#but also ugh. this slower scene is gonna take me forever to write but the pacing really does call for it

[direwombat]

Wheeeeeeee one last scene left to write and I'll have a fully drafted chapter 5 for katc

[marybethsjournal]

Flaco’s Rules (Flaco x  virgin f! reader)

Summary: You come back from a long journey without telling Flaco beforehand and he teaches you a lesson.

Word Count: 2624

Warning: smut (also the first time I’ve written smut so lmk if I should write more or not lol

Here is the story link if you prefer ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/29768013

It had been about a year since you and your brother had unofficially joined the Del Lobos. That was quite a long time to y’all, seeing as the two of you didn’t like to commit to other people, y’all had always rode alone. It wasn’t so hard to be an affiliate of the gang, however. You and Billy could go wherever you pleased and not communicate with the gang for weeks on end, as long as you brought money back to the gang and spoke to Flaco when you returned to the Grizzlies. The two of you weren’t exactly the typical Del Lobos affiliates, but you were quick and accurate with a gun and had never snitched before, so Flaco welcomed you and Billy into the gang rather kindly. 

This time, you and Billy had been gone for at least a month. You hadn’t intended on staying out that long, but a heist led you to France and it had taken forever to travel there. Upon your return, Flaco demanded to speak to you and Billy. Flaco always wanted to hear from you after your trips but when the Del Lobos told you that Flaco needed to speak to you, they passed along that he was much more tense, almost angry, than usual. Not much scared you in this cruel world, but an angry Flaco did.

You and Billy immediately set off to speak to Flaco in his cabin. It was a very short walk from the rest of the cabins, but the fear in the pit of your stomach made you walk much slower than normal. Billy seemed to have the same feeling.

“What do you think he’s going to say?” Billy asked you.

“He’s probably mad we stayed out this long? What else does he have to talk about? Surely he’s not calling us in to have tea, Billy.” you replied with a shakiness in your voice.

This apparently made your brother quite angry. His face went from fearful to enraged in half a second. 

“He doesn’t control us. He can’t tell us what to do. We will never be his workmen. We forge our own path.”

“I agree, but we accepted his offer of protection in the Grizzlies and he expects us to follow his rules, I suppose. Just try not to make a scene. I know how you are.”

“Fuck you, I’ll make a Hell of a scene. Just watch.”

“Billy, stop”

It was too late. The two of you had reached the door to Flaco’s cabin and instead of listening to you, your twin had bust through the door without warning. He always had been hellbent on destroying authority.

“Mr Hernandez, we do not have to answer to you! You think you are better than us but old man, you are far past your prime. In fact, my sister and I have racked up bigger bounties than you already. This superiority complex has to stop or else you will find a bullet between your eyes.” Billy word vomited at Flaco.

You had looked at Billy in confusion the moment he started talking. Superiority complex? Bullet between his eyes? What was this man talking about? Flaco eyes grew dark at the rude words and you cowered in fear, planning on what to do if Flaco tried to kill him.

To your surprise, Flaco began laughing. “Oh, the little boy think he can talk big to Flaco? He think he can scare me, huh? Puffing out your chest, thinking he is a man. You are pathetic. Leave before I shoot you, I will talk with the girl. She is more reasonable than you.”

Billy scoffed. “Who do you think you’re talking to, old man?” 

“Billy, go. You have disrespected him.” you said softly.

Billy huffed and puffed but he still ended up leaving.

“Now, what do you want, Flaco?” You asked. Your brother insisted on calling him Mr. Hernandez as a way of “keeping his distance”, whatever that meant, But you, well you had a sort of friendship with Flaco. You definitely had a soft spot for him. You didn’t feel anything but disdain for most men, but you liked Flaco. Maybe more than you would like to admit.

“You were gone for a long time.” he informed you, like you didn’t already know.

“I know, we didn’t mean to. We made our way to France for an art heist and we sure made you a lot of money. Would-”

“I was worried,” Flaco said softly, cutting you off. “I do not care about the money. Your cabron brother is right. You have big bounties on your head.”

You laughed lightly, not showing that you were taking his care for you to heart. 

“We can take care of ourselves. Been taking care of ourselves for well over a decade, since we were very little.” you told him, looking at your shoes. You didn’t like to open up to people

“You will have to tell me about that someday. When you are ready. Anyway, don’t care much for the jackass. But you, I care for you. How did your trip go?”

“Fine, made out with a lot of money. Billy’s cockiness got us a bounty over there. That’s a first for us, being wanted in multiple countries.” “Sounds like him.” Flaco chuckled warmly.

