Saving Ben
Chapter Three
A sense of foreboding rose within each of the four fighters from the 2nd Mass as they were forced to hide their weapons within their coats, out of easy reach and walk off surrounded by Skitters. Some final reassurances were given through the harnessed girl before they left her behind but even those words provided no comfort as the structure loomed larger and larger in front of them.
The terrifying roar of Mechs could be heard as they got closer and it caused Tom to glance over at Hal to make sure his son was keeping his cool.
When they caught each others eye, Hal nodded briefly to show he was OK before looking back down at the ground in his attempt to seem like a prisoner.
By the time they got to a ramp that led into one of the legs of the structure, a couple of Mechs had come over to the party to investigate what was happening.
For a moment the four Skitters stopped, causing the humans they were surrounding to stop and wait as a silent conversation occurred between the red eyed Skitter and the Mechs. A tense few minutes passed before the Mechs suddenly stomped away and the group were free to continue. Tom let out a sigh of relief that was quickly negated when they had completely entered the structure.
The place was swarming with Skitters who all appeared to be moving either up or down the structure via the walls. Fortunately there were stairs for the humans to use or they wouldn't have been able to ascend the structure and it was clear that although mostly only Skitters used the structure, it was equipped to deal with humans as possible prisoners.
Before using the stairs however the group conveniently stopped next to one of the walls which allowed Dai to discreetly stick to the wall one of four small packages that he had been given by Weaver before he left. When he was sure the item was secure, he gave a small nod and the group kept moving.
The four humans were led into a large room that had a number of long black pipes hanging from the roof in clusters that were clearly meant to hold one prisoner each. Some of the clusters were already occupied and the pipes seemed to be inserted into those humans in an almost grotesque fashion that was painful to observe.
Recalling the part of the plan from their discussion with the Skitter leader previously, Tom led his group over to the clusters, stood in the middle of one and grabbed two in his hands. On the surface it would hopefully look as if he was attached to the pipes and would therefore draw little suspicion whilst the Skitter tried to contact Ben.
It was impossible for him to have contacted Ben from far away and had to be in the structure for Ben to be able to hear him. It was simply a waiting game now as Hal, Maggie and Dai mimicked their leader's position and waited to be led away again. However Dai was not totally unoccupied as he busied himself, subtly attaching another package to the wall.
Through the general noise and clatter of the structure, Hal who was closest to the other humans in the chamber, started to hear some sounds that were unmistakeably groans.
He turned around as much as he dared, catching sight of one of the prisoners and his heart clenched at how emaciated the man looked.
Not thinking with his head but more with his heart, Hal whispered, "Dad, do you see that guy?"
Some of the rebel Skitters seemed to bristle at the noise he was making and he imagined that they would have shushed him if it had been possible for them to make such a sound. Tom turned to look in the direction his son was pointing and the sympathy on his face was obvious.
"There is nothing we can do for him Hal." Tom stated quietly but in a voice that left no room for argument.
Hal tried to argue any way, "But Dad..." Whatever the younger man was going to say further was drowned out as a Skitter screeched at him in his own way of telling the human to be quiet.
Hal simply fell silent but cast a look over to his partner. Though Maggie said nothing, Hal could tell that she felt the same way in the situation and that she wouldn't want to leave any human behind. Especially not as they were planning to blow at least this part of the structure to hell.
They had no choice however. It would be almost impossible for them to save the half a dozen humans in this chamber on top of trying to find a way to Ben. Not to mention they would have to get out again with someone that all of the Skitters and Mechs would recognise instantly.
Eventually the leader seemed to come alive again from the supreme stillness he had managed when trying to contact Ben and made a few clicking noises that were clearly telling the 'prisoners' to follow him as shortly after that he left the chamber.
Hal was the last human to follow and spared a brief backwards glance in regret at those they were leaving behind before following his father to go save his little brother. When he focused on that it was far easier to forget about the captured people because his family would always be top priority.
The next time Ben woke up, he felt sore all over and was getting distinctly annoyed at the fact that he was constantly passing out whether due to chemicals or pain.
