Chapter 140: Insidious Seven Reborn: Part Three
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 Forty.
* I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Anyway, let's get into it.
Earth-Prime
Wednesday, January 30th, 2019
Downtown Bellwood
Ben
After school the following day, I went out on patrol, once again, by myself. I was on one knee, on a rooftop, overlooking the city, when I heard a voice.
"Penny for your thoughts, hun?"
I turned around to see Gwen, in her Lucky Girl costume, standing behind me.
What was she doing here?
"Well, first off, I want to know what you're doing here." I replied.
"Well, after last period let out, you seemed to take off pretty quickly. I followed you closely, until it became clear to me that you were heading out on patrol. I thought I'd come out and help you!"
I shook my head.
"Uh-uh. Absolutely not." I said as I turned around again. "Go home, Gwen."
I heard nothing from her for a few seconds, before she sighed.
"Okay, I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to do this." She said as she walked over to me, sitting down on the rooftop next to me. "I know what you're doing, Ben. And likely, the others know as well. We're not stupid, you know."
"I never said you guys were stupid."
She ignored my comment and kept on with her current topic.
"Do you remember why we broke up that one time? Before we got back together?"
Do I remember?
"Um, was it because I was neglecting you? Oh, wait, no. I wasn't the guy that you wanted me to be. Right?"
She shook her head.
"No. We broke up because you were being a super hero more than you were being Ben. I broke up with you because I didn't want to hold you back."
"Hey, cut me some slack, Gwen! Thanks to the Forever Knights, my memories were thrown into a blender and mixed together. I frankly don't remember what you're telling me about."
She looked guilty.
"Right. Sorry, I kind of forgot about that."
I let out a sigh.
Of course, you did, I thought.
"Okay," I spoke again. "So, tell me what I'm doing."
"You are deliberately avoiding everyone. You're spending more time in costume than you do with your family and whenever you go out for one of your patrols, which is a lot lately, you never ask if we'll come with you. You don't want us to come with you!"
I remained silent for a few seconds.
"Ben?" she asked with worry.
"You're very perceptive, Gwen."
"Why are you doing this? Why won't you let us help?"
"Because it's too dangerous for you guys. I have to protect you."
"Protect us? Protect us from what?!"
I turned to look at her.
"You don't know?"
She shook her head.
"It's because of Enoch and the Forever Knights. It has to be! I have to protect you guys from them! I can't allow you all to get involved, because they made me suffer and by hurting you guys or using you guys against me, they'll make me suffer again!"
"But how can you... Ben, you can't know that they want to make you suffer!"
"Can't I?"
"Well, there has to be someone else that could be behind this!"
"Really? Name someone else who could be behind all of this. I'll wait."
She stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"No, I'm serious. Go ahead."
She let out a sigh as she rested her index finger and thumb on her chin.
"See? Not so easy, is it?"
She glared at me.
"Don't say that."
The glare disappeared after a while and she seemed to continue thinking.
"Okay, then. What about Vilgax?"
"Vilgax, who we haven't seen since last summer."
She sighed.
"Okay. What about Ghostfreak?"
As she said that, the image of me stabbing Ghostfreak to death with a butcher knife flashed before my eyes.
Had that really happened? Or was it just something from that simulation?
"Ben? Are you alright?"
I let out a sigh as I recovered from my flashback.
"Ugh, please don't say that name. But about him, yeah, I killed him twice last summer. Or maybe I killed two different versions of him. I don't know."
"Okay... Hmm... Ah! What about Zombozo?"
I scoffed.
"The Energy Vampire? Sorry Gwen, but I don't think he has what it takes to be the cause of everything that's happened recently."
"Damn! Okay, then how about..."
"Gwen, tell you what." I interrupted her. "Why don't you quit worrying, go home and if you have more to say, then we'll talk about it when I get home."
"But..."
"Gwen, please. No buts. I am frustrated and I don't feel like having this talk right now."
I was about to jump down to an adjacent rooftop, however she cut me off.
"I don't care if you're frustrated, we're going to talk about this now!"
I turned around to look at her.
"What is there left to talk about?"
"I just want to help you! If you leave us at home while you're out here by yourself, I begin to feel neglected."
