Right as Grandpa Max and the others set out to search for her, Ben’s reckless behavior reached a boiling point.
Having triggered a warehouse silent alarm during their little arcade-cabinet heist, her alien alter-ego was currently plastered all over the local news.
Ben didn’t even bother hiding her secret identity anymore.
Right in front of Kevin’s eyes, she transformed into Stinkfly, grabbing him by the shoulders and soaring high above the city skyline.
They used a series of dark transit tunnels to shake off the authorities.
By the time Blake arrived in the area, the trail had already gone cold, leaving no trace of the rebellious duo.
A short while later, Ben and Kevin touched down in a secluded alleyway.
Completely trusting her new friend, Ben babbled all about the secrets of the Omnitrix.
She proudly bragged about how she had ten different alien heroes locked inside the watch, treating them like a tight-knit circle of personal friends.
Though Ben had bitten off way more than she could chew this time, Blake had a massive tactical advantage.
Thanks to the extraterrestrial tracking device left behind by the Petrosapien warrior, he successfully picked up a spike in the Omnitrix’s energy signature.
He immediately slammed his dial, transforming into XLR8 to close the distance.
In a brilliant blur of motion, Blake skidded to a halt directly in their path, intercepting them.
He looked straight at Ben, his voice firm and unyielding.
“You can’t go with him, Ben.”
If this had happened a few days ago, Ben might have actually listened to him.
But right now, she was still deeply entrenched in her explosive temper tantrum, and the last thing she wanted was another lecture.
“Get out of my way, Blake!
I can hang out with whoever I want!” she snapped.
Brushing past his shoulder, Ben grabbed Kevin’s arm and marched straight ahead.
As their footsteps faded down the alley, Blake couldn’t help but yell after her, “He isn’t one of the good guys, Ben!
You have to trust me on this!”
Ben didn’t look back, stubborn as ever as she followed Kevin deeper into the city’s underbelly.
However, as the cool night air began to calm her racing thoughts, a heavy wave of regret suddenly crashed over her.
She replayed the way she had just screamed at Blake, her heart sinking.
(Is he…
is he going to completely hate me because of this?
What if he never talks to me again…?)
Lost in her spiraling thoughts, she silently followed Kevin down a set of metal stairs, emerging into a dark, subterranean subway junction.
She snapped out of her daze when she noticed Kevin messing around with a massive manual track switcher.
Ben blinked, utter confusion replacing her anxiety.
“Wait, what exactly are we doing down here?”
Kevin didn’t even lift his eyes from the heavy iron mechanism, a cold, casual smirk playing on his lips.
“There’s a high-security express train packed to the brim with cash scheduled to blast through this junction any minute now.”
He threw his weight against the lever, locking it into place with a sickening metallic clang.
“I just switched the tracks.
It’s going to plow head-first into an oncoming passenger train.”
He turned to her, his eyes gleaming with a manic, terrifying excitement.
“Boom!
Total chaos.
While everyone’s distracted, we scoop up the cash, you turn into that giant speed-demon alien, and we fly away filthy rich.
It’s the perfect crime.”
Hearing his twisted plan, the last remnants of Ben’s rebellious haze shattered instantly.
Reality hit her like a physical blow.
She staggered back, staring at him in absolute horror.
“Are you insane?!
A head-on collision will kill hundreds of completely innocent people!”
Kevin merely rolled his shoulders, letting out a dismissive, heartless laugh.
“Hey, nobody ever said making a fortune was easy.”
Seeing his utter lack of empathy, a fierce spark of righteousness flared within Ben.
She surged forward, throwing herself between him and the track switcher.
“I am absolutely not letting you do this!”
Kevin frowned, genuinely baffled by her sudden defiance.
“What’s your problem?
I thought you were backing me up.”
“Not for this!” Ben yelled, her eyes flashing with anger.
“This isn’t a prank, Kevin!
This is selfish, cruel, and completely evil!”
Seeing that his new partner was entirely useless, Kevin’s expression turned predatory.
He let out a mocking sneer, stepping into her personal space.
“Oh, yeah?
And how exactly do you plan on stopping me, watch-girl?”
Ben pointed a trembling, furious finger straight at his chest.
“You don’t care about anyone else!
The only person you ever think about is yourself!”
Kevin mocked her words, leaning in close.
