Out of Luck

He’s panicking and he knows that’s making it worse but it feels like he can’t help it. It’s wrong place wrong time, but he knows that they won’t believe it, they never believe that, they’ll take one look at him, and well, that’s just going to be the end of it isn’t it. They know he’s wearing a guise of some form, and that really doesn’t help, but if they know his true form, well, well that would just be a problem with the assumptions they will suddenly make the minute they see him. Reformation doesn’t really happen when it comes to the plumbers, rather they act with old digressions and then maybe one younger member of the ranks will point out that it’s not meant to be like that anymore, and then it’s all hushed and shushed. He’s lost a few too many friends that way, well one is too many to lose to them that way, but there have definitely been a far too large handful for it to be some form of accident or a couple bad eggs.
He takes another twist and turn, he should know this place like the back of his hand, but he seems to be coming to a dead end, this shouldn’t be right, but he can’t get his head clear. Then he sees it, the dead end, he comes to a stop just before hitting the wall, and he glances around, it seems too steep and smooth to climb it, and he wouldn’t be able to get high enough to avoid the Plumber’s, they were very close behind him after all. He gets to the point that he pauses and turns, and it’s like a horror film. The minute it turns around, the three Plumber’s chasing him appear, all weapons readied.
“Stop running, you know you’re cornered.” The eldest looking one calls out, Annos sighs and glances around again, there’s no way he’d be able to get past all three of them, one, maybe even two of them he could probably do and take a couple hits from the weapons. Three of them however, all weapons ready, well then there’s nothing he can do.
“Look, you’ve made a mistake, wrong place, wrong time, I am innocent.” He calls back, raising his arms slightly in a surrender, but also ready to protect his body if they attack.
“Yeah right, why’d you run then? Drop the guise and we’ll talk.” The same man as before responds, his tone mocking and Annos’ loses control of his thoughts again as he panics.
“Look no can do, I ran because I knew what your reactions would be, guises aren’t illegal here, nor is not dropping them. However, if you’ll let me walk back there, you can see the people who I was meeting with, and proof that we had nothing to do with that.” Annos explains, trying to hide his panic, he’s talked this through with the others, how to behave and what to do, why could he not follow the rules, why did he have to freak out the minute they said reveal yourself. Classic case of do what I say and not as I do, he guesses, that and how he also knows the indepth of how it, going wrong will go, he saves them from the worst of that.
He notices the two secondary Plumbers that weren’t talking to him have approached him, both sort of pincering in on him. Stabilise your breathing Annos.
“No, that’s not going to work for us, drop the guise or you’re under-arrest.” The same man calls again.
“It’s not illegal, you can’t arrest me, leave me alone.” Annos repeats, backing up till he feels his spine hit the wall. This doesn’t stop them though, all three of them start to get closer. He’d fight back except he has no weapon, and he can’t fight hand to hand and contend with these weapons in his guise, but by earth he will NOT drop it, he doesn’t want these Plumbers to know who he really is, what he really is.
“Stay back, I’ve done nothing illegal, you can NOT arrest me.” Annos tries to stay firm and confident, though he can hear his voice waver slightly and his accent slip through, luckily from all his years of travelling and never really staying in one spot, it’s not that telling. One of the side Plumber’s laughs, and Annos’ heart skyrockets. He's closer than he thought, far too close to him to be happy in the slightest. “No.” Annos states again.
“I’ll repeat one final time, drop the guise or you’re under arrest and coming with us.” He’s too close to Annos and something feral surges through him, fear, fight & flight all at once, but he won’t back down. Not now, not to a Plumber, especially not one forcing him like this.
“I have done nothing wrong!” he states again firmly, and then the next thing he can remember is searing pain down both of his sides, as two weapons are jabbed into him, the Plumber who was talking to him says something but Annos just slumps, he’s never been so glad that his guise is so difficult to be dropped by anyone other then him, hopefully he’ll wake up, and hopefully it’s not too far gone, he doesn’t think they just throw people into the null void anymore.

When he finally comes back to, the agony is still there. It feels itchy doing it but he manages to force his eyes open, everything is too bright and his arms hurt too much. Trying to shift them, it suddenly realises they are cuffed up behind his back, twisted to a point that aches more than being painful, though he’s sure this is against some rule or another. It turns it’s focus back to taking in it’s surroundings however, it’s important to gauge an idea of what’s around and could be a help but also hindrance.It’s empty, but that’s rather good, not other inmates in the cells around them nor a single guard, though that could also be a problem, it looks clean though. As it peers, the side of their skull throbs, it seems it wasn’t just it’s sides that they hit with their weapons, though he was definitely already unconscious at that point. As he cranes to look around more he sees another Plumber head towards him.
