6 Ch 6 The City
- Midday -
After a few hours of meditating during the drive, Ben and Gwen were awakened by Max.
Max - "Kids! We've arrived!"
Max then walked outside with a big smile on his face.
Ben stretched his back and then cracked his neck.
Ben - 'I guess 120 Mana isn't bad for one day.'
He and Gwen got up and went outside, where Max was waiting for them with his smile.
Max - "Welcome to Sparksville!"
They looked at the town, which had a big sign that said the same thing, along with a part about it being a big tourist attraction. There was a big thermometer, house of cards, blah blah.
Max - "Isn't it amazing?"
Ben blankly looked at Max.
Ben - "No offence Grandpa, but we have seen more amazing things than this. I'm part energy alien and have a watch that turns me into multiple species. With that, all of this is kind of... Lacking. You're even a galactic cop, which makes you way more amazing than this place."
Gwen - "Ben has a point, Grandpa."
Max awkwardly laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.
Max - "Uhh... Well, at least try to have fun and relax. It would be good to have a normal day for once."
Ben +Gwen - "Okay, Grandpa."
Max then left to book a couple rooms at the motel. Ben and Gwen took a quick tour of the place, and as they expected, we're bored.
When they got to "It", the big rubber band ball with an alien trapped in it, Ben was temped to try and get it as a transformation, but couldn't be bothered with the potential chaos that might come from it.
They went back to the RV. Gwen sat down with her phone and watched some TV.
Ben decided to grab the Sangheile armour that he left inside and started taking it apart, collecting all of the energy shield modules and core.
Once he had all of them, he got Gwen's attention.
Ben - "Hey, Gwen."
She looked up from her phone.
Gwen - "Hmm?"
Ben - "I need your belt, your shoes and your hair clips."
She looked at him like he had gone nuts.
Gwen - "Are you okay?"
Ben - "Yup. I just need to borrow them for a second."
Gwen - "Suuure... Here."
She was incredibly confused, but she gave him what he asked for.
Ben looked to the Omnitrix and cycled through the options until he got to Upgrade, and then transformed.
Ben - 'I love how useful this alien is!'
He grabbed hold of the stuff from Gwen, along with the Modules and Core, and absorbed them into his body. He upgraded the effectiveness of everything, then merged the Modules into Gwens stuff.
There was some remaining Modules and the Core, which he didn't know where to place. After a moment of thinking, he grabbed some of the armour.
Using the armour, he made a cat head belt buckle and necklace, along with reinforcing her hair clips and capping her shoes, to make her kicks hurt more. He put the Modules in the necklace and the Core in the belt buckle.
Ben placed the items on the table and turned back to normal.
Ben - "Ta-dah! I present to you: 'Protective Energy Shield Technological - Cat set' or 'PEST Control'. Anything more than a punch from a 10 year old will activate the shield, which will be able to handle a punch from Fourarms." (I was bored...)
Gwen looked between him and the items on the table, with amazement and muttered.
Gwen - "Wow..."
Ben - '... Well, that wasn't the reaction I was going for.'
Gwen then stood up and hugged him.
Gwen - "Thanks, Ben."
Ben smiled and stroked her head.
Ben - "You're welcome, Gwen."
After a few more seconds of hugging him, Gwen finally stopped and stepped away, while lightly blushing. She went over to her new stuff and put them on, then sat down while caressing her new necklace.
Ben saw her adoring her necklace and sat down, feeling strangely accomplished. His only intentions behind giving her the shield was to keep her safe, but it also got him some brownie points it would seem.
For the rest of the day, Ben either talked to Gwen, talked to Gabriel or played on his phone. When night came, he and Gwen went to the motel with Max, and had the displeasure of sleeping in beds that were attached to the FREAKING WALLS!
- The Next Day -
After a terrible night's sleep, Ben was awakened by Max, who looked like he had slept perfectly fine.
Max - "Rise and shine!"
With tired groans, Ben and Gwen started trying to get out of their beds, but ended up falling on their faces.
They got up off the floor, did their morning routine(workout included), got breakfast and then hit the road again.
Today was the day they go to New York. How Max planned this vacation is beyond confusing.
Ben will have to decide whether to go meet Kevin or not and if he does, how should he go about the situation. But, that wasn't even on his mind.
Right now, Ben was busy drawing anime characters from his previous life. Once the summer is over, he is planning to start drawing full manga series to make money, along with some other ventures.
It was afternoon by the time they arrived at the hotel, because Max wanted to take them to see the Empire State building. They didn't even go up...
When they got to the hotel, Ben saw the place where they had a Sumo Slammers game set up. Fortunately, he wasn't an idiot and wouldn't get them kicked out.
They went inside the hotel, Max got the rooms, they went up and put their stuff on their beds.
Ben sat on his bed for a little while, thinking about what to do about the Kevin situation.
Ben - 'On one hand, I could shift his fate to something brighter, but if I fail, then he could become worse than Canon. On another hand, if I leave him alone, he might have a more normal life...'
