Interconnected Forms
By Norcinu
A/N: Apologies for getting this a day late! It's a little longer and more confusing than other chapters but hopefully not that bad. Sad news, I can't find access to a scanner so artwork for the next month will be scarce with photo quality. Anyway enjoy and Merry Christmas everyone!
Chapter 6; Seeds Planted
Charlie in her hospital room resting the afternoon away…
Charlie had a hard time sleeping, she was restless about everything. Max could obviously see through her lies and Ben was definitely onto something, and well, maybe she was keeping a secret, that doesn't need they needed to know, like anyone needed to know, it wouldn't affect them. She mumbled and growled under the covers. She wanted to run, to keep moving. Staying in one area for too long is hazardous for her. They can locate her somehow and take her. Take out anyone along with her. Need… to keep running.
"Afternoon?" A voice piped up from out of nowhere.
"HOLY-" She tensed up, sitting up on her bed and turning around to see two police officers, a doctor and those three tourists, "Cheese…." She puffed out, avoiding swearing out of shock in front of adults.
"Right," The policewoman began, "We need you to straighten out a few details with us-"
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that with my patient." The doctor stated with a stern, serious voice, different to his peppy self just earlier on. She could have sworn he looked different somehow, nearly younger?
"Why not?" the other policeman asked.
"You see, she's suffering post-dramatic stress." He stated, "She's had a small proportion of some alcohol expenditure in which proliferated her terrible experience being out in the vindictive world for a number of days. It's amazing her lively façade right now but appraisal shown that's she's enormously stressed and tensed and needs time to loosen up."
It took a few seconds for that explanation to digest in everyone's heads.
"Can you put that in simpler words, doctor?" The policewomen suggested, not quite understanding what on Earth the doctor just said.
"What I'm trying to say officer is that's she needs a little time for proper and complete rest. She's been jittery even since she's gotten here so I advocate that you talk to her relatives when they come in a few moments. In the meantime, her, er, finders can rest in the hospital housing we can offer you tonight." The doctor said, his strange accent baffling everyone into just agreeing with him. The police left to wait outside for the relatives and the Tennysons went into the quarters offered from the doctor, leaving Charlie on her own to sleep, again.
"Why are you letting us stay?" Max asked. It's not usual to let non-patients stay in the hospital.
"We don't have many patients at the moment and Charlie seems to be relaxed with you folks around, it's no big transaction, this is just to ensure my patient is in tip top health as soon as possible." The doctor replied, giving a strange grin after saying that. He left the Tennysons to their room and left straight afterwards.
Ben jumped on the hospital bed next to the window, letting himself sink in. "Woooah! …woah? These beds… aren't as soft as I thought they'd be…"
Gwen rolled her eyes, "Not as soft? So spoilt Ben, be lucky they even let us sleep in here!" She said, inspecting her claimed bed in between Ben's and the one nearest to the door. She glanced over to Max, confused by his facial expressions. "Grandpa? Is there something bothering you?"
Max looked over to her and smiled, "No Gwen, just thinking about all the things that's been happening… Ah well, you kids keep Charlie company, you remember what that doctor, er, Edwards said."
Gwen sighed from agony, "Even I had a bit of trouble understanding him, his use of exaggerated-worded vocabulary with weird sentence structures, it even confuses me!"
"Speak for yourself!" Ben chuckled and flinched as Gwen through a pillow at him, "Ha! My pillow now!"
"BEN!" Gwen bellowed, jumping over to his bed to get her pillow back.
Max opened the door, "Well, I'm off to get some fresh air and bring back something to eat for dinner."
"I'm coming too!" Gwen called out, snatching her pillow back from Ben with one last pull, "I need to get my bags, how 'bout you Ben?" She asked, but only got Ben's snoring as a reply. With that the two went out, leaving Ben snoozing on his bed.
But he looked back and in seeing they were gone a grin grew on his face and he jumped out of bed, "Finally I'm alone!" He said with glee, turning the dial on his watch, "Cause it's time to go hero…" He pressed down his watch, the green light filling the room then dying down to show the small, large eyed frog-like alien, Greymatter.
He struck a fighting pose, "…Ninja turtle style!" And jogged off.
---
Greymatter opened the air duct on the side of the hospital, just next to a tight alleyway with the thin view of the car park. He watched the RjB drive off and punched his fists into the air, "Oh yeah! Time to do some exploring-"
"SAY WHAT?" Interrupted a loud voice. He withdrew into the air duct and watched through the gaps, seeing Dr Edwards by himself talking through his mobile.
"What do you mean there's another signal? Only STRONGER?" The doctor talked into the phone, but the reply couldn't be heard from Greymatter's distance.
'Interesting… That doctor always seemed a little peculiar…' Greymatter thought suspiciously, and edged closer against the air duct to hear the voice through the phone.
"I'm telling you it's off the scale! It must be the original y'know?" Replied the faint voice through the phone.
