Chapter 13: Quote the Raven, Nevermore

Just saw some episodes of Omniverse, and I have to vent: Why the hell did they make an alien out of Lego bricks? I can understand trying to make the show more suitable for kids, but that's just stupid. I also hate the designs for Kevin and Gwen. I can't hate the animator since it's the same person who animated Teen Titans, but I still don't like it.

I do like Rook, though. He's just so naive about the world that I want to cheer him on.

End of rant. Here are a few answers to some reviews:

To demii: What do you mean by something? Do you want more action? More interaction between Ben and Ventus? You have to be more specific.

To Reyna Gold: First of all, love the name. Second of all, I was thinking up this story LONG before I ever read the Percy Jackson series. There are a lot of similarities between the two, but it's all coincidental. You don't have to believe it, but it's true.

Enough with that. On with the chapter!

That night, Ben cried.

When Ken came home, a tearful reunion followed thanks to his parents. The Slayers had flown away soon afterwards, and Kevin dropped off Ben at his home. When his parents accused him of disregarding curfew, Ben had told them the truth: he was just following up on a lead about Grandpa, even though that was technically the police's job.

He didn't have the heart to tell them the complete truth.

The tears started flowing in the shower when Ben was finally alone. He put the shower on high so no one could hear the pitiful sounds coming from the bathroom. His body shook and he curled up into a little ball as the water ran over him, washing away his tears as more came to replace them. Ben stayed in the shower for a long time, perhaps too long, before finally washing his face and shutting off the shower.

Now it was nearly midnight, and Ben still couldn't sleep. He could still see Grandpa Max's final moments replaying behind his eyelids, like a bad movie he couldn't shut off.

Don't be sad, Ben, Ventus said, his voice warm and calming.

Why not? Grandpa's dead and now I have to lead a team of kids to defeat a bunch of aliens who would kill them without a second thought! Its suicide!

It's normal to feel depressed when someone you love dies. But you can't stay that way forever. And I don't think your grandfather would let you lead a team if he didn't think you could do it.

…Really?

If Ventus could roll his eyes, he would. Duh! And who said you were alone? You've got me, your cousin, that boy Kevin, and the Slayers. They all believe in you and they'll stick by your side no matter what.

Ben smiled as his eyelids grew heavy.

Late Friday night, a smoking spaceship could be found in the woods just outside Bellwood. Slowly a black and green blob escaped out of the devastated ship, slowly scanning the area for help. But the blob had just been recently created, so it didn't really know what it was doing. All it knew was that he needed to get help and fast.

The blob effortlessly jumped out of the crater created by the fallen spaceship and quickly slithered out of the forest and near the road. It spied with its one green and black eye a giant red truck on the other side of the road. It appeared to be in decent condition, save for the flat tire. The truck driver was attempting to change it, a spare tire right next to him.

Since the blob couldn't communicate with organic life forms such as humans, it decided to slither over to the truck. Maybe the human could understand if it took the truck over! It never occurred to the innocent creature that it could be dangerous.

The blob jumped into the grill of the truck, separating itself to easily slither into the engine and take control of the vehicle. The interior of the truck began to show green circuit board-like designs against a black backdrop, showing the takeover. The exterior of the truck showed the same designs, though how the truck driver didn't notice it was beyond the blob's comprehension.

The truck turned to drive mode, and the steering wheel turned to the left, forcing the truck in that same direction. The accelerator was slammed down, and the driver backed away on his knees as the truck drove away. As the truck drove away onto the empty highway, the truck driver regained his wits and ran after it.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

If the blob had legs, he would have jumped for joy. This human could understand him! Maybe he could help! The blob forced the vehicle to turn around and go towards the man. The man then started screaming and ran away. The blob was puzzled by this action; did this mean that it needed to find someone else who could help?

Ben couldn't stay depressed forever. Grandpa wouldn't have wanted him to be sad all the time. That meant Ben needed to get on with his life and maybe ask a girl out for once.

