Chapter 152: Static Shock: Part One

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters. I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015

Author's Note:

* Hello, everyone. First, I just want to apologize for being inactive for a while. Since my last update on both of my primary stories on here, I've had a lot of stuff happen in my personal life. Some good, some bad. I was in a very bad spot for a while and I didn't have any motivation to really work on stuff on here for some time. But, I'm better now and I think that the worst of what I had been going through is now behind me. So, I will try to get back to posting somewhat consistently on here.

* Now, secondly, I just want to state that I'm working on something big. It is related to my two primary Ben 10 stories on here, or in the very least, it's related to Bride To Be. Describing it as a "Ben 10 story" would kind of be an understatement. I can't reveal anything else as of yet, but I can't wait to go into further detail about what I have cooking in the coming weeks. With that said, let's move on.

* Anyway, hello and welcome to Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Two!

* So, this chapter is where the Volume will begin to pick up. Buckle up readers, because things are going to be big!

* Anyway, with that being said, let's get right into the chapter!

Earth-Prime

Sunday, March 10th, 2019

The Tennyson House

Ben

When I woke up the next morning, Gwen was still snuggling against my bare form. I let out a yawn and began to move. Luckily, when I removed the sheet from me and used the other end of it to add to Gwen's side, she didn't wake up. I got out of bed and walked to the piles of our clothes that we had left on the floor the previous night. I couldn't just walk out to the shower with no clothes on.

I put on the same briefs that I had worn yesterday and walked out into the hall, and towards the bathroom, just wearing those. I entered the bathroom and shut the door behind me. On the way to the shower, I stopped at the sink and saw in the mirror that my facial hair was beginning to become noticeable. I noted that I would also have to shave once I was done in the shower. I walked over to the shower, turned it on and waited for it to warm up.

Once it had warmed up, I stripped off my briefs and tossed them aside before getting it. I had spent maybe a minute getting used to the temperature of the water and getting my hair wet, when I heard the door to the bathroom open. A second or two later, I saw a silhouette pass in front of the shower curtain, where the person came to a stop. I heard a couple of pieces of fabric hit the floor, before the right side of the curtain was pulled back and someone stepped into the shower. I felt a feminine figure snuggle up against my back, joining me in the warm water.

"Good morning." Gwen whispered into my ear.

I reached up over my shoulder and gently took her hand.

"Good morning." I replied.

We stood there together in the water for a while, before Gwen pulled away. I slightly turned my head to try to see her.

"What are you doing?"

I turned my head back around as she came back after a few seconds and I felt her beginning to run her hands through my hair. I also noticed that she had something on her hands.

"I'm washing your hair." She replied as she began scrubbing my scalp.

That was something else. Standing in warm water while your girlfriend was massaging your scalp with shampoo was an entirely different sensation than I was used to. It was on a whole other level. I tried to distract myself from the sensation so that I wouldn't get too comfortable.

"Do you want me to wash your hair?" I asked.

"I don't think so, mister." Gwen replied. "I have a specific way that I wash it and I don't want it getting messed up. I can do it myself."

For some reason, hearing her say that hurt. As she continued to lightly scrub my scalp, she began humming in a soothing tone. After another minute or so, she quit humming and spoke.

"Lean forward for me." She whispered.

I leaned forward so that my hair got doused by the warm water as she continued to lightly scrub away. After she was satisfied that my hair was clean, she went to grab the soap bar and began to scrub the areas that I couldn't get to. After a few minutes of scrubbing my back, the back of my neck and legs, she reached around and began to scrub my chest and abdomen. After a few seconds, she reached down below the waist and that's where I drew the line. I grabbed her hand and forced it back up above my waist.

"Nuh-uh, Gwen. The last thing I need is for us to be getting frisky and one of us slips and hurts ourselves."

She just chuckled.

"Ben, I wasn't going to do anything naughty." She said as she hugged herself tightly against my back, wrapping her arms around my stomach. "I just want to wash down there."

"Thanks, but I can do that part myself."

After I said that, I moved to get out of the shower, but Gwen spoke.