“It was good besides that. Ate a lot of the native foods and saw beautiful buildings. I liked it there.”

“Did you find a French lover? That is what they’re known for, eh? Love?”

You laughed at him. “I think that is just a stereotype. I was too busy anyhow.”

“Too busy for love? You have a lot to learn, but you are young and Flaco is old, so it makes sense you are not as wise. Surely you had boys following you around, though? You are very beautiful.”

“I guess so.” you responded awkwardly. Truthfully, several men had followed you around during your time there, yelling things at you that you were glad you couldn’t understand. You assumed they were lewd. It all made you so uncomfortable.

Flaco sensed something was wrong and, not knowing how to comfort you, changed the subject, although not one you particularly wanted to talk about either.

“You did disobey your part of the deal, though. You understand that, yes?”

“The deal?” You asked. You had no idea what he was talking about.

“The deal we made when you joined Del Lobos. When we gave you our protection.”

Oh, that. You didn’t remember there being any specified deal, much less that you couldn’t leave for an extended amount of time, but Flaco looked angry so you decided not to question him further.

“Oh yes, I do. I’m sorry we broke the rules, Flaco.”

“Do not call me that right now. We are not friends. I am your boss. You address me as such. This is a serious thing you have gone and done.”

“I’m sorry, sir?” the term felt foreign on your tongue. You didn’t answer to anybody like this.

“Yes yes. Good. You two need to learn. Your brother, I’m afraid, I can not reprimand because he will make me angry and I will kill him. Poof, no more Billy. But you, I think I can handle you.”

Handle you? What was that supposed to mean?

“I’m not sure I understand. I really am sorry.”

“Sorry is not good enough. I have leniency because you are young and stupid. Any of my men who would do what you did? I shoot them. But you are grown, yes? Old enough to know better?”

You and your brother didn’t explicitly tell people your age for security reasons, so it was a valid question on his part, although you felt you definitely looked old enough for that generally to not be a question. But you were pretty young and you looked it. 

“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t be so friendly with you if I was just a kid. That wouldn’t be exactly safe.” You tried to laugh but Flaco’s eyes were narrow and so unkind in that moment that you decided against it.

“Good, then you won’t have a problem taking your punishment.” He smiled wickedly.

“What punishment,?” you asked. Flaco furrowed his eyebrows. “sir?” you added.

He smiled once again, but didn’t let his stern exterior go. He sat down on his cot.

“Lay here.” he patted his lap.

“Oh I don’t think so” you backed yourself into his door. Flaco stayed where he was and looked at you patiently. He wasn’t stopping you from leaving. This was entirely up to you. The two of you stared at each other for a few moments. You could feel the immense tension between you and Flaco. Finally, you walked over and bent over his knee.

“Fine. I guess this makes sense. I did break the rules.” You were mostly reasoning with yourself, not Flaco.

“No, chica. Pull up your dress. You can leave your drawers on.” The request probably should have offended you, but you felt heat in your core at the thought. You tried not to show this on your face, however, and pulled your dress up before laying back down on Flaco’s lap.

“Such a good listener, you are. Wish you would have listened to my rules the first time.” his hand rubbed your ass through your bloomers before striking it abruptly. You yelped in surprise. What was more surprising was that it felt good. You’d never been spanked before, this was all new to you.

“Flaco-” you started.

“Shhh” he brought his hand down again, hard. If he kept spanking you this hard, your ass would be stinging for days.

Yet he didn’t relent. He spanked you seven or eight times, each one harder than the one before. Despite your best efforts, you involuntarily started to let out strangled moans. You cursed yourself after each one. You were in trouble with Flaco, not having sex with him. 

Flaco finally stopped and you assumed he was done. However, when you got up, Flaco pulled you back down by your hair. Ugh, why did that feel good too?

“You are not learning your lesson.” Flaco hissed, obviously frustrated, but at the same time it didn’t quite feel like he was frustrated with you.

“No I promise, Flaco.” he smacked your ass once more. “Sorry, sir.”

“I need you to pull your bloomers down.” he told you sternly.

“What? No.” You may be an outlaw, but you were still a lady.

He grabbed you by the chin and forced you to look at him.

“Y/n, I’m not gonna make you but-” you nodded at him, signifying that you were okay with it. You never thought you’d be doing this but for some reason, you trusted Flaco. Besides, you secretly wanted him to keep going.

