Author's Note: I own nothing.

16 A Blur

Before anyone could blink a month had passed then another week, it was a blur for Gwen, Kevin and Rook. They had tried to make it to Bellwood in time to stop Jen getting shot off the planet but Gwen could only teleport them halfway there. Between that and dodging what the news was calling the Way Bads, a nod to Jen's transformation Way Big, they didn't make it to Bellwood until two days after she had already been banished from the planet. When they finally reached Bellwood they ran into Blukic on the run from a patrol of Incursions. From the Galvan they learned that the Plumber base had been taken over. All Plumbers had been imprisoned in the cells below base, it was just dumb luck that he'd ended up alone in Animo's old cell. There had been a work order to fix the tunnel the ex-vet had dug into it but no one had gotten around to it yet, instead just choosing not to use that cell. He'd slipped out forced to leave the others alone inside the Incursion controlled base.

Gwen sat in the warehouse flicking through the tv channels. A lot of it was now dedicated to propaganda for the Incursions, a few news stations were still active, mostly Harangue who appeared to have made a deal with the Incursions and was now singing their praises. A few though were looping wanted posters. Gwen shook her head at the face staring back at her from the tv, she hadn't donned the Lucky Girl mask in earnest in years, only using it to raid Hex's library from time to time. But she'd pulled the mask out of storage, more to protect her brother than anything else. No one had heard from her parents or Jen's since the invasion began. Kevin's face flashed across the screen. His mom was safe, they'd gotten to her before the Incursions and she was currently staying with the Kraaho. Incursions didn't do too well in extreme temperatures on either end of the thermometer. Next went Rook's face. He was in the other room with Blukic trying to rig up some usable weapons. Then came the ones that had shocked her when they first popped up a few weeks ago.

Kai Green's face smiled from the screen. The info on her wanted poster proclaimed that she had last been seen on the run in Ireland, having sabotaged several Incursion outposts. Gregory, an ex forever knight that Jen had helped a while back, was apparently aiding and abetting Kai now, as his wanted poster proclaimed. Gwen shook her head, pulling off her Lucky Girl mask. Only one of their number didn't have a wanted poster. They'd picked up Argit during a raid a week ago. He was running guns to a few resistance groups but he'd decided to stick with them for a while since he trusted Kevin. Gwen wasn't sure it was a good idea but they didn't have much of a choice, they needed everyone they could get. She didn't look up as someone entered the room, her wards hadn't gone off like they would if the Incursions entered the warehouse.

"Gwen?" She turned, it was Kevin. He was holding a cupcake with a single candle sticking out of it. Gwen blinked. "Happy Birthday." He tried to make it sound cheerful but the awareness of those who weren't there hung over them like a shadow. This would be the first birthday she had spent without her cousin. They shared a birthday after all, Gwen was only a few hours older than Jen. It hadn't been planned that way, Jen had been almost a month premature. The way Gwen's father told it the whole family had been holding their breaths as to if her cousin was going to make it for the first few weeks.

"Wish I could do more but there wasn't much left at that grocery store we raided a while back." Gwen managed a smile.

"It's sweet that you did anything Kev. I honestly sort of forgot." No, she hadn't. She'd been thinking about it for over a week. She could tell Rook had too. He didn't say much these days, not since Jen had been shot off the planet. He only spoke when necessary. Gwen stared into the flame on the candle, wondering what was happening to her cousin. There had been no word on her since she'd been banished. They hadn't had any word from anyone off planet since the initial invasion. She closed her eyes and blew out the candle. All she wanted was for this invasion to be over, for life to go back to normal, for her cousin to be alive, safe somewhere. Maybe a bit of a tall order for a single birthday candle. Kevin pulled the candle out of the cupcake and handed it to Gwen. She tore it in half and handed him half.

"Your actual birthday present is back home. Assuming the Incursions never made it into the base I can give it to you later." Gwen grinned slightly and snuggled with Kevin.

"You're really sweet you know that Kevin?" Kevin rolled his eyes pecking her on the cheek.

