Subjugated

The Osmosians conquered the world, seeking out any being that would sate their unending hunger for energy. Ben 10 vanished during the battle and was declared dead. Led by Kevin 11,000, they had little opposition, especially after they capture the leader of the resistance Gwen Tennyson.

Author's Note: Merry Christmas to all, hope you enjoy something dark and deconstructing as this fic takes apart the interspieces romance trope which the show loves, humans are ugly, happiness in slavery and a whole lot of other crap.

Chapter One

Rough claws pierced her shoulder blades as Gwen barely managed to stifle a scream. She was shoved up onto a platform by guards where she would be sold, sold to the highest bidder. The Osmosians all jeered, Earthlings were so pathetic, to think that she had been their biggest threat.

Her life for five years had been miserable, at the age of 20 when her life had been going just as she'd planned, Kevin 11,000 had invaded Earth, she had only seen him once, just when she was 10 years old. He had escaped the Null Void but had never returned to Earth, instead he had gone to Osmos V and had taken over the planet in order to invade Earth and kill Ben, she didn't know what became of her cousin, she hadn't been with him during the fight, but Kevin 11,000 never claimed that he had killed him, she had thought he disappeared, but she had never been able to learn where he was.

Now she was 25, alone and abandoned on a distant planet, with nothing to look forward to other than long, hard days. Her enslavement was different than other humans, who were often forced to do hard, menial labor, she was part Anodite, and being an Energy Being, she had been sold to Michael Morningstar, an Earthling who was very much like the Osmosians and had aided in Earth's downfall. Her fate was much worse than the others, she was a source of nourishment to Michael, he treated her like food, he only kept her alive so he could drain her powers, to the point of death, daily.

She had resisted and fought, but he always overpowered her, none of the abuse was sexual, as many aliens considered the humans way of reproducing to be disgusting and beneath their superior way of living.

She knew Kevin was a human hybrid, but no one dared speak about his humanity, because they all feared him.

Michael was selling her, he had incurred a large debt to Kevin 11,000, and since he knew what she was, he was sure he could get a good price. Osmosians would pay a fortune for an Anodite, although by their standard she was still "young", she knew that because of her humanity, she might die sooner than they expected, but she did not want to spend 50 years in slavery.

She had tried to escape, multiple times, and it was not lost to Michael, who had starved her often.

But of course, he'd fed her enough that she looked healthy, she hadn't eaten enough to feel full in years, she'd always felt a little hungry, she'd requested more food, but received a harsh beating and energy draining for her polite and reasonable requests.

"Keep your head down, lovely Gwen!" Michael slapped her, hard. Gwen refused; she was going to keep her dignity. The Osmosians laughed, no wonder he was selling her, she was defiant. Some of them started leaving; they weren't interested in a lowly human, let alone a rebellious one.

Some of them started speaking, they spoke their own native language, English wasn't something they were thrilled to learn, since they despised Earth.

"Michael, where's my money?" Kevin 11,000's loud voice demanded.

"I'm trying to get it, by selling this thing," Michael gestured to her. Gwen was enraged that he dared call her a thing. She wished they hadn't shackled her, or she would have throttled him in front of everyone.

"I've heard it's your prized possession, let me have it, and we'll be even. If not, I am hungry and you'd do nicely as an energy snack."

"Take it, the Anodite should be enough for you," Michael said smoothly. In Gwen's ear he whispered, "I hope he drains you dry human filth. Osmosians are insatiable when it comes to energy."

Kevin placed a metal collar around her neck, it had her Earth name, the name of her owner, a stock number and a tracking device, making escape impossible as it could track where she went, if she was sent on an errand and tried to escape, it would alert the nearest security drones who would drag her back to her master, she'd tried to escape, but it never worked, and she had never been able to get the wretched thing off herself.

They began to walk home, apparently he was within walking distance of the auction. She was surprised she wasn't being dragged home, he was walking her like one walked a dog, she was so used to being dragged everywhere they she actually felt good walking at a reasonable pace, and held her head up high, while the others moped like whipped puppies.

He was intrigued by the girl already, so many humans graveled and simpered at the sight of an Osmosian that it had become disgusted with all of them, the human side of him had always admired rebellion, as he'd been a rebel in his youth in his own way, he had always loved the sci-fi movies where the humans defeated the aliens, because it proved the strength of and spirit of humanity, but when they broke so easily when the real thing happened, he'd been bitterly disappointed.

