Ben opened the door to his apartment, he looked at phone and read the text from Nadia
Hey Ben, Kaori and I are gonna work on our report for the Zoo and we're going to meet at my house, I'll send you my address
Ben mapped the address and made his way there, Ben kept looking over his shoulder making sure he wasn't being followed, the paranoia was infesting his head, it had already been a week since his encounter with the Shroud and nothing has happened since. Ben entered the subway station and got onto the train, he noticed that she lived in Downtown Brooklyn, he had never been to that area. The train stopped and Ben got off, he looked around and went up the stairs, a man approached Ben "hey man, you got some change?" Ben backed up a bit and said "sorry man, subway drained me, going to see a girl" the man smiled "my man, God Bless you" Ben gave a thumbs up and kept going. Ben emerged out of the subway and followed the map to an apartment complex, the place looked as if it were hit with a cannon full of dirt, he could barely tell what color the building was supposed to be. Ben walked inside and saw that the interior wasn't much better, the wallpaper was peeling off the walls, arguing families echoed through the building and there was a random TV playing Telemundo next to the stairs.
Ben made his way up the stairs, he found a bucket on one of the landing platforms, he checked his texts "246" Ben whispered, Ben found the apartment and knocked on the door "I'll be right there" Ben didn't recognise the voice of the person so he braced himself as he was gonna meet someone new. The door nearly flung open and Ben was met with a beautiful and curvaceous woman, she had espresso colored silky smooth skin, her hair was in messy braids, two big braids draped both sides of her head and stopped near her midsection ending in tassles of hair, she wore a black Gucci Hoodie and black denim shorts with red stockings all her clothes were form fitting to her body as if they were designed to accentuate her body, her face was peppered with freckles like Nadia and she had a septum piercing in her nose, this woman radiated confidence. She had a very catty smirk on her face as she eyed Ben up and down "lemme guess...you must be Ben" Ben stood there dumbfounded "hello? Earth to white boy" Ben snapped out of it "u-uh, I'm here to see Nadia, we have a project and-" the woman made an "mhm" sound interrupting Ben "right, a 'project' don't act slick, I know what you want" the woman then called into the apartment "Dee, that boy is here" she then looked at Ben and winked which made Ben's whole nervous system shiver. Ben could hear rustling coming from one of the rooms in the apartment and Nadia came barreling out of one and approached the front door while fixing her hair, Nadia came into the doorway next to the woman "hey Ben" Nadia said with Ben giving an awkward smile "hey Nadia, is Kaori here too?" Nadia shook her head "no, she isn't here yet which is weird considering she lives closer to me than you do" Nadia looked at the woman and back to Ben "oh! I forgot to introduce you, this is my older sister Tamara, Tamara this is my friend Ben" Tamara gave Ben another catty smirk "friend...right, well come in Ben, don't be shy".
Ben entered the apartment, the inside was so nice which was juxtaposed with the rest of the complex "your home is so nice" Ben said with Nadia responding "thank you, it's nice to hear that from you" Tamara yawned "damn, y'all are boring" Nadia nudged her sister with her elbow and Tamara threw up her hands "alright, I'll leave you two alone but...I'd be quiet if I were you Nadia" Tamara walked off and Ben felt the stress leave his body "I'll text Kaori and see where she is" Nadia looked at her phone to see that Kaori had texted her
Good Luck
Nadia whispered under her breath "seriously?" Ben looked at her "you say something?" Nadia became flustered and shook her head "nothing, Kaori is feeling ill so she'll have to take a rain check so we can reschedule if you want or..." Ben responded "we can probably get a lot done without her, she's not exactly a team player" Nadia nodded "yeah, you're probably right, let's uhhh, let's go to my room" from a distance Tamara made a noise "oooooooh, you better hurry, mama's coming home soon" Nadia went beet red and yelled back "shut up Tamara!" Nadia marched off and Ben followed. They entered Nadia's room, her room was a cool shade of blue, the carpet was dark blue with a star map on it "careful of the carpet, I'm doing charts" Ben maneuvered around the system of lines and stars, he noticed she had posters of scientists on her wall, Tesla, Newton, and Nye were among them. Ben sat on her bed while Nadia sat at her desk, her Computer was an old laptop that looked like it was from 2020. She typed on her computer while Ben leaned back on his hands "I have the layout of our project designed, I already have my report in it, now all we need to do is combine it with yours" Ben scratched the back of his head "yeah...the thing is...I forgot" Nadia pouted "really Ben? You need to stay on top of this stuff, you haven't been to school in a week and Mrs. Moirah is getting impatient" Ben laughed "yeah...I'll get to work on it here".
