After getting kicked out he brunette was ready to leave. So she shouldered her bag and walked down the steps of Friedkin University until she heard the distinct voice of Hex calling behind her.
She stopped and turn around to see Hex coming up to her, an envelope in his hand. Apparently they'd found it in Chadwick's office, unopened.
With a frown on her face Ben tore it open and out fell a ticket for 'Les mamelles de Tirésias' . Ben inspected the ticket closer, realizing that the ticket was twenty years old and suddenly remembered something Fistrick told her.

"Opera. Of course-". It must be a hint, she concluded.

Hex behind her put his hands on his hips and frowned at the brunette, "What do you mean, opera?"

The brunette shook her head, "It's nothing-"

She wanted nothing more than to go right after Hera but decided against it. Her first priority was to get rid of Transyl.

"I have to go back to Bellwood. Thank you for your help." she turned around and left leaving a puzzled Hex behind her.

...

Rook was quite surprised as he opened his door and Ben stood in the entrance. Of course he let her in, asking how she'd fared. "I wanted to visit you but the nurse refused to let me in." he explained setting down a glass of water in front of her.

She was silent for a moment. "Gwen kicked me out. Bezel died." she shortly informed the alien.

Shocked Rook sat down, gaping at the brunette, "I am sorry.".

"I think Gwen needs more support than I need right now." Ben retorted. "Anyways- I need something from you Rook."

The Revonnahgander blinked and laid his head queer, listening to what Ben had to say. "I need," she started, "to use your communication network. I need to make a call to Dr. Viktor."

As she looked up Rook's eye-size had doubled and his mouth hung slightly open.

"You want to call Dr. Viktor? The Transylian?" he repeated, unsure if he was still speaking English. Maybe his translator broke? It seemed quite likely as of now.

She nodded. "I need help and only he knows what I need to know."Rook looked away for a moment and then sighed, "Fine. But you can only use it for a few minutes. Extra-terrestial vid-calls have gotten really expensive. The device is in my bedroom. I am just going to stay here and wait until you are finished."

Ben smiled, "Thank you Rook."

...

Dr. Viktor was quite astonished as his niece Viktoria came in the living room and told him his phone was ringing.

"I think it's from earth." she said, drawing her eyebrows together as she tried to figure out why anyone on earth would call her Uncle.

The Transylian stood up quickly and went to his laboratory, picking up the call. A brunette girl appeared on the screen, surely attractive- by human standards. "Dr. Viktor? Why does it take so long to get through to you?" she asked, looking clearly annoyed.

A little perplexed Viktor blinked at the screen and took a step back, "Who am I even talking to?".

The young woman looked baffled until she shook her head in realization, "Ugh! Of course. You don't know it yet. I'm Ben."

"I wasn't aware that human's could change their sex."

The girl on the screen spread her arms, "Surprise! Anyways Transyl landed on earth. I don't know how and I don't blame you- this time.".

Viktor's eyes widened and he checked some GPS data on another screen, indeed, the current coordinates were not there anymore. He should have noticed it sooner. He turned back towards Ben, "You have to call the Plumbers." he ordered.

The brunette looked away, "I have done that. But they won't believe me. And with your track-record they won't believe you either. All I need is some info and I'll be gone: How do I catch the Vladat?"

The Transylian looked thoughtful, believing her to be lying to him. But he did not act on his suspicion. Instead he asked: "Can you transform into a female Vladat?".

Ben went off screen for a second and the vid-screen darkened, until a green light appeared and Whampire popped up on the screen. Viktor was a little taken aback, "A simple yes would have sufficed.".

However, he secretly started to record the session. It was for science, not because female Vladats were attractive and dressed in skimpy clothing and he hadn't seen one in so many years! He was just a man! What was he supposed to do?

"Are you just going to stare and drool over Whampire or are you actually going to help me?" she remarked.

Viktor coughed. "Would you mind turning around- er just once?", he felt his cheeks heathen up. "Please?"

