Chapter 145: Revelations
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 Five!
* So, this is a pretty big chapter. I want to thank annihalator2015 for assisting with the development of this chapter. I probably wouldn't have been able to do half of it on my own, so thank you, my friend.
* Anway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Let's get into it.
Earth-Prime
Sunday, February 3rd, 2019
The Tennyson House
Ben
The following morning I slept in a few hours. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning by the time I had woken up. I got out of bed and wasn't surprised when I saw that Gwen had already left the room. I turned to my right, to see Snowball sitting at the foot of the bed. I stepped forward and began patting her head, scratching behind her ears as I did.
As I did this, she laid down on the bed, as if she were relaxed by the attention I was giving her. As much as I'd like to stay with her and keep giving her attention, I needed to get on with my day. I left the room and entered the living room, somewhat surprised to see that Mom wasn't present. Albedo and Sunny were sitting on the couch, but with no sign of Gwen.
"Mom?" I asked them. "Gwen?"
"Our Mom, erm, your Mom went back to the hospital and took your sister with her."
"You can call her our Mom. I won't mind and I'm sure she won't mind, either."
Sunny got up from the couch.
"I'll go let Gwen know that you're awake."
She walked past Albedo, through the kitchen and disappeared down the hall toward the basement stairs. He continued looking at me.
"Before she left, she asked me to make sure that you're doing okay. So, are you?"
I let out a sigh as I spread my hands a bit on either side of me, with a solemn look on my face.
"I'm doing as well as I can."
He continued looking at me still.
"And... what about you and your blind rage? On the day it..."
"Please, let's not talk about that. I think it's better if we forget that I almost lost myself."
"If you say so."
Sunny returned from the basement, with Gwen in tow.
"Are you doing okay?" she asked pretty much the same question that Albedo asked me.
"I'm still here." I said in a simple tone.
"Still here?"
"I... haven't tried to veer off the beaten path again."
"Good. I'm glad to hear it. I'll go make you something to have for breakfast."
Last night, I decided that I'll need to put a team together. Nathan Black. I need to start by talking to Nathan Black.
I nodded.
"Okay. While you do that, I'm going to step out for a second. I need to make a phone call."
"Alright."
She departed into the kitchen without a word. I walked back down the hall toward the bedroom without another word. Once in there, I grabbed my black leather jacket, along with my phone and walked back into the living room. I stepped out the front door and onto the stoop, shutting it behind me. Nathan had me log his contact information into my phone, so I was already good on that front. I activated the screen on my phone, put in my passcode and brought up my contact list. I scrolled until I found his number and dialed his number. I waited until he answered and spoke first.
"Hey Nathan, before you say anything, it's me. It's Ben Tennyson."
"Morning Tennyson, hope you didn't cross one of those lines last night. What do you need from me?" he answered as I could hear the rustling of dishes from his end.
"Good morning, Nathan. No, I didn't cross one of those lines. Look, I was acting like a bit of an asshole yesterday and that's completely unfair to you, seeing as you've got nothing to do with the source of my stress."
Nathan chuckled.
"We all need to vent sometimes, Tennyson. Trust me, I've dealt with much worse than someone being an asshole to me. But, you wouldn't call me just to apologize, you'd do that in person. What's the real purpose for calling me?"
"I'll get to the point pretty quickly. Yesterday was a bit of a blur for me, seeing as I spent most of it in a blind rage, but when you found me at my clubhouse yesterday, I recall you telling me that it was my girlfriend, Gwen, who told you where to find me. Now, I don't know how much she told you or even if she told you anything about what was going on with me, but needless to say, yeah. Some pretty deep shit has happened in the last day or so."
"Gwen only told me where you were and that you were heading down a dark path, suppose she thought I was the best person to help you out. Don't know why though, but I'm not gonna turn down a chance to help a friend out. Don't suppose you wanna to talk about what happened?"
I remembered that a few days ago, Nathan had given me his address in case I ever needed to talk with him in person outside of school.
"Yeah, I do. There are a good amount of things that I'd like to get off my chest and I think you're the only person who could understand what I have to say. I think it would be better to have this talk in person. I still have your address that you wrote down for me. Would it be alright if I drove up to your place?"
"Sure, go on ahead. Gives me time to make the place a little more presentable. See you once you get here, Tennyson."
"Don't rush yourself. I haven't eaten breakfast yet and the only thing I've eaten in the last day and a half was last night's dinner. And you saw how skinny I looked when I came back a couple weeks after winter break ended, so skipping meals is a luxury that I cannot afford. I'll see you soon, Nathan."
"You can have breakfast at my place, I like to bake as a hobby, so there should be enough for you and then some, Tennyson. Grab something for the road if you absolutely cannot afford to leave without eating."
There was a rustle from his side after he said that. Maybe he was switching his phone to the other ear, I don't know.
"I'll talk to you once you get here, later Tennyson."
After that, he ended the call. I stood there for a few seconds, before I slipped my phone back into my pocket and headed back inside. After I shut the door behind me, I walked into the kitchen where Gwen was getting ready to make my breakfast.
"Hey, Gwen? I have to talk to Nathan as soon as possible, so I'm going to drive up to his place to talk and I'll have breakfast there, as well."
She turned to look at me.
"But I was going to make you breakfast!"
I took a quick look around the kitchen.
"It doesn't look like you've even started yet. And Nathan didn't exactly give me a chance to decline the offer, so I'm going to have to take him up on it."
"Oh, so he offered for you to eat at his place?"
"Yes."
"Well, if you must."
She turned around and walked over to a bowl of fruit on the counter. She grabbed one of the green apples from it, turned back to face me and tossed it my way. I caught it in one hand and gave her a questioning look.
"What's this?"
"Eat it on the way."
"Gwen, seriously."
"I am being serious. You're still a little thin! And you skipped almost every meal except for dinner in the last day or so. You need to eat."
I forced a sigh and relented.
"Okay. I'll eat it on the way there."
"Thank you. I love you, honey. Stay safe."
"I will. I love you, too."
I walked out of the kitchen and to my room to get dressed, after which I'd get my car keys and I'd leave.
An Hour or So Later
Nathan Black's House – The Country Outside of Bellwood
I pulled up into the driveway outside of Nathan's place. I got out of my car and took a second to admire the home. It looked really nice. Certainly nicer than my parents' house looked. I walked the path to the front door, stepped up to it before I knocked and waited for Nathan. After a few seconds, Nathan came to the door and opened it for me. Once he opened it, the smell of baked goods hit my nose.
"Come on in." he greeted me. "There are quite a few that are ready, but there are a couple that need to cool. You don't have any allergies to burdock, rosehips, lavender, or dandelion weed do you?"
"Not that I know of." I replied as I stepped into the residence, taking a look around the place as Nathan shut the door behind me. "Nice place. Seems pretty cozy, maybe even more so than my house back in the Suburbs. Did your family buy, rent, or build this place, if you don't mind me asking?"
I asked this as I followed him into his kitchen.
"Bought it, made an addition to the back deck though, in that we added a second back deck. Specifically me and some friends of the family. Also tore up a small patch of earth before flattening it and adding some brickwork to make a fire pit in the back yard. We don't own just the building, but everything within the fence we own as well."
Nathan sat down a plate with some toast with a spread of something a little different than I was used to.
