Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice.
Chapter 49: Inhospitable.
I'm not going to italicize every time people say things with their thoughts for this chapter since everyone on Mars communicates the same way. Just a heads up. Also I'd like to point out that Ben is so much taller than teen Gwen it's a little funny, just Google how Ultimate Ben looks shaking hands with teen Ben in UA. Ben 10K is built like a unit which reflects here.
30 Days Later - M'arzz Orbit.
After their month-long journey through deep-space to the Martian home planet of Mars, the heroes aboard Bio-Ship were ready to get out and stretch their legs as they approached the dusty atmosphere from above. Ben and M'gaan held each other close as they watched the planet grow in size from their perspective, "I don't know why I'm so excited, ten years ago I couldn't wait to leave this planet," the latter expressed how much had happened since then and how she'd matured in that time.
Ben smiled, looking down into her eyes, "Things are different now."
Gwen walked in from the backroom, where their organic-cots were set up along with their luggage, wearing a crimson button-up shirt under a black vest and denim jeans, speaking up with a toothbrush in her mouth, "Maybe you're just sick of being cooped up in here all month long," she said pretty bluntly.
"How many times did you scold me for talking with my mouth full when we were ten?" Ben pointed out as she approached.
"Sorry, Bio-Ship, spittoon please," Gwen perched her lips as the ship formed a vase-like opening for her to spit into since every part of the ship was essentially connected.
He rolled his eyes in response, "Right, that was much better."
"The Ben I remember would be doing the exact same thing," Gwen pointed out, using a rag she'd brought with her to wipe her mouth off.
Ben frowned a bit, averting his gaze back to M'gaan, "Well, it's been a long time since I've been the Ben you remember."
"Whatever, I know I haven't been in the best mood these last few weeks…" Gwen started but, was interrupted by her cousin scoffing at her, "Okay, fine, I haven't been in a good mood at all but, it's just because it's way too quiet for me to sleep back there."
"It is the vacuum of space we're flying through, it's not like sound travels outside of these walls," M'gaan pointed out, trying to give credit to her situation.
"I'm sorry, okay," Gwen lifted her hands palms out in mock surrender, "I promise I'll behave; this is your wedding trip after all."
J'ohn was at the wheel guiding the Bio-Ship down as they began to enter Mars' atmosphere, suddenly the ship retracted the glowing spheres used to mentally steer it, beeping, and whirling a bit, sounding almost giddy in a way, "I believe Bio-Ship wishes to fly the rest of the distance on her own," the Manhunter pointed out as the ship spun excitedly through the air almost like a dance towards the ground.
"She's excited to be home too," M'gaan smiled, wrapping one around Ben's once again as they watched their descent into the planet's atmosphere. Within seconds they were gliding a few feet over the surface of the barren world leaving a trail of upturned dust in its wake.
M'gaan's eyes flashed lime-green for a second or two, turning to look up at Ben while Gwen took a seat next to the front-facing window, "Bio-Ship says there's a sandstorm coming."
"Is that gonna be a problem?" Ben asked.
"Shouldn't be, we'll be underground long before it catches up," M'gaan pulled her arm from Ben's and summoned a map of the underground cities of Mars, specifically the capitol which her parents lived in. "Bio-Ship, take us directly to the new science center in Ma'aleca'andra," she asserted her faith with a smile as Bio-Ship dashed over the mountainous landscape at several dozen times the speed of sound with a several mile wide hurricane of dust and dirt approached from behind. Slowing down only a bit, the Bio-Ship turned on a right-angle up into the sky where it slowed even more, maneuvering perfectly where it looped back towards the ground. Diving directly into a wide chasm that extended down into the depths of Mars by miles.
Ma'aleca'andra; M'arzz; July 13th, 2021; 5:22PM
Once through one of the many vertical tunnels in Mars' mantel, the Bio-Ship entered the air-space of a massive underground city, with entire towns carved into the massive stone pillars that reached up into the ceiling of the cave which must have been tens of miles in every direction.
"Wow, it's huge, and it's so colorful," Gwen noted with her hands on the window and her face not far behind, practically pressing it up against the polycarbonate glass as well.
M'gaan shifted her appearance into her long-sleeved black suit with the crimson 'X' across the torso and her blue cape hanging over her back, her skin-tone also changed to a paper white shade to represent her White Martian heritage along with the sclera of her eyes becoming black which unintentionally made her amber-brown pupils pop.
Ben approached from behind and placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder, "Yea, I forgot how big it actually was…"
J'ohn spoke up to correct him, "It is actually bigger than when you were last here, Ben, Martian's breed large families so it is only natural that here in our capitol we are always expanding."
Bio-Ship approached one of the large pillars which seemed to have large platforms for landing vessels though there were none docked at the time, floating down towards it, Gwen noticed it was adorned by two massive statues, of what she could only assume was a natural Martian not shape-shifted into a humanoid appearance, holding the lights above them. Once the ship had touched down and extended its ramp, a Green Martian approached from within the building, levitating a few inches off the ground to cross the platform and greet them.
