Chapter 128: Azmuth, Do You Want Your Wife Back?
Azmuth hauled the detached Omnitrix core over to the main control console, his nimble Galvan fingers flying across the interface as he hooked it up to a tangled array of diagnostic cables. Monitors flared to life, casting a harsh glare over his wrinkled green features.
Following Azmuth's rapid keystrokes, the ominous yellow glow pulsing from the Omnitrix dial shifted. A soft, stable green washed over the room. The self-destruct sequence was officially dead.
Azmuth let out a long breath, turning to look at Ben. "It is already stable..."
"Azmuth's so-called supreme wisdom is nothing more than this. Fixing a simple watch is so incredibly troublesome for him. The great Klein only needs to gently twist the dial to restore it to its original state."
The mechanical, heavily synthesized voice suddenly blared right out of the Omnitrix dial itself.
Azmuth froze. He slowly turned his massive head back to the console, staring at the device in absolute disbelief.
"Hahahahaha..."
A familiar, entirely unrepentant laugh echoed through the laboratory.
Every head in the room snapped toward the entrance. Klein leaned casually against the metallic doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, shoulders shaking with booming laughter.
"It was you?" Azmuth's eyes narrowed as the realization hit him. "How did you bypass the core programming?"
"Details, details. Not important." Klein waved a hand dismissively, pushing off the doorframe and strolling into the room.
As he passed Ben, Klein reached out and gave the boy's shoulder a firm pat. "Well said."
He stopped right in front of the console. Looking down at Azmuth's deeply confused and irritated expression, Klein reached into his pocket. He pulled out a sleek, silver data disc—the exact one he had swiped from Professor Paradox earlier.
Klein dropped the disc onto the console right under Azmuth's nose, tapping the metal surface once to signal the Galvan to open it.
Azmuth eyed the disc suspiciously, but knowing Klein had no reason to assassinate him in his own lab, he pressed a stubby finger against the activation rune.
A holographic projection flickered to life, illuminating the dark room. Azmuth's eyes widened to the size of saucers. His breath hitched. "Zenith?!"
"You know Zenith?! Where is she?! Tell me right now!" Azmuth practically climbed up the holographic projector, his voice cracking with a frantic, desperate edge that none of them had ever heard from the stoic thinker.
The sudden outburst instantly caught the attention of everyone else in the room.
Klein, however, did not answer the frantic Galvan. Instead, a slow, predatory smirk spread across his face. "Azmuth. Do you want to win your wife back?"
The moment those words left Klein's mouth, the atmosphere in the laboratory shifted entirely.
Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max—having spent more than enough time suffering through Klein's antics—expertly shifted gears. The Tennyson gossip mode engaged instantly. They leaned in, eyes practically sparkling with nosy anticipation.
Even the others in the room were not immune. After the initial shock wore off, they also started gossiping, exchanging curious glances as they prepared for the unfolding soap opera.
Azmuth stared up at Klein, his large eyes scanning the human's face, trying to dissect the underlying motive. He calculated probabilities, analyzed micro-expressions, and searched for a hidden agenda.
But it was useless. The entity standing before him was a creature of pure, unadulterated chaos.
Klein was incredibly easy to read because his only driving metric was his own personal entertainment. Yet, he was simultaneously impossible to predict, because that same pursuit of fun eclipsed all logic, reason, and morality. Nothing else mattered to him.
So, after a long, agonizing minute of staring into Klein's completely unapologetic grin without understanding a single thing, Azmuth let his shoulders slump. "What do you want in exchange?"
"Nothing at all. I just do whatever I find interesting. Why else do you think I dragged myself all the way out here to find you?" Klein shrugged, looking as though he were discussing the weather. "The amusement I originally came looking for has already run its course. Now, I have found a brand new source of entertainment."
Azmuth gritted his teeth. He understood perfectly. Klein just wanted front-row seats to his personal romantic drama.
It was humiliating. It was beneath the dignity of the First Thinker. But as he looked back at the frozen image of Zenith, the pride drained out of him. If it meant finding her again, he would play the jester.
"Fine. How are you going to help me?" Azmuth sighed, the sound heavy with a mix of utter resignation and a tiny, fragile spark of relief.
