Chapter 139: Insidious Seven Reborn: Part Two
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters
Disclaimer: I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Nine.
* I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Anyway, let's get into it.
Earth-Prime
Tuesday, January 29th, 2019
Madison High School
Ben
Last night was a pretty stressful night. Not only did Clancy almost kill me, but I had to rely on Kessinger to save my skin. It was kind of embarrassing. It was an uninteresting rest of the night, I went home and went to bed. Pretty lackluster. This morning, I had to go in early to catch up on some work. After stopping at my locker to drop some stuff off, I was on the way to the library to use the computer lab. I was walking down the hallway, when I heard a familiar voice. I turned around to see Kai standing behind me.
"Kai? What are you doing here? I didn't take you for the kind to show up before classes start."
She stepped forward before she spoke.
"I'm usually not here before classes start. But I had a hunch that you would be here."
"You had a hunch that I'd... Wait. Have you been following me?"
A look of guilt was now present on her face.
"Okay, yes. I've been following you. But only for the last minute or so!"
I decided not to answer in the way that my gut was telling me to and so I instead decided to remain calm.
"What is it?"
"Can we talk?"
"Will it take very long?"
"Maybe?"
All of the repetitive questions were beginning to get to me. I let out a sigh.
"Look, I need to catch up on class work. So, this'll have to wait until later."
I turned back around and was about to continue on, but I was stopped.
"Wait!" she said as she grabbed my hand.
I was stopped in my tracks and turned around to look at her. There was a desperate look on her face. But I couldn't let that look break me.
"Look, if I get anymore behind in my classes than I already am, because of the fact that I'm using class time to catch up on late work, my mom will kill me before anything else can."
"But it's import..."
"I'm sure that it is important! But it can't be more important than my grades! Sorry, Kai. But you'll have to find me later."
I turned around and began to walk away.
"Yeah. Sure." I heard her say with disappointment as I walked away.
Later That Night
The Tennyson House
At some point that night, Mom sent me up to the attic to get something.
"Ben, you go get me your old baby crib from the attic?" she had asked.
"What do you want it for? Isn't Verdona too small to sleep in her own crib yet?"
"Yes, but your father and I what to get a head start on cleaning out your old bedroom. If you and Gwen are going to be sharing a bedroom, then you don't need that bedroom anymore. It'll become Verdona's bedroom."
"Alright, fine. I'll go find it."
I reached up for the drawstring to the attic and pulled it down. Once the stairs to the attic were down, I went up them into the attic. I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight on it. I looked around the room, as my surroundings became illuminated by the light. There were old pieces of furniture all over the place, stacks of cardboard boxes, storage boxes, but no baby crib.
I began walking around the attic, looking for it. Mom told me that it would be in the box that it originally came in, but I wasn't seeing it. However, as my light passed over the endless amount of boxes, something did catch my eye. I walked over and saw what it was. It was a box, like any of the others. But unlike the others, this one...
"Hey, it's our old Super Nintendo!" I said to myself. "Man, I feel like it's been ages since I've seen this thing!"
I grabbed the lid of the box with my free hand and lifted it up. And sure enough, inside was the old Nintendo console.
"Seeing this old thing again brings back memories."
Just then, I suddenly felt a chill in the air.
Wait, memories? Oh, no. Don't tell me that...
Suddenly I found that I was no longer in the attic, but instead in the basement. But the fact that I had appeared here without actually moving isn't the thing that had worried me. It was the fact that two children, one with short brown hair, the other with short fiery red hair, sat ahead of me in front of the T.V. And I didn't need any help to know who they were.
"What is this?" I whispered.
"God, Ben." the younger version of Gwen spoke. "Why can't you ever defeat Bowser? You fail every time, Doofus!"
The younger version of me shrugged.
"I guess it's my timing. It's horrible." He spoke. "And I don't work well under pressure."
"So, the time limit on the game?"
"I guess. Another thing is that my focus is horrid, maybe. The firesticks usually take me back down to a small Mario. Or, even if I manage to get to his area, he either gets me with his fireballs or he could land on me."
The younger version failed in what he was trying to do in-game, causing Gwen to start laughing.
"See? Just like that, Gwen."
As she laughed, he turned to look at her.
"What?" he asked.
"You know that happens every time to you, right?"
"Oh, put a sock in it, Dweeb."
She just chuckled.
"Whatever, Doofus. You still suck at Mario, though. Don't sweat it."
The younger me began to look around them and after a few seconds, he looked back at the younger version of Gwen.
"Oh, yeah? Well at least I'm not going to grow up to be a tomboy!"
She chuckled again.
"You don't even know what that means." She said as she chuckled.
"Well, I know that it means a girl with short hair, like me."
Stupid kid, I thought.
Gwen began laughing again, roaring with laughter, actually. After she finished laughing, she spoke.
"You couldn't be more wrong, could you?"
He looked down at the floor, as if his feelings were hurt.
"Just take your turn."
