Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10.
A/N: Yes, I know that in the episode the getaway boat is rowboat. I refuse to accept that the getaway boat is. A. Fucking. Rowboat.
Don't get used to this chapter length. I know I say that like every other chapter but I mean it damn it.
Apologies for any editing mistakes, fanfiction often swallows up spaces and letters like that one crazy uncle hogs all the chicken and Christmas dinner.
"I'm not jumping into that."
"You have to jump into that."
"I refuse!"
"Don't be a wimp! I did it last time."
Gwen peered down distastefully into the water below, pitch black underneath the night sky safe for the reflections cast from the boardwalk. Yeah, no way was she getting her dress wet with that. "Why are we doing this again? I thought we were going to kick clown butt!" She stalled, grimacing.
"Because we're still working on how we're going to beat the clown. And the bad guys are going to make a getaway with the boat down there," Ben pointed to the small speeder tied to the bottom of the boardwalk across from theirs, "and we need to stop them. Can't let the little things slide."
"Why can't you do it again?" She protested. "You'd love to take a dip in that filth. Might cool you down."
Ben actually looked sorely tempted for a moment, blowing out a puff of steam, before his gaze slid to the other boardwalk. "Yeah we kinda need Ripjaws for this one- there they are!" He pointed to a ladder where two men were making their way down to the speedboat. Gwen sighed.
"Still not doing it!" She protested. "We'll just catch them when they stop. The RV can keep up." Or XLR8, for that matter. She didn't need to-
Ben threw his arms around her shoulders and drew her to him and Gwen screamed inwardly. Before she could chew him out over personal space, or indulge in the violation thereof, she was met with a grin- and felt her blood run cold.
"Ben! Don't you dare-!"
"Geronimo!" The boy exclaimed, gleefully throwing them both off the boardwalk, cold water slapping Gwen in the face moments later.
Ben immediately let go as soon as they hit the water, letting her swim to the surface, whipping around to see the soaked boy paddling beside her, giving her a cheery thumbs up. "Up and at em, officer dweeb!" Swimming over, he grabbed her arm and slammed the dial for her.
The eerie sensation of every molecule in her body being restructured washed over her. Ben had once likened the feeling to a shot adrenaline. Maybe he felt like that because to him, it was just a transformation.
To her, it was more than a little disconcerting the longer she thought about it; so she didn't.
Instead, she just turned her now finned head to glare at the doofus still grinning beside her. "You are so dead." She growled before swimming off, hearing him trying to keep up behind her and naturally failing. She didn't need alien powers to out swim Ben; though she needed all the power she could muster in general not to snicker at him singing the Jaws theme as he swam. She was still mad at the little twerp after all.
Coming up to the boat, Gwen wasted no time, accelerating rapidly before shooting out of the water, her slender but hard head colliding with that off the nearest burglar, knocking him down into the boat and out cold. The other burglar decided he was having none of that and began climbing back up the ladder again, only to be shot in the back by a blast of energy halfway up. He cried out, but did not let go.
"Oh no you don't!" Ben growled, paddling in the water near the boat, blaster raised at the man. "Come down nice and easy and maybe we won't feed you to my cousin!"
Gwen gave him a flat look. "I am so not eating that. Who knows where he's been?"
"Hey now, we're already arresting them, no need to hurt their feelings while we're at it."
"So knocking them out is cool, but hurting their feelings-" The thief jumped down from the ladder, landing with both feet in her chest and pushing her from the boat hard. Sure. Let myself get distracted by a doofus, and so I become one. Thanks for the lesson, universe.
She surfaced just in time to see Ben, who had climbed into the boat himself, get knocked out of it just as hard with punch to the face. And as much as she could appreciate the karmic justice in that, she did swim up to him to see if he was alright. "Ben?"
Distantly she heard the motor of the boat starting up. Ben waved her off, one hand to his bleeding nose. "Just fine! Get him!"
Gwen nodded, tearing off after the boat. Earlier experiments with this form, and Ben's observations on it, had taught her that because the female form of Ripjaws was more streamlined and slender, it was way faster. She proved as much when she easily caught up to the boat and launched into it, knocking the man over; but not knocking him out like she had the other.
He eyed her fearfully. "Please don't eat me!" He pleaded, tearfully. She snorted. It sounded really weird in this form, like she had wad of snot she needed to expel.
...maybe she had spent too much time around Ben. Her analogies were getting a little gross. Before she could reiterate that she was not going to eat him, a beeping sound took them both by surprise, and a flash of green later she was Gwen again. A Gwen with a soaking wet yellow dress that was just on this side of not being completely ruined.
She was so coming for Ben when this was over, and not just for the dress.
The man, taking her in, seemed to appreciate his odds a lot more now, rising to his feet and cracking his knuckles, stepping over his passed out comrade. "Not so tough now, are you, you little freak- ow!"
Gwen wasted no time to kick him in the groin, using his doubling over as a way to grab both of his ears and pull her head back to plant it firmly in his nose, causing him to howl in pain. She shook off the dizziness herself and launched again, climbing into the man, using his upper leg as a jump off point to scissor her legs around his neck and then use her momentum to drag him face first into the side of the boat, knocking him out and probably giving him one heck of concussion.
In the ensuing quiet, Gwen caught her breath, cracking her neck with a wince. Good thing she'd managed to take out the other one and that people always underestimated her, or she'd have been swimming with the fishes right about now.
"Yeah yeah, blah blah. Look, I feel you; my cousin is very punchable." She admitted as she took control of the motor and steered the boat back around to the ladder, where she could see the distant police sirens waiting. "But only I get to punch him."
Ben sighed, contentedly, feet dangling of the edge of the boardwalk, relishing the cool evening breeze on his soaked clothing and skin. The water wasn't nearly as bad as Gwen made it out to be, the wuss, but even if it had been, the feeling of finally being cool would have been worth it.
His sigh exhaled a puff of steam, and he smiled, watching it dissipate until it was gone. While Gwen had gone to take out the criminals, he had gone to get the police, which he recalled had already been close by. By the time they'd returned, Gwen was already mooring the boat near the ladder with two unconscious thugs on board.
"Ahoy there, sailor!"
"Still mad at you, freakazoid!"
A shadow fell over him and he glanced up; a glance that quickly turned into a grin, taking in her slightly flushed appearance and the way her eyes positively glowed with adrenaline. He remembered that feeling. It was good."So what d'you tell them?"
"We tumbled off the boardwalk; you hit the water, I hit the one dude, knocking him out. The other one accidentally started the boat when he startled and fell over afterwards, knocking himself out."
...well that was a logistical nightmare to visualize. "If I hit the water and you hit the boat, why are you wet?"
"Fell out panicking before I crawled back in and turned the boat around." She recounted, standing beside him, looking out into the night. He was more focused on her.
