Chapter 17: Screaming Bloody Murder

I found the perfect band to represent this story: Sum 41. Just listen to them, their music is brilliant!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Ben 10 franchise nor the song and album "Screaming Bloody Murder" by Sum 41.

"What hit me?" Evan asked groggily when he finally woke up. When Verdona blasted the house in two, something hit Evan on the head, making blood spurt everywhere. And then everything went black, causing a lapse in memory.

"My grandma," said Gwen's voice from the left. Evan sat up, feeling his forehead where the wound should be. He didn't feel and blood and his head didn't hurt anymore. Evan stood and looked at the house, his jaw dropping when he saw that it was back to normal.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

"Oh, just Sam laying into Verdona for hurting you," Carter said cheerfully. "Man, I wish I got that on tape!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"No one blames you, Sam," Ben said from Evan's right. "In your defense, Verdona did try to kill us and all." Evan looked at Sam, who had Kevin's arm draped over her shoulders for comfort.

"Did you know her hair can literally catch on fire when she's angry?" Kevin asked him from ten feet away.

"Yes, I did know that," Evan answered. "I haven't seen it in a while though." And then he realized that Scary Grandma was nowhere to be seen. "What happened to your grandma?"

"I had a little chat with her," Gwen said blithely. "It took a little while, but I managed to convince her to let me stay here. More importantly, are you okay?" Gwen brushed back a few locks of Evan's hair with her hand, looking for any sign of the injury he had received earlier.

Evan gently knocked her hand away. "If Carter healed me, then I must be okay."

"But I didn't; Verdona did," Carter confessed, making Evan snap his head towards her. "Yeah, she even fixed the house." She gestured back towards Gwen's house, which still looked normal and expensive.

"But more importantly," Ben started, making them all look at him. "since when where you a healer?"

"Ben, what's going on?" Carter asked over the phone. She was in her room with Sam and Evan, a few days after the Verdona incident. They were supposed to be doing homework, but then Ben called.

"Evil robot monster at the old abandoned factory!" It was hard to hear him since there were lasers and yelling in the background.

"Which abandoned factory? Bellwood's got tons of 'em!"

Ben was about to say something, but then he got cut off, leaving Carter with the tone. She shut off her phone and got up from the couch. "Can you track down Ben and the others? We have to go save them."

Evan already had his badge out. "But I think they can handle it. We don't always have to come to the rescue."

"True, but I'd much rather be there just in case," Sam said reasonably.

"You just want to save Kevin," Carter teased. Sam's eye twitched as her face began to turn red.

"Sam's got a boyfriend, Sam's got a boyfriend!"

The Pride saw Ben's team outside an abandoned factory, covered in green slime. Ben was nowhere to be seen.

"Eew," was Sam's only response.

"Ben, get yourself off us," Gwen ordered him. The Pride looked confused until a metal disk hovering over them said, "Sorry!" It flew all over the place, collecting the green slime off of Kevin, Gwen, Kevin's already green car, and the ground. The slime swirled together to create a green alien with the disk hovering over it, right before the Omnitrix timed out and the blob alien turned back into Ben.

"One of your aliens is a giant booger," Evan said, looking at his friend with disgust.

"Your argument is invalid," Ben countered, even though they weren't arguing. "And where were you guys?"

"We couldn't figure out which abandoned factory," Sam explained. "You'd be surprised how many of them are in this town."

"And it's not like you guys couldn't handle yourselves," Carter said, pointing at the giant metal glove twenty feet away from them- a spoil from the robot Ben dismantled.

"Back up would have been nice," Kevin told her as he picked up the glove. "But whatever." He walked over to the truck of his car and opened it. "As long as we took care of this thing for good." He threw the glove inside and slammed the hatch shut.

The fingers of the glove began to move…

They were all at Mr. Smoothy now, with Evan and Ben ordering drinks. The girls were lying against Kevin's car with Kevin wiping one of his headlights with an old rag. "I swear there is still Tennyson goop on here," he said, furiously wiping the light.

"No there isn't," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

Ben and Evan finally got there smoothies and were walking towards the car when someone knocked Ben's drinks all over his front. Cash and JT were right around the corner, laughing at him. Evan calmly got some napkins and gave them to Ben, silently telling him to clean himself up.

