The Tennysons had stopped at a water park, and from the entrance alone, it was easy to see why the place was popular. Towering above everything else was the massive waterslide the park was known for, Riptide Rapids, twisting down from a ridiculous height as people shot through it at high speed. The sound of rushing water and distant cheering filled the air as kids ran around, already soaked and excited.
Ben and Gwen stood there for a moment, both looking up at the slide with clear interest. They were already dressed for it too, Ben in dark blue swim trunks and Gwen in a purple and blue one-piece swimsuit, ready to jump in without wasting time.
Evan, on the other hand, wasn't there.
Back at the Rust Bucket, he had stayed behind, sitting inside with the door closed as he focused on something else entirely. Max had tried to convince him to come along, but Evan didn't budge. From his perspective, going to a place like that with the Tennysons almost guaranteed that something would go wrong eventually. Rather than start enjoying himself only for it to get interrupted halfway through, he decided to skip straight to doing something productive.
Right now, that meant figuring out the new functions his Another Omnitrix had just unlocked.
He snapped his fingers lightly, and a small ember of flame flickered to life at the tip of his index finger. It burned steadily, but when he looked at it, there was no discomfort, no heat bothering him at all.
Evan raised his other hand and hovered it over the flame. The fire licked against his skin, but it didn't burn, didn't even leave a mark.
He grabbed a tissue from the table and held it just above the flame.
The paper caught fire almost instantly, curling and darkening as it burned slowly in his hand.
"So this is Pyretic Overdrive…" he muttered, watching the flame closely. "Would this still affect aliens that are weak to fire?"
He dismissed the flame with a small motion, then tapped the dial on his Omnitrix.
A flash of yellow light filled the RV for a brief moment.
In his place, a black, liquid-like substance spread across the table, pooling for a second before forming into a single black hand. The ember of flame reappeared on its surface.
The reaction was immediate.
"Hissss-" the hand jerked back, shaking slightly as the flame flickered out. "Okay… higher resistance doesn't mean immunity."
Noir pulled the hand back, the surface rippling slightly as he processed that. The damage wasn't severe, but the reaction was still there. Fire still affected him, just not as strongly as before.
That meant the upgrade didn't erase weaknesses entirely, it just reduced them.
The black mass shifted again, tapping the Omnitrix before returning to human form. Evan sat back on the table, resting one hand against his chin as he thought it over.
He snapped his fingers again, this time producing a faint spark of electricity between them. It crackled briefly before fading.
"Omnitrix, explain Probability Engine and Phoenix Protocol," he said.
The device responded immediately, glowing softly as the familiar feminine voice spoke.
[Probability Engine: a "luck" that draws rare items into the possession of the user.]
[Phoenix Protocol: If the user or alien take fatal blow or get destroy, the Omnitrix instantly resets, healing all damage and forcibly transforms into the right alien that can survive the situation. Warning: this function needs a 24-hour recharge per use.]
Evan let that sink in for a moment.
"…So basically, I have a proper fail-safe now. Jackpot!"
Before this, his Another Omnitrix didn't have the same level of protection as Ben's. If something serious happened, it would react, sure, but it still relied on him to activate it. The dial would pop up, suggest something useful, but if he couldn't respond in time, that was it.
Ben's didn't have that problem. His would trigger automatically.
Now, with Phoenix Protocol, Evan finally had something similar. Not identical, but close enough that he didn't have to worry about dying just because he couldn't react fast enough.
That alone made things a lot easier.
He tapped into another function, testing it out.
His foot lifted slightly, then stopped midair.
He stepped forward.
And didn't fall.
"...So this is Zero-G."
He shifted his weight, taking another step, this time fully walking in the air like there was an invisible floor beneath him. It wasn't perfect, but it was stable enough to move around with a bit of practice.
He took a few more steps, adjusting to it, testing how much control he actually had.
Then the RV door suddenly burst open.
Evan stopped mid-step, still standing in the air as Gwen and Max rushed in.
They both paused for half a second, seeing him floating there.
Max didn't question it. The Gold Family is known for being weird anyway.
"No time to explain," he said immediately. "Ben turned into Grey Matter and got captured."
Evan blinked once. Then stepped back down onto the floor like nothing had happened.
"…Of course he did."
Later, the Rust Bucket drove through the streets at a steady pace as Max kept his eyes on the road, scanning every passing car and corner for anything suspicious. The earlier rush from the water park was gone, replaced by a more focused kind of urgency as they tried to figure out where Ben had been taken.
"Okay, so if he's Grey Matter right now, he'll just time out, turn back into Ben, go Four Arms or something, and break out," Gwen said from her seat, already back in her usual clothes as she leaned forward slightly.
Max shook his head. "If he transformed before getting grabbed, he should've already turned back by now."
Gwen paused, thinking it through. "Then maybe something's wrong with his Omnitrix. Still, at least as Grey Matter, he's smart."
"This is Ben we're talking about," Evan said from the back without looking up.
That made both Max and Gwen hesitate.
