The Shadow Basin wasn't a basin at all. It was a labyrinth of towering, razor-sharp rock formations, carved by millennia of wind and sand into a natural fortress. The setting sun cast long, twisting shadows that danced like specters, making it impossible to tell rock from illusion.
"My ship is hidden deeper in," Sarah said, her voice barely a whisper as they navigated the treacherous terrain. She moved with an unnatural grace, her steps silent even on the loose gravel. "It's cloaked. A small shuttle, but it can get us off-planet."
Leo, still feeling the lingering tremors from Mach, focused on putting one foot in front of the other. The Omnitrix on his wrist was a dull, heavy weight, the red recharge bar stubbornly inching upward. It was at 68% now, tantalizingly close, but not enough for another full transformation.
The new "ghost"—Species 102, the Segmented Titan—flickered in his mind's eye. A fleeting image of a creature made of living, organic metal. It felt ancient. Resilient. And utterly terrifying.
"We need to hurry," Leo muttered, his gaze sweeping the chaotic landscape. He could feel the cold hum of the Vanguard's Seekers now, small, silent drones gliding above the canyon, their thermal scanners painting the world in a mosaic of heat signatures.
"They're not just looking for us," Sarah corrected, her blue eyes narrowed. "They're looking for the shuttle. They know I wouldn't just leave a crashed probe and run on foot. They know there's a second asset."
A high-pitched ping echoed through the basin. A Vanguard Seeker drone, no bigger than a falcon, shot out from behind a spire, its thermal camera locking onto them.
"Contact!" a voice crackled over its external speaker. "Host and accomplice located. Deploying Net-Units."
From the underside of the drone, two smaller, spider-like robots detached. They hit the ground and scuttled forward, their multi-jointed legs clicking on the rocks. Their heads glowed with a faint blue light, clearly designed for incapacitation.
"Net-Units are designed to disable the Aegis," Sarah explained, already moving, pulling a small, sleek pistol from her jacket. It didn't look like human tech. "Their EMP pulse will overload your stabilization field. You can't let them touch you, Leo."
"Great," Leo muttered, scrambling behind a rock. "Because I'm exactly 68% useless right now."
He clutched the Omnitrix. The red bar was crawling. The memory of Cinder's power, the speed of Mach, felt like a distant dream. All he had now was his human body, aching and exhausted, and a watch that was taking its sweet time to recharge.
One of the Net-Units scuttled over the rock, its blue light flashing. Leo rolled, barely avoiding a surge of electricity that cracked against the sandstone where his head had been. He could feel the static charge in the air, buzzing like angry wasps.
"I need a distraction!" Leo yelled, fumbling for a loose rock.
Sarah fired her pistol. It didn't make a sound, but a thin, violet beam lanced out, striking the Net-Unit. The robot twitched violently, its legs seizing, before it collapsed in a shower of sparks.
"That only slowed it down!" Sarah shouted, firing at the second. "They're shielded! My stun settings won't hold them."
More drones appeared, dropping more Net-Units. The basin was becoming a swarm of metallic spiders, their blue lights painting the shadows with an eerie glow.
Leo backed up, his heart pounding. The Aegis was still at 68%. He couldn't transform. He couldn't fight. All he could do was run, but the canyon walls were closing in, and the drones were too fast.
Then, the whisper returned. The "ghost" of Species 102. It wasn't a voice, but a primal urge. A blueprint. Shield. Absorb. Endure.
Leo looked at the Omnitrix. The dial was still retracted, the red bar a maddening crawl. But the faint green light of the Aegis's core pulsed beneath the surface. It was active. It was listening.
He focused. He pushed his will into the device, not to transform, but to activate. To draw on its core stabilization field.
The charcoal metal of the Omnitrix on his wrist pulsed. A low hum vibrated up his arm, and then, a faint green light began to spread, not just on the watch, but across his skin. It was subtle at first—a faint, almost invisible energy field that shimmered around his left arm, coalescing into what looked like a thin, flexible exoskeleton made of pure light.
[AEGIS: BIO-FIELD DEPLOYED. ENHANCING HOST PHYSICALITY. 0.05% SYNC DRAIN PER MINUTE.]
"What did you do?" Sarah asked, her eyes widening as she saw the shimmering green outline on his arm.
"I… I don't know," Leo muttered. But he felt stronger. The exhaustion was still there, but muted. His senses, sharpened by the earlier transformations, felt crisper. He could feel the vibrations of the Net-Units, sense their movement.
A Net-Unit lunged. Leo didn't dodge. He caught it.
The robot's blue field pulsed against his green-sheathed arm. An electrical current surged through him, making his teeth clatter. But the Aegis field held. It absorbed the energy, flickering like a faulty light.
"It's not just for aliens," Leo realized, gritting his teeth. "It's for me too. It's a shield."
He ripped the Net-Unit apart, feeling a surge of primitive satisfaction. The alien DNA inside the watch, the "ghost" of Species 102, pulsed with approval.
"He's adapting!" Commander Sterling's voice thundered over the loudspeaker of a massive Vanguard VTOL that crested the canyon rim. "He's learning to use the stabilization field directly! Change tactics! Deploy suppression teams! Recover the Aegis—even if you have to take the limb!"
More Vanguard soldiers rappelled down, their rifles blazing. They weren't using stunning rounds now. They were using live ammunition.
"My ship!" Sarah yelled, pointing deeper into the basin. "It's through that crevice! I'll create a diversion!"
She pulled two more metallic discs from her jacket and hurled them into the air. They exploded in a blinding flash of light and sound, momentarily disorienting the Vanguard.
"Go!" she screamed. "Don't wait for me!"
Leo hesitated. He looked at the Aegis on his wrist. The recharge bar was at 75%. Not enough for a full transformation. Not enough to fight a dozen armed soldiers. But the green bio-field on his arm was pulsing, stronger now. He could feel the raw power of the Aegis, ready to be channeled.
He looked at Sarah, who was already running, firing her pistol at the incoming Vanguard, drawing their fire.
He knew he couldn't leave her. Not now.
"No," Leo growled, pushing a surge of adrenaline into the Omnitrix. "Not alone."
He slammed his human hand onto the Aegis dial. The recharge bar flashed to 99% in a microsecond, bypassing the safety protocols. The green light intensified.
[EMERGENCY OVERRIDE. HOST INTENT: PROTECTION.]
[ACTIVATING SPECIES 102 - SEGMENTED TITAN.]
[WARNING: NEURAL SYNC WILL BE PERMANENT IF HOST DOES NOT REVERT.]
Leo didn't hear the warning. He only heard Sarah's cries as the Vanguard closed in.
The green light didn't just flash. It erupted.
His human body contorted, stretching, twisting. His skin didn't burn; it crystallized into organic metal, hardening into massive, segmented plates that clanked and shifted with terrifying force. His legs thickened into pillars of iron. His arms became immense, multi-jointed limbs, each fingertip a hardened, blunt weapon.
Leo Vance, the satellite tech, was gone. In his place stood Goliath, a towering, six-limbed behemoth of living metal, his eyes glowing with an emerald light that mirrored the Omnitrix embedded in his chest.
"Get... away... from her!" Goliath roared, his voice a metallic thunder that shook the very foundations of the canyon.
The Vanguard soldiers stopped, their rifles suddenly looking like toys against the raw, terrifying power of the Segmented Titan. The hunt was over. The counter-attack had begun.