Tokyo – 9:03 A.M.
The quiet wasn't peace.
It was the kind of silence that comes after a storm, when the sky still holds its breath. Concrete was scorched. Steel was bent. The dock's edge trembled where Sharim had vanished into the earth.
Ben sat on a rusted crate, holding an ice pack to his jaw. XLR8's speed hadn't been enough. Not this time.
Across from him, Scorch stared at the crater. She hadn't spoken since they pulled her out of the bay.
Hikaru paced, his fingers twitching over the Elementatrix. Sparks of frustration crackled around his gauntlet.
"We lost him," Hikaru muttered. "Again."
Ben shifted the ice. "We didn't lose him. We just… gave him a head start."
"That was our chance!" Hikaru snapped. "He was slowing down—his energy's unstable, he can't keep this up forever—"
"And if we caught him?" Scorch's voice was low. Controlled. Dangerous. "What then, Hikaru? You wanna fight him again until he collapses? Watch him burn down another city block?"
The Elementrix wielder stopped cold.
Ben exhaled, letting the tension hang. "Alright. Break's over. We regroup."
The Return of Max
A deep horn blared from the harbor road above.
They turned.
A familiar old RV rumbled into view—paint faded, satellite dish crooked, but unmistakably the Rustbucket.
Ben's eyes lit up. "No way..."
The door creaked open, and out stepped Max Tennyson.
"Miss me?"
Ben ran up and practically tackled him with a hug. "Grandpa! You're early!"
Max raised a brow. "Early? I should've been here yesterday, but someone left me out of the loop."
He gave Hikaru and Scorch a nod, though his eyes lingered a moment longer on Scorch's unusual armor. "You must be the ones causing all the Plumber comms interference."
Hikaru gave a short bow. "Hikaru Ren. This is Scorch of Kinet."
Max folded his arms. "Kinet. That's not a name I've heard in a long time."
Scorch's jaw tightened. "Because we don't have much left."
Downward Spiral
Inside the RV, a holo-projection buzzed to life. Max tapped a few buttons, bringing up schematics of underground Tokyo.
"This is why I came," he said. "You didn't just lose your friend down a hole. He's headed toward something specific."
The projection zoomed in.
"A Plumber Relay Vault—old tech, deep underground. We used it during the Osmosian incursions. It was supposed to be decommissioned after the first Kevin incident, but... bureaucracy moves slower than aliens do."
Ben frowned. "What kind of vault?"
"Energy collection. Raw kinetic absorption fields, power regulators, and molecular phase stabilizers. If your friend's mutation is unstable, he's probably drawn to it like a moth to a nuclear flame."
Scorch's breath caught. "That much energy would destroy him."
Hikaru looked grim. "Or make him worse."
Max nodded. "If he interfaces with the vault... it could push him beyond mutation. Make him something no Plumber or tech on Earth can predict."
Division
The group fell silent.
Hikaru broke it. "Then we hit it first. We cut him off."
Scorch snapped. "You want to blow it up? Do you even hear yourself?"
"I hear the reality!" Hikaru shot back. "He's a walking meltdown. He's not Sharim anymore!"
Ben raised his hands. "Whoa, let's not turn this into a three-way brawl—"
"He is still in there," Scorch said firmly. "I saw it. When I touched him. I felt it."
"That doesn't mean it's enough!" Hikaru shouted.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Max finally stepped in. "No one here wants to lose him. But we can't let hope blind us to the facts."
He turned to Scorch.
"If you want to save what's left of him—you're gonna have to prepare for the possibility that he's already gone."
She didn't respond.
Next Steps
By midday, the group had relocated to a maintenance tunnel entrance—one of many old access shafts leading toward the vault.
Max handed out scanning devices. "We can't outrun him anymore. So we go below, get ahead, and shut the vault down from inside."
Hikaru nodded, checking the Elementatrix. "Got a few forms prepped for low-light recon."
Ben glanced at the Omnitrix. "Time for some underground recon—classic style."
Scorch said nothing. Her eyes were fixed on the dark.
She touched the tempo-loop still clasped to her armor, now flickering with low, dying pulses of blue.
Elsewhere – Underground Tokyo
Sharim staggered through a hollowed-out tunnel, steam hissing from his shoulders. The scent of burnt ozone clung to him.
Every wall around him throbbed with distant power.
He reached a narrow corridor, lined with long-dormant machinery and faded Plumber sigils. The vault's main door loomed ahead.
His fingers twitched.
He heard voices again.
Scorch... the Heights...
"NO."
He screamed, striking the wall—metal bursting in sparks.
"DON'T COME AFTER ME."
His form surged. Cracks of light poured from his joints. His mind, once kinetic perfection, now bent inward on itself—fracturing under the pressure.
Then… silence.
He pressed a claw to the door. The vault responded