Flaco was visibly confused as to why you had nodded but had made no move to pull down your bloomers. After a few moments, he took the hint and pulled them down himself. You immediately clenched your thighs together, praying that he couldn’t see how wet you were. That however, was a massive failure.

“I think you need to explain something, mi novia.” he said, in the meantime giving you two hard slaps on the ass.

“I don’t know what that means, sorry sir.”

“It means my girl.” he told you in a soft, husky voice.

You shivered at the words. You wanted to be his girl. You wanted it badly. And he seemed to be on the same page as you. He hadn’t done this because you did something wrong and he felt it strongly needed to be corrected. No, he wanted you just as badly as you wanted him.

“I- well I liked it when you spanked me. I didn’t know I would, I’ve never been spanked before.”

“You’re inexperienced, huh?” Flaco asked, moving his hands from your ass to feel the wetness between your folds.

“Flaco!” you gasped.

“And expressive. I like that.”

“I’m just, oh! I haven’t done any of this before.”

Flaco pulled his hand back abruptly. He was silent and you, sure that you had done something wrong, sat up and looked up at him.

“You aren’t a virgin, are you?” he asked in disbelief.

“Ummm, yeah I am. I’m sorry, I suppose.” you got up from his lap and picked your bloomers off the floor, absolutely mortified.

“Wait, mi angel.” Flaco grabbed your arm. “It’s not a bad thing, not at all. I was surprised, is all. You’re a rough and tumble girl.” he laughed, but it was clear there was meaning behind his words. “Come back here, let ol’ Flaco make you feel good.”

You smiled and laid over him again, this time both of your intentions being clear. 

“How about you sit on my lap while I help you? So I can see your face? That should be sufficient payment for the pleasure I will give you, yes.”

You would have jumped over the moon if Flaco had asked you to at that moment, so of course you did what he said and sat in his lap with your legs spread.

You never thought you’d be here, Flaco fucking you with his fingers in his cold cabin (although you felt anything but cold at the moment). You had dreamed of it, sure, but this was real life. You had never considered that Flaco had been attracted to you, but now as you felt his dick strain against his pants, there was no denying it. 

Flaco fingered you at different paces depending on what he felt you needed based on your expressions. The higher and more frequent your moans came, the faster he went. When he felt it was becoming too much for you, he slowed down a bit, never losing his rhythm. He didn’t want to overstimulate you, at least this time. Flaco was good at this, surely very experienced, but you tried not to think about that. You focused on the feeling in the pit of your stomach and Flaco’s eyes, which were looking directly into yours. It was a bit intense, but it only added to the experience for you. He seemed to love it, biting down on his lip when you moaned particularly loud. At this point, his fingers were completely slick and you were fucking yourself back and forth on his fingers. The heat in your core was getting more intense and you were becoming desperate. You begged over and over for him to fuck you but he refused.

“No, angel, that is too fast. I have to come up with a way for it to be special.” More special than this? You wanted to protest but he kept fingering you the whole time, bringing you closer to your orgasm the whole time, and you couldn’t find it within yourself to argue back. Besides, a promise to get with Flaco again another time wasn’t so bad.

It didn’t take much longer for you to come undone. Between feeling Flaco’s dick strain against you through his pants and the swift rhythm of his fingers, it wasn’t longer before you threw your head back, moaning his name, and came onto his fingers. He smirked at the scene and kissed you quickly before removing his fingers. 

“You were so good mi novia,” Flaco praised you, before adding, “Now put your clothes back on before you catch a cold. You need to stay warm.”

“We can- we’re gonna do this, again, right?” you asked Flaco after you put your skirt and underwear back on and started to walk out the door into the cold.

“Like I could go through this life without having you again. Silly girl.” Flaco told you before picking up a piece of wood off his table and starting to whittle as if nothing had happened.

[avenger-hawk]

I am looking forward to your shisui x sasuke fic. I know they are gonna be great💕💕💕 happy writing hawk

Owww thank you♥

I feel so guilty now cause I still haven’t posted the last chapter of Victims of Peace and since it’s half ready I should work on it instead of writing stuff for another fandom, thinking about future works for this one or just imagining scenes but not writing them lol

Anyway, since you are so nice and I’m so late replying to this, let me tell elaborate a little on smth I wrote in my future writing list. I have 2 ideas for Shisasu fanfictions. 

One,temporarily called Those Who Remain, may or may not be connected to VOP as a possible what if, it’s inspired/represented by this edit I made.

