Let's hope for the best…
ooo
Rika didn't budge from her chair, but I shot out of mine, inching ever closer to the exit. As far as I know, and as the badge in my pocket beeped loudly to remind me, Gwen and Kevin were waiting for me outside of the ship. It was either them or a band of angry Plumbers waiting to kill the traitor, Ben 10.
I hoped it was Gwen and Kevin. If anyone were to beat the shit out of me the second I stepped foot off the ship, I'd rather it was Kevin.
I could hear Rika humming a quiet lullaby, though it grew distant with each step. Wasn't she coming off the ship with me?
One more step and I was at a door, which opened automatically. The cracked dirt sat an inch below, grass growing sporadically here and there. Earth. The planet I called home. Oh, how I missed it…
I took another step and I felt at home. I was back home… The reality finally hit me that I was free for the moment. I still hadn't looked up, considering kissing the ground I walked on. However, one word in an all-too familiar voice brought my gaze up, and my feet running.
"Ben…"
Bright green eyes, long orange hair… She was the cousin I missed, the one person I missed the most.
I ran as fast as I could, almost bowling the girl over as I embraced her in my arms. "I'm so glad to be home…"
Between quiet sobs, Gwen found the resolve to speak. "We… we got your SOS… How did you get out?"
I didn't answer her, finding myself being pried from Gwen by a pair of metal-stricken hands. Kevin. "All right, let go, would ya?"
"Get your hands off of him!" another voice joined in.
Kevin let go, his hands returning to normal. He turned around. "What the—!" Kevin was forcibly pushed into me, and I did my best to stand firm on the ground, but we both fell, and thank God I rolled out of the way.
Looking up, Rika had punched Kevin, and Kevin looked like he was in a pure state of shock.
"Who the hell are you?!" Gwen shouted, her hands glowing.
I quickly rose to my feet, pushing Kevin off of my legs. "Don't hurt her!"
Kevin and Gwen looked at me.
"She helped me escape the prison. Her name is Rika."
Rika smiled, bowing respectively. "I'm Drikrgia. You're… Kevin Ethan Levin, right? Sorry about that…" She held out a hand to help him up.
Gwen let her hands fall cautiously to her sides, watching the light blue skinned girl.
"Oh-ho, no. After that, I don't trust you. I'll stand up on my own." And Kevin did, using his knee for support.
"I'm sorry, this is all just a little sudden," Gwen said, sounding just a bit confused. "I'm Gwen, this is Kevin, though you seem to know us just as well."
Rika nodded, taking her hand back. "I've studied up on the Great Ten back on my home planet. I know a lot about you guys."
I scratched at my skull, feeling a bit ignored. After all, I'm home after a supposed life sentence and everyone's paying attention to Rika? "Uhm. Hello?" I waved a bit. No response. They were all focused on the alien.
"The Great Ten?" Kevin laughed. "The only thing Ben's been great at is getting himself into trouble!"
Gwen slapped his arm, hushing him. "We're both glad you're back."
I smiled. Finally, some recognition.
Rika quietly growled, walking around to stand by my side. "Well, you're home, Alien Boy. Now what?"
"First, we have to get you out of sight until we figure out what to do."
"Ooh, what a great plan. How will you hide her at your folk's place?"
"What happened to my apartment?!"
Kevin smiled. "The second they heard you dropped off the face of the earth they rented it out."
Gwen raised an eyebrow. "You mean the second you told them…"
"Well, maybe…"
I sighed. "It'll only take a day to get another one. Until then, I might as well tell Mom and Dad I'm back."
Kevin looked around. "Oh. So you just assume because I'm the only one with a car that I'm driving you both back? Why don't you take your ship?!"
Rika rolled her eyes. "Right."
"Just drive them back. You still have his bike, remember?" Gwen reminded Kevin, making her way back to the ironic green and black car. After all the upgrades, Kevin couldn't bear to part with it. Even after the thousands of totaling wrecks it'd been in, he's always fixed it right back up and continued driving it. I commend him for the dedication, now if only he could be that way with Gwen…
Rika clung to my side, her cold hands wrapped around my upper arm.
Kevin looked at us, a brow raised.
"I'll explain later."
He rolled his eyes, then looked towards the ship. "What about that thing?"
"Oh!" Rika gasped. "I'll take care of it." She skipped off towards the ship, placing her hand on the exterior. In a moment, after a few inaudible incantations, the ship disappeared in the blink of an eye.
I just smiled while Kevin stood there, questioning reality. "That's Rika for you. It's better not to question it," I muttered, Rika clinging to my side again.
He watched me, then Rika warily before following after Gwen. "I don't know what all she can do but if she scratches the car or wrecks the upholstery, she's dead!"
