Chapter 2: Growth of the Family
CyberActors15: Greetings mortals and viewers alike and welcome back to How to Raise a Kryptonian. Before we can continue with the story we need a brief recap. So last time, after being in this new world for a month Ben Tennyson was called to S.T.A.R Labs where he was asked by the ice sisters Caitlin Snow and Crystal Frost, to do some tests regarding his aliens. It more accurate to say that Ben was called by Caitlin, and he agreed to help. On the other side of the galaxy, Krypton exploded and Kara Zor-El and Kon-El were sent away in a ship. Back on Earth Ben showed off his ice based aliens before the Kryptonian ship landed. Ben got a new alien and decided to take care of Kara and Kon-El, dubbed Conner, for the time being.
Gwen: I still can't believe Ben would ever be responsible enough to take care of two kids.
Robin: A lot can change when someone grows up. Batman never expected to take me in, and then boom several years later he has four Robins, a Batgirl, an Orphan, a Spoiler and a Signal.
CyberActors15: You aren't wrong there. Now onto the story.
24 February 2008
It had been just over three days and since Ben had taken in the Kryptonian children and he had to admit, it was certainly interesting. Due to the Omnitrix's universal translator, Ben had come to learn that the girl was named Kara and the boy was named Kon-El, Ben personally preferred to stick with Conner. Additionally he had learnt as well that their species was called Kryptonian. Most importantly he was able to get the two, specifically Kara, to warm up a bit to him so she wasn't quite as sad or nervous as she was before.
Beyond that he didn't know much else as he couldn't rely on the three year old girl to tell him too much info. She didn't seem particularly willing to share anything and Ben decided not to pry.
Instead he tried to keep her and her brother company while learning what he could in different ways. Omni, the Omnitrix AI, had told Ben biological information about the two such as their age, Kara was three and Conner was a few months old. Additionally he also knew they drew power from yellow sun radiation, however their rate of absorbing solar radiation was a lot slower than the rate at which Ben did in his older Kryptonian form. According to Omni, female Kryptonians had a higher absorption rate of solar energy than males.
On top of that information, which Ben learned due to the Omnitrix, Ben also learnt some information from experience, such as, Kryptonians have very strong lungs. Conner being a few month old baby cried, at least a few times and as Ben would find out, his lungs allowed him to cry for a long time. Some of the neighbours in his apartment building complained. What Ben also learned was that despite their lower rate of absorbing solar radiation, they were still super babies none the less. Meaning those two were both strong and durable.
Conner had a tendency to punch things as he cried, which explained the black eye which Ben had and the few holes in the wall next to where Conner slept. Also Kara, who was the stronger of the two and seemed to like heights for some reason, liked to climb and or jump onto the kitchen counter and tables. Now she was on the kitchen counter, and she hadn't taken into account the weaker gravity, therefore instead of climbing on she jumped right through the corner of the counter causing that specific part to break.
Ben just stared at the child who bore that usual sheepish expression that a child typically wears when they know they have done something wrong. It was a breath of fresh air from her usual saddened expression at least.
"Kara we need to do something about your super strength, or you will keep on destroying my apartment." Ben noted.
"Sowwy." She muttered causing Ben to chuckle.
Funny how the Omnitrix translated things so perfectly but when it came to toddler speech, it still sounded like a toddler.
"Don't worry about it. You and Conner are still getting used to your powers." Ben said. "Besides I can fix it."
Ben picked up Kara and placed her on the couch next to her brother, who was sitting sucking his thumb.
Ben walked over to the counter as he scrolled though his watch looking for the right alien. He could just turn into the right alien with a thought, but there was something nostalgic about choosing the alien normally.
Upon finding the alien he needed Ben grinned.
"It's hero time." Ben called before slamming the Omnitrix down.
Kara and Conner watched in fascination as a green light enveloped Ben and his form was replaced with that of a Chronosapien.
"Clockwork!" Ben called out.
Clockwork fired his time beams at the broken counter and reversed time repairing the damage. Within a moment it was almost as if the Kryptonian girl had never jumped up onto the counter. With that sorted Ben changed fixed the wall in the bedroom before returning to his human form.
"Done, and done." Ben said.
"Wow." Kara called out before making her way over to Ben.
Her eyes were on the Omnitrix.