"Well, good. I would rather that you be at home feeling neglected, then being injured or dead after battle because I couldn't defend you. Hell, I couldn't even protect myself from that Sixsix copycat!"
"You need to stop thinking that this is all about you! The rest of us can take care of ourselves! We don't need you to protect us!"
"That doesn't change the fact that I feel the need to protect you guys!"
"We are more than capable of fighting with you! If you would just let you..."
"No! I won't allow you to put yourselves at risk!"
"I wasn't asking for your permission!"
I wasn't eager to see how much longer this argument would go on for, but luckily, we were interrupted.
"Honestly, is this all you people ever do? Stand around arguing with each other?"
Gwen and I stopped yelling at each other and turned to see the sorcerer, Hex, hovering a few feet away from us, although he did look a bit different. We exchanged glances, before she spoke.
"We'll continue this later."
Before I could respond, Hex spoke.
"No, you will not."
I turned my attention to him.
"Pardon?"
"You two will not be going anywhere. You two will die here."
I decided to cut him off.
"Now, hold on a second. How do we know that you're actually Hex? You don't exactly look like him?"
"I never said I was Hex."
"Uh..."
"I may not look like him, but that's only because I've been reincarnated in a younger body. I am who I say I am."
"Yeah... Sure..."
Hex had nothing more to say and waved his staff, as his eyes began to glow.
"Is there really nothing else for us to talk about?"
Suddenly, Lucky Girl grabbed me and pulled me to the side, right as his staff discharged a beam of red energy, which impacted right where I had been standing.
"Are we seriously doing this?" I asked.
"We're seriously doing this." She replied.
I noticed some of her hot pink mana appearing in a circular shape around her hand. She then threw it across the rooftop toward Hex.
Gwen bolts, I thought. I missed those.
I wasn't expecting for Hex to deflect the strike with his staff.
"Okay," she spoke. "That didn't go as I had hoped."
I chuckled.
"How had you hoped it would go?"
"Shut up, Doofus." She said as she took my hand. "Come on, we're leaving."
"Wha..." I began to speak but was cut off as she ran, with her hand still in mine and jumped off the rooftop, taking me with her.
"What the hell?! Are you crazy?!"
"Oh, calm down. I know what I'm doing."
She's so calm about the fact that she just yeeted us off of the roof and we're falling toward the street!
Seconds before we would hit the ground, a hot pink mana platform was suddenly generated below us. When we hit the platform, several cracks formed in it, but it remained mostly stable. I pulled away from Lucky Girl's hand and rolled off of the platform and onto the street a few feet below. I stood up and looked at her with irritation, even though she couldn't see my face.
"Are you crazy?! Let's say that you couldn't concentrate and were unable to generate a platform in time! Then what?!"
She shrugged.
"We're alive, aren't we?"
"Well, yes we... Stop distracting me! That's not the point!"
"Can we please continue whatever this is after we've gotten away with our lives?"
I ignored her.
"Aw, come on girl, quit busting my..."
Suddenly her eyes began to glow hot pink as she pointed her hand at me and as she did this, I felt myself begin to be lifted off of the ground. I was then pulled toward her, away from where I had been standing, as another blast of ethereal energy hit the spot where I had just been standing. I landed on my side next to Lucky Girl and I looked up at her with irritation once more, as she looked down at me.
"Are you fucking kidding me right now? Telekinesis? Where the hell did you learn to do that?!"
She smirked at me.
"While you were not allowing us to help you, I had to keep up with training myself how to use my abilities. That's when I learned that I could move things with my mind."
"Yes, that's what telekinesis is. How did you learn how to do it, though?"
"I'm sorry, but there's a man trying to kill us. What part of 'can we do this later' do you not understand?"
I growled with anger as I stood up to look at Hex approaching us.
"You are lucky that I gave so much time to bicker amongst yourselves. Now, be prepared."
"Oh, yeah? Well I..."
I stopped once I realized it. I didn't have a comeback to that. And Lucky Girl noticed that.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
I turned my head.
"Hey, I just..."
Hex fired a shot, prompting me to jump out of the way.
