A/N: This is just something I thought up randomly. In case you don't know, an Uxorite is the same species that Xylene is. She's a character from the original for those who haven't watched it. They've got telekinetic abilities as well as two prehensile tentacles coming from their heads, a tail, and an extendable tongue. I recommend looking up an image if you don't know what I'm talking about. And a Tetramand is like Fourarms or Manny.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or the quote at the beginning of this chapter. I do own this oneshot.
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"In all things it is better to hope than to despair."
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
92. All That I Have
The mission had quickly degenerated into chaos. All their Intel, all their careful plans, all that was now dust in the wind. Already five of the original seven members of the squad were dead, but he was still alive. One of two survivors, waiting to be tortured for information or whatever it was that the aliens wanted from them.
An Uxorite, she appeared to be the leader by the way she continuously gave orders to those around her, stalked up to the final two survivors. Her pink eyes watched them carefully, a small smirk sliding on to her face.
"Now then… I get to choose which of you dies and which of you lives." She tapped her chin thoughtfully with a slender, green finger. "Which one of you is more likely to talk?"
"You're not getting anything out of either of us." Kevin growled at her.
The Uxorite laughed. "I always like a rebellious prisoner. They're all the more fun to break." Her eyes narrowed as she took an air of seriousness once more. "But this is serious, boy. We have ways at making people talk."
Kevin glared at her, annoyed that she would call him boy. "And I'm telling you that I won't tell you anything about the Plumbers."
"We'll see about that." The Uxorite turned away and nodded her head to the seven Tetramands who were her company. It was rare to find criminals in such large groups like these especially Tetramands who tended to fight frequently amongst themselves. But it seemed as if respect for the Uxorite female kept them working together. Two of the Tetramands came to escort the prisoners into the cells within their ship while the others worked at securing any alien tech they could from the remains of the Plumber ship.
Kevin's partner, a guy whose name Kevin had forgotten as they usually weren't on the same team, whispered, "You shouldn't anger them. It'll just make escaping harder."
"Yeah, whatever." Kevin rolled his eyes. Out of everyone on the team, he had to end up with the one who always had to be serious and quiet. And orderly, or at least that's what Kevin had heard.
Thinking back to the ambush, Kevin felt despair run through him. Ben and Gwendolyn hadn't been there (fortunately), but Alan and Cooper had both been present. And now they were dead. If his current situation hadn't been so bad, he might have cried for his fallen friends. Or more likely he would've ripped apart the criminals for what they had done. After calling for some back-up, of course. Kevin wasn't stupid enough to charge into that large a group of foes without help.
He closed his eyes briefly to banish the thoughts. Right now, he couldn't afford to wallow in the past. He needed to escape before they placed higher security on him. Just how to do it… Energy cuffs had been attached to his hands as soon as they had caught him and getting out of them would be tough.
"Wait," the Tetramands who had been leading them aboard paused to glance back at their leader. Kevin turned back, wondering what the Uxorite could want to do.
"Yes, Arene?" The Tetramand asked.
"I've decided I don't want useless baggage on my ship." Before Kevin could find out exactly what that meant, a magenta glow surrounded his partner's cuffs and drew him closer to her. Once he had gone close to her, Arene's head tentacles wrapped around his neck.
"No…" Kevin's partner muttered softly as her prehensile tentacles slowly began to cut off his oxygen supply. Just as he was about to black out, Arene released him. Instantly he began to take in deep breaths of air.
With the same smirk that she almost always seemed to wear, Arene said, "You didn't think I'd let you die that easily, did you?" With that, she repeated the procedure a few times. Then one time, rather than slowly squeezing at his wind pipe, Arene wrenched his neck. A crack could be heard and she let the body fall.
"There." Arene nodded her head. "Burn the bodies and let's go."
Kevin scowled. The only reason they would burn the bodies is to make sure the Plumbers would assume the whole group had died. That way they wouldn't send search parties out to hunt down the criminals and retrieve prisoners. Sure, the Plumbers would eventually hunt them down anyway to get justice, but it wouldn't be quite as fast as a search party.
