Chapter 8: Requiem for a Newt

After this chapter, this story is going on hiatus. I have exams to study for, an out of country trip to pack for, and summer homework. Sorry for the inconvenience.

In this chapter, you will meet the boy that was supposed to get along very well with Evan, like I hinted earlier. It might not show so much in this chapter, though. Hopefully you'll see it next chapter.

Also, because the Slayers use Latin as their number one language, I'll be using Google Translate to make sure I have everything translated correctly. It should be about fifty percent accurate.

When Carter got home from Evan's house, she heard Requiem for a Tower blasting at the highest possible volume somewhere in the house. When she got closer to her room, the noise became nearly deafening. Of course it came from her room. Thanks to that, Carter had trouble sensing who was trespassing in her bedroom. So instead of doing that, she just kicked the door down.

The stereo was instantly off, and the silence was deafening. Standing right in the middle of Carter's room was her fifteen-year-old cousin, Newton Valentine. He was wearing: jeans he had ripped up himself, a small chain on his right side (the kind where the clips were on either side of the chain and it could be clipped onto belt loops), a white long-sleeved shirt under a ripped up black shirt (again, he ripped it himself) with a realistic human skull graphic on the front, and beat up Van sneakers. He was of lean build with some muscle definition, and his skin was pale. His blond hair was light and messy, like a bed-head, and he had the Valentine woman trademarks: piercing gray eyes, a thin, oval face that ended in a sharp point at the chin, and an upside down triangle bang that completely covered the left side of his face. Newt was the only Valentine male who had it.

"Kitty!" he cried, wrapping his cousin up in a warm hug.

"Newt, it's so good to see you!" Carter said as she returned it. When he finally let go, she asked, "How long are you staying this time?"

"Straight to the point, as usual," Newt sighed. "Only two days, I'm afraid. My annoying family is on a three-day trip to make sure my brother's political future is secure."

"And you didn't go with them?" Carter asked, sitting on the couch. Newt sat next to her.

"Why the hell would I go to a seminar on how to empower my inner politician?" He gave Carter an annoyed glance. Carter raised an eyebrow; she seriously doubted there was a seminar like that, but she decided to let Newt vent.

"The only reason I got out of it was lying and telling them I had a huge project for school to work on."

"And I'm guessing you do have a project?"

"Well, yes, but I already turned it in." That earned Newt a laugh from his cousin. The only way Newt could have gotten from Washington, D.C. to Bellwood without his parents' knowledge was by using the underground Slayer train system, which was the fastest in the world-or it would be, if the Slayer community ever decided to reveal it. There was a giant community created by Slayers under the earth, sprawling to all corners of the world; it would have been easy for Newt to pack his things and buy a ticket to come here without his parents knowing.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Newt asked suddenly. Carter thought for a minute before answering.

"Well, we can call up Sam and Evan and we can go hang out."

"Sounds like a plan." Newt busied himself with Carter's movie collection while Carter called her friends over.

Newt and Carter were watching West Side Story when the two of them finally decided to show up.

"Newt!" yelled Evan as he saw his best guy friend.

"Evan!" Newt yelled back as he jumped up from the couch. The two of them then ran at each other and tackled each other to the ground. Sam left them to wrestle on the floor and joined Carter on the couch. That was when Carter got a call from Ben. Her favorite ringtone, Numb by Linkin Park, rang out from her black purse. She turned down the movie and tried to ignore Newt and Evan, who were yelling at each other in a playful kind of way.

"What up, Tennyson?" Carter greeted him.

"Hey, Carter. You know that Grandpa Max said that the Pride and I have to get along, right?"

"Right…"

"Well, I thought it would be a good idea if we found some other Plumbers' kids together. Do you think you and the Pride could come?"

Carter blinked. "I don't see why not. But do you think you can include one other person?"

"Sure, I guess. Who is it?" Ben asked.

"My cousin; he just arrived today and I haven't seen him in a while, so…"

"Say no more. I'm sure it won't be a problem. Here's the location." Carter quickly memorized the next part and then said, "Awesome. We'll see you there." She hung up the phone and stood up.

"All right, you bastards," she said to her comrades, "we got a mission. We have to go to a location and find some Plumbers' kids." She began to pace through the room. Newt escaped out of Evan's headlock and the three teens stood side by side in the middle of the room.

"This mission could be vital to the overall plan of defeating the High Breeds. We can't screw this up. Who's with me?" Carter glared at the three of them indiscriminately and waited for an answer.

