Chapter 29: Lucky Girl: Part 4
I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter Twenty Nine of the reboot!
* To start, I want to say that this chapter will be quite different from its original version, as well. I put a lot of thought into this one, as well, so I hope that you guys will be happy with how it came out.
* And because this chapter will also be very different than the original version, this chapter will probably have a bigger segment of Director's Commentary, too.
* Sorry that this chapter is two days later, it took more time than usual, it was longer and there was a good deal of editing to do, that's all I have to say on that. I don't really have anything else to say in regards to this chapter, so let's get right into it!
Earth-Prime
Thursday, June 7th, 2018
The Tennyson House
Ben
It seemed like that it took ages for the following morning to come. I've had some long nights, lying in that bed as I've tried to get to sleep, but last night felt like the longest night of my life. I was still awake long after Gwen had quit crying and her breathing had steadied. She had managed to fall asleep but it was only later that I finally managed to fall asleep.
She must have let go of me in her sleep and I must have rolled over while I was sleeping, because I woke up looking at her sleeping face. I slowly and carefully got out of bed to keep from waking her. Once I was out of bed, I pulled the covers up to her shoulder. I decided that I would just go out to the living room in case she woke up soon.
On my way out to the living room, I checked the time and found that it was just past seven in the morning. That meant that I had only gotten four or five hours of sleep last night. I sat down on the couch and turned on the T.V., but right off the bat I wasn't paying attention, as I was too deep in thought.
I can't help but think about how much I hurt Gwen. And none of this would have happened if I hadn't been an idiot and had just stayed home. And... Albedo. Albedo. I can't help but feel responsible for him and yet, he's still out there in the city, by himself. All alone. I just wish that I could give him a home... Wait! Maybe I can... Oh, Gwen's going to hate this idea.
My thoughts were interrupted when I just barely saw a shadow pass from my peripheral. So, I looked up and saw Gwen just standing there, in front of the couch with a blank expression on her face.
"Gwen?" I spoke her name as I reached for the remote to shut off the T.V.
She didn't say anything in response, all she did was stand there in silence, while retaining that blank expression.
"Gwen?" I repeated her name.
When she didn't answer me again, I stood up and gently put my hands on her shoulders, to find that she was shaking ever-so-slightly.
She's shaking again, I thought.
"Come on, sit down." I said as I gently pulled her down into a sitting position on the couch.
Once I had her sat down, I got up from the couch myself.
"I'll be right back, okay? I'm going to get you a blanket."
I walked over to the hall closet and got a blanket out of it for Gwen. I then returned to the couch and gently draped the blanket around her before sitting down next to her. I put my arms around her and rested her head against my chest.
"It's okay, I'm here." I whispered to her in an attempt to comfort her. "I promise that I'm not going anywhere."
One Hour Later
Gwen never did say anything nor did she start crying again. Eventually, I left her to go into the kitchen to make us breakfast. I decided to make bacon and eggs this morning. Usually, Gwen would make us breakfast, but she was currently unresponsive. Once I had finished up with making breakfast and had put our plates on the table, I called Gwen in to eat. She came in and sat down with me at the table. While I ate normally, she ate slowly and without a word to me. Eventually, I just couldn't sit there in silence anymore, so I cleared my throat.
"Gwen, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings."
She looked up at me, however, she didn't say anything. I decided to speak up again.
"Please understand that I really appreciate you wanting to help me with my issues, but I don't think you can. I'm sorry that I'm repeating repeat that, but it's the truth. And please don't be hurt, because it's not your fault that you can't do anything to help me."
She still said nothing, yet continued to look at me.
"I was just in a tough place, which has nothing to do with you. I don't even think my parents could have helped me through this. I don't know if there's anyone I can talk to about this."
She didn't say anything yet again and at this point, I began to feel nervous.
I revealed too much, didn't I? Now Gwen might be curious.
Despite my worries, I was surprised when she didn't ask about what was bugging me. Instead, she sighed and finally spoke.
"I think I can understand. But you need to understand that you really hurt my feelings with what you said last night."
"I do understand and I'm sorry that I didn't pick a better way to say it. I picked a lousy way of saying it, a way that hurt your feelings and it was dumb of me to do that."
She shook her head.
"It wasn't dumb of you. We're still teenagers, Ben. We're bound to mess up and you messed up, so what? It's fine, really."
But it's not fine! The way your broke down last night, just how much I hurt your feelings tells me that this is not fine!
"Gwen?" I said her name.
"What?" she asked.
"Why did you come to my room last night? What made you break down like that?"
I briefly saw a sad look cross her eyes before she spoke.
"I guess the worry of you being away came back. It hit me all at once. I just needed to hold you for a while, to know that you were still here."
I can't lose my baby cousin, Ben, her words to me last night echoed in my head.
I gave that some thought.
Judging on what exactly you said last night, I feel like there's more to it than that.
Regardless of what she said, I dismissed my thoughts and spoke again.
"Gwen, it's okay to cry. It's okay to have moments of weakness and to have a break down. It's very human behavior. I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere. If you need anything, I'm here for you. I'll do anything to make it up to you."
"You don't need to make it up to me."
Okay, I thought. Not gonna lie, that kinda hurt.
A few moments of silence passed between us after that and eventually, Gwen spoke again.
"Ben, I need you to do something for me."
"Okay. What's that?"
She looked at me with a serious look on her face before she spoke.
"Tell me that I wasn't the reason you left."
I just looked back at her.
