NOTE: An alternate universe where Ben 10 lives in the DC universe
It was finally summer time as the bell rang for students to go freely. Ben was tapping his feet all 5th period waiting for the bell; when it did he shot to his feet ready to leave until his teacher called him aside.
Aw man what did i do this time Ben thought
Ben has gotten in trouble a lot his school years growing up because he seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. His teacher, Mr. Bowmen, held his test score from 2 weeks ago,.
Had he been holding onto that this whole-time Ben thought
"Mr. Tennyson" said Mr. Bowen "I can't let you out of here until you have at least gotten a higher score that ironically is only 10 correct" (there were 20 questions total)
"but Mr. Bowmen it's summer, I'm going to be going on a road trip to the hall of justice with my grandpa and I'm packing up tonight "
"I would gladly let you on your way but even the justice league has their homework to do. So, you're going to have to stay in detention until you get this done"
"aww man" ben complained
After detention Ben walked out of the middle school alone. Earlier everyone else were getting started on their summer vacation while Ben had to wait for his grandpa to come get him. He was really angry at what Mr. Bowen had to make him do. He just wished he could do something to get back at him. Like if he were the Flash he would speed Mr. Bowmen to a local park and hang him by his underwear at a local statute completely humiliating him. That thought alone made him feel better. He was deep in thought when he didn't realize he was about to get gut punched until it already happened. Ben fell to his knees holding his gut, he looked up to see a red-haired girl wearing white sneakers along with a matching pair of white jeans along with a blue shirt with a cat picture in the center. Ben couldn't hear his cousin Gwen was saying with the roaring flow of blood in his ears. He could definitely tell she wasn't happy.
"you idiot!" she complained "you did this on purpose"
Ben did a lot of things to help make her life as miserable as she did to his; so, she had to be a little more specific than that.
"what did I do?" Ben asked
"you made me have to wait for an hour for you while I had to stand here looking like a complete idiot. My friends asked me to go with them but I always have to look after you."
"you have friends?" Ben teased
Gwen just scoffed.
"how was your day?" she annoyingly asked
"well since you asked so nicely i had to go to detention for a test I had to do that I already did from 2 weeks ago,."
"well I'm glad grandpa already packed for you on our trip for you."
"Wait! Come again? What do you mean by our?" Ben asked
"I'm coming with you to the hall of justice for the summer"
Ben was in shock. This road trip was just supposed to be him and grandpa; now his annoying cousin is coming along with?! All Ben did was let out a scream echoing across the quiet campus.
After a few annoying days on the road (according to ben) they went across America stopping at monuments and awed at huge balls of yarn. This is going to be a fun summer thought Ben rolling his eyes.
Then it was about long island when Ben's summer would be the last thing he would have to normal.
They were close to Washington DC but camped out in long island. The pinewoods were very spooky to Ben during the night time. Grandpa had gone to look for firewood and Gwen was preparing the tents. Gwen was having difficulties making the tents.
"Are you just going to stand there and look pretty or are you going to help?"
Ben just scowled at her "well you can't mess up a face this Beautiful as to be working with a dufous like you."
Gwen gave an annoyed growl. "if you're not going to help with tents! Go and get some firewood with grandpa."
So, that was what Ben did, not what Gwen told him to do. He tried to find grandpa in the woods but he couldn't find him. Where is he? Ben thought. Then he opened to a clearing where the trees let out the moonlight onto the forest floor. All Ben could think was how unfair this summer was having Gwen here. This was supposed to just be him and grandpa. He looked to the sky and saw a shooting star. He closed his eyes and made a wish. "All I want is something to change my life" he wished. He opened his eyes to see the shooting star coming towards him. Ben only had seconds to react. He dove into the brush. peering out of the way of the explosion behind he saw some sort of satellite in a crater.
"Ok this is weird" Ben said to himself
He walked over to the crater and saw that the weird satellite was broken. it looked like a metal roly poly with a hole in the center of it. He slid down to inspect more. He moved among the crash site to find a watch glowing in the wreckage. It had a hourglass or black widow symbol in the center glowing brightly green.
"Why would there be a watch a satellite?" Ben asked himself
He grinned and reached for the watch only for it to leap onto his wrist sticking it to his skin. Ben was startled and started screaming.
