This chapters going out to Stuffedtoycuddler who's 'ultra cupids' drawing im kinda curious about :P
Bear with me I easily get bored :P ... anyway, heres a new chapter for those who wanna stick arnd! a lil emo and stuff but hey! im a girl for heavens sake! :P
Warning : this story obviously contains yaoi. Pls get over it! :D
Disclaimer : I do not own any of Ben ten alien force. Although I DO own Jack and Paulo...and doctor Sands and doctor Stacy and ... all the tetraxians, especially that perverted one. (wink)
ITS A WILD LIFE
Chapter twenty five : Straightening crinkles
"So... we set things straight for them lovebirds, didn't we?" Kevin grinned, "So, how about a reward?"
Ben puckered his lips in reply, "Have at it!"
Ben and Kevin were now in the living room of the Alex-Hepha; and currently rewarding each other with a hot make-out session. In a few minutes, they were interrupted by a brunette who walked in holding a large contraption with wires and cables hanging off it like tentacles.
"Oh!" Paulo gasped at the interupted kissers, and then he smiled apologetically whilst blushing, "Oops, sorry, just passing by, don't mind me!" and he proceeded to speed-walk across the room; his goal was a door that led to another of his workshops, but he froze when Kevin's voice swam into the air after him, "So, how was it?"
Paulo blinked with saucer-sized eyes, and slowly twirled on the balls of his feet, still clutching adorably to the large contraption like a kid holds a puppy, or an over-sized dog. Or an animal with tentacles, for that matter.
"How w-was...what?" he stammered, feigning innocence. It was in vain. Kevin knew that Paulo knew that he was talking about his first kiss!
The Xenomorph and Osmosian grinned ear-to-ear without a reply. They only bestowed the brunette with their mischievous stare.
"You two look like the Cheshire Cat! What's up? I mean, really?"
Ben squeaked, "Don't play dumb, Paulo; especially not with us!"
Paulo looked down at the bundle of metallic parts and wires in his arms, blushing furiously.
"..."
The next moment, someone else walked into the room. A particular blonde.
"Oh, h-hey guys," greeted Jack, his face went a little red around the cheeks when he spotted Paulo who was looking cute and flustered for some reason. Blue eyes fell on the Cheshire Cats.
"Woah...what's with those looks, yo?" Jack asked in confusion.
Paulo cleared his throat, and spoke, voice a little wavering, "Yeah, um, I'm gonna set this prototype in my workshop, ok?" and before anyone could stop him, he speed-walked right out of the room. Jack only caught a glance of the small butt, but he was happy with that. He shrugged absentminded, his hands in his pockets.
Now that one prey had fled, Ben and Kevin turned to the one standing. Grinning in the same intensity, they simultaneously asked the same question, "So, how was it?"
Jack gazed at them in a sort of stupefied horror. "I know its freaky, but you guys remind of Chucky dolls. I'm outta here!"
Ben and Kevin watched the blonde walk out the room the way he came.
"They are so cute! Confused and shy newbies to love! I adore them!" Ben squirmed happily. Kevin smirked in agreement, "Totally. It might take them an hour or two to get over the shock and joy; and then they'll be cool with each other like they had been all these years!"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Trust me; I've lived with them! And I know Jack really well! I bet he'll just pop from the impatience and confront Paulo, and then they'll makeout more, and finally be okay with each other and their lil' romance!" Kevin mused, winding an arm around the slim shoulder, pulling Ben closer.
"Hey, the tan's returning to your skin..." Kevin mumbled, running a few fingers over Ben's neck. The creamy tan of Ben's skin that he had since a kid, had dissolved into pale ivory after the cleansing process of removing the virus. Now some of that colour was returning to him.
"Oh good! I kinda felt like a vampire with the sudden paleness and all!" Ben sighed. Kevin replied with a raised eyebrow, "Really? I wonder whom you'd bite first...?"
"Like you don't know," Ben chuckled, drawing the manlier face towards his smaller one, and enveloping Kevin's lower lip between with his own lips.
"Hn," Kevin moaned when Ben tugged at his lower lip and the raven smiled into the liplock, "You're getting fiercer at this..."
In reply, Ben bit into the lower lip, making Kevin wince a little, press forward and grip onto the smaller waist. He was enjoying this, greatly. Ben then french-kissed him more passionately, speaking as he took breaths, "Well, weeks of 'no-touching!' and all ...oh, I could just eat you up!"
