Author's Note: I own nothing.
23 Incursion
Jen sat in the backseat of Kevin's car, Al sitting next to her, his hand in hers.
"Come on Gwen we've done the lake a few times. The Auto Show is only in town for a few more days!" Kevin nodded.
"Auto Show it is!" Gwen glared at the teen.
"Come on. Al what do you say?" Al shrugged.
"I'm not familiar with Earth combustion technology. On my planet we use mostly hovermechanics that are powered by the solar radiation that comes from our sun." Gwen rolled her eyes but Jen grinned.
"Oh, nice! I had a hoverboard when I was a kid! It was awesome. A bounty hunter called Tetrax gave it to me!" Kevin laughed.
"Only you could say that sentence like it is just a normal thing to say." They all blinked as a bright white light shone out suddenly from beside the car. Jen's hand tightened on Al's as she spotted the face of the froglike creatures standing outside Kevin's car.
"Surrender or be destroyed!" One of the creatures called out and Jen heard them power up their weapons.
"Don't take off your ID mask, I have an idea." She whispered it so quietly that only Al heard it.
"Ok we surrender don't hurt the car!" Kevin turned off the engine and slowly stepped out of the car. He stood with his hands up, but he was close enough to the car that if he reached out he would be covered in metal in moments. Jen nodded to Al who looked terrified. Gwen was next out of the car. She stood close to Kevin but out of touch range, her hands also raised. Al stepped out next following their lead. He hoped Jen had a plan. Jen was the last out of the car, her hands also raised but much closer to the back of her head. It would only take an instant to activate the Omnitrix. She must have spun the dial while they were all getting out of the car, he hoped she'd picked a good alien for this fight.
"Kevin?" She questioned. He nodded, making no move to reach for his car.
"Incursion warriors. Packing heavy ordinance." Jen's fingers twitched towards the Omnitrix. Another flash of light nearly blinded them and there was another figure standing among the Incursions. He was tall, taller than Jen by at least a foot maybe more, and his brain was exposed, though he wore some kind of dome over it. He shook his head and spoke to the Incursions.
"Weapons down! Sorry Kevin. You know Incursions." Kevin grinned, his stance relaxing in an instant. He stepped forward and shook hands with the new arrival.
"Raff! It's good to see you man!" Gwen and Jen relaxed slowly Al following their lead as the Incursions stowed their weapons. They weren't here for him. Kevin led Raff over to Gwen. "Raff this is Gwen Tennyson." The Incursions began to mutter to themselves, Al caught the last name again, along with a few of Jen's more well known titles. 'Wielder of the Omnitrix', 'Azmuth's Chosen', and 'Defeater of Vilgax' among them. Raff raised a metallic eyebrow, his whole face seemed to be made of metal.
"Tennyson?" He made no move to shake Gwen's hand, simply nodding in her direction. Kevin nodded.
"Yep, that's her there." He pointed at Jen who waved with the hand that the Omnitrix rested on. Al couldn't help but think she did it on purpose as the Incursions pulled back looking highly intimidated. The slight smirk on Jen's face was something he hadn't seen before. Kevin shrugged as Raff actually bowed slightly. Al glared at him. "I used to talk about what I'd do to you."
"Yeah, back when you were a crook." Kevin shrugged at Jen's words.
"Hey, I did good work, not always honest, but good." Jen let out a short laugh. There was a glimmer in her eyes Al hadn't seen before, a kind of intensity that came with adrenaline and battle instincts honed over years of people trying to kill her. Raff nodded.
"Never expected to see you two working together but it may work in our benefit tonight. I need your help." Jen rolled her eyes and sat down on the hood of Kevin's car.
"Never expected to be working with him. What do you need help with?" She questioned as Al stepped over to her. Raff raised his eyebrow a bit as he looked Al up and down. Kevin nodded.
"Oh yeah, this is Al Apollo, he's a Plumber's kid." Raff nodded and turned back to Kevin and Jen, all his focus leaving Al who would have breathed a sigh of relief if he had thought it was safe to do so.
"Seven-Seven snatched a little girl in this sector and I need to find her fast. She wore the royal colors." He held up a scrap of purple cloth. "Don't suppose you've seen anyone like that?" Jen and Kevin shrugged.
"Wait, Seven-Seven. No relation to Six-Six is there?" Raff nodded.
"He's the same race as Six-Six but he's more dangerous." Jen nodded.
"We'll help you."
"Why should we? He's really more of a work friend." Then Kevin's radio came to life with an ultimatum from the Emperor of the Incursions. "Ok where do we start?" Jen stood from her spot on the hood of the car.
"There's gonna be a panic, Earth doesn't get death threats every day." Kevin shook his head.
