ToE 5
Note to self: I really have to learn how to make music videos and do one for AF/UA to "Under Pressure."
The Theory of Everything
Chapter Five: Under Pressure
Summary: As Charmcaster attacks, Devlin's forced to realize that Ben, Kevin, and Gwen are not the people he remembers, and Ben gets Gwen wondering about their mysterious visitor. And Devlin wonders why Gwen's locket looks so familiar...
The Theory of Everything
Chapter Five: “Under Pressure”
The opening salvo came from Ben, as Swampfire blasted flames directly at Charmcaster. She twirled her staff rapidly, shielding herself from the attack. But it only served as a smokescreen for Kevin, who leapt up and attacked her from above. She narrowly dodged the punch, twisted out of the way, and fired electricity from her staff.
“Sorry, boys,” she mocked, “but Gwen’s my dance partner tonight. Don’t worry, I think you’ll like your dates.” A portal opened behind her, and two golems came through, standing at her side. She pointed at the boys. “Get them!”
As the golems charged at them, Kevin smirked at Swampfire.
“I’ll take Caroline,” he said. “You go for the last girl who dumped you.”
“Hey, she didn’t dump me!” Swampfire tried to protest, but Kevin was already pounding away at his golem. The second tried to grab Swampfire, but he held it off with a flame-charged uppercut, muttering, “Elena’s going to kill me if she finds out about this.”
With the boys occupied, that left Gwen and Charmcaster to battle. Charmcaster blasted more lightning from her staff, but Gwen tumbled out of the way of one blast before raising a small shield against another. It held long enough for the lightning to dissipate, and Gwen let the construct shatter as she hurled an energy burst at Charmcaster. Charmcaster just dodged it, and it destroyed the building across from the holding cell.
Devlin continued to try to get out of the containment field, but once everyone was outside and out of sight, he became more frantic. Gwendolyn-well, Gwen, if Ben and Kevin weren’t just calling her that to annoy her-had the Archamada, and if Charmcaster got her hands on the Mori Spell here too…
“That’s it,” he decided, pulling out his blaster and aiming at the generator above him. He fired several shots and ducked under the protection of his cloak. The machine began to spark and sputter out bits of hot metal debris, which Devlin was mostly protected from. The containment field vanished, and he raced out into the fray.
The battle was absolute chaos. Abandoned, derelict buildings were being smashed left and right as people were being thrown across the field. Lightning crackled all around from the fight between Charmcaster and Gwen. Devlin looked around, unsure where he should go. Should he risk running into a battle between mages so he could get the book, or would it be better to try to fight the golems?
The decision was made for him the moment he saw one of the golems backhand Swampfire, destroying his head. Without a second thought, Devlin grabbed his tonfa and ran at the golem with a furious cry, keeping the long end of the shafts guarding his forearms. He ducked in as the golem made to swing, blocking the attack with his guarded arm. Twirling the second tonfa’s handle to bring the shaft forward, he swung at the golem’s head. The hard, purple crystal vibrated with the blow, but it did not break. Devlin’s weapons were better than that. Bringing the other tonfa to attack position, he swung repeatedly at the golem’s head, moving quickly to knock its arms away when it tried to hit him.
There was a green flash behind him, and Cannonbolt came rolling through, barreling into the golem. Momentum sent the golem flying, ultimately crashing into another ruined building. Cannonbolt unrolled and stood in front of Devlin, who was still in shock at his recovery.
“Thanks for the backup, Kev-wait, you?” Cannonbolt asked, looking at Devlin in surprise. Belatedly, Devlin realized his hood had fallen when he joined the fight, and Ben was still looking at him like he recognized him.
“How’d you get out?” Kevin asked, backing up from an attack by his golem.
“Trade secret,” Devlin answered quickly. He held his tonfa in defense position again, glancing to Gwen and Charmcaster’s battle. “Is she going to need help?”
“Nah, better to stand clear and avoid getting fried,” Kevin answered. “Now if you two are done yapping, let’s finish this thing.”
