I don't own Ben 10.
Chapter 44: Warning Part II
Omnitrix City; Billions Tower; January 28th, 2024; 6:52PM
Billy continued his rant, closing his faceplate as the palms of his suited hands charged up an energy of some sort causing Ben to raise a brow, "It doesn't matter anymore, once I take you out of the picture, I'll be the hero!" he turned quickly and fired ionic blasts of pure energy from his palms which Ben effortlessly sidestepped.
"I'm only going to say this once, leave me alone, I don't care whose most popular, that's not what being a hero is about," Ben turned his back on the billionaire whose gauntlets were still smoking from the beams, "If you can't see that than you'll never be a real hero." He took a step off the ledge through the broken window, floating in the air just outside the building now. "Oh yea and try to kill me again? And I'll tear that armor off you myself before handing you to the Plumbers." Ben smiled with a wink, taking off at half the speed of sound through the skyline towards his own tower.
'Ben?' Cooper's voice sounded through his Omnitrix, prompting the hero to lift his forearm up to face level, 'Are you there?!'
"Yea, what's up?" he answered casually.
Cooper sounded distraught, his voice making Ben nervous as he spoke, "We have a seriously major emergency… Gwendolyn and Albedo went after Charmcaster-" before he finished, Ben turned around still floating, interrupting him through the coms.
Ben, in midair, turned around to face his city, the tall-buildings cast shadows as the sun set over the horizon in the distance, "The hell would they do that for?" he nearly shouted, he figured they'd all go together when Albedo was ready, he didn't think they'd leave him out. At the very least he was hoping they'd tell him before departing.
"It's not like that… Hope took Jennifer," sounding more concerned than he would have if it wasn't serious but, clearly there was urgency in the technopath's voice.
Ben froze in place, everything had stopped for him even as he floated just outside of Tennyson Towers, "What did you just say?!" He shouted through his Omni-cam.
The Technopath sighed and shook his head, feeling a bit helpless behind a desk, "The Volcano's electromagnetic interference kept us from contacting you; Charmcaster came out of nowhere and took Jennifer from the park across the street from your house," Julie approached him from behind fully clad in a lab coat as she had been promoted to head physician when Tennyson Tower opened to the public as the first official intergalactic embassy of peace. Any species, any time, a team of well-trained professionals are prepared to treat the injured or just those seeking sanctuary, with Ben Ten Thousand guarding that peace, no one had dared break it. "Gwendolyn went after her with Albedo, she was too anxious to wait for you to finish with the Volcano."
'at least she got back-up, I trust him to protect her.' The thoughts ran through his head at a thousand miles per second.
Ben floated midair still, now being fast enough to vibrate his own molecules through solid objects without transforming, he phased into the control center on floor-fifty. Landing in a crouch beside the holodeck; Cooper, Julie, and Lucy were already on the scene, things had become much smoother now that Cooper had developed his transmat teleportation beam. While still in its early stages of development, in just a few years it would be the main system to routinely travel the world, saving lives across the globe.
Lucy had her white Plumber armor on with a level seven plasma-rifle in her hands, Rook stuck to his updated proto-tool and armor model, though not much had changed design-wise. "Ready to take names and kick ass?" she asked cocking the barrel to the energy rifle with a smile as Ben walked passed her without addressing her.
They all glanced between one another as he gently placed his hands atop the holodeck ring, staring pensively at a powered off holoprojector. He took a deep breath in and exhaled it slowly, he closed his eyes and turned around slowly, opening them with a furious emerald glow. "Lucy, I'm gonna need you to stay here with Cooper and the others, Rook may need your help and I cant leave Earth entirely unprotected," her expression saddened a bit lowering her plasma-rifle.
"How do you plan on getting to Jennifer without Gwendolyn? They're in another dimension, it's not like you can XLR8 there," Cooper pointed out, being his oldest friend, it was still surprising to the technopath that he was still finding out new things about his best friend.
"No, but I've got a guy who can," He searched his psychic link to Master Control through the hundreds-of-thousands of species across the Universe, "I'll go bring them back, all four of them."
