Hidden inheritance

Chapter 3: Confrontation

"Ben? Earth to doofus, hello? Ben, answer me! You're kinda freaking me out right now!" she said, not realizing the reason behind her cousin's meltdown. She tried to snap him out of it. "Ben, it's me, Gwen, your cousin! Please, I'm right here, I'll help, it's gonna be okay! We'll get out of this safe, don't freak out! I'm here to help!"

"Vilgax must've done something to him. Come on kids, let's get out before this entire blows up." said Max, walking towards his grandchildren, approaching to carry Ben to the Rustbucket.

Suddenly, Ben stood up and, his fists clenched, he walked towards the hole in the wall the blast at Vilgax's body made. He looked on, gritting his teeth, unable to hold back his tears, as he saw the Chimera Sui Generis' body laying on the ground. Gwen couldn't see Ben's reaction, but she could tell he was troubled by what he had just witnessed.

"Ben, it's going to be okay, it's over now. Vilgax is gone." she reassured him, not knowing how poor her choice of words was.

"You... shot him..." Ben muttered.

"Ben?" asked Max.

"You shot him! I can't believe you killed him!" Ben shouted, not daring to look at the old man's face.

"Ben... I needed to. He took you away, I had to give it all to stop him, I..."

He was out of words. He didn't know what Vilgax did to Ben to scare him this much, he didn't know what to tell Ben yet, whether it was the part about Plumbers, or being found in Vilgax's castle. He knew he couldn't face his grandson in this situation, so he looked down, ashamed of the predicament his grandson went through by his fault.

"The timer is still active. No need to disable it after all, I'll get the Rustbucket ready." he said, knowing trying to talk with Ben would only make things worse. He sighed, going to set up the RV.

Gwen assumed Ben was bothered by the same thing than her. Their grandfather just revealed a whole new side of him, one that wasn't afraid of killing someone, even if it was to save him. Considering they thought they'd spend all summer just having to avoid Grandpa Max's cooking, it was probably scary for Ben to see their grandfather manipulating a lethal weapon and using it as a killing machine as if it was nothing. Even she was scared at the idea, but now wasn't the time to be afraid, they had to hurry before the ship exploded.

She went to Ben, putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, obviously worn out.

"If you stay here, you're gonna get toast. Come on cous', I didn't jump over a cliff just to see you turn into an even doofuser version of Heatblast." she said, trying to change his mood.

Ben looked at her, uncertain of what to say. Gwen... now Gwen always acted as if he was part of the family. Even when they argued, she admitted they were from the same family, even if she wished it wasn't the case (guess her wish got granted). So she couldn't possibly know the truth about his origins, and he doubted Max told her, otherwise she would've understood his meltdown. She was the smarter cousin after all.

So if Gwen didn't know, the adults probably didn't tell her. Someone else they lied to. But it meant she was genuinely on his side, despite their incessant bickering. If she ever learned the truth, would she stop seeing herself as his cousin? He didn't make a good impression either, but at least she didn't seem mind the Omnitrix wearer so much, even if he kept teasing her with yucky stuff recently.

No matter what they did, Gwen was still his cousin, even if not by blood. And she had been honest with him (mostly complaining about him, but she was still being truthful). She knew just as much as him, probably even less, about their (her?) family being involved in alien stuff. She could still be trusted.