CHAPTER 16: Obstacles
Bizarro dug his fingers into the last huge weapon and tore it from the ground, throwing it into the ground and then stomping on it like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
"BIZARRO LOVE TINY WEAPONS SHOOTING AT HIM!"
The other villains rolled their eyes as they regrouped after the battle they just endured.
"I thought you said this Azmuth guy was the smartest alien in the universe, or something!" said Giganta as she walked to Eon, "That was way too easy!"
"You're right," Eon thoughtfully looked around the carnage of the weapons, "Azmuth wouldn't make defenses this flimsy."
Suddenly, Eon and Giganta were thrown aside as something huge erupted from beneath them. The other villains yelped in shock as other similar eruptions occurred near or under them.
When the dust cleared, the group saw that there were seven huge robots with large, wide torsos and equally large arms and legs to match. Spikes ran around each of their wrists and shoulders, and they each had 16 small, red, beady eyes that stared down at them.
"ARGH! BIZARRO EVEN HAPPIER!" Bizarro's face contorted with rage, zooming into the robot nearest to him.
However, an inch before he made contact, he was shocked by a bunch of red electricity and soon sent him flying backwards.
"What the heck?!" Giganta screamed.
"Level 9 forcefields!" said Eon, "None of your attacks can penetrate them! Scatter!"
The villains complied, flying or running in multiple directions as the robots unleashed powerful energy blasts from all of their eyes. A robot locked onto Sinestro, so he created a shield to block the energy blasts, but it was destroyed in seconds and Sinestro was sent crashing to the ground. Metallo unleashed a huge Kryptonite blast at another robot, but it didn't even phase it. Then the robot unleashed its own energy blasts, making Metallo scream in agony as bits of him were being blown off, and soon his arms and one of his legs came off! That's when Giganta grew to a huge size and kicked the robot away, but then another robot grabbed onto her leg and shocked her so bad that she fell over in seconds.
Black Adam came up from behind the machine that attacked her and tried punching it with electrified fists, but it didn't do anything. Then missile launchers arose from its shoulders and shot them, and then they turned around and locked onto Adam. He immediately flew away and tried to lose them, but the missiles mirrored his every move and gaining fast, so he turned around and blasted them, but that caused a massive electric explosion and caused Adam to fall to the ground.
"Ugh! This is pointless!" said CS as he flew off from a massive energy blast, "We aren't gaining any ground and we're losing more of our people in seconds!"
"I've got an idea!" said Eon as he skidded to a halt, facing a robot that chased him.
Eon clasped his hands together, then slowly pulled them apart as his hands sparked with purple electricity, his eyes glowing. Then he unleashed a massive time ray that at first did nothing, but then he said, "As powerful as your shields are, nothing . . . is immune . . . to time!" Eon created a larger energy blast and engulfed the machine, which soon became covered in purple cracks. Then the robot's eyes glowed purple, twitching uncontrollably, until it finally exploded! Immediately after the explosion, Eon collapsed to his knees and breathed heavily, soon ripping off his helmet to get better breaths and revealing the face of Ben 10,000.
Bizarro landed next to Eon and whined, "Aww! How come purple man create robot when Bizarro could?"
"It was . . . time, you idiot!" he panted, "I was able to . . . conjure enough temporal energy . . . to push through the shields . . . and destroy it."
"Well, do it again!" said CS before he finally got shot down by one of the robots.
"I can't!" Eon snapped, "It took all of my energy to summon that kind of power!"
"Argh! Bizarro take care of this himself!" Bizarro flew toward another robot and shot freeze rays from his eyes and then flame breath from his mouth, but it also amounted to nothing as the machine countered with its missiles.
Giganta recovered and wrestled with a robot, then said, "Well, isn't there anyway to get that power back?" The robot got her on her knees. "And quickly?!"
"Not . . . on my own."
Black Adam flew up and shot another robot with an electric blast strong enough to make it stumble backward, then he flew over to Eon. "What if my magic could strengthen you?"
"We . . . could try. But . . . that much power could . . . cause a massive . . . explosion that could destroy the surrounding area!"