It’s a non massacre AU set in the same universe as VOP, or a similar one, where Itachi was the future clan leader and Hokage, a prodigy admired and loved by everyone. Sasuke is the younger brother, good at everything, the best of his peers, but his father and clan don’t value him as he’s not like Itachi, and Shisui is the other prodigy. And Itachi’s lover (no Izumi in this one). 

Pain and Akatsuki attack Konoha, they manage to defeat them but Itachi dies protecting Sasuke, who is unconscious at that moment, and when he wakes up he finds out that his brother is gone forever. Fugaku is angry at him, cause it’s his fault that his favourite son died, and Mikoto can’t even look at him. He feels evereyone’s disapproval of him, as if Itachi died to protect a worthless person. Except for Shisui, even though he was the closest to Itachi. But since it’s an angsty and dark-ish AU more than a hurt/comfort, Shisui too has a negative moment with him, and things happen and Sasuke only focused on obeying his father even though he wants him to become a tool for the clan and do things he doesn’t like. Fugaku is a real ass*ole in this one, he appoints Shisui as his successor, not Sasuke. Shisui notices how he mistreats/orders Sasuke around and more things happen. Who knows if I’ll ever get to write this cause it might be long and dark, or if it will just stay in my head where I play/replay several moments of it, and let me tell you it’s really, really angsty. 

You know that story you have in your head and you play it in your head sometimes adding new parts or even branches and random fillers, sometimes going through certain ones in depth so it’s bigger and messier than an actual fic? This is one of mine lol

**

And I have a post ending AU in mind, no title yet, I also have an edit about it in my anime/manga manips folder but I haven’t done anything yet lol. Why am I so lazy and why am I writing stuff for another fandom so I’m even slower ugh...

Anyway, it’s set during Sasuke’s journey of redemption, so it’s Shinden Sasuke. He finds an abandoned Obito hideout where some self-chakra-whatever-powered tank with someone. He takes him outside keeping the tubes attached tho. It’s Shisui. It turns out that Obito had taken his body, as he wanted to make him his pupil and subordinate, like he had been Madara’s. But Shisui hadn’t accepted, he had rebelled every time, he had been impossible to manipulate and break so he had put him on suspended animation then everything canon had happened and he had been forgotten.

So this wary, rebellious, 'ignorant’ Shisui wakes up to a worn out, depressed, lonely Sasuke. 

**

Now I want to do and post that post ending Shisasu edit at least lol. Thank you so much Anon for being so nice!

[emperorsfoot]

Ugh. I’m having so much trouble writing this one scene in my fic. I have had to delete the scene and start over twice now. After two deletions, this will be the third time I’m trying to write this bitch. 

But enough complaining.

How would you guys like to deleted content? Exclusive for my Followers here on Tumblr. AO3 and ff.n ain’t gonna see this shit! 

Click the “Keep Reading” for shitty deleted fan fic content!

At first I had Kevin attacking first. In canon, he’s always been the aggressive one and having lived in the Null Void for as long as he has, he would have learned from experience that hesitation would get a person killed. But I scrapped that idea when I remembered that Kevin is -technically- supposed to be one of the good guys, and good guys don’t hit first. So, that’s why this draft was scrapped.

Kevin didn’t wait for the other two to attack. He went on the defensive first, morphing one arm into a spiked mace and the other into a hammer. Blunt melee weapons worked better in the close quarters of the cave passage.

Ducking low under the tattoo guy’s blaster –an almost ancient piece of tech that probably didn’t have enough charge to do more than stun anymore- the Osmosian delivered a sharp uppercut to his chin with his hammer-hand. Knocking the tattooed alien backwards, causing him to drop his gun. Kevin kicked it away immediately.

The other one came up on Kevin’s side with twin knives. Mean looking things, double edged, with hooked tips, and serrated on one side. The Osmosian threw up an arm to avoid being stabbed in the eye –one of the only place on him not covered in stone armor. The rock of his armor cracked and chipped away under the serrated edges of the twin blades.

“Ooh, look out. We got a badass over here.” Scoffed the Osmosian, not impressed. He’d had his armor chipped off and even broken by enemies before, it was nothing new or special. Hell! A Forever Knight once chopped his whole fucking hand off! Using his enemy’s closeness to his advantage, Kevin head-butted the alien, his stone forehead colliding with the alien’s fleshy nose-hole.

He staggered backwards to where his tattooed companion was picking himself up off the ground. Both aliens paused, looking Kevin up and down, reassessing the enemy they’d stumbled upon in the cave. Without even looking at each other or making any visible signs of agreement, both men began backing out of the passage slowly. They did not turn their backs on Kevin and Ben, not even when they were practically back outside.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad.” Ben commented to his own companion.

