Thank God I manage to churn this chapter out just in time for the New Year. Hope you have a happy New Year! :D
CHAPTER 6
"Make yourselves comfortable, please." Victor Validus' voice rang loudly over the clattering of utensils and excited chatter among the people on the dining table. Ben indeed felt truly at ease for the first time he could remember in what seemed to him like eternity. He was sitting right next to the head chair in the table, which was occupied by Validus. At the moment, however, Validus was standing up. After the meal had ended, he raised his hand, beckoning both his men and the refugees to be silent.
"It's been a long time since all of us had last gathered in the big hall. The reason we are here is to mourn those of our race who had fallen, in our home planet on the other side of the galaxy." At this, Validus' men resumed talking, but the earlier note of excitement was replaced by that of confusion and apprehension. Again Validus raised his hand.
"Now I would like Ben Tennyson, the leader of those fortunate few to survive the destruction of Earth, to recount the series of events which led to this tragedy." Validus finally sat down, indicating Ben that it was his turn to talk. As much painful as it was for him to remember those dreadful events, Ben found it surprisingly easy to talk of them. With each word he said, he felt the his pain lessen bit by bit. He could not help noticing either, that a pretty girl sitting next to Validus on the other side seemed almost moved to tears.
Once he had finished, the murmurs had resumed again. This time it was the girl on Validus' side who stood up and raised her hand. "Let us not burden out guests with any more sorrows. Fellow scientists, if you will." With those words, the assembly at the hall dissociated, and Validus' men began to accompany the refugees to their quarters.
(-)
Ben was in no mood for a sleep, and the fact that they were basically in an underground bunker did not help matters despite his weariness. When the refugees had first stumbled across Validus, Ben had thought that he was just a whacko middle aged man who lived alone in an abandoned military base. He was surprised when Validus led them to an underground research facility outfitted with state of art equipment. Although not as vulnerable to claustrophobic bouts as Gwen, Ben still faced slight discomfort in enclosed spaces.
He decided to take a walk in the pathway in front of his own room. The living quarters, like any other underground building in the facility, was domed and allowed the occupants to enjoy the view of the sky. Anyone looking from above the ground would just see a broken building. Ben had seen many impressive things in different planets, but even then the engineering behind the dome's function managed to leave him in slight awe.
"Hello." A soft voice came from the shadows. "Having trouble sleeping?" As the figure stepped into the moonlight, he recognized the girl who had spoken in the main hall. Now having the opportunity to observe her closely, Ben could tell that she was related to Validus somehow. She had the same black eyes and nose as Validus, and her black hair was cut short, barely reaching her shoulder.
"Yeah. I don't sleep well anyway. Particularly not these days."
"I am truly sorry for what happened to you and your friends." The girl extended her hand, "I am Elena. Dr. Validus is my father."
Ben shook her hand. "I am.." Elena laughed aloud, "I know who you are Ben Tennyson. We might be cut off from the galaxy, but we still can hear a word or two time to time about the galaxy's most famous hero."
Ben looked away in mild exasperation. He was angry at how people continued to call him a hero, even after his epic failure, but there was something else that he had not felt before when complimented: embarrassment.
"Umm, no," Ben brainstormed rapidly, searching for the next words to say."I mean, it's kind and all that, but it really doesn't go with me. Not after I busted up…"
"Forgive me; I shouldn't have brought up this topic. So what do you think about this planet?" Elena hastily tried to change the subject.
For the first time, a hint of a smile formed on Ben's face, "Not bad. But I'm bursting with questions. I have never been in surroundings so familiar yet so strange, and that's saying a lot."
"I know where you are getting. Our planet was very much…..normal you can say. Then the nanite event happened."
Seeing Ben's interest was aroused, Elena continued, "It all started five years ago…
(-)
"So now everyone on Terran is infected by nanites?" Ben asked, amazed by the revelation.
