Ben 10: Cold Winter's Night Version II

by WebofSpideyguy7245698

Remake of the first Cold Winter's Night story. In this version, Ben has to tangle with the Omnitrix, super hero antics, and his upcoming young adult life. But what happens when he's reunited with his cousin, Gwen, and romantic feelings eventually begin to blossom between the two? Rated M for adult themes, violent situations and action.

10. Chapter 10: The Course of History Part 1

Chapter 10: The Course of History: Part 1

I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network

Author's Note:

* Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 10 of CWN Version II! This chapter is going to be a two parter and will also be another bigger chapter. With that being said, I have nothing else to say, so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Ben

Friday, March 16th, 2018

Downtown Bellwood

It had been a month since Valentine's Day. And it honestly had ended up not being as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, I still hated Valentine's Day, but I think what had ended up happening was the ideal scenario. Most days since that night without fail, I found myself thinking back to the last few things that Gwen had said to me.

I often thought about how she had texted me, complimenting me on how passionately I had told her about comic books and that she liked that side of me much better rather than when I was coming off as if I was brooding. However, that was nothing compared to the other thing that would always find its way back to me.

"Look, I know that this Julie girl must have really hurt you, but at some point you need to learn to let go. And if she's making you feel like this then she probably never deserved you in the first place."

It didn't matter what kind of day I'd be having when I thought about this. Bad day or good day, every time I thought about her saying that to me, it always made me smile. Without fail. And I decided to take her advice. I quit allowing Julie to mentally invade my every day life, I just quit thinking about her. And you know what? I felt a little better because of it.

I may have failed to mention how many classes I had with Gwen at school or if I had any with her to begin with. Well, to be truthful, I only had three classes with her. World History being one of them. Speaking of World History, there was something interesting to note here. I had heard that in other states across the country, they taught history differently than they did here in Bellwood.

According to what I had heard, World Geography was taught in the 9th Grade, followed by World History in 10th Grade, American History in 11th Grade and finally, American Government in 12th Grade. But here in Bellwood, it was the reverse of that. American History in freshman year, American Government in sophomore year, World Geography in junior year and finally, World History in senior year. It fascinated me that in other states, they taught World History first. After all, shouldn't American History be taught here, in America?

As I said before, World History was one of the three classes that Gwen and I had together. And today our class was going on an all-day field trip to Bellwood's Natural History Museum, said field trip being announced last month. We had just boarded the school busses outside of Madison High School that would be taking us to the museum. It wasn't just our class going on the field trip, but all of Madison High's World History classes. So, that was about four busses, with each class getting a bus to themselves.

I had just sat down in a seat toward the back of the bus where I placed my backpack next to me, often preferring to sit along when traveling on school busses. And I was about to put my earbuds in to listen to music during the ride there, when I heard a familiar female voice to my right.

"Can I sit here with you?"

I looked up to see Gwen standing in the aisle next to my seat. When I didn't answer immediately, she looked back at me expectantly.

"Sure." I replied as I grabbed my backpack from the other side of the seat.

I lifted up my backpack and placed it between my legs as she sat down next to me.

"Thank you."

"Sure."

After she had sat down, I once again reached for the earbuds in my bag, but Gwen spoke before I could even get my bag open.

"Hey, so you remember when you showed me the Spider-Man movie last month, right?"

"Of course, I remember. Why do you ask?"

"I think I may want to watch more of those super hero movies. So, I put together a list for you to look over."

Before I could say anything in response, she eagerly pushed an open notebook that she had been holding into my hands. And it was also at this point that I realized I wasn't going to be listening to any music along the way to the museum. I looked over her list and let out a low whistle.

"Wow." I whispered half to myself and half out loud.

She had written on both sides of the page, listing out dozens of super hero movies in order of their year of release, which went as far back as 1978's Superman. I turned the page and saw that her list continued on to until about halfway down the page.

"Um, wow." I said again, this time out loud.

"So, what do you think?"

"What do I think? Gwen, there's a lot of movies here. Like, a lot."

"I know, pulled every movie that I could find from two separate Wikipedia articles. By the way, what are Marvel and D.C. Comics?"

I turned to look at her with a bit of surprise.

