In the Mouth of Madness

Author's Note: Man! Not another multi-chapter story. I should really learn from experience that it really is way too much work. Please review, guys. This one's a little bit more loose in plot than my other story so I could definitely use input. Unlike Three's a Crowd, I'm not going to force this one in the wee hours of the morning. So, yeah, I just warned you about longer waits.

Pairings: Benlie and Gwevin

Genre: Horror/Mystery

Rating: T, might move to M

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Chapter 1: The Eye of the Storm

Ben chewed thoughtfully at the end of his pencil. Even if he was staring intently at the paper before him, his mind was somewhere far away from the list of equations littered on the sheet. He tapped the pencil's point on the corner of his table. Then he resumed biting the eraser.

The dark eyebrow of the girl beside him nudged so far up into her forehead, the eyebrow was obscured by bangs. Licking her lips while she glanced at the teacher's desk, she was comforted with the sight of the teacher's absorbed concentration at checking assignments.

Julie was well aware of the instruction to do the math problems individually but she decided she wanted some of Ben's selective hearing problems. So she leaned towards him and asked, "Are you having trouble?"

The familiar voice burst him out of his stupor. Paper flew into the air, fluttering downwards around him. The rest of the student body had turned to see what the fuss was all about. Though they only rolled their eyes and muttered to themselves when it was just the resident weirdo smiling sheepishly.

Sighing, he began picking up the pieces of answering sheets he randomly distributed to the ground. A pink clad arm assisted him.

"Hey," he called out gently, hindering her hand from reaching the paper near his foot. A smile tugged at his lips. "You don't need to do that. I'm okay."

"I'm not going to cheat, Ben," she joked light-heartedly, trying to force down the louder giggles from her throat. Navigating her hand around his own, she quickly lifted the fallen sheet. Julie continued picking the other pieces of paper that were far from Ben.

"It's got lots of material to cheat from so you better close your eyes," was his equally jesting reply, plucking the mostly blank sheets of paper.

While she arranged the papers neatly, she looked at him and questioned conversationally, "You were a little distracted there." She handed the papers to his open hand.

Snorting incredulously at her understatement, he turned completely to face her. He explained, "I'm just thinking about tonight. Kevin says we have a lead." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively so he wouldn't have to mention exactly what he meant. There was a giggle from his listener. "Just trying to form a plan."

"A bit too early to be thinking about that, don't you think?" she suggested helpfully, pointing her pen at his unanswered questions. "This mission's more urgent."

"I'm just doing something I'm actually good at," he muttered miserably, poking dejectedly at the empty sections of his paper. Pinning the sheet down with the eraser end of his pencil, he started spinning his question sheet until they became incomprehensible to his eyes.

Staring at him fondly, the black-haired girl tried to say something comforting. Then someone pointedly cleared their throat. Both teens looked up and the teacher's irate expression met their gazes. A foot began to tap impatiently.

The savior of the Universe withered at the non-verbal reprimand, digging his face into the papers to hide his embarrassment. All the while, an apologetic smile flashed on Julie's face as she quickly returned her attention to calculation.

When the pressure of his teacher's glare lifted off, the brunette twirled the pencil between his thumb and index finger. His mind slowly drifted back to visions of night-time adventures and alien fights. Mindlessly, he began to write the solutions to the equations that didn't fully register in his mind.

---

"They keep making too much noise," the mutant declared, automatically steering the wheel at the next turn with one hand. "Like the idiots wanna get caught. Alien tech being exchanged so much you'll hear them in your sleep." The next swerve was violent enough that the girl beside him clutched around her chair even if she was buckled in. He felt the glare from her direction but ignored it with a smile. "Was easy to track 'em here."

The brunette at the backseat made an unintelligible noise to confirm he was probably listening.

"Would you please get us to the location without killing us?" the redhead grated, slapping the driver's arm painlessly.

"How could you even suggest that?" Kevin exclaimed incredulously, exaggerating his morbid shock. "Crashing my ride! Insane!" Just to scare her even more, he pressed harder on the accelerator to speed on the empty road that greeted them.

"I'm not saying you're going to let the car be destroyed," she amended, watching Ben from behind them appear to enjoy being thrown from one end of the car to the other. She returned her attention to Kevin when her cousin started to make plane noises to accompany his movements. "All I'm saying is I don't want my head to become a splatter on your windshield."

"Not happening. Won't let it," he answered resolutely, sending the car to a screeching halt in front of a desolate building. "It's hard to clean brain off the glass." To emphasize his point, he plucked a cloth from the compartment and began scrubbing gently on the window.

"Well, that's good," she stated sarcastically, releasing her death grip on the interior. Hoping dearly that she hadn't dislocated a shoulder stabilizing her position earlier, she opened the door. "Because I enjoy having a brain inside my skull."

"Let's do that again!" the brown-haired head piped in excitedly as it popped out of the door from the backseat.

Gwen shook her head, sliding a hand over her face in disbelief. "Not like some people."

The team strode cautiously towards their destination, inspecting the area for an ambush.

According to Kevin's sources, the building they were heading to was reportedly a hideaway of the Forever Knights. If they were on the right track, they could put the spanner in the rapidly increasing cases of illegal alien tech distribution for a long while. Slightly unwillingly, Squire had informed them that the process to create a ship to launch towards the dragon planet was underway. Since the massive operations of alien tech was creating such a loud buzz even if they were conducted as underground dealings, the ship was about to be completed.

This was not about to happen on Ben's watch. Especially since the watch in question kicked the butt of anyone who attempted to disrupt the peace. Confidently walking towards the building, he patted the Omnitrix as if to confirm it was there.

