Son of Fire

Chapter Fifty Nine

Ben and Josh headed towards the basement of the castle. Which had alot of security. But not manned. Camera's surrounded the walls heading down. The further they got, the wooden look was replaced by an stone crypt look.

"So, you just happen to have a secret basement?" Josh asks.

"There's thing I need to do without being seen. Ever since you told me about your run in with the Dragon Empire a few years ago, I've been coming up with plans. But I had hoped that I didn't have to use them." Ben says, a certain darkness resided in his tone.

"And why are you showing me?" Josh asks as they approach a large steel door. On the side was a panel with a red outline of a hand.

"You'll see" He says as he presses his hand on the panel, the outline turning green as the doors split and open up. Revealing a large room, with wooden tables scattered around with blueprints and paper filled with writing scattered across. With books piled ontop of them.

"Woah. This is... Not what I expected" Josh admits. The stone walls had torches which burned brightly, lighting the room up.

"So, I have plans... Hold on" Ben says as he walks over to one of the tables and pulls out a piece of paper, filled with writing. He passes it to Josh who skims over it. "I found books that mentioned the Dragon Empire. And that name is earned. In five books, I've found references of Dragons being used in conflicts. And they had Dragon Riders who had special connections to them. And Dragons can't be touched with anything but magic. And I know that magic is based on bloodlines. Gifted to certain people, like you, Uma, Mal, and Audrey it seems. But that could just be Malificents curse. It's something I need to look into." He says as he runs his hand through his hair.

"You want to infuse people with the ability to use magic" Josh states and Ben sighs and nods.

"Yeah. We simply don't have enough magic users. Honestly, our best bet to win right now is Hades. But he is just one person. Against an army, he'd be wiped out in seconds." Ben says. Josh nods slowly as he reads the paper Ben gave him properly.

"This could be dangerous, Ben. Have you even tested it yet?" Josh asks and Ben sighs.

"not yet. I still need someone with Magic to infuse the mixture. I've had Auradon best scientists on with it, and they've given me a prototype" Ben tells Josh as he walks over to a small metal briefcase which rested against table, picked it up and places it on the wooden top abd opens it up. Revealing a vial of a bright red liquid.

"I'm not even going to ask what is on that" Josh says and Ben chuckles slightly.

"I need you to infuse this with magic" Ben asks Josh who raises his eyebrow at the King.

"I don't exactly think that's my forte." Josh says.

"The mixture absorbs the magic when you use it. I just need you to hold it and use your powers" Ben says as he removes the vial and passes it to Josh. He shrugs and takes it into his hand, and let's the flame build up inside him before letting it out of his hand. As he does, the liquid bubbles up as it begins to glow with a bright golden tint to it. Josh pulls back his powers and holds it out. Ben raises his eyebrow before nodding to the bowl of water on the table.

"I'm not touching something that has just been on fire." Ben says.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that. I don't exactly get burns anymore" Josh shrugs as he places it in the water, steam erupting from the water as it sizzles. He removes it and passes it over to Ben, who looks at it.

"So, how we testing it?" Josh asks. Ben smirks at him, reaching into his pocket and takes out a sort of injector. He places it into it and it it lights up a bright blue as it energizes and he places it against his arm and presses the trigger, his faces scrunches in pain as the liquid quickly flows into him. Josh's eyes widen in shock. Ben's eyes explode with golden energy surging out of them, his veins bulging against his skin as they glow the same colour. "Ben!" Josh yells.

"I'm okay!" He yells, his voice slightly distorted. The energy begins to fade as his body relaxes. He turns to Josh with a smile, his eyes were now golden. He unfolds his fingers as the energy that was surging from his eyes now formed from his hand. The energy swirls gracefully around his fingers before he folds them back up. "It worked" He laughs warmly.

"You could of warned me man!" Josh exclaims as he let's out a big sigh.

"Sorry man, I knew you'd try to stop me. But I needed to know. And I was right. I had two theories, One was that your powers would transfer, that I would have the fire powers. But most of my research indicated that it depended on DNA more than anything." He explains and Josh chuckles.

"And here I thought you were just good looks" Josh jokes.

"You think I'm good looking?" Ben grins and Josh rolls his eyes but a laugh escapes.

"Don't let it go to your head Beasty" He says as he pats his shoulder.

"I won't. But I do need to ask you something. I want you to train me to use these powers." Ben asks and Josh nods almost instantly.

"Of course." He says and Ben mouth splits into a smile.

"Thanks, man." Ben nods as he walks over to the table and indicates Josh over.

"What's this?" Josh asks pointing to a blueprint. Ben smiles as he pulls it from under other pieces of paper.

"Another idea of mine. I know that the barrier we had around the Isle was magic. But I think we could build one. One that wasn't magic. A sort of personal shield. Made from pure energy. But I'm stuck on building it." Ben admits and Josh scans the blueprint.

"Well I think we can agree that Nuclear power isn't the answer. Auradon doesn't have the capability to make the batteries." Josh points out and Ben nods.

"I do have an idea. Arcadia developed cold fusion batteries. I could possibly strike up a deal that could help in two ways. They provide us with the designs for them, and we offer protection" Ben offers and Josh nods. "I mean we were going to anyway." He adds.

"I think I could help with that." Josh says as his eyes narrow on a small component. "Is that a atom stabiliser?" He asks and Ben nods. "This won't work. We need to adjust it,  otherwise the battery will overload and implode." He says as he writes something on the blueprint and Ben claps his hand and smiles.

"I am glad you came back, Josh"

"I'd hope so." Josh laughs as Ben turns around and grabs another blueprint.

"What's your thoughts on this" He asks as he takes a step back and Josh steps forward.

"Woah. Is this even possible?" Josh asks and Ben nods. "You know that this is kinda dark, right?" Josh pushes and Ben sighs and nods.

"It's torture, plain and simple Josh. This is going to be used to rip the magic from them. Knowing that magic infusion works, magic diffusion can theoretically work. And it will be painful" Ben says with a dark look in his eyes.

"Ben, I'm all for doing whatever we need to do to win this war, but torture? That isn't you." Josh tries but Ben shakes his head.

"It's me Josh. I'm a king who will do whatever it needs to protect the land. And I will happily use this machine to get information. Intel we could get out of this could turn the tide of the war" Ben pushes and Josh sighs.

"Okay. I know, I'm not saying I disagree... But I don't think we should tell the others. Possibly Anna could take it but even then its a risk. This stats between us. We build it ourselves. And we will use it whenever we deem it neccesary. But... If you do this, torture someone. It will strip a part of you away you'll never get back." Josh says to Ben and his eyes dart around before giving a single nod.

"I can live with that." Is all he says and the two get to work on the blueprints. Drafting up all sorts of plans for the coming war.

So, Making Ben have a dark side (real dark side not D2 dark side) might not be a super popular move. But I think this would be him in a time of war. And Josh knows what's coming so he is willing to help Ben with his plan. And Ben has magic! What do you think?

Also, I need help from you guys. Obviously I'm writing a war, no secret there. But do you think I should include modern firearms or keep it fantasy like with flares of cool tech flared in? I'm not sure how to go. Let me know!