Cannonbolt didn’t hesitate, rolling into the golem, then rolling straight up off of it into the sky. Kevin gave Devlin a challenging look, which Devlin returned as they both charged forward, Kevin with his fists and Devlin with his tonfa, both merciless as they attacked. Without needing to coordinate anything, they both backed off at exactly the moment Cannonbolt returned, his body now silver and studded with blunt spikes. The new Cannonbolt pounded down on the golem, creating shockwaves as it slammed the creature into the ground. Devlin stared in amazement as Cannonbolt unrolled, completely unharmed, while the golem’s stone body was crushed in several places.
“Welcome to your first Ultimate battle,” Kevin said to the shocked Devlin as Ultimate Cannonbolt turned his attention to the other golem, who’d returned for round two.
Ken studied the monitors tensely, a cup of coffee at his side-black and as strong as he could get it. He didn’t plan to sleep until he had the staff and Devlin had the spell, and they both saved their dad.
He cast a glance at the security cam on the medical ward. With the Charm of Reincarnation on Ben, they were able to remove the respirator, but everything was still closely monitoring his condition. If there was any change, they’d all know.
The monitors were focused on every part of the city. The Plumbers and the Galactic Enforcers were searching the outlying areas, but Gwendolyn suggested to Ken that with a limited store of power, Charmcaster would stay close. Without the Archamada, she wouldn’t be able to drain anyone again, and she was going to have to play it safe with her extra power. She wouldn’t use the staff.
He sighed, looking over at the other monitors and the reports coming in from their allies. He wished he could be sure. Half of this hero business was about trusting your instincts, but Ken’s hadn’t been so reliable lately. He hadn’t listened to Devlin’s warning that they shouldn’t go into battle. He hadn’t listened to his father trying to tell them that Charmcaster was too dangerous.
That was the worst part. He’d yelled at him. He’d complained just like when he was ten, insisting that his dad didn’t trust him. And who was right in the end and had to pay the price?
For the first time in his life, Ken was entrusted with the protection of the city, the world, the universe, and his father. But now, he would have traded it in a heartbeat to have his father back at the helm. He’d never imagined that the cost would be this high.
A pure beam of mana met a crackling bolt of magic, exploding from the force. Gwen and Charmcaster leapt back from the energy discharge, and Charmcaster aimed her staff at Gwen, unleashing a blast of magic. Gwen quickly threw up a shield to protect herself.
“You’ve only got one trick, Charmcaster,” Gwen taunted.
“But I’m so good at it,” she replied, firing a bolt from her hand.
She put enough force into it that Gwen’s shield shattered, sending her flying back. Gwen fell in the wreckage of a fallen building, the Archamada lying at her side. Smirking, Charmcaster came over to her and held her hand at the book, telekinetically lifting it.
“I’ll take that,” she said.
“No you don’t!” shouted a new voice, and Charmcaster found herself blindsided by a cloaked stranger armed with crystal tonfa. He tackled her to the ground then quickly recovered, raising an arm to guard himself as he reached in the back of his belt.
“You don’t know who you’re messing with,” Charmcaster warned.
“You’d be surprised,” he answered.
With an angry grunt, she blasted a bolt of magic at him, but to her surprise, he leapt high into the air, as if he could fly, shooting a blaster down at her from above. No matter how she moved, the lasers arced toward her, making escape difficult. When he landed, it wasn’t any better. He was faster than any human should be, closing the distance between them quickly, swinging his tonfa with definite intent to kill. Charmcaster quickly brought up her staff to block, but she could feel the force of his blows against the wood. Whatever he was, it wasn’t human. He was too strong for that.
Knowing she had no martial arts talent and that this mysterious man would best her easily, she quickly pulled a dirty trick. She pulled back long enough to point her staff at him, unleashing a blast of energy at his body. He flew backwards, coming to a rest some feet away-probably alive, if his abilities so far were any indication.
A disc of energy hit her from behind, and she whirled around to see that Gwen had recovered, once again holding the Archamada. In the distance, Ben and Kevin had defeated one of her golems and were just about through with the second.
“This isn’t worth it,” Charmcaster spat. “But believe me, I’ll be back.” Whispering a teleportation spell, she vanished.
The golems died once severed from her magic, so the danger over, Ben and Kevin reverted to normal. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief and sagged; she hadn’t been sure she’d hold out much longer.
