Alright, here comes numero dos.
The winner is...
Chapter 2: Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite)
It was a rare thing for Ben Tennyson to be stunned speechless.
It was an extremely rare thing for him to be stunned speechless multiple times in one day.
The nineteen-year-old had been sipping on a smoothie when three figures appeared out of nowhere. He recognized one of them as his friend Professor Paradox, while the other two appeared to be a brother and sister wearing some very old-fashioned clothes.
Paradox had introduced the siblings as Robert and Rosalind Lutece, who had abilities similar to his own, in that they could exist anywhere, anytime, whenever they pleased. Explaining that they didn't have much time, the trio informed Ben of a parallel reality to the one he resided in. A parallel 1912, to be exact, in a city called Columbia. The three mysterious beings asked the teen to rescue a girl his own age, who had been locked in a tower all her life and craved to be released.
Ben accepted almost immediately, without asking for any details.
That had been a minor mistake on his part.
A bright flash of light later, he found himself awakening in a small garden, where a group of people were bowing to three statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. They paid him no mind, even though he stared at them, pondering what kind of religion has people regarding the Founding Fathers as some kind of deities. They were great men, yeah, but they weren't divine beings!
Deciding that he'd better not draw attention to himself, Ben found his way out of the garden, through a door...
...and found himself on a city that was floating in the sky.
His jaw dropped immediately, and he found himself unable to think straight as the platform he stood on descended.
Large balloons held up the buildings, which floated around free, like birds in the wind. They drifted back and forth, occasionally latching on to larger portions of the city to allow people to enter and leave.
Ben found himself in a daze, walking around and taking everything in. He had saved the world, galaxy, and universe of his own dimension. He was one-fourth Anodyte, and he had been a superhero since he was ten years old. Yet this city, floating in the air of an alternate 1912, might have been one of the most amazing things he had ever seen. For a moment, he almost shed tears from the beauty of it (though he managed to reign them in, as a man shedding tears in public was heavily frowned upon, no matter what society or year).
After a while of wandering, he found himself at a fair, celebrating some big event in the city's history (perhaps its creation?). He watched with wonder as a man was attempting to sell something called 'Vigors', which apparently granted certain superpowers, such as fireballs and lightning bolts (while he could do it himself in alien form, watching humans do it in a floating city a century before his time was still fascinating).
Passing by a mechanical creature with a human's head and heart (something that creeped Ben out), the wielder of the Omnitrix passed through a hallway, only to run into the Lutece twins again.
They played a little word game with him, to his annoyance, before instructing him to keep a low profile, which basically meant "no transformations for now", and pointed him to some kind of raffle, which, according to them, would test his mettle as a hero. They also suggested that "picking number 77 could prove hazardous".
While he wasn't sure of their meaning, he shrugged and continued on his way, passing a few cops and children playing hopscotch. A few minutes of walking later, he reached a large crowd of people standing in front of a stage, and a young woman offered him his choice of numbered baseballs for the raffle.
He almost rolled his eyes when he ended up picking number 77. The fact that he then wound up winning the raffle honestly didn't surprise him.
Some things were just too predictable.
What Ben couldn't predict, however, was the so-called "prize" for winning the raffle: being the first to throw his baseball at an interracial married couple.
And suddenly, everything changed. Ben's view of the city as a beautiful paradise was twisted by his rage. These people were sick, depraved monsters! They were cheering for him to throw the ball!
Then the announcer had opened his big fat mouth: "Come on! Are you gonna throw it, or are you taking your coffee black these days?!"
The audience actually laughed at that.
Any chance of Ben keeping a low profile had just been thrown out the window as he felt rage consume him. He cocked his wrist back, all-to-prepared to smash the baseball into the announcer's smug face when a pair of cops suddenly grabbed his arms.
"It's him!" the one on his left had shouted, lifting up the Omnitrix for all to see, causing the people to gasp in horror. The announcer stepped forward to lean down and sneer in Ben's face.
