Ben 10 Omniverse - Believe

Chapter 8 : The Secret Ally's Offer

Assembled at the Tennyson household, as they ate and drank the snacks Sandra had set out for them, all the members of the search parties decided to compile into a digital map of Bellwood the areas they had looked through together to determine if there were any places left in town they had not yet checked. Julie immediately provided the details of her and Ship's scouring of the forests. Manny supplied his search of the train yards. Helen, her speedy but thorough journey through empty schools and other public buildings. Alan, his airborne sweep of building roofs that could not be seen easily from ground level. Max, his touring of all known teen hangouts available at night. Kevin and Kai, their run through the streets. Frank and Natalie, their visits and phone calls to all of Gwen's friends.

It seemed as though the whole of Bellwood had been searched, leading to alternate ideas being suggested from around the room. Carl put up the notion that Gwen could be hiding underground. Julie pointed out that Gwen may be merely taking someone's guise in order to avoid detection. Kevin agreed with Julie, recalling with a shiver how Gwen had taken on her appearance when she took him prisoner. Kai amended Julie's point, stating that Gwen could be taking on any of theirs and was actually in the room with them. After using his magic to scan everyone, Hex claimed that theory to be disproven. Manny objected the claim, arguing that since Hex and Gwen both use magic, Gwen could be using his form as a disguise and noone would know the difference. Hope coughed, gaining his attention, and raised an eyebrow. Manny blinked a few times, before finally taking the hint that she would. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's actions, Helen surveyed the map and began to point out sections that had not been covered by the search parties, explaining that they would have been difficult for any one of them to look through without being sighted by a security force or them having to break something just to get in. Max jotted down each location in memory; the factory district, emergency services buildings, military installations, science and technology development companies, banks and government-run buildings.

In the midst of this, Ben voiced an idea that made everyone stop and think. Gwen knew all about Plumber procedures and protocols; she had endeavoured to ready any informative material regarding the organisation after the night Magister Gilhil officially inducted her, Ben and Kevin into the service. She would know that any search party looking for her would investigate the entirety of Bellwood first before devoting the resources required to expand the search outside of the town. She might not be in Bellwood anymore.

Ben's idea got to Max. All the elderly Plumber's instincts were telling him the opposite, that Gwen was remaining close by in order to keep watch on Ben, which meant she'd never go far from Bellwood. But Ben's point, he found, was a good one; all the search had been co-ordinated within the town limits. For all he knew, Gwen was hiding just outside those limits, out of their current range. Max grimaced, making a special addition to his mental list to send Alan and Helen to search a thirty-mile radius outside of town.

He then gave everyone the command to get some sleep until daybreak, when the search for Gwen would be resumed.

:*:

As luck or maybe the fact he knew Gwen so well would have it, Ben's guess was right on the money but he was not the only one to come close to Gwen's hiding place. Julie and Ship, through their check of the forests, had very nearly crossed their quarry's path and would have had Gwen not seen them first.

On an outcrop of rocks, eight hundred metres beyond the town line, the young sorceress was sitting, crosslegged, deep in meditation, pondering on her next course of action, when she sensed two beings about to exit through the forest edge. Seeing with her physical eyes that it was Julie and Ship, Gwen summoned up a bubble of mana energy around her and turned it and her invisible to shield her from view. She kept a steady eye on the two as they traversed along the boundary, knowing that they were obviously seeking to recapture her, and readied herself for a possible fight in case her spell was not enough to fool Ship's sensors.