"Normal Earth radio's don't pick up Faster than Light transmissions." Jen nodded.
"Good point. But we're not the only one's who can pick that kind of thing up." She grabbed Al's hand and pulled him to the back of the car. "Gwen should be able to track the princess from the scrap of cloth Raff's got, assuming it was hers." Raff nodded and handed the fabric to Gwen. "I need to make a phone call to stop some of our other teammates from panicking. Give me a minute." She dragged Al with her to the other side of the Mr. Smoothie building. "Call Veraxi, tell her not to panic. You may be getting dragged into this but keep your ID mask on and we shouldn't have a problem. They don't seem to even know you're here. I'll get you out of this I promise." Al nodded and took the phone she offered. She kept a lookout while he made the call. Veraxi had indeed been panicking but calmed when she heard that he was with Jen. If anyone could protect him from the Incursions it was her. She would be standing by for orders should she be needed though.
Jen had no idea what alien to use as the dam split, sending Gwen hurtling away in a large wash of water. So why not try the one she hadn't tried yet. It didn't look like anything impressive on the Watch, but she had a feeling that it would be more impressive than its simple outline. She slapped her hand into the watch and felt power flood into her. She barely caught a glimpse of the stars flooding her skin as she seemed to slip into the mind of this alien. But it wasn't scary like it had been with Ghostfreak. This was a comforting feeling. No matter what happened to this alien she was safe. Alien X, the name popped into her head in two voices as she thought about fixing the dam, stopping the water and saving the people around her.
"Seconded! Water stopping motion passes!" The voices seemed to echo around her, and from her. One of them was hers but the other two were unfamiliar. She blinked as she landed in front of two gigantic masks. One had more feminine features, the other was twisted with anger.
"Oh good! It's so good to have another woman to talk to!" The first mask spoke, smiling down at her. Her voice was high, feminine and sweet. Jen looked around very confused. She was hovering in a starscape, nothing but the masks in front of her could be seen. Stars twinkled in the distance but none close enough to see where she was.
"Hrumph. It's about time you got here!" The second mask sounded male, with a deep voice. It had an irritated tone to it and he seemed upset at her for some reason.
"Wait what?"
Kevin was impressed as they all landed unharmed next to Jen. She stood nearly a foot taller than she usually did. This alien looked like someone had taken a piece of space and shaped it into a female. Like Jen herself she wasn't overly curvy, years of training holding muscle definition, but the only thing that defined this alien was the stars twinkling in her skin, the short crop of hair flowing around its head and the three horns protruding from the middle and sides of its forehead. He brushed some water off of himself and stood.
"Kick ass. Has she ever turned into that one before?" Gwen shook her head, twisting water out of her hair.
"No, but with power like that this one's got to be the go to from now on." Gwen might have been right too, but something was wrong. Seven-Seven flew by, snatching Attea Jen just stood there unmoving. It was then that Kevin noticed the obvious. She hadn't moved, spoken or even seemed to breathe since stopping the dam from being destroyed in the first place. Gwen shook Jen's shoulder. Nothing. Al stepped up to her.
"Jen?" No response, she didn't even blink, pure green eyes staying open and staring. "Does this happen often?" The Apollonite sounded like he was trying to hold back panic. Kevin didn't blame him. Gwen shook her head.
"No something's wrong."
The last place in the universe Al wanted to end up was onboard the royal Incursion ship, in front of the Emperor himself. What was worse was that there was some kind of energy field that disrupted his ID mask, shocking him and forcing him to pull it off or lose an eye. Of course the minute he did the Emperor ordered his arrest. Jen still wasn't moving. She was sticking out of the back of the trunk of Kevin's car. Kevin and Gwen were a hell of a team to see fighting together, even if they almost forgot Jen in the trunk of the car, still unmoving, statue like.
But they got caught in the end. Raff had vanished, taking with him their one escape route off the ship. The Emperor paid the randsom for his daughter but hadn't expected her to double cross him. Attea looked them up and down.
"These two tried to save me, I'll spare them. Once I destroy their planet they'll be the rarest specimens in my zoo!" She turned to Jen, still a statue cut from the stars. She circled the statue. Al glared at her as she nodded. "This thing was formidable once and nearly pretty. Have it put in the dungeon, after we blow up Earth. And you!" She turned to Al a large grin on her face. "You're one of the Princes of Apollo l we've been looking for. What a stroke of luck! Your execution will be public, in front of your people! As a show of force!" Attea giggled. "Bring him with the statue thing he can watch me blow up Earth! See what'll become of his planet if they resist!" Seven-Seven picked up Jen, still unresponsive and Al felt tears rise in his throat. He was jabbed in the back with a gun and followed the procession back to the throne room. He was placed inside a cage with Jen. He couldn't help but watch as Attea gloated and preened on the throne. Gwen and Kevin stood off to the side, both had guns pointed at them. He turned away from the Incursion and to Jen, still a statue cut from the stars.
