Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League or Ben 10. I also don't own a single shred of sanity.

I know, I know, it's been too long since I updated. I've had to deal with final exams, my job, and my recent obsession with the anime Bleach (which I'll probably start a fanfic about next month). Anyway, I'm back.

Back to business as usual. Here's we begin the 'integration process', as I call it. You'll see what I mean. And you might see a bit of foreshadowing here and there.

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Chapter 11: The Bachelor Pad

"SWAMPFIRE!"

Ben's sudden outburst was followed by what sounded like a gagging noise. The plant-like hero turned to see Diana, Flash, and Green Lantern holding their noses. "Jeez kid, what have you been eating?" GL asked.

"Sorry. I forgot how bad Swampfire smelled," Ben said sheepishly. However, his plan worked, as he felt a small tingling sensation in his eye, and a few seconds later, he knew that the shiner that Diana had given him was gone. As a bonus, he also felt the bruise that Doctor Polaris had given him disappear as well.

With that all said and done, Ben hit the symbol and reverted back to normal. The others removed their hands from their noses.

"How do you forget a smell like that?" Flash asked incredulously. Ben grinned as he sat back down at the table. "I've been using him for three years. You get used to it after a while."

"That sounds like a blessing from Hera," Diana said, though her smirk indicated she was just playing.

"Well it worked, didn't it? Swampfire's better than any hospital," Ben declared, rubbing his left eye for emphasis. The amazon princess only smiled at that.

"So, you were telling us about Will Harangue guy?" Flash asked, hoping for Ben to finish his story.

The boy blinked before he recalled what he had been saying. He, Diana, and Flash had been swapping stories in the cafeteria, with GL joining in a few minutes later. "Oh, yeah. So I'm fighting this big robot that Harangue designed to kill me, and it knows all of my aliens' moves and powers. Except for one: Nanomech."

"Figures. No one ever takes the small ones into consideration," GL said, shaking his head. You must factor in every enemy facet and resource, any good marine knew that. Nevertheless, he allowed Ben to continue. Diana and Flash were practically on the edge of their seats, listening in anticipation.

"Exactly. Well, I managed to get inside it, fry its systems, and then I sent it back to its owner."

Diana's mouth dropped. "You gave that machine back to the man who tried to kill you?"

Ben grinned mischievously. "If by 'gave it back' you mean 'crushed it with Way Big and dropped it on Harangue's car', then yeah, I gave it back."

The three other heroes at the table began howling with laughter, causing Ben to feel a sense of pride. And Kevin said I wasn't funny.

The wielder of the Ultimatrix blinked at that thought before feeling his high spirits droop a little. Though Ben doubted he would ever get over the trauma of losing his loved ones, he at least hoped that he could restrain those thoughts and feelings in public. Apparently he was wrong.

"Remind me to stay on your good side," GL said once he regained some composure.

"I'm kinda surprised, to tell you the truth," Ben admitted, snapping back into reality. "When you guys were starting up, didn't you have... 'critics'?"

"We did, actually," Flash responded. "Guy calling himself 'Glorious Godfrey' tried to make us look bad."

Ben grinned at that. "So what happened to him?"

GL gave his own smile as he explained. "We saved the world from total destruction, and his sponsors dropped him. Last I heard, his show was moved to four in the morning, and everyone pretty much forgot about him."

"Lucky," Ben sulked. "That idiot annoyed me for three years."

"You'd think he'd wise up after you smashed his car," Flash noted.

"The word 'wisdom' doesn't really apply to Harangue," Ben retorted.

The others couldn't argue with that. In fact, they didn't get the chance to, for the familiar forms of J'onn, Superman, and a fully-costumed Batman appeared in the cafeteria.

"So, Bruce, how'd your business meeting go?" GL asked as he perked his head up to look at the dark knight.

"Same as always," came the obligatory monotone response.

"Horribly dull, incredibly depressing?" Ben asked, almost shivering at the thought of sitting through a meeting with a bunch of people in suits who possess no sense of humor and even less personality.

"Sounds about right," Flash said, unable to hide his grin. Batman didn't respond, instead directing a powerful stare straight at the wielder of the Ultimatrix. The teen sighed, as he knew where this was going.

"I'm guessing Clark and J'onn already told you?" he asked. The narrowing of Batman's eyes was all the answer he needed.

"It appears that your eye has been healed," J'onn said. Ben smirked and held up the Ultimatrix. "Gotta love Swampfire," was his simple response. J'onn gave the faintest hint of a smile.

Superman spoke up then. "Maybe it'd be better if you jut showed Bruce," the boy scout suggested.

Ben only shrugged and stood up before activating the Ultimatrix and twisting the dial until he found a human-looking hologram. He promptly slammed his hand down on the dial.

"KRYPTO-KNIGHT!"

Once the green flash died down, Bruce, J'onn, and Clark laid their eyes on the Kryptonian transformation for the first time. Ben let out a relaxed sigh and stretched his arms over his head.

"What's with the beard?" Superman asked.

Ben shrugged. "Came with the transformation. Guess I'm stuck with it."