He’s conflicted at this point, they’ll probably promise to release him once he drops his disguise, but will keep him in if he doesn’t. Highbreed may be undergoing forgiveness after the invasion was called off and every other member of his kind forcibly fused with the DNA of other aliens to save them,  but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still prejudices against them, the main reason he’s kept to his guise. This has been especially proven by the Plumber’s, the few Highbreed contacts he has have all had bad run-ins with the Plumber’s, post their ‘rebirth’, and one of them has gone completely MIA, none of them have heard of her since then, and Annos isn’t holding out the best hope for her fate. So yeah, he honestly can’t work out which would be worse, stick to his guns and refuse to drop the guise and continue to point out he has done nothing wrong and nothing illegal; or drop his guise, reveal his true form and then continue to point out his innocence. Neither of them seem to be very hopeful sounding. He doesn’t get much longer to think about it however, before the new Plumber gets to him.
“You need to give us a name and drop your guise.” He states.
“I’ve done nothing wrong, and been falsely arrested.” Annos retorts, lifting his head to try and look the other alien in the eye.
“I don’t care, name and drop your guise.” He repeats and Annos takes a deep breath, it’s decision time, drop the guise or keep it up.
“You may call me Annos Mirrapon, I have done nothing wrong, I have been falsely accused and arrested, I will not drop my guise.” He states, voice firm as he manages to catch the other’s eye.
“Fine Mr Mirrapon, if you won’t drop it, then we’ll get someone in to force it off of you, this isn’t seeming very innocent of you.”
“It’s not been a crime to hold a permanent guise on any of the planets I’ve been on without stating so, if it was I wouldn’t go there.” He holds eye contact until the other person looks away. It doesn’t know what offends it more, that the Plumber’s don’t even follow their own rules, or the fact that they’re not even going to be confident about it. Before however, he can intimidate the man any more, he steps back away from the cell and starts to speak into it. It’s very disconcerting as Annos can’t hear any of the words,  he’s guessing some form of sound field, which makes sense in a prison like this, it works well when trying to get groups to spill their beans without being able to form a story together while ‘confessing’, he’s used a couple in his time, they can be pretty fun in the right circumstances. The man glances at him a couple of times while talking and it makes sure it sends a glare at him everytime he does, firm enough to come off as unimpressed about this clear breach of legality, but not aggressive or threatening. The man then stops talking, straightens back up and walks off, well that doesn’t seem very good.
Annos can’t name many Plumber’s but there’s definitely a few he would rather not see, especially not here, but also life in general.  He’s run into one of them before, when he was far younger, before… Doesn’t matter what it was before, and his race were definitely considered villains then, but it still didn’t make the encounter seem anymore justified or comfortable. He lets a shaky breath escape, they’re probably listening to him but that doesn’t really matter. Oh how he’d chastise one of the youngsters if they ended up in this situation, he guesses the saying is more true then it seemed, do as I say, but not as I do, though how he wishes he followed it too.
It feels like forever until he sees a sign of any movement, when the same Plumber as before appears, and suddenly there seems to be too much noise in his cell.
“Now’s your last chance to drop it yourself, we both know having it forced hurts. So drop it.” The voice echoes out, seeming to come from everywhere at once, Annos looks back down the corridor at the slowly approaching figure, it seems there might be two other people behind him, he can’t really tell.
“Like I said, I’ve done nothing wrong here.”
After this Annos drops his head, the eye-contact isn’t working and he’d rather not get a forewarning of whatever they’re going to do to force his guise of, it’s true, having it forced off hurts, he and his group did it as parts of a test to ensure that any genuinely important information can be forced out of them that way. Done by another creature, at least relies on their sympathy, they can either make it hurt far more, or far less depending on them; at least a machine gives you one defined pain level, even if that is a lot. The sound barrier wasn’t put back up however, and it can hear three sets of feet approaching him, no sounds of mechanics, well that doesn’t bode that well, a third person could mean anything, medical or more  threatening. He finally looks up again as the steps come to a stop and he can feel the blood drain from his face, and a lump forms in his throat.
Annos has in general in his life, wanted to avoid the Plumber’s prize possessions, as it doesn’t usually spell good for his type. Gwen has been the only one he’s thought about wanting to meet, her combination of alien heritage and actual magic is impressive and very intriguing, he’s at closest seen it happening at a distance, though some of the others have talked highly about seeing it up close. So Annos had put her on the list of, I would love to meet some day. These were not the circumstances he meant.
