The trio of plumbers were headed deeper into the woods. Grandpa Max was at the front with the alien tech that sat snugly in his right hand, tracking Gwen's still, very strong, anodite signature, with Ben not falling far behind. The old man, was keeping his full eye view out for Orthos' well hidden tavern. Kevin, staying at the same pace as the hero, constantly kept looking over to his left and to his right for any sudden frantic movements. Sometimes, in this line of work they were in, it paid to be that paranoid.
"Just wish that I had been more paranoid when that stupid explosion came at me and Gwen." The raven haired man thought to himself sadly. He hated the fact that he had let all of this happen. It wasn't fair. She didn't deserve any of it, and Kevin silently promised Gwen, that when they did find her, he was going to take care of her, and no matter what, he, himself, was going to be her forever diligent shadow, whether she found it to be overly strange or not.
"Okay.. Soundin' kind of creepy there Kev… again" The raven haired plumber mumbled under his breath, almost tripping over a stray log in the process. That however, earned him a laugh from a certain green jacket wearing hero. "What?" Kevin glared over at the said teammate in annoyance.
"Nothing…" Ben began, trying to hold in a teasing smile. "It's just that… You sound really stupid talking to yourself." The young man finally let go of a small chuckle. "Hearing you talk about how 'creepy' you are and all.. Just makes what I say about you most of the time even more true."
"Yeah, well. I have a lot on my mind right now." Kevin simply said, brushing the hair away from his eyes, keeping his gaze away from Ben. It scared him a little that somebody could possibly read his personal thoughts, and feelings through those dark pools he wore, and right now, he didn't want Ben of all people to read his personals in such a way. Besides, Kevin felt the young man wouldn't understand his problems at hand in the first place. In reality, Kevin didn't even know if he understood all of them himself. It made things just that much harder in the long run.
"Is it about Gwen?" Ben asked curiously, while almost stumbling over his own feet as well, but missed the log he snagged his pant leg on by a few inches, and regained his footing.
"That, and among other things." Kevin rubbed the side of his face in irritation, setting off the red flags towards Ben. It was prominent that Kevin had been totally lying. Normally, he was actually a pretty good fibber most of the time. But hanging day in and day out with the man for the last five years, tends to bring up some of the advantages of being able to blow his bluffs right out of the water. It was one of Kevin's quirks that told the young hero right off the bat, if he had been telling the truth or not. Same went with Osmosian, and Ben. Ben's was the simple twitch of his left eye that gave him away. So naturally, Kevin wasn't fooling him.
"Yeah? Well, I'm thinking it's the only thing that's been on your mind, Kevin." Ben bravely said out loud, but wincing quickly, hoping that the ex-con wouldn't land another fist against his handsome face. He would be lying to himself too, if he didn't say it hurt like hell the last time, and the truth of the matter was, he didn't need another reminder.
Kevin continued to walk in silence. It appeared to the young hero, that his friend was trying to avoid the subject at hand, and most likely didn't want to talk about it to begin with. But, Ben loved to put out the pressure on the ex-con. It mainly served more so, as the entertainment value of whole the thing really, but none the less, he wanted to be there all the same for his comrade.
"It's okay, Kevin." Ben drawled out, his face going serious. "Whatever you say stays here, between you and me, and no one else." He raised his arm up as if he were making the man next to him a solom vow. Seeing Kevin's unsure expression though, made him end it with a, "I swear, Kevin. Just between you and me. I promise."
Kevin walked a few more steps in quiet, before he let out one of his heavier, agitated sighs. "There's really nothing to talk about." He slowly sighed once again, turning his head slightly to the left, trailing his view along the tree lines just for the distraction it possessed for him. "You probably already know that I like her. What more is there to say?"
"So you admit it then?" Ben asked raising his brow, smiling. "I totally knew it." Kevin finally glared back at his teammate and groaned, but said nothing further about it. Ben, let out a small chuckle himself, ending the conversation in a silent agreement with the Osmosian, and continued to head on through the thicket of brush, but stopping abruptly, when he face planted into the back of his grandfather's upper torso, hitting the ground hard on his behind, letting out a loud "oof" in the process.
"What the heck?" Ben groaned, standing up to wipe the dust he had collected on his rear-end from the sudden fall moments ago.
