Not The Only One Dead
The Alienated Heart is based on the Ben 10: Alien Swarm movie.
Disclaimer: I own no part of Ben 10. All rights belong to the people who created Ben 10 and the Alien Swarm live-action movie. I only own the character Kade Roman and her plot and dialogue.
They had found their way into the dim-lit warehouse, and saw hundreds of people putting nano-chips into canisters, then into crates and labelling them with stickers titled with the names of countries.
"It's like a human assembly line," Gwen told the others quietly.
Ben glanced around, "No sign of her royal highness, the queen. There's someone we know."
The others all looked to the middle of the room. A man stood, twitching, connected to glowing tubes, which seemed to be streaming out nano-chips. A dark-blue mechanical cube was attached to the man and pulsated at regular intervals. It was a solid, dark blue and was lined with silver metal. Upon seeing the cube, Kade swallowed hard and stumbled forward against the railing of the catwalk.
"It's the creep from back at the mill."
Gwen's jaw dropped, "That's Victor Validus."
The cube gave another pulse, and this time, Kade stumbled backwards to her knees.
"I knew it." Kevin immediately assumed, "I told you not to trust her."
Elena stared at Ben, "It's not like that."
Kade was shaking now, pale and sweaty and her fingers were sparking with blue mana.
"You knew your father was behind this the whole time," Gwen accused"
Ben stepped closer to Elena, "You said you didn't know that guy." He felt betrayed – what else had Elena been lying to him about?
"I don't," Elena's face was screwed up into an expression of sadness, "That's not my dad. He's become some kind of freak."
"And that's just it," Kade rasped. The four all turned to look at the girl who was on the ground and letting mana flood out uncontrollably. Ben rushed to her side, and helped her stand, worry clouding his face. "Anything you don't understand is a 'freak.'"
"No! That's not true! What's happening to you?"
The dark-blue-haired girl laughed without humor, and steadied herself against Ben to stop herself from falling over, "I'm dying. Keeping your 'freak' of a father alive is draining me." Kade pointed out to the cube connected to Victor Validus, "Do you see that cube there?" The teenagers nodded, "I designed that cube to house some of my mana, so I didn't explode anymore cities. I only have half my mana now. The cube is pure energy and has been keeping Victor alive for weeks.
Kade's father had been a mechanic, a very good one, and had taught Kade everything he knew. The Anodite girl had created the cube to hold any energy she couldn't contain. She had designed it to absorb mana when she was close enough and the cube seemed to be permanently stuck on the 'absorb' setting. "Do you honestly think it's normal that a human is the host of an alien queen and reproducing her offspring?"
Elena couldn't answer. Kade had been weak and pale for weeks, but she hadn't really paid attention, more focused on finding her father. "Kade, I'm—"
Kade cut Elena off, not caring for an apology, "Let's focus on the actual problem. I can't get any closer to the cube or it will drain all my mana. If I can just switch the setting, I get all of my mana back. If you disconnect the cube from Victor before the queen is out…" Kade let out a shaky breath, "Let's just say, I won't be the only one dead."
Gwen looped an arm through Kade's, while Ben still supported her, "Well…I think we found out how they're making those chips."
Kade snorted lightly in amusement, "Yeah. I think you could say that."
"No." Elena breathed. How stupid had she been? She had let jealousy dictate how she spoke to Kade and now, the girl who most likely now hated her, was in control of her father's life.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do," Kevin warned the Validus and Roman girl.
Ben began to step back, still holding Kade, watching two infected people warily below them, "Not here, they don't."
By the time the two infected people, a young boy and a woman, looked up at the catwalk, the small group was gone.
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Kevin absorbed the metal of a locker, a look of betrayal flashing in his eyes, "All three are in on this together. It's a trap."
The grumpy Osmosian raised his arm, about to hit Elena but Ben shot out an arm, "Back off! It's okay!"
"Yeah, how is this okay?" Kevin retaliated.
