Chapter 62: Ben Tennyson Gets It Together

The main reason why I despise season 3 of Alien Force so much is because of how Ben is portrayed. The first two seasons he's a capable leader while still retaining a childish side. Season three turns him into an arrogant man-child. I can't write him like that-I can barely watch him act like that- so I changed it up. And I can get away with it too because artistic license, bitches. (lol)

That's what makes the chapter title so much more significant. It's taken from the fourth Scott Pilgrim volume where Scott sort of gets it together, but ultimately doesn't. In my story, Ben does get it together, and it's thankfully a lot sooner than anyone thinks.

Also, Game of Thrones reference. Can you spot it? (Hint: it has a very obvious setup.)

One month later

For once it was a quiet night.

Phineas looked out from his office balcony, a cigarette trapped between his lips. The tip was lit, a burning, bright beacon in the otherwise black night. The moon was bright and mostly full, and the smoke wafting from the end of the cancer stick was hard to see in the light.

He sucked in a puff, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke. He could feel the smooth, cool rush of nicotine hit his bloodstreams. He didn't know why the other Immortals didn't continue the habit; it wasn't like smoking could kill them and their grandkids were smart enough not to smoke. At least, he hoped they were.

Phineas was halfway through the cigarette when he received a text message. Normally he would have ignored it-it was a nice night out and occasionally he needed a break from running a multi-billion dollar company-but he figured it wouldn't be smart to do that now. The other Immortals might need him, or his daughter Sandra might want to start up a conversation (she rarely texted, she knew how busy her father was, and he honestly preferred to hear her voice).

He took out his phone and viewed the message: Something's wrong with the underground. Come quick. –I.

His brow furrowed. Isaac was being more cryptic than usual. Phineas vaguely wondered if he was always like this with the Pride or if this was a one-time thing. Either way something was up with the intelligence system or something. He was needed. Again.

He looked up at the almost full moon and sighed.

The underground was always quiet, but unlike the peace of the surface this was a manmade silence. All Phineas could hear were his footsteps hitting the crumbling earth, his form dwarfed by the scooped out tunnels of Bellwood's underground spider web. The light bulbs attached to the ceiling were spread far apart and flickered often, leaving the walker in long stretches of darkness.

In retrospect, this may have been a smart decision. Once Phineas entered the official headquarters, with all its supercomputers and low lighting, his eyes had long since adjusted to the gloom. Looking at the bright monitors hurt, but he could otherwise see through the dark.

Tonight there were few people about. The DNAlien attack on HQ had devastated personnel, security, and the basic trust the Slayers had in the system's network. People had been working around the clock to beef up security to that of D.C. levels, and new recruits fresh from the underground cities' colleges had long since been shipped to Bellwood to help with the restoration. It was steady yet quick work. The only thing slow was the rebuilding of trust amongst the younger Slayer generation.

Phineas didn't have time to think of that now. Isaac was gesturing to him from one of the supercomputers. The brunette worker typing at the keyboard turned her head to speak to Isaac, informing him of something. Phineas walked up to hear what.

"…there haven't been any more fluctuations in the energy supply. Are you certain this is something more sinister than a computer error?" the technician was asking, narrowing her blue eyes.

"I'm not certain," Isaac admitted. "But I wouldn't have survived for so long if I wasn't suspicious of everything." He noticed Phineas and told her, "Roll back the transmission feed." He turned to him and asked, "What do you make of this?"

Phineas took a look at the large window that popped up. There were white lines against a blue background. The lines were constantly vibrating to show the amount of electricity humming through HQ.

And then the lines dipped sharply downward, almost to the bottom of the window. And then they snapped back, going back to its usual humming. It had only been a second; it would have been easy to miss for even the most attentive of people.

Phineas frowned. "When did this happen?"

"About thirty minutes ago," Isaac answered. "We have someone down at the plant checking what's up."

"You've been upgrading the electric plant, haven't you?" Phineas asked. "Could just be an installation problem."

"We added in all the installations days ago," Isaac revealed. "We've had programmers and technicians working around the clock to make sure they've been operating correctly. According to the reports there's nothing wrong."

"When was the last checkup?"

"This morning."

Phineas's frown deepened. "It could still be a minor malfunction."

