Sorry about the short-ish hiatus there! Life got real busy and when it wasn't, I had other projects I wanted to work on, most of them part of this stupidly large and complex universe I've created for myself. This one's pretty domestic, which I hear you guys like, but if you don't, don't worry! Next one should be a bit more on the exciting side.

Julie gasps. "Oh, get that guy! He's the last one!"

Ben grunts. "It's not that easy. I'm not used to the controls on this thing yet."

"He's going to kill you."

"Hey, I can hold my own!" -Ben says indignant.

"Stop arguing with me and kill him!"

"Alright, alright...just let me figure out this new gun." -Ben says, begrudgingly.

Ben shoots, but the rounds go way wide of the target, which quickly returns fire and kills Ben. Julie laughs at him without abandon. "Oh my god, that was terrible."

The Omnitrix's bearer sighs, staring at the embarrassingly amateurish killcam, followed by a nasty, post-game 'DEFEAT' sign. "Yes, yes it was." -he says, then stares at the camera he has set-up above his ridiculously large monitor. "So, that was CS:GO. Obviously not my kind of game, but hey, it just came out, right?"

"Nothing that requires aiming is your kind of game, beloved." -Julie teases, pecking his cheek and leaning back on her chair, beside Ben's own.

"Sounds like you wanna be on the hot seat next time." -Ben says, raising an eyebrow.

"Challenge accepted, Tennyson." -Julie says, crossing her arms.

"It's really not as easy as it looks. This thing needs you to be wicked accurate." -Ben says, defensively.

Julie snorts. "Of the people in this video, who has, a) an actual gun, and b) fired said gun?"

Ben winces, immediately pausing the recording. "Might not wanna allude to the Kree blaster, Julie."

"Oh. Right. Cut that."

"I'll make a mental note: edit out the mention of alien weaponry, along with the previous, minute-long string of cursing on what's supposed to be a kid-friendly channel."

Julie puffs up her chest a little. "Send it to me later. I was pretty proud of how many variations of 'fuck' I got out."

Ben shakes his head fondly, then presses the 'record' hotkey again. "You heard her, folks, next time an FPS comes up, we're putting Julie in charge. I'll stick to fighting games and, like, Need for Speed."

"Oh, I think my dad has an old copy of Hot Pursuit 2." -Julie says.

Ben gasps. "Oh my god, I haven't played that in ages...remind me to ask him if I can borrow it, alright?"

Julie nods, then gestures at the camera. "Ben, the outro?"

"Yup! Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed being company to my misery. Next video should be a Q&A type deal, so send in whatever questions you have for us, and Gwen, and Kevin. Make sure to suggest games we should try, too." -he says. "Until next time!"

Julie waves goodbye, and the recording ends. Ben immediately sets the monster of a machine that his computer is on encoding duty and pushes away from the desk, groaning. "I'm so hungry!"

"When is that not a thing?" -Julie asks, smirking.

"I mean, when I'm asleep, probably." -Ben says, patting his belly. "Diner still closed?"

Julie nods, chagrined. "Our latest secret drone fight took out all of their windows. It's a miracle that no one's noticed the giant alien robots yet."

"Or the people fighting them." -Ben says, worriedly. "What'd Councilwoman Núñez say this time?"

"That the police are doing their best to catch 'the hooligans popping these extremely dangerous illegal fireworks'." -Julie says, incredulous. "Honestly, aliens invaded Manhattan less than two months ago. You'd think people would be on high alert, but no."

"To be fair, who'd ever think Arcadia would get invaded by alien machines?" -Ben shrugs. "Worst we've ever had to deal with is those freak mini-earthquakes three years ago."

Julie hums. "Oh, yeah. Forgot about those."

Ben shakes his head. "How you'd forget about the wrecked asphalt and the mysteriously overturned cars on Guadalupe street is beyond me."

"Probably had a tournament or something at the time." -she shrugs. "Junior high kinda...blends together for me. If it wasn't school, it was tennis, or soccer, or the swimming team…"

"...or chess, or the academic decathlon, or any number of things your parents thought were absolutely essential for you to succeed, and/or wanted to do as kids but never got to." -Ben finishes off. "Glad your folks saw reason."

"Eventually." -Julie says, a little bitter.

"Speaking of whom, have you figured out what you'll tell them?" -Ben says, nodding at her synthetic arm.

Julie shakes her head, and flexes the limb, which whirs softly in response. "Nope. Just glad they haven't noticed yet."

"...you are going to tell them, right?" -Ben asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, Ben, do you want them to ban you from ever seeing me again?" -she asks, sarcastic.

"Well, no, but I'd hate to drive a wedge between you guys."

Julie snorts. "Not to worry, the wedge is already there." -she jokes, then looks him in the eye. "Look, I'm scared. I don't want to have to lie to them. We've made so much progress in the past few years, and my being more honest with them about what I do and how I feel has helped a ton. But this isn't me sneaking out for a midnight tryst; I got maimed by an alien bounty hunter. How the hell do I bring that up at dinner?"

