The cool air pierced at the skin of two particular figures riding in the shadows of the early morning dark. Paying no mind however, to the harsh cold bitter feeling they were receiving, as they began slipping in and out of the deepest corners of the nearest building that had surrounded them. Ben, was first to stop at the last angled grey indentation of the solid rock hideout.

Slowly bringing his view around the said corner, making sure that no one was coming out the shadows, Ben, finally spoke. "Okay." He whispered, as he held up his left arm, signaling for his comrade to stop where he was. "This is it, the castle that Grandpa said the deal was supposedly taking place at."

Kevin nodded silently in response, while absorbing the stern rock next to him as cover, just in case their stealth like abilities failed. Rounding around Ben, he heads toward the direction of the lowest window of the mid-evil like building, peering in, trying to find out what, or who, they were about to come up against.

"Laser Lances." Kevin simply said, after only seconds of looking inside.

"What?" Ben whispered back, walking up beside his teammate, peeking inside the building as well.

"It's just a simple tech deal." Kevin grins darkly, as he points into the window they were now both looking into. "Man. Forever Knights sure aren't that creative on being evil, are they?" He snickers under his breath, as he shrugs his shoulders. "Should be an easy take down."

"Yeah, that's what you said the last time." Ben huffs under his breath, keeping his voice down to a dull whisper. "And we had both our butts handed to us that night too. We barely made it out alive!"

"Any fight you can walk away from." Kevin smiled, as he kept his eyes piercing into the nearby window. "Looks like there's about ten Knights, and one, maybe two buyers." He said, as he crouched down, almost sitting under the glass covered opening, while Ben, naturally followed suit. "Like I said. Easy."

"But that doesn't mean there isn't more bad guys in the other four hundred rooms of the castle either, Kevin." Ben warned as he began clicking the dial that was located on his right arm, searching for the correct alien to do the job. "It's now or never, I guess." He sighs.

"Yep." Kevin said, getting in the ready for the attack. "So, how do we wanna go about it this time?"

"Attack of surprise always seems to work in our favor." Ben wickedly grins back at the ex-con standing next to him, as he pushes the dial button down onto his wrist, while making the air around them in return glow into a bright green flash of light. "CANNONBOLT!" The alien chimed out into the cool, star lit air.

Rolling himself into a tight ball, Cannonbolt forcefully rammed into the entry way, knocking the large heavy door of the castle down, with Kevin running soon after, right on the alien's heals'.

Upon the Knights hearing the door of their beloved home being destroyed, they immediately began to open fire, causing Kevin to abruptly duck behind some large crates that were located just to the left of him.

Cannonbolt though, showed no signs of slowing down, the lasers blasting out from all sides of the room, were just bouncing off the massive alien's thick outer shell, making some of the red beamed bullets ricochet into nearby adjacent walls.

"Get the big rollie pollie one!" The leader of the knights shouted out, ordering his followers to stop the destructive beast that was ultimately destroying their once, beautiful castle.

While some of the lasers had stopped firing, Kevin took the open opportunity, and made his way through a few Forever Knights, dropping most, dead in their tracks by his fists' of rock alone. Letting out a deep battle cry, Kevin began to run over to where Ben was. It looked as though the hero was being overrun by the evil bad guys dressed in tinfoil. The hero had been right, every time they'd make some head way, more, and more Knights seemed to be crawling out of practically nowhere.

Finally, Kevin made his way to his friend's side. "Where did they all come from!" He shouted, as his fist collided with yet another hard metallic face.

"I told you they were like rats!" Cannonbolt grinned, as he rolled over five more Forever Knights that stood in his path. "You never seem to wanna to listen to me!"

"Well, someday, I just might." Kevin retorted, slamming more silver covered bad guys against the floors and walls of the building they were now fighting in. "Because this?" He raises his arms in a gesture. "Is freaken ridiculous!"

While Kevin was distracted for a moment, a bright red laser beam struck him in the chest, sending the poor man through a rock solid wall just across the way, knocking the wind and him, completely out.

Kevin had gone down….

FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT.

"Hey." A voice echoed into the ears of the fallen Osmosian, his eyes began to flutter open, then, shutting themselves closed over and over again, as the word, "hey" continued to fill into the deep dark caverns leading up into the inside of his throbbing head.

"Hey yourself." Kevin mumbled into the air as he slowly made his way to the sitting position, wincing at the pain that suddenly crawled up to his pain ridden skull.

