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A Charmed Life	By : GrayNeko Category: +1 through F > Ben 10 Views: 75607 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Charmcaster had been forced to walk to avoid drawing attention once she left the employee only hallways and she found herself grateful for it as she discovered that just being part of the crowd wasn’t so bad as she walked through the various aisles of the labrynthian mega store. Her mind should have been focused on the task at hand but as she moved with the ebb and flow of traffic she found herself thinking about other things as she made her way towards Flip. Like what was she going to do with her life now? She wanted to stay with Ben and Gwen for as long as she could but what else? What was going to drive her forward?
For the longest time it had been her uncle that had defined her long term goals, which had been to become more powerful than him or avoid him entirely. With Hex out of the picture she wasn’t sure what to do with herself.
There was her magic but Ben had helped her realize that she had already devoted most of her young life to arcane studies so she felt that she should find something different to focus on. As she looked around at the mundane people bustling about she wondered if she could attain some semblance of normalcy in her life. Then again her relationship with Ben and Gwen was anything but normal.
Thinking of those two kept her thoughts from becoming depressing. She was actually surprised that neither of them had shown up yet. Something told her that was Gwen's doing, she was clever enough to figure out Charmcaster's motives and keep Ben from coming after her.
Charmcaster paused as she realized she was close to the area where she had seen Flip on the security monitor. She pulled up the hood of her vest in the hope that she could get as close to Flip as possible without him spotting her. If she could take him by surprise the day might yet be salvageable.
She shuffled through the entrance of the skate park, scanning the immediate area while keeping her head down. The place was pretty crowded, kids of all ages and even a number of adults were speeding around the place on anything that wheels could be bolted to. As she looked around she realized there were plenty of people simply watching as well, it helped her feel less out of place. Despite herself she was beginning to feel relaxed until a voice spoke up behind her.
"I knew someone was going to be looking for me, just didn't figure any of you would be stupid enough to come alone."
Charmcaster spun to find Flip leering smugly with another of his crew standing behind him. His toady seemed to be lacking his confidence, clearly the memory of the fight was still fresh in his mind. If they were scared maybe she could intimidate them into giving her Gwen's bag back, Charmcaster's hand began to drift towards her bag on her hip. Flip caught the movement and held up his hands mock-surrender.
"Hold on there, Glenda-goodwitch, before you go turning us into newts I want you to take a look at this," he pulled out his cellphone as he spoke, offering it to her with his increasingly annoying arrogance.
Charmcaster snatched it from his hand, giving him a hard stare before shifting her focus to the phone's screen. The picture was of some kind of canister with hazardous labels slapped all over it.
"Nice, isn't it?" Flip asked as his fingers brushed against hers while he took back the phone. Charmcaster yanked her hand back, wiping it on her pant leg as a grimace crawled across her face. Flip ignored her disgust as he continued, "That stuff is the real deal too. There was an incident in Dakota, some gangs had a turf war in a warehouse district where a shipment of this stuff was being kept. A stray bullet hit one of the containers and almost twenty people died.
"That canister is just one of four that my guys have stashed all over this place, and I don't mean the skate park when I say that. So you'll do what I say and not try any funny business or my guys will get a call and a whole lot of people will get hurt."
Charmcaster wanted to reach into her bag and force feed him one of her dog minion charms but the laughter of the children around her froze her in place as she realized she couldn't risk the lives of all these people.
It paralyzed her, this unbidden concern for these strangers. Just a week ago she wouldn't have cared what happened to any of them, but now as she looked around and saw people smiling and laughing together; the thought of anything terrible happening to them filled her with icy dread.
"What do you want?" She asked as her hands hung limp at her sides.
Flip slid up beside Charmcaster, roughly grabbing her arm when she tried to pull away, "My crew's reputation is trashed because of you and your two little friends. Since you're the only one we've got we're going to rebuild that reputation out of your ass."
Before she could pull away from Flip and his lackey something hard was pressed into her side.
"Your ass or I empty a clip into you and then a bunch of people die, your choice."