"I am!" all three said in unison. Carter grinned.

"Alright. Who's driving?"

When James finally got near the rendezvous point, the Pride plus Newt had to stop because the highway was crumbling down. They saw a truck driver nearly comatose and cars falling off the highway. The teens immediately ran out of the car and went to help. Newt and Sam went to help the trucker, while Carter willed some ice out of her hands to create a slide of sorts so the people could slide down to safety. But before people could come down, a yellow car was falling off, about to crash into the ground. But before Carter or anybody else could do anything, pink mana flowed to the car and roughly slid it down safely to the ground below.

Other cars were about to fall off, but in the center of the highway. That was when Ben turned into Humungousaur and tried to lift the highway up with his shoulders. Evan ran, jumped onto Humungousaur, and jumped again onto the highway. He then put his hands onto the ground and willed some earth to cement itself into the cracks, ensuring that it won't collapse in the next few minutes. When the people on the highway decided it was safe to come out, they used the ice slide to get down.

When Sam and Newt finally arrived to the unconscious trucker, Kevin (after absorbing the metal of the truck and using it as armor) was already tearing off the car door. There was a starter fire on the truck's cargo, so Sam put her hand on it before it could hit the oil inside. The flames were sucked into her body as ammo for later. She watched as Kevin dragged the trucker to safety.

That was when Newt saw an African American girl in a school uniform and an outdated afro stumble into the road, where all the traffic was. He took off running only to see some glowing thing swoop in and save her.

Just about everyone of importance saw it too. When Carter was sure that there were no more people on the highway, she forced the slide to turn into water and, hands out in front of her with palms facing front, sucked all the water back into her body. Gwen called out, "Everyone's safe, Ben!" and Ben finally let go of the highway. Thanks to Evan, it didn't fall to the ground, except for a spare piece of debris or two. Humungousaur shrunk back to normal size before turning into Ben.

Meanwhile, Newt was with the girl and the glowing thing, which was actually a handsome blond boy wearing a smart outfit. "I-I have to get out of here," the poor girl was saying, but the boy held her close.

"Its okay, Trina, you're safe now," he was saying as everyone came running to them. "These guys saved you," he added as Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and the Pride finally showed up.

"Technically, it was your friend here who saved you. He's just being modest," Carter explained with a grateful smile. The boy left Trina on the sidewalk and came to thank the others, while Newt knelt down next to Trina and made sure she was really okay.

"Something strange has been happening to the girls at our school lately," the boy continued. Evan looked over at Trina and studied her for a minute.

"Newt, scan her memory. Try to find anything that could have made her weak enough to stumble into moving traffic," he ordered. Newt nodded and lifted a glowing hand to Trina's forehead.

"What is he doing?" Gwen asked the Pride.

"Exactly what Evan just said," Sam said.

"Nothing," Newt piped up after he was done. "Her memories of the past few days or so are a total blank."

"That's a problem," Ben commented unhelpfully. He turned to the boy who saved Trina and got a good look at him. That was when he noticed the Plumbers' badge he was using as a belt buckle. "You've got a Plumbers' badge!" he exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, my dad gave it to me. You guys know about the Plumbers?"

"At this point, we may as well be them." Kevin got out his Plumbers badge that he got from Magister Labrid. Evan, Carter, Sam, and Newt did the same, though Newt was still behind them with Trina so the boy couldn't see him.

"I'm Ben," he introduced, "and this is Kevin and my cousin Gwen." Ben pointed to the others. "Those are some other Plumbers' kids, Carter, Evan, Sam, and… Newt, right?" Newt nodded to confirm.

The boy looked confused as he pointed to Evan and Ben. "Aren't you two brothers?"

Evan gave a little sigh. "No, we're not. And it's not something I'd like to go into."

"Really," Gwen commented as she got a better look at Evan. True, he did look like her cousin, but he seemed smarter. She'd have to ask Ben about it later. Kevin, on the other hand, couldn't believe his bad luck; now he had two Bens to deal with!

"So, wait, you're Ben Tennyson?" the boy asked. He offered a hand. "I'm a huge fan of yours! But I heard you disappeared. I'm Michael Morningstar." Finally, the new hero had a name. He shook Kevin's hand as well, though Kevin looked pretty grim. The Pride stayed back, unsure of what to make of the new guy.

