Ben 10: My Cousin is an OP Slacker — Chapter 210

Chapter 210: Why Does He Keep These Things at Home?

“Brad? No! Even you!”

“Destroy this Earth woman!”

“Yes, Master.”

“No! Don’t listen to him! Brad!”

Cheesy dialogue blared from the television screen, accompanied by the exaggerated screams of a B-list actress. Inside the dimly lit bedroom, Klein and Ben sat slouched against the headboard, a massive bucket of buttered popcorn resting between them. The flickering light of the TV and the pale moonlight spilling through the window were the only sources of illumination in the room.

Ben shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth, his eyes glued to the monster movie. “Hmm… Cousin…” he mumbled around a mouthful of food. “Munch, munch… You’re not heading back yet? It’s getting pretty late. Is it really okay for you to stay out?”

Klein did not even shift his gaze from the screen. He reached lazily into the bucket, grabbed a single kernel, and tossed it into his mouth. “Don’t worry about it. Have you forgotten who lives at my place? I won’t be like you, getting grounded and scolded for missing curfew.”

Ben swallowed hard, a look of sudden realization washing over his face. “Oh, right. Never mind.”

Meanwhile, miles away, the night was far less peaceful.

Outside the perimeter of Klein’s secluded villa, the shadows shifted. A squad of Forever Knights crouched in the bushes, their heavy medieval armor clanking softly against the high-tech energy rifles slung across their chests. The juxtaposition of ancient crusader steel and glowing futuristic weaponry made them look entirely out of place in the quiet suburban neighborhood.

“No lights on anywhere,” one of the grunts whispered, peering through the iron fence. “He’s really not home!”

“Of course he isn’t home,” the leading Knight hissed, slapping the back of the grunt’s helmet. “This is a golden opportunity. I painstakingly tracked his movements to ensure this window of time.”

The squad shifted restlessly. The leader straightened his posture, his voice dropping to a harsh, authoritative whisper. “Hurry up and get into position! We need to breach the perimeter and capture that Galvan before the target returns!”

“Yes, sir!” the Knights responded in hushed unison.

The atmosphere grew tense. Their grips tightened on their energy rifles. This was no ordinary burglary; this mission was directly tied to their sacred, dragon-slaying oath.

The great Evil Dragon they had hunted for so long had managed to escape Earth on a stolen spacecraft. The Forever Knights were not the type to let a grudge go. They fully intended to hunt the beast to the very edge of the universe. Their top scientists had already reverse-engineered a ship capable of interstellar travel, but the controls were impossibly complex, designed for alien biology and intellect. It was completely unsuitable for human pilots.

However, if they could capture the brilliant Galvan living in this house, they could force the alien to handle the ship. The Evil Dragon would be doomed.

“Move out!” the leader commanded with a sharp wave of his gauntlet.

The armored squad broke from the tree line, rushing across the street toward the dark, silent house.

“You three, take a team upstairs to sweep the rooms,” the leader ordered, keeping his eyes locked on his tactical display as he marched through the front gate. “You, take the second team and secure the backyard. The rest of you follow me to clear the first floor…”

Focused entirely on his deployment strategy, the leader did not bother looking up. He marched straight forward until his breastplate collided heavily with something solid.

“Hmm?” The leader frowned behind his visor. “Fuzzy…”

Without thinking, the leader reached out a gauntleted hand and patted the strange, furry wall blocking his path. A second later, a blast of hot, foul-smelling breath washed over the back of his neck, fogging up his visor.

He slowly turned his head. His subordinates were already backing away, their weapons trembling in their hands.

“Captain,” one of them stammered, pointing a shaking finger. “In front of you…”

“What’s in front of me?” The leader swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. “Let me guess. A monster?”

“Uh, pretty much, sir.”

By now, the rest of the squad had completely abandoned their tactical formation, retreating all the way back to the edge of the yard and peeking nervously from behind the brick wall.

Cowards, the leader cursed inwardly.

Bracing himself, he slowly tilted his head upward. Towering over him was a massive, bipedal Loboan. The werewolf alien stood perfectly upright, its thick muscles rippling beneath dark fur. Its jaws were slightly parted, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, and its blood-red eyes stared down at the intruder with predatory amusement.

The leader froze. The top of his helmet barely reached the beast’s waist.

There was absolutely no way he could fight this thing. Even with his entire squad laying down suppressing fire, their energy weapons would likely just make it angry.

The leader forced a painfully awkward smile beneath his helmet, slowly raising his hands in a placating gesture. “Brother Dog,” he squeaked, his voice cracking. “Would you believe me if I said I was just passing by?”

The Loboan bared its fangs. “Roar!”

A massive, clawed hand blurred through the air.