Ben purses his lips. "I'm sorry. There's no easy answer to that one, I don't think. But I'll be there with you, whatever and whenever you decide to tell them."

She smirks, and pecks his lips. It's a second long, but the contact still leaves them both pleasantly dazed. "Thank you. For real. And hey, who knows? Maybe they'll think we're telling them I'm pregnant, and the whole 'secret alien-themed superheroes' thing will actually be a relief for them."

Ben guffaws like the dork he truly is. "Maybe a bit too optimistic there, Jules."

She winks. "Hey, a girl can dream."

"Speaking of which, let's grab breakfast so we can take a nap, alright?" -he suggests.

"I like the way you think, Tennyson. Lead the way."

Ben and Julie sit in comfortable silence, the former nursing the last of a three-egg, ham, bacon and swiss cheese omelette, while the latter slowly consumes the sugary milk left over from her Froot Loops by the spoonful. Julie's left leg sits on Ben's lap, he hums the tune of the Pokémon opening, she checks her phone, and it's all painfully-yet-adorably domestic. So, Ben and Julie's relationship, in a nutshell.

"So, I've been thinking." -Julie begins, eyes narrowed in thought.

Ben raises an eyebrow. "What about?"

Julie nods at the Watch. "You said that the Omnitrix's creator confirmed our reality is part of an entire multiverse, right?"

"Infinite universes with infinite outcomes, yeah." -Ben confirms. "Azmuth calls it the Omniverse, but I think that's a little pretentious."

"But he calls it that way for a reason, right? The Omnitrix is some kind of...universal constant." -she points out.

"Right. More or less, yeah. There's an endless number of Omnitrix bearers out there." -he says, then smirks. "What, you want your own? I'm pretty sure I saw a Julie or two out there with their own version..."

Julie snorts. "Ben, the Omnitrix is an amazing artifact, but it might as well come with a 'come and take it' sign, visible from Andromeda. No offense, but I wouldn't use that thing in a million years." -she says. "No, my line of thinking was a little more...esoteric."

Ben blinks. "Well, first, define that word. And second, y'know, just tell me. I didn't judge you for your monster kink, I won't judge you for this."

The brunette rolls her eyes. "Well, funny you should mention that..." -she says, which causes Ben to choke on his omelette a little. "So, bear with me: if your Watch is technically connected to every other version of itself, and technically holds in its memory banks every species from those universes, and, by logical extension, there's dimensions in which, say, the events of the Alien films are historical fact...do you think there's a Xenomorph in there?"

The young Tennyson can't help but cackle. If he'd been drinking, he would've done a spit-take "That's what you've been wondering about!?"

"Well yeah! Can you imagine? You could turn into an acid-blooded killing machine with a little mouth inside its mouth! Or something from videogames, like...oh, a Protoss!? Just think of the possibilities, Ben!"

Ben still laughs. "I...I guess that makes sense, but come on, Julie, I don't think that's how it actually works."

Julie shrugs this off. "But what if it did? What species from fiction would you like to turn into?"

He ponders this - even though he's, like, 99% sure that's just not...a thing he could ever do. Finally, he comes to a conclusion - and one that makes him smirk, mischievously. "Oh, I know! Garrus."

Julie frowns. "Garrus?"

"Yeah, Garrus Vakarian? From Mass Effect? He looks really cool, and I know you liked his sultry subharmonics."

His girlfriend blushes like a ripe tomato. "Oh...that Garrus."

"There really isn't any other Garrus you could've confused him with, I feel." -Ben teases.

"No, no, it's just been a, uh, while since I played Mass Effect 2." -she says, clearing her throat.

Ben narrows his eyes. "Uh-huh." -he says, knowing for a fact that she's got, like, half a dozen open fics that feature Garrus and Commander Shepard going at it in some way or another. "Anyway...I'll check with Azmuth whenever he deigns to speak to me again." -he says, snarkily side-eyeing the Watch.

Julie embarrassedly hums, followed by a knock on the door. Ben can see Kevin's rather large outline through the foggy glass of the house's front door, so he yells at him to just come in. He does, followed closely by a miffed looking Gwen.

"Oof." -Ben notes, amused. "What'd you do this time, Kevin?"

"Nothing!" -he protests. "I came back into town and went straight to her, I dunno why she's mad."

Gwen scoffs. "Because, Ethan, you came back into town, went straight to me, and have yet to tell me what you did out there." -she says, fuming. "This is not some kind of mystery; I asked, and you refused to answer."

Ben cringes. Gwen never brings up Kevin's middle name unless she's genuinely pissed off.

Kevin raises an eyebrow. "What, am I not entitled to a secret or two?"

