Chapter 25

After disabling the robots, Charmcaster went back to flying after the free-falling ship with Ben and Darkstar still fighting in it. Time to try something a little different, Charmcaster decided to herself, and concentrating on what she wanted to do next, instead of flying up next to the door and opening it, she just flew through the wall instead.

Landing in the ship with a gasp, drained from the usage of power to fly *and* "ghost" through the ship walls, she saw that Darkstar and Diamondhead were still fighting. Diamondhead was actually putting up quite a fight; he had just thrown Darkstar against the ship walls, but the insane energy absorber man was getting back up quickly for another round. Diamondhead had a couple chips in his crystal armor; it was clear that Darkstar was putting up just as much of a fight.

"Charmcaster, get this ship stabilized!" Diamondhead yelled at Charmcaster, not even bothering to try and figure out how she'd just flown through the ship walls. Charmcaster nodded and made for the ship controls, but Darkstar yelled, "NO!" and hurled an energy bolt at her, hitting her directly in the back. She immediately felt a lot of her energy get sapped from her, as if Darkstar had stolen it by just hitting her with the energy bolt. She found now she barely could drag herself up to the ship's controls.

Charmcaster looked over to where Diamondhead and Darkstar were tussling, and grunted, "I... can't... do... it!" "You've got to!" Diamondhead yelled back at her. Spurred on, Charmcaster began to drag herself up, trying to reach the controls again, but at the moment Darkstar managed to get a hand free from his fight with Diamondhead and hit her again with another energy bolt. Charmcaster hit the floor again, her ears ringing now. At this point, there was little she could do.

"You fiend!" Diamondhead snarled, kicking Darkstar away, heading for the controls himself to try and stabilize the free-falling ship. Darkstar immediately got himself up and grabbed Diamondhead from behind, and hissed, "I don't think so," and then slammed an energy-filled hand directly over the Omnitrix icon on Diamondhead's chest. Grey creases began to spread across Diamondhead's chest as Darkstar stole his energy, and continued to force Diamondhead to rot at a highly accelerated rate.

Charmcaster managed to get herself to sit up at this point, and noticed what was happening, and screamed "BEN!" just before Diamondhead exploded. A flash of green light went off, and Darkstar was thrown backwards by the force. Ben then laid on the ground, unconscious. Darkstar stood up triumphantly, ready to make his next move. Charmcaster was unsure of what to do next; she had too little energy to fight back, and Ben was defenseless now.

However, Charmcaster did not have to figure that out, as at that point the spaceship hit Earth's atmosphere at full speed, and it only took a second for it to get set aflame. Charmcaster crawled over to Ben's side, and used the last of her energy to put a forcefield around them to protect them from the impending impact that was sure to come as the now flaming inferno rushed fast towards Earth's surface.

Julie floated in space, well away from the Plumber base, and looking down upon the general area of Earth where Charmcaster and Ben had crashed. If what Kevin and Gwen had said was true, and they had crashed at full speed, then she just hoped that they had adequately protected themselves to live. "But why would they have been free-falling towards Earth in the first place?" she asked herself.

Whatever the case, Julie hoped that they lived. What Nelson had suggested about her earlier had only been partially true. Yes, Kevin and Gwen were little at this point to her, but Ben wasn't all she cared about either. And if she was being honest with herself, that was only because of the connection that Ben had with Julie across the various realities and dimensions.

In truth, what she cared about now was ending the Plumbers, and keeping whoever could help her do so alive. At first, her only real purpose had been defeating Vilgax so the Earth could be free, and keeping Ben and his friends alive. She had sacrificed herself to let that happen. But after learning that she was just a pawn of the Plumbers, she wanted to make them pay for their crimes. Ben and Charmcaster were massive assets to her in that fight. Ben's abilities with his watch made him a worthy adversary for many. Charmcaster had developed such power that few could stand against.

Kevin and Gwen, on the other hand, were pretty useless to her at this point. Gwen may have been an Anodite, but she was a relatively weak one at that, and was nothing in the shadow of Charmcaster. Kevin was maybe useful for beating up mercenaries, but that was about it. When it came time for her to choose which group of two to protect first, the choice was pretty clear to her. Without Ben and Charmcaster, her war with the Plumbers wouldn't have much of a fight.

She then began to fly down to Earth, to make sure that they were okay, and then to plot their next move against the Plumbers. She suspected that they would probably want to rescue Gwen and Kevin first, although she was unsure if they could afford a move like that when the Plumbers were planning on ending the humans' life on Earth so they could replace them with another species. She would have to figure out a way to make them focus on the Plumbers first.

"I'm not a pawn anymore," Julie declared as she soared down towards Earth, "I play my own game."

Charmcaster fluttered her eyes open, trying to make sense of what was going on now. As she began to focus, she realized that they had crashed as expected and somehow survived. The forcefield had broken at the last second, so she hadn't expected to survive. She began to move herself, but she instantly felt a searing pain in her back. She still couldn't crawl very far, and she looked for Ben. He was collapsed in a heap not too far from her, still clearly unconscious.

"Ben! Wake up!" she whispered, unsure if Darkstar was still around or if the crash had managed to kill him. Ben was unresponsive for a moment, but then flickered his eyes open lightly, seemingly unable to get them open all the way. He glanced over at her, and whispered, "Charmcaster..." He struggled to get words out, but then his eyes flickered shut again and he didn't move.

It was at that point that Darkstar punched his way out of the wreckage as well, and stalked over in Ben and Charmcaster's direction. He glanced down at Ben's motionless body, and snatched it up. Ben didn't react, and when Darkstar placed his hand on Ben's wrist, he then smirked and commented, "No pulse." Then he tossed Ben's lifeless body over his shoulder, laughing, "Well, that was easier than I thought."

Charmcaster's blood went cold. WHAT? She couldn't believe it. Could it really be over that easily? Darkstar glanced down at her, smirking.

"Ben Tennyson is dead. And you are next."

TO BE CONTINUED.

The first chapter of Part 3 will be up in a week! Keep watch! Enjoy the cliffhanger ;)