"You're gonna bring Hope back here?" Lucy questioned, tapping her chin with her index finger.
Ben nodded slowly, "Either in hand cuffs or a body-bag, she'll have to decide," his eyes flashed brightly as his body exploded in a flash of green light that stunned the room, revealing a four-foot-tall bright yellow furred primate, similar to a chimpanzee with two glowing eyes and a third eye in the center of his forehead that remained closed. He sported two long tails with sharpened ends, and the white Omnitrix symbol across a belt around his waist.
"And for reference, this is…" Cooper questioned what they should call the new transformation that appeared before him, "I don't recognize the species."
"I call em' Teleportal, his species went extinct a hundred years ago but, they had the innate ability," he looked toward an empty space in the room as his third optic opened, which revealed a neon-spectacle of the cosmos encompassing the entire eyeball, "To see through, and travel into, alternate dimensions," he scanned through the infinite and being the unique species he was, Teleportal was able to find Ledger Domain in just a few seconds.
"So, you can track Hope and Gwendolyn once you get there?"
Teleportal blinked all three of his eyes, "No… I'll figure it out once I'm there, my daughter needs me," the alien-primate turned and slashed his tails through the air tearing open a breach in space-time that illuminated the room with a neon-blue swirling energy. "Try to keep Earth in one piece while I'm gone."
Lucy saluted him and shook her head, "Will do, captain!"
Teleportal was still straight faced not knowing what to make of that, he simply focused on his priorities and turned back to the portal, leaping through at his first chance. The warp in space sucked him in and with his mass consumed, it collapsed into a single point before vanishing completely.
…
Ledger Domain
Luckily, it had only been about twenty-minutes between Gwendolyn and Albedo's entrance into the mystical dimension, so when Ben arrived not too much had happened. Teleportal glanced around and looked through his third eye, never having used this transformation before in this way, he wondered if he could lock onto a single person from a distance so long as they were in the same general Universe.
Closing both of his main eyes, Teleportal looked through his cosmic-eye to scan the entire dimension but once he found Gwendolyn and Albedo he was too excited to contain himself. He needed to ensure his wife and daughter were alive and well, turning and slashing through the fabric of reality behind him with his tails. He jumped through the portal without looking, appearing hundreds if not thousands of Earth miles away just two feet above the pair walking along a narrow bridge towards Bezel's former castle.
He dropped from midair landing on top of Gwendolyn as they both collapsed onto the floor, Albedo shook his head, "It would figure you'd use a Voran to travel across dimensions after us, how you managed to aim so poorly is beyond me."
Teleportal exploded in a flash of emerald light, holding his head as he glanced around, he held his hand out instinctively helping his wife off the ground. "Ben! It's Hope, she's gone totally crazy and-" she was so worried she didn't even get the pebbles out of her hair before rushing into his embrace.
"Breath, dweeb, Cooper filled me in; we're gonna get our baby-girl back no matter what," Ben exclaimed as calmly as possible, caressing the sides of her shoulders, and looking into her eyes, noticing they'd been strained from holding back tears.
Gwendolyn threw herself back into his arms, the sky was littered with golden glitter with a pink atmosphere just like she'd remembered though, Ben had never really been to this dimension for more than a few minutes so he was still in awe.
Albedo scoffed and folded his arms, "Can we please stay on task, it is your daughter we're here to save," he made a good point as they approached the destroyed bridge leading to the castle; Gwendolyn used her telekinesis to float over it while Ben and Albedo had natural flight to glide over the fifty-foot-long cavern leading to a purple-flowing river below.
Suddenly, as they landed on the castle grounds, two massive fifteen-foot-tall creatures with green skin, a large gaping mouth littered with sharp fangs, a highly durable rotund body, and boned horns pultruding from its back and forehead. Appearing from underground, they were tasked with guarding the castle perimeter.
Ben and Albedo simultaneously transformed with matching flashes of opposing emerald and crimson light exploding before the mage, "What is this thing?!" Fourarms asked with his head turned over his shoulder.
