So, long time; no see. Life has been a wild ride recently, my father passed away in April, this girl I've known for about five years is now my girlfriend, my oldest brother has his second kid on the way, things are kinda hectic.
SO. This is a very hastily thrown together TF2 based one shot, it's not heavily romantic and focuses more on the dynamic of Team Tennyson, Kevin included. Gwen and Ben are together, it's mostly just assumed by how she treats him at the end of this short. I may have this connect with my Half-Life oneshot, maybe hint that video games are just as real as their world, I dunno. Anyway, just read when you can; and slap a review or something down on it.
"...So, what is it exactly you have called me here for, Gray Mann?"
The youngest son of Zepheniah Mann, and most intelligent, glared up at the ghoulish looking man standing before him.
His mouth quirked into a slight smirk as he turned back toward his desk.
"You, my dear man, are the most competent mage I've had the pleasure of ever meeting. I've only met the one, and he's currently being hunted by Russian mafioso." He waved his hand dismissively, The pale man quirked an eyebrow in response, the action was barely seen due to his black and red hood. "And what exactly is it that you want me to do for you?" Gray slammed a hand on his desk, growling.
"What I want you to do for ME, is hunt down an old bitch for me." He scooped a photograph off of his table and handed it to the mage,
folding his arms behind his back. "You see, this woman has something that belongs to me. A rare mineral known as Australium.
You retrieve her store of it for me, and I will reward you with a large sum of money... As well as any tomes, charms, or trinkets I can liberate
from the apartment home of our local wizard." He snickered, drawing a glare from the mage.
The mage stared down at the photo, then slowly nodded. "Very well, Gray. I will find this woman, and her life will be extinguished."
Gray Mann grinned, and took the mage's hand in his. "Excellent doing business with you, Mister Hex."
"Alert, the enemy has taken our intelligence!"
Ben Tennyson wasn't exactly sure what the hell he was doing at the moment, he'd woken up in a video game he had been playing with Gwen
and the rest of Team Tennyson the night before. He was running for his life through a rustic old wooden fort,
which he now knew like the back of his hand. The Omnitrix had vanished from his wrist too,
which made him hope he was just trapped in a bad dream.
A bad dream punctuated by mini-gun fire from behind him, bullets impacted the wall before him as he neared the end of the spiral ramp. He was up on the enemy battlements now and currently avoiding surprise rocket fire. Two deadly missiles soared over head and impacted in the room to his right, he rolled through the doorway and dropped through the grate. "2Fort, why the HELL did I have to wake up in 2Fort!?
Why couldn't it be friggin Upward?!"
He made a mad dash across the bridge, belatedly noting he was faster than usual.
He slipped into his team's base, sighing in relief as he heard the sounds of a friendly engineer. He circled around the lower half of the base,
took a brisk jog up the stairs, then slumped down in relief next to a red dispenser. "Feeling alright, Doofus?" Ben's eyes shot open,
he cast a glance up at the slim engineer who stood beside him; her bright red hair in a ponytail. He got to his feet with a grin,
wrapping his arms tightly around her. "Gwen, thank merciful crap you're here." Gwen chuckled,
wrapping her own arms around him and planting a kiss on his cheek. "I'm glad you're here too, Ben."
The two separated, their smiles fading as they felt
the weight of their current situation fall on their shoulders. "So, instead of Sumo Slammers we're stuck in TF2?"
Ben sighed, tossing the Intel aside for a moment. "Eh, could be worse. We could be stuck in Titanfall 2, waaaaay more deadly."
Gwen snickered, scooping up the Intel and gesturing for Ben to follow.
Max and Kevin were waiting for them in the Intel room, Max looked a bit bigger than before, he had a large mini-gun lying on the floor beside him.
Ben frowned, while Gwen snickered, as he took in his Grandfather's load-out. "Grandpa, that's literally just you in the real world."
Max chuckled, grinning at his grandson. "Can't change perfection, Ben." He wore the Heavy Tourism, similar to his trademark Hawaiian shirt,
and the Minnesota Slick done in Aged Moustache Grey. Kevin meanwhile was decked out like he was a War Pig,
the Brütal Bouffant was up under his helmet, the Lone Survivor covered his face; giving him a scraggly look,
The Flakcatcher was draped over his torso. Speaking of War Pig, his hair was tucked up under one.
A Purple Energy, Pink as Hell, War Pig. Ben snorted, he remembered Kevin wearing that last time they had played.
Gwen had acted as his Medic Girlfriend for his Twitch Stream,
and he just so happened to unbox that strange the same night. She gifted him the paint, and that was that.