Ben 10, well he’s never really had an opinion on him, it is, sure it is impressive what he’s done for both earth and many other planets, and he has reformed many species, however he is still rather known for his act first nature. And with Annos’ hands tied up behind himself, in a cell in the middle of a Plumber organisation, after a genuine wrong place circumstances, this isn’t going well. So he swallows, waiting to see who just might speak first.
“This is your final chance, drop it yourself or we will.” The Plumber agent speaks again, Annos meets his eyes again, trying to hide his fear.
“I did nothing wrong nor illegal, I had no involvement with the issue, it was not illegal to hold a permanent, non-disclosed guise on that planet. I simply ran because I know what Plumbers can be like, they enjoy assumptions.” He speaks slowly but firmly, ensuring that everyone in the room hears his words.
“It really would be easier…” Gwen starts but Annos shakes his head, cutting her off. She looks over at Ben with a raised eyebrow and he simply shrugs, you would have thought heroes would have stronger opinions in honesty.
Part of the cell then slides open just next to them, it didn’t look like a door, but none of it did, you can’t escape if you don’t know where the door is. Annos stiffens and tries to pull himself up closer against the walls, his bones groan as he does, his wrists having turned from an ache to a clear throb be he doesn’t care, raising to as much of his full height as possible, and shoving as much of himself into the wall as possible. Gwen enters the cell after a small step of hesitation, watching it’s every move, it doesn’t blame her, it’s a lot taller than an average human even in this guise, it’s one of the things he loves. She looks nervous, or is it apologetic, she must know what this is like.
“Last chance.” She states, slowly raising a hand to his side, Annos looks down at her and makes eye contact.
“I’m innocent.” He states. So she just sighs and mutters something, her eyes and hand start to glow and then agonising pain.

If you’ve never had a guise pulled off of you by force, well it’s different for everyone, personal pain tolerance, but also how much of your body changes. Something simple like eye colour or hair then it feels nothing more than a tingle, changing to a different species but same general body shape and size, well then it’s more like harsh static or being lightly stabbed all over. Changing something more dramatic, like the guises that Annos sticks with, well that feels like your skin is being peeled off, sliced along the edge and then unpeeled, the height change is the worse. Putting it on feels fainting like being crushed, but having it removed feels like you’re being yanked and stretched. The cuffs don’t help as his hand and arm shape changes, that’s the part that gets the scream rip from him, they should have practised with cuffs.
He drops to his knees and Gwen steps back, panting, he never gave up and fought back with as much energy as he could muster, but of course she overwhelmed him, he’s not verse in magic. Now stood back, all three take in Annos’ form as he looks up. His arms are in seering agony and he’s pretty sure one of the cuffs is now stuck in part of his arm, his legs bent too much to even try and take the weight off of his arms, if they could tears would be in his eyes. The mechamorph patches look like they shift as they settle on his skin, his head thrums and all he wants to do is cry but he won’t let himself.
As he takes in the expressions of the Plumbers he realises that the guard has backed up, shaking slightly and Ben has a hand on his watch, the only one not seeming afraid is Gwen, even though she’s the closest to him. His arm burns and is the only thing on his mind,
“Can I at least be uncuffed considering it’s sunk into my arm.” He manages to bite out, now acknowledging the pain seems to make it even worse, it can feel something beginning to well up at and drip out of the wound, some of it mechamorphic, some of it definitely not.Speaking didn’t seem to be the right decision as the regular Plumber faints, either he’s never dealt with a Highbreed, or has never dealt with them since they stopped being public enemy number one. Gwen however steps forward,
“Can you move so I can get to it?” She asks, voice soft, Annos tries to shift, oh gods that hurts, but he thinks he can move enough to let her get to it. Ben calls out to Gwen, asking her to stop, but she just ignores him and moves in beside Annos. He can feel her hand on the upper side of his arm, but then it disappears and he has an unnerving feeling that she hasn’t actually taken it off of his arm. That, that is not a good sign.He doesn’t say anything though, the pain in his head feels like it might explode if he speaks  again, and he doesn’t really want confirmation if she is still touching him. He gets his answer however, as Gwen moves back and he can feel both of his arms drop, he gives her enough time to back away, he doesn’t want it to seem like it’s about to attack, once she has he pulls his arm around in front of him. He’s distinctly aware that both Ben & Gwen are watching him as he looks over his arm, it looks disgusting, he’s more than happy to admit that. The cut is weeping and some of the Mechamorphic pattern is visible, trying to patch his body back up to the best of it’s ability, he’s never been so glad for his hybrid status, however it seems too deep and harsh, from being forced and yanked along with his guise dropping and it’s struggling. It doesn’t help that he’s starving, exhausted and his head is still thrumming. Everything’s still mostly silent, apart from Annos shallow breathing, the light snores from the passed out Plumber, which Ben just stepped away from and let fall, yeah really not the most heroic move there from him. Annos heart leaps again as suddenly Gwen is back in his field of view, crouched over to where he’s slumped her hands hovering just above his arms,
“Let me help you.” she asks, Annos raises his head to her, he’s impressed that she doesn’t flinch as his growths almost graze her face, after not having them for a while it’s always hard for him to judge distance with them.
