Approaching the vehicle parked in the desert, the crystal-made Bounty Hunter knocked three times on the door. He waited a bit, wondering how he even ended up here in the first place. He had pretended to be a Hunter for hire again, acted as if he was going to help the cyborg and Sotoraggian get the Omnitrix for Vilgax and now spent the afternoon alone chasing the car through the dunes of the empty desert. Thankfully, it seemed the Omnitrix’s signal has been cut off, meaning whoever using it finally stopped tampering with the device. And since the vehicle seemed to be empty of whatever fuel it used, he could interrogate the current bearer of the Omnimatrix. He had to wonder what kind of man Max Tennyson was, though. According to the reports he recently received, the old Plumber had found the Omnitrix and put an end to his retirement to fight off any incoming thief who had tried to steal the Omnitrix away. But oddly enough, it seemed he didn’t use the Omnitrix that much for his bidding. He apparently ordered some Plumber weapons for self-defense, kept changing locations and witnesses said they didn’t ever see him with something remotely resembling the device in question. It was impossible to take the Omnitrix off unless the user managed to unlock the codes for it or if the creator gave the user the code (and Azmuth would’ve told Tetrax if it was the case). Yet the signal was going strong almost every 20 minutes since he arrived on Earth, so either Max Tennyson solely used the Omnitrix for training and only started using it more frequently when Tetrax came. Or there was something wrong with the signals. He didn’t see another reason why everything seemed so... illogical with the data he gathered. A Magister (a retired one but still) should know the Omnitrix should be used cautiously, instead of using it over and over again like the madmen who wanted it for theirselves would probably do. It was already tiring enough to get here. He wanted to fix his mistakes, to bring Vilgax down, to see Petropia again, to feel whole without the mess he made back then, but he knew it was impossible for now. This mission should be easy: check on the Omnitrix’s wearer, discuss with him on what to do with it and its inner functions, make a report and send it to Azmuth. Easy. Sure, he hadn’t expected the man to trap him, Sixsix and Kraab in the mines after luring them with the signal, and he should’ve been more careful now that the man was fleeing. What reason did Max Tennyson have to run away from a fight anyway? He had the Omnitrix, Bounty Hunters (specifically an unwilling one and two incompetent ones) should’ve been no match for him. He started getting impatient and knocked on the door again.

“Magister Tennyson, are you here? I’m Tetrax Shard, charged of guarding the Omnitrix. I know you’re here, I’ve been informed of you receiving it and must do a checkup on your use of it. Please open the door and cooperate.”

He kept waiting for the old man to open. Was he that wary of the Petrosapian? He hadn’t exactly been the most friendly back there either, attacking him as a cover so that the other two hunters wouldn’t suspect a thing. But now they were alone, and Tetrax revealing his identity should raise at least a few flags.

“Magister Tennyson, if you do not cooperate, I’ll have to enter by force.”

he threatened. Still no response. He took his gloves off but before he could send a hurricane of crystals onto the RV, the door finally opened, revealing a grey-haired old man in a red Hawaiian shirt.