Chapter 71: Of Monsters and Men

OH MY GOD GUYS I HAVE FANART! *flails her arms uselessly*

Well, it's fanart that includes characters from this story, but it's not about this story. MugetsuPipefox and I are both fans of the show Miraculous Ladybug, and I thought up this sort of crossover between that and this story. And then she drew it for me and it's amazing and please just check it out, the link is on my profile! It's the "Miraculous Cricket and Chat Fatale" one.

Guys, I am so happy right now, you don't even know. *fangirlish screaming in the distance*

Anyway, on with the chapter!

Wind was whistling through his hair. He could hear the sounds of howling, of his body rapidly falling, falling into the void. He could feel someone next to him, her body temperature seeping away due to the cold chill of the metal tube.

Evan opened his eyes.

Sam was glaring at him, arms crossed. It was actually kind of comical, seeing as they were literally falling headfirst to their dooms.

Evan beamed and held out his hand. "Ready?"

"No."

"Yeah, neither am I," he allowed. "But we don't have a choice, do we?"

"We always have a choice," Sam said solemnly. "It's just that it doesn't seem like one." She took his hand, and together they spun.

Energy was pooling into their bodies, their eyes growing red and green. Steam billowed out from them as their skin disintegrated. Vines and roots erupted from Evan's feet, while ash fell away from Sam's mouth.

They held each other in a tight embrace as their bones quickly turned into fire and earth. Their bodies glowed, becoming brighter and brighter until human flesh disappeared into the air. They were ethereal and dangerous, and they fused together as the two entities spun faster and faster.

And then they heard it, the sounds of electricity crackling through the tube. Alarmed, their eyes snapped open, revealing white holes where pupils and irises should be. They looked at the bomb that was quickly following them; blue electricity fizzled around it, growing stronger and stronger as it danced around the metal shell.

The two beings that were once Sam and Evan looked at each other, shocked. But there was so little they could do for that idiot now. They could only continue and hope for the best.

Fire and earth combined, becoming so much more than that. Obsidian made up their body, shards jutting out of their back. Molten rock stretched out to create limbs, red energy flowing in between the cracks like veins. A tail made of fire whipped around them, and their head grew, their mouth elongating to fit sharp obsidian teeth.

Ben Tennyson couldn't see what was past the bomb. The tunnel was pitch black down there; he couldn't tell if his two friends were still falling to their deaths or not. All he could do was somehow stop the bomb. Maybe if he set it off early, magma wouldn't overflow the Earth's core. Blue and yellow electricity flowed out of his hands as Ben sent the energy straight into the heart of the bomb.

The shell was breaking apart-it was working! It was actually working! Ben smiled as the bomb trembled-

Something stopped the bomb in midair. Ben fell face first onto the shell, smacking his nose. Trying to stop the blood from gushing out, he sat up, feeling disorientated. He groaned and felt his nose, wincing in pain as he moved it. At least it wasn't broken.

The bomb was completely still. It wasn't whistling through the tunnel as it fell through the air. What had stopped it?

A giant black hand reached out and impaled the tunnel's walls. Ben fell backwards with a cry as the thing slowly pulled itself up, revealing a dragon's face with glowing green eyes and a scaly obsidian body. Magma flowed through the cracks, acting as its life blood. It opened its mouth, revealing fangs and emerald fire bubbling in the back of its throat.

The dragon loomed over Ben, and he tried to scramble away, his scream trapped in his throat. Something red and fiery wrapped around the bomb-its tail- sending rolling waves of heat up the shaft. And that's when Ben understood.

Clearing his throat, he whispered, "Sam? Evan?"

The beast slowly dipped its head, once for acknowledgement. One hand was still impaling the metal walls, hoisting it and the bomb up, so it used its other hand to point upwards. Go. Get out of here, it seemed to be saying.

"I can't just leave you!" Ben protested. He pointed to the rips in the shell's body. "I can help!"

You can't if you're dead.

Ventus?! You were listening in?

When am I not? Wait, don't answer that, I'm lying.

But I'm this close to destroying this thing!

You are, the god agreed, but you'll be caught in the blast. You can't die just yet. You've got a bright future ahead of you.