Gabriel - "It's more likely that they would become a criminal using his powers."
Ben - 'Yeah... I should probably try to help. I did kind of like his character in the show."
Before heading out, Ben looked at his missions.
[Mission:
Levin - Today is the day to meet a certain person. Get out there, meet them and become friends.
Rewards - 20,000SP
Failure - You gain an archnemesis and can't get rid of them for a long time]
Ben - 'I am now debating whether I should accept this or not... Maybe I should do it without accepting.'
Gabriel - "If you do, remember you won't get the full reward."
Ben - 'I know, but I don't want an archnemesis!'
Gabriel - "Well, you should decide soon or you might miss your chance."
Ben sat and pondered over his dilemma, before finally biting the bullet and accepting the mission.
With a 'hup', he stood up and went to find Max. When he found him, he quickly got permission to go to the arcade. Max gave him some money and then he headed out. He had also asked Gwen if she wanted to go, but she didn't.
He wandered around for a little while in order to find an arcade. 'An' being the key word, seen as he didn't know if this was the right arcade.
Now in the the arcade, Ben had nothing to do but wait and see if this was the right one. So, he went over to a Skee-ball game and started throwing the balls relentlessly, never missing a shot.
Ben continued to throw the balls until the machine ran out of token, which he had collected a big pile of.
All of a sudden, a girl walked up to him.
??? - "Man, that was awesome! You rock!"
Ben turned to her and found a girl his age, with a grin on her face. She had long messy black hair, black irises, wore a black shirt and pants that had tons of tears in them. She was kind of cute, but that was marred by the fact that she was filthy and kind of smelled bad. The most interesting part, was the padlock she had hanging around her neck on a string. (Just picture Mikasa or something.)
Ben - 'No way...'
He had a suspicion that God had delivered another surprise and he wasn't looking forward to the potential disaster that was on his hand.
Opting to not seem like a weirdo, he decided to say something.
Ben - "It's not that amazing, get enough practice and you can do it from anywhere in the arcade."
??? - "There's no way you can do that."
Ben - "Wanna bet?"
??? - "What we betting?"
Ben - "Hmm... How about; if you win, I give you all my tickets. If I win, you've gotta hang with me for awhile. How about that?"
??? - "Sure, just don't try backing out when you lose."
Ben - "Heh, wouldn't think of it. I'll even let you decide where I throw from."
??? - "You're gonna regret saying that!"
After saying that, she look around and then pointed over to the other side of the arcade, past rows of other arcade games. She then looked at him with a cocky smirk.
??? - "How about all the way over there."
Ben - "Sure. No running off now."
He picked up a ball and slowly jogged over to the other side of the arcade, under the girls watchful gaze.
When he there, he reared his arm back, built up some Mana in his arm as a boost and threw the ball in an arc over all the games.
He then ran back over to the game and found the girl standing there in shock.
Ben was the one to look at her with a cocky grin this time.
Ben - "Told ya I could do it."
She looked at him, still in shock.
Ben - "Seen as we're going to be hanging out, might as well introduce ourselves. My names Ben, Ben Tennyson. What's yours?"
??? - "I'm Keira Levin."
(A/N: I struggled with the names and ended up with Kiera or Keira. The names are said the same, like 'Kira'. Both Gaelic in origin, meaning 'Dark' or 'Dark haired' and 'Little dark one' respectively. I found them appropriate.)
Keira - "Nice to meet you."
She put her fist out towards him.
With her introduction, Ben was now positive that Kevin had been genderbent and he had no idea how to feel about it.
He gave her a fist bump, then they went and played a bunch of games, most of which screwed them over in stupid ways thanks to the controls, but they had fun nevertheless.
It wasn't long before they ran out of tokens for the machine. Ben put his hand into his pocket to get more and found nothing.
Ben - "I guess the funs over. I'm out of tokens."
Keira - "Huh? Wait a second, I've got it."
She placed her hand on a one of the game machines and electricity surged around her hand for a moment, then game token started pouring out, forming a small pile.
Ben - 'Acting skill don't fail me now.'
He looked at her with some surprise.
Ben - "Cool. How did you do that?"
Keira - "I can absorb energy and like, make machines totally short circuit. Been able to do it since I was born."
Ben - "Do you know why? Like, are you an alien or something?"
She suddenly looked angry.
Keira - "What's that supposed to mean!?"
He realized that he had touched a nerve.
Ben - "Woah! Calm down, what I mean-"
Thug - "Hey, freak!!"
Ben was interrupted by an annoying sounding guy. He and Keira looked towards the speaker and saw 4 delinquent teens.
Keira - "What do you losers want!?"
Leader - "You trashed our hangout and you're gonna pay for it."
Two of the thugs started walking toward her while cracking they're knuckles, while she slowly backed away.
Ben stepped infront of her with an amiable expression.
Ben - "How about you guys leave my friend alone?"
Thug - "How about you get lost, kid!"
The thug went to push him out of the way, but Ben caught his wrist and looked at him sternly, squeezing his wrist.