Kevin shot him an exasperated look. “There’s more of them out there, dumbass. Those were Neths. They travel in packs of five to seven and they don’t take kindly to being beaten by people who aren’t members of their tribe.”

Admittedly, they didn’t like being beaten by members of their own tribe either, but that was an immaterial detail. A more material detail that the Osmosian chose not to share was that they were also cannibals. They survived –some might argue thrived- in the Null Void by eating other sentient beings. They would not hesitate to eat Kevin and Ben if they beat them in a fight, and the two of them would definitely be outnumbered.

“I’m sure we could talk to them.” The Hero of the Universe assured him in his best ‘symbol of hope and justice’ voice.

Kevin placed a hand against the cave wall to reapply his armor, repairing the cracks and replacing the chipped bits. This was gonna be a fight he would not enjoy and from the sound of it, Ben wasn’t gonna be much help. “Hey, Tennyson, remember that time when we were kids and forced to fight in a no-holds-barred death match, and I bit some guy’s head off?”

“Yeah…?” Ben ventured cautiously. That was back when Kevin was a bad guy. Back when he was a mutated and deformed, emotionally unstable, and mentally unbalanced pubescent child with more power than his small body could hold or that his young mind could understand. In short, back when Kevin was bat-shit insane and expressed himself through violence.

“That’s it.” The Osmosian shrugged.

Fresh armor applied, the Kevin sprinted to the passage entrance, hoping to get out into open ground before the rest of the raiding party came in after him and Ben and they were pinned in.

There was a total of five of them. The two males Ben and Kevin had already met and three females –also all from different species. Five of them and five Null Guardians –including Kevin and Ben’s own from Incarcecon. Kevin’s Null Guardian was struggling against two aliens pulling on its bridal. No doubt trying to steal the beast for themselves. Already broken and trained Null Guardians were valuable in the Void, and if an animal refused to be obedient to new masters, it could always be eaten as food instead.

The two from the cave passage ran up to the rest of the group. Kevin caught up to the slower of the two, the one covered in tattoos, grabbed him with one arm, morphed the other into a blade, and stabbed the alien in the back. Blood spurted out from the exit wound theatrically, spattering the ground and the water with dark violet droplets.

Letting the body drop to the ground, the Osmosian stepped over it and raised his now bloody stone blade, pointing it at the two trying to steal his Null Guardian. “Get your fucking hands off my ride!”

They were paying more attention to the body of their companion he’d just killed than his face. They didn’t recognize him as Kevin 11,000.

Ben came up to Kevin’s side. “Did you kill him!?” He demanded, horrified at his frienemy. “Why’d you kill him? I told you we could talk to them instead!”

The Osmosian just shot him an exasperated look. Ben just didn’t understand the Null Void.

That exasperated look was about all Kevin had time to reply with. The remaining four aliens recovered quickly from seeing their companion stabbed, and drew weapons of their own. Long curved knives, giant heavy axe-like blades, chains with spiked maces.

The one with the mace on the chain attacked first. Spinning the chain rabidly to build up momentum as she rushed forward to close the space between her and the Osmosian. She threw the chain, the momentum of its spin and the weight on the mace entangling it around Kevin’s stone shoulders like a bolo-snare. The Osmosian snarled wordlessly and flexed his muscles, trying to wriggle free of the bonds, but all he succeeded in doing was crack the stone of his armor.

The other three closed in on him, the two other females and the pierced, bone-jewelry wearing male from the cave.

Seeing that they were focusing all their attention on him –basically writing Ben off as a non-threat- Kevin changed his tactics. Dropping the stone of his armor for a hot second, the Osmosian instead absorbed the metal of the chain holding him, exchanging the rock for a more effective alloy armor. This time when he flexed his muscles, the chain broke.

Just in time for Kevin to dodge an attack from another one of them.

Throwing himself at the ground and rolling away before the Bone-Jewelry could bring his hooked knives down on Kevin’s neck.

“A little help would be nice, Tennyson!” The Osmosian snarled at his own companion. “You gonna go alien or what?”

“If you hadn’t attacked first, I wouldn’t have to!” Ben snapped back, his hand going to the Omnitrix. There was the trademark flash of green light. Where Ben had been standing before there was now- “Big Chill!”

“Back to calling out your aliens’ names, I see.” Kevin observed. That was something the Hero didn’t do over a year ago when they fought after Devlin helped him escape the Null Void.