He shielded the gun with his body so no one else could see it as his man stepped to her other side and took her bag from her belt. With a nudge of the gun into her ribs he guided her out of the skate park with his crew member in tow.
Charmcaster felt numb inside as she was marched down aisle after aisle. How could this have gone so wrong? She hadn't felt this powerless even when she had lost her magic.
No! She couldn't let herself believe that because that would mean she had given up. She had to think, she wasn't going to let this prick and his pack of losers have their way with her or hurt anyone else. Maybe Ben and Gwen were still in the security office and they would see she was in trouble... except that it suddenly occurred to her that she couldn't let them rescue her either. If they came to save her there was a chance those canisters would be set off and she couldn't risk that, but if Flip thought she was trying to signal for help...
She glanced skyward, searching for the hanging spheres that concealed the security cameras. She had no way of knowing if Ben and Gwen were still even in the security office but it was the only thing she could think of to try. Every time she saw the opaque orbs she tried to stare directly at them without being too obvious. For a moment she thought it wouldn't work until Flip spoke into her ear.
"What are you doing? Trying to get someone's attention?" A contemplative look passed over his face before he sneered at her in disbelief, "Holy shit, are your little friends in the security control room? Well, I'd love to invite them to our party but that would make it a little crowded, so instead I'll send a couple of my boys to give them a send off."
Charmcaster tensed, fighting the urge to slap him for his smug presumptuousness. The urge passed quickly once she imagined how Ben and Gwen would handle his goons, the thought almost made her smile.
"You leave them alone!" She whispered intensely, allowing herself to look fearfully vulnerable with her lip quivering. If Flip was half the scumbag she thought he was, she knew how he would react.
He smiled, feeding on the sense of power he got from her fear, "Too late for begging, freak. You had your chance earlier and you blew it. Skids, get some of the guys on the line and send them to the security office with some serious heat."
Charmcaster turned away from Flip and his lackey, hoping they thought her despairing as she hid a smile. Flip roughly pulled her back, jamming the gun painfully into her ribs. His breath was hot and heavy on her neck as he pulled her closer until she felt something else bumping stiffly into her lower back.
"Just thinking about what we're going to do to you is making me so hard right now," He breathed into her ear, sending chills of disgust down her spine. For a moment her fear was real again as he continued to guide her along with both his weapons pressed into her.

***
Ben dressed slowly, finding it hard to concentrate on anything but Gwen's naked form. She was still lying on the table, curled up on her side as she basked in the memories of their lovemaking. He had to tear his eyes away from the sight of her still flushed and gleaming lips leaking his cum but he couldn't keep his mind off her.
Being with Gwen was so different than when he was with Charmcaster. There was more than the obvious differences, like body type and sexual experience, it was how they went about it. Charmcaster was almost adversarial, wanting to dominate or be dominated where Gwen was just endlessly eager. Even when she appeared to be challenging him it wasn't a vie for dominance, merely her way of urging him to keep pace with her. He did have to admit, it had been supremely gratifying making her call out his name so wantonly but there was more to it than that. Every cry of pleasure, every moan of ecstasy, gave him a small rush of euphoria; making her feel good made him feel great!
Thinking about the both of them had him glancing toward the security monitors in hopes of seeing a victorious Charmcaster returning. At first he saw nothing but then a flicker of movement drew his eyes to a camera that watched the hallway outside the security office. For a moment he feared it might be a shift change of the security guards until he saw that it was two teenagers making a poor attempt at avoiding the cameras.
"Gwen, get dressed," was all Ben had time to say before the teenagers pulled out mini-uzis and rushed the door. Ben threw himself to the floor as the door was kicked in and a hail of gunfire hit the panel of security monitors behind him. Through narrowed eyes Ben worked the dial of the Omnitrix, glass and sparks raining down on him as the panels were blown to bits by the seemingly endless spray of bullets. Then as quick as they started the shooting just stopped, though the gunfire still roared in his ears. Between the haze of gunpowder and smoke from the burning panels it was impossible to make anything out more than a foot in front of him, even from his vantage point on the floor.
"Think we got them?" he heard one of the thugs ask nervously as they waited for the smoke to clear.
