Chapter 11:

“Yeah, weren’t thinking about that, were you,” Ben said, earning him a glare but he pushed on. Even if he was amazed by the fact that she probably didn’t have death ray eyes despite looking like she should. “But like I said, K-Swarm and I have a way to track them… Hopefully. So if you work with us, and don’t go in alone again, we can help you speed up your next try faster. Cause I’m assuming you aren’t gonna give up on this and Swarm just wants you safe. And even if you think you don’t need the help, you at least want to be able to try again without waiting however long it takes for you to track those guys down again, right?”

Resolve just continued to glare at him for a long moment. Then abruptly she tsked and crossed her arms again. “Okay. Maybe you're right about that. But what do you mean you can track them, hopefully? Either you can or you can’t. If you can’t, I don’t see why I have to put up with your bull.”

Ben held up a hand to Katie, cutting off no doubt a fiery retort. She narrowed her eyes at him but didn’t interrupt, much to his relief. “So the reason we were there in the first place was to get something we were tracking. Our tracker led us to that warehouse. Now it’s possible that the thing just somehow ended up in the warehouse and it’s unrelated to them. But more likely one of them found it and brought it to their lair. As long as that’s true and they don’t throw it away, we can at least track down one of them.”

“But it’s not guaranteed,” Resolve said flatly.

“No… But I doubt they're gonna ditch it,” Ben said as confidently as he could. Honestly, he would have preferred if they left it behind but he doubted they would. He wasn’t that lucky. “It's… Well, I doubt they know what it is, but it should be mysterious enough to keep their attention for a bit. And they have no reason to think that your attack was related to it since you targeted that Blitz guy. So while not guaranteed, it's a pretty good chance. Also, even if you don’t need the help—”

“—I didn’t! I still had a chance when she butted in and I could have disengaged at any ti—”

“The hell you did! I saw the whole thing! You got hit hard by that Bouncing Villain and you were on the back foot the entire time. You should have just disengaged when my drones arrive—”

“—I only stayed cause your drones appeared! They gave me the breathing room I needed—”

“Okay nope!” Ben said, interposing himself between them again. He was starting to get used to the twin fiery glares. “So maybe you don’t need the help. You’re clearly a badass—and don’t you glare at me—I mean it. You’re clearly amazing. You fight like a Martial Adept even though you aren’t, and it’s more amazing that you’re a C-Rank. I can only hope to be as amazing as you one day and fight with that kind of skill and grace. But! Even Vortex, one of the greatest Heroes in America—hell the whole world—still has a team. Indomitable too! They still fight with others. So even if you don’t need help, what’s wrong with having some backup to make it easier?”

Resolve, who’d been glaring, seemed to take a back for a second. He had a hard time reading the expression on her face, but she was kinda gaping at him for a moment. Then she seemed to look over his shoulder and the glare returned. It was different but still just as fierce.

“And what, you think I want you as backup? What can you even do? Aren’t you just using Swarm’s stuff? You barely did anything on your own!”

Ben winced a bit at that but pushed on. He had to remind himself that he literally just started using his powers today. Also, from an outside perspective, it might’ve looked like he was just using a jetpack made by Katie and maybe some explosives. “That’s partially true. But you know I don’t mean just me. I mean Swarm. You can’t say that she isn’t amazing too. You might not need her, but can you honestly say that her helping wouldn’t make things go so much smoother.”

Resolve glared for another long moment before huffing and looking away. Then she mumbled something Ben couldn’t hear.

“What was that?” Katie asked, sounding awfully smug as she stepped up beside him.

Ben braced himself for another argument. But thankfully it never came.

Instead, Resolve sighed again and turned to face them. She still looked rather annoyed but at least she wasn’t glaring at him. “I said, I would have asked for help, if I’d known what you could do, Swarm. I’m not an idiot. If I realized I had a friend who could help me with this I wouldn’t have gone alone. I go into fights as prepared as I can be.”

“And I would have told you about what I was working on if I’d realized you were gonna do something so dangerous,” Katie said, sounding very annoyed but keeping her volume in control. “Or you could have seen it first hand if you joined the Leveling Program.”

Ben knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn't help but laugh a bit like that. Katie was probably annoyed that it was the second time she had to deal with something like this from a friend on the same day.

