Nuclear physics was a well understood concept on earth, even most average intelligent people at least knew the basic concept, it was complicated of course but this wasn't something truly new, I will have this figured out before the summer is over, that's just a fact.
And when I come out with basically an endless source of near limitless energy that could push humanity into an age of prosperity for the next thousand years? What do you think will be the first thing that happens?
The whole energy industry will collapse, mining, refining, distribution, coal(well people like making fire so that'll probably stay for camping and shit), gas, solar, and other more primitive forms of nuclear energy. All of it will vanish in the next ten years like horses did with the innovation of cars.
I'll have to be prepared for the inevitable moment when lots of angry and wealthy individuals try to have me and my family killed, I'll be fine I'm sure and I'll definitely come out swinging when I reveal my inventions to pressure the intelligent and wealthy individuals to help me so it shouldn't be a total financial collapse, but many rich people will fight the changes or still lose vast amounts of money in the short term as they change over or maybe they just won't like me.
Surprisingly for business men, the wealthy and powerful had a difficult time thinking about self preservation and consequences on a long term scale, so it wasn't a matter of who or if, but when exactly it would happen.
I mulled over potential outcomes for scenarios for a while, trading out my books whenever one got boring and generally just tried to get myself to relax which was proving to be hard, my thoughts raced as I contemplated the danger ahead.
The one time I was brought out of my thoughts was just five minutes later when a group of kids came close, their conversation was loud enough to get my attention as I looked up.
"Wait a second…"
They were three kids, each of them looked about twelve and were decked out in waterplosion park merch.
The first was a short tan boy with jet black hair and bright sea green eyes, that looked like a slightly darker and murkier shade compared to the brighter and more even emerald of mine and Gwen's eyes, he had a bit of a pudgy baby-face still without being fat and a dumb smile like he was just waiting to hit a teacher with a spit ball. Usually kids like him were either absolutely hilarious like Kayden or they were absolute pains in the ass, like JT and Cash, and for some reason I got the feeling he'd only be a fucking headache.
"...Waaait…"
Next to him was a slightly taller tan girl with long curly blonde hair and sharp grey eyes that locked onto me as I noticed her, I recognized the intelligence in her gaze and her surprise at the book in my hand, it's easy to see how she's immediately assessing me in greater focused depth because I'm doing the exact same. She's hit the early stages of puberty already based on the slight bulges of her shirt, she's trim but moves like she knows how to fight and I can see how she tightly controls her strength, she has clear calluses and slight scaring around her hands, the same kind I do and that Gwen takes great pains to not get where as this girl seems to almost be collecting them along with many little cuts.
"No...No.Possible.Way…"
Now more focused my eyes flick over to assess the third boy. The tallest of the three, wispy thin with brown hair, brown eyes, the beginnings of facial hair poking out of his chin and a bad case of acne. He walked with a limp, either he'd only recently healed from an injury or possibly a deformity but if worse comes to worse won't be hard to make it worse.
"-No.no.no.no.no-"
Because I'm a curious bitch and they got my attention and looked to be lost I decided to butt in, I paddle with my leg over towards the edge and come to a stop right as they walk by, the two boys having noticed me and the blond having a staring competition and turned to me as well.
I look them up and down and then dryly say with a raised eyebrow. "You three look like headless chickens, what are you looking for?"
The first boy answers immediately, peering at me with a friendly but hesitant gaze, like a puppy that's gotten kicked a few times but still liked treats too much to be suspicious. "We're looking for the thrill ride of love-
"Percy!"
"FUUUCK!"
The blonde hissed at the now named Percy without taking her eyes off me, specifically my chest and the couple scars that have doubtlessly become visible through my soaked shirt, her elbow stabbing the poor guy in the kidneys and sending him doubling over, the third boy and I both wincing in sympathy. "Why do you want to know? And are you actually reading that? That's a college level textbook"
Percy and the other boys' eyes widened as they slowly turn to look at the book in my hand as I shrugged, pointing at the girl first. "I'm a nosy bitch that gets the warm and fuzzies from helping folks out, also I'm smart"
I then turn and point at Percy, who luckily seems to have recovered quickly without losing his lunch. "And you. You are aware that the park map specifically says the tunnel of love is closed for repairs right?"
The unnamed boy gives a sheepish grin, the girl crosses her arms and glares like I'm hiding the secrets of the universe and Percy shrugs, grinning like a kid too good at thinking up excuses. "Heh~ We just wanna go exploring is all and we got a bit turned around"
I snort and roll my eyes. "Sure. If you and your friends wanna have a threesome then one of the bathrooms would be a lot safer, then again that's not my problem"
Ignoring how the three immediately go crimson and slack jawed I point back the way they came, then slowly pan left. "Go like two blocks distance back the way you came, take a left till you get to the food stall with the weird clown in front and then it'll be right near the main entrance. Make sure to use a condom"
I kick off the edge to float away right as the blond girl whines and hisses out, deeply embarrassed and trying not to yell. "Th-thats no-we aren't gonna fuck-!"
"Don't care" I interrupt, going back to my book and secretly taking joy from the group of tweens collective mortification, whether they are or aren't doesn't matter, they're all still stuck with the start of hormones and awkwardness which makes my comment absolutely hilarious either way.
Also the three look like they're going to explode as surrounding adults turn to look at them due to the girl's hasty denial, quickly the two grab her and rush off, the girl turning to hiss at Percy which I only catch the start of. "Percy! 'Hero of heroes guides the way, lays shame as a story's fate is turned-"
I couldn't hear the rest but Percy's voice was just loud enough for me to hear his reply as his voice cracked slightly from puberty. "-Well he gave us clear directions, anyone who can do that is a hero of heroes in my book-"
I snorted amused, now wasn't that the truth. My head felt a bit sore as I turn back to my page, feeling like I was forgetting something important, so I flipped back five pages to the start of how the strong and weak forces affect the nucleus.