Ben - "I said. Leave. Her. Alone."
The thug tried pulling his arm away.
Thug - "Ahg! Let go!"
Ben - "Are you going to leave her alone?"
Thug - "Yeah right!"
He threw a punch, but Ben caught it with ease.
Ben - "Fine then."
Ben swept the thugs legs, making him fall. During his fall, Ben delivered a sharp right hook to his jaw, knocking him out.
The second thug went to punch him, but he simply moved to the side, grabbed the guys wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. He then gave a brutal palm strike to the elbow, dislocating it and let go, leaving him on the ground in tears.
It was then that the third chump thought to charge at him.
Chump - "Haa!"
To which, Ben clotheslined him, sending him straight to the floor. He then stomped on his stomach for good measure
With the lackeys dealt with, Ben walked over towards the leader.
Leader - "O-oh yeah!? You think you're tough? They are just weak!"
Ben - "You talk too much."
He punched the leader in his stomach, causing him to bend over in pain as he held his stomach.
Leader - "W-what the *Cough* hell are you made! *Cough 2x*"
Ben backhanded him, sending his head back up and making him fall on his back.
While he was on the floor in pain, Ben casually walked over and stood above him with his hand in his pockets. He then placed a foot on the guys throat and looked at him coldly, while using Intimidation on him and lightly pressing his foot down.
Ben - "I'm thoroughly bored of dealing with you, so I'll make this so simple that even you can understand, with your puny brain. If you ever go near Keira again, I'll crush your windpipe. Got that?"
The delinquent leader nodded awkwardly while choking under Ben's foot.
Ben - "Hmph!"
He took his foot off of the guys throat and walked away. As he passed the whimpering thug with a dislocated elbow, he decided to atleast put it back into place for him.
Ben - "Hold it and get it check by a doctor."
Ben then walked over Keira, who was shocked by his capabilities.
Keira - "How are you that good at fighting!?"
He smirked at her and and raised an eyebrow.
Ben - "You're not the only 'special' one in the world. How about we leave and talk about stuff?"
Keira - "Sure. We can go to my place."
They headed out, with Keira in the lead.
- At the hideout -
They were in an old abandoned subway tunnel, where Keira had apparently gathered a fair amount of game machines and other junk. There was also an old sofa with some blankets on.
Ben - "You live here...?"
Keira - "Yeah."
She jumped over the back of the sofa and motioned for him to sit as well.
Ben - "Why?"
He sat down on a crate opposite of her.
Keira - "My step-dad kicked me out. Didn't like living with a 'freak'."
Ben - "Really? Did actually say that? And what about your mom? Or even you're real Dad?"
Keira - "Yes! That's what he said!"
She suddenly looked sad.
Keira - "... My Mom's nice and all, but she doesn't get much say in things... And my Dad died when I was young, so I barely know anything about him..."
Ben - "Does your Mom have the same ability as you?"
Keira - "No."
Ben - "So, it probably comes from your Dad. He was probably part Alien."
At the mention of 'Alien's', Keira got angry.
Keira - "Gah! I thought you would be cool, but just like everyone else, you think I'm a FREAK AND AN ALIEN!!!"
With her anger, she cause a small energy surge.
Ben - "Calm down. I wasn't insulting you."
Seeing how calm he was, she decided to hear him out.
Keira - "Then explain!"
Ben - "I was being serious. Alien's, Magic and the supernatural, it's all real. You're living proof and so am I."
Before she could question him, she was blinded by a bright red light. It took a few second for her sight to come back and let her see a strange being.
Ben had changed into his Anodite form and was playfully smiling at her.
Ben - "Hehehe! I told you, you aren't the only special one."
She looked at him with wide eyes and her anger completely gone.
Keira - "What the..."
Ben turned back to his human form.
Ben - "I'm part Alien myself. One called an Anodite to be precise."
Keira - "Are your parents Alien's?"
Ben - "Atleast one of them was. But, I don't know which as they died. I'm adopted, but my Grandpa knows about Alien's and stuff. He might even know if that's where you get your abilities."
Keira - "Your Grandpa?"
Ben - "Yeah. Me and my cousin are travelling with him this summer. It's been pretty crazy as well."
Keira - "Like how?"
Ben - "Well..."
For about an hour, Ben told her about everything that he had gone through. From being emotionally challenged, getting the Omnitrix(without the specifics), all his fights and the things he had seen.
Ben - "So, what do you say? Wanna come talk to my Grandpa? He will probably help you out if you want."
Keira - "What makes you think I need help? I'm doing fine on my own!"
Ben - "Really? You're living in an abandoned subway tunnel. Don't you want to have somewhere safe to sleep? Hot food to eat? A warm bed to sleep in? I'm not saying you can't look after yourself, but things could be better for you."
Keira pouted as she felt that he had a point, but didn't want to admit it.
Ben - "C'mon, what's the worst that could happen? You end up coming back here? Just give it a shot."
Keira - "Uhg! Fine, but don't expect me to agree to anything."
