Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

            Rook was a bit confused. Jen had taken him into the Prototruck and held up a blindfold.

            “Ok so I need you to put this on and promise not to peek.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

            “Why?”

            “It’s your birthday you’re not really allowed to ask questions like that.” She seemed to immediately understand his confusion. “It’s a surprise.” She insisted. He sat down in the passenger seat and nodded.

            “Very well, I trust you.” Jen laughed lightly and tied the blindfold in place. He heard her get behind the wheel and take off. After a bit he could not contain his curiosity. “So on Earth it is prohibited to ask questions on the day of ones birth?” Jen laughed.

            “No, you’re allowed to ask questions, just not where we’re going. That’s the surprise.” Rook frowned slightly.

            “So it is traditional to take a person to an undisclosed location on their birthday?”

            “When you put it that way it sounds silly. It’s more of a tradition to take someone to a place they will enjoy. To spend the day there, or in our case the weekend.” He could hear the smile in her voice though he could still only see the inside of the blindfold.

            “Ah this is why there were bags in the back of the Prototruck?” He asked lightly she laughed again.

            “Curse your observant Plumberness. Yes that’s why there were bags back there. I took the liberty of getting you a few things you’ll need for where we’re going.” She stated and he felt the slight lurch of the Prototruck exiting the atmosphere.

            “Are we leaving Earth?” Rook asked.

            “That sounded like a question about where we’re going.” Jen teased. “But no not technically, this is just the fastest way to get there.” She was right in a few minutes the lurch happened again as they re-entered the atmosphere. In minutes they were landing and he heard Jen hop out of her seat. She stepped over to his and he took off his seatbelt. “No peeking.” She insisted, taking his hands and pulling him up out of his chair. He nodded slightly.

            “I promised I would not.” He insisted. She laughed again, leading him to the back of the Prototruck.

            “Ok wait here for a second.” She demanded and let go of his hand. He was alone for a moment. He heard a click as the back of the Prototruck was opened and a cold blast of air came rushing in. “Ok you can take off the mask now!” Jen said grinning. Rook reached up and untied the blindfold. He blinked, Jen was standing in the doorway of the back of the Prototruck, wearing a large puffy coat he’d never seen before. Like most of her clothing it was bright green and stood out like a sore thumb against the white expanse behind her. “Welcome to the Alpine mountains!”

            “What is all this?” Rook asked looking around curiously. The world was covered in white.

            “Snow!” Jen exclaimed. She bounced forward. “I remembered when we first met you had said that Revonnah doesn’t ever get a hard freeze, and I did some digging, you’ve never done a mission on any kind of ice planet. So I decided that for your birthday you should experience something new. So I called in a favor!” She tossed him a large coat, in a deep forest green. “Come on!” He pulled on the coat and followed her out into the white expanse. It crunched under his feet and he smiled.

            “This is quite different.” He pointed out, stepping down on a fresh patch of snow. Jen giggled slightly at his reaction to his surroundings.

            “Well that’s not all either.” He frowned looking up to ask what she meant and finally noticed that they were not just in a valley of white up in the mountains. There was a large building made of wood and glass nestled in the piles of snow. It was quite large, with a covered balcony and what appeared to be something like a zipline going up the mountain towards the peak. Coming down the stairs towards them was a teen, about Jen’s age with short black hair, Rook couldn’t tell their gender. Jen seemed to know them though.

            “Eddie!” The two hugged for a moment and Jen pulled the other teen over to Rook.

            “Rook this is an old friend of mine, Edwin Grand-Smith, he goes by Eddie though. His grandfather owns the resort.” The boy Eddie grinned.

            “Yes he does! Welcome to the Chateau D’Or! Our best resort in the French Alps! Skiing season hasn’t quite kicked off yet, so the two of you mostly have the place to yourselves.” Rook raised an eyebrow.

            “What is skiing?”

            “Winter sport.” Jen explained. “I’m not much for it I prefer a snowboard, closer to a hoverboard.” Eddie grinned.

            “Well if you’re interested in learning the skiing instructor is in residence.” Eddie suggested, Jen grinned.

            “I think I’d like to see you on skis. See if your as coordinated on a board as you are on your feet.”  Eddie grinned at them gesturing back up the stairs he had just come down.

            “Plenty of time for that later. Lunch will be served soon. We’ll get you two settled in your rooms first.” Jen grinned and grabbed their bags out of the Prototruck. They followed Eddie inside Rook looking around curiously. Eddie was more than willing to expound on the accoutrement of the resort.

            “Seventy rooms, thirty with kitchenettes, twenty with full kitchens. Though we have a full kitchen staff on as well, if I remember correctly Jen eats quite a bit.” Jen rolled her eyes.

            “I have a very high metabolism.” She commented and Rook nodded.

            “I have noticed that.” He smiled at his partner.

            “We’ve got a skiing and snowboarding instructor in residence. Equipment you can borrow if you want. And of course, standard in our resorts, a swimming pool and a hot tub, both indoors. An open bar, legal drinking age in France is eighteen so none for Jen but Rook you can sample as you like, assuming you can have alcohol.” Jen nodded but Rook shook his head.

            “I do not know that I will partake.” Eddie shrugged.

            “To each their own. Breakfast served from eight to ten. Lunch is noon to two. Dinner is from seven to nine. Room service is available, menus are in your rooms. Everything you want is on the house, only the best for my friends.” Eddie said leading them to their rooms, which were next to each other. “Lunch in ten.” Rook nodded heading into the room Eddie handed him a key for. Jen turned to Eddie.

            “You got it all set up for tonight?” Eddie nodded at Jen grinning.

            “Jen my dear you must have faith in me. The staff has all been informed that he’s an alien and they won’t make a big deal about it. We have everything you requested for tonight. Have some faith.” Jen nodded taking her key from Eddie. “Hey maybe you should have some fun this weekend too.” She rolled her eyes at him, punching him gently in the shoulder.

            “Yeah well, you’re pulling out all the stops. How could I possibly avoid having fun?” She teased. Eddie shook his head slightly as she slipped into her room with her bag. She sighed looking around, admiring the expansive room, massive bed and bathroom with a bathtub large enough to submerge herself fully in. Yes, this weekend would be just what they needed after everything they had been through. She had nearly died on Galvan before finally beating Malware, regaining a piece of herself she thought lost to her forever. That had been barely a week ago and everyone insisted that Rook and Jen deserved some time off after that. She just hoped he would have fun this weekend too, after all it was his birthday.

Chapter Text

            Rook met Jen outside their rooms to head down to lunch together. There were quite a few dishes there that Rook had never seen, French cuisine, Jen explained. It was quite lovely and the two of them agreed to head for the slopes for a while. They would start on the smaller slope since Rook had never really interacted with snow before and would need some instruction.

            The instructor turned out to be a blonde woman by the name of Natalie. She was French, from a town not too far from where they were now. She spoke English quite well, though Jen had figured out that, because of the Translation Matrix in the Omnitrix, she could understand practically any spoken language. Natalie was quite interested in the pair of them and when it became clear that Jen had some experience and didn’t really need her help she focused on Rook.

            “For someone who hasn’t seen snow before you are quite well coordinated!” Natalie commented. Rook smiled, Jen nodded slightly stepping onto her board.

            “No surprise there. He’s a highly trained space cop.” Natalie smiled at Rook winking at him.

            “With a physique like that there’s no surprise at all.” Jen rolled her eyes at the instructor. Rook frowned slightly as though confused.

            “I’m gonna head a bit higher up, we’re meeting back at the lodge in about an hour.” Rook frowned slightly but nodded, watching as Jen hopped on a ski lift up to one of the more advanced slopes. His attention was drawn back to Natalie as she skied directly in front of him.

            “Let’s try a few more advanced techniques.” She winked as she said it and he frowned, uncertain why that statement was at all conspiratorial. At least that was what he’d understood winking to mean, maybe he was wrong? He’d have to ask Jen about it later.

            Jen was kicking herself. People could flirt with Rook all they wanted. She had no claim over him, except that she was his work partner. She really shouldn’t be feeling so jealous over the ski instructor flirting with him. But she couldn’t deny that she had felt a twinge of jealousy when Natalie started flirting.

            “No, you swore off dating Plumbers remember.” She chastised herself as she hopped off the ski lift. A beep distracted her as she landed at the top of this slope. She had some trouble pulling her communicator out from under her shirt since it was also under the winter gear she was wearing but when she successfully extricated it she managed to answer the call.

            “That took a bit, you ok Jen?” The voice of Pierce Wheels was a bit strained. Jen pulled her scarf down slightly and spoke.

            “Yeah well even I have to wear coats in the mountains, I just have a bad habit of losing them.” Pierce laughed and there was the sound of something being set down near him.

            “We’re almost ready for you two back at the lodge. Smart of you to get him out of the lodge while we set up.” Jen rolled her eyes.

            “Well yeah I also wanted him to play in the snow. Not get flirted at by the skiing instructor.” Jen took a deep breath. “Did you guys bring the stuff?”

            “We did.” Pierce was stifling laughter. “Got everything you asked for. They’re setting up the cake and food in the dining room. Max flew us over but Coop finally got the cloaking working past ten minutes, so Rook won’t see the Rustbucket when you two get back. We should be done a bit early really. You should be able to come down sooner than we thought.” Jen nodded.

            “I’m on the higher slope I’ll head your way once I get back down to where Rook is.”

            “Alright. See you two soon.” Jen tucked her com unit back under her jacket and pulled her scarf back up. She pulled her goggles down and grinned as she began the long trip down the mountain, the air rushing past her. It really was just like being on a hoverboard, but very much colder. It was a rush, and she loved every second of it. Honestly part of why she did what she did was because she was something of an adrenaline junkie. Of course that wasn’t information she shared with just anyone. In fact she had only ever shared it with one person, her one time fiancé, Ethan Valadis. He had passed away in a car wreck while she was off planet though. That had been over a year ago now, she mused as she raced down the mountainside. She and Rook had been partners for just a few months now, it was hard to believe everything they had gone through together. They had faced down one of her oldest enemies, Malware and seen him vanquished. But he was funny, even though sometimes it wasn’t intentional, and he cared about her, not just because she was the wielder of the Omnitrix, but because she was just Jen. It was nice to have someone who watched her back. She shook her head as she turned her board sharply to avoid a tree.

            She liked her partner, so what, she didn’t have to act on that. Nothing ever said she had to tell him she liked him. Besides there was no way he was interested in her like that. She shook her head swerving just in time to miss a rock near the path. She made it down the mountainside in record time and boarded over to where Rook was skiing with the instructor.

            “Hey Rook got a call from the lodge, we should head back.” Rook nodded looking slightly relieved as they put up their gear and hopped on the ski gondola back down to the lodge lower down the mountain. Jen frowned. “You doing ok? You look a bit down. Mood wise I mean.” Rook frowned slightly.

            “I am a bit confused about something that happened with the instructor.” Jen nodded, Rook was still pretty new to human interaction and hadn’t been outside Bellwood much since being assigned as her partner. “She kept winking, but there was no joke, nothing that might have caused her to be conspiratorial.” Jen laughed as a feeling of relief washed through her.

            “Rook she was flirting with you.” Jen stated outright, best not to beat around the bush here. He wasn’t so good with inuendo after all. “She thought you were cute.” The fur on Rook’s face puffed up slightly, his species version of a blush. The Gondola stopped at the Lodge and Jen led Rook inside. She grinned as he raised an eyebrow at her.

            “Jen is there something you are not telling me.” Her grin widened.

            “It’s your birthday, there’s somethings I can’t tell you. But you need to close your eyes.” Rook frowned but did as he was told letting Jen take his hand and lead him into the room. “Alright open them when I tell you to.” He nodded. She released him for a moment and his ear twitched as though he was trying to hear what was happening. Jen glanced around and nodded. “Alright open them!” Rook opened his eyes and blinked.

            “Surprise!” The gathered group called out. Jen stood at the head of a small cluster of Plumbers, all of whom Rook knew from the Bellwood base, including Pierce Wheels, Cooper Daniels, and Max Tennyson. Jen stepped forward.

            “I did promise a semi traditional earth birthday experience.” Jen stated pulling on a party hat. She handed one to Rook who grinned wide. He had never been to an Earth party before but this one had quite a few party games, a large cake, covered in candles and green frosting. They sang a song Rook had never heard before, and sang it rather badly which was apparently part of the tradition though he knew his partner to be at least somewhat musically inclined. Then he was presented with several presents. Max got him a new shirt, a bright green Hawaiian print that made Jen stifle laughter. Cooper gave him an upgraded Prototool, Pierce gave him a large book on Earth history, something they had talked about a bit while on breaks. Jen’s gift though was his favorite.

            “Ok so this will be moved back to Base after today, into your quarters but it’s a linkup to a communication system halfway across the galaxy.” Rook frowned but his eyes went wide as Jen flicked on the device, which looked a bit like a standing desk with a fixed monitor on the top. On the screen was his family, his mother, father, brother and sisters all of whom where back on Revonnah, literal worlds away. He got to have a lengthy conversation with them for the first time since he had been back home. When they finished Rook approached Jen who was talking to Pierce.

            “How did you manage to convince my father to let a piece of technology into his house?” Jen laughed.

            “I can’t take full credit for that. Rook Shar and Young One did most of the legwork on that one.” He smiled wide.

            “Thank you, it means a great deal to me that I have an easy way to contact my family.” Jen shrugged.

            “No big deal. You’re my friend, I want you to be happy.” Rook smiled and opened his arms. Jen obliged him with a hug.

Chapter Text

            Their weekend at the lodge was a resounding success. Though the rest of the Plumbers returned to Bellwood after the party ended Rook and Jen remained behind. Jen got the chance to introduce Rook to snowboarding, which he was alright at, he seemed to prefer skiing though, claiming it was easier to control. By far Jen’s favorite part of the weekend was when she introduced him to the concept of a snowball fight.

            She dove behind a bank of snow as a very well formed snowball sailed over her shoulder. She was giggling too loudly to be stealthy as she gathered a few handfuls of snow and formed a retaliatory snowball. She waited for a moment, dove out the opposite side of the bank and lobbed the ball of slush at Rook. It took him by surprise, smacking him in the face. He let out a startled squeak and Jen dissolved into giggles again, unable to stand and avoid his barrage. She raised both hands in surrender laughing.

            “Alright I give! I give!” Rook stopped chucking snowballs at her and came over to her instead.

            “I did not think that defeating you would be that easy.” He teased and Jen flipped him off, though the effect was somewhat lessened due to her lime green knitted gloves. Rook snorted and held out a hand to help her up. She took it and grinned getting her footing before shoving Rook into the snowbank she had recently hidden behind. He squawked in surprise, hooking his foot around Jen’s ankle and tripped her into the snow right next to him. She laughed loudly into the snow and after a moment Rook joined her. They both sat up, pulling each other to their feet and staying there this time. They were still laughing as they made their way inside the lodge. That night they decided to spend some time in the pool and hot tub that the resort boasted. It was empty when Rook came in, wearing the swim trunks Jen had bought for him. They had been in his bag along with winter wear and a pair of quite comfortable pajamas that Rook was quite fond of. They were forest green, she’d asked him his favorite color before the fiasco on Galvan. He suspected she’d been planning his birthday since the dinner he had gone to at her parent’s house.

            Forest green though wasn’t quite the shade of green he’d meant. His favorite shade of green was the toxic emerald shade that resided in Jen’s eyes. He dove into the pool to distract himself from that thought. He had begun thinking more and more about his partner over the last few months, ever since almost losing her to a malfunctioning, damaged Omnitrix curtsey of Dr. Psychobos. He lapped the pool while thinking about his partner. She was something of a conundrum. She had unimaginable power at her fingertips but all she really wanted was to have fun with her friends, even if her version of fun was a good fight. That wasn’t always the case though, sometimes they did what ‘normal’ teenagers did and played video games. He’d even managed to lure her into a few rounds of virtual chess only to discover that she was lousy at the game which amused him to no end considering her prowess in strategy on a battlefield.  

            He blinked as he came up for air. Standing on the edge of the pool was his partner wearing a toxic green bikini. He shook his head to get the water out of his ears and eyes. He had never seen his partner in anything but her usual outfit, though she’d taken to switching out her green jacket for a sage hoddie more often as winter came on full force. He had to admit his partner was fit, her muscles toned from years of fighting. There were other marks of her years of fighting on her skin too. There were two quite prominent scars on her torso, one running down her side and flicking in towards her belly button. The other scar was a semicircle that rested almost perfectly above her belly button.

            “Hello.” Rook said a bit lamely but Jen grinned at him, sitting down on the edge of the pool.

            “Hey there. Thought cats weren’t supposed to like water.” Rook gently splashed some water at her.

            “I am catlike.” She grinned and hopped all the way into the pool.

            They made their way back to Bellwood on Monday, having had quite a bit of fun on their relaxing weekend away. They had relaxed quite a bit during their two days away, they didn’t even mind being put on a light duty job, tracking several missing Zoo tigers. They found them, and the woman who had kidnapped them in a warehouse on the edge of Bellwood. They also managed to trip right into a trap and were now dangling over a cat bed full of kittens, tied up with ribbons. Jen couldn’t reach the Omnitrix but with a bit of wiggling she’d managed to retrieve the dagger she kept strapped to her calf, now she was just waiting for the opportune moment to use it. To stall for time she asked Rook a question.

            “Who is she again?” She asked referring to the woman in what looked like an off the shelf cat costume, the hem of the shirt was rimmed in purple fur, she had legwarmers and cuffs in the same purple and a bell around her neck. Rook wiggled slightly.

            “Nyancy chan. She controls cats, according to her file.” Jen frowned slightly.

            “Isn’t that just a little bit gimmicky, even for us?” Jen asked as Nyancy continued her monologue, seemingly unaware that her captive audience wasn’t paying her any attention.

            “On the contrary I find her quite compelling.” Rook joked, or at least Jen hoped he was joking, because if he wasn’t she was definitely going to have to question what her partners type was. Jen flicked her knife forward slicking through the ribbons holding them. They both landed on their feet to the shock of their captor.

            “Cry havoc and unleash the cats of war!” She cried out, opening the pen the tigers had been in. They had a moment as the cats began their advance.

            “Kittys or the lady, you pick Rook.” Jen offered slipping her dagger back into its sheath. Rook took it on himself to go after Nyancy, leaving Jen to deal with the tigers, which she did easily, flipping the Omnitrix to Upchuck and swallowing them before quickly spitting them back out. She didn’t want them to get hurt after all, just break the control Nyancy had over them. A control that seemed to extend to catlike aliens, though Rook shook her off quickly enough when ordered to go after Jen. It made Jen smile, even though she was still Upchuck but something was wrong.

            It wasn’t an entirely unfamiliar feeling. She had felt something similar when the Arachnichimps had nearly gone extinct due to an infestation of Xenocites. It felt like a whole world had just vanished. She collapsed and Rook rushed to her as she transformed back. The feeling vanished with her transformation but the feeling of dread remained.

            “We need to go on a road trip.” She stated as Rook pulled her back to her feet. He was beyond confused as she raced back to the Prototruck. She pulled out her communicator and called up Grandpa Max. “Hey Grandpa, Rook and I are heading off planet for a bit.”

            “You wanna tell me why?” Her grandfather’s question was light, like this sort of thing happened all the time.

            “Somethings wrong, I’ll let you know what it is as soon as I figure it out, but I trust my gut. Or well Upchuck’s in this case.” Max sighed.

            “Alright, just let me know when you get back and call for backup if you need it.” Jen nodded.

            “Love you Grandpa.” She hung up and sat behind the wheel, Rook taking up her regular seat.

            “Do you often rush off into the galaxy on a feeling?” Rook asked. Jen shrugged as they left the atmosphere.

            “I mean when you put it like that it sounds bad. But…” She paused finding the correct wording. “Sort of yes. I haven’t been wrong about it yet.” She said, going on to explain what had happened with the Arachnichimps. Rook nodded slightly as Jen set in their course for the Peptos system, home of the Gourmands.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            A young figure raced through the halls of a mostly dark citadel. It hadn’t been properly lit in some time. It was causing quite a bit of worry to the people of Vilgaxia, their leader had been obsessing for some time on one thing and one thing only, the acquisition of the Omnitrix and the young human who wielded it. That was why this young being was running through the halls. They caught their breath at the doors to an expansive throne room. They took a deep breath and straightened their uniform before knocking on the large doors.

            “Enter.” The order was a growled one. The young being entered the room, it had been a while since anyone had laid eyes on Vilgax. He was sitting in his still partially destroyed throne. In front of him played out the holo recording of his last fight with the Omnitrix wielder. The young Chimera Sui Generis bowed to his Emperor.

            “My lord Vilgax, you asked to be informed if the Omnitrix left Plumber space.” Vilgax’s bright red eyes flitted from the recorded battle to the young being.

            “She has left Plumber space?” He questioned quietly, the query almost inaudible over the recording. The young being bowed.

            “She has, she appears to be heading straight for a contested area. Currently it is under siege by the Incursion Empire.”  The young being pulled a holo viewer from a pocket on his uniform. It showed a moving map connected to his computers which had been quite boring over the last few months. Jennifer Tennyson didn’t tend to stray out of Plumber space. “The Plumbers are as yet unaware of the Incursion presence in that system. But she is not being accompanied, it is just the single ship.” Vilgax smiled and stood.

            “Thank you. Prepare the drones I will leave at once. My hour of triumph draws near.”

Chapter Text

            As it turned out Jen had been completely correct. Peptos XI and the resident Gourmands were under attack by a battalion of Incursion warriors led by Princess Attea. Rook and Jen were split on what to do so they split up, Rook going with the first type of Gourmands, the Perks to hold the front lines. Jen went with a select group of the second type of Gourmands, the Murks, to free the Queen from Attea. She managed it too, and the Gourmand Queen had ordered a move from the planet, though the Gourmands ate it first. Jen shook her head as they watched the Gourmands shooting off to the next planet in the Peptos system.

            “You know it’s a little gross but it’s also kinda beautiful.” Jen commented as the Gourmands shot past their ship. Rook laughed lightly.

            “The universe is a big place, full of beauty and yes grossness.” They laughed as they made their way out of the Peptos system. It would take them a few hours to get back to Earth, they weren’t booking it back like they had been on their way to Peptos since there shouldn’t be a catastrophe waiting for them. The Prototruck had definitely seen better days. It had gotten a bit beat up by the Incursions, first when they had entered the Peptos system then again when Jen took it to the main ship to get the queen. All told the ship wasn’t in any shape for a fight. Which of course was what they found the moment they left the Peptos system.

            The whole truck shook as a laser was fired over one of their wings. Jen leapt from her seat standing on her chair to see out of the sunroof what had just tried to hit them. She swore.

            “Step on it Rook! That’s Vilgax’s ship.” Rook’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.

            “What is he doing in this sector?” Jen shook her head.

            “No idea. Haven’t seen him in ages, since a few months before I met you.” The Prototruck shook again. “Can you get us out of here?” Rook flicked a few switches and a plaintive whine came from the engines.

            “Not fast enough. The damage we sustained against the Incursions is too severe. We need to set down and make some repairs if we want to run.” Again the truck shook. Jen frowned.

            “Set down over there.” She pointed to a nearby mostly green planet. Rook flicked a few switches, swerving the truck to avoid another barrage. A readout popped up.

            “Good choice. Uninhabited by intelligent life. Some wild animals and insects.” The truck shook again, Jen flung herself back into her seat.

            “Less talking more flying!” She urged spinning the dial on the Omnitrix. “I’ll buy you the time I can, I’ll meet you down there, and call for backup we might need it.” Before Rook could protest Jen had transformed into Big Chill and phased through the roof of the Prototruck. He swore under his breath and dodged a few more laser blasts swerving the Prototruck into the planet’s atmosphere but a lucky shot from Vilgax’s ship tore through the left wing and sent the Prototruck spinning into a large cluster of trees. The truck crashed through the trees smoking and screeching the whole way. When it finally came to a halt it was with such a violent jerk that Rook’s seat belt snapped and his head slammed into the steering wheel. His whole world went black.

            When he woke up it was to the fire suppressor system in the truck going off. The wing was so damaged that it had sparked a fire. He swore pulling himself free of the seat and wiped the blood off his face. He pulled his badge from a pocket of his armor and clicked it on.

            “Calling any nearby Plumber Bases. This is Agent Rook Blonko. Mayday, myself and Jen Ten were returning from a mission in the Peptos system when we were ambushed by a vessel from Vilgaxia. Our ship has been disabled. Immediate assistance requested.” There was static for a moment before an unfamiliar voice came over the line.

            “Agent Rook this is Plumber base 6593-Zeta, we can have a patrol to your location in two hours. Is Specialist Tennyson with you?”

            “No she engaged with the enemy, the crash of our ship knocked me out, I do not know for how long.” There was a noise of confirmation over the line.

            “We’ll have a patrol to your location in two hours. Try to stay in that area…” The Plumber on the line was cut off as the radio built into the Prototruck crackled to life.

