I Dream of a Witch with Long Red Hair

Chapter 7 – Final Battle

By Crystalquirt

[[[[[[[[[[Ben10AF]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

"You're David aren't you?"

"Yes Ma'am, um Miss Angel – um . . . Is Ben alright?"

"Call me Gwen . . . and I was just going to check on him. Wait here okay?" David agreed. Gwen didn't want David to see Ben if he was looking as bad as she thought he might be. It would scare him even more.

Julie had her hands in front again, trying to get Ben's hands loose from the board. He had been tied with clothesline and the knots very tight. Gwen pulled a pocket knife out and helped. They got him loose quickly working together and Gwen tossed the board away while Julie helped Ben roll over onto his back. He groaned, moving his stiff, strained arms. Now his arms hurt too and he had small burns on his hands and feet.

Gwen called, "He's okay David - you can come see him."

"You call this okay?" Ben grumbled.

"Tough it out cousin. Your friend, David waited while all the others ran away just to make sure you were alright."

David ran around the bonfire and slid up to Ben on his knees, "I told you not to tell them! I was so afraid."

"I know David. I'm worried that you stayed behind, won't you get in trouble?"

"Naw, my parents are probably still running and haven't even noticed me missing yet. How can they be mad at me for staying to talk to an angel?"

Gwen smiled at him briefly, but she was looking at the dirty cuts on Ben's legs, and didn't even know where to start to try and get him cleaned up.

Just then a strange sound echoed within the walls. Afraid the witch-hunter's were coming back, Julie and Gwen stood up. A black ball with glowing green stripes shot out of the sky like a meteor and half-buried itself in the grass, it hit so hard.

Ship, first in his pet form, hopped up into the air and turned into twenty alien weapons, attached in the center and all pointing in different directions.

David scooted closer to Ben, but still watched eagerly.

"Easy Ship – better late than never." Julie called. She sat back down and pulled Ben's head and shoulders into her lap. "Great – Ship's here. Now we can get you out of here and get you feeling better Ben. Your legs, the burns on your feet and hands look really horrible . . . "

"Thanks."

". . . your wrists are rubbed raw where they had you tied to the board, is there anything else?"

"I don't think so. Except just a general ache all over."

"Well, is there any where on your body that doesn't hurt?"

Ben pointed to his mouth, "Here."

Julie smiled, and leaned down to kiss him. Absolutely thrilled to have Ben attached to her mouth finally, she was a little over enthusiastic while she kissed him. Ben returned her passionate kiss as best as he could and purred with pleasure in spite of the pain he felt.

"That was wonderful Julie. I was afraid I never would get to kiss you. I bet if you kiss me like that some more, my injuries will start healing right before you're eyes."

"Really? Well we should try it, Ben."

Gwen groaned, "You two are gross."

After Ship was sure he wasn't needed to blow anything up, he turned back in to his pet form and slithered over to Julie. David sat forward to see over Ben better to stare at Ship, interrupting their next kiss. "Oh yeah, we have an audience." Ben said sadly.

Julie patted the top of Ships head. "Good Boy!"

"Ship-ship-ship."

She noticed how fixated the little boy was with Ship, not sure if he should be afraid or not, but really hoping he didn't have to be. "Come on David, he won't hurt you, Meet Ship. - Ship, this is David."

Trying to hurry to get over to Ship, David stepped on Ben's stomach. "Ooof." he muttered softly. David was totally entranced with Ship. "He can't be a demon like the Father said, what is he?"

Julie answered, "You can't believe anything Father Macurdy said. None of us are evil, or even witches, and Ship is an alien. He is part machine part um, animal, I guess."

"An alien? Then – who are you guys?"

Ben sounded so weak when he answered David that Julie got worried and found his hand to hold. "We're Plumbers, or I should say, Plumber's kids. We work with the Plumbers, they are kind of 'cops in space.'

"Wow – Awesome!"

"My g-grandpa Max was a Plumber and . . ."

