Why Not Me? - Part 3

Disclaimers:
Ben 10 and its respective characters belong to Man of Action.

Part Three: Capitalize

She hurt. Everywhere. Every muscle, every fiber, every cell in her body screamed in agony if Gwen so much as breathed too deeply. She was lying on a small cot within a room that smelled of grease and tar. If she could open her eyes without feeling a million white hot needles jabbing at every inch of her skin, she would have seen the strange figure hovering beside her still form.

“The effects of the neural-staff should be wearing off soon.” The same metallic voice stated. “You’re quite lucky to have survived that match. Though I suppose that’s the only thing that has kept your species alive all these eons. Given how delicate you humans are.”

As the minutes passed, Gwen’s body gradually regained its normal sensitivity.

“To be quite honest I am highly disappointed that I ended up beaming a human, a juvenile one at that, instead of the Petrosapien.”

He’s talking about Ben! Gwen realized.

“You humans make for very poor gladiators. You barely pass as an entertaining opening act.” The figure chattered, “Dying so quickly and so easily, my audience doesn’t pay to see that. It’s a good thing I happen to have some customers who would be willing to pay handsomely for exotic pets.”

By now Gwen was back to normal and at the mention of the word “pets” her eyes flew open in indignity. “Excuse me? Who do you think you are? Humans are capable of a lot of things so we don’t need to be super-mega-huge or ultra-mondo-strong!”

“I am certain I’m Slix Vigma, entertainer and owner of the Megacruiser arena. You humans are so proud, of what I haven’t the slightest idea. Though I suppose I could use you as a sort of challenge for the next match...” A slender finger tapped at his head producing and metallic ringing. “It’s brilliant! Excuse me, I must make the necessary arrangements.”

“What? Wait!” Gwen reached out to grab Slix but her fingers only grasped empty air. It was only now when she was alone in a strange room did it dawn upon her that she might never get back home.

No, no, that couldn’t be true could it? Her grandpa Max and cousin Ben must be doing everything they can to look for her, right?

Right?

Tears welled up in her eyes as she fought to blink them back. She wasn’t going to cry, if she did she was admitting defeat. If she cried, it meant she was still a liability and therefore only excess baggage. If she cried, it meant she couldn’t take care of herself and still needed saving. If she cried, it meant she was just as useless now with magic as she had been without it.

Wait, she could use magic! There must be a spell somewhere that would allow her to travel through space or at least send out a message to her family. She reached into her pocket only to be disappointed that her spell book wasn’t there.

Slix must have taken it from her after that fight in the arena. She’ll have to get it back then. The first thing she needed to do was get out of this room.

But before she could so much as stand, the door swung open and two robots entered. They were unarmed, much to Gwen’s relief. She didn’t want to take another hit from those neural-staffs. The robots positioned Gwen between them and practically carried her out.

“Where are you taking me?” She asked them and was met only with silence.

They brought her to another room that resembled the first one, only this one had a grate of sorts on one wall. The holes were big enough to let Gwen slip her hand through to reach the other side, but there was no way in hell would she even think about it.

For the other side of the grate was the holding bay for the gladiators.

One of the robots’ chest panel opened up to reveal a monitor displaying Slix. “Don’t get too comfortable to your new quarters. You won’t be in here for long. You get one last meal and one favor. So long as it’s not the ridiculous request of being allowed to go home or being freed, I will see that it is granted.”

Though words last meal did not sit well with Gwen, but at least she could get her spell book back. “I’d like my book back.”

“Is that all? Consider it done. You’ll have your bound sheets of compacted fiber with ink printed on it along with your meal.”

The robots unceremoniously dropped Gwen onto the cot before exiting, locking the door behind them. Now all she had to do was wait and she’d be on her way home. Everything would be all right.

Right?

What about Kevin?

Part of Gwen blamed him for getting her into this mess. If he hadn’t shown up, Ben wouldn’t have fought him. And if Ben hadn’t fought him, he wouldn’t have timed out. And if Ben hadn’t timed out, she wouldn’t have had to push him out of the way. It was all Kevin’s fault! She should just leave him behind!