"You're not going to wash down there?"

Okay, hearing you say that is beginning to get a little weird, I thought.

"Not with you watching, no." I said.

"Oh, come on." She said. "What's the matter? Got stage fright?"

"Sure." I said as I grabbed the curtain, getting ready to pull it back. "You could call it that."

Before I could pull the curtain back, I felt her gently grab my hand.

"Before you go, can you at least wash my back?" she asked.

I let out a sigh and let go of the curtain, before taking my place behind her. I gently grabbed her left shoulder and was about to start scrubbing her back, when she slightly turned her head and spoke.

"Be gentle with me, please."

That made me perk up and for some reason, I decided to act a little quirky.

"You're aware that you told me that exact same thing last night, right?" I whispered into her ear.

She didn't say anything, she just remained standing there. I was beginning to get a little worried and rightfully so. She lifted up her right foot and then forcefully brought it down on my right foot.

Slam!

"Ow!" I exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"For being inappropriate." She replied.

"Being inappropriate? You're the one who was acting inappropriate!"

"I was doing no such thing, Ben! Now, will you please wash my back?"

And so, I gave in and started washing my girlfriend's back. After I was done with that, I was free to leave the shower, grabbing a towel to wrap around my waist on the way out. I walked over to the sink and prepped to shave. I had just gotten the shaving cream onto my neck and was about to start, when I heard the shower shut off. Gwen walked behind me, with a towel wrapped around her. I was surprised when she pressed herself up against my back and took the razor out of my hand.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" I asked as she began to shave my face herself.

"Relax." She replied in a soothing tone. "I know what I'm doing."

I decided that I didn't want to know what she meant by that. She was actually doing a pretty good job. That is, until she accidentally cut my cheek about a minute in.

"Ow!" I said as I saw blood start to run from the small cut. "Okay, thank you and all Gwen, but you're fired."

I saw her give me a sheepish look through the mirror.

"Sorry." She said as I plucked the razor from her hand.

"I know you are. Now go get dressed, I'll join you when I'm finished here."

And so she left me alone in the bathroom to finish up.

Thirty Minutes Later

After both of us had gotten dressed, Gwen ran an idea by me.

"I'm thinking about going out to get something to eat." She told me. "Do you want to go out for brunch?"

"I don't really know." I replied as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I really need to get back to Director Steel and tell him that his favor has been done."

She frowned at me.

"You can't just call them and ask if they'll pick you up when we're done?"

I shrugged.

"I guess I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, call and ask! It's been a while since we've had quality time just the two of us! I'd like to go out to eat at the very least."

"Okay." I promised her. "I'll find out."

A Few Minutes Later

"Well?" Gwen asked once I came back to her after having made the call.

I shook my head.

"No. They will only pick me up at my house. They said and I quote that 'we are not a taxi service'."

"That is so dumb!" she said in an annoyed voice. "What would the difference be between picking you up here and after we're done with brunch?"

"I don't know. We can go, but I'll just have to come back here and call them from here."

Four Hours Later

S.E.C.T. Helicarrier

Gwen and I waited around for a little bit to go out. Nowhere was open this early on a Sunday, anyway. We had woken up at like six in the morning, so we had to wait until about eight thirty or nine. Anyway, after we went out for brunch, we both went back home, where I called a S.E.C.T. transport to come retrieve me. I was currently talking with Director Steel. And it wasn't going well.

"I don't owe you anything." he said. "You didn't do what you were told."

"I didn't do what you were told?! What are you talking about?!"

"You were instructed to make sure that things went smoothly and what happened? The defendant escaped!"

The defendant has a name...

"You never told me to expect that he could still transform! You told me to sit in on the trial and look things over, which I did! I didn't expect him to be able to break free from his containment suit, plus you told me that he had agreed to plead guilty, which he refused to! As far as I'm concerned, I've held up my end of the bargain."

He didn't say anything.

"If you're not going to hold up your end of our deal, then I'm out of here. Good day, sir."

I turned back around and was about to leave, when I heard Director Steel let out a heavy sigh before speaking.

