Malfunctions
Sitting around the large campfire now with Xylene sitting beside a more lively Max, Ken gave a snort at the two with Ben giving Xylene the stink eye due to attacking without provocation, until Ken straightened him out saying it was caused by paranoia.
Which left Xylene and Max reminiscing the past.
"So, how did you two meet?" giving Gwen a glance, Max spoke with Xylene smiling as Max placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Xylene and I go way back, to my first days in the plumbers" frowning at Max as he spared Ken a glance, Ken frowned in thought while Xylene moved her tail around Max's arm caringly.
Seeing thise, Aranea, who had taken her ID mask off to help Xylene fill more welcomed, snaked her own tail around Ken who gave her a smile, before the two were encompassed by Ahri, Lupa, Angela and Evelyn's own tails/Accessories. Making Ken smile at them in return.
"We worked a lot together during in those early years" seeing Xylene stare at Ken as he was crowded by the females gathered, she continued with a knowing smile.
"Max even made me an Honorary, Plumbette" getting an odd stare from Ben and Gwen, Xylene suddenly zeroed in on a bowl of Max's grub worm meals as they wiggled in the bowl before her tongue shot out and snaked a few from the bowl to eat, making Ken snort at the sight before laughing.
"I see where he got his appetite from now, it makes so much sense" getting a chuckle from Max, he spoke with a knowing look to Ben, Gwen and Ken, Kevin moved away from Xylene to sit beside Ken.
"Hey, it's nice to see somebody here who appreciates my cooking" getting a snort from Ben and Ken, Gwen smiled forcefully.
"She's a Lizard so that's natural" giving Ben a raised eyebrow, Aranea spoke teasingly.
"You don't see me or Venessa eating worms, Ben?" seeing his predicament, Ken watched in amusement as Ben stuttered to defend himself, decidning to save his brother, Ken spoke.
"So, Xylene, what brings you back to earth after all these years from what max has been hinting at?" seeing Xylene turn to Ken, she pointed to the Omnitrix with Aranea blinking at her before narrowing her eyes.
"That" looking down to the Omnitrix, Ken sighed while leaning back slightly.
"Sorry to tell you this, Ma'am. But this thing isn't going anywhere unless you cut off my hand" seeing Xylene flinch at the implication, she spoke.
"Well, I am glad it landed in the hands of someone mature enough to not misuse it, after all the trouble I went through bringing it to earth" giving her a look now, Aranea spoke.
"Wait, you brought it here?" seeing Xylene nod, she went on to tell her tail.
"I was transporting the Omnitrix when I was attacked by our old friend"
"Realising I could no longer protect the Omnitrix from Vilgax, I placed it in a special pod. And Jettisoned it to the planet below for safe keeping" sighing while looking down at her hands, Xylene rubbed them for warmth.
"When I crashed, my body fell into a Hybernative state until I was found by two people on what you call Snow mobile's… after that I followed the signal of the Omnitrix and now here we are" seeing Xylene wave to the group, Ken nodded in understanding.
"Well, the good news is that Vilgax has been put down for good" smiling as Ken flexed his muscles, Venessa jumped up and hung from Ken's arm with a giggle.
"Thanks to Ken here, He's currently being shipped off to his home world for a burial" seeing Xylene give Ken a look she spoke.
"Why bother giving that monster a burial, he doesn't deserve such respect" giving a frown at her, Ken spoke.
"He may have been a monster, but he was a warrior none the less, call it a manner of respect one fight to another" seeing her frown, Aranea spoke with a snort.
"The Justice League were trying to stop us from putting down Vilgax, saying if we put him down we'll cause someone worse to stand up and take his place" hearing that, Ken began to have a foreboding feeling at the notion, the others laughed but both he and Max shared a frown.
"This Justice League… who are they?" perking up at her question, Evelyn spoke.
"A group of super powered people playing heroes, don't get me wrong they've done a lot of good… but they're way of working his it's flaws, for example. We went through one of they're cities of patrol, the Batman to answer an unasked question, his city is like a cesspool, no sign of crime stopping or slowing, the worst monsters being born there… the Joker included" seeing Evelyn turn to Ben who froze up suddenly.
