Chapter 6: Stealing Can Be a Lot of Fun

I've been watching the early episodes for Ben 10: Alien Force, and I have to say, I don't like Gwen. I mean, sure, she's a pretty awesome fighter, but she's too naïve and hopeful. And in the earliest episodes, she follows Kevin around like a sad puppy. I found it very pathetic.

I forgot to mention: I will also be using some stuff from Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of the things is the fighting styles. Water benders use T'ai chi ch'uan, Earth benders use Hung Ga kung fu, Fire benders use Northern Shaolin kung fu, and Air benders use Baguazhang, according to the wiki on Avatar. I'll have Carter, Evan, Sam, and Ben use those particular martial arts respectively for the most part, but they'll still use other fighting skills, like street fighting.

This chapter is kind of a filler, since it doesn't really follow the story line but it's after the last episode. There might be a lot of these types of chapters in the story, so watch out for that.

I want to use this chapter to see if Kevin would go for any girl besides Gwen. Let the experimentation begin. *evil grin*

Sam should have been partying it up with Carter and Evan. It was later the same night. They had already called Cordelia and told her how successful the mission was, and she had sent a clean-up team to take care of the nasty part of getting rid of all the bodies. They then went to Carter's castle-slash-home to pick up their pay check. On arrival, Evan had immediately told Isaac to put in money for new amps. After taking care of that- Evan had ordered some cheap amplifiers- they still had a good two thousand between the three of them. After splitting up the money evenly, Sam had opted going to a club to celebrate the good news. But Carter simply wanted to go to bed and Evan claimed that he had mad scientist stuff to do-Sam knew better than to ask. So Sam was stuck in the underground club Breaker, a decrepit old building made especially for high school students, complete with a bar with everything except alcohol, tables put in an irregular pattern, and a live band. This week's sucky band was Death to the Adults, some crappy screamo band that didn't deserve a contract.

Sam was at the end of the bar, nursing an Arnold Palmer and watching the couples grind each other on the dance floor, under the disco ball. How anyone could dance to this crap was beyond her. But Sam wasn't interested in that. She was on the lookout for teenage alpha males. These teenage boys knew they were good-looking and often hunted attractive women at clubs, searching for a score. After they were through with these women, the alpha male threw them away for another female, leaving the victim crushed and heartbroken. The sure signs of an alpha male were attitude, intimidation, and strength, often starting fights to enforce their dominance. The alpha male also thought that they claimed sexual rights to all females, and often had relationship problems due to their wandering eye.

Sam hated alpha males. That was why when she caught the eye of one in particular, she would lure them into the back alley, pretending that she wanted a quiet place to make out, before knocking the male out cold. Sam would then steal all of his valuables: wallet, cell phones, detachable jewelry, and, if she was feeling really mean, their clothes. It was easy to mind wipe the male; all of the Pride and the other Slayer officials knew how to. All they had to do was touch their forehead and select the memories they wanted to erase. Of course it was more complicated than that, but there was no real way to describe how to do it.

Sam searched the crowd for alpha males. Tonight she saw a lot of beta males. Beta males were the exact opposite of alpha males, non-confrontational and intelligent. They were usually branded "nerds" by the alpha males, but most women found them more interesting than the alphas. They were also usually okay with non-traditional gender roles, something alpha males have trouble with. Despite being more introverted, betas have a quiet confidence to them, making more women attracted to them in modern times. Sam would never steal from a beta male.

Aha. Sam had caught the eye of an alpha male. Blond hair, tanned skin, jeans and a white tee shirt to show off the tan. He smiled and slowly made his way to Sam. Sam slowly sipped her drink and tried to look bored. The boy flashed a smug grin, like he knew that Sam would be his in a matter of seconds. Sam couldn't wait to punch him.

"Hey," the alpha male said as he sat next to her. "Hey yourself," Sam replied in a bored tone, swirling her drink with the straw. "What's pretty girl like you doing all by herself?" the male's voice was cracking a bit, and he flashed his smug grin again. What a loser.

"Looking for some action."

"Then how about dancing with me?"

Didn't he have the decency to at least ask for her name first? But it didn't really matter. The boy wouldn't bother trying to remember her later, even if Sam didn't mind wipe him. "I have a better idea." Sam smiled before downing the rest of her Arnold Palmer. She then took his hand and led him around the dance floor. The boy's grin faltered a bit, since he wasn't sure what Sam was planning. But when he saw the exit sign for the back alley, his grin showed all his teeth. It wasn't hard to guess what he was thinking.

