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Chapter Four: Piscine Panic
These last few days have been relatively tame. Except for the occasional robot attack, and even then they'd been the tiny drone variant and came in small groups that Gwen was easily able to dispose of.
She trailed her hand along the bookshelves she found herself between, drumming her fingers amongst the titles, and debating which to choose from. A smile danced on her lips. She held two more books to her chest, and stood on her tiptoes, reaching for her final selection.
This is where she belonged. Maybe not this exact store, but amongst books in general. Preferably a public library with a large selection, but this'll do. Personally she believed all knowledge should be free, but oh well.
''Gotta keep the lights on somehow'' She thought as she pulled a small book off the shelf.
Her choices went as follows:
The Ecology of Insects
Quarts: A Fascinating Mineral
A Canine's Sense of Smell
She smiled at her selection, hopefully they would give her a loose idea of the properties of the aliens she possessed on her wrist, highly unlikely, but even then learning what these books had to offer would be just as valuable.
''Booky book nerd and her nerdy books'' Ben teased from the back of her mind.
Her expression faltered ever so slightly as she imagined her cousin, and what he'd say about her choice of interest. Though if she was being honest, it was probably incorrect, to a certain extent at least.
He's changed so much..
At times it was almost jarring to see how different he'd become overnight. Where previously they would argue about any and everything, unable to come to an agreement on even the smallest of disputes.
Even when she proposed to come to this bookstore he didn't protest, in fact they'd come to a compromise. A compromise! Ben Tennyson of all people came to a compromise with her of all people.
That's about as close the world will ever get to successfully mixing oil and water.
This time travel thing has made him even more confusing than he ever was before.
She took a moment and paused. Considering to swap out one of her choices with a book of theoretical physics. Which at this point would just be 'physics'. Shaking her head, she pocketed the idea.
''You'll have time to worry about your geekazoid cousin another time Gwen; right now, we're in our happy place.''
Her smile returned in full force as she made her way to the register.
A young woman greeted her at the register, offering a friendly smile. Gwen returned the gesture with one of her own as she passed her books along to the woman for purchase.
"Ooh! A studious one, aren't we?" The woman chimed as she rang up the books
Gwen simply nodded, but before she could reply, something caught her eye.
Past the cashier, out the front window she could see a man carrying a metal baseball bat. He stood in the doorway of a small antique shop, just across the street from the book store. He waved his hands around like in wide arcs, with an eerily calm look on his face. Gwen watched as he made a long dramatic gesture, his hand held high into the air, as he seemed to yell something.
People rapidly began to exit the store in a panic, brushing past him with terrified expressions plastered on their faces.
Not too long after, an explosion bursts from the shop. The clerk in front of Gwen screamed at the sudden noise, and turned to see smoke billowing out of the neighboring store.
Gwen was gone by the time she turned around.
More people began to panic and ran in response to the explosion, the front of the store a now gaping hole decorated with broken stone and shattered glass, wooden splinters jutting up and outwards.
Gwen made herself scarce, ducking down behind an old car parked in front of the bookstore. People passed her by, screaming. She poked her head out, narrowing her eyes to get a good read on her target.
A man, seemingly in his early 20's with dyed red hair, dressed mostly in black. He wore no mask and smiled gleefully as he began stuffing a bag full of items in the antique store.
She reached for the watch, pressed the button and began to rotate the dial. Uncertainty wracked her features as she hesitated to lock in her choice. Keeping her eyes trained on the man she thought back to her previous uses of the watch.
Her choices were random back then and she operated on a basis of trial and error. This time could be different. With 10 alien forms at her disposal, at least one has to be the best fit for this situation. It's better to hang back and get a grasp on the circumstances. If he wanted to hurt anyone he would have by now, instead he's allowing them to run, too busy with looting the store.
'what caused that explosion?' She thought, briefly turning her attention to the man's immediate surroundings.
