BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. WHY DON'T I OWN THEM? ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON.

You know, I didn't think I'd be back on this so soon, but here I am. Welcome to the Secret Society arc! We're near the end of this story, people; expect nine, maybe ten chapters left for this, plus a teaser of the eventual sequel.

Now then, enjoy a chapter with a crazy bald man and a monkey.

Ben 10: Unlimited

Chapter 24

I Am Legion

New York City

Sirens blaring, a swarm of police cars chased a hijacked armored police van. One of the lead cars was brought to a halt when an officer was thrown bodily out of the back of the van, hitting the car's windshield. In the driver's seat, the man who stole the van glanced at the side-view mirror and scowled.

"What?" Lex Luthor asked to the empty passenger seat; after listening to another side of a conversation, he snapped, "I know! I'm going as fast as I can!"

Several times throughout the chase, police cars would pull alongside Luthor's van, only to be sideswiped off the road. Finally, the van crashed through a large sign, causing Luthor to lose control and crash, finally stopping upside-down.

Wincing from the injuries he's sustained from the crash, Luthor hobbled out of the van and into an alley, his feet still chained at the ankles. A group composed of police, SWAT, and Federal Agents followed him, but didn't have far to go; the alley was a dead-end.

"Luthor!" the would-be escapee turned to see the group leveling weapons at him, while a man with a thin moustache stepped forward.

"Don't make any sudden moves; it's over."

Seeing several officers move in to arrest him, and with nowhere else to go, Luthor gave a defeated sigh and raised his hands over his head. But before he could be taken into custody, a black portal appeared in the solid wall behind him, and an arm pulled him through. The law enforcement fired, but by then, Luthor was gone.

Unknown Location

Lex Luthor sped through a swamp, sitting on a hover-bike piloted by The Key, a thief in an orange and black jumpsuit that used advanced technology to accomplish his various thefts. Neither man said anything as they traveled, but Luthor's mind was already working overtime to figure out why he'd been rescued. He'd never had any past associations with The Key; therefore, the man didn't owe him any favors. So why had he helped him?

Finally, The Key reached their apparent destination, an open stretch of swamp. As Luthor hopped off the hover-bike, The Key made a grand gesture.

"Here we are, Mr. Luthor; your benefactor is looking forward to meeting you."

Now Luthor figured it out; whoever The Key worked for wanted him for something, something important to risk freeing such a well-guarded man as himself.

"Does the mystery man have a name?" Luthor asked.

"No reason to be insulting, Lex," a baritone voice called out; Lex turned to see a large gorilla stride out of a group of trees, walking on only his back feet.

"I'm far superior to any man."

"Grodd," Luthor's eyes narrowed at Gorilla Grodd, "I appreciate the help, but gratitude only goes so far; I'm not interested in working with you, or anyone else."

"I think you'll change your mind," Grodd replied, as he pressed a button on a small device in his hand, "once you've seen what I have to offer."

Behind them, a cloaking field was disabled, and a large base appeared; it was painted black with red lines across it, resembling a cross between a jellyfish and a human skull. At the front of the base, a large door opened; behind it, dozens of supervillains stood, staring expectantly at Luthor.

New York City

When news of Luthor's escape reached the Justice League, a team had been immediately scrambled to the site. Now, standing in the same alley that Luthor had disappeared from, stood Superman, Shayera, Ben, as Big Chill, and Aztek, a man who had incredible powers and abilities, thanks to the ancient helmet and armor he wore.

Superman searched every square inch of the surrounding three blocks with his x-ray vision, but found no sign of Luthor, while Shayera confronted the Federal Agent that had led Luthor's transfer to another prison.

"Why would you even try to move a prisoner that dangerous without calling us first!?"

The agent looked up from his cell phone. "Maybe because we thought we could do our jobs without help from the mighty Justice League."

Shayera glared at him. "And yet, here we are."

The agent rolled his eyes and left, while Superman turned to the Thanagarian. "Okay, Shayera, what's done is done."

"Yeah," Big Chill added, "let's not antagonize the Feds, shall we?"

Shayera huffed; she liked starting arguments. "Fine; Aztek, what have you got?"

Aztek approached the wall that Luthor had been pulled through and ran his hands over the surface. As he did so, the arcane instruments in his suit gave him an analysis.

"The wall's sub-molecular integrity has been compromised," he said after a moment.

"Leptons showing weak-force interaction?" Shayera asked.

"Yeah," Aztek said, surprised, "how did you know?"

"It's a common energy signature of matter-phasing technology," Superman answered, before turning to Shayera, "I assume it doesn't leave a trail?"

