A/N: They updated the site's look. Not sure how I feel about it yet.
Reviewers, you guys rock, thank you for dropping by as always.
And thank you, Greg, for beta-ing.
XL.
As soon as Jimmy, Rick, and Douglas disappeared through the manhole above, Roman moved to stand between Ben and the two girls, as though to protect them from Ben in some way. Kelsey, as usual, hovered at Roman's back, her fingers curled loosely in the hem of his shirt, eyes looked forlorn to the murky water flowing down the center of the corridor. Gia stood a couple paces behind them, almost looking lost without Douglas by her side, her eyes studying Ben disinterestedly.
In the dim of their two flashlights, they all seemed pale, cast in an eerie yellow-greenish glow, and in that way, Ben could gleam an understanding of how, almost a year ago, in similar conditions Jimmy had been mistaken by lost, shaken fighters of the 2nd Mass as a ghost as he led them to something akin to safety.
Ben didn't much care for being in the sewers, Rick had expressed just as much the moment they'd descended into that small, dark space, and there was varying levels of agitation in the other four, and Ben couldn't help wondering if within their own discomfort lie the reason Skitters never came into the sewer systems.
It was stifling in the sewers, Ben's typically heightened senses each felt dampened to an almost insignificant level. There wasn't much light, and while Ben knew his sight was better in the dark than it had been before the harness, the tight corridor and sharp twists and turns, and the monotone of everything around them made it difficult to see very far, and his ability to see well above average almost hindered him into blindness, he focused on everything to the point it became a solid mass. He had to trail a hand along the wall for guidance, keeping Jimmy in his center of vision, the contrast of the other boy's lightly colored skin against the dark undertones of their surroundings serving as a kind of beacon of light. Water rushed through pipes on every side, below the ground, and overhead, drowning out all other sound, so that the only thing Ben could hear was that dull roar. He couldn't smell much, but the scent wafting through the corridor, hung thick in the air, he could taste it rancid on his tongue and it still managed to give him a headache. He felt nauseas, and coated in a slimy film that clung to his skin and hair.
Jimmy obviously didn't like being in the sewers either, but he adapted to the environment well, moving naturally through the corridors, taking only a couple minutes to adjust his senses so that the low light and awful stench barely affected him at all, and because his hearing was at a normal level, the roar of the water around them was little more than a barely audible hum. Ben had been genuinely impressed by Jimmy's ability to guide them through a sewer system he'd never been in before, if not a slight envious, because he didn't have to deal with a Skitter half that hated it down there.
Now Jimmy was gone, and Ben left alone in the horrendous tunnel with only a pair of flashlights to focus on, and three hostile teenagers that quite possibly wanted him to meet a violent end, if their typical behavior towards him were any indication. He knew their senses were bogged down in the sewers, same as his, but to a fraction of the extent. Hopefully unbeknownst to them, they by far had the upper hand in their current circumstance.
Regardless, they had put Jimmy's life in danger one too many times, their conversation the other night still echoed hot in Ben's ears, and their unnecessary appearance on his and Rick's op proved the final straw. He wanted answers and at that moment, he didn't care the risk he needed to put himself in to get them.
"Why are you four here?" Ben demanded; his words reverberated off the sewer walls, fading down the hallway.
"We already told you…" Roman began, but Ben sharply cut him off.
"I'm not asking you," he kept his eyes steady on Kelsey, "I'm asking her."
Gia perked at that, and Roman positioned himself more fully in front of Kelsey. Kelsey tipped her chin farther down, kept her eyes downcast and her shoulders hunched.
"I don't know...why you would…" she stammered, keeping her voice expertly small and unsteady, but now that Ben knew what she could sound like, the meekness now sounded so painstakingly forced, "Roman is the one you should talk to."
"Why is that, because he's the ringleader? That's what everyone believes anyway, but I don't think that's true," Ben jeered, "I think that's just what you want everyone to believe."
"You think…think that…that…that I…I…I'm in charge?" Kelsey whimpered, darting a quick, timid look up at Ben and burying herself farther behind Roman.
Oh yeah, she was good, no one would ever think to question the tiny young girl, cowering behind a rock solid wall of muscle. Gia smirked lightly, bemused, turning her cheek away. Ben snorted, completely jaded by the act, and folded his arms over his chest. He took a couple small steps back, silently surveyed the three before him. Nothing was ever what it seemed, and even less so where those three were concerned, but Ben was fairly certain he was starting to get the clearer picture.