"You didn't already know what those were?"

She shook her head.

"Funny, I could have sworn that I mentioned to you that Marvel was the publishing company that created Spider-Man... maybe my memory is a bit foggy?"

"Oh no, wait! You did! Sorry, I forgot about that."

I dismissed her apology as I spoke again.

"Marvel and D.C. are two different comic publishing companies, making them competitors by extension. Marvel has characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain America, while D.C. has characters like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman."

"What's D.C. stand for?"

"Detective Comics."

She looked back at me with a slightly confused expression.

"So, D.C. Comics stands for Detective Comics... Comics?"

I chuckled in response to her question.

"Yeah, it is pretty stupid, isn't it?"

"Interesting. But seriously, what do you think about my list?"

"I don't even know where to start!"

"Start wherever you want!"

"Um, okay. I myself have actually never seen any of the original Superman movies. The first movie of his that I saw was actually Superman Returns, which acts as a sort of sequel to these movies, I believe. But from what I remember, it wasn't actually very good. So, I can't offer an expert opinion on those movies."

"Okay. What next?"

I looked down the list and stopped when I came to 1989's Batman, starring none other than Michael Keaton as Batman.

"Okay, so 1989's Batman and it's sequel, Batman Returns are goated. Michael Keaton is iconic as Batman and some even say that he's the best Batman, along with there hasn't been a contender since."

"Goated? What's that mean?"

I turned back to look at her.

"Do you want what it means when someone says that something or someone is the GOAT?"

She shook her head.

"GOAT is an acronym that means the 'greatest of all time'. So, by extension, when someone says goated to describe something, that's what they mean."

"Oh, okay. I think that makes sense."

I continued with what I was saying about the Batman movies.

"The follow up to Batman Returns, Batman Forever, isn't looked back on fondly. I personally think it gets lumped into the sack with Batman & Robin, it's own sequel that we'll get to in a sec. I don't think Forever is nearly as good as one or two, but I still really like it. It's nowhere near as bad as some people may say it is."

As I finished speaking, I turned to look at her and saw that she was giving me a sort of look. One that I couldn't define.

None of this matters to her. She hasn't seen any of these movies. This is all irrelevant.

"I'm sorry, this is all irrelevant to you, isn't it?"

Much to my surprise, she shook her head.

"No, not at all. I may not have seen these movies or have the context for how you describe them, but nonetheless, I find your insight to be interesting."

I just looked back at her with surprise for a second.

"Um, okay. Well, anyway, after Batman Forever, a fourth movie was released in 1997, titled Batman & Robin. Which is a really, really bad movie. But it also happens to be delicious garbage."

She gave me another confused look.

"Delicious garbage?"

"So bad that it's actually kinda good."

"Okay then."

"Alright, let's see what else you have on your list here."

I began quickly scanning through her list for titles that I recognized that I could lump into one category.

"Um, Daredevil is delicious garbage, as well. Spider-Man 3 is delicious garbage. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is kinda delicious garbage, too."

Before I could say anything else or continue looking at the list however, I heard a male voice from behind me as someone put me in a headlock.

"Are you guys seriously talking about comic book movies?"

"Hey, knock it off, jackass!"

I recognized his voice anywhere. It was one of my best friends, Cash Murray. I grunted as I wiggled out of the lock before turning to look at him.

"You have some nerve trying that on a school bus of all places!"

Cash looked back at me with an amused expression on his face.

"Who, me? Come on, Ben. I've always been an asshole! You knew that when you decided to befriend us!"

Him and J.T. being the "us" in the equation.

"What do you mean? It was you guys who decided to befriend me!"

He dismissed my comment and referred back to his question.

"But you're talking about comic book movies?"

I pointed at him.

"Hey, don't pretend that I didn't get you and J.T. into that stuff!"

"Would you just answer my question?"

I let out a sigh.

"Yes, we're talking about comic book movies. We were hanging out last month and I put on the first Spider-Man movie while we were eating dinner. She liked it so much that now she wants to watch other comic book movies."

Out of everything I said, it seemed that only one thing stuck out to Cash.

"While you guys were having dinner? What is she, your girlfriend, Tennyson?"

