Ben 10 (Reader insert)

Be Afraid of the Dark

I shook my head, focusing back on Gwen and Grandpa Max. The strange voice pushed to the back of my mind as our current situation became more dire. The fate of the world could be resting on our shoulders if we failed.

"Shouldn't we be looking for the Corrodium?" Gwen asked her grandfather as we trail after him.

The elder doesn't say anything at first, going down a ladder with the redhead and I close behind. "Easier to bring the entire kit and kaboodle back to Earth than waste time searching for a few rocks in a whole rocket ship."

"Guess we know where I got my brains from." Gwen tries for a joke, turning to shoot me a smile. But it falls as she looks closer at me. "Are you good? You're looking a little sick."

"Fine," I mumble, trying to ignore the ringing in my ears and pounding in my head. Catching the redhead's frown growing larger, I try for my own hand at lightening the mood. "But I wouldn't mind playing hide-and-seek with a few rocks. I might actually win!"

It seems to do the trick, somewhat, as Gwen turns back to bothering her grandfather for details. "You sure you remember how to fly this thing Grandpa?"

"Just like riding a bicycle." Grandpa Max said confidently, taking one of the pilot's seats. Gwen and I squeezing into the co-pilot's seat. "A hundred ton, twenty thousand mile-an-hour, high-tech bicycle." He tacks on as he begins to fidget with the controls.

Gwen and I exchanged a nervous glance, but said nothing as we stared back out at the starry expanse outside.

A ringing in my ears pitched louder for a split second. An excited giggle following shortly after.

The radio buzzes to life, a screen clicking on to reveal a little, familiar, gray alien. Ben's voice, high pitched because he had transformed into Gray Matter somewhere since we split, coming through with worry. "Yo, Earth to Grandpa! Come in Grandpa!"

"Ben?" Grandpa Max exclaims in surprise.

Though Gwen has the opposite reaction, jolting forward with a accidental harsh jab to my side. I call out my annoyance but the redhead's too busy scolding her cousin to notice. "If you're checking up on us, don't bother! We're totally handling things up here. We don't need your help."

"Wrong!" Gray Matter bites into the growing argument. "When you hear what I'm about to say, you're gonna wish you had my alien muscle with you!"

"Muscle?" I snorted as Gwen piped up after with her own taunting, "Since when is Gray Matter muscle?"

Grandpa Max interrupted before our squabble could escalate. "Please Gwen, (Y/n). Go ahead Ben."

Gray Matter nodded on the screen, looking a little more than pleased at his grandfather's support. "I figured out what old Bolthead is up to. He's gonna project a Corrodium beam from the space station to transceiver in New Mexico,"

"Which will then spread it over the entire Earth!" Max finished, watching the screens as Gray Matter showed the plans Dr. Viktor had documented. It was a basic yet completely complicated plan.

"New Mexico?" Gwen asked, putting a hand to her chin in thought. "Like when we first took on the werewolf?"

"Duh! That's why he was stealing that satellite equipment." Gray Matter explains it like he's talking to a child.

Gwen glares at the screen, huffing and throwing herself back in the seat beside me. I took a quick glance over to the elder, who's face was twisted in fear.

"A beam of Corrodium like that will mutate all human and animal life on Earth!"

"Wait, so like that mutant ray that Dr. Animo made that one time?" I asked, Grandpa Max giving a confirming nod. That's no good for the balance of the universe. A voice whispered in concern, but I squashed it down in turn to ask the bigger question. "But why? What does Dr. Viktor gain from that?" I looked to Gray Matter when the elder shrugged, hoping there was some idea bouncing around the tiny genius's head.