Ben - "That fine. I'm not going to force you. Anyways, let's go. My Grandpa is probably freaking out about how late I am."
They got up and started walking.
Keira - "Why would he be worried? You're strong enough to take care of yourself."
Ben - "I know and so does he, but that won't stop him from worrying about me, its just how family is. I'm sure your Mom's fretting about how you are right now."
Keira - "..."
She stayed silent and just continued walking with him. Though she did seem melancholic as she did.
- 8:30pm At the hotel, with Max and Gwen -
Max was frantically pacing back and forth while Gwen was sitting on her bed with her legs tucked into her chest, both of them worrying about Ben being out so late.
Max - "Where could he be..."
Gwen - "Ben is okay, right?"
Max stopped his pacing and looked at her, realizing that he should be keeping calm for her well-being.
Max - "I'm sure he is. He's strong by himself and even stronger with the Omnitrix with him. He's probably just lost track of the time."
As he said that, there was a knock at the door. Max quickly walked over to the door and opened it, which let him see his Grandson and an unknown girl.
Ben awkwardly scratched the back of his head and smiled nervously.
Ben - "Hey, Grandpa. Sorry that I'm so late, I ran into a small issue."
Max let out a relieved sigh now that he know Ben is safe, but that didn't mean he was please. His expression turned stern.
Max - "I'm glad your safe, but don't think we won't be having a talk about this later."
Ben - "Okay..." 'I'm a grown ass man and I'm going to get told off for being out past 8pm...'
Max - "Good. Now, who is this young lady you have with you?"
Max looked at Keira with an inquisitive face.
Ben - "This is Keira. She's the 'small issue' I mentioned."
Keira looked at him with a glare.
Keira - "You better not be calling me small!"
Ben gave a mocking glance.
Ben - "Smaller than me."
She got irritated by him teasing her and kicked him in the leg.
Keira - "Hmph!"
Ben - "Ouch! So violent..."
Max was standing there, watching their little back and forth, totally confused.
Max - "Ahem! Why don't you both come inside and we'll talk."
He moved to the side and gestured for them to enter, which they did.
After entering, Gwen jumped at Ben, hugging him, relieved that he is okay. Ben comforted her a bit and then got seated on the bed, with Gwen holding onto him, refusing to let go and practically glaring at Keira with suspicion.
Ben - 'I haven't caused her go down the yandere path, have I?'
Gabriel - "Says the yandere."
Ben - '... I'm not that bad. Am I?'
Gabriel - "You almost killed that guy at the mall because he hurt her."
Ben - '...'
Gabriel - "Don't worry. So long as you keep your emotions under control, you will mostly only be a hiyakasudere."
Ben - 'Well, I guess that makes me feel better.'
Gabriel - "With a bit of yandere on the side. *Giggles*"
Ben - 'What did I do to deserve this!!! *Internal crying*'
Gabriel started laughing and Ben had a slight smile from their bantering. During their bantering, a short silence had passed in the room and Ben decided that he should break it, especially because Gwen was still glaring at Keira.
Ben - "So, as I said at the doorway, this is Keira and I brought her over to meet Grandpa."
Max raised an eyebrow.
Max - "Why did you want her to meet me?"
Ben looked at Keira for a moment. Keira was standing a bit of a distance away, clearly wary of them. She has some trust for Ben, but not the other two.
Ben - "Do you want me to talk?"
She gave a slight nod.
Ben - "Okay."
He turned back to Max and quickly explained how they met, her powers and her living situation.
Ben - "So, I thought to bring her to talk with you. That maybe you know where her powers come from and maybe help her out a bit."
Max - "I see..."
Max rubbed his chin in thought and then looked at Keira curiously.
Max - "You said your name was Keira, but what about your last name."
Keira - "Levin."
Max sighed and sat back in his chair, rubbing his face.
Keira - "What's wrong?"
Max - "Nothing. Your dad's name, was it Devin Levin?"
(A/N: Read the final notes before saying anything about Devin not existing.)
Her eyes widened in shock.
Keira - "Y-yeah..."
Max - "*Sigh* I thought so..."
Keira - "Wait! So you knew my dad!?"
Max - "Yes. Yes, I did. He was a great man and I owe him my life."
Keira + Gwen - "Huh?"
Max - "It was about 8 years ago..."
Max went on to explain, about how he was on a mission with Keira's dad, they had to stop a criminal called Ragnarok, that was stealing the energy from stars and selling it. They were escaping after having stolen the key to the machine that Ragnarok was using to steal stars, but they were unsuccessful.
Ragnarok had caught them and boarded their spaceship, demanding the return of the key while attacking. Devin had used his powers to hold off Ragnarok, despite the danger of using said powers, while Max used a device to open a portal to a prison dimension called 'the Null Void'. And while they managed to seal him away, Ragnarok had also dealt a severe blow to Devin at the last moment.
Max finished the story.
Max - "Your father save a lot of lives that day... Including mine."
Keira fell to her knees, shocked by what had heard, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Ben stood up and walked over to her, then kneeled down and hugged her, stroking her back to comfort her. Keira clutched at his shirt and started sobbing.