Evan had invited Ben and his team to some sort of tennis match on Saturday in hopes of getting the Tennyson teens out of their depression due to the loss of their grandpa.

Ben was pretty sure he was just using that as an excuse to ask out Julie Yamamoto, the cute girl playing in the match.

Nevertheless, everyone was seated in the stands patiently watching the match end. Well, nearly everyone-Kevin and Sam decided to take a snooze far away from the crowd since they thought tennis was boring. Carter thought so too, but then again, she didn't like watching sports in general. She could see Ben fiddle with his phone all during the match when he thought no one was watching, probably texting some friends. Since it was an unusually warm Saturday, Ben wasn't wearing his signature jacket. Fine by Carter; now she could ogle Ben's muscles without having to imagine them under the green fabric. She did it discreetly, of course.

Gwen and Evan were the only ones in their little group actually paying attention to the tennis match. Gwen was really into it, watching the scoreboard and silently cheering as Julie won every set. Evan wasn't a tennis buff, but he liked to admit that Julie was very good at the sport. He couldn't help getting into the game, just like Gwen.

Suddenly the opponent knocked the tennis ball into the net, giving Julie the advantage. Just before she served, she looked at the crowd and spotted Evan. Julie smiled and gave a little wave, making Evan's grin wider.

After Julie served and resumed the match, Gwen turned to Evan. "She totally likes you. Ask her out, I dare you." She gave him a little elbow nudge.

Evan's smile wavered before dropping completely. "I should, but what if she finds out about my powers?" he whispered so as not to attract attention from the crowd.

"She won't," Gwen reassured him. "And if she does and doesn't like you for who you are, then she's not the right one for you." Evan gave his friend a little one-armed hug before going back to the match, his signature smile back on his face.

Julie hit the ball towards the left, and her opponent ran after it to hit it back before it hit the ground, but it was too late. Julie threw her hands in the air as a victory pose, and the crowd cheered.

Kevin decided to wake up then. "W-what I miss?" he asked blearily as he saw the area around him. He saw Sam sleeping next to him, only an arm's length away, and he gently shook her awake.

"W-what I miss?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Now go! Here's your chance!" Gwen pushed Evan to the ground below, making sure he didn't fall over the bleachers and make a complete fool out of himself. Ben and Carter stood up and made their way to the bottom of the stands, Ben finally hiding his phone away.

"Who were you texting during the match?" Carter asked curiously as people cleared out of the field.

"Not texting; surfing. I just got Internet on my phone and I was goofing around," Ben admitted sheepishly. Carter was happy for him. He seemed a lot more cheerful now than he did during the week, ever since his grandfather passed.

Ben looked around the tiny stadium: Kevin and Sam were still on the bleachers, taking their time getting down. Evan was flirting with Julie, and doing a great job, seeing as Julie was giggling at whatever Evan just said. Gwen was watching them, a little smile playing on her lips. That meant no one could interrupt Ben.

"So, Carter," he started nervously.

"Hmm?" she said, giving Ben her full attention.

"Do you want to, I don't know, hang out sometime? I mean, if it's okay with you…" Ben blushed furiously at how bad he was crashing right now.

Carter blinked. Ben was asking her out? Right here, right now? Well, that came as a bit of a surprise. Carter had thought she would have to take the initiative and ask him out, and soon, but apparently he beat her to it. Unfortunately, he was kind of failing at it. Carter had to save him.

"Do you mean just the two of us?"

"Yes." Ben's face was heating up like the inside of an oven right now.

Carter smiled. "I'd love to."

Ben smiled happily. "Great! Does tonight work for you?"

"I'll call you if anything comes up," Carter answered, silently praying to Aquaria that Cordelia didn't have a job for her tonight.

"I'll pick you up at seven then!" Ben said, even though he would have to ask Kevin for a favor. His only two options for a ride were Kevin and his parents, and there was no way he would ask his parents.

Kevin and Sam finally decided to join them. "What's going on?" Sam asked just as Evan gave a whoop and walked away from a giggly Julie, his arms in the air in victory.

