Welcome Ultras to the next chapter of the Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs!
As for the hospital scene, I am not a doctor, much less a psychologist, and don't actually have any idea how they would run a test similar to the one they ran. So I made it up the best I could. Sorry if the test, or the machine, is somewhat, or entirely, unrealistic. If someone with better knowledge about the techniques wanted to critique the chapter, go ahead, I'd welcome the correction!
There is a trigger for this chapter, an instance of child abuse. It begins in the paragraph after, "Then where is it, she shouted again..." And it continues for the next two paragraphs.
As for the next update, expect a week and a half again, so the 23rd of May, but I might be able to get it out the Thursday prior, in one week. So send those positive thoughts my way!
As for a soundtrack, I think the song, "Where Evil Grows," by the Poppy Family is a good one for this chapter. It fits with the second hospital scene, as well as with Alex's message to Ben. (But that's all the sneak peek I'm giving you!)
Enjoy the chapter!
The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs
Chapter 36: Dangerous Games
"So who is this Alex Animal guy?" Maddi broke the silence. There were an array of shrugs from the team.
"I have no idea, but I now know that I could have prevented Lukas's death, as well as my house getting blown up," Ben confessed.
"Ben, these are the demands of an obviously deranged person," Gwen said. "And as much as I enjoy watching you get your butt kicked, this Alex Animal was going to hurt people regardless of whether or not you complied or resisted his demands."
"Lucky Girl's right," Cooper said. "People like Alex like to watch the world burn, and they think that they're the hero while doing it." The rest of the team nodded their understanding.
"What we need to do is first, find out who this Alex Animal. Two, figure out what this plan of his is all about. Third, spoil the plan before he has a chance to enact it," Cooper summarized.
"So what leads do we have on his identity?" Gwen asked.
"The message said that he worked with Doctor Animo," Julie looked over the message again. "Probably because of his name, Alex Animal. But that means that he's been plotting for months at least."
"But probably not years," Ellie spoke up. "I'm not for sure, but it seems that if he'd been plotting for years, then there'd be a lot of other times he could have sprung his plan on you." Julie nodded.
"So several months, but probably less than a year. Is there anything that happened that could have made this guy hate you so much to try to kill you within the last year?" Julie looked directly at Ben.
"I don't know," Ben confessed. "There was a lot of collateral damage when we were trying to subdue Kevin, maybe his house was destroyed?"
"No, I don't think so," Gwen said. "If I remember right, he was downtown when we took him down. There weren't any houses around. Not much traffic either, the PLUMMERs diverted just about everyone while they were taking him down, before we showed up."
"So, back to square one," Ben relented. "Can you read the message again?" Julie nodded, as she started reading the message again.
"It almost sounds like he had a personal hatred for Lukas," Cooper noted. "He refers to him as a lowlife, but he doesn't sound like he cares much about anyone else on the team except for you, Ben."
"So he started hating Ultra 10 sometime less than a year ago, he hated Lukas specifically for some reason, he has some sort of a creepy way to stalk Ben, and he worked with Doctor Animo because of the animals. Does that about sum it up?" Ellie asked.
"I think so," Julie said.
"Well that gives me at least something to start searching for," Cooper said.
"Like, on the internet?" Ben asked confused. Cooper smiled.
"Nope... cooler," Cooper walked back over to his computer and moved his chair out of the way, letting the group see the screen better. "Allow me the privilege of introducing you to my largest and greatest project yet. The Near-Earth Surveillance System, or NESS. It's a small collection of six satellites, all of them of my own build, that I've linked with our cameras around town. The NESS is going to give us a bird's eye view over Bellwood."
"Wow," Ellie said. Ben and Maddi nodded their heads in agreement. "That is cool!"
"Wouldn't they be able to take images from all over the globe?" Gwen asked. "I mean, they are satellites, aren't they?"
"Yes and no," Cooper explained. "You see, because I only have six so far, they can't form a network around the earth. Without the network, I loose contact with them when they circle on the far side of the globe. If there's no signal, there's little stopping them from crashing down."
"So instead, you have them positioned above Bellwood," Gwen concluded.
"Roughly, yeah. They have to orbit counter to Earth's rotation to stay where they're at, but they blend in like normal stars," Cooper continued explaining.
"English, please," Ben interrupted. "Not all of us are science wizards."
