For a moment, Rook considered his options. Not that he had very many but he could make something work. "Ben, does Astrodactyl have space-survivability?" He asked. He couldn't recall ever seeing Ben use that form in a vacuum and didn't want to risk it.
Thankfully, Astrodactyl answered with an affirming squawk. "You betcha!" He trilled. Rook trusted that answer not because he thought that Ben had tried it out, but because he knew that the Omnitrix would implement a basic skill set and survival instinct into Ben's head for whichever alien form he took. It would have told him to be afraid of space if it could kill him.
That was something else that Rook had put into the Plumber file about Ben. Hopefully, that little tidbit wasn't exploitable.
"In that case, you can stay. Kevin, could you please lock yourself in a nearby room? We need to have a look outside." Even as Rook said this, he was attaching his pocket helmet and letting his suit fill it with air. Worryingly, there was a noticeable difference between that and the air in the rest of the room. Not a huge change, but the fact that there was one meant that their oxygen was running out around them. They would have to make it fast.
Kevin nodded, though sent a worried look in Ben's direction. "Yeah, alright. Be quick about it, guys. This place gives me the creeps." He touched a hand to the wall, turning his arm into steel, and melded his fingers together to form a crowbar. He managed to force one of the nearby doors open, though Rook didn't look away until it had closed after him again.
That meant that Rook was alone with Ben.
Great.
He glanced at his ex-partner, but ultimately, Rook decided that it would be in bad taste to try and say anything given their current situation. Instead, Rook pointed to the peranite barrier. "Ben, can Astrodactyl's energy beams cut through that? I would like to keep the hole from getting any bigger, else we might not be able to close it."
Ptorbisarians weren't a very expressive species. Astrodactyl's eyes narrowed, which Rook imagined might have been a scrunched-up look of confusion on a human face. His head tilted and the winged alien made a noise somewhere between a growl and a click that Rook was unable to accurately describe. "And how do you think you're going to close it up after I cut it open?" He squawked.
...Which was a fair question. Rook shot him a hesitant smile. "I will, um, figure that out when I get to it?" He tried.
That must have been the right thing to say. Even though Rook felt like a moron, Astrodactyl laughed. It sounded a lot harsher than human laughter, with deep rumblings emanating from his throat, but he could tell by the Ptorbisarian's eyes that it wasn't intended to be mocking. Somehow, that helped Rook relax.
"In that case, you might want to stand back. Wouldn't want to end up cutting you in half, too," Astrodactyl instructed. He made a waving gesture with one three-fingered hand, so Rook took the hint and pushed himself off the wall to float behind his friend.
He didn't get a warning, but Astrodactyl started to hum and green light began to pour out of his beak as though it had mass. Transfixed by the bizarre display, Rook nearly jumped in surprise when his beak snapped open and a beam so bright that it hurt to look at hit the peranite wall dead-on. Rook winced, looking away, as Astrodactyl carved a neat hole out of the crystal. He had to go around a few times in order to finally cut through, but when he was finished, the Ptorbisarian merely pushed himself forward and nudged a circular chunk out of the peranite as though it had never been attached at all.
As soon as he did, he almost got his arm sucked out into the vacuum just beyond. Astrodactyl sent himself flying backward with a yelp. Rook took the opportunity to float forward in his place. He braced himself against the peranite slab to peer out into the makeshift hanger.
He knew for a fact that he had left over one-hundred ships in what used to be the bridge, but Rook felt his blood run cold when he realized that there wasn't a single one left. Nothing useful floated in the darkened room beyond. He went as far as to stick his head completely out, twisting to check every corner for a ship that might have gotten lodged in place, but there was nothing. Rook didn't know when he had started, but suddenly he was hyperventilating and his line of sight had narrowed into a tunnel. No. No, it couldn't be true. The others wouldn't have left them. There had to be a ship somewhere. Ben. He didn't deserve to be stuck here. After all the planning, all that they'd had to endure, there couldn't just be no way off of the station.
A clawed hand curled around his ankle and Rook found himself being yanked away from the hole. He was tossed back down the hallway, flipping head over heels again and again as he struggled to right himself. When he finally caught his foot on the ceiling and stopped tumbling through the air, Rook angled his head toward the exit in time to watch Astrodactyl carve a chunk from the steel wall with his claws and meld it over the gaping hole he'd put in the peranite.
When his energy beam died down, leaving a smoking and melted slab of steel over the crystal, Rook finally remembered how to speak. "What…" He shook his head. "Why did you do that, Ben? We need to find a way out of here." The implied part that Rook couldn't bring himself to voice was, 'For you.'
There was a green flash, but it wasn't Astrodactyl attacking. Instead, a human Ben floated over to Rook with a scowl. "Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious," he snapped. Then, seeing the look on Rook's face, his expression softened. "Look, it was pretty obvious by the way you were acting that there wasn't anything we could use out there. We'll find a way off of this station without getting you sucked out into the void of space, alright? Now that you've actually saved me for once, you don't wanna ruin it by making me haul your butt back in here, do you?"
