Here Is Gone Part 3

Chapter Three: Wishful Thinking

“You two still up for Central Park?” Kevin asked.

“I’d really like to hit the spa back at the hotel. I think they’ll have an available slot for me by now.” The red-head replied. Gwen had far too much excitement, if that was what you could call being attacked twice in the same day by the same group of thugs. All she really wanted to do was sit back and relax in the salon. Maybe have a facial and a manicure if she had the time, goodness knows going Fourarms was murder on the nails.

“Gwen was the one who wanted to go anyway.” Ben shrugged. Though he wanted to explore New York some more, even he had to admit they just had a close call. It was better they not press their luck.

“So what hotel are you two staying at?” The pale boy turned towards the streets, face a careful mask.

Gwen noted the expression on Kevin’s face or rather the lack thereof. She hoped he didn’t think they were trying to ditch him. The young girl withdrew the keycard to her room and read aloud the logo embossed on the surface.

“Yeah I know where that is, it’s this way.” the dark-haired boy motioned.

The cousins stared at each other and despite their constant arguments they sometimes had their rare moments of understanding.

“Um, Kevin,” It was Gwen who spoke up as they caught up to him, “Want to have dinner with us? I’m sure Grandpa Max wouldn’t mind you joining us since you saved us and all.”

He narrowed his eyes at them. “There’s no catch to this, is there?”

“No, no catch!” Ben assured him.

The older boy mulled it over for a few moments before breaking out into a grin. “I haven’t had a good meal in a while. What the heck. Sure.”

“Awesome!” Gwen beamed and with no other reason than to show how happy she was, she linked her arm with her cousin and Kevin’s.

Ben yanked himself away while making a disgusted face. “Ewww, gross! Keep your cooties to yourself, Gwen.”

Gwen shot her cousin a dirty glare and turned to Kevin, half-expecting him to pull away as well. To her surprise (and secret delight) the older boy just shrugged and kept his arm where it was. She felt the faint flutter of wings in her stomach but dismissed it. She was just grateful to him after all he had kept her from getting seriously injured.

The trio walked towards the hotel and halfway there Kevin suggested “Tell me about your Grandpa Max.”

By all means it sounded like he was just nervous about meeting the older Tennyson. Gwen found it sweet that Kevin was worried about making a good impression. Ben saw this as an opportunity to get the dark-haired boy comfortable with them.

How would either Tennyson know Kevin had other reasons for asking? If he was going to get his hands on the watch, the dark-haired boy needed to know if he had other obstacles apart from Gwen’s righteous tendencies.

“You’ll like Grandpa Max.” Gwen beamed. “He may have bad taste in clothes and music and knows a lot of boring stories about the old days, but he’s fair and funny most of the time.”

“Yeah, even if Gwen totally takes after him with the rule following bit, Grandpa’s pretty cool.” Ben agreed.

“Just don’t ask him to cook anything.” The cousins added together in grim warning.

As he took in the information to continue with his plotting, Kevin found himself smiling at the cousins. Not a sneer, not a smirk, but an honest to goodness smile. The two younger kids were laying it on pretty thick, which the dark-haired boy found both weird and flattering. Someone actually wanted him around even if he had these powers.

His eyes rested absently on Gwen’s arm linked with his and he reasoned that was merely studying the watch whose faceplate was an unlit red. In no way would he ever admit he was noting how snugly the crook of her elbow fit with his own.

Then the hotel came into view and the building reminded Kevin they were only here on vacation. That they would leave him behind just like everyone else. Before his thoughts could darken further, he felt Gwen tug him past the doors and towards the elevators.

“Grandpa’s probably napping in his room.” Gwen explained.

Ben gave a wistful sigh as he stopped to stare at the room filled with the sounds of electronic beeping and synthesized battle cries. “Pleeeeeease Gwen? It won’t take me too long to play one level!”

“Ben, I already said no and Grandpa said no too!” She frowned.

Kevin felt the young girl’s arm slip free from his in order to bodily drag Ben away from the room. Even without the watch, Gwen was taller than Ben and she knew how to use her size to her advantage. The brunette, on the other hand, proved to be accustomed to wriggling out of her holds.

As Kevin watched the two wrestle he couldn’t help but recognize the armored Sumo printed on the placard. “Hey is that the new Sumo Slammer game that won’t be coming out until Christmas?”

The cousins stopped to turn to Kevin.

Ben brightened; glad to find a kindred spirit. “Yeah! They’re doing a preview for special guests. Invitation only.” He stated with air quotes while mimicking the expression of the guard who had denied him access.

Something clicked in Kevin’s head and he fought back the sly grin that threatened to creep across his face.

“There you two are.” A voice suddenly declared from behind Kevin.

Instinctively, the pale boy whipped around, ready to defend himself. But he relaxed his stance when he saw it was just an elderly man wearing one of the brightest Hawaiian shirts he had ever seen.

“Grandpa!” Gwen greeted happily.

“I see you two made a new friend.” Max nodded at Kevin.

“This is Kevin.” Ben introduced.

“And we were sorta hoping you wouldn’t mind if he had dinner with us tonight.” Gwen continued, giving her grandfather her best puppy dog eyes.

The cousins explained how Kevin gave them a tour of the city as well as saving Gwen from the thug. The retired man thought treating Kevin to dinner was a good reward. With that settled Gwen decided it was time she got herself that spa treatment and excused herself.

“Be back in time for dinner.” Max called after his granddaughter before she disappeared to the salon.

“I will.” She cheerfully promised.

“Do you need to tell your parents that you won’t be joining them for dinner, Kevin?” Max asked.

“I don’t really know where my folks are.” Kevin saw no reason to hide this fact, if any he knew playing the poor orphan angle only endeared him to the elderly.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that Kevin.” Max apologized.