“Why should I trust you,” he hisses out, voice laboured, “Why should I trust any of you, you’re all Plumbers and let me remind you that I was falsely arrested.” a slight snarl comes out at the end, he can’t help it, he’s furious and in more pain then it’s been in for a very long time.
It’s at this point that the young Tennyson decides to join in,
“You wouldn’t have been arrested if you hadn’t ran from a crime scene or even just dropped your guise!” Ben snaps, getting closer to the door, his hand has never left his wrist. Annos can’t help the small laugh that escapes him, oh how he’ll be using himself as a bad example in the future.
“Can you really blame me, I’m a Highbreed! And considering those guys that arrested me continued to use weapons against me even after I passed out. That they wouldn’t follow me back to my contact to explain what I was doing there. For Earth’s sake, that guy passed out at me.” Annos snaps, he’s normally calmer that’s for sure, but pain has fogged all of his brain at this point. He’d be lecturing one of the others if they acted like this in practice, he knows the exact words he’d tell them to not use and what they should do instead. Gwen sighs softly,
“I’m sorry for that,” Her voice is quiet and Annos is pretty sure it’s quiet enough that Ben can’t hear her. “What's your name, or what you would like me to call you? I just want to help.” She seems very kind, but Annos can’t help but think that may be a trick, especially with the jumpy shape-shifting superhero just behind her, who just seems to be waiting for him to make a mistake, and it doesn’t want to know what would be considered a mistake.
Annos takes another deep shaky breath, he’s starting to think a little straighter than he was, if this is the last place he gets to see, he at least wants to feel less like he’s about to combust the whole time. “My name is Annos Mirrapon, you may use he or it as my pronouns, he…” Annos nods his head over to Ben, he doesn’t want to use his name, “may only use it for me.” He adds, eyes narrowing slightly. He reclaimed it as a comfort pronoun a long time ago, but likes making people squirm by requesting it be used, cruel he knows but it must find life's little comforts, and sometimes that’s making the ‘good’ guys squirm. Gwen nods  softly, not offering her own name, she just assumes he must know, which is true but a little rude nonetheless.
“Let me just help heal you, your body is struggling with it.” She states, nodding down to his arm and bringing his attention back to it. His mechamorphic markings, all of them across his body, are pulsating weakly as they struggle to gather energy from within his body, the pulsating headache is starting to numb, but rather then being revealed he’s worried, and knows that it means it’s about to pass out again, which really is not ideal. At least his hybrid status isn’t making this worse now.
“Fine,” he huffs out softly, “I really mean no harm.” He adds, voice only just carrying across to Gwen, who gently lowers her hands to cover the wound, hands glowing again as she gently mutters something, the magenta is stark and different from anything Annos has really seen before.
Annos can feel his eyes drifting and he tries to snap himself awake again, he sort of trusts Gwen, but he does not trust the Plumbers and what they may do while he’s passed out again, considering what they did last time. So for now, its use any means necessary to keep himself awake.
Things just seem to be settling when suddenly there’s yelling and loud footsteps followed by another pair close behind and then a few more further back.
“What are you doing with the cell door still open!” A voice bellows out, and for the second time today Annos can feel even more blood drain from him, and possibly some mechamorphic fluid, he recognises that voice and he begged the universe that he would never have to hear it again, not even at a distance, that none of his loved ones would ever have to here it. It was as if today couldn’t have gotten any worse, and then the universe realised that it could, maybe the null void would have been a preferable outcome to this situation.
Gwen just finishes up her spell, stands up and takes a couple steps back away from Annos, before turning to the new people, Annos vaguely notices that her stance is rather defensive of him and she’s still not left the cell. Hmm, that is a strong choice for her, maybe he should have been slightly less judgmental about her.
“What I’m doing is my proper job. It’s hurt and stating it was falsely arrested, so I’m making sure he’s okay.” Gwen states firmly, while also providing a glare out, and Annos is pleased to hear her respecting his pronouns, small victories are always good. She makes no move to get away from him, and if anything, makes her defensive stance more obvious. The other voice just scoffs and then another one he doesn’t recognise speaks, he didn’t really pay attention to how many more people have entered the room, maybe he should have.
