Chapter 4: Attraction
"What do you mean if I want to leave, of course I want to leave this place" she said stamping her foot on the floor. Michael turned around and smirked once more "Why, you want to get back to your old life so quickly, is it because you want to see Levin so badly?" he asked chuckling
Gwen took a step forward "Oh like you're so perfect that I would want to stay. Kevin is a much better person then you could ever be or even hope to be." She said putting her hand on her hip.
Michael stopped typing "Ah yes he is so perfect with his criminal record, illegal alien technology trading and not to mention that he has also been sent to the Null Void. So enlighten me as to how he is a perfect choice. I'm very interested on your views because you seem like such a smart person." He said finishing his typing.
"Hold that thought" he added walking over to a small pair of copper wrapped handles that were attached to an even larger machine. Michael reached up and removed the large metal mask and tossed it aside along with his gloves. Reaching over he turned a small switch on a console. "This will only take a moment my lovely Gwen" he said grabbing the handles and absorbing the energy coursing through the machine. Gwen turned away as the room filled with bright light. Backing up Gwen bumped into the wall as she covered her eyes.
When she lowered her arm she gasped at the sight in front of her, the teen in front of her was once again the tan god of a teen that was a handsome nightmare. So very beautiful but so dangerous, Gwen remembered the first time they met, with his flirtatious voice and hidden agenda for power.
As he let go of the handles Michael began to laugh. "It worked, it actually worked" he said as he walked over to a large mirror on the wall touching his face "Now you can't just say that you are attracted to Kevin just because he is handsome since I am back to my old self" he remarked looking at Gwen's reflection in the mirror.
The young woman turned her head and looked out the window at the darkness. "I will get out of here; you can't hold me here forever." She said crossing her arms over his chest. Michael moved over quickly and stood behind Gwen. "Can't you just give me a chance, instead of just pushing me away because of my past?" he asked, Gwen turned around and backed up slowly from the blonde.
"You can't just keep acting like you are a good guy when I know that you are just going to go back to your old self. That's what makes you and Kevin two very different people." She said looking at the blonde. Michael smirked and stepped closer closing the space between them. Reaching forward his fingers ghosted over her cheek before lowering his hand. Moving a step back he held his hand to Gwen. "You look very tired; it is late let me walk you back upstairs so you can sleep." He said as he wrapped his fingers around Gwen's hand and led her out of the large room and up the stairs to the two bedrooms. "Sleep well, I will see you in the morning" he said opening Gwen's door for her as he moved aside and walked to his door and unlocked the door and looked back over his shoulder and smiled at Gwen before walking into the room and closing the door behind him.
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"Kevin I'm tired can't we take a break? We've been walking for hours" Ben asked groaning as he dragged his feet as he dragged his tired body through the desert. Kevin turned around "We have been for only two hours and if you and Gwen hadn't made that stupid deal then we could've been home by now. And that freak has my car; he probably doesn't even know how to drive it and the gears are all striped now." He said as he grabbed Ben by the wrist "The omnitrix is recharged so why haven't you taken off and left me behind?" Kevin asked finally letting his friend's wrist go.
Ben looked at the alien device "I guess you're not that heavy, If I turn into Jetray I can probably get us home pretty fast" he said dialing the watch and slamming it down. "Jetray" "Get on we can be in Bellwood in a matter of minutes I believe" The Aerophibian said as Kevin climbed onto his back.
Taking to the sky Jetray headed for Bellwood, taking it slow for Kevin's sake they arrived in Bellwood just as the clock tower chimed midnight. Ben flew down in front of Kevin's house and let Kevin climb off him before changing back. "Oh man, it's after midnight…my parents are going to kill me, not to mention my aunt and uncle are going to murder us." Ben said as he started to pace.
"What do you mean us, they're going to murder me first, I'm the no good bad boy that drives a sports car and on certain occasions been known to get a few speeding tickets" Kevin said nonchalantly as he walked toward his garage. "A few speeding tickets, you probably have more tickets than everyone in Bellwood combined" Ben said following the older teen as they walked into the garage through the side door.
