Author's Note: I own nothing!
35 New Allies
Things went wrong almost as soon as they found the dragon. Jen had been thinking since she'd seen it take down the fighter jets. It hadn't gone after the pilots. They'd parachuted away but the dragon hadn't gone after them. Why? If the Knights were right, and that was a massive if, then this was a mindless creature bent only on destruction. But that's not what Jen saw when they pulled into the open field. When the Knights stepped out of their armor plated vehicle the dragon roared in anger and turned towards them. It had regarded Kevin's car with simple curiosity. But Jen heard something under the roar.
"No! Neve…" It was like the dragon was trying to speak but couldn't quite form words. Then as it turned away Jen spotted what looked like a tear down the dragon's side, under the wing. She frowned and spun the dial on the Omnitrix. Gwen caught her hand.
"What's the plan here?" Jen glanced over at the Knights. There were a few close enough to hear them speaking.
"Remember the Kraken?" Gwen nodded eyes widening.
"You think?"
"Probably not exactly but likely similar, yeah. It looks hurt too." Kevin nodded, though he was slightly confused. He had no idea what they were talking about when they talked about a Kraken but it did look like Connor had managed to clip the dragon with the latest weapon. A long enough sustained blast would probably kill it. Jen paused then spun the dial again. She slapped it down and her skin hardened as crystals spread through her veins. In an instant Chromastone stood before them.
"Stay back. I'll handle this. Keep an eye on the knights." Gwen and Kevin nodded and with that she quickstepped forwards. The dragon raised its hands at her approach. Jen raised her hands in surrender.
"Hey there big guy." The dragon tried to speak again but this time it was just patterned roaring. "Look I get you're trying to talk to me but I can't understand you." It roared in sequence again, then it blasted. It definitely wasn't fire, felt more like lasers.
The fight didn't last long, mostly because the Knights double crossed them. It was extremely lucky Jen had changed her mind last minute and picked Chromastone, she was able to absorb the brunt of the blow meant for both her and the dragon.
"Go!" That the dragon seemed to understand. A flash of pink across the field and the Knights that had accompanied Connor were trapped on the ground, as the dragon took off, flying away. A blast from Chromastone knocked Connor off his feet and the gun went flying from his hands. Jen stalked up to him as Gregory, pinned by the pink energy as well stared at Connor looking shocked.
"We gave our word not to harm her!" The squire sounded downright indignant.
"Does she look harmed to you boy!" Connor snapped as Jen, still Chromastone, folded her arms.
"You really have no idea what the organization you work for is really about do you?" Gwen asked shaking her head. Gregory looked down.
"I think I'm beginning to understand." Jen cut across the blonde, though she was talking to Connor.
"We were expecting a double cross. But that was not an unintelligent beast. And you know where it's headed don't you? That's how you beat it to Bellwood in the first place." She looked down at the knight who sneered at her.
"I do not have to tell you anything insolent child!" He spat the words out at her and Chromastone's eye narrowed.
"200 North Peterson, where the 504 bridge meets the highway." Jen blinked and turned to Gregory. Connor snarled and Kevin, covered in the green cast iron that made up the frame of his car, stepped between the two. Jen nodded at Gwen who released the blonde squire.
"That's where the dragon is heading." The boy said, still sitting on the ground. Jen offered him a hand and after a moment he accepted. She pulled him to his feet. "There's an artifact there. It got sent to that lab because several of the Knights think it's alien, and the lab in Bellwood has the most experience with handling the more obscure alien technology"
"Why would the dragon go after this artifact?" Jen asked, fully ignoring Connor now.
"It was found with the dragon. We've never been able to figure out what it does though." Jen nodded at Gregory, Connor it seemed could hold his tongue no more.
"Coward, traitor!" Gregory held his ground and glared at the knight who had to be twice his size.
"When I joined the Forever Knights I thought I was joining a brotherhood! A group of honorable men! Now I see honor means nothing to you!" Gregory spat the words at Connor, tearing the Forever Knight sigil from his doublet and throwing it to the ground.
"You should probably come with us. I feel like we can't leave you here, they might legitimately kill you." Jen said looking at Connor's downright murderous expression. Gregory only deflated slightly as he nodded.
"If you will allow it I would be most grateful." Jen motioned to the car. As Gregory slid into the back seat Jen blasted out the tires on the Knight's car.
"Can't have you following us." She nodded to Kevin and Gwen and the three of them hopped into the car, Jen transforming seamlessly back to normal as she stepped into the car. They took off before the Knights could even start getting back up.
