Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League or Ben 10. Which is why I like setting farm animals on fire.
Yep, I'm back, baby. The revision of 'JL:UH' has arrived. So basically, the big changes are that Ben has the Omnitrix instead of the Ultimatrix and he is being dropped into the Thanagarian invasion from the JL season finale. Got it? Good, let's do this.
XXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 1: Out of the Frying Pan...
This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He had been a hero, a savior, a legend. The universe would have been controlled or destroyed dozens of times over if not for his interference.
And what had that gotten him?
They were dead. All of them, dead. Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Aunt Lily, Uncle Frank, Kevin, Gwen, Julie...
"Why me?" the eighteen-year-old Benjamin Tennyson asked, the tears streaming down his face. It was around midnight in Bellwood, and the smoke was still visible on the horizon. Ben was seated on the ledge of a twenty-story building, his legs dangling off the side. While his clothes were unscathed, his body was covered in bruises and cuts. Reminders of the battle that he had just survived. And what he hoped would be his last battle ever...
Ben wiped his tears on the sleeve of his emerald jacket. Unfortunately, he used his left arm to do it, and he froze upon seeing the cursed device on his forearm.
The Omnitrix glowed green in the dark, almost as if trying to reason with Ben. But it wasn't going to happen. He had made up his mind on what he wanted to do.
Eight years ago, he had been given the Omnitrix, and he had loved it. He had become a hero, saving the world and even saving the galaxy. He had fought villains both alien and human. Animo, Hex, Sixsix... And, of course, Vilgax.
But after that summer, Ben wanted a normal life, and he had the alien watch removed from his wrist. And slowly, bit by bit, his life became normal once more. He began playing soccer, he survived middle school, and he began to mature both physically and mentally, even managing to finally get over his childish rivalry with Gwen and develop a close relationship with her.
Five years later, however, Ben took on the role of hero once more, putting the Omnitrix back on to investigate an alien invasion of Earth. Ben soon became the savior of the universe, stopping the Highbreed from annihilating all life.
A few months after he stopped the Highbreed invasion, Ben's archenemy, Vilgax, returned. The squid-headed alien demanded what he always wanted: the Omnitrix. However, the alien warlord had returned with a few tricks up his sleeve. He had somehow been healed of his former wounds, and gifted not only with increased strength and overall power, but a handful of powerful new weapons, such as the Ruby Ray of Ulo, the Shield of Ziegel, and a large sword strapped to his back that could cut through even Diamondhead's durable crystals.
The fight between the two of them was considered legendary by the Plumbers. The two enemies wound up clashing across miles of terrain before their battle led them to Mount Rushmore, the location of their original battle five years beforehand. In the end, Ben managed to win by the skin of his teeth, though it caused the destruction of Mount Olympus and his secret identity to be revealed to the public, leading to some calling him a hero for saving the world while others called him a terrorist for blowing up a national monument.
Then along came Will Harangue, the annoying television newscaster that hated Ben's guts for some reason. This bastard literally had no other reason to live than to make Ben look like a bigger villain than Vilgax and Hitler combined.
But Ben put up with it. Over the last three years, he managed to gain enough of Azmuth's trust that the diminutive alien genius unlocked the Omnitrix's extended energy function, meaning it would never time out unless Ben wanted it to, or if he was knocked out. He still had to press the Omnitrix on his chest to change alien forms and he was still limited to the aliens he already unlocked instead of the Master Control, but it was something. Add that to the fact that his former enemy Kevin was now his best friend and Julie was his girlfriend through the highs and lows of his superhero career, and he had no complaints.
Life was good. For a short time at least.
And then everything went to hell.
God, why did this have to happen? Ever since he had received the Omnitrix, Ben had used it for good. He had saved the entire universe multiple times. He had given up so much in the pursuit of justice... But now he had paid the ultimate price.
Even if his body still cried in pain from the battle, he didn't care. It was the mental agony that truly broke him, not the physical.
"I can't do this. Not anymore," Ben muttered to himself. What was there to fight for? What was there to live for? The young hero let out a tired sigh as he wiped away the last of his tears.
Azmuth could have his godforsaken watch back. He didn't want it anymore.
The last of the Tennyson family stood and looked down at the pavement below. He would be meeting it up close and personal real soon. The hero known as Ben 10 closed his eyes one last time and toppled forward, the air hitting his face as he prepared for oblivion.
