Chapter 108: What Do You Two Want to Do?
Grandpa Max handled the sterile, brightly lit corridors of the Space Administration facility with practiced ease. He guided his grandchildren past oblivious security guards and bustling staff members, finally halting before a massive, heavy-duty steel gate. A glowing digital keypad blinked a steady, demanding red.
Max didn't even blink. He reached into his pocket, retrieving a sleek, metallic Plumber's universal key, and slid it into a hidden seam beneath the keypad. A soft click echoed, and the heavy doors hissed open.
"Just a little trick from the Plumbers," Max said, tossing the key in his palm with a wink at Klein, Ben, and Gwen.
The four of them slipped inside the darkened server room. Rows of massive mainframes hummed with quiet energy.
"The Space Administration records absolutely everything," Max explained, pulling up a chair to a glowing terminal. His fingers danced across the keyboard. "Let's dig into this purple lightning incident." He brought up a series of grainy video files. "This was captured by the exterior surveillance cameras at the exact time of the strike. There has to be a clue here..."
Max and Gwen leaned in close, their eyes scanning the flickering monitors.
Klein leaned against a nearby server rack, arms crossed, thoroughly uninterested in the grainy footage. His mind was elsewhere. Specifically, he was wondering where his newly acquired 'pets'—Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei—had wandered off to. He had given them strict orders. If those two monsters dared to pull a disappearing act, he fully intended to use Xiao Bai as dry kindling to roast Xiao Hei over an open fire.
Miles away, in the dark recesses of an abandoned compound, the Mummy and the Werewolf simultaneously shuddered, a sudden, icy chill gripping their monstrous forms.
Ben groaned, his head tilting back to stare at the ceiling tiles. The thrill of sneaking into a restricted government facility had worn off exactly three minutes ago. He perked up, turning to Klein with a mischievous grin. "Hey, cousin. This is putting me to sleep. Let's ditch the Dork and go out to find some fun."
Klein gave a slow, deliberate shake of his head. Wandering around outside was a terrible idea right now. If they bumped into his black-and-white monstrous duo, explaining why two terrifying alien cryptids were following him around like lost puppies would be a massive headache, let alone trying to secretly hide them again.
"Grandpa, wait! Look at that!" Gwen's voice suddenly spiked in volume. She jabbed a finger at the monitor.
Max paused the video, and both Klein and Ben drifted over to peer at the frozen frame.
"Dr. Viktor?!" Max leaned closer, his brow furrowing deeply. The grainy image clearly showed the imposing scientist standing right at the epicenter of the anomalous purple lightning strike. Max's decades of Plumber instincts flared; he knew instantly that Dr. Viktor was inextricably linked to the phenomenon.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go find Dr. Viktor quickly!" Ben didn't wait for a response. He spun on his heel and sprinted toward the exit, eager for a fight.
Klein sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets, and shrugged helplessly before trudging after his hyperactive cousin. Max and Gwen exchanged a look and followed closely behind.
Ten minutes later, they were wandering the expansive exterior grounds of the facility.
"Dr. Viktor, Dr. Viktor, Dr. Viktor..." Ben kicked a loose pebble, crossing his arms in deep frustration. "Man, this is annoying! Where in the world is Dr. Viktor?!"
A sharp, crackling boom shattered the night air. The sky above them split open, illuminated by a jagged, blinding flash of violet electricity.
"Look! Over there!" Gwen shouted, pointing toward the distant horizon where the purple energy still danced against the clouds.
"Let's go take a look," Max called out to his grandchildren, breaking into a brisk jog toward the source of the disturbance.
The group hurried through the facility grounds, eventually arriving at a massive, sprawling canyon of twisted metal and discarded technology.
"Where exactly is this?" Gwen asked, her eyes wide as she took in the towering mountains of steel.
"They call this place the 'Graveyard,'" Max explained patiently, his gaze sweeping over the rusted hulks. "Rockets, thrusters, orbital engines, decommissioned space capsules... absolutely everything ends up here. Mercury, Gemini 1, Apollo parts... The Agency is a lot like your Aunt Vera; she can't bear to throw away any junk."
Another deafening crack tore through the air. A thick bolt of purple lightning arced down from the sky, slamming directly toward the Tennyson family.
"Move!" Max barked.
They scattered, diving out of the way just in time as the lightning scorched the earth, leaving a smoking, glass-lined crater in its wake. After steadying themselves, they peeked out from their cover, looking toward the source of the strike.
"Dr. Viktor!" Ben yelled, his usual smirk vanishing, replaced by a rare, serious scowl.
The scientist didn't bother replying. Instead, he let out a low, guttural growl. His human disguise rippled and tore. The pristine white lab coat shredded into rags as his body expanded, muscles bulging and metallic nodes bursting through his pale skin. In seconds, Dr. Viktor stood revealed in his true form—a towering, hulking alien that looked like a nightmare ripped straight from a mad scientist's laboratory.
Seeing the monstrous transformation, Ben didn't hesitate. He slapped his hand down on the Omnitrix dial.