"Pretty much every living organism, actually. One day, you are going on with your life normally, and the next day you are turned into a abomination. The worst part of all this? You are in absolutely no control of your activities, and if you stay long enough in EVO form, eventually you become incurable."
"Being stuck in giant caterpillar form for the rest of my life wouldn't make into the top ten list of my priorities." Ben made a face which made Elena laugh. "But forget me, what is the reason you guys are hiding from the rest of the world?"
Elena's expression did not change, but for a moment Ben thought there was a slight shadow of sadness, "Providence." She replied simply.
"I am sorry?" Ben was starting to wonder if there was a streak of madness within the Validus family.
"That is what they call themselves. An international organization dedicated to the 'containment' of EVOs." Elena' tone was bitter. "Soon after the nanite event, my father got on their bad side for publicly voicing his beliefs that cooperation and coordination, not imprisoning them, is the way to tackle the EVO problem. His reputation took a hit afterwards, and soon we began to receive threats from pro-human purists, all thanks to Providence. Those few who sided with Dad suffered the same." She sighed. "So we decided to go underground."
"That's harsh." Despite what he heard Elena say, Ben found it a little too difficult not to sympathize with the Providence organization. He had not been on this planet for full two days, and yet what little firsthand experience he had on what untamed EVOs could do scared him. If Providence did want to control EVOs, Ben could not see how he could actually blame them.
"Ever been outside Terran?" It was Ben's turn to change the subject; however it failed to have the impact thought it would, as Elena still remained gloomy while shaking her head. "I was very young when Dad was sacked from the Plumbers. Since then, he hadn't left this planet. It's the one that makes him really mad: the talk of the galaxy out there." Her stare suddenly intensified as she moved it towards Ben. "How is it out there? The planets? Hurtling through the space? The different kinds of people?" Her curiosity was almost childlike. Ben could realize that this was the first time she had met someone from outside the facility in a very long time.
"Yeah, it used to feel good there." Ben faked a yawn. "I do feel sleepy now."
Elena smiled, "You should go then." She turned away without another word.
(-)
It had been such a long time since he had a good sleep that Ben almost had started to forget what it meant. By the time he woke up, the sun had already started to fall.
"Hi Ben." He exited his room and saw Kevin leaning on the railing of the balcony. "Had a good time sleeping?" His laid back approach made Ben wary. Usually that meant that Kevin was planning some of his 'harmless' pranks to play on him.
"I'm fine. Guess I don't sleep well in space, so the insomnia over the fortnight is taking its toll."
"You missed the breakfast. But more importantly, Validus has called for you."
Ben was surprised, "What for?"
Kevin shrugged, "I dunno. The guy's a total whacko. Must have run out of guinea pigs to test his theories upon. Anyways, see ya."
Ben could not stop himself from frowning. Kevin's words seemed quite ominous to him.
"May I come in, Dr Validus?" Ben knocked on the door
"Ah, young Mr Tennyson! I asked you friend Mr Levin to call you in the morning, but I think he must have had forgotten." Validus replied from within his personal laboratory, his eyes fixed just above the lenses of his microscope
"He informed me alright; I am afraid I am the one to be blamed as I overslept. What is it that you wanted me for, doctor?"
"Well Mr Tennyson, surely you have given a thought about how you would like to lead your life here, haven't you?"
"I am sorry?"
"You and your friends' lives actually" Validus finally looked up at Ben, when the latter still seemed at dark. "Oh for God's sake! Your people had jobs and schools to attend. I am pretty sure you would not like idly sitting around here."
"O," Ben was not sure how to respond. Truthfully, he had been so self obsessed that he had not even paused to think how the others might be coping with their lives turned topsy-turvy as well.
"I don't know. I need to talk to the others about this. You will know soon enough."
Validus seemed disappointed, but he did not tell anything. "It's not even a full day here, and the crazy doc thinks that we're intruding his hospitality for too long." Ben had to correct himself from this train of thought when he realized how his own group outnumbered Validus' scientists.
