A/N: Got to be quick, I have food in the oven...

Thank you reviewers, you guys rock!

And a thanks to Greg, though he didn't get me back edits, busy having fun in Canada(?) I'm guessing, and I had no time to proof, so apologies in advance if the chapter is **really** bad with the typos and whatnot.

XLIV.

Reaching the small neighborhood where Ben had left the 2nd Mass proved more difficult than he expected. There were still massive numbers of units in the area, including a large number of Mechs which were seemingly gathered in one section of the neighborhood. Ben had to hide himself a lot of times along the road back, ducking into bushes and bramble, watching through slightly parted branches as hordes of Skitters scampered in varying directions, though he resorted to using his blade a few times, overall, the trek was just arduous and slow go. Once near the 2nd Mass's base camp, Ben found the Community Center overrun by Skitters. He was momentarily disheartened, but he slipped through the neighborhoods, listening every so often until he found sounds that were undeniably human.

There was a small group of survivors holed up in one of the houses, though Ben couldn't hear any one person in particular. For obvious reasons, they were all determined to remain hushed, most likely relying on hand signals for minor communications but otherwise, probably pressed securely in cramped places, whilst silently hoping the alien units would eventually determine enough humans dead for one day and move on. Slaying a stray Skitter along the way, Ben slunk towards the house then crept inside, halting with his hands held high in front of the business end of a rifle.

"Ben?" a familiar voice hissed recognition, grabbing Ben by the collar and dragging him into the darkened 'safety' of the house. Small faces peeked from shadowed corners and Ben grimaced, mostly children, save for a few women and the older man that gripped Ben tight at the shoulder.

"Uncle Scott," Ben greeted in a low voice, "Where's the rest of the 2nd Mass?"

"All sorts of places," Uncle Scott grumbled, leading the way farther into the house.

A small figure, Matt, crawled out from under the window and rushed towards Ben, halting just short of tossing slim arms round his waist, though the desire was obvious in severely distraught features. Without thinking, Ben reached out and crushed Matt against his side, letting the relief wash through him. One down, two to find.

Ben, Matt secure at his side, followed Uncle Scott into the kitchen where his wife, Kate, Dr. Glass, Lourdes, and Jamil along with another older man, whose name escaped Ben, were all gathered around an island countertop. Dr. Glass briefly touched her hand to Ben's shoulder when he was near, her expression softened and contorted with an odd emotion, something like sympathy, and Ben felt his heart drop.

"What's been going on?" Ben wondered, shrugging off the ominous feeling that came with Dr. Glass's expression and turning his attention to the others.

"Enemy overwhelmed us at the community center, we were forced to relocate. Dai and some other fighters volunteered to stay back, hold them off the best they could while we detonated several packs of C4 on the opposite side," Kate explained. She looked haggard, and there was a great deal of blood and bandage across her one side, and wrapped round her head. Everyone in the room had a few scrapes it seemed.

"We fell back to a church," Lourdes whispered, fidgeting with the loose strands of hair falling across her face, "There were so many people missing…"

Jamil had his hand placed in the small of her back, and he began moving it in soothing circles when she spoke up.

"It was only a matter of time before the enemy overwhelmed us there too," Uncle Scott continued, "Weaver figured he'd try and get as many civilians out as possible, broke us up into smaller groups with a couple fighters a piece, plan was we'd go in different directions, look for a way out while the rest of the fighters tackled the bulk of the enemy head on, hopefully provide a distraction."

"It didn't work," Ben surmised, looking at the pale faces around the room. He hadn't spotted a fighter amongst them, which could only mean one thing: they'd been lost in the thrall.

"Some of the groups might've made it through, there's no way of knowing," the nameless man murmured.

"We thought there might be hope a couple hours back, the enemy units started to…to taper off. We've spotted fewer packs of Skitters, a lot less Mechs," Uncle Scott went on, "But there's still too many in the area. We'd never make it through without a few fighters."

"A couple hours back…? That was probably when the alien structure went down," Ben mused.

"Went down?" Uncle Scott pressed, his brow perked. The others straightened curiously at that too.

"Yeah. We blew it up," Ben explained.

"I knew it," Matt grinned, and Ben absently ruffled the younger boy's hair.

"With…what…? How?" Uncle Scott stammered, as far as everyone in the room knew, no explosives went out with Ben and Rick.

"Jimmy made a bomb," Ben said. There was a strange shift in the atmosphere of the room, an odd mixture of sudden relief and surprise.

"Jimmy…he's…alive?" Dr. Glass carefully questioned. Ben peeked at her, and then with a jolt, realized her expression earlier.

