For some reason, Dad's been giving him The Look again. It's the same way that he used to look at him whenever he had a bad asthma attack. Like Dad is terrified that he's about to die or something.
Back then, Ben hadn't minded. After all, he had been pretty scared too, especially at first. Plus, he had almost enjoyed it when Dad worried over him. It had meant that Dad spent an extra half hour reading to him at night, or gave him an extra hug, or that he grabbed Ben's favorite flavor ice cream on the way home from work.
Now, though, he's bristling under Dad's concern. He just wants Dad to look at him normally. Then again, Dad hasn't really done that in years, so it's a pipe dream anyway.
"Are you two okay?" Dad murmurs to him as they get ready to go to find the Volm cache.
"Yeah, we're good. No more punching each other. Probably," Ben says. Honesty is the best policy, and it's always possible that he's going to want to punch Hal again.
"Good," Dad says, clasping his arm. "You know, if you need to talk or anything-"
"It's fine, Dad," Ben interrupts, mostly to try to hide how much that arm still hurts.
"What's wrong with your arm?" Dad asks.
"I hurt it, but it's fine."
"Hurt it how?"
"I tripped yesterday, and then, well, you were there when I tackled Hal. I must have hurt it a little more," Ben says, trying to make it sound as alright as possible.
"Shouldn't it be healed by now?" Dad is giving him The Look again, sharper than ever.
"We've gotta go," Ben says, grabbing his pack. He smiles reassuringly at Dad. "And don't worry about it."
"You're my son, Ben. I'm always worried about you," Dad says, gingerly touching his shoulder.
"I'm alright, though, Dad," Ben says. "Really."
Before Dad can say anything else, Ben turns away. He sees Hal and is about to go over to say something, but then Maggie appears next to Hal and kisses him on the cheek before hugging him tightly.
Ben feels the ugly face of jealousy and tries to clamp down on it as quickly as possible. Knowing that Hal can feel the things that he's feeling makes Ben's feelings for Maggie not only futile, but completely idiotic. Things are complicated enough without Hal getting pissed at him for his dumb pointless feelings.
Hal must feel something, though, because he looks up at makes eye contact with Ben. Trying not to feel suspicious, he waves at Hal.
Luckily, Hal doesn't seem to think anything is wrong and he just waves back.
When they finally get going, Ben has to try to avoid Hal and Maggie, plus his dad. Dad is upfront with Cochise, chatting about something or another. He keeps throwing Ben The Look over his shoulder, but Ben is aggressively ignoring it, so it's okay.
In his aggressive attempts to ignore almost his entire family- which he's gotten pretty good at- he realizes that Matt doesn't look as happy as Ben figured he would, considering he's always itching to go out on missions. He's kind of lagging behind and dragging his feet on the ground.
"What's with the long face?" Ben asks, coming up and nudging Matt gently.
"Nothing," Matt mumbles, not looking at him.
"Uh-huh," Ben says. "Is it that Dad won't let you have a gun?"
"That does kinda suck," Matt says.
"Hey! At least you're on the mission," Ben points out. "Baby steps."
"I'm not a baby!" Matt says, bristling.
"You know what I meant," Ben says. He leans down so only Matt can hear him. Or, well, Hal probably could, but he's giggling with Maggie, so hopefully he's not paying any attention. "When we get back, we can sneak out into the woods, okay?"
"With guns?" Matt looks up excitedly.
"Yeah!" Ben says. "Shh, though, okay?"
Matt bites his lip and then looks over at where Hal and Maggie are giggling. He frowns before looking back up at Ben and nodding. "Okay. That sounds like fun."
"Cool, I can't wait," Ben says.
"Me either!" Matt says. "You're not a total nerd."
Ben squints at him. He's not quite sure how to reply to that. 'Am too' doesn't seem like the right response. "Thanks?"
Matt nods approvingly at Ben and keeps marching on, with a little more of a spring in his step. He still seems more down than Ben would have expected. It's not like Matt will open up to him, though- he's already made that clear. Ben makes a mental note to ask Hal about it when he gets the chance. If anyone would know, it's Hal.