"We're here." Max simply said, as all three of the men's gaze tilted upwards towards the sky above them. What they saw was beyond what any of them had expected. It was a dismal looking place of solid cold rock. Trees, blocking its' view from plain sight. It was any wonder why nobody had noticed such a thing before. Towers, and towers of stone, stacked up strategically on top of one another, forming, to what looked to be a well crafted fortress. Trees and foliage had graced themselves upon the outer walls, with buds of colorful, blooming flowers that etched in winding motions along the outer shell of the castle like structure. It was nothing short of miraculous in any on looker's eyes.
"How do we get in?" Kevin said, pushing himself forward through the two that were just standing there in awe. Kevin didn't want to waste any time finding Gwen, and getting her out of there.
"I'm not sure." Max simply said, as he scratched the side of his head in bewilderment. "I've never seen such a place like this before. I wouldn't know where to begin, Kevin."
"Well, the only way to find that out is to head up to the steep hill right over there." Ben pointed just to his left, showing a ledge that led up to another trail, leading towards to what looked to be the front entrance. "Seems like that's all we have to go on for now."He lets out a low sigh, seeing his grandpa's uneasy look from the idea. "It's better than nothing at this point."
Max and Kevin nodded their heads in agreement, and the three plumbers headed up towards the steep ledge, Kevin not skipping a beat, as he brought up both of his hands, lifting himself up, and helping Max do the same, with Ben following in toe.
Orthos was soon to have more company than he had originally planned for…
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.
Orthos sat in the darkness in silence. Watching the red headed girl's chest rise and fall with every solid breath she took. He wanted to wait for her to wake up before he decided to do any of his black magic on her. It wouldn't be any fun for him if she were still knocked out cold.
"Besides." He smiled wickedly to himself, never taking his eyes off of Gwen. "We wouldn't want her to miss all of the fun, now would we?"
A dull crackling noise responded outward just to the right of where Orthos had been sitting. His arm automatically stretched out, stroking the familiar hide of an arachnoid. That sinister smile of his deepening with each stroke he made on its back. "Now, now my pet." Orthos bellowed out soothingly. "We all know that this is for the best… For all of us."
Suddenly, Orthos's attention was veered over towards the stirring girl that lied strapped to what looked to be a large broken sun dial, inscriptions of a foreign language that sprawled out just beneath her shaking body. Were these small convulsions she was having, coming out from being afraid? Or was it just from being momentarily paralyzed only an hour ago? She didn't know. But her eyes slowly fluttered open anyways, revealing her once bright green pools of life that had now dwindled down to no more than a dull flicker of despair and helplessness. Orthos had done nothing to her at this point, but, looking at the way Gwen's physical appearance was, it would seem as though he already had…
Gwen groaned as she came too. She went to reach for the side of her face, but found that her arms had been strapped to the mystical table by magic, and her brows quickly narrowed in anger, realizing that what she had experienced outside, wasn't even close to being a dream, it was more so, than the nightmare she was fully living.
"You're pathetic." Gwen finally spat out, her gaze following Orhtos as he stood up from his chair, making his way closer to her. "You have no right! No right to do this, Orthos! So do us all a favor, and just give up!" She struggled against the magical binds once more, growling out in anger towards the man. " Ben, Kevin and Grandpa will have no problems taking you down perminatly... Is killing me really worth the risk of losing your own life?" That however, made the sinister man laugh darkly at her, and in return caused Gwen to cringe under her skin. She hated his laugh. To her, it held a more of his evil presence than his own standard appearance, and it secretly frightened her.
"Oh, Gwen." Orthos chuckled under his breath, putting his hand onto her cheek. "I have every right, you know that." His face suddenly fell, and his tone of voice began to go south. "You owe me... That little stunt you pulled on me two years ago, was bound to catch up with you sooner or later." His hot breath beamed onto her pain stricken face, his grip slowly growing tighter. "YOU OWE ME NOTHING SHORT OF YOUR PITIFUL LIFE!" He shouted, as he pushed himself away from her, walking across the darkened room, now pacing back in forth in agitation. It was obvious that Orthos was beginning to look unstable, and Gwen trembled helplessly with fear. She didn't have any way to escape his wrath. "Not only that." He continued on, his demeanor calming down ever so slightly. "You're mana will be ever so helpful in my plans... So... Let them come. They've already killed one of my arachnoid beasts, why not give them a chance at a few thousand?" He cocked his head to the side, and Gwen could've sworn she saw the devil himself jump out from those insane, deep orbs of his. "I'm starting to think." He puts his gloved hand up to his chin, and grinned wildly at the red head, her face cringing at the look he was giving her. "Why should I wait any longer? I might as well just take those powers of life energy off your hands now... It'll be fun, just like old times..."
