Night settled over Queens like a heavy blanket of shadows and scattered city lights.
From the rooftop of a small apartment building, Jack crouched near the edge, his alien form blending easily into the darkness. XLR8. Cold wind rushed across the rooftops, sliding over his sleek blue armor-like skin. Far below, the city stretched endlessly in every direction. Neon signs flickered along the streets while cars crawled through intersections like glowing rivers of red and white.
From up here, New York looked almost peaceful. Almost.
Jack rested one clawed hand on the concrete ledge and looked down at the moving traffic. Moments like this were his favorite part of patrol. The chaos of the city felt distant from the rooftops, the endless noise softening into a steady hum while the cool night air cleared his thoughts.
"Well… this definitely beats sitting in traffic," Jack muttered. His tail flicked lazily behind him as he scanned the streets.
Over the past few days patrol had slowly turned into a routine. Every night he ran across rooftops, listening, watching, waiting for trouble to reveal itself. Because in New York, trouble always appeared eventually. Crime never truly stopped. If you ran long enough, you would find it.
Tonight was no different.
Several blocks away, a desperate voice echoed through the alleyways.
"Help!"
Jack's head snapped toward the sound instantly. His body tensed. "There it is."
Without hesitation he moved. The rooftop vanished behind him as XLR8 exploded forward in a streak of blue motion. Wind roared past as he raced across the buildings — rooftop, wall, fire escape, another rooftop. To Jack the city blurred into streaks of color and light, people below barely having time to blink before the blue flash shot past them.
Within seconds he reached the source of the shout.
A narrow alley behind a closed convenience store. Trash bags piled against one wall, a broken streetlight flickering weakly overhead. Three men surrounded a fourth figure who had been pushed against a rusted dumpster. One of the attackers held a knife. Another was already digging through the victim's pockets.
"Come on, man," the victim pleaded nervously. "Take the wallet, just leave me alone."
One of the robbers laughed. "Relax, buddy. We're just asking for a little donation."
The knife-wielding man stepped closer. "You scream again and this gets messy."
The victim froze.
Then a gust of wind rushed through the alley. The robbers blinked. "What the—"
Something moved.
CRACK. The man holding the knife slammed face-first into the pavement. The blade clattered across the ground.
"What the hell?!" the second robber shouted. A blur flashed past him. WHAM. His legs vanished from under him as something smashed into his knees. The man spun sideways and crashed violently into the brick wall.
The third robber staggered backward. "What is that thing?!"
The blue figure suddenly appeared in front of him. XLR8. Large green eyes stared down at the terrified criminal.
The man froze. "…That's not human." He tried to swing a fist.
Bad idea.
XLR8's tail whipped forward. THUD. The robber collapsed instantly.
The entire fight lasted barely two seconds.
But one of the criminals was still conscious. Groaning, he tried to crawl away. "Boss is gonna kill us…" he muttered weakly.
Jack stepped forward and placed a clawed foot on the man's back. "Boss?" he asked quietly.
The robber laughed nervously. "You think you're tough?" He looked up at the alien with fear and hatred mixed together. "Tombstone will kill you, Blur!" Jack's eyes narrowed. "You can't escape him, you lizard bastard!"
The man suddenly reached into his jacket. Jack moved instantly. WHACK. One quick strike knocked the robber unconscious.
The alley fell silent.
The victim slowly lowered his hands. "…Did I just get rescued by a dinosaur?"
XLR8 tilted his head slightly. Jack looked down at the three unconscious criminals. "Amateurs," he muttered. He picked up the dropped wallet and handed it back. The man stared at the alien in shock. "Th-thank you…"
Before he could ask anything else, the blur vanished.
Jack stopped several rooftops away, crouching behind a rusted water tower. His breathing slowed as the Omnitrix timer blinked faintly in his vision.
[ Transformation Time Remaining: 04:41 ]
"Still plenty of time." He glanced back toward the alley where the robbery had happened. Police sirens would arrive soon. But something about that encounter bothered him.
Jack replayed the moment in his mind. The criminal's words echoed again.
Tombstone will kill you, Blur.
His eyes narrowed. "That's the third time…"
Over the past week he had heard the same name from completely different criminals — Tombstone. And every time it came from people involved in the same type of crimes: weapon deals, smuggling, street gangs.
Jack leaned back against the rooftop wall thoughtfully. "And I already stopped two of their operations." That wasn't coincidence. These criminals weren't acting randomly. They were organized.
The Omnitrix beeped softly.
[ Transformation Ending ]
Green light flashed around his body. Moments later Jack stood on the rooftop in human form again. He stretched his shoulders. "Well… time to do some research."
An hour later Jack sat inside his small apartment, the dim glow of his laptop lighting the room. Outside the open window, distant traffic and sirens echoed through the night.
Jack typed slowly. Tombstone New York.
Search results appeared instantly. Most of them were useless — business articles, corporate websites, financial reports. Jack clicked through several pages. Tombstone Industries, construction investments, real estate partnerships. He frowned. Everything looked completely normal.
Too normal.
"Tch. That's not right."
Jack leaned closer to the screen. In the Marvel comics he remembered, Tombstone wasn't just a businessman. He was a crime boss — a dangerous one. But here? Nothing connected him to gangs, nothing to smuggling, no criminal investigations, no police reports. Nothing illegal at all.
Jack clicked another article. A photograph appeared on the screen. A massive pale man stood beside a group of wealthy businessmen outside a luxury hotel, his expression calm, almost emotionless.
Jack stared at the image. "Yeah… that's definitely him." The pale skin, the massive build, the cold lifeless eyes. Even in a tailored business suit the man looked dangerous.
Jack leaned back slowly in his chair. "So he hides it well." If Tombstone really controlled those gangs, he had done a perfect job covering his tracks — no evidence, no connection, just clean legitimate business.
Jack tapped his fingers slowly against the desk. "That means one thing." The operations he had destroyed earlier tonight had mattered. A slow smile appeared on his face. "Which means… Tombstone definitely knows about the Blur now."
The thought didn't scare him. If anything, it made things more interesting.
Jack closed the laptop and stood up. Outside the window, the lights of New York stretched endlessly across the darkness. Somewhere in that massive city, a powerful crime boss was running a hidden empire.
Jack cracked his knuckles. "Good."
Because now he had a target. And if Tombstone really controlled the gangs spreading crime through the city, then the Jack had just found his next problem to solve.
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