Whampire was hesitant for a moment but decided to turn around at least once before leaning over the camera, giving the Transylian a nice view of her chest area. He started to drool a little again.
"Hello? Earth to Anur Transyl. Please pick up my signal.".

"Forgive me, but your current form is really distracting.", the Transylian defended himself.

Her answer came promptly; "Then stop being distracted."

"Fine!", Viktor closed his eyes, "I can't believe you're so difficult to work with. You know what Transyl wants, right? He wants more Vladats. I don't think you need to do that much. Female Vladats emit pheromones to make it easier to capture prey. It also makes it very easy for male Vladats to prey on them. Basically all you have to do is- make a pheromone trail leading to wherever you want him to be."

Whampire frowned as she heard him say that male Vladats prey on females. He must have chosen the wrong expression. She shook her head and made a disgusted expression, "So, how exactly do I make a pheromone trail?"

"I suggest you just rub paper towels over you or rub yourself against some trees." he shrugged his shoulders. Whampire turned back into Ben, and sighed. "I guess- there's no other option?"

"None."

She sighed, "I guess I'll see you around."

"Goodbye."

...

As she hung up, the doctor closed the curtains and went out in the living room to tell Viktoria to go play outside. Her uncle had to do a lot of research today. Just him, the recording of Whampire and his hands. Yes, he needed both hands today.

"And?" Rook asked Ben as she finally came out of his bedroom, "What did he say."

Ben winced as if she was in pain, "I have to go and rub my body against some trees."

That left Rook a little speechless and puzzled. What the heck was Ben doing? Did she have some sort of sickness? A weird bet with the Transylian? Rook wanted to ask a few more questions but decided against it and tried to get the picture of Ben rubbing against a tree out of his head. He shuddered at the thought. At the door he wished Ben goodbye.

...

Chadwick woke up at noon as he heard frantic banging against his door. It couldn't be the police. As he applied for the job as professor he gave them a different address. Last night hadn't been that great for him. At least he wanted to sleep for four more hours before he traveled back to his actual home and left this dirty hotel room behind him.
As he opened Charmcaster fell through the entrance, picking herself up from the floor she had landed on. With crazy eyes she turned towards the doctor grabbing him by his shoulders before she took a step back and burrowed her hands in her hair, pulling at it. "I- I need help!" she begged.

The white-haired witch seemed scared and hunted. Chadwick frowned deeply at her and put a hand on her brow. The temperature seemed to be normal.

"Sit down." he ordered, "I'll be back soon."

First he had to dress into actual clothes instead of bathrobe and slippers. He came out of his bedroom wearing his regular, civilian attire without the tie this time.

"Now tell me," he said as he sat down, "what exactly is your problem?"

Charmcaster looked up, her eyes darting around the room, "It's Bezel! He cursed me!".

The Doctor shook his head, "Bezel is dead. You killed him, remember. It was yesterday."

"Right- but- he really cursed me!" she insisted and showed him the palm of her hand, "Look at it! It's burnt. And it's spreading."

Indeed, there was a weird coloration on her palm. Black lines extended from the burn marks, traveling up her wrist. Chadwick had to admit that it was strange. He tried his hardest to remember if he had ever seen anything like that before, but came up with zero examples. Blood poisoning looked very different. The Doctor crossed his arms, "It's better if you just observe what's happening further-"

"Is that all?" the witch suddenly lashed out at him, hitting the table. "Is that all?" she repeated and the doctor glared darkly at her.

"Yes."

The witch stood up in a hurry and ran out. Disappearing through a portal into her own world.

...

Once again it was late at night and after carefully examining the data she had on Transyl Ben decided where to start with her trail. XLR-8 ran all the way outside of town and then some more.
The latest incident was a farm two or three cities away. Further proof that Transyl was coming, and he was even faster than she had anticipated. Well then, she turned into Whampire, shuddering inwardly and outwardly, time to rub against some trees. This was so humiliating! She wanted to cry!

...

