Woo! First update on this for 2017! I've been caught up in another fic lately, but I finally got this finished! The middle gets kinda meh, but the endgame is strong.
An older man stepped into an empty diner, ironically called The Coffee Shop, around midnight. His coat was heavy with rain, and his hat rested low on his brow.
"Would you like to hear our special?" the waitress asked.
"Just coffee," Max answered without looking up at the woman. He didn't need to look anywhere to know that there was no special. The only thing cooking in that back room was stolen highbreed xenocytes.
"Don't get too many strangers here. What brings you to Santa Mira?"
"Great fishing. Great weather." The Waitress looked at him confused, but he only returned her gaze with a straight face.
"Our fish are all farm raised," she countered, "And this is the rainy season."
"I was misinformed." He took off his hat to give her a bitter smile. It faltered when she set a covered plate down in front of him.
"Here's your special."
"I didn't order that." Max's smile returned. The waitress grabbed the handle of the cover. And gave him her own bitter smile.
"It's on the house." She lifted away the cover and sure enough a xenocyte sprang out at him. Max backhanded it away just before the waitress grabbed him from behind. The seasoned plumber snapped his head back to crack her in the jaw, but even after the blow she still held on tight.
"You are one strong lady," Max grunted, "or are you?!" He reached back to rip off the holo-mask revealing a chimera sui generis. Max braced his legs on the table and launched the alien into the table of the booth behind them. It's strong grip had him tumbling with it. The table splintered in two, allowing Max to break free and roll away from his attacker. He barely had time to catch his breath before the squirmy little xenocyte was crawling towards him. Max managed to evade it, find a nice heavy coffee pot, and squash it like an oversized bug. The creature hissed. "I said: just coffee."
…
"You're really sweet to do this, Kevin." Gwen gave him a grateful smile. Kevin had been more than reluctant to drive them out to meet her brother because of what happened to his car last time. "Ken is-"
"What?" Kevin laughed, "Your brother's name is 'Ken'? Gwen and Ken Tennyson? What're your folk's names? Sven and Jen? Hey, it even rhymes with Be-" Gwen shot him a death glare. "Right, shutting up now." The group went silent as they drove past the welcome sign into Santa Mira. The rain was falling in buckets. Gwen kept her eyes on the road and shifted nervously.
"Gosh, I hope he's alright. I can't believe the awesome mobile would break down here of all places."
"The awesome mobile?" Alan asked.
"His car," Gwen replied, "he's a cool guy who drives the awesome mobile."
"I say we hit the garages in town." Albedo piped up. "Find Ken's car: find Ken."
"Good idea," Kevin praised, surprisingly honest, "I mean, how many garages can this hole support?" Two hours later he had changed his tune. "Five, five garages. One horse town, five garages?"
"Five garages so far," corrected Gwen as she peered through the window, "and if the awesome mobile isn't in this one we'll have to keep-" she spotted it. "Bingo." Kevin came up behind her and took a look for himself. Sitting in the garage was a mustard yellow car older than all of them and held together mostly with duct tape.
"That's the awesome mobile? That thing makes the rust bucket look like a ferrari!" Kevin laughed.
"Does a love for crummy cars run in your family or something?" Alan asked when he saw Gwen smiling at the awesome mobile.
"That's irrelevant," Albedo commented as he tried the door, "Besides it looks like they're closed anyway." Albedo started back towards Kevin's car.
*crash*
"Kevin!" Albedo hissed. Kevin only looked back from where he'd rammed the door in and shrugged. Gwen pushed past him to start looking over the car for clues. The rest of the group followed behind her.
"There must be something that can lead us to Ken."
"What, like maybe he left a note?" Kevin joked while popping the hood. "Woah."
"What is it?" Alan asked when he saw the purple chip Kevin had pulled out of the engine.
"The only thing here not covered in rust."
"It's alien tech," Albedo supplied before taking the device from Kevin to get a closer look. "It projects a field that dampens internal cumbustion."
"His car was sabotaged? Why? Ken's…"
"Too cool?" Kevin supplied for Gwen.
"Too normal," Albedo corrected. "He has nothing to do with aliens except familial relations."
