Ben10 & Digimon Tamers

Heroes and Humanity

Part 02: Humanity and Heroes

The Beginning – Chapter 11

Originally Written: Saturday, June 6, 2015 722PM to Sunday, June 7, 2015 246AM

. . . . .

Even with Yamaki's greatly improved mood, and the occasional Plumber disguised as a regular government worker, there was still something intimidating about the halls of the Tokyo Metropolitan building. For Henry, the intimidation factor increased the closer to the section formally dubbed "Hypnos" he got. Hypnos, or the Plumbers, for its current, more colloquial term. Even with a name like "The Plumbers", it still felt like no nonsense seriousness to him. He supposed part of it was his fault-not fault, the situation he just happened to be in. Yes, that sounded better. He was currently a walking gate to the Digital World if Terriermon was already there, and a portion of him was still worried about some alien or human finding out about him and hacking into him somehow.

To this day he remembered the daunting thought that Albedo could have been that person. He remembered that Albedo did not make such an attempt, and that he was more focused on the bit of Yuggoth 2.0 that Juggernaut adapted to its program and his person, though he hadn't known at the time. Still there wasn't a Plumber or a Hypnos employee or even an outsider who could make him realize anymore than he already did that he needed to be careful of who he trusted. So, he stood in the elevator accompanied by men and women disguised to appear human, reminding himself of the film Men In Black, and wondered why he even let Frank, Humphrey, and Sean into his apartment for more than just the night.

It not being just his apartment couldn't have been the only reason. Granted as per the lease written up between Albedo and the landowner, Mr. Nakamura, the extra money Albedo used for paying rent and utilities in advance only remained in play for as long as Albedo were on the lease. If he were to remove himself, he would be forced to leave and any remaining money would be returned to Albedo. It created an odd situation, one that Henry wasn't sure would even hold up in court. Either way, he currently lived with three complete strangers, who from what he could tell, were either checking him out, or couldn't believe he was male.

'And I wonder why I'm a nutcase.' He exited the elevator.

"Ah, Henry!"

Henry looked at the black haired doctor who fell in step with him.

"Early enough for you?"

"Good morning Mr. Sakamoto." Henry nodded to the doctor.

The male smiled warmly, a stethoscope hanging from his neck, his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat and expensive shoes clicking loudly against the tiled floor. "Grab a seat in room 302, second on the right, and I'll be with you shortly."

"Alright." Henry had quite a few "doctors", if you will. There weren't many who had experience in the field of coding and programming as well as in one of the many various medical fields pertaining to the human body. Doctor Sakamoto was this odd mix of gynecologist and primary care physician. He wasn't sure how the man managed to do both. He supposed it was for the best that he was one of the few patients the man had. He did have an assistant, Dr. Ikeda, who stuck mainly to the gynecologist side of things. Still it managed to boggle Henry's mind.

As he entered the room, he shrugged off his coat. Dr. Ikeda raised a pen in his direction, but didn't turn around from his spot at the computer.

"Good morning Dr. Ikeda. Dr. Sakamoto will be in shortly.

"Perfect, perfect." The male spoke, typing on the keyboard for a bit longer. Eventually he stood and took Henry's basic vitals, blood pressure, checking his pulse, weight and the like. "What an interesting little program you have within you, Henry."

"I wouldn't call it interesting." He spoke softly, sitting back down on the medical seat. "A lifesaver that's more trouble than it's worth I'd say."

Dr. Sakamoto walked in holding a stalk of paper in a folder. He swiveled the extra chair around while Dr. Ikeda closed the door and returned to his original seat. Dr. Ikeda also turned to face Henry. "So, I believe a few weeks back, we tested your blood, urine, saliva and semen."

Henry nodded, lowering his head.

"I must say Henry," Doctor Sakamoto waved a finger, while looking at the papers, "Juggernaut is quite impressive."

"I was just telling him that." Dr. Ikeda smiled.

"Impressive?" Henry raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! Yes! With its ability to adapt."