"No such luck."

Big Chill decided to take a guess on what all of the science-talk meant. "So, what happened was, instead of turning their body intangible like I can, they turned the wall intangible?"

The other three heroes looked at each other.

"Well, yeah, I suppose," Aztek admitted.

"Glad there's someone to translate for a yahoo like me," a new voice spoke up, causing the Leaguers to turn around. Behind them stood a man in a grey suit; while he looked to be in his thirties, he had snow-white hair.

The man continued, "You guys want some coffee? Apparently, I got nothing better to do here."

Superman scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, we got caught up in the work."

The man nodded, then held his hand out to Aztek. "Special Agent King Faraday; I'm the new liaison between the Attorney General's office and the Justice League."

Aztek shook his hand politely. "Good to meet you, I'm…"

"Aztek," Faraday interrupted, "I've been well-briefed on all of you." He glanced at Big Chill, "Even you, Mister Alien-with-a-million-names." Then, Faraday turned serious. "Security on Luthor's transfer was lax because it didn't seem necessary."

"Big mistake," Big Chill commented, "Luthor probably acted that way to get the guards to drop their, um, guard."

Faraday nodded, as the Federal Agent from before rejoined them. "That's looking more and more likely, but we hadn't had a peep out of the man since he was arrested for that Brainiac business last summer."

"He was a broken man," the other agent tried to defend himself, "he just sat in his cell, talking to himself."

"When he's not stealing police vans, you mean?" Shayera said with a smirk.

"That came out of nowhere!" the agent protested, "We had no reason to think he was an active threat."

"Dude, the guy almost destroyed the planet," Big Chill said, his palm against his forehead, "if you do that, you should always be considered a threat."

Faraday nodded, then turned back to the other agent. "Do what you can; put out an APB, stake out airports, train and bus stations."

"Already done," the other man replied, "for what it's worth."

"If he's sighted, don't approach him," Faraday continued, "call in the League."

The agent looked offended. "My people can handle this."

"No, they can't." Faraday put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "You're people are good, but Luthor is better." He glanced at Superman. "And if you get a lead, I expect to be kept in the loop."

Superman nodded. "Of course."

Before the Leaguers left, Faraday tapped Big Chill on the shoulder. "Hey, did you actually know what you were talking about before? About the intangibility thing?"

"Sort of," Big Chill admitted, "but mostly, I just guessed."

Faraday gave a crooked smile. "Glad to know that not everyone in the League is a super-genius."

If Big Chill could smile, he would have. "If I was Grey Matter right now, I'd have probably made it even more complicated; do you want me to?"

Faraday backed off, his hands held up in a placating gesture. "No, that's fine; I don't need another headache on top of the one Luthor's escape has given me. Who knows what that lunatic is up to?"

Secret Society Headquarters

"What is this?" Luthor asked, as Grodd led him down a hallway. While he was curious, he was inwardly sneering at this gathering of villains. This many idiots in one place was bound to attract the Justice League sooner or later; it would have been smarter to have smaller groups spread out over a wider area.

"A home away from home for members of this organization," Grodd answered, as they passed a handful of villains, who were comparing technologies, "I'll admit, we're putting on something of a show for your benefit; we rarely have so many members here at once."

Luthor chuckled; so that's what was going on. Grodd was paying people to come here and impress him, to get him to do whatever it was that Grodd wanted.

"Yes," Luthor agreed, assured that he'd figured it out, "it would take a huge scam to pay for all these people."

Now it was Grodd's turn to laugh, as they entered a much larger room. "Actually, it's the other way around; they pay me." He made a grand gesture, encompassing over two-dozen criminals in the room. "The world's most powerful supervillains, banded together with one common goal."

Now, Luthor understood. "They protect each other from the Justice League."

"It's the only way to survive in the modern world. There are so many heroes now and, under the Martian, they're too organized for free-thinkers like ourselves to make a dishonest buck."

"You're running a protection racket." Luthor surmised.

"A co-op," Grodd corrected, "everyone's free to go about their own business; but if, say, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Flash show up to foil your bank robbery, you no longer have to face them alone."

"Right," Luthor said sarcastically, "he does it out of the goodness of his heart."

Grodd grinned. "Well, that and twenty-five percent of the gross." His smile grew more satisfied. "So far, it's working perfectly; the League doesn't even know we exist."

"I have to hand it to you," Luthor admitted, "this is an impressive operation; but we're still not interested."

While Grodd took half a second to wonder why Luthor said "we", the escaped genius in question began to leave. However, the ape put a hairy paw on Luthor's shoulder.