            “I do hope you survived that little crash Plumber. I find myself needing to test my new weapon, and I can’t think of a better way to do so then sending it to hunt you down.” As quickly as the threatening voice had appeared the radio fell silent again. Rook felt his heart sink to somewhere near his knees. What had happened to Jen? That had been Vilgax’s voice, but if he was unleashing a weapon to hunt down Rook had it already beaten his partner? He nearly jumped when his badge spoke again, he had never cut off the call with the nearby Plumber base.

            “We might be able to shave it down to an hour and a half but that’s the soonest we can have anyone in the area. Try to stay alive until then.” The suggestion was one Rook could get behind but he had to find out what had happened to Jen.

            “Thank you for your advice, but I need to find out what has happened to my partner.”

            “That could be a suicide mission Agent.”

            “I am well aware of that. But she is my partner and I will not leave her to whatever fate Vilgax has planned. Agent Rook out.” He clicked off his badge and tucked it back into his armor. He crawled catlike out of the remains of the Prototruck and into the tree it had landed in. A rumble overhead heralded Vilgax’s ship entering the atmosphere. Rook looked up and frowned. Whatever this weapon was it was going to head straight for the Prototruck, Vilgax had to know where it was using the radio to locate him. He leapt from the tree and into a nearby one. He was glad the fire suppressors had worked properly or the whole forest might have gone up in flames but the smog that resulted from the burning leaves meeting the chemical suppressor put Rook at a disadvantage as something flashed down from the ship, a shape in the fog. He squinted but couldn’t make out what it was, a rumbling growl and howl like an animal in pain set his teeth on edge. He needed to find a way onto Vilgax’s ship. He had to find Jen. He was silent, careful as he pulled himself through the trees away from whatever it was that now hunted him.

Chapter Text

            Rook was starting to panic slightly, he dove forwards as a large chunk of the Prototruck came sailing in his direction. Whatever this weapon was it was strong. It howled again and a scraping sound began to make its way up the tree Rook was in. He managed to catch a limb on the next tree and pull himself up as it howled again. He pulled his Prototool off his shoulder and switched it to the bow and arrow setting. The thing, still not quite visible in the smog left over from the fire suppressors, charged up the tree and Rook got a momentary look at it before he had to dive out of the tree entirely to avoid the large jaws. It was a very familiar Vulpimancer. He dove free from the tree, freefalling for a moment before catching himself with a grappling hook setting on the Prototool.

            “It could not have been her.” He muttered as he raced away from the snarling Vulpimancer still in the tree. But a niggling doubt had wormed its way into his brain. That had been a Vulpimancer identical to Jen’s transformation. Vulpimancer’s were a rare sight outside of Vulpin and the Null Void, especially the smaller adolescent Vulpimancers like Jen’s transformation. He rolled as he landed on the leaf strewn ground. Getting away from a Vulpimancer was tricky, whether it was Jen or not. A thought popped into his head as a thud behind him heralded the Vulpimancer landing. Slipping his Prototool back onto his shoulder he slipped two fingers into his mouth, whistling as loudly as he could. A whine of pain told him that it worked as he raced further into the trees.

            He managed to pull himself up into another one of the trees, up to the topmost branches, trying to see if he could see Vilgax’s ship from up here. It had landed not too far away, one of the hatches remained open, several drones stood outside making up a half circle in front of what could only be called a throne. On that throne sat a very large figure that Rook had only ever seen in files and heard about in stories. Vilgax, the conqueror of ten worlds, one of the worst tyrants in the universe, one of his partner’s most deadly enemies. He was sitting there looking quite nonchalant. In front of him sat a small screen and in his hand was what looked like a video game controller. Rook frowned, what was happening here? He couldn’t see Vilgax playing video games on a good day, and certainly not while hunting someone down. The tyrant frowned at the screen and flicked a switch on the controller.

            A scream echoed from back where Rook had left the Vulpimancer. A green light flashed, and Rook’s heart plummeted somewhere near his shoes as a much more familiar scream filled the air. Another flash of green light lit up the forest and the tree Rook was in shook. Looking down he saw Four Arms slamming her fists into the tree. It teetered as the trunk shattered. Rook leapt from the toppling tree, rolling as he landed again but this time coming up to face his attacker. It was a favorite of Jen’s, and she had every reason to favor this transformation. Four Arms was one of her strongest aliens after all. But there was something new adorning her neck. It looked like a metal collar, with a large black stone at the center. Her eyes, normally a toxic green, were a hollow empty black that matched the stone. She stepped forward, he matched it with a step back.

            “Rook…” It sounded like it hurt to speak at all. “Run.” With that one word of warning she lunged. Rook leapt up, out of the way of her first swipe. Leaping into another tree just had her seizing the trunk and snapping it in half sending this tree toppling to the ground too.

            “Jen, I am not your enemy!” He called out only to receive an angry cry in return. Then a horrible thought occurred to him, the weapon Vilgax had sent out after him, Jen had shown up just after. He didn’t have time to think about it as he hit the ground running. It really was the smartest move when encountered with a very large very angry Tetramand. Her roar followed him. This was Vilgax’s doing, somehow. It really made Rook wonder just how long he’d been unconscious from the crash as he raced away from Jen who picked up the tree she’d just felled and threw it after him.

            At this point if he didn’t start to fight back she was going to level the whole forest. He pulled the Prototool off his shoulder and aimed it.

            “I am sorry my friend.” He fired a net pinning the Tetramand’s arms to her sides. She struggled for a moment, then the collar around her neck crackled with black electricity and she screamed. One of her arms managed to wiggle free as the electricity continued to crackle. She slapped the Omnitrix symbol, transforming back to herself. The net fell off her much smaller form, and she collapsed to her knees. She panted hard and Rook got a good look at her. The collar was still around her neck, it seemed to shrink and grow with her transformations.

            “Rook…” Her voice was still strained but it was a little clearer. “You need to take me down. Please… I don’t want to hurt you.” She didn’t get to say anything else as the black lightning crackled out from the collar again. Her scream echoed around them as she moved, spinning the dial on the Omnitrix and slapping it down transforming again. This time it was one of the transformations Rook hadn’t seen very often but it was much more dangerous in this kind of environment. Wildvine melted into the trees surrounding her. Rook tapped on the Prototool, switching it to one of the new settings Cooper had added to the new tool. It was sort of a trial run for the new setting, and it wouldn’t last long but it should be quite effective against the plant.

            It was put to the test when a vine looped around Rook’s throat. He brought the end of the Prototool up into the vine as it tightened. The spark glowing at the mouth of the barrel of the tool caught on the vine and lit a flame, causing the plant to cry out and release him. Appearing from the body of a tree she was quick to beat out the flames that were crawling up her arm. This transformation had a singular eye usually rimmed in toxic green but now it too was black. It didn’t take a Galvan to figure out that the problem was her new accessory. Rook switched the Prototool over to the bow and arrow. He was more accurate with that then he was with any of the gun settings and this had to be a perfect shot, if he was even a millimeter off he would never be able to forgive himself. He pulled back aiming the arrow as the black lightning began again. Wildvine transformed back into Jen and Rook took the shot. His arrow struck home sinking into the black stone at the center of the collar. Jen crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. Rook didn’t have a moment to check on his partner as a roar of frustration echoed through the trees.

            “Interfering cur!” That was all the warning he got as Vilgax himself vaulted into the fray slamming the Prototool out of Rooks hands with a mighty blow. He picked up the Plumber by the front of his armor. The tentacles on his face reached out towards Rook as Vilgax growled. “My plan was perfect! You little…” But he interrupted himself with a howl of pain. The tentacles that had been reaching for Rook’s face had just been severed cleanly. Vilgax dropped Rook attempting to stem the flow of blood from the two stumps that had been the tentacles at the center of his chin. A thud heralded the knife sinking into the tree that stood next to them. Rook glanced at it astonished and saw the gleam of Taydenite. He turned in the direction the knife had come from and felt himself smile despite the blood on his face. Jen was back on her feet, wobbling slightly. The collar was split at the center where his arrow had struck it, laying discarded behind her and there was anger gleaming in her eyes. She spun the dial on the Omnitrix and more Taydenite gleamed as Diamondhead rushed forward slamming into Vilgax before picking him up and slamming him into the ground again. Rook dove for his Prototool, snatching it up and firing into the drones that came to their master’s rescue. The improved Prototool blasted through the core of the drones one after another. In moments the fight was over. Vilgax was encased in Taydenite, all but his face, the two stubs that had been two of his tentacles still freely bleeding.

            Diamondhead stepped away from the tyrant, stepping on the collar as she went, though if that was on purpose or not Rook had no idea. He stepped over to her and laid a hand on her arm.

            “Are you alright partner?” She nodded slightly.

            “Yeah, nice shot by the way.” She commented kicking the collar again. Rook smiled slightly stepping over to the dagger imbedded in the tree. He pulled it free with a bit of difficulty, it had sunk deep into the wood.

            “You are quite the marksman with this as well. I did not know you were proficient with bladed weapons.” The Omnitrix flashed red, lights spiraled and Jen returned to herself a wry smile on her face.

            “Can’t learn everything about me from a file.” She took her dagger back from Rook and stiffened as a thundering sounded through the trees around them. Rook tensed too but relaxed slightly as several Plumber agents came rushing into the clearing Four Arms rampage had created. Jen smiled slightly.

            “Good to know that backup got here quickly.” Rook nodded.

            “Yes I was not expecting you for another hour at least.” The Plumber in charge stepped forwards.

            “We hear Vilgax was here and we sent the fastest ships we had. Looks like you two didn’t need the help.” Jen tucked her dagger into a sheath hidden just under her pant leg.

            “Well cleanup is always a pain in the ass. If you lot take care of transporting his ass onto your ship Rook and I will take care of his ship.” The plumbers nodded and Rook followed Jen towards where Vilgax had landed. Rook was frowning slightly. Jen’s hands were shaking.

            “When you say we are ‘Taking care of his ship’.”

            “I mean we’re gonna blow it the hell up. It and everything on it.” Rook gently caught Jen’s hand and frowned at her.

            “What happened Jen, you are shaking.” She took a deep breath looking around to make sure they were alone.  

            “I got onto his ship just fine as Big Chill, went right for where I knew his weapons system should have been. Except he knew I would do that, he had an ambush waiting. But the coward wasn’t waiting himself. No, he had an electric field set up to knock my ass out.” She shook her head, the tremors in her hands getting worse. Rook gently tightened his hold on her hands. She took another breath. “When I woke up I was in a containment field. He said he shot you down, then stuck that fucking collar on me. It’s something he had ‘developed specially’ just for me.” She pulled her hands back and scrubbed at her face. “I could see and hear everything that was happening. I just couldn’t move my own body. It was moving but it wasn’t me doing it.” She buried her head in her hands and her shoulders began to shake. Rook paused for a moment before pulling her into a hug. He didn’t say anything, he wasn’t sure what to say. He just held her.

            “Guess I should count myself lucky my partner is a crack shot who doesn’t listen to me.” She said a few minutes later pulling back and scrubbing at her face to rid it of any leftover tears. Rook smiled lightly.

            “I listen to you, when you are making sense. Which is more often than you are generally given credit for.” She laughed, it was just a bit wet with the tears still gleaming in her eyes. “Now shall we deal with Vilgax’s ship.” She grinned and nodded.

            “I do enjoy blowing things up. Probably a less than healthy coping mechanism.” Rook nodded slightly as they made their way through the trees.

            “Perhaps, but I will admit that I too on occasion do enjoy a well earned explosion.” Jen laughed and Rook smiled wide.

Chapter Text

            With the Prototruck trashed Rook and Jen were stuck at the local Plumber base for a while, but that turned out not to be such a bad thing. The base wasn’t too well equipped to hold a high profile prisoner, not to mention that last time Vilgax had been captured he’d escaped as soon as he was off of Earth. It seemed to make the other Plumbers more relaxed that Jen and Rook were staying to help see off the prisoner transfer. So much so that Jen ended up taking it over in its entirety. They had two other plumbers with them and an escort of four more ships that took them to the sector that was their destination, though they broke off for another Plumber base as soon as the transport ship made it into the sector. Jen frowned flicking a few switches on the controls, again checking that they weren’t being followed. That was the sixth time she had done that in the last fifteen minutes.

            “I do not believe that we have become targeted in the last few minutes.” Rook said quietly, his hands still on the controls and eyes still fixed on the space in front of them. Jen sighed, shaking her head.

            “Yeah I know, that’s what’s weird.” Rook frowned glancing at his partner. He had heard several of the other Plumbers she worked with regularly call her severely paranoid but, aside from their encounters with Malware, he hadn’t seen it to this level before.

            “What do you mean?” He asked glancing back to ensure the other Plumbers weren’t listening in. They weren’t. Morty, the large pink apelike being was talking to Hobble, a smaller insectoid being who looked quite nervous to be there at all.

            “Say what you will about Vilgax himself, and trust me I’ve said it all, but his people care about him. The Chimera Sui Generis love their leader, as misguided as that might be. Most of the time he escapes because they come looking for him. But once we’re in range of Incarcecon there’s no way to get to him without Plumber clearance. So, where are they?” Rook frowned.  

            “I do not know.” Jen shook her head again unclipping her seatbelt and standing, stretching. It hadn’t exactly been a short flight and most of it had been too tense to grant any real rest. She patted Rook on the shoulder.

            “Go ahead and signal Warden K’idack let him know we’re almost there.” Rook nodded as Jen stepped past his chair and towards the back of the ship. This transport had been retrofitted to carry their very specific prisoner. Several mounted guns pointed straight at the table he was bound to. It sat upright facing the front of the ship. Jen tilted her head at him. He looked different without the front two tentacles that normally hung from his face, smaller somehow, less invulnerable.

            “Comfortable?” She asked with a small smile. He glared.

            “I will escape child. You and I both know this. We’ve danced this dance before.”

            “And yet I keep coming out on top, go figure.” Silence reigned for a moment as the two mortal enemies stared each other down. Jen grinned a little wider. “Well you’ll be happy to know that we’re almost to your new home. Not exactly as comfy as the tank the Esoterica kept you in but Incarcecon should suit you nicely.” His eyes widened slightly then narrowed. That told Jen all she needed to know. She turned away from him and quickstepped back to her seat. Rook was currently talking to Max on the coms, the older Plumber warning all present to be wary.

            “He expected a breakout by now.” Jen stated it plainly, resting her chin in her hands, a look of deep concentration of her face.

            “Why has there been no attempt then?” Rook wondered aloud. Jen pulled up a readout on her console and shook her head.

            “We don’t have any Plumber bases in that system. The whole place is a no-fly zone for Plumbers and anyone in the Galvan’s alliance. No way to check.” Max nodded.

            “Speaking of, once you go into the blackout zone around Incarcecon there will be no way to check in on you either. So be careful.” Jen nodded to her Grandfather as the last of the evacuation skiffs flew past them.

            Incarcecon had changed quite a bit since the last time Jen had been there, firstly because this was not the Incarcecon she had visited in the Null Void with Gwen in search of a mutated and raging Kevin. In all technicality this was Incarcecon Beta, the one in the Null Void being Incarcecon Alpha. This prison had, up until recently been used for smaller offenders, ones who would likely not survive in the Null Void. This was something of a gambit on the part of the Plumbers. As with most large organizations there were bound to be leaks here and there, and to prevent the immediate escape of one of the universes most dangerous tyrants they had not specified which Incarcecon he was being transported to, to anyone other than Jen and Rook who were leading this mission. The hope was that any trying to free Vilgax would attempt a breakout at the Incarcecon located in the Null Void and find themselves trapped there.

            But as they passed into the blackout field those hopes were dashed by laser fire into the side of the ship. The whole thing rocked, nearly sending Jen toppling out of her seat. But despite that she leapt up and swore as the ship shook again, sending her flat on her ass this time.

            “Charging the deflectors. Unfortunately it will take a moment.” Rook said flipping switches as he did. But again the ship shook as Jen grabbed hold of Rooks chair so she wouldn’t go flying through the cabin of the ship.

            “His little rescue squad is getting a bit violent.” She commented through a grunt. Rook nodded frowning as the auxiliary controls kicked in. They landed but it wasn’t a pretty one, requiring them to make a quick space jump into the prison itself. Vilgax, now in a pair of shock cuffs, managed to kick off the Plumbers holding him. Jen, currently a new transformation a large humanoid hawk-like being, kicked him away from the others as the artificial atmosphere set in. Her momentum sent the both of them crashing into an adjacent hallway. Rook rushed in and had to physically pull Jen, now back to human, off of Vilgax. She glared at the tyrant from her spot in his arms.

            “Your little rescue squadron know you can breathe in space or were you just not clear when you told them to break you out?” She snarled, it would have been quite intimidating too if her feet weren’t almost five inches off the ground. But before Vilgax could answer another of the ports to the outside of the station opened and in stepped a figure familiar to only one of them. Jen’s eyebrows climbed in surprise. “Attea?” The Incursion Princess pulled her blaster as several more figures stepped into the hallway.

            “I’m here for the head of Vilgax the Conqueror. You Plumbers can keep the rest of him.”

Chapter Text

            Jen was in a bit of a fix, she had been fighting Vilgax for years, literally since the first week she’d put the Omnitrix on. Sure, most of the time she won, though sometimes she needed help from people like Grandpa Max or Rook. But now a sort of opportunity had presented itself, Attea was hunting for Vilgax. If she and her assassins got their hands on him they would be chopping off his head and leaving the Plumbers with one hell of a cleanup job. But she wouldn’t have to worry about facing him again, worry about him getting his hands on her friends or family.

            “Tempting isn’t it? Knowing you have someone’s life in your hands. But you know temptation. We held the same power for a moment. The power of gods. And you gave it up.” Vilgax sounded equal parts confused and disgusted.

            “And I’m gonna tell you exactly what Kevin told you that day. Shut the fuck up.” Of course neither of them were aware of Rook watching the video surveillance. He frowned down at the screen in front of him. What had Vilgax meant ‘the power of gods’? Rook shook his head, refocusing. He had to get to the communications room and shut off the blackout field. Switching the video feed he nodded to the other Plumbers, their way appeared to be clear. He disconnected his scanner from the wall and nodded to the others.

            Jen really didn’t appreciate being used as a cannonball, when she wasn’t transformed or ready for it. So maybe shocking Vilgax when she reactivated his cuffs was a bit petty, no one else was around to see it. He glared at her.

            “So, what will you do? Hand me over to the arrogant Incursion?” Silence fell between them and she knew that he could tell that she had considered that as a viable option. But she shook her head after a moment.

            “Like you said tempting, but no. I’m gonna get you off this rat trap, alive, and make sure you wind up behind bars somewhere else.” That seemed to surprise him a bit. But it didn’t take them much time to reach the ship bay they were looking for. Unfortunately Attea and her assassins had beaten them there and laid an ambush. Rook pulled through though with the other Plumbers Attea had claimed were dead. The Incursion Princess glared at SevenSeven.

            “You said you saw them fry!” Jen snorted.

            “Yeah my partner’s smarter than your lackeys Attea.” Rook smiled slightly, the Prototool still aimed at Attea.

            “I appreciate your confidence.”

            “You’ve earned it.” But Attea wasn’t one to go out easily. She pulled a small unassuming looking blaster from her belt and leveled it at Jen.

            “I hate you so much.” Attea bit out. Rook’s eyes widened, his hold on his Prototool tightening as Hobble yelped.

            “Technadon Dissipater.” He identified the weapon mostly for Jen’s benefit, though she’d run up against Technadon robots before she had little knowledge of the smaller tech, that had been Kevin’s area of expertise.

            “Dangerous?” Jen asked her hand inching to the Omnitrix.

            “Only if it goes off.” As if to prove Rook’s point Attea pressed the trigger. Several things happened all at once. SixSix, SevenSeven, and their female companion EightEight dove away from Attea who was knocked off her feet by the force of the blast. Rook seized Jen by the hood of her jacket and pulled her off her feet out of the way of the blast, dropping the Prototool in the process. This was, as it turned out, unnecessary as Vilgax had also moved at that moment, stepping between the blast and the spot Jen had been standing the moment before. He crumpled to the floor as everyone in the room stilled, stunned by this turn of events.

            “What the fuck?” Was all Jen could think to say blinking at her fallen enemy. Vilgax though gave no answer as he was on the floor, his armor smoking. Jen’s eyes narrowed as Attea mocked both Rook and Vilgax.

            “Two acts of Heroism, one a bit smarter than the other.” The froglike princess commented flippantly before laughing. “Mutilate them!” Her assassins squared up against the Plumbers as Jen leapt from Rooks arms slapping down the dial on the Omnitrix. The floor shook as Gravattack landed.

            “Now you pissed me off.” She rumbled and all four villains went flying into the air. They spun round for a moment before SevenSeven caught hold of a pipe and tried to fire back at the living asteroid. His mistake as she merely redirected the gravity field sending their own shots back at them. She increased the gravity on the four of them, though it took bringing down a very heavy vent cover on top of EightEight to stop her. Once they stopped moving Jen let up and nodded to Rook and the two Plumbers with him. “Now can you please find the communications room and call for backup?” Rook nodded glancing over at the prone, still smoking, form of Jen’s oldest enemy.

            “We will see to it.” He ushered the others out of the room, confident that Jen could handle the rest. She would likely need a moment, there had been confusion in her eyes when Vilgax took the shot meant for her. Of course none of them had expected that.

            Jen stepped forward as she transformed back into herself, the Omnitrix beeped, the face going yellow. She spun the dial twice to the left and halfway back to the right, activating the scanner and running the yellow beam of light over EightEight. She just really hoped that this transformation would come with the armor too, she wasn’t entirely sure what this species looked like under that. She shook her head.

            “Never thought it would end like this Squidface.” She commented to the silent room. She was not expecting an answer. After all, Attea and her assassins were unconscious. So she really wasn’t expecting the burning sting of laser fire straight to her back. She screamed, the gun had been set to stun which was lucky, if it hadn’t been she might well have been done for.  She crumpled her head smacking into the fallen vent cover as her limbs spasmed. She managed to land on her back, which she regretted as another jolt of pain shot through her through the place where the laser had made contact with her. Vilgax was standing over her, the shock manacles falling from around his wrists, destroyed by the blast he’d stepped in front of.

            “Oh this is far from over child.” He leveled the blaster at her again and she screamed as another jolt passed through her and her world went black.

Chapter Text

            Rook managed to shut off the blackout field rather quickly and called to the nearest Plumber base for assistance. As he ended the call, with promises that two teams would be dispatched to them within the hour, he frowned. One of the alarms was going off, the ship in the hanger he had left Jen in had been activated and was leaving. He shook his head. There was no reason for Jen to have left, he turned to Hobble.

            “Call Magister Tennyson, I need to check on something.” Hobble frowned but nodded stepping up to the console as Rook quickstepped back to the room they had come from. Silence rang through the halls, interrupted only by the fall of Rook’s footsteps. It was eerie to say the least. He quickened his pace and soon stepped into the hanger. The ship was gone, Vilgax was gone, as were Attea and her assassins. Across from where the ship had been lay a small figure on the floor. Her sage green hoodie was smoking. Rook ran to her.

            Jen was laid out on the floor her hoodie singed back and front, the burns were the lightning shape indicative of the stun setting on a laser. She was breathing and he let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Carefully as he could he scooped her up off the floor and raced to the deserted medical wing. He laid her down on one of the beds and pulled his badge out of his pocket.

            “Morty come in.” It took a moment for the Plumber to answer.

            “Yeah Rook?” He rumbled over the coms in their badges.

            “I need you to look at the surveillance videos from the hanger.”

            “I can do that sure, what’s wrong?” There came the sounds of typing over the coms.

            “Vilgax is gone, as are Attea and her assassins. I found Jen stunned in the hanger, alone.” Morty swore in his native guttural language at that news and Rook thought he could hear Hobble chittering in fear. He set down his still active badge and pulled a scanner out of one of the cabinets. He ran it over Jen and sighed in relief. She was just stunned, the blast had been at quite close range which had caused the burned hoodie. She did have a cut in her forehead, just at the hairline, some kind of blunt force. Rook pulled a patch kit out of another drawer setting aside the scanner.

            “I’m sending you the footage.” Morty rumbled over the coms. “This is really something you should see yourself.” Rook nodded as he brushed Jen’s hair out of the way and applied the patch to the sluggishly bleeding wound. Once that was done he turned to his badge and flicked it over to a different setting. It cut off the call with Morty but that was probably a good thing or Rook might have lost his reputation as the calm collected one.

            He watched as Jen scanned EightEight like she had the Kraaho. The audio was crystal clear as she shook her head commenting to no one in particular that she hadn’t expected it to end that way. Her back was turned on her old enemy, she didn’t see him rise and snatch up one of the fallen blasters Attea had dropped when Rook and the other Plumbers had arrived to back Jen up. He shot her in the back without warning. Rook swore in anger glancing over at Jen who was still out cold. He turned back to the recording in time to see Vilgax tower over Jen, firing at her again, striking her in the chest this time since she had managed land on her back. She went limp and Vilgax reached out as though to pick her up. Rook’s throat tightened. But a blast to his hand stopped the tyrant. He stumbled back in surprise.

