Ben sat on the hard, wooden bench in the laundromat thoroughly regretting his decision to help Gwen carry the laundry over. It had been more than an hour and he was bored out of his mind, it was really putting him in a bad mood. Gwen sat down next to him. "Are you done yet?" He groaned, throwing up his hood and cinching it in tight.
"Maybe I would be done if you ever bothered to do laundry." Gwen retorted. "What, did you just buy new clothes when the old ones got dirty?"
"I've done laundry before," Ben muttered lamely. Her remark struck a bit too close to home, he did have a habit of just buying new clothes instead of washing his old ones. Even if she was a bit right it wasn't like he never came here. It just wasn't often enough.
The jingle of the door opening caught his attention. He didn't move, though he saw Gwen look towards the door. "And so, I told her to blow me!" A man's deep voice rang out. Several people laughed at that, apparently the end to a hilarious story. Ben rolled his eyes, that was the kind of laughter lackeys gave their boss. It was driven by fear, not amusement or even respect. After a few seconds, Ben recognized the voice, one of the top dogs that lived in the apartment complex, Mad Dog. A big, beefy skinhead who ran the local drug ring. "Ooh, hey there doll." Mad Dog said, stopping right in front of Gwen. "What's a pretty little face doing 'round these parts."
"Laundry." Gwen retorted, dryly. Ben saw MD's face scrunch up for a moment.
He and Ben made eye contact. "Don't tell me, you're with this runt." MD scoffed. "But I have to admit Benny boy, you sure know how to pick a good piece of tail."
Ben could feel his blood start to boil. He felt hot and so pulled his hood down before saying, "She's not my girlfriend."
It was like throwing chum in the water, all of his lackeys started to eye her up and down. Ben smiled viciously; he was going to kill them all for looking at Gwen like that. "What's so funny, freak?" Mad Dog said when Ben started chuckling.
"Oh, just the image of your guts smeared all over these walls," Ben said, his voice carrying his amusement.
Mad Dog grabbed Gwen by the wrist and pulled her up. "Come on, you shouldn't be near a psycho like him."
Ben sprung up and got in between MD and Gwen. "Hey doggy," Ben hissed. "she may not be my girlfriend but she is my family. Now, you're a smart little mutt, you know what happens to people who fuck with family." He started into the gangster's eyes, his face now flat and serious. MD managed to hold Ben's gaze, face equally as serious. After a few seconds, he let go of Gwen's wrist, never breaking eye contact.
Ben watched with delighted anticipation and MD and his lackeys had a silent conversation. He could almost hear their thoughts as they communicated through looks.
"Hey boss, should we jump him?"
"Are you crazy? He'd send us to the morgue."
"Then what, we just walk away and let him talk that shit to you?"
"Are you doubting me?"
"No, sorry."
With that, they slinked away. He was sure that there was going to be hell to pay later for his disrespect but he didn't really care. Things returned back to normal, Ben bored out of his mind and Gwen doing laundry. Luckily, they only had two more loads to do and with the entire building being empty they did the last of the loads at the same time, taking up several machines. If there had been anyone else in there at the time there would have been hell raised. He had seen people around here killed for less.
They were walking back to his apartment clean clothes in tow. Ben was on high alert, Mad Dog left way too easily. So far the street was empty, but that didn't stop Ben from constantly scanning the area and looking behind him. "Calm down, Ben. It's okay." Gwen said soothingly.
Ben groaned. "You don't understand, Gwen. Doggy back there and I go back a while, I saw him carve his way up the chain of command. My threat back there won't go unpunished." MD had always been the type to make an example out of people and Ben had just stolen a girl from him in front of his underlings. For a player like MD that was the worst thing, you could do.
"I can handle myself, Ben."
"It sure looked like you couldn't back there."
"Oh please, guys like him aren't about to make themselves look bad in front of a girl they're trying to get to." Gwen scoffed.
Ben blew up. He dropped the bags he was carrying and in the same moment grabbed Gwen by the hair. She let out a yelp of pain as she was pulled back. "You're going to get yourself killed!" He screamed at her. He started thrashing her head to and fro. Gwen reacted quickly, kicking him in the kneecap making his leg give out. As soon as he started to go, she flipped him down to the pavement. She leaped back, hands and eyes glowing with mana.
The impact had knocked him back to his senses. He groaned, covering his eyes with an arm. "I give." He said reluctantly. Ben didn't have to see her to know what she was doing or how she looked. She would still be in her fighting stance right now, not letting her guard down. Then after a few seconds, she'd stop glowing and stand up straight. Her face would be doubtful, not trusting him. Right on cue, Ben heard her footsteps approach him. He uncovered his eyes to see her face looking down over his. She reached out a hand to help him up and he took it. "Why do you have to be such an idiot?" Ben sighed, picking up his bags.
The fight had lasted less than thirty seconds, overall one of the better fights they have had. Ben had only lashed out because he was concerned for Gwen. Mad Dog held a lot of power in this neighborhood and he wasn't sure his terrifying presence would be enough to deter them from hurting Gwen. He felt stupid for announcing that Gwen was family, it only put her in danger.
He had barely put down his bags before Ben heard his work phone ringing. When he picked up the phone, he could hear gunshots in the background. That was weird, most of the time a dispatcher would call him. It was a police shoot out. Ben didn't need specifics, just an address. Ben hung up, his heart pounding in excitement.
"What was that?" Gwen asked.
