Before leaving the plumber space port ben had to make one more stop at the plumber armory. If they were to face captain atom again ben wanted to make sure Carol had another line of defense other then ben. So ben lead them to the plumbers base in the space port. Coming to a door a scanner popped out.
"Beginning scan." A digital female voice said. It then scanned ben. "Recognized. Welcome ben tennyson." The voice said before the scanner went back in the wall. The door then opened allowing them inside. Once inside they saw what was similar to a police station but with tons of aliens. Ben started walking through the station as he was heading to the armory. The armory was basically a window where you had to sign for the chosen item. When the officer behind the window saw it was him they immediately got the paper work for him. Ben signed for the item before signing a plumber standard issue handbook with his autograph. The reason being was there were 3 chapters entirely about Ben's exploits as a superhero. By the time he was 16 he had become the poster boy for the plumbers. Soon the officer came with two skin tight suits. Ben smiled and thanked them before handing them to kara and carol.
"There two radiation proof suits of kryptonian design." Ben said.
"You guys have kryptonian tech?" Kara asked.
"Yeah. Before krypton's fate they were a part of the galactic government. You dont remember that? Weren't you twelve when you left?" Ben asked.
"Yes, but I forgot a lot of details for some reason. Dont know why." Kara explained. Ben nodded.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Well that's everything we need so let's get going. If I'm right, theres someone here i dont want to cross paths with." Ben said.
"Who? The richest person in the galaxy?" Caitlin asked.
"No. Some one even worse his name is-" ben was cut off by a booming voice.
"General tennyson! Why was I not informed of your arrival?!" Said a big red humanoid alien with a metal plate on his head. Ben immediately without hesitation straighten his back looked straight ahead and stood at attention..
"Magister hulka Sir! Im running a simple supply run! I did not want to interrupt your important business! sir!" Ben yelled in a soldier like manner.
"You are important business! Your a goddamn hero! I am hurt that you would not call ahead of time. I would have prepared a proper escort!" Hulka replied.
"Sir! I would have preferred to come in quietly and leave quietly! Sir!" Ben said.
"And yet you still made quite a commotion in the spaceport!" Hulka yelled.
"Sir! My apologies! Sir!" Ben continued the soldier talk.
"I dont want your apologies! I want your obedience! Your hard work! Your undying loyalty! Do you understand!" Hulka roared.
"Sir! Yes! Sir!" Ben said. Hulka then noticed kara, carol, and caitlin.
"Who are these maggots!?" Hulka yelled.
"Sir! Their my traveling companions! They include kara and karal zor el! Two of the last remaining kryptonians! And caitlin snow! A brilliant doctor with severe DNA alteration! They are the reason for the supply run! Sir!" Ben answered.
"And what might these supplies be?!" Hulka asked.
"Sir! One class nine thermal conduction suit for ms. Snow! And two high quality kryptonian radiation suits! Sir!" Ben answered.
"Well that's some supply run there general! What purpose would they have for these high quality items!?" Hulka continued questioning.
"Sir! Ms. Snow requires large amounts of thermal energy to live! And there is a american superhero who controls radiation after ms. Karal! Sir!" Ben yelled.
"Well that's mighty intriguing! But that doesn't excuse you from not informing your superior officer about your arrival and bringing in outsiders into a plumber base! Congratulations general your now a plumber trainer! You will run to the front desk and meet your trainee there! I have taken the liberty to assign one for you! Once you pick them up they will follow you for the period of three months! That or they perform a feat of heroics that ends their training immediately! During this time you will eat with them, you will fight with them, you will train with them, you will keep this trainee within your vision 24/7 until they're done! Do you understand?!" Hulka yelled.
"Sir! Yes, sir!" Ben replied.
"Then what are you standing here for maggot! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" He said. Ben then bolted for the front desk. Hulka looked at the girls who weren't running. "I said go!" Hulka yelled. They all soon followed ben, even carol. "I said run!!" Hulka yelled after them. The girls then went into a full on sprint.
