Bellwood, New York; August 31st, 2010; 9:45PM
It was bitter sweet luck that after Albedo used Ben's face to bludgeon two teenage bullies that they also suffered total memory loss of the minutes and hours prior to the attack, even luckier, XLR8 managed to get Cash help in time to save his life, even a jerk didn't deserve to die… after several months of recovery, he was all but back to full health aside from his leg which had several tendons severed. Of course, he milked having a cast to get attention from everyone at school, especially the cute girls, acting like a survivor of the alien terrorist attack in the street that day. Which is what the Government had classified it as, a totally random alien attack which had become the normal for Bellwood and many other cities around the country. For some odd reason, two kids he didn't recognize were scared absolutely shitless every time they made eye contact with Ben, they seemed to know Cash but, otherwise they didn't seem familiar or confrontational, so he shrugged it off.
According to the one or two people Ben socialized with in his classes, after Gwen transferred into their school, she had become one of the most sought after girls in the high-school hierarchy; of course being that she was beautiful, talented, the cousin to one of the more well known kids in the school. After getting suspended for breaking Cash's nose and J.T's ankle last year, most people knew of him in their class. The bully had tried his best to get Gwen to go out with him already, it was fun to watch him fail, Ben would admit but, to hear her tell him that she was taken and that he wasn't her type either way, was divine. It made his blood boil seeing Gwen spend every single free moment with her cousin, instead of friends or groups, but he knew the real reason why which is probably why it irked him so much.
Ben would walk her to every class, from the bus-loop to her house, to school in the morning and nobody could see how obvious it was what they were doing. Cash and J.T eventually just let it go but, only because they had vague flashes of fear when they thought of confronting and fighting him again, without really knowing why.
With the help of his brilliant tutor of a girlfriend, Ben managed to pass his freshman year with flying colors and start off his Sophomore year of high-school with a running start, getting nearly straight A's and B's and ending the quarter with a three-point-five G.P.A; this put him in the greatest of graces with his already lenient parents and incredibly studious girlfriend. So, now everyday Ben and Gwen would hang out in the garage of Ben's house after school where they knew his parents would rarely bother them if at all. Now that they went to the same school, it became that much easier to make excuses to hang out alone; but, also taking that time to seriously work on Ben's academics to ensure they could get in the same college. He always had the potential, he just squandered it and never completely applied himself, when he did? She saw the genius he really was underneath the total doofus shining outward.
Eager to continue their careers as a vigilante duo, Ben used Greymatter to set up a communications receiver that could catch police bandwidth and dispatch stations even from other surrounding cities, usually responding to anything that seemed super-natural, and the occasional bank robbery that caught their attention; but, mostly the two hung out and simply enjoyed the others company in Ben's air conditioned garage complete with an old fridge stocked with cold sodas, an old TV with an even older gaming-console connected, and relatively old bean-bag chairs placed side-by-side at first. It wasn't exactly a tower outside of Mount Rushmore connected to a Plumber base but, it would do for the time being as their base of operations for their vigilante work.
They fiddled with the controllers for hours, playing game after game, when it was a multiplayer version, Gwen had to admit Sumo Slammers wasn't all that bad; the cartoon on the other hand... she still could stand an episode of. At one point, Ben had been playing by himself against the automatic computer just to practice and generally entertain himself once she'd gotten tired of playing. Gwen had been reading through the spells in Charmcaster's books once again before glancing over it at him and closing it quickly with a devious smile; she knew very few ways to get his attention but, this just might work but if it didn't, it wouldn't be so bad.
She stood up and got in front of the tv, blocking his view until she knelt down at his feet, giving him a better view of the game but, also causing him to raise his brow trying best to focus and watch her in his peripheral, "Whatcha doin?" he said nervously as he was too focused on to notice exactly what she was trying to accomplish; she placed her elbows on his thighs and crawled up from under his arms so he could play, while she hugged his widening torso, pressing her ear up against his chest to hear the rhythmic thumping like an orchestrated symphony to her ears.
Ben kept playing without taking his eyes off his character now that he realized she was trying to cuddle him against his will, "I don't consent to this!" He continued his game, raising his controller up above her, no matter how close her petite body clung to his, or how red his cheeks got when the heated skin spread over the bridge of his nose. She dug her head into his shoulder; smiling and wrapping a leg with one of his as he played. It wasn't the most comfortable seating posture for him but, it was for her because this was the only place in the world she wanted to be. Gwen heard his heart rate go up, noticing the heat in his chest even through his shirt as she couldn't hear any breaks in the clacking of his game-controller, implying he hadn't gotten too distracted just yet. Though, she could feel his chest heating up as the game over sound went off, she opened her eyes and looked up finding him staring down at her, "What are you doing?" Ben asked once again as she tightened her arms around his lower back and glanced up at him.
"Getting comfy," Gwen giggled, putting her hands on his chest to push herself up to where she was mounting his pelvis just to pull up his shirt and stick her head underneath, lying back down, and clutching his tight muscles closely mashing her face into his abs with yet another giggle; the cutest part was she could feel him flexing to impress her, it was moments like these that made her wonder why anyone would shame love this pure over minor blood relation. She had barely known Ben before he was ten aside from them both being insufferably annoyed with one another and that they had to share birthday parties. Otherwise, they went to different schools, lived in different neighborhoods, and didn't speak usually even during family gatherings. Why should she feel guilt for who she fell in lo- her thoughts stopped in their tracks like they'd hit a brick wall, she didn't really just think…?
"Dweeb attack!" he shouted suddenly interrupting her thought process with a genuine laugh as he reached for her sides and tickled her while still under his shirt forcing her to retreat back out and look down on him, laughing for several seconds, staring down into his eyes for a few minutes he could only wonder what exactly she saw in him but, she rested her head on his chest anyways leaving him to just shrug and hold her close tightening his grip around his waist a bit; it was a relief knowing that at times like these, he didn't care what or why, he was ready to pause at any moment and just… lay with her.
