Undercover

Undercover is the eighteenth episode of the first season of Ben 10: Alien Force, and the eighteenth episode overall.
==Synopsis==
Ben and company must rescue Cooper, a kid genius, from the DNAliens who are forcing him to help build a mysterious arch.
==Plot==
The episode begins with Ben's team trying to set up a Teleporter Pod. Ben and Gwen are slightly nervous and Kevin activates the teleporter, but it starts to explode. Ben transforms into Swampfire in order to deactivate it, but the control panel dies. Swampfire lifts it and throws it. It breaks and explodes. The team is safe and Swampfire transforms back into Ben. Kevin freaks out because the teleporter is destroyed but says he knows someone who can fix it: a kid named Cooper. Ben and Gwen realize that it's the same Cooper that helped them fight the Negative 10 and the team drive to Cooper's house, but he isn't home. Kevin says that he never leaves his lab, so he breaks in and the team goes into the lab. They discover that it is messy, and Ben accidentally opens a message Cooper left showing him getting captured by DNAliens. Fortunately, Gwen tracks Cooper to Los Soledad, but it is shown to be empty. Ben enters into it and disappears. Gwen and Kevin follow him inside and the team discovers that it was cloaked from the outside - inside is a snowing DNAlien town.
The team hides and formulates a plan. Ben perceives that the DNAliens are building a giant arch, and the team goes to the building where Cooper is in while having to hide from DNAliens. Ben transforms into Goop and enters a room, where he sees Cooper with two DNAliens. He watches Cooper accidentally make a sound with two pieces of Varsidium that floors the DNAliens. The DNAliens surround Goop, but Goop attacks and defeats them. Gwen and Kevin break in and see the two defeated DNAliens. Goop transforms back into Ben and the four leave and try to exit the base. Cooper fawns over Gwen and Ben says that they've walked in on the biggest DNAlien plan they've seen. Cooper says that he can shut down the cloaking projector and pulls out a prototype cloaking device that can cover the four. They are now invisible and run to the cloaking device. However, their cloaking device malfunctions, and they are seen by the DNAliens, who swarm at them.
The DNAliens manage to grab Ben, Kevin and Cooper. Gwen tries to fight them, but she is defeated. A Highbreed arrives and tells Cooper that he's going back to work, or else the team will pay the price. After Cooper agrees, the DNAliens bring the team to Cooper's lab and lock them in. Ben remembers how the sound of Varsidium affected the DNAliens. Kevin absorbs the Varsidium and Ben transforms into Echo Echo. Gwen tricks the guards into opening the door and they escape from the cell. Gwen hits the Varsidium and Echo Echo amplifies the sound, knocking out the DNAliens. More DNAliens chase them, but they fight them with the sound. They go to Cooper, who is working on a machine for the DNAliens. The DNAliens guarding him drop at the sound. The four run from the DNAliens and Gwen and Kevin try to fight them, but they become surrounded by DNAliens. Cooper says that the cloaking device is near the arch. A DNAlien grabs Cooper, but he manages to break free, and Kevin punches the DNAlien away. They create one more sonic blast, knocking out all of the DNAliens.
The team arrive at the arch and Echo Echo transforms back into Ben. Cooper touches the device but has a vision of the arch activating and Highbreed ships coming through and destroying Earth. He tells the team, but Ben tells him to destroy the cloak. He telepathically lifts and destroys it. A truck drives to Los Soledad and it uncloaks, confusing the driver. Gwen destroys the cloaking device's parts, but DNAliens arrive and shoot at the team. They manage to run and enter into Kevin's car before driving away. The Highbreed tells the DNAliens not to pursue. Ben says that they need to go back and find out what's going on. Cooper agrees to help. Later, at Los Soledad, the police arrive and investigate due to being tipped off by the driver. The humans present tell the sheriff that they are building a mall, and he drives away. When they go, the people remove their ID Masks to reveal a Highbreed and DNAliens.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
*It is revealed that the DNAliens are building a giant portal for the Highbreed to invade Earth.
*Cooper is kidnapped by the DNAliens.
