Author's Note: Hey again! Welcome back! We're jumping right into another chapter. If you like the story, be sure to Favorite/Follow, and if you have any hot takes be sure to put them in the Reviews!

Anyway, that's enough from me. Enjoy the chapter~

Chapter Two - Gathering Storm

Everywhere Ben looked, there was storm, and darkness.

He was alone, cold, on a desolate island. Lost in the storm. Alone. He crawled up the beach, away from the nightmares in the sky. Shaking with cold and fear, Ben crawled beneath the meager shelter of a nearby tree. Tucking his knees to his chin, he squeezed his eyes shut, shouting wordlessly and willing the storm away. It did no such thing. Instead there was a crack of thunder that seemed to taunt him. How helpless you are, it seemed to tease. Any moment a stray bolt could strike you down. That easily. Nothing but a fly.

The water level began to rise, and the beach grew shorter and shorter. The churning darkness of the sea matched that of the nightmare sky, and it threatened to soon over take him. Ben quickly stood, his back pressed firmly to the tree. Another crack of thunder, and a flash of lightning. The tree was ablaze, falling over. Ben's last hope. Gone, in a flash. The water was climbing his ankles now. The nightmare storm would take him. He had only one more opportunity. Ben looked to his wrist, and instantly, the cylindrical helix of the watch presented itself to him. A glowing green beacon in the darkness.

Ben twisted the dial to the right creature, a fanged, finned thing with gills. Then, just as the water engulfed him, he took one deep breath, and slammed his hand down on the button. There was a burst of green energy, and a vibration of power that sent a ricochet of bubbles flying out in haphazard directions. Then, when the bubbles cleared, Ben made a horrifying realization. The storm noticed, and seemed to laugh at him. He wasn't the shark-like alien. He was a being made entirely of fire… and he was swimming 10 feet under the surface of the ocean.

He instantly felt weak. He swayed, faltered… He was going to drown!

Ben woke up gasping for air, drenched in his own, cold, sweat. He looked frantically around his room. It was a small, side bunk that he was sharing with his cousin, Gwen. They had been shacked up there upon arrival at the Hinobi base. It was basically a square, with a comfortable enough bed for each of them, a bedside table, a dresser, and precious little else. There was one window that occupied an entire wall, a massive glass pane that was part of the larger, modern frame of the base's design. The sun was peeking in, through the blinds, slightly ajar. Ben could already see people in white uniforms making their rounds around the base.

These were Hinobi Glitch Techs, specifically trained specialists. They were sort of like a private security force at first, but over time they became a fusion of covert ops and intelligence. Ben and Gwen, upon arriving at the base, had met two of these Techs. Agents Miko and Five. They couldn't tell them anything further about their actual names. So, they were just Miko and Five. They were professional, but kind, and were particularly fond of one of the other young residents of the Hinobi base.

With impeccable timing, the door to the room opened, and an imposing figure stood in the frame. Gwen blinked an eye open, and, noticing who was at the door, closed it again. She knew who the visitor was here for, and it wasn't her.

The person at the door was sort of a person, but also mostly a robot. She was some kind of android, fashioned to look vaguely humanoid. XJ-9, also known as Jenny. She was tall, 6 feet or so, with a sleek, white and blue metal exterior. She had a streamlined, combat ready design, but her eyes were strangely human. Likewise, when she spoke, her voice (while digitized somewhat) was almost uncanny sounding.

"Let's go," the robot said.

"Huh?" Ben said groggily.

"Mom- Erm. Director Wakeman wants you to come down to the scan bay. There are some tests she needs to run on the Omnitrix."

Ben squinted for a second, and then it all came back to him. His nightmare quickly vanished into his subconscious, and he stood, pulling on his baggy cargo pants and button up.

"Yeah, OK," he said, "but I still think 'the Watch' sounds cooler than 'Omnitrix'."

Jenny rolled her eyes, and turned to walk down the hallway. She made it a few strides before turning back, annoyed, to watch Ben groggily catch up. The door to his room slid shut behind him. They continued at this pace for a while, until Jenny grew tired of waiting for him. At that point she just walked off to the entrance of the scan bay, leaving Ben to navigate the winding halls of the Hinobi base by the sounds of her heavy, metal footsteps. Eventually he did find the scan bay, and outside of it, a small cluster of people.

Jenny was there, of course, and beside her a small, mature woman, with a grey pixie cut and a long, yellow coat. She wore a pair of dark goggles on her forehead. That was Director Wakeman. Standing beside the Director was Ben's grandfather, Max. As Ben approached, the old man ruffled his hair.

"You OK, Ben? Did ya skip breakfast?" He said. Ben glared at Jenny.

"When did I get time for breakfast?" He said, to nobody in particular.

Wakeman was over it before it began.

"Alright, alright," she said. "Now that we're all assembled, I'd like to run my tests if you don't mind."

"So what are you gonna do, like, x-ray me?" Ben asked, shuffling over to the door as it was opened for him.

"Not quite," Wakeman said. "However, the radiation we're using could harm a human without the protective field you have from the Omnitrix. So, we can't come in and hold your hand or anything."

