Ben drifted in and out of consciousness, his head hurt, and his vision was blurred when he opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was a small pool of blood that his head rested in. He tried to sit up but the splitting pain in his head kept him floored. Gently, he probed the side of his head, where the pain was the worst. When he touched a spot on the side of his head that was more sensitive than the rest he flinched, pulling his hand away and hissed in pain. His eyes struggled to focus on his fingers, which were wet with fresh blood. The cut was about an inch up from his ear, if Ben remembered correctly that spot was called his temple.
Slowly, Ben sat up and was rewarded with a wave of nausea. Clutching his stomach, the nausea more important in his mind than the pain, Ben struggled not to throw up. He tried to sit up again, this time even slower and now bringing his head to look at the horizon. This seemed to help the nausea and after a few deep breaths it was gone.
His vision eventually corrected itself and Ben took in his surroundings. It was dark, the area around him only being lit by sparsely placed lanterns. There was a fresh breeze around him, Ben could smell how humid it was. He was locked in a cage; iron bars being placed an inch apart. There was straw scattered around the rusty metal floor, but it offered no insulation. To Ben it seemed more like a token than something for comfort. He could see the silhouettes of other cages, all of them being elevated on wheels, he assumed his cage was on wheels as well.
"Well this is just perfect." Ben groaned, laying down on his back. "I don't even remember how I got here." He complained. "Or where here is."
"Fresher's wandering circus." A feminine voice said from a neighboring cage. Her tone was weird, there was something about it that made Ben feel sad listening to it.
Ben jumped, not realizing there was someone else with him. He was rewarded for this sudden movement with a fresh wave of pain and nausea. "Where are you?" He asked, gingerly turning his head to look for her. There was the sound of a tongue clicking to his left; Ben crawled over to see the cage better in the dim light. He gasped, pressed up against her cage was an XLR8.
"Heya, I'm Helen, but my stage name is 'The Blue Tornado'." She smirked, sticking an arm through the bars in greeting. Ben did the same, their fingers barely touched. They hooked the tips of their fingers together and shook hands.
"I'm Ben, so what am I doing here?" He asked, pulling his arm back through.
Helen laughed, a hollow sad laugh. "The same reason we're all here: to entertain the masses in the greatest show on Earth." She threw up heavy air quotes around the explanation. "Congrats, you're officially kidnapped." Helen said sarcastically. After a few seconds she said, "How's your head?" her tone soft now.
"Hurts a lot." Ben said with a groan. The distraction of talking to the stranger took away a lot of the pain but now that she drew attention to it the pain came back. His whole head throbbed, radiating out from his wound. The cut itself stung and the slightest breeze made him flinch. He rubbed right below the cut, blood still oozed slowly but it seemed like most of the bleeding had stopped.
Helen smiled sympathetically. "Maybe Bobby will be around soon." She said that that was supposed to be a comfort.
"Who's Bobby?" Ben asked.
Helen shrugged. "No one really knows for sure but he's the angel that comes and heals anyone who needs it. I don't think he's an actual angel but there are some here that put their whole emotional stability on him being a real angel." When Ben still looked confused, she said, "Just, wait till you meet him. You'll see what I mean." She backed away from the bars, returning to the heavy shadows.
Ben was trapped, alone and injured but he didn't give up hope. He knew that Grampa Max and Gwen would find a way to track him down. There had to be a way to track the Omnitrix. Sitting against the bars he messed with the watch, twisting and turning it in random directions. His attention was grabbed with the sound of fabric loudly rustling. Lights came on, row after row each turning on with a thud.
"Hello, children!" Came a jovial voice from behind Ben. He turned around to see a fat man in a black and white ringleader's outfit come strolling down a row of cages. He walked with a decorative silver cane, the handle of which was made from onyx. "As you may have noticed we have a new addition to our happy little family." Ben looked around to see that there were dozens of cages lines up in rows. More than half of them were filled with a wide variety of aliens, some he recognized, most he didn't.
"I think you're my most interesting specimen." The man, who Ben assumed was Fresher. Looking closer Ben saw that his long hair was black with large streaks of white running through it. He pulled out a keyring with a lot of keys on it. Ben noticed that the keys seemed to be color coated, a small dot of paint was on each key. Though Ben didn't know what each color meant he made sure to remember that bit of information. He pulled out a key with a grey dot on it and tried it in the lock, it failed, and he continued looking.
A cloaked man walked up and stood behind Fresher, his hooded head bowed. On his second attempt Fresher found the right key. The door squealed open and he stepped through. Ben stood up, ready to fight. "Why did you kidnap me?" Ben growled, cuing up an alien.
Fresher closed the door behind him, a wide smile on his face. "Oh, are you going to go alien and attack me? I'm so scared." He said sarcastically. He took off the head of the cane, revealing two prongs beneath it. Quicker than Ben could have anticipated for such a large man, Fresher swept his feet out from under him, knocking Ben over. He twirled his cane and stuck the two prongs to Ben's throat. "I'll teach you to even think about fighting." He snarled and pressed a button.
Electricity flowed into Ben, sending pain shooting in all directions. His whole body tensed, and he couldn't move, he could only scream. The attack only lasted a few seconds, but it felt so much longer. Fresher took a step back, watching Ben closely, his eyes cold and calculating.