Rika's grip on my arm grew tighter and more painful.
"Uh… Ignore him?" I winced.
Her grip soon lightened up and we moved towards his car, letting ourselves in. Rika slid in first and I followed. "So, this is a car, right? That thing you were talking about earlier?"
I nodded. "The getaway car."
Kevin rested his elbow on the door armrest, resting his head in the palm of his head. He was trying to ignore the high-pitched girl sitting in the backseat.
"So, how'd you meet Ben?" Gwen asked, turning around to see us both.
"I broke into his cell," she smiled.
I rolled my eyes. "More like stood outside my cell and then broke in."
"Semantics."
Gwen laughed.
"She stole my dinner half the time."
"Stole?! You offered it to me!"
Gwen shook her head. "Guys, stop arguing. You two act like Ben and I did when we were ten."
"Doesn't say much, considering we're cousins and Rika and I are—"
"Are what, Ben?" Rika asked.
Kevin laughed. "Sounds like something's going on, eh?"
I shook my head. "Absolutely nothing is going on!"
Rika growled, pinning herself against the back corner of the seat near the seatbelt which she neglected to put on.
Gwen sighed. "We can work this out later, Ben. As for right now, we need to get you home. Start thinking of an explanation for your parents if you're not going to tell them the truth."
"Liar liar," Rika mumbled.
"How… old are you?" Kevin asked.
"I'm twenty, thank you!"
"You act like you're eight," he laughed.
Rika growled, muttering something in her native language that I didn't understand. She was probably threatening him or muttering something about a gruesome murder. I didn't blame her.
"From what I've learned, silence is safest," I laughed nervously. "To avoid getting into anymore arguments with anyone, I'm sticking to myself."
Kevin rolled his eyes, and Gwen turned to face forward again. Though Rika and I were quiet, Kevin and Gwen argued amongst themselves about a matter that didn't seem to concern me.
Rika looked up from her angered position with saddened eyes. She watched me warily, though I tried to ignore her. She inched away from the seatbelt, scooting closer to me. Her words echoed in my head, "What can I say? You're addicting." All I could think after that was, Why did I ever think the end of the world was such a bad thing?
I was slowly digging my grave by being in contact with Rika. She couldn't seem to stay mad at me for long, and I found myself worrying about her when she wasn't around.
"Get out of my car."
"Huh?" I looked up.
"Get out. Of my car." Kevin unlocked the doors.
I realized we'd come to a stop, through the area seemed unfamiliar to me. I obeyed Kevin anyway and led Rika out of the car. Where were we…? The place seemed abandoned, wrecked, and burned around several old buildings.
This was Kevin's old warehouse.
He used to store alien tech here where no one would look. It was the perfect hiding place. But why would he drop me off here? I have no business there…
"I'm done carrying around your shit," Kevin grumbled, tossing something at me through the car window before speeding off. "And I'm sure as hell done being Ben Tennyson!"
Looking past the dust cloud, I picked up an old, leather wallet. Sifting through it, it was my license, money I'd left behind, keys, social security card, my birth certificate, and a credit card or two. Legally, I was Ben Tennyson again.
Normally, I wouldn't keep such important information in my wallet, but I knew what was coming, and I didn't know how long I would be gone. I entrusted it to Kevin (a fatal mistake in any other case) but it paid off.
"What is it?" Rika asked quietly.
"A little piece of home…" I shoved the wallet into my pocket, dangling a set of keys off my index finger.
Rika smiled. "I don't get it."
I smiled as well, telling her to wait there while I went into the warehouse. Only a minute later, I started up a loud engine, driving it out of the warehouse.
"Is that like… a bicycle?" Rika asked, talking loudly over the engine.
I laughed. "Close. Motorcycle."
"So… a bike… with a motor…"
I took in a deep breath, letting it go. "Get on. I'll take you to my parents' house so I can go find an apartment."
She looked at the machine questionably, attempting to sit on the seat in an awkward fashion. After a try or two, she succeeded and we were off. "I don't like this thing!"
I smiled, trying to find my way out of the strange lot. "It takes some getting used to. Hold on tight!"
Rika wrapped her arms around my waist and her chin on my shoulder. "This… I don't mind."
I laughed. "That takes some getting used to as well."
ooo
So I hope I didn't make Kevin too big of an asshole. I tried to capture Gwen's snarkiness and almost mother-like governing. And Rika seemed a little off in this one after they got into Kevin's car (I think the damn thing is a '10 Camero. If it is, Kevin is going to DIE (jk)) but I tried to make up for it after they got out of the car. I think I fixed it… Anyway, new chapter later. Maybe today, maybe not.