It took awhile for her to calm down, but with the three Tennyson's comforting her, she stopped crying and was now only sniffling.
Ben - "If you knew her dad, do you know how to train her abilities."
Max - "I'm afraid not, but we can talk more in the morning. You kids should get yourself cleaned up and go to bed. I'll go see if I can get an extra room."
Ben - "No need for that, Keira can take my bed and I'll sleep on the floor or just turn into the Ghost alien and go sleep in the RV."
Keira - "*Sniff* No. It's okay. I'll just go back to-"
Ben - "Shush. It's way to late for you to be wandering the streets by yourself. We're going to talk more in the morning, so there's no point in leaving yet. After that, I promise, I won't stop you if you really want to go."
Max looked at Ben, impressed by his maturity, something he had shown a lot of since getting the Omnitrix.
Keira wanted to refuse still, but then Max spoke.
Max - "Ben's right. I can't let you go at this time of night."
She opened her mouth to refuse, but decided to take the offer.
Keira - "Okay... Thank you."
Max - "No need for that, it's the least I can do. But Ben, you should really have a bed."
Ben - "It's not worth wasting the money on."
Max - "*Sigh* Okay, Ben. How about you take my room and I'll-"
Ben - "Nah, it's fine. You need the bed more than I do."
Max sighed and finally relented. He left the room and went to his own.
Ben turned to the girls.
Ben - "Well, you two get a shower first if you want."
Gwen - "I've already had one."
Ben - "Oh. Well then, Keira, you can go in and you can use some of my clothes if you want. They are basically all black."
Keira shyly nodded and quietly thanked him. Ben made a quick trip to the RV and got the clothes for her.
When Keira was done showering, he went and had his own. By 9pm they were all sleep.
Well, Ben pretended to be asleep, but was actually meditating.
- 9 Hours later/6am -
When Ben got up in the morning, he had gained another 270 Mana. He stood up and stretched, expecting his back to be at least a little stiff or uncomfortable. After all, Pain Tolerance wouldn't remove or prevent pain, it just makes it manageable.
Luckily, Gabriel informed him on what had happened.
Gabriel - "Remember when you got the subskill from Danger Sense?"
Ben - 'Presense Sense? Yeah. Did I get another one.'
Gabriel - "Yep."
[Subskill -
Physical Attack Resistance - All forms of physical damage will be reduced. Effectiveness is determined by the END stat.] (I was thinking Damage Resistance, but that seems a bit too op)
Ben - 'So, END is also my defense stat now.'
Gabriel - "More or less. It already somewhat effected your defense, but now it does so directly."
Ben - 'Cool. Well, I'm going to go try the gym.'
He wrote a quick note saying where he went, then, making as little noise as possible so as to avoid waking the girls, Ben snuck out of the room and made his way down to the hotel gym.
When he got to gym, there were a few other guests there, but he paid them no mind and started stretching. If he wanted to, Ben could easily go and be a gymnast, but why the hell would he do that.
After stretching, he went straight to completing his daily workout, which didn't take too much time. So he decided to do it again.
Unfortunately, while he receives the 3AP, he doesn't get doesn't get anymore Recoveries. It's not that big of a deal though.
Considering he had some more time and the facilities, he started using the weights.
By now, a few more people had shown up and a young boy lifting 20kg dumbbells and benching 50kg was rather eye-catching.
It was 7:30 when he finally stopped his workout and by this point, he was drenched in sweat. The other guests at the gym were doing their own workout, but also paid attention towards Ben, so when they saw him get up and start stretching, they were quite relieved.
That was until he used his shirt to wipe his forehead, revealing his defined six-pack. Finally, he left the gym, leaving the guests with a low self-esteem.
Ben was feeling particularly tired after his drawn out session, so he used one of his Recoveries and heard a few notifications from the system, telling him that he had some stats increase.
[+2 STR]
[+3 END]
[+2AGI]
Wanting to get cleaned of his sweat, Ben quickened his pace in getting back to the room.
When he got to the room, he opened the door and walked straight in. Max and the girls were there waiting for him.
Max - "Ah, Ben, you're back. Good. I want to continue our talk."
Ben - "Uh, yeah. But can I have a quick shower first?"
Max - "Okay, but be quick."
Ben nodded and took a 10 minutes shower, then went back while drying his hair.
Ben - "I'm done."
Max - "Right. Now then, Keira."
At the sound of her name, Keira became alert.
Max - "I want to know, how much control do you have of your power?"
Keira looked away.
Keira - "What do you mean? I can absorb energy, it's not difficult."
Max - "Keira, you and your father are part of a race called 'Osmosians'. But the problem Osmosians have, is that when they absorb any type of energy, they become addicted and lose their minds. It is worse when you are young as well."
Keira - "Tch! I'm fine!"
With her mental stability in question, she became defensive.
Ben - "You don't need to worry about us thinking bad about you, you know?"
Keira - "What would you know..."