The scene changed, I could tell because our younger selves were now wearing different clothes. However, I didn't react to this. I just stood there and kept watching the scene before me.
"Give me the controller, Gwen!" the younger me exclaimed as he grabbed the controller in her hands.
"Just one more turn!" Gwen cried, retaliating as such.
"Hey, my Nintendo, my turn! Now hand it over!"
"Oops." Gwen said as she let go of the controller as the younger version of me was pulling on it, causing him to fall over.
She just grinned in response to him falling over.
"What'd you do that for?!"
She shrugged.
"You said you wanted it, so I gave you your controller back."
"You are such a brat!"
"And you are annoying! What's your point?"
"My point is you don't play well with others, you spoiled brat!"
Gwen looked surprised after he said that.
"Oh, I'm the spoiled one? What about all this nice furniture, the flat screen T.V., the Nintendo, plus the Xbox you're getting for your birthday? How am I the spoiled one?"
"Oh, shut up!"
"Okay, now you're the brat. I know how to play well with others. You, on the other hand, you don't know how to share. Sharing is caring!"
"What, did they teach you that in school?"
"You know it's the truth."
"Get out." He whispered.
"Excuse me?"
"Get out of my basement, Gwen. I don't want you here."
"What are you saying?"
"Don't make me say it." he said with anger.
"What are you saying?" she repeated.
"Get out, Gwen! I don't want to see you! I hate you!"
She looked speechless, but after a few seconds, she frowned and responded.
"Well, fine then! I never want to see you again!"
She got up and stormed away from him.
"Wait!" I exclaimed as I stepped forward.
Of course, she didn't hear me.
"He was just being the..."
I stopped myself once I realized what it was.
"I was just being the spoiled brat that I was back then."
"Fine. I never want to see you again!" the younger version of me replied.
"Fine!"
The scene then changed again, with me now standing upstairs in the kitchen. In the room was a younger version of me, along with my parents, Grandpa Max and a few of my friends.
"—Happy birthday, dear Ben! Happy birthday to you!" they all were singing.
I recognized this. This was my tenth birthday party. Once the singing had ended, the younger me looked up at Mom.
"Why isn't Gwen here?" he asked in a sad tone.
Mom and Dad exchanged glances, before he spoke.
"When we extended the invitation to Gwen's parents, they told us that she didn't want to come up. Something about her being mad at you."
He looked back at the cake and after a few seconds, he put he his hands over his eyes as he began to cry. I didn't mean for this to happen...
"Ben!"
Why am I being shown this?
"Ben!"
Suddenly the memory flashes ended and I found myself back in the attic, with Gwen standing in front of me, calling out my name.
"Ben!"
"What?" I asked, now aware of my surroundings.
She let out a sigh of relief before speaking again.
"What are you doing up here?"
"Mom sent me up here to get my old baby's crib."
"Yeah, I know. I came up here to get it for her when you didn't come back down. What have you been doing up here for the last thirty minutes?"
I've been up here for half an hour, just standing here? There's no way that's true!
I had to give an answer, given the worried look on her face.
"Um, nothing."
"Nothing, huh? No kidding?"
"I'm fine."
"I don't believe you!"
"Well, I am fine, regardless of whether or not you believe me."
"Ben, I know that you've been distant since you came back, but you have to try to..."
I let out a sigh as I walked past her.
"Ben? I'm talking to you!"
I had just gotten to the attic stairs when I turned back to look at her. I saw past her and looked one last time at the box in which the old Super Nintendo resided. When I looked back at Gwen a second later, I saw the ten-year-old version of her instead. I blinked and I was looking at her in her present age once again.
"Ben?" she asked with worry.
I turned around again as I spoke.
"I need some time to myself. I'm going to go out for a while to clear my head."
"But it's almost curfew!"
"Just a little time." I insisted.
I walked down the stairs back to the main floor before she could say anything else. As I walked to our bedroom, I reflected on what had happened up there.
Gwen had to have seen the old Super Nintendo, right? Why didn't she comment on it? Didn't she feel as guilty about that day as I did? Or was it just me? Did I for whatever reason have a problem with letting go of the past?
I didn't know what to do.
Stop getting lost in the past, Tennyson. Before you can't tell the difference.
I shuddered, before I continued forward in my path.
Sometime Later
Downtown Bellwood
Gorvan
I used my jetpack to soar through the downtown area, as Anarchy chased behind me. After something had happened to my partner last night (he wouldn't say what), he was taken into S.E.C.T. custody. Just this morning we broke him out. He said that other than still feeling a bit wary since his attack last night, he would be fine.
And right now he was chasing me through the city. It was a setup. We were told to cause enough trouble, make it look legit and eventually, surely, Tennyson would show up. I turned around in midair and pointed my Plasma Rifle (courtesy of the Forever Knights) at Anarchy as he leaped toward me. I fired my Rifle, sending him through the window of a store front.
Make it look realistic, Mr. Enoch had told me.