"Looks like somebody had an accident," Cash sneered, getting all up in Ben's face.

"I think someone still needs a sippy cup!" jeered JT.

Kevin took one look at the scene in front of him and started for them, ready to pound some bozos into the pavement. But then Ben signaled to him, obviously trying to say that he didn't need his help. Kevin felt a tug at his arm.

It was Sam, who said softly, "Believe me, I want to beat them up too. But let Ben fight his own battles." Kevin turned his head back to Ben, ready for a fight, just in case.

Evan, who was still holding a tray, stepped back a little, watching the scene unfold with a curious eye.

"Okay, you got me. Good one," Ben said, surprising Cash and JT and, well, all of his friends.

"Well, what are you gonna do about it, huh?" Cash slammed his open palm against Ben's chest, only to get smoothie all over it. "Look what you made me do!" he accused him, still trying to bait Ben.

And then the two bullies realized that everyone around them was laughing at them.

Ben was five seconds away from going alien on them, but then he decided against it. "You know what? You two aren't even worth it." That surprised Cash and JT.

"It's ridiculous! Can't you try being original for a change?" Ben finally used the napkins Evan gave him and attempted to get the orange mess off of him. "You've been doing the same old bully routine since the second grade, Cash. It's tired. Spilling my drink? Seriously? I can't believe I used to be afraid of you. Look around."

Cash and JT did so, and saw that just about everyone was looking at them like they were annoying flies they couldn't wait to squash. "We've all grown up," Ben continued. "But you're still the same pathetic loser who has to torment others just to feel good about himself. But you're just sad."

And then he walked away from them with Evan in tow. The crowd clapped and cheered, and Evan would have joined in if he hadn't had drinks in his hand. Ben stood up to his old bullies, restrained himself from using violence, and he didn't even raise his voice.

Ben was finally starting to grow up.

He could see Carter slowly clapping as Ben walked up to the car. "Not bad, Tennyson, not bad." If Ben's grin could get any larger, it would break his face. Carter suddenly thrust her hand towards his chest, and it glowed blue. The smoothie that was on Ben's front was un-sticking itself from his shirt, slowly flowing out of the fabric. In just a few seconds, his front was clean and Carter was holding a little orange ball in her hands.

"I keep forgetting you can do that," Sam told her from Ben's left, so she could obstruct the crowds view from any odd activity.

"If she does party tricks like that all the time, they'll get old," Evan commented as he set the drinks down.

Ben turned back to Carter, who was smiling up at him. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

She thought for a moment, and then said, "I'm proud of you."

Because Ben's day just couldn't get any better.

It was evening now, and while Ben was out with dinner with Gwen and Kevin, the Pride had a job to do. Again. This time it was to get dirt on some corrupt banker. No assassinations, just find something incriminating.

Decked out in all Slayer gear, they crept towards the bank and Carter used her ice powers to freeze the cameras over. That way Sam could pick the lock without any worrying. Evan was in the back, making sure any security guards on duty wouldn't bother them anytime soon.

Once they were in, it only took twenty or so minutes to find the office and get all the files they needed. This banker was stealing money from a lot of people in Bellwood, forcing them to go bankrupt so he could get a bonus to go with his paycheck.

People like him really needed to learn that they couldn't get away with this crap forever.

Ten minutes later, the Pride was flying away from the bank, the flash drive with all the evidence with Carter. They flew over downtown Bellwood, right over the diner. That was when they saw Cash and JT push Kevin's car off a cliff, near the diner.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Evan asked worriedly in midair.

"We can't reveal our secret!" Carter said, even though she really wanted to put an end to this nonsense.

Sam was way ahead of them. "Kevin?" She said into her phone. "Cash and JT just pushed your car off the cliff."

Thirty seconds later, Kevin came running out of the diner screaming bloody murder and a bunch of other profanities that would have made a conservative cringe. Ben and Gwen struggled to keep up with him.

The Pride slowly flew over the wreckage, watching at Cash and JT ran away into the forest. They could see Ben about to go alien and Gwen stopping him. Then they decided to descend.