"Dunno," came his cohort's reply.
Ben quietly began turning the Omnitrix towards a different selection when a shrill scream pierced the ringing in his ears.
"Gwen!" he yelled as he slammed his fist down onto the face of the Omnitrix, the green light cutting through the smoke, drawing the teenagers' gazes away from Gwen and her state of undress.
They snapped their guns up, looking for a target in the smoke.
"We're ready for you freak, got enough fire power here to tear you to shreds!" Boasted one of the thugs, tilting his gun on its side as he swept it back and forth.
"You wanna talk fire power? I'll show you fire power," Ben said menacingly as two fireballs burst from the smoke and struck the mini-uzis. The teenagers cried out in surprise and pain as their guns suddenly became too hot to handle and they clattered to the floor. Ben was on them a moment later, lunging forward as Heatblast.
Being confronted by an alien made of fire was more than they were prepared for and they tripped over each other as they tried to run. Ben caught them in either hand and spun them around, catching hold of their shirts and pinning them against a wall. Rage coursed through him, it was all he could to dial back the flames of his hands to keep from setting them on fire. As it was their shirts smoldered in his fists.
"Let us go you freak!" the boastful teenager demanded, trying and failing not to flinch when Ben directed his literally burning gaze at him.
"Sounding pretty bossy for someone in your situation," Ben said as he leaned in close, letting the almost painful heat of his face wash over the teenager.
"If-if anything happens to us..." the other teen tried to say before withering under Ben's gaze.
"Our boss will know and your friend will get it," the first one finished, speaking with an undeserved sense of bravado.
Ben's face twisted in confusion as he thought they meant Gwen until it dawned on him who they were really talking about, and the flames on his head burst into a white, hot tower.
"If anything has happened to Charmcaster..." Ben trailed off, letting the unspoken threat hang in the air.
"Easy, Ben. They can't tell us anything if you cook them," Gwen said as she stepped up beside him, her face showing no sign that she had been half dressed when the two thugs had burst into the office. "Now tell us where we can find your boss."
The two shared a look as if they were trying to decide which would be worse for them; ratting out their leader or keeping quiet. Ben thought they needed a little more incentive to come to the right conclusion so he hoisted them off the ground, letting their feet dangle and kick uselessly as his fists began to grow hotter and hotter.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! We'll tell! We'll tell!" the less composed teen cried, his face pale with fear.
"Shut up man! Flip will make you wish you were never born if you squeal!" the other teenager yelled, trying to bully his compatriot into silence.
Ben slammed the first teen into the wall, knocking the wind out of him before turning his attention to the stool pigeon.
"Spill it!" Ben yelled.
"The hunting and camping department! They've got that stupid indoor waterfall, there's a door behind it that leads to the pump system that works it. The lock's been busted for a while now. No one can hear you once you're inside and as long as you have a lookout no one can sneak up on you."
Ben lowered them to the ground but kept them pinned to the wall as he looked to Gwen.
"What should we do with them now?"
Gwen rubbed her chin in contemplation as she considered the two of them. The one who was talking seemed genuine in his fear but there was something one of them had said in the beginning that bothered her.
"What did you mean your boss would know if anything happened to you?"
At first the rat was quiet but at seeing Ben spit a glob of fire onto the floor his lips found themselves suddenly loosened, "Flip isn't stupid, told us to call him once we were done here. If he doesn't hear from us soon he'll know something's up and then his crazy ass will kill a whole bunch of people."
"What?!" Ben and Gwen cried out in unison, caught off guard by the sudden revelation.
"I'm not gonna say it again, shut your mouth!" the other teen yelled, flailing his arms at his companion.
"I think someone needs a nap," Ben said before shoving the teen to his knees where Gwen stepped up and whispered a magical syllable as she placed her hands on either side of his head. Arcs of blue light jumped between her hands, passing through his skull and causing him to spasm until he passed out.
"What did you do?!" the terrified teen asked as his friend collapsed face first.
"The nicest thing we could do considering the circumstances. Now what were you talking about?" Gwen said.
