The sun blazed above as Providence airships carved silent trails across the sky. Far below, in the ruins of a forgotten South American mining town, tension thrummed in the air like static.
Kairos crouched beside Ben and Rex in the shadows of a collapsed church steeple. The jungle had already begun reclaiming the stone and steel, vines climbing over pews and altar alike. But this place wasn't abandoned. It was the last known hiding place of a unique EVO—one Providence had branded too dangerous to detain, yet too valuable to destroy.
Ben peered through binoculars. "Thermal scan shows movement inside. Non-aggressive... but weird. Pulse keeps fluctuating."
Rex tapped his wrist interface. "Who is this guy again?"
Kairos spoke quietly. "Name's Orion. He was once a nanotech bio-engineer. Volunteered for the earliest EVO trials—before the nanite burst. He was the first success... and the first failure. Something in him never stabilized."
Ben gave him a look. "You knew him?"
"In another life," Kairos said, voice barely audible.
They moved inside, careful not to trip any of Orion's defenses. Broken cameras still blinked, and traps hummed faintly with dormant charge. As they reached the main altar, a shifting figure stepped from the shadows.
Orion.
He looked more mist than man—his body semi-transparent, nanites constantly rearranging his form. His voice buzzed with interference, but there was warmth in it.
"You came."
Kairos nodded. "I need your help."
Orion's head twitched. "Help... dangerous word. Especially from you, Architect."
Rex raised an eyebrow. "Architect?"
Orion tilted his head. "You never told them. Of course not. You never do."
Ben stepped forward. "We're not here to fight. We just need info. Something's coming—something big. Bigger than Van Kleiss, bigger than anything Providence has seen."
Orion's form flickered. "The False God... has sent his second Herald. I've seen the signs."
Kairos's heart sank. "Where?"
"In the place where nanites sleep but never die—Tunguska."
Rex paled. "That's where the original blast began. That's ground zero."
Orion nodded. "The Herald will try to wake what remains there. The core nanites—the seed that birthed the infection. If he succeeds, the Earth will change again... violently."
Suddenly, a high-pitched whine pierced the silence. Providence dropships.
Orion's eyes widened. "They followed you!"
Kairos spun to Ben. "Get us out—now!"
Ben slammed the Omnitrix and morphed into XLR8. In a blur, they were gone, just as a shockwave shattered the church ruins behind them.
From above, Agent Six's voice barked orders.
"Secure the site. Find the EVO fugitive. He knows something."
But it was too late.
Miles away, Kairos, Ben, and Rex crouched beneath a cliffside outcrop, catching their breath.
Rex wiped his brow. "So, let me get this straight. There's a second Herald on the way, and the one EVO who could've stopped it is about to be hunted down by Providence."
Kairos stared into the horizon, jaw set. "Then we stop them both."
Ben rested her hand on his shoulder. "You keep carrying the weight of the world like it's only yours to bear. But we're in this together now."
Kairos glanced at her. "I hope you remember that when the world starts falling apart again."
The jungle wind stirred. Above them, the sky darkened—not from clouds, but from the flicker of something massive arriving.