A fast update, I realize! But this does not mean that my writer's block is gone, only subdued for this chapter. Hopefully it stays that way, but I won't make any guarantees.
Vivaitalia: Thank you so much for your suggestions, I think they'll be helpful to me in future. :)
Rakcrack15: Thank you! Maybe my writer's block is kind to me...I'll try to update as much as possible.
Avatar Aang: Oh the excitement! Here is an update for you :3
AKA99: Hahaha! Your indecisiveness is amusing (I mean that in the nicest way possible) Thanks for the review XD
Guest: Thank you thank you thank you XD
I Love Field Hockey: Tell your sister that she won't be making jokes for long...we shall convert her! :D And maybe I am...hehe ;) I'm super glad that you're enjoying it :3
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Kevin was still speeding down the road from the castle that served as the Forever Knights' base when Ben's DX Mark 10 came into view. He eased off the accelerator a little, unsure if he should stop or keep going.
"What are you doing?! We have to go back for Ben!" Gwen protested.
"Ben will be fine; he can take care of himself!" Kevin glanced in his rear-view mirror to see the Rust Bucket come to a halt beside the black sports car. That was enough motivation for him; he did a handbrake turn and stopped. "We'll wait here for a bit, but if Tennyson doesn't show up soon we'll have to leave without him; can't risk the Knights coming after us."
Gwen frowned and turned to the forest, searching for any signs of her cousin. She sat up straight in her chair as she spotted a toxic green blob speeding towards them. "Ben!" she called out, despite knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear her.
Goop quickly reverted to being Ben and he hurriedly opened his car door. Kevin saw what Gwen had seen before him and started off again in the same hurried pace. Max and the Rust Bucket waited for Ben to move off before taking in the rear; it was the slowest and most suited to combat should the need arrive.
They drove non-stop, back to the caravan park where Max lived most of the time. They had agreed that it was time to take some action with Ben, start by showing him the Arkhirathi's file and seeing how he reacted to it. Maybe he would be more willing to talk about anything that might be bothering him.
Max brought the Rust Bucket up into its usual spot and the two sports cars stopped beside it. He headed into the cabin part of the RV and opened the door for the teens.
"Come on in, guys," he said invitingly as the others filed out of their vehicles.
They all sat around the table, with Max standing at the end. He opened a drawer and pulled out a thin file and placed it on the table.
"You were asleep when I first discussed this with Gwen and Kevin," Max turned to look at Ben. "This is the file of an escaped prisoner from Galactica. It's a Plumber prison ship and has one of the best security systems in the galaxy." He opened the file and rotated it so Ben could get a good look. "Tell me, Ben, does this alien look familiar to you?"
All eyes were on Ben as he leaned forward in his seat and took in the photo. The creature struck something within Ben; something unpleasant. He could feel the fear welling up inside him and he struggled not to show the chills that were beginning to overwhelm him. Why did it look so familiar? Why did he feel such fear towards it? Why couldn't he remember?
He knew they were waiting for some kind of response; it was a miracle that the emotional storm inside him hadn't made its way to his face. Something told him that if he said what he was feeling, he would be betraying the voice; breaking his promise. A though crossed his mind. That voice…does it belong to this thing? Is that what's inside me?
Ben chose his words carefully, making sure not to lie, but to not tell the truth, either. "…I don't remember seeing anything like it."
The others relaxed visibly, making the tension that had been hanging over them quite clear.
"Are you sure?" Gwen asked doubtingly. She had seen – experienced – first hand that something was wrong with Ben. But if he hadn't seen the Arkhirathi before, did that mean it wasn't possessing him? Or maybe it was but Ben wasn't aware.
Ben met her gaze with his own. From that look Gwen could tell that he was feeling…uneasy? She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe the whole situation was just too uncomfortable.
"As I said, I don't remember seeing this alien."
"Okay then," Max rubbed the back of his head. He had another idea he could try, but he knew it would make the situation worse, as well as alerting Ben to their suspicions.
"Why are you asking me this? I would understand if it was just a passing thought, but this feels more like an interrogation," Ben crossed his arms as he sat back in his seat. "Are you hiding something?"
"I have been asked to help a small team of guards from Galactica track down and recapture this criminal," Max said, thinking fast. "I figured you tend to have a lot of contact with aliens, so maybe you would have seen or heard anything."
