Descension

CHAPTER 10

"Home at last." Joaquin sighs, turning around to look at Ben. "Ever been to this side of Genesis?"

Ben blinks as he registers that Joaquin was talking to him, shaking his head a second too late.

Dannika chortles. "Pretty boy stays in his lab."

Ben grunts as he averts his gaze from the fixation on nothing in particular. Dark, grimey concrete completely encloses all sides of the street, except for the night sky, the thick blanket of clouds above reflecting the light of the city below, although obstructed by tangled wires and holograms. Neon signs reflect in puddles on the ground, which Ben isn't entirely convinced are just water. Advertisements for pleasure clubs and exotic drugs seemed as common as those for food and fashion. Scratchy synth and deep bass emanates from nearly every building, cut through with laughter and shouting. Ben curls in on himself, watching as eyes of all kinds gravitate to his bright orange jumpsuit. He tenses up even more as Joaquin pats his knee.

"Hey, untwist your panties once we get to our place, okay?" Joaquin says to Ben over his shoulder, "We're almost there."

Ben tsks and crosses his arms, little sprinkles of rain freckling his face as he watches bright, saturated colors blur past his vision.

It takes only a few more short blocks until Dannika parks the speeder and hops off, Joaquin following, then finally, Ben. Dannika leads the group into a small converted garage that smells of gunpowder, a workbench pressed up against the wall with a knit hammock in the corner, all lit in a warm, fluorescent orange. Ben hangs back at the entrance as Dannika sits down at the table and boots up a laptop. Her desk is littered with metal shells, arrays of homemade explosives in various stages of completion, pliers, and empty plasma bolt cans. Joaquin settles into the hammock, sighing as he rests his mechanical hands behind his head and closes his eyes.

A chill breeze whispers along the nape of Ben's neck, his hair fluttering. He turns around and adjusts his glasses, crossing his arms as he further observes his surroundings. This area had a different feeling than the rest. Maybe it was the adrenaline that had made him more sensitive to danger, and his mind had intentionally focused on the more crude elements; however, looking around now, he sees groups of people laughing together around fires outside of their homes, humble street vendors selling practical goods and food, and even a group of children playing with a small drone that they toss to each other, jumping up as high as they can to clasp it in their hands, then send it back up into the air to flutter down once again.

"What are you thinking about?" Joaquin asks, sitting up in the hammock.

Ben shrugs, "I'm just... more comfortable than I thought I'd be."

Dannika smiles as she rises, walking over to Ben to stand beside him. "That uptown bias crumbled quick."

Ben nods, his brows knitting as he turns his gaze to the ground, "I enjoy learning. I just spent all my time learning about science rather than... learning about people." Ben takes a deep breath, his sigh puffing into fog as it leaves his lips.

Dannika hums, "I bet you know a lot about yourself, though."

Ben shakes his head. "I wish."

Joaquin stands up and leans against the wall, his head tilting as he crosses his arms, "So... what'd someone like you have to do to get thrown in jail?"

Ben stammers, beads of sweat beginning to pool at his hairline, "I..." He trails off, then gulps down the bile rising in his throat, "...I was--I am--the CEO of Omnicore. The Ordership invaded the facility, and then I... I killed nearly all of them." He murmurs the words near-silently, his eyes defocusing.

All around him are the flashing faces of his colleagues--his family--and their rolled-back eyes, stuck permanently gazing at the insides of their lids. Ben is dragged through their blood, still warm, the sticky fluid coagulating in the cloth of his coat. His breath is rapid and shallow, unable to get a single atom of fresh oxygen into his lungs.

Joaquin grins, "That's kickass."

Dannika pats Ben's arm before turning around and walking back to her desk, "We'll help you out. You don't have to be some isolated scientist or even a felon anymore. You just get to be you."

Me. Ben was always a scientist. Always a leader. What else is there to him? He wracks his mind for every descriptor he knows, and yet with each word it's like trying to place a square peg into a circular hole, or trying to fit a key into the wrong lock. Nothing. He had never explored anything else. He knows he loves science; there's nothing else he'd do instead, but that doesn't mean he can't be anything in addition to that.

"Chh, Earth to engineer, you are spacing out," Joaquin mocks, standing up from the hammock and walking over to Ben as he fits a gauge into the lobe of his ear.

"Radiochemist," Ben says, looking over at Joaquin with a scowl, his eyes immediately jumping to his bright orange clothing. Ben looks down at himself, finding the same shade of crime, "...Can we change out of these?"

"What? You don't like bright orange trash bags?" Joaquin snickers as he places a second gauge into his opposite lobe, turning around and gesturing for Ben to follow him.

Joaquin leads Ben through a doorway behind thick, tattered curtains that open up into a small room with a kitchen and sofa, only one other door leading into a bathroom. Joaquin walks to the corner of the room and grabs a few garments, then tosses them on the couch.

"Those are yours for now," Joaquin says, pointing to a black pair of combat pants and sleeveless turtleneck.

Ben nods as he takes the clothes into his arms, turning around to walk to the bathroom to change, only to find Joaquin already stripped of his jumpsuit. His entire body is plated in red metal with silver mesh interlocking each piece. Joaquin's figure glistens in the low, multicolored lights from outside, and Ben can hear a faint whirring from Joaquin's joints as they move.

"I didn't know it was your whole body..." Ben murmurs, his eyes glued to Joaquin's figure.

"Yep. Everything." Joaquin grins.

Ben's face flushes bright red and his eyes widen, Joaquin cackling as he starts getting dressed. Ben rushes into the bathroom and closes the door behind himself, sighing as he unzips his jumpsuit and slips out of it. He throws on the new clothes and turns on the sink, splashing water on his face and combing it back into his hair. He sets his glasses on his nose bridge and rolls his shoulders back before turning around and stepping out of the bathroom, smiling as Joaquin gives an approving nod.

"Better," Joaquin says, "Let's get you your own shoes in the morning. A guy owes me a favor."

Ben smiles at Joaquin, "Thank you."

Joaquin smiles back, "You'll get your home back from the Ordership one day. We all will; we're just waiting on the catalyst for a revolution."

Ben's heart aches at Joaquin's words, "...I don't know."

Joaquin shakes his head. "It's bound to happen sometime soon, I'm sure."

"No," Ben sighs, eyes stinging with tears, "I don't know if I want Omnicore back."