Ben had to give him a shake to get him talking again, "There's this stuff we stole, super dangerous looking gas. Flip's got it stashed all over the whole store with guys ready to release it."
"Why?" Ben couldn't help but ask.
"Because he's nuts! Anytime anyone crosses him or makes him looks bad, he comes after them, hard. I've seen him kill pets and cut break lines on cars, but this time he's lost it."
"Where does he have this stuff hidden?" Gwen demanded.
"I don't know," he replied, flinching at the looks they gave him. "Really, I don't! He told each guy he gave a can to, to hide them someplace where'd there be lots of people."
"If this stuff is so dangerous how'd he convince these guys to set it off, it'll kill them too."
The teen shook his head, "He's got them all convinced it'll just make people sick and scare them and during the confusion the rest of us will steal a bunch of stuff."
Ben frowned in disgust as he finally let go of the teenager, allowing him to slump to the floor as the full reality of what he was involved in sank in.
"Do you think we can stall him long enough for the watch to recharge? If I can go XLR8 I can find those things in the blink of an eye."
Gwen shook her head, "No, we need to find a way to neutralize this gas so even if it is released it doesn't hurt anyone."
"And just how do we do that?" Ben asked.
Gwen rubbed her chin as she considered and rejected several ideas before finding herself inspired by Ben's matchstick head.
"This place must have a crazy fire suppression system, if we can get it going across the whole store the water from the sprinklers might neutralize the gas if it gets released."
Ben smirked as he cupped a fireball in one hand, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's rain on his parade."

***
Charmcaster found herself thrown to the ground, barely getting her hands up in time to catch herself. She shot a glare over her shoulder at Flip, who still had his gun trained on her. Her glare quickly encompassed the whole room as the rest of his gang stepped forward to surround her. There were only five of them but in the tight confines of the pump maintenance room that was enough.
"Should I be flattered that you brought this many guys just to take on little old me?" she asked in a mockingly innocent tone, earning soft chuckles from several guys that quickly died as Flip cast a baleful eye at them. Her disgust for Flip was the only thing outweighing her fear at the moment, allowing her to maintain a brave face.
Flip stepped closer so he loomed over her, his features disappearing into shadows as he became backlit by the light overhead.
"She's all yours' boys. Do your worst because once everyone is done with her I'm going to show her that the worst hasn't even fucking begun."
He turned his back on her then, reaching into his pocket for his cellphone as he stepped out of the enclosing circle of gangbangers. Even as hands reached for her and began groping her Charmcaster's eyes were locked on Flip's phone. There's only one call he could be making, to check on the men he sent after Ben and Gwen. If he thought something had gone wrong with them she knew he wouldn't hesitate to carry out his threat of unleashing the gas.
"I'll give you the rest of the money!" the words blurted themselves out of her mouth before she realized what she was doing. The hands touching all over her body stopped as the teenagers looked down at her in confusion, even Flip was staring at her, his phone forgotten in his hand.
"What money?" one of the teens asked her and her mind raced to come up with a plan.
"The five grand your boss took from me and my friends during the fight? It's why I came after him. I'll give you ten times that if you let me go right now."
To her relief most of the hands groping her let go as their owners turned towards Flip, most but not all.
Flip calmly turned towards her and began to approach slowly, the others backing away at the dangerous glint in his eyes. Charmcaster suppressed a tremor of fear as he placed the barrel of his gun in the middle of her forehead but she didn't flinch or look away, instead she stared at him determinedly.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't try to play dumb now Flip. It was pretty smart of you to figure there was more money but I'd rather die than let you keep it all."
That caught him off guard and Charmcaster took advantage of it, continuing the momentum of her attempt to drive a wedge between Flip and his gang, "That's right boys, he was going to sell you out and run off with a small fortune."
"Shut the fuck up!" Flip hissed as he painfully pressed the gun against her head, dragging it along her skin until the barrel was jamming her in the temple. "You little whore, you think these guys are going to fall for such flimsy bullshit?"