"Finding her is the easy part. I can do that in my sleep," Klein said, leaning over the console. "The actual hard part is whether you have the game to make her stay."
Klein let the insult hang in the air. Azmuth's intellect was unrivaled across five galaxies, but his emotional intelligence was currently sitting somewhere in the negative digits.
Fortunately, they had a certified expert in the room.
"Grandpa, get over here and teach this nerd how to pick up girls," Klein called out, pointing directly at Max.
Max choked on his own spit. He shot Klein a withering glare. 'Oh, my dear grandson, what exactly are you implying? You make it sound like your grandfather is some kind of intergalactic scoundrel!'
Max opened his mouth, fully prepared to deliver a stern lecture to this brat when Klein cut him off without missing a beat.
"Grandpa, you really wouldn't want Grandma to find out about all your other alien girlfriends, would you?" Klein asked, his voice dripping with fake innocence.
Max froze. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead. "Cough, cough... Azmuth, my friend! Give me two hours. I can help you sort out your relationship issues."
Max quickly shuffled over, squatting down next to the console to look Azmuth in the eye.
Azmuth crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. "I did not expect the greatest legendary Plumber in the entire universe to have such a... colorful reputation."
The words were sharp, and Max rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. that Azmuth had certainly heard of Max Tennyson. In fact, the Omnitrix had originally been custom-made for Max, as Azmuth believed only the legendary Plumber possessed the discipline to use the device's functions properly.
Yet, in reality, this was their very first time meeting face-to-face. The so-called custom tailoring of the Omnitrix had been based entirely on Plumber database files. If they had actually met beforehand, Max wouldn't have spent half the summer thinking the watch was just a myth.
"Alright, let us save the awkward small talk for later. I am going to go fetch your wife," Klein announced.
He raised his hand and slapped the dial of the Another Omnitrix.
A blinding flash of quiet blue light consumed his figure. When the light faded, Dot stood in his place.
"Wait, that is actually an Omnitrix?!" Myaxx gasped, taking a step back. She had noticed the strange device on Klein's wrist earlier, but having participated in the core development of the original project, she knew for a fact that only one Omnitrix existed. She had assumed Klein's watch was just a cheap imitation.
Even when Klein had transformed into an Anodite earlier, she had simply assumed he was a natural-born Anodite.
Azmuth recovered much faster than his assistant. He was, after all, the smartest being in several adjacent universes. His shock lasted only a fraction of a second before the gears in his head turned. He deduced instantly that Klein's Omnitrix had to be from an alternate reality.
As for the possibility of it being forged in this universe? Azmuth dismissed the thought immediately. Aside from himself, there was not a single mind in this reality capable of engineering such a marvel.
"Wait, so my cousin's watch wasn't made by Azmuth?" Gwen asked, her brow furrowing as she looked between Azmuth and Myaxx's reactions. "Then who built it?"
She had always assumed Azmuth was responsible for Klein's device as well.
"Does it really matter who built it?" Vilgax rumbled from the corner of the room, his deep voice cutting through the chatter. "Either way, I cannot obtain it."
The warlord maintained a completely indifferent posture, arms crossed over his massive chest. Truthfully, he had fully intended to leave the moment the self-destruct sequence was aborted. But watching the smartest being in the universe get blackmailed into a dating seminar to win back his ex-girlfriend? Vilgax decided he could spare a few minutes to watch the spectacle.
Dot did not bother participating in the discussion. With a sharp crack of displaced air, the alien vanished entirely from the laboratory.
On an uncharted, silent planet lightyears away.
A female Galvan sat alone on a smooth outcropping of rock, her head tilted back as she gazed up at the endless sea of stars stretching across the cosmos.
The atmosphere was completely still. Zenith sat in total silence, her posture rigid, her mind clearly wandering through memories of the past.
"Who are you thinking about?" a voice suddenly asked from the shadows.
"I just wonder how he is doing now..." Zenith murmured absentmindedly, before her brain caught up with her ears. She snapped to attention. "Wait, who is there?!"
Zenith scrambled to her feet, her hands moving in a blur as she drew a compact, high-powered energy pistol from her belt. She leveled the glowing barrel directly at Dot, who had materialized out of thin air just a few paces away.