"I really wish I hadn't learned what fear was…actually I wish I had a native sense of fear right now, feels like it would fit my situation well"
—
"Hehehehe!-Hahahaha!-Ahaheheahah!-"
Splash!
Splash!
Splash!
Kayden was grinning wide as she splashed around in the water, Gwen was trying to swim away and batting water towards her but Kayden just ignored it, swimming up and flopping down her body to send big waves crashing over the redheaded girl.
Surfacing Kayden couldn't help blushing a bit as she noted how the water ran down Red's form, the way her arms and legs flexed showing hidden muscles under her surprisingly lean frame, her similarly muscular stomach as she flipped to swim deeper and gave Kayden a moment's glance at the water droplets clinging to her rear.
Kayden's mouth felt dry, her face felt hot.
It didn't help when Gwen rose from the water and splashed her in the face, letting out cute giggles furiously.
Ben had saved her, taken her off the street, been her friend, dragged her kicking and screaming to sanity before slapping her upside the head with the offer of a family. He was her hero, he was a genius who could fight and plan and cook, he was funny and interesting and kind, he was perfect but also not because he acted like an idiot and got too in his own head or got overly emotional and could be insensitive.
Gwen was correct when saying he was unashamedly 'Ben', and that sorta confidence in himself, the casual easy going attitude that switched to surprisingly insightful intelligence, the smoothness with how he handled everything whether he was wrong or completely without a plan, just rolling immediately to figuring any problem out without question, like he'd figured life out years ago.
It was really fucking hot.
But in that same metric Gwen was also just so smart, not as knowledgeable about stuff, not as obsessed with learning or as self assured, but she understood stuff first and explained it so much easier to her.
She was fiery in every way, opinionated in everything, wasn't afraid to grab her, kick her ass and or tell her what she was going to do(sorta like her Mom, but nicer). Gwen was firm and sweet and beautiful in a way that made her feel slow and dumb in a good way, like her head was filled with cotton, 'Red' the only thing she could think to call her because of both her eye catching hair and the way her angry or embarrassed blushes captivated her instantly, not to mention the adorable freckles that faintly dusted her cheeks and shoulders.
Kayden had it bad and apparently it wasn't subtle, because suddenly Gwen was in front of her, holding her by the arm and frowning as she spoke in a tone that demanded answers. "Kayden? Are you okay?"
'Oh shit..uhhh….distraction!'
"Yeah I'm fine Red, but you won't be!" She grinned evilly while totally making it up as she went, grabbing Gwen by her arms and pulling her close.
Thinking quickly she pulled on her power, closing her eyes and focusing on the water around her, she tweaked that mental switch and pulled inwards. It felt like her bones tensed up, her skin exhaling, a cramp somewhere where her kidneys should be that Ben had shown her an image of that looked more like five small Texas shaped blobs.
"Kayden?! Wait, wha-Blar!-Bgharl!" Gwen panicked and scrambled in her hold for a moment like a startled cat as a thin film of water covered Kayden's skin, growing more opaque before suddenly bursting outwards in a big full body explosion of water.
"Hahahaahahahah!" Kayden giggled as she resurfaced.
Gwen quickly followed, breathing heavily, looking very startled and extra soaked. "What the fuck!? Huh? When the shit could you absorb liquids?!"
"Hehaheha..he..ha…ha~" Kayden's laughter petered out. "I..I'm not…sure….ouh boy, it..it really wiped me though…"
Her eyebrows crinkled and she put a hand to her side groaning. "Uggh~ Cramp!"
"Shit!" Gwen hissed, grabbing her and pulled her arm around her shoulder and began helping her swim out of the water. "Come on, let's get you to the food court"
Like always Red didn't ask, she just grabbed her and firmly told her what was going to happen because it was the smart thing to do, taking charge and pulling her where she wanted.
Sooo fucking hot.
They got out of the pool, the cool air against her wet skin feeling great in the hot sun, it even momentarily distracted her from how it felt like someone had grabbed and twisted her guts.
Slowly Gwen helped her to a nearby bench before running over to the nearby concession stand, leaning forward Kayden tried resting her face against the table only to hiss and pull away when it turned out to clearly be too hot.
"Hey!" Gwen showed up right in time, holding out a soda and with a cardboard container of a couple hotdogs. "Here, got you a Pep-"
Kayden snatched it and pulled the lid off, putting the rim to her lips she desperately began gulping and inching her head back till she'd chugged four mouthfuls and burped in a satisfying way before laying against the table, the heat suddenly feeling more pleasant than painful. "Uhgggh~ Thanks"
Gwen blinked, sitting down she tilted her head. "Wow. Looks like you seriously needed that…you okay?"
"Y-yeah..I'm fine" Kayden said, rubbing her eyes. "J-just absorbing liquids is apparently not a good idea, took a lot out of me and once the shell got thick enough it just sorta popped"
"Huh, that's weird..Ben would probably wanna run some like tests or something on that" Gwen hummed, taking a bite of a hotdog before grinning like a cat and leaning in, her tone teasing. "Some very in depth 'tests', if you know what I mean~"
Kayden froze for a second before slowly feeling her face grow hot, whining. "I-i don't know what you mean Red! No idea at all!"
Gwen giggled. "You like him! Big bad Kayden Levin has a crush on my dorky dumb cousin Ben~"
"S-shut up!" She groaned, shaking her head. "A-and he's not really dumb…he's actually really smart and it's…kinda hot~"
That only makes Gwen giggle more and she just wishes the ground would swallow her up, for some reason she can't even get mad like she normally would, she's just stuck with butterflies in her stomach.