"We should hear back from the worker I sent in." Isaac frowned. "Actually, we should have heard back from him already. How long does it take to walk to the plant?" he asked the technician at the keyboard.

"Approximately ten minutes from here even if he hurries, sir."

"That gives him twenty minutes to do a diagnostics test," Phineas said. "Not exactly a lot of time."

"Still we should have heard a report from him by now," Isaac mused. He turned back to the screen, eyeing the popup window where the plant's electricity supply was shown. It was still humming very peacefully.

…Until it dipped sharply once more. This time the lines stayed down for one, two, three beats before going back up. Only a slacker could have missed that.

"It's more than a minor malfunction," Phineas said quietly. He could feel it. There was something wrong with the air in a part of HQ, the molecules beating a rhythm that was out of tune with the rest of the underground. There was a hint of ozone permeating from the direction of the plant, he realized, the scent of lightning cloying the air. It felt unnatural yet oddly familiar.

Phineas didn't like this one little bit.

"Patch me through the technicians in the plant," Isaac ordered. The worker's fingers flew across the keyboard, bringing up the popup window for the underground's phone directory. She clicked on a link and the call was placed.

There was a loud vibration coming from the supercomputer; it was to replace the obnoxious fifties ringtone the computer used to have. For forty-five seconds the phone rang before it was cutoff.

"No one home?" Phineas asked lightly.

"There's always someone there," Isaac said. "Try again," he ordered the technician. She reconnected the call and waited forty-five seconds. Nothing.

"Wanna go for a third time?" Phineas joked. "You never know, you might get lucky."

Isaac shot him a look before saying, "Patch me to the plant's video feed. Use all the cameras."

Her fingers flying over the keys, she brought up the windows for all five cameras in the plant. It showed the pristine white electric plant, a large room with a great metal pillar in the middle. Yellow lines stretched from the top of the pillar to the bottom, along with numerous cables attached all over. The entire thing was cased inside a Plexiglas fortress imbedded with castradinium, one of the strongest metals in the known universe.

Surrounding the fortress were computers and other machines used to diagnose the electric plant. In the daytime scientists in lab coats worked there, regulating the electricity flows as they spread out towards the rest of headquarters. In the nighttime other workers were there, some poor schmucks who wound up with the night shift, maintenance workers, the occasional guardsman walking through. No matter the time of day though there was always someone in there.

Except now there wasn't. It was completely empty. If that didn't sound off the alarm bells, nothing did.

"Focus all the cameras," Phineas said. "Zoom in as far as you can and sweep the room." The cameras focused, the items in the room rushing at them. The cameras moved over the room, the people watching the screen looking for any movement and any clue.

And then they saw it. A foot attached to a leg attached to a dead body.

"No," Isaac breathed.

It must have been the kid he sent to check up on the plant. He had been young, maybe mid twenties, but it was hard to tell. He was clearly dead, but there was no blood, no wounds, and no sign of a struggle. But the body was blackened, his skin crispy. His mouth had been stretched out in a scream, and his eyeholes were wide open, but the actual eyeballs were gone. In fact, there didn't seem to be any water on his person.

"Is he the only one in there?" Phineas demanded to know. The technician methodically moved the five cameras simultaneously, scanning over the rest of the room. There were no other bodies visible.

"Pull up timetables for all the people who should have been working there tonight," Isaac ordered. They were on the screen a moment later.

"When the first fluctuation occurred-exactly thirty-four minutes ago- only ten people were at the plant," the technician said through. "Three of them are currently on a forty-five minute break. Another three were changing shifts. No word on the other four."

"That means we have thirteen people unaccounted for," Phineas stated. He breathed deeply, feeling the molecules in the air shift dramatically. "We need to find the three on break and the people changing shifts and take them into questioning."

The technician smirked through red painted lips. "Already on it."

The two men left her to it, strolling away from her. "How long can we leave the plant unmanned?" Phineas asked his friend.

"At least three days," Isaac said. "We always need to do diagnostic tests every three days and replenish reserves. Since the last test was this morning…"

"We have a little over two days to find the culprit," Phineas finished. "Is there any way we can postpone the tests?"

Isaac thought. "I would personally rather not, but if it's an extreme case, we can postpone it for maybe a week. The plant does have plenty of excess reserves, but I hate to use them."

"I would to," Phineas admitted, "but this may be an emergency. That was no ordinary murder."