Charmcaster swallowed heavily before she continued in as steady a voice as she could muster, "I don't know, how about it guys? Is your boss the type of guy who rewards failure? After that fight he decided to cut you losers loose. Look, Flip's still got his phone out, who was he calling? The two he sent to kill my friends? Please, he sent them there to fail. We kicked your asses pretty easily, those two could handle a couple punks without a problem. No, he was signaling my friends and now they're-"
Charmcaster didn't get to finish as her head was turned abruptly to the side, forced that way by how hard Flip was pressing his gun into her head. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, rage apparent on his face as his finger began to curl around the trigger. Charmcaster squeezed her eyes shut at the last moment as fear overwhelmed her, bracing for the end.
It never came and after several deep breaths of relief she finally dared to see what had stayed Flip's hand.
One of Flip's thugs was pointing a gun at him, a larger teenager with thick arms and a thicker neck. Flip was staring at him in shocked outrage, his chest heaving silently before he finally managed to get out, "What the fuck are you doing?"
The teen seemed unfazed by Flip's venomous tone, "Ease up boss, I'm only thinking about the money. You pop her and I'm thinking we don't see any of it."
"There is no money, you goddamn idiot!" Flip raged, whipping the gun up so he and the other teen were in a sudden standoff. "She's fucking with us! This is what she wants."
"No, the money's real. It's in my bag, I'll show you," Charmcaster broke in, causing Flip to point his gun at her again.
"Your bag? The one you were using to throw fucking explosions at us with? How stupid do you think we are?"
Once more the other teen interjected, "I say we let her show us. Even if it's a trick she can't take us all out."
Flip looked at his obstinate minion with murder in his eyes but after a quick glance around the room he saw the dangerous hunger of greed in the others' eyes and their hands resting on various weapons before he finally yielded with a toss of his hair.
"Fine," he said before reaching down and grabbing a fistful of Charmcaster's hair and forcing her to her feet until she was practically on the tips of her toes. He placed the barrel of his gun against her cheek as he spoke, "But if it is a trick I will personally end you."
Charmcaster fought to keep from crying as he jerked her this way and that, constantly threatening to tear her hair right off her skull while guiding her towards the guy who was still holding her bag. He held it out to her but only so she could reach the zipper. Through eyes filling with tears and gritted teeth she reached out with one hand, the zipper slipping through her fingers several times before she finally managed to grasp it. There was a final silent reminder from Flip as he prodded her face with his gun once more.
She inched the bag open slowly, fearful of startling the already on edge Flip. Finally she reached a point where there was enough room for the bag to burp out several wrapped stacks of twenty dollar bills. The room grew very quiet as Flip's crew looked to him.
"Looks like she was telling the truth about the money, boss," the thick-necked gangbanger said, waving over another kid to pick up the stacks of cash.
Flip switched his grip from Charmcaster's hair to wrap his fingers around her throat, threatening to choke her as he pulled her close. He ducked down to hide behind her as he turned her to face the others while aiming his gun at his comrade.
"Yeah, and so what? Do you think that little pile of cash means she was telling the truth about everything else?"
Before any of Flip's crew could answer the shrill klaxon of a fire alarm filled the air, resounding through the entire shopping complex. Charmcaster was the first to react, jabbing Flip as hard as she could with an elbow while clawing at his hand around her throat. He snarled despite having the breath driven from him and shoved her away from him.
She turned her head as she fell and watched in what felt like slow motion as he made to train his gun on her only to recoil as a shot flew by the both of them. Charmcaster's head snapped back around to see his former gang member firing at him again.
A deafening roar overhead told Charmcaster that Flip returned fire as every other guy in the room suddenly dove for cover, trying to find someplace to hide. Charmcaster threw herself flat against the floor as the two continued exchanging shots. The small room turned each bullet into a cannon until Charmcaster's ears rang so much she thought she must be deaf.
She felt more than heard the sudden pounding of feet around her and dared to raise her head. Through the haze of gun smoke she saw a body lying on the ground, the thick necked teen from the looks of it. He wasn't moving and she didn't see his gun anywhere.
As she pushed herself up her eyes lit upon her bag, dropped and forgotten during the shootout. She scooped it up and darted toward the exit, shoving the door open and emerging into chaos.