It wasn't hard to slip out without triggering the alarm; the owner never bothered fixing it, since couples always went back here. After making sure the coast was clear, Sam promptly whirled around and punched the smug boy in the face. The boy faltered a bit before slumping to the ground. Sam immediately swooped down and placed a hand on his forehead and closed her eyes. The images flashed before her closed eyelids: meeting Sam, Sam smiling as she led him to the alley… It wasn't hard erasing these memories. The victim, after getting his memory wiped, always stayed asleep for a long time. That was why it was easy for Sam to rob these posers.

The whistle of the wind as Sam's fist collided with alpha boy's face. The sweet crushing sound as Sam punched his face in. The thirst for more blood whenever Sam did stuff like this. It was all so familiar, so comforting. This is what all Kirche's vessels felt; Sam was no exception. All of Kirche's descendents were psychotic in some way.

Psychotic? Kirche's scratchy voice rang out in Sam's head. Sam could feel the mental wall falling. The vessel's brain had to care for two minds. To make sure there was some privacy, one of them created a mental wall, only pulling it down when it was needed. Again, hard to explain.

Of course you're psychotic. You all take after me, every last one of you. At least with some of you, you only took your anger out on the dregs of humanity. Your sanity probably won't be spared, though. Kirche's voice sounded like it smoked a pack a day. Sam was used to her voice and her bluntness. It was comforting knowing the psychotic thoughts weren't entirely her fault. But Kirche was always right about one thing; Sam enjoyed stealing from the bad guys, making them feel the grief and frustration of being one-upped by someone else. This wasn't Kirche's influence. It almost never was.

Sam searched the male. He had only a wallet and a silver cell phone, an old model. As Sam was pocketing them, she heard a laugh.

"I feel really bad for the guy," said a voice wafting from behind Sam. She whirled around, ready to attack. It was a man no older than sixteen, with long black hair and piercing dark eyes. He had a lot of muscle and his black t-shirt showed them off without actually showing them off, if that was possible. The black shirt was paired with a long white under shirt with jeans and combat boots. But what Sam really paid attention to was his arrogant smile.

"Why would you feel sorry for a dick like him?" she countered, shoulders tense. Her charm bracelet was at the ready.

"A pretty girl just knocked him out and is now robbing him blind. Obviously I would feel bad for him." The arrogant smile left his face. "Unless he deserved it. What did he do to you?"

"Nothing yet," Sam admitted. "But I know his type: cocky, thinks girls are property and can be discarded like trash…" She shook her head. "He had it coming."

"But he didn't do anything to you."

"Technically, no."

"What are you, a vigilante?"

Sam actually had to think about that. All Slayers were referred to as being vigilantes, seeking justice for even the tiniest of crimes, minor in the grand scheme of things. Sam had never really thought about it; to her, it had simply been a job, or something she did in her spare time, like a beloved hobby. "So what if I am?" she asked the man before her.

The man shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that, I guess. But do you have to take his money?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It's the only thing I can take from him that he would really miss."

The man raised an eyebrow. "I can name one thing that he wouldn't miss." Sam glared at him.

"I'm a thief, not a rapist." He raised his hands in surrender.

"Never said you were. My name's Kevin." The man named Kevin walked over to her and held out a hand, his smile no longer arrogant. Sam hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the hand and shook it. "I'm Sam."

Kevin peered over at the unconscious boy next to Sam. "What do we do about him?"

"Leave him," she sneered. "I'll leave his cell, though. That way he can actually get home." Sam took out the cell phone and dropped it near the alpha male. What? Even she could show compassion when it was necessary. And it was definitely necessary now. Kevin was a very good-looking teenager, and (if Sam was right) if he was Kevin Levin, then he was the notorious right-hand man in numerous scams and weapons' deals. Sam had finally found a new kindred spirit, someone who can steal without remorse and not give a damn about the world at large. Even if the two of them never got together, they could probably still be friends. And that was more than Sam could ever ask for.

Ah, young love, Kirche teased inside Sam's mind. Even Sam couldn't help smiling a little at that. Kevin stared at her.

"What are you smiling about?"