During that time Charmcaster had already gone through every old and wise hag she knew. None of them could help her, since none of them had ever seen such a kind of curse. All of them got kicked out of her castle and she was left alone with her stone creatures and a maid who brought her some food.
As she bit in an apple she chewed and realized that it had no taste. There was no sweetness, it didn't taste sour, nothing. Charmcaster turned towards the young maid and showed her the apple, "Is there something wrong with this apple?".

The maid smiled in her usual absent-minded-way and shook her head. "Everything seems fine with it, my lady." she stated.

"Eat it!" Charmcaster demanded and reluctantly the maid took a bite out of it.

She chewed and swallowed, "It's a little on the sour side. Maybe next time I won't take the green kind?"

"Bring me more food!" Charmcaster demanded. "Sweet, sour, bitter- all of it.".

The maid watched as Charmcaster took a sip of this and that, bites and spoonfuls of food and then stopped eating all together, just staring at the table.

"Nothing. I taste nothing. Elmira- clean up!"

While she was a little confused Elmira the maid obediently cleaned up the table. She turned towards a stone-monsters as she went out the door, "Poor mistress. It must be that curse."

Maybe it was just her but the amulet she wore around her neck seemed to weight even more now. But as she wanted to pull it off she couldn't. Something kept her from it. She stood up from her throne and turned towards the wall. On a pedestal stood the little bottle filled with Bezel's soul. "You!" she pointed at the bottle, "You did this to me! Look at me!" she shoved up the sleeve of her coat revealing that the darkness had spread all over her arm, reaching the elbow now. Charmcaster sat down, pulling at the blackened skin as if trying to pull it off, "Why can't I taste anything? What is happening to me?".
She howled and sat down back on her throne, unable to do anything as she watched the disease spread.

...

"Where were you last night?" Carl Tennyson asked his offspring who seemed quite tired.

The brunette blinked and laid her head queer, "I was jogging."

"The whole night?", Carl raised an eyebrow obviously not believing her.

Ben stared down at her bowl and nodded, "Yes; the whole night."

The people at the table were quiet for a while. Sandra decided to interrupt the silence, "Since you're going to be here for a few days and you have nothing to do, we should do something together as a family.". The brunette screamed internally.
"How about beading?" her mother suggested. Ben wanted to be back at the University! Or at the job! Anywhere but here!

Suddenly she had an idea, "I can't!"

Sandra blinked, "What do you mean?"

"I'm babysitting- Jimmy!"

"Oh." Sandra made a surprised face, but then started to smile, "Well, then I don't want to hold you up."

The brunette jumped up, "Bye mom! Bye dad!". With those words she was out of the house.

…

Jimmy drew together his eyebrows as he glared at the taller youth from where he stood. Which was his room. What exactly was so hard to understand about 'I don't want any guests today, mom!'?
The first thing Ben got to hear was a complaint.

"I can't believe you lied to you number one fan!"

The brunette crossed her arms, "I just wanted some time until I felt comfortable enough with it.".

Jimmy turned his back to her, refusing to listen. Then Ben had an idea, "Do you want to fly with my hover board?".This offer struck a cord with the younger boy who turned around.

"You would really let me drive your hover board?" Jimmy asked, repressing his excitement.

Ben smiled, "Yes. But only for a few minutes and you need to do something for me.". She waved around the ticket for the opera from twenty years ago and gave it to Jimmy.

"Finding out where that played? Oh please, that's easy. Give me fifteen minutes."

While he was hacking away on his keyboard the brunette laid down and crossed her arms behind her head. That had been easy.

"I got it!" Jimmy held a piece of paper above her head and Ben took it from him studying the map.

"Huh, why hasn't that old thing been demolished by now?", she squinted at the paper and frowned pointing at another thing. It looked like an inkblot.

The younger boy leaned over, "Oh, it's a satellite image. But you're right it looks a little weird. Maybe the printer just went awry?"

Ben stood up and wanted to leave but stopped midway to turn around. "So, you want to try out my hover board?". Jimmy was more than willing to try it out.

...

It was the second night and Whampire had been up until four o'clock in the morning; 'marking her territory', as biologists and dog-owners would say. She was going to beat that ugly Vladat so deep into the ground, they'd need a shovel to dig him out!

