Hey guys. Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been quite busy lately and it's likely that the frequency of posts will vary. And I'll try to answer some reviews from now on. Thanks you guys who are reading and enjoy it.
--‐--
"Yeah, here I am, not giving a fuck about curfew, in full view of any man-eater with a taste for fresh flesh. An easy prey." Ben was next to that same statue, dressed in his white sweatshirt, this time with the hood covering his head. He wanted to get a little closer to the cemetery that was nearby, watching all those tombstones, melted candles and withered flowers adorning them.
Since all the lights were off, and only the full moon, accompanied by the stars, did their part to light up the night, the visual aspect that the village had when Ben observed it for the first time, was gone. Being in a country located in Eastern Europe, the spring there was not the same as in the USA, and so it was natural that he felt a little cold.
Ben was walking among the tombstones of that cemetery, and saw that the carved stone gates supposedly led to the path to the castle, were open, different from when it was day, which was always closed.
Except for the sound of a light wind blowing through the trees making the leaves rustle, everything was very quiet to Ben's ears, but something unexpected, at least for him, broke the silence immediately. The sound of a melody sung by a whistle, accompanied by not too hurried steps were heard by Ben, who was taken aback.
"Someone doesn't care about 'lullaby time' either." Ben thought, as he quickly lay down behind one of the tombstones, the biggest one there and not too close to the street between the cemetery and the church, where whoever owned the whistle was walking. Ben could recognize the melody or song that person was whistling: it was Learn to Fly, by the American band Foo Fighters.
"Foo Fighters? Here?" Ben knew that the only chance anyone in the village could hear that kind of music was through a radio, but under the circumstances, that was very strange.
That person was already going up that street, heading towards the gates when Ben, still hidden, was surprised and wide-eyed when he saw him. It was the same man he had chatted with earlier that afternoon, smoking a Cuban Montecristo cigar, and carrying something that was and looked like a big hammer on one shoulder: Lord Heisenberg.
"Dr. Frankenstein?!" Ben exclaimed in his mind, still seeing the Lord walking even closer to the open gates. Ben was far enough away not to be noticed by Heisenberg, unless the Lord looked to his left and saw a certain boy lying hidden behind a tombstone. The man kept walking until he entered the gates, disappearing from Ben's field of vision. On the other hand, Ben wouldn't just lie there watching the Lord go wherever he went, with no intention of following him.
"Yeah, come on, give me a sneaky guy." Ben activated the Omnitrix, watching carefully as the holographic disk showed the silhouettes of his aliens' faces, until he found one that suited him for what he wanted.
Four-Arms, Armodrillo, Brainstorm, Arctiguana, Crashhopper were shown by the holographic disk, even to one that Ben had not transformed for a long time, and that would come in handy for him very well.
"How long has it been huh? Overkill." This supposed alien reminded Ben of a joke that Kevin and Gwen didn't find the slightest bit funny, when he thought of naming it that way. All that confusion involving the prisoner 775 came to Ben's mind as nostalgic memories, and when he still had the Ultimatrix.
Once Ben made up his mind what he wanted to become, the holographic disc disappeared and the black panel slid back, revealing the retractable cylindrical core, with a pattern of green circuits bypassing it on the sides, and a glowing green hourglass on its surface.
All this selection mechanism emitted sounds that Ben was already missing hearing.
Ben, as usual, slapped the Omnitrix's core, putting pressure on it, so that it instantly disappeared in a blinding flash of green light.
….
-Huh? Heisenberg was already some ten paces beyond the gates when he noticed, or thought he noticed, a glowing green one appeared and disappeared behind him, in a mere instant.
- I think I'm going crazy. Well, in my shoes, who wouldn't be? Heisenberg told himself aloud, reassuring himself as he continued on his way. However, little did he know that something, or someone accompanied him, moving so stealthily that the sound of his steps were inaudible to anyone who did not have a very keen hearing, as if it were not enough that someone managed to camouflage himself so well with the environment around you, which makes him appear invisible.
It was Ben, transformed into his Merlinisapien form: Chamalien.
Ben, while in this form, could only be tracked or sensed by something or someone who had a keen sense of smell to the point of being able to smell blood or sweat, or also be able to hear heartbeats and breathing even from a distance, as is the case of Vulpimancers, and by extension, Wildmutt.
On the other hand, with the exception of something or someone with super senses, nothing could detect Chamalien's presence, which meant that Ben was safe as long as he still maintained that form. Chamalien's humanoid salamander morphology allowed it to move both bi and quadrupedally.
The Merlinisapien had more control over its body weight, distributing it under its four "legs", allowing it to move more lightly.