Barely catching it from the corner of her eye, she quickly hunkered down as a small bolt of fire rocketed past her head, colliding into a nearby wall.
Slowly peeking back from behind the car she noticed the man holding his hand out, pointed at her in the shape of a gun.
'bingo!'
"Y'know, it's pretty hard not to notice you when your hair sticks out like a sore thumb. Trust me I would know!" He said pointing to his hair, long red strands hanging down to frame his face.
"Now you be a good kid and run off like everyone else." He said, waving her off with his bat.
She reached for the watch but another bolt sped past her head, bigger than the one before.
"You deaf or something? I said, get outta here!"
She noticed that another finger was added to the 'gun'.
She smirked as she quickly turned the dial,
"Fire bolts are cool and all, but wait til' you get a load of Heatblast!"
Her heart rate increased as a rush of adrenaline began to flow throughout her body. This feeling always presented itself whenever she went to go hero. It was a rush, a nearly indescribable sensation of energy that made her feel unstoppable. Like she could do anything, for anyone without missing a beat! This made her feel like she mattered, like she was more than just a bookworm.
Walking out from behind the vehicle, her grin widened as he pointed a third finger at her.
"Alright thief, that's a neat trick you got, but how about I do you one better?" She slammed down the dial before he could respond, a flash of green enveloping her figure.
She'd never get used to the sensation. To anyone else, the change happens in less than a second, but to her, it felt longer. Ben previously told her that she'll stop noticing it after a while, but she highly doubted it. It was like her entire mind and body melted into one, and for that entire second, she could 'feel' the change. She could feel her skin instantly dry and harden, starting from her wrist and then spreading out to her fingers and arm, then the rest of her body. She felt the way her skin seemed to almost separate and layer on top of itself in hundreds of small rigid plates.
The spaces between her fingers felt as though they were sewn together then stretched out in a strange sort of...webbing?
Her focus shifted to her forehead which felt as though it was being pulled like taffy and elongated as her neck widened and split into gashes along its sides. Her entire skeleton shifted and stretched, adding to her overall height. She could feel her bones warp and change shape and there was a massive shift in weight on the face.
"You weren't lying..."
Opening her eyes she watched as the thief slowly placed his bag of loot on the floor.
"Seeing a little girl turn into a giant fish person is the second craziest thing that's happened to me today!"
Giant fish? No way!
Her eyes widened in horror as she looked down at her hands and feet; webbed, scaley, with huge claws.
Crossing her eyes she noticed a strange object extended from her head and hung down to her face; she recognized it as a lure an angler fish would have.
A low sigh rumbled from her mouth.
'Of course. One of these days I'm going to have a nice long chat with Ben about this thing screwing me over on my choices!'
She slowly turned up to look at him, the bemusement in his eyes annoyed her.
"And what was the first thing?" She asked, out of genuine curiosity. Her voice was low and gravelly, still distinctly feminine, but definitely not human.
He grinned even wider as he raised his hand, palm facing her, his head cocked to the side with a raised brow.
"That I could do this!"
Gwen immediately dove back behind the car for cover, feeling the heat from the blast as it rocketed into the wall that erupted into a fiery blaze. She rolled and pulled herself into a crouched position.
"This isn't good," She thought, staring at her reflection in the side view mirror of the car. Round Purple eyes stared back at her, twisted into an expression that would have scared her if it wasn't her own face.
"I haven't even gotten to test this one out! Stupid watch!"
She peered up from the side of the vehicle, looking through the windows, watching as the thief slowly climbed out of the store, confidently stepping out of the exploded front entrance. He twirled the bat around as he made his way toward her, looking right at her through the windows.
"Here Kitty Kitty!" he said as he beckoned her with his hand. A growl escaped her mouth.
"Think Gwen, what can this thing possibly do? It's gotta have a useful power!"
