, and yet now your father, under the pretext of family, has forced you stay behind and help him work his odd business."
"Uhh, yeah, h-how'd you guess?" Ben asked.
"The way your eyes move. From the moment we met, you were analyzing me, looking for weaknesses in my gait, thinking about what technique to use in the event of a surprise attack. It's hard wired into your mind." said Azula. "You can't turn it off can you?"
Ben had to admit, Azula was good. It was true, that even when in a casual situation, Ben would remain just a smidge alert, ready to smack his hand down on the Omnitrix and transform in an instant should an enemy emerge. Analyzing constantly what alien to use in what situation.
The fact he was weak while he was human was his weakness. Developing the instinct to instantly transform at close to the speed of thought was something his Grandfather had trained him in from the time he was 10.
By the time he fought the Negative 10, Ben had already developed the steadiness and instinct of mind to transform while being thrown through the air. (something he did during Race Against Time and various other times in AF.)
"I suspect you practice Ishiya Style Fire Bending, a type of bending combat that always starts with a flick towards your left wrist. A predictable style, but strong." said Azula. "The fact that you have such combat instincts and yet your body bares no visible scars or marks, tells me that you were so skilled, you never lost a fight, or at least you won most of the fights you picked."
"That's also true." Ben said truthfully. "But I've still lost a few, some of those losses cost me a lot more than limbs or visible scars."
"You're wasting away under your father Bob Fire." said Azula. "I will give you some advice. Family is nothing but a glorified Social Construct, designed to keep people dependent and weak. I was once subjected to such a weakness, but I severed it after the 100 year war."
"If you don't fight for your family then what is there to fight for?" Ben muttered. "I mean you're definitely not a patriot. You betrayed the Fire Nation in the end. Or is it patriotism for your father's Fire Nation that is now gone? But wait you said you severed family-."
"Power Bob. Gaining power so that you might reach the heights necessary to gain even more power, that is all there is to fight for in the end." said Azula. "The Matriarch was the best starting point for me to seek the power that would propel me above this weak planet and to the universe beyond. But I cannot do it alone. There must be others to take this rise with me, the rise to gaining ultimate power. Power that can be yours, no, ours."
Azula leaned forward, her voice dropping to barely a whisper, so Ben had to lean forward too just to hear it.
"I'm building a team, a special task force." said Azula. "I do not plan to languish in the service of arrogant masked fools forever. And you Bob, I believe, are just the talent I need. Abandon your father's pointless venture and join me on the path to the battles you so crave."
Ben could feel his heart racing faster than Jetray could fly. There was an opportunity here. Azula was a general, and there were questions that needed answering.
Obviously Shivura hadn't been completely honest to some of her fellow Ladies. For one, as expected the Teacher and Azula didn't recognize the Rust Bucket. Also, Azula didn't see the obvious signs of Ben getting ready to wield the Omnitrix and decided to put it down to a rare Bending technique. Why was that? He needed to find out. Were the Ladies the sort to compartmentalize information?
Also this was a good way to steer Azula and the Ladies away from Zuko. If he got close enough, Azula would definitely believe whatever lie he told her, no matter how intelligent and cunning she was due to her blind trust in him. And before he and the others left, he could cause the Ladies to waste their resources searching on the other end of the globe.
Katara would probably beat him up about now for plunging forward without the consent of the rest of the team, but Ben leaned forward, removing the monocle and hat that were part of the disguise. "Sounds interesting. Are there others you've got in mind for this gig?"
"I already have a few set up in my Task Force. A few old friends, a few new ones." said Azula. "You'd be the last member if you're up for it. I just need some time to assess you."
"Assess me?" Ben asked. It would be bad if Azula asked him to do a bending demonstration.
"Your mind, your temperament. Your skill is already apparent from your day to day movements alone, yeah I'm that good." said Azula. "But there will be times in which your loyalty and your adherence to the cause and me will be tested. So you will go through several trials to determine such. I was betrayed before, so you can rest assured I'm not about to let it happen again. I'm looking for loyalty beyond loyalty. I'm looking for utter devotion."
"Okay, so then when do we start?" Ben asked.