"Some toasted lavender and honey bread with spiced honey butter."
Honey bread... spiced honey butter... that's something I've never had before, I thought.
"Thanks. Um, should I get to what's on my mind now or would it be better to wait until after we're done eating?"
"I already ate, that's for you. You can get to what's on your mind now, if you want, or can you wait until after you've eaten. It's your choice to make, not mine, Tennyson."
Nathan spoke as he grabbed a nondescript brown bottle with a pop top from his fridge.
"Oh, alright then. Well, I suppose I'll wait. I wouldn't want to talk on an empty stomach."
"Alright, then we'll wait."
Nathan popped the top off of the bottle and took a swig from it. Afterwards, he looked at the bottle with a thinking look on his face. I looked on curiously.
"Is that alcohol or something?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Mead, been trying to get the flavour for this one right. The ingredients for flavouring were the best choice, but the depth of the flavour takes a lot of trial and error. This bottle is from the latest batch, though the batch itself needs some more aging before the flavour is just right."
He looked at me as he spoke.
"Why? You want to try some? It doesn't pack much of a punch like hard liquors do, more akin to a beer or a wine in alcohol content right now."
I waved my hand as I took a bite out of my toast.
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm still a minor. And even if I wasn't, I don't think it'd be something that I would be into."
"Fair enough. A lot better than beer in taste though, fruity, with a bit of a floral bouquet. This batch anyway."
Nathan put the top back on the bottle and put it back in the fridge.
"So, how do you like the toast?"
"It's good. I haven't had anything quite like it. As for a spread, just regular butter with a dash of cinnamon and sugar is as far as I'd usually go with toast."
"Bread was made with honey and culinary lavender, butter was made with some dark molasses, some honey from a farmers market, and some ground cardamom, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and grains of paradise. Recipe was adapted from a cookbook I own, decided to mix the recipes for spiced butter and honey butter together, which makes a damn great spread. I'm guessing you think it's a little much?"
"Maybe I do, but I still think it's good. And I'll still eat it."
"Most of my ingredients I try to get at farmers markets, which while a tad more expensive than what you can get at stores, is way better in quality. Have to get some store bought items though, because there are no good substitutes for certain ingredients. You bake or cook, Tennyson?"
"Neither, actually. My Mom and Dad usually do that kind of stuff. I'm too busy to cook or bake."
"You should, it's quite calming, barring certain meals where there's one part that's just tiring all the way through, though ultimately rewarding. Plus it's useful to know how to bake and cook before you move out, not after."
"Yeah, you're not wrong. That's for sure."
Sometime Later
After I finished eating what Nathan had made me, we left the kitchen and went to go sit in the lounge downstairs. There were nice furnishings, with only one corner being pretty much bare.
"So, tell me what's on your mind, Tennyson. What secret have you got for me to keep?" Nathan asked with a chuckle, as he took a seat on a big leather couch, which took up basically an entire corner of the room before continuing about five feet in either direction.
I took a couch that had an L shape to it, except both sides were the same length with the middle part connecting the two. I sat at the other end of the couch.
"If you had already been suspicious of me, if you had already considered what I'm about to tell you, then I wouldn't be surprised. I've already told you a few things, things that may have been better to keep to myself, so that's just more to add to anything you had already thought of me. Anyway, you know that alien vigilante that we keep hearing about on the news? Or the multiple alien vigilantes?"
I looked down at the floor for a second, before I looked back up at Nathan and continued.
"Well, I'm that vigilante, buddy. All of them. An alien device that allows me to take multiple different forms is what enables me to do these things. I don't have it anymore, because it was confiscated after a series of unfortunate events, so you'll just have to trust what I say."
Nathan chuckled.
"I was wondering whether or not it was you, I had my suspicions. You were a lot more than anyone else, barring maybe your brother, though he clearly needs some time to adjust to his senses, because I'm pretty sure he's slacking in that department. But I have to ask why you're telling me this. While I'm sure I'm one of the very few people you can trust with this information, I need to ask what your game is, Tennyson. You wouldn't come just to tell me this in person, you've another motive for it, I'm sure, however I've a feeling you've still some things to say before we get to that point, am I correct?"
"I will tell you what my game is, Nathan. You can be sure of that. But surely, you must understand that it took some courage to come here with the intent of telling you, even more to tell you, so maybe you'll let me explain a few more things before I tell you my motive."
A small smile formed on his face.
"Aye, I'm sure it did, Tennyson. That's not the kind of thing you let everyone know, and something you let even close friends know without knowledge they'll keep silent about it. But you can be sure that I'll not let anyone know your secret, even upon pain of death."
"I appreciate it, but that secret is child's play compared to something else I know. Will you do me the honor of allowing me to explain further, so my motive will make sense?"
He gestured for me to continue.
"Aye."
"Thank you. Have you ever heard of a group of fine folks called the Forever Knights?"
I said the word "fine" with clear and audible sarcasm.
"Aye, been waging a war against them since I got here. Mainly small things, such as ruining their reputation with the criminal underworld by planting some false evidence here, a rumour there. If someone higher up decides to come and calm things down, well they usually leave in a body bag."
As he spoke, Nathan's tone turned dark, with no hint of sarcasm in his voice. That's when I knew that he wasn't joking about what he had said. That's also when I decided not to question what he said about higher ups leaving in a body bag.
"You plan on hitting the bastards hard sometime soon?"
"Seems interesting that someone as young as you is waging a war against them. But I know that you have your reasons and I won't pry."
I took a breath before continuing.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, buddy. They're a group of terrible people. They love genetically altering and conditioning innocent people for their own agenda of terrorism, I would say. You must already know all of this, but I can't stop myself. I saw them pumping alien DNA into a teen boy, trying to get him to spontaneously combust. They've done terrible things to me and my family, too. And I'll start with their most recent act."
I took a deep breath as I looked down once more.
Well, no turning back now. It's full steam ahead from here on out. Once I tell him this, I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to stop myself from speaking more about them.
I looked back up at him, with a cold, serious look on my face. Nathan's reaction to the look on my face, if he even had one, didn't register with me.
"The day before yesterday, after I offered Mr. Enoch, their leader, a truce, he ordered a hired assassin to kill my Dad. It probably seemed bad at first, but I have news that he's survived his surgery. It may be possible that he'll lose his leg, but I'm not sure."
"Ah." Nathan said, before going silent for a minute, eventually speaking back up. "It takes a strong man to not kill the one responsible for shooting a member of their family when they have the chance. Had it been me, I likely would've gutted the one responsible right then and there, and left his body hanging from a street lamp with his own intestines."
I shuddered as Nathan described how he would have handled the situation. He went silent for another few minutes before speaking again.
"I'm guessing you want to hit Enoch because he reneged on the truce and had a man go after your family, but you can't do it alone because you've no longer the power of that device at your side?"
Him going back on his promise has nothing to do with it. It's about what he did to my father.
I continued on, nonetheless.
"I wanted to kill the man who fired the shot. I almost did. But I think the literal fucking Devil whispering into my ear is what stopped me. The assassin isn't the one I should be mad at. He was just a mutt following orders. I'm saving my anger for Enoch himself."
Nathan chuckled darkly.
"We've all got devils and angels on our shoulder, Tennyson, some are just worse than others. If you're asking for my help, I'll give it, but on one condition: I get to kill Enoch. You can make his last moments a living Hell by breaking bones and damaging his organs, but I put that whoreson to death."
