"It has everything in this hotel: indoor pool, all-you-can-eat spa..."
The Tennysons and Hayden were checking into a luxury hotel in New York. Gwen was flipping enthusiastically through the hotel brochure.
"Don't get used to it, it's only for one night." Max told her.
Ben was looking for something to relieve his boredom when he spotted a kiosk with the Sumo Slammer logo in front of him.
"Woah, the new Sumo Slammer game is in there!" Ben exclaimed as he headed for the kiosk but was stopped by the guard.
"Invitation?"
"Uh, I must have forgotten it inside. I'm a pro tester." Ben lied.
"Invitation only." Retorted the guard, glowering at him.
Ben slipped over to where his family was waiting.
"I know what you're thinking, so don't sneak in there." Said Max sternly.
"I won't." Said Ben and waited for them to leave before smiling inwardly.
He activated his Omnitrix, oblivious to the fact that Hayden was watching him, pressed the lens and transformed himself into Ghostfreak.
"But Ghostfreak will."
He became invisible and floated toward the booths when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.
"No, he won't." Big Chill said firmly.
Max and Gwen were getting on the elevator when they stopped.
"Ben? Hayden?"
Big Chill appeared in front of them, his hand firmly holding Ghostfreak.
"Who you gonna call?" Big Chill declared.
"That's not fair." Ben grumbled.
"What's not fair is that I have to keep you out of trouble." Hayden retorted.
"I told you not to sneak in there." Max said to his grandson. "How do you expect me to trust you if you keep misusing the watch?"
"Excuse me. I've used it 100 times for good! Why can't I use it just once for myself?" Said Ben angrily.
"It's not how many times you use it that counts, it's how you use it."
Ben glared at his Grumpa.
"I'm going out for a walk." He said as he stormed out of their hotel room.
Hayden watched him go and sniffed.
"He really needs to watch Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man..." He murmured to himself before following him out. "I'm thinking about it, but if most of the releases are like mine... Oh I'll get to relive the release of 3, that's nice."
Hayden strolled through the busy streets of New York, looking for the place where Ben had run away.
"Why should I keep an eye on him? Besides... wait, today's the day he's going to meet him..." he muttered to himself. He stopped in mid-stride. "And then, with all the adventures we've had since the beginning of the summer, I'm entitled to a day where I let them manage without me."
Forgetting about Ben, Hayden set out to see the sights of New York on his own, enjoying a well-deserved break.
After biting into a hot dog he'd bought, he looked around, wondering where his next destination would be. After wandering for a while, he soon found himself in front of the steps leading to the New York Public Library.
He looked up at the beating sun, then at the building in front of him.
"Hey, I might as well refresh myself by reading something... I might even be able to spoil Bleach for some readers." he joked as he climbed the stairs.
He breathed a sigh of relief as the doors opened and was greeted by the cool air of the air-conditioned library. He wandered among the shelves, wondering what he should read.
He glanced at one shelf when his attention was caught by a slight tearing sound. He turned to the girl standing next to him, who was tearing a page from the book in her hand, and was startled to see her.
Hayden would recognize her anywhere. Her long silver hair in a low ponytail and had pinkish light purple eyes, her magenta and purple coat at the ends, and her bag around her waist... he was in the same room as Charmcaster.
He'd be lying if he said this moment didn't do anything for him; he'd admit without embarrassment that he'd had a crush on her when he was young.
He looked around, noticing that he seemed to be the only one who had noticed what had just happened. Charmcaster closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then folded the torn-out page and put it in her bag.
She looked at Hayden, who quickly pretended to be looking at books, blushing slightly. She squinted a little before moving away.
Hayden watched her go, then reached for the book she was reading. He turned the pages and discovered it was a book about ancient cultures, their rituals and mythologies. He stopped where the girl had torn out the page.
The chapter was devoted to ancient spells and curses. Hayden ran her fingers over illustrations of human bodies writhing and screaming in agony, sensing that whatever she stole from this book, it was nothing good.
Hayden walked the streets, looking for Charmcaster. But he'd forgotten he was in New York; no one could find anyone here. Finally, he got bored and collapsed on a bench in Central Park.
Thinking about what to do next, he realized he'd forgotten he was wearing an Omnitrix.
