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"Oh man... this is a nightmare come true..."

Three teenagers found themselves in the lobby of a massive skyscraper. The entire building was owned by one of the largest corporations on the planet. The three teens were unusually overdressed, with the two boys wearing uncomfortable suits and the girl in a gown.

"I look like one of those little dolls that goes on the wedding cake." The taller of the two boys sighed, tugging at his jacket for the tenth time that morning. Kevin Levin was not the 'suit' type.

"Hey, don't look at me, I think getting dressed up is a terrible idea." Ben Tennyson, the shorter brown haired boy shrugged.

The redheaded girl in the gown just groaned and slapped at Kevin's hands, causing him to stop tugging at his jacket for a moment. "I heard you both in the parking lot... and on the car ride over... and before we left."

Gwen was already annoyed and it wasn't even noon yet. "We're meeting with executive types, we have to dress nicely."

"... Why?" Kevin asked, tilting his head.

Gwen shot him a cold stare and Kevin decided not to press the question.

"Oh come on Gwen, this is a job offer, not a funeral. They want me to advertise their new energy drink. I don't think that requires the suit and tie." Ben shrugged his shoulders.

Ben Tennyson was as famous as anyone could be on Earth. While the boy was an obnoxious teenager who usually got into trouble, he also happened to be a superhero. The planet was crazy for the kid, and this wasn't the first time he had been invited to advertise something for a company. Ben loved the free stuffed – and being on TV – so he often said yes.

"Besides, you never made us get all dressed up like this when I was advertising chilly fries." Ben pointed out.

"Do you still get free chilly fries from that?" Kevin suddenly asked as his stomach gave a painful rumble.

Ben gave a grin and nodded. "Oh yeah! For life!"

"Good. Then you can get us lunch after this." Kevin grinned, crossing his arms.

Gwen gave an annoyed moan and punched Kevin in the arm. "Will you both knock it off? This isn't just some chilly fry company!"

Ben blinked. "No, it's an energy drink company... not exactly that much of a step up in the world."

"Ben... you didn't research this company at all before you agreed to endorse them, did you?" Gwen sighed, suddenly even more annoyed and rubbing her temples. "It's NOT some energy drink company... they make everything from energy drinks to energy weapons..."

Finally, both Ben and Kevin seemed a bit more intrigued.

"Weapons?" Ben asked, suddenly serious.

"Oooh... sounds fun." Kevin was already looking around, as if hoping he would find a door marked 'laser guns' that would be open to the public.

"Yes, Ben, weapons... and cars, and computers, and a lot of other things. LexCorp is one of the biggest companies on the planet, Ben!" Gwen scolded him once more for not having checked out his potential employer beforehand.

The three walked up to the receptionist booth in the middle of the lobby.

"Hi, I'm Ben Tennyson... I'm here for the energy drink commercial." Ben said, though his voice was lacking the enthusiasm he had had a few minutes earlier.

The receptionist, a thin faced woman with her hair in a bun, barely looked up from the computer screen to greet them. "Yes, yes... down the hall, take the elevator to the sixteenth floor."

"Um... thanks." Ben muttered and he started towards the elevators. Gwen frowned, noticing Ben's demeanor had changed. The boy now had his hands in his pockets and he was slouching.

"Ben...? Is everything alright?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know..." Ben mumbled. "I didn't know this place made weapons... is that really something I should be endorsing? After all the times I've had to stop the Forever Knights and Animo and every other two-bit criminal who tried to steal some weapon..."

"Hey, was that a shot at me?" Kevin frowned.

Gwen punched his arm again. Then she turned her focus back to her cousin. "Well... yeah, Ben, LexCorp makes a lot of weapons, but they also make a lot of good products. And besides, they only sell their weapons to legitimate sources. I mean, do you really think a company with this much public spotlight could do something illegal?"