It was supposed to be a joke but Rook couldn't muster up much of a smile. In the back of his mind, he had a dozen comments about all the times he had, as a matter of fact, saved Ben. They didn't get anywhere near being spoken. Something uncomfortable tightened in Rook's throat. He had saved Ben. The Hero of the Universe was alive and relatively unharmed. Exhausted, maybe, but having bags under his eyes wasn't abnormal for Ben.
All things considered, the mission had been a success. So then, why did Rook still feel so useless?
When he didn't answer, Ben's expression turned stricken. He reached out a hand, setting it on Rook's shoulder. That simple contact felt like closing a chasm. Ben's other hand hovered uncertainly between them, as though he wanted to set it on Rook's cheek but couldn't figure out why that was, or even if it was a good idea. Maybe it was Rook's imagination, but Ben also looked flushed and his breathing was coming harder than before. If he strained, Rook could swear that he was hearing Ben's heart hammer away in his rib cage.
"Hey," he said in a tone that was far too soft and didn't suit Ben Tennyson at all. "Rook, are you…? Dude, please don't tell me that you're crying. I don't know how to handle it when people cry and there really isn't a reason you should be upset right now at all, considering that I'm the jerk who went and got himself kidnapped without even leaving a voice message—"
He stopped his nervous rambling when Rook finally reached up and grabbed Ben's hand. It had been flailing around while he talked, but Ben went silent as Rook squeezed his hand tightly. He noticed how much bigger his fingers were than Ben's and tried not to think the words "delicate" or "fragile" as he lessened the intensity of his grip.
"Ben," Rook finally managed. He wasn't crying, but his voice wavered as though he was choking down tears. But that would be ridiculous. He had nothing to cry about. Though Rook wasn't sure what he wanted to stay, he started talking anyway. "I was worried about you. You have been kidnapped before, but I was so at a loss. I had no idea what had happened or why and my resources were limited, to say the least. I… for some time, I worried that when I found you, there would not be much left to find."
There was more to say — so much more — but Rook couldn't get the words out. He was amazed that he'd gotten that far at all. He waited for Ben to laugh off his concerns, to awkwardly ask why Rook was taking it so seriously and leave their conversation open-ended and painfully unfinished. Instead, Ben let out a shaky breath and his fingers slowly curled around Rook's.
Shocked, he snapped his head up to look Ben in the eyes. The light of the Omnitrix was the only illumination they had and it made Ben's already abnormally green eyes practically glow. The effect was somewhat lost behind the uncharacteristically serious look on his face. Rook had never thought of Ben as someone needing protection before Petropia, but he'd never thought of Ben as aged before that moment. He looked simultaneously ten-years-old and ten-thousand.
"I know, Rook," he said quietly. "When I first woke up here, I freaked out pretty bad. Not my finest moment. Until I saw you show up in those vents, I thought that they got everyone else, too. I tired myself out, over and over, just thinking about what could've happened and whether or not you were still—"
His statement was cut off by the rapping of knuckles against steel. Almost sounding bored from the other side of the door, Kevin's muffled voice called, "You two done yet? I don't hear air rushin' anymore, but I don't want to open the door and have my head explode like a squashed grape."
The moment that Ben and Rook had shared was immediately shattered. Even as he started to suggest finishing their conversation later, Rook knew what his friend's answer would be. Ben turned a faint shade of pink in embarrassment, eyes glued to their entwined fingers. He yanked his hands away from Rook as though burned, sending himself floating backward a few feet as a result.
Avoiding looking at Rook, Ben called weakly, "Yeah, it's all good, Kevin! Come out, we've gotta brainstorm another way to get off of this death trap."
As though he had been waiting to hear that, Ben had barely closed his mouth when Kevin's crowbar hand wedged itself between the cracks in the door and yanked it open. When he did, air gushed out. Even with life-support off, Rook had forgotten how much oxygen the hall must have lost when they'd opened themselves up to the vacuum of space. More worryingly, he noticed Ben drift closer and try to subtly take heaving breaths as air brushed over them like a caressing breeze.
Alarmed, Rook started to say something, but Kevin beat him to it. He snorted, though his expression was sympathetic as he put an arm around Ben's shoulder and let himself be used as a support. "Careful, hero. How lame would it be if you died from suffocation? Not even being launched out into space, just your dumbass forgetting that humans need to breathe."
Ben laughed, shaky but sounding relieved. He took several deep breaths before answering, "Can you blame me? I spend so much time as other species that sometimes needing oxygen feels kinda stupid."
They both laughed over that, shooting little jabs at each other. Rook wondered if Ben had noticed that Kevin had his metal fingertips and toes dug into the ground and walls so that they wouldn't float off while Ben was collecting himself. He felt something ugly well in his chest. All of the symptoms lined up. Ben had been suffering from hypoxemia and Rook hadn't noticed because he was more interested in selfishly trying to get his ex-partner to smile at him again.
