"We're live on the scene of a high-speed police pursuit of an armored car stolen earlier today from a federal reserve in Denver," the news reporter said, her voice steady despite the chaos playing out behind her.
The footage showed the armored truck speeding down the road, sirens blaring as multiple police cars tried to box it in. Tires screeched against the asphalt as the vehicle swerved through traffic, barely avoiding collisions as it pushed forward with no sign of slowing down.
Inside the Rust Bucket, everyone's attention was on the screen.
"Of course something like this shows up while we're on the road," Gwen muttered, leaning slightly closer as she watched.
The armored car suddenly passed right by them on the road, close enough for them to feel the rush of air as it sped past.
Then, without warning, a large green crystal shot up from the ground directly in front of the vehicle.
The armored car hit it like a speed bump, the impact sharp enough to slash one of its tires. The vehicle immediately lost control, swerving hard before spinning out and grinding to a stop in the middle of the road.
Police cars surrounded it almost instantly.
"Freeze!" the captain shouted as officers jumped out and aimed their weapons.
For a brief moment, everything went still.
Then the back door of the armored car burst open, and one of the crooks stepped out, gripping a machine gun as he dragged a hostage along with him, locking an arm around the man's neck.
"Hold your fire!" the captain ordered immediately, and the officers hesitated before lowering their weapons.
The tension in the air shifted, the situation turning into a standoff.
Then the second crook stepped out, holding a strange-looking weapon. Without any warning, he fired.
A bolt of electricity shot out and slammed into a nearby police car, causing it to explode and forcing the officers to scatter for cover.
"Everybody down!" someone shouted.
Smoke filled the air, making it harder to see what was happening next.
"Wait, what's this?" the reporter's voice cut in again, confusion slipping into her tone.
Out of the smoke, Diamondhead stepped forward.
He didn't say anything, just cracked his knuckles before moving. In one clean motion, his blade arm sliced through the strange weapon, cutting it clean in half before the crook could react.
The man barely had time to process what happened before he tried to run, only to be lifted off the ground as a massive crystal cage formed around him, locking him in place.
"It looks like we have another alien sighting!" the reporter said, her voice rising with excitement.
The driver, still holding his hostage, turned and aimed his gun at Diamondhead, clearly panicking now that things had shifted against him. Before he could do anything, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He spun around.
A crystal wall had already risen behind him, blocking any escape route.
Slowly, he turned back, looked at Diamondhead, then raised his hands.
"I give up."
The hostage stumbled free as officers rushed in to secure both criminals.
"We don't know where these creatures come from," the reporter continued, watching as the situation was brought under control, "but they seem to be here to help."
Far above Earth, that same broadcast played across a large screen inside a massive alien ship orbiting the planet.
Vilgax stood in silence, watching the footage with a cold, unamused expression.
"The Omnitrix… wasted on pointless heroics," he said, his voice low but filled with irritation.
Beside him, a robotic alien turned slightly. "Shall I dispatch more drones to retrieve it?"
Vilgax didn't answer immediately.
Instead, behind him, a large chamber began to open, releasing a thick cloud of steam into the room. The sound of machinery filled the air as the doors fully parted.
Vilgax stepped out from the chamber, his full form revealed as he moved forward, towering and imposing. Without a second thought, he crushed a nearby medical drone under his foot as he continued walking.
"No," he finally said.
His gaze remained fixed on the screen, on the image of Diamondhead standing among humans.
"I will see to this task myself."
...
While lying on his hoverboard, Evan's Another Omnitrix suddenly lit up and activated on its own, the dial popping up with a sharp glow that immediately pulled him out of his sleep. His hand moved on instinct, ready to slam it down, but he stopped halfway and looked around instead. The inside of the Rust Bucket was quiet, the road steady beneath them, no explosions, no alarms, nothing out of place.
His gaze dropped back to the watch, where the hologram of SAM hovered above the dial as if insisting on being chosen.
"Did you have a nightmare, Evan?" Max asked from his bed, catching the sudden movement.
"Not exactly…" Evan said, sitting up and rubbing the side of his head before lifting his wrist slightly. "The Another Omnitrix just activated its defense system on its own. It's… pointing me toward SAM."