And then Michael shook Gwen's hand. Gold energy fizzled between their hands and only went out when the two of them separated. "Wow. That's never happened before," Michael said, smiling shyly at Gwen.

"Maybe it's because we both have powers?" Gwen offered.

"That's a theory," Michael agreed.

"And now that we've all met," Kevin intervened, looking a little annoyed.

Michael, taking the hint, said, "I should make sure Trina gets home okay." Newt finally got up from the ground and stood near Carter. Like her, he was slightly suspicious of the new guy; then again, Slayers tended to be suspicious over nothing. Still, it never hurt to be careful.

"But after that, we should meet up at my place," Michael continued.

"Sure," Ben agreed.

"Why not?" Evan shrugged.

"Can't wait," Sam said cautiously as she saw Gwen smile like a love struck teenage girl. Michael picked Trina up and they flew away, leaving a trail of yellow glow behind them.

No one noticed the strange star symbol on Trina's arm.

"So, what, you guys are the Pride?" Kevin asked rather rudely.

"So, what, you're a Plumber?" Sam shot back. Neither of them broke their glare for a good minute. Then they suddenly smiled at each other, indicating that there were no hard feelings. Only Gwen really noticed this part.

It was safe to say that Gwen was a little… jealous of Sam. For one thing, she was beautiful; her hair, under the street lamps, glittered with reds and yellows and oranges and looked alive, like a raging fire. Her eyes were the color of new pennies, and her lips were a bright red color, which should have looked wrong on those pouty lips, but she somehow made it worked. Sam was sexy, and she could pull it off too. Next to her, Gwen felt plain. Boring. Average.

Please don't tell me she's the reason why Kevin rejected me.

"So, how did you two meet?" Evan asked, raising an eyebrow at Sam. She hadn't told her friends about meeting Kevin. Strange; Sam, Evan, and Carter usually told each other everything. Everyone crowded the two of them, anxious to hear.

"I found her robbing some guy who she claimed was a player," Kevin said with a wry smile. No one could if he was joking, though Sam wasn't denying it.

"So, what, you just rob people you don't like?" Gwen accused, acting a bit out of character. Sam rolled her eyes.

"At the rate this guy was going, he was most likely going to become sexually abusive to all of his future girlfriends."

"But you don't know for sure."

"Never hurts to be careful."

"How is that-"

"Gwen!" Ben warned, putting a stern hand on her shoulder. Gwen glared at him, but stopped her tirade. Carter studied Sam and Gwen for a moment from afar before realized what this was really all about. With an evil little smile, she whispered to Evan and Newt's ear about the love triangle surrounding Kevin.

"Five bucks says Sam gets him."

"Newt!"

"What? We already know Gwen has no chance," Newt protested. Evan nodded in agreement.

"That's true," Carter admitted, "but you don't have to bet money on it." They peered over at Gwen and the others, who were oblivious to their conversation.

"So you're saying it's justified to do that as long as it's a bad guy," Kevin was saying. Sam nodded, much to Gwen's chagrin. Ben couldn't decide whether to agree with that logic or not. Yes, he believed in justice, but mostly courtroom stuff, not street justice, like with Sam. And then he thought of something.

He turned to Carter and Evan and asked, "You guys believe in that too?"

"Pretty much," Evan answered for the both of them.

Ben sighed and shook his head. How was he supposed to get along with these people? Gwen was glaring at him. He made a what? gesture, which forced Gwen to grab his arm and steer him away from the rest of the group.

"Are you seriously going to work with them?" Gwen snapped at him once they were out of earshot. Ben winced at her harsh tone of voice.

"Grandpa Max said that we have to work together or the High Breeds win. Besides, he also said that they make great allies." Ben studied Gwen for a moment, making her feel uncomfortable.

"What?" she asked.

"They're view on 'justice' isn't just what's bothering you, is it?" Ben asked slowly, making Gwen even more uncomfortable.

Ben suddenly grinned with realization. "You're jealous of Sam!" Gwen's glowing face was all the answer he needed. "God, you're simple!" he laughed. Suddenly he turned serious. "Look, I don't know what you have against Sam and Kevin exactly, but you have to suck it up for the good of the team."

Gwen shot him another glare, but relented. "Fine," she said gruffly. She followed Ben to the rest of the group, who were having an animated conversation about rock music.

"Metallica is so mainstream now! And have you even heard their last album?" Newt was saying, waving his arms dramatically.

"You have to admit they still have some good songs," Carter said diplomatically.