Red finally shows mercy though. "Don't worry, you're not the first to say that. Though fair warning Ben is picky and I have no clue if he'd say yes to dating you, he wouldn't be mean but I genuinely can't remember if he's said yes to anyone who's asked him"
She blink surprised. "Wait, he's been asked out before?"
"Yeah like five or six times I think, though again he always says no" Gwen quirked her lip and chuckled. "Honestly the most embarrassed I think I ever saw him was the one time he got asked out by one of the boys in his class, he didn't know whether to be more flattered or mortified as he tried telling Jerry he wasn't interested"
Kayden giggled, a wide grin spreading across her face as she imagined the look on Ben's face. "Oh that had to have been hilarious to see"
"Yeah" Gwen nodded before leaning in. "So seriously, kiss him~ Ask him out~ Do something!"
She blushed, trying not to think about the video on her phone currently. "Uhh~ yeah..W-wait! You're okay with that?"
Gwen tilted her head, looking confused. "Yeah? Obviously. I mean I don't like my cousin's time being monopolized, he's already inclined to secluding himself and I'd like to be able to spend time with him this summer even if he is an ass. So just don't try to steal my cousin and you'll be fine"
"Anyway, moving away from your love life" Gwen said to change the subject before Kayden could get the chance to reply, which she was a bit thankful for honestly because she had no clue what to say. "I've been thinking about some alternate names for us to use, wanna give your opinion?"
She blinked, surprised at that specific topic. "Uuh~ Funny you should say that, I've been working on some ideas too, in my free time anyhow..sure let's hear your ideas"
"Okay!" Red grinned excitedly, clearly happy to show off the thought she'd put into this. "So now I've got those charms I can use occasionally even if Ben is being paranoid about it till we figure out a good starting point, so first I thought of like just going by Magic but-
"Too basic bitch, also fairly sure someone magical would come around to beat you up on principle" She gave her opinion.
"Yeah that" Red nodded. "So then I thought about doing something a bit less on the nose and thought of Magus, as in like a mage or something but well actually magic users exist apparently and I have no clue if that means anything that could get me beat up, also I kinda want it to relate towards 'Lucky Girl' too so I was considering Miracle"
"Woah! That's good!" She said honestly. "Feels very heroic and like sorta hopeful. What did you think of for me?"
"Oh, well with how your powers work and stuff I was thinking Mimicry would be great for you!" Gwen said with a lot of pride, like it was a great unveiling.
She really tried, but she couldn't help snickering. "W-was it intentional that they all start with an 'M'?"
Gwen blushed. "..Y-yeah! So?! I wanted to keep a theme!"
She couldn't help giggling furiously and after a second Gwen joined her, the two of them laughing carelessly, Kayden couldn't help how her ears instinctively locked onto the twinkling bell like laughing of Gwen, the way Gwen grinned made her dimples visible and a small splatter of freckles along her cheeks became more apparent. They were quickly swallowed up by a blush, but for a moment Kayden was seriously considering going for it and playing connect the dots towards Red's lips.
"Tch!" Gwen clicked her tongue. "W-well then let's hear your ideas! Come on! Unless you were lying and you've just been thinking about a certain set of lips~"
Gwen makes kissy noises and puckers her lips, which just leaves Kayden blushing and spiralling because she knows what implication Red is trying to make, but she definitely isn't helping the other half of that picture.
She waved her hands, demanding vehemently. "Enough of that!"
Gwen grinned at her like a cat and she quickly hurried to add before the girl could speak up. "Okay so my first idea for myself was Alloy!"
Gwen paused, tilting her head as she thought about it. "Huh…That's alright, works well for your current abilities. Put it in the maybe category?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I also thought of Symbiosis or Synergy"
"Ehh~ Synergy could work, not sure if it's as good as Alloy though, that's really simple and to the point, maybe a matter of opinion?" Gwen said before shaking her head. "But Symbiosis doesn't really work unless you get your DNA absorbing to work without making you crazy"
"Uhh..yeah I guess you're right" She scratched her chin in thought, it had given her some good points to think about, since her powers were mainly focused towards materials at the moment Alloy was the best fit. "Besides that I also came up with a few for you"
"Oh! Let's hear em then!" Gwen said encouragingly.
She chuckled at Gwen's excitement. "Well you were right that it's a good idea to connect it to your Lucky Girl identity, so I was thinking about Roulette maybe? Especially since you can switch around those charms and stuff"
Gwen groaned. "Uggh~ That's so much better than Miracle! You're so good with this"
"Hehe~!" Kayden grinned proudly. "Thanks, I also thought of just using the old 'name yourself after a god' thing. Hecate, Isis or maybe Lilith? Those were the main three I thought would do good for you"
Gwen however didn't smile, she instead reached towards her remaining bracelet and started nervously toying with the Charm of Luck. "I..I'm not sure that's a good idea…"
"Huh? Why!?" She asked, blinking in confusion.
Gwen quickly waved her hands. "I-i don't mean to say their bad or anything! Honest! It's just well…magic is real…aliens are real, apparently fucking demons are real and that's not even getting into all the wards Ben talked about that I was sorta too tired to really think about properly at the time. So it's just…"
"You'd rather not pick a name that might get us beat up by some magical gods or some shit?" She realized and Red quickly nodded in agreement.
Kayden sighed, she'd been the one to point out the same problem with the name Magic after all. "Yeah, I'm sorta disappointed since I really liked that idea but I also see your point. Fuck!"
Gwen giggled a little less confidently but seemingly amused at Kayden's show of annoyance. "So, did you have any other ideas?"
"W-well.." She hesitated, she'd had one more idea but it was kinda embarrassing. "I'm a bit of a world war two nerd, my Mom really liked reading me stuff about it, apparently she had a bit of an obsession…anyway in Europe there's a sorta myth of some superhero, protector, thing.."