Well, that's a little difficult, I thought. Because you were the reason that I left. But not just you, it had to do with everyone I know. Friends and family.
"I didn't leave because of you." I slowly replied.
The look on her face intensified.
"You promise?"
I nodded.
"I promise."
She looked back at me with a uncertain face.
"Why did you take so long to answer? And how come you answered slowly?"
"I thought that you might be a bit skeptical that I was telling the truth if I answered immediately."
"Okay, fair point."
I can't believe that I just said that to her. I just lied to her. She, along with everyone else, is the reason why I left! I just wanted to protect everyone.
She continued to just stare at me, before the look on her face eventually brightened a little.
"Good!" she spoke again. "Glad to hear it."
"So, are we good?"
"We should be."
I decided to just accept her answer and be done with it. No need to draw this out any longer than it already was. We both returned to eating our breakfast in silence after that. Once she was done eating, she got up from the table.
"Thank you for making breakfast." She spoke as she moved to the kitchen sink.
"You're welcome."
After I had finished eating, I got up to rinse off my plate just like she did. As I did that, a thought entered my mind.
"Hey," I spoke as I worked at the sink. "how come you didn't call my parents to tell them about me running off?"
She remained silent for a few seconds.
"I decided that I would give you one week to come back on your own before I called your parents."
"That doesn't really make sense, Gwen. Why didn't you just call them immediately?"
"I just didn't want to make things worse than they already were."
So... She didn't want to complicate things any further?
I was a little nervous about my parents coming back, so I asked Gwen a sensible question.
"Gwen, will you keep quiet about me running away once our parents get back from their trip?"
She was silent for a moment, so I was afraid that she'd rat me out, however, that wouldn't end up being the case.
"I promise that I won't say a word to them about it. I feel like we've come to an understanding. No need to bring this up to them when you and I have already talked about it."
I was thankful that she was willing to do that and I could have said thank you, but I had a feeling that she didn't need to hear me say it. Besides, I thought it was best to move on from this topic before either of us began thinking about it from a different perspective.
Later That Day
Come lunch time, we decided to have the leftover spaghetti for lunch.
"Gwen," I spoke after I had gotten a few bites into the meal. "I need to run an idea by you."
"Okay." She replied. "What is it?"
"Do you remember that double of me, that doppelganger?"
She looked up at me with a look of confusion on her face.
"Yes? Where is this going?"
"You probably won't like this, but I think I want to offer him a place to live."
She looked back at me with shock, before eventually shaking her head.
"No, absolutely not! That thing tried to steal your life!"
Easy, I thought. Calling him a "thing" is taking it a little too far.
"I know he did. But he's trying to do better. I ran into him while I was out there. He wants me to help him figure out what to do with his life."
She looked at me with confusion once again.
"So, he found you?"
Now it was my turn to be confused.
"Pardon me?"
To my surprise, she answered almost immediately. I was thinking that she would have at least thought about what she was going to say first.
"He came to the house looking for you while you were gone. But I turned him away after what he tried to do in the past. How did he find you, but my... Never mind. Forget it."
Her odd response got me thinking.
Does Gwen know that her hired help didn't find me? How could she?
I decided to just let it go and move on.
"Gwen, he's gotten better. He is trying to change his ways. And seeing as he's my clone, I feel as though he's my responsibility."
That seemed to anger her.
"He isn't your responsibility nor does he have to be!" she exclaimed.
"Gwen, please—" I tried to reason with her, only for her to cut me off.
"Forget it! Did you even stop to think about how your parents would take this?"
"I don't know! I hadn't thought that far yet. But seriously, Gwen. I think I can—"
"Ben, I said no! So, drop it, please."
Well, so much for that idea, I thought as I sighed.
"Okay, I'll drop it. If that's really what you want."
"Thank you."
Gwen had put me into a corner just now. I was now even farther away from figuring out what to do with Albedo. Not that I was any closer either, that is. After both of us finished eating and cleaned up after ourselves, I went to my room to get ready to leave for a while. After I got my car keys, I came back out into the living room where Gwen was.
"Hey, I have to go run a quick errand. Will you be okay here by yourself for a while?"
She nodded.
"I'll be okay. Go ahead and take care of your business."
I'll admit it, I thought to myself as I turned to leave. After the way she broke down to me last night, I'm surprised that she's just going to let me leave this easily.
"Ben, wait!" she called out to me before I could make it to the door.
I turned around to see her still sitting out the couch, with a slight look of discomfort on her face.
"What is it?" I asked with a curious tone.
She got up from the couch and approached me.
"I just wanted to say thank you for comforting me this morning after the 'thing' I had last night. I'm sure it sounds weird to you, but if you hadn't let me stay last night, I may never have gotten to sleep."
I shook my head.
"I don't think it's weird at all. You're never too old to cry, Gwen. And it's okay to seek comfort. Do whatever you have to do to feel better."
She just looked at me with mixed look of sadness and happiness, before she threw her arms around me.
"Thank you for everything, Ben. Really."
I gently patted her back.
"I'm here for you, Gwen. I meant it. Whatever you need."
She continued to hug me.
"You're so mature for your age. So kind and understanding. I'm lucky to know someone like you."
She pulled away and looked at me as she continued speaking.
"You're even kind towards that thing that tried to steal your life, claiming that he's your responsibility. You have to understand why I don't trust his claims that he's changed. Granted, because of your kindness, I'll give some thought to you wanting to offer him a home. No promises, though."
"Well. I'll take even that. Thanks for reconsidering, even if just a little bit."