Ben suddenly paused after his own dirty comment, his lips leaving Kevin's. For a moment, all those sour incidents danced in front of his eyes; all that unfamiliar hunger, all that thirst for red blood oozing from Kevin's wounded shoulder; and the frequent hunt for him, chasing him around the house; the terror that tore through his heart; the pain, the tears, the guilt, the grief...
"Ben?" Kevin whispered, looking down at the smaller face. The green eyes stared distant and dazed in thought. Ben turned his attention to the handsome brown eyes peering concernedly.
Smiling in contentment, Ben whispered, "I love you; you stayed with me all the time, no matter how bad I was or uncontrollable I was. ...Thank you..."
Kevin was surprised to be suddenly pulled into a warm, tight hug. He snuggled his face into the cowlick of the brown hair, "I love you, too, Ben. Wait... is this about the Vulphorous thing? Just forget all that crap, ok? We're together now and that's all that matters!"
He hugged the brunette back, smiling into the soft-smelling hair. His smile lasted for as long as three seconds, until a jolt of shock ran through his body; for he felt something wet on his shoulder.
Pulling back, he cupped the smaller face in his hands, "Really, Ben, you're crying now? You going all emo on me?!"
Ben refused to look into the coffee optics. His own green eyes were glazed with a film of tears, and his cheeks were glowing pink, as was the tip of his nose. Blinking repeatedly, Ben sniffled.
Kevin's lips twitched to a smile; he found the vulnerable look extremely adorable. But he did not like seeing Ben cry. And he hoped nothing pained Ben, he wanted to shower Ben with so much happiness till the brunette couldn't take it.
"Hey..." Kevin spoke softly, his thumb brushing across the trail of wetness running down the cheek, "Did I say something wrong to hurt you?"
Ben sniffled again, "No, I ... I'm just so relieved... and these are tears of joy, you know; I was just overwhelmed", swiping at his eyes with his sleeve, and then he finally plucked the courage to look into Kevin's eyes, "You don't think I'm a wimp or something, do you?"
Kevin smiled, internally sighing that there was nothing wrong here. "Hell no! After all that we've been through, sorry, I mean, all that YOU've been through, no one's got the right to call you a wimp! Except you yourself of course. 'Cause you can be an idiot more often."
"You say the nicest things... wait a minute...hey! Meanie!" Ben chuckled, and pushed at him playfully.
Kevin pulled him into another embrace, cuddling the slighter frame, "Come on, go more emo on me, you're so cute when you're all touchy-feely!"
"Yeah, right! Fat chance!" Ben laughed.
And all was right in the world again.
o.o.o
It was only a matter of a few minutes till the girls came to know (or were informed) of Jack and Paulo too. And weren't they thrilled?!
"Aw! I knew it! I knew there was something special between them! My instincts are never wrong!" Gwen pumped her fist in the air. She always loved it when she was proved right, even without her effort as was the case.
Kevin raised a raven eyebrow, "You look like you won a lottery, Gwen! Calm down. That goes for you too, Julie!"
The girls were jumping up and down happily.
The day Gwen learnt that Kevin was seeing Ben behind her back, she wanted to strangle them both and set them on fire. But as she peeped, and eavesdropped and finally goggled on their romance, she became extremely supportive of homos and found them densely hotter than normal. The day Julie learnt that Ben was seeing Kevin behind her back (same day as Gwen's), she too wanted them dead. But being more forgiving that the female Tennyson, she was quicker in accepting the gays with open arms.
Ever since then, they had been very much happy seeing two guys, any guys, hook up.
Kevin shook his head. "Get over yourself! By the looks of it, I think you girls would eat them alive! You stupid gay fans!"
"I think the more appropriate term is 'yaoi fangirls', Kevin!" Julie corrected him.
"Right yeah; just don't bombard Jack and Paulo with questions on details of their first-ever make out; it would seriously creep them out, and they're just learning to adjust with each other and their exposed feelings!"
Gwen snorted, "What a buzzkill you are, Kevin!" she locked hands with her best friend, Julie, and then added with her green eyes on Kevin, "And no, we won't ask creepy questions or such! We just want to let them know that we approve of them!"
The girls then suddenly hugged Ben, since he was less of a buzzkill than Kevin, "It was so sweet of you two to play cupid and get them together!"
Ben chuckled from within their feminine grasp, "Ow, don't strangle me! And by the way, it was Kevin's idea."
"Really? It was?!" Gwen raised a red eyebrow, turning to the raven who lay stretched out on the couch with his legs hoisted on to the armrest. Kevin nodded loosely and Ben spoke, "It had been Kevin's deepest wishes to get them together. Trouble was that, at that time, he didn't have me to back him up!"