            Attea and her assassins were back on their feet, EightEight limping as SevenSeven pulled her out from under the vent cover. Vilgax seemed to consider his odds for a moment and found them less than favorable for with one last hateful glare at the downed hero he leapt aboard the waiting ship and quickly made his exit. Attea glanced over at Jen as EightEight leveled her blaster at the human. Rook felt himself tense.

            “We aren’t here for her. Maybe next time.” But as the assassins fled the hanger Attea looked back over at Jen. “See you soon Hero.” Rook cut off the images as his badge beeped, signaling a new call.

            “This is Agent Rook.”

            “Rook.” It was Morty. “The teams of Plumbers are here. They say two ships just exited the sector at hyper-speeds. We lost them.” Rook swore under his breath and nodded.

            “I expected as much from the surveillance feed.  When will Magister Tennyson arrive?”

            “Soon as we’ve got the teleporter up and running again. The teams they sent from the closest base are working on them now. Shouldn’t be too much longer now. How’s Jen?” Rook glanced back over at his partner, still out cold.

            “Luckily she is only stunned. She should regain consciousness in a few hours.” As it turned out that ended up being how long it took for the team, which had been a fighter team not a tech team, to get the teleporters up and running again. As soon as they were good to go Max arrived and rushed to the med bay. Rook was sitting next to Jen’s bed and Max shook his head.

            “She’s always getting herself into trouble.” Both of them turned as Jen groaned. She sat up rubbing her head. It didn’t take long to explain to her what had happened, though admittedly having the video on hand was quite helpful. The three of them headed back to the Bellwood base after that, ordered to take it easy for a while. Rook retired to his room after making Sure Jen wasn’t driving home with a headwound. He flopped onto his couch and sighed trying to get the feelings out of his head. But no matter what he tried he couldn’t get it out of his head, the worry for her, the relief at finding her alive. He frowned. He needed someone to talk to.

            He couldn’t call Shar, she wouldn’t understand, Young One was far too young for this sort of thing. His father would never approve. His mother might but he wasn’t sure she would have any advice when it came to having feelings for a teammate. Then it hit him, the perfect person he could call. He stepped over to the still quite new communications set up in his living room. He had a few com link numbers in the system, including the one for his family on Revonnah. But that wasn’t the one he pulled up now. Instead he pulled up one for a Plumber base across the country. It rang for a moment and the dark hair of Kevin Levin resolved into view.

            “This is Agent Levin.” He looked up and smiled. “Oh hey Rook! Heard you and Jen ran into some trouble in space.” Rook nodded.

            “Indeed we did. Is Gwen busy? I was hoping to speak to her.” Kevin nodded.

            “Yeah she’s here hang on let me go get her.” Kevin stood and vanished from the camera view. A few minutes later Gwen appeared on the screen.

            “Hey Rook, Kev is heading up to work on his car, he said you wanted to talk. What’s up?” Rook nodded.

            “I find myself in need of advice.” He paused, conflicted. Gwen though smiled.

            “You’re in love with Jen.” Rook’s eyes went wide at the simple statement. He stuttered, unable to form a reply. Gwen nodded slightly. “Rook it’s all over your aura when you look at her. It’s sweet.” Rook buried his head in his hands for a moment before running both over his face and turning to the console.

            “I have feelings for your cousin, yes.” The fur on his face puffed slightly as he blushed.

            “Yeah I know. What are you going to do about it?” Gwen asked folding her hands in front of her. Rook sighed.

            “I do not know, that is why I called you.” Rook said looking at her hopefully.

            “Well, I think you should be honest with her.” Gwen stated matter of factly. Rook frowned. Gwen continued. “My cousin is a great fighter, a good leader and a fantastic hero but when it comes to emotions, especially her own she doesn’t tend to be the brightest. If you don’t tell her you’re interested chances are she won’t ever know.”

            “But I am her partner, will this not have some sort of effect on our working relationship.” Gwen shrugged.

            “It’s never really hurt me and Kevin, and it worked well for her with Ethan. But there’s always a risk, Ethan sort of proves that. So you have to decide, are your feelings for her strong enough that the reward outweighs the risk?” Rook took a deep breath. He was pretty sure he knew the answer to that but he wasn’t certain that he wanted to face it. If he took this risk and something did go wrong was he willing to lose her altogether? He put his head in his hands and let out a long sigh.

Chapter Text

            Frank and Natalie Tennyson had been living in relative peace since Gwen left for college. They weren’t often approached about their famous niece though it did happen a few times. Jen didn’t come over often, usually busy with her work and school. So when her green and black motorcycle pulled up outside they both frowned slightly. She hopped off her bike and came up to the door, which Frank answered.

            “Hello Jen, haven’t seen you in a while.” Jen shrugged smiling at her uncle.

            “Been busy. How’s life?” Frank shrugged as Natalie put on the kettle.

            “Pretty ordinary.” Frank said and Jen laughed.

            “Ah, sometimes I miss ordinary. But I wanted to drop off something for you and Auntie Natalie.” She pulled a small package out of her pocket and handed it to Frank. He raised an eyebrow and opened it. Inside sat two necklaces, on which hung a black cylindrical device, one for each necklace. Frank raised an eyebrow.

            “Thanks, but I have to ask, what are they for?” Jen sighed.

            “They’re a failsafe. Things have been getting weird lately. If it gets too dangerous you just have to push the button on the bottom. It’ll teleport you to a safehouse. Mom and dad have one each too. I hope you never have to use them but better safe than sorry.” Frank nodded.

            “That’s very thoughtful, thank you.” Jen nodded and shook her head as Natalie offered her some tea.

            “Can’t stay, sorry. I’ve got patrol. Thanks though.” She waved as she headed out, back onto her bike, taking off into the city. Frank shook his head slightly.

            “She’s got far too much going on these days.” Natalie nodded frowning slightly before slipping on the second necklace.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Jen and Rook were in the Prototruck, doing a basic patrol. Rook had been mostly silent the whole time. Jen frowned.

            “You doing ok Rook? You’re being very quiet.” Jen asked frowning at her partner. He shook his head slightly.

            “I am sorry, I have had a lot on my mind.” Jen nodded.

            “Yeah I get that. Is this about what happened on Incarcecon?” She asked looking out the window.

            “No. I have just had quite a bit on my mind.” He paused. “Are you feeling well?” Jen sighed.

            “Just a bit worried. The Incursions shouldn’t have been in the Peptos system. They’re straying out of their territory. I’m worried where they might be heading next.” She commented tapping her fingers against door. Rook took a deep breath.

            “Yes that is very worrying.” Rook stated shoring up his nerves. He needed to take Gwen’s advice. He needed to bit the bullet, he needed to tell her how he felt. “Jen, I…” But he was interrupted by Jen’s communicator beeping. She pulled it out from under her shirt and clicked it on.

            “This is Jen.”

            “Jen, it’s Pierce. We need you and Rook to take a look at a ship that just came into the atmosphere.” Jen frowned.

            “How did it manage to get all the way into the atmosphere?”

            “It’s tiny, moving fast too, slipped under the radar. Could be a stealth skiff, could be a small escape pod. We need you two to check it out. It’s heading towards Bellwood now.” Pierce stated. “Barely pinged any radar at all. If Kev hadn’t upgraded us before he left with Gwen we probably wouldn’t have spotted it.” Jen nodded cutting off the call.

            “Sorry about that Rook, head up to the skyline. We’ll see if we can spot this ship.” Rook nodded and turned the ship up towards the skyline. Jen frowned slightly. “Were you going to say something?” Rook shook his head.

            “It can wait.” He insisted, Jen frowned but she spotted what they were looking for before she could ask again.

            “What even is that?” Rook frowned glancing up from the controls. His eyes widened.

            “That is one of the harvesters Fistrick brought to Revonnah!” Jen frowned unstrapping her seatbelt and standing.

            “They kept those?” Jen asked spinning the dial on the Omnitrix.

            “They proved quite efficient. Many chose to upgrade.” Rook commented swerving to avoid the harvester. It was slightly beaten up, Jen frowned selecting Upgrade.

            “Well whoever’s in there needs some flying lessons.” She transformed sliding up the Prototruck and leapt onto the harvester. She sank into the machinery and popped up her face, such as it was, into the cockpit. “Young one?” The young Revonnahgander screamed. “It’s ok it’s me Jen. Just hold on a second I’m gonna pull this thing into the Prototruck.” Young One stopped screaming and laughed with relief.

            “You can become machines too? Unthinkable!” Jen laughed.

            “No, one of my aliens can take control of machines though. I call this one Upgrade. Hang on a second I need to talk to your brother really quickly.” She readjusted so she could broadcast her voice back to the Prototruck. “Rook open the back hatch! You’re never gonna believe this.” Her partner did as she asked and pulled the Prototruck to a landing just outside of Bellwood. Jen, still Upgrade, opened the cockpit and Young One leapt out of it and ran into his brothers arms. Rook blinked.

            “Young One! When did you learn how to fly?” Rook practically demanded scooping his brother off the ground.

            “While you were away!” The young Revonnahgander squirmed. “But that is not why I am here!” But Rook wasn’t listening. He was looking over the harvester Young One had been flying.

            “Does father know what you have done to this harvester?” This time Rook was actually demanding. Jen raised an eyebrow.

            “Well he most certainly does not currently care.” That caused Rook’s eyebrows to climb too but this time Young One was quick enough to cut his brother off before he could interrupt. “Because Revonnah has been invaded!” Rook set his brother down and Jen squatted down so they were on the same level.

            “What happened?” She asked and in that moment Rook gained a whole new respect for his partner. He knew she didn’t have siblings but she was willing to listen to anyone’s problems. But Young One’s tale turned his blood cold. If the ships had arrived at any other time, he might not have been able to make it off the planet to warn them. He looked over at Jen who had turned to the harvester.

            “This should fit the three of us, with a little adjustment.” She spun the dial on the Omnitrix and transformed into Juryrigg. The little red creature crawled into the device and laughed sticking her head back out.

            “Juryrigg likes you!” She called out to Young One before diving back to her work. Within the hour the three of them, Jen having returned to normal, piled into the Harvester and shot off the planet heading towards Revonnah.

Chapter Text

            Rook was amused to learn that his brother had cobbled the space drive for this harvester together from farm tools, cutlery and a few spare hangers. Learning that his partner’s transformation Juryrigg now very much admired the young Revonnahgander for that. But neither of them really had a chance to think about it right now. Young One was claiming that Revonnah had been invaded. He also had every faith that Jen could singlehandedly handle the invasion.

            “A worldwide invasion is a big thing. We’re gonna do everything we can, but right now we need to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with.” Jen said, it seemed to placate Young One for now as she shot a look at Rook. He wasn’t sure exactly when they had gotten to the point of silent communication. But he knew from the look in her eyes exactly what she was thinking. The look in her eyes told him that she was worried for the people of Revonnah, and honestly so was he. Revonnah was a peaceful world, they didn’t have many violent conflicts. There hadn’t been any wars on Revonnah for centuries. There were many who still practiced the art of Revonnah Kai but Rook couldn’t see what use that would be against the guns of the Incursion Empire.

            But as Revonnah loomed in front of them Rook frowned. There were no ships circling the planet, no blockade indicative of an invasion. He glanced at Jen, she was frowning too, her brow furrowed in the way that meant that she was confused. He’d admit a certain amount of confusion himself. Young One wasn’t one to lie, especially about something important like this. But as he landed the Harvester near the small Plumber base there was nothing. No ships in the atmosphere, no war machines, no troops on the ground. There was nothing happening out of the ordinary. Jen frowned.

            “That’s unusual for an invasion.” She pointed out, spinning the dial on the Omnitrix. “I’m gonna do some quick recon. See if there’s anyone at the Plumber base.” Before she could transform Rook laid a hand on her shoulder.

            “Be careful.” She nodded to him and transformed into a large chameleon like alien before fading from sight entirely. Rook turned and found his brother grinning at him. It was a mischievous look that he had seen before. When he had first applied for the Plumber Academy he had to sneak out of the house to do it. Young One had caught him sneaking back in and Rook had to do his chores up until the day he told their parents that he’d applied and been accepted to keep his younger brother quiet.

            “What?” He hadn’t done anything odd, nothing for Young One to have that gleam of mischief in his eyes. But the gleam persisted.

            “I have seen that look before Blonko, but not on your face.” Rook blinked at his brother.

            “I have no idea what you are talking about.” He tried to insist but the fur on his face puffed slightly as he blushed. He turned away from his brother towards the small Plumber outpost. “Come, we should hurry.” Young One trailed close behind him still with the mischievous gleam in his eyes.

            “I am young not stupid brother. I have seen that look on the faces of couples courting around town!” Blonko bristled at his brother’s words.

            “I do not know what you are talking about. Now hush.” Rook snuck his brother up to the Plumber base and frowned. It was silent and unlit. Young One frowned. “Agent Wat-Senn does not leave the base unattended long. This is odd.” Young One nodded.

            “He was with Rook Shar in the field when the attack occurred! I can show you.” But before Young One could rush off Jen’s transformation, Chamalien, reappeared.

            “Everything seems to be business as usual.” She said shaking her head transforming back into herself. “There’s only one odd thing that I found, but I didn’t exactly get the chance for the tour last time so I don’t know if it’s new or not.” Rook nodded.

            “Young One, show us to the site you first saw the Incursions, Jen you can point out this oddity on the way.” Young One took the lead, careful as he could be about creeping around rather than racing off. Rook leaned closer to his partner. “What do you think?” Jen frowned.

            “I’m not sure. By all appearances nothings happening, but I can’t picture Young One lying about something this big. You know him better than I do.” She looked up at him as they crept around.

            “He would never lie about something like this. Small things maybe but never an emergency like this.” Jen nodded.

            “That’s kinda what I figured. And I’ll grant that it’s possible that maybe they beat the Incursions, unlikely without the tech but not impossible. But there would be something. Some wreckage, anything at all. But everything’s quiet.” She frowned deeper as he nodded. Then she seemed to spot what she had been talking about earlier. “Hold up a second Young One.” The small Revonnahgander threw his arms into the air.

            “What am I holding up?” He asked and Jen held back a snort.

            “Sorry Earth expression, it means wait for a second. We can see what I was talking about from here.” She jerked her thumb at the edge of the plateau where the Plumber base sat. Down below was a river and on the other side of that were the Amber Ogia fields where Rook could just barely make out figures working. That relieved some of the pressure that had gathered around his heart since Young One had brought his dark pronouncement to them. But it returned when Jen drew his attention just downstream of the fields. “When did Revonnah install plumbing?” Both Revonnahganders frowned at her, but she was right. There were large pipes running from the fields and over the river. They disappeared from sight soon after, sinking into the ground.

            “They were certainly not here when we were last.” Rook stated like that wasn’t already obvious. He looked at Young One who shook his head.

            “They were not here when I left.” Jen let out a long breath, wrinkling her nose the way she did when someone forced her to do math. That look was usually reserved for the times Rook found her working on her homework but after a moment she spoke.

            “Young One’s been gone about a day. That’s about how long it would take to get to Earth and back in the Harvester.” She paused letting out a breath between her teeth. “We need to find your family, but we need to not be seen doing it. The more time we’re here without anyone knowing the more of an advantage we have.” Rook nodded and the three of them set off again. Young One caught ahold of Jen’s sleeve.

            “What do you think has happened?” He looked scared but stood straight and tall, trying to be as brave as he could be. Jen shook her head.

            “I don’t know but we’re gonna figure it out.”

            When they reached the field adjoining the Rook family home, they found large piles of Amber Ogia, more than there had been during the harvest festival. Rook’s father, mother, and two of his three sisters were there working the field. Before Jen could stop him Young One raced out from behind their rock. Jen swore under her breath but stepped out as well, Rook following her lead.

            “Father, mother, you are well!” Rook Da glanced up and frowned slightly.

            “Young One, you scamp, where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.” Both Jen and Rook paused. That had been a contraction. Then Rook Da spotted them and frowned as his gaze flickered back to Young One. “How did you manage to c-c-contact your brother?”

            “He was concerned, worried something had happened. Is all well here?” Rook asked stepping up next to his little brother.

            “We’re fine. We’re harvesting at a quite prolific rate.” His voice didn’t sound quite right, almost robotic. Rook frowned.

            “At this time of year?” But his father didn’t answer him.

            “Come, it’s time for dinner.” With few options left to them they followed the family back to the house. But Jen exchanged a look with her partner, something wasn’t right. Dinner drove that home for both of them. It was awkward and meager, despite the amount of Amber Ogia they were harvesting there was almost none on the table. Rook’s mother and sisters had yet to speak, and Rook Shar was still absent, though no one but the three new arrivals seemed to notice. Jen decided to test something, it was a bit of a risk, but only if she was wrong.

            “So I was thinking, Young One would make an excellent engineer. You should sign him up for classes over the Xternet.” Rook Blonko looked at his partner like she had just stated an intention to run off and work for Vilgax. There was no way his father would allow an Xternet setup in the house. But he was even more shocked by his father’s response.

            “Is that so? Well if you think that’s a good idea, I say we should.” Jen kicked her partner under the table before he could express his disbelief at this pronouncement from his stalwartly traditional father. Jen nodded.

            “Yeah, I could get you the names of a few Galvan teachers.” That caused a bit of a reaction, Rook Da’s eye twitched.

            “Of course, if you think the Galvan’s would make good teachers, and I use the term loosely.” And it was with that one phrase that both of them knew who was behind this, though the how still eluded them. After all Dr. Psychobos was supposed to be locked up in a Galvan prison. Now they just had to work out how he’d done it and how they were going to undo it. They were separated after dinner, Young One and Rook were to sleep in Young One’s room and Jen in Rook’s old room. But sleep didn’t come, that was probably a good thing though because as soon as the lights down the hall had gone out the door slipped open and Jen crept in.

            “Something isn’t right on Revonnah, we need to figure this out.” Young One perked up. Having not spent as much time around Jen as Rook had he hadn’t picked up their conversations.

            “You believe me?” Jen nodded.

            “I believe you. You know not to lie about things like this. But we need to get out of here.” She jerked her thumb at the window and carefully rearranged the bedding so it looked like there were still figures in them. Young One frowned.

            “How do you know to do this?” Jen grinned.

            “Well my parents didn’t always know about the Omnitrix. I’ve had to sneak out a lot over the past six years.” She left it at that as they exited via the window. Rook fell into step beside her.

            “You did not wear the Omnitrix that whole time.” He pointed out, sounding almost amused. Jen grinned.

            “No I didn’t. No one has a perfect record Rook. Come on, we’re gonna follow that pipeline, see where it ends up. Find the end of the pipeline and we find Psychobos and whatever he’s doing with the Amber Ogia.” She took the lead, the two of them careful to keep Young One between them. Bringing along an untrained child wasn’t exactly a good idea but leaving him behind would have been worse.

Chapter Text

            Tracking the pipeline down its length was easy enough, finding Rook Shar and Agent Wat-Senn was a relief.

            “Shar!” Rook pulled his sister into a hug. Young One clung to his sister’s leg. Jen held out a hand to Wat-Senn.

            “Nice to meet you. Grandpa Max has mentioned you.” Wat-Senn shook her hand.

            “How is the old geezer?” Jen laughed at her grandfather’s old partner.

            “Oh you know, still kicking. Having quite a bit of fun running Plumber ops on Earth, and in that whole parsec.” Wat-Senn laughed.

            “Yeah he would enjoy that.” They turned back to the family, Rook stepped over to Jen.

            “Shar you have already met my partner.” Jen nodded and held out a hand to Shar. Shar pulled her into a hug.

            “Thank you for caring for my brother. Now we need to save Revonnah.” Jen nodded.

            “Yeah could you let us in on what’s been happening? Things up top have gone a bit nuts and your father is using contractions.” Jen pointed it out as nonchalantly as she could but it had honestly freaked her out quite a bit. She’d been working with Rook long enough to be a bit freaked out when Revonnahganders used contractions. Shar frowned but nodded. She and Agent Wat-Senn filled them in on the way towards where the Amber Ogia was being processed. They made it into the basement of the processing plant before things went wrong.

            Something popped up in front of Shar and Wat-Senn, spraying both of them in orange mist. Jen snagged the back of Young One’s shirt and pulled him back out of the way of the mist, swiftly pulling the collar of her shirt up over her nose and mouth. The mist cleared quickly but left Shar and Wat-Senn stumbling for a moment.

            “Shar? Are you well? Is that what they sprayed in the fields?” Rook asked, a touch of panic in his voice.

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shar’s voice had gone robotic, just like her father’s. Jen stepped in front of Young One.

            “Ok mind control mist. That answers that.” Jen stated spinning the dial on the Omnitrix.

            “Shar we will fix this.” Rook pulled the Proto-Tool off his shoulder.

            “Nothing needs fixing Agent. Everything here is fine.” Wat-Senn’s voice was robotic too. Jen transformed and swore as she wound up stuck, Gravattack was too big for this hallway. But between her and Rook they managed to subdue Wat-Senn and Shar. They were pinned to the wall with restraints from the Proto-Tool but as Jen transformed back to herself she had a thought.

            “Young One, you stay here. Keep an eye on these two.” Jen nodded to Shar and Wat-Senn. “We’re gonna go take care of the bad guys.” She and Rook nodded to each other and took off down the tunnel.

            At the end of the tunnel they found a lab and the perpetrators of this whole plot, Dr. Psychobos and Princess Attea. Jen found a new transformation, Astrodactyl and used it to destroy most of the mind control juice that Psychobos had created. He and Attea escaped with one vial, only partially filled. Attea left with a parting threat that the troubles on Revonnah had just begun. Everyone had been released from the mind control but there were hidden troupes all over the planet. They met up with Rook’s family soon after the small ambush they encountered and quickly took down. Rook was shaken at the threat against his people.

            “I should never have left Revonnah, I will remain behind to assist in defeating the Incursions.” Jen’s heart plummeted. She knew she would do the same thing in his position, she really couldn’t blame him. She shook her head and turned away, stepping out of the crowd. She pulled out her communicator and called the nearby Plumber base. They would send a skiff and several squads of Plumbers to help oust the invaders. Rook could handle himself. But back where she’d left him his father had a few things to say.

            “You have found your place. It is not on Revonnah, I have never been prouder of you Blonko, but our minds are clear we will handle these invaders.” Rook blinked at his father.

            “You are proud of me?” He could barely believe the words his father had spoken. The older Revonnahgander nodded.

            “Both your mother and I are proud. You have had a great impact on your siblings. Why do you think Shar wishes to join the Plumbers and Young One wishes to see the stars?” Rook smiled at his siblings. “Revonnah is but a small corner of the universe. We can handle ourselves.” Rook Da embraced his son. “Go.” Rook nodded and embraced his siblings before racing after his partner. Together they would discover what was happening, and deal with the Incursions for good.

            Jen was waiting outside the tunnels. Rook frowned slightly, she was standing with her back to him, but her posture was stiff.

            “Jen?” She nearly jumped and scrubbed at her face before turning to face him.

            “Plumbers are sending a skiff, and a few squads to help out.” She fell silent again. “So this is goodbye?” Rook shook his head.

            “My people can handle themselves, with the help of the Plumbers they will defeat the Incursions left here. My place is with you… With the Plumbers I mean.” Jen smiled glancing away from him, they were both blushing, though neither seemed to notice.

            “I’m glad you’re sticking around. We need to get back to Earth, regroup, see if we can figure out where the Incursions are headed next.” Jen stated after a moment. Dust flew as several Plumber ships arrived. “Oh good the Cavalry’s already here.” Rook frowned as they headed to a small skiff, Plumbers nodding to them as they went.

            “I do not believe they brought horses with them Jen.” Rook pointed out, sounding a bit confused. Jen laughed loudly shaking her head at her partner. She might never say it aloud but she would have missed him so much if he’d decided to stay. She would never have held it against him, she knew how hard it was to let family fight their own battles. But she would have been upset regardless. He was quiet as he hopped into the pilots seat in the skiff.

            “You doing ok there Rook?” He nodded as he pulled the ship out of the atmosphere.

            “I was thinking. Shar has expressed interest in joining the Plumbers.”

            “She’d be an excellent Plumber.”

            “I agree. I was thinking that if you were to write her a letter of recommendation she would be assured a spot.” Jen grinned at her partner.

            “Of course, when would she need it by?” Rook smiled at Jen as they sped through the stars.

Chapter Text

            They made it back to Earth in about half the time they had taken to get there in the harvester. They were both pretty quiet on their way. When they reached Earth they set down next to the Proto-Truck which Rook took back to the base. Jen followed in the skiff. She landed and frowned waving to Rook who was heading off to make his report. Jen made her way deep into the base.

            The Bellwood base was a bit complicated. Most terrestrial Plumber bases were simple, with quarters and other basic necessities of the resident Plumbers. This base was more complex, it was technically two bases, the original having never been fully decommissioned after the new one was built. The Hole still rested under Ed’s mechanic shop though almost no one went to this section of the base. No one had bothered to update the hardware here since it wasn’t going to be used. But Jen was surprised to find that she wasn’t alone down here. Pierce Wheels sat at the console fiddling with something. He looked up when the door opened.

            “Oh hey Jen, you and Rook made it back ok then.” Jen nodded sitting down next to him.