"Oh, eager I see." said Azula as the waiter arrived with several dishes and set the food on the table before them. "You could say we've already started. "
Later, after the food was finished, Azula and her guards brought Ben outside to see that Sokka was still waiting next to the Rust Bucket with Laoguan. Jeez talk about making people wait.
"I have decided that I will hire Mr. Wang Fire and his Son to be our new School Bus Drivers to organize field trips for our Younglings." said Azula.
"WHAAA!?" said Sokka, his jaw dropping.
"Rest assured, in exchange for my dear Zu Zu's location I will grant you daily pay of more money than you can possibly dream of." said Azula. "You couldn't say no to that could you?"
"U-uh I guess!?" said Sokka.
"Good." said Azula. "I will you first thing tomorrow morning, we need to go over a list and route of where and when to pick the students up. Still, I believe a makeover is in order for this Steam Bus, it looks completely unusual."
Later back at the inn, Katara was freaking out as Ben predicted.
"Are you insane!?" Katara exclaimed. "Me and Toph sneaking into the school was already danger enough, but Azula should be a sign that a wrench has been thrown into this entire plan! We need to go now! Right away!"
"Come on! We have an opportunity to know MORE of what the Matriarch is planning AND get a first look into their education system and how they think! What more could you want?" Ben asked. "Come on Sokka back me up!"
"Actually, for once, I'm in agreement that my plan has been completely compromised." said Sokka. "You haven't met Azula Ben. She's so cunning that just her existing was counted as a risk factor in every plan I've ever made from the day we first ran into her years ago."
"Overkill much?" Ben muttered.
"Trust us Ben, you don't want to be involved with Azula." said Toph. "Zuko had her institutionalized for years and no matter how he tried, she wasn't somebody who could be 'saved'. If I wanted to compare her to a guy in one of your movie things, it's the Joker all the way."
"The Joker..? Eh I don't know she's not as laughy." said Sokka. "Maybe if she put on some makeup and a purple shirt..."
"She means that they're both amoral, unsavable, psychos." said Katara.
"Right right, but I was thinking that Azula is more of a Ras Al Ghul." said Sokka, still stroking his chin in thought.
"Oh brother." Katara rolled her eyes. "Anyways, Ben, involve yourself with Azula and you will get hurt."
Ben closed his eyes and heaved a deep breath. "Guys, I understand, really I do. But I've done this sort of job longer than any of you. I know I'm close to the youngest guy here, take 10 million years, but I've been Hero Timing it for 6 years. I've seen bad. I've seen Serial Killers. I even fought a world ending demon god. I'm nervous about this too, but I think I can handle Azula."
Katara closed her eyes. "Ben I'm sorry but I'm putting my foot down. I do have faith in you, but Azula's too dangerous a person for me to risk putting one of my family in danger like that. You could beat up people all day if you wanted, but Azula's not dangerous because she can fight. She's dangerous because she can play with you like a doll and you'd never even know it."
"I know that." Ben said. "Which is why I'll have backup. I'll have Toph hiding out nearby, and she can sense if Azula is ly-."
"No I can't." said Toph.
"HUH!?"
"She can literally lie to anybody's face and I'd sense nothing." said Toph. "She's that trained."
"You know what? Maybe this is a mistake." said Ben with a sigh.
Sokka grinned. "Glad you came to your senses my alien hero buddy! Now lets pack our bags and-."
"But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try." Ben said. "I'm substitute avatar remember? Until Aang gets back, it's my responsibility to give Zuko the best chance he's got against his crazy psycho sister. We're doing this! Plus you can't deny the opportunity of feeding Azula and the Ladies false info on Zuko's whereabouts! It's perfect!"
"You're not going to back down are you?" Katara asked, her eyes looking sad.
"Nope."
Katara nodded. "Fine. But Toph is backing out of the school mission. I'll do that one myself. She'll be your backup this time."
"But she can't sense if Azula's lying remember?" Ben said.
"It's not about seeing lies." said Toph. "It's because I know her, and if she figures you out, she'll have a near failsafe perfect trap ready, even for your arsenal of aliens! I'm getting you out of there the moment I feel there's trouble!"
"Oh man." Sokka grumbled. "This is going to be Ba Sing Sei all over again isn't it?"