He caressed her short-head of hair and she drew circles into the shirt of his chest lazily; his parents certainly didn't care to check up on them in most late night cases and Gwen was already in bed asleep 'at home', even though her illusion flickered every now and again, it was still a solid alibi that allowed her to stay the night with her doofus any time she wanted. She lived for moments like these, when there was no crime to fight and it was just him and her, nothing else.
…
Bellwood, New York; September 30th, 2010; 9:45PM
Gwen sat comfortably using the black and white windbreaker she'd grown to love over the last year as a blanket laid over her torso for warmth, curled into a ball in one of the two bean-bags that were now pressed together facing each other instead of the large box TV that once occupied his living room before his parents switched to satellite television; the Gamestation was on and the controllers were plugged in but, the menu had been playing a looping tune for thirty minutes or so, faintly as they were focused more on just talking than playing a video game she wasn't too keen on in the first place.
"How am I supposed to answer something like that!?" Gwen responded through her laughter as she was hit in the face with a kernel of popcorn, giggling as she found and tossed it back, hitting him in the center of the forehead with more accuracy than he could ever muster.
Ben held a bowl of popcorn in his lap, tossing a popped-kernel into the air and catching it with his teeth before crunching down on the soft buttery goodness, "It's a legitimate question, would you rather kiss Animo on the lips or marry Cash…" he insisted his random 'would you rather' question as they had been doing back and forth the entire time, "You have to answer, it's the rules!"
She rolled her eyes exasperated but, entertained him anyways by responding with as much sarcasm as possible but, that forced her to picture both scenarios in her head, "Ew! Why do you give me the gross questions?" Gwen insisted with a giggle hidden behind her disgust, enjoying the concept of just being with him, talking all night long into the early hours of the morning, "I don't know, I feel like I'd rather kiss a nasty freak once and forget about it through years of therapy rather than spend the rest of my life with… Cash…" she shuttered and pretended to gag with a finger pointed into her mouth as they both laughed at her portrayal of him.
"I heard you turned him down hard…" Ben noted as Gwen opened her mouth wide and pointed to it, closing her eyes signaling for him to launch a fluffy-kernel of corn into her mouth from his position three or four feet away as she caught it midair and chewed down on it; they were sitting close enough that Gwen was able to get comfortable wrapping her legs with his, "Heard you were taken… this must be some guy for you to turn down a lady's man like Cash," he gave her his trademarked confident goofy grin as she responded.
"He's pretty great but, I was thinking about totally dumping him for that one popular kid, Morningstar? He's the hottest guy in school and I could probably get a da-" Gwen couldn't finish her monologue before getting a hailstorm of popcorn thrown at her in two large handfuls, two sets of giggling and laughter erupting.
"Not funny!" Ben shouted with a half-smile, only half-serious, as he reached for another handful of buttery ammunition until she raised her hands in surrender, still giggling a bit.
"Awe, you're the only cute doofus in the whole school I'm spending my nights with, even though it could be Cash or Morningstar or whoever…" she picked a kernel caught between her ear and head and tossed it at his forehead, hitting him directly between the eyes, "I'll always pick you." after a long silence, Gwen remembered the game they had been playing before this long discussion had started.
"What about you?!" she asked suddenly, pointing over at him and picking up another thrown kernel and return firing it at his face, taking every other one to chew as she started thinking of females they'd encountered.
"What about me?" Ben raised his brow, tossing another piece of popcorn left in the bowl into the air above him to catch with his mouth as it fell, chewing down and swallowing the salty treat with impressive accuracy.
Gwen tapped her finger on her chin for a quick second or two, thinking of some of their nastiest female villains, the grossest they'd come across so far for either category, "Would you rather… kiss Myaxx or marry Rojo… after Vilgax's tech?" She narrowed her eyes knowing she'd given him an impossible scenario, neither was even tolerable to begin with.
He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Is jumping off a bridge one of the options?" Gwen couldn't stop a snort inducing laugh from coming out as she covered her smile with one of her hands, the smile he loved so much that it warmed his heart on sight. They laughed together for half a minute before Gwen returned with her response, "Nope! You have to answer, it's the rules!" She mocked back his own rhetoric, holding his hands up in surrender as he pretended to consider it, he quickly reached for more popped-corn instead dipping his index finger in the bowl and getting it nice and greased with butter.
He waited for her to glance back at the advanced police-scanner just for a second so that he could surprise her with a light-bop to her button-sized, sun-kissed nose with his greasy finger. Gwen blinked as she looked down and crossed her eyes to look at her glistening nose, layered with butter and a bit of salt, "I chose butter nose…" he finished as she raised her brow.
"Butter nose?" Gwen didn't understand what he meant by choosing that as she was about to wipe her nose clean when Ben almost knocked the bowl out of his lap when he practically tackled her in a fit of laughter, trapping her legs with his own, and tickling the side of her abdomen with one hand while keeping his face propped above hers with the other. Gwen giggled uncontrollably as he placed soft kisses on her upper freckled cheeks and nose, turning her face bright-red as the gentle brushes of his lips tickled her face, "Ben! S-Stop! I'm… serious! No more butter nose!" she playfully tried pushing him away but, it was obvious by the time she was running her hands through his hair that her protest was only an invitation to continue as he placed his kisses down her cheeks, chin, and slowly down to her neck which only tickled more only in a different way, as the familiar heat ran down her face to the base of her chest again, her giggles were almost unstoppable as she finally submitted, "Alright… butter nose! You win!" As she took heavy breaths to subside the laughter, he laid next to her in her beanbag pressing up against her, face to face as their noses almost touched.