"Yeah…well…" Ben faltered, heart hammering erratic against his chest, eyes dropping as he murmured, "I don't know. The other four kids that were harnessed, they…uh…they took Jimmy and followed after me and Rick to the alien structure. When we realized the 2nd Mass was under assault, and that taking down that structure might be the best way to help, Jimmy built a bomb…four bombs, actually, and we had to split up to detonate them all at once."

"Jimmy built a bomb? Well…wait…which one is Jimmy?" Uncle Scott wondered, looking quizzically at the others in the room.

"He's one of the older fighters, isn't he? Was in the army, walks with a limp on his left side," Jamil provided.

"No, no, that's John. He's talking about Jimmy," Dr. Glass corrected, slowing the sudden hot simmer in Ben's veins at their ignorance to the identity of a fighter who less than a month ago had risked his life to save the entire group, "Young teenager, an orphan from Dorchester, spends a lot of his time with Anthony and Dai. My God, Ben, we all thought that he…at the church, when he couldn't be accounted for…"

"I figured," Ben admitted, mumbling distantly, "But he was with me out at the structure. Last I saw him he was okay, and everything seemed to suggest that he was fine when I decided to head back here…"

"We'll sort that out later then," Uncle Scott interjected, obviously sensing the subject to be a bit touchy for Ben and with Jimmy not present, it suggested some very unpleasant scenarios of what might've occurred out at the structure, "Right now we need to think about getting these children somewhere safe. We don't have any fighters, but maybe with you here…"

"I'll do what I can, but I don't know how much help I'll be," Ben agreed.

"I can help too," Matt piped up, but Ben silenced him, placing a light hand atop his head.

"What are you hoping for him to do, Scott?" Kate wondered, worry edging her tone, "There's a lot in our group, enemy units are heavy outside…you said yourself we would need a few fighters to get us out of here, and, now, I understand people say this boy is capable of miraculous things, but there are limits to what even he can do."

Ben made a face, but remained silent. He didn't like the implication in her word, that he couldn't help them, get them to safety.

"I think we need to try reconnecting with as many of the 2nd Mass as we can," Dr. Glass suggested, glancing at Ben, "Would you be able to find any of them?"

"I was lucky to find you guys," Ben replied, frowning, "No ideas on where Weaver and the rest of the fighters might be holed up? Did they stay in the church or…?"

"Not a clue," the nameless man grumbled.

"How many are in the group?" Ben wondered, deciding if they intended for him to be their great savior, or something like it, that he ought to get a better grasp of the situation.

"Well, there's all of us, then sixteen children in the other room, five more women, and two men," Lourdes answered softly, arms folded over her chest and eyes slightly downcast.

"Weapons?" Ben asked.

"Not many, just a few rifles and not much ammo…" Uncle Scott murmured, as Kate shook her head.

"Awesome," Ben sighed, pacing the room as his mind tumbled through various thoughts, most of which fled directly to his missing lover. Where the hell could Jimmy be?

From the other room a crash resounded, and then a scream pierced the air. Ben reacted on instinct, knife in hand and dodging around a sudden flood of children rushing through the kitchen doorway away from the obvious source of danger. It seemed time for planning was passed, as several Skitters scurried into the house, the enemy had found them.

Ben took down a Skitter latched on to one of the children's legs with a swift slice, yelling to a group of people cowering in the corner to run for it. A blow across his brow sent him tumbling to the ground and he barely had time to react when a Skitter claw reached for his neck. Out of the corner of an eye, he caught sight of Dr. Glass aiming the rifle at two Skitters across the room, sending a steady spray of bullets their direction until one dropped.

Ben sank his blade into the Skitter's arm and jabbed the creature in its vulnerable neck. It gagged, loosened its hold and stumbled back a few steps, and Ben finished it off, then shouldered his rifle and laid down the last two aliens in the room. He rushed to meet Dr. Glass and they ducked into the kitchen, tightly packed with the rest of the group, catching sight of more incoming Skitters along the way. He took up a defensive position in the entry way, preparing to fend off the advancing enemy.

"We have to move," Dr. Glass called to her uncle. The nameless man had procured the other rifle and took up the head of the group.

"Where are we going?" one of the women called, but no one could provide answer, and there wasn't any time. The nameless man and Uncle Scott led the way out of the house's front entry, ushering people out the door, as Ben protected the rear, bottle-necking the Skitters in the hallway and using his knife to fend them off one at a time.

Out in the streets again and everything was chaos. Uncle Scott, Kate, Dr. Glass, the nameless man and Ben made attempt to chorale the group, keeping them flanked on all sides, but Ben and Dr. Glass's gunfire from the living room moments before had attracted more enemy to them, forcing Ben to leave the rear guard and face advancing units head on. They had yet to draw a Mech though; Ben could hear dozens in the area, but clearly the monstrosities were distracted with other groups of 2nd Mass-ers. The nameless man hurried haphazardly, taking lead but moving without any direction, many of the young children had to sprint to keep up with the adults' long, quick strides.