"Ignore it Khni! We aren't here to just randomly chase after whatever hits your ship's monitors. We're after one thing, one thing! So keep yourself in focus, don't stray from our objectives!"
A grunt came from the phone, "Whatever you say brains, even if the signal IS only a meter to you right…"
The doctor snapped his head to the right, immediately having the air duct catch his attention, Greymatter tensed up, and moved to the corner of the air duct, holding his breath. The doctor leaned to the air duct and began to scan over it.
"By the way 'doctor'," The voice interrupted the doctor's search, "I listened in to your words back there, and I must say my good man… you suck at English!" He crackled with an imitated English accent, "Or as the French say, Anglais... I can't believe the amount of words you messed up and even the simple sentence structure you've barely got the hang of; terrible! Haha!"
"Oh shut up," The doctor's eye twitched and he turned away from the air duct, letting Greymatter release his breath and tension, "I'm fluent with harder languages like Cybertronian, I just haven't had as much practice as you've had! You're always taking excursions to human shops and streets and-"
"Haha, okay! The relatives are arriving in about 20 seconds on yellow taxi vehicle, I suggest you get to them before the police chat with them. This is alpha wolf squadron, signing off!" The line closed.
The doctor gave an annoyed yet humored 'hmph' but put his mobile back into his pocket and dusted his white doctor clothes. He then walked out of the hallway towards a taxi just parking in front of the hospital.
Greymatter, still in the airduct, was contemplating, "A signal that leaded towards me? Original? Does that mean…" Greymatter was going through his past thoughts of a few days back, from when Ben first saw that poster, the metal aliens, meeting Charlie, the non-original signal concerning the doctor and the doctor taking care of Charlie. It all lead to one thing and Greymatter could see it clearly. "No. Way." Greymatter left the scene.
---
After getting back into the hospital hallways and dodging the nurses and people walking by, the coast became clear and he pressed on his Omnitrix symbol, converting back into Ben, just before he walked into Charlie's room, wanting answers. And this time, the truthful answers. "CHARLIE-"
He stopped in mid sentence, "Damnit." He cursed whispering, she was asleep! Just curled up in her bed breathing deeply in slumber. He inclined from checking her wrists again, he's already done that and resulted in major embarrassment. He grumbled in irritation and saw it was getting dark outside so he'd probably better off getting those answers tomorrow morning, he guessed it could wait after a good night's sleep.
"And so you see, it'll greatly relax her shriveled, withdrawal state of depression and properly get her out of her shell. It is for the best of your child- I mean, your niece. My mistake for family relations!" The doctor spoke to the aunty, uncle and cousin Natalie, of Charlie.
The three looked at each other, this was the second time the doctor explained the situation to them and both times they had trouble understanding his accent. Nether the less, they got what he was saying… eventually.
"But how can we trust these tourists? I mean, we haven't even met them…" The aunty spoke up, her Filipino accent strong yet more understandable than the doctor's.
"They're staying here for a while so I can let you speak with the Grandfather and also see the kids. You can swap numbers and details for safety and there you go."
"But why would they want to agree to this?" The uncle asked.
"It's for the most excellence of my patient. I'll speak to Mr Tennyson and bring him to you, then it's all good to go!"
"But what about all her stuff?" Natalie asked.
"But, but, but, are you a family full of it? Everything will go perfectly if you just commit to it. Now wait here while I get Mr Tennyson!" The doctor concluded and walked off before another word could be said.
While walking down the hallway towards the room those tourists were in, he took out his mobile, pressed a button and spoke into it, "Khni, reading?"
"Copy!" Came the reply.
"I've got the relatives chipped, all I need is to brainwash the old guy and we're good to go. Also I need you to get the gear Charlie had as she was camping. You know, when those other seekers got to her a week ago? Do that immediately and sneak it into the relative's car. Out." He ordered and put his mobile into his pocket as he stepped into the room where the Tennysons were eating some dinner.
The Tennysons stopped talking and Max put down his dinner and stood up, "Can I help you?"
The doctor nodded, "I have a… proposition to make and need you to come with me to meet Ms. Dacrey's relatives." Before Max could reply the doctor walked off, making Max walk out after him, leaving Ben and Gwen alone.
"Do you think grandpa's going to be alright?" Ben asked, a little worried about him going with that doctor, "We can't trust that doctor, he so knows something about the Omnitrix…"
Gwen finished her food and stood up, "Then we better follow him shouldn't we? Just to make sure he's ok."
Ben finished his food and followed her out after the two adults, only to be confronted by a teenaged girl in the hallway.
"Er… hello?" Gwen started, the girl blocking their way from following Max.
"Hi!" She replied happily, "I'm Natalie, Charlie's cousin. So I heard you guys were tourists from the US, right? I've been there, a few times actually, it's a nice place and-"
"Er, listen, we've gotto go see our granddad…" Ben said, cutting her off seeing she seemed like the talkative type and he really didn't want this to develop into a long conversation.