The blare of the fire alarm cut through the ringing in her ears just as water struck her face, making her double take as it appeared to be raining indoors. In stunned silence she looked this way and that as the store's heavy duty fire suppression system kept up a constant downpour of water.
She held a hand up to futilely shield her eyes from the water as she tried to see which way Flip had run when she realized how ridiculous she must look and cast a spell.
"Unda Repello," she said, closing her eyes as a rush of wind surrounded her, forcing the water away from her until she was completely dry. It didn't stop there, pushing the water away so even the floor was dry and a small barrier formed over her head. She sighed in relief, glad she wouldn't have to run around while being bogged down by sodden clothing.
When she opened her eyes she caught sight of a figure coming straight towards her. Charmcaster tensed, her hand going to her bag until she caught sight of the figure's familiar red hair.
Gwen's pace quickened upon seeing Charmcaster and the relief on her face was apparent as she embraced her, not even blinking as she became dry the second she crossed the barrier of Charmcaster's spell. Then she held Charmcaster at arm's length and looked around in confusion, her lips moving but Charmcaster unable to make out a word between the fire alarm and the ringing in her ears.
"What?" Charmcaster yelled, leaning an ear towards Gwen.
"Ben! Where's Ben?! He was ahead of me!"
A chill crept over Charmcaster that made her feel as if she were drenched all over again.
"He must have seen Flip running away and gone after him," she said.
"That idiot!" Gwen cried out ruefully. "The Omnitrix timed out, he could get hurt taking on that psycho."
Charmcaster's breath hitched at the thought, Gwen had no idea how true those words were. Trying to remain calm her hand went to her bag and she withdrew three charms, tossing them with a flick of her wrist. They grew in midair and by the time they landed she had three minions roughly the shape and size of Rottweilers.
"Find Ben," she ordered and they responded immediately, running as if there was a scent for them to follow. She hurried after them, Gwen keeping pace alongside her.
"What's wrong? Why do you look so worried?" Gwen asked between slightly labored breaths.
"Just a bad feeling," Charmcaster replied as she stared determinedly ahead.

***
Flip pushed his hair out of his face as he peered around cautiously, wary for any sign of his former lackeys. His blood still boiled at how that little bitch has sewn discord among his crew so easily. If he managed to get out of this without being caught by the authorities he would do whatever it took to get his revenge, that he swore to himself as he trudged through several inches of water.
He was still trying to figure out how he would manage to avoid the cops when he was suddenly tackled from behind. He tried to catch himself but with one hand still holding his gun the best he could do was come down hard on his side. He growled as he rolled on to his back only to be surprised by how easy it was to throw his assailant off him. That's when he saw it was the freak kid, glaring at him as he pushed himself up and prepared to jump at him again.
Flip wasn't going to give him the chance, swinging the gun up so the kid was staring straight down the barrel.
Ben froze, he hadn't even seen the gun until now, he'd been so focused on keeping Flip from getting away. A jolt of terror ran through him as Flip pulled the trigger without hesitation and the sound of the firing pin striking somehow washed out all other noise...
Ben and Flip stared at the gun as nothing happened. Flip pulled the trigger again only to watch as another bullet was ejected harmless without having been fired. Ben didn't hesitate again as he lunged at Flip, knocking the gun aside as he threw a punch.
Flip's nose made an audible crunch as Ben drove his fist into it as hard as he could. Ben would have kept punching him but Flip got a leg between them and planted his foot against Ben's chest, sending him sprawling with a powerful push. Ben slid across the floor, coming to rest against a shelf.
Flip sprang to his feet, one hand at his nose in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. His words were muffled and distorted as he yelled at Ben, "You little freak! Don't you know when to leave good enough alone?"
Ben pushed himself up, scowling as he grabbed at the shelving unit, "Should have asked yourself the same thing when you came after us."
"Oh yeah? Well I don't see you turning into some kind of monster so how are you going to stop me now?" Flip sneered through the blood pouring from his nose as he pulled his knife. He lunged at Ben, arcing his arm back to bring the knife down on Ben in a powerful swing.