Instead they only stared into each other's similarly bright-green eyes, she could tell as she caught her breath that his eyes were a bit darker than hers but, they still sparkled as though they were made with real emeralds glistening even in the shadows of the tv-screen light.
Both of their lips curved into smiles as they closed their eyes and let their lips meld together slowly at first, letting her tongue explore the inside of his mouth; his hands had long since stopped tickling and had simply been caressing her hour-glass figure as she was only in white short-shorts and socks with a thin teal-blue tee-shirt that hiked up during their playful struggle so he could feel the smooth skin of the sides of her hips and thighs. Gwen felt goosebumps follow his touch even though he only grazed her skin ever so slightly with both hands on either side, "Butter nose," Ben finished as he quickly pulled his lips back and snuck up before she could react licking the salty tip of her nose before she could remember to wipe it clean properly, leaving her heated as she crinkled her face in the cutest possible way, rubbing the bit of grease and saliva away.
"Gross, doofus; you really are a weird guy, you know that?" Gwen asked him as she rubbed the butter and saliva off her hands with a smile on his white tee-shirt as he got up off her, standing and dusting the popcorn off his lap and shirt.
Ben turned and put his hands on his hips, noticing they hadn't played more than two or three rounds of the Gamestation before getting distracted, it was like he could spend hours talking to her without ever getting bored, "What does that say about you?" he quipped back as she stood up after him and stepped over the bean-bag to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck on approach still smiling as their hips touched, enjoying the fact that he'd grown tall enough so that she could look up into his eyes, he was almost three inches taller than she was now as she leaned in, rubbing her still slightly greasy nose with his playfully.
"I guess it means I must really like weirdos, what can I say?" They both closed their eyes simultaneously as they tilted their heads and melted into one another's sweet embrace, their lips always tasted so sweet together like sugar, it was impossible not to blush after every single peck, especially when she could feel him caressing her cheeks lightly, "You're just the right doofus for me," Gwen hummed pulling away and turning around as she approached the police-radio Greymatter had built for them, knowing he'd follow her, she played with the dials turning up the signal to catch emergency broadcasts from other cities, she tried to stay focused on the actual reason they were supposed to be hanging out in the first place by turning her back to him, "Let's just make sure we don't forget that we're supposed to be looking for crime to stop not just fooling around…" she tried staying serious but, he only came up from behind her, having grown another inch in the past six months, he was now able to lean up and place his chin on the top of her head when he grabbed her waist from behind.
Gwen looked down at the dials and switches as her face turned red again, closing her eyes and biting down on her bottom lip with a smile; feeling the warmth of his hands on her skin as the cool air started to return to their town, the sixty-degree air seemed to make his every touch that much warmer, even with the air conditioning it was still a garage.
Ben spoke up from above her as she continued to fiddle with the stations of the police-scanner, switching between nearby cities frequencies, she had to speak up to him as he refused to take his chin off her head, leaning further on her using her giggles as permission, "Stop fooling around!"
"Speaking of fooling around," Ben noted as he tossed an arm over her shoulder and lowered his head to place his chin on her opposing shoulder, his hair grazing the back of her neck felt like it sent a small wave of goosebumps over the nape of her neck, "It's actually our anniversary tonight…" he mentioned which Gwen raised her brow at.
Gwen kept her brow raised with a chuckle, hoping she misunderstood his use of the term, because they were still quite far from having been dating for a whole year, "Doofus, our anniversary would be in February…" she stopped fiddling and just enjoyed the feeling of having his solid body pressed against her back, surrendering her arms to reach back and caress his cheeks slowly before reaching up to run her hands through his hair.
"Tomorrow, or tonight, is October first," he lowered his arm and wrapped them around her, grabbing her hands in his from atop her head and spun her around to face him as though they were ballroom dancing for a brief second, "A whole year since we started going hero together…" Ben noted as his cheeks turned bright red, he let go of one of her hands to scratch the back of his neck anxiously as he tended to do, "It was pretty important to me at least…" he mentioned looking away, regretting having brought it up at all.
Gwen scoffed with a grin, letting go of his hands entirely and laughing as she grabbed the windbreaker still lying on the bean-bag behind them, "Of course I didn't forget, I still wear this all the time and not because it matches any of my outfits…" she looked down at it for a second with a chuckle as she remembered that first night, "Sometimes, I can still smell a bit of your cologne on it…" the way he gave it to her when he noticed her shivering, even though he didn't have another of his own… she didn't know at the time that he trained for weather resistance with Tetrax but, the gesture still managed to somehow melt her heart.
Ben looked down at it and chuckled, grabbing it out of her hands, "Ya know what? We should start a tradition to mark the occasion officially," holding out the jacket for her to see for a moment.
"Huh?" Gwen raised her brow and scratched the side of her head.
Ben rolled his eyes and folded the jacket over his own arm while he explained, "Our anniversary will be in February obviously but, on October first, we exchange this jacket, until it doesn't fit us anymore at least," He noted as she saw his growing biceps when he stretched an arm through the fabric slowly, "So, we'll always have a reason to come back to each other…" He muttered, it was what he said to her on the first night they went hero last year, when he let her keep his jacket in the first place, a sentiment that meant more than just a day.
Ben tossed it over his other arm as he slid it through smoothly, still fitting well if not a bit tighter than when he gave it to her, which she didn't mind at all, marveling at how well he was growing to look; "How do I look?" he asked immediately as if he could read her mind… as he fixed and pulled on the collar; she had a million answers she wanted to give, sexy, hot, stunning, handsome, but… she only ended up singing-
"Like a hero," As she hummed with a smile looking up at him, she grabbed the collar to pull him down an inch or two getting on her toes to meet him half way, giving him a peck on the lips as they could hear the police radio scrambling through random scanners from different districts around the state. They were simply taking time to gaze into each other's eyes for a minute or two, feeling like it was just too good to be true.