"Even if you did go after them, it wouldn't solve anything," Evan said as his wings contracted into his back. Gwen, who had never seen his wings before, rubbed her eyes and blinked.

"Was there something wrong with your wings?" she asked, not comprehending.

Evan removed his mask. "Maybe."

Sam walked over to Kevin, who was kneeling before his wrecked car, hugging it. Sam took off her mask and wrapped her arms around his neck, saying, "Its okay, we can fix it," into his ear.

"How'd you guys know about all of this anyway?" Ben asked Carter, who had also taken off her mask.

"We were flying over them when we saw them," she explained.

"So who were you sent to kill this time?" Gwen asked her rather harshly. She still was not happy about being friends with an assassin.

"Oh, we were just getting evidence against a corrupt banker," Carter explained, dismissing the accusation with a wave of her hand. "We don't always kill people, you know." Gwen hadn't known, but she was happy that one less person was dead tonight.

"I still don't like the idea of you killing people," Ben told her sternly. "I just don't see why you have to."

"Probably because you're an idealist by nature," Evan explained. "You believe that everyone has good in them, therefore they should have a second chance to reform their ways. A shame the real world doesn't really work that way."

"As to why we have to, well, we can't go against Cordelia," Carter said, shuddering.

"Oh, come on, how bad can she possibly be?" Gwen asked, hands on her hips.

"You can say that because you've never had one of her forehead flicks before." Evan jutted his bottom lip out like a child, making Gwen seriously question how terrifying this Cordelia person was.

At the abandoned mannequin factory, Cash and JT were contemplating the uses of a metal hand.

"I think it's cool!" JT put on the gauntlet and started to play with it. "Behold the awesome power of my mighty robot arm!" He started to point it at random directions, shouting "pew,pew!" because he was a dork. Cash was not impressed.

At least, not until JT blew a hole in the rooftop.

Cash quickly lined a table with brown beer bottles and stayed out of the way, lying on the ground in case of falling debris. JT stood five feet away from the intended targets and took aim. A red laser shot out of his metal finger, completely blowing up the first bottle. "Yeah!" Cash cheered him on.

Three more laser shots, and Cash wanted a turn. "But I found it!" JT whined as Cash pried it off of him.

"No finders' keepers, JT!" Cash said maliciously as he put on the arm. He aimed his fist at a mannequin. "It's mine." A giant red laser obliterated the stuffing out of it.

Cash began to laugh evilly, which sent shivers down JT's spine. Cash then started blowing up random mannequins around the room, only stopping to take a look at his handiwork.

"Cash, you okay?"

"Oh, I'm better than okay." His evil grin grew wider. "This'll scare the crap out of Tennyson. Last time he'll ever talk smack to me."

"Yeah, that'd be great," JT said, his smile wavering. And then he took a good look at Cash, and it wiped the smile off his face completely.

"You're not joking, are you?"

The Next Day

Sam was sitting in Ben's garage, holding her math notes in her lap. Unlike Evan, she wasn't super smart, but unlike Carter, she was pretty average when it came to equations. Either way, she had to study for that test on Monday.

Sam took a brief moment to look at Kevin, or what she could see of him, since he was under his totaled car, trying to salvage it. He was muttering curses underneath it, and it really wasn't helping her study.

Ben walked into the garage from the outside, holding a smoothie in each hand. "You've been here all night?" he asked Kevin as he set down the drinks.

"And I'm gonna be here until my ride is cherry," Kevin snarled as he grabbed another tool.

"Need some help?" Kevin actually stopped working and got his head out into the open. "You wanna help me? Go away." He even made little wavy motions with his hand.

Ben, kind of pissed, said, "Fine by me." He grabbed one of the smoothies and yelled, "No juice for you!" And then he walked away, leaving Kevin to deal with Sam.

"You could have been nicer to him."

"Would you?"

Sam had to stop and think about that for a moment. Kevin snorted certain of victory. "You don't have to take your anger out on people!" And now Sam felt like a hypocrite. Maybe she should take her own advice for a change.

Kevin took the smoothie off the table next to Sam and sipped it. He nearly spat it back out. "Uh, I think it's got a fruit bone in it!" Sam got up and snatched the smoothie out of Kevin's hands. He was about to protest, but he saw the look Sam was giving him and surrendered. "Fine, I'll go get him."

