Charmcaster tumbled onto the warehouse floor on the other side of the portal, she frantically scanned her surroundings in search of the man. Drak was greeted with a sock to the jaw by a tall woman in golden armor. That single punch was enough to make Drak see stars and knock the witch back to her knees. Drak roared in anger but earned a swift chop to her throat, resulting in a gasp as she went to clutch her bruising throat. Hera reached her neck first and wrapped the girl in a tight headlock. Drak tried to use magic but mana seemed to be fading away in the area. She couldn't use any of her spells either and felt herself slowly blacking out.
Hope fluttered her eyes open. The witch's vision was blurry and her head was pounding, like she was suffering from a severe hangover. Hope didn't remember every detail but she knew that Drak took over after she lost the mental battle on the space station. Being taken out of the spotlight felt very similar to specating a sports game from far away. You were still in the stadium and aware of the event but you could barely see shit. Hope tried to speak but couldn't from the heavy bruise to her vocal cords. She realized that she was tied to a chair that was also chained to a concrete pole. An unfamiliar woman sat on top of some boxes off to the side, and she was polishing a big hammer.
"Sorry about the bruises, I know a woman likes to stay her prettiest," Hera said, not even glancing up.
Hope tried to use some magic to free herself and found the lack of mana disturbing, it would take her a year to conjure a spell using this small amount of energy. Drak's power didn't mean shit if she couldn't draw in mana. She wasn't strong enough to take from her pools and Drak wasn't responding to her.
"I never met someone who was about to negate my magic."
"Seems to me that you need to start talking to more people," Hera mocked.
"No thanks. You wanna tell me why you got me tied to a chair?"
"The same reason I kicked your ass, to restrain you."
"That didn't answer my question and let's get one thing clear, if you didn't jump me then you would've been half dead on this floor right now."
Hera finally looked up from her weapon and narrowed her eyes at the witch, before slowly standing up. Hope mentally laughed at how easy it was to taunt the woman. Her throat was killing her but she needed more information.
"You? HA! Honey, you looked like you were on your way to a mental hospital when you came through the portal with the way you were talking to yourself," Hera laughed coldly. "I think I should be clear on the fact that I went easy on you and for the record I answered your question, anything else will be answered shortly when she comes back."
"She? So that means you're just a fucking henchmen? That's rich! Your leader didn't have the balls to face me herself, so she sent a meathead to jump me. Well don't keep me in the dark, let me know who I pissed off this time; so I can send their mother flowers for the funeral," Hope spat with venom.
"Just keep fucking talking, you crazy bitch," Hera snapped as she reached for her hammer and stomped towards the witch.
That's right. Get a little closer so I can suck your life energy out and turn it into fuel for my spells! Charmcaster thought as the woman approached her.
"Don't let her get to you," a woman called out from behind Hera.
The heroine stopped and glanced back to see Gwen standing there. She wiped the frown off her face and moved back towards her friend. Charmcaster craned her neck to see the redhead and was thrown into shock.
"Gwen?! You want me dead?!" Hope shouted anxiously.
"Shit talking is like second nature to her, so it's best to ignore her at times," Gwen said to Hera before turning to Hope and answering, "Of course not."
"So you got a powerless witch tied up for what exactly?"
"I'm getting there! But you asked about magic negation, right? Well fortunately for you this is your culprit." Gwen explained and tossed a talisman onto the floor. "You're the one who showed me it back when you were gunning for me."
"And this brute?" Hope asked, referring to Hera.
"A friendly heroine."
"Friendly? If that's your definition of nice then I don't wanna see someone you'd consider hostile."
"She's been very helpful in the past couple weeks, not to mention trustworthy too."
"So let's hear it then, why am I here?"
Gwen ran her hands through her hair and paced back and forth.
"Gwen?" Hope asked.
A man in a white lab coat walked out from behind a pillar with a faint smile.
"It seems that you've gotten yourself into a bit of trouble, young lady,"
Hope's face noticeably brightened at the sight of her friend and former team mate.
"Paradox! It's always good to see you," she greeted happily.
"And while the pleasure is always mine, I can't say everything is sunshine and rainbows."
"I don't think I understand what you mean…"
"You fucked up big time, girly. You attacked Plumber HQ and sent everything into chaos," Hera exclaimed.
"I'm afraid she's right, Hope. The actions you took against the Plumbers have sent the whole organization into a frenzy. They're doubling down on keeping control of the galaxies, and that's resulting in a complete and utter tyrannical lockdown."
"Not to mention the leniency that they had with Earth is no more. There's talk of the Plumbers breaking relations with the world governments and locking everyone in their cage. The heroes that I spent the last month gathering together are now being hunted in the streets by Plumber squadrons where they're given two choices; die or be imprisoned," Gwen explained.