***
When ben arrived at the front desk he slowed down. Ben wasn't really tired as being a superhero meant constant physical work. Carol and kara came next. Like ben they were fine. Caitlin however brought up the back and was panting. Her usual mode of transportation was sliding across ice by blowing a cold gust of wind to push herself. So running was a little tiring for her.
"I'm.... not.... made..... for..... running." Caitlin said breathing heavily.
"Sorry caitlin." Ben said. Caitlin moved to some chairs and sat down.
"I'm guessing that was who you were wanting to avoid." Carol said.
"Yes. Few things scare me in this universe. Hulka is one." Ben said.
"I can see why." Carol said. She liked to think nothing made her scared, but there was something about hulka that scared even carol. Ben walked up to the front desk.
"Benjamin tennyson here to pick up his trainee." Ben said to the alien behind the front desk. They held up one finger before looking at a computer.
"Their on their way." The alien replied. Ben nodded before he turned to sit down. He then ran into one of the last people he would think to find in a plumber base outside of a cell. Charmcaster.
"Charmcaster?!" Ben said shocked. Charmcaster mood seemed ok but it then became irritated when she saw him.
"Tennyson." She replied.
"Hey......" ben said looking her up and down seeing her in a plumber outfit. "What are you doing here? In that?" Ben asked cautiously.
"Your stupid cousin got my uncle and your grandpa to release me from my bag in exchange for becoming a plumber in training." Charmcaster said crossing her arms. Ben's eyes went wide as he figured it out. "Now if you excuse me." She said. Ben crossed his fingers and started praying.
"Please not her, please not her, please not her." Ben chanted.
"I'm here to meet my plumber trainer." Charmcaster said. The alien pulled out a microphone.
"Plumber trainer Benjamin Tennyson to pick plumber trainee Hope 'Charmcaster'." The alien said. Charmcaster frowned as she turned around to look at ben. At the same time ben turned to her with a pained face.
"No. No, no, no. No." Charmcaster said not wanting to accept the arrangement.
***
Charmcaster sat in the back seat of the truck in between caitlin and kara. Her arms folded and her expression was nothing but anger directed at hulka for putting her with ben tennyson. Her worst enemy after his cousin gwen.
"So what's your history together?" Kara asked. Charmcaster looked at kara before she looked straight ahead again.
"When we were kids we'd cross paths. Back then her uncle was this power hungry magician after the charms of bezel. We got one from him and I gave it to my cousin. This introduced my cousin to magic and she would become lucky girl." Ben explained.
"Your cousins lucky girl?!" Kara said excited. Ben looked back at her from the driver's seat for a second before he turned back to the road.
"Uh... yeah. Guess she stepped out of the shadows as a superhero." Ben said.
"She's been a public superhero for two years now. She has amazing potential as a hero and sorceress. The justice league invited her to join them several times, but each time she's declined. To think she's your cousin." Carol said. Charmcaster got upset hearing about how great gwen was.
"Your joking right? She's nothing more then a second rate magic practitioner. I was raised in the arts of magic, I'm only second in magical knowledge to bezel himself!" Charmcaster said trying to put gwen down.
"And yet she beat you." Ben said.
"No you and gwen tricked me! You used magic to make the totem disappear! Which reminds me. Tell me how you know magic!" Charmcaster said. Ben smiled smugly.
"You know magic?" Caitlin asked. Ben's smile grew bigger.
"No. I dont know any magic. I know magic!" Ben said as he made a card appear in his hand. He then made it dissapear, all the while using one hand to drive.
"Keep your attention on the road Houdini." Carol said. Ben chuckled before he put his hand back on the wheel.
"So you do know magic!" Charmcaster said.
"No. I dont know magic. What I know is the non magical magic." Ben explained.
"There's no such thing. Non magical magic. That's impossible." Charmcaster said.
"He means he used what normal people call magic. Here I'll show you." Caitlin said. She reached behind Charmcaster's ear and pulled out a quarter. Seeing this charmcaster put her hand to her ear. She then frowned at Caitlin.
