Listening to Kevin's angry rant, Vilgax wanted to curse. It's useless to give you a chance! But there was no way around it. At the moment, only Kevin and his gang could help fight against Asher, so Vilgax wouldn't tear away the facade until he had the Omnitrix in his grasp.
Similarly, after Kevin took the money from the cash truck and shared it with his accomplices, he took off from the highway and started executing the next phase of his plan.
He flew through the air, but his mind was elsewhere.
The Heatblast transformation from the Omnitrix... Four Arms... they're all so powerful, Kevin thought, his metallic fists clenching. Wouldn't I be even more powerful if I obtained the Omnitrix myself?
Idiot Vilgax, who wants to cooperate with you? I'm just using you to get the Omnitrix. After I have it, you'll be useless!
Vilgax thought the same thing, except replace "Vilgax" with "Kevin."
BOOM!
Heatblast flew with Ben all the way to an alley in the city. After confirming the area was safe, he landed.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Heatblast collapsed against the wall, exhausted. His body felt like it was weighed down with a massive load. He could barely keep his eyes open, wanting nothing more than to sleep right there.
"Asher, are you okay? Don't fall asleep!" Ben looked at his cousin with concern, nervously clenching his hands.
After escaping the battlefield, Heatblast had flown with him without saying a word, and he still hadn't spoken. Ben was terrified that his last remaining friend might never wake up.
"Don't worry... I'm not that far gone," Heatblast's voice was heavy with exhaustion, but it offered Ben a small comfort.
"Phew!" Ben forced himself to calm down, knowing he couldn't add to Asher's burden.
Ten seconds later, light dissipated around Heatblast's form.
Asher lay in the corner of the alley, looking like he'd just been pulled from a swimming pool. His clothes were soaked with sweat, and he could barely move.
"Asher, lean on me. I'm not tired at all," Ben said, stretching out his arm and hooking it around Asher's neck. He helped his exhausted cousin stand, not minding the thick smell of sweat one bit.
Since they didn't have money for a taxi, Ben planned to help Asher walk all the way back to the hotel. He gritted his teeth, determined to keep going.
It felt like something was stuck in his heart, he needed to do something, anything to make himself feel better. The powerlessness he'd felt during the battle was unbearable!
Fortunately, a kind passerby gave them taxi fare along the way. They took a cab back to the hotel, and the staff even helped carry Asher up to their room.
"So much better!" Asher said, collapsing onto the soft sofa like he was sinking into a cloud of marshmallows. His expression relaxed considerably.
"Asher, you should rest," Ben said, clenching his hands tightly. His voice was deep with frustration. "I saw that giant fireball in the sky from miles away. That battle must have been incredibly difficult for you." He looked down at his hands. "And I couldn't do anything with just an air gun."
Asher opened his mouth to respond, but the words felt pale and weak. Instead, he reached out and patted Ben's shoulder in comfort.
After drinking several energy drinks and eating lunch, Asher recovered much of his strength and returned to something close to his normal condition.
Even so, he wasn't in a hurry to take Ben out to find Kevin and track down their whereabouts. Going after them now would be difficult and unlikely to yield good results. They needed to wait and observe.
But Kevin and the others weren't waiting at all!
Just as Asher and Ben were finishing lunch in their hotel room, urgent breaking news appeared on the TV!
The screen showed a remote shot of a building, the city TV station!
Flames burned everywhere outside the station, and flying tech-enhanced robbers circled the structure. Right there, witnessed by the reporters, they were recklessly destroying the TV station and trapping the people inside!
"Those bastards attacked the TV station! What are they trying to do?" Asher slammed his fist on the table with a loud BANG, his anger flaring.
"Hello there, journalist friend! Get a good shot of me, let me get on camera!" Kevin suddenly dropped to the ground, appearing in front of the shaky camera. He threatened the reporter with a vicious look. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. But if you dare disobey me, you will definitely die!"
The camera image, which had been retreating and shaking, reluctantly stabilized.
"Kevin!" Asher leaned forward, about to jump up. If it had been Vilgax's face on screen, he might have been disgusted, but Kevin's appearance meant action.
"I'm making an announcement!" Kevin said, facing the camera with ambition radiating from every word. He no longer looked like a child but something far more dangerous. "Starting today, this TV station is my personal building, and I'll use it to broadcast my message. Times Square next to it? That's my home base!"
Kevin pointed at the camera, his voice dripping with menace. "I'm going to build my kingdom in this city! If you don't obey my orders, there's only one outcome, death!"
As he spoke, he raised his burning mechanical arm and smashed it into the buildings on the side with a devastating Fire Fist!
CRASH!
His mech-enhanced younger brothers flew from the TV station one by one, heading excitedly toward Times Square.
One of the tech-enhanced robbers lagged behind.
He was holding Gwen and Grandpa Max, who were both tied with ropes!
Though they only flew past the camera for a moment before disappearing into Times Square, Asher definitely didn't mistake those figures.
Immediately afterward, the reporter lost his usefulness.
Kevin's fist aimed directly at the reporter's face.
A fiery red light spread across the entire TV screen.
Then, the screen went black.
No one needed to guess what happened to that reporter.
"Kevin doing this will cause massive panic," Asher said, squeezing his fists tightly. "The more chaos in the city, the fewer police can respond to support. It benefits him!" He saw through Kevin's strategy.
But seeing through a conspiracy didn't make it any less effective!
The reason Kevin dared to announce his location on live TV was to send a message directly to Asher:
I'm right here.
Waiting for you anytime.
"Asher, since we know where Gwen and Grandpa are, let's go directly!" Ben stood up, his voice extraordinarily solemn. "If it doesn't work, I can go first, even if it's just as bait to help you draw out those mechanical monsters!"
He refused to sit still!
Even getting beaten up was better than watching Gwen and Max trapped in Times Square!
Death, that word hadn't even entered Ben's mind yet.
"No! With just the two of us, even if I can protect myself, you'll be finished. I'll never watch you die!" Asher completely rejected Ben's proposal, his attitude absolutely firm.
But where could they find allies?
Tetrax, the Petrosapien, wasn't even contactable, let alone whether he'd come to support them!
Wait.
Asher's expression suddenly changed, becoming very strange.
He remembered clearly that parts of Kraab were still in the Rust Bucket, weren't they?
And those tech-enhanced robbers also had a rudimentary mecha design, or rather, a blueprint for a battle suit. Couldn't that give Ben some combat capability?
Asher was suddenly inspired.
"Ben."
"I'm going to help you build a suit, like Iron Man. How does that sound?"