Negative Big Chill huffed a breath of visible cold-air just as Gwendolyn answered, summoning her staff, and twirling it between her fingers conducting blue lightning through the end of its skulled head. Getting into position, she didn't hesitate to fire a beam of pure electricity from her Electrokinetic charm directly into the first approaching beast. Following her lead, Fourarms leapt into the air, coming down atop the second Pallorfang feet first with his five-hundred-pound body, bringing it down to its stomach with a loud screech.
Negative Big Chill flew through the air and phased through the Pallorfang Gwen was facing, freezing it solid only for Gwendolyn to ragefully plant her staff onto the ground, using it to keep herself balanced as she drop-kicked the frozen beast to pieces. Literally, chunks of frozen meat scattered across the courtyard.
…
Jennifer was within the castle, hearing the commotion going on outside, she smiled knowing that her parents had come to rescue her, "I told you my Mom and Dad would come and get me," she announced to Charmcaster who filled her nails nonchalantly on Bezel's old throne.
"That's what I was counting on, you brat."
Jen struggled against the stone guards that kept her wrists held tight with no signs of letting her go, she began to tear up but, remember what her Father taught her about being brave.
"You'll never beat them."
Charmcaster flashed a sinister grin, "We'll see about that."
…
Fourarms transformed once again, this time into Cannonbolt, rolling in place at high-speeds before releasing himself with enough force to barge through, and tear through, the main gate sending both sides of the door sliding into the main living room.
"Well, if it isn't my old friends Ben and Gwen, the love birds that were meant to be," Hope chuckled folding her legs atop her throne, twirling Bezel's wand between her fingers, "How lucky for you."
Gwendolyn came forward first, pleading nicely for the semi-friendship they once had, "You can fight and kill us if you want, you just have to let my daughter go!" she placed her hands together as if she were praying.
"Momma?! No!"
Charmcaster took a moment to ponder but, chuckled in the end, "Enticing but, no deal," quickly she sent a bolt of purple lightning into Ben's chest completely passing the mage, forcing him tumbling back, groaning in pain. As Gwendolyn was distracted with his injury, Hope fired another bolt of purple lighting only this time it was matched with a bolt of blue-lightning summoned from the skull embedded on the end of the Staff of Ages. The sparks flew as the wand was clearly the more powerful tool, the energy began to push back against Gwendolyn with Charmcaster cackling sinisterly again. Flickers of blue and purple strobed over Jennifer's vision, they're powers nearly equal.
Ben transformed instantly, the moment he was conscious, into XLR8; zipping back into the castle with a black and white blur trailing behind him, he went for the trapped Jennifer first but, was shocked to be frozen at half the speed of light. Charmcaster's Alpha Rune necklace floated and illuminated over her chest, amping her power even more allowing her to continue her beam-struggle with Gwendolyn, while also stopping the Kinceleran mid-run with her free hand.
Hope gestured to the right and the frozen XLR8 flew into the already loosing mage, sending both parents tumbling back with groans and coughs. "Why are you doing this?!" Gwendolyn shouted, getting to one knee. Feeling helpless as even her husband was tossed around, she couldn't let her little girl go, not without at the very least an explosion.
Charmaster tightened her grip around the wand she held in her right hand, firing bolts of pink lightning at her forcing her to summer-sault out of the way. Lighting an ancient rug a blaze yet, simply not caring very much as she continued to blast away. "I brought Albedo back, and it only took every soul in this dimension to do it, this way I can bring everyone we've lost back to life!" her hair had become a strew and she was seemingly becoming unhinged, "Kevin, Kai…" she listed off.
Ben's eyes snapped open, standing up and transforming back into his human form, "You sacrificed hundreds of thousands for one person whose time in life was up?!" he was enraged, how dare she pick and choose who lives and who dies. "You aren't god!"
Gwendolyn stepped forward next to him, noticing his rage, her palm on his shoulder dimmed the neon energy building behind his pupils, "More importantly, how much dark-magic did you have to tap into to perform a spell like that?" she asked a question only she could have known to ask, glancing over her singed and darkened finger-tips.