That annoyance however quickly faded away when he realised that he was in a far different place to any of the rooms he had previously occupied. The room was an extraordinarily large circular shape with ceilings so high they almost couldn't be seen and everything was was covered with a blue light coming from some unknown source. He was currently sat on a series of interlinked wires that looked to be made of some organic material but none of these things were what really drew his attention.
The giant Overlord currently leaning over him with a sombre look was taking more of his focus.
He scrambled to his feet and tried to back up in search of an exit but the Overlord held out one large hand in a stop motion and Ben felt himself stop. The feeling of being frozen that he had only ever felt when one of the aliens was doing something to him automatically stopped when the Overlord lowered his hand and Ben felt like he could breathe again.
"Ben, I wish to speak with you." Ben didn't need to look behind him to know that a harnessed child was stood there because he realised as soon as the unrecognisable voice filled the room.
Feeling a surge of bravery, Ben responded, "Then lets talk."
"You are...unexpected Ben Mason." The Overlord stated with no emotion.
"Didn't mean to throw a crimp in your plans." Ben replied cockily and insincerely.
"Unexpected but not uncontrollable." It was a brief but potent reminder of how Ben had been forced to stop moving only minutes before and served to stop him from getting too confident.
"So what are you going to do with me?" Ben asked unsurely.
"We have already done it." The Overlord stated and Ben felt a cold chill permeate his body that had nothing to do with the temperature.
"What have you done to me?" Ben demanded with some anger but before the alien in front of him could comply, the Mason boy felt something inside the ship reaching out to him through his mind and was sure that his spikes were lighting up at that moment.
He tried to listen to the response but at the same time he opened his mind to let his exact location flow from his mind to the mind of whoever was searching for information. He couldn't tell who it was but he could sense the person or creature's intentions and that they were good so he decided to trust them. Besides whoever was looking for him was surely less dangerous than the Overlord in front of him.
"We have studied you and the results have been...intriguing but we no longer have need for you." The Overlord explained and although Ben was only partially paying attention he was focused enough to realise that he was in danger.
He sped into action before the alien had any time to react and ran at a superhuman pace to the closest door. He was fast but the room was huge and he fell just short of the door as the Overlord forced him to stop again. He was so close that he could have reached out and touched the door if necessary.
That was when he noticed the harnessed boy that had been used for communication, making his way over to him. The boy was easily as old as Ben and was even a little taller and so contained the strength to choke Ben and that was what he started to do, with Ben unable to move due to the Overlord's commands.
Luckily Ben had an incredible lung capacity due to the after effects of the harness and was able to hold his breath for long periods of time so his mind raced as he sought for a way to get himself out of the fatal situation. He felt the person within his mind again and this time he sent out with as much force as he could muster, the idea that he needed help.
Not a few seconds after, the panel in front of him burst open to reveal a red eyed Skitter charging in and hitting his whole body into the harnessed child. Tom and Hal were the next two into the large space and came in with their guns loaded and aimed at the giant creature in the centre of the room.
With no hesitation, Tom let three rounds off into the Overlord's body and it it slumped to the ground, still and unmoving. Hal had taken the time to help up Ben who could now move and they both ran for the door together with the Skitter leader and Tom just behind them.
They had no choice now but to run and hope that they could get out of the structure whilst there was mass confusion following the Overlord's death.
"Dad, you came for me." Ben exclaimed happily as the unusual group ran and scurried down the hallway to the stairs.
"I will always come for you son." Tom replied, giving his little boy a one armed hug that was slightly awkward because they were running. The oldest Mason didn't care though because he had his son back and so he was damn well going to hug him.
They breathed a sigh of relief when they found that the stairs were practically deserted as the Skitters in the structure would have no need to use them. They would use the walls to travel up to the top floor of the structure, leaving the way out mostly clear.
When they got to the bottom floor, an uncomfortably long time later, they could see the way out but it was across a swarming sea of Skitters that they wouldn't be able to cross with such high profile company. Ben was too noticeable but they couldn't fight their way out so they had to be sneaky.
Doing the best they could, with limited time and resources they resumed the position that had gotten them into the structure but with one more 'prisoner' this time. In an attempt to hide Ben, Hal had given him his coat which had a hood on it and the sandy haired boy had attempted to cover his head and face with it.
It was risky but it was the only chance they had so they started to walk and found that the other Skitters simply moved around the rebels that were acting as 'guards' and paid little attention to anything other than their own business.
