Chapter Text
“This is your fault!”
A pretty typical exchange for the two Tennyson kids. Ben and Gwen had been on their summer road trip with their Grandpa Max for about half of the whole vacation. You would think after a month and a half in close quarters the constant bickering would be a given, but this was actually an improvement over how they treated each other at the start of the trip.
“Grandpa only turns 60 once!” Gwen yelled, though Ben seemed otherwise occupied, more concerned with the bag of marshmallows in his hand. Yeah, that was probably enough justification for her to push him over. “I had this party totally wired!” She shoved one of her spreadsheets into his face. Her manicured nails jumped out at him. She’s annoying, but she knows how to dress herself , I guess. At least his clothes were comfortable, easy. He’d never thought about what he was wearing or what he looked like for even a second of his life. Waste of time.
His gaze returned to the spreadsheet. Where do you find the time to even make these? Or get the paper? Is… is that covered in that plasticy stuff teachers like? All solid potential quips running through Ben’s head, and he hadn’t even glanced at its content yet. Though, when he did, one thing jumped out at him.
“You chose his birthday wish?”
Somehow, she continued as if that was completely normal and not majorly freaky. “And how is he supposed to make one without the cake that you were supposed to get?”
Ben scoffed. “Uh, excuse me, full time hero here? When do I have time to get some dumb old cake? You were supposed to get it.” A little more obnoxious than he meant to have it come off as, which, despite all the times he was actually trying to be obnoxious, did occasionally happen. The Tetris Effect in action, I guess. Still, outside of the delivery, the intent was there. When was he supposed to get a cake? They were always either on the road or getting their butts saved by him.
He had convinced himself that his Grandpa wouldn’t care if there wasn’t a cake. She was clearly going overboard and freaking out like she always does. Besides, he could probably just go XLR8 and get one now, she needed to just chill out. He told her that it wasn’t a big deal.
Gwen frowned. “For Grandpa, it is.”
That’s…
Welp, time for the tried and true bait. This always works.
“Fine! Play you to see who goes. Rock Paper Scissors, on three.”
And of course Gwen took it, without hesitation. Yeah, he was good. “You are so on.” She smirked. “You always lose.”
Ok, so just because it always ‘works’ doesn’t mean I always win. Whatever. I mean, I have to win eventually, it’s just luck, or probability, whatever the teacher called it, right? Wait, freakazoid here is a math nut- Could she be using her dumb brain to win every time? Is that even possible?
All of this shot through Ben’s head in the second it took to ready their hands. By the time they had reached “two” he was convinced Gwen was some sort of algebra witch who used the bar graphs in her brain to read his mind and that the number three was going to spell his doom. The number three never came.
There was a gust of wind and an eerie cosmic rattle. Ben’s first instinct was Charmcaster- the sound reminded him of the noises her spells made. A yellow circle had formed in midair, with the edges coming into view first as details were filled in. The whole thing was glowing, and among the light was some darker markings filling in the inside. Before they had time to even register what was happening, a hooded figure shot through the portal. Without ever touching the ground, she grabbed Gwen and made a sharp turn backwards.
Ben yelled his cousin’s name as he popped the faceplate of his watch up. It was strange, the aliens were never really in the same order, it was seemingly completely random. And yet, the one he wanted to use was never more than three turns away. In this case, he didn’t have time to think too much about who to go for, so after a quick check that it wasn’t Graymatter, he slammed it back down, and in a flash of green, he was gone. In his place stood a moderately tall, lithe, dinosaur-like creature, with blue skin and a uniform sharing the colors of Ben’s shirt. His head was covered by some sort of metallic structure, almost like a helmet, but in actuality it was just part of his anatomy, and at the ends of each foot was something resembling a wheel. Ben was now XLR8. Perfect for a chase. For once, thank you, watch.
In a flash, his helmet visor came down to cover the sliver of his face not masked by the exoskeleton covering his head. With blinding speed, he shot straight into the portal right after Gwen and the witch, leaving nothing but his speed trail, then the settling of dust, and finally, silence.
*****
When in a fight, Ben usually tunnel visioned. It was good for focus, but led to some issues with situational awareness. So when he blindsided the witch girl in blue robes and saved Gwen, he hadn’t fully taken in his surroundings yet. Upon actually looking at what was around him, it was more than a bit of a shock.
They were surrounded by ground level food stands and twisted structures stretching higher than they could see. Bridges interconnected these foreign skyscrapers on most every floor, a spiderweb of metal. They were in a bustling city, or at least something that resembled one. Bustling, but with a lot more than just humans. Creatures of pretty much every shape and size shuffled through the streets. Slimy guys, creepy guys, fast guys, strong guys, anything ranging to what looked like humans with different colored skin to fish with legs. Even to the two of them, with all the alien creatures and weird stuff they had seen this summer, it was almost entirely foreign. Above them there were a lot of… hoverboards? Definitely hoverboards. A human girl with an outrageous outfit and face paint riding one caught their attention.
“Hey Jen.” She purred, blowing a kiss their way. She was cute. Needless to say, Ben was confused.
A pair of kids glided by. One of them also shouted their way.
“Yo! Jen-Ten-Kay, keep up the awesome job!”
Ok, now Ben was very confused. “Who?” But the boys were already gone.
Gwen spoke up to catch his attention. “Hey, doofus, look at this. I think they think you’re her.” She was pointing to a towering statue of a woman wearing an eerily familiar shirt with a stripe down the middle and an even more eerily familiar watch on her wrist. Her face was hard to make out, slightly obscured by the shadows of the buildings around them, but her expression seemed stoic. The sculpture was massive, almost 30 feet tall, and at its base was an inscription.
“Jen Ten-thousand, hero of heroes?” XLR8 read. “Who the heck is-”
You know, he’d like to finish at least one sentence today without being interrupted. He was quickly cut off as the statue shattered, catching both of them by surprise and knocking them back. At the base of the rubble, there stood some sort of rhino-esque creature, tricked out with high tech armor coating him head to toe. Instead of a horn, he sported some sort of laser cannon on his face. Cool.
“Hey, Tennyson! Long time no see.”
“Do I know you?”
The creature completely ignored him. He was getting kinda sick of that, too. “It’s time for my revenge!” He roared.
This was more than enough justification for Ben to rush him. “Oh yeah, tinny? Well it’s time for you to see who-”
And here’s where that situational awareness would come in handy, because Ben’s Omnitrix had reached its time limit, and now he was hurtling through the air at full speed towards a very large, very scary looking monster. He smacked into the metal of its chestplate flailing and screaming before he hit the ground. Would not recommend.
“Uh… maybe we could talk about this?”
Ben tensed, ready to bolt, when out of nowhere, a distorted cry rippled through the air. “Kimo Char!”