"I still think Guns 'n Roses is better," Kevin shrugged.

"Everyone seems to be forgetting the awesomeness that is Attack Attack!" Evan yelled as Ben and Gwen joined the conversation.

"Finally, someone agrees with me about Attack Attack!" Ben high-fived a happy Evan. Sam had been watching the conversation with a rather mystified expression.

Gwen, taking Ben's advice, asked in her most civil voice, "Is there a problem?"

Sam turned to her. "Did Morningstar ever tell us where his house was?"

Thankfully, Michael had returned and directed everyone to his home. Kevin drove Ben and Gwen there, while James-who had stuck around to because that was the drill he was used to-drove the Pride and Newt. Carter raised an eyebrow at the lavish mansion, but didn't say anything as Michael directed everyone into his secret lair.

"Mom and her new husband live in the main house. They leave me alone, let me do what I want," Michael was saying, opening the fancy door. "After you," he said to the ladies, like a complete gentleman. Everyone quietly walked through, with Kevin bringing up the rear. Michael slammed the door in his face. He opened it again, grumbling and rubbing his sore nose.

Ben and Evan marveled at all the Plumber gear, which consisted of alien computers and scanners and the like. Carter and Newt were silently standing around, uncomfortable in these posh surroundings. Sure, they had grown up with a silver spoon in their mouths, but they had learned at an early age not to take anything for granted (Thanks, Cordelia!). Sam was near Kevin, both of whom were watching Michael with suspicion.

"Is this all Plumber gear?" Evan asked stupidly. What? He had never seen so much of it located in one place before.

Michael nodded. "I got it all from my dad's headquarters." He turned to Gwen. "I could take you there later if you want," he flirted softly, oozing out more of his gentleman suaveness.

"We'd all like to see it," Ben interjected, saving Gwen from answering.

"It'd make my day," Kevin mumbled, earning a concerned look from Ben. Evan and Newt, as usual, were too far in their own little worlds'.

"Here, let me show you something," Michael said, grabbing Gwen's hand and leading her away. As she passed Kevin, Gwen gave him a look that said, Do you see what you're missing out on?. Kevin obviously stilled cared for Gwen, so that look hurt. Sam touched his arm slightly, as a way of comfort. Kevin gave her a small smile as thanks.

Michael stopped in front of a giant screen that showed grids and a whole bunch of numbers. "I'm patched into the central Plumber monitoring network," he explained. "It's connected to everything: global and interplanetary internet, law enforcement frequencies, and the badge communicator channel."

"Communicator channel?" Kevin asked. He honestly didn't know there was one.

Well, yeah," Michael answered. "…You did know the badges are communicators, right?" Ben and Kevin looked at each other sheepishly. Not the Slayers, though. They never showed weakness on a subject, even if it was as something as simple as this.

"So, you watch everything with this stuff and use your powers to help people," Gwen stated. It sounded suspiciously like Slayer technology… Then again, Slayers were technically Plumbers. Nevertheless, Gwen was very impressed. "You're like your neighborhood's very own superhero!"

"Never thought of it that way," Michael said modestly.

"You know what I'm thinking?" Ben asked to anyone nearby.

"I think I do," Evan said, clasping Ben's shoulder. "Are you sure about adding him to the team?" he asked seriously, drawing in the attention of the Pride (and Newt).

"He's got the powers, he's got the gear; he's the perfect addition for our team." Michael grinned at that; Gwen was the only other person who did. Sam wasn't convinced on him being a good 'addition'.

"Don't you think we should get to know the guy first, you know, like with us?" She gestured to her friends and raised an eyebrow.

"We'll give him a test run," Ben said quickly, much to the annoyance of Kevin. Evan finally let go of Ben, though he wasn't content with the decision. Even with the threat of the High Breed invasion, this seemed a little rushed. Well, better to let Ben learn the hard way.

"My grandpa Max was a Plumber," Ben explained to Michael, "and he disappeared because of this big alien conspiracy that's going on against Earth. We're trying to find him so we can stop it. Would you like to help?" Michael's smile was all Ben needed.

Now why didn't Ben invite you guys like that? Aquaria asked in Carter's mind. It had been a while since the nurturing goddess had spoken to her vessel and, as usual, she was kind of annoying.

How rude!

If I wanted your advice, I would have asked, Carter hissed to her. Now, do you mind? We have a mission to complete.

You've gotten so mean since you've become a teenager, Aquaria sniffed. Still, she put up the mental barrier, just like Carter asked.

