FIC: Instinct (2/4)
Title: Instinct (2/4)
Characters: Ben, Gwen
Summary: Having rescued Ben, Gwen has to figure out how to snap him out of their opponent's control along with rescuing Kevin and the townsfolk.
Notes: No action in this part. It’s Ben and Gwen interaction with them planning. The action’s in the next part. w00t. Also decided that the last two parts I’m going to post up on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Just to leave you guys hangin’ a little. ^^
Disclaimer: Ben 10: Alien Force belongs to Man of Action
Gwen didn’t stop running until she reached Kevin’s Camaro. All the while, Ben had screeched and pounded on his spherical prison, still in Spidermonkey form.
“Ben, just shut up for two seconds! I need to think!”
Unfortunately, he didn’t comply. Not that she truly blamed him at this point. Whatever that weird woman had done to all of those men was clearly affecting him, too.
“What did she do anyway?”
Gwen put a hand to her forehead, trying to figure out where everything had gone so horribly wrong.
They’d driven by to check out the situation before running in blindly. No, no problems there.
Parked at a distance and walked so that if something went wrong, the other guys didn’t have all the alien tech in the Camaro. Not bad.
Ben changed into Spidermonkey so that they could tie up the enslaved people instead of beating them up. That was good.
Ben mentioned smelling something weird. That was-
Wait.
The redhead furrowed her brow, trying to think past her cousin’s screaming. What was it he’d said?
“It’s kinda…sweet.”
With Spidermonkey’s superior sense of smell, Ben had been the only person to have smelled it. Could it be that that scent, whatever it was, had been the trigger?
There was a glow from within the pink sphere, signaling Ben returning to his human self. She changed it to a set of glowing, pink bonds which kept the teen rooted to the spot.
“Let me go!” he snarled.
“I don’t think so,” she replied, leaning forward. “Not unless you promise not to go back there.”
“I have to!”
“Why?”
“I need her so much!” The desperate look in his green eyes was downright worshipful. Not to mention he sounded like a cross between a lovesick puppy and a full-blown addict.
Gwen decided to cut him off cold turkey. “No. You’re staying put.”
He literally bared his teeth at her as if he was still Spidermonkey. She was suddenly grateful she’d bound him so tightly since his fingers were twitching. She was certain that-were his arms free-he would’ve gone for the Omnitrix.
And speaking of the watch, it seemed to be agitated as well. The face was flashing, and the beeping sounded almost…confused. The Omnitrix seemed perplexed as if it wasn’t sure if the real threat was her or the person whose wrist it encircled.
“You’re not yourself, Ben,” she said soothingly. “I don’t know what that lady did, but she really messed you up. Kevin, too.”
His fingers just kept twitching, and Gwen could only sigh, running her fingers through her red hair.
‘Okay. He smelled something, and I’m thinking that that’s what messed with his head.’ She frowned deeply. ‘Smell…Pheromones?’
It would explain a lot about why only males were affected. Which meant that the “woman” at the barn was at least part alien. Fabulous. They’d definitely gotten in over their heads again.
‘Now what? I can’t keep Ben wrapped up all day. And I can’t leave Kevin there. I need help, and the Omnitrix doesn’t seem to have a fix in this case, not like when it changed my brother back.’ She rubbed her temples, glancing at Kevin’s car. Then her eyebrows shot to the sky. ‘Maybe…’
“Don’t go away,” the redhead told her captive cousin, jogging over to the Camaro and kneeling down by the back, driver-side wheel.
Reaching under the car, she pulled out a small, black, plastic container that had been magnetically attached to the metal just above the wheel. Opening it up, she pulled out the spare key.
“Jackpot. And Kevin said this was a dumb idea.”
She popped open the trunk and rooted around until she grabbed their rather extensive first aid kit. Lifting the lid, she selected the bottle of smelling salts.
“This oughta do it.” She jogged back to Ben. “Now hold still.”
Her powers wrapped him up more tightly, going so far as to cover his mouth so that he had to breathe through his nose. She popped open the bottle and held it under his nostrils.