That witch from earlier was back on her feet. Now Ben was really panicking. Except instead of shooting at him, she shot at Mr. Rhino. No need to question good fortune, or bad aim. But before the thought could even cross his mind to do anything else, the rhino was knocked up into the air by seemingly nothing, its headpiece shattering. Wait, that’s...not nothing . At first, Ben assumed it was a spell, but his eyes quickly adjusted to realize that something else had rammed into the monster. It was back again, and it was fast , running around its foe quick enough to lift it into the air, only to let it fall back down and bat it with a violent smack of its tail. The mystery being was finally still enough to reveal itself. He was taller, and more toned. The sleeves of his uniform now covered the entirety of his arms, and his helmet was in a bit more of a radical shape, but it was clearly XLR8. But… curvy? Ok, so she must’ve just been a member of XLR8’s species. But no, that couldn’t be it, there was an Omnitrix on her chest. Ben examined the ruined statue. That meant it must’ve been her, then. Maybe. Okay, so that clears up… still nothing, in the grand scheme of things.
XLR8 spoke to the witch. “Looks like one of Animo’s. I’ll meet you back at headquarters.” Her voice had the same gravely pitch as Ben’s when he was XLR8. It actually wasn’t that different, except it was maybe half an octave higher, if that.
She finally took notice of the two adolescents nearby. Even with her visor down, her glare was palpable. “And send them back. Now.”
Nuh-uh, Ben wasn’t satisfied yet. Someone was going to take him seriously today. Who knows, maybe he’d get in a whopping half of a phrase? “Hold on a second, do you know who I am? That’s my watch you’re using, how did you get it? That’s got to be some cheap knockoff, right? Some random girl can’t just go around doing my thing. ”
XLR8 was fuming. Ben was used to grating on people (it was a natural talent) but she must’ve been having a bad day, because she turned it up to an 11 immediately. She turned towards the witch once more “I swear, if you don’t get rid of them right now-”
“-Ok, Ok. that was rude. You did ok back there. Maybe I can give you a few tips! I can show you the ropes of hero work if you, oh, show me how you unlocked your other 9,990 aliens? Pretty sweet deal, huh?”
She turned to him with a ferocity that startled Ben. “A ‘sweet deal’ is me never having to see, hear, or think about you ever again, brat.” She turned to the witch. “We will talk about this later.”
She sped off.
“You could lose the attitude, you know.”
Ben turned to fire back against Gwen. He had just offered to help that jerk, what was she talking about? It took him a second to realize both Gwen and the witch spoke in unison, causing his comeback to die in his throat.
Gwen stared at the older woman. “Wait… Advanced technology, someone else has the Omnitrix... is this the future? Are you....me?! Gwen?!”
Where the heck did she get that idea from?
The witch pulled down her hood and face covering to reveal a familiar flash of orange hair. It actually was the same exact color as his cousin’s, and Ben just now noticed that her belt had the same dumb logo as Gwen’s favorite shirt, too. “Good guess, you got that quick. Though, I’ve been going by Gwendolyn since college.”
Gwen’s face lit up. “What kind of college? Ivy League? Wait, you time traveled and used spells, which means I know magic, what kind of spells can I do? Is a time travel spell easy? I bet it’s reeaally advanced, oooh, did I ever get my black belt....?!”
Okay, Ben’s head hurt. Time travel? I mean, it would explain everything around us, and the apparently way older Gwen. Considering everything they’d seen over the course of the Summer, this was far from a stretch. But something was bothering him, and he couldn’t stand the sound of Gwen’s rapid fire questions about herself any longer. “Um, hello, isn’t there something missing from this picture? If this really is the future, and that’s you, then where the heck am I? Why did that cranky old lady have the watch?”
‘Gwendolyn’ took a pause. “It’s… a long story...er, Ben. it’s hard to explain. This is twenty years in the future from your time. There’s a crisis that Jen- that is, Jen Ten Thousand- won’t be able to face alone. She mastered the secrets of the Omnitrix years ago, but even she won’t be able to stop this coming threat. So I brought you here to help her out.”
Ben smirked. Finally, some sense. From Gwen. Ick. “Well, looks like the dweeb here actually grew up to be pretty smart, bringing in the expert . What’s the crisis?”
Gwendolyn took some kind of small holographic device out of her pocket. Ben couldn’t explain it, but he actually came around to believing this was an older version of his cousin way faster than he probably should have. Something about how she stood, the way she reached for things. It was creepy. Though her clothes were, admittedly, kinda awesome. He really liked the hood and the two scarf-things, and the rest of it came together nicely. He would die before he admitted it, but Gwen looked really, really cool, like a magic ninja or something.
She spoke. “There’s been a break in at Fort DNA X, where we keep genetic samples of all the alien species we need, among other things. Jen will get there first, we should start there.”
Ben pumped his fist. “Alright, hero time! Lemme just go XLR8 and…” The watch face was still red. He was beginning to immediately associate that color with disappointment, which was pretty emotionally confusing when he was (briefly) disappointed by the sight of McDonalds. “Aw, man. Can’t this thing charge faster in the future?”
As if on cue, a very familiar RV turned a nearby corner, wheeling into view. Convenient. Somehow, the old thing was still running 20 years later. The Rustbucket door opened, and out of it stepped a man Ben would always be able to recognize.
“Grandpa!” He and Gwen cheered as they raced over to him. This was getting really bizarre. This was more easily recognizable as Grandpa Max than Gwen was as ' old Gwen', probably because their Grandpa Max was already an adult. But he was still different, which was pretty surreal when the two of them had seen their Max walk into the woods just a few minutes ago. He had a really cool looking beard that Ben was totally gonna to pester his Grandpa Max to try and grow whenever they got back, he had a few more wrinkles, obviously, and somehow, still the same shirt.
He wasn’t phased by the sight of them. A little weird. “Kids!” He cried as he knelt down to give them both a hug. “I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present, seeing you two again!”
Ben raised an eyebrow “Do you not see us?”
“Well, uh” he seemed to be struggling. “I see Gwendolyn a lot.”
Something wasn’t right.
“It’s good to see you too.” Gwen replied, ignoring the red flag. “But the same shirt? Grandpa, it was twenty years out of style twenty years ago. ”
Max Smiled wide. “Hey, when you find a look that works!”
Ben could worry about his future self’s fate in a second. They had a job to do.
“Grandpa, can you give us a ride?”
“Fort DNA X” The Gwens said in unison. They smirked at each other. Brother, like one of her wasn’t enough.
*****
Normally, Ben would be occupied by all the new bells and whistles on the Rustbucket- Who would’ve guessed this thing would ever be air-worthy? But right now, there were other things on his mind. So much had happened in the past fifteen minutes, all rapid fire, and while he was now fully satisfied that this was the future (he asked Old Gwen a question only Gwen would be able to answer, one that Gwen had tackled him for asking,) there was still a lot that was bothering him.
“You’re quiet, dweeb. What’s up?”
“None of your business.”
Gwen expected a little more energy out of his retort. Something really was bugging him. Still, she tried. If he wouldn’t open up, not much she can do about it. She shrugged and turned away to leave him be.
“Haven’t you noticed?”
She turned back, surprised but willing to engage. Ben continued.
“Both of them have been looking at me weird, I’m apparently nowhere to be found, and that lady-jerk has the watch. Maybe...something happened to me?”
Gwen dismissed his concerns. “Oh, stop being dramatic, you don’t know that. You’re probably off on some galaxy road trip or something and they miss you, that’s all.”