"What're you lookin at?" Gwen asked with an obvious blush, trying to tease him as they kept their hands locked together, standing beside the table holding the police scanner simply staring for however long they could, not wanting to waste a moment.
Ben smiled with an oblivious shrug, an easy question to respond to, "I dunno, what're you lookin at?" he jested with a smug smile.
They both laughed at the same time as she leaned down to place her head on his left pectoral, just so she could hear the thumping of his heart-beat; it felt like a musical lullaby in her ears as she leaned into him with an exhale. Ben felt her nose and skin against his collar-bone and just placed his hands on her lower back and waist; as she looked up into his eyes, he noticed her staring between his lips and his eyes like a hungry animal, biting down again on her lower lip.
Neither were amateurs and both knew that they were about to pounce on one another for a passionate make-out session that they rarely ever got to do, Gwen only knew this because she could feel his arousal and her own pulsating in waves with her empathy and the look in his eyes matched her own ravaging glare… They both stopped suddenly as with a blue shine of electricity running through her eyes briefly, she whispered pushing him away gently a foot or two, "Your mom is down the hall, she's coming to the door," Gwen moved calmly as they had done dozens of times, turning the volume down on the radio and grabbing a book from the shelf next to them, Ben backed away with a disappointed sigh and plopped down on one of the bean-bags, grabbing a controller pretending to be playing against one of the computers in his Sumo Slammers game.
Right on cue, they heard light footsteps approach the door before it swung opened seconds later, normally she would knock but, they were all family so she naturally didn't feel the necessity, "Hey, you two, how's it going?" Saundra was in a robe and had her blonde hair up in curlers as she looked up at Gwen who smiled up from her book, leaning against the desk and blocking the radio with her body, giving a small wave from the pages.
"I'm doing fine, Auntie, just… enjoying the company," she gave Ben a warm glance and would have winked if his mother wasn't staring right at them both, before looking back down to her book with the same genuine smile as the mother turned her attention to her son.
He immediately responded knowing she was going to ask him the same questions he asked every time, "We're doing alright, don't worry about us…" Ben said with a smile as he focused on his video game, fiddling randomly with the game controller as he multitasked, "Gwen helped me finish my chemistry project early so we had extra free-time…"
Saundra smiled and nodded, looking at the video game Ben was playing but, not entirely understanding the concept of the theme either way before glancing back to Ben, "Alright, just remember, no video games after midnight and make sure to walk Gwen home at eleven; Carl and I are going to bed so, you can lock up, alright?" she asked in a way that sounded as though he'd done it a dozen times, which he probably had by now, Gwen really was still floored by how much freedom his parents granted him in comparison to hers nearly every time she encountered them.
"No problem, Sandy," Ben replied with a bit of sass in his tone as his parents kept insisting that he call them by their first names; he decided to go with nicknames until they let him call them Mom and Dad again in retaliation getting a giggle out of Gwen almost every time, "I'll have Gwen home by eleven sharp…"
Saundra chose to ignore his sly remark but, only because he had his cousin over and didn't want to embarrass him in front of her, getting back at him in a different way, "Thanks, and take the trash out before you do…" she closed the door in front of him before he could object to her demand as he was going to speak up but, fell back on the bean bag with his head hanging upside down; Gwen closed and set down the book she wasn't reading, approaching him as he looked at the upside-down view of the two large stinking bins at the end of the garage.
"You heard her, trash boy…" Gwen chided with a giggle as she knelt down next to him, ruffling his hair before lying back on his other bean-bag chair, "Seriously though, if it weren't for my illusionary spells, we'd probably never see each other… and you get a midnight curfew? Bull…" She folded her arms with a scoff, only realizing that his parents were total hippies and that was the pretty much the only reason they were so lenient with him; she was lucky he didn't turn out to be a total high-school stoner, she shuttered at the thought of Ben 420… she shook the image out of her minds eye as he adjusted himself to gaze at his chore.
Ben closed his eyes and sighed, looking at the two trashcans filled to the rim with bags upon bags of rotting food and produce, "Ugh, yea lucky me, huh?" he turned over and sat up reluctantly turning to stand, he grabbed the handle of the first can prepared to take it out when a high-frequency whine came from Greymatter's handmade radio, adjusting the volume on its own to the proper wavelength, programmed to immediately switch to a station that would involve key-words like creature, alien, monster, attack, etc.
"Dispatch we got a code… code…? I have no idea!" The reporting officer shouted into his radio with a hint of fear and confusion in his voice, he sounded like he was running as he spoke, there was the sound of gun-fire echoing in the background, "Shots fired I repeat, shots fired; What's the code for a guy melting cruisers with the suspects vomit?! Officer down, requesting immediate back-up at the National Bank of New York City, my bullets just bounce off the big one's skin! AGh!" the line went dead as even dispatch suddenly received static.
Gwen glanced back to her boyfriend who already had a more serious expression growing on his face, gripping the ends of the handles tightly he bent the plastic with his strength which was incredibly unusual for him without any alien help, staring at the radio until her glance caught his attention, placing the bin down as he let go revealing his hands having warped the plastic. He gave her a familiar look, "It's the Circus Freaks, it has to be them…" this type of crime did fit their modus-operandi and the abilities described by the officer on scene matched Acid Breath and Thumbskull so, it was a logical conclusion to come to either way.
She tried not to think of the strange anomaly of Ben suddenly getting powers without using the Omnitrix, it was more likely that the trash-can was old and flimsy; Gwen shook the thought as she remembered she'd left her sleeve in her purse and had to retrieve it.
"I guess it's hero time," He said with much less enthusiasm than he once did years ago when he was ten but, Ben didn't hesitate to pop the dial and select the proper species to transform into in a flash of emerald light, an explosion that engulfed the entire garage leaving XLR8 in its wake, however; both trash cans were now empty in a quick burst of speed that was almost imperceptible to her, "Let's go!"