Ben let out a frustrated sigh and looked at the beast. It was still pointing up, but now it threw its head up slightly, further indicating that he needed to leave, now. Sam and Evan, wherever they were, were starting to panic.

Ben stood up and pointed at the dragon. "You make it out of this alive, or you'll never hear the end of it, you hear me?"

It dipped its head once.

Ventus roared with laughter. Excellent parting words! Wouldn't have said it better myself.

Ben didn't bother responding. He quickly levitated for a moment before shooting upwards, the sounds of a sonic boom echoing through the shaft. His jacket floated downward, along with blue feathers dipped in green. The jacket landed on the bomb just as the dragon wrapped itself around it.

And then, there was a flash, and a cataclysmic sound resonated inside the tube.

Ben flew out of the shaft just as a white explosion erupted behind him. With a cry of shock, he tumbled through the air and landed painfully on cold metal. Groaning, his eyes half closed, he barely saw the rocks that nearly killed Gwen and Kevin and Newt. If two of them hadn't been protecting them all with shields, they'd be dead by now.

Eventually, the white blast died down, revealing the destroyed remains of Vulcanus's lair. Rubbing his back, Ben sat up. Newt and Gwen put down their shields. All was still.

"So…where's Evan and Sam?" Newt asked.

"They stopped the bomb…somehow," Ben added nervously. Honestly, the entire thing was too weird for his brain to process.

Suddenly a giant black hand erupted from the tunnel. Ben shrieked and ran to hide behind Kevin-the dude was bigger than he was and was therefore a better shield- just as the head of the beast loomed out over them, casting an enormous shadow that covered all four humans.

And then the dragon crumbled apart, bits of obsidian falling. Magma dripped onto the ground, the glowing green eyes and fiery tail fading. The head drooped to the ground, the rest of the body disintegrating and drifting back down into the shaft. And out of the beast tumbled two people, who fell to the floor completely covered in soot.

Groaning, Sam declared, "I am never doing that again!" She threw the green jacket she had been holding at Ben. He quickly put the ash covered garment on. Everyone just stared in shock, because the lava monster from the Earth's core came to the surface, died, and then threw up two teenagers. The entire thing was too ludicrous to process.

"You always say that," Evan complained as he flopped on the ground. Sam quickly helped him up, pulling at his elbow. And that's when everyone saw that they had swapped outfits.

"…The fuck happened down there," Kevin snarled, all traces of confusion wiped away. Evan and Sam looked at each other confusedly. And then they looked down.

"Oh thank god it was just clothes this time!" Evan blurted out relieved.

"…What," Newt said flatly.

Sam plucked at Evan's shirt, admiring the black metallic dragon design. "Slayers fusing is always so fucking weird."

"Of course you two can fuse," Gwen said tiredly. "I don't know why I'm still so surprised at all this."

"But…I thought…" Kevin trailed off. His mouth continued to work, asking silent questions.

"No one ever said the two of us couldn't fuse," Evan pointed out, gesturing to him and Sam.

"Though, we don't look human when we do so," Sam noted quietly. "No one knows why. And something usually goes wrong whenever we split apart," she added as an afterthought.

"Like what?" Newt asked curiously.

"Well, last time we changed genders."

This was met with looks of horror and cries of disgust.

"Yeah, that was just weird," Sam told them, waving a dismissive hand. "And believe me Gwen, you do not want to know what it's like to have a pen-"

"Okay thank you Sam!" Gwen shouted out as she flushed red.

"Yeah, compared to that, this is honestly a nice change," Evan noted as he felt around Sam's pants. "Hey, why are your jean pockets so small? Like, you can't even fit your phone or wallet in them."

"Because the clothing companies are dicks and want girls to spend hundreds of dollars on purses," Sam answered bitterly. "Seriously, it's so unfair! You guys get, like, super deep pockets. You can fit five calculators in just one of them."

Evan raised an eyebrow. "Why are you measuring in calculators?"

"Don't tell me how to live my life!"

"This is fascinating and all," Newt interjected, "but whatever happened to Moldy?"

"…That's a good question," Evan said as he looked around.

