The Barden Guardians

(6) Danger?

Chloe was hanging out at Jessica's house with her friends. They were talking about school and what they wanted to do for the weekend. Suddenly they felt the house shake. Aubrey pulled them out the house towards the middle of the road.

"Why did you pull us to the middle of the road?" Ashely asked.

"You have to stay away from buildings during earthquakes." Aubrey replied as the the tremor slowly came to a stop.

"The tremors usually come at night. What happened?" Stacie asked.

"I don't know, but I do know that this tremor was stronger than the others." Aubrey answered.

They were about to open the door to Jessica's house when Beca's car parked in front of the house across the road.

"Benjamin Appleboum I swear if you don't get out here right now!" the girls heard an angry Beca yell.

"You don't have to yell you know." Emily said as she walked out the car.

"He put your life in danger and you expect me not to yell!?"

"Yes, he just wanted me to test a sample in my lab." Emily said calmly. Benji then came out his house to face the wrath of an angry Beca.

"Benjamin Franklin Applebaum you have some nerve giving Emily those samples!"

"I didn't know those rocks were dangerous." Benji said.

"If you wanna put your life on the line for this ungrateful town go ahead, I won't try to stop you anymore, but let me make this clear I won't let you drag innocent people into your bullshit." Beca said with a stern look. Then got into her car with Emily right behind her.

"Beca! Beca, please I need your help!" Benji yelled but Beca was already leaving.

Benji let out a frustrated sigh. He sat down on his from steps, and he looked like he was in another world.

Amy was the first to walk over to him, she was then followed by her friends.

"What was that about?" Aubrey asked.

"I asked Em to test a rock sample for me. I didn't know I was dangerous. Now Beca is mad at me."

"Do you by any chance know a Leonardo Applebaum?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, he's my grandpa. Leonardo is his middle name. Why do you ask?" Benji asked.

Chloe showed him the texts his grandpa sent her. Benji couldn't believe his eyes. He's grandpa left a few weeks ago for some work. He didn't say what work but Benji knew it wasn't normal work.

"Follow me please." Benji said and the girls followed him into his house. He told them to sit on the couch as he locked the door.

"My grandpa said he wanted to find out more about the base/lab at the top of the mountain. Since your dad works there his security pass can help my grandpa get in." Benji explained as he took his tablet from the coffee table.

"What do you mean by base/lab?" Aubrey asked.

"At the edge of town there's a mountain, there's a science lab along with a military base at the top of the mountain. It's been here for about seven years." Jessica answered.

"That's where your dads work." Benji added.

"Our dads said they go around town looking for the Guardians." Chloe frowned.

"True but if they're not doing that, they're up there." Stacie said recalling when her dad told her about his work place.

Benji got his phone to call his grandpa in another room leaving the girls in his living room.

The house was very beautiful and had a modern look to it. The girls couldn't help but notice the photos of Benji and his parents. There were also some photos of him and his grandparents, but one caught their eye, a group photo that had Benji, Jesse, Lilly, Flo, Cynthia Rose, Emily and Beca as kids.

"They look so happy." Chloe smiled as the photo.

"Yeah, by the looks of it they were best friends. I wonder what happened?" Stacie asked.

"People grow apart." the girls tuned around to see Benji. "My grandpa says he'll talk once he get home. Can you guys come back here on Saturday? That's when all your questions will be answered."

"Okay, but what did Beca mean when she said she's not gonna stop you from saving the town?" Aubrey asked.

"Like I said, all your questions will be answered on Saturday." Benji sighed. The girls walked out his house and went back to Jessica's house.

They were all at Benji's house on Saturday at noon. Benji let them in so they could talk to his grandfather.

"Why did you need my dad's security pass?" Chloe asked Leo.

"I needed his security pass to get into that lab up the mountain. I have a feeling that they're the ones who are causing these tremors by mining something under the park."

"Those rocks you asked me to test?" Benji asked.

"Yes, they're also making these weird robot things, but I don't know if they're safe yet. What I do know is I need your girlfriend Emily to assess them for me. I'll send you the blue prints and programming." Leo said.

"We've been over this a million times grandpa, Emily isn't my girlfriend." Benji said and Stacie let out a sigh of relief. "Plus Beca told me to keep her out of this."

"What are you supposed to keep her out of? What was Beca talking about yesterday?" Aubrey asked.

"Beca was talking about saving the town. Last time they did that they got hurt really bad, Beca doesn't want that to happen again." Benji replied.

"Just lie to the young one. Say it's for your robotics class or something. Just get her to assess it." Leo demanded.

"Fine I'll send her the picture of the blueprints and the programming." Benji sighed and grabbed his phone.

"I'm confused. Why didn't you ask Aubrey and Stacie for their dads' security passes?" Chloe asked.

"Aubrey would've told her dad and Stacie's dad is very observant."

"Emily says the robot's skeleton is very strong and almost indestructible, but the programming cut way too many corners. If the robot control system glitches, it will do the opposite of what it's programmed to do." Benji said after getting off his phone.

"So why did you stop being close friends with Beca?" Amy asked.

"I already told you that people grow apart. "

"What made you grow apart?" Amy asked.

"We wanted different things. Beca wanted to sit around and do nothing while I wanted to help people."

"I don't get it? You're giving me more questions than answers here." Amy said.

"We'll tell you more once we have more. For now you have go so I can go do some more digging." Leo said and the girls left.