Ben10 & Digimon Tamers

Heroes and Humanity

Part 02: Humanity and Heroes

The Invasion – Chapter 29

Originally Written: Monday, July 20, 2015 152AM to Friday, July 31, 2015 541AM

. . . . .

"Alex!"

Albedo looked at Haiphen and Rose. Dressed in civilian clothing, it was a bit hard to remember that they were indeed Plumbers despite being human.

Moe stood behind them, next to a large barricaded door. The landlord looked weary, despite his bright, hopeful eyes.

"We were waiting for you." Rose spoke with a smile.

Albedo nodded to them, "Anything new to report?"

"Rebellions are starting to die down. In return, the Incurseans are rounding up more of the WayBads." Hapien replied, "There's much less of them than in the first days."

"Hm..." Albedo couldn't decide if that was a good thing. If done correctly, the fewer feral To'Kustars could help in a surprised upsurge. On the other hand, once rebellions eased down to a minimum, it would be difficult to get those who stopped risking their lives protesting to start again.

"The Incurseans have changed the news stations to reporting about how glorious 'Our Frog Overlords' are." Rose shook her head, strands of red hair flopping.

"Ugh." Swamps gagged. "They're still doing that? I haven't turned on the tv in like a week."

"Yea. It's even worse now that we're entering the odd information territory. Things even the reporters can't believe they're being forced to say." Rose sighed, "It's disgusting."

The group walked up to Moe.

"You should come inside and eat." Albedo stared straight ahead.

"I agree." Haiphen added, "We'll get a Plumber to cover for you. We've more than enough still walking around."

Albedo glanced down to see Moe looking at them with trepidation.

"Sean made lots!" Schokolade bounced in her wheelchair, holding the bag of food on her lap.

"Alright then," Moe conceded. He pushed a button on the wall. A keypad opened up in the wall underneath the button. He input a code and the standard sized door next to the button and keyboard opened shortly after. The group entered, Hugh ducking low so as to not hit his head.

In front of them, a large barrier similar to the ones found in Plumber bases, blocked their path. The barrier buzzed and hummed so quietly Albedo needed to strain to hear it. The barrier was clear when looked at straight on, but when looked at from an angle, the slightest hint of streaked green appeared. White zigzags, resembling extremely thin lightning bolts flowed through the barrier, barely noticeable even when the barrier was viewed at an angle.

"Release code, Amano Rose, 18015" The redhead spoke in a loud clear voice.

"Copy." Another voice rang out a short while later, from behind the bars behind the barrier. Behind those bars was another thick, blast proof wall, and behind that an equally thick and sturdy steel door. If an Incursean somehow got past the barrier, they'd need level three or four tech at least just to get through the door.

Moe tapped Albedo's leg in appreciation as a computer automated voice spoke. "Voice recognized. Amano Rose. Vitals: Normal."

Albedo only stared at the thick metal bars reminiscent of a jail cell. He shoved his hands in his pants pockets as the bars noiselessly slid out of place, leaving a door sized entryway. The barrier fell, and the group walked through, entering the area formally known as Safe house Six.

Safe house Six, like other safe houses, were alien and human war tech proof shelters, meant to serve as a place to escape, even temporarily, hardships of war. More reliable than a building above ground would be built less sturdy to the point where even a weak bomb could cause considerable damage, these Safe houses were built with protections suitable for government leaders in mind. Safe houses for civilians contained much less military grade weapons, but with the access to alien technology they could be acquired if necessary.

Any one of these Safe houses could survive a nuclear explosion occurring right on the ground above them, theoretically, so they served to even better ease a civilian's worries. Plumbers and others coded into the security were the only ones who could open the security measures in place. Voice recognition, sight recognition, a thorough check of vitals and if necessary, a DNA scan, all done with high level alien technology, purposely built to be discreet, insured that none could seek their way in, if not on the register, enter by force via a hostage situation or if they were hiding their identity.

As Moe was the owner of the building, and Albedo via slick tricks of the trade he'd not reveal to anyone, helped to build this particular structure, even along Plumber's involvement, Albedo, Hugh, Swamps, Fridge and all the aliens in the apartment were allowed, regardless of hidden identities. For that, Albedo could not help but be grateful. As it stood, the only alien automatically denied from Safehouses currently were Incurseans.