Fire began to spread quickly across the fallen bodies of Kevin's companions. Everything had gone so drastically wrong. His eyes skimmed over their bodies; good friends, work partners, and enemies alike going up in flames. Momentarily he paused to watch Alan, thinking of the irony that a half-Pyronite would end up burning. And then there was Cooper; the genius boy that Kevin had enjoyed teasing Gwendolyn about.
"Let's go." Arene said briskly. "We don't want to be here when the Plumbers show up."
--
It had been a whole hour since he had been brought aboard though Kevin was bored. They had secured his wrists and ankles to a round plate in the middle of the room and left him there to hang. And now he was just stuck, waiting for someone to come around and actually do something.
Not that he had been idle all this time. Oh no, Kevin had most definitely not been idle. He had tried absorbing the metal plate to no avail (it seemed as if he was bound by energy cuffs though it hadn't stopped him from trying), he had tried simply breaking the bindings to no avail, he had tried everything he could possibly think of but it had resulted in nothing. For the past few minutes, he had been examining the room for anything that he could use if they even let him off this plate for a minute.
The room itself was plain. It was round with no windows. The walls appeared to be made of titanium and they were a uniform gray. There was a vent in the room, but it was up high and too small to crawl through. Fluorescent lights illuminated the space, but that was it. Kevin could see some sort of machinery out of his peripheral vision, but he couldn't distinguish it.
The sound of a door sliding open and shut brought Kevin to attention. He put on a defiant smirk. If he couldn't escape, he would stay defiant and go out in a typical Kevin fashion.
Arene smiled upon seeing him. "I hope you'll choose the easy way and just tell us everything you know. We don't want to resort to other methods."
"I'm sure you don't." Kevin sneered.
A flicker of annoyance appeared on Arene's face before disappearing. "Now, now, how about you drop the attitude? We just want to know some things and we know you can tell us."
Kevin chuckled. "Well, that's the first time I've heard someone say I know something. Most people assume I know nothing."
"Drop it." Arene growled, a warning note in her voice.
"Drop what? I'm not holding anything." Maybe he should've kept his mouth shut, but Kevin couldn't resist it. Plus, if he shut up, he was just giving into the enemy and that was something Kevin didn't do.
Arene's eyes narrowed. "Fine, if you wish to be difficult…" She nodded her head at one of the Tetramands. Kevin watched as the Tetramand walked to the machinery that Kevin had spotted. The Tetramand rolled it into view, revealing that it had a dial on it with a read-out that currently said zero. He turned it a few notches.
Kevin did not like where this was going, but he had little time to think as electricity coursed through his body. When he was able to absorb it, electricity didn't bug him. However, when his powers were being held back, it hurt him though not quite as much as it would hurt a regular human.
Don't scream. Even if the pain was making him want to yell, Kevin grit his teeth together and took it. Don't scream became his new mantra, the only thing going through his mind along with the burning pain.
And then it just stopped. Kevin opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them, and looked at a smirking Arene. "So, do you want to talk now, boy?"
"I'm not a kid." Kevin remarked through gritted teeth. He had always hated being called boy, but it irked him that she was calling him that despite the fact that he was 24.
Arene turned to the Tetramand holding the control. "Up the voltage this time."
He nodded and the electricity levels increased. Once again, Kevin found himself lost in that world of pain except this time he couldn't keep the screams inside. They burst forth, horrid screams from a body that was close to losing it. Like last time, the pain eventually stopped, allowing time for Kevin to draw in deep breaths.
"Now tell me everything you know about the Plumbers."
"No." Kevin refused. He would've preferred to reply with a witty quip, but his mind was still working through the pain of the electrocution.
Arene sighed and nodded her head. "Do it again. Crank it up to the highest setting this time."
Kevin braced himself for the pain, silently willing himself to at least try and absorb some of it. It didn't work and the electricity charged through his system. He felt like he was going to die, like everything in his body was going to be ripped apart.
Self-preservation, that instinct that had guided him through the streets of New York and later the Null Void, still ran in Kevin's mind. He could usually tuck it away and forget about it while rushing into danger. However, now it came tearing up from the depths of his mind. It screamed at him and finally he managed to turn out of his own screams into a word, "Stop it!"
A few seconds passed and then the current was shut off. Kevin slumped back in his bindings, relieved that it was gone. Pain still existed, he was sure that he had internal burning from the electricity, but it wasn't as bad.
