My Lovely Family
Chapter 11 - Karina
Several family members and friends of the Null Void prisoners came for a visiting day. Julie carried Devlin on her lap and was waiting to be searched. This time she had no hidden alien technology or anything that could help her husband escape. When released, she sat in a chair in front of a glass booth. Kevin was on the other side, wearing a costume that prevented his transformation. They were talking on a telephone.
"Hi, Julie. How are you?"
"Well, but not as much as if I were with you."
"I also wanted to be with you and our son, but I have to stay here for four more years."
Devlin stood on his mother's lap and rested his hands on the cabin.
"Daddy!"
"Can't they release you to hold Devlin a little?"
"I may ask, but get ready for more inspection."
The Plumbers allowed him to be released from the cabin to hold the boy, but two guards accompanied him to make sure there were no tricks. Kevin picked Devlin up and gave Julie a peck.
"I promise you, love. Soon, we'll be together again. "
(Opening theme)
Sandra was visiting the Tennyson at headquarters. She hugged her daughter-in-law as she congratulated her on the sixth child she was expecting.
"And will it be a boy or a girl?" - she asked.
"I don't know…" Gwen answered. "Ben wanted another boy, but I have a slight impression that it will be a girl…"
"Well, then we can only wait. And when it'll be born?"
"The forecast is for December."
"Excellent! Then in December, we'll have one more member of the family."
After a long time, Carl and Sandra returned to Bellwood through the portal. Ben followed them. It didn't take long to arrive. But when they got out of the car to enter the house, a woman, their neighbor, shouted:
"Hey, freaks! Incest is a crime, see? "
"YOUR DAD HAS GONORREIA, MOTHERF-" Carl shouted but was interrupted by his wife.
"Leave it, honey..." she said with her eyes almost in tears. "We're not going to risk being prosecuted by unworthy people."
The neighbor was further irritated by Carl's response and fired a flood of offenses. He rebuffed, cursing her at things that hurt her sexual dignity. But the woman was one of those people who never admitted her mistakes and kept ranting against the couple. Carl's wife was trying to contain herself, she was almost crying. When the wife left, she told her husband to ignore it next time.
But Ben couldn't bear to see his mother so shaken.
"I'll be back soon. You can go."
"Ben, where are you going? "Asked Sandra.
"You'll find out," he turned into the Ghostfreak and entered the neighbor's house unnoticed.
Sandra's neighbor was an unhappy woman. She had no husband, no children, no boyfriend, no job. She lived on rent, maintained by her elderly parents. She was jealous when she saw Carl and his wife talking to neighbors about how happy they were for Ben, who was very dear in the neighborhood. She wanted at all costs to ruin the couple's happiness, so she attacked them for no reason with prejudiced statements.
Ghostfreak began to play a trick on her. First, he cut off the electricity in the house. Then he dragged the furniture, making the woman fall all the time because she didn't know where she was walking. Terrified, she heard a voice:
"Oh, why didn't you pay the electricity bill instead of disturbing Mrs. Sandra?"
"AAAAAAH, IT'S THE DEVIL!"
"Isn't it nice to torment others?" Asked Ghostfreak. "Ben Tennyson's mother is not to blame for your misfortunes. Do you think there's no justice?"
The woman was in a panic.
"You'll leave this house immediately, and leave the Tennysons alone. Or I'll come back to torment you until you go mad even more and beg to die."
Ben returned to his parents' house. Sandra was already worried, although her son didn't take long.
"Where were you?"
"Let's say I was taking care of your case. Take it easy, Mom," he said, holding her hand. "That unhappy girl will never piss you off again."
He explained everything to his parents before returning home. But when he arrived at headquarters, he had a surprise: his mother-in-law Natalie was there, playing with the children.
"Hi, Aunt Natalie," he greeted her politely.
"Ohhh, hi, Ben!" his mother-in-law hugged him. "I thought you were staying at your parents' house."
"No, I took them to make sure no one would bother."
"Look, honey, I know perfectly well what your mom is going through. She needs to answer to these people. Imagine, if anyone talks bad things about you to me, I really curse it. "
Ben smiled, imagining the scene Natalie was able to make. The children came to call their grandmother back to play. He let her continue with the little ones while going to talk to Gwen.
"Gwen! Where are you?" he shouted.
"Here in the bedroom, honey," she replied.
Ben came in and saw Gwen lying, resting. The pregnancy was in a very advanced stage. She felt weak sometimes.
"Love, I…" Ben thought well before he spoke. "I fixed my mom's problem."
"Oh, I'm so happy about that! What did you do? "
"I used the Ghostfreak to teach a lesson to a busybody neighbor. "
"Great! People have to learn to take care of their own lives. By the way, did you greet my mom? "
"Of course, I just talked to her. She's downstairs, playing with the kids. They like their grandma very much."
"She loves being with her grandchildren. I warned you on your cell phone that she was coming, but you didn't answer."
Ben turned on his cell phone and saw Gwen's message.
"Wow! I was so distracted that I didn't even see it. But it's alright. Your mother seems to be in a good mood…" he lay down beside his wife. "He even hugged me."
"Oh boy!" Gwen turned to his side. "You see? Gradually you'll understand each other."