...

Indeed the Valdat had picked up on her scent. It had been such a long time. Lord Transyl had such fond memories from way back. Back in the days he had three wives and they were really hard to get under control.
They really fought hard but he got them down and in the end their wings ended up on his wall. And this female Vladat was unclaimed. How much luckier could he be? A young, unclaimed female Vladat unable to mask her own scent.
This was going to be fun. Damn it, he looked up, the sun was going to be up soon. He had to find shelter. Tomorrow night he was going to get her.

Not once did he wonder why there was one on earth, of all places!

…

As Ben came out of her bedroom her mother was already making lunch. "How long have I slept?" Ben asked, sitting down on the table.

To e completely honest she couldn't remember when she went to bed.

Sandra shook her head, "I really want to ask what you're doing so late at night. Jogging? Really?".

The brunette shrugged her shoulders, "Well, I just want to keep fit. Especially after being put on leave for a whole year.".

"Sure.", retorted her mother and turned to her tofu. If there was one thing Ben was really bad at it was lying.

As she sat there in silence while her mom made lunch, Ben wondered what she should do. Rook was out on patrol and Gwen refused to talk to her. Which was understandable. After a while of wandering around in the living room she decided to call up Kevin and spent a few hours with him.
It wasn't like he did anything worthwhile. She pulled up her phone and called him, reacting surprised as a female voice greeted her.
"You're not Kevin." she realized and the other voice laughed.

"Of course I'm not Kevin. I'm his new girlfriend, Holly.".

Ben demanded to speak to Kevin. The voice of the other end of the phone laughed, again. It was the most annoying sound Ben ever heard.

"You really think he wants to talk to you?", she asked the brunette in a biting tone.

"Yes. I think so. Or- Forget it. I just come and visit."

"W-" the other voice was cut off and Ben took her keys off the hook. She was off to visit a friend.

...

Kevin was still stuck underneath a car as Ben arrived, busy with fixing an exhaust pipe. The brunette announced herself and walked up to the car he was working on, hitting the car's roof. The black haired older youth rolled out from underneath the car and sat up.

"Ben. I didn't know you were going to come.", he said, sounding neither happy nor sad that he came along.

The brunette frowned at her best friend."Are you okay?" she asked.

With a sigh Kevin scratched his brow, "It's just been a- a stressful week for me."

"Really? For me too!"

They looked at each other in silence and the black-haired teen crossed his arms, "Why are you really here, Ben?"

"It's horrible Kevin!" she started to complain, "since they kicked me out of the Plumbers I feel so horribly useless! There's nothing I can do! And so much has changed. Since Hera turned me my world just turned upside down! Everything is so chaotic.". With a sigh her shoulders slumped down, "I just wish I was still a member of the Plumbers."

Kevin washed the machine oil off his hands with an old rag and leaned against the car. "So what have you been up to?"

"Oh- just meditating and um- trying to find something to do. Went back to Friedkin for a while-"

There was this annoying laugh again, coming from behind Ben. For Ben this meant that this annoying girl was back. She took a deep breath and turned around to lock eyes with the tall, blonde-haired girl. Holly grinned and waved a newspaper around.
What? Did she just leave to go and buy the newspaper to shove it into her face?

"Meditating? Really?", with a dismissive gesture and a hand on her hip she placed the newspaper on the hood of the car.

Kevin reacted astonished, "Holly? I thought you were going out.".

"Just for a moment.", she strolled casually over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I just think it's horrible when two great friends don't tell each other the whole truth."

Kevin frowned and glared at Ben, "What does she mean?"

"There had been an attack on Friedkin. I- I thought you knew!" Ben replied, defending herself.

Holly rolled her eyes, and replied for Kevin "Of course he knew! But what he doesn't know is who the attackers were. Why don't you tell him? Oh right, you weren't there, where you?"

"But I thought you were at Friedkin?", the mechanic inquired, turning towards the brunette.

Ben looked away, crossing her arms, "Not during that time- I- was busy- doing other things-".