XXXXXXXXXX
He wasn't really sure what to expect. Maybe a golden city or some kind of other dimension where the dead go to see their loved ones. He had wanted to see Julie and Kevin and Gwen and Grandpa Max again. To spend eternity with them without the need for heroes and villains, aliens or Omnitrixes.
What he hadn't been expecting was a warm sensation against his face.
Ben Tennyson cracked his eyes open, and felt his heart begin to race immediately as he lifted himself up with his arms to examine his surroundings.
He was lying on concrete in an empty alley between two medium-sized buildings, with the sun shining brightly in the middle of the sky. That could only mean one thing.
He was still alive.
The broken hero sat up slowly until he sat on his knees, hands hanging at his sides, still stunned by the failure of his suicide attempt. That shock quickly turned to horror, and then anger as he lifted his fists and slammed them onto the concrete, not even wincing as pain shot up his arms.
"DAMMIT!" Ben roared as he felt tears of fury well up in his eyes. The heartbroken Tennyson continued to scream a chain of swear words at the top of his lungs as he kept pounding his fists into the ground. He wasn't sure how long his mini-tantrum went on, but by the end of it, his knuckles were nearly stripped of skin, blood running down his fingers and onto the backs of his hands.
Ben then jumped as he heard a voice behind him. "You there!"
The eighteen-year-old turned his head, still sitting on his knees, expecting to see police officers standing there wondering what all the yelling was about. His eyes widened considerably when he saw that these were definitely not police officers.
For one thing, police officers didn't wear strange armor that showed off their muscular physique, nor did they carry around strange high-tech axes. And they most assuredly did not have a pair of angel-like wings growing out of their backs.
Is this some kind of broken version of heaven; a place where the angels carry armor and weapons? Ben thought as the two bird-men approached. No, this is still the real world. But is it Earth?
"Identification, human," one of the two men barked, stepping forward and holding out an awaiting hand while the other gripped his ax. Ben noted that the fingers on his gauntlets looked a lot like talons on a bird of prey.
Ben was still too stunned to respond, or acknowledge the bird-man's order. They referred to him as human, so he obviously wasn't on an alien world. And why would he need ID? Of course, Ben had little time to keep pondering his situation. After a few seconds, the first bird-man turned toward his partner and nodded in Ben's direction. They were going to run him in. Or worse.
As they walked closer to the young Tennyson, the former hero managed to regain his wits and start backing away, instinctively lifting up his left arm, the Omnitrix glowing slightly. The alien watch then beeped as a voice emanated from it.
"UNCATALOGUED DNA DETECTED. SCANNING."
A green beam of light landed on one of the bird-men, traveling up and down his body as it analyzed his body and DNA. The other bird-man stood frozen in place, surprised at the sudden events.
After a couple of seconds, the Omnitrix ceased its scanning, uttering a final "DNA ACQUIRED".
Then the bird-men snapped out of their stupor and advanced, weapons at the ready. "Whatever you just did, you're going to regret it, boy."
At that comment, something inside Ben snapped. After all that had happened to him in the last twenty-four hours, the loss of his family, the attempted suicide, waking up to find a bunch of strange bird-like men on Earth, with no fear of being discovered by other humans...
Ben looked down at the Omnitrix, a feeling of disgust welling up inside him at the sight of the device. After all that it had cost him, he never planned to use it again. But sometimes, things just don't go the way you plan.
Without saying a word, Ben lifted his left arm, activated the Omnitrix, and slammed down on the dial.
XXXXXXXXXX
Twenty minutes later, Ben was sitting on top of a tall skyscraper, scoping out the city to see where he was and what he was dealing with.
He was still on Earth, that much was certain. There were humans still walking around, and English was still the language written on buildings and billboards all around the area. But it looked like it was being invaded. Flying tank-like ships scouted around the city, making sure the people were subdued and peaceful.
It was martial law. There was no other way to describe it.
But how did this happen? How did he go from attempting suicide to the middle of an invasion of human-like aliens with bird wings?
Ben's mind had immediately locked onto one individual: Paradox.
The mysterious time-traveling scientist had pulled stunts like this before, and it was totally plausible that the time-walker had frozen time and dropped Ben off in this city in the past or future, during an alien invasion not unlike the Highbreed attack three years ago.