"See now," Grodd said, "that's a problem; you're much too powerful a player to be out there as a freelancer."

"Don't worry about the competition," Luthor snapped, yanking away his arm, "I'm out of the business."

"Really?" asked a skeptical Grodd, "Then why bother to escape?" he leaned in close, looking into Luthor's eyes. "Oh, you've still got the spark, Luthor, I can see it; the spark of a man who can't be bound by society's petty restrictions. Besides, nobody who plays the game at our level ever really quits."

"Oh, you've got that right," Luthor said, staring off to the side, "completely missing the point."

"Luthor?" Grodd had a feeling that Luthor wasn't talking to him.

"You think you understand me?" Luthor said, turning his attention back to Grodd, "That you actually have anything to offer? For a brief moment, I attained absolute knowledge, godhood! Now, it's all gone."

Grodd nodded, even as he reached into a pocket on his belt, the only clothing he wore. "You melded with the computer-being Brainiac, and at your moment of triumph, the Justice League's most powerful shapeshifter destroyed him. Tragic; now, there isn't a single piece of him left anywhere on Earth, except, of course, for this one."

Grodd opened his hand; resting in his palm was a chunk of metal, no bigger than a cell phone, with three circles in a triangular pattern on one side. The symbol of Brainiac.

"Give it to me!" Luthor lunged at the piece like a starving animal that was offered meat, but Grodd yanked it away.

"Salvation comes at a price, Lex; first, you do something for me, then you get your precious rock."

"Do whatever he asks," Luthor turned his head towards the speaker, Brainiac himself, whom only he could see or hear, "My entire program resides in even the smallest part of me."

"I could reconstitute you," Luthor said to the seemingly-empty air, "bring you back to life!

"Yes," Brainiac agreed, "we could be together again."

Luthor took a deep breath, then turned to the thoroughly-confused Grodd.

"All right, Grodd," he said, "I'm in."

Metro Tower, Metropolis

It had been five months since Ben Tennyson and the Justice League had defeated Vilgax; in that time, much had happened. The new Metro Tower, a large, well-built building that had been constructed over the ruins of LexCorp, was now the League's secondary base. It allowed government personnel easy access to a League representative at any given time, plus it had another teleporter system, in case the one on the Watchtower went down.

With the Metro Tower completed, the League became more open with the government, as well as the public at large, both of whom seemed to trust the heroes much more. There were still a few diehard hero-haters out there, but they had swiftly become a minority.

New buildings and more trust weren't the only things that had changed over the last few months; finally, mostly at Ben's insistence, Superman finally told Lois Lane who he was. Superman's initial prediction, that she would be beyond mad, was spot-on, at least for a few weeks; after that, she forgave him, and the two were now spending more time together.

Green Arrow, AKA Oliver Queen, had also developed an intensified relationship with Black Canary, AKA Dinah Lance, in the form of a wedding. After assisting him in taking down the archer-assassin Merlyn, the emerald archer had proposed. Most of the League had attended the wedding, while Ben and Kara received some good-natured teasing about when they were finally going to tie the knot, especially after Kara caught the bouquet.

Now, however, Ben was relaxing on a chair across from Flash, while Shayera worked the monitors; behind them, Fire was giving a report from Aztek to Superman, while her friend Ice, a Norwegian woman with cryokinetic abilities, sat next to her.

"Aztek didn't find anything else, Fire?" said Superman's image on the comm-screen.

"Sorry, Superman," the Brazilian woman replied, "it was a bad lead."

Superman sighed. "Nobody's fault. When you pick up Luthor's trail, call me; I want in." then he signed off.

"You know, these new monitor-duty rotations aren't so bad," Shayera commented after a moment.

"Yeah," Ben agreed; he hated monitor-duty. "No more overnight shifts unless you want them, only one shift a week and then we're done!"

"What do you think, Wally?" Shayera asked Flash, who didn't answer. "Wally?"

"Hm?" Flash wasn't really paying attention; he was too busy staring at Fire with a goofy smile on his face.

"I thought you were crushing on her!" Ben stage-whispered triumphantly; he'd noticed that Flash had been staring at the green-haired Brazilian before, but every time he tried talking to the speedster about it, Flash had denied it every time.

"Why don't you just go talk to her?" Shayera asked.

Flash looked up, a startled look in his eye. "Who, me? Talk to her? No way."

Ben shook his head. "Dude, you're not in junior high anymore; just ask her to join you for a cup of coffee or something!"

