Chapter 4: In Which Ben Grows Suspicious
I noticed that no one really reviewed the last chapter. I understand if you've lost interest, but you have to tell me why you did. You can't just stop reading something and not tell the reason.
…Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. Whichever one works.
If Sam had a chainsaw, Bellwood High School would be the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only without the cannibalism.
All freaking day she had to deal with poser boys who wanted to get in her pants and jealous girls making fun of her appearance. None of them knew who she really was or what she was capable of. If they did, they would bow down and scream, "We're not worthy! Please don't kill us!" at the top of their lungs. Only the threat of Cordelia's anger and failure of any kind kept Sam from torching the building to the ground.
Luckily, it was lunch now. Sam and Carter were heading to the cafeteria, hoping that Evan would be able to snag Ben so they could sit together. Carter seriously needed to give him that book so that the three of them could get this damn mission over with. They waded through the sea of students, trying to ignore their inane laughter and voices. Before they entered the cafeteria, Carter nudged Sam and gestured to Evan, who was on the other side of the room, talking to Ben. They seemed to be laughing about something, and both were heading to an empty table near the center of the lunch room. Sam and Carter made their way towards them, happy to see that everyone was too wrapped up in their silly lives to notice them.
"No one cares if we sit here, right?" Carter asked, taking one of the empty seats.
"Well, since your already sitting…" Ben joked as Sam and Evan also sat down. All four had brown bagged it for the day, saving them from having to stand in line.
"Where do you usually sit, Ben?" Sam asked, trying to make conversation.
"With my teammates. They might sit over here with us," Ben answered before taking a bite of his sandwich.
"You never did tell me if the soccer team here was a good one," Carter said lightly. Why was it so hard to make conversation?
"The team's pretty good, but I don't really want to talk about that right now. Where are you guys from?"
Their cover stories had already been decided. "I'm from Michigan. My parents got transferred here to the Valentine Hospital," Carter explained. "Sam, aren't you from Arizona?" She looked pointedly at her.
"Phoenix, to be exact," Sam confirmed. "It was also a job transfer, but to an auto factory, not a hospital."
"I'm from San Francisco. My dad found business here," Evan added.
"What kind of business?" Ben asked.
"Video games. He found a new way to play them," Evan said truthfully. His dad really did create such a program, but it wasn't out on the market just yet.
"Sweet, I can't wait to play it," Ben said before some of his teammates started to come over. The blond boy from earlier was with them. He was the only one in a soccer uniform. "Mind if we sit here?" he asked, holding a lunch tray.
Ben looked at Evan. "I don't mind," he said, shrugging. Sure, the guy had confused him with Ben earlier, but it wasn't his fault. No use being annoyed with someone over a little misunderstanding.
"Uh, sorry about this morning," the blond boy blushed. He held out his hand. "My name's David. You're Evan, right?" Evan took his hand and shook it.
"No problem, man. Come on, sit down." Evan smiled and gestured to the open seats.
Only three teammates came over to join them. The rest hung back, occasionally looking over their way, not making any move to come over. Carter met their gaze, and they all looked away as if they were embarrassed to be seen doing that. Carter rolled her eyes before looking at the new faces around the table.
David was friendly and was already used to the similarities between Ben and Evan. He enjoyed soccer and was planning on going pro after high school. Greg was quiet with glasses and a mess of curly brown hair. He was into computers and was talking with Evan about math and science and the likes all throughout lunch. Jack was loud with a stupid grin who only wanted to flirt with Sam and Carter; luckily for Carter, she was talking with Ben. Unluckily for Sam, she was stuck with Jack.
"I like your hair," Jack said, smiling widely. Didn't anyone ever tell him that showing off all your teeth looked weird?
"Thanks, it's natural," Sam answered in a monotone. She picked at her sandwich.
"How is that natural?" Jack tried to joke good naturedly, but it came out wrong.
"It's always been like that." Sam took a big bite of her lunch, hoping that Jack would get the hint. He didn't.
