This is my first Ben 10 story. The characters are out of character. They are teenagers. This story takes place in an alternate universe though it's sort of a retelling of how Ben acquires the Omnitrix. Stuff will be made up that doesn't follow the story line of the actual shows.
I really hope that you enjoy this story. :)
I own nothing except the plot...and some random characters that aren't important.
Chapter One:
We were running. I was at full speed as my cousin and ex-enemy lagged behind me only by a few steps. The half crescent moon showered its glow on us, illuminating our weary faces. The rigid blades of grass crunched under our pounding footsteps, and the trees blocked numerous paths we could have taken. I slowed my pace down, to match my team's. Suddenly, I was flanked on both sides by Gwen and Kevin.
"You have it?" I asked. I was surprisingly out of breath, and I knew from my training that I was extremely fit. But it didn't add up; something in this equation wasn't summing up correctly.
Tight black sweaters hugged our upper torsos firmly. Charcoal colored knit caps inconspicuously covered our hair. Shaded blue jeans hung loosely off of our bodies to allow us more room to move in.
"Yeah," Gwen said while still keeping pace with Kevin and me, "it's right here, in the backpack," she continued as she motioned to the sack hanging on her shoulders.
"Be careful with it," Kevin sullenly warned my cousin, "we don't wanna know what happens if something goes wrong."
Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but a bullet sliced in between our heads. She hissed a "shit!" Leaves erupted into the air as they fell from the canopy above us. The bark of off the tree exploded from the gun, and the minute pieces of the natural lumber cut my face in several different places. If possible, we ran even faster. Our feet carried us back to the rover that was waiting on the side of an empty road.
"Where are the keys?" I inquired urgently. They were approaching us fast. I heard their profound footsteps pound against the pavement and the cocking of their weapons.
"Jesus, Kevin," Gwen breathed.
"Shut up! I'm hurrying. I can't find them!" He anxiously dug through his pouch of arsenals and his pockets. My ex foe's face visibly paled. "Damn it!" he hollered.
"Great, Kevin," I muttered sarcastically. "We had a chance to get away, but your dumb butt had to go and ruin it!"
"Wait!" Gwen exclaimed. She reached in her pouch and produced a key. "Kevin, you dropped it a while back, and I picked it up," she explained to us as he inserted the key into the lock on the car.
"Open the door," I urged to her. The people were in plain view now, and I knew that if this car door wasn't open in less than ten seconds, we wouldn't make it. It would be the Tennyson Massacre. A woman with black hair styled very short raised her gun and aimed her sniper at us with deadly accuracy. I prayed her trajectory was off by a milestone. She shot it. The sound resonated in the atmosphere and all three of us held our breaths. We were snapped out of our momentary stupor as soon as the bullet cracked the window. Bullet proof glass was legitimate to every piece of equipment we owned that had some form of glass on it.
"Gwendolyn. Hurry!" Kevin snapped. He only called Gwen by her full name when the emergency was dire. Right now, we were playing with our lives.
"I'm trying!" she screamed, obviously frustrated as she fumbled with the key. I snatched it from her. "Hey!"
"Not now, Gwen." I concentrated as I pushed the key into the lock and turned. The lock inside of the car door still refused to open. My breath hitched in my throat as I realized we were dead. Relax. Try the other way. I did exactly as my subconscious told me and rotated the key the other way. The lock instantly popped up. "Get in!" I hollered.
My cousin, friend, and I swung the doors open and scrambled to get inside of the car. Gun shots masking their hostility towards us rang in the air. Some hit our tires, but we bolted the doors shut. Once completely inside of the car, Kevin made his way to the driver's seat and demanded the key from me.
"Here you go," I said simply as I dropped the jagged piece of metal in his palm.
"How are you so calm? We almost died!"
"Gwen," I said relatively relaxed, "how can we not be calm? It isn't like this hasn't happened before. Plumber training was a major part of the help."
"I still don't get it, though. You're the youngest out of the three of us! I've done this longer than you, and I still panic." The engine started and the rover rapidly sped its way through the streets. We all buckled our seatbelts and continued our conversation.
"Gwen, I was scared—shitless, actually. I just knew that I couldn't let it get in the way of the mission. By the way, do you have it?"
