Chapter 14: When Carnival Rides Attack

Since so many people wanted me to update faster, here's the next chapter two days earlier. Like I said a long time ago, there isn't a schedule for this, and besides, I'm busy with school and a whole bunch of other things that I don't want to tell you about.

That, and writing a single chapter for this story takes about three hours to write. So don't start whining about slow updates, cause I don't want to hear it.

"So when were you going to tell me about the rich lifestyle?" Kevin asked as he drove his car away from the Pier. They had just dropped off Ben and Carter, and Sam was wishing she had teased them a bit more.

Sam looked at Kevin, all thoughts of merrymaking leaving her mind. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "It would have been soon, though."

Kevin shrugged. "I can understand why you didn't say anything. I mean, it would be easy for someone to use you for your money."

"You're not mad?"

Kevin smiled. "Nah, but no more secrets, okay?"

Sam almost couldn't believe it. She rarely allowed herself to hope. Hope was painful: hoping that feelings wouldn't get hurt, hoping that Kevin would understand, that was too painful to think about. Expecting him to get angry with no hope of him understanding, now that was easy. It was a dead feeling, almost like ripping the Band-Aid off a wound and excepting the pain.

But Kevin did understand, which filled Sam up with strange feelings of genuine hope.

Happy, Sam said, "Fine by me. I suppose now would be a good time to ask me some questions. I have to answer truthfully now."

Smiling, Kevin thought for a moment. "What's your last name?"

"DuBaer."

"You're kidding," Kevin groaned, though he didn't seem very shocked by the news.

"Did you already know?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I've heard rumors that the DuBaer family had flaming hair, so I just put two and two together," Kevin said.

"Are you okay with me being a DuBaer?"

"Well, yeah. I just have to remember not to get you angry," Kevin joked. "I've heard rumors that your family controls most of the underground here on Earth."

"I don't know if that's true," Sam admitted. Well, of course she didn't know. She was only in high school, after all. Her knowledge on her family's business and their connections was vague at best.

"All I know is that my family will sell weapons to the highest bidder," Sam said solemnly. "It doesn't matter who or what they are."

Kevin risked a peek at her. "Something tells me you're not happy about that."

"I guess I'm just indifferent about it." And Sam was. If the DuBaer family sold weapons to bad guys with big plans, that would mean the Slayers would issue a reward for their deaths. The more weapons they bought from the DuBaers', the bigger the reward.

Sam looked at the car's radio clock. "We still have some time before I'm expected home. What do we do?"

Kevin thought for a moment. "Auto-show?"

Sam mulled that over. "I've always enjoyed looking at cars," she said truthfully.

"Really?" That surprised Kevin.

"Well, yeah. I like looking at all the different types." Sam looked at Kevin, who had his eyes on the road like a good driver. "My dad taught me a lot about cars, like how to hotwire it and change a tire. Stuff like that."

"You're dad sounds great," Kevin said wistfully.

Sam picked up on that. "I guess. I don't really see him a lot."

"He runs the business, right?" Kevin asked.

"No, he owns a software company."

"Then who runs the weapons industry?"

"That's a secret." Sam put a finger to her smiling lips and gave a sly wink. "Now, where's the auto-show?"

Evan was not happy with his date.

Sure, Julie was nice and athletic and a totally awesome friend, but she and Evan didn't really have much in common. Julie liked tennis; Evan preferred video games. Julie listened to hip-hop and J-pop; Evan listened to metal and J-rock (which were totally different, by the way). Julie was a normal human with normal human ambitions; Evan was a killer who planned on assassinating a lot more villains in the future.

Even Julie was picking up on the vibes. Evan was very good when it came to people, easily starting conversations and discussions over almost nothing, but with Julie the conversations often ended before they even started. How was he supposed to have a good time with his date when they couldn't talk to each other?

By the end of the movie, it was unanimous: there would be no second date.

As the two of them walked out of the movie theater, Evan noticed a poster on the wall that he hadn't seen when he came in. It was an advertisement for an old horror movie that would be back on the big screen soon: When Carnival Rides Attack. Evan smiled to himself. No doubt Carter had seen this movie.

"Can I ask you something?" Ben said after they had finished their cotton candies.

"Fire away," Carter said blithely. They were walking around the Pier at this point, just hanging out and looking for an interesting ride.