"Just go take care of your errand and get back quickly, okay?"
I nodded.
"Okay, I'll be back soon."
I turned around and was about to head to the door again, when Gwen spoke up once more.
"Hey, wait a second."
I turned to look at her again.
"How can you be like this?" she asked with a curious look on her face, "How can you be able to comfort me and be back to normal after having what you said to be mental issues?"
I gave her a weak smile.
"Maybe I'm not fully over it yet. But I have to at least try or I'll never get better."
She looked back at me with a sad smile.
"I'm here for you, too, you know."
I nodded.
"I know."
When neither of us said anything else, I pointed at the door.
"I'm going to go now."
"Yeah."
I stepped outside, shut the door and then pulled out my phone to call Julie for a recap on where Cooper's Warehouse was.
Sometime Later
Downtown Bellwood, The Tenement Building
I parked my car a bit away from the Tenement Building and then took an alternate route into the building. Once I found my way to the old stairwell, I went up to the floor that I had stayed on.
"Albedo!" I called out as I entered the floor. "Are you here?"
"Yeah, I'm here." I heard him call back to me. "What are you doing back here?"
I walked into the old room that I stayed in and finally caught sight of him.
"I wanted to check in on you." I replied. "Are you doing okay?"
He shrugged.
"I guess. How did it go at home with Gwen?"
"Oh, you know. She was a little angry with me for running away like I did. And a bit emotionally devastated, too."
"Well, after what you did, can you really blame her?"
"I guess I can't."
"How's she doing now? Any better?"
"Yeah, she's okay. We worked things out after a while."
"Good, good. Glad to hear it."
"Anyway, do you want to go on a quick errand with me before I have to go back home?"
"Sure, I guess I don't have anything else to do. So, where are we going?"
"To visit a friend that I made while I was away from home. Come on, let's get going."
Sometime Later
Downtown Bellwood, The Riverfront
We had arrived at Cooper's Warehouse and were currently approaching the door.
"Just so you know," I spoke as we reached the door. "if you ever need to come here in the future, he'll only answer if you knock like this."
I knocked on the door in the tune of "shave and a haircut, two bits".
"Who's 'he'?" Albedo asked.
"You're about to find out."
A few seconds passed and Cooper unlocked the door from the inside before answering. Once he saw me, he smiled in response.
"Ben, you're back!" he greeted me.
That's when he noticed Albedo.
"Um, who's this?" he asked in a nervous tone.
"Cooper, this is Albedo." I replied. "Albedo, Cooper. He's the one that I was referring to when I said that there was someone else who could benefit from your work."
"I see."
When Cooper didn't move to let us in, I looked back at him with a look of confusion.
"Is there something wrong?"
"If you continue to tell people about me, we'll have to have a talk in the future."
Are you fucking kidding me?
"It was only one person, Cooper!"
He looked back at me with a disapproving look.
"I'm private about my work for a reason, Ben."
I was silent in response. I couldn't think of anything to say.
"Whatever," he spoke when I didn't. "you two came up here for a reason, so let's get this over with."
He finally opened the door for us and Albedo looked at me with uncertainty. I nodded at him and we both entered the warehouse, after which Cooper shut and locked the door behind us.
"So," I spoke as I walked further into the warehouse. "did you finish improving my costume, Cooper?"
"Yes."
"And the other improvements for my friend, here?"
"Yes."
"Then let's see what you've come up with."
Cooper gestured for us to follow him over to a table where my costume and another similar costume were sitting on.
"Okay, this is what I came up with. There's nothing that I could do for your leather jacket and there was no jacket for... Albedo, right?"
I nodded at him.
"Right, that's me." Albedo spoke up.
"Right," Cooper continued. "so the leather jacket is the same as when Julie brought you to me the other day."
Albedo looked at me as Cooper spoke.
"Julie?" he asked.
"Later." I whispered back.
"However, I was able to improve your mask, along with the tops and bottoms of your costumes."
"Wait a minute." Albedo spoke up. "If you only had Ben's costume to start with the other day, then where did this other one come from?"
"Julie helped me find something made of similar material. Now, pay attention. I was able to embed a very light type of armor beneath the fabric, mainly in the arms, chest and back. The armor will protect against some small arms fire and against smaller blades, too."
"You weren't able to do the same thing with the masks?" I asked.
Cooper shook his head.
"No. And if you get hit or shot in the head, it would still hurt, anyway."
But getting hit or shot anywhere else wouldn't hurt? That doesn't really make sense.
"Fair enough, I guess."
"As for your jeans," Cooper continued. "I added some kneepads to them. I had to get another pair of jeans for your buddy, but that's not a big deal."
"Wow," I replied. "that's actually pretty nice."
That's when I noticed something about our costumes. In the upper left corner of the chest, knitted into the tops, were green hourglasses, representing the alien watch. On Albedo's, too.
"I didn't take you to be the knitting type, Cooper." I spoke up as I turned to look at him.
He looked at me with a look of confusion.
"I'm sorry?" he asked.
I pointed to the insignias.
"Those insignias knitted into the tops of our costumes."
He looked back at the costumes, now aware of what I was talking about.
"Oh, those! That wasn't me, I can't knit. I had Julie help with that part."
Julie told me that she may be too busy with work or school to help me again in the future, but she's not too busy to help Cooper? Interesting.
"Plus, I saw the hourglass symbol on that device you believe is called the Omnitrix and I thought it could be a good identifying factor. But Albedo's Omnitrix is red, not green, so... whoops."
