Gotham's Regents (Closed)

[Sean Renaud]

"That's music to my ears." Ben replied. This was part of the situation that he was gifted at. He barely glanced at the dial on the Omnitrix before slapping it and diving into the skylight. He was in freefall when the device took hold of him, this time changing him into a humanoid tiger.

His impact sent cracks spiderwebbing out through the concrete. Two men lifted their guns and too aim but Ben was already on them knocking one over with a wild clothesline, the other he grabbed the gun from and crumpled it. "Let Rath tell you something right now, the last thing you want to do is get Rath angry!" The man took the opportunity strike Ben while he was monologing. It went the only way a five foot ten, two hundred or so pound average Joe could hope for against over six feet and three hundred pounds of inhuman muscle. The fact that Ben/Rath's jaw had shifted an entire six inches to one side was a gift. With a deliberate slowness Rath's head turned back and he grabbed the man by the collar lifting him up overhead and fell back splintering a table with the man's body.

"Rath has one question! Who's next!?" The other goons didn't seem to be in any rush to be first to test him out so he just started stalking forward. A few of them managed to fire their guns despite their panic. The bullets did hurt, it would take a really lucky shot to injure him but he did feel them. The thing was Rath enjoyed the stinging sensation. Just like a professional wrestler every time a blow bounced off his thick hide he turned his head sharply and pointed and that was the next man to fall. Tackle. Body Slam. Arm Drag. Penguin didn't seem to have a shortage of things to throw at him.

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

It was a good thing that fur didn't change color when Ben blushed because he did hear Batgirl's comment and even through the war song flowing through Rath's veins it effected him. At least for a moment then he was back to trading blows.

"Slow?" That was a joke right? Ben rushed forward completely no selling two thugs who took their shots at him. It probably hurt their fists more than it hurt Rath. Penguin had enough time to choose between the door and his umbrella as Rath closed in and he choose the door. Strictly speaking it was probably the better choice and they both sucked.

The thing was Rath grabbed Penguin from behind lifting the famed kingpin of crime onto his shoulders and spun him around several times before driving him down in a basic fireman's carry with theatrics. John Cena called it the Attitude Adjustment. Ben leaned over the dazed Penguin and waved one hand in front of his face. "You can't see me!" He exclaimed before jumping off a nearby box and driving an elbow into Penguin's chest. That was enough to drive the air from his lungs and have the man gasping for air.

Good thing too since the Omnitrix, fickle thing that it was, decided the conflict was over and Ben was left standing beside Penguin hoping Batgirl had wrapped up any thugs he missed.

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

Ben spun around just in time to see Batgirl save his ass. There wasn't time to thank her through, she was already back on mission hauling the Penguin out to listen to his ominous warning.

"So people you don't want to play with?" Ben repeated trying to think it over. If word was out that the League was indisposed and things were this far along it meant that attack hadn't been random at all.

Batgirl and Penguin agreed that time was up and Ben wasn't one to argue. Very few of his interactions with the police had been overly pleasant. He joined Batgirl on her bike.

"Don't get me the wrong. I don't hate riding with you but we might want to find a place, any place to sit for twenty minutes or so. My ride. . .I could bore you with the details but basically the GPS is whining at me that it's hard to come to a moving location. . .and a surprising number of streets in Gotham are one way and tunnels." He chuckled. "Anyway any idea on what he might be talking about? I can stay here as long as you need me." Ben didn't normally stay anywhere long most of his heroing had him if not traveling the stars certainly crisscrossing the states so he really didn't have a city that was expecting him. If anybody wanted him they'd find him sooner or later.

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

Ben listened carefully to Batgirl. At least he did when his mind wasn't wandering to just how amazing she looked in that. . .well it was probably some kind of body armor made of stuff he couldn't be bothered to learn to pronounce not spandex but it sure as hell clung to her the same way.

He got the important parts. No aliens, no monsters, but still on a scale of one to ten pretty bad. Could even be the Joker. Now that was a name what was famous even beyond the borders of Gotham. "Okay, well that's great." He muttered, he wasn't sure what to say at all. The last time he'd made a quip about how bad could common street thugs get he'd been in Starling and not just the good guys liked arrows there. "Like I said I can stick around for as long as you need."

He'd barely finished speaking when his neon green (like the color the Omnitrix glowed) Ford Mustang with a thick black racing stripe pulled over in front of them. If Batgirl was paying attention she'd see a nondistinct human behind the wheel for a moment. Then he deflated and was sucked into the wheel. "Turns out the cops like to pull over cars that don't have drivers." He commented smiling. "Though if your Clocktower is a secret I can stash this, or at least put it into stealth mode because subtle it's not." Actually Ben was rarely subtle about anything. "But a place to stay would be nice, if the Plumbers have any bases here in Gotham they aren't on any of my lists."

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

The ride up was an entirely new kind of uncomfortable for Ben. The kind where he didn't want to move and give away how. . .excited he was to be with THE Batgirl and at the same time he didn't want to hold still and have her find out anyway. In the end he settled for a slight twist.

The tour was over as quick as it began. There wasn't much there. The part that was truly amazing was how much stuff she managed to cram into so little space. Hell the Rustbucket was probably almost as big as this place. But the computer was nice. . .really nice.