Ben braced himself against the shelving unit as he brought the baseball bat his hand had landed on up to block Flip's attack. Ben felt the impact through his whole body as the knife stopped mere inches from his face.
Flip let out a growl of frustration, "Can't you just die?"
Ben grunted as Flip wrapped both hands around the knife, driving it downward slowly. Ben pushed back as hard as he could but his strength was no match for the teenager's. His eyes went from the knife to the still timed out Omnitrix and back again as he tried not to panic. His arms began to tremble and burn as the knife crept closer and closer.
Flip smiled viciously as the tip of his blade brushed Ben's cheek, blood welling up before joining with the water running down his face and turning it pink. Ben growled as he summoned the last reserves of his strength and managed to move the knife back a little.
"Not good enough," Flip breathed manically. He was so caught up in enjoying Ben's final moments he was oblivious to the loud splashing of something swiftly approaching. Ben barely had time to register it before a brown blur bowled into Flip, knocking him off him.
Ben sagged even as his head turned to see what had saved him and blinked in surprise to see it was one of Charmcaster's strange wooden creatures she was able to summon from her bag. Two more quickly joined the first and proceeded to circle around Flip, growling and snarling at him even though he looked to be unconscious. Ben looked in the opposite direction just in time to see Charmcaster and Gwen round a corner, both of them surrounded by an invisible shield that kept the water off them.
"I don't think I've ever been so glad to be rescued," Ben said as they hurried to his side and helped him to his feet.
"Consider it a return on all the times you've saved me in the past couple days," Charmcaster replied before planting a kiss on his cheek. "Now don't make me have to do it again."
Ben nodded before wincing as Gwen slugged him in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"That's for trying to take on that psycho like an idiot," Gwen said though it was clear her anger was born out of concern. Ben accepted her chastisement without rebuttal, instead choosing to focus on the problem of Flip.
"What do we do with him? He doesn't have the money and I doubt he'd tell us where it is if he were awake."
Before Gwen or Charmcaster could reply the water suddenly stopped pouring down around them and the alarms shut off. The three of them looked around in surprise before realization dawned on Gwen's face.
"We'll have to figure something else out but right now we need to get out of here. This place is about to start filling up with cops and firemen."
The three of them began running down the aisles, quickly joined by Charmcaster's dog minions. One by one the minions jumped and shrank as they flew back into Charmcaster's bag, the last one disappearing just in time as they rounded a corner and came face to face with a squad of firemen accompanied by several police officers.
"Hey you kids, don't move!" One of the cops yelled as he and the others surged forward. They surrounded the three of them, looking them over as the firemen continued around them.
"What are you three still doing in here?"
Ben fumbled for a response but Gwen, quick thinking as ever, beat him to it, "We were in a display tent when the alarms went off and got scared when we saw people running everywhere. We weren't sure what to do so we stayed there until everything stopped. Are we in trouble?"
Tension knotted Ben's gut as he watched the officers' faces for any kind of response.
"You kids are lucky this turned out to be a false alarm, you could have been hurt."
He tried not to sag too visibly as two of the cops turned away to catch up with the firemen.
"Is there an adult that you came here with or we can contact for you three?" asked the last officer as he escorted them out of the store.
"Our grandpa's been taking us cross country in his RV, he slept in this morning. He should be outside," Gwen said, smiling for the officer. Ben had to admit she was probably the only one who could play innocent well enough to get them out of trouble.
Outside was probably every cop car, fire truck, and ambulance in a thirty mile radius. The barricade they set was crowded with shoppers as those checked out by EMS technicians were cleared and allowed to leave and police collected statements from those willing to make one. They had barely stepped outside before a cry of "Kids!" drew their eyes to Max pushing through the barricade. The cop with them waved him through and he hurried to them. Ben and Gwen rushed to greet him, wrapping their arms around him as he place a hand on each shoulder. Ben looked up as Max's hand left his shoulder and saw his grandfather reach out to Charmcaster, bringing her closer to make it a group hug.
"I was worried when I heard sirens and couldn't find you three. What happened in there?" His question wasn't directed at them but at the officer.