"Wait, is there an atmosphere out there? Do we need space suits?" Gwen questioned Ben specifically since it seemed she hadn't even considered that eventuality on the entire month-long ride here.
"Relax," Ben lifted his left-arm up to eye level, looking at the pearl-white alien-watch latched around his wrist, "Omnitrix, set-up Earth-human life support and English translation in a hundred-mile range," he lifted his wrist up into the air above his head as an emerald wave of omnidirectional energy spread out around him to the exact diameter he specified, and while the natives could likely see a brief flash of light, it was unlikely even the best psychics on the planet would feel it.
"Since when can it do that?" Gwen asked, keeping her eyes on the watch as he lowered his arm to his side.
Ben folded his arms with a chortle, "Since I programmed it to," he said confidently.
M'gaan approached Gwen and placed her hands gently on either side of the teens head, "Uhhh, what're you-"
"The Omnitrix may be translating and protecting you from the lack of oxygen but, you still don't have any experience communicating telepathically on a regular basis," M'gaan's eyes flashed bright-green for a moment, "I'm just priming your psyche so that you don't have any trouble communicating with everyone."
"Just remember, here on M'arzz, there's very little difference from thinking something and saying it out loud," Ben explained, having trouble with that same concept last time he was here, two years ago to announce the engagement to M'gaan's family.
"Right, that won't be difficult at all."
The Green Martian waiting for them spoke up as soon as the bay-doors opened where Ben was the first to make eye-contact with her, though he did find her familiar her as soon as her thoughts reached his mind, still not recognizing her outright, "Welcome, you honor us with your presence, humans of Earth," she wrapped her arms crossing over one another to grab the opposing shoulder as a sign that it was a greeting of respect.
Ben knew this gesture very well, performing it back to her with a very short bow of his head, "You honor us with this greeting, I am Ben Tennyson, and this is Gwen Tennyson, my cousin."
Gwen approached from his left side, trying to mimic the gesture she saw them using, crossing her arms with a smile, "Thank you for inviting us."
"It was our pleasure, we have that in common, being sibling to the newlyweds," the Martian didn't have a facial expression but, somehow it was the tone of her thoughts that really gave a physical impression on Gwen which let her know exactly how she meant the comment.
"You're M'gaan's cousin then?" Ben asked, raising his brow.
"I see, so she hasn't told you of me," the Green Martian gave a long sigh into their heads, "I am the Chief Scientist-Bureaucrat for the Science Center-" she was interrupted when M'gaan stepped off Bio-Ship's ramp levitating some of their supplies down with them.
"Wait-wait-wait, you're the Chief Scientist? In charge of the Zeta-Project?" M'gaan questioned with a tone of disbelief in her thoughts.
The Martian tilted her head slightly, "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.
Ben turned his head to look into M'gaan's eyes which were briefly locked onto the woman's, who to everyone else present was just a stranger, she finally noticed Ben's confused stare and apologized, "Sorry," she telekinetically placed their luggage down at their feet before continuing, "Ben, Gwen, this is my sister, M'ree M'orzz."
"Actually," she spoke up to correct her sister whom she clearly hadn't seen in more than two years, "I go by Em'ree J'onzz, now."
Hearing this prompted M'gaan to frown as Em'ree finally noticed her Uncle standing behind her, lowering some luggage of his own to the ground at their feet using passive telekinesis, "Oh, hello, J'ohn."
Manhunter smiled, waving his hand a bit, "Hello, uhm, Em'ree… I'll just get the rest of the equipment," he took his opportunity to strategically exit that awkward conversation, walking back up into the ramp into the Bio-Ship.
Ben and Gwen watched as the squabbling the two siblings did seemed to be dipped in more bad-blood than the cousins ever had, "Does Dad know you changed your name?" she said disapprovingly.
"He's fine with it," Em'ree responded nonchalantly, "You know Dad, nothing gets to him."
Ben raised his brow, trying to interject with some positive feedback, "Oh, Em'ree, I've heard a lot about you."
"Good things, I hope?"
"Yea, you're parents seemed really proud of you last time I was here," Ben responded, only recalling the name M'gaan's father mentioned once or twice in conversation.
Em'ree responded with a little bit of unexpected sorrow in her mental-voice, "Ah, you heard about my from our parents, that's… nice, well, I'd like you two to feel more comfortable during your stay so," Em'ree raised her hands and spread them out over her head. Her body molded and melded into a new form and within seconds, Em'ree had taken the shape of a teenage Marie Logan who played M'gaan's favorite character from Hello Megan, which was also the form she took when she first met Ben. "Perhaps if I changed forms, I believe is an Earth favorite?" She had the cheerleading outfit on from one of the more popular episodes, only their were a few facial features off.
Ben immediately took on a downcast expression as M'gaan expressed her anger the only way she thought she could, "She has six freckles not four, you know that."
Trying not to be rude, Ben spoke up in her defense, "Really, there's no need to change your form for us."
"Yea, it would be pretty creepy if you spent the entire visit looking like my cousins fiancé anyways," Gwen's thoughts made their way to everyone as she blinked a few times after realizing they heard it too.
Em'ree frowned, glancing back to her feet, "I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention."
