Recap for Chapter 2: We saw a brief glance into the typical school day of Ben and then they met for an emergency meeting with a Plumbers spy because a Forever Knights/Highbreed conspiracy was under way.
Disclaimer: "Ben 10: Alien Force" is copyrighted to Man of Action. I only use the characters for this fan fiction.
Chapter 3: Your Days are Limited
7:15 AM. Again. Time to repeat the daily routine. Ben gets dressed and finds a pleasant "Good morning" text from Julie, which he promptly replies to. Then, when he's ready to go, it's off to the Jetray form again. At school he and Julie are able see each other, adding yet another day of bliss to their lives. Yet Ben is obviously uneasy in their morning get-together.
"What's wrong?" Julie asks him.
"I'm going to be against the Forever Knights later," he says, expressing concern. "They got some kind of superweapon or whatever and it's up to me and the other two to stop it from being finished."
Julie's heart skips a beat. She has been in the heat of battle alongside him, but when she has always been nervous when her boyfriend was risking his life without her. But she tries to bring peace to herself and him. "Well, you have Gwen and Kevin."
"Kevin and Gwen aren't talking," Ben says with an irritated tone, out of annoyance with how his cousin and her boyfriend can barely look at each other. "It's kind of hard to fight when you can't trust your teammates."
"Oh," she simply replies. She knows his irritation isn't from anything she did. After a pause she asks, "How many aliens can you turn into now?"
"Uh, twenty-six, I think."
"Twenty-six. That should be more than enough for you to show how good you are."
"I guess," Ben replies. "I-I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. Something's weird. It just seems wrong."
Julie wraps her arms around Ben and kisses his cheek, which soothes him just a little. "I think you'll be fine."
"Hey Julie!" one of the other girls from the tennis team call out to her. "Practice is starting!" The girl notices Ben. "Hi Ben!"
Julie jogs up to the girl. "See you later Ben!"
"Bye," he answers.
Even after seven years, it's difficult to keep yourself focused on schoolwork when an epic espionage/battle mission is just hours away. Ben and Julie sit together again for lunch, and she notices how occupied he is. Everyone else sees it too.
"Dude, are you going to kick more alien butt?" one of his "friends" asks, excited about the idea.
"You should take a camera with!" another one adds. "I wanna see you in action."
"It's hero time!" yet another adds.
"Will you guys please just shut up?" Ben asks tersely.
They go silent very quickly.
Ben realizes what he has just done and sighs. "Sorry, I just don't want to hear the hero worship right now." He raises his left arm with his elbow on the table, displaying the Omnitrix, his hand in a victorious fist. I'm faking strength for them, again. "Tomorrow we can talk about this. Alright?"
"Yeah, cool," the first person says.
Julie glances at Ben and smiles.
The remaining three hours of school won't go by fast enough. After the minor outburst, the kids around him are a little bit more hesitant to show their awe, since he clearly doesn't want to see it. Class ends, he waves goodbye to his posse, kisses Julie and secludes himself in the bathroom, where he flies off to the garage.
He finds once again that Kevin and Gwen are already there. Gwen sits towards the back on a chair, still in her school uniform. Her elbows rest on the arms of the chair, her hands brought together and interlaced, anticipating what to expect. Kevin leans against his car, arms crossed, watching the smaller young man enter. He covered in spots of grease, from working on his car all day.
"Are we ready to go?" Ben asks.
"May as well," Kevin replies.
A man across the street notices them and stops dead in his tracks. He is not unkempt, although his dark eyes have a wild look to them. He stares at the ground briefly, looking puzzled and uncertain. Then he begins crossing the street towards them. "Hey!"
The three young adults turn their heads towards him and watches as he walks up to them.
"I need to tell you something," the man says. Everyone is silent and puzzled. The stranger takes a deep breathe and continues. "Your days are limited. Don't waste the time you have left. You're young and prone to be reckless. But don't be foolish."
Ben and Gwen exchange confused looks while Kevin is clearly more irritated by the interruption.
"Can we help you?" Kevin asks.
"No, just... just be careful. Life isn't as long as you think it is. I know, you're young, you got all the time in the world. Or so you think." He proceeds to look Ben in the eye and consider him. Then the man switches to Kevin and is somehow unaffected by the stony look he gets in return.
Finally the stranger's eyes fall on Gwen. "You. You should know this better than the other two. Yes, you need to be the most careful." The man reaches out and puts his hand on her shoulder as if to comfort her.
"Hey, hands off!" Kevin yells. He forcibly pushes the man to the ground.
"Kevin!" Gwen protests.
Instead of fighting back or yelling, the man simply gets himself back up and sweeps the dirt off of his jeans. He nods at the group and begins to walk off. "I gave you the warning, now you can heed it or disregard as you please."
"Let's go," Ben says.
Kevin obviously wants to beat on the man more but decides against it. "Alright. In the car."
Ben and Gwen sit beside each other in the back seat, buckle up and the green and black vehicle roars to life. A quick stop to the gas station for fuel, snacks and drinks and they begin the long ride to where the Forever Knights are.
Everyone is obviously nervous. Gwen stares out the window at the fields they pass. Ben can see her expression reflecting off the window. She's worried about the mission, which he finds odd. She's taken on aliens five times her strength, but this is bothering her?
The ride remains silent, Kevin intently looking at the winding road. To kill time, Ben presses the button on the Omnitrix and goes through the aliens he can access. Swampfire, Echo Echo, Humongousaur, Jetray, Big Chill, Chromastone, Brainstorm, Spidermonkey... He goes through all twenty-six of them three times, examining their familiar silhouettes and holograms before shutting off the Omnitrix and watching the cows stare at them as they pass.
Another hour into the ride and Ben pulls out one of his snacks and slowly eats. They pass a tiny town.
"We're almost there," Kevin breaks the extended quiet with.
Five minutes later, Kevin slows down his car and they approach the factory. Of course, it looks empty and run down, but for the Forever Knights that's usually where they do their work. Everyone gets out of the car and takes in the sight. A gray, dull building almost the size of a football field with large windows near the roof. Inside, lights are on.
"Here I go," Ben says.