Note: My first version of chapter 4 was horrible to me and didn't seem to fit in. Replaced.

Chapter 4: Alien Boy

Another day of useless school had come and gone for Ben, and yet another day he gained new homework. He figured out that as long as he put random answers down – his parents would be happy. At least until they saw his report card. But it's worked before, and it will work again.

Leaving the yellow school bus full of laughs and angry taunts – as he had fallen over a seat-belt strewn into the walkway – his legs then began to run down the sidewalk in way of his home. When he got there, he went around back and opened the large glass door. They never kept it locked, as his father had mentioned that giving him a key would be a bad idea.

Closing the door quickly behind him, Ben wasted no time in going into the large square kitchen and digging in the refrigerator.

"It's good to be home alone for a while after school," he smiled as he bit into an apple.

Fruits, vegetables, and almost anything strictly healthy were usually things that he kept far from reach. But during the road trip with his grandfather, he had come to appreciate apples – which Gwen had so generously bought furtively at a supermarket one day when they were supposed to eat some exotic food or other. Of course, there had never been a point in thanking her – as he was the hero that deserved everything, right?

Even the neighbors on his street would look at him with earnest wonder. Ben was not exactly the most average height, and he was noticeably shorter. He had over heard a man that lived down the street from him talking to his dad one day outside.

"That boy of yers', Carl, he needs to be gettin' some more sun and eat more. He's shrinkin' by the day!"

"Ben will get there one day," his father had reassured the man.

His mother had always pointed out the things that made Ben a bit abnormal, while his dad would just smile and say, "can't change the way people are."

After finishing only half the crimson apple, Ben headed up stairs and into his room. There he tossed his backpack somewhere, and literally raced to find the remote and turn on the news channel. Today was the day that he would do something without that other girl interfering.

He was always in time to catch the weatherman – who appeared every day at around 3:00. It took a while for him to get used to having to wait before seeing what he really wanted. Maybe that was patience finally kicking in?

Just after the well-dressed well-groomed man finished smile at something, which Ben thought was stupid, he addressed there would be clear skies and a warm night – no more chills. Then the camera panned over to the news anchor.

"That's great to hear. And back over to today's stories – we have nothing new to report on any incidents. The day has been quiet so far and we hope to keep it that way. Stay tuned for more coverage. This is Bellwood news, and we're keeping you on top."

Ben groaned as he heard the unexpected broadcast that nothing bad was happening. He hardly thought about the happiness that some people would be feeling – if they had known they were going to be in a terrible accident and missed it.

"Now there's absolutely nothing to do..." his eyes wandered around his messy room. He located his backpack, which had made its own landing zone among a mess of toys and clothes.

His mind shifted into the thought of doing homework, but some self-defense mechanism rejected it.

"No way...not even a chance," and then he spied his Game Station. Some part of him wanted to go sit at the video game system for hours on end, but another part – which seemed to have never shown before – really didn't want to waste the time.

Finally, after figuring there was seemingly nothing to do, he fell backwards onto his bed and groaned quite audibly.

"Man..." he complained, "I wanted to be able to do something with the Omnitrix before mom and dad get home."

Then, from his TV, he heard the sound of a loud trumpet orchestra and realized it was the news coming back – a bit early.

"Breaking news," said a voice which sounded a lot like the deep ones from the radio.

Ben's cheeks rose and his mouth curved into a joyful smile. Breaking news usually meant one thing – there was a problem, and not just some problem with politics. A real, emergency.

Soon, the man who had just reported nothing happened quickly reappeared with a more annoyed expression on his face. Apparently hoping the day would stay quiet was not enough to keep it that way.

"Unfortunately we have just got reports of yet another terrible incident on the streets of Downtown Bellwood. A fire, which firefighters believe was arson, has been set ablaze at a local apartment building. The city's residents are desperately trying to rescue the people inside but have been unsuccessful so far. Our hopes and prayers are with them. Now we go..."

"Another day of hero time. Was a close one though." said Ben, who was now edging on his bed.

He turned and opened his window, which he now never kept locked, and jumped just after turning into Heat Blast.

With the pyronite's ability to withstand flames it would be really easy to rescue whoever was inside. All he would need to do is walk in, jump over some death-threatening fires, pickup the damsel in distress, and walk out. He would have the city on its feet thanking him.

Using his flames as rocket propulsion, he sent himself flying into the air and straight towards the top of buildings. Although he had first thought it would be a pain to spot the scene, he learned that it was quite easy. Black smoke clouded one portion of Bellwood's skies and below it was a house of fire.

It took him minutes to get close enough to land safely. All the while he had sailed through air as if he were surfing in water. The diamond rays of the after noon sun were his monstrous waves while the scorching yellow of his flames were a board.

When he was close enough, he could see that police had blocked off two sides of the street – the main urban road leading to the apartment. There was a single fire engine just outside the building hosing down the burning structure with high-powered streams of water from a nearby hydrant.

Ben decided it would be best to avoid them completely and just jump through a window or the roof. The less they saw him – probably the better.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," Ben said while trying to pick which window to jump through. He could hear cries of help, but did not see who was shouting. Flames gutted out each window panel like a caged animal.

And then came the horrible turn of the situation. The one thing he had hoped would not happen just once – for that whole day.

She was back.

The masked Gwen jumped from rooftop to rooftop in direction of the flaming apartment building. She took long jumps and strides through the air while running with a swift and amazing physique.

For a moment Ben stared in envy, but soon let his pride overcome the slight feeling. He jetted towards the building in attempt to beat her there.