Instantly, Ben started trying to squirm away, but Gwen held firm. With each breath, he gave a sharp exhale back out through his nose as if trying to rid himself of the horrific smell. After about five breaths, she released his mouth and moved the bottle away, not wanting to hurt him with the ammonia it contained.
“Oh, man, that’s awful!” the brunette gagged, coughing.
The Omnitrix stopped its fretful beeping and flashing, calming to its regular, neutral state.
Taking this as a good sign, Gwen asked, “Ben? Are you okay?”
“I will be once you let me go. What happened? Where’s Kevin?”
Relieved, the mana-wielder released his bonds before throwing her arms around her cousin, happy to have him back.
The other Tennyson teen sat there for a moment, clearly baffled, before hugging her back. “Not that I don’t appreciate this, but what gives?”
Gwen sat back. “You became one of those zombies for that lady.”
“I what?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Ben thought for a moment. “I remember becoming Spidermonkey and smelling something really sweet, but you guys couldn’t smell it. Then we were tying up some guys, and that smell just kept getting thicker. The next thing I know, I’m wrapped up like a birthday present, and you’re waving smelling salts under my nose.”
“Okay, let me fill in what you don’t remember.” The redhead braced herself, knowing her cousin was going to blame himself the second she told him. “You attacked me.”
Sure enough, the brunette completely froze, staring blankly at her. However, she could see self-recrimination in those green eyes.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she soothed. “I think that woman uses some kind of super pheromone to control males. That’s why it affected you as Spidermonkey so quickly. Kevin wasn’t far behind though. Still, there was no way either of you could’ve controlled yourselves once it took effect.”
“He’s still there, isn’t he?” Worry joined the self-blame.
Gwen nodded, feeling guilty herself. “I couldn’t carry both of you. You’re lighter-not just as Spidermonkey but also yourself. And…”
He followed her gaze, placing a hand over the watch. “We couldn’t let her have even that kind of control over the Omnitrix.”
“Yeah…”
The irony of the choice never ceased to anger her: protect the innocent or keep the bad guy from getting what was potentially the most dangerous weapon in the universe. Sometimes, being the hero really sucked.
“Give me that bottle.” Ben held out his hand with a grimace. “I can still smell some of that junk she was using.”
Gwen hesitated. “You sure?”
“I want to make sure my head’s totally clear before we try again.”
She passed him the bottle, and he breathed deeply from it, instantly coughing.
“Easy! It’s not exactly smart to do this with ammonia, y’know!” she chided.
“No choice,” he gagged. He dropped the bottle into the dirt and rubbed at his eye where a few tears had escaped. “Man, that’s awful. At least I can’t smell that other stuff anymore.”
Gwen sighed but screwed the lid back on the bottle. It wouldn’t do much good now. The fumes were probably weakening. They’d need to replace their supply. (She also made a mental note to keep more than one bottle on hand in case something like this happened again.)
“So now what?” the redhead asked. “If we go back in there, we’ve got those guys plus Kevin plus that lady.”
“What was she like? Did she look like much trouble?”
“Not really.” She thought back to her brief glance. “Sorta blah, really. Not frumpy or particularly ugly. Just…there.”
Ben’s lips twitched. “Sarah, Plain and Tall?”
That forced a smile from Gwen. “That’s it. Right down to the red hair.” [*] She then grew serious. “It could be that the species she’s from or descended from actually attracts as many mates as possible to defend its females using those pheromones. The men provide everything for her-”
“Which explains why all of them took up an interest in farming. Kevin included.”
“-and she’d be the main breeder.”
Ben froze up. “She’s going to use Kevin as one of her studs?”
“Possibly.” She grabbed her cousin by the arms and jerked him back down to the ground, grateful that he was still a bit off-balanced from the pheromone “trip”. “Ben, you can’t just barge in there! It won’t help!”
“I’m not letting her touch him! Or any of the others, either!” the brunette snarled.
‘Where’s my squirt gun? Oh, right. It’s in the car.’ Funny. She’d never thought she’d consider using the “weapon” intended for Kevin on the person she’d been protecting with it. “If you don’t settle down, I’m wrapping you back up,” she threatened.
That made him reconsider fighting her, and he stopped struggling. However, his green eyes were narrowed as he looked out in the direction of the farm.
