Back in the hospital, Ben stood just outside the room, staring through the small glass window at his grandfather lying unconscious on the bed. The steady beeping of the machines didn't make him feel any better. If anything, it just reminded him that Max wasn't getting up anytime soon.
He let out a breath and turned away, frustration building up before he kicked the nearby trash can, sending it clattering across the floor.
Gwen sighed and walked up beside him. "Just relax, Ben. Everything's going to be okay."
She was about to say something else when she suddenly paused, squinting slightly as she looked out the window. A second later, her eyes widened.
"Look out!" she shouted, tackling Ben out of the way just as the glass shattered.
Rojo burst through the window in a spray of broken shards, landing hard on the floor with a heavy thud before straightening up. Her red, mechanical body whirred slightly as her glowing eyes locked onto them.
The two kids scrambled back, their expressions tense as she started walking toward them.
"Give me the Omnitrixes," she demanded.
"You want it? Come and get it!" Ben shot back, grabbing Gwen's hand as the two of them turned and ran.
They sprinted down the hallway, dodging past nurses and patients while Rojo fired laser blasts behind them, the beams tearing through carts and walls like paper.
"You can't run forever!" she called out, blasting a medical cart and sending it flying into a wall, nearly knocking over a nurse before a doctor pulled her out of the way.
Ben glanced around quickly before spotting a stairwell door up ahead. "Stairs!"
They shoved the door open and rushed inside, taking the steps two at a time as they ran downward.
"Ben, that's the thief from the armored car factory!" Gwen said as they kept moving. "It's like she merged with those-"
"Robot drones! Yeah, I got that part!" Ben replied as they sped up.
The door above them exploded inward as Rojo entered the stairwell. Instead of following normally, she leapt straight over the railing, dropping down through the center. She landed just behind them with a heavy impact, forcing them to push even faster toward the bottom.
They burst out through the lower exit and into the open air, sprinting away as laser blasts struck the ground behind them.
"Okay, radical thought," Gwen said as they ducked behind a pair of ambulances. "Now might be a really good time for you to go hero."
"Way ahead of you," Ben said, already fumbling with the Omnitrix.
Rojo stepped out of the hospital entrance, scanning the area calmly as if she wasn't in a hurry at all. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Her gaze shifted upward toward a rocky ledge nearby, and a smirk formed on her face. Without hesitation, she raised her arm and fired multiple blasts at the cliff.
The explosions loosened several large boulders, and a second later, they broke free and came crashing down toward the ambulances.
"Time to go Four Arms," Ben muttered, dialing in quickly before slamming the core down.
A flash of green light burst outward, and in the next moment, Heatblast stood in his place.
"Oh great," he said, looking down at himself. "I need muscle, and I get an alien candle instead."
The rumbling grew louder as the boulders tumbled closer.
"If scissors cuts paper, fire melts rock… right?" Heatblast asked, glancing at Gwen.
She shrugged. "I don't think that's how that works."
"Only one way to find out," he said before firing a stream of intense heat at the falling rocks.
Instead of stopping them, the boulders ignited, flames spreading across their surfaces as they continued rolling forward, now even more dangerous.
"Okay, definitely not what I had in mind. Go!" Heatblast shouted.
Gwen didn't argue and quickly moved further back behind cover.
Heatblast looked around, trying to think of something else, but the situation was getting worse by the second.
"Looks like I really can't get a break with you two."
The familiar voice made both of them turn.
Crashhopper landed on top of one of the ambulances with a solid thud, crouched and ready.
"Evan!" Gwen called out.
"Partner!" Heatblast added.
Crashhopper didn't waste time. He tapped his Omnitrix dial, and a golden flash erupted.
"Brainstorm."
His shell opened, exposing the large brain within as energy crackled around him. A yellow, semi-transparent barrier formed instantly in front of the ambulances, stopping the flaming boulders in their tracks before redirecting them away from the hospital and down the street.
The rocks crashed along the road, continuing toward the lower parts of the city.
"Alright! The hospital is saved!" Heatblast said, clearly relieved.
"But there are people down there," Gwen pointed out, watching the boulders roll away.
Heatblast groaned. "Man, I hate it when you're right."
He took off after them without another word.
Before Brainstorm could move, Rojo dropped down from above and slammed into him, knocking him off the ambulance.
"The Omnitrix," she ordered as she landed nearby.
"Seriously?" Brainstorm replied, pushing himself up. "You had two options and picked the one that can switch forms mid-fight. That's… a choice."
He didn't wait for her to respond. He tapped the dial again, and another golden flash lit up the area.
"Feedback."
Rojo immediately opened fire, laser blasts streaking toward him, but his antennae shifted forward and absorbed every bit of energy effortlessly.