"One of the voices inside my head said something funny." Which was truer than Kevin could possibly imagine.

Sam and Kevin were in one of those twenty-four hour cafes, full of drunken college students trying to get sober with coffee and older people trying to get a groove back in their relationship. The two of them were in the back behind a wall and tucked into a corner, which was a pretty good hiding place. They had already gotten their drinks and were now conversing.

"You seem like you have a lot of secrets," Kevin commented as he opened the cap of his sweetened iced coffee. Kevin had admitted that he wasn't much a coffee drinker, preferring sweet to bitter. Sam had liked his honesty, and had said that she didn't like coffee either, which was true. That was why she had gotten this orange Tazo tea that actually tasted really good.

"Maybe I do. Maybe I have secrets that if you knew them, you wouldn't want anything to do with me ever again." Sam stared Kevin down. She might as well say some of the truth, just to let Kevin know what he was getting into.

"I think everyone has secrets like that," Kevin said with an uneasy smile.

"Do they, Levin?" Sam looked at Kevin over the rim of her drink as she took a sip of it.

"How did you know?" Kevin's smile had completely disappeared. He was now staring at Sam with suspicion.

"Relax, I know you're an Osmosian," Sam said calmly, finally setting her drink down.

"So does that mean-"

Sam didn't give him a chance to finish that sentence. She willed just a tiny spark of fire power into her finger, so that a little flame would appear. Kevin stared at it in amazement before Sam snuffed it out.

"What exactly are you doing in Bellwood?" Kevin was no longer as suspicious as before, but still, it never hurt to have his guard up.

"I got word of some creepy alien stuff going on here. My superiors ordered me to get to the bottom of it along with my associates," Sam answered. Cordelia had said not to reveal herself to Ben; she never said anything about his friends. And besides, Sam wasn't telling him the complete truth anyway, just the little facts. But to make sure Kevin believed her on that, she got out her Plumbers badge, which looked like all the standard badges out there.

"Why are you telling me the truth? Why not just lie and say you've always been here?"

"Because I know you work with Ben."

"Have you always known?"

"No, I only knew your name, not your face." That wasn't a complete lie, not really; the DuBaer family had a profile for every middle man in this galaxy. Sam had never seen Kevin's face, but she had seen him from a distance back at the cornfield, where she and her friends had scared Alan. That was why she had been able to make the connection back in the alley.

"Who are your superiors?" Kevin asked.

"That's confidential," Sam replied coolly.

"Who told you I worked with Tennyson?" Kevin was not going to be deterred by this girl.

"My superiors," Sam replied.

"Are you going to keep giving me short answers?" Kevin asked angrily.

"I'll stop when you stop asking these questions!" Sam answered hotly.

Kevin slumped back in his seat, utterly defeated. "Okay, just one more question. Were you planning on meeting me back at the Breaker?"

"No, I wasn't. I was just planning on robbing some alpha male for cash when you showed up," Sam said truthfully. Kevin smiled at that.

"Do your superiors know what you do in your spare time?"

"That's two questions," Sam warned playfully. "And yes, they do. In fact, they encourage it."

"They do?" Kevin asked, surprised.

Sam smirked. "I never said we were good people."

Kevin studied her for a moment before asking, "Are you a Slayer?" Sam glared at him.

"And if I am?" she countered, completely forgetting herself.

Good job, Kirche snarled. You completely blew your cover.

Shut up! Sam yelled mentally, forcing the wall to go up again.

Kevin held up his hands in surrender. "I was just wondering. Besides, Ben wants to team up with you guys."

"But we're too different," Sam protested, revealing what she really thought about the whole operation for the first time.

"True, but the freaky alien stuff going on here is forcing us to team up," Kevin said grimly, taking a sip of his iced coffee for the first time since he got here. He grimaced before continuing. "Besides, none of us are Plumbers, if that's what you're worrying about."

It actually was; Sam knew that Ben had the Omnitrix, which gave him automatic leeway into Plumber business, but he didn't know if the rest of his team were official Plumbers. But after hearing that…

"That's actually a relief," Sam said with a smile, a genuine one. Kevin returned it. "I guess this means I have to tell my superiors that I met up with you," Sam said out loud. She didn't know how Cordelia and Isaac would react to this. She hadn't said anything about her true goal, and yet she had revealed that she was a Slayer. And it wasn't like Kevin was going to wonder if she was with the Pride, would he?