"There've been a number of comments being made around camp lately, that your friends seem fond of saying, about my relationship with Jimmy, likening me to his…uh…" Ben smiled vaguely, then wiped it away, "His guard dog. He doesn't like it, I know, but to be honest, it doesn't really bother me," he tossed a quick threatening glare Roman's direction, shrugging and admitting, "I actually kind of like it. If you think about it, compared to the oh-so-clever 'traitor in our midst' remarks…because those never get old…it's more of a compliment than insult, and it's a fairly accurate analogy. I might not sit and stay well, but I will do whatever needs to be done to protect him."
Roman rolled his eyes, shook his head, as if an attempt to shake away the obvious irritation.
"Now...I've been watching closely…and thinking back over a lot of things and…well, something very peculiar occurred to me," Ben continued, stroking his chin as though in thought, and raising a brow at the three, all eyeing him warily now, "Any time Roman has ever made a decision or said anything of value, you were right beside him, Kelsey. And when he doesn't have anything worth contributing, you aren't. Roman might have the aura of a leader, but he doesn't have the brains."
"What are you trying to say, Mason?" Roman growled, taking a menacing step forward, though faltering somewhat when Kelsey tugged his shirt hem.
"I'm saying that you're strong, bold, aggressive, violent, hot-tempered and way too stupid to call the shots. You're not the one in charge around here. Kelsey, you are the one in charge, and Roman is your guard dog, isn't he?" Ben concluded, glaring between the two, "And unlike me, it seems he can sit and stay very well."
"I told you he was too smart," Gia muttered in the background.
"Will you be quiet," Kelsey hissed, turning a bitter glare up to meet the mildly amused expression creasing Ben's feature, the meek little girl completely replaced now by something fierce and wicked and very, very calculated, "You think you have it all figured out then, huh?"
"You're really going to keep denying it now?" Ben returned smugly.
"There's nothing to deny," Kelsey spat out, "You're wrong, plain and simple. I'm not in charge of anyone."
"Oh please…"
"Same as Roman isn't in charge, or Gia or Douglas for that matter," Kelsey continued, tone taking a venomous turn, "We came here for the very reasons that…"
"Stop lying," Ben interjected, "Now you really expect me to believe that you all have equal pull in the group? It's pretty obvious that not all of you have the same amount to gain from being out here. Douglas already admitted you were all in over your heads, and Gia's looked ready to go home since you got here, she knows none of you are ready to be out here…"
"No, but that's why we brought Jimmy," Gia interrupted, her friends shot her dark looks, and Ben's eyes widened.
"Shut up, Gia," Kelsey roared, "You're so worthless."
"He obviously already knows the answers," Gia argued.
"He doesn't know anything, he's trying to trick us into thinking he does so we'll give him everything and you're just dumb enough for it to work on," Kelsey returned heatedly.
"Come on, Kelsey, leave her alone," Roman mumbled.
"To be fair, you're all dumb enough for it to work on," Ben cut in sharply, and the three fell silent.
Roman had his eyes on Kelsey, obviously awaiting her order though he kept Ben in the corner of his eye, threat written in its edge, Kelsey had a glare fixed, burning a hole straight through Ben's own, and Gia had turned her face to stare with some unknown expression down the hall.
"And Gia's right. I did already know all the answers. I'll give you a clue, Kelsey; you look like you need one. Just because you can't hear me actually doesn't mean I can't hear you," Ben grit out, and Kelsey startled, suddenly paling considerably.
"I told you," Gia grumbled.
"Shut up," Ben snapped, eyes never leaving Kelsey, "You have everyone in camp fooled into thinking you're a sweet, soft-spoken, delicate little girl that hangs around with three older, tougher kids because she needs someone to take care of her, so you clearly don't give a damn about attention or glory or gaining anyone's respect in camp. But something tells me coming out here was your idea. What's your interest in the alien structure? Why are you out here?"
"That's not your business," Kelsey seethed.
"You dragged Jimmy into it, that makes it my fucking business," Ben returned.
"I'm not the one that wanted to bring him," Kelsey shot back.
Ben faltered; his eyes flew instantly to Roman. The older boy scowled but his expression was otherwise unchanged, so Ben looked back to Gia, but her face was still turned away. They weren't going to give him anything.
"That doesn't change that you did, and from what I've seen so far, I'm guessing you're the one who orchestrated whatever it was that you four did to get him out here," Ben quietly stated, "And it doesn't change that you came here to interfere with mine and Rick's mission. Either talk, or we cut you all loose, send you on your way. If we get lucky, you distract the enemy and give us opportunity to blow up that alien structure…"
"You wouldn't," Gia gasped, whipping her head back round.
"Go ahead. We don't need you," Roman muttered.
"Both of you, quiet," Kelsey spoke up, "It's an empty threat, he's not going to leave us here," she smirked and sneered, "His 'master' wouldn't like it."