The cold night air had never tasted fresher but there were still Mechs around outside that they needed to watch for so Ben kept his hood up and they maintained their formation. It was an unnecessary precaution however as no Mechs were patrolling and they were able to make their way back to the trees with relative ease.
Once they reached relative safety, Dai turned to Tom and asked, "Ready Tom?"
"I think we're at a good distance, go for it Dai." Tom ordered and the Asian man was happy to comply. He grabbed a detonator from his pocket that he had linked up to the four packets of C4 placed around the structure and pressed the button.
Almost immediately and simultaneously the four packets exploded at their four different points, one even being on the top level of the structure and the leg started to collapse in on itself.
They knew that the whole structure wouldn't collapse as they had only targeted one leg but they were hoping to slow down the progress of the aliens at the same time in any way possible. It wouldn't hurt if they could kill some Skitters at the same time.
Both humans and aliens alike watched with satisfaction as one leg fell into a heap at its base and it was clear from what they had seen inside that they had just killed hundreds of Skitters.
Hal took a moment to think about the half a dozen humans left inside but realised that the rewards of blowing up that leg did outweigh the costs and he had to remember that.
"Thank you for you're assistance Tom Mason. We will be in contact again soon in regards to Ben but we will let you all rest for a while." Ben's voice cut across the tree filled space but it was clear that he was speaking for the red eyed Skitter.
"Thank you as well for helping me save my son." Tom replied with a nod and they all watched as the four Skitters disappeared into the darkness after that.
As soon as they were out of sight he reached out to Ben and pulled him into a real hug that he had been hoping for since he first heard that Ben had been taken. "Don't take your time on a mission like that again." Tom scolded but his heart was only half in it because he was just so happy to have his son back.
"I won't Dad." Ben replied, returning the hug with equal vigour.
Almost as soon as Tom let him go he was enfolded in Hal's arms, who didn't say anything but simply tried to let his actions speak for him and tell his little brother how glad he was to have him back.
As they pulled apart, Hal clipped him on the back of the head once for getting sloppy but then gave him a big grin to tell him he really didn't care about that any more.
Tom allowed a few moments for his team to catch their breath and calm their nerves in which time Maggie and Dai also told Ben that they were glad to have him back before he ordered, "Alright, lets go and find the 2nd Mass."
To put it simply they were exhausted and so Tom found them a small clearing to rest in and to build a small fire in as the temperature was dropping dangerously low and all but Ben were shivering.
There was a few minutes of calm silence after the fire was lit where the only sound was the crackling of the fire and Tom decided that it was time to voice a worry that had been on his mind.
"Ben...I need to ask you something?" Tom asked uncertainly. Ben just nodded for him to continue but Tom couldn't seem to find the right way to phrase what he wanted to say.
Eventually, without making eye contact, he asked, "When you were up there did they...were you...tortured?" The last word came out twisted and sickened and the pain was clearly etched across his face at the idea of his little boy being hurt in the way that he had been.
"Not as such." Ben spoke carefully because he didn't want to lie to his father but wanted to ease any burden the older man might have felt at not protecting him.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hal demanded as his worry escalated at his little brother's words.
Ben let out a deep sigh as he took in the four worried gazes directed at him, though two were significantly more worried than the others. "They sort of had these black tentacles things go into me and that hurt but they didn't actually torture me." Ben explained and watched as the others relaxed a little but not completely.
"What were the tentacle things doing?" Tom asked although at heart he realised that it was not realistic for Ben to know what the tentacles had been used for.
It was at that point that Ben voiced a theory he had had since speaking to the Overlord, "I think they were used to study me and my body and capabilities. When I was speaking to the Overlord he said something about that."
Tom nodded thoughtfully for a moment as he absorbed the information that stated, "The Skitter leader did say that the Overlord's hadn't expected the harnesses to have the effect they did so maybe they were trying to find out more about exactly what that effect was." It was a reasonable hypothesis and the group almost automatically excepted it, mostly due to their trust in Tom.
"I think we should probably get going. We haven't gotten much distance from the structure and I bet all kinds of Aliens will be swarming to this area to check it out." Maggie suggested and they all quickly agreed. Tom made a mental note that when they got to the 2nd Mass they should tell Weaver to keep moving as far and fast as possible in case the aliens sent some patrols after the humans that had destroyed their structure and killed their Overlord.