"So the boy finally screamed for mercy?" Arene's voice brought him back to his senses. "Does this mean you'll talk?"
No, he couldn't rat out his friends. He had called for a halt in the heat of the moment, but Arene's words made him think back to everyone else. There was no way he could betray them like that just to save his own hide. Maybe once upon a time, he would've done so, but now? Now after all those years together… Pierce, Manny, Helen, Max, Ben, Gwendolyn… No he couldn't betray any of them.
Instead he would just have to succumb to the pain, deal with it until they finally figured out that he wasn't going to say anything and killed him. Kevin didn't want to die, but it was preferable to the others, especially her, dying. Anyway, Arene would probably kill him after she got her information, so there really wasn't a benefit to telling her.
It didn't come right away, but slowly a smirk spread across Kevin's face. While her smirk remained in place, Arene watched him cautiously, uncertain about his change in face.
"Well! You can start talking." Arene growled. "We don't have all day."
"Nothing would make me spill my guts to your ugly lizard-face." His smirk widened just as she let out a small gasp of shock. Yep, he was certain he was going to die, but at least he had managed to surprise her before then.
"Turn it on and keep it on. We'll see how many times he has to scream for mercy before I decide to be nice enough to turn it off." Arene snapped. Gone was her business-like way of handling things, replaced by a very irritated and hateful demeanor. Oh yeah, she was definitely pissed now.
"And if it kills him?" The Tetramand asked with some worry in his voice.
"Then he's dead and our client doesn't get the information." Arene shrugged it off. The Tetramand looked like he was going to argue with the point, but something in Arene's face kept him from saying anything.
Instead he just twisted the dial back to the highest setting, sending Kevin back to a world of pain.
Darkness tugged at Kevin's mind, beckoning him to give it up and stop struggling for his life. Despite his desire not to give into it, Kevin had to admit that passing out was starting to sound more and more appealing. The pain would all be gone and he wouldn't even feel himself die. Or would he? What would death feel like? Would it really be like he was traveling through a tunnel with a light at the end, or was all that just crap? Would he feel anything?
Kevin felt the world disappearing as he drew closer to that darkness. The pain pushed him closer and closer. And for once, Kevin felt like he could welcome this freedom, welcome the reprieve it would bring from the pain.
And that's when a particular memory struck him.
--
"You can't possibly go on this mission, Gwendolyn! I forbid it." The Magister replied in a rather calm voice.
"I have to go." Gwendolyn crossed her arms, staring hard at the reptilian face of the Magister.
"I don't see why." The Magister huffed.
"Because he's going." Gwendolyn pointed at Kevin. Her voice turned slightly tender, "I don't want him going alone."
"I assure you that Mr. Levin will be fine whether or not you're there. And he won't be alone." The Magister sighed, flipping through a few of the papers on his desk. "In your condition, we cannot send you off-planet for missions. In fact, you shouldn't be going on any missions, period."
Gwendolyn sighed, glancing downwards. "I can handle it."
"He's right, Gwendolyn." It was the first time Kevin had spoken since Gwendolyn had begun arguing for her right to go on the mission. She looked over at Kevin. "You shouldn't be out fighting when you're this close to having a baby." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know that."
She muttered, "It's not that close…" But he could feel her resolve weakening slowly. It would just take a little more and she would agree to stay without the need of constraints.
"Do you really want to endanger the baby? Our baby?"
Tears formed in her eyes and Kevin pulled her close. Perhaps adding that last comment had been a mistake, but it had worked. It had broken her resolve just like he knew it would.
"I hate to break up this touching scene, but the ship will be leaving in 10 minutes." The Magister informed them. "I'll leave you two alone to say your good-byes." They stayed silent until he slipped out of his office.
"Promise me you'll come back safe and sound."
"You know that I'll come back safe. I always do." Kevin shrugged. "Anyway, it's not dangerous. In fact, it sounds like it'll be boring."
"Promise me anyway."
Kevin sighed, knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere without making the promise. "I promise I'll come back. I won't leave you alone with our unborn baby, okay?"
Gwendolyn nodded. "I'll come and hunt you down if you don't keep that promise."
Smirking, Kevin responded, "I'll miss you too."
"We have to leave now." Alan informed them.