Ben did not comment. Kevin had his angsty phases that lasted years at a time and Ben had his. It wasn’t worth discussing –especially not in the midst of a battle.

Their four attackers paused, seeing the human transform into a Necrofriggian. They didn’t recognize Kevin as Kevin 11,000. But they sure as hell recognized Ben as Ben 10,000. But they didn’t hesitate long. Ben 10,000 might not have put any of them away in the Null Void personally, but other Plumbers had and Ben 10,000 was the poster boy for the Plumbers. So he was the lightning rod for all the hatred and vengeance towards the Plumbers. Not just condemning them to the Null Void in the first place, but placing the Rooters in the Void, releasing Way Bads into the Void, abusing the prisoners of Incarcecon, dealing out judgment and sentence as if they were a law unto themselves. Every way the Plumbers had wronged them or members of their group was projected onto Ben.

Forgetting Kevin for the moment, all four of them pounced on Ben.

The guy with the knives slashing at Big Chill’s chest and belly. While the woman with the axe-like blade tried to bring her weapon down in his head. The woman who’s chain Kevin had broken picked up on of her spiked mace balls and threw it as Ben. The Necrofiggian dodged all of these attacks with a kind of clumsy franticness, moving one way to avoid a slash, turning intangible for the axe to pass through him. Before finally remembering that he had wings and jumping into the air.

“Hey!” Ben said, shouting at Kevin, not his attackers. “I thought you said you weren’t gonna let anyone else beat the shit out of me!”

“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t let them get in a couple good licks.” The Osmosian informed his companion.

But, still, it wasn’t wise to play around when your opponents were Neths.

Picking up a length of the broken chain, Kevin came up behind its former owner. He had the links around her neck before the woman even knew what was happening. Pulling tight, cutting off her airway. There was always some variance between different species of the universe. But, generally, if a creature walked upright and had a neck raising its head above the shoulders, then squeezing said neck would cut off its air supply and –if not kill it- at least cause it to pass out. It seemed this female’s species was no exception to this rule.

The moment she realized what was happening, the her own weapon was wrapped around her throat, and she couldn’t breath, she began to claw madly at the chain and Kevin’s cold metallic hands.

The Osmosian only pulled tighter.

Her eyes rolled back in her head, as strangled choking sounds came from her throat. Her body making desperate attempts to gulp in air through a pipe that was being pinned shut.

...

This second attempt I had both Kevin and Ben on the defensive, both protecting each other and the Null Guardian that was carrying them around the Null Void. I deleted this draft because the way things were flowing it felt like Kevin and Ben could win (and win easily, too) when I wanted it to be either a hard win that Kevin would have to use his powers of absorption on one -or more- of their opponents to beat. Or else, have Kevin and Ben lose and have Kevin have to absorb one of the aliens in other to escape. Basically, I wanna force Kevin into using the aspect of his powers that he never uses unless he’s already a bad guy. I wan good!Kevin to absorb living beings. So, that’s why this scene was scrapped. 

The Osmosian shoved him out of the way facing the cave entrance. One hand pushing Ben behind him like a helpless civilian in need of protection, the other hand groping at the rock wall to absorb the stone and cover himself in armor. His eyes did a quick scan of the cave, even though he already knew that there was only one entrance and exit. So long as there were hostiles poised outside, they were pinned down and trapped –and Kevin knew they must be hostiles, because this was the Null Void. It did not serve to give people the ‘benefit of the doubt’. Even ‘good people’ had to look out for themselves and more often that not, that meant having to steal from or kill other people.

No sooner had Kevin done this, then two aliens appeared in the passage, weapons already in hands, eyes alert, to scout the cave. A Null Guardian wearing a saddle outside meant there was a rider inside.

Kevin pressed Ben farther behind him, forcing the other man flat against the wall. With his armor made from the same stuff as the asteroid, Kevin could blend in and camouflage easily, especially in the shadows of the dark cave. Ben, in all his white and electric green would stand out like a neon sign saying ‘Please kill me’.

The Osmosian took the opportunity of the intruders not seeing him yet to study them. Both alien, but of two clearly different species. Wearing clothing made from mismatched pieces of leather, or at the very least hideof some kind. Wearing jewelry made from bones. One sported a necklace made from a Vulpimancer rib, with matching earrings that dangled Vulpimancer teeth off wire links, an eyebrow piercing that looked like a Quilcupine finger with one end filed down, and a chain of mismatched vertebra from different aliens around his waist. The other was much more conservative when it came to jewelry, just a lei of fingers around his neck, but every bit of visible blue skin was covered in interlocking tattoos. Some just abstract lines looping around each other, others very clear and distinct images, aliens they had killed or enemies they’d beaten, perhaps figures from his mythology.