Max's expression tightened a bit at that, the kind of look he got when something didn't sit right but he didn't want to jump to conclusions either. He'd seen enough strange tech in his life to know that when something like that acted up without a reason, there usually was one, just not obvious yet.
"That thing of yours has always been a step ahead," Max said after a moment. "If it's recommending your strongest alien, then whatever it's sensing isn't small."
Evan nodded slightly, lowering his arm but not dismissing the dial. "Yeah. I just don't know what it is trying to warn me about."
Max didn't hesitate after that. He got up and moved toward the driver's seat. "Change of plan. We're hitting the road now."
"Grandpa, it's three in the morning," Gwen groaned from her seat, not even bothering to open her eyes at first.
"Best way to beat the traffic," Max replied simply as he turned the key. The Rust Bucket rumbled to life and pulled back onto the road without another word.
Ben shifted in his seat, half-awake and half-confused. "If this is another 'sunrise scenic route' thing, I'm going back to sleep."
"It's not," Evan said quietly, glancing out the window as the dark road stretched ahead. "At least, I don't think it is."
...
Hours later, the scenery shifted as they crossed into South Dakota, the early light stretching across open land. A herd of buffalo moved in the distance, and the Rust Bucket rolled past them at a steady speed, though faster than usual.
Gwen leaned slightly toward the window, watching them pass. "Okay, that's actually kind of cool."
"Hey, Grandpa," Evan said, glancing forward. "What's with the lead foot?"
"I want to make Mt. Rushmore by nightfall," Max answered without missing a beat.
Ben flopped back dramatically. "I'm so bored."
"Try thinking for once," Gwen said, not looking up from her laptop.
Ben's eyes narrowed slightly, and that familiar look crossed his face as he turned his attention to the Omnitrix. "Or… I could not do that."
Before Gwen could react, her laptop screen flickered and then went completely blank.
"Hey, what gives?" she asked, tapping the keyboard.
The screen shifted into a green-and-black interface, and a single eye appeared before morphing into Upgrade's face.
"Sorry, you are a loser and always will be," Upgrade said, leaning out of the screen and tapping her chin.
"Ben, get out of my computer!" Gwen snapped, trying to grab him.
"What? I'm just entertaining myself," Upgrade replied, already shifting the laptop into a small spider-like machine and skittering away from her hands.
Brainstorm glanced over briefly from his corner, then went back to working with the Proto-Tool and a pile of salvaged alien tech, clearly deciding this wasn't worth interrupting.
"Ben, now is not the time to go alien," Max said, his tone firm but calm.
Upgrade paused, then separated from the laptop, reforming back into Ben as the Omnitrix timed out. "I was just messing around. But Evan is using alien all the time."
"He isn't messing around," Max said, eyes still on the road.
Ben muttered something under his breath but didn't argue further.
After a while, Brainstorm finished adjusting something and reverted back to Evan, now holding a small, compact core in his hand. He didn't say much, just opened the interface on his Another Omnitrix and dropped it in. The device absorbed it instantly.
[Data Upgrade Detected. Super Evolution Mode is now available.]
Evan read the description quietly, his eyes scanning the details.
"So it pushes an alien forward a thousand years of natural evolution in the best possible evolution condition…" he murmured with a smile before it disappeared at the next line. "At four times the energy cost. That's… not something to use casually."
He lowered his wrist and leaned back slightly, still thinking it over, when he noticed both Ben and Gwen staring out the window.
"What?" he asked.
They didn't answer right away. Instead, Gwen pointed ahead.
In the distance, dark smoke was rising from the direction of Rapid City.
"What's going on over there?" Ben asked, sitting up now, fully awake.
"I'm sure the local authorities have the situation well in hand," Max said, but there was a slight pause before he said it, just enough for Evan to notice.
That wasn't like him.
A second later, a massive mushroom cloud rose in the distance.
Ben didn't hesitate. "Looks like it's hero time."
"Ben, I don't think that's the best idea," Max warned.
"Sorry, Grandpa," Ben said, already slamming down on the Omnitrix. "Time to go Heatblast on these fools!"
The transformation completed in a burst of green light, and Heatblast jumped out of the Rust Bucket the moment it slowed, launching himself straight toward the city without waiting.
Max exhaled sharply. "Evan, go after him."
Evan nodded once, already activating his Another Omnitrix.
