Author's Note: I own nothing.
5 Deadly Dance
Rook was starting to panic slightly, he dove forwards as a large chunk of the Prototruck came sailing in his direction. Whatever this weapon was it was strong. It howled again and a scraping sound began to make its way up the tree Rook was in. He managed to catch a limb on the next tree and pull himself up as it howled again. He pulled his Prototool off his shoulder and switched it to the bow and arrow setting. The thing, still not quite visible in the smog left over from the fire suppressors, charged up the tree and Rook got a momentary look at it before he had to dive out of the tree entirely to avoid the large jaws. It was a very familiar Vulpimancer. He dove free from the tree, freefalling for a moment before catching himself with a grappling hook setting on the Prototool.
"It could not have been her." He muttered as he raced away from the snarling Vulpimancer still in the tree. But a niggling doubt had wormed its way into his brain. That had been a Vulpimancer identical to Jen's transformation. Vulpimancer's were a rare sight outside of Vulpin and the Null Void, especially the smaller adolescent Vulpimancers like Jen's transformation. He rolled as he landed on the leaf strewn ground. Getting away from a Vulpimancer was tricky, whether it was Jen or not. A thought popped into his head as a thud behind him heralded the Vulpimancer landing. Slipping his Prototool back onto his shoulder he slipped two fingers into his mouth, whistling as loudly as he could. A whine of pain told him that it worked as he raced further into the trees.
He managed to pull himself up into another one of the trees, up to the topmost branches, trying to see if he could see Vilgax's ship from up here. It had landed not too far away, one of the hatches remained open, several drones stood outside making up a half circle in front of what could only be called a throne. On that throne sat a very large figure that Rook had only ever seen in files and heard about in stories. Vilgax, the conqueror of ten worlds, one of the worst tyrants in the universe, one of his partner's most deadly enemies. He was sitting there looking quite nonchalant. In front of him sat a small screen and in his hand was what looked like a video game controller. Rook frowned, what was happening here? He couldn't see Vilgax playing video games on a good day, and certainly not while hunting someone down. The tyrant frowned at the screen and flicked a switch on the controller.
A scream echoed from back where Rook had left the Vulpimancer. A green light flashed, and Rook's heart plummeted somewhere near his shoes as a much more familiar scream filled the air. Another flash of green light lit up the forest and the tree Rook was in shook. Looking down he saw Four Arms slamming her fists into the tree. It teetered as the trunk shattered. Rook leapt from the toppling tree, rolling as he landed again but this time coming up to face his attacker. It was a favorite of Jen's, and she had every reason to favor this transformation. Four Arms was one of her strongest aliens after all. But there was something new adorning her neck. It looked like a metal collar, with a large black stone at the center. Her eyes, normally a toxic green, were a hollow empty black that matched the stone. She stepped forward, he matched it with a step back.
"Rook…" It sounded like it hurt to speak at all. "Run." With that one word of warning she lunged. Rook leapt up, out of the way of her first swipe. Leaping into another tree just had her seizing the trunk and snapping it in half sending this tree toppling to the ground too.
"Jen, I am not your enemy!" He called out only to receive an angry cry in return. Then a horrible thought occurred to him, the weapon Vilgax had sent out after him, Jen had shown up just after. He didn't have time to think about it as he hit the ground running. It really was the smartest move when encountered with a very large very angry Tetramand. Her roar followed him. This was Vilgax's doing, somehow. It really made Rook wonder just how long he'd been unconscious from the crash as he raced away from Jen who picked up the tree she'd just felled and threw it after him.
At this point if he didn't start to fight back she was going to level the whole forest. He pulled the Prototool off his shoulder and aimed it.
"I am sorry my friend." He fired a net pinning the Tetramand's arms to her sides. She struggled for a moment, then the collar around her neck crackled with black electricity and she screamed. One of her arms managed to wiggle free as the electricity continued to crackle. She slapped the Omnitrix symbol, transforming back to herself. The net fell off her much smaller form, and she collapsed to her knees. She panted hard and Rook got a good look at her. The collar was still around her neck, it seemed to shrink and grow with her transformations.
"Rook…" Her voice was still strained but it was a little clearer. "You need to take me down. Please… I don't want to hurt you." She didn't get to say anything else as the black lightning crackled out from the collar again. Her scream echoed around them as she moved, spinning the dial on the Omnitrix and slapping it down transforming again. This time it was one of the transformations Rook hadn't seen very often but it was much more dangerous in this kind of environment. Wildvine melted into the trees surrounding her. Rook tapped on the Prototool, switching it to one of the new settings Cooper had added to the new tool. It was sort of a trial run for the new setting, and it wouldn't last long but it should be quite effective against the plant.