Ben and Nadia exited her room and into the kitchen where they saw Tamara watching TV "damn sis, you finish up quick, all before mom got home" Nadia went red "Tamara! We're just friends, and besides, Ben already has a girlfriend" Tamara raised one eyebrow and got up, she moved very fast and cornered Ben putting her hand against the wall and invading Ben's personal space "okay white boy, what the fuck are you tryna do with my baby sister? Are you into some freaky shit?" Nadia grabbed her sister's arm and yanked her "oh my god Tamara you're so embarrassing" Tamara was dragged a bit by her sister and she called out at Ben "you better not try anything" Nadia shoved her into her room and returned to Ben "I'm so sorry about that" Ben was very sweaty from the experience "I'm fine, I just, anyway, what were we working on?"
Nadia and Ben sat down at the kitchen table "again, I'm sorry about my sister, she's a little intense and very protective of me" Ben responded "I'm not going to act like I know what it's like to have a sibling but I understand" Nadia put her hand on her chin "yeah, growing up it was mostly just her and I, mom and dad were always working to put food on the table and Tamara needed someone after her dad died so she felt extra attached to me, she called me her little teddy bear when I was a baby" Nadia looked at her laptop and sighed "after she graduated from highschool and went to college she would text and call me everyday to ask how I was doing and then...after awhile the calls and texts stopped, I never really minded it because I could focus on my studies, after I got accepted to Greenville I had even less time" Ben looked at Nadia, shocked, he had never heard her talk about her life like this "then she showed up out of nowhere a few days ago and she just won't leave me alone, I think she really missed me". Ben and Nadia sat there for a bit, Ben broke the silence when be grabbed his bag and took out his notebook "well, let's get started" Nadia began typing "okay, what did you witness at the Zoo?" Ben tapped his eraser against his chin and then wrote "broken glass and hospital bed" Nadia punched him in the arm and giggled "no, what kind of animals did we see?" Ben shrugged "not much, unless we count the huddled masses escaping mortal danger animals" Nadia stopped typing, Ben could hear the gears turning in her head "that's it!" Nadia began erasing things on her computer "whoa whoa, did I miss something?" Nadia responded "Mrs. Moirah has always encouraged us to see the silver lining, while we didn't get to see a lot of animals, we can write a thesis on the concept of herd evacuation, the theory that all animal communities experience this practice when confronted with danger, how even humans will group together in large groups while getting away from danger to up their chances of survival because the source of danger targeting them is lower when there are more humans!" Nadia was drooling at the theory she crafted.
The front door of the apartment opened and Nadia looked up "mom? You home?" There was no answer "mom?" Nadia repeated but there was no answer aswell, suddenly a clawed hand grabbed the edge of the door and Shellshock emerged "so this is her place" Ben shot up out of his chair and got infront of Nadia while Nadia stepped back. Shellshock looked at Ben and Nadia "oh! Collateral damage" Shellshock chuffed while making his way into the apartment. Tamara barged into the living room "what the fuck is going on?!" She stopped when she saw Shellshock "ahhh, there you are, you got a debt to pay" Shellshock charged with an open claw and Ben moved quickly, Ben grabbed Shellshock's arm and redirected him using his own momentum and tossing him through the couch "you two! Get out of here!" Ben shouted, Tamara grabbed Nadia by the arm and made her way to the door, Nadia tried to break her grip "no! I'm not leaving Ben" Shellshock recovered and rubbed his head "not bad kid, but now I gotta turn you into a smear!" Shellshock charged and Ben jumped and vaulted over Shellshock. Ben landed and grabbed a dining room chair, Shellshock turned around and Ben smashed the chair into his face but it did next to nothing. Ben backed up and took a running start running straight at Shellshock "that's it kid! Throw your life away!" Ben screamed as he ran and Shellshock reeled back his claw, Ben suddenly lowered and slid right between Shellshock's legs and quickly ran out the doorway.