He had never hated himself before. The sensation of loathing that settled right beneath his skin made Rook want to claw out of his own body. He felt dirty: sickened with himself. What was wrong with him?
Nonetheless, he watched Ben's chest rise and fall intently, trying to remember the norm for human heartbeats. When it was at least in an acceptable range, Rook took his helmet off and floated over. "We should call Gwendolyn," he said, reaching for the headset he had managed to keep in place. Kevin's had snapped right off when he'd transformed into that thing. "She might know what happened to the other ships. If nothing else, we need to know how many of our own are still on board."
Kevin nodded in agreement and Ben, having forgotten that he'd nearly suffocated, perked right up. "Gwen's here too? What about Tetrax?" Then something occurred to him and his expression darkened. "Rook, I— Conway and Sybil, they tricked me! I only got caught because they betrayed us."
"We know," Rook said with a sympathetic nod. "We have already handled that, Ben. We can fill you in on all that has happened once we are off of this satellite." He turned away from Ben and Kevin both, touching his microphone. "Squad Alpha leader Stone-Cutter requesting a report. Squad Beta, please respond. Furious, Tank, are you receiving?"
There was a long moment where nothing happened. Rook worried that he wasn't going to get a response but then, miraculously, garbled radio static filled the headset. "This is Squad Beta leader, Furious," Gwendolyn's voice answered. Despite the poor audio quality, she sounded relieved beyond words. "Squad Alpha, is there a problem? We've been trying to get in contact for over ten minutes now. Did you fail your objective?" The mere suggestion left her sounding breathless.
"No, the mission was a success," Rook said with an exhausted grin. It felt good to say that aloud. Whatever else was going on between them, it felt amazing to be able to look at Ben again without shackles constricting him. "We are attempting to leave, but there is a problem. There are no ships where we left them. Do you know why?"
He drifted over to Kevin and Ben, taking the headset off and turning up the volume so that they would both be able to hear Gwendolyn. The looks on their faces said that the effort was appreciated. Rook could only begin to imagine how alone Ben must have felt, how he must have missed them. That was probably the only reason why he hadn't pulled away from Kevin yet, though Ben didn't really need the support.
Gwendolyn groaned, biting back a curse that thankfully came out incomprehensible. "Yeah, I took most of them. I'm so sorry. We had so many prisoners afterward… and even then, I sensed thousands more. But after Squad Gamma messaged us to let us know that their plan hadn't gone exactly perfect, I thought that leaving with what we had was better than risking them by staying. But I know that I left enough ships for you and the others! I don't know what happened to them!"
That was news to Rook. He hadn't known that anything had gone wrong with Squad Gamma. Although…
"This station must have had a fusion drive," Kevin said, reaching the conclusion before Rook. "It's the only thing big enough to power something this goddamn big. If those guys didn't disable it carefully, the resulting power surge would've been enough to completely tear apart the wiring in this place." He let out a low whistle. "Damn. No wonder everything's been breaking down. I'm amazed that we're still in one piece."
Rook grimaced, displeased with himself. He should have known. But of all the details they'd poured over, explaining something so basic, so minute… He hadn't even considered that it would be a factor. The power source being sabotaged must have been what caused the explosion that shook the station. Kevin was right — they were lucky to still be alive.
"The other ships must have either floated out into the vacuum or been piloted out by someone else. Members of Squad Gamma, maybe, or any criminals still on board when the power failed," Rook reasoned. He bit the inside of his cheek unhappily. What other options for escape did they have?
"It's not a deal-breaker, right?" Gwendolyn's asked nervously. "I mean, you can have B— uh, "Dr. ET" fly you out and you and Fast can wear your spacesuits. Coming into atmosphere might be more… "difficult," but Arburian Pelarotas have durable shells! I think it can work."
Under better circumstances, Rook would have agreed. Considering that Kevin didn't have a spacesuit, a helmet, or even shoes anymore, he didn't see how surviving space would be possible. It would work for Rook, but he knew already that Ben would never agree to leave Kevin behind. Not after everything.
"Don't worry, we'll figure something out… Furious," Ben said teasingly. "We'll be seeing you soon. Promise. Just try not to miss me too much until then."
There was a delighted squeal from Gwendolyn that made the speakers crackle. Had they been talking in person, Ben probably would have found himself suffocating again, under the force of his cousin's hug. The happiness in her voice certainly felt like a hug. Ben's grin widened, his eyes softening with affection.
"I'll hold you to that, doofus," Gwendolyn replied. It sounded like she was going to cry.
Ben chuckled. He looked like he wanted to speak longer but, unfortunately, they really did need to work out a plan. Rook made a "cut it out" motion with his hand that he had learned on Earth. Taking the hint, Ben's smile slipped, but he nodded. All he said was, "Smell you around, dweeb." Looking rather choked-up himself, he turned the headset off and handed it quickly back to Rook.