They found Moldywarp back in the storeroom. Ticking time bombs were stuck to the nearest crates. Moldy had just stuck on another one when he noticed them.

"Uh, what's with the timers?" Gwen asked nervously, eyeing the bombs that were on the crates above their heads.

"I figure, what's to keep Vulcanus from coming back and dropping another bomb down the shaft, yeah?" Moldywarp asked rhetorically. "After all, he did put so much work into it."

Newt grabbed Gwen's hand and ran towards the car. "THIS MISSION WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA!"

"You won't make it out in time!" Evan cried out, stopping them in their tracks.

"Evan! Mass shadow trip, now!" Sam ordered. "And remember the car!"

"Everybody grab on!" Evan shouted, and Newt ran back, dragging poor Gwen along with him. Kevin grabbed Moldy, who was cackling madly. Once everyone had a hold on each other, they sunk down into the shadows.

The shadows were dark and murky, with so little light filtering through. It was lukewarm and felt kind of slimy, the air sticking to their skin and forced down their throats and oh god how long have they been in there, get us out, get us out, GET US OUT-

Evan remembered the car just as the timers went off.

The explosions followed the massive shadow, unnaturally bright and nearly scalding the black mass as it came shooting out of the pit. The shadow split apart, and out fell its occupants and a land vehicle in midair. They all flew over the ravine, and they could feel the heat of the explosion right at their heels.

As they began to fall towards the unforgiving ground, Ben softened the blow by slowing them down. They landed relatively safely on the earth, save for the occasional stumble and hard landing. They were all fine.

"MY CAR!"

…Well, almost fine.

A half hour later

After Newt left to visit his cousin-that was his original purpose for coming into the desert, after all- everyone else stayed behind to rest for a bit after the battle. Kevin, Gwen and Ben were leaning against the hood of Kevin's car, which had miraculously survived the explosion with barely a scratch. His earlier freak out had been unwarranted.

"I love it," Kevin crowed happily. "Vulcanus spent a fortune on filing fees and got nothin' in return."

"And we saved Earth from being turned into a giant hot plate," Gwen added just as happily.

"Now all we gotta do is get the Pyroxivors back underground," Ben said, his tone semi-serious.

"I'll handle that," Moldywarp told them as he surveyed the alien cows. "But first, what say we celebrate with a nice barbeque?" He patted one of the Pyroxivors. "This one looks like a plump one."

"You…eat them?" Gwen asked, unnerved.

Moldy laughed. "Of course I eats 'em! They're my herd!"

"Ew," went Gwen and Ben.

Kevin patted his stomach. "Now that you mentioned it, I haven't had anything all day." Gwen jabbed him in the side. "What?" he asked as Ben laughed.

As Moldy went off to prepare dinner, Kevin turned his head slightly, towards the two people changing behind the car. "How's it going back there?"

"Bra's not coming off," Evan called back.

"You're wearing Sam's bra?" he asked, somewhat disgusted. Gwen and Ben just looked really uncomfortable at the thought.

"Yeah, apparently when we switched clothing, we switched everything," Sam called back. "Wow, this is awkward."

"You're telling me," Evan grumbled. "Though you has excellent taste in lingerie." He then called out, "Hey, Kevin, you wanna see?"

"No, if I wanna see my girlfriend's underwear I'd rather she be wearing it," Kevin told him. Gwen punched him in the shoulder, giving an embarrassed, "Kevin!" while Sam and Ben just roared with laughter.

"But seriously, how much did this cost?" Evan asked his friend curiously. "Like, I know Victoria's Secret is expensive, but this one seems to be top notch."

"Dude, that's a normal one," Sam scoffed. "There's nothing special about it."

Evan blinked. "Really? How much does a normal bra cost?"

Sam told him.

"…Who pays forty dollars for just one bra?!"

The Valentine Manor

Before actually meeting up with Carter, Newt had decided to buy some comfort food, not only for her but for himself. Despite his experience with Morningstar and the DNAlien war and with Vulcanus, Newt just wasn't suited for combat. Sure, he knew attack spells and defensive techniques, not to mention the hellish training he received prior to the war, but going out on missions and fighting aliens? That just wasn't his thing. Never was, never would be.