"Shut up." she said as I jumped.
"What is wrong with you mortals?! I am actively trying to destroy you and you're acting like you're in the middle of some lover's quarrel!"
"It's part of our charm! Quit fucking it up!"
Once I had quit speaking, Lucky Girl spoke up.
"Shouldn't you use one of your aliens for this?"
"Oh, come on! Mr. Magic Man? I think I can handle discount Voldemort without having to resort to an alien!"
"Suit yourself."
"Mr. Magic Man" himself spoke after Lucky Girl finished with what she had to say.
"You'll soon find that your arrogance will be your downfall."
"Oh, come now." I said as I leapt onto a wall and propelled myself off of it and toward Hex. "I really don't think that you're that much of a..."
Hex surprised me before I could even attack. He turned and whacked me across the face with his staff, sending me backward. I flew into a streetlight, pain coursing through my face and back. As I sat there for a second, I saw Lucky Girl advancing toward Hex.
"Looks like I'll have to handle this myself!"
I tried to speak, but I couldn't muster anything.
No, don't. Don't put yourself at risk!
I began to stand up, not being able to stomach the thought of her getting hurt in one of my battles. One of my battles. She shouldn't even be here right now! While Hex had his attention now on her, I may be able to sneak up on him and catch him off guard. As I slowly moved toward him, he began to speak to Lucky Girl.
"What a shame. The aura about you is so powerful and you're restricted to being a boy's lapdog!"
Before she could respond, I grabbed the staff in Hex's hand and wrenched it from his grip. I followed that up by whacking him across the face with his own staff, sending him to the ground and returning the favor for what he had done to me.
"I may not want her here, but she is her own person and no lapdog, at that!"
I wasted no time in lifting the staff over my head and bringing it down lightning fast toward my knee, successfully snapping it in half.
"You fool! Breaking my staff will do nothing for you! I have multiple and..."
"Be silenced." Lucky Girl said as she cast a Gwen Bolt into his face.
Once we saw that Hex was out, she turned to look at me.
"Told you that we were more capable of fighting with you."
I scoffed.
"All you did was save me once."
"Twice!"
"Whatever. Just go home and we'll finish this later."
I turned and was about to walk away to make a phone call to S.E.C.T., so that they could come collect Hex, but she stopped me.
"You're still being like this?! Why do you have to be so distant with us?!"
I stopped in my tracks as I tried to come up with something to say in return.
"Lucky Girl..."
"I thought that you would appreciate us—me—helping out with you, especially tonight. I thought that somewhere deep down, you wanted help!"
"All I want..."
"Do you want us to break up?! Because that's the path that we're taking!"
I turned around to look at her and pulled my mask up to the bridge of my nose, so that she could see that I was gritting my teeth with frustration.
"Please. Stop talking for a few seconds."
And she did. She stopped talking and looked at me with a slightly impatient look.
"All I want is for you to go home and be safe while I do all the hard work. Enoch and the Forever Knights are obviously behind all of the recent troubles in our lives. And if he's smart, he doesn't want to kill me right away. He wants to make me suffer first, by hurting those closest to me. I've already hurt this family enough. And I'll be damned if the day comes when someone has to be buried because of my screw ups."
When I looked back at her at last, she was unexpectedly silent. And she had a sad look on her face, before she finally spoke several seconds later.
"I'm sorry. I didn't take your sense of guilt into account."
I was unsure of what to say next, but it would turn out that I wouldn't have an opportunity to say something.
"You may be powerful, young one. But even an Anodite such as yourself—and not a pure blood at that—can hold a candle to my experience."
We both turned to look at Hex, who was still very conscious.
"There's that name again!" she said. "What does it mean?"
"Don't worry about it. Let's just take care of him."
That's when I noticed Hex's eyes begin to glow a crimson red, as he lifted his hand and pointed at me—no, past me maybe. I turned around and noticed a man standing across the street, walking a German Shepherd which he had on a leash. The dog wasn't moving. It was looking at me, growling, with glowing crimson red eyes.
What is going on here?
The man attempted to calm his dog down, but to no avail. I didn't like this.
"I don't like the way this looks." I said as I began to slowly back away. "Nice doggy."