He had not been the one to capture Gwen Tennyson, but he recalled the stories told about her that she'd put up such a fight that she'd managed to kill an Osmosian, which was impossible by their standards. They had enjoyed breaking her because of it, but she was an intriguing figure, he had to admit that, she was like her cousin, and his hatred had mixed with admiration when it came to Ben 10, he didn't particularly hate Gwen, she'd not actually done anything to him.

"Master…" Gwen began to say.

"Don't call me that. I don't really like it. I suppose your cousin told you about the games he and I were forced into. Just call me Kevin."

"I'm surprised you remember Ben, did you enjoy killing him?" Gwen asked with a sneer. Kevin turned to her and she expected to be backhanded. He didn't move.

"I didn't kill him, we fought for hours, I threw him through a wall, I went looking for him but never found him."

"Did Michael make you call him that?" Kevin asked.

"Yes," Gwen looked at him.

Kevin gestured that she follow him and he walked into a kitchen. She was surprised of course; most Osmosians wouldn't want anything to do with the pathetic backwater planet that was Earth.

"I'm still a human so I still eat human food," he answered her unspoken questions.

Gwen watched as he made a sandwich. She'd missed food so much. All she'd been given to eat was the worst form of food she'd ever tasted.

She lowered herself onto the ground, leaning back onto her haunches. She couldn't say anything, she wouldn't. How many times had Michael forced her to do this? She'd lost count, but it had become something she was unfortunately accustomed to.

Kevin was horrified. And he'd done so many horrible things that everyone called him cruel and evil, but to see Gwen on her knees like a dog, simply waiting to be fed, broke the heart he didn't know he had.

And they said I was cruel, he thought morosely. Morningstar is a monster, I may look like one, but I would never do this to her.

"Did he…make you eat like that too?" he asked, unable to believe his eyes.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Yet you still keep your dignity…" he said to himself more than to her. Her eyes were still dignified and showed that she viewed herself not as a thing, but as an individual. How many species had he seen cave after he had subjugated them? They all walked with their heads down, graveling at his feet. That was what had disgusted him so much, no one had any dignity.

How could she keep her self confidence after being beaten and starved and drained repeatedly, forced to beg and eat like an animal. He had not seen any of this first hand, but everyone knew how Michael Morningstar treated his slaves, the slavers loved him because he made him rich, slaves feared him because they usually died. He would drain them until they died, but with Gwen, he could never kill her because he enjoyed making her suffer.

He actually admired her. Anyone else would have killed themselves by now.

"Get up, sit at the table and eat…" he said hastily. "I…just do it."

He couldn't stand the thought of admitting, "I can't stand to see you like that."

I never dreamed he'd be the one giving me back my dignity, Gwen's thoughts were something she kept to herself.

Gwen got to her feet and sat at the table, she ate slowly, savoring the food and trying not to eat too fast, her stomach wasn't used to food so she wanted to eat slowly.

"Please eat something," he told her. "The way Morningstar treated you is not something I will do. I may be the one who conquered Earth, but I treat my property well, you are not quite food, to be scarfed down without thought, but I'd rather think of you as wine, which should be enjoyed, but not to excess, I won't guarantee that, but I won't drain you until you die. I have been in this form for a long time, I can control myself."

He looked at her. "It's strange, I haven't seen a human in five years and the first one I see is you. Your name is Gwen, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, Kevin, Thank you," she whispered, truly grateful.

"Don't thank me," he told her. "I am far from kind. I'm only doing this to make sure you won't die. I need your energy after all."

"I know that, but compared to the Hell I've been in for five years, anything is kindness."

Kevin suppressed the urge to shudder. "I will come for you when you are needed. Get some rest; I can't take your energy if you're too exhausted to give me anything."

Gwen hid her surprise; she expected to be drained right on the spot, as Michael had done so often. He had never cared about her well being and he had often made her perform menial labor on top of being his personal energy drink.

Not that Kevin cared much for her either, but at least she'd be able to rest before "feeding time".

Gwen got up and Kevin showed her to where she was going to sleep. The bed seemed like a forgotten luxury. She lay down on the bed and pulled the covers up over her shoulders.

Kevin left her, but not before he heard her say, "It's been so long since I've slept in a bed."

Kevin had to wonder how anyone could consider having a bed and food to eat as a kindness; normally he would have scoffed at the notion that he was kind, but her situation had moved him to pity.

He left to attend to matters concerning the affairs of his planet, disputes, matters that he didn't particularly care for, but he attended to them anyway. He was busy for several hours.

Walking into his house, he found the girl sleeping. He had never paid much attention to human beauty, most aliens considered humans to be unintelligent, ugly creatures, but he felt attracted to her, but of course, he denied it. His friend Aggregor would have told him that all he felt was the primal urge to mate, nothing more. The Osmosians always believed that humans focused too much on their emotions.