A yellow flash erupted, and in his place stood a massive green grasshopper.
"Crashhopper!"
He crouched low for a split second before launching himself forward, the ground cracking slightly beneath him as he shot into the air, quickly closing the distance as he chased after Heatblast toward the rising smoke.
Civilians scattered in every direction as the drones continued their assault, their metallic bodies hovering and weaving through the streets while firing down at anything that moved. Cars were abandoned mid-road, storefront windows shattered, and the sound of panicked shouting mixed with the constant hum of machinery.
Then streaks of fire cut through the chaos.
Heatblast dropped into the middle of the street, landing hard as flames rolled off his body, and without wasting a second, he hurled a series of fireballs straight into the nearest drones. The explosions knocked a few of them out of the air, sending pieces of metal clattering across the pavement.
Crashhopper followed right after, descending from above like a green missile before slamming both feet into a drone and crushing it flat on impact. The shock of the landing cracked the ground slightly, and he immediately sprang back up, already looking for his next target.
"Hey, why don't you pick on someone with real firepower?" Heatblast said, glancing around as more drones began to close in from every direction, their targeting systems locking onto the two of them.
A second later, more shapes appeared through the smoke.
A lot more.
Heatblast's posture shifted just slightly as he took it all in. "Oh man… I didn't mean all at once."
Crashhopper already stood beside him, rolling his shoulders once before settling into a crouch.
"Why do I get the feeling these guys were expecting us?" Heatblast asks.
"That's because they are," Crashhopper added a moment later, already moving.
He launched himself straight up, forcing several drones to immediately redirect their aim and fire a barrage of laser shots after him. Red beams sliced through the air where he had just been, but he adjusted midair, planting a foot against nothing using Zero-G before kicking off in a completely different direction.
Heatblast took advantage of the opening, unleashing a rapid stream of fireballs into the clustered drones. The blasts forced them to scatter, buying him just enough space to move as he slid to the side, flames flaring around his body to deflect a few incoming shots before countering again.
Crashhopper rebounded off the air itself, slamming shoulder-first into another drone and tearing through it before bouncing again, chaining his movement from one target to the next. Each impact sent another machine spiraling out of control.
"Keep them split!" Crashhopper called out as he redirected himself again, drawing half the drones away.
"Got it!" Heatblast replied, intensifying the flames around his arms before launching a wider arc of fire that cut across multiple targets at once, forcing them to back off or take the hit.
The fight stretched out for a bit, the two of them moving constantly, never staying in one place long enough to get pinned down. Drones fell one after another, some blown apart midair, others smashed into the ground, until eventually the numbers started thinning out.
One last drone tried to retreat upward, only to be caught by a final fireball from Heatblast that detonated it in a bright flash.
Silence followed, broken only by the crackle of fading flames and the sound of debris settling.
Crashhopper landed beside Heatblast again, both of them looking out through the lingering smoke.
"Did we get them?" Heatblast asked, turning his head slightly.
For a second, it seemed like they had.
Then something snapped into place.
Two electrified nets shot out from somewhere above, wrapping around both of them instantly and pinning them against a nearby wall. The current surged through the restraints, locking their limbs in place and cutting off any immediate attempt to break free.
"Okay, not good!" Heatblast said, struggling as the net tightened.
Crashhopper tried to push against it, but the more he moved, the more the energy pulsed back in response. "Yeah, definitely not done!"
A low, heavy rumble followed.
Both of them looked up as a massive spiked sphere rolled into view, crushing debris beneath it as it came to a slow stop right in front of them. The surface shifted, plates separating and folding back to reveal a mechanical interior.
A pod-like chamber opened.
From within, a large figure stepped forward, supported by mechanical legs and reinforced with heavy armor, a squid-like face. His presence alone seemed to change the air around them, his crimson eyes locking directly onto the two trapped aliens.
"At last," he said, his voice deep and steady, carrying easily over the wreckage around them. "We meet face to face. The beings that have caused me so much trouble."
Heatblast narrowed his eyes slightly. "What the… you… who are you supposed to be?"
Crashhopper tilted his head, looking him over. "You're way uglier than I remember."
The figure didn't react to that, simply stepping forward another pace.
"I am Vilgax," he said, the name landing with weight. "And I have come for the Omnitrixes."