The duality of the watch's ability hit her all at once. On one hand, she felt like she could do anything, but on the other, she felt completely out of her element. On some instinctual level she knew some of the capabilities of this completely foreign body yet logistically she didn't know how to physically manifest those capabilities. Sometimes it clicked, sometimes it didn't. Like reading another language made up of letters and characters native to the language one already knows.
It's familiar yet still completely indecipherable.
She pushed her thoughts out of her head as the thief lunged forward, sprinting towards the car. He pushed off the ground into a jump, clearing the street and crashing square onto the roof of the vehicle. He sat in a crouched position, as Gwen instinctively leapt backward, making sure to keep her distance. His face, which up until this point was filled with amusement and joy, dropped into that of a confused scowl.
"What's your deal man?" He asked her simply.
"My deal?" She repeated.
"Yeah, fish face. Like, I get you're a kid and all but what happened to all that bravado you showed earlier?"
She shook her head completely appalled at his question. He stared at her, patiently waiting for an answer, his scowl now turned into a genuine look of disappointment. A moment passed before he let out a defeated sigh, dropping his head low.
Gwen felt her face heat up with anger.
"Well if you must know, thief, I was supposed to turn into something that would completely counter your main asset! But this dumb watch wigs out from time to time and I get stuck with something I didn't even want to begin with!" She said, waving her arms outward. His only reply was a look of bored disinterest.
"Look here, you two-bit burglar! I may be new to this but I've taken out robots ten times your size and-" she was cut off by a swift swing of his bat, she dodged it easily.
"I-" Another swing. Ducked.
"Hey-" Another swing, inches away from her face.
"Would you-" Another swing. She backed away narrowly, dodging it.
They kept this up a moment longer until she backed into the front door of the bookstore. He brought the bat above his head with both hands, aiming to bring it down directly on her skull, his face still showing every bit of disinterest. She flared. A spark shot through her entire body and she felt herself thrust forward.
CLANG
A metallic clunk rolled through the air. She felt herself refocus and found that her mouth was nearly wrapped around the entire bat, huge teeth clamped down on the object, grinding and scraping into the metal. He tried to pull away but it was a futile effort. Gwen felt the corners of her mouth twist into a smirk as she stared at him, watching his astonished expression grow by the second. A slight twist of her neck and a push of her jaw snapped the bat into multiple pieces, tearing it from his grasp.
He slowly backed away, his hands up slightly as she chewed and tore the bat into bent shards of metal. No longer recognizable. She spat the pieces onto the ground, which clanked onto the pavement.
"As I was saying." She said, taking a step forward, " I've taken on 10-foot tall robots and an entire horde of alien body snatchers. By comparison, you're small f..ry..." the last part of her sentence came out as little more than a croak. Her throat was insanely dry. Scratch that, her entire body was insanely dry, especially the area around her neck. Backing up, she clasped at her throat, her breathing coming out ragged and forced.
''What's going on?!''
Gwen stepped backward, distancing herself from the thief, who let out a sigh.
"I'll admit it Red, you had me worried there for a sec. You also got my hopes up a bit, but I guess..." He trailed off as he launched his foot square into her abdomen, which sent her flying into the bookstore. She crashed down between an aisle of bookshelves, landing on her back.
"A fish with legs is still just a fish." He said as he stepped into the store after her.
"And you're fresh outta water."
The sound of his footsteps echoed loudly in her ears as she desperately gasped for air. She could feel the air breeze between her gills and into her throat but the usual sensation of breathing never occurred; the action seemed to dry them out even more, so much so that they began to ache and shrivel. His footsteps grew louder as he slowly walked towards her.
"I'm coming Cat, don't worry. I grew up on a farm y'know." He trailed his hand along the bookshelves as he strolled, a bored expression on his face. "Anytime an animal got severely injured, we were sure to put it out of its misery. You won't suffer long."
Her vision began to grow blurry as he looked at him, instinctively backing away as he walked forward, the blank expression never leaving his face.