"Why do you kill people?"

Carter stopped short, all the happy feelings bubbling inside her gone in an instant. She turned to Ben, her face stony, eyes cold. "I don't kill people, I kill criminals."

"Okay, but why?" Ben was regretting asking such a thing.

Carter looked at him blankly. Why did she kill criminals? It was a job, yes, but it was also…

"You know how some bad guys are given second chances to do good?"

"Yes." Ben was familiar with Kevin's turn around.

"Slayers don't always believe in second chances. There's always the risk that they'll abuse the chance they've got and turn out to be something even worse. Slayers don't take that risk."

"But what if they do change?"

Carter looked Ben in the eye. "People don't change that easily, Ben," she said, her voice low and sad. But then she brightened, her eyes lighting up. "But look on the bright side. If we take out the threat beforehand, so many innocent lives are saved."

"So you'll take a life if it means saving a lot more?" Ben didn't know what to make of that. He wanted everyone to live, regardless if they were bad and good. To just kill someone…That wasn't something Ben ever wanted to understand.

"Don't worry, you won't have to do that," Carter said cheerfully.

Ben looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the Slayers are okay with you doing what you've been doing all along." Carter pointed to the Omnitrix. "Beating up the bad guys and handing them over to the authorities is fine by them."

"If they're so okay with it, why don't they do it?" Ben crossed his arms.

"Because Slayers deal with corrupt CEOs and drug lords and gang crime and stuff like that. You don't. You don't get into the messy political business where the law can't help the innocent." Carter smiled at Ben. "Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. Now come on, we're on a date." Carter grabbed Ben's arm and started dragging him away, desperate to change the subject.

But Ben couldn't keep his mind off what Carter just said. She was right; Ben didn't deal with the messy political world. He dealt with alien invaders and criminals. He never even considered turning to the crime in politics, even though he knew it was there. He just didn't understand it enough to meddle. But politicians and gang bangers were seriously bad dudes, stealing from the poor and putting innocent people in the worst possible situation, giving them only death as an escape. Those people simply didn't care about anything except themselves.

It made Ben wonder if the Slayers were right after all.

When Carter finally slowed down, they were in front of the Jet Fighter, a ride that looked like a jet plane and that bounced and swerved in place to make the people inside sick to their stomachs.

"This looks fun," Carter said, pointing to it.

"Especially if you don't mind wrenching G-forces and waves of nausea," Ben deadpanned, staring at the ride with childlike joy.

Neither noticed the gelatinous blob hopping behind the aircraft.

"Are you saying you don't want to ride it?" Carter nudged Ben in a joking matter.

"No, I'm saying it's a good thing we only ate cotton candy," Ben explained before looking back at the fighter. He frowned when he saw the black and green circuit board design overtaking the Jet Fighter.

"Seriously?" Carter said as she saw what was happening. They stood and watched as the Jet Fighter broke free of its metal restraints and reared its pointed head at them, its wings spread out like a bird.

"Seriously," Ben stated as he grabbed Carter's hand and led her away. The jet tried to go after them, but was still stuck to one of its restraints. It tried to break free, leaving enough time for Carter and Ben to get away.

As they hid behind one of the concession stands, Carter searched for a water source. "Please tell me there are some fire hydrants here," Carter told Ben desperately, her eyes scanning the limited area.

"I thought you didn't need a water source to use your powers," Ben said, remembering that time at the bridge.

"Yeah, but I get tired quickly if I have to create my own ice," Carter explained as the Omnitrix started beeping again.

"Hello, we know already," Ben grumbled to his watch. He tried to look for a suitable alien to fight the Jet Fighter and turned to Jetray. But then the earth shook, settling the two of them off balance. Ben slammed down the dial anyway, turning into a… seafood platter?

"Something tells me that's not the alien you wanted," Carter deadpanned. She quirked an eyebrow at the alien crab in front of her.

"It's not, I'm some sort of seafood platter," Ben said in the alien's voice. "And one with a highly advanced intellect. Ergo, perhaps I should assign this one the name of, let's say, Brain Storm!" The head of the crab crackled with electricity, making Carter take a step back for her own safety. It would be very, very bad if she got hit by stray lightning bolt while she tried to use her powers.