Ben could tell, David was too involved in playing with Ship to be listening anymore. "Look at that Julie, he hears 'alien' and just goes on playing. I miss being a kid sometimes."

"I'm glad you're not a kid anymore Ben." Julie kissed him again.

Ship turned into a big, toy semi truck and David sat on the trailer for ship to take him in a circle. Then he turned back into his pet self and knocked him down like a large puppy might. David never stopped giggling while they wrestled and ship turned into different small things with wheels for him to ride.

Gwen kneeled by Kevin and patted his cheek. "Kevin, please wake up." Exhausted, Gwen rested her hands and forehead on his chest and let herself lie on her side next to him. Kevin opened his eyes and looked down at her. Relieved, he rubbed her back gently. "I'm okay Gwen, you?" Gwen opened her eyes, smiling. "I'm fine, but scaring the hell out of a murderous preacher is exhausting."

"What happened? I must have passed out."

"You fainted Kevin, fainted like a little girl."

"I did not, but what did you do to get loose and get rid of them?"

"I just told them that God was disappointed in their behavior and they left."

"No way Gwen." Kevin sat up. "You went all Anodite again didn't you?"

"Yeah, So?"

"But you're grandmother said . . ."

"I know, you won't lose me – I was in control the whole time . . . I had to save us alone since you fainted."

Gwen saw tears well up in Kevin's eyes the instant before he grabbed her for a hug. "Gwen."

"Lighten up Kevin, I'm okay."

"You scared me half to death, again – Gwen. We better get out of here."

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"This is a rotten turn of events. Since when can she do that?"

"How would I know Albedo? I thought you knew more about you're enemy than you obviously do."

Demonix and Albedo in his human form stood on the top on the wall across from the teens, watching from at least three dozen feet off the ground. Albedo spoke softly, "Do you think you can still take her, Demonix?"

"To get her boyfriend, I will make mince meat out of her."

Silently, Demonix spread his wings and glided down. He landed silently near Gwen and Kevin. The only light coming from the fires, no one saw him until he was too close. Gwen yelled "Watch out!" and jumped up, only to be knocked away by a swipe of a huge, black wing. She flew through the air and hit the wall before she slid down, landing close to Ben and Julie.

Julie jumped up and went to her, "Gwen!" Ben made himself sit up to see what was going on. Ship brought David over to stay by him.

Kevin watched Gwen, helpless to do anything. Demonix made a grab for him and he rolled out of the way. Kevin's eyes got very big when the alien stood up to his full height and roared at him. He recovered from his surprise quickly, "You don't scare me. Hey Albedo! What planet is your friend from? I'm not familiar with his race."

"Don't you know? He's a demon! Be afraid, Human!" Albedo laughed. Demonix charged Kevin before he could figure out what species he was. Kevin quickly looked around for anything to absorb, but close to where he was, there was only grass, dirt and burning wood.

Demonix' next move actually helped Kevin out, sort of. Demonix wrapped his long, clawed fingers around Kevin's middle when he tried to jump away from the next attack. Kevin yelled as he was picked up and thrown over the bonfires to hit the wall, near where Gwen had fallen.

Kevin stood up, glanced at Julie, who was trying to wake Gwen and absorbed the fire-blackened stone from the wall. "Take good care of them Julie."

Once covered in stone, he walked back over to face Demonix, intending to keep him away from the others. "That hurt a little, you are strong." He ran at Demonix, "Lets see if you're strong enough."

Albedo reminded his pal, "Don't forget Demonix . . . don't kill him." Albedo watched, amused, but ready to use his Omnitrix if any of the others recovered enough to try to interfere. He thought Ben was too injured to fight and he wouldn't even need his Omnitrix to kill Ben and take his away from him. In the mean time, he wanted to watch the fight.

Demonix punched Kevin in the face so hard some of his stone armor chipped away. Kevin fell back and dodged the next time Demonix took a swing at him. He got up running, intending to run behind the monster and throw a chunk of wall at him.