*The team retrieves Cooper.
====Character Debut====
*Cooper (Alien Force debut)
===Minor Events===
*It is revealed that DNAliens cannot handle very high-frequency sounds.
==Characters==
===Main Characters===
*Ben Tennyson
*Gwen Tennyson
*Kevin Levin
===Supporting Characters===
*Cooper (first reappearance)
===Antagonists===
*DNAliens
*Highbreed
==Aliens Used==
*Swampfire
*Goop
*Echo Echo
==Quotes==
==Naming and Translations==
==Cast==
==Continuity==
*When Kevin says to Ben "You used to turn into one of those (insects)", he is referring to Stinkfly.
*Ben mentions that Cooper helped him and Gwen once when they were kids, referring to the events of Ben 10 vs. the Negative 10.
*When the trio arrive at Los Soledad, Kevin recalls fighting a monster the last time they were there in Paradox.
*When Cooper touches the cloaking device before destroying it, he sees flashbacks to Ben 10 Returns: Part 2, Max Out, and Darkstar Rising.
==Allusions==
*Ben's concerns about a "banana fly monster" in the beginning of the episode is a reference to the science-fiction horror film The Fly, the main character had a similar problem when he and a fly entered the teleporter he was working on at the same time transforming him into a fly monster.
==Errors==
*Swampfire's hologram faces away from Ben.
*Before the teleporter explodes, Swampfire's pupils are green.
*When the team stands outside Kevin's garage after the Teleporter Pod explodes, Ben doesn't have the "10" on his jacket.
*When Goop rescues Cooper, his Anti-Gravity Projector somehow appears in the room with him despite the door being closed.
**Duncan Rouleau believes that this is because the space underneath the door was not enough to block the Anti-Gravity Projector.
*When Echo Echo is first seen, the black line running down his front is missing.
*When Gwen fires mana at Kevin for the last time, she faces away from the DNAliens and stands a few feet away from Echo Echo, Kevin and Cooper, but when Echo Echo uses his sonic scream on the DNAliens, she faces the DNAliens and stands behind Kevin.
*Big Chill is listed in the end credits instead of Swampfire.
*The Cartoon Network logo does not appear in the end credits on Ben 10 Alien Force: Volume 4 DVD.
UC (33).png|Hologram error
UC (53).png|Green pupils
UC (63).png|Missing "10"
UC (378).png|Missing line
UC (472).png|Gwen faces away from the DNAliens
UC (476).png|Gwen faces the DNAliens
Undercover Voice Credits.png|Credit error
==Trivia==
*In this episode, Ben and Gwen were unaware that Kevin was acquainted with Cooper and vice versa. This is retconned in Omniverse, as Kevin and Cooper become acquainted for the first time, with Ben and Gwen being present.From Hedorium to Eternity
*Though Kevin usually shows tendencies of being protective, jealous and mad when other guys have a crush on Gwen, he is surprisingly good humored towards Cooper for having feelings for Gwen.
*Echo Echo's voice in this episode is deeper than usual.
*The second hint towards the events of War of the Worlds are foreshadowed when Cooper destroys the cloaking machine.
*The episode's title is listed as Under Cover on Amazon Prime Video.
*The scene where Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Cooper sneak around Los Soledad while invisible as well as Echo Echo, Gwen and Kevin's rescue of Cooper and the subsequent fight scene, were storyboarded by LeSean Thomas.
**Cooper is depicted with a slimmer frame in the storyboards, similar to his Original Series design.
**The truck driver who sees Los Soledad as the cloaking field deactivates does not wear a cap.
==References==
===Crew Statements===
====T.J. Collins====
====Duncan Rouleau====
====LeSean Thomas====
===Cartoon Network===
===Ben 10 Planet===
es:Un viejo conocido
pl:Niewidzialni
pt-br:Camuflagem
ro:Sub acoperire (episod din Ben 10 şi Echipa Extraterestră)
Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Episodes
Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Season 1 Episodes
Category:Highbreed Wars
Category:Episodes
Category:Episodes Directed by Butch Lukic
Category:Episodes with Flashbacks