Kevin almost made it out of the garage when JT came running in. (How many people knew where Ben lived, anyway?)

"Where's Ben?" JT inquired, gasping for air. "I gotta warn him. Something is wrong with Cash!"

"You mean to guy who wrecked my car?" Kevin got a good look at JT. "Weren't you with him?" JT began to back away, but Kevin grabbed a fistful of his shirt and held him in front of his face.

"You can deck him later." Kevin slowly let go of JT. JT, who was certain he was about to die right there, took a minute to calm down. "Now tell us what's going on," Sam said soothingly.

"Cash is looking for Ben," JT began. "Says he's gonna teach him a lesson."

"I wouldn't worry about Ben," Kevin said confidently. "I'd worry about your friend Cash. Where is he?"

"At the old mannequin factory downtown." JT pointed at the general direction of the building. "We hang out there sometimes. Okay, all the time."

"Got it." Kevin began to run out of the garage, leaving Sam with JT. Sam would have warned him not to do anything stupid, but it would have been a waste of breath. As soon as Kevin was out of earshot, Sam asked the boy, "Why do you hang out with Cash?"

Startled, JT stammered out, "He's my friend."

"Some friend."

"Cash is Cash. What do you want from me?"

"I think you have a lot of influence on him is all." Sam gave JT the once over. "If you talk to him, maybe you can convince him not to hurt Ben."

"But then he might beat me up!" JT calmed himself down. "As long as I don't get him angry, I can watch him beat other people up instead of me."

"Yeah, because that's the basis of a beautiful friendship."

"I…"

Sam sighed. "Why are you still here? Why aren't you hanging out with your good buddy Cash?"

"I just wanted to warn Ben!"

Sam held up a hand. "Don't bother. Ben can handle himself."

"What about me? Cash is seriously bent. Something is wrong with him. And if he finds out I told him-"

"Right, like he's going to beat you up," Sam scoffed. But then she thought for a moment. "What do you mean, he's seriously bent?"

About five minutes later

"Oh, shit, run!" Sam and JT raced out of the garage. Gwen, who had been listening in, ran with them.

"Where did you come from?" Sam inquired as they ran to Mr. Smoothy.

"I was listening in," Gwen huffed. "I never figured you to be diplomatic."

"Yeah, well, sometimes it pays to listen first."

They found Ben at Mr. Smoothy, burping with a smoothie in each hand. "That was a solid eight," Sam remarked when she neared him.

"Really? I thought that was a nine for sure."

Gwen decided to interject. "How many of those things have you had today?" Ben was about to answer when JT finally showed up.

"Hi," he said tentatively.

Ben glared at the two redheads. "What is he doing here?"

"Probably trying to warn you," Carter said, walking up to Ben with Evan trailing behind her. Sam had called them on the way to Mr. Smoothy as backup. Kevin would have been happy.

"Something is seriously wrong with Cash," JT began.

"Kevin went over to their hideout to take care him a while ago and we're worried," Sam interrupted.

"You're worried about Kevin?" Ben asked incredulously. "Kevin's going to destroy him!"

"Kevin's not like that," Gwen protested. "He's changed." She thought for a moment. "You know, a little." She thought some more. "Okay, maybe this is bad. We should go."

"We're not far, I'll show you." JT led the way to the old mannequin factory.

They found Kevin with two different types of armor on him, and holes right through it. He was lying against the wall, a giant hole in the wall above his head, his broken body causing him serious pain.

They all ran up to him, concerned. "How bad is it?" Carter inquired the doctor side of her showing through.

"Not as bad as it looks," Kevin finally said.

"Are you seriously saying Cash did this to you?" Ben asked, blown out of his mind. When Kevin didn't answer, Ben began to laugh, only stopping when Sam stomped on his foot. That brought a little smile to Kevin's face.

"He must have gotten his hands on some alien tech," Kevin explained. "He kind of looked like that robot we fought yesterday."

"What kind of alien technology could have done this?" Evan wondered out loud, seriously pondering the answer even though they didn't have the time for it.