“Yeah, maybe. Still, something is definitely up.”
Gwen’s frown deepened.
When they arrived, Ben was surprised when Max stayed in the RV.
“Aren’t you coming?” He asked.
Max shook his head. “Ah, no. You haven’t needed me for a long time.”
Ben cocked an eyebrow at him. Grandpa started, as if he had said something he shouldn’t have. “I should get going,” he said “I just hope Jenny doesn’t take it the wrong way, how happy I was to see you. Take care.”
And with that, he took off.
Ben had a million questions going through his head right now, but he pushed them aside for later. Yeah, he very much wanted to put his foot down and grill big Gwen here. She and especially Grandpa had been acting mega-weird. Buuuuut he was also eager for some action. She would still be here to pester, but the clock was ticking on frying a Geriatric Animo, a prospect way too exciting to pass up. Hero time, then answers.
“Let’s see how he likes a taste of Heatblast!” He cried, smashing the watch down. There was a flash of light, only to reveal someone decidedly not Heatblast. Big, red, strong, and with an extra set of arms, the transformation towered over the other two, at about twelve feet tall.
“Great. I hate this one.”
Gwen put a hand on her hip “I’ve never understood why. I feel like ‘hit things really hard’ would appeal to your monkey brain.”
“Let’s just go already.” Fourarms whined, ignoring the monkey noises and poses his cousin was flinging at him and running towards the building.
Inside, there was already a fight breaking out. Another large, red creature with four arms flew by them, launched from the other room. She was about the same height as Ben and just as muscular, but her shoulders were just a bit less broad and her hips were almost as wide as her shoulders. There were several calloused spikes across her skin, a singular fang poking out of her mouth, and a moderately long ponytail hanging low onto her back and joining with that signature black stripe on her head. Instead of Ben’s tee shirt, she wore a white tank top of sorts, with the same black stripe Ben had on his shirt down the middle.
Ben wanted to make some kind of smart remark, but he had nothing, which, not a feeling he was used to. I better not be losing my edge. Jen sure had plenty to say, though.
“I thought I told you to GO!” She screamed.
A crash came from the hole in the wall Jen was launched through. Smoke cleared to reveal a head in a jar, melded to a Giant gorilla body. Ben’s brain buffered a bit on that one, but he double checked that yes, that was what he was seeing. Mechanical tubes, wires, and bolts littered the gorilla’s fur. Ben had expected Animo in a wheelchair, not this hulking abomination in front of him that could apparently launch Fourarms through a wall. Dr. Animo had somehow found a way to go off the deep end from the deep end. The deeper end, if you will.
“No one is going anywhere!” He cried.
Jen frustratedly turned to Ben and touched the Omnitrix symbol on his shoulder, changing him into Wildvine.
“Hey, how did you-Gah!”
She grabbed him and tied his arms in a knot around some exposed pipes on the ground, immobilizing him before running back towards Animo, grumbling something Ben could only assume was an insult under her breath. Ben hadn’t been this angry in a long time. She steals my watch, smacks me into another alien like it’s nothing, and then thinks she can just bench me? Who does she think she is?!?
The Gwens were standing nearby. “Shouldn’t we help?” asked Gwen.
“No. She prefers it this way,” Gwendolyn answered coolly. Her arms were crossed. She was really going to just watch.
Ben, meanwhile, was desperately trying to detangle himself as fast as he could, more embarrassed than he’s ever been in his life. At least, he was desperate for a little bit. But the longer the battle in front of him raged, the longer he watched Jen work, the more mesmerized he became. The way she quickchanged from one alien to the next in a split second, just to block, or dodge, or throw the optimal punch, it was incredible in its own right. For Ben, the Omnitrix would only let him be an alien for about ten minutes, give or take, but it seemed that Jen had figured out how the master control worked- no time limit and switching between transformations with no more than a thought. In the span of six seconds, she changed from some mothy ghost thing to phase through a punch, then Heatblast to unleash a rocket’s worth of fire into Animo, sending her away, then XLR8 to dash back in only to bodyslam him with Diamondhead at full speed.
And it was certainly exciting to see her use forms he hadn’t unlocked yet. But strangely, most captivating were the aliens Ben already had unlocked and how they were different. The slimmer figure of Heatblast accentuated with mini volcanoes on her shoulders, the sharp indents of Diamondhead’s waist in contrast to Ben’s top-heavy arms and torso when he was Diamondhead. He was in such awe that he hadn’t even realized that he had changed back and was freed from the pipe, no longer sporting noodly vine arms.
He looked up, and suddenly the Galactic Enforcers were there, talking with Jen as XLR8. He hadn’t really been paying attention. He blinked and Jen had scooped up him and Gwen, one under each arm.
“Gwendolyn. I’ll meet you back at headquarters,” she rasped, taking off in the same breath, and just as quick as they were grabbed, they were racing through the streets of this futuristic city.
*****
Buildings flew by in a complete and total blur. XLR8’s weight was shifting a lot due to the constant strafing to avoid pedestrians, but Jen always adjusted her grip accordingly so that Ben could barely notice. At one point, Ben could’ve sworn they ran against a treadmill, like the ones at the airport, that was moving the other direction. But he couldn’t be sure since at the speeds they were moving, they were completely unaffected. It was bizarre, like the world around them didn’t even exist as anything more than a smear. It was just him, Gwen, and this strange woman with his watch. He wondered if this was what it felt like to other people when he carried them as XLR8.
Ben wanted to snark at their ride, he really, really did. But for reasons that would elude him for years, he struggled to get just a single word out while she had him under her arms. Any attempt to turn his head to face her would be… er, uncomfortable, giving rise to a rush of blood to his face. Thankfully, Gwen was making herself useful, for once. No putdowns like he wanted, but at least he was indirectly getting some answers.
“So, Jen,” she awkwardly started. “How did you meet Gwendolyn?”
“She’s my-” she stopped herself abruptly. Weird. “-friend. We’ve known each other a long time. It’ll make sense to you two eventually.”
That was enough of an in for Ben to insert himself into the conversation. “Speaking of which, where the heck am I? Why do you have my watch?”
“That’s...complicated. Again, you will eventually figure it out. Someday.”
She refused to look at him while she answered. For a second, Ben thought she was just keeping her eyes on the road, but she had no issue shooting Gwen a few quick looks when she talked to her. She was choosing to not look at him. He thought maybe it was because she was angry at him for no reason, like she was earlier. It wasn’t the exact same as before, though. Earlier, she was talking like she hated him. Now, it was more like her eyes were somewhere faraway.
Gwen shot Ben a concerned look. He definitely didn’t like whatever that implied. She turned back to Jen. “Any reason for all this secrecy? I know at least a little bit about what happens to me, I think Ben has the right to know where he ends up.”
“I’m not the right person to ask about ‘Ben.’ We’re here.” He could hear the air quotes around his name, which didn’t even make any sense. What is this chick’s deal? Does future me owe her a hundred bucks or something?