So far, talking to Nathan had been smooth sailing. It wasn't until now that it was beginning to get difficult. Nevertheless, I continued on as calmly as I could.
"I understand if you want to kill him. But I also want you to understand this. I want to kill him. It's not just about what he did to my father. He's made the last few months of my life a living hell. Maybe if you allow me to explain further, you may understand how I feel about it."
That's when the moment took a turn. A turn that I should have expected.
"Tennyson, he may have hurt your father, but he killed mine. I won't rest at his death by your hands, I want to personally kill the bastard and put his head on a pike!"
As he began to say this, it was as if another side of me had awakened, a darker side of me.
I don't care if he killed your father! He tried to kill my father and because of what he did, he may never walk again! If anyone is going to wipe that spawn of Satan off the face of the earth, it's gonna be me!
"You don't understand! That son of a bitch... That motherless piece of..."
I stopped speaking as I realized that I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. My blood felt like it was boiling.
Get up, a voice whispered into my ear.
Wait, what? That voice... that was the same voice that tried urging me to kill Sixsix!
Get your ass up off of that couch and leave right now. If he won't let you kill Enoch, then I will. Get the hell out of that house, and go to their headquarters. Walk past the reception desk, go up the elevator, walk into his office and blow his God damn head off. Steal a gun if you have to!
"Tennyson."
Nathan's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked back at him. He was giving me a cautionary look, as if he was ready to subdue me if necessary.
Why would he give me that look?! I'm a friendly guy! I don't present a threat to him!
"You been feeling alright lately?"
Of course I have. That voice is gone and I can sort of relax again. If I'm being honest, I'd be even more relaxed if you weren't giving me that look right now.
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I'm as fit as a..."
"No, you're not. Your face is completely flushed, like you just ran a marathon. Breathe. I'll go get you a glass of water, then I want you to tell me more about that alien device, as well as the voice you heard last night. Depending on how long you've had that device, losing it might have had more of an impact on you than you realize, mentally."
Nathan got up from his spot on the couch and went back upstairs. He came back soon after with a glass and filling it at the sink behind the bar in the lounge. He came back to me and I took the glass from him. I drank half of it before I looked back up at him.
"It's called the Omnitrix. I found it Thanksgiving night of last year, at a meteor crash site in the woods behind my house. It's sentient, some kind of living machine that can think for itself. When I started out wearing it, there was an additional voice in my head, its voice. It was childish at first, but overtime it was like it matured. It started giving me helpful thoughts. It's benevolent, I think it means to assist me. However, this winter, my brother, Albedo and I swapped watches."
I took a breath before continuing.
"You see, he has an Omnitrix, too. A Dark Omnitrix, I call it, because of its color scheme and the way that it colors his aliens. When we swapped temporarily, which at the time, we didn't even know it had happened, there was no voice that belonged to it. But I started acting more violent and reckless. You saw for yourself how I was. For God's sake, it almost made me abuse my girlfriend and I would never even think about such a thing. Surely even you know that I'm a decent guy."
I took a deep breath as I looked at the floor, before I looked back up at him and continued.
"The voice I've been hearing tries to get me to do bad things. It urged me to commit murder. This may sound crazy, but before I was seperated from the Dark Omnitrix, I think it may have embedded a piece of itself into my psyche. I think it's possible that part of it still lives within me!"
"Likely your Omnitrix kept it silent, dormant perhaps. But the moment it was gone, that voice started to wake up. Looks like it finally woke up fully during the moment of rage and anger you had last night, all of those dark emotions swirling about must have given it the energy it needed to start talking to you."
Nathan looked at me and narrowed his eyes.
"Right now, what were you just feeling?"
I drank the rest of the water as he spoke. I drew a long sigh before speaking.
"Just now, when I was telling you how much I wanted to kill Enoch, I could hear my heartbeat thundering in my ears. Felt like my blood was boiling. It urged me to get up and leave your house. It wanted me to go to Enoch's headquarters to blow his head off, urging me to steal a gun if I had to. It told me that if you won't let me kill him, that it would."
Nathan started pacing back and forth, one hand at his mouth as he tapped his cheek.
"Alright, the voice seems to be vying for some kind of control, your eyes took on a red hue when it happened, likely your eyes took on that same red hue when the voice spoke to you last night as well. Without your Omnitrix, you're essentially screwed, because I've a suspicion that should you kill Enoch, this little voice might end up taking control of your body. Now, I've nothing that can help you, the only thing that might silence the voice is your Omnitrix, however should Enoch die by someone else's hands, that little voice might wither and die, because this voice seems fixated on Enoch. With the sole reason for it existing dead by someone else's hands, it will no longer have something to keep it going, and should wither away and vanish."
Nathan stopped pacing and looked at me.
"Only a theory as to what would get rid of it permanently, though, likely wearing the Dark Omnitrix would only make it worse, because it sounds like it's meant to be worn by your brother. If the Dark Omnitrix is Forever Knight tech, than this might be a blessing in disguise for them, as the voice would drive you to go in guns blazing without a plan like an idiot, which would get you killed. They won't help you, of course, they'd rather see what happens instead. So we've two choices, either retrieve your Omnitrix, or I kill Enoch and we hope my theory is proven correct and that the little voice can't continue existing with him dead by someone else's hands."
"He was born with the Dark Omnitrix. It's kind of weird to describe, it's like the Omnitrix purged something from me and using my DNA, it created him during the purge. I've never understood how it worked, but that's my thought process on it. As for wearing it again, you're probably right, plus I never want to wear it again. And as much as I'd like to kill him myself, we can't be completely sure that it will or won't take control of me and I don't think it's a good idea to put that theory to the test. Even if I don't agree with it, I guess you'll have to kill him. This isn't going to stop me from explaining all the shit that he's put me through, though. I hope you can understand that."
"I've more an understanding of what has essentially been a test of wills more than you realize, Tennyson. I'm guessing that getting your Omnitrix back is out of the question as well? If the Forever Knights had it, we'd probably have seen the effects of that by now, so who's got it under lock and key currently?"
"Yeah, getting the Omnitrix back is out of the question for now. Director Steel took it away from me. He says that after I failed to contain that kid who acquired fire abilities and essentially causing an apartment building to burn down myself, I can't be trusted with it. He told me that he'll find someone better suited than me to use it."
"S.E.C.T. has it?! Gods damn it all! They sit on their ass arguing about how to handle problems sometimes for days before doing anything about it. And of course the bastard gave no thoughts as to what would happen should you remove it after having the Dark Omnitrix. They're good at their job, but they go about things too slow, and don't take security matters seriously enough when they should take no half measures at all."
Nathan sighed as he took a seat at the couch once more, most likely thinking to himself.
"Alright, before we decide to hit their main building, we need blueprints of the building, as far back as they go if it didn't belong to the Forever Knights originally. Then we need to find out what their defences are like, including the possibility of hidden turrets and the like. A schedule for their guards would definitely be handy, so we can plan the strike at the best possible time. But should we hit the building, we need to deal with the security room first, which should have access to most of the building's security measures. We control that, we control the raid. You been to this place before, have any schematics or blueprints that can be used if you're serious about hitting it?"
I decided not to talk about S.E.C.T.