Gwen couldn't help but feel her heart leap up into her throat, and the room felt as if it had suddenly gone cold...
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.
Ben, Kevin and Grandpa Max finally had made their way up to the stoney rock wall, realizing that the front entrance was just mere feet away. Kevin stood up, and ran towards the door. Ben placed a hand quickly on his shoulders, abruptly stopping him.
"Wait, Kevin." Ben said, placing his hand off Kevin's shoulder back down to his side. "We need a plan."
Kevin glared at him, and pursed his lips together tightly before he spoke, strumming a heated list of his fingertips. "How 'bout we bust the stupid door down, go in, beat Orthos beyond recognition, take Gwen, and then we go live happily ever after." The raven haired man stepped even closer to his comrade, sizing himself up to the boy, hoping that this would steer the conversation towards the direction of how he wanted things to go with bringing Gwen back, safe. "Sounds like a good flawless plan to me."
"Cool it, Kevin." Max chimed up, the voice of reason once again, taking over the situation. "We don't want to go into this blindly. We need some sort of a plan if we stand any chances of Gwen getting out of this alive." He furrows his brow towards Kevin, as he walked up closer to the boy. "Alright?"
Kevin held in his breath, and looked down scornfully at his feet. He knew the Tennysons' were right. If he wanted Gwen to come out unscathed, they needed to form a solution to their bigger problem. "Fine." Kevin simply sadi, forcing his attention back onto Ben. "Okay hero. Whattya got so far?"
"Hmm." Ben began, putting his hand up to his chin in thought, while Kevin and Max looked at him with expressionless features, watching as the hero's gears were slowly churning on the inside of his head.
"Sometime today, Tennyson!" Kevin growled out, shoving the younger boy slightly, knocking Ben off balance. They were wasting time. Kevin hated wasting time. Especially knowing that Gwen was still in there, possibly in critical condition. He really don't know, and it scared him.
"Relax!" Ben retorted, his eyes showing frustration with the ex-con. Grandpa Max only sighed in irritation with the two younger plumbers. Nothing was getting accomplished, nothing was forming to help out his granddaughter.
"Ben." Max cut in. "Even though Kevin's being awfully rude about this." He lets out a small smile, though, the situation they were in wasn't deemed worthy of such a thing. It was mainly served as a comforting purpose of what he was about to say to his grandson. "You need to work faster. This isn't your standard criminal mission, to where we have the time for your more complex, plan making schemes."
Sounds of someone picking the lock to a door brought the Old man, and Ben out of their small quarrel of reasoning. Ben naturally scoffed at what he was witnessing at that moment.
"Nothing ever changes." The hero sighed heavily to himself, his expression singeing deep with anger.
"What?" Kevin said, as he stood up from breaking the lock on the door, letting the armor he had collected slide effortlessly off his body. "I'm getting us in aren't I?"
"Sure." Ben snorted in his direction, putting his hand roughly up to the right hip. "If you look at it as, the not so legal type of way."
"Whatever." Kevin breathed out absently, while opening the door to what seemed harbor even more of the darkness. From where they were standing, they couldn't see no more than a few feet ahead of them. "Going in blindly", as Grandpa Max had stated a few short moments ago, only proved to Kevin that it didn't matter if they had a well though out, strategic plan or not. Going in any type of building without having some form of light was pretty darn dangerous all on its own. Any well trained plumber would tell an under developed rookie that.
Just as Ben was about to mock Kevin in a retort, the familiar scream of a woman had filled up the emptiness of the deepest caverns around the castle's cool stone walls.
It would seem that to the trio of heros, Gwen was now fighting for her life, and Kevin Levin had gone into full overload with panic...
Done, and DONE! LOL! :D Sorry dearest readers for the late update...Again... I have been quite busy with life in general, and also with my other account.. D.A... Plus, this chapter took me FOREVER to write. Which sometimes happens. I try to take my time with these things to make them a better read. If I rush, it doesn't turn out so well. So please be patient between updates. Okay? The first four that were posted prior, I had written well before I decided to publish it. Now, I'm working on each chapter as they come. So.. No extra planning is involved ahead of time. Again, THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who had reviewed! I'm so thrilled that this story is a winner with you all! WOOO! Also, as a warning for next chapter.. It WILL get pretty angsty in there for Kevin and Gwen.. Yes, Ben and Grandpa Max too... My only hope is, that I do the next chapter some justice. :D
As always.. Please leave me a sweet little review!
Hugs, and cyber cookies to all,
The Spoon. :D