"...they bought that?"
"I sold that. Speaking of my wet dress though..." Gwen's face went from neutral to icy in the span of a second, green eyes zeroing in on him, spitting green fire. He swallowed. I guess I always knew I would die like this.
"Say, did I mention what a fantastic job you did-"
She kicked him off the boardwalk.
The first thing that greeted Ben when he slogged into the RV with a scowl was grandpa Max, the bird perched on his shoulder. The man gave him a sheepish look. "Tread carefully."
Ben's shoulders drooped and he sighed. "Seriously? Over a wet dress?" He asked, incredulous.
Grandpa Max shook his head, the bird mimicking the motion on his shoulder. "No, it's a little more serious than that, son." The man gave Ben a meaningful look.
The boy bit his lip, nodding. Alright gramps, I'll go see what's up.
He found the dweeb lounging in her bunk, idly flipping through her notes on the Omnitrix. She'd forgone her dress for a tank top and shorts. He was still getting used to that; sometimes it felt like she'd been wearing that blue and white cat print shirt for three months straight.
He grinned, even if she wasn't looking at him. "Hey, where'd the dress go-?"
"Hanging out to dry. You probably passed it." Came the curt response. She didn't even look at him.
"Err, okay." He swallowed, averting his gaze, rubbing the back of his neck. Drat, this used to be so much easier when he could just ignore it when Gwen was mad at him. Or revel in it. Now though, he could see all the little twitches of suppressed anger, down to the way her brow quivered a little because she wanted to glare at the world but didn't-
He could see she was livid. And he couldn't pretend that he didn't care about that anymore. "Look, I'm sorry about dragging you into the water, I just really needed you to get on the job-"
"XLR8." She cut him off, slapping her notebook shut, twitchy anger giving way to focus in the blink of an eye.
"...what?" He asked, dumbly, shuffling to the edge of the backroom, in case he needed a quick getaway. He knew that focus.
"XLR8," Gwen repeated, turning to face him, legs swinging over the edge of her bunk and raising her index finger, "could have gotten over there and knocked them out before they even started the boat."
She raised a second finger, rising to her feet. "Stinkly could have flown over and plucked them both off; it's strong enough for that. Or I could've just dislodged the engine while they were freaking out about a giant bug coming their way." A third finger, a step forward.
"Same for ghostfreak." A fourth was added, a final step closer. "And finally, Diamondhead could've used his projectiles to puncture the boat. We weren't that far away, and it was a large target. Kind of hard to get away when your ride is sinking." A fifth finger, and her sharp look turned into something more heated. "Same for Heatblast, now that I think about it. A burning boat might not sink immediately, but if I hit the engine, they'd still be dead in the water, and if I hit the boat, same difference."
She pushed the hand in his face with a fiery glare.
"That's literally half my alien forms that could've taken care of those bozo's without dumping me in the water!" She snapped.
Ben winced and held up his hands placatingly, wrestling down the urge to get angry himself. It was tough going, what with every instinct telling him he did the right thing and she had no business being so mad- but he was going for diplomacy here darn it, and that had served him way better in the last few weeks than anger ever had. "You're right." He admitted and ouch that still stung, but she wasn't exactly wrong. "I didn't think-"
"Yes you did!" Gwen interrupted, getting up in his surprised face. "You thought about how you did it and then assumed that that was the only way to do it!" She yelled, getting red in the face and Ben had to suppress a shudder because she was really angry this time. "You didn't even wait for me to think of howI wanted to do this, no, instead you forced me into it by dragging me into the water and slammed the dial for me!"
She raised her hands, seeming torn between wanting to tear her hair out or throttling him. Ben, for his part, could only look on with a shocked expression. "You keep saying that you trust me, that I'm a great hero, but when the time comes for me to show it? You don't let me!"
"I'm just trying to help!" He protested. "I'm trying to get you to do what I know works so that we don't mess up-"
"I'd rather mess up than be the sidekick in my own story all the time!" She snapped.
Ben just sorta gaped at her, out of words. Gwen's face flashed with regret before sighing. "Just- forget it." She pushed passed him, making for the door. Grandpa Max spoke up as she did.
"Pumpkin-"
"I won't go far from my babysitters!" She snapped at him before pushing into the night. Ben only watched her go for long enough to be sure she didn't ditch them altogether; not that he felt much better when she stopped in the middle of the clearing they'd been all day and dropped into a fighting stance, running through her motions.
He winced. Katas after a fight? Yeah, he was going to need to pull some major stuff to regain those brownie points. He sighed, trudging over to their bunks and plopping down on hers, cradling his head. Well. That happened.
Glancing up, he saw that grandpa Max and Vil had come to the back too, leaning against the wall, keeping an eye on Gwen outside through the windows. Ben ran a hand through his hair, grinning humorlessly. "I guess I don't need to ask how much you heard?"
Grandpa Max didn't so much as twitch, nor did he look away from the faint image of his granddaughter outside, her red hair a blur of motion as she nailed a spinning kick. Ben watched it wearily. Gwen didn't usually anger like that. She'd yell, sure. She storm off plenty. But then she'd sulk.
Going out and burning off energy was Ben's way off coping, and Gwen was rarely pushed to it. And he didn't quite get what had pushed her to it this time. His face fell.
"...do I really do that?" Because he didn't want to be that know it all jerk from the future- but he was starting to think he might be, and it filled him with dread. It reminded him far too much of how Ben Ten-thousand had made him feel.
He did not want to be that man. Not to anyone. Especially not to Gwen.
The older man sighed, rubbing his eyes. "A little." He admitted. Ben looked back at him, feeling lost.
"I just want to keep her safe." He whispered, gaze falling to the floor. "That's just what we do, you know? Keep each other safe." He ran another hand through his hair. "That doesn't mean I don't trust her, it just means that I care! She wasn't complaining about it earlier!" Quite the opposite, he reflected as his cheek tingled.
Vilgax leaped of grandpa's shoulder and flew outside. Both males followed the bird's flight, if only to be sure nothing had crept up on them, but it only went out to keep Gwen company. The girl had stopped her katas and was now resting in the grass. Ben winced again. Katas till she dropped. He was going to have to work his butt off to make up for that one.
Grandpa Max hummed, quietly. "I don't think she minds you looking after her; she minds the way you do it. Of you saying you trust her, but take the wheel from her at the first opportunity. Those things don't rhyme."
"I told you, that's just what we do-"
"It's what you did." Grandpa cut him off, giving him a look. "Maybe she would have seen the contradiction and seen it for what you think it is, but Gwen of the here and now can't make those two things mesh."
...that was actually a valid point. Ben stifled a groan, facepalming. "So what do I do? Not try to help her?"
