There will introductions of original characters, Ben is now in the DC universe at this point, and there will be an explanation later on in the story. Next chapter, we will have some actual fight scenes and interactions and reactions about the Justice League and Ben.
He couldn't remember a thing that had happened. His eyes slowly started to open, his body ached in pain, he couldn't even pick himself up to see where he was. All he could remember is the pain he endured during the fight.
Ben felt cold for some reason. Super cold. He shivered, as he started to look around confused, everything was white. Had he just died? Is this the afterlife? He kind of hoped not. It was too cold, and of course if he was dead….wouldn't it be like, warmer?
He didn't try and question it at the moment. Instead, he tried to pick himself up from the ground. He kept shivering as he looked around to figure out where he was.
"G-Grandpa?" He asked out loud. "G-Gwen?" He looked around the snowy white space. He started to wander around. Ben needed to figure out where he was and fast, he wasn't liking this cold temperature one bit.
His arms clung together as he kept walking through the snow. He obviously needed to turn into Heatblast or maybe Wildmutt, one of those two could help him. But he didn't want to push the energy unless it was an emergency.
He kept walking around in the cold winter wonderland. Which it wasn't. He can't recall what happened before he passed out and ended up here, he had a major headache.
Maybe once he gets back with Grandpa and Gwen, he could figure out what happened? He pressed on until he started to see a light.
When he got closer it was obvious the light was coming from a small town of sorts. He could ask for help from them! He could call Grandpa and have him get him out of there. He started to run, and as he drew closer the town seemed pretty quiet. But there were cars, so that was a good thing.
He didn't see many people out, just a few shops and cafes still open. He wasn't sure where to go into first, instead, he chose to go into one of the cafes. Someone there could tell him where he was and maybe call his grandpa.
Meanwhile in the cafe, the day that Delilah Travers was stressful, but she had to admit the nice comfort food and drink of a apple fritter and chai tea latte was very nice to end her day. Her boyfriend had always kept the cafe opened at late hours for the police and hospital workers. Especially for this time of the year.
Delilah took a sip of her latte. It was perfect.
All her stresses and annoyances of the day just melted before her. She smiled.
Her boyfriend had taken notice, Henry, turned over to her and smiled. The two had been dating for about two years and everything was going smoothly.
"Enjoying the latte, honey?" He asked with a warm smile.
Delilah nodded her head.
"It tastes amazing! Like always." She winked at her boyfriend who just chuckled at this.
"I'm glad you think so."
"Oh, I know so!" She beamed happily taking another sip.
Henry just walked over to the table that was located in front of the counter, pressing his lips onto her cheek. Delilah pushed him away teasingly.
"Aw come on Hank, knock it of. You're still on duty." She smirked.
Henry blushed at his nickname he gave her a teasingly frown.
"Babe, I told you not to call me that."
Delilah knew what she did to cause the man to get flustered so quickly. She giggled at this, despite him still frowning.
"Sorry, old habits die hard." She took a bite of her apple fritter. "One of these days we gotta try a new recipe for something with pumpkin spice." She winked at him.
Henry just snatched her apple fritter.
"Hey give that back!"
Before she knew it, he took a bite and finished it. She wasn't pleased as she gave him a little kick in the leg.
"I was going to finish that." She crossed her arms, and gave him the most satisfying pout he could ever ask for.
Henry snickered at his girlfriend's pout. Poking her on the nose.
"Well, you deserved it." He went back behind the counter, remembering to wash his hands.
"You'll give me another right?" She gave him a glare as his back was turned to her. He was still washing his hands.
He let out a chuckle.
"Maybe, if you ask me nicely."
"So not gonna happen." She told him, rolling her eyes at this. She continued to drink her latte until she heard the cafe's door open. "Huh, must be John again-" She looked at Henry who was frozen in shock.
A boy around perhaps ten or twelve stepped in, no jacket, wearing nothing but cargo pants and a white t-shirt. He was shivering so much. His body was red a little due to freezing temperature outside.
"Holy...shit…" Henry mumbled.
Delilah shot him a look.
"Henry." She glared as she got up, after setting her drink aside. "Hey are you okay, kid?"
The kid was still shaking. His teeth chattering broke Delilah's heart as she heard it.
"I-I need a p-phone." Ben spoke, as the door shut slowly behind him.
"Got it." Delilah pulled Ben back to her table as he took a seat. "Henry make this kid something hot and sweet. Where did you put your jacket?" Delilah got up and went to the back where Henry stored his jacket. "Where is it?"
Henry sighed.