"It'll take a about another day to prep the surgery ward here in the Helicarrier for his arrival. Send him up here early Tuesday morning and we'll get him taken care of."

I turned back around to look at him.

"Thank you." I said.

"Yeah, yeah. Now get on out of here."

I grimaced at what he said.

Still an asshole to be sure, I thought.

I then left without saying anything else.

Monday, March 11th, 2019

Madison High School Cafeteria

My black eye was healing, but it wasn't completely better yet. I had to talk to Sunny about Albedo's upcoming surgery, since he would not talk to me about it and she thanked me profusely for getting it arranged. To be frank, that made me a little uncomfortable. It would be a while before I'd be used to her and I being on friendly terms. Anyway, it was a pretty typical lunch day. There were no special topics being talked about. Everyone except for Albedo was present today.

"Ben," J.T. said my name. "when are we going to go back to the comic place?"

I pointed at the person in question as I pondered what he said.

"Ask Nathan," I replied. "if he wants to go again, then we'll go. If he doesn't, then we'll plan a day for the three of us to go, I guess."

"Yeah, we can go later. I don't mind. Gives me a chance to pick up a few more comics."

Thinking about the comic book store made me reminisce back to when we first visited the place.

One Week Ago – Thursday, February 28th, 2019

Downtown Bellwood – Atomic Comics

We had arrived at the new comic store, called Atomic Comics. The store doubled as a coffee shop, where you could a variety of different drinks. Coffee (obviously), milkshakes, mochas and probably every other drink that you could find at Starbucks or any other coffee shop. I ended up getting a standard vanilla milkshake, while J.T. and Cash both got lattes. We all sat down at a table eventually, having bought our own respective comic books.

I had bought and was planning on checking out issues fifteen and sixteen of The Amazing Spider-Man. Technically, they were issues eight hundred sixteen and eight hundred seventeen respectively, but when they put a new writer on the series last year, they started the series back at issue one, but kept the legacy numbering. I hate it when comic books do that. Anyway, I had been out of collecting comic books for a while and I had heard good things about the run that Nick Spencer was working on, now that Dan Slott had wrapped up his near-decade run on the character.

J.T. had picked out three comics. He went with issue one and two of the new Daredevil series they had out now, as well as issue seven of Fantastic Four. Cash had picked out just one comic and that was issue five of Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider. That was the thing with him and we all knew it, well maybe Nathan didn't know it. While J.T. and I read comics like Daredevil and Spider-Man, J.T. was into comics like She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and Spider-Gwen.

We didn't question or judge him for his interest in comics. He liked what he liked and that was fine. Meanwhile, Nathan was reading a Jonah Hex comic and had an orange creamsicle milkshake off to the side. Anyway, as the four of us sat at our table, I was staring off into space, as I was thinking to myself. That's when the question entered my mind.

Maybe this is how I tell them that I'm a super hero, I thought.

I put my milkshake down on the table as I asked my question.

"How come no one's ever tried to be a super hero?"

"Hmm," Cash spoke without looking up from his comic book, while J.T. was leaning over, reading over Cash's shoulder. "probably because it's fucking impossible, dude."

That wasn't the response I was expecting.

"Really?" I asked. "Putting on a suit and trying to help people is impossible?"

This time Cash looked up from his comic book and so did J.T.

"I guess not, but honestly, Ben? If someone tried to do it in real life, they'd get their ass kicked!"

What's your point? I've gotten my ask kicked plenty of times and I have almost been killed on more than one occasion.

"They'd be dead in like, a day." Cash spoke again.

"Yeah, totally." J.T. chimed in.

I let out a sigh.

"Okay, but I wasn't saying that you should do it. I just can't wrap my head around the fact of why no one has done it."

Neither of them spoke this time.

"Come on, you would think that out of the millions of people who love comic books and love this shit, that they'd at least put on their own suit and give it a try?"

They still didn't speak.

"What, it doesn't bug you guys, either?"

When they still didn't speak, I put my head in my hands before looking up again and at Nathan for help.