Even though Rook felt bad about it, they really did need to focus. He glanced between Kevin and Ben tiredly. "So…" He cleared his throat. "I am open to suggestions."
There was quiet for a moment while the three of them thought. Obviously, they couldn't stay on the station. Rook was fairly certain that Murowa and Argyle still wanted Ben for some second, unknown purpose besides planet-wide destruction. They had to, otherwise, why would they have bothered kidnapping him when buying a doomsday weapon with their seemingly infinite reaches of money was so much easier?
"Got it!" Ben snapped his fingers impulsively as he shouted out, startling Kevin and Rook both. Between the three of them, it wasn't surprising that Ben was the one to come up with a plan first. He wasn't their de-facto leader for nothing, after all. "Kevin, what if you just absorb a material that can hold up against re-entry and I can fly us over to Petropia? The ship is resistant to space, so it should work."
Strangely, Rook noticed, Kevin still had his arm around Ben. The two of them normally liked to pretend that they couldn't care less about each other. Seeing them initiating physical contact for so long was a bit weird, though given the circumstances, Rook couldn't exactly blame them. Had his position been reversed with the Osmosian's, he would have been acting the same way.
In response to Ben's suggestion, Kevin shook his head. "It'd keep me from blowing up in a vacuum, yeah, but I still need to breathe. Petropia's way too far for you to manage flying both of us over there before I suffocate."
"Yeah…" With a sigh, Ben deflated. "Well, do you guys know if there's any sort of base or something on the moon? When they were dragging me around everywhere after I first got grabbed—" For emphasis, he made a sort of dragging motion with two hands, "—I woke up once near some windows. They didn't really let me enjoy the view but I'm pretty sure that, unless we moved, we're around one of Petropia's moons. Right?" He looked between his two friends for clarification.
"Good guess," said Rook with an approving nod, "but the moon is still too far. Not only that, but any Petrosapien activity on the surface was frozen a while ago. I doubt that the bases are in any condition to support life. It could be restarted, in theory, but I would not know where to start and I do not have enough oxygen to spare for both of us." He gestured at Kevin.
"Y'know, I'm hearing a lot of criticism, but not a lot of other suggestions," Ben replied shortly. Unlike the last time he'd unwittingly snapped at Rook, he didn't look apologetic about it.
Before either of them could say something about it, Kevin broke the tension. "What about Alien X?" He asked, giving Ben a nudge. It succeeded in getting the hero to look away, which Rook was grateful for. "You've got full control, right? Can't you just snap us out of here?"
Ben thought about it for a moment, grimacing. "I don't think so. See, Bellicus and Serena don't really, uh, deal in "ultimatums." Every time I go back in there, I sorta have to barter with them for full-control of Alien X again. I think they do it because they want an excuse to debate, since I don't really listen to any of the other stuff they want to do." He rolled his eyes.
"What about the last time you used 'em?" Kevin asked with a frown. "I mean, in the Null Void, with the Rooters. You had full-control right after you transformed."
There was an awkward laugh as Ben rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, man. Is that how you guys saw it? I must've spent, like, an hour convincing Bellicus and Serena to give me control again. They explained it to me once. See, Alien X doesn't really exist in time like normal people do. Like we do. There's just one Alien X. So if I used him right now, and I was also using him in the future, then I'd only have access to Alien X after future me got finished with him. It's not really a problem because of time travel stuff, but it's sorta that… I can spend hours and hours talking inside of Alien X and no time actually passes for you guys unless Bellicus and Serena feel like it." He scoffed. "And they can be jerks about it, too. You know the first time I used Alien X, they kept me there for what felt like days. I can't even describe how long I spent yelling myself hoarse at them. But for you and Gwen, only an hour or two actually passed. It's sorta freaky." It looked like he was going to say more, only to cut himself off as he seemingly came back to reality. Ben blinked, looking sheepish. "Anyway, yeah. Sorry about that. Long story short, Alien X isn't an option. I don't think that Bellicus and Serena would see this as enough of an emergency to cooperate with me and I don't wanna leave you guys and myself defenseless."
Rook went quiet, thinking over all that Ben had just explained. He didn't fully grasp most of it. Then again, he would have to be foolish to think himself capable of understanding a nigh-omnipotent being. Hell, Ben used Alien X but Rook doubted that he knew too much about the technicalities either.
"Alright. Another option, then," Rook said with a frown. A dim memory tickled the back of his mind. "It might be a bit of a long-shot, but I do remember seeing some escape pods along the outside of the ship. Assuming that they have not already been taken, we should be able to pilot one at least long enough to reenter Petropia's atmosphere."
Kevin snorted. "With the energy grid fried like it is? How're we even gonna be able to get them unhooked from the station?"
"I'll tear it out myself if I have to," Ben stated, "and just nudge you guys toward Petropia. C'mon, Kevin. At least this plan involves oxygen. It's not like we've really got time to be picky." He gave his friend a pointed glare.
