The next several weeks weren’t kind to Ben. Heather was away with family, followed by another press tour, then more training. There were a few days when Ben was left alone with the other monster. Unpleasant things happened in those days.

Those days passed, and Ben, finally alone, just moped. That was all he really did when he was alone, free from the monsters in his life, while they were unleashed upon their distant victims. Whatever havoc Heather and Jason were inflicting on the enemy, Ben remained willfully ignorant of it. All the screens in his life were permanently shut off. No TV, no computer, no phone, no news. He just didn’t care to know anymore.

And why bother. He had been fully reduced to nothing, in every sense of the term. He might have been okay with that, if it meant serving Heather’s carnal desires, but then Jason came along. 

Jason, a human black hole. He takes everything. He devours everything. He consumed everything in Ben’s life, then flew overseas, doubtless to consume endless more. He was insatiable. And yet, so fully had he ground Ben into the pavement, that Ben didn’t have the energy to resist him anymore. Go on. Become a god. I don’t care. Maybe I welcome it. I don’t even know anymore.

Banging on the door. The door bell rang a dozen times, followed by more banging.

“Ben! Ben you reclusive fuck answer the door!” a woman shouted from outside. It was AJ’s voice.

Ben sighed, put on some pants, and moped over to the door. He took his dear sweet time unlocking it and pulling it open, but AJ practically broke it down.

“We need you. Right now,” she said, with a crazed look in her eye.

Earlier that morning, Jason and Heather were shipped overseas for their next mission.

“Can you feel it?” Jason asked, giving Heather a friendly nudge on the shoulder. “Today’s the day.”

But she didn’t respond. She would’ve preferred to stare out the window at the miles of landscape beneath them, but military C-130s were scarce on windows. So instead she stared at the floor, curling and uncurling her fingers into tight, reciprocating balls. She’d been like this all day. Jason figured she was nervous. Once again, Heather wasn’t ready for action.

“Hey don’t worry about it,” Jason said, trying to sound comforting. “After today there’ll be no more missions.” He leaned close to her, and whispered in her ear, “I’ll make it all go away. I’m gonna eat a whole goddamn city. And after that-”

Heather waved a dismissive hand in Jason’s face.

“What is your problem?” Jason asked, getting irritated with her inconsolability. 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well get your head in the fucking game, Heather. Because we’re about to invade an entire enemy city and you’re here pouting about... What? Exactly?”

Heather flashed Jason the “fuck you” eyes. 

“Hey I’m not gonna play this game with you all damn day, okay?” Jason pressed. “What the actual fuck is your problem?”

Heather pursed her lips tightly and her eyes winced. She fidgeted in her seat, trying to find the right words to express herself, or even judge if it was worth stating her thoughts at all. Finally, she went for it.

“AJ told me before we got on the plane...” she began, hesitating for a moment, “That she thinks you’re holding me back.”

Jason leaned back into his seat, raising his eyebrows, surprised, and a bit offended. “Heather, that woman is a total nutcase,” He gestured with a scoffing hand. “Besides, you don’t even like her.”

“Yeah but I think she’s right,” Heather muttered. She folded her arms together into a defensive huddle and closed her eyes.

“That it?” Jason said. “That’s what’s got you in a bind?”

“No that’s not it,” Heather started again, taking a deep breath, readying herself for an outpouring of pent up angst. “The other day my brother told me that I’m not good at my job. Or he may as well have just said that. That if I was good at my job, he wouldn’t have to risk his life every day. Okay? So his life - literally - is in my hands,” she said, gesturing outward with her hands.

“Oh and if Ben were here, he’d remind me ‘that’s not how you use the word literally’, or something,” she continued, taking in another deep breath. “But he hasn’t said anything. I called him like a thousand times, and he never picks up and he never calls back, and I think he resents me for reducing him to nothing, and sharing him with you - which I thought would be fun! I thought we’d all have a fun time together! But... The way you treat him it’s like you own him. But I own him, not you. He’s mine. And it’s fucked up that I even think about it like that. Like, he’s a person, not a thing. The last time I saw him I totally forgot that he’s a fucking person. I mean I actually forgot. In that interrogation room I treat him like... A thing. And I liked it. I actually liked it. What even is that? How is part of me even capable of doing that?”

“It’s natural. We’re not people anymore, Heather. We’re something bigger.”

“Yeah, which is even worse, because to tell the truth I think you’re right. And that scares the shit out of me. Because every time I grow, it gets harder to remember all the little people in my life who I love. People shouldn’t have this kind of power, Jason,” Heather began gesturing wildly. 

“You don’t have to worry about-” Jason rebutted, but Heather wasn’t finished.

“I especially should not have this kind of power. Like, when I lose my temper, I get pissed and I stay pissed for days. I lock myself in my fucking room sometimes because I get so mad. I don’t even think straight when I’m like that. So part of me says, ‘Yeah, Heather, you shouldn’t have this power. You should just go hide in a hole somewhere and let the world blow itself up.’ But then,” Heather’s lower jaw wavered in the air for a couple moments, taking a break before the next emotional dump. “Then I have all these fucked up dreams every night, that something bad will happen. To my brother, to my family, to Ben. Something bad that I could have stopped. I have the power to stop. But it didn’t get stopped because I was too much of a coward to use what I have. They died because I was weak,” she gestured an accusing finger at her self with each final word.

“Woah, okay,” Jason said, exhaling a deep breath he just realized he’d been holding in. “Well you don’t have to worry about any of that. Nothing bad is going to happen. You don’t even have to use your power. I’ll take care of everything. I’m gonna keep growing and I’ll just take care of-”

“Did you ever use your pheromones on me?” Heather asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Wha- No. Definitely not,” Jason said. “Really, I promise. Where is this coming f-”

Heather cast cold eyes on Jason. “Did you use them on Ben?”

Jason went silent. The two didn’t speak for the remainder of the flight.