"Where'd you get that weird watch, boy? Don't you know that makes you the back-stabbin' snake-in-the-grass False Shepherd?"
The idiot had gotten too close, and Ben lunged forward, smashing his forehead into the man's nose, causing it to break and bleed profusely.
The guard on Ben's right loosened his grip, having been surprised by the sneak attack. Yanking his right hand free, Ben reached over and slapped down on the Omnitrix.
It was almost comedic by how outmatched the police force had been, as their bullets and metal hooks were no match for the incredible strength and boundless rage that Rath was unleashing on their racist hides.
Now that Ben wasn't blinded by the beautiful surroundings, he began to notice just how messed up the place was. The cops yelled racial slurs as they attacked him. Stores had signs that would say "No Colors Allowed", or warning non-whites to "Respect Your Superiors".
A whole police squadron and a so-called "fireman" later, Ben managed to cool himself down and examine his surroundings, looking around for the tower that supposedly held the girl he was looking for.
Since his secret was out, he simply shrugged, transformed into Big Chill, and flew into the air, reaching Monument Island in ten minutes without any kind of resistance. He landed in front of the doors, noticing the signs that declared that the tower was to be quarantined for a week, which meant he wouldn't run into anyone who wanted to kill him.
He entered, and he instantly noticed that the place had been left behind in a hurry. Lockers were open, papers were all over the floor, chairs and desks were upturned.
And as he moved farther into the tower, he learned that the girl was far more than just a prisoner.
She was an experiment, a so-called specimen. Charts showed her growth and maturity, her hobbies and her eating habits. The teen felt a growing sense of disgust, and an even deeper loathing for the people of this city.
He then walked into a room that had tesla coils held up on the walls, with arcs of electricity striking them repeatedly. In the middle of the room were three small chambers with levers sitting in front of them. He pulled the first lever, and it revealed a blue teddy bear, which was struck by some of the electricity and suddenly became pink.
Weird.
Shrugging, Ben moved on, through a small corridor with two separate rooms on either side (he had entered all four, and learned that they had recorded and photographed her doing certain things, including undress; he quickly destroyed all of the pictures and videos with Swampfire before moving on).
He passed through another large open room, this one with even bigger tesla coils and signs that mentioned something called "the Siphon". On the other side was an elevator, which he climbed into and headed for the top of the tower, still infuriated by everything he had seen. How could such a beautiful city be populated by such a twisted a despicable populace? It was disturbing, to say the least.
Ben reached the top floor, and finally found where the girl was being kept. A window allowed him a view into a small bedroom, which he guessed belonged to the girl.
The boy paused as he realized something: He had never asked the girl's name when Paradox had sent him on this mission.
How embarrassing.
Moving on, Ben passed through multiple hallways and pathways, completely lost for a few moments before coming across another room with a lever and a sheet of metal blocking the window. Praying that he wouldn't see the girl doing anything private, he pulled the lever, and the piece of metal lifted, allowing him to see into the room...
...and observe the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on. He hadn't gotten a good look at her face from the shoddy photographs that he had seen, so he was completely unprepared for this.
He was thunderstruck, disbelieving that something this gorgeous would be detained so heartlessly for her whole life. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a small ponytail that hung down behind her neck. She possessed beautiful blue eyes that seemed to gaze into ones' soul, though Ben could tell they weren't looking directly at him (must be a two-way mirror). She wore a simple white blouse, while her collar, ascot, and dress were all a sky-blue.
The girl reached up and adjusted her hair slightly, and Ben noticed that she held what looked like a picture in her left hand, though he couldn't see what it was. The girl then winced and dropped her picture as she lifted her right hand to her face, and the boy felt a shiver as he saw that the girl was missing her pinky finger on that hand, with a thimble replacing the appendage.