"I think Evan has a date," Carter said.

When the four of them caught up with him, he was asking Gwen something. "Hey, guys," Gwen asked the others. "Are there any good movies out tonight? Evan's got a date."

"So we've heard," Ben deadpanned. He got out his green cell phone. "I can check for you. I just got Internet on my phone."

"You better be careful with that," Evan warned. "Going on the Internet can really suck up your minutes."

"It can?"

A deputy was radioing his fellow officers when the little blob struck again.

The blob had abandoned the red truck on the side of the road when it found out that the driver, in fact, could not communicate with it and help it. The blob decided to bid its time near the truck, just in case someone came along to examine the wreckage. Maybe it could find someone who could help now!

Some sort of human came along to inspect the truck, leaving a perfectly good police car ripe for the picking. Wait… police car… Something in the blob's database clicked. Yes, he was supposed to find some sort of intergalactic police! What were they called, the… the Plumbers? Yes, the Plumbers! He was supposed to find them and get help!

The blob slithered to the police car and took it over, changing the black and white design to black with green circuit boards all over it.

"What do you mean he said 'it just drove away by itself'?" the deputy was saying into his radio. "That just doesn't happen!" The possessed police car drove away then, disproving the deputy once and for all.

Carter walked out of the bathroom into her room to see a certain redhead on her couch.

"Sam, what are you doing here?" she asked her best friend as she tightened the belt of her purple bathrobe.

"Hanging around, watching you get dressed for your date with Ben," Sam said casually as she got off the couch.

"Was I that obvious?"

"No, but Ben was." Sam rolled her eyes at the memory. "Red cheeks, sparkly eyes, that happy look he gave you whenever he looked at you… yeah, obvious."

Carter gave a snort of laughter as she walked into her walk-in closet. The closet was fairly large, rectangular shaped with three rows of clothing, and half a wall dedicated to shoes and hats and purses and the other half for a tall dresser. A mirror hung off the wall from the opposite direction, though it left the rest of the wall quite bare. The closet was large enough for ten people to hide in there, even someone of Kevin's build, so Carter could easily change in there. She had to leave the doors open slightly to let some light in, though. There wasn't a light switch in there.

"What are you wearing?" Sam asked as she stood beside the closet.

"Just my normal clothing," Carter answered as she discarded the robe. "It's a casual date."

"Is Ben picking you up?" Sam asked, hoping to spark a conversation.

"Well yes, I suppose he is."

"What, is he going to pick you up as own of his aliens? It's not like he has a car, or a license for that matter."

"I don't know. Maybe he'll ask his parents or something."

"Oh, hell no," Sam said. She walked over to the couch where her cell was and began to dial.

"Who are you calling?" Carter called from the closet.

"Kevin, maybe he'll agree to it," Sam answered as the phone began to ring.

Carter left Sam to it and put on her Linkin Park band T-shirt. All she needed to put on now were her purple and black striped stockings and combat boots. But Carter examined her face in the mirror first, making sure nothing unsightly came up when she wasn't looking. Nothing noticeable, save for a giant bump in the middle of her right cheek. It was going to start hurting later, but for right now Carter could cover it up when she got back to the bathroom.

Carter quickly slipped on her stockings and boots and walked out of the closet. Sam was still talking on the phone, so she sneaked back into her bathroom-which was just across the hall for her bedroom- and put on some of that new cream Cordelia gave her. The spot where Carter put on the cream burned a little, and after a minute it stopped. Washing the flesh-colored gunk away, Carter saw that the would-be pimple was gone.

"What the hell?" Carter muttered under her breath as she examined the ingredients. Damn, it was all in Latin. She would have to decipher it later.

Sam had finished talking to Kevin by the time Carter walked back in. "Ben's going to use Kevin to pick you up," she said as she put her phone away.

"I'm guessing you're coming along then?" Carter smirked at her. "Why don't you just ask him out already?"

