Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
Another Myself – Chapter 78 Part 1
Originally Written: Wednesday, September 29, 2017 522PM to 1118PM
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A/N: Here's three chapters for you this week!
I hope you enjoy reading this arc as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would like to, again, warn for triggers, without spoiling the story. -points to the genres- Please make note of the genres. Also, there are occasionally names in parenthesis of Alien transformations. They are not being said by whoever is speaking. They are there so you and I can keep track of what aliens are being referenced. I think it would be weird to have people refer to those names when they either don't know them (like a character in this chapter wouldn't know), or know their actual genetic/genus/etc name (like Albedo does).
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Albedo woke slowly, but kept his eyes closed as the rest of his senses and awareness returned to him. Voices spoke softly around him.
"Why does the boss want this one again?"
"The surprise factor, Neg. That goody two-shoes won't be expecting it. He'll see how dangerous we are, give it up, and then we're onto the next one. Easy peasy. Too easy peasy." The voice grumbled, "I want a real challenge."
He refrained from rolling his eyes. Sounded like a typical overconfident nut-job.
Someone, he assumed, was wrapping his arm with what felt like a soft cloth. A finger tapped against his arm repeatedly.
It took him a bit, but through the pain of his aching limbs, he recognized the tapping as Morse Code. He held in a snort. Then he realized that someone was touching his arm. His eyes snapped open. He looked at the hand on his arm, and followed it up, fully intending to glare at the person said hand was attached to. The idea fled his mind upon seeing who was touching his arm.
'What in the universe!?'
Lavender eyes looked at him curiously, as the male continued tapping on his arm. Pale skin contrasted with mostly straight navy blue hair that curled ever so slightly at the ends.
Albedo looked away at the male who just idly complimented his eyes.
The male placed a gentle hand on top of his own. They rolled their eyes in response to something the two voices said in conversation.
Albedo couldn't see the other people, for the man in front of him blocked his view. He looked at the cloth covering his wrist. It resembled a piece of a shirt more than typical cloth. A small bit of blood seeped through the makeshift bandage. He looked up at the male.
He smiled a shy, but inviting smile in response. For someone apparently taken hostage, he was quite calm. If his research had any shred of truth to it, said person was probably used to waking up in places that weren't his home with no clue how he got there to boot.
He resisted the urge to scratch at his scalp. It wouldn't do much of anything anyway. His head tingled oddly as he assumed Juggernaut was assessing the situation.
'Unable to analyze. Attempting alternative analysis.'
Albedo blinked a few times. He wondered what it couldn't scan, and why not. He'd return a message to the male kneeling before him, but said person instructed that it was best he not move. Considering the circumstances, he had the right idea for the moment.
He looked up as he heard footsteps. As he looked behind the male, past his shoulders he saw two males. One had familiar brown hair. The other's hair was styled familiarly, but was in the wrong color: a deep black. His eyes widened. Panic filled his system. If the male wasn't holding on to his wrist, he was certain he would have bolted seconds ago.
The male in front of him quickly covered his mouth with his hand. Albedo tightly shut his eyes. Shivers wracked his frame. Tennyson was truly one determined sadist and a narcissist!
He heard the door shut and click off to the side.
The male sighed softly, and moved his hand. "I didn't want them to attack you again." He whispered.
It took a bit, but Albedo managed to look at the male confused.
"Your arm." He gestured to the bandage.
Albedo moved to his knees and pulled his arm away. He held his wrist and arm close to his person as he looked away with a scowl on his face.
"Ah, I see." The male spoke softly. He rolled up his own gray shirt sleeves to the middle of his forearms. "My name is Ken. Ken Ichijouji."
Albedo looked at him. The scars were faint, but still noticeable if you knew what you were looking for. He focused on Ken's arms for a long time. "Albedo Lowenthal," he murmured eventually. His mind raced for all the good he tried to make it stop.
Ken laughed, dropping his arms. "Oh! Good!"
"What?" He scowled even deeper.
"Your name isn't Ben!" Ken continued laughing.
Albedo looked at him with a confused smirk on his face.
"All four of our kidnappers are named Ben. Even the zombie looking one (Benzzaro) and the aquamarine colored crystal...thing that looks like it walked out of a Hot Topic still running after the apocalypse (Mad Ben Diamondhead). It's the oddest thing." He shook his head, though he was still grinning.
Albedo looked around the room. Anything to get his mind off the fact that he was stuck in what he assumed was a building with four psychos named Ben. All he really needed now was for the one that actually wanted him dead to show up. He allowed himself the luxury of wrapping his arms around himself. At least he still had his signature jacket.
The only window was a small rectangular one up ahead of him, past the dull black table and old looking metal chairs where the two "Bens" apparently had been sitting. A staircase leading up was off to the right.