As she spoke Gwen began leaning in more and more, slowly grinning as she seemed to notice the heat building up in Kayden's cheeks. "Hehe~ And what exactly would this myth be called now? Kay~"
Somewhere in her throat she whined and she hesitantly spoke. "W-wonder Girl!"
"Hehehehehehe!" Gwen cackled at the name associated with the rather famous female myth, the myth that supposedly was a tall domineering woman built like a brick shit-house.
Kayden's face felt like it was made of molten lead, her hands clenched into fists in her lap as something else clenched from the embarrassment.
Gwen leaned over the table and quickly whispered, her bracelet glowing faintly as she misunderstood Kayden's expression. "Hey, hey, don't cry. That was very sweet. Hehe~ Look, since you wanna flirt so bad go find Ben, sit in his lap or something, I'm sure you'll get a reaction even if you don't ask him out"
Gwen leaned in even further, her chin resting on Kayden's shoulder and her breath tickling her ear as Kayden lost the ability to breath. "And how about this as an incentive? If he doesn't give you a kiss then I will~"
"Hehahehehahahe~!" Gwen pulls back giggling, her cheeks pink while Kayden melts.
'T-these Tennyson's and their beautifully intelligent green eyes~'
'Those devious teasing grins~ S-slutty thin waists~ Strong, firm muscles~'
'Mama told me about other kids my age~ T-temptresses~! They're going to kill me~!'
'Hehe~ I was hoping she was right~'
/1:30pm/
Hmmm…nuclei are weird.
Weirder starter sure but bare with me. I'd been thinking as I read the section of my textbook on nuclear physics and thinking half a mind on what that girl had said, she'd mention 'Hero of heroes' which was the title of Ben Ten-Thousand in the classic series.
To be clear I knew I was forgetting something, I recognized them and it was clicking at some part of my brain that itched, like a word on the tip of your tongue that you just can't remember, but I just couldn't think of any Ben Ten characters that fit the descriptions in any of the series unless they were from the reboot since I'd always refused to watch that Teen Titans Go style garbage CN tried to pedal.
Either way it was bothering me and I'd settled on waiting and mulling it over to try and see if my brain could dredge it up, so instead I began considering her words instead, 'Hero of heroes' sounds like an impressive and badass title but what does that sorta thing even mean really?
What is a hero? In the modern day its definition is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities, basically pick a superhero and they've probably got it but a good example is Spiderman or Batman whenever they aren't being stupid. Then there's the more ancient definition of a hero, mainly from Greek myth, of any person of superhuman qualities and often of semi-divine origin like Achilles or Herakles or someone who is outstanding and extraordinary compared to the average like Odysseus.
An individual of extraordinary ability and or morality who is admired and or idealized for their traits, typically with some form of strict morality and the courage to do what others won't. Seems like a good summary of heroes to me.
So then a hero of heroes would be the most extraordinary individual among those individuals, the strongest or the most steadfast? Superman, Captain America or Batman perhaps? Only no, they've had many nicknames, even been referred to as the best of the heroes before but never such a lofty title as Hero of heroes.
What does a hero do? And what does a villain do?
The thought came easily honestly, they both inspire.
Inspire hope, or fear.
Inspire courage to stand up, or the fear of being made to kneel.
In a sense all that any extraordinary force does, good, evil, modern or ancient, is inspire those that hear about them to follow an idea. So a hero of heroes…
They must inspire in others the urge to be extraordinary, the urge to exceed all others, they have to inspire everyone else to stand up and be a hero until everyone is one and then still exceed even that as they continue to light their own path.
"Hey! The fucks going on!? This f-feels weird!"
That thought that appeared in my mind like it was spoken by another made something in my chest tighten, a crystal clear memory of an early morning cartoon showing a scene, a futuristic city with a large muscular statue standing proudly, its stone title blazing defiantly. My heart beat skipped, my eyes shrank into pinpricks while in my mind it felt like a lever fell, a gear smacking against something and bouncing before catching, engaging and with a snap of straining machinery a new line of thought began to furiously burn full steam ahead.
My cheeks hurt, I'm definitely grinning widely but I can't seem to help it, it's a sorta zen calm that I'm not used to that also burns like pure caffeine in my veins, almost makes me wonder if I'd found some sorta enlightenment or spiritual awakening?
After that my thoughts had been fairly fluid, there wasn't really a good description for it besides being like my brain was filled with water, everything just flowed from moment to moment without any one singular thought having any real prominence.
I found myself not really noticing the time passing as I quickly tore through the three chapters relating to nuclear physics in the textbook, I could model what I was imagining in my mind with it feeling so real that for a moment I could almost picture what an atom would feel like, usually my identic memory meant I'd have very good clarity for anything I'd read but I'd still have to focus intently and think through it piece by piece, but at least for a short time I just needed to glance at the page and while my brain was breaking it down I'd already be looking at the next page.
This sense of intense focus lasted for around half an hour, leaving me with a bit of a headache as I stared at the textbook, weirdly feeling like I could almost understand the physics of how an atom works.
So yeah, a nucleus is weird, like a load of magnets that are both positive and negative at the same time, locking each other in a single sorta stable balance as a hazy cloud of buzzing energy surrounds it as a layered shell.
I switched from my textbook to a manga, hoping to help my brain relax and stop the pinching sensation in my temple, yet even still in the back of my mind I found myself almost absentmindedly doing calculations and forming theories on the different bits of technology I was interested in like the power core to Vilgax's robot drones, almost intuitively I could feel myself imagining how different things would respond, like how you can easily think about the arc of a thrown ball without needing to do most of the math.
"Oi! Dork! You there!?" I jerk in surprise and turn to see Kayden looking at me flatly, her cheeks kinda pink from exertion, up to her waist in water and carrying a plate of nachos.