"Pretty cool huh?" Ben asked to get a nod response from the little girl. "This baby allows me to turn into over 300 different aliens."
Kara had stars in her eyes as she inched closer to the Omnitrix. Without skipping a beat she grabbed a hold of the device and pressed the button that that opened up the face plate. Her eyes glowed in excitement before she hit the faceplate down.
"Wait!" Ben called out only for the green flash to surround himself.
Kara giggled as she stared at Ben's new form.
"Honestly kid you shouldn't do things like that." Four Arms commented.
Kara giggled again and slapped the Omnitrix turning Four Arms into Humungousaur… RIP apartment. At least Ben was breaking through the floor and ceiling, but there were certainly a few cracks and broken furniture. Kara giggled again and slapped the Omnitrix turning Humungousaur into Goop.
"Okay I am just going to move away now." Goop said before stretching himself out of reach and turning back to human.
"The Omnitrix isn't a toy Kara." Ben said only for Kara to laugh and try to reach for the Omnitrix again.
This time Ben was prepared and made sure to dodge the young girl's attempts at playing with his watch.
"Omni engage Life form lock, human." Ben called out.
"Understood." Omni responded before the Omnitrix glowed green.
Ben sighed in relief and rested allowing Kara to grab onto his arm and begin playing with the Omnitrix. She was disappointed when she learned she couldn't change Ben's form again, not that that stopped her from trying her best to get him to change forms again.
"Note to self, get toys for the kids as long as they are here." Ben commented dryly.
He looked around the room and his head dropped.
"For real. I am going to have to clean this up again…" Ben whined only for the doorbell to get his attention. "Maybe later."
Ben walked towards the door with the Kryptonian girl still clinging onto his arm, trying to get the Omnitrix to work. Ben knew that with her super strength there would be no getting her off his arm soon, so he just opened the door with her clinging on.
"You really have started taking care of a kid? Not sure whether to laugh or be impressed Tennyson."
Standing outside the door, adorned with some baby/toddler caring items was Kevin, Gwen and Caitlin. It would appear as though Caitlin and Gwen had thought that it would be prepared for the children situation and had brought the necessary things, bottles, rattles, and so on and so forth.
"How about helping me out here Kevin." Ben groaned.
Similarly to Ben, Kevin had grown up quite a bit over the past few years. The 25 year old Osmosian Human Hybrid still had his unruly long black hair alongside that weird x shaped scar on his chin. To this day Ben didn't know how he got that. Just like in his teen years he still wore mostly black and grey. Yeah he still hadn't grown out of his punk phase. What had changed however, was the appearance of what could be described as rivets bolted into his face and arms. They weren't everywhere but they were there, once again Ben wasn't sure how they got there in the first place.
"I think it's actually quite admirable." Gwen spoke. "It's almost as if my cousin is finally growing up."
Gwen had also changed. Her orange hair had returned to its longer length, over the shorter length she had in her late teenage years. She did however retain the glasses aesthetic and kept a pair of blue rimmed glasses. Gwen also retained her preference for blue clothes with a blue shirt and black sweater vest on top. Additionally she wore white pants and casual blue shoes.
Lovely how the aesthetics of the three other worldly heroes hadn't changed since their teenage years.
However Ben did note that there was something majorly different about Gwen's appearance. On her second finger on her left hand, sat an engagement ring.
It took Ben a moment to comprehend what he was seeing.
"You proposed?" Ben asked as he turned to Kevin.
Gwen would have hit her cousin in the arm if not for the fact that he was holding a baby in his arms, so she settled for crossing her arms.
"No 'Hi Gwen,' 'how are you,' 'hope you enjoyed exploring this new universe,' 'congratulations?" Gwen commented. "What happened to proper Greetings?"
"Sorry I was taken back by the fact that Kevin proposed." Ben said. "I always thought it would be you who would propose."
"Shut up Ben." Kevin said. "Yes I proposed, is that so hard to believe… don't answer that. Either way we are here regarding your baby problem."
"Either way, Hey guys. Thanks for coming." Ben said as he allowed everyone to enter.
"So, why's she clinging to your arm?" Kevin Asked.
"More importantly what happened in here?" Caitlin asked as she gestured to the room.