"What's going on here?" Alan wondered out loud.
"Wouldn't mind knowin' that myself." The group spun around to see two men who appeared to be mechanics standing in the doorway. "What're you doin in my garage?" The rounder faced mechanic asked while stepping forward. The scrawny man behind him set down a white box.
"You want I should call the sheriff?" he sniggered.
"Yeah, you do that, Shem." Albedo was unimpressed, not only by the terrible acting before him, but also by the poor choice in fake names. "I bet he'd be real interested to find out what happened to the kid who owns this car." The scrawny mechanic looked scared, but the round faced one kept his cool.
"Whaddya mean? He dropped off the car, we fixed it, he didn't come back-"
*rupupata burrrr..* The mechanic's face fell with the sound of the busted engine.
"So," Kevin looked back at the phony mechanics, "you fixed it, huh?"
"We-we was aiming ta fix it," the scrawny one tried to explain, "but things got busy here." Meanwhile Gwen had snuck around behind them to the box. Albedo continued to go back and forth with the pair while she opened the lid. Inside was a green sludge that smelled somewhere between chlorine, lime, and playdough. Something under the slime poked through. Gwen reached down and grasped the pale thing. It felt akin to a shriveled plant, but it looked like a dead brain octopus with a computer chip sticking out of it.
"You put that down now, little girl." The round faced one pulled out a gun. He hadn't expected Alan to be faster when a blast of flame forced him to let go of the weapon. Lightning struck outside, showing their sotoraggian forms just before Kevin knocked them both unconscious.
"That's a work related accident," Kevin told the unconscious aliens, "you can sue." He looked back up to his team. "We got em, now what?"
…
Max's head bobbed out of the watered down slime. He only managed a few steps forward before a chimera sui generis spotted him. Its first mistake was not screaming for help. Its second was turning its back on Max to raise an alarm. He had the creep knocked out and teleported to the null void in seconds. Despite being an older, larger man, Max moved silently through the hatchery with all the skill of a seasoned plumber. He had the guards in front of the main office down in less time than the one out front, and the lock on the door was automatically hacked by his badge. He never even stopped to realise just how easy it was. Too easy.
"Grandpa Max…" The second he heard that Max was rushing into the room. He threw the desk and chair out of his way to see a struggling Ken. "Help me…" Ken's body was slowly being covered by the xenocyte, but it was unlike any other case Max had ever seen. The alien looked pale and sickly, it didn't hold on to him like a second layer of muscle, rather, it quivered and spat yellow fluids far too runny to be the slime the sub species was known for.
"Kenny, it's okay, boy," Max reassured as he helped his grandson to stand, "I'm here- AHH!" Ken zapped Max with a taser and the last thing the old plumber saw before passing out on the floor was Kenny giving him a weak smile.
When he came to he was being forced to stand by two sotoraggians, one on each side of him. Standing all dramatically ahead with his back to them was a larger chimera sui generis who turned around as he spoke.
"Max Tennyson, you have been active in your retirement."
"Oh, this is really just a hobby now," Max shrugged, "Man my age has to stay active."
"You have been a great irritation to us, plumber," the alien spat the word plumber like a curse. "You've delayed our plans."
"I could end your plans, too. It's obvious you're producing these parasites here, but it's also clear you have no clue what you're doing. Those chips you hacked into them combined with improper care? The plumbers might not mind, but I know a group who does."
"Well, aren't I thankful you have no way of contacting them then?" The alien smirked when this earned him a death glare from Max.
"You won't win."
"Pah! We are only hours away from completing a most crucial stage in our plan."
"Why my grandson? Why Ken?!" Max was now conscious enough to start struggling against his captors.
"He was brought here as bait," the alien calmly explained, "With you out of the way, there is no one who can stop us."
…
"It's Ken!" Everyone stopped in their tracks. "It's my brother!" Gwen dropped her glow and tried to go to him, but Ken lashed out at her. She evaded his claws before capturing him in magical tendrils. They had followed the lead they got from the fake mechanics too a fish hatchery. After managing to swim inside through the hatchery tanks they were surrounded, but now the hatchery had stilled.