" get off! Get Off! GET OFF!" he shouted
The watch didn't obey. It latched onto him like an anaconda to its prey. Ben felt no pain from it but that didn't keep him from worrying. He tried everything he could to get it off. He used a rock for 5 min. Trying to smash it, but the rock crumbled (it was pretty durable). He tried using tree sap and water for 10 min to slip it off. Still no luck. Ben gave up and sprawled out on the soft grass. He sat back up and looked at the device. It was fascinating to him and his curiosity got to his attention. He pressed the button just below the green hourglass. It sprang up changing the hourglass shape to a diamond with a strange figure on its screen. It only showed the outline of the figure in all black.
"That's kind of cool" Ben said to himself
Curious to what would happen, he pressed down on the figure selected and it glowed green, bight in his eyes blinding him. His skin changed into molten rock setting ablaze as it crawled up his arm. It led down his leg to his feet. Ben screamed as his entire form changed until he was engulfed in flame.
"I'm on fire! I'm on FIRE" he said in his new fiery voice. He ran in circles trying to put out his own flames, he rolled on the dry grass not being aware of his action starting a small spark ablaze. He finally ran out of breath/flame. Then he evaluated himself.
"I'm on fire" he said calmly but still confused "And… i'm ok?"
He was starting to have a fun sensation in his fiery bones. He held up his hand and willed the flames to increase into a big fire ball the size of a basketball. He threw it to a nearby tree and it blew up.
"OH YEAH!" he cheered " i'm turning up the heat"
He threw another fireball only to set the forest on fire. Ben gasped in shock "Wait! STOP!"
He ran over stomping on the flames; only to increase the fire.
"Oh man! I'm gonna get so busted for this"
MEANWHILE...
Over in DC ,in the mount. Justice cave; the young justice team were having their daily section of combat with Black Canary. Wally West AKA Kid Flash was slammed down onto the floor.
" aw c'mon! I'm Kid Flash how can you move so fast." Wally complained
"Well your moves are predictable wally. You need to practice on your hand to hand combat, not hand to feet," said Black Canary
Over on the side of the platform Aqualad, Robin, Super boy, Mrs.M , Artemis, and Zatanna all amused about Wallys ham on slam with Canary.
Then the alarms went off and on the screen it showed a forest fire in progress on the monitor screen.
"Forest fire" said wally which was stupidly obvious
" KF, Aqualad , and Robin go put it out" ordered Black Canary
Then the 3 raced to the bio-ship and headed off to long island
Back in the woods Ben had been trying to put out the flames but wasn't making it any better.
"STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!" he cried over the flames. But they didn't obey. Then he heard something like an aircraft flying over him.
Then just overhead Ben could see heat signatures in the aircraft fly over him. They looked about teen age. Ben would have been excited to see the young heroes of the justice league only he thought of meeting them differently than this. they landed at the edge of the flames working their way putting it out. He raced over to meet them.
"Help! I can't put it out" he said
Instead of open arms Ben saw all 3 Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin look at him in shock. Aqualad drenched Ben in water soaking his flames out. The water stung like acid against Ben's rocky skin.
"OW! That hurt dude"
"Better you than us!" said Kid Flash
Ben set himself ablaze again evaporating the water.
"I'm on your side. Please help "
"How can we trust you?" threatened Robin" you're the one who started all of this"
Ben was about to say something but hesitated. He is the one who did set the forest ablaze, and they don't even know him (much less his age).
"Uh…."
"That settles it" said Aqualad" KID!"
Kid Flash ran in circles around Ben putting out his flames. The vacuum sucked out all of Ben's air. These guys are trying to kill me thought Ben and i have all of their action figures. Using the last of his fire he shouted STOP! Erupting a wall of flame sending the speedster airborne into a tree.
Robin went left and Aqualad went right. Robin was throwing his birdarangs and Aqualad was firing his water canons. dodging each attack Ben ran into the forest flames hoping to escape them. But that didn't stop Robin for going after him. Aqualad went to wallys aid instead of suffocating. He found wally but not awake and badly injured in the leg.
