Chapter 1
"Zombozo again? I thought we put him in Plumber Jail yesterday?" Ben asked, dodging a quick attack. He rolled to the side and glanced at Rook with confusion.
"He was. But unfortunately during the transport, he escaped," Rook replied back and blasted orange energy at the crazed clown, who easily dodged it.
He frowned, "Well what does he want? Usually someone would run away so they could plan revenge against me."
"Maybe he has no plan so instead he just attacks first," The Revonnahgander suggested, ducking behind a car.
"Yeah and thanks to me using the omnitrix before the battle, it's timed out," He huffed and cowered his head. "You try to attack him, I'll go hide somewhere and attack when you distract him."
"But you have nothing to fight with, how will you protect yourself?" Rook asked, glancing with worry at his partner.
He grinned, "You should know me well enough that I always come up with something. And call some Plumber backup. I feel like we'll need the help."
Rook nodded reluctantly and pressed the button on his badge, that would inform Plumbers he needed assistance. He turned back only to see Ben retreating into the alley.
"Come out, come out where ever you are Tennyson. I only wanna play," Zombozo taunted darkly, searching around the buildings for the omnitrix user.
Ben began to run around the corner so that he was beside the zombie clown. Rook saw his partner a couple yards away from him and nodded at him, running out of the corner.
"If you are looking for my partner, you should know he is gone. He left to go get help," Rook informed, grinning up at him.
Zombozo frowned but smirked, holding up a small blaster. "You don't know what you're dealing with alien freak. I suggest you run now before I blast you up like a bird. And I'll do the same to your partner."
Ben took this time to look around, finding anything that would affect the clown. All he could spot was trash and abandoned boxes in the corner of the alley. He huffed and spun around, watching Zombozo getting closer and closer to his partner. Rook didn't seem to affected but he could tell that he was getting nervous, not for his safety but for Ben's.
"Ben will defeat you, like he does to everyone. I suggest you rethink before my partner comes with help," Rook grinned, holding up his Proto-Tool.
Zombozo looked at the weapon with disinterest and smiled, "I know Tennyson's here. I'm not stupid on what you're both planning. Tennyson's trying to take me out huh? Well how about this-" He latched his arm around Rook's body and tied him up, holding him like a rag doll. "What's Tennyson going to do now. You'd better get out now or I"ll ruin that little blue face."
Green eyes widened and he knew he had lost this battle, there was nothing to do that would save Rook. He had to show himself or..
Ben stepped out of the alley and put his hands up, narrowing his eyes, "Fine you got me. Drop him or else."
"Or else what Tennyson?" He taunted, his smile widening, "You look pretty defenseless right now. What are you going to do about it?"
The teen smirked and crossed his arms, "Oh I'm not going to do anything about it. Help's going to arrive and you'll wish you ran instead of staying here."
"I doubt that boy," He said as he pulled out a small human gun and aimed it towards Ben's heart. "I heard that nobody's ever used a gun on you. Let's test that and see if you make it out alive."
Ben glanced over at the worried Rook, who had been released onto the ground like a discarded object. Rook was staring at him with worry and mouthing the word 'run' repeatedly. But he have him a straight face, saying he wasn't running away from this battle. It just wasn't in his nature.
Zombozo grinned, "Any last words Tennyson?"
"Yeah, have you always been a freaky alien clown your whole life?" Ben insulted, literally laughing at death in the face.
He frowned, "Goodbye Tennyson." And that's when he pulled the trigger.
Ben's face went from grinning to horror, as a loud bang echoed in the clearing. His green eyes turned dark as he glanced down below his collarbone, which had started soaking up blood. He touched it gingerly before the entire injury set in and his eyes rolled back in his head. His body collapsed like a doll against the concrete and all Rook could hear was his voice screaming out at Ben's fallen form.
Grabbing his badge, he quickly spoke and rushed over to his partner, not caring about the armed zombie clown behind him. "BEN TENNYSON HAS BEEN SHOT. I REPEAT BENJAMIN KIRBY TENNYSON HAS BEEN SHOT."
He threw the badge down and picked up his partner, lifting up his shirt to find where he had been hit. Thankfully it had not been at his chest but near his collarbone. But as he felt the back of Ben's body, he could slightly feel the bullet under the skin. But the worst part was that it wasn't as big as he thought.. it felt as if it had been scattered into a million pieces in his body. That wasn't good..
"Ben!" Rook shook his partner but was glad he could see his partner at least breathing. But he was losing too much blood and he could see the white pavement start to stain a scary red color.