The look on the redhead's face told Hope that she really fucked up this time. She felt hopeless knowing that she caused so much grief amongst her friends. But what was she supposed to do? Not go after Ben and allow him to slip out of her grasp again?
"Gwen, you have to believe me… I didn't know this was going to happen! I was trying to bring Ben back to us I-"
"But I TOLD you that trying would only result in bad things for us! Why didn't you listen to me?"
"You TOLD me to give up on him! After all the shit he did for everyone! You expect me to cut ties with him just like that? Knowing that if the roles were reversed-"
Charmcaster felt a sting as Gwen slapped her, the redhead's eyes were welled with tears.
"He is MY COUSIN! Don't you dare try to lecture me! I would give my fucking soul for Ben Tennyson and he knows that! But he doesn't need to be saved, he's a grown ass man. If you can't accept that he'll make decisions that'll go against your viewpoints then you need to grow up! We aren't kids playing a game of cops and robbers on the playground, Hope! The situation isn't completely black and white, there are no bad guys and good guys here! It's us and them!" Gwen yelled at the witch.
Hope stayed quiet during the whole ordeal in fear of the younger woman's rage.
"I spent the last few days coming to terms with the fact that Ben is making his OWN decisions. Not decisions for me or you, not for family and friends, and not for the betterment of mankind. His own decisions and that's 100 percent okay! Because at the end of the day, he's living his life and we're living ours. I didn't give up on Ben. He's free to come back whenever he wants, and I won't hold his decisions against him simply because I think they're unjust. Your selfishness has started a-"
"WAR! This means WAR!" Panel member Prescott seethed as she planted her hand firmly on the table.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, miss Prescott-"
"Panel leader Miller, are you telling me that this was not an act of war committed against the Plumbers?" she stated.
"I'm saying to not go crying wolf before we get all the details. We have one suspect, not exactly grounds for war." Miller rebuked.
"Yeah who escaped all thanks to your little death squad!" she snapped, glaring at Commander Rick.
"Hey! I have nothing but respect for Commander Rick. He prioritized saving lives and helping others."
"Instead of following orders! Not really a good soldier, now is he?"
Ben was outside of the room and still could hear them yapping back and forth. He was so sick of the bullshit, so he moved over to the banister. Everyone was scrambling around in the five story building, typing away on computers and making phone calls. They were currently on Earth in a top secret facility discussing what to do next. Ben had only been to this building once and it was to fill out some clearance paperwork. It went from an administrative complex to a forward operating base. Plumber security forces were planted all around the building and the black ops team was assigned to guard duty for the time being.
Agent Tennyson was still trying to wrap his head about what happened at Plumber HQ. He couldn't fathom why Hope would suddenly show her face there and why she couldn't send some type of message without the destruction of innocent lives. Ben was certain that there was someone else occupying Hope's body, but had no clue as to who or what. The man wanted to believe she wasn't 100 percent responsible for what happened. Ben didn't think much about her after Gwen told him that she left to deal with her own issues, at least he tried not to think about her. Half of him wanted Hope to never come back and it wasn't because of her. He didn't want her to see how much of a shitbag he became, after all that shit he talked about helping people and bringing hope; he couldn't bear coming face to face with her again. But he had to admit that he was happy to see her again.
"I'll keep in touch, my ass," Ben muttered to himself.
"Talking to yourself, sir? I'm gonna have to tell the doc that you're unfit for duty," Carly greeted.
Ben turned to his blonde subordinate with a smirk.
"Please do," he laughed.
He grabbed the coffee cup she was offering and leaned against the banister. Ben gave her a once-over and saw her bandage wrapped shoulder and other various minor injuries. He frowned before looking away in shame and taking a sip of his black liquid.
Carly noticed this and exclaimed, "It wasn't your fault."
"Yeah right," he scoffed. "And next you're gonna tell me that the sun isn't orange."
"Seriously this isn't on you, Ben. Like you said back at the bunker, how would you be able to orchestrate something like that with all eyes on you. It was a freak accident and a coincidence at most," she explained as she tapped his shoulder.
Ben kept his eyes on the styrofoam cup in his hands and didn't speak up. Carly tried looking into his eyes but he kept a steady gaze downwards. She pulled him closer to her and stared into his eyes, effectively removing him from his trance.
"Okay?" she asked, hoping he'd agree.
"Yeah… Okay," he replied as he maintained eye contact.
"I wanna hear you say it."
"Okay… It was not my fault," Ben said with a small smile.
Carly returned the smile before turning towards the wall and taking a sip of her coffee. She was satisfied with his answer. The silence remained for only a moment.
