Nate was sitting beside Kevin.

Nate: Did you ever have girl trouble, Uncle Kev? What am I saying? Of course you didn't. It's just that I really like this girl... but someone else asked her first... I really need to stop talking to you like you can communicate.

Nate heard the approaching sound of a jet engine.

Nate: What the-

The windows shattered as the bounty hunter SixSix landed. Nate quickly ran into the kitchen and ducked behind the island.

Nate: What are you doing here SixSix?

SixSix: (In Sotoraggian) I am here to kill you for Vilgax.

Nate: I don't speak Sotoraggian, but it's lucky Vilgax is universal in all languages.

SixSix shot at the counter. Nate ducked out of the room and went down into the basement.

Nate: Not cool, SixSix. You don't shoot at an unarmed civilian.

SixSix followed him down into the basement but was met with a powerful blast. Nate had used a laser rifle from the arsenal downstairs.

Nate: However, you can shoot at a kid with Plumber gear.

SixSix got back up and rushed at Nate. Nate threw a stun grenade, knocking SixSix into the ceiling and knocking him out. Nate went over to his gauntlet and started pressing buttons.

Nate: And now, time to reverse your teleport.

SixSix woke up and let out a roar before disappearing. He went back upstairs and left to get in his car, bringing Zed.

———

He had made it to the safe house where the others had already arrived. He got out of the car with Zed. Courtney ran up to him and hugged him.

Courtney: Where were you? I was worried.

Nate: Sorry, I had a run-in with a bounty hunter.

Courtney: What?!

Nate: It doesn't matter.

Pat: Let's get inside.

They hear an approaching vehicle.

Courtney: Who's that?

The truck pulls up and Justin exits.

Justin: Hello, friends. I bring forth a feast fit for kings and queens.

Max and Zed ran up to him.

Justin: Oh, and loyal steeds.

They hear a rumbling sound to look and see the S.T.R.I.P.E. armour land. They look over at Pat.

Pat: Remote control.

Mike: Yeah? When are you gonna teach me how to drive that thing?

Pat: Never. Let's get in there.

Beth: That's everyone and everything coming tonight, right?

Barbara: I hope so.

They all walk up to and inside the house.

———

Vilgax was reporting to Jordan over the holo-call.

Vilgax: It seems that SixSix was unsuccessful in his mission. As such, the Tennyson boy was able to get away.

Jordan: This isn't good, Vilgax. How could a professional bounty hunter lose to a 16-year-old kid?

Vilgax: He seems to be craftier than his father was at his age. But, I shall be coming back down to the Earth, and I shall take the boy on myself.

Jordan: You've already tried that... twice!

Vilgax: Do not speak to me that way, human! He had the Omnitrix both times. This time, he does not.

———

Nate walked past Yolanda. He sat down on the couch opposite Beth.

Beth: You got something on your mind?

Nate: Yep.

Beth: You wanna talk about it?

Nate: Nope.

Nate looked outside at Courtney.

Beth: Oh... I get it.

Nate: Get what?

Beth: Your heart rate increases every time you look at Courtney. You like her.

Nate: What if I did?

Beth: Have you told her?

Nate: No. I mean, how do I?

Beth: Well, first, you have to actually talk to her.

Nate: That's not what I mean. She's my best friend. What if I ruin that?

Beth: What if it becomes something better?

Nate: Fine... I'll talk to her.

Beth: That's not the only thing on your mind, is it?

Nate: How are you so perceptive? (sighs) How can I be a part of this team if I don't bring anything to the table?

Beth: That's not true.

Nate: Yes, it is. Without the Omnitrix, I'm not smart, I'm not strong, I'm not helpful.

Beth: You're all of those things. Who thought to turn into Clockwork and find Dr. Ito's picture? Who punched Rick in the face so hard that he fell to the floor? And who's one of the greatest friends that I have ever had?

Nate: Alright, fine. The first two are me, the third one is Chuck.

Beth: Well, you're not wrong there.

Nate continues looking at Courtney through the window.

Beth: Just go talk to her.

Nate: What, now?

Beth: Yes, now. Go.

Nate goes over and takes a deep breath before opening the door and walking out.

Courtney: Hey, Nate.

Nate: What's up?

Courtney: Do you have any siblings?

Nate: Fourteen, why?

Courtney: What?

Nate: You meant, did I grow up with siblings? No, I did not.

Nate stood awkwardly for a while.

Nate: Hey, can I talk to you about something?

Courtney: About when you're gonna pick up some actual fighting skills?

Nate: No.

Courtney: Did you wanna do that now? I can train you out here.

Nate: I was just, um...

Nate hesitated for a moment and then looked her in the eyes.

Nate: I'm in love with you.

Courtney: What?

Nate: I'm really sorry if that's weird for you to hear, but I needed you to... hear it. Probably not good timing, I know that, I just-

Courtney: What are you doing? What do you expect me to say to that?

Nate: I just needed you to know. Once.

Courtney: Well, I, um- I... I can't.

Nate: Yeah.

Courtney: You have no idea...

Nate: Don't do that.

Courtney: ...what your friendship means to me.

Nate: Come on. I don't wanna do that. I wanna be more than that.

Courtney: I can't. I'm really sorry if you misinterpreted things. It's probably my fault.

Nate: Not your fault. I'm sorry I misinterpreted our friendship.

Nate went back inside.

Beth: How'd it go?

Nate: I'm never listening to you again.

Beth: What?

Nate: It went bad.

Suddenly, a teleportation flash appeared. Nate turned around to see Azmuth on the table.

Nate: Listen, I'm not in the mood for you to start yelling at me about how I screwed up.

Azmuth: Well, it's a good thing that's not why I'm here.

Nate: Why are you here?