She placed the two of them down before wordlessly speeding off to a console on the other side of the room. For the first time this trip, Ben allowed himself a moment to get excited about everything around him. “This place is awesome! ”
And he meant it. The building was taller than any skyscraper he’d ever seen, with a view overlooking Mount Rushmore and tons of cool computers and weird alien tech wall to wall. Jen sped back in front of them.
“Don’t touch anything. Just wait here for Gwendolyn.”
Way to kill the moment.
After she took back off, Ben decided he would touch things.
“Ben! She told us not to touch anything!” Gwen whisper-yelled.
“And? Don’t tell me you’re not curious about what this lady’s deal is.”
As usual, Gwen did not pitch in to help but was perfectly content to watch Ben as he once again did exactly what he was told not to do. Mom said he was a free spirit, and at this moment, he supposed she was right.
In the center of the room, where they were dropped off, there was a central screen with a desk and chair. The desk was covered in food containers, like it was rarely cleaned, with smoothie cups (ew) and cardboard trays that looked like they once held chili fries (acceptable) prevalent among the scores of what looked like microwave dinners. There was a holographic keyboard, and… that was it. If it weren’t for the trash, it would be pretty sparse. There were drawers but all of them were empty. All except one, which had a PIN lock. Without thinking or expecting it to work, Ben inputted the first four digits that came to his mind and the drawer clicked open. Gwen balked at this.
“How did you know her password?”
“I just put in the one I use.”
“Why would you put in your password?”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
She didn’t have a retort for that one. Ben slid the drawer open, only to let out a cry of disappointment. “Aw man, I thought there’d be some super-high-tech weapons in here or something”
Gwen rolled her eyes at him. “Doofus, anything like that would be locked up somewhere safer than a desk drawer with a four-digit code. This is probably her personal stuff.” Ben began to rummage through the drawer, completely missing (read: ignoring) whatever point she was getting at. She pressed further.
“Hello Ben, ‘personal’? As in ‘not something we should be rummaging through?’”
“Look, do you want to find out where I am or not?” His hand brushed against what felt like a picture frame. He grabbed it and turned back towards the drawer. Whatever he was expecting to see, it wasn’t this. The picture was of them. Gwen, Ben, and Grandpa Max, all in yellow rain jackets, Niagara Falls raging behind them, Ben holding the Omnitrix above his head triumphantly. There were a ton of photos similar to this one, where Ben kept changing into different aliens, playing with the newly unlocked (and quickly lost) master control that Jen seemingly had completely figured out. Ben had insisted on one more picture to commemorate their victory over Vilgax and Kevin, and with the master control gone and the watch recharging at the time, Gwen and Grandpa were willing to give it to him. The glass of the frame had a dried up piece of gum stuck to it that covered Ben’s face.
Gwen noticed it too. “Wait, isn’t that the picture we took a week or two ago?”
“Yeah… weird.” Ben was, admittedly, even more confused now, but a puzzle piece was a puzzle piece, and he was determined to get to the bottom of-
“-Oh my god” Gwen whispered as she smacked herself in the head, eyes wide.
Or Gwen can figure it out before me. Again. He turned towards her, resigning himself to listening to whatever she had figured out, his curiosity stronger than his pride.
“Ben… I think Jen is you. ”
Never mind, she’s just snapped her cap.
“What? That makes no sense.”
“Just think about it. She has the Omnitrix, something that’s basically fused to you permanently. She has your outfit, your aliens, your PIN number, your photo. Everyone keeps avoiding the topic of where you are, she said she knew me for a long time but didn’t say how, she even has a play on your dumb superhero name!”
“Crap.”
The two of them shot up straight, startled by the voice that crept up behind them. It was Gwendolyn. She was avoiding their gaze. “I’m… I’m sorry. This is my fault, I didn’t mean for you to find out this way.”
Sorry? Sorry for what? No way that Gwen was….
His thought trailed off.
Jen, XLR8, whatever you want to call her, zoomed back to the center of the room. Her visor was down, making her difficult to read, but even through the barrier, Ben could tell she was looking directly at him.
He refused to meet her gaze.
No, that-
A rush of thoughts he had locked up tight for a very long time washed over him.
I would never-
Just why did he hate being Fourarms?
I’m not-
Why was the Omnitrix so exciting to him, even more so when he didn’t know any more than ‘it changes your shape?’
I’m NOT-
Was he jealous of Gwen? For more than her smarts?
I’M NOT-
Ben finally met XLR8’s gaze. His vision was hazy.
“Why do you have that picture?”
She was silent for a good long while. What was likely ten seconds felt like an hour to Ben. Agony. She finally replied, turning away as she spoke.
“It’s mine. Your cousin was right.”
Ben crushed the smoothie cup he didn’t realize he was holding. Am...am I crying? I can’t cry here, in front of all these people, I’m not supposed to-
He spoke, to himself, to her, or to the world, he didn’t know, a barely audible whisper.
“I am not a freak.”
XLR8 moved towards him. “Look-”
“I AM NOT A FREAK! ”
He threw the trash in his hand right at her head and sprinted towards the closest thing he could recognize as an exit.
*****
This whole plan was a terrible idea.
Gwendolyn hadn’t planned for a lot of things. She hadn’t planned for Animo, who had been missing for years, to resurface that very day. She hadn’t planned for Jen to scoop up her time-displaced captives and run off before she had a chance to object. She certainly hadn’t planned for her cousin’s younger self to have that bombshell dropped on… her (she was pretty sure that was right…) The situation spiraled way out of control faster than she could manage it, which considering how well she balanced all of the things, said a lot.
The one thing she had semi-planned on was this. After ‘Ben’ ran out of the room, her younger self immediately ran behind, shouting his name. That left her alone with Jenny. No brawl nearby, no magical issue Jenny begrudgingly needed help with, just the two of them, staring at each other, talking.
XLR8 turned away.
“No. You said we would talk about this later, let's talk about it.”
She turned around and plopped herself into her desk chair.
“I want to see your face when I’m talking to you.”
The visor retracted to reveal a pair of eyes with more fury behind them than Gwendolyn had ever seen from her. But she wouldn’t back down.
“Dammit, Jenny, I want to see your face. Let me talk to my cousin.”
XLR8’s glare somehow deepened, and for a moment, Gwendolyn thought that was it. All she’d be left with was a speed trail and resentment. But then, miraculously, a flash of green light, and she was greeted with a sight she hadn’t seen in a long time. Jeniffer Kirby Tennyson, flesh and blood, with the Omnitrix on her wrist and bags under her eyes. And she was on the warpath.
“Fine. Here I am, Gwendolyn. Right in front of you. Ready to talk.” Every word dripped off her tongue like acid. “Now I could yell at you, and God , am I gonna, but first you’re going to tell me what the hell you were thinking. “
Okay. We’re talking, this is good. “First off, I didn’t mean for that to happen. I wasn’t expecting you to take off with them, and I should’ve kept a closer watch.”
Jenny smiled sarcastically, maliciously, wordlessly conveying a no shit. Gwendolyn decided to ignore it and power through while she still had the high ground.
“Jenny, you need help.”
Well, there goes the high ground.
“I need help?! You’re pulling stunts like that and I need help!?! Stop dodging the question, and tell me why?!?”
“Because we miss you, you jerk!”