“Thanks, guys,” she said.
“Don’t thank us,” Ben insisted, thumbing behind them. Gwen looked beyond him with a puzzled face, and Ben and Kevin turned to see no one there.
“He’s gone?” Ben asked.
“It figures,” Kevin muttered. “Probably didn’t want to wait around for us to lock him up again.”
“He did save us,” Ben insisted. “Maybe we should give him a chance.”
“And maybe we can give Aggregor a chance too,” Kevin argued. “What is it with you and second chances? Ever heard of ‘once burned’?”
Ben glared. “Yeah, and I think if I hadn’t decided to ignore it, you and I wouldn’t be talking about it right now.”
“That’s enough, you two,” Gwen interrupted. “Will you both grow up?”
Petulantly, Ben pointed at Kevin and said, “He started it!” Kevin immediately smacked him upside the head. “Ow!”
“Your head’s soft enough to take it,” Kevin replied.
Gwen rolled her eyes. “At least neither of them got the book. Devlin might be telling us the truth, but until we’re sure, I think it’s safer if I keep it with me all the time.”
“Yeah,” Ben relented. “That makes sense.”
Gwen then smirked over at Kevin. “See? It works better to reason with him than smack him around.”
“Fine, so you got him housebroken,” Kevin answered while Ben scowled. “Anything else, or can we all go home now?”
Gwen closed her eyes and shrugged. “Even if I could think of anything, I’ve still got a monster of a teleportation hangover to sleep off. I’m going to bed.”
“Okay, I’ll take you home,” Ben volunteered.
The three walked together to the base’s wall, separating only when they reached their cars. Kevin drove off first while Ben took his time. Gwen kept her eyes closed as she got in the passenger seat, leaning against the headrest.
“Hey, Gwen?” Ben asked as he started the car.
“Yeah?” she asked, not opening her eyes.
“Did you notice anything about Devlin? You know, when you captured him?”
“No,” she answered, her voice practically a moan. She cracked open an eye, looking at her cousin curiously. “Why?”
Ben hesitated before answering, “He looked really familiar, even with the hood on. When he helped me with the rock monster, I thought he was Kevin at first.”
The other eye opened. Ignoring her headache, Gwen asked, “What are you getting at?”
“I think they’re related,” he said. “It would explain why Devlin hates him so much.”
“Ben, if hating Kevin means anything, then you two were brothers six years ago.”
“I’m serious, Gwen.” And he was; the look in his eyes was unwavering. “That kind of hatred was personal. I think Devlin might be some relative that’s only heard of Kevin’s past. That’s why he was so shocked that we were friends with him.”
“Wait,” Gwen said, rubbing her temples. Ben was going out on a limb with a theory, she had a migraine, and it was tough to keep everything straight. “You think some complete stranger that broke into my house and tried to steal the Archamada is related to Kevin and hates him for his criminal past?”
Ben shrugged. “We’ve seen weirder.”
“True, but it’s really a stretch. I mean, you’re basing this on the fact that they look alike. There’s got to be a lot of people who look a little like Kevin.”
“Devlin looked exactly like him. Close enough that I’d think they were brothers.”
Now, Gwen hesitated. “You don’t think that maybe Kevin has a brother?”
Ben shrugged. “It’s possible. We don’t know enough about him. But one thing’s sure-Kevin didn’t know him.”
“How are you so sure?”
“You saw how annoyed he was. That was his usual ‘enemy I need to beat on’ annoyance. Not even ‘guy who cut me off in traffic’ or ‘guy who owes me money.’”
“Right,” Gwen agreed. “Too impersonal. But Devlin knows him or at least knows of him.”
“Yeah, which is why we can’t tell Kevin,” Ben answered. “Devlin tried to keep his distance from him and hated having to work with him during the battle. The first chance he had to get away, he took it.”
“Kevin would go after him if he knew the truth,” Gwen finished. “And we’re still not even sure of the truth.”
“Right. I think we need to sit on this for a while.”
“Good plan,” Gwen agreed, resting her head again and closing her eyes. “In the meantime, wake me up when we get there.”