"I would, but Kevin's one of those old-fashioned guys. He wants to do the asking." Sam shrugged. "I say let him. It'll make him feel better about himself anyway."

Carter gave her a mock bow. "You are so good at manipulating guys. Teach me, o wise one."

"I will later. But first tell me: what about David?"

"What about him?"

Sam stared at her like she was crazy. "Wasn't he one of the guys who tried to ask you out?"

Carter shrugged. "He tried to be my friend first. It's not a bad tactic, but it could lead to him being friend zoned. And besides, we have nothing in common. He was more into sports, I was more into art and English. Did you know he didn't even know who Edgar Allan Poe was until I told him?"

"What? But every other kid his age knows who he is! Hell, we learned about him in the seventh grade!" Sam jumped up from the couch, suddenly too agitated to sit down.

"Now you know why I don't bother with him." Carter admitted to herself that she was being kind of harsh on David, but even if he did know who Poe was, Carter simply wasn't interested in him. She was searching for more of a lasting relationship, not some normal high school fling.

Carter prided herself on not being normal.

"I have to go." Sam suddenly started walking towards the door, purse on her shoulder.

"Wait, you aren't going to make fun of me while we're in the car, are you?" Carter asked hesitantly.

"Bye, Carter," Sam said sweetly as she left.

Carter sat on her couch and buried her face in her hands.

Ben Tennyson was examining himself in the mirror in his room. He had gone home and tried to relax before taking a shower and scrubbing himself clean. Then he put on a change of clothes and tried to do his hair, but it just wouldn't budge from its awkward appearance.

"Great!" Ben began talking to himself. "My hair looks stupid, my shirt's wrinkled, and I have a zit the size of Kansas." Ben swept some hair away from his forehead to see exactly how big the blemish was. He didn't notice Kevin walking behind him until he started talking.

"Yep, that's one big zit all right," he deadpanned startling Ben and making him hide his pimple.

"How'd you get in here?" Ben asked once he calmed down a little. Kevin revealed his left arm, which had a coating of metal over it.

"The usual way," he said as the metal disappeared. Kevin turned around to sit in Ben's desk chair. "By the way, you might want to fix that hole in your back door before your mom sees."

Ben sat on his bed. "You couldn't have knocked?"

Kevin leaned back in the chair. "I sorta did," he said with a nonchalant shrug. Defeated this time, Ben sat on his bed.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a strange and dangerous person?"

"Constantly." Kevin smiled. "But enough about me. Sam says that you need a favor."

"Uh, yeah," Ben admitted. "You see, I kind of want to go to the Pier tonight… with Carter."

"She's too hot for you."

"Sam's too hot for you!"

Kevin shrugged. "True. But then again, she has fire powers, so it's kind of a given."

"Anyway," Ben continued, "since I don't have a car-"

"Or a license," Kevin interrupted. Ben sighed; Kevin really wanted to drag this out of him, didn't he?

"I was wondering if you could give us a ride."

Kevin stood up, a disarming smile on his face. "'Kay." Ben looked up at him, confused.

"That's it? No jokes, no insults, no blackmail?" Kevin walked to the door and absorbed the metal from Ben's doorknob onto his hand. "Wow. Thanks," Ben said, genuinely glad that Kevin was being mature about this. Wait a minute-Kevin, mature? "Hey, wait. You're going to wait until we're in the car and then make my life miserable, aren't you?"

Kevin gave a devious little smile, slamming the door shut behind him and taking the doorknob with him. "Knob's broken!" he called out as he walked away.

At seven, Kevin drove his car onto Carter's driveway. "Whoa," he said, looking at the chateau-thing in front of him.

"I know, right?" Ben agreed from the backseat, putting on his favorite jacket.

"And you're saying Sam lives here too?" Kevin asked, talking about Sterling Hills in general.

"Yeah, I think so," Ben said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"So she lied to me about where she lived," Kevin said to himself, a little hurt.