Shayera smirked. "He could, but he'd probably be wasting his time; I hear she's, you know…"

Flash looked up at her, then to Fire, who was laughing at something that Ice said, while putting her hand on Ice's knee. Flash looked back at Shayera in worry.

"…Brazilian." Shayera finished, earning a laugh from Ben at the implication, and a scowl from Flash.

"Ha ha," the speedster said sarcastically.

"If you're afraid to talk to her," Shayera said, "I'll tell her for you." She started to march towards Fire, only to have Flash dash in front of her.

"No," he pleaded, "don't."

"That is so sad, dude." Ben shook his head again.

Before more could be said, the monitor that Shayera had left began to beep; knowing that someone was going to be giving them a video-call, Ben instantly transformed into Fourarms.

Master Control makes that so much faster, he thought, as Agent Faraday's face came onto the screen.

"Got something for you," he said without preamble, then pressed a button on his phone, "Tell Hawkgirl your story, Mr. Siriani."

"We met a while back, ma'am," an older voice said, "longer for me than for you; when you traveled through time to World War II, you fought alongside my squadron."

Fourarms knew this story from the League's files; apparently, six of the founding members had ended up in an altered present, because the immortal Vandal Savage had sent information and technology back in time to his younger self, who then overthrew Hitler and led the Nazis to victory. The League traveled back in time and changed history once again, this time giving victory to the Allies. But, as far as Ben knew, the League had only fought alongside one squadron…

"You're one of the Blackhawks!" Shayera exclaimed, reaching the same conclusion as Fourarms.

"The only one still kicking, I'm sorry to say," Siriani said sadly.

"What's the problem?" Flash asked.

"During the war, and for decades after, we captured a lot of weapons," Siriani continued, "some real sci-fi stuff; we hid the worst of it on Blackhawk Island. We decommissioned the place over thirty years ago, but this morning the old security alarm went off. It could be nothing…"

"Or it could be someone raiding your armory," Shayera finished, "we'll take a look; Shayera out." She turned to Flash and Fourarms. "You want someone else to come along with us?"

Before Flash could say anything, Fourarms turned around. "Hey, Fire?"

"Yes?" Fire stood up.

"We've got a mission; let's go!" the four headed to the Metro Tower's Javelin bay, while Fourarms ignored Flash's glare.

Off the Coast of Blackhawk Island

The atmosphere aboard the Javelin was awkward, to say the least. Ben and Shayera would make small-talk, but they'd occasionally look behind them and see Flash and Fire sitting across from each other, stealing glances at each other when the other wasn't looking.

How is it that I'm more mature than half the people on this Javelin? Ben wondered, one of you just say something, geez!

Maybe Fire heard his thoughts, because she stood, walked over to Flash and leaned over him. Flash caught the motion out of the corner of his eye, and looked in her direction; however, due to their respective positions, the first thing Flash saw was Fire's chest.

"You've been so quiet," Fire said, her voice drawing Flash's face upwards, "you haven't said a single word since we left; I was hoping that we could use this trip to get to know each other a little better."

Flash only stared dumbly at her; Fire sighed, then took a step back.

"I understand, you're focused on the mission; no time for women, right?"

Ben, who'd been listening in, was a little surprised; he'd gotten to know all of the Leaguers fairly well, including Fire. In all that time, she'd never hinted at having feelings for Flash, and yet, here she was, practically throwing herself at him.

What was more confusing was Flash's behavior; the speedster was notorious for hitting on anything of the female gender, but he couldn't talk to a woman who had an interest in him? Ben supposed that that there were some things that he would never understand; that didn't make Flash's awkwardness any less annoying, however.

Shayera must have felt the same way, because she decided to give Flash a little push, banking the Javelin sharply, causing Fire to fall into Flash's lap. Both looked at Shayera suspiciously, while Ben tried to hide his laughter.

"Sorry," Shayera mock-apologized, "some bad turbulence."

The moment was interrupted by a shrieking alert from the Javelin's radar.

"Three bogeys, closing fast!" Shayera yelled out, trying to dodge their pursuers. Ben glanced out the window and saw…

"What the heck!? We're being attacked by giant robot condors!" he saw Flash and Fire staring at him. "It's true! Why would I make up something so stupid?"

The Javelin rocked as one of the condors ripped the roof off with its talons, then proceeded to damage the engines. Knowing that the craft was doomed, Shayera activated the emergency eject, but to no avail.

"Ejector pods are offline!" she shouted, "Looks like we have to do this the hard way!"