"Who I am is completely irrelevant. What actually matters is that you need to come with me right now," Dot said, the alien's tone leaving absolutely no room for negotiation.
Zenith tightened her grip on the pistol. As a Galvan, her intellect was staggering. It took her less than a second to calculate the odds. The strange alien before her possessed teleportation capabilities and showed zero fear of her weapon. She had absolutely no chance of winning a physical confrontation., if the intruder wanted her dead, she would already be a corpse.
Lowering the pistol slightly, Zenith made the logical choice. She would comply, for now, to gather more information.
"A very wise decision," Dot chuckled.
Before Zenith could blink, Dot closed the distance, grabbed her by the shoulder, and the two of them vanished from the quiet planet.
Back at Azmuth's headquarters.
"How do I look? Is my posture correct?" Azmuth paced back and forth across the metal floor, his hands wringing together nervously as he constantly checked his appearance.
"Uh... you look great, man," Ben offered, scratching his cheek. He honestly could not think of any other way to encourage the frantic alien.
"Azmuth, just take a deep breath and remember exactly what I taught you," Max instructed, giving the Galvan a firm, reassuring nod.
With the final lesson delivered, Max ushered the rest of the group out of the immediate vicinity, leaving the room to give them space.
Azmuth was left alone in the center of the laboratory. He felt like he was sitting on a bed of nails, every second stretching into an eternity as he waited for the woman he had missed for so many agonizing years.
After what felt like a century to the nervous Galvan, the air in the center of the room warped.
Dot materialized, holding Zenith by the shoulder.
Dot gently set Zenith down on the floor. "You two have a nice, long chat."
Without waiting for a response, Dot vanished into thin air once again, leaving the two Galvans staring at each other.
"Zenith, I..." Azmuth started, his voice trembling.
The overwhelming cocktail of anxiety, guilt, and sheer excitement completely short-circuited his massive brain. Every single piece of dating advice Max had drilled into his head over the last two hours evaporated into the ether.
Zenith glared at him, her eyes flashing with sudden, furious realization. "Azmuth?! You are the one who sent that brute to kidnap me?!"
The accusation hit Azmuth like a physical blow. The last shreds of Max's coaching vanished, leaving him completely incoherent.
"No! I mean, yes, but no! I just..." Azmuth stammered, waving his hands frantically as he tried to formulate a logical explanation.
But Zenith was clearly in no mood to listen to his excuses. The hurt in her eyes hardened into ice.
"I am leaving!" Zenith snapped, turning on her heel and marching toward the laboratory exit.
Panic seized Azmuth's chest. He scrambled forward, his short legs carrying him as fast as they could, and desperately grabbed Zenith's hand. "Wait. Please."
"What else could you possibly have to say to me?" Zenith demanded, violently shaking off his grip. She glared down at him, her expression a mix of anger and exhaustion.
Azmuth stared up into her eyes. The frantic panic slowly drained away, replaced by a sudden, heavy clarity. All the logic, all the equations, all the pride that had driven him to build the Omnitrix—none of it mattered.
"I know I am not always right," Azmuth said softly.
He reached out again, gently taking her hand. This time, he didn't grip it like a possession; he held it like a lifeline. "I just want to tell you... that I have missed you so much."
Zenith froze. Her breath hitched. She stared at the Galvan before her, completely caught off guard. She had never, in all their years together, expected the impossibly arrogant, endlessly stubborn Azmuth to openly admit his own faults.
"Please come back to me," Azmuth whispered, his large eyes looking up at her with raw, unfiltered pleading. "I will listen to you from now on. I promise."
Zenith did not pull her hand away. She just stood there, looking deep into Azmuth's eyes for a long, quiet moment. The anger slowly melted from her posture.
With a soft sigh, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.
Azmuth stiffened in shock for a fraction of a second before he melted into the embrace, hugging Zenith back with all his meager strength, absolutely terrified that if he let go, she would disappear into the stars once again.
From the dark shadows behind the supercomputers, the peanut gallery watched the entire scene unfold.
Ben, Gwen, Max, Myaxx, Vilgax, and a newly de-transformed Klein all huddled together, grinning from ear to ear, thoroughly thrilled by the dramatic conclusion of the universe's smartest soap opera.
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