''Gotta think of something, need water!''
She looked around for anything, desperately searching but finding nothing. Her chest began to ache as she wheezed, trying to stand but not having the strength to do so.
She grit her teeth, hanging on to consciousness.
His footsteps drew ever closer. Her head rolled back, staring up at the ceiling with defeat, chest heaving and aching. Through the blurriness of her vision, she could barely make out the tiniest image of something; something that would mean the difference between life and death.
"Ah man, you're really hurting huh? Y'know for what it's worth; I thought your trick was pretty cool. All things considered."
Her heart pounded and she grit her teeth; her blood seemed to almost tingle as massive amounts of adrenaline entered her system. Mustering every bit of strength she exploded in a single shot of movement, her leg launching out and kicking the support of a nearby bookshelf. Its wood splintered and gave way immediately, sending its mass toppling over and collapsing on the thief in a mess of pages and broken shelves.
Pivoting her body she reached over to the adjacent bookshelf, pulling with everything she had until it too collapsed on top of the thief.
She watched the pile of books and splintered wood, the energy leaving her body as she slowly crawled away.
'Come on…!'
The pile lay still, unmoving. Her crawling slowed to a halt, as her head began to throb, coming down completely from the adrenaline surge. She flopped to the floor; unmoving just staring at the pile of bookshelves.
"Oh man, you are something else!" A muffled roar came from the pile, followed by an eruption of flames. The man extended his hands through the now burning pile, spewing flames in all directions. A hearty laugh fell from his mouth as he stood up, charred books and burning wood moving off of him.
"Talk about a last-ditch effort! You're hardcore! You really tried to take me with you just then huh!" He snorted, as he climbed out of the burning pile, his clothes torn and singed at the edges. His eyes were wide with something almost akin to pride, and a wide smile on his face.
A sense of pride swelled in Gwen's chest, despite herself.
"N..not...exa..ctly.."
An alarm rang out, and a high pitch ringing of a bell filled the store.
And with it the sound of the fire sprinklers.
A tiny rainstorm engulfed the entire store, soaking the shelves as water sprang forth from the ceiling. A cooling sensation washed over Gwen's body as the rain fell on her. The water pooled around her body and saturated her gills. She coughed and sputtered as she slowly came back to life, finally able to breathe again. She wheezed, gasping as the water soaked her scales and permeated her skin. On top of the ringing fire alarm, she could hear the sounds of sirens sounding off in the distance.
"Ah, man..guess that's the answer to my question." The thief said, almost unheard over the shower engulfing the store.
She looked over to the thief, who stared up at the ceiling, water dripping down from his face. His dyed hair stuck to his face, matted with water. He slowly turned to her, smiling. He spoke before she could ask him what he meant.
"You got me Kitten! To think I was this close to winning this." He inched his fingers together. "Oh well, better luck next time I suppose."
She went to stand up, though immediately felt dizzy.
"There won't be a next time!" She bit out, clutching her head. She went to lunge at him but nearly tripped in the process.
He laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see about that, Cat." He leapt from the pile, towards the entrance.
"Also, the name's Rogue! But 'Thief' was a pretty close guess!"
With that he ran off, leaving the bag of antiques behind.
Gwen shook her head, slinging water as she did. With her head finally clearing and her breathing stable, she moved to leave the store, though the sound of screeching tires and sirens stopped her.
''Better go out through the back."
She ducked behind one of the still-standing bookshelves just as a fire truck pulled up in the front, police cars in tow. She snuck out the back door of the store, pausing for a second, noticing the stack of books she left at the register before everything went down. Sadly, she shook head, carefully shutting the door behind her. No cashier, means no books.
"Today just isn't my day." She said aloud to herself. The back door led to an alleyway between another shop, where she was greeted by her reflection in an old mirror that was thrown out.
A clawed hand met her face, palm first.
"So that's why he kept calling me 'Cat.'"
