Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10.

Ch4: Worldwide News.

Like usual after a successful mission Ben and Rook had gone to Mr. Smoothies to celebrate their victory. Everything was great un till Ben's cell phone made a beeping sound.

Rook watched as Ben grabbed his cellphone and read his message. He watched Ben's expression change and for some reason the Revonnahgander felt cold. "Ben?"

Ben's expression was sad as he put the cell phone on the table, his gaze downwards. It felt like ages un till he finally looked up again. "I gotta go now Rook." Meeting Rook's gaze and- oh there was so much pain in those beautiful emerald eyes. Ben's eyes should never be like that.

All Rook wanted to was pull Ben into his arms and stop that pain from being there, but Rook suddenly realized that he could not move or speak.

And Ben was already getting up.

Rook couldn't even ask why Ben had to leave after they were having such a great time?

Then Ben was walking towards the parking lot and Rook felt his heartbeat falter. No. Ben shouldn't go there! Darkness and pain was there and Ben shouldn't go there!

The darkness was closing in on Ben and there was nothing could do but watch. He couldn't prevent it!

Just watched as darkness claimed the one he lov-

"No!"

Rook jerked awake nearly falling out of the plastic chair he found himself in. Disoriented and more than a little frightened Rook looked around, his shoulders slumping when he recalled where he was.

He was still in Ben's hospital room. It was dark and Ben's parents were both asleep in their own chairs a couple of feet away. Gwen and Kevin had left with Max to spend the night at his place, they'd be back first thing the next morning.

Needing to be close to Ben after his disturbing dream Rook got up and walked over to Ben's bedside.

Once there, looking at Ben's face, he swallowed. Rook did not have the luxury of being able to pretend that his boyfriend was simply asleep. Not with all those wires and tubes surrounding Ben. Not with the oxygen mask on Ben's bruised face and not when Ben's expression was so far from peaceful.

Despite the heavy medication he was on Ben's face was twisted into a subtle grimace, even while still unconscious.

And the bruises...

Rook squeezed his eyes shut. Ben would not want him to cry... But it was hard. This was not something Rook knew how to handle. He'd never come this close to losing someone he lov- he cared for so much.

And this was all his fault too...

If he and Ben had not gotten together then Ben would not have gotten attacked and-

Despite his efforts a few tears still escaped him and slid down his furry cheeks. Really the only thing that could make him feel better would if those beautiful emerald eyes opened. All would be right in the world again.

Rook's hand shook when he gently cupped Ben's bruised cheek as he carefully ran his fingers through Ben's bangs. He frowned. "You are cold." He stated well aware that he would not receive a reply.

Automatically his mind flashed back to when they found Ben. Battered, bloody and... with his head wet from the smoothies his attackers had thrown over him.

"No wonder you are so cold..."

No matter how much he tried Rook could not get the image of Ben, unconscious, battered and bleeding, on the parking lot of mr. Smoothies out of his head. The image would forever be imprinted in his mind.

The more Rook thought about it, the colder he got. He focused on Ben's face again and smiled sadly. "Perhaps we can keep each other warm." The Revonnahgander quietly suggested before laying down besides Ben. Careful to not disturb Ben's injuries, Rook wrapped his arms around Ben and pulled him as close as he was able to without messing with the tubes and wires attached to his boyfriend.

Resting his chin on top of Ben's head Rook's eyes once again filled with tears, this time he did not bother trying to hide them. "I am sorry, Ben." Rook whispered, his tears disappearing in Ben's brown hair. "I am so so sorry. Please come back."

Ben-10-Omniverse.

It was three days later and not much had changed. Ben no longer needed the oxygen mask, now able to breath on his own again and swelling on his face had lessened a whole lot.

And Ben still hadn't woken up.

He had groaned and whimpered a few times but that was all.

Max, Carl, Gwen and Kevin spend most of their time at the police station or at Mr. Smoothie parking lot trying to find whoever did this to Ben, but had nothing to go one seeing the police would not allow them to interfere with the police investigation so their little team had nothing to go on.

While they did that Rook and Sandra spend every moment with Ben, neither of them willing to leave Ben alone for long. Sandra didn't want to be away from her son while he was in this condition and Rook...

Rook was conflicted.

As much as he wanted to go out and find the people responsible for putting Ben in this condition and use them for target practice, he could note bare being away from Ben for long, not with the image of Ben bruised, bloody and unconscious recurring to him every time he closed his eyes.

He needed something to fight off that image.

He needed to see a heathy Ben Tennyson. Breathing, whole and safe.

Rook needed to be there when Ben woke up.

Currently Rook and Sandra were in their usual positions, meaning that Sandra sat on the chair on Ben's left and Rook on the chair on Ben's right. Sumo Slammers was playing on the small television, Ben hadn't even stirred when the episode began.