Gwen took a quick step to the side to be slightly more behind Ben, "And… I meant that as a private thought, sorry," she gave a short apologetic smile.
"That's alright," her physical form changed once again, this time only growing taller by an inch or two, turning her hair dark-brown, and removing the freckles, "I always preferred Hello Megan's 'Rita' character anyways."
"That's much better," M'gaan muttered, since she just took the form and face of Garfield's dead aunt, she was just lucky she didn't invite him.
J'ohn came from behind once again with the last of their luggage floating behind him, lowering to the platform under their feet, "I believe that is everything."
M'gaan turned around to look up at the living ship that took the across the stars, "Alright, Bio-Ship, you're free to go, have fun!" as soon as she said this, the ramp melted up into the ship even as it was still taking off. Beeping happily as it spun through the air, it took off into the distance and out of sight.
"What do Bio-Ship's do for fun, anyways?" Gwen asked, looking off in the direction it flew in.
J'ohn turned to Em'ree, "We could begin construction now, I believe it would be best to complete the work before the nuptials."
Em'ree gestured politely, "You all don't have to stay, Mom and Dad are very eager to see you. I've arranged for transportation-" she was interrupted once again.
M'gaan frowned, "That won't be necessary, I planned on showing Ben and Gwen the sites here in Ma'aleca'andra."
Em'ree's expression grew concerned, "B-But, what kind of host would I be if I-"
"Sight seeing around an alien civilization on another planet, count me in!" Gwen interrupted unintentionally.
Ben shrugged his shoulders with a smile, "We don't mind, promise."
M'gaan walked coldly passed her with the same stoic frown on her face, "But thank you for the offer," Ben politely followed towards the building ahead with Gwen close behind, leaving J'ohn and Em'ree alone on the platform. Glancing nervously at one another.
…
They walked for about a half-hour before reaching one of the more populated streets connecting to the city-square, when closer to the ground the large pillars reminded Gwen of high-rises in the middle of New York, only the roads were filled with people speaking through their thoughts, emotions and intentions coming from every direction though, she had to assume it wasn't overwhelming due to whatever M'gaan had done to her mind before getting of the ship. The lights were colorful and the people were all taking different forms around them, some even took the forms of popular human actors from Earth.
"Wow," M'gaan noted, "So much sending. I forgot how much psychic noise there is on M'arzz," as they passed by two Green Martians, they were able to overhear their psychic speak.
"Ma'al Earthers."
"It's no surprise, they're here with the A'ashenn."
"And not all of it pleasant," she finished after having overheard and ignored them.
Not understanding Martian, "It's not all bad," Gwen mentioned spotting a group of Martians shapeshifted into a teenage Ben which she recognized well, complete with his signature green-jacket only several of them had altered the color scheme of his outfit which was the most obvious way she could tell they were fakes. "Some of it's just weird… I mean, yikes," she spotted some of the locals taking on the appearance of more provocative Megan Morse.
"Uncle J'ohn has been sending Earth television broadcast signals to M'arzz since the nineteen-sixties, those shows have a lot of fans," M'gaan explained as they stumbled upon a group of Martian's shapeshifted into Kenneth, Jamie, and Cassandra with distinguishing marks or color-scheme changes to distinguish them from the real thing. All of them watching a large holoscreen with a video clip of Shifter and WondeGirl helping at the site of some natural disaster or another.
"Looks like your sons team has some fans too…" Gwen teased as the group heard this and turned around, noticing the group of heroes, and immediately recognizing their minds as the real thing amongst the shapeshifters.
"Woah, is that the actual Miss Martian!?"
"It's Ben Ten Thousand!"
The five or six Martians swarmed the heroes and Gwen, who was simply caught in the middle, asking questions, and trying to get autographs; Ben shook someone's hand and responded to another fan about something irrelevant. It was going well until Gwen noticed two or three Martians hiding behind the corner of a building at the end of an alleyway, staring at them with what she could only presume was judgement of some kind.
Suddenly, Ben, Gwen, and M'gaan were hit with a barrage of powerful emotions like hate and rage; for the two most inexperienced it felt like someone was electrocuting their heads from the inside out, or at least the pain was similar in that way. Gwen dropped to her knees, holding her head in agony, this pain brought post-traumatic flashes from her time in the re-education chambers on Apokolips. Ben clutched his head but, still managed to speak, "T-That's a lot of hostility!"
The fans were startled by the sudden agony they were in, back off quickly, "Let's get out of here." "The Justice League can handle this."
M'gaan who was barely affected by the mental attack stood up, "I'm putting up mental-filters and putting an end to this," her eyes flashed neon-green for a moment, pinpointing the attackers in her mind, "Stop and disperse. Now!" Sending out a pulse of offensive psychic-energy dwarfing the opposing party still hiding in the shadows, ceasing their assault with multiple audible groans, also relieving her guests from the pain, all in one shot. She knelt down putting a hand on Ben's shoulder as he stood up with her, "Thanks, M'gaan, that helped."
Gwen shook her head and wiped a droplet of sweat from her brow while standing back up, the pain was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, "W-What was that?" she asked anxiously.