"Why would you use magic for such a stupid reason. Magic is a sacred and ancient power. That is an insult to my heritage." Charmcaster said.
"But I didnt use magic. What I did was hide the quarter in my hand then when it was out of your sight I moved the quarter so that it looked like I pulled one out from behind your ear. Basically ben tricked you with a parlor trick." Caitlin said. Charmcaster was now looking livid.
"Hey I used no parlor tricks..... I simply gave it to the slimebiot attached to me and he held it to my back while I said it disappeared." Ben said. Charmcaster lost it.
"WHAT?????!!!!!!!" she yelled from in the truck.
***
The group stopped for the night at a motel on the side of the road. They got two separate rooms one for the girls and one for ben. Going into the room charmcaster walked in. The room had four beds per their request. An AC unit, mini fridge, and a TV.
"I hate the Tennysons!" She said. Not knowing what else to do she became like a teenage girl as she flopped on the bed closest to the door and screamed into her pillow. Here she was a 27 year old woman acting like a little girl.
Caitlin chose a bed close to the bathroom on the far end of the room. Kara and carol took the two middle beds.
"Come on Ben's not bad. He's really cool. I mean I was a supervillain but he still gave me a second chance." Caitlin said. Charmcaster looked at her with a look that said she couldn't care less.
"Ben's honestly really fun. On the way to the plumber base he turned into this black technorganic alien and merged with the truck to make this awesome monster truck." Kara said.
"I think it will be fun to see what other aliens he has and play pranks with them." Carol said. Charmcaster didnt care right now. She got up and grabbed her small bag. She then went into the bathroom. She came out a little later wearing a night gown. Carol snickered at the old style pajamas.
"What are those?" She asked with a smile. Charmcaster glared at her.
"These were a gift to me from my mother. I got them when I was six and I've used magic to make them larger as I grow up." Charmcaster replied.
"Maybe you should ask her for new pajamas." Carol said. This got a bit of a laugh from kara and caitlin. Charmcaster said nothing
"I would if I could." She said. She then said nothing more before she got into her bed. "She died when i was six." Charmcaster said. This caused an awkward silence to fall in the room.
"Sorry." Carol said. Charmcaster was silent. Everyone then decided to go to sleep.
***
Charmcaster woke up when she heard a knock at the door. She immediately hated herself for choosing the bed closest to the door. She opened it to find ben in his normal clothes except for his jacket.
"Good your up. Get ready." Ben said.
"What?" Charmcaster asked groggily.
"Get ready we have to exercise. Hulka sent me your schedule and ordered me to make sure you followed it. Dont worry I'll exercise with you to make sure your ok." Ben said. Charmcaster groaned. She had hoped when she got a personal plumber trainer that she would have a more lax schedule.
"Do we have to?" Charmcaster asked.
"Of course. I promised hulka I'd do it. And I always keep my promises with crazy maniacs who'd kill me if I dont." Ben said. Groaning, Charmcaster went to the bathroom and changed into her plumber standard issue workout clothes. They were made of an alien material but looked like normal earth work out clothes. They were white and had the plumber symbol on the chest. By the time she finished the others woke up. Caitlin had decided to join them on the workout because being a doctor she knew how important it was to exercise and she didnt get much in Wallers prison. Kara and carol slept in cause since they were kryptonian they were already insanely strong. First thing was laps around the motel building. After a few laps ben was already overlapping the two. They were side by side the entire time and both looked like they were going to die. Next was normal exercise stuff like push ups, sit ups, pull ups, squats, that stuff. Ben was supposed to teach them some martial arts as well but ben decided that they would rotate between exercise and learning martial arts between days. That way they could rest. When they returned to their rooms to shower and everything kara and carol were awake and had already showered. Charmcaster and caitlin both showered and got out to get dressed.
"How was your workout?" Kara asked.
"Exhausting." Charmcaster replied curtly.
"Well I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." Kara replied. Charmcaster looked at kara.
"I hate you superhero types. Always have a smile on your face." Charmcaster said.