"Yeah," she murmured as she rummaged through the tiny backpack. She abruptly squeezed her eyes shut.
"Gwen." I patted her shoulder gently. "Gwen? What's the matter?" Concern and worry controlled the tone of my voice.
"I… I… I think I lost it," she whispered solemnly.
"What?" Kevin roared as he slammed on the brakes. My head snapped forward and was roughly pushed back in the seat thanks to gravity. He whipped his head around and glared at Gwen. I had never seen such anger in his eyes before. The usual hazel color had diminished, and a darker, blacker color had replaced it.
"I'm sorry, Kevin!" Gwen apologized. "I didn't mean to. I guess it must have dropped when I got the keys."
"It's not her fault," I stated softly. "She was getting the keys. We would've been dead if Gwen hadn't found the key."
"I don't think you get it, Ben," Kevin said. His voice was gradually reaching the bass level. "The whole world dies if they get a hold of it."
"What do you mean the whole world?" I asked slowly. I was terrified of the response Kevin would be sure to give me.
"The whole world, Ben," he repeated once more for me to comprehend, "like, every person, animal, building—everything is decimated." The entire world was at stake.
"I'm such an idiot," Gwen mumbled to herself. I heard her.
"It's not like you knew anyway," I said, lamely attempting to make light of the situation at hand. She stared at me, the spark in his eyes dissipated. "You knew?" I questioned incredulously.
"Ben," Gwen tried. "We didn't want to put too much on you. It's only, like, your third mission."
"That's two more than the first. Why would you keep something this big from me? I could have helped more with its protection if I had known more about it! Now we're all going to die!" I was seething with anger. All because they had to be protective older brothers, the world's future was in jeopardy.
The moon continued its gradual descent across the firmament. My back relaxed against the upholstery, and I let out an exasperated sigh.
~•~•~•~•~
Kevin steadily drove through the entire night. The sun gradually began to peek outside of the layer of darkness that was instilled upon the world.
"What time is it?" Gwen asked curiously. We had forgiven her for her mistake once our father directed us on the upcoming mission. Her bright orange hair was a disarray, sticking out at odd angles out of her knit cap.
"Umm…" I muttered as I glanced at the clock in the car. "It's four twenty-three."
She groaned as she swiped the hair out of her eyes with her hand. "That early? I went to bed at two in the morning approximately a day ago. This blows."
"Gwen," Kevin sighed. "It'll be okay. Chill out."
Tires squealed in the distance; Kevin glared out of the review mirror. The sun was beginning to rise now; the sky was a sanguine color tinted with pink and orange. Yellow streaks from the suns rays cut through the sky. The firmament was visually on fire.
"They're behind us," he whispered. "Get your guns and stay low."
My eyes widened as I came to terms with what Kevin had stated. "What?" I asked incredulously as Gwen shoved me down further into the seat. I resisted his attempts so I could obtain a better look at the enemies. It was the same woman who had tried, unsuccessfully, to shoot us. Stray strands of her jet black hair ruffled in the breeze as her upper torso hung out the window. The same sniper she had earlier was gripped tightly in her gloved hands.
"Get down!" Gwen hollered. She pushed me down and began to urgently speak tenderly in my ear. "Keep low," she murmured. "Let Kevin and I handle this. Only if I say so, that's when you come back up."
"But—"
"Ben!" Kevin exclaimed as he kept his eyes focused on the vast expanse of road before us. "Listen to Gwen. She knows what she's talking about. We can't risk them getting a hold of you... not to use you as a hostage against us. And don't talk back. That's an order. "
I gripped my gun even tighter if that was possible. I suddenly heard a shot and then the scraping of metal against pavement. I glanced up from my position on the floor of the car and noticed that one of our side mirrors had been detached. Scraps of serrated metal stood in the place of the mirror. More gun shots echoed in the air. I, if possibly, crouched down lower to avoid getting shot.
"Bitch!" Gwen screamed as she aimed and shot perfectly out of the window before pulling herself back in. She was panting. It was most likely from the adrenaline pulsating throughout her body. Once again, I glanced up to inspect the damage she had inflicted upon them with the single bullet. The windshield had been completely caved in and shards of glass were covering the interior of the car.
