Author's Note: I own nothing.

6 Incarceration

With the Prototruck trashed Rook and Jen were stuck at the local Plumber base for a while, but that turned out not to be such a bad thing. The base wasn't too well equipped to hold a high profile prisoner, not to mention that last time Vilgax had been captured he'd escaped as soon as he was off of Earth. It seemed to make the other Plumbers more relaxed that Jen and Rook were staying to help see off the prisoner transfer. So much so that Jen ended up taking it over in its entirety. They had two other plumbers with them and an escort of four more ships that took them to the sector that was their destination, though they broke off for another Plumber base as soon as the transport ship made it into the sector. Jen frowned flicking a few switches on the controls, again checking that they weren't being followed. That was the sixth time she had done that in the last fifteen minutes.

"I do not believe that we have become targeted in the last few minutes." Rook said quietly, his hands still on the controls and eyes still fixed on the space in front of them. Jen sighed, shaking her head.

"Yeah I know, that's what's weird." Rook frowned glancing at his partner. He had heard several of the other Plumbers she worked with regularly call her severely paranoid but, aside from their encounters with Malware, he hadn't seen it to this level before.

"What do you mean?" He asked glancing back to ensure the other Plumbers weren't listening in. They weren't. Morty, the large pink apelike being was talking to Hobble, a smaller insectoid being who looked quite nervous to be there at all.

"Say what you will about Vilgax himself, and trust me I've said it all, but his people care about him. The Chimera Sui Generis love their leader, as misguided as that might be. Most of the time he escapes because they come looking for him. But once we're in range of Incarcecon there's no way to get to him without Plumber clearance. So, where are they?" Rook frowned.

"I do not know." Jen shook her head again unclipping her seatbelt and standing, stretching. It hadn't exactly been a short flight and most of it had been too tense to grant any real rest. She patted Rook on the shoulder.

"Go ahead and signal Warden K'idack let him know we're almost there." Rook nodded as Jen stepped past his chair and towards the back of the ship. This transport had been retrofitted to carry their very specific prisoner. Several mounted guns pointed straight at the table he was bound to. It sat upright facing the front of the ship. Jen tilted her head at him. He looked different without the front two tentacles that normally hung from his face, smaller somehow, less invulnerable.

"Comfortable?" She asked with a small smile. He glared.

"I will escape child. You and I both know this. We've danced this dance before."

"And yet I keep coming out on top, go figure." Silence reigned for a moment as the two mortal enemies stared each other down. Jen grinned a little wider. "Well you'll be happy to know that we're almost to your new home. Not exactly as comfy as the tank the Esoterica kept you in but Incarcecon should suit you nicely." His eyes widened slightly then narrowed. That told Jen all she needed to know. She turned away from him and quickstepped back to her seat. Rook was currently talking to Max on the coms, the older Plumber warning all present to be wary.

"He expected a breakout by now." Jen stated it plainly, resting her chin in her hands, a look of deep concentration of her face.

"Why has there been no attempt then?" Rook wondered aloud. Jen pulled up a readout on her console and shook her head.

"We don't have any Plumber bases in that system. The whole place is a no-fly zone for Plumbers and anyone in the Galvan's alliance. No way to check." Max nodded.

"Speaking of, once you go into the blackout zone around Incarcecon there will be no way to check in on you either. So be careful." Jen nodded to her Grandfather as the last of the evacuation skiffs flew past them.

Incarcecon had changed quite a bit since the last time Jen had been there, firstly because this was not the Incarcecon she had visited in the Null Void with Gwen in search of a mutated and raging Kevin. In all technicality this was Incarcecon Beta, the one in the Null Void being Incarcecon Alpha. This prison had, up until recently been used for smaller offenders, ones who would likely not survive in the Null Void. This was something of a gambit on the part of the Plumbers. As with most large organizations there were bound to be leaks here and there, and to prevent the immediate escape of one of the universes most dangerous tyrants they had not specified which Incarcecon he was being transported to, to anyone other than Jen and Rook who were leading this mission. The hope was that any trying to free Vilgax would attempt a breakout at the Incarcecon located in the Null Void and find themselves trapped there.

But as they passed into the blackout field those hopes were dashed by laser fire into the side of the ship. The whole thing rocked, nearly sending Jen toppling out of her seat. But despite that she leapt up and swore as the ship shook again, sending her flat on her ass this time.

"Charging the deflectors. Unfortunately it will take a moment." Rook said flipping switches as he did. But again the ship shook as Jen grabbed hold of Rooks chair so she wouldn't go flying through the cabin of the ship.

"His little rescue squad is getting a bit violent." She commented through a grunt. Rook nodded frowning as the auxiliary controls kicked in. They landed but it wasn't a pretty one, requiring them to make a quick space jump into the prison itself. Vilgax, now in a pair of shock cuffs, managed to kick off the Plumbers holding him. Jen, currently a new transformation a large humanoid hawk-like being, kicked him away from the others as the artificial atmosphere set in. Her momentum sent the both of them crashing into an adjacent hallway. Rook rushed in and had to physically pull Jen, now back to human, off of Vilgax. She glared at the tyrant from her spot in his arms.

"Your little rescue squadron know you can breathe in space or were you just not clear when you told them to break you out?" She snarled, it would have been quite intimidating too if her feet weren't almost five inches off the ground. But before Vilgax could answer another of the ports to the outside of the station opened and in stepped a figure familiar to only one of them. Jen's eyebrows climbed in surprise. "Attea?" The Incursion Princess pulled her blaster as several more figures stepped into the hallway.

"I'm here for the head of Vilgax the Conqueror. You Plumbers can keep the rest of him."