Gwen wasted no time getting up to her bedroom once Ben dropped her off. He’d given her way too much to think about, and right now, she wanted to forget about it long enough to get some sleep. But as she started to change into her pajamas, she realized something was missing from around her neck.
“My locket!” she whispered. She must have lost it during the battle. If so, it was still back at Los Soledad. She could call Ben or Kevin to pick it up for her…
No, it was too long a drive, and they were probably as exhausted as she was by now. She would have to wait for tomorrow and hope for the best.
Devlin hadn’t gone far in his escape-only flying to the roof of another building once nobody was looking at him. He sat there now, the moonlight shining on a pair of tattered, insectoid wings that had sprouted from his back. He’d needed the transformation to dodge Charmcaster’s lightning blast, trying his hardest to concentrate on keeping his powers under control while keeping his mind on the fight. In the end, his split focus failed him-Charmcaster had hit him with that blast of magic, and he lost control. Now, try as he might, he couldn’t get his wings to conceal themselves.
He could get them to fold down, however, enough to be hidden by a cape. He’d removed his cloak and was tearing the back of it along the middle. It would work to conceal his wings, but if he needed to fly, it wouldn’t restrict them either.
His work done, he slipped the cloak on again and sighed. “This is not what I expected at all.”
He leapt off the roof, intending to find a place to crash for the night, when he saw a glint of something on their battlefield. Curious, he made his way over to the destroyed building where Charmcaster had thrown Gwen, to see a necklace with a broken chain. It had been abandoned by accident, its owner too dazed to realize she’d lost something.
Devlin’s breath caught as he recognized the pendant, and he fished out his own locket to be sure. It was the same design-round, gold, with a ring around a raised center. It was old, probably an antique or a family heirloom.
Devlin held one locket in each hand for a moment, dreading the truth. With a painful intake of breath, he steeled himself and opened it.
A quick defense before I get started: I have nothing against Elena from Alien Swarm. In fact, I actually like her. However, I can’t say that Kevin likes her much, and in any case, he enjoys picking on Ben. “Caroline” is a reference to Charmcaster’s alias in “In Charm’s Way”; Kevin’s still sore about that, and I’m guessing he’s trying to make it up to Gwen by slapping the name on a golem he’s fighting.
The Theory of Everything
Chapter Five: Under Pressure
Summary: As Charmcaster attacks, Devlin's forced to realize that Ben, Kevin, and Gwen are not the people he remembers, and Ben gets Gwen wondering about their mysterious visitor. And Devlin wonders why Gwen's locket looks so familiar...
The Theory of Everything
Chapter Five: “Under Pressure”
The opening salvo came from Ben, as Swampfire blasted flames directly at Charmcaster. She twirled her staff rapidly, shielding herself from the attack. But it only served as a smokescreen for Kevin, who leapt up and attacked her from above. She narrowly dodged the punch, twisted out of the way, and fired electricity from her staff.
“Sorry, boys,” she mocked, “but Gwen’s my dance partner tonight. Don’t worry, I think you’ll like your dates.” A portal opened behind her, and two golems came through, standing at her side. She pointed at the boys. “Get them!”
As the golems charged at them, Kevin smirked at Swampfire.
“I’ll take Caroline,” he said. “You go for the last girl who dumped you.”
“Hey, she didn’t dump me!” Swampfire tried to protest, but Kevin was already pounding away at his golem. The second tried to grab Swampfire, but he held it off with a flame-charged uppercut, muttering, “Elena’s going to kill me if she finds out about this.”
With the boys occupied, that left Gwen and Charmcaster to battle. Charmcaster blasted more lightning from her staff, but Gwen tumbled out of the way of one blast before raising a small shield against another. It held long enough for the lightning to dissipate, and Gwen let the construct shatter as she hurled an energy burst at Charmcaster. Charmcaster just dodged it, and it destroyed the building across from the holding cell.
Devlin continued to try to get out of the containment field, but once everyone was outside and out of sight, he became more frantic. Gwendolyn-well, Gwen, if Ben and Kevin weren’t just calling her that to annoy her-had the Archamada, and if Charmcaster got her hands on the Mori Spell here too…
“That’s it,” he decided, pulling out his blaster and aiming at the generator above him. He fired several shots and ducked under the protection of his cloak. The machine began to spark and sputter out bits of hot metal debris, which Devlin was mostly protected from. The containment field vanished, and he raced out into the fray.