            “Yeah we did. Bit worried about what the Incursions are planning but we made it back in one piece.” Pierce grinned glancing down at his data pad. “Everything ok?” Pierce nodded.

            “Yeah just got a message from Hellen and the Max Force.” Jen grinned. She hadn’t heard from anyone on the Max Force, except of course Cooper and Pierce, in ages.

            “What are they up to these days?” Pierce grinned.

            “Allen is working rescue in extreme heat.” Jen laughed. Allen hadn’t been much for picking fights, he’d do well at rescue work. “Manny and Hellen are being assigned to Khoros Five.”

            “Tetramand home world?” Jen asked and Pierce nodded.

            “They’re good at violence, Tetramands respect that.” Jen nodded.

            “That they do, just make sure they know to be careful before challenging anyone to a fight, they might end up with a fiancé they might not want.” Pierce laughed, Jen poked him in the chest. “I’m serious and speak from personal experience.” Pierce choked on his laughter.

            “I know you are that’s why it’s funny.” Jen let out a chuckle as Pierce managed to control his laughter. “But they want me to come see them before they head off. It would be nice.” Jen shrugged.

            “You’ll be getting off light duty soon. Go have some fun while you still can. I think there’s a transport leaving for that sector day after tomorrow.” Pierce tapped his data pad a few times and nodded.

            “You’re right.” Then he frowned. “How do you know that? You haven’t even been on planet for the last few days.” Jen shrugged.

            “Gotta keep an eye on things. I like to know when the scheduled comings and goings happen. That way if something is unscheduled I already know.” She winked and Pierce laughed again.

            “No wonder you’re so good at this job.” Jen shrugged.

            “If only I was as good at school, maybe my history teacher would get off my back.” Pierce frowned slightly.

            “I mean technically you could drop out. Not like you wouldn’t have a job.” Jen gave an exaggerated gasp slapping her hand to her chest as though she was having a heart attack.

            “Pierce Wheels! What kind of example would that set?” She laughed slightly. “I mean I’m already a menace in the eyes of a lot of adults, can you imagine the look on Harangue’s face if I dropped out of school?”  

            “You’d be practically doing his job for him.” Jen shook her head laughing. Pierce laughed for another moment too before shaking his head. “What are you doing in the Hole anyway.” Jen shrugged.

            “Don’t know, craving when things were simpler I guess. Before I got famous. Back when the biggest thing I had to worry about was curfew.” She sighed spinning her chair.

            “Time moves on. We must too.” Pierce said. Jen frowned at him.

            “Is that a quote?” Pierce shrugged.

            “No idea.” Jen laughed and stood.

            “I’m gonna head home for the night, spend it at home instead of the base.” Pierce nodded to Jen. “You should go see your sister. It’ll be good for you.”

            “Yeah I think I will.” Jen smiled at her friend.

            “Tell them I say hi.” With that she left the base entirely, taking the elevator up to Ed’s Mechanic shop and summoning her motorcycle. She rode it back to her parents house and let herself in. They had a nice dinner but it took a long time for Jen to fall asleep in her old room. It somehow didn’t feel as much like home as it used to. She had gotten used to her room at the Base. She sighed and turned over. There was a soft knock on her door and she sat up. Her mother poked her head into the room.

            “Oh good you’re still awake. We hadn’t gotten a chance to get this to you at the Base.” She was holding a small box. Jen frowned.

            “It’s not my birthday for another month or so.” Sandra Tennyson nodded.

            “I know that silly. It’s from that little lilac far in France, the one your friend George left you.” Jen blinked and took the box from her mother. She had completely forgotten about most of the things George had left her, the only things that had been important were the Bellwood house and the house in England, though she hadn’t gotten the chance to go there yet. She pulled her dagger from the sheath on her calf and gently cut the box open, slipping the dagger back into its place as her mother rolled her eyes slightly. Inside the box was a note in carefully penned English.

            “Dear Miss Tennyson, my name is Gabrielle Bardin and my family runs the lilac farm bequeathed to you by Mr. George Eternius. When we heard about the death of Mr. Eternius we were devastated. He was a very close friend of my great grandfathers.  We are very grateful that you have decided to let us retain our way of doing things, as Mr. Eternius had done for years. My son Ryan is a big fan of yours and was pleased beyond words that he may someday get the chance to meet you. It was his idea to name a new perfume after you. We decided to not do it directly as we weren’t sure how you would feel about it. Included in this package is a bottle of Juste Dix, roughly translated to just ten. We hope you enjoy it, thank you for your continued support.” Jen read the note aloud as her father joined her mother in the doorway to her room. She pulled out a bubble wrapped container and unwrapped it to find a blown glass bottle in the shape of the Omnitrix symbol. She grinned, there was a short note here too.

            ‘I have a friend who blows glass, he’s a fan too. G.’ She sniffed the perfume, lilac, which made sense. At the bottom of the box was a photo of the Bardin family, Jen pulled it out and studied it. She smiled slightly shaking her head. The resemblance to her friend George was uncanny. The youngest member of the family, a boy in a green jersey with a large white number ten on it, was George in miniature.

            “You old scoundrel.” She would bet good money that George had been their great grandfather, maybe a few greats really, and made it his mission to ensure that his family was well cared for no matter what happened to him. She had a suspicion that if she investigated the vineyard in Italy she would find it was a similar arrangement. If they knew the truth or not was anyone’s guess but Jen set the perfume on her shelf and slipped the photo of her old friends family into her bookcase.

            “Everything ok Jen?” Her father asked and she nodded, glancing over at her parents. They were both wearing the emergency teleporters. She nodded again.

            “Yeah dad, everything’s fine.”

Chapter Text

            Two days passed in a quiet tense fog. No one was sure what Attea had planned or where she and Dr. Psychobos had gone with the small dose they had left of the mind control juice. There was no sign of them anywhere, not even a whisper. It was starting to drive Jen up the wall. She shook her head, drumming her fingers on the door of the Proto-Truck. Traffic was at an absolute standstill, that certainly didn’t help. Rook frowned.

            “You have been tense the past few days. Are you well?” Jen shrugged.

            “Just a bad feeling. Any word from Revonnah?” Rook nodded.

            “Yes actually. Shar called me last night. With the help of the plumbers there have been over two dozen camps of Incursions arrested.” Jen nodded. That was good, she had been really worried about Attea maybe heading back to Revonnah. It seemed that she didn’t quite know that when she’d taken it over she had a family full of valuable hostages in Rook’s family. She looked out the window again.

            “I’m glad none of them got hurt.” Rook smiled slightly but Jen had focused on something outside the window.

            “The hell is going on out there.” She asked as she unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out of the truck. Rook frowned looking out the windshield. Something was indeed happening out there, the cars that had been passing through the light they were a few cars behind had veered off out of the intersection.  The asphalt was rumbling. Rook stepped out of the Proto-Truck as Jen made it to the crosswalk. Rook wasn’t quite as quick as her though and did not reach her before the ground in front of the crosswalk split outward. The center of the intersection split open breaking outwards sending rocks flying and crashing into windshields. Jen ducked slightly but stepped a bit closer to the newly created hole. Out of it shot several ships racing up into the atmosphere, followed quickly by what must have been half the population of Undertown racing up and out of the atmosphere as fast as their ships would allow. One ship, slowed by a variety of things strapped to it, allowed its pilot to shout a quite clear warning.

            “The Incursions are coming!” Jen swore as panic stole over the people surrounding the newly opened hole into Undertown. She turned to Rook.

            “Call headquarters this panic is gonna spread quickly.” He nodded racing back to the truck as a few more spaceships raced out of the hole in the ground. Jen pulled out her cellphone and quickly dialed a number. “Lieutenant Steele, yeah we have major problems incoming.”

            Jen was correct, to no one’s surprise. But the level of their problems were on the rise a bit faster than they had predicted. They were facing an open war baring down on them from the skies, in the form of an incursion fleet baring down on the planet, and sheer panic on the streets from the very inelegant reveal of Undertown to the people living above them. Jen hated this part of her job, she was good at hitting things, she was a decent tactician but handling people was not her department. This was normally Gwen’s job. It didn’t sit well with Jen sitting on a stage that had been tossed together while the others were all prepping for the imminent invasion. Listening to Steele give the crowd the basics was boring but she was already here.

            “As the public has been made aware there has been a settlement of extraterrestrials living under Bellwood California for some time. Yes the Government has been aware of this since the settlement, Undertown, was established almost two years ago.” Jen blinked slightly. That was slightly new information. That meant that Undertown had been formed just after her defeat of the Hightbreed but she would think about that later. There were other things happening right now.

            “What about the rumors running rampant that an alien invasion is approaching Earth?” One of the reporters demanded. Steele nodded.

            “To speak on these rumors we have our liaison with the Plumbers, an intergalactic police force, Miss. Jen Tennyson.” Jen stood to a few whispers and stepped up to the podium as Steele stepped aside, he looked slightly relieved as he turned his back on the crowd. She would have rolled her eyes at him but she was currently facing down at least six different cameras. She nodded to the crowd looking over the cards that she’d been given. She took a deep breath.

            “As of one hour ago Plumber radar picked up several possibly hostile ships entering the solar system. There is a planetary shield in place and the Plumbers are preparing for every eventuality. If the shield is breached a warning will be sent out to the general populace. As of this moment the Plumbers recommend that people go home and shelter there.” There were a few raised hands in the crowd but before Jen could answer any of their questions William Harangue stood up and shouted above everyone else.

            “They’re here to pick a fight with you aren’t they! This is your fault!” Steele stood from his seat.

            “Calm down or you will be removed from this meeting Mr. Harangue.” Jen shook her head slightly at Steele before she turned to Harangue.

            “No they’re not here to pick a fight with me. This is what the Incursions do they try to expand their empire. When this meeting is done I will be rejoining the Plumbers to help them with the plans to see the Incursions off. But rest assured we will be ready if they decide they want a fight.” Harangue glared but Steele took back over, ending the press conference before Harangue could continue his usual attacks against her. He stepped up to her as the press was shown out and shook her hand.

            “Good luck Miss Tennyson.” She nodded to him.

            “You too Lieutenant. We’re all gonna need it the next few days.”  

Chapter Text

            Everything had gone so wrong so quickly. Not moments after the press had cleared off the emergency signal blared. Jen raced through the street as people began to run panicked looking for friends or family. She selected JetRay and took off like a shot blasting at the Incursion ships entering the atmosphere. There were a lot of them, too many for her to handle on her own. She was glad when she spotted the Proto-Truck circling the outside of the ring of Incursion ships. Jen dove straight down and just like she’d guessed her partner spotted her as she dropped and swooped the Proto-Truck around catching her as she went. What she wasn’t expecting was for him to then turn the truck and head the other way.

            “Um Rook.” She pulled herself up onto her chair from where she’d crashed into the truck. “The fight is the other way.”

            “Magister Tennyson has given strict orders that you are to be returned to base. For your own safety.” Jen glared as Rook kicked in the thrusters to get them away from the remaining Incursion ships.

            “Bullshit! I’m not some little girl who needs protecting!”

            “I am well aware that you are not a little girl, nor do you need protecting.” Rook stated expertly dodging the ship trying to track them. Jen nodded.

            “Great we’re on the same page, now turn the ship around and let’s fight.”

            “No.” Jen glared at her partner as he set off a gas bomb blinding the ship following them and zipped them forwards into one of the entrances to the Bellwood base. The whole place was on lockdown. Apparently the planetary shield was crumbling fast and the Incursions would be fully through the atmosphere in less than an hour. But Jen had another immediate problem on her hands.

            “What do you mean I’m being confined to base!” She was shouting but she didn’t care. Magister Patelliday held his ground though which was impressive against a pissed off Omnitrix wielder.

            “I’m gonna be frank with you Miss Tennyson. You’re not a Plumber, as you have stated multiple times. This is not your war.”

            “Fucking bullshit! This is my planet!” This was true on multiple levels. She had of course been born and raised on the planet but she also technically owned the planet since winning the Conquerors Challenge Vilgax had set to her almost a year and a half ago. But Rook was ushered away from the brewing fight by another of the Plumbers. He quickstepped over to Magister Tennyson and frowned.

            “Why is Jen being kept out of the fight?” Rook wasn’t stupid enough to believe that the Plumbers were keeping her out of this fight because she didn’t technically hold a real rank with them. She was a Specialist but in all technicality Specialists were just that, experts in one field or another. Jen’s field just so happened to be hitting things. Max glanced behind Rook to make sure Jen wasn’t following him.

            “We believe that the Incursions may be targeting her specifically. There’s any number of reasons they would be doing that, the Omnitrix, the fact that she technically owns the planet, but we think Attea and her father are angry about not getting to take over Earth a few years back when SevenSeven kidnapped Attea.” Rook raised an eyebrow. Max shook his head. “Long story, and the reason the solar system only has eight planets instead of nine. But if they get to her they have one of the most valuable bargaining chips in the universe.” Rook didn’t like it, at all. But as a Plumber he had no choice but to follow orders.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Jen was beyond angry as she was escorted to her room. She wasn’t a child to be put under house arrest so that she didn’t interfere. She flipped off the Plumbers guarding her door and slammed it in their faces. There was no way she was sitting this out. Resources were limited as it was, she sort of wished Pierce hadn’t taken her advice about his vacation but at least he wouldn’t be caught up in this mess. She pulled out her phone and texted her parents, aunt and uncle.

            ‘Use the necklaces. I’ll come get you when it’s safe.’ She tossed her phone onto her bed and cracked her knuckles before spinning the dial on the Omnitrix. It was a simple matter for Nanomech to slip out of her room and into the Proto-Truck. She frowned as Rook stepped up to the open gangplank with Max.

            “I still do not think leaving her behind is a good idea.” Jen smiled to herself. At least someone was on her side. Sitting in the back of the truck, unnoticed by Rook due to the battle Jen smiled slightly then frowned as the truck jerked. They’d taken a major hit, something Rook was quick to inform Max of. Jen slipped out of her seat as Rook aimed the damaged truck for the Incursion Flagship.

            “Great idea partner. Floor it!” Rook looked startled but smiled.

            “I should have known you would stow away.” Jen laughed.

            “I’m never one to miss a good fight. Aim there, that should be close enough to the bridge.” She strapped herself in as Max cried out, incredulous that she had completely flouted orders again. That did not go well, crashing into the ship completely trashed the Proto-Truck. They had no chance to contact the other Plumber ships as they worked their way to the bridge. They got to the bridge just in time to take out the Incursions about to shoot Max down. But the Omnitrix chose the most inopportune time to time out. She got snagged by Emperor Milleous and he threated to kill her if they didn’t stand down immediately.

            “Don’t you dare!” She practically snarled at her grandfather over the intercom. Max shook his head.

            “I won’t lose you again. Plumbers stand down.” Jen swore loudly and colorfully as she and Rook were put in cuffs. Hers were a bit more complicated. Where Rook’s were a simple set of energy cuffs, Jen’s were solid, keeping her hands shoulder width apart and keeping the Omnitrix fully covered. Milleous grinned croaking in triumph.

            “Take these two to the brig, she’ll still be useful.” As they were escorted off the bridge something occurred to Jen. She was a useful hostage but Rook was not. As much as she liked him to the Incursions he was just another Plumber. They would not hesitate to kill him. The thought of that made her do something stupid. Faking a stumble she shoved one of the guards into the wall, hard, using her cuffs to knock his gun out of his hands. Taking this as his cue Rook attacked his guards as well but as the sounds of others approaching them grew loud he was stunned when Jen kicked a panel on the wall and slammed her shoulder into his torso sending him staggering into the escape pod. He tried to leap back out of it but she was too quick, slamming her hand into the panel again, shutting the doors and beginning the jettisoning of the pod. As he watched in horror she slammed the bar of her cuffs into the panel as sparks flew. They wouldn’t be able to call the pod back. It separated even as the Incursions reached her and slammed her to the floor of the ship. There was a gleam of triumph in her eyes as the pod decoupled and fell towards the planet below. Rook lost sight of her as one of the Incursions raised the butt of his gun to slam it into her face.

Chapter Text

            The text came through not twenty minutes after the emergency signal sounded. Carl and Sandra looked at each other and frowned.

            “What do we do?” Carl’s voice was shaking slightly. Sandra shook her head.

            “She knows more about this than we do. We should trust her.” Carl nodded and they both hit the buttons on the necklaces and vanished from their house. When they rematerialized they looked around, frowning. Sandra had no idea what she’d been expecting, maybe the Bellwood base. But she had been there before and this was not that. This was a living room, quite comfortable. There was a large bookshelf full of identical leatherbound books. Only one of them was different, a spot of green in the brown shelves. There was a thud then another, both from the hallway. Natalie and Frank peeked around the door to the hallway and sighed at the sight of them. They embraced then were all set on edge when another thud sounded.

            “Ow! I have to get better at landing.” The voice was unfamiliar and they all reached for anything nearby that might serve as a weapon but before they could act on it a figure in Plumber gear stumbled out of the kitchen. He was blonde with blue eyes. He looked up and waved slightly, looking quite nervous. “Hi, I’m Agent Cooper Daniels of the Plumbers. I mean I’m not a field agent, I’m a lab rat. I mean the term is lab assistant. But… Sorry I babble sometimes. You must be the Tennysons.” Sandra stepped up to him first.

            “Yeah I’m Jen’s mom Sandra, can you tell us what’s happening?” Cooper took a deep breath.

            “The Incursions have invaded the planet. The base has been infiltrated and I don’t know what’s happening with the squad we sent out to take on the flag ship.” He ran his hands through his hair. Frank stepped forward, one arm around his wife’s shoulders.

            “What is this place?” Cooper perked up slightly.

            “That I do know. Jen had me help her set it up a few months back. It’s a safehouse, off Plumber records so no one knows where it is. Or even that it exists. Well I say house, it’s a bit closer to a compound, there’s a barn and a few horses. But the point is that this is probably the most protected property on the planet, she says she’s got it warded magically too, but as far as I know Gwen doesn’t know about this place. She set it up in case of emergency.” Carl sat down on the sofa hard.

            “Do we know what’s happening to Jen?” He asked sounding a bit hollow. Cooper shook his head.

            “As of right now no. I might be able to rig up a receiver to figure out what’s happening outside but we won’t be able to make contact with anyone. The whole area is a blackout zone for outside communication. But I think I can get the tv working to pick up the news. Just give me like ten minutes.” He set to work as the adults gathered on the couch.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Gwen and Kevin got the news too late to join in the offensive. Despite Kevin running a small Plumber base near Gwen’s college they were pretty much on their own with the exception of a few visiting Plumbers. Kevin couldn’t help but wonder if Max was excluding them on purpose. The older Plumber wasn’t good at letting his granddaughters face threats like this. He was worried about losing them, a feeling Kevin understood as he snagged a large gun. There was something crashing near their base in a few minutes. Since they were the only ones there he and Gwen headed out to check it out, keeping heads down as several Incursion ships searched the area for the Plumber base rumored to be there. They’d abandoned it with a few surprises if the Incursions found it. The thing crashed into a field just outside of town and Gwen and Kevin were surprised to find a familiar figure climbing out of it.

            “Rook! Thank god, we haven’t heard anything since Patelliday called to put us on hold hours ago.” Kevin said pulling him out of the rubble left from the pod and frowning to find his hands bound in energy cuffs. “What happened?”

            “Where’s Jen?” Gwen asked but from the look on the Revonnahgander’s face and the cuffs around his wrists she knew what the answer would be, and that she would not like it. But they unfortunately had bigger problems as a much louder thud sounded nearby.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            “Got it!” Cooper called out as the tv came to life. The adults cheered as the blonde stepped out of the way of the tv but the news that came on was not the pleasant kind.

            “This is Lord Emperor Milleous, Light of the Incursion Empire, destroyer of galaxies, all beings tremble…” The transmission fuzzed for a moment before coming back. “I am now the ruler of this little mudball you call Earth.” Gasps filled the room. But of course nothing stopped Milleous. “The Plumbers have surrendered and as for your little hero Jen 10.” He smiled standing slightly to the side as six Incursion Warriors dragged Jen bodily into view. Sandra screamed. Jen was quite banged up, there was a large bruise spreading across the right side of her face, a cut split in her forehead, though it wasn’t bleeding luckily. But she was bound her hands kept shoulder width apart, the Omnitrix was covered. Her eyes still gleamed defiantly though. But Milleous had given some kind of signal and the camera moved off of her. The leader of the Incursions had a horrible smile on his face.

            “Within the hour I’ll be shooting her off my planet for good! And if anyone has any thoughts about stopping that you may want to take a look outside.” A loud thud sounded nearby and Cooper ran to the window, yanking back the curtains. He swore so colorfully that Natalie reprimanded him on instinct.

            “To’kustars! Mutated by the look of them. But the mutated ones are supposed to be completely uncontrollable.” Comprehension lit in Cooper’s eyes. “The mind control juice.” Frank stood and laid a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

            “What are you talking about son?”

            “Jen and Rook faced the princess of the Incursions a few days back. She was using some kind of mind control juice to control a whole planet. She got away with some of it, Attea did. This must be what she used it for.” Cooper shook her head. “There’s nothing we can do.”

            He was right. Within the hour they were watching as Jen was stuck into a pod, her arms still bound far enough apart that even if the Omnitrix had been uncovered she would have been unable to even touch it. The incursions gloated as the pod shot off the planet.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Jen’s stomach dropped as the ignition for the pod ignited. She watched as she blasted off out of Bellwood, through the atmosphere, she sort of expected the pod to burn up but it held. That was a but of a relief, blown out like a candle in a hurricane. A part of her knew she wasn’t making it out of this alive. It was why she’d gotten Rook out as fast as she could. She barely felt when the Omnitrix finally made the connection that she couldn’t reach the Watch itself. This had happened once before, when her hand had been severed by a trasdimensional axe. She’d wound up in the Null Void for a few hours while her hand remained on Earth. After a while she had gained access to her transformations through what she was calling the Neural Interface. She was sure Azmuth had a more complicated name for it but she hadn’t had the chance to ask him. She might not get that chance now. But as the Omnitrix connected to her mind, the feeling of her eye shifting to the symbol of the Omnitrix still a bit odd, she realized that she’d been crying. She hoped that hadn’t been going on the whole time, she didn’t want to have been crying on television. She shook her head, selecting Big Chill and phasing out of her cuffs. She rubbed her wrists, sore even in this form and made no move to leave the pod.

            Her transformations only lasted about fifteen minutes or so, give or take. The pod was already passing Jupiter, she would never make it back to Earth. She really didn’t want to suffocate minutes from the atmosphere. So of course that was when the alarms started going off. Big Chill frowned. The language in front of her wasn’t one she recognized. But the fact that the lights in the pod dimmed and it started getting colder almost immediately was not a good thing. There was no way she was going to be rescued. The odds were astronomical against her. She laid her head on the glass and shook it slightly trying not to cry. She wasn’t even sure that Necrofriggians could cry. Then her pod shook violently, if it had been big enough she would have been thrown to the floor. She couldn’t see what ship was picking her up but there was no tell tale glow of a Plumber vessel. She wondered if the Incursions had just shot her off planet for show, so they could execute her away from prying eyes. Well she was going to go out fighting. Her pod entered the ship and she phased through it, hoping to take her new captors by surprise but she blinked at the sight that awaited her.

            “No way!” She exclaimed as she landed and transformed back into herself.

Chapter Text

            Before anyone could blink a month had passed then another week, it was a blur for Gwen, Kevin and Rook. They had tried to make it to Bellwood in time to stop Jen getting shot off the planet but Gwen could only teleport them halfway there. Between that and dodging what the news was calling the Way Bads, a nod to Jen’s transformation Way Big, they didn’t make it to Bellwood until two days after she had already been banished from the planet. When they finally reached Bellwood they ran into Blukic on the run from a patrol of Incursions. From the Galvan they learned that the Plumber base had been taken over. All Plumbers had been imprisoned in the cells below base, it was just dumb luck that he’d ended up alone in Animo’s old cell. There had been a work order to fix the tunnel the ex-vet had dug into it but no one had gotten around to it yet, instead just choosing not to use that cell. He’d slipped out forced to leave the others alone inside the Incursion controlled base.

            Gwen sat in the warehouse flicking through the tv channels. A lot of it was now dedicated to propaganda for the Incursions, a few news stations were still active, mostly Harangue who appeared to have made a deal with the Incursions and was now singing their praises. A few though were looping wanted posters. Gwen shook her head at the face staring back at her from the tv, she hadn’t donned the Lucky Girl mask in earnest in years, only using it to raid Hex’s library from time to time. But she’d pulled the mask out of storage, more to protect her brother than anything else. No one had heard from her parents or Jen’s since the invasion began. Kevin’s face flashed across the screen. His mom was safe, they’d gotten to her before the Incursions and she was currently staying with the Kraaho. Incursions didn’t do too well in extreme temperatures on either end of the thermometer. Next went Rook’s face. He was in the other room with Blukic trying to rig up some usable weapons. Then came the ones that had shocked her when they first popped up a few weeks ago.