Ben slammed on the Omnitrix before Fresher could react, turning into Four Arms. He stood up, looming over the twisted ringleader and smirked. Fresher yawned and brought the stun gun up and under Four Arms' lower armpit. "Like I haven't dealt with your kind before." He said coldly as he shocked Four Arms. He went down, screaming in pain, Fresher made sure the prongs didn't break contact. "Every alien has a weakness." He said casually. Twenty seconds passed before he finally stopped the flow of electricity.
The Omnitrix deactivated, leaving Ben defenseless. "Why are you doing this?" Ben asked, still curled up on the ground.
"It's just business." Fresher said coldly. "Listen, life here can be great if you just play along." He said, a warm smile on his face. "But there are punishments for rule breakers." He continued, stunning Ben to make point. He left, leaving Ben on the ground, shaking with fear and pain. "Take care of him." Fresher said to the hooded figure.
He walked in and knelt next to Ben. "I am so sorry that this happened to you." He said, his voice was soft and gentle. He took off his hood, revealing his long blonde hair and ice blue eyes. "People around here call me Bobby." He said with a smile.
"You don't look like an angel to me." Ben said as Bobby placed a hand on his wound. His hand glowed a warm yellow and a calming warmth spread through Ben's head.
Bobby let out a low chuckle. "That's because of these." He shrugged of the cloak, revealing large, white, feathered wings. He spread them out to prove that they were real, Ben noticed that his left wing didn't extend all the way. Bobby touched his throat and healed the small burns left by the stun gun. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" Ben shook his head no. "Good." He said with a warm smile. Bobby gathered up his cloak and Fresher let him out.
As Fresher and Bobby walked away Ben slammed his weight against the bars. "I'm going to get out of here." Ben snarled when he turned around.
Fresher laughed. "I look forward to it." He said as he walked away, Bobby following him like a puppy.
Ben yelled out, shaking the bars furiously. Fresher laughed all the way out, turning off the lights before he left. Ben paced his cage, it was five steps long and two steps wide. Eventually his Omnitrix beeped, the screen popping back up. Ben went Grey Matter and slipped between the bars with ease.
The drop to the ground was more than a foot but he landed gracefully. He ran along the bare ground, his small stature being a huge drawback at this moment. "We got an escapee!" Grey Matter heard someone shout. The statement was echoed repeatedly, the cacophony was deafening. Grey Matter froze when a light shone on him, he looked up to see Fresher with a wide grin on his face.
He only got a few steps before Fresher grabbed him. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He said mockingly. "I don't believe I've ever seen an alien like this before." While his tone was mocking his eyes suggested that he was telling the truth.
"I suppose your menagerie is incomplete. How frustrating that must be for you." Grey Matter said and then bit down on Fresher's thumb, breaking the skin.
"Why you little insect!" He hissed, tightening his grip instead of dropping him. Grey Matter wiggled out of his grasp, he backflipped to the ground and ran. For once he wished he would time out quickly. He hid under one of the cages, out of reach of Fresher. He dodged the stun gun with ease and Fresher started cursing out of frustration.
The Omnitrix beeped and flashed red, Grey Matter knew he only had a few seconds to get out from under the cage and out in the open. If he turned back to Ben under here, he would be dragged out forcefully or worse. Quickly Grey Matter looked around, determining where Fresher was and calculating his best escape route. He dove between Fresher's legs, shocking him and giving Grey Matter a few precious seconds of not being chased.
In a blinding flash of red light, he was Ben again, with his longer legs he was quicker and got to the exit before Fresher caught up with him. When he had stepped outside, he took a few steps before processing the scene that was before him. Aliens and humans were walking around together, conversing and being friendly. His entrance had made a scene and everybody stared at him.
Ben was tackled from behind by Fresher, knocked to his ground on his stomach. The stun gun was put to the back of his neck and Ben only had a split second to anticipate the pain that was coming. He screamed, the shock was worse than before. His body tensed and it felt like he was being beaten by a baseball bat along with the shooting pain that ran up and down his spine. The flow of electricity was stopped for only a couple seconds before it started again. Repeatedly he was shocked, the people around him ignoring the torture and going about their business.
Eventually Ben was picked up, he barely registered this fact, his mind being clouded with pain and exhaustion. "I told you that punishments awaited rule breakers." Fresher said as he carried Ben under his arm. "You think I like hurting you?" he asked rhetorically. "I don't, but it must be done. How else will you reach your true potential?" He threw Ben in a different cage, this time he was alone. "Bring me a bolt of canvas." He ordered a nearby man. "I'll make sure you can't squeeze through the bars." He said to Ben, darkly.
A Four Arms came in, shouldering a large roll of thick, colorful fabric. "Help me wrap the cage, this one can get really small." Fresher commanded. Together they wrapped up the cage quickly, binding the materials together at the bottom. Ben was left alone in the dark.
"This isn't very practical." Ben heard the Four Arms say.
"It's just temporary. I've already got plans in mind." Fresher explained. Ben heard the door shut and knew he was alone. The Omnitrix beeped, letting Ben know that it was ready to go again. He briefly considered attempting an escape again, but a pang of fear struck him when he seriously thought of it. He decided that he'd rest for the night and try again tomorrow. It took him a while to fall asleep on the uncomfortable floor but eventually he managed to drift off, curling up and using his arms as a pillow.
Hello all, thank you for reading. This is the first ever fan fiction that I came up with and wrote myself. I hope you all enjoyed, and I would love to hear what you thought of it. (YD)