That was when the lights in Michael's bat cave-so to speak- began to flicker on and off repeatedly for a full minute. "Forget to pay for your electric bill?" Kevin joked, though he wasn't feeling very humorous.

"The electricity's been a little undependable lately," Michael answered with a disarming smile. "No worries; my backup generator kicked in." And it certainly had. The lights were back on again.

"This is no brown out," Evan commented as he pointed at the giant screen. "Look at this spike in power usage at the local power station. The energy drain is enormous."

"Really?" Michael asked, unsure.

"You said something strange is happening in town," Ben continued. He wasn't used to sharing leadership with someone other than Gwen. He supposed it was something he would have to get used to. "This definitely qualifies."

"If you need to check it out, we'll help," Gwen offered eagerly, much to the disgust of Sam and Carter. What was the point of having good looks if you were just going to throw yourself at any pretty face that shows you interest? Make the men come to you, Gwen, not the other way around! Carter and Sam thought. They had known each other for so long that thinking along the same lines was common for them.

Michael turned to Gwen, happy. "Thanks, we should." He led the team out of there, with Gwen falling behind slightly. She had felt her arm tingle, just a little bit. As soon as she looked, there was a strange purple star symbol on it. Gwen's eyes widened and she gave a little gasp. She immediately rolled down her sleeve to hide the mark. As she left to join the others, she concluded that she would have to tell Michael- err, Ben, she meant to think, as soon as possible.

They were at the power station now, which was dark and empty, since it was past closing hours. They were walking cautiously along, searching for signs of anything out of the ordinary. Michael didn't seem to know that he should stay silent for this part.

"So," he asked Newt, "what's your name short for? Newton?"

"Yeah," he answered curtly, hand on his left wrist. The cool metal of the bracelet comforted him slightly.

"Why? Was there already an Isaac?" Michael joked.

"Yeah, actually, there is."

There was an electric buzzing sound in the station, making the place seem even more ominous. "That buzzing sound sounds like something out of a bad horror movie," Carter joked.

"You should know," Sam said, "you're the horror movie expert."

"Anytime you hear a sound and your only reference is a horror movie, it's best to walk the other way," Kevin advised her.

"Good rule of thumb," Evan commented. "We'll be sure to use it next time."

"Ah, the witty banter before a fight," Ben said sardonically, earning him a smile from Valentine cousins.

And then they walked in on the most horrific scene: a zombie girl in a school uniform sucking energy from the power station. It was like something out of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

The zombie girl noticed them and gave a loud grunt as she stopped absorbing power. Michael, being the ever chivalrous gentleman that he was, put himself in front of Gwen to protect her. Just as Ben was about to do the same for Carter-maybe win a few brownie points with her-, she suddenly stepped up into the line of fire, completely unarmed.

"Yo, zombie!" she jeered, forcing the girl creature to look at her. "I thought you were supposed to eat brains, not suck out perfectly good tax money!"

Sam willed her broadswords to appear; Evan, his twin guns, much to the surprise of Ben and Kevin. They couldn't ask how those weapons appeared, though. Carter had only just begun.

"What, you can't talk back? Oh, that's right; you're a zombie. A weak, useless slab of rotten meat that can't even think! You'd fit right in on MTV, you undead bitch!"

"Harsh," Gwen whispered. Michael had to agree.

"That girl is going to get herself killed one of these days," Newt admonished as he got out a pocket-sized blue spell book from his back pocket.

The zombie girl was pissed now. She sauntered over to one of the machines, ripped it out of the ground, and threw it at Carter. She dodged it with graceful ease. As she stopped, she willed her black scythe to appear.

How are you-" Ben began to ask, only to be cut off by Sam. "We'll explain later."

That was when more zombie girls appeared. One of them looked suspiciously like Trina. There were only four of them; they could probably take them.

"The girls here are kind of weird," Evan told Michael. "They're wearing uniforms from my school, but I don't recognize any of them," Michael said as he got a better look at them. Newt caught onto the lie; there was no way anyone could miss that afro.

The zombie that was once Trina ripped a metal rod out of the ground and began to advance. Michael stepped up and, out of his glowing hands, shot a laser of gold energy at the enemies. The laser erupted as it hit the ground, knocking the girls back and creating large volumes of smoke. "Energy volts; very nice!" Ben commented happily.