"No the cot is just fine Batgirl." Ben replied taking off his green coat and finding a chair to hang it over. "Honestly if your place has hot water it's a step up from living in an RV like I did most of my teen years. And way better than out of the back of my ride and whatever off the road motel I can find." Ben said.

The idea of her secret identity hadn't even really crossed his mind yet. Sure he knew a few super heroes like that. Some because they had trusted him with their identities in the past like Barry Allen, others because the Plumbers had files on them like Kal-El and John Jones. And then there were the Bats and unless everybody was doing a damn good job of lying to him nobody knew. Still she didn't have a secret identity. She was Batgirl.

"Yeah that's fine. You wear the mask for a reason. Besides being the girlfriend of the famous Ben 10 is a little like painting a target on your ass." Ben had a moment to think about that and decided not to rephrase it. Maybe she hadn't noticed the hole he'd dug for himself and if she had maybe she'd at least take the shovel before he got any deeper.

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

"I did . . .that came out entirely differently than how I . . .you know what? I'm gonna go curl up on the cot and figure out how to get this foot taste out of my mouth. Speaking of taste I didn't exactly eat before I came." Ben said.

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

"Sorry, I thought you were. . ." looked around the space and if he'd been thinking he would have realized her choices were limited. "Nothing, yes." He did turn around and unfortunately for him he was a gentlemen, well mostly he didn't so much wait for her to tell him to turn around as he did turn when she started speaking.

"Wow. Civilian costume, never crossed my mind." He forced himself to keep his eyes on hers now. "Chinese is great, anything with pineapple." He smiled taking another look around.

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

Ben watched her already impressive abode change slightly. "Wow, I guess that kind of thing would be necessary around here huh?" Hemused. He wasn't really paying much attention to the place anymore though. Being a gentlemen didn't mean he wasn't interested in the stunning woman walking around in just a robe.

"Never seen him eat?" Ben might have had a joke for that earlier but damn there she was in all her glory. "So where are the others anyway. I know Batman is busy with the rest of the A-List." He tried to keep that last word from being a sneer. "But aren't there like six or seven Robins?"

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

Ben had been joking. . .partially. It wasn't much of a secret that there were a few Robins running around. Hell a few theories suggested that Batman himself had been replaced at least once or twice but nobody knew for sure.

"Maybe you guys aren't heavy hitters but your serious deals. I mean my cousin use to want to be you." Ben said. "You guys routinely keep up with all sorts of metas and trust me I know better than most guys with actual powers what it's like to be normal but not. . .you know normal normal. My plan when this thing-" he motioned to the Omnitrix, "-decides to throw a hissy fit is don't be dead before it recharges. Not I can beat this guy on my own cus you know I generally can't." Ben smiled.

He couldn't help but watch her as she walked away, even dressed in a modest robe she was damned impressive and she came back his eyes were anywhere but the food. "I didn't say anything about being horny." There was a full beat. "I mean hungry. I mean yes I am very hungry." He glanced down at the Omnitrix avoiding a blush. "Why don't I have any of the time travelers unlocked?"

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

Ben looked up at her. "Yeah you may have been a bit hard on me." Ben smiled and pulled her up against him wrapping one arm around her middle. "Of course I would love it if you'd teach me a few moves. Strictly self defense stuff." He said with a grin.

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

"I'm not being hard o-" Maybe the blood just wasn't in all the right places because it wasn't until Ben had nearly said it out loud that he caught the joke. "That's entirely your doing Batgirl." He replied shivering just slightly at her touch.

"Gymnast? Like very bendy gymnast?"

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

Ben enjoyed the kiss leaning into the beautiful Superheroine for as long as she'd stay. His hands were firmly on her hips until she pulled away. "Yes, food, keep up my strength n stuff." Ben said the memory of the kiss looping in his mind for a moment before he joined her at the table grabbing a box and piling food onto a plate.

Ben grabbed a pair of the chopsticks and easily went to work on the meal. "Wow, they have pretty good Chinese here. I always end up with crap food on the road. You know I've always been a bit curious, why do you guys stay here?"

 

[Lily_Wight]

(Closed)

 

[Sean Renaud]

"Well you obviously have a better relationship with Batman than I do. I've met him all of twice and I'm pretty sure the only thing I've seen anybody ask him is 'what do you want to know I'll tell you everything!'" Ben said.

Her Dad? Could she possibly be the daughter of Nightwing? She didn't seem that young. . .or rather he didn't look that old but masks. And there were other heroes, guys around long before Batman. Oh well it's not polite to pry.

"Did I ever think about giving up the Omnitrix?" Ben paused it wasn't really his favorite subject. "Maybe. It's weird, when I first found it I thought it was the coolest thing. I mean I got to be a hero at ten! Who does that? And then Vilgax came and long story short Azimuth, the guy who made it actually sent it to my grandpa we're just genetically similar enough that when I got close it latched on to me and he also made it. . .difficult to remove. Yeah I could get it off now but yeah when Vilgax was considering taking my arm so he'd have it I did wonder why exactly I cared about Galvan Prime, Thanagar, Tamarak or any planet other than the one I was standing on which all things considered is a very nice world. We've got smoothies and movies and street racing. And believe me the reason why you always hear about Hybrid humans is because no matter where you go in the universe human women are the best."