Dai smothered out the fire and removed all traces of it having been there and then they started once again to trek back to their home.
In the absence of his best scouts, Weaver had no choice but to send the Berserkers out in front of the 2nd Mass as they started to move. If he was honest the Captain still felt uncertain over whether or not he could trust Pope but he had faith in Anthony who he believed was whole heartedly loyal to the 2nd Mass and knew that the group of misfits would be kept in line for the most part.
The ride was smooth for the most parts mainly due to the fact that they had not run into any Skitters or Mechs. It was odd and Weaver was in edge because of it. He felt even more uncomfortable about the situation because the whole of the camp had seen and heard the explosion that came from the Wilmington structure and he had expected the aliens to be crawling all over the place.
But they had not seen a single one.
The only stop they had had to make was when the Berserkers had come back to meet with the camp with an extra person situated on the back of Anthony's bike. Rick hopped off the bike almost immediately after it had come to a stop and ran towards Weaver with a desperate look on his face.
"Help me!" He begged, burying his hands in the front of the older man's jacket.
"What's wrong?" Weaver questioned, trying to disengage the teenager's hands but failing due to his excessive strength.
"I was being chased but I don't know by what. I think I outran them a few miles back but I kept going just in case and then I ran into those guys." Rick explained, pointing to the Berserkers and with emotion in his voice that they had never heard with him before. He was usually so solemn and contained and that change alone was enough to give Weaver reason to be suspicious.
The old Captain wasn't one to throw anyone by the wayside however and so he said to the boy, "You can stay with us and we'll help protect you. You're one of our own after all." Rick finally let go of Weaver with a grateful smile on his face.
Weaver then turned to a random soldier stood close by and ordered, "Find this boy some food and a seat in one of our vehicles." The soldier immediately attempted to fulfil the order but once Rick had turned, Weaver added on an extra order in a murmur, "And watch him."
The three words held a world of connotations that let Weaver's feelings be clearly known.
He didn't trust Rick.
Tom and his team didn't make it back to the 2nd Mass until the following day when the camp had fully settled into the place that Weaver had scheduled for them to stay in for about a week. The area had a lot of surrounding trees far enough apart to get the vehicles through but covered enough to protect from anything that might fly over head. It also had a Hospital that was in scouting distance that Weaver wanted to raid for supplies.
When they walked into the camp, they did it to sounds of cheers from the surrounding people and they were hailed like heroes for the damage they did to the structure. The people didn't even know what the group had done in killing an Overlord and they were already impressed.
They tried not to smile at the praise but by the time they made it to Weaver's tent, the smiles were pretty much plastered to their faces.
"Ben, its good to see you back with us." Weaver stated walking over to Ben and giving his shoulder a firm squeeze. Ben smiled and nodded shyly at the somewhat emotional display from the hardened soldier. "You've done a good job Tom if that explosion two nights ago was anything to go by."
Tom started to show some excitement as he imparted the full news of what they had accomplished to his commander. "We didn't just blow up part of the structure Captain...we killed an Overlord."
Weaver couldn't believe his ears at that incredible news, "Well I'll be damned!" Weaver exclaimed as he took off his cap to scratch at his head. "That must be why we haven't come across a single damn Skitter since that explosion." Weaver speculated.
That caused Tom and the rest of the team to pause and glance amongst each other. They similarly hadn't come across any Skitters or Mechs on their way to reuniting with the 2nd Mass despite their belief that the area should be swarming with them.
Weaver's suggestion held some credibility and Hal asked, "So are you say that killing the Overlord made everything go to hell in the organisation of the aliens rather than making them set an attack against us?"
"It makes sense doesn't it?" Ben input into the conversation. "I mean if the Skitters are harnessed and the Mechs are just robots controlled by the Overlord's then with the boss gone they would have nobody to tell them what to do and it would descend into chaos." Ben looked around to see if anyone was agreeing with his words and found that his Dad was nodding at him with pride in his eyes.
"What do you think Tom?" Weaver asked in reference to what Ben had just said.
"I think we have a window of opportunity here Captain..."