"Unwelcomed attention, come on, we are done site-seeing," M'gaan insisted, grabbing Ben's hand to intertwine her fingers with his, "Let's just head straight to my folks' place."
…
It was only another fifteen minutes of anxious walking to the building where her parents apparently lived, a two-or-three-story warehouse-like structure made of stone; when they approached the metal-door, M'gaan placed her hand against the door, shifting just her hand into a skinny three-fingered limb that came from her true form; the door lit up at her touch, sliding up into the ceiling as she reformed her hand back into its human shape.
"Mom? Dad? We're here!" M'gaan announced herself and her company into the house, her voice echoing into the depths of the building.
Two Martians, in dark-blue hoods covering only their shoulders, floated down from the third story of the interior, greeting them happily as they slowly landed in front of their guests, "Oh, M'gaan, you're home!" a female voice announced itself telepathically to the three of them.
"Welcome, my child," the second Martian's voice was a deeper-male tone leading Gwen to rightfully assume them to be M'gaan's Mother and Father. She floated into her mother's embrace, hugging her tightly since it had been literally two whole years since she'd seen her.
Ben recognized them both on-sight from his last visit, attempting to give the arms-crossed greeting of respect but, M'gaan's mother wouldn't allow it, "None of that now," wrapping her lanky arms around Ben's torso for a hug, "We're family."
"Thank you, J'aan," He responded politely, finding it hard to believe that he would now have two families when he once had none, he felt truly blessed. "It's good to see you again, sir," he directed his mental-voice to her father, standing across from him.
"And you, Benjamin. But please, call me M'aatt."
J'aan glanced behind them at their third guest who wasn't paying attention to most of their conversation, not even catching the father's name, "And who do we have here?" she asked.
"Oh, where are my manners?" Ben took a few steps to the side and placed his hands on Gwen's shoulders from behind, gently pushing her forward, "This is my cousin, Gwen."
Gwen held her hand out and shook the mother's although it felt very strange shaking a single ten-inch-long lime-green finger, but she had been put in far more awkward positions than this by Ben throughout her child-hood, so she felt she could take it, "It's so nice to meet you all."
"Are you friends with the Justice League like my daughter?" she asked out of curiosity but, mostly her manners.
Gwen chuckled in her thoughts, "Actually I've been dead for eight-years and Ben just brought me back so, I've really only known her for about a month…" it wasn't until she'd already said it that she realized they were all staring at her with either confused or concerned gazes, "And that was supposed to be what I don't say, this psychic communication stuff is really hard, I'm sorry."
J'aan and M'aatt shared a similar glance to one another, before letting out a genuine laugh, nothing too exaggerated, "It is alright, we understand Earthers may have a hard time adapting to our ways."
"You should have heard all of things Benjamin would let slip last he was here," J'aan pointed out.
Ben nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his neck a bit, "ha-ha-ha, we can talk about something else now," he had no intention to reminisce on the times he embarrassed himself in front of his fiancé's parents.
M'aatt suddenly noticed there was no word from their driver or Em'ree, "Did you children travel here under your own power?" he asked, "Em'ree was supposed to provide transport."
M'gaan kept her smile, "She offered but, we passed," quickly enough, she pivoted talking points raising her decorated ring-finger, "Look! My engagement ring!"
Gwen whispered, "I thought you came here before to announce the engagement?"
"I didn't exactly have a ring when I proposed."
"Classy."
"Dweeb."
"Doofus."
M'gaan turned back around after explaining the importance of a wedding ring to her father and the difference between that and an engagement ring, when she did she found Ben and Gwen staring at one another with furious expression and their tongues out in a taunting nature. He only pulled his tongue back in when he received a light elbow to the abdomen from his fiancé, "Ben?"
"What? Sorry?" he responded, having forgotten how distracting arguing with his cousin could be but also, how much he missed it in the first place.
"You had something you wanted to ask my father?" M'gaan's facial expression told him everything her mental-voice didn't, that he'd better behave and do what they had planned for over two years now.
Ben clapped his hands together, "Right," he took two steps closer to M'aatt, looking him in the eyes, "Sir, I would like to ask for your permission and blessing to marry your daughter."
M'aatt tilted his head a bit, "The tradition on M'arzz is for the female to ask this permission from her prospective mates' parents," he responded.
This left a slightly bad taste in Ben's mouth, and also prompted his cousin to lower her head in sorrow, "My family is… no longer with us, Gwen is all I've got," he glanced over at her, finding a short smile for the sake of not ruining the moment with his fiancé's parents.
M'aatt and J'aan looked to one another with sorrowful eyes, the latter spoke up first, finding that what he'd told them just wouldn't do, "Well, not anymore, you have family here always, my son; we give you our blessing."
"Indeed," M'aatt agreed, "We are gratified that you've come all this way for the traditional service."
"We've found a Sorcerer-Priestess who has agreed to perform the ceremony," J'aan added gleefully.
"Uhm," Gwen's mental-voice announced itself catching their attention.
"Something wrong?" Ben glanced back at her, making sure she was okay.