I blink dumbly, the pinching sensation twisting slightly and I narrow my eyes with a groan at the sun glinting off Kayden's skin. "Y-yeah, sorry just got a headache. Whaddya want?"
"Red went off to go ride the slides or whatever and I was wondering if you would like to hangout, but if you aren't feeling well.." Kayden's tone grew shyer and quicker at the end, she turned slightly and it was clear she was becoming self conscious.
Reaching out I grab her by the arm not holding her food, my tone is filled with fond exasperation as I roll my eyes. "Okay, climb on. But you're feeding me some of those nachos"
Kayden smiled widely and laughed before carefully climbing into my lap, I hissed feeling the cold pool water soaking skin touch me while she groaned as she laid back against my chest. "Ugghuh~ F-fuuuck, you're warm~"
I chuckle, smirking smugly as I put an arm around her waist, my book in my bag with my bag in her lap while she rests the little cardboard bowl container on top of my bag, Kayden's head is leaned back to rest against my shoulder and her hair tickles my jaw.
I notice her ear twitches and goosebumps spread along her neck as she looks away from me shyly. "Aww~ That was a cute sound. Feeling cold? Because you're very refreshing after laying in the sun so long, I'd be happy to repay the favor by 'warming you up'"
Kayden squeaked, my grin turning outright villainous as she wiggled in my lap. I leaned in just slightly, my voice low. "I haven't eaten in a bit Kay. Could you be a 'good friend' and feed me? Mlaaha~"
I open my mouth wide, my tongue lulling out down to my chin as my hot breath makes the side of Kayden's face boil. Hesitantly she turns to look at me, her eyes widening before she whines loudly and shoves a chip in my mouth, my lips just slightly brushing the tips of her fingers as she quickly wrenches them away.
I chew, enjoying the greasy unhealthy park food before swallowing. "Thank you Kay~"
"S-shut the fuck up d-dork!" Kayden whined in a high pitched tone. "J-just..uhh…wh-what are you reading! Yeah, tell me about that now!"
"Of course" I say before opening my mouth to demand more food, much to Kayden's embarrassment, before I mercifully begin to explain. "Well it's this manga that recently came out about this girl who's basically in ancient fantasy China, she's the daughter of this basically doctor or whatever and grew up in a high status brothel with lots of courtesans-"
"Huh?" Kayden asked, confused.
"Legal prostitutes basically" I clarified, getting a cute little noise of understanding. "Anyway the girl is obsessed with medicine and poison, while out picking herbs she gets kidnapped and sold to the palace as a servant, from there she quickly becomes caught in a big web of politics as she's forced to solve mysteries around the imperial palace"
"Whoa~!" Kayden shifted around in my lap, this time her wiggling moving her so her side was against my chest, I noticed myself paying more attention than I normally would to how her muscular ass felt against me. Fuck, I'm definitely starting puberty. "That's actually really interesting!"
…
I breath, squashing the horny forming thoughts with only half remembered practice from my first go along as a teen, I was out of practice obviously but it was kinda like riding a bike and since this was only the start of puberty it wasn't that distracting, just an annoying intrusive thought that I buried under my current interest. "So currently she's in what's called the Rear Palace which is basically where all the Emperor's personal concubine
live-
—
We just sat there together floating along for about an hour, at first just me explaining the previous events and then me reading the book with her, we got to the section where they were stuck in a cave behind a waterfall after some assassins tried shooting the Prince and the MC with flintlocks.
Kayden really seemed to like the way the main character used deductive reasoning and basically Sherlock Holmes'ed her way through everything, all the interesting little bits of trivia seemed to get her excited, with her literally buzzing in my lap and grinning with excitement at different parts, which was distracting.
It was nice.
Kayden liked to call me a nerd but at heart she was just as much of a dork as me and Gwen, though I feel like Kayden would be the type to complain while watching Sailor Moon with Gwen but secretly enjoy it while being too embarrassed to admit it.
…
'Hehe~ I know what I'm suggesting to Gwen later~' I think villainously.
However Kayden, who's a little red at the moment for some reason, taps me on the side eventually and points towards a clock that's attached to a nearby pole. It's an old Roman numeral clock so it takes my brain a second to translate it before I realize it says that it's three o'clock. "Hey, wanna go find Red? It's kinda been a minute"
"Uhh sure? Any idea where she'd be?" I say, not really sure why she suddenly wanted to go, though we had been here a while and I'd admit I did kinda want to bug the doofus at the moment.
I put away my manga and seal my bag before paddling us over to the edge, Kayden humming in thought as I do. "She's probably at the food court near the main entrance, or at one of the nearby pools. I figure she'd wanna rest after running around for a while by herself"
Getting up we got ourselves together, put the floating pool chair away and started walking, well after we finished hissing and jumping around with our feet getting burned by the concrete. I grumbled seeing that Kayden had partially absorbed a bit of the concrete to turn her soles into a stone layer, though it also made me blink when I realized she had done a partial absorption.
"Hey, when'd you learn to do that? You can choose to only do partial absorptions?" I asked curiously.
"Well originally I just got the idea to experiment with my powers from you, so I started testing different stuff in my free time" Kayden blushed and rubbed the back of her head cutely. "Like I remembered that if I didn't have enough material then..well it's sorta like sucking on a straw in a slushy, it's really hard to get anything and just sorta stops after a while, then I also thought about how I was able to use two materials at the same time. So I started trying to control how much I absorb and from where, covering or excluding my clothes and I've even tried to hold two different things in my hand and absorb one without the other..buuut that one's still a work in progress"
I nod, interested and internally storing away the part about her struggling to pull in more material from smaller sources but importantly not being incapable of it. "Well that's good, testing your fine control of matter absorption and your control of what you target specifically are both great, also it sounds like your absorption is like a muscle and might get stronger if you're just struggling to absorb from a limited amount of stuff"
"Yeah I thought the same thing!" Kayden grins widely, clearly happy to have her ideas validated. "Really I've had tons of ideas but it's really hard to get a good starting point with so many options, like how the hell do you choose?"