Fire stood up and activated her powers, covering her body in emerald fire, while Ben transformed into Astrodactyl. With Fire holding Flash by the arm, the four heroes flew out of the Javelin, just as it exploded.

"We've got to stop losing those things," Astrodactyl commented.

Before anyone could respond, one of the robo-condors swept past, apparently choosing Shayera as its target, while the other two went after Astrodactyl, Fire and Flash. Astrodactyl easily flew behind "his" condor, landing on its back. He activated his energy-whips and slashed the metal hide, but the condor must have been made of sturdier stuff, because it only suffered a few scratches.

Maybe I don't have to smash it to beat it, Astrodactyl thought, then transformed.

"UGRADE!" the Galvanic Mechamorph merged with the condor, making it larger, and morphed missile launchers under its wings, just as two more condors joined the fray.

While Upgrade went to fight them, Fire and Flash went to help Shayera, who'd been caught in the talons of a condor. However, Flash was useless in the air, and since Fire was holding him with one arm, her effectiveness was limited. They were assisted, however, by the arrival of an old fighter plane, which peppered the condor with bullets; one lucky shot must have hit something vital, because it began to spark. Flash had seen enough robots to know what was going to happen.

"That thing's gonna blow!" He looked up at Fire, "You need both hands to help Shayera; drop me!"

Fire looked down at him incredulously, but Flash only shot her a supportive wink; reassured, Fire let go, letting Flash plummet downwards.

"I sure hope I think of something before I hit the ground," Flash said to himself.

Fire rocketed towards Shayera, focusing her power into a high-powered stream of fire that ripped the talon off of the condor; Shayera flew away just before the robot exploded. The last condor swooped down towards them, but was blown out of the sky by a pair of missiles, courtesy of Upgrade.

"Ladies," his voice came out of the condor's beak, "we seem to be missing a certain speedster."

Both he and Shayera turned to Fire, who suddenly looked nervous.

Once they landed on the island, near where Flash fell, and Upgrade safely disabled the robo-condor and turned back to Ben, Fire explained what had happened. Ben was concerned for his friend, but Shayera was outraged.

"He told you to drop him!?" her voice actually adopted an avian screech at the end.

"He's a senior member of the team!" Fire tried to defend herself, but she was clearly distressed about what she had done.

"He is," Ben agreed, "but he also can't fly."

"Hey, guys!" the three looked out at the ocean and saw a pair of tornadoes heading towards them; at the top of the tornadoes, generating them by moving his arms at incredible speeds, was Flash! "Check me out! I'm just like a helicopter!"

Ben was so relieved that Flash was alive, he didn't even get annoyed when Flash lost control and fell on top of him.

"Okay, I'm only sort of like a helicopter," Flash amended.

"Well, fix the 'sort-of' part," said Ben, "and get off of me!"

Shayera yanked Flash up to his feet, glaring at him. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" then she shoved him away, grumbling.

"Geez," said Ben, as he got to his feet, "I thought Gwen was scary when she was worried!"

Flash, who'd been thrown off-balance by Shayera, found himself supported by Fire. "Ah, don't worry about, she loves me; she's like the big sister I never had only, you know, short."

Once the four got that stress out of their systems, they began heading towards the jungle that covered most of the island, only to be stopped by an elderly man. Ben, wanting to keep his identity secret, transformed into the first alien he could think of.

"WATER HAZARD!"

The elderly man didn't seem fazed by the alien that seemed to come out of a blast of green light, only raising an eyebrow for a moment, before holding out his hand to Shayera.

"Chuck Siriani," he introduced himself, "we spoke over the phone; you're welcome for the save, by the way."

"Oh, so you were the pilot!" Water Hazard exclaimed, "I saw you pull off some nice moves!"

"Thanks for your help," Shayera said, shaking Chuck's hand, "but why are you here?"

"I know everything there is to know about this island," Chuck explained, "you're going to need my help."

"We've got it covered," Flash said, "and, no offense, but you're a little old for this kind of work."

"Something's activated the island's defenses," Chuck retorted, "if you want to make it out of here alive, I'm coming with you."

"Well, I'm all for staying alive," Water Hazard joked, "welcome aboard!"

The others agreed, and so the group moved into the jungle. As they walked, Chuck gave them some advice.

"Whoever else is on the island will be headed for Primary Control; that's in a bunker underneath the Blackhawk Victory Museum."

"Where you stored the weapons you captured?" Shayera guessed, as she hovered over them.

"Yeah," Chuck said, "there's some serious ordnance in there; even got a couple of old war-wheels."