But she simply shook her hand and picked up her picture once more, and Ben saw that it was of the Eiffel Tower. She gained a look of excitement as she joyously bounded out of the room. Ben chuckled, amazed that someone who had been locked up for their entire existence could seem so happy.
Deciding to follow the girl, he moved through another hallway, with a "Specimen Tracker" telling him that she had entered the dining room.
Once he reached another metal barricade, Ben pulled the lever, revealing the girl, along with a painting of the Eiffel Tower that she most likely had made herself. It was very well done, in Ben's opinion.
The girl then gained a slightly mischievous look in her eyes as she turned to the painting and put her hands together in front of it, almost as if she were praying. Then she began to pull her arms apart, looking like she was trying a door that was tightly closed.
And then he saw it. A shimmer of light that seemed to grow into some kind of small crack or fissure, and the girl's movements seemed to be making it bigger. There was a bright flash, and instead of a painting, there seemed to be some kind of portal into a darkened city street, a movie theater in the immediate vicinity and the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
Ben's jaw dropped once more as he realized that the girl had opened a doorway to France. The girl stepped through the portal, looking around excitedly and taking in the sights. After a few seconds however, a set of flashing lights appeared to speed toward her, and Ben's heart leaped into a chest as he realized that the girl was about to be run over by a fire truck. He reached for the Omnitrix, intending to bust through the glass and pull her out of danger, when she pulled her hands together and closed the portal just in time. Both teenagers sighed in relief, though the girl then put her head in her hands and ran out of the room.
The wielder of the Omnitrix then swore that he would take this girl to Paris, no matter what. She deserved it after being held in a tower for so long.
Following the path to another shutter, and pulling yet another lever, Ben saw into a large library, which held enough books that his cousin Gwen would probably go crazy over. It was breath-taking, really. The girl was standing by a window, holding her hand to the glass and gazing out over a beautiful view of the sun and clouds.
She seemed so lonely, and it pulled at Ben's heart. Why was he so concerned for a girl he hadn't even spoken to yet? Was it his natural hero complex? Was it some kind of empathy thanks to his partial Anodyte DNA?
In the end, it didn't really matter. He just knew that he was about to free this girl and take her to Paris, and absolutely nothing would stand in his way.
He turned and jogged down the hall, approaching a large metal door with a wheel to open it, like a submarine or battleship would have. Ben twisted the wheel and pushed the door, standing outside and getting two large surprises.
One, the wind was smacking into him with a vengeance, forcing him to really concentrate on standing on his own two feet without flying away (though that wasn't normally a problem for a guy who can turn into creatures with flight capability).
Two, the view was magnificent, allowing him to see a great deal of Columbia. The beautiful city with the insane people living in it.
Ben quickly moved over toward a set of stairs that lead to the Monument's head, popping through a door near its cheek and managing to cut off the roaring wind by shutting the door behind him.
He walked into another room, and stepped onto a platform that seemed to be held up by chains. The metal then groaned, and Ben managed to say "Aw, man" before the metal twisted, sending him falling into the library below.
Fortunately, his flailing arms caught onto a ledge before he hit the ground, and with a groan he managed to pull himself up just slightly...
...only to lock eyes with the girl he had come to save, a book clutched to her bosom and her eyes wide with shock.
"Uh, hi there," Ben began. The girl screamed, causing Ben to jump in surprise and lose his grip, crashing to the floor on his back. He groaned and pushed himself up slightly, only to take a heavy book to the forehead.
"Ow! Hey, what's the big-" his protest was cut off as yet another book hit him in the chest.
The girl was actually pelting him with her big, heavy, hardcover books.
"Could you please stop that?" he yelled at her, having to duck to dodge a copy of Moby Dick.
The girl, having reached the bottom of the stairs, grabbed a huge book about quantum physics and approached him, brandishing the book as if it were a sword. "Who are you?" she demanded, and the wielder of the Omnitrix took note of how lovely her voice was.