“What we need is a plan. We have to take her out without hurting any of her protectors. Kevin can take a lot, but the men from the town look wiped out.”
“Which is why we were using Spidermonkey from the get-go.” Ben twisted the dial on the Omnitrix, studying each of his aliens.
“Maybe Big Chill?” Gwen suggested.
A shake of the brunette’s head. “No good. He’s still got a sense of smell. Same with Jetray. Sure, they can’t smell very well, but it’s still there. Not to mention that while they can take on Kevin, they’re overkill for the rest of them.”
“You’re right.” The redhead frowned. “Swampfire? Use the flames on Kevin while tying everyone else up with the plants?”
“Good idea, but he can still smell.”
“Rats!”
A twist of the dial. “Humongousaur. There’s a disaster waiting to happen.” Another twist. “Echo Echo?”
The mana-user frowned. “Keep him in mind. He doesn’t have a nose and wouldn’t really hurt any of those other guys, but can he go one-on-one with Kevin?”
“I dunno. Never tried.” Ben rotated the dial again. “Brainstorm’s out. The electricity’s overkill.”
“Chromostone’s also overkill,” Gwen noted as the hologram showed the rock-like alien upon the next rotation.
Ben changed the selection. “Definitely not Spidermonkey again.” He changed to the next one. “I’m not sure how effective Goop would be in this situation.”
“To be on the safe side, rule him out. What about that tenth guy?”
Ben rotated the dial, but the Omnitrix refused access. “No good. The watch doesn’t want to give it up just yet.”
“Looks like Echo Echo’s our best shot.” The redhead sat back on her heels. “So how do we do this?”
“Well, before we left, what did you see? The layout and everything?”
Gwen reached forward and started sketching in the dirt. “It’s not going to be totally accurate, but…”
[*] This is referring to the movie, not the book. I couldn’t remember how Sarah was described in the book, so I searched for images online of the book’s cover. She was shown as either a redhead or a brunette. Finally, I got fed up and looked up stills from the movie, and that Sarah was a redhead. Therefore, I just went with that.
Characters: Ben, Gwen
Summary: Having rescued Ben, Gwen has to figure out how to snap him out of their opponent's control along with rescuing Kevin and the townsfolk.
Notes: No action in this part. It’s Ben and Gwen interaction with them planning. The action’s in the next part. w00t. Also decided that the last two parts I’m going to post up on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Just to leave you guys hangin’ a little. ^^
Disclaimer: Ben 10: Alien Force belongs to Man of Action
Gwen didn’t stop running until she reached Kevin’s Camaro. All the while, Ben had screeched and pounded on his spherical prison, still in Spidermonkey form.
“Ben, just shut up for two seconds! I need to think!”
Unfortunately, he didn’t comply. Not that she truly blamed him at this point. Whatever that weird woman had done to all of those men was clearly affecting him, too.
“What did she do anyway?”
Gwen put a hand to her forehead, trying to figure out where everything had gone so horribly wrong.
They’d driven by to check out the situation before running in blindly. No, no problems there.
Parked at a distance and walked so that if something went wrong, the other guys didn’t have all the alien tech in the Camaro. Not bad.
Ben changed into Spidermonkey so that they could tie up the enslaved people instead of beating them up. That was good.
Ben mentioned smelling something weird. That was-
Wait.
The redhead furrowed her brow, trying to think past her cousin’s screaming. What was it he’d said?
“It’s kinda…sweet.”
With Spidermonkey’s superior sense of smell, Ben had been the only person to have smelled it. Could it be that that scent, whatever it was, had been the trigger?
There was a glow from within the pink sphere, signaling Ben returning to his human self. She changed it to a set of glowing, pink bonds which kept the teen rooted to the spot.
“Let me go!” he snarled.
“I don’t think so,” she replied, leaning forward. “Not unless you promise not to go back there.”
“I have to!”
“Why?”
“I need her so much!” The desperate look in his green eyes was downright worshipful. Not to mention he sounded like a cross between a lovesick puppy and a full-blown addict.
Gwen decided to cut him off cold turkey. “No. You’re staying put.”
