"Not long after you left, someone knocked on the door." Ben recalled the events with a voice thick with guilt. "Gwen and I wanted to answer it, but Grandpa went to the window first and saw three people we didn't recognize. And their bodies, it was all stretchy!"
His hands clenched into fists as he continued, the memory clearly haunting him. "To protect Gwen and me, Grandpa made us hide upstairs. He opened the door himself, confronted those monsters head-on, and ran outside to act as bait. Then... then they caught him."
"Grandpa, we're going to save you!" Asher swore under his breath, his voice carrying conviction. There wasn't a trace of doubt in his tone, only fierce determination.
"Gwen and I stayed hidden upstairs until we couldn't hear anything anymore." Ben's fist slammed against the floor in frustration. "Later, those aliens came upstairs to search, but they didn't find us. Eventually, they just... left."
Self-loathing filled Ben's expression as he looked at Asher. "If I had a weapon like the Omnitrix, I could've protected Grandpa! I could've done something instead of just hiding like a coward!"
Hearing this, Asher's resolve hardened. I have to help Ben get some real equipment. Something that can keep him safe.
Ben and Gwen were just ordinary kids. They couldn't keep following him into danger without any means of protecting themselves. Eventually, their luck would run out.
The thought crystallized into a firm promise: If there's ever an opportunity, I'll find them defensive gear at minimum. Maybe even offensive weapons if they can handle it.
Not right now, of course. But someday soon, Asher would make it happen.
"Ben, don't blame yourself," Asher said, placing a reassuring hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Those aliens are incredibly difficult to deal with. I transformed into an alien hero, and even that wasn't enough to beat them. I could only attack them with water."
"Not even an alien hero could defeat them?" Ben's eyes widened with disbelief.
"Exactly. That's why we can't rely on brute force this time." Asher's expression turned serious and calculating. "We have to be smart about this. We need a plan."
Intelligence over strength. Strategy over power.
Fortunately, the Omnitrix had exactly the alien he needed for this situation, one with an IQ that could solve almost any problem.
Ding dong~ Ding dong~
The sudden chime of the doorbell shattered the tense atmosphere. The sound felt ominous, like death itself knocking at their door.
"Ben, Gwen, it's Grandpa! I'm back!" Max's familiar, warm voice called from outside.
"Grandpa?!" Both Ben and Gwen shot to their feet simultaneously, hope flooding their faces.
Could it be true? Was Grandpa actually okay?
"Grandpa Max? No!" Asher's mind raced through the possibilities in an instant. "Grandpa was captured by those monsters. There's no way he could come back unharmed."
"But that's definitely Grandpa's voice," Ben protested, confusion written across his face.
"Aunt Vera's voice and mannerisms were exactly the same too," Asher countered sharply. "Even her cooking skills hadn't changed. So let me ask you this, was she really our aunt?"
The question hung in the air like a death sentence.
In just a few words, Asher had exposed the truly terrifying nature of these aliens. They could seamlessly integrate into someone's life, replacing the people closest to them. They were nearly perfect infiltrators, perfect spies with only one weakness.
Water
"Then... what do we do?" Gwen asked, worry creeping into her voice.
Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!
BOOM! BOOM!
The doorbell gave way to furious pounding on the door, each impact reverberating through the house like thunder.
"Go! Downstairs, then out the back door, move!" Asher commanded without hesitation. He took the lead, rushing downstairs at breakneck speed while staying alert for any threats.
Ben and Gwen followed close behind, their footsteps quick but careful.
When the three reached the first floor, they didn't waste a second. Asher threw open the back door, and they slipped out into the yard.
The moment they shut the door behind them,
CRASH!
The front door exploded inward, kicked off its hinges with tremendous force.
The shapeshifter wearing Max's face stormed inside, all pretense of kindness gone. Murder blazed in his eyes as his neck stretched grotesquely, his head floating through the air like a snake. "Where are they? Where did those kids go?! We have to catch them! We absolutely cannot let them escape with what they know!"
He wasn't alone. More shapeshifters poured into the house, their forms twisting and stretching as they began a systematic search.
Outside, Asher led Ben and Gwen through the tall grass, moving from yard to yard and using every house as cover. But everywhere they turned, they could hear approaching footsteps.
The shapeshifters were searching house by house, yard by yard, even checking lawns, trees, and any place that might conceal three children!
They were determined to find them, no matter what it took. "So many shapeshifters..." Gwen whispered, her anxiety growing with each passing second. "How are we supposed to fight them all?"
Asher glanced down at the crimson Omnitrix on his wrist. His jaw set with determination. "We need to find somewhere safe, somewhere they won't think to search. Otherwise, we'll be captured too."
But where? Where could they possibly hide that these creatures wouldn't find them?
"The sewers?" Ben suggested desperately.
"We don't know where the sewer entrances are, and we don't have time to find them," Asher shot back immediately.
Ben and Gwen continued brainstorming frantically, but nothing seemed feasible. Every idea had fatal flaws, and the footsteps were getting closer.
Then Asher's expression hardened as a daring plan crystallized in his mind. "We're going back to Aunt Vera's house."
"What?!" Both Ben and Gwen stared at him like he'd lost his mind.
"That place has already been searched," Asher explained with grim logic. "It'll be the safest spot, safer than anywhere else. These shapeshifters are methodical, like machines running on programming. They'll search everywhere they haven't checked yet, but they won't waste time rechecking places they've already cleared."
He was betting everything on that assumption.
If he was wrong, they were finished.
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