"He called you out, bro," Kevin told Ben. "Three o'clock at Mr. Smoothy."

"This has got to end." Ben looked at his Omnitrix, forgetting momentarily that it couldn't tell time.

"You got fifteen minutes," Gwen told him. Ben looked back at Kevin and his beat up body.

"Go," Kevin urged him.

"I'll stay with him," Carter reassured him. "I'll see if I can fix him up completely."

"Don't wear yourself out doing that, okay?" Evan told her as the rest slowly filed out of the room. As soon as they were outside, Carter smiled at Kevin, her hands glowing blue.

"So what do you think of Sam?"

"Hey!" Ben called out to Robot Cash. He had literally transformed since the last time Ben saw him, going from a lame school bully to a blue and silver robot monster. And now he was about to hurt two guys who were trying to run away from him.

"What is your problem?" Ben walked up to Cash, completely unafraid of the metal armor.

"You're my problem, Tennyson! But now I got power, and no one can stop me, not even your friend Kevin." Cash turned to the rest of the crowd that had stayed to watch in fascinated horror at the monstrosity that was Cash. "That's right!" he yelled triumphantly. "I beat Kevin Levin! And you're next Tennyson."

Ben crossed his arms. "I'm not going to fight you, Cash."

He glared at him. "Then this will be over pretty quick." Cash lifted a glowing fist and was about to fire when he heard JT scream, "CASH!" JT and the others had finally arrived, ready to see if JT was able to save Cash without anyone having to kill him.

"Look, Cash, this is messed up," JT began, stepping up to the plate. "We were supposed to be having fun. This ain't you, man."

"YOU RATTED ME OUT!" Cash fired a laser at his 'friend' and was about to kill him if Gwen hadn't thrown up an energy shield around him just in time.

"Nice friend you got there," Gwen remarked to JT. They then heard Cash screaming, and looked up to see him about to tackle JT to the ground.

This further proved the point that Cash was a shitty friend.

A blast from Chromastone sent Cash flying away from them. He slowly stood up to see the purple alien in front of him. "Cash, listen to me," it said. "You don't want to do this."

Cash sent a laser at him, which went right through Chromastone and into the Mr. Smoothy sign, sending it up in flames. Cash then sent two laser blasts at the alien, which it absorbed with ease. Chromastone sent the energy back, sending Robot Cash flying.

"You can't beat me, Cash."

"You think just because you're some sort of freak I'm just gonna stop? I'm never gonna stop, ever!" Cash then punched Chromastone, effectively knocking him backwards. He then grabbed its leg and threw him against a car, smashing the vehicle inwards.

And just because that wasn't enough, Cash threw Chromastone against the ground, then picked him back up and threw him against the truck across the street. Cash grinned until he saw Chromastone get back up and wag its finger at him.

They both ran at each other and held each other's arms at a deadlock. Only one could win like this, and neither side was giving.

"Why are you doing this?" Chromastone asked, hoping for some answers. "Why me?"

"Why not?"

"I'll show you why not!" Chromastone pushed Robot Cash to the ground, weakening him in the process. "It doesn't have to be this way Cash," Chromastone said. "Neither of us wins anything by fighting. Just stop!"

"I can't!" Cash finally admitted.

"Yeah, you can!" JT said, finally finding the courage to stand up and help his friend.

"No, I seriously can't!" Cash yelled at them. "The machine wants to fight!"

"The Cash I know wouldn't let a pile of scrap metal tell him what to do." JT was very good at pep talking. "You're the toughest kid in school! Fight it!"

"How?"

"That thing doesn't control you. You control it." It was like JT had found the magic button. Robot Cash began to glow red, and he slowly shrunk back to normal size. The armor came off of him and receded back into the glove, and Cash was back to normal.

JT pried the gauntlet off of him and threw it at the ground. He then turned to help his friend stand back up. When Cash opened his eyes, Ben was glaring at him. Sam walked up to JT.

"Thanks," he told her. He turned to Ben. "You too. We should hang out sometime."

"Umm…" Ben didn't know how to answer. Luckily for him, JT turned back to Cash, who was smiling at him.

"Let's go," he said, and they walked out of the parking lot, JT's arm around Cash's shoulder.