"Meaning the rest of us need to get clear, got it!" said Sinestro as he created a huge monster that punched and scratched a robot.
Then Giganta pushed her robot back and rushed to Metallo, picking him up and running back toward the ship. Two of the robots noticed, so they launched laser blasts until Sinestro also noticed and managed to fly in front of the lasers and create a shield, but was soon wiped out again. The robots were about to move toward them, until Bizarro and CS flew around them and blast them, drawing their attention back toward Adam and Eon. It worked, until the other four robots joined the two and surrounded them, engulfing them in lasers!
"Now's our chance, do it!" said Eon.
"What about Cyborg-Superman and Bizarro?"
"Do it!"
Adam closed his eyes and electricity flowed through his arms, making his fists glow and surge with electricity, then he grasped Eon with them and yelled, "SHAZAM!"
A huge lightning bolt engulfed the pair, and Eon's eyes glowed brightly, and cracks started seeping across his body. Then a huge purple-blue electric surge emitted from Eon, spreading outward like a ripple on a pond, engulfing the first two robots. However, Bizarro first noticed the surge, picked up CS, and managed to fly away from the robots as they too became engulfed.
A bright light shone across the landscape!
"Why does this always happen to me?" muttered Ben as one of the thugs got closer to him. Ben started to raise his hands, until he noticed his omnitrix flash green.
He smirked.
"Hands up!" shouted the thug, "Hands! Now!"
Ben shrugged. "If you say so!" Then he raised his hands up until he managed to slap his hand on his omnitrix arm.
Ben became swallowed in a green light, and all the thugs' eyes widened in shock and those who were near him backed off.
When the light died down, standing in Ben's place was Humungousaur!
"Alright, punks!" he growled, "I'm already running late for something important and you're really not helping! So, either you all surrender and we can all walk away happy, or I'll show you just how mad I can get!" At this, he grew to a much bigger size and growled.
A few of them gulped and even started to lower their weapons, until one of them rushed forward and yelled, "Come on, it's just a big, dumb lizard! Shoot him already!"
They immediately raised their weapons and started firing volleys of bullets, but they all bounced off of Humungousaur as if they were Nerf darts.
When the bullets finally stopped, Ben growled again. "That's it!"
Ben backhanded two of the closet goons and sent them crashing through the broken windows of the bank, then grabbed another robber and used him like a weapon to bat away another and then toss him aside. Then he grabbed the last one and threw him into the car, causing most of the glass to shatter as the vehicle buckled from the impact. This caused the getaway driver to stumble out of the car and helplessly look up at the angry dinosaur.
Humungousaur let out an angry roar, but soon changed back into Ben.
"Aw, come on! Seriously? You are the most inconvenient piece of junk this side of the universe!" yelled Ben at his watch.
Meanwhile, the getaway driver took the opportunity to scramble in search for his gun, then he pulled it out and pointed it at Ben, hands shaking. "S-s-stay back!"
Ben raised his hands and rolled his eyes.
The driver started to walk backward, gun still aimed at our hero, until he suddenly tossed the weapon and tried to make a run for it . . .
He crashed into something and fell down. The robber looked up to see Supergirl standing in front of him.
"Ya ready to give up?" she asked.
Then the robber got down and put his hands on his head. "I surrender! I surrender! Please don't hurt me, I'm just the driver!"
She smirked and walked over to Ben. "Hey there, hero."
"Oh, um, h-hey," he replied sheepishly.
"So, on my way over to the restaurant when I heard this, but even without my super-hearing I could hear you throwing a tantrum."
"I wasn't throwing a tantrum! I was just . . . a bit upset, that's all."
"Ben, it's okay if we miss the reservation, we can just do something else."
"The reservation!" Ben slapped his forehead, "How did I forget?" Ben quickly slammed onto his omnitrix and got Jetray. "I'll fly ahead and try to see if I can make it!"
Before Kara could say anything, Ben already flew off.
Back on Xenon, the light died down but smoke still billowed across the battlefield.
A few feet away from the smoke, we see all the villains except for Adam and Eon lying unconscious on the ground. The first to stir was Sinestro, who got up and tried to wake Bizarro, but he muttered in his sleep and rolled over while sucking his thumb. Sinestro rolled his eyes and proceeded to wake the others, who soon regained consciousness. Then Giganta crawled over to Metallo and held him.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked.
