Baptism
Four Years ago…
"You are certain that the Pit hasn't driven him mad?" her father's furious voice rang in her ears.
Talia remained calm. "It has not."
"Perhaps not tonight or even tomorrow. It could take weeks, months, decades! You have no concept of the power you are trifling with!" He pointed a finger at his daughter, seething with rage at her deception.
"You searched long and hard for answers to the boy's resurrection. It seems not to be a ruse, or an act of science." He looked back at her.
He turned away from her, "This Kevin Levin is an unknown entity. We do not know what force has returned him from beyond. And you have empowered him with the nature of the Pit."
"I have given him back his life," Talia shot back. Her father moved toward the door.
"No. You have unleashed a pestilence. I live from the Pit. And I know what burns in my heart."
Present Day…
Gwen had quietly searched for Kevin's death certificate; she couldn't find anything about him dying anywhere. Not in any alien database, nor anywhere on Earth, not even his DNA, it was like Kevin Levin did not exist.
She was feeling frustrated, there were no new leads and she hadn't had time to slip away from her school friends to see Davis McCullen. Her investigation into Kevin's death had hit a dead end, she couldn't even find where he'd been living, and even any indication he'd been in the Null Void had been mysteriously erased.
Gwen was heading out to Ben's car; they were going to meet Kevin at Mr. Smoothes and eat dinner together and then go search for more clues into Jack White.
A woman watched her leave and waited until she was half way to her cousin's car before approaching her.
"You should not pry any further into anything concerning Kevin Levin's past," a voice told her.
Gwen turned around to look at the speaker. Standing behind her was a stunningly beautiful woman, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.
"Who are you and how do you know about Kevin?" Gwen demanded.
"I know plenty of things about him," the woman replied. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave it well enough alone."
"What interest do you have in Kevin, and how do you know that I know him?" Gwen demanded. Sure you could read up on their relationship on the internet, but this went far beyond the casual knowledge that people could learn about her through just looking up information. She did not make it public knowledge that Kevin had died, she hadn't even told Ben because she wanted to find concrete proof of it first.
"You have no right to tell me what I do with my life!" Gwen snapped. She didn't normally get angry, but this woman had her on edge. "I'm looking into this because I need to know the truth."
"if you value your life, you should leave these stones unturned. His past is a danger for you, and you have caused him to diverge from his true path," the malice in the woman's voice was evident.
"You're not making any sense, but if you're threatening me, I will defend myself," Gwen didn't move but prepared to block any attack the woman might throw at her.
"Relax young Gwendolyn, I will not hurt you, but should you continue to research answers regarding Kevin, I cannot guarantee your safety."
"I guarantee my own safety!" Gwen glared at her. "Just who are you?"
"My name is Talia, that is all you need to know," Talia replied.
"Well Talia," Gwen already knew her name because Kevin had muttered it in his sleep, but she wasn't about to tell her that, "I will do what I have to, and I will find out the truth about Kevin, and nothing's going to stop me."
"Fierce and determined, and yet you care for him so much, perhaps that's why he loves you."
"This conversation's over," Gwen walked off.
"For now. After all, a hero's work is never done, I'll be seeing you again soon," Talia turned and walked away.
Gwen made a mental note to keep an eye out for that woman. She didn't like her one bit. And the fact that Kevin knew her seemed unsettling.
Gwen saw the brown eyed, brown haired Davis McCullen loitering outside of her school.
"Beautiful, it's so nice of you to come back, do you have what I need?" he asked, eagerly to get some of that precious green currency between his greedy fingers.
"I have a hundred dollars," Gwen handed him the money.
"Here's your Chuckles, enjoy," he tossed her a small bag.
"That's not a lot," she told him, looking disappointed. "I'll need a lot more."
"Give me a kiss…and maybe a little more than that, and I'll give you twice that much."
"You'll give it to me, and you won't complain or make me pay anything for it."