The three arrived at the elevator and stepped inside. Ben let out another sigh as he pushed the button. "I guess you're right Gwen, I just--"

The moment the elevator door closed, the elevator suddenly plummeted down the shaft. They had been on the ground floor, but the elevator was moving down – and quickly.

"Um... Ben, did you forget which button was 'Up'?" Kevin could not pass up a chance to be sarcastic, even as the elevator was falling fast.

"Hero Time Now, sarcasm time later." Ben yanked up the sleeve on his suit to reveal a strange green watch around his arm. It was that watch – an alien device called the Ultimatrix – that was responsible for Ben's reputation as a super hero.

However, before Ben could even dial in a transformation, the elevator came to a jarring stop. The three teens all groaned and fell over, spilling out of the elevator doors and onto a hard metal surface.

"Ugh..." Ben groaned, now pinned beneath Kevin and Gwen.

"You know, if not for the danger and your cousin beneath us, this would be pretty nice." Kevin commented to Gwen. She probably would have punched his arm again, but before she could even get up a booming voice spoke out from the shadows.

"Ah... Tennyson, welcome."

Light suddenly flooded the once darkened room. By the time the three had stood back up and their eyes adjusted, they could see that they were in a massive underground bunker. The floor and walls seemed to be made of smooth metal with no sign of doors or windows.

The exception was about twenty feet above their heads. There was a massive television screen, and on it a face. The middle-aged man on the television was bald, and he had an unmistakable sneer of arrogance cemented on his face.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, but there is no energy drink commercial. I just needed a way to get you here... and now that you are, the fun can begin."

Gwen gasped at the face on the screen. "Ben! That's Lex Luthor... he's the owner of the company."

Lex Luthor's face smiled down at the three from the enormous television monitor. "Now, Mr. Tennyson, let's see what you can do..."

The wall opposite of the monitor suddenly gave a violent shake and began to retract towards the ceiling. Behind the wall was a dark room, and strange mechanical movement sounds came from the room.

A massive robot scorpion scuttled out from the darkened room. Almost immediately one of its enormous claws shot out and grabbed Kevin around his waist. The robot lifted Kevin into the air and started to apply pressure. Kevin struggled against the robotic claw, transforming his skin into the same metal the claw was built from.

"Kevin!" Gwen raised her hands and threw a beam of pink magical energy at the scorpion, but it blocked the beam by moving Kevin in front of it! Gwen ended the beam, and the scorpion threw Kevin at her, knocking them both down to the ground.

"Ugh... that could have gone smoother..." Kevin groaned.

Ben immediately pushed down the dial on the Ultimatrix and transformed into a large brown reptile.

"Humungousaur!" Ben cried out and he ran at the scorpion. The robot scorpion was already aiming its tail laser towards Kevin and Gwen, but Ben grabbed the tail and pulled it down quick, stabbing it into the head of the scorpion robot. The tail still fired, and the robot was destroyed.

"Is that the best bot you've got?" Ben as Humungousaur laughed, his hands on his hips.

"Actually, no." Lex Luthor replied over the monitor. "Though I admit I had hoped it would last longer than THAT..."

The wall to the left of the monitor wall suddenly retracted to the ceiling as the last one had. Ben turned, preparing himself for whatever machine might come spilling out from behind the darkness.

A large purple humanoid robot stepped out. It was larger than the scorpion and easily dwarfed Humungousaur in size. The robot was holding a oversized gun and immediately aimed at Ben and fired a barrage of lasers at him.

"Whoa!" Ben crossed his arms, trying to deflect the lasers away, but he was knocked back against the ground. "Better kick it up a notch!"

Ben transformed once again, this time into Ultimate Humungousaur. Instead of a brown reptile, he had grown several feet and become green with a spiked blue shell and tail. His knuckles were pointed up and opened – they had become cannons of a sort.

"Try me on for size!" Ben/Ultimate Humungousaur roared out as he ran to the side and started firing at the purple robot. The purple robot fired back, but the lasers it was using seemed too weak to do much to Ben's new alien body, while Ultimate Humugousaur's attacks were denting the purple robot's body.

