The doglike DNAlien crumpled to the ground. For a moment, silence fell across the street. All eyes human, alien, and machine locked on the armored figure standing tall amid the chaos.
Red circuitry pulsed across his white-and-red frame, energy humming faintly with each movement.
The DNAliens hissed in unison, their movements twitchy and animalistic. The civilians, still clutching their phones, gasped in awe. Gwen, Kevin, and Ben froze mid-motion, caught between shock and suspicion at the sudden appearance of the stranger.
Inside the helmet, Dexter's HUD lit up with a cascade of glowing lines.
[Scanning Hostiles.]
Red brackets locked onto a humanoid DNAlien. The screen magnified its warped features, then shifted to display lines of alien script that translated into crisp English before his eyes.
[Designation: DNAlien.]
[Origin: Hybrid organism.]
[Process: Host lifeform forcibly assimilated by parasitic xenocite.]
[Threat level: Catastrophic if uncontrolled.]
The HUD projection changed again, now showing a floating simulation: a writhing insectoid xenocite latching onto a human's face, wrapping its limbs tightly around the skull. Its tail stabbed upward. The victim convulsed, body twisting unnaturally until skin peeled gray and features distorted into a DNAlien.
Dexter's lip curled in disgust behind the helmet. "A facehugger knockoff... Wonderful."
The HUD blinked again, snapping to the towering magma creature across the battlefield.
[Designation: Pyronite.]
[Origin: Planet Pyros.]
[Composition: Silicon-based organism.]
[Core temperature: 5,000 Kelvin.]
[Threat level: Catastrophic if uncontrolled.]
The analysis displayed a Pyronite silhouette, its rocky shell glowing with molten cracks as it exhaled a cone of flame. Dexter's visor dimmed the brightness automatically.
ROAR!!
The uneasy standoff shattered in an instant.
The DNAliens screeched as one, their bodies lurching forward in a frenzy. In a heartbeat, the street erupted again acid spit streaking through the air, claws raking across metal, bodies slamming into Sentries with bone-jarring force.
One DNAlien lunged straight at Dexter, another at Ben, while a pack swarmed Kevin's flank. Even Gwen's pink shields shook under the relentless pounding of their claws.
Dexter tightened his stance as a DNAlien charged at him.
"Alright, let's see what this armor can really do…"
BANG!
He swung a fist, knocking one across the jaw with more force than expected, sending it tumbling into a car. The second lunged, he pivoted, driving a kick into its chest, the impact rattling through his armor.
"Not bad." His eyes flicked across his HUD. "Hey, Ultralink, do you have a name?"
The calm, synthetic voice resonated in his helmet.
[Designation: Metal.]
"Metal, huh? Nice and simple." Dexter smirked under the helmet. "Alright Metal what can you actually do for me, aside from augmenting my strength?"
The response was smooth, almost smug.
[Everything you can imagine, I can create.]
Dexter blinked. "…Oh, that's dangerous."
Before he could ask more, another DNAlien barreled at him, screeching. Without hesitation, Dexter barked, "Cannon."
His arm shifted, plates sliding into place until a sleek cannon locked over his forearm.
He fired instantly—BOOOOM!—blasting the alien across the street in a smoking heap.
Dexter flexed his hand as smoke curled from the barrel. "Shit… that's badass."
Another screeched and rushed him.
"Sword," Dexter muttered.
Panels on his wing-guards detached, nanite tendrils weaving them into a bastard sword in his grip. He swung wide, slicing through the claws of one attacker.
A third attacked from the side. His wing snapped open like a shield, the impact clanging off the alloy. Dexter turned smoothly, knocking the creature away without missing a beat.
Across the street, Kevin hurled a DNAlien toward him. "Heads up, tin man!"
"Tin ma—?" Dexter's arm rippled again, reforming into a heavy hammer just as the alien landed. He swung down with brutal force, smashing it into the pavement. Asphalt cracked, dust flying.
"Okay, that's… that's satisfying," Dexter muttered, grinning beneath the helmet.
Meanwhile, Gwen's mana lit the battlefield, sealing off a cluster of DNAliens in glowing barriers. Heatblast unleashed a searing wall of fire, forcing others to scatter.
---
Metro City – Above the Plaza
A news chopper thundered across the smoke-filled sky, blades chopping the air as it banked toward the chaos below. The side bore the bold logo of Channel 6 News.
Inside, the cramped cabin rattled with vibration. A cameraman hunched over his rig, twisting knobs as he steadied the lens. Across from him, a young woman in a yellow leather jacket with rolled-up sleeves clipped her headset into place. Her bright auburn hair framed a sharp, determined face, green eyes already fixed on the devastation below.