"To be fair, I didn't think about telling you that his is red." I replied. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Albedo answered for Cooper. "I'm just happy to be getting something new."
I turned back to Cooper after hearing what Albedo said.
"It's an interesting idea, anyway." I said.
After I said that, Cooper moved back to the table and picked up two pairs of some kind of... metal things. That's all I could do to describe them. I had no idea what they could possibly be.
"Hey, what are those things?" I asked him.
Cooper walked back over to us with the two pairs of metal things in his hands.
"These are wrist gauntlets. They aren't technically gauntlets, but it sounds better than anything else." He said. "I thought that if your transformations have a recharge time, you can't rely on them to get around the city. There are trigger mechanisms that you can pull to fire these grapple hooks. The cables are strong enough for you to swing from and they will automatically retract a couple of seconds later with a pull of the second trigger. One set for each of you. Any questions?"
"You really took inspiration from Spider-Man, didn't you?" I asked.
"Really, Ben?" Albedo asked. "Your first costume was made from half of a Black Suit Spider-Man costume!"
"That's irrelevant."
"Whatever you say."
"Well," Cooper spoke up. "that's everything."
I nodded.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." I replied.
Albedo turned to look at me.
"I appreciate it, too." He chimed in. "You decided to have him make a costume for me? I—I don't know what to say."
I shook my head.
"Then don't say anything. No words necessary. I just want to look out for you, you know?"
"Thanks. That means a lot to me."
Cooper returned the two pairs of wrist gauntlets to the table and cleared his throat, causing Albedo and I to look at him.
"Well, you two can take all this stuff with you. Anyway, if you need anything crafted in the future, come on back here and I'll see what I can do to help."
"Thanks, Cooper." I said to him.
"Anytime."
I turned to Albedo after that.
"Let's get going. Take care, Cooper."
"You guys, too." Cooper replied as he followed us to the door to unlock it for us.
Once we were outside and Cooper had locked the door behind him, Albedo turned to look at me.
"I really wish that you'd be more careful." He said.
I just looked back at him with confusion.
"What are you talking about?" I asked him a few seconds later.
"I told you to be more careful with your identity and now at least two more people know who you are!"
Frankly surprised by what he said, I put up my hands in defense.
"Easy, Albedo! I can't do this super hero shit on my own and they've proven themselves to be helpful!"
Albedo gave an understanding, yet stern face.
Huh, I thought. Imagine that. Albedo looking stern.
"I understand that. Just don't use it as an excuse to carelessly reveal your identity to people you've only just recently met! And what about this Julie person?"
"She patched me up after Leon Jones shot me. Anyway, I thought that I already told you about that?"
He nodded.
"You did." He replied, before the look on his face eased up a little bit. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm overreacting. Just be a little more careful in the future, please?"
I didn't exactly like what he was saying, so I decided to just let it go.
"Let's agree to disagree about this." I finally replied.
"Fine."
I cleared my throat in an attempt to clear the current topic from the air.
"Anyway, before I go back home, there's an idea that I want to run by you."
"Okay. What's that?"
"I want to offer you a place to live. At my house."
Much to my surprise, Albedo shook his head.
"Not a chance. There's no chance of that ever happening."
I looked back at him with a surprised look on my face.
"What? How come?"
"Because after what I tried to do in the past, it would probably make Gwen very uncomfortable to have to live with me."
I have to admit that I hadn't expected him to say something like that. But when I take a second to reflect on how he's changed recently, maybe I should have seen that coming.
Nevertheless, I was going to persist for a bit longer.
"I understand and appreciate that you wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable. But I talked about it with her this morning and after a while, she told me that she'd try to consider it!"
"Yeah, well even if she told you herself that she'd allow it, I still don't think that I'd be able to live there, knowing that my presence may make her uncomfortable. So, as much as I appreciate the offer, I have to refuse."
"But I feel responsible for you! I can't just leave you out here in the city all by yourself!"
"I appreciate your concern, Ben. But I can take care of myself."
Even though I respected his decision, this isn't what I wanted for him. I wouldn't expect anyone to understand, but I had grown somewhat attached to Albedo. And so, I persisted still.
"Albedo, please."
He suddenly looked back at me with a serious gaze before speaking in an equally serious tone.
"Ben, I'll figure it out, don't worry about me. Thanks, but no thanks."
I finally sighed with disappointment, sensing that it was time to give up.
"Okay, fine. Before I go, I'm going to meet Lucky Girl tonight, just to wrap things up with her. Are you going to come with?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Alright. See you tonight, then."
"Bye."
Sometime Later
The Tennyson House
After parking my car in the driveway, I walked through the door to see Gwen sitting on the couch, right where I left her.
"Hi." I said as I shut the door behind me.
"Hi." She replied. "How'd your little errand go?"
"It went okay, I guess."
"Well, I'm glad it went well."
I began to nervously scratch the back of my neck before I spoke next.
"So, I ran into Albedo, my double, while I was out."
She sat up straighter on the couch with a look of surprise on her face, as if she hadn't expected me to bring him up again.
"Yeah?" she asked with uncertainty. "How did that go?"
"It went okay. He turned down my offer for him to live here, though. He said that he wouldn't be able to live here knowing that he may make you uncomfortable."
Now Gwen looked even more surprised.
"Wow, um, I didn't see that coming. Perhaps I misjudged his ability to change."
I shook my head.
"Don't kick yourself over it. You had your reasons for not trusting him."
She shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess."
