Chapter 1 - Belief ( part 1).
In the dark of night, the Tennyson household lay quiet, not a whisper to be heard.
In Ben's room, Ben lies on his bed.
His sheets long discarded, sweat covering every inch of his body, as if soaking in it.
His body twitches as he seems to be muttering little words of nonsense.
" NO!"
He screams out, jumping up from his bed, his right hand positioned over his left, ready to smack the Omnitrix if needs be.
He looks around the large room, noticing the familiar surroundings, and slowly calms down, lowering his hands.
His breath came unevenly, as if he had just run a marathon. Looking over at the digital clock on his nightstand.
It reads 3:59, a moment from now; his phone alarm would have buzzed and woken him up.
DEET! DEET! DEET!
Speak of the devil.
He walked over and grabbed his phone from the nightstand, turning it on and shutting off the alarm, then sat on his bed.
He's looking pretty shaken up.
He takes a deep breath to calm himself, then looks down at his sweating body, scrunching up his nose. He stands and heads to the bathroom.
****
Bathing, bandaging his wrist, then getting his bags and books ready took a while.
The time had moved on to 7:00.
On the pull-up bar in Ben's room, he does a little pull-up.
Then heads downstairs.
Wearing a pair of black jeans, white and black sneakers and his black letterman jacket, the number 10 on his chest visible, and the G on his back standing proud.
In the dining room, just like always, the family sits at the dinner table. Kevin has a plate of bacon and eggs with a juice box on the side, while Gwen has pancakes with syrup on top. Uncle Frank is holding the papers, a teacup in front of him, but his focus is on something else.
The TV.
So was Aunt Nathalie's, who was at the kitchen doorway.
Despite being a published author, Aunt Nathalie still prefers to cook and clean, always refusing to hire help even when Uncle Frank suggested it.
She likes to believe that a woman should take care of her household by themselves no matter how busy they were.
Honestly, Ben couldn't help but admire her; her resolve and resilience were and are impressive.
Turning his focus to the TV, Ben looks stunned by what is on the news.
"Last night, the notorious criminal referred to as the Joker succeeded in escaping Arkham and once again placing the streets of Gotham in great peril"
The female reporter, who was at the scene in Arkham, tilted a little, showing the carnage behind her, police vehicles, an ambulance and people running to do their jobs.
" So far, 13 workers have been confirmed dead, but thanks to the intervention of the Batman, police officers were able to arrest some suspects, and hopefully they'll be able to shed some light on this case"
The reporter paused for a moment, looking around, letting the camera move to show more of the scene before returning to her.
"For some years now, Gotham has enjoyed a peaceful city, but it seems those days are coming to an end.... Here comes the commissioner now, let's try to get an interview with him"
The reporter rushes to meet Commissioner Gordon, who has just come out of Arkham.
"Commissioner! Commissioner! What do you have to say about the recent events?"
The reporter asked, shoving her mic in Gordon's direction, urging him to speak.
Jim looked even more tired than he did last night; if you looked closely, you could just see the bags underneath his eyes. He hasn't gotten even a wink of sleep.
"We have no leads at this time, but we assure you, we will do everything in our power to return the joker to where he belongs. Thank you"
Jim says and then walks off, talking to another cop.
"Why am I not surprised?"
Uncle Frank said, his eyes returning to his papers.
"The peace was too good to be true, first the demons and now this madman, hah"
He takes a breath.
"Kids, your father and I want you home immediately after school until this criminal is caught. Gotham is no longer a safe place"
Aunt Natalie said, returning to the kitchen. Uncle Frank nods, agreeing with her.
"If you're staying out, then give your father or me a call, alright?"
The kids nod.
Aunt Natalie comes out of the kitchen holding two plates, one filled with bacon and eggs, the other with pancakes. Ben was already familiar with this and simply reached for the pancakes, then took a seat. As he ate, his thoughts were racing.
Does this mean Batman failed, or did he let him get away again? Is this how one's supposed to live, in constant fear of death from a maniac, not knowing if you will live to see the next day?
The worry in Aunt Nathalie's voice just now was clear to Ben, no matter how hard she tried to mask it.
This city needs a demon, not another hero.
And Ben intended to be that.
Sure, there will be those who won't understand, but eventually they'll be made to understand.
On Ben's face, even as he eats, his face has turned dark, eyes clouded with hate.
He was done waiting around.
No kid was ever going to wonder why their parents, uncles, sisters, and relatives don't come home.
Not if Ben had anything to say about it.
If no one were going to step up, then he would.
And his first order of business is.... Killing the Joker. Once and for all.
PLEASE READ.
Author note:
Am really sorry for the long wait.
I realize something, when I started this story, I wanted my voice to be heard inside the ai polished writing, so I always make sure to write it myself then polish it with ai then go over it myself.
But during the Part 3 : escape. I didn't do that, I rely so much on ai, that I just felt empty reading it myself.
How can I call myself a writer if I can't put in the work, so I went offline because of shaken confidence.
And in my down period, I read a lot of story on webnovel and realize that at the start of their story, every author was a bit awkward and sometimes cringe, but they progress by hard work.
While I was embarrassed by my writing. But I wanna start writing original story and even more Ben 10 fanfiction for you guys, my awesome readers.
And I felt it won't be right to keep giving you AI crap, so I decided to write the remaining chapters of DC alien within by myself, no ai help.
This is the first chapter I've written by myself, it may be bad, and lack depth but please this is where I need your help, I need you to help me improve, am begging you.
Thank you.