The war-wheels were hundred-foot wheels, used by the upgraded Nazis that had been armored and weaponized, each one easily capable of crushing an entire column of tanks. Even stacked up against modern technology, Water Hazard feared what could happen if one of those fell into the wrong hands.

"Wait a sec," Water Hazard wondered, "why would you put a museum on an island full of deathtraps? Wouldn't that discourage tourism?"

Chuck shook his head. "The museum was never for anyone's eyes outside of the Blackhawks; it was so that we could remember why we fought, and who we lost."

"Oh," said Water Hazard, "so this is kind of personal for you, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"Wait a second," Fire said, "I thought all of those serious weapons were destroyed in the war."

"Don't believe everything you see on the documentary channel, sweetheart." Chuck smiled knowingly.

"War-wheels, robot condors," Flash said ruefully, "you got a pretty goofy security system here."

"Yeah," Chuck grinned, "good times."

Shayera landed on a tree in front of them. "I see something!"

The others immediately got low to the ground, approaching with caution. On the beach in front of them lay the mangled remains of a large, humanoid robot.

"Somebody ain't impressed with the security," Chuck remarked.

Water Hazard was a little concerned; that robot may have been old, but from the look of it, it had to have been over twenty feet tall, and if it was as well-maintained as the robot condors, whoever had done this was good.

A slight whirring noise caught Water Hazard's attention; it was a security camera, and it was following their every move! Water Hazard quickly destroyed it with a high-pressure stream of water.

On the other side of the island, The Key saw the heroes, plus the old man, on the monitors, before the shapeshifter had destroyed the camera. The Key and his compatriots would have to finish soon.

"We have to hurry," he said to Lex Luthor, who was working on some machinery. Luthor quickly got up and hit a few buttons on the security system.

"That should keep them occupied," he said with a smirk.

Behind the heroes, a swarm of robotic sharks flew out of the water, and then towards them, machine guns firing from their eyes. Flash grabbed Chuck and sped off, a robot shark in hot pursuit; Chuck aimed an old pistol over Flash's shoulder and fired, his shot taking out the robot's eye, the whole robot crashing into the ground a few seconds later.

They had no time to rest, because a smaller, automated version of a war-wheel jumped over the hill behind them. Flash pushed Chuck out of the way, while he ran off, the war-wheel chasing him.

Water Hazard and Shayera were surrounded by the sharks, but they were handling them well; obviously, the security systems weren't made to handle superheroes. Still, there were a lot of robot sharks…

"Let's see how they like this!" Water Hazard yelled, "It's time to go Ultimate!"

As he said that, his body became slightly larger, his shell turned coal-grey, and his humanoid hands became three-foot pincers, that seemed to be mounted onto very large cannons. Throughout his body, small holes continuously pumped out water, and what looked like an organic rocket emerged from his back.

"ULTIMATE WATER HAZARD!" he turned to Shayera. "You might want to move! This is gonna hit a lot of them at once!"

Shayera nodded and flew upwards; Ultimate Water Hazard aimed his pincers at the swarm and unleashed a massive blast of water, pumped at such high pressures that the sharks weren't just broken, they were obliterated.

He moved to help Flash with the war-wheel, but a cry from behind him made him turn. He saw Fire clutched in the tentacles of… a giant, robotic squid?

This place is nutty, he thought, before his eyes widened in fear; the squid was dragging Fire underneath the water! She'd be helpless there!

"Flash!" he said, pointing at the top of the squid, just barely visible over the water. Flash nodded, and ran in a circle around the squid, creating a tornado that sucked up the water. Ultimate Water Hazard saw Fire unconscious in the squid's grip; he pointed his pincers at the tentacle, as the holes over his body spat out more and more water. Finally, his rocket fired off a powerful stream of water, propelling the water-encased alien forward; the only parts of him not covered in water were his pincers. He began to spin, turning himself into a drill, and tearing the tentacle apart.

Fire fell, but was caught by Flash before she hit the water; the tornado created by Flash picked up the squid and headed towards the shore, catching the few remaining sharks and the war-wheel and destroying them. Once the twister dissipated, the group gathered near the wreckage.

"Thanks for the help," Fire said to Flash, who grinned and then turned to Ultimate Water Hazard.

"Never seen that one before," the speedster commented, "nice work."

"Thanks," Ultimate Water Hazard replied, "not bad for my first fight with him, is it?" Then a mace whacked him on the head. "Ow! What was that for!?"

"You've never tried this form before?" Shayera was ticked off. "You should know to practice your forms before you use them in combat!"

"I never said I'd never used him," Ultimate Water Hazard protested, "I just said that I've never used him in a fight before!"