Kevin chuckled as he looked around "Come on you can crash inside it's late we'll go looking for my car and Gwen in the morning I'm beat" Kevin said as he led Ben into the house When they reached the living room Kevin felt the rug under his foot squish "You better take care of this, if there is any water damage then a bad date with that girl you like is the least of your worries." Kevin mumbled as he walked through the living room and into his bed room.
Ben stood in the living room as he heard Kevin close his bedroom door. Looking around the living room, all the ice he put around the room that afternoon had melted. Clicking his tongue as he thought Ben smirked and dialed the Omnitrix and slammed the face plate. "Swampfire" the alien called out keeping his voice down as he started to suck the water out of the rug and into his roots. "Ah now that hits the spot" he said as he looked around for anymore water damage. The walls and ceiling were perfectly dry. When the water was completely sucked out of the carpet Ben walked over to the couch and sucked the remaining water out of it and changed back before collapsing on said couch. In a matter of seconds Ben was asleep his arm draped over his chest and his legs hanging over the other arm of the couch.
In the bedroom Kevin paced the open area of his room, the entire time he was acting like he just cared about his car he was worried about Gwen. Kevin gave a small chuckle he knew that he cared about Gwen and he was worried about her being alone Darkstar. Lying down on his bed Kevin groaned at how sore he was from walking. The soft pillow under his head put him to sleep.
Kevin groaned as a bright light hit him in the eyes " Tennyson, you better run" Kevin mumbled as he sat up and realized that it was the sun pouring through his bedroom window. Looking over at his nightstand Kevin saw it was eight in the morning. Climbing out of bed Kevin stripped out of his clothes and went into his bathroom and took a quick shower. When he walked out of the bathroom Ben was sitting on his bed waiting for him.
"If you don't want to be scarred for life then you better get out of here Tennyson" Kevin said as he walked over to his closet in nothing but a towel. "I'm going, but before I go I just thought you should know that Gwen's badge signal isn't showing up anymore. I grabbed your badge while you were in the shower and it's not beeping anymore." Ben said tossing the badge back on the bed. "She either turned it off before that jerk Darkstar found it or he found it and smashed it." Kevin said grabbing a new change of clothes.
Ben got up from the bed and left the room and closed the door behind him. Kevin walked over and locked the door before he removed his towel and started to get dressed. When he left his bedroom he found Ben in the kitchen digging into a package of cookies. Reaching past his hand he grabbed a single cookie and popped it into his mouth and headed for the front door. "If you're done stuffing your face we have to get going." Kevin said as he left the living room and headed down the front walkway. Ben ran out of the house after the older teen "But we don't have a car" he said as Kevin turned to him and smirked "Not yet, but we will" he said smirking.
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Michael walked up the stairs and up to Gwen's door knocking lightly he waited a moment before entering the bedroom. He smirked a bit at the sleeping form on the bed, walking over he reached over and brushed a few strands of hair off of Gwen's sleeping face before he leaned down.
"It's time to wake up Gwen, I made you breakfast out in the garden" Michael said standing up more as Gwen started to open her eyes. "Kevin?" she asked as her eyes started to focus, when she saw it wasn't Kevin standing over her she sat up quickly. "I'm not hungry" she said coolly as she pushed passed him and walked across the room to the bathroom connected to her room and shut the door behind her.
The blonde teen sighed and walked over to the bathroom door "Gwen, I'm trying to show you that I have changed. I have something for you, I had to guess on the size but I hope you will wear it to breakfast" Michael said leaving the room for a moment and coming back in and laying a white box on the bed. "I'll wait for you downstairs." He called out as he left the bedroom and closed the door behind him.