He literally bared his teeth at her as if he was still Spidermonkey. She was suddenly grateful she’d bound him so tightly since his fingers were twitching. She was certain that-were his arms free-he would’ve gone for the Omnitrix.
And speaking of the watch, it seemed to be agitated as well. The face was flashing, and the beeping sounded almost…confused. The Omnitrix seemed perplexed as if it wasn’t sure if the real threat was her or the person whose wrist it encircled.
“You’re not yourself, Ben,” she said soothingly. “I don’t know what that lady did, but she really messed you up. Kevin, too.”
His fingers just kept twitching, and Gwen could only sigh, running her fingers through her red hair.
‘Okay. He smelled something, and I’m thinking that that’s what messed with his head.’ She frowned deeply. ‘Smell…Pheromones?’
It would explain a lot about why only males were affected. Which meant that the “woman” at the barn was at least part alien. Fabulous. They’d definitely gotten in over their heads again.
‘Now what? I can’t keep Ben wrapped up all day. And I can’t leave Kevin there. I need help, and the Omnitrix doesn’t seem to have a fix in this case, not like when it changed my brother back.’ She rubbed her temples, glancing at Kevin’s car. Then her eyebrows shot to the sky. ‘Maybe…’
“Don’t go away,” the redhead told her captive cousin, jogging over to the Camaro and kneeling down by the back, driver-side wheel.
Reaching under the car, she pulled out a small, black, plastic container that had been magnetically attached to the metal just above the wheel. Opening it up, she pulled out the spare key.
“Jackpot. And Kevin said this was a dumb idea.”
She popped open the trunk and rooted around until she grabbed their rather extensive first aid kit. Lifting the lid, she selected the bottle of smelling salts.
“This oughta do it.” She jogged back to Ben. “Now hold still.”
Her powers wrapped him up more tightly, going so far as to cover his mouth so that he had to breathe through his nose. She popped open the bottle and held it under his nostrils.
Instantly, Ben started trying to squirm away, but Gwen held firm. With each breath, he gave a sharp exhale back out through his nose as if trying to rid himself of the horrific smell. After about five breaths, she released his mouth and moved the bottle away, not wanting to hurt him with the ammonia it contained.
“Oh, man, that’s awful!” the brunette gagged, coughing.
The Omnitrix stopped its fretful beeping and flashing, calming to its regular, neutral state.
Taking this as a good sign, Gwen asked, “Ben? Are you okay?”
“I will be once you let me go. What happened? Where’s Kevin?”
Relieved, the mana-wielder released his bonds before throwing her arms around her cousin, happy to have him back.
The other Tennyson teen sat there for a moment, clearly baffled, before hugging her back. “Not that I don’t appreciate this, but what gives?”
Gwen sat back. “You became one of those zombies for that lady.”
“I what?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Ben thought for a moment. “I remember becoming Spidermonkey and smelling something really sweet, but you guys couldn’t smell it. Then we were tying up some guys, and that smell just kept getting thicker. The next thing I know, I’m wrapped up like a birthday present, and you’re waving smelling salts under my nose.”
“Okay, let me fill in what you don’t remember.” The redhead braced herself, knowing her cousin was going to blame himself the second she told him. “You attacked me.”
Sure enough, the brunette completely froze, staring blankly at her. However, she could see self-recrimination in those green eyes.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she soothed. “I think that woman uses some kind of super pheromone to control males. That’s why it affected you as Spidermonkey so quickly. Kevin wasn’t far behind though. Still, there was no way either of you could’ve controlled yourselves once it took effect.”
“He’s still there, isn’t he?” Worry joined the self-blame.
Gwen nodded, feeling guilty herself. “I couldn’t carry both of you. You’re lighter-not just as Spidermonkey but also yourself. And…”
He followed her gaze, placing a hand over the watch. “We couldn’t let her have even that kind of control over the Omnitrix.”
“Yeah…”
The irony of the choice never ceased to anger her: protect the innocent or keep the bad guy from getting what was potentially the most dangerous weapon in the universe. Sometimes, being the hero really sucked.