Ben was grateful that they hadn't actually asked him if he'd heard anything. There was no way he could stretch the truth about that. And he knew they wouldn't react well if he came out and said 'well, now that you mention it, I have some kind of crazy voice in my head that can take control. I think it might be this Arkhirathi thing!', not to mention it would be breaking his promise. He had to stay silent until he figured out what the creature wanted. He had promised to keep the Arkhirathi hidden, but he had also said that it was only until he found out what its intentions were.
"So why did it come here? To Earth, I mean," Ben asked.
"We're not exactly sure," Max replied. "It seems to have been able to hack into the Plumber's main database but whatever information it got is unknown to us."
So it wants something from the Plumbers…but what? Something nudged at the corner of Ben's mind. It was still vague to him but he could feel the emotions flowing out of it; fear. A fear so intense that he thought he would die. A fear not dissimilar to what he felt when he looked at the photo.
"I'm kinda tired, so I'm going to head home," Ben stood, knowing his sudden actions were suspicious. However, no one stopped him; they only stared in silence as he exited the RV and started his car.
"Ben? Is that you?" Sandra called from the kitchen when she heard the front door open and close.
"Yeah, it's me," Ben replied as he walked into the lounge room towards the hallway. Sandra ducked her head around the corner of the kitchen door.
"You wouldn't happen to know why we're out of coffee, would you? I swear it was full when I left."
"I guess I must have drunken it," Ben shrugged. There was that niggling feeling again, and the fear that was so overwhelming. He knew he had to hurry too his room where he could let it show on his face without worrying his parents.
"But you don't like coffee…why would you drink it?"
"I'm not sure, mom," Ben turned away from his mother and headed down the hall. "I'll go buy some more tomorrow. I'm tired, so I'm going to bed."
"Oh, alright. Good night!" Sandra called back. She was still confused about the coffee. Why would Ben drink it?
Ben threw himself on his bed, his face finally contorting, reflecting the fear that he was feeling. His body began shaking slightly to match. He felt powerless as images flooded through his mind. Transforming into Big Chill. Being thrown onto the coffee table, smashing it to pieces. Being blasted by some sort of energy beam. Through each image was the figure, the Arkhirathi, that he had seen in the photo. This was a memory. He shut his eyes as tightly as he could and gripped the covers until his nails dug into the palms of his hands.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"Does it matter?" the voice snapped. "Does anyone actually care? Will anyone actually listen to what I have to say?"
He was back in his human form; his vulnerable, powerless human form. But he ignored this, focusing entirely on the being before him. "I will listen! So I ask again: what do you want?"
A single word. A single word was all it took to make him shudder in uncontrollable turmoil.
"…Revenge."
The images faded, leaving Ben lying in a heap on his bed where he slowly drifted into an uneasy sleep.
Gwen, Kevin and Max still sat around the small table in the Rust Bucket. Although they didn't speak, they were all thinking similar thoughts.
"I have an idea that we could try to find out if there is actually anything possessing Ben," Max said, breaking the heavy silence.
Gwen and Kevin didn't respond, only looking up at the older man.
"Gwen, you could use your powers to see if you can sense another being inside him. However, if we do this, Ben will know full well of our suspicions and that could be dangerous."
"What happens if we actually find something?" Kevin asked. "It's not like it's going to happily leave; it's going to fight."
"I could do it," Gwen added. "If he's sleeping at the time, then there's all possibility that he won't find out. But Kevin's right; if there is actually something there, what will we do?"
"I guess we'll just have to restrain him until we can find a way to get it out," Max didn't like the idea but it was all he had.
"I don't like it," Gwen put words to his thoughts. "B–"
Whatever she had been about to say was cut short as a distress call erupted from their badges.
"Calling all available Plumbers! We're under attack. Intruder has been identified as the fugitive Arkhirathi!" the message cut out.
"Let's get going!" Max hurried to the front of the Rust Bucket and started the engine. He picked up a small radio transmitter and began talking into it. "Hello, this is Magister Tennyson. The Arkhirathi has been spotted in a Plumber base, I'll send you the coordinates and meet you there."
"Yes sir," the voice replied. Max identified it as Grem. "We're on our way!"
The base that had been under attack reminded Gwen of the previous base they had been to. The doors were blasted open and Plumbers lay scattered about in all directions. She bent down, cradling the head of one who was still awake.
"We're here to help you," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Can you tell me what happened? Where the Arkhirathi is going?"
"…Came out of nowhere. There was a loud bang…doors forced open…we couldn't react!" the man coughed several times. "…I think it was heading…towards the main…control room…"
"Thank you," she placed his head back down and led Max and Kevin further into the base. They followed the main hallway, ignoring the doors off to the side despite the evidence of attack they displayed. The structure of this base was very different to that of the previous base, but Gwen found that if she followed the trail of destruction she would eventually arrive at the main control room.