Except, all the technology looked pretty modern. So unless the invasion was meant for the next five years or so, things didn't quite add up. Of course, Ben had started this train of thought earlier, when he had beaten the two bird-men. When he had turned to leave the alley, he found a newspaper lying there that finally told him all he needed to know.
The headline: "THANAGARIAN FORCES CAPTURE JUSTICE LEAGUE".
The year: 2012.
The city: Metropolis.
While the year was correct, there was no Metropolis back on Earth, and Ben had never heard of any "Justice League" before (which sounded really corny, though it was a much more heroic-sounding name than "the Plumbers").
So this wasn't in the past or future, the papers didn't mention his name (which the whole world knew due to his identity being blown), and he was standing in a city that shouldn't even exist.
Ben's next theory, while certainly unusual, wasn't impossible, considering all the other things he had experienced throughout his superhero career: a parallel, alternate Earth. One where Ben Tennyson wasn't the world's biggest hero, but the Justice League was. And it looked like the world's major heroes had been beaten by the alien forces, which Ben presumed were the Thanagarians the paper mentioned.
And now, with all this knowledge, Ben stood on the skyscraper, resisting the urge to scream in frustration. The temptation to leap off of the building was strong. How Ben desperately wished he could end it and see his family again. But he knew they would disapprove heavily if he were to do something as selfish as commit suicide while Earth was defenseless against an alien invasion, be it his own or a parallel one.
With an irritated sigh, Ben glanced down once more at the Omnitrix. Almost as if something was urging him as he lifted his left wrist up to chest height. "Alright, show me where to go," he said in defeat.
As if it somehow possessed its own intelligence that knew exactly what to do, the alien watch suddenly lit up and created a hologram in front of his face. It was the standard circular map Ben used to determine the locations of Plumber badges, detailing distance and height of the location. This one showed a beeping green dot a few hundred meters off the ground, heading in the direction of the city.
"Guess that's where I'm going first," the young Tennyson muttered as the map disappeared, allowing Ben to activate the Omnitrix, twist the dial, and choose the alien he wanted.
He was almost burning with anger at this point. Why not let these damn invaders burn a little too?
XXXXXXXXXX
On board a Thanagarian prison ship, six unique individuals were each being held in cells designed specifically for each one of them. These six were the remaining members of the Justice League, and they all felt a deep, seething fury at the sole member of their team that wasn't their with them.
Shayera Hol, aka Hawkgirl, had betrayed them and their secrets to the Thanagarians and allowed this invasion to occur. And now they were lowly prisoners to be locked away until the alien bird-people finished up their business on Earth, whatever it was.
Superman, the indestructible Man of Steel, was locked in a cell that inflicted him with the light of a red sun, which drained his powers and made him no stronger than any regular man.
Flash, the fastest man alive, was being held under an intense gravity field that made it impossible for him to even stand up, let alone move fast enough to escape.
Wonder Woman, the powerhouse amazon princess, had her own unbreakable lasso used against her, tying her to a pillar from which she could not break free.
Martian Manhunter, the last surviving martian, was being held to the floor by four energy cuffs, one for each of his limbs, which prevented him from shape-shifting, becoming intangible, or using his telepathy.
Batman, the Dark Knight detective, was being held cuffed in a cell like a simple criminal, due to his lack of superpowers.
Green Lantern, one of many in the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps., was in a similar situation as Batman. Devoid of his Green Lantern ring, he was practically powerless, without the martial art prowess that his dark brooding teammate possessed.
Never before had they felt so powerless. And never before had their hope for victory been so low.
"Hera help us," Wonder Woman muttered to herself, lowering her head in a mixture of shame and defeat. Never had she been so swiftly beaten, nor betrayed by so close a friend. Her strength would not help her in this situation. So praying for help at this point surely couldn't make things worse.
And suddenly, as if on cue, the ship's alarms started going off.
KRANG KRANG KRANG KRANG
The amazon warrior's head shot up in surprise. She heard numerous voices of Thanagarian soldiers yelling back and forth over the alarms, and she thought she heard the word "fire" repeated a few times.
Batman, who wasn't being held in place by the cuffs on his arm, walked over to the energy field covering his cell and attempted to see what was happening, Green Lantern following his example a moment later.
"Think that's a good or bad alarm?" GL asked the detective.
"At this point, any alarm for them is good for us," Batman responded.