Ben - "Did you forget how I told you I used to be emotionless? And now that I have my emotions, I easily lose control when I'm angry? I probably know better than most."
Keira - "... Fine... I like absorbing a lot of energy, but I don't do it much. It's a rush, that's all."
Max - "That's good then, but you should try to stop doing it, unless you need to defend yourself."
Keira - "Hmph!"
Max sighed and then pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
Max - "Now I just need to figure out what to do with you."
Keira's head swivelled toward him.
Keira - "What are you talking about!?"
Max - "Well, I can't just leave you to live in the subway-"
Keira - "You can't make me go anywhere!!"
Max - "Now Keira, you need to go home."
Keira - "No! Nononono! No!"
Keira's emotions started to rise and it caused a small power surge, making the lights flicker for a moment.
Max - "Calm down. You have to understand, you can't just-"
Ben - "Grandpa."
Max stopped and looked at Ben.
Ben - "I promised her that I wouldn't make her do anything she doesn't want to."
Keira mildly calmed down when she heard Ben speak up for her.
Max - "I understand that, Ben. But, she is only 11, I have to take her home or to the proper authorities."
Ben - "I agree that she can't stay in alone on the streets. But, I was thinking, why doesn't she come with us."
Max - "That's a nice idea, but I can't just take her without consent from her parents."
Ben + Gwen - "Then let's get consent."
Ben and Max looked at Gwen, as they were not expecting her to say anything. Especially not at the same time as Ben.
Gwen - "What? Even if you take her back to her parents, she will just run away."
Ben - "She's right, Grandpa. It doesn't hurt to try."
Ben turned to Keira, who seemed a bit shocked.
Ben - "That's if you want to, that is?"
She nodded slightly in response.
Max - "*Sigh* I don't know..."
The three kids watched him, waiting for an answer.
Ben - 'C'mon. I really don't want to have to guilt trip you.'
Max - "Haaah... Okay."
Ben - "Huh?"
Ben looked at him, surprised that he agreed.
Max - "Okay. We'll go see her parents. But first, get your things and we'll go get some breakfast."
Max tiredly stood up and left the room while the kids watched him, surprised that he agreed.
Ben - "Well, that was easier than expected."
The girls nodded. Then Ben and Gwen got their things and the three of left the room, where Max was waiting for them.
The four of them left the hotel and got a quick breakfast at nearby cafe. Max had given it a bit of thought and decided that they would take the day to have some fun in the city. So, they left the cafe and went around the city. After that, late in the afternoon, they got on their way to Keira's House, which Keira had given the address of.
On the way there, Ben decided to draw, while Gwen and Keira started getting to know each other.
Keira - "So, what's it like to fight aliens?"
Gwen - "I never actually fought any of them. I helped some people when we got attacked by robots and have been shot at, but never actually fought."
Keira - "Oh. Well, still cooler than other kids!"
Gwen - "Hehe, thanks."
Both of them were getting along and their talk was lighthearted.
- 1 hour later -
Because of how long Ben had been drawing, Keira was curious about what he was drawing. Gwen was also mildly interested, but she had gotten used to it.
Keira - "Hey, Ben."
Ben - "Uhuh?"
He didn't look up from his drawing, but let her know that he was listening.
Keira - "What are you drawing?"
Ben - "Well, I'm not done, but I can show you if you want?"
Keira - "Sure."
Ben put his pencil down and spun his book around. On the paper, a half finished picture of Keira and Gwen talking, was there for the two girls to see.
Gwen quickly turned red and Keira had a small blush.
Keira - "Y-your pretty good."
Ben - "Thanks."
He smiled and spun the book back around, so that it was facing him.
While Ben was finishing his drawing, the girl fell into a short silence, before eventually talking to each other again.
- Another hour later -
By now, Ben had finished his drawing and was simply sitting there, twirling his pencil.
Ben - "Are we almost there, Grandpa?"
Max - "We will be there in a few minutes."
Ben - "Okay."
Keira, knowing that she was almost back at her old home, she was uncomfortable and slightly tense. Ben and Gwen saw this clearly.
Ben - "Don't worry, Keira. If anyone tries to keep you there, I'll make sure you get out."
Keira looked at him, she was less tense, but it didn't completely disappear. Ben and Gwen started doing what they could to keep her mind busy.
After a few minutes had passed, Max gave them a heads up about their arrival and the RV stopped.
Ben had been playing with his pencil while talking to the girls. When he heard that they were there, he started looking out the window and saw something that he just couldn't stand, causing him to snap his pencil.
He slammed his broken pencil down on the table and stood up.
The girls jumped and looked at him, seeing a scary look on his face and his eyes glowing.
Gwen - "Ben? What's wrong?"
Ben - "Both of you, stay here."
Without another word, Ben walked over to the door, opened it and walked angrily towards the house they were parked outside of.
When he got to the door, he opened it roughly and walked right in. He walked a few steps and then turned a corner through the doorway to the living room, where he saw an angry man who was making his way out of that room, to go see what the disturbance was.