"Nathan, a little help here?" I asked. "I mean, am I crazy? Is everyday life really so exciting? Am I missing something? Is working in a school or office building or any other place really so appealing that everyone is content with just being, I don't know, a normal person?"

Nathan closed the comic book he was reading, keeping his finger between the pages he was on.

"Honestly, most people are just content with letting bad shit happen. Pack mentality, nobody does anything if the majority doesn't. So if you have only a few vigilantes or heroes, it might inspire a few people, but it's not like you're going to see a couple thousand masked people take to the streets and start laying the hurt on criminals."

Nathan paused to take a sip of his milkshake before continuing.

"And if you did have that many people on the streets, think about how many of them would be willing to give said criminals over to the police, and how many more would be willing to just kill the criminals instead? Cut out the middleman and stop them from ever committing crimes again, that's the issue that would end up arising once you hundreds to thousands of vigilantes on the streets. Not that many people are going to end up being heroes, and not that many are going to end up living when they get into something they aren't prepared to deal with. They wouldn't be beaten up, they'd be killed, and their corpse would be strung up on display as a warning to everyone else."

After that, I decided that it would be best for me to shut up.

Sometime Later

Eventually the four of us had to leave the shop and once we did, J.T. and Cash parted ways with Nathan and I, leaving us to walk in an opposite direction. As Nathan and I were walking, he began to say something to me.

"Tennyson, why did you start asking about that whole vigilante thing, back in the store?"

I let out a sigh. I had expected that this would be coming, him asking what I was going on about.

"I don't know." I eventually responded. "I thought that asking about real life super heroes would be a great way to segue into me telling them my secret. I guess that was a mistake, huh?"

Nathan scoffed.

"Listen, I know you mean well, but to be completely honest, I wouldn't trust those two with a secret like that. They have no idea of the implications of what having that kind of information means. And it will put them in extreme danger, the kind that they can't deal with, the kind the police can't deal with. Better not to tell them, at least not for now, maybe later down the line you can, but right now isn't a good time to start telling people known as Kaine."

I came to my senses as he said that.

"You know what? You're probably right. It wasn't too long ago, before you showed up, that they were using a slingshot to peg me with bits of carrot at lunch. They're practical jokers and not even best friend material as of now. They're just 'friends'."

I sighed.

"I guess without my mother to talk to about all of this, sometimes I yearn for someone new to talk to. I guess that's the idea I had in mind. Thanks for helping me see that I probably dodged a bullet."

I cleared my throat.

"And you know what else? They're not really that into comics like I am. Before we all became friends in junior year, they just played video games and watched some super hero movies. They never read comics until they saw the collection that I had and got interested in entering that world for themselves."

"Just give them some time, actually a lot of time. I'm sure they can be trusted with that kind of information eventually, but not for now. But if you're looking for someone to talk to about this kind of stuff with, why not talk to Kai? You told me she knows about your secret identity, so why not confide in her? Or your girl? I'm sure either of them would be more than happy to talk about that with you."

"I can't trust Gwen with one of my secrets. I told you, if that got out, her family would disown me. And Kai can handle what I need to say, I'm sure. But we used to 'date', Nathan. I'll spare you the details and say that she cheated on me and that was my first relationship with a girl. If you can understand, she hurt me then and part of me still hasn't recovered. And honestly, I'm not yet used to her being friendly all the time."

"Listen, Tennyson, I understand holding a grudge, mine only ended when that bastard Enoch died. But you should give her a chance, if you don't confront that now, you're never going to recover from it. Hell, I've not been a normal guy for years, and now that I have a chance to be a normal guy, what with the Forever Knights being dealt with, I have absolutely no fucking clue as to what I'm going to do."

"I guess all we can do is try. You try to be a normal guy now that Enoch and the Forever Knights are done. We agreed that the splinter group in Scotland can wait. Meanwhile, I'll try to get over my issues with Kai. I ought to be heading home. I'll see you later, Nathan."

"Later Tennyson, and don't do anything stupid." Nathan said with a wave as he walked off.

