Furies know not Gwen's wrath
Gwen quickly changed into her Lucky Girl costume donning the cat shaped mascaraed mask and tucking the luck charm under her shirt she instantly felt the magical energies flow around and through her.
Her senses became more acute and her body felt as light as feather.
Grampa Max hearing the conversation on Ben going hero and Gwen's commands pulled hard on the steering wheel while taping the breaks causing the RV to turn sharply with the door facing away from the oncoming threats while rocking roughly back and forth.
Though Gwen knew that this was all happening in a matter of heartbeats, the adrenaline pumping in her veins caused her sense of time to distort and become stretched out, the few moments feeling like minutes.
Ben ever being his reckless self, jumped out moments before the vehicle fully stop landing roughly in a hero pose fist planted in the ground one knee under him and his other stretched out to the side.
Gwen rolled her eyes rushing out behind him. Though at the very edge of the last step she smirked and leaped into the air.
As she soared through the air, she pulled her arms in close to her body as she turned causing her to rapidly twirl several times. She finishing this athletic demonstration by landing in a graceful swan pose she learned in a one time ballet class her mom had force on her with one leg bent behind her and arm arc in the front with her hand point towards herself all while balancing on her tippy toes.
Gwen could hear Ben fiddling with the watch and with her enhanced hearing she heard him whispering, "Please just work correctly give me four-arms!"
She smiles and whispered to herself, "Just this once for the doofus listen" she stuck her tongue out in his general direction as she switched to a fighter's posture.
To her surprise a string of purple energy rushed out of her chest and connected to the watch right before Ben slammed it down.
Gwen was stunned at the very moment the button was fully depressed a wave of alien energy flowed back through the string shared between the two. Soon Ben was engulfed in the brilliant light of the transformation.
"What was that!" Gwen thought as waves of energy rushed over her.
Once the light from the transformation bled away a nearly 4-meter-tall red skinned four-armed muscle man of an alien appeared. With a gravelly voice four-arms bellowed in triumph, "Yes! four-arms!"
Gwen smiled as she had a rush of inspiration and ran towards the towering giant fighter to jump moments before reaching him flying through the air in a wild summersault landing on his shoulders.
Four-arms gasped but caught himself while grabbing Gwen gentler than she had imagined possible saying in surprise, "Oh yeah, you are...ah…" his brow furrow as he continues, "Lucky Girl, right?"
Gwen tilted her head and remembered hearing him chanting to himself after they had fought the thugs in the back ally, "If I see a girl, I don't know dressed up like a cat it is Gwen AKA Lucky Girl." Now she understood why.
She smiles and asked, "Is that all you remember?" his four eyes squinted up at her and then he smiles back and in his gravelly voice says, "Yeah, you have pretty eyes"
Gwen eyes widen, but before she could reply the Rustbucket rocked with an eerie screech of the metal as 2 exceptionally large stone creature crawled up and over the RV.
Their bulbous stone head stared at them with empty eye socket and mouths full of glowing energy. With a mockery of language, they chittered with lots of guttural clicks and groans amongst themselves with their large rectangle shaped teeth mashing against each other and their heads moving in strange shaking jerking movements back and forth.
With no warning both leaped at them, but four-arms managed to punch one of the two sending it flying through the air with bits and pieces falling off it as it skipped repeatedly of the ground and asphalt
Instinctively he lifts one arm up to shield Lucky Girl even though she had planned to jump out of the way leading to the creature to bite down on his arm
Four-arms roars "Ouch" in pain deafening Gwen who takes this as a que for herself and quickly leaps off him realizing she was going to be in his way.
As soon as she was off of him the creature let go and tried to leap towards her, but the enraged Four-arms quick reflexes seen him grabbing it by its stubby back leg followed up by four-arms violently starting to smashing it against the ground back and forth leaving small craters in the road with each strike.
Gwen sees two small punctures in the larger of his two left arms with blood starting to gently flow out of them she smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth making an audible tisk, "When going hero, I can't be getting in Bens way…I am here to stop him from getting hurt." She harshly directed herself.
