The Dead Rise- Hat (Ben 10)

There were 2 types of people in the world: those who were normal, and those who threatened the peace. Meta-humans were a curse to planet Earth. Their powers could destroy everything that took honest people centuries to build.

As long as he could remember, the Hat stood between the two types of people. He was there to defend the normal people from the metas. Now dead, it seemed that there was no one else to fill his shoes.

"Jerry Hathers, RISE!"

The Hat opened his eyes. He was still laying in the same spot he had been when he had died. The Anti-Nexus had ripped itself out of his chest, taking most of his internal organs with it. Now the Anti-Nexus had restored him. He wasn't alive, he was merely able to move and think.

So this was death.

The Hat wrapped his trench coat around him and buttoned it up. Even though he was dead, he had a sense of dignity. It just wouldn't do to let other people see the giant hole in his chest.

The Anti-Nexus commanded him to kill all that lived. The Hat smiled. There were enough metas for him to spend an eternity killing, but he knew who he was going to kill first. Ben 10 would pay for his affront to humanity. The boy had sold his humanity to some alien device in order to gain dark powers. Such a crime had to be punished. Of course, the alien powers would be a problem, but The Hat had a counter measure for that. Enough of the Anti-Nexus' essence was still within him to cancel out the powers of anything close to him, and The Hat had been honing this ability. If Ben tried to shapeshift, it wouldn't work. Then the world would see how a Ben stuck in human form would fare in a fight.

A few minutes later, the Hat was at the front door of the High School. Ben was probably in there at this time. Raising a handgun in the air, The Hat fired off a shot into the clouds as a challenge. He waited for Ben to show himself.

The voice in Hat's mind kept telling him to kill everyone he saw. It demanded to know why he was placing special attention on Ben. Hat just laughed to himself. 'He's the guardian of the rest. You wouldn't want your plans to be foiled by some hero, would you?'

The answer seemed to satisfy the Anti-Nexus.

Ben was at the door now. Hiding behind it. The Hat boosted his anti-power aura with an effort, which would fill anyone within sight with a sense of complete dread.

Ben asked what he wanted.

"Ben, look at this gun. This is a dishonorable weapon." The Hat disarmed the weapon and tossed it to the side, pulling out a knife as his new weapon. "I will not use such an unholy weapon to slay the demons that walk these streets. What do I want? One final show-down with you. No powers. No guns. Just you and me for real. And don't think that your friends are going to show up to help you, because they're all busy at the moment."

Ben tossed a fire extinguisher in the air and wound up to strike it with a baseball bat. The Hat sneered. That would never work. The bat collided with the canister and sent it flying, enshrouded in pressurized foam and thick mist.

It worked. Even in death, there were still things to surprise you.

The Hat couldn't see amidst the fog that now surrounded him, and he covered his eyes out of reflex. A moment later, Ben's bat hit him in the ribs. Hat's eyes opened in shock, and he fell to his knees. After a second, he realized that he didn't actually feel any pain. He was dead, after all. It seemed now that he had been careless. The bat had also knocked his trench coat open, revealing the gaping hole in his chest. The Hat covered it up quickly, hoping that Ben hadn't seen.

"Childish tricks? I shouldn't be surprised, really."

The Hat stabbed his knife at what looked like the outline of Ben. It was still hard to see in the fog.

"You've always hidden behind cheap, false power. You've borrowed from a hundred warriors who fought for their own honor, but what honor do you have? What great deeds has Benjamin Tennyson done? Nothing. You are a gilded hero, and I shall unmask you."

(OOC:Dar, Jak gave me permission to join this thread)

Hotwire had found Sissel again, and convinced him to go find a person known as "Ben 10". Hotwire said he'd be able to help.

After both going to a phone booth as close to the school as possible, they hitchd rides on car tires and motorcycles till they appeared at the schools mailbox. They jumped into the main office as the phone rang. It was a teacher calling the office asking to use the external line to call 911.

Hotwire and sissel jumped through to the internal extension to the class.

"There's ben. And he's fighting an undead." Hotwire said to sissel through their spirit up-link.

"Alright. I have an idea... give me a moment." Sissel jumped along the desks until he reached the gun.

"Hmmmm... he's not in the line of fire. Let's fix that." He jumped to a poster on the wall, then to the open door. As he resumed time, the door would slam, hopefully knocking hat over a bit. He would then jump back to the poster and to the gun, before firing it at the foot of the hat, who would hopefully be in the line of fire.

The Hat lost his balance as Ben tried to swipe his feet out from under him. He didn't fall, but stumbled closer to the door of the school. The door swung open suddenly, pushing the Hat back in the direction he had come. Finally, his own gun seemed to have misfired, shooting him in the foot and sending him down to the hard cement. Once again, his trench coat opened, revealing the gaping hole in his chest.