Gwen raised her brow as she pulled her Kevlar-Sleeve from the purse slowly, sliding it over her left arm and tightening it with a fist, "Did you just use super-speed to take out the trash?" she scolded as she glanced over to the curb where the bags now sat for pick up.
"Who could say? Time to go!" XLR8 let his visor slide down quickly, scooping her up by the back of her legs and lower-back, as she settled her head comfortably against his chest, he took off in a black and white blur as she squealed only a bit when they exited the garage so quickly that there wasn't even a sonic boom to accompany it.
…
New York City; New York; September 30th, 2010; 11:33PM.
XLR8 and Gwen arrived at the scene in under two minutes, between the training they'd done and the recalibration of his codon connection, the Kineceleran had never been faster crossing hundreds of miles in just minutes without pushing his limits; he put her down gently as she quickly sparked both fists, enveloping them in bright blue flaming energy as her eyes lit up to accompany them, trailing energy outwards. XLR8 transformed with a single slap of the symbol on his chest into Diamondhead, the transformation he was the most comfortable with, he'd spent so much time training with Tetrax in this particular alien form that he felt like it was part of him in a way.
There were four police cruisers at the scene but, no officers as it appeared they'd all abandoned their vehicle or had been knocked unconscious nearby their cars, lying in the concrete groaning; two tossed over on their sides and one melted apart by some sort of acidic-puke that was unfortunately familiar to them, the last one had a police officer tossed through the back windshield.
Diamondhead and Gwen entered the front door and noticed that it was unusually quiet for a bank robbery, though there were signs the Freak's had been there like the vault door being half-way melted into slag just like the police car only, there was no sign of them until Gwen gasped suddenly backing into Ben, knocking on his rock-hard chest and pointing up at Frightwig, hung from the rafters by the neck from her own tendril-whip hairs. Something out of the ordinary was occurring here as they noted she was lynched and dead of asphyxiation.
"Holy crap…" Diamondhead muttered, stepping in front of Gwen instinctively to shield her from the sight of her lifeless swaying body, "Who could've-"
Suddenly, they heard a crash in the other room only a hundred feet away from the vault, a fist fight between something armored and clearly willing to go for the kill; their first thought was Forever Knights but, they only killed aliens, not humans, not unless provoked anyways. Diamondhead stepped into the room first as Gwen's aura around her hands lit up part of the area and caught the attention of both the assailants if briefly. It was a horror show of blood and gore as Acid Breath's head had been decapitated from its body lying on the floor in the doorway, melting the carpet with a small pool of acid-blood, the rest of him lying limp on the ground ten feet away.
A kid maybe a year or two older than them was clad completely in silver steel-armor that layered every aspect of his body, including his clothing, some sort of long-sleeved-hoodie-mask combination with generic pants and combat boots. His footsteps clanked with every step as even the tips of his boots were armored with the same layer of silver steel or iron; he sent three jabs into Thumbskull's lower abdomen, ducking under a wide right-hook swing, managing to slice his arm as he maneuvered around the attack. Thumbskull managed to follow up with an uppercut in his metal clad chin sending him backwards but, wasn't expecting him to dig his iron fingers into the tile-floors stopping his momentum as one of his arms formed a long-serrated blade, "There's no room for heroes here," he announced in a deep modulated voice as he sprinted forwards, leaping onto and off the wall too quickly for the thug to catch him, landing on the hulking beast as he dug the blade straight through his shoulder-blade, undoubtedly hitting many vital organs and veins, before pulling out slowly as blood poured out in thick trails. The assailant back flipped off the now dead man as he fell onto his back with a thundering crash, it wasn't even seconds before a pool of blood started forming around his body as he bled out.
"You killed him!" Diamondhead formed a blade out of his arm and charged forwards, swinging left and right but, missed as the fighter was clearly much smaller and more agile than he was. He swung horizontally to clothesline the kid onto his back but, instead he ducked under his swing by sliding on his knees under the crystal arm, turning and slashing at the back of his ankles instead. Even made of crystal, it managed to hurt him with the enhanced strength and armor the attacker wore, it forced the Petrosapien to one knee as Gwen charged up a concussive blast, aiming her hands and eyes at him for intimidation.
She narrowed her eyes, focusing her palms on him as he she could tell he was smiling under the metal platted armored mask; "You aren't going anywhere…" she tried sounding tough but, ultimately fired a beam of heat which wasn't enough to stop him from deflecting it into the wall next to him.
The kid laughed and pulled his mask down, revealing a familiar face that they hadn't seen in years; Kevin Levin was standing with his blood covered hands out and a smile, "You don't scare me Gwendolyn, neither of you do; stay out of my way, you aren't the only ones allowed to play hero," He let the steel armor he'd absorbed fade away as if it were melting off him, from head to toe.
Diamondhead finally got to his feet behind the kid, "Kevin? I thought you were in the Null-Void?!"
Kevin chuckled in response as he reached into his shirt, pulling at a necklace with the pad-lock he used to wear only, now there were shards of different metals hanging from it as well, including what looked to be tadenite, diamond, gold, different metals; "You tried leaving me trapped in that hell hole but, it only took three long years to get myself out…"
Gwen shook her head trying to ignore their past differences to focus on the here-and-now, "Kevin, why are you killing super-villains? We're supposed to lock them in jail, that's what a real hero does!" She tried to appeal to his better nature but, he only laughed in her face, pointing at her as though she was simply stupid making her a tad embarrassed.