"On the hook where it's always been, Deedee." He told her as he started to prepare Ben's hot chocolate. He pulled out some two percent milk, poured it into a metal cup of sorts and a temperature reader into it as he walked over to the espresso machine and turned on the steam wand.
Delilah came back with Henry's jacket and rushed over to the ten year old child. Putting it around him.
"Th-Thanks." He managed to say, still shaking.
She frowned as she took a seat aside him.
"What happened to you? Where's your parents?" She asked in concern, as she looked at him.
Ben wasn't sure where to start, he couldn't just flat out tell he was hurt after a fight with an alien. She'd think he's crazy. He had to think fast and quick.
"I-I don't know, I think someone kidnapped me or something…" He looked down, still shaking.
Delilah gasped, her hand pulled to the front of her mouth.
"That's terrible, how did you get away?"
Ben again had to think quick, instead he looked away from them.
"I had to kick him, I started to run as fast as I could...but I got lost and nearly froze out there." When he finished, Henry set the cup of hot cocoa in front of Ben. He went to the back room to make a call. It was clear that Ben needed medical attention and they needed the police here to investigate.
It was a matter of moments before the first officer arrived, and he spoke with Ben for what felt like hours to the boy. Questioning about where his parents were, what the kidnapper looked like, how he got away, where did he live, and so many other questions that Ben answered with deep thoughts, trying to be as accurate as possible.
The police officer, John, smiled at the boy.
"We'll do our best to get in contact with your parents." He looked at Delilah, who he knew was a child care taker for a daycare. "Think you could take Ben in for the time being until we can find his parents and let them know we have their son?"
Delilah was surprised, she brushed her dark raven hair to the side and wasn't sure. But answered with a warm smile.
"Of course, I can take him until we get in contact with his parents and we'll figure out a strategy till then."
John nodded and then left for the police headquarters, it was obvious this was going to be a strange few days. She just hoped no kidnappers were following Ben and his parents would surely pick him up.
Henry had finished closing up the cafe since it was obviously very late and he had no one to hand the late night shift to. He looked at Delilah who stayed at the table with Ben.
"Guess we're heading home then?"
Delilah nodded, Ben just finished his now cold, hot cocoa, he remained silent. He didn't want to bother them more than he should have. But he was growing quite hungry and this hot cocoa didn't exactly make his stomach too thrilled.
He looked at the two somewhat nervous.
"I-I'm kind of hungry, have anything at your place I could eat? I'm fine if that's way too much to ask." Ben asked, looking down at the ground at the end of his explanation.
Delilah grabbed his hand softly.
"Ben look at me, while you're in our care, we'll try our best to care for you until we can find your parents, okay?" She tried to comfort the child, unfortunately, she felt like maybe she was treating him as if he was half his age. But Ben was a child none the less.
"T-Thanks Delilah." He replied with a weak smile. It was clear to both Delilah and Henry that the boy was hungry and tired.
So as biding by his request, the two stopped by a drive-thru on their way home. When getting home, the three sat down at the dining room table which was in a small town home. Henry pulled out their food, handing Ben a cheeseburger, french fries, and a small bowl of what appeared to be chili.
He was thankful as he started to dig in rapidly. It had been a long while since he had any meal.
Ben couldn't remember how long it had been, he just knew from the fight before, it was very tiring and he needed some energy to boost him up.
"W-Whoa slow down, champ, or else you might choke." Henry chuckled, starting to unwrap his own burger, Delilah sat to the side just slowly eating her chicken nuggets she had gotten.
Her eyes laid on Ben as he ate. The memory of his parents and him sitting at the table pulled him back.
"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson." Ben looked up at Sandra, his mother, who looked at him with a disapproving scowl. "I told you to eat slowly, we don't need you choking on your food, understand?"
Ben rolled his eyes, placing his fork down, somewhat playing with it. His dad, Carl, just slowly ate his food in a slow manner.
It was clear he was under stress of sorts, but Ben didn't think much of it.
"Got it mom." He mumbled, taking another bite of his meatloaf.
Sandra sighed at this.
"Well, we've got some fun news to share." his mom explained, as Ben didn't look up from his food. Just waiting for her to tell her whatever it was. He knew it wasn't a big deal, probably a new chore he was going to be stuck doing.
Or she might've signed him up for summer classes. Now that wouldn't be fun. The more he thought about it, the worse it got.
"We're having you go with your grandfather Max on a summer trip, doesn't that sound fun?" Sandra smiled.
Ben's eyes looked up, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was going to have him go on summer break with the most awesome-st relative ever? He started to smirk.