"You going to make it?" Ben smiled, as he was trying to keep his laughter at the man at bay. "You took quite a hit back there."

"Yeah… My head confirms it." Kevin simply replied back, glaring at the younger hero next to him. "Remind me next time to invest in a helmet or something."

"Funny." Ben chuckles to himself, while helping Kevin to his feet. "My cousin used to say that to me all the time when we were kids. I never listened though…" He sheepishly rubs the back of his head, squinting one of his eyes. "Kind of explains a lot actually."

"Don't start." Kevin growled out, while he dusted the dirt off that collected on his pants from the recent impact that he had with the ground minutes earlier.

"Start what?" Ben asked incredulously, not sure as to why Kevin was suddenly lashing out at him for no good reason. It was just a silly childhood memory of his, nothing more. He liked reliving those days. Some were actually simpler times to him, and most of the time, Ben missed them.

Dearly…

Kevin swiftly waves his hand in the air dismissively. "The whole cousin thing your doin'. We've discussed this."

Ben's brow furrowed in annoyance with his friend. "No. We didn't. You basically just said "not going to happen", and you left it at that." He folds his arms over his chest heatedly. "There was no discussion ever involved here."

"Exactly." Now, it was Kevin's turn to fold his arms in anger. "We already have a ton of people to call upon if we ever need it." He starts to strum the list of names off his fingers a bit too harshly, while collecting said helpers through his mind in thought. "We've got Manny, Helen, Cooper, and Pierce… And don't forget your Gra-"

"Only if their available!" Ben shouts out, interrupting his comrade, finally losing his patience with the dark haired man. The hero was tired of going nowhere with the subject at hand. He was bound and determined to get Kevin to go along with adding another team member. Come hell or high water, it was going to happen, whether the ex-con liked it or not.

Taking in a shallow breath, he continues. "They have their own missions to deal with right now. Most, off planet. They just can't leave some important project their involved in to come and help us, we've tried that idea. It didn't work out." He pauses for a moment, and sighs, while resting a now calmer hand upon his hip. "Like it or not, Kevin, we need her, and you know it."

Kevin stares intently at the ground below him. Ben was right. How much longer before they'd get into some serious trouble that they wouldn't be able to work themselves out of? He knew… He knew the risks they were taking on every mission they went on without that extra teammate working by their side. Hell, he'd experienced it firsthand again this morning when he got knocked out cold by going through a couple feet of solid rock wall…

And he'd tell you that it hurt like a bitch too… It was a simple clarification on his part. Kevin's head wasn't telling him otherwise.

"Fine." Kevin finally whispers out toward his friend.

"I'm sorry?" Ben replied. Not clear as to if he'd heard Kevin correctly or not.

"I said-" The man stops for a short second, taking in a deep breath from the cool midnight air, almost as if in defeat, while running his calloused fingers through his raven haired locks. "Fine."

Ben smiles back in return, while laying a hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Thanks, Kevin. We need all the help we can get." Taking his hand back off Kevin's shoulder, he begins to head over to his parked car just across the way of the half destroyed Forever Knights' castle. He then chuckles to himself, bringing the raven haired man's hard like gaze up from the ground below. "Ya know? It's a good thing you agreed with me this time."

"Yeah? Why's that? Kevin's aksed curiously, while raising a brow.

"Because, she'll be here in three days." Kevin's jaw instantly drops, causing Ben to laugh a bit harder under his breath at the sight of the man's sudden actions with his gaping mouth. "Don't worry." He shrugs, already knowing what Kevin was thinking. "You'll like her. Trust me. She gets along with pretty much everybody she meets."

Kevin, in return, just rolls his eyes at the hero in response.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

"So.." Ben sighs heavily into the phone. He'd been talking with his cousin for the last thirty minutes, trying to get the exact time schedule on her arrival. He's was more excited than he let on with her returning to Bellwood. She had been taking college courses for the last six years, and now, she had finally graduated with her master's degree in psychology, and with a minor's in physics. Ben couldn't be more happier with her accomplishments.

"So, I should be there in like, two days, Ben. No sense in rushing these things ya know…" She mumbles, huffing under her breath. "Same old Ben. Nothing ever changes."

"Admit it. You missed me."

"Yes. I missed you. Just.. Not your stupidity. That's all."