Kevin pulled Gwendolyn in for a brief kiss. "I'll see you soon." He whispered softly into her ear before pulling away.
"Don't forget about your promise." Gwendolyn called after him.
He smirked. "Don't worry. I never break my promises." A scowl settled on to his face momentarily as he heard her laugh. "Okay, I never break my promises to you." He added as he walked away on a mission that would end in disaster.
--
Out of all the memories to come up, this one had to be the one. Even if the darkness seemed so alluring through all that pain, Kevin knew he had to keep fighting. He couldn't give up, not with Gwendolyn waiting for him. Not with the unborn baby waiting for a father to come home…
There was no way he could leave them alone.
Fighting hard, Kevin focused on the electricity raging through him. If only he could absorb it, if only he could direct the power to overload the energy cuffs around his hands. He hadn't used the ability for a long time, preferring the safety of absorbing material over the unpredictability of energy.
"We should probably turn it off." The words seemed a lot clearer than they once had and Kevin could identify the speaker as one of the Tetramands.
"No." That was good, ole Arene. Making sure that he suffered long and hard, all the way down the road of death.
"But he's going to—"
"I don't care." Arene cut him off. One day, Kevin would have to thank Arene for never listening to her minions. Whatever the Tetramand had been about to say would've prevented the events that came after.
The energy cuffs had heated up considerably from the first moment when electricity had begun running through them. They wouldn't be able to hold him much longer, as long as he didn't die first.
Gritting his teeth, Kevin prepared himself to bear through it all. Maybe it would all turn out useless as Arene was still standing nearby. But if he could just break out… His chances for escape would increase tenfold. For now, he would just focus on thoughts of her.
A sharp, crackling sound was heard as the energy cuffs finally overloaded, sending splinters into the air. Instantly Kevin felt electricity course through his body, but in a different way than before. Now it was him funneling it through his own body, his own powers allowing it to come into him without damaging his already frazzled system.
A smirk appeared on Kevin's face as he noted Arene's look of utter shock. Then he released the energy he had absorbed, sending it at the Tetramand by the controls. Really, it was rather fortunate that they were funneling this much energy into Kevin. If not, he might not have been able to fry his four-armed captor. As it was, the corpse dropped to the floor.
Kevin directed nearly all of the energy he had absorbed at the other Tetramands in the room, frying all of them. Arene was the only survivor left, other than Kevin. She growled and muttered something darkly before announcing, "You've had your fun, boy, but this is going to end."
"Bring it." Kevin pressed his hands against the back of the panel he was still partly strapped to and absorbed the metal. He snapped the rest of the metal bindings off himself before dropping on to the floor.
Kevin stumbled, his legs shaking. Arene saw and smirked, "Looks like your muscles aren't pleased with the electric shock. This isn't even going to be worth my effort."
Legs still shaking, Kevin noted that Arene was right. He had survived the electric shock, but there was no way that he was going to be able to win in a fight. His heart was beating quickly, but it hadn't gone into an erratic rhythm, so Kevin assumed that it was alright. On the other hand, the muscles in his arms were twitching and he didn't know how much control he had. And that didn't even cover the pain that still coursed through his body.
Of course he wasn't going to be able to win in a fight in this condition, but that didn't mean he wouldn't put up a hell of a fight.
Kevin raised his arms and got ready to fire a retort back at her when a computerized voice announced, "Warning! Electrical overcharge. Systems failing."
Arene said something in her native tongue before twirling to glare at Kevin. He watched her with a growing smirk. "It's your fault for overcharging the system!"
"I'm not the one who turned the damn machine on," Kevin pointed out. "It was you who insisted on keeping it on for so long."
Arene's lips pressed tightly together, but she didn't deny the claim. Because it really had been her fault that she had allowed the machine to overcharge the system. "I'm going to fucking kill you!"
The lights flicked off, leaving them in complete darkness. Not sure how long his luck would hold, Kevin slowly edged towards one side of the room until he felt the wall under his hand. If he could just creep out of his room, maybe he would be able to find an escape pod.
"Where are you, you little coward?" Kevin bit his lip to keep from shouting out. If it was one thing he had learned in the Null Void, it was that sometimes it really was better to retreat than to fight. Especially if it meant to fight another day. He would come back and deal with Arene later, but right now, he needed to find his way out.
