The ground shook, as all four AG's landed on a deserted street, somewhere in the darker part of the city.
"What are these like in a firefight?" Asked John, curiously as he climbed out of the cockpit of an AG. "I mean, I know they're fast, but still…"
"Depends on who you're fighting, and if you've got backup. " Replied Ben. "If you're a good pilot, there's pretty much no technology on earth that could stop you. Except for me of course. Against the Andraians, you'd more-or-less be in a fair fight."
"So, how could you stop them?" Said John. "If they're as powerful as you say, surely not even the Omnitrix could…"
"You're right." Ben interrupted. "But you've also got to take into account how long I've spent building and planning these ships. And after hours of discussing it with my computer through the Mechnomorph, we came up with a simple, yet effective solution; a remote neural interface, its hardwired right into the Main Drive Control unit and Self Destruct Systema. If anyone steals my AG's, I can either take control of their flight path, or just blow them away, and the system's non-invasive, so anyone can use it once their DNA code is programmed into it. So far, only six people in the world have access to it. You, Me, Mom, Will, Gwen, and Max.
"That's pure genius…" Replied John, startled by what he had just heard. "How close does it have to be to work?"
"Actually," Said Ben. "It run on a subspace frequency of six hundred and eighty three terahertz, so in theory at least, you could use it from anywhere within our galaxy."
"I'll have to take a look at these when all of this is over with. But what about the engines?" He asked. "What do they run on? I assume you're not talkin' gasoline here.."
"Its engines can propel someone to almost any speed. They run on zero point energy, so the only real power consumption comes from the EM Fusion Core. Without that system to cancel the craft's mass, you're limited to sub light speeds, but lets continue this conversation later, we've got to find Max and see what's happened to Gwen. She's the only one who can stop the Kryl."
"OK," Said John, handing out communication nodes. "Everyone put one on except Ben, the transceivers are neuro-electric. If one of you gets into trouble, we're all gonna know about it."
The four of them made their way to Max's home at the far side of the city, hoping he had not moved since they had last seen him three months ago. The streets were all but completely deserted, the side gardens, unkempt. A mixture of car fumes and the smell of lit fires filled the air, forming large grey clouds around them which slowly drifted upwards and then vanished into the moonlight. It wasn't long before they could see Max's home. It had suffered much damage to its outer walls from his days as a plumber, and one or two bloodstains. A small camera fitted to the doorway panned around, keeping their faces in sight as Ben reached for the doorbell and pressed it. A muffled buzz emanated from somewhere inside.
And for a moment they waited, hoping against hope that he was home. As it seemed their luck was about to run out, the sound of footsteps and a key being turned caused them to jump. A second later, the door had been opened so that there was a gap just wide enough for someone to see out of. Very cautiously, a voice asked
"Ben, what were you doing, the night you found the omnitrix, eleven months ago?"
"Um… Well, I was annoyed at having to spend my summer with you and Gwen, so I took a walk in the forest and spotted what looked like a meteor falling from the sky, didn't I?" Replied Ben.
Max seemed to be testing him, making sure he wasn't an impostor. He paused for a moment, considering what Ben had said. Eventually he pushed the door open, ushering them inside and closed it just as quickly.
"OK, lets start with why all of you are here?" Exclaimed Max incredulously. "I heard about the attack on your house by the Kryl. You should have fled to another country, why here? And what are those things that John and everyone else is wearing?" He added as a side-note.
"I'll explain later." Replied Ben. "Right now, we need to find Gwen so she can stop the Kryl. They don't usually attack people for no reason, someone must be controlling them to get to the omnitrix."
"I don't think so…" Said Max. "Very few people know about it, most have already tried. I wouldn't be surprised if they're after something else this time…"
He showed them to the living room, where everyone took a seat by the fire and began to discuss what had happened since they had last met.
They had apparently forgotten about the passage of time, as when they had finished speaking and Max started letting up the window blinds, they found the sun had already risen and it looked after midday. As the bright white light filled the room, they saw many features which were previously rendered invisible. The walls of the room, which they had originally thought to be covered by dark grey wallpaper were actually large steel bulk-heads. A terminal screen had replaced the table beside the sofa, and it looked as though this small house had taken quite a beating in such a short space of time. Outside the living room, an ancient-looking stairwell provided access to the room above. As it turned out, their time had been well spent. Apparently, Gwen had stopped by a few hours before Ben and his family arrived. She said she was on her way to their home to help Ben after she found out where the Kryl were going.
"So, where are you going to go?" Asked Max, as he entered the room. "You can't stay here, that's for sure, they'll find you in no time."
"Looks like we'll have to search for Gwen." Replied John. "And those Kryl are coming back after dark too, so that doesn't give us much time either."
"Well before you all set off, I've got a few things that might help out a lot." Said Max, leading everyone upstairs where a large duranium door with a keypad attached served to protect the contents of the rooms. He entered a long code, and said
"I am operative 07T, identify voice input."
A green light illuminated behind the door, followed by a series of loud, deep clicks. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Take your pick." He exclaimed to the Tennyson's. "If its Kryl you're up against, take this:" He handed Ben a large black weapon with a silver finish.
"It's a De-ionising Electro Magnetic Oscillating Nanobeam." Explained Max. "D.E.M.O.N. for short. To use it, hold down the orange button on top to reveal Kryl presence and pull the red, illuminated trigger at the base to fire a wide-bean shot. If you need precision for a single stray Kryl, use the switch on the side to change to a narrow, concentrated beam. Simple enough.
"Its perfect." Replied Ben. "So this'll actually kill the Kryl?
"Oh, I'm afraid not." Said Max, slightly crestfallen. "It'll stun them for a few hours at a time, but the Kryl are slightly out of phase with our reality, its impossible to really kill something you can't touch. The D.E.M.O.Ns project a particle beam to bring them partially back into phase, but to bring them close enough to be eliminated completely, you'd need a power source greater than that of every planet in every star system in the galaxy put together."
Later than day, the Tennyson's set out to find Gwen. Evidently, this part of the city was not home to some of the most decent people you could meet, as the AG's had been given a fresh coating of "paint" overnight.
"Well, that's not good…" Said Will, approaching his A.G and examining the recent graffiti which had somehow been engraved on the left side.
"Not to worry." Said Ben, running his fingers along the thick scrapes in the rough duranium hull. "We can see about repairs later, but just in case, lets fly with the stealth system." He said, exasperatedly.
As all four of them began to climb aboard the AG's, a group of people could be seen approaching from the right corner of the street, directly behind them. They were laughing sycophantically at the job they had obviously finished only moments before everyone had arrived. Though satisfied at what they had achieved, none of the really seemed to know what it was that they had been spraying paint on. They didn't seem to be the most agreeable group of people either.
"Lets just get inside." Said John quietly "Its not like they'll be chasing us several thousand feet above the-"
His sentence was cut short at a rifle bullet shot past him, inches from his head.
"They're armed!" Shouted Ben, trying to decided whether to stay and fight, or flee. It was not the possible battle which worried him, rather the possibility of others finding how who he was.
"Come one, then." Said one of the thugs, threateningly. "Have a go. I'll make it quick!"
Right now Ben would really have loved to make him eat his words, along with several of the paint cans on the ground around him, however finally, his mind made up, he reluctantly closed the airlock on his AG and signalled for the rest of his family to do the same. As the AG's ion engine roared, he could see the six people below him on the ground looking up in awe, but at the same time trying not to be blown off their feet by the explosive reaction of practically frozen air rushing toward the ground.
"Umm… Lets go stealth." Said Ben, slightly anxiously. "The last thing we need right now is another news report about four flying saucers over the city."