The gas station was no longer a place of business; it was a tomb. The asphalt was scorched black, and the skeletons of police cruisers smoldered in the sun. Amidst the carnage, Rojo and her two companions stepped out from the inferno. Their skin was no longer human—it was a bruised, deep crimson, fused with jagged Vilgaxian tech.
"I hear you," Rojo whispered to the voice vibrating in her skull. Her eyes glowed with a mechanical fever. "You hate the wielder of the watch as much as we do. Tell us how to break him."
"With pleasure, Earthling," Vilgax replied from his stasis tank, his voice dripping with icy venom. "His transformations have limits. Exploit them."
Rojo flexed her arm, and serrated mechanical horns slid out of her biceps. "We'll make them pay in blood."
"Signal approaching!" one of the cyborgs grinned, her thermal sensors spiking. "Is it the blue freak?"
BANG!!
A blur of deep blue and black slammed into the speaker. The cyborg woman was sent tumbling across the concrete, her newly grafted armor spider-webbing with cracks.
Ben skidded to a halt in front of the corpses of the gas station attendants. His mask retracted, revealing a face twisted with grief and rage. "I don't usually hit women," he rasped, his voice trembling. "But today, I'm making an exception for monsters."
"If you hadn't played hero, they'd still be alive!" Rojo taunted, raising her palms. Integrated laser turrets hummed to life. "Now, we get rich on your head!"
Twin beams of searing red light lanced out, but Ben was already gone. He moved like a ghost, striking from the blind spots, tossing the three cyborgs around like ragdolls. But Vilgax was watching through their eyes.
"They cannot hit what they cannot see," Vilgax commanded. "Ascend! Force the Chimera to face the sky!"
The trio ignited their thrusters, soaring twenty feet into the air. Ben skidded to a stop, looking up helplessly. He was fast, but he couldn't fly.
Following Vilgax's tactical readout, the three women linked their fire, weaving a lattice of laser fire that descended like a glowing net. Ben dived and rolled, but the space was shrinking. He was trapped.
"Checkmate," Rojo sneered.
WHOOSH!!!
A violent, pitch-black whirlwind tore through the wreckage of a nearby semi-truck.
"What is—?!" Rojo's head snapped toward the road.
The whirlwind didn't just move; it erupted. The Velocity Wraith—Tyler's horrific XLR8 variant—leaped into the air. His clawed feet didn't need a ramp; the sheer kinetic force of his sprint launched him like a surface-to-air missile.
"GHOST!!" Rojo screamed as the skeletal, visor-less face of Tyler's alien appeared in front of her mid-air.
Tyler's prehensile, blade-tipped tail lashed out, shattering Rojo's shoulder plating and sending her spiraling. In the same motion, his clawed fists hammered the other two, grounding them in a heap of sparking metal.
Tyler landed silently next to Ben.
"Tyler... thanks for the save," Ben muttered, leaning on his knees.
Tyler didn't look back. His single red eye remained locked on the recovering cyborgs. "Don't call it a save, Ben. You were the bait. Now I'm the hook."
Rojo scrambled up, her thrusters sputtering. "Just another freak! Fly higher! He can't reach us if we're out of range!"
The cyborgs retreated into the sky, their palms glowing. They felt the pressure now—an aura of absolute, suffocating "Killing Intent" radiating from Tyler.
Tyler didn't jump this time. He took a single, heavy step. The concrete beneath his wheel-feet disintegrated. He began to circle the gas station at a speed that defied physics.
"What's he doing? Spinning?" Rojo laughed nervously.
Then, the laughter died.
With the unnatural strength of Tyler's "Plumber" physique backing the alien's speed, the wind didn't just swirl—it ignited. A massive, silver-and-black Dragon of air and debris roared upward, a cyclone so powerful it sucked the oxygen out of the surrounding blocks.
"GO! HIGHER!" Rojo screamed, but it was too late. The Silver Dragon engulfed them.
Inside the eye of the storm, Tyler was everywhere at once. His voice echoed from the swirling debris, cold and hollow: "You know nothing of the Wraith's power."
Ben watched from the ground, his own small "tornado" look like a child's toy compared to the localized hurricane Tyler had summoned. Tyler wasn't just using an alien; he was a God of War.
CRUNCH. SNAP. SHATTER.
Every time a cyborg was caught in the rotation, Tyler's claws tore through their mechanical hearts. A moment later, the wind died. Tyler landed softly, his breathing perfectly steady. Behind him, three battered forms hit the ground like discarded scrap metal.
Rojo lay broken, her armor crushed into her chest. "Wait... I can tell you... who sent us..." she wheezed.
Tyler raised a claw, aiming for her core. "I already know. Tell Vilgax I'm coming for the rest of his scrap heap."
Before Rojo could speak, the red lights on her chest began to pulse. Self-destruct.
BOOM!
The explosion turned the three outlaws to ash. Tyler stood in the shockwave, his shadow long and menacing against the flames.
[Ding! Host has decimated the Cyborg Outlaws. Progress: +1%]
[Template Mastery: 19/100. DNA Unlocked: THE CHIMERA (Vilgaxian Factor)!]
Tyler's heart skipped a beat. Vilgax's own DNA? The Carnitrix was now capable of turning him into the very thing that hunted them.
Deep Space: The Chimerian Hammer
Vilgax ripped the neural tubes from his reconstructed arms, his massive frame shaking with fury. He looked at the data stream of Tyler's combat performance.
"The Earthling who holds the secret of the watch... you think you are the predator?" Vilgax's eyes glowed with a murderous light. "You are merely a grasshopper in the autumn. Your season is ending."
Tyler's Updated Roster:
The Velocity Wraith (XLR8)
The Cinder-Soul (Heatblast)
The Abyss-Jaw (Ripjaws)
The Wrecking Star (Cannonbolt)
The Gax-Factor (Vilgaxian - UNLOCKED)