Chapter 1: Fallen
Kevin growled softly as they drove down the highway, it was a sweltering hot day and his air conditioner had just stopped working. The windows were open though it wasn't doing much good since the humid air was making it hard to cool off. "Gwen we've been driving forever and it's too hot to fight aliens" Kevin whined as he let his head fall back against the headrest. "Kevin we've been driving for only ten minutes and besides we're going to be there soon anyway." Gwen said resting her chin in her hand as she looked out of the window. Ben sighed from the back seat of the car and fanned himself with his hand. "We need to get this air conditioning fixed I'm starting to feel like that bean curd my mom made last week." Ben said looking out the windshield as the road came at them." I spy with my little eye…something that is tan" Ben said as he sighed loudly.
"Tumbleweed" Gwen said as she watched large rocks fly by on the side of the road. Gwen sighed the humid air was starting to lull her into a hazy sleep. Kevin looked over at the red head and smiled softly as Gwen slept. "You know Kevin you should keep your eyes on the road, I would like to make it to my sixteenth birthday" Ben said leaning his head back against the head rest. "If you want to live to your next birthday I can stop this car and you can fly home… wait you can turn into Big Chill. So why the heck, are we suffering?" Kevin asked looking out the windshield.
Ben lifted his head "huh… I never thought of it until now, but I'm too tired right now to change into Big Chill" Ben mumbled as the warm humid air came through the open windows. His eyes slowly began to close as he too started to fall under the spell of the humid hazy air. It was only a matter of seconds before Ben too was asleep in the back seat. Kevin sighed he was glad that Ben was asleep and quiet, but having Gwen asleep was hard on him he enjoyed her company and liked talking to her. He was tempted to wake her up but watching her sleep was rare, Gwen was like a combination of things that Kevin couldn't describe, she was beautiful and smart but also strong and a great fighter. He knew that Gwen was a good girl and could do better than him, he had done time in the Null Void and he was a former criminal. Kevin sighed as they continued to drive down the highway. The barren desert stretched all around them, it reminded Kevin of a horror movie he had seen. If this was a movie then the monster or zombie would attack the car soon. Just as the thought flittered through Kevin's mind a large rock fell from one of the cliffs high above them and landed just a few feet in front of the car. Kevin slammed on the breaks and the car came to a dead halt.
Ben and Gwen were jolted awake by the car's sudden deceleration from seventy miles an hour to zero. Gwen looked around for any aliens and saw they were all alone in the small canyon. She unhooked her seatbelt and got out of the car. She held her hand out and lifted the rock in the air with her mana and moved it to the side of the road and placed it safely in front of a small outcropping of rocks. When she got back in the car she looked at Kevin. "All clear now, and don't worry there is no damage to your car." She said fastening her seatbelt once more. Kevin smirked and gunned the engine again and took off down the highway once again. After another twenty minutes they slowed down and pulled off the road and headed up a small hill till they were overlooking Los Soledad military base, it was abandoned by humans but the DN Aliens had taken up residence quite recently. It had been a week since the three were there last saving a friend of theirs named Cooper.
Kevin pressed a button and a screen came up over the windshield that uncovered the truth under the cloaking device. Ben whistled a bit "Where did you get the screen?" he asked leaning forward and looking at Kevin. "I got it from Cooper" he said with a smirk "Did you get it in the sense that you stole it or did he actually give it to you?" Gwen asked with a stern look on her face. Kevin looked away "I may have borrowed it from his basement when I was dropping him off at home" he said rubbing the back of his head a bit." When we're finished here you're going to return everything you 'borrowed' from him." Gwen said turning her head away from Kevin.