"Oh? He's talking with my parents about an agreement, I'll tell you about it."
And so a long conversation commenced.
---
The relatives met Max and the doctor explained everything to him, "So Mr. Tennyson, you said you and your grandkids are touring around Australia in your caravan, correct?"
Max nodded, "How'd you know this? I don't think I've told you…"
"Charlie told me." The doctor replied patting him on the shoulder, and then continued, "What I want you to do is just let Charlie join with you on the trip around Australia. She can just be taken to Darwin, where her father is currently staying at and then be dropped off. She's a nice girl so she shouldn't cause any problems. It shouldn't be too costly either, you people seem very trustworthy and I've already contacted her parents and they don't mind the idea, if you all are ok with it."
This shocked Max at such a sudden proposition, but by the looks of the professional, he seemed very fixed and serious about this. Max questioned and commented against this but the doctor made the plan sound simple and in easy reach. Soon Max found himself considering the idea and actually finding the offer hard to refuse… especially with that strange glimmer in the doctor's eyes, almost mesmerizing him into agreeing. Max felt himself spacing out and nodding in agreement to everything the doctor said.
---
"Grandpa… what did you do?" Ben and Gwen asked, waking their granddad up from his dazed state as he entered the room. The two have been distracted as Natalie completely took up their time and they barely managed to escape her motor mouthed mayhem by retreating back into their room.
"Oh, huh?" Max shook his head, trying to recall what just happened. "The doctor…. Relatives… Oh, Charlie's coming with us around Australia." He said, as if it wasn't a big thing.
"WHAT?!" Ben and Gwen both yelled out, at the same time, again.
"Well, just-"
"HOW CAN YOU AGREE TO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" Ben bawled.
Gwen agreed with Ben, and listed reasons along with him, "There's a chance she might find out about the Omnitrix! With all the aliens about she might get seriously hurt! What made you agree to something like that?!"
Max was also confused on why he did agree, but it's already gone and went and now Charlie's in their hands. "Now, listen. It'll just be until we get to Darwin to drop her off with her parents and that'll only take a few days. She's already been paid for, the relatives have dropped off any stuff she'd need, we have plenty of room in the RjB and if the worst comes and Ben needs to go hero, we can knock her out as a last resort and say she was just dreaming." He defended, "Besides, it'll keep Ben out of trouble and it'll be interesting. She can be helpful getting through the states and such. She's only a normal teenager so she can't do any harm."
"But grandpa! She's not normal! I swear she has some sort of second Omnitrix!" Ben rebutted.
Max got a little frustrated, it was getting late and he didn't want to argue more, "Ben. We have talked about this, the doctor's just a little… foreign."
Ben shook his head, "A little foreign?! Maybe foreign to this planet even!"
"You know you're starting to sound a little racist now…" Gwen added, getting Ben even more worked up and ready to explode. Why wouldn't anyone believe him?
Max saw Ben's aggravation, "Ok fine. We'll do something about that tomorrow. It's been a long day and tomorrow will probably be just as long too, so just relax and let things run its course."
Ben was still outraged, but knowing that Max's decision is usually the final decision he decided not to complain any longer, it has been an exhausting day. Gwen was still a little against this also, but Max was right, it will keep the Omnitrix at bay and it shouldn't really be any harm if all goes well.
"We better hurry and get to Darwin ASAP so we can start enjoying the holiday, grandpa." Ben moped, crossing his arms.
"Hey, it might be fun with another person your age coming with us-"
"Another GIRL you mean" Ben highlighted.
Gwen smacked Ben in the shoulder, "Now you're being sexist, it'll at least give me some good company." She said, actually seeing Charlie as a good person to have along.
"See? It all works out. But now it's time for bed you two. If you want to get to Darwin so quickly, we can leave in the morning. The doctor said Charlie should be ready by then."
The teenagers got ready for bed without further complaints, leaving Max to ponder on what he's just done. The last couple of minutes went too quickly… also those relatives. They came to see Charlie yet all they did was talk to himself, the doctor, the police and left? Maybe they're seeing her now. Thinking about it just made Max more bewildered so he just went to bed.
It should all work out without any dilemmas.
End of Chapter 6.
Next time on chapter 7! In the middle of the night Ben gets a midnight wake up call only to encounter yet another alien being and get himself in the middle of its rampage! Can Fourarms defeat this creature before the Omnitrix times out?
A slab of cement just got thrown at him! It crumbled at his feet from the impact. What could possibly rip out a piece of the footpath?! He looked at the thugs; two of them were out cold on the road but the third one… wait, that's not human!
"You're the one who woke me up from before, eh?" Fourarms stated, "I thought you already chickened off somewhere!"
The creature hissed with a shriek, as it took a step forward, offended by his words.
…review and tune in!