(-)
Ben thought that the whole procedure of paperwork involved for fabricating identities to get jobs and school place would be too problematic, but he found that all of them had got their necessary papers within two days. When he had asked Validus how that had been possible, the doctor, with an amused smile, had just said, "I have friends in high places."
"Look at that!" Gwen beamed and held her own papers for Ben to see. "It's perfect! Now I can get myself into prep school."
"Good for you, Gwen." Ben smiled, seeing how happy everyone, like his cousin, was happy. "Where's yours, anyway?" Gwen asked back.
"I've got mine with Validus."
Kevin was leaning back on a chair and repeatedly throwing a rubber ball at the wall and catching it back, but he looked up at Ben's last words. "You're not gonna get it?"
"Why should I? I'm not going back to prep school, so what do I need it for?"
Gwen looked at her cousin confusedly, "Ben what's going on? You're not that bad a student."
"Just don't feel like it. I asked Validus if I could stay back. He said I could, as his lab assistant."
Gwen's jaw dropped, "You are not serious. When was the last time you actually showed interest in science?"
"I am very serious Gwen." Ben's jaw was firm. Gwen walked over to her cousin and fixed him with a steely gaze. "What's wrong with you Ben? How long are you going to blame yourself for what happened and cut yourself off from other people? You are already using that as an excuse not to use the Omnitirix."
"Don't patronize me, Gwen. It's my life, my choice. And there is nothing that can make me change my decision."
"Not if I have something to say about my cousin's irrational choices," Gwen's clenched fists glowed pink.
"Try me." Ben balled his fists as well in response.
"Hey, cut it out! This is not something worth fighting over for." Kevin called out at the two cousins, who were exchanging absolutely loathsome glances.
"Let's sit down and talk this out sensibly, ok?" Kevin looked at the Tennysons.
"Nothing to talk about Kevin. I don't want to go out there." Ben was adamant.
"You won't do yourself any favor by isolating yourself either!" Gwen countered heatedly.
"Alright, enough!" Kevin raised his voice. "You're both being unnecessarily inflexible about this without listening to the other." He grabbed Gwen by the arm and pulled her outside the room so that Ben could not hear what he said to her. "Let me talk to your cousin, guy to guy."
"Uh huh." Gwen was not entirely convinced.
"Trust me on this. Besides, I owe you guys one." Kevin winked.
(-)
"It's alright, Tennyson. I talked to your cousin about you staying back here. She won't make a big deal out of it." Kevin suddenly smirked at Ben. "And for the record, I am totally sympathetic with your choice. After all, who wouldn't love to work with such a cute young scientist?"
"What?" Ben frowned.
"Relax kid, I didn't tell Gwen that you seem to have a thing for Validus' daughter. I saw you guys talking in the balcony that night."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Ben could have frozen Kevin with the coldness of his voice if he had tried.
"Keep telling yourself that." Kevin whistled as he exited Ben's room.
(-)
Gwen looked back at the underground facility one last time before the optical camouflage kicked in and the whole area became an abandoned military base again. A barely concealed sigh escaped from her lips, which Kevin's astute ears did not miss.
"Missing Ben, huh?" he asked as nicely as he could.
"I'm worried about him Kevin. You know my brother Ken?" Gwen raised her hand to show a tall young man with the same auburn hair and green eyes as Gwen's walking behind her parents. "He is as sweet a big brother as anyone can ask for, but most of the time he is busy living in his dream world."
Indeed, as Kevin looked at Ken, he could see the latter humming slightly, his steps indicating that he was oblivious to the surroundings. He was surprised to know that Gwen had a big brother, but now that he had seen her brother, he was not surprised as to why he had not heard of Ken before. "As much as I picked up on Ben for being conceited, rude and insensitive, he was much more of a brother to me than Ken." Gwen smiled ruefully. "Once after an adventure on Xenon, Tetrax told me that Ben beat himself up pretty badly when he believed I was dead. And now he is doing it again; only this time, it's worse than before."
