Chapter 157: Omnitrix Calibration
The lead Forever Knight stared at Klein, his visor failing to hide the sheer disbelief radiating from his rigid posture. "You're backstabbing us?!"
"Do I look like I care if it's a backstab or a front stab?! Just squat down, put your hands on your head, and be obedient!" Klein crossed his arms, his posture radiating absolute, unapologetic arrogance. His expression practically screamed that he was entirely in the wrong, and he absolutely did not care.
"Damn it..." the Knight muttered.
Fighting Klein was strictly forbidden by their higher-ups, but running away was still on the table. The Forever Knights threw off their heavy red trench coats, the fabric hitting the floor to reveal the gleaming, full-plate medieval armor hidden underneath.
"Glorious Knights, let's fight our way out!" Commander Rikawa Steelplate bellowed at the top of his lungs. His loyal, albeit incredibly foolish, subordinates actually raised their laser lances and charged forward with a battle cry.
But Rikawa Steelplate had a different plan. The moment his men charged, he spun on his heel and sprinted in the exact opposite direction.
"Klein, prepare to die!!!" the grunts roared.
"Don't mind me!" Rikawa shouted over his shoulder.
"Don't mind me!!" the grunts echoed, charging blindly.
"Boss! You're running the wrong way!" one of the Knights suddenly yelled, skidding to a halt.
"Don't mind me!!!" Rikawa's voice echoed down the corridor, fading as he ran farther and farther away.
Klein watched the retreating figure with a deadpan expression. "Looks like your boss just ditched you." He looked back at the bewildered grunts. "So. Are you going to squat down and hold your heads now, or what?"
"Don't even think about it!" The remaining Forever Knights stubbornly drew their sidearms, fully intending to go down swinging.
"Truly stubborn." Kevin stepped up to a nearby shipping container. He slammed his palm against the corrugated steel, the metallic sheen rapidly spreading up his arm and encasing his entire body in solid metal.
Before Kevin could throw a punch, a chorus of agonizing, guttural shrieks echoed through the warehouse.
"Ahhhh!!!"
The group of mysterious men in black suits, led by their imposing commander, suddenly reached up and tore at their own faces. The synthetic human masks ripped away with a sickening squelch. Their bodies contorted, flesh bubbling and shifting as they transformed into grotesque, multi-eyed DNAliens.
"Ugh. So disgusting." Gwen wrinkled her nose, her face twisting in pure revulsion at the exposed, pulsating brains and slimy appendages.
"Are they?" Ben tilted his head, inspecting the hideous creatures. "I think they look fine."
"Honestly, I meant to say this last time, but I swear I've seen these ugly mugs somewhere before." Klein tapped his chin, genuinely trying to recall his meta-knowledge. He sighed, dropping his hand. "Can't remember. Whatever, let's just squash them."
He slapped the dial of the Another Omnitrix. "Shockhopper!"
A blinding flash of dark blue light illuminated the warehouse. In Klein's place stood a towering, bizarre alien hero. It possessed the bulky, electrically charged fur of a Shocksquatch, combined with the powerful, spring-loaded biomechanical legs of a Crashhopper.
"Anyone up for some electrotherapy?!" Shockhopper grinned, his voice buzzing with static.
With a massive, echoing boom, Shockhopper's powerful legs compressed and launched him dozens of meters into the air, nearly scraping the warehouse ceiling. He plummeted back down like a meteor, slamming his massive, furred fist directly into the concrete floor.
Golden lightning erupted from the impact point. Jagged fissures tore through the earth, carrying high-voltage currents straight toward the Forever Knights.
Sizzle, crackle, zap!
The shockwave threw the Knights off their feet, while the golden lightning danced across their conductive metal armor, electrocuting them until they were charred on the outside and smoking on the inside.
"Damn it! We... just... wanted... to escape..." Rikawa Cactus groaned from the floor, his armor billowing thick black smoke. "Was that... really necessary?"
"Whoops, my bad." Shockhopper rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He only just realized his muscle memory had completely taken over the second he saw the Forever Knight armor.
On the other side of the battlefield, the horde of DNAliens had completely encircled Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and the Plumber.
"It's hero time!" Ben confidently slapped the Omnitrix dial.
Nothing happened. He blinked, looking down at his wrist. The familiar green hourglass had vanished. Instead, the Omnitrix faceplate was glowing a steady, unresponsive blue.
"Are you kidding me?! Do you want to see what time it is right now?!" Ben yelled at his wrist, his face flushing with frustration. "Oh, this is so annoying! What a useless, broken watch!"
"Let me handle this instead." Gwen sighed, rolling her eyes at her cousin's temper tantrum. Clearly, the Dweeb couldn't be relied on right now.
She raised her hands, and vibrant pinkish-purple Anodite mana flared to life around her fingers. Just as a pack of DNAliens lunged forward, jaws snapping, Gwen thrust her palms out. A brilliant wave of mana exploded in mid-air, catching the monsters mid-leap and blasting them dozens of meters backward into a stack of wooden crates.
The Plumber raised his standard-issue blaster, firing precise, rapid shots. Pew, pew, pew! Several DNAliens dropped to the ground, stunned.
Kevin roared, his steel-coated fists swinging like wrecking balls. He charged directly into the thickest cluster of DNAliens, sending them flying one by one with brutal, heavy impacts.
Meanwhile, Ben was currently running for his life. Two DNAliens were hot on his heels, hacking up globs of highly corrosive, yellowish-brown slime.