The look on Kevin's face reminded Rook a lot of how he currently felt. The shame that made it hard to maintain eye-contact and the frustrated scowl because he couldn't figure out why he felt that way. It looked like Kevin was about to say something, so Rook beat him to it.
"It is at least worth checking out. If we are lucky, the wires will not be completely fried and we can figure out some way to maintain it. Or, Ben can use Upgrade or Jury Rigg to give us something functional for space travel."
That got a smirk from Ben. It was every bit the typical, over-confident look that Rook was used to seeing, even if it didn't quite reach his eyes. That had to be a sign of improvement, didn't it? "Yeah, well, that depends on if the Omnitrix feels like cooperating. Which it probably won't, but I'll make Ball Weevil work for me if I have to," he said proudly.
"Careful there," Kevin teased, punching Ben in the shoulder. "If your head gets any more inflated, you might start suffocating yourself all over again. Then none of us will get out of here."
It was a joke, so Ben laughed, but Rook could see that it was less than skin-deep.
"I can lead our way there," he offered, pushing past Ben and Kevin to float further along down the hallway. "There is no need to transform into an alien, Ben. We are relatively close by." Rook only added that last part after he heard the tell-tale beep of the Omnitrix activating.
It wasn't that he didn't appreciate Ben wanting to help them move quickly, but Rook knew that any injuries sustained while in human form wouldn't heal if Ben was an alien. Even if Rook didn't understand that facet of the Omnitrix's design, he knew that he wanted Ben to heal, which involved him being human as much as possible.
They gradually pushed themselves along, using the ceiling and walls as hand-holds. There was no conversation, which Rook was fine with. There wasn't anything that he felt like talking about with Kevin around. In truth, he didn't even fully understand what he would say to Ben if they were alone. He had already been told once not to apologize and Rook Blonko was not the type to need to be told something twice. But then, why did an apology feel like it was the only thing that was appropriate?
After passing from one hallway to the next, Rook went and found a room that had a large window with a good view. He managed to pick out where the escape pods were held. Thankfully, the orbiting space station was at an angle that could get sun while also not completely blinding him when he glanced outside.
Because Rook only had a vague idea of where different halls would lead, they ended up stopping quite a few times to reevaluate their position and make adjustments. He noticed Kevin growing impatient, scowling and muttering as he tapped his foot against empty air. More interestingly, Ben was calm. He didn't seem annoyed most of the time, only anxious. Rook would have thought that after so much time spent locked up, Ben would be eager to use his aliens as often as possible, for any reason. And he probably was, but then Rook noticed Ben stretching or idling behind to touch things and thought, ashamed, that Ben was eager to be moving at all.
Eventually, all of their searching paid off. The monotonous steel walls ended at a heavy emergency airlock. When they opened it, all three of them having to push it together, cool air came gushing out. The room itself was rather small, about the size of Ben's prison, but very tall. It had platforms that wrapped up and up for six levels, each containing eight escape pods. A lot of it was the same steel as the rest of the station, though most of it was darker and reinforced, made to withstand any sort of accident that might leave it exposed to a frigid vacuum.
"Shit," Kevin hissed through clenched teeth as he glanced around rapidly.
Ben echoed that sentiment. "There's no escape pods left," he muttered. Instead of the outrage that Kevin was feeling, his tone sent shivers down Rook's spine. He'd never heard someone sound so cornered and hopeless. Especially not Ben.
But he was fine, wasn't he? Ben had been through plenty of nightmarish situations. Their current problem couldn't be any different.
Right?
Rook ignored the doubt niggling in the back of his mind, craning his head to peer up several levels. He couldn't make out everything near the darkened shadows of the ceiling but, if he was lucky, then maybe…
"We should at least check the top," said Rook firmly. He pushed himself off of the door frame, narrowly avoiding smacking into one of the rafters to continue propelling himself up. When had he become the optimistic person of the group? Had he not been busy worrying himself sick, Rook might have been furious with the indignity of it all.
Regardless of whether or not they thought there was a chance of something waiting for them at the top of the room, Ben and Kevin were right behind him. When Rook caught himself on the ceiling, steadying his weightless body with a firm hand, he got a front-row seat to Kevin getting stuck under one of the platforms and Ben busy laughing at him only to smack his own head on the ceiling.
And Rook laughed, too. He probably shouldn't have, but it made Ben smile and then chuckle, until they were both bobbing against the ceiling with the force of their heaving laughter. It felt good. When Kevin finally got unstuck, only to knock his face against one of the hand railings, Rook laughed even harder, long after his sides had started to ache. It was nice to see Ben laughing, his eyes crinkled around the corners but forced open so that he could watch Kevin try again to orient himself only to fail. The last time Rook had seen Ben laugh that hard, he had been crying. Maybe there were tears in his eyes again, but if there were, Rook wasn't worried about the cause being anything other than Kevin struggling not to grin as he glared up at them both, pink-faced with embarrassment.