While Jack was trying and failing to flirt with Sam, Carter was trying to pass off the textbook to Ben without making it look like it was planned. "Do you like fantasy books?" she asked in what she hoped was a light tone.
"I'm not much of a reader," Ben admitted. "But I like the fantasy genre in general."
"Well," Carter began, "I have a book that you might like. It has a lot of pictures," she reassured Ben. "I've already read it, so if you want to check it out…" Carter trailed off and looked at Ben expectantly.
Ben took the bait. "I'd love to read it. Do you have it here?"
"Actually, yes," Carter replied as she unzipped her backpack and got out the heavy book. It was made out of crackled brown leather, and it was two inches thick.
"Wow," was Ben's only response. "How old is this?" he asked as he cradled it in his hands.
"A year, it was just made to look old," Carter explained.
"I can't wait to read it. When do you want it back?" Ben asked as he cracked open the cover. It had a picture of an earth on it with the caption "Occisor" under it. "What does occisor mean?" Ben asked.
"It's Latin for slayer or murderer," Carter explained. Ben looked up sharply at Carter. Either this was a huge coincidence or she was…
"Something wrong, Ben?" Carter asked innocently.
"Y-yeah," Ben stammered out finally as he shoved the book into his backpack. Nah, it couldn't be…could it?
The book haunted Ben all throughout the rest of the day. As he walked to his locker, he could hear someone call his name in the distance, but he was too out of it to notice. "Ben!" a hand on his shoulder stopped him from moving further. "Dude, you okay? You've been out of it all day," David said, steering Ben towards his locker.
"What? Yeah, I guess I was," Ben said as he opened his locker door.
"The new guys seem nice," David commented casually.
"Yes, they are," Ben said.
"Do you think I have a shot at Carter?" David asked suddenly, shaking Ben out of his stupor.
"No, I don't think so. But you could always talk to her," Ben said without thinking.
"The thing is, I'm pretty sure she has a boyfriend back in Michigan, and I don't want to make her unfaithful," David said truthfully. He peered over at Carter, who was putting her textbooks away in her locker. She was completely oblivious to the two guys talking about her.
"Why don't you just ask her?"
David snorted. "Yeah, that wouldn't be awkward at all."
"You'll never know if you don't ask." Ben closed his locker. "See you at soccer practice?"
"Yeah," Davis murmured, still looking at Carter. Ben looked at him for a moment and contemplated telling him that he had his eye on her too. His conscience said that would be the best thing to do. His heart didn't want to make things awkward between the two of them.
His head won.
"Uh, David," Ben began.
"Hmm?" David mumbled, finally tearing his gaze away.
"The truth is, I kind of have a thing for her too, and I met her first, so…" Ben shrugged sheepishly, hoping David would get the hint.
"Yeah, I get it. She's out of my league anyway. Then again, she's out of your league, too." David stood up straight and looked Ben in the eye.
"True. May the best man win?" Ben wagered.
"That seems fair," David agreed before walking away.
Ben sighed. He didn't want to fight his friend over some girl, even Carter. But he also wanted her as a girlfriend. Why did life have to be so unfair?
"Are you going to soccer practice?" Carter asked. She had popped up out of nowhere, and once again she startled Ben.
"Yeah. By the way, when do you want that book back?" he asked.
"Well, it's a pretty big book, so you can take your time with it." Carter shrugged. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
"That'd be nice." Ben smiled as Carter left. He then walked to the boys' locker room to change for soccer practice. Carter went to Sam's locker, happy to tell her that the mission was half over. When she got there, she saw that Jack was glomming onto Sam, who was desperately trying not to hurt him.
"One date couldn't hurt," Jack was saying as Carter walked up to them.
"No," Sam replied harshly, slamming her locker door with too much force. Then she whirled around. "I don't like you," she spat in his face. Jack went slack-jawed. A girl had never said that to him, or flat-out refused his advances. Feeling triumphant, Sam walked away. Carter followed her, and soon looped her arm through hers.
"Not bad, DuBaer," Carter complimented, pronouncing Sam's last name as du-BAR. Sam smiled nastily.
