The Providence transport ship sliced through the scorched clouds like a silent predator. Inside, Agent Six stood rigid, his expression unreadable behind dark glasses. A holotablet hovered in the air, displaying a grainy feed of a boy mid-air, nanites whirling around him like tame storms.
"There's no intel on him," Six muttered. "Age: twelve. Origin: unknown. And those nanites... I've never seen anything like it."
Dr. Holiday narrowed her eyes, enhancing the feed. The boy's nanites glowed in complex lattice patterns. Not chaotic, not reactive—adaptive.
"They're evolving," she whispered. "Not just reacting like Rex's nanites. These are... learning. Studying. Bonded to him like muscle and memory."
Six frowned. "He shouldn't exist."
---
Below, in the belly of a forgotten city, Kairos knelt on the edge of a shattered food court. His nanites whispered warnings—EVOs moving below, hunting. But they weren't after him.
A snarl, a shriek—an EVO was hurled across the debris like a rag doll. Kairos didn't need nanite scans to know the source. The green blur was unmistakable.
Omnitrix signature detected, his inner interface confirmed.
The figure that slammed into the next EVO wasn't any form Kairos recognized—tall, lithe, wrapped in semi-crystalline armor and glowing with a strange violet-green energy. But it wasn't just the form that surprised him—it was the voice.
Feminine. Fierce.
"Let me tell you something, freaks! You picked the wrong back alley buffet!"
One final punch sent the last EVO skidding into unconsciousness. The form shimmered—and then it was Ben, but not quite Ben.
Still glowing slightly. Still... female.
Kairos dropped behind her like a shadow, his landing silent.
"You're louder than I expected," he said flatly.
Ben spun, startled. Her (now her?) eyes widened. "Whoa! You snuck up on me. What are you, a ninja?"
"No. Just efficient." Kairos paused, eyeing her up and down. "That's... not your usual form."
Ben looked down. "Yeah... something's weird. I was aiming for Chromastone. Ended up... this. Omnitrix glitch or something. Doesn't matter."
Kairos tilted his head. "You going to change back?"
Ben hesitated. "Weird thing is... I can't—not yet. Cooldown timer locked. Never seen that before."
She caught him staring. Not at her face. At her aura. His eyes glowed faintly.
"You're scanning me, huh?"
"More like listening. You're... resonant," he said. "The Omnitrix is responding to my nanites. Curious."
Ben arched an eyebrow. "And who are you, exactly?"
Kairos offered his hand. "Kairos."
She didn't take it. "No last name?"
"No past," he replied quietly.
Ben crossed her arms. "You're avoiding the question."
Kairos's expression didn't change. "Maybe."
A long pause followed—tense, but not hostile. The silence felt like a boundary between two worlds, and neither was ready to cross it.
Then a drone buzzed overhead.
Providence.
Kairos's eyes narrowed. "They're coming."
Ben glanced up. "Guess you're on their radar."
"I don't plan on staying on it."
She grinned. "Then maybe we should run."
Kairos smirked faintly. "Or we show them why they should be careful."
He raised a hand. Nanites burst outward like wings, wrapping around his frame. Smooth armor formed—sleek, alien, but strangely elegant. His eyes flashed with light.
Ben's Omnitrix blinked—still locked. "Guess I'm staying like this a little longer," she muttered, readying her fists.
Together, they launched skyward, crashing into the incoming drone formation.
---
In the hovering Providence transport, Six watched the boy and girl tear through the drones with coordinated precision.
"That's... unexpected," he said.
Dr. Holiday watched in silence, eyes narrowed. "Did you see the Omnitrix glitch? Ben's DNA matrix got rewritten. That boy—Kairos—he's affecting her at a genetic level."
"You think he did it?"
"No. But he's linked to it. Like he's broadcasting something beyond nanite signals." She paused. "And he's hiding something. I can feel it."
Six folded his arms. "White Knight won't like this."
Holiday leaned in closer to the screen. "No. But I want to know more."
---
On the ground, smoke swirled as Kairos and Ben landed amid the wreckage. Providence forces had backed off—for now.
Ben brushed nanite dust off her shoulder. "Not bad, kid."
"I'm older than I look," Kairos said softly.
She glanced at him. "You keep saying things like that."
He didn't answer.
Ben frowned. "You ever gonna tell me who you really are?"
"No." The word came like a knife. Cold. Sharp.
Ben stiffened but said nothing.
Kairos turned away. "Thanks for the help."
"Wait." Her voice stopped him. Softer now. "I don't know why... but I think I trust you."
Kairos didn't turn back. "You will. Just not yet."
He vanished into the rising mist, leaving Ben alone in the silence. Her Omnitrix blinked. She was still female.
And for some reason, watching him walk away hurt more than it should have.