Gwen cracked the bathroom door open a bit before she walked back into the bedroom and over to the bed. Grabbing the cover on the box she ripped it off and threw it aside, inside the box was a very beautiful light bluish green summer dress. She lifted it out of the box and looked it over carefully. She looked down at her own clothes which were wrinkled and dirty. Gwen quickly changed out of her old clothes and put the dress on, it fit perfectly it accentuated all her curves.
Looking back at the box she saw a pair of sandals that went with the dress. Slipping them on her feet she left the room and went downstairs and found Michael waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. "I knew it was perfect this morning when I bought it, so please" he said leading Gwen through the dining room and out onto a patio that over looked the gardens.
Gwen was a little worried she was going to be shocked by another invisible shield. "No worries, the shield is much farther back so you won't be hurt I promise" he said leading Gwen to a small table with two chairs facing each other. "You must be famished" Michael remarked as he pulled Gwen's chair out for her and held it until she sat down. Moving over he sat down and smiled.
"If you are trying to show you have changed you could let me use a phone to call Ben. I'm worried about him." Gwen said grabbing a small bunch of grapes out of a bowl and putting them on her plate. "I would use my cell phone, but the shield last night fried my phone" she added.
Michael nodded his head "yes that is one of the side effects of walking into that shield. When I first built it into the mansion security I was always forgetting it. As for calling your cousin I will allow it but you have to have it on speaker and I would only request that you allow me to listen in." he said pulling a silver phone out of his pocket. Gwen reached for the phone only to have it pulled back a bit
"One thing I forgot to mention, if you try to try to tell him where you are I'll be forced to take the phone away" he said handing the phone to Gwen. Opening up the phone Gwen hit the speaker button and called her cousin and waited for him to pick up, when the call went right to voicemail she sighed "Ben when you get this message just know that I'm safe and being treated very well. Tell Kevin his car is fine that is if you figured out how to turn him back to normal" She said hanging up and handing the phone back.
Sighing softly Gwen ate a few grapes and some toast, her thoughts revolved around Kevin and if she would ever see him again. "Gwen after breakfast would you like to walk around the garden with me. I'm sure you love it. Trust me" he said calmly as he sipped a small bit of tea.
Gwen looked out over the gardens and stood up finally "I'll play along with your game for now, its better than just staying up in that bedroom waiting for Ben and Kevin to come save me." She said taking a sip of orange juice. When she finished eating she stood up and started to walk toward the railing resting her hands on the stone railing she thought of Kevin again. Walking away from Michael as he came up behind her Gwen headed into the garden looking at the rose bushes.
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Kevin led Ben across town to a parking garage next to an office building, the teens walked up the stairs to the third level of a parking garage. Both teens walked through the parking structure till they came to a high end black sports car.
Ben whistled as he looked the car over, he wanted to run his hand over it to see if it was real." So this belongs to your step dad?" he asked looking at Kevin as he unlocked the door with a spare key. "Yeah he just got it so have to be extra careful with it or he's going to kill me for taking it." The older teen said slipping into the driver's seat with great care. Ben jumped into the passenger seat and leaned back into the comfortable leather seat.
Turning the key in the ignition the car roared to life, the dashboard lit up as Kevin adjusted the seat and put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking spot and headed out of the parking garage.
Looking at his badge that he left of the top of the dashboard Kevin hoped that it would pick up the signal from the night before again. Tearing down the highway at sixty miles an hour Kevin headed for the area where they first picked up the signal. As they traveled through the desert Kevin made sure to avoid each pot hole to keep the car from any damage. When they passed the canyon walls the plumber's badge on the dashboard began to beep.
"All right, we got the signal again" Kevin said pressing his foot down on the accelerator speeding the car up to seventy miles an hour, shooting down the highway Kevin laughed at the power that the car had. "This car is awesome, but it could never replace my car… huh, I wonder how we're going to get both cars home" Kevin wondered as the speedometer crept steadily past eighty.