"That bastard got what was coming to him." She took a long look at Carter. "Something tells me you have good news, Valentine."
"I gave Ben the book. The mission is now almost over," Carter said happily.
"Best news I've heard all day," Sam said happily, like Carter knew she would.
"Where's Evan? We have to tell him too," Carter said, looking around the hallway. A hand clapped on both of their shoulders; of course it had to be Evan.
"Do I smell good news?" he asked with a goofy grin.
"The mission is half over," Carter repeated.
"Awesome!" Evan's grin slid off his face. "We have work."
Carter swore under her breath. "What is it?" Evan looked around.
"Too public. Come on." He steered his two friends to the main hallway and out the main entrance. Other students were milling about, climbing into big yellow buses or walking home with friends. Sam, Evan, and Carter walked quickly to the left side of the building, by the exits no one really used. They scanned the area, and Evan went right to it.
"There's been a series of fires in Grover's Mill. The authorities over there think the cause is a young Pyronite. He's probably a Plumbers' kid. Anyway, Cordelia thinks the fires aren't from the Pyronite, but from another cause." Evan got out his Plumbers' badge, which looked like a normal one, save for the graphic of a strange pair of wings on the front: one wing was a typical angel wing, but the other was a wing of a bat, or perhaps a demon. Evan willed the badge to show him a holographic map of the area, including Grover's Mill. A couple of green, blipping lights were shown, acting as a GPS to find other Plumbers.
"Why is that one blinking?" Sam inquired, pointing at the one in Grover's Mill.
"Probably the Pyronite. Why do you think he's a Plumbers' kid?" Carter asked Evan.
He shrugged. "We've been seeing a lot of them recently. And the fires looked too erratic to be a normal arsonist."
"Do we go there immediately or what?" Sam asked, wanting to conclude the briefing.
"We could, but we don't have a subspace portal ready," Evan explained, shutting off the map and putting the badge in his back pocket. And that was when Carter held up a plastic green card with the same wing graphic as Evan's badge.
"That doesn't mean we can't create one," she countered, smiling impishly.
Sam ogled the card. "Where the hell did you get this?" she cried as she snatched the card from her friend's hand.
"I got it as a present from Isaac," Carter explained, grabbing her card back.
"But how? Those things cost a fortune, not to mention rare," Evan wanted to know.
"You know Isaac has connections," Carter began.
"So do the rest of our parents," Sam retorted, not convinced.
"Isaac does like to spoil me for some reason," Carter explained with a hint of disgust. She didn't want expensive gifts, no matter how useful and practical they might be.
"Whatever! Work your magic and let's go!" Sam's eyes sparkled at the thought. Carter, smiling, walked up to the brick wall and quickly swiped the card down, like she was swiping a credit machine with a credit card. An outline of a doorway glowed green, and out popped a green door with the black angel-devil wing graphic on it. The three of them held hands, and Carter turned the knob. The doorway led into darkness, but like all dark places, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Carter quickly ran through the door, leading her friends into subspace.
Ben was just finishing soccer practice when he saw his cousin on the bleachers. As the other guys walked to the showers, Ben came up to Gwen. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked, wiping sweat off his brow.
"Nothing really, only to tell you that there are other Plumbers around here," Gwen answered casually, sitting down.
"Seriously? How'd you find that out?" Ben climbed the bleachers to sit by her.
"…Kevin told me."
"You've been meeting up with Kevin?" Ben shot up from his seat and glared at his cousin.
"It's not like that! I met him earlier while I was walking home from school and we started talking," Gwen quickly explained. "His Plumbers' badge started beeping, and that's how we found out."
"And that's it?" Ben inquired, in no way calm about the situation.
Gwen glared at her cousin. "We all agreed to fight together and the best way to do that is to get to know each other first." Her expression softened. "I know how bad he was back when we were kids, but he's grown up. Maybe he can change."
Ben snorted. "And how do you figure that?"
"I don't know, but people do. Anyway, he's waiting out in the parking lot. If we go to where the Plumber is, maybe we could find Grandpa," Gwen said soothingly. Ben simmered down a bit, and reluctantly agreed with what Gwen was saying. He didn't know if it was possible for Kevin to change, but they had to work together to defeat the High Breeds.