“What, are you talking about me?”
“No!” Ben fiercely threw his words back in his face.
“I was talking about myself!
But at least I know where to draw the line!”
Kevin didn’t give her another second to speak.
Moving with terrifying speed, he grabbed her by the collar and violently hurled her across the subterranean platform, sending her crashing into the concrete wall.
He walked over, looking down at her crumpled form with a dangerous glare.
“I highly suggest you don’t make me angry.”
Ben pushed herself up from the dirt, a deadly seriousness settling over her features as she gripped the faceplate of her watch.
“Right back at you, freak.”
Aligning the muscular silhouette on the dial, she roared, “Four Arms!” and slammed her hand down with all the force she could muster.
But the sheer, chaotic panic behind her strike disrupted the interface.
Instead of the towering Tetramand, a brilliant burst of heat consumed the platform, transforming her into Heatblast.
Seeing the fiery transformation, Kevin didn’t flinch.
Instead, a manic grin spread across his face.
He lunged toward a massive industrial breaker box on the wall, slamming his bare palms against the high-voltage copper wiring.
Within a fraction of a second, his unique mutation activated.
Blue static electricity raced across his skin as he violently drained the entire electrical grid of the subway junction, plunging the subterranean tunnels into pitch-black darkness.
Utilizing the absolute blackout to his advantage, Kevin blindsided Heatblast from the shadows, tackling her to the ground.
The moment his hands locked onto her fiery armor, his parasitic abilities began to violently siphon the Pyronite energy directly out of her core.
When he stepped back, his dark clothes had dissolved, replaced by the jagged, molten volcanic rock of a Pyronite.
He conjured a blazing vortex of fire between his palms, laughing hysterically.
“Yes!
Finally!
My time has officially arrived!”
With a cruel flick of his wrist, Kevin unleashed a devastating blast of fire, throwing the weakened Heatblast completely off the platform.
Meanwhile, Blake had been tracking the Omnitrix signature at a dead sprint.
The moment he emerged from the tunnels, his heart stopped.
Far down the line, the headlight of the high-speed cash train was visible, barreling down the wrong track toward a packed commuter express.
There was zero time to find Kevin.
Abandoning his XLR8 form, Blake rapidly spun his dial in mid-sprint, shifting seamlessly into Four Arms as he threw his massive, four-armed frame directly onto the tracks ahead of the engine.
Planting his heavy, multi-jointed legs deep into the gravel and cross-ties, Blake extended all four of his muscular arms, slamming his palms flat against the steel cowcatcher of the oncoming train.
The impact was cataclysmic.
A deafening, metallic shriek echoed through the night as solid steel ground against Tetramand muscle.
Even with Four Arms’ legendary physical power, stopping thousands of tons of high-velocity iron was a mathematical nightmare.
The sheer momentum dragged him backward, his boots carving deep, violent trenches into the earth.
If he lost his footing for even a microsecond, he would be instantly crushed into a fine paste.
“Blake!”
Ben’s frantic scream echoed from above.
Having managed to scramble out of the tunnel, she was still in her Heatblast form.
Seeing Blake risking his life to hold back the train, she didn’t care about her own exhaustion.
She leapt onto the roof of the barreling train, trying to find a manual brake or melt the internal engine blocks to help him slow it down.
But the violent, rattling vibrations of the emergency braking action made it impossible for her to maintain her balance.
Left with no choice, she used her extreme heat to melt clean through the metal roof, dropping into the cab and desperately pulling back on the secondary mechanical throttles.
As the train slowly began to lose momentum under their dual efforts, the tracks finally broke out of the dark underground tunnels, emerging onto an elevated outdoor rail line.
Right at that exact second, Ben’s Omnitrix reached its absolute threshold, a flash of red light reverting her back into a defenseless human girl.
Fortunately, Grandpa Max’s tactical instincts were flawless.
The Rust Bucket roared down the adjacent service road, its sun-roof flung wide open as Max expertly matched the train’s decelerating speed.
“Ben!
Jump!
Now!”
Ben looked down at the open roof of the RV, then snapped her head back toward the front of the engine.
She could see Blake’s four massive arms trembling violently, his body taking the full, devastating brunt of the kinetic force.
Seeing her lingering, Blake gritted his teeth, the veins along his four arms bulging dangerously as he roared over the screeching metal, “I’m not going anywhere!