The blonde hid behind Kevin's shoulder and grinned as Ben looked away in shame. Once again the black-haired youth asked the other, "What were you doing, Ben?"

But instead of an answer he got the cold shoulder and the brunette's shoulders sagged, "I can't really tell you- Not now-"

Kevin glared at the brunette, "You can't tell your best friend? I thought you trusted me? Why did you change like that?".

Great now Ben got impeached by his best friend. Instead of replying Ben shook her head. "There are some things that I need to do alone!". She turned around, "And now I really need to go, Kevin.".
"Besides," Ben added, before leaving the garage, "you changed a lot more than I did."
With those words she left.

Kevin turned towards Holly who leaned back on his arm, "Oh Kevin, I am so sorry!".

The mechanic shook his head, "It's fine. Ben can't change."

Holly sighed then she put a smile on her lips, "You know what would really cheer you up? How about a party? You, me and a few of my best friends?". Well, that sounded, okay.

...

It was evening as Ben came back, strolling into her room, shoulders slumped and ready to hit the bed. She watched the clock for a while before deciding to get up and get dressed. She'd nearly forgotten all about her plan. Outside she met her father who had taken out the trash.

"You're going jogging?" he asked in a cutting tone and Ben exhaled, nodding and affirming his question.

Carl Tennyson decided not to say anything else. His offspring was old enough to decide.

...

It was four o'clock in the morning and Whampire sat on a tree. She was close to Bellwood, maybe one or two miles away. Hugging her knees to her chest she looked up to the sky, wondering if she was right.
Maybe she just imagined things? What if she was wrong? Then she'd just done everything for nothing. Why was she even doing this alone? Wasn't it childish of her to go out by herself like this just to proof that she was still effective and that the Plumbers made a horrible mistake as they kicked her out?
Whampire hung from the tree trunk and looked at the world, upside-down, her wings wrapped around her shoulders like a long cloak. It was then that she heard something above her and before she could react she was pinned down by another Vladat, Lord Transyl.

"Lord Transyl!", she glared darkly at him through her mask, and tried to get her wrists free from his iron grip.

The older Vladat laughed, "I never thought I would ever see another female Vladat again.".

Something about the way he said that was very creepy and downright frightening. The Vladat seemed quite excited and as he leaned closer to her face, she could make out his breath on her cheek and something hard poking her thigh. Whampire shuddered as a long wet tongue leashed out and traveled downwards to lick at her throat. Her sonic-scream pierced the night sky and she succeeded into kicking the Vladat off of her who seemed dazed by her outburst.
Lord Transyl held his head for a while trying to get the ringing out of his ears. A crucial time which Whampire used to kick him right into the midsection.

He didn't even dodge her kick and instead he held her leg using it to throw her against a older Vladat laughed, "I am glad you decided to fight back. It's so boring when they don't."

Whampire held up her fists and prepared for another attack. "You won't get anything from me creep!" she yelled and ran towards him, hitting him in the jaw once and then trying to kick him, stunning him for a while before he flew off and landed behind her.

In the moment it took her to turn around he already took hold of one of her wings and tried to tear it out. He was actually yanking on the leathery skin!
Whampire snapped and lashed out against her attacker, who seemed surprised and in a moment of shock let go of her wing.
A claw gripped his neck and she threw him on the ground bashing his head against the dirt repeatedly before trying to shove her fangs into his neck. Instead of his neck however, the older Vladat shoved his arm between her teeth.
"I forgot how sensitive those wings are-" he groaned trying to get Whampire off of him. Her fangs sunk deep and painfully into his arm.

After measuring his strength against hers for a while he managed to knee her into the stomach, causing her to let go of his arm to gasp in pain. This was the moment he used to turn her around and push her down with a knee down on her back. Whampire tried to push herself off the ground, yelling as he could feel his bony hands grasping at her wings again.

"I wish I had some cuffs." the Vladat lamented, and shoved a hand between her legs, openly groping her.

Whampires eyes widened, "You- you don't know who I am!"