Man - "Who the hell are you-AHG"
Unfortunately for the man, Ben had seen something that made him very angry. Angry enough to activate [Wrath] and his wrath was directed at this particular man.
When the man was talking, Ben punched him in the stomach with all his strength, causing him to cough up blood. The man fell back, into the living room and on the floor.
Ben - "So... You like abusing women do you!?"
Yes. When he looked out of the RV window, he could see the through the living room window and as a result, he saw the same man beating a woman with black hair.
Ben walked further into the living room and could see the woman on the floor, crying in the corner. This only made him angrier. Just not enough to take him to Wrath 4x.
Man - "You *Cough* little shit...!"
The man started trying to stand up and he thanks to speaking, he recaptured Ben's wrathful gaze.
Ben - "Get up."
He kicked him in the face, sending him back to the ground, groaning in pain. [Intimidation] was now activated and slowly increasing in intensity.
The man tried to get up again.
Ben - "Get up!"
Ben kicked him in the side, sending him rolling across the floor and into the wall.
Ben - "Come on! I said. GET UP!"
Again, Ben walked over to the man. He grabbed the man by his shirt and lifted him a bit.
Ben - "You were such a big man when you were beating your wife!"
Ben started punching him in the face repeatedly, speaking in-between each punch.
Ben - "YOU SORRY EXCUSE OF A MAN!!!"
He went to punch him again, when he felt a few people grabbing onto him. Ben's head spun round with a murderous expression, as he spoke viciously, through gritted teeth.
Ben - "Get off me!"
His blood splattered face and vicious snarl, plus the effect of [Intimidation], caused terror to the ones holding him. The 'ones' being Max and Gwen.
Max - "Ben! Calm down!"
Ben knocked Max away and pointed to the crying woman, who was being hugged by Keira.
Ben - "Tell me that after seeing her!"
He then quickly turned back to the man and continued the beating.
Gabriel - "Ben..."
Ben - 'What?!'
Hearing Gabriel, Ben answered, but didn't stop punching.
Gabriel - "I think you should stop."
Ben - 'WHY?!"
Gabriel - "Because Gwen is terrified."
Ben - 'Huh?'
Just as he was about to throw another punch, he stopped and then slowly loosened his grip on the man's shirt. He then stood up straight, blood dripping from his fist, taking a deep breath as he turned to the others coldly.
Max was standing there angrily.
Max - "Ben."
Ben - "What?"
Max - "What? What?! How can you ask "what?"? You could've killed this man!"
Ben - ""Could've"? I still plan to, just not here."
His reply shocked Max.
Max - "Ben! Do you know what you're saying!?!?"
Ben - "Max, don't patronise me. You have likely killed your fair share. You didn't say anything about the aliens I killed and they had more honour than this trash ever will!!"
He stomped on the man's stomach in anger.
Max was baffled by the way Ben was talking. It was as if he had done this hundreds of times and he was so cold. Even call him Max, instead of Grandpa.
Ben - "And I won't be losing any sleep over someone like him. So, just take care of them and I will take care of him."
Saying nothing else, Ben engaged the Omnitrix and turned into XLR8. He grabbed the man and ran off, though he didn't go far as he simply snapped the guys neck and put the body in his inventory. Then he ran back to the house, quickly cleaned the bit of mess that he made and then turned into a Limax, the shape-shifting alien. (Name : Shifter???)
Using the racial trait of the Limax, Ben took on the man's appearance and left the house again, after getting the man's phone and wallet.
After leaving the house, Ben walked around for 10 minutes and found a liquor store, which he entered and bought a couple of bottles of whisky.
With the whisky bought, he left and went around while drinking exaggeratedly, drawing a fair amount of attention. He spent 30 minutes doing this and then he walked towards some train tracks he found on his advanced phone.
Ben got to the tracks with 20 minutes to spare for his transformation, but he didn't know when the train was going to come, so he walked over to a dark, hidden area and tapped the Omnitrix, undoing his transformation.
Ben - 'Gabriel, can I put alcohol inside the corpse like he had drunk it? And how much to do so?'
Gabriel - "For just 20SP."
Ben - 'Do it.'
Gabriel - "Done."
To add a few touches, he brought out the phone and wallet, but on the ground, where he stomped on and broke the phone.
After that, he simply waited and 40 minutes later, he heard the train he had been waiting on.
Ben got up, looked at the watch and used it to turn into Ghostfreak, then he brought out the man's corpse and possessed it. From there, it was pretty straightforward, he walked out onto the tracks and inevitably, the train slammed right into the body while he stopped his possession at the last second, turned invisible and phased through the train.
He flew away from the train and landed on top of a roof.
This was all a simple plan that would make it impossible for it to seem like anything other than suic*de. (Don't know if it would censor.)
To anyone else, it seemed like the man left his house, went and bought alcohol and wandered around drunk, creating many witnesses and then killed himself while drunk.
Ben watched the train pass and then tapped the Omnitrix, becoming XLR8 again and running back to the house.
When he got back to the house, he closed the front door and turned back to himself, then walked into the living room, where the four people were waiting.