After that, I reflected on how she seemed to be surprised about me telling her that I ran into Albedo while I was out. So, I decided to ask.
"Um, just out of curiosity, do you not think that it's weird for Albedo to have found me while I was gone? Or that I just ran into him while I was out on my errand?"
To be fair, I thought as I waited for her answer. Albedo was the favor, but she doesn't know that.
"Yeah, I think it's a little weird. But after everything that's happened in the last week and a half or so, I just try not to question the weird things too much. And besides, if you actually want to talk to him, that's your business. As much as I'd like you to be wary of him, I have no control over that."
I'll have to admit that I don't really understand that first part, I thought.
"Well, thanks for that."
She shrugged as she got up from the couch.
"Alright, I'll get started on dinner." She spoke as she turned to look at me. "You can go ahead and do whatever while you wait and then we might do something."
"Okay." I replied.
Later That Night – Nine Thirty P.M.
Gwen came to me shortly after nine this evening. She told me that she was going to bed and that she didn't need me to comfort her tonight. I told her to sleep well and off she went to her room. Once I heard her door shut, I put on my newly upgraded costume and quietly slipped out of my window. Immediately upon getting out of my window, I heard someone whisper to me from my left.
"Hey, man!"
I jumped with surprise, nearly having a heart attack as I turned to see Albedo just standing to the left of my bedroom window. Once I recovered from my shock, I spoke.
"Jesus, dude! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
Albedo let out a chuckle as he whispered back to me.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to! Anyway, I thought I'd meet you here before heading to the building."
"Yeah, that's great. Now, let's get out of here before Gwen hears us."
Sometime Later
The Bellwood Post's Rooftop
We used our new wrist gauntlets to get to the top of the Bellwood Post's Building. It took a while for us to get to the rooftop, but we managed. An act that seemed to be unfortunately wasted, as Lucky Girl didn't appear to be showing up tonight. Just after ten o'clock, I spoke.
"She's not coming."
"No, I'm here." A familiar voice replied almost instantly. "Next time, be patient and actually wait for more than a minute. I see that you got your costume back."
I turned to look at Lucky Girl, standing right behind us.
How did she get up here without us hearing her?
Before I could greet her, she spoke again.
"That's Albedo, I presume?"
"That's me." He replied.
Lucky Girl gave him a slightly uncomfortable smile. I cleared my throat and finally addressed her.
"Are you still mad at me, Lucky Girl?"
She looked at me and shook her head.
"No, I'm not. And I want to apologize for how I acted yesterday."
"You had every reason to react the way you did." I assured her.
She shook her head.
"No, I didn't. I disrespected the fact that you have a personal life, which is probably taboo for superheroes to talk about anyway, and I had no right in doing so. I'm sorry."
"Alright, fine. I'll let it go and accept your apology."
"Thank you."
After that, no one said a thing. Once a few more seconds had passed, Lucky Girl cleared her throat.
"So, Ben Tennyson returned home yesterday. Gwen called me to let me know."
Gwen must have done that while I was out today, I thought.
I didn't answer and Albedo didn't say anything, either. In response, she began to nervously scratch the back of her neck.
"I guess I can't help but feel guilty. Since Gwen hired me to find him, which I then enlisted your help, just for neither of us to find him."
"Don't kick yourself about it. He's just a kid, Lucky Girl. He couldn't survive out on the streets on his own, so he kind of had to return home at some point."
"Fair enough. There's no point in arguing about it, anyway."
Next, something interesting happened. Lucky Girl began to move closer to me until we were face to face. She then began to search around my face until she found the bottom of my mask. She started to move my mask upwards until just my nose and mouth were visible. I could have sworn that she was going to take off my mask completely, but I was so dense that I couldn't see what she was actually doing.
"Wait, you can't—" I began to protest, only for her to cut me off.
"Just stay calm. I'm not doing anything weird."
She then kissed me on the cheek, before pulling away only a second later and pulling my mask back down. Once she stepped back, Albedo finally spoke up for the first time in a couple minutes.
"What just happened?"
Lucky Girl turned to look at him, but said nothing before looking back at me.
"Thanks for trying to help me, anyway."
Before I could answer, Albedo spoke up again.
"Hey, where's mine?"
Lucky Girl turned to look at him with a look of confusion.
"You didn't do anything to help! You just kind of showed up!"
I just chuckled at the interaction between the two, before I cleared my throat.
"You know, you didn't have to pull my mask up to kiss my cheek."
Before Lucky Girl could answer, Albedo spoke up.
"Dude, a girl kissed you on the cheek! Just accept it!"
Lucky Girl chuckled as Albedo said that. After that, I directed my attention to her.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, Ben Tennyson has returned home. Gwen Tennyson doesn't require your help anymore, nor do you need any help. So, what do you plan to do now?"
Lucky Girl crossed her arms over her chest. I was worried that I may have offended her with what I said, but it did not appear to be that way.
"I don't know. I'm kind of new to this whole super hero thing, but I kind of want to be like you. So, maybe if you guys are ever out on patrol and need an extra hand, you'd let me tag along?"
I looked at Albedo to try to gauge his reaction, only to realize that with his mask on, I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He must have realized this, because he just shrugged instead of saying anything. I turned to look back at Lucky Girl, who was expecting an answer.
"Only if you want to." I finally replied.
"Okay. Then if I want to help out, how would I get ahold of you? Because I'm not into the idea of giving out my phone number to two guys that I hardly know."
