Confirming that Kevin and Gwen were both sound asleep, Albedo tapped the chest crest of his Pesky Dust form, letting the crimson light sweep over his body as he reverted to his human shape.
He stretched his shoulders, glancing casually over at the towering alien warlord.
“Well, the bait is officially set.
It’s time to make contact with Ben Tennyson.
The hostage arrangements and the broadcast are all yours, Vilgax.
If you’ll excuse me, I have an urgent errand—I need to pick up a large order of spicy chili fries and a extra-large smoothie.
Can I get you anything while I’m out?”
A faint, sharp smirk touched Albedo’s lips as he asked.
Vilgax glared down at him, his squid-like face twisting in distaste as he let out a low, curt growl.
“No.”
Without another word, the warlord dismissively waved his heavy, armored hand.
Two massive, seven-foot-tall white security droids marched forward on heavy hydraulic legs, their glowing optics locking onto the slumbering forms of Kevin and Gwen.
The droids scooped up the teenagers effortlessly, turning to carry them deeper into the facility.
Vilgax clearly had his own agenda.
This abandoned warehouse wasn’t where he intended to face Ben Tennyson.
Albedo stepping away to indulge his human cravings suited the warlord just fine; it left the two high-value hostages entirely under his personal control.
When Tennyson showed up, Vilgax would hold all the leverage necessary to force the boy to hand over the original Omnitrix.
It was a cold, calculated plan.
But Vilgax was operating under a fatal assumption: he assumed Albedo was a loyal co-conspirator.
In reality, Albedo had zero intention of handing Ben Tennyson over on a silver platter.
The subtle care he had taken to render Kevin and Gwen unconscious with Pesky Dust—rather than flattening them into paste with Humungousaur or Way Big—was proof enough that he wasn’t playing Vilgax’s game.
As Vilgax’s heavy footsteps echoed away into the darkness, Albedo couldn’t suppress the smirk spreading across his face.
He could already picture it: the precise moment Vilgax realized his “brilliant” partner was actually playing both sides of the board.
The look of utter, dumbfounded outrage on the warlord’s face was going to be an absolute masterpiece.
Just thinking about it made Albedo want to laugh out loud.
And as for his claim about buying chili fries?
He hadn’t lied.
He was a creature of high intellect and precise honesty.
He was going to get his fries.
What he chose to do after eating them, however…
well, who was to say he wouldn’t track down Tennyson himself?
Twenty minutes later, Albedo walked out of the local Mr.
Smoothie establishment, carrying a steaming paper bag loaded with extra-spicy chili fries in one hand and a giant green smoothie in the other.
He was genuinely impressed the place was still open at this hour of the night, but he wasn’t about to complain.
He picked a quiet patio table outside, sitting down and setting his food in front of him.
Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a sleek, hand-sized metallic rectangle—a compact computing rig he had assembled in his spare time on the ship.
A brilliant holographic display projected upward into the air, while a full, glowing red keyboard materialized directly onto the surface of the plastic table.
Albedo leaned back, taking a sip of his smoothie.
With his right hand, he happily stuffed a crispy, sauce-drenched fry into his mouth; with his left, his fingers flew across the light-board at blinding speed.
It took less than three minutes.
Using his refined knowledge of the Omnitrix’s quantum broadcast protocols, Albedo’s custom interface locked onto the ultra-faint, localized energy signature of Ben Tennyson’s active watch.
He extracted the real-time spatial coordinates, feeding the tracking data directly into his Ultimatrix gauntlet.
“Target acquired,” he murmured, closing the holographic display and slipping the device back into his pocket.
He finished his fries, tossed the trash into a bin, and strolled into a dark, deserted alleyway nearby.
After confirming there were no security cameras or late-night pedestrians around, he raised his left arm and slammed his palm down onto the Ultimatrix dial.
Red light flared in the narrow alley.
“Jetray!”
With a sharp crack like a whip, the red Aerophibian shot upward into the night sky, soaring far above the city lights at supersonic speeds.
Navigating via the Ultimatrix’s internal HUD, Albedo tracked Tennyson’s signal to an uninhabited, hilly expanse just outside the Bellwood city limits.