Demonix spread one of his long wings out in front of Kevin and blocked his path. Kevin cried, "That is so not fair!" just before he was hit with the wing and then kicked with a strong rear leg so hard that some more of his armor chipped off of his side and stomach. He landed on the ground groaning, and out of breath. "Owww! . . . Another g-good one – monster and what did Albedo mean don't k-kill me? I'm touched, I d-didn't know he cared."

"We both care – you will make us rich," the monster answered in a very low, menacing voice.

Kevin wasn't even close to the wall so he could patch his armor. Already on the ground and weakened, he started crawling to the closest section of the wall that had fallen down. Kevin still wasn't even close when he felt Demonix grab his ankle. He yelled as he was yanked back and thrown across the lawn. Kevin's body bounced and rolled limply, until he stopped against one of the burning piles of wood. He yelled "Hot!" and weakly rolled away, holding his unarmored, burned side.

Julie screamed "KEVIN!" Gwen finally heard everyone's screams and woke up very angry. She rose, and saw Demonix was holding Kevin up by one leg, picking some more of his armor off with a claw. Kevin was struggling and punching at him weakly, but screamed and stopped fighting every time he pulled a chunk of armor off of his skin.

"Kevin!" Gwen growled and started throwing energy balls. "Shit, leave him alone!" Gwen jumped over one of the fires, propelling herself with a little mana. She landed and continued to blast Demonix over and over. He finally dropped Kevin to deal with her. Kevin landed in a limp heap and could only managed to roll over onto his back. He didn't pass out, but he was too weak to move.

One wing curled around Demonix' body, protecting himself from Gwen's energy attacks.

It was then that Albedo activated his Omnitrix and went Chromastone, he jumped down from the wall, sending a shockwave in all directions when he landed. Albedo Chromastone stood with Demonix against Gwen. Her hair began to blow around and fade to white. Her body became a body of energy once again. Kevin rolled over to watch her. "Gwen – No."

"I have to – I'm not letting them have you." She floated up, so she could see eye to eye with Demonix.

Ben lie back on the ground and exhaled loudly, making a decision, "Julie, keep David hidden. If you get a chance - get him to the opening and get him out - but don't be seen."

"What are you going to do, Ben?" she asked even though she knew what he was planning.

"I have to help them. Move back a little." Ben told her to move, since he was still flat on his back and couldn't move away from her. She reluctantly did what he said, taking David with her. Ship stayed behind the little boy. Lying on the ground, Ben's hand connected with the Omnitrix' dial over his chest and suddenly Big Chill appeared. He hissed, "Ship, take good care of Julie and David," then went intangible right way and rose into the air. David whispered, "Awesome!"

Floating just off the ground with nearly useless legs, Ben-Big Chill glared at Albedo-Chromastone. Albedo saw the familiar flash of light from when he changed and came closer with his hands out from his sides a little like a cowboy ready to draw his guns.

"Ben – so it comes to this, again." Chromastone observed. "How much easier it would have been if you had just burned to ash."

Big Chill sounded out of breath already when he hissed, "What it comes to is me kicking you're ass, again Albedo – if you remember."

Gwen heard Big Chill and it made her look around. She saw her cousin facing Albedo alone. "Shit Ben – get back! I can handle them."

Demonix made a dive for Kevin, intending to use him to control Gwen, but Gwen covered Kevin in mana to protect him. Demonix pounded angrily on the shield before he turned back to attack her. Gwen jumped up and threw a large mana ball. It hit Demonix in the back and threw him through the opposite wall.

Gwen touched down, gracefully still, even though she was starting to feel very weak. She thought the reason she was getting weaker was that she had made two transformations to her Anodite self, when she still didn't really know what she was doing. It took a lot out of her. She took a moment to catch her breath while Demonix recovered from being thrown through the wall. She listened to Albedo and Ben knowing that Ben was in no condition to fight anyone.