Kevin put his hand on Gwen's shoulder as she was sniffing from the effort of not crying. "He will come around Gwen. When was the last time he gave up so easily?"
"I don't know, but this time it's different. Even you know it Kevin. What if he never gets over the shock?"
Kevin looked right into her eyes, "He will Gwen. Trust me."
(-)
"Oh not you too!"
"Hey, I stink at following school rules!" Kevin raised the excuse in his defense as Gwen glared at his decision. "Now when you come to think of it, I'm not dropping out of school either. I spent the last five years of my life outside school!"
"Look at your manners! Is this the way to talk to a lady?" Gwen was relentless in her verbal barrage. "You obviously need to learn a thing or two about how to behave in a civilized society."
"Hey, that was uncalled for! And besides, classrooms give me creeps!"
Gwen inwardly found that amusing to no ends, but she forced herself to keep a stern face. "Let me guess this straight. Kevin Levin, juvenile delinquent and inter galactic illegal tech dealer, who has served sentence for two years in the Null Void, is afraid of a forty-by-forty room full of kids of his age and a middle aged person delivering lectures?"
Kevin was now getting desperate, "Well if you want to put it that way, yes! So can I please be excused from attending prep school? Please?"
"Good. All the more reason why you should attend prep school."
"I would rather serve another two years in the Null Void!"
"Humor me." There was a dangerous edge to Gwen's voice, like a volcano about to erupt. Mrs Levin, who was observing her son and the red headed girl arguing about the former's attending of prep school as if both of their lives depended on it, could not help but smile.
"Kevin, why don't you take a break from you care free life and inject some discipline in it?" She suggested. Kevin shot his mother a furtive warning look, silently requesting her not to press the matter further, but she went on. "It will really be nice if you enroll with Gwendolyn in the prep school."
While Gwen beamed at his mother with a flurry of 'Thank you's, Kevin did nothing hold back his groan. "Mum!"
"I better get going Mrs Levin." Gwen happily bade the Levins goodbye before leaving their apartment.
"Mum, are you mad? Who will help you arrange this apartment? Besides it's not safe for you to be alone in this new neighborhood; we practically do not know anyone around here."
"Relax Kevin. I have the Tennysons next door to turn to in case something does happen. You worry too much." Mrs Levin continued to spoke as she picked up a basket full of dirty laundry. "Besides it will be a great experience for you to attend school with your girlfriend."
"She. Is. Not. My. Girlfriend. Jeez, Mum! Can't I have a friend who is a girl without you making her my supposed soul mate?"
Mrs Levin's smile widened at her son's over reaction to her remark. "Ok, your friend. Now why don't you pick up those books on the ground and help me arrange the shelf properly. Look at you, son! Having to tell you that your mother is struggling with her work. Gwendolyn has a very good point."
"This just keeps getting better and better," Kevin grumbled as he helped his mother, while the latter derived no less amusement at his expense. "No wonder Ben decided to stay back; might as well reconsider my own choices."
(-)
Ben did not know what had gotten inside his head at that moment with Gwen, but he surely was doubting his choice the minute his friends left the facility to start a new life in the city. He, however, did know why he had decided to stay back. The sight of the refugees starting from the ashes in a foreign planet would only remind him of his failures, and that was something he was not very good at handling. Ben Tennyson hated failures, and staying back from beginning his life all over again was his own way of exacting his self-imposed penance.
"Mr Tennyson, the biometric readings please?" Validus would extend his hand without lifting his eyes from the microscope.
"Coming sir." Ben would come running with one of the numerous charts pinned on the board. And that was how Ben's life went on in the facility. Dr Validus' mantra was efficiency, and despite being lenient enough on Ben so as to give him only the duties for which the latter was fully competent, he gave very little rooms for mistakes.