"Come out, you bastard!" Arene hissed. There was a crash, Kevin assumed she had tried telekinetically flinging the panel he had been strapped to, and while its proximity bothered him, it wasn't close enough to prove a real threat.
A run was out of the question, so Kevin forced himself to go at a quick stumbling pace. His footfalls sounded awfully loud to him, but Arene's hearing must not have been as good because her projectiles continued to miss. And throughout it all, Kevin continued to hear her swearing at him, insulting him, trying to jibe him out from the shadows. And as much as he wanted to attack her for her verbal lashing, he just continued to picture Gwendolyn's face.
In this fashion, Kevin managed to find his way out of the room. It helped that he had absorbed the wall, giving him further camouflage in the shadows. Once out of the room, he increased his pace.
This was the tricky part. Finding an escape pod would've been hard in any case, but to have to find it in the darkness on a foreign ship… Kevin shoved the thought away. He either found it or he didn't.
Arene's howls of rage were growing slightly softer as Kevin trekked through the ship. He hoped that she was still occupied in the room. If not, his chances would instantly hit one in a millionth. She knew where the escape pods were, she could've gotten off by now, but wrath had consumed her and it would probably keep her busy for a while longer.
"Back-up generator turning on! Switching on emergency systems!" The computerized voice called out, causing Kevin to swear as some lights flickered on. It wouldn't be long now for Arene to notice that Kevin had left the room and was elsewhere on board. He sped up slightly, turned a quick corner, and continued on his way.
Blinking red lights ahead with some sort of alien writing on them alerted Kevin. While he didn't know what the sign said, he could definitely guess what they were hiding and his guess turned out to be right. It was a room full of four escape pods.
"Where the hell are you, you little bastard?" Arene yelled, causing Kevin to jump. Yep, she was definitely close. Too close for comfort.
He needed to make sure that she wouldn't pursue him. Releasing all the escape pods was his best bet as long as she didn't charge into the room before he was done. He quickly weighed the pros and cons over before deciding it was worth the risk.
He worked quickly and managed to send three escape pods off without any trouble. As he approached the fourth (it was also the one he would be riding in), a hunk of metal hurled past his head, clipping his ear.
Kevin turned to see a furious Arene glaring at him. "Game over, little boy."
For a moment, panic set in. Adrenaline buzzing through his veins had kept him going this far, but it wouldn't do much in combat with a telekinetic Uxorite. This was it…
For a few moments, Kevin just stared at Arene, getting ready to fire some sharp comment at her. Despite his halt and his (almost) defeat, the buzzing in his veins wouldn't go away. That's when he realized just what it was and raised a hand towards Arene.
"Maybe it's over for you, but I've still got plans."
A small amount of electricity jumped out from his outstretched hand and hit Arene soundly in the chest. She uttered a horrible, guttural sound and fell down to her knees. The fact that she hadn't fallen completely over confirmed that she would be alright in a few minutes, so he had to move fast.
He got ready to charge into the escape pod, but he couldn't bring himself to move in that direction. Instead he found himself quickly stumbling over to the Uxorite's side. She was helpless, down, and he couldn't just leave her like that. It was just too good a chance to pass up.
Recovering his hand in the metal coat (it had been lost when the electricity had been discharged), he brought his fist down onto her neck. There was a sharp crack as her spine broke and a mad holler escaped her lips before she fell over. Not wanting to waste time to see if her pulse was going, Kevin jolted to the escape pod and keyed in some coordinates before pulling the lever.
Instantly his escape pod was hurtling through space. Kevin sank down to the floor and leaned his head back on the cool metal behind him. Slowly his own metal coating crept off as he let his eyes close. It was so tempting just to give in and sleep. Sleep forever, maybe.
But he wasn't going to give into that particular temptation. He had to stay up, had to make sure that the escape pod landed correctly, and then he had to find his way to Gwendolyn to let her know that he was perfectly fine.
Slowly those thoughts drifted away from him and no matter how hard he tried to stay awake, Kevin found himself lost to blackness.
--
"Impact in 10 seconds, deploying parachutes." A growl at interrupting his sleep. "Impact in 9 seconds." Wondering why he was leaning against metal and not in a soft bed. "Impact in 8 seconds." Wondering why the hell the voice wouldn't shut up and let him sleep. "Impact in 7 seconds." Hand groping uselessly while attempting to find an off switch. "Impact in 6 seconds." Another growl when he failed to find the switch.