"Aqualad to cave, wally is hurt and of need of backup." he said over the coms
"Acknowledged" said Red tornado "sending reinforcements"
In the burning forest Ben thought he had lost them. He backed up slowly only to bump into someone. He turned to see Gwen with a fire extinguisher. It was a brief moment of shock then relief to Ben. he went in for a bear hug completely forgetting of his current condition. Gwen just saw him as a monster and screamed then she just waked the extinguisher in his face disorienting him.
"Ow! hey what was that for!?"
"Come any closer and i'll put you out!" Gwen threatened. To show her point she drenched him with the foam from the extinguisher. It sizzled on his molten shoulders.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow oooo wwww! Not cool Gwen!"
When he said her name was when Gwen made a connection. " Ben?! Is that you?! What happened to you"
Finally having someone on his side he told her everything. The thing with the watch, the begining forest fire accident, and the young hero's that are after him.
"And i have no idea how to turn back to me; you know me, ME"
"Well let's find grandpa and see what we can do, but first-"
Before she could finish fire came raining down to crush Gwen but Ben intervened and protected her passing around without a scratch (or burn). She looked up at Ben who was clearly fine.
"You owe me a smoothy" he said
"Whatever, thanks."
They ran out of the flames and ran back to the camp site.
Robin followed the fire creature and had lost him in the flames. Using his gas mask he searched as the forest fell around him. He got about a few feet until he heard a girl scream. He leaped into the trees to get closer; but the tree he climbed fell over before he could cross a wall of fire. He thought he was a goner when superboy caught him in mid air; then leaping to safety.
When he was back to the spot he confronted the creature he saw the entire young justice team. They were helping local firemen put out the fire.
"What happened?" asked Zatanna
"I lost it. Escaped with the fire. but I got this" he held up a piece of molten rock "Found it as it flead"
"Maybe Mrs. M would figure it out. I'll help just in case it was a demon of some sort."
"Excellent."
Robin saw an ambulance nearby. He ran over and saw that wally had been badly injured, but he was ok.
"Where's our walking torch buddy?" he asked
"I lost him in the fire."
Wally gave a weak laugh but groaned in pain. "Kind of ironic right"
The 3 heroes Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash all sat comfortably, wondering what they just fought.
Over in the shadows a shadowed figure looks as the night sky is set ablaze with light. Behind him a voice said " Mission failed. Target escaped."
"No need." said the figure "I know where it is. So don't fail me again"
Back at camp grandpa walked out of the RV holding a bowl of his disgusting exotic foods. To Ben and Gwen it looked like worms with cheese and olive juice.
"Grandpa!" Gwen yelled
"Hey Gwen i'm just making my famous- what the heck!"
He saw as Ben in his different form ran behind Gwen.
"Grandpa it's me Ben!"
"Ben?!... O-ok come sit"
He gave Ben a bolder to sit on so he wouldn't burn up the folding chairs. Ben told him what he told Gwen with the satellite watch, the forest fire, and the young hero attack. When Ben finished grandpa just sat rubbing his chin in deep thought.
"Is he gonna be ok grandpa?" asked Gwen
"Yeah I don't want to be a walking barbeque monster for the rest of my life."
"You're not a monster, you're an alien"
Ben and Gwen looked at him blankly.
"How do you know that?" asked Gwen
Grandpa looked like he was not telling them something. " well, look at him. He looks very alien to me."
"What are you not telling us grandpa?" asked Ben
Grandpa saw no use of lying anymore. " there is something i have to tell you two...I-"
Befor he could finish a beeping sound came from the chest piece on Ben's rocky chest. It powered down and a bright red light and Ben was normal 10 years old Ben.
"I'm me again!" Ben cheered in relief
"Oh goodie" said Gwen " i was beginning to forget what you looked like."
Grandpa was the only one who didn't looked dazed or even surprised that Ben no longer is a walking campfire. This got Ben and Gwen worried on what he was going to tell them.
"I was about to say" grandpa continued" that i'm a retired sergeant of the global alien police corps. I was a space cop."
Gwen and Ben looked surprised. Gwen looked at Ben like is our grandpa crazy? , Ben just shrugged like i was on fire a second ago so i believe him.
"So do you know what this is?" asked Ben showing him the watch.
"Yes. it was supposed to go to me tonight. I was going to let you guys sleep while i went to go get it. But since it latched it onto you it's permanently to you Ben."