The battle was absolute chaos. Abandoned, derelict buildings were being smashed left and right as people were being thrown across the field. Lightning crackled all around from the fight between Charmcaster and Gwen. Devlin looked around, unsure where he should go. Should he risk running into a battle between mages so he could get the book, or would it be better to try to fight the golems?
The decision was made for him the moment he saw one of the golems backhand Swampfire, destroying his head. Without a second thought, Devlin grabbed his tonfa and ran at the golem with a furious cry, keeping the long end of the shafts guarding his forearms. He ducked in as the golem made to swing, blocking the attack with his guarded arm. Twirling the second tonfa’s handle to bring the shaft forward, he swung at the golem’s head. The hard, purple crystal vibrated with the blow, but it did not break. Devlin’s weapons were better than that. Bringing the other tonfa to attack position, he swung repeatedly at the golem’s head, moving quickly to knock its arms away when it tried to hit him.
There was a green flash behind him, and Cannonbolt came rolling through, barreling into the golem. Momentum sent the golem flying, ultimately crashing into another ruined building. Cannonbolt unrolled and stood in front of Devlin, who was still in shock at his recovery.
“Thanks for the backup, Kev-wait, you?” Cannonbolt asked, looking at Devlin in surprise. Belatedly, Devlin realized his hood had fallen when he joined the fight, and Ben was still looking at him like he recognized him.
“How’d you get out?” Kevin asked, backing up from an attack by his golem.
“Trade secret,” Devlin answered quickly. He held his tonfa in defense position again, glancing to Gwen and Charmcaster’s battle. “Is she going to need help?”
“Nah, better to stand clear and avoid getting fried,” Kevin answered. “Now if you two are done yapping, let’s finish this thing.”
Cannonbolt didn’t hesitate, rolling into the golem, then rolling straight up off of it into the sky. Kevin gave Devlin a challenging look, which Devlin returned as they both charged forward, Kevin with his fists and Devlin with his tonfa, both merciless as they attacked. Without needing to coordinate anything, they both backed off at exactly the moment Cannonbolt returned, his body now silver and studded with blunt spikes. The new Cannonbolt pounded down on the golem, creating shockwaves as it slammed the creature into the ground. Devlin stared in amazement as Cannonbolt unrolled, completely unharmed, while the golem’s stone body was crushed in several places.
“Welcome to your first Ultimate battle,” Kevin said to the shocked Devlin as Ultimate Cannonbolt turned his attention to the other golem, who’d returned for round two.
Ken studied the monitors tensely, a cup of coffee at his side-black and as strong as he could get it. He didn’t plan to sleep until he had the staff and Devlin had the spell, and they both saved their dad.
He cast a glance at the security cam on the medical ward. With the Charm of Reincarnation on Ben, they were able to remove the respirator, but everything was still closely monitoring his condition. If there was any change, they’d all know.
The monitors were focused on every part of the city. The Plumbers and the Galactic Enforcers were searching the outlying areas, but Gwendolyn suggested to Ken that with a limited store of power, Charmcaster would stay close. Without the Archamada, she wouldn’t be able to drain anyone again, and she was going to have to play it safe with her extra power. She wouldn’t use the staff.
He sighed, looking over at the other monitors and the reports coming in from their allies. He wished he could be sure. Half of this hero business was about trusting your instincts, but Ken’s hadn’t been so reliable lately. He hadn’t listened to Devlin’s warning that they shouldn’t go into battle. He hadn’t listened to his father trying to tell them that Charmcaster was too dangerous.
That was the worst part. He’d yelled at him. He’d complained just like when he was ten, insisting that his dad didn’t trust him. And who was right in the end and had to pay the price?
For the first time in his life, Ken was entrusted with the protection of the city, the world, the universe, and his father. But now, he would have traded it in a heartbeat to have his father back at the helm. He’d never imagined that the cost would be this high.
A pure beam of mana met a crackling bolt of magic, exploding from the force. Gwen and Charmcaster leapt back from the energy discharge, and Charmcaster aimed her staff at Gwen, unleashing a blast of magic. Gwen quickly threw up a shield to protect herself.