"And for the record the sun isn't actually orange. It's white," Carly corrected.
"Smartass."
They shared a well-needed laugh and for once since this shit-storm started, Ben felt a little relaxed.
**PAGE BREAK**
"So what's the plan?" Charmcaster asked.
Gwen and Hope were currently gearing up for war. The redhead was using the warehouse as a temporary HQ, the place being the prior base of team Ben last year. Tetrax and Lucy had moved a bunch of communication equipment from the ex-Plumber's ship. Queen Reina and her people were taking refuge on a nearby planet; they had accepted Tetrax's offer to fight back. Charmcaster had no beef with Lucy, but she couldn't completely trust her after she betrayed Ben. If Gwen was able to trust her then she would deal with the blonde for the time being; the witch sensed no ill intentions from Lucy. Hope was happy to see Tetrax was still around and wondered how he felt about Ben, but she decided to keep her thoughts to herself.
"The panel board members and leader are currently on Earth right now, after your little stunt they evacuated to a base on the planet. This is the one chance to have an audience with them."
"I thought we were going to war with them?"
"If we can avoid bloodshed then that would be the more desirable option. I want to try being diplomatic and maybe I can work out something or learn anything about their goals."
"You think that this will end without blood?" Hope scoffed.
"I don't want any more death," Gwen stated.
"That's a tad bit naive, isn't it?"
"It's optimistic. We just need to follow the plan and NOT kill anyone."
Hope felt a sharp pang in her head when Gwen mentioned not killing anyone, but the witch ignored it and continued to ready her pack. Her spell-book and an extra one, a couple talisman, summoning stones, along with a few other magical items were packed into her knapsack.
"You're going to be a distraction by the way," Gwen added.
"What? I'm not raiding the place with you?"
"And that's exactly why you're not coming with us! We're not raiding the building! I don't know what you're going through at the moment, but all that anger and violence is the last thing we need right now; I can't have you flipping out in the middle of everything."
"No! You can't take this anyway from me, Gwen! I won't-"
"I'm not taking anything away from you! Hope, we're not going there for vengeance, this is to prevent a war!"
"That's not fair," Hope pleaded.
"Fine, you wanna help? Only- and ONLY after you put this on," Gwen exclaimed, holding a talisman. "Once you have that on, you'll be in charge of keeping Ben away from the building. "My cousin is an unknown factor right now and he'd only get in my way."
Hope grabbed the paper and looked it over before pointing out, "A seal? For what?"
"When you took me back to my house, I sensed another presence inside you and it's aura was flat out evil."
"So you don't trust me?"
"I trust YOU, Hope! I don't trust whatever's inside you. I'm not judging your decisions and choices but I can't have that around until I know you can control it."
Hope only dropped her eyes to the floor and remained silent. She knew that Gwen was right about her being a liability. That whole battle in the space station quickly got out of control and if it wasn't for Drak she probably would've lost. The witch was cocky after getting a taste of new power and she placed her trust in someone who didn't give two shits about her. The plan was to grab Ben and leave, but she didn't account for Ben not wanting to leave.
"Fine, what do you need me to do?"
Allen hated lying to Julie but he had to assure her safety. How could he drag her back into this bullshit after she survived her relationship with Ben. The ex-Plumber wanted Julie to live a life without aliens. A talented girl like her didn't deserve to be trapped in a never-ending fight. So when Gwen asked for his help in the fight against the Plumbers, he declined. Julie didn't know about it and he intended to keep it that way. That poor girl followed Ben like a lost puppy and now it was her turn to experience things how fate intended it to be.
"What's wrong, babe? You barely ate your ice cream," Julie pondered.
"I'm just not that hungry I suppose," he lied with a chuckle.
"Well that's weird considering you invited me out for ice cream."
Damn her intelligence! Allen cursed in his mind.
"I've just been thinking about things lately."
"Well don't leave me hanging," Julie laughed nervously.
"Like why you stopped playing tennis or why you graduated from high school a year ago and you haven't even considered a college?" Allen probed.
"I just needed a break-"
"I saw the acceptance letter in the trash- Villanova was your dream school, why'd you turn them down?"
"Umm now you're digging through my garbage?" Julie asked with her brow furrowed.
"Can you just answer the question?"
"I figured that since I'm involved with you guys now then I'd need free time to do this hero stuff."
"What? Why the fuck would you ever do that?! Julie, you're not in the fucking Plumbers and you're definitely not a hero! You don't even have powers. You're a normal chick, act like it and go to fucking college!" Allen ranted mindlessly.
He wanted to take it all back when he saw the hurt expression in her eyes.
"Yeah cause fuck what I want, right?"