Just making that slight move was my mistake. Once I backed up just a little bit, the dog began barking. Viciously barking. And once again, there was nothing that the owner could do to calm it down. The dog began to desperately pull away from the leash, but luckily, the leash held. But not for long. Within only a couple seconds, the leash snapped and the dog came hurdling toward me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
That dog was about to attack me, while being under the control of Hex, I assumed. I wanted to move out of the way and redirect it. But I couldn't do that. If I moved out of the way, poochie here could end up attacking Lucky Girl instead of me, or possibly Hex himself. And even though that was preferrable, I still couldn't do it. As the dog got closer, I let out a sigh.
Should have used the Omnitrix, Tennyson.
Before the dog reached me, it jumped the last couple of feet toward me and bit into my thigh with force, digging it's teeth through my jeans and into my flesh. Obviously, it hurt like hell. More than that. The way I yelled with agony made that clear.
Leg's on fire. Dog's thrashing its head around as it bites me, trying to make the wound worse.
Adrenaline was coursing through me and I used that to retaliate, even though it wouldn't make the pain stop. I may have been an animal person and a dog lover, at that, but what I was about to do would be in an effort to free myself. I fought back against the pain and began hitting the dog in the head.
"Get off of me!" I yelled in simultaneous pain and anger. "Get the fuck off of me!"
My attempts to get the dog away from me solved nothing, but I didn't stop hitting. I persisted with my attacks and I was eventually surprised to hear a pained whimper come from the dog. I stopped hitting it and realized that its eyes weren't glowing anymore. Instead, I saw warm brown eyes.
Warm brown eyes full of confusion and fright. It released me and quickly ran away from me, past its owner and out of sight. Leg in complete agony, blood streaming down my thigh. I turned my head, trying to fight the pain and looked to see that Hex's eyes were no longer glowing that crimson red color, either. Lucky Girl was holding a piece of Hex's staff, which she must have used to actually knock him out this time.
"Are you okay?!" she exclaimed with worry.
What the fuck?! Are you okay?!
As I reeled with my own thoughts, she approached me, dropping the piece of Hex's staff that she had been holding.
"Am I okay?!" I exclaimed as I grabbed her leg, using it as something to brace myself as I attempted to stand. "I was bitten by a German Shepherd! Of course, I'm not okay!"
"Don't try to stand!"
I ignored her and continued pushing myself up off of the ground.
"Blood is gushing from my thigh and... Agh!"
I began to scream as waves of pain overtook my leg. I let out multiple quick and shallow breaths, as if I were hyperventilating. I fought back against the pain, trying to think clearly.
"Don't worry, just make sure he gets taken into custody." I said in a shallow voice. "I need to call Julie, so that I can go and have her patch me up."
"You can't always rely on her. Go to my father."
"Your father? How could he help me?"
"He's a surgeon."
"Oh, right. Uh, I knew that."
"No, you didn't. Also, you're being really cool about having been bitten by a dog and quickly bleeding out."
I let out a grunt.
"I have to keep my focus. As long as I remain focused, I can ignore the pain, to a certain extent."
"Give me your phone and I'll call Director Steel for you. Then we'll go see my dad together."
I reached into my pocket and brought out my phone.
"No, I'll go myself."
Lucky Girl looked at me with confusion as she took my phone.
"No? What do you mean 'no'?"
"Your mother and father will hate your choice of costume."
"Well, it's not like they're going to see it! I'll change before we get there!"
"I think I'll pass on an awkward visit. Your mother may be slightly warming up to me, but she won't like seeing us together."
"We're not going to be acting all lovey dovey!"
"You're not going."
"Aw, you're no fun!"
I'm surprised that she didn't put up much of a fight.
While she may not have been so pushy about coming with me, she wasn't done speaking yet.
"Well, if I'm not going to go with you, then how are you going to get there? I don't see you walking all the way there in your current state."
I used my other hand to dial up the Omnitrix.
"I'll use one of my alien forms. I should be able to lessen the pain by doing that."
"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own?"
"Don't worry about me. Just get back home."
"Alright, you don't have to tell me twice! I love you!"
"I love you, too."