"Basically," Ellie said. "They only cover Bellwood and the surrounding countryside. And they probably take tons of adjustments to stay up there."
"About that," Cooper interjected. "Ben, I need you to turn into your small alien and check my calculations to make sure that we don't have a satellite crashing down any time soon." Ben held a 'thumbs up' sign.
"So how are you going to search for this Alex Animal character," Julie asked.
"Well, six satellites don't cover a large area very well, but supplemented with the cameras we have set up, they provide excellent eyes over the city. If Alex is spying on you using cameras, then he would be needing to transmit that data remotely."
"So?" Ben asked.
"So if he's transmitting the data," Gwen filled in. "Then all we need to do is find the frequency that he's broadcasting on."
"And once we find the data feed," Ellie filled in. "We can find where it's going, and where it's coming from. Which means…"
"We can find where he is viewing the data. We find where he's accessing the data," Julie said her bit.
"Bingo. And if we find where he's viewing the feed, we find Alex," Cooper finished the circle.
"Several of the cameras are of alien origin, from Vilgax's drones. If the satellites can funnel their readings through those cameras," Gwen said.
"Then it won't bee too difficult to alter the camera to read the readings, and find the channel we're looking for," Cooper explained.
"About how long do you think that it will take to track him down?" Ben asked.
"That's impossible to know," Cooper said. "If he's using radio waves? Only a couple of days. If he's using less common frequencies, like microwave or ultraviolet waves, probably closer to a week. And that's if he's using a direct link. If he's using routers or scramblers to disguise his location, it's a whole different ball game we're playing. We'd need to start scanning for electro-magnetic frequencies, and single out which ones are the odd ones."
"It's still like picking a needle out of a haystack," Gwen said. Ellie and Maddie nodded their agreement. "But at least we'll have a metal detector."
"More like a magnet, but yeah, it helps," Cooper finished.
"I'll see what GrayMatter can do to help find him," Ben said, activating the Omnitrix.
"No, I don't think that's a good idea," Julie butt in. Ben gave her a quizzical look. "It all depends on Alex not expecting what we're doing. We're all taking a risk, but it sounds like his attention is focused on you."
"Meaning?" Ben asked.
"Meaning that you have to look like you are going along with his plans, and keep him off of our trail. The nicer you act, the easier it'll be for us to find his trail. I agree with Julie," Ellie said. Cooper, Maddi and Gwen all shook their heads in agreement.
"So what do I do, just play along? Do what he tells me to do?" Ben asked exasperated.
"That's exactly what we need you to do," Cooper said. "There's no telling how long he's going to take before he tries to kill you, but every hour is going to help us find him."
"And what happens when he tries to kill me?" Ben asked worried.
"Then we go to plan B," Gwen said, pounding one fist into her other palm. "We come in as your back up, and Alex the beating of his life."
"As well as save you," Julie included. "That too."
"I still don't like it," Ben relented. "But it's the best we've got. I say we go for it."
Alex Animal's base
"Alexander, where did you put my purse?" An angry voice came from inside the main bedroom. Alex cringed when he heard his mother yell at him again. He hated her, she was always so mean to him.
"I didn't touch it, Mom!" Alex shouted back.
"Then where is it?" She shouted again. "If I don't see it in the next five minutes, you're getting a beating like you've never had!" She came around the hallway, all dressed up to go out, but without her purse.
"You little brat had better find that purse right now!" She shouted at him, prompting Alex to get off of the couch he'd been trying to hide in, and run off to find somewhere else to hide. He ran down the far hallway into the laundry room, slamming the door behind him. Sucking in what small belly he had, he got between the water heater and the washer, trying to hide from his mom. In a moment, his angry mother came storming into the laundry room, immediately going toward Alex's usual hiding spot.
"Get out here, you little waste of space," she hissed as she tried to grab his arm to pull him out. But Alex was too far into the cranny to be pulled out. All that his mother could do was scratch his arm with her fingernails. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, startling both Alex and his mother. "I'll deal with you later," his mother's voice dripped of venom as she stood up and went to go get the door.
"Don't touch me!" Alex shouted as he woke up with a start, sitting up in his makeshift bed. He was covered in a cold sweat from head to toe. Taking several steadying breaths, he looked around. The room was dark, all except for his computer's blinking lights against the far wall.