When they did eventually stop laughing, it was only because Rook had let out a gasp. "There are still escape pods left!" He explained. Pushing himself in that direction, Rook hovered above the metal platform and steadied himself with a hand on the wall. The doors to the escape pods were open, likely something that the station did automatically whenever an emergency situation was detected. He peered inside with visible relief. "And it is easily big enough for three. We will not have oxygen, but it should be enough to last until we can land safely on Petropia. We would die of dehydration before we suffocated."
"How optimistic," Kevin remarked as he finally came to float next to Rook. He rubbed his head gingerly and Ben, right behind the both of them, muffled laughter behind his hand. It earned him a glare from Kevin, though Rook could see that he was also biting back a smile.
Taking a few deep breaths, Ben came to join them and glanced inside the escape pod. "It looks like it's busted. How do you think we're going to get the doors to shut?" Ben asked.
Rook shrugged. At that point, closing a door was the last thing he cared about. "If we have to, one of your aliens should be able to construct something airtight to enclose us. But it should have a manual crank for situations like this, or at least, we can simply pry it shut."
That got a smile from Ben. "I think that "pry" is the wrong word to use with a pushing motion, but I don't know enough about English to correct you."
While Kevin rolled his eyes, Rook felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest. Even if Ben hadn't said that he forgave Rook, he was making an effort to return to the status quo. That had to count for something.
He started to tease Ben right back, maybe with a jab about his reputation in school that Rook had been saving, only to be nudged insistently into the escape pod by Kevin. "To one side, Rook. Chat while we're getting this damn thing shut. I meant it when I said that I don't wanna be here any longer than we've got to be."
Inside, the escape pod was smooth and spherical. Rook was willing to bet that it looked the same on the outside, as well. It was made of a white metal that he couldn't place. There were a few padded seats with straps and buckles in case it was an especially difficult escape. Against the far wall, across from the door, was a console that had a number of buttons and dials to act as limited controls. There was no way to pilot the pod directly. Even if there had been, Rook noticed with a frown that the control panel was sparking and none of the lights were on. It was as broken as everything else in the station.
Floating outside the pod, Ben waited for Kevin and Rook to turn back to him before brandishing the Omnitrix with a half-smirk. "Do you need some help getting the door shut, or do you think you can manage? I could try using Upgrade, but I don't know how well that'll work when there's no functioning circuits for me to meld with."
Kevin felt the threshold for the pod experimentally, absorbing the metal into his fingers. He knelt down, feeling the paper-thin sliver between the door and the floor. That crack, Rook knew, would be gone as soon as the doors shut. For the time being though, Kevin flattened his fingers and curved them up to grab hold. When he pulled with a triumphant grin, the door slid out and was easily pulled to half-way before he stopped.
"No need for any of that. So, is everyone ready? Once this door's shut, we probably won't be able to hear each other," Kevin explained. He shook out his hand, losing the metal covering, and his expression turned stiff. "Also, whatever's got you both up each other's asses, you should work it out now. I am so not going to deal with this all the way back to Earth. And I doubt you'll want to get into it around Gwendolyn."
Whereas Rook was more surprised that Kevin had noticed their odd behavior, that wasn't the detail that Ben fixated on. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, gaping, and then turned to glare at Rook. "You mean that you didn't tell them about what happened?" He asked, jabbing an accusing finger towards Rook. "Not telling me was bad enough, but seriously? I could've been dead and you're still keeping those secrets?"
Any progress that Rook might have been making in regaining Ben's trust was gone in an instant. He could tell by the hurt look on the hero's face, right behind his anger, that it would take more than a few snappy one-liners and a smoothie to get Ben to see him the same way again.
"I— I had planned to," Rook protested. "There was never a good time with so much going on. It did not seem— relevant. I was going to mention it, as soon as you were safe."
Ben arched an eyebrow. There was a sneer on his face that Rook had never seen him direct at an ally before. It made him feel flushed and hot with shame. "Safe?" He echoed, mocking. "Since when do you prioritize me being safe? That's a hell of a lot different than "alive," Rook. You know that this line of work isn't, and never will be, safe."
True, Rook did know that. He couldn't answer Ben's question. He had no idea when he'd started to care about Ben being safe. Alive and healthy? Always. But safe? That was something else entirely. If he wanted Ben to be safe, then Rook would have to get him to give up hero work somehow. And that was never going to happen, so why was Rook focusing on idealistic and impossible goals? That wasn't like him at all.
For a brief moment, he was surprised that Ben knew him well enough to comment on that habit. He knew Ben's test scores in third grade, that he used to own a dog despite it having never come up in conversation, that he slept with a teddy bear until he was twelve-years-old. Those neat tid-bits, those fun facts… all useless. He understood then why Ben was so upset with him. He had spent a year lying for the sole purpose of getting close to Ben and earning his trust, and yet...
And yet, still, Rook didn't really know Ben at all.