And that's what bothered Sandra the most.

"He's been a fan of this ridiculous violent show for over six years!" The woman suddenly exclaimed jumping to her feet. "He should be rooting for that Hiro guy or yelling at Hiyazaki! He should- he-he-" She faltered her ire disappearing and her eyes welling up with tears once more.

"He should not be like this." Rook solemnly agreed when Sandra sat back down again.

Sandra looked at him, but the Revonnahgander was already gazing at the unconscious teenager again. His expression sad but also so very tender. "Rook?"

"Yes, Mrs. Tennyson?" Etiquette required him to turn and look at the person he was talking to, but Rook couldn't bring himself to look at her. After all was he not -indirectly- also to blame for her sadness?

"I still need to thank you."

That got Rook to turn his head a face her. He waited for to elaborate, because surely this must be some form of sarcasm or a unusual Earth expression because Rook did not see how Sandra could possibly thanking him now. "With all due respect mrs. Tennyson-"

"Sandra." She'd been correcting him about that for ages, but the Revonnahgander was just too polite to start calling her by her first name.

"Sandra." Rook repeated a ghost of a smile passing over his face. "I do not understand why you would thank me, giving the situation."

Sandra's eyes went back to her son and she smiled sadly. "Ben has two types of happiness." She quietly told Rook. "There's the 'look at me I'm a famous hero' happiness." The blond woman snorted. "Carl and I had to deal with that kind of attitude a lot during the weeks leading up to Gwen leaving for college." She paused to gather her thoughts.

"And then there's the honest happiness." Sandra continued fondly, finally looking at Rook again. "There aren't many people who bring out that real happiness from my son, Rook." She told the Revonnahgander.

"But I've seen him truly happy with you and... Ben needs someone like that. Someone who can deal with his arrogant hero persona and deal with... Well Ben." Sandra smiled at him and Rook's eyes widened when he realized how much Ben took after his mom, because he knew that smile. "So I'm glad you and Ben got together."

For two full minutes Rook stared at her, stunned speechless by her words. "I..."

"It's okay Rook." Sandra assured.

"Thank you, Mrs- Sandra." Rook said managing his first smile in days.

They stayed in companionable silence for next fifteen minutes. When the Sumo Slammers episode ended Sandra reached for the remote. "Maybe I should put it on that music channel Ben sometimes watches." The woman wondered as she started going through the channels.

One of the channels was playing Will Harangue's show.

"What is he complaining about this time?" She muttered glaring at the famous man on the small television screen. She was about to change the channel again when she saw the words at the bottom of the screen.

'Hero lets himself be beaten?'

No. Sandra shook her head in disbelief. The media couldn't already know about this. Not yet. How could they even know?

Rook looked up when Sandra didn't change the channel. The last person he wanted to see let alone hear was Will Harangue and Rook thought Sandra would have similar thoughts on the matter. It was then that he actually listened to what the reporter was saying.

"Yes I admit that Tennyson has helped out our planet once or twice, but to call him our hero is an insult to true heroes like Billy Billions and Captain Nemesis. Don't believe me?" Will leaned over his desk to get closer to the camera. "Well you will after watching this footage that was send to me this morning."

Rook and Sandra both expected Harangue to show a video of Ben crashing into a car or destroying a building while fighting against one of his enemies.

Neither of them was prepared for the gritty, black and white video that took over the whole screen.

-Ben-10-Omniverse-

Elsewhere Mrs. Jones quickly turned the TV off, only seconds after the soundless footage started playing.

"M-ooom!" Jimmy Jones complained. He'd only gotten a glimpse of something black and white before his mom turned tv off. How was he supposed defend Ben on his blog if he didn't see what fake evidence Harangue had made up? "I was watching that!"

"Go to your room Jimmy." His mother said, her tone harsh but also shaken. "I don't want you watching that."

Jimmy wanted to protest further, but something about his mother's tone made him pause. "Mom?" He tilted his head, trying to get a glimpse of her, his eyes widening when he saw the raw anger on his mother's face. "Mom, what is it?"

Not saying a word Mrs. Jones walked over to her son and pulled him into a hug.

-Ben-10-Omniverse-

Glad to take a break after her long tennis match, Julie Yamamoto sank down on the wooden bench in the locker room and reached for her water bottle. Only after drinking some of it did she notice the three other girls in the room staring at the television screen attached to the stone wall.

The Japanese girl usually avoided watching that tv seeing the television in the locker room was always on one particular show, but she wanted to know what held the others so captivated so she looked up.

Once she got sight of what was happening on-screen her eyes widened. Julie didn't even notice when her water bottle fell from her hands.