"It's just a dream," Alex said to himself as he panted. "It's just a bad memory." Although he knew that his mother had died years ago, her ghost still seemed to follow him, haunting him in his dreams. Alex laid back down and tried to go back to sleep, though his nightmare had been much too real to let him. It must have seemed so real because at one point in time, it was real.
Living with his mother was the worst years of his life. She was bad because she'd hurt him, and he hated her for it. He hated her, yet he had been powerless to stop her, to end the constant abuse and neglect. Growing up with it, he hadn't known it was Hell, not until his father got custody of him. Finally, the nightmares had ended, that is, it was, until Ultra 10 had taken his father from him. His father had been the only good thing in his life. His only source of love and encouragement. He had shown him that there was more to life than abuse and neglect. He had decided that he'd not let anyone else suffer like he had, not if he could help it. And then Ultra 10 had taken him away. Alex felt the hot acid of remorse, bitter, resentment and similar emotions well up in his chest, getting heavier and heavier the longer he dwelt on it.
After some time trying to get back to sleep, without any success, Alex gave up on the idea, and instead decided to check up on his nemesis, to see how his plan was progressing. He made his way over to his computer, accessing the cameras he still had installed on Animo's birds all throughout the city. He switched through several of the camera feeds until he found the one that was viewing Ben's burnt-out house.
Most of the police and other first responders had left, leaving only two squad cars on guard duty, to make sure that no one decided to tamper with the crime scene. However, Ben was nowhere near his house. Alex switched through several other feeds, looking for the bird that had eyes on Ben. Finally, he came across the one he was looking for.
Ben returned to the hospital, walking through the doors into the lobby. Checking himself in, he walked down the hallway towards his father's room. Finally, he came upon the door. Upon entering, Ben saw his father for the first time since he had been brought to the hospital. His cuts were cleaned and bandaged, leaving him looking a little like a mummy with all of the bandages wrapped around him. He was resting silently in his hospital bed. He was so still and silent that, were it not for the heart monitor's rhythmic beeping, Carl almost appeared to be dead.
Beside the bed, in a cheap reclining chair sat Grandpa Max, reading through some kind of notes on a clipboard. Upon hearing the door open, he looked up from the papers, almost like he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. He slipped the clipboard into the space between the cushions as nonchalantly as he could.
"Ben?" Max said, seeing his grandson come in. "How was your homework session?"
"It was alright," Ben sighed. Beyond acting, Ben was actually tired from the adrenaline and stress from the day. "How is Dad doing?"
"Better than before," Max answered, clearing his belongings off of the couch beside his chair, inviting Ben to take a seat. "But he's still on the edge."
"What do you mean?" Ben asked. "I thought it was just the bleeding and shock?"
"The CT scan revealed that Carl had swelling in his head from some blunt force injury, either from the explosion or from something after," Max informed Ben. "The swelling was severe enough that it was putting pressure on his brain. The doctors were able to relieve the pressure, but they don't know how long it had been swelled. And until he wakes up, they won't be able to tell how severe the damage."
"What does that mean?" Ben asked, not completely sure what Max was talking about.
"We don't know yet," Max confessed. "He might heal perfectly fine, or he could develop a mental handicap from the pressure. There's no way to tell until he wakes up." Ben slumped in his seat on the couch, feeling depressed about the news.
"What about Mom?" Ben asked weakly.
"She's not much better. She's in a medically induced comma," Max said. "It's to help her body not go into shock while they remove some of the remaining shrapnel. However, she's still on life-support, as some of her vitals were damaged too. They're doing what they can to keep her alive." Ben nodded his head glumly. He sat there in silence for a moment, thinking of how Alex Animal was going to pay for this. A sound thrashing would be a very light payback.
"As for you," Max cautiously added. "I've talked to Frank and Natalie, and we think that it would probably be best for you to stay partly with me, and partly at Gwen's house while your parents are in here."
"Why can't I stay with them?" Ben asked, confused. "I want to be close to my parents…"
"Of course you can stay here," Max said. "You'd only be sleeping in the Rustbucket or at Gwen's house. A bed is much more comfortable than a hospital couch. But you can stay as long as you want during the day with your parents." Ben nodded, understanding what Max was saying.
"Thanks, Grandpa," Ben muttered. "I really appreciate you letting me stay in the Rustbucket at night." Max nodded as he rested his hand on Ben's shoulder.
Ben nodded, finally accepting some of the comfort that his grandpa was offering.