"I can hear some fighters about five blocks northeast of here," Ben shouted instruction, slicing his blade across a Skitter's face and dodging its attempted strike. Lourdes gripped Matt's hand, tugging it insistently as he lingered behind, watching his older brother anxiously.

"Ben, come on," Matt cried.

"Go, I'm coming," Ben instructed heatedly, even as he was knocked backwards by an attacking Skitter.

Dr. Glass drove the critter off with gunfire and Ben scrambled to his feet. It seemed the enemy had dispersed again, and the group was given a small window of opportunity to move.

Some of the adults were crying, whimpering pathetically about the situation, a couple were whispering conspiratorially, making dark note of how quickly after Ben and Rick's departure the enemy had attacked and that it seemed too much of a coincidence that the enemy found them in that house shortly after Ben had arrived.

The children were stoic about the situation and moved without complaint, though several clung to one another as though for comfort or support. Matt seemed desperate to remain close to his brother, though Lourdes kept him secure between herself and Jamil.

"Why do you suppose the enemy retreated just now?" Uncle Scott mused quietly, falling back to briefly walk beside Ben.

"Why would I know?" Ben muttered return, "Probably because they figured we're easier pickings than some of the other 2nd Mass groups split off in other places around the area."

"Or maybe they noticed we had more children than adults," Uncle Scott suggested, his features scrunched in concern. He gently patted Ben's shoulder in departure, recommending, "Keep your guard up, I think we might expect one or two of those robots on our tail soon."

Ben gave a grim nod of understanding, swiping his knife clean on his leg and sheathing it, then shifting his rifle butt up firm against his shoulder.

…

Though Jimmy chalked it up to adrenaline and apprehension at Ben's well-being, he navigated the sewers back to the community center with a masterful ease, as though he'd laid out the labyrinthine system himself, and even Pope had to give a – albeit reluctant – comment of respect when they ascended the ladder and clambered out a drain grate into the familiar streets where they'd spent the past several weeks camped out. It was evident by sound and smells alone that the enemy was on the attack, and the group of battle-hardened fighters wasted no time making headway for the church where the 2nd Mass had last been seen. They were only slightly dismayed when they found the building engulfed in flame.

"What do you guys hear?" Jimmy demanded of Roman and the others, as Anthony took Pope and his boys to survey the church for signs of others, "Can you find the captain?"

"It's all just a lot of noise," Roman returned, features screwed in frustration, "There's gunfire and screaming coming from all over the place. How the fuck would you expect us to find anyone in all of this commotion? The super-hearing isn't actually helpful when there's so much white noise."

Jimmy bit his tongue on the sour note: Ben could do it.

"You just have to concentrate. You listened around camp all the time, didn't you? And civilians can be just as noisy…" Jimmy pointed out.

"It's different," Doug interjected, and Jimmy examined them all curiously. They had been silent most of the trek through the sewers. Their expressions were pale, drawn out, and there was something dampened about the atmosphere around them.

"Kelsey…" Jimmy started and Roman cleared his throat to silence Jimmy, as Anthony and the other fighters rejoined them.

"Looks like the 2d Mass cleared out of the church, probably purposely set it ablaze," Anthony remarked, "There are dead Skitters and some Mech scrap metal all around the backside, but no clear evidence of where they've gone."

"Weaver would've tried to get the civilians to safety," Jimmy said, "So…we just have to figure out where safety is and head that direction, right?"

"Maybe," Anthony murmured, frowning, and nodding to the three somber teens, "What about them? Can they hear anything?"

"No," Jimmy muttered glumly, "Too much going on, they can't pinpoint anyone."

"Well, l got an idea," Pope grumbled, "The bugs do a mighty fine job of finding our people and massacring the crap out of them, why don't we just follow them?"

There was a short silence.

"That's actually really smart," Anthony decided and a few reluctant agreements rippled through the group.

"Of course it's really smart. I came up with it, didn't I?" Pope said indignantly, sniffling loudly and puffing his chest up.

Finding a pack of Skitters didn't prove difficult; after all, the aliens weren't the ones trying to be stealthy. To minimalize the possibility of their being detected while following the enemy unit, they spread their group out thin, with Techtor, Crazy Lee, and Anthony taking turns in lead following the Skitters. Jimmy hung back with the three unharnessed teens, eyeing them worriedly as they trudged several yards back from the older fighters, they were growing increasingly melancholy. Jimmy suspected it had to do with their missing comrade, but her absence itself was more perturbing then their gloomy demeanors.