Ben tilted his chin down, glared up at her. The manhole cover overhead scrapped against the pavement, and was pulled away, light cascading down over the four teenagers standing off in the sewer. A few bags dropped down the hole, and then their three fellows soon followed. Ben only tore his eyes away from Kelsey when Jimmy joined him at his shoulder, Douglas shuffled around to join his friends, and Rick tugged the cover back in place, clanking into the hole once more.
"What's going on?" Jimmy asked Ben, looking amongst the four disgruntled teenagers, shifting uncomfortably. Ben exchanged a last look with Kelsey, her expression hard lined, challenge glinting in her eye.
"Nothing," Ben mumbled, smiling faintly at Jimmy, "How'd it go?"
"Fine; we got what we need, now all we have to do is assemble," Jimmy replied, remarking glumly, "No problem. Right?"
They found a large platform where Jimmy and Douglas could work and for several tens of minutes they experimented with the ingredients and spoke in low whispers to one another. Douglas seemed to know most of the technical terminology, he spoke about 'nitrates' and 'oxidizer', though Ben knew the words from science classes, he didn't understand the context. Jimmy, on the other hand, usually had no clue what Douglas was saying, and spoke in as layman terms as it got, 'the thing that mixes with the other thing, that ignites…then we got boom, right?'
It was a train wreck waiting to happen, and the whole scene would be hilariously amusing if the lives of everyone they knew and loved, including their own, weren't riding on the hope that the two boys could somehow manage to assemble a working explosive. Eventually, Jimmy became annoyed with Douglas, ranting about ratios and the explosive force, and an equation not balancing out, which clearly went over Douglas's head.
"What equation?" Douglas demanded, "This is chemistry, not math!"
"Okay, never mind, you're an idiot. Go away," Jimmy griped, shoving the other boy roughly by the shoulder, "Just leave, go away, I'll do it myself."
"Jimmy, stop being difficult," Ben called haggardly, sighing, as he massaged the bridge of his nose.
"I'm not being difficult. He's being useless," Jimmy returned grumpily.
"Oh boy, we are doomed," Gia mumbled, burying her face in her hand.
"Wow, Jimmy, have you always been the world's biggest jackass, or is that fertilizer somehow helping you grow significantly to blue prize winning size," Douglas quipped.
"What's the matter, Doug, worried I might take your title? Now fuck off, and start measuring out exactly how much I tell you of everything," Jimmy barked command. Ben grinned up at his lover as Jimmy started rattling off numbers in ounces for Douglas and Douglas scrambled to start measurements.
"That must really turn you on, huh, Fido? When he takes command like that?" Roman jeered in a low growl.
"Well, since you seem to care so much, as a matter of fact it kind of does," Ben returned casually, then snarled, "And unlike you, if there's a later after this, I get to do something with him about it. That doesn't make you…jealous, by any chance…does it?"
Roman scoffed, made a face, then set his jaw, folded his arms over his chest and glared off into the distance.
"Ben," Jimmy groaned, flustering and losing his place in listing off measurements for Douglas.
"Hey, puppy love, could you not distract our bomb builder?" Kelsey silently muttered.
"I agree," Rick said quietly to Gia, "It's beginning to look highly likely that this will fail."
Nearly an hour and several small, sample-sized explosives detonated later, Jimmy and Douglas somehow managed to pack four presumably useable explosives capable, Jimmy promised, of a force strong enough to conjointly destroy a medium sized building, though he refused to specify exactly how large was meant by 'medium-sized'.
"It's uh…you know, medium-sized."
"But how big is medium-sized?"
"Well…medium-sized…you know…slightly smaller than large-sized and…uh…slightly larger than small…sized."
"Right. This is going to be fantastic."
"Now comes the hard part," Jimmy sighed, as he handed off the explosives, one to Rick, one to Ben, and he and Douglas held onto the last two.
"Setting the bombs," Ben finished.
"We're just taking the sewers right up to that structure thing, right?" Gia confirmed.
"Problem is, these things need to go off at about the exact same moment in time and they need to be manually ignited," Jimmy said, "That thing is huge…we're all going to have to split up…lay the explosives, leave someone with each one to light it…and then…I don't know…set them off at some predetermined time…"
"Sounds easy enough to me," Roman commented.
"Nothing is ever easy," Jimmy muttered.
"How many of us have watches?" Ben wondered, displaying the watch attached to his wrist, Jimmy tapped his own and Gia had one on.
"Shit…we have four bombs and only three watches? So much for synchronizing…what's plan 'B'?" Douglas complained, running his hands anxiously through his hair.
"Do we even know where we're going to lay these explosives?" Rick questioned.