For some reason, I felt my face grow hot in response to that.

"No, dipshit! She's my cousin!"

The amused look dropped from his face after I said that.

"Oh, um, sorry."

I rolled my eyes and turned to look at Gwen, who seemed to be very confused.

"Sorry, you've only been back for a few months now. This is one of my best friends, Cash Murray."

I turned back to Cash.

"Cash, this is my cousin, Gwen."

"Hiya!" he replied in an overly cheery tone.

"Hello." She replied in an annoyed voice.

Wow, she really isn't happy about this.

I think Cash sensed her feelings on the situation, as he slowly sat back down into his seat behind us, gradually disappearing from sight.

"You know what? I interrupted you guys and I apologize. I'll leave you alone."

I let out one last annoyed sigh as I turned to look at Gwen.

"I'm sorry about that."

"It's alright. But seriously, back to my list. Would you watch these movies with me?"

I just stared back at her with a dumbfounded expression on my face.

She actually wants to spend time with me?

Even though I didn't mind the idea, like at all, I had to be honest.

"Um, Gwen, there's a lot of movies here—"

"I know."

"But, some of these movies are the worst movies that you'll ever see."

"But—"

She gave me possibly the most heartbroken, disappointed look that I had ever seen. I thought about it for a second, but ultimately decided to stand my ground.

"I'm sorry."

She just continued to stare at me, before much to my surprise, she snatched her notebook from right out of my hands.

"It's fine." She snapped as she looked away from me. "Just forget it."

She stuffed her notebook back into her bag without even closing it. I kind of wanted to try and talk to her about it, but she pulled out her earbuds and put them in before I could even get a word out. She then pressed her backpack to her chest, all the while avoiding eye contact with me.

I've never known Gwen to act this way, not even when we were kids. I thought my reasoning was sound. Maybe I should have realized that she probably just wanted to spend time with me, regardless of what the particular activity was.

I leaned back, resting my head against the back of the seat.

I just fucked up, didn't I?

Forty Five Minutes Later

Downtown Bellwood – Bellwood Natural History Museum

After a long and awkward forty five minutes, we had arrived to our destination. As I had mentioned earlier, this field trip was announced about a month ago. The reasoning for the field trip was pretty self-explanatory, this was World History, after all. But there was another thing to it. The museum had actually invited our school out here because a renowned geneticist, named Dr. Kelly, had apparently made some important discovery several years ago and he wanted to talk a future generation. It made no difference to me.

Really, I was just here to take in the sights and exhibits that the museum had to offer. We began making our way off of the busses and it seemed like that Gwen was still giving me the cold shoulder. I decided to take a chance and prompt a conversation once we got off the bus, now that she had taken her earbuds out. A minute later, we were off the bus and in line waiting to get into the museum, so I made my move.

"I've really been looking forward to this trip." I said to Gwen as we waited in line.

"I thought you were a video game and comic book geek?" she asked without even turning to look at me.

Oh yeah, she's still pissed.

Nevertheless, I pressed forward with my attempt to make conversation with her.

"Well yeah, but I've grown to actually like history over the years."

"Okay. What's your favorite era of history, then?"

"Um, there's a lot for just one favorite, you know? I like reading about prehistoric times and then ancient times after that, like Ancient Egypt. I really like the middle ages and the renaissance. You know? King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and all that."

She turned to look at me.

"King Arthur is a myth, you Doofus."

Well, at least I got her to face me.

"Um, duh! I know that! I'm just saying that I enjoy that kind of era, you know? Knights and castles?"

"Okay, fine. But if you had to pick one, what would be your favorite era?"

I put my hand on my chin as I thought about that.

"Honestly? Probably World War II. If given the opportunity, I could talk your head off for hours about World War II. I love reading, researching and watching videos about that era."

She nodded.

"I see."

Our conversation died down after that and within the next few minutes, we were able to get inside the museum. Since Dr. Kelly had not arrived yet, all of our classes were allowed to split up and tour the museum at our leisure. You'd be surprised by how many students were actually into the idea of a museum, considering a museum could be seen as one of the last places a teenager would want to be.

