He sighed and rubbed his head. "How did I get sick?" he wondered to himself as he walked out of his room. "I'm in the middle of space!"
He continued to grumble as he walked into the kitchen where all ten aliens were sitting, waiting for Ben, ready to confront any problems by any means necessary. As it turns out, they needn't have gone to the trouble. "Hey guys," Ben said dully as he sat in a chair and lay his head down.
Hoverboard looked at Ben in a concerned way before walking over and sitting next to the child. "Um, Ben, are you all right?"
"I just have a cold," Ben said dismissively. "I'm tired and sick and I don't feel very well. Give me a few days and I'll be fine."
"Are you… hungry?" Hoverboard ventured.
Ben shook his head slowly before placing it back into his arms. "Nah," he said softly. "I'm too stuffed up to feel hungry."
"Is it safe for you to not eat?" Hoverboard asked.
Ben looked at him scrutinizing. "You guys are a little hyper about my health, don't you think?" he asked hotly while crossing his arms. "I'm not a little kid, I can take care of myself."
"You're a child," Specter told him kindly.
"So?" Ben asked. He was quickly becoming rather crabby and intolerant from the cold and his aching body. "Look, you guys are aliens and you don't know the first thing about my planet. I'm a human kid, sure. I need to eat this to be healthy and I need to do this to stay safe. Fine. But do you actually know me? Do you know who I am, or who Grandpa is? Do you even care? Or am I just some poor unlucky shmuck who got stuck with this thing on my wrist?"
Been took a deep breath and plunged on. "The only reason any of you even care about my existence is because I have the Omnitrix. I have this amazingly powerful device so therefore you guys want to keep me safe to keep it safe. I'm here by default, not because you actually like me. So why don't you drop the act and leave me alone!" he yelled and stood up quickly. His green eyes misted over for a second as he swayed dangerously and Hoverboard stood up quickly in a panic to make sure Ben didn't fall over. Ben grabbed the table and shut his eyes tightly, willing away the feeling before glaring at the other aliens. "I'm fine," he growled stiffly before walking out of the room.
Rampage growled once then took off after the child, making a series of yips and growls as he followed Ben down the hall.
"Well… that could have gone better," Red said slowly.
"He's upset…" Stinky said slowly.
"He's right," Tech countered. "We do only care about his well being because he has the Omnitrix."
"Except Rampage," Impulse offered. The blob of living metal turned to Hoverboard and nodded at the closed door. "What should we do?" he asked. "He is sick and there is no doubt that it's worse then he's making it seem."
Hoverboard was silent for a minute before sighing heavily. "Impulse, I want you to go to the 'internet' again and look up anything you can on human sicknesses and how to take care of it. Tech, go with him and help."
Tech and Impulse nodded and disappeared through the door.
"Umi, I want you, Sun and Stinky to go monitor any transmissions we may recive. If we get anything from the council, please counter for as long as you can and call me," Hoverboard told the sea creature.
"All right," Umi rasped. "But I think you're freaking out a little too much over a child."
"He has what we need," Hoverboard admitted. "And if his DNA is corrupted by and illness then the Omnitrix may be rendered useless."
"We're going!" Red announced and pulled the other two out of the door.
"Accelerate, can you try and find Ben?" Hoverboard pleaded. "Something tells me he can't be by himself."
Accelerate nodded and retracted his visor for a moment. "Are you upset about what he said?" he lizard like alien asked.
Hoverboard frowned. "I'm upset because he's right," he said finally. "But we should probably try and change that. He's just a kid and he doesn't deserve this."
Accelerate nodded and sped out of the room.
Red put his hand on Hoverboard's shoulder. "It's all right. He was just probably not feeling well or something."
Hoverboard nodded. "Yeah, probably," he assured himself.
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Ben lay against Rampage's fur and took in a painful breath. "Okay, maybe more then a cold," he admitted slowly. "Ugh, I haven't felt this bad since I got the stomach virus last year at school."
Rampage growled and nosed Ben in the shoulder to see how responsive the child was. Ben laughed hoarsely and pet Rampage on his head. "I'm fine, or I will be after I rest a little."
Rampage growled lightly then lay his massive head back down into his paws.
Ben sighed and turned on his side. He curled up in a little ball and buried his face into Rampage's fur. "I know what I said was mean," he said softly. "But… I also know it was right. Do you think it's okay that I said that?"
Rampage snuffed once and growled.
Ben had no earthly idea what Rampage had just said but he decided to go with it. "I should probably say something," Ben sighed. "I'm still mad though," he huffed sulkily.
Rampage curled a little tighter as Ben shivered a little. Ben laughed and sat up. "It's all right, just a shiver." Ben held his hand up to his forehead and frowned. "I also have a fever," he admitted slowly. "You know, maybe I should go crash for a bit. This is kinda bad."