"Oh yeah." Ben muttered. "Gwen can I get some help here. I need you to keep Kara away from the Omnitrix long enough for me to fix this."
"Sure." Gwen agreed, immediately getting a grasp on the situation.
With Gwen's help, Ben was able to remove Kara from his person. Gwen was also effective in holding her attention long enough for Ben to disable life form lock, transform into Clockwork and fix the room before returning to Ben and having Omni put a lock on the Omnitrix that would prevent anyone besides him, Gwen or Kevin from activating the watch.
"Okay with all that done let me introduce you." Ben said. "Gwen, Kevin this little ball of curiosity is Kara and this little guy is Conner. Kara, this is my cousin Gwen and her fiancé Kevin, and you already now Caitlin."
Kara took a moment to register the new names.
"Hi, nice to meet you." She said.
"Uh what did she say?" Kevin asked.
"Oh yeah, you guys left your Universal Translators on our earth." Ben noted. "I forgot about that. She said it's nice to meet you."
With the introductions out of the way and the realisation that Kevin, Gwen and Caitlin had brought the necessary care products for taking care of children, Ben was finally free to ask for his favour.
He asked the three if they could look after the kids for a bit while he went over to investigate the ship which they came from. His plan was that he would be able to find information about their families so that he could take them home. It seemed that Kara wasn't particularly happy about the idea of Ben leaving, as she began crying around Ben mentioning leaving to find anything about her family. At least that was what Ben assumed, at the time there was no way for him to be aware that she was crying over the loss of her family and home.
It took some time to console Kara before Ben left, but he was able to leave eventually, unfortunately Kara had returned to her previous saddened state. And she would remain in that state for a while.
~00000~
It didn't take Ben too long to get to the S.T.A.R Labs Metropolis Research Space, traveling using aliens that could fly came with such advantages.
To Ben's surprise there was actually a few of the S.T.A.R Labs scientists looking at the creator impact as well as the ship, and they were headed by Dr Max and Verdona. The scientists were surprised when Ben arrived but they didn't pay him much mind beyond that. That was typically most of the scientists' reaction to him at S.T.A.R Labs anyway.
"Grandpa… I mean Dr Max. I wasn't expecting you to be here." Ben said, despite being in this world for a month, ben still couldn't help himself but call Dr Max Grandpa Max.
"Morning Ben." Dr Max greeted. "Caitlin told us about what crashed and the children and we thought it would be a good idea to see what we could learn."
"And what have you learned?" Ben asked.
"According to Verdona the ship is Kryptonian in origin, and it's not designed to be a ship, it's an escape pod one designed to escape the destruction of a planet." Dr Max explained. "From what Verdona explained last time she was on Krypton there were periodic earthquakes and mass climate change occurrences happening within days. It wasn't enough to deter the people there but it was enough to show that the planet wasn't healthy. That's all we know for certain though."
A sense of dread settled over Ben. In the back of his mind the voice of Azmuth spoke of the Omnitrix's ability bring back an extinct species in the case of a species wide destruction, but Ben didn't want to think about that.
"Can I take a look at the Escape Pod?" Ben asked.
"Go ahead, you might learn more than us with that Omnitrix." Dr Max responded.
Ben didn't hesitate. He made his way over to the escape pod and began looking for anything that could disprove the possibilities which were swimming in his mind. Upon reaching the pod he began his search and unfortunately it seemed as though his worst fears had been realised.
Ben found the clue which culminated in a case of crystal like objects. These Crystals appeared to be keys which were to be inserted into the computer system in the cockpit, which Ben decided to do.
Ben didn't end up waiting long as holograms projected out of the cockpit, holograms of a man and a woman.
"Greetings my name is Zor-El, of the Planet Krypton and this is my wife, Alura in-Ze. We are the parents of the two Kryptonian children resting within the cockpit of the ship." The man spoke.
Luckily Ben didn't need his universal translator as the escape pod had a built in one which meant everyone else in the surrounding vicinity could hear as well.
"It is more accurate to say that we were the parents of the children." Alura added. "At the time that you are viewing this message, Krypton has certainly been destroyed, and all life has been silenced on the planet."
The sense of dread returned tenfold. Kara and Conner where the last of their kind, the last Kryptonians. However that unsettling thought didn't have time to settle in Ben's mind as the holograms continued talking.