"I think you'd love batman then. He never smiles." Carol replies. Charmcaster shrugged.
"Batman's just scary." Caitlin said. She never met him but from what she's heard he's the scariest person on earth.... after hulka.
"So what's this I heard about a suicide squad and a superhero actually coming after you. I heard ben say something about it when we were exercising?" Charmcaster asked.
"Your about to find out." Said a whispered voice. Everyone looked around before they saw a faint figure. It then became more visible when the girls saw the omnitrix symbol they relaxed a little. Ben was grey ghost like alien with one purple eye and black lines on his body.
"Ever heard of knocking? We might not have been decent." Charmcaster said rudely.
"I'm sorry. Would you like for me to wait until after the motel explodes?" Ben asked.
"What are you talking about?" Carol asked. The purple eye moved to look at Carol. The way Ben's eye did that was kinda creepy.
"Wildmutt picked up their scent and heard them coming. Their a few miles out and getting closer by the second." Ben replied. Everyone looked at each other. "I also caught a horrible shrieking sound that even while a few miles out hurt wildmutts ears. I think they're preparing for chromastone." Ben said.
"A shrieking?" Kara asked. Her expression worried.
"Yes." Ben replied.
"Silver Banshee?" Carol said.
"I think so." Kara said.
"Whoever they are. Their in for the fight of their life." Charmcaster said.
"Charmcaster your on support and defense. Provide spells for protection and healing." Ben said. Charmcaster frowned at him but didnt argue. Ben turned back into his normal form. "I beat them with chromastone and they come back with someone who can shatter his body. It's time I show them what happens when you try to beat ben tennyson." Ben said.
Name: Hulka
Nickname: none
Species: unknown
Abilities: enhanced strength, speed, durability, and stamina.
Skills: expert markman, hand to hand combat, expert in demolitions, expert technician, expert engineer, expert tactician, leadership, expert pilot, expert in negotiation, plumber trainer, and multilingual.
Danger level: 14 (he's that good)
Interesting fact: magister hulka is the most decorated plumber ever. After hulka is Maxwell tennyson.
Name: hope
Nickname: charmcaster
Species: ledgerdomain human
Abilities: magical capabilities
Skills: expert in the magical arts, immense knowledge of spells, vast historical knowledge on magic, expert alchemy, expert potion making, expert in voodoo, and expert rune making.
Danger level: 15 (theoretically she could make a rune that could destroy the solar system, but this would take months to create)
Interesting fact: Charmcaster and gwen are rivals in the art of magic. While gwen has more power then charmcaster, charmcaster has a wider knowledge on magic in general.
Species: ledgerdomain human
Nickname: none
Appearance: exactly like humans except their hair and eye color can be any color. Hair color is hereditary but eye color is not.
Abilities: humans born in the ledgerdomain have a higher magical aptitude then normal humans.
Danger level: 12 (normal, can be higher with a wider knowledge on magic)
Interesting fact: a ledgerdomain human and a normal human can be indistinguishable from each other. Also if a ledgerdomain human has a child outside the ledgerdomain the child will still be a ledgerdomain human even if the other parent is a normal human, but if a normal human has a child in the ledgerdomain the child will become a ledgerdomain human.
Species: ectonurite
Nickname: ghostfreak
Appearance: ectonurites look like ghosts with a grey skin, a single purple eye, two hands, and a tail instead of feet. Underneath the grey skin they have a head shaped like a upside down skull with the eyes on the bottom and mouth on the top. They have claws and striped tentacles.
Abilities: intangibility, flight, telekinesis, possession, regeneration, and in dark places even black laser beams.
Danger level: base 10, can go higher if they possess other creatures.
Interesting fact: ectonurites can regenerate their entire being, including their memories, from a single piece of their DNA. This has been shown several times by Zs'Skar one of Ben's most returning enemies. Last he was seen was in a lab on Anur transyl where Ben used atomix to make a blinding light. To prevent Zs'Skar from coming back out of the omnitrix Azmuth placed some extra security around that piece of DNA.