Rampage stood up and followed Ben out of the closet they had barricaded themselves in. Ben winced as he walked into the considerably brighter light of the main room. "Ow," he hissed as he rubbed his eyes.
Rampage nudged Ben gently in an effort to get the child moving. Ben stumbled forward a few steps before looking up again. "Bad…" he murmured. He reached out and swayed dangerously. "…get… him…" he managed to choke out before he passed out on the floor.
Rampage trotted over and nudged Ben. When Ben didn't respond he let out a loud bellow and ran for the nearest elevator.
Accelerate heard the bellow and rushed to its source. When he got there, he saw Ben lying in the middle of the hallway, sprawled out on his back and taking in short, painful gasps. Accelerate glided over and put his cool fingers up against Ben's face. He hissed and pulled them back as he noted that Ben's temperature was much higher then it usually was.
"Mom…" Ben murmured softly.
"Ben!" Accelerate knelt down and supported Ben's back and shoulders. "Can you hear me?"
"Mom… I'm sorry," he continued, not taking any notice of Accelerate's cries. "I didn't mean to."
"Ben," Accelerate shook him gently but Ben still took no notice. He was apparently still asleep, dreaming of something only he could see.
"This is bad," Accelerate hissed before he picked up Ben's body and skated as fast as he could to where Hoverboard was.
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Rampage burst into the kitchen and began to emit a strange series of yips and growls while Hoverboard and Red looked on blankly.
Hoverboard was the first to discover his wits. "Where's Ben?" he asked, realizing what probably had gone wrong.
Rampage stepped forward and grabbed Hoverboard's uniform in his teeth and pulled. Hoverboard and Red exchanged glances before following the alien mutt out of the door.
They had made it about 3/4ths down the hallway when Accelerate sped up to them, cradling Ben's body. "He's completely unconscious," Accelerate said quickly. "Before he was in some kind of delirium, talking to his mother."
"This is bad," Hoverboard hissed. "We don't know anything about human illnesses."
"Call his grandfather," Red suggested. "See if he knows anything."
"That's a good idea," Hoverboard agreed. "All right. Accelerate, Red, take him to his room and… I don't know… put something cold on his head. Try and bring his temperature to normal."
"What is normal?" Accelerate asked.
Hoverboard frowned. "I…don't know," he admitted. "Ask Impulse and Tech. They probably know by now. Ask if they know anything else we can do. Try and wake him up. We need to know if he's okay."
"You mean you need to know if the Omnitrix is okay," Red said softly.
Hoverboard turned his bright gaze on the red alien. "Are we going to argue morals here, soldier?"
Red crossed his arms. "No disrespect, sir," he relented after a moment's stare down.
"Good. I'm going to go call Tennyson. Maybe he knows what's wrong," Hoverboard sighed and ran down the hallway. Just one more thing to go wrong with this little 'adventure.'
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Accelerate put Ben into his bed and Red pulled the covers up around him. "He's too hot," Accelerate said slowly. "Won't that make it worse?"
"He's shivering too," Red pointed out. "Doesn't that mean he's cold?"
Accelerate and Red exchanged worried glances. "We have no idea what we're doing, do we?" Red asked finally.
"I'll go get Impulse and Tech," Accelerate answered. "They will."
Red nodded and watched the blue alien streak out of the door. He walked over to a sink and ran cold water over a cloth that was in a closet in the room. He folded it up and placed it on Ben's forehead, which seemed like the most logical place to put it, considering the situation. With that done he sat down and watched the sickly child toss and turn in bed.
"Mom…" Ben groaned. "Please…"
"Ben?" Red asked.
Ben was obviously having a dream of some kind, and once Red realized it, he made no further effort to wake Ben up. He knew it would be futile anyways.
"Mom…" Ben hissed, curling up in some kind of pain. "Don't let him go. I didn't mean it. I didn't…"
Red was unsure as to what Ben was talking about so he merely patted the child awkwardly on his back.
"I didn't mean what I said to dad…" Ben whispered.
Red stopped patting Ben's back for a second while Ben groaned from the heat of the fever. "It's all right," he said with a small, worried grin. "It's not your fault."
Ben quieted down and coughed, loosening whatever was choking his lungs. Red resumed patting his back, feeling a little better about doing so. It was no longer just the Omnitrix he wanted to protect. He also wanted to protect Ben, the person. Not the holder of the Omnitrix, but the child who despite his age, was just trying to do the right thing. It was no longer about the war, Red thought, it was about the people it was beginning to effect.
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Ben is going to be a bit... OOC in the coming chapters. Not horribly so, but more like "I'm sick so I'm going to be a lot more sulky then I normally would" This is the arc where the aliens finally realize that it's not just about the Omnitrix. And Ben does as well. Also, more development about his dad and family situation. Yays!
Hugs to my reviewers!