"Gross, I don't want anyone to hold my hand," Ben said indignantly.

"It'll be OK, Ben," Max said. "We just gotta make sure we know as much as we can about this thing."

Ben shrugged, and walked into the scan bay. It was an empty, grey room, with two benches sitting parallel to each other, and large mirror, that Ben assumed was one way. Wakeman noticed Jenny watching Ben, her arms crossed, eyes glazed with boredom. The director quirked a silver eyebrow.

"XJ-9, why don't you go in and keep him company," she said.

"What? No, I-"

"Nonsense. As an android, you'll be safe from the radiation. Plus, we wouldn't either of you to get too bored or anything."

Jenny tried to sputter an argument for a moment more before she resigned. She knew her mother would not give ground. With a sour expression, the android walked into the scan bay, and leaned with her back against one of the walls, her arms still crossed. Ben glanced at her once, but she kept her eyes glued to the ceiling as the door was shut and locked behind them. They were suddenly alone.

"You coulda woke me up for breakfast," Ben said after a few moments of silence.

Jenny turned so that she was leaning on her side, with her back to Ben. There was silence again, and then Ben's stomach growled loudly. Ben couldn't contain himself.

"Now I'm gonna be so hungry," he whined.

"You're kind of a twerp, you know that?" Jenny said, glancing over her shoulder at him. \

"You don't even know what hunger feels like!"

"Ugh," Jenny said, rolling her eyes and turning away again.

"Alright, we're gonna start the first wave of scans now," came Wakeman's voice over a P.A.

Outside of the scan bay, in a room on the opposite side of the mirror, Max and Wakeman stood watching the pair in the bay. The glass was leaded and one way, so they couldn't be seen, or harmed by any stray particles, but they could observe what was going on in the scan bay. Wakeman was adjusting various dials, and occasionally glancing at one of nearly a dozen different forms of monitor. From printed paper tickers to digital wavelength readouts. Max, who was less experienced with this side of things, stood with his hands in his pockets, and let Wakeman do what she did.

"So," Max said, after a long moment of silence. The old man swayed on the balls of his heels in a way that seemed juvenile. "What's the scanner say?"

"It's remarkable," Wakeman said. "Unlike anything I've studied. It's tech working on a level more fundamentally complicated than some living beings on our planet. I can't even begin to theorize who made it, or what else they might have constructed."

Max gave a grim nod.

"How does it all tie back into Vilgax?" He said.

Neither of them was fond of hearing the name spoken aloud. Both bore deep, scarred memories of the being it represented. However, they had scarred him too, there was no denying it. Wakeman sighed, leaning back in the rolling chair she was perched in. Bringing her angular fingers to her temples, she began to verbally speculate.

"There's a few leads," she said. "First and foremost, almost a year ago, now, there was the Red Eye. It was this giant probe, it came down in New Mexico. That was when XJ-9 and I first got involved with this Hinobi nonsense. I think it was looking for the Omnitrix, but instead found a different powerful piece of tech, in XJ-9. Before we took it out of commission, the probe sent a signal back to whoever was in control of it."

"So, that's Vilgax?" Max assumed. Wakeman stretched the side of her lip and cheek, suggesting that there might be more to the story. Max waited expectantly.

"Maybe," Wakeman said. "Except… Max, it's got all the markings of a Gem-tech probe."

"Gems?" Max said, earnest surprise sneaking into his voice. "I thought they gave up on this planet eons ago."

"We're still paid the occasional visit," the director said wryly. "After all, we do happen to host the only faction of gems to ever successfully rebel against the Diamond Authority."

"That's right," Max said, as if remembering an entire section of his past. His eyes were lost for a moment.

"There's been more and more "unprecedented" activity on the east coast. The ramp up in glitches has been so significant that we've had to start doing routine mindwipes in some of the rural locations," Wakeman said. "There was even an incident in NYC, though, that was a different case. Something about dragons… You'd have loved that one."

"Stay focused, Nora," Max said.

"Don't tell me what to do," Wakeman said, though with no conviction. "Since the rebel gems are, from what our drone sightings tell us, currently located on the east coast, its easy to assume that the recent surge of problems can be attributed at least somewhat to them."

"You think they've gone double rogue?" Max asked.

"Not likely," Wakeman said. "No, I think ultimately, this does all tie back into Vilgax. The gem-related problems surge and then recede. The rebels have never caused too much trouble for us directly, from what I know. Plus, those robots that Ben described…"

"Textbook drones," Max said, as he recalled the wreckage from an earlier part of the summer. "It was like looking in a mirror to the past."

"I believe it. I used parts of Vilgax's old drones to build some of the early XJ models, so I know all about the orange bastards," Wakeman said.

Max sighed, pacing a small route and tapping his thick fingers on his square chin.

"If we're right," he said, "and he's… back. Then we need to prepare for a storm. Full lockdown, high alert, Ben needs top priority security at all times. Last time Vilgax came to town, things weren't pretty. Not to mention what we might be in for if the gems have turned."

Wakeman, by this point, was reviewing the scans once more, and Max turned to look into the one way window. He worried for his grandson, because he had seen what this foe could do. He knew the threat that they faced…

And they weren't ready.