Ch 14

Ben heard the clashing of swords and dashed forward into sight. There he saw a sight that stopped his heart. There, in the middle of the abandoned warehouse, Julie fought the powerbroker that had taken their baby boy.

Now powerbrokers were the scum of the alien underworld, they had no real powers themselves but commanded legions of bounty hunters who kidnapped beings with rare or odd abilities which the powerbroker in question would sell to the highest bidder. These bidders were power-stealers or energy-stealers like Mike Morningstar/Darkstar. The buyers would then take the power or energy they paid for and kill the being that originally had them. This powerbroker was an albino humanoid with red pupil-ed eyes. He was dressed in fine black robes and wielded a Versitium claymore against Julie's weapons. He easily had a foot maybe a foot and a half on her along with probably seventy to eighty pounds yet she was holding him off, putting him on the defensive.

She caught sight of him from the corner of her eye, "Ben, get Ken outta here!" she screeched and he saw his son in a small dog carrier, behind the enemy. He teleported himself there, picked up the carrier and teleported him out to Gwen and Kevin. Then giving them the order to get out of there, he headed back in just in time to see Julie's weapons go flying.

Clang. Clink. Clunk.

The two swords bounced several times, before landing the final time.

The heavy blade of her opponent's sword headed towards her neck yet she back-flipped out of the way, somehow managing to slip and un-collapse the staff from her boot, using it to block and land blows. She parried nimbly, making hits to the neck and spine that should've felled him.

Ben watched stunned as she displayed skills he would never have expected from her; she called out to him, "I'm a Slayer, Slayers are an earthly forerunner of the Plumbers. We originated from Japan of course and my mother's family hails from a village that only taught girls—Hold on—" she ducked and cartwheeled away, before continuing, "Each generation always has one girl at least to carry on tradition. Until recently I've reject my heritage but when I was young my grandmother taught me the trade." She stuck again and this time the being went down. She leant on her staff, wiping sweat from her face, "Wow, I'm so outta shape."

She looked to him, "I really am sorry I kept this from you, I just didn't want you to freak. Don't worry this is the first time I've actually used my skills for work. I do want to teach Rose the trade though. She needs to learn something, she doesn't have any active defensive or offensive powers…" the being groaned and Julie whacked the back of his head to make sure he stayed down.

"Can you cuff him?" she asked of Ben; he nodded, pulling Plumber energy cuffs from his pocket. He had to straddle the powerbroker's back to cuff him and then he opened a portal to the Void. He kicked the perp into the Void, the portal snapping shut as he looked to see her sheathing her swords and breaking down her blunt weapon. He shook his head.

----

It was the day of the big move. The second generation Tennyson family of Bellwood were moving into the newly finished Tennyson Estate (hey, he was still working on naming the place).

The four square miles were surrounded by what looked to be normal iron wrought gating but these gates put up an energy barrier. Situated on the land within was a manor with over a hundred forty rooms; some were bedrooms, some rooms were for entertaining of guests, some were studies, some bathrooms, a library, a couple kitchens (industrial grade of course) pantries, an indoor gym (outfitted with normal human gym equipment which had been upgraded by Cooper) with an Olympic sized pool. There was also, under the house, a dungeon with a Null Void generator and a panic room. Of course every doorway was at least nine feet high, five feet wide. This house was of course enormous and multiple stories tall. Also on the land were four medium-sized hangars, a couple small guest cottages, a few greenhouses (of both earthly and unearthly plants, though, as these were for Julie, they were all non-violent), a training area with addable and removable obstacles, a tennis court, and a small field where football or baseball could be played.

Of course this all drew on massive amounts of power but Cooper had taken care of that as well. The whole complex ran on nuclear fusion and had backup solar generators. And water was also self-sufficient, an underground river of freshwater having been found and tapped. Sewage was also taken care of on site, waste of any sort being incinerated and then the ashes being used in the greenhouses for fertilizer. The house also was fully furnished, by furniture-ware otherworldly.

Ben put the key into the lock and turned it, announcing, "Welcome home!" as the doors swung open. And the girls raced to their rooms, carrying their own bags, their parents chuckling. Ken was on Julie's back, in a carrier, and was looking around wildly. Even though he was only two months old he was as active as a one year old. Ben, as Fourarms, carried about ten or fifteen boxes. Julie carried five. The girls came racing back down, hands empty.

"Dad!" they shouted before wrapping their arms about his waist, "You're the best!"

He looked down at them, "This house is a gift, don't take it for granted. This whole complex doesn't make you better than anyone else or anything like that understand?"

They nodded, he grinned, "Now why don't you grab some of the bags?"

They nodded and ran out to the truck.

"C'mon," he rumbled, "I want to show you Kenny's room." he put the suitcases down and led her to an elevator that was tastefully hidden by a full-body length oil painting of Nike, goddess of victory.

He punched in the second floor and after a few seconds the doors opened again and they walked out. Another painting of Nike hid the entrance. He led her to a door that had, in bronze, Kenneth Donny Yamamoto Tennyson. He punched in a code on the security panel and the lock clicked open, He opened the door to show a large room. There was no bed of the human variety but a bowl- shaped depression in the floor lined with glittering crystals. There was however a cushion for the boy to sleep on in the bowl.

"Paradox says he grows to be quite powerful, those crystals will hopefully imbue or at least help him with certain qualities. As soon as he's old enough to be trained in those qualities these'll prepare him." Ben explained. He quickly took Ken from the carrier and set him on the floor. Immediately his wings pulled him from the ground and he floated around.

"Everything is flame-immune, it all can handle super-strength. Anything he throws at this room it can handle."

He looked at her, "Let's go see our room."

"Ken?"

"He's safe; the room has a monitoring system that'll keep him out of trouble."