“Nah s’fine.” He shrugged, accustomed to hearing the same things from adults. They never did anything about it.

“Well, it’ll be a while before dinner so why don’t you two go have some fun. I think I spotted an arcade a few blocks away.”

The boys looked at each other before Ben vehemently stated they’d rather just look around the hotel.

                                                             ----------

Gwen returned to her room an hour later feeling relaxed. It was not quite the blissful nirvana she was expecting but at least she was in a good mood. Lying down on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling and let out a content sigh. She refused to let herself worry about whether or not Ben got himself and Kevin into any mischief, they were with Grandpa Max after all.

The lights flickered briefly and she sat up. Her brows knit together, emerald eyes suspiciously scanning her surroundings. Kevin wouldn’t be using his powers here, would he?

She huffed with a shake of her head, of course he would. Kevin was like Ben, she had seen as much to know that. She only hoped they wouldn’t have done anything to get them thrown out of the hotel.

A knock on the door and Gwen felt her stomach lurch. A whole hour’s worth of relaxation down the drain in less than five minutes. A new personal record. She grumbled.

“Who is it?” She called out, hoping that it wouldn’t be security telling her she and her family had to leave.

“It’s Kevin.”

Relieved, Gwen opened the door to the older boy. “What’s up?”

“Your grandpa sent me to get you for dinner.” He explained. “He and Ben are over at that place down the block.”

“Is it a fancy restaurant?” She asked, wondering whether or not she should change.

“Well it ain’t exactly high class.”

“Let me guess, it’s one of those lame diners and Ben picked the place?” She asked dryly, lips pursing. Typical of her cousin to pass up the chance to experience fine dining and settle for something so mundane.

“You’re right about it being a diner, but it wasn’t Ben’s idea. It was mine.” Kevin replied and was quite amused by the sight of Gwen’s face turning beet red in embarrassment.

Wordlessly, she locked the door to her room before quickly zipping down the hallway. Leaving a snickering Kevin to chase after her.

“You know what your problem is, Gwen? You’re too uptight.” Kevin stated as they waited for the elevator to arrive.

“Am not.” She frowned and fidgeted, still feeling embarrassed.

“Yeah you are. I mean, you take everything so seriously like it’s the end of the world or something. Lighten up a little.”

“I can’t really help it. Since I got this watch bad guys just pop outta nowhere and it’s up to me to stop them.”

“Like that weirdo doctor with the mutant pets?”

“Yeah and hey, how’d you know about Animo?” She gawked.

Kevin grinned. “Ben told me about some of the stuff you guys have done.”

“Ben was never good at keeping his mouth shut.” Gwen’s brows furrowed even more. “What else did he blab about?”

“Just the different aliens you can turn into and what they do.” He offered.

“Did Ben tell you I figured their powers out by using him as a guinea pig?” The red head giggled, green eyes twinkling with the mischief she had been suppressing.

Kevin studied her intently, “Can I ask you something?”

“Aren’t you already asking?” she teased.

“Har har, I mean, haven’t you ever done anything with that watch that didn’t involve chores or saving the day?”

“Oh don’t you start with me on that, Kevin.” She groaned. “I’ve had this conversation with Ben like a bazillion times already. Doing stuff like that just isn’t for me.”

The audible ding of the elevator provides Gwen a brief reprieve. Inside, Gwen leaned her arms atop the metal railing as she stared out the glass walls overlooking the city.

Kevin slid up to her, their elbows touching. “How can you say it’s not for you when you’ve never tried it?”

“Who says I haven’t? I just don’t like facing the consequences of my actions.” She frowns but doesn’t move away.

He looks thoughtful for a moment before snickering. “And I thought you were smart.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her eyes narrow in suspicion.

“Facing the consequences just means you got caught. If you were really smart, you’d have gotten away. I bet the real reason you don’t do anything risky or fun for that matter” -he ignores the dirty glare she makes at him- “Is that you can’t without someone finding out about it.”

“I can so get away with doing bad stuff, if I felt like it.” She adds sourly.

“So prove it. Put your money where your mouth is.”

Normally, Gwen would never have allowed herself to fall for such an obvious reverse psychology ploy. But in her defense, Gwen was never in the receiving end before.

Her lips press into a tight line before letting out a sigh of resignation, “Fine. What do you have in mind?”

“What say we shake on it first?” He offers his hand.

She should have seen by the sly way he smiled that whatever it was he had planned, it was going to be big trouble. But Gwendolyn Tennyson had these rare moments of pride and though she should have known better, she ignored her better judgment and accepted the proffered appendage.

“Alright, we’ve shook, now what do you have in mind?” Gwen demanded, arms folding across her chest.

Again the ding and the doors opened to the ground floor. Kevin replied as he stepped out, “We’re going to break into a warehouse tonight at around ten.”

Gwen stared. And stared. And stared some more.

Kevin had to pull her out of the elevator before the doors closed in on her.

“Are you crazy? Breaking into a warehouse to do what?” She hissed as they went through the lobby.

“I got a tip that the new Sumo Slammer game is being kept in this warehouse.”

Gwen didn’t bother to hide the look of blatant disbelief on her face “You want me to steal a stupid videogame?”

“What? Not bad enough for you? We could try to mug someone. I know a good spot near the Bronx that-”

“No. Fine. Swiping a stupid videogame it is.” She cringed. “But no one better get hurt and we’d better not get caught.”

Kevin chuckled, “If I could promise that, it wouldn’t be much of a risk, would it?”

Gwen couldn’t come up with an answer that didn’t make her sound like she was trying to worm her way out of things. “Point goes to you, Kevin. Ten it is. Where do we meet?”

“I’ll make things easier on you, let’s meet behind the hotel.”