Chapter 2: Tells
Gwen was suspicion was growing, Kevin never kissed her before that day and he had been gentler around her like she was made of glass. Of course he treated her with kindness but it was more pronounced like he was acting on emotions he never knew he had. Going up to her room and lying down on her bed as she listened to the storm outside, she sighed loudly "hopefully it will be cooler later tonight." The heavy thunder continued to shake the house. The hot white lightning filled the sky and lit the bedroom.
The rain splattered against the window with a driving force. Gwen groaned at the noise, she just wanted to relax in peace for a little while before she went and risked her life once again. Creating a mana bubble around her bed the roaring thunder was muffled greatly. Gwen sighed and watched the lightning in the sky. She had zoned out for a while when her cell phone rang; lowering her shield she grabbed the phone from her bedside table and saw it was text message from Ben telling her that they were there. Gwen looked at her clock and nearly jumped it was already seven, two hours had passed. Running down the stairs Gwen grabbed her coat and left a note saying she was going out with Ben and Kevin and would be back later before she tore out of the house like a wind storm. The sun was lower in the sky but nowhere near setting yet. The air was cooler as steam still rose off the street.
Ben was leaning against the passenger door as his cousin ran up to him "Nice to see you're still with us Gwen." Ben said as he got into the back seat just as Gwen pushed the seat back up and climbed in after him. Kevin turned the key and the engine roared to life. Gwen sat quietly as they drove through Bellwood, as they reached the edge of town she looked at Kevin.
"Kevin what really happened during that hour you were separated from me and Ben?" Gwen asked the boy next to her as he drove. "I told you, I was fighting the DN Aliens and then I came to find you and Ben" he said defensively as he pushed down on the accelerator. "If that's true then why did you basically stroll up to us? And why weren't you out of breath either?" she asked looking for any hints that Kevin was lying to her. "It wasn't a big deal, what's with all the questions anyway Gwen?" Kevin asked keeping his eyes on the road. "Gwen, are you upset that I kissed you?" Kevin asked looking away from the road and over at the girl beside him.
Ben sat up quickly and put his right hand on Gwen's right shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Kevin you promised I could watch you two when kissed" Ben whined in a high pitched voice. The older teen chuckled "Sorry, I guess I forgot." Kevin chuckled as he drove. Gwen kept her mouth shut, she knew Ben would never want to watch her kiss anyone. Ben moved his hand off her shoulder and sank back into the back seat. "Well you're forgiven, at least its cooler out tonight" he said smirking. Ben leaned his head back and looked at the roof of the car.
The car pulled into a small hidden area out of sight. Kevin climbed out of the car to look around. "Ben did Kevin really promise you that you could watch us kiss?" She asked angrily. Ben smirked "Gwen, Kevin never promised me anything like that, when he was dropping you off at home I snooped around his house and I agree with you this isn't Kevin. For one his bedroom was spotless. So I agree with you now. There is something seriously wrong with him." Ben said pushing the driver's seat forward and climbing out of the car.
Gwen grabbed Ben by the arm and pulled him back into the car "Be careful and don't let him know that we know he's not the real Kevin" she whispered before letting her cousin go and watching him get out of the car carefully. Climbing out of the car as well Gwen looked around her surroundings and saw Kevin standing with his back towards her. She kept her guard up as she walked towards him. Gwen reached up her hand, before her fingertips even brushed his broad should Kevin turned around and looked down at her. "We should get in there before they spot us." He said walking off and heading for a semi-large hole in the wall. Gwen followed at a distance with Ben.
"Keep your guard up" Ben whispered as he walked through the hole. Ben looked around the cold air circled around him. As Ben took another step the snow on the ground crunched under his foot. As soon as his left foot crushed a small pile of snow he heard a whistling sound then everything went dark. Gwen spun around and ran over to her cousin as he lay sprawled out on the ground unconscious. "Ben wake up, Kevin…" Gwen turned around to look for her friend and hoped that he was standing beside her. When she looked over her shoulder Kevin was gone. "Kevin?" she asked turning her head in all directions all she could see was a wall of DN Aliens closing in on her and her cousin. "Ben, wake up!" Gwen yelled at the top of her lungs as she smacked him hard in the face, it was a lost cause Ben was out cold for this fight.