            Kai Green’s face smiled from the screen. The info on her wanted poster proclaimed that she had last been seen on the run in Ireland, having sabotaged several Incursion outposts. Gregory, an ex forever knight that Jen had helped a while back, was apparently aiding and abetting Kai now, as his wanted poster proclaimed. Gwen shook her head, pulling off her Lucky Girl mask. Only one of their number didn’t have a wanted poster. They’d picked up Argit during a raid a week ago. He was running guns to a few resistance groups but he’d decided to stick with them for a while since he trusted Kevin. Gwen wasn’t sure it was a good idea but they didn’t have much of a choice, they needed everyone they could get. She didn’t look up as someone entered the room, her wards hadn’t gone off like they would if the Incursions entered the warehouse.

            “Gwen?” She turned, it was Kevin. He was holding a cupcake with a single candle sticking out of it. Gwen blinked. “Happy Birthday.” He tried to make it sound cheerful but the awareness of those who weren’t there hung over them like a shadow. This would be the first birthday she had spent without her cousin. They shared a birthday after all, Gwen was only a few hours older than Jen. It hadn’t been planned that way, Jen had been almost a month premature. The way Gwen’s father told it the whole family had been holding their breaths as to if her cousin was going to make it for the first few weeks.

            “Wish I could do more but there wasn’t much left at that grocery store we raided a while back.” Gwen managed a smile.

            “It’s sweet that you did anything Kev. I honestly sort of forgot.” No, she hadn’t. She’d been thinking about it for over a week. She could tell Rook had too. He didn’t say much these days, not since Jen had been shot off the planet. He only spoke when necessary. Gwen stared into the flame on the candle, wondering what was happening to her cousin. There had been no word on her since she’d been banished. They hadn’t had any word from anyone off planet since the initial invasion. She closed her eyes and blew out the candle. All she wanted was for this invasion to be over, for life to go back to normal, for her cousin to be alive, safe somewhere. Maybe a bit of a tall order for a single birthday candle. Kevin pulled the candle out of the cupcake and handed it to Gwen. She tore it in half and handed him half.

            “Your actual birthday present is back home. Assuming the Incursions never made it into the base I can give it to you later.” Gwen grinned slightly and snuggled with Kevin.

            “You’re really sweet you know that Kevin?” Kevin rolled his eyes pecking her on the cheek.

            “Don’t tell anybody I have a reputation to keep up.” Gwen chuckled.

            Just down the hall Rook was feeling upset. He had left Blukic to his tinkering for the moment and stepped off into his own room, such as it was. None of the rooms here were homey. When he’d first arrived on Earth he hadn’t had much to his name. Jen had changed that, his room at the Base had begun to resemble his room back on Revonnah. He’d even had a pet fish, won at the festival he and Jen had gone to where he had first discovered Malware’s existence. He sighed as he sat on his cot and buried his head in his hands.

            Odds were Jen was dead. She had been shot off planet in a pod just big enough for her to stand it. Something so small was bound to be overlooked as space trash by most crafts, that was if the pitifully small engines hadn’t given out as soon as she left the solar system. Odds of her getting picked up, Rook didn’t even want to do the math. She’d have been seventeen today, she and Gwen only an hour or so apart in age.  Rook rubbed his hands over his face.

            “Happy birthday Jen.” He whispered to himself, knowing she couldn’t hear him, wherever she was.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Argit had made the suggestion, which probably should have set off Gwen’s paranoia, which had been rivaling Jen’s since the invasion began. But they didn’t have a better plan. The damage Jen, Rook, and the Plumbers who’d attacked Milleous’s flagship was being repaired, just outside of the town itself. If they were going to get anywhere they needed to take down the Emperor himself. But as Argit pointed out there would be no getting to him while the Way Bads were still around. They would need to deal with them, or rather the being controlling them, Dr. Psychobos. But it proved that a rat would always be a rat when Argit betrayed them, claiming that he’d made a deal with Attea to hand them over and keep his head. Attea though didn’t seem to be much for keeping her promises. They were reasonably certain that their luck had run out until a blast struck Attea in the back.

            Rook hadn’t seen many female Incursion, he’d sort of assumed that they were either kept out of the battles for some reason or indistinguishable from their male counterparts like Necrofriggians. But the being currently blasting down the solders Attea had brought with her was clearly female. She was curvier than Attea, taller too with a longer jump, which she proved by leaping over Attea when the princess lunged at her screaming defiantly at the betrayal. The princess was quickly incapacitated and the Incursion woman pulled off her helmet.

            “We need to go now!” The still unnamed Incursion raced away. With no choice, Attea and her guard were beginning to stir, they raced off Kevin snatching up Blukic. None of them spared a glance at Argit, still lying stunned on the bridge. “Call me Bullfrag.” The incursion introduced herself on the run, racing into the forest that surrounded the reconstruction site of the incursion flagship. Rook was about to ask where they were going when a laser blast narrowly missed Gwen. A clearing came into view, an Incursion ship waiting there.

            “That is an Incursion ship.” Rook pointed out, they’d been trying to get their hands on Incursion tech for a while, to find a weakness they could exploit or to use it to sneak into what had been the Plumber base. The incursion glanced back at him. She still wore what looked like sun glasses despite having shed her helmet.

            “Think you can handle it?” He could practically see her winking beyond the glasses and it made no sense. They barely made it onto the ship, Attea and her guards close behind them, but they did make it, up and away from the guards and the flagship.  

            “Everyone ok?” Gwen’s question rang through the mostly empty ship. It was just the five of them onboard, though Blukic had yet to get off Kevin’s shoulder.

            “You know I’m feeling a bit melancholy.” The Galvan stated from his perch. Kevin rolled his eyes.

            “She means are you hurt.”

            “Huh?” They were interrupted by a still unfamiliar female voice.

            “I didn’t hear a thank you.” The Incursion looked downright smug. The four rebels glanced at each other. Kevin leaned in the doorway discretely absorbing the metal of the ship as Blukic leapt into Gwen’s arms. Before the Incursion could react Kevin slammed his fist into the side of her face, sending her sprawling.

            “Oh where are our manners?” He joked as the amphibian went limp. He formed a blade with his hand and Gwen shook her head.

            “She was running with Attea’s guard, she’ll have valuable information. We need her.” Kevin nodded and went to search for something to bind their prisoner with.

Chapter Text

            When Jen found herself on the mystery ship that had picked her up, she found herself face to face with several beings she recognized, and more importantly who recognized her. A booming laugh filled the hanger as she landed having transformed back to herself.

            “Smallest warrior!” She was swept off her feet by a large orange arm, the other was a black mace. She laughed incredulously. She hadn’t seen this being since he’d come back to the Mega Cruiser to help her beat Kevin. He’d shoved her in an escape pod saying that his life still belonged to her as she had saved his life against Kevin earlier.

            “Technorg!” His smile might have been terrifying if she hadn’t been so happy to see a friendly face. “What are you doing here? Not that I’m not grateful but how?” He set her down on her feet and smiled again.

            “Much has happened since last we met smallest warrior. Come you are injured.” Jen rubbed her head. She’d been pistol whipped in the face for getting Rook off Milleous’s ship.

            “It’s not that bad.” She shrugged. “I’ve had worse but seriously what happened, whose ship is this?” Technorg nodded slightly but still insisted that she follow him to the infirmary.

            “This was once part of the Mega Cruiser, it had several ships attached when you lead the rebellion against Slix Vigma.” He went on to explain that after he’d gotten her off the ship he and Kevin had fought through the ship. Both had been pretty injured by the end but Technorg had escaped into this ship. He’d been here ever since but he’d been far from idle. As he explained it he’d gathered a crew of beings with the same ideas as him, wishing to bring freedom to the universe as the gladiators had found freedom.

            “We heard tell of the Incursions heading for your world. We came to see if we could offer any assistance.” Jen shook her head as Technorg ran some kind of device over her bruise. It shank and she felt the cut in her skin knit back together.

            “We?” Technorg nodded.

            “Your influence spreads far and wide smallest warrior. Many have heard your story but cannot or will not join the Plumbers. Come meet the crew!” Jen followed the giant alien down the halls.

            “You know my name is Jen right?” Technorg nodded.

            “It is a sign of respect. For someone as small as you to be such a capable warrior it is an amazing accomplishment.” Jen rolled her eyes and blinked as they stepped into the main hall of the ship. It was large, though probably only half the size of the Mega Cruiser. Inside were beings of so many races and creeds Jen wasn’t sure she knew them all. There were fifty here at least. Everything from a few scarred Galvans to a large green and black figure. Jen blinked.

            “No way.” At that sound the figure turned and smiled. Jen had only met her once, though technically they were closer than most beings could ever be, having shared a mind. Ultimate Humungousaur, along with five other Ultimate transformations, had gained sentience due to a glitch in the Ultimatrix caused by Azmuth giving Jen Master Control. Jen had helped them escape the device and Azmuth had promised to help find them homes. She grinned and came over to them.

            “Jennifer Tennyson. It’s good to see you!” Jen grinned her lost transformation.

            “It’s good to see you too! I… You didn’t have a name last time we saw each other.” Jen pointed out lamely. Ultimate Humungousaur smiled.

            “I’ve chosen the name Tagh Voq.”  She pronounced it like Ta Vox and Jen nodded, shaking her massive hand. “It means integrity and trust in native Vaxasaurian, two things you taught me.”

            “And the others?” Tagh shrugged.

            “Scattered to their own lives.” Tagh led Jen and Technorg to her quarters, what looked to have once been a storage space, retrofitted for the large alien. “Cannonbolt took the simple name Cannon and went to aid one of the few settlements of Arburian Pelarota’s that are still around. Spidermonkey took the name Atha, she and Swampfire, Lily, are currently sitting at the top of an interstellar boxing ring.” Jen laughed. Tagh nodded grinning. “Echo Echo decided to stick with the name Echo and has with Azmuth’s help enrolled in a university, she wants to be an engineer. Big Chill wandered off, she chose the name Frost, and I have not seen her since. But I have no doubt she can take care of herself. But why are you here? We picked up a pod, I never expected you to be in it.” Jen buried her head in her hands as everything that had happened in the past few days came crashing back over her.

            Attea had come to see her before they shot her off into space bragging about the mutated To’kustars she and Psychobos had picked up and were setting on the Earth as they spoke. She told Tagh and Technorg what had happened and could barely hold back tears.

            “We must find a way to help.” Jen shook her head.

            “There’s nothing we can do…” She trailed off looking at Tagh. The evolved Vaxasaurian frowned at her.

            “What?”

            “I just had an idea. It’s complicated and it might not work, but if it does then we have a shot.” She shook her head. “No, I can’t ask you to get involved.” Tagh laid a giant hand across Jen’s shoulders, both of them as her hand was nearly the size of the girl’s torso.

            “You would have died for me. I will do no less for you.” Technorg nodded.

            “She is right! We will assist in any way we can.” Jen nodded.

            “First I need to make a call.”

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Rook watched as Bullfrag, the Incursion who had helped them escape, and that they had subsequently taken prisoner, stirred in her bindings. It was odd that this Incursion was helping them. They’d searched her, she didn’t have any kind of tracker, so they’d brought her back to the warehouse, her head bagged with a paper bag they’d found in the trash. When she woke Gwen had her bound with mana and she nodded to Rook who pulled off the bag. Bullfrag was frowning at them.

            “You know you didn’t have to hit me. I literally saved your lives.” She sounded slightly annoyed.

            “Yeah, why would a filthy Incursion want to help us?” Kevin asked flicking on a heat lamp they had rigged to run just a bit hotter than it should. It wouldn’t kill her, but it would be uncomfortable. Bullfrag seemed to roll her eyes, her sunglasses hadn’t moved though so it was harder to tell.

            “Answer him filthy Incursion.” Rook demanded. There was heat in his voice and Bullfrag regarded him with something akin to curiosity.

            “Never took you for the bad cop type.” Gwen stepped forward, fully decked out in her Lucky Girl gear, eyes a pink glow.

            “He’s not the bad cop, I am.” She stepped all the way up to the Incursion and bent so they were on an eye level. Pink bored into the black of Bullfrag’s sunglasses. Surprise flashed across Gwen’s face then she straightened as her face blossomed into a grin. “She’s cool.” Gwen stated releasing the mana bindings. Kevin, Rook and Blukic gasped in surprise. Bullfrag stood stretching lightly and rubbing the bruised side of her face.

            “What do you mean she’s cool?!” Kevin demanded as Rook looked Gwen over searchingly. No one in this room had any love for Incursions but Gwen did not hesitate to release this one. It didn’t make sense, unless she knew something they didn’t. Gwen turned to Rook.

            “Scan for enemy surveillance.” Rook frowned.

            “I preformed a scan this morning.”

            “Yeah before you knew Argit was playing both sides.” Bullfrag pointed out stepping up to the table and flicking off the heat lamp. They were in luck Argit hadn’t managed to plant anything. The four of them sat down at the table to plan.

            “We’ll have to move fast. Won’t be long until they get my pretty face up on one of those wanted posters they got circling everywhere. If you want to get the other Plumbers out, to get Milleous out of power we need to move now. I have a plan but I can’t tell you all of it.” Kevin slammed his fist into the table.

            “Why the fuck should we listen to you? You lot killed my best friend!”

            “Kevin!” Gwen reprimanded. But Rook was on Kevin’s side.

            “He is right Miss Tennyson. Why should we trust this Incursion?” Bullfrag shook her head.

            “I can’t tell you that now. When it’s safe you’ll know and not before. But with me you have a shot at getting into the base alive. Without me you don’t have a chance.” Gwen nodded.

            “She’s right. What’s the plan?” Bullfrag nodded her thanks to Gwen and laid out her plan.

Chapter Text

            Bullfrag’s plan was solid. She snuck them in disguised as prisoners, though their cuffs were regular Earth models, easily broken open by all of them once Bullfrag used a device Blukic had whipped up to loop the security footage. They got in completely unnoticed. They headed straight for the detention level and thanks to Blukic they managed to get the cells open. Blukic took Rook to go find Dr. Psychobos and stop him controlling the Way Bads. Bullfrag, Gwen and Kevin headed down to the cell that held Grandpa Max. Bullfrag got there first, as the door opened and Max stood wobbling slightly. Bullfrag caught him.

            “We got you grandpa.” He blinked and smiled pulling the Incursion woman into a hug.

            “Jen!”

            “Jen?!” Kevin spluttered. Gwen raced forward and hugged Bullfrag and Max.

            “Jen.” Gwen reaffirmed laughing lightly but a crash from the doorway hand them all turning to it, on guard. Attea was standing in the doorway a blaster leveled at Bullfrag.

            “Jen. My father will execute you publicly for coming back.” Attea smirked it but Jen didn’t even flinch. Instead she, still Bullfrag, sauntered up to Attea, a grin on her face.

            “Attea, good to see you.”

            “Shut up Tennyson!” But the Incursion Princess had yet to fire, and her fingers weren’t anywhere near the actual trigger on the gun.

            “Oh come on Attea, you know it was fun. These past few months, not following Daddy’s rules.” Attea blinked and her cheeks went a dark green, she was blushing.

            “I…” But before she could get any further a blast of pink light took her down. Bullfrag turned to Gwen as Attea’s blaster clattered to the floor the princess falling unconscious. 

            “You couldn’t have done that a little sooner?”

            “Sometimes it’s fun to watch you try to talk your way out of things.” Gwen said shrugging. Kevin shook his head.

            “So wait, Jen, you’ve been Bullfrag the whole time.” She nodded a slight smile on her face at the disbelief on her friends face.

            “It wasn’t safe for anyone to know it was me. The Incursions would have found out, but now that they know anyway.” She lifted a piece of armor revealing the ever present Omnitrix symbol, casting aside the extra piece that had been covering it. “Disengage Lifeform Lock, code one zero one zero Jennifer Tennyson.” Green lights flashed and Jen appeared grinning wide. Gwen pulled her into a hug.

            “It’s so good to see your face Doofus.” Jen laughed hugging her cousin back.

            “Good to have my face again Dweeb.”

            “Good to have my face again.” Max stepped over to them.

            “But you coming back will cause some problems.” Jen rolled her eyes.

            “Yeah I know. You guys get to clean the base, I’ve got the Way Bads.” She pulled her communicator out from under her shirt. “We’re up guys!” Everyone frowned but before they could ask who ‘we’ was Jen had transformed into XCLR8 and raced out of the base. Kevin’s badge beeped.

            “We have located Dr. Psychobos. He appears to have called one of the To’kustars!” Max stepped up to Kevin so he could be heard over the communicator too.

            “Jen says she has a plan. We need to retake the base.” Max stated, Gwen nodding along with her grandfather.

            “Jen? She is here?”

            “Was.” Kevin corrected looking slightly smug that Rook hadn’t known Jen was Bullfrag.

            “She was Bullfrag was she not?” Rook asked and Kevin pouted.

            “No time for that now. We need to take out Psychobos and take back the base.” Gwen cut across them and the three of them raced back to the main console in the detention rooms, releasing the other Plumbers.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Jen made it outside just as one of the female Way Bad’s stepped into the city limits. She swore under her breath and turned back into herself pulling to her communicator.

            “Tell me you guys have it ready.” She demanded over the coms.

            “We are ready when you are.” Tagh’s voice came over the com and Jen grinned.

            “Excellent! Beam it down Scotty!” Tagh laughed.

            “You know the only reason I know that reference is because we shared a brain.” Jen shrugged.

            “Let me have my fun.” A crackle of energy materialized in front of Jen and a large bag landed in front of her. She grinned pulling it open and checking the contents. The Way Bad was getting closer and a man in a firefighter uniform was rushing bystanders inside. He blinked when he caught sight of Jen.

            “Jen Ten? The frogs said they finished you off!” Jen shook her head setting the bag back down.

            “Not yet.” She spun the dial on the Omnitrix.

            “We’re ready to help, human and alien.” Jen looked up a little confused. There were both aliens and humans here, peeking out of doors and windows. She nodded.

            “Best you can do right now is get everyone off the streets and out of harms way.” The fire fighter nodded and Jen slapped down the dial on the Omnitrix switching to Jetray and picking up the bag in her talons. It was easy to rile up the Way Bad and get her out of town. Getting in close enough to tag her with one of the devices in the bag was harder but Jen managed it and raced off in a blur around the globe. In moments a loud boom echoed as Jetray shattered the sound barrier. It couldn’t have taken her more then fifteen minutes to tag every Way Bad on the planet. She skidded to a landing back on the outskirts of Bellwood and grinned dropping the bag and pulling out her communicator.

            “Tagged! Bag them!” A quick affirmative from the other end as a Way Bad approached her roaring.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Rook shook his head at the screen in front of him. He’d disabled Dr. Psychobos but now the Way Bads, who’d been mostly just patrolling only occasionally doing the bidding of the doctor, were rampaging. Or at least they started to until they each screamed and a film of red light covered them, individually. A moment passed then they blinked out of existence. Rook frowned but Driba seemed to understand what had happened.

            “That was the same energy as a Null void projector!” He exclaimed grinning wide.

            “Got it in one Driba!” Jen’s voice echoed through the base. Rook let out a belt of laughter as a weight lifted off his chest. It was one thing to be told Jen was alive an whole but hearing her voice again lightened his heart exponentially. “Good to hear you too Partner.” Jen laughed correctly interpreting his merriment. “Now, anyone got eyes on Milleous’s ship?” Rook refocused on the screens and quickly located the ship. It had lifted off, though it was still riding quite close to the ground. It was also charging its main gun.

            “Jen they have a lock on you move!” Rook called out and Jen’s transmission cut off. Rook’s heart dropped as Milleous fired at the spot where his partner had been moments before. But as the dust cleared Way Big stood tall lashing out at the ship which had just barely missed. A pod shot out of the ship as Way Big took hold of the ship and ripped it in two tossing the pieces in separate directions. Rook turned away from the screen as Gwen raced up to him.

            “We need to get out there.” Max and Kevin were with her, both armed, Attea and Psychobos both in cuffs behind them. Rook nodded and Gwen held out both hands, chanting as pink light enveloped them. They vanished from the base and reappeared in a crater, a long skid that the tossed ship had created. A pod lay in front of them, not dissimilar to the one the Incursions had used to shoot Jen off planet. The girl herself was standing nest to the small crater the pod had caused with its landing.

            “Emperor Milleous, good to see you.” She grinned. “Looks like you’ve misplaced your mutant To’kustars.” The overly large frog scrambled to his feet.

            “I still have my regular army, an armada of super destroyers and a conquest ray!”

            “And we have you.” Max stated and Gwen conjured a bubble of mana around the frog.

            “Which puts me in charge.” Attea grinned as she managed to pick the locks on her cuffs. Jen turned to the princess a slight smile on her face.

            “Which was of course your plan all along.” Everyone blinked at the two.

            “Was I that obvious?” The Incursion asked with a grin. Jen shrugged.

            “You could have killed me on Incarcecon, been done with it. But you didn’t. I didn’t have you fully figured out until a couple weeks ago. Daddies rule was getting a bit stifling wasn’t it.” Attea grinned.

            “Aren’t you the clever one? I did sabotage your pod, left one of your restraints a little loose. I knew you’d never sit by while your world was in any danger.” Attea said grinning as she stepped up to Jen. Rook’s hand inched towards the blaster he’d taken from Psychobos’ lab. Jen shook her head lightly.

            “You are all kinds of twisted.” Jen said a smile still pulling at her lips.

            “Oh I know but ever since you beat me last time Daddy was keeping me under too close a watch. I knew you were the ticket to freeing up the throne. So here’s my deal. I walk away and take the armada with me. You keep Daddy and the empire goes back to last year’s borders. Earth becomes off limits.” Kevin frowned.

            “You’d be getting off clean.” He sounded almost impressed.

            “Life’s never fair, but it’s the truce I’m offering. You don’t want a war.” Jen shook her head looking downright impressed with the Incursion.

            “Earth accepts your offer.” Max stated cutting off the others. He stepped up to Attea and they shook hands as a ship landed behind the princess, well empress now Jen supposed.

            “Pleasure.” Attea said raising a hand to hold back the Incursions about to spill out of the ship. “We’ll pay for damages. A small price to pay for power really.”

            “I should have kept you in that stasis pod! Backstabbing traitor!” Milleous griped but a smile made its way onto his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud.” Attea made her way onto the gangplank of the ship but turned before she entered it fully.

            “You want to come with Tennyson? You made a fantastic Incursion. Lose the monkey look and turn back into Bullfrag, see the stars with me?” The tension in the air was nearly palpable. Jen shook her head.

            “You know I think I’m good.” Jen turned away as Attea shrugged.

            “Your loss.” Her tongue flicked out across the distance between them slapping almost gently across the back of Jen’s head. Jen turned slightly indignant and Attea just winked at her before boarding the ship and taking off. Kevin’s badge beeped and he answered, it was Magister Patelliday.

            “Incursions are pulling back!” Jen grinned and stepped up to walk next to Rook.

            “I have one more thing to do then I need a smoothie.” Rook laughed, glad to know that some things would never change.

Chapter Text

            They reached the Base quickly and Jen pulled Rook aside as soon as they got into the base.

            “Come on!” She dragged him off before anyone could say anything. Most of the equipment had survived the Incursion occupation. Now that the fear and adrenaline was dying down Rook finally really looked at his partner. She had been missing, presumed dead for nearly two full months. She had apparently spent at least part of the time undercover as an Incursion. But looking at her now, really looking, he could see that these past few weeks had been just as rough on her as it had been on them. There were dark circles under her eyes that spoke of sleepless nights without end. Her hair was normally short, shaved on the sides and slightly fluffy on the top but she hadn’t cut her hair since well before the invasion and that seemed to make all the difference. Her hair reached her jawline now, it apparently kept growing as time passed in her other transformations. He frowned as she dragged him into the hanger bay. There were several ships here, Jen frowned.

            “Shit, I forgot the Prototruck got trashed.” She commented looking around then grinned at a green hot rod number the Rook had never actually seen leave the hanger. She nodded dragging him towards it. “Rustbucket Three it is.” She had both of them on the ship before Rook could ask any questions. She studied the controls for a moment before grinning. “Cooper you lovely little technopath, you installed the cloaking drive.”

            “Jen.” Rook began but as she flicked switches and opened the hanger the coms on the ship came to life.

            “Who… Oh Jen, what are you doing on the Rustbucket?” It was Kevin.

            “Got an errand to run, be back soon!” She cut off the transmission and ducked under the console coming back out with a chord he knew to connect the communications and tracking in the ship. She pulled her Taydenite dagger and sliced through the line. Rook frowned.

            “Without that line we have no communications.” Jen nodded.

            “Yeah I know but it also means they can’t track us.” Rook nodded as Jen took her seat and pulled the ship out of the hanger engaging the cloak as soon as they were out of the hanger. Rook frowned.

            “Jen, I do not understand. Where have you been? What happened to the Way Bads?” Jen raised a hand to forestall his questions.

            “I know you have questions, and I promise I will answer them as soon as we’re done.”

            “Done with what?” But she was already pulling the cloaked ship into a landing. Rook frowned following her out. She stopped and swore under her breath. Spinning the dial on the Omnitrix she grabbed Rooks hand as she transformed into Stardust, her Anodite form. She flipped his hand so it was palm up.