Gregory was shaking. Jen patted him on the shoulder.
"You did the right thing."
"I'll be exiled from the order. How am I going to get home? We took Connor's private jet here."
"We'll get you home, least we can do. But you should stay here while we deal with the dragon." He nodded at Jen as he put his head in his hands.
"Just don't mess up my car." Kevin grumbled.
"Kevin pull over." The Osmosian raised an eyebrow at the shapeshifter but nodded and pulled over to the side of the road. Jen hopped out of the car and popped the trunk. She rummaged around the crates for a minute and made a noise of triumph as the others came around the car to see what she was doing. She pulled out a rounded domelike device.
"What is this?" She asked waving the device at Kevin.
"Galvan translator box. It's an older model but it runs. Translates the speech of any alien who wears it into the native of whoever's listening. Don't ask how it works, that bit of Galvan tech went a bit over my head."
"The dragon was wearing one of these but it looked busted. I think I caught a few words here and there but nothing definite."
"There are legends of the dragon being able to speak but no one ever puts any credence to it." Jen slammed the trunk, translator still in hand.
"So we get this thing on in place of the old one and get him off planet, before the Knights can kill him."
"The dragon is really an alien?" Gregory sounded downright shocked.
"If Jen's right and it's a translator then yeah." Kevin said as they all got back into the car.
Getting the translator on the dragon turned out to be the easy part, even though it required both Jen and Gwen, with an assist from Spidermonkey. Talking him out of going on a killing rampage was the hard part. Jen stood, just as herself, before the dragon, both arms out blocking him from leaving with his gun.
"Fine. You're gonna have to kill me to get to them." The mapmaker growled.
"Move aside child!" He aimed his gun at her. She looked him straight in the face and held her ground.
"Go ahead, shoot me." They stared each other down for a moment, then he lowered his gun and sighed.
"How did you know I couldn't do it?" He sounded exhausted.
"The pilots. You could have killed them easily but you didn't. Go home." The mapmaker laughed bitterly.
"Child with this wound I will not survive the journey. It is not exactly a short trip." Jen glanced down at the Omnitrix.
"I might have a way to help with that." She spun the dial and slapped it down. When the transformation was finished she stood, marble skin glinting with green stars as white hair flowed around her head, up in a complex braid. She was dressed in a green chiton, the Omnitrix symbol resting at the shoulder of the short dress as if it were a pin holding the whole thing together. "Can I?" The dragon nodded and Jen stepped forwards, pressing both hands to the wound like she'd seen Albrasix do to the crashed and wounded Mechamorph. As she made contact with the blood she heard the voice of the Omnitrix, so like her own, in her mind.
"New DNA sample aquired." She filed that away with a smile and focused on healing the dragon. In moments the wound was a scar. He smiled at her. Then he frowned as the noise from outside grew more intense.
"The accursed Knights will not just let me leave." Jen tapped the dial on the Omnitrix, turning back into a human before spinning the dial once again.
"I've got just the thing. Go home. I'll deal with the Knights."
Gwen and Kevin had lost the fight. Gregory had shown up, brave boy had taken one of the laser lances from Kevin's trunk but had been disarmed. He was tossed down beside the two Plumbers as Connor powered on his weapon and aimed it at them.
He never got the chance to use it though, for at that moment the wall of the warehouse burst open and Connor and the knights were bowled off their feet with a loud roar. Gwen cried out in protest. If the dragon was here to kill the Knights then what had it done to her cousin but Kevin grabbed her hand and pointed as the dragon reared back to strike out at the knights. Where the translation device had sat on the dragon was a very familiar green and black symbol. Gwen let out a belt of laughter as she took in the appearance of the dragon. It really wasn't the same one, this one was smaller than the mapmaker, though not by much and the eyes were green, along with the underside of the wings. She roared again and smashed Connor's gun under her talons as the roar of engines sounded from the warehouse and the ship inside took off out into the vast expanse of space. Gwen had never pondered on whether or not a dragon could smile but apparently they could.
Jen grinned as green lights flashed and she dropped to the ground, rolling to her feet, she hadn't been out and out flying but that would be fun as her newest transformation. She glared at Connor, his knights were retreating and he was soundly defeated.
"Sorry, Sir Connor, looks like your dragon got away." Connor lunged only to be met with a concrete fist.
"Yeah no." Kevin said letting the concrete drop from around his hand. "Nice new alien Tennyson." Jen grinned.
"I'm gonna call her Green Wing." Gwen laughed as she helped Gregory to his feet.
"Come on let's arrange to get Gregory here home."