"I've been there a few times. The last time I was there, a hacker buddy of mine pulled some data from their system. It's possible that he could have gotten schematics and blueprints from the transfer, but it's unlikely."
I sighed.
"I kind of interrupted the process halfway through and we didn't get all the data that we could have."
"Some data is better than nothing. I can get in touch with a few sources that I have, see if I can't dig up something myself. When do you plan on hitting this place?" Nathan spoke as he looked toward me. "Because knowing about that voice, sooner is much more preferable then later, we need to nip it in the bud before it has a chance to get any worse."
"I have a few ideas as to people I can get to help us. I know about a mercenary who used to work for the Enochs, who may now be disgruntled after the last operation she ran for him. I'll see if I can't persuade her to lend us a hand. I have a few other interesting ideas in mind, but those may not be great ideas. And I don't really have a plan yet. I just want to hit them as soon as possible."
"We don't hit them without a plan. If we have one, we'll do a lot better, even if it goes to shit halfway through and we have to improvise. Now we shouldn't have to worry about the police, as there's likely a lot of things there that they shouldn't have. Would bring too much heat down on Enoch, too many questions as well, so he'll likely pay the cops off to stay away in order to avoid a possible state wide investigation into his pharmaceutical company, which he uses for a front for his real business. So one less problem to we'll have to deal with. Any place we should meet up to organize this raid?"
"My hacker buddy, Cooper. He has his own warehouse at the Riverfront. You can trust him. I'm not sure that there's a better place to organize this thing."
"Alright, let's meet up there in say, three days' time? That should be enough for my sources to get some extra information we can use. Hopefully fill in some blanks we'll get from the data you managed to pull. From there, we can plan the raid, as well as when to hit the building."
"Okay. If we're close to done here, you never gave me the chance to what he's done to me personally, not just the assassination attempt on my father."
"Go ahead." Nathan said as he gestured toward me.
"So, remember when I came back after winter break? I think I told you that I had the flu for the last half of winter break and that's why I was coming back late."
"Aye, I remember. You were nearly thin as a rail."
I nodded.
"I was. And as you may have suspected, I lied to you that day. It may have had something to do with me not trusting as much as I do now. There was no flu, never was. The night before Christmas Eve, I think, the Forever Knights broke into my house and abducted me. For two weeks, Enoch used me as a test subject for some full body virtual reality interface that they had been developing."
"And you were kept alive with an IV drip, which doesn't exactly keep the body from atrophying and devouring any available proteins and nutrients from fat stores and eventually the muscles themselves. I'm guessing you were put through Hell and back in that interface?"
"More than you know. They kept me comatose for two weeks before my family figured out where I was, which they then came for me. Before that, I was forced to relive the events of the first several months that I had the Omnitrix, or a grotesque remix of it, anyhow. You could have no idea what it's like, to go to sleep one night in December and wake up in the previous year, on Thanksgiving, the night I got the Omnitrix. It all felt real, almost like I had time traveled."
"You're right, I don't. But I've been in a week long coma before, except to me it felt like I had been gone for years. I'll tell you about it some other time, but not now Tennyson." Nathan said before looking at me. "Anyways, continue."
"It's funny that you should say that, because it did feel like I was gone for years. While I was asleep and my brain was active in that simulation of theirs, I decided that if I already knew the future, then I could fix my past so that it didn't turn out as shitty as it had the last time."
I let out a sigh.
"Here's the weird thing, though. You were there with me, every step of the way. Or at least, something that looked like you. It claimed to be my conscience, or something like that. It somewhat guided me through, taking your form because apparently, at the time, you were mysterious to me. So, my conscience had to appear as someone else... You know what, look. I'm sure it sounds confusing, and even I don't completely understand it. I don't fully remember how you...erm...it, described itself."
"Definitely odd, though wonder if that figment's still bouncing around in your mind. I mean we're dealing with alien devices, so can a fragment of your mind taking the form of someone you barely know be so outlandish? Not to mention, that fragment might be able to help slow down that voice's progress, perhaps keep it quiet long enough for Enoch Jr. to breathe his last. I recall something about there being an Id, an Ego, and a Super Ego, something to do with the self or some shit, from some famous therapist, though I forget his name. Could be that thing looking like me is one of those given forms. Anyways, anything else?"
"In my quest to fix the timeline, I made it worse. Much, much, worse. After I woke up, my family was concerned for me, after what I went through. Reasonably, so. They asked me if I remembered anything from the simulation and I told them no, that most of it was fuzzy. And that was the truth for some time. But for a while now, I've been lying to them. It hasn't been that long, but I remember almost everything that happened to me while I was in there."
I sighed before continuing.
"Toward the end of it, I had to watch my best friend, Kevin Levin, die all over again. In this world, he died of a heart attack, after overworking himself using my abilities that he had absorbed from me. Just like his father, Director Steel, Kevin was an energy sponge. I quit hero work for a while and that was the reason why. I just couldn't escape the guilt from his death."
"Sometime, Tennyson, things happen that you can't control. The death of your friend was never your fault, the only crime you could be considered guilty of is not noticing it sooner the first time around. Even then, things happened that you couldn't control. I'm sorry you went through that Hell, but you can't keep beating yourself up over it. The best thing would be to move on from it, try to leave it in the past."
"There's still more. Having to lose Kevin all over again was Hell. More than that, actually. But it wasn't the worst thing. The worst thing? I had the privilege to watch Albedo get his skull caved in. Before you possibly tell me that it wasn't real, please understand that it was real to me. I wouldn't wish that kind of trauma onto you, or my worst enemies. Every time I shut my eyes, I still see it happen. I feel the blood spatter on my face, I hear the bones crunch as he's bludgeoned to death. Something like that, I don't think you can ever unsee or unhear. To be frankly honest with you, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully recover from the simulation."
"Nor would I expect you to, as the best possible outcome in a perfect world would be that you manage to leave it all behind you. But the best possible outcome in this world is that you leave everything you can from that simulation behind you, and you don't look back at it."
"But apparently what I saw is merely the tip of the iceberg. Enoch himself told me that what I had lived through was just one scenario that they had cooked up for me out of ten. I don't remember any of the other nine. I was told that my brain had been broken down so much that I'll never remember the first nine scenarios that they put me through. If you ask me, that may be a blessing in disguise. It's just kind of hard to think that for the two weeks I was in there, the seven or eight months that I spent in scenario ten – that in the real world, that was only a couple days, maybe even a few hours."
"Well, if I see that machine they used, I'll be sure to smash it into scrap metal and spare parts. I'm sure that'll piss off Enoch quite a bit, to see what was probably a huge investment which took years of development to create be destroyed in a few minutes." Nathan said with a small grin.
"I wouldn't stop you. There's one last thing about the God damned simulation. There was someone else there with me. I'm going to change subjects for just a second, but I promise it's relevant. Have you ever read any of Stephen King's work, Nathan?"
"Heard of it, seen one of the movies made about one of his books. Never was my kind of genre though, so I never read any of his books."
"Fair enough, neither have I, which is what makes this whole thing sort of interesting. You've never read any of his works, but you might have heard of one that he did a few years back, a bit more than that, but whatever. He wrote a book called 11/22/63, about the Kennedy assassination. Does that ring any bells?"