"Dude," Alan breathed, "What happened to him?" Ken was mostly the same sickly looking alien they had been fighting tens of just moments ago. The only part of him that remained human was barely half his face.
"He's becoming a DNAlien," Albedo explained just before Ken threw up a stomach full of watery yellow gunk. "A very sick DNAlien. They all are." Albedo looked around at the struggling creatures they had barreled through in the fight. They were pale, thin, and weak. Freaking hell would the atasians be pissed if they saw this. It was one thing for them to beat up, degrade, or even kill their own DNAliens, but they were always sure to keep them healthy, and heaven forbid they be used by anyone who wasn't atasian.
"What's with the chips?" Kevin pointed down at the hardware spliced into the DNAlien's brain.
"It's probably what they're using to control them."
"How do we fix it?" Gwen asked while giving Albedo a pleading look.
"Like this," Albedo put his hand on Ken's head, and, after a flash of red light, the sickly xenocyte retreated off the man's body.
"Gross,"Alan gagged. Gwen rushed to hug her brother who moaned in pain.
"It's okay Ken," Albedo knelt down in front of Gwen's brother, "Everything's going to be just fine."
"Nothing's fine," Ken shook his head, "I captured grandpa, handed him over to them! I-I couldn't stop! It was- it was like I was watching someone else…"
"They have Grandpa Max?"
"Yeah, Sis, that's why they took me. They needed him. Their plan, it's terrible!" Ken stood up with Gwen's help. She looked up the stairs to where Grandpa Max was most likely being held.
"We're going to go get him."
"Wait," Ken huffed as he gained his balance, "I'm coming with you." Gwen and Albedo were about to protest, but Kevin stepped in.
"You wanna help? Cool."
"Kevin, we can't just let him-"
"Ah-ba-ba," Kevin held up a hand to silence Albedo, "Cool." Albedo opened and closed his mouth like a fish. He hand so many reasons why they shouldn't be doing this! He looked back at the tall, red-headed male who looked down at Albedo with a scary amount of determination for a guy who was dying just minutes ago.
"Fine, but stay close to me." Albedo ordered before helping Ken support himself on the plumber's shoulders.
"You look pretty familiar, you know," Ken mentioned as they headed up the stairs too a distinctly alien door within the human-built fish hatchery.
"Yeah, I'll open that can of worms when we make it out of here." Albedo waved his badge in front of the lock, and when the door slid open there sat Grandpa Max. He was bound to a chair in heavy plastic chord, but otherwise seemed unharmed.
"Grandpa!" Ken and Gwen exclaimed in union. Gwen rushed over to him. Her power cut easily through the chords and she hugged Max after he stood back up.
"Alright, we have him, now let's go!" Ken spoke in a fearful, but still very determined, manner.
"Ken?" Max looked at him confused.
"I'm sorry about getting you caught, but we have no time! They didn't just lure you here to get you out of the way. They're going to make an example of y-"
"Attention, all personnel: initiate project H.G. now." The voice over the speakers had sent the chimera sui generis below into a frenzy of action. The group rushed to the window just as explosions shook the building and fire filled the floors below.
"What are they doing?"
"Destroying evidence, Gwen. We need to get out of here." Max started back the way they had come from, the kids tearing after him. "Gwen, take the team left," Max said before running right. Gwen stopped in her tracks.
"Gwen?!" Alan panicked.
"That's not the way out," Ken pointed out.
"I know, Ken, and Grandpa knows too." Gwen ran after Max with the boys on her heels.
"Um, so, what are we doing?" Alan asked.
"Helping my grandpa." Gwen led them around the corner just in time to see Max pinned down by a larger chimera sui generis. Its grip tightened around his throat, but before anyone could do anything, Ken hurled himself at the alien.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Ken's rage fueled a power he never even knew he had as bright red lightning. The alien screamed before throwing Ken back at the group.
"Another one," it rasped. Electrical burns boiled on its skin where Ken had managed to hit it, but its grip on Max had only loosened enough that the old plumber could breath; not escape. "Still, you are too late."
"Let him go! Everything is destroyed!" The chimera sui generis captain only laughed when Gwen said this.