"Hey we really needed it and Cooper wasn't really using it." He said digging himself into a deeper grave. Gwen gave a loud huff and climbed out of the car. Ben chuckled from the back seat of the car "Nice going Kevin, now you'll never get her to go on a date with you" the omnitrix user said as he put his feet up on the seat. Kevin looked at Ben in the rearview mirror "Either you take your feet off the seat or you're going to be learning how to fly without using the omnitrix." Kevin said getting out of the car and pushing his seat forward. Right away Ben put his feet down and scrambled out of the car past Kevin and over to his cousin. "Can you stop acting like children for one minute so we can figure out our plan of attack" Gwen said her hands were resting on her hips. "He started it" Kevin said pointing at Ben. Raising her hand immediately Gwen looked at both boys "I don't want to hear it, both of you get along right now or you can go in there without me and try to survive the hoards of DN Aliens." She said watching both of them go quiet. "Good now can we go, so hurry up or I'm leaving you here" she added as she created steps out of mana, Gwen started down the steps she could hear Kevin and Ben following close behind. Soon all three of them were standing by an opening in the wall that surrounded the military base.
As the three teens passed through the invisible cloak that hid the real Los Soledad they sighed in relief at the cold snowy weather. Kevin moved in front of the others and led them into a small building that was empty. "All right we've got to get to the other side of the base, we're going to split up at one point Ben you're going to take the air as Big Chill and Gwen you take the alleyways and we'll meet at the old library hopefully we'll be able to get there quickly before one of us is spotted." Kevin said as they waited a moment for a small pod of DN Aliens to pass by the door before taking off. Ben hung back and dialed Big Chill and slammed the Omnitrix down and became intangible before flying through the roof and up into the air. Gwen watched Kevin take off down another side street and turn a corner. She looked around the edge of the building and saw it was clear. Ducking behind the building Gwen kept close to the buildings, she had gone behind all the buildings close to the outer wall so there was little DN Alien activity where she was. It was a quick trip from the abandoned building to the old library. Gwen hid behind a dumpster as a DN Alien patrolled past her. She sighed softly as it disappeared around the corner of the other building.
Ben was flying around and waited for the right moment to land, when he spotted Gwen behind the dumpster he waited till the area was clear before he landed silently beside his cousin. "Gwen" he hissed from behind her making her jump nearly a foot in the air. "Benjamin Tennyson, don't you ever do that again or I swear I'll let it slip to Kevin that you wet the bed when you were thirteen" she said to thin air since Ben was still intangible as Big Chill. "You wouldn't dare tell him that" he said becoming tangible and turning back into his fifteen year old self.
"Speaking of Kevin shouldn't he have been here by now?" Ben asked as he looked around for any sign of Kevin. Even though he knew the older teen could take care of himself he was still alone and probably fighting a huge group of DN Aliens. "No we're going to wait here for Kevin, he'll be here soon and then we're going to look around inside." She said keeping her voice down.
Both cousins waited patiently for an hour "Now we've been waiting for over sixty minutes and Kevin… is there" Ben said getting up from where he was crouching. Ben walked over to Kevin and looked at him "You were making us worry on purpose haven't you?" he asked. The older teen looked at the cousins. "I got tied up, it seems the way I chose had more than a few dozen DNAliens" he said shrugging his shoulders. Gwen looked at Kevin "Maybe we should leave before they find us" she said pushing some of her long hair behind her ear. "We've come this far and we need to finish what we started" Kevin said. "Kevin you were gone for an hour and now you want to stay, they know we're here we really should…"Gwen was cut off as the wall behind her exploded outward as a dozen or more DN Aliens and a single Highbreed came out of the old library. Gwen instinctively put up a barrier as the attack started. Soon balls of mana and laser beams filled the air. Ben started to dial the omnitrix but it was hard to avoid the laser blasts that were hitting the mana shield. Finally he smirked as he selected Swampfire. As soon as he hit the faceplate he began to change.
