Author's Note: I own nothing.

46 Next

Finding out that the Max Force was up for early promotion to the next class up due to their experience in the field was a tiny bright speck in Jen's currently very glum world. It had been a full two weeks since Ethan's funeral. Life went on much as normal and it felt like an insult. Everything should be different, things should have stopped or at least slowed down but nothing had happened. Well that wasn't entirely true. The school had been informed of the accident and had allowed Jen a few days out to deal with what she was going through. Only Julie had known about the ring but the whole school knew they were dating. Most people avoided talking to her, likely unsure what to say. Cash and JT seemed to want to make up for years of bullying the person who'd saved the world, though they were only aware of one time.

They had taken it upon themselves to keep people from hassling her. But they also didn't try to make her talk about it. She was grateful for that. Her mother and father were insisting that she see a therapist but she couldn't exactly tell a human everything, so the Plumbers had volunteered to provide her with one since she was a valued asset. The trouble was finding someone qualified to deal with her problems. Being able to step into the shoes of others made her the only one with that experience. In the end they decided that a familiar face would be best and assigned her to her first cousin once removed, in law, Camille Mann-Tennyson. Given that this was the same woman whose wedding Jen had helped rescue from her war hungry parents she was more than willing to help.

It was easier to open up to family Jen discovered though she was still having troubles. Right now the two of them were working though her feelings for Ethan and what had happened to him. The word helpless had come up quite a bit. As all that she said was protected by doctor patient confidentiality Jen had admitted to the world she would have caused by brining Ethan back as Alien X and the subsequent locking of that transformation. Camille had nodded.

"I think that was a very difficult decision to make Jen. One life against millions. But I think that's a decision you've made before. I do agree with what you did and though locking away part of yourself by denying yourself access to this transformation may be detrimental in the long run it is a healthy short term. But you need to come to terms with it. I hope eventually I can convince you to trust yourself enough to unlock that transformation." Jen still wasn't so sure about that. But she would keep seeing her for as long as her parents insisted or until she started feeling better. Grandpa Max was on a phone call with a Piscciss Volann when Jen stepped into his office in the Hole. She tapped on the doorframe.

"Don't mean to interrupt but you texted me Grandpa?" He nodded.

"You're not interrupting we were waiting for you." He motioned to the seat next to his. "Sit down." She obeyed and waved slightly.

"Magister Patelliday I assume. Nice to finally see you face to face." She'd spoken to the magister a few times but never face to face like this. He nodded.

"Likewise Miss Tennyson."

"Just Jen please." He nodded.

"Well Jen, your grandpa here thinks you might be up for a bit of mischief. Your buddies in the Max Force are up for an evaluative promotion to the next class on merit and their performance so far at the academy. But we need to make them think they're in a situation that's less than great if you catch my meaning, downright dangerous if we can manage it. With no backup. We need to see what they'll do against a much stronger opponent. Someone they believe can't be beaten." Jen glanced at her grandfather.

"And I'm the one that popped to mind?" Max nodded.

"You're the one least likely to get hurt when they think the fighting is real too." Jen nodded.

"Makes sense, so we set Cooper, Allen, Manny, and Hellen out on a planet and set me after them as one of my aliens?" She asked. Magister Patelliday shook his head.

"Your granddad had something more interesting in mind. And we'll be testing Allen, Hellen, Manny and Pierce. Cooper has opted for lab life and the lab boys love him. He's doing quite well." That was how she found herself standing in the hallway as he grandfather sent out a faked distress signal. At his signal she transformed into Humungousaur and slammed into the room.

"Is the little Max Force spying?" She scowled. "You'd better not come up here or it won't just be Grandpa Max who gets hurt." She smashed a hand through the console sending the message. Then she turned back into herself. She grinned at Grandpa Max. "Think that'll get them here?" He nodded.

"I think so. You know what you're going to do?" Jen nodded. She had a great plan that would only work if the team did what she thought they would do, which was split up. Grandpa Max would leave them a message to come get him from the cargo hold on the opposite side of the station from the open hatch where they would most likely land. She was right on all counts. Hellen rushed ahead of the others. She would, it's what any Kineceleran would do. It's certainly what she used to do as XCLR8. Taking her down was relatively easy too. Making it look like something was wrong now that took a bit of acting. And a lot of insane laughter. She seemed to have sold the bit though as she listened to them bicker and split up. Pierce was the only one who seemed to want to listen to orders, good for a Plumber, bad for the others. Manny and Hellen went one way, down the hall Hellen thought she had gone down. Pierce took Allen down another. She felt sort of bad about this as she watched them from inside the walls. The nice thing about this satellite was that it was a training platform and those doing the testing had to be able to get around without being seen. It made getting them alone easy. Splitting up the team was stupid easy, that would be a deduction she was sure. But she frowned. She'd go after Pierce first, she knew most about him and he seemed to want to step into a de facto leader position as the technical actual Plumber on this mission. If this went well he'd actually be a Plumber by the end. If being the key word. It wasn't looking so good for them so far.