The wind howled across the rooftops.
A blue-black blur shot through the streets of Queens, bouncing from building to building like a living streak of lightning.
XLR8 moved through the night city with effortless speed. To Jack, everything felt slow. Streetlights stretched into glowing lines as he sprinted across rooftops. Cars crawled along the streets below like tiny metal toys. Even distant conversations drifted clearly to his ears.
The Omnitrix timer floated in his vision.
[ Transformation Time Remaining: 06:58 ]
Plenty of time.
Earlier that evening Jack had studied the crime maps online — forums, police reports, community tracking websites. Most of it was messy information, but patterns still existed. Some areas were much worse than others: Hell's Kitchen, parts of Brooklyn, and the harbor docks.
After stopping the drug shipment earlier that night, Jack had decided to patrol the next major hotspot.
The docks.
Jack slowed as the smell of saltwater reached him. The harbor appeared ahead. Rows of warehouses stretched along the waterfront, cargo cranes towering above the docks with their metal arms frozen in the night sky like giant skeletons.
Most of the area was dark. But one section was brightly lit.
Jack crouched on the roof of a warehouse and looked down. A cargo truck stood beside the loading dock with several men surrounding it.
Jack counted quickly. "…Eight."
Not huge. But definitely illegal activity.
The truck doors were open, wooden crates stacked inside. Jack leaned forward, listening carefully. One of the men pried open a crate with a crowbar, revealing several tightly sealed plastic bags.
Another man whistled. "That's a lot of product."
A third man laughed. "The boss will be happy tonight."
Jack tilted his head. Drugs.
The man holding the crowbar nodded proudly. "This shipment alone is worth hundreds of thousands."
A guard leaned against the truck. "Better hurry. The dock shipment arrives later tonight."
One of the others looked nervous. "You mean the Tombstone cargo?"
Jack's ears twitched.
Tombstone. The name again.
The man with the crowbar rolled his eyes. "Relax. The boss likes to call himself a big shot. He runs more gangs than most people in this city."
Another guard chuckled. "Yeah, but he's not Kingpin or anything. Still, you don't want to mess with Lonnie."
Jack smiled slightly. So Tombstone wasn't some legendary crime emperor in this world. Just a gang boss with a big reputation.
Still — crime boss was crime boss.
Jack cracked his claws. "Alright. Let's ruin your night."
He pushed off the rooftop.
Wind exploded across the loading dock. One of the guards blinked. "What was that?"
Before he finished the sentence — WHAM. His legs disappeared from under him and he slammed face-first into the concrete.
Another guard spun around. "HEY—!"
Too late. Jack shot past him like a bullet, his tail sweeping the ground, and two more men collapsed instantly.
The loading dock erupted into chaos.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
"IT'S THAT SPEED THING!"
Jack moved between them like a storm — kick, sweep, punch. Another criminal dropped. Someone tried grabbing a pistol. Jack appeared beside him instantly.
CRACK. The gun flew across the dockyard.
Within seconds half the group was already unconscious. The remaining men panicked.
"GET HIM!"
One of them swung a metal pipe wildly. Jack ducked under the attack and kicked the man's knee sideways. The criminal screamed and collapsed. Another man bolted toward the warehouse door — Jack appeared directly in front of him. The man crashed into XLR8's chest and bounced backwards like he'd hit a wall.
The fight ended quickly. Eight criminals lay scattered across the loading dock.
Jack walked toward the truck and examined the crates.
Yep. Definitely drugs.
He closed the lid. "Police problem."
Then he noticed something. One of the criminals was still awake, groaning and trying to crawl away.
Jack stepped closer. "Hey."
The man froze. His eyes widened as he looked up at the alien standing over him. "What… what are you?"
Jack tilted his head. "Wrong question." He crouched slightly. "Who do you work for?"
The criminal hesitated, fear filling his face. "I—I don't know!"
Jack tapped the ground impatiently. "Try again."
The man swallowed. "…Tombstone."
Jack leaned closer. "The same Tombstone you were talking about earlier?"
The criminal nodded quickly. "Y-yeah. You just ruined our shipment. He's gonna kill us."
Another injured criminal nearby laughed weakly. "Yeah… you think you're tough, speed freak? Our boss runs half the gangs in this city."
Jack crossed his arms. "Half?"
The man coughed. "…Okay maybe not half. But a lot. Lonnie Lincoln. They call him Tombstone."
Jack stood silently for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Good to know."
The criminal blinked. "You're… not scared?"
Jack grinned. "Should I be?"
The wind exploded again. The blur vanished.
Several blocks away, Jack slowed on top of a water tower. The timer blinked.
[ Transformation Ending ]
Green light wrapped around his body and the alien form disappeared. Jack stretched his shoulders as he returned to human form. "That was easy."
The system panel appeared.
[ Heroic Action Confirmed ]
Drug Shipment Stopped Reward: +18 Hero Points
Jack nodded. The numbers updated.
[ Hero Points: 28 ]
[ Next Alien Unlock: 100 ]
Still far away. But progress.
Jack looked toward the harbor again. Earlier those criminals had mentioned something — a dock shipment arriving tonight. And it belonged to Tombstone.
Jack smiled slightly. "Well…" He tapped the Omnitrix. "Let's go see what the boss is importing."
The green dial rose again. The hunt continued.
And somewhere in the New York underworld, Lonnie Lincoln's organization was about to lose something far more valuable than a simple drug shipment.
.