Albedo was still posturing, trying to tell if Ben actually would be a threat. "Azmuth won't come to you're rescue again, Ben."

"I won't need Azmuth to rescue me!"

Chromastone ran at Big Chill, who floated higher and hissed, spreading below-zero temperature fog around Chromastone. Big Chill rose even higher and flew backwards out of the freezing fog, putting him under what was left of the roof.

Albedo-Chromastone stopped running. There was a layer of hardened ice over his head and torso. He quickly turned into Jetray and shot beams from his tail and eyes as he flew up at Big Chill. The beams all missed Big Chill, but brought part of the remaining roof down over him. Huge chunks of wood and tile knocked Big Chill out of the air.

Julie cried, "Ben!" and hugged David close so he couldn't see. Trapped under the debris, Ben whispered, "I've got to remember to go intangible when that happens." He strained to reach the Omnitrix symbol on his chest and hissing turned into growling when he changed into Humongousaur. Growling loudly, he pushed the roofing off of himself as he tried to stand, but Gwen had been right, now he was a dinosaur that couldn't walk. "Darn, I hate it when she's right."

Demonix flew back at Gwen, she send out a pulse of energy that shook the very air in front of her. Like a wave, it hit the enemy. Trapped in the wave, it pushed him through the wall again, leaving another large hole.

Albedo-Jetray kept blasting Humongousaur's head and back with eye and tail beams. "Hey, that tickles, Albedo!" Humongousaur growled. Frustrated, Albedo turned into Swampfire and started throwing fireballs as he ran at Humongousaur. "Okay, that stings a little, and I have a real problem with fire now."

Ben had to force himself to stay focused when fear threatened to take over. He tried again to get up, but Humongousaur only crawled a short distance before he collapsed, panting. When Albedo-Swampfire got close enough, Humongousaur knocked him back with a swing of his tail.

With Demonix still outside the walls someplace, Gwen had a chance to see what was happening to Ben. She caught Swampfire in a mana lash and prevented him from running at Ben again. Her white hair whipping around her head, her eyes glowing, "Leave my cousin alone!" She focused her energy, her eyes glowed brightly and Swampfire turned back into human Albedo. "No!" he screamed, "How did you do that?"

Demonix flew back over the wall and saw Gwen had his partner. He changed the angle of his wings and hovered a moment. "Forget it Albedo – You're on your own! Thanks for the shuttle craft." Demonix vanished.

Knowing he was no longer a threat, Gwen tossed Albedo to the side to go to Humongousaur. Albedo landed on his butt and got up slapping his Omnitrix over and over, running toward the exit. "Damn this inferior copy! . . . Demonix! Don't leave me alone on this wretched planet!"

Gwen floated over Humongousaur, "Ben are you, um . . . well at least it looks like you're all in one piece. I have to go check on Kevin." Still as an Anodite, Gwen flew away.

Humongousaur looked for Julie, and saw she and David were running toward him, so he put his big, dinosaur head down in the grass to wait and try to catch his breath. With Humongousaur's armored hide, his wounds weren't as painful anymore like they were in his human skin, but the internal damage was still there, and Humongousaur's large leg muscles and tendons were still too damaged to work right. Still, he was so much more comfortable as Humongousaur, that if they had a semi and trailer to tow him around with, he would have stayed in that form until he recovered.

Julie ran right up to Ben and touched his dinosaur-face gently. "You take such risks Ben Tennyson! You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry Julie. I had to try to help Gwen. Turns out, she didn't need it." Julie leaned down and kissed Humongousaur's cheek. She could easily see that this was Ben just looking into Humongousaur's eyes.

David had stopped a few feet back and was just staring, when suddenly he cried, "Dinosaur!" He ran over and hugged Humongousaur's shoulder. "Ben! How did you do this? My folks say dinosaurs aren't real."