Grandpa Max shrugged, eyes going back to his granddaughter outside. "You trust her. Even if you think it's dangerous. As a parent and grandparent, I can relate to what you're going through," He admitted, wryly, "but unless you want to wait another three months to grow that unspoken bond and hope she understands then, you're gonna have to show her that you trust her."
Ben bit his lip. He kinda got what grandpa meant. He'd been working under the assumption that Gwen would understand why he was acting the way he did, she'd been able to more often than not. But she really had no reason to. To her, he was just saying one thing and doing the other.
Which made his words of trust and praise about as valuable as a fart really. Ben sighed. It was official. Foresight did not make things easier. At all.
Glancing around, his eyes fell on the two tickets left on Gwen's bunk, and he stilled.
...it would kill two birds with one stone, that was for sure.
"Ben?" Grandpa Max asked into his silence. Grinning, he shot up and dashed passed him and out the door. Gwen, who'd sat up and was ranting at the bird about something or other, looked up at his approach. She frowned. "What now, Ben?" She asked, tiredly.
His grin only widened. "Come on, dweebasaurus. You got hero work to do."
She raised a skeptical brow. "Don't you mean 'I've got hero work to do for you?'" She groused, bitterly. He tried not to let it dampen his grin.
"Nope, I'm not going to do anything." He cheered, leaning down to grin in her face. "You're the hero for this one. I'm going to be the damsel."
Well, at least he got her frown to fade. He wasn't sure if gobsmacked was a much better look in this case, though.
"Are you absolutely insane?!" Gwen yelled, slamming her hands on the booth table, leaning over it to glare in her cousin's face. "Forget about calling you 'lame brain', I should just be calling you 'no brain' from now on!" Vilgax, lying on the table, squawked in agreement.
Beside her, grandpa Max was less livid but equally dubious. "Ben, you spent half the afternoon telling us about how dangerous these people are, and now you want to use yourself as bait?"
"Distraction!" He corrected. "Just hear me out-"
"Not happening!" She snapped before being silenced by her grandfather placing a hand on her shoulder. He did not see the flabbergasted look she gave him, focusing instead on the boy.
"Why do you think we should you use you as bait?" The man asked, calmly, eyes sharp. Gwen wanted to protest that it didn't matter why the idiot thought this was a good idea, it was still a crap idea and no way were they going to do it!
But she knew the stern look in her grandfather's eyes. There was no getting passed that. So rather than protest, she crossed her arms and glared at her cousin, hoping her look conveyed exactly what she was thinking. This had better be good, doofus.
Going by the way he swallowed, she was pretty sure he'd gotten the message. Still, the boy soldiered on. "Because we can't fight them head on. We need a distraction. I can give that distraction-" Max held up a hand to forestall him. Gwen almost wanted to cheer until he opened his mouth.
"Back it up. Take this point by point. Why can't we fight them head on?" The man questioned. Gwen grimaced. Still indulging the idiot too much, but better than nothing. She gave the boy an incredulous look.
"Exactly. Why not just go in there all guns and aliens blazing, beat them up, destroy the soul sucking machine and call it a day?" Because really, sometimes simplicity was just the best. Ben seemed less on board with that idea though, which was disconcerting for a host of reasons. The primary being that Ben rejecting a chance to do things the straightforward, lazy way was just straight up against the law of the universe.
"Because Zombozo can trash us." Ben retorted bluntly. "We're only going to beat this guy if we overwhelm him, and we can't do that with his goons there. So going in all guns blazing," he gave Gwen a dry look, "is probably a recipe for disaster. And I know recipes for disaster."
"You caused plenty." She muttered. "Why not just skip them and go straight for the machine? No soul sucking, no power for the clown, we even the odds and beat them up afterwards."
Ben snapped his finger and pointed at her. "Yes, that would work! It would also turn a circus tent with dozens of people in it into a battle royale." His expression turned considering. "...so I guess that's less of a risk than trying to fight through them, but still. Not good."
Gwen sighed, rubbing her temple. "Who said anything about going in during the show for either of these scenarios? We can just do what you did last time and sneak up on them later."
"We can't sneak up on them." Ben admitted, look sour. "The clown can feel me from a mile away."
So then they'd do this one without him… grandpa Max and her exchanged a look before both sighed. Yes, they could do that. But facing down enemies that Ben said would be hard to deal with if they brought all their firepower to the table, and then dealing with them without the boy that could heal them, shoot his blaster, and all around actually knew their foes best…
Doable. But not optimal. Gwen grit her teeth. No way was she give up that quickly. "Okay, so. Charging in; doable, but very risky." Her arm shot out to jab a finger in his face. He glared indignantly at it. "How the heck is letting yourself be turned into a three course meal for the fat creepy clown any less risky?!"
"Do you have to make it sound that gross?"
"Yes!"
Squawk!
"Oh, look who woke up again-"
"Kids. Focus."
"Hear that dweeb? Focus."
"Kind of hard when every word that comes out of your mouth just sounds like 'punch me in the solar plexus because I'm an idiot!'"
"What does the sun have to do with any of this-?"
"Focus."
Both children sighed, pinching their noses in identical movements, and Gwen had to silence a slightly hysteric part of her brain that was screaming that she was turning into the doofus. She wasn't. He'd probably picked up the habit from other her.
...that was almost as weird. "The question stands, freakazoid." She continued, eyeing him, seriously this time. "How is this a good idea?"
Ben ran an agitated hand through his hair, seeming a little less certain. "Because last time, the only way I could win was because they were split up. And they were split up because the clown was busy sucking up the mana of victims." He jabbed a thumb at himself. "I've got mana to spare. I might even be able to put up a fight." He gestured to his blaster. "And we can put a tracker in this so you can find me; wherever I end up." He gave them both a sincere look, and Gwen absolutely hated that she felt her heart skip a beat at it. "It's not the best plan." Ben admitted. "A ton of things could go wrong, but if the only other plan we have is to send you two in as is-"
Indignant feather rustling. "-you, Gwen, and the evil chicken in while I wait, I'd rather we do this. At least that way, I might make it easier on you."
Silence followed his case and Gwen bit her lip. There were tons of holes to be poked in this. Presuming that Zombozo's goons would be away from their master, presuming that Zombozo's powers even worked as they hypothesized, any other people the clown might kidnap still getting caught in the crossfire, and presuming that him being one of those people even altered that game state at all...
But if she were being honest with herself, Gwen was only really worried about one thing. And she hated herself for it. "What if we fail?" She asked. "If we go in all guns blazing, and fail, we retreat. If that doesn't work, we might even have a chance because you can come save the day again, somehow." She took a deep breath. "But if we fail while you're captive..." She trailed off, knowing she didn't have to finish the sentence.