Of course, that went completely out the window when his friends were in danger…

After hiding the cheesecake in the fridge-It was past lunchtime, his cousin probably wasn't hungry-Newt went up to her room. He was about to knock, but hesitated when he heard her speaking to someone. His brow furrowed. Would it be impolite to come in now?

"I know you're out there, Newt," Carter called out suddenly. "You have a tendency of making your presence known." Bashfully, he walked in.

Carter was dressed in her usual outfit of heavy combat boots, black and purple striped long sleeves and thigh-high stockings, black miniskirt, and black Linkin Park band t-shirt, and she was having tea with a familiar African American boy. His dreadlocks had been tied pack in a ponytail, revealing his kind, mirthful face. He was wearing paint-splattered jeans and sneakers, and his red checked button up shirt was open enough to reveal the black tank top underneath.

"Hey, you must be Newton." He stood up to shake Newt's hand. "I'm DJ."

"Oh, yeah, Kitty mentioned you." They shook. "But I'm pretty sure your real name is David Johansson."

"My real name's kind of a mouthful. And David is a really common name," DJ pointed out with a little laugh.

"Hope I wasn't interrupting anything," Newt said as they settled down. He quickly gave his favorite cousin a kiss on the cheek before pouring himself some tea.

"Nah, we were just discussing some stuff that's been going on in the underground city," DJ explained blithely. "Nothing Carter didn't already know."

"Evan, Sam, and I do have other friends," Carter pointed out. "Or, more like acquaintances, if I have to be honest. I talk to them occasionally on Facebook."

"So, it's all just basically high school gossip." Newt rolled his eyes. "You know that's all lies and speculation."

"I do know, but there's usually a seed of truth underneath all those falsehoods. Tell him, DJ." She took a sip of her drink.

"Well, if you look past the superficial layer of who's dating who and all that normal stuff, there's an undercurrent, and this time, it's about Ben," DJ explained somewhat ominously.

Newt furrowed his brow. "Phineas already claimed him, so everyone all over the world knows about him. Or at least, they know they've got the air guy for this generation," he added quickly.

"Yeah, people were starting to freak about that," Carter said with a wince. "If we aren't claimed by the time the four main vessels are eighteen, everyone in this generation loses their powers. And believe me, that would be catastrophic."

"Good thing there's a cycle," DJ said, shuddering involuntarily. "I like my art powers, thank you very much."

Newt raised an eyebrow. "You have powers?"

"It's nothing combat related," he admitted. "I'm just extremely talented in nearly every form of art." He gave a quick bow to Newt from his sitting position on the armchair. "Thank you, Lyrica."

Newt waved him off, his cheeks tinged pink. "Dude, that's all on you. I personally had nothing to do with it."

"You're the vessel of the god of the arts, of course you had something to do with it."

"Anyway," Newt said loudly, "what about Ben?"

"Well, everyone knows there's an air guy, but people were wondering why it took so long for Phineas to claim him," DJ explained. "The other three got their powers back when they were ten, but somehow he was a late bloomer."

"That's nothing new," Carter protested gently. "People get their powers late all the time."

"I'm not saying it isn't, but you have to admit it's a weird situation," DJ remarked. "And then he does get claimed, but no one knows what he looks like or how powerful he is, only his name and age."

"So, I'm guessing there are a lot of rumors about him." Newt settled into the couch, looking thoughtful as he sipped his tea. "I don't listen to gossip if I can help it, so I don't know anything."

"That's probably a good thing. Some of those rumors were outrageous," Carter said, smiling slightly. "Like, there was this one rumor where Ben was secretly a vampire-werewolf hybrid or something. The person who made that up needs to stop watching so many movies."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that one." DJ chuckled. "Yeah, the rumor mill went crazy about Benji. But all that changed after the DNAliens attacked," he said solemnly, his eyes boring at them over the rim of his cup.

Carter and Newt stood up straight and looked at him seriously. "What do they know?" Newt asked.

"They know that the Pride, along with Ben Tennyson and some Plumbers kids, stopped the invasion."

"And?"

"They think Ben is part Plumber, part Slayer," Carter finished for him.