It's a pretty peaceful walk, until Ben catches a whiff of something foul. He coughs hard. "What's that smell?"
Everyone looks at him in confusion, except Cochise, who just looks at him.
"There are pockets of toxic waste nearby, full of chlorine. Matthew, please open your bag," Cochise says.
Matt does and pulls out gasmasks. He starts handing them out.
"You will need to wear these so we can get to the Volm cache."
"Are you my mummy?" Ben quips, holding the mask up to his face.
He just gets more confused looks, except from Dad, who laughs a little. He's pretty sure he hears Hal mutter "nerd." Tough crowd.
"No, Benjamin, I am not your mother," Cochise says. Matt tries to hand him a gasmask, but he holds up a hand. "Volm can breathe chlorine. It is why we hid our cache here. Humans were unlikely to come across it on accident and we could access it easily."
They put their gasmasks on and then keep walking. The gasmask is kind of uncomfortable, but it's better than breathing in chlorine.
"The cache is buried four feet below this cistern," Cochise says, resting his hand on it.
"We're not gonna have to dig again, are we?" Matt asks.
"Do not worry, I have-"
"Mira!" Matt interrupts, running to someone lying on the ground.
"Matt," she says, coughing hard.
"Come on! Someone help!" Matt says, pulling at his gasmask. "She can't breathe!"
Ben jogs over and scoops her up, wincing, while Hal bats Matt's hands away from his mask. Good, the last thing they need is for Matt to decide to try to breathe chlorine.
They walk outside the toxic field, taking their masks off once they get clear. He sets the coughing girl in his arms down gently and Matt hastily knocks him to the side.
"Mira, are you okay?" Matt says.
"I escaped," Mira says, smiling. "I did it, like you did."
"Matt told us a lot about you," Hal says. "That you guys really looked out for each other while you were in that camp."
Mira nods emphatically. "I would be like all the other kids in the camp, except Matt helped."
"How did you get out of there?" Dad asks.
"They locked me up, by myself for a while. And they'd come in and they'd yell and they'd scream and they'd-" Mira cuts herself off, clearly troubled, and Ben feels a rush of sympathy for her. He knows how cruel the Espheni can be. "But one day, they didn't lock the door quite right, so I snuck out at night, and then I ran and I ran."
"That's some luck," Dad says.
"I kept looking for someone who would take me with them, but when I saw Matt, I couldn't believe it," Mira says. She smiles widely up at Matt. "I thought it was a trick, but it's really you."
Matt nods emphatically. "It's me. And you're gonna be okay now, I promise."
"So you just happened to find yourself here? Near a cache of Volm goods?" Dad asks.
"Dad!" Matt says, looking up at him harshly. "She's my friend!"
"I know, and I really hope she escaped free and clear, but I've got to look out for everyone's safety and make sure we finish this mission. It's too important to risk," Dad says. For some reason he looks at Ben again.
"You can't just leave her here!"
"We're not going to leave her here," Dad says. "We're just going to let her rest while we get the supplies we came for."
"It's okay, Matt, I get it," Mira says.
"Maggie, will you check to make sure she doesn't have anything on her? And then you can secure her," Dad says.
"Sure thing," Maggie says, kneeling next to her. "Hey, Mira, I'm Maggie. I'm Matt's friend too. I'm just going to make sure the Espheni didn't put any tracking devices on you. Is that okay?"
Mira looks distrustful, but Matt nods encouragingly at her and she nods too. Maggie pats her down awkwardly and even looks in her shoes, but she shakes her head at Dad. Nothing. She takes a rope and ties Mira up carefully.
"Okay, Ben? You stay here with Matt and Mira. Stay on your guard. Let us know if you hear anything coming," Dad says.
Dad is giving him The Look again and Ben wants to shake him to find out what the hell he's keeping from him, but Ben just nods in agreement.
"Okay, Dad," Ben says, nodding.
Dad clasps his shoulder and Hal gives him a shrug and a wave before they head back to the cache. He sighs as he watches them go.
Matt and Mira start chatting and Ben tries not to eavesdrop too much, but he still keeps an eye on Mira, just in case she tries something. There's something wrong here, and Ben can't put his finger on it.