"I'll go change. You bring Kevin over here," Ben ordered as he walked off the bleachers. Gwen smiled triumphantly when his back was turned.
Carter, Sam, and Evan clamored out of the subspace door into a cornfield. "That. Was. AWESOME!" Evan screamed at the top of his lungs. He pulled Sam up and started dancing with her as Carter closed the door. As the door disappeared, Carter looked at the two of them tangoing to no music and started laughing.
"You're so happy over something so small!" she stated, tears starting to fall from her eyes.
Evan and Sam stopped dancing long enough to laugh with her. "We never get to ride in subspace! It's always a jet plane or a car or a spaceship. This way is a lot more fun!" Sam declared as she released herself from Evan's hold. The three of them instantly turned serious and surveyed their surroundings. They were at the site of the last supposed arson attack, and they were looking for any police cars. They needed to know where they took the Pyronite; if he had any involvement with the DNAliens…
"Police cars!" Sam whispered, pointing to the front. She was right; there were the boys in blue, searching the place and asking the locals if they saw anything. A shadow loomed over the three teens, enveloping them in its darkness. It was a good thing they knew how to shadow travel: it was basically just becoming a part of the shadows and moving through them undetected. It was hard to explain how it happened, but it was useful for short travel throughout an area, unlike using the subspace doors.
The three of them travelled to the sheriff, who was talking into a walkie-talkie. "What do you mean Alan escaped?" he angrily whispered into the talkie. "Find him, then!" He threw the talkie into his car and got in it himself. The shadows got into the backseat. The sheriff didn't notice. The group then rode with the sheriff to the ice warehouse, where they held the Pyronite Alan captive.
Ben, Gwen, and Kevin were already at the ice warehouse, or rather, they were outside of it, looking at a giant hole in the wall. Ben climbed inside and looked around. "Whatever made this hole is long gone," he announced. He then spied the Plumbers' badge on the desk. He grabbed it and put it into his back pocket before anyone noticed that it was missing.
"You think your Grandpa made this hole?" Kevin asked Gwen, who was staring intently at the charred markings.
"I think he might not have anything to do with this at all," she finally said, looking at Kevin.
"What do you mean?" Ben asked, jumping out of the building and landing beside Gwen.
"This town is close to Bellwood. Wouldn't Grandpa have contacted us if he was chasing something in the area?" Gwen wondered out loud.
"Maybe he can't," Kevin said darkly. That put an ominous spin on the perpetrator.
"Well, whatever the case may be, we have to find Grandpa Max and whoever made this hole," Ben continued. He started walking into the cornfield surrounding the warehouse. "The arson attacks happened in the fields, right?" he asked his team.
"You think there both back in there?" Gwen asked.
"Worth a shot," Kevin commented. And with that they followed their unofficial leader into the cornfield.
Today was officially the worst day in Alan Albright's life. He had just found out about his alien heritage a few weeks ago when he had accidentally set his bed on fire, and ever since then he had been trying to control his powers. Only now the sheriff thought he was the cause of a bunch of arson attacks in the cornfields. He was being framed, but who would believe him? And now he had lost his father's Plumber badge, the only thing that kept him out of alien prison.
Alan had forgotten that he was still in his Pyronite form. That was why it was easy for the sheriff and his deputy to find him. The deputy aimed his rifle and shot at him as he was running. Alan dodged to the side, nearly missing the bullet. "Stop running Alan, and face up to your crimes," the sheriff growled, looking at the young boy with disgust in his eyes.
"But I didn't do anything! I'm being framed! Why won't you believe me?" Alan yelled at them, all the fear and anger revealing themselves in his voice.
"Who else could it have been?" the sheriff scoffed, convinced that it really was the freak in front of him who endangered all of those lives.
"God, what a simpleton." A female voice rang out from all around them. The wind whistled in the cornfield, and despite all the heat he was generating, Alan shivered.