He started going through his choices: XLR8? He could probably find her in two seconds, but he feared that in such a crowded city it would end up like the first episode of The Boys. Grey Matter? Although his intelligence would give him an idea of where to find her, his size would handicap the journey.
Finally, he decided what he was going to do, hid behind a tree and transformed himself into Big Chill. He became invisible and began flying around Manhattan. Passing through buildings and flying over streets. Finally, he spotted Charmcaster descending towards the Museum of Natural History.
"Obviously, she was reading a book about ancient things, so she'd inevitably go where they keep all the ancient things!" Big Chill-Hayden murmured to himself before landing nearby and transforming back into Hayden.
He entered the museum and spotted the girl entering one of the exhibits. He followed her discreetly, keeping a reasonable distance so as not to arouse suspicion. He pretended to look around as he followed her deeper into the exhibits.
She stopped in front of a display where there was an object wrapped in an old, worn cloth, itself wrapped in a rusty chain with a strange lockless bolt with a strange symbol. Hayden watched her reach into her bag and pull out the page she'd stolen.
She began to read the paper in a language Hayden didn't understand. The object in the window began to glow a pinkish-purple hue and the chains began to rattle.
Hayden glanced at his Omnitrix, hesitating to use it, before changing his mind. Charmcaster continued to sing as the thing inside the case became more and more aggressive, cracks forming in the glass container. Sensing that now was a good time to take cover, Hayden ducked behind an old iron gauntlet just as there was a flash of light and the sound of breaking glass.
He glanced out of the display to see that the glass case had shattered and now, floating in front of Charmcaster, a glimmer of pink light, was a stone with a strange symbol engraved on it.
"Hello, beautiful." Charmcaster purred, grabbing the stone.
Hayden leaned forward to get a better look at the stone as he knocked over the iron glove, which fell to the ground.
"Who's there?!" Charmcaster said abruptly, turning as Hayden ducked behind the pedestal. She squinted and opened her bag.
She plunged her hand in and pulled out two pebbles, which she threw on the ground. They began to grow into large stone creatures with glowing eyes.
"Look around you." The girl ordered, and the creatures began to creep toward where Hayden was hiding.
"Oh boy, talk about a first encounter." he complained silently.
The stone creatures grunted as they caught Hayden's scent. Hayden looked around in panic for something useful, then spotted the iron gauntlet lying beside him.
The creatures pounced on the pedestal. Hayden rolled onto his side and struck one of them with the gauntlet. The second pounced on him and tackled him to the ground. Hayden began to hit it repeatedly in the face, leaving marks on the knuckles of the gauntlets.
"To the doghouse."
The creature stopped and crawled away from Hayden as a violet aura surrounded him and he rose from the ground. Charmcaster walked slowly toward him, the same purple aura surrounding her hand.
"Well, well, well." She said in a mocking voice as she walked slowly around Hayden. "I thought there was a rat following me."
"Seriously? A rat? That's the most flattering comparison you could come up with." Hayden asked.
"Hmm, not really." She said as Hayden got to his feet. "You're pretty lucky, you know. You'll be the first to see me become the greatest witch the world has ever known!"
"What, are you going to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Guess which card I drew? Pull a coin out of my ear?" Hayden asked sarcastically.
"Can't you see I'm doing a monologue?!" She retorted.
"Yeah, and I've had my fill of that stuff." Said Hayden. "Look, I've faced people like you more times since summer vacation started. So can we skip the villain monologue followed by the usual fight, and just chat like normal people and see if I can talk you out of stealing this?"
Charmcaster looked angry, insulted and curious all at once. Hayden looked at her with annoyance and irritation.
"Not really." She said, turning back to the gleaming stone. "Actions speak louder than words, anyway."
Hayden sighed and quickly activated the Omnitrix and pressed the lens, transforming into Amphibian.
"I'll take that." He said before picking up the stone with one of his tentacles.
"No!" Shouted Charmcaster.
"And for my next trick, I'm going to disappear." Said Amphibian-Hayden as he turned invisible and floated out of the exhibit. He reappeared in the main hall and looked at the stone. "What the hell is this thing?"
An explosion brought him back to reality: Charmcaster was floating out of the exhibition with an army of stone creatures.