"Yeah, he's still just as 'overkilletly' useful as I remembered." Ben was glad he'd turned into something a few days ago. He was literally walking side by side with Heisenberg as he continued to whistle, this time, it was Dream on, by Aerosmith.
"I barely know you, but I recognize your good taste in music". Ben praised Heisenberg in his mind, knowing that Lorde's musical tastes didn't leave anything to be desired.
…..
Ben and Heisenberg walked further, until they crossed a wooden drawbridge over a creek, and entered a narrow cavernous tunnel lit by fire torches, whose path was a staircase that led to a higher place.
As long as Ben remained blended into his surroundings and imperceptible to sight, the green glow of the Omnitrix, which was positioned on his chest as a sort of emblem, was not visible. In addition, he could also move around walls.
Ben and Heisenberg were in what appeared to be a room, the walls of which were brick, and the lighting came from two lamps hanging from the ceiling, one at each end of the room. There were also stacked barrels, and baskets filled to the brim with grapes and apples, indicating that a bountiful harvest had been reaped and that was what was left of all that was consumed during the winter.
While they were still there, Ben took care to go into a corner where his body couldn't block the light coming from the lamps, producing a shadow and unintentionally revealing himself.
….
Ben continued following Heisenberg for a while, until they arrived at a place that, to Ben's surprise, was where a family reunion was about to start, and that the man he was following was the last member left, so that the meeting could finally begin.
However, the place was a large underground cave inside a mountain or something like that, but something was built there to make the place more conducive for meetings, or even cults. The floor was paved with stones, where there was a large sofa and some kind of chair made for someone really big sitting on it, positioned facing each other, and between them was a red carpet that extended to a surface raised to a step about eight inches high.
The place was illuminated by large fire torches positioned near the entrance, and Ben looked for a place where he could observe everything, without any light source present revealing the shadow of an intruding humanoid salamander.
At a point not too high but not too close to the ground, allowing you to see and hear everything. He would hang on to a wall for as long as it took. Ben knew that following Heisenberg there was a great idea, as he could personally see each of the other Lords, as well as their leader.
-Good night. Heisenberg greeted his siblings and mother, before taking a seat on one of the couches while still keeping his big hammer on one of his shoulders. Ben wanted to take a closer look at this.
- You're late... for a change. Said the one Ben recognized when he remembered the portraits that were in the church, back in the village.
Ben would never have guessed that the woman had a size as big as that one.
He watched her, sitting on her large chair, dressed in a long white dress and a large brimmed hat on her head. She wore short heels on her feet, and black gloves in her hands.
Near her left shoulder, there was a black rose that matched with her hat, beholding her upper-class lady look from the 1930s.
From a tape measure to learning that the one was an incredible 9'6 feet tall, Ben came to think of her as what the legends say about her and her daughters: vampires and man-eaters.
Lady Dimitrescu's pale skin only made that more evident.
"She's almost as tall as Four Arms. How much human blood and flesh does she need to maintain all that?" Ben was momentarily curious as to the Countess' eating habits.
-And who asked you, huh? Bitch! Heisenberg asked something that reminded Ben of how much he and his so-called sister hated each other. And he looked like he was just kidding.
- You're going to let him talk to you like that, huh?! That voice was high-pitched and irritatingly hysterical, coming from someone Ben was sure that if they made a horror movie with it, most of the cost of special effects would be waived. Somehow, that sinister ventriloquist-style porcelain doll, wearing a little white dress with a veil and pseudo-blonde hair, sitting on the lap of a woman dressed head to toe in black with a burqa covering her face, was talking and moving as if she had a conscience of her own, and indeed she did. The woman in black was sitting on a chair, keeping her living doll with her.
"The Puppet Master, and your, I don't know, favorite one. She's very down to earth... too realistic." Ben ran his critique of Donna Beneviento and her living doll Angie in his mind as he watched them.
-Call me that again, and I'll slice you up piece by piece, you stupid man-thing! Dimitrescu responded to Heisenberg's curse with anger and revulsion on her face, while, to Ben's surprise, one of her hands sprouted large five-foot-long sharp claws.
"She needs to cut those nails… and some lessons on how to curse and return insults". Ben has been cursed with so many things, calling him a "man-thing" literally means asking to be mocked by him. Even at ten years old, he already preferred better insults than that one, if he can call it an insult.
-And I'm going to rip off that head of yours and use it for cricket, and then stick it on the statue as an ornament. The Lycans will take good care of what's left. Heisenberg wasn't going to let Dimitrescu win that one so easily, already responding in kind, but maintaining an unconcerned posture, before smoking his cigar.
-Bastard!