"I don't care if you are the hero who saved the galaxy a million times, Mr Tennyson, but here, in my lab, you are just one of my assistants, and I will not allow for sloppiness here."
Life in the facility was grumbling, but it provided satisfaction to Ben. In his effort to remember which of Validus' charts he had put in which drawer, Ben could at least forget his anger over everything that had happened in the past month. The other scientists were not too better than Validus; most of them were more worried about their own research than anything. The only person Ben could talk freely to, that is when he was in the mood, was Elena.
"You are pressing yourself too much Ben," Elena had told him one day during the midday break in the cafeteria. "Dad's a nut for results. You're doing just fine."
"It's ok Elena. To tell you the truth, I kind of like it when your father shouts at me in front of everyone."
Elena looked at him with a hurt look, "I'm sorry." Ben could not help but laugh at her reaction.
"Seriously, I'm not being polite just because I'm talking to his daughter. I' m all cool with whatever with Dr Validus does. As long as he doesn't throw me out."
"And your friends?"
"What about them? There are no hostile aliens around here, are there? Besides, Gwen and Kevin can handle whatever comes their way."
"I'm not talking about protecting them Ben. How about staying beside them as a friend or a brother? Have you considered how they are going to cope without you?"
"They don't need me."
"Really?" Elena raised her eyebrows, which for some reason, annoyed Ben a lot. "Tell you what Elena, why are you so keen to drive me away from here?"
"I…. I'm not! I just don't want to see you push your loved ones away!" Elena answered hotly.
"Well, then, stop pretending as if you understand me before I push you away!" Ben countered with an equal sharp-edged answer, before realizing what he had truly said. His face promptly turned into an ugly hue of crimson.
Elena was dumbfounded, but she gathered her wits quickly enough before they made a scene of it in front of others in the cafeteria. "You don't know what you're talking about." She coldly said before turning and leaving the room.
"Elena! Hey I'm sorry, ok! It was just…." Ben was at a loss for words. Rash choice of words? Heat of the moment? "Jesus, I totally deserve this for being a brat! Only person in this entire facility who is nice to me and I act like a total jerk towards her." He told himself, noting how similar he was becoming to Kevin before the latter's reformation.
(-)
In the school, Kevin was not faring as badly as Ben was in the facility, but only just. Dealing with multi racial con men and high tech gadgets? He could do that without breaking a sweat. Keeping up with the talk of guys of his age and the time to time winking of the girls? Well there is a reason why the term 'socially awkward teenager' was invented, and Kevin was pretty much sure it was solely discovered for him.
"Whew!" He whistled in relief as the last bell of his first ever day in prep school ended, and the teacher, a bald spectacled old man, shot him a death-stare-for-the-class-delinquent. "I am not gonna go back there. No, no, never!" the trauma of the past six hours flashed in his eyes as he ranted at Gwen while they were taking the walk back home.
"Chill out, it's part of your learning curve. It happens when you transfer to a new school." Gwen tried to allay his fears.
"Easy for you to say; you're practically a genius who tops whichever class she is in with straight A's. I'm not sure I'll be able to scrap even a C in any of my subjects. Did you even understand what the Maths professor was saying about differently calculus?"
"Differential," Gwen corrected him. "It's a new subject, so no, not so much. Guess they teach calculus early here."
"O man, look at this. Homework!" Kevin spat, as if that was the most despicable thing in the universe. "I am so dead; I wouldn't even be able to do half of these by myself!"
"Ok I will come over at your place and help you. Hi Alan!" Gwen shouted as three figures appeared in front of them. "How was your first day at school?"
"Not bad," Alan announced as Julian and Atlanta became visible at his two sides. "It was going alright, but then Julian decided to have some fun with the plug fingers of his and blacked out the whole school during the Social Science class. You guys are lucky that you are in a different school; all inferno broke loose after the blackout."
"Lucky," Kevin snorted. "Tell me more jokes."