"The Alpha Rune is mine!"
"Wait, it's not supposed to be at the..." Amphibian-Hayden thought, now more than determined not to give it to her, remembering the mental state it had plunged her into in Ultimate Alien and Omniverse.
Charmcaster hurled a blast of energy at him. Amphibian-Hayden absorbed the energy, but instead of storing it within him as usual, the energy began to struggle within him. He began to tremble uncontrollably before letting out a discharge of violet electricity.
Amphibian collapsed to the ground.
"It's all good, buddy... it's just your organs thought they were a Roller Coaster for electric current..."
She approached the shriveled electric jellyfish, a wry smile on her face.
"That was quite a show, but now I'll take what's mine."
She reached for the stone, but Amphibian-Hayden wrapped a tentacle around her wrist and sent an electric current through it. She screamed as the electricity coursed through her body and she collapsed to the ground, her stone creatures dissolving into gray sand.
Amphibian-Hayden dragged her weak body to a nearby vending machine.
"I need... to recharge my batteries..."
He wrapped a tentacle around the cord and began to absorb the electricity. His body began to return to its normal shape and he floated above the ground.
"That's better."
A beam of magical energy narrowly missed his head, and he turned to see that Charmcaster was back on her feet.
"You're not going anywhere!" she gasped.
"I'm really getting fed up with this day." Amphibian-Hayden sighed.
She sent another burst of magic towards him, but Amphibian disappeared again before she could touch him. Charmcaster looked around, then reached into her bag and pulled out more stone creatures.
"Find him! Destroy the town if you have to! Bring me the Alpha Rune!" she ordered.
Outside the museum, Amphibian-Hayden reappeared in an alley before stopping and becoming Hayden again. He looked at Rune Alpha.
"I've got to hide or destroy that stone." Hayden muttered, stuffing the stone into his pocket.
He glanced out of the alley, checking that the way was clear before merging into the crowd of people bustling along the busy street.
He walked slowly back to the hotel, checking that Charmcaster was close by. He was nearing his destination when there was an explosion. Three stone creatures leapt through the streets, crashing into buildings. People screamed and shouted, running for cover as the creatures continued to rampage through the city.
Hayden heaved an exasperated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.
"She's not going to stop until she gets the stone... Hell, for a first encounter with her waifu, it's not great."
The creature crashed into a lamppost, breaking it in two.
"Well, no choice." He said, before pulling out the rune and attracting the creature's attention. "Hey! Looking for this?!"
The creatures turned and saw the rune in Hayden's hand. They all rushed towards him as he began to run down the street. Other stone creatures joined the chase. Hayden turned to see a whole herd of them in pursuit. He activated his Omnitrix as he skidded around a corner.
As the creatures turned the corner, they came face to face with Heatblast-Hayden.
"You're not going anywhere."
They hurled fireballs at the creatures, shattering them on impact in small explosions.
"Okay, now I've got to..."
He was interrupted by an explosion of magic hitting him in the back, knocking him over. He turned to see Charmcaster floating in the air, pinkish-purple energy crackling from her eyes and hands.
"Give me the Alpha Rune!"
"Okay... you know it's not because you ask me over and over again that I'm going to give it to you. You're not even asking politely."
She glared at him and raised her hand.
"Sinnyu Invisibus!"
Pieces of the ground shattered and floated into the air. She thrust out her arm and the rocks hurtled towards Heatblast-Hayden.
He fired fireballs again, destroying the rocks with ease.
She opened her bag and took out a handful of pebbles, which she threw into the air. The pebbles all exploded into bat-like stone creatures and began to overwhelm Heatblast-Hayden. He raised his arms and began firing lasers with his hands, spinning rapidly.
"I'm really starting to lose my patience." Heatblast-Hayden moaned as he shot down the stone bats.
He blew up the last of the bats and became Hayden again, fed up with fighting.
The girl used her magic to lift him off the ground.
"Did you have fun?" She asked.
"Of course I didn't. I just wanted a quiet day and now it's ruined." Hayden groaned before listing his encounters. "I really needed it. This summer vacation has been chaotic since day one and I just wanted ONE DAY for quiet. Is it too much to ask for a quiet moment?"
"I didn't ask for your sob story, I asked for the..."