The vague explanation that Douglas and Gia provided for Kelsey leaving didn't sit well with Jimmy. None of the unharnessed teens had mentioned anything about a signal until that day, and Ben's silence on the topic especially bothered Jimmy. Every time it felt like things were making sense between them again, it seemed that something new had to pop up and punch Jimmy in the gut. A mysterious signal that only the unharnessed children could hear, coupled with Ben's sudden lapses in memory and control, mixed together into a frightening concoction of what-the-fuck-did-the-aliens-do-to-Ben? Jimmy didn't put much stock in Roman's story about Ben's role in the other teenagers' harnessing, but the possibility that, harness or no, Ben might still be under alien control loomed once more over Jimmy's head, as if it really ever left since the moment Ben first entered camp, and Jimmy couldn't help the frustration swarming inside of him, when would they ever be able to move past this fear? If…when the war was won and all of the aliens finally wiped from the planet? But then, if Ben was still under alien control, who would he be when that control was finally and completely broken?

Gunfire broke Jimmy from his dark train of thought, and shocked him back hard into reality. He shouldered his gun and raced towards the sound of combat, falling in line beside Anthony and the others to tear through enemy units that had gathered around a quaint two-story red brick. From inside the house, 2nd Mass fighters were also attacking, and caught between the forces, it didn't take long for the Skitters to be obliterated. Then Anthony and the others led the way to the building, Jimmy and his three charges trailing behind.

Inside, there was maybe four or five fighters, and Anthony found and greeted Dai in what may have once been a dining room, though the table had obviously been removed recently, most likely broken down and used for a barricade. Jimmy barely made it into the room when he was caught round the neck, crushed against a warm body in a good-natured strangle hold and his hair ruffled, overwhelmed by a somewhat familiar scent akin to Ben's citrus and pine but not quite the same.

"God damn it, kid, we need to get you a leash or something," Hal remarked, as Jimmy squirmed out of the older boy's grasp, flustered and heart pounding erratic, as his mind flew unbidden to Ben, "Where the hell were you?"

"I know, I know, everyone thought I was dead…again, but I was just forced against my will to leave camp when the attack happened," Jimmy hastily rattled off explanation, darting a pointed look at Roman, Gia, and Doug standing sheepishly in the corridor, "I'm alive and fine. What's going on? Where is everyone?"

"We don't know. All over the place. What you see here is what we've got," Hal answered, gesturing to the handful of stony faced fighters in the room, all of whom were watching interestedly as Anthony and Dai exchanged information, "We've been under near constant assault since that first strike. We fled to a church, sent the civilians out in small groups with escorts, hopefully they made it through and then whatever fighters remained tried to hold the line, but the enemy just kept pouring down on us, we were forced to fall back and all ended up separated. What do you mean forced to leave camp? Where were you forced to go?"

"Alien structure," Jimmy muttered, "Don't ask. I don't know why and they aren't talking."

"They…?" Hal repeated, furrowing his brow, then following Jimmy's gaze towards the three teenagers standing outside of the dining room. He darted a confused look to Jimmy and Jimmy shrugged response. He shifted his weight, folding his arms over his chest, anxiously questioning, "You were out there at the structure? Did you see…?"

"Ben…yeah," Jimmy mumbled interruption, dropping his eyes and whispering, "He helped us destroy the alien thing but I…I don't know where he is now. I tried looking for him but…"

"Great," Hal groaned, running a hand over his face and rubbing his features furiously, "Knowing Ben, he's probably trying to take on the entire alien fleet by himself, the little jerk."

"I'm sure he's okay," Jimmy quietly commented. Hal smirked wryly and shook his head at the ground, clapping a hand to Jimmy's shoulder once, and then stalking towards Anthony and Dai.

Jimmy sighed and meandered out into the hallway, leaning against the wall across from the three unharnessed teens. He looked at each of them considerately and they gawked silently back at him.

"Tell me about the signal."

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A/N: Right. There's that...end on a semi-cliff hanger. Yay!

Um...

Yeah, let me know what you think, please!

Reviewers: SassySavanna190, hehe, glad you liked it! Yes, Ben is still a kid at heart, and his biggest weakness is definitely Jimmy right now, which I will totally exploit to the best of my abilities. I love writing Pope, I do, because I feel like I can have him say anything snarky and it works for him. Um...honestly, I guess it's almost been a year since I last watched Falling Skies, so I don't really remember the funniest lines from the show. I actually don't recall laughing all that much while watching. Sorry I don't have a better answer. :( RemedyRay, yay, you caught up! And I'm glad you dig the sequel so much! Yes, the odd little love triangle thing going on there...addicting , huh? Aww...I'm glad you think so. Hope this update was worth the wait. Haley, I don't know if you reached this chapter yet, but welcome back! Starting to like Roman, huh? Awesome. You know, he's not really a bad guy, he just does bad things sometimes.

That's it. Got to check on my food. See you guys next Sunday!