Ben seemed utterly undeterred by the prospect though, instead giving her a fierce look that left absolutely no doubt. "You won't." He said, simply, and… okay. Okay.
A few moments of silence passed before their grandfather spoke up, softly. "How long till the show?"
Ben swallowed, glancing at the clock. "About two hours." He answered, equally quiet, but distinctly more pensive.
The old man took a deep breath, throwing back is head as he did, eyes shut, before lowering it again and exhaling. Gwen had a sinking feeling that she knew what was going to happen-
"I'll go see if I can whip up a tracker." He said, rising to his feet and making for the back of the Rustbucket. "You two go work on how to fight these guys."
With that the man lumbered off and Gwen dropped her head in her hands. Great. Just great. Peeking passed her fingers, she glared at the doofus. "Stop being so satisfied."
"I'm not saying anything." He said, innocently inspecting his nails; another gesture she recognized all to well. He had no business looking that smug about sending himself on a suicide mission.
"Look, I get what you're doing." She stated, bluntly. "And I appreciate it; but is now really the best moment to take of the training wheels and raise the stakes?"
"It's not going to matter. We'll be fine."
"You don't know that!" She yelled. "There's tons of things that could go wrong! You don't have to put your head on the block to proof that you trust me to be a hero, you've made your point!"
He fell silent at that, looking mildly uncomfortable. "It's not just for you." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're right; both times. Yes, this is a stupid, risky idea." He turned his gaze to meet hers. "But you were also right when you said that I wasn't, you know, being fair to you. I gotta learn to put my money where my mouth is; not just so you know, but so I know." He shrugged. "And like I said, I'm not risking anything."
"...that is disgustingly mature of you." She grumbled. She'd never get used to Ben being both sort of mature, but also completely crazy at the same time. And she wanted to strangle the traitorous part of her brain that whispered that that just made him more interesting.
He grinned back, sheepish. "What can I say, dweeb? All your overthinking is rubbing off on me."
She was silent for a moment, torn between pressing the point on how they really should think of a better plan; and just rolling with it. If he was going to trust her to save his life, shouldn't she at least trust him enough to risk it?
She bit her lip, letting impulse take over. She leaned forward to put a hand on his arm and he stilled, all levity gone from his face. Well, good to know that she could get his attention without having to shout at him. "Promise me," she started, throat dry, "promise me you'll be safe."
He grinned. "No worries dweeb, I'm indestructible." She squeezed his arm lightly and he stilled again. Her lips worked for a second and- screw it.
"Please," she said, softly, "promise me that you'll come back safely." Even if she failed. Even if they all failed. Promise me.
Please.
He looked at her for long seconds and somehow, she knew he could hear all she didn't say. She wondered if this was what he meant when he said that he and his Gwen had been closer.
If this was what it meant, she'd take it.
He nodded. "I promise. No way am I letting you have a Ben free summer; you might actually start having fun." For all that his words were teasing, his smile was genuine. She felt the tension in her shoulder ease.
She knew that Ben had about as little power over the outcome of this as anyone; heck, if anything, she ought to be making promises not to screw up. But somehow, Ben promising that it'd be alright, that he'd come back to her- to them, made her feel confident that it would turn out okay.
She didn't know when that had started making a difference to her. Right now, she didn't care. She smiled back. "No way. When grandpa puts on that speedo, I want you right there beside me to suffer along."
"Please just feed me to the clown." He groused, adjusting his arm and-
He grabbed her hand. She tried, very, very hard not to let that get to her. Going by the look the bird was giving her, she was failing abysmally. Ben was still oblivious though. "We'll be fine, dweeb. You got this. You'll see."
He squeezed her hand and she so, so wanted to pull away because she could feel her heart beating faster, her face heat and stupid Kevin's voice in the back of her head again-
She squeezed back. They were friends, they could be chummy. Didn't have to mean anything. And now if only the bird would believe that too, he could stop giving her smug looks.
Ben twisted her arm around, the dial of the Omnitrix facing up. He reached out with his other hand, idly spinning the dial. "So, you know what we're up against. Which of these is going to save the day?" He asked, waggling his brows. She scoffed, grinning.
"I thought you were going to tell me which alien I should be using." She quirked a brow at him. He grinned back, eyes twinkling.
"I have an idea, but I'd rather hear what you got first." His grin turned slightly sheepish. "Your ideas are probably better anyway."
She snickered. "About time you realized that." She sniffed, haughtily, before winking because if he was gonna play, so was she. And she was pretty sure she didn't imagine his breath hitching. "But I am gonna want feedback. We did say we'd do this together, after all."
He winked right back. "And don't you forget it, dweeb."
"Got your tracker?"
"I got my tracker." Ben confirmed, raising the bracer upon with a small metal stud had been put. "I also packed a spare pair of undies in case I have an accident." He grinned, and she predictably scoffed at his cheek.
"I didn't know you had more than one." She remarked before her gaze sharpened. "Seriously though, are you…?"
He swallowed. He wanted to put on a carefree front, and he wasn't worried about it turning out alright, but still. I really, really don't like that clown. "Yeah, I'm good. You?"
She was trying equally hard to look at ease. She failed just as badly as he probably did. "Ready to kick butt." She agreed, grinning shakily. He smiled back. He could feel all her reservations. He could also appreciate how she shoved them to the side and trusted him. He needed to do the same.
"Alright Ben." Max said, walking over from the front of the RV, the bird on his shoulder. "You sure you don't want us to stop them robbing the place during the show?" Ben shook his head.
"Better not tip our hand. We can get the stuff back later."
"Didn't think you'd even know that phrase. What about the damaged shops?" Gwen asked. He smiled a secretive little smile. She didn't need to know that he probably learned more expressions in three months with her than from years at school.
He shrugged. "I didn't think of that." Nor did he really care. Between some damaged shops and cars on the one hand and increasing the chance of them actually saving the day on the other, he knew his choice.
Silence fell over the group until Vilgax suddenly screeched and raced off to the back room; the sound of a tool kit toppling following. Grandpa Max blanched. "Oh no the hand-grenades are there-!" He dashed to back, yelling for Vilgax to stop. Gwen looked uncomfortable but amused. Ben outright snickered.
"The bird could set off an atom bomb and he'd still fly away." He turned to Gwen and found her looking back. The smile dropped from his face. "I… I guess I better go." He concluded, shrugging. No point it putting it off. But when he turned to go with a wave, he found a hand around his wrist. He turned around to sass the dweeb for caring- but stopped when he saw how afraid she looked.
And he didn't understand why because he'd only done hare brained stuff like this a million times and he'd always pulled through-
...he had. She hadn't.