"She lives in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the world. She probably thought that if you knew you would use her for her money," Ben explained. Kevin had to admit that Sam had a pretty good reason for lying to him, and that made the ugly hurt feelings inside him go away. But there was one thing still bothering him.

"If she lied to me about where she lived, then how did she really get home?" Kevin asked himself. Ben had the answer.

"She probably flew home. Or maybe she used teleportation or subspace. Newt told me that Slayers had that kind of technology."

"What the hell is subspace?"

"Faster-than-light transmit. It's in Star Trek or something." Ben stopped talking as Carter and Sam walked up to the car. Once safely inside, they backed out of the driveway and left for the Pier.

The teasing didn't start until they were halfway to their destination.

Ben had awkwardly tried to look at Carter, and then looked away when she noticed. Kevin saw this through the rearview mirror and an evil smile crossed his lips. His voiced changed into a mocking parental tone and he said, "Now remember Benny-boy, you're mother and I want you home by ten o'clock sharp or you can't go to the disco."

"He could be back by ten, but then again that Panic! At the Disco concert's been sold out for months now, so even if he wanted to go he couldn't," Carter lied smoothly to save Ben. She didn't actually know if there was a concert like that going on, but if Kevin and Sam were going to tease them both, why couldn't she blow out some of the fire?

"How would you know?" Sam inquired. "You don't follow concerts." So much for that idea.

"Hey, at least he can ask a girl out, unlike a certain guy I know," Carter retorted. Ben put the side of his fist to his mouth and sucked in a breath. Now that was below the belt. Sam, from the passenger seat, looked over at Kevin, who seemed unfazed by the insult. Then he did the most immature thing he could do.

He chanted, "Ben's got a girlfriend, Ben's got a girlfriend!" Of course Sam had to join in with, "Carter's got a boyfriend, Carter's got a boyfriend!"

Thoroughly humiliated, Ben put his face in one hand. Carter, hating to lose any kind of fight, kicked the back of Sam's seat, which only made her laugh harder.

Unbeknownst to the four of them, a black and green police car was following them, tracking the signal of Ben's Omnitrix and the other's Plumbers badges.

After dropping them off at the Pier, Ben turned to Carter. "I'm really sorry about Kevin. He just loves making fun of me."

"Same thing with Sam," Carter noted. She surveyed the Pier and saw the lack of people there. "Slow night."

"Yeah this place is usually packed on weekends," Ben said, hands in his pockets.

"That's good," Carter said softly, slowly hugging Ben's arm and looking him in the eyes. "We have the whole place to ourselves." Ben grinned as his heart raced. Was Carter wearing some kind of minty perfume?

"Yeah."

Nice vocabulary, Ventus sneered. Not now, Ventus! Ben yelled at him, forcing the mental wall to go up. All the while he walked down the Pier with his date on his arm-so to speak-, his goofy smile hanging on his face.

And then the Omnitrix started beeping, which was followed by something else beeping. Carter let go of Ben and got the Plumbers badge out of her boot (it was a very convenient place to put valuables). Along with the Omnitrix, it was lighting up and beeping and was very annoying.

"What's going on?" Ben asked loudly to be heard over the beeping.

"I think there's an alien nearby," Carter said as she slammed her fist against her badge. It didn't stop lighting up. Ben looked around for said alien. He didn't see anything, but just in case, he grabbed Carter's hand and pulled her away from the open area. If the alien wanted a fight, it would have to do so away from civilians.

They both hid behind a wooden stand near the front entrance. Neither of them noticed the blob that was slithering towards them and the sound of their beeping. The blob looked at the two of them and saw that they both had Plumbers symbols on them. They could help it! But how was it going to communicate with them? The blob turned to the bumper car attraction next to it. Perfect! The blob slithered over to it and took over the nearest car.

The beeping finally stopped. "Where's the alien?" Carter asked, alarmed. There was no way it could have just disappeared…could it?

Not according to the screams coming from the bumper car attraction. A green and black bumper car jumped over the rails of the ride and stopped in front of Ben and Carter, snarling and looking pretty damn angry. It even had a set of ugly green teeth, and it was directed right at them.