The next day, Katara went back to the school under the watchful eye of Sokka using the Plumber's badges from the Rust Bucket, while Toph hid out of sight, using her seismic senses to her advantage as Ben and Sokka used the Rust Bucket to drive around, picking up random Lady Younglings for school.
They were made to paint the Rust Bucket black (which could hopefully be washed off later, Ben did not think his Grandpa would thank him for ruining the Rust Bucket's 'character').
And using the Rust Bucket's multidimensional shifting, it folded up all its furniture, kitchen and even all of Sokka's random clothes that had scattered over the place over the months, and replaced it with rows of black leather seats.
While it was nerve racking driving around alien children while Sokka was disguised with a beard, Ben noticed why the Rust Bucket wasn't the 'amazing marvel' that he and Sokka thought it would be when they came up with their disguise plan at first.
There were already multiple sleek black vehicles with bright green neon lit wheels driving around the town, picking up Younglings.
Of course aliens would integrate alien tech for transport.
Though it appeared they didn't fly nor have as nearly a durable hull as the Rust Bucket. It was odd to see that even 10 million years later, the alien technology stored in the Rust Bucket was still top of the line.
In fact, the tech the Ladies used in regards to weapons were suspiciously low. He had seen nothing that even reached above Level 5. Just what was the state of the aliens in the Universe during this time period anyways?
After the Rust Bucket dropped off the last few chattering robed masked girls at the school, Azula walked over to the door of the vehicle and nodded. "Oh Mr. Fire, I would like to borrow your son."
"Sure! Just have him back before curfew! We're having Rabiroo stew! Yummy yummy, in your tummy! Haha!"
Ben tapped his wrist as he got off the Rust Bucket, activating a Plumber's Badge function in the Omnitrix that allowed Toph's words to project directly as vibrations into his skull so he could listen without Azula hearing.
"So what's today's trial?" Ben asked.
"Nothing too hard." said Azula. "But lets not rush, for now lets see how well you do at basic combat. Hand to hand, no bending."
Azula suddenly ducked as a man in black clothing, wearing a hooded mask suddenly let out a roundhouse kick at the unsuspecting Ben.
Ben immediately brought up his arms to block the man's kick, skidding back a few feet, and as he did, two more masked men leaped out of the alleyways, dashing towards Ben.
Ben's brain went on autodrive as he sidestepped a few well placed punches and kicks, before he tripped his first attacker with a foot.
He then kicked the man who tripped in the back as his arms waved like windmills, and he collided with the other two men, sending them falling like a stack of dominoes.
"Impressive." said Azula. "I see you do have good reflexes, even if your fighting style is very improvised."
Ben turned to Azula, intending to give her a confident grin to sell the bit, but the moment he did, Azula's face turned slightly pink, and she stepped away abruptly. "Apologies, that was a bit close."
"Wait did Azula just apologize to you?" Toph's voice came through Ben's head loud and clear.
"That weird?" Ben muttered in undertone.
"Not sure yet, but it feels for me to hear her say it I know that much." said Toph.
"Now, I believe the real trial is right here." Azula said, snapping her fingers.
Immediately, two guards brought over a frail looking old man, who looked as if he might be an Earth Kingdom merchant.
"P-please I'm begging you!" squealed the merchant.
"Wait, I know that guy." Toph said. "He used to own a restaurant in Ba Sing Sei before Old Iron attacked after the Hundred Year War!"
"This man was caught in he city illegally selling vegetables without a license." said Azula as one of the soldiers brought in a merchant's cart filled to the brim with cabbages.
"Cabbage." Ben muttered.
"Yes, Cabbage." said Azula as she picked up one of the vegetables and crushed it in her fist with a "crrrrunch".
"MY CABBAGES!" screamed the merchant as one of the soldiers kicked over the cart and began smashing it with his spear.
"Duuude, his cabbages." Ben said.
"Those who do not obey the law in this city are met with swift punishment. And this punishment today, will be carried out by you." said Azula, tossing Ben a spear.
Ben caught the spear, and stared down at the fearful merchant, who was now sweating profusely.
"Please! You already took my cabbages! Don't take my life!!" squealed the man.
"Isn't this a bit harsh?" Ben asked.
