Ben 10 and Tweety: Race Against Time ch9

Chapter 9

"Here we go." Gwen groaned as Kayla rolled her eyes.

"Come on. Am I wrong?" Ben told and then asked the group.

"We got to find this Eon dude and the Hands of whatever." Ben then told the group.

"Armageddon? It means 'the end of the world.' Gwen explained to Ben as Kayla nodded.

"Ragnarock." Kayla gasped in shock causing Kevin and Ben to look at her curiously.

"Ragna-what?" Kevin curiously asked Kayla.

"Ragnarock also means 'the end of the world'." Kayla then explained to the group.

"I know that...now." Ben then told the group as he began to come up with a plan.

"I think we should start with this super secret hideout codenamed 'The Hardware Store.'  I bet it's in some awesome location totally surrounded and hidden by traps. Am I right?." Ben told the group and then asked Grandpa Max as he, Kayla, Gwen, Kevin, Grandpa Max and Grandpa Spencer arrived at the RV.

"Yeah, yeah. Now get in." Grandpa Max told Ben as he opened the backdoor of the RV causing the kids to climb into the RV.

+Outside Miller's Hardware store, Bellwood, a few hours later+

"This doesn't look like a supersecret location." an uncertain Gwen told her cousins and Kevin as she, Ben, Kayla and Kevin hopped out of the RV and looked at the hardware store.

"Miller's Hardware in Bellwood?" Ben curiously asked his cousins and Kevin as he, Kevin, Gwen and Kayla looked at the hardware store.

"A regular hardware store?" Kevin then asked the group in shock.

"Well, appearances can be deceiving." an uncertain Kayla told her cousins and her friend.

"Is this a joke?" Ben then asked the other kids as he looked at Gwen and Kayla.

"This is a joke." Kevin then unhappily told the group before he began to fake laugh.

"Not funny." Ben then told the group as Grandpa Max and Grandpa Spencer climbed out of the rv and then walked over to the kids.

"All right, come on." Grandpa Max then told the kids and Grandpa Spencer before he led them over to the hardware store and then took out a set of keys from one of the pockets in his pants.

"Grandpa Max, I've been in this store a hundred times." Ben told Grandpa Max.

"Good. Then you should know where everything is." Grandpa Max told Ben before he found the key he was looking for.

"Counterclockwise." Grandpa Max then told the group as he inserted a key into a nearby alarm that was on the wall near the front door of the shop.

"One, two, three." Grandpa Max then told the kids and Grandpa Spencer as he turned the key counterclockwise three times.

"It's impolite not to flush." Grandpa Max then told the group before he pulled the key out of the alarm and then looked at Ben causing the brunette to walk over to the alarm and then pull the handle causing a flushing sound to fill the air before an elevator arrived behind the doors of the store.

"What...Where did that come from?" Ben asked Grandpa Max in pure shock as the other kids looked at the elevator in shock as the doors opened.

"Thought you said you'd been here before. Come on." Grandpa Max told Ben and then told the group before he and Grandpa Spencer led the kids into the elevator causing them to look around before Grandpa Max pressed a button on the elevator's panel causing the doors to shut before the elevator went down.

Unknown to the group, they had been followed by a strange creature who sat on the ledge of the top window of the hardware store before he lept off of the edge and landed on the street below.

+Inside of the elevator+

Elevator music filled the air as Gwen, Ben, Kevin, Kayla, Grandpa Max and Grandpa Spencer stood in the elevator as it went down deeper and deeper below the hardware store.

"How far down does this thing go?" Gwen curiously asked Grandpa Max as Kayla looked around nervously.

"How about some cricket antenna?" Grandpa Max curiously asked the group as he took a bag of cricket antenna out of his other pants pocket.

"Helps pass the time." Grandpa Max then told the group causing Grandpa Spencer to shake his head as Grandpa Max held out the bag to the group causing the kids to shake their heads causing Grandpa Max to eat one of the cricket antennas before he placed the bag back inside one of his pants pockets just as the elevator stopped and then opened it's doors allowing Grandpa Max and Grandpa Spencer to lead the kids out of the elevator and into a strange building.

+Plumber's base+

"I know that. I've seen that sign all over Bellwood." Ben told the group in shock as he looked at a sign on a nearby door that read:

Plumbus Est Infinitus

Est 1727 C.E.

"Yeah, that's not surprising, since that's been the icon of the Plumbers for centuries." Grandpa Max told the group as he led Ben and the others over to the door.

"Nice security." Gwen told the group in awe as Kayla nodded.

"Geometric scanners, Delta-4 motion trackers. Sweet." Gwen then told the group in awe.

"What'd you think? We were just gonna ring a doorbell?" Grandpa Max then asked the group as he walked over to the side of the door and then pressed a button on the side of the door causing the sound of a  doorbell to fill the air as Grandpa Max winked at the group just as the doors opened.

"Ben, Gwen, Kayla, Kevin, I'd like you to meet the last of the original plumbers and one of their allies." Grandpa Spencer then told the group as a familiar group of people road a platform over to a nearby landing.

"Undoubtedly, you'll recognize some of them." Grandpa Max then told the group as he led them over to the platform where seven people were working on a strange control panel.

"No way. Dad?" Ben then gasped in shock.

"Mrs. Dalton?" Gwen then asked Mrs. Dalton in pure shock.

"Ms. Fera? Dad?" Kayla then asked one of the people in pure shock.

"That was sure some ice-cream party Grey Matter threw those kids." Mrs. Dalton told Ben and Kevin.

"Isn't Mr. Hawkins, a postman?" Gwen then asked the group.

"Good to see you, kids." Mr. Hawkins then told the group.

"Marcus and I are old friends. We've known each other since we were kids." Carl explained to the group.

"Fire Chief Whittington?" Kevin then asked the group as Kayla ran over to her father and then hugged him.