Wait. Wait, no, shit. I didn’t mean it like that. Tell her you didn’t mean it like that!
“I-”
“-You miss me!?!” Jen swore. “That’s… that is so messed up. You all just miss Ben so much you had to go so far as to time travel to see him again?!?”
“No! I didn’t-”
“You thought he’d make me see ‘the error of my ways’?!?”
“Listen, dammit! I didn’t mean it like that! We miss you. This you.”
They were both shouting now. “What’re you on about?” Jenny shot back.
“Do you know how long it's been since I’ve seen your face? Not XLR8’s, not Fourarms’, yours?”
That took Jen aback.“I don’t know what-”
“Four years. You got blindsided by the Highbreed commander and were hit hard enough that you passed out. I guarded your limp body for twenty minutes not knowing if you were even alive, and then I looked back and Cannonbolt was there. You wanna know the last time I had a conversation with you like this? Seven years, Jenny. Seven damn years.”
“Your mom’s funeral. I remember.”
“Seven years, Jenny!”
“I still don’t see your point! We talk… I mean, not as much as we used to, but we still talk plenty! Who cares if I’m an alien or not?”
“No, we don’t talk “plenty.” You say ‘This looks like it could’ve been a Vaxasaurian’ or ‘I’m leaving, Vulcanus is on-world,’ and then off you go before I have time to get in a word . That’s just if I happen to have the stars align and am in the same place as you at the same time, and I get the deluxe treatment. When was the last time you saw Grandpa Max, or your mom, or your dad? Hell, my brother hasn’t even been in the same room as you since we were teenagers! And it’s not just your family, it’s anyone who’s ever cared about you! I would understand, maybe, if you were just shutting us out, but you’re closing yourself off to everyone.”
“I’m busy protecting the world!”
“You’re trying to get yourself killed! Most of the time, you’re not even responding to a distress call, you’re just running around the globe, hoping that you’ll bump into something, I guess. You barely sleep, you never rest, you just...run.”
Jen turned around in her chair, so Gwendolyn could only see her back. She pressed further.
“You’re planning to just run the battery until it’s out, aren’t you?”
Silence.
“I just thought-” Gwen’s voice caught in her throat. Dammit, not now, keep going . “I was desperate. I promised Aunt Sandra I would do everything I could to get through to you, and you shrugged everything off. I thought maybe, if you saw-- They’re from that summer, Jenny. I wanted to remind you what it was like, anything to get your attention. I’m sorry.”
God, that sucked. But she was on the verge of breaking down, far less prepared for this conversation than she thought she had been. She focused on Jen, nothing left she could say, unsure of what to do next.
She hated unsure more than anything else. She planned, she laid everything out, and that was how she survived. But there was no plan for anything involving Jenny, everything always, without fail, went off the rails. The best she could do when that inevitably happened, whether it be in a battle or an argument, was watch for what she was going to do next, and follow up on that.
So she watched, and she saw her cousin shaking.
Had she made her that angry? Tentatively, Gwendolyn shifted her foot towards her.
Then the alarm sounded
“Danger Alert, Sector 1A-Centric”
A flash of green. She didn’t even see her go, all she had was the gust of wind pulling on her scarf, confirming Jenny was gone. The same story for the past 10-15 years. Probably told for the last time, she thought. That was all she had, and now Jenny would likely never want to see her again.
She sat on the floor and allowed herself to sob.
*****
When Gwen found her cousin, he was sitting with his knees to his chest. She had known Ben her whole life. They shared a birthday, something their parents thought was way more adorable than the two of them ever did. They saw each other at every family gathering, every Thanksgiving, every Christmas. She had spent the past month and a half bunking with him in the world’s cheapest RV seeing dozens of things beyond comprehension. And yet somehow, she couldn’t remember a single time where she had seen him crying before now.
It was...strange. Part of her thought that Ben just wasn’t the type of person to cry, another part felt like he was exactly that kind of person and he just never wanted anyone to know about it.
She had no clue what she was supposed to do. She didn’t know what to say, and so she thought that maybe he would be better off alone, but… he didn’t deserve to be alone right now, she concluded. Anything she did couldn’t possibly be worse than leaving him like this. He turned at the sound of her sitting next to him before quickly turning away, his eyes red and misty.
“You’re not a freak.”
“Y-yeah. I’m not- I’m not like that. I don’t want to be like that.”
“No, I mean, even if you were like that, you wouldn’t be a freak.”
A silence hung, giving her time to reflect on what exactly he meant by ‘like that.’ Her parents hadn’t really told her anything about it, but they also didn’t really restrict her internet access so she at least knew that it was a thing- a boy like Ben wanting to grow up to be, well, like that. She had never really thought much about it before and really didn’t understand what it meant. But if this summer had taught her anything, it was that the bar for freak was waaay higher than that. “You change into disgusting giant bugs and slobbery alien fleabags all the time. Would being… would that really be so weird in comparison?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is it… scary?”
Ben turned back towards her “ Duh, what kind of question is that?!”
“Why? You’ve fought Vilgax, twice, and you won.”
He broke eye contact again. Gwen pondered for a second before putting a hand on his back. They sat like that for a few moments before he continued. “You… you really don’t think it’s weird?”
“ Duh. Jen seemed cool. I mean, she was a jerk, but she is you, so…”
Ben cracked a smile at that. “Oh, don’t act like Gwendolyn over there wasn’t the same hoity-toity know it all, either.”
Gwen took the bait, letting out a “Hey!” that drew a laugh out of Ben. She decided to just roll her eyes and let that one go. Ben’s frown returned.
“What about Grandpa?”
Gwen scoffed. “Grandpa? Are you for real? You think the guy who eats worms and went to space and is friends with aliens is going to have an issue with this? Did you even see him earlier? He… he misses you so much.”
Ben flinched. I guess having Gwen refer to Jen as ‘you,’ would be a little strange for him. It was a little strange for her, honestly, but she had just said it.
Ben opened his mouth, as if he had something to say, but was cut off by a loud blare coming from all around them and a hologram screen popping up right in front of his face, causing him to yell and fly backwards.
“Danger Alert, Sector 1A-Centric. Danger Alert, Sector 1A-Centric.”
Ben tentatively poked at the screen. It responded to his touch.
“Hello, Jenifer.”
He quickly withdrew upon hearing that, letting out an “Oh, come on.” Gwen decided to chime in on his behalf.
“What’s in sector 1A-Centric?”
“Breach detected within the Null Void chamber, 63 stories below.”
The two looked at each other and broke into simultaneous smirks. Ben pressed the button on his watch that popped up the dial, twisted it twice, and gave it a smack. Out of the blinding green light emerged a moderately tall insectoid figure with olive green skin, slim arms, four eyes attached to the end of stalks, and four pincher-like legs attached to a central body that sported a jagged tail. The Omnitrix symbol lay in the center of his head, and out of his back jutted two large translucent wings.
“I fly, you count the floors?”
Gwen’s smug expression deepened.