"Don't tell anybody I have a reputation to keep up." Gwen chuckled.

Just down the hall Rook was feeling upset. He had left Blukic to his tinkering for the moment and stepped off into his own room, such as it was. None of the rooms here were homey. When he'd first arrived on Earth he hadn't had much to his name. Jen had changed that, his room at the Base had begun to resemble his room back on Revonnah. He'd even had a pet fish, won at the festival he and Jen had gone to where he had first discovered Malware's existence. He sighed as he sat on his cot and buried his head in his hands.

Odds were Jen was dead. She had been shot off planet in a pod just big enough for her to stand it. Something so small was bound to be overlooked as space trash by most crafts, that was if the pitifully small engines hadn't given out as soon as she left the solar system. Odds of her getting picked up, Rook didn't even want to do the math. She'd have been seventeen today, she and Gwen only an hour or so apart in age. Rook rubbed his hands over his face.

"Happy birthday Jen." He whispered to himself, knowing she couldn't hear him, wherever she was.

Argit had made the suggestion, which probably should have set off Gwen's paranoia, which had been rivaling Jen's since the invasion began. But they didn't have a better plan. The damage Jen, Rook, and the Plumbers who'd attacked Milleous's flagship was being repaired, just outside of the town itself. If they were going to get anywhere they needed to take down the Emperor himself. But as Argit pointed out there would be no getting to him while the Way Bads were still around. They would need to deal with them, or rather the being controlling them, Dr. Psychobos. But it proved that a rat would always be a rat when Argit betrayed them, claiming that he'd made a deal with Attea to hand them over and keep his head. Attea though didn't seem to be much for keeping her promises. They were reasonably certain that their luck had run out until a blast struck Attea in the back.

Rook hadn't seen many female Incursion, he'd sort of assumed that they were either kept out of the battles for some reason or indistinguishable from their male counterparts like Necrofriggians. But the being currently blasting down the solders Attea had brought with her was clearly female. She was curvier than Attea, taller too with a longer jump, which she proved by leaping over Attea when the princess lunged at her screaming defiantly at the betrayal. The princess was quickly incapacitated and the Incursion woman pulled off her helmet.

"We need to go now!" The still unnamed Incursion raced away. With no choice, Attea and her guard were beginning to stir, they raced off Kevin snatching up Blukic. None of them spared a glance at Argit, still lying stunned on the bridge. "Call me Bullfrag." The incursion introduced herself on the run, racing into the forest that surrounded the reconstruction site of the incursion flagship. Rook was about to ask where they were going when a laser blast narrowly missed Gwen. A clearing came into view, an Incursion ship waiting there.

"That is an Incursion ship." Rook pointed out, they'd been trying to get their hands on Incursion tech for a while, to find a weakness they could exploit or to use it to sneak into what had been the Plumber base. The incursion glanced back at him. She still wore what looked like sun glasses despite having shed her helmet.

"Think you can handle it?" He could practically see her winking beyond the glasses and it made no sense. They barely made it onto the ship, Attea and her guards close behind them, but they did make it, up and away from the guards and the flagship.

"Everyone ok?" Gwen's question rang through the mostly empty ship. It was just the five of them onboard, though Blukic had yet to get off Kevin's shoulder.

"You know I'm feeling a bit melancholy." The Galvan stated from his perch. Kevin rolled his eyes.

"She means are you hurt."

"Huh?" They were interrupted by a still unfamiliar female voice.

"I didn't hear a thank you." The Incursion looked downright smug. The four rebels glanced at each other. Kevin leaned in the doorway discretely absorbing the metal of the ship as Blukic leapt into Gwen's arms. Before the Incursion could react Kevin slammed his fist into the side of her face, sending her sprawling.

"Oh where are our manners?" He joked as the amphibian went limp. He formed a blade with his hand and Gwen shook her head.

"She was running with Attea's guard, she'll have valuable information. We need her." Kevin nodded and went to search for something to bind their prisoner with.