Davis pulled out a gun and pointed it at Gwen. She immediately reached up and forced him to push the gun away from her, twisting his wrist and forcing him to keep his gun hand by his leg as she repeatedly punched him with her other fist. She immediately reached down and placing her hand under the gun, and around the area where the trigger was, she twisted it out of his grasp, breaking his finger as she aimed his own weapon at him.
"You'll give me another bag, and don't think that this is for the drugs, there's something else going on here and I want information from you."
"What do you want to know?"
"You'll give me another bag, and don't think that this is for the drugs, there's something else going on here and I want information from you."
"What do you want to know?"
"What do you know about Jack White?"
"I've never hear the name before, but there were these clown guys hanging around the dock, every Thursday, at 11 at night. I'll do whatever you want, just don't shoot me!"
"Some tough guy you are, don't ever show your face around this school again!"
Davis McCullen took off running, Gwen backed up to her car, refusing to take her eyes off him.
"Dammit!" Davis swore. "That girl took my gun, I'm gonna find out where she lives and pay her a visit, stupid kid thinks she can play vigilante with me!"
"Hello again Davis," Red Hood greeted him again.
"Look man, I did what you said, I gave the girl what she wanted, I even told her what she wanted to know, now will you let me off the hook?"
"You tried to shoot her," Red Hood said, his voice cold and full of hatred.
"Look how that turned out, she broke my damn finger. Please just leave me alone."
"No, you've outlived your usefulness; it's time for me to kill you for being a pathetic piece of scum."
Red Hood took out a handgun and fired two bullets into Davis McCullen's skull and before he hit the pavement, he was dead.
"Everything's going just as planned," Red Hood said to himself. "Finally I'll get him to come out."
Red Hood walked away, it was going to be a busy night.
Gwen headed over to Mr. Smoothes where she saw Kevin's car pulling up. He got out and walked over to her.
"I've got a lead, it's down by the docks, heard that the Chuckles is coming in tonight. Maybe we'll get lucky."
The three teens headed down to the dock. They found the familiar looking clown goons unloading large containers.
"C'mon boys, Joe Kur wants his shipment soon, says the party is about to start," a nameless thug told the others, "And we don't want to disappoint him, bad things happen when he's disappointed."
"Hate to bust up this party," Ben smirked, "But nobody ships drugs into my town without a fight."
The ensuing brawl stunned Gwen, who was using every bit of her martial arts training to fend off the thugs; they grabbed anything that could be used as a weapon.
Ben transformed into Swampfire, trapping thugs in his vines and holding them still as Gwen used her Mana to knock them out, all except for one that Ben caught in his human form as he tried to run away.
"Spill it Clowny, who is Joe Kur, tell me where I can find him!" Ben demanded.
"I can't tell you, he'll kill me, he's the Thin White Duke of Death, I don't want him to—" suddenly, something popped out from the man's chest and sprayed a gas into the man' face. Kevin pulled the two cousins away.
"Get back!" he ordered. The man began uncontrollably laughing and went into a terrible seizure, convulsing as he began foaming at the mouth. His lips pulled up into a horribly contorted smile and Ben shrugged off Kevin's hand and moved to the man, feeling for a pulse. The man was dead.
"So sorry you had to go and spoil the fun, but you've ruined my surprise for the Alien Weirdo," a voice spoke from a speaker.
Kevin felt his blood run cold, it was a voice he hadn't wanted to hear again, but he already knew who it was.
"Who are you?" Ben asked. He looked at the microphone.
"Oh come on kid, I'm sure you've heard of me," a hologram appeared in front of him as he saw a man standing before him in a suit, a purple suit with a flower joy buzzer and nice shoes.
Green hair and chalk white skin with a hideous Glasgow smile. "I mean, who hasn't heard of me?"
Gwen gasped and stared in horror. She would never forget her cousin's reaction to the sight of the Joker; he didn't make any boastful comebacks or smart comments. No confident statement that he would stop him.
Ben Tennyson who had faced down some terrible, horrifying villains and had saved the world more than once let out a terrified, fear-filled scream as he fell back onto the ground.