She froze for a second, clearly not expecting that.
Feedback tilted his head slightly. "Yeah, that's not going to work."
Rojo growled and rushed forward, swinging her metal claws. Feedback stepped aside smoothly, letting electricity gather in his arm before driving a solid punch into her face.
The impact sent her flying into the ambulance, denting the metal before she dropped to the ground.
"Do you really think borrowed power like that is enough?" Feedback said as she struggled back up.
She lunged again, but he sidestepped and countered with another charged strike, sending her rolling across the pavement.
Even then, he held back just enough, keeping control of the fight instead of ending it outright, which he could, as Feedback could absorb the energy affecting her and turning her back into a normal human.
But this was Ben's fight; she had revealed Ben's weakness of not being able to hit a woman. He needs to learn to overcome this weakness.
If Evan takes her out now, then later Ben might have trouble against other female enemies.
Without giving her a moment to recover, he tapped the dial again.
"Crashhopper."
He crouched low, his body compressing before launching forward like a spring-loaded projectile. His head slammed straight into Rojo, sending her flying back across the sky.
Crashhopper landed cleanly, straightening up as he watched her slide to a stop.
"See ya," he said casually, already turning away and leaving.
...
Back at the hospital, Max had been moved into a different room, one further down the hall and away from the broken window and the mess Rojo had caused earlier. The atmosphere was calmer now, quieter, but the tension hadn't really gone away.
Ben stood near the foot of the bed, glancing between Max and the floor, clearly not as relaxed as everyone else.
"When I was playing around with the watch earlier… I must've led her right to you," he admitted, his voice lower than usual.
Max shifted slightly on the bed, still resting but awake now, and gave him a steady look. "Since they moved me into a new room and you haven't gone alien since then, we're safe."
"Just for now," Ben replied, not sounding convinced. He looked down at the Omnitrix on his wrist. "What about tomorrow? Or the next day? This stuff just keeps happening. It's getting way too dangerous for either of you to be around us."
"Us?" Evan spoke from the side, raising an eyebrow slightly, though no one really addressed it.
Gwen crossed her arms but kept her tone calm. "Yeah, but since it won't come off, there's not much we can do about it."
Max nodded. "You know what they say, kiddos. No use crying over spilled milk."
Ben let out a quiet breath, clearly not satisfied with that answer. "Maybe… maybe not."
Evan leaned back slightly against the wall, watching him for a moment before speaking. "The watch is just a gadget. You're the one who decides what to do with it. Be the hero."
Ben didn't reply right away, just looking down at his wrist again before turning away.
...
That evening, the hospital had quieted down even more. The lights were dimmed, the hallways mostly empty, and the room itself felt still.
Gwen had fallen asleep in the chair beside Max's bed, her head resting against her arm. Max was asleep as well, breathing steady, the bandages around his head and leg still in place.
Evan had stepped out earlier, leaving the room for some air.
Ben stood near the bed for a while, just looking at his grandfather. After a moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small note, placing it carefully on the bedside table where Max would see it.
He hesitated for a second, then sighed quietly.
"I'm doing this for you, Grandpa," he murmured before turning and walking out of the room.
He moved quickly down the hallway, not really paying attention to anything else around him.
Because of that, he didn't notice the person walking in the opposite direction.
They looked almost identical to Evan at first glance, same hair, same eyes, same general features, but slightly older, a bit taller, and carrying themselves with a different kind of ease. They wore a simple black shirt, brown pants, and had a small bag strapped around their waist, black boots, with a blue cargo shirt tied loosely across their chest.
They slowed slightly as Ben passed by, glancing after him for a moment.
"Benjamin," Stay Gold murmured to herself, then shrugged lightly before continuing on.
She stepped into the room without hesitation, her gaze immediately landing on Max.
For a moment, she just stood there, taking in the sight of him lying in bed with bandages wrapped around his head and leg.
"This look really doesn't suit you, Max," she said casually, a faint smile forming as she pulled a chair over and sat down on the other side of the bed.
She leaned back slightly, resting her arms as she studied him.
"You should've broken the other leg too. At least then it'd be symmetrical," she added, her tone light, like she was commenting on something completely normal.
From the doorway, a familiar voice cut in.
"…Dad."
Stay Gold turned her head and saw Evan standing there, looking at her with a mix of recognition and disbelief.
For a second, neither of them moved.
Then she raised a hand in a small wave, completely unfazed.
"Yo, son."
...
After sundown, the hospital room had gone quiet again, the kind of quiet that made even small movements feel loud.
Gwen stirred in her chair, slowly waking up as she rubbed her eyes. For a second, she just sat there, trying to get her bearings, before she realized something felt off.