Of course, neither girl appreciated the laughter.

Ben held up his hands. “Sorry, sorry. Just kinda funny that Katie said the same thing to me earlier today. The telling her about doing something dangerous part. Not the Leveling Program thing.”

Katie just palmed her face. “Yeah. It’s hilarious. Both my friends are reckless morons.”

“I’m sure he’s a moron,” Resolve said, gesturing to Ben with a thumb. “But I’m not. Like I said, if I’d known, I would have asked for help.”

“Which means,” Ben said quickly. “That since you now know you're completely open to working together now, right? After all, you’d be a moron like me if you said no, right? So we can all work together to plan our next attack?”

Resolve went back to glaring at Ben again. It wasn’t nearly as strong as before but if they ever got to know each other better he would ask if she picked up some kind of glare skill. Cause she was still really good at it. “I’m fine with Katie coming along. But why would we need you? What can you even do?”

“Oh don’t be so bitchy, Resolve,” Katie said. “It would have been a lot harder to disengage over there without Ben keeping that projector chick and the ash guy busy. Also, if I had to carry you, it would have been a lot harder to escape. Ben’s pack prioritizes anti-grav over thrust and his power is what lets him fly so fast.”

Resolve tsked again. “Maybe… But can he fight? What Rank is he anyway?”

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“E-Rank” Ben said with a wince. For a split second, he considered lying since he could hit above his Rank a bit, especially once he got better-quality quartz. But he decided lying to a potential teammate was not a good idea and told the truth.

Even if it meant that they probably wouldn’t be teammates. But maybe that would be okay. He needed to get the cube, but that didn’t mean he had to get it himself, even though he felt like he should. And Resolve was much better backup than Ben could be for Katie. If he had to stay behind to not be a liability, then he was willing to accept that.

“Before you blow your top,” Katie said, interrupting and putting her hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Ben’s Class is pretty damn versatile. It’s also a bit like a Tinker in that if he has time to prep he can hit above his weight class even if it uses up his supplies. He also just got his powers and is already doing pretty well. Give him two weeks and I bet you’d be happy to have him on your side.”

“Just got his power!” Resolve said, rounding on Katie. “Seriously? And you think he’s gonna be useful in just a week or two? I’m surprised you even freaking brought him here at all. He’s a complete newbie. What were you thinking? Also, why the hell would I want to wait a week or even two? I want to get the asshole as soon as possible!”

“Oh don’t be so dramatic,” Katie said, waving a hand dismissively. It seemed she had her temper under control again as she wasn’t raising her voice at all. Which seemed to annoy Resolve quite a bit. “For one thing, this wasn’t meant to be a fight and that’s why I left him on the roof. If you hadn’t been here, we would have just reconned and come back later. As for not wanting to wait… well tough luck. Cause I bet you they're abandoning their base right now. Even with our tracker, only one of them will probably have it on them and you’d have a one in five chance that it would be Blitz. They’ll also be on high alert for a little while. Even if you could track them down so fast, which you can’t without us, you’d be in for much worse of a fight.”

Resolve tsked and started pacing back and forth like an angry panther. “Okay, fine. So we need to wait. But he’s still a liability. Do you really think he’ll be able to do anything in just two weeks? Are you sure you aren’t letting your judgment be clouded?”

Katie just laughed at that. “My judgment is just fine. Unlike some people. And how about this? You wait two weeks while Ben and I work getting him up to snuff. Then before we go, you can test him. Do a little spar. If you still feel he’s a liability then he stays back and it’s just you and me.”

Resolve stopped her pacing and turned to Katie. She looked at the other girl with narrowed eyes, then turned to look at Ben for what felt like a long time. Then she scoffed. “Fine. If you're right, then he can come along. If not, I get to beat his ass in a spar.”

“Great,” Katie said, almost beaming. For some reason that made her happy.

Ben, on the other hand, couldn’t help but feel nervous. Why was she suddenly so eager to have him come along? And did she really think he’d be able to get strong enough to be of actual help so quickly?

Well, regardless if that was the case or not, at least things were settled now. He also now had two weeks to actually get used to his powers instead of worrying about trying to rush and get the cube.