As she created two mana orbs in her hands Gwen knew she had to protect Ben until he woke up or Kevin came back to help them. Gwen dispersed one mana ball and grabbed Ben by the wrist and pulled him closer as the DN Aliens closed in. "I could use some help" Gwen said to herself. Just as she threw a mana orb at the aliens that were the closest to the cousins three DN Aliens came at her from behind. Gwen barely had enough time to throw up a shield. She and Ben were safe for now. The snow under her legs were she was kneeling was soaking into her stockings and making her shiver. " Sorry about this again Ben" she whispered giving him another smack in the face this time the sound was so loud she was sure that every alien on the military base heard it.
Turning her head to look behind her Gwen realized her shield was down, a large DN Alien hand grabbed her around the throat and threw her through the air and into the back of what she thought might have once been an armored truck for a bank. A few seconds later an unconscious Ben flew in next to her and landed with a loud thud. The doors slammed shut and locked sending the Tennyson cousins into pitch black darkness.
Gwen sat up and created a small mana ball for light, the truck was pretty large there were parts of it that were still cloaked in an eerie darkness that her mana couldn't penetrate through. The truck lurched forward and began to move at a quick speed. After two minutes the truck came to an abrupt stop sending Ben and Gwen around the back of the truck like a pair of rag dolls. The back doors to the truck were ripped opened causing light to come flooding in. The half Anodite was temporarily blinded at the bright light that poured into the truck.
A Highbreed was ordering a large group of DN Aliens out of the way as one of the group split off and climbed into the truck and grabbed Gwen and Ben by the back of their shirts and carried them out of the truck. Gwen noticed that Ben was starting to come to; before she had a chance to speak she was handed off to another alien and brought to a small room that looked to be a makeshift cell of some kind. Both teens were chained to the walls of their cells.
Gwen knew that the aliens were locking them up to keep them from getting in their way and stopping their plans; the aliens checked the room and grabbed a few large crates before leaving them her and locking the door. Gwen heard another door slam shut in the hall and then another door slam shut that echoed through the air.
"Well if it isn't the lovely Gwendolyn Tennyson and her cousin Benjamin, how nice to see you both again." A voice from another dark cell said. Gwen looked up she knew the voice very well. The voice was coming from the air vent that ran through all three rooms. Gwen looked up at the vent she wanted to ignore the voice. "How did you get here I thought you were in the Null Void?" Gwen asked in a semi loud voice so the other occupant could hear her.
"Ask your boyfriend he's the one that pulled me out of there and locked me up like a wild animal. He's got something wrong with him." The voice said chuckling "Lovely Gwen, it seems that the one of us you chose was the wrong one" he said laughing. Soon a small groan came from the other cell. " Oh my head" Ben said as he woke up, it was after a few moments that he realized that he was chained close to the wall so he couldn't reach the omnitrix.
Ben struggled against the cuffs and yelled. "Gwen can you hear me?" Ben yelled his voice echoed through air vent. "Ben calm down, we're going to get out of here" she said taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated hard on her mana and opened her eyes and sent the mana to the cuffs and crushed them and pulled them off the walls with ease. Gwen landed lightly on her feet lightly. As she walked around the room she realized that her mana might not break the door down.
"Um guys we might have a problem, I don't think my mana is strong enough to break this door down" the young Anodite said trying to figure another way out. A low chuckle came from the air vent. "If you can channel your mana through the air vent then you can unlock one of us and we may be able to break the doors down." One voice said. There was a few seconds of silence before Ben spoke. "What the hell is he doing here?" Ben yelled from the other cell. Gwen ignored her cousin for a moment as she sent her mana into the air vent above her and started to snake it around the air vent. "A little lower and to the left and grip the cuffs and pull" Gwen heard the cuffs hit the ground. When she dispersed her mana she heard a dull crash from outside her cell, just as she turned to the door it was pulled open and a familiar young man stood there.