"What does that matter? We got Albedo back, then I can bring my Father back, and my people!" her voice sounded paranoid and unhinged.
Ben stomped forward with too much strength, cracking the ground at his heels as he approached her, "And how many lives will you sacrifice for all those people who are gone? Half-a-million? More?" he shouted in her face but, it didn't seem to faze her.
Charmcaster swung her arms open, "As many as it takes, hero!" with a single palm thrust she sent a pulse of pink mana-energy into his chest propelling him back through the air, Gwendolyn catching him with telekinesis before he was thrown out of the castle again. "I found ancient texts from other Universes, a book that has all kinds of forbidden spells; some realities call it the Necronomicon, others the Dark Hold… here we call it the Book of Nightmares." Summoning in her hand in a cloud of black smoke, floating above her palm was the open book, tattered as though it was composed thousands of years ago.
Jennifer watched helplessly, feeling so powerless had never bothered her so much, who she thought was her Aunt Hope turned out to be the villain Charmcaster after all. The golems were relentless on keeping her wrists bound, even as she struggled they hardly noticed.
Charmcaster lifted her wand as black-lightning cackled around it, aiming it for Gwendolyn first, "Exhaurire Anima!" firing a bolt of said black electricity, Ben sped in front of the blast in a blur taking the hit for his wife, untransformed; Hope turned on a dime and blasted Albedo back avoiding a sneak attack with the palm of her hand, he flew into a boulder which cracked upon impact. Collapsing to his hands and knees, he huffed and held his head.
Ben felt his life force draining, the spell being cast was sucking the life out of him as though there was a vacuum against his lips taking away his breath; he clutched his throat, incapable of thinking straight enough to transform. On his knees, Gwendolyn held him from behind before standing up in front of him, he was still enhanced so he would survive for at least the few minutes it would take her to stop the crazed witch.
Gwen floated upwards wielding her Staff of Ages, twirling it between her fingers before slamming it into the ground at her feet; her bright-blue aura expanded into a massive ethereal feline with threatening fangs flashing overhead. Hey eyes were bright with golden light encompassing her entire pupil, "This ends here and now!" the aura she created along with the booming echo of her voice cracked the tiled-floor below her with sheer force.
"I don't think so," Hope retorted with an attitude, the Alpha Rune around her neck floated upwards, beginning to absorb all of her opponent's magic; the metaphysical feline avatar she summoned and the rest of her entire aura funneling into the rune forcing her to her knees, "Not so powerful without this, are you, Gwenny?" both heroes were down and being drained while Charmaster showed off the Alpha Rune. "After all these years, I'm finally going to kill you two!"
The carpet fire continued to burn as the castle was inevitably going to come down around them, Ben forced himself up to his feet, even while being drained of his energy. His eyes ablaze with emerald energy, only once he stood completely, he was struck in the chest by a simple concussive blast from one of Hope's fingers. Ben flew back, landing on his side and rolling over to his back to catch his breath while staring at the starless pink sky. At least his life force had stopped being drained and he could breathe normally again.
Gwendolyn rolled out of the way of a magenta blast of energy that shattered the tile at her feet, barely missing her, back flipping through the air, and landing gracefully on her feet behind her. Firing a bolt of blue-lightning into Hope's blind-spot she was shocked to find a force shield stopped her attack as she turned around, "You just don't get it!" with a gesture she expanded her shield out into a shockwave that knocked Gwendolyn back ten feet, landing on her back.
Jennifer still restrained on the other side of the massive throne-room, she turned to her father who was delirious having been hit that hard by magic, which she was told by her mother doesn't mix well with his Omnitrix. She was smart for her age but, still helpless against these golems as Charmcaster aimed her wand down at Gwendolyn's face between the eyes, "Goodbye, Gwenny, I'd say it was knowing you but, it really wasn't," the ten-year-old watched the energy charging across the wooden wand Charmcaster used but, everything was in slow motion.