It hit him like a hammer that while this was the umpteenth time for him to charge off into the belly of the beast, and had watched Gwen do the same numerous times as well-
But this was her first time seeing. She didn't know he was going to come back. Not like he knew. It was strange, to think, that this wasn't 'normal' for her. It had been normal for him for what seemed like forever. But the first time either of them had done that, they hadn't cared enough to be worried, really worried. Sure, they'd been concerned about a family member maybe getting hurt.
But not about losing a friend. Ben tugged his wrist free and clasped her small hand with his. It had never made sense to him, how she could be taller than him, while at the same time having such small hands.
"We got this, dweeb." He assured her, the weight of her asking him to promise her to be safe finally becoming clear. "We've survived worse than this."
She looked at their hands before slowly dragging her gaze up, and there was something there, something he couldn't quite pin down…
"I think you were right Ben. Vilgax's soul has passed to this… bird..." grandpa trailed off. "Uhm, did I interrupt something?"
"No." Gwen replied, pulling back her hand. "The damsel was just going off to get eaten." She scoffed, and if he didn't know better he'd have thought that Gwen didn't have a care in the world. He quirked a smile. Yeah. That was Gwen alright.
"Yeah." He waved, casually. "See ya when you rescue me." He turned on his heel and walked out the RV, the forest looming before him, distantly the lights of the circus glowed. He felt eyes on the back of his head long after he couldn't spot the RV over his shoulder.
The walk to the circus grounds felt far longer in the dark, but that could just be his nerves talking. He wrestled them under control. They'd be fine. Zombozo had tried to drain him this afternoon and had barely slowed him down at all.
But the clown's interest as a result of this was what made Ben hope this plan could work. He could use that interest against him; tempt him with it. Gwen had been enough to preoccupy him in the previous timeline- and he was pretty sure that he was more of a treat than that, if the clown's words were anything to go by.
As he approached the tent, a shadow moved behind him and he sucked in a fortifying breath. Yeah, there was no mistaking that presence. He turned around to face the clown, who looked almost kindly at the moment.
Well, if you ignored the manic glee in his eyes. Ben grinned, holding up a ticked. "Only if I don't have to share the after show with anyone else." He teased, poking out his tongue. The clown took the ticket and smirked.
"That's just fine, lad." The monster purred, lowly. "They all canceled anyway." The clown gestured towards the main tent and Ben took another subtle fortifying breath. Alright, showtime.
The Rustbucket hummed quietly along, the stillness only interrupted by the odd creaks that the old RV often made and the rustling of Vilgax as he moved about.
And the beeping of the GPS that was tracking Ben's location. Gwen was hyper focused on that one while she moved her hands through the motions she'd been taught just hours ago.
"Tap the button on the side, twist the dial to the alien you want, pin the screwdriver right here-"
"How did you ever figure this out lame brain?"
"Trial and error. And randomly jabbing things in there in frustration when that didn't work out. Anyway, do this, hold it till you hear a click, and then slam the dial. It'll lock up the Omnitrix and then you won't have to go Gwen for a while longer."
Tap, stab, hold, click, slam. Tap, stab, hold, click, slam.
"Don't worry pumpkin." Grandpa Max spoke up beside her, eyes focused on the GPS and the road. "Ben's survived a whole summer of this, including a run in with this guy under way worse circumstances. He'll be fine." His gaze shifted to her pointedly. "We'll make sure of it."
Gwen tore herself from her repetition to glare at the man. She loved him to bits, and had faith in his judgment, but… "We're about to fight some kid friendly version of IT while Ben's life is on the line and we're doing so because we had no better plan than to follow the advice of a scared child."
"You said it yourself, we have no better plan." The man remarked, though she could tell he was beating himself up over this as well.
Grandpa had been looking like that a lot, lately. Every time she went off to tackle some petty crime, every time Ben discussed some enemy he'd faced, there was this look of pride and guilt on his face. She was pretty sure that if given the choice, grandpa Max wouldn't let them anywhere near any of this.
Gwen bit her lip. "You didn't see him when we ran into the clown, grandpa." She admitted. "He was scared, really scared." And that was wrong. Much as she'd joked that Ben was a wimp, he really wasn't. If nothing else, he was stubbornly unafraid of things he really should be afraid of, all the more so since he came back from the future.
She didn't know exactly when, but much as she resented Ben's know-it-all attitude for it, she had sort of come to rely on Ben knowing what to do if they ran into a threat. On Ben telling her it was going to be fine.
Seeing Ben be this terrified of anything made her blood run cold. It was completely wrong and she had to make it right. So she was going to smack that clown into next week. Only course of action, really.
It seemed her grandfather wasn't as serious about this as she was, as he cracked a smile at her words. "I have seen him that scared." He remarked, casually. "About three days ago, when he all but kicked down my door and yelled at me to get up because 'Gwen was in danger.'"
Gwen stared for a second before heat crept up her face. "He… really?"
"Oh yes." The man enthused, eyes twinkling. "It was heartwarming, how much he cared." His gaze sharpened. "We're here." He remarked, halting the RV. Ahead, in a clearing, was the haphazardly set up tent, crates strewn about, a few trucks sitting beside them. Gwen swallowed, looking at the dark tent.
Ben was in there. And much as he'd held her hand until now, whether she liked it or not, he had given her his trust to come save him this time.
She was earning that trust.
Unclasping her seat belt, she was very aware of her grandfather lumbering behind her, picking up a large weird looking rifle off the booth table as they made their way outside, Vilgax flying out into the night. Once outside, she sucked in a deep breath.
"Ready?" grandpa asked, quietly as he readied his weapon, eyeing the tent with a calculating gaze.
Gwen exhaled. "Ready." Tap the button, stab with the screwdriver, hold it there, wait for the click-
She slammed the dial and let green light engulf her. Flames roared.
Ben groaned, getting off of the circus floor on shaky legs. Laughter echoed around him.
"My my, what does that make? The fourth draining?"
Fifth, Ben reflected, shaking his head to clear the black spots from his vision, but who was keeping count anyway?
The clown had predictably been overjoyed when he'd shown up to attend the show, and had even allowed Ben to persuade him that he was the only one who'd be attending the 'after show' because he 'didn't like sharing.'
Even if today turned out to be a total bust, at least he could reconcile himself with the knowledge that he'd saved a few people.
Gritting his teeth, he felt the cold in his limbs recede as his mana pooled forth, filling him with heat in moments. He glared up defiantly at the clown in front of him; but did not fight. Not yet. If he started a fuzz now, his lackeys would never leave, and that would render the whole point of splitting them up moot. "I want a refund." He groused. "And a phone call. Pretty sure this is illegal somewhere."
"Oh shit, he's onto us!" Acid breath exclaimed, to the laughter of the others. Except the clown, oh no. Zombozo just grinned, waving them off.