"A basement?" He spoke just above a whisper. The gray walls were relatively smooth, with a chip here and there. Mainly they were just dingy. A simple set of fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling just barely provided enough light for him to see. He took note of, but pointedly ignored the bars surrounding him on all sides, the black metal he and Ken currently sat on, and the metal slate of a ceiling above him.
"That's what I gathered, too. The one with black hair knocked me out with a mean right hook, laughing like a maniac. I was already in this room when I woke up here."
"What need of you would they have?" He pulled his knees up close to him. A camera blinked red on and off at him in the corner behind him.
"From what I can gather, they're looking for more Ben's." Ken shifted a little, but remained kneeling with his back straight, and head held high. "I'm not sure why though." His black slacks were covered in dust and dirty.
Albedo narrowed his eyes at the male, but didn't say anything. "How long have I been here?"
Ken closed his eyes, thinking, "A little over a few days."
"And yourself?"
"I'm starting to lose track, but it's over three weeks. Could be a month."
Albedo snorted, "You're awfully calm."
"For the most part, they've left me alone. If they wanted me dead I'd be dead already." Ken lowered his voice back to it's original whisper, "Second, I'm a detective. I've been on stakeouts that have lasted longer." He looked away. "I'd show you the third, but there's a camera up in the corner. I'm pretty sure it's active."
Albedo noticed he had indeed turned his head away from said camera when he spoke.
"That leads to the fourth. Which could very well be the reason why the other two haven't returned for a while." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm more worried that they dragged you into this."
He took a few moments to process the information Ken granted to him. "I'm certain they know I'm awake by now."
"Agreed."
Plans raced through his mind.
'Access acquired.'
Albedo jumped. He ignored Ken looking at him oddly. 'Access to what?'
'Camera is now displaying a loop of 30 seconds of Ken Ichijouji watching you sleep.'
"And now we can leave." He moved to his knees. "Should be easy enough."
"With a camera watching us? Do enlighten me?" Ken looked at him.
"I have a...way with electronic equipment. Also, the lock on this cage is child's play." He focused, looking at his fingers.
"Just like Davis," Ken chuckled. "It's not golden yellow, but still."
"Davis?" Albedo looked at Ken.
"I can't give away all my secrets now." Ken smiled wryly at him.
"I'd think you a fool if you did." Albedo focused once more, making a marble sized ball of energy form on his pointer finger. 'Juggernaut. Can you sense Jenrya?' He tossed the energy ball at the simple lock on the cage. The ball of energy shattered like glass as it hit the lock. The lock cracked into three large pieces. Ken whistled, impressed.
'Henry Wong not found.'
'Dammit,' he scowled as he somehow managed to get the now broken lock to land on an energy platform instead of crashing loudly on the floor.
Ken reached his hand through the bars of the cage, and picked up the lock's pieces. He set it on the floor quietly inside the cage.
"I probably should have asked if you have enough energy for this first."
"Probably," Ken raised an eyebrow, amused. "However, I'm alright. Like I said, they want me alive."
"Or you're too much of a hassle to kill." Albedo stepped out of the cage. He took a deep breath. A part of him wondered how he managed to stay in that thing as long as he did. At least it hadn't been hanging from the ceiling. If he was holding anyone captive, he would have made the thing hang from the ceiling.
"Could be." Ken followed him out. "If I can get to a phone, we'll really be as good as two baby digimon in their digieggs."
Albedo gave him an odd look.
"Got it. No more digimon quips."
He continued looking at the male. Something about him seemed familiar, something a bit more than him just being Ken Ichijouji in the flesh. He was clearly older than his television counterpart, but Albedo could tell that when the male was younger, his appearance held the splitting image of said person. 'Is he truly him, or is he just an alternative universe version?' Albedo wondered to himself. His gaze fell on the cage. Did it matter? Ken was trapped in that physical cage just like him, for even longer.
"I'll go on ahead first."
Albedo grabbed his wrist. "I've got the keys."
"Alright Mr. Locksmith."
Albedo slowly walked on up the stairs with his back to the wall, a smirk on his face. He easily unlocked the door at the top of the old stairs the same way he unlocked the cage.
'90 percent energy remaining. 100 percent transformation time remaining.'
Albedo quietly took in the information as he looked out the door, checking for sounds. "This is too easy." He whispered.
"I have to agree. Maybe the resistance is further up ahead," Ken whispered back.
'Electronics detected...'
Albedo narrowed his eyes. He stepped out of the room. The room was dark. Too dark for him to see well, even with the dim light shining from the hall. Not a soul to be found, or heard. The curtains were drawn up tight.