Blinking the other Vladat distanced himself a little while still holding her down, looking down between their bodies. He frowned as his eyes traveled to the thin belt around her hip with the Omnitrix symbol attached to it. Before he could say anything else Whampire turned into green light and Ben was underneath him. Except, not really Ben.
He grinned at her and the brunette shuddered as she realized that Lord Transyl didn't think about changing his plans, at all.
Why? It was Ben! It was her! Didn't it bother him one little bit that she used to be a boy? She could feel his ice-cold lips on her throat, traveling up to her mouth.
"I am pleasantly surprised." he whispered, drawing his tongue down her slim neck.

"So am I!" a voice behind him yelled.

The Vladat sounded surprised as he was thrown off of Ben and he was smashed against a tree. Ben picked herself up after the Vladat was thrown off of her and she locked eyes with Lucky Girl.
"Gw- Lucky Girl! I- I am-", Ben stuttered, unable to form a coherent sentence still shocked by the violent assault.

The Anodite-hybrid shook her head, "Not now Ben!". She motioned towards the Vladat who made himself ready for a scream attack, "Go and help me!"

The witch braced herself as she was pushed against a tree, a time which Ben used to activate his Omnitrix and pushed down without really looking. Creating a miniature sun was useless. It was only going to be two more hours until the sun would come out.
Heatblast flamed up and- wait- Ben couldn't use Heatblasts powers in the woods the last time she did that there was a forest fire! "Heatblast!" Gwen yelled still trying to fend off the Vladat dodging a Corruptura, "Do something! Don't just stand there!".

Heatblast focused her fire towards the ground which turned hot, separating and flowing into the air. The alien swung it and the rock landed on the Vladat. Who needed a little time to get up.
Maybe the blood of cows just wasn't as nutritious as the blood of sentient beings?
Finally Ben had some time to change form, and changed into Chromastone. Yes, the sun was just a few hours away, but why risk anything? She held up her hands and blasted the Vladat with light, weakening him.
"Good job." Lucky Girl, commented, "the Plumbers will be here soon.".

Chromastone turned her head towards Gwen, "You called the Plumbers?"

"Yes, of course I did." she replied, putting her hands on her hips. "You think I'm just going to stand back?"
Chromastone was silent for a while, keeping her lightbeam upright until the Vladat seemed to weak to move anymore, letting her hands sink down as he seemed unable to push off the rock which lay on him.

Ben turned back sighing, "How did you figure it out?".

Lucky Girl averted her eyes. "You forgot your notebook. I called Rook in the evening figuring you'd told him something. After he told me you talked to Dr. Viktor I figured that I call him too. He seemed upset at the fact that you lied to him."

"Big deal," Ben replied, "as if he never lied." She could feel the glare Gwen sent her way. "Didn't you think I could do it alone? I don't need you to help me. I had him."

Lucky Girl pulled her hands into fists, finally snapping at the brunette, "What is wrong with you? I know you're still cross with Grandpa for kicking you out! But is there any reason for you to act like a loner now?"

Ben walked off.

"Ben?" Gwen yelled after him, "Come back!".

She shook her head and turned towards the Vladat who was still trapped under the rock. "Fine." she mumbled, "Do it your way."

...

Meanwhile Red sat in the Opera hall, Seebik next to her. "It's cold." the Kraaho complained.

Red groaned, "Really? We haven't seen each other for years and your first words to me are 'It's cold.'. How about a 'Nice seeing you, Daisy'?".

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I just want to know how my daughter is doing and of course- where are you guys living now?"

...

In a separate part of the building Chadwick had turned an abandoned, unused room into an office. Which meant it had a chair and a table and a lockable door, which he forgot to lock. Therefore people could come in whenever they pleased. Some even without knocking!
For example, right now Frightwig had the impudence to open the door and step in unannounced.

"Hey, you! " Frightwig greeted the Forever King who seemed quite perplexed at this brazen salutation he had just received.

He fixated her with a dark glare, "It's Dr. Chadwick you little- ". He stopped himself and took a deep breath, "Why are we even talking to each other?"

