Author's Note: I own nothing.
16 Lessons
They dropped Al off into Veraxi's care and headed to Ed's shop. Gwen offered to stay topside and help Kevin and Jen rolled her eyes. She would admit that Kevin looked nice but she was still a little caught up on the whole tried to kill her thing. But Gwen had always been more forgiving than her. She smiled as she stepped into the main hub of the Hole and the lights and computers came to life all around her.
She sat in one of the rolling chairs in front of the main computer console and pulled the control box from her pocket. Using her feet to push her chair across the tiled floor she slid over to the scanner and placed the control box onto the device which whirred to life.
"Computer, give me a full scan on this, and please translate it to English for me. Any programing you find in it please." The computer beeped and code began to scroll across the main screens of the room. Jen slid back over to the main console and pulled up what she'd been working on the other day when Grandma Verdona had teleported in and kidnapped her. Well maybe that was a bit strong. Was knocking someone into a, mercifully dreamless, sleep and dropping them off in their own bed in their own pjs considered kidnapping? She shook her head and refocused on the computer. She'd done some digging and discovered that the Plumbers had what was essentially online courses and had about twenty of them attached to her file, yet to be completed. She was working her way through one of them now, the first one in her list.
Written Galvan for Non Galvans. Surprisingly for a Galvan course it only talked down to the student a little bit. But Jen had known Azmuth long enough to know that was just how Galvan's spoke. Sarcasm was practically a required accent with Galvan. But written Galvan was more common than Jen had realized. She barely glanced up until a bag came down between her and the screen. She jumped and looked up into Gwen's slightly concerned face. Jen glanced down at the bag and blinked. It was from a nearby burger place, one Jen knew had her kryptonite. She opened the bag and breathed in deep.
"Chili fries. Means you want something." Gwen sat down in the chair next to Jen as the brunette dug into the bag and removed the large order of chili fries rescuing the few that had fallen to the bottom of the bag and stuffing them into her mouth as Gwen set down a second bag next to the first. Jen raised an eyebrow, a fry still hanging out of the corner of her mouth. She pulled the bag forwards and opened it. She raised her eyebrows.
"Chili fries and a bacon cheeseburger. You need something big." Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Just because I brought you food doesn't mean I need something Jen." Jen raised an eyebrow at her cousin. "You've been down here nearly four hours. You need food Jen." Jen glanced at her wrist and shook her head.
"Doesn't tell time. The one thing the Watch doesn't do and it's tell time." She shoved another few fries in her mouth and unwrapped the burger humming happily. They were quiet for a moment before Gwen spoke up.
"I have been wondering.." Jen snorted around her mouthful and chewed slower. The redhead rolled her eyes and continued. "Have you talked to anybody about what happened at the Hatchery?" Jen went stiff and swallowed her food, setting the burger aside as if no longer hungry, despite the fact that half of it had already disappeared in the few minutes since she'd opened it. Gwen sighed and lifted her hand. Pink light spun Jen's chair around to face her cousin and held it there. Jen's eyes were wet. Gwen pulled her cousin into a hug. "Please talk to me. Don't let this be like Feedback."
Jen shuddered in her cousin's arms. Gwen tightened her hug. Jen closed her eyes, visions of the shock and pain on Feedback's face as she disintegrated into grey ash in the hands of Malware. She buried her head in her cousin's shoulder. They stayed that way for a while, Jen had no idea how long. Gwen seemed content to let her hide from the world there until she was ready. She shuddered again as the memory of what happened to Feedback crashed into the explosion at the Hatchery. Tears slipped down her face.
"I should have been able to do more." It was a whisper. Barely a breath but it made Gwen hold on a little tighter. Jen didn't look up, didn't move from her spot, face buried in her cousin's shoulder. "If I had gone after Ken a day earlier I could have found him before the DNAliens caught Grandpa. I could have busted up the Hatchery and Grandpa would still be here." Gwen ran her hands through cousin's short brown hair.
"Do you remember what Grandpa said after every fight you lost, before when we were kids?" Gwen felt fresh tears dripping onto her shirt. "Every time we lose, every time we fail we learn something. We need to learn from it. We can do this, we can stop them, but you can't take it all on alone. You won't be alone. You have me." Jen nodded.
"And me." It was spoken softly from the elevator and Gwen glanced up. Kevin was standing by the elevator doors. He smiled slightly. "I know I'm interrupting a moment but there's a girl upstairs by the name of Julie, asking for Jen." Jen pulled back from Gwen after one last squeeze and grabbed her food before turning back to the screen. Around a bite of burger she spoke.
"Tell Jules I'll be up in a minute. I promised her some answers after what happened on the pier. Never really got the chance to sit down with her before now. She's getting a little antsy about it. And of course there's her dog." Kevin frowned.
"Her dog?"
"Not really a dog. A dog like Galvanic Mechamorph gifted by an actual Galvanic Mechamorph. She's named him Ship and is claiming to be training it." Kevin snorted.
"Mechamorph's are stubborn by nature. I wish her luck." Jen laughed as she chewed her fries and closed out her lesson.
"You've clearly never met Julie. She's the most stubborn person I know and you've met me so there's that." Gwen nodded and snagged a few fries from Jen who didn't complain. She did snatch up the container and take it with her to the scanner though as Kevin rolled his eyes and left. Gwen stood.
"You know you have us. We love you, we'll be here for you no matter what." Jen nodded and hugged her cousin.
"I know. I love you dweeb."
"You too doofus."