Once again, I invite you all to read the next chapter of Revenge.

As has been a recent occurrence, this chapter is short (but this time my excuse is that I felt it was a good place to end it).

Quick question: do any of you have Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo DS)? I really want the hair salon (so my character won't look so lame :P). Let me know if you'd be willing to help me out!

I think there's a prickle in my pant leg...

Rakcrack15: Yeah...hehe...I felt it was the most natural reaction. And you're welcome :3

AKA99: It was the start of a long road of suspicion and doubt. Sorry if you thought it felt like a filler!

Wildshadow: Thank you! And you're most welcome!

Avatar Aang: Hehe! Thank you!

I Love Field Hockey: Thank you!

ChristellaShinobu: Welcome back! I'm glad you had a super awesome time! And thank you so much! (I'm sitting here smiling like an idiot to myself when I read reviews)

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10. If I did, Ben would be slightly less arrogant (especially with Omniverse. Oh my user!). The prickle in my leg, however, probably is mine. But when I find it, it will pay the ultimate price!

Love you all ^u^

Ben waited in the silent darkness of his room for ten minutes after hearing the front door close. He felt bad for having yelled at Gwen like that, but she had hit too close to the mark than he was comfortable with. What was worse was the way she, not to mention everyone else, was treating Syvux. He wasn't the evil monstrosity they made him out to be. He was just…misunderstood. Not to mention not listened to. Ben couldn't believe that he was the first person in ten whole years who had taken the time to just stop and hear him out. Of course, the thought that it might just be some big trick had crossed his mind, but the raw emotion he had seen when Syvux had told his story was too powerful to have been faked.

When Ben was sure that Gwen was no longer around, he opened his eyes and said in a voice just louder than a whisper, "You can come out now."

There was a moment of silence before Syvux appeared in front of the wardrobe.

"Your wardrobe is a mess," Syvux smirked. "Have you considered getting a case for those medals?"

"I didn't say you had to hide in there. And I don't really want to display them."

"I was tempted to come to your aid a few times there. She certainly doesn't know how to take 'no' for an answer," Syvux changed the subject.

"I'm glad you didn't – you suddenly appearing in my living room wouldn't have done much for my case." Ben sighed loudly, "I'll have to apologise to her tomorrow."

"Speaking of tomorrow," Syvux glanced at the small glowing digits on the alarm clock. "It's late and you'll have to get up for school in a matter of hours. I'll leave you to sleep," he made his way out of the room, phasing through the door rather than opening it.

"Good night!" Ben called after him.

Gwen hugged her coat tighter around herself. She knew she could have handled the situation better, but it was no exaggeration to say Ben had overreacted. True she had found nothing in her search, but it had done nothing to douse her suspicions. In fact, it had added to them. It was understandable that he wasn't exactly thrilled to be suspected, but why had he tried to run? Gwen was sure there was more to it than Ben was letting on. She would have to keep an eye on him. She pulled out her Plumber's badge and contacted Grandpa Max.

"Hello? Grandpa?"

"Hey, Gwen. How'd it go?" came the reply.

"He was home; by the looks of things I woke him up. He was really against letting me scan him again – he even tried to run!"

"Run? Why? Do you think he's trying to hide something?"

"That's the thing; he was acting really weird but when I did the search there was nothing there."

"Hmm…We'll have to keep an eye on him. There might not be anything now but, from what you've told me, he wasn't in his right mind a week or so ago."

"Maybe whatever happened to him had a lingering effect."

"Maybe. You go get some sleep. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Grandpa."

"Yo, Tennyson!"

Ben looked up to see Kevin leaning against his car right outside the school.

"Hey, Kevin," Ben smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to pick you up. Your grandpa called a meeting."

Following Kevin's lead, Ben hopped into the passenger's seat.

"We'll stop by Gwen's school and pick her up, then head on over."

Ben shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the mention of Gwen's name. He knew it would be the perfect opportunity to apologise but the idea of confronting her so soon made him uneasy.

Kevin glanced at him and raised an eyebrow at the sudden movement but, to Ben's relief, said nothing.

Gwen was waiting for them on the sidewalk outside her prep school by the time they arrived. It could be discerned from her facial expression that she hadn't expected Ben to already be seated in the car.