Kevin grinned, "Duh!" and they all laughed openly.
Max's voice came in from one of the rooms, "Would you guys just quit the snorting; I'm trying to have a nap here!"
o.o.o
Jack sighed from within his room. He was feeling abashed to be around Paulo, almost unknowingly steering clear of the brunette in the company of others. Frustrated, he was now in the bedroom he shared with that damn attractive brunette he loved to watch asleep. Sitting on his own bed, he decided to cool off, so he had unzipped his uniform front to his torso and pulled out his hands from the sleeves. He tied the sleeves around his waist. He had a skin-tight navy blue t-shirt inside. He felt better.
But now his hormones were scolding him.
His heart reminded him that his long-drawn wish had finally come true and he was not even using it.
His soul told him that he could never have had a happier day, and now he was not even trying to make it better.
And his mind told him that he was being an A-rated idiot to shy away.
Running his fingers through his blonde hair, he fell back into the bed, legs dangling off the edge, and he groaned, "God, all this romantic stuff is harder than I thought!"
Personally, Jack could be gentleman with ladies, and his woo-ing skills were sharp and successful. Yet, with Paulo, he reduced to pile of mumbling redness; it was so hard to be normal or suave. Why?!
Because Paulo ruled his heart, mind and soul.
It has only been an hour or so since their first kiss and now Paulo won't even look at him. He couldn't blame the brunette, for he was going through the same surge of confused feelings that made each of them with their cheeks going red-alert every time they saw each other.
Jack started when he heard a knock on the door. Sitting up, he called out, "Yeah, come in?" and then he swallowed his tongue when Paulo popped his head in from the door, giving out a smile that obviously seemed like he was trying to be casual but was nervous on the inside.
"Hey. Just dropping a few stuff into my locker..." Paulo spoke softly, holding out the stack of files he held in his hand. Paulo's eyes wandered around the upper torso of the blonde, the tight shirt hugging the strong contours of his muscles.
Jack only gazed with his blue eyes as Paulo walked in to place the files in his neat cabinet. The cabinet stood beside his bed, and he was clearly struggling to hold the slippery files and place them. He was possibly making a fool of himself by trying to pull out some files from the cabinet and then replace them with the bundle he brought; and as a result, he was creating a mess in his arms. Not to mention his nervous self-conscience that reminded him Jack was watching. And the last thing he wanted was Jack to think of him as a clumsy douche.
And what was 'the Jack' doing meantime? Holding his breath and trying to appear calm, as if the sight of Paulo's slim physique, especially his rear, was NOT driving his heart to a marathon. Blood was pooling into places of his lower abdomen where it shouldn't be.
Paulo struggled a little more, now forgetting that Jack was in the room, as all his effort and attention focused to stop from the files falling off his arms. However, one slipped out and fell splat on the ground, while the rest threatened to do the same. Clutching the rest in determination, Paulo proceeded to bend over to pick up the fallen one.
It was the last straw for the poor masculine blonde who caught a full view of Paulo's small ass sheathed in the tight uniform.
Something popped from inside Jack; and he was suddenly flushed with a wave of increased impatience tinged with testosterone. He stood up, his eyes fixed on the brunette who straightened up and continued handling the files oblivious to the staring blonde. Jack took no moment longer, the tight fabric of his shirt stretched as he sucked in an inaudible breath.
Next thing Paulo knew, Jack was grabbing his arm and turning him around roughly. Paulo gasped, "Woah?! Jackie- ", the files all dropping helter-skelter on the floor. He found his face gripped by the blonde's fingers, and the two tumbled onto Paulo's bed.
"OOmpf!" Paulo groaned, as the larger and heavier body pressed down on his. Blinking up at the face, he blushed terribly, "What's -... what- "
"Shut it, Paulo," Jack spoke low, his azure eyes were dramatically serious, and all Paulo could do was gape and wait till Jack spoke further. Paulo moved his hands a little, but Jack let go of Paulo's face and instead gripped both his wrists in his hands. He was currently kneeling on the bed, on all fours with Paulo lying under him like a helpless prey in the grasp of its predator.
Not that Paulo was complaining though.
"I'm sick of this," Jack spat irritated, "I wanna kiss you again, but neither do you got guts nor do I !"
Paulo blushed further, looking lost and abashed. Jack growled from the pits of his stomach, "You know what?! Screw it, I don't care!"