"Loyalty demands absolute obedience. If you can't do what you're told, then you have no place with me." Azula growled.
"Ben I've got this!" said Toph. "Just do it, trust me."
Ben gulped as he took the spear, shut his eyes and immediately stabbed it straight into the man's chest.
The Cabbage Merchant let out a choking sound, and fell over, his eyes closed.
"Hmph, not bad, not bad at all, can do with some less hesitancy, but that will come with time." said Azula as she walked off.
Ben looked shakily down at the Cabbage Merchant who opened one eye. "I'm not dead..?"
"SHHHH!!" Ben shushed him as he held up his spear, which had it's metal tip bent into a blunt ball thanks to a certain Metal Bending blind girl hiding nearby.
"Right right.." said the Cabbage Merchant as he closed his eyes, stuck his tongue out and resumed playing dead.
"Toph, I friggin' love you." Ben muttered in undertone as he followed after Azula.
"Yep, Keep telling me how awesome I am, it's only natural." said Toph, her voice sounding quite smug now.
"Next task?" Ben asked as he caught up with Azula.
"You really are an eager beaver." said Azula with a raised eyebrow. "But nothing is ever so simple. I need to be absolutely certain that I will never be the one you betray. For now however, I think it's time you met the rest of the crew."
"Crew?" said Ben.
"Who you'll be working with. They all come with their own special skills, you might say." said Azula as a dangerous smile played on her lips. "You'll like them, I'm sure."
"I'm not going to like them am I?" Ben muttered.
"Nope." said Toph.
Back in the school, Katara was between classes now, looking around as she attempted to find anything that could give her extra information.
That's when she heard it.
"Headmistress, I know how you feel about the current situation. But the 5th General shouldn't yet be allowed to move, there is too much about him we don't know."
"Either way, I don't think we should tarry on such a subject. The fact of the matter is he is the best chance Shivura thinks we have to counteract Ben 10, their powers are similar after all.."
"If that is what the Matriarch desires-." Laoguai was standing before a large desk where another Lady, probably the Headmaster, sat, writing paperwork.
"Shouldn't we alert Azula that it is suspected the one known as Ben 10 might be here?" asked Laoguan. "After all, the Null Guardian at the walls was quite telling. We know that his grandfather owned a Null Void Projector."
"That would be pointless, and Azula would agree." said the headmistress. "We have yet to receive a full description of his appearance. The cameras were unable to catch his human form in its entirety on that ship, and as far as we know, only his Tetramand, Aerophibian, Segmentasapien and Incendiowyvern forms are truly known with descritpions on their precise appearances. And the only one who knows what his human form appears as is not sharing."
"Tsk, of course Lei Lei would want all the glory for herself." said Laoguan. "Hmph, he's a human from the 21st century, his appearance probably wouldn't fit in with the others-."
Laoguan froze. "That salesman's son. The one called Bob Fire.. wait a minute."
"We need to get out of here!" Katara whispered to her Plumber's badge.
"Ben's still with Azula! We can't just come up with any old excuse!" Sokka said.
"That doesn't matter! Ben's blown, and so are you! We need to get out now!" Katara exclaimed running back.
Suddenly Katara tripped on the hem of her robe and she let out a squeak as she tripped headfirst through a slightly open doorway, before tumbling and rolling down a narrow flight of stairs.
She was now lying inside a large room, moaning. Metal and strange lights and computer terminals that did not match the traditional Earth Kingdom style of the rest of the school building surrounded her.
She stood up, rubbing her arms as she felt a familiar greenish glow bathe her eyes in its eerie light.
Glass pods, all of them containing girls wrapped only partially in cloth, wires sticking into their bodies, their eyes closed, their faces wearing breathing masks.
But this time it was different from when Katara was captured. This time there seemed to be a long tube going into each of their throats. The tubes all led up to a large tank of some sort on the ceiling, placed underneath orange heating coils that were warming-.
"Eggs?" Katara murmured as she stared at the strange round black things that were crackling and clicking, as if something were lurking inside.
"What is this?" Katara whispered in a trembling voice. "Sokka, are you getting this?"
"N-no I can only hear what's going on. Katara, you need to hurry! I don't know why exactly but some messengers have started running to where Azula and Ben are supposed to be, I told Toph, but they're not exactly in the best situation right now."