"I'm afraid not. I generally keep to my circle of genre that I like, rarely venturing out if ever, and I don't bother looking into the books of authors whose books I don't read."
"I understand. I've never read the book myself, never even heard of it until a while back. I'll keep this brief, as much as I know anyway, it's about an English literature teacher who travels back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Gwen has copy of it and she really likes it."
"Let me guess, in doing so, something much worse happens because John Kennedy never got his head blown off?"
"I don't know, I never read the thing. Only the brief synopsis that she gave me, in case I wanted to read it myself. But this was after I told her about a certain individual from the simulation. The figure wore a dirty, battered fedora and trench coat, along with fingerless gloves. He knew that I wanted to change the past and I didn't even have to say anything. It was weird, sure. But after a while, I thought nothing of it. So, I get back and tell Gwen about this figure I encountered, who I dubbed 'Mr. Trench Coat'."
I sighed before I continued.
"And lo and behold, she read an excerpt from King's book, about a character called 'The Yellow Card Man'. She described the character as wearing a pretty damn similar outfit as Mr. Trench Coat, only with a couple differences. And just like 'Trenchie', The Yellow Card Man knew what the main character was up to, or at least he knew that they didn't belong in the past. I don't know the full story about the character, but Gwen described him as some kind of ethereal being. After making that connection, I'm just somewhat intrigued that the figure from the simulation—whatever it was supposed to personify—took on that specific look, without me even having heard of or read the book."
And that's not even mentioning that Mr. Trench Coat is just an moniker for Professor Paradox!
"Hmm, it's possible that someone sent to check up on you happened to be reading aloud from that book, and you did hear it, and as such your unconscious mind created the entity known as Trench Coat Man. Either that or there are some fragments from the previous scenarios that did stick, and in one of them you heard about The Yellow Card Man, as such he appeared in a later scenario, however his appearance was different possibly due to your mind breaking down from the previous scenarios."
Trench Coat Man? That's... not what I said. Well, I'm not going to argue with him.
"Either one could be equally possible, I suppose."
I cleared my throat.
"Anyway, moving on. Do you remember the attack on the school last week? The bomber, I mean."
"Aye, I remember the bastard who ruined my lunch, along with nearly blowing me and everyone else at the table to little pieces."
"And you'll remember how I bolted from the cafeteria as soon as it happened? Under the excuse that I had a weak stomach."
"Aye. Let me guess, you went and pursued him, leading to you not being able to attend school later that week?"
"Yeah, surprise, surprise, but that was more of my bullshit. I was leaving to go get into costume to deal with him."
I heaved a sigh, as I contemplated what I would do next.
"Okay, the next thing I'll tell you. There's no doubt in my mind that I can trust you with anything I'd tell you, but even so, I need to hear it from you. I've never told another person this and I most likely never will, as this information could cause a lot of chaos for my family. But I need to hear you say that you'll never tell another living soul this information."
"I promise on my life that I'll never tell another living soul of this. You have my word, Tennyson. And my word is my bond, not easily broken."
"Alright then. Well, let's go down the rabbit hole that is my biggest secret. That 'bastard' as you put it, I know who he is. He's my cousin, Ken. But he didn't commit those crimes on his own accord. The Forever Knights kidnapped and Enoch injected him with an unstable performance enhancer. The side effects of said enhancer were violence, aggression and insanity. Then for good measure, they implanted false memories into his head, memories that made me look like a bad guy to him. Enoch probably assumed that Ken would be their most effective weapon to use against me. And you know what? They were probably right."
"I'm sorry to hear that, though I hope he doesn't end up going after you again, because you'll be no match for him in your current state, lacking the Omnitrix. Though that's just more reason to deal with Enoch and the Forever Knights soon, because without Enoch they should become much less organized, even if someone else were to take the reins after his death. Their command structure would remain in disarray for weeks if we play our cards right."
"I could hardly deal with him with the Omnitrix. He was able to punch one of my aliens, who had diamond hard skin, without flinching. He had claw-like extensions in the gloves that he wore with the armor that they provided him. He used them to cut me in several places, but that's nothing compared to what else he did. If it weren't for the healing factor that the Omnitrix gives me, he probably would have broken my jaw or my nose, perhaps both. He uh, slashed me across the chest with a katana. Yes, a katana. Then he ran it through my chest and proceeded to throw me off of the rooftop, where I landed in a dumpster, bleeding and barely clinging to life."
"If that's the case, you should try tinkering with you Omnitrix. It's possible there's more to it than what you've got so far. Failing that, just bust up his equipment the next time he comes after you when you have your Omnitrix back. You'll have to stop holding back, because he won't give you the same courtesy, and knocking him out will definitely prove difficult unless you use a brick or something to maximize the force to a single point. But it's clear that dealing with the Forever Knights won't cut it if they've access to equipment like that, so we'll likely either have to steal a bunch of their tech, or torch it to set back their progress by years if we're lucky."
"Well, after all the shit that they've put me through, I think I'll break some shit during my next stay in that tower of theirs."
"I'll give you something to help you with that once we get to the raid, though I suggest we leave the building before setting off the fireworks."
"I'm not sure I want to know where you would get such fireworks. I don't mean to randomly switch topics, but my ex-girlfriend, Kai Green, the girl whose been sitting at lunch with us recently? Ken nabbed her that day on her way home from school and she was present during his attack on me. She was the one who pulled me out of the dumpster that night, she knows about me being a vigilante. She was able to get ahold of some people who patched me up. If it weren't for her, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion right now. I decided to ask her to sit with us not only because I believed she deserved a second chance, but because she saved my life. I owe her a debt. And I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to repay her."
"Probably better you don't ask. And aye, I know her. Built up quite the reputation at school, that one. Not a good one either, though with your help she's been trying to tear down her old reputation and build up a better one, I hear. And I know about life debts, only way to repay them is by saving the one who saved you, though I hope it never comes to that."
"I hope it doesn't come to that, either. But anyway, about Ken. During my last fight with him, some lone gunman took a shot at him with a high powered rifle. It wasn't enough to break the armor, but it probably put a dent in it. That gave me the opportunity to rip off the mask and find out who he really was. I had to resort to my fists to avoid seriously hurting someone that I deeply care about. I think the fight ended in some kind of factory. I don't know how but I was able to counter some of his attacks and was able to gain the upper hand. I hit him across the face with a sheet of metal from that building and that's all it took."
I sighed before continuing.
"However, the bombs in his satchel managed to get primed and blew up a container of gasoline. I got a little help from an acquaintance in getting out of there and seeing as they were my best shot, I took him to S.E.C.T. while he was still unconscious. He reawakened and tried again while in their helicarrier, but he was easily dispatched once more. Steel told me that they were able to wipe away the false memories. The performance enhancer is tricky, though. It's in his blood. They can't flush it from his system without reverse engineering a serum from a sample of it, I think they said. So, I took him home to his mother and he seems fine. Has a gap in his memories and we seem to be buddy-buddy again. But I know better. With that enhancer still in his blood, it's only a matter of time before that insane alternate personality reawakens itself."
