Author's Note: Hey again, and welcome back to another chapter of Danger Watch! It looks like we have a lot of you guys keeping up with the story at this point, and that's super awesome, I really can't thank you enough. Who is your favorite character so far? What are your predictions? Do you have any critiques of how I portray anybody? Be sure to let me know in the reviews, as I'm always actively reading them and taking them into consideration!
Anyway, that is enough out of me. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Four - Sulking Over Ice Cream
Director Wakeman ran tests on Ben for a little over an hour before she mercifully allowed he and the XJ-9 to go their own way for the day. Ben gratefully dashed off to the cafeteria to get some early lunch, and Jenny decided to go out for a walk. She didn't need exercise, or even fresh air, but something in her circuits liked the sun. She couldn't explain it. As she walked through the chrome halls of the Hinobi base, she was quickly flanked by a pair of agents in white. The robot glanced over her shoulder, and then smiled as she recognized the newcomers.
"Hey, Miko. Hey, Five," she said.
"What's up Jenny?" Miko said. The young agent had her purple streaked hair tied up in a tight bun. She gave the android a peace sign as she and her partner took up walking next to the XJ-9.
"Going for a walk," Jenny said.
"Hey, us too!" Five, the other agent, said. He was tall and noodle-like, with a thick head of hair and dark, kind eyes. "Mind if we join you?"
She didn't, and soon the trio was walking out onto the (now quite busy) grounds of the Hinobi base. The Techs had been working hard since their arrival at the base near Mount Rushmore, and the wide, grassy valley was now littered with military grade equipment and fortifications. It was all thanks to digistruction, a process the Hinobi company had invented. It used the concept of molecular transformation to essentially construct solid matter from data.
"Ya know what's weird?" Five said, mostly to Miko.
"Mm?" His partner replied.
"To think that when we first joined up with Hinobi we were interns at a retail video game shop, and now we're highly trained Glitch Techs operating level 7 tech."
"That's not weird. Watching a 10 year old kid turn into a bug-monster is weird," Miko said, pausing to help as they strode past a group of agents struggling to transport a large, steel beam. "Also, I'm pretty sure we're called "H.A.M.M.E.R. Agents" now."
"That's right," Five said, shaking his head. "I'm never gonna get used to that; let alone remember what the heck the acronym is."
"H.A.M.M.E.R. stands for Hinobi Alien, Meta-Human, and Magical Emergency Response," Jenny suddenly rattled off the information. She noticed Five's surprised impression, and looked sheepishly off to the side. "Ya know. Or somethin'."
"I forgot about the 'magical' part," Miko said, laboring beneath the heavy beam.
Jenny noticed that Miko and the other agents were struggling, and provided her assistance. This took the form of lifting the beam with a single hand and flying it over to the pile where it needed to be taken. As she flew back to them, Miko just grinned wryly at her.
"Show off," she said, as Jenny touched down. One of the XJ-9's twin-tails tilted slightly.
"What? I was just trying to help," she said.
"And you did help," one of the nearby agents said. She was a woman, slightly older than Miko and Five. Unlike the other agents, she wore a suit rather than a uniform, as well as a stylish white hijab.
"Agent Cloud! Good to see you," Jenny said. The woman raised up a hand.
"Please," she said. "Now that I'm a desk jockey you don't need to worry about using my operative alias. You can call me by my name: Zahra."
"Oh," Jenny said, smiling awkwardly. "Sure, OK, Zahra, then."
"What can we do for you, Officer Zahra?" Five said, giving her a little salute. Zahra scoffed.
"Not you, too," she said in mock agony. "Please, just Zahra will be fine; and I was just doing a routine inspection when I happened to see the one and only android on campus. Along with her two favorite agents, of course. Do you want to grab lunch?"
"Yes," Miko said, interrupting anybody else's thoughts on the subject. Zahra laughed.
"I figured as much," she said. "Come on, let's hurry before they run out of ice cream."
"Ooh, ice cream" Miko said, practically drooling. "That sounds good… I think it's a strawberry kind of day. What do you think, Jenny?"
"I think I have no idea what that means."
Zahra laughed, and the party started making their way across the wide expanse of green. As they walked through the Hinobi field, Five took note of a structure on the edge of the valley, almost hidden amongst the edge of the tree line. It was a wide, flat platform. It was opaque and off-white, and at one point might have sparkled. Now, it was overgrown with moss, dirt, and debris. He squinted at it until, finally, something clicked in his brain. It was familiar.
"Hey," he said, pointing it out. "It's one of those things. From New Mexico."
"A Red Eye!?" Jenny said, whirling around and instantly summoning various deadly instruments from her chassis.
"No, no," Five said, quickly soothing the battle-ready android. "There… we found it in that ruin."
"Oh, yeah!" Jenny said. "The EDM venue!"
Miko snorted.
"That's right," she said. Then, she frowned. "Weird… What's it doing so far from the other one?"
"Whatever it is, its dormant," Zahra said. "Hasn't done anything since we set up shop. Probably some old monuments or something."
That seemed to be enough to keep them moving, and combined with the looming promise of food, quickly served to take the human members of the groups' minds off of the mystery of the crystalline platforms. Jenny, however, whose mind could not be addled by such base thing like hunger, was still contemplating that mystery as they walked into the cafeteria. It was a large, simple space, with two by two rows of tables and benches, and a wall at the far end of the room where a serving window was located. A handful of people were milling around the café; there was a group of Hinobi agents talking in hushed tones, a smaller, quieter agent with glasses eating alone, and (to Jenny's displeasure) a pair of children sitting off to one side.
When he saw them enter the room, Ben's face, too, reflected his sour opinion on the encounter. He promptly ignored Jenny, and dug into his sandwich aggressively. His ravenous sounds became so poignant that Gwen actually glanced up from her book, quirking an eyebrow.
"I know you already smell like one, but do you have to eat like an alien monster, too?" She jeered. "That watch is really changing you. Oh, wait, you've always been gross."
"Shuddup, Gwem," Ben said, through a mouthful of sandwich.
Across the room, the Hinobi agents and Jenny walked through the serving line. The humans piled trays up with food, and Miko stopped to grab a cup of pink ice cream before they started walking back to find a table. As they went, Zahra took note of Jenny's glances towards Ben in the corner, and that seemed to jog her memory.
"That's right," she said, as the group sat down at their table. "Now that we've all come together, I have some orders from the Director."
Jenny was instantly alerted by the mention of her mother, and raised a robotic eyebrow, curious to see what Zahra has to say. As Miko tucked into her ice cream (before her food) and Five looked on, the officer continued.
"Until further notice, our top priority is maintaining security on the Omnitrix. Wakeman says that she suspects we may have some enemy factions, yes plural, who want it. Orders are to be on high alert, and make sure that the kid is secure."
Miko and Five nodded seriously, and Jenny let out a loud moan, letting her forehead slam into the table. Miko looked at her with confusion.
"What?" She asked.
"If you guys are on watch duty, that means that more than likely so am I," Jenny groaned. "I'm sick of babysitting!"
Zahra grimaced.
"None of us have to like it," she said. "This is what we have to do to survive. If our enemies get their hands on the weapon that Ben has… It's game over."
Jenny sighed glumly, and leaned her head on her hand as her companions slowly ate their meals. Miko and Five would glance occasionally at the android, hoping to find a way to console her, but found none. Five sighed.
Teenagers.