The truth is that Natalie only treated Ben well in front of her grandchildren and his parents. In all other cases, she was a snake mother-in-law.
(Note: In the original version, in Portuguese, the word used to describe Natalie is "jararaca", a species of snake very common in Brazil's forests. In Brazilian Portuguese, the word "jararaca" is slang for a mother-in-law that loves to torment her son-in-law or daughter-in-law)
Kevin wasn't the only one who was obsessed with Gwen. Michael Morningstar, now known as the Darkstar, not only wanted her energy but was determined to absorb her power and take her as his woman. He was stuck for a long time in a cell where he had no information about what was happening in the world. When his sentence was served, he sought to know what was going on.
"Married to Ben… has five kids and is waiting for the sixth… apparently you've been having fun, lovely Gwen. And now she's even more beautiful! But it won't be long before you are mine."
In the ultrasound room, the children caressed the images as usual. Cassandra held Kenny's hand and Gwendolyn held Gabriella's. Ben was holding Talitha in his lap.
"It's another girl," said the doctor.
"Oh, I knew it!" said Gwen excitedly.
After her grandparents came in and got the news, Natalie celebrated being a girl. She laughed mentally at her son-in-law.
"Did you only have one boy available, Ben? Hahahahahaha" she thought. "You should choose the name, Gwen," she said to her daughter. "Since you got it right you were a girl and Ben has already named three... now you name three too."
"It makes sense," Gwen replied. "Ben also chose our first daughter's name, now I choose our last daughter's" she and her husband kissed.
The whole press emphasized that the Tennysons' last child was a girl. Some people joked about it.
"How did such a beautiful woman have six children with such an ugly man?" Asked one.
"It's simple," answered another. "Just put a pillow on Ben's face."
Morningstar attacked Keystone. The alarm sounded, indicating the danger. Ben and Gwen left the children with Natalie, although Cassandra wanted to go along.
"Morningstar is very dangerous, Cassie," Ben explained. "Next time when you're more trained, you come with us" he kissed his daughter's forehead, who smiled at him.
When they reached the place of the attack, the villain fired his magic at them, trying to drain his energy, but Ben turned himself into Big Chill and the magic passed through him, while Gwen protected herself with a sphere of mana.
Big Chill blew towards Morningstar to freeze him and Gwen attacked him with her spells, but he ran. He leaned against a tube similar to what Julie had brought Kevin to escape from prison and intensified his powers. With one hand, he fired a black jet that captured Big Chill. With the other, he tried to catch Gwen, but she protected herself. The magic grew stronger and stronger, reducing the sphere of mana. Gwen approached the bandit.
"Come on, lovely Gwen. It'll be a pleasure to absorb your power and that of your little girl… "
But the heroine activated her Omnitrix and became the same alien as her husband. She froze her sphere of mana, broke the top, and escaped over it. Then it changed its shape to the Upgrade and fired a bolt of lightning on Morningstar, releasing Big Chill. He turned into the Humungousaur and trampled the villain.
"That's what you get for messing with my wife!" shouted Humungousaur.
Rook arrived aboard the Plumbers ship with a draining machine in hand. He put his tube in Morningstar and absorbed his powers.
"The glitter is gone!"
Julie was at her mother-in-law's house while Devlin played. She expected a prediction from Mrs. Levin for your husband's future.
"Oh my God!"
"What is it? Is there anything bad? "Julie asked worriedly.
"No, honey," replied Mrs. Levin "It's a fantastic thing! The two families will come together in the future! "
"What? What do you mean? "
"The son born from your womb will join one of the daughters born to Ben and Gwen Tennyson. The feud between the two sides will finally end. But there's one detail."
"Which?"
"There will be a war between your husband and hers. One that will involve the Tennyson's son. It will tarnish Kevin's reputation and make things harder for Devlin."
"But why?"
"The same energy that plagues Ben in the present will make him a nightmare for your son. There will be much distrust from the Tennysons about Devlin's intentions. In the end, the union will be made. But I don't see if this is good or bad."
Julie took her mother-in-law's prediction as a sign that she should get Kevin out of jail and convince him to forget about Gwen so there would be no harm to Devlin. She regretted Natalie's behavior would influence the relationship between Ben and Devlin in the future. She didn't know which daughter would be chosen, but she was thinking of a way to change the fate of the son.
"I dated Ben, and Kevin dated Gwen. This is going to be a mess and it has everything not to work."
On December 13th of that year, the last daughter of the Tennyson was born. The newborn was red-haired and had green eyes.
"See," said Gwen. "One more little redhead."
"There are three now," Gwendolyn noted.
"Is that the last one?" asked Gabriella.
"Yes," Gwen replied. "She's your last little sister."
The family members were able to enter the room. They knew this scene was repeated for the last time, but they had the same emotion as before.
"What's the name?" Frank and Carl asked together.
"Karina" answered Gwen.
The news of the birth was the cover of every newspaper in the universe. Karina was similar to Cassandra: her face was similar to Ben's, though more delicate. But her hair was red. Karina would grow up like a brave and kind girl. She completed the next generation of superheroes from the Tennyson family.
Author's Notes
I posted this chapter before I was planning because I need to advance the translation of the next chapter.