Part of him still wondered if this could have been avoided if he’d gone after the cube right away, but he did his best to ignore it. He couldn’t change the past so all he could do was focus on the future. Focus on getting stronger so hopefully, he could actually pass the test with Resolve and personally take care of Zelter’s last wish.

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Ben flopped down heavily on Katie’s couch and let out a loud groan. He was out of his Super outfit and back into his own clothes.

After Dark Resolve had agreed to Katie’s idea of a test, the three of them split up and arranged to meet again later. Feeling tired and not wanting to take public transit home so late, Ben decided to crash at Katie’s place. Something he’d never done at her new house.

He’d had to call his aunt to let her know, which led to some guilt as she’d apparently been worried about him. He’d left his backup phone back at Katie’s place so it wouldn’t get damaged in an accident and she’d been unable to reach him. Not usually a problem, but he wasn’t usually out so late, and it had only been two days since the S-Rank Incursion. She was still a little on edge because of that.

After a lot of apologizing, he got permission to stay at Katie’s for the night and was just done with the day.

“Mom’s not gonna be home until a lot later,” Katie said, leaning over the other side of the couch to look down at him. She had her phone in her hand. “So do you want me to order something or are you fine with leftovers?”

“You pick,” Ben said with a tired groan, covering his face with his arm. “I’m exhausted and don’t want to think.”

“Takeout it is,” Katie said. “And why are you the one exhausted anyway? You did good, but you were mainly on lookout. I’m the one who went in and punched a bunch of things.”

“I had to deal with two very angry and argumentative teenage girls,” Ben said with exaggerated grief. “That’s like a thousand times harder than dealing with a whole team of villains. It’s like five teams of villains at least.”

“Haha,” Katie said with a deadpan and Ben had to squirm away as she reached down to pinch his arm. “So… Not my finest moment, but… Ugh. It was just so frustrating. First you, then E—Resolve. Like seriously, why!”

Ben squirmed away until Katie stopped trying to pinch him then let out a sigh. “I mean… I’m sure she had her reasons. I know I did as well. Sometimes… you just have to do something, even if it means taking a risk. Also, she did say she would have asked for help if she’d known just how strong you are. And she’s at least decided to let you come along next time. So there’s that, right?”

Ben rubbed his arm and sat up straight as a thought occurred to him.

“Actually, while we're on that, why did you insist on getting her to let me come along? I mean… I do want to, just so I can watch your back since I’m the reason you're after the cube in the first place. Even if you now have another reason to go after those Villains. But with Resolve watching your back, I’d feel less bad about staying behind and not being a liability. Not what I’d prefer, but I wouldn’t force the issue.”

“Well…” Katie said as she walked around the couch and sat in the one-seater to his right. She looked at Ben and, for some reason, she had something of a smug look. “There are several reasons. One I’ll keep to myself, but as for the rest… Having extra trusted backup is always nice. Even if you didn’t improve with your abilities, and I just kitted you out with some of my prototypes adjusted for you, it would still be helpful in case anything crazy happens.”

Katie sighed a bit and rested a cheek on one hand. In her other hand, she was scrolling through her phone, probably looking for something to eat.

“Another reason is Resolve needs more friends. Because of some… Important personal issues, she’s been so focused on Heroing and barely spends time with anyone else. I think having one more person she can trust and rely on would be good for her. Since you're gonna recognize her later anyway, once we're at Indomitable High since she hangs out with me during normal hours, it might as well be you. Finally, I honestly do think that two weeks might let you grow enough to really help. Both because of that last skill of yours and also your improved leveling. Speaking of which.“

Katie looked up at Ben.

“You didn’t happen to level up during or after the fight did you? Or anytime after?”

Ben frowned, taken aback. “What? No. How would I have leveled when… Oh.”

As Ben had spoken, he turned his attention to the notification bar in his HUD. He’d gotten so used to it to the point he kinda tuned it out. Which, as it turned out, was a bit of a mistake. The notification Icon was lit up… Perhaps he shouldn’t have adjusted the opacity down so low.

“Oh… ugh. Actually, maybe I did?” Ben said as he focused on the icon. “How did you know?

Bing!

Congratulations! You’ve leveled up! You are now a Level 2 Storage Gem Adept.

You have gained 3 stat points!