"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you, Chief." The alien turned back to Max. Seeing what the human had in his hand made him pause.
"A null void warp projector? You think you can imprison me?"
"No, but without the focusing lens," Max snapped said part off, "this thing will do a pretty good impression of a hand grenade. I figure it'll take out half a mile." Max looked back at the teenagers. "Gwen, put a force field around you and the others!"
"Grandpa Max, I-"
"Do it Gwen! And-" he smiled, "be a good girl." Gwen had just enough time to put up the field before everything went white. Unlike the explosion they had been caught up in before there was no fire, no rumble, and no lingering flames. When the smoke cleared there was just… nothing.
"That was… pretty hardcore…" Kevin's voice was barely a whisper, but it echoed in the silence left behind by the explosion.
"He, he saved the whole world," Ken wavered somewhere between despair and wonder.
"Yeah, he did," Albedo put a hand on Ken's shaking fist, "for now, but if I know anything about Vilgax: this is only the beginning."
"You cannot be for real right now," groaned Alan, "their grandpa just died, and you're telling us it only get's worse?!"
"Unfortunately," Albedo nodded. Gwen wanted to cry. She wanted to break down like she was a little girl again and Ben or grandpa would help her through anything. She didn't though. Ben was dead. Grandpa Max was dead. Now, it was up to her. She had to lead this team, she had to be strong, she had to-
*beep beep* "Incoming transmission." Both Kevin and Albedo's hans went to their plumber's badges.
"Dude, someone just hit 'send all' over the plumber communication lines," Kevin announced.
"This is bad," everyone looked at Albedo.
"Show us," Gwen ordered. Albedo bit his lip like he wanted to argue with her, but displayed the message anyway. The symbol of the Vilgaxian empire blipped up before a montage of videos began to play. There were several gasps as footage of death after death were shown. All of the murders were done by an obvious member of the Vilgaxian empire. Most of them were killing plumbers, but plenty of the victims were also just innocent bystanders. Alan had to look away to stop himself from losing it. The videos showed each death in gruesome detail. The only thing it didn't have was the audio from the murders. Instead, there was a recorded message from a voice Gwen would sooner die than forget.
"Plumbers: symbols of peace and order. Bah, you are nothing but weak fools who seek glory, but shy away from true battle. One by one the planets under your 'protection' continue to fall. Day by day my power grows, and your superiors do nothing to stop me." Footage from just moments ago went up. Grandpa Max being strangled as Vilgax went on. "Hello, Gwendolyn Tennyson." Gwen's heart dropped to her stomach. "You've always wondered what happened to your cousin, yes? Well, this part of the message is just for you." Gwen felt time slow around her as Vilgax's voice was silenced in favor of the screams of a ten year old human boy. There was Ben, strapped into a giant whirring machine, his body mutating and stretching till he was unrecognisable. Blood, hunks of flesh, and vomited up guts pooled under him. His blood, alien and human alike, ran as steady as the tears down Gwen's cheeks. Albedo cut the footage just before Kevin enveloped Gwen in a hug. She still tried to contain herself even as Kevin was rocking her back and forth while whispering reassurances in her ear.
She was only really calm again about halfway home. Everyone had piled into Kevin's car, but no one had dared to say a word since the video.
"We're not going to let this stop us." Everyone except Kevin looked up at Gwen. Kevin glanced at her when she squeezed his hand, which she had only let go of long enough for them to get into the car since they'd hugged. "We're going to build up our team. We'll work together. And we'll send those Vilgaxians back to their mothers in eight by nine shipping boxes." The look in her eyes when she turned to look at the three boys in the back seat was terrifyingly dark and resolute. Albedo was the first to start, and in a matter of seconds all three boys in the back seat were applauding her. Whether out of terror or respect they weren't really sure.
"For Max and Ben," Ken spoke under his breath like a prayer. Albedo looked over at Gwen's brother, whose green eyes still glowed red with newly discovered anodite power.
"For them, and the universe."
Up next: Ben! I wanted to introduce him on the tenth chapter, but sh*t happens. So next chapter. Also that one star douche bag.