They explained that they were AI cloned from the mind of the real Zor-El and Alura and were programmed with knowledge of Krypton and the history of the people and some of the memories of the parents. However, despite what these AI had they were nowhere near perfect. They were rushed, therefore did not possess the exact or even near cognitions of their original selves, meaning they would never be able to take care of or raise the children, and that brought them to their important question.
"Please, take care of our Son and Daughter?" Zor-El pleaded.
With that the message cut off leaving Ben staring at where the Hologram had previously been. He couldn't move for a moment as he processed what he had learnt and the implications of such information.
"Ben?" It was Dr Max's voice behind him but Ben didn't register it.
"Are you okay son?" Dr Max spoke again.
"Kara and Conner, they… they don't have a home to return to." Ben muttered.
This wasn't something he did often and if asked later he would deny it without a shred of hesitation, but for now, the tears flowed freely from his eyes. Ben cried openly in front of this pod.
In his fourteen years since he first picked up the Omnitrix he had prevented the destruction of many worlds, and even the whole universe on a few occasions. No matter who he faced or the odds that were stacked against him, he would protect every world that he encountered and the denizens of said world would survive. But now, even though he wasn't initially involved with or aware of the planet Krypton, tears fell from his eyes because of what the truth of this meant. Kara and Conner were the last of their kind, and the majority of an entire species was eradicated.
"What should I do?" Ben asked.
"All I can tell you Ben, is that those two children need a new place to call home. With that watch of yours you might be the best suited to take care of them." Dr Max said.
Ben turned towards Dr Max as his fear slowly changed into fear.
"I can't do that… I can't take care of kids. I'm not responsible enough." Ben spoke in panic before looking at the Omnitrix. "Wait the Omnitrix, It has a function that is created to restore life to a planet. I could use that to bring their people back and…"
"Sorry Ben, but that is impossible." Omni's voice immediately rang out. "At least in the way that you are thinking. The Omnitrix does possess the functionality to return a deceased species however the method is not what you believe. The Omnitrix is designed to speed the rate of evolution as well as alter it in order to turn a single celled organism into the dead species. This process would take time however and requires a planet to do so. With the current population of the earth that would be impossible here. Additionally if you elected to go with the second option to create new life from nothing, the new life would still be born in its infant stages and would still need to be cared for. The last option would be reproduction, changing into the alien species and finding another species of similar enough biological makeup and reproducing with that species, once again this would create infants in need of being cared for. The Omnitrix cannot however resurrect the dead or rebuilt their society."
That information seemed to bring Ben further down.
"Listen Ben, no one is ever ready to take care of children, it's a new stage of life that most adults have to go through at some point in their lives." Dr Max explained. "You more than others have quite the extraordinary situation, but that's what makes you perfect to take care of these children. Those children are the last of their race, but you can become one of their race. Ready or not, you are their best bet on this new world."
Despite not having had a Family of his own, Dr Max did speak words of truth. On account of his military service and time as a scientist, this version of Max Tennyson never got the chance to be married and form his own family. But he had spent many a time helping his siblings who had their own children so he had come to understand the ways that families worked and could give accurate advice.
Ben released a sigh as he whipped the tears away from his eyes.
"You're right. Thanks." Ben said before taking a breath in to regain his composure. "Looks like the Tennyson Family will be growing."
Robin: Well that was an interesting chapter. Seeing Kara playing around with Ben's Omnitrix was certainly my highlight.
Gwen: I'm just surprised that I have been proposed to. I'm still so young in this story.
Robin: You're only 24. Some would say that that's not too young to get married. But hey at least you're born at this point in time. At this point in the story, I'm so young that I'm not a thought in my parents mind.
CyberActors15: I know the timeline of this story and I could confirm this if I wanted to.
Robin: Are you going to?
CyberActors15: No. That would give spoilers to our readers.
Robin: Yeah, yeah okay.
CyberActors15: But yeah speaking of Readers, jeez this chapter took a lot longer than I expected it to. Sorry about that, and if the ending of the chapter feels a bit rushed it's because I just wanted to post this chapter today and I just wanted the end the chapter, so yeah.
Gwen: Well at least the rest of the chapter isn't rushed.
Robin: That is true. Anyway, what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite, Follow and stay Whelmed to find out.