Chapter 122: Working for Free and Enduring the Alien Squid's Bullying
On the other side of the ship, a frantic transmission from Gluto sent Klein and Tetrax sprinting straight toward the cockpit.
Because they had bolted in such a hurry, they completely forgot to release Ben from the medical scanner.
"Hey! What happened?!"
Ben, having just finished his physical examination, suddenly heard the heavy, urgent thud of footsteps echoing outside the room. The sound rapidly faded down the corridor, but the heavy metallic machinery clamped around him made it impossible to sit up and investigate.
Klein and Tetrax were already long gone. Naturally, Ben's shouts echoed into empty air.
"Hello?! Is anyone out there?!"
"Cousin?! Tetrax! Where did you guys go?!"
"Someone, get me out of this thing right now!!!"
Inside the cockpit of Tetrax's ship, the heavy blast doors hissed open automatically.
"What is the situation?" Tetrax demanded, his crystalline features set in a stern, hard line as his gaze swept over the occupants of the room.
"Uh... let him tell you." Gwen looked as if she had swallowed a lemon. She opened her mouth, struggled to find the right words, and then, as if completely giving up on logic, simply pointed a finger at the main virtual screen.
Grandpa Max and the gelatinous Gluto remained completely silent. It was painfully obvious that neither of them knew how to process the sheer absurdity of the situation either. After all, Vilgax's current behavior was just too... bizarre.
Catching their strained expressions, Klein and Tetrax exchanged a curious glance. They followed Gwen's pointing finger, only to see a massive, painfully familiar tentacled face dominating the glowing holographic display.
"Vilgax?!" Tetrax hissed, instantly recognizing his former employer. His hand instinctively drifted toward his weapon.
"You cowardly wretch! Get out of my sight!" Vilgax's booming voice rattled the cockpit speakers. "I want to speak with Klein... Klein, I am here to negotiate."
The galactic conqueror glared at the Petrosapien mercenary with absolute venom. After all, he had paid Tetrax a fortune for a retrieval mission, only for the crystal-skinned bounty hunter to desert him halfway through!
Sure, Vilgax could somewhat understand fleeing from a terrifying, world-class anomaly like Klein. Survival instincts were natural. But to break a contract and run off without even sending a courtesy notification? To Vilgax, the sheer disrespect was unforgivable.
Hearing the warlord's insults, Tetrax's expression darkened, the jagged edges of his jaw clenching tight. Still, he kept his mouth shut. Vilgax's terrifying strength and galactic influence were absolute facts. While Tetrax wasn't paralyzed by fear, there was absolutely no tactical advantage in trading petty insults with a cosmic tyrant.
Klein, meanwhile, casually leaned against the console and crossed his arms. He raised a single eyebrow, his dark eyes glinting with a faint, amused curiosity. He looked entirely too relaxed.
"Speak," Klein said, his voice flat but carrying an unmistakable weight.
It was obvious he was entertained by this sudden call.
"Let us cooperate," Vilgax rumbled, leaning closer to the camera, his red eyes narrowing. "The explosive yield of the Omnitrix, once its energy core is fully overloaded, is beyond your comprehension. It possesses enough destructive force to endanger this entire sector of the universe. You do not want that to happen, do you?"
Vilgax paused, letting the heavy threat hang in the air, carefully watching the screen to gauge Klein's reaction.
"Keep going."
Klein's face remained a mask of total indifference. Not a single muscle twitched. Yet, in Vilgax's twisted, conqueror mindset, this calm dismissal was actually a sign that Klein deeply cared and was listening intently.
Barely able to conceal the greedy excitement bubbling in his chest, Vilgax laid his cards on the table. "As long as you cooperate with me, I will lend you my vast resources! With my help, you can save your family, and perhaps even the universe itself! And in exchange, all I require is the Omnitrix. How about it? Trading a mere device for the lives of your precious family. A spectacular bargain, is it not?"
Klein tilted his head, appearing to genuinely consider the proposal. After a moment, he gave a slow, deliberate nod.
Vilgax's heart soared. He was practically ready to pop open a bottle of his finest vintage alien wine to celebrate his flawless negotiation skills.
Then, Klein spoke.
"You can help. But you are not taking the Omnitrix."
The words were delivered in a casual, breezy tone, yet everyone in the cockpit felt the absolute, crushing finality behind them.
Grandpa Max stood off to the side, his chest swelling with a strange mix of pride and awe. 'As expected of my grandson,'Max thought, shaking his head inwardly.'He is actually trying to make the most feared warlord in the galaxy work like a rented mule, without paying him a single dime. Knowing Klein, he might even try to charge Vilgax a consulting fee by the end of this.'
Vilgax, however, did not share this sentiment. His mind short-circuited.
What kind of black-hearted monster says something so shamelessly greedy?! Even he, Vilgax, Conqueror of Ten Worlds, actually paid his mercenaries when he hired them! And this human teenager wanted him to provide his elite services for absolutely free?!
Vilgax had terrorized the cosmos for decades. He had shattered planets and broken champions. When had he ever been subjected to such blatant, insulting extortion?!
"Wait a moment. Let us discuss this reasonably..."
Vilgax truly lived up to his reputation as a supreme galactic hegemon. Even with his blood boiling and his dual hearts pounding with enough rage to power a starship, he managed to force his voice into a calm, measured cadence.
If it were anyone else on the other side of the screen, they might have been intimidated into a compromise.