Expectedly, there was a rush of people that flanked his team from both sides. Unexpectedly, the visible sign of the Plumber's badge gleaned from their direction. Ben was dumbfounded about realizing that he was the one who actually noticed these things while he observed both Kevin and Gwen rush immediately into battle. The Plumbers themselves had an extremely defensive bodily posture, as though they were prepared for a confrontation. The Intergalactic police met the attacks head on.

Swearing under his breathe, he dialled the Omnitrix and slammed his palm over his choice. After transforming into an Aerophibian, he had very little time to grumble about the malfunctioning device before mucilaginous goo from the Lepidopterran Plumber pinned him downwards into the pavement.

Kevin had quickly honed in on the figure who acted the part of the superior authority figure, who happened to be a male Tetramand who cracked his neck in anticipation. Charging readily towards the guy, he formed a mace in his hand to slam into the face that was eerily reminiscent of that annoying Manny. The idea of cracking that face was just too much enjoyment, that he failed to notice the quick sidestep from his chosen opponent. He did belatedly realize the two arms that had smashed on his back.

As he slammed to the floor, he smiled deviously when the Tetramand snapped his arms back in pain. He practically jumped back to a stand as he used an arm to gain momentum and kick the Tetramand with both legs.

Gwen was starting to doubt whether she should continue her attack but the rampaging Petrosapien broke through the three consecutive shields that she raised. The fourth one was beginning to crack, splinters falling at the sides. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the Forever Knights quickly loading their varying alien tech into a large truck behind the building.

She raised her hand to at least puncture through the wheels of the truck with her manna but was interrupted by the gemstone hands that gripped her entire form. The dust blowing from the speeding truck taunted her enough that she kicked angrily on the Petrosapien's chest repeatedly.

Using the neuroshock blasts from his eyes, Jetray attacked the Lepidopterran into stopping his release of the incredibly smelly liquid fastening him firmly onto the ground. In the air, he raised both hands to signal a seize fire.

"Stop! Stop!" he attempted to shout through the commotion, his shrill voice piercing enough through noises. The attention of everyone in the field focused on him, just right in time for the Tetramand to stop in the process of bludgeoning his fist into Kevin face. "We're not your enemy!"

There was a moment of silence. Dust cleared out around the battle.

Strangely enough, the peace lasted for only a few moments before the Tetramand holding Kevin against a tree dropped the mutant and turned to glare visibly at Ben. The teen didn't even have time to flinch before an energy net thrown by the Plumber officer wrapped around the Aerophibian.

Electricity travelled through the mesh. All he heard was the sound of his cousin shouting his name in alarm before everything blacked out.

---

Groggily, he opened his eyes to the sight of his cousin and his friend clamped in alien tech that restrained their arms and legs uncomfortably to their body. He navigated his hand around the limited movement he could achieve within the net to wipe his cheek of the now dried drool on his cheek. Ben observed the Plumbers quietly for a while so that he could recollect coherence back to his sleep-clogged brain.

"Some Plumber you guys are if you don't even know the guy who owns the Omnitrix," the red-haired girl snapped, struggling uselessly within the metal donut squeezing her body.

The Tetramand was clenching his teeth evidently, the muscles in his jaw tensing to signify so even if his mouth wasn't open.

"I don't like this kid," the Lepidopterran stated, hovering over the girl in question to inspect her while she retreated as much as her confined body could. "Can I shut her up?"

His superior remained quiet, folding all four arms across his chest.

"That's called police brutality," Gwen explained in that snooty manner that she used on Ben back then when they were kids. The frustration of having their operations halted by what she assumed was a misunderstanding picked at the edge of her patience.

"I thought you were kinda cute but now you're just annoying," the Lepidopterran continued, dismissing her comment. This caused Gwen to recoil back in horror at the flying creature who was floating much closer towards her. Ben continued being silent, as if to dwell more on the amusement he gained from the situation.

"Okay, you try anything and I'll have your head on a platter faster than you can say stink bomb, smelly," the mutant barked at the Lepidopterran confrontationally, having pushed himself upwards despite the awkward squat position the metal was forcing him to take. When the metal began to whine at the strain of Kevin's struggle, the Petrosapien beside him forced him to sit back down on the ground.

"Will you all shut up?" the Tetramand finally hissed, standing up to tower threateningly over the bickering group. "We're just waiting for Sleeping Beauty to get up so when we can get moving."

As if using this as a cue to make whatever grand entrance a rumpled human boy trapped in a mesh could achieve, he made his presence known with, "I'm awake. Get talking."

His cousin mumbled about how unbelievable Ben was being, but nobody paid much attention.

The Tetramand simply nodded his head toward his Petrosapien subordinate, who walked towards Ben.

While the Plumbers were preoccupied with facing Ben, the red-head made her hand glow with manna and silently, slowly, sliced through the metal restraints surrounding her. The older teen smirked upon seeing this, morphing his finger to an implement that could pick through the machinery.

A warrant was opened, the Petrosapien reading directly from the document. "Benjamin Kirby Tennyson --" There was a male snicker from the background that was thankfully ignored by the officers but laced an embarrassed blush on Ben's face. "You are under arrest for the destruction of Fatum Plumbers headquarters --" the teen vaguely remembered an excursion where they had a stop over at Fatum since the Peace treaty could wait while they filled their gurgling stomachs, "and the murder of all the officers present in the establishment during the 16th cycle of the Fatumian moon."

All the blood washed from Ben's face. One word mocked him, constantly repeating inside his head until the word almost became nonsensical.

Murder.