Guilt weighed heavily on Howell's shoulders as he slowly lowered his head. "Let me come with you. I'll ride shotgun, and once we're inside, I can draw their attention."
"You don't have to," Max replied, but Howell's expression had hardened into something resembling steel. The man wasn't going to take no for an answer.
In the end, Asher and Gwen slipped out of the Rust Bucket and crouched in the tall grass flanking the fortress gates. Max sat behind the wheel with Howell in the passenger seat, both men facing the imposing entrance.
Asher glanced at his Omnitrix. The indicator pulsed a reassuring green, fully charged and ready. Some of the tension bled from his shoulders.
The headlights flared to life like twin searchlights, cutting through the darkness and sweeping across the courtyard. Several Forever Knights stumbled backward, raising their arms against the glare.
"What the, "
"Sniper?"
"Formation! Get into formation!"
The knights reacted with trained precision, weapons raised as they rushed toward the gate. But the blinding headlights left them squinting into the light, completely blind to what lurked behind it.
The engine roared.
The Rust Bucket exploded through the gates, metal screeching against stone as the old RV tore into the courtyard. Most of the knights dove aside with split-second reflexes, but a few unlucky souls caught the bumper and went flying.
"Intruders! Stop them!"
The fortress erupted into chaos. Knights converged on the RV from every direction, their laser lances humming with deadly energy. Several threw their weapons like javelins, the crackling tips embedding themselves in the vehicle's chassis. The Rust Bucket shuddered and ground to a halt.
Inside, Max gripped a homemade time bomb while Howell clutched the air rifle Max had given him. They exchanged grim nods. These weapons wouldn't hold off the knights for long, but they didn't need to. They just needed to buy time.
"Gwen, now!"
Asher peered through the shattered gate. The courtyard swarmed with armored figures, but nearly all of them had their backs turned, focused entirely on the smoking RV. Their attention was exactly where he needed it.
He grabbed Gwen's hand and they ran.
The sprint across the courtyard felt endless. Asher's heart hammered against his ribs, his footsteps impossibly loud in his own ears. Every instinct screamed at him to look back, to check if they'd been spotted, but he forced himself forward. Looking back would only slow them down.
Don't turn around. Don't turn around.
If even one knight glanced over their shoulder right now, it was over. All their planning, all their sacrifices, reduced to nothing.
They reached the main building's entrance. Asher's hand found the door handle and twisted. The hinges groaned as they slipped inside.
Behind them, the sounds of Max and Howell's last stand echoed across the courtyard, shouts, impacts, cries of pain.
The door clicked shut.
Silence.
Asher stood in the sudden quiet, fists clenched so tight his knuckles ached. "Grandpa, Howell... I swear I'll get Ben out. And then I'm coming back for you."
Gwen surveyed their surroundings with growing unease. "This place is huge. More than one floor, too. How are we supposed to search all of this?"
She wasn't wrong. They'd emerged into a long corridor that branched left and right. From outside, the building had appeared to be at least three stories tall. Each floor probably contained a dozen rooms or more.
Finding Ben here was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"We'll figure it out," Asher said, projecting more confidence than he felt. "Most of the knights should be outside dealing with Grandpa. We've got a window."
Footsteps.
Faint at first, but growing louder. Coming from both directions.
Gwen's eyes widened. "Someone's coming."
"That's impossible," Asher breathed. But he could hear it too, the unmistakable clank of armored boots against stone, deliberately muted but not quite silent.
They pressed themselves against the wall, trapped in the open corridor with nowhere to hide and enemies closing in from both sides.
The footsteps grew louder. Any second now, the knights would round those corners and spot them.
Asher's palm hovered over the Omnitrix. He'd already cycled to Four Arms, the strongest melee fighter in his arsenal. If it came to a fight, he'd give these knights everything he had.
Seconds stretched into eternity.
Two groups of knights emerged simultaneously from opposite ends of the corridor. Six from the left. Six from the right. Twelve armored warriors in total, their visored helmets sweeping the hallway with predatory precision.
The corridor was empty.
One door hung slightly ajar, nothing more.
"We came up from the basement and covered the entire first floor," one knight reported, his voice echoing in the quiet. "No sign of infiltration."
"Don't get complacent," another snapped. "Keep searching. The Eternal Knight's orders were clear, sweep every inch of this building. He anticipated this exact scenario. We will not be fooled by diversionary tactics."
The patrol moved on, their footsteps fading as they continued their methodical search.
Inside a darkened storage room, Asher and Gwen stood with their backs pressed against the door. Gwen's hand clutched the Charm of Luck hanging from her neck, her face pale with exhaustion.
She'd activated the charm's power the moment they heard the footsteps, and whatever probability-warping magic it contained had guided them to this room barely seconds before the knights arrived.
"The Eternal Knight saw through our diversion," Asher whispered, his mind racing. "He knew we'd try to sneak in while everyone focused on the front gate. Gwen, if you hadn't used the charm..."
He didn't finish the thought. He didn't need to. Without Gwen's luck magic, they'd have been forced into a fight. Twelve trained knights with alien-tech weaponry against one transformation. Even Four Arms might not have been enough, and the commotion would have alerted the entire fortress.
More importantly, if Ben was being held somewhere deeper in the building, the knights would have immediately moved him to an even more secure location the moment they realized an actual rescue attempt was underway.
The Eternal Knight had planned for everything.
This enemy was different from Vilgax, Kevin, or Hex. Those villains had power, but they were reactive, they responded to threats as they emerged. The Eternal Knight was proactive. He'd anticipated their strategy before they'd even conceived it, positioned his forces to counter a diversion that hadn't happened yet.
This is what it means to fight someone with real tactical genius, Asher realized. I can't afford a single mistake.
"Okay," Gwen breathed, listening intently at the door. "They're gone. But I can't keep this up forever, the charm drains me every time I use it."
"I know. Rest when you need to." Asher met her eyes in the darkness. "But right now, we have to move."
They slipped back into the corridor. The patrol had continued their sweep, leaving this section temporarily clear. Working quickly but quietly, they made their way to a staircase and began climbing.
First floor. Second floor. Third floor.
Gwen suddenly stopped, her grip on the charm tightening. "Here. The charm is telling me Ben's on this floor somewhere."
Asher scanned the layout. Same structure as below, a maze of rooms and branching hallways. Finding the right one would take time they might not have.
"Take the main stairway! Lock it down, if that kid tries to come up this way, he won't get past us!"
"Unless he climbs through a window, but that's suicide from this height!"
Voices echoed from multiple directions. Knights were converging on the staircases, cutting off their primary route of retreat.
The Eternal Knight's strategy was elegant in its simplicity. He didn't need to find the infiltrators, he just needed to control access to the upper floors. Anyone trying to reach a prisoner would have to pass through his checkpoints. Anyone trying to escape would find every exit blocked.
"Asher, we should fall back to the second floor," Gwen urged. "Find somewhere to hide and wait for an opening."
"No time." Asher was already cycling through his Omnitrix, moving past Four Arms to another selection. His jaw set with determination. "The longer we wait, the more knights fill this building. I'm going to create a distraction big enough to draw all of them to me."
Gwen's eyes widened. "What? You can't take on the whole fortress alone!"
"I won't have to take them all on, I just need to keep them busy." He found the alien he wanted and looked up at his cousin. "Gwen, while I've got their attention, find Ben. Get him out. I'll catch up."
Before she could argue further, he slammed his palm down on the Omnitrix.
Green light exploded outward.