“Gwen, just come out. You know how unhinged a lot of the highbreed have been since they were mutated.” he, the voice sounds male at least, says, clearly worried about Gwen and Annos can’t help but laugh again, a little louder and slightly delirious it seems. This gets more attention back to him as he slowly pulls himself up using the wall for support, he needs to get proper blood flow back into his legs or he will pass out. He watches them react, the three men outside the cell stiffen, almost ready to attack, he can’t blame them, if he really wanted to he’s close enough to Gwen and a lot larger than her, even for Highbreed standards he’s on the taller end. Not to mention his far larger and sharper head growths, though with his current state and her kindness to him, he wouldn’t be able to do any harm to Gwen.
“I’m sorry, it’s just, oh boy I’m glad the others are suffering with their new mutations.” He states, his voice still a little soft and more accent heavy though he’s also aware his inflections are wrong on some words, he still has highbreed contacts, though a few were also mutated or wounded early so outcast, the others helped shelter him. “After what they did to me after I became mutated, I’m glad some suffering is being caused to them. Some well deserved Karma is always appreciated in my lines.” There’s a slight menacing aura to his voice, he means every word of it, and boy does he wish to know how much suffering it has caused the elders.
Gwen turns around to look up at him, her expression is muddled, but the confusion on it’s clear, further accentuated by the tone her voice then picks up,
“Wait, so you were mutated before Ben caused the species wide mutations?” She asks and Annos nods, oh that made his head spin,
“A good decade before the others were mutated,” it then gestures at it’s head growths and open mouth, “Though they had plenty of reasons to single me out even before my DNA was altered, I always stood out in the crowd. One could say I was always mutated in some form, though they often preferred the term defect” It’s the other reason that even among those he trusts and cares for like a family, he rarely drops to being completely guise less, he likes to pretend that he isn’t self conscious about his more unique traits, but he definitely is. After all, he’s spent his entire life being shunned and called a defect, he didn’t know some words could hurt until they were used against him in those specific tones. After he’s said this he also shoots a glare over at ‘Grandpa’ Ben, hoping now that he has a bit more of a clue over who he is, there truly aren’t any other beings he could mistake him for afterall. This does in fact seem to work and he gets even more defensive, funny,
“Gwen, please just come out of the cell, he’s dangerous and I don’t want you getting hurt.” His voice pleading and Annos has to suppress the shudder caused by that man using he for him, he was the first one to truly sling it at them after all. Annos instead focuses his eyes away and watches the other unidentified man shift, hand grasping the metal from one of the weapons left on the side, and the substance starts to seem up his arm, that identifies him to Annos. He’s heard a lot about this Kevin, capable of not only absorbing substances but also other alien DNA, he’s never seen him though so couldn’t pull him up by looks alone. He was on the list of maybe I want to see him, he’s heard about the others past actions and seemingly unstable nature, but he’s been labelled the same so didn’t want to judge from the outset.
“I’m not dangerous, even then I wasn’t really, not using the definitions that you Plumbers like to use.” Annos states, “Simply doing what I can in a world that still hates me, I’ve had too many friends disappear these last few years, I’ve had too many people I care deeply for have bad run ins with the Plumbers,” he now runs his eyes across the plumbers in the back of the room, there is more than he was expecting, “I’ve had too many people terrified for their lives because they simply exist in this universe.” He adds firmly, dragging his eyes across everyone, letting it linger for a couple seconds on anyone who flinches at it, he lets go of his hurt arm, it hurts now, which is actually a good sign compared to before. The mechamorphic markings are still visible there, working away, having been boosted by whatever magic Gwen used on him, though they’re fading around the edge.  He can see Kevin relax slightly, he seems to get it, at least in some form of the way that he means, he knows the other has been judged and desperate to be seen as a real being. Annos can now feel a lump form in him, he tries not to focus on those that he’s lost, he’s the leader he needs to accept all the hard facts for them and bottle it up. If he lets himself get washed over by these losses and the strain, then who is there to keep everyone else safe?
“So why were you there then?” Kevin asks, slightly doubtful, he’s still metal, “one hell of a coincidence isn’t it.”
Annos nods, “I respect that it is, but I have a series of contacts across the universe, I was meeting with one today, she had word,” he pauses, not too sure about how much he should give away, “she had word one where one of the children from our group may have gone.” he stops, letting the words not only sink into the people around him, but also into itself.