"Awesome time to roast up some DN Aliens" he said as he created two balls of fire in his hands and threw them at the approaching aliens. Soon the small fry DN Aliens ran off leaving Ben, Gwen and Kevin to face the single Highbreed alone. "Now I think it's time we left" Kevin said backing away from the others slowly, Gwen was hot on his heels as was Swampfire. The teens arrived at the base of the cliff. "Hurry up' Gwen called as she started to run up the mana stairs till they reached the top of the cliff. Kevin pulled his keys out of his pocket and climbed into the driver's seat. Ben changed back and clambered into the back seat just as Gwen climbed in behind him. As the sports car drove off leaving a cloud of dust behind Gwen kept an eye on the passenger side mirror for any signs that they were being followed. When they far enough away she relaxed and broke the silence. "Guys we need to come up with another plan and get back in there soon." Gwen remarked looking over at Kevin and Ben.
When they arrived back in Bellwood Kevin drove to his place first and pulled into the garage and killed the engine before closing the garage door. Ben climbed out of the back seat and made his way into the house to find a way to cool off. Gwen opened the passenger door and just sat there as Kevin popped the hood up and began to look around. "Kevin, is everything all right? You seem off for some reason" she said getting out of the car and going over to Kevin.
"I'm fine I'm just a little tired is all from the heat and the fighting, when we go back we should go at night when it's cooler." He said leaning over the front of the car and reaching his arm beside the engine where the air conditioner hose was. Gwen nodded her head and went into the house where she felt a cool draft hit her in the face. The walls of the living room were covered with ice. "Ben we have to talk, Kevin's acting weird, well weirder than normal. He never complains that he's tired and just now he admitted that he came home because he was tired." Gwen said looking at her cousin as he relaxed on the couch. Ben chuckled from his spot on the couch. "I'm serious Ben, stop goofing around" she said putting her hands on her hips.
Kevin walked into the living room and came up to where his friends were "I like what you've done with the place. It's much more comfortable in here now." He said taking a seat on the only other chair in the room. "Hey Kevin, you have to hear this, Gwen's got some crazy theory that you're not in your right mind" Ben said laughing as Kevin joined in with him. Gwen growled loudly "I don't believe you two" she said storming out of the room and going outside. "Such a waste of my time" she said to herself as she walked off down the sidewalk toward her home. Gwen fanned herself as she walked. By the time she made it a couple blocks she was red in the face, when she stopped for a rest she saw Kevin's car pull up to the curb next to her.
"Gwen get in the car it's too hot to be walking home" Kevin called from inside the car. Gwen moved over and put her hand on the door handle. "You're right it's too hot out to walk all the way home" she said climbing into the car. The older teen was still leaning a bit close. "I was worried that the heat was going to get to you" Kevin said softly as he looked at Gwen for a moment longer before he sat up straight and started to drive off, the sky above them was starting to darken and thunder echoed through the air. When Kevin finally pulled up to the curb in front of Gwen's house her turned the key off and adjusted himself in his seat a bit.
The older teen looked over at the red head beside him. Reaching his hand forward his brushed his fingertips against Gwen's cheek. "You're very beautiful Gwen" he whispered leaning in and kissing her. Gwen was in shock she didn't know what to do at first. After a moment Gwen pulled away and sat in silence she could feel herself blushing. "Wow Kevin, that was sudden, I… I should get inside and rest for tonight" she said softly trying to regain her normal self. Kevin smirked "I'll walk you to the door" he said getting out of the car and going around the front. He pulled open the passenger door so quickly that Gwen hadn't noticed till she was falling backwards; Kevin grabbed her before she hit the ground and pulled her to her feet after a moment. "Sorry, I hope you're not hurt" the older teen said softly as he led the girl next to him up the front path and to her front door.
Just as Gwen reached into her pocket a loud rumble of thunder filled the air, it was so loud that the windows. "Let's get inside" she said unlocking the door. While she was preoccupied with the door Kevin looked up at the dark clouds that had formed. "I should get back home, but I'll be back later to pick you up Gwen" he said leaning in and catching her in such a kiss that she felt her legs go weak. When Kevin let her go Gwen used the door handle to hold herself up as she watched the boy run down the front walk and get into his car.
When the first lightning bolt shot through the air Gwen thought she saw something in Kevin's car but it was too hard to see as the rain came pouring down in buckets. The stone path and the streets started to steam as the cool rain splattered on the hard surface.