"This is all hilarious," Chuck interjected, "but we need to move!"

"What he said," then Ultimate Water Hazard turned back into Water Hazard, and then into Shocksquatch, "let's go!"

Lex Luthor worked furiously at the controls to the vault, trying to crack the code. He glared at The Key.

"You're the human lockpick," he snarled, "why aren't you doing this?"

The Key glared right back. "Grodd's not testing me."

Luthor would have snapped back, but the door behind them exploded in combination of lightning and green fire. The eyes of the Leaguers went wide when they saw Luthor, but they quickly regained their focus as Chuck stepped forward.

"Whoever you guys are, you've got no business being here."

"Kinda goes with the territory," said a man with blue armor, a magnet-shaped helmet and a magnet on his chest, known as Dr. Polaris, "We're thieves."

Shayera looked at Luthor, tapping the head of her mace into her open palm. "Are we gonna do this the hard way, Lex? Please say yes."

"You're threatening us with a metal weapon?" Dr. Polaris sneered, "I'm a ferrokinetic, or hadn't you heard?"

A blue aura surrounded his hand, as well as Shayera's mace; wherever Polaris moved his hand, the mace followed, dragging Shayera across the room. Flash tried to go after her, but was knocked back by a blast of energy from The Key.

"You've got problems of your own," the thief remarked.

"So do you!" Shocksquatch shot back, before disappearing in a flash of green light. In his place was a floating brain inside of a jar. At the bottom of the jar was a long, semi-transparent, green tail. The only facial feature of the brain was a single eye that rested between the two halves. The Ultimatrix symbol was on the top of the jar.

"HEAD CASE!" the alien shouted in a French accent, "I believe that you should surrender, mon ami; it would be better for your health."

In response, The Key sent a barrage of energy into Head Case, but the shots passed through him harmlessly.

"Intangibility," Head Case said smugly, "one of several tricks that I possess, not the least of which is an advanced intellect."

"Oh, please," The Key said arrogantly, "even if you're smarter, what makes you think… that…" he trailed off, as he saw dozens of Head Cases appear before him, all reaching out with their tails. He tried to back away, but found himself surrounded. One of the Head Cases touched The Key's forehead with his tail, and the thief slipped into unconsciousness.

To everyone else, however, it appeared that Head Case had just looked at him, and then he collapsed.

"What did you do?" Flash asked.

"Telepathic assault," Head Case explained, "he'll be fine in a while."

"Still got me to deal with, freak-show!" using his powers to heft Shayera's mace, he flung it at Head Case, who simply turned intangible.

"Excusez-moi, Fire," Head Case said, "but it is a fact that magnets lose their charge if you heat them."

Fire looked at Polaris and gave a wicked grin, allowing her flames to surround the villain, whose powers quickly failed; as he tried to get up, gasping from the heat, Shayera, who'd regained consciousness a moment earlier, picked up her mace and knocked him out with a single blow.

"That's mine," the Thanagarian said softly.

"Well then," Head Case said cheerfully, "I suppose that only leaves Luthor unaccounted for, oui?"

"Get them on their feet," came the voice of Luthor, who was holding Chuck in front of him, a gun pointed at his head, "They're pathetic, but they're with me."

The Leaguers glared; in all the chaos of the fight, they'd overlooked what Luthor was doing, and now he had a hostage.

"I'm sorry," Chuck said, "if I were twenty years younger…"

"You'd still be ancient," Luthor snapped, then dragged the man over to the computers and pressed a series of buttons. On the main screen, a self-destruct countdown began, starting at three minutes.

"Mon Dieu," Head Case swore, as Polaris stood up and slung The Key over his shoulder, "why does every secret base have a self-destruct?"

Luthor gave a small smile as the villains and their hostage made their way out. "Chew on that for awhile; if you follow us, you know what happens to the old man."

Then they left, the heroes working furiously to save the island.

After another minute, The Key woke up and, while woozy, was still able to walk on his own; as the villains crossed an old bridge, Chuck tapped his foot on one particular section of it. The group froze as a rumbling was heard.

"What did you do?" Luthor demanded.

As if in answer, dozens of pairs of glowing eyes were seen just under the surface of the river below them. Then, dozens of robotic fish leapt out of the water and exploded at head height. The explosions weren't powerful, only about as strong as a cheap firecracker, but they were enough of a distraction for Chuck to make his getaway. The Key drew a bead on him, but Luthor stopped him.

"Let him go," he said, then gestured to the tube slung over his shoulder, "we got what we came for."