"The Joker…Clown from Hell…Clown from Hell…Clown from Hell," Ben repeated the phrase over and over.
"What are you doing here, Joker?" she demanded.
"I was bored, and I thought, "Joker, you haven't fought anybody new and interesting, lately." So I turn on the TV and boom, Will Harague is raving about some lame-o Ben 10, so I figured I'd pay him a visit. After all, you're not a real hero until you've beaten me. He should be honored that I want to throw a party in his town."
"You're going to put something in the water supply to kill us all. We're going to stop you," Gwen said firmly. She did not have her cousin's fear of clowns, but after today, she might.
"Oh will you look at Miss Confident over there, I like her. You're pretty smart, kinda like Batman. I'm gonna enjoy breaking your neck. But I'll kill your cousin first and maybe your brother if you has one."
Gwen visibly shuddered. How anyone could live in Gotham City was beyond her, especially since that was his home turf.
"You aren't going to do that!" Kevin snarled.
"Oh, wait a second, is that you? You still running around in my hoodie pajamas? Well that just makes this more fun, and with no Dork Knight to stop me, I'm going to run rampant all over this place, unless your Alien Weirdo can get up enough nerve to face me like a man. Well I'll be seeing all of you soon, if you don't mind my parting gift."
Gwen looked down, she hadn't seen it before, but there was a bomb strapped to the goon's body!
"Get behind me!" she ordered and put up a shield around the three of them. The blast was so strong it broke her barriers. They all hit the ground and Kevin scrambled to his feet.
"Gwen!" he called to her. "Are you all right?"
"Yes…what about Ben?" she asked.
"I'm here," Ben got up. "I can't believe I froze like that. I should have at least put up a brave front."
"Tennyson, smart people see his face and run away," Kevin told him.
"I was caught off guard by a clown, a clown," Ben berated himself. "I overcame that fear a long time ago."
"Ben, Joker's not just some clown, he's the worst murderer in the history of the world," Gwen told him. "He makes Hitler look like a saint."
"That's not exactly a good metaphor is it?" Kevin added.
"What was that quip he made about hoodie pajamas for Kevin? He acted like he knew you." Ben looked at his best friend. He seemed the same as always.
"He must have mistaken me for someone else," Kevin told them.
"You've never did business with him when you were a criminal did you?" Gwen asked.
"Uh, no, anyone with a good brain in their skull knows to stay away from him. You could get rich because of him, but most likely you'll get dead."
"We should split up—" Ben began to suggest.
"Oh, no, he's after you, Ben, you by yourself isn't a good idea," Gwen gave him a hard look. "We'll go check the Bellwood reservoir and water plant for where chemicals are."
"I have been working on some leads, but I have to go, I have contacts in the criminal underground, since this is a pretty big deal, I'm sure that people have heard things. I'll be gone all evening, if you need me, call me."
Kevin got into his car and left, Ben headed over to his and Gwen got in the passenger door.
"Let's head to the reservoir," Gwen suggested. "It's the closest building. I'll get some samples and we'll use the Plumber's tech to test the water. At least we'll be able to tell if there's any of this chemical in the water."
"But one of the goons said that the stuff ignites in the air, and nobody has lit themselves on fire using the sink yet," Ben noted, "Let's hope we can find where they're storing the stuff. You said Red Hood shot the guys who had the chemicals, and blew up the building. We could have used it to try to figure out how to make an antidote."
"We've got a lot of work to do, I wish Kevin were here to help instead of chasing his own leads."
"Don't worry Gwen, Kevin does his own thing, and maybe he'll find out something we don't know."
"We better get started," Ben said as he drove to the reservoir; it was going to be a long evening.
Kevin drove away from them, he knew that he would be busy investigating the Joker, he knew that someday this might happen, and he knew he was going to stop him, but first he had to go to his mechanics shop, he was going to need some things and he didn't have them on him at the moment, he'd buried too many secrets and held back in so many areas of his life.
But now it was time to chase his past until he caught it, and Heaven help the bad guys who got in his way.