"Priceless! Talking about real heroes work, are we? the Circus Freak's won't be stealing anyone else's money or destroying anyone's property ever again, your welcome…" Kevin wasn't afraid to step passed Gwen as he had to step over the decapitated head he'd chopped off first, making his point, but when he approached the entrance, "That's how you help people, Ben; by ripping the bad apples off the tree before they ruin the bunch, not after its already too late," he made his way out of the room when Diamondhead spoke up.
"You have a lot of nerve pretending to be a hero when all you've ever done is take advantage of other people's kindness," Kevin stopped as he listened to Diamondhead, folding his crystalline arms over his chest as he spoke, "Hunting innocent ten year old's, who only tried to help you by the way…"
"I admit I had an insane revenge streak going for a few months there, I may have hurt a few innocent people along the way, I get it… I wouldn't trust me neither," Kevin turned back to the exit and he was prepared to walk out as a massive teal-crystal sprouted from the ground in the entry way, blocking his exit as Kevin chuckled and shook his head.
"Can't let you walk out of here, Kev, triple homicide…" Diamondhead held his hand out at the exit controlling the stone with a mental focus.
Kevin sighed as if exhausted, "Oh, Benji, never could leave well enough alone, could you?" he grazed his skin over a piece of substance around his necklace, encasing his entire body in a green titanium shell, as he leaped over Diamondhead's initial incoming punch. He also tanked the shards launched at him mid-air before landing behind him, Kevin slashed twice with both of his arms being made of long dark green blades across his crystalline back.
"Agh!" Diamondhead shouted and fell to one knee, giving him the opportunity to leap backwards, doing a summer sault perfectly through the air and plunging through the gated windows of the bank feet first, landing outside where he let his armor melt off and vanished into the shadows with his dark clothing.
Gwen immediately dropped her guard when she noticed him escape, jogging up to approach Diamondhead who couldn't reach the wound on his back, the Petrosapien stood up slowly and regenerated his crystal body, or at least as best as he could, "We have to go after him," he announced as they turned to make their own exit, Diamondhead slapped his Omnitrix but, instead of emerging as XLR8, he transformed back into his human form with a crimson explosion.
"D-Damn," Ben fell forwards as Gwen caught him with her telekinesis, after enough training, she could use lay him on his stomach slowly, pulling his black jacket and shirt up to reveal to long gashes across his back that hadn't fully healed, "I I-I can stand…" he stood as his knees wobbled and he took a single step, nearly collapsing again, "We can still g-go after him…" he sputtered as his girlfriend rolled her eyes, noting this as a common occurrence.
"No… ya can't…" Gwen looked over to the exit Diamondhead had barricaded themselves in with and the window that was too small to get them both through safely; So, it was a good thing she had been working on her portal spells and teleportation; glancing up at the security cameras of the rooms they were in and gestured upwards, "Camera Oblitera!" they all short circuited and exploded from their positions hanging from the ceiling, sending debris down onto the ground of melted plastic CCTV footage.
She hadn't ever actually attempted this before but, police sirens in the distance were good motivators for anyone to get moving for anyone. She stood over Ben as she heard dozens of tires and sirens pulling into the parking lot of the Bank outside and investigating, "Vio Residentia!" a seal that appeared to be a variation of one of the Charms of Bezel formed spinning below them and sucked them in, teleporting them away in a flash of light.
…
Bellwood; New York; October 1st, 2010; 12:58AM.
The same design formed in Ben's garage, opening a portal above the beanbags as they both toppled safely out of the bank heist gone totally wrong, closing the portal just as they heard footsteps in the room above them; he could barely stand as he winced at every single movement and sucked in his breath in deep increments taking off his shirt to show her his wound that didn't regenerate. She approached slowly noticing the scar from the Forever Knight he barely walked away from, it had gotten a bit smaller but, was now out shined by two larger cuts crossed down his back. She hated this feeling as her eyes watered just a bit, running her hand across his untouched skin around the wounds.
"Why is it you're the one that always get's sliced to pieces," Gwen complained as her hands ignited a bright turquoise aura followed by her eyes flashing bright blue and a chant, "Sana multum damnum!" a healing aura slowly encompassing his entire back resembling a light flame gliding over his skin as the wounds began to seal and the blood started to dry.
Ben exhaled as he felt a mountain of stress and tension leave his body with that breath, inhaling deeply was euphoric as the temporary side effects of her healing started to take effect; his oral filter was temporarily loose and his vision blurred. They stood in the room silently for a moment as he was shirtless and she was doing her best to seal the wounds for nearly a minute, which felt like hours, "I'd r'ther it be me than you, I just… we jus' thought we were done dealing with that jerk, now he's a what? A v'gilante like us?" He stuttered and slurred but, most of what he was saying was true, for the most part, though he it was cute for the few minutes he remained in this stupor.
Gwen closed her eyes and shook her head, ignoring his momentary lack of clarity and refocusing on sending another pulse of healing energy over his back, "Not like us, worse, he's killing the super-villains he comes across, which is crazy serious stuff…" the energy stopped the bleeding and sealed the wound but, he would still be in pain for another few hours. He shook his head as he reached for his shirt but, didn't yet put it on yet still focused on shaking the slight light-headedness he was experiencing off.
"How did he get out of Incarcecon anyway?" Ben asked aloud, pulling away as he stretched his arm and she couldn't help but stare at his arms and chest, his deltoids had become more defined and his pectorals were tightening quite nicely as he turned to face her, she wiped the quick slip of drool from the corner of her lip and pretended she wasn't beet red. They'd be turning fifteen soon and the way his training was developing his body had become distracting for her to say the least, "I thought they moved it into the Null Void after we broke Myaxx out?" Ben reminded her to keep them on track.