"Impact in 5 seconds!" Kevin's eyes fluttered open in alarm as the situation hit him. He wasn't in a bed; he was in a small pod hurtling through the atmosphere. And the reason the voice wouldn't let him sleep was because he was going to have to brace himself for landing.
"Impact in 4 seconds!" Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Kevin reached over and quickly pulled some safety straps over himself. The straps pressed into his skin, making the pain that had hit him much worse.
"Impact in 3, 2, 1!"
There was a loud thud as the thick hull of the escape pod hit into the ground. Kevin slipped out of the straps and quickly opened the door of the pod. He stumbled off it and sank down to his knees into the grass his pod had landed in. Fresh, evening air hit him and he greedily inhaled it. Even if he hadn't been a prisoner for long, it felt like forever since he had felt grass under him, had inhaled the fresh air of Earth. It felt good.
What would feel even better was getting home and feeling his wife's arms entwine around him. Kevin pushed himself up and began to walk towards home.
Eventually he reached the familiar house that was his. Grinning, Kevin stuck a hand into his pocket, only to find that his keys were missing. Well, that wasn't a problem. Gwendolyn would let him in.
Kevin rung the doorbell and waited. As he waited, he gave himself a close examination. Black hair hanging limply around his face, skin covered in wounds and burns, throat parched from thirst, stomach growling incessantly, muscles aching due to internal burning; yep, he was far from fine but the important thing was that he had gotten home. Everything else could wait for later.
The door opened and Kevin casually announced, "I'm home."
For a few moments, there was silence between the two before Gwendolyn charged forwards and hugged Kevin tightly. Her voice was hoarse as she muttered into his chest, "I thought you were dead."
The hug hurt, but Kevin didn't mind so much. As long as he got to hug her back, as long as he got to confirm that this was real and not a dream that he would awaken from, only to be back in the torture chamber. "Well, I'm not." Still too casual for a conversation such as this.
"They said they found no survivors." He felt wetness on his chest and assumed Gwendolyn had been crying.
"I promised I would come back, didn't I?" Kevin replied, rubbing her back soothingly.
"…Yeah, you did." Gwendolyn finally admitted. She didn't add anymore, that if he had died the promise would never have been complete, because for the moment, all she wanted to do was relish the fact that he was still alive.
"Gwendolyn, you're hurting me." Finally Kevin had to say it. He hated to break apart the hug and admit to pain, but she was going to kill him if she kept holding him so tightly.
She released him and took a step backwards to survey him. "Come on; let's get you to the hospital."
Kevin frowned and joked, "I get tortured, nearly die, escape just to come home to you and now you're sending me to the hospital. Shouldn't I get some sort of reward for making my way back?"
"Not until you're healed." Gwendolyn frowned at him and gestured towards the car. "Come on, I'll drive."
Kevin opened his mouth to complain before closing it. He wouldn't make a good driver anyway in his condition. "Fine," he grumbled.
Gwendolyn smirked at him before her smirk turned into a small smile. "You're forbidden from going on missions without me from now on."
Kevin scowled, "But you're not going anywhere soon."
"Just like you." She laughed softly at his grumbling complaints, knowing that he would complain for a bit, she would tell him she was just joking (even though she was tempted to tie him up and keep him safe), they would laugh about it, and then the next time a mission came around, he would go on it. For the moment, she would just have to appreciate having him home alive from the disasterous mission.
---
A/N: Originally Kevie was going to die, having given into the darkness. However, it's either because I've been reading way too many depressing stories (I love them, but sometimes they can bring me down) or I've just been feeling a bit sad lately for assorted reasons, that I felt like I needed a happy ending. I typed it up, with a bit of regret because I still think it would've turned out great (maybe even better and definitely more realistic) with a sad ending. Kevin sure gets lots of luck here. This also turned out a lot longer than I had originally planned, but it was still (mostly) a joy to write.
As for the title, it's referring to clinging on to the hope of getting out and knowing he has to get out for Gwen and the currently unborn baby Devlin. Reviews are always appreciated.
Twilight Phantom Dragon