Before either of us three could answer, a familiar robotic voice began to speak from our left.
"Well, well, well. Am I interrupting a super hero meeting?"
All three of us turned to look at Sixsix, just hovering in mid-air several feet away from us.
"Stop following me, you creep!" I exclaimed, being the first to break the silence.
"Sorry, I can't. I'm obligated to follow you around."
"Then be obligated to fuck off and leave me alone!"
He just hovered there for a second, before answering.
"Did you just threaten me?"
"And I told you that my deal is the only deal that works. I know that is a tough thing to accept, but you have to. My boss told me to tell you, that you get one more chance to come quietly."
Albedo
I could just sense that things between us and this thing were going to go sour pretty quickly. Ben and I had our alien watches, plus the wrist gauntlets that that guy, Cooper, made. But what did Lucky Girl have? I approached Lucky Girl as Ben stared the armored thing down and she turned to look at me.
"What are you—" she began to speak, but I interrupted her.
"Stop, just take these." I said as I pushed the wrist gauntlets into her hands.
"What are these?"
"Wrist gauntlets. They fire grapple lines that are stable enough for you to swing from. Trust me, Alien Guy and I tested them already. There are trigger mechanisms and a pull of the second trigger will retract the other hook a couple of seconds later."
"Um, thanks? Why do I need these?"
"Alien Guy and I have our watches, plus these, but I don't know what you have. I'd feel better if you had something that would help you move quicker."
Lucky Girl didn't say anything after that. In fact, she seemed to be deep in thought.
Ben
"Who's your boss?" I asked as I barely noticed Albedo approach Lucky Girl from behind me.
I didn't give it too much thought.
"You'll find out soon enough." Sixsix replied. "Now come with me."
"No. We are leaving."
"No. You're not." Sixsix replied in a threatening tone.
He took those dual wield plasma guns off of his back and pointed them at me.
"No, you're not leaving. See, you're coming with me, now. And if you don't, I'll kill your companions. That isn't what my boss wants, but he'll still get what he wants. He'll just have to get over it. Now, let's go. Let's not draw this out. Come on."
I said nothing nor did I do anything. I didn't move, I just stood there.
"Are you seriously going to make me count?"
I still did nothing.
"Okay, Alien Guy. I'm counting! One!"
I turned around to look at Lucky Girl and Albedo, one of which I could tell was scared.
"Run!" I exclaimed.
All three of us started running. Not in the same direction, however.
"I'm going to bail and find somewhere safe to hide!" Albedo exclaimed as he in a different direction. "Stay safe, you two!"
I didn't like the idea of us splitting up. I was really hoping that Sixsix wouldn't let two of us get away and decided to try to find Albedo again later. And it turned out that I would be correct. Lucky Girl and I then jumped from the rooftop, grappling to the one adjacent to us.
"Oh my God, how do you use these things?!" Lucky Girl cried with distress as we touched down. "I don't like them at all!"
"You want to live, right?" I asked as we kept moving. "Unless you have a better idea, I'd keep using them!"
"You've made a big mistake, Alien Guy!" Sixsix exclaimed from behind us as I heard his plasma fire hit the ground just behind us. "My boss will peel the flesh from your bones!"
"Holy shit, holy shit!" I exclaimed.
After some time of grappling, Lucky Girl spoke up.
"We're running out of roof!" she exclaimed.
"I can see that!" I exclaimed as I continued running.
I picked up my speed for the jump I was about to make. Both of us jumped off of the roof and fired our wrist gauntlets at the building across from us. The only thing I didn't expect was there to be a giant skylight below us. I had been aiming my grapple hook at the wall that was on the other side of the skylight. The grapple hook only slowed me down a little bit, though. Once we began to slow, we fell. Surprisingly, our impact with the glass skylight didn't break it. But it did cause multiple cracks in it, however.
"Don't move." I whispered. "Don't move a fucking muscle."
"Okay." she whispered back.
I heard the glass began to crack more.
"Okay, listen. The glass is going to break. And when it does, we'll both use our wrist gauntlets to grapple somewhere. Once we get to the ground, we'll leave together and see if we can't lose that thing. Okay?"
"Sounds like a plan."
And then the glass broke. Lucky Girl was the first to fall and was the one who grappled something first. Once I fell, I grappled onto one of the wooden rails on the second floor of the building that we had fallen into. After I had pulled myself up and retracted my grapple hook, I went to meet Lucky Girl on the first floor. On my way to her, it dawned on me that we must have been in either a bookstore or a library, given all of the bookshelves that I was passing.
"Should we run?" Lucky Girl whispered to me as I reached her.
I shook my head.
"No, I think it would be better if we hide. It's pretty dark in here and if that thing comes looking, he may think that he lost us."
After that, both of us ran to hide in between two of the bookshelves on the first floor. Only a few seconds later, I heard the roar of Sixsix's jetpack. It was clear that he was in the building. Once that happened, I pulled Lucky Girl close to me.
"Don't say a word." I whispered before she could say anything. "Just hold your breathe and pretend that you aren't here."
She just nodded without a word and did what I told her. However, I could feel her shaking against me. I could tell that she was terrified. And hell, so was I, if I was being honest. After a few more seconds, we heard that familiar robotic voice speak.
"I know you're here somewhere. Where are you?"
When neither of us answered, he immediately set fire to some of the bookshelves close to us. I thought he would eventually find us, but what ended up happening instead greatly surprised me.
"Wherever you are, you should go. The firefighters and police will probably be here soon. Don't worry, we'll get you to where you're going."