I shrug. "I personally just sorta think of shit, write it down and then go "I think I'll try Heatblast's ideas today" or I just do stuff in the moment when I have to. But if you really want a starting point uhh…well you can absorb matter, try seeing if you can't manipulate it after you've absorbed it or maybe merge with it? Like sinking through it since you're made of the same material after you've made your full shell, or maybe keep pulling through that 'straw' and see if you can't go deeper and maybe fully transform?"
"Hhmmm~ Those sound pretty cool" Kayden nodded. "Though I figure that'll be either a no or at least really hard, even now after practicing every day it still takes me a bit of time and focus to fully cover myself, it's way harder than energy ever was to use and even then I had certain things that I'll admit I coulda worked on like my aim. It seems like my powers are inherently difficult, like everything I can do is trying to fuck my brain or fight me tooth and nail"
I shrug, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. "Such is life, everybody can run but no one is born an Olympic runner. Just recognize where you are and where you suck, take it one day at a time and keep doing what works..oh! And take lots of notes, like all the notes. You never know when a random off handed observation from like two months ago can be the answer to something important"
Kayden snorted, grinning. "God, you are such a fucking dork. Where do you get your little like..motivational crap?"
"I dunno, I'm just good at on the spot thinking I guess" I shrug.
"Well I've got admit it's sorta-
"MOVE! OUT'A THE WAY!"
Kayden and I turn around in surprise to see Percy and the other two running from somewhere behind us towards the main entrance, I grab Kayden by the arm and quickly pull her out of the way even as I notice a whole pack of barking dogs behind the three. Percy catches sight of us and I see his eyes widen before he points in our direction as he runs past, not stopping for a moment as he calls out.
"FUCK YOU LEVIN!"
I blink in shock as Kayden's eyes widen, she immediately glares and yells out while shaking her fist. "GET FUCKED YOURSELF JACKSON! YOU MAMA'S BOY!"
Kayden's yell echos along with the loud barking of the dog..the dog…what, but their way too big…is that black smoke and fire clinging to them?..And their barking sounds like artillery shells.. dogs but..no..too foggy but it's…
..almost like…
…Some kinda hell hound…
…Percy..Jackson…
I blink, my eyes burn from straining and suddenly I feel like I have a splitting headache, my temples almost clenching as my brain is being repeatedly stabbed by a tiny angry divorced man waiting on his lawyer's bill.
I glance up for just a moment between my fingers, my eyes widening as memories of one of my favorite series returns to the forefront, as things focus and something almost physically peels away from me, distantly I almost hear as something breaks and I see.
A boy with curly hair and tiny horns sticking out of his head, a blonde girl who seems to be adapting and learning as she moves with words nearly printed into every inch of her body, a boy who almost seems to bleed water like a living hurricane tightly wrapped in a thin film, the boy and girl both overlaid atop their regular bodies in a deeper layer like a bad 3D effect. Similarly the horde of dogs appears as two massive horse sized dogs, black as obsidian and wispy like they're made of darkness, some parts of them purely transparent while other parts flicker with brightly glowing flames that burn through their bodies to form rows of razor sharp teeth of magma, snakes snapping from where they're coiled around the dogs throats.
I stumbled back and someone grabbed my arm as I took a knee, a wet groan bubbled from my throat and everything grew hazy and blurry again.
I blinked a couple times only to feel confused when I spotted red droplets on the floor, after a second I realized I was having a nose bleed.
"Ben!"
I blink, looking up slowly at a worried looking Kayden, she looked pale and it was sorta hard to focus, I couldn't tell if there was a problem and she spoke up before I could ask, sounding like she was under water. "Ben, you are bleeding! Are you okay!?"
"Hgguh~?" I say wetly, unable to properly speak as I suddenly clench my mouth as tightly closed as I can.
I try to keep my mouth closed and breath through my nose, resisting the physical involuntary reaction, I even try in vain to swallow.
Instead I just throw up.
At least I have the presence of mind to tip over to the side right before I lose all strength, my body going completely limp as everything fades to black.
I pass out.
Waterplosion Park - Bathroom/Same Time/Gwen POV
Click!
"Hey! Emily! What are you doing calling all of a sudden?" Gwen asked, taking a seat in the bathroom stall before blushing and quickly adding. "Not that I mean to imply anything really! It's just a surprise is all!"
On the other side of the call Gwen can hear the sound of other people walking around and doing stuff, different people murmuring but nothing specific, and then the sound of a young girl snorting in amusement before talking in a mock offended tone. "Wow Tennyson! I see how it is. You go off on your little summer trip with your uncle and stuff, go all over the country and in just a couple weeks you're too good to accept calls from your poor former best friend who's stuck in some dusty summer camp-
"Okay! Okay! Fuck off!" She giggled, grinning. "You're so overdramatic! You should switch from band to drama. And I'm with my Grandpa! Not my Uncle"
"Hehehe~ What can I say? My family is blessed by Apollo with great artistic talents!" Emily said in a smug tone, Gwen heard someone say something in the background and then Emily yelled back. "Shut up Malcolm! Don't whine just because I'm better at arts and crafts than you! Unless you'd like to go outside and show how I'm also the better fighter!...Yeah that's what I thought!"
Gwen snorted in amusement, Emily was really into Greek mythology and while she didn't take the same classes as Gwen and Ben, Emily had acted as Gwen's sparring partner on occasion and she was very naturally talented.