"Whoa! Hey!" Ben yelped, diving behind a concrete pillar as a glob of slime sizzled against the wall where his head had just been. He scrambled over a discarded wooden pallet, frantically mashing the blue dial of the Omnitrix as he ran. "Come on, come on! Hurry up!"
Just as Ben ducked under another volley of acidic spit and kicked a heavy wooden board up to block the doorway, the Omnitrix suddenly chimed. The blue glow shifted, erupting into a brilliant, blinding emerald green.
When the light finally faded, the bulky, original Omnitrix was gone. In its place sat a sleek, watch-like device, resembling a high-tech green and black wristband.
If Klein had been paying attention instead of bullying Forever Knights, he would have recognized exactly what this meant. The Omnitrix had finally finished its recalibration.
"Whoa... it didn't use to look like this." Ben slowed his pace, staring at his wrist in pure confusion.
He cautiously pressed the buttons on the sides of the new faceplate. Instantly, the central dial popped up with a crisp mechanical click. Instead of the old black silhouettes, a glowing, three-dimensional green hologram of an alien hero hovered above the dial.
"There are so many guys I haven't even seen before!" A massive grin spread across his face. This stupid broken watch actually knew how to make it up to him. Even if it still looked a bit less flashy than his cousin's Another Omnitrix, it was definitely a massive upgrade from his old clunker.
"Hero time!" Ben shouted, slamming his hand down onto the holographic projection.
A brilliant flash of green light engulfed the warehouse. When it cleared, a towering, plant-like alien with a head resembling a burning flame stood in Ben's place.
"Swampfire!" he announced, his voice deep and raspy. He looked at his muddy, vine-covered hands. "Awesome!... Ugh, wait. What smells like a rotting dumpster?"
Swampfire lifted his arm and took a cautious sniff of his own armpit. He gagged slightly. "Oh. It's me. I smell."
He shrugged his flaming shoulders. Whatever. Smelling terrible wasn't exactly a new experience for him anyway.
Swampfire clenched his fists, igniting methane gas in his palms, and charged straight at the remaining DNAliens.
He threw a heavy left hook, followed by a blazing right cross, sending two of the grotesque creatures skidding across the floor. A third DNAlien spat a massive glob of brown slime directly at his face. Swampfire smoothly dropped into a crouch, letting the acid sail harmlessly over his head, before launching upward with a brutal flaming uppercut that launched the monster into the ceiling.
Seeing their numbers rapidly dwindling, the last few surviving DNAliens realized they were completely outmatched. They scrambled away from the fight, piling into the back of a massive, heavy-duty transport truck idling near the loading dock. The engine roared to life, tires screeching against the concrete as the driver gunned it toward the highway exit.
"Dream on!" A static-laced voice echoed from above.
With a thunderous boom, Shockhopper descended from the rafters, landing squarely in the path of the speeding truck. The asphalt cracked under his heavy, spring-loaded boots.
Shockhopper didn't even flinch as the massive vehicle barreled toward him. He simply raised his fists and slammed them down into the pavement. The surrounding area instantly transformed into a blinding pool of golden lightning. The ground buckled and shattered layer by layer, creating a massive kinetic shockwave.
The truck hit the jagged, electrified earth and immediately flipped.
Crash! Bang! Screech!
The heavy transport rolled end over end, flying dozens of meters backward through the air before violently slamming into a stack of steel shipping containers. A second later, the fuel tank ignited. The entire truck went up in a massive fireball, taking the fleeing DNAliens with it.
"Awesome!" Swampfire cheered, pumping his fist in the air. In his excitement, he turned and delivered a celebratory punch to the person standing next to him.
Unfortunately, that person was Kevin.
"Ow! Ben, you idiot!" Kevin stumbled back, clutching his shoulder.
Thankfully, Kevin was still in his solid steel form. He easily absorbed the kinetic impact of the punch, but that didn't stop him from being incredibly annoyed.
"Whoops, my bad." Swampfire awkwardly took a few steps back, lowering his flaming hands. "I wasn't paying attention."
"Damn it, Tennyson!" Kevin growled, lunging forward. He tackled the flaming plant alien to the ground, and the two immediately began wrestling in the dirt like overgrown children.
Gwen watched them roll around, sighing heavily. She turned to the Plumber. "Should we pull them apart?"
"They're two idiots. Don't bother," the Plumber replied dryly.
Gwen shook her head. As she turned back toward the loading dock, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. The group of Forever Knights, still smoking black from Shockhopper's lightning attack, were quietly piling into a second transport truck and speeding away into the night.
"They're running away!" Gwen pointed at the retreating taillights. "Cousin, should we chase them?"
A flash of dark blue light illuminated the area as Shockhopper reverted back to his human form. Klein stretched his neck, looking completely unbothered.
"Don't worry about it," Klein said casually. "I... uh, I mean, Kevin knows exactly where they're going."
Ignoring the escaping villains, Klein walked right past Kevin and Swampfire, who were still violently rolling around in the dust. He made a beeline straight for the abandoned metal cart sitting near the center of the warehouse—the one completely loaded with stacks of illicit cash.
"Awesome. Another haul." Klein grinned, grabbing the handles. He unceremoniously began pushing the heavy cart of money toward the exit, his movements looking suspiciously practiced and entirely too natural.
Gwen stared at him, her jaw dropping slightly. "Isn't this... a bit wrong?"
Klein didn't even look back. "What do you know, Dork? This is called 'managing their assets on their behalf'."
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