The group entered the premises taking in the hushed, nervous chatter of civilians and the occasional brainstorming of Plumbers. Albedo noted that humans looked warily at the alien Plumbers, minds not sure what to think of having aliens in military positions on their planet at two fronts, he assumed.

Rose disappeared into the crowds, catching up to Ryo, who spoke among other Plumbers. Albedo noticed humans looked at Ryo wary as well. The reasoning made sense he supposed, as he headed to a table with the others. Ryo was a Tamer first and foremost, but he openly allied with the Plumbers. He made that clear the day the invasion started. So, the humans, some of them at least, debated on treating Ryo as Will Harangue treated Tennyson. Of course, one action made more sense to Albedo than the others, but humans already showed him that while they had the potential to be the sharpest tools in the shed, their sun was more likely to supernova first.

"Here is fine." Albedo motioned to a nice sized table off to the side. Hugh set the box down. Haiphen, Yckat and Akari sooned joined him. He looked at them.

"What's that you got there?" Yckat leaned over the box of metal and wires.

"Some locals donated miscellaneous electronics to the cause." Albedo pulled out pieces of metal from the box. "It won't be long before the Incurseans take out all standard, non Incursean means of communication. With this equipment, I should be able to build a communication signal transmitter and receiver, allowing us to communicate in secret."

The Plumbers looked at him, "How lucky!" Yckat's tail wagged. "Yckat didn't know you knew how to do that."

"I...dabble in technology as a hobby."

"You'll need more than one of the transmitters, right?" Haiphen sat at the table and looked at the material.

"Yes. We will quickly overload them if we just rely on a few." He pulled out a toolbox set inside the box. "Among other complications."

"Then let's look around and see if we can find anything of use for you." Akari nodded. "And anyone who is pretty skilled with electronics."

"Good idea." Yckat spoke standing up straight.

Albedo looked around. Takato just walked in with a teary eyed Saya. He stood up, as more students filed in with Jeri and Kazu in tow.

"Whoa. What happened?" Haiplen looked at the group of students. They were all students from the study group.

'So far out here?' Albedo kept quiet as he walked over to where Takato stood talking to Ryo and Saya. Behind them Guilmon fumed, growling like an agitated dog. Haiphen followed Albedo. Albedo almost liked the way these particular Plumbers would follow him.

"T-those stupid frogs!" Saya clenched her fists and kicked at the floor. Other students crowded around, looking equally frustrated and worried.

"Shh, Saya." Takato placed a hand on her shoulder. "What happened to make the Incurseans get so rowdy?"

Saya fumed for a moment, breathing heavily. "T-they told all the teachers at Yodobashi Elementary and the surrounding schools that they weren't allowed to teach human history!"

"Or literature!" Another child spoke up.

"They interrupted math class and started writing weird symbols on the board!" Another called out, "One of them even said they were my teacher now!"

Takato looked at Ryo.

Albedo pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, I heard the teachers protest. They said they weren't teaching us Incursean stuff if we couldn't learn human stuff too!"

"Ms. Asaji said you can't make humans forget our history like that." A smaller student spoke.

"Ms. Asaji?" Jeri questioned. She looked to Takato, who had clenched his fists.

"Uh huh!" The child, a male with short black hair and large innocent lavender eyes spoke up as he nodded his head quickly. "She said our history makes humans who we are. A-and then she kicked the frog guy!"

Takato broke out into a nervous grin. "Ms. Asaji's temper is bar none, the biggest and baddest temper I know." He lightly scratched his cheek.

"Well, the other teachers started fighting back too!" Saya called out, "Then those stupid frogs rounded them up like captives." She sniffled, "I don't want to learn Incursean history!"

"Do you know where they took them?" Ryo asked while motioning for Monodramon with his hand.

She shook her head. "T-They said they were gonna confiscate all the books too! So we can't learn human things!"

"That's crazy." Takato scowled.

"It is what any dictatorship consists of." Albedo looked around. "Teach the upcoming generation the ruling faction's history and knowledge. When the older generations pass on, they'll leave behind generations of people who don't know how things used to be. It keeps those being ruled over docile, complacent and many ties too stupid to attempt any seizures of the ruling party." He folded his arms. "It's a common strategy. Culturally jarring as well."