"Anastasia's been gone for a few days and we need to get paid." she stated, causing Chadwick to shrug his shoulders. They frowned at each other awkwardly for a while until the sun rose in Chadwick's mind.

"You want me to pay you?"he concluded to which the red-haired woman nodded. The Forever King laughed and shook his head, "Why me? Go and call Shishkin over skype or write her an e-mail. Or, just wait for a few more business- days."

...

Pissed off she turned back towards the others who had waited downstairs and reported what Chadwick had said. The tattooed crook complained; "Bro, we've waited for three days!".

"Chadwick says she's doing something very important and if Interpol hasn't caught her by now, she should be back in two business days or three.", Frightwig remembered which caused Rojo to groan .

"Do you even know what that means? Tomorrow's Sunday and she won't be here until Tuesday. Some of us have rent to pay!".

North felt the need to defend himself, "Hey, I may not pay rent, but you try to live together with someone like Carl."
While they were talking amongst each other a figure cloaked in a long pink robe walked in through the side entrance, seemingly wallowing in existential angst.

It took them a while to realize that someone new had entered and they redirected their attention. "Isn't that Charmcaster?" Kane pointed out.

Who else would wear such a robe with kitten heels?

Rojo frowned and yelled towards the hooded figure who was so startled she fell on the floor. Quickly she pulled herself up and shoved her hood farther into her face hurrying away, ignoring them and pretending all of this didn't just happen.

"Bro," Fistrick exclaimed, "what's wrong with her?"

Frightwig shrugged her shoulders, looking after the stumbling cloaked figure making her way upstairs to Chadwick's room. Why was that even his room? He didn't own this place. She wasn't sure who did, maybe it was Shishkin? This was the moment Red took to walk out the main hall, Seebik behind her, who ignored the little group.

"And what are they doing?" Frightwig asked, to which Rojo shrugged her shoulders.

Lately, people came and went in this house.

"We have to look out-" Rojo mumbled, "someone might catch on to us if we keep this up."

...

" Chadwick, I need to use your laptop. " the witch demanded as she opened the door.

As he heard those words he wanted to kick himself for not locking t he door. What was he? Some sort of secretary? A janitor? The maid? The paid help? Everyday someone complained! Chadwick this, Chadwick that!

"I don't have one." he lied, closing the laptop she referred to.

Charmcaster glared at him from below her hood, "I can see you have one."

"Maybe it's just a fake?" he replied smugly. As if she wasn't smart enough to know what a laptop was.

"Oh fuck you! Why am I even putting up with you?" she cursed turning around.

In her hurry she missed the first step causing her to fall all the way down. Chadwick stepped out to look if she was still breathing, out of curiosity. Her body was weirdly contorted and laid out in an awkward angle. Surely, she must have broken her spine. The Forever King wanted to turn around, assuming she was dead, as her limbs started to correct themselves and she stood back up on shaky limbs. The little group of villains saw it too and so did Zombozo who just came in to file a complaint. Apparently his arm was still missing. For some reason Khyber's alien dog kept stealing his arm.
Charmcaster groaned in pain and looked up into astonished faces except for one.
"Oh," Zombozo laughed, as he looked into her uncovered face "another lich.".

In a hurry and slightly embarrassed Charmcaster pulled her hood back down, covering the blackened half of her face. Her eyes had turned red over the course of hours. "What do you know?" she yelled at the undead clown who shook his head in response .

Zombozo pointed towards the rips which stuck out from his body, "It's obvious isn't it? Takes one to know one.".

Shocked Charmcaster took a step back, "No- That's not possible. I - I cannot turn into an undead!"

She realized that she was having a mental breakdown right in front of a whole crew of super villains. In a hurry she teleported off and disappeared in front of their eyes in a cloud of pink smoke.

"That was quite a dramatic exit;" Kangaroo Kommando commented,"but what exactly is a lich?".

Frightwig motioned towards Zombozo, "That's a lich. Sure, Charmcaster looks okay-ish now, but give her another 100 years-". She didn't need to finish that sentence.