"Well, you should consider yourself lucky," Bruce said in one of his 'here-comes-a-lecture' voices. "If you had used that form's true strength you could have severely damaged the Watchtower, maybe even destroyed it. You should have waited until Clark was here to instruct you on how to fight with a Kryptonian's powers."

Ben frowned at that. "Give me a little credit, Bruce. I've been a hero for years, I know what I'm doing. And I've seen what Clark can do, so it's not like I was fighting blind!"

"Nevertheless, you shouldn't have just leaped in like that. What if you had seriously injured Diana? Or received something worse than a black eye?" Batman's words stayed at an even volume, but the cold tone in which it was spoken would have made Big Chill proud.

The wielder of the Ultimatrix was beginning to get angry. However, Bruce spoke up again, his words less stern than before. "But what's done is done. I don't want anything like this happening again, however. Am I clear?"

The teen-turned-Kryptonian wanted to protest, but decided that it would be pointless. He simply nodded.

"Good. Now, follow me," Batman said as he turned and began walking away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sitting at the large table in the Justice League's meeting room made Ben almost feel puny. During his days as a hero, the only resources he really had came from either his grandfather or Kevin. While it had usually been advanced alien technology, the Watchtower felt beyond that. Like it represented more.

So, Ben had to remember that he had saved the universe quite a few times in order to keep himself calm, especially when the six League members scrutinized him carefully.

Clark was the first to break the ice.

"How would you like to join the Justice League?"

Well. That was unexpected.

"Uh, what?" Ben asked, blinking in confusion at Superman's blunt offer. The Man of Steel couldn't help but smile at Ben's stunned expression.

"He's asking if you wanna join us," Flash said, echoing Clark's offer. Batman took that moment to explain.

"You see, we're expanding the League, recruiting new members to help combat global threats. We want you with us."

Ben needed almost no time to answer. "Sure."

The others were surprised by this. "Don't you want to think about this?" Green Lantern asked.

"What's to think about? I'm in a completely different universe, no way to get back home, and this," Ben held up the Ultimatrix, "is pretty much all I have left. If I'm gonna start a new life here, I might as well stick with the people I know. You might even learn a few things from me," he added smugly.

"Like what? How to get your eye hammered by an amazon?" Flash retorted, only to receive a slap to the back of the head by Diana.

"Welcome to the League," Superman said rather loudly, cutting off any further arguments. Ben smiled as he felt a warm sense of satisfaction build up in his chest.

"By the way," Flash said, pulling his mask off his head to reveal his real face. "Name's Wally West."

"John Stewart," Green Lantern added, pointing his thumb at himself.

The wielder of the Ultimatrix smiled, happy that his new teammates trusted him with all of their identities. Clark, Diana, John, and Wally stood up and headed towards the door, Flash patting him on the back and Diana ruffling his hair before leaving through the door. Superman stood at the doorway and turned.

"We have to get everything ready. Bruce, wanna take it from here?" With that, the boy scout left, the door closing behind him.

Batman and J'onn rose from their seats, drawing Ben's attention to them. "Follow us," Bruce said as he and the martian headed toward another door.

"Didn't I just sit down?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

Batman hit him with the 'don't argue with me' stare and exited the room. Ben sighed, though he still stood up and walked over to J'onn.

"His amount of patience is staggering," Ben muttered sarcastically as he and his green-skinned ally followed Batman.

"That doesn't sound like something you say every day," J'onn noted.

"Gwen used to say it about Kevin," the teen responded quietly. There were a few seconds of silence after that.

"It's hard to think about all that you've lost, isn't it?" the martian asked.

Ben nodded, knowing that J'onn had gone through a similar experience. Hell, he was the last of his kind after having his race wiped out by white alien creatures. Thinking about that had to be painful beyond imagining.

"A piece of advice: Remember the good times you had with your loved ones, and cherish them. The happy memories will always outweigh the sad."

The teen had to admit, J'onn was very wise. Maybe it was from his telepathy, or just his high intelligence. Either way, Ben was going to hang onto that advice.

After a few minutes, Ben and J'onn found Batman on one o the teleporter platforms, seemingly waiting for them.

"Go ahead. You won't be disappointed," the martian said, a mysterious smile on his face.

Ben raised an eyebrow, but decided to go along with it. He walked forward and stood on the platform closest to Bruce.

J'onn activated the teleporter, and both the dark knight and the wielder of the Ultimatrix disappeared in a flash of blue light.

XXXXXXXXXX

The young man known as Ben Tennyson had experienced many strange things in his life. An alien watch that gave him superpowers, an extraterrestrial biological grandmother, and the existence of parallel universes, to name a few.

But never had he imagined anything like this.

"I have my own condo," the boy said to himself in disbelief as he collapsed on his new king-sized bed, lying there spread-eagle in his usual black shirt and jeans.

It was a nice place (that goes without saying), with a main room that was quite large, containing some nice furniture (a large L-shaped couch that could probably hold eight people along with three comfortable chairs) and a 46x50 inch plasma screen TV that was hooked into the wall. Sitting just below it was both an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3, along with two controllers for each. There weren't any games there, however. On the far side was a pair of large sliding glass doors to the outside patio.