Paulo's eyes widened when Jack's mouth came crashing into his fuller lips. Moaning in surprise, Paulo felt the burning tongue fiercely squirm into his mouth and tackle his own. A second later, Paulo lost sense too, and he passionately returned the loving gesture. With their eyes screwed shut, they kissed fervently. Sparks zoomed up and down their spines as their tongues battled, until their breaths were gone.
Pulling back, Jack smacked his lips, mumbling, "I could get used to this..." He looked down at the younger male who gazed up in a daze through his red-rimmed glasses that were now lop-sided, while his cheeks blazed berry red. A slow sense of guilt descended upon Jack; he felt bad that he had forced himself on to the sensitive male, owing to his raging hormones.
Jack leaned low and pressed a comforting kiss onto the burning pink-red tainted cheek, "Sorry, I got a little overboard there..." pulling back to stare into the coffee eyes, "I didn't mean to force you... I was just a little desperate..." after a pause, he suddenly added, "Did I scare you? Say something! Please don't hate me!" his azure eyes roamed restlessly all over Paulo's face for a sign of positive reaction.
A small smile crept in Paulo's glistening lips. He chuckled softly, the red of his cheeks glowing tad brighter, "No, I don't hate you. I still love you, really! Actually, I should thank you for the wakeup call, I needed that. I have been shying away, that's true; but not because I hate you or anything, actually, nothing's been on my mind for the last hour but you; even my projects have been shoved at the back of my mind because I keep thinking of you for every second since - mmpphh!" Paulo's words were stalled when Jack kissed him again, unable to bear the gratitude bubbling in Paulo's sincere words.
Nothing more could be said till they broke the happy kiss for air. And then Jack hummed into Paulo's neck, "So you do want to kiss me bad, eh? I thought I had creeped you out on our first time or something..."
"You're forgetting that I was the one who actually started the first kiss in the first place!" Paulo giggled, wincing with a grin when Jack's wet tongue ran up his jaw-line.
"Hmm, yeah, but I was the one who confessed first..." Jack kissed him along the neck, while Paulo squirmed further at the feel of the silken locks of short golden hair brush across his face.
"Ok, I surrender..!" Paulo sighed. Jack raised up his head and smirked, "Aw, so soon? I was hoping for some battle here!"
"Hard luck pal," Paulo grinned, tugging at his wrists still shackled in Jack's long fingers, "Besides, it won't be much of a fair battle if one of us is so helplessly vulnerable, right?"
Helplessly... vulnerable...
A great big grin spread wide across the good-looking face of the blonde, his ivory teeth displayed in the mischievous grin, his blue eyes sparkling in equal deviousness; Paulo blinked, "Ok, that was scary!"
"Oh, it gets worse," Jack hissed. Till now, Paulo was basking under the shadow of the heavy body towering on all fours. Then, Jack suddenly pressed down low and close to the body underneath. Paulo's eyes widened at the spoken words, but it was when he suddenly felt a hard bump dig into his own crotch, did his eyes nearly fall out of his sockets. Paulo immediately shut his eyes, and let out a strangled gasp, arching his back up, the wildest sensations running up and down his frame, "T-that's not your... is it..?!..."
"Oh, The Smart Paulo now? Where'd your 'what-what's go?" Jack whispered as he kept his hold on Paulo's wrists while shamelessly grinding into the younger male, who had swallowed his tongue. Incoherent and undecipherable noises escaped Paulo, all of which fed Jack with more and more urge to deepen and prolong his actions. Pressing hard into the brunette, Jack groaned in the newfound pleasure, burying his face into the pillow beside Paulo's head, covering the cowering body of the brunette in his own warmth and strength.
Finally one of Jack's wild wet dreams has come to reality.
Jack replaced his lips on Paulo's, then he shifted both of Paulo's wrists to the grasp of his left hand, and his free right hand meandered along the side of the squirming body, feeling the genteel but firm muscles of the feminine build contracting and relaxing under the DBS uniform. Encouraged by the moans sprouting within the kiss, he snaked his hand lower and lower the smooth contours until –
'Bzzt!' The bedroom door opened and two teens let themselves in, casually walking into the room.
"Hey? You seen Paulooooo-oh-there-he-is!" Kevin called out, his question morphing into an exclamation midway,, "under...Jack?" Kevin and Ben froze at the sight of the two DBS on the bed. Ben jumped with an amused squeak and gripped onto Kevin's arm, while Kevin raised a curious eyebrow.
Jack looked like he could kill Kevin with a single gaze of smouldering indigo eyes.
"Well, well, well! You popped sooner than I thought!" Kevin smirked in mirth. Ben blushed at the sight of Jack who had now lifted his body up on all fours again, with the unbearably-blushing Paulo trapped underneath, his hands raised and pinned to the pillows by the wrists.