It’s one thing when their group loses an adult who’s out there trying to find safe locations to relocate members to. Or who has lived a life and wanted to go down fighting, confident in who they finally were and that others didn’t need to define them. With the teenagers at least, at least they normally go missing because they’ve found a better way to live, they leave a note at worst, or they’ll still be heard from occasionally, it’s just normally a one-way street. When it’s the children though, they know there’s something wrong and it wasn’t the child’s intention, Annos is glad that they have only lost two, the first, as heartbreaking as it was, they found his body. This time though, they have no idea where she could have gone, none of the members saw her go, he had to reassure the mechamorph who was looking after her as they went into town that it wasn’t their fault,  still though they’ve almost torn themselves apart in guilt. Something that he also can’t blame them for, such a thing will lay heavily on anyone.  Luckily for Annos though he heard word of the type of alien seen with her, so he spread out his feelers and his contact reached out, he just wished he could have gotten to her before the Plumber interfered. Every second and every scrap of information is vital in any situation, especially this one and he doesn’t have the time for this.
“Nice sob story but I don’t believe you.” Max states and Annos snaps back to reality, he tries to keep his body as neutral as possible, if he shows too much of any emotion it’s just going to make things so much worse. But, of course Max doesn’t believe him, but he didn’t know someone could feel that emotionless about a missing child, even if they believe it to be a lie.
“And you don’t have to believe me, Max, but I care about my people and I need to find her. You are Plumbers, you know there’s still a large market in trafficking, and there’s even more in us that the Plumbers won’t hunt for, that the law enforcers will only put half effort into. Hybrids, mutants, those whose species are all marred with the same brush, even those who have long repented for crimes that really shouldn’t still be affecting their life” As he says this he hears a gasp escape Gwen, these ‘prize possessions’ are barely more then children, they’ve yet to truly experience failure, especially by those that they trust and see as the hero. It’s not like they’d ever be let anywhere near a case that the Plumbers don’t really care about, he’s not even sure if files are made on most of them, so it’s not like they can just stumble across the information. Annos removes his fixated look on Max and instead scans the room again, some of the general Plumbers are shifting slightly uncomfortably, from guilt possible, or even just realising how even their ‘perfect’ system is also corrupted, Kevin looks completely human again and even Ben has moved his hand away from his watch and is watching Max like a hawk, though both young men seem ready to move with a seconds notice.

There are a few awkward silent seconds before there’s suddenly a loud commotion near the main door, it’s too far for Annos to hear what they’re saying, it’s just noise at this distance,  but clearly someone wants to get in but isn’t allowed, but then there’s some shoving and footsteps. A figure rapidly approaching down the corridor, at least one other hurrying behind to try and catch up, probably a Plumber trying to stop this approach. Annos wishes he was capable of crying, because he would in happiness as he watches the figure approach them, at least that was an emotion he could finally show visibly in most of his guises, another reason why he loved them.. Her hair long and tied up into a neat and professional looking hairstyle, her scaled tail sits behind her neatly, bobbing up and down slightly as she walks, heels clicking as she gets closer. The hair is longer than the last time he saw her, and if anything she looks even more put together then that occasion as well, Annos knows it has been a little while longer then he wanted since he last saw her. There’s a Plumber hurrying behind her, yelling at her to stop, not that she’s been paying him a lick of attention, and then she does stop, just in front of Max, easily passed the crowd of Plumbers who parted at her presence, respecting the authority that she walked with even if they didn’t really want to do so.
“Wow, I knew the Plumbers were rats, but arresting an innocent man with no evidence, then forcing of his guise that was legal,” She glances back to Annos and gives it a once over, eyes focusing on his damaged arm, “not to mention wounding him in the process and not allowing him to explain himself. I thought the Plumbers were meant to be highly respected, not some brutes that you should be afraid of.” She crosses her arms, point made. Her look fierce and Annos knows if that look was given to him he’d be asking her how he could help solve even an impossible problem.
“Who, who are you?” Ben asks and she turns to look at him, tail swinging slightly behind her, a look on her face showing she’s not used to people being so abrupt and rather rude when she’s present.
“My name is Lady Evanah from System 2.” She states, Annos senses the confusion coming from Gwen, so he gently leans down, slowly enough to show he’s not about to hurt her, she hasn’t moved since Max and Kevin showed up.
“She’s basically the queen of System 2, a rather large collective of planets, but she does like to play herself down when she’s not there, she likes the release of pressure it provides her.” Annos explains and Gwen whispers back.
“Then why is she here for you?” She asks, blunt but he can sort of respect that, he’d probably have worded it the same.
Annos is slightly offended by this however, but he gets her point, and to be fair doesn’t really blame her, why would she care about some ‘random’ Highbreed outside of System 2.