Another creature charged around the RV and Gwen fighters instinct kicked in she jumped over the clumsy attack and at the pinnacle of the ark she kicks down with both of her foot planting them into the creatures forehead and used it as a spring board landing gracefully behind the creature.
This to her continued surprise of her new strength drove the monster head into the ground with its jaws snaping closed with an audible thud. The impact was so hard that cracks splintered throughout its oversized head.
Despite the damage it just took it recovered and jumped back up into single mind rush towards her as if nothing were wrong.
This time she twisted her body out of the way landing a vicious and swift kick to the side of its head this had less impact than the jump but sent a good chunk of one side of its head exploding into cloud of dust.
Gwen fought back a stinging tear from her left eye the impact hurt not too badly but it really stung. The pain reminded her of when she first hit makiwara back in karate class.
When she looked up, she noticed that this time as the damage spread it broke through one of the larger glowing runes causing the purple-pink energy to evaporate. The monster suddenly seized than shuttered a few times before falling apart.
This clicked in her head and she yelled to Four-arms, "Break the large power…. nodes."
Though when she looked over at Ben, he had already dealt with his foes smashing them into rubble, "Of course brute strength." Gwen chastised in her head.
Four-Arms grabbed one of the least destroyed stone creatures head and used the eye sockets as a macabre bowling ball and with a massive under armed swing hurled it at a stone warrior's head.
the statue smiled and as it did a shiver went down Gwen spine, there was apparent malic dripping off that smile and fire raging in the pale marble eyes.
Unlike the stone dog creatures this thing had intelligence and it was not going to be as easy to defeat
It quickly raised its shield easily deflected the projectile with a back handed swing with no apparent damage being done to the shield.
Gwen than shook, as it spoke words which reverberated inside her head at an unbearable volume, "Look at the little knight and the witch! if it was not so pathetic of a sight it would almost be cute"
its head lifted at an angle as its lips split open reveals rows of teeth made of living energy turning up into a sinister toothy grin, the way it looked down at them reminded her of a predator looking at its prey.
Gwen gritted her teeth and thought, "This thing is dangerous!"
at that very moment Grampa Max must of thought the same thing as he yelled out, "Kids, get away now!"
suddenly the bumper of the Rustbucket extended with an eerie hum radiating from it as an energy field enveloped the now battering ram of a bumper. A few moments later rocket busters unfolded from the back taillights somehow coming from inside the vehicle itself.
Gwen's jaw drops at the same time as Four-Arms never had they seen such a sight.
The Rustbucket started to jerk forward as the rocket's boosters ignited and forced the large RV to accelerate directly at the grinning monster.
As the Rustbucket grew ever closer the warrior turned rapidly facing the oncoming vehicle and in a fluid motion it brought its shield to bear it slide one leg into a crouch and the other one knee under itself with the spear placed firmly into the ground facing the Rustbucket like a charging horse.
Gwen could not hold back her awe and yelled, "Go Grampa!" but before hitting the statue runes glowed around the bronze shield burning up an along the raised chevron insignia.
instead of hitting the statue there was an explosion as the shielded bumper hit an energy wall emanating from the warrior which was now shrouded in purple energies.
There was a violent reaction between the two energy and at first nothing was happening Than the Rustbucket screeched unbearably loud with the sounds of metal crushing together roaring across the abyss of night as its superstructure buckled from the force of the impact.
Again, the warrior threw its shield to the side sending the mangled vehicle off the road skidding against the asphalt and into a tree in a shower of sparks. The tree shudder under the impact and with a thundering crack toppled over.
Both Four-Arms and Gwen screamed at the same time, "Grampa!" the first to react between them though was Four-arms he started to charge, but the warrior laughed saying, "Not so FAST LITTLE KNIGHT!"
The marble warrior roars as it pivots back up twisting at the hips and into it stand position using the momentum to boost the launch of the bronze tipped spear at Four-Arm's head.
Gwen instantly felt her stomach sink as she tried to use one of the simple spells, she had failed to master not too long ago but again she was racked with pain which erupted throughout her mind and body.
it was supposed to make a phantom hand that was used to lift or grab things, but it just would not compete correctly.
though a ghostly hand did momentarily form around the shaft it did so briefly and was quickly evaporating as Gwen went through the motions of fully pull her arm back.