"Dinosaurs were real a long time ago. This is one of the alien forms that I am able to take, very similar to what Earth's dinosaurs looked like, I think." David was dancing in place with excitement. Ben knew what he wanted. "Go ahead David, climb up."

David squealed and climbed up on Humongousaur's arm and then up his shoulder to his back. Julie smiled at Ben's kindness. Having the child climb around on him was fun, he was so light, it was like having a kitten playing on his back, without the claws.

"Gwen – come-on! Let me out!" Kevin was sitting under the energy shield watching Gwen go check on Ben first. "Hey, Gwen – let me out huh?"

Before Gwen got all the way over to Kevin, her energy field disappeared and she returned to her beautiful red-haired self. "Thanks Gwen, I was in trouble there for a minute."

Gwen helped Kevin stand up. He was hardly on his feet when he scooped her up across his arms. He held her tightly and kissed her. Gwen closed her eyes and kissed him back, passionately. "See Gwen, wouldn't you miss all this action?"

"A little. And its obvious Ben needs us."

"Especially you. We all would have been toast if you weren't here. What do you think, can having kids wait a few more years?"

"I'm starting to think kids can wait. I don't think I'll be ready any time soon to trade this for changing diapers."

"At least the kid we take care of now is out of diapers."

"True" Gwen and Kevin looked back over at Humongousaur. He had rolled over on his back with David jumping up and down on his stomach. Humongousaur giggling was a sound they were glad they didn't miss. Gwen helped Kevin stand up and walked with him.

"Well Ben, you're not acting very injured."

"I feel pretty good as Humongousaur, but I still can't walk – or I would have taken Albedo out myself."

"I know you would have Ben. Come on you guys. We have to go.

"Ship, can you be a rescue helicopter?"

Ship turned into a RC Helicopter. "No Ship . . . I mean - that's good, but I meant a real helicopter that we could all ride in."

Ship beeped happily and on the second circle he flew, turned into a full sized army rescue chopper with the white medic cross on the sides. It actually would have been big enough inside to carry Humongousaur, but they had no way to lift him in. Everyone covered their eyes and heads with the wind whipping around. The bonfires blew out like candles on a cake.

"Okay Ben, change back. I'm not gonna even try to lift Humongousaur into Ship-copter.

Julie got David down off Humongousaur's stomach. He touched the Omnitrix symbol and turned back into a very pathetic looking Ben. "Oh Ben, you look awful!"

"Thanks Gwen."

"Yeah Ben, besides everything else, I think you even got skinnier on this trip." Kevin smiled at him.

"Probably did, you guys haven't fed me since breakfast. Want a lift home David?"

"Sure!"

Inside Ship, they found a padded gurney complete with a pillow and blanket for Ben to lie on. Kevin strapped Ben in loosely and made sure the gurney was strapped to the wall and floor. Gwen and Julie found all their belongings in the corner, including Gwen's laptop and cord. Everything that had been in Ship-car when they crashed. "Awesome Ship! Thanks for keeping our stuff!"

Julie sat in the back with Ben, while Kevin and Gwen sat up front like they were pilots, David sat on Gwen's lap watching everything out the windshield. Really, Ship was the pilot and flew to David's house following his instructions.

David's parents and several other neighbors came out of their houses when they heard the chopper coming closer. They freaked out a little when the chopper started hovering over David's house. Some of the neighbors ran back inside their houses. Lawn ornaments were blowing in all directions. There was no room on the street to land, so Kevin let a ladder down and climbed down with David in his arms.

The look of relief on his parents faces was obvious when they saw David. As he ran to them. Kevin called "See ya little guy."

Waving, David and his parents yelled "Thanks!" over the wind created by Ship's blades. "Wasn't that one of the witches, David?" His father asked.

"No, that was one of the five angels who saved me; saved our whole town!"

The chopper hovering over David's house, could be heard miles away. It was located just three houses behind the Sheriff's office on Main Street. Father Macurdy, the Sheriff, Ed and Earl were all in the office cowering under desks. They were sure the FBI or even the military had come to arrest them already.