"Okay, so, I'm a little confused… what's going on with all the different titles like I heard them call M'gaan an A'ashenn earlier, what does that even mean?" Gwen was getting a little overwhelmed when Ben put his hand on her shoulder.
"Martian society is essentially a caste system, the 'Red' Martians are known as the B'lahdenn, they're the nobility and the royalty; the 'Green' Martians are called the G'arrunn, like J'aan, and they're essentially the ethnic majority while the White Martians are the ethnic minority, like M'gaan and her father, called A'ashenn," Ben did his best to explain what he'd learned from his fiancé's parents last time he visited them and had essentially the same exact questions.
"Okay… then which one of those does a 'Sorcerer Priestess' fall under?" she questioned, more than likely taking notes subconsciously.
M'gaan decided she would answer this one instead, taking a step forward and smiling at Gwen, "Any Martian, of any race, with a calling for magic can become a Sorcerer Priestess by permanently changing their skin color to that of what you'd probably call a Yellow Martian, a Y'ellonn."
"But, just being able to use magic doesn't automatically make you a Y'ellonn, it takes aptitude and study, just like you or Charmcaster," Ben finished his explanation with a good example that related to her, making it easer for her to digest the information.
"Noted," Gwen stated plainly, still processing what they'd said. She tried her best to change the topic of the conversation to seem less confused by their culture, "I-It was nice meeting Em'ree."
This reminded Ben of something he'd been actually thinking about since he'd met M'gaan but, didn't ever find it appropriate or important enough to bring up until now, "That's right, I was meaning to ask, what about M'gaan's other twenty-seven siblings? All I've heard is that she hasn't spoken to them in decades," she glanced up at Ben who hadn't realized exactly what he'd asked until his own thought-process caught up with him, "I mean I met M'comm before he… oh, right."
M'aatt and J'aann both took on melancholy expressions, glancing away from their guests, "Yes… we are aware of what M'comm has become."
J'aan, trying to lighten the mood, continued, "But, as for the others, well, unfortunately they're spread out across M'arzz, the ones I could contact are very busy and cannot attend."
M'gaan's brow furrowed and she too looked down to her feet in disappointment, prompting Ben to take her hand in his, reminding her that he'd always be there for her.
...
Ma'aleca'andra Science-Center
J'ohn and Em'ree were within the main staging area working on the construction of the first Earth-bound interstellar Zeta-Tube connection in the Galaxy; while the former was on the other side of the lab, Em'ree was using a soldering-laser to connect two large pieces of metal when she was approached by another G'arrunn floating into the room from behind, "Scientist-Bureaucrat Em'ree J'onzz! I demand you stop all of this at once!" this Martian was dressed in light-blue robes with a crimson ascot of some-sort around his neck.
J'ohn heard this mental-shouting from across the room and turned to observe, "B-But, Counsil-General, I-" Em'ree tried to defend herself but, was interrupted.
"Your secret project is no longer a secret, M'arzz has no need for a Zeta-Tube to Earth," the General folded his hands behind his back as he continued, "Is it not bad enough that our children pretend to be Earthers? Or that two Earthers have contaminated our streets? Or that these Earthers were brought by your freak of an A'ashenn sister?!" after hearing this insult, J'ohn handed the tool he was using to one of the Martian scientists to his right, approaching the Council-General. "And yes, Em'ree J'onzz, I know M'gaan M'orzz is your sister."
"I do not appreciate you speaking of my nieces in that manner," J'ohn defended, glaring into the General's eyes with disapproval.
He responded quickly, "And I do not appreciate you building a bridge to bring more Earthers to M'arzz, contaminating our culture with strange ideas that make even the G'arrunns question our values, traditions, and castes. You, J'ohn J'onzz, started all of this with your ma'al Earther broadcasts," the Council-General floated closer into J'ohn's personal space, planting one of his fingers in the hero's chest.
J'ohn slapped it away quickly, "And I regret nothing, R'ess E'dda," he was far less able to intimidate the seasoned hero compared to the young Em'ree whom he targeted first.
R'ess narrowed his eyes, backing away, "Y-You will, once I put a stop to this!"
Em'ree stepped forward to defend herself, frowning at the man with her arms crossed over her chest, "My orders come directly from the Queen."
"We will see about that!" R'ess shouted back in frustration, turning, and levitating out of the lab and down the corridor.
J'ohn floated down a foot or two, landing next to Em'ree where he expressed his shock, "I had no idea it had gotten this bad."
"Worse than you know, Uncle," Em'ree glanced back up at him, meeting eyes, "But, don't tell the happy couple, my parents want badly for this wedding to be perfect."
…
The Home of M'aatt and J'aan
J'aan had become interested in the similarities between Sorcerer-Priestesses and the sorcerer that Gwen claimed to practice, so she decided that talking about something she already knew so much about would be the perfect time to connect with Ben's soon-to-be in-laws, "I've been studying magic since I was ten but, it wasn't always so easy for me," she insisted with a smile, holding a sphere of pink mana over her two opened palms, showing M'aatt and J'aan how she manipulates mana.
Ben and M'gaan were on the other side of the room, nonchalantly looking over the ornaments and trinkets displayed on the shelves on the wall, "Private channel?" He sent a single thought to her to ensure the rest of the room couldn't hear him.