Saya blinked at him, "Not fair!" She scowled and stamped a foot.

"No, but from the Incursean's point of view it makes sense. To remember a more peaceful self ruling time, means a chance of wanting to return to that time and situation exists. It is not impossible, but quite difficult for a generation to desire true freedom if they don't remember having it, or even know what it's like."

"The Incurseans want us to accept their rule as the status quo." Ryo looked around. "We need a way to keep that from happening for as long as possible."

"Well, first things first." Takato clenched his digivice, "We can't let the Incurseans brainwash the teachers."

Ryo pointed to him, nodding. "Pretty sure I could grab enough plumbers to give us a good boost."

"We may also want to stock up on books." Rose said.

"Yea," Another Plumber added. "If the Incurseans are anything like your typical dictators, they'll not just confiscate any books that don't fit their code, they'll burn them too." The male spoke.

Albedo watched the children protest. He can't say he frequently ran into children on Earth who liked learning, but he was quite proud to have influenced them. He made a note to let Ryo know that although Incurseans were stupid, human children were not much of a match against alien blasters and abilities.

He noted with slight interest that the children seemed way more inclined to listen to Takato than Ryo. The plumbers listened to Ryo, as they all brainstormed. Together, they created an odd tag team that made Albedo wonder when the annoying, awkward Tennyson-like Japanese male he previously knew went.

Jeri tapped her chin. "Oooh!" She turned to the kids. "Do you all have your study books on you?"

The kids gave various degrees of affirmative responses.

"Good. While you and Ryo head out to help the teachers, I can stay and supervise." She looked at Takato with a smile.

Takato nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me. I'll see if I can get Kazu and Kenta to head on over."

Albedo returned to the table. He started sorting out equipment and supplies. He took a moment, interrupting his work, to tap into the D-Arcs via D-Terminal once more. though he'd like nothing more than to go take out a few Incurseans, things would go badly very quickly if communications were to fail. it was in his best interest to get at least one transmitter up and running as soon as possible.

Since he was currently disguised as a Plumber, no one would think twice if the equipment he built was more advanced than human technology. He had to restrain himself from working at Galvan speed or making something of a Galvan Technology level, at least in public. That would get him quite a bit of unneeded attention.

As he worked, various technologically savvy Plumbers and civilians he recognized as disguised aliens brought their own ideas and usable equipment to the table. Fridge and Swamps walked around gathering people for assistance, while Hugh assisted him with relaying supplies he needed and updates on the situation.

In this manner, he easily imagined himself back on Galvan Prime surrounded by coworkers who believed him more than capable of working alongside Azmuth and other high ranking Galvan. For him, this was just one of the beginner projects he worked on underneath a previous mentor. The hard part would be finding the equipment necessary to build the transmitter receiver. Everything else was child's play.

He worked for quite a long interval that Moe had come along and returned the favor of offering him food and a break. He sat in silence, eating among others who took to the safe house as a means of escape and shelter. He wished his mind hadn't corrected his vision and changed the dull gray monotones of a technological facility on Galvan Prime to the grays and browns of a safe house on Earth. He closed his eyes, hoping the memory would stick, but it did not. His only solace was that he saw Incurseans instead of Tennyson's aliens from behind his eyelids.

Schokoade, who remembered her wheelchair this time, moved herself from the chair to squeeze into the space between Albedo and another civilian assistant. Despite the attention it brought, he did not mind when she leaned against him, watching him work.

Everyone knew he was a Plumber, or believed him to be one, from the blaster strapped onto his back. The tensions between Plumber supporters of Tennyson and civilians remained strained, but curious children who asked the Plumbers questions seemed to ease them a bit. Certainly, the Plumbers answered their questions more professionally than Tennyson had. He was not a fan of Plumbers much anymore himself, but even Albedo could see how Tennyson's mistakes had set the Plumbers back ten steps. And yet, his Mentor and Max Tennyson still thought the human teenager was capable of doing something more intelligent than punching something until it was broken or stopped moving.

He shook his head, and stretched as well. While Tennyson was out playing the part of the fool, he and others would focus on being productive sentient species. He looked down at his start of a transmitter. Back to work for him.