Chapter 153: Giving You a Chance
Max Tennyson's shoulders slumped. The heavy sigh that escaped his lips seemed to age the veteran Plumber by another ten years right before their eyes.
Gwen stepped forward, her brow furrowed with concern. "Grandpa, what is wrong?"
Max stared at the metal floor, his eyes distant as he dug into memories he clearly wanted to keep buried. "The Forever King was once a Plumber. Back when I was just a rookie, a massive scandal rocked the organization."
A scandal? Now that sounded entertaining.
Klein leaned against the bulkhead, his usual lazy posture shifting just enough to show he was actually listening. Hex and Charmcaster, completely out of the loop regarding Plumber history, also mirrored his curiosity, stepping closer to hear the old man's tale.
"Driscoll," Max continued, his voice tight. "He was a senior Plumber, highly respected, until he was caught stealing confiscated alien technology for his own illicit gains. He was arrested, stripped of his badge, and dishonorably discharged. After that, he vanished into the criminal underworld. No one heard a whisper about him for decades. Now, he has returned as the Forever King."
Max rubbed his temples, the weight of the situation pressing down on him.
Klein crossed his arms, piecing the puzzle together. "So that explains why he knows the exact layout of this base and everything about the Sub-Energy."
"We need to lock this place down. I have a gut feeling he is coming back, and he will not be alone this time." Max turned on his heel, heading straight for the armory to retrieve the heavy-duty equipment stored deep within the base.
"Grandpa, I will go keep an eye on the Sub-Energy."
Klein tossed the words over his shoulder and walked away without waiting for a response.
Hex immediately fell into step behind him. Stay behind and wait for the enemy to come to them? Not a chance. He wanted to follow his boss and show off his magical prowess.
Charmcaster, Gwen, and Ben tried to tag along, but Klein raised a hand, stopping them in their tracks.
"Having Hex back me up is more than enough. We do not need a crowd."
Klein kept his face perfectly neutral, but internally, he just did not want the others ruining his fun. Trolling a villain was an art form best practiced without a peanut gallery of do-gooders complaining about property damage.
Hex followed Klein across a series of suspended underground catwalks, leading into a massive, heavily fortified sector that looked like an advanced research laboratory.
The containment chamber for the Sub-Energy was a gargantuan cylindrical vault. High-tech generators lined the walls, pulsing with a cold, faint blue light that cast long shadows across the metal floor.
In the dead center of the room, a secondary cylindrical force field hummed with raw, localized power. The Sub-Energy itself was completely invisible behind the dense energy shielding, but Klein could sense the sheer density of it radiating through the air.
"Wait here."
Klein found a sturdy supply crate near the console, dropped into a seated position, and closed his eyes to rest.
He knew his grandfather was currently setting up a labyrinth of traps at the main entrance, but Klein felt entirely certain those preparations would be useless. Villains with inside knowledge never used the front door. So, he simply came directly to the prize to wait for the thieves to deliver themselves.
Hex found it a bit strange that Klein was so absolutely confident in this strategy, but the boss had spoken. A good subordinate knew better than to question a direct order.
Adjusting his heavy robes, Hex simply sat down cross-legged on the cold metal floor, resting his mystical staff across his knees.
A long stretch of silence passed.
Then, the ceiling groaned.
Plaster and reinforced metal plating buckled inward. A massive, mutated mole burst through the solid rock overhead, raining debris and dust down into the pristine laboratory as it squeezed its massive bulk through the breach.
"Confound it, I got turned around in the bedrock! But we have finally dug through!" Dr. Animo's raspy voice echoed from the creature's back.
"Hehehe... Tennyson and his Plumber fools are probably still guarding the main blast doors. They would never anticipate us bypassing the entire security grid and digging our way in directly!"
Driscoll, fully clad in his Forever King armor, leaped off the mutated mole's back, followed closely by Dr. Animo and Sublimino. They landed on the laboratory floor, weapons drawn and ready for a glorious heist.
As the dust settled, they froze.
Klein was sitting on a crate just a few yards away, watching them with half-open eyes. Hex was sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring right back at them.
The silence stretched. The atmosphere in the room turned incredibly awkward.
Driscoll's brain stalled. Weren't the Tennysons supposed to be at the front gate? Did he just spend hours digging through solid granite just to drop directly into a waiting ambush?
