Consequences

Part 6 of 9

"YOU DID SOMETHING, DIDN'T YOU?!"

The kids jumped, startled, and sat up from the positions they'd been sleeping in moments earlier. The door banged open, bouncing against the wall several times, admitting a very ticked, very mutated Kevin 11K.

"YOU CONTACTED THEM, DIDN'T YOU?! THAT'S HOW THEY FOUND US!"

"We didn't do anything!" Ken protested, "Honest! You broke our communicators."

"Oh, but Tennysons are a tricky bunch. I'm sure you have some other trick up your sleeves. Trouble, the whole of you."

"But we didn't-"

"SILENCE!" 11K bellowed, pacing. "SHUT UP, you worthless little gnats! If it's not one of you damned Tennysons ruining my plans, it's another. I should have just killed you both and been done with it. Left your rotting carcasses draped over that statue of his. Yes, oh yes, that would have shown him, made him rue the times he destroyed my life." He focused on the children again. "Come. We are leaving."

Maybe it was his demeanor or simply the term "rotting carcasses", but the kids didn't move to follow him; instead, they each shrunk back, away. Gwen was trembling, and if Ken had the presence of mind to think about it, would have stepped in front of her.

"Come on!" he screamed. His tentacle arm shot forward, wrapping around Gwen's left arm, yanking her forward. She cried out as her shoulder was pulled out of the joint and her bone snapped at the elbow. She crumbled to her knees. The stench of burnt flesh filled the air.

"STOP IT! LEAVE HER ALONE!!" Ken launched at him, pounding whatever part of his body he could reach. 11K grabbed him around the neck with his Tetramand arm, throwing the boy into the wall. Ken's head made an audible crack as it ricocheted against the wall. He was out cold, blood flowing from his scalp.

Kevin heard the sounds of his pursuers and dropped both children. He quickly activated a devise on his belt, opening a portal, and he jumped through it, not once looking back at the damage he had caused.

The team of Plumbers rushed the room only moments later.

"Grandpa?"

"Yes, Kenny?"

"Did anybody figure out how 11K got out? And where did you send him before, anyway?"

Max looked up from where he was changing Gwen's IV bag. He shouldn't have been surprised by the question; this was, after all, the kid that managed to figure out where they'd hid the Null Void Chamber. Gwen was looking at his curiously too. He sighed.

"After the last time he broke out, I had a contact take the Egg to Incarcecon. Since the Null Void never seemed to hold him, we thought we'd give that a try."

"Great," Ken muttered, "nothing like locking him up with tons of other aliens he can absorb. So how'd he get out?"

"There was a reported break-out about three months back. Almost thirty inmates were reported as escaping."

"And no one thought to check and see if he was one of them?!"

"Actually, we did, which was what confused us at first. We even sent a team of Plumbers there to confirm his identity. While all of us were busy looking for you two, Incarceon officials did an internal investigation. Near as they can figure, he had a Volrath shape-shifter impersonating him in the jail."

"Great."

"Well, at least we learned something from it. Next time, we'll make sure that we get DNA samples and psychic IDs as well as visual confirmation." He sat down next to the boy, putting his hand on his shoulder. "It won't happen again."

"Not the same way, no." Ken sighed. "Look, we appreciate you guys trying to make us feel better, but we all know that it could. It could be 11K, it could be somebody else, but it could always happen again."

"Kenny," Grandpa tried to warn, "not in front of you sister-"

"Yes, in front of her! If there's anybody who knows what could happen, it's Gwen. Trying to hide it from her ain't gonna work. We, Gwen, Dev, and me, we all know the drill. We know you guys try your best to protect us, but it ain't always possible." He looked up at the old man. "It's ok, Gran'pa. We'll be ok, really."

Max's fingers went to his eyes, rubbing them, trying to stop the tears that had formed. He hadn't cried the whole time; too busy trying to find the kids then get them healthy; no time for emotional breakdowns. "We were so worried; we didn't know where you were or what was happening to you," the sobs came out. "And what he did to you, and Gwen's arm…"

"It's ok ," Ken hugged him, "It's ok, you can cry."

Max hugged him as tight as he could with his injuries, tears dripping into the boy's hair. Gwen hopped out of bed and rolled her IV over with her. She joined, hugging her grandfather with her good arm, and Max pulled her in, too.

Very Random Author's Notes:

For Adam, who wanted to know how Kevin got out. Thanks again to Afigureofspeech for betaing!

Incarcecon is the prison planet from Secret of the Omnitrix.

"Shway"(apparently I spelled it wrong) is a term used in the Batman Beyond cartoon in indicate "cool". And now to play six degrees of WB superhero cartoons: Terry McGinnis, aka Batman, was voiced by Will Friedle, who also voices, among many other characters, KenTennyson on Alien Force. In addition, Glen Murakami, current producer of Alien Force, was a producer on BB. I'm sure there are more connections as well, but you get the idea.

This part's brownie points go to the first person to tell me where Volrath shape-shifters are from.

Lastly: Does anyone else find the "Stats" and "Reader Traffic" tab on their user account horribly addicting? I keep watching it and hitting "refresh" over and over. Dang you, internet!