Ben chuckled softly at the air condition air in the car "Well with sweet car like this if you only get to drive it once then you can probably hold onto that memory while you serve any grounding you might get for taking it" he said as he glanced out the window and the scenery speeding by. "So Kevin, are you going to kiss Gwen when you see her again?" Ben asked laughing "Oomph" Ben let out as Kevin managed to elbow him in the stomach hard. The brunette chuckled as he pulled his legs up to his chest to protect himself from any more assaults. "So if you're not going to kiss her then I'm pretty sure you're going to wrap Morningstar in the mouth right?" he asked making sure he was safe.
Kevin thought for a moment "If you don't let me concentrate on keeping this car on the road Morningstar isn't the only one I'm going to be hitting, now be quite." Kevin said gripping the steering wheel even tighter as he turned the wheel to miss a giant pot hole in the road.
"We've been lucky so far to miss any radar right now, I would not want to be pulled over and have to explain to the cops why I'm driving a car that isn't registered in my name" Kevin mumbled as they headed down the highway.
Kevin sighed as he drove he missed his car and all the alien tech he had installed into it, the auto pilot, the Kaltlian missiles over the wheel wells in the front and new spoiler he just put on. Driving a normal sports car was fun but he felt vulnerable in it. Kevin's car was his baby he put so much work into making it run and keeping it in perfect condition.
Ben sighed and looked over at Kevin "Hey Kevin when you see Gwen don't snap at her for going off like she did, she did it for you. She was really worried about you when you were not yourself." He remarked turning his head away and looking back at the desert flying by.
Glancing away from the road Kevin looked at his friend "I'm not mad at her, I could never be mad at Gwen, I'm mad at you for letting her go without trying everything else first" Kevin said tightening his grip on the steering wheel till he was starting to absorb it. Releasing the tension he let out the breath he was holding. The material disappeared from his fingers as his eyes moved over to the map the badge was projecting.
"If someone were driving the normal speed limit they would be there in two hours we could probably make it in one but we're going to have to stop for gas at the next town we go past, Ray didn't bother to fill his car today before work" Kevin grumbled looking at the gas gauge.
The brunette chuckled as he looked out the front window at the world a head of them and sees a sign for a town " Well if you can last seven miles then we can get some gas in the next town" he said in a bored tone. "I wonder if Gwen is bored right now." Ben said no one in particular as he tapped his fingers against the window controls.
"You know she has a cell phone, maybe she called you… is your phone even on?" Kevin asked looking at Ben out of the corner of his eye.
Ben sat up and pulled his phone out of his pocket "I forgot to turn it on" he said laughing as he turned the phone on and heard the tell tale beep that he had a voicemail. Ben opened his voicemail and put the phone on speaker "Ben when you get this message just know that I'm safe and being treated very well. Tell Kevin his car is fine that is if you figured out how to turn him back to normal" the phone message said. Kevin looked over at the other teen "That's it, what about where she is?" he asked as he looked back at the highway.
"Maybe she couldn't say Darkstar could have been listening in on the conversation. Either way at least we know she's all right" Ben said trying to lighten the mood in the car. Kevin just grunted as he started to slow the car down as they came into a small town, when they found the only gas station in town he pulled up to the pump. "Don't touch anything" he growled as he turned the car off and got out. Walking around the back of the car Kevin grabbed the handle of the pump and got the car ready and started to fill the tank.
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Gwen walked around the garden keeping at least four feet between her and the blonde. "Gwen, do you like the gardens? Do you have any favorites?" he asked closing the small gap in between them. He wanted to make Gwen fall for him; Michael knew that his time was running out.
The red head turned around slowly she could see that there was no hidden questions this time. "Roses…the yellow ones" she said softly looking over her shoulder at the blonde. Gwen glanced around she was looking for a power switch to the EM shield that surrounded the mansion.
"If you want even after everything you can stay here with me, where you can have these gardens all to yourself" he said calmly walking even closer and placing his hand on Gwen's shoulder. "I know that right now you want to get away from be but over time you can grow to love me." Michael said calmly as he ran his hand closer to the base of Gwen's neck and pushed the hair out of the way and tightened his grip on her shoulder.