Be very careful, Evan, said the smooth, strong voice of Erda in Evan's head. As usual, he only came out to talk when something fishy was going on. Or when Evan needed girl advice. Either way, it had been a while since he had last heard him.

I know. Energy bolts, the zombie girls are sucking up energy… It's all too perfect.

Make sure that Gwendolyn girl stays safe. The mental wall came up again, leaving Evan to deal with the problem himself. If the situation wasn't so dire, Evan would have laughed at Erda's chivalry.

"Try not to hurt them!" Michael ordered. "Maybe we can reverse… whatever it is!" This was pretty hard to do, since the zombie girls were now running at them, screaming and wielding dangerous objects aimed at their vital organs.

"Try not to hurt them?" Kevin complained as Trina tried to hit him with the metal rod.

"Kevin!" Sam cried. She sliced Trina in the back with her broadswords, forcing the girl to cry out in pain. Then she turned her scary gaze on Sam.

Michael, true to his word, did his best not to hurt them. In fact, he floated up away from the carnage, leaving Ben and his team to deal with the problem.

Newt flipped the pages of his book and found the perfect spell for this situation. "Round them up in one place!" he ordered the others.

"Fine by me!" Carter said as she playfully annoyed the girl she had pissed off earlier. She wasn't using the blade of her scythe for now; she would just use the butt of the staff and hit the girl's vital points and force her to slow down. Every time the girl would advance, Carter hit a pressure point, which forced the girl to back away to the center of the power plant.

Evan noticed what she was doing and did the same, only he had forced his weapons back into their charm form. He didn't need them right now. With his fingers, Evan stabbed the zombie at her pressure points and forced her back to the center.

Gwen was helping Ben get one of them off of him. The zombie girl had the poor boy in a choke hold, and Gwen was trying to use her powers to get her off. But it was harder than usual. Why did she feel so weak?

Ben fixed the problem. Since he was in a place full of energy, it only made sense that he used an alien that could absorb and redirect energy. That was why he chose Chromastone; a creature made out of purple, energy absorbing crystal with a single green eye in the middle of his face.

As the girl who had been attacking him tried to shock him with electricity, Chromastone merely absorbed it. "That's not going to work," he said. "I'm a conductor!" He touched the girl's arm and redirected the energy back into her, forcing her to scream out in pain and throw herself back into the middle of the power plant, where the other two girls were.

That left Trina. Kevin was able to absorb some steel from the machines and coated himself in its shell. Sam didn't have that, though. She wasn't worried. Trina had thrown the rod into one of the machines and tried to stab Sam with a live electrical cord.

Sam knew that lightning was similar to fire; both were raw forms of energy, after all. It was a bit tricky, but Sam could control the lightning for a bit. She just couldn't absorb it back into her own body, like with fire. Lightning was far too dangerous to do that.

With her legs standing far apart from each other in a perfect stance, Sam jabbed her hand into the wire and felt the electricity rocket through her body. She felt its searing power travel close-too close- to her heart as it left out of her other hand. Her hand had been directly pointing at zombie Trina, so the energy hit her directly and forced her back into Kevin's steel grip.

Gwen had tried to use her powers to keep the remaining girls from escaping, but the one time she tried to use an energy lock and bind them together, her mana turned black and crumbled into nothing. Michael swooped down just in time to stop her from falling onto the ground.

After Kevin delivered Trina to Newt, he tried the spell that would stop these girls, at least for a while. One hand was out in front of him, aimed at the girls; the other held a small blue magic book turned at exactly the right page. Newt's pupils grew thinner and smaller, making his gray eyes look like dragon's eyes. His teeth, every last one of them, sharpened to a needle point, so it looked like a wild animal's jaw had replaced his human one. Newt's body began to glow a sweet honey gold color, unlike Michael's pure fourteen-karat.

"Ea ne aliis nocere!" Newt shouted. It was Latin for bind them so as not to harm others. Energy flowed out of his hand and out towards the girls, enveloping them in a cocoon. The girls hovered in midair, completely frozen in time, in mid-snarl and shriek.

Not knowing when he'd get the chance later, Newt quickly touched the foreheads of all the girls, hoping for the same scrap of memory he had found when he scanned Trina's memory. As Newt's features returned to normal, he saw it: a fuzzy picture of a sneering Michael.

It was so obvious. Michael was behind everything all along. But how was Newt supposed to tell Gwen that?

Ben 10: The Slayer Chronicles is officially on hiatus. Story will resume in late summer.