Looking at her reflection, a feminine, fish-like, humanoid stared back at her with unamused purple eyes and a tired expression. Reddish orange fins and gray scales to top it off, and a long flowing light blue loincloth with the face of a cat on it.
The same cat on the shirt she chose to wear today.
"Dumb watch and it's dumb fashion sense.."
Just then the Omnitrix released a ringing sound, and a flash of red later, she was back to normal.
"Oh sure, turn me back to normal after I'm no longer suffocating, thanks ya stupid alien timepiece!" She sighed as she stepped out of the alleyway and onto the main street.
Carefully avoiding being spotted by law enforcement, she turned a corner and a massive sense of relief washed over her as she saw the Rustbucket pull up on the curb.
"Gwen! What happened? We came as soon as we heard the report from the police scanners!" Her Grandpa stood as she entered the vehicle, eyes full of worry.
"I'm fine grandpa, it was a robbery is all," She said with a stretch, trying to appear nonchalant.
"I took care of it, er, kinda"
He raised an eyebrow.
"He kinda got away, but I'll get him next time!" She said with a determined look.
Just then, Ben came from the back of the RV.
"Alright Grandpa, I'm ready, let's-" He stopped short as he noticed Gwen standing in the walkway.
"Gwen! You're okay!" He ran to her arms stretched out to hug her. She recoiled a bit and placed a hand on his face stopping him from coming closer.
"Of course I am doofus. No need to get all touchy." She said, with a raised eyebrow.
"Well excuse me for being worried!" He said, pouting as he leaned into her palm
She pinched his cheek, "Well if you're so worried, how about we go over some of these alien guys you have yet to tell me about, huh?"
"Ow! Gwen! We just left Aunt Vera's!"
"Oh but Benji! Your cheeks are just so pinchable!"
Ben let out a groan as Gwen let go of his face with a small huff. He rubbed his cheek which had gone slightly red, a grin slowly appeared on his face.
"I..what's with that look?" Gwen said, apprehension evident in her voice.
"Well if you must ask, Miss Tennyson, it's because we have yet to go over your curriculum!" He said putting on a stuffy professional sounding voice, he turned on his heel to retrieve something.
"My curricu-"
"Precisely, my dear student!" He cut her off, returning with his hands behind his back. "As of this point forward I hereby welcome you to your indoctrination of.."
He whipped out a notebook, and presented it forward. It was practically brand new, save for the cover which was recently drawn on with neat depictions of her alien heroes. Not including the back half of the pages, it was mostly filled. She could just barely make out the word "math" written in the center, now scribbled out and replaced with the words..
"Alien Summer School!" Ben said, as he handed her the book.
"Ben, I told you not to go with that one!" Max called from the font of the RV.
"Sorry Grandpa, It would have been a severely missed opportunity if I didn't," Ben said, holding up his hands.
Gwen stared at the book in her hands, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide. She turned to the first page. His handwriting was surprisingly neat, and she felt her features soften as she began to read. Her smile widened as she finished the passage, and she looked up at Ben; who completely dropped the teacher act and now looked a bit bashful. She slowly placed a hand on his cheek, this time not to pinch, but to caress.
"Thank you Ben. I really needed this." She said as he delivered a smile of his own.
Standing at the front of the RV Max visibly relaxed, his worry replaced with pride as he looked on at his granddaughter. It would be a tough balancing act. Judging their capabilities is no easy task; but for now he'll simply take pride in their accomplishments and focus on working on his own trustworthiness.
…
The blanket of night shroud over the RV, only the faint light of the moon slipped into the windows.
In the back of the RV, Gwen lay upon her bunk. Eyes closed but mind racing. Today was scary to say the least. She was starting to get used to scary
She thought back to Rouge and how angry she got at his disinterest and apathy, she didn't know or care about what he thought of her but that sinking pit in her stomach still arrived when she saw his disappointment in her.