The driver had a bullet wound; it was lodged in the center of his forehead. A dark crimson substance leaked down in between his eyes and down the bridge of his crooked nose. His head was thrown back and I could see inside the hole in his skull. Bone and puss with a brownish tinge was smeared all over his forehead. Gwen had aimed perfectly; she had killed a human being, but she had also killed the opponent who would be responsible for the mass destruction of the universe in less than four days.
Their Chevy truck raged around the road, swiftly swaying in and out of several lanes. "Kevin!" I screamed.
"Shut up! I'm trying!" He sounded terrified. It seemed like he and Gwen had swapped situations.
The truck lumbered behind us, dangerously close. I was absolutely sure that the driver had his foot pressed down the gas before his death, and now that he was dead, it was stuck. The unidentified woman continued to shoot, but she missed every single time. I knew that it was a benediction in masquerade; I was immensely gratified by it.
Gwen assumed his position once more outside the window and set off a round of bullets. Several smashed against the hood of the car, and some wedged themselves in the upholstery of the automobile. I heard shrilled screams as I watched the scene unfold in front of me. The woman was hanging limply from the car, blood trailing behind her on the road while staining her skin and clothes at the same time. Two of our unknown amounts of foes were deceased. Gwen deserved a standing ovation for her gun(wo)manship.
She fell back into the car panting heavily. "You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," she responded lightly. "They're dead."
"They are," I agreed. Their deaths were inevitable; Gwen was one of the best gun(wo)men we had. I visibly shuttered at the thought of seeing their inanimate corpses lying in the car.
Unexpectedly to us, the car gradually slowed down until it had completely halted. "Get out of the car now," I ordered. I cocked my gun and raised it to the side of my head. Gwen and Kevin stared at me, their mouths agape. "I said get out!" I opened the door and hopped out of the car. I turned back around to my team. "We need to go see if they have anything we could use."
They visibly relaxed their tense bodies. Did they really think that I was going to shoot them? I hurriedly walked over to their truck and threw the car door open on the passenger side. The woman's body drooped out and fell to the ground. I cautiously stepped over her. Much to my distaste, I scooted myself deeper into her seat. Her blood soaked into my clothes. It's okay, I thought to myself. It's only a little bit of blood… just blood…
I steadied my breathing as I searched around their vehicle for the familiar object. It was a minute black box with an intricate design of a dove. Hope and peace is what it symbolized. It was a box with a hypocritical design. I pushed myself further into the truck and heard footsteps echo behind me on the concrete. I whipped my head around quickly.
"Thank God," I breathed, relieved, "you guys scared me."
"Sorry," they muttered simultaneously.
Gwen spoke up. "Have you found it?" I didn't want to disappoint her with my response, but I knew that we couldn't afford to lie either.
I sullenly shook my head no and went back to rummaging around the enemy's possessions. My eyes were constantly on alert as I thoroughly inspected every miniscule inch of space there was available. Pushing some papers away, I immediately froze as I saw a petite black carton labeled: Omnitrix.
I gently pried the lid off of the carton, and it revealed a gaudy black and green watch sans the face for telling time. Instead, there was a design that resembled an hour glass, but it was a vibrant, pulsating, electric green. I gaped in amazement as the gadget's face suddenly sprang up and started turning itself.
"Oh my God," I breathed out, my voice shaky. I stood rooted to my spot out of fear of what I had found. "We—we have to do something about this."
"You know we can't do anything until we assess the situation!" Gwen exclaimed. "Obviously whoever it is wanted us to find this which means that they'll be expecting us."
"Yeah," Kevin consented, "We need to put the lid back on that thing and take it to base for you guys' grandpa to analyze. Don't touch it otherwise." Kevin lowered his gaze and directed it at me. "Got it, Benjamin?" He gave a wicked smile my way.
"Ten-four, Kevin Eleven," I retorted smugly as I matched his gaze and got into the vehicle without another word.
"Boys will be boys," I heard Gwen mutter under her breath rather loudly as she got in the car. Snickering in response to her statement, I slammed the door and we were on our way to figuring out the mystery behind our new discovery.
How was it? Did you enjoy it? Hate it? :)
Share your thoughts with me! Do you have anything specific that you'd like to see in this story? I have it all planned out, but I can adhere to your wants. :D
-Jia Marie