-Bitch! Dimitrescu and Heisenberg said respectively, both nearly yelling at each other.
-Stop fighting, Mother will end up getting angry and… Said the one Ben remembered when thinking of the words "unusual appearance": Lord Moreau.
- Shut up, or it's on you too! Angie interrupted him, betraying her disapproval and disgust for the deformed man.
"Fucking hell, he's even uglier 'live' than in the picture, and the little one just wants to see the circus burn." Ben was still watching them, Dimitrescu and Heisenberg ready to go one-on-one, Angie just wanted to have some popcorn and watch as Moreau looked scared of a certain someone going mad.
-Yeeeaah! fight fight fight fight! Angie was euphoric, dying to see her two so-called brothers kill each other, until someone decided to break up the party.
-SILENCE! A female voice screamed, echoing throughout the room. Ben quickly directed his attention to a woman who before seemed to be covered by a kind of cape, but in fact, there were five pairs of black wings that when the woman wrapped herself with them, simulated a cape. She wore something similar to a priestly cassock with a tunic with long sleeves over it, both in black, priestly stole and shoulder pads with golden embroidered details. At the back of her head was something that seemed to represent a strange sort of halo, a nun's veil covered her blonde hair, and the same mask that Ben had seen in the portraits was covering her face.
"Yeah, someone's getting grounded tomorrow." At that point, Ben knew very well who was the one who was putting order in the house, making his children quiet the torch: Mother Miranda.
-Well, better that way. You all already know what the problem we came to discuss here is, right? The leader of the Lords asked, an authoritative tone in her voice.
- The outsider boy. Moreau replied, hoping to get some approval from his said mother for answering such an obvious question.
"Wow, so am I the reason this family reunion is happening? And, wait, I'm the problem? I still haven't accidentally destroyed anything! What's going on here, huh?" Ben could somehow imagine that he, as an outsider who had mysteriously arrived in a remote village, could be the subject of discussion among the leaders there, but, a problem? Why?
-Exactly. And I want to know which of you guys consider yourself the most able to bring it to me and why, with convincing arguments and ideas. Who would like to start? The winged woman asked, cueing whoever had an interesting idea to argue.
-I could bring the boy-thing to you, by efficient and failsafe means. The Countess said, before smoking a little of the cigarette fitted in the holder that was in her left hand, with a tone of conviction.
- What do you suggest, Alcina? Mother asked, looking at her said daughter and calling her by her first name.
- Well, because it's a young man-thing, and likes of him always fall into seduction games as easily as taking a baby's bottle, my daughters took care of bringing him to my castle so we can prepare him. Alcina replied, fully convinced that her idea and arguments were irrefutable.
"Yeah, whore being whore. News? Zero." Heisenberg was already predicting that his called and unwanted sister would have this kind of idea and think about using her daughters as bait to attract young men with testosterone on the surface, under the sunlight, as was their habit.
-And you understand that "preparing him" also means that he must be in the best possible physical condition, right? The Mother asked, seeking to know her said daughter's understanding of the complexity of her task.
- Perfectly. He will be delivered to you completely unharmed. Alcina was very direct in her answer, a satisfied smile was on her pale face, where her lips were colored in an intense red.
"Maybe not so unharmed." Alcina was lucky her mother didn't have telepathic powers, because the Countess had other plans involving the boy. Not very good plans.
-Let me disagree. Heisenberg said, indicating that it was his turn to argue for himself. He had his arms folded listening to Alcina and the Mother talk, patiently waiting his turn.
-Ugh, spit it out . Alcina was not at all willing to hear her said brother present the supposed flaws that her idea had, but the rules said that both had the right to argue and propose their ideas.
- Simple. First: We have to consider that your "daughters" can't resist a piece of fresh flesh when they see one. Second: because he is an outsider, he tends to be smarter than most kids his age in the village. And third: Don't promise what you can't deliver. We all know what happens to unlucky men who end up there. Heisenberg pointed out the flaws that Alcina's idea had, and that really should be discussed. On the other hand, Alcina wasn't willing to give up so easily.
-Let's go. First: my daughters are very well disciplined, more than you never were. Second: Men-thing are all the same, it doesn't matter if they're from outside or local. And third: what happens to the men-thing. that ends up in MY castle... is none of your business. Alcina countered what Heisenberg had said, which didn't eliminate the fact that Alcina just wanted to try new blood.
-Heisenberg, what do you propose? The Mother asked, cueing her said son to express what he was thinking.
- Honestly, I have no idea. Heisenberg said, nonchalantly.
"Not that you need to know" Heisenberg also had other plans involving the same boy, and these benefited him far more.