*****
As much as she would love to sit on her ass and cry all day, Gwendolyn didn’t have that luxury. She allowed herself four minutes to compose herself before getting up and moving on with what she had to do. First and foremost, the kids. She could see now that bringing them here was a mistake. She’d cast a memory spell and send them home, and then… she didn’t know. For once, she decided to focus solely on the first thing in front of her and let the rest sort itself out later. She emerged onto the balcony.
“Alright you two, time to-”
Empty. What? Empty? That made no sense. Where would they-?
Oh.
She shot back inside like a laser, immediately turning and making a beeline for the stairwell. Given her heritage, she never really had to worry about “running out” of magical energy, or mana- that wasn’t really how it worked. However, the act of calling upon that energy did have a limit tied to the toll it took on her body. Every time a shield she put up broke, it hurt. Every time she cast an unassisted teleport, she felt sick. She had trained her body’s tolerance over the years to the point where flying was near second nature. But she needed to move fast , and so she was calling on more mana than she normally did. Her skin burned the same way it did when she had a fever, with an intensity that bordered on searing heat. She swallowed to push it down. They would have gone right after the alarm sounded. That meant they had a nearly four minute headstart on her. So she let her skin burn. A little fever wouldn’t kill her.
When she emerged into the chamber, she first looked around to get her bearings. To her left was Animo, trying to open the Null Void chamber, no doubt in an attempt to level the building and probably most of the city if not the planet by letting out all of its inhabitants. It was already a third of the way open, but the kids were doing their best to keep him from the control panel, and nothing was getting out until it was opened all the way. To her right, there was a path of destruction leading to a landing outside, where Jenny was fighting-
Gwen’s breath hitched.
He’s...he’s dead. He’s been dead for years.
Yet there he was. Vilgax, doing battle with Jenny, all over again. And Jenny was losing. Badly.
She screamed at herself to get a grip. This is the edge Jenny always has over you in a fight. Think quickly!
She had to pick her target. On his own, Vilgax was easily the more dangerous of the two. If nobody intervened soon, Jenny was a goner. But if Animo got to that portal, things would get infinitely worse fast. Ben was Stinkfly: Quick, but far from durable. If Animo got his hands on that overgrown bug or her younger self with that insane strength he was sporting now, they would die, quickly. She had made up her mind, calling out to the kids.
“Ben, help with Vilgax! Gwen, with me!”
Ben flashed her a thumbs up before taking off towards the hole in the wall, flying past her as she engaged Animo.
*****
Ben wanted to hit something so badly right now.
He had never been more grateful for Dr. Animo or Vilgax right then for giving him the perfect distraction from thinking with the best timing he could ask for. When they got there, he saw Vilgax battling it out with Jen and Animo fiddling with what he assumed was the Null Void projector, so he decided to pick up the slack and stop the crazy scientist from opening it up. When old Gwen showed up and said Jen needed help with Vilgax, he strangely just listened to her- he really wasn’t feeling himself today- turning tail towards what he supposed was his nemesis. Fighting alongside Jen was a layer of complication he hadn’t asked for, but one he figured he could live with. All they had to do was take down Vilgax. He’d already done that twice in one summer, how many times had Jen done it by now?
He showed up just in time, it seemed, with Jen as Diamondhead knocked to the edge of the platform and barely hanging on. He shot slime from his eye-stalks to root Vilgax in place, catching him by surprise before making his way towards her to regroup, knowing from experience that wouldn’t hold him long.
“Get out of here!” Jen yelled.
“Oh, like you were doing sooo well before? If this is your fight, this is my fight too!”
Ben was more than ready to keep up the argument, but surprisingly, it stopped there. Jen cocked her head as if she were thinking, accompanied by the signature sound of Diamondhead’s crystalline rattle. She gave a slight nod, as if to agree, before reaching for the Omnitrix on Ben’s head. Ben thought about pulling away, remembering what happened to him the last time she did this, but decided to go with it. He felt the shift of his body weight as the change rippled through him and he fell to the ground. He didn’t even need to look at himself to recognize he was Cannonbolt. Cannonbolt was good, definitely better than Stinkfly. Man, he missed having master control. Just in case, he checked to see if Jen had given it back to him.
Heatblast!
….Dang it.
Vilgax had broken free and was charging the two of them. Jen Changed into Wildmutt and leaped left, so Ben curled up into his ball form and rolled right, both narrowly avoiding Vilgax’s attack that shattered the ground they were standing on a second ago. Jen took the opportunity to counterattack, leaping towards Vilgax in an attempt to maul him, but was batted back with little effort. He’s faster than my Vilgax, Ben thought.
As Vilgax approached the downed Jen, Ben saw his chance. He would blindside him, like before, but this time instead of a little goo, he’d smack into him with the full weight of Cannonbolt’s force. He sped towards him with enough speed and power to take down a brick wall before forcefully and confusedly grinding to a halt. It happened so fast, he had barely seen it, but he could feel Vilgax’s hand on the outside of his shell. Vilgax had reacted at the last second and forced him down, using the power of his spinning to push him into a divot of his own making. He was helpless.
Before he could figure out what to do, Vilgax lifted his left arm above his head, pulsing, overgrown muscles crackling with red energy before bringing it back down.
Ben went hazy for a moment after that. He had no bearings, no sense of anything around him, and his head throbbed. That was the hardest he had ever been hit by an enemy. If he was anyone other than Cannonbolt in his shell, he probably would have been knocked out cold. As is, it hurt a lot. He couldn’t remember a time he had ever been genuinely hurt while curled up in this shell.
As his surroundings became less of a blur, he realized he was almost completely underground. He listened for Vilgax to get a sense of where the fighting was.
“-analyzed every one of your aliens, and had Animo program their moves into my new DNA. Nothing you can do will surprise me anymore.”
So, he knows all of my Alien’s moves now? I’ll just have to do something really off the wall, then!
Still below the ground, he started burrowing towards where Vilgax was. When he was close, he shot above the ground and did something he had never done before. Instead of crashing into him in ball form, he uncurled and began to swing his claws at his head. Predict that, squidface!
Vilgax turned towards him and, without missing a beat, punched him square in the stomach, then shot some tendril thing out of his hand, like he was Spider-Man. It wrapped itself around Ben’s center before reeling back in with him in tow, causing him to slam uncomfortably into Vilgax’s palm. He stared into his pure red eyes. No pupils, no other colors, just red slits. He saw that Jen, now Fourarms, was on the ground next to them, somehow in even worse shape than before. That was when he realized.
We’re screwed.
“Get your claws off of my granddaughter, Vilgax!”
A beam of blue light tore into Ben’s captor, causing him to release his grip and rocketing him away. Ben had the strangest deja vu. He turned and confirmed it was Grandpa Max, standing in the open door of the flying Rustbucket, holding the same gun that he used to blast Vilgax away from Ben a few weeks, er, decades ago. Without thinking, Ben yelled to him. “Help the Gwens! They’re by the Null Void!”
Grandpa gave a thumbs up and off he went. He really didn’t know why he said that, they needed all the help they could get.
... Granddaughter.
Vilgax took advantage of his very mixed up feelings (was he… blushing? Was Cannonbolt even capable of blushing?) by promptly tackling him from behind. A look to his right, and he saw that Jen was in Vilgax’s other arm. A look down and Oh my god he tackled us off the side of the building.