"Ben, her father is producing those chips and Kade is keeping him alive. She's letting him produce those chips and she is literally dying to do so. He's the one controlling this who operation." Gwen added.
"Is he?" Ben wrapped an arm around Kade's waist. Kade had begun to shake and sway again and he had gotten worried that she'd fall over. "It looks to me like the chips are controlling him, just like Max! It's not a trap." Ben turned to the Validus girl next, "I trusted you, Elena."
"We had to lie. We knew you'd react like this," Elena looked close to tears and her heart sunk at her fragile her friend looked in the Omnitrix-wielder's arms. "Refuse to help us, treat us like the enemy, just like they did to my father and Kade."
"Kade never lied to us," Kevin growled, "She never said that she didn't know who the guy at the mill was, she just didn't tell us she knew."
"Then I guess you don't know us as well as you thought." Ben stared at Gwen, "Right?"
Gwen looked down without answering and Elena blubbered, "I'm sorry. I just wanted this nightmare to end."
The blue-haired girl who hadn't spoken looked up, "This nightmare isn't over yet. And I personally think it is just beginning."
The red-head nodded, agreeing with her friend. What Gwen had been thinking, Kade had basically taken right out of her mouth.
Kade suddenly crumbled to the ground, like she had just become boneless, and Ben made a slight noise of surprise before he picked her up again and cradled her to his chest. "I'm okay, Ben."
"It sure doesn't look like it," Kevin voiced, only to receive a glare from Kade and Ben simultaneously.
"Gwen?" Kade's voice made Gwen look at her, "Can I borrow some…"
The Tennyson girl immediately straightened, "I can't believe I didn't think of it." Ignoring the questioning looks she received from everyone but Kade, the quarter-Anodite placed her hand over Kade's. A quick flash of pink mana flowed out of Gwen and into Kade, the mana-transfer quick and painless.
Kade shot Gwen a thankful smile, standing up a bit on her own with the new strength from the mana. In reality, Kade's mana was stronger than Gwen's, so it only helped a little bit, and Kade could draw mana from any living creature, but preferred not to. The ability Gwen possessed to push out her mana, enabled her to give it to others and was painless for her.
The blue-eyed girl turned to stare at Victor, mumbling, "The plans."
Ben caught on, "So that's what the plans were for. He was conducting tests on himself. He's the hive. His own body is producing them by the thousands, every minute. But that's also why he stole Kade's cube, because he's just human. He can't do it by himself, he needs more energy."
"In a colony, only the queen can reproduce." Gwen continued, "So…"
Elena frowned, "The queen is inside of my dad."
"We have to shut 'em down, Ben," Kevin stated, "Destroy him, destroy the queen."
"No! You can't!" Elena protested, hoping that her pleading would change Ben's mind.
"I'm sorry, Elena," Gwen apologized, "But Kevin may be right. If it's a choice between one man and the entire human race…"
Gwen didn't need to finish and Kade pursed her lips. "I'm sorry, Elena. But it needs to be done. I'm the only one keeping Victor alive right now, so you know I don't want to do this…but it's what needs…"
"You said you'd save him!" Elena burst out, staring at Ben. The Validus girl couldn't even look at the girl who was still leaning on Ben – how dare Kade even suggest it!? "It's not his fault! He's being controlled by the queen!"
"Dude," Kevin placed his hand on Ben's right shoulder, the one Kade wasn't leaning on, "I know this is hard, but unless you take out this guy, the whole world falls. You know what Max would do."
Ben looked out the drones. At the squeeze of his hand, Ben looked back down at Kade. Dark-blue eyes swirling with determination met his gaze.
"If you don't feel you can do it…I can…" Kade knew that Ben was a wonderful person, and would never, in a million years, be okay with ending an innocent's life, even to save an entire planet. That was why Kade offered to end Victor's life.
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In all honesty, I didn't like Elena Validus as a character, and personally, I think I let that show a bit in the next chapter.
Please review!
~ Raven