But Klein was built differently. It did not matter if he was facing a street thug or the nightmare of the galaxy. His philosophy remained beautifully simple.
"If you don't want to do the job, then get lost," Klein replied, waving a hand dismissively.
"You fu—"
Vilgax's composure violently shattered. A vein pulsed dangerously against his green skull. But for the sake of his own survival, and the grand, universe-conquering ambitions he still yearned to fulfill... he, Vilgax the Conqueror, swallowed his pride. He forced the rage down his throat like broken glass.
He had no choice. He had to swallow this humiliation. If the Omnitrix's self-destruct sequence completed, the resulting blast wave would vaporize him along with everything else. He would never know a moment of peace until he saw that infernal watch stabilized with his own two eyes.
He couldn't take it by force. He couldn't steal it in secret. So what other option remained?
"Fine. I will help you."
Vilgax squeezed the words through tightly ground teeth, the sound resembling grinding tectonic plates.
Vilgax surrendered?!
To Gwen, this was just another Tuesday with her overpowered cousin. But to Grandpa Max and Tetrax, this was a model shift. It was a reality-breaking concept they could never have imagined in their wildest dreams.
"Mhm. I suppose I can reluctantly accept you as my temporary intern," Klein said, nodding with an air of deep satisfaction.
Intern?! He was making Vilgax the Conqueror an unpaid intern?!!
If it weren't for the ticking time bomb strapped to the boy's wrist, Vilgax would have... he would have... turned his ship around and fled to the furthest edges of the galaxy.
Fuming, his tentacles twitching with suppressed homicidal urges, Vilgax violently slammed his fist onto the console, directly cutting the transmission.
There is an old saying: take a step back, and the world opens up. But for Vilgax, taking a step back only made him angrier the more he thought about it.
The longer he dwelled on the sheer indignity of the situation, the more suffocating his rage became. With no other outlet, he turned his wrath upon his own ship.
A short while later.
Having violently dismantled an unknown number of his own elite mechanical drones to vent his frustrations, Vilgax arrived at Tetrax's ship looking remarkably refreshed. The heavy airlock hissed open, and the towering warlord stepped into the cockpit.
Taking in the sight of the massive, heavily muscled, and ferociously scarred conqueror, Gluto let out a startled squeak and instantly collapsed, curling his gelatinous body into a tight, trembling puddle on the floor.
Everyone else in the room—with the sole exception of Klein—tensed up, shifting into combat-ready stances, fully prepared to face the wrath of the enraged squid-faced tyrant at a moment's notice.
Vilgax barely spared them a glance. He was entirely used to lesser beings cowering in his presence.
While Klein seemed completely unfazed by his terrifying aura, the truth was that Vilgax was deeply afraid of Klein. Every time his red eyes landed on the lazy, dark-haired teenager, an uncomfortable chill crawled up his spine. Deciding it was better for his own mental health, Vilgax silently marched over to the furthest, darkest corner of the cockpit and stood there by himself, crossing his massive arms.
The only reason Vilgax had boarded their vessel in the first place was due to a logistical issue. His own dreadnought was far too massive and infamous; flying it into populated sectors would draw the attention of every galactic authority and bounty hunter in the quadrant.
Klein, citing concerns about unnecessary annoyances, had casually suggested they just drag Vilgax along on Tetrax's stealthier ship.
Gwen and Ben naturally raised no objections. When it came to the big decisions, they implicitly trusted Klein's judgment.
Grandpa Max harbored some deep reservations about inviting their greatest enemy aboard, but Vilgax's sheer desperation during the video call could not be faked. Given the warlord's arrogant nature, he would never debase himself like that just to pull off a cheap trick. Thus, Max reluctantly agreed to the arrangement.
Tetrax, however, found the situation incredibly difficult to stomach. Sharing breathing space with Vilgax made his crystalline skin crawl. Every time he looked at the conqueror's hulking silhouette, he was violently reminded of his shattered home planet, Petrosapia, and the billions of his people who had perished.
"Relax, Tetrax."
Ben—who had finally been remembered and extracted from the medical pod by Klein just minutes before Vilgax's arrival—stepped up and gave the Petrosapien's solid arm a comforting pat.
"Vilgax can't stir up any trouble here. I... and my Cousin will keep a close eye on him."
Ben puffed out his chest, though his voice wavered slightly. He couldn't help it. He hadn't actually fought Vilgax in a fair, one-on-one match very often, and the few times they had clashed, Ben had usually been on the receiving end of a brutal beating. He wasn't entirely confident in his own ability to keep the warlord in check.
However, 'I can't beat him'did not mean'my Cousin can't beat him'!
Therefore, 'my Cousin is standing right behind me'directly translated to'I am invincible'!
Armed with this flawless troll logic, Ben managed to sound somewhat confident.
Hearing the boy's reassurance, the tension in Tetrax's rigid shoulders eased slightly, at least on the surface.
Still, the mercenary couldn't help but wonder how Vilgax would react to such blatant disrespect from a child.
Curious, Tetrax subtly turned his head, casting a sideways glance toward the dark corner where the tyrant stood.
At this moment, Vilgax seemed not to have heard a single word of the previous exchange. The conqueror was completely deaf to the world around him, his glowing red eyes locked onto one single object. He was leaning forward slightly, staring intently at the Omnitrix on Ben's wrist with the heavy, unblinking intensity of an absolute pervert.
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