"Hey, Gwen," Kevin smiled over his shoulder as she got into the back seat.

"Hi," she replied.

An uncomfortable silence once again filled the car. Kevin eyed the two cousins carefully, noting that neither one had acknowledged the other.

"Did you two have a fight?" he asked.

"No," Gwen refused to make eye contact. "Can we just go?"

"Alright," Kevin didn't sound convinced as he started off down the road.

"Hey, Gwen?" Ben said about three quarters of the way to their destination. He was staring at his feet but could tell that she was looking at him.

"Yes?"

Ignoring the occasional look from Kevin, Ben continued, "Sorry…about last night. I was tired and frustrated but that's no excuse for taking it out on you."

Gwen's slight frown softened into a smile. An apology had been the last thing she was expecting, but she was grateful. "I'm sorry, too," she said. "I should have listened to you."

"So we're cool?"

"We're cool."

"What exactly happened between you two?" Kevin asked.

"It's not important," Ben reassured him.

"Sure," Kevin wasn't buying that for a second. He made a mental note to ask Gwen later.

Despite the reconciliation, the rest of the drive was carried out in silence.

"So I'm sure you all know about last night's incident," Max addressed each of his guests who had crammed themselves into the Rust Bucket.

"What incident?" Kevin asked. No one else appeared confused so he assumed he was the only one who had been left out of the loop.

"There was a break in on our ship," Grem explained. "We have reason to believe it was the Arkhirathi."

"What?! And no one thought to call me? Wait…how come you guys all look uninjured, then?"

"It was only after data files," supplied Hinra. "I accidentally alerted it to my presence and it fled."

"Without a fight?"

"Apparently," Ben sounded as unconvinced as Kevin.

"Right. And, as such, a number of questions have been brought to mind," Max continued.

"I was able to trace the files that were accessed – all of them were in relation to the Arkhirathi's case," Hinra held up a sheet of paper. "This was the last file accessed. It's a compilation of witness reports."

Ben's eyes widened in shock. They had conveniently done the hard work for him! But if he was to take it, more suspicions would arise. And that was something he really didn't need at that moment.

"As to why it was after such information is unknown to us and it seems that the prison file was also taken."

"Maybe it wanted a list of the people responsible for its arrest," Kevin suggested.

Ben frowned. It was a logical guess but not the correct answer; not that any of them would care. And it wasn't like he could just tell them they were wrong.

"If that's the case, we'll have to warn them," Max replied. "Another concern we have is how it was able to locate the ship."

Ben could feel several sets of eyes drift over to him but he resisted the urge to retaliate.

"Unfortunately, we still have nothing to go on that gets us any closer to locating it."

"So what are we supposed to do, then?" Gwen asked.

"For now, all we can do is sit tight and hope that it shows up again."

"Ben, could you hang back for a bit? I want to talk with you," Max placed a hand on his grandson's shoulder as the others filed out of the Rust Bucket.

"Sure, Grandpa. What's up?" Ben didn't like where this was going. He followed Max over to the table and the pair sat down.

"How are you doing?" Max asked. He had decided that starting small was the best way to go about the situation.

"I'm fine. Why?" Ben looked at him quizzically.

"Well, after the incidents that have occurred over the last few weeks it wouldn't be strange to be feeling upset or confused," Max wasn't really sure what the teen was feeling, but he hoped his guesses were close enough to coax Ben into talking.

"I'm really okay."

Apparently not. "What about what happened the other day after the incident with the Forever Knights? Where did you go?"

"I already told you; I went to clear my head. I needed to get away from Gwen and Kevin for a while."

"Don't you think they had a reason for doing what they did? You know we care about you and only want to help, right?"

"Look, I don't really know what happened to make them think I am – was – possessed. I know you care, and I'm grateful, but there's nothing I need help with. I'm perfectly fine!"

"Alright then…" Max smiled. "But let me know if you ever want to talk about anything."

"Will do. Can I go now?"

"Yes, you can go," Max laughed.

As soon as Ben had left, Max's smile faltered. He wanted to believe Ben, he really did, but the whole thing was too uncertain; there were too many unknowns that he wasn't comfortable with. After all, no one in their right mind would try to kill their friends and then forget all about it the next day. Something was up and, now that part A of their plan was underway, he would soon know what it was.