It was a quick study. All at a glance, really. But one glance was all the Osmosian needed to know who they were.

Neths.

A Neth raiding party had stumbled on them.

Being one of the few locations with naturally occurring water in the Null Void, the asteroid saw a relatively large amount of traffic. The chances of running into someone here were almost guaranteed. But running into Neths was just plain bad luck!

“Who are they?” Ben asked in Kevin’s ear.

Unfortunately for them, even the soft whisper echoed off the wall Ben was pressed against, drawing the attention of the two Neth scouts. Both aliens pointed their weapons at the part of cave the sound had come from and finally noticed the odd man-shaped rock formation that was Kevin.

The Osmosian suppressed the urge to groan. Ben really didruin everything.

The pair didn’t hesitate. The moment they saw movement, they knew they had found the riders of the Null Guardian outside. They rushed forward, weapons up and ready for the kill.

Kevin blocked the first onslaught with his stone body, the rock of his armor cracking under their weapons.

The tattooed one swung at him with the butt of an old and outdated blaster rifle. The thing was so old its power chamber was rusted shut. It might be gun shaped, but it wasn’t useful for much more than a club now.

The one with all the bone jewelry went low. Ducking under his companion to stab up at Kevin’s kidneys with twin knives. Mean looking things, double edged, with hooked tips, and serrated on the back side. If Kevin hadn’t been covered in a thin skin of rock, there was no doubt in his mind that the blow would have penetrated him and he already be bleeding out. If the initial stab didn’t do him in, being torn up by the serrated edge, or the hook ripping out his insides on the withdraw definitelywould have.

Luckily for him, all the attack did was crack his armor with the uncomfortable scraping sound of metal against stone.

In his peripheral vision, the Osmosian caught the tell-tale flash of green light that meant Ben had just transformed and Kevin would be lying if he didn’t admit that a feeling of complete and total relief washed over him. Calm, even. Ben might be an obnoxious glory hound with an ego the size of a To’kustar. But, gosh darned it, he was the Hero of the Universe, damn it! And he rarely lost a fight. As long as Kevin had Ben on his side, the two were practically invincible.

There was a gust of frigid air that even the Osmosian could feel under the rock of his armor. Then the tattoo guy with his blaster-club was frozen in place. Ice covering him from feet to shoulders.

Both Kevin and the remaining Neth attacker looked at Big Chill, the Necrofiggian filling the narrow space of the corridor with his impressive wingspan.

“Personally, I wouldn’t have chosen a flyer in such close quarters.” Commented the Osmosian.

“I was trying for Spidermonkey.” The Hero admitted.

The Omnitrix might be perfect now and no longer malfunction, but Ben would still always be Ben. A little clumsy and prone to mistakes. Asmuth had confirmed that any time the Omnitrix gave Ben the ‘wrong’ alien now, was due to human error and not any fault on the part of the device. Ben was just dumb. But then, he wouldn’t be Ben if he weren’t.

Seeing that his companion was now frozen and immobilized, the Neth quickly realized that he was out numbered, and out gunned as far as powers went too. He began to back up out of the cave entrance. Making a tactical retreat to where there were reinforcements outside and completely abandoning his companion still frozen and unable to move.

“Follow him.” Kevin commanded. “Neths travel in parties of five to six. We’ll be out numbered, and in here we’re trapped.”

Ben moved quickly. He might be idealistic, naïve, and a little dumb –ya know, standard Hero personality- but he knew when to differ to his partner’s expertise. Kevin had spent far more time in the Null Void than Ben ever had. Kevin had livedin the Null Void! He knew what kinds of people also lived here, how dangerous they were, and what to do when you met them.

Flapping his dark blue wings, the Necrofriggian flew out of the cave just on the heels of Bone-Jewelry-Guy.

Outside there were three others waiting for him. So Kevin was right, these guys did travel in parties of five. They were all different species, no two of them from the same race. So, a group formed by alliances between prisoners sentencesed to the Null Void, not families that chose to immigrate like the Settlers.