"I have always wanted you to be safe," Rook said instead, lying through his teeth. "We are partners, it is my job to—" He cut himself off. As soon as he had said "partners," Ben's expression had shifted. His brows furrowed like they always did when he was confused or seeing something that he didn't understand, his eyes narrowed as though trying to be angry. Rook didn't need to be an expert in reading human emotions to know that that look wasn't a good sign.
Kevin cleared his throat awkwardly but the tension between Ben and Rook didn't dissipate. If anything, it only worsened. "Is there, uh, something that I missed?" He tried, glancing from one of them to the other.
"No," snapped Ben before Rook could even think to answer. "Shut the door, Kevin. Let's just get back to Petropia and put this whole thing behind us."
Doubtful — and rightfully so — Kevin hesitated. He shot Rook a concerned look but, when the Revonnahgander failed to so much as acknowledge him, sighed. "Whatever," he muttered. "Not really any of my business, anyway." He nudged Rook out of the way, a little too gently for Kevin's typical attitude, and paused. Rook wasn't sure what Ben and Kevin silently communicated in their split-second moment of eye contact but, whatever it was, it ended with Ben stepping back as Kevin slid the door shut completely.
On the inside of the door was a manual crank to seal it. Kevin handled that while Rook stared out the small, circular window in the door. Ben didn't look back at him. He was looking down at his watch, seemingly browsing for a good selection, but Rook knew from so long spent watching Ben fiddle with that dial pad that the hero's thoughts were thousands of lightyears away.
Eventually, though, both of them had to stop stalling for time. Rook followed Kevin to take a seat and strap himself in for the ride and, out of his line of sight, there was a flash of green light. Whatever alien Ben ended up going with, it was strong. There was a sharp click and the escape pod rocked, but then they were pushed back and away from the station, untethered.
A gust of cold that had nothing to do with a vacuum rushed over the small window, frosting the glass over. Long, angular black fingers rubbed the ice crystals away and Big Chill's enormous green eyes peered in at them without emotion. Ben must have found what he was looking for because Big Chill ducked out of sight and the pod rocked again as he grappled for a good grip. Once the Necrofriggian had found it, they were propelled forward. Rook could see his impressive wings flicker outside of the window view every time Big Chill gave a powerful flap. And, behind that, he watched the features of the station gradually grow smaller and smaller.
The fact that Ben was unable to hear them inside of the pod was the only thing that pushed Rook to speak. "This feels cruel," he said to Kevin, refusing to look away from the window. "He is flying so slowly. Was it really fair to ask yet another task of him after all he has already been through? I thought that we were supposed to be the rescue team, not him."
There wasn't an immediate reply. Truthfully, Rook hadn't expected one at all. But, after a few moments, Kevin surprised him by saying, "No, I get it. I... I sorta feel the same. It feels kind of pathetic, doesn't it? That we need him when he's gone and can't do shit for ourselves when he's around?" Kevin chuckled but there was no humor in it. "It's pretty much my fault, too. We wouldn't've had to waste so much time if I'd just been able to keep my head on straight. Or at least, I wouldn't've torn my damn space suit right off and we wouldn't be being carted around like children."
Rook shook his head, for the first time looking away from the window to gaze at Kevin. He looked almost as tired as Ben did, eyes dull and heavy with exhaustion. "It is because of your... episode that we were able to free Ben at all. If you had not kept Diavik distracted, I doubt that we would have gotten very far out the door with him, assuming that we could get Ben free."
Tearing his eyes away, Kevin snorted. ""Distracted," huh? Is that what you call it to make yourself feel better, Rook? So you can pretend that I didn't just turn into a monster and brutally murder someone for fun?"
There were a dozen things that Rook should have said. He should have told Kevin that he wasn't a monster, that Diavik had somehow deserved it, that those "brutal" actions had helped them rescue Ben... But all that Rook could manage, even after a minute of struggling, was, "Did you find it fun?"
Kevin flexed his fingers experimentally in his lap. "Yeah," he admitted, not an ounce of hesitation, but pounds of regret. "It was satisfying, y'know? The way I saw it was he... he had it comin' to him for hurting—" He scrunched up his face in distaste. "For hurting what's "mine," I guess. I see things that way when I get... like that. The energy makes me possessive. It makes me want more and more. And the more I want, the more I decide belongs to me, or that I deserve, somehow. Which means that it's mine to take or... kill. When it comes to people, I guess. 's why I keep ending up trying to kill Ben and Gwendolyn when I lose myself like that." Kevin winced, revolted by something deep, deep inside that he'd already accepted was never going away.
There was a shot of pity in Rook's chest but he didn't apologize for trying to kill Kevin after he'd mutated. Based on the way his friend was talking, Rook doubted that Kevin would have exactly been against that. He might have even thanked Rook for it.
"It happens a lot?" He ventured a guess, watching Kevin's expression carefully. "Your Plumber file was never as detailed as Ben's. He must have kept quite a bit hidden for you."