Within five minutes, his sharp alien vision picked out a bright blue streak tearing across the dirt roads below—Ben, transformed into XLR8, sprinting toward Vilgax’s broadcast coordinates at top speed.
Jetray accelerated, diving through the clouds like a strike fighter.
He swept over XLR8, pulled up into a tight loop, and charged a burst of neuro-plasmic energy at the tip of his tail.
BOOM!
A red plasma bolt struck the dirt path directly in front of the fast-moving blue blur, detonating in a shower of sparks, smoke, and pulverized earth.
XLR8 skidded to a violent halt, his spherical wheels digging deep trenches into the dirt as dust enveloped the road.
Before the smoke could clear, Jetray slammed down heavily into the center of the path, his wings folded, his back turned directly toward the speedster in a quiet, deliberate show of power.
Ben didn’t hesitate.
Realizing he was facing an unknown threat, he slapped the Omnitrix emblem on his chest, reverting to human form in a flash of green light.
He immediately dialed his watch interface again, bringing up the holographic silhouette of Humungousaur, his finger hovering over the dial, ready to transform at a moment’s notice.
“Hey!
I don’t know who you are, freak, but you picked the wrong night to mess with me!” Ben shouted, his voice tight with anxiety and anger.
“Get out of my way before I flatten you!
I’ve got people to save!”
The alien standing in front of him didn’t flinch.
“My, my,” Jetray said, his voice carrying a cool, mocking edge.
“So quick to throw threats, Tennyson.
Have you really forgotten me so easily?”
Ben’s brow furrowed.
“What are you talking about?
Do I know you?”
Jetray slowly turned around, stepping out of the settling dust cloud and making sure the brilliant red Ultimatrix symbol on his chest was clearly visible in the moonlight.
Ben stared at the familiar hourglass emblem—identical in shape to his own, but glowing with an unmistakable, sinister red light.
His eyes widened in sudden realization.
“No way…” Ben gasped.
“In the flesh,” Jetray replied.
With a quick tap to the chest emblem, a flash of red light swept over his body, shifting him back into his pale, white-haired human form.
He crossed his arms, looking at Ben with a condescending smirk.
“Though I must say, Tennyson, your spatial awareness remains as tragically undeveloped as ever.”
Ben took a defensive step back, his hand still hovering over his watch.
“How are you even out here?!
You were locked up in a Galvan prison station!”
Albedo chuckled, brushing a stray strand of white hair out of his eyes.
“Please.
Did you honestly believe a few titanium bars and automated droids could contain a mind like mine?
You severely underestimate what I am capable of.”
His red eyes narrowed slightly as he looked Ben up and down.
“Though judging by the sweat on your forehead and your frantic pace, I assume you’ve already received the grand invitation?
You know where Kevin and Gwen are.”
“How do you know about that?!” Ben demanded.
“How do I know?” Albedo laughed softly, stepping forward.
“Because I was the one who captured them, of course.”
Ben’s expression hardened instantly, his eyes flashing with fury.
Albedo didn’t bother hiding a single detail.
He casually laid out the entire story—how Vilgax had tracked him down, offered a alliance to take down Earth’s champion, and how they had set the trap together at the warehouse.
He described it all with absolute, unfiltered casualness, as if he were recounting what he had eaten for breakfast.
Ben’s fist clenched tightly, his chest heaving with mounting rage as Albedo spoke.
“You teamed up with Vilgax…” Ben growled, his voice dangerously low.
“You sold out my family to a monster!”
“Oh, relax, Tennyson,” Albedo interrupted smoothly, waving his hand as if brushing away a fly.
“Don’t get your heroic feathers ruffled just yet.
I never had any intention of actually working with that overgrown squid.
The entire ‘alliance’ was just a convenient diversion.
I simply thought it would be thoroughly entertaining to watch.”
Ben blinked, thrown completely off-balance by the sudden shift.
“What…?”
Albedo smirked, tapping the red device on his wrist.
“Vilgax thinks he’s using me to get to you.
You think you’re charging into a rescue mission.
But the truth, Ben, is that neither of you are in control of this situation.”