Zombozo just stared at the scene with utter pure happiness as he grinned evilly. By getting rid of the teen brat, everything would be so much easier. He wouldn't have to worry about cops or Plumbers anymore and he could finally do what he had been trying to do for 6 years; steal emotions from people. But right now he could see the Tennyson boy unconscious with his new partner. He didn't seem to respond at all and looked dead at the moment. Oh wasn't this going to be great! Just imagine all the chaos that would erupt when he told everyone!
He wasn't sure how long he had thought about all the exciting things that would happen but Plumbers started to arrive and he took this chance to depart, going to the first 'unique' bar he came in contact with. This would be a sweet celebration especially with the bragging rights that he killed Ben Tennyson.
When Rook had looked up at his injured partner, he could feel the presence of Plumbers starting to arrive. Many paramedic vehicles arrived, 911 and Plumber vehicles. Max Tennyson arrived on the first vehicle and sped towards his grandson and his partner. He took Ben's body in his arms and put his head near his mouth to hear breathing.
"What happened?" Max's dark eyes looked over at Rook. "What happened to my grandson!?"
"Zombozo attacked us. Ben could not transform since he had used up the battery earlier and hid behind the alleyway. He managed to catch me and forced him to come out and then proceeded to shoot him. The bullet grazed his heart thankfully but hit something and broke into many pieces. He is unfortunately losing too much blood," Rook informed, handing over Ben to his grandpa. He nearly winced when he saw blood drip from Ben's arm and fingers onto the floor making a trail of blood from the epicenter.
"We need to transport him to the hospital, I don't think we can do anything at Plumber HQ. He needs alot of blood to accommodate the loss in his body," Max mumbled to himself as he slowly put Ben on a nearby paramedic stretcher. The paramedics quickly wheeled the boy into the ambulance, with Max and Rook following after.
The ambulance quickly veered off, heading as quick as possible to the hospital a couple miles away. The truck shook and Rook shivered lightly at how.. silent it was.. Ben would of hated this.
"You're Max Tennyson correct?" A man asked, glancing from his computer at the older man.
"Yes, I am. Is there anything wrong?"
He sighed, which didn't assure anything on the old man's chest. "I'm afraid so. Your grandson's blood type is type O-negative, which means its pretty rare. We don't have any at the hospital so this may end bad for him. Unless you can find a blood donor in the next hour, his chance of survival will be pretty thin."
Max's eyes widened and he put his head in his hands with worry, "That's going to be impossible. Who's going to have blood like that?"
"Gwen? Are her and Ben mostly similar? Contact her," Rook suggested, glancing at Ben's heart monitor.
"Can you look up Gwendolyn Tennyson's profile? Maybe she has the same blood type," Max asked the man.
He only nodded and researched her, smiling as her profile flashed on the screen, "You both are extremely lucky. She seems to be a perfect match. Contact her as soon as you can."
Max whipped out his phone and quickly called her as Rook's expression brightened slightly. Ben was going to be alright? But the bullet was the next problem. It could be damaged severely around his body and the doctors would have to go inside and retrieve them. He shuddered.
"Ben's been shot. We need you to come and donate some blood."
"..."
"Thank you Gwen, we appreciate this greatly."
"..."
"Yes we'll be at the Bellwood Hospital. I'll alert you of the room, just hurry as soon as you can."
"..."
"Love you too darling."
Max dropped his phone onto his lap and looked down in grief. Rook, feeling like the situation was partly his fault, sighed, "I am sorry Magister. I should of tried to prevent Ben from becoming too close. Adding that I was the one he tried to save. I should have not put myself in danger."
"Rook, listen. It's alright, don't put the blame on you. We'll find Zombozo and add those charges on his person. We won't let this go by as nothing. We just need to focus on Ben. That's all we should worry about."
He stared sadly at his partner, who was beginning to be prepped for an immediate surgery. There were white bandages littered over his body, wrapped up tight to secure the blood for now. But Rook could slowly see the dark red slowly staring to stain Ben's upper chest.
The ride to the hospital was deathly long as Rook became more and more anxious. He had kept staring at his partner from then on, not sneaking a glance to anything else but him. But Ben had become paler and he knew that Ben's heartbeat was getting slower.
As soon as they had reached the entrance, immediately Ben had been careful taken out and quickly rushed into the nearest unoccupied hospital room. Rook, unalert of his surroundings, began following them until Max grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stop. "You aren't suppose to follow them. Let the men do what they need to, to help. Ben'll be fine, he's a strong kid."
"I hope you are correct. Where is Gwen?"
"Right here," A gasping voice said, rushing over to her grandpa and cousin's partner. They looked at her with relief. "Where's Ben? You gotta explain everything to me."