"Didn't you ever listen to your parents, boy? You shouldn't accept gifts from strangers." He teased, leaning down to grin at Ben. "Not that you're ever going to be capable of learning from that lesson.
Before Ben could let the implications of that sink in, or punch him in the teeth, a metal tube come from the machine shot up and wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides and picking him off the floor. "Hey! Let me go, you freakshow!"
Laughter resounded again, and Zombozo addressed his goons. "You three go make yourselves useful. I'm going to enjoy this quietly."
Crap! Ben thought as the goons cleared the tent. They were supposed to leave at some point, but Ben was supposed to be free to make Zombozo's life miserable so that grandpa Max and Gwen could take care of the freak brigade. "Let me go!" He repeated. "What gives? I'm just a kid!" A kid you should let go so I can put my blaster in your face you monster!
Said monster laughed. "Did you know," he spoke, stepping closer to where Ben was held suspended by the metal tube, "that I get memories along with the emotions I steal?" He grinned, nastily. "Not a lot, but just enough to get a picture of the joy that I'm feasting on." He leaned to smirk in Ben's face. "I know exactly what you are, mage."
Behind them, the machine rumbled and opened, revealing another one of the blue orbs, this one as large as a man, and then it opened. Ben started squirming, swearing up a storm in his head because this was not how this was supposed to go-
"Don't worry too much, little mage." Zombozo coed. "I feast of your joy, after all. All I'm going to do is drop you in a nice little illusion world that will make you happy for as long as you last," He grinned again, showing of his yellow teeth, eyes slightly wide and unhinged. "and I'm going to gorge myself on all the joy you put off and use it to give your precious Gwen a very personal welcome."
The tube dropped him in the orb and it closed over his head. He snarled, kicking at the sphere to no avail. He bared his teeth as the monster laughed. "Joke's on you. She's going to rip you to shreds." He growled.
The monster bared his teeth right back.
Planting a flaming fist firmly into the enormous guy's nose, Gwen was reminded of something grandma Verdona had once said. That everyone in the Tennyson line had something of grandpa Max in them, be that the tech saviness, his warmth, his commanding presence, you name it. Somewhere, in that tree, it was there.
She'd said that Gwen had inherited the soldier in him. Sometimes, she felt like the woman had been right.
Because it felt amazing to just cut loose and tear through her enemies. The woman lashed out at her with hair, and Gwen smirked. If it's got enough nerves to move like that, it's got enough nerves to feel this. She grabbed the incoming hair in hands made of fire and the woman screeched. Gwen hauled her closer and grabbed every single one of the tentacles for a good while, blistering them all. Those won't be useful in a while.
From the corner of her eye, she saw the smaller of the two men pull back his head to spit his acid at her and she kicked the woman away, not wanting her to get caught up in that. Really cares for his friends, doesn't he? She launched forward, into the acid, making no move to block or dodge it.
The acid hit her, but Heatblast didn't even respond to it, the liquid changing under the heat of her skin (hide?) and becoming harmless, at least to her. Brushing past it she high kicked him in the jaw, knocking out some of his teeth and leaving a nasty blister.
Spinning on her heel she was just quick enough to redirect the blow that came from the hulking brute. She narrowed her eyes. This one was the most problematic. His skin was too tough to burn, at least without serious effort, and his strength dwarfed hers.
But that didn't really matter. It might have mattered a little to Ben, but here was a reason she could kick his butt any day of the week. Grabbing the arm that launched for her face, she pun around, using her momentum to haul the man over her shoulder and slamming him into the dirt hard- only to quickly jump back when he reared back up for a grab with surprising speed.
She evaded it and hummed. "Tough guy, ain't ya?" That was a problem. She was pretty sure she could beat him, but she didn't know how to do so without seriously harming him or even killing him-
A shot rang out and the man dropped like a lug, a large lump forming on his head already. Gwen glanced up to see her grandfather walk over from where he'd taken cover, the strange rifle in his hand smoking faintly. She glared. "If that guy didn't have an abnormally thick skull, you would've killed him." She accused. Overhead, Vilgax squawked.
He just looked at her sadly and sighed. Gwen winced. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that grandpa Max's hands were probably not very clean. It was hard to reconcile that image with the sweet, doting grandfather she'd always known. "Come. Your cousin is waiting." He intoned, moving past the groaning or otherwise incapacitated mess that was left of the goons.
As they strode in the direction of the man tent, silence fell and she gave the man a look askance. "Why didn't you ever tell us…?" About your abilities. About who you were. About what you were doing.
All of that and more. Grandpa caught it all and just exhaled, looking his age for a change. "I couldn't."
"...you always said we could tell you anything." She remembered as they entered the tent. "Too bad you didn't feel the same."
The man closed his eyes and exhaled again. "Gwen-"
"Well well, would you look at that. More guests!" The world around them warped into pitch black, the only visible thing being Zombozo's grin and eyes. "I hope you brought your tickets."
Gwen smacked her fist into her palm, the move creating a crackle akin to that of a bonfire. Good. Just what she needed. "Kind of you to make your face so large; I can enjoy pounding it in high-def."
"I aim to please." The clown purred. "But maybe we should get some privacy for something so intimate."
A glass wall sprung up between her and grandpa, shifting into a mirror after they'd shot each other one last fearful look. Gwen roared, shattering the glass with a shoulder tackle- only to find herself in a twisted hall of mirrors as she burst through on the other side, laughter ringing in her ears.
"My my, I see that the temper runs in the family. You'll make for a delicious meal, too."
"Give him back, you animal, and I might consider going easy on you!" She yelled back, lashing out with fire, to no avail. His laughter resounded again and the clown appeared in one of the mirrors in her peripheral vision- only to shift to another when she turned to look. It was unnerving and she grit her jaw.
"Such dedication!" He cheered, gleefully. "I see why so much of his joy comes from you. So many little memories, so many little delights, and they all come down to a little girl with red hair. Only..."
She felt a breath tickle the side of her head. "It's not quite you, is it?" She lashed out behind her but struck naught but air, laughter once again ringing in her ears like a bell and could this blasted clown shut up-
"Does it hurt, I wonder?" The clown mused, appearing in a mirror directly above her. "That every time he looks at you, he just sees her?"
Gwen resisted the urge to punch the mirror. He's getting in your head, think calmly. You can do this. Ben said you could and so you will…
But it did hurt because it was a true enough fear. Often times, she just felt like a stand in, like she wasn't fully a person to Ben, just someone he used to know.
"That you're always trying to be someone in his eyes that you can never be?" And living up to that impossible standard was crap. His Gwen sounded amazing, it sounded like someone she could never be, not to herself and definitely not to him-
Gwen shook off the sting in that one, trying to focus. She needed to get out, but she couldn't brute force it…
"That he'll never love you like he does her?"