"Y-yeah, I-I'm fine," he muttered while avoiding eye contact, "Th-thanks for saving me and all."
Giganta blushed and brushed back her hair. "Oh, it was nothing."
"Oh, good grief!" cried CS as he gagged, "Can we please check on the other two? I'd rather hear more barking from Eon than watching this."
"Oh, shut up!" snapped Giganta.
CS sighed and flew over into the smoke, with Sinestro in tow. Soon after they had done so, the smoke finally cleared enough for everyone to see robot parts scattered everywhere. They also Adam and Eon lying on the ground, the cracks on Eon's body already disappearing.
"Are they . . ." asked Sinestro.
CS stared at them for a moment before responding, "No, I can hear their heartbeats. They'll be fine."
As if on cue, Adam and Eon started to stir and finally wake up.
"What . . . happened?" asked Eon.
"It worked," replied Adam, "The robots are nothing but scrap now."
"However, we're now down a man," said CS.
"Metallo's alive," explained Sinestro, "But most of his body's blown off that he can no longer help us. Giganta is currently tending to him."
As CS rolled his eyes, Eon said, "Then have her bring him back to the ship. The rest of us will go on ahead."
Sinestro nodded and flew off with Adam.
"Brilliant plan so far," remarked CS.
"If you have something to say, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use sarcasm!"
"Oh, ya want me to be honest? Let's see, where do I start? Oh yeah, you dragged us to the other side of the galaxy against the smartest person in the galaxy, and we almost get slaughtered! How many more pawns are ya willing to sacrifice?"
"If I recall correctly, I warned you all about what we are up against, and yet when Luthor volunteered you, you didn't object. So, how about a little less whining, and little more commitment!" Eon's eyes started to glow. "Unless you have any other problems?"
CS stared back for a moment, but looked down.
"Didn't think so." Eon stooped down and picked up his helmet, its immunity to the temporal energy keeping it from crumbling to dust in the outburst.
As he put it back on, Giganta, now in her giant form, walked past the two villains while cradling what was left of Metallo in her hands. After that, the duo caught up with the others and made their way to the mountain.
CS started walking further ahead of them until Eon grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"Hey, what are you doing?" snapped CS.
Eon held up a finger and picked up a pebble, then he gently tossed it and it soon started smoking until it burst into flames and exploded!
"Level 10 heat shield," said Eon, "Anything that walks into it gets burnt to a crisp."
"Great, so now what?"
"Bizarro, this is where you come in."
"Me?" asked the twisted clone, "What purple man want for Bizarro?"
"I need you to go through that heat shield and disarm it on the other side. Your enhanced durability should protect you long enough for you to reach the control panel on the wall over there." Eon pointed at a small and barely visible gray panel on a rocky wall 10 feet away.
Bizarro just stared at him with a dumb expression, scratching his head. Eon put a hand on his face and said, "Just stay here and protect shiny button over there, got it?"
Bizarro gave a malicious smile and said, "Nope! Me got it!"
Then Bizarro stepped forward into the invisible barrier, his clothes soon glowing red from the intense heat. He winced at first but continued to walk forward. However, the further he traveled, the worse it got, until the heat was burning holes into his clothes and burning his rotten flesh, making him start walking slower and then onto his hands and knees! He collapsed for a moment, but slowly crawled forward until he managed to help himself up and then smash the control panel. Then a sound emitted that sounds like a computer shutting down, and Bizarro collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.
"Well done," remarked Eon as he walked forward, signaling to his associates that it was now safe to walk through.
Then they all walked up to the mountain and Eon felt around the edges until he stopped, then he powered up his fist and destroyed the door.
"Our prize awaits inside," said Eon.
"What about him?" asked Sinestro.
Bizarro groaned as smoke continued to rise from his body.
"Leave him, he'll be fine."
Eon, Adam, and Sinestro walked inside, but CS stayed behind and touched his comm piece. "Giganta, we need another pickup by the mountain. Bizarro's in pretty bad shape."