"Who's there?" the sheriff demanded, looking around him. "You've brought help!" the deputy reported, aiming for another shot at Alan.
"No he didn't," Sam said, hiding in the shadows.
"We were just in the neighborhood, and we thought we might drop in on this conversation," Evan said casually. He brushed a few leaves off of his shirt. He was with Sam and Carter, hiding in the cornfields, trying to find a way to help Alan without revealing themselves too much. They had to change their voices a little, making them high-pitched and childlike so Alan couldn't recognize them later.
"Who are you?" Alan asked, terrified. He already had enough weird things happen to him today; he didn't need any more.
"We're the Pride," Carter told him. "Now, could you please tell us what exactly is going on?"
"The stupid policemen think that he started a bunch of fires here," Sam answered for him. "But the question is, did he really do it?"
"Who else could it be?" The sheriff exclaimed angrily. The deputy was now aiming for the cornfield around him, his rifle shaking quite visibly.
"We can't have that, now can we?" Evan remarked as he saw the foolish deputy try to shoot them. He used his earth powers to make the plants snatch up the gun and throw it far away in the fields. The result was hilarious: the deputy actually tried to hide behind the sheriff, who didn't have a single weapon on him. The Pride giggled at their expense, making them sound more like evil children.
"I'll repeat myself again, Alan: did you or did you not start those fires?" Carter asked again after she had stopped laughing.
"No, I didn't," Alan affirmed vehemently.
There was a long pause before Evan said, "I believe him."
"So that means the stupid policemen need to apologize," Sam said fire in her eyes.
"Apologize," all three said in unison.
"But we don't have any proof that he didn't do it! All we have is his word, and it won't hold up in court," the sheriff reasoned. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, and it was scaring him half to death.
"Then go find some proof," Carter ordered them. When the policemen hesitated, all three snarled, "GO!" and off they went with their tails behind their legs.
"Th-thank you," Alan stammered. He felt like crying, he was so relieved.
"We're glad, Alan. Now don't run away. Some people are going to find you. You have to explain to them what the situation is. Hopefully they'll help you find the people who framed you," Carter said soothingly.
"We can't stay here," Sam said in her saddest tone.
"When you explain to Ben about what happened, don't mention us right away, okay? We want to stay secret for a while longer," Evan added quickly. "Can you do that Alan?"
"Sure," Alan answered happily. He wanted to thank these Pride people for convincing the sheriff to find proof, and if this was the way to thank them, then so be it.
"Bye bye, Alan, bye bye," the three of them said in unison. There was a rustling sound, and then they were gone.
"Did you guys hear something?" Ben asked Gwen and Kevin as they made their way through the cornfield.
"I think it came from over there." Gwen pointed in front of her. They ran into a clearing that held a nervous Pyronite, waiting for the people who were supposed to help him.
"Wow," was all Kevin said as he felt the wave of nostalgia. Alan looked at the three of them, and then turned back to human.
"Are you Ben?" he asked hesitantly.
"I am." Ben stepped up to the plate, figuratively speaking. "What are you doing here? Did you start all these fires? And where's my grandfather?"
"H-hold on," Alan stammered. "Let me explain from the beginning." And so he did, though he didn't mention the Pride right away, like he promised.
"So you have no idea where our grandpa is," Gwen stated, looking at Ben.
"Okay, you were right. But that doesn't explain how he was able to convince the sheriff that he didn't so those fires." Ben looked at Alan, confused.
"Technically, it wasn't me," he admitted. "There were some people in the cornfield that scared them into looking for more evidence."
"And you didn't get a look at them," Kevin reported. He shook his head. "That's weak, man."
"You have to believe me!"
"We believe that you didn't start the fires, but not so much on these mystery people," Gwen explained. "Did they at least tell you their names?"
"They called themselves the Pride." Alan silently apologized to his saviors for not keeping up his end of the bargain.
Kevin, Gwen, and Ben all glanced at each other knowingly. "Where did they go?" Ben asked.
"I told you, I didn't even see their faces, much less see them leave," Alan protested. "Who are they, anyway?"