Paulo whimpered in embarrassment, squirming, "Mmmhghh... " unable do anything but lie helplessly in place.
Jack had never looked so deadly, even for Ben who although only knew him for a few days, felt the cheerful mirth was vaporised from his face, and he almost resemble an angry, interrupted-Kevin-in-heat; a blonde Kevin that is.
Kevin was not fazed in the least, but folded his hands and studied the scene as if he were a professor about to grade a homework assignment. "Not bad."
"Get out, Kevin." Jack spoke bluntly. Kevin only grinned further, "Ask nicely, Romeo."
Ben grasped his lover's arm, "Idiot, don't disturb them, we should really go!" and he turned to Jack, smiling his sweet apologetic smile that could calm even the angriest of people, "We're so sorry for walking in, Grandpa Max wanted to know about some coordinates of some undetectable Plumbers Station that he detected from his Plumbers Badge and we were searching for Paulo..." he glanced at the blushing brunette who blinked in alert, and then Ben added "...who's clearly preoccupied at the moment. No biggie, we'll come later!" and he tugged at Kevin's arm to make a move for the door. But Kevin was ten times Ben's strength and it was going to take three Bens to even make him shift.
"C'mon, Tennyson! Your such a goody-two-shoes!" Kevin smirked, while his eyes still studied the arousing scene. Neither Jack nor Paulo moved from their position, and Ben guessed that Jack's arms were hurting from the pause, and his neck form the turning.
"Learn good manners from him, Kevin; at least he apologised!" Jack snapped, and added with a growl, "Now, get your ass outta here, we're busy!"
"We're leaving, sorry!" Ben squeaked, tugging further at Kevin's arm. Seeing no improvement, Ben sighed.
Kevin added, "Can I watch?"
Paulo let out a surprised giggle. Jack looked like as he was seeing Kevin grow a ten-headed serpent from his stomach. Ben nearly gaped to the floor.
Ben hissed into Kevin's ear, his voice low, "Would you like it if I invited Gwen and Julie over to watch us while we make out?"
Kevin tilted his smirk, "Hmm, when you put it that way..."
"Get a move on, before I tear you to pieces, man!" Jack shouted impatiently.
"Rutting goat!" Kevin called out as he walked away with a sighing Ben.
"Cockblocker!" Jack called out in reply.
And the door shut.
Sighing frustrated, Jack thought, That jerk Kevin, he's my pal, I love him but I just don't get him sometimes! and then turning to the cute teenager sprawled under him, he smiled, "So... Where were we?"
Paulo blinked in a daze of awe, "Undetectable Plumbers Base in space..."
o.o.o
"Fuck you, Kevin. If I didn't owe you damn much, I'd castrate you with a soldering iron!"
"Sorry man! I had no idea Paulo would be so distractible!"
Jack and Kevin stood in the cockpit, the both leaning against the wall, former mumbling and grumbling under his breath in anger. His make-out session with Paulo after being interrupted failed; he had just decided to take it to the next level, but hell, the undetectable Plumbers Base shit got Paulo all worked up and perked up. Now, Jack, Kevin, Paulo, Ben, Max, Gwen and Julie were in the large cockpit of the ship, with them, excluding the two dominant lovers, trying to find out about the Base Max had detected, or such. Max and Paulo sat at a table attached to the wall, Gwen, Ben and Julie stood behind them, watching.
Kevin looked sideways and shrugged, "Really, I'm sorry! As I said, I had no idea that you would corner Paulo so easily! Or I would have watched out for the bedroom of all places!"
Jack shrugged too, realising there was no point in being angry with his guru, "Eh, its ok I guess. But I thought I could have... I thought maybe I could do him then-and-there."
"C'mon, Jack! Its not even twenty four hours since your confession and you want to lay him already?!"
"Says the guy who fucked his first crush seconds after his confession!" Jack snapped crossly. Kevin grinned stupidly, scratching the back of his neck, "Aw, shucks, Jack! It was night, and all dark and comfy ... and circumstance you know?! And we were both desperate!"
Jack blinked. "I was desperate too..."
"Were you?" Kevin smartly questioned, "I know you really well, Jack. And I also know that as tough as you are, emotions really rock you off balance. Do you think you could perform the 'intimate act of extreme loving' properly while you still have a bit of coy locked in..." he poked at the centre of Jack's pecs, "... there?"