Shellshock stumbled and fell trying to turn around "you little shit!" Ben ran through the hallway and down another quickly jumping through a window and landing on the fire escape "time to transform!" Ben said "Prowwl, Let's Hunt!" Ben transformed and waited. Shellshock barreled through the hallway and stopped when he noticed ths broken window, Shellshock approached and looked out it only to get dropkicked by Beowulf causing him to fall back, Beowulf hung onto the window sill "man, you just can't seem to keep yourself out of trouble can you? Terrorizing teenagers and all that". Shellshock got up and felt his jaw "great, and here I thought I was flying under the radar" Beowulf quipped back "dude, you're dressed like a Thor's pet turtle, chancss are someone was gonna call it in". Shellshock growled and Beowulf jumped forward and threw a left hook that was caught by Shellshock, Shellshock grabbed Beowulf by the throat and slammed him into a wall "I'll kill ya quick, I got a beautiful woman that's just dying to talk to me" Beowulf's eyes turned red "sorry buddy, I don't think she's into you" a clone suddenly manifested and punched Shellshock causing him to release his grip. Beowulf spawned two more clones "okay boys, it's blitz tactic" the clones nodded and charged, all of then jumped up with fists reeled back but they were all blown away by some unknown force, the one of the clones stopped itself and put its hands forward stopping the other two, Beowulf looked to see Duma standing there "it looks like you need som assistance my lumbering teammate" Shellshock scoffed "you're lucky, if it were up to me I'd have fried you for that bad mouth of yours".
Beowulf created another two clones "okay, limit the property damage boys" the clones nodded and charged in, the clones attacked Shellshock overwhelming him while Beowulf stepped stepped in right infront of Duma, Beowulf placed his foot behind Duma's preventing him from escaping, Beowulf reeled back and hit Duma with a right hook that sent Duma sprawling to the floor. Duma recovered and dashed out of sight "dammit, he's too fast" Beowulf whispered before getting hit with a shoulder check that slammed him into a wall, Duma jumped up and attacked with an open claw covered in yellow energy. Beowulf quickly intercepted the attack by grabbing Duma's hand, Beowulf smirked and forced Duma to create a hand sign, a bead on Beowulf's left wrist glowed and Beowulf's costume changed to a turquoise, Beowulf began channeling wind on his right palm and shaped it into a ball hitting Duma with it and sending him flying out a window.
Shellshock stumbled as the clones circled him, one slid and tripped him with the othee four got underneath him and kicked him right into the ceiling, when Shellshock began to fall the clones all punched him right through a wall and onto the streets below "guys, c'mon, we just had this talk" Beowulf said while allt the clones scratched their heads. Beowulf jumped out of the window, he didn't see Duma "oh no, Nadia" Beowulf sniffed the air and caught Nadia's scent...and Duma's. Beowulf and the clones made their way to Nadia where he found himself in an alley, Beowulf looked down to see Nadia unconcious and Duma holding Tamara by the throat. Beowulf summoned a wolf head on his left hand "okay, let's see if I got this down" Beowulf launched the head "Devour Art: Tether Fang!" the wolf missed landing near Duma's feet. Duma looked up at Beowulf "you missed" Duma taunted with Beowulf shrugging "yeah...but atleast it distracted you" Duma realized too late and the clones moved in, one chopped Duma'a forearm causing him to release his grip and the others threw kicks into Duma's midsection sending him flying. Beowulf jumped down and checked on Nadia who woke up "Beowulf? Wait, where's my sister?" Beowulf responded "don't worry, we saved her but...I'm gonna need your help" Beowulf pulled out a Miraculous Box "Shellshock is bad enough but Duma makes things a lot more complicated so...Nadia Fuentes, this is the Miraculous of the Dolphin which grants the powers of Healing and Comnection, you stay at a distance and feed me information you pick up" Nadia took the Miraculous Box, she looked at her sister who was being looked after by one of the clones "okay, I'll do it" Beowulf pointed to an alleyway "transform there, then connect with me" Nadia nodded and went into the alley while Beowulf turned to see Duma recovering "okay Duma, time to tango".