-If you can't think of anything better, how do you still think you have the right to argue, huh?
- Why toast neurons for nothing? Refuting your points to throw it in your face that you only have shit in your head is more fun. Heisenberg returned Alcina's taunt only to piss her off, before laughing.
- You still dare to mock me, disgusting worm? Alcina asked, her voice almost growling, ready to rip a piece out of the man in front of her at any moment.
Heisenberg just showed her his left hand's middle finger, as an obscene gesture, while smirking. Alcina chose to ignore this, as she had already gotten what she wanted: the task of picking up the foreign boy and taking him to the castle. She seemed convinced that everything would work out.
"Heisenberg is up to something. His devotion to Mother Miranda is questionable. He could be lying by saying he's not thinking of catching the boy himself. If so, the trophy always goes to first-time finishers." Alcina was calm about the success of fulfilling her task, because she had someone who would be responsible for fulfilling part of it: her daughters.
Because she knew Heisenberg had his own intentions, she wanted to make sure her said brother didn't get the chance to act on them by sending his daughters to get the boy before he did.
"She thinks she's won this one. How ridiculous! Let's see who crosses the finish line first, me, or your collections of bugs" Heisenberg didn't care if Alcina suspected him or not, not when he was sure where and when he would find the boy in the morning of the next day.
"So, they want me, but… Why?" Ben was watching that family gathering, confused and trying to understand why his presence there was somehow so requested. However, he thought that he had already heard enough to know at least part of everything that was going on there and decided to leave, retracing his path to the cave back to the village, still camouflaged and moving as stealthily as before, until I was sure that nothing or no one was nearby, for obvious reasons.
….
Once out of the cave, heading towards the stone gates, Ben decided to decloak and make himself visible again. The alteration made by master control, caused Chamalien to be identical to Prisoner 775, with his purplish gray scaly skin, his black helmet with a sharp spike on top, those three triangular eyes colored in solid red, electric green and sky blue, respectively. He was focused on everything he saw and heard when he was inside that cave, from the evidence of how much Dimitrescu and Heisenberg hate each other, to the part where the Countess' daughters would seek him out, or hunt him, in order to take him away. him to the castle and, finally, to Mother Miranda.
"So, the big one wants to put her hunting dogs down my neck, isn't it? It's not the first time I'm someone's 'ultimate prey'." All this hunting and prey thing reminded Ben of when Khyber and his Nemetrix Bearer, by then named Zed, chased him through Bellwood and Undertown.
The Zaroffian and Anubian Baskurr were a pain in the ass for Ben, until the alien dog became Gwen and Kevin's mascot. Outside the gates, next to the statue, a blinding flash of green light brought Ben back to his human form. If he wanted to appear easy prey for any man-eating predator, transformations were out of the question.
He thought he'd stay around for a while, until he went somewhere. Flying over the village was also a good option, but he preferred to wait. Ben also thought about visiting Heisenberg by going to his factory, or waiting for the Lord to find him again. That big hammer made of gear served as a clue for Ben to guess what his attributes and powers were.
"Magnetic personality?" It was something Ben used to refer to himself while he was in his Biot-Savartian form: Lodestar.
"I wonder if there's a ghost in there? And is he haunting the Puppet Master? Ghost or not, being haunted isn't cool." Ben tried to imagine why that ugly doll was what it was, and why its owner seemed to be someone disturbed and tormented by occult, spiritual or even demonic forces and entities.
"He has what it takes to be called a monster. 'Men-fisher', or not." At first glance, Ben didn't consider Moreau as dangerous as the legends made him out to be, but that was something Ben would discover for himself, and not like one bit.
"HighbreedLord TransylMother VreedleKhyber with hound dog= Lady Dimitrescu. Should I be worried?" Ben compared the Countess to some of his enemies, figuring she was supposed to be the sum of them all, even though he knew he had the wherewithal to deal with her.
"Besides healing, and supposedly giving powers and also flying, what else can she do? And why the fuck does she want me?! That winged woman was a pretty complex riddle for Ben's mind, and guessing wouldn't help him solve it. Maybe letting the Countess' daughters go with them was a good idea. They figured that out one way or another.
Ben didn't expect him to meet the Heisenberg family like that, without even any formal introductions, but after everything he's seen and heard, seeing one or all of them again wouldn't be something he wanted that badly, at least, not like someone friendly.
Ben put his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt, leaning against the statue as he looked up at the full moon and remembered everything that had happened so far.
There he was, like a fresh prey, leaning against that statue comfortably, while saying in his mind, a cocky smile on his face.
"A Halloween party? Where am I the guest of honor? I know guys who would love to take part of it."