This should have simultaneously pulled the projectile out of the air, but it dissipated before the task was over. This was not in vain however as it shifted the spear, but only just slightly.
Gwen stomach turned, tears poured down her face as she screamed, "NOOOOOOO!" across what seemed like an infinite gulf of space between them, time at this point had seemed to slow down to a crawl.
Gwen did not know what to do but her body was already reacting as she sprinted towards HER DOOFUS! Her right arm and finger starching out towards him with each step their came a hollow echo that spread out for eternity into the cool summer night air.
Though each step brought her closer to him it also seen the spear drawing ever closer to Four-arms.
Mere moments before she could reach him the tip of the spear embed deep into his arm sending him skipping off the ground in the opposite direction.
She could see with each impact his head bashed ruthlessly against the ground and off rocks. In a horrific display twin ribbons of alien blood twirled behind him in a dark parody of duet.
Gwen who was desperately sprinting towards him was hit in the face by this hot dark iron rich liquid.
At first, she did not register what had happened until the taste of iron hit her like a wall, she had to force herself not hurling as she needed to get to him. Her stomach cramped and her eyes burned, but that just did not matter to her at the moment.
He soon slides to a stop head pushed up by a rather large rock in the field adjacent to the road and through a guard rail.
As she reaches him, she could see the spear impaled deep in his arm with globs of his blood seeping around the shaft. She slides to stop avoiding nearly running into the injured arms. Her heart nearly stops at this sight and her hands start to fumble and flounder around the wound.
Hot life sustaining blood seeps out between her fingers, though to his credit, strength, and fortitude Four-Arms only groaned to a wound which should have probably of killed him out right.
Tears now freely flowed out her, no longer were they being whipped away by the rush of air from her mad dash to get to him.
It blinded and stung her eyes as she kept fumbling trying to staunch the flow of the bleeding, she grew incoherent as she kept sobbing. Her breath came staggered as her chest heaved with each sobbing wail. This paled in comparison to the pain in her chest which felt as if a hand had reached out of hades itself through her to grip its claws around here heart in a crush grasp.
Her breathing staggered more as her nostrils grew inflamed, through all of this she only had one thought, "BEN!"
"NO NO NO NO!" she screamed in between the harsh rushed breaths of this living nightmare as if to command the wound to heal through anguish and will power alone. She shivered in waves of despair as the cool night air stole heat from her bones.
To her horror she felt the warmth under her hand fading while the footsteps of the warrior grew louder from behind like an approaching reaper to finish them off. Gwen barely tilting her head back in response as she want to…..no needed to take care of the being in front of her.
From behind her she heard a loud tisk as the warrior spoke with a dismissive shrug of one shoulder, "Damn I missed its ugly head, oh well Ill end it soon enough."
At that moment Gwen stopped fumbling as all sounds around her faded and then stopped all together, what the little light there was also seemingly faded into darkness.
Gwen felt like she did during the earlier gate exercise she could see herself and only a tiny bit energy seemed to be radiating from herself, she called out desperately, "No NO! I need to get back to BEN!"
A soft voice called out to her, "How badly do you want to save his life?"
Gwen growled enraged at this question and voice that had ripped her away from her baby cousin and energy bloomed inside her core as she snarled back at it, "I NEED TO SAVE HIM!"
the voice called back in an almost motherly tone, "Young one will you become the embodiment of the Eternal Flame if so I will unlock the power to save him as well as to wage wars, to fight peerlessly in combat, and to save the voices of the unborn, all in my name?"
through the sobbing hiccups that vexed her, Gwen replied, "If…if….if it will save my doofus ill agree!"
Ben knew he messed up. He had just seen the Rustbucket tossed aside like it was a toy
This sent him beserking as he sprints at this THING that had dared to attack HIS family.
Each step he took had more force behind it than the other lifting him of the ground in long strides, but the creature had turned around so fast to confront him it left his mind reeling dulling is combat awareness.
It roared, "Not so FAST LITTLE KNIGHT!" all the overwhelming stimulus seen him missing the threat he now faced until his mind was able focused by Lucky Girl screaming, "NOOOOOOO!"
