Chapter 4: Scouting and Dinner Date
The group of Hellions walked out of the room surrounding Ben and asking non-stop questions.
"You have more than just that little guy?"
"I can't believe you can take out Sentinels so easily!"
"How many more do you have?"
"Wait. Are you actually called 10 and not X because you have 10 forms?"
"Is that guy your strongest or do you have tougher ones?"
"We gotta see all your forms. We can plan so many different strategies with them."
Ben laughed at the others who were so interested in his abilities.
"I can only answer one question at a time," he held up both of his hands in surrender, unable to take all the questions
"Fine, me first!" Cessily jumped in front of him. "Why have you only used Buzzshock in your videos?"
'Oh, an easy one,' Ben thought to himself. "Cause I'm a streamer and influencer. Most people keep doing the same stuff until people get tired of them so they fall off or start doing any random thing for attention. Few can stay doing what they originally did and remain popular.
In order to not fall into either of those categories, I decided to just use Buzzshock and then show off the other guys when I need a boost in viewership or to shake things up."
The others nodded in understanding. When he put it like that, it made a lot of sense why he had only used Buzzshock for the past year.
"So how many do you have?" Brian asked
"10 total, just like my name. Though, I guess I will stick to 'X' so people will be more surprised, even if some can guess from the 'X'," Ben told him honestly.
He didn't mind sharing with his team. They would be working together in the future and their lives depended on one another. Keeping it a secret from them was basically saying that he didn't trust them and would only bite him in the ass in the future.
"The watch?" Phoebe, Mindee, and Celeste asked at the same time, not lessening the creepy twins/triplets thing they had going on
"Alien tech. Helps me control my powers," Ben gave a simple explanation since the detailed one was pretty boring. The watch was called an Omnitrix was considered a pretty advanced piece of technology used by an ancient but powerful group of alien engineers. The device stored information inside of it, and when someone selected the highlighted outline and pressed down on it, the information would instantly enter their brain for a short amount of time. The engineers used this to store blueprints so that they could build devices without having to use other blueprints and be given more detail.
Ben used it in a similar but different way. In order to transform into his different forms, he would need to imagine his form and every last detail of it perfectly to transform. This could take several minutes to do and if he messed up any details, he would be far weaker in his transformation.
So Ben used the watch to store the information on his forms and then instantly send the fully detailed information into his brain. With the perfect image in his brain Ben could instantly transform.
The others continued talking with Ben and asking him questions to get to know him better until they arrived back on the first floor of the school where everyone split up to do different things. Ben wanted to hang out with his team members but he needed to do some scouting so he could film videos later. No one else really wanted to walk around the school since they were all tired from class and training so the other Hellions either went to grab some lunch, hit the showers, or take a nap.
All alone, Ben went out the front door to check out the large fields and forest near the school. Although he had explored the interior of the building with Buzzshock earlier, the rest of the school was still a mystery to him. So with his phone on hand, he began to take photos and videos at various spots, acting as his own scout.
As Ben got closer to the woods, he came a large wolf with unique red hair sitting in a tree. The wolf and Ben stared at each other for a few seconds before Ben broke the silence.
"Hey. Assuming you're another student, nice to meet you, I'm Ben. Assuming you're a huge wolf, please don't eat me," Ben greeted the wolf, hoping it was just another student and not a huge wolf. He had a soft spot for wolves so he didn't want to have to beat one up.
The wolf let out something reminiscent of a laugh before jumping down from the tree and shifting from a wolf and into a teenage girl. She still had red hair but it was very short and boyish, yet fitting for the girl.
"Sorry if I scared you, Ben. Name's Rahne (Pronounced Rain)," the girl spoke with a slight Scottish accent
"You really did. Was afraid that I'd have to beat up such a pretty wolf," Ben held his hand to his chest trying to calm down his quickly beating heart, not noticing that the tip of Rahne's ears had turned slightly red from his compliment
"Hehe well thanks for not fighting me. Though I'm not sure that you could have beaten me," Rahne laughed at his words. "I'm pretty tough after all."
Ben raised an eyebrow at the challenge, kind of eager to see how strong she was. He had never fought anyone else with superpowers before so he was eager to take on the challenge. "Next time our teams have matches against one another, me and you?"
"Sure. Winner gets 5 bucks," Rahne added on a bet to sweeten the deal
"Even more reason for me to win."
"Good. Don't need you holding back on me," Rahne was glad that he was so open. "Wanna grab dinner together later?"
"Sorry, I already promised to eat with Illyana tonight. Maybe another time," Ben rejected her kindly. He wasn't sure if Illyana wanted it to just be the two or if she minded him inviting other friends. And since he didn't have her number to ask her, he could only ask Rahne to eat together another time.
When Rahne heard this, she didn't bat an eye. Instead, a devious thought appeared in her mind but she quickly kept it hidden.
