Ben's eyes flutter open and the man immediately lets out a groan of discomfort. His body was sore all over and his head felt like a smashed pumpkin. He craned his neck to see hospital equipment to his left, along with an IV sticking out of his arm. The young man could barely recall what happened before he blacked out. King revealed himself and kicked my ass. Tennyson attempted to pull himself out of bed when he realized King would be free to rampage throughout the city.

A clang of metal brought his attention to his right hand currently handcuffed to the hospital bed. He assumes it was to prevent him from using his watch and that made him again wonder where exactly he was. The thought of the Plumbers capturing him made chills go down his spine, he didn't want to be at the mercy of the Plumbers right now. Ben could hear muffled voices from the otherside of the door. The door knob shook before turning slowly, the door opened to reveal a silver haired witch standing on the other side. Tennyson's green orbs slowly widened at the woman's presence.

The silence was thick enough to cut with a knife. Both parties haven't exactly met face to face since Gwen's attack on the back-up Plumber HQ. A lot of things have happened for both of them. Charmcaster leisurely walked into the room, closing the door behind her. She had obviously noticed Ben's consciousness but hadn't said a single word. The witch didn't call for any doctors or nurses. Hope simply leaned against the white wall of the room and closed her eyes, seemingly in dire need of sleep.

"What made you change your mind?" the sorceress asked.

"Um," Ben started, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "I… don't know."

"Hm… so all those people died for nothing."

"I-"

"You do know that your grandfather is not coming back, right?" Hope pointed out as she opened her eyes.

"...Can we not-"

"And the bridge between you and Gwen is so beyond destroyed."

"..."

"I ask you the simple question of why and you can't even answer that," Charmcaster whimpered.

"Hope…"

Tears were rolling down the woman's face and she could no longer keep up the act. Purple slime shifted over the spellcaster's body molding into a different shape until a blonde woman stood in her place. Ben was surprised to say the least, he had no idea that Lucy had powers like that.

"I had so much faith in you-" she choked.

Lucy couldn't even finish her sentence before running out of the room, desperately trying to wipe away the tears with her sleeve. The actual Charmcaster poked her head into the room before stepping in and closing the door behind her.

"Smooth," Hope chirped sarcastically.

"My mom always said I was going to be a heartbreaker," he muttered jokingly.

"She was freaking out when we brought you back; it didn't seem like you were going to make it for a second."

Ben nodded knowing that he did almost meet his maker earlier. The watch couldn't keep up with all the injuries he was receiving. At one point near the end of the fight, it was quickly becoming overwhelmed. He didn't know if it was God, luck, or the Omnimatrix that saved him but he would be damned if he said he wasn't grateful. Now that the doctors and nurses had patched him up, the watch could focus on properly healing the user's wounds. Tennyson was sore but he'd be fine.

"Sorry for making everyone worry about me," Ben apologized sincerely.

"Lucy wanted to ask you questions but seeing your face made her sick for multiple reasons. I guess she had high expectations for you."

"I didn't even know she could shapeshift into different people…"

"There's a lot of things that you missed," Hope answered.

Ben looked down in shame of all the suffering he caused the past couple months. No amount of apologies could clear his name and he didn't blame them. The only thing he could do is fix this mess.

"The thing I like about you is your confidence so don't ruin it by pitying yourself."

Ben peered up at the witch with a look of bewilderment at her comment. She stared at him with an honest look, not even truly knowing her intent by that statement. All Hope knew was that it was sincere.

"You've gotten stronger," Ben admitted.

Now it was Charmcaster's turn to be surprised; she raised her eyebrow at him.

"I can see it in your eyes; they're filled with resolve and resilience. Nothing like the hatred I saw when you were chasing after Hex. It's good to see you again, Hope."

"If only you saw what I did to get here…"

"I don't care about that stuff; nobody in this world is innocent," Ben clarified quickly.

"You used to see the good in everyone. Now you're trying to be someone you're not; I'd rather you stick to being a hero."

Ben stayed silent. He remembered when he was only referred to as a hero, now the word slipped out of people's mouths like venom. They wanted to call him something else, he could tell from the tone in their voice.

"I can't judge you for your actions but I will most definitely warn you of the path you're headed down."