I reached for the alien watch, but Lucky Girl stopped me.
"No, you shouldn't. We need to get out of here like he said." She whispered as she tugged on my arm.
I nodded.
"Okay." I whispered back.
"What do you think happened to Albedo?"
I shrugged.
"I don't know. I just hope he got to somewhere safe. Lucky Girl, you should get out of here and get to somewhere safe, too."
"Okay, you do the same."
"Thank you. Good night, Lucky Girl."
"Good night."
After that, we departed from each other, leaving the building in opposite directions. I took the long way home, just thinking to myself.
Who is Sixsix's boss and what does he want with me? Just who is Lucky Girl? Man, my life seems to be getting crazier with each passing day.
Gwen
Close To 11:30
The Tennyson House
I walked into the bathroom, for some reason still wearing my Lucky Girl costume. I looked into the mirror and a beautiful young lady with black hair and blue eyes stared back at me. I frowned at the reflection and took off my utility belt. In just a few seconds, the black hair and blue eyes reverted back to my natural fiery red and green color, respectively. I shut off the light in the bathroom and returned to my room. Once back in there, I was too tired to change out of the costume and into pajamas, so I just put on my aqua blue robe on over it. I put my slippers on as well, as I reflected back onto the events of the night.
Jesus, I thought. Being chased by an armored psychopath is not what I had in mind when I thought about working with Alien Guy in the future.
I held up my utility belt and stared at the bright violet gem in the middle of it.
Maybe this thing does more than change my voice and appearance. Is it possible that this stone can change anything else about me?
I was standing in my room just now, I began to hear noises coming from the kitchen.
What is that noise?
I left my room to go investigate the noise. I walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, where I saw Ben, wearing a white undershirt, briefs and socks, holding the fridge open as he chugged down a bottle of water. He noticed me almost immediately and stopped drinking from the bottle.
"Sorry for the noise," he said. "I was really thirsty."
I dismissed what he said.
"Is your mom okay with you just walking around the house dressed like that?"
He looked down at himself and then back up at me.
"It's what I sleep in. Anyway, what about you? You're wearing a blue bathrobe."
"I just got out of the shower." I lied.
"Okay."
"I'm going to bed. Enjoy your water."
"Okay. Good night."
"Good night."
Ben
I put the bottle of water back in the fridge and shut the door as I thought about something.
It was weird that Gwen claimed to be in the shower, because I never heard the shower running! Plus, her hair was dry!
I let out a sigh, before I mentally decided not to say anything.
If I tried to argue with her about it, that would make me seem weird. If she was actually doing something else, then that's her business.
I then went to my room, where I finally collapsed into my bed after a long day. The last thing I remember before dozing off was thinking about Lucky Girl.
Lucky Girl... she's so mysterious, yet I can't help but be a little attracted to her. Her body felt warm against mine when we were hiding in the library tonight. And she kissed me on the cheek... Is she interested in me? Am I interested in her?
Epilogue
Unknown Location
?
"Come on then, keep digging!" I exclaimed in a cold and menacing voice.
"Why am I doing this?" Animo asked as he dug through the dirt with his talons. "Why can't Vilgax or Sixsix do this?"
"Vilgax is busting our second to last recruit out of prison. Sixsix is trying to scare Tennyson and his companions. You and I are here, right now. And Animo, you are digging up our last recruit."
"Who is this guy, again?" he asked.
Before I could answer his question, I heard the sound of a jetpack. I turned to see Sixsix flying through the hole in the crypt's ceiling. I turned to meet him as he came to a stop in front of me.
"Well, let's have it. Progress report?" I asked.
"He's running scared. I left him and Lucky Girl in a burning library. I let his clone to get away, for now." he said. "How far underneath City Hall are we?"
"We are one hundred feet beneath the city." I spoke as I turned back to look at Animo still digging through the dirt. "It's good that you have him running scared. He'll be pissing himself once I reveal myself."
I began to see the gray color of the stone casket beneath the dirt.
"Animo, get the cover of the casket off. You asked who this guy was. He was a famous evil sorcerer. He's been dead for several hundred years."
Animo tore the casket cover from its place, and threw it, causing it to clatter against a wall. Inside of the casket was a skeleton, any flesh and muscle tissue that had been on it was long gone.
"Animo! Get out your machine that can regenerate dead tissue!"
"There's no need, sire. Look!"
Animo pointed at the open casket. I too looked at the casket to see that the skeleton in said casket was slowly regenerating all of its lost tissue. It began slowly, but eventually got faster and faster. Eventually, the once dead sorcerer's flesh had completely re-grown. And then, dark maroon robes formed out of nowhere over his body. He opened his eyes and I saw they were dark red. It wasn't the eyes of a human. They were the eyes of a demon.
"Who dares disturb my slumber?" he asked in a cold, emotionless voice.
"My name doesn't matter, oh great one." I said as I slowly moved closer to the sorcerer. "What matters is that you have the opportunity to serve in a noble cause. Hex, isn't it?"
"Yes, greatest sorcerer who ever lived." he said as he rose from his casket. "Tell me about this opportunity."
"I want revenge on a person who wronged me." I said. "And with your help, as well as me and five others, we can accomplish it. And once it's all said and done, we can all do whatever with this city!"
Hex raised his arm up and the staff that was with him in his grave flew into his hand.
"This city must be turned into an old memory. I will help you." he said. "Where do we start?"
I turned around as I rubbed my hands together.