Team Tennyson was reunited, what were they going to do now?
Gwen pointed her Wrangler laser at the world map on the wall. "So, far as I can tell: Merasmus is on the run, and the only person who would know where he is, since he's the only wizard in this world, is Gray Mann. He's currently camped in the Mann Co offices, so we'll have to find a way to get to him." Kevin grinned, slamming four tickets on the table.
"Well, time to Mann up then. We go fight his money powered robots, he'll come to us!"
Ben eyed Max, who shrugged. "Not a bad plan, Levin. Let's do this."
"So, anyone want to explain to me why the Meta doesn't work again!?" Ben shouted over the stampeding army of money powered robots, he blasted through two sniper bots with his Scattergun, scooping up their fuel as he went. Kevin scoffed, firing off with his Black Box.
"Meta, Shmeta. As long as we survive this, we might be able to find that sunnovabitch who's sending these robots.
Just one more wave, and we'll have the bastard!" The robots all stopped in their tracks, turning towards Kevin.
A large Heavy bot approached, folding it's arms. Team Tennyson stared in awe, watching as it's mouth produced a loud speaker.
"Which one of you called me bastard?"
The three Tennyson's pointed to Kevin, he gulped nervously. The Heavy leaned down, projecting an image of Gray Mann before him. "Listen here, you oiled up skunk with no color coordination, I proudly admit to being a bastard. But to use it as an insult, THAT is something I won't stand for.
My robots will self destruct, you will enter the carrier and meet me. All of you." The feed went dead, and the robots began to collapse.
"Excellent work, Hex. Now, I have one more job for you..." Hex gripped Gray by the throat, growling.
"I did what was required, now give me my money and trinkets before I snap your pencil-neck." The doors to his office burst open, startling Hex.
He dropped the old fool to the floor, growling at the four mercenaries standing in the doorway. "Hex? Huh, guess it makes sense. But why-?"
He was answered with bolts of lightning. Team Tennyson was forced to fight Hex bare handed,
their weapons given to the young woman in purple at the door. He had his magic, Gwen was currently without.
Ben swept Hex's legs from under him, Hex performed a quick recovery by teleporting himself into the air. Max was waiting for him,
and trapped the wizard in a bear hug. "Let me go, you idiots!"
Slow clapping echoed in the room, an almost otherworldly tinge to it. Ben looked around, his face scrunched into a frown.
"Excellent work, tracking down this troublesome... Magic user, for me." The world around Ben began to lose it's color,
it was all absorbed by the man who had suddenly appeared in the door to Gray Mann's office. "Who the hell are you?"
The man chuckled, brushing an imaginary piece of dust from his perfectly preserved suit, and adjusted his tie.
"Surely, someone so well versed in this particular company's form of... Video games..."
He said, rolling the last two words around, seeing how they tasted on his tongue.
"That you would know of me by now, Mister Tennyson." The Omnitrix rematerialized on his wrist, he was back in how own clothes.
"My... Employers, have been seeking a suitable, replacement? For one of our current staff, and after much research...
I believe that YOU, Benjamin, fit the bill perfectly."
The world around the two went black, the pale man stepped forward, offering his hand.
"All I ask, is that when the time comes, when your services are required, that you will be cooperative... For everyone's sake."
The color seeped back into the world slightly; the majority of it focusing on Max, Kevin, and more importantly:
Gwen. Ben sighed, his green eyes meeting the suit's electric green ones. "So that's it, just be ready when you need me?"
The suit relaxed, almost grinning. "That is all I require." Ben sighed, he felt like he was making a deal with the devil.
"Fine, you know where I live." He clasped the suit's hand, the man sighed, smiling.
The suit released Ben's hand a moment later, before a white doorway opened beside him. With one parting remark, he stepped through
and vanished.
"I'll be in touch."
Team Tennyson was suddenly transported back into the real world, Max was still wrestling with Hex; but they had all returned to normal.
Kevin leapt on top of the Wizard, sapping as much of his energy as he could. Gwen very quickly cast a spell on him, trying to put him to sleep.
Hex thrashed, glaring at Ben with absolute hatred. "You've doomed us all, boy." He spat out, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Gwen held his hand the whole ride home, trying to get him to talk with her about what Hex had said. He told her it was nothing, so she spent
the rest of the ride laying gentle kisses on him; trying to get him to relax. He fell asleep with his head on her lap, her hands gently combing through his hair.
The suit's laughter echoed in his dreams.