            “This is gonna sting for a second.” She grew a small sharp point of mana from one of her greenish black fingers and pricked palm with it. She allowed two drops of blood to leave his hand before sealing the pinprick. She released his hand, he was only marginally disappointed, more interested in wat she was doing as she separated the blood drops into two. One floated up into the air in front of them glowing green, with her free hand Jen drew a rune in the air. The drop of blood sank into the rune and Rook blinked as the shimmery outline of a barrier appeared in front of them. It wasn’t invisible, it was an ion shield. If they had gotten any closer it would have fried him. He figured her DNA was already keyed into the shield. He seemed to be right as Stardust floated over to a buried access panel and pulled it up to the surface typing in an access code. A panel opened and the second drop of blood was dropped in. The machine whirred and beeped happily before Stardust reburied it and flashed back to normal. She turned to Rook.

            “No one knows about this place, well practically no one. And you can’t tell anyone about it either ok.”

            “I promise. But where?” She pulled him through the barrier. Now that his DNA was in the system the ion shield passed over him with barely a tingle. Beyond the barrier there lay a house, two stories tall forest green with a wraparound porch and a large stretch of fencing. Before he could ask why they were here Jen had dropped his hand and took off running. She took the porch stairs two at a time, nearly leaping them altogether and running to the door. Someone beat her to it and it was yanked open revealing her parents who scooped her practically off her feet. Rook smiled.

            She got them back to base after that, her parents, Gwen’s parents and Cooper, who’d been there as an extra layer of defense for her family. Rook also sort of thought it was to keep him out of Incursion hands. He could manipulate any kind of technology, he’d be a very useful hostage. They arrived back at the base just in time to spot a ship about the size of a football field entering the atmosphere. Jen grinned then swore as several shots fired from the base at the ship.

            “Forgot to tell them that! Everyone hold on.” She switched on the shielding and swerved between the ship and the base, blocking the fire, which stopped quickly. Jen released the controls one handed and pulled her communicator out from under her shirt and off tossing it to Rook. “Call Grandpa and tell him to please stop shooting my friends.” Rook did as he was told and all fire ceased. Jen pulled the Rustbucket into the hanger and the large ship was directed into the empty hanger next door. Jen hopped out of the Rustbucket before the gangplank was even all the way down, Rook hot on her heels. Gwen was waiting for them.

            “Jen what the he… Mom! Dad!” Gwen was up the ramp in an instant, if Rook hadn’t been watching her he’d have said that she teleported to them. They wrapped her in a hug as Jen took off for the other hanger. Rook followed close behind and just managed to catch the fireworks as the ship opened revealing two large beings. One was a greyish green figure, a female who might have been Vaxasaurian except for the fact that they just didn’t exist in that color and never had metal or green eyes. If he hadn’t known better he might have thought it was Jen. But the second figure elicited a response. He was large as well, almost as large as the first figure, a Detrovite, full sized unlike Vulkanus as much of his body was exposed. He had a mace-like hand and wore no shirt and his eyes fixed on Kevin and hardened.

            “Technorg! No!” But the Detrovite had already lunged at the Osmosian who’s eyes went wide at the name he dove to the side as Technorg registered Jen’s order and skidded to a halt. Plumbers had guns drawn and Kevin had absorbed the metal of the hanger floor. But Jen stepped in front of the Detrovite. “Can everyone please put their weapons down!” Kevin sputtered and Jen shot him a look shutting him up. The Plumbers lowered their guns, clearly not wanting to aim them at her. She nodded and turned to Technorg.

            “I am sorry smallest warrior. I was not entirely sure he could be trusted.” Jen rolled her eyes.

            “Kevin’s saved my life a few more times than you have by now. He’s changed. The Detrovite nodded and dropped to one knee. That made a lot of the Plumbers blink. Detrovites weren’t known for their honor.

            “My life still belongs to you smallest warrior.” Jen shook her head pulling him to his feet with some difficulty.

            “No, not anymore. You repaid whatever debt there was left by helping me save Earth. Now we should probably let everyone else in on that story. Over food please, living off of Incursion rations is not fun.” That drew a laugh from the surrounding Plumbers. Jen turned to Magister Patelliday, who was looking much better after a dip in the pool on base. “Can we get their whole crew fed? I know it’s a bit of a stress because of everything but they did help me save the day.” Patelliday nodded.

            “Tennyson you have the strangest friends but yeah we’ll make it happen. Can’t have them wandering around too much though. We’re not sure what the frogs may have done to the base.” Jen nodded and spoke to Technorg again though this time the two of them stepped away from the Plumbers who now set to work, checking over protocols and cataloging damages. Jen stepped over to Rook as Technorg stepped over to his second in command to speak to her.

            “Come on partner, let me tell you the whole story.”

Chapter Text

            Jen’s story was an interesting one. She had spent three days on what she called the Mini-Cruiser with Technorg and Tagh putting their heads together with a few Galvan’s on their crew to rig up individual Null Void teleporters for each of the To’kustars.

            “You can sort of thank Grandma Verdona for the idea. It’s similar to what she did to Ghostfreak.” Tagh shook her head.

            “Glad I never met your grandmother.” The story behind the evolved Vaxasaurian had come out quickly as well.  Jen frowned.

            “I think she’s technically your grandma to. I’m not entirely sure how the DNA matchup would work between us.” Jen shrugged.  Rook smiled. Once they’d figured out how to take down the Way Bads Jen had finally gotten through to Azmuth who gave her the unlocking code for Incursion DNA and instructed her on how to use the life form lock function. He’d advised her not to go too long as one species that wasn’t her natural one though as there was no telling what it might do. After that she had infiltrated the Incursion forces and quickly made her way up the ranks to Attea’s guard.

            It took a full week for things to get back to any kind of normal. It was especially weird because everyone was scrambling for a few holidays that had sort of been canceled under the Incursion rule. Christmas was set to be a more subdued affair than any other year and Jen was slightly disappointed that Rook’s first winter on Earth had been interrupted by the invasion. Most people spent Christmas at home with their families celebrating the fact that their loved ones were still with them after everything the Earth had just been through. Jen supported that sentiment but was determined that her partner not be left out, so she dragged him to her house and set him up in the guest room for his vacation. Patelliday insisted that those who had been involved in the rebellion, actively running for their lives during the invasion, take off until New Years. So Jen decided that she would include her partner in her family traditions. There were a few traditions they couldn’t indulge in, going skating at the indoor rink in Bellwood. The rink was currently closed as many other things were after the Invasion. But they had a solution.

            Jen and Rook drove out to Max’s secret fishing spot with her parents, followed by Gwen with Kevin and her parents. One transformation later and Big Chill had frozen the lake enough for them to skate on it. Rook wasn’t quite so sure on his ice skates as he was on his feet. Jen giggled as he tentatively took a few steps. She took his hands.

            “Stop picking up your feet. That’s not gonna help here. Do you trust me?”

            “Yes.” He didn’t hesitate and she grinned at him.

            “Good.” She guided him out onto the ice.

            Kevin and Gwen watched the two of them skate across the ice and Kevin grinned at Gwen.

            “They make a cute couple.” Gwen elbowed him lightly.

            “They haven’t actually asked each other out yet. Don’t tease them.”

            “Once they do though there will be a lot of teasing.” Kevin said nodding. Gwen snorted.

            The day before New Years Jen approached Rook.

            “I need a favor.” She stated leaning in the doorway of the downstairs guest room.

            “Anything.” He said standing, setting down the history book she’d gotten him for Christmas. He hadn’t had any idea what to get her, her mother had helped him. He’d found her a limited edition Sumo Slammers action figure, though he’d admitted that he’d never actually the show, despite having played a few games based on it with Jen.

            “Careful I’ll hold you to that.” She said with a grin. “I got a call from Lieutenant Steele this morning. There’s going to be a party, an official Gala, to ring in the new year with something positive.” She sighed stepping into the room. “They’re inviting a bunch of the Plumbers and some delegates from other worlds, and they want me there.”

            “For extra security?” Rook asked a bit confused.

            “Sort of. According to Steele it’s more of a publicity stunt, the hero of a hundred worlds and all. They want me to be there to show that things on Earth are going back to normal. The extra security having the Omnitrix there provides is sorta just a bonus.” Rook nodded still frowning slightly.

            “What do you need from me?”

            “I really don’t want to go alone. I’ve only been to one super fancy party and that was thrown by Captain Nemesis and it was awful! I only knew one person there and I didn’t even know her well. It would just be nice not to be alone at this thing.”

            “I can understand that. Is Carl Nesmith not a villain?” Jen nodded.

            “He is, wasn’t always but yeah he’s actually currently in jail. Not sure when he’s getting out after two kidnapping charges.” She frowned and shook her head. “But the party? Will you come with me?” Rook nodded.

            “Of course. I do not have Earth formal wear. I assume that as a guest I should not wear my armor.” Jen laughed lightly.

            “No, but there’s a tailor downtown. They should be able to get you fitted with something that’ll work. My treat since I’m dragging you to this. Or if you have formal wear from Revonnah you should wear that.” Rook frowned.

            “The formal wear on my home world is quite simple.” Jen shrugged.

            “So? All the alien delegates there will be in their home world’s formal wear. The Queen of Lewoda will be there and their formal wear is literally a blue robe. Can’t get much simpler than that.” Rook nodded.

            “Very well, this is on new years eve?” Jen nodded.

            “Yep party is from eight to midnight. We’ll be counting down to the new year in style.” Rook shook his head but smiled.

            “That sounds like a lovely time.” Jen grinned at him. He couldn’t help the warm feeling that left in him. He had feared he’d never see that smile again. In all honesty this invitation might be just what he was looking for. The opportunity to tell her how he really felt. He would tell her at the party, he was resolved, he would not miss his chance again.  

Chapter Text

            The next few days were a bit of a blur for both of them. Jen was whisked off by a professional stylist hired by one of the higher ups who’d asked Steele to see if she could be there. Rook pulled his formal robes from Revonnah out of the back of his closet. He was lucky he’d changed his mind last minute and brought them despite believing that he wouldn’t need them. Normally it was just the Magisters that went to events like this. He’d never considered that Jen, as a specialist, the hero of many beings across the universe, would be asked to come to affairs like this.

            He met Jen in the hanger where she parked. He blinked as she stepped out of her car. He’d never seen her dressed up like this. She wore a gown, it was nearly floor length, sky blue with an iridescent overlay that shimmered green when the light hit it. Her hair, still chin length, was elegantly curled and there was a laurel made of what looked like forget-me-nots pined expertly into her hair. As she stepped out of the car he saw a pair of sky blue flats that laced up her legs disappearing under her skirt. The dress was sleeveless save for what appeared to be a shawl made of the same iridescent fabric. She smiled at him.

            “You look nice! I like the formal wear on Revonnah.” If Jen had to describe in Earth terms what the formal wear looked like she would probably compare it to something in Eastern Asia, he looked a lot like a martial artist, but the robes were bright yellows and deep bonze toned browns.

            “You look… like royalty.” It was all he could think to say. She didn’t look particularly comfortable in a dress. He’d never seen her wear one before. She preferred things she could fight in, boot cut jeans and t shirts. She blushed slightly.

            “Thanks. It’s a bit much but it’s kinda cute.” She grinned and blushed a bit deeper but nodded slightly. “We should get going.” He nodded and they both got into the car. Jen drove them out of town, the party was happening in Los Angeles, which wasn’t too far of a drive. Jen took a deep breath as they pulled up and Rook frowned as she pulled a set of keys out of her glove compartment. She shrugged.

            “Valet won’t have a Plumbers badge. I don’t pull them out often but Kevin thinks things through.” Rook nodded as they pulled up in front of a large well lit building. He couldn’t see much of it due to the throng of people out front, most with cameras. He frowned slightly. Jen let out a breath. “Yeah welcome to my world. The press never stops. You ready for this?” He nodded.

            They stepped out of the car and Jen handed the keys to a boy in a uniform who handed her a numbered slip of paper that she slipped into her purse. The boy took the car and drove it away. Jen and Rook made their way down a red carpet that led into the building. Rook followed Jen’s lead feeling awkward beyond belief. It seemed that Jen shared this opinion as she let out a sigh of relief when they entered the building.

            “And not a glimpse of Harangue.” Jen said grinning slightly. Rook nodded.

            “He has not been doing well since he made a deal with the incursions.” Jen nodded.

            “Alright let’s do this.” She said composing herself he offered her his arm and she smiled and took it, pink dusting her cheeks.  

            They walked into the grand ballroom and Rook blinked. It was lavishly decorated, a crystal chandelier hung overhead. There were tables set around an expansive dance floor. Beings already milled around, mostly human but he spotted several aliens dotted through the crowd and that relaxed Rook a little, made him feel less out of place. Jen handed her invitation to a man standing at a podium. He nodded smiling slightly. Flipping her invitation he read it and nodded pulling a small microphone closer to himself.

            “Jennifer Tennyson and Rook Blonko.” Heads turned and several of the aliens in the crowd bowed as the two of them made their way down the stairs. A man stepped up to them a blonde dressed in formal military blues, he had a scar through one of his eyes. He saluted Jen and smiled.

            “Miss Tennyson, good to see you here.” Jen grinned and shook hands with him.

            “Lieutenant Steele. This is my partner Rook Blonko, an agent of the Plumbers. Rook this is Lieutenant Steele, a member of SECT.” Rook shook hands with the Lieutenant.

            “It is good to meet you.” Rook said and Lieutenant Steele nodded.

            “You too. Listen Jen I know you’re really only here as a favor but please mingle. A lot of people are still worried about aliens on Earth after everything that’s happened. No offence.” Jen pulled a face at him, he shook his head. “I’m just saying you’re sort of the poster child for human alien relations. If we want this to go well you’re gonna be here all night.” Jen sighed.

            “How’d you know I was planning to slip off early?” She muttered.

            “I called your cousin for advice.” Steele stated matter of factly. Jen rolled her eyes.

            “Smart. Fine I’ll mingle.” Rook laughed lightly.

            “I was unsure why you agreed to this. You only intended to show up and then leave?” He too was speaking lowly. Jen blushed. Steele nodded.

            “I should have called him. He seems to know you just as well as your cousin.” Jen laughed and shook her head.

            “Yeah just about. Come on. Let’s go mingle.” And mingle they did. They spoke with a few senators, delegates from several Earth countries and representatives from the UN. There were actually quite a few representatives of other worlds there too. The Queen of Lewoda was there in her plain blue robes she curtseyed to Jen and when Jen asked how her son was she lit up with a smile. Apparently the Tiffin was doing very well and wanted to come visit at some point. There was a representative from several other planets. Rook lost track after a while. Names and faces passed in a blur and none of them seemed at all interested in who he was. He didn’t blame them, he was hardly the hero of a hundred worlds. But Jen never left him out, always being sure to introduce him. Jen was speaking to the ambassador from Sonorosia when she looked up and spotted someone across the room. She let him finish before she smiled.

            “I’m sorry Ambassador, I’ve just spotted someone I know. If you’ll excuse me.” He nodded and Jen grabbed Rook’s hand pulling him through the crowd until they reached the table where a blonde girl sat. She was human, or looked it, wearing a white dress, long and simple but shimmering slightly. A black belt sat around her waist, echoed in a chocker around her neck and a band in her hair. She spotted Jen and grinned wide standing and meeting her halfway with a hug.

            “Eunice it’s so good to see you!” The blonde laughed.

            “It’s good to see you too Jen. It’s been way too long.” Jen turned to Rook with a giant grin on her face, real this time not the fake smile she’d been putting on for the last half hour or so for the delegates.

            “Rook this is Eunice, Azmuth’s lab assistant. Eunice this is Rook my partner.” Eunice grinned and shook hands with Rook.

            “You were not on Galvan last time we were.” Rook stated as they sat down at Eunice’s table. She shook her head.

            “No Azmuth sent me… somewhere safe.” Jen nodded seeming to know what Eunice was talking about. Rook raised an eyebrow at her and she mouthed ‘Later.’ They chatted for a few minutes before someone approached the table and bowed to Jen. She blinked.

            “Al! I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” The Apollonite grinned at her, pink stars twinkling in marble skin.

            “I had hoped you would be here. Will you do me the honor of dancing with me?” Jen laughed and took his hand.

            “I’d love to.” He swept her out onto the dance floor and Rook frowned slightly. Eunice tilted her head at him.

            “You like her, don’t you?” Rook blinked the fur on his face puffing up slightly. “Observation is most of my job Rook. But she’s also very special to me. We’re practically family.” Rook frowned Jen had never mentioned Eunice before. “I’m not human, I’m a prototype of the Omnitrix called the Unitrix.” Rook blinked.

            “What?” Eunice shrugged.

            “Originally Azmuth wanted the Omnitrix to be self sufficient. He decided against that later, but Jen and her friends found me and convinced Azmuth that he shouldn’t lock me away again.” Rook was very confused as to why Eunice was telling him any of this. “She saved me, she’s saved a lot of people and she deserves to be happy. So what I’m saying is, if you can make her happy, please do.” She smiled at Rook who nodded. He understood, Eunice wasn’t threatening him, she was just looking out for her friend. They were interrupted when someone came to ask Eunice for a dance. Rook watched Jen dance with the Apollonite and frowned.

            He was a prince, at least according to what Rook had learned about the Apollonites in classes. He wore the deep pink sash over his toga that signified royalty. He looked away from the pair as Jen laughed at something the Apollonite said. He frowned. Across the hall was a woman. She wouldn’t have stood out, not in this crowd, if it wasn’t for her eyes. They were bright pink, the way Gwen’s were when she used her powers. But where the pink consumed Gwen’s eye this woman had it only in her iris. Her hair was a pale blonde, so pale that it was almost white. Rook frowned and stood. Maybe it was Jen’s paranoia rubbing off on him, maybe it was the way she was staring at Jen and her dance partner. But something compelled him to cross the hall. By the time he reached the spot where she had been, she was gone. He blinked looking around.

            He spotted her again at the doors that opened into the garden, slipping through them. He followed, still not sure why. There was no one else here. The courtyard was beautiful, red rose bushes spilling around the perimeter of the space, a fountain rested at its center water spilling from a carved stone vase held in the hands of a carved woman in Grecian style robes. The woman was here. In the light of the moon her hair was no longer blonde but a silvery white. She was dressed in black, with pink and purple accents but the largest accessory was a necklace.

            “You followed me.” He frowned and stepped out of the shadows. He didn’t know what to say. “I knew you would. You saw me looking at her.” She turned, she was toying with the pendant on her necklace, a large thing that looked as though it had been carved out of stone. It didn’t really fit with the rest of her outfit, which was elegant and modern. She tilted her head at him and he spotted a wild gleam in her eyes.

            “You were looking too. She’s hard not to look at. She’s like the sun. Beautiful, warm. But dangerous when you get close. Get too close and you may well get burned. But it’s well worth the pain.” The door behind Rook opened and he turned. Jen had followed him out without her dance partner.

            “You ok Rook?” Rook looked back into the garden, but the woman was gone.

            “I am fine.” Whoever she had been she was right, it was hard not to look at Jen. Even as she frowned at him. He looked back at the fountain. “There is something I have been wanting to tell you, and I think it is time I said what I need to say.” Jen nodded.

            “Oh?”

            “Yes, and I would appreciate if you would simply listen until I am finished.” She nodded. “I have been trying to figure out how to put my feelings into words for quite some time. I know we have not known each other for very long, but I have developed romantic feelings for you.” She blinked at him.

            “I understand if this makes you uncomfortable. If you wish I will apply for a transfer.”

            “No, I don’t want you to transfer.” She took a deep breath. “There’s a movie coming out on Saturday, I think you’d love it. If you want to come with me, as a date.” He blinked at her. She let out a soft laugh. “You’re not the only one with feelings here Rook.” He stepped over to her.

            “Blonko, if you wish, I would like you to call me by my chosen name.” Jen smiled.

            “I’d like that too Blonko.” Looking at her smile at him as she intertwined their fingers he could see what the woman had meant. It would be easy to get drawn into her orbit, to get burned by the light in those toxic green eyes. But it would be worth every minute.

Chapter Text

            They rejoined the party after that, hand in hand. Eunice winked at Rook from across the room. They made their way across the hall and the same Apollonite that had danced with Jen earlier approached them. He bowed.

            “You have not yet introduced me to your partner Jen.”

            “Blonko this is Prince Albrasix of Apollo I, Al this is Rook Blonko my partner.” Al bowed and shook Rook’s hand.

            “It is lovely to meet you. I understand tonight is special.” Jen shrugged.

            “To humans yeah. It’s the start of a new solar year. Earth successfully made another rotation around the sun without getting destroyed. I consider that a good thing.” They laughed. Someone tapped Jen on the shoulder and she turned to find herself face to face with someone else she knew.

            “Kai!” Jen hugged the other girl. She was dressed to the nines too. Her dress was black, simple but elegant with red heels, matching the belt around her waist. Her hair was up in a braid her bangs artfully tousled. She grinned at Jen.

            “Technically it’s Dame Kai Green now.” Jen snorted but Kai nodded. “Gregory and I both got Knighted over Christmas for our efforts against the Incursions. By the actual Queen of England, you should have seen my mom’s face.” Jen pulled her into another hug, laughing.

            “Congratulations, I did hear about you both kicking ass against the Incursions. Is he here too?” Kai nodded over to the refreshments. The ex-Forever Knight turned and smiled at them two glasses in his hands. He made his way over to them and handed one of the glasses of punch to Kai.

            “It’s good to see you Jen.” Jen ginned.

            “You too.” She took Rook’s hand and smiled. “This is Rook Blonko, Blonko this is Gregory and Kai. Some old friends of mine. Though it’s Sir Gregory and Dame Kai now huh?” They laughed and Rook raised an eyebrow. Jen stifled her laughter.

            “I do not understand why that is funny, is that not a high honor?” Rook asked. Jen nodded.

            “It is. It’s funny because Gregory used to be a member of an organization that called themselves knights and now he’s a real one.” They chuckled but Rook saw something change in Jen’s face. There was a bit of melancholy there, as though this joke had dredged up some old wounds. She shook it off after a moment though and looked up at a clock that was set up to count down to midnight. They had about five minutes before the final countdown began.

            “We should grab something to toast with. We’ll see you around.” They nodded and Jen took Rook’s hand slipping off to the refreshments. He frowned slightly but knew that there were too many people here to ask about what Jen was feeling. She grabbed two crystal flutes of punch and handed one to Rook. He couldn’t help but think.

            Jen didn’t talk much about her past, most of what Rook knew about it was from her file. He was reasonably certain that he knew which organization Jen had been talking about though. The Forever Knights, they hadn’t been heard from since two months before he and Jen had met. The Knights had been a long time enemy of Jen’s from when she first donned the Omnitrix. But information about their demise was sparce at best. All the Plumbers knew was that an all-out war had broken out between a group called the Esoterica and the Knights. A war that had left all the participants dead. The only known living Knights had been in Plumber custody when the Incursions invaded. Driscoll and his men had not been among those who’d escaped custody during the Incursion occupation. A few knights were still unaccounted for but by all appearances their legacy had ended in that fight, and no one knew why. Well no one but Jen, and maybe Kevin and Gwen. But he wouldn’t ask here. The DJ stopped playing and a man that Rook recognized as the President.

            “It is lovely to see so many faces here. As we recover from the events of the past two months we must focus on unity more than ever.” He continued with a practiced speech. Jen didn’t seem to be paying attention. She did join in though as the countdown to the New Year began. But she was distracted at the last moment as she looked across the room.

            “Jen?” He followed her line of sight and blinked it was the same woman from before, her white hair gleaming under the lights. She caught their eyes and fingered her necklace before a tall man walked in front of her, obscuring her from view for only a moment. But when he moved she was gone. Jen frowned. “Jen, who was she?”

            Jen shook her head.

            “I’ll tell you on the way home.” She turned back to him and raised her glass. “Happy new year Blonko.” He smiled lightly and tapped his glass gently to hers.

            “Happy new year Jen.”

            The party wrapped up quickly after that. Jen retrieved her car from the valet. She took a deep breath as she drove down the road. After another one she spoke.

            “Where to start? Eunice, she’s not human.”

            “Yes, she did tell me she is a prototype Omnitrix.” Jen nodded.

            “Sweet kid though.” Jen shook her head. “She doesn’t get out of the lab much. But Azmuth must have thought she was in danger from Malware. Which, thinking about it makes sense since she’s technically a machine. But never say that in front of her, she’s not an object and hates it when people refer to her as one.” Rook nodded.

            “That is understandable.”

            “She was probably on Primus when we faced of with Malware.” Rook frowned but before he could ask Jen launched into an explanation of what Primus was. He nodded. “No one can know. It’s a pretty closely guarded secret.” Rook smiled.

            “I am glad you trust me enough to confide these things in me.” Jen nodded.

            “Well number one you’ve proved that you’re trustworthy. I noticed you didn’t put the whole mind control thing in your report when we caught Vilgax last. I appreciate it.” Rook nodded. “Number two, you’re probably gonna need to know some shit that isn’t in my file, as my partner.”

            “That makes sense. But why are some things omitted from your file?” Jen shrugged.

            “Same reason you didn’t put in the mind control. It’s too dangerous for someone to get hold of the information.” She shrugged then sighed. “Some stuff is in the private file I’m sure Grandpa has shown you by now but…” She shook her head.