I transformed into XLR8 and noticed that the pain dissipated a little bit. Just a little bit. After that, I took off without another word to Lucky Girl.
Sometime Later
Frank and Natalie Tennyson's House
When I showed up at Nat and Frank's front door with a bleeding leg, I had expected her to ask what I was doing here. But instead, she immediately went to get Uncle Frank while she had Ken help me in and into the kitchen, where I was sat down at the table. Now, Uncle Frank and I were sitting at the table, after he had disinfected the wound and cleaned it. He was currently stitching the wound on my thigh.
"And what did this to you, again?" he asked without looking up at me.
"A dog." I replied through gritted teeth.
"A what?"
As he spoke he looked up at me with a smirk on his face.
"It was a dog, Uncle Frank. A very big dog. A German Shepherd."
"Well, I'll finish stitching this and then I'll bandage it for you. I would still recommend that you get to a doctor, though."
Aren't you a doctor?
"I think I'll be okay."
"Alright, then. Well, in the meantime, please do be more careful. If anything must bite you, I'd rather it be my daughter."
I didn't know what to say in response to that, so after he had said that, we both sat there in an uncomfortable silence. He looked up at me with a smirk on his face.
"Kidding."
I took a breath.
"I'm going to forget that you said that."
"Probably for the best."
I let out a sigh as he continued to patch me up. He himself chuckled as he put his hands on my shoulders.
"You're like my own son, Ben."
When he said that, I was immediately hit with a feeling of guilt. I had allowed Ken to go free, hoping that he would be able to live normally. I hoped that he wouldn't inevitably transform again.
How much longer can I push this lie?
Sometime Later
Frank had finished patching me up and at this point, I was ready to leave. And as I was about to walk out the door, Aunt Natalie spoke.
"Why don't you stay a while? Visit with my son?"
Your son. Your son has a name.
Regardless, I didn't let it anger me too much. I shook my head.
"Nat, in my current state, I don't think I should be visiting right now. I'm exhausted. I want to go home. Another time, maybe."
Now, was I being truthful with that statement or was I just trying to avoid Ken at all costs?
She let out a sigh.
"Alright, then. Next time, maybe."
I nodded at her, before moving toward the door.
"See you later, Nat. At least tell him that I said hi."
"Will do. Good night."
I walked out the door without a word.
That Night
The Tennyson House
Later that night, when I laid down to go to sleep for the night, Gwen had more to talk about. As I laid there, she rolled over onto her side to look at me.
"So, do you want to finish our talk from earlier?"
I looked at the ceiling, as I breathed sharply through my nose and rolled over to face away from her.
"I don't think there's anything left to talk about."
She surprised me when she grabbed me and forced me to roll back over to face her. She looked at me with a firm, but patient gaze.
"Yes, there is. You said that you won't allow us to put ourselves at risk for you. What are you afraid of, Ben?"
I just looked at her, before I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. I shut my eyes.
Ghostfreak lifted Hex's staff into the air. The sound that followed was the horrible cracking sound that resulted in Ghostfreak hitting Albedo across the face with the staff.
My entire body tensed up as the events of that night resonated within my head.
"Ben?"
I finally opened my eyes and let out a sharp exhale, as tears ran down my cheeks.
"Ben? What is it?"
I opened my mouth and spoke.
"When I was in that simulation, I relived the night where Ghostfreak hurt you. But this time, it wasn't you. I had to watch Albedo die, Gwen. Ghostfreak beat his face up beyond recognition. It was so bad that he never regained consciousness. We had to bury him. All he wanted to do was help me and I wouldn't let him. He died because of me, Gwen."
Before Gwen responded, I briefly found myself in a dark room, illuminated only by a single glowing flame. I could just barely see Nathan standing at the other end of the room. He spoke in a somber tone, a far cry from the usual dark tone that he used.
"If I knew how to stop the memories from flowing, I would. I told you before, there are some things you can't forget, Tennyson."
The flame flickered a bit and went out, sending the room into pitch blackness.
"But that wasn't real. This is..."
Gwen's voice snapped me back to reality and I cut her off.
"You don't understand, Gwen! It felt real. It was real to me. And even now, it still feels like it really happened."