"Not if the ship's going down."
"Does it feel like the ship's going down?"
"Good point."
The back and forth between the two was interrupted by a loud explosion, followed by the sight of the door to the prison corridor flying by at a high speed, trailing smoke and flames as it smashed into the wall at the other side of the hallway.
Superman, being at the foremost part of the hallway, and having witnessed the door flying by, felt his eyes widen as a figure stepped in front of his cell and locked eyes with him.
It appeared to be a man, but one made out of brown and red rocks, with lava flowing through the strange cracks between the rocks and a head that appeared to be on fire. On his chest was a strange, circular symbol shaped like a green hourglass.
The magma-man walked toward the cell until he was a few inches away from the energy field. "You guys the Justice League?" the being asked.
Superman, still feeling weak from the red sunlight and his restraining cuffs, simply nodded.
The fire creature turned his head to look at the control panel on the wall next to the energy shielding. Lifting his right hand, the creature summoned a sphere of fire and fired it at the panel. The device exploded, sending out sparks and smoke as its fried systems caused both the shielding and red sun light to deactivate.
Superman blinked in surprise as the magma creature approached and knelt down to his own level (as the Man of Steel was forced to his knees) before grabbing the cuffs restraining his hands. The Kryptonian hero winced at the amount of heat emanating from the strange being.
"Name's Heatblast. Now hold still," the creature said as Superman felt the heat from his lava-like body intensify. The cuffs around Superman's hands began to warp as the heat melted the metal. After a few seconds, the restraints cracked open and fell from the Man of Steel's arms.
As he prepared to thank the fire-man known as Heatblast, a voice spoke up from the symbol on his chest, the green hourglass flashing as it said "UNCATALOGUED DNA DETECTED. SCANNING."
A green light appeared from the symbol and starting going up and down Superman's body. While the Man of Steel stared in surprise, the fire hero sighed in annoyance. "That's the second time today," he mumbled, annoyed.
As the beam finished its scanning of the Kryptonian's DNA, a trio of Thanagarian guards appeared at the front of the cell, weapons drawn and ready.
"Freeze!" one of them yelled.
Heatblast's "eyes", the holes on his skull-like head, narrowed as he stood back up, not turning around to face his enemies.
"Burn!" he shot back as he whirled around and extended both arms, a massive whirlwind of flames blasting out of his hands and hitting the three guards with enough power to knock them into the active energy shield at the opposite end of the hallway from Superman's cell. The trio cried in pain as the field began to electrocute them, knocking them unconscious onto the ground.
Superman, having recovered enough to finally stand up and walk, stood next to Heatblast and glanced over at the three fried Thanagarians.
"Let's move, big guy. We don't have long before they send more," the walking inferno said as he walked out of the cell.
The Man of Steel nodded as he picked up one of the hawkmen's energy axes. His strength, flight, and durability would take a short time to return after that long stay under a simulated red sun. Since he was now no stronger than any other human, he would have to take every advantage he could get. Including the enemy's weapons.
Heatblast walked over to the next cell and felt his eyes widen as he laid his eyes upon one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She had long, flowing black hair, crystal blue eyes, and a face and body to die for.
Of course, the image was ruined by the fact that she was tied to a metal pillar. While he was a young man in his sexual prime, he wasn't into bondage, or any of the other freaky things one would no doubt be able to find on the Internet. Heatblast calmly fried the control panel maintaining the energy field and walked into the cell, the beautiful woman's eyes following him with a combination of awe and trepidation. The Pyronite raised an eyebrow as he saw the pillar, which appeared to be coming out of the floor of the cell, was still standing. Glancing around, he saw yet another panel on the right side of the cell. Giving a brief sigh of annoyance, he walked over and slammed his fiery fist into the secondary panel.
The pillar rescinded into the floor, loosening the golden rope from the woman's body and allowing her to stand up, grabbing the rope and rolling it up before fastening it to the waist of her very revealing outfit.
The Pyronite's thoughts then went to Julie, and he felt his face fall a bit.
Don't worry Julie. As soon as I'm done here, I'll see you guys again, he thought to himself as the woman approached him.
"Ladies first," he offered as he gestured toward the opening of the cell.
The woman smiled slightly as she walked out, Heatblast following her. In the hallway, things were starting to escalate.