"Hmm, well before you ask that lone gunman wasn't me. I wasn't anywhere near the area at the time. And yeah, any type of serum that bonds itself to the blood cells is tricky to deal with. Though one way would be to do a blood transfusion, though it'd be dangerous because you'd have to drain most of their blood before starting the transfusion, so the serum doesn't end up tainting the transfusion. Too dangerous, as the body would shut down before you'd have a chance to pump more blood into them. Don't know how much blood they took, but two quarts would definitely have been enough to reverse engineer and synthesize an anti-agent."
Performance enhancer, not serum. Whatever.
"Nathan, I wasn't going to ask if you were the lone gunman, nor would I accuse you. Like I said, Ken seems fine now. I have a feeling his other could reawaken at any time, but more than likely, it'll be a catastrophic event that wakes it back up. Here's hoping that nothing wakes him up anytime soon. As for the armor he wore, I left it to burn up in that factory. And that mask he wore, it looked like it was alive. It could make its own faces, its own expressions, the damn thing was creepy. I had to make sure that I saw firsthand that any trace of it wouldn't exist anymore. So, I cast it down a chimney into an incinerator."
"One can never be too careful. Anyways, let's hope this insane personality never resurfaces and remains dead. Anything else?"
"Not that I can think of at the moment. Look, I happen to know what I'm getting myself into, by wanting to assault their tower. I'm about to approach a big machine full of sharp teeth and usually, I wouldn't want anyone close to me while I'm messing with it, on the account that I don't want anyone getting hurt by my enemies. But I also know that I can't do this all by myself. I'll need as much help as I can get. However, if at any point you decide that you want to back out of this, I'd understand. I could figure something else out."
Nathan chuckled.
"Olivia Black didn't raise no coward. If you're dead set on doing this, I'll back you up the entire way, Tennyson."
Nathan stood up, and rubbed his hands together.
"Well if that's everything, I suppose we'll both get to our respective snooping of the building before we plan the raid three days from now. Though before you leave, I'll give you a bag of wrapped baked goods for you and your family, as well as some small get well gifts for your father."
He stuck out his hand to me.
"Good fortune to you, Tennyson, we'll need it."
I took his hand and we shook. After he had given me the back of goods and gifts for my father, I was just heading out the door when something popped into my mind. I turned back to him.
"Hey, Nathan? About my ex, Kai, I have a request. You're right about one thing. Eventually, you begin to be able to read a person. Kai has been coming to me for support lately. The last few times she's come to me, I've had to hold off on letting her speak, because I'm just busy with my bullshit. The last time we talked, she told me that nothing's bothering her anymore. But I know better. I think she's afraid that I'll keep blowing her off. Look buddy, I'm more than happy to help her, to support her, if she so chooses to come to me. But I think that I won't always be the best option for her. I think there are cases where she'll have to get help from someone else. I'm not asking you to poke and prod at her for information. But I think there are some cases where you'll be the better option."
Nathan smiled at me.
"Don't worry Tennyson, I'll just let her know that if you're not available, she can always bounce ideas and the like off of me if she wants to. I'm not the kind of person to put people under that kind of pressure unless they deserve it."
"That's good enough for me." I said as I put my index and middle fingers to my brow, making a farewell sign to him. "Be seeing you, Nathan."
Later That Night
The Tennyson House
After I had gotten back, I took the afternoon off and just lounged around the house, trying to ease my stress. I knew that I needed to look over the data that Cooper had pulled from their system, which he left copies for me on a USB. Once I knew that I had what I needed, I just tried to mellow out until dinner time. Once dinner started, Mom, Gwen, Sunny, Albedo and myself all sat down at the table, as Verdona slept in her crib. A few minutes into dinner is when Mom spoke up.
"So, Gwen informs me that you went to that Nathan kid that you met at school, for help in a revenge quest against the man who tried to kill your father. She's told me that you intend to kill this man."
Well, I did tell Gwen about everything that Nathan and I had discussed today. Well, almost everything. I kept my biggest secret to myself.
Before I could speak, she beat me to it.
"There are things that you do while you're doing that superhero thing of yours, that I can overlook and/or get behind."
She looked up from her plate at me, with a serious look on her face.
"As for what you intend to do, I can't do either. I'm putting my foot down, Benjamin."
"Mom, if you were in my shoes, you would want to get back at Enoch for all the things that he's done to us!"
"No, I wouldn't! I would know to leave well enough alone! I wouldn't bite off more than I could chew! I promised your father that you would be done with your hero work!"
After she said that, I just stared back at her with an annoyed look.
"But I made no such promise."
In return, she gave me an angered look.
"This isn't up for debate, Benjamin. I'm going to stay at the hospital with your father tonight and when I get back tomorrow, I'm confiscating that costume of yours. Thank God that Director Steel took the Omnitrix from you."
What the fuck?!
She looked back down at her plate as she went back to eating.
"If you had never taken up this hero thing of yours, none of this would have ever happened."
We don't know that! Why are you suddenly pinning the blame on me?! And how come no one at this table is defending me?! What kind of fucking family is this?!
Once dinner was over, Mom got up to get ready to leave. As she did this, I spoke to her without turning to look at her.
"What?"
"When I was at Nathan's today, he gave me a bag of baked goods and get well gifts for Dad. We all already had some, you can take the rest."
"Whatever."
I heard her yank the bag off of the counter and she left the room. No one got up from the table. We all sat there in silence.
That part about this whole thing being my fault? That hurt. Like a lot.
No one spoke until she walked out the door.
"Okay," Gwen spoke at last. "She's grieving. And she's scared, I understand that. But she doesn't know what she's talking about."
I looked up.
"What?"
"Your mom is worried about us after what happened to your dad. She wants us to stay out of it and quit being heroes. But if we do that, Enoch wins. He'll kill the entire family and well as our friends just to send you a message."
Enoch would do that, I thought.
"Which is exactly why we need to stop him." Sunny chimed in.
I felt someone pat my hand. I looked over to see Albedo, who had leaned over in his chair to reach me.
"We're with you one hundred percent of the way, man. Enoch has to pay for what he did to your dad."
I was visibly surprised that the three of them were willing to go behind Mom's back to help me, but I tried to keep the conversation rolling.
"Our dad. You're my brother, Albedo. You're family."
He nodded his thanks back to me without a word. Now it was my turn.
"Thanks guys. I couldn't do this without your help."
"We would be helping you even if you wouldn't let us." Gwen replied.
As expected, I thought.
"I don't mean to kill the mood, but even with Nathan, we're just five people." Sunny replied. "We're going to need more people to help us."
"I'll work on it. While I look for more people to recruit, Nathan and I both will look through data searching for schematics, blue prints, security schedules, anything that could help us form a strategy. In three days, we'll meet at Cooper's warehouse to formulate a plan."
"You know," Albedo spoke up. "We could just call S.E.C.T. and Director..."
"Fuck that!" I said, cutting him off. "He'd probably tell me to stay home while they handle it, they fucking would! Even after what happened to Dad, one of their former agents!"
"So, we leave them in the dark, then?"
"Exactly. The less they know, the better."
"You do know that they could still find out what we're planning?" Sunny spoke up.
"I'm aware. But I won't let them get in the way. This means too much to me."
I stood up from the table.
"If you excuse me, I need to make a phone call. Thanks for this, guys."
They murmured their replies and I walked away, off to my room. Once I was in my room I phoned Nathan and waited for him to answer. Once he did so, I spoke.
"Hey Nathan, it's me again. I'm, uh, not calling at a bad time, am I? I understand that it's about dinner time for most people."