"Not when you bolted and left us one teammate down for an entire week! You know what happened to these two while you were gone." -she says, crossing her arms.

The older teen has the decency to wince and turn to the younger couple. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about your arm, Julie."

Julie shrugs, slightly bemused. "S'alright. I got a better one now." -she says, letting the active camo drop for him to examine.

Kevin whistles. "Dang, dude. Kree StarForce grade? Nice."

Ben chuckles. "Since when can you tell alien bionics apart at a glance?"

The raven-haired teen smirks furtively. "Last week."

Gwen groans. "Don't enable him, you two!"

Ben shrugs. "Look, I get it, cuz." -he says, staring pointedly at Kevin. "He wasn't around when we needed him most, and he wouldn't answer his phone, like a dingus, for a whole week. But you know Kevin does this every once in a while, and he always comes back. Prying for information isn't helping anybody. Especially since neither of the people who were actually hurt are holding it against him."

"I was hurt, too, y'know." -Gwen says, glumly. "Maybe not physically, like you two, but I got front row seats to you two nearly dying, and then I had to worry about this jackass." -she says, her voice wavering a little. "What if this 'Sixsix' had gotten to you, too? We wouldn't even know."

Kevin's usual steely gaze softens. He hugs Gwen, who doesn't fight it at all. "Hey...I'm sorry. I know, I should be better about these...retreats of mine. I'll tell you what I was doing, alright?" -he says, then takes a deep breath, and releases it as a sigh. "When Max's...hologram spoke to me, it gave me a map of several dozen safehouses he kept to store gear and data we might need. I spent a couple of days checking his place in San Francisco, learning everything I could that might come in handy, and then I went and stayed with Charlie for a couple days." -he explains.

Ah, Ben thinks. Kevin's never really talked about his occasional solo outings - not that anyone, not even Max, has ever pressed him on them until now - but this makes total sense; Charlie's an old friend of Kevin's, an easy-going twenty-something with a surprisingly decent workshop, up in Brighton Falls, who originally provided him and Grandpa with parts for the vintage Dodge Challenger they rebuilt together. She's one of those people that Grandpa just...knew, for some reason or another, even though she'd never been to Arcadia before befriending Kevin. Ben wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be an alien in hiding, or something like that.

Charlie visits, maybe once or twice a year, around the holiday season - always hobbling around on that faded yellow, beat-up 60s VW Beetle. Ben's never quite understood how a mechanic as passionate about the craft as she is moves around in a car as messed up as that Bug - you'd think she'd at least patch up the bumps and scratches, or switch the eternally busted taillight, but she's either negligent with this one, or the car stays as is for sentimental reasons. Charlie's never really struck Ben as the sentimental type, but you never know, with Max's acquaintances.

Most of the worry on Gwen's face ebbs away at hearing this. Any friend of Max's is a person to be trusted, in their book. "Oh." -she says, then sighs. "Well, just...don't shut us out next time, alright?"

"Promise I'll try." -Kevin nods, and hugs her. After, he pulls out Max's Plumber's badge, and tosses it at Ben, who fumbles it a bit but ultimately catches it.

"Check it out, Tennyson." -he says. "I unlocked the badge for us."

Ben raises an eyebrow. "I didn't know it was locked to begin with."

The badge hums to life. "The automated proximity warnings, the codex, and Max's message for us were just the surface-level functions of the badge. This thing is seriously packed with functions - it's like the sci-fi version of a swiss army knife." -Kevin explains. He nods at Ben. "Press the faceplate, I left a program running for us to try."

Ben does as instructed. "What's it do?"

The badge lights up, displaying a detailed map of, first, their neighborhood, and then the rest of town, progressively expanding until all of Arcadia and the surrounding areas are mapped. "Non-human bio-rhythms detected."

They all stare at the badge, eyes wide in surprise. "I, uh...I asked it to find nearby aliens. Maybe help you guys find that bounty hunter you missed." -Kevin says, perplexed, as several red dots light up, all over town. "Wasn't exactly expecting to pick anything up immediately, though."

Ben frowns at the glaring points. "Guess it's time to hunt down a bounty hunter, then."

I kinda regret not mentioning Charlie - as in, Charlie Watson, from that new Bumblebee movie last year - before in the story. I'm excited to eventually (like, in a rather long time) introduce some Cybertronians into this 'verse! Don't expect almost anything from the Bayverse other than this, though, haha. Charlie was originally going to be Kevin's best friend in high school, but I decided to keep the core group of four, with her as a young adult being an acquaintance of Max's - who may or may not have helped her keep a certain Autobot's existence a secret from interested parties.

That's future stuff, though, more meat to the 'verse than a rapidly approaching plot point. The next bit should deal with some of the non-human residents of Arcadia, and perhaps a visit from everyone's favorite, HYDRA-infested shadow-ops organization? Stay tuned!