"The professor was boring me to death," Julian defended himself meekly. "It's not my fault that this planet suffers from a serious lack of sense of humor."
Alan ignored them, "And then a girl tried to pick up on Atlanta during the break. After the break ended the teachers found that girl drenched head to foot locked up in her locker. Hahahaha!" He began to laugh out loud while Atlanta frowned.
"I really shouldn't have done that. First day at school, and I had to cause such a scene. But really, you guys should have seen how conceited she was! I tried to ignore her but then she started calling me names, and then I lost my temper. And did you hear these guys talking about those who are not….normal? It's worse than on Earth! I was fortunate that nobody believed her rantings after she was found in the locker."
"Well their freaks are scarier than ours." Kevin called. "Umm sorry, no offense intended."
"None taken. Technically we all are freaks, aren't we? Aren't we guys?" Atlanta looked at the others, and for some reason, they all cracked up, laughing out loud.
Which only made Gwen feel sorry for her cousin even more.
(-)
Ben walked over to Validus' office after receiving a summon from the doctor. "I have a job for you Mr Tennyson."
He looked away while responding, "Yes sir."
"I need you to bring me back soil samples from the Western province of Connecticut. There is a small town there named Baltic. That's where you will be going."
"West and Connecticut do not go together," Ben decided to ignore the differences in geography between and Earth and Terran. "Sir." He added.
"Do I sense a note of sarcasm in your voice Mr Tennyson? Because if you do not like this assignment, you're welcome to take your leave from the facility. Permanently." Validus fixed him with a cold gaze.
"Absolutely not sir. I mean, I am more than willing to undertake whatever tasks you have in store for me." Ben injected a bit more seriousness in his posture after the indirect threat.
"Alright. You will be leaving tomorrow morning. One of our junior scientists will accompany you."
Validus made it clear that the conversation was over. Ben grunted quietly so that Validus would not hear him, obviously displeased with the latest assignment he was given. Just when he thought his life couldn't get worse, he was being made to do the very thing he had been trying to avoid.
(-)
Ben's mood had not improved even in the next morning when he was climbing into the back of one of the facility jeeps. It was really cold that morning, even though it was not snowing, but the coolness did not reach Ben's head. With his luck, his companion might turn out to be one of the thick spectacled clumsy geeks who have absolutely no idea about the outside world. His insides became bitter as the realization that he would be doing the bodyguard job dawned upon him.
Surely enough, he saw a hooded figure take a place beside him minutes after he got into the jeep. He felt so irritated that he did not even bother to check who it was.
"Brrrr," Ben grumbled after about an hour had passed in silence while the truck sped across the countryside. "If only Validus had told me how cold it would get…."
"Not blaming yourself for another thing gone wrong? Now that's rare for Ben Tennyson." A familiar voice spoke from beneath the hood.
"Elena!" Ben nearly lost his balance and fell from his seat in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Doing errands for my father, duh." Elena finally let down her hood. "Did you think that I was going on a date with you half way across the country?"
When Ben was still gaping at her with his mouth opened, Elena snapped, "Don't look at me like that. It was not my idea to go with you in the first place. Calvins was supposed to go, but he got a stomach bug last night. And since Dad can't spare any of his scientists for his latest experiment, here I am stuck in the cold and in the same jeep with you."
Ben could clearly gauge how bitter her voice sounded. "Umm Elena?" He asked timidly. "I am really sorry for acting like a jerk that day."
Elena had her face turned away from Ben, and did not answer to Ben's apology.
"I really am sorry. See I get that you were trying to help me but.."
"I heard you the first time!" Elena snapped again without turning her head. "Let's get to Connecticut. We shall then see how sorry you are."
Ben sighed in resignation, but the only silver lining was his feeling that the small trip would be going better than he had dreaded initially.
A/N: I'm quite confused as to what Ben's OC actually mean. This guy has seriously been busy romancing with multiple girls (most of them not being even human!), so I decided to 'start' things with Elena Validus.
