Author's Note: I own nothing.
2 Revealed
Months passed, December came and went, Jen and Gwen shared their birthday party as usual. Jen's parents let her finally take ownership of the car Kevin had built her and the brunette passed her driving test with flying colors. The trio settled into a routine. Jen was delighted to discover that the Ultimatrix had allowed her to unlock, not just the aliens she had been recently, but every transformation she had ever used. She had way too much fun getting reacquainted with the old transformations, with the exception of Ghostfreak. Despite all assurances from Azmuth and her Grandma Verdona that the hostile mind that had been attached to the ectonurite DNA was gone Jen still wasn't comfortable with using the transformation, too many bad memories attached. Gwen wasn't so lucky in the car department, though her parents let her take her test, and she passed, they still weren't so sure about getting her a car of her own yet. Kevin let her drive his car as consolation.
All told things were going pretty well. The base under Bellwood was close to finished, Grandpa Max was letting Jen, Gwen and Kevin in with more frequency since they had already spoiled the surprise to honor Ethan and his father. He had basically moved into the completed barracks anyway. Pierce had actually moved into the barracks along with a few Plumbers who were being stationed at the base.
SECT, the Special Extraterrestrial Containment Team, and various branches of world government were talking to the Plumbers about opening Earth to the Universe. The negotiations were being kept very quiet for now as no one wanted to scare the general public but it was becoming harder and harder to hide the aliens from the general public. Jen had been invited to a few of these meetings, as a witness and example of how alien and human could work together. She also saw Lieutenant Steele again. He offered his condolences for what had happened to Ethan. She'd nodded to him but didn't speak, her throat had closed as it usually did when the tears threatened. January crawled its way by, eventually giving way to February. Despite the continued activity of the Forever Knights things were relatively quiet. That was until one evening just after Valentines day. Jen was at home working on a project for her Current Events class when Gwen and Kevin stormed in. Jen blinked up at them. Kevin glanced at the blank tv and nodded.
"That explains why you haven't called." Jen looked up at the clock on the wall.
"Was I supposed to? I'm doing homework, I have to find an article about a current event I'm interested in." Kevin started laughing loudly. Gwen glowered at him. Jen frowned. "Why is my homework making your boyfriend laugh Gwen?"
"Because you're the only event happening right now." Jen blinked at her cousin in confusion. Gwen snatched up the remote and flicked on the tv stopping on the first news channel she could find. Jen stared as a distorted voice over spoke about aliens not only being real but among us. If that wasn't bad enough all the videos and photos shown on the segment were her aliens, obvious due to the Omnitrix symbol always present. Something that whoever was voicing this news seemed to have realized.
'And the most surprising thing of all is that all the aliens you've just seen are actually alter egos of one woman. Her name is Jen Tennyson." Jen went pale her notebook slipping from boneless fingers as a photo of her from the school newspaper popped up on the screen. She and a few of her soccer teammates were holding up the trophy they'd won that season and the Ultimatrix was on her wrist. Though the majority of the device was hidden by the sleeve of her shirt the bright green and black hourglass was clearly visible.
"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me."
The next day was a blur. Jen pulled the landline out of the wall when the phone wouldn't stop ringing. Eventually she shut off her cellphone too. Gwen could keep her parents, out of town thanks to her father's job once again, in the loop. It was probably better that they weren't here though things were going crazy. In addition to her name and face plastered everywhere there were news vans outside the house day and night waiting for her to come out. Kevin was blocked in, as was Jen's car. The three of them were going a little crazy.
"I understand freedom of the press Lieutenant Steele, my father is a lawyer! This is harassment of a minor. We can't even leave the house!" Gwen argued into Kevin's phone. Her own was in Jen's hand.
"Yeah mom, I have no idea how it happened. No you and dad shouldn't come home early. Mom I doubt you'd even be able to get to the house right now. Yeah news vans around the block." Jen sighed. "I'll be careful mom I promise. Love you too." She hung up and tossed Gwen's phone onto the table before grabbing one of the pillows from the couch and screaming into it with gusto. Kevin winced as he flicked through another news channel.
"They are all over you. Seem to be of two minds, you've got Harangue, who seems to think you're some kind of menace, one woman invasion. Then you've got the other side who seem to be actually covering what they can of what you've actually done. They seem more on your side. It's the smaller local channel. Jen swore.
"I hate this!" She paced the room up and down and growled under her breath. "I can't be in this house anymore!" Kevin stood and peeked through the curtains cameras flashed and he dropped it again.
"How do you plan to get past them?" Jen frowned then nodded to herself.
"Ok." She snatched up Kevin's keys and tossed them to him. "Once they're gone you guys go do something. I don't know. I can't be in this house anymore. I'm gonna head to Julies, hide out there for a bit." She slipped her phone into her jacket. Taking a deep breath she slipped her own keys into her pocket and stepped up to the door. Gwen frowned.
"I'm gonna have to call you back Lieutenant." She hung up as Jen opened the door and stepped outside to the flash of cameras and the clamoring of questions. She closed the door before Kevin and Gwen could leave with her. Gwen peeked out through the curtain and watched her cousin. The poor girl looked very nervous, fiddling with the ring on the necklace around her neck. She waved awkwardly at the cameras a nervous grin on her face. Kevin shook his head as Jen's hands dropped and met behind her.
"This won't go well." He made to step to the door but Gwen grabbed his hand she'd seen her cousin's hand spin the dial on the Ultimatrix.
"Hi?" Jen waved at the reported and was immediately bombarded with questions. She blinked at the bright flashes of light from the cameras. Above the din of noise she heard one of the reporters ask a question.
"Miss Tennyson! Can you show us one of your aliens?" Jen let her hands drop behind her, where they couldn't be seen. She nodded slightly as she spun the dial on the Ultimatrix. All she needed was someone with wings. She knew who she wanted though. And by some miracle the device obeyed. In a flash of green light Big Chill stood before the reporters before taking to the wing. They raced to their cars to chase the giant moth. She led them about eight blocks away before letting herself vanish behind a building then into thin air. She sighed as she flew back to her car. Kevin and Gwen seemed to have taken her advice and gotten out as soon as the reporters cleared off. She checked that they'd locked the door then drove to Julies house, wearing an old hoodie of Kevin's that would make it harder for her to be recognized than her signature green jacket, though she kept it in the car. She tapped on the door and Julie opened it.
"Oh thank god! You're ok!" Jen shrugged as Julie ushered her inside.
"Well ok is sort of relative right now. I mean I had to literally pull a disappearing act to get out of my own house so you know." She let Julie hug her close. She took a few calming breaths. Julie ushered her over to the couch. "Thanks for letting me hide out here." Julie nodded.
"I have tennis practice in an hour but you can stay as long as you need." Ship hopped up on Jen's lap and she cuddled the mechamorph. Jen's mood wasn't improved by the broadcast by Will Harangue though, questioning if she was a threat or a menace. Julie frowned.
"That's bad journalism." Jen raised an eyebrow.
"How so, you can't just claim he's a bad journalist cause he hates me." Julie shook her head.
"No, he's skewing his answers. There's no positive answer. No balanced perspective. Only people who are against you can even vote in it." Jen nodded feeling a tiny bit better. She and Julie decided that TV wasn't the best thing right now and went out for a drive in Jen's new car instead.