“Because she’s my contact, not to mention the daughter of my first husband. Even after he passed I couldn’t get rid of her.” He says in a slightly fond tone, that turns to teasing at the end, he will also enjoy the confusion that this will cause Gwen, it is hard to identify how old a highbreed are, only the old council would seemingly gain different body shapes and age. It’s also not like the fact that any of his guises give away an age, most fall closer to a young adult of the species, he’s found that provides the most relaxed atmosphere for information gathering, but others differ in ages greatly, especially those others that have an almost ageless sense to them.  He does also just like to throw out the fact he’s queer, his pronouns sure, but most of the universe still tend to default to relationships between 2 creatures that can reproduce together. Oh and sure their species doesn’t do marriage, but they have a very similar equivalent and it’s easier to quickly explain it that way, especially to those from earth who always need slightly longer explanations anyway.

The room becomes silent once again as people register Evanah’s words, though Annos thinks they’re hanging up on the fact she called them rats more than anything else that she’s said, they are pretty vain like that. Especially if any of the others also do not recognise her name, it’s not like a normal citizen would have the nerve to be so outright and open.
“Well, if you’ve got nothing to say, then I shall take Annos with me, it has been through enough today at your hands.” She states and then turns and walks towards Gwen and Annos, Gwen steps aside but not too far away and Evanah grabs Annos undamaged arm,
“Are you okay? You look like shit if I’m being honest with you.” Well he’s glad she’s being honest at least, though he could have done without the reminder, the still present pain and headache is doing that job, “The minute you didn’t arrive I was worried, even more so when I found out about the attack. You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you like that.” She states, talking only just slow enough for Annos to pick up what she’s saying. And she gestures at the end towards it’s whole general being and look, using the hand that she’s not tightly gripping around his own, Annos can’t work out if that’s for his sake or hers.
“Well I can’t thank you more Evanah, though you could have gotten here a little earlier,” He laughs softly, “And yeah, this is probably the most people who’ve seen my true form in a long, long time, any chance you’ve even got a small guise on you?” He asks, he knows he’s being cheeky asking for one of her personal guises, but his will be wrecked until it can at least have a decent night's rest, if he’s lucky, otherwise he might have to find someone who can repair them. She narrows her eyes at it, before then passing him one over with little resistance, as if she was waiting for him to ask but still wanted to tease him about it,
“I’ll admit this is one of your old ones, but you’re lucky I still carry it, considering how long it had been since we last met up.” Annos looks over at Max as he slides the new guise on, it feels odd, not bad but different, he shrinks less then with his normal one, considering it was his he wonders what the guise is set to look like. He works it out quite quickly after he gains the unnerving feeling of a tail, guises are odd whether they add or remove something, phantom feeling shoots up from new additions so they’re usable. It makes sense though, the guise he takes on, though he’s not used it since Evanah’s father died, feels odd now, to look like their kind and have nothing more than honorary step-dad claims over Evanah who has grown into the most powerful and respected woman he knows. He doubts if this didn’t happen, if he would ever have taken it up again, he only used it when out in public with the two of them, something the people could accept easier than a different form. It feels rather bittersweet, knowing the last time he wore this was at a large public funeral, before he disappeared off, he’s sure Evanah has had to crush rumours about him.
“Well,” Annos says, feeling this new tone flow through him, “Today has been awful and I wish to never repeat it.” He states flatly, before then turning towards Gwen, “It was a pleasure meeting you, and I would be more than happy to do so again, though under different circumstances.” His tail lets some of his emotions seep out as it wags slightly, letting Gwen know he was feeling genuine.
“I would like that, it would be good to learn about what you and your people are going through and how you can be better aided by the people who are meant to do that.” Gwen says earnestly, “Not to mention, I would also like to learn more about a Highbreed who had already mutated, I know Reni said it was highly frowned upon, but I didn’t really get to spend much time with them. Not to mention you seem to have coped with that status in a different way to them, so I’d love to know as much as you’re willing to share with me.” Gwen states and Annos can’t help but smile back at her, he does like being able to visibly smile at people, it cuts out unneeded words when an emotion is more than suitable enough, non-Highbreeds just can’t really pick them from him in his true form, even if they have a wide range of non-verble emotions.
He’s also more than happy that Gwen has agreed it would be nice to meet again in different circumstances, apart from the whole sliced open arms on cuffs and the fact he fought against her dropping his guise the whole time, she was incredibly gentle with it, and clearly didn’t really want to do it. It would also be rather nice, if he’s honest, if he can gain her as a sort of insider contact, she’s not likely to betray them in any way, but she does seem to have a good sense for when something is wrong. She also travels a lot and would be handy to relay any information she may discover before one of his closer contacts can either reach out or get to the situation.