Not all of it, though. Rook knew that Kevin's mutations as a child had led to him attempting to kill Ben repeatedly, ending only after he was locked in the Null Void. He knew that Kevin, six years later, had mutated again and attacked a Plumber training base after Ben lured him there for a coordinated attack. He never knew how those mutations ended up being resolved and used to be curious about what they were actually like, outside of blurry and outdated security camera footage.
At the moment, Rook wished that he'd never seen it. He could have gone his entire life happy without seeing a monster like that.
"More than it should," Kevin answered shortly. "Often enough that I can't figure out why Ben still trusts me. Calls me his best friend, supports the fact that I'm dating his cousin, says that he misses having me around..." He chuckled dryly, running a hand over his face. "Fuck, Rook. I never did anything to deserve all of that."
"No," agreed Rook without needing a moment to think about it. "I suppose that it says a lot about you as a person, then, that after he gave you something you did not deserve, you worked consistently to be the hero that he knew you could be. I think that proving you were worth the second chance has a far more valuable impact than being deserving of his faith from the beginning."
That made Kevin smile. Little more than a twitch of the lips, really, though Rook saw it and relaxed. His situation may not have been quite as dramatic as Kevin's, but Rook knew where he would be if he hadn't heard all the legends of Ben Tennyson's universal exploits. He would still be on Revonnah keeping the Muroids out of the grain silos: living a content, but unhappy life. Whatever else, no matter how much he loved his family and his planet, Rook dreaded the idea of growing old as a farmer with a large family, like his father. He could never be satisfied with that.
Across from him, Kevin stiffened, gaze fixed on something outside the window. "Hey, what's that?"
Rook didn't need him to point to know what Kevin was talking about. Following his line of sight, it was all too easy to spot the only thing on the station that was moving. It was a distance from them by that point but the structure was still enormous. With Ben's pace, their trip to Petropia would still take a while.
As such, even though it was a small detail, Rook quickly picked out what had alarmed Kevin. He squinted, leaning forward in his chair and craning his neck to get a better look. "It is a retrieval hook," he decided after some process of elimination. "They have a variety of uses. Mostly, they are used for anchoring an especially large ship to asteroids or dwarf planets. They can also be outfitted with a claw instead of a hook and be used to retrieve and deposit cargo."
"It can still work with the wiring busted?" Kevin asked, surprised.
"More or less." Rook nodded absently as he tried to remember the finer details from his Intro to Spaceship Essentials course. "I doubt that it can function automatically. Likely, it is operating manually in a similar way that this escape pod can. It would cripple the crew in an emergency if they could not use something as basic as a hook. I imagine that there is a spring-loaded mechanism in place to fire it and a crank for manual retraction."
Kevin shot him an odd look. "You keep saying manual. You know that means that someone's using that now, don't you?"
It took all of two seconds for Rook's fumbling, clumsy hands to get his straps off and for him to lurch to his feet, but that was enough.
Cerulean hemolymph splattered against the window as though someone had flicked paint at them. Rook couldn't hear it, but he saw Big Chill thrashing like a pinned insect and could imagine the inhuman shrieks of pain tearing through his throat. The hooked end of the retrieval line was dug into the alien's side, gushing hemolymph at a dizzying pace as Big Chill's wings twitched and seized. With such agony lighting through his body, Rook doubted that Ben even remembered that he could turn intangible, let alone worry about stemming the bleeding.
"Ben!" Kevin pounded a fist against the window, absorbing the metal around them before Rook could stop him.
He did, however, manage to catch the Osmoasian's wrist before another slam to the glass could shatter the only thing standing between them and certain death.
Kevin didn't see it that way. He yanked his hand free, glaring hard at Rook. "What are you doing? We need to get out there and help!"
"How?" Rook snapped. His throat and eyes both burned. He wondered if he was going to scream or cry. "We have already established that we are useless, Kevin! If we attempt to go out there, we will die! Do you honestly think that that is going to do Ben any good at all?"
Logic worked long enough that Rook could risk looking away from Kevin to check the view outside the window. He immediately wished that he hadn't. Big Chill had gone still — deathly still, hook still embedded in his abdomen as whoever was handling the crank began to retract it. The tugging couldn't have helped the pain but, for whatever reason, Ben did nothing. He stared with blank eyes, locking gazes with Rook.
Without anything holding onto it, the pod began to drift and tumble through space. Any view that they had of Ben was quickly gone. Rook kept his hand on Kevin's chest, holding him back unnecessarily. When he felt his friend begin to shake, Rook refused to look. Kevin was polite enough to do the same when Rook could no longer gaze out the window and had to bury his face in his hands.
Neither of them spoke. It didn't matter anymore.
They had failed.
A/N: More dramatic cliff-hangers! Am I capable of writing anything else?
Signs point to no.
Jeez, Ben's so used to being an alien around other aliens… But now he's in a predicament as human as it gets. Will he be able to rebound and stop the bad guys? We'll find out soon enough, in our final part of this dramatic tale!
Intermission: It Takes Two to Tango