Then there was the kitchen, which was to the left of the main room, which held a nice table that could seat six people, plus the standard oven/stove, refrigerator, freezer, sink, counter-top, and cabinets to hold all of the needed supplies.

To the right of the living room was a hallway that led to a computer room, library, rec room (which contained a pool table, a mini-bar, three stools, and a small TV that was suspended from the wall), a bathroom, a closet, and a workout room.

Then there was Ben's room; the condo had a second floor, which contained another, larger bedroom that came with its own bathroom and a balcony. All in all, a pretty sweet place.

And as if having his own bachelor pad wasn't enough...

The teen turned his head to the right to face the large sliding glass door to the balcony, where he got a good view of the land beyond the glass.

"And it's on the beach!" he said aloud, a large grin beginning to appear on his face. Ben allowed his head to thump back on his pillow, closing his eyes and allowing himself a moment of peace and quiet, something that was becoming a luxury nowadays.

"Bruce Wayne, you are a godsend," he muttered to himself as his grin widened.

XXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes ago...

"Welcome to Gateway City, Ben," Batman said as the teen's eyes re-adjusted. Once they did, Ben's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Nice place," he said wistfully as he examined the house he was now standing in.

"Wayne Enterprises is a global industry, which I'm sure you're aware of," Bruce said, to which Ben simply nodded to answer his inquiry.

"Sometimes I have to travel to other cities, and I'll already have locations like this where I can stay when I'm away from Gotham. However, I don't usually use them, and all they do is collect dust."

"Right?" Ben said, wondering where Bats was going with this.

Then, for the second time since meeting him, Batman smiled.

"You remind me of myself, Ben. A large responsibility thrust onto you from a young age, and you handled it as best as you could. It's admirable. But it couldn't have been easy without a large amount of resources, could it?"

Ben shook his head. Without Kevin and his technological/criminal expertise, he would have been in big trouble during his teenage years.

"I have a proposition for you. In exchange for you living here, using this as a base of operations, and protecting the city, I wish to take samples of and analyze some of your aliens."

Ben cocked his head in confusion. "What are you thinking?" Ben asked, wondering what was going through the dark knight's mind.

"With your alien abilities, we can make great scientific advances. With Swampfire's regeneration, we can heal grievous wounds and cure numerous diseases. Chromastone can make solar power more effective, Spidermonkey's webbing can be used to make bulletproof armor, Ampfibian can show us how to generate cheap, biological electricity. The possibilities are endless."

Ben blinked. No one had ever thought to use his aliens like that before. It was brilliant, actually.

"Have you been thinking about this since I first showed you my aliens?" he asked.

Batman's lack of a response told him everything.

Sure is smart for a rich boy, Ben admitted to himself.

"So, look around, enjoy the sights. In two days, the League is 'initiating' all of the other new recruits," Bruce explained.

"Sounds good," the teen said, feeling excited.

"And before I go," Bruce said, reaching into his pocket and tossing something at Ben. The boy's reflexes kicked in, catching the item with his right hand. Unwrapping his fingers, Ben's jaw dropped. In his hand was a roll of money, maybe around five-hundred dollars.

"You're gonna need a few things. More clothes, a bathing suit, and maybe some kind of entertainment. Not to mention food," Batman explained, finding Ben's thunderstruck look rather humorous.

"Jeez, Bruce. It's like you're trying to spoil me," Ben said after managing to find his voice. "But I plan on getting a job, you know. I'm not gonna be a burden."

Batman nodded at that, accepting that the boy was at least mature enough to work.

"So, we have a deal?"

"Yeah, we have a deal."

XXXXXXXXXX

So, Ben had moved into the beach-side condo, and, after he had toured the place, had found his clothes and a key to the condo on the table next to his bed.

"Well, I'd better make a list of supplies. No good having a bachelor pad if I starve to death," he muttered to himself.

Ben hopped out of his bed and headed for the computer room, which had a printer already loaded with paper. After grabbing a sheet of paper and a pen, he headed for the living room and sat down on the couch, turning on the TV with the remote.

He had barely managed to write down 'milk' on his supply list when a voice on his TV blared out "...there hasn't been any news yet, but the hostages appear to be unharmed."

The teen shot upwards immediately, all thoughts of supplies forgotten.

"It's hero time," Ben said as he activated the Ultimatrix and ran toward the sliding glass door to the beach. He opened the door and ran out onto the patio before shutting the door behind him.

He found Jetray and slammed down on the dial.

"XLR8!"

Ben stopped mid-step before looking down at his now-clawed hands. His face lit up in a grin.

"Oh, this day just gets better and better," the hero said in a scratchy voice as he zoomed away.

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This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I decided to split it into two halves. And while I was planning to put XLR8 in much later, I decided putting him in early would help me out in the long run.

Also, big character intro next chapter! Can you guess who it will be?

As a side note, quite a few reviewers are wondering why the Ultimatrix hasn't scanned J'onn yet. Let me ask you a question of my own: Do you honestly think I haven't already thought of that? You'll learn why soon enough.

The idea for using Spidermonkey's webbing as a bulletproof substance came from the Syfy movie 'Ice Spiders'.

Anyway, reviews appreciated.