"There part of a separate branch of the Plumbers. You do not want to get on their bad sides," Kevin explained. "…You do know what the Plumbers are, right?"
"Yeah, my dad was one. He gave me his old Plumbers' badge so no one would confuse me for some illegal alien," Alan said. He winced. "The sheriff took it, though."
"Yeah, well, I took it back," Ben said, smiling for the first time since he got there. He took the badge out of pocket and handed it to Alan, who looked very happy to see it.
Kevin suddenly looked up and saw some flashes of blue. "I think we may have found our arsonist." Kevin pointed to his right. The others looked at the general direction. As if they were one unit, they ran towards it.
DNAliens were creating giant circles in the cornfield with some sort of fire torch. Without thinking, Ben turned into Swampfire and started blasting the creeps.
"God, Tennyson! Can't you calm down and think rationally for a change?" Kevin exclaimed as he absorbed the ground and started punching the enemy. Alan turned into his Pyronite form and tried to help, but he didn't aim his fire blasts very well.
"This is why I need to practice!" he said as Gwen put up a magenta force field around the four of them.
"Why are they doing this in the first place?" Gwen wondered as she tried to keep her force field up.
"Don't know, don't care. Let's kick their asses already!" Kevin grinned maniacally. He burst through the force field with Ben trailing him, and together they laid into those monsters.
"Are you friends always this violent?" Alan asked Gwen.
"Unfortunately," she answered, rolling her eyes at the two boys.
That was when Gwen thought up an idea. If these guys were creating something out of these crop circles, then shouldn't it be hidden somewhere close by? Gwen quickly willed her energy to reveal any cloaking devices in the area, hoping that it would work.
It did. A giant weather tower revealed itself with a flash of pink light, and it instantly started to snow. Kevin and Ben beat up the last of the DNAliens and just stared at the tower.
"How do we take it down?" Kevin asked Ben.
"With teamwork," Gwen announced. "I have a plan." She turned to Alan, smiling.
Alan was flying through the air, a piece of land attached to his feet to help him. He used his fire power as an energy source as he zoomed to the top. All Alan had to do was destroy any guards at the top; Ben and the others would take down the weather tower at ground level. It was a cinch to set fire to the guards, since they hated heat. He backed away just in time to see Ben, Kevin, and Gwen push down the weather tower together, Ben using vines at his feet for leverage, Gwen using some spell to cut it down, and Kevin pushing it the old-fashioned way.
Alan wasn't the only one who cheered when the weather tower fell to the ground. Sam, Evan, and Carter had lied; they were close by, just observing. Cordelia didn't say that they had to do anything. They had been told to just investigate. They were watching the tower fall on the roof of the warehouse. The sheriff, who was on the ground by the ice warehouse, also saw it. He and his deputy got into a police car and drove away to investigate.
"Should we chalk this up as a victory?" Sam asked from her perch. The night air felt amazing, but it was too dark to see. She willed a small ball of fire to form in her hand, and she palmed it back and forth in her two hands.
"I think so, though we still don't know what the High Breeds are planning," Evan said. He handed a water bottle to Carter. After she opened the cap, she willed a small ball of water to form and glide itself out of the bottle. She directed the ball to Evan, who popped it into his mouth like it was candy.
"Cordelia won't care about that until we get Ben on our side," Carter remarked as she took a sip of water, the normal way this time.
"True," Sam agreed. She sucked the ball of fire back into her body and stood up. "Can we go back home through the subspace door again?"
Carter gave an exaggerated sigh. "Okay," she said, taking out the card and swiping it in the air. Evan gave a happy whoop and opened the door. The three held hands and jumped once again, back to their home in Sterling Hills.
While I did say that I would follow the episodes, I didn't say it would be the same as the original episode. I'm pretty sure no one wants to read a fanfic that's the same as the original series, only with a bunch of new characters shoved in.
I'm glad that I was able to show what kind of power Sam, Evan, and Carter had individually. Of course, that's not the extent of what they can do. I'll reveal it all little by little.
Please read and review. I need to know that I'm writing to an actual audience.