I decided to tag along with the group that Gwen found herself joining, which seemed to annoy her a little bit. We didn't exchange any words to confirm this, but I could tell that she was still annoyed by the idea of me following her around. As our group moved through the Prehistoric Wing of the museum, she and I stopped to look at a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton.

"Wow, so cool." I said as I lifted the digital camera hanging from around my neck up for a picture. "I've always wanted to see one of these in person!"

"I didn't take you as the type to be into photography." Gwen replied.

"Thought maybe I could be a part-timer for the school paper or something. And who knows? Maybe I can use this for college later or as a potential career. Something."

Right before I could take my picture though, someone walked in front of the shot, so what I ended up getting was ruined.

"Hey, that was my picture!" I called out.

I heard a masculine chuckle as the person in question passed in front of us.

"Sorry!"

I recognized that voice once again, anywhere. It was Cash again. I found myself scowling in response.

Even for being one of my best friends, Cash can still be really annoying sometimes.

"Oh, it's you again?!" I muttered in response. "Will you just get lost?!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going! I was just messing with you!"

And so, Cash quickly walked away from Gwen and I, who didn't acknowledge him this time. I kind of expected her to say something once he was gone, but she was silent still. I tried again to take a picture of the T-Rex and got it this time. I turned in the direction in which our group was headed when we had stopped.

"Alright, lets go and catch up with our group."

I began walking in that direction, but I stopped when I didn't hear her follow. I turned around a bit to see that she was still standing where I had left her.

"Hey, are you coming?"

She turned to look at me for a few seconds, before she let a vaguely annoyed sigh.

"Yeah, fine."

She turned in the same direction as me and began walking again, eventually passing me and leaving me behind. It took me a second to follow her.

She's really unhappy with me, isn't she?

I began following her again and we kept following the group, until we came to a stop again, this time next to another fossil exhibit. The exhibit was featuring a skeleton of the Titanoboa, reportedly the largest snake to have ever lived. I know that there were only a few Titanoboa skeletons in existence currently and they were in the process of touring them around the country. I raised my camera for another picture.

"It makes me happy to know that this monster is extinct." I muttered as I took the picture. "I hate snakes."

"Why do you hate snakes?"

I lowered my camera without looking at her.

"Have you ever seen Anaconda?"

"No."

"You don't want to."

She didn't say anything in response, so I moved to catch up with our group again and this time she followed.

Forty Five Minutes Later

After about forty five minutes of us walking around the museum passed before the chaperoning teachers began to round us up. We all gathered back in the Prehistoric Wing, where there was a medium-sized room where the museum showed mini documentaries and short films about dinosaurs and other prehistoric topics.

In fact, Gwen and I had passed this room while we were touring the Prehistoric Wing earlier. For context, the room was right across the hall from the T-Rex skeleton. And so, we were beginning to file into the room in which Dr. Kelly would give a ten or fifteen minutes speech once he arrived. Gwen and I were almost into the room, when I turned to her.

"You go ahead in, okay? I want to ask a staff member a question about Dr. Kelly's presentation."

She just looked back at me, before she walked past me into the room without a word to me. I just stood there for a second, thinking to myself.

We've been walking together for almost an hour and she is still treating me this way. I'm aware that I probably hurt her feelings, but this was such a trivial topic. Why can't she get over it and move on?

I hung back and looked around until I found one of the museum's staff members. So, I walked over to them.

"Excuse me," I asked once I got within speaking distance. "I had a question about the presentation."

The staff member greeted me with a warm smile.

"Yes, of course. What is your question, young man?"

"Is Dr. Kelly allowing photography of his presentation? I'd like to get some shots for our school's newspaper if I'm allowed to."

"That's a very good question. I'll go ask our presentation coordinator about your question and have them disclose that information to your group before Dr. Kelly begins his presentation. You just return to the presentation room and wait."

"Okay, thank you so much."

"You are so welcome."

I then did as she said and returned to the room. There were no seats in the room, oddly enough. Not even tables. All we could do was stand. So, I began weaving my way through the crowd until I found Gwen again.

"You find out what you needed to know?" she asked once I reached her.

"Yeah. I just wanted to know if Dr. Kelly is accepting pictures of his presentation."