"You know what? Fuck! I've faced robots, stick-up men, a scientist obsessed with creating mutant animals, poachers, body snatchers with a weakness for viocs, two alien bounty hunters, an army of Duracel-sponsored aliens. And not even two days ago, a wish version of Pennywise and his trio of sidekicks. So you want the Alpha Rune? Well, it's a gift!" Hayden said, stuffing the rune into his hand, having had enough and knowing she was too stubborn to let go, and fed up with trying.
"At last..." She said, looking down at the rune in her hands.
She lowered herself and Hayden to the ground and raised the rune in triumph.
"The Alpha Rune is all mine! Now I can use it to take control of the..."
She stopped speaking as her gaze shifted to Hayden. He was stealthily walking away, his head down and his hands in his pockets.
Hayden was now sitting on a bench, head tilted back when Charmcaster approached and sat down next to him.
"What do you want? Wind you?" Hayden asked.
"I don't know..." she sighed. "It's not much fun we're winning because the other one forfeited."
"I didn't really feel like pushing it, so... Sorry, I guess."
The two sat in silence for a moment.
"So, what's your story?" Hayden asked, wanting her to open up to him a little. "Every villain has a reason why they want to rule the world, so what's yours?"
"To make everyone who called me a monster bow down to me." She said, clenching her fist, "Nobody calls me a monster... nobody."
Hayden raised his head and looked at her.
"You don't really look like a monster. If we exclude the use of magic, you seem to be a perfectly normal human." He said.
"Don't pretend." she said curtly. "I know you see me as a monster too!"
"Meh." Hayden said with a shrug, "When you've got an alien watch that lets you turn into an alien, you don't judge someone by their abilities."
She gave him a questioning look.
"Believe me or not, do as you please. I'm just saying what I think," Hayden declared.
She looked at him a little longer before collapsing backwards and crossing her arms.
"Hmph."
"What's wrong? Can't believe I'm right?" Hayden asked.
"I'm not as gullible as you think." She said.
"Keep telling yourself that."
She glared at him, Hayden looked at her.
"By the way, my name's Hayden. Hayden Pestel." He said.
She simply continued to stare at him.
"You're supposed to say your name after I say mine. That's how it works." Said Hayden.
"It's Charmcaster." Charmcaster sighed.
"Wait, your name's Charmcaster?" Asked Hayden, surprised as he realized he didn't remember hearing Charmcaster's real name in any of the animated series.
"Yes." She said flatly.
"Eu... Okay, nice to meet you Enchantress." Said Hayden.
"Whatever." She said.
Hayden leaned back against the bench.
"You know, it was nice what we're doing here. Talking instead of fighting. And it's nice to talk to someone other than my traveling companions." Says Hayden. "Thanks for that. And for not shooting me."
"Uh... Yeah, well. It was nice talking to you too." Charmcaster admitted, a small smile forming on his face. "I don't have anyone to talk to. It was nice to have someone listen without really judging me."
"Well, I'm not really in a position to judge. Have you seen the faces I get when I'm transformed?" Hayden said with a smirk.
They laughed a little. The two socially awkward teenagers looked at each other, observing each other's facial features.
Then they quickly realized what they were doing and looked away.
"Well, uh, I should be going now." Said Hayden, tugging at his collar.
"Oh, yes, of course." Said Charmcaster, letting out an uncomfortable cough.
"Okay, well, bye." Said Hayden as he stood up.
"Goodbye."
Hayden began to walk away, then turned back to Charmcaster to give him one last smile, before continuing on his way.
Charmcaster watched him go, then opened her bag and took out the Alpha Rune. She returned to the museum and replaced the rune.
Hayden entered the hotel and saw his friends completely exhausted.
"Woah, what happened to you?" Hayden asked, having to stop himself from smiling even though he knew the answer.
"Oh nothing, we just ran into a mega-idiot named Kevin Levin." Said Ben.
"He tried to steal all of Ben's alien powers." Declared Gwen.
"Yeah? Well, good thing I wasn't with you." Says Hayden, taking off his jacket.
"And where were you, Hayden?" Max asked.
Hayden looked out the window.
"I just took a little time for myself and wandered around town."
"Oh, yeah? And what was that like?" Ben asked.
"It was... magic."