Max smiled, "Good to see you to Gwen. Ben's just got pulled into the ER. You better hurry so they can proceed with the blood transfer. He's not looking too well."
She didn't bother to reply as she rushed into the double doors and hurried to assist her cousin. Rook could only watch as he became useless, only hoping that everything turned out all right in the end. This was up to the doctors and Gwen to repair.
Gwen had returned half an hour later, looking slightly pale and swaying on her feet. Kevin had arrived in his car, rushing over to his girlfriend and swearing that she could of at least warned him before. She had donated over 3 pints of blood for Ben and left her completely weak and exhausted.
Ben's parents had also arrived along with Gwen's, who had automatically stuck to her side, wishing her thanks for helping her cousin.
Rook wasn't sure what was the difference between each human's blood, but he honestly didn't care at the moment. When he heard the words, 'Ben's not looking to good' from Gwen, his heart nearly shattered right there. But of course, he couldn't assume things yet. He needed to wait for the doctors to announce any news.
And to his surprise, the doctor had arrived 30 minutes later, saying the procedure was a complete success. The only downfall was the bullet had hit his collar bone and had turned into a large bullet into many fragments around his entire torso. But there was thankfully a couple pieces only and the blood from Gwen had helped significantly. There were stitches around and inside his body, which everyone and including Ben had to be cautious of.
"You all can visit Benjamin, but please be aware only 3 at a time and that he's asleep. He needs much sleep to heal the injury so please don't touch him, which will probably stress him out," The doctor noted, glancing at all the guests, "He can overnight visitors but we need to be noted ahead. And please remember you all are in a hospital. Be curtious to other patients."
And as much as Rook wanted to go first and see Ben, it would feel pretty disrespectful if he did. So Ben's parents were the first ones to go, along with Gwen and her parents, and Kevin and Max. He had decided to go last and alone, one, he wanted to see Ben himself privately, and two, he still felt like the situation was his fault.
Seeing Max and Kevin leave the double doors where his partner was held, Max walked up to him and sighed. "He's doing alright. Don't worry, but it would take the stress of my shoulders if you could stay tonight and watch him. Ben's parents have to work but Sandra will visit tomorrow at noon at the latest. Gwen and Kevin need to return back to college to pack their things and they'll come back and visit. Would you do it?"
"Of course sir," Rook smiled, "I would do anything for my partner. Now if you do not mind, I would like to see him."
Max stepped out of his way without another word and followed after Kevin down the hall. Rook swallowed and walked into the door, which held his partner.
The first thing that hit him was the massive use of antiseptic and alcohol. Just inhaling the medical supplies have him large shivers on his spine. The next thing he noticed was the whiteness that decorated the room. There was hardly any other color but white. And the most important thing that popped out was tan colored skin of his partner. Blankets covered his body, probably to trap the heat for healing or something along those lines. There were many bandages wrapped around one part of his body, which were pretty thick, almost like a cast.
Rook's eyes wandered to the table, which held all of Ben's information. Next to it was a clear jar filled with water, which was colored a light red. But at the bottom of the jar, sat the bullet that was shattered into pieces. They looked so.. small to cause any significant damage but apparently it had.
The entire scene disgusted him greatly. What kind of alien went so slow as to purchase a human gun and kill one? He knew how much Ben's villains hated him but he had never knew it was this bad. Aliens usually purchased weapons on black markets, which were highly illegal by the Plumbers and other governments around the universe.
Rook decided to sit beside his partner, dragging a chair over and curling his fingers around Ben's hand. He felt useless right now, unable to prevent such a dangerous act of murder from happening. Gosh how he felt sick right now. Maybe getting a smoothie would cheer him up.
A groan of pain alerted him of Ben's consciousness and he smiled graciously. "I am pleased you are awake. I was starting to get worried."
Ben rubbed his eye and yawned, "Rook? What happened?"
"Zombozo. But you are alright now. The Plumbers are catching the clown, so you should not worry about him. But how are you feeling? The doctor said you would not be awake for another couple of hours," Rook's response was. Green eyes glanced down at his hand, which was intertwined with his partners. Catching his partner's gaze, he blushed and snatched his hand away. "I apologize, I did not mean to wake you."
"Rook. Did the doctor say.. anything about injuries?"
"No. I do not recall any problems with your body. He said that they removed all bullet pieces and that you were perfectly fine. Is there a problem?"
"Either it's just the soreness I'm feeling or I've lost the feeling to my entire left arm."
New story. Yay. I forgot about this in my documents for months.
~Tortoro15