Not caring which window he went through, he ended up making it into the blaze by the first window on the left side. And there was nothing but fire.

All around him there were licks of red, yellow, and even white fires dancing about and carelessly spreading their cancer to nearby appliances and wood. In the room he was in, most people would be getting scorched, but Heat Blast's fire-elements allowed him to basically blend in with his little tormented brothers and sisters.

"Time to put out some of this mess."

He held his arms up and began to bring in the flames through his hands. All the heat whirled around until it finally landed completely in his arms. However, he couldn't just use that technique all the time. As the heat had to go somewhere – and it went all into his body. Even though he was made of living rock and lava – he still had to keep cool.

Now the room was fire-free, and apparently Gwen had noticed. She came right through the same window he did and landed beside him. Ben expect for her to say something or start a little argument – but she didn't.

"Out of my way fire-breath," was all she said before bumping into him and running out of the room and into the apartment complex.

Ben fell over and tried to brace himself by a chair, which crumbled at his touch.

No way was she going to steal his glory this time. He would save at least one person – and nothing would stop him from achieving that.

Through the door he went and out into a hallway filled with the sounds of crackles and screams. The people were all throughout the building. How could so many people become trapped and not get out?

Ben quickly caught a glance of the masked heroine going one direction down the "L" shaped hallway, so he took the other direction by instinct.

He would be coughing from the thick smoke rising to the ceiling, but apparently his body adaptations could withstand it – lucky him.

But not so lucky for the people stranded in rooms as if they were left behind on some deserted island. He quickly made his way to the closest room where screams were arriving.

Jumping over a thin line of fire, he witnessed a family huddled into a corner with a well-built Italian man shielding his wife and child.

The boy, who looked roughly four, was cradled by his dark-haired mother and then outlined by the father. It was a heroic formation.

"Don't worry now, I'm here to help," reassured Ben as a wooden beam fell from the ceiling and barely missed his head. This only strained the family's confidence even more.

He nodded to the father in the family, the three stood up – trusting whatever was before them with all their hope. It was the only thing they had to cling on to anyways.

Ben turned back around glad the family was not being reluctant and hopped once more over the wall of fire – out into the complex hall.

"Come on!" he called as the screams still rang from other stragglers in other rooms.

The Italian wife was first, she seemed brave and hardy – making it through the hot fire with only sweat to show for it. Next came the man in his son – and they weren't so confident.

The boy's face screwed up as he saw what was in front of him – a common act of pouting. By instinct, the father pushed his son's face into his chest and made a dive through the yellow barrier.

Ben's heart skipped a beat as he thought that they had not jumped far enough – he couldn't watch anyone burn alive. Luckily that didn't happen. They made it safely through just as their mother had.

And at that, Ben gestured for them to follow – all the while wondering if they spoke English. Dismissing it as unimportant, he raced down the halls. As he went, he could hear the cries of help people in other rooms made when they witnessed a family escaping. He tuned them out.

Once they hit the staircase, Ben saw that there were actually no steps left. Apparently, they had been made of a cheap wood and were almost the first to crumble.

Thinking of other things to do, he looked out through the window which was positioned at the end of the hall. It over-looked the front where all the firefighters and police offers were gathered. They had put together a landing trampoline just in case anyone would jump from the window – they were smart.

"Alright," Ben spoke to the people behind him as he noticed the black-clad girl coming from down the hall with more people, "there's safety down there. All you have to do is jump."

The Italian man shot Ben a glance. "But how do yu know it iz safe?" he questioned with an accent. He could speak English.

"Trust me," Ben said, "they know what they're doing down there. And I wouldn't rescue you guys just to get you hurt. You have to hurry. Go!"

It was amazing how people would trust anyone in desperate times. The feeling could be manipulated into such cruel forms, but here...here it was just what was needed.

Gwen arrived behind them all with at least two more families – totaling nine people – just as the foreign man of the Italian child climbed onto the seal and gave his wife a brush-kiss. He was obviously unsure, but saw it as the only option. And he trusted Ben – many people seemed to trust him for some reason. Gwen could never understand why.

Out the window he went, followed by more and more of the people that the two heroes had gathered. Nobody else needed convincing after seeing the others jump and be saved by the trusted city officials below.

Within minutes they were all safely grounded and only Gwen and the flaming Ben were left.

"There are still more people," Gwen spoke with the shimmer disguising her voice.

"I know. I'll get the rest of them on this hall and you see if anymore are on any of the other floors," he finished as she just started to run. A weird feeling shivered into his body – it gave him an interesting and unexplained feeling about the girl running from him.

"And be careful!" he called.

She ignored him.

. . .

Soon four more families had been found and rescued just as the others had been. The work was almost too easy and seemed so casual for experienced saviors like Ben and Gwen.

There was so much spare time that the firefighters were actually able to put the fire out before the building toppled or was completely obliterated. The sky soon returned to its normal color without the thick, black haze covering any part of it.

The rescued people were given oxygen treatments and admitted to a small ambulance for a minuscule checkup just outside the danger zone.

All the while Ben even had time to retain his alien form as he stood atop a rooftop beside Gwen – who he still did not know the identity of – and watched as the city's help did their jobs.

"You know," Gwen started with her hands on her hips just as the sun appeared to be setting, "we make an okay team, Alien Boy."

Ben sent her a glance of approval, and that was all. No more words, and no more actions. They watched for minutes more before parting without a simple goodbye.

He even made it home before his parents – saving him an explanation which would be full of many stutters and lies.