"We can stay as late as you'd like," Max reassured Ben. "We'll go to the Rustbucket whenever you're ready."
"My parents are safe here," Ben concluded. "And they're receiving good care. I think that I'd like to head to the Rustbucket." Max nodded. He got up from his seat and walked with Ben toward the exit.
"I'll bring you back first thing in the morning," he reassured Ben. Ben nodded as they made their way out of the hospital and towards Max's RV.
January (Ben and Gwen are 14)
The next week passed by slowly. Ben received what few belongings the police had been able to gather from his burned and destroyed house, and moved them into the back section of the Rustbucket. It reminded him a little bit of his summer trip back when he was ten, when he stayed all summer with his grandpa and Gwen, touring the country.
That seemed so long ago, back when the biggest worry he had was avoiding Max's concoctions he called dinner. Back before he had to fight crime, or worry about his identity, or wonder when Vilgax or Doctor Animo or someone else would try to attack. It was even before he had found the Omnitrix, and it had fused itself onto his arm.
Max had taken Ben shopping the morning of the first day he had moved into the Rustbucket. It was hard picking out new clothes and comics and other things to replace what he'd lost. It felt almost wrong, like he was replacing his old life with some kind of a fake, new one. But he did need clothes, and much of his belongings had been lost in the fire. So it wasn't like he had much of a choice.
Ben did find out that sneaking out wasn't as difficult as he thought it'd be, which was a relief. With his grandpa only working part-time, and with how close-quarters the Rustbucket was, Ben thought that he'd only really be able to get out after Max had gone to sleep. However, as it turned out, Max had quite a few calls for a plumber end up going late, so he wouldn't be there to ask Ben where he was going.
That was just for the first few days, though. Max had told him that Frank and Natalie had been cleaning and organizing the guest room in their house to be another room for Ben as well. Whenever Max had to leave town on a plumbing call, head stay at his aunt and uncle's house. And they were a lot more strict about him staying out late, or sneaking out at night.
Ben understood that they weren't trying to replace his parents, but they still sometimes acted like it. But the fact that Gwen was Lucky Girl seemed to help, as she'd be able to cover for him, when they both left to go on patrol, or visit with Team Ultra. He'd only stay a night or two at a time at Gwen's house, which was fine with Ben. That was about all he could take.
It still angered him that Gwen had been Lucky Girl all this time, and she hadn't told him. Of course, he hadn't told her that he was Ultra 10, but that was because of how dangerous that knowledge was. And it's not like he could take the Omnitrix off or just quit being Ultra 10. But that wasn't all of it.
He had really liked Lucky Girl. Like, he'd like, liked her. He'd gone to a dance with her, and he'd kissed her. And not only that, but he had enjoyed it. He caught himself wishing that Gwen wasn't Lucky Girl, or at the very least, that he didn't know that Gwen was Lucky Girl. That way, he could still like her, without it being wrong or gross.
"Gah! What is wrong with me," Ben sighed as he sat in the room Frank and Natalie had given him, doing his homework. "I liked Lucky Girl, and that's all sorts of weird right there, liking a girl. But it's even weirder, now knowing that she is my cousin…" Ben sighed. "Why can't I just forget about that stupid kiss, like Julie said? It was an accident, and we both didn't know that we were kissing cousins..." Ben shook his head, trying to focus on the English homework in front of him. Still, a deeper thought lurked in his mind, unwilling to be shaken out.
"Would she still have kissed me, if she'd known who I was? Would I have still kissed her?" The thought wouldn't leave the deepest recess of his mind. Ben was startled out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.
"Ben?" Natalie asked as she slowly pushed the door open. "Dinner's ready."
"I'm not hungry," Ben replied, again starting on the essay he had been trying to write for the past hour.
"I could leave you a plate on your desk," Natalie offered. "In case you get hungry?" Ben shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, I guess," he relented. Natalie seemed content with that, and went back downstairs to dish up a plate for him. Ben started writing a few sentences, finally making some progress on the essay. Suddenly, he heard a tap on his window. Startled, Ben spun his chair around to look out the window. Although it was already dark, Ben couldn't see anything outside. Getting up, he walked over to the window, sliding it open and peering outside...
Nothing, the night was dark, and there wasn't anything that looked like it could have caused the noise. Suddenly, Ben spied a small object on the window sill. It looked like some kind of a communicator. Curious, Ben picked it up, bringing it inside. Scarcely had he closed the window, then Natalie knocked on the door again, opening it enough for her to place a plate of food on his desk.