The Omnitrix beeped and she was Gwen again, hiding her eyes behind her hands. She took a shuddering breath. "You really are a monster."
"Aw, did I make the little girl cry?" The clown appeared in front of her, the mirrors fading away to leave them in the middle of the great circus tent. To the side lay her grandfather, seemingly unconscious, still clutching his rifle, Vilgax standing protectively over the old man's head.
Gwen tried not to let on that this was good. Away from the illusion. He thinks we're no threat anymore. She knew better. And judging by the way grandpa was still clutching the trigger of his rifle, so did he.
In front of her a machine that reminded her eerily of a pipe organ glowed ominously. From it, a tube shot out that attached itself to the clown and he sighed, contentedly. "Ah, your cousin is a real treat. Without this much power, you would have been more trouble." He grinned at her. "Now, you're just a bug."
He kicked her down, flat on her back, and placed a foot on her collar. She whimpered, distantly noting her grandfather stirring. She instead focused on the grin above her. "P-Please," she pleaded, "please, let him go..."
A bark of laughter escaped the clown. "My, my, how precious. Even now, you try to save your sweet little boy." He eyed her shrewdly. "Tell me, girl, will seeing him again make you happy?" He leaned in. "Will it give you joy?"
She nodded, once, gritting her teeth at the weight on her collar. The clown snapped his fingers, and the machine opened, revealing a large, glowing blue orb and inside it-
"Ben!" She rasped out, overjoyed to see he was still alive but also worried because she was pretty sure this was not going according to his plan. But then, Ben wasn't the only one who could roll with the punches.
"He can't hear you, silly girl." The man purred. "He's in a nice little dream world. Wouldn't it be cruel to pull him from-"
Grandpa Max reared up and aimed his rifle directly at Zombozo, shooting and punching a hole straight through the clown's chest. Gwen did not delude herself to think that that would slow the monster down for long, but it did lift his weight off her as he stumbled. She used the moment to spin her legs, sweeping the clown off his feet, and pop up herself. She could already see the telltale green light of healing magic close the gap in Zombozo's chest, so she didn't bother lingering, instead making a mad dash for the machine.
"You need to tap into this thing called 'mana' to use spells at all."
She leaped up toward the glowing sphere, extending her hand to it.
"You taught me how to do that once, but it didn't mix with the watch. All it did was shock me with green lightning that made my teeth taste funny."
Her hand, her Omnitrix, collided with the magical forcefield and she could feel it ripple, like running sandpaper over a gritty patch of stone. She scrunched her face.
Either this works, or we're all screwed.
The machine pulsed and the room went dark.
"You know, you could at least be happy that you're back." Gwen muttered, glaring down at Ben where he'd made a cushion fortress in the back of the RV, brandishing a broomstick at her. "Or at least act like the insufferable doofus I know you are instead of one that's even crazier."
"Go away. You're a magical hallucination." He growled and she threw up her hands in an impressive mimicry of Gwen's frustration.
"How the heck would you know, lame brain?! I'm the witch here! You just had a super vivid dream, that's all!"
He laughed. "I don't have the imagination to dream of her being that nice." He returned derisively.
She quirked a brow at that, hair shining in New Mexico's setting sun. Outside, endless fields of dry grass waved lazily in the breeze. He recalled this place. It was a few days out from where they had the whole Benwolf incident. He'd been very happy with Gwen for a few days after she'd stood up for him.
That had been a good time. It almost made him wish this was real. But he'd made a promise to get back, and he was going to keep it, alluring distraction or no.
Her lips quirked. "Her? Been dreaming of a girl, doofus?" Her face soured. "Please tell me it's not Kai..."
He shuddered. Yeah, no. He was not going down that road again, even in his dreams. He eyed her thoughtfully and decided that if he was gonna be stuck with Not-Gwen until he was rescued, he might as well see how accurate the magic had made her. "Actually, it was you." He admitted, grinning sunnily. She scowled, faintly green.
"That is so, so much grosser."
"Eh," he shrugged, "maybe. You were nice, though. Or, well, this timeline's version of the person you're supposed to be."
Not-Gwen quirked her brow again. "Me? Being nice to you? And you call me unreal?"
She didn't seem unreal, that was for sure. When he first spotted her when he 'woke up' in here, he had so wanted her to be real, so much so that he'd tackled her down and held her tight.
She'd hugged him back lovingly. That had tipped him off that this was an illusion. Ben shook it off.
"Doesn't matter. She'll come get me soon enough. I'll be out here in a bit."
Not-Gwen was silent for a moment before cautiously walking over, climbing into his pillow fortress. He let her, even as he still eyed her suspiciously. "So," she started, brow furrowed in a confused frown, but her words were clear. She was giving off the impression that she wasn't convinced by a word he was saying, but was going along with it to keep the ball rolling. This magic was good. But then, Gwen had once taught him that magic was neutral, but not soulless. That is was alive, in a strange way. Maybe this was like that. "if you're gonna be gone in a second, any last words?"
"I'm not dying, fake dweeb."
"Not fake, lame brain. And I mean, isn't there anything you wanted to say to me?" She gestured around. "If this is all fake, then you might as well throw it out there. It goes down with the ship."
It was fake. He knew it was. He remembered things from well after this date, he remembered that grandpa had never left for a second during their time on these plains and yet he was nowhere to be found now. And he was pretty sure the sun had been setting for forever now; not that his perception of time was very strong in here.
He scoffed. "The fact that you're even asking gives the game away. My Gwen wouldn't have asked." She wouldn't have had to. A pulse rocked the world and Ben shot up, seeing the sky wobble outside. The RV started to turn to ash around him and he could feel sensations start to rush in. Beside him, Not-Gwen stood.
"I guess time's up." She mused. She eyed him sadly for a long moment and, briefly, she looked so much like his Gwen that it hurt. "Sure you don't wanna pretend, just for a second, doofus?" She asked, a tragic smile on her face.
It occurred to him, that perhaps this thing really did think that it was Gwen, on some level. And perhaps, he could allow himself to think that, for just a while. So he turned to look her in the eye and, after a long second, raised a hand to her cheek. The Gwen from this timeline would have stiffened. The Gwen from his timeline would have quirked a brow and flicked his hand away.
Not-Gwen cradled the hand to her cheek. He didn't know if that was better or worse. He closed his eyes, and just took her in. The smell of her, the feel of her, the sound, so alike and yet so unlike the Gwen he knew now, drawn from his memory of the Gwen that he'd lost.
It was enough to make her feel real, and he missed her so much in that moment that he didn't realize he was crying until he opened his eyes and saw her smile tearfully back at him. He cracked a crooked grin.
"You're pretty great, for an illusion."
She laughed, brokenly, before wiking at him. "You love all versions of me, doofus. Just accept it."