"The preparation for the attack starts at dawn!" I announced. "The day has begun."
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!
* What did you guys think of this one when compared to the original version of Chapter Twenty Nine? Did anything stand out to anyone? So, unlike the reboot of Chapter Twenty Eight, this one didn't take as much work to get done. Well, work yes, but not as much thought as Twenty Eight took. Regardless, I hope that you guys liked it. Please do give me any comments or questions that you may have in either a review or a private message. I am very curious on what you all thought of this chapter.
* Anyway, that's going to do it for me. I'm going to go now, so have a great day and bye.
Director's Commentary
* So, for this installment of Director's Commentary, there's a good few things to talk about. Let's get started.
* For the most part, this chapter was entirely original content that you guys have never seen before. Starting with the first several pages of this chapter, we have Ben just trying to comfort Gwen after her episode the previous night. Then pretty much everything they talk about in this chapter was original. Which brings us to Ben voicing the idea to her of allowing Albedo to live with them. In the original, Ben never really seemed to care that Albedo was out in the city on his own (at least from my point of view). He never really seemed to feel responsible for Albedo, I didn't like how that aged and at the end of the day, I think this version is better.
* Okay, what's next? Right, Cooper making Ben and Albedo each a costume. That was original, too. He provides them with costumes a bit more advanced than what they started with and he was also the one who invented the wrist gauntlets in this version. While on this topic, what are your guys thoughts on both costumes have hourglass (Omnitrix) insignias sewn into the tops? I really liked the idea of that, so I hope that you guys like it, too.
* Alright, next: Lucky Girl kisses Alien Guy (or Ben, depending on how you want to look at it) on the cheek to thank him for at least trying to help her. Don't look too far into this, in this version, I don't plan to have Lucky Girl (or Gwen, for that matter) be attracted to Alien Guy, whatsoever. She was just being friendly, no matter how you want to think of that aspect from this chapter.
* But while on this topic, what are everyone's thoughts on Ben feeling attracted to Lucky Girl and questioning if he likes her? My beta reader pointed it that it'll be pretty awkward once he finds out who she really is, but we'll get there when we get there. I'm just curious on what you all think about this.
* And while we won't talk about it in this installment of Director's Commentary, just keep in mind Albedo giving his wrist gauntlets to Lucky Girl. Like I said, not talking about that here, but keep it in the back of your minds. Anyway, I believe that covers everything I wanted to talk about. With that said, it's time to wrap this up. Thanks for reading.
Review Responses
Cesar D. Sizun (Chapter 28) Ok... I've been on radio silence since the first few chapters, but I kept checking this story and, let me tell you, is night and day compared to the og version. One thing to note I like you did was tone down severely the over-sexualized way Lucky Girl acted; which was really cringy in retrospect.
Now, what happened that made me break my silence? The final sequence. I believe the best stories are those that make you think. I know you explained Gwen's actions in the notes, but while probably unintentional, they can be explained differently. Her reactions doesn't really makes too much sense given that she hasn't seen Ben in years, and those last actions show signs of SAS (Severe Attachment Syndrome) and some level of Separation Anxiety.
Again, she hasn't seen Ben for years, and any interactions they had have been estrained to some extent. Which made me think: has Gwen lost someone already? In which case, she may be projecting onto Ben, and that is not healty. Like, at all. And I love it. Again, probably not intentional, but I love me some Alternate Character Interpretation, as Tvtropes would put it. Keep the good work. Read ya.
Thanks for the review, Cesar. Yeah, I turned down all of the sexualized stuff about Lucky Girl. In this version, she has her costume zipped up all the way (as to not expose anything) and you may have noticed that she isn't romantically interested in Alien Guy... yet, at least. Don't read too far into how she kissed him on the cheek in this chapter, that was just her being friendly. Though, I could understand if you think the opposite of that.
And you're right, the way she acted was cringy, that's another reason why I just cut it all out, the primary reason being that I just didn't like it. Now, let's move on to the bigger point that you made in your review. So, I am not a mental health guru in any regard, you made me learn a thing or two today. But I will come out and say it now: there was no hidden, deeper meaning to that final sequence.
As you said, the whole Severe Attachment Syndrome and Separation Anxiety thing was unintentional, just pure chance. Sure, maybe Gwen's breakdown doesn't make sense if that's the case, but it was just meant for her to have a moment of weakness. I liked the idea of her having a bit of a breakdown, the feeling that she had lost Ben when he ran away came back to her and she just needed to hold on to him, to realize that he was still here. There's nothing else to it, the way I see it.
Not to knock the way you interpreted it, if that's the way you want to see that, I'm all for it, I just want to be completely honest and say that there's no truth to it. It's just the way I wrote it and it's the way I'd prefer people to interpret it, but at the end of the day, you read it the way you want to read it and that's completely fine with me. Also, what did you mean when you said that any of their interactions had been "estrained" to some extent?
My spellcheck didn't register that as a word and I was curious. Anyway, thanks for the review, as always.
Hamzah haha (Chapter 28): Boy oh boy! What an amazing chapter... I absolutely enjoyed it. It's such chapters I was waiting for. Really well written and well polished I say. I can't explain how much but it's a great chapter. Keep it up man!
Thanks, Hamzah haha. That was exactly the kind of reaction that I was looking for when I wrote that chapter, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review, as always.
Guest Review (Chapter 18): Nice
Thanks for the review, as always, I really appreciate it.
Next Chapter: Ben and Gwen continue to bond further. Preparations for an attack against Ben and his companions are made.