Sublimino was the first to react. He whipped out his oversized pocket watch, swinging it like a pendulum in a desperate bid to hypnotize the two guards before they could sound the alarm.
Hex did not even bother standing up. He simply snapped his fingers.
A sphere of concentrated magical fire erupted directly in Sublimino's face.
The explosion blasted the hypnotist backward. His ridiculous clothes were scorched to rags, his hair was singed entirely off, and his prized pocket watch shattered into smoking gears. He hit the floor in an undignified, groaning heap.
Hex smoothly rose to his feet, twirling his staff. Crimson lightning crackles from the ruby tip, forming a glowing magical lariat. He whipped the energy rope forward, aiming to bind the intruders in one swift motion.
Driscoll threw himself to the side, narrowly dodging the mystical bands. Dr. Animo and the dazed Sublimino were not so lucky. The crimson rope wrapped tightly around them, binding them back-to-back and dropping them to the floor.
Seeing his team instantly neutralized, Driscoll glared from his cover, his fists trembling with frustration. "Curse it all! We were so close!"
Klein finally spoke, his tone dripping with absolute boredom. "Is that right? What exactly makes you think getting your hands on the Sub-Energy means you win?"
"...What are you playing at, boy?"
Driscoll narrowed his eyes behind his visor. He was not an idiot. He noticed Klein had not made a single move to attack him, nor had he called for backup.
"Go get it."
Klein crossed his arms over his chest and took a deliberate step backward, clearing the path to the containment field.
Driscoll froze. "What?!" He could hardly believe his own ears.
"I told you to go get it." Klein sighed, his voice taking on a sharp edge of impatience.
Driscoll hesitated. He did not know what kind of twisted game this teenager was playing, but the ultimate prize was sitting right in front of him, pulsing with infinite power. He could not refuse the temptation.
Stepping cautiously out of cover, Driscoll approached the protective force field.
In front of the shielding was a control platform with two distinct slots, perfectly sized for the specialized keys he had stolen.
Driscoll inserted the two keys and turned them simultaneously.
With a heavy mechanical whine, the blue force field powered down. The spherical containment vessel opened, finally revealing the Sub-Energy. It looked like a miniature, violently glowing purple star, crackling with raw, unstable power.
"Finally... it is mine."
Driscoll reached out and grabbed the core. He pressed it directly against his chest plate. The shield emblem on his Forever King armor slid open, extending mechanical clamps that pulled the raw Sub-Energy directly into his suit's power grid.
The armor sealed shut. Searing purple light exploded from every seam of Driscoll's suit, illuminating the entire laboratory.
"Such magnificent power!" Driscoll threw his head back. The sheer surge of energy coursing through his tech made him feel like a god. He was invincible.
"Interesting."
Klein smirked. He raised his hand and slapped the faceplate of the Another Omnitrix. "Come on then, if you dare!"
A blinding flash of blue light flooded the chamber.
When the light faded, Diamondhead stood in Klein's place, his crystalline body reflecting the ambient purple glow of the room. This was the very first alien hero he had transformed into at the start of the summer, and it felt fitting that it would be the last one he used before the road trip ended.
"You arrogant fool! You are asking for death!"
The 'Y' shaped visor on Driscoll's helmet flared with blinding purple intensity. A massive, concentrated beam of pure Sub-Energy blasted across the room, tearing up the floorboards in its wake.
Diamondhead did not dodge. He simply crossed his crystalline arms over his chest.
The purple beam slammed into him, but instead of vaporizing him, the energy refracted, sinking deep into his silicon-based structure. Diamondhead absorbed the kinetic and thermal shockwave effortlessly, his body acting as a perfect prism.
He lowered his arms, aiming his right hand directly at the Forever King.
A concentrated, prismatic beam of rainbow light erupted from his palm.
The blast obliterated half the laboratory. Consoles melted into slag, and the shockwave threw Driscoll through three reinforced walls. The Forever King landed in a heap of smoking rubble, his armor cracked and leaking erratic arcs of purple electricity.
"This... this is impossible!"
Driscoll stared at his trembling hands in absolute disbelief. The power of the Sub-Energy was unquestionable. It was the most potent force on Earth. Yet, this mere Petrosapien had absorbed it like it was nothing.