After Anarchy went through the window, he slammed into a shelf, causing it to topple over onto him.
"Here I am, you freak!" I exclaimed. "Let's do this!"
Just then, the guy we were waiting for appeared. Tennyson swung into view, coming to a stop against a wall of a building a few feet from me.
"I don't believe it! Are you fighting another super hero behind my back?!" he exclaimed. "I thought you and I had something special!"
I looked at him with annoyance, but allowed him to leap off the wall toward me as he transformed into one of his aliens.
"I bet it's that alien werewolf, Kessinger, isn't it? What does he have that I..."
I pointed my Rifle at him.
"Back off, kid!"
I shot him with a burst of plasma, sending him backwards and toward the ground.
"Agh!" he screamed all the way down, impacting with the ground only a second or two later.
After he hit the ground, he transformed back to his human form in less than a second, being rendered unconscious from the combined trauma of the blast and the fall. I began chuckling to myself as I looked at his motionless form below.
"I can't believe it! I can't believe that I finally got that little yutz!"
I armed the Plasma Rifle, getting ready to hit him with the final blow. I reduced the power on my jetpack a little bit, allowing me to descend toward him.
"Alright, let's finish this up!"
However, before I could reach something, the wreckage inside the damaged store began to move. A second or two later, Anarchy leaped out from the wreckage and back onto the street, clenching his fists before he spoke.
"Mine!"
Mine?! What do you mean 'mine'?!
"Like hell! I got dibs!"
I pointed my Rifle at him and fired the blast that had been meant for Tennyson. But much to my surprise, he dodged it. I wasn't going to go for this.
Lure him away from the scene, then come back for the kid!
I fired up my jetpack again and got ready to take off, but he would quickly put a stop to my plans. He formed a tendril out of his bug suit and shot it toward me, where it wrapped around my ankle.
What...
After he pulled me toward him, he punched me in the jaw, sending waves of agony through my chin.
"Agh!"
I now felt myself being turned around and then something struck my jetpack. Then I heard the sparking.
"Good luck trying to fly when your jetpack is damaged!"
He turned me so that I was pointing horizontally straight down the street.
"So long, pal!"
He let me go and I went flying straight. I tried to redirect myself, but I no longer had control over my jetpack. And I was cruising at top speed toward a large glass window.
Well, this is going to...
CRASH!
Clancy/Anarchy
Once Gorvan crashed through the window and ran into a shelf, his jetpack exploded, hopefully taking him with it. I turned to look at Tennyson behind me, lying unconscious on the ground. I fully turned around as I formed talons on my right hand.
Pick him up now and run him through! He's defenseless!
However, before I could do that, a spotlight turned on, shining down on me. I looked up as I let out an angry roar, to see a S.E.C.T. aircraft above me. That's when I felt a presence behind me. I turned around with another roar of anger, to find the Director of S.E.C.T. standing behind me, armed with some kind of big gun.
"Stand down!" he exclaimed.
There was no way in hell that I was going to stand down. I got ready to turn my talons on him instead of on Tennyson and it would turn out that would be my undoing. He fired that big gun of his and I was hit by a barrage of what may have been electricity.
"Argh!" I yelled with pain as the energy began ripping and tearing my bug suit.
I continued yelling in pain until I wore myself out and collapsed down onto the ground. I couldn't feel my body and as I laid there, darkness began to overtake me, before I slipped into unconsciousness.
Sometime Later
Ben
"Come on, kid." I heard a familiar voice as I began to come to. "Come on, wake up!"
I opened my eyes and looked up at Director Steel.
"Come on, kid." He said as he picked me up.
As I stood up, I looked around my surroundings with confusion and spoke accordingly.
"What's going..."
Once I saw Clancy being carried away on a stretcher, it all came back to me.
Gorvan knocked me out in a spectacularly embarrassing fashion.
"God damn it!" I exclaimed with anger as I looked up at Director Steel. "Why can't you keep these crazies that are supposed to be in prison in prison?!"
He put up his hands in front of him in an effort to get me to calm down, but it wasn't working.
"Kid, you need to stay off of whatever you're doing! And you need to calm down."
Him lecturing me is what caused me to snap. Before I yelled at him again, something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked up at a rooftop across the street from us, to see that figure, Kessinger standing on top of it. And he was shaking his head, probably out of disappointment. As I looked up at him, it looked like Director Steel was beginning to notice that I wasn't looking at him anymore. So, I turned my attention back to him.
"I need to quit getting almost killed by stupid people is what I need!" I snapped at him.
I ran past him before he could get a word out and fired my wrist gauntlet, grappling away, having no interest in further talking to him. And as I did, I noticed Kessinger leap away from the area as well, likely to avoid getting spotted by S.E.C.T.
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed.
* I don't really have anything to say regarding this chapter. So, I think I'm to go, though. So, have a Bwen-tastic day and bye.
Next Chapter: Ben continues fighting the Insidious Seven with the help of Gwen.
