Author's Note: I own nothing.

45 Princely Lies

The next night found the trio investigating a tip Kevin had gotten. Jen had been a bit suspicious and had been right, it turned out to be a trap, set by the DNAliens. Jen had turned into Spidermonkey and set upon their attackers. But they seemed better prepared this time. Jen was blasted out of the tree with a shriek and the large branch that had been above her came crashing down, stopped inches from slamming into her face by a web that wasn't hers. She blinked, turning and finding herself face to face with another Spidermonkey. For one second her mind flashed to Albeda but this one was male. Though, like normal Earth chimps, this was only obvious because he was bigger than her by at least twenty pounds. His eyes were bright yellow and he smiled at her as he helped her up.

"Are you alright?" She nodded.

"Yeah thanks." His smile grew wider. "I really appreciate the save."

"Of course. I couldn't just leave a fellow Aracnachimp in peril. Not to mention one with eyes like yours. I don't think I've ever seen eyes that color. You're quite striking." Jen laughed lightly, glad the fur on her face his her minor blush.

"Well um… Thanks, but I'm not actually an Aracnachimp." She slapped the Omnitrix symbol and green lights flashed, leaving her human once more. The Aracnachimp gasped and Jen hurried to explain. "See I have the Omnitrix, which lets me turn into…"

"Any one of ten aliens! It's an honor to meet you Jen Ten." He bowed and Jen blushed slightly. "My name is Simian."

Simian, just Sim for short even though he was a prince, was a flirt. Even as they were about to be crushed by the fortress's security system.

"Not that I'm not enjoying the view but what are you doing?" Jen shot a glare over her shoulder as she managed to shimmy the acid spitting thing out of her pocket. One of the DNAliens had dropped it during their fight yesterday, none of them knew what it was, not even Kevin. But hopefully it would save them now.

"Get that! Spray it on the floor!" Simian used his tail to do just that and they both dove through the new made hole in the floor. Simian grinned and tossed the device back to her.

"Quick thinking! Impressive. Where'd you get the DNAlien resin remover?" Jen caught the device as her brain kicked into overdrive. Simian had claimed he didn't know what the DNAliens were. She pocketed the device and shrugged.

"Long story."

The techie Simian tossed off the bridge told Jen everything. This was a communications base, the crystal was its power source. Jen didn't know what made her more angry, the fact that Simian had lied about everything from who he was to why he was here, or the fact that she'd believed him. She heard him shriek from the room holding the crystal and set the techie down on the bridge.

"Wait here." She had a plan. Removing the crystal was easy for Chromastone. She stepped out of the room, leaving Simian unconscious on the floor. The techie who introduced himself as Lu frowned.

"You're not just going to let him take it are you?" Jen shook her head setting the crystal down and transforming back into her human form. She stripped off her jacket and wrapped it around the crystal to hide its glow.

"I need a box, something so he won't see what he's got." Lu nodded and rushed over to a nearby wall compartment coming back after a few minutes of clattering with an empty toolbox. Jen pulled the DNAlien resin remover from her pocket. It and the crystal were about the same weight. Simian would never notice. She handed Lu the crystal. "Keep out of sight with that. He can't know he doesn't have it. And we're probably going to need a ride home."

"There's a spare pod you can use Miss Tennyson." She grinned at him.

"Thanks, now get out of sight quick before he wakes up." She stashed the resin remover in the box and clicked it closed. Lu grinned and nodded scurrying off.

Kevin popped his gum. Jen and Sim had been getting along really well and he didn't want to interrupt. The Aracnachimp had been flirting up a storm since minute one and he'd seen stranger couples. So when Simian came racing around the corner without the brunette Kevin frowned.

"Sim, where's Jen?"

"Right behind me." But as Kevin glanced back there was no other figure coming around the corner as Simian closed the hanger door, beginning to pull his suit back on. Kevin only hesitated a moment before he pulled out his badge to track Jen. She was deeper in the facility and she wasn't moving.

"Shit!" He clicked the device over to the com channel knowing Gwen had her badge on her for missions. "Gwen! Get in here! Somethings wrong!" Not even waiting for a response from the redhead Kevin took off towards the little red dot on his badge that was the Omnitrix user. He had to backtrack twice, Gwen catching up to him quickly despite having taken off her suit.

"Simian's gone. And he took the ship, we're stuck."

"You're not." The voice was unfamiliar and had both teens spinning, battle ready. The small green alien who'd spoken raised his hands. "Don't shoot!"

"Chill guys!" Jen's reprimand had both of them lowering their fists. The small green alien turned to the doorway Jen's voice had come from, looking concerned and it was then that Gwen noticed what looked like an ice pack in one of his hands. Jen stepped slowly around the corner, one hand on the wall, one hand pressed to her head. Gwen rushed to her cousin, Kevin hot on her heels.

"What happened!"

"Simian!" Kevin hissed wishing he'd beaten the Aracnachimp to a pulp. "Shit! He got away with the crystal." Jen laughed.

"Nope! He got away with the DNAlien resin remover." They blinked at her. "The ear cleaning looking thing. Simian knew what it was, even though he said he'd never heard of the DNAliens." The small green alien stepped over to the trio holding out the ice pack to Jen.

"You shouldn't be standing Miss Tennyson! You're hurt." Jen grinned at the alien trading the ice pack in his hand for her bundled jacket that had been under her arm. She pressed the ice pack to her head as she leaned on the wall.

"Thanks Lu I'll be fine." She did take his advice though and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. "If you could put that back where it belongs, that would be good. Simian should be out of range by now." Lu nodded and scuttled off as Gwen looked over her cousin.

"You let him knock you around so he'd get away with the wrong thing." Jen nodded, winced and tilted her head back against the cool metal wall, one hand still holding the ice pack to the blossoming bruise on her face.

"Yep."

"You ok?" Kevin asked looking her over. There was webbing on the Omnitrix and an impressive bruise growing on what he could see of her back beyond the collar of her shirt. It matched the one on her face quite well.

"Didn't expect him to pack quite that big of a punch. I'll be fine once I can get the webbing off the Omnitrix. I'll just turn into Swampfire, she heals fast." Gwen nodded and a flash of pink had the webs falling from the Omnitrix to the floor of the station. Jen grinned and set down the ice pack, spinning the dial and slapping it back down. But it wasn't Swampfire sitting before them when the green lights died.

"Since when do you have an Apollonite form?" Gwen asked eyeing her cousin's marble skin, twinkling with the green energy beneath it. Jen looked down frowning.

"It hasn't done that in a while. Given me the wrong alien I mean." She raised a hand to her head and green lights glowed. She grinned and Kevin reached out a hand to help her up.

"To answer your question I've had it since Albrasix kissed me on he Incursion warship. The Omnitrix is taking DNA samples through me again." Kevin blinked but Gwen seemed to know what her cousin was talking about.

"Like when you got but as Wildvine by that werewolf alien."

"Exactly." Kevin shook his head laughing.

"That sounds so wrong, I hope you both know that." Jen shook her head as she slapped the Omnitrix symbol near her shoulder and turned back to normal. Her bruises were gone. Gwen shoved Kevin playfully.

"So Simian got away. How are we getting home?"

"Lu is lending us a pod." The lights in the station brightened and Jen grinned. "And we successfully tricked not just Simian but the Highbreed who hired him. All in all a good day." Kevin laughed.

"Only you could call a day where you get your ass kicked a good day." Jen laughed.

"I meant to get my ass kicked, thank you very much. Just maybe not that much." She scooped up the ice pack and the three of them headed off to find Lu and the offered pod to get back to Earth.