"If you think you have to. And I think this means that we have to get along together." Kevin gave her a little leer, which Sam returned. Kevin found Sam interesting, to be honest. Sure, she was a Slayer, and probably with the Pride, but that didn't mean she wasn't a normal fifteen-year-old girl. Okay, maybe not normal, but she had normal teenager needs, didn't she?

"So, tell me, do you have a girlfriend?" Sam asked. If she wanted to know this guy, she needed to know something as simple as that. Kevin suddenly stopped smiling.

"No…" he said slowly.

"You have someone in mind." Sam didn't say it like a question.

"Yeah. She's a total sweetheart and a really good person. But that's the problem." Kevin stared at his coffee. It no longer appealed to him.

"You're not a good person." Again, she said it like it was a fact.

"No, I'm not. She deserves better than me, but…" Kevin looked away. Here he was, spilling his guts to some girl he just met not even an hour ago, and he didn't even know if she could be trusted with this information. But there was something about her eyes, her pretty copper-colored eyes, that made him trust her.

Sam swirled her drink thoughtfully. She had figured that Kevin would have someone in mind. From what she knew about Gwendolyn Tennyson, she was a good student in school, a great fighter, and a good daughter. Her record was completely clean. From the look of things, she was too good for Kevin, but Gwen was probably into the bad boy thing. That was a foolish mistake. Dating a bad boy almost never worked out. Still, there was a chance that it could work...

What are you doing? Kirche had barged in once again. Usually she wasn't all up in Sam's business, letting the vessel live her life without the watchful eyes of her godly counterpart. Sam was really starting to get angry here.

Don't waste your energy on me. Lure and trap the boy while he's still confused! Or do you not want him after all? Sam quickly put up the mental wall and turned her attention back on Kevin. She really shouldn't try to change his mind on this, but she also kind of liked Kevin.

"I don't know this girl, but from the look of things, I'd say that she might like you," Sam started. Kevin looked up, a look of surprise on his handsome face. "But like you said, you're not exactly the best person to date. At least, not with someone who's your exact opposite."

"What are you saying?" There was that suspicious glare again.

"Nothing, except if you really cared for this girl, you'd do what's right for her." Sam would let that stew in his head for a while. She excused herself to the restroom and left Kevin alone.

It seemed to Kevin that Sam had a good point. Kevin threw his head back as if it was a good way to think. Kevin did care for Gwen, no doubt there. But she was a good person; she had trusted Kevin even when he didn't think he could trust himself. But Gwen deserved better than him, someone nice and smart and, well, normal. Or at least more normal than Kevin. But she was the reason why he joined Ben's team in the first place. But now that he thought about it, Kevin did kind of want to help save the world.

Kevin's eyes widened at that, but then they returned to normal and he smiled. He never thought he would actually think that. Sure, things would be awkward for a while, but Gwen would get over it. Kevin was very content when Sam came back.

"Something tells me you made your decision," Sam stated as she sat.

"Damn right I did. I care about Gwen; that's why I'm going to let her go," Kevin said like he was a poet. Sam gave him a small smile. She got out her phone, looked at the time, and made a tsk sound. "I need to go," she said as she started to leave.

Kevin got out of his seat. "We need a way to keep in contact."

"Do you have a cell?" Sam asked as she prepared to type it in.

"No," Kevin admitted. "But that doesn't mean I can't call you." Sam smirked as she grabbed a clean napkin and a pen from her purse and neatly scribbled her cell phone number. She handed it to Kevin.

"Call me if you have any trouble." And then Sam added, as if it were an afterthought, "Or whenever. Whichever works for you."

Kevin grinned. "Come on, I'll drive you home." But Sam wouldn't let her see her home, not yet. She would just go to a random neighborhood in Bellwood and use Carter's subspace card to come home. She seriously needed one of her own.

Congratulations, Samantha, Kirche said with pride. Hopefully you can keep him for a long time.

Sam hoped so too.

Ben awoke with a start. He couldn't remember his dream, but it had been disturbing. All he could really remember were flashes: a large man wearing a light blue toga and leather sandals, with a surfer's body. His eyes had been blue and smiling, his blond hair windswept. He had a small, pointed beard and pale skin. Ben knew the man was Ventus.