And she did. The first thing she noticed were the aliens in the room. They were the guards from Galactica. Grem, the commander, made a hand signal to let them know that he had heard them come in but his face never left the creature standing before them.
It was tall, taller than any human, and its body was a charcoal grey colour. It had black markings along its body and its eyes glowed a deathly white. It was the Arkhirathi.
The Arkhirathi looked up at the newcomers without a hint of apprehension. It almost seemed pleased that more victims had made their way to it.
Gwen heard her grandpa lift some kind of weapon that he had brought with him. In a single fluid movement, he fired a beam of blinding light straight at the alien. The Arkhirathi laughed despicably as the beam hit it dead-on without having any kind of effect.
"What? How?!" Max muttered.
"I-I don't understand!" Hinra flinched and took a step backwards. "The file said that light was the Arkhirathi's greatest weakness!"
The Arkhirathi stopped laughing and looked squarely at the terrified Uxorite. It seemed to smile. "Aw, are you scared of me?" it asked in a mocking tone.
Hinra moved to take another step but Grem held her in place. "We are not scared of you!" he said confidently. "You are just another alien; another prisoner who needs to be recaptured and returned to Galactica."
The smile faded and Gwen was sure that the creature was now frowning, anger etched into its very being. It seemed about to say something but quickly stopped and composed itself. "You should be scared," it said almost happily. Then all at once it began fading away until it was no longer visible.
Hinra cried out and darted her eyes around nervously. Grem tightened his grip on her arm. He knew she was scared, the poor Uxorite really didn't have the nerves to deal with prisoners, but her technological abilities were impeccable. Petra's tail twitched slightly but he held his position as he scanned the room. Silyon and Takren did the same. They knew what they were dealing with. They needed to locate the ghost-like being quickly or they would all be doomed.
Gwen allowed the mana to flow through her. Her eyes glowed pink as she scanned the room, seeing things that the others could not. In a second she had located the Arkhirathi; it was still standing in the same spot. She flung her arms forward and sent a bubble of mana around it to entrap it.
"You'll have to do better than that," it said dryly, easily escaping its containment with its intangible abilities.
Gwen was about to search again, but something lifted her into the air and flung her aside. She hid the metal wall with a thud and fell to the floor.
"Gwen!" Kevin and Max called out simultaneously. Kevin made a move to head over to her but stood rigid as the Arkhirathi returned to visibility and stared at them with cold, heartless eyes.
"You'll pay for that," Kevin said through clenched teeth as he absorbed the matter of the floor. He lunged towards the alien but it easily made itself intangible and Kevin charged straight through it.
"My, my, we aren't very polite, are we?" as the Arkhirathi spoke, the air around them grew cold. The breath of all the beings in the room turned to small white clouds. It held its hands out towards the group of Plumbers watching it. They all had expressions of fear and hatred. The expressions of fear and the way they tried to bring it to submission were similar to that other creature it had encountered. It found itself asking why, then, if they were so similar, were they so different?
The matter was just another reason; just another excuse to continue with its plan. It released the energy it had been storing, sending a blast catapulting towards the small group that dared to defy it. A pink bubble quickly came to life around them and smashed just as quickly as it took the full force of the blast.
The Arkhirathi frowned as it looked over to the girl who was slowly rising to her feet. It could tell she was weak, a single attack would make her a problem of the past. It raised a single hand; that would be all it would take. It started to gather the energy required.
Gwen stared in fear at the enemy as it slowly raised its hand in her direction. She had never felt so afraid of anything than she had right at that moment. She knew she barely had the strength to create another shield, somehow her energy was being drained much faster than usual. Even if she could gather up enough mana to defend herself, the attack would easily shatter it and that would be the end of it. There was nothing they could do against such a creature; not when the only weakness they knew of had proven itself not to be a weakness at all.
Gwen shut her eyes, preparing for the worst. After a few moments of nothing, she opened them again to see that the Arkhirathi had lowered its hand and was simply staring at her. Why hadn't it attacked? It was the perfect opportunity!
"What an unexpected development," it said to itself. "I have no further business with you…yet," the Arkhirathi announced to the small group as it began to fade. "Take care."
And then it was gone. Gwen knew without a search that the Arkhirathi was no longer there; it had escaped. But she knew that this would not be their last encounter.