"Of course not," he scoffed. "The poor kid was burnt to death. Question is how. From what we've seen there were no scorch marks, no gasoline, no matches…" he grimaced. "It could be one of our own."

Phineas shook his head. "It wasn't fire."

"What then?"

"I think he was electrocuted."

Isaac raised an eyebrow.

"I have to look at the body to know for sure, but I do think electrocution is the cause of death," Phineas explained. "I've seen these kinds of attacks before. Whoever did this used the victim's own electricity supply against him. He targeted the fluids in the body and killed him from the inside. It's a surefire way of murdering someone without leaving a trace."

"Then we're dealing with either an air or fire user," Isaac said stoically. He took a deep breath. "Do you know who did it?"

"I don't, but whoever did this had a personal vendetta against that kid," he continued. "Electrocution from inside the body is a bad way to go. Really bad. And I think he used the plant to torture him. He did the first minor fluctuation to get someone's attention and then the second to brutally murder the kid."

It was dawning on Isaac. His pale skin turned a sickly color, sweat started to pour down his face, and his eyes were shining. "It wasn't a vendetta."

"What do you mean?"

"The first fluctuation was too short, anyone could have missed it," he said quietly. "And how would the murderer have known that I would send Stanley to check it out? There are plenty of other people I could have sent in for a report; it didn't have to be him."

"So this guy is just murdering whoever takes his fancy," Phineas said.

"No." Isaac turned to him, pleading. "Don't you remember what happened thirty years ago? We found an electrocuted body in the middle of the electric plant on this day, exactly thirty years ago. There were plenty of other bodies as well, all dead the same way…"

"…and drained of their life source." It hit him then. Phineas got out his phone and looked at the time. "And the body thirty years ago was found at two in the morning." He showed Isaac the screen. "It's 2:05 AM."

"The person who did it thirty years ago wasn't a person, but an electricity-hungry alien," Isaac went on grimly. "And it's most likely come back."

"But we got rid of it."

"Apparently not. Or it has kin, I don't know," he snapped. "Either way we have to quarantine the underground, trap this fucker and kill it again."

"And we leave the kids out of this," Phineas said.

"Of course we leave the kids out of it, we don't want them dead!" Isaac went to the others in the supercomputer room, barking orders. Phineas went to his back pocket and shakily got out his carton of cigarettes. He looked at it before putting it back, not even taking out one stick.

He should have known from the quiet night. No crickets had been chirping, no owls had been hooting, no bats flapping about. It had been so silent that he could hear his own breath as he puffed out a cloud of smoke.

Phineas should have been smarter. He should have known. In the deepest recesses of the most silent of nights was always the scent of foreboding, of danger lurking about.

He should have remembered that the night was dark and full of terrors.

Later, the same day

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Evan turned to Sam, videogame console in his hands. Her eyes were narrowed, her mouth turned into a scowl, and she was crumbling up the paper she had in her hands.

"What's wrong now?" he asked idly.

"Vilgax is coming."

He sat up straight and paused his game. "How do you know?"

"Cordelia sent me this note." Sam waved around the wrinkly paper. "Apparently he defeated the greatest heroes of ten worlds to combat Ben and his ten aliens."

"Well fuck."

"I know right?"

"Does Ben know?"

Sam shook her head. "Cordelia just sent this to me through shadow travel." She frowned. "Not gonna lie, I find that weird. Normally she calls or texts."

"Something's up on their side and they're not telling us," Evan quickly deduced. "I'm sure it's nothing bad though. Cordelia's working on it."

"And she's got all our grandparents helping her," Sam noted. "Lucille and Raph are sticking around to help with the restoration, so this whole mail thing could be a response to that."

"Great, we've now convinced ourselves that nothing's wrong," Evan said lightly, pressing the play button on his videogame.

Sam's brow was still slightly furrowed. "It still feels weird though. And we have to warn Ben about Vilgax. Not that I think he'll take it seriously," she added with a groan.

Evan grimaced. "Well, he has beaten Vilgax before. Add the invasion and he's probably going to have a swelled head."

"Not that he's shown it," Sam said diplomatically. "Sure, he's still kind of arrogant, but I thought it'd be a lot worse."

"He isn't ten anymore," Evan pointed out. "Maybe he's grown up."

"But he's still kind of cocky."