“You’ve only got one trick, Charmcaster,” Gwen taunted.
“But I’m so good at it,” she replied, firing a bolt from her hand.
She put enough force into it that Gwen’s shield shattered, sending her flying back. Gwen fell in the wreckage of a fallen building, the Archamada lying at her side. Smirking, Charmcaster came over to her and held her hand at the book, telekinetically lifting it.
“I’ll take that,” she said.
“No you don’t!” shouted a new voice, and Charmcaster found herself blindsided by a cloaked stranger armed with crystal tonfa. He tackled her to the ground then quickly recovered, raising an arm to guard himself as he reached in the back of his belt.
“You don’t know who you’re messing with,” Charmcaster warned.
“You’d be surprised,” he answered.
With an angry grunt, she blasted a bolt of magic at him, but to her surprise, he leapt high into the air, as if he could fly, shooting a blaster down at her from above. No matter how she moved, the lasers arced toward her, making escape difficult. When he landed, it wasn’t any better. He was faster than any human should be, closing the distance between them quickly, swinging his tonfa with definite intent to kill. Charmcaster quickly brought up her staff to block, but she could feel the force of his blows against the wood. Whatever he was, it wasn’t human. He was too strong for that.
Knowing she had no martial arts talent and that this mysterious man would best her easily, she quickly pulled a dirty trick. She pulled back long enough to point her staff at him, unleashing a blast of energy at his body. He flew backwards, coming to a rest some feet away-probably alive, if his abilities so far were any indication.
A disc of energy hit her from behind, and she whirled around to see that Gwen had recovered, once again holding the Archamada. In the distance, Ben and Kevin had defeated one of her golems and were just about through with the second.
“This isn’t worth it,” Charmcaster spat. “But believe me, I’ll be back.” Whispering a teleportation spell, she vanished.
The golems died once severed from her magic, so the danger over, Ben and Kevin reverted to normal. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief and sagged; she hadn’t been sure she’d hold out much longer.
“Thanks, guys,” she said.
“Don’t thank us,” Ben insisted, thumbing behind them. Gwen looked beyond him with a puzzled face, and Ben and Kevin turned to see no one there.
“He’s gone?” Ben asked.
“It figures,” Kevin muttered. “Probably didn’t want to wait around for us to lock him up again.”
“He did save us,” Ben insisted. “Maybe we should give him a chance.”
“And maybe we can give Aggregor a chance too,” Kevin argued. “What is it with you and second chances? Ever heard of ‘once burned’?”
Ben glared. “Yeah, and I think if I hadn’t decided to ignore it, you and I wouldn’t be talking about it right now.”
“That’s enough, you two,” Gwen interrupted. “Will you both grow up?”
Petulantly, Ben pointed at Kevin and said, “He started it!” Kevin immediately smacked him upside the head. “Ow!”
“Your head’s soft enough to take it,” Kevin replied.
Gwen rolled her eyes. “At least neither of them got the book. Devlin might be telling us the truth, but until we’re sure, I think it’s safer if I keep it with me all the time.”
“Yeah,” Ben relented. “That makes sense.”
Gwen then smirked over at Kevin. “See? It works better to reason with him than smack him around.”
“Fine, so you got him housebroken,” Kevin answered while Ben scowled. “Anything else, or can we all go home now?”
Gwen closed her eyes and shrugged. “Even if I could think of anything, I’ve still got a monster of a teleportation hangover to sleep off. I’m going to bed.”
“Okay, I’ll take you home,” Ben volunteered.
The three walked together to the base’s wall, separating only when they reached their cars. Kevin drove off first while Ben took his time. Gwen kept her eyes closed as she got in the passenger seat, leaning against the headrest.
“Hey, Gwen?” Ben asked as he started the car.
“Yeah?” she asked, not opening her eyes.
“Did you notice anything about Devlin? You know, when you captured him?”
“No,” she answered, her voice practically a moan. She cracked open an eye, looking at her cousin curiously. “Why?”
Ben hesitated before answering, “He looked really familiar, even with the hood on. When he helped me with the rock monster, I thought he was Kevin at first.”