Though Ben and her didn't get along, apparently Emily had had a bit of a crush and tried flirting with Ben only for him to space and not even notice and in the resulting conversation he'd unintentionally insulted her intelligence somehow, Emily didn't hate him or anything but she did have an insecurity about being shown up and so whenever Emily came by and happened to run into Ben, it inevitably ended with the two arguing over the specifics of something or other Emily had brought up as one tried to prove they were right while the other refused to hear it.
In Gwen's personal opinion she figured that Emily still had a crush on Ben but couldn't act on it without soothing her hurt feelings by getting Ben to admit that Emily was intelligent in a way she'd accept through winning a debate, which wasn't impossible since Ben usually tried being really nice and complimentative to those he liked and had a habit of unintentionally being a smooth talker, but he was also an opinionated, competitive pig-headed ass and getting him to willingly submit in a proper debate was worse than pulling teeth unless you had a multi chapter long extensive argument that specifically explained why he was wrong with sources and a walkthrough on the correct answer.
Instead of mentioning that though she wisely asked a question. "Who's Malcolm and what was that about?"
"Huh?" Emily said, being drawn back to the conversation, not unusual since she had ADHD and tended to get distracted…maybe it's better that her and Ben never got together. "Oh! Well you know how I've got a large family with lots of cousins on my Mom's side even though she herself isn't really around? Well a lot of them are at the same camp as me, family sends all the kids here each year so we can all get to know each other"
Gwen made the appropriate noises of understanding as she listened, humming and nodding along. "So then I'm guessing Malcolm is one of your cousins?"
"Yeah..technically we're not related by blood, one of those marriage things that don't make sense, but I've known him at the camp for like the last four years and there's only like two other people who've been here longer so he's more like my brother" Emily sounded like she was smiling. "Though after coming to camp for five years I have to admit that most of these idiots are like siblings to me…Shut it Jess! I know where you sleep!"
"Ohh? Emily Hack loves her cabin mates like siblings? That's so sweet~" Gwen teased, causing her best friend to groan.
"Don't you start now!"
She started giggling furiously and after a moment Emily joined in, the two of them laughing carelessly after having spent weeks apart. Eventually though Emily was able to say over her giggles. "S-seriously, what are you doing? I hope you're not busy with anything important, I didn't mean to interrupt you"
Gwen quickly shook her head before remembering that was useless. "No! No! You're perfectly fine, I'm at a water park at the moment, just a lazy relaxation day"
"Oh! Lucky!" Emily whined. "We've got a lake but that's not really the same thing, besides it's usually freezing and mucky…honestly I'm kinda bored outa my mind, my..friend, her name's Annabeth, my friend here at camp had to leave for…a trip or something and I'm not sure if she'll be back"
Gwen blinked, Emily's tone had been weird there for a moment, but she shrugged internally deciding it was nothing. "That sucks, sorry to hear that…buuut if you're looking for a distraction"
"Oh? Tell me everything!" She could hear the grin in Emily's voice, clearly she'd detected something about how Gwen had spoken.
Sighing, Gwen began to talk, finally getting the chance to safely air the thought she'd been wrestling with the last few days. "S-sooo, if maybe you met someone and they really pissed you off, like they were annoying and gross and caused you problems-
"I can help you get rid of the body, I'm sure one of my sib-cabin mates has a recipe or something written down for body disposal" Emily said, her tone perfectly calm in a way that made it hard for Gwen to tell if she was really joking.
"Hehehe~ Thanks, but really I'm fine. Now don't interrupt!" She scolded playfully, her cheeks starting to turn hot and thankfully she could hear Emily playful zip her lips. "Anyway, they start to open up…you see their actual flaws, the ones their self conscious about, you help them learn, grow and when they mess up it's really cute, you can't help smiling seeing how happy they make the people close to you and then you get..lucky and…maaaybe, sorta get a kiss-
Emily gasps, Gwen's face is boiling and she curls up, pulling her legs up to her chest like she's at home in bed having a late night gossip session as she gets comfortable on the toilet seat. "...how do you know if you…like girls?"
This time Emily's gasp was joined with a loud squeal, before Gwen then heard Emily start yelling. "Malcolm! Get your ass over to cabin ten and tell Selena to get the other girls here now! We need a girls talk stat! It's an emergency!"
Gwen started to giggle wetly, Emily's enthusiasm infectious as she was bombarded like the beaches of Normandy with questions for details and clarification, she smiled shyly as she quickly wiped at her eyes. She could already tell she was going to have to answer these questions multiple times as more people get called, making sure everyone is on the same page as they all fight to be the first to give her this or that piece of advice.
She really missed talking to her friend.
??? - Underground/???/???
His form bubbled with excitement as he flowed between the earthen cracks in the stone cavern around him, the gaps too small for any of the primary native species to pass through any of the side rooms of the main cave system, even his own form struggled in certain sections.
In some ways he deeply despised the Polymorph's and their ability to simply melt through obstacles, the blasted goops hadn't been willing to rightfully understand their place as the subspecies and serve as the lesser cellular masses of protein that they were, it was their fault they'd been confined to the stars after the war.
Their fault that they'd been forced to symbiotically bond with the lesser acid-bloods to survive.
Their fault that now their species was facing ruin.
What had he been talking about?
Oh right. He despised those insoluble goops…BUT what he wouldn't give to be able to melt through obstacles, to just sink through any obstruction as he followed the chemical trail into a moderately sized basin.
The single celled brown green blob inside the basin reacted to his arrival, it quivered and shifted as it began to awaken from the hibernation it had fallen into to heal.
In this darkness a human would have heard and seen nothing, however to it the ripples and faint discharges of chemical components spoke more than any of the sound vibrations they'd learned to replicate. 'Report'
He shifted, displaying his organs as he thinned his cellular wall, displaying full submission. 'The crash damaged many of our ships systems, three quarters of our forces were injured and required to be..recycled'
His lord rippled with displeasure. 'Irrelevant! The egg. What is the status of the last royal egg?'
