Chapter 1: Escape

(Set on Galvin Prime, just a few months after the events of Malgax Attacks.)

Albedo had been humiliated for the last time. Of course, he said that every time, but this time, he'd had some time to plan his next move. They'd sentenced him to 30 cycles cleaning up his latest mess. He'd been here less than one and had already found a way to take advantage of the situation.

As it turned out, the rubble he was cleaning up wasn't just bits and pieces of building, but had tech strewn in as well, and not all of it was broken. He'd begun to take it, fix what he could, and scrap the rest to build new. He was always careful to hide it from his guards when they led him to the cell where he spent his nights. For a race as smart as the galvans, they could be pretty dumb sometimes. By the time they did discover what he'd been up to, he hoped to be far off world.

The new omnitrix he'd been building was nearly complete, and soon he'd be able to shed this repulsive human skin once more. They could have at least put me in the body of 16 year old Ben, He thought bitterly. Rather than the 11 year old body when the original omnitrix malfunctioned. I suppose I should have made sure the old DNA was gone from the internal replicator All he needed was one more part, one that was quite crucial to its completion.

He might have to steal it, but when the omnitrix was completed, he could escape and build a better one, one that didn't have Azmuth's accursed fail-safes installed. Then he could finally get his revenge on those accursed earthlings. He'd need a foolproof plan though, if he wanted to one up Ben Tennyson this time. Every other time, no matter what he had tried, he had always gotten one upped by the disgusting human and his friends. This time, however, would be different. This time, he would follow Azmuth's advice and plan for every contingency.

He kicked a piece of rubble in his way as he headed to the next pile and heard it hit a full bin at just the right angle to cause it to tip from its unsteady angle and spill out everything in it. He winced as two galvan guards in flight suits approached him with weapons drawn.

"Alright, alright, I'll pick it up. Mongrels." He whispered the human insult under his breath, if for no other reason than he knew they would not understand it and that gave him a certain measure of satisfaction.

They watched him intently for a moment, then apparently decided to return to their original posting around the corner a ways away. Albedo glanced over to make sure they were gone and grinned. The flight stabilizer he'd just taken off the inattentive guard was an extra, and would not be missed until long after Albedo was gone. The parts from it would make a fine substitute for the DNA stabilizer he needed to ensure his own safety when wearing his omnitrix. Oh yes, he thought. This will do just fine for initiating phase 1. He flipped it once in his hand while smirking, then stuck it in a pile of rubble where he knew he could pick it up that night without being noticed.

2 Weeks later

Freedom. Albedo had escaped right from underneath their noses. Who's the smart one now? I'm in a human body and I still can out think you. Azmuth would have worried him, what with his planning for all contingencies, but he was off world, and Albedo would not make the mistake of underestimating him again. He couldn't afford to, not if he wanted to bag Tennyson and the ultimatrix.

He slipped between the buildings, his ship so close now he could see the slight scarring on the sides from age and battles long past, most not even seen by him. If only ships could talk, it might have learned enough to give him a good strategy for beating Azmuth at his own game. One step at a time. He told himself. They will fall, but arrogance will get you nowhere this time. That lesson, at least, had been learned.

Albedo stole on board, careful not to alert any nearby galvans. It didn't matter if his absence had been missed; soon he would be away from this rock and free to wreak havoc through the galaxy with his omnitrix. He strapped himself in and grabbed the throttle, wanting to be away as soon as possible. The ship rocked slightly as he jumped into hyperspace, showing its age. He'd bought it cheap off an ex-fighter pilot who'd just wanted to be rid of it as soon as possible. It had served him well already, and he'd only had it a half cycle before being stuck on Galvan Prime. But what was really special about it wasn't its backstory or its weapons or propulsion's systems, regardless of how good they may have been. It was the lab Albedo had installed as soon as he traded in his old ship for it. He was missing the parts need to upgrade the omnitrix but he had something almost as good, which he'd built himself painstakingly from plans stolen cycles ago from the plumbers on Earth.

The Null Void Projector that Albedo had built was a little different than the one used by the plumbers to detain the aliens they captured. In theory, this projector should allow him to access more than one dimension which he intended to use to search for new species to scan into the omnitrix, giving him an edge on Tennyson. He just needed one last piece before it would be functional, and that piece was an extract of a neutron star. A power source that should let him open and hold a portal indefinitely.

Extracting a piece of the star was actually quite simple; it was bring the sample onto the ship and placing it withing the special power cell he'd prepared that proved quite dangerous and difficult. One wrong move and he'd be fried either from radiation or intense heat. Albedo hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until the star piece was safely inserted and the readings were showing normal limits. No overloads, good. Can't afford a redo this time.

He turned the dial in front of him until the console lit up green and flipped a small switch. There was a loud hum and a bright flash, then nothing. What?! Why isn't it working? Could I have made a calibration error? Perhaps I should land on a nearby moon or space station and test it on more stable ground.

It was simply that the ship was not big enough to contain the event horizon that the portal created, nor could it sustain the power levels required without its circuits frying. Once Albedo had landed on a small uninhabited, but liveable moon, he was able to start it up again. This time, it worked perfectly, and the portal showed a new world. It was the same moon he was on, but inhabited and civilized. By turning the dials, he was able to shift the location he could see, showing him several other versions of familiar planets such as Arburia or Khoros.

He stopped when he reached Earth, not from mere curiosity, but from a power fluctuation that told him something strong and definitely abnormal was on this Earth, something he immediately wanted to find and see if he could exploit. A simple adjustment and the portal would hold until he wished to come back. Once the portal had stabilized, he simply walked through, eager to see what this new plane had in store.