How many heroes does it take to protect an innocent?

Masha looked up at her cat with wide, terrified eyes. Midnight had somehow got herself onto the top branch of the city's tallest tree, and now she wouldn't come down. This was really, really bad! She had to get Midnight down before something bad happened!

She called out for help, but there was almost nobody in the park. And her daddy had picked NOW of all times to go to the bathroom! There was this one boy she thought had heard her, but he'd just run off. She couldn't leave her cat to look for help, either. What if a dog came around? Or a bat? Or a catnapper? Or an alien?

"Hello there!" A cheerful, booming voice made itself known. Marsha whirled around, and found herself looking up at a red alien with four gigantic arms and a big smile.

She immediately brightened up. "Handy Buddy!"

'Handy Buddy' blinked, and then simply rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Not exactly, miss. Now what seems to be the trouble?"

Masha didn't know why Handy Buddy didn't have that funny accent, but then she remembered that there were more important things to worry about than a hero's voice. "Midnight! My kitty's stuck up there! I have to get him down!"

Fourarms nodded. "Not a problem, miss! I'll just get her down..." He remarked, stretching up his arm to where Midnight was perched. He got a good scratch for his effort.

"You don't understand." Masha explained when Fourarms retracted his arm. "She only listens to me. But I can't get her to come down, she's scared of heights, and I can't reach her!"

Fourarms rubbed his hand gently before nodding. "Alright then..." He set one of his other hands on the ground in front of Masha. "Hop on. Don't worry, I won't drop ya."

Masha hesitated for a second, but then stepped onto the big red hand. Although she felt a bit unsteady when Fourarms lifted her up, she stayed on her feet and soon found herself right up with Midnight. The black cat looked at her mistress with some confusion before jumping into her waiting arms.

Masha hugged her black cat tightly. "Thank you sooooo much, Handy Buddy!" She squealed once Fourarms set her on the ground before running off to find her daddy.

Fourarms just chuckled. "Heh. Not a problem, miss. Always glad to help." His smile had never left his face.

Gwen walked up to the school entrance, a bit apprehensive about meeting Ben here. She wasn't sure what she'd say, what she'd do when she saw him again. She usually had a plan to deal with situations like this, but now? There was no way they could trade their usual banter after what had happened. Or was that Ben needed right now, some return to normalcy? Or did Ben even realize how serious this was? Her father had tried to push her out of this mess, maybe his did too?

The bell rang, snapping her out of her thoughts. She had to get to class. With that goal in mind, she pushed herself through the doors and almost ran into a group of boys hanging out near the entrance. She stopped in her tracks when she saw her cousin.

Ben and two of his school friends, neither if whom Gwen knew, were in the middle of a conversation. "...must've been a real nasty virus if it made you skip school for a week."

"The worst!" Ben replied, a casual smile on his face. "Sure glad it's over. Never thought I'd say this, but it's good to be back here!"

Gwen just stared. Ben was laughing, joking, acting like this was just another day. Like nothing had happened. Should he be acting like this? Or was something else going on that she wasn't seeing?

The three boys laughed. "Ok man, who are you, and what have you done to Ben Tennyson?"

An odd look passed over Ben's face, but it was gone so quickly Gwen wondered if she hadn't imagined it. The smile on his face just got bigger. "Ha ha ha...oh, I'm an alien shapeshifter who locked Ben in his room while I infiltrate his school and take over the gym team!" He proclaimed while gesturing dramatically. Everybody laughed at that except Gwen.

The other boys suddenly remembered that they still had classes, and quickly said their 'see ya laters' before rushing off. Ben started walking to his class as well. He looked up to see that Gwen had joined him, a very strange expression on her face.

"Hey Gwen!" He greeted with a wave. His smile had never left his face. "How's it going?"

Gwen blinked, not sure how to respond. "Umm...okay. It's going okay...Ben, are you alright?" she asked with some concern.

Now it was Ben's turn to look confused, as if Gwen had just asked a really dumb question. "Uh...yeah. Why?"

"I dunno, it's just...after what happened to your mom, I-I guess I figured-"

Ben stopped in his tracks, his smile vanishing. His hand gently massaged his forehead like he'd suddenly got a headache. He looked her right in the eye, his expression completely different from a minute ago. His eyes were solemn, and his mouth set. "I don't want to talk about it right now." He stated coldly before running off.

Gwen was left standing in the hallway, confused and troubled. Of all the ways she'd expected Ben to act, this wasn't one of them...or was it? Maybe this was normal…or just okay. Everyone deals with...something like this differently. Ben was probably just trying too hard to keep up his positive outlook. Ignore the worst of it while he could. Maybe she was just overthinking it…she'd only seen him for a minute, after all.

But there was something else…something she just couldn't put her finger on. What was it?

The second bell rang, telling Gwen that she was running late.

She shook her head clear and started running down the hall. Gwen decided that she'd keep a close eye on her cousin that day, since they shared a lot of their classes. Maybe she could figure out what was up with Ben and why this weird feeling about her cousin wouldn't go away.

A new Ben 10 story!

This takes place around the original series, so I probably should've uploaded this a few months ago. Oh well.

Regardless, please read and review, and let me know what you think of the story.