"And what path is that?" Ben asked sternly.

"I'm not the one who has to figure that out."

Charmcaster walked out of the room without another word. Ben sucked his teeth and tugged at his restraints. The man didn't want to lay here for another moment; he didn't have time to be lectured by his peers. King was still out there laying waste to his city. Ben looked at his watch and saw the red timed-out symbol. Dammit. The Omnimatrix hasn't timed out for a long time, it didn't even time out once during his fight with Vilgax. An homage to the strength of King and a realization of how close to death Ben was.

Ben is too busy yanking at the handcuffs to notice the familiar dark haired woman enter the room. It took him a while to notice her presence, and he almost jumped out of his skin when he did.

"Julie? Holy shit you scared the hell out of me!" Ben shouted.

The woman stayed quiet.

"How are you? I know it's been a while since we last saw each other. How's Alan? Probably still hates me, I presume."

Julie glanced down at the floor and she closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to make the nightmare disappear. Ben was confused by the woman's actions and wondered what happened to break her down like this.

"They killed my dad days ago…It was all for nothing. I-I messed up, Ben," Julie stuttered.

Ben was shell-shocked by the news. Her dad was killed? By whom? Ben presumed the Plumbers had a hand in the man's death. He wondered if Rick was directly involved in the murder or if they just sent some hit-man to do the job. Cowards. Another question that went through his head was: did they do it to get to him?

Julie watched Tennyson go through a multitude of scenarios in his head. Her hands fingered the cold metal of the gun behind her back. One last mission was demanded of her; kill Ben Tennyson. Then she would get her father back. They even promised to take care of her and her dad when this war was over. At first, she thought the Plumbers had given her an impossible task. But here she was with an opportunity revealed to her. Julie hoped everyone could understand.

A beep pulled Julie and Ben out of their trances. The sound of a now operating Omnimatrix filled the quiet room. They both glanced down at the watch- each for different reasons.

"Don't worry, Julie- I'll make them pay."

If she allowed this moment to pass then she'd never get another chance to kill him. And her father would in-turn be killed. Julie pulled the pistol from behind her back and took quick aim at Ben, pulling on the trigger in the same motion.

BANG!

Ben widened his eyes as the green light flashed in the room. Julie bit her lip praying that the bullet found his heart first. A loud ting revealed that the bullet bounced off the crystal chest of Diamondhead. Ben looked at the woman through narrowed eyes; betrayal twisting his thoughts.

"So they didn't trust me to fight with them after-all. And Gwen sent my ex to kill me? How fucking cruel."

Ben jumped out of the bed and smacked the hospital equipment out of the way. Precious medical items crashed against the wall and shattered into pieces. Julie dropped the gun out of fear and slowly backed up, her eyes widened when her shoulders hit the wall. Terror ran through her head like a mouse being cornered by a snake. Diamondhead slowly approached the woman and walked right past her to the door.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Clearly I have bigger fish to fry."

Ben stepped out of the room to a hall full of worried and curious medical staff that heard the crashing objects and the gunshot. Guards pointed their weapons at the crystal alien. Ben could see their shaky fingers in the trigger-wells.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gwen shouted at her cousin. "You're scaring people!"

"I'm scaring people? Imagine how I felt when Julie tried to put a hole in my chest!"

Gwen reeled back at the sudden statement.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Ben scoffed, "Of course now the next step is to play stupid and make me feel like I'm insane." "Well, I'm not falling for it," he added.

The alien stomped past the guards and Gwen in the search of an exit.

"Where are you going?" she barked, tired of Ben's idiocy.

"To fight the Plumbers."

"You can't do this alone! We have to do this together!"

"I'm not working with someone who just tried to kill me."

"Benjamin Tennyson! Can you, for once in your life, not be a complete fucking moron!" Gwen snapped.

Diamondhead ignored the redhead, flashing her the middle finger as he walked away.

"If you walk out that door, I'm going-"

"Do what? What are you going to do?"

Gwen's eyes glowed a bright pink in anger, an aura of mana appearing around her hands.

"There she is… The true Gwen," Ben snarled.

The alien turned back towards his cousin, ready to do whatever he needs to do.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter. I've been super busy but I'm trying to put out chapters for those who are continuing to read.