"We're still not sure. The fire system reacted like it detected a real fire but we can't find any evidence of one and the statements we're getting from people aren't adding up either."
"Do you need my grandkids to make a statement?"
The cop shook his head, "That shouldn't be necessary. I'd say to have the EMS guys take a look at them but they avoided getting hurt in the rush for the exits when the alarms went off. And while I wouldn't recommend hiding if they're ever in a situation like that again, I'd say it worked out for them."
"Thanks officer," Max said before ushering the three of them ahead of him.
"Grandpa, we-" Ben tried to say before Max cut him off.
"Not now Ben," Max said sternly and they walked back to the Rustbucket in silence. They filed inside and into the back after a gesture from Max, sitting side by side on the back couch while Max stood in the hallway with his arms crossed. "Now Ben," was all he said as he stood there examining them.
"Grandpa, we-" Ben tried to say again before finding himself interrupted by Charmcaster.
"It isn't their fault, they were just trying to help me," she said almost defiantly.
Max regarded her quietly and dispassionately before asking, "Helping you with what?"
Charmcaster stood and once more emptied her bag of money but rather than act ashamed like she had before she stood with an air of audacity. Max's face remained unreadable as he stared at her and Charmcaster slowly wilted under his gaze until she rejoined Ben and Gwen on the couch.
"Ben, Gwen, I'd like to speak to Charmcaster alone."
Charmcaster watched with trepidation as Ben and Gwen got up and dragged themselves out of the back. Each of them spared a glance back at her before Max pulled the privacy curtain shut. Charmcaster's gaze dropped to the floor as Max moved to the side couch and eased himself down.
"I wanted to hold off on having this conversation until later but now seems like as good a time as any."
Charmcaster glanced up as the tone and direction of the conversation wasn't what she was expecting.
"Before we get into what happened today I need to know if there is any more of your past that needs to be dealt with before it makes trouble for your future."
Her surprise must have been obvious from the way Max smiled and reached over to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Thought I'd be mad? I understand that you're trying to change, otherwise this predicament you got into today wouldn't have happened. I don't blame you for what happened today either, making this kind of transition isn't easy so from now on I want you to know that you can come to me and I'll do the best that I can to help you."
Charmcaster was at a loss for words as she was overcome by a strange warmth fluttering through her and for a moment the faces of her parents flashed before her eyes. For the longest time she hadn't been able to picture them and she had feared she had forgotten what they looked like. As tears began to well up in her eyes she realized why she was feeling like this, this was the first time she had felt truly safe in a long, long time. Before Max knew it she had wrapped her arms around him in a hug, the hug of a child seeking comfort from their elder.
"Thank you," she said when she finally pulled back. She seemed more relaxed and comfortable than she had ever been, sinking into cushion until she sat forward with a start. "Oh god, there's more money!"
She looked to Max but he only patiently motioned for her to explain. "We put some of the money in Gwen's bag and it was stolen, that was the start of the whole problem. We weren't able to find it before the police found us but it has to be somewhere in the store."
Max nodded sagely before standing up and opening the curtain. Ben and Gwen shot up from where they had been sitting at the front, apprehensively trying to read the situation before visibly relaxing as Charmcaster smiled at them. Their attention then turned to their grandfather as he began looking through various cabinets.
"Grandpa, what're you looking for?"
"Some old Plumber tech," Max said as he pulled out several different devices, placing some in his pockets before clasping another around his wrist like a watch. "We used to be pretty good at keeping the world from knowing about aliens and often that meant destroying evidence. Now you three stay here, I'll be back in a little bit. By the way Gwen, Charmcaster will owe you a new bag."
Before they could say anything Max was out the door, shutting it behind him.
"So what else did you two talk about?" Gwen asked as Charmcaster came to join them at the table.
"Oh, nothing much but our talk helped me realize something," Charmcaster replied as she entwined her fingers through Ben's.
"Yeah? What's that?" Ben asked giving her hand a squeeze.
"How lucky I'll be if you're even half the man your grandfather is."

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Notes
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A Charmed Life