"My name is Ben Tennyson," the boy explained, standing up and rubbing his forehead where the first book had pelted him earlier. "I'm here to help you."
He took a step toward her, and she immediately swung at his head with the physics book. "Get away!" she snapped, swinging again, though Ben blocked it calmly with his arm.
After a few moments of staring at each other, the girl dropped her book, her eyes gaining a sense of awe and wonder. "Are you real?" she gasped, reaching out with her right hand to caress his cheek, as if to make sure he wasn't a mirage. Ben smiled sadly at her. The fact that she was this amazed by another human being was testament to her poor existence.
"As real as it gets," he responded. Her eyes teared up slightly as she smiled brightly, a sight Ben found incredibly beautiful.
She was about to say something, but was interrupted by some kind of strange whistling sound to Ben's left. He turned, and frowned when he saw a statue of Robert E. Lee, with its eyes glowing in tune with the whistling.
"He's coming... You've gotta go!" she cried, pushing the boy back and frantically looking around the room for a place to hide her would-be savior. She seemed terrified.
"Why? What's wrong?" Ben asked.
"You don't wanna be here when he gets here!" she said, looking up at a sudden clanking noise on the top of the tower.
"That's it, I'm busting you out," the teen hero declared as he lifted his wrist. "Look, I know you just met me, but I'm gonna need you to trust me. Just please, try not to freak out or hit me with more books, okay?"
The girl gave a nervous laugh, but nodded nevertheless.
Ben activated the Omnitrix and scrolled to Big Chill before slamming down the dial.
A bright flash of light later, and the girl stared at the blue phantom-like alien.
"It's still me, miss," Big Chill paused, almost facepalming himself when he realized that he still had yet to ask her name.
"My name is Elizabeth," she said, still stunned at this new figure.
"Hm. Pretty name," Ben noted out loud, causing the girl to blush. "Okay, now I'm gonna fly you out of here."
Big Chill stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, causing her to let out a nervous squeak.
"Just wrap your arms around my neck. I'm gonna get you outta here, and then we're going to Paris," the mothman declared as he unwrapped his wings from his body.
The girl's face erupted into a bright smile. "Really?"
"I give you my word," came the reply.
Elizabeth wrapped her arms tightly around Ben's neck and buried her head in his chest. The transformed hero then flew up and through a nearby wall, suddenly finding himself outside once more.
He began to head away from the Monument, Elizabeth held firmly in his arms, when a massive shadow appeared over him.
He looked up, and a black shape suddenly appeared and slammed into him, knocking the wind out of his lungs and forcing him into a plummet, he and the girl wrapped in his arms screaming out of surprise and terror.
He couldn't flap his wings, they were falling too fast and too hard.
Ben expected to land on a hard sidewalk near one of the city's many buildings. Instead, strangely, he landed in deep water, the impact causing him to revert to human form, Elizabeth still holding on tightly to him.
While under the water, the wielder of the Omnitrix pushed the girl out of the way as he saw the dark shape appear once again.
And the large creature reached in and grabbed him with a massive hand, allowing Ben to see this being with his own eyes. Some kind of large bird/machine monstrosity, with large eyes that glowed red as they leaned in closer to Ben, who was beginning to run out of air.
He began blacking out as the creature began to screech, its right eye cracking under the pressure of the water before it retreated, leaving Ben to give in to the darkness as his lungs ran out of air.
When he next awoke, it was with a soft pair of lips pressed against his own.
Alright, finished with chapter two! Had to admit, this one was a little tricky, and I know some will say its more of an abridged Ben 10/Bioshock Infinite crossover fic, and the interaction between the two was minimal, but I had to introduce Ben to the city of Columbia somehow and show his rescue of Elizabeth, right? Besides, with an ending like that, I know you guys are looking forward to the sequel to this chapter.
So yeah, reviews and criticism always appreciated.
Next chapter: Rangiku Matsumoto (Bleach)