He swallowed his panic, but adrenaline rushed through his veins. (or whatever Cannonbolt’s species equivalent to that was. He really could use a manual or an after school special on his alien’s anatomy.) He had been thrown off buildings a ton by now, sometimes by choice, so he was a little more used to controlling the panic than the first time he’d done this. But the rush? That never went away.
He quickly realized that Vilgax had lost his grip on the two of them. He twisted about in the air, maneuvering himself to grab one of Vilgax’s arms. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Jen seemingly had the exact same thought that he had: They were going to have Vilgax take the brunt of the impact from the fall. Of everything he had seen so far, somehow that was the move that hammered home that Jen was his future self harder than anything else had. He needed to stop having thoughts like that right then - he couldn’t afford the confusion, or he would die.
The impact came faster than he expected. The thing about falling that he re-learns every time he does it is that you speed up more and more the longer you fall, so you think you know when the ground is going to hit and then wham . No matter how many times he did it, it always made his heart skip a beat. Thankfully, the plan seemed to work. Despite his struggling, Vilgax smashed into the ground first. He and Jen crawled out of the crater they left, both of them knowing full well that was unlikely to put him down for too long.
Jen, still Fourarms, collapsed to her knee, her back turned towards him. She looked...defeated.
Think, Tennyson. He knows everything all of your aliens can and will do, plus the 9,988 she has....
… I’m a genius
He turned to Jen to share his idea. “He may know how all your aliens fight, but does he know what-”
His words caught in his throat. Jen turned her head to look at him. The face of the 30 year old Fourarms…. She looked so worn down. So tired. Why is this so hard? Just spit it out!
“-what you can do?”
She kept staring at him, as if she were fascinated, the way Ben would stare at a question on a test that he was struggling to answer. His phrasing was a little odd, maybe he needed to spell it out more?
The sound of something whistling through the air at high speed caught both of their attention, too late. The ground beneath them exploded, sending both of them flying back. He could hear it, the signature, terrifying clunk, clunk of his footsteps that he had learned to recognize very quickly upon hearing it for the first time not too far into summer. Vilgax emerged from the settling dust.
“You’re finished. Both of you.”
Ben didn’t often buy into Villain’s threats-a guy in a trenchcoat who controlled bugs was hard to take seriously with the power he held on his wrist. But something about Vilgax, his confidence whenever he declared victory, that it was inevitable, that he was going to die. A major part of him always believed him.
A flash of green to his left. He turned, ready to see what Jen had in store now. His jaw went slack.
In front of him was a woman. Her unkempt brown hair was held by a mid-hanging ponytail that favored her right-hand side. There were bags under her eyes, eyes that practically shone as green as the Omnitrix, narrowed in utter focus with a power behind them greater than the entire might of the watch. Her shirt was decently form fitting, unintrusive athletic wear, a black top accentuated by a white stripe down the middle, the inverse of Ben’s colors. The Omnitrix had taken on a new form, almost as if it had crawled up her body, to the point where it covered her entire forearm. Her hands were protected by fingerless gloves, and she was jacked , more muscular than any woman Ben had ever seen in person, with arms that looked like they packed a punch and legs so powerful, even her baggy green cargo pants didn’t fully conceal the definition.
She was perfect.
She let out a subtle smirk as she reached down for a hoverboard that was left abandoned in the chaos, slinging it over her shoulder.
“Not a bad idea, kid. I’ll be sure to claim it was mine later, since, yknow.”
Jen Ten-Thousand had entered the fray.
Vilgax was apparently less impressed than Ben. “Your weak human form? What a novelty. Are you finally ready to surrender?”
Jen made her way towards Ben, who was still at a loss for words. “Actually, I was getting ready to settle this the old fashioned way.” She smacked the Omnitrix on his forehead and he once again felt the microsecond-long ripple across his body as he shifted into Diamondhead. She hopped onto the hoverboard she was carrying.
“Follow my lead.”
With no fear, she flew straight towards Vilgax, effortlessly dodging his swing at her. Ben followed up with an intense leap into the air into an earth shattering punch. Sure enough, Vilgax dodged it easily, still aware of everything Diamondhead would do, but Ben made sure that he would land far enough away that he wouldn’t just get swatted for his attempt. He turned to see Jen making another pass, and she was laughing. She weaved around every wild swing her attacker threw out, whooping and jeering as Vilgax got angrier and angrier, unable to even graze the woman he had already beaten to a pulp.
“If this is your attempt to stop me, it is pathetic!”
Jen rounded a nearby corner, letting loose a snappy “Come on!” as Vilgax pursued, Ben close behind them. He lept at her again and again, but all he could tag was the neon signs above the street. Jen led him to a pool of some kind, flying right over it as Vilgax was forced to come to a stop.
She grabbed hold of a nearby streetlight to completely reverse her momentum, sending her straight towards her pursuer. He swung at her again, and this time, Ben thought he got her for a second. In actuality, he had only hit the board, Jen flipping off of it as the pieces shattered in Vilgax’s face and she transformed in midair. She was something Ben hadn’t seen before. It looked like it was just a large, oval-shaped body with stubby arms and legs. While Vilgax was still distracted, she let loose a stream of ooze from her mouth (gross, but cool) and Ben realized this was when he was meant to jump in. As Vilgax turned back towards the gnat that had been flying around his head, he was greeted by a column of slime to the face. Ben thrusted his hand into the ground, causing a line of crystals to jut out from the floor straight towards their foe. The high pressure fluid blinding him and the crystals smashing into him knocked him off balance, careening into the pool. The water was deep and his metal armor was heavy, so he sunk fast and far before he regained his bearings and began to swim up, and by the time he had started, Jen was already by the waterside, changing into some blue, four legged alien that let loose a stream of cold into the water.
Vilgax slowed, then twitched, then stopped. A fifty foot radius of pure ice surrounded him; the water and, most likely, his very blood, frozen completely solid.
*****
Max had seen his share of strange things. Being a secret space cop for about 60 years assured that. One of the skills that came naturally to him and earned him his positive reputation was his ability to look at new, otherworldly phenomena that left him utterly confused and to smile through it like it was the most mundane thing in the world. So while seeing two sets of his Grandkids was certainly on the side of bizarre, even for him, he didn’t let it show. He was too happy.
“Happy birthday, Grandpa!”
Far, far too happy.
After that summer road trip he had taken them on all those years ago, Gwendolyn had never truly left his side. Once summer ended, he started taking the two kids on weekend outings, and despite outgrowing the seven day a week schedule after she graduated college, the two of them never really stopped. That meant that Max had a front row seat as she grew up and he got to watch it in real time, and now he had a visual demonstration in front of him on just how she’d changed. Compared to now, the little Gwen in front of him seemed so carefree. Gwendolyn had always felt the need to do it all, even when she was young. The older she got, the more she felt the need to take on. College, grad school, martial arts, magic, it never stopped. It was a little concerning sometimes, but despite the occasional sleepless night he had to scold her for, she handled it well. For better or for worse, there wasn’t a single person in this galaxy more reliable than her.
