The battlefield shifted.
What had once been a controlled engagement was now spiraling into something far more dangerous.
The Arachnezee had changed everything.
They moved faster, struck harder, and fought with a level of coordination that immediately overwhelmed the arriving reinforcements. One Ultron sentry barely had time to raise its arm before an Arachnezee dropped onto it from above and tore it apart.
Metal screamed as it split under raw force, limbs ripped free and tossed aside like scrap.
Another was dragged down by webbing, slammed repeatedly into the pavement until its systems went dark.
Dexter's HUD flared with warnings.
"Arcee, adjust combat parameters," he ordered sharply. "Prioritize mobility. Do not get restrained."
"Understood," Arcee replied, already shifting positions, dodging a web-line that snapped across where she had stood a second earlier.
Nearby, Jenny wasn't having a much better time.
"Okay! Wow! these guys are WAY stronger than the last batch!" she yelped as she ducked under a swinging limb, her arm snapping into a blaster mid-motion.
FWOOM!
The shot sent one Arachnezee skidding back but it didn't stay down.
"Oh, come on!"
Then something changed.
A cold wind swept across the burning ruins of the convention center.
Dexter turned.
At the epicenter of the destruction, a figure moved.
A man in a ski mask, gliding through the air as ice formed beneath his feet, carrying him like a frozen current. His arms extended forward and the inferno stopped.
Ice surged outward in a massive wave, freezing flames mid-motion, locking the destruction under layers of frost in seconds.
The burning building… stilled.
Dexter narrowed his eyes.
"…Frozone."
Before he could process further...
"RRRAAAAGHHH!"
A war cry tore through the battlefield.
Dexter snapped his head back toward the fight just in time to see a massive figure crash into the enemy line.
A hulking man in a ski mask grabbed a Humanzee mid-charge and hurled it into another with brutal force.
He caught one by the leg, swung it like a weapon, smashing left and right but an Arachnezee dropped in.
FWIP!
Webbing wrapped around him instantly. For half a second, he was restrained.
RIP!!
The bindings tore apart like paper. The man grabbed the creature by the face and slammed it into the ground hard enough to crater the pavement.
Dexter exhaled slowly. "…So they've arrived."
No more waiting."Arcee, vehicle mode."
"On it."
She transformed instantly, collapsing into her motorcycle form as Dexter moved in one smooth motion, mounting her mid-shift.
From his arm, nanotech surged forming a long, reinforced energy lance.
"Let's break their formation."
Arcee accelerated. They hit like a missile.
The lance tore through the front line, sending enemies flying as Dexter drove straight through their ranks, precision and momentum turning every strike into a devastating blow.
Behind them.
"Monkey BBQ!" Jenny called out, firing another blast as she hovered above the chaos.
BRRRRMMMM!!
A familiar engine cut through the noise.
A green-and-black muscle car screeched into the battlefield.
It skidded to a halt and three figures stepped out.
Kevin cracked his neck, immediately placing a hand on the car.
His body shifted.
Metal spread across his skin, turning him into a living alloy weapon as one arm morphed into a massive spiked ball.
"Finally," he muttered, charging straight into the fight.
Gwen stepped forward beside him, eyes already glowing faintly as she took in the battlefield.
Her gaze locked onto the Arachnezee.
"…Those aliens look like Arachnachimps, Ben." she said.
Ben frowned slightly, watching them move. "Yeah… like Spider Monkey."
A damaged sentry dropped near them with a heavy thud. "T-target… loc… ke—"
Ben kicked it aside. "Yeah, okay, these things are getting wrecked."
He lifted his wrist. The Omnitrix glowed. "…Guess it's my turn."
He scrolled, paused and slammed it down.
Green light exploded outward.
His body shifted, reformed as armor replace his flesh, energy coursing through a new frame.
When the light faded.
A sleek, angular figure that looked almost alive despite being made of shifting green light appeared. Its "body" wasn't flesh at all, but segmented plating, layered like armor yet fluid enough to move. Two sharp, blade-like arms extended outward glowing with faint neon edges while its core pulsed with a steady emerald light.
"…Whoa."
Ben flexed his blade like-arms, studying them. His eyes landed on the damaged sentry lying nearby sparking, barely functional.
A grin spread across his face.
"Let me borrow this one for a bit…" He stepped forward and raised his hand.
The green core on his chest flare and strands of luminous energy shot out, latching onto the broken machine.
The sentry jerked.
SHHHRRRK!
It lifted off the ground, pulled toward him as if dragged by invisible threads. The moment it made contact, the Ultralink bonded.
The armor expanded and reformed. The sentry's bulk compressed and reshaped, flowing over Ben's Ultralink form like liquid metal merging into a superior structure. Plates realigned, weapons integrated, systems overwritten.
In seconds he stood there in a new form.
White and green armor now layered with reinforced plating, glowing brighter, sharper, clearly inspired by the same concept as Dexter's Metaldex, but distinctly different. Where Dexter's was precise and refined, Ben's felt raw, adaptive, almost aggressive.
Ben looked down at himself. "…Oh that is AWESOME."
He clenched his fist, feeling power surge through the new frame. His arm shifted. Panels sliding, reshaping and transformed into a cannon.
Ben smirked.
"Let's see how that dude did it…" He aimed and fired.
FWOOM!!
The blast tore straight through a charging Humanzee, sending it flying across the battlefield.
Ben laughed.
"Oh yeah… I like this one." Ben smiled "You will now be known as TechnoMorph"