As Carter backed away, the Jet Fighter finally freed itself from its confines and reared its singular gaze on Brain Storm. The Jet Fighter flew into him, knocking him off the ground. When Brain Storm got up, he glared at the fighter. "Now I am most decidedly miffed." He opened his head, revealing a seriously large brain, and shot lightning at the fighter, which dogged them all.

"What the deuce?" Brain Storm cried, shocked.

That was when the jet decided to use its green lasers against the crab. Brain Storm literally thought up a shield, which protected him from the blasts. Unfortunately, one of the blasts veered off in Carter's direction, and Carter couldn't create an ice shield in time. Instead, Brain Storm used his mind powers to create a mini shield around her, levitating her from her spot and putting her somewhere safe.

But before Ben could set her down, Carter had created an ice crossbow twice her size in her arms. She drew back the string and let loose a volley of icicles at the fighter, forcing it to veer out of the way. As Ben set Carter near the Ferris Wheel, the fighter turned its gaze on her. She glared at it despite how tired her arms felt. She looked around and noticed that she was on a pier on a lake. Carter face palmed at her own stupidity and started to walk towards it.

By then Brain Storm had effectively shot the possessed fighter out of the sky and into the water with a well placed lightning bolt. "And good riddance to you!" the crab said happily before scuttling away. It went into an unoccupied port-a-potty (though he had some difficult opening it, since he didn't have opposable thumbs) and turned back into Ben. He then left in search of Carter.

Ben found her near the Ferris wheel, at the side where the water was. Some dark water swirled around her as Carter brought her arms up. The water quickly seeped into her skin, giving her the desired energy boost. She turned to see Ben staring at her.

"I forgot we were at a Pier," she told him sheepishly.

"So did I," he admitted. "So what was…?" Ben gestured to her arms.

"When I feel weak, I either have to rest or replace the water I just lost," Carter explained. "So, is the alien gone?"

That was when a cylinder started appearing out of the lake, its green and black design apparent. Carter whirled behind her in time to see that the monster had taken over another ride, one with seats hanging out his claws and that looked like a giant green and black rod. The creature swiped at Carter, who narrowly dogged the attack, only to get knocked out by a swinging seat. With a cry, she slumped to the ground, only to get picked up by one of the seats. When Ben saw her in the egg-shaped seat, she was slumped over, her combat boots hanging over the edge, her only safety net being the metal bar that was attached over her waist.

"CARTER!" Ben yelled to her unconscious form. The carnival ride attacked, swinging more of those egg-shaped seats at Ben, trying to kill him. Ben dodged the crushing blows only to realize too late that he had landed in a trap; the wood that had been hit by the monster quickly caved underneath him, leaving Ben desperately hanging by a piece of broken wood.

Before Ben fell into the lake, he saw the carnival ride walk off with Carter captive.

Stupid carnival ride. It obviously didn't know who it was messing with. In the water, Ben turned into Jetray, who quickly shot out of the water and looked for any signs of a giant, possessed machine.

When Carter woke up, she could make out the woods in front of her. She could feel the grass beneath her as she lay there, aware of the severe pain at the back of her head. Carter brought up a hand and made it glow blue green before placing it on the bump. Carter bite back tears and she felt the pain slowly ebb away as the bump grew smaller.

As her vision became clear and as the bump disappeared, Carter stood up to see the towering machine in front of her. She put her hands on her hips and snarled at it. "WHAT THE HELL!" she screamed at it, more angry than afraid. But the machine gave no notice. It didn't even move.

"What is up with you?" Carter muttered as she heard someone yell her name. A creature she could only assume was Ben swooped down, looking for her. Carter sneaked out under the monster's legs and slowly made her way over to the alien.

"Carter! Are you okay?" the alien known as Jetray asked her with concern. He reared his head to the monster in front of them. "What did you do to her?"

"It only knocked me out a little," Carter assured him. "I have a pretty hard head."

Jetray turned back into Ben, who looked at her with more concern. "He hit your head pretty hard." He reached out to see the wound only to get his hands slapped away.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," she dismissed. She turned to the monster, which hadn't done anything to them yet. "What do we do with him?"

The monster suddenly reared its head over them and bleated, "Ship… ship!"

"I think it's trying to tell us something," Carter deduced. To emphasize its point, the monster nudged a seat at Ben, forcing him closer to Carter for his own safety. The monster then pointed the seat to the right, with had a red glow in the distance. All the while, the monster was bleating, "Ship…ship…ship!" It no longer sounded like a monster.