"Mmm."

She didn't say anything else. After another minute or two of waiting, the museum's presentation coordinator came out onto the stage and announced Dr. Kelly, as well as confirming that photography of the presentation would be accepted. Once the coordinator left the stage, a middle aged man with gray hair wearing a dark gray suit with a matching dark gray tie and white dress shirt, stepped out onto the stage.

"Hello, children." He greeted all of us. "I am Dr. Kelly. And I have the privilege of being considered one of the mid-west's most renowned geneticists."

I lifted my camera to take a picture of him.

Why do most adults call teenagers children? We're not children anymore!

"In the last ten years, I made a genetic discovery that ended up winning me the Verity Award, which was an honor just to be nominated for."

I could tell that Dr. Kelly probably spent most of his time in a lab and most likely didn't get out to do a lot of public speaking, as he came off a bit awkward. But he was giving this his all, so I applauded him for that. However, as I was paying attention to his presentation, I began to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. So, on a hunch, I slowly turned my head and looked behind me.

I saw someone outside of the presentation room, standing right in front of the T-Rex skeleton. Normally that wouldn't be anything to be suspicious about, but the problem with this guy was that he was wearing a long, tan trench coat, along with a fedora matching in color. Gwen noticed me not paying attention to the presentation and turned to look at me.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"There's a guy wearing a trench coat over there, just standing there!" I whispered back.

She looked in the direction that I was looking for a second. Her response surprised me, however.

"Well, mind your own business! Besides, the presentation is more important than him!"

With that, she turned back to pay attention to Dr. Kelly. I decided to try to do the same, as well. I turned back around and continued listening.

"My discovery could enable successful treatments of chronic diseases, birth defects, and many different cancers—"

As interesting as his speech was, I still couldn't get that guy out in the Prehistoric Wing out of my head. So, against my better judgment, I turned my head to look at him again. He was still standing there, just doing nothing.

How the hell do you get into a museum dressed like that?! The last time I saw someone dressed like that was... Thumbskull!

But something was wrong about this guy. He was way too skinny to be Thumbskull. It was at that point that I made up my mind. I didn't like the vibe I was getting from the man and I needed to be ready just in case he was going to pull something. I slipped out of the crowd of people as subtly as I could and somehow managed to exit the presentation room without being seen. I then snuck down the to the end of this room of the Prehistoric Wing, where one of the restrooms was located. I then waited to see if he would do anything.

Gwen

A Few Minutes Later

For the last few minutes, I had been paying attention to Dr. Kelly's presentation, as everyone else had been doing. However, I suddenly got a feeling as if something wasn't right. So on instinct, I turned to my left to see that Ben was no longer standing next to me.

"Ben?" I whispered his name as I looked around for him.

Where'd he go?

After another second or two, I turned my attention back to Dr. Kelly. If the little doofus decided that he wanted to ignore the presentation and run off to do whatever else, that was his problem, not mine. And so, I began paying attention to the presentation again. However, that's when the chaos started. All of a sudden, I heard what could only be described as some sort of energy zapping, like right out of a sci-fi movie or something.

Most of the teenagers in our group turned to see that a man standing out in the Prehistoric Wing, with a tan trench coat and fedora lying at his feet. It may have been the same man that Ben was worrying about a few minutes ago. But the more disturbing thing, along with his insanely pale skin, was the fact that he seemed to be wearing some kind of harness with a headgear with elk-like horns protruding from its top.

And coming right from the center of the harness' front was a red beam of energy, being directed right at the T-Rex skeleton. Most of the students began to scream in panic and much to the chaperoning teachers' chagrin, they began to run from the room in an effort to reach the exit. I found myself continuing to stand there along with many other students and even as insane as it sounded, it looked like muscle structure and skin tissue was beginning to form on the skeleton.

It was at this point that I decided I wasn't sticking around to find out what would happen next. Myself and a bunch of other students began to run for the exit. However, knowing my luck, once I got out of the room, I didn't make it very far before I ended up tripping and falling onto the tile floor. As several more students ran past me, I turned myself over so that I was on my back and saw something that should have been impossible. The former T-Rex skeleton had regenerated into a living and breathing Tyrannosaurus. And said T-Rex was headed right for me.