Jack gaped in realisation. He then frowned, scrunching up his nose crossly, "I hate it, man! The way you read me! Bah!" and he looked away.
Kevin chuckled, slinging an arm around the blonde's shoulder, and ruffling his golden locks, "Give it a rest, Jack; you should be lucky you have an experienced advisor like me!" Jack gave him a 'yeah sure' look, but he knew that he was indeed lucky to have someone to confront and ask for help.
"Besides, take it slow; according to what I know of you two, you should first get accustomed to your feelings, you know? Be comfortable being all lovey-dovey, even in company. Then, I am damn sure you will have what it takes to pop Paulo's cherry!"
Jack blushed at the thought. And then he had another thought.
"Did you have any such shy stuff to deal with? During your first time?" Jack asked in curiosity.
Kevin looked at him and puckered his lips in thought, "Yeah, now that you mention it, yeah. I mean, after Ben and I woke up in a tangled mess of sheets and cum, I say we were pretty freaked out; happy, wild, in-love, but freaked out. And considering we had two deadly girlfriends who would fry us for lunch if they came to know about us, we had to pretend to be like frenemies as we were. And for the first few days, whenever we were alone, I kept remembering all I had done to Ben's body and I would feel a bit guilty whether it was all just a temporary rush of hormones to him. But we sorted it out, you know, the same ol' same ol' talking and shit. And then we understood that we loved each other, it was all ok again!"
"You mean, 'and then you kept doing it again and again', yeah?" Jack corrected him bluntly. Kevin nodded shamelessly, "Yup."
"Hmm. You're right, Paulo is kinda shy. I should just make things more comfortable for him, until he wants it, right?"
"You mean," Kevin corrected, "Until he wants you."
Jack had a slow, sly smile creep up his face, the same as Kevin's. Looking at each other, they grinned simultaneously.
Then Jack smiled apologetically, "You know, you're really something, Kevin! I'm sorry I called you a cockblocker earlier."
"No probs, you're already forgiven; I know how irritating it is to have the heat-of-the-moment interrupted, so eh, whatever you said was your hormones talking, not you; so no offense taken, buddy." Kevin shrugged like a good pal.
Jack nodded, "Yeah, thanks ..."
"Hmm," Kevin shrugged, and fell silent.
Jack stared at Kevin as if waiting for something to be said, and it made Kevin blinked at him questioningly, "What?"
"Well?"
"Well what?"
Jack stared at him, "Aren't you going to apologize?"
"Apologize for what?"
"For calling me a rutting goat?!"
Kevin gasped in mock hurt, pressing his hand to his own heart, and exclaiming, again, in mock tease of a surprise, "What?! Must one apologize for the truth?!"
Jack's face went from concerned hurt to 'Ima kill ya' look as he hissed, "You son of a -"
Gwen and Julie turned from their spot behind the seats of Paulo and Max, to see Kevin and Jack engaged in some sort of a wrestle, where Jack was attempting to grip, or tear, or pull, at the raven's dark hair, while the later tries to defend himself; both of them swearing dirty with big grins.
"Aren't they as thick as thieves today?" Julie smiled at the two idiotic guys.
"They've been counselling; Kevin to Jack, as Ben said. Good for them!" Gwen shook her head sagely. Julie chuckled at that.
Meanwhile, Paulo was having the time of his life. Previously, Max had been at the cockpit (when asked why, he merely cleared his throat and continued with the story) and his Plumber's Badge started to go nuts. He then realised that it had detected a Base, floating near the area where Alex-Hepha was, but the reason his Badge was beeping so madly was because the Base oddly was unidentifiable to it. Realising something was off here, he called for Ben and Kevin and asked them to fetch the only superb hacker they had at the moment. A particular Paulo Consor.
Paulo had not yet experienced such an advanced security system; he was trying to hack into an invisibility shell or a location-eraser system on the Base, using its frequency of radiation.
"This is so fucking advanced and awesome!" Paulo gasped breathlessly, a weird psychotic smile of ecstasy on his face as he relentlessly and ceaselessly tapped away on his touch-screen high-tech keyboard, "Sweet!"
Max's face glowed in the blue aura of Paulo's hacking equipment, "You sure you can hack in, Paulo? It looks mighty hard..."
"Trust me Max; there's nothing this Paulo can't break through!" Paulo grinned, his confidence and skill rocketing in the excitement. He tapped away wildly, breaking code-by-code; it was a long drawn process, but he seemed definite that he could break it in while, "They can't hold on for long!"
Gwen blinked at the numeric and digital digits zooming across the screen in matrix blue, "Wait, why do we have to hack into this, Grandpa? Can't we just communicate with them through the Badge?"