If the ultimate power he had spent decades planning to steal could be brushed off so easily, then what did his entire life's work amount to? A joke?
Fueled by pure, unadulterated rage, Driscoll forced himself to his feet.
Off to the side, the tied-up Dr. Animo and Sublimino watched the one-sided beatdown in absolute horror. Their boss was losing his mind.
Animo leaned his head toward Sublimino, whispering frantically. "Can you hypnotize him?" He gestured with his eyes toward Hex, who was casually leaning on his staff, watching the battle unfold.
Sublimino groaned. "My watch was blown up... Fine, I will try the old-fashioned way."
Ignoring the fact that his hypnotic glasses were also shattered, Sublimino decided to give it his best shot.
Hex glanced over, his eyes narrowing in deep displeasure.
Sublimino started rolling his eyeballs in exaggerated, dizzying circles. "Look deeply into my eyes... look into my eyes... look into—Ow!"
Hex stepped forward and casually brought the heavy base of his magic wand down directly onto Sublimino's skull.
"Look into your eyes? Your eyes are the size of a rat's! I cannot even see the blasted things!"
Thwack! Crack! Thud!
Hex ruthlessly beat the two bound villains with his staff, hammering them like they owed him money.
Animo yelped, trying to squirm away from the blows. "Why are you hitting me too?!"
"Silence! One more word and I will beat you to death!" Hex snarled, delivering a final, brutal strike to Animo's head. The mad scientist's eyes rolled back, and he instantly went limp.
Back on the main battlefield, the situation was escalating.
Deep fissures appeared across Driscoll's full armor. Blinding purple light bled through the fractured metal, hissing with unstable heat. He was overdrawing the Sub-Energy, pushing the core past its absolute limits in a desperate bid to destroy his enemy.
"Die!"
A gargantuan pillar of purple destruction erupted from the visor on Driscoll's head armor, wide enough to engulf a skyscraper.
Diamondhead spread his arms wide, leaving his chest completely exposed. The beam struck him dead center.
It was like throwing a pebble into an ocean. The apocalyptic energy simply vanished into Diamondhead's crystalline chest, completely absorbed without a single drop spilling over.
When the beam finally died down, Diamondhead's entire body shimmered with intense, prismatic light. He was vibrating with stored power.
Diamondhead raised both hands toward the panting, exhausted Forever King.
A colossal column of rainbow energy burst forth.
Driscoll's desperate scream was entirely drowned out by the roar of the blast. The beam punched straight through the Forever King, straight through the reinforced bunker walls, and straight through the solid granite of the mountain above.
Hex raised a hand, closing his eyes against the blinding flash and the sudden avalanche of falling dust and debris.
When the rumbling finally stopped, Hex felt a strange glare hitting his eyelids.
He opened his eyes and looked up. The ceiling was gone. In fact, the entire top half of Mount Rushmore had been completely vaporized. He was staring directly at the clear sky. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.
Footsteps echoed from the surviving corridors. Ben, Gwen, and Max rushed onto the scene, weapons drawn, only to freeze dead in their tracks. They stared up at the missing mountain, their jaws unhinged.
Sublimino, nursing a massive, throbbing lump on his head, stared up at the rising sun. His spirit completely broken, he let out a hollow, defeated sigh. "This is... entirely excessive."
A bright, sunny morning.
The Rustbucket pulled up to a quiet suburban house, the engine sputtering as it came to a halt.
Ben walked Cooper all the way up to his front door. "Alright, Cooper. The movie premiere starts in two hours. Hand over the tickets."
Ben held out his right hand expectantly.
Cooper shifted awkwardly, refusing to meet Ben's eyes. He shook his head. "Sorry, uh... I do not actually have any extra tickets. Actually, I do not have any tickets at all."
Ben's eyes widened in shock. "What?!"
Cooper rubbed the back of his neck, his face flushing red. "I just figured you guys would not want to hang out with me at all otherwise. So I just lied and said I had tickets."
Before Ben could explode, Cooper quickly turned, opened his front door, and darted inside, shutting it firmly behind him.
Staring at the closed wood, Ben threw his hands up, his face twisting in annoyance. "Oh, come on! That is so annoying!"
Sitting by the window inside the Rustbucket, Klein rested his chin on his hand. He watched his cousin's misery with absolute, unapologetic schadenfreude, a quiet chuckle escaping his lips.
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