"No, you're fine. My mother and I usually eat dinner at around half past five. What did you need, Tennyson?"
"Okay. Well, you were nothing but cooperative earlier today and I can't thank you enough. But, I need to ask for a bit of a favor."
"Aye. What do you need? If I can help, I'll do my best."
"You ever hear of an alien called Vilgax? He was one of the first big leaguers that I ran into last summer. He wants the Omnitrix for his collection of intergalactic technology. Well, a collection that I assume he has."
I heard the sound of a door opening and closing on Nathan's end, before he spoke in a low voice.
"Aye. I've heard a lot about that big bastard. The Forever Knights kept a tidy file on him, managed to take down a runner that was delivering some information, and before you ask, Enoch seems to have half of the information sent to the mainframe, and the other half sent by hand. Makes it harder to get all the information either way. I got lucky, guy was carrying an envelope that detailed sightings of him that go back over a year."
Sightings that go back over a year? Is it possible that he was on Earth even before I got the Omnitrix? Could he have been searching for it?
"Okay, that may just make this more difficult for the both of us. I need to find him, Nathan. Like, urgently. He wants the Omnitrix. I have the, erm, had the Omnitrix, so I have a feeling that he's still near Bellwood, if not somewhere in the city. There's no doubt in my mind that S.E.C.T. has been keeping tabs on him and that they know where he is. But I think you'll understand that there's no way in well that I'm going to them for help after how the Director fucked me over. So, I'm more than comfortable with betting all of my chips on you being my best bet right now."
"Give me a second, Tennyson."
From his end, I heard the sounds of a drawer opening and papers rustling around before he spoke again.
"Alright, at the time of me getting this information, his last known siting was near the docks. Hmm, there should be a couple entrances into the sewers, in order for maintenance crews to work on them fifty to sixty years prior. Probably were in use even earlier, back during the Prohibition Era, someplace booze runners could hide their goods away from police and the like. Could be your guy is hiding in those tunnels. Only issue is that the place is like a labyrinth, could take over a week for someone not familiar with the place to even begin to start looking. But I think I know someone who can help, though it'll take them a couple days at the very least to find your alien warlord, have to call in some big favours though."
Nathan let out a sigh as I heard more papers rustling from his end.
"Either way you'll get a call from me in a few days telling you my contact didn't return, in which case Vilgax is down there somewhere, but we've no fucking clue where, or you'll get a file detailing his exact whereabouts and how to get to his hideout. I'll do my best to find him, Tennyson. Until then, later, and make sure to keep your head in the game."
After that, I heard the line go dead, signaling to me that Nathan had hung up. I let out a sigh as I put my phone away.
Well, that wasn't what I was hoping for, but it's a starting point, I thought.
Now I had to get to looking through that data.
Around Eleven O'clock That Night
Late that night, I was still sifting through file after file of information. I found some interesting stuff here and there, but I hadn't actually found what I was looking for yet. I had come across a few blueprints of the building, mostly circa the 1950s and a chunk of others from around the 1980s. In one of the blueprints from the 80s set, there was a clear blank space behind a wall. But I didn't pay it too much mind.
Was there a big possibility that the floor in question hid something? Yes. But would it be wise to sit here all night debating with myself what that could be? No, so I continued searching through the files. The next things of interest that I found were video files, two in particular. I don't know if there were more, but if there were, I likely didn't have them. The first of the two that I watched was from a few weeks ago. I put my earbuds in and pressed play.
When the thing loaded, I was presented with the scene of a lab, with Enoch present, along with my cousin, Ken. There was a lab technician standing next to him, with another man in a decent enough looking suit standing there as well. Ken was fastened down onto a slab, with his arms held in place by metal restraints.
"Mr. Enoch, please. I know you want to test this performance enhancer, but it's not ready!" the man in the suit urgently said. "But it's too dangerous! The enhancer is too unstable!"
"Smith, are you really an idiot?" Enoch asked. "Risks play a critical role in science!"
"Let's reschedule! Give me some time! Just two months for it to be perfected..."
"Two months?! Two months is all it takes for the Forever Knights to be history. In two months, my company could come toppling down. I need this! This is my ace in the hole!"
"If you could allow the time, we could get a full medical crew ready and we wouldn't have to force an innocent person to..."
"Get the hell out of here!" Enoch yelled as his face began to turn red.
The man called Smith turned and ran out of the lab in a hurry. Enoch turned back to the technician and Ken.
"What are you going to do to me?" Ken asked.
Enoch pointed at the green performance enhancer that was inside of a syringe.
"We are going to inject you with this." He said as he took it from the technician. "It will make you super strong and durable."
"But I don't want to be super strong! I want to be normal! I just want to be me!"
Enoch sneered as he pointed one of his hands to his chest.
"I don't care what you want."
Enoch directed the syringe to Ken's arm and was about to inject him, when the technician grabbed his arm.
"No, sir, you're supposed to aim for the vein."
Enoch yanked away from the technician's grip and I watched in horror as he jammed the syringe directly into Ken's arm with force.
"What the hell?!" the technician screamed as Ken did the same, with pain. "You can't do that!"
"The subject will just have to..." Enoch spoke as he injected Ken with the enhancer. "Deal with it!"
He stepped up and it only took a few seconds for Ken to begin foaming at the mouth. Several seconds passed and Ken's body began convulsing. About a minute of this occurred and then it stopped, Ken not moving anymore. Enoch turned away and took a few steps forward.
"Where are you going?! You just killed that kid!"
Enoch kept walking.
"Clear the floor. Dispose of the subject's body."
The technician watched him go. Enoch was about halfway to the exit of the room, when Ken's eyes snapped open and he screamed. The technician turned to look at Ken and Enoch did the same, before he turned and bolted for the door.
The technician didn't seem worried, until he saw Ken pull his wrist free, snapping one of the metal restraints, using strength that hadn't been there before. Now, he was worried and he ran for the door, too, where Enoch watched, already having escaped through the door. He reached the door, tried it, but it wouldn't open. He began to slam on the door with desperation.
"Mr. Enoch!" he cried with fear no doubt in his eyes. "Open the door! Please!"
And Enoch just stood there, with a sinister look on his face. Ken freed himself from his other restraint, using his free hand and that's when all hell broke loose. He picked up one of the metal restraints and made a mad dash toward the technician. The technician turned to look at Ken and only had enough time to scream. Ken screamed as well, as he hit the technician across the face with the metal restraint.
Blood and a few teeth flew from the technician's mouth. Some of the foam flew from Ken's mouth as he continued to scream. Ken dropped the restrained and picked up the technician by the throat, one handed. His face began to turn blue, then purple as Ken squeezed down on his neck. Several seconds of the technician groaning in pain passed and I heard a cracking sound. Ken dropped the technician, who didn't move any longer. His neck had been snapped.
Was it even possible to snap someone's neck with one hand? Well, regardless of it being possible, Ken had done it!
Ken let out an ear-piercing scream for some reason as a set of doors opened and what looked like a security team walked in. Three darts into his back and Ken fell. The exit door opened and Enoch walked in with open arms.
"Oh, he's perfect!" he replied.
"With those tranqs, he should sleep for hours, sir." One of the guards said.
"Wonderful. With me molding him and the proper guidance, he'll be the perfect weapon to use against Tennyson."