"Well, some things never change. I don't know how Carter puts up with him."

Sam rolled her eyes. "She's in love or something. And love makes you blind."

"But does it also have to make her deaf?" he muttered as his phone rang. He answered it, listened for a bit, and paused his game yet again. "Where's the alien? Really, there? Okay, you don't have to be so snippy! We'll see you in a few." He hung up, flung his console aside, and stood up. "We've got some sort of snake alien terrorizing the local populace downtown."

Sam stood up as well. "Are we calling Ben?"

Evan thought for a moment. "We probably shouldn't. Knowing Carter she's at Ben's place yelling insults at a TV show while he stares on in amusement and annoyance. We should leave them to it."

"Are we really going out like this though?" Sam gestured to their outfits. She was wearing form-fitting jeans, black converse shoes, and a blue long sleeved shirt with a scoop neck and a red number seven stitched to the chest. Evan was wearing jeans and sneakers as well, but he had forgone his long sleeved black shirt and just wore his green t-shirt with the black metallic dragon graphic on the front.

Evan shrugged. "These are our new outfits for season three, so why not?"

"I liked my old outfit better." Sam plucked at her scoop neck despondently.

"Yeah, but Gwen's wearing red this season, so you have to wear something else," he pointed out. "We have to make this color coded for the viewers' convenience."

"The viewers are morons."

"Yeah, but we can't tell them that." Evan and Sam turned to the camera filming them and stared out into the audience. In a low, threatening manner, he said, "You didn't hear any of this."

Sam glared into the camera. "And if you try calling us out on this, remember: we know where you live."

They both glared at the audience as the screen went black and the scene quickly shifted.

Finding the snake monster

Kevin had been knocked to the side and Gwen was being tied up by the snake alien when Sam and Evan finally showed up.

Before one of the alien's pet snakes could bite her, Evan shot at the monster, distracting it long enough for Sam to roast the arm holding Gwen up. The alien shrieked, dropping Gwen. Sam caught her before she could hit the ground.

Putting her down on the ground, the two girls prepared for action. "I thought snakes were supposed to rattle before they strike," Gwen said.

"I'm not… a rattle-ssssssssnnnnnake," the monster hissed.

"He's got a good point," Sam pointed out.

"Whatever!" Gwen snapped. "I was just making conversation." She then flung mana disks at the alien. The alien dodged all four of them and neared the two girls. Sam quickly brought up the shield on her bracelet and braced herself only to have Kevin body slam into the serpent.

"I was looking for some metal to absorb," he quickly explained while he punched at the alien with metal-covered arms. "Hold still!" he ordered the alien, who was dodging his fists. The alien instead spewed green venom at him. Blind, Kevin tried to get it off, only to be flung off the alien by a snake arm.

Before Snake-Man could get to him, Gwen put up a mana shield in between them. She then used her powers to break the top off a conveniently located fire hydrant. The water spurted out towards Kevin, getting into his face and washing the venom from his eyes.

Meanwhile Evan ran up towards the alien, shooting at it with only one gun. The ground shifting he sprung up towards the head of the alien. It hissed as he latched on it, his legs around its neck. Punching at the throat, the snake alien opened its mouth with a snarl. Evan used that cue to start shooting into the mouth.

The alien tried to shake him off and only succeeded when Evan jumped off, did a back flip in midair and landed safely on both feet. Disoriented, the snake alien looked woozily at them, swaying dangerously. Sam then ran up to it and summoned a ring of fire around the alien, trapping it.

"Evan now!" she shouted.

"Done!" Evan forced the earth to spread out around the alien, trapping it in a dome with plenty of smoke and very little air.

"Don't worry, the fire's out," Sam told Gwen reassuringly. "The air will be smoky in there, but he'll survive." She then went over to Kevin to help him get the acid off.

Evan got out his phone. "Hey, do you think we could call the Plumbers to pick this guy up?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Oh, you have their number?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'll call them." She went over to the side to deliver the news. In the meantime Sam came back with Kevin, whose face was free of acid.

"Glad to see your okay," Evan said.

"I'm glad we didn't need to call in reinforcements," Sam said relieved.

Kevin's brow furrowed. "Where is Tennyson, anyway?"

Meanwhile…

"There's something wrong with the remote," Ben said, studying it.