Henry tilted his head, watching as Dr. Sakamoto placed the folder on his lap and folded his hands.

"It seems we have a bit of a predicament here, Henry."

Henry stared at the doctor, feeling his heart jump within him. He pressed his hands up against the bed, gripping it tightly. "Please don't hold me in suspense..."

"Of course not, Henry." He continued, "Well we knew Juggernaut was starting to show up in your blood and urine." Dr. Sakamoto tapped a finger against his chin. "It looks as though Juggernaut is also in your other body fluids. Your saliva and semen."

Henry groaned, holding his head in his hands. "You mean I have the equivalent of an STI now?" He muttered.

"Ah, not quite. With the analysis brought in from the Monster Makers, Juggernaut is much less likely to kill you than, let's say AIDS or chlamydia is."

Henry gave him a blank stare, quite unsure why that made any difference.

"The monster makers could explain it much better than I could, but signs are still pointing to Juggernaut resisting 'deletion'."

Henry sighed. Just his luck.

"Normally, this wouldn't be required from the medical facility unless there was a crime involved, but considering that Juggernaut has shown itself to be somehow capable of acting as a weapon..." Dr. Ikeda waved a hand as though he were thinking as Henry continued his blank, unimpressed stare.

"We're requiring a list of all your previous sexual partners, as many as you can remember." Dr. Sakamoto spoke up for Dr. Ikeda. "From the time of the D-Reaper attacks to now."

"How many do you think I've had!?" Henry looked at him with wide eyes, "When do you think I started doing that kind of stuff!?"

"It's not mine or Dr. Sakamoto's place to guess or answer such a question. We're not here to judge you. We're here to help you." Dr. Ikeda folded his hands on his lap.

"I'm sorry." Henry sighed. "I just...Geeze." He ran his hands through his hair.

"It's just a precaution, Henry." Dr. Sakamoto spoke as Dr. Ikeda exited the office, closing the door behind him. "There is a chance, a good one in fact, though I don't mean to artificially raise your hopes up or scare you, that Juggernaut has not transferred to any of your partners. Dolphin claims it's quite the temperamental and picky program."

"Yea..." He nodded, "Dr. McCoy has told me that too." He curled up on the bed, wrapping his arms around his knees. "Just when it was starting to not annoy me anymore."

"Don't fret Henry. Like I said, when I first met you, we will get through anything Juggernaut or anything else throws at us together."

"Yea…." Henry sighed.

Dr. Ikeda returned holding some pamphlets, he set them on the bed next to Henry. "These are some pamphlets that you can go over with myself, Dr. Sakamoto, Dr. Iris or anyone else you feel comfortable going over with. I'm sure there's a lot going through your mind right now."

Henry wished there was. As it stood the only thing going to his mind was Trang randomly teleporting himself to his bedroom while he slept. He held in a shiver. Trang would tell everyone what he did if he had Juggernaut's power...All those people whose lives he shattered. He held his head in his hands, images of Trang tormenting not just himself anymore, but Terriermon as well. Digimon weren't allowed to attack humans, just as Aliens were barred from doing. Not even self defense would hold up in court for Gargomon opening fire on his human partner's abusive ex. Knowing Terriermon, he'd do it anyway, despite anything Henry said to get him not too. Henry wasn't the only person hurt by Trang's actions.

He hoped he never had to so much as interact with the male again, or even hear about him again. It seemed that was not to be unfortunately. He heard Trang mocking him in his mind that he still didn't quite know how Juggernaut worked, even though Trang himself really would have no idea.

He was sure Trang would pick a fight with Takato. Takato would win, maybe, but the fight would still happen, placing more strain on an already strained friendship...

Dr. Sakamoto cleared his throat, "We don't want to immediately jump to the worst case scenario." He studied Henry's face. "And even if it should come to that, everyday we are working not just to get you to cope with Juggernaut, but to cure you of it as well."

Henry nodded slowly, though that didn't stop his stomach from performing somersaults. He wished he hadn't eaten breakfast this morning. "I've only had three partners." He spoke softly, the two doctor's nodding.