He hadn't been on Earth for years, but the others had often told him that human reproduction was so utterly driven by their emotions that it was said that they didn't really want offspring, they just wanted to mate because it was a pleasant experience and that so many Earthlings were unwanted that they had an industry dedicated to getting rid of them.

Kevin didn't quite believe that all Earthlings didn't want children. He recalled that his parents had loved him very much when he was a child. He also remembered the pro-life protestors he'd seen outside of one of those clinics. Not that the pro-life movement mattered anymore, it was basically a necessity since Earth had lost so much of its population that humanity was trying to repopulate the planet after the Osmosians wiped out most of them.

The entire planet was like a third world country, grand cities reduced to rubble, the citizens homeless and the world in chaos. Crime was rampant as the world governments were toppled and unable to control anything. Osmos V was surprisingly safer, at least if you were a native, if you weren't you were either selling something or a slave to the Osmosians.

"Get up," he ordered gruffly, shaking Gwen awake. Gwen looked at him; she knew what he wanted but didn't say a word. She simply turned around and faced the wall.

Kevin placed his rough hands on her shoulders, he began absorbing her Mana. It felt so good, he couldn't even describe how it felt. It was beyond euphoric, he could see why Michael called her his prized possession, he felt he couldn't get enough of her energy. Had he known about her, he would have stolen her from Michael Morningstar, not that getting her from him in exchange for canceling his debt was a bad thing but he had done it just to take something from him because he could. He hated that man; he always seemed to push all the wrong buttons with him.

He was also puzzled by the fact that she wasn't screaming, he'd absorbed the Mana of many Anodites in his lifetime, they'd scream and groan in agony and they'd beg for him to stop, this girl was completely silent. Perhaps it was because she didn't feel anything, but then the thought occurred to him, one that actually instilled terror in his mind that this had happened to her so often that she no longer felt pain.

Years ago, he had relished the pain of the people he absorbed, now that he was much older, he was more concerned with keeping them alive, he had been like Michael, absorbing their energy until they died, but he had kept his mind on the financial aspect of it and knew that dead slaves meant no energy for him to have, and he always bought the ones that were good, and they weren't cheap, so he treated them better than most of his kind, but he could still absorb a great deal of energy from them.

Kevin had relied on being able to tell when they were in too much pain so he could stop before they dropped dead. Michael had often pushed it to the limit and he would drain them so much that he'd find them collapsed on the ground on the brink of death.

He recalled that Michael had boasted about Gwen's energy, that he had absorbed enough to last him a year in five minutes, he could believe that, the energy coursing through him was delicious, and he was feeling satisfied by it.

"Are you in pain?" he asked, he wasn't concerned for her as a person, but as his energy source, he didn't want her to die.

"Of course—I—I'm in pain, you've never had your life force sucked out—of—of you before. It's like my s—soul is being ripped out of my b—body, how else do—you—think I f—feel?"

He relinquished his grip on her shoulder, and watched as she leaned over on her knees, breathing hard.

Kevin's gaze stunned her, could she actually see admiration in his eyes?

"Extraordinary girl," he murmured in her ear, his clawed hand that reminded her of Diamond Head reached out to touch her face. "Get some more sleep, you look exhausted."

He turned and left, Kevin couldn't help but be in awe of her, he had always craved power, energy, possessions, but she was something that was beyond his comprehension, he resolved to make sure that they would have an amiable relationship, not the stupid happiness in slavery idea, she'd never be happy, the proof of that were all her escape attempts, but he'd make sure that she'd have a decent life with him, his reputation for cruelty had stemmed from his early years on Osmos V, he had mellowed out, but only a little bit. He was cruel to his enemies, but to his friends and business associates, he was a decent fellow. To his slaves when he had owned them, he'd been a good master, not terribly kind, but he had taken good care of them as his possessions he had made it easier for them to gain their freedom as he had often sold it to them for a good profit, another way for him to get money.

He walked off quietly, he had work to do, but he had to wonder how the girl was already becoming the center of his attentions, he could hardly wait until tomorrow.

Gwen drifted into a restless, dreamless sleep, to think that today had been a good day for once; perhaps, her miserable life was starting to look up. She wouldn't get her hopes up, she could only hope that someone would take pity on her in this God forsaken place and show her that she was valued as a person and not a thing, but that was a dream she never wanted to have, because she knew she'd have to wake up, and she didn't want to be bitterly disappointed.