The impact sounded like a cannon firing. The Loboan swatted the leader with the back of its hand, sending the fully armored man flying backward. He soared over ten meters through the air, clearing the yard entirely before slamming violently into the brick wall of the house across the street. The wall cracked spiderweb patterns around his embedded body.

“Whoa! The Captain got insta-killed!”

“Run!”

The remaining Forever Knights completely lost their nerve. They turned and sprinted down the street, grabbing their dazed leader by the ankle as they passed and dragging him unceremoniously along the asphalt.

The Loboan snorted, a low rumble of disdain echoing in its chest as it watched the shiny metal men flee into the night. Yawning, the beast lumbered over to a soft patch of grass near the front gate, curled up into a ball, and closed its eyes to resume its guard duty.

Several blocks away, the fleeing squad finally collapsed into an alleyway, gasping for air.

“Are we safe now?” a grunt panted, looking over his shoulder. “It shouldn’t chase us this far, right? Cap… Captain, what happened to you? That werewolf thing was ruthless!”

The leader groaned, reaching up with trembling hands to unlatch his helmet. He pulled it off, revealing a face completely covered in purple bruises, swollen lips, and a massive lump forming on his forehead.

His subordinate’s question only fueled his rage.

“You absolute idiot!” the leader roared, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. “Did the Evil Dragon eat your brain? Why were you dragging me by the foot?!”

The grunt blinked, suddenly realizing that in his panic, he had hauled the captain face-first across several blocks of rough pavement. The captain’s head had bounced against every curb and pothole along the way, resulting in his current miserable state.

“Hiss… It hurts so much,” the leader groaned, clutching his chest. His expression twisted into a grimace.

He held a high rank within the Forever Knights, meaning his armor was forged from advanced alien alloys designed to absorb kinetic impact and disperse heavy damage. He looked down at his chest plate. The thick metal was deeply caved in, covered in jagged stress fractures. The armor was completely ruined. He knew without a doubt that if any of his standard-issue subordinates had taken that hit, their ribcages would have been reduced to dust.

“I can’t believe that Klein guy actually keeps something like this as a guard dog!” the leader cursed bitterly, leaning against the alley wall to catch his breath.

“Then, Captain, do we still need to go back and catch the Galvan?” the grunt asked nervously.

The leader’s bruised face instantly darkened. “Of course we do! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! If we give up just because of one overgrown mutt, it proves our determination to slay the dragon is weak!”

A cunning, cruel glint flashed in the leader’s eyes as he looked at the grunt who had dragged him. “In fact, I have a new tactical order for you. You are going to be responsible for luring that werewolf away from the door.”

The grunt’s face drained of all color. “Ah? Me?”

Back inside Klein’s yard, the night was quiet once more.

The Loboan lay on the grass, its breathing slow and steady. To the untrained eye, it was fast asleep. But suddenly, its long, pointed ears twitched. Its dark nose flared, taking in the scent of the night air.

The beast slowly opened its glowing red eyes. The annoying metal men that smelled like fear and machine oil had returned.

The Loboan calmly rose to its feet, its massive frame casting a long shadow across the lawn. It locked its gaze onto the lone Forever Knight standing nervously at the edge of the property, staring at him with the cold, calculating eyes of an apex predator.

“Whoa! Don’t eat me!”

The bait broke into a dead sprint, tearing across the yard. He knew he could not run out into the street, because the beast might lose interest and return to its post. His only option was to run laps inside the enclosed space, relying on the tight corners of the yard to avoid getting swiped by those massive claws.

“Quick! The opportunity has come!”

Watching from the bushes, the leader saw the Loboan chase the screaming grunt toward the back fence. He waved his hand aggressively, and the rest of the squad swarmed out of hiding, rushing straight for the front door of the house.

The leader hit the wooden porch at a sprint, lowering his shoulder and forcefully ramming the front door open. The wood splintered, the door flying inward with a loud crash.

Then, the leader froze dead in his tracks.

“What’s wrong, Cap…”

The other Knights piled onto the porch, anxiously urging him to move forward. But as they peered over their leader’s shoulders into the dark hallway, their voices died in their throats.

“No way. He keeps this thing too?!”

Standing perfectly still in the center of the foyer was a towering Thep Khufan. The alien mummy was wrapped entirely in shifting, prehensile bandages, its cold, glowing purple eyes staring silently down at the intruders.

A loud thud echoed from the yard behind them. The Knights slowly turned their heads.

The grunt who had been used as bait was currently dangling upside down, held effortlessly by the ankle in the Loboan’s massive hand. The werewolf alien stepped up to the front porch, its massive bulk completely blocking their only route of escape.

A terrifying alien mummy stood in front of them. A giant, angry werewolf stood behind them.

The leader let his energy rifle slip from his fingers, a bitter, defeated smile spreading across his bruised face. “This time, we are really finished.”