She looked to the side, Ben wasn't there.
"Ben?" she called out, sitting up straighter as she glanced around the room. His seat was empty, and there was no sign of him anywhere nearby.
That's when she noticed the folded note sitting on the bedside.
Gwen reached over, picked it up, and opened it, her expression shifting as she read.
"Dear Grandpa, Gwen and Evan, I care about you too much to keep putting you in danger. I love you too much. Love, Ben."
She lowered the note slowly, her grip tightening slightly.
Her eyes moved back to the empty seat again, and that's when she noticed something else.
Evan was sitting in the room. And so was… another Evan.
Gwen blinked, then rubbed her eyes again, thinking she was still half asleep, but when she looked back, both of them were still there, sitting side by side like it was completely normal.
Max groaned softly as he began to wake up. "Gwen… what is it?"
Before she could answer, the TV in the corner caught her attention as a news report started playing. She quickly grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.
"The scenes at the police training center continue," the reporter said. "Police reports confirm that several officers have been injured, and authorities are still trying to contain the situation."
Gwen didn't hesitate. "Ben's gone, and I think I know where he went."
She stood up from her chair, already heading toward the door. "I've gotta go, Grandpa."
"I'm coming too," Max said immediately, trying to push himself up despite the cast on his leg.
"You're not going anywhere, old man."
The voice cut in so casually that both Max and Gwen turned at the same time.
The second Evan, or rather the older one, was sitting comfortably in the chair, holding a sandwich like she had all the time in the world.
Gwen blinked again. "Okay, why are there two Evans?"
She rubbed her eyes once more, slower this time, but when she opened them, nothing changed.
"Stay Gold…" Max murmured, recognizing her as his gaze shifted.
Only then did he notice the box of sandwiches sitting right on his stomach.
"Yo, didn't expect our reunion to be like this," Stay Gold said, taking another bite without a care.
Beside her, Evan was breaking apart dry noodles into smaller pieces, tossing them into his mouth, adding seasoning, and then pouring hot water in after it like it was completely normal.
Gwen just stared. She looked at Max. Then at the two of them. Then back at Max again.
"Uh… Grandpa, am I seeing things?" she asked.
"No," Max said, shaking his head slightly. "This is Stay Gold. Evan's father. An old friend of mine. We go way back. I told you about her before; she is like a son to me, so that makes her your uncle."
Gwen nodded slowly, trying to process that, though her eyes kept drifting back to the two nearly identical figures sitting there.
It was honestly hard to tell them apart at a glance. The only real differences were their height, clothes, and the Omnitrix on Evan's wrist.
Not to mention, Stay Gold is Evan's father; she was barely any taller than him, just by 20 or so centimeters.
Then something clicked.
"Wait," Gwen said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "If… he's Evan's father… why did you use 'she'?"
Max paused, clearly not sure how to explain that one in a simple way. "It's… complicated."
"She's got both parts," Evan said plainly, finishing his mouthful of noodles, as Stay Gold give him a bonk on the head.
"I still don't get it." Gwen said, still not sure what he was referring to.
"It's complicated," Evan said.
"Wow. Great introduction," Stay Gold said, reaching over and ruffling his hair.
Evan immediately brushed her hand off and fixed his hair without saying anything.
He then pulled out a small packet of cocoa powder, opened it, poured it straight into his mouth, and followed it up with hot water like it was a perfectly normal drink.
Gwen didn't even try to comment on that. Instead, she turned back to Max. "Grandpa, I'm going after Ben."
"You can't go alone," Max said firmly. "It's too dangerous. I'm coming with you."
"Don't even think about it, old man," Stay Gold said without missing a beat.
Max froze mid-motion.
"If you've got enough strength to get up and run around," she continued casually, "I'll just break your other leg so it matches."
Max slowly leaned back down.
Gwen, on the other hand, gave a small, satisfied smile. She reached over to the bed controls and flattened it completely, making it impossible for Max to sit up.
"Hey! I can't get up now!" Max protested.
"That's the point, just in case." Gwen replied before turning and running out of the room.
"Gwen! Get back here! Gwen!" Max called after her, but she was already gone.
He turned back toward Stay Gold and Evan. "Stay Gold-"
"No."
Max shifted his gaze to Evan. "Evan-"
"Go outside and play, Ever," Stay Gold cut in, standing up and grabbing Evan by the back of his neck.
"...I was literally about to leave anyway," Evan said flatly, though he didn't resist as she dragged him toward the door.
She opened it, pulled him out into the hallway, and shut it behind them.
Max stared at the closed door for a moment. "…Unbelievable."