"I'm not sure what to say to this, Ben."
"Just listen! He died because he was stubborn enough to refuse my orders! And he died because I couldn't stop him from helping me!"
She was silent.
"If I knew that all of you would be safe at home, I would chain all of you to the couch! This fight is just too dangerous for you! Enoch doesn't just want to kill me, he wants to torture me! And by going for everyone I love first, he will be torturing me!"
I finally shut down and put my hands over my eyes, as the tears came once more. Suddenly, I felt her weight on top of me. She moved my hands out of the way and gently kissed my tears away. And once those were gone, she gently wiped my eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.
"Just relax, okay?" she whispered to me.
"But..."
She gently put her finger on my lips and shushed me.
"Just relax. And listen. Everything's going to be alright, I promise. No one's going to die, Ben."
"I want to believe you, but..."
She shook her head and continued, ignoring what I had said.
"Everything's going to be alright. I know that you're scared of the prospect of losing anyone, but I promise that it's not going to happen. Ben, you need to learn to let go. The simulation wasn't real and it's never going to be real."
I kept my mouth shut as I continued listening.
"You just want me to stay safe and that goes both ways for all of us, I'm sure. But you have to understand that while you're out there all alone, I begin to worry about you. I can't help but think about the possibility of you lying in an alley, beaten and bleeding to death, when you're out late. And last week, that fear almost came true."
"If you're here instead of out there, you're safe a..."
"Stop, you're not listening!"
As she said that, there was an impatient look on her face. Only a second or so later, she let out a brief sigh and a small smile appeared on her face as she continued to stare down at me.
"Just listen, okay? You can't keep us from helping you forever. You know that someone with something to protect can be a valuable ally? So, if you let us fight with you, maybe if just because you can rely on us as we rely on you, it'll make you a better fighter in the long run."
I didn't exactly see what she was saying, but for my sake, I kept my mouth shut.
"One day, you'll forget all about the simulation. I promise that it'll eventually leave you. Now, it's time for bed."
Wait, that's it? I had expected her to have more to say than that!
She reached up toward the light switch and shut off the lights. She then let out a sigh as she put her arms around me and snuggled up against my form. I allowed my hand to come to rest on the small of her back, but my mind was currently focused on something else.
I want to believe what she says, that eventually I forget all about the simulation. But could one really escape from the past?
I shut my eyes and tried to tell myself that tomorrow would be better.
Earth-21 (Old Man Ben's Dimension)
The Bunker
Old Man Albedo
I stood at my computer terminal in my lab, going over the data from an experiment earlier that day. As I stood there, I felt another coughing fit beginning to well up within me. However, I heard the door to the lab open, so I tried my best to hold it in. I heard footsteps and eventually, my assistant, who had stunningly beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes and who was a bit younger than me, walked up to the table, stopping on the other side of it.
"Here's all of the data that we've collected today." She replied in a voice that sounded like music to my ears.
She handed me a folder.
"Thanks, Alice."
She nodded with a smile on her face. I looked back at her for a split second, then turned back to my terminal. When neither of us spoke, she broke the silence after a few seconds.
"I'm leaving for the night, sir. You always did obsess over your work."
"Good night, Alice." I spoke without looking up at her.
I heard her turn on her heel, before her footsteps began to fade. I looked up and watched her walk out of the lab, the door shutting behind her. Once I knew that she was far enough away, I put my hands over my mouth and began to cough. The cough shook my entire body and it felt as though I was being ripped apart on the inside. Once the coughing had subsided, I retracted my hands from my face and took a glance at them. And I didn't like what I saw. Here and there, across both of my palms, as well as the fingers on both hands, were small, red specks. There was no disputing what it was.
Blood.
There couldn't have been another explanation. I had just coughed up blood, even if it was just in small specks. I found myself collapsing onto the floor of the lab, possibly out of fear for myself, exhaustion, maybe both.
"Fuck." Was all I could say.
Next Chapter: The final member of the new Insidious Seven is defeated in humiliating fashion. Ben and Kai continue to grow apart. Meanwhile, light begins to be shed on Enoch's masterplan.