"Please. I need your help now more than ever." He reached out and cupped her face. She was still warm, he could feel the life inside her, it was bright, almost as if there was more than one life in this body. He laid his forehead on hers. "Please." He begged. This form of hers had no mouth, no nose, only the eyes staring out beyond him as if they saw something he could never comprehend. He was going to die. He felt tears slide down his face. If he was going to die there was one thing he wanted to do first. He framed Jen's star strewn face in both hands and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, or at least where they should have been.
Jen felt a light pressure on her mouth as she opened it to continue arguing with Serena and Bellicus. She glanced over her shoulder at the floating image that was showing her what was happening back in the real world. Right at the moment all it showed was Albrasix, Jen blushed as she realized what he was doing. He was kissing her. She blinked again as a familiar voice echoed in her head.
'New DNA sample acquired.' The voice vanished as soon as it appeared. Jen shook her head and turned back to the floating masks. Anger rose in her, they were still arguing about dinosaurs. Both went silent when she spoke though.
"You're supposed to be love and compassion! How can you let two worlds die?! And you! You're supposed to be anger and aggression! How can you let her get away with this, how can you let evil like this go unpunished!? How can both of you be so useless!" Bellicus growled at her.
"Useless!"
"We are the most powerful being in the universe, we change the very nature of time and space." Serena sounded like she was trying to calm Jen down but the human had enough.
"And yet you do nothing! Billions upon billions of lives at stake, not one but two worlds threatened with annihilation and you're both hung up on procedure!" Jen shouted it loudly and glared at both of the masks as Serena began to cry. There were no real tears but she whimpered and sobbed as if she were crying. Bellicus scowled.
"Now look what you've done! Fine! I move we save the Earth! Happy now?" Jen glared at him.
"No!" He looked slightly taken aback. "Just let me out of here! I have nine other aliens who can do your jobs better than you!" Serena whimpered again.
"That's hurtful!" She sobbed and Jen glared at her.
"Hurtful it might be, but only because it's true!"
Al closed his eyes as Attea reached for the button sitting on the arm of her throne. Gwen hid her face in Kevin's shirt. She couldn't watch her world burn, she couldn't watch her cousin turned into some kind of living trophy. She felt a sob rise in her throat. Then there was a familiar flash of green light. She shot up from her spot in Kevin's arms as the bars on the cell holding melted under Swampfire's flames.
"Blowing up worlds is for big kids only." Gwen had never been more relived to hear Jen make a wisecrack before. Al was the next to leap into action. An arrow made of bright violet energy slammed into Seven-Seven's armor and the bounty hunter cried out in pain. Kevin raised an eyebrow as he slapped a hand to the floor absorbing the metal while Gwen gave him cover.
"Didn't know you could do that."
"I do not like causing violence and pain. I am a healer, but I will not stand by while worlds are threatened. I could not risk it in the cage. There might have been a field around it, I could have killed either of us." Gwen nodded.
"Smart."
"Give me the button." The words caught all of their attention. Jen was glaring at Attea who was holding her nose, apparently Swampfire's methane odder did not sit well with Incursions.
"Who's gonna make me?"
"Game's over sweetheart." The Emperor was back on his throne, Gwen snatched the trigger for the conquest ray from him. Kevin shook his head.
"Nope, we're done." Gwen frowned.
"For your assistance in uncovering my daughter's treachery I will spare your worlds." He tapped a button on the throne. "Tell the troops on Apollo l to pull back. We'll leave them be." Albrasix let out a short surprised breath as the Incursion on the other side of the call gave an affirmative response. Gwen handed the button back, reluctantly but the Emperor smiled at them as Attea struggled under the hold of her guards.
"I'll get you back for this!" Jen turned back into herself with a flash of light. Attea looked her up and down. "You're kinda cute for a mammal." The Emperor shook his head.
"Put her in stasis with her mother." The guards nodded and carried Attea off. The Emperor nodded to them and in a flash of light they were all back in the Mr. Smoothie parking lot. Kevin's car joined them in a moment and Kevin let out a breath. Jen waited a few moments before she sagged with relief. She looked exhausted and stumbled slightly. Al caught her. She looked a little punch drunk.
"Sorry. I'm very tired." Within seconds she was asleep in his arms. Gwen raced over to them as Al scooped Jen into his arms. Kevin was hot on her heels.
"My place is closest. Come on." They piled into the car and took off at a breakneck pace.