A/N: Sixth chapter! Yaaaay.
To Humus and Peeta: D'aww, thanks! I guess we're both happy fools, then!
To binso: Thanks! I'm glad that more people think Kevin was a bit too… recovered, I guess you could call it, from being a supposed insane, violent sociopath in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. And I'm glad you like the story!
Thanks to EvilQueen5,temple of the chaos raven, Letheanlove and binso for the follows and favorites! Have a sweetroll! *hands you a red-labeled pastry before running off*
Warnings: Self-harming and mentions of drug use and suicide. Includes a few swear words, because Kevin is a potty-mouth.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10: anything. Please don't sue me, I have no money.
Addiction
Chapter Six
I felt… weird. My head was on fire and my left arm and half of my chest were numb with a warmth I could sense emanating from my core. My vision was also different, darker yet warmer, and I could hear a dull roar I soon realized was fire flooding through the veins of my modified body. The still-human parts of my body seemed overly hot and highly sensitive compared to the rough skin of the pyronite sections.
The power was still there, but it was different. It was loud, and consumed all non-relevant thoughts, until all I could think was 'powerful' and 'fight', 'burn' and 'hurt', 'more' and 'kill'. The mindset of a pyronite, etched in the DNA I had absorbed, started to overwhelm my own, and I fought it. It was hard, but I fought it with all I had. Yet it wasn't enough; I couldn't push those thoughts from my head, no matter how hard I tried.
I settled on a compromise, shoving those impulses to the back of my head where the panic once lived, and focused instead on how badly I was going to destroy the kid. I focused on how I would laugh as I burned him alive, then dance as I set his ashes on fire. Now that I know more about pyronite psychology, I understand that I wasn't as successful at ignoring those thoughts as I thought I was back then.
When he got up, the kid seemed to be surprised by my new look. I remember thinking his head would explode if he tried any harder to figure out what happened. I decided to help him out, "I absorb energy, remember?"
"You don't have to do this." I wasn't sure what he was referring to. I didn't have to do what, copy his power? Kill innocent people for a payday? Be a violently insane sociopath? Absorb energy? Fight him? Despite my confusion, I still took offense to him telling me what I did and didn't have to do. All his words did was add fuel to the raging inferno I could already feel inside me.
He lunged at me, and I stepped to the side before blasting him in the back. The spray of flames I shot from my hand was much wider than it had to be- I had no more control over this new power than I did over the old ones. Surprisingly, the fire seemed to actually hurt the kid. I thought a being made of fire would have some sort of immunity to it, but…
He fell to his hands and knees, and I stalked towards him, ready to finish it. I was sick and tired of always getting pushed around, by both other people and the things that happened to me. I had had enough of everyone looking down on me. "It's time I got what's coming to me. Nobody's calling me 'freak' anymore!"
I was going to end it. I was going to end him. Yeah, we were friends for a good couple of hours, but he betrayed me, and I wasn't pissed. I was way past pissed, I was fucking homicidal, and he was going to pay for crossing me.
Actually, at that point, I was having trouble remembering exactly what he did to make me mad. It didn't matter though; I wanted to kill him, so I was going to kill him. It was just that simple. I was in a state of single-mindedness that would make a hungry gourmand proud, and the only thing that was running through my mind was just how dead the kid would be when I was done with him.
Then a loud horn pierced through my thoughts, and I remembered what I was doing in a subway tunnel in the first place. A second whistle sounded, and I smiled at the kid's apparent panic.
"Payday."
The conductors on the trains seemed to realize they were on a collision course. Although, now that I think about it, it could just be that they saw a rock-man with a fiery head sitting on the tracks. Whatever; either way, they were both frantically sounding the whistles of their respective trains, as if doing so would magically keep them from colliding.
I was so happy: finally, something was going my way! Despite the bump in my plan, I was going to get what I wanted. I didn't think about the hundreds of people that were going to die, I didn't think about what the kid was going to do once the trains crashed, I just thought about how I was going to be rich. After all the shit the universe dumped on me, I was finally getting what I deserved. I sprinted to the side, hopped on the platform and sat on the edge. I wanted to watch from the best seat in the house as everything came together.
And I watched from this perfect position as the kid completely ruined my plans. In any other situation, melting the control box would've done nothing more than destroy the only chance to switch the tracks back. In my world, it turned out to be another way to save the day. The tracks switched, and the passenger train followed them safely out of the way. I was devastated. The universe didn't even give me the satisfaction of watching the other train run the kid over. Instead, he disappeared in a swirling firestorm, and the train passed through the station uneventfully.
How disappointing. I jumped from the platform to the tracks, trying to see where the kid went. Surprisingly, I didn't want to kill him anymore. Most of the anger I felt only moments ago had cooled, leaving bitter disappointment in its place. I think I wanted to apologize to him, try to go back to being friends again.
Then I remembered why I was so mad with him in the first place, and the rage returned. It wasn't the same all-consuming fury it was earlier, though. I didn't want to kill him anymore, I just wanted to rip out his spine and shove it down his throat.
("I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that would've killed me."
"Shut up, Tennyson.")
I couldn't find him, though. I was sore about him ruining my chance to get rich quick, but I couldn't beat him up if he wasn't there anymore. "Forget the money." I could get money whenever I wanted to. But I knew this new power wouldn't last, and I knew the perfect way to put it to good use.
"Time to get some priceless revenge."
A/N: Ta-da! I am quite proud of myself.
Just to clear some things up: 'pyronite' is Heatblast's species, and 'gourmand' is Upchuck's species.
Next chapter will return to the second storyline, and will be posted before 6:00 PM next Thursday. Until then, farewell!
*hops on an evil-looking black horse and rides off into a swirling portal in the mouth of a giant stone face*