The man moved away from the door and unlocked Ben's door "Well it's nice to see you again Benjamin, I know what you're thinking, what am I doing out of the Null Void and how fast can you get me back in there before I steal your energy for myself" Michael Morningstar said unhooking the cuffs that held Ben to the wall. "Let's just get Gwen out of her cell and find Kevin." He said shoving past his enemy. Michael chuckled under his metal mask it echoed making Ben shiver a bit
"Speaking of Levin he's the one that locked me up here two weeks ago." The teen said going over to the last cell and unlocking the door. "Gwen you get lovelier every time I see you." Michael said walking over to Gwen and taking her hand and helping her out of the cell. Gwen pulled her hand away and wiped it off on her skirt. "Well thanks for breaking us out but we don't need your help." She said coolly as she walked past Michael.
Ben smirked and followed his cousin. "I'm sure that you understand that trusting you is hazardous to our health" Ben called to the teen behind him. "Yes, you two keep thinking that I'm the bad guy, well think about it. How do you think I got locked in that cell in the first place?" he asked as kept a few steps behind the cousins.
Michael chuckled "You two just don't want to accept that Kevin is the bad guy again and that he's working with those alien creatures." The former blonde said. Gwen stopped and turned around "Kevin isn't working with them by choice, he's being controlled I just know it." She said looking away and heading for the main door.
"Wait, Gwen let me go first and I'll take care of any guards we may have and then you can get Kevin back to normal if he is being controlled that is." He said dialing the omnitrix and slamming the face plate down and changes into Swampfire. "Swampfire" the swamp alien said as he pulled the door open to reveal the few guards standing with weapons in hand.
Ben laughed "You know this is going to be way too easy you know that" Swampfire said throwing a fireball at the few DN Aliens that were running at him. When the room was cleared he created a few fireballs and began to juggle them. "It's all in the wrists" the large alien said as he put the fireballs out as Gwen and Darkstar came into the main room. "Ben stop showing off and lets hurry up before they find out we're gone." Gwen said taking the lead. A flash of green light told her that Ben had changed back into his human form.
When they got outside the lack of DN Aliens running around seemed odd, the base looked and even gave off the feeling of being completely empty. Keeping out of sight as much as possible the three teens made their way to the library and climbed in through a broken back window on the second floor. Ben looked around the stacks and crouched down just in case something walked by.
As they neared the railing Ben stuck his head through the bars and looked down. "Hey… Gwen… you might want to come see this" Ben whispered as his cousin joined him by the railing. Below them on the first floor the room looked like a cross between a giant freezer and a nest. That's when it hit Ben that they were right above a new hatchery for the xenocytes that turned humans into DN Aliens.
Gwen started to gasp that's when she felt a gloved hand cover her mouth and a presence move up close behind her. "You need to stay quiet or we're going to end up just like Levin down there" he said just as Kevin walked into the giant hatchery and reached up to his face and pulled the ID mask off that hid his DN Alien form. Ben would have jumped back from the shock but his head was stuck in the banister railings. "I swear you are utterly worthless, I don't know how Levin ever put up with you Benjamin" Darkstar said letting his fingers wander around Gwen's neck. The former blonde smirked under his mask at the shiver that flew through Gwen's body.
"Get off me" she hissed trying to elbow the other boy in the ribs, the outfit he wore seemed to be padded slightly so her attack had little effect. Michael chuckled lightly "What if I told you two I know how to get your friend back to normal, I'll tell you in a trade. The information for your freedom lovely Gwen" the teen said in such a low voice that the cousins had to strain their ears to hear him correctly.
Gwen had to think for a moment, she knew if she said no then Kevin would be stuck as a DN Alien and she couldn't do that to him no matter what. Ben pulled his head back from the in between the railings and looked at his cousin. "Gwen don't do…" he was cut off by her hand "I'll do it…Kevin would do the same for me if I needed help" she said locking eyes with the masked teen. Michael nodded his head "It's done then, I'll tell you how to turn that uncultured fool back into his real self" he said ignoring the glares from the girl in front of him.
Ben looked at the masked teen "Well how do we change him back?" he asked moving away from the railing and heading back into the stacks with the other two teens. Michael stood up and offered his hand to Gwen. "That is quite easy; all you have to do is destroy the xenocytes on his face. Though I have to say it is an improvement" he said grabbing Gwen's hand when she took too long and pulled her to her feet and into his arms.