"Ship…" Ben said, cottoning on. "You brought us out here to find that spaceship!"

In response, the black and green design on the machine dripped away, leaving it a simple carnival ride. Ben's Omnitrix started beeping again, as did Carter's Plumbers badge. They ran towards the red light, and saw that in fact it was a spaceship, only completely destroyed and with an alien trapped behind an angry red force field.

"I've seen that thing before," Ben realized as his old alien Upgrade came to mind.

"Didn't you turn into one of those?" Carter asked without thinking.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Ben asked suspiciously.

Carter shrugged. "I've heard rumors," she said as she mentally kicked herself for almost revealing something important.

Still suspicious, Ben turned back to the alien just in time to see it get electrocuted. It cried out in pain, and Carter instinctively tried to help him. Ben held her back by putting an arm in front of her.

"That energy field will fry you," he warned.

"We have to do something," she said, looking at the alien.

Then she noticed the beeping alien words right above the alien. "Is that a countdown?" she asked, pointing to it. Ben was about to answer, only to hear a strange purring sound and something rub his leg. It was the green and black blob, only it looked harmless and, to Carter, cute.

"You're what's behind all this?" Ben asked the thing.

"Ship?" the little thing inquired.

"Okay, Ship," Ben decided, looking at Carter. He knelt down to hear what it wanted to say. The thing turned into a mini replica of a spaceship, only to explode. Ben instinctively put up a hand to protect himself, only to realize that the creature was fine and the explosion had been faked.

"Definitely trying to tell you something," Carter said, crouching down to join in. Ben looked again at the clock thing at the ship.

"It is a countdown." Ben shot up off the ground. "That thing's going to explode!"

Ben turned the dial on his Omnitrix to Humungousaur and slammed it down. Humungousaur ran over on his stubby legs to the energy field and walked through it, not without difficulty. He grabbed the device that was creating the force field and pulled it off the ship, electricity buzzing around his hands. The energy field disappeared and Humungousaur threw the device high into the ozone, where it exploded like a firework on steroids. The blast sent an energy wave towards them, and Humungousaur used his body as a shield to protect Carter and Ship from the wave.

Carter could feel the wave pass over them as it disappeared. Once she realized the danger was passed, she opened her eyes to see Humungousaur still over her. "Explosion's over," she told him.

"Oh, right," he said, finally letting go and twirling his fingers sheepishly. Carter snorted as the cuteness of it.

Carter went over to the alien and removed the giant metal restraints holding him down, revealing to Ben/Humungousaur her true strength. "You okay?" she asked the alien.

"Well, yes," the alien said in his prim and proper voice. "As I was saying as I lost consciousness, I created this syndicate, the one you call Ship." He gestured to Ship, who was bobbing his head up and down like it was agreeing with whatever his master said.

"You set it off to the nearest Plumber for help." Carter got out her Plumbers badge. "It was reading the energy signature of my badge and you're Omnitrix!"

"That doesn't explain the beeping, though," Humungousaur pointed out.

"Don't you mean his distress signal?" If the alien had eyebrows, one of them would have been raised.

"I really should have paid more attention when Cordelia was explaining the functions on this thing," Carter said, mostly to herself.

"Aren't you guys Plumbers?" the alien asked exasperatedly.

"I thought you were," Humungousaur said.

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life on this damn planet," the alien muttered under his breath. "Is there anyone else I can talk to here?" he said aloud.

"Not really," Carter said simply. She turned to Ben. "So that's why Ship tried to get our attention."

Humungousaur turned back into Ben, since the Omnitrix needed a serious recharge. "Get our attention? He wrecked the Pier! He hurt you and kidnapped you!" Both of them turned to the dominant alien.

"Well, I needed help," he said defensively.

"That's pretty obvious," Ben deadpanned.

The alien sighed. "And your species wonders why we can only communicate with your livestock. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to repair my warp drive." The alien turned away from them to fiddle with an alien keyboard.

"Come on, be nice," Carter said to Ben. "Aren't you the one who keeps telling me to help people instead of hurt them?" She turned to the alien. "Need any help?"

The alien stopped working and looked at her earnest face. "Well, yes, I suppose I could need a hand or two."