The three villains got away without further incident, and prepared to report their success to Grodd.

Chuck ran back into the bunker with only thirty seconds to go, and heard the heroes arguing.

"I can still run all of us out of here!" Flash argued.

"No," Shayera snapped, "I'm not going to let all of this history be lost; Ben, what've you got?"

"I believe that I will know the code in a moment!" Head Case replied.

"Just let me!" Chuck shoved his way past and pressed one button, halting the countdown.

"J'aurais pu faire que," Head Case said ruefully, "I had it narrowed to either that one or that other one." His tail pointed to another button.

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "That one would have launched a missile at Berlin." The heroes stared at him.

"I knew that," Head Case said quickly.

With the danger averted, the group made their way into the vault, where only one box had been opened and emptied. Flash looked inside, then turned to Chuck.

"What was in there?"

Chuck only looked confused and afraid.

Secret Society Headquarters

Luthor, Dr. Polaris and The Key strode into the base, where Luthor opened the container and tossed an ancient spear to the waiting Grodd. The ape held it up to his eye appreciatively.

"The Spear of Longinus," he said, after a moment, "Hitler believed that whoever held it was invincible."

"What are you going to do with it?" Luthor asked, "Sell it to the highest bidder, or keep it for yourself and try to take over the world?"

Grodd grinned. "I was thinking that it would look good mounted on the wall in my office."

Luthor's face was filled with rage. "You mean that you recruited me, sent me to an island full of deathtraps and up against the Justice League, you made me risk my life, and all for nothing!?"

Grodd nodded. "Essentially, yes."

For a moment, Luthor looked like he wanted to kill Grodd, but then laughed. "Monkey, I like your style; give me the piece of Brainiac, and we're even."

Grodd shook his head. "Not yet, Lex. Today was just a test; the next audition is for real."

Luthor almost reached for one of his pistols, but the voice of Brainiac stopped him. "He still has something we need; we have to put up with him for the moment."

"I should kill you," Luthor growled at Grodd, who only smiled.

"But you won't."

"No," Luthor said, as he walked out, "not today."

Blackhawk Island

The heroes spent the next few hours searching, but Luthor and his team had vanished, much to their frustration. Still, until they received a pickup, they were stuck on the island. Ben had finally reverted to his human form, convinced that Chuck could be trusted to know what he really looked like.

Not that Chuck was paying much attention at the moment; he and Shayera were paying their respects to a commemoration of the Blackhawks, while the others stood a respectful distance away. Fire turned to Flash.

"Luthor sure didn't waste time rounding up a crew," she said, slowly reaching out her hand, "how do you think he got those guys to work for him?"

"Doctor Polaris and The Key?" Flash frowned, "I don't know; they've never worked with Luthor before."

"Well, since the mission is over," Fire said with a shy smile, as she took Flash's hand, "do you want to get a cup of coffee on the Watchtower?"

Flash looked down at their hands, then up at Fire's face, smiled, then nodded. "Sounds great."

Ben also smiled; he was always happy when people found someone they cared for; still…

"Superman is going to be ticked off that Luthor got away, isn't he?" Flash and Fire nodded at Ben, who then shrugged when he looked back at Shayera and Chuck respectfully saluting the fallen. "Eh, it was worth it."

Behold, the Secret Society arc has begun, and I have revealed both a new alien and a new Ultimate! Water Hazard was my favorite of the Aggregor-arc aliens, (kind of ironic, because I only recently put him into the story) so I gave him the next Ultimate form.

Head Case was not based on anything I've ever seen, just something that popped into my head one day. His powers are: Intangibility, enhanced intelligence, telepathic assault. However, he can only use the last part on one person at a time, and only if he's smarter than them. I'd put him as Ben's third-smartest alien.

And yeah, I wanted there to be more Flash and Fire moments in the show, but it was a one-episode thing; I have decided to make them another couple for this story. They won't be getting as much focus as Ben and Kara; they'll only be mentioned from time to time. Sorry.

Like I said at the beginning, don't expect more than nine or ten more episodes, since there are a couple in this arc that I don't care for, but I have one more original chapter to put in near the end.

I have finals coming up soon, so please, please, PLEASE! Do not ask me for more chapters anytime soon, because I am going to be busy. In fact, any demands for more chapters five minutes after I post a new one annoys me. Flood the review section with REVIEWS, not two-word demands!

Translations for Head Case's French:

Mon Ami: My Friend

Excusez-moi: Excuse Me

Oui: Yes

Mon Dieu: My God

J'aurais pu faire que: I could have done that

Go, go Power Muffins!