> "When you open a locked door, you never know what's waiting on the other side.
Especially when the lock was built by someone trying to keep the universe from noticing you."
— Max Tennyson
---
Deep Space – Uncharted Sector Z42-B
Lightyears from Earth, among the ruins of an ancient battle station orbiting a collapsed star, an orb flickered awake. A signal — weak but distinct — pulsed from within its cracked surface. It vibrated on a frequency older than time.
Not a message.
A ping.
A request for attention.
It echoed across galactic lanes, through wormholes, black holes, and compressed dark matter corridors. And far beyond anyone's understanding, something… heard it.
And answered.
---
Earth – Rustbucket Exterior, New Mexico Desert
The sky was clear when the signal hit. Not thunder, not lightning — something deeper. A vibration in the soul. Static shimmered in the air like heatwaves. Birds scattered. Power lines sparked.
Inside the Rustbucket, Ben fell to his knees.
The Omnitrix burned white-hot on his wrist — its normal green replaced by a blinding pulse of gold, then violet, then… something wrong.
"Ben!" Gwen shouted, reaching for him.
Max was already yanking cables out of the walls. "It's not the Omnitrix alone. It's transmitting. Something — or someone — is listening now."
Ben gasped, eyes rolling back, as visions flooded his mind:
Stars collapsing.
Worlds being consumed by shadow.
Alien languages whispering in binary.
And… a pair of glowing eyes, watching him from a nebula shaped like a skull.
---
Inside the Omnitrix – Signal Contamination Detected
> "WARNING: Vault Lock compromised."
> "Unauthorized attention detected. Galactic Entities may respond."
> "Suggested Action: Re-seal access. Suppress signal. Reboot Timeline."
Ben shook his head.
"No. I opened that vault for a reason."
The voice inside the Omnitrix answered in static and pain.
> "You have triggered Protocol EXO-7."
> "Signal sent to the following: The Galvan Council. The Incursion Empire. Highbreed Remnants. Chrono-Criminal Surveillance. And… the Silence Orbitals."
Ben blinked.
"The what?"
> "Classified Level Ω. Response likely within 48 standard Earth hours."
---
Elsewhere – Unknown Location
In a chamber of spiraling glass and gravity-defying platforms, seven alien beings stood in formation. No faces. No names. Only titles.
The Eye of Stars
The Neural Architect
Silence Incarnate
The Void Listener
Arbiter of Threads
Echo-God IX
Chronophage
They watched the signal's trail. They saw the source.
> "He opened the Vault," one of them rasped.
> "Impossible. That code was locked in dying universes."
> "Yet he lives. Again. The Divergent One."
> "Prepare to send the Echo-Scythe."
> "Not yet. Let him remember. Let him believe."
They vanished.
---
The Next Morning – Desert Highway
Ben stood on a cliff, staring into the sky.
"I felt it," he whispered.
Gwen joined him, holding a Plumber scanner. "Whatever that signal was… it wasn't just local. It hit satellites, drones, even deep Plumber probes."
Max stepped up behind them. "It pinged half the galaxy, Ben. We're not alone anymore. And whoever just heard that signal... isn't going to send flowers."
Ben rubbed his temples. "I didn't mean to broadcast."
"No," Max said. "You meant to unlock the truth. And that truth woke something up."
Gwen turned, her voice tight. "Then we need answers before they come asking questions."
---
Kevin – Remote Watching
In a scavenged bunker outside Bellwood, Kevin stared at a console with a grin.
He saw the signal too.
And unlike Ben… he understood it.
"This isn't just a warning," he muttered, fingers sparking as he absorbed power from an old Galvanic device. "It's an invitation."
He turned to a damaged AI core, one once part of a Galvan Warden.
"Patch me through to the Silence Orbitals. I want to talk to the ones who remember why the Omnitrix was buried."
---
Final Scene – The First Visitor
That night, as Ben slept inside the Rustbucket, something landed quietly on the sand outside.
Not a ship.
Not a being.
A drone. Unlike anything Max had ever seen. Organic metal. Symbols from dead civilizations across time. It didn't move.
But it watched.
From its core, a whisper pulsed — inaudible to human ears, but deafening to the Omnitrix:
> "Divergent Signature Confirmed."
> "Phase One: Observation."
> "Phase Two: Containment."