That is when his four eyes locked on to the glint coming off the spear that was rocketing towards him.
"Damn!" he thought though try as he might to change course, he could not he and the spear were moving way too fast.
He grits his teeth hoping it would fly high as he was unable to change his momentum, that is when he notices a ghostly hand reach out and move the spear ever so slightly.
He thought immediately, "Yes, it should miss me," though moments later there was a sharp burning pain that exploded in his shoulder.
Before he knew it or could cry out, the world became topsy turny. he felt himself bounce against the hard earth several times before he skidded to a stop bumping his head on a boulder.
He wanted to scream some words his dad once said after smashing his thumb with a hammer, but all he could do was groan.
Moments later he feels soft and deliberate pressure around his wound it stung and at first he assumed he was being attack, but when he manage to open two of his eyes he sees Lucky Girl franticly trying to stop his bleeding there were tears pouring down her pretty face.
He tried to tell her, "Everything will be all right," but all that came out was another groan.
That is when she started screaming, "NO NO NO NO!" he flinched from the shear sorrow behind that single word repeated over and over.
Starting to feel drowsy he hears from in front of him "Damn I missed its ugly head, oh well Ill end it soon enough." It had come from the warrior whose spear was now buried deep in his shoulder.
Ben continued to think to himself, "At least Gwen is not here she would be so mad at me."
He giggles which was quite strange to him in such a dire situation before continuing with the thought, "Yup, she would lecture me about running into danger for sure."
His vision starts to darken before he hears, "No NO! I need to get back to BEN!" he snaps from the edge of oblivion and looks back at Lucky Girl, "Why does she care?"
this was followed up by her growling a retort, "I NEED TO SAVE HIM!"
He tried to say, "It's okay, just run" but before he could muster the strength luck Girl whispered with a sob of defeat and surrender , "If…if….if it will save my doofus ill agree!"
"Wait doofus!" he screams in his mind and opened all four of his eyes.
there was now steam rolling off Lucky Girls' body with waves of that heat battering his chilling body.
From overhead there was a sudden thunderclap accompanied by the taste and smell of ozone filling the air. That is when Ben witnessed the cat mask straps brake causing it to lazily slide and fall off her face in a fluttering spiral onto his arm.
He looked down at the mask and back at up to her face and he realized the pretty emerald eyes were Gwen's!
He tried to reach out to her but at the same time something started to change, Gwen's hair moved like it had a mind of its own.
To Ben her hair seemed like living fire flicking in the wind and moving like waves, but something else was off her eyes no longer looked beautiful instead they were terrifying the sheen inside those emerald orbs was filled with rage that was endless as the skies themselves.
Ben had never been truly scared of anything before, well except maybe clowns, but right now Gwen was terrifying.
She floated up with ribbons of purple energy and red-hot flames swirling around her that seemed to come out of thin air at the base of her feat.
"You do not know what you have done little magician you should have stayed with your dear uncle!"
Though the words came from Gwen, Ben knew it was not her this was not HIS Gwen.
That statue stopped in its tracks only a few feet from them, "What did you say Witch!?" it said utterly shocked in disbelief.
To Ben the creature sounded surprise its hands twitch in indecision and that's when Ben finally heard Gwen's true voice, "You tried to take MY doofus away from me, HE IS MINE!"
she rose her arms towards the warrior speaking in an odd language, "Luctus Infra Strangulo!"
Runes in the energy ribbons around her arms glowed and whipped out wrapping themselves around the statues throat instantaneously smoke bellowed from where the ribbons touched, and the marble started turning from white to black.
Ben did not really believe much would happen as it was a statue, but the creature started clawing at the ribbons frantically while screaming in pain.
"Why is it in so much pain?" thought Ben in his daze.
Gwen screamed incoherently at the creature tightening her fingers in pantomime of choking someone.
There was a sudden thud with dust and debris flying into the air as the warrior buckled on to its knees still scratching at its throat to no avail.
Ben noticed cracks starting to form all along its neck and shoulders with even more inky black smoke seeping from the damage spreading across its upper body.