-Ben-10-Omniverse-

Three sharp quills shattered the small old-fashioned television before the footage was even finished.

Argit stood a few feet away from where his tv had once stood, his whole body rigid after the sudden burst of anger that had clouded his control after witnessing that video. "That's..." Argit's shoulders slumped. "That's so typical of the world."

-Ben-10-Omniverse-

After hours of work the odd team of four still had nothing to go on, which eventually made Max decide that they should head back to Plumber HQ. Once they got there they found the place a mess. People were moving around frantically all appearing to be furious.

"What going on he-" Gwen didn't get to finish her question. Suddenly Helen, a human/Kineceleran hybrid had both Gwen's hands clasped in her own blue ones.

"Gwen, I am so sorry for what happened." Helen told Gwen, she sounded like she'd been crying. "What's his condition?"

Manny, Helen's partner walked up to them, all four of his fists clenched tightly in anger and his red body was stiff. "Did you guys get those four assholes?" The Tetramand demanded.

Carl had no idea who all those people were and was about to demand an explanation when he felt someone tug on his pants. Looking down he saw two aliens who he recognized.

"Is Ben alright?" Bluckic asked.

"Of course he isn't." Driba argued crossing his arms.

"But he might be."

"But he isn't!"

As the two Galvans argued Max walked over to Magister Patelliday, the only person he told about what happened to Ben and thus the only person who could have told all these plumbers about what happened. "Patelliday, I told you about the attack in confidence. How could you-"

"It wasn't me Maxi." Patelliday said holding his hands up as if saying 'I surrender'.

"Then who was it?" Kevin demanded glaring at the fish-like alien.

A forlorn expression of his face, Patelliday wordlessly pointed to the television screen hanging on the wall near the door.

Frowning Max looked at tv, his eyes widened when he saw black and white scene playing on it. Ben was on tv but...

Ben was curled up on the ground, surrounded by four adult men whose faces were blurred out, each of them kicking, punching and stomping the already unmoving teenager.

-Ben-10-Omniverse-

"This boy is supposed to keep Earth safe, but can't even defend himself against his own kind." Will Harangue said once the video of Ben being attacked was over. "If this is our last defense against alien scum, then I'm not feeling very safe. What you people of Earth?"

Sandra's hands shook so much that the remote slipped out of her grip and landed on the ground with a dull thud. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks and her shoulders trembled with sobs she was trying to suppress. "They- Their faces are blurred out." She choked out.

There were so many things wrong about the footage Will had so casually shown to the world, but that struck her as the worst part of the whole video.

The faces of Ben's attackers were blurred out to protect their privacy, to not ruin their lives, and yet Ben's face had been in full display. The media didn't care about Ben, about his privacy or even if Ben would be alright.

'Those rotten as-' A low growl coming from her right interrupted Sandra's angry thoughts. Quickly turning her head in the direction of the sound, Sandra's eyes widened when she saw the state Rook was in.

The Revonnahgander's pupils had narrowed to slits making him appear cat-like, and he was breathing was harsh.

"Rook?" Sandra asked getting to her feet. She remembered something Max had told her about Revonnahganders being very protective of their life-mates. "Rook, honey it's alr-" The woman stopped herself.

Things weren't alright and at the moment Sandra wasn't sure if things would ever be alright again.

When she didn't speak up Rook took off. Running out of the door before Sandra could even open her mouth to utter any more protests.

"Rook wait!" She ran after him but stopped at the door. Looking in the hallway Sandra spotted a nurse walking through the hallway. "Hey you!" She yelled at the younger woman. "Stay at this door and don't let anyone in." Sandra ordered before taking off after Rook.

She ran out of the hospital and would have continued on running had an arm not been held up in front of her. Out of breath Sandra slowly looked up to see who was blocking her way. "Rook?" She panted. He looked much more like himself now. Maybe running down all those stairs had calmed him down. It had suddenly taken all of her energy. "Rook, what's-"

A flash was all the answer she needed. Sandra looked up and finally saw the sea of reporters, journalists and camera men taking up the whole parking lot.

Sandra's eyes narrowed, this was her chance to give those nasty vultures a piece of her mind. She was about to walk up to them when Rook pulled her back. "You must not give them what they want."

Oh Sandra had a different opinion on that and she would have told Rook that had she not heard a familiar voice call out her name.

"Sandra!"

"Carl!" Sandra cried out spotting Carl, Max, Gwen and Kevin struggle their way to the hospital having to fight a way past all the paparazzi.

Rook watched Kevin punch journalist in the face when the guy didn't quiet asking Gwen the same question.

By now Rook knew he should not utter the question out loud, but Rook seriously wondered how things could possibly get any worse.