"…Right," Gwen admitted after a second.
It wasn't that they didn't trust Ben, but the situation wasn't exactly ideal. If it had been Evan who got taken, they'd probably be more worried about whoever took him. With Ben, it was the opposite.
A moment later, Gwen's phone rang.
She picked it up quickly. "Hello?"
"Gwen, it's me," Grey Matter's voice came through.
Gwen blinked. "You're still Grey Matter?"
"Yeah, the watch still won't switch me back!"
"Where are you?" she asked immediately.
There was a short pause on the other end.
"Uh… there appears to be a mountain peak approximately 13.2 miles due west with a vertical angle of forty-five degrees."
Gwen's expression went flat. "Wow, that really helps. How about a street name?"
Another pause.
"Oh. Right. It's Ripley."
Before she could respond, a loud alarm blared through the phone, followed by the line cutting out completely.
"Ben?" Gwen pulled the phone back, frowning. "Guys, something happened. We need to get to Ripley!"
"Ripley what?" Max asked.
Gwen stared at the phone for a second, then slowly looked up. "…That's going to be a problem."
Not long after, a folded map was spread out across the table inside the Rust Bucket. Gwen leaned over it while Evan stood nearby, both looking at the list of streets.
"Ripley Avenue, Ripley Lane, Ripley Drive…" Gwen read off, frustration creeping into her voice. "We don't have time to check all of these."
"Do we have another option?" Max asked as he turned the wheel, guiding the Rust Bucket deeper into a residential area.
Gwen bit her lip slightly, then glanced back.
Evan was behind her, standing on his hoverboard again, casually spinning in place like he didn't have anything better to do.
She frowned. "Shouldn't you be helping?"
Evan slowed to a stop, looking over at her.
"Sorry, I don't have Alien X," he said. "Can't just snap my fingers and find him."
Gwen didn't look impressed. "Who is Alien X?"
While Max and Gwen stayed focused on the search, Evan didn't seem nearly as concerned on the surface. He adjusted his stance on the hoverboard, rolling back and forth slightly, though his eyes still flicked toward the map every now and then.
Despite how it looked, he wasn't completely ignoring it.
After a bit more searching, Max finally reached for his phone and made a quick call, speaking briefly before hanging up again.
"Got something," he said. "Let's move."
With that, he adjusted course, heading straight toward the location they had just narrowed down.
...
Outside, a knight in full armor slowly patrolled along the perimeter, a long lance resting in his grip as he walked past the outer walls. The place didn't even try to look subtle. Tall stone structures, guarded entry points, and uniformed guards made it clear this wasn't just someone's house.
Hidden in a patch of bushes nearby, Evan, Gwen, and Max stayed low as they observed the area.
"This isn't a house," Gwen whispered, narrowing her eyes as she took in the size of the place. "It's a fortress. Who are these guys?"
"Whoever they are," Evan added quietly, "they're definitely not short on money."
Gwen glanced at him briefly, but didn't say anything, her focus returning to the building.
Max adjusted his position slightly, still watching the guards as he spoke. "They call themselves The Organization. A well-funded group that's been around for a while. Their whole thing is collecting alien technology."
That got a reaction.
Both Gwen and Evan turned to look at him.
"…You've been holding onto that information this whole time?" Gwen asked.
Max shrugged. "When you've been around as long as I have, you pick things up."
"Did you just say alien technology?" Evan asked, a small smile forming almost immediately.
Max didn't like that smile.
"Evan, no."
"Evan, yes," Evan replied without hesitation.
Before either of them could stop him, he tapped his Omnitrix.
A brief flash of light lit up the inside of the bushes, then faded just as quickly.
"Chamalien."
His form shifted, and within a second, he blended completely into the surroundings before vanishing from sight entirely.
Gwen leaned forward slightly, trying to track where he went, but there was nothing to see.
"…He's gone."
Max let out a quiet breath, already expecting this outcome. "We'll move; we can't afford to solely rely on Evan now that he is distracted."
Meanwhile, completely invisible, Chamalien slipped out from the bushes and moved toward the fortress. He kept low, staying out of direct sightlines as he approached the wall, timing his movement between the patrols.
The knight passed by without noticing anything.
With that, Chamalien crossed into the perimeter, already heading straight inside.
After slipping inside, Chamalien moved quietly through the halls, sticking close to the walls and keeping out of sight as he checked room after room. Most of them were empty or filled with ordinary-looking storage, but after a bit of searching, he pushed open one door and paused.
Inside was a room packed with alien technology.
Devices of all shapes and sizes were stacked along the walls and across tables, some glowing faintly, others humming with low energy. Even without touching anything, it was obvious this wasn't low-level stuff. A lot of it looked advanced, some of it unfamiliar even to him.
"Jackpot!" Chamalien muttered.
Without wasting time, he tapped the dial on his Omnitrix.
A flash later, Fasttrack stood in his place.
In a blur, Fasttrack dashed around the room, grabbing smaller devices, scanning what he could on the move, and memorizing positions. Within seconds, he had a small pile gathered, then bolted out of the room, sprinting through the halls and out of the fortress.