Jennifer felt a spark ignite inside of her as though an energy began flowing through every vein in her body, she yanked her arm out of the golems grip shattering his stone hand. "Stay away," turning and uppercutting a hole through the second golem's chest, sending stone debris across the castle floors, "From my Momma!" she turned and tore out her arm, forcing the golem to crumble into rubble. Jen huffed as she had fully caught Hope's attention, turning to face a ten-year-old flying at her faster than any bullet, sending a right hook into her mystical shielding. "Get away from her!" right hook, left hook, right again.
"Since when did she have powers!?" Charmcaster turned to the injured Gwendolyn who was just as shocked to see her daughter fighting so ferociously, not letting up on the relentless haymakers. Gawking at the now floating little girl, relentlessly attempting to smash her way through the mystical shielding.
Not bothering to answer, and before Hope could counter the youngling, Gwendolyn unleashed a combined wave of flames and electricity from within her shielding, leaving only her personal aura to protect her and dividing her attention, struggling to keep both sides secure. "That's enough!" she shouted, expanding the shield once again knocking both females off balance.
Jennifer flew back through the air with no control of her powers, she shouted as she was about to hit the ground from less than eight-feet up but still obviously frightening for a ten-year-old girl.
Ben's eyes snapped open at the sound of his daughter's shout, using his base Kinceleran speed to dash over, catching Jennifer midair before she hit the ground, her eyes flashing brightly engulfed in emerald light before returning to normal after blinking a few times. "That's new," he whispered to himself.
Albedo flew in firing optical crimson beams of Negative Omni-Energy down from above which Hope also had to shield herself from. "All of you are just pests, leave me alone!" Hope clapped her hands sending a wave of potent magic outwards like a shockwave knocking Albedo out of the sky as well as pushing both parents back on their heels. "You'll see! You'll all see!" sounding even more off the brink than earlier, she summoned the Book of Nightmares into her hands, firing bolts of black lightning at the ground summoning more powerful golems to fight for her. Her had become a strew, falling in front of her face covering her eyes briefly.
Digging themselves up from the ground, they sprouted one by one until there were more than a half-dozen amped golems, each much stronger than an average one they'd fought before. Instead of being lined with bright pink neon, the trim for these more powerful golems was bright crimson.
Albedo pushed himself up from the ground, shaking his head, "I believe I've had just about enough of this," he popped the dial to his Omnitrix and slapped the ring down, exploded in crimson light until he was standing nearly two-hundred-feet tall with pale white skin, looking down on the battle as a To'kustar. He busted through the ceiling and tore off the roof with his bare hands sending rubble down below. His crimson Omnitrix symbol on his chest was glowing brightly wit a full charge, "Stop this now, Hope!" he crossed his arms, charging a crimson spark of neon electricity flowing across his forearms, "Don't make me do this!" he threatened.
Hope reached for her Alpha Rune and clutched it tight, "Go ahead, I dare you!" she challenged, feeling the mystical energy of the rune in her hand coursing through her. Negative Way Big closed his eyes out of sadness and unleashed his wave of cosmic energy, blood-red carving through the floor at her feet, however; her shielding held up. The shockwave reverberated and sent gusts of wind out across the castle grounds. Even against a beam that could shatter apart the Moon; the Alpha Rune truly was the most powerful mystical artifact in this Universe. "Revertica!" Hope's shield dispersed as she collected all of the energy she'd been hit with, forming a mass of intense cosmic power. Her spell doubled its potency and sent it back into Albedo's chest, sending the To'kustar off his massive feet, tearing through the walls, and landing on his back, lying on the ground outside before transforming back in a painful crimson light.
Ben transformed into Wildmutt, pouncing on one of the dark-magic golems, snarling and tearing its arm off with his vicious claws; the Vulpimancer leapt with such force it shattered the golems chest, as he transformed again in midair, landing as Rath who quickly turned and backhanded another golems head clean off with one swing. "You think you can take Rath's daughter and get away with it? Let me tell you something Hope Caster! You can hurt me, you can hurt my friends, you can even hurt my feelings if I had any! But nobody… and I mean nobody hurts Rath's daughter!" he snarled and pounced, taking down golem after golem with little effort, cleaving through them with enough force to shred steel like butter. Leaving Gwendolyn to catch her breath, gaining her second-wind, she'd been out of practice for some time and Charmcaster absorbed a decent amount of energy from her just now. Plunging his fist through the chest of the final golem and tearing it apart with a single swing upwards, the beast crumbling to stone at his feet.
