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"The survival of the fittest is the ageless law of nature, but the fittest are rarely the strong. The fittest are those endowed with the qualifications for adaptation, the ability to accept the inevitable and conform to the unavoidable, to harmonize with existing or changing conditions."
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Silence Underneath
.one
The End Came Anyway
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"Miss Gwendolyn, is it?"
"That's right."
"If you wouldn't mind, could you tell us what happened that night?"
"Why do you need me to tell you? You know what happened. Everyone knew what happened that night."
"True. But the only perspective we don't have is yours. Now would you be so kind Miss?
"…Alright.
It happened during one of our usual stakeouts on a building roof late at night…"
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Quiet. The night was quiet.
"Ben, something's wrong. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Gwen."
"Pfft."
Well it was quiet.
A frown quickly formed on Ben's visage due to the matter mutant's comment, who was sitting nonchalantly against a concrete wall. Emerald eyes glared at his onyx ones, the former clearly suffering from worry and fatigue.
"What does that mean, Kevin?" Traces of irritation followed his words as they left. His cousin placed both of her hands firmly on his shoulders to prevent him from doing anything he might regret, judging from the way he had been acting, just in case.
"It means Tennyson, that you are a crappy liar, and when something's wrong I can read it off your face like a book."
Despite not being enemies anymore, the tension and the past was still there. There wasn't a single waking moment of Ben's life that he wasn't thinking that. Acknowledging he was right made it that much harder. Ben sighed, relaxing his tense body, he eased down onto the hard floor. Gwen released her hold on Ben, and kneeled down next to him.
"Kevin's right for once, Ben. You don't look too good. What's wrong?" Her voice was caring, concerned. As of late, it was all too often.
"It's nothing really." He lied. "I…I just have a bad feeling about this." It was an overused excuse.
Changing the subject, he turned and directed another glare at Kevin. "I thought you said that DNAliens work undercover, and barely go out into the city."
He replied lazily. "They do. But I got a call sayin' that they're working on something heavy, and we're gonna be there to stop them. They won't even see it coming."
They were atop a random work building that belonged to the ever so eventful city of Bellwood. The city lights shimmered, matching the stars of the crisp night sky. The Tennyson Cousins had told their parents that they would be studying late at the library. Kevin well, he didn't need an excuse. They were told of this infamous call only a mere hour ago. Excuses had to be formed quickly. Gwen's parents trusted her, and Ben used Gwen to solidify his 'study date'. It was simple.
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"A stakeout?"
"That's correct."
"Now why would a bunch of teenagers risk their life day in and day out?"
"We took it upon ourselves to protect the people who were oblivious to what was going on. We were trying to help. We were the good guys."
"Yes of course. Carry on."
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The wind was slight, thankfully. It meant their scent wouldn't be able to travel on the air, keeping their presence unknown.
Another sigh. "What ever you say Kevin. I just hope they show up soon so we can get this over with."
His aura was troubled, she could sense it. Her eyes glimmering with worry, she touched her cousin's shoulder with a reaffirming grip.
"Ben, do you want to sit this one out? I'm sure we can take out a couple DNAliens without you."
Immediately he shrugged off her shoulder and stood up. "I'm fine." He walked over to the edge of the roof and shot another look at Kevin. "This better not be fake."
"Would you relax Tennyson? Yeesh. Take that stick out of your butt why don't ya-OW!"
"Cut it out Kevin!"
"Dude, Gwen you hit me with a pink hand! Not cool!"
She canceled the pink mana before she was tempted to hit him again. She gave him the stern look that she and Ben both shared. Kevin rubbed his arm, pouting. Gwen hit him again, this time with her fist.
"Don't pout. It doesn't suit you."
Before he could reply with a snarky comeback, the device next to him began beeping rapidly. All three snapped to attention and peered over the roof's edge. Kevin barely finished, "They're here! DNAlien truck 8 o'clock!' to find that Ben had already gone alien.