Ben didn't know what to feel about what grandpa had just said. He likes what he can do and all of this awesome fighting aliens thing. Like he could join the young justice team (well if they don't kill him before that). But on the off side he has something that could potentially destroy the earth and/or make enemies that would may or may not hurt his family. It felt overwhelming. Just focus on the here and now Ben, see what you can do first Ben thought.
"So do you know what else this watch can do?" asked Gwen
"No. that's all up to Ben now." he gave Ben a comforting smile "I'm gonna go and talk to the park rangers about the young heroes thing. You two stay here."
He got up and left leaving Ben and Gwen alone.
(Back with the team)
Within the pine trees Megan used her telepathic powers to track down the fire creature. It took her a moment but she found the source of the creature but it seemed different. Like it was powered down and lost the signal.
" what happened?"asked Zatanna
"I lost the signal… but lets wait and see if i can get it back" said Megan
She levitated and continued concentrating.
"It's like finding a signal using a cell phone out here" complained Zatanna
It had been a while since Grandpa had left Ben and Gwen. Ben went behind the RV and was messing with the watch again. He dialed down his selection wondering what they were and what would they be like when he turned into him. He didn't hear when Gwen came up to him.
"I don't think you should be messing with that" said Gwen
Ben jumped "ah!- don't do that. Also you heard grandpa. I'm responsible for figuring out this thing… so i'm figuring it out."
"Grandpa said we need to stay here" Gwen reminded him
"Doesn't mean that I can figure it out here at camp."
He dialed a figure (not the same one) and pressed down the dial. A green flash of light blinded Gwen. when it dispersed it revealed that Ben was now a big ,orange, harry…. Wildmutt. It had no eyes, ears, nose, or tail. Just had gills on the side of his 's teeth were all dented but still razor sharp to take a deadly blow. Its claws made Gwen edgy to get any closer.
"So what can this one do?" she asked. But instead of an answer all she got was barking and slobbering. She waved her hand in front of his eyeless face and got no response. "How is a blind dog useful?" she asked. Then she had a despicable thought. He went over and got a broken branch ready to hit Ben rear ended. What she didn't know was that Ben had keen senses and had a 360 view around him. So Before she could hit him he leaped on top of the RV with quick speed. Gwen didn't expect the reflex and she fell to the dirt. Ben Barked his laughter at her.
"I'm so telling Grandpa" she said then ran off into the woods. Ben followed her through the tree line.
While waiting again Megan got back the signal
" get ready, it's heading right toward us." she said alarmingly
The heroines took their stances and waited. The bushes made a rustling sound coming at them. Tension rises and as they were about to attack a red haired girl in white pants and a blue shirt with a cat design on it. They startled the red haired girl that they didn't understand what was going on.
"What's going on here?" asked Zatanna
"Who are you two?" asked the red haired girl
" uh?..." Megan said not knowing how to explain why they almost attacked an innocent 12 year old girl. But to her rescue a orange blur jumped out of the trees swatting megan to a tree. Zatanna uttered one of her spells. The tree behind the orange beast wrapped its branches around it's arms and hind legs. It broke out quickly biting on the branches. In the bushes megan thought to the creature hoping to know what it's fighting. She learned on Mars that creatures on earth can be territorial or protective or even threatened if approached or trespassing. She could hear the thoughts, so it's intelligent then. this would be so cool if they weren't trying to kill me a young boy voice came to her head(from what megan could hear it was more of a stupid kind of boy...like wally). That was the part that stumped megan. But attacking won't get any answers. It's too fuzzy to see clearly when in combat. She flew out of the bushes levitating between the 2.
"STOP!" she shouted
It was so loud it made everyone freez.
"What?" asked Zatanna completely forgetting the fight she was in the middle of.
"No more fighting." megan ordered. She thought the same thing to wildmutt just in case he didn't understand what she was saying."we clearly got off on the wrong foot here… or paw".
Wildmutt just growled to that comment.
"Look we just came here to find out what caused the ruckus and now we found it" said Zatanna
"Yeah doesn't mean we start attacking things when we do." Megan replied
The other 2 just shrugged and went along with it.
It was about an hour when they both got their stories straight.