            “Your friend Gregory, he was a Forever Knight?” Jen sighed and nodded.

            “Sort of, a squire. He quit when he realized what the knights were. Helped me free an alien that looked like a dragon from them.”

            “What happened to the Forever Knights?” Jen shook her head at his question.

            “Story for another time.” Rook nodded. Even if he’d earned her trust some stories would need time to be told.

            “The woman with the white hair then?” Jen’s frown turned contemplative.

            “Charmcaster. Bit of a long story honestly.” Jen sighed. “We had a thing.”

            “A thing?” Jen laughed lightly.

            “A fling. She had just switched to the good side, I needed intimacy after the last time Kevin went crazy.” She shook her head. “I almost killed him, I almost crossed the one line I promised myself I would never cross. She helped me pull myself back together.”

            “But why was she at the party?” Jen shook her head.

            “I have no idea, probably gate crashing. I don’t think the Earth authorities are aware of Ledgerdomain. But what bothers me is why she didn’t talk to me.” Rook tried to mention his short conversation with the enchantress but his mouth wouldn’t form the words. He frowned. Jen shook her head. “I will never understand magic users, and yes, I am including my cousin in that.” Rook laughed, all thought of telling Jen about speaking with Charmcaster forgotten.

Chapter Text

            Life in Bellwood had mostly gone back to normal by the first day of January. The rest of the world was still on the road to recovery but Bellwood had always been good at recovering from alien shenanigans. That afternoon though Technorg and his crew were leaving, and Jen insisted that she be there to see them off.

            “We cannot convince you to come with us smallest warrior?” Technorg asked and Jen shook her head.

            “Nah.” She said glancing back at where Rook was waiting for her. “I think I’m good here thanks.” He nodded.

            “If you ever have need of us all you must do is call.” Jen nodded and hugged the Detrovite around his neck.

            “Thank you for everything. You’ll keep an eye on each other?” She said glancing over at Tagh.

            “I promise.” Jen hugged her lost transformation and stood back to watch as the ship launched. She stepped over to Rook grinning wide.

            “So you ready to head out on patrol?” Jen asked and Rook nodded. On their way to the newly rebuilt Proto-Truck they received word that an alien was downtown robbing a jewelry store. Jen laughed light lightly. “Some things never change. Meet you there.” She spun the dial on the Omnitrix and transformed into XCLR8 and ran off. Rook laughed racing to the truck to catch up with his partner.

            Taking down Fistina was surprisingly easy but as they were loading her into the truck a tv in a nearby window caught Jen’s eye as Rook pulled the Acrosian’s head out of the wall it had gotten stuck in when Jen had taken apart the armor. Jen frowned as the sports coverage came on. The news caster was speaking about a local sports star Julie Yamamoto coming back into town. Jen frowned pulling out her cellphone. There were no new messages. Rook was loading Fistina up into the Proto-Truck as she openly flirted. He turned expecting to find Jen getting into the truck. She was still in front of the electronics.

            “Jen?” Jen turned to him and frowned at Fistina calling him ‘Little Rook’.

            “Would you mind taking her to base? I’m gonna return the necklace Fistina took, then I need to pop by the tennis courts.” Rook peered over Jen’s shoulder and nodded.

            “Of course, tell Julie I say hello.” Jen grinned and squeezed his hand.

            “I will.” She took off for the jewelry store the stolen necklace in hand. Rook got into the Proto-Truck and took Fistina back to base. He frowned when he reached the base though. There was a Kraaho there, wrapped in so many layers Rook was amazed that they were still shivering. He handed Fistina over to the Plumber working intake and stepped over to the shivering Kraaho. They bowed slightly. He didn’t recognize them but they apparently recognized him.

            “Agent Rook. I am Kretz of the Kraaho. Chieftainess Ester has sent me to beg the aid of the Plumbers.” Rook frowned.

            “What is happening?”

            “The Hot Spot is under attack. Ester has gone seeking Jen Ten but sent me here in case she couldn’t find her. She is an expert tracker, but Jen Ten is difficult to track.” Rook nodded.

            “I will come to assist you as well.” Kretz nodded and they hopped in the Proto-Truck.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Jen returned the necklace and took off to the tennis courts as Jetray. She touched down and grinned at Julie who bounced over to her as she transformed back to normal.

            “Jen! I was gonna call you later today!” Jen returned the other girl’s hug and grinned.

            “I was wondering why you hadn’t told me you were back in town.” Jen pulled back from the hug and frowned they weren’t alone. He was tall blonde and cute, wearing a tousled button up and tan jacket. Around his neck sat a camera, it looked expensive.

            “Jen this is my boyfriend Hervé, we met in France.” Jen smiled and reached out a hand to shake. Hervé shook her hand.

            “It is lovely to meet you, Julie speaks very highly of you.” He spoke with a thick French accent. Before Jen could reply a voice echoed from the top of the stadium.

            “Jen, thank the proteans!” Jen turned and spotted Ester of the Kraaho standing at the top of the stadium. The pink girl stretched down to the floor of the stadium and Julie raised an eyebrow.

            “Who’s this?” Julie asked.

            “Julie this is Ester, leader of the Kraaho. Ester this is my friend Julie.” Ester’s smile was a little strained.

            “It is lovely to meet you but I need Jen’s help. My people are under attack!” Jen blinked and nodded. Turning to Julie she nodded.

            “It was good to see you but I gotta go. Come over for lunch! Mom would love to see you again!” She turned the dial on the Omnitrix to XCLR8, picked up Ester and took off in a blur. Hervé shook his head slightly.

            “You have odd friends Julie.” Julie nodded.

            “Odd but badass.”

            Jen pulled to a stop near the entrance to the Hot Spot and set Ester down as she transformed back into herself. They ran the rest of the way, Jen could feel herself begin to sweat already. It was extremely warm here, it was probably a good thing that Rook wasn’t here with her. Even more so when she spotted someone she had been hoping she wouldn’t see for quite some time.

            Princess Looma Redwind was the one laying waste to the Hot Spot. She spotted them as they rushed into the Hot Spot. A smile broke over her face as she spotted Jen.

            “Beloved!” Jen swore under her breath. Ester stared at her incredulously.

            “Beloved?” Ester sounded beyond disbelieving, more incensed. A voice from nearby piped up.

            “Technically Betrothed.” Jen didn’t take her eyes off the Tetramand Princess.

            “Yeah Rook rub it in.” Out of the corner of her eye she spotted her partner frown slightly as if confused. Jen shook her head. “I’ll explain later. Looma what are you doing?”

            “Well Beloved I am collecting the traditional Tetramand bridal gifts! Something conquered, something bruised, some severed, something blue! I already have something severed! So I thought since you conquered these people one of them would be perfect!”

            “I didn’t conquer anyone! We came to a peaceful agreement!”

            “After a fight!” Looma pointed out, Jen rolled her eyes. Looma raised two of her hands as if brushing off the point. “It still counts love! Now who is the leader here.” Ester stretched across the distance, to stand between Looma and her people.

            “That would be me. I won’t let you touch my people!” Ester squared up and Jen spun the dial on the Omnitrix. She selected Heatblast and she Rook and Ester all lunged at Looma from different sides.

            “I would love to dance again beloved, but I need to collect these gifts!” The Tetramand blocked Ester with one hand, slapping her into Rook’s path instead and seized Heatblast with two other hands. “Can this form survive lava?”

            “Yeah.” Jen realized that it was a very stupid thing to say as soon as Looma grinned. The princess threw her like a rag doll sending her splashing into a large pool of lava and sinking like a rook. It was a little like the consistency of jelly which was odd but she had other concerns. When she surfaced Ester and Rook were gone and so was Looma. Jen bushed the excess lava off herself, careful to get it all before she transformed back. She did not want to still be covered in lava as a human. Once she was sure she got it all she changed back into herself and fished her communicator out from under her shirt.

            “Pierce.”

            “Jen! How’d you know I was back today?”

            “I know everything that happens in the base, don’t ask how. I need a track on Rook’s badge and a bolo out on my rampaging Tetramand fiancé.” Pierce snorted, trying to suppress his laughter.

            “I’m sorry can you repeat that?”

            “You heard what I said, I need that location asap please.” Jen pulled her key fob out of her pocket, racing out of the Hot Spot and clicking the button to summon her bike as she went.

Chapter Text

            Pierce managed to keep his humor to himself learning that Rook had been taken by the Tetramand Princess. He also provided some information on the bridal gifting ceremony. Apparently, whomever had been challenged originally, regardless of gender, was to collect the gifts Looma had specified. Jen frowned as she wove through traffic.

            “She said she already had something severed, I shudder to ask but does it say anything about what that might be.”

            “Not so much in specifics. It says that the general tradition is that the gifts should be proof of the challengers prowess in battle. So they have to relate in some way to you. Severed any limbs recently?” Jen frowned.

            “Not limbs.” She mused as the dot she was using to track Looma turned down a side street. Jen detoured quickly ignoring the honking behind her. There was silence for a moment.

            “I hate the way you phrased that cause now I have to know what you have severed recently.” Pierce sounded morbidly curious.

            “Two of Vilgax’s facial tentacles. Though I have no idea how she’d have gotten her hands on them.” Jen shrugged taking a left and glancing back at the tracker. She swore.

            “What?”

            “She’s going to my house!”

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Sandra Tennyson was chatting with Julie as she washed dishes. Hervé was working on his computer, touching up a few photos. There was a knock at the door. Sandra dried her hands and frowned. She wasn’t expecting visitors, but as whoever it was began to ring the doorbell she shook her head and quickstepped over to it.

            “I’m coming.” She opened the door and blinked. There was a woman outside, an alien woman. She stood about seven feet tall, her skin was bright red and she had four arms and four bright yellow eyes. Her ship was parked on the front lawn and she had a bag over one of her shoulders that appeared to be squirming. Sandra’s hand inched towards the blaster they kept by the door. They hadn’t had to use it yet, but Jen was a bit paranoid and Carl shared her caution.

            “Hello! Is Jen Tennyson your daughter?” Sandra drew herself up angling the door slightly so the blaster would be out of sight until she drew it from its spot.

            “Yes. She is.”

            “Mother!” Sandra admitted that wasn’t what she’d been expecting. The large red alien plucked her out of the door and hugged her, she was reasonably certain she heard her back make a popping sound. As the alien set her back down she set down the bag she’d been carrying. “I am Princess Looma Redwind! I have brought you the traditional bride gift of my world!” Sandra blinked, without turning from the door she called back into the house.

            “Carl, we have another guest.”

            “Be there in a minute Sandra.” Looma grinned and kicked the struggling bag. Sandra frowned.

            “Looma Redwind? I can’t say Jen’s mentioned you.” Quite the opposite really. Last Sandra heard Jen and Rook were going on their first date tomorrow.

            “But I am her fiancé. I have brought the customary offering! If you don’t have a holding pen I can have them stuffed and mounted. If it’s more convenient.” Sandra had no idea how to respond to that so she was relieved when a glowing blade sprouted through the fabric bag and it tore open from the inside. Rook sprang from the bag alongside a pink alien in a bright pink parka and a very bruised and dazed bright red Necrofriggian. There was some kind of restraint around their mouth that linked to their hands. They didn’t look very comfortable but neither Rook nor the other alien had a chance to free them as Looma wielded her double ended hammer at them.

            “Sorry mother they are escaping.” Before Sandra could say anything Looma was after the escaping aliens who were smart enough to split up. The screech of tires and smell of burning rubber heralded Jen peeling around the corner on her motorcycle. Looma frowned as she swung her hammer at Ester.

            “Beloved you can’t be here for this.” Looma was pouting. She snagged the red Necrofriggian by the restraints and threw them into Jen sending both of them flying into Carl’s car parked in the driveway. Jen shook her head to clear her head after smacking it on the door and blinked down at the figure sprawled in her lap.

            “Frost?” Jen yanked her dagger out of its sheath. It was coated in Taydenite and that made it easy to slice through the restraints. She pulled them off and the Necrofriggian coughed.

            “It’s good to see you. Do you know this Tetramand?” Jen shrugged as they hopped to their feet.

            “Yeah but trust me this whole thing, not my idea.”

            The fight ended quickly after that. Jen didn’t even have to transform. Frost put an end to the fight with a blast of fire that froze the Tetramand princess to the sidewalk.

            “Now that I have your attention, it is not ok to kidnap my friends and family!” Looma blinked.

            “Which of them are you related to?” Jen pointed at Frost, the red Necrofriggian, who looked a little confused.

            “We shared a brain, we’re related.” Frost tilted their head at Jen.

            “I can see your logic there.” Looma bowed her head.

            “I did not know. I apologize, I have dishonored myself by harming my beloved’s family.” She sniffled. Jen frowned. “I am no longer worthy to marry you beloved.” The ice around her shattered and she ran off sniffling.

            Jen frowned slightly as Looma’s ship took off. She felt sort of bad for the alien princess, after all she had never asked for any of this either. She sighed as her mother cleared her throat from the doorway.

            “Well… how about you explain all of that over tea?”

Chapter Text

            Jen woke up the next morning slightly sore. She’d spent most of the night helping Ester rebuild the Hot Spot. But today was going to be something else. Or at least she was hoping it would be. Today was her date with Rook and she was happy that at least they would both be going into it without any extraneous relationship problems, now that Jen no longer had a rampaging Tetramand fiancé. They were meeting up later which was a good thing, Jen didn’t want anything to interfere with today. She had maybe gone a bit overboard in ensuring that there would be no problems with the day. Pierce had come back the day before but when she got home from the New Years Gala she’d made a few calls and gotten the rest of the Max Force temporarily placed on Earth to help with repairs and she’d called in favors they owed her to get them on extra patrols today. She sighed as she stretched and headed for the shower. She had a video call with Gwen in a little bit to help her decide what to wear.

            The redhead answered the phone with a smile, a text book open in front of her. She didn’t tell Jen that Kevin was in the Base below the mechanics shop that served as the front for their base doing the same thing she was doing but for Rook.

            “Excited?” Gwen asked. Jen shrugged holding up a pair of jeans. Gwen shook her head.

            “I mean yeah, but what if something goes wrong? I don’t exactly have the best track record with this type of thing.” Jen said tossing the jeans aside and picked up a pair of black slacks. Gwen nodded.

            “Oh go with those.” Gwen ran the end of her highlighter over the page in front of her and nodded slightly looking up at Jen. “Are we talking about dating or having a day off?” Jen frowned.

            “Bit of both. Last time I took a day off I ended up in an alternate dimension.” Gwen nodded. Jen continued. “Last time I went on a date didn’t go too bad.” She blushed Gwen raised an eyebrow running her finger along the paragraph she’d just highlighted part of.

            “Yes, I imagine spending three days in Charmcaster’s bedroom would be eventful.” Jen rolled her eyes at her cousin. Gwen didn’t look up from her book. “Look at it this way, he’s been through life and death peril with you,  If he can’t handle a movie, he’s not worth your time.” Jen scoffed.

            “I think he’ll enjoy this movie that’s not what I’m worried about.”

            “You’re worried there’ll be an attack.” Gwen stated, still not looking up.

            “Or an invasion, or a sixty foot tall moth monster. You never know in Bellwood.” Gwen laughed.

            “Promise me you’ll get pictures if Mothman interrupts your date.” Jen grumbled at her cousin. Gwen looked back up at her and pointed her highlighter at Jen. “He knows you, he’s been in your life for a while now. He is well aware of your trouble magnet status. If he’s worth your time he’ll stick around no matter what happens.” Jen nodded holding up a bright green t-shirt and a black button up. “T-shirt, don’t wanna look too fancy it’s just the movies right?” Jen nodded.

            “If it goes well we might go to dinner after.”

            “Yeah but you never liked fancy sit down places. You should introduce him to good cheeseburgers, those are hard to get out here.” Jen snorted.

            “Missing In-And-Out already?” Gwen shrugged.

            “Yeah but you can’t beat the pizza here.” They both laughed and Jen grinned at her cousin.

            “I’ll call you after the date and let you know how it goes.” Gwen nodded and grinned.

            “Have fun, that’s the whole goal here. And if you pull another Charmcaster please use protection.” Jen snorted as Gwen hung up.

            Across town Rook was frowning at his closet. Kevin snorted from the video com link in the corner of the room and Rook rolled his eyes, a habit he’d picked up from his partner.

            “Should I wear my armor?” Rook asked. Kevin laughed.

            “Sort of sends the wrong message. What do you have that Earth casual?” Rook frowned as he sorted through his closet. In all honesty there wasn’t much there. He had a few shirts and two pairs of jeans, a standard Plumber uniform and several sets of Proto-armor. Kevin shot down two of his shirts, the Hawaiian prints. He ended up going for a plain black t-shirt. Kevin nodded slightly.

            “Looking nice. Now you should get her flowers, it’s sort of an Earth tradition. I think roses are the general tradition, Gwen likes yellow roses but I’m not sure what kind Jen likes.” Rook nodded.

            “Should I bring my Proto-tool?”

            “Can you fight without it?” Rook nodded. “Then leave it behind, it’ll get in the way in the theater. What movie are you seeing anyway?”

            “Jen has picked a movie she believes we will both enjoy, it appears to be a documentary about earth history.” Kevin frowned.

            “That doesn’t sound like Jen… What part of history?”

            “Medieval England I believe.” Kevin shorted.

            “Oh that should be fun with her.” He refused to elaborate but insisted that Rook should get Jen flowers so Rook set out a little earlier than planned. He ended up getting a bouquet of red roses from a very kind florist who’s shop wasn’t too far away from the base. She had been a bit startled when Rook had come into her shop but grinned as he explained what was happening. He stepped into the hanger and smiled as Jen’s car pulled into the room. She parked and stepped out of the car with a grin.

            “You ready to head out?” She asked smiling and Rook nodded pulling the bouquet out from behind his back. Jen’s looked startled but pleased. “Aw thank you!” She took the flowers and blushed as she smelled the bright red blossoms.

            “I am glad you like them.” They smiled as they got into Jen’s car. They reached the theater with time to spare to grab snacks after purchasing their tickets. Jen was nervous, more that they would be interrupted than anything else. But they made it into the theater without incident. They sat a bit further back and shared popcorn. Jen couldn’t settle fully, still worried about something attacking but they made it all the way though the documentary. Rook appreciated the history of it and Jen got an odd dose of nostalgia from it. She had spent some time in eleventh century England and it was odd to see something close to it up on screen. Jen drove them for burgers after the movie and they sat together on the hood of Jen’s car on the outskirts of town watching the sun set. She grinned as the first few stars became visible.

            “I can’t believe today went so well, I was half expecting Vilgax to pop up or someone to threaten to blow up the planet again.” Jen stated glancing over at Rook.

            “It was nice to have a quiet day. I enjoyed this, we should do this more often.” Jen snorted.

            “If we get the chance. I tend to have a very active life, you know that Blonko.”

            “I do, and I enjoy that as well.” His statement was so candid it almost took her by surprise. She grinned at him.

            “That’s good cause you’re stuck with me.” He took her hand and smiled at her.

            “I cannot think of a more pleasant place to be stuck than with you.”  

Chapter Text

            Jen dropped Rook off at the Base after their date. It was a little awkward, neither of them were exactly sure if they should kiss the other. Since neither made the first move Jen just squeezed his hand before she left. Gwen was slightly disappointed by that when Jen called her. Kevin snorted slightly when Rook called him.

            “Next time just kiss her.” That was the Osmosians advice, and Gwen honestly had a similar idea about the situation. Jen headed to bed and groaned a few hours later when her com unit began to beep on her bedside table. She pulled herself into a sitting position and answered the call.

            “Somebody better be dying, cause if they aren’t I might just kill someone for waking me up.” Her grandfather chuckled slightly over the com.

            “That’d be why I called you kiddo, and yeah we need you to come in.” Jen groaned as she pulled herself out of bed grumbling as she grabbed her hoodie and grumbled her way to the kitchen. She blinked at the window for a second.

            “The sun isn’t even up yet.”

            “I know, but this is life and death. We need you Jen.”

            “Yeah, yeah I’m on my way.” She grumbled her way onto her bike and off to the base. Rook was waiting for her in the briefing room with a steaming cup of tea, there was a bag by his feet and Max handed Jen another. She set it down before she grinned at Rook and accepted the cup he offered. He smiled as she leaned next to him.

            “Alright then, this mission is a sensitive one. We received a signal from a downed Plumber ship on Terminus Three.” Rook hissed in sympathy and Jen raised an eyebrow.

            “It has a toxic atmosphere.” He explained. Jen frowned sipping her tea.

            “I fail to see how we can help then.” She said glancing at her grandfather.

            “It’s not immediately toxic, and there is a cure. The venom of the Gracklflint neutralizes the toxin but it has to be fresh.” Jen frowned.

            “And a Gracklflint is…?”

            “A very large feral beast, that we need to transport to Terminus Three within fourteen hours if there’s any chance of saving those Plumbers.” Jen’s frown deepened.

            “Why do I feel like there’s a catch to this simple seeming mission.” Max nodded.

            “Because Terminus Three rests right on the edge of Incursion space, and with the Incursions still pulling back to last years boarders it’s too dangerous to send a Plumber ship. We’ve hired a ship to take you two and the Gracklflint to Terminus Three, and pick up the stranded Plumbers. You’ll have to meet up with them in Undertown. Rook’s packed his bag and I grabbed you some stuff from your room. You head out immediately.” Jen nodded to Rook and the two of them headed to Undertown in the Proto-Truck. They picked up the Gracklflint first then headed towards a seedy bar called the Black Hole. Jen waited outside, as Diamondhead standing next to the Gracklflint’s cage, they were pretty valuable but unpredictable. Rook came back out of the bar followed by a shorter figure. Jen frowned slightly.

            “Jen this is our pilot Rad Dudesman.” Rook looked a little concerned that this was the case but Jen just nodded.

            “Captain Dudesman.” The duck looked her up and down once then nodded.

            “Her I like.” Rook frowned as Rad led them off to a nearby hanger. Rook fell into step beside her, still frowning. Jen raised an eyebrow at him.

            “You ok Blonko?” Rook glanced at his partner.

            “I am concerned that he may not be fully qualified for this mission.” Jen frowned.

            “Why?”

            “He is simply in it for the profit.” Rook stated frowning as Jen pulled the Gracklflint into the hold of Rad’s ship. The duck’s voice popped up from a small balcony overlooking the cargo.

            “Profit is my middle name.” Jen snorted as she turned back into herself. The Gracklflint growled and snapped at them but Jen just rolled her eyes handing Rook his bag and heading up towards Rad.

            “Hey sometimes good beings are in it for the profit.” Jen stated Rook frowned.

            “You do not seem to find this at all odd.” It sounded almost like a question. Jen shrugged.

            “Oh, this is nothing, the very first time I really went out into space, like beyond the solar system I went by myself number one. Two, my transport consisted of a mercenary, Tetrax Shard, and his pilot Gluto who is a Protost. That was weird. Odd things stop being odd after a while when you’re around me.” Rook nodded.

            “I can see how that would happen.” They were interrupted when Rad cleared his throat.

            “We’re taking off. But you should know that I only have the one spare cabin, and there’s only one bed so, work that out between the two of you.” He pointed down the hall at a separate door. The fur on Rook’s face puffed up and Jen went bright red as Rad stepped back into the cockpit.  They took off smoothly and the familiar jolt went through the ship, signaling that they had left the atmosphere. Jen took a calming breath and opened the door to the cabin. Rad hadn’t been lying, there was one bed, a chest of drawers and a small bathroom with a shower and toilet. Jen glanced at Rook.

            “Could be worse.” She commented as her blush returned full force.

            “I will take the floor.” Rook offered. Jen shook her head.

            “No need for that. This doesn’t have to be awkward. It’s only a four-hour trip to Terminus Three. It’s fine. Now I don’t know about you but I need a nap.” Jen stated pulling off her shoes. Rook nodded as Jen flopped down onto the bed.

            “I will go check in with Captain Dudesman and ensure we are on schedule.” Jen shrugged and turned over. Rook nodded and set down his bag next to Jen’s and headed off to the cockpit. Rad was speaking with his co-pilot a bright pink AI system. It beeped loudly when Rook entered the room.

            “Yeah but they’re paying Plumbers.” Rook couldn’t understand the AI but the tone of their beeps was less than flattering. Rad nodded slightly as Rook checked the course. They were headed in the right direction and Rook nodded slightly. He’d admit he was pretty tired. He had stayed up several hours later than normal wondering what Jen had thought about their date. He headed back to the cabin and smiled lightly. Jen was fast asleep, one hand under the pillow snoring. It was loud and should have been obnoxious but honestly it was just nice to see her relaxed. He’d never seen her like this before, unconsciousness was different to peaceful sleep. He yawned, he really was quite tired. He laid down on the bed, as far away as he could from Jen, trying to respect her space. He sighed as he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

            The red lights and alarm blaring might have been the worst way to wake up, if it weren’t for the cold stone along his throat. He blinked as the feeling vanished, Jen had leapt away from him her dagger clattering to the floor. Her eyes were still slightly blurred with sleep and the beginnings of tears. Before Rook could speak she snatched up her knife and took off out the door. He was seconds behind her. He rounded the corner in time to spot Rad open fire at a large figure.