“Give me that bottle.” Ben held out his hand with a grimace. “I can still smell some of that junk she was using.”
Gwen hesitated. “You sure?”
“I want to make sure my head’s totally clear before we try again.”
She passed him the bottle, and he breathed deeply from it, instantly coughing.
“Easy! It’s not exactly smart to do this with ammonia, y’know!” she chided.
“No choice,” he gagged. He dropped the bottle into the dirt and rubbed at his eye where a few tears had escaped. “Man, that’s awful. At least I can’t smell that other stuff anymore.”
Gwen sighed but screwed the lid back on the bottle. It wouldn’t do much good now. The fumes were probably weakening. They’d need to replace their supply. (She also made a mental note to keep more than one bottle on hand in case something like this happened again.)
“So now what?” the redhead asked. “If we go back in there, we’ve got those guys plus Kevin plus that lady.”
“What was she like? Did she look like much trouble?”
“Not really.” She thought back to her brief glance. “Sorta blah, really. Not frumpy or particularly ugly. Just…there.”
Ben’s lips twitched. “Sarah, Plain and Tall?”
That forced a smile from Gwen. “That’s it. Right down to the red hair.” [*] She then grew serious. “It could be that the species she’s from or descended from actually attracts as many mates as possible to defend its females using those pheromones. The men provide everything for her-”
“Which explains why all of them took up an interest in farming. Kevin included.”
“-and she’d be the main breeder.”
Ben froze up. “She’s going to use Kevin as one of her studs?”
“Possibly.” She grabbed her cousin by the arms and jerked him back down to the ground, grateful that he was still a bit off-balanced from the pheromone “trip”. “Ben, you can’t just barge in there! It won’t help!”
“I’m not letting her touch him! Or any of the others, either!” the brunette snarled.
‘Where’s my squirt gun? Oh, right. It’s in the car.’ Funny. She’d never thought she’d consider using the “weapon” intended for Kevin on the person she’d been protecting with it. “If you don’t settle down, I’m wrapping you back up,” she threatened.
That made him reconsider fighting her, and he stopped struggling. However, his green eyes were narrowed as he looked out in the direction of the farm.
“What we need is a plan. We have to take her out without hurting any of her protectors. Kevin can take a lot, but the men from the town look wiped out.”
“Which is why we were using Spidermonkey from the get-go.” Ben twisted the dial on the Omnitrix, studying each of his aliens.
“Maybe Big Chill?” Gwen suggested.
A shake of the brunette’s head. “No good. He’s still got a sense of smell. Same with Jetray. Sure, they can’t smell very well, but it’s still there. Not to mention that while they can take on Kevin, they’re overkill for the rest of them.”
“You’re right.” The redhead frowned. “Swampfire? Use the flames on Kevin while tying everyone else up with the plants?”
“Good idea, but he can still smell.”
“Rats!”
A twist of the dial. “Humongousaur. There’s a disaster waiting to happen.” Another twist. “Echo Echo?”
The mana-user frowned. “Keep him in mind. He doesn’t have a nose and wouldn’t really hurt any of those other guys, but can he go one-on-one with Kevin?”
“I dunno. Never tried.” Ben rotated the dial again. “Brainstorm’s out. The electricity’s overkill.”
“Chromostone’s also overkill,” Gwen noted as the hologram showed the rock-like alien upon the next rotation.
Ben changed the selection. “Definitely not Spidermonkey again.” He changed to the next one. “I’m not sure how effective Goop would be in this situation.”
“To be on the safe side, rule him out. What about that tenth guy?”
Ben rotated the dial, but the Omnitrix refused access. “No good. The watch doesn’t want to give it up just yet.”
“Looks like Echo Echo’s our best shot.” The redhead sat back on her heels. “So how do we do this?”
“Well, before we left, what did you see? The layout and everything?”
Gwen reached forward and started sketching in the dirt. “It’s not going to be totally accurate, but…”
[*] This is referring to the movie, not the book. I couldn’t remember how Sarah was described in the book, so I searched for images online of the book’s cover. She was shown as either a redhead or a brunette. Finally, I got fed up and looked up stills from the movie, and that Sarah was a redhead. Therefore, I just went with that.