It took a few days and a phone call to an old contact of Jen's to get Gregory on a plane back to England. They waited on the airstrip and Gregory twiddled his fingers as they waited.
"How come we're waiting on the tarmac?" Kevin asked as he pulled Gregory's suitcase out of the trunk. Jen had gone Big Chill and liberated it from the castle, which had been mostly abandoned. Just a few of the tapestries left and some crates full of furniture and non essentials. It was unlikely they would be back since Jen knew about that base.
"Because Eddie is ostentatious." Gwen said looking up. Jen nodded shielding her eyes as a sleek black jet cruised in for a landing. There was a large logo on the side of the plane a G and an S in gold. The door opened and a staircase folded out.
"Jen! Gwen! So lovely to see you both!" Kevin blinked at the sixteen year old boy who stepped out of the plane. His black hair was slicked back and he wore a blazer and a sumo slammers t shirt. He slid down the rail of the stairs and pulled Jen into a hug. "I love what you've done with your hair!"
"Eddie is Edwin Grand Smith!" Kevin asked sounding indignant. Gwen laughed loudly at his face.
"Kevin this is Eddie Grand Smith, his grandpa and ours were old friends. We met when we were kids. Eddie this is my boyfriend Kevin Levin." Kevin's face went pink as Eddie looked him over and shook his hand.
"Lovely to see someone was smart enough to snatch Gwen off the market. She's quite the catch you know!" Jen laughed as Eddie clapped his hands. A butler, dressed in a crisp suit stepped out of the plane laden with packages.
"I'm sorry I was late but I brought presents!" He had the butler put the parcels, all carefully wrapped in green and gold leaf in the back of Kevin's car. "And this must be the friend I'm taking back to jolly old England for you." Jen nodded at Gregory who looked a bit star struck.
"This is Gregory Collins, he needs a lift back and some help getting back on his feet. He helped us out quite a bit, any help you could give would be amazing." Jen said, her face was slightly pink as Eddie grabbed her hand and spun her like a professional dancer. She laughed as he winked.
"Anything for you. The two of you helped me see that there's more to the world than what you can see. Any Tennyson needs help all they have to do is give me a call." He spun her again as she laughed, her face going red. "By the way Grandpa is still working on the zoning for his next resort but maybe you Gwen and Grandpa Max could come for a preview when it's ready, you could even bring Kevin." Jen's face fell immediately. Eddie frowned. "Could be just like old times, except I designed this one, hopefully no alien squids attack this time." He seemed to be expecting the girls to laugh but neither of them did. Kevin handed the butler Gregory's bags.
"You probably have a lot going on. You should get going." The butler nodded and loaded the suitcase onto the plane. Eddie's frown grew.
"Was it something I said? I promise this resort isn't underwater." Gwen shook her head scrubbing at her eyes.
"No Eddie, Grandpa Max is gone." Eddie's jaw dropped.
"I'm so sorry. I had no idea." Jen shook her head.
"We haven't told anyone. He… It's alien stuff." Her voice gave out and she took a deep breath, collecting herself. "It was good to see you Eddie. We do have to go though." Jen slipped into the back of Kevin's car. Gwen caught Eddie's hand as he made to go after her.
"She's really not in a good place about it. I'll call and tell you everything when I can ok. We've got major things happening." Eddie nodded and hugged Gwen briefly.
"Talk to you soon I hope. And I'm serious, anything either of you need I'm a call away." Gwen nodded as Eddie boarded the plane again and it took off.
About a week later Eddie brought Gregory into the building he'd be working in. It was more like a small village, set into a tiny corner of the Scottish countryside, far away from any Forever Knights.
"I'm sure they'll love you." Eddie assured Gregory as he introduced him to the nurse at the front desk. "Our residents have the best round the clock care. You'll be managing the library. They do love their books." Eddie checked his watch as they entered the Library and he introduced Gregory to the head Librarian.
"Sorry to introduce and dash but I have a delivery to check on." Eddie bowed out as the head librarian began to show Gregory around. Most of the residents in the prestigious retirement village introduced themselves but one of them sat in the corner reading a book with crossed swords emblazoned on it.
"Oh that's Old George. Poor guy never get's any visitors. But he's harmless. He just sits around reading Fiction all day. Mostly stuff about Knights but he's been looking for some new reading material. Someone introduced him to scifi, he keeps looking for stuff with shapeshifters though. We don't have a lot of that here." Gregory nodded and looked back over at the old man one more time as the head librarian showed him to the elevator and the second story of the library. He couldn't shake the feeling that Old George had looked familiar.