"Thanks..." Ben said as Natalie closed the door, heading back into the kitchen. Ben looked at the object in his hands, trying to figure out a way to open it up, of figure out what exactly it was. He found some sort of a button/latch on the side. Pressing it, the circular device opened up, a prerecorded message beginning to play.
"Hello, Ben. It's good to see how cooperative you've been this last week- you must value the lives of your friends…"
"He only thinks I've been cooperative," Ben mumbled to himself.
"You seem to be reacting to your parent's confinement as well as can be expected. If you continue cooperating, they should heal without any… complications."
"You'd better not do anything to them while they're in the hospital, you-" Ben started to shout.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to them so long as you play nicely… Now, there's going to be a fire tomorrow night at the apartment building across the street from Murray's Family Diner on Broadway. You are going to show up at exactly seven in the evening, in order to get the people out, but the building is going to burn to the ground. Do not try to put the fire out, or a second building somewhere in the city will catch fire too. And I want only you to show up, I don't want Lucky Girl or any of the rest of your team anywhere near. Not a word to them about it. Trust me, I'll know if they show up…" The audio message seemed to end.
"So if he's going to destroy me, why does he want me to save the people in the apartment, but not put out the fire?" Ben asked himself, confused. He looked over the circular object in his hand, but he couldn't find anything on it other than the button he found before. Pressing it, nothing happened.
"Must have been a one-time message," Ben concluded. He walked over to the window sill, closing the window shut tightly, and dropping the blinds. After having secured his privacy, he opened up his cell phone, calling Cooper's cell.
"Hey man," Cooper answered. "What's up?"
"Do you have any leads on Alex yet?" Ben asked hopefully.
"No, nothing yet. Whatever technology he is using, it's advanced," Cooper admitted. "Why, do you have something?"
"An assignment, from Alex," Ben relayed. "He told me the building he's going to set alight tomorrow night. Told me to rescue the people, but to let the building burn. If I disobeyed, a different building in the city would catch fire."
"Odd," Cooper said, puzzled. "Anything else?"
"He told me that only I could be at the scene. If I brought any of you guys, or even told you what was happening, he'd set the second building on fire," Ben said.
"So why are you telling us?" Cooper asked.
"Because we're going to get some more information about him," Ben said. "I'm in my room, telling you this. But don't tell the team. The fire is scheduled to light up at seven exactly. If Alex sets the second building on fire, we know that he's hacked our communicators. If not, we'll know that our communications are still safe."
"Smart," Cooper said. "We'll be able to coordinate with confidence. But what if he does light the second building on fire?" Ben took a breath.
"You know when it's going to light up, and you'll be looking for it the moment it starts. You'll be able to set the team on it immediately. And if you keep them as far away from me as possible, then we'll be sure that it's not because he saw them, that the second building lit up."
"What if he's already got our communicators hacked?" Cooper asked. "He might not set the second building on fire, just to throw us off of his scent."
"Then he would send the message that he can't control me, and that would undermine his plan so far," Ben explained.
"A catch twenty-two," Cooper practically smiled through the phone. "If he sets it alight, we know he can hear us. If he doesn't, either he can't back up his threats, or he can't hear us."
"Precisely," Ben concluded. "But we can't risk the rest of the team knowing," Ben reminded. "You're the only guy who knows, and you're my eyes in the sky. The less the team talks about it, the less the probability that Alex picks up on the plan outside of the comm links."
"Sounds like a workable plan," Cooper said. "What about the message? How did he tell you what he wanted?"
"He left some sort of a communicator on my window sill," Ben told him. "Maybe you should take a look at it. If you can hack into it, it could give you some intel?"
"Good idea," Cooper said. "If you could drop it off at the garage…"
"No problem," Ben said. Ben ended the call, and left his room, walking out of the house.
"Where are you going?" Natalie asked, seemingly having eyes in the back of her head as she was cleaning up after dinner.
"I, uh…" Ben struggled for an excuse. "I'm just going out for a walk around the block. I'll be back shortly."
"Alright," Natalie replied. "Be careful of strangers!" Ben nodded as he exited the front door. Making his way out to the front yard, Ben ducked behind some shrubbery and activated his Omnitrix.