"Gee… Thanks." Ben said, rolling his eyes at her through the phone. "Not sure if I even want you to come back now."

"Ben?"

"Yeah."

"Just shut up." She lets out a small giggle. "I'm coming back to torture you, whether you like it or not. So.. Deal with it."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way."

Ben suddenly heard a loud clanking noise coming from his cousin's side of the phone.

"Oh no." She sighed heavily into Ben's ear.

The hero grips the phone tighter to the side of his face. Remembering back in the day, of what they used to deal with when they were younger, it wouldn't surprise the hero any if she were under an alien attack of some kind. Both her and Ben had made quite the enemies in their past, and now, with what him and Kevin deal with in the present time, it wouldn't take much for the bad guys, slash, villains to seek out both sides of family members, and take them out, the thought alone, scared the hero to death, knowing this important piece of information. It was just common knowledge, for a hero to know such things.

Of course, he also knew, the girl could hold her own, and take care of herself.

"Is everything alright?" Ben asked, maybe a bit too eagerly into his cell, forcing him to stand upright on habit.

"Yeess…" She hissed into the phone, slamming one of her fists into the steering wheel in a heated fashion. If Ben could only see her face, he'd know that she was evidently rolling her eyes at his frantic like gesture. "My car, I think it just died on me, Ben."

"Do you want me to come and get you? Cause you know I can." Ben smiled into the device that sat snugly against his ear.

"Not necessary. Really." She sighs heavily once more. "There's a small town just up ahead. I'm sure there's gotta be someone who can help me."

"You sure?" The hero askes the girl on the other line, making sure that she was truly alright. "All's it takes is one hit on the dial, and-"

"Good bye, Ben. I'll see you in a couple days. Less than that, if you stop bugging the crap out of me, by calling me every ten seconds."

"Alright, alright." Ben brings up his free hand in mock defense. "I'll see you soon… Oh, and, hey."

"Yeah?"

"Just.. You know… Be careful. Okay?"

"Always.. Bye, Ben."

"Bye."

Little did Ben know, his cousin be showing up sooner than she origionally told him. She had also learned back in college, of how to be a professional liar.

Well, if the situation deemed worthy of a lie of course, she would never hesitate on using it.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

Kevin headed to the garage as he usually did after a normal morning, or evening, depending on how those missions fell that day, of fighting off the bad guys. Injury or not, his day moved better without a stupid, pointless pity party anyways. The best part of his day so far though, was that Bethany had taken the week off. Bob, had called him personally, and simply said, "Figured you'd appreciate the call buddy." Kevin smiled to himself in relief. Finally, a quiet day. No annoyances involving her, with her flirting, and her touching, and not to mention her big "busty" advancements.

Pun intended now mind you.

Pushing those aggravating thoughts aside, Kevin grabbed the tools off the workbench and got right to work. Nothing calmed the man down more than working on cars. He loved it. If he wasn't intent with his intergalactic workings as well, he'd totally do this full time. To him, car maintenance hardly ever seemed like "work" at all.

Forever Knights, and kicking bad guy's butts.. Now that, was work.

Rubbing his smarted head at the thought of what just transpired only hours ago, he rolls himself back under the red broken down impala he'd began working on yesterday. Bringing the wrench to a loose bolt that needed tightening, a short shuffling like noise coming just outside of the large, opened garage door, caused Kevin to stop in midstride.

Sensing no immediate danger, Kevin then realized that it was probably just another customer coming into the shop too early, thinking that since the door was open, the shop must have been too, not knowing the stores hours. Putting the wrench back up onto the loose bolt, Kevin simply bellows out, "Look. We're not open yet. Come back in an hour."

"Oh… I'm sorry." The person sighed, almost sounding like they were disappointed, but at the same time, caught off guard with the man's deep husky like voice suddenly jetting out from underneath the vehicle that sat in front of them. "It's just that, my cars' broken down, like a mile from here. So.. I was hoping that maybe you could help me?"

Kevin's eyes looked out from the space just underneath the car he was working on, and all the raven haired man could see, were dark black stiletto high heels, and the most sexy looking pair of legs that he had ever seen, that, and in his opinion, legs that seemed to carry on endlessly, for days on end…

And all Kevin could do at that moment in time, was stare…

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! I love em, love em, love em!

I hope you enjoyed this installment as well. :D

Please review!

Laughs to the people,

The Spoon. :D