Evanah gently grabs his arm again, indicating it’s time to go, he gives one final nod to Gwen before following Evanah closely out, he’s so very thankful that she’s come and got him, though he’s sure that he’s going to have another run in with the Plumbers again and it probably also won’t be very pleasant, but hopefully more so then it was this time. He can feel all of their eyes on him as they leave, a couple of the general Plumbers take larger steps back and Gwen followed him out of the cell and came to a stop next to Max. Just before the room is out of sight he takes a glance back, noting the distance between the three young adults and Max, he’s not afraid to say he’s proud of that divide he seems to have created.
Neither of them speak again until they’re out of the building and heading towards Evanah’s ship, ushered in by one of her heads of security.
“You know, it’s not everyday I expect to come save you from a Plumber facility, please don’t make it a habit Annos.” She states as she sits.
Annos comes to sit opposite her and reaches out, gently grabbing her hand with his good arm,
“I promise you I won’t. Though I do hope to create a better connection with Gwen, she seems like a lovely young lady with her head in the right place.” His hand lingers on Evanah’s and emotions not touched for a long time stir around.
He hardly registers the ship leaving the headquarters, he does pay attention when Evanah speaks again,
“It will take us a little while to land again, why don’t you go take a nap, it looks like you could do with one. If your other guise needs any fixing I can get you in contact with someone for that.” She says and Annos goes to speak, but as if reading his mind she shushes him and continues. “I reached out to one of your friends before I started on my rescue mission for you, I’ve given them everything I know about your lost child and sent them on their way with help, though of course, once you’ve got yourself together I shall share it with you too.”
“Thank you, Evanah. I really don’t deserve your continued loyalty.” Annos states, he can’t help but feel so emotional right now and lost in the past and the present all at the same time. When he comes back to thinking about this moment in the future, he’ll blame it on the migraine and other pain that he’s still suffering from, not exactly that he’s still so hung up on this life he had, even though it is long gone to almost everyone involved with it.
“Nonsense Baba, you will always mean the world to be like Dada did, you meant the world to him too.” The term causes Annos to freeze up, she’s not called him that since her father died, and even then she used it sparingly. He was the step-dad, he didn’t deserve to really be called her parent too. It’s not going to argue though, it might just end up crying if it does, in his opinion he may not deserve the term, but it’s really not his place to stop Evanah from using it if she wants.
He doesn’t say anything else, he really doesn’t trust himself to speak any more, Evanah understands this and doesn’t add anything else on. Instead she gently points him towards somewhere he can rest, and there he goes.

Annos sits on the bed almost as soon as he’s entered, there’s no lock on the door that leaves him a little paranoid, but he knows that there’s nothing on board that’s going to help him, instead it’s just his paranoia as always. The minute he’s sat back on something comfortable, his exhaustion reminds him that it’s there, and he stifles a yawn. It just wants to put it’s head straight down on the pillow and sleep until they arrive, but it knows it needs to double check it’s wound.
It stopped throbbing a little while ago, but the pain is still clearly there, and as he casts his eye back over it, it’s still visible even through the guise. It takes a deep breath and lets part of the guise drop, though only over his arm, it can’t really cope with seeing it’s full form again. Maybe it’s hypocritical for it to complain how the Plumber’s struggle with his true form, when, if anything, he struggles with it more than them; though to be fair it is different when it comes to your own self rather than someone else. The guise peels back, smooth and gentle, he’s trying to channel his energy into making this hurt even less then normal, it doesn’t think it can cope with anymore pain today. As the hand changes and the arm shifts and elongates into his true form, he can’t help but wince slightly. The mechamorphic markings seem to have mostly disappeared back into his body, but the skin around it is still dark and bruised, the very centre still that deep purple of his. Tenderly he reaches the other hand out and touches the darkened line, he tries to stop himself from flinching back at the idea of touching it, and once he can touch it he can feel the pain. The flesh is tender, and squishier than it should be, it can even feel some slight movement below it’s flesh, the mechamorphic dna still working away and trying to heal him. Gwen’s magic really helped, providing him the energy to work on fixing this, as well as to knit the outer flesh back together, it’s pretty sure she also helped to disinfect it too, not that he couldn’t have done that itself.
Satisfied that it’s healing well enough, he lets the guise go and it wraps itself back around him, it feels cooling and he lets out a deep shuddery breath that it didn’t realise that it was holding. The bed is still calling to it, so it shifts and lays down. The minute it’s head touches the pillow, it’s fighting to keep it’s eyes open. It doesn’t fight against it for long though, it needs this rest not only for it’s body but also it’s mind. There was a lot for it to process, and especially how the Plumber’s treated it; it needs to go through this with the others. Reality is worse than they thought it was, never did they think that cuffs would be kept on during a Guise removal, let alone cuffs that don’t factor in any form of shape change. There’s a lot that it needs to deal with, but right now, all it needs is to sleep.