"Accelerate!" Ben shouted, after emerging from the green flash of light. His faceplate slid down, and he took off into the night, speeding through the streets towards Cooper's garage. It always amused him to see how still the world seemed to be when he was traveling so fast.
"This is my power," that annoying voice in his head spoke. "And it is yours to use."
"Shut up," Ben snapped at himself. "Taking on the cape again isn't enough? You have to torture me still?"
"Oh, I hardly call this torture," the voice said. "You enjoy the speed and freedom of this form too much. No, not torture, just a reminder of the benefits of accepting your true self."
"Ultra 10 is only a facade," Ben said. "Not my real self." In a moment, Ben pulled up to Cooper's house, knocking on the side of the garage. It was a moment before Cooper opened it up.
"You got it?" Cooper asked. Accelerate nodded, giving him the communicator. "Thanks for the delivery, but you'd better beat it. I know you can move faster than the speed of sound, but the longer you stay, the more likely this guy finds you again."
"Got it," Ben replied in Accelerate's reptilian voice. "I'll talk to you tomorrow before seven." Cooper nodded and shut the door, as Ben ran back to his cousin Gwen's house. Diving behind some bushes, he detransformed, leaving him in his human form. Somewhat actually winded from the run, Ben walked back inside the house.
"Hey, Aunt Natalie!" Ben greeted his aunt as he headed back upstairs towards his temporary room. He caught a glimpse of her in the kitchen on the phone, though she didn't act like she saw him. She was intent on her phone call. Ben shrugged, as he walked up the stairs and into his room. He'd only just started to read one of his comics when he heard a knock on his door.
"Come in," Ben bid, sighing slightly as he closed his comic to talk with whoever obviously wanted to talk to him. As it turned out, it was Natalie, now finished with her phone call.
"Hey Ben," Natalie tried to talk in her nicest voice. What she had to tell Ben wasn't anything that would be easy to hear. "I just got off of the phone with the hospital." Ben's eyes lit up, waiting to hear some good news about his parents.
"How are they doing?" Ben asked, hope in his voice.
"Your father is doing better physically," Natalie started. "But the doctor said that his brain is processing information differently than most people's. He keeps mumbling to himself, and won't talk to the doctors." Natalie took a breath before continuing.
"Doctor Ferris was wanting us to stop by, to see if he'll talk to us, maybe that will help them figure out what's wrong with him," Natalie finished. "But I told him that you might not want to…"
"I can visit him," Ben said. "At least see him awake, right?" Natalie nodded.
"Alright, we'll go visit him." Ben followed Natalie as she walked to the front door and and grabbed her purse, fishing around inside for her car keys, before opening the door and heading to the car with Ben.
The drive to the hospital was a short one, and it wasn't long before they had checked in, and were on their way to visit Carl. When Ben walked into the room, he was expecting his dad to be connected to a ton of machines, and perhaps several nurses or doctors hovering around him. However, the room was pretty free of nurses, with only one doctor in the room, and a few wires connecting Carl to a monitor. Upon seeing them enter, the doctor walked over and greeted them.
"Thank you for coming," he said. "I'm Doctor Ferris." He shook Natalie's hand.
"I'm Natalie Tennyson," Natalie introduced herself. "This is Carl's son, Ben."
"I'm sorry about what happened to your parents," Doctor Ferris said, shaking Ben's hand. "But we're doing our best to help them recover."
"Thanks," Ben responded.
"Has your aunt told you about what we were hoping you'd do?"
"A little bit," Ben said. "Basically try to get him to talk to me?"
"Yeah, that's the just of it," Doctor Ferris said. "We have him connected to a monitor that will record some readings of his brain. It'll allow us to see if his head is functioning normal, or at least see what part isn't. We haven't been able to get him to talk to any of our nurses, and we were hoping that his own son would get some sort of stimuli from him."
"Sounds easy enough," Ben said. "How do I talk to him?"
"Just talk to him like normal. Maybe about something you both would do together, or enjoy together. Tell him about school, or really anything," Doctor Ferris said. "He's already connected to the monitor, if you're ready?" Ben nodded, and followed the doctor over to his father's bed.
The majority of his father's cuts had healed, and so most of his bandages were either gone, or replaced with a simple band-aid. Still, he sat in his bed, a blank look on his face, and seemingly unresponsive to anybody or anything.