Ben smiled. "Work." He started to go through his Omnitrix to find Jetray. "Wanna come?" He asked, slamming down on the watch. Gwen thought about it for a second while Jetray walked to the door. Right before he was about to take off, she agreed. She squeezed by him and Jetray grabbed her by her shoulders as he took off. They flew fast towards the scene and when they reached the street Jetray dipped down low and dropped Gwen off before climbing back up into the sky.
He let out several blasts, aiming for the middle of the shootout. The shooting stopped, all eyes now on him. Jetray swooped down towards the bad guys but a few feet away changed into Diamondhead. His momentum carried him into one of the shooters, his eyes wide as he realized that he was about to get hurt. Diamondhead jutted out a spike on the bottom of his foot a second before he impacted, driving the spike into his chest and knocking him back. He finished the shooter off with a spiked stomp to the face.
"Fuck! It's the alien!" The shooter to his left cried, trying to run. Diamondhead gave chase, he only got a few feet before he grabbed the shooter by the hand. The shooter fell back, Diamondhead heard something pop and the shooter screamed in pain. Diamondhead spun and slammed the perp into one of the cars that acted as their shield. The car caved in under him. Diamondhead lifted him back up and slammed him to the ground, not letting go. He repeated the action several times before finally dropping the hand he held.
Diamondhead noticed that Gwen had erected a shield, covering herself and the cops. They were shooting at her. He could see where each bullet impacted the shield, sending ripples through it. He charged them like a bull, letting out a wordless scream in anger. They couldn't run fast enough, Diamondhead tackled them both down. He turned his hand into a hammer and slammed it into the jaw of the guy on top. With only one hit his jaw was deformed. Diamondhead smashed the guy's face into goo while the coward under them both squirmed away.
As soon as he was satisfied with the amount of blood on his fist, he turned his attention back to the one who had run. He quickly found him trapped in Gwen's bubble. Diamondhead ran up to him, shattering the protection in one hit. He wasted no time in picking the criminal up by the throat.
"Ben!" Gwen cried, running up to him. "Let him go!"
"He was shooting at you!" He screamed.
"Yes, he was, that's why he's going to jail," Gwen said in a soothing tone.
Diamondhead laughed, starting to choke the shooter. "Yeah, he'll go to jail where he'll learn to be a better, more violent, criminal." His face contorted into one of fury. "I don't think so." He growled. "Answer me this, bitch, how many people have you hurt?" He asked, loosening his grip enough to let the man breathe.
"How many have you?" He shot back.
Diamondhead let out a low chuckle that quickly escalated into manic laughter. "Wrong answer." He said before turning his hand into a blade and decapitating the last shooter. He dropped the body, turning his hand back to normal.
"Ben," Gwen whispered. "You shouldn't have killed him." He looked down at her and saw the look of utter disappointment on her face.
"They were going to kill you," Ben said, turning back human.
"I was perfectly safe behind the shield; you didn't have to worry," Gwen said.
Ben didn't respond, just started down the road. Gwen followed silently behind. The cops parted to make way for him, they looked uncomfortable and fearful as he passed. He was used to it. No cop spoke up against him and walked away unscathed. He heard Gwen mummer apologies as she passed them.
"So that's your job, huh?" Gwen asked, walking beside him.
Ben shrugged. "Pretty much. I also do patrols to try and catch crimes before they get to the point where I'm called. Those don't tend to be so…" He struggled to find the right word.
"Unsavory?" Gwen suggested.
Ben smiled. "Maybe to you." They walked silently along the streets, heading back to the apartments. He saw something in the corner of his eyes that made him stop in his tracks and do a double take. The small alleyway he was next to was soaked in a dark liquid, he could smell the metallic scent that he was all too familiar with. It was soaked in blood. "Gwen, do you got a light?" Ben asked, the tension in his voice obvious. A brightly glowing ball of mana floated pass him and illuminated the gory scene in harsh pinkish light.
Someone had painted the walls in blood, it still glistened and dripped. A hand stuck out of a dumpster. Either someone was sloppy or this was to prove a point. Had someone called this in already? It was the middle of the day, how come no one heard screams. Things weren't adding up and it was putting him on edge. He pulled out a tracer and activated it. If it wasn't called in already it needed to be.
"Don't touch anything, not even the ground." He advised Gwen before turning into Stinkfly. He hovered a couple of inches above the ground and started his investigation. "Stay on high alert." Stinkfly cautioned. "Something's not right here." He flew over to the dumpster and motioned Gwen over. She created a platform to walk on. "Can you open this?" Gwen nodded and enveloped the lid with her magic before lifting it up.
"Oh, God," Gwen whispered, horrified.
"It seems we found the donor." Stinkfly quipped. In the dumpster was the body of an older man, about in his 50's. His stomach was flayed open, the unmistakable odor of bowels assaulting his nose. "You can let it down now." He said softly. The sight of the old man disturbed him. He looked too much like Grandpa Max. "Is this some kind of fucked up joke?" Stinkfly thought bitterly. He shook his head. No, it was just a coincidence. Still, he didn't have stick around here and look at the corpse. He flew out of the alley and turned back into a human.
"What's this?" Gwen's voice called out from the alley. Ben peeked around the corner to see Gwen levitating a cross. He stepped onto the platform and walked up to her. "It was laying in the blood, clean." She said. Ben looked at it closer, it was an ornate cross made out of some gray metal. It was roughly the size of his hand. "What do you think? Accident or calling card?" Ben scowled. With this, he found it almost impossible not to conclude that this was a display of power. Maybe it was to ward off rivals or maybe it was to announce themselves as a player in the corrupted city. Whatever it was, Ben had the feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time he saw that cross.