"Come on!" Gwen called as she started running towards the robot.

"What's the plan, exactly, for dealing with a giant armed robot?" Kevin asked as he followed her.

"This!" Gwen held up her hands and created a shield of pink energy around the purple robot's gun. Unable to fire the energy, the gun overloaded and exploded, ripping the robots hands into pieces.

Kevin blinked, and looked impressed. "Nice explosion... I knew I liked you for a reason."

"Now is not flirting time." Gwen frowned.

Ultimate Humungousaur rushed forward and delivered a few powerful punches to break the purple robot down completely.

"Well, Luthor, I broke your toys, now are you going to let us out or should I come for you next?" Ben demanded, crossing his arms and turning back to the screen once more.

"Aw, but I have more toys!" Luthor replied. The only wall standing besides the one Luthor's monitor was on retracted into the ceiling, and a large silver tank rolled out.

Ben/Ultimate Humungousaur suddenly started to laugh, as did Kevin. Only Gwen seemed to be taking the situation seriously.

"Man, I just beat your giant robots... so you use a tank? This is getting sad." Ben cackled, slapping his knee.

Luthor merely smirked silently. The tank suddenly transformed into a humanoid shape. Almost immediately, the tank robot aimed at Ben and blasted him with a energy beam. Ultimate Humungousaur flew backwards, smashing into the wall with the monitor and leaving a massive dent.

Ben fell onto his face and transformed back into his original self.

"Ben!" Gwen yelled, rushing over. Kevin followed and as soon as the two were around Ben, Gwen created a dome of pink energy around them. The tank robot fired once again, but the energy beam rebounded off Gwen's shield.

Kevin checked Ben, but the boy was unconscious. "He's out like a light."

"Wake him up! I can't hold against this thing for long!" Gwen frowned, as she tried to keep the shield up. With each new blast from the tank robot, Gwen's magic was cracking.

Kevin shrugged, and punched Ben in the stomach. The boy groaned in pain and doubled over – but he woke up.

"Kevin!" Gwen scolded.

"What? He's awake, ain't he?" Kevin shrugged.

Ben groaned once more and sat up. "That thing is incredibly powerful..."

"Then let's take it apart." Kevin grinned, cracking his knuckles.

Ben shook his head as he looked down to his watch. "I have a better idea... Gwen, on my signal drop the shields and you and Kevin get back! I think I'm going to borrow Luthor's toy."

Ben adjusted the Ultimatrix with a smirk on his face. Gwen's shield was pummeled with another blast and Gwen groaned as she struggled to keep the shield standing.

"Ben, I can't keep this up..." Gwen shouted at him.

"Then don't!" Ben activated the Ultimatrix and transformed into a strange alien that resembled a robot. Its body was was green, with black stripes; but its head was black with white lines.

"Upgrade!" Ben shouted in his new voice, and the moment Gwen's shield went down Ben rushed forward and smashed right into the tank robot. A moment later the tank robot transformed from silver into the same color scheme as Upgrade.

Ben, now in control of the tank robot, aimed and fired at the wall with the monitor. The monitor blew up, sending sparks and scraps of metal across the room. The wall itself suddenly collapsed down, reduced to a smoldering heap.

"... I kinda hope he keeps the tank." Kevin admitted. Gwen merely groaned in annoyance and pulled Kevin along with her as they followed Ben.

Instead of a dark room on the other side of this wall, Ben found himself face to face with Lex Luthor. The man was standing in the middle of the room, wearing a bizarre suit of armor. The armor was green and purple, and looked extremely high tech.

"What's all of this about, Luthor?" Ben demanded.

Lex shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you're famous, Tennyson. Such a fantastic super hero... personally, I never cared much for so-called heroes. I figured I would test my toys on you before... well, it doesn't matter now."

Luthor's suit suddenly roared to life and he shot forward, slamming into the tank robot that Ben was controlling. He tore right through, ripping a hole in the robots chest and destroying it. The robot fell to the ground, smoldering and destroyed.