Max spoke calmly, "That's because I don't want them to know we are here."
"Why not? It's after all, the Plumbers Base, right? Or is it that you don't wanna be found with the DBS?" Julie asked.
Max sighed, "As much as I hate to say this, no. You see, if that's not the Base, I don't want to alert them before we catch them!"
"Wait, what? Catch them?!" Ben looked sceptical.
Max then explained to the girls and Ben, as Paulo hacked away, "You see kids, every Base created anywhere in space is locatable on the Badge, so that in case we are stranded or in trouble, we can easily reach the nearest Base for medical or other help. This one however, seems to have a sort of immunity to the Badge's identifier. And that's not possible because the identification of any Base is allowed to the Badge."
"Then how come my Badge is not beeping? Or Ben's? Or Kevin's?" Gwen asked, looking down at the disk in her hand that sat mute and dumb.
"The identification and detection of all Bases, secret, hidden or public, are permitted only to the Badges of higher authority, Gwen. Being a Magister, I have that right in my Badge. So any Base in space is detectable to me."
"What if this was just one newly built?"
"Then I would be informed. No Base in space goes unaware of by us. So if this one says 'Plumbers Base' but is not identifiable by my badge, then something's fishy. And if its imposters, they're toast!"
"Ooooh!" Gwen, Ben and Julie cooed in unison. Paulo grinned as he hissed breathlessly again, "60% complete... go baby go!" and his fingers seemed to dance fervently on the keyboard and in great speed. Like atomic-clock speed.
"Wow, Paulo, you're really going at it!" Kevin grinned, as he and Jack walked over to them, to see the DBS teen work seamless fast, his eyes glued on the glowing blue screen.
"That's my boy," Jack said proudly. When Max looked up with a curious eyebrow raised, Jack looked sheepishly, "I mean, that's my pal, hehe."
And they watched Paulo work his magic swiftly.
"So many locks and codes... " Paulo mumbled in awe as he worked, "Intricate and beautiful, almost perfect... but hehe, not so much eh? You think you can stand me? Think again!"
The stupefied rest of them turned and looked at Jack, who shrugged, "He tends to talk to himself a lot when he works at something this hot. Or talks to his work, as is the case here. Don't mind him."
Within ten minutes, Paulo suddenly stopped and threw his hands up in the air, "Wuzzah! Done it! I'm in!"
o.o.o
So they had figured it out.
Some criminal organisation (named XX4) who had chanced upon such high level of technology had utilised it to copy, or impersonate, a Plumber's security system to hide their HQ; very much like how on earth, pirates of the yore would don the flags of their previous loot to fool another ship until the new prey is close enough to realise that the flag and the yucky ship don't match! And here, the HQ of the criminals had placed their detectablity as a Plumbers Base, and identifiability at restriction, so that no one would be able to catch them impersonating, or even dare and try to hack in.
And now, thanks to Paulo's ingenious skill, they had hacked in and read all details of the loot, their plans and schemes.
"Don't you think they will detect that they're being hacked?" Max had asked. Paulo had replied with a grin, "Nope! I had put up a special... you can say, shield, that lets me remain invisible to them as I drill through!"
Max and the rest of them were mighty impressed. Except Jack, who was grinning because he knew little Paulo's great capabilities, this didn't come as a surprise.
Max was currently on a audio conversation with the Plumber's Head Base by his own Badge, informing them of the imposters XX4 they had found, who were unaware that they have been caught by a Plumber-plus-DBS combo.
"..yeah, that's the coordinates." Max spoke, while the rest of them watched.
"Do the Organisation XX have an alert on you finding them?" came the crisp male voice on the other end. Since the cockpit had fallen immensely silent, the six of them could hear the other end of the conversation too.
"No, they have no idea I found them."
"I see. Well, the information has been passed to the Plumbers; we will send a squad to approach XX4 in stealth, Magister."
"Good. See to it that none of the organisation is spared; they have some serious criminal records."
"Affirmative, Magister." There was a pause, before the man resumed, "Uh, if you do not mind my asking so, Magister, how did you know that it was the XX4 group? The system they have used is highly unidentifiable as you have said?"
The six of them widened their eyes. Max's own aging eyes fell sly on Paulo's shocked face. If Max let the Head Base know that Paulo hacked into the system, Max as a Plumber would have no choice but to present Paulo and Jack into custody. But being a Plumber, and against the DBS, he would have to report the youngsters, wouldn't he?