"Yup," she responded, glancing up into his eyes.
Ben looked back at the other three caught in conversation and not paying much attention to them, "Okay, is it just me, or are your parents way less whelmed than the last time I was here? And out on the street? Things got ugly, fast."
"Don't worry," M'gaan insisted, "Nothing is getting in the way of us," almost as if she had jinxed it, the ground at their feet appeared to be shaking the entire building, knocking one of J'aan's decorative sculptures off the shelf where it sat.
J'aan gasped but, didn't have enough time to reach out with her telekinesis in the short second or two while it was in the air, though she was relieved when Ben caught it with reflexes even M'gaan was impressed by.
"Is it an earthquake?" Gwen asked, dispersing her orb of mana as soon as the rumbling started.
"No…" M'gaan asserted, heading for the balcony out the back door.
M'aatt reached out to M'gaan with his hand, "M'gaan, do not go out there, it is unsafe!"
"Sorry, Dad, but I refuse to put up with this racist ma'al!" M'gaan stomped towards the backdoor, stepping out onto the balcony as soon as the silver door slid up into the ceiling, where she found five G'arrunns floating at level with the second floor, telekinetically attacking the building.
"Go back to where you came from, Earther!"
"Leave M'arzz now!"
"Return to Earth and take that ma'al A'ashenn with you!"
M'gaan tried to reason with them, "Everyone, please!"
"I got this," Gwen insisted, sprinting to stand between Ben, M'gaan and the attackers; she immediately launched a pink-mana disc like a baseball before her cousin could protest, knocking one of the G'arrunns back through the air with a concussive strike.
"Who does she think she is?"
"They're attacking us!"
"Brain blast her now!" their eyes each shun with green psychic energy one after the other, targeting the half-Anodite's mind.
Gwen was on her knees clutching her head within seconds, flashes of her dead family at Vilgax's feet, the mental torture she went through on Apokolips, "AghhHH!" she fell to her side shouting in agony.
Ben's eyes widened, the Master Control activating with a single thought, through a flash of emerald energy Heatblast leaped into the air, landing in front of Gwen, "Enough!" the Pyronite outstretched both arms and unleashed a massive wave of orange-flames that only covered the distance between himself and the attacking G'arrunns, burning no one.
"He's a monster!"
"Let's go!"
"Of course he's betrothed to an A'ashenn!"
An explosion of emerald light engulfed M'gaan's vision for a moment as she watched Ben rush to Gwen's side in his human form, she was still groaning a bit from the headache but, it would soon pass just as quickly as it hit her.
"Gwen… are you?"
She shook her head and got to her knees, looking up at Ben, "I think I'll be fine, just a little dizzy now, let's just go back inside and…" she stopped after standing up with Ben's help and turning around to find herself staring at massive letters now painted on M'aatt and J'aan's home in Martian, "That wasn't there before, was it?" she said rubbing her head.
Ben frowned and glanced back at M'gaan who couldn't take her eyes off it, "What does it say?"
"It's a very, very bad word for A'ashenn," M'gaan finally looked away only to stare down at her feet in shame, "And an even worse word for Earthlings."
Ben turned around with his fingers swiping over the Omnitrix dial, summoning the ring-hologram of his aliens, "Don't worry, I'll go after them and make them apologize," but before he even selected a flier, she had placed her warm hand on his arm.
"We both know that wont solve anything, it'll only make them hate us more…" M'gaan reasoned, moving her hand up to caress the side of his face, "But, I love you for trying to defend me."
"Let's just go back inside," Ben insisted, following his fiancé back into her parents house with Gwen still holding her head in discomfort but, following them either way.
M'aatt and J'aan were waiting inside for the commotion to be done with, watching their daughter and her guests reenter the room, knowing full well they'd have questions, and they were right. "Mom, Dad, tell us what's going on already? Tensions have definitely escalated since the last time we were here," M'gaan practically begged for answers.
Her father spoke up first, "You three moving openly through the city escalated things, you know how quickly psychic news travels."
"Yes, but what's the problem?" M'gaan questioned with a confused expression, "I'm used to caste prejudice, believe me, but, those words on the door?" she said with a disgusted tone, "And since when do G'arrunns hate Earthlings?"
J'aan sighed audibly, "We were trying to 'keep a lid' on this so you could have a nice wedding but-"
M'aatt interjected, knowing it was much harder for his wife to talk about these depressing things than it was for him, "Things have gotten much worse since the death of the king," his pupils illuminated with green-psychic energy, projecting images of what he spoke about into their minds, "S'turnn J'axx was a progressive ruler gradually trying to mitigate or caste system to improve the lives and status of the A'ashenn." M'aatt delivered images into their minds-eye of S'turnn, a B'lahdenn, in a royal-blue cape speaking to thousands of his people which he'd seen on television, "King S'turnn had stated publicly, and more than once, that it was a scientific fact G'arrunns and A'ashenns were genetically identical save for skin-pigmentation. He also sponsored the Earth-M'arzz communication satellite that was successfully launched last year." Another flash of images showing how similar Green and White Martians appeared as well as the satellite orbiting M'arzz above them, "He believed in cooperation between our planets but, he was murdered last month, just after you began your journey," they could now see a generated image M'aatt had likely not seen himself of S'turnn bleeding out in his chambers.