"You have got to be kidding me," Carter said in the face of danger.

Then they both started running away, and the monster followed them. "We have to get it away from the people here!" Ben said as they ran past amusement park attractions. Carter looked out in front of them and saw the collection of yellow trash bins in their way.

"Jump!" she ordered, and they both leaped over the bins and hit the ground running. The car monster barreled through the bins without so much as a scratch.

They two of them ran past the Ferris wheel and into another maze of stands and stores. A guy with a cotton candy cart was napping on the job, but he woke up when Ben and Carter jumped over his machine. "Sorry!" Carter called out.

"Watch out!" Ben warned as the alien car zoomed in on them.

"What?" the man said, right before his eyes widened and he dodged to the left. The monster drove through the machine, utterly destroying it and nearly taking out the seller as well.

Disoriented, the monster looked around but couldn't find either of them anywhere. But then it saw the ladder connected to the Ferris wheel and it honed in on Carter and Ben, who were climbing up it.

"Why are the carnival rides attacking us?" Ben asked rhetorically as he saw the monster glare up at them.

Carter, who was leading, said, "I don't remember any horror movies about this!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"If I remember, maybe I can find a way to destroy it. But there are no evil carnival ride movies!"

Since said evil carnival ride could not climb the ladder and follow them, it began to ram itself into the red column, forcing Ben and Carter to let go. They both fell into the seat of the bumper car, and while Ben should have enjoyed the feeling of having Carter on top of him, it was ruined when the bumper monster started driving away.

Carter detangled herself from Ben and tried to stand up. "I am so over this!" she said through gritted teeth. Ben looked up and pointed. Both of them got out of the seat and climbed over the motor of the car. They both grabbed onto the carnival decorations above them (which were crisscrossing and connected to the stands), getting them off that crazy ride.

As they let go of the decorations, the car monster turned around and glared at them, and revved its engines as it prepared to attack again. "I have an idea!" Ben said, shrugging off his jacket. "You stand back," he told Carter, who backed away slowly.

As the car glared at him, Ben waved his jacket to the side of him. "Andale, Andale!" he goaded. Carter face palmed. But the monster fell for it, and drove fast to hit Ben. But Ben got out of the way just in time, and instead of hitting Ben, it hit a little land post instead. With a loud bang, the monster car was flipped over and badly injured.

Ben put on his jacket. "I really hope there's a simple explanation for this."

"I kind of doubt it," Carter said as she walked up to Ben. "But it can't be very smart if it fell for that trick."

"Hey, that was pure genius!" Ben retorted as the two of them walked away.

They didn't notice the blob slithering out of the bumper car.

Nor did they notice the concession stand man glaring at them until they walked up to him.

"We've got a date with my insurance company!" he said as he jerked a thumb at his destroyed cotton candy machine. Carter sighed as she got out a check book and pen from her combat boots (how much stuff did she have in those things?). She scribbled down the necessary components and ripped it out.

"Here's a thousand dollars from my college fund to pay for the damages," she said as she handed over the check. "That should pay for everything."

"And we'll take two cotton candies, please," Ben said shamelessly. The man looked at them and rolled his eyes. He took two blue cotton candies and grabbed the money from Ben's hand.

"We should get out of here," Carter whispered to Ben, who nodded silently.

As they walked away, ripping out their sugary treats from its web, Ben stated, "I keep forgetting that your filthy rich. Was that really from your college fund?"

"No, my grandparents will probably pay for that," Carter said. "That money was from my personal bank account. I only say college because people expect it."

"Yeah, well, let's forget about that. Alien's gone, and we have the whole place to ourselves." Ben shoved some cotton candy in his mouth and smiled, showing off his blue teeth. Carter giggled as she pointed out one of the rides she wanted to go on next.

Ben was a little out of character in the beginning, but since they never showed how Ben and Gwen reacted after Max's supposed death, I felt it was necessary here.

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