Gwen shook her head to refocus on the topic at hand, folding her arms, holding her elbows nervously, "It doesn't really matter, does it? He's here whether we like it or not but, he isn't focused on us now… he just told us to stay out of his way," as Ben turned around to put his shirt on, he gave her a good look at his slashed back, the scar dealt to him by the Forever Knight had become smaller over time but, there was now another two long scars that would form over it, she finally asked a question she'd been meaning to ask, "It doesn't bother you that you're tearing your body apart like this?" she referred to gently caressing the welted skin on his back, running her fingers up to the thin scars that trailed down his arms.
Ben chuckled looking down at the garage floor as he turned away and leaned against the desk holding the communications unit, "I'm not a fan of the physical agony but, like I said, I'd rather it be me than you getting diced up," he threw his shirt over his head and grabbed the black and white windbreaker.
"Are you sure you don't maybe need more time to heal? I could stick around," Gwen pitched the idea because the best nights of sleep she'd ever had were the ones where her head was snuggled into his chest, "My illusions won't wear off until morning and its officially our anniversary," Ben and Gwen simultaneously turned their head over to the old clock on the wall to notice it was a bit passed midnight already, "Today-Tomorrow is a Saturday… meaning we both get to sleep in and I can lay with you all night, to make sure you don't need another healing session of course…" she touched her index fingers together nervously and glanced away, being unable to hide her heated cheeks from him as she suggested receiving a surprisingly calm answer.
"Sure, you shouldn't even have to ask but, I don't have any clothes here that would fit you though," Ben rubbed the back of his neck as he became flustered, "I-I'm sure I have enough strength to turn XLR8 and grab some stuff for you," before he reached for his watch to pop the dial, she stopped his arm with a giggle.
"Remember… be a little selfish sometimes, you go take a shower and I promise when you're done I'll be ready to lay down for another healing session," Gwen pecked his cheek as he grabbed a towel from a hook next to the conjoined bathroom to his room; she found it so charming when he put everyone else's wellbeing before his own, reminding him that he didn't have to be a hero every second of the day was her job and she loved it. She couldn't get enough of the man she knew when he wasn't carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Ben closed the door and turned immediately tossing the towel over the shower-curtain pole, looking back into the mirror above the sink, he looked closely as the scars running up his arms and the thinner ones across his chest; he now had a feint scar under his eye as well, one you couldn't see unless you got up close, where he was scraped weeks ago.
As he turned the water on and allowed the heat to billow into steam, he stripped and sat on the toilet for a minute or two waiting for the water to get to the perfect temperature; How could Kevin have escaped the Incarcecon prison let alone the Null Void? How did he manage to revert the mutation done to his body by the Omnitrix and… what was that new power-armor he was wearing or using or… he didn't know what to think as he stood and stepped into the tub.
The hot water poured over his head and ran through his hair as he applied shampoo and began nonchalantly scrubbing when he felt stinging down his back; totally forgetting his wounds were still open by a minor degree, he hunched over for a second letting the water run down his back but knocked the bottle off of its rack, making a loud thud in the porcelain tub. Kevin was getting more versatile with his abilities and from the looks of it, Ben just couldn't keep up; even after all his time training, that jerk still got the better of him and now he could barely wash himself properly. He straightened his back and heard a few relieving cracks from his spine, adjusting his lower back felt good but, the pain was still only barely tolerable.
He wanted nothing more than to just go back out there and find him, beat him senseless and send him back into his old cell, tucked away in the Null Void and this time he'll make sure they throw the key out afterward. Only, if he did, Kevin would probably pick him apart again, especially in this condition, Ben felt his shoulder and tried stretching it as the wounds on his back stung. He stared down at the drain where brown and red blood slowly swirled around the drain until vanishing, it reminded him of the night he spent after fighting the Forever Knight as Fourarms.
This was different though, Kevin wasn't trying to kill him, he was just a jerk in the most annoying way who doesn't know how to ask nicely or explain himself; he also holds a bit of a grudge against Ben for obvious reasons which may have motivated the attack to begin with. Still, Kevin could have continued that fight and still avoided the authorities but, he chose not to attack Gwen and to not continue fighting Ben… it was a strange development for sure.
He turned the water off and grabbed the towel off the rack, drying himself thoroughly before wrapping it around his waist just under the v-line that cut into his abdomen and led to his six-pack; he looked himself in the mirror and sighed, wiping the humidity from the glass just to see his face and that feint scar under his eye. He was slowly growing unrecognizable; every fight left another scar that he couldn't ignore for much longer, not just ones physically but mentally as well, taking away a piece of him every time he transformed. What would he have to become to be the hero the world needed him to be?
He was derailed from his existential train of thoughts when he turned at the sound of rummaging going on in the room outside, he rolled his eyes and grabbed the hand-rag hanging on the back of his door, using it to dry his hair as he swung the door open. Still lightly wet, he had his face covered for the first few seconds, making sure his hair was dry before brushing it as neatly as possible with his hand.
"Alright, my back is kill-" Ben gulped as he opened his eyes and Gwen was wearing nothing but white short shorts from earlier and his old tee-shirt with a black stripe down the middle, now too small for him but, a perfectly sized pajama-wear for her, "-lling me?" he finished after pausing, as he took a step forward he smelled lavender scented lotions she likely applied while he was showering, she wasn't much paying attention to him as she fiddled with his laptop.
"Look at this," Gwen noted sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, going through Ben's laptop without his permission which would have once enraged him but now, he found it somehow endearing, "Kevin isn't just in New York… He's been in Buffalo, Albany, even all the way in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; he's been spotted at the crime scenes of at least five different super-villain related homicides…" she turned the laptop toward him, showing him the list of villains he'd taken out so far including, pointing at the screen as she scrolled through them, Clancy the mutant bug, Hex the sorcerer, Krabb the bounty hunter, and the list went on, "He's hunting them down like live sto- sto-" Gwen stuttered as her eyes finally managed to draw upwards to where Ben stood in front of her, in just a thin towel barely covering him from the pelvis down, clearing her throat, "Like livestock…" she finished but, couldn't help but continue to stare at his chest as he turned toward his dresser, tossing his hand towel at her face.
