Summary:
A strange girl enters their lives as a deadly enemy... She learns what it's really like to have powers, experiences love, compassion, and sacrifice for the first time. Who is she?

Hey all! My first real fanfiction, and a Ben 10 one to boot! So, just read. Yeah. 'Kay.

(contains OC, mild swearing, and Julie-hate)

"Chili fries, please," said Ben to the fast food cashier. "Thanks," he added, when a red tray with spicy French fries was handed to him. He sat at the table already occupied by Gwen and Kevin and started to munch quickly on his snack, careful to spill as little chili sauce on his tray as possible. (A/N: He spilled the fries onto the tray, they're not in a box, and he's a little kiddie.) Usually the fast food restaurant would feature puzzles, and Ben loved collecting the puzzles.

As he wolfed down his last French fry, he stared at the picture on the tray. It was no puzzle.

"Uh, guys?" Ben said to his two friends. "Does this-"

"Whoa. She looks really familiar," observed Gwen, looking over at the tray. "I feel like - like I've seen this girl before! But... I can't remember though..."

Instead of a kids' puzzle, as Ben Tennyson had expected, a huge wanted poster was printed onto the tray. The girl depicted looked like a wild animal: Her untamed black hair reached a few inches below her shoulders in front, and appeared to have been slashed off instead of cut properly with scissors. She was wearing a dark cape, giving her a goth look, with a blood-red brooch clipped at her neck. She looked about nine or ten, a bit young to be on a wanted poster, Ben thought. However, the haughty look on her face showed no remorse for her wrongdoings, whatever they were.

"What do you think, Kevin?" Ben asked. "Kevin?"

Kevin said nothing, only stared at the girl's haughty profile with distaste.

"I wonder what she did that got her on a wanted poster," Gwen wondered aloud. "I mean, what is she, maybe nine? Ten?"

"This was taken five years ago," broke in Kevin, irritated at the two's lack of knowledge. "Fyregirl was arrested for selling lethal venom to DNAliens, which they planned to use to wipe humans out. The Plumbers caught her before the planes flown off with the shipments of venom and took her to jail. Looks like she escaped pretty recently though."

Frankly, this was the most talking he had ever done at once. Gwen and Ben were quite taken aback.

"How d'you know that?" asked Gwen, stunned.

Kevin resumed his pointed silence, glaring again at the poster.

"Well, whoever she is," Ben decided, "we're going to hunt her down and bring her back to justice," Ben decided.

If only her haughty face would stop popping up in his mind...

A girl with inky hair and dark eyes leapt nimbly from building to building in the dark night, leaving her shadow behind, searching for her next meal. Of course, she could've broken into her new school's cafeteria without a second thought, but cafeteria food never satisfied her hunger, and besides, she was a sophomore now. She had to start acting mature.

Suddenly she felt a twinge of worry, intertwined with a stab of caution. It was the first time she had felt something like this in five years.

Someone was looking for her. She knew it.

She paused in her leaping and closed her eyes, looking into her soul within.

Two guys. One girl. Green jacket. Red hair. Black shirt. Pink alien mana. Green watch. Plumber's badge.

A green watch and a Plumber's badge?

Whoa, whoa. Slow down.

Kevin Levin.

She opened her eyes fully, and they flashed with fire, burning with hate and vengefulness.

So Kevin Levin was looking for her. What did he expect, payment? The weapons were destroyed by that Ben Tennyson and that red-haired freak anyway, so the deal was off, of course.

Ben Tennyson. That was probably the other guy she had seen in her introspection. And the girl... Gwen, was it? Probably his sister or cousin, they resembled each other a little...

The boy - Ben Tennyson - had been wearing a green watch.

The Omnitrix.

Rumored to be the most powerful weapon in the galaxy. Yes, that would make a rather fine gift for her master, wouldn't it?

A smirk formed on her lips as she began to form a scheme as of how to snatch the Omnitrix away. Through trust, most likely...

The three of them were looking for her. Most likely saw her on one of those stupid crappy wanted posters at the chili fries place. Her friend had to stop printing those damn things. But of course, that would make it all the more convenient... The Omnitrix would walk right into her open hands, wouldn't it?

"Let them find me," she hissed into the darkness, while she scanned the town from atop a water tower. "Let them try."

And a ball of fire ignited in her partly-gloved hand, like a warning signal, flashing in the night.

Thanks for reading! ^^ I have a tendency to write chapters on the short side, because honestly, I find long chapters quite boring haha.

Constructive criticism, please! (: What suggestions do you have?