Ben finally felt it was a good moment to start asking questions, his hero-brain going into overdrive as soon as a murder was mentioned, "Who killed him?" he asked.
J'aan spoke up, projecting each of them into a generated-space that appeared like the throne-room where S'turnn was found, the five of them standing over his body, "No one is sure, which is strange considering murder is extremely hard to get away with on a world where everyone is psychic,"
"But, the A'ashenn blame the G'arrunn and the G'arrunn blame the A'ashenn," M'aatt explained.
Gwen finally added her own question, still trying to follow all of this politics, "So, if S'turnn is dead, who's king now?"
J'aan answered, "S'turnn's widow, Queen J'arlia J'axx, who has unfortunately rolled back most of her late-husbands reforms…"
Ben, having met and fought with only one person on M'arzz that would have the intention of killing a political figure with positive influence on their caste system, reached into M'gaan's mind on her 'private channel' simply to address what they were already considering, "You think M'comm killed the king, don't you?"
M'gaan narrowed her eyes, glaring off into the distance with a pensive stare.
…
Deep Beneath Ma'aleca'andra.
A single White-Martian sat in a throne carved from stone within an isolated cave where he could embrace the silence and psychically reach out to others with ease, "Brothers and Sisters, A'ashenn all, join me!" he shouted telepathically connected to dozens of White Martians all around M'arzz, not just within the city above, "Hear me!"
"We are here!"
"We hear you, M'comm M'orzz!"
M'comm became furious, directing his mental-voice towards the mind who said it, "That is no longer my name! Now and forever, I am Ma'alefa'ak! We are Ma'alefa'ak!" as soon as he finished his speech they began chanting in unison.
"You are Ma'alefa'ak! We are Ma'alefa'ak!"
"You are Ma'alefa'ak! We are Ma'alefa'ak!"
M'comm continued with his political revolution, "We all know the G'arrunns killed the king to stop A'ashenns from gaining our rights, but we should not mourn S'turnn J'axx, he pretended to help only to keep us in line! Yet, the Queen has rolled back what little gains we've made!" he paused to continue, building up their rage and frustration with the royalty, "You know what she hasn't rolled back? That ma'al Zeta-Tube to Earth. The Earthers are aligned with the G'arrunns thanks to J'ohn J'onzz. Now, we must decide, do we allow the G'arrunns and Earthers to scheme against us, or do we finally rise?!"
"You are Ma'alefa'ak! We are Ma'alefa'ak!"
"You are Ma'alefa'ak! We are Ma'alefa'ak!"
…
Ma'aleca'andra Science-Center
M'gaan, Gwen, M'aatt, and J'aan were all happy to allow Ben to teleport them across the city to the Science-Center to be the first ones to see the Earth-M'arzz Zeta-Tube come online as J'ohn and Em'ree put the finishing touches on the equipment. The room was littered with crimson-lights of some kind powering the generators guarded by three G'arrunn security guards. Em'ree stood in front of a floating control console glowing bright blue, selecting different settings, and connecting to the satellites on Earth.
The Zeta-Tube came online with a high-pitched whine, the interior of the tube opened up revealing a particle-array behind it, "M'hontrr R'ohh K'arr, the Zeta-Tube is complete and ready for testing," J'ohn declared to the royal-liaison.
"You may proceed, the Queen approves."
J'arlia J'axx sat on her throne accompanied by two G'arrunn servants while they all observed the data from the Zeta-Project being supervised by her liaison, using crimson holoscreens to double check their progress, when R'ess E'dda, the Council-General, floated in with haste shouting at her.
"I come, my Queen, with a mind-link one thousand strong, to stop the insanity that is this Earther Zeta-Tube!"
The Queen was taken aback as was her attendants, trying to mitigate the psychic pressure on her own mind; the attack was so powerful that it even reached the group within the Science-Center. Even M'gaan was almost sent to her knees from the mere shock of the assault, Ben and Gwen did collapse though, both of them to their knees clutching their heads in pain. Though, Em'ree and the other Martians seemed only slightly inconvenienced after a few groans.
Gwen was still weak from the attack she suffered on her own earlier, suddenly hearing all of their hatred and rage, so much so that she unconsciously shouted curses in Martian, "Ma'al! Ma'al, ma'al, ma'al, ma'al!" the nightmares she would have when she closed her eyes, the trauma she still hadn't recovered from, all building up at once, "What the hell is that?!" she shouted.
M'gaan helped Ben up by the shoulder, "A massive mindlink, I'm putting up another set of filters now."
Still engulfed by the agony thumping in her head, Gwen lashed out, "Why the fuck weren't they up in the first place?!"
"Gwen!" Ben shouted, her name being enough to snap her out of it, watching her shake her head still in pain.
"I-I'm sorry, M'gaan," Gwen finally stuttered out.