"You're drooling…" he chuckled.
"Am not! I could make you drool just as easy!" She threw the towel back at him in a bundle, hitting him in the back but, he wasn't expecting such a severe sharp pain to run up his back; he fell to one knee as his towel started coming undone, it was the least of her worries as she stood up to help him, "I'm so sorry!"
"It was just… a towel… no biggie," Ben chuckled between breaths as she held his towel tight and helped him to the bed, where he could finally lay down flat on his face and complain about his pain properly; "Heal me, magic healer!" he joked as he grabbed his pillow and shoved his face into it. What he didn't realize was how hot Gwen's freckled face was getting and that heat was starting to spread again down her chest, into her stomach where butterflies fluttered about uncontrollably, possibly even lower.
She gulped and allowed her eyes and hands to glow as she waved them over his wounds, trying not to spill any drool onto him and give away her hidden arousal; her fingers just barely grazed his skin with a soothing wave of blue flaming energy gliding across every spot she touched with even the tips of her fingers. She saw goosebumps rising across his skin but, only heard him groan into the pillow, or a relieving moan? As the pain surging through his back finally subsided, it was replaced with pleasure, "T'hats the stuff… I'm so gl'd I fell in love with you…"
Gwen stopped her spell as the fire dispersed, nearly falling back off the bed as she kept her balance, and cleared her throat, "Y-You what?" she asked pulling her hands back from healing, knowing the effects would have him slurring a bit, she needed to hear him say it again, to make certain she wasn't crazy.
Ben sat up and looked around, his back no longer in pain, he managed to turn over to face up; still wrapped in his towel that slowly unraveled, and staring up at the ceiling letting the feeling of her healing subside, "I said… I'm glad I fell in love-" he stopped when he realized what exactly he'd actually said, the chemicals released during the healing process wore off, "Love hanging out with you, and being with you, and stuff, great girlfriend, good talk," Ben grabbed the end of his towel and tied it up well as he stood up, turning back to his dresser to actually grab his clothes, and hopping back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Gwen looked down at her bare feet, was it just her energy that made him say it, the disappointment was daunting her until he quickly opened the bathroom door, she could just barely tell he had his boxers on now but, wouldn't look directly at her with a smile, "I love you…" he muttered before shutting the door again quickly, locking it even as she heard the clicking of the mechanism. She fell back on the bed the moment she got the chance, looking up at the ceiling and holding her hands over her heart lightly. That was until she gasped, now it was her turn to say it back, it was like an obligation or rule or something; now that he said it to her, she had to find a way to say it back.
She pulled on the hem of his shirt, dragging it over her knees and turning on her side, thinking of different ways she could manage to say it but, the only thing she could manage to imagine was saying something dumb that would inevitably ruin the moment; she hated how insecure about this type of thing she could get.
He did eventually come out of the bathroom with a pair of loose black basketball shorts and a black tee-shirt, normally sleeping in his boxers, he felt it would be inappropriate to expect to sleep in his underwear with a girl he'd only been dating for seven months, not at their age at least. Ben sat down on the bed next to her, face up as they sat in silence, what he said had created a tension in the air of expectations and reality, hoping not to ruin what could be an amazing moment.
Ben blinked once or twice and smiled, he knew what was going through her head better than anyone else, sometimes even her, and so he knew she was stressing; he crawled off the bed and onto the ground grabbing a set of movie cases from under his dresser, he didn't have a television in his room but, his computer could still play DVD's, "I-I rented some movies for us to watch, I don't have a lot of girl movies so, I went out and got some romantic comedies like, uh, Easy A and, uhm, You Again…" he read the titles as he flipped through the cases, grabbing his laptop from the floor a few feet away and pulling it towards him as she watched, "There's also Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, it's supposed to be super funny…" he set them all down as he looked up at her, she only blinked as she watched him, not saying a word with a surprised look on her face, "I-I'm sorry, maybe it was too soon to say that… you know what and… can we just pretend it didn't happen?"
Gwen curved a small smile before sliding off the edge of the bed, slowly crawling towards him on her hands and knees, "Do you really feel that way about me?" she knew full well that his shirt was currently hanging very low giving him a full view of her light-blue bra as she approached, not necessarily in a seductive nature though, she didn't mind the attention.
Ben's cheeks heated up either way, the red spreading across the bridge of his nose as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, leaning back on his free hand as she only got closer, "W-Well, I, uhm… well," Ben cleared his throat and held a hand out to place on the side of Gwen's face as she'd gotten so close to him now that their hands were touching on the carpet by their knees, and their faces were inches apart, "Yea, if I know anything for sure in my life right now, it's that I'm in love with you…" his hand went through her the side of her hair and over her double pierced ear, feeling the cold rings around her ear on the tips of his fingers as she instinctively moved forwards.
It was the sweetest thing she'd ever heard him say to her as she couldn't help but tackle him onto his back, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips up against his as they no longer had to hesitate to close their eyes, they always seemed to habitually melt into the kiss effortlessly; Gwen lifted her hand and ran it through his hair, grabbing slightly through a moan as her tongue went exploring in his mouth again. Interlocking tongues over and over as their lips became sweet treats they couldn't stop from tasting, enjoying the passion with their eyes closed to hope the moment would never end.
Gwen pulled away first but, only because she wanted to save air in her lungs to finish what she'd been thinking for the last thirty seconds after tackling him, "I'm in love with you too, you monumental doofus," she giggled down at him and kissed his cheeks repeatedly causing him to give a light giggle of his own, one she didn't know he was even capable of emitting; he grabbed her waist and pulled her onto her side where they could comfortably lay, looking into each other's eyes… much better than any movie in her book.
…