The demoness brought him into a protective hug while Ken flexed his knuckles, getting pops from the bones as he growled lowly.
"I take it there's a story behind that?" seeing Ken look at her with a serious expression, he inhaled slowly before speaking of his night in Gotham.
"I got a bit angry, and leave it at that" nodding to his words, Xylene continued eating her meal.
With that followed a more somber meal, with Evelyn hugging ben while running a hand through his hair soothingly, Ben had drifted to sleep in her arms that made them all snort at his snores, making Evelyn smile happily at the kid before Xylene and Max left.
Leaving Ken smiling at the sight before Gwen and Kevin called the night, moving to a tent pitched up with Kevin setting himself in the swag.
Leaving the Celestials in place while Evelyn and Angela moved Ben to his own swag.
Leaving Ken looking to the Omnitrix in deep thought.
Moving to toy with it, Ken was stopped by Aranea who gave him a look.
"Leave that for a day, like you said, you need the break" smiling at her, Komand'r chose that moment to approached with Vivia.
"True, I do need the break from changing from human to alien from time to time" leaning to hug Aranea who giggled at him, the two went to share a kiss if not for Ken to pause. Confusing Aranea before he jumped with her in his arms as his armour covered his body.
"Incoming!" getting the desired effect of the others separating from the table before a large mass landed. Showering the camp site with splintered wood. Ken stared at the Drone to see parts of a Snow Mobile crudely welded on.
"Oh for fuck sake!" bringing out his Lancer to fire at the Missile segment of the crude augmentation. Seeing the drones legs moved to rush at Ken, it was tripped by 9S and Genji, Hanzo watched from a distance with Amelie, both looking for weaknesses to exploit.
And so they did, both taking out eyes on the "Head" of the drone, making it drop it's head into its body, and seeing it's two "Arms" coil to strike out at Hanzo and Amelie, Ken flashed green before rushing with a craggly war cry in the form of Burnout who bulldozed the drone.
Grabbing the coiled tubes that substituted for arms, Ken dug his feet into the ground before lifting the drone off it's feet, obviously it's flight capabilities were shot as it moved about rapidly in an attempt to get out of Burnout's grip.
Which left it open season for the Celestials as they unloaded any and all weapons at it's under belly.
Getting a loud boom, Burnout looked down to see Xylene toss her own cent in by levitating rocks and dirt at the Drone, the finishing touch was Max nailing the core which made it explode.
Making Burnout stagger as the drone flipped away from the camp.
Seeing it spark and still active, Burnout let out a growl as his chest lit up as he stood up and approached.
Making Xylene step back in alarm as Ken stomped harshly on the drone's outer armor, an optic spinning to stare at him as he opened his mouth. Before Magma began dripping into the drones wires and insides.
Following that was a lava variant of a fire breath… leaving the drone molten slag while Burnout wiped his beak/mouth of left over magma. Slapping the dial with Ken replaced by Aquaphobia who sprayed water on the magma, super cooling it to stop any forest fires from occurring.
Seeing the crisis averted, Aquaphobia stepped back from the sight before turning back to Ken who had a tired look.
"CAN I SLEEP NOW!?" turning to the others who set out to clean the camp, Gwen and Kevin were set up in a hastily made stone castle from Gwen's magic, Ben was with them having been woken up from the blast.
"Why were we attacked by a drone!?" turning to Akali as she fixed her outfit, which was in the middle of changing to sleepwear.
Ken raised an eyebrow in thought.
"good question, Sparky, what the hell?" looking around in the air for the only drone present loyal to ken, Xylene tensed up as a smaller drone uncloaked before Ken who leaned back in surprise.
"Apologies Lord Loki, the drone you had destroyed systems were heavily damaged with the sole mission being of retrieving the Omnitrix at all cost" nodding to the drone, Ken looked back at the slag before shrugging.
"That's all for now, just be sure you send a clean up" looking to the damage as Xylene stared at him in shock, Ken spoke.
"Oh yeah, Vilgax gave me his drone army by conquest, they have come in handy a lot of times" staring at Ken for a full moment, Xylene sighed.
"This is too much" giving a bark of laughter as her words, Ken spoke with a tired grin.
"How do you think I feel at this point?"