"Carl?" Doctor Ferris asked, speaking directly and clearly to Carl. "I have your son, Ben, here, and he was wanting to talk to you, alright?" Carl made no move or indication that he understood, or even heard what the doctor was saying. Doctor Ferris glanced back at Ben.
"You're on, kid," he said, offering a chair to Ben. Ben smiled as he accepted it, sitting down and pulling it up to Carl's bed.
"Hey, Dad," Ben said, unsure about what exactly he was doing. "How are you feeling?" He got no response from his father. He simply sat motionless, staring forwards.
"I'm doing pretty good in school," Ben said. "Between having not much to do other than homework, and having Gwen in the same house to tutor me, my grades are doing pretty well. I even got a "B" on one of my tests!" Carl blinked his eyes, but remained otherwise motionless.
"So... have you heard about that guy, Ultra 10?" Ben continued, trying for some topic of conversation. "He seems to be doing his best to clean up the city. Bring criminals to justice, you know? I'm sure he's going to find whoever is responsible for the house blowing up." Carl looked like he was about to whisper something.
"Are you trying to tell me something?" Ben asked, interested in his father's effort. "What are you trying to say?" His father mumbled quietly, and Ben had to lean in to hear him.
"If I stare at you, I'll go blind, yet I cannot see if you do not shine…" Carl barely whispered. Ben was confused. What did he mean? Or did he hear him correctly.
"What?" Ben asked.
"If I start at you, I'll go blind, yet I cannot see if you do not shine…" Carl whispered, a little louder.
"Keep it up, Ben," Doctor Ferris said. "The monitor is taking some strong readings!"
"The sun?" Ben asked confused.
"Never we, me or mine, but always thee, thou and thine…" Carl spoke a little louder.
"You?" Ben asked again. He crinkled in confusion for a moment, until understanding dawned on his face. "You son? I'm your son?" A slight smile cracked across Carl's face.
"groundhog, pork chop, gun goes pop, pop, pop… Pig's dead, pig's dead, the ground is red, red, red," Carl muttered almost incoherently.
"What did you say?" Ben asked his dad. "I didn't quite hear what you said."
"Groundhog, pork chop, gun goes pop, pop, pop… Pig's dead, pig's dead, the ground is red, red, red."
"What is he saying?" Natalie asked. Ben shrugged.
"I don't know, it's some kind of a riddle," Ben said. "But it doesn't make any sense."
"I think that what we have is probably enough for today," Doctor Ferris said. "We'll take a look at the readings, and let you know what we find out. Thank you for your help!"
"We're just glad to help," Natalie replied. "Ben, we can stay as long as you want."
"I think that we can go," Ben said. "Doctor Ferris is right, we don't want to exhaust my dad." Natalie nodded, and the two left the hospital room, heading back to Natalie's house. Once inside his room, Ben activated his communicator.
"Hey Ben," Julie greeted. "Why the late call?"
"Sorry if I'm keeping you up," Ben apologized.
"Oh, no worries," Julie quickly backed off. "I was just finishing up a movie. What's going on?"
"I visited my father just a bit ago," Ben said. "He's doing better than he was before, and he even started talking a bit."
"That's great news, Ben!" Julie replied. "I'm so happy to hear that!"
"His body was better," Ben repeated. "But he didn't act like himself too much. He kept talking in riddles and rhymes. The first two riddles he said I eventually understood. But his last one didn't make any sense, and to be honest, was a little creepy."
"What did he say?" Julie asked.
"Groundhog, pork chop, gun goes pop, pop, pop…" Ben repeated. "Pig's dead, pig's dead, the ground is red, red, red."
"It almost sounds like he's talking about a shooting," Julie replied. "Like where a police got shot."
"That's kind of what I thought of too," Ben said. "What do you think it could mean?"
"Could be something he heard on tv, it could mean nothing. It's hard to tell, especially while he's in the hospital, apparently speaking in riddles," Julie said. "But I'll ask Cooper about it, see if he can figure anything out."
"Try Gwen too. Her Charm of Luck would probably help."
"Why don't you ask her," Julie asked. "You two are in the same house right now."
"It just feels weird," Ben said, shaking his head no. "Thinking about her being Lucky Girl and all that…"
"...And kissing her..." Ben thought to himself.
"...If we're talking to her about fighting crime, I'd just really appreciate it if you'd ask her."