About a half hour later, Ben and Carter were on the roof of the spaceship, connecting large metal tubes into deep little holes. "That's the last one," Carter said happily as she and Ben set the tube in place.

"I, uh, guess this is probably the worst date you ever had," Ben told Carter, disappointment and humiliation creeping into his voice.

Carter smiled as she leaned closer into the tube. "Are you kidding? This is one of the best dates ever!"

Ben leaned in closer. "Really? Including the part where you got knocked out and kidnapped?"

"Well, that part was pretty bad, but this date was definitely interesting," Carter admitted, her eyelashes fluttering. Her face was very close to Ben's, and he leaned in…

"I'm all done!" the alien called out, interrupting the two teens. More than slightly disappointed, they climbed off the ship and onto the ground, where they found the alien already in his ship and ready for liftoff. As the two of them stood off from the side, Ben noticed that Ship was with them.

"What about this thing?" he asked the alien in the spaceship. "Doesn't he blorp back into your body or something?"

"Blorp." The alien sighed. "That's not how it works. Besides, you and he have had such a wonderful bonding experience. He's yours now." Before Ben could protest, the alien closed the hatch he was talking through and lifted his spaceship off the ground. Ben and Carter closed their eyes to protect them from the wind, and when it finally died down, the spaceship was gone.

After he left, Ship kept rubbing Ben's leg like an affectionate pet. "He's kind of cute," Carter said. "Are you going to keep him?" Ben looked at Ship, who began panting like a dog.

It had taken them a while, but Ben, Carter, and Ship were finally out of the woods and only a half hour until curfew. Time tends to fly like that when you're being hunted down by an alien dog creature.

"We really need to get home," Ben said, cursing the Omnitrix for needing a recharge at a time like this.

Carter turned to Ship. "I don't suppose you can get us home," she said affectionately. Even though Ship had technically hurt her and kidnapped her, she was warming up to it. It wasn't like he had had malicious intentions.

Instead of answering, a truck came by, distracting them. Carter started yelling and waving her arms to grab the driver's attention, while Ben did his best imitation of a taxi cab whistle. Ship started jumping up and down since that looked like the best thing to do for now. But the truck passed them without a second thought, leaving the three of them in the dust.

"Ship, ship," Ship started bleating, crawling as fast as he could towards the truck and away from Ben and Carter.

"So much for bonding," Ben joked as Ship crawled out of sight.

Carter sighed. Now would be a real good time to show Ben that. "Take off your jacket."

"What?"

"Just do it." Ben slowly took off his favorite jacket, all the while looking at Carter with confusion. "You do know that Slayers can fly, right?" Carter asked him. Ben's eyes widened. She smirked. "Yeah, you can do it too. It's easy." Carter walked around Ben and lightly touched the middle of his back. Ben could feel electricity course through his body because of that, and his heart began to pound.

"Just calm down and only think about wings," Carter ordered her voice soft and hypnotic. Ben closed his eyes and forced his heart to slow down. He imagined flying like Jetray, or maybe like an eagle. After thinking about the eagle, Ben felt something heavy attached to his back. He opened his eyes and looked to his left.

A blue devil wing as large as he was, with green fraying the edges. To his right, an angel wing with blue feather with the very tip dipped in green. Ben stared at them in awe for a moment before completely unfurling them and lifting off.

It was simply amazing how easy it was to fly in the night sky. He knew instinctively that the slightest tip to the left made him veer off in that direction, or that flapping his wings would give him powerful air, and that thermals were like the ultimate rollercoaster. The night air chilled his skin and his eyes watered due to the wind in his eyes.

Ben had never felt so alive before. Not even using the Omnitrix gave him this feeling.

A sharp whistle snapped Ben out of his reverie. He stopped flying and flapped his wings to keep him in mid air. Carter flew up to him, her black and blue wings nearly invisible in the sky. She was holding Ben's jacket in her arms- he must have dropped earlier- and she had a knowing smile on her face.

"How does it feel to fly without using some device?" she asked him, raising her voice over the howl of the wind.

"Incredible!" Ben whooped, joy lighting up his eyes. His mood was infectious. As the two of them flew back into town, they laughed and did tricks in mid air, drunk on their strange and glorious freedom.

I did say Ship would have a new owner. He won't be mentioned for a while though. Shame; I like him.