Max saw him enter, so he stood up and walked over to him.
Max - "Ben-"
But, Ben just walked right past him and towards Keira and her mother, who were holding onto each other. He arrived infront of her and grabbed her shoulders lightly, she looked at him with a mixture of emotions.
Ben - "Okay. Listen and Listen carefully. If the police come here and ask what you know about that man, you tell them that he is you boyfriend/husband, but you had just broke up with him because he didn't like your daughter and wouldn't let you search for her when she left.
When you told him you were leaving him, he became violent and started hurting you, like he normally would. But before things got too far, we or more specifically, Max, came in. When they ask who Max is, say that he is an old family friend that you haven't seen since getting in a relationship with the man, but had always told Keira about and that's how she came to be with us, which is also why we came here, just being in time to stop the man.
Finally, when we came, the man grabbed his phone and wallet, then stormed out.
Now, repeat what I told you too."
The four people, especially the adults, were shocked that he had thought this far.
When she didn't reply, he gave her a small shake and a stern glare.
Ben - "Were you listening!?"
Woman - "Ah! Yes!"
Ben - "Then repeat it."
The woman repeated what he said. Word for word, which slightly surprised him, but he paid it no mind.
Ben - "Good."
Ben let go of her and sat down tiredly, letting out a deep sigh as he leaned back and shielded his eyes from the light above.
An awkward silence ensued in the room and despite not seeing them, Ben knew they were looking at him.
Ben - "*Sigh* Ask what you want."
Max - "Ben... What was that? What you just did-"
Ben - "I got rid of an abusive scumbag."
Max - "This isn't a joke Ben!"
Ben lifted his arm a bit, reveal his right eye which had a sharp glint in it.
Ben - "Who said I was joking?"
Max saw the look in his eye and fell silent. Over the years, he had seen a lot of killers, but only the truly ruthless ones had eyes like that.
Ben - "Don't expect me to feel bad or think what I did was wrong. That scum was nothing but a disease and I was simply curing in. Keira is someone I have resolved to help and when her mother is being abused, I refuse to sit and let it happen. Continue treating me like a child and I will pretend to be one, but we both know I'm not normal."
Max was silent as he didn't know how to respond. But the same didn't apply to Gwen.
Gwen - "Ben...? You're scaring me... Please go back to normal."
Ben moved his arm and looked at her, seeing that she was trembling a little. He looked at Max, right as he had done the same thing.
Ben - "Are we done, Grandpa?"
Max stayed silent for a moment, before sighing.
Max - "Yes. We are."
Ben - "Good then. Well, we will have to stick around for just a few day, incase the police ask questions. Hopefully, that won't disrupt our vacation much."
He stood up and walked over to Gwen, patting her head.
Ben - "It's quite late, we should go to bed. You need your sleep if you want to grow after all. Shorty."
Gwen was happy to see him act like normal and blushed a little as she enjoyed the headpat, but pouted at his teasing. She humphed and stood up, walking away, out of the house and into the RV.
He looked at Keira and lightly patted her head.
Ben - "You should also go to bed. Night"
He then left and headed towards his bed in the RV, lying down the moment he got to it.
Ben - 'Gabriel, is the mission done yet?"
Gabriel - "Yes, along with another."
Ben - 'Another?'
Gabriel showed him the other mission and retrieved the rewards.
[Mission:
Worth It - There is an abusive asshole at Keira's home, do something about it.
Rewards - 5000SP, Keira will trust you more than anyone.
Failure - -20,000SP, Lose some of Keira's trust.]
[Missions Complete - 22,500SP Received]
Ben - 'I feel like Keira's trust shouldn't be part of the reward.'
Gabriel - "It is more like a note that informs you of the result."
Ben - 'Is that so. Well, whatever, I'm going to sleep.'
Gabriel - "Night."
Ben - 'Night.'
He then drifted off to sleep.
(So, in regards to the Devin situation. Omniverse tried to make it seem like he didn't actually exist and was a false memory made by Servantis, but that story is fucking stupid and I refuse to include it in my story.)
(I'm gonna try doing some re:monster chapters)
[Status -
Name - Ben
Lv - 11 (380/1100)
Title - Wielder of the Omnitrix
State - Healthy MP - 2100
STR - 32
END - 33
AGI - 32
CHA - 30
INT - 40
LUK - 666
AP - 37 SP - 970,750
Primary Skills: CQC Lv-5, Marksmanship Lv-5, Intimidation Lv-3, Danger Sense Lv-3, Sneak Lv-2, Mana Manipulation Lv-1
Secondary Skills: Drawing Lv-3, Math Lv-3, Writing Lv-3, Running Lv-5, Driving Lv-4, Engineering Lv-3, Cooking Lv-3, Pain Tolerance Lv-8, Bioengineering Lv-5, Programming Lv-5, Torture Lv-1, Acting Lv-2
Unique Skill: Wrath, Complete Language Comprehension, Eidetic Memory, Analyse, Night Vision]
(2 Recoveries Stored)