Newt let out a low whistle and leaned back. "They hit the nail on the coffin." He then looked worried. "But the Plumbers and the Slayers are still so hostile to each other. What are everyone's reactions to that particular rumor?"

"Actually, relations between Slayers and Plumbers have improved," Carter pointed out happily. "We've worked together on numerous occasions for years, and the Slayers have helped weed out corruption in Plumber ranks. It's just that we have different ways of handling our problems. That's always going to be a source of contention, but it seems certain factions on both our sides are trying to move past that."

"Hope for the future!" DJ cheered, bringing his cup into the air. "Especially since Slayer teens are more open minded."

Newt's eyes widened. "You mean….?"

"The younger generation tends to be more informed than their parents are," he said cheerfully. "Naturally, you're going to have people who oppose the mixing of Plumbers and Slayers, but for the most part, people are-well, they're not accepting of the idea, but…"

"They're taking a 'wait and see' approach," Carter surmised for him. "Slayers are brought up to see things pragmatically; working with the Plumbers could benefit us in the future, which is why no one's really hating the idea."

"Well, actually, some parts of the world don't want us to work together, and they're vocal about it, but they're still in the minority," DJ quickly interjected, adding the last bit as an insurance.

"Still, the fact that we're doing a 'wait and see' approach is progress," Carter said. "We're too stuck in our ways, so just this little bit is basically miraculous."

"Still, though, Ben supposed to bring us together." Newt looked annoyed. "Kind of unfair to put this on him."

"It is, especially since he has to save the world on a regular basis," Carter said, looking particularly guilty about something. "Ah, but no one's expecting him to do it now," she added hastily. "We all figured he'd be an adult by the time we start healing the rift."

"Well, that's something at least," Newt muttered.

"I have a question though," DJ said. "Ben's got his own powers, and the Omnitrix, and from what I hear the Omnitrix is, like, super powerful-"

"The Omnitrix is his limiter," Carter explained. "He can't overload his powers with that on."

"So he doesn't have your mental limiters?" Newt raised an eyebrow.

"He doesn't need them. Besides, it's second nature for him to use the Omnitrix. It's probably better for him that way."

DJ gave her an incredulous look. "I would disagree."

Newt, seeing an argument beginning to brew, suddenly clapped his hands together. "Let's stop being serious for now, this is supposed to be a pleasant visit. Also I brought cheesecake."

Thankfully Carter and DJ high-fived and cheered, "Cheesecake! Cheesecake!"

Later that night

Jackson stared up at the skyscrapers in wonderment. It didn't matter that he could hear the sounds of millions of people walking in a hurry, or could feel the smog of trash and exhaust fumes choking the air. He was in complete and utter awe.

"Dude, keep your mouth shut, they're just buildings," Damian scoffed affectionately.

"We're in New York City!" Jackson exclaimed, completely gob smacked.

Charlie chuckled. "That we are. Come on Damian, put away the tracker and look at this."

"Our main headquarters is in London, one of the most beautiful cities in the world," Damian said with confidence. "It's better than this dump."

"You're loyalty to the crown knows no bounds," Charlie noted sardonically. He patted Jackson on the back, startling the African American boy out of his reverie. "Since you've been glued to that thing since we got here, I hope you found the signal?"

"I wish," Damian admitted. "You'd think that such a huge city would have a higher concentration of leeches, but either we need a new tracker or there really aren't any here." He slumped back in his chair, idly slurping up his coffee. The café he bought it from boasted that they had the best coffee in the city, but that was a load if Damian ever heard one.

"But we track vampires that suck blood," Jackson suddenly pointed out. "Maybe in New York, they just feed on life energy instead of blood."

Charlie thought for a moment. "People are always on the move here, never resting. There must be so much unbridled energy that vampires don't need to suck blood when they can just take their food straight out of thin air."

"Well that makes things substantially more boring." Damian leaned back dramatically, catching the eye of one of the waitresses in the café. She was a pretty thing, and Damian smiled at her appreciatively. The girl giggled before turning away, putting an extra bounce in her step.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Well, it's not like we can do anything about it."

"Maybe, since there are so few readings, we can treat this as a vacation," Jackson pointed out hopefully. "I mean, yeah, we're on a mission, but that doesn't mean we can't take in the sights."