Upgrade jumped out of the wreckage and turned back into Ben. Luthor landed on the ground a few feet away and smirked.

Ben immediately transformed again, this time into a large Yeti-like creature; Shocksquatch. He raised his hands and fired electricity at Luthor, but the lightning just arced around Luthor's suit and was absorbed into it.

"Thanks for the charge." Luthor grinned, and held up his own hands; firing a powerful laser at Ben and knocking him across the room. Ben transformed once again, this time into an alien turtle.

"Terraspin!" Ben cried out as he spun across the room, slamming into Luthor. He knocked Luthor into the wall and continued spinning and crushing him harder against the wall. However, Luthor was still grinning behind his helmet and a moment later his suit gave off a massive burst of energy and threw Ben away, causing him to land on his shell.

"Really, where is that bravado you're so famous for now, Tennyson?" Luthor asked, as he slowly walked towards Ben.

A moment later, Gwen blasted Luthor with a beam of magical energy. The magic arced around his armor the same way Shocksquatch's lightning had and was absorbed in. Without turning to acknowledge Gwen, Luthor raised his arm and blasted a combination of the magic and the earlier lightning back at her.

Gwen created a shield, but it was shattered and she was thrown against the ground.

"Baaaad idea, pal!" Kevin came up from the opposite side, his body once again made from metal, and he punched Luthor as hard as he could. However, Luthor did not even seem to flinch.

"Oh? Was it? It seems to be working just fine for me." Luthor grinned; he grabbed Kevin and threw him into the nearest wall – and then he blasted Kevin with the combination lightning/magical ray from before.

"Lodestar!" Ben called out. Luthor turned and found Ben was now a crab clawed alien with massive pointed shoulders, and a floating head between them. He raised his hands and sent forth powerful magnetic waves at Luthor.

The waves, however, arced around Luthor's body and began to be absorbed into his suit.

"What part of this don't you get, Tennyson? You shoot some energy source at me and I'll absorb it and add it to my powers!" Luthor chuckled, but suddenly his suit began to shake. Luthor looked confused, and a moment later with a harsh crackling sound, Luthor fell on his face.

"Wha... What!?" Luthor screamed, but he could not move.

"Electromagnetic waves... you absorbed them and they destroyed your suit's computer systems!" Ben explained as he transformed back to normal. "That suit looks pretty heavy, Luthor... I'm guessing you won't be able to stand up without the suits systems."

"How dare you!" Luthor growled. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Ben just shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah... you're the guy who was going to hire me for a commercial, and instead you wasted my time. I got all dressed up for nothing!"

"Oh... maybe not for nothing." Kevin said, as he headed over towards Ben. "Looky what I found..."

He held up a disc. Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently Luthor was filming this, I guess he wanted a record of how well his robots did." Gwen explained. "... it's not a commercial, but I'm guessing if you turn this over to the media you'll be on TV for a few days."

"Yeah... and Lexy here will have a lot of explaining to do." Kevin smirked.
Happy Birthday, :iconagodofirony:! I have no idea where this idea came from, but here you go!

... Wha? Your birthday was several days ago and I am a slow bum for having taken this long to write this?

Well, that's true. XDX

Also, yeah, I'm counting this for that 100 Theme Challenge. XD I'm trying to somehow shoehorn everything I write into that because turns out 100 is a very large number. XDDDD

The robot scorpion was a reference to the giant robot scorpion in Fallout New Vegas.

The purple humanoid robot is a reference to Shinji's EVA from Evangelion.

The tank that transforms into a humanoid robot is a reference to Megatron from Transformers.
© 2011 - 2024 GoldenSama
Comments12
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ETNRL4L's avatar
Amazing! Reads like an episode. Completely in character for everyone (even Luthor). Light Gwevin. Love your Kevin. He's not as easy to write as most people think. You got him down perfectly.