"Understood, on my way," she replied.
CS gave a disapproving look in Eon's direction, then followed behind.
The quartet walked down a long, dark hallway that soon led to a room that was overrun by plants. Foul-smelling gas drifted throughout the room and large vines snaked across the walls and floor, but parts of high tech-looking walls were visible.
"Heh, Poison Ivy would love a place like this!" said CS.
"Ugh! What is that horrible stench?" Sinestro plugged his nose.
Eon sniffed and gagged. "Yep, this is definitely Methanosian swamp gas. That means . . ."
Loud screeching echoed throughout the room as Methanosians and Florauna grew out from the ground or from the walls, except these aliens looked horribly mutated. Some had one bigger arm than the other, others had extra or missing appendages, and some even had hunched backs and walked like gorillas.
"Looks like Azmuth has improved in his experiments. Impressive . . ." Eon's fists started glowing, "But hardly a challenge." Eon shot a time beam at one of the zombified plants, and it turned to dust.
The other aliens screeched in rage and charged at them!
Sinestro blocked incoming vines and then shot some Florauna. A bunch of Methanosians and a couple Florauna piled onto Adam, until blue light started peeking through holes, and then the aliens shot off as lightning exploded from Adam, eyes glowing. CS grabbed a Methanosian's fist as it tried to punch him, then ripped off its arm and shot it with laser eyes, and the Methanosian retaliated with a huge fire blast from its mouth. A skinny Florauna tried to jump at Eon, but he caught it without even turning his head and turned it to dust as well.
"Given the obstacles thus far, I expected more from this dimension's Azmuth."
Suddenly, an alarm went off and doors in the walls and floor opened, allowing even more mutated plant aliens to pile into the room.
"Oh, great! You just had to say that, didn't you?" asked CS.
"There's too many of them!" cried Sinestro as he fought to hold back the horde.
"Sinestro is right!" Adam kept blasting multiple plants. "There has to be a weakness! How do we take them down?"
"The aliens won't stop until they capture one of us," replied Eon as he kept disintegrating the aliens, "But we can't lose anymore of us, so we need to go right to the source: Azmuth."
"Great! Let's find him and get outta here!" said CS.
"You guys keep the monsters busy, I'll find Azmuth and put an end to this!"
With that, Eon blasted his way through the plants until he found a door, which he blasted and ran down another long hallway, monsters in pursuit.
Ben finally landed in front of the restaurant and changed back. He rushed into the place, pushing his way through lines of customers until he finally reached the front desk.
"Um, sir, I'm afraid you'll have to wait in line," said the clerk, not looking up from his computer.
"Please!" panted Ben, "I rushed all the way across town to get here! I have a reservation, please just help me out!"
"Fine," sighed the clerk, "What is your reservation under?"
"Tennyson for 2, 7:00."
After a moment, the clerk said, "I'm sorry, sir, but you are 6 minutes late."
"So I'm a few minutes late, no big deal! I'm here now! Please, just lead me to my table!"
"You know the policy, sir. Be here on time or forfeit your reservation."
"Please!" he screamed, "Tonight is the most important night of my life! I'm proposing to my girlfriend! I had everything planned out!"
"Well, you should have thought of that before you made a reservation here, sir."
Ben's eye twitched in anger, teeth gritting hard. Then he slammed onto the omnitrix and transformed into Rath. "Let me tell ya somethin', ya stuck-up French desk guy!" he roared, making everyone start to scream or back away, "Rath has been stuck fixing computers for hours, fighting a bunch of jerks who rob a bank, and he has saved all his money since he got trapped in this stupid dimension! If you don't give Rath his table right now, Rath will make you eat your face, throw it up, and then eat it again!"
The clerk's eyes widened and he was on the floor, trembling.
Then a security guard walked up, hand on his taser, and said, "Hey, do we have a problem, here?"
Rath grabbed his arm and was about to either throw him aside or yell some more, but then . . .
"That's enough!"
Ben looked up and saw Kara standing in the doorway in a nice, blue dress with her hands on her hips. "Let go of him, now!"
Rath growled, but obeyed. Then he changed back and, without another word, marched out the door and past Kara.