J'ohn, who was so experienced he only felt the attack for a quick second or two before shaking it off, "Atom, we are ready," the genius shrinking-man was projected on a holoscreen floating in front of Manhunter, "We've temporarily moved the Watchtower out of the orbiting Zeta-Shield developed by Sardath to guard against Zeta-incursions, you're good to go."
J'arlia connected to the massive mindlink of angry citizens, trying to plead for reason, "Listen to me, my people, your strength, and unity is most impressive but, your cause is misguided! We must cooperate with Earth because our galaxy is full of dangers to M'arzz!"
"Earth is a danger to M'arzz! R'ess announced, allowing the mindlink he formed to emphasize his point by repeating it.
"Earth is a danger to M'arzz!"
J'ohn and the other Martians could still hear the chanting within the mindlink spite not being thrown from the pressure of a thousand different angry thoughts, "Must you leave so soon big brother?" J'aan asked, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You've only just arrived, and the wedding-"
J'ohn smiled and placed his hand over hers, gently removing it from his shoulder, "I will zeta to the Watchtower and then zeta back here to test the connection, it will be fine."
J'arlia continued to debate with R'ess and the mindlink, arguing for humanity, "Not all of Earth is dangerous, only some of their meta-humans. We need our sister-planet to help identify which planets are being used by Apokolips!"
J'ohn said his final goodbyes and was prepared to make his quick trip to Earth's orbit and back when M'gaan spotted something, a shimmer in the light by a Martian who wasn't as good at camouflage as herself, though she knew exactly who it was almost immediately, "M'comm!" her mental-voice shouted.
Attacking his mind first to reveal him before using her telekinesis to lift him off his feet and slam him back first into the wall, pinning him there while two G'arrunn guards used their energy-staffs to electrocute M'comm, "We've got you, Ma'alefa'ak! You aren't density shifting your way out of this one!" one of the guards asserted.
M'aatt spoke up in disbelief, not knowing where he could have gone wrong, "M'comm, what are you doing?" but, his question fell on deaf ears.
M'comm ignored him and glared at M'gaan instead, "Very good, M'gaan, nobody else detected be, save for you, sister…" he growled as the weapons sent vibrant crimson-electricity surging through his body.
"I am not your sister, not after what you did last time!"
J'arlia continued expressing her values to the thousand enraged Martians connected to her mind, "Earth is not the danger, Apokolips is the danger!" she insisted proudly.
"You are ignoring the danger our culture, our way of life!" R'ess argued.
J'ohn had had enough of the racist slurs and pointless debating that clouded his mind, using his psychic-prowess to connect directly to the mindlink, speaking to all of the Martians present, "My fellow Martians, hear me! Earth and its heroes will fight to protect our culture! And what is best about our way of life is not as fragile as R'ess E'dda would have you believe!" he was interrupted when his niece called from him, splitting his attention from the mindlink.
"Manhunter," M'gaan addressed him formally, "I've scanned M'comm's mind, he only just arrived and didn't have time to do anything," she noted, glaring up at her former brother with disgust, "It should be safe to test the Zeta-Tube."
J'ohn nodded his head and reapproached the platform, preparing to walk through the teleporter once it was activated; J'arlia took his short speech in strike though, continuing to quell the rage of a thousand minds, "You all know of J'ohn J'onzz, our greatest M'hontrr. He has demonstrated that Earth and M'arzz can be strong allies. In the final analysis of this mindlink, do we not trust J'ohn J'onzz?" suddenly, dozens upon dozens of minds left the horde with whispers of disagreement, the thousand minds dropped to less than half that within seconds.
"You fools, do not leave!? J'ohn J'onzz has brought the Earther corruption to our world!" R'ess shouted at the minds listening in that continued to dwindle by the second.
J'arlia frowned and turned her attention to R'ess though anyone left within the link could still hear her voice, "J'ohn J'onzz brought honor to two worlds! He is a true hero!" just as he heard the Queen's voice declaring this, the Zeta test was to begin, J'ohn stepped forwards and approached the active Zeta-Tube.
"Recognized: Martian Manhu-" the tube went critical and set off an explosion midsentence which engulfed the cave in smoke and fire, the blast knocked Em'ree and M'gaan off their feet and onto their backs being that they were the closest to the teleporter. M'gaan opened her eyes realizing that there was a turquoise-blue mana shield surrounding herself and Em'ree a few feet away.
Ben ran to her side as soon as he dispersed the dome of energy that protected her, getting to his knees, and helping her to sit up; several security guards came to Em'ree as well to check her vitals but, it appeared she'd been knocked out cold. "M'gaan, are you okay?!" he nearly shouted nervously, looking into her eyes as her hand came up to her forehead, noticing a trickle of crimson blood collecting over her brow from a small cut, "I-I'm fine but…" she looked over at the flaming remains of the Zeta-Tube where she last saw her Uncle.
"Uncle J'ohn… I-I cant feel his mind touch… Ben, I cant feel his mind touch!" M'gaan started to panic, turning her head to look into his emerald eyes as tears swelled in hers. He looked up at the destroyed teleporter in flames, exposed wires short-circuiting, chunks of metal missing, but no sign of the Martian Manhunter…
…
…
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