There had been another man who looked like Ventus, but with brown, longer hair, a brown beard, and wise brown eyes that had seen too much in a long span of time. His toga was green, and he was wearing a wreath of oak leaves in the shape of a crown, the Civic crown of a Roman emperor. This was Erda, ruler of all the gods.

There had been women, too. One looked terrifying, with her flaming hair, eyes like pools of lava, and a Cheshire cat-smile, showing off rows of pointed, fanged teeth. She was dressed in a red toga, with knives strapped to her thighs and arms. The Queen of Carnage, Kirche, was always prepared for a bloody battle.

And finally, a woman in a dark blue toga, her long black hair braided, her bang the shape of a triangle, only upside down and covering the entire left side of her face. She had a light blue wrap around her shoulders, and her sea-green eyes were lit up with joy as she held hands with Ventus. This was lovely Aquaria, the official "mother" of all minor gods, and wife to Ventus.

But those flashes didn't scare Ben. What terrified him were the similarities: Erda looked like a serious, older version of Evan; Kirche looked like a homicidal Sam; and Carter had Aquaria's trademark bang.

That did it. Ben had to continue reading the book. He didn't care if it was three in the morning or that he was wasting electricity; he had to find out more. He turned on his lamp and cracked open the book once again.

Ben couldn't read everything that was in there. He did pick up the general history, though.

Erda, Kirche, Aquaria, and Ventus were the four main gods that ruled over the planet Gaia and its inhabitants. Aquaria was considered the mother of all the minor gods because she had produced so many with Ventus. There were other ways of making new creatures; the most common was by wishful thinking. The four gods, if brought together, could literally create a new life form just by thinking about it. A little bit of magic did help, though.

The people who feared and revered the gods were called Immortals, because to them a couple thousand years was like batting an eye. They all had one power, the power of flight. Since most Immortals were neither good nor evil, they were a mix in between. That meant that their wings had to be a mix as well: one wing was a normal angel wing, with glossy feathers, while the other was a demon wing, crinkly like a bat. Some were fully good, so they had angel wings; others were just fully bad. There wasn't a set color for all of them, so the wings could be blue for one person, green and red for another, or something else entirely. They were literally customized for the person who had them.

The Immortals lived in harmony with all the gods, learning their fighting techniques. That was why the Immortals were also called Slayers; they could kill anything with graceful ease. Their army was impossibly strong, and their planet so rich in natural resources, which was why numerous rulers from foreign planets wished to conquer them. But the Immortals could easily take the invaders.

Except for one creature, a demon so devastatingly powerful that it wiped out nearly all life on Gaia. Not even the gods could stop it. Before the destruction of their home world, the gods used the last of their power to save the people and sent them to a parallel dimension, where they could be safe from the beast.

But that last act was what nearly killed them. The gods had not understood the suffering of their people, how they didn't always want to fight and live in fear. To make sure the gods understood the Immortals, they became them, forcing their life force into individuals who could give birth to children who would carry the god power in them while still retaining their humanity- the children had to be one-fourth god, three-fourths something else to gain access to the power.

Ben tried to make sense of that last part. So, the gods put their life force into a bunch of Immortals, who would then breed a quarter god? That made sense, and yet it didn't.

You get used to that. Ventus had spoken for the first time in weeks. This time, it didn't surprise Ben. Can you explain this to me? He asked his godly half.

You already know: you are part god, but you are two parts human and one part Anodite.

What's an Anodite?

An energy being, like your cousin. I don't think you have any of those powers, though. It happens.

Are you sure?

Well, the Omnitrix might be suppressing it. That's the reason why I have trouble talking to you sometimes. That device is extremely powerful.

But you're a god!

In a teenage boy's body. I don't really have a lot power like this. If I took over your body, then it'd be another story.

You can do that?

I've done it plenty of times. But now is not the time for this. You need to rest, Ben. Everything will be revealed later, if you want.

And Ben did want that. He wanted to know why he had a god in his head, why Sam, Evan, and Carter were holding back so many secrets, and what to do next. Ben looked at the clock: five in the morning. In a couple of hours, he would see the others at Evan's house, with band instruments. He would decide if he wanted to join their band or not. And most of all, he would finally get some answers.

He just had to wait until later that day.

Hopefully this explains a lot of things. I probably won't reveal a lot you don't already know in the next chapter. If anything sounds confusing, let me know, okay?