"Alright," Julie replied after a short pause. "I'll ask her, but you two need to get over whatever is holding you back. We need you both be able to work together again." There was another short pause.
"Well, if you don't have anything else to report, I guess that I'll see you tomorrow," Julie said.
"Thanks, Julie," Ben said as Julie ended the call. He started to get ready for bed himself.
"Groundhog, pork chop, gun goes pop, pop, pop… Pig's dead, pig's dead, the ground is red, red, red," Ben thought to himself. "What was my dad trying to tell me?" Despite his uneasiness about his father, his eyes kept growing heavier and heavier, until he finally fell asleep.
A/N:
That's where I'm ending it for today. What are your thoughts? What do you think of Alex sending Ben demands? What about Ben and Cooper's plan, should they be keeping it from the rest of the team? We got a quick look into the mind of Alex Animal, and saw a memory of his childhood. Any ideas on why he views Ben as such a villain? Thoughts about how Ben and the team is finally going to take him out? More will be revealed about Alex's psyche, and some of his root principles and motivations, as the hunt for him continues. As for Carl, any idea what is happening? Any guesses what his last riddle means? (It's deeper than what it sounds, and it has to do with Ben talking to him.)
Thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all next time!
Review Responses:
Amanny: Amazing chapter! Alex truly is a monster and Ben's dangerous enemy. I'm choosing for Sandra to be in a coma and maybe she'll wake up after this ordeal Ultra 10 and his team will deal with. It will take a long while for them to get used to this revelation, maybe they will try to explore their feelings and see if they can make it work?
Thanks for the feedback, I'm so glad that you're enjoying the chapters! Yes, Alex is quite deranged, but in this chapter, and in the coming one, we're going to delve a little into Alex's past. We're going to expose his motivations, right before he and Ben face off. (Yeah, I'm the real monster here! You can blame me! Hehe!)
Thanks for your feedback on Sandra, I'll take it into account! As for Ben and Gwen, from his prospective, there is no end goal. Ben is just trying to navigate the confusing complexities that is his life. Crime fighting, puberty, deranged enemies, his own sense of guilt, voices in his head, school work... there's a lot on his plate! Dating his cousin is only one thing he's trying to figure out. But from our perspective, we know it's eventually going to work out. Although it could take anywhere from a few months, to a few years, for them to both accept their reality, and go willingly!
uchihaNaruto247: Holy crap...Alex needs to be beaten within a inch of his life, and feel guilty for his action! He's doing way worse than Ultra 10 "killing" his father. Honest, the dude doesn't even fully believe in his own actions. He's digging himself into a hole willingly and trying to justify it. If one of his parents die, I think Ben is going to take a limb from this guy. The reveal of Ultra's identity was kinda hilarious, I can't wait to see to see more interactions between Lucky Girl and Ultra after finding out each other's identity!
Hey, Uchiha! I'm glad that you enjoyed the reveal so much! I was debating on drawing it out longer, (Holding it out for another eight or ten chapters,) but I decided to give in, and so here it is!
As for Alex, you got a peek into his mind this chapter, like what I said in the response to Amanny's review. We're going to explore his motivations and obvious derangement. As always, thanks for the review!
Signed2TheHeat: Whew~ I haven't been on here for a while and got confused because, even though it's volume 2, it goes from chapter 1 to chapter 32. Unique way to do a continuation, but maybe its just me. Glad to be reading again.
Now I'm caught up, and the enemy took the most extreme measure first. That was pretty rough, but at least everyone on the team has some kind of transparency now, and BOY did Ben and Gwen start acting brand new the realization kicked the door down, lol!
Thanks for the review, and for letting me know about the chapter heading confusion! I went back and renamed "chapter 1" as "Prologue," hopefully to help with that. When I was originally writing the plot for the Ultra 10 Chronicles, I was thinking of having them be one single book. But, because of how long it is growing, I decided to break it up, but I still wanted to keep the chapters in ascending order. A bit confusing, yes, but I hope not too terribly so!
As for the "big reveal," yes, Ben and Gwen's walls only took one good knock, before they both came tumbling down. (Gwen's potion did help, but they definitely weren't sturdy!) And, just like you picked up, part of it was because of their frustration and surprise from the reveal, but most of it was because Julie cut off the topic to refocus them on the bigger problem at hand, Alex Animal. Glad you caught onto that! Thanks again for reading and reviewing!