Then there was Ben (he figured it would be okay to call her that for now, just to keep his head straight on who he was talking about.) She was so brash, so excitable, always looking for the next fight. She never stopped looking, really, but over the years the excitement started to go away. At the time, Max thought it was just natural, the more you see aliens, the less of a novelty they became, but she still never stopped chasing after the strangest nearby bad guy she could find. She was about twelve the first time that she had gone off on an ‘outing’ on her own, or maybe she was doing it earlier and that was just the first time Max knew about it. As the years went by, her skipping out on their weekend trips went from the exception to the rule. Until one day, Max realized that she hadn’t stepped foot in the Rustbucket for years. He hadn’t even found out about her transition until her identity leaked and she was on the news with a new name.
Jen Ten. Jennifer Tennyson. Jenny.
Gwendolyn had said that she looked ragged and tired. And if he actively looked for it, he could see it, though maybe he just wasn’t used to the sight of her face and just how much older she looked. But when he wasn’t scanning as hard as he could for extra lines, he saw nothing but joy. The tired eyes he expected were filled instead with a light that Max lived for.
He had said it without realizing. “Thanks. Having you all here is the best birthday gift I could ever have.”
It was only after the others had moved to get cake that he realized just how much he meant that. He overheard what seemed like the end of a conversation between Jenny and Gwendolyn
“-and you’re not mad?”
“Only one I’m mad at is myself for taking so long to come to my senses. I was so in my own head, I thought…”
Jenny shook her head as she trailed off. Gwendolyn moved to hug her, and she accepted, happily. Max moved towards them. Gwendolyn caught his gaze first, her face beaming with pride. Max was reminded of one of the times he picked her up from school when she was young. She had scored a perfect 100 on a test she had taken that day. When Max opened the Rustbucket door, she ran to him, her face beaming, eager to share in her pride. He saw that same expression a few times over the years; when she told him she obtained her driver's license, when she had mastered a specific difficult spell.
The sunbeams radiating from her smile now blew all of those out of the water.
Jenny, meanwhile, was avoiding his gaze. Looking at the floor, his robotic arm, even shutting her eyes entirely, it all seemed preferable to looking Max in the eye. Gwendolyn excused herself to talk to her younger counterpart, leaving the two of them alone. Max had rehearsed what he wanted to say at this moment for a long time. He slowly put a hand on her shoulder, watching to see if she would shy away. She didn’t.
“Look at you. Everything you’ve done.”
Jenny tensed. Max was on the verge of tears.
“I couldn’t possibly be prouder of you, Jenny. Of everything you’ve accomplished, and the wonderful woman you’ve grown up to be.”
Jenny’s features became all warbly, her lips quivering a bit as she smiled. Her eyes were blurry as they finally met Max’s gaze, and he knew that they would be okay.
*****
Gwen had noticed that Ben had been super quiet ever since their respective fights had been wrapped up. Once Grandpa had joined her and her older self, they finished off Animo pretty quickly. Grandpa secured the Null Void while the two of them rushed to help with Vilgax, only to find him frozen solid and Jen showing Ben, of all things, a hoverboard trick. Twenty years later, and they were both still idiots. Since then, she’d made a point to stick by her cousin’s side, not sure of what she should say but wanting to show that she was there for him. She had only stepped away once her older self pulled her aside for a word.
Gwen couldn’t help interrupting her before she had a chance to speak. “The crisis was never Animo or Vilgax, was it? Jen just needed a major attitude adjustment.”
Gwendolyn smirked. “Guess I couldn’t expect to keep anything from myself, huh?”
Gwen smiled up at her. It was so bizarre, she had a mirror into the future, a glimpse of nearly everything she wanted to be. She shot a glance towards Ben and frowned.
Gwendolyn must’ve caught on to her gaze, because she kneeled down and put a hand on her shoulder. “Look, Gwen. I know your Ben can be… well, a dweeb. But he’s got a rough couple of years ahead of him. Jenny handled them by shutting herself off because she felt like she couldn’t count on us to be there for her. Don’t make the same mistakes I did and make sure Ben knows how stupid that is, okay?”
Gwen shot another glance towards her cousin. Grandpa was talking to Jen, which left him alone. And he looked the part.
She turned to Gwendolyn and nodded her understanding. Gwendolyn stood up.
“Good. Or it would be if I wasn’t going to wipe both your memories. I guess I just needed to get that off my chest. Alright you two, time to go home!”
Jen stepped over to them. “Yeah, about that. What if we just skipped the memory wipe part?”
Gwendolyn turned towards her. “There are rules, Jen. I have to make sure the space time continuum stays intact. We don’t remember this, so I’ve got to do a wipe to close the loop.”
Jen cupped her hands and yelled to seemingly no one. “Hey, Paradox! We’re thinking of sending them back without a wipe, if you’ve got an issue with that you better stop us!”
A silence hung. Jen made a show of looking around the room, waiting for this paradox to appear. Gwen thought this was pretty stupid, just inviting an event that could collapse the space time continuum into her home as a sign for what to do, but the fact that a wormhole hadn’t shown up to kill them all seemingly was enough for Jen.
“Guess we can send em back.”
Gwendolyn’s eye twitched. “Jenny-“
“-He always shows up when we’re about to do stupid time travel stuff to tell us it's a bad idea.” Wait, Paradox was a person? Jen continued with her rationalization. “He’s not here, soooooo...”
The two of them shared a look that Gwen would have missed had she not been looking for it, and that seemingly convinced Gwendolyn. “Ugh, fine, you’ve got a point. Honestly, I spend 19 years trying to reconnect for this?”
“Dweeb.”
“Doofus.”
Both of them smiled wide as they said it. All the malice that Gwen was used to those words carrying was completely gone. “Oh come on,” Ben interjected. “Are you two trying to ruin insulting Gwen for me? Because you’re getting close.”
Gwendolyn rolled her eyes before closing them in concentration. The portal that had brought them here reappeared. Jen handed something to Ben before smiling at him, despite Gwendolyn’s urging that the portal was closing. Gwen took one more look back, uttering a “See ya!” And then they were gone.
*****
It was wildly disorienting for Ben to find himself back in the forest clearing they had been in what felt like an eternity ago. As if none of it had ever happened and it had all been a dream. Grandpa was there, hugging Gwen while Ben just stared dumbly at them. He looked down at the trinket in his hands to confirm that yes, it was all real. Everything. Jen was real.
Changing subjects now. What’s this thing even do, anyways? He pressed what he was pretty sure was a button on the small, metallic cube he was holding, only for its shape to distort until he was holding a cake. It was Grandpa’s birthday here, too. Just. A different one. He had somehow completely forgotten.
He turned around to see Gwen and Grandpa looking at him. A huge smile crept onto his Grandfather’s face as he saw the cake. Ben did his best to return it.
“I… I mean we got you a cake. Happy birthday, Grandpa.”
The questions swimming through his head were overwhelming, but right now? Now, he was celebrating one of his favorite people in the world. He had two people he cared about beside him. And when he looked at them, he felt assured that they cared about him, too. And for now, that was more than enough for him.