Max's eyes fell on Paulo, who looked fearful, his eyes said, 'I don't know what your decision is, but...'.
Then he looked at Jack, who placed a hand on Paulo's arm, his blue eyes gazing in calm fear as well, saying 'Do what you think is right, Max'.
Then Max's eyes met with Kevin's coffee pair that said, 'I'm not leaving them in prison after all they've done.'
Max then saw Gwen's green eyes, blink in unison with Julie's, both seemed to say, 'You're not really going to give them away are you?'
Then finally Max met eye-to-eye with is grandson, whose green eyes sparkled in beseeching concern, 'Who helped us get to Tetraxia, Grandpa?'
It was a choice between humanity, and patriotism to his work as a Plumber. Max looked thoughtful as he eyed them all over again.
"Magister? Are you there?" came the voice form the Badge.
"Oh, sorry, I was reading a Manual to confirm the details of XX4 written here..." Max lied, to cover up the pause he took to answer the previous question, in case he sounded suspicious.
"Ah, it must be why you are always up to the mark, Magister!" the voice seemed to smile in appreciation.
"Thank you, I'm flattered," Max smiled, "Uh, did you ask me something?" feigning innocence.
"Oh, yes; about how did you know it was the XX4?"
"Ahhhh... it ," Max started, the six of them held their breaths, "... was my lucky guess." And they all relaxed inaudibly, sighing invisible sighs of relief.
"Oh?! Well, interesting!" the voice laughed a little, before clearing his throat, "Sorry, I think the Squads need me now. I shall inform you of any updates of the findings after they capture the XX4. Thank you, Magister!"
Max calmly welcomed the voice, and switched off his Badge. He looked at them all, smiling. Ben jumped and ran to his grandfather, enveloping him in a warm embrace, "Aw, Grandpa! You saved Jack and Paulo!"
Max smiled, returning the hug. Pulling back, Ben's eyes shone in appreciation, "I KNEW you would not bail on them!"
Max looked at the DBS teens who looked like as if they were passengers who had just survived the Titanic sink. Jack and Paulo looked gatefully at the Tennyson who got up from his seat and walked to them.
"You think I would just dispose of you both after what you both did to save my little Ben? Not the Gods in Heaven would forgive me for that. You two risked your lives accompanying us to sneak into Tetraxia; you helped us control Ben as a Vulphorous and were hurt in the process; you let a Vulphorous run the length of your ship and risk infecting it rather than risk my safety. And now, thanks to you, Paulo, a lot of planets will be saved from the assault of the XX4 group," Max nodded acknowledging, "Thank you for all of that; I may be a Plumber, and you Deranged Black Skulls, but above all our enmity, I owe you big time."
Paulo and Jack looked stupefied at the older Tennyson, to hear a speech of gratitude from the man was a great compliment but surprise.
"Uh, thanks man... I mean, sir?" Jack grinned. Max shook his head with a smile himself.
"Uh, sorry to break the whole emotional thing, "Gwen spoke apologetically, "But um, I have a doubt, may I ask?"
The faces turned to the female Tennyson who looked at Paulo, obviously her question was for him.
"Yeah, sure?" Paulo spoke.
"When the Plumbers catch the XX4, won't they find out the hacking you did, and reverse engineer it to you? And then they would coincide it with the coordinates of Grandpa's Badge while he was talking to them, and then find out that we were all in this together?!"
There was a stunned silence.
Six faces slowly turned to Paulo. To their surprise, he grinned, ever so slowly that Jack almost died at the beauty of it. Paulo actually gave out a cute chuckle, saying, "Good question Gwen, and I applaud you for thinking that. Actually I have it already taken care of. You see, as I hacked my way into the system, I erased my path as I went, so that no one could trace it back to me! You could say that half the time I took to hack was for erasing the path itself! I forethought that, you know!"
They all gaped at him. "You're awesome!" Gwen and Julie gasped together.
Jack curled his arm around Paulo's shoulder and grinned at him, "Clever ol' Paulo!"
- End of Chapter -
And what do we learn frm this chapter? (wait, we were learning things from yaoi?!) we learn that somethimes, it ok to ditch the rules and listen to humanity rather than betray someone whos helped us a lot. and we also learn that jack is a fucking horny idiot, and paulo is an oblivious temptation! and kevin can be a irritating pervert as well as an excellent advisor (who knew?! :D) and ben was always the cute lil understanding uke ben. and yaoi fangirls rock! waahhoooo!
peace out!
:P srry for the long long long wait; im ... well im kinda lazy. (smacked on the head for that) srry!
pls review! :D