Carter stopped sipping her smoothie long enough to shoot him a look and drawl out, "Right…"

"No, seriously, it keeps blinking all of a sudden." He hit it with the palm of his hand as it began to glow.

Carter stood up from the bed and kneeled down to examine it. "Maybe your powers are on the fritz?"

"I don't feel anything going wrong," Ben mused as the glowing faded. Suddenly something fizzled right in front of them. It was a humanoid shape and vaguely grayish. Carter calmly put her smoothie on the dresser and forced her fingers into ice claws. Sighing, Ben just shook his head.

The humanoid took shape to reveal lavish green robes with a matching headdress. A gray face peeked out of the ensemble. "Pardon the intrusion, Ben Tennyson, I mean you no harm," the man said, holding out a hand. Carter reluctantly retracted her claws. Ben just rolled his eyes.

The alien man bowed. "I am Lukic, senior ambassador of the Drakosian empire."

"Nice to meet you," Ben said.

"Likewise," the ambassador replied. "I have been granted the great honor of presenting you this," a purple box was teleported into his hands, "as a small token of gratitude for your part in saving all life in the universe from extinction at the hands of the High Breed. My people present you with the galactic medal of honor." Bowing yet again, Lukic opened the box to reveal a medal with a black center, a purple outer ring, and a yellow triangle attached to the southeastern part of the emblem.

Carter gave an appreciative whistle. "Swanky."

"Yes, it is indeed very…swanky," the ambassador agreed. Taking it out of the box, he put the medal over Ben's head. "It is the highest honor a non-Drakosian can be given."

Ben idly looked at it and said, "Thanks. You know, I could probably turn into one of you guys, make it more official."

Lukic walked back towards the spot where he teleported in. "The people of Drakosia marvel at your power, and offer you our gratitude." He got down on his knees and bowed deeply, his forehead nearly hitting the floor. And then his body fizzled away, teleporting out of Ben's messy bedroom.

"Yeah, that's what they all say," Ben said tiredly, taking off the metal.

"…You get that a lot nowadays, huh?" Carter said. Ben opened a part of his closet to reveal a large pile of other medals and trophies. He tossed the newest addition onto it, and the pile collapsed. Ben quickly swept it back into the closet and shut the door.

"Just how many more people have been in your room?" Carter asked curiously as Ben flopped onto his bed.

"Too many to count," he said. "Though I want to know how they found out where I lived."

"They probably tracked your bio-signature or something."

"Great, now everyone in the universe knows where I live." Ben groaned into his pillow.

"It can't be that bad," Carter said.

He gave her a look. "You just saw all those medals and trophies. And while I admit being rewarded for saving the universe is great, the amount of people teleporting into my room is getting annoying."

Carter raised an eyebrow. "You do know other people helped you save the universe, right?"

"Of course I do," Ben snapped at her. Almost involuntarily his eyes drifted towards her neck, where her choker was. His gaze softening, he repeated, "Of course I do…"

Carter wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. Instead she spread out her arms, as if waiting for a hug. Ben gave her a look, then half of his mouth quirked into a smile. He hugged her, breathing deeply as he wound his fingers through her hair, reassuring himself that she was still there, in his arms, safe and sound.

…And then the phone rang, breaking the spell. Instantly regretting letting go, Ben got out his cell and answered. "What's up?"

"Where were you?" Gwen demanded to know. "There was a snake alien and we needed help."

"I never got the call," Ben answered. "And neither did Carter. You sure you called us?" That made Gwen pause. "Besides," he went on, "I'm sure you called Evan and Sam and they helped. Are you still fighting the alien?"

"…No."

"Then you don't always need my help," he told her. "Sure, it'd be easier, but it's not like you can't handle yourselves."

Gwen didn't answer. There was some noise going on in the background, and a different voice took over. "Ben, we need to talk. Come to Mr. Smoothie."

"Am I in trouble?" Ben said lightly.

"If I'm right, then we all are," Sam said seriously.

If what canon says is true, then that means a bunch of aliens are teleporting into Ben's room unannounced. They have good intentions, but it's still trespassing. And who's to say that only Ben was in his room? What if it was his parents, who don't have a lot of experience with aliens? What if Ben was changing or something? And if diplomats have access to Ben's home, who's to say Vilgax doesn't? Fucking loopholes. -.-'

So, thoughts anyone?