That's where the video file ended. I sat back and thought to myself for a second.
I can't believe he did that to Ken. Having to see it happen is terrifying. If his other ever reawakens, with him being insane with ridiculous strength, I'd be in trouble!
I took a deep breath and prepared myself for whatever the next video file would show me. I clicked on it and when it started, I saw another lab, with Enoch, a technician, Smith, and one bodyguard. The only difference is that of all people, Clancy was restrained to a metal slab.
"Sir, I'm not sure about this." Smith replied.
"Please, Mr. Smith." Enoch said. "No one's going to miss a homeless person gone missing. Hell, no one will know he went missing."
Clancy let out a bunch of angry, incoherent grumbles, but Enoch didn't seem to care that much. He took a syringe full of violent purple liquid from the technician and showed it off to Clancy.
"Did you know that this is the same serum that Aloysius Animo injected himself with? Though, with a few modifications."
"Who the fuck is that?"
"Oh, right. Homeless person. You have no idea what the hell I'm talking about it. Anyway, the file that we have on him states that when the Special Extra-Terrestrial Containment Team had Doctor Animo working for them, they had him on the Super Soldier Project. But in reality, they had him working on unlocking the key to immortality."
"What the hell does that mean?"
Enoch leaned forward with an angered expression and put his hand on Clancy's shoulder.
"A tank, you imbecile! With this serum, you'll never be normal again! You'll have super strength, speed, enhanced reflexes! You'll be a tank! A force of nature!"
The technician held up another syringe, filled with a jet black substance. I saw something akin to fear in his eyes. Enoch gestured toward the syringe filled with jet black liquid.
"And this will give you the ability to control bugs and insects and form them out of thin air. Imagine wearing a suit made out of bugs to scare your enemies. Sounds creepy, right?"
"Fuck you!"
"Let's begin."
Clancy was lowered, while Enoch and the technician both directed their syringes toward either side of Clancy's neck. They put the needles through the skin without any other words and injected Clancy. After that, both of them backed up.
"And now, we wait." Enoch replied.
For several upon several seconds, nothing happened to Clancy. But then, he began screaming, as multiple types of bugs began crawling out of just about every hole on his head. I watched in horror and disgust as centipedes began crawling out of his mouth, as he screamed, followed by ants, spiders and cockroaches out of his eyes, ears and nose. But that was nothing compared to the horror that I would see in a couple minutes time.
Eventually, after his body was completely covered by bugs, Clancy stopped screaming and his struggling ceased. No one said a word. But several more seconds passed, and those creepy, glowing yellow eye spots formed on Clancy's bug suit, followed by the mouth full of razor sharp teeth. He eventually let out a demonic scream, black tongue coming flailing out of his mouth and that's all it took for Enoch, Smith and the technician to start running. Clancy ripped himself from his restraints much faster than Ken had. I watched as he moved with lightning speed, talons at least half a foot long growing on each of his fingers and thumbs.
No way! I never saw him to be capable of doing that!
Clancy ran past the bodyguard as he slashed his side, cutting through the armor and the skin beneath it. The bodyguard tried to fire at Clancy, as he moved away from him and crawled up the wall faster than the guy could track him. Clancy stopped on the ceiling, looked back at the guard as he tried to fire and leapt off the ceiling, flying toward him. The guard wasn't at all prepared. Clancy's talons pierced the guard's abdomen and he let out an agonizing scream. Right about now, I was beginning to feel squeamish, but this was still nothing compared to what was next. Clancy pulled his talons from the guard's stomach and immediately got up, to dig all ten of them into the top of the guard's head.
No, I thought as my hand went to my mouth. He's not going to do what I think he is!
Clancy gritted his sharp teeth as the guard let out a few seconds worth of agony-filled screams, which is all he had time for. A few seconds later, Clancy ripped his head in half clean down the middle, splattering blood all over the surrounding area and sending bits of bone, brain and muscle flying through the air. He dropped the guard's body and faced the ceiling as he let out an ear-splitting roar.
He then grabbed the slab that he had been restrained on, ripped it from the foundation and tossed it at the window, breaking the glass and sending outward. He formed tendrils with his hands, which came together as ropes and shot them toward the window, where they latched onto the edge of the window. He then pulled himself back and used the ropes to propel himself forward out the window into the night, leaving the ropes behind, which dissolved in seconds.
That's where the video cut off. I sat there for a few seconds, before I realized that I was sick to my stomach. I felt like I was going to puke. I got up from the couch in a hurry, my earbuds ripping from my ears as I ran. My right foot nailed the couch and I went down like a sack of potatoes. I pushed myself up and put my hand over my mouth, hiccupping as I felt a hot liquid rise into my throat. I was on my feet again a second later and made a dash for the trash can.
I tore off the lid and fell to my knees, gripping the edges of the can so hard that my knuckles probably turned white and threw up into it. I felt like what had to be most of the contents of my stomach leave through my mouth in seconds. I heard the door on the other end of the room open, as I continued puking.
There goes today's lunch, I thought.
"What's with all the noise out here?" Albedo said, as I looked up to see him come into my view, wearing only pajama pants.
"I just..."
I hiccupped again and aimed for the trash can again as round three started.
And my breakfast at Nathan's.
"Dude, are you alright?"
Of course, I'm not alright! I practically just puked my guts out!
I looked up from the trash can as I wiped the left over vomit from my lips.
Gross.
Sunny had come out of their room to join Albedo, wearing a sports bra and pajama pants. Both of them looked visibly worried. I didn't let either of them speak. I put the top of the trash can back on it and stumbled for the stairs, somehow managing to stay upright.
"I need to go to bed!"
I ran up the stairs and through the dark house to our bedroom. I opened the door, no doubt scaring Snowball in the process and shut it behind me. I stripped down to my briefs and got into bed next to Gwen. There was no doubt that she wouldn't sleep through that. And she hadn't.
"Ben?" she whispered with worry.
I didn't answer and turned over away from her, desperate to get to sleep. I felt her hug herself against my bare back.
"Ben, you're chilled to the bone! What happened?"
I worked up the courage to say a single sentence.
"You don't want to know."
"Are you sure that you don't want to talk about it?"
Somehow she sensed when I nodded. She tenderly rested her chin on my shoulder so that our heads gently touched.
"Okay. I'm here if you want to talk to me, baby."
She put her arm around my stomach and grabbed my hand. I squeezed it. Maybe for reassurance, maybe out of fear.
What the fuck did they do to Clancy?! He never exhibited what I saw just a few minutes ago! Could his extra powers be a result of the combination of the serum and Animo's formula?
I shuddered with a mix of many different feelings and Gwen no doubt felt it, because she squeezed my hand just a bit tighter. Sleep would come that night, that was for sure. But the little sleep that I would get would be haunted by dreams of the hellish massacre that I had witnessed a few minutes earlier.
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed!
* So, this is the longest chapter that I've written for any story and it will probably stay that way. So, I really do hope that you enjoyed this one because of how long it took to make.
* Anyway, that's going to do it for me. I'm going to go though, so have a Bwen-tastic day and bye.
Next Chapter: Ben and Nathan discuss what he found after school the following day. Over the next two days, Ben goes out recruiting possible members into his alliance. However, something drastic happens, prompting Ben to urge Nathan to plan and execute the raid early.