Jack didn't stay in the warehouse long enough to see the police arrive.
The moment the Omnitrix forced him back into human form, instinct took over. The fight had already pushed the transformation timer to its absolute limit, and the sound of distant sirens meant he had perhaps one minute at most before the entire street filled with flashing lights and curious officers.
That was more than enough reason to leave.
He slipped through the broken side door of the warehouse, climbed the fire escape attached to the building, and reached the rooftop above in a matter of seconds. The Omnitrix on his wrist finished its recharge cycle with a faint pulse of green light.
Jack didn't hesitate.
"Let's move."
*KRR-CHAK!*
He slammed the dial down again.
Green energy wrapped around his body, bones shifting and muscles reshaping in the familiar flash of alien transformation. When the light faded, XLR8 crouched low on the rooftop like a coiled spring.
The world slowed immediately.
Cars on the street below crawled along the asphalt as if they were moving through thick syrup, and the distant police sirens that echoed through Hell's Kitchen sounded almost lazy compared to the speed flowing through Jack's veins.
He pushed off the rooftop.
The wind exploded behind him.
Within seconds he had already crossed four city blocks and vanished into the night.
The first police car arrived less than two minutes later.
Its tires screeched as it drifted to a stop outside the warehouse entrance, red and blue lights painting the street in flashing colors.
Two officers rushed inside with their weapons raised.
"Police! Don't move!"
Their voices echoed through the warehouse.
But the moment their eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, both of them stopped in confusion.
Criminals were scattered across the floor.
One lay slumped against a broken crate.
Another had collapsed beside a metal shelf.
Several more were piled near the far wall.
Fifteen men.
All unconscious.
One of the officers lowered his gun slowly.
"…What the hell happened here?"
More patrol cars arrived.
Within minutes the entire warehouse filled with officers, detectives, and paramedics moving through the scene while trying to piece together what had happened.
Outside, the hostage Jack had rescued earlier sat on the sidewalk wrapped in a blanket while a detective questioned him.
"Take your time," the detective said calmly. "Just tell us what you saw."
The man's hands were still shaking.
"I… I didn't see much."
"You were tied inside the warehouse?"
"Yes."
"And the attackers?"
"There were a lot of them."
The detective nodded.
"So what stopped them?"
The hostage hesitated.
Then he said quietly:
"It moved like the wind."
The detective frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… it was fast," the man replied, still pale from fear. "One second they were standing there, and the next second they were flying across the room."
He shook his head slowly.
"I never even saw it clearly."
An hour later the report landed on Captain George Stacy's desk.
The precinct office was quiet except for the low hum of fluorescent lights overhead.
George read the file carefully while two officers waited nearby.
Fifteen criminals.
Warehouse destroyed.
No visible attacker.
Witness statement: "It moved like the wind."
George sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"This sounds familiar."
One of the officers nodded.
"Sir, that's what I thought too."
He placed another file beside the first.
"The bank robbery in Queens earlier this week."
George opened the file.
Security footage.
Blurry.
Just a streak of movement crossing the room faster than the camera could capture.
George rubbed his chin.
"So we have a speed blur stopping a bank robbery…"
He tapped the new report.
"And now fifteen criminals knocked out in Hell's Kitchen."
The second officer spoke carefully.
"Same witness description, sir."
George closed the folder slowly.
"Check every camera in the area."
"Yes sir."
"Traffic cameras, security feeds, street cameras. I want to know if anything moved through Hell's Kitchen tonight that shouldn't have."
The officers nodded and left the room.
George stared at the report again.
"…Wind, huh."
Rumors spread faster than police reports in New York.
By the next morning people were already talking.
A group gathered outside a small café near the warehouse crime scene.
One man leaned against the window.
"I heard fifteen guys got knocked out."
"No way."
"That's what the cops said."
Another man shook his head.
"My cousin works night shift around here."
"And?"
"He said something moved through the building faster than a car."
Someone else joined the conversation.
"Same thing happened in Queens."
"The bank robbery?"
"Yeah."
They exchanged uneasy looks.
One of them finally said what everyone was thinking.
"…That thing isn't human."
Jack knew nothing about those conversations.
By the time rumors started spreading across Hell's Kitchen, he had already returned to his apartment in Queens.
The moment he closed the door behind him, exhaustion finally hit.
He dropped onto the couch and stared at the ceiling.
"That was close."
The memory of the countdown timer still made his chest tighten slightly.
If he had been even two seconds slower inside the warehouse, the Omnitrix would have reverted him in front of fifteen armed criminals.
And that would have ended very badly.
He touched the Watch
The Omnitrix dial glowed again.
A hologram appeared above it.
A massive red alien with four muscular arms and white markings across its shoulders.
Jack stared at it for a moment.
Then he smiled.
"Four Arms."
A classic alien.
Strong enough to lift trucks.
Durable enough to fight monsters.
Jack leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms behind his head.
"Speed for stealth…"
He looked at the Omnitrix.
"Strength for war."
But another thought lingered in his mind.
The timer.
Ten minutes.
That limit had almost exposed him tonight.
Jack closed his eyes slowly.
"If I had a smarter alien…"
He tapped the Omnitrix lightly.
"Maybe I could figure out how to increase the time limit… or even unlock Master Control someday."
The idea made him grin slightly.
But that was a problem for the future.
For now, exhaustion won.
Within minutes Jack was already asleep.
And somewhere in Hell's Kitchen that night, criminals whispered about something that moved through the city like the wind and rumours spread like a spark of fire.
A legend that had just begun to grow.