Rath released a mighty roar identical to a real tiger only much louder and more ferocious, flexing his muscles before transforming with a flash into Blitzwolfer, who got on all fours charging forwards towards the evil mage; he leapt and scratched at her force shield with all of his might growling as he couldn't get through, "Let me give it a whirl," Gwendolyn's eyes returned to a bright-blue encompassed glow, intertwining her own fingers together before opening her palms and unleashing an even thicker bolt of mystical lightning.
"You'll never match my power now!" the witch shouted, holding out her hands to keep her shield stable.
Ben pitched in, transforming from Blitzwolfer into Chromastone instantly, laying on a thick beam of rainbow cascaded energy at the exact same point Gwendolyn was firing; the purple-crystal alien was running out of juice much faster than his wife though.
Jennifer dashed to her Uncle's side, hiding behind him a bit as Albedo held his head as he sat up, his eyes fixating on the couple blasting away at Hope's shield; "Stay behind me," he ordered as Jen nodded and took a few steps back directly behind him now.
Albedo popped the dial of his Omnitrix, spinning the ring until he found who he was looking for; slapping his watch layered him in rubber-skin, a single emerald eye, and electrical sockets for fingers and antenna hanging down behind his back. Negative Feedback quickly fired intense bolts of electricity into Chromastone's back literally feeding him ammunition as his beam became thicker and more powerful.
Charmcaster was being forced backwards through the main-hall, how was this even possible? The Alpha Rune was supposed to be the most powerful relic in the Universe, and the so-called Dark Hold should have had more useful spells.
Being side by side, Gwendolyn spoke over the sound of cackling lightning to Ben, "We can't keep this up forever, we have to find a way to get that rune away from her," she insisted.
Chromastone transformed back into his human form, turning around to look at Negative Feedback, who was still actively protecting Jennifer. Nodding to him, Albedo understood what he meant, "Get back, I'm through with messing around."
Gwendolyn saw the expression on his face, the seriousness in his eyes, the tone of his voice; she ceased fire and skipped backwards, not taking her eyes off the enemy for a moment. "What? You saw what happened to Albedo, none of your aliens stand a chance against me!" she attempted to call his bluff but, it wasn't a bluff at all.
"You kidnapped my daughter…" he muttered with a deadpan, his face was expressionless aside from the anger that burned from his eyes like emerald steam, an explosion of light engulfed him as Celestial stood in his place, just as close to her as he was before without moving an inch his glistening wings shot out behind him, and with a thought his Omnitrix responded sending a wave of genetic energy across his suited body. Millions of years of evolution taking place in a matter of seconds, a second pair of shorter wings sprouted from his back, he grew nearly two whole feet taller, his muscles bulked up along with a bright, short golden beard. His aura was god-like, the energy emanating from his person was like nothing even Gwendolyn had ever seen. The only other time he ever went this far was against Eon at the edge of oblivion, "I'm going to make this perfectly clear so you can pass the word on to every low-life, criminal, or ancient warlord you know." His voice boomed with a deep authoritative tone almost echoing atop itself, commanding respect, he effortlessly reached through Charmcaster's force shield causing her to gasp suddenly, only until Ultimate Celestial grabbed her by the neck and held her up a foot off her feet. "If you want to come after me, or Gwendolyn, or the rest of my team… fine, that's the life you chose."
The terror in Hope's expression was real as she stared into the eyes of a true god and found he was furious with her, "As of right now, the Tennyson family is off limits. If my daughter gets so much as a paper-cut when you or any villain is around," he whispered the last part so that Jen couldn't hear it, bringing Hope slightly closer, "I will personally tear your spines out through your backs and force feed them down your throats, do we have an understanding?" the ground below them cracked apart due to the weight of his aura.