Get to safety, Ben!
I’ll catch up right behind you!”
Ben’s physical stamina was completely spent.
She knew staying in the cab as a regular human child would only make her a liability, preventing him from cutting loose.
Gritting her teeth, she took a leap of faith, plunging through the air and landing heavily onto the padded benches inside the Rust Bucket.
The moment he saw Ben reach absolute safety, Blake stopped holding back.
He unleashed every ounce of adrenaline left in his Tetramand biology.
Thick, blue veins pulsed violently across his skin, and his grip tightened so fiercely that his fingers dented the solid steel armor of the train.
“You are going to…
STOP!” he roared, his voice rattling the entire gorge.
With a final, monumental exertion of raw physical power, the train let out one last mechanical groan and ground to a complete, shuddering halt – mere inches away from the passenger express.
The moment the danger passed, the Omnitrix on Blake’s chest beeped aggressively, a flash of red light stripping away his alien form.
Depleted of every drop of energy and having skipped lunch to track Ben down, his human body instantly shut down from pure exhaustion, and he collapsed unconscious over the side of the track.
Fortunately, Grandpa Max had already positioned the Rust Bucket directly beneath the elevated rail line.
Blake’s limp body tumbled off the edge, landing perfectly onto the padded roof rack before slipping safely through the open sunroof into the cabin.
Back inside the moving RV, Blake remained completely dead to the world, stretched out on the dining booth.
Grandpa Max, utilizing his specialized Plumber medical training carefully checked his vitals before letting out a relieved sigh.
He was completely unharmed; his body had simply entered a deep stasis due to extreme muscle fatigue compounded by a lack of proper nutrition.
Ben sat silently on the edge of the booth, her head bowed low as she stared at Blake’s pale, resting face.
Her small hands were clenched tightly in her lap, her shoulders trembling with an overwhelming wave of guilt and self-loathing.
Gwen walked over, crossing her arms as she looked down at her cousin, her voice carrying a rare, heavy edge.
“Pretty incredible display, huh, bonehead?
Are you finally happy now?”
“He literally didn’t even stop to eat dinner because he was too busy sprinting across the entire city just to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed.
And while you were out there playing rebel, he was breaking his own bones to clean up your mess.”
Ben didn’t try to defend herself.
She didn’t offer a snarky comeback or an angry retort.
A few warm tears slipped from her eyes, splashing onto her jeans.
Her voice was barely a broken whisper.
“I’m sorry…
it’s all my fault.
I shouldn’t have been so stupid…
I shouldn’t have treated the watch like a game.”
Seeing the profound, genuine remorse shattering her cousin’s usual arrogant exterior, Gwen’s harsh expression softened.
She exchanges a quiet, knowing look with Grandpa Max, deciding to let the lecture drop.
After a few minutes of heavy silence, Gwen checked her tracking tablet, her expression turning serious.
“Grandpa, we have a major problem.
Kevin absorbed the Pyronite DNA from Ben’s watch.
Right now, he’s out there running amok with Heatblast’s powers.”
“We need to stop him before he incinerates a city block.”
Ben didn’t move.
She didn’t look up from Blake’s face, her fingers gently reaching out to touch the edge of his sleeve.
The usual fiery spark in her eyes had completely vanished, replaced by a cold, protective stillness.
“You guys go ahead…” she whispered, her voice devoid of any warmth.
“I want to stay here and watch over him.”
Seeing her grandson-figure’s condition causing her so much distress, Grandpa Max knelt down to her eye level, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Ben, we need you out there.
I know you’re carrying a heavy burden of guilt right now, but Blake didn’t risk everything out on those tracks just to watch you give up and hide in this RV.”
Gwen stepped up beside her, placing a hand on Ben’s other shoulder, her voice filled with a fierce, sisterly encouragement.
“She’s right, Ben.
That freak put Blake in the hospital.
Are you seriously just going to let him get away with that?”
Hearing those words, something violently snapped inside Ben.
The heavy, paralyzing guilt evaporated, instantly replaced by a terrifying, white-hot fury.
She reached up, roughly wiping the tears from her eyes as she stood up, her small hands curling into tight, trembling fists.
Her gaze locked onto the horizon, her voice dripping with an absolute, deadly venom.
“That punk…
has officially crossed the line!”