April O'Neil leaned closer to the window, voice tight but steady. "These attacks are getting more frequent…"
"Yeah, and the government's bots can't even handle it," the cameraman, Ted, muttered as he adjusted focus. Then he smirked, glancing at her. "So… who do you think shows up this time?"
April frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Which hero," Ted said, like it was obvious. "C'mon, April. They always show up eventually."
April rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Not legally. Heroes are still restricted under GDN law, remember?"
Ted shrugged, adjusting his strap. "Yeah, well… the Powerpuff Girls don't seem too worried about paperwork."
From the cockpit, Harold the pilot, grizzled and calm behind his headset cut in. "If you ask me, it won't be heroes. I'm betting one of the GDN branches shows up. Maybe Providence." His hands moved with easy precision across the controls as the helicopter tilted lower.
Ted raised a brow. "Providence? Aren't they only for… monster cases?"
Harold smirked faintly. "Aliens are monsters too."
Ted grunted. "Fair point." He gave his camera a final pat, satisfied. "Alright, we're live-ready."
April exhaled, tugging her jacket tighter as she braced against the wind funneling through the cabin. She clicked on her mic, her reporter's mask slipping into place.
"We're here," Harold announced.
Both April and Ted leaned to the side window.
The city plaza sprawled beneath them broken, burning, and alive with chaos. The Metro Man statue lay in ruins, shattered across the street. Smoke coiled upward in thick black plumes as alien creatures poured out of the wreckage, gray-skinned and monstrous.
And in the middle of it all, four figures fought like a storm against the tide.
April's breath caught. Her eyes narrowed on the scene, watching energy shields flare, molten fire lash out, and a sleek white-and-red armored figure cut through the horde with impossible speed.
"…Who are they?" she whispered.
_____
High above the chaos, smoke swirled and parted, revealing a towering figure standing on the roof of a shattered building.
The alien was enormous its skin a pale, ghostly white with faint patches of rot mottling its limbs. Long, black talons flexed at its sides, scraping against stone as though itching to carve flesh. Its chest was broad and ridged like armor, but its head was the most unnerving sight: a crown of spiked bone, four crimson eyes burning with disdain, and atop it, a grotesque mass of violet tendrils that pulsed like a living parasite.
A Highbreed.
The alien's piercing gaze swept the battlefield below, the humans fighting desperately, the malfunctioning Sentries sparking as they fell, the swarm of DNAliens screeching in endless waves.
His voice, deep and resonant, rolled across the plaza like a curse.
"So… Earth really dares to rally its champions."
He raised one elongated, clawed hand, and the shadows below seemed to quake at the motion.
"Do you know who they are, Labrid?" he asked without turning his gaze.
From behind him, another figure emerged.
This one wore the distinctive garb of a Plumber agent—midnight blue body armor lined with reinforced plates of black and silver. A utility belt bristled with alien tech, and a glowing Plumber insignia pulsed faintly on the chest. But his helmet was gone, and in its place, his head was gripped by a writhing xenocite, its limbs dug deep into his neck and spine, controlling him like a puppet.
"They are Ben, the holder of the Omnitrix… Gwen, the half-Anodite… and Kevin, the Osmosian, sir," Labrid's voice droned, flat and hollow beneath the parasite's control.
"I see," the Highbreed rumbled, nodding faintly. His crimson eyes flicked with contempt. "And the other one?"
"I don't know him, sir," Labrid admitted, his voice wavering under the xenocyte's hiss.
The Highbreed turned back to the chaos below, his expression unreadable. But then—WHOOSH!
A helicopter roared past, blades chopping the air as it swept low over the plaza. The Highbreed's four eyes narrowed, and for a moment he felt the weight of its camera lens fix on him.
His talons flexed. Without hesitation, he ripped a massive antenna from the rooftop and hurled it like a spear.
CRRRAAANGG!
The metal shaft struck the helicopter's tail rotor, shearing through it. The aircraft bucked wildly, alarms blaring as it lurched off balance, spinning against the smoke-streaked sky.
The Highbreed lowered his arm, unmoved by the distant cries inside the craft.
"Let's go," he commanded coldly. "The diversion has served its purpose. The weather devices are already planted."
With a final glance at the battlefield the Highbreed turned, his massive form vanishing into the smoke.
______
[A/N: Sorry for not being consistent with chapters lately. I had a very important exam last week that I absolutely needed to pass or I was done for. Thankfully, I passed with flying colors! 🎉 But since September is coming up, I also have to train for the intramurals in sepak takraw (I'm an athlete, by the way). Training leaves me so tired that sometimes I can't even manage to think what will happen to the next chapter. Still, don't worry—I'll start uploading, though updates might come a little late.]