"Julie…"
"NOPE! Don't you dare fucking apologize. I thought that maybe since you're my boyfriend that you'd try to understand but I guess I forgot who I was talking to. Thanks for the talk, dad."
Julie stood up and walked away from the outside table they were sitting at with a frown on her face.
"Wait boo! I drove!"
"This normal chick has a pair of normal legs that she can use to walk her ass home so there's no need to save her, hero!" Julie shouted with tears in her eyes.
Allen sat back down and put his head down to avoid oncoming stares from bystanders. He didn't realize that Ben's influence was so ingrained in her mentality. He wanted to show her that a normal life was the best thing to happen to her.
Julie stomped down the sideway mad as all hell. She couldn't believe that he had the gall to wave off her attempts at something new. A fact that not even Ben knew about her was that she hated tennis, it was just an extra activity her dad tried to stick on his 'perfect' daughter. The main reason why she wanted to attend Villanova was because Gwen would be going there as well and she desired to stay close to Gwen and all the action. She yearned to be close to… she dare not say his name. All she wanted was to feel important. Julie wanted to make a change instead of being another fucking tennis player. The world was filled with tennis players. What the world wasn't filled with was heroes; someone to stand up and fight for what's right. Call her naive but the dark haired woman wanted to be a part of something greater than hitting balls back and forth.
"Julie?"
The woman locked eyes with a familiar freckled blonde and gave him a gentle smile.
"Hey, Cooper!"
He had pulled over to the side of the road to greet his friend.
"What's up? Why are you walking by yourself? You live on the other side of town, not to be nosy or anything."
"Me and Al got into a fight at Randy's Ice Cream Parlor and I stormed off," she sniffled with a small anxious laugh.
"You need a ride? It's supposed to rain soon and shit would only get worse if you got drenched."
"Haha umm hah yeah- yeah I'd like that."
Julie slid into the passenger's side of Cooper's blue Dodge Charger and buckled her seatbelt before the car took off down the street. It was quiet for a moment. Julie was wiping her tears and Coop was shooting her quick glances.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Julie replied.
"I'm sorry that you got into a fight with Allen. That must have been hard. I know you guys were really tight."
"I thought he really understood me but he was just stringing me along his agenda for a normal life."
"I always found it funny how we're scrambling for normalcy when the world is anything but," Cooper pointed out. "I figured that out the night my mom died."
"I'm sorry I didn't-"
"Nah you're good. I'm just bringing up the past. I was planning on meeting up with Gwen right now, maybe you can get your answers from her."
"That would be great- er I mean I don't want to intrude on you and Gwen."
"Ha! It's not a date or anything. She'll fill you in when we get there. You in?"
"Uh sure it won't hurt, I haven't seen Gwen in a while."
Cooper smiled and sped off towards the address that Gwen gave him. Unknown to Julie that they were being tailed by Allen, who saw Julie jump into Cooper's car. He knew that nothing good would come of being around Cooper, especially with how standoffish he's been acting the past couple weeks.
Cooper and Julie stepped out onto the gravel road and glanced up at the abandoned warehouse then looked at each other. They walked towards the large sliding doors, and Coop gave the wooden surface a hard knock. A moment later, Tetrax slid the door back a bit so he could see the knockers and pulled it back fully to greet them. The ex-Plumber gave them a nod and motioned for them to follow him inside, he took them to a room filled with all types of equipment and the rest of the team.
"Cooper! I'm so glad you made it!" Gwen announced as she hugged him tightly.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Coop assured.
A knock sounded into the room and Tetrax went to answer it.
"And Julie? I'm sorry but I thought you said that you were coming alone, Cooper?"
"Things changed. I'm sure you don't mind the extra body."
"That's my line," Allen laughed as he walked into the room.
"And Allen?"
Gwen was even more confused to see Allen here, when he was so adamant about not involving himself. Or Julie for that matter. What happened between them? She asked herself. The redhead was about to start asking questions when another voice piped up.
"All of the names on the list are here so why don't we continue on with the plan and ask questions later," Hope exclaimed as she stepped into the room with Lucy.
Gwen nodded and strided over to a whiteboard packed with tactical routes and other info. Everyone gathered around the redhead and prepared for the briefing. Hope and Lucy stood side by side near the computers, Cooper and Julie were the closest to the board, Allen and Tetrax positioned themselves next to the door, and Paradox leaned against the wall. Gwen explained the entire plan with added details then she assigned teams and roles for each individual. Any questions were answered promptly and back-up plans were noted.
"You have yet to tell us where and how we're getting into a top secret facility," Hope declared.
"Leave that part to us," Helen announced.
Allen's eyes widened when he saw Manny and Helen suddenly appear in the doorway.