" so how exactly did he turn into… Mr. Puppy" asked Zatanna
"Grrr! BARK" wildmutt complained
"He dialed down a selection on his watch, pressed down, and in a flash of green he now looks like this." said Gwen
"Ok? And how does he turn back?" asked Megan
Then on cue the familiar beeping sounded and a flash of red lite the area then Ben stood where wildmutt was.
"Like that" said Gwen.
Then in the telepathy link activated so Megan turned to listen.
Megan where are you said super boys thoughts.
We found the creature and heading back Megan thought
Well lose it we have a incident going on here
What is it?
At the park ranger center a giant unidentified robot was wreaking havok. Most of the buildings were on fire (including the armory), backup was an hour away, and the young hero's are having difficulties taking it down. Superboy and Wolf were tearing down the legs but every time they would attack it wouldn't even make a dent, Robin was trying to hack into the alien tech but with no luck, then Wally tried to distract the robot while Artmice got pedestrians to safety. Out of the tree line Gwen, Ben, Megan, and Zatanna ran out into the clearing. Ben felt a lump of fear and worry in his chest. Where is grandpa?! Thought Ben. Megan couldn't help but hear his worried thoughts. Then Ben saw the robot, the worry and fear went away faster than wally can run. rage enveloped in his chest. Without even thinking he dialed a transformation and turned. With a flash of familiar green light Ben was gone and what was standing in his place was a bulky, diamond creature.
"where is my grandpa you over sized toaster!" he shouted in his deep voice charging towards the machine. All the girls just rolled their eyes thinking the same thing BOYS
The other boys were distracted that they didn't see the Diamond Head dude come up in the rear.
"Hey you!"
The robot turned around to face him.
"Hit me with your best shot!" he shouted
He didn't even think what he said through. He didn't know if he could survive a blast from this thing or if he can turn it into a tin broken can. It blasted him. He felt vibrations within his arms and shoulder.
"BOO YA!"
He shot dimons out of his hands infused with laser juice. With his luck he got a good few hits in its exposed shoulders.
Over away from the destruction. a figure hiding within the tree line holding a pad was shaking in frustration. Showing on the screen was Diamond Head destroying his creation. Even though it was its target befor. " this guy is harder to get than I thought." he said to himself.
Ben ran in a circle shooting holes within the robot giving the others to get in deeper. Superboy and wolf got its robotic joints and ripped them apart leaving the robot with no arms to defend itself. Artemis shot an arrow into its eye with a gaping hole with a laser shooting out of it. It flinged around the place with destruction wherever it looked (literally). DiamondHead leaped into the air more than he thought he could reaching its head he morphed his hand into a 20 ft. long blade slicing off its head with one swipe. Landing back on the ground he stood up in front of the severed head of the robot. Everyone stared in aw… except gwen who marched right up to the creature with a pissed off look.
"Uh?! Little girl?!" wally called
"Listen here you DiamondHead peice of rock" gwen shouted at Ben " don't ever think about doing like that ever again!"
Even for superboy that was brave for her to do that.
"Well sorry Gwen! I just demolished a killer robot with ,literally, my bear hands but by all means!... i'll watch what i destroy next time."
"Well" said a dark gurgling voice
All heros (including Gwen and Diamondhead) turned around to see Batman, Flash, and Aquaman standing there proudly like they were the ones who accomplished what they did.
"No need we did your work for you" Diamondhead said
Gwen elbowed him in the gut, hurting her elbow. Diamondhead giggled to that only to turn back to Ben and get hit even harder with a fist in… well i'll let you use your imagination.
"explain back at the cave… with the new recruits "
Just hearing recruits mad Ben jump up and down with joy but stopped with the pain still flowing through his system.
"I'm not bunking with him" said Gwen
(in space)
A little off in sector of 2814 a giant warship floated in space strong enough as if to say to the galaxy if you want to mess with me?! Give it a shot. Inside ,in a healing container, a gargling voice spoke out to the figure who was controlling the robot.
" you failed me!" said the container
"Maybe not."
"How So?!"
"I found it, after all these years i found it." he pulled up a picture of the watch that is attached ben's wrist.
"The omnitrix! And how do you figure to get it?"
The figure snapped his finger and a pod came behind "Max Tennyson, as the bait"
"...Excellent"
To be continued….