He snickered, leaning in to press his forehead to hers. "Yeah, I guess so."
The illusion collapsed.
Gwen shook her head, blinking away black spots in her vision and pushing herself up on all fours with a groan. Still alive. Nailed it.
Flipping around, she rested on her back for a second before propping herself up on her arms and blearily looked around- just in time to see Ben stumble out of the machine looking very groggy. The grogginess turned to shock as he took in the devastation, as well as the bruise that was likely forming on what was exposed of her collar. Zombozo's foot had been pretty heavy.
That seemed to wake him right up as he all but launched forward, stumbling hard and falling flat on his face before he scampered up again and made it to where she sat and placed a hand on her collar bone, a healing spell already forming on his lips.
The hand was cold as ice, and while that was pleasant in its own way, Gwen clasped it and shook her head. Ben needed rest more than she needed healing; the clown had sucked a lot of his mana, it seemed. Speaking of which...
Zombozo was huddled near some crates, seeming to be much less keen on fighting them now that his power was gone, shaking and eyeing them fearfully. A shadow fell over her and Ben and she glanced up to see grandpa Max stand over them protectively, eyes on the clown and rifle at the ready. "Trying to hurt my grandkids, are you?" He growled as he readied his weapon. "Over my dead body."
"Or rather, yours." Ben added, eyeing the clown with a dark look. Gwen almost wanted to laugh. Gee, wonder where Ben got his protective streak.Vilgax flew over to land on Ben's shoulders and squawked aggressively at the clown. And it's spreading. Hurray. Zombozo's look of sheer panic was very gratifying, though it got a little weird when he seemed to inflate and-
"...did he seriously just burst into confetti?"
"Just like last time." Ben looked like he was about to say more, but when grandpa knelt down to where they say on the ground and pulled them both into a bone crushing hug, he fell silent, as did she.
"Next time, we just take the risk of losing, okay? No more being bait for either of you." The man murmured. She could see Ben's shock morph into understanding and he hugged back. Gwen honestly found it very sweet and snuggled into the embrace as well, not caring that the tightness of it was hurting the bruise on her chest.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think that he'd be this much more powerful..." Ben started, before grandpa cut him off.
"You're a kid, Ben. It's not your job to predict everything." He replied, fond despite himself.
It was at about this moment that she realized that they'd won and finally let the tension drain from her. She'd didn't bother really hugging back anymore, just hanging in the man's grasp like a rag doll and dropping her head on grandpa's chest, exhaling a shaky breath.
This superhero thing was way more terrifying than the cartoons cracked it up to be.
Grandpa huffed a laugh. "You did good, pumpkin." He told her. Beside her, Ben was a quiet but happy presence, one that reached out to give her hand a squeeze, prompting a slightly dreamy grin from her. This moment was almost perfect. Almost. Praise from the man she respected more than anyone in the world was already enough to make up for the days of being babysat and make the rest of her week great by default in the same breath. But she wanted something else, too.
She turned her head to blink at the doofus. He shyly rubbed the back of his neck. Part of her wanted to tear him a new one because while his plan had worked, it had been far, far closer than they'd thought it would be. And they knew that risk going in, and they'd accepted it (grudgingly, in Gwen's case), but that didn't mean she couldn't grill him for making that error in judgment in the first place. He, of all the people here, could have known better.
But she was honestly too happy that he was alive and safe. She kind of understood what he'd said after their encounter with Kevin now.
He took in her silent look and sighed. "Yeah. I know. You were right. I'm an idiot."
She grinned blearily and Ben scoffed.
Grandpa Max huffed a laugh, pulling back and rising to his feet. "I'll go check if outside is safe. We did leave some banged up circus freaks lying about." He gave the both of them an amused look. "And I know how squeamish you two get about actually being caught caring..."
He laughed in the face of their spluttering protests and lumbered off, whistling a tune. The bird laughed as well before nuzzling Ben's face and flying off. Ben snickered. "Aw, he does care."
Grandpa's prediction held true, because as soon as he and the bird were out of sight, Ben placed a hand on her collar again, brow furrowed in concentration and then consternation when nothing happened.
Gwen rolled her eyes as she smiled. "Doofus, I've gotten worse bruises than this at karate practice. I'll live. Stop being a mother hen."
"...was I doing it again?" He asked, expression sour.
She grinned, pinching her index finger and thumb together. "Just a little." Part of her still found it endearing. For all Ben's attempts for the last decade to be a ruffian, there was a genuine sweetheart under all that.
Then again, part of her had known that for years.
"So, still feel like I don't trust you?" Ben's voice tore her from her musings, and she just gave him a coy look. Well, she guessed that putting his life in her hands and literally standing down so she and grandpa could save the day unimpeded was a pretty clear indication that Ben was willing to put his money where his mouth was. And the little twerp knew it.
"Still think I need looking after?" She returned, quirking a brow.
He pointedly looked around at the devastation that was left of the machine and give her a cheery grin, eyes twinkling. "Absolutely. Just look at all the destruction you cause."
"Necessary evil." She retorted, rising to her feet and dusting off her pants, the night air chilling her arms. She was still getting used to them being exposed. "I had to save my partner in crime after all."
He snorted, getting up as well, swaying slightly on his feet but waving off her concerned look with a grin. He walked over to the machine. Most of it was busted, as were almost all of the orbs. He picked up one small ones that was still intact and took it along. "Spoils of war." He explained, eyes twinkling. She rolled hers.
"You didn't even fight in that war. I did all the heavy lifting."
"Wasn't that the point?"
"Still. I should be getting the booty, not you."
They started making for the tent exit. "You want a reward?" He asked, smirking. "Sure." He stood up on his toes and pecked her forehead.
...thinking. Thinking used to be a thing, she was sure. It was probably a thing she'd liked. Though she really wouldn't know because all of her thoughts sort of went down the drain the second his lips connected. And she couldn't bring herself to care one bit.
Pulling back, his face was covered by the most adorable blush she'd ever seen and he rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile, averting his eyes. "I-I figured turnaround was fair play." He muttered, embarrassed.
She just continued to gape for a solid three seconds more before she sucked in a breath. Okay. Okay, that was fair. Totally was. He was just returning her favor. And it was just a peck on the forehead; that was about as platonic as it got, right? Right.
...now if her brain could cancel the celebration fireworks, she might actually start believing it.
A/N: Noticed by senpai! Hope you enjoyed. Someone asked if I was gonna make Ben an Adonite. I'm not. This story is based in Gwen being good with the Omnitrix because she has a natural affinity for logical things (like tech) and worked her butt of all her life. Ben's not gonna close that gap by having lucky genes.
Reminder is delayed a little because of the size of this. No worries, it's coming.