            “Trouble?” Rook asked readying his Proto-Tool. Rad glanced at him.

            “Trouble is my middle name.”

            “I thought your middle name was Profit.” Rook commented. A slight laugh from a few hallways down heralded Jen and she wasn’t alone. She was dragging a familiar Florauna. “Pax!” The plant huffed loudly. He was wrapped in Spidermonkey’s webbing. Jen avoided Rook’s eyes, but neither of them had time to talk about what had happened back in their cabin when they discovered that Pax had snuck aboard to free the Gracklflint claiming it was wildly cruel to keep it in a cage. Never mind the damage it did it the Lovely Duck, or the fact that it tried, and partially succeeded in eating the alien rights activist. They had just gotten the beast back under control when Rad’s AI popped up, babbling, or at least all Rook heard was babble. Jen though seemed to understand every word which confused Rook. But before he could ask Jen had yanked him behind a crate. Back where Pax and Rad stood Rook could clearly hear a voice.

            “Attention alien vessel! This is Commander Raff of the Unstoppable Incursion Armada! You are suspiciously disabled withing Incursion space! Prepare to be boarded and searched!” The message cut out and Jen’s eyes narrowed. She popped back around the crate.

            “I have an idea. It’s stupid, there’s a very small chance of it working, and it’s dangerous. Who’s in?” Rook nodded laying a hand on her shoulder.

            “Always.” She smiled lightly. Rad cocked his gun.

            “Danger is my middle name.” Rook frowned at Rad but Jen had turned to Pax.

            “You’d get to stick it to the Incursions.” The Florauna grinned wide.

            “Oooooh yeah I’m in!” Jen’s grin had turned downright devious.

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Raff hadn’t exactly had the best time over the last four months. Attea had ordered him and his division into the Null Void to discover if Vilgax had been transferred to that Incarcecon. He hadn’t been and Raff had lost a chunk of his men in the Void. When he’d finally escaped he’d been informed that Attea had successfully staged a coup, with the possibly unwitting help of Jen Ten, and overthrown her father. She now sat as Empress, and she had never liked him much. She’d assigned him an outpost guarding a boarder. It was sort of an insult, being sent so far away but he’d been too close to her father to be kept close these days.

            He’d hoped to take some aggression out on this disabled ship and now his men were running from a beast that had been on the ship. He had no choice he called the ship back to tell them they could come get their creature. He gave the usual intro before he spotted who was on screen. Jennifer Tennyson sat in the pilots seat looking disinterestedly at her nails.

            “Jen Tennyson I might have known, come get this beast! I’ll let you into this sector, just get this thing off my ship.” Raff didn’t care if he sounded panicked. He’d barricaded himself in a closet to get away from the Gracklflint. Jen let out a contemplative hum.

            “Not good enough. I’ll make you a deal though. We take back the beastie, you let us through and back out without a fuss, and no one ever knows we were here.” She offered looking like she had all the time in the world. There was a bang at the closet door.  

            “Deal just come get it off my ship!”

            “Deal.”

                                                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Rook had to say that he was impressed with his partner. She handled the situation like she’d done it a thousand times. Raff kept his end of the bargain, They got to Terminus Three with time to spare and easily located the downed Plumber ship and its occupants. Only once they got them loaded onto the ship did Rook finally find a moment to confront Jen about what had happened. She was sitting in their shared cabin looking over a data pad.

            “Check it out his name actually is Rad Profit Danger Trouble Dudesman.” She didn’t look up at him. He frowned.

            “Jen.” She spoke again, still not looking at him.

            “It’s only happened once before, and I didn’t have my dagger back then.” He didn’t interrupt afraid she would stop explaining if he did. She never willingly talked about her past, getting information out of her was akin to pulling teeth, except she was trained to resist torture. “I already told you that Charmcaster and I had a fling, well it was very energetic. And I fell asleep with her. First time I’d ever done that.” She let out a long breath.

            “Sometimes when I get woken up suddenly or from a nightmare I react like I’m being attacked, because more than once that’s been the case. I ended up on top of her with my hands around her neck. Sort of like what happened a few hours ago. She and I never talked about it. Our relationship wasn’t about stuff like that.” She shrugged. Silence reigned.

            “You have been through more than most anyone in the galaxy. It is only natural that you would have some trauma. Reactions like that are natural.” She blinked up at him.

            “You don’t think…”

            “I do not think what?”

            “That it makes me weak.” She looked away from him. He stepped up to her and gently tilted her chin up.

            “It does not make you weak. It means you survived, more than anyone. It amazes me every time how strong you are.” Jen’s smile was slightly watery. The space between them seemed to be miraculously disappearing. Then the door opened and one of the Plumbers they had rescued blinked at them, clearing his throat.

            “Sorry Miss Tennyson, Magister Arnux wanted to talk to you.” He stammered and Jen sighed her breath ghosting over Rook’s face. It smelled slightly minty. She stood pulling away from him with a slight smile.

            “We’ll come back to this.” He nodded at her words as she disappeared. The Plumber turned to him.

            “Sorry.” Rook sighed.

            “You couldn’t have picked a worse moment to interrupt.” Rook stated almost under his breath stalking away from the confused looking Plumber.     

Chapter Text

            The Lovely Duck dropped the once stranded Plumbers at the base they’d been heading for originally, just a few hours after picking them up. Rad had lied when he’d told them there was only one cabin, the other Plumbers had taken the other cabins while they were on board. When Jen asked why Rad had shrugged and stated that he liked messing with Plumbers. He smirked when neither of them moved to separate cabins. From the base, at a more reasonable pace than the one they had set out at, it would take about six hours to get back to Earth. Rad would be taking the Gracklflint to a preserve once he dropped Jen and Rook off. Pax insisted he was staying with the Gracklflint until it was safely at the preserve. Rad wasn’t happy about that but he was being paid by the preserve to bring the beast so he didn’t care too much. Jen had a sneaking suspicion that Pax would find himself stranded at the preserve.

            Jen sighed as she headed back to their cabin. Rook had already headed there, but she’d wanted a few words with Pyxi, the ships AI. She had been slightly surprised to learn that not everyone could understand the AI, apparently the Omnitrix’s built-in translator didn’t just translate living species but AI systems as well, as long as they were speaking out loud. She didn’t think to knock before she entered but she should have. Rook didn’t have the top half of his Proto-Armor on, though he was still wearing the rest of it. She dodged back out of the cabin as if she had been fired at. Rook frowned.

            “Jen?”

            “Sorry, didn’t think to knock.” She took a deep breath. She had seen her partner shirtless before, they had been swimming together. Rook cleared his throat and Jen looked up to find him leaning in the doorway. He still wasn’t wearing a shirt. She honestly hadn’t noticed that he had stripes on his sides, two of them on each side curving just above his hips. She shook her head looking him in the face trying not to blush, though she could already feel herself failing. The amused look on Rook’s face told her she was probably the color of a tomato.  She shook her head slightly, she had no reason to be embarrassed.

            “Is everything ok?” Rook nodded.

            “I was merely checking my armor, we didn’t spend long on Terminus Three but it is best to be prepared.” Rook stated and Jen nodded.

            “Good plan.” Rook tilted his head at her.

            “Why are you embarrassed?” Rook sounded genuinely confused. “You have seen me in a bathing suit. On Revonnah it is not unusual in the hottest months for men to work the fields with no shirt. Why is this different?”

            “Social context.” Jen stated. She had spent too much time with Azmuth she was getting good at explaining things. She took a deep breath running her hands through her hair. “It’s just a bit awkward to walk in on someone half dressed. I should have knocked.” Rook seemed to think about it for a minute. Jen stifled a yawn and he frowned.

            “You are tired, we should get some rest before we reach Earth.” Jen was about to protest but another yawn ripped through her before she could.

            “You sure you want to?” She asked looking up at him. He knew what she meant, she was afraid she would wake up the way she had before, with her knife to his throat. He reached out and gently took her had. Slowly, giving her every chance to pull away, he pulled her into the cabin and nodded to the bed.

            “Sleep. It will be fine.” It took her a while to fall asleep but when she did it was a sounder sleep than any she’d had since she could remember. She woke up groggy but recalled falling asleep next to Rook so the presence of another body didn’t surprise her as it had before. He’d changed into a t shirt and sweatpants, since it was more comfortable to sleep in. Jen was surprised to find herself resting her head on his chest when she woke up, the rise and fall of his breaths a comforting rhythm that almost lulled her back to sleep. She smiled lightly, looking up at Rook’s face. He woke soon after she did and smiled at her. It felt like the most natural thing in the world for her to lean up and kiss him. Really just a peck on the lips, but he returned it easily a smile on his lips. It was sweet and soft and made her smile. A beep heralded Pyxi appearing on a screen near the bed and Jen blushed slightly as the AI beeped and pinged and babbled.

            “Thanks Pyxi. We’ll head to the cockpit in a minute.” The AI beeped and disappeared Rook looked down at Jen a frown on his face.

            “You can understand her.” Jen nodded sitting up and stretching.

            “There’s a universal translator in the Omnitrix. Comes in handy.” Rook nodded as Jen pulled off the blankets and slipped her shoes back on.

            “What did she say?” Rook asked as he stretched too and stood.

            “We’re landing on Earth in a few minutes. We should head up to the cockpit.” Rook nodded and smiled at Jen as she headed to the door. She grinned back at him.

            “I will meet you there. I need to put my armor back on.” Jen nodded and left the cabin heading for the cockpit so she could watch her world come into view. No matter where she went in the galaxy that little ball of blues and greens was her favorite sight to see. She grinned as Rad looked over at her.

            “Have a fun night?” His tone was teasing and Jen rolled her eyes at him.

            They landed in Undertown and headed off on Jen’s motorcycle, Jen driving and Rook holding onto her on the back of the bike. They arrived and parked and Jen frowned as she pulled off her helmet. Everyone was rushing around in pairs, stress on every face. Rook looked at her and she nodded, the two of them raced off together to find Max.

            As it turned out while they had been gone there had been a series of attacks. Several aliens from Undertown had been attacked but no one could say by what. They were now like statues, though their vitals still read through the stone. All any witnesses could say was whatever it had been was small, and quick and tended to only attack those on their own. Whatever was doing this seemed to have full access to Undertown too as several of the attacks had happened there. There had also been a minor breakout, just after they left. Jen and Rook headed out that night on patrol in the areas the attacks had taken place. Max had said he was calling in some experts and Jen frowned, usually she was the expert on this type of thing but she couldn’t make heads or tails of the blurry photos people had gotten of the attackers. Max made no mention of Jen and Rook holding hands but he did smile at them as they loaded into the Proto-Truck.

Chapter Text

            Jen and Rook were out all day and well into the night searching. They caught wind of a missing alien and headed off to his last known location that night. They caught sight of something small racing through the trees, Jen transformed, meaning to select XCLR8 but ended up with Shocksquatch. She was starting to get worried when she stopped hearing Rook, but she had a more immediate problem in the form of a tiny thing climbing her back. She managed to electrocute it, sending it flying off of her but moments later something much larger tackled her. They wrestled for a few minutes until Jen sent this attacker flying too with a bolt of electricity.

            “Come on we’ve almost got Bigfoot.” An unfamiliar voice came from her left along with a flashlight beam. She turned to the beam of light.

            “Bigfoot? I’m not Bigfoot.” The flashlight finally found her and she spotted the figure beyond it. He was around her height, with dark skin and orange eyes that matched his armor. His hair reminded her of Pierce, black with a large white swath that had been styled so it was just as spikey as the rest. She frowned she didn’t recognize him, or the adult behind him who was still mostly in shadow. She certainly didn’t recognize the large fuzzy creature that grabbed her from behind. Green lights flashed, transforming her back into herself as she struggled and the boy called out.

            “Fisk put her down!” The large beast complied with a grumble, dropping her. She landed on her ass and the boy offered her a hand. “Sorry about that. That transformation looked a lot like bigfoot.” Jen nodded taking his hand and letting him pull her back to her feet.

            “A pretty honest mistake. I’m Jen Ten, and you are?”

            “I know who you are, I watch you on the news all the time. I’m Zak Saturday.” The boy said shaking her hand. “You’ve already met my brother Fiskerton.” The yeti-like being grumbled. Jen shook her head.

            “Yeah, he packs a heck of a punch.” The adult stepped forward. It was clear he was related to Zak. The man was tall with the same coloring as Zak, and the same unusual orange eye, well eye. One of his eyes was white with a scar through it, he was clearly blind in that eye. He wore the same sort of armor as his son and smiled lightly as he reached out a hand to Jen.

            “I’m Doc Saturday. Max called us in, said you might be having a cryptid problem.” Jen blinked. The name was familiar. Max had a little black book full of names and numbers of people he’d worked with. She’d been through it while looking for people to help in the fight against the Highbreed, but she’d only contacted people she knew, knowing that not everyone could be trusted, but Saturday had been a name in the book. She shook his hand.

            “Nice to meet you. Sorry I didn’t get enough of a look at the thing that’s been attacking. We should find my partner before…” But a cry from the woods distracted her and had all of them racing off. Jen’s heart was in her throat, she’d seen what had happened to the other aliens who’d been attacked. She didn’t want that to happen to Rook. She rounded the corner before everyone else and breathed out slightly, then immediately felt guilty about it. The alien she and Rook had been looking for stood there a solid statue, he must have been the one who cried out. Rook stood next to him running a scanner over him. Jen stepped up next to him.

            “No more splitting up Blonko.” She insisted gently squeezing his hand. He nodded lowering his scanner. Zak and Doc made it through the trees closely followed by Fisk. “Blonko this is Zak and Doc Saturday and Fisk. They’re the specialists Grandpa called in. This is my partner Rook Blonko.” Rook nodded.

            “The cryptozoologists. He did mention he would be calling you in.” Rook held out a hand to Doc then Zak and each shook his hand, Zak much more enthusiastically than Doc.

            “I was so excited when dad told us where we were heading.” Zak said then frowned at the statue behind Rook. “Though I’ve never seen a Chupacabra capable of doing this before.” Rook frowned.

            “Chupacabra?” Zak nodded looking over the statue.

            “I caught a good look at it when it attacked Jen.” The teen stated examining the wound on the alien’s shoulder. Rook glanced at Jen.

            “I’m fine, not much can stay on top of Shocksquatch.” She assured him. He nodded.

            “I have done extensive research into Earth Zoology before coming here and I have never heard of a Chupacabra.” Rook stated.

            “I’ve heard of it. It’s supposed to be a cryptid that eats goats, native to Nevada right?” Jen shot her question at Doc Saturday but it was Zak who answered.

            “Right on the money. Though I didn’t expect the alien superhero to know much about cryptids.”

            “Eh I don’t.” Jen shrugged. “I heard the story a while back and my policy is to assume something is real until it’s proven fake. I’ve run into way too much weird shit to not do that.” Rook shook his head slightly and Jen grinned at him. “Remind me to tell you about the first time I ran into a Krakken.”

            “The one in the lake up near DC? We got her and her eggs moved a few years back. She’s in a protected lake now.” Jen grinned at Zak who’d spoken. Before they could keep talking Doc interrupted.

            “We should get this alien up to the airship, see if we can’t cure him.” Jen and Rook nodded and headed up to the airship with Zak to guide them as Fisk and Doc took the petrified alien.

            The airship was impressive, large with a game room alongside the controls and weapons rooms. Rook hung back as Zak and Jen talked. He didn’t have much in common with the human teen but Jen certainly did. They’d had very similar lives, learning of a world beyond their own at a young age and tossed into the role of hero very young. Rook couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy that coursed through him as he watched Zak show Jen more about Cryptids.

            “Honestly a lot of this was on Weird World.” Zak stated as he scrolled through another page of information. Jen frowned.

            “I remember that show. I never watched it though, it was on at the same time as Sumo Slammers.” Zak laughed.

            “I never caught Sumo Slammers!” The two teen laughed again and Rook huffed slightly. Jen didn’t hear him.

            “I heard it went off air a few years back.” She commented as Zak clicked over to the show’s website. He nodded.

            “Yeah. That’s kind of my fault. Turned out V.V. Argost, the host, was an evil Yeti bent of the destruction of humanity. He ended up blowing himself up when he tried to steal my powers. They mixed with his and it did not go well for him. Made a great tv show though.” Jen snorted slightly.

            “I completely understand what you mean.”

Chapter Text

            The alarm leading them to Bauman’s store ended up confirming that Chupacabra’s were real. It also resulted in two other aliens attacked by them. The team split up, Zak and Fisk going with Jen and Rook, following the Chupacabra’s trail to Undertown. Zak frowned.

            “They definitely came this way but I can’t sense them anymore.” Jen frowned turning to Zak as she walked. She didn’t draw as much attention here in Undertown, the aliens here were used to seeing her. A few here and there waved and Rook couldn’t help but notice the slight jealousy in Zak’s eyes when that happened.

            “So you have telepathy?” Jen asked and Zak frowned.

            “I used to have a few powers, but we thought they all disappeared when Argost croaked.” He sounded quite concerned but before they could run through ideas about why his powers might be returning an explosion plumed to their left.

            As it turned out Argost had been resurrected, somehow, by Dr. Animo. Jen, Rook, Zak and Fisk tracked down their hideaway only to be attacked by a Frankensteined cryptid, no sooner had they dealt with that then they got word that the airship was being attacked. They hopped back into the large electric trike Fisk was driving and Jen couldn’t help but appreciate the craftsmanship on the vehicle. She’d spent far too long with Kevin to not recognize a custom job when she spotted one. But when she commented on it Zak frowned.

            “I’d trade the trike and the airship for some credit next time I save the world. Most of the time people put it down to a natural disaster.” He frowned as Jen chuckled.

            “I miss those days. Trust me Zak fame is not all it’s cracked up to be. Most of the time it’s a royal pain in the ass. I’ve had to run from reporters almost as much as from bad guys these days.” That made Zak look thoughtful as they raced out of Undertown and up into Bellwood. The airship was under attack but Doc and Drew had managed to get everyone out. The fight with Argost wasn’t going well, Jen and Zak double teaming him while Rook, Doc and Drew took on the Franken-cryptids. Zon, a pterosaur, and Komodo, a Komodo dragon took out Animo easily but Zak and Jen weren’t having much luck. Jen pulled Zak back to his feet.

            “He’s powered by the life forces that were stolen from the aliens, if we had a way to re-extract that energy we could win this.” Zak stated, frustration evident in her voice but Jen’s eyes glimmered with excitement.

            “You have no idea how lucky you are that I have this alien. Keep him distracted for a minute.” Zak nodded and drew Argost’s attention enough for Jen to get around behind him and transform into Feedback. She absorbed the stolen energy from Argost and released it back into the world. It dissipated quickly as the Franken-cryptids came back to themselves quickly fleeing the city. The Plumbers were quick to arrive and collect the husk that had been Argost. Jen frowned. He hadn’t really been alive, at least according to Animo’s notes but it still felt wrong to watch the Plumbers drag off the creature. Zak pulled her into a hug, distracting her. She returned it and spotted Rook’s face over Zak’s shoulder. His eyes left her the instant he realized she was looking but she had seen the jealousy in his eyes. Jen pulled back from the hug.

            “Press will be here soon if you want it.” Jen said. Zak looked to his parents, they frowned but made no comment. Zak shook his head.

            “Nah, cryptids need to be secret for their own protection, against people like Animo.” Jen nodded smiling. She’d been hoping Zak would see that before he had to learn the hard way that sometimes anonymity had its perks. “One favor though, can we get a picture with you as an alien? I have got to show my uncle Doyle he’s a huge fan.” Jen laughed as Zak held up his phone. Rook frowned.

            “I do not understand why you need a picture with her aliens. I am an alien, technically to me you are all aliens.” Rook said it almost under his breath and Jen laughed lightly.

            “You’re a wonderful alien Blonko.” She pulled him down by the collar and kissed him, leaving him blinking. She took Zak’s phone from him and handed it to Rook before spinning the dial on the Omnitrix. Rook seemed more than happy to take the photo after that. Once that was done they bid goodbye to the Saturdays heading off to the Proto-truck while they took off for their damaged airship. Jen frowned at Rook as they loaded into the truck.

            “Why were you jealous of Zak?” She asked. Her partner had never been so good with subtle hints. He frowned.

            “You have much more in common with him than we have with each other. Zak shares knowledge of what it is like to be a hero from childhood.”

            “And what it’s like to be hunted from a young age. No offence but I’m glad you don’t know what that feels like. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” She sighed looking down at the Omnitrix. “I can’t say I regret most of what I’ve been through. But I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I’ll admit it can be nice to talk to people who know what it’s like; Gwen, Kevin and I used to joke about it all the time. But trust me it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” Rook frowned. “It’s not a good thing.” Jen clarified.

            “I see. I may not fully understand but if you wish you can always speak to me about these things.” Jen nodded and grinned pecking Rook on the cheek.

            “I know. Now come on, there’s a Sumo Slammers marathon with our name on it.” He smiled at her as they made their way back to Base.

Chapter Text

            Jen grumbled as she rooted around in the medicine cabinet in her bathroom on the Base. The last few days had given her the biggest migraine she’d had since being dosed with alien drugs under Incarcecon. First, she’d had to manage a treaty signing, as Gravattack, they had refused to meet with her just as Jen. Which made sense since one of the members of the party of delegates sent a group of flea sized aliens to destabilize Gravattack’s core which should have caused an explosion big enough to take out half the base. If Blukic and Driba hadn’t temporarily shrunk Rook down she might not have known what was happening until too late.

            But they had managed to catch the Lewodan responsible, Poltroon, one of the delegates, who’d wanted to start a war with the Appoplexians. He was currently lounging in a cell several stories below her, they had no idea what had become of the flea like aliens but Jen had showered about seven times in an attempt to ensure they were no longer on her. But that had not been the weirdest thing that happened. No that award went to her mother inviting her over for dinner which through the day somehow became her mother becoming great friends with Ma Vreedle. She still wasn’t sure how those things resulted in each other if she was honest. But she was sort of glad. Ma Vreedle scared even Vilgax, if the legends were true. With her as a friend Sandra Tennyson basically became untouchable. Cons were that sometimes one of the people who’d tried to kill her a few times came over for dinner. She could live with that, she’d teamed up with Kevin after all, and it wasn’t like she strictly lived at home anymore anyway.

            She exclaimed in triumph as she found the bottle she was looking for. It was bright purple and had her name on it. The rest was written in Galvan, but the doctor on base had told her what it meant. It was basically an overdose warning, these were low level doses of Vaxasaurian, Humungousaur’s species, pain killers.

 Most species couldn’t take even half of one of these without overdosing, pretty badly. She was sort of a special case. The Omnitrix had altered her physiology, even when she was human she technically wasn’t. She didn’t like talking about it. Jen shook the bottle making sure she had enough. The doctor’s limit to a single dose she could take was two pills, there were enough. But she looked around and swore under her breath she’d forgotten her water in the other room.

            “Are you well Jen?” It was Rook, from the other room. He was over at her place for a movie night. She was showing him the first Sumo Slammers movie and he was showing her the TV show he and his roommate had watched at the Academy that was supposed to be based on her life.

            “Yeah I’m fine.  Just a headache.” Without thinking about it she set the bottle down on the side table as she headed to the small kitchenette to grab a glass of water.

            “Jen!” She turned quickly, her hand inching to the Omnitrix. There was panic in her partner’s voice. But nothing was wrong. He was standing next to the couch holding her medicine bottle. “You have not taken these yet have you? Who prescribed this! These are exceptionally dangerous for a human.” Jen laughed and stepped over to him, taking the bottle from him.

            “Thought you said you’d read my file Blonko.” He frowned.

            “Your file is quite large, I am not to your medical history yet.” He admitted and Jen laughed again.

            “Well when you get to the medical section of my file you’ll see that these are some of the only pain meds that actually work on me.” She popped the bottle open and took two pills swallowing them with a bit of water. Rook still looked concerned. She kissed him gently.

            “It’s sweet that you’re worried. But it’s ok. The doctor on Base prescribed them. He’s been my doctor since this base opened.” He nodded trusting her judgement. Then he frowned at her wording.

            “What did you do before the base opened?” She shrugged.

            “For a while I wasn’t wearing the Omnitrix, you know that. It wasn’t as bad then.” Rook frowned as Jen returned the bottle to the cabinet in her bathroom and sat on the couch. He sat next to her.

            “You put the Omnitrix back on almost three years ago. The Base in Bellwood has only properly been manned for approximately a year.” Rook pointed out, attempting to coax the full truth out of her. She sighed, blushing lightly.

            “Little less than actually. It wasn’t fully finished when Ethan died.” A flash of pain raced across her face at the mention of her fallen fiancé. But she kept going regardless. “Before that I made do with what I had. I was organizing a counteroffensive to a war pretty immediately after I put the Omnitrix back on. Not a lot of time to worry about myself.” Rook frowned and placed an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him. “Things are a bit easier these days now that there are other Plumbers in town. They take care of the smaller stuff.” She shrugged.  “Now come on let’s start the movie.” Rook nodded handing Jen the remote.