The other eye opened. Ignoring her headache, Gwen asked, “What are you getting at?”
“I think they’re related,” he said. “It would explain why Devlin hates him so much.”
“Ben, if hating Kevin means anything, then you two were brothers six years ago.”
“I’m serious, Gwen.” And he was; the look in his eyes was unwavering. “That kind of hatred was personal. I think Devlin might be some relative that’s only heard of Kevin’s past. That’s why he was so shocked that we were friends with him.”
“Wait,” Gwen said, rubbing her temples. Ben was going out on a limb with a theory, she had a migraine, and it was tough to keep everything straight. “You think some complete stranger that broke into my house and tried to steal the Archamada is related to Kevin and hates him for his criminal past?”
Ben shrugged. “We’ve seen weirder.”
“True, but it’s really a stretch. I mean, you’re basing this on the fact that they look alike. There’s got to be a lot of people who look a little like Kevin.”
“Devlin looked exactly like him. Close enough that I’d think they were brothers.”
Now, Gwen hesitated. “You don’t think that maybe Kevin has a brother?”
Ben shrugged. “It’s possible. We don’t know enough about him. But one thing’s sure-Kevin didn’t know him.”
“How are you so sure?”
“You saw how annoyed he was. That was his usual ‘enemy I need to beat on’ annoyance. Not even ‘guy who cut me off in traffic’ or ‘guy who owes me money.’”
“Right,” Gwen agreed. “Too impersonal. But Devlin knows him or at least knows of him.”
“Yeah, which is why we can’t tell Kevin,” Ben answered. “Devlin tried to keep his distance from him and hated having to work with him during the battle. The first chance he had to get away, he took it.”
“Kevin would go after him if he knew the truth,” Gwen finished. “And we’re still not even sure of the truth.”
“Right. I think we need to sit on this for a while.”
“Good plan,” Gwen agreed, resting her head again and closing her eyes. “In the meantime, wake me up when we get there.”
Gwen wasted no time getting up to her bedroom once Ben dropped her off. He’d given her way too much to think about, and right now, she wanted to forget about it long enough to get some sleep. But as she started to change into her pajamas, she realized something was missing from around her neck.
“My locket!” she whispered. She must have lost it during the battle. If so, it was still back at Los Soledad. She could call Ben or Kevin to pick it up for her…
No, it was too long a drive, and they were probably as exhausted as she was by now. She would have to wait for tomorrow and hope for the best.
Devlin hadn’t gone far in his escape-only flying to the roof of another building once nobody was looking at him. He sat there now, the moonlight shining on a pair of tattered, insectoid wings that had sprouted from his back. He’d needed the transformation to dodge Charmcaster’s lightning blast, trying his hardest to concentrate on keeping his powers under control while keeping his mind on the fight. In the end, his split focus failed him-Charmcaster had hit him with that blast of magic, and he lost control. Now, try as he might, he couldn’t get his wings to conceal themselves.
He could get them to fold down, however, enough to be hidden by a cape. He’d removed his cloak and was tearing the back of it along the middle. It would work to conceal his wings, but if he needed to fly, it wouldn’t restrict them either.
His work done, he slipped the cloak on again and sighed. “This is not what I expected at all.”
He leapt off the roof, intending to find a place to crash for the night, when he saw a glint of something on their battlefield. Curious, he made his way over to the destroyed building where Charmcaster had thrown Gwen, to see a necklace with a broken chain. It had been abandoned by accident, its owner too dazed to realize she’d lost something.
Devlin’s breath caught as he recognized the pendant, and he fished out his own locket to be sure. It was the same design-round, gold, with a ring around a raised center. It was old, probably an antique or a family heirloom.
Devlin held one locket in each hand for a moment, dreading the truth. With a painful intake of breath, he steeled himself and opened it.
A quick defense before I get started: I have nothing against Elena from Alien Swarm. In fact, I actually like her. However, I can’t say that Kevin likes her much, and in any case, he enjoys picking on Ben. “Caroline” is a reference to Charmcaster’s alias in “In Charm’s Way”; Kevin’s still sore about that, and I’m guessing he’s trying to make it up to Gwen by slapping the name on a golem he’s fighting.