But another part of her couldn’t really bring herself to blame him. From what Ben had told her, it sounded like Kevin had a really hard life. She couldn’t imagine being abandoned. Forced to grow up on the streets. Alone. Shunned and feared and called a freak. And when he finally found a kindred spirit, he would end up trapped inside a monster’s body.

She could see why he chose to reject their offer of joining them. If all you’ve ever known about life was cruelty and prejudice, you’d be wary of kindness, distrustful of hope. What more the unspeakably alien concept of love?

She knew she would if their positions were reversed.

Gwen didn’t feel sorry for him. No, it was much deeper than mere pity. Her heart broke for him. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t bring herself to blame him. And before she realized it, her cheeks were wet with tears.

“Did they hurt you?” Someone asked.

Without thinking she whispered back “Not as much as they must have hurt you.”

--

He was bored. Bored of sitting around this wretched prison they referred to as the holding bay. Bored of having nothing to do unless he wanted to get zapped by those blasted rods the guard droids toted around. He hated it. Being bored would lead to his mind wandering and it would inevitably lead to thinking about Gwen.

Kevin didn’t want to think about her, because whenever he did he’d always see the vivid vision of her in pain. For some strange, unknown, undeniable reason, whenever he saw that horrible image, he hurt. The pain was in no particular spot but it was there, somewhere.

The door to the prison swinging open was a welcomed distraction. Even if it was just several droids ushering in a patched up Technorg. Kevin didn’t so much as bat an eye when the aforementioned alien marched up to him. The dark-haired youth fixed his gaze on the wall directly in front of him.

“’Sup, loser.” He greeted, emphasizing the word with sadistic glee. His razor-tooth smile widened when he heard the large alien’s shackles rattle.

“I wish to ask you a question.” It was an order, not a request.

Coolly, Kevin canted his head at Technorg. “Sorry, not interested in you being my bitch.”

The derogatory word obviously meant nothing to the behemoth as he proceeded to ask “What is your relation with the small one?”

That was certainly not what Kevin expected to hear. He quirked the only brow he possessed, “What’s it to you?”

Technorg didn’t respond and instead left to brood in a corner.

Again the boredom returned and Kevin soon found his thoughts wandering. This time it was about the fight. Specifically the direction of Technorg’s eyes when Kevin had attacked from behind. Why would the large alien be looking down? His sneak attack came from above, there was no way Technorg was staring at Kevin’s shadow.

Something was going on with the ground, but what? The dark-haired boy marched over to the larger alien’s corner.

“Hey, loser, I’ll tell you what my relation to the “small one” is and you answer a question of mine.” It was an order, not a request.

“Proceed.” Technorg nodded.

“She’s just the cousin of the guy I want to kill.” He stated, it was true but not the entire truth. In his defense, he wasn’t entirely sure what she was to him. “My turn. When you were about to go and kill her, you suddenly looked surprised and was looking down. Was there something weird about the ground?”

“I would not call it weird, but yes. There was something amiss. It had become unusually soft and I could not move away.”

“That’s it?!” That didn’t explain much.

A door opening was heard and Kevin turned towards the noise. Strange, the door to the holding bay was still shut. It took the light filtering in from the grate on the opposite end of the prison to discover the source.

Why would anyone be kept separate? It could have been curiosity that made Kevin approach the grate, but he’d say it was because he was bored. Either way, he was soon close enough to hear a voice. Her voice.

He kept his silence until the droids left her alone.

Darkness washed over the room and Kevin found himself content to simply watch her. He stared intently, seeing first the inexplicably brave face from earlier. Then her look softened into worry, concern. He could see a strange kind of anguish in her eyes and again, he hurt.

His fists clenched when he saw a solitary tear trickle down her cheek. Followed by another. Then another. Until twin streams dampened her cheeks.

At this, he asked “Did they hurt you?”

She replied without the slightest trace of hesitation. “Not as much as they must have hurt you.”

And at this, Kevin vowed someone had to pay.