There was no way Ben had missed it this time. With a sigh, The Hat cast his trench coat aside, giving his nemesis a good view of his more than mortal wounds. Standing again, The Hat found that his foot supported his weight, even though there was a bullet lodged inside it. Death was an existence without pain or lasting injury.

"You wield the weapon? Or does it wield you? There is no difference. Your words have been said before by a hundred heroes who sold their souls for 'ultimate weapons.' You have aligned yourself with that unholy device, and that cannot go unpunished."

The Hat lunged at Ben. His knife made three quick stabs, trying to wound his enemy as many times as possible before he could recover.

"Looks like ben needs some help here. He needs to use that thing on his wrist. Some strange powers are keeping it from working. What better way to negate powers of the dead with... well more powers of the dead.

Hotwire jumped to the omnitrix. He activated it, as the omnitrix symbol spun around, and formed the diamond shape he hadn't seen in about 6 years. In the middle of this diamond, a flickering blue flame appeared, and hotwire's voice came through.

"Hello, testing, one two three."

Ben accused The Hat of cheating in this fight, and it was hard to disagree. Being dead certainly did have its advantages. In order for this fight to be fair, Ben would also need to die. Certainly, the Anti-Nexus would find the boy worthy of being reanimated to hunt the living.

The Hat's third strike hit Ben near the shoulder. Blood started filling the boy's shirt, but he grabbed The Hat's arm and didn't let go. Ben then punched The Hat in the face. The force broke The Hat's nose and probably caused some lacerations, but once again The Hat felt nothing. He locked eyes with his opponent, a satisfied grin on his face.

"I'm sorry, Ben, but you can't cheat. Not this time. The time comes when we must all face the consequences of our actions. You see, Ben, I am dead."

He let that truth sink in as he twisted the knife in Ben's shoulder. "I have already faced a small part of my judgement. Isn't this what you wanted? Me dead? In any case, a force known as the Anti-Nexus is allowing me to remain in control of my body. I will not lie and say that this is fair, or that it is what I wanted, but I had planned on surrendering the fight to you if you dealt a mortal blow."

Then something strange happened. The Omnitrix spoke. "Hello, testing, one two three." The Hat looked at the device, confused. He didn't know it could speak. Apparently, it had not had enough of his power-cancellation yet.

A bright light flowed from The Hat to Ben's wrist. The Hat unleashed all of his anti-power into the Omnitrix itself. It was far more anti-power than he had implanted in Deep Freeze. Of course, this much anti-power wouldn't be able to go unnoticed. And if The Hat went more than a few hundred feet away from Ben, the anti-power would simply return to him, allowing the Omnitrix to function once more. As it stood now, no superpowers would work within 50 feet of the Omnitrix, and it certainly wouldn't allow Ben to shapeshift.

"As for your watch, you know I can cancel out powers. I've simply gotten better at it. Your toy won't work anymore. At least, not until you defeat me. So then, Ben, it is just as I said. A duel between you and me. No powers. No Omnitrix, but I will surrender upon a mortal blow."

The Hat let go of his knife and grabbed it with his other hand. Pulling the blade out of Ben's shoulder, he tried to slash it down on the arm Ben was using to hold his own.

Hotwire tried to re-activate the omnitrix. In his mind there was a flash, and he found himself in the world of the dead. Much like sissels, only with a slightly more orange hue.

(Note:Time is frozon here. Only the anti power and maybe hat knows this is happening)

Before him stood... he wasn't sure what it was. A backish aura. But it looked kind of solid.

"What is that?"

OOC: Sorry, I've been very busy with work lately. I'll reply soon.

-Dar

Ben evaded the knife and tackled The Hat to the ground. The Hat got up a moment after Ben. What was the boy trying to do? Tire him out? He was beyond such things now. Hat held up his knife and dashed at Ben, or rather, he tried to. His leg gave out on the second step, and he fell to the ground.

"What?" What was going on? Why wasn't his leg working? He felt weaker all of the sudden. Hat's eyes suddenly opened wide as he realized his mistake.

The Omnitrix. He had put too much of his Anti-Power in the Omnitrix. Now there was almost nothing left to keep him undead.

The Hat laid there for a while, and then he looked up at Ben. "Fine. You want your toy to work? Bring it here. I need to take the anti-power back. Otherwise, I will die and your watch will never work again. Ever."

Meanwhile, within the Omnitrix itself, Hotwire found himself looking at a black sprite of the Anti-Nexus. It was a very small part of the entity, but still held great power. "What does the fool think he is doing? I have no use for this machine." The black aura formed two eyes and several sharp teeth. It looked at Hotwire. "But I may have use for you." The Anti-Nexus sprite floated over towards Hotwire, preparing to eat him.