Charmcaster nodded vigorously as best she could with her neck in his grip, once seeing this, he dropped her to her feet where she fell immediately to her knees, dropping the Dark Hold in the process. Ultimate Celestial reached down and tore the Alpha Rune off her neck, the nano-particle suit dispersing with it leaving her in her old vibrant-pink robes. The evolved Cosmia glared at the Dark Hold, his eyes illuminating with a bright golden light before firing a glistening beam of solar-energy into the book, completely frying it to ash.
"No!" Charmcaster shouted with a bloodcurdling scream, crawling over to the ashes, and attempting to pile them up back together frantically.
Hope allowed her hair to hang down around her face as she cried uncontrollably on her knees, sobbing into her hands with her dream of revenge and bringing back her Father crushed, she was back to being alone. "Now, sit here in this empty dimension you life-wiped yourself, and think about what you did," ending it with that, Ultimate Celestial powered down to his original base Cosmia form.
Tugging on his shirt, Jen glanced up at Albedo who she knew had super-hearing, "What did Dad say to Au- to Charmcaster," catching herself from calling her an Aunt, she was still curious on the question at hand.
Albedo raised his brows, looking over at Gwendolyn who was just as clueless, "I think its best those words stay with the three of us," he noted as Celestial transformed back into his human form, kneeling down and opening his arms for his little girl to jump into his arms, embracing each other tightly.
"Since when do you have powers, Jennifer?!" Ben was astonished, in an excited way like a normal parent finding out their kid taught themselves how to ride a bike.
Jen shrugged pulling back from her father's hug, tapping her chin with her finger, "I dunno, I just got real mad and it came out of me, I was all pow! Bam!" she threw regular punches proving it must have been an emotional outburst that triggered her abilities.
Gwendolyn summoned her Staff from thin-air as they watched Jennifer hopping atop Albedo's shoulders, him grabbing her ankles to ensure she didn't fall, she was still so young but, regardless of their sheltering her, she was also still put in danger.
"Should we move out of the suburbs? I mean, we literally have rooms that are much nicer at the tower," Gwendolyn suggested, but Ben shook his head, disagreeing.
"Charmcaster only found you because she could track your mana or chi or whatever," he interlocked his fingers with hers as they strolled out of the castle, "But, since she's technically ten-years-old… it might be time to give it to her."
Gwen giggled, slapping his chest with her free hand, "Just because you got yours at her age doesn't mean she's ready for one now."
"I mean, you saw her, she clearly knows how to fight…"
"Well, I taught her everything I could, but that doesn't mean-" Gwendolyn was interrupted when Ben squeezed her hand and prompted her to look into his eyes.
"An Omnitrix has a life-preservation function, even if it's a little dangerous, I think it might be worth it," Ben argued as he designed the new watch himself, he obviously knew who would wear it and designed multiple layers of self-protection security functions into it.
Gwen broke down, "Fine, but only for her eleventh- or twelfth… birthday," Ben agreed but she wasn't done, "And she starts out with safe aliens like Stinkfly and XLR8 so she can escape dangerous situations like this."
"You got it, babe, now let's go home…" with a swing of her Staff of Ages, a similar tear in reality to Teleportal's opened up in front of them; Albedo and Jennifer walking through first.
Gwendolyn took one last glance back at Charmcaster who was wailing, having a full-on mental breakdown, the fire consumed the castle as the damage Negative WayBig did when he collapsed forced the structure to come crashing down around her.
"We have to-"
Ben held her shoulder to stop her from helping the witch, "She's powerful enough to survive, if she wants to; I think we're done trying to help her," they watched as the massive castle structure buried her in thousands of tons of ancient stone, as the smoke and debris came billowing out so did an explosion of pink-aura. When it cleared, she was gone.
…
These Chapters Are Going To Be Shorter So Be Ready For That.
Yes, that was the Dark Hold from Marvel. Yes, this was inspired by Multiverse of Madness and the Scarlet Witch.