We're getting closer to the end!! Yayz!

What kind of Ben 10 fan would I be if I didn't include this song?

---

A Little Faster

"You say you always keep your word,

show me what you're after.

I thought you'd promise me the world,

tell me what you're after.

Go on and take it way too far

'cause here we are waiting once again.

You say you always keep your word.

Show me what you're after

Just a little faster."

~There For Tomorrow~

Ben picked up the purple flash drive on the desk.

"What's that?" Julie said, looking over his shoulder.

"I think it's the answer to all of this," he said as he turned on a computer and put it in; the file popped up.

Ben and Julie leaned in close to the computer. Julie asked, "You understand any of this?"

"Nope," Ben said, pulling the drive back out, "but I know Gwen does." He looked over to Julie, "Go get Grandpa Max, and track me with his badge."

"Where are you going?," she asked as he started walking out.

"I'm going to get Kevin," he said, without looking back.

---

Gwen walked down the narrow alleyway, leaving a small trail of blood from her hand. She hid behind part of the wall and looked out. In front of her was enough concrete to make a decent parking lot, and passed that was the only garage with lights on at three in the morning.

She could make out Kevin from the light, walking around his Challenger, fixing it up, just as calm as could be. Even though she thought it was strange, she was suddenly happy. For the first time, he didn't seem to care about her, and that actually made her happy.

He was on the side of the car, elbow deep in the engine, messing with something. Kevin leaned up and looked down at it. Her happiness drowned away when she realized he was staring at the engine for far too long.

Something glistened against the light and caught her eye. Some feet from, almost directly between the two of them, was the locket she threw at him not an hour ago. She looked back up to Kevin.

The first thing she noticed was that about half of his arm had turned green and he was still absorbing the car. Without any warning, he swung his arm back and punched his car so hard, that the engine fell out through the bottom. He walked over to the front, still calm, and punched the grill in. The hood flew off, over his head, landing with sparks behind him.

Kevin walked back around his car to get his tools and he started working again.

Gwen was speechless. Kevin had just wrecked his own car. Kevin! She was stunned again when, within ten minutes, it looked like nothing happened to it except for the hood's missing status.

With his powers, fixing the car up had been nothing and took no time at all. He slowly looked over to the hood and started walking out to it.

She hid a little better behind the wall. As he got closer, she could see his face clearer. He looked like what she felt. Just numb.

Kevin absorbed some of the hood and picked half of it up; then he saw the locket. He stayed there for a while, and finally let the hood fall and walked over to the necklace. He picked it up by the chain and held on to the locket with the other hand. After a sigh, he screamed and threw it at least ten feet as if it was on fire. Then he walked back to the hood. Before he picked it up, he kicked it for good measure.

Gwen realized that she had been holding her breath just then. She watched him put the hood back on in record time and close it.

He stared at his car again, just like before. Instead of destroying it again, he tossed his head up and let out a sigh. Then he walked out and picked up the locket again. Kevin walked over to his car, sat down by it, and leaned his back against the wheel.

She forgot herself for a minute - a side effect to no sleep - and walked out of the shadows a little.

Kevin dangled the necklace in front of him and twisted it around a few times. He eventually stopped the spinning and opened the locket. A picture of himself stared back at him. Next to himself, Gwen stood against him. The day from the pier, a much better day then this; apparently, all of it lies.

He closed it, stood up, and threw it another ten feet. Kevin sat back down against the car and put his head in his arms.

She just wanted to see him again, make sure he was all right. Instead, she was crying again.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, then turned and ran back down the alley before teleporting away.

---

Kevin suddenly lifted his head. Eventually, he displaced the thought for his growing insanity. No way would she be there - or anywhere in Bellwood right now, for that matter. Then, he heard something that he knew wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. Ben's footsteps.

He absorbed his car over his right arm and made a quick swing for Ben, who was just entering through the door. Ben narrowly ducked in time, and managed to punch Kevin in the stomach and knock him back a little.

Kevin regained his breath quickly, "You really want to do this?"

"No," said Ben, getting in a fighting stance just in case, "I really don't."

"What on Earth possessed you to come here, Tennyson?"

"I think I know what's wrong with Gwen."

"Yeah; so do-" Kevin was cut short when Ben pulled out the flash drive from his pocket. "What's that?" he asked, with his arms still ready to punch Ben in the face.

"I'm not sure," Ben said, "I found it at the com-center, after you left. It's in a different language that I know Gwen understands. I think it's the cause of all this."

"I think you're reading too much into it." Kevin put his arms down and walked around the car. "Go home, Ben. She doesn't care about any of us, so there's not much of a point."

"You really believe that!?," Ben said angrily, "You were the only one left on her side earlier!"

"Well, things change!"

"Not like this!," he screamed, then softer he said, "I know you care about her enough to give her a fighting chance."

Kevin looked away, his pride not wanting to give Gwen any chance.

"Kevin, please," Ben pleaded, causing Kevin to look back up. "If she's acting this way, then this is serious. We have to figure what's going on before something really happens."

He looked away again. What if there was something wrong with her? Something serious? Then, that would mean she was trying to push people away so they wouldn't worry about it. Exactly what he would do himself.

Kevin took a deep sigh and held his arm out to Ben, who handed him the drive.

---

Ben felt like, once again, he was just there. It turned out Kevin did know a little of the language, and was looking it over as best he could.

While Kevin skimmed through it, Ben asked, "How do you know this language?"

"It's an old alien language. I didn't think any race used it anymore. How does Gwen know it?"

"I remember it from her old spell books. Learned anything yet?"

Kevin was skimming through pretty quickly. "It's nothing but old legends," he said, but cut himself off when he got to the end.

"What is it?" Ben asked, after Kevin stayed quiet for a second.

"No way," Kevin muttered under his breath, then skimmed back up a little then down again.

Ben hated being out of the loop. He just huffed, put his hand on his hip and waited for Kevin to notice. Then something happened that Ben never seen before, and it got him pretty scared. Kevin had turned snow white and getting whiter, then gray.

"What?" Ben asked, anxious. "What did it say?"

"Two weeks," Kevin answered as he grabbed his keys off the shelf, and started walking away.

Ben turned to face him. "Please, just tell me what's going on."

Kevin stopped walking to the car and turned to Ben. "I think... Gwen's going to kill herself... And I don't think she's waiting for the deadline."

"What are you talking about?"

"Go get Max, he'll know," he said, as he opened the car door.

"Where are you going?" Ben asked from the other side of the car.

"I'm going to get Gwen," then Kevin got in the car and sped out of the garage.

Ben, confused, turned into JetRay and flew off to the Rustbucket.

Before Kevin left, he stopped in the middle of the lot, opened the door and picked up Gwen's locket. He hadn't forgotten about their 'connection', and right now, he needed it.

---

Ohhhhh..... Not a whole lot happening in this chapter, but it needed to be there.

The famous locket is from the Season 3 ep "Fool's Gold". Kevin gives it to Gwen so she'd remember who he used to be before his mutation. I love that episode. The 'connection' in the last paragraph is from the Season 3 ep "Vendetta" which is a FANTASTIC episode.

I'm informing this stuff b/c a lot of people didn't watch Season 3, for a number of reasons. I missed, like, half of it.

The next chapter is when things start getting REALLY good. The climax is here people!! (and it'll probably last about 4 chapters hehehe)