Or, at least, that’s what Ben assumed. He didn’t spare much thought to it, they were in the process of pulling on the bridal of Ben and Kevin’s Null Guardian, trying to get the beast to come over and join their own mounts –of which there were only four. Five aliens, but only four mounts. So, someone was riding bitch and would likely want a ride of their own. Since the Null Void was populated by criminals and degenerates, Ben had no problem believing they were trying to steal his and Kevin’s Null Guardian. Preventing their main mode of transportation from being stolen took president over understanding the origins of such a diverse group.

“Hey!” Ben shouted at them, fluttering down –practically on top of the group- to place himself between them and the Null Guardian. “Anybody ever tell you that stealing’s wrong?”

He landed just as the one who attacked them in the cave came running up to the group, his bone jewelry clacking with every quick step, both serrated hook knives still gripped in his fists.

“There’s two of them.” He said, eyes flicking to Ben then back to the cave. “This ice moth, and a stone man.”

That was when Kevin came sprinting out of the cave. He morphed one arm into a hammer and the other into a long blade, ready for a melee. “’Stone man’? Try again, asshole!”

The group erupted into a bit of chaos.

Kevin went for the Neth holding the bridal of their Null Guardian. It hadn’t taken him long to come to the same conclusion as Ben, that they were trying to steal their Null Guardian. Raising his blade arm, the Osmosian would have chopped the woman’s hand clean off if she hadn’t dropped the strap and leapt away. She did a rather impressive backflip away, actually. Her spine bending in a way that would have left a human paralyzed after.

She landed on all fours, hands and feet with fingers and bare toes spread to absorb the impact of her landing. She hissed at Kevin, an unnerving sound somewhere between an angry cat, and a hostile snake.

Unintimidated, the Osmosian just snarled back. Open-mouthed, teeth displayed, showing that he was only stone on the outside, but inside he was soft, fleshy, meat.

Taking a step back, not taking his eyes off the enemies that surrounded them, Kevin stepped closer to their Null Guardian. He risked dropping his stone armor just long enough to absorb the metal of its bit and bridal.

The leaping hissing alien blinked at him for half a second. “You’re wearing Rooters armor.”

For the half a moment that was exposed in between matter release and matter absorption, his black proto-tech armor was visible, and clear, and very very indefinable as having been Rooters issued.

“Maybe I killed a Rooter and took his armor.” The Osmosian smirked at her.

“I’m gonna take your armor.” She smiled back at him. After all, proto-tech armor was virtually indestructible, pliant enough to stretch to multiple sizes and body shapes –within reason- and near impossible to come by honestly in the Null Void.

She did an unnerving little sideways scuttle that was uncomfortable for Ben to watch and he found himself having to look away for half a second. He really shouldn’t have. In the half-second the Hero of the Universe was looking away from their enemies, one of them came up on the Necrofriggian’s left and plunged sharp, curved, yellowing claws into his wing.

Ben yelped in pain and leapt back into the air, flying sort of lopsided now on account of his injured wing. He pounded a blue fist on the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, trying for a different flyer who hadn’t been injured. Like Jetray, or Stinkfly maybe. Instead, he plummeted back to the ground in a heap of blue fur and multiple limbs as Spidermonkey.

“See, now that would have been a good alien to use in the cave.” Kevin informed his frienemy.

“Oh, shut-up, Kevin!” Ben snapped at the older man. “No one asked you!”

There was the slightest of pauses as all four of their opponents exchanged a look, as if to ask each other, ‘Did he just say “Kevin”?’ But the pause was so slight, it was there and gone before either man had the chance to notice it. Besides, who cared if one of them was called ‘Kevin’. He clearly wasn’t theKevin. Kevin 11,000 –the King in the Void. Or else he would have just transformed and killed them all already.

The scuttling woman with the unnerving hiss leaped at the Osmosian, and wrapped all four limbs around him, arms and legs. Her limbs constricting tighter the moment her hold was firm. Squeezing the air out of him as if she were a terrestrial snake, constricting its prey. Kevin gasped for air, his eyes going wide when he realized what her plan was.

Gritting his teeth, the Osmosian focused on the metal armor covering his body, on the layer of metal covering his skin under her arms and legs. Usually, Kevin only shifted the shape of his hands or arms, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of shifting his whole shape.

The alien woman yelped in pain, leaping back from the Osmosian to get away from the halo of sharp spikes that erupted out from his body.

Kevin gasped for air, oxygen flooding his system as his lungs were no longer constricted anymore.

Spidermonkey saw an opening and shot a web of sticky fluid at her, gluing the alien woman’s hands and feet to the ground. She hissed at them again, that same inhuman cat-snake hiss. But was able to do little else.