Kevin is bored. In fact, most of his week has been dull. He's also a little pent up with excess energy. He just needs to hit something really. He wants to hit himself. He can't really do that though.
Today he was supposed to meet with Gwen so they can work on her powers, but he kind of ruined that this week.
Kevin shakes one of his Tetramand legs aggressively from where he sits as he thinks.
He only feels partially bad about the spat the two had, but he's concerned. She truly did almost collapse last week, and he can't figure out why. Gwen's use of her powers is getting exponentially better, so why was it exhausting her faster than their first fight?
Kevin was thinking deeply about anything that could have changed since then, but he came up empty.
He also doesn't see Gwen for more than half the day or at all on some days. How could he know if anything was different? Gwen spends the majority of her days with Rook and Ben. Maybe they knew if anything has changed. He'll ask about that later.
Max sits in Kevin's study with him, going through a couple reports on other aliens who have gone missing. His face is grim with his brow furrowed.
Kevin knows that should be what he's focusing on instead. He just so pent up with excess energy.
Kevin grabs another file on his desk and starts skimming the information.
Whoever the mole is knows that Max is onto them, because no technology or weapons have been stolen in the past month. Pierce's team were the only lead they had and to be honest, none of them seemed like the type to betray the Plumbers, or at least betray Max. All of them had a clear and definite alibi too. If it is anyone from that group, they are not working alone.
Kevin's face twists in irritation before he catches something in one of the photos taken from the Plumbers Fair.
He sees a familiar pattern, he can't place it, but he knows it. It's in the shape of a star imprinted on a girl's arm. It's too grotesque to be a tattoo, it looks almost like she was branded. Kevin places that to the side and starts digging into other photos that were taken by the press. He starts flipping through multiple newspapers and magazines. He finds another photo, but a different girl, with the same branded mark. This girl looks more exhausted than the previous, the dark circles under her eyes are almost purple against her fair skin.
Kevin sets that one with the previous photo. After looking through the stacks of news from the Plumbers Fair, Kevin finds about fifteen different photos.
In all the photos these girls have the same weird star branded into their skin, and they all look as if they're lost. They stand out in comparison to the crowd they're in. The weirdest photo Kevin finds is near the end, it's the same girl that he saw in the first photo, but she looks completely different. Her body is sagging as if she can't move it too far, her eyes seemed to be sagging into her face, and she has more than one star branded across her arm.
Kevin shoves the photos over to Max.
"Look at these and tell me what you think." Kevin gruffly says.
He's trying to place where he's seen that imprint on the skin before, but he's coming up with blanks. That only frustrates him more.
Max's face is serious as he looks through the photos, spotting the same similarities as Kevin does.
"This is odd Kevin, but I don't see a connection to the missing aliens." Max replies as he sets the photos down.
"I know it doesn't, but I've seen that mark, recently. I just can't place it." Kevin murmurs as he stares holes in the photos, as if staring longer will give him the answers.
Before Max can respond to tell Kevin he's fixating on the wrong thing, Ben bursts into the room without knocking.
"Tennyson do you even know how to knock?" Kevin sighs at his friend.
"Yeah, I do, I learned that very quickly with Gwen." Ben announced proudly. "I just don't care about your privacy." He smiles smugly at Kevin and walks over to see the papers on the table.
"What are you guys looking through this time?" Ben asks seriously, the joking tone gone.
"I was going through the most recent reports of missing aliens." Max tells his grandson. "No new information that we don't already know." He sighs in exhaustion as he sets that file aside.
Ben picks up one of the various photos on the table Kevin had put out.
"What are these?" Ben asks, he picks up a few and scrunches his eyes at them.
"I just found those, they're all girls with the same weird imprint on them. It's not a tattoo either. It's like intended into their skin." Kevin explains it by pointing them out to Ben.
Ben's face is scrunched as he looks at those marks intently. He's concentrating as he shuffles between them.
"Do you know that mark Tennyson?" Kevin asks, hoping that if Ben knows he can finally place it too.
"Yeah... it's not a good thing though." Ben replied. Setting the photos down.
Max is sitting up straighter now looking at Ben.
"Where have you see that mark Ben?" he asks him.
Ben crosses his arms over his chest, he is apprehensive and hesitant, before he looks at Kevin or Max in the eyes.
"Gwen has one of those on her arms." Ben says quietly.
Kevin and Max look at each other in worry before concentrating on Ben again.
"She's been wearing her sleeves lower, she had to push it up yesterday when we were working on something in the weapons bay, and I saw it on her wrist. I asked her if she burned herself on something, but she just brushed me off quickly and covered it back up." Ben explains to the two men in front of him.
"That's where I saw it then." Kevin replies bitterly, a sour taste sits in his mouth.
"Last week when we were training, I saw it for a split second, she's been covering it for a while." Kevin states with a look of contempt on his face.
"So, what do we do?" Ben asks.
Max sighs and rubs his face with his hand, "We need to talk to her. Ask her if she knows where it's coming from. There's clearly a connection. It's just knowing what it is."
Kevin nods in agreement.
Ben turns to leave the room, "She's with Rook, I'll grab them both."
After Ben leaves the air between Max and Kevin is dense.
"Do you think she has anything to do with kidnappings and the stolen tech?" Kevin asks Max.
Max is resting his head in hand, leaning onto the desk. He pauses to look up at Kevin.
"Truthfully? No, not unless she's a great actress. Those things were happening before she arrived."
Kevin's shoulder loosens up, the tense muscles relaxing at hearing that. It was a reassurance he hadn't let a stranger into their circle at the expense of their safety.
"I think whoever it is, is targeting her. For whatever reason, Gwen's the target." Max says darkly watching the door waiting for Ben to come back.
Kevin doesn't know how to feel about that information. He knows that simmering anger from earlier is bubbling to the surface. It's going to boil over if they don't find out who it is. Kevin doesn't feel any sympathy for this unknown person, he knows he is going to punch a hole in something soon if he doesn't control himself.
Kevin tries to control his breathing and take deep breaths. His body is aching for him to move. He hasn't been set off like this in a while. He just hopes he can take his anger out on the right person this time and not the few who are here to help him.
He watches the door like a hawk and waits for Ben to come back with Gwen.
Hi everybody! I haven't put any authors note in any of the previous chapters, I've been cross posting this on AO3 and I have a few authors notes over there. Anyway, I really appreciate if you've been reading this and enjoying it. I'm not sure if anyone really is but I'm really enjoying writing this. I have this weird Beauty and the Beast AU in my brain for a very long time and I finally just decided to write it. Thanks so much if you've been reading this and enjoying it.