It was dumb, but it was the feeling she always got when someone looked at her that way. It'd happened when done by her parents, friends, and yes, even Ben. It didn't seem to matter who, especially now when confronted by a complete stranger.
She grit her teeth.
"Next time I'll give that jerk something to really be disappointed in!"
"Who?" Her cousin asked from below.
Her eyes widened as she clasped a hand over her mouth.
"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" She said,
"Aren't you?" He countered. She could practically feel the smug look on his face.
"Heroes don't have bedtimes, doofus."
He fell quiet.
''Thought so."
A moment passed before she heard the ruffling of movement underneath her. Not too long after, Ben's face popped up next to hers, arms resting on beams of the top bunk.
"So? Wanna talk about it?"
Gwen immediately recoiled and pushed herself away from him, eyeing him through the darkness of the RV. He simply stared at her, patiently waiting for her to answer him. She shook her head, completely baffled.
"What is with you? You would never get this close to me before…" She trailed off, noticing the hint of sadness forming on his face.
"I…but I guess "you" aren't really the same "you" right now." She said, mentally facepalming.
"Bingo.." He said with a shrug before moving back onto his own bunk.
Gwen quietly chastised herself for not catching on sooner. "He" wasn't the one acting weird all this time, it was her. She's not the same Gwen he's used to being around so of course he'd-
Her thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as she put the final pieces together and she instantly rose from her bed, swinging her head over the top bunk to look at him upside down; her red hair dangling between them.
"You mean to tell me that you and I actually get along at some point in your future?!"
He stared at her for a second, a mischievous grin forming on his face.
"Yep! Pretty well too!"
"And the world didn't end?"
"Nope! We even saved it a few times!"
Her eyes were wide with horror as she stared at him.
"Oil and water actually mixed..?" She whispered to herself.
Ben simply shrugged, his smirk never leaving. "If that's how you want to put it."
Gwen groaned and slowly crawled back into her bed.
"And just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder.."
Another silence fell between them. Maybe it was best that they both got some sleep for now. She bit her lip, eyes betraying the thought of rest. She closed them, and they reopened a second later, reacting to the nagging feeling in the back of her mind. This familiar feeling of curiosity.
"Do you..." She trailed off. A moment of silence passed.
"Do I? What?" He replied from beneath her.
"Do you...miss me? Her? The other me I mean. I noticed that sometimes you look a bit…off at times."
A sigh came from beneath her and she wondered if they were better off not talking about this right now.
"Yeah. I do. A lot actually."
It was the answer she expected, yet hearing it made her feel a bit guilty. She didn't know if she could say that she really missed 'her' Ben, there's a mild amount of concern for his well-being but other than that…
She shook her head, closing her eyes to stifle a yawn, it didn't work.
"Anyway," Ben spoke from underneath, changing the subject. "I'm sure whatever work you did today was handled way better than I could've. So don't beat yourself up over it. Get some sleep, Hero."
"Goodnight.." She mumbled back at him, a slight blush on her face. She couldn't do anything but hope her version of Ben was doing alright in his situation. Knowing him, he would be fine, especially now that there's a version of her that actually likes the runt.
Her eyes trailed over to the notebook he gave her today, and a smile reached her lips. She heard a quiet yawn come from below her and she closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep of her own.
For better or for worse it's going to take some time getting used to her new cousin.
Oh man that was a doozie! Little BTS for ya, I actually wrote this first before writing the previous chapter.
I finished this, thinking it would work better with some set up and prior context and I'm pretty satisfied with it!
And just for those who might be a bit concerned; Rouge isn't going to be a super main stay 'omg look at my super cool oc' type of character. I really just needed him to provide a conflict. As you may have guessed this was one of those 'in-between canonical episodes' chapters that I needed for the sake of pacing and setting up future chapters, and I really liked writing it! It's nice not having to stick strictly source material stuff.
But let me know what you think! See ya!
Thankies