Using Zero-G, he crossed the distance through the air itself, treating it like solid ground as he ran straight back to the Rust Bucket. He dropped the collected tech inside, grabbed a large bag, then turned around just as quickly and shot back toward the fortress.
Fasttrack returned in seconds, slipping back inside and heading straight for another room. This time, he didn't stop at one. He cleared what he could from multiple spots, prioritizing smaller and more compact items that he could carry easily at speed.
He was in the middle of grabbing another set of devices when something caught his attention.
Down the hall, Ben was running alongside a man in strang suit. At the same time, one of the larger devices in the area started to malfunction, sparks flying as it began discharging unstable bursts of energy.
Fasttrack slowed slightly, taking in the situation.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
The energy pulses were getting stronger. Whatever that device was, it wasn't going to hold much longer.
He glanced at the surrounding techs, then back at the unstable core.
"…That's a lot of good tech about to go to waste."
He let out a small sigh.
Fasttrack made one more quick pass, grabbing whatever he could carry without slowing himself down too much, then turned and ran.
He cleared the building just as the energy inside peaked.
A second later, the entire fortress erupted.
The explosion tore through the structure, sending debris outward as the whole place collapsed in on itself. Flames and smoke followed, leaving nothing but a ruined shell where the fortress had been.
…
Sometimes later, as the group moved on from the scene, a sleek car pulled to a stop near the edge of the debris field.
Inside sat a man in armor, his face hidden behind a golden mask. Screens lit up the interior around him, displaying various bits of data and images, including clear shots of the Tennysons.
He stared at them in silence for a moment.
"Find out everything about them."
...
The Rust Bucket rolled steadily down the road, the tension from earlier finally starting to settle as everything quieted down inside.
Ben leaned back in his seat and stretched a bit, letting out a relieved sigh. "Man… feels good to be big again."
Gwen glanced over at him and smirked. "Big? Get real, freak."
Ben shot her a look. "Don't make me go Four Arms on you."
Right as he said that, the Omnitrix on his wrist suddenly sparked and discharged a pulse of green energy. The flash lit up the inside of the RV for a split second.
Everyone froze.
"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Ben said quickly, holding his hands up.
Gwen frowned. "Yeah, we really need to get that thing fixed."
She turned slightly, looking toward the back, where Evan, currently in his Brainstorm form, was already busy.
Brainstorm stood over a growing pile of alien tech, the Proto-Tool assisting him as he carefully dismantled and examined pieces one by one. Small sparks of electricity flickered from his claws as he worked, clearly focused and more than a little interested in what he had collected.
Compared to everything else that had happened, he looked completely in his element.
"Evan," Max called from the front, briefly glancing at them through the rearview mirror before returning his eyes to the road. "Can you take a look at Ben's Omnitrix? We don't want another malfunction like earlier."
"Of course," Brainstorm replied without hesitation.
He turned and walked over, his large shell opening slightly as his brain became more visible, faint electrical currents running across it as he examined the device on Ben's wrist.
Ben raised his arm, watching him carefully.
"Fascinating," Brainstorm began, his tone thoughtful. "It appears Benjamin's habit of forcefully striking the Omnitrix has triggered a minor instability, activating what seems to be a randomization function."
Ben gave a nervous chuckle. Gwen, on the other hand, just raised an eyebrow at him.
"Don't look at me like that," Ben muttered.
Brainstorm extended a claw, small arcs of electricity forming as he attempted to interface with the Omnitrix and stabilize it. For a brief moment, it looked like it might work.
Then the watch reacted.
The Omnitrix flared bright green, and in the next instant, a powerful shockwave burst outward.
The entire Rust Bucket shook violently.
Max gripped the steering wheel tightly, fighting to keep control as the RV swerved slightly before stabilizing. Gwen was thrown back into her seat, Ben lost his balance and tumbled off, and Brainstorm himself was blasted backward. Only to stop mid-air just before hitting the wall.
The Rust Bucket skidded to a stop on the side of the road.
For a moment, everything went quiet.
"…Okay," Ben groaned from the floor. "Definitely broken."
Brainstorm lowered himself back down calmly, closing his shell slightly as the electrical activity around him settled. "It isn't broken; that is a defense mechanism."
"My apologies," he said. "It would seem the creator implemented extensive defensive measures to prevent external tampering. Without proper authorization, any attempt to interfere is met with… resistance."
"No kidding," Gwen muttered, rubbing her shoulder.
Max exhaled, loosening his grip on the wheel. "It's not your fault," he said, glancing back at them. "We're dealing with technology we don't fully understand."
Then his gaze shifted to Ben.
"Ben, try not to slam your Omnitrix so hard anymore. If that thing breaks, fixing it won't be easy."
Ben nodded, looking down at the device on his wrist with a bit more caution than before.
"Yeah… got it."
With that settled, Brainstorm turned away and returned to his pile of collected tech without another word, already picking up where he left off.