A quick flash of green engulfed his body, and became the creature he called Chromastone in mere seconds. Skipping his traditional calling of the name, Ben jumped from the roof, landing directly in front of the truck, flipping it over. Smoke and fire soon covered the quiet streets, with the remains of the car skewed out along the asphalt, along with ten DNAliens. Ten very angry DNAliens.
Pink mana steps soon became translucent as Gwen and Kevin stepped off of them and firmly onto the ground. Gwen's eyes widened.
"Kevin! I've never seen Ben so aggressive before!" She swatted a DNAalien away with a quick blast with another one rushing toward her. More mana fixated around her fist, picked the alien up and tossed it into another one.
"I know!" Asphalt swiftly became his outer shell, and punched two incoming aliens in the gut. "I didn't know he had it in him!"
Unbeknownst to them, a police officer had seen the car crash, and quickly called for backup which was now rushing to the scene.
Ben blasted alien after alien away with Chromastone's energy beams, with considerably more force than usual. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the flashing lights of red and blue and shouted, "Gwen Kevin, the police!" before knocking them out of the way into a alley.
However, he made one fatal mistake. In the process of pushing his teammates to safety, he had taken his eyes of the enemy.
Together, they over powered him, and knocked him into a nearby glass window of a uninhabited store. The DNAliens fled the scene as quickly as they came, and by this time, a news crew pulled up behind the numerous cop cars, surrounding the area where Ben had fallen.
"This is the police! Come out with your hands up!"
Gwen and Kevin peeked out from behind the wall, looking at the chaos before them. A burning wreck. The police. The Media. The scattered glass where Ben-
A sudden gasp. "Oh no! Ben!"
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"Miss Gwendolyn, are you alright?"
"Fine. I'm fine."
"Can you remember the rest?"
"Yes. I remember…"
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Pain.
Glass.
Lights.
Shouting.
"I repeat! Come out with your hands behind your head, NOW!"
Blurry.
Everything was blurry.
Slowly he stood up.
He reached for his forehead.
More pain.
Flashes.
A human hand.
His hand.
His eyes shot open to meet those of the police officers before him. All guns were fixated on him.
On him.
He motioned his hands forward to explain. "No wait! I'm-"
"DON'T MOVE!" The officer's hand slipped.
It acted like a reflex.
The trigger was pulled.
The shot was fired.
A body fell.
Gwen cried.
"BEN!"
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"Carl, turn on the news, will you? I want to check the weather for tomorrow again."
Her husband sighed, turning to the channel as he sat down on the couch. "Honey, even I could tell you it'll be sunny tomorrow."
"I know." She walked into the living room setting down the large basket of clothes. "I just want to double check. I hope Ben comes back soon. It's getting late. It was nice of Gwen to help him."
"Sandra…."
"What-"
"This is Tricia Danaka of 9 News, here to report that there was a disturbance downtown. A truck crashed under unknown reasons, and following the crash, a young teenager was shot during a police misfire. The teen was identified as Benjamin Tennyson, and has been confirmed dead."
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"There wasn't even a funeral. The government took his body away, before his parents could even say goodbye."
"I'm sorry Gwendolyn. It must have been very hard for you."
"What made it even harder was… I know I could have done something. Anything!"
"Pardon me for asking, but how in the world could you have possibly done anything?"
"…Is that all you needed Dr. Alpert?"
"Indeed. Thank you so much for sharing the story with us today, Gwendolyn. It was very brave of you, even after all this time."
"All this time? It's been fifty five years since my cousin died, Dr. Alpert. Honestly, I would rather forget it, then hear it everywhere I go."
"I see. Again, I'm sorry for your loss. We all are. Thank you for coming Gwendolyn."
"Goodbye doctor."
"Goodbye."
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White.
The world was white.
Not the world, a room.
A big white room, with black windows.
Black windows with white dots.
Space. It was space.
Vision was blurry. Hands were immobilized. Air was thick.
The light burned.
Glimpses of green were seen.
Ben opened his eyes.
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