Azmuth: You destroyed my Omnitrix, and for that I shall not forgive you... But, Vilgax must be stopped. And so-

A sword appeared on the table next to him.

Azmuth: I am letting you borrow my sword.

Nate: You're giving me Ascalon?

Azmuth: No! Didn't you hear what I just said? You are only to use this to defeat Vilgax. After that, I will take it back.

Nate: Alright.

Azmuth: And don't worry about Levin, I had him taken to Galvan Prime for proper treatment. This is the last piece of my help you shall ever receive, Tennyson.

Nate goes over and picked up the sword.

Nate: Fair enough.

Azmuth teleported away.

Beth: I can't tell if he's intimidating or not.

Nate: No-one can.

Rick: Beth, I need you and your goggles over here.

Beth walked over to Rick who was holding his dad's journal. Everyone gathered inside to see what had been uncovered.

Rick: The formulas were the coordinates of a map for the tunnels. My dad must've gotten down there and scoped it out.

Beth: I'm scanning the journal now.

She scanned the journal which then caused her goggles to project a hologram of the tunnels.

Rick: This map my dad made, those are the tunnel entrances. Here. This is their meeting room... In there. Which is where they're building some sort of... Uh, some sort of machine.

Barbara: What machine?

Courtney: The equipment they stole, the satellite codes. They must've used those to build something.

Beth: Something big. Chuck thinks they built something he calls a 'synaptic amplifer'. It's meant to transmit...

Courtney: Brainwaves.

Yolanda: So Henry's dad can reach somebody else's mind?

Beth: Millions of somebodies.

Barbara: But why?

Rick: Maybe those creepy guys in the tunnel were just a test run.

Pat: Right. And now they're getting ready for the big rollout.

Mike: Are they gonna try to make everyone else zombies or-

Barbara: No. I don't think that's their American Dream. Like Blue Valley, they wanna have people follow their vision and join them and... I guess follow without question.

Pat: Right, but not if we destroy their machine.

Courtney: Rick, is there a tunnel that STRIPE could get through?

Rick: Yeah. The river. But don't think I'm not coming with you.

Courtney: No. You, Nate, Yolanda and Justin should enter from the opposite side of town.

Rick: You want us to split up?

Courtney: Only to try to avoid detection. But we'll meet back up at the machine.

Beth: While you guys go destroy the amplifier, Chuck and I can take down the computers running the show. We've traced the town's electrical surges to The American Dream. Chuck thinks we can access their system from there. You know, hack the hackers.

Barbara: Okay, I'm gonna go with Beth.

Pat: Barb, I don't want you going anywhere near this place.

Barbara: Well, you'll let a 15-year-old go?

Beth: I'll be 16 in May.

Barbara: If there's a problem, I know that building better than anyone else.

Pat: All right. I mean, I don't like it, but what choice do we have?

Beth: So, we've got a plan.

Mike: So, uh... what's my job?

Pat: You, Mike Dugan, have the most important job of all. You're gonna look after the dog. Okay?

Mike: Is that really all I'm good for, the dog?

Nate: Of course not. It's much more important than that, Mike... you're also gonna be taking care of my dog.

Nate whistles and Zed runs up to him.

Nate: Be careful, she's a trained hunting dog, so, she has the capability of killing you.

Mike: Gee, thanks, dude.

Nate: Don't mention it. Let's go.

———

Nate, Yolanda, Rick and Justin arrived at the basement door in Cindy's house.

Wildcat: What's the code?

Omnis: I don't know, I just rewired the keypad as Nanomech. But I do have an idea.

Nate pulled out Ascalon and hit the keypad with the bottom of the handle. It sparked and opened the basement door. They walked down the stairs into the ISA headquarters.

Beth: {Hey, guys, can you hear me?}

Stargirl: {We read you.}

Wildcat: Us, too.

Beth: {Guys, I found some kind of countdown. I think we have 35 minutes before they turn it on. Whatever they're going to make people believe in, they call it the 'New Constitution.' They wanna combat... global warming? Oh, wait. They wanna force people to...}

Stargirl: {They're going to force people to what?}

Beth: {Force them to embrace solar and wind power. They're going to eliminate discrimination over race, religion, sexual orientation...}

Hourman: You're kidding me.

Beth: {Oh, and universal health care.}

Stargirl: {That sounds good. Is that not good?}

Omnis: Um, is it possible we're on the wrong side of this?

STRIPE: {There's got to be something else.}

Beth: {I don't know, Mr. Dugan. The only other thing it says is that once the machine broadcasts, the process will take 30 minutes. If we don't stop them Bedford then. It's permanent. Oh, here's more. It only affects fully-developed minds.}

Wildcat: What does that mean?

Beth: {Oh, no.}

Stargirl: {Beth, what is it?}

Beth: {There are people who will fight too hard against the reprogramming process.}

Stargirl: {And what happens to them?}

Beth: {Their brains will shut down. They'll die.}

Wildcat: How many?

Beth: {Twenty-five percent of their target audience... of 100 million people.}

Stargirl: {They're going to kill 25 million people?}

The Gambler: {Give or take a few million, yes. Good morning, everyone. You may be wondering what's just happened, so allow me to elucidate. Well, I've just hacked into your hack of our hack, young lady. And with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?}

Beth: {I'm... I... Guys. I don't know what to do.}

The Gambler: {Child... There's nothing to do.}

Beth: {We've only got 30 minutes before they broadcast.}

The Gambler: {You think you have 30 minutes to stop us from broadcasting? The broadcast begins at the 30-minute mark. It's 30 minutes until Brainwave is finished.}

Nate, Yolanda and Rick looked back to see Justin completely frozen.

Hourman: Justin. Justin!

Omnis: Well, this isn't great.

EPISODE END