"He's right. Captain Weaver always gives the layout for detonation assignments like this…he knows about demolitions, we don't," Jimmy groaned, leaning forward on his knees and grimacing as every single little flaw in their fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants plan seemed to now be coming to light, stacking on top of one another into one gargantuan shit heap. Ben gently rest a comforting hand on his back as he whispered, "We are so screwed."
"No. No, we're not," Ben replied carefully, "You and I have both placed explosives for this very purpose, we should be able to puzzle out why they were placed where…"
"I don't remember where I put anything that day," Jimmy cried, "Hell; only thing I remember about that day is running for my life."
"We're not demolishing a building, though," Kelsey pointed out, receiving a few curious glances, "We're trying to destroy some alien structure, it doesn't even look like a building."
"Meaning, we haven't the first clue how to set explosives to take it down…we don't even know if our explosives will work," Jimmy griped.
"So we work with what we know," Douglas suggested, "We set the explosives so that they'll have the greatest amount of force over the largest amount of area."
"How the hell do we do that?" Roman muttered.
"Simple physics," Jimmy supplied, shrugging and wearily running a hand over his face.
"Can you do that? Do you know how?" Ben asked Jimmy quietly.
"I guess we're going to find out," Jimmy replied, "We need to get a good idea of about how large the alien structure thing is though."
"Then we'd better start moving," Ben said, "The structure was about seven blocks northeast…"
"Alright…we'll go seven blocks, take look topside, see where we are," Jimmy decided, tugging out Weaver's compass to get his heading, and then taking the lead once more. Ben trekked alongside him and everyone else fell in line behind them.
For the first couple blocks they moved in silence. Roman and Kelsey fell to the far end of the group, Gia and Douglas a few paces ahead of them, and Rick several feet ahead of them. Jimmy concentrated on their travels, constantly darting looks overhead and at the various other markers around them that Ben couldn't see, but Jimmy was able to use to establish their location in the city. Every so often he glanced at Ben. Ben kept his attention forward and Jimmy in his periphery.
"If this doesn't work," Jimmy started in a low, raspy voice.
"It'll work," Ben interjected.
"Except it might not," Jimmy said sharply, "Or we might be too late or…"
"Or a dozen other terrible things could happen," Ben hissed, "So let's not think about it right now and just focus on getting this one thing done."
"Except we need to think about it right now," Jimmy replied, darting a hasty look over his shoulder at the teenagers following them quietly. They all seemed too lost in their own musings to be paying Jimmy and Ben any attention.
"Why?"
"Because…we need to think about what we'll do next," Jimmy explained, sighing and looking up at the pipes overhead and then forward again, "If it doesn't work, then what is our backup plan?"
"Considering this is our last resort plan," Ben remarked grimly, "I think the backup plan goes something along the lines of…you know, take down as many Skitters as we can before they overwhelm us, then hope our deaths are quick and semi-painless. I call dibs on dying before you…unless you want to go cutesy romantic, die at the same time."
"And…and if it works, but we're too late?" Jimmy murmured silently.
Ben didn't reply. Jimmy held the explosive he carried tighter under his arm.
"Ben…" he started carefully, "I…um…look, whatever happens…I…"
"Yeah," Ben whispered, flashing a small smile to Jimmy, "Me too."
.
.
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A/N: Aww...cutesy crap. Apologies about some parts in this chapter, I was in a very "fuck it all" mood when I wrote it, and so there are dialogues that were written almost purely to crack me up. Also, because the unharnessed kids aren't meant to be bad people, they just do bad things...to Ben...and Jimmy. Oh well.
Let me know what you think, please!
Reviewers: Guest, Y. SassySavanna190, on a bike even. You're awesome. You almost fell down a sewer once?! Well, I'm glad you only bruised your hip. Yeah, Dorchester wasn't pretty for Jimmy, and the others just keep leaving him out, and dragging him blindly in, the poor guy. Yeah, Ben didn't do anything to...crazy, but I hope it was somewhat satisfactory. Cookie97, lol, everyone always wants Ben to punch Roman. Which is good, I suppose, because Ben always wants to punch Roman. I guess it's not so weird you getting excited when Ben and Jimmy are nice to each other...savor it while it lasts. Kidding. Or am I? :P TyphoonBoom08, yes, four in a row! Awesome! I'm glad you like the adventures, I like writing the adventures too and it kind of disheartens me a bit when people are like, that's nice and all, but why aren't they screwing each other's brains out yet? I'm also glad you're a big fan of Rick, because I have long term plans for him. Apologies, though, that you didn't get to see Rick and Jimmy's 'mission', I kind of didn't think it would be all that interesting. Neither are really all that chatty, and they're both very straight to business characters. They will have opportunity to chat in much later chapters though, I promise. MidniteLover99, glad you found the story and are enjoying it so far!
See you guys Sunday. Now I have to go talk to a man about some eggs and coffee.