They lived in fear each day for almost a month. Father Macurdy and his assistants had almost decided the whole thing was a bad dream, until one day the FBI came to arrest them for murder, kidnapping and a host of other charges. An unnamed law enforcement group, [the Plumbers], made calls and handed over evidence that well-documented everything that happened in that town. They told them where to find the ashes and human bones.

In prison, Father Macurdy tried hard to love the inmates he was housed with, and who beat him up, short-sheeted his bed, took his desserts and gave him atomic wedgies regularly.

When Kevin got back up the ladder and sat back in the pilot's seat, Gwen greeted him with a kiss and went back to Ben before Ship took off again. Kevin turned to the front, "Okay, um . . . Ship – take us to the nearest hospital." Ship rose straight up a hundred feet before he tilted the nose down and took off forward.

Ben was tied in, but Julie and Gwen held on. She had to yell so she could hear her over the noise and wind with Ship's door open. "How is he Julie?"

Julie yelled back, "I think he fell asleep, I hope he didn't pass out. He is exhausted, and he feels hot, like he has a fever, hot."

"His wounds are red and draining. He must have a horrendous infection." Gwen shook Ben's shoulder and pinched his cheek. "I can't wake him, he must have passed out. Are you sure Ship knows where to go?"

"I'm sure. He knows Ben is hurt and I'm sure by now he knows where several hospitals are."

"When we get there we can tell the staff that he must have been attacked by an animal of some kind days ago."

"How will we explain Ship? – four teens wouldn't usually have an army rescue helicopter."

"He can leave right after he drops us off. If anyone questions it, we'll tell them we were found by soldiers on a secret training mission in the mountains and the pilot had to get back."

"Sounds good Gwen. I'll ask him if he will come back as a car so we have ground transportation."

Gwen went back to the front where it was even noisier and sat by Kevin. She put the helmet on with the two way radio so she could tell him what was going on. He agreed the story about camping and a bear attack was good and in only minutes, they were landing on a large hospital roof on the chopper pad. Ship was so big, he barely fit, but he maneuvered perfectly and got them down safely.

Kevin carried Ben off, jogging as quickly as he could without shaking Ben up too much. Julie and Gwen followed after Julie thanked Ship, asked him to change into a car and wait for them in the parking lot. He said "Shiiiiip," in his big machine voice.

Two members of the hospital staff watched the military chopper lift off, whispering and pointing. Attendants and nurses met Kevin at the elevator doors with a gurney. Kevin put Ben down, his injuries pretty obvious under the legs of his boxers and he was dirty enough to have been rolling around in the dirt with a bear.

They hurried Ben straight to one of the treatment areas in Emergency, and guided the others to a waiting room. Julie cried, "Can't I stay with him?"

"Wait here, we'll come tell you what's happening as soon as we find out."

Gwen frowned, but took her phone out. "Our phones are working again." she announced half-heartedly. "Where are we anyway?"

"Ship brought us home, to Bellwood." Julie told them, she had seen the signs and maps at the information desk. Kevin said, "That was fast! Ship is handy to have around, we should let him give us a ride more often." Kevin smiled at Julie and put his arm around her shoulders to sit down with her. He felt for her knowing how worried she was about Ben. They were all worried. Gwen called Ben's parents and they left for the hospital immediately after they ended their call.

Of course, waiting was hard. It seemed like it was taking forever. They sat in silence most of the time, only saying utilitarian things to each other, like, "Do you want a soda?" Kevin asked Gwen, "Do you want to sit on my lap?" Gwen elected to sit next to him instead.

Ben's parents showed up and stirred things up a little with his mom, Sandra yelling at the nurses, demanding to know what was happening. His dad, Carl made her settle down. For then, she had to settle for talking to Gwen, Kevin and Julie about what happened.