"Really, and am I going to have to go with you and dad?" Ben snickered.
Sandra shook her head, as Carl looked at Ben with a weak smile.
"We figured, you'd want to take a break and hang out with your grandpa, kiddo." Carl said with a laugh. "Plus I don't think you'd want us around, would you?"
Ben's arms shot up in the air in victory.
"AWESOME!" He grinned ear to ear.
Sandra raised an eyebrow, giving Ben a disappointed look.
"I told you Benjamin, keep your arms below your head at the dinner table."
Ben sighed, but still excited.
"Fine mom." He snickered at this, he couldn't believe he was going on summer break with someone cool for once. No parents. No boring chores. Just him and his grandpa.
"Ben?"
Ben pulled himself back to the small kitchen where Delilah and Henry sat in.
"Are you okay? Do you like the food?" Delilah asked in concern, as Ben rapidly nodded.
He weakly smiled.
"I love it, Delilah." He started to take another bite of his burger. Though it was clear to Delilah that something was bothering him. But she didn't ask for the sake of wanting to keep things positive and not bring anything up about his family.
When they all finished dinner, it was clearly time for bed. Delilah decided to prepare their guest room—which was also Henry's den area. She had to talk him into letting her pull out his old pull out couch bed. He hadn't used it in a while.
She had brought in some fresh new sheets and blankets for the bed. The den was the perfect place to take a nap in, she had done so many times prior in this room whenever Henry was busy writing his novels. She always enjoyed the clicking of his keyboard when he was working.
A smile formed on her face as she could remember. She hadn't noticed Ben standing in the doorway, a little nervous.
"Um, I wanted to say, thanks for letting spend the night here, Delilah." He told her, as Delilah turned around and noticed the boy.
"It's no problem, Ben." She told him, as she pulled out the mattress from the couch.
Ben walked into the room, taking one step in and seemingly fascinated by the many books in the den. Endless amounts of books, he knew Gwen would've loved to see this, and ask questions about the books and why there was so many.
He sure missed her, Ben found himself wishing he could see both Gwen and Grandpa Max. Hopefully they weren't hurt and were okay.
Delilah continued to put the sheets onto the bed and eventually tossed the pillows onto it and finally a giant blue blanket of sorts. Ben was amazed of how quickly she got this ready, did she have a lot of guests or was she just this good in making a bed?
His eyes laid on her, unsure of what to say.
"W-What if I can't sleep?" He managed to ask, holding his wrist shyly, he didn't know why he had asked this, it just kind of came out. All the stress and worry about Gwen and Grandpa had been getting to him.
Delilah frowned, but quickly hid her concern.
"Well you need to sleep sometime, Ben. But I can understand what this situation maybe causing you to stay awake." Delilah walked over to a shelf, and looked around for a couple of minutes before pulling out an old storybook.
Ben was a little confused.
"How's a book going to help me go to bed?" He asked out loud.
Delilah smiled.
"Well, I figured...I could read to you." She answered.
Ben shook his head, turning away from her.
"T-That's for babies." He seemed embarrassed about the idea, because only little kids got their story read by their parents to go to sleep. Plus, it was really weird….
Delilah chuckled nervously.
"Oh right….sorry, I usually read to the kids when they're having trouble sleeping….it usually helps for their case."
Ben then felt a little guilty about what he had said prior. Deciding to take a chance with this just so he didn't seem rude and maybe it could help? He wasn't sure.
He hopped onto the couch bed, a loud sprang could be heard. Not surprising the boy as he tried to get comfortable in the thin bed. He remained quiet as Delilah walked over to a chair nearby and sat down.
"So uh, what's this book about?"
Delilah chuckled.
"Well, it's about these four kids who stumble into a mystical land called Narnia."
Ben shuffled around with the covers, trying to get comfortable as he listened to Delilah.
"Oh cool, you can uh, start any moment. I'll just listen."
Delilah nodded and opened the book with a smile. It had been a while since she had read this book, so it was nice to read it again. Especially to share it with someone who didn't know the tail.
She began to read the story in a soft and calm voice, as Ben listened. He noticed how calming it felt and how she read the story gave him some reassurance to stay calm and just let her continue to read the story to him.
For once it felt kind of nice listening to a story like this. Soon his eyes had gotten heavy and surely enough, he had fallen asleep.
Delilah was barely past page six when she heard the boy's soft breaths and she knew she had done a good job helping him get to sleep.
Thank you for reading this chapter~ Let me know how you liked it by leaving it a review, there will be more in the future and I'm already looking forward to posting the next chapter~