Present Day – Monday, March 11th, 2019

Madison High School Cafeteria

After being done with my trip down memory lane, I finally started eating my lunch. I had been eating for maybe a minute when Gwen spoke.

"Hey, guys. Listen to this."

We all moved in closer, except for me, as she raised the volume on her phone and sat it closer to us so that we could hear what was going on.

"We're here in Downtown Bellwood where a man apparently made of electricity is terrorizing the city—"

That's all I heard. To be frank, that's all that mattered. I dropped my plastic fork on my tray as I looked up from my lunch. As I looked up I noticed that Nathan was looking at me. The look on his face told me that he knew exactly what I was thinking about. But he didn't shake his head or anything, even though he had told me four weeks ago that I should lie low for a while. But I had to help. I just felt like I had to.

Gwen

Once I had placed my phone on the table so everyone else could hear the live news feed better, Ben suddenly sprang up from his seat. He ran along the left side of the table and as he turned, he tripped and fell, banging his head on the edge of the table. Surprisingly, he got up again fairly quickly and continued running, until he was out of the cafeteria. After he was gone, Cash spoke up.

"Where is he going in such a hurry?"

I began rubbing the back of my neck, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Uh, he started doing freelance work for the Bellwood Post, kind of like how I used to intern there." I found the words tumbling out of my mouth. "He has to go get pictures of what's going on Downtown for that."

J.T. let out a sad sigh as he leaned forward, resting his chin into his hand.

"Man, I wish that I had a job." He said as he stared off into space.

Sometime Later

Downtown Bellwood

Ben

I swung through Downtown Bellwood in my costume. The attack was taking place in one of Downtown's major shopping centers. A mall with several small businesses and bigger businesses, a grocery store, a Wal-Mart, a GameStop, a Barnes and Noble bookstore and so on. As I swung into the outer left edge of the shopping center, I saw it. Levitating in midair, was a humanoid figure made out of bright gold electricity. I came to a stop on top of a parked car a short distance away from the figure.

"Alright, Sparky!" I exclaimed. "Do you want to try and surrender before I'm forced to fight you?"

I was not prepared for what would happen after that. The figure quickly spun to look at me and spoke.

"Stay. Away. From. Me!" it yelled in a staticky voice.

He stuck out his hand and actually shot a bolt of electricity from his fingertips and I wasn't able to dodge in time. I felt the volts of electricity run through me as the bolt hit me. It was probably a miracle that I wasn't immediately killed. The force sent me flying from the top of the car and into an alley. I ended up hitting the back wall of the alley and fell into a heap of garbage. After that, everything went dark.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed! So, what did you guys think of this one?

* What are your thoughts on that little comic book bit that Ben was thinking about during lunch? What do you think about this character, "the electric man", that mopped the floor with Ben? How did I do with the fluffy stuff between Ben and Gwen at the beginning of this chapter? I'm really curious about any thoughts that you could have on this chapter, so tell me anything you want to.

* With that said, I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.

Review Responses

FPPHater (Chapter 1): I hate first person perspective.

Well then, FPPHater, you probably shouldn't read this story, then. Thanks for the review, as always.

Ryan Rens (Chapter 40): Robin turning the lights out in slade. Ron Perlman voiced slade amazingly in my opinion. Great job on this chapter. Literally sent chills down my spine while listening to it at work!

Thanks, Ryan. Yes, I agree. Ron Perlman did voice Slade amazingly. That was one of my favorite cartoons growing up and I would love for it to get an actual follow up, but I don't think that'll ever happen. Glad you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for the review, as always.

Bdogrulz (Chapter 1): just going to say this now. you need to hit the enter key whenever somebody new is speaking. it makes it really hard to read if you dont

Thanks, Bdog. I understand where you're coming from and if you've made it this far, hopefully you'll understand that I didn't have the experience when writing the beginning of this story that I have now. And I would like to think that I have gotten better at writing as time as went on. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: After coming to, Ben seeks out Nathan to get advice for what he's facing. Later, he goes to great lengths to learn all he can about the electric man.