Loud traffic assaulted his ears. All sorts of vehicle horns. The breaks of cars needing maintenance. A cacophony of voices, buses and airplanes. The occasional distant sound of a train. The room's light dimmed even further. He looked back. His eyes widened. Ken was nowhere to be found, and the door had been closed again. He looked around.
Where had he gone?
"Can't see well?" Despite the whisper, Ken's voice was loud behind him.
He jumped against the wall, "No." He snapped.
"There's an odd machine in the middle of the room to the left."
Albedo narrowed his eyes. How the hell was Ken seeing anything? All he saw was dark blobs. And how and where in the world did these Ben's manage to get the technology to make a room this dark? Who in the world liked it this dark!? The only thing this reminded him of was the few seconds of awake time he had in utter darkness as the Cassiopeian dream eater tried to eat his face. He wrapped his arms around his torso as shivers took over his frame.
'Class Two signal jammer detected.'
"S-shit."
"What?"
"A-are you bait, or a-a a hostage." Albedo pressed his back fully to the wall, facing directly ahead of him. "That's a s-signal jammer."
"I thought you said you couldn't see in this darkness."
Albedo swallowed, working to imagine something that wasn't light blue, pink and gelatinous. "A s-signal jammer would block the s-signal of your d-digivice. You didn't t-think it odd that with it on your person n-no one came for you?"
Ken placed a hand on his shoulder. Somehow Albedo found that calming.
"There's four Bens. I only ever see two at once. Sometimes I see a Ben and an alien that isn't a Digimon. They have a lot of allies. I figured they were holding my friends and allies up something crazy."
"...Plausible," he took a few deep breaths. He thought of Jenrya's silver eyes, calm and loving. He closed his eyes, just imagining.
"How do you know that it's a signal jammer?"
"...I can walk over and check if it makes you feel better. How can you see it?"
The room went silent for what felt like a painfully long time to Albedo.
"I can see abnormally well in the dark. Freakishly well, if you will."
"The digital world?"
"...kind of..."
"Take me over to the device, if you would."
Ken gingerly took his hand and led him forward.
Albedo partially covered his left hand with his right, as he called mana to his left hand with his fingertips. He looked at the cylindrical object just tall enough to reach his waist. From far away in proper lighting someone could confuse it for a closed metal trash can. "This is a signal jammer."
"What in the world? That doesn't look like any kind of technology we have on earth? Or in the digital world. Unless it's in some secret government testing facility or something."
"It's alien tech."
"I'd snort, but we've seen digimon. Tai's going to flip his shit."
Albedo snorted as he examined the odd bit of technology. "This is Incursean tech..." He closed his eyes.
"What's an Incursean?"
"I have to assume either opening the cage, or opening the door triggered some kind of silent alarm," Albedo continued speaking, ignoring Ken. He held up his hand higher in the air. "Dammit. Those aren't curtains as I first thought."
"Alien technology too?"
"Yes," Albedo looked around. "It's dark because all the exits have been locked down."
"Bait or hostage?"
That voice sounded way more familiar than Albedo dared to admit. Both Ken and Albedo looked around the room. Albedo noticed Ken's gaze directed towards the ceiling. He directed his makeshift light towards the ceiling, where he saw a speaker embedded into it.
"Lovely," Ken deadpanned.
Both males took a few steps back, looking ahead of them at the four figures walking towards them.
"Told you the idiot would fall for it." The one on the left with spiky hair spoke confidently.
"It took him over a month! And he wasn't even the one to do it!" The one second from the left waved his hands angrily.
"Still fell for it."
"I don't think it matters." The rightmost one spoke, shrugging his shoulders.
"No one asked you!" The first two shouted at the same time.
"Smash now?" The second one from the right spoke in an odd broken voice.
'Juggernaut?' Albedo questioned, against his better judgment.
'Analysis complete. Ben Tennyson detected.'
"Oh hell no," Albedo muttered, glaring at the four entities. He had never actually encountered the owner of the voice speaking through the intercom, but he had read the encounters and stories on the plumber database. He heard the voice recordings. Entries that were locked to everyone but the highest ranking plumbers. It was truly the only instance where he completely agreed with his foolish mentor. Of all the Ben Tennyson's known to exist, that one was the one you went out of your way to avoid. That Ben Tennyson was the one you never let touch an Omnitrix, even at the cost of your own life.
Ken fell into a defensive fighting stance. Albedo's mind raced on whether to fight back or just run. Juggernaut threw numbers and statistics at him in his head. Ken's stance faltered, as the four males turned into various aliens.
'Petrosapien detected (Diamondhead, Mad Ben). Galilean detected' (Gravattack, Bad Ben). Thep Khufan detected (Snare-oh, Benzarro). Methanosian detected (Swampfire, Nega Ben )'
"I prefer the term 'torture subject'." The voice from the intercom spoke once more.