"This is not Gwen, she would never cause someone, or something undo suffering" he thought to himself as he called out, "GWEN!"
At first Gwen did not responded to him only twisting her hand in midair to apply more 'pressure', in response the fallen warriors head shot back and the scream that escaped it was deafening as black smoke bellowed now from it open mouth.
Ben this time yelled in a pleading gravely call, "DWEEB!"
Sudden Gwen stopped shaking in rage and shuttered while releasing one hand, though the other seemed to curl tighter as she turned her head towards Ben.
With a sigh and in a forlorn voice she said, "She is fighting to come back to you, I guess before I go ill save what I promised to save."
She flicked her free hand back towards herself and the spear jerked out of his shoulder jerking him up slightly it was excruciating his vison darken from the edge inward as he screamed. This time blood fountain out of the wound instead of the weeping ooze it had been.
Gwen pressed her free hand in his direction of his wound and an invisible pressure stopped the bleeding. She chant the word, "Emendo" with that the wound slowly fixed itself the pain receded and his whits came back to him.
she then points the hand and arm in the direction of the Rustbucket saying the same word, "Emendo" the RV righted itself revealing a passed out Max still buckled in, head resting against the steering wheel. Ben could see even from so far away that his chest was rising and falling revealing he was alive.
Eyeing her work Gwen smirked as she states, "Now maybe I can finish this magician child of…fff…"
Gwen suddenly closed her eye as her arms fell to her sides bouncing freely off of her hips and that is when she came crashing out of the air.
Ben sprints up from the sitting position barely catching her in his massive four arms to cradling her to his chest.
Because of his focus on Gwen he missed a cloud of smoke that now rushed out of the crumbling marble statue while escaping quickly to a nearby hilltop.
The cloud of smoke merged with a floating teen whose long silver and platinum hair shifted in the cool night breeze. She was sitting cross lagged and motionless midair atop the rolling hill until every bit of the inky black smoked had forced its way back into her.
She screamed hysterically before coughing while desperately grabbing and scratching at her redden neck.
it took a few moments for the backlash to settle down and she growled, "How!"
Behind her stood a man whose hood obscured all but the bottom of a skull tattooed chin, his grey deathly hands flexed as they rested on top of grotesque bird skulled staff.
he said in his sickly voice, "Dear niece have you retrieved the key stone of bezel the moment of alignment is almost here!"
With one hand still holding her throat so tightly that the skin under her sharp purple and black glossed fingernails bleed. Four lines of blood merged as rolled down her neck pooling at the v of her shirt, she sighs while sarcastically saying, "No uncle,….it would have been nice to of been told of the 4 armed monster and master witch though!" She had said the last part with words dripping with venom and accusations.
From under the hood there was a glow of power emanating from were the tall man's eyes should of rested, like small ominous suns they burned into the back of her head as he then threaten, "Little girl if you disrespect me like that again ill imprison you in an empty void of curses and pure suffering!"
She lowered her head saying submissively, "Yes uncle, well If brute force does not work I might be able to charm my way to getting closer to the witch and the brat you mentioned she can't always be surrounded by the monster."
He smiles and brings a hand up to stroke his chin while he replies, "Yes charm them Charmcaster, but if you fail me again know that we will start your lesson over to be relearned in pain and suffering all OVER AGAIN." The word echoed around them.
Charmcaster shuttered and nods thinking, "How did that Witch and little red knight beat my colossus and stone puppets so easily!" she had poured so much time and effort into their creation.
Gwen eyes briefly open instantly look up to four-arms she places her right hand where the spear had been whispering, "Thank you for saving my doofus." She looks up to see four watering eyes and asked weakly, "Are you crying?"
Looking surprised four-arms freed one of his arms and rubbed his face stating emphatically, "No! Heroes do not cry there was just road dust in my eyes.
Drained more than she every felt in her life she lazily rolls her head to see the crumbling marble statue turning to dust as the bronze parts tarnishing, decaying, and final they too vanished.
She returns her gaze back to Four-arms and smiles as she, stats "At least my baby cousin is safe, I think I am going to sleep now."
Gwen yawns snuggling her head against his muscled chest and was already in oblivion before Four-arms could state he is not a baby!