A brilliant emerald flash illuminated the scrap yard. When the light faded, a bulky, armor-plated alien with a wide, yellow-and-white shell stood in Ben's place.
Cannonbolt blinked, looking down at his stubby, clawed hands. A heavy sigh escaped him. "...Seriously? What did Four Arms ever do to you?"
Seeing Ben transform, Dr. Viktor stared down at the rolling alien, his metallic jaw shifting with cold indifference. "The Omnitrix. I have indeed heard of it..."
His glowing eyes flicked past Cannonbolt, landing squarely on Klein. If his intelligence was correct, that black-haired, blue-eyed brat could probably transform too. A slight complication, but it should be manageable. After all, his reinforcements were already here.
Right on cue, the heavy thud of paws and the rustle of dry bandages echoed through the scrap yard. The Werewolf and the Mummy sprinted into the clearing. They had rushed all the way here to warn Dr. Viktor about the terrifying anomaly they had encountered, but the moment they skidded to a halt, they froze. They saw Klein standing right there. The warning died in their throats. They knew it was already too late.
A heavy, suffocating silence descended over the Graveyard. Everyone present just stared at each other.
"You're here too?! That's great! Come quickly and help me take them down!" Dr. Viktor boomed, looking at the Mummy with genuine, pleasant surprise. In his arrogance, he didn't bother to think carefully about why the Mummy had been missing for so long, or why it had suddenly appeared here of all places.
Gwen blinked, her jaw dropping as she recognized the bandaged alien. She spun toward Klein, completely bewildered. "The Mummy is still alive?! Cousin, didn't you already—"
"Uh... well... you know... sometimes... never mind," Klein stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. He had originally wanted to make up a smooth excuse, but he suddenly found it way too difficult to explain, so he was too lazy to bother.
Otherwise, what else could he say? Should he announce that these two black-and-white fiends were so intimidated by his supreme, domineering aura that they automatically recognized him as their master? That would be too ridiculous!
He dropped the act and pointed a lazy finger at the towering alien. "Xiao Hei, Xiao Bai. Go beat up that big Dr. Viktor."
Without a second of hesitation, the Mummy and the Werewolf let out ferocious roars and lunged directly at Dr. Viktor.
"Whoa! Cousin, you can command them?! That's so cool!" Cannonbolt cheered, waving his stubby arms so wildly he nearly lost his balance and tipped backward onto his shell.
Grandpa Max simply watched the chaotic scene unfold, a faint, knowing smile touching his lips. He knew Klein operated by his own set of rules, often doing things behind his back. But as long as they weren't bad things, it didn't matter much to him. What's more, the boy had only raised two, uh... not-so-cute pets.
"You two! What exactly do you think you're doing?!" Dr. Viktor shouted angrily, his voice cracking with shock as he struggled to dodge the sweeping claw strikes of the Werewolf.
But the Mummy and the Werewolf seemed to not hear him at all, focusing entirely on relentlessly beating him to a pulp.
"You dare?! Are you betraying the Big Boss?!" Facing the combined, brutal assault of the two monsters, Dr. Viktor suddenly found it incredibly difficult to cope. Desperate, he could only bring up the title of their terrifying overlord to pressure them into submission.
The Mummy responded by wrapping a dense coil of bandages around its fist and delivering a brutal, bone-rattling punch directly to Dr. Viktor's face.
Big Boss?! What Big Boss?! Anyone with half a brain within a hundred-mile radius knew they were now Klein's most loyal left and right guardians! It didn't matter that this so-called Big Boss wasn't here. Even if he was, they were entirely convinced Klein would just beat him up too! For the Mummy and the Werewolf, the Big Boss was indeed quite important, but compared to their own lives, they would have to reconsider.
"Uh... should I go up and help?" Cannonbolt shifted his weight awkwardly, feeling that his transformation this time was quite useless.
"Probably... not needed?" Gwen muttered, wincing as she watched the one-sided beatdown. The Mummy and the Werewolf were being unusually ruthless when dealing with their former comrade.
After some time, the dust finally settled. The battered, bruised, and sparking Dr. Viktor reappeared before everyone, only now he was being held up by the arms by the Mummy and the Werewolf. Although the two monsters were also not lightly injured, their injuries were clearly much lighter than Dr. Viktor's dismantled state.
A sequence of red beeps echoed, and a flash of crimson light changed Cannonbolt back into Ben. The boy dusted off his shirt, planting his hands on his hips as he looked down at the defeated alien. "Well, although I still don't understand what Dr. Viktor is up to, the matter should be resolved now, right?"
Upon hearing this, Dr. Viktor coughed, speaking weakly. "I'm not the mastermind... The mastermind has always been the Big Boss."
Hearing this, Max's expression darkened. His instincts told him that things were definitely not that simple.
"Deal with him," Klein ordered, looking calmly at the Mummy and the Werewolf.
The two monsters didn't hesitate. They hauled Dr. Viktor's limp body up and dragged him away into the shadows of the scrap yard.
Looking in the direction they left, Klein's eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a playful smile.
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