Superman had managed to free Batman, and the two of them had successfully released the rest of the League. And now they were locked in battle with a group of Thanagarians. Heatblast raised an eyebrow as he noticed the bright costumes they were all wearing.
If these guys are anything like the Galactic Enforcers, the Earth is screwed, he thought sardonically as he summoned streams of fire from his feet and launched into the air, having long ago mastered the ability to fly with Heatblast and apply that ability in battle.
On the ground, the powerless heroes had each grabbed enemy weapons in an attempt to level the playing field. While Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter were each using weapons ranging from hammers to axes to some nunchuk-like devices. Flash, Diana, and Heatblast were busy using their powers, with the latter two fighting Thanagarian soldiers in the air.
Heatblast threw a fist at one bird-man while blasting a fireball at another simultaneously. Behind him, Diana was using her lasso to smash another Thanagarian into a wall, knocking him unconscious.
Looking around, the Pyronite saw that only two of the Justice League had apparent powers. With a large group of hawk-men like this, they wouldn't last long. It was tactical suicide.
The transformed Tennyson blasted towards the floor of the ship, landing in the middle of a group of Thanagarians. Without missing a beat, the burning superhero slammed his fist into the ground and released a ring of fire that spread in all directions, knocking all of the surrounding hawkmen away and rendering them all unconscious.
"Hope you like your faces extra crispy," the hero quipped as he glanced upward, catching sight of a more... rotund hawk-man than the rest, carrying a rather large cannon on his shoulder.
Thinking quickly, Heatblast lifted his left hand and slammed it into the symbol on his chest, causing a green light to erupt up and down the hallway. In that one singular moment, all battles ceased as every eye in the room watched the emerald light die down to reveal a form very different from the walking inferno that had just seen.
"CHROMASTONE!" the new being yelled. This creature, while still rock-like in appearance and still possessing the symbol on the chest, had purple crystal-like hands, along with similar-colored protrusions coming from its upper chest and shoulder area, and one single amethyst horn on its head, right above its singular eye.
The hawk-man with the cannon was the first to react, aiming with his cannon right at the being's chest.
"Hit me with your best shot, fat boy," Chromastone growled as he stood in a defensive stance.
Responding enthusiastically, the hawk-man fired the cannon at full-power, the energy blast sure to hit and destroy this meddlesome alien.
However, upon contact with the alien's body, the blast seemed to disappear, and, somehow, become absorbed into the being's body.
"My turn," the cycloptic alien growled as it narrowed its eye. Gathering a good chunk of his own energy, Chromastone lifted his hands upward and fired a rainbow-colored blast of power into the roof of the ship, blasting through its levels and reaching the outer hull.
Instantly, the hallway became depressurized, with numerous hawk-men being unable to prevent themselves from being blasted out into the lower atmosphere. After that, the heroes felt the floor begin to tilt as the ship begin to descend, getting ready for a crash-landing.
"We're losing altitude!" Diana shouted, looking at her male allies. "We need to move, now!"
"Flyers, grab a friend!" Chromastone ordered as he gestured for Green Lantern to grab onto his neck and jump onto his back, which he did. Superman grabbed Batman and Flash while Diana grabbed J'onn.
With that, the seven heroes took to the air, flying through the hull of the ship and into the clear sky, the sun bearing down on them once more. Superman took a deep breath of relief, feeling his former strength returning to him.
"So," a voice piped up, drawing all eyes to the crystal-like creature now carrying Green Lantern on his back, "how about we get the introductions out of the way?"
XXXXXXXXXX
FINALLY! You have no idea how long it took me to get this right! The first draft was barely 2,500 words, and I couldn't have that, no sir. So yeah, first chapter is up. Next one involves sneaking to Wayne Manor, and battling the Thanagarians that arrive there. After that, the finale of Justice League and the intro to JLU. Don't know when that's gonna happen, since I have a bunch of projects to do for school, but I'm working on it. Until then, read, review, all that fun stuff.
Also, give opinions on what you want in the story, I'm always open to reader suggestions. Friend of mine wants to put Power Girl in the story (NOT Galatea), so let me know what you think of that.
Finally, a shoutout to my fellow Ben 10 crossover writers, Codecrash and Bigby the Big Bad Wolf: I'm coming for you guys. If you don't update soon, I will be very upset. And when I get upset, BAD THINGS HAPPEN!