He allowed himself to emit pleasure chemicals, displaying what humans would know as joy. 'The egg survived thanks to the container it was retrieved in. A native was captured and is currently replaced with one of our agents, its awakening was triggered forcefully, the Queen embryo has been safely implanted and is gestating'
'Then all sacrifices have been inconsequential, we can regrow. Anything further to report' His lord dismissed easily before moving on.
He altered his form, shaping himself into the path back to the main cavern. 'A space has been cleared of debris, ready to form a nesting ground. Should we place the remaining Cast Rodinium near the embryo so that the Queen may use it for her metamorphosis cocoon during environmental assimilation?'
'Yes. This time a mere legion will not be enough to eradicate our hives and scatter us, once the Queen has molted even five full legions of Lanterns wouldn't be able to rid of her even if they stand to the last. They may crush or hide as many eggs as they wish this time, we will have an eternal production!'
In my personal opinion Greymatter is more intelligent than Azmuth but it's sorta like a 60 year old Steven Hawking vs a 10 year old Einstein, it doesn't really matter who's smarter because one of them has had the experience, time to refine and experiment and just used their knowledge to explore fundamental deeper information than the other that you can't really make up the difference. Azmuth is thousands of years old and he's still considered 'young', I'd say he's probably the equivalent of like 60s or something, and considering how smart he is it's impossible to imagine the sorts of experiments he's done, what technology he's built and iterated to make things and the sheer level of resources and experience beyond just raw intelligence that goes into even his casual guesses.
At a certain point it just doesn't matter how smart you are. You can have the most intelligent human to ever live but they still have to learn math, how would you expect them to figure out taxes before you if they've only just started on subtraction while you've finished law school with a minor in mathematics?
Ben hasn't forgotten that Percy Jackson is a thing, he just didn't think about it potentially being a real thing in this world and hadn't broadened his mind to that possibility, thus causing him to sorta just get a brain freeze. If he hadn't gotten the answer like this then he'd have figured it out in a couple days once he calmed down and thought about it again.
And yes, at the end there Ben sorta had an awakening, or something like that, he's kinda special for a multitude of reasons and had just had sufficient reason to see through the mist and thus he suddenly and violently had a peak behind the curtain. To be frank he saw way past what a normal Demigod would see and more like saw what a fully clear sighted mortal would see(like Sally for example), he saw them fully in the mythological sense and didn't have the knowledge to keep from looking too deeply, which caused him to have a very violent reaction due to not being prepared for it.
Kayden is both adorable and horny, and a tad bit of a Momma's girl, more news at 11. But in truth all three of the trio have reasons to be going through puberty semi-early, it's not too early but it is sped up slightly since Gwen as a part Anodite with the spark has a lot of Mana naturally increasing her growth and physical ability, she'd always be a early bloomer, Ben also has a naturally high amount of Mana and the Omnitrix is boosting his health as a subsystem, then Kayden who's hybrid biology has a fuck ton of interesting little side effects so while she's the first one of the group to be hit fully with puberty Ben and Gwen aren't that far behind.
Speaking of Kayden, a lot of her powers are very difficult to use and require a lot of focus and practice. It's easy for her to get started with some things, like absorbing matter, but to get better it requires consistent training and practice to refine her familiarity while other abilities are completely out of her grasp until she's built up the necessary basics. For example absorbing liquids, technically she can do it now but it will completely exhaust her because she's creating it ex nihilo without having built up the strength, stamina and efficiency necessary for it and also doing so is effectively a useless waste of time since she lacks the ability to fully transmute into the material she absorbs, which itself has a whole host of physical requirements that Kayden isn't ready for. The most basic and easiest power for Kayden is her energy absorption but that's also got the highest and most difficult mastery ceiling due to the large influx of stimulus, like how adrenaline can really mess you up until your body has grown used to it, this is similar where Kayden is just physically incapable of mastering it until her body is old enough and built up the necessary tolerances to handle large influxes of energy regardless of how skilled she is and the more she absorbs the worse it is.
Also as a last minute addition while looking at side characters to see if there was anyone interesting I decided to throw in Emily, the girl in a wheelchair in UAF that's supposed to be Gwen's best friend. Yeah she exists here and she happens to be a daughter of Athena Ergane Promachos and legacy of Apollo Musagetes, I gave her the same last name as her voice actor since she wasn't given one in canon, also she's not in a wheelchair since I figured whatever genetic birth defect or unfortunate accident caused it in the canon timeline just wouldn't happen for a Demigod, or at least is less likely.
Also Emily's Fatal Flaw as a Demigod is a small subcategory of pride, Inadequacy. She's not prideful like a lot of her siblings, but she does have that voice in the back of her head always wondering whether she'll match up and when someone outperforms her in her specific field of interest, it gets to her a lot.
You all thought Gwen and Kayden's bathroom scene was just going to be the end of that didn't you? Nope, Gwen's discovering her sexuality. Kayden has already had her libido for a while and she lived on the street long enough that it's feasible she'd have found a dirty mag or whatever and found herself interested equally in both, though Kayden's main attraction is towards intelligence over any gender specifically she still has an enjoyment for their individual traits, so Kayden's never had a reason to be self conscious about her sexuality and treats it very casually since she discovered it sorta in isolation.
Slowly everything is coming together. I wonder who that last scene could be? What could an acid-blood possibly refer to? Any guesses?
Also Goop being made into a slur is funny as fuck, I love just imagining lots of Ben's alien names are slurs or somehow offensive, because honestly a lot of them do sound rude as fuck, even the actual names for species that were given sound more like inherently racist human translations instead of proper scientific names when you think about it.
Remember to like, comment and let me know what you thought, remember that discussion feeds my motivation.