Finally a nurse came and told them Ben was conscious and they could go see him. Carl got Sandra to wait, letting the others go see him first. Julie rushed over to his bedside, "Ben?" he was wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, so she kissed his forehead and held his hand. "Hi Julie." he whispered into the mask.

Ben had three different IV lines dripping different solutions straight into Ben's blood. Two in his arm and one in his neck. Ben looked so small lying in the hospital bed. "Your mom and dad are here Ben." Gwen spoke softly.

"Oh man . . . am I in trouble?"

Standing just outside the door, Carl and Sandra heard his concern and came in. "No Ben, you're not in trouble. Gwen told us what happened. I'm just sorry we weren't there when you needed us."

"Yeah son, next time . . . um . . . it's gonna be really hard to let you go on one of these missions. Maybe I'll be able to get off work and bring the alien bazooka."

"Well you just might have to bring the alien bazooka next time dad; Gwen and Kevin are talking about quitting the team."

The doctor came up behind Carl. "I must say that is the first time I've heard parents talking to their son about 'alien bazookas' while they're in the hospital."

"Oh doctor!" Sandra asked, "How badly is he injured?"

"Well . . . he is injured seriously, and I wish we could have gotten to him for treatment sooner. Even worse than his injuries is the bacterial infection that has set in. And I'm not sure at all how you got all those burns while fighting a bear or what ever."

"I must have fallen through the camp fire while I was trying to get away."

"Well, however it happened, I think you'll be fine. We're going to give you the treatment for rabies, just in case the animal that attacked you was sick. It'll hurt – a lot. But I think its worth it."

Kevin smiled, Ben glared at Gwen, She could read his mind. He was thinking perhaps the animal attack story wasn't so good after all.

The doctor continued, "We just have to be sure that the infection doesn't get into your bloodstream. You have to stay here so we can give you bolus IV doses of antibiotics. We will take you to surgery very soon to put drainage tubes in place. After its all over, we should do a little cosmetic surgery and the scars will be barely noticeable."

"Scars! Oh Ben!" Sandra pushed Gwen away from his bed so she could get to her son. She pulled the sheet down to see his injuries for herself. "Mom!" He whined and tried to cover himself since he didn't even know if he still had his boxer's on. Fortunately, he had a hospital gown on. The nurse's had cleaned his wounds up a little and left them covered with gauze, but waiting for surgery, he had not been bandaged yet.

Sandra being a worried mom, pulled the gauze off too. Her eyes widened when she saw the claw marks all the way around Ben's legs, red and oozing multicolored fluids. "Ben . . . um . . . That doesn't look . . . too . . . bad . . ."

As his mother, Sandra tried hard to say something encouraging, but that didn't stop her from fainting. Carl caught her and the doctor had him put her on the other bed in the room. He checked her pulse, but smiled the whole time.

"Is mom okay, doc?"

"Not to worry Ben. Some don't handle the sight of these kinds of injuries very well. I'll come back in a little while to check on her. Call the nurse if you need anything. I have to go get ready to get you fixed up."

Carl came over to Ben's bedside and spoke to Gwen, "What was this you were telling us? You and Kevin want to stop helping Ben protect the earth?"

"Well, we were thinking about taking more time for our studies and planning careers."

"Oh no – why so soon? You are both so young and Ben needs you."

Kevin answered, "Yeah, Mr. Tennyson, we saw that. Hey Gwen, how about we put off our plans until next year at least?"

"I guess we have to. It was really obvious Ben won't make it without us, right Ben?"

"Right, I guess. Although I'm sure I would have found a way to beat Albedo alone. It was just the people in that town that complicated things."

"Come on kids, give me all the details before you're mother wakes up. I don't think we should tell her everything – but I can take it. A father should know what his son and his friends are having to face."

Ben, Gwen and Kevin told most of the story to Carl. Julie added parts that she knew more about when needed. They didn't know it, but Ben's mom woke up. She stayed still and listened, hearing most of what was said. She decided she would have to go next time too. She was sure they could find an extra bazooka for her.

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End