"No worries. I'll see you around," Rahne waved goodbye and left
Ben waved her off before pulling his phone back up and looking at the photo he had taken of Rahne in her wolf form. The photo looked like something that would appear on National Geographic or a scene from a billion dollar movie. Even when she didn't pose, Rahne looked very beautiful and natural in it.
'Definitely gonna take some photos here,' Ben thought before continuing his exploration. He made his way all around the property and ended up next to the pool, taking a few photos of different spots that were good for shoots. He wasn't expecting to take pictures of a blonde girl in a bikini who happened to be in the water.
"My bad. I'll delete the photo," Ben told her when she surfaced from the water. "Didn't expect anyone to be out here."
"No worries. It's 65 out. No one would expect someone to be out here," the girl replied, pulling herself up the ladder on the side and revealing her cheetah print bikini that left very little to the imagination. "New kid?"
"Yeah. Just transferred in today. Part of the Hellions," Ben told her. "Ben Tennyson."
"Amara. And you're a Hellion? Guess that makes you a rival," Amara introduced herself but her next words confused Ben visibly. "New, right. I'm a member of the New Mutants under Professor Xavier. The Hellions, New Mutants, and Corsairs are the top 3 training squads as well as the squads under each of the headmasters. Makes us all rivals."
"Ah, gotcha," Ben could understand the rival comment now. "Hate to be rivals with such a lovely lady."
"Same. Don't wanna have to burn the face of cute boy," Amara agreed, taking a step closer to Ben to appreciate his looks
"Burn?" Ben asked
"Hmm. Part of my mutation. I get myself and others very hot," Amara emphasized hot in a way that gave one several different ideas. "Part of the reason I can enjoy the pool when it's so cold."
"Don't mind that. If there is one thing I can handle, it's heat," Ben had a couple of forms that could resist heat and flames so he wasn't worried about fire-based powers.
"Really? Wanna have a go then?" Amara asked with a twinkle in her eyes
"During the next training session our teams have against one another?"
"In such a public place? You're bolder than I thought, Ben Tennyson," Amara chuckled. "I was thinking one of our rooms or in one of the study rooms."
If Ben didn't get what she was hinting at, he would be a fool.
"Oh," Ben was a bit flustered, having never been flirted with by someone as bold as Amara. "You are very direct."
"Hmm. Part of my culture. But I'm fine with having dinner together first if you wanna get to know one another better before we have a match," Amara offered. "Tonight good with you?"
"Sorry, I already have plans. Girl called Illyana. You know her?" Ben rejected Amara like he did Rahne
"Yep. Me and Illyana are great friends," Amara smiled brightly, hiding her true thoughts.
"Right. I'm the new guy," Ben remembered. "Dinner another night?"
"Of course. One on one," Amara emphasized
"No worries. It's a date," Ben agreed, feeling a little surprised that he had two (didn't really get the hint from Rahne) attractive girls flirting with him so openly. 'Have I entered my popular phase?' Been questioned himself mentally.
"Great. I'll see you around, Ben Tennyson," Amara walked past Ben who saw her off. And that was when he realized that Amara wasn't wearing a standard bikini but a thong one. Ben watched the two peaches separated by a small strip of cheetah print until Amara wrapped a towel around herself.
She looked up and saw Ben staring at her, flashing him a smile. Ben turned away, feeling shy at having been caught.
"No need to delete the photo, btw. Just make sure you send it to me later," were the last things Amara said before heading back into the house to change.
Ben didn't recover for a few minutes. After he did, he wiped away the sweat on his forehead. 'Bold girls are dangerous.'
When he was finally done scouting out locations, Ben went up to his room to look over his photos and decide what his future shoots were going to be.
When it hit around 6:30, Ben went to the cafeteria to see if Illyana was there. When he got there, he saw that Illyana was waiting at one of the tables with a table full of food and talking to two people. And sitting next to her was Rahne and Amara who had large smiles on their faces.
'Oh. Guess they're both friends and asked Illyana to join us for dinner,' Ben thought to himself as he walked over and took the seat opposite of Illyana.
"Sorry for being late. Wasn't sure what time to meet," Ben said as he sat down. "Guess Illyana said you guys could come too. That's pretty good. Wasn't sure if I could invite them so I turned them both down earlier."
Illyana had a strained smile on her face while the other two smiled brightly at his words.
"Oh, yeah. We're all on the same team so we usually have dinner together," Rahne explained, giving Illyana a look
"Yep. Just the best of friends," Amara continued
'I'll curse them both later. I will give them nightmares for a week and have the elastic on all their underwear break,' Illyana silently vowed to herself, not wanting to let her friends get away with interrupting her date.
"That's pretty good. Hope to get along with my teammates like you guys do," Ben didn't know that a silent battle was occurring between the three and he was at the center of it all