"This is one of the most visited places in the world," the boy of Chinese descent added. Both boys looked at Damian hopefully.

The British youth pouted before downing the rest of his coffee. "Alright, fine, we'll get a paid vacation." The two boys cheered at that. Damian held up a finger. "But the second the tracker picks up a reading about a vampire, we drop everything to track it down."

"Says the guy who once put an entire mission on hold to flirt with one girl," Charlie scoffed, raising an eyebrow.

"She was hot!" Damian protested.

"You haven't spoken to her in six months," Jackson pointed out.

"So? Still worth it."

"You're incorrigible," Charlie groaned.

"I have no idea what that means."

Both Jackson and Charlie groaned as the tracker suddenly came to life. "Oh, great," Jackson muttered.

"Awesome!" Damian cheered as he peered at the small screen. His eyes narrowed, and his voice became steely. "It's right across the street."

All three boys jumped into action. Abandoning their drinks and leaving some money, they strode towards the intersection, Jackson studying the tracker's screen as the other two boys readied their weapons. Or tried to, at least. They were in the middle of the crush, and pulling out guns and wooden stakes would be catastrophic. And Jackson was trying not to trip over his own feet-people were constantly jostling him, making him nearly drop the thin black tracker numerous times.

"How did the tracker miss this?" Charlie hissed as the three boys huddled together.

"The signal's weak," Jackson answered as loudly as he dared. "Our target must be an energy leech instead of a bloodsucker."

"Doesn't matter," Damian said, smirking. "It needs to die."

They spotted the target the second it spotted them. The target was male, fairly short, with white blond hair and ghostly pale skin. He was wearing baggy clothes and dark shades to cover his eyes. He was holding a coffee, and was walking idly on the street, but slowed down when he spotted the three young hunters. The vampire's mouth stretched into a little 'o' before he suddenly disappeared from sight.

"Follow him!" Charlie barked as the three boys broke into a run. Well, tried to anyway. They were in the crush of NYC traffic, after all. But if they were slowed down, so was their target.

The three hunters followed the tracker's signal into a web of alleyways. They dodged overflowing trashcans and wayward newspapers and the occasional homeless person that had taken bed for the night. They ran and rolled and tumbled, steadily gaining on the vampire.

"Okay, this is starting to get annoying," Jackson said in between huffs. He pulled something out of his tool belt and told the others, "Distract him!"

Damian sped up and grabbed the vampire by the collar of his shirt. Jerking him back, he sent a solid punch to the target's face before throwing him to Charlie. The glasses were sent to the pavement, revealing the vampire's angry and fearful brown eyes.

The vampire hissed and bared his fangs, running at Charlie. Taking up a boxing position, Charlie sent a flurry of punches, hitting cold flesh. Disorientated from the pain, the vampire leered back at Damian, who smirked. He jump kicked the monster straight back at Charlie, who stoically punched him towards Jackson.

Jackson took a quick, deep breath before throwing a metal ball. The ball lit up and expanded, becoming metallic ropes that tied around the target in a vice like grip. The vampire fell to the floor, struggling and failing to get out.

Damian gave a low whistle. "Damn, this must be embarrassing for you." He kicked the vampire in the back, making him hiss angrily.

Charlie glared at his friend. "Dude, don't make it worse for him."

"Why not? He's gonna die anyway."

"I'm surprised it was this easy to capture him," Jackson noted. "Normally we'd have at least a couple of injuries."

"You said it yourself, the signal was weak," Charlie pointed out. "I'm guessing it's a weak vampire."

"Hopefully Bellwood's more interesting than this," Damian stated as he pulled something out of his belt. It was long and cylindrical and smelled faintly of oak.

"You'll never get away with this!" the vampire snarled before Jackson stuffed a rag in his mouth.

"Funny, you make us sound like the bad guys," Damian taunted as he plunged the stake into the vampire's chest.

That's because you are the bad guys.

I feel like the Valentine Manor segment was the weakest part of the chapter. I tried to make it engaging, because it's talking about things I haven't had a chance to address and I felt it pertinent to do so, but still, it sounds a little flat to me.

So, thoughts anyone?