It was put to the test when a vine looped around Rook's throat. He brought the end of the Prototool up into the vine as it tightened. The spark glowing at the mouth of the barrel of the tool caught on the vine and lit a flame, causing the plant to cry out and release him. Appearing from the body of a tree she was quick to beat out the flames that were crawling up her arm. This transformation had a singular eye usually rimmed in toxic green but now it too was black. It didn't take a Galvan to figure out that the problem was her new accessory. Rook switched the Prototool over to the bow and arrow. He was more accurate with that then he was with any of the gun settings and this had to be a perfect shot, if he was even a millimeter off he would never be able to forgive himself. He pulled back aiming the arrow as the black lightning began again. Wildvine transformed back into Jen and Rook took the shot. His arrow struck home sinking into the black stone at the center of the collar. Jen crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. Rook didn't have a moment to check on his partner as a roar of frustration echoed through the trees.
"Interfering cur!" That was all the warning he got as Vilgax himself vaulted into the fray slamming the Prototool out of Rooks hands with a mighty blow. He picked up the Plumber by the front of his armor. The tentacles on his face reached out towards Rook as Vilgax growled. "My plan was perfect! You little…" But he interrupted himself with a howl of pain. The tentacles that had been reaching for Rook's face had just been severed cleanly. Vilgax dropped Rook attempting to stem the flow of blood from the two stumps that had been the tentacles at the center of his chin. A thud heralded the knife sinking into the tree that stood next to them. Rook glanced at it astonished and saw the gleam of Taydenite. He turned in the direction the knife had come from and felt himself smile despite the blood on his face. Jen was back on her feet, wobbling slightly. The collar was split at the center where his arrow had struck it, laying discarded behind her and there was anger gleaming in her eyes. She spun the dial on the Omnitrix and more Taydenite gleamed as Diamondhead rushed forward slamming into Vilgax before picking him up and slamming him into the ground again. Rook dove for his Prototool, snatching it up and firing into the drones that came to their master's rescue. The improved Prototool blasted through the core of the drones one after another. In moments the fight was over. Vilgax was encased in Taydenite, all but his face, the two stubs that had been two of his tentacles still freely bleeding.
Diamondhead stepped away from the tyrant, stepping on the collar as she went, though if that was on purpose or not Rook had no idea. He stepped over to her and laid a hand on her arm.
"Are you alright partner?" She nodded slightly.
"Yeah, nice shot by the way." She commented kicking the collar again. Rook smiled slightly stepping over to the dagger imbedded in the tree. He pulled it free with a bit of difficulty, it had sunk deep into the wood.
"You are quite the marksman with this as well. I did not know you were proficient with bladed weapons." The Omnitrix flashed red, lights spiraled and Jen returned to herself a wry smile on her face.
"Can't learn everything about me from a file." She took her dagger back from Rook and stiffened as a thundering sounded through the trees around them. Rook tensed too but relaxed slightly as several Plumber agents came rushing into the clearing Four Arms rampage had created. Jen smiled slightly.
"Good to know that backup got here quickly." Rook nodded.
"Yes I was not expecting you for another hour at least." The Plumber in charge stepped forwards.
"We hear Vilgax was here and we sent the fastest ships we had. Looks like you two didn't need the help." Jen tucked her dagger into a sheath hidden just under her pant leg.
"Well cleanup is always a pain in the ass. If you lot take care of transporting his ass onto your ship Rook and I will take care of his ship." The plumbers nodded and Rook followed Jen towards where Vilgax had landed. Rook was frowning slightly. Jen's hands were shaking.
"When you say we are 'Taking care of his ship'."
"I mean we're gonna blow it the hell up. It and everything on it." Rook gently caught Jen's hand and frowned at her.
"What happened Jen, you are shaking." She took a deep breath looking around to make sure they were alone.
"I got onto his ship just fine as Big Chill, went right for where I knew his weapons system should have been. Except he knew I would do that, he had an ambush waiting. But the coward wasn't waiting himself. No, he had an electric field set up to knock my ass out." She shook her head, the tremors in her hands getting worse. Rook gently tightened his hold on her hands. She took another breath. "When I woke up I was in a containment field. He said he shot you down, then stuck that fucking collar on me. It's something he had 'developed specially' just for me." She pulled her hands back and scrubbed at her face. "I could see and hear everything that was happening. I just couldn't move my own body. It was moving but it wasn't me doing it." She buried her head in her hands and her shoulders began to shake. Rook paused for a moment before pulling her into a hug. He didn't say anything, he wasn't sure what to say. He just held her.
"Guess I should count myself lucky my partner is a crack shot who doesn't listen to me." She said a few minutes later pulling back and scrubbing at her face to rid it of any leftover tears. Rook smiled lightly.
"I listen to you, when you are making sense. Which is more often than you are generally given credit for." She laughed, it was just a bit wet with the tears still gleaming in her eyes. "Now shall we deal with Vilgax's ship." She grinned and nodded.
"I do enjoy blowing things up. Probably a less than healthy coping mechanism." Rook nodded slightly as they made their way through the trees.
"Perhaps, but I will admit that I too on occasion do enjoy a well earned explosion." Jen laughed and Rook smiled wide.