I let out a scream of terror as I shut my eyes, not wanting to see the impending doom. However, said doom never came. After several seconds and hearing thrashing noises, I slowly opened my eyes. Once I saw what had happened, my eyes widened. The T-Rex was several feet away from me, rapidly snapping it's jaws, but it wasn't able to get me. That was because there was giant, red four-armed monster holding the dinosaur back by it's tail. The man, who I was just now noticing was now riding on top of the T-Rex, looked behind him at the four-armed monster.

"What?!" he shouted with disbelief. "This can't be possible!"

The creature seemed to be struggling, but it was holding back the T-Rex, nonetheless. He gritted his teeth as he pulled back on the dinosaur.

"Come on dude, Jurassic Park was soooo twenty-five years ago! The kids today, they like the Call of Duty and the Fortnite!"

He then pulled back on the dinosaur's tail, successfully pulling him further away from me. He whipped it around so that he was facing the dinosaur's side. He then delivered a punch with earth-shattering force to the dino's side, sending it to the tile floor of the museum.

I had a feeling that this was the "Alien Guy" that all of the news outlets in Bellwood had been talking about for the last seven or eight months. I didn't know who he was or why he did the things that he did. But I did know this: I would be fascinated by him for months to come.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed.

* So, what did you guys think of this chapter? What did you think of the scene where Ben tells Gwen about all of these comic book movies? How do you guys feel about how Gwen started being really distant and moody with Ben about him being reluctant to watch some of those movies with her? Do you think she's overreacting?

* This chapter was obviously an adaptation of Washington B.C. from the original series. However, this chapter is very clearly not based in Washington D.C., as I couldn't think of a reason to why they'd be in Washington D.C. I mean, why send them on a field trip to the Smithsonian when I can just have them be on a field trip to Bellwood's Natural History Museum and it's less effort to get them there? Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed my adaptation in this first part.

* That's all I had to talk about. Please, let me know your thoughts about anything that comes to your mind in a review if you want or if you'd rather do a PM, that's okay, too. That's going to do it for me, so have a fantastic day and bye.

Review Responses

Car45 (Chapter 9): Great chapter as always. Good interaction between them, and some nice progression in their dynamic. Having them watch Spiderman was clever. Given that he was a partial inspirations for Bens' character. And of course Gwen is connected to two of Peters love interest.

Thanks, Car. I'm glad you liked the interaction between them and that you thought it was a nice progression for their dynamic. Thanks for the review, as always.

adriandragonus (Chapter 9): i wish at least one of them realizes that peter and mary jane actually look like them,with peter being brunette and MJ being redhead... maybe they'll realize it later. i'm glad that the sex part got cut because it's out of character for both of them,even more when it was gwen that initiated it. instead they talk more and even discuss about comic together!

not only that it improved ben's mood and made ben forget about the break-up (even for a while),it makes a way for them to have a discourse to help them get closer to each other and made sure ben that gwen is the safest person to confide his problem with,and i'm so glad about it! the story so far feels more organic and logical compared to the previous version. and i assume we'll see more positive ben after this,correct?

Thanks, Adrian. Hmm, one of them realizing that Peter and MJ looks like them? I'm not sure how to write that in, to be honest. You're right, that scene was out of character for them and Gwen especially. Yes, Ben will be back to positive for quite a while. Thanks for the review, as always.

jasongd (Chapter 9): And another great two chapters congrats I'll be waiting for next chapter BWEN FOREVER

Thanks, Jason. Glad you enjoyed the last two chapters. Thanks for the review, as always.

Slayer 606 (Chapter 9): Good chapters. You could do a chapter setting at a beach. I'm sure a lot of hijinks and situations could build up there between Ben and Gwen, just saying.

Thanks, Slayer. Um, I do kind of have a beach-like chapter that will come later down the line in the story, although, it probably won't be what you're thinking. So, just keep that in mind for when the chapter comes later on. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: Ben stops the man from terrorizing the museum and surprisingly discovers a connection between Dr. Kelly and the perpetrator. After the field trip, Gwen reconciles with Ben.