"Crraaaccckkkleeee...cccrrraaacccckkkllle."
Katara went silent. One of the eggs, it's body gelatinous and not solid like previously thought, began oozing down one of the tubes.
Katara could only watch with absolute horror as the egg oozed into one of the girls.
The girl's eyes flitted open, rolling into the back of her skull in agony as she convulsed, the egg pushing into her throat as cracks and snaps could be heard erupting through her entire body.
Then she went still. Unusually still, her eyes becoming calm as her irises turned pitch black, and her pod slid open with a hissing sound.
She sloshed out of the water, green puddles trailing from her skin as she hugged her chest, gasping, looking confused.
She stared at Katara for a moment as Katara stepped back, ready to water bend from the jug hidden in clothes.
"W-waaaaaaaahh!" the girl fell down on her butt, as if she didn't quite know how to walk and began crying.
She was like a baby.
"Now now, there there." Laoguan suddenly glided in. "Oh, it seems you've stumbled into our local Nursery Ms. Saphire. No worries, I suppose you probably got lost."
"Sh-she doesn't know who she is-?"
"Of course not, she was only just born right? Of course she will grow a new personality after we plug her to the Matriarch Quick Learning Module and upload her basic childhood parameters. You're only a few weeks old yourself you know, you had to go through the same thing." said Laoguan as she wrapped a towl around the crying girl. "Hello? Ming!? Come here and help please!"
"Yes M'lady." another Youngling Lady glided into the room with a stack of clothes in her arms. "I have just the masks to choose from as well in the other room.
"Why of course."
"What is this!? Wh-what happened!?" asked Katara, feeling bewildered.
"Oh of course, you probably haven't learned yet. Our species, well long ago a great disaster befell the males. As a result only the female portion of our race remained and we had no way to procreate. You see among the species of the universe we're quite unique." said Laoguan. "Rather than conventional.. mmm.. intercourse, we reproduce by laying eggs on the female side, providing the mind and the nerves. The males lay bodies, providing the genders and literally everything else.."
"N-no way.." Katara squealed, her voice becoming even more faint as she resisted the effort to vomit. "N-no.. no. no.."
"That's how I reacted the first time too." said Ming. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
"While we discovered that we could create hybrids through the fertilization of the bodies of other species, hybrids like yourself.." said Laoguan. "It required a lot of work. First it can only work on females of other races, unfortunately, and first we do need to infuse plenty of our DNA into the host body first. But then after that is finished, well we simply lay our female eggs within the host body and then.."
Laoguan gestured to the trembling girl who was sucking her thumb, her irises still unusually black. "Life.. the miracle of life."
"And th-the host?" Katara asked.
"Why they're gone of course, the body goes to a far more suitable species." said Laoguan. "Isn't that right Ming?"
"O-oh yes M'lady." Ming began to move forward, only to squeal with fright as she tripped and collided with a book shelf.
Her mask and bandages fell off her head, to reveal a girl's face. A girl with grim looking eyes, messy short hair, and markings on her cheeks. A horrifyingly familiar girl.
"Sm-Smeller.. Bee?"
"Smeller-what?" asked Ming.
Katara fell into a panic attack as she turned right around, scrambling to get up the stairs as fast as she could, only to stumble on the top step and collide with the wall.
She let out a cry of pain as she felt her wrist snap with the frantic collision.
"Shrrk.. crrrk.. crrrrrrrkk.."
She fell to her knees and watched as her hand made twisted crackling motions, and her wrist healed in an instant.
"Oooohhh shit." Katara swore as she stared at her now perfectly fine wrist. "oh shit shit shit shit."
"Ms. Saphire? Are you alright?" Laoguan called up. But Katara was already running out of the school in a full frenzy, using her water bending to conjure up a massive wave from a nearby fountains so she could ride it over the large wall of the school's grounds.
She dove into an alleyway, vomiting as she